God does not burden any human being with more than he is well able to bear: in his favour shall be whatever good he does, and against him whatever evil he does. O our Sustainer! Take us not to task if we forget or unwittingly do wrong! "O our Sustainer! Lay not upon us a burden such as Thou didst lay upon those who lived before us!* O our Sustainer! Make us not bear burdens which we have no strength to bear! "And efface Thou our sins, and grant us forgiveness, and bestow Thy mercy upon us! Thou art our Lord Supreme: succour us, then, against people who deny the truth!"

Hence, do not covet the bounties which God has bestowed more abundantly on some of you than on others. Men shall have a benefit from what they earn, and women shall have a benefit from what they earn. Ask, therefore, God [to give you] out of His bounty: behold, God has indeed full knowledge of everything.

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 as for those who malign believing men and believing women without their having done any wrong - they surely burden themselves with the guilt of calumny, and [thus] with a flagrant sin!

Woe, then, unto those who write down, with their own hands, [something which they claim to be] divine writ, and then say. "This is from God," in order to acquire a trifling gain thereby;* woe, then, unto them for what their hands have written, and woe unto them for all that they may have gained!

Yea! Those who earn evil and by their sinfulness are engulfed - they are destined for the fire. therein to abide;

Now those people have passed away; unto them shall be accounted what they have earned, and unto you, what you have earned; and you will not be, judged on the strength of what they did.*

"Now those people have passed away; unto them shall be accounted what they have earned, and unto you, what you have earned; and you will not be judged on the strength of what they did."

it is these. that shall have their portion [of happiness] in return for what they have earned. And God is swift in reckoning.

God will not take you to task for oaths which you may have uttered without thought, but will take you to task [only] for what your hearts have conceived [in earnest]: for God is much-forgiving, forbearing.

O you who have attained to faith! Do not deprive your charitable deeds of all worth by stressing your own benevolence and hurting [the feelings of the needy], as does he who spends his wealth only to be seen and praised by men, and believes not in God and the Last Day: for his parable is that of a smooth rock with [a little] earth upon it - and then a rainstorm smites it and leaves it hard and bare. Such as these shall have no gain whatever from all their [good] works: for God does not guide people who refuse to acknowledge the truth.

O you who have attained to faith! Spend on others out of the good things which you may have acquired, and out of that which We bring forth for you from the earth; and choose not for your spending the bad things which you yourselves would not accept without averting your eyes in disdain. And know that God is self-sufficient, ever to be praised.

And be conscious of the Day on which you shall be brought back unto God, whereupon every human being shall be repaid in full for what he has earned, and none shall be wronged .*

God does not burden any human being with more than he is well able to bear: in his favour shall be whatever good he does, and against him whatever evil he does. O our Sustainer! Take us not to task if we forget or unwittingly do wrong! "O our Sustainer! Lay not upon us a burden such as Thou didst lay upon those who lived before us!* O our Sustainer! Make us not bear burdens which we have no strength to bear! "And efface Thou our sins, and grant us forgiveness, and bestow Thy mercy upon us! Thou art our Lord Supreme: succour us, then, against people who deny the truth!"

How, then, [will they fare] when We shall gather them all together to witness the Day about [the coming of] which there is no doubt, and every human being shall be repaid in full for what he has done, and none shall be wronged?

Behold, as for those of you who turned away [from their duty] on the day when the two hosts met in battle - Satan caused them to stumble only by means of something that they [themselves] had done.* But now God has effaced this sin of theirs: verily, God is much-forgiving, forbearing.

AND IT IS not conceivable that a prophet should deceive* - since he who deceives shall be faced with his deceit on the Day of Resurrection, when every human being shall be repaid in full for whatever he has done, and none shall be wronged.

How, then, could you be of two minds* about the hypocrites, seeing that God [Himself] has disowned them because of their guilt?* Do you, perchance, seek to guide those whom God has let go astray - when for him whom God lets go astray thou canst never find any way?

for he who commits a sin, commits it only to his own hurt;* and God is indeed all-knowing, wise.

