وَإِذَآ

أَذَقۡنَا

ٱلنَّاسَ

رَحۡمَةٗ

مِّنۢ

بَعۡدِ

ضَرَّآءَ

مَسَّتۡهُمۡ

إِذَا

لَهُم

مَّكۡرٞ

فِيٓ

ءَايَاتِنَاۚ

قُلِ

ٱللَّهُ

أَسۡرَعُ

مَكۡرًاۚ

إِنَّ

رُسُلَنَا

يَكۡتُبُونَ

مَا

تَمۡكُرُونَ

٢١

When We give people a taste of mercy after being afflicted with a hardship, they swiftly devise plots against Our revelations! Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “Allah is swifter in devising ˹punishment˺. Surely Our messenger-angels record whatever you devise.”

He is the One Who enables you to travel through land and sea. And it so happens that you are on ships, sailing with a favourable wind, to the passengers’ delight. Suddenly, the ships are overcome by a gale wind and those on board are overwhelmed by waves from every side, and they assume they are doomed. They cry out to Allah ˹alone˺ in sincere devotion, “If You save us from this, we will certainly be grateful.”

But as soon as He rescues them, they transgress in the land unjustly. O  humanity! Your transgression is only against your own souls. ˹There is only˺ brief enjoyment in this worldly life, then to Us is your return, and then We will inform you of what you used to do.

The life of this world is just like rain We send down from the sky, producing a mixture of plants which humans and animals consume. Then just as the earth looks its best, perfectly beautified, and its people think they have full control over it, there comes to it Our command by night or by day, so We mow it down as if it never flourished yesterday! This is how We make the signs clear for people who reflect.

And Allah invites ˹all˺ to the Home of Peace and guides whoever He wills to the Straight Path.

Those who do good will have the finest reward¹ and ˹even˺ more.² Neither gloom nor disgrace will cover their faces. It is they who will be the residents of Paradise. They will be there forever.

As for those who commit evil, the reward of an evil deed is its equivalent. Humiliation will cover them—with no one to protect them from Allah—as if their faces were covered with patches of the night’s deep darkness. It is they who will be the residents of the Fire. They will be there forever.

˹Consider˺ the Day We will gather them all together then say to those who associated others ˹with Allah in worship˺, “Stay in your places—you and your associate-gods.” We will separate them from each other, and their associate-gods will say, “It was not us that you worshipped!

Allah is sufficient as a Witness between each of us that we were totally unaware of your worship.”

Then and there every soul will face ˹the consequences of˺ what it had done. They all will be returned to Allah—their True Master. And whatever ˹gods˺ they fabricated will fail them.