in order that you might gain mastery over them,* and that, whenever you have mastered them, you might remember your Sustainer's blessings and say: “Limitless in His glory is He who has made [all] this subservient to our use - since [but for Him,] we would not have been able to attain to it.

“And then - why have no golden armlets been bestowed on him?* or why have no angels come together with him?"

For on that Day thou wilt see all who were lost in sin linked together in fetters,*

and when they are flung, linked [all] together, into a tight space within, they will pray for extinction there and then!*

and others linked together in fetters.*

And [God does not love] those who spend their possessions on others [only] to be seen and praised by men, the while they believe neither in God nor in the Last Day; and he who has Satan for a soul-mate, how evil a soul-mate has he!*

One of them speaks thus: “Behold, I had [on earth] a close companion

for [when they became obli­vious of Us,] We assigned to them [their own evil impulses as their] other selves,* and these made appear goodly to them whatever lay open before them and whatever was beyond their ken.* And so, the sentence [of doom] will have fallen due upon them together with the [other sinful] com­munities of invisible beings* and humans that passed away before their time: verily, they [all] will indeed be lost!

But as for anyone who chooses to remain blind to the remembrance of the Most Gracious, to him We assign an [enduring] evil impulse, to become his other self:*

But in the end,* when he [who has thus sinned] appears before us [on Judgment Day], he will say [to his other self], “Would that between me and thee there had been the distance of east and west!"* for, evil indeed [has proved] that other self!

And one part* of him will say: “This it is that has been ever-present with me!"*

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]!*

Do they not see how many a generation We have destroyed before their time - [people] whom We had given a [bountiful] place on earth, the like of which We never gave unto you, and upon whom We showered heavenly blessings abundant, and at whose feet We made running waters flow? And yet we destroyed them for their sins, and gave rise to other people in their stead.*

And, indeed, We destroyed before your time [whole] generations when they [persistently] did evil although the apostles sent unto them brought them all evidence of the truth; for they refused to believe [them]. Thus do We requite people who are lost in sin.*

BUT, ALAS, among those generations [whom We destroyed] before your time there were no people endowed with any virtue* - [people] who would speak out against the [spread of] corruption on earth -except the few of them whom We saved [because of their righteousness], whereas those who were bent on evildoing only pursued pleasures which corrupted their whole being,* and so lost themselves in sinning.

And how many a generation have We [thus] destroyed after [the time of] Noah! For, none has the like of thy Sustainer's awareness and insight into His creatures' sins.

AND THEY will ask thee about the Two-Horned One. Say: "I will convey unto you something by which he ought to be remembered."*

[And he marched westwards] till, when he came to the setting of the sun,* it appeared to him that it was setting in a dark, turbid sea;* and nearby he found a people [given to every kind of wrongdoing]. We said: "O thou Two-Horned One! Thou mayest either cause [them] to suffer or treat them with kindness!"*

They said: "O thou Two-Horned One! Behold, Gog and Magog"* are spoiling this land. May we, then, pay unto thee a tribute on the understanding that thou wilt erect a barrier between us and them?"

And yet, how many a generation have We destroyed before their time-[people] who surpassed them in material power* and in outward show!

for, how many a generation* have We destroyed before their time - [and] canst thou perceive any one of them [now], or hear any whisper of them?

Said [Pharaoh]: "And what of all the past generations?"*

CAN, THEN, they [who reject the truth] learn no lesson by recalling how many a generation We have destroyed before their time?* - [people] in whose dwelling-places they [themselves now] walk about? In this, behold, there are messages indeed for those who are endowed with reason!

AND AFTER those [people of old] We gave rise to new generations;*

AND AFTER them We gave rise to new genera­tions:*

And [remember how We punished the tribes of] Ad and Thamud and the people of Ar-Rass,* and many generations [of sinners] in-between:

And [then,] indeed, after We had destroyed those earlier generations [of sinners], We vouchsafed unto Moses [Our] revelation as a means of insight for men,* and as a guidance and grace, so that they might bethink themselves [of Us].

nay, but [between them and thee] We brought into being [many] generations, and long was their span of life. And neither didst thou dwell among the people of Madyan, conveying Our messages unto them:* nay, but We have [always] been sending [Our message-bearers unto man].

Answered he: “This [wealth] has been given to me only by virtue of the knowledge that is in me!"* Did he not know that God had destroyed [the arrogant of] many a generation that preceded him - people who were greater than he in power, and richer in what they had amassed? But such as are lost in sin may not be asked about, their sins.*

[But] can, then, they [who deny the truth] learn no lesson by recalling how many a generation We have destroyed before their time?* [people] in whose dwelling-places they [themselves now] walk about? In this, behold, there are messages indeed: will they not, then, listen?

Are they not aware of how many a generation We have destroyed before their time, [and] that those [that have perished] will never return to them,*

How many a generation have We destroyed before their time [for this very sin]!* And [how] they called [unto Us] when it was too late to escape!*

But [there is many a one] who says to his parents [whenever they try to imbue him with faith in God]: “Fie upon both of you! Do you promise me that I shall be brought forth [from the dead], although [so many] generations have passed away before me?"* And [while] they both pray for God's help [and say], “Alas for thee! For, behold, God's promise always comes true!" - he but answers, “All this is nothing but fables of ancient times!"

AND HOW MANY a generation have We destroyed before those [who now deny the truth]* people of greater might than theirs; but [when Our chastise­ment befell them,] they became wanderers on the face of the earth, seeking no more than a place of refuge*