Ali Quli Qarai, The Qur’ān with a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2005)
and do righteous deeds,
for them are gardens of the Abode
— a hospitality for what they used to do.
20 As for those who have transgressed,
their refuge is the Fire.
Whenever they seek to leave it,
they will be turned back into it,
and they will be told:
‘Taste the punishment of the Fire
which you used to deny.’
21 We shall surely make them taste the nearer punishment
before the greater punishment,1
so that they may come back.2
22 Who is a greater wrongdoer
than him who is reminded of his Lord’s signs,
whereat he disregards them?
Indeed We shall take vengeance upon the guilty.
23 Certainly We gave Moses the Book, [declaring],
‘Do not be in doubt about the encounter with Him,’
and We made it a [source of] guidance
for the Children of Israel.
24 And amongst them We appointed imams
to guide [the people] by Our command,
when they had been patient
and had conviction in Our signs.
25 Indeed your Lord will judge between them
1 Or ‘this side of the greater punishment,’ or ‘aside from the greater punishment.’
2 By ‘the nearer punishment’ is meant the afflictions and hardships the faithless may be made to suffer in the world with the purpose of bringing them back to Allah and in order to save them from the greater punishment of the Hereafter.
