The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

2: 20
The Cow 5
keep up the prayer, a and give b out of what We have provided for
them; 4 those who believe in the revelation sent down to you
[Muhammad], and in what was sent before you, those who have
firm faith in the Hereafter. 5 Such people are following their Lord’s
guidance and it is they who will prosper. 6 As for those who disbelieve,
it makes no difference whether you warn them or not: they
will not believe. 7 God has sealed their hearts and their ears, and their
eyes are covered. They will have great torment. c
8 Some people say, ‘We believe in God and the Last Day,’ when
really they do not believe. 9 They seek to deceive God and the
believers but they only deceive themselves, though they do not realize
it. 10 There is a disease in their hearts, to which God has added
more: agonizing torment awaits them for their persistent lying.
11 When it is said to them, ‘Do not cause corruption in the land,’ they
say, ‘We are only putting things right,’ 12 but really they are causing
corruption, though they do not realize it. 13 When it is said to them,
‘Believe, as the others believe,’ they say, ‘Should we believe as the
fools do?’ but they are the fools, though they do not know it. 14 When
they meet the believers, they say, ‘We believe,’ but when they are
alone with their evil ones, they say, ‘We’re really with you; we were
only mocking.’ 15 God is mocking them, and allowing them more
slack to wander blindly in their insolence. 16 They have bought error
in exchange for guidance, so their trade reaps no profit, and they are
not rightly guided. 17 They are like people who [labour to] kindle a
fire: when it lights up everything around them, God takes away all
their light, leaving them in utter darkness, unable to see – 18 deaf,
dumb, and blind: they will never return. 19 Or [like people who,
under] a cloudburst from the sky, with its darkness, thunder, and
lightning, put their fingers into their ears to keep out the thunderclaps
for fear of death – God surrounds the disbelievers. 20 The
lightning almost snatches away their sight: whenever it flashes on
a This means regular and proper performance of the formal prayer (salah), as taught
by the Prophet Muhammad.
b Yunfiquna in the Arabic of the Quran literally means ‘spend’, on others, in good
causes, in the way of God.
c The basic meaning of adhab is ‘to restrain (from doing wrong)’, extended to mean
anything difficult or painful, punishment, famine (see 23: 78). See Majaz al-Quran, by
Izz al-Din Ibn Abdul-Salam (London: Al-Furqan Foundation, 1999), 194, and E. W.
Lane, Arabic–English Lexicon (Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 1968).