“[Always] give full measure, and be not among those who [unjustly] cause loss [to others];

He retorted: "O my people! What do you think? If [it be true that] I am taking my stand on a cleat evidence from my Sustainer, who has vouchsafed unto me grace from Himself -[if this be true,] who would shield me from God were I to rebel against Him?* Hence, what you are offering me is no more than perdition!"*

[And] they add, "That, then, would be a return with loss!"*

and thus they had to taste the evil outcome of their own doing:* for, [in this world,] the end of their doings was ruin,

Verily, man is bound to lose himself

weigh, therefore, [your deeds] with equity, and cut not the measure short!

but when they have to measure or weigh whatever they owe to others, give less than what is due!*

THUS, step by step, We bestow from on high through this Qur'an all that gives health [to the spirit] and is a grace unto those who believe [in Us], the while it only adds to the ruin of evildoers:*

He it is who has made you inherit the earth.* Hence, he who is bent on denying the truth [of God's oneness and uniqueness ought to know that] this denial of his will fall back upon him: for their [per­sistent] denial of this truth does but add to the deniers' loathsomeness in their Sustainer's sight and, thus, their denial of this truth does but add to the deniers' loss.

[And] Noah continued: "O my Sustainer! Behold, they have opposed me [throughout], for they follow people whose wealth and children lead them increasingly into ruin,*

and shall lead them astray, and fill them with vain desires; and I shall command them - and they will cut off the ears of cattle [in idolatrous sacrifice]; and I shall command them - and they will corrupt God's creation!"* But all who take Satan rather than God for their master do indeed, most clearly, lose all:

And there is, too, among men many a one who worships God on the border-line [of faith]:* thus, if good befalls him, he is satisfied with Him; but if a trial assails him, he turns away utterly,* losing [thereby both] this world and the life to come: [and] this, indeed, is a loss beyond compare!*

and [it is up to you, O sinners, to] worship whatever you please instead of Him!" Say: “Behold, the [true] losers will be they who shall have lost their own selves and their kith and kin on Resurrection Day: for is not this, this, the [most] obvious loss?*

truly it is they, they who in the life to come shall be the losers!

Say: "Shall we tell you who are the greatest losers in whatever they may do?

and whereas they sought to do evil unto him, We caused them to suffer the greatest loss:*

It is they whom the worst of suffering awaits: for it is they, they who in the life to come shall be the greatest losers!

and shall lead them astray, and fill them with vain desires; and I shall command them - and they will cut off the ears of cattle [in idolatrous sacrifice]; and I shall command them - and they will corrupt God's creation!"* But all who take Satan rather than God for their master do indeed, most clearly, lose all:

Say: "Unto whom belongs all that is in the heavens and on earth?" Say: "Unto God, who has willed upon Himself the law of grace and mercy.* He will assuredly gather you all together on the Day of Resurrection, [the coming of] which is beyond all doubt: yet those who have squandered their own selves-it is they who refuse to believe [in Him],

They unto whom we have vouchsafed revelation aforetime know this* as they know their own children; yet those [of them] who have squandered their own selves -it is they who refuse to believe.

Lost indeed are they who consider it a lie that they will have to meet God -till the Last Hour suddenly comes upon them, [and] they cry, "Alas for us, that we disregarded it!" - for they shall bear on their backs the burden of their sins:* oh, how evil the load with which they shall be burdened!

Lost, indeed, are they who, in their weak-minded ignorance, slay their children and declare as forbidden that which God has provided for them as sustenance, falsely ascribing [such prohibitions] to God: they have gone astray and have not found the right path.

whereas those whose weight is light in the balance - it is they who will have squandered their own selves by their wilful rejection of Our messages.*

Are [the unbelievers] but waiting for the final meaning of that [Day of Judgment] to unfold?* [But] on the Day when its final meaning is unfolded, those who aforetime had been oblivious thereof will say: "Our Sustainer's apostles have indeed told us the truth! Have we, then, any intercessors who could intercede in our behalf? Or could we be brought back [to life] so that we might act otherwise than we were wont to act?"* Indeed, they will have squandered their own selves, and all their false imagery will have forsaken them.

And on the Day when He shall gather them [unto Himself, it will seem to them] as if they had not tarried [on earth] longer than an hour of a day, knowing one another;* [and] lost indeed will be they who [in their lifetime] considered it a lie that they were destined to meet God, and [thus] failed to find the right' way.

It is they who have squandered their own selves-for [on the Day of Resurrection] all their false imagery* will have forsaken them:

And there is, too, among men many a one who worships God on the border-line [of faith]:* thus, if good befalls him, he is satisfied with Him; but if a trial assails him, he turns away utterly,* losing [thereby both] this world and the life to come: [and] this, indeed, is a loss beyond compare!*

whereas they whose weight is light in the balance - it is they who will have squandered their own selves, [destined] to abide in hell:

and [it is up to you, O sinners, to] worship whatever you please instead of Him!" Say: “Behold, the [true] losers will be they who shall have lost their own selves and their kith and kin on Resurrection Day: for is not this, this, the [most] obvious loss?*

And, indeed, [O Muhammad,] We sent forth apostles before thy time; some of them We have mentioned to thee,* and some of them We have not mentioned to thee. And it was not given to any apostle to bring forth a miracle other than by God's leave.* Yet when God's will becomes manifest,* judgment will [already] have been passed in all justice, and lost will be, then and there, all who tried to reduce to nothing [whatever they could not understand].*

But their attaining to faith after they had beheld Our punishment could not possibly benefit them* such being the way of God that has always obtained for His creatures -: and so, then and there, lost were they who had denied the truth.*

And thou wilt see them exposed to that [doom], humbling themselves in abasement, looking [around] with a furtive glance - the while those who had attained to faith will say, "Verily, lost on [this] Day of Resurrection are they who have squandered their own and their followers' selves!"* Oh, verily, the evildoers will fall into long-lasting suffering,

For, God's is the dominion over the heavens and the earth; and on the Day when the Last Hour dawns - on that Day will be lost all who [in their lifetime] tried to reduce to nothing [whatever they could not understand].*

who break their bond with God after it has been established [in their nature],* and cut asunder what God has bidden to be joined, and spread corruption on earth: these it is that shall be the losers.

