which – behold!- will throw up sparks like [burning] logs,

FIGHTING is ordained for you, even though it be hateful to you; but it may well be that you hate a thing the while it is good for you, and it may well be that you love a thing the while it is bad for you: and God knows, whereas you do not know.*

AND THEY should not think - they who niggardly cling to all that God has granted them out of His bounty - that this is good for them: nay, it is bad for them.* That to which they [so] niggardly cling will, on the Day of Resurrection, be hung about their necks: for unto God [alone] belongs the heritage of the heavens and of the earth; and God is aware of all that you do.

Say: "Shall I tell you who, in the sight of God, deserves a yet worse retribution than these? They whom God has rejected and whom He has condemned, and whom He has turned into apes and swine because they worshipped the powers of evil:* these are yet worse in station, and farther astray from the right path [than the mockers]."*

Verily, the vilest of all creatures* in the sight of God are those deaf, those dumb ones who do not use their reason.

Verily, the vilest creatures in the sight of God are those who are bent on denying the truth and therefore do not believe.*

NOW IF GOD were to hasten for human beings the ill [which they deserve by their sinning] in the same manner as they [themselves] would hasten [the coming to them of what they consider to be] goad, their end would indeed come forthwith!* But We leave them alone [for a while] -all those who do not believe that they are destined to meet Us:* [We leave them alone] in their overweening arrogance, blindly stumbling to and fro.

[As soon as the cup came to light out of Benjamin's bag, the brothers] exclaimed: "If he has stolen-well, a brother of his used to steal afore-time !"* Thereupon Joseph said to himself, without revealing his thought to them:* "You are far worse in this respect, and God is fully aware of what you are saying.*

As it is,* man [often] prays for things that are bad as if he were praying for something that is good:* for man is prone to be hasty [in his judgments].

for [it often happens that] when We bestow Our blessings upon man, he turns away and arrogantly keeps aloof [from any thought of Us]; and when evil fortune touches him, he abandons all hope.*

Say: "As for him who lives in error, may the Most Gracious lengthen the span of his life!* [And let them say whatever they say* until the time when they behold that [doom] of which they were forewarned-whether it be suffering [in this world] or [at the coming of] the Last Hour -: for then they will understand which [of the two kinds of man] was worse in station and weaker in resources!*

Every human being is bound to taste death; and We test you [all] through the bad and the good [things of life] by way of trial: and unto Us you all must return.*

As it is, whenever Our messages are conveyed unto them in all their clarity, thou canst perceive utter repugnance on the faces of those who are bent on denying the truth: they would almost assault those who convey Our messages unto them! Say: “Shall I, then, tell you of something worse than what you feel at present?* It is the fire [of the hereafter] that God has promised to those who are bent on denying the truth: and how vile a journey's end!"

Verily, numerous among you are those who would falsely accuse others of unchastity:* [but, O you who are thus wronged,] deem it not a bad thing for you: nay, it is good for you!* [As for the slanderers,] unto every one of them [will be accounted] all that he has earned by [thus] sinning; and awesome suffering awaits any of them who takes it upon himself to enhance this [sin]!*

[And so, tell those who are bent on denying the truth that] they who shall be gathered unto hell upon their faces –* it is they who [in the life to come] will be worst in station and still farther astray from the path [of truth]!*

All this [for the righteous]: but, verily, the most evil of all goals awaits those who are wont to transgress the bounds of what is right:

And they will add: “How is it that we do not see [here any of the] men whom we were wont to count among the wicked,

MAN NEVER TIRES of asking for the good [things of life]; and if evil fortune touches him, he abandons all hope, giving himself up to despair.*

And, too, when We bestow Our blessings upon man, he tends to turn aside and keep aloof [from remembering Us]; but as soon as evil fortune touches him, he is full of wordy prayers!*

[As a rule,] whenever misfortune touches him, he is filled with self-pity;*

"'And [now we have become aware] that we [created beings] may not know whether evil fortune is intended for [any of] those who live on earth, or whether it is their Sustainer's will to endow them with consciousness of what is right:*

[The truly virtuous are] they [who] fulfil their vows,* and stand in awe of a Day the woe of which is bound to spread far and wide,

And so, God will preserve them from the woes of that Day, and will bestow on them brightness and joy,

Verily, those who [despite all evidence] are bent on denying the truth* - [be they] from among the followers of earlier revelation or from among those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God - will find themselves in the fire of hell, therein to abide: they are the worst of all creatures.

and he who shall have done an atom's weight of evil, shall behold it.

"from the evil of aught that He has created,

"and from the evil of the black darkness whenever it descends,*

"and from the evil of all human beings bent on occult endeavours,*

"and from the evil of the envious when he envies."*

"from the evil of the whispering, elusive tempter