57. Surah Al-Hadid, Verse 27

Then We sent in their tracks Our messengers. We sent Jesus the son of Mary, and We gave him the Injeel, and We ordained in the hearts of his followers kindness and mercy. But they invented Monasticism which We never decreed for them. They wanted to please God, but they did not observe it the way it should have been observed. Consequently, We gave those who believed among them their recompense, while many of them were wicked.

Then, in succession, We followed them up with (other of) Our Messengers. We caused them to be followed by Jesus son of Mary and gave him the Gospel. And We placed kindness and compassion in the hearts of those who followed him. As for monastic asceticism - We had never ordained it to them. They invented it themselves to seek Allah's Approval. But then, they did not uphold the Gospel with right observance. And so those who truly believed among them, We gave them their reward. But, a great many of them have been drifting away.

Then We sent, following in their footsteps, Our messengers; and We sent, following, Jesus, son of Mary. And We gave him the Gospel, and We placed in the hearts of those who followed him compassion and mercy. But monasticism, they invented it; We did not prescribe it for them — only the seeking of the approval of God; but they did not observe it with the observance due it. And We gave those who heeded warning among them their reward; but many of them are perfidious.

Then We sent in their tracks Our messengers. And We sent Jesus, son of Mary, and We gave him the Gospel, and We ordained in the hearts of his followers kindness and mercy. But they invented Monasticism which We never decreed for them. They wanted to please God, but they did not observe it the way it should have been observed. Consequently, We gave those who believed among them their recompense, while many of them were wicked.

Then We sent in their tracks Our messengers. We sent Jesus the son of Mary, and We gave him the Injeel, and We ordained in the hearts of his followers kindness and compassion. But they invented Monasticism which We never decreed for them. They wanted to please God, but they did not observe it the way it should have been observed. Consequently, We gave those who acknowledged among them their recompense, while many of them were wicked.

Then We sent Our Messengers following in their footsteps and sent ‘Isa son of Maryam after them, giving him the Gospel. We put compassion and mercy in the hearts of those who followed him. They invented monasticism – We did not prescribe it for them – purely out of desire to gain the pleasure of Allah, but even so they did not observe it as it should have been observed. To those of them who had iman We gave their reward but many of them are deviators.

Subsequent to them, we sent our messengers. We sent Jesus the son of Mary, and we gave him the Injeel (Gospel), and we placed in the hearts of his followers kindness and mercy. But they invented hermitism which we never decreed for them. All we asked them to do was to uphold the commandments approved by GOD. But they did not uphold the message as they should have. Consequently, we gave those who believed among them their recompense, while many of them were wicked.

Then in their train We sent Our apostles, and succeeding them Jesus, son of Mary, and gave him the Gospel, and put into the hearts of his followers compassion and kindness. But they created monasticism which had not been prescribed for them by Us except for seeking the pleasure of God; yet they did not observe it as it should have been rightly observed. So We gave those among them who were believers their reward; but most of them are disobedient.

Then We sent following their footsteps Our messengers and followed [them] with Jesus, the son of Mary, and gave him the Gospel. And We placed in the hearts of those who followed him compassion and mercy and monasticism, which they innovated; We did not prescribe it for them except [that they did so] seeking the approval of Allah. But they did not observe it with due observance. So We gave the ones who believed among them their reward, but many of them are defiantly disobedient.

And thereupon We caused [other of] Our apostles to follow in their footsteps; and [in the course of time] We caused them to be followed by Jesus, the son of Mary, upon whom We bestowed the Gospel; and in the hearts of those who [truly] followed him We engendered compassion and mercy. But as for monastic asceticism - We did not enjoin it upon them: they invented it themselves out of a desire for God’s goodly acceptance. But then, they did not [always] observe it as it ought to have been observed: and so We granted their recompense unto such of them as had [truly] attained to faith, whereas many of them became iniquitous.

Then We caused Our messengers to follow in their footsteps; and We caused Jesus, son of Mary, to follow, and gave him the Gospel, and placed compassion and mercy in the hearts of those who followed him. But monasticism they invented - We ordained it not for them - only seeking Allah's pleasure, and they observed it not with right observance. So We give those of them who believe their reward, but many of them are evil-livers.

Then in sequence We sent after them others of Our Messengers from the same lineal descent and in order of succession We sent Isa (Jesus), the son of Maryam (Mary), and We gave him the Injil (the Bible) and We impressed the hearts of those who followed him and believed in him with kindness and mercy and monasticism, a system of their contrivance they had introduced, We never imposed on them. They were expected to please Allah with the profound reverence dutiful to Him and with deeds reflecting wisdom and piety and striving in His cause to attain His purpose. Yet when We made Monasticism come to pass, they never regarded the principle with close attention nor did they foster it as they should. And so We gave those of them, whose hearts Reflected the image of religious and spiritual virtues and their deeds wisdom and piety the reward they merited; many among them were indeed wicked.

After them we sent many Prophets [to guide them back to the right path]. Eventually I sent Jesus, son of Mary and gave him the Gospel and placed in the heart of his follower’s kindness and mercy. The Monasticism [abandoning the world out of fear], however, was their own invention (not prescribed by God) to please God. They did not observe the rules of their invented sect in the right spirit as it should have been observed. I (God) rewarded those of them who had believed but most of them are wicked.

