The Quran

Preface

۞ وَإِذا مَسَّ الإِنسانَ ضُرٌّ دَعا رَبَّهُ مُنيبًا إِلَيهِ ثُمَّ إِذا خَوَّلَهُ نِعمَةً مِنهُ نَسِيَ ما كانَ يَدعو إِلَيهِ مِن قَبلُ وَجَعَلَ لِلَّهِ أَندادًا لِيُضِلَّ عَن سَبيلِهِ ۚ قُل تَمَتَّع بِكُفرِكَ قَليلًا ۖ إِنَّكَ مِن أَصحابِ النّارِ

Yusuf Ali

When some trouble toucheth man,¹ he crieth unto his Lord, turning to Him in repentance: but when He bestoweth a favour upon him as from Himself, (man) doth forget what he cried and prayed for before, and he doth set up rivals unto God, thus misleading others from God’s Path. Say, “Enjoy thy blasphemy² for a little while: verily thou art (one) of the Companions of the Fire!”

Cf. 10:12. Trouble and adversity often bring a man to his bearings. But if he is not firm and constant, he forgets the lessons which life is meant to teach him. As soon as he gets a little prosperity, he forgets that it is from God, and attributes it to something which may only be a secondary cause, e.g., his own efforts or the Powers of Nature, or something which he has invented and made into a god, e.g., idols or fate. God is the Ultimate Cause of all things. To set up rivals to Him in this way is not only wrong and degrading to the false worshipper himself, but misleads countless ignorant people, who may not be able to make allowances for the figures of speech or the symbolism by which subtler minds can explain away falsehoods.
Those who practise and those who teach evil and blasphemy may seem to flourish in this world. But their satisfaction will be of veiy short duration. They are treading all the while the Path that leads to the Fire of Perdition.