as well as the people of Noah before them - [since,] verily, they all had been most willful in their evildoing and most overweening –

Man's other self' will say:* “O our Sustainer! It was not I that led his conscious mind* into evil [nay,] but it had gone far astray [of its own accord]!*

TO [THIS] TRUTH gave the lie, in their overweening arrogance, [the tribe of] Thamud,*

Now as for the Thamud - they were destroyed by a violent upheaval [of the earth];*

Moreover, we had no power at all over you: nay, you were people filled with overweening arrogance!

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:

Have they, perchance, handed down this [way of thinking] as a legacy unto one another? Nay, they are people filled with overweening ar­rogance!

Is it their minds that bid them [to take] this [attitude] - or are they [simply] people filled with overweening arrogance?*

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

a goal for all who are wont to transgress the bounds of what is right!

THERE SHALL BE no coercion in matters of faith.* Distinct has now become the right way from [the way of] error: hence, he who rejects the powers of evil* and believes in God has indeed taken hold of a support most unfailing, which shall never give way: for God is all-hearing, all-knowing.

God is near unto those who have faith, taking them out of deep darkness into the light - whereas near unto those who are bent on denying the truth are the powers of evil that take them out of the light into darkness deep: it is they who are destined for the fire, therein to abide.

Art thou not aware of those who, having been granted their share of the divine writ, [now] believe in baseless mysteries and in the powers of evil,* and maintain that those who are bent on denying the truth are more surely guided than those who have attained to faith?

ART THOU NOT aware of those who claim that they believe in what has been bestowed from on high upon thee, [O Prophet,] as well as in what was bestowed from on high before thee, [and yet] are willing to defer to the rule of the powers of evil* - although they were bidden to deny it, seeing that Satan but wants to lead them far astray?

Those who have attained to faith fight in the cause of God, whereas those who are bent on denying the truth fight in the cause of the powers of evil. Fight, then, against those friends of Satan: verily, Satan's guile is weak indeed!*

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]."*

And indeed, within every community* have We raised up an apostle [entrusted with this message]: "Worship God, and shun the powers of evil!"* And among those [past generations] were people whom God graced with His guidance,* just as there was among them [many a one] who inevitably fell prey to grievous error:* go, then, about the earth and behold what happened in the end to those who gave the lie to the truth!

seeing that for those who shun the powers of evil lest they [be tempted to] worship them,* and turn unto God instead, there is the glad tiding [of happiness in the life to come].* Give, then, this glad tiding to [those of] My ser­vants

God will requite them for their mockery,* and will leave them for a while in their overweening arrogance, blindly stumbling to and fro:

And the Jews say, "God's hand is shackled!" It is their own hands that are shackled; and rejected [by God] are they because of this their assertion.* Nay, but wide are His hands stretched out: He dispenses [bounty] as He wills. But all that has been bestowed from on high upon thee [O Prophet] by thy Sustainer is bound to make many of them yet more stubborn in their overweening arrogance and in their denial of the truth. And so We have cast enmity and hatred among the followers of the Bible ,* [to last] until Resurrection Day; every time they light the fires of war, God extinguishes them ;* and they labour hard to spread corruption on earth: and God does not -love the spreaders of corruption.

Say: "O followers of the Bible! You have no valid ground for your beliefs -unless you [truly] observe the Torah and the Gospel, and all that has been bestowed from on high upon you by your Sustainer!"* Yet all that has been bestowed from on high upon thee [O Prophet] by thy Sustainer is bound to make many of them yet more stubborn in their overweening arrogance and in their denial of the truth. But sorrow not over people who deny the truth:

so long as We keep their hearts and their eyes turned [away from the truth],* even as they did not believe in it in the first instance: and [so] We shall leave them in their overweening arrogance, blindly stumbling to and fro.

For those whom God lets go astray, there is no guide; and He shall leave them in their overweening arrogance, blindly stumbling to and fro.*

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.

And lo! We said unto thee, [O Prophet:] "Behold, thy Sustainer encompasses all mankind [within His knowledge and might]: and so We have ordained that the vision which We have shown thee* -as also the tree [of hell,] cursed in this Qur'an - shall be but a trial for men .* Now [by Our mentioning hell] We convey a warning to them: but [if they are bent on denying the truth,] this [warning] only increases their gross, overweening arrogance."

"And as for that young man, his parents were [true] believers - whereas we had every reason to fear* that he would bring bitter grief upon them by [his] overweening wickedness and denial of all truth:

And even were We to show them mercy and remove whatever distress might befall them [in this life],* they would still persist in their overweening arrogance, blindly stumbling to and fro.

Pursue, then, the right course, as thou hast been bidden [by God], together with all who, with thee, have turned unto Him; and let none of you behave in an overweening manner:* for, verily, He sees all that you do.

"[And now] go thou unto Pharaoh: for, verily, he has transgressed all bounds of equity.*

go forth, both of you, unto Pharaoh: for, verily, he has transgressed all bounds of equity!

The two [brothers] said: "O our Sustainer! Verily, we fear lest he act hastily with regard to us,* or lest he [continue to] transgress all bounds of equity."

"Partake of the good things which We have provided for you as sustenance,* but do not transgress therein the bounds of equity* lest My condemnation fall upon you: for, he upon whom My condemnation falls has indeed thrown himself into utter ruin!"*

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

so that you [too, O men,] might never transgress the measure [of what is right]:

[And] behold: when the waters [of Noah's flood] burst beyond all limits, it was We who caused you* to be borne [to safety] in that floating ark,

"Go unto Pharaoh - for, verily, he has transgressed all bounds of what is right -

For, unto him who shall have transgressed the bounds of what is right,

[It was they] who transgressed all bounds of equity all over their lands,

Nay, verily, man becomes grossly overweening