Then, We sent after them Our Messengers, and We sent ‘Îsâ (Jesus) - son of Maryam (Mary), and gave him the Injeel (Gospel). And We ordained in the hearts of those who followed him compassion and mercy. But the monasticism which they invented for themselves, We did not prescribe for them, but (they sought it) only to please Allâh therewith, but they did not observe it with the right observance. So We gave those among them who believed their (due) reward; but many of them are Fâsiqûn (rebellious, disobedient to Allâh).

Then, in their wake, We followed them up with (others of) Our messengers: We sent after them Jesus the son of Mary, and bestowed on him the Gospel; and We ordained in the hearts of those who followed him Compassion and Mercy. But the Monasticism which they invented for themselves, We did not prescribe for them: (We commanded) only the seeking for the Good Pleasure of Allah; but that they did not foster as they should have done. Yet We bestowed, on those among them who believed, their (due) reward, but many of them are rebellious transgressors.

Then in the footsteps of these ˹prophets˺, We sent Our messengers, and ˹after them˺ We sent Jesus, son of Mary, and granted him the Gospel, and instilled compassion and mercy into the hearts of his followers. As for monasticism, they made it up—We never ordained it for them—only seeking to please Allah, yet they did not ˹even˺ observe it strictly. So We rewarded those of them who were faithful. But most of them are rebellious.

Then We made Our messengers follow them one after the other, then We sent after them ‘Īsā, the son of Maryam (Jesus, son of Mary), and gave him the Injīl, and placed compassion and mercy in the hearts of his followers. As for monasticism, it was invented by them; We did not ordain it for them, but (they adopted it) to seek Allah’s pleasure, then could not observe it as was due. So We gave the believers from among them their reward. And many of them are sinners.

We sent other messengers to follow in their footsteps. After those We sent Jesus, son of Mary: We gave him the Gospel and put compassion and mercy into the hearts of his followers. But monasticism was something they invented- We did not ordain it for them- only to seek God’s pleasure, and even so, they did not observe it properly. So We gave a reward to those of them who believed, but many of them were lawbreakers.

Then We sent, following in their footsteps, Our Messengers; and We sent, following, Jesus son of Mary, and gave unto him the Gospel. And We set in the hearts of those who followed him tenderness and mercy. And monasticism they invented -- We did not prescribe it for them -- only seeking the good pleasure of God; but they observed it not as it should be observed. So We gave those of them who believed their wage; and many of them are ungodly.

Then we followed up their footsteps with our apostles; and we followed them up with Jesus the son of Mary; and we gave him the gospel; and we placed in the hearts of those who followed him kindness and compassion. - But monkery, they invented it; we only prescribed to them the craving after the goodwill of God, and they observed it not with due observance. But we gave to those who believe amongst them their hire; though many amongst them were workers of abomination!

Then We made Our Messengers to follow in their footsteps, and We sent Jesus, son of Mary afterwards, and We bestowed on him the Gospel, and We put in the heart of those who followed him kindness and mercy; but monkery (or monasticism), they invented it - We did not prescribe it for them - (We commanded) only the seeking of Allah's pleasure, but they did not observe it with its due observance; so We gave to those of them who believed their reward, but most of them are transgressors.

Thereafter We made to supervene on their tracks Our Messengers; and We made to supervene (after that) Isa son of Maryam, (1Jesus son of Mary) and We brought him the Injil; (The Book revealed to) and We made in the hearts of the ones who closely followed him compassion and mercy. And monasticism they innovated for themselves; in no way did We prescribe it for them, except for seeking the all-blessed Satisfaction of Allah; yet in no way did they pay heed to it as it should be truly heeded. So We brought the ones of them who believed their reward; and many of them are immoral.

Afterwards We caused our apostles to succeed in their footsteps; and We caused Jesus the son of Mary to succeed them, and We gave him the gospel: And We put in the hearts of those who followed him, compassion and mercy: But as to the monastic state, they instituted the same -- We did not prescribe it to them -- only out of a desire to please God; yet they observed not the same as it ought truly to have been observed. And We gave unto such of them as believed, their reward: But many of them were wicked doers.

Then, afterwards, We followed them with (others of) Our messengers; And We sent after them Isa (Jesus) the son of Maryam (Mary), and gifted him the Gospel: And We placed compassion and mercy in the hearts of those who followed him. But the self isolation and self-denial (practiced by monks in monasteries) which they made up for themselves, We did not place it upon them: (We commanded) only the seeking for the good Pleasure of Allah: But that they did not continue it as they should have done. So, We blessed, on those among them who believed, their (due) reward, but many of them are rebellious transgressors.

Then We caused a series of Our Messengers one after the other to follow them closely in their footsteps, and we caused Jesus, son of Mary, to follow them, and We gave him (- Jesus) the Evangel. And We placed compassion and mercy in the hearts of those who followed him, but as for monasticism they invented it themselves, We did not enjoin it upon them. (They started monastic life) to seek Allâh's pleasure, but they did not observe it (as faithfully) as it should have been observed. Yet We duly rewarded such of them as (truly) believed but many of them were transgressors.

Then We followed them up with Our apostles and We followed [them] with Jesus son of Mary, and We gave him the Evangel, and We put in the hearts of those who followed him kindness and mercy. But as for monasticism, they innovated it —We had not prescribed it for them— only seeking Allah’s pleasure. Yet they did not observe it with due observance. So We gave to the faithful among them their [due] reward, but many of them are transgressors.