The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

230 The Quran
25: 52
would have sent a warner to every town, 52 so do not give in to the
disbelievers: strive hard against them with this Quran.
53 It is He who released the two bodies of flowing water, one sweet
and fresh and the other salty and bitter, and put an insurmountable
barrier between them. 54 It is He who creates human beings from
fluid, then makes them kin by blood and marriage: your Lord is all
powerful! 55 Yet instead of God they worship things that can neither
benefit nor harm them: the disbeliever has always turned his back on
his Lord. 56 We sent you only to give good news and warning. 57 Say,
‘I am not asking for any reward for it, but anyone who wishes should
take a path to his Lord.’ 58 Put your trust in the Living [God] who
never dies, and celebrate His praise. He knows the sins of His servants
well enough: 59 it is He who created the heavens and earth and
what is between them in six Days, a and then established Himself on
the throne – He is the Lord of Mercy; He is the Best Informed. b
60 Yet when they are told, ‘Bow down before the Lord of Mercy,’ they
say, ‘What is the Lord of Mercy? Should we bow down before anything
you command?’ and they turn even further away. 61 Exalted
is He who put constellations in the heavens, a radiant light, and
an illuminating moon – 62 it is He who made the night and day
follow each other – so anyone who wishes may be mindful or show
gratitude.
63 The servants of the Lord of Mercy are those who walk humbly
on the earth, and who, when the foolish address them, reply, ‘Peace’;
64 those who spend the night bowed down or standing, worshipping
their Lord, 65 who plead, ‘Our Lord, turn away from us the suffering
of Hell, for it is a dreadful torment to suffer! 66 It is an evil home, a
foul resting place!’ 67 They are those who are neither wasteful nor
niggardly when they spend, but keep to a just balance; 68 those who
never invoke any other deity beside God, nor take a life, which God
has made sacred, except in the pursuit of justice, nor commit adultery.
(Whoever does these things will face the penalties: 69 their torment
will be doubled on the Day of Resurrection, and they will
remain in torment, disgraced, 70 except those who repent, believe,
a Cf. 41: 9–12.
b Other readings of this phrase include ‘ask someone who knows’ or ‘ask anyone
how well informed He is’, but the expression fasal, ‘ask someone’, at the beginning of
the phrase is a rhetorical device suggesting the truth of the statement and need not
be translated literally.