But he who commits a fault or a sin and then throws the blame therefore on an innocent person, burdens himself with the guilt of calumny and [yet another] flagrant sin.

NOW AS FOR the man who steals and the woman who steals, cut off the hand of either of them in requital for what they have wrought, as a deterrent ordained by God:* for God is almighty, wise.

although He is God in the heavens and on earth, knowing all that you keep secret as well as all that you do openly, and knowing what you deserve.

And leave to themselves all those who, beguiled by the life of this world, have made play and passing delights their religion;* but remind [them] herewith that [in the life to come] every human being shall be held in pledge for whatever wrong he has done, and shall have none to protect him from God, and none to intercede for him; and though he offer any conceivable ransom,* it shall not be accepted from him. It is [people such as] these that shall be held in pledge for the wrong they have done; for them there is [in the life to come] a draught of burning despair* and grievous suffering awaits them because of their persistent refusal to acknowledge the truth.

But abstain from sinning,* be it open or secret-for, behold, those who commit sins shall be requited for all that they have earned.

And in this manner do We cause evildoers to seduce one another* by means of their (evil] doings.

Do they, perchance, wait for the angels to appear unto them, or for thy Sustainer [Himself] to appear, or for some of thy Sustainer's [final] portents to appear?* [But] on the Day when thy Sustainer's [final] portents do appear, believing will be of no avail to any human being who did not believe before, or who, while believing, did no good works.* Say: "Wait, [then, for the Last Day, O unbelievers:] behold, we [believers] are waiting, too!"

Say: "Am I, then, to seek a sustainer other than God, when He is the Sustainer of all things?" And whatever [wrong] any human being commits rests upon himself alone; and no bearer of burdens shall be made to bear another's burden.* And, in time, unto your Sustainer you all must return: and then He will make you. [truly] understand all that on which you were wont to differ.*

And the first of them will say unto the last of them: "So you were in no wise superior to us!* Taste, then, this suffering for all [the evil] that you were wont to do!"

Yet if the people of those communities had but attained to faith and been conscious of Us, We would indeed have opened up for them blessings out of heaven and earth: but they gave the lie to the truth - and so We took them to task through what they [themselves] had been doing.*

Let them, then, laugh a little -.for they will weep a lot* in return for what they have earned.

When you will have returned to them, (O believers,] they will swear to you by God, [repeating their excuses,] with a view to your letting them be.* Let them be, then: behold, they are loathsome, and hell is their goal in recompense for what they were wont to do.

their goal is the fire in return for all [the evil] that they were wont to do.

But us for those who have done evil deeds - the recompense of an evil, deed shall be the like thereof:* and - since they will have none to defend them against God - ignominy will overshadow them as though their faces were veiled by the night's own darkness:* it is they who are destined for the fire. therein to abide.

-whereupon those who [in their lifetime] were bent on evildoing will be told, `Taste suffering abiding! Is this requital anything but the just due for what you were wont to do?"*

IS, THEN, HE who has every living being* in His almighty care, [dealing with each] according to what it deserves* -[is, then, He like anything else that exists]? And yet, they ascribe to other beings a share in God's divinity! Say: "Give them any name [you please]:* but do you [really think that you could] inform Him of anything on earth that He does not know-or [do you] but play with words ?,* Nay, goodly seems their false imagery* to those who are bent on denying the truth, and so they are turned away from the [right] path: and he whom God lets go astray can never find any guide.*

Now those who lived before these [sinners] did, too, devise many a blasphemy* -but the most subtle devising is that of God, who knows what each human being deserves :* and the deniers of the truth will [in time] come to know to whom the future belongs.*

[This, then, is] the parable of those who are bent on denying their Sustainer: all their works* are as ashes which the wind blows about fiercely on a stormy day: [in the life to come,] they cannot achieve any benefit whatever from all [the good] that they may have wrought: for this [denial of God] is indeed the farthest one can go astray.*

[And all shall be judged on that Day,] so that God may requite every human being for all that he has earned [in life]: verily, God is swift in reckoning!

and of no avail to them was all [the power] that they had acquired.

