And the blind and the seeing are not alike; neither darkness and light; nor the shade and the hot wind;
Nor are the living and the dead the same thing! God indeed shall make whom He will to hearken, but thou shalt not make those who are in their graves to hearken; for only with warning art thou charged.
Verily we have sent thee with the truth; a bearer of good tidings and a warner; nor hath there been a people unvisited by its warner.
And if they treat thee as a liar, so did those who were before them threat their Apostles who came to them with the proofs of their mission, and with the Scriptures and with the enlightening Book:3
Then chastised I the unbelievers: and how great was my vengeance!
Seest thou not how that God sendeth down water from the Heaven, and that by it we cause the up-growth of fruits of varied hues, and that on the mountains4 are tracks of varied hues, white and red, and others are of a raven black? And of men and reptiles and animals, various likewise are the hues. Such only of his servants as are possessed of knowledge fear God. Lo! God is Mighty, Gracious!
Verily they who recite the Book of God, and observe prayer, and give alms in public and in private from what we have bestowed upon them, may hope for a merchandise that shall not perish:
God will certainly pay them their due wages, and of his bounty increase them: for He is Gracious, Grateful.
And that which we have revealed to thee of the Book is the very Truth, confirmatory of previous Scriptures: for God knoweth and beholdeth his servants.
Moreover, we have made the Book an heritage to those of our servants whom we have chosen. Some of them injure themselves by evil deeds; others keep the midway between good and evil; and others, by the permission of God, outstrip in goodness; this is the great merit!