Quran — Page 266

[Lot] said: "[Take instead] these daughters of mine, if you must do [whatever you intend to do]!"

[But the angels spoke thus:] "As thou livest, [O Lot, they will not listen to thee:] behold, in their delirium [of lust] they are but blindly stumbling to and fro!"

And thereupon the blast [of Our punishment] overtook them at the time of sunrise,

and We turned those [sinful towns} upside down, and rained down upon them stone-hard blows of chastisement pre-ordained.

Verily, in all this there are messages indeed for those who can read the signs:

for, behold, those [towns] stood by a road that still exists.

Verily, herein lies a message indeed for all who believe [in God].

AND THE DWELLERS of the wooded dales [of Madyan, too,] were inveterate evildoers,

and so We inflicted Our retribution on them. And, behold, both these [sinful communities] lived by a highway, [to this day] plain to see

AND, [likewise,] indeed, the people of Al-Hijr gave the lie to [Our] message-bearers:

for We did vouchsafe them Our messages, but they obstinately turned their backs upon them-

notwithstanding that they had been wont [to enjoy Our blessings and] to hew out dwellings from the mountains, [wherein they could live] in security

and so the blast [of Our punishment] overtook them at early morn,

and of no avail to them was all [the power] that they had acquired.

AND [remember:] We have not created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them without [an inner] truth; but, behold, the Hour [when this will become clear to all] is indeed yet to come. Hence, forgive [men's failings] with fair forbearance:

verily, thy Sustainer is the all-knowing Creator of all things!

AND, INDEED, We have bestowed upon thee seven of the oft repeated [verses], and [have, thus, laid open before thee] this sublime Qur'an:

[so] turn, not thine eyes [longingly] towards the worldly benefits which We have granted unto some of those [that deny the truth]. And neither grieve over those [who refuse to heed thee], but spread the wings of thy tenderness over the believers,

and say: "Behold, I am indeed the plain warner [promised by God]!

[For, thou art the bearer of a divine writ] such as We have bestowed from on high upon those who [afterwards] broke it up into parts,