Quran — Page 565

[For this] We shall brand him with indelible disgrace!

[As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow,

and made no allowance [for the will of God]:

whereupon a visitation for thy Sustainer came upon that [garden] while they were asleep,

so that by the morrow it became barren and bleak.

Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another,

"Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!"

Thus they launched forth, whispering unto one another,

"Indeed, no needy person shall enter it today [and come] upon you [unawares],"

– and early they went, strongly bent upon their purpose.

But as soon as they beheld [the garden and could not recognize] it, they exclaimed, "Surely we have lost our way!"

- [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!"

Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?’"

They answered: "Limitless in His glory is our Sustainer! Verily, we were doing wrong!"

- and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches.

[In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously!

[But] it may be that our Sustainer will grant us something better instead: for, verily, unto our Sustainer do we turn with hope!"

SUCH is the suffering [with which We try some people in this world]; but greater by far will be the suffering [which sinners shall have to bear] in the life to come - if they but knew it!

For, behold, it is the God-conscious [alone] whom gardens of bliss await with their Sustainer:

or should We, perchance, treat those who surrender themselves unto Us as [We would treat] those who remain lost in sin?

What is amiss with you? On what do you base your judgment [of right and wrong]?

Or have you, perchance, a [special] divine writ which you study,

and in which you find all that you may wish to find?

Or have you received a solemn promise, binding on Us till Resurrection Day, that yours will assuredly be whatever you judge [to be your rightful due]?

Ask them which of them is able to vouch for this!

Or have they, perchance, any sages to support their views? Well, then, if they are sincere in this their claim, let them produce those supporters of theirs

on the Day when man's very being shall be bared to the bone, and when they [who now deny the truth] shall be called upon to prostrate themselves [before God], and shall be unable to do so: