Part 278

Let not, therefore, their riches or their children amaze thee. God is only minded to punish them by means of these, in this life present, and that their souls may depart while they are unbelievers.23

And they swear by God that they are indeed of you, yet they are not of you, but they are people who are afraid of you:

If they find a place of refuge, or caves, or a hiding place, they assuredly turn towards it and haste thereto.

Some of them also defame thee in regard to the alms; yet if a part be given them, they are content, but if no part be given them, behold, they are angry!

Would that they were satisfied with that which God and His Apostle had given them, and would say "God sufficeth us! God will vouchsafe unto us of His favour, and so will His Apostle: verily unto God do we make our suit!"

But alms are only to be given to the poor and the needy,24 and those who collect them, and to those25 whose hearts are won to Islam, and for ransoms, and for debtors, and for the cause of God, and the wayfarer. This is an ordinance from God: and God is Knowing, Wise.

There are some of them who injure26 the Prophet and say, "He is all ear." Say: An ear of good to you! He believeth in God, and believeth the believers: and is a mercy to such of you as believe:

But they who injure the Apostle of God, shall suffer a dolorous chastisement.

They swear to you by God to please you; but worthier is God, and His Apostle, that they should please Him, if they are believers.

Know they not, that for him who opposeth God and His Apostle, is surely the fire of Hell, in which he shall remain for ever? This is the great ignominy!

The hypocrites are afraid lest a Sura should be sent down concerning them, to tell them plainly what is in their hearts. SAY: Scoff ye; but God will bring to light that which ye are afraid of.

And if thou question them, they will surely say, "We were only discoursing and jesting." SAY: What! do ye scoff at God, and His signs, and His Apostle?

Make no excuse: from faith ye have passed to infidelity! If we forgive some of you, we will punish others: for that they have been evil doers.

Hypocritical men and women imitate one another.27 They enjoin what is evil, and forbid what is just, and shut up their hands.28 They have forgotten God, and He hath forgotten them. Verily, the hypocrites are the perverse doers.

God promiseth the hypocritical men and women, and the unbelievers, the fire of Hell-therein shall they abide-this their sufficing portion! And God hath cursed them, and a lasting torment shall be theirs.

Ye act like those who flourished before you. Mightier were they than you in prowess, and more abundant in wealth and children, and they enjoyed their portion: so ye also enjoy your portion, as they who were before you enjoyed theirs; and ye hold discourses like their discourses. These! vain their works both for this world and for that which is to come! These! they are the lost ones.

Hath not the history reached them of those who were before them?-of the people of Noah,29 and of Ad, and of Themoud, and of the people of Abraham, and of the inhabitants of Madian, and of the overthrown cities? Their apostles came to them with clear proofs of their mission: God would not deal wrongly by them, but they dealt wrongly by themselves.

The faithful of both sexes are mutual friends: they enjoin what is just, and forbid what is evil; they observe prayer, and pay the legal impost, and they obey God and His Apostle. On these will God have mercy: verily, God is Mighty, Wise.

To the faithful, both men and women, God promiseth gardens 'neath which the rivers flow, in which they shall abide, and goodly mansions in the gardens of Eden. But best of all will be God's good pleasure in them. This will be the great bliss.

O Prophet! contend against the infidels and the hypocrites, and be rigorous with them: Hell shall be their dwelling place! Wretched the journey thither!

They swear by God that they said no such thing: yet spake they the word of infidelity, and from Muslims became unbelievers! They planned what they could not effect;30 and only disapproved of it because God and His Apostle had enriched them by His bounty! If they repent it will be better for them; but if they fall back into their sin, with a grievous chastisement will God chastise them in this world and the next, and on earth they shall have neither friend nor protector!

Some there are of them who made this agreement with God-"If truly He give us of His bounties, we will surely give alms and surely be of the righteous."

Yet when he had vouchsafed them of His bounty, they became covetous thereof, and turned their backs, and withdrew afar off:

So He caused hypocrisy to take its turn in their hearts, until the day on which they shall meet Him-for that they failed their promise to God, and that they were liars!

Know they not that God knoweth their secrets and their private talk, and that God knoweth the secret things?

They who traduce such of the faithful as give their alms freely, and those who find nothing to give but their earnings, and scoff at them, God shall scoff at them; and there is a grievous torment in store for them.

Ask thou forgiveness for them, or ask it not, it will be the same. If thou ask forgiveness for them seventy times, God will by no means forgive them. This, for that they believe not in God and His Apostle! And God guideth not the ungodly people.

They who were left at home were delighted to stay behind God's Apostle, and were averse from contending with their riches and their persons for the cause of God, and said, "March not out in the heat." SAY: A fiercer heat will be the fire of Hell." Would that they understood this.