Quran — Page 526

CONSIDER this unfolding [of God’s message], as it comes down from on high!

This fellow-man of yours has not gone astray, nor is he deluded,

and neither does he speak out of his own desire:

that [which he conveys to you] is but [a divine] inspiration with which he is being inspired –

something that a very mighty one has imparted to him:

[an angel] endowed with sur­passing power, who in time manifested himself in his true shape and nature,

appearing in the horizon’s loftiest part,

and then drew near, and came close,

until he was but two bow-lengths away, or even nearer.

And thus did [God] reveal unto His servant whatever He deemed right to reveal.

The [servant’s] heart did not give the lie to what he saw:

will you, then, contend with him as to what he saw?

And, indeed, he saw him a second time

by the lote-tree of the farthest limit,

near unto the garden of promise.

with the lote-tree veiled in a veil of nameless splendour….

[And withal,] the eye did not waver, nor yet did it stray:

truly did he see some of the most profound of his Sustainer’s symbols.

HAVE YOU, then, ever considered [what you are worshipping in] Al-Lat and Al-Uzza,

as well as [in] Manat, the third and last [of this triad]?

Why - for yourselves [you would choose only] male offspring, whereas to Him [you assign] female:

that, lo and behold, is an unfair division!

These [allegedly divine beings] are nothing but empty names which you have invented - you and your forefathers - [and] for which God has bestowed no warrant from on high. They [who worship them] follow nothing but surmise and their own wishful thinking - although right guidance has now indeed come unto them from their Sustainer.

Does man imagine that it is his due to have all that he might wish for,

despite the fact that [both] the life to come and this present [one] belong to God [alone]?

For, however many angels there be in the heavens, their intercession can be of no least avail [to anyone] - except after God has given leave [to inter­cede] for whomever He wills and with whom He is well-pleased.