Ali Quli Qarai, The Qur’ān with a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2005)

‘Be my servants instead of Allah.’
Rather [he would say], ‘Be a godly people,
because of your teaching the Book
and because of your studying it.’
80 And he would not command you to take
the angels and the prophets for lords.
Would he call you to unfaith
after you have been muslims?
81 When Allah took a compact concerning the prophets,
[He said,] ‘Inasmuch as I have given you
of the Book and wisdom,¹
should an apostle come to you thereafter
confirming what is with you,
you shall believe in him and help him.’
He said, ‘Do you pledge
and accept My covenant on this condition?’
They said, ‘We pledge.’
He said, ‘Then be witnesses,
and I am also among the witnesses along with you.’
82 Then whoever turns away after that
— it is they who are the transgressors.
83 Do they, then, seek a religion other than Allah’s,
while to Him submits
whoever there is in the heavens and the earth,
willingly or unwillingly,
and to Him they will be brought back?
84 Say, ‘We have faith in Allah,
and in what has been sent down to us,