M.Asad · MealMerkezi.Net

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CLOSER DRAWS unto men their reckoning: and yet they remain stubbornly heedless (of its approach).

M.Asad 21:1

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Whenever there comes unto them any new reminder from their Sustainer, they but listen to it with playful amusement,

M.Asad 21:2

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their hearts set on passing delights; yet they who are (thus) bent on wrongdoing conceal their innermost thoughts (when they say to one another), “Is this (Muhammad) anything but a mortal like yourselves? Will you, then, yield to (his) spellbinding eloquence with your eyes open?’’

M.Asad 21:3

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Say: “My Sustainer knows whatever is spoken in heaven and on earth; and He alone is all-hearing, all-knowing.”

M.Asad 21:4

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“Nay,” they say, “(Muhammad propounds) the most involved and confusing of dreams!” “Nay, but he has invented (all) this!” - “Nay, but he is (only) a poet!” - (and,) “Let him, then, come unto us with a miracle, just as those (prophets) of old were sent (with miracles)?”

M.Asad 21:5

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Not one of the communities that We destroyed in bygone times would ever believe (their prophets): will these, then, (be more willing to) believe?

M.Asad 21:6

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For (even) before thy time, (O Muhammad,) We never sent (as Our apostles) any but (mortal) men, whom We inspired - hence, (tell the deniers of the truth,) “If you do not know this, ask the followers of earlier revelation”

M.Asad 21:7

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and neither did We endow them with bodies that could dispense with food nor were they immortal.

M.Asad 21:8

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In the end, We made good unto them Our promise, and We saved them and all whom We willed (to save), and We destroyed those who had wasted their own selves.

M.Asad 21:9

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(O MEN!) We have now bestowed upon you from on high a divine writ containing all that you ought to bear in mind will you not, then, use your reason?

M.Asad 21:10

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For, how many a community that persisted in evildoing have We dashed into fragments, and raised another people in its stead!

M.Asad 21:11

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And (every time,) as soon as they began to feel Our punishing might, lo! they tried to flee from it

M.Asad 21:12

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(and at the same time they seemed to hear a scornful voice): “Do not try to flee, but return to all that (once) gave you pleasure and corrupted your whole being. and (return) to your homes, so that you might be called to account (for what you have done)!’’

M.Asad 21:13

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And they could only cry: “Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we were wrongdoers!”

M.Asad 21:14

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And that cry of theirs did not cease until We caused them to become (like) a field mown down, still and silent as ashes.

M.Asad 21:15

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AND (know that) We have not created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in mere idle play:

M.Asad 21:16

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(for,) had We willed to indulge in a pastime, We would indeed have produced it from within Ourselves - if such had been Our will at all!

M.Asad 21:17

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Nay, but (by the very act of creation) We hurl the truth against falsehood, and it crushes the latter: and lo! it withers away. But woe unto you for all your (attempts at) defining (God) –

M.Asad 21:18

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for, unto Him belong all (beings) that are in the heavens and on earth; and those that are with Him are never too proud to worship Him and never grow weary (thereof):

M.Asad 21:19

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they extol His limitless glory by night and by day, never flagging (therein).

M.Asad 21:20

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And yet some people choose to worship certain earthly things or beings as deities that (are supposed to) resurrect (the dead; and they fail to realize that),

M.Asad 21:21

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had there been in heaven or on earth any deities other than God, both (those realms would surely have fallen into ruin! But limitless in His glory is God, enthroned in His awesome almightiness far) above anything that men may devise by way of definition!

M.Asad 21:22

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He cannot be called to account for whatever He does, whereas they will be called to account:

M.Asad 21:23

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and yet, they choose to worship (imaginary) deities instead of Him! Say (O Prophet): “Produce an evidence for what you are claiming: this is a reminder (unceasingly voiced) by those who are with me, just as it was a reminder (voiced) by those who came before me.” But nay, most of them do not know the truth, and so they stubbornly turn away (from it)

M.Asad 21:24

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and (this despite the fact that even) before thy time We never sent any apostle without having revealed to him that there is no deity save Me, - (and that,) therefore, you shall worship Me (alone)!

M.Asad 21:25

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And (yet,) some say, “The Most Gracious has taken unto Himself a son”! Limitless is He in His glory! Nay, (those whom they regard as God’s “offspring” are but His) honoured servants:

M.Asad 21:26

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they speak not until He has spoken unto them, and (whenever they act,) they act at His behest.

M.Asad 21:27

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He knows all that lies open before them and all that is hidden from them: hence, they cannot intercede for any but those whom He has (already) graced with His goodly acceptance, since they themselves stand in reverent awe of Him.

M.Asad 21:28

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And if any of them were to say, “Behold, I am deity beside Him” - that one We should requite with hell: thus do We requite all (such) evildoers.

M.Asad 21:29

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ARE, THEN, they who are bent on denying the truth not aware that the heavens and the earth were (once) one single entity, which We then parted asunder? – and (that) We made out of water every living thing? Will they not, then, (begin to) believe?

M.Asad 21:30