51. Rub’ el-Hizb ربع ٥١

On the Day when God assembles all the messengers and asks, ‘What response did you receive?’ they will say, ‘We do not have that knowledge: You alone know things that cannot be seen.’

Then God will say, ‘Jesus, son of Mary! Remember My favour to you and to your mother: how I strengthened you with the holy spirit, so that you spoke to people in your infancy and as a grown man; how I taught you the Scripture and wisdom, the Torah and the Gospel; how, by My leave, you fashioned the shape of a bird out of clay, breathed into it, and it became, by My leave, a bird; how, by My leave, you healed the blind person and the leper; how, by My leave, you brought the dead back to life; how I restrained the Children of Israel from [harming] you when you brought them clear signs, and those of them who disbelieved said, “This is clearly nothing but sorcery”;

and how I inspired the disciples to believe in Me and My messengers- they said, “We believe and bear witness that we devote ourselves [to God].”’

When the disciples said, ‘Jesus, son of Mary, can your Lord send down a feast to us from heaven?’ he said, ‘Beware of God if you are true believers.’

They said, ‘We wish to eat from it; to have our hearts reassured; to know that you have told us the truth; and to be witnesses of it.’

Jesus, son of Mary, said, ‘Lord, send down to us a feast from heaven so that we can have a festival- the first and last of us- and a sign from You. Provide for us: You are the best provider.’

God said, ‘I will send it down to you, but anyone who disbelieves after this will be punished with a punishment that I will not inflict on anyone else in the world.’

When God says, ‘Jesus, son of Mary, did you say to people, “Take me and my mother as two gods alongside God”?’ he will say, ‘May You be exalted! I would never say what I had no right to say- if I had said such a thing You would have known it: You know all that is within me, though I do not know what is within You, You alone have full knowledge of things unseen-

I told them only what You commanded me to: “Worship God, my Lord and your Lord.” I was a witness over them during my time among them. Ever since You took my soul, You alone have been the watcher over them: You are witness to all things

and if You punish them, they are Your servants; if You forgive them, You are the Almighty, the Wise.’

God will say, ‘This is a Day when the truthful will benefit from their truthfulness. They will have Gardens graced with flowing streams, there to remain for ever. God is pleased with them and they with Him: that is the supreme triumph.’

Control of the heavens and earth and everything in them belongs to God: He has power over all things.

Praise belongs to God who created the heavens and the earth and made darkness and light; yet the disbelievers set up equals to their Lord!

He is the one who created you from clay and specified a term [for you] and another fixed time, known only to Him; yet still you doubt!

He is God in the heavens and on earth, He knows your secrets and what you reveal, and He knows what you do;

but every time revelation comes to them from their Lord, they turn their backs on it.

So they denied the truth when it came to them, but the very thing they laughed at will be brought home to them.

Do they not realize how many generations We destroyed before them? We established them in the earth more firmly than you, sent down abundant rain on them from the sky and made running rivers flow at their feet, yet We destroyed them for their misdeeds and raised other generations after them.

Even if We had sent down to you [Prophet] a book inscribed on parchment, and they had touched it with their own hands, the disbelievers would still say, ‘This is nothing but blatant sorcery.’

They say, ‘Why was no angel sent down to [support] him?’ But had We sent down an angel, their judgement would have come at once with no respite given.

Indeed, if We had sent an angel as messenger, We would still have sent him in the form of a man, so increasing their confusion.

Messengers have been mocked before you [Muhammad], and those who mocked them were engulfed by the very punishment they had mocked.

Say, ‘Travel throughout the earth and see what fate befell those who rejected the truth.’

Say, ‘To whom belongs all that is in the heavens and earth?’ Say, ‘To God. He has taken it upon Himself to be merciful. He will certainly gather you on the Day of Resurrection, which is beyond all doubt. Those who deceive themselves will not believe.