The Hour of Doom is sure to come—of this there is no doubt. Those who are in their graves God will raise to life.

Some wrangle about God, though they have neither knowledge nor guidance nor divine revelation. They turn away in scorn, leading others astray from God’s path. Such men shall incur disgrace in this life and on the Day of Resurrection taste the torment of the Conflagration. “This,” We shall say, “is the reward for your misdeeds. God is not unjust to his servants.”

They call on idols which can neither harm nor help them. That is the extreme error. They call on that which would sooner harm than help them: an evil master and an evil friend.

Some profess to serve God and yet stand on the very fringe of the true faith. When blessed with good fortune they are content, but when an ordeal befalls them they turn upon their heels, forfeiting this life and the hereafter. That way true perdition lies.

If anyone thinks that God will not give victory to His apostle in this world and in the world to come, let him tie a rope to the ceiling of his house and hang himself. Then let him ponder if his cunning has done away with that which has enraged him.

As for the true believers: the Jews, the Sabaeans, the Christians, the Magians, and the pagans,

God will judge them on the Day of Resurrection. God is the witness of all things.

Do you not see that those in the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon and the stars, the mountains and the trees, the beasts, and countless men—all do homage to God? Yet many have deserved the scourge. He who is humbled by God has none to honor him. God’s will is ever done.

Here are two antagonists who contend about their Lord. Garments of fire have been prepared for the unbelievers. Scalding water shall be poured upon their heads, melting their skins and that which is in their bellies. They shall be lashed with rods of iron.

Whenever, in their anguish, they try to escape from Hell, back they shall be dragged and will be told, “Taste the torment of the Conflagration!”

The unbelievers who debar others from the path of God and from the Sacred Mosque which We provided for mankind—natives and strangers alike—and those who seek to do evil within its walls—We shall let them taste a grievous punishment.

About This Text

From the Qur’an. Islam holds that between 610 and 632 the archangel Gabriel commanded the Prophet Muhammad to convey the message of Allah to mankind. Because Arabic is the sacred language of Islam, the Qur’an is considered untranslatable, even though it has been rendered into nearly every other language.