Yet, [withal,] thy Sustainer is the Truly-Forgiving One, limitless in His grace. Were He to take them [at once] to task for whatever [wrong] they commit, He would indeed bring about their speedy punishment [then and there]:* but nay, they have a time-limit beyond which they shall find no redemption*

[Since they have become oblivious of God,] corruption has appeared on land and in the sea as an outcome of what men's hands have wrought: and so* He will let them taste [the evil of] some of their doings, so that they might return [to the right path].*

Verily, with God alone rests the knowledge of when the Last Hour will come: and He [it is who] sends down rain; and He [alone] knows what is in the wombs:* whereas no one knows what he will reap tomorrow, and no one knows in what land he will die, Verily. God [alone] is all-knowing, all-aware.

Now if God were to take men [at once] to task for whatever [wrong] they commit [on earth], He would not leave a single living creature upon its surface. However, He grants them respite for a term set [by Him]:* but when their term comes to an end - then, verily, [they come to know that] God sees all that is in [the hearts of] His servants.

On that Day We shall set a seal on their mouths* but their hands will speak unto Us, and their feet will bear witness to whatever they have earned [in life].

Could, then, one who shall have nothing but is [bare] face to protect him from the awful suffering [that will befall him] on Resurrection Day [be likened to the God-conscious]?* [On that Day,] the evildoers will be told: “Taste [now] what you have earned [in life]!"

and obvious to them will have become the evil that they had wrought [in life]: and thus shall they be overwhelmed by the very truth which they were wont to deride.*

The same did say [to themselves many of] those who lived before their time; but of no avail to them was all that they had ever achieved:

for all the evil deeds that they had wrought fell [back] upon them. And [the same will happen to] people of the present time who are bent on wrongdoing:* all the evil deeds that they have ever wrought will fall [back] upon them, and never will they be able to elude [God]!

On that Day will every human being be requited for what he has earned: no wrong [will be done] on that Day: verily, swift in reckoning is God!

HAVE THEY, then, never journeyed about the earth and beheld what happened in the end to those [deniers of the truth] who lived before their time? More numerous were they, and greater in power than they are, and in the impact which they left on earth: but all that they ever achieved was of no avail to them –

And as for [the tribe of] Thamud, We offered them guidance, but they chose blindness in pre­ference to guidance: and so the thunderbolt of shame­ful suffering fell upon them as an outcome of all [the evil] that they had wrought;

[In that life to come,] thou wilt see the evil­doers full of fear at [the thought of] what they have earned: for [now] it is bound to fall back upon them. And in the flowering meadows of the gardens [of paradise thou wilt see] those who have attained to faith and done righteous deeds: all that they might desire shall they have with their Sustainer: [and] this, this is the great bounty -

Now whatever calamity may befall you [on Judgment Day] will be an outcome of what your own hands have wrought, although He pardons much;*

or else He may cause them to perish because of what they have wrought;* and [withal,] He pardons much.

Hell is ahead of them; and all that they may have gained [in this world] shall be of no avail whatever to them, and neither shall any of those things which, instead of God, they have come to regard as their protectors:* for, awesome suffering awaits them.

Tell all who have attained to faith that they should forgive those who do not believe in the com­ing of the Days of God,* [since it is] for Him [alone] to requite people for whatever they may have earned.

for, God has created the heavens and the earth in accordance with [an inner] truth,* and [has therefore willed] that every human being shall be recompensed for what he has earned and none shall be wronged.

And as for those who have attained to faith and whose offspring will have followed them in faith, We shall unite them with their offspring; and We shall not let aught of their deeds go to waste:* [but] every human being will be held in pledge for whatever he has earned.*

[On the Day of Judgment,] every human being will be held in pledge for whatever [evil] he has wrought –

Nay, but their hearts are corroded by all [the evil] that they were wont to do!*

What will his wealth avail him, and all that he has gained?