The Koran
by
Muhammad

Part 3 out of 14



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1 See Sura [lvi.] xxvi. 155; also Sura [lxxxvii.] vii. 71.

2 Kept by the Guardian Angels.

3 The Talmudic descriptions of the Gardens for the later Jews
believed in more than one Paradise and of the rivers and trees
therein, will be found in Schr der Talm. Rabb. Judenthum, pp.
418-432.

SURA XXXVII. THE RANKS [L.]

Mecca. 182 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

By the angels ranged in order for Songs of Praise,

And by those who repel demons,1

And by those who recite the Koran for warning,

Truly your God is but one,

Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth, and of all that is between
them, and Lord of the East.2

We have adorned the lower heaven with the adornment of the
stars.

They serve also as a guard against every rebellious Satan,

That they overhear not what passeth in the assembly on high, for
they are darted at from every side,3

Driven off and consigned to a lasting torment;

While, if one steal a word by stealth, a glistening flame pursueth
him.

Ask the Meccans then, Are they, or the angels whom we have
made, the stronger creation? Aye, of coarse clay have we created
them.

But while thou marvellest they mock;

When they are warned, no warning do they take;

And when they see a sign, they fall to mocking,

And say, "This is no other than clear sorcery:

What! when dead, and turned to dust and bones, shall we indeed
be raised?

Our sires also of olden times?"

Say, Yes; and ye shall be covered with disgrace.

For, one blast only, and lo! they shall gaze around them, And shall
say, "Oh! woe to us! this is the day of reckoning; This is the day of
decision which ye gainsaid as an untruth."

Gather together those who have acted unjustly, and their
consorts,4 and the gods whom they adored

Beside God; and guide them to the road for Hell.

Set them forth: they shall be questioned.

"How now, that ye help not one another?"

But on this day they shall submit themselves to God,

And shall address one another with mutual reproaches.

They shall say, "In sooth, ye came to us in well-omened sort:"5

But they will answer, "Nay, it was ye who would not believe; and
we had no power whatever over you. Nay, ye were people given to
transgress;

Just, therefore, is the doom which our Lord hath passed upon us.6
We shall surely taste it:

We made you err, for we had erred ourselves."

Partners therefore shall they be in punishment on that day.

Truly, thus will we deal with the wicked,

Because when it was said to them, There is no God but God, they
swelled with pride,

And said, "Shall we then abandon our gods for a crazed poet?"

Nay, he cometh with truth and confirmeth the Sent Ones of
old.

