7/Al-A'raf-164: And when a party of them said: “Why do you admonish a people whom Allah would destroy or whom He would torment with a severe torment”? They said: “So that this should be an excuse to your Lord and that they may have piety (with this admonition)”.
7/Al-A'raf-165: So when they forgot what they had been advised with, We rescued those who forbade evil. And We seized those who did wrong with an evil torment because they were in Fisq.
7/Al-A'raf-166: Therefore when they revoltingly persisted in what they had been forbidden, We said to them: “Be despised apes”.
7/Al-A'raf-167: And your Lord declared that He would certainly keep on sending against them till the Day of Resurrection those who would subject them to an evil torment. Surely your Lord is Quick to requite and most surely He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
7/Al-A'raf-168: And We divided them up on the earth into nations. Some of them being Sâlihûn (improved ones) and some others. And We tried them with good (with good deeds that cause them to earn the positive degrees) and evil (evil deeds that cause them to earn the negative degrees) that perhaps they might return (to Allah).
7/Al-A'raf-169: Then after them, their successors (took over). They inherited the Book. They grasp the frail goods of this low life and say: “Soon we will be forgiven (our evil deeds will be converted into merits)”. And if the like of goods came to them, they would take them as well. Was not the Covenant of the Book taken from them that they would not say about Allah anything but the truth? And they have studied (read) what is in it. The Land of the Hereafter is better for those who are the owners of piety (Takwâ). Do you not then still be mindful?
7/Al-A'raf-170: Those who hold fast to the Book and keep up the Prayer (As-Salât). Surely We never waste the reward of those who are Sâlihûn.
