Thus have we distinctly set forth our signs, that the way of the wicked might be made known.
SAY: Forbidden am I to worship those whom ye call on beside God. SAY: I will not follow your wishes; for then should I have gone astray, and should not be of the guided.
SAY: I act upon proofs from my Lord, but ye treat them as falsehoods. That punishment which ye desire to be hastened is not in my power; judgment is with God only: He will declare the truth; and He is the best settler of disputes.
SAY: If what ye would hasten on, were in my power, the matter between me and you had been decided: but God best knoweth the impious.
And with Him are the keys13 of the secret things; none knoweth them but He: He knoweth whatever is on the land and in the sea; and no leaf falleth but He knoweth it; neither is there a grain in the darknesses of the earth, nor a thing green or sere, but it is noted in a distinct writing.14
It is He who taketh your souls at night,15 and knoweth what ye have merited in the day: then he awaketh you therein, that the set life-term may be fulfilled: then unto Him shall ye return; and then shall be declare to you that which ye have wrought.
Supreme over his servants, He sendeth forth guardians who watch over you, until, when death overtaketh any one of you, our messengers take his soul, and fail not:
Then are they returned to God their Lord, the True. Is not judgment His?
Swiftest He, of those who take account!
SAY: Who rescueth you from the darkness of the land and of the sea, when humbly and secretly ye cry to Him-"If thou rescue us from this, we will surely be of the thankful?"
SAY: God rescueth you from them, and from every strait: yet afterwards ye give Him companions!