The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

21: 100
The Prophets 207
the jinn a subservient to him, to dive for him and do other works
besides. We were watching over them.
83 Remember Job, when he cried to his Lord, ‘Suffering has truly
afflicted me, but you are the Most Merciful of the merciful.’ 84 We
answered him, removed his suffering, and restored his family to him,
along with more like them, as an act of grace from Us and a reminder
for all who serve Us. 85 And remember Ishmael, Idris, and Dhu’l-
Kifl: b they were all steadfast. 86 We admitted them to Our mercy;
they were truly righteous. 87 And remember the man with the whale, c
when he went off angrily, thinking We could not restrict him,
but then he cried out in the deep darkness, ‘There is no God but
You, glory be to You, I was wrong.’ 88 We answered him and saved
him from distress: this is how We save the faithful. 89 Remember
Zachariah, when he cried to his Lord, ‘My Lord, do not leave me
childless, though You are the best of heirs.’ 90 We answered him –We
gave him John, and cured his wife of barrenness – they were always
keen to do good deeds. They called upon Us out of longing and awe,
and humbled themselves before Us. 91 Remember the one who
guarded her chastity. d We breathed into her from Our Spirit and
made her and her son a sign for all people.
92 [Messengers], e this community of yours is one single community
and I am your Lord, so serve Me. 93 They have torn their unity apart,
but they will all return to Us. 94 If anyone does good deeds and is
a believer, his efforts will not be ignored: We record them for
him. 95 No community destroyed by Us can escape its return, f 96 and
when the peoples of Gog and Magog are let loose and swarm swiftly
from every highland, 97 when the True Promise draws near, the
disbelievers’ eyes will stare in terror, and they will say, ‘Woe to us!
We were not aware of this at all. We were wrong.’ 98 You [disbelievers]
and what you worship instead of God will be fuel for
Hell: that is where you will go – 99 if these [idols] had been real gods
they would not have gone there – you will all stay there. 100 There
a Cf. 34: 12–13.
b Some commentators suggest this refers to the prophet Ezekiel. See Encyclopaedia
of Islam under Dhu’l-Kifl.
c Jonah. Cf. 37: 139–48.
d Mary. Cf. 66: 12.
e Cf. 23: 51–3.
f Other interpretations are: ‘they will not return to the world’; ‘they will not turn
away from their misdeeds’.