The hearts and tongues are all in My hand; I turn them as I will, and they obey Me. I am Allah—nothing resembles Me. By My single word the heavens and the earth and all that is within them stand firm. Pure devotion belongs to Me alone, and perfect power is Mine alone; none knows what is with Me except Myself. I am the One who spoke to the seas, and they understood My speech; I commanded them and they carried out My command. I set boundaries for them that they never cross: their waves rise like mountains, but when they reach My limit I robe them in humility—submitting in fear and acknowledging My decree.
I am with you, and while I am with you nothing can reach you. I have sent you to a vast multitude of My creatures so that you may convey My messages to them; by doing so, you shall earn the reward of everyone who follows you, without their reward being diminished in the least. But if you fall short, you will bear the burden of those you leave in darkness, and their burdens will not be lessened thereby.
Go to your people; stand among them and say: Allah has remembered you because of the righteousness of your forefathers, and for that reason He has prolonged your existence. O descendants of the prophets, how did your fathers find the outcome of obeying Me? And how have you found the outcome of defying Me? Did they ever see anyone who disobeyed Me and prospered by that disobedience? Have they known anyone who obeyed Me and suffered on account of that obedience? Even beasts, when they recall their wholesome pastures, yearn to return to them; yet these people graze in the meadows of destruction, abandon the course by which I honored their fathers, and seek honor where it cannot be found.
As for their rabbis and monks, they have turned My servants into menial dependents. They compel them to worship apart from My Book, obscure My command, cause them to forget My remembrance and My way, and lure them away from Me. Thus My servants submit to them with an obedience that should be rendered only to Me, obeying them in matters that amount to disobedience of Me.
As for their kings and princes, they have become intoxicated by My bounty and feel secure from My strategy. The life of this world has deluded them until they cast aside My Book and forgot My covenant. They distort My Scripture and fabricate lies against My messengers, out of sheer audacity toward Me and misplaced confidence in My forbearance. Exalted is My majesty, lofty My station, tremendous My sovereignty! Is it fitting that I should have a partner in My kingdom? Is it fitting that any human being be obeyed in defiance of Me? Is it fitting that I create servants only for them to be taken as lords besides Me, or that I grant anyone leave to render to another the obedience that belongs solely to Me?
As for their reciters and jurists, they study only what suits them. They yield to the kings, follow them in the innovations they introduce into My religion, obey them in disobedience of Me, and fulfill for them covenants that break My own. They are ignorant despite their learning, deriving no benefit from what they know of My Book.
As for the children of the prophets, they are subdued and put to trial; they wade in with the heedless, longing for the victory I granted their fathers and the honor with which I favored them, claiming—without sincerity or reflection—that no one is more entitled to it than they. They do not remember the patience of their fathers, how they strove for My cause when others were beguiled, how they offered their lives and blood, persevered and spoke the truth until My cause was exalted and My religion prevailed. I have deferred judgment on these people in the hope that they might feel shame before Me.