(He left them) as they were: We completely understood what was before him.

Then followed he (another) way,

Until, when he reached (a tract) between two mountains, he found, beneath them, a people who scarcely understood a word.

They said: "O Zul-qarnain! the Gog and Magog (People) do great mischief on earth: shall we then render thee tribute in order that thou mightest erect a barrier between us and them?

He said: "(The power) in which my Lord has established me is better (than tribute): Help me therefore with strength (and labour): I will erect a strong barrier between you and them:

"Bring me blocks of iron." At length, when he had filled up the space between the two steep mountain-sides, He said, "Blow (with your bellows)" Then, when he had made it (red) as fire, he said: "Bring me, that I may pour over it, molten lead."

Thus were they made powerless to scale it or to dig through it.

He said: "This is a mercy from my Lord: But when the promise of my Lord comes to pass, He will make it into dust; and the promise of my Lord is true."

On that day We shall leave them to surge like waves on one another: the trumpet will be blown, and We shall collect them all together.

And We shall present Hell that day for Unbelievers to see, all spread out,-

(Unbelievers) whose eyes had been under a veil from remembrance of Me, and who had been unable even to hear.

Do the Unbelievers think that they can take My servants as protectors besides Me? Verily We have prepared Hell for the Unbelievers for (their) entertainment.

Say: "Shall we tell you of those who lose most in respect of their deeds?-

"Those whose efforts have been wasted in this life, while they thought that they were acquiring good by their works?"

They are those who deny the Signs of their Lord and the fact of their having to meet Him (in the Hereafter): vain will be their works, nor shall We, on the Day of Judgment, give them any weight.

That is their reward, Hell, because they rejected Faith, and took My Signs and My Messengers by way of jest.

As to those who believe and work righteous deeds, they have, for their entertainment, the Gardens of Paradise,

Wherein they shall dwell (for aye): no change will they wish for from them.

Say: "If the ocean were ink (wherewith to write out) the words of my Lord, sooner would the ocean be exhausted than would the words of my Lord, even if we added another ocean like it, for its aid."

Say: "I am but a man like yourselves, (but) the inspiration has come to me, that your Allah is one Allah: whoever expects to meet his Lord, let him work righteousness, and, in the worship of his Lord, admit no one as partner.