Translation
How about he (the Prophet) who has with him the active guidance from his Sustainer God and a witness from Him (angel Gabriel) who narrates this guidance similar to the previous Book of Moses, a guide and a source of mercy? They all believe as such. Anyone from any group who denies such guidance, evil [fire] is their promised outcome. So, let there be no doubt in it. It is the truth from you Sustainer God, but most people are in denial.
Who is more pervert than the one who invents a lie against God? When they will be made to come before their Sustainer God, there will be witnesses who will say: “These are the ones who lied regarding their Sustainer God.” Now God’s displeasure is with such perverse individuals, who prevents (and discourages) people from seeking the truth [pathway to God] and attempts to distort such guidance. They are the deniers [disbelievers] in the life after death.
They will neither escape (God and consequence of their conducts) during their earthly life, nor will they find a guardian or protector besides God (in the life to come). Their evil consequences will doubly affect them since they were averse to listening (seeking guidance) and failed to see (use their own God-given intellect and reasoning). They have lost their souls and all their lies and conjectures have disappeared from them. They will suffer true loss in the Hereafter.
(On the other hand) those who attain faith, do good and show humility to God (and to fellow beings) are the real owners of paradise where they will reside. The analogy between their two groups is that one group is blind and deaf whereas the other groups sees and hears well. Can they be equal? How come you are not mindful? 494
Interpretation
494 In one sense this is regarding the prophet who received guidance from God and a confirmation from Angel Gabriel, who is a witness from God. One could say that every person of faith is that person for whom the Prophet(s) is the witness, and the Qur’an (book of revelations) is the guidance, while our inner spirit, our soul, is the imprint from God. Denial of God, His guidance, and His messengers is in effect denial of truth and goodness, and their reach will be confined to this life and cannot extend into the next life, where all of our freedom and success will be determined as to how we saw the world and what we did with our vision, our hearing, our capabilities, and our resources. Some of my humanist and secular friends might argue that it is enough to be good people, and they are disinterested anything beyond this life. While I respect their views and will always work with them in doing good, the reality of our existence is not subject to conjecture and our wish; rather, it is governed by God, Who is the Creator and Sustainer of our world and who has codified our existence before and after death that will come true, whether some of us accept such truth or deny it. The last few verses makes it very clear: those who deny God and those who accept God are not the same; those who take responsibility for life and goodness are not the same who to those does evil, and refusal of God is considered one of the worst evils.
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REFLECTION
Being a witness to the world and our life means that we reflect on life, its presence and its purpose, and the consequences of our actions in this life and the life to come after death.
ACTION
While faith alone is not enough for success, I also believe that aspiring for goodness without deeper faith in God will not solve our human condition in the long run. Faith and goodness are inseparable, and while some goodness may exist without faith, there is no faith without goodness. Those of us who claim faith should not taint or diminish our faith with evil, injustice, and ignorance, thereby give bad name to faith.