Ye shall surely taste the painful punishment,
And ye shall not be rewarded but as ye have wrought,
Save the sincere servants of God!
A stated banquet shall they have
Of fruits; and honoured shall they be
In the gardens of delight,
Upon couches face to face.
A cup shall be borne round among them from a fountain,
Limpid, delicious to those who drink;
It shall not oppress the sense, nor shall they therewith be drunken.
And with them are the large-eyed ones with modest refraining
glances, fair like the sheltered egg.7
And they shall address one another with mutual questions.
Saith one of them, "I truly had a bosom friend,
Who said, 'Art thou of those who credit it?
What! when we shall have died, and become dust and bones, shall
we indeed be judged?"'
He shall say to those around him, "Will ye look?"
And he shall look and see him in the midst of Hell.
And he shall say to him, "By God, thou hadst almost caused me to
perish;
And, but for the favour of my Lord, I had surely been of those who
have been brought with thee into torment."
"But do we not die," say the blessed,
"Any other than our first death? and have we escaped the
torment?"8
This truly is the great felicity!
For the like of this should the travailers travail!
Is this the better repast or the tree Ez-zakkoum?
Verily, we have made it for a subject of discord to the wicked.
It is a tree which cometh up from the bottom of hell;
Its fruits is as it were the heads of Satans;
And, lo! the damned shall surely eat of it and fill their bellies with
it:
Then shall they have, thereon, a mixture of boiling water:
Then shall they return to hell.
They found their fathers erring,
And they hastened on in their footsteps.
Also before them the greater number of the ancients had erred.
Though we had sent warners among them.
But see what was the end of these warned ones,
Except of God's true servants.
Noah called on us of old, and right prompt were we to hear him,9
And we saved him and his family out of the great distress,
And we made his offspring the survivors;
And we left for him with posterity,
"Peace be on Noah throughout the worlds!"
Thus do we reward the well-doers,
For he was one of our believing servants;
And the rest we drowned.
And truly, of his faith was Abraham,
When he brought to his Lord a perfect heart,
When he said to his father and to his people, "What is this ye
worship?
Prefer ye with falsehood gods to God?
And what deem ye of the Lord of the worlds?"
So gazing he gazed towards the stars,
And said, "In sooth I am ill:10
And they turned their back on him and departed.
He went aside to their gods and said, "Do ye not eat?
What aileth you that ye do not speak?"
He broke out upon them, with the right hand striking:
When his tribesmen came back to him with hasty steps
He said, "Worship ye what ye carve,
When God hath created you, and that ye make?"
They said, "Build up a pyre for him and cast him into the glowing
flame."
Fain would they plot against him, but we brought them low.
And he said, "Verily, I repair to my Lord who will guide me:
O Lord give me a son, of the righteous."
We announced to him a youth of meekness.
And when he became a full-grown youth,11
His father said to him, "My son, I have seen in a dream that I
should sacrifice thee; therefore, consider what thou seest right."
He said, "My father, do what thou art bidden; of the patient, if
God please, shalt thou find me."
And when they had surrendered them to the will of God, he laid
him down upon his forehead:
We cried unto him, "O Abraham!
Now hast thou satisfied the vision." See how we recompense the
righteous.
This was indeed a decisive test.
And we ransomed his son with a costly12 victim,
And we left this13 for him among posterity,
"Peace be on Abraham!"
Thus do we reward the well-doers,
For he was of our believing servants.
And we announced Isaac to him a righteous Prophet
And on him and on Isaac we bestowed our blessing. And among
their offspring were well-doers, and others, to their own hurt
undoubted sinners.
And of old,14 to Moses and to Aaron shewed we favours:
And both of them, and their people, we rescued from the great
distress:
And we succoured them, and they became the conquerors:
And we gave them (Moses and Aaron) each the lucid book:
And we guided them each into the right way:
And we left this for each among posterity,
"Peace be on Moses and Aaron."
Thus do we reward the well-doers,
For they were two of our believing servants.
And Elias truly was of our Sent Ones,
When he said to his people, "Fear ye not God?
Invoke ye Baal and forsake ye the most skilful Creator?
God is your Lord, and the Lord of your sires of old?"
But they treated him as a liar, and shall therefore be consigned to
punishment,
Except God's faithful servants.
And we left this for him among posterity,
"Peace be on Eliasin!"15
Thus do we reward the well-doers,
For he was one of our believing servants.
And Lot truly was of our Sent Ones,
When we rescued him and all his family,
Save an aged woman among those who tarried.
Afterward we destroyed the others.
And ye indeed pass by their ruined dwellings at morn
And night: will ye not then reflect?
Jonas, too, was one of the Apostles,
When he fled unto the laden ship,
And lots were cast,16 and he was doomed,
And the fish swallowed him, for he was blameworthy.
But had he not been of those who praise Us,
In its belly had he surely remained, till the day of resurrection.
And we cast him on the bare shore and he was sick;
And we caused a gourd-plant to grow up over him,
And we sent him to a hundred thousand persons, or even more,
And because they believed, we continued their enjoyments for a
season.
Inquire then of the Meccans whether thy Lord hath daughters, and
they, sons?
Have we created the angels females? and did they witness it?
Is it not a falsehood of their own devising, when they say,
"God hath begotten"? They are indeed liars.
Would he have preferred daughters to sons?
What reason have ye for thus judging?
Will ye not then receive this warning?
Have ye a clear proof for them?
Produce your Book if ye speak truth.
And they make him to be of kin with the Djinn: but the Djinn have
long known that these idolaters shall be brought up before God.
Far be the glory of God from what they impute to him.
"His faithful servants do not thus.
Moreover, ye and what ye worship
Shall not stir up any against God,17
Save him who shall burn in Hell.
And verily each one of us hath his appointed place,
And we range ourselves in order,
And we celebrate His praises."18
And if those infidels say,
"Had we a revelation transmitted to us from those of old,19
We had surely been God's faithful servants."
Yet they believe not the Koran. But they shall know its truth at
last.
Our word came of old to our servants the apostles,
That they should surely be the succoured,
And that our armies should procure the victory for them.
Turn aside therefore from them for a time,
And behold them, for they too shall in the end behold their doom.
Would they then hasten our vengeance?
But when it shall come down into their courts, an evil morning
shall it be to those who have had their warning.
Turn aside from them therefore for a time.
And behold; for they too shall in the end behold their doom.
Far be the glory of thy Lord, the Lord of all greatness, from what
they impute to him,
And peace be on his Apostles!
And praise be to God the Lord of the worlds.

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1 I have given in the text the sense of these first two verses
according to the Muhammadan commentators. The original,
literally translated, viz. By the ranks which rank themselves, and
by the repellers who repel, would not convey an intelligible idea to
the English reader. Mar. renders, Per ordinantes ordinando et
agitantes agitando.

2 Ar. Easts. Errat in pluralitate mundorum. Mar. But the allusion
probably is to the different points of the horizon at which the sun
rises and sets in the course of the year.

3 See Sura [lvii.] xv. 18.

4 Or, comrades, i.e. the demons.

5 Lit. on the right hand, the side of good omen i.e. with semblance
of truth.

6 See Sura [lx.] xxxvi. 6.

7 The ostrich egg carefully protected from dust.

8 Lit. and are we not among the punished?

9 Lit. et sane euge auditores. Mar.

10 And therefore unable to assist at your sacrifices.

11 Lit. cum igitur pervenisset cum eo ad ‘tatem cui competit
operandi studium. Mar. Beidh. When he had attained to the age
when he could work with him. Lane.

12 Brought, says Rabbi Jehoshua, from Paradise by an angel.
Midr. fol.

13 This salutation.

14 The Arabic particle which is here and elsewhere rendered of
old (also, already, certainly) serves to mark the position of a past
act or event as prior to the time present, and in all such passages
merely gives a fulness and intensity to our perfect, or pluperfect
tense.

15 The form of this word is altered in the original for the sake of
the rhyme.

16 Lit. he cast lots (with the sailors).

17 Nequequam vos ad illud colendum estis Seducturi. Mar.

18 This verse and the six preceding are the words of the Angel.

19 Compare verse 69.

SURA LXXI. NOAH [LI.]

Mecca. 29 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

We sent NOAH to his people, and said to him, "Warn thou thy
people ere there come on them an afflictive punishment."

He said, "O my people! I come to you a plain-spoken warner:

Serve God and fear Him, and obey me:

Your sins will He forgive you, and respite you till the fixed Time;
for when God's fixed Time hath come, it shall not be put back.
Would that ye knew this!"

He said, "Lord I have cried to my people night and day; and my
cry doth but make them flee from me the more.

So oft as I cry to them, that thou mayest forgive them, they thrust
their fingers into their ears, and wrap themselves in their
garments, and persist in their error, and are disdainfully
disdainful.

Then I cried aloud to them:

Then again spake I with plainness, and in private did I secretly
address them:

And I said, Beg forgiveness of your Lord, for He is ready to
forgive.

He will send down the very Heaven upon you in plenteous rains;

And will increase you in wealth and children; and will give you
gardens, and will give you watercourses:

What hath come to you that ye hope not for goodness from the
hand of God?

For He it is who hath formed you by successive steps.1

See ye not how God hath created the seven heavens one over the
other?

And He hath placed therein the moon as a light, and hath placed
there the sun as a torch;

And God hath caused you to spring forth from the earth like a
plant;

Hereafter will He turn you back into it again, and will bring you
forth anew

And God hath spread the earth for you like a carpet,

That ye may walk therein along spacious paths."'

Said Noah, "O my Lord! they rebel against me, and they follow
those whose riches and children do but aggravate their ruin."

And they plotted a great plot;

And they said, "Forsake not your Gods; forsake not Wadd nor
Sowah,

Nor Yaghuth and Yahuk and Nesr;"

And they caused many to err;2 and thou, too, O Muhammad!
shalt be the means of increasing only error in the wicked

Because of their sins they were drowned, and made to go into the
Fire;

And they found that they had no helper save God.

And Noah said, "Lord, leave not one single family cf Infidels on
the Earth:

For if thou leave them they will beguile thy servants and will beget
only sinners, infidels.

O my Lord, forgive me, and my parents, and every one who, being
a believer, shall enter my house, and believers men and women:
and add to the wicked nought but perdition."

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1 See Sura xxii. 5.

2 Or, the idols had seduced many. Thus Kas. Beidh. gives both
interpp. See on these idols Freytag's Einleitung, p. 349.

SURA LXXVI. MAN [LII.]

Mecca. 31 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Doth not a long time pass over MAN, during which he is a thing
unremembered?1

We have created man from the union of the sexes that we might
prove him; and hearing, seeing, have we made him:

In a right way have we guided him, be he thankful or ungrateful.

For the Infidels we have got ready chains and collars and flaming
fire.

But a wine cup tempered at the camphor fountain2 the just shall
quaff:

Fount whence the servants of God shall drink, and guide by
channels from place to place;

They who fulfilled their vows, and feared the day whose woes will
spread far and wide;

Who though longing for it themselves, bestowed their food on the
poor and the orphan and the captive:

"We feed you for the sake of God: we seek from you neither
recompense nor thanks:3

A stern and calamitous day dread we from our Lord."

From the evil therefore of that day hath God delivered them and
cast on them brightness of face and joy:

And hath rewarded their constancy, with Paradise and silken
robes:

Reclining therein on bridal couches, nought shall they know of sun
or piercing cold:

Its shades shall