The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

106
The Quran 7: 163
163 [Prophet], ask them about the town by the sea; how its people
broke the Sabbath when their fish surfaced for them only on that
day, never on weekdays – We tested them in this way: because of
their disobedience – 164 how, when some of them asked [their
preachers], ‘Why do you bother preaching to people God will destroy,
or at least punish severely?’ [the preachers] answered, ‘In order
to be free from your Lord’s blame, and so that they may perhaps take
heed.’ 165 When they ignored [the warning] they were given, We
saved those who forbade evil, and punished the wrongdoers severely
because of their disobedience. 166 When, in their arrogance, they persisted
in doing what they had been forbidden to do, We said to them,
‘Be like apes! a Be outcasts!’ 167 And then your Lord declared that,
until the Day of Resurrection, He would send people against them to
inflict terrible suffering on them. Your Lord is swift in punishment
but He is most forgiving and merciful.
168 We dispersed them over the earth in separate communities –
some are righteous and some less so: We tested them with blessings
and misfortunes, so that they might all return [to righteousness] –
169 and they were succeeded by generations who, although they
inherited the Scripture, took the fleeting gains of this lower world,
saying, ‘We shall be forgiven,’ and indeed taking them again if other
such gains came their way. Was a pledge not taken from them, written
in the Scripture, to say nothing but the truth about God? And
they have studied its contents well. For those who are mindful of
God, the Hereafter is better. ‘Why do you not use your reason?’
170 But as for those who hold fast to the Scripture and keep up the
prayer, We do not deny righteous people their rewards. 171 When We
made the mountain loom high above them like a shadow, and they
thought it would fall on them, We said, ‘Hold fast to what We have
given you, and remember what it contains, so that you may remain
conscious of God.’
172 [Prophet], when your Lord took out the offspring from the
loins of the Children of Adam and made them bear witness about
themselves, He said, ‘Am I not your Lord?’ and they replied, ‘Yes,
we bear witness.’ So you cannot say on the Day of Resurrection, ‘We
were not aware of this,’ 173 or, ‘It was our forefathers who, before us,
ascribed partners to God, and we are only the descendants who came
a Cf. note to 2: 65.