And as for those who disbelieve their works are like a mirage in a plain qī‘a is the plural of qā‘ that is to say fulāt ‘an open space’. A mirage is a kind of radiation which one might observe therein at midday during extreme heat resembling running water — which the thirsty man supposes to be water until he comes to it and finds it to be nothing like what he had supposed. Likewise is the case of the disbeliever who supposes that his deeds such as some voluntary alms will benefit him; but when he dies and comes before his Lord he will not find his deed in other words it will be of no benefit to him; and he finds God there namely in the place of his deeds Who pays him his account in full that is He requites him for it in this world; and God is swift at reckoning that is at requiting.
