Lo! Thy Sustainer inspired the angels [to convey this His message to the believers]: "I am with you !"* [And He commanded the angels:] "And, give firmness unto those who have attained to faith [with these words from Me]:* `I shall cast terror into the hearts of those who are bent on denying the truth; strike, then, their necks, [O believers,] and strike off every one of their finger-tips!"*
BUT IF thou art amazed [at the marvels of God's creation], amazing, too, is their saying, "What! After we have become dust, shall we indeed be [restored to life] in a new act .of creation?"* It is they who [thus show that they] are bent on denying their Sustainer;* and it is they who carry the shackles [of their own making] around their necks;* and it is they who are destined for the fire, therein to abide.
And every human being's destiny have We tied to his neck;* and on the Day of Resurrection We shall bring forth for him a record which he will find wide open;
And neither allow thy hand to remain shackled to thy neck,* nor stretch it forth to the utmost limit [of thy capacity], lest thou find thyself blamed [by thy dependants], or even destitute.
Had We so willed, We could have sent down unto them a message from the skies, so that their necks would [be forced to] bow down before it in humility.*
But those who had been weak will say unto those who had gloried in their arrogance: Nay, [what kept us away was your] devising of false arguments, night and day, [against God's messages- as you did]* when you persuaded us to blaspheme against God and to claim that there are powers that could rival Him!"* And when they see the suffering [that awaits them], they will [all] be unable to express [the full depth of] their remorse:* for We shall have put shackles around the necks of those who had been bent on denying the truth:* [and] will this be aught but a [just] requital for what they were doing?