Chastisement awaiteth them in this present life, and more grievous shall be the chastisement of the next:  and none shall screen them from God.

A picture of the Paradise which God hath promised to them that fear Him.  The rivers flow beneath its bowers:  its food and its shades are perpetual.  This is the reward of those who fear God; but the reward of the unbelievers is the Fire.

They to whom we have given the Book rejoice6 in what hath been sent down to thee; yet some are banded together who deny a part of it.  Say:  I am commanded to worship God, and not to associate any creature with Him.  On Him do I call, and to Him shall I return.

Thus, then, as a code in the Arabic tongue have we sent down the Koran; and truly, if after the knowledge that hath reached thee thou follow their desires, thou shalt have no guardian nor protector against God.

Apostles truly have we already sent before thee, and wives and offspring have we given them.  Yet no apostle had come with miracles unless by the leave of God.  To each age its Book.

What He pleaseth will God abrogate or confirm:  for with Him is the source of revelation.7

Moreover, whether we cause thee to see the fulfilment of part of our menaces, or whether we take thee hence, verily, thy work is preaching only, and ours to take account.

See they not that we come into their land and cut short its borders?8 God pronounceth a doom, and there is none to reverse his doom.  And swift is He to take account.

Those who lived before them made plots:  but all plotting is controlled by God:  He knoweth the works of every one, and the infidels shall know whose will be the recompense of the abode.

The infidels, moreover, will say; Thou art not sent of God.  Say:  God is witness enough betwixt me and you, and, whoever hath knowledge of the Book.

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1 See Sura 1xviii. p. 32.

2 This is said by the traditionists and commentators generally, to refer to Amir and Arbad ben Kais, who in the year 9 or 10 conspired against Muhammad’s life, and were struck dead by lightning.  See the authorities in Nöld. p. 120:  Weil, 256; Caussin, iii. 295.  But this explanation may have been suggested by the words of the text, which must, if the comment be correct, have been revealed at Medina.

3 Thus, “one hour of bliss in the world to come is better than all life in this world.”  Mischnah Aboth, iv. 17.  Comp.  Sura [cxiii.] ix. 38.

4 See Sura xvii. 109.  This verse is said to have been occasioned by the refusal of the Meccans at Hudaibiya to adopt the formula prescribed by Muhammad-In the Name of the God of Mercy, the Merciful-declaring that they knew not who the God of Mercy (Arrahman) was.  This was in Hej. 6.  See n. p. 173.

5 Lit. despair.

6 That is, the Jews, who at this period of Muhammad’s prophetic function, must have been highly gratified at the strong leaning towards, and respect for, their Scriptures and Histories, which shews itself increasingly in the later Meccan Suras.