And he went into his garden—to his own soul unjust. He said, “I do not think that this will ever perish:

And I do not think that ‘the Hour’ will come: and even if I be taken back to my Lord, I shall surely find a better than it in exchange.”

His fellow said to him, disputing with him, “What ! hast thou no belief in him who created thee of the dust, then of the germs of life,¹² then fashioned thee a perfect man?

But God is my Lord; and no other being will I associate with my Lord.

And why didst thou not say when thou enteredst thy garden, ‘What God willeth! There is no power but in God.’ Though thou seest that I have less than thou of wealth and children,

Yet haply my Lord may bestow on me better than thy garden, and may send his bolts upon it out of Heaven, so that the next dawn shall find it barren dust;

Or its water become deep sunk, so that thou art unable to find it.”

And his fruits were encompassed by destruction. Then began he to turn down the palms of his hands at what he had spent on it; for its vines were falling down on their trellises, and he said, “Oh that I had not joined any other god to my Lord!”

And he had no host to help him instead of God, neither was he able to help himself.

Protection in such a case is of God—the Truth: He is the best rewarder, and He bringeth to the best issue.

And set before them a similitude of the present life. It is as water which we send down from Heaven, and the herb of the Earth is mingled with it, and on the morrow it becometh dry stubble which the winds scatter: for God hath power over all things.

Wealth and children are the adornment of this present life: but good works, which are lasting, are better in the sight of thy Lord as to recompense, and better as to hope.

And call to mind the day when we will cause the mountains to pass away,¹³ and thou shalt see the earth a levelled plain, and we will gather mankind together, and not leave of them any one.

And they shall be set before thy Lord in ranks:—“Now are ye come unto us as we created you at first: but ye thought that we should not make good to you the promise.”

And each shall have his book put into his hand: and thou shalt see the wicked in alarm at that which is therein: and they shall say, “O woe to us! what meaneth this Book? It leaveth neither small nor great unnoted down!” And they shall find all that they have wrought present to them, and thy Lord will not deal unjustly with any one.

When we said to the angels, “Prostrate yourselves before Adam,” they all prostrated them save Eblis, who was of the Djinn,¹⁴ and revolted from his Lord’s behest. behest.—What! will ye then take him and his offspring as patrons rather than Me? and they your enemies? Sad exchange for the ungodly!

I made them not witnesses of the creation of the Heavens and of the Earth, nor of their own creation, neither did I take seducers as my helpers.

On a certain day, God shall say, “Call ye on the companions ye joined with me, deeming them to be gods:” and they shall call on them, but they shall not answer them: then will we place a valley of perdition between them: