O YOU who have attained to faith! Do not ask about matters which, if they were to be made manifest to you [in terms of law,] might cause you hardship; for, if you should ask about them while the Qur'an is being revealed, they might [indeed] be made manifest to you [as laws]. God has absolved [you from any obligation] in this respect: for God is much-forgiving, forbearing. 101 A nation before you asked about such matters and then disbelieved in them. 102 IT IS NOT of God's ordaining that certain kinds of cattle should be marked out by superstition and set aside from the use of man; yet those who are bent on denying the truth attribute their own lying inventions to God. And most of them never use their reason: 103 When they are told to refer to the guidance of God and to the Messenger, they say, "The tradition of our fathers is sufficient for our guidance," even though, in fact, their fathers had neither knowledge nor proper guidance. 104 O you who believe, on you rests (the responsibility) for your own selves. If you follow the right path those who have gone astray will not be able to do you harm. To God have all of you to return, when He will tell you what you were doing. 105 O YOU who have attained to faith! Let there be witnesses to what you do when death approaches you and you are about to make bequests: two persons of probity from among your own people, or - if the pangs of death come upon you while you are travelling far from home - two other persons from [among people] other than your own. Take hold of the two after having prayed; and if you have any doubt in your mind, let each of them swear by God, "We shall not sell this [our word] for any price, even though it were [for the sake of] a near kinsman; and neither shall we conceal aught of what we have witnessed before God - or else, may we indeed be counted among the sinful." 106 If it turns out that both prove dishonest, two others should take their place from amongst those whose rights have been usurped and let them swear by God, saying, "Our testimony is indeed truer than the testimony of these two. And we have not been guilty of any misstatement for then indeed we would be transgressors." 107 Thus it will be more likely that people will offer testimony in accordance with the truth - or else they will [have cause to] fear that their oaths will be refuted by the oaths of others. Be, then, conscious of God, and hearken [unto Him]: for God does not bestow His guidance upon iniquitous folk. 108