Quran — Page 273
Uthmani · القرآن الكريم برسم العثماني (uthmani)
[as if] to prove their ingratitude for all that We have granted them! Enjoy, then, your [brief] life: but in time you will come to know [the truth]!
As it is, they ascribe - out of what We provide for them as sustenance - a share unto things of which they know nothing. By God, you shall most certainly be called to account for all your false imagery!
And [thus, too,] they ascribe daughters unto God, who is limitless in His glory - whereas for themselves [they would choose, if they could, only] what they desire:
for, whenever any of them is given the glad tiding of [the birth of] a girl, his face darkens, and he is filled with suppressed anger,
avoiding all people because of the [alleged] evil of the glad tiding which he has received, [and debating within himself:] Shall he keep this [child] despite the contempt [which he feels for it]-or shall he bury it in the dust? Old, evil indeed is whatever they decide!
[Thus it is that] the attribute of evil applies to all who do not believe in the life to come -whereas unto God applies the attribute of all that is most sublime: for He alone is almighty, truly wise!
Now if God were to take men [immediately] to task for all the evil that they do [on earth], He would not leave a single living creature upon its face. However, He grants them respite until a term set [by Him]: but when the end of their term approaches, they can neither delay it by a single moment, nor can they hasten it.
As it is, they ascribe to God something that they [themselves] dislike -and [all the while] their tongues utter the lie that [by doing so] they earn supreme merit! Truly, they earn but the fire, and will be left out [of God's grace]!
By God, [O Prophet,] even before thy time have We sent apostles unto [various] communities: but [those who were bent on denying the truth have always refused to listen to Our messages because] Satan has made all their own doings seem goodly to them: and he is [as] close to them today [as he was to the sinners of yore]; hence, grievous suffering awaits them.
And upon thee [too] have We bestowed from on' high this divine writ for no other reason than that thou might make clear unto them all [questions of faith] on which they have come to hold divergent views, and [thus offer] guidance and grace unto people who will believe.
Muhammad Asad · Asad