When their brother Lot said to them, "Will ye not fear G.o.d?
I am your Apostle worthy of all credit:
Fear G.o.d, then, and obey me.
For this I ask you no reward: my reward is of the Lord of the worlds alone.
What! with men, of all creatures, will ye have commerce?
And leave ye your wives whom your Lord hath created for you? Ah! ye are an erring people!"
They said, "O Lot, if thou desist not, one of the banished shalt thou surely be."
He said, "I utterly abhor your doings:
My Lord! deliver me and my family from what they do."
So we delivered him and his whole family-
Save an aged one among those who tarried-
Then we destroyed the rest-
And we rained a rain upon them, and fatal was the rain to those whom we had warned.
In this truly was a sign; but most of them did not believe.
But thy Lord! He is the Powerful, the Merciful!
The dwellers in the forest of Madian15 treated the Apostles as liars.
When Shoaib their brother said to them, "Will ye not fear G.o.d?
I truly am your trustworthy Apostle.
Fear G.o.d, then, and obey me:
No reward ask I of you for this: my reward is of the Lord of the Worlds alone.
Fill the measure, and be not of those who minish:
Weigh with exact balance:
And defraud not men in their substance, and do no wrong on the earth by deeds of licence;
And fear Him who made you and the races of old."
They said, "Certainly thou art a person bewitched.
Thou art but a man like us, and we deem thee liar-
Make now a part of the heaven to fall down upon us, if thou art a man of truth."
He said, "My Lord best knoweth your doings."
And when they treated him as a liar, the chastis.e.m.e.nt of the day of cloud overtook them. This truly was the chastis.e.m.e.nt of a dreadful day!
In this was a sign, but most of them believed not.
But thy Lord!-He is the Mighty, the Merciful!
Verily from the Lord of the Worlds hath this Book come down;
The faithful spirit16 hath come down with it
Upon thy heart, that thou mightest become a warner-
In the clear Arabic tongue:
And truly it is foretold in the Scriptures of them of yore.17
Was it not a sign to them18 that the learned among the children of Israel recognised it?
If we had sent it down unto any foreigner,
And he had recited it to them, they had not believed.
In such sort have we influenced19 the heart of the wicked ones,
That they will not believe it till they see the grievous chastis.e.m.e.nt?
And it shall come upon them on a sudden when they look not for it:
And they will say, "Can we be respited?"
What! will they seek to hasten on our chastis.e.m.e.nt?
How thinkest thou? If after we have given them their fill for years,
That with which they are menaced come upon them at last,
Of what avail will their enjoyments be to them?
We never destroyed a city which had not first its warners
With admonition; nor did we deal unjustly.
The Satans were not sent down with this Koran: