Quran — Page 323

For, how many a community that persisted in evildoing have We dashed into fragments, and raised another people in its stead!

And [every time,] as soon as they began to feel Our punishing might, lo! they tried to flee from it

[and at the same time they seemed to hear a scornful voice]: “Do not try to flee, but return to all that [once] gave you pleasure and corrupted your whole being. and [return] to your homes, so that you might be called to account [for what you have done]!”

And they could only cry: “Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we were wrongdoers!”

And that cry of theirs did not cease until We caused them to become [like] a field mown down, still and silent as ashes.

AND [know that] We have not created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in mere idle play:

[for,] had We willed to indulge in a pastime, We would indeed have produced it from within Ourselves - if such had been Our will at all!

Nay, but [by the very act of creation] We hurl the truth against falsehood, and it crushes the latter: and lo! it withers away. But woe unto you for all your [attempts at] defining [God] –

for, unto Him belong all [beings] that are in the heavens and on earth; and those that are with Him are never too proud to worship Him and never grow weary [thereof]:

they extol His lim­itless glory by night and by day, never flagging [therein].

And yet some people choose to worship certain earthly things or beings as deities that [are supposed to] resurrect [the dead; and they fail to realize that],

had there been in heaven or on earth any deities other than God, both [those realms would surely have fallen into ruin! But limitless in His glory is God, enthroned in His awesome almightiness far] above anything that men may devise by way of definition!

He cannot be called to account for whatever He does, whereas they will be called to account:

and yet, they choose to worship [imaginary] deities instead of Him! Say [O Prophet]: “Produce an evidence for what you are claiming: this is a reminder [unceasingly voiced] by those who are with me, just as it was a reminder [voiced] by those who came before me.” But nay, most of them do not know the truth, and so they stubbornly turn away [from it]