And whenever they spend anything [for the sake of God], be it little or much, and whenever they move on earth* [in God's cause] -it is recorded in their favour, and God will grant them the best reward for all that they have been doing.

[Whenever] He sends down water from the sky, and [once-dry] river-beds are running high* according to their measure, the stream carries scum on its surface;* and, likewise, from that [metal] which they smelt in the fire in order to make ornaments or utensils, [there rises] scum. In this way does God set forth the parable of truth and falsehood: for, as far as the scum is concerned, it passes away as [does all] dross; but that which is of benefit to man abides on earth. In this way does God set forth the parables

And so, when they beheld it* in the shape of a dense cloud approaching their valleys, they exclaimed, “This is but a heavy cloud which will bring us [wel­come] rain!" [But Hud said:] “Nay, but it is the very thing which you [so contemptuously] sought to hasten - a wind bearing grievous suffering,

AND IT IS not conceivable that a believer should slay another believer, unless it be by mistake.* And upon him who has slain a believer by mistake there is the duty of freeing a believing soul from bondage and paying an indemnity to the victim's relations,* unless they forgo it by way of charity. Now if the slain, while himself a believer, belonged to a people who are at war with you,* [the penance shall be confined to] the freeing of a believing soul from bondage; whereas, if he belonged to a people to whom you are bound by a covenant, [it shall consist of] an indemnity to be paid to his relations in ad­dition to the freeing of a believing soul from bon­dage.* And he who does not have the wherewithal shall fast [instead] for two consecutive months.* (This is) the atonement ordained by God: and God is indeed all-knowing, wise.

"O our Sustainer! Behold, I have settled some of my offspring in a valley in which there is no arable land,* close to Thy sanctified Temple, so that, O our Sustainer, they might devote themselves to prayer: cause Thou, therefore, people's hearts to incline towards them* and grant them fruitful sustenance, so that they might have cause to be grateful.

Verily, I am thy Sustainer! Take off, then, thy sandals! Behold, thou art in the twice hallowed valley,*

Art thou not aware that they roam confusedly through all the valleys [of words and thoughts],*

till, when they came upon a valley [full] of ants, an ant exclaimed: “O you ants! Get into your dwellings, lest Solomon and his hosts crush you without [even] being aware [of you]!"

But when he came close to it, a call was sounded from the right-side bank of the valley, out of the tree [burning] on blessed ground:* “O Moses! Verily, I am God, the Sustainer of all the worlds!"

Lo! His Sustainer called out to him in the twice-hallowed valley:*

and with [the tribe of] Thamud,* who hollowed out rocks in the valley? –