|
|
|
|
|
And remember you said: "O Moses! We cannot endure one kind of food always; so beseech your Lord for us to produce for us of what the earth grows - its pot-herbs, and cucumbers, Its garlic, lentils, and onions." He said: "Will you exchange the better for the worse? Go you down to any town, and you will find what you want!" They were covered with humiliation and misery; they drew on themselves the wrath of God. This because they went on rejecting the Signs of God and slaying His Messengers without just cause. This because they rebelled and went on transgressing. Say: Whoever is an enemy to Gabriel - for he brings down the revelation to your heart by God's will, a confirmation of what went before, and guidance and glad tidings for those who believe, It is no crime in you if you seek of the bounty of your Lord during pilgrimage. Then when you pour down from Mount Arafat, celebrate the praises of God at the Sacred Monument, and celebrate His praises as He has directed you, even though, before this, you went astray. It is He Who sent down to you step by step, in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Law of Moses and the Gospel of Jesus before this, as a guide to mankind, and He sent down the criterion of judgment between right and wrong. Say: "O people of the Book! Exceed not in your religion the bounds of what is proper, trespassing beyond the truth, nor follow the vain desires of people who went wrong in times gone by, who misled many, and strayed themselves from the even way. He will say: "Enter you in the company of the peoples who passed away before you - men and Jinns, - into the Fire." Every time a new people enters, it curses its sister-people that went before, until they follow each other, all into the Fire. Says the last about the first: "Our Lord! It is these that misled us: So give them a double penalty in the Fire." He will say: "Doubled for all.": But this you do not understand. We appointed for Moses thirty nights, and completed the period with ten more: Thus was completed the term of communion with his Lord, forty nights. And Moses had charged his brother Aaron before he went up: "Act for me among my people: Do right, and follow not the way of those who do mischief." When Moses came back to his people, angry and grieved, he said: "Evil it is that you have done in my place in my absence: Did you make haste to bring on the judgment of your Lord?" He put down the tablets, seized his brother by the hair of his head, and dragged him to him. Aaron said: "Son of my mother! The people did indeed reckon me as nothing, and went near to slaying me! Make not the enemies rejoice over my misfortune, nor count you me among the people of sin." Relate to them the story of the man to whom We sent Our signs, but he passed them by: So Satan followed him up, and he went astray. Mankind was but one nation, but differed later. Had it not been for a word that went forth before from your Lord, their differences would have been settled between them. This Qur'an is not such as can be produced by other than God. On the contrary it is a confirmation of revelations that went before it, and a fuller explanation of the Book - wherein there is no doubt - from the Lord of the Worlds. Then the word went forth: "O earth! swallow up your water, and O sky! Withhold your rain!" And the water abated, and the matter was ended. The Ark rested on Mount Judi, and the word went forth: "Away with those who do wrong!" But when he saw their hands went not towards the meal, he felt some mistrust of them, and conceived a fear of them. They said: "Fear not: We have been sent against the people of Lot." They said: "O our father! We went racing with one another, and left Joseph with our things; and the wolf devoured him... But you will never believe us even though we tell the truth." There is, in their stories, instruction for men endued with understanding. It is not a tale invented, but a confirmation of what went before it, a detailed exposition of all things, and a guide and a mercy to any such as believe. Has not the story reached you, O people!, of those who went before you? - of the people of Noah, and 'Ad, and Thamud? - And of those who came after them? None knows them but God. To them came apostles with Clear Signs; but they put their hands up to their mouths, and said: "We do deny the mission on which you have been sent, and we are really in suspicious disquieting doubt as to that to which you invite us." Do the ungodly wait until the angels come to them, or there comes the Command of your Lord for their doom? So did those who went before them. But God wronged them not: Nay, they wronged their own souls. The worshippers of false gods say: "If God had so willed, we should not have worshipped anything but Him - neither we nor our fathers. Nor should we have prescribed prohibitions other than His." So did those who went before them. But what is the mission of apostles but to preach the Clear Message? He went into his garden in a state of mind unjust to his soul: He said, "I deem not that this will ever perish, "Why did you not, as you went into your garden, say: `God's will be done! There is no power but with God.´ If you do see me less than you in wealth and sons, Moses said: "That was what we were seeking after.": So they went back on their footsteps, following the path they had come. Had it not been for a Word that went forth before from your Lord, their punishment must necessarily have come; but there is a Term appointed for respite. So he went forth among his people in the pride of his wordly glitter. Said those whose aim is the Life of this World: "Oh! that we had the like of what Qarun has got! For he is truly a lord of mighty good fortune!" And truly before them, many of the ancients went astray; We certainly gave Moses the Book aforetime: But disputes arose therein. Had it not been for a Word that went forth before from your Lord, their differences would have been settled between them: But they remained in suspicious disquieting doubt thereon. And they became divided only after Knowledge reached them, through selfish envy as between themselves. Had it not been for a Word that went forth before from your Lord, tending to a Term appointed, the matter would have been settled between them: But truly those who have inherited the Book after them are in suspicious disquieting doubt concerning it. And We had firmly established them in a prosperity and power which We have not given to you you Quraish! and We had endowed them with faculties of hearing, seeing, heart and intellect: But of no profit to them were their faculties of hearing, sight, and heart and intellect, when they went on rejecting the Signs of God. And they were completely encircled by that which they used to mock at! And remember, Moses said to his people: "O my people! Why do you vex and insult me, though you know that I am the apostle of God sent to you?" Then when they went wrong, God let their hearts go wrong. For God guides not those who are rebellious transgressors.
|
.