And you turned away after that-! And had it not been for God's favour upon you and His grace, you would surely have found yourselves among the lost;

Those unto whom We have vouchsafed the divine writ [and who] follow it as it ought to be followed* -it is they who [truly] believe in it; whereas all who choose to deny its truth -it is they, they who are the losers!

For, if one goes in search of a religion other than self-surrender unto God, it will never be accepted from him, and in the life to come he shall be among the lost.

O YOU who have attained to faith! If you pay heed to those who are bent on denying the truth, they will cause you to turn back on your heels, and you will be the losers.

Today, all the good things of life have been made lawful to you. And the food of those who have been vouchsafed revelation aforetime is lawful to you,* and your food is lawful to them. And [lawful to you are], in wedlock, women from among those who believe [in this divine writ], and, in wedlock, women from among those who have been vouchsafed revelation before your time -provided that you give them their dowers, taking them in honest wedlock, not in fornication, nor as secret love-companions.* But as for him who rejects belief [in God] - in vain will be all his works: for in the life to come he shall be among the lost.*

O my people! Enter the holy land which God has promised you; but do not turn back [on your faith], for then you will be lost!"

But the other's passion* drove him to slaying his brother; and he slew him: and thus he became one of the lost.

while those who have attained to faith will say [to one another], "Are these the selfsame people who swore by God with their most solemn oaths that they were indeed with you? In vain are all their works, for now they are lost!"

The two replied: "O our Sustainer! We have sinned against ourselves -and unless Thou grant us forgiveness and bestow Thy mercy upon us, we shall most certainly be lost!"

But the great ones among his people, who were bent on denying the truth, said [to his followers]: "Indeed, if you follow Shu'ayb, you will, verily, be the losers!"

they who had given the lie to Shu'ayb - as though they had never lived there: they who had given the lie to Shu'ayb -it was they who were the losers!

Can they, then, ever feel secure from God's deep devising? But none feels secure from God's deep devising save people who are [already] lost.*

although [later,] when they would smite their hands in remorse,* having perceived that they had gone astray, they would say, "Indeed, unless our Sustainer have mercy on us and grant us forgiveness, we shall most certainly be among the lost!"*

He whom God guides, he alone is truly guided; whereas those whom He lets go astray-it is they, they who are the losers!

so that God might separate the bad from the good, and join the bad with one another, and link them all together [within His condemnation], and then place them in hell. They, they are the lost!

[Say unto them: "You are] like those [hypocrites] who lived before your time.* Greater than you were they in power, and richer in wealth and in children; and they enjoyed their share [of happiness]. And you have been enjoying your share -just as those who preceded you enjoyed their share; and you have been indulging in scurrilous talk -just as they indulged in it. It is they .whose works have come to nought in this world and in the life to come - and it is they, they who are the cost!"*

and neither be among those who are bent on giving the lie to God's messages, lest thou find thyself among the lost.

Said [Noah]: "O my Sustainer! Verily, I seek refuge with Thee from [ever again] asking of Thee anything whereof I cannot have any knowledge! For unless Thou grant me forgiveness and bestow Thy mercy upon me, I shall be among the lost!"

Said they: "Surely, if the wolf were to devour him notwithstanding that we are so many-then, behold, we ought ourselves to perish!"

Truly it is they, they who in the life to come shall be the losers!

and, indeed, if you pay heed to a mortal like your­selves, you will surely be the losers!

Say [unto those who will not believe]: “God is witness enough between me and you! He knows all that is in the heavens and on earth; and they who are bent on believing in what is false and vain, and thus on denying God - it is they, they who shall be the losers!"

and [it is up to you, O sinners, to] worship whatever you please instead of Him!" Say: “Behold, the [true] losers will be they who shall have lost their own selves and their kith and kin on Resurrection Day: for is not this, this, the [most] obvious loss?*

His are the keys [to the mysteries] of the heavens and the earth: and they who are bent on denying the truth of God's messages - it is they, they, who are the losers!

And yet, it has already been revealed to thee [O man,]* as well as to those who lived before thee, that if thou ever ascribe divine powers to aught but God, all thy works shall most certainly have been in vain: for [in the life to come] thou shalt most certainly be among the lost.

and that very thought which you thought about your Sustainer has brought you to perdition, and so now you find yourselves among the lost!"

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!

And thou wilt see them exposed to that [doom], humbling themselves in abasement, looking [around] with a furtive glance - the while those who had attained to faith will say, "Verily, lost on [this] Day of Resurrection are they who have squandered their own and their followers' selves!"* Oh, verily, the evildoers will fall into long-lasting suffering,

It is [such as] these upon whom the sentence [of doom] will fall due, together with the [other sinful] communities of invisible beings* and humans that have passed away before their time. Verily, they will be lost:

Satan has gained mastery over them, and has caused them to remain oblivious of the remem­brance of God. Such as these are Satan's partisans: oh, verily, it is they, the partisans of Satan, who will truly be the losers!

O YOU who have attained to faith! Let not your worldly goods or your children make you oblivious of the remembrance of God: for If any behave thus - it is they, they who are the losers!