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206
THE QUR'ÂN.
XI, 11-20
they will surely say, "What hinders it ?'--Aye! on the day it comes to them there is no turning it away from them, but that shall close in on them at which they mocked.
And if we make man taste of mercy from us and then strip it off from him, verily, he is despairing, ungrateful ; and if we make him taste of comfort after distress has touched him, he will surely say, “The evils have gone away from me ;' verily, then he is joyful and boasting. Save those who are patient and do right; these—for them is pardon and a mighty hire !
(15] Haply thou art leaving part of what is revealed to thee and thy breast is straitened thereby, lest they should say, 'Why is not a treasure sent down to him ? or why did not an angel come with him ?—thou art only a warner, and God is guardian over all.'
Or they will say, 'He hath devised it;' say, ‘Bring ten sûrahs like it devised; and call upon whom ye can beside God, if ye do tell the truth!' And if they do not answer, then know that it is revealed by the knowledge of God, and that there is no god but He-are ye then resigned ?
Whosoever shall wish for the life of this world and its ornaments, we will pay them their works therein, and they shall not be cheated. These are those for whom there is nothing in the hereafter save the Fire ; and void is what they made therein, and vain what they were doing!
[20] Is he (like them) who stands upon a manifest sign from his Lord, which is a witness from Him, and recites it, with the book of Moses before him for a model and a mercy ? These believe in it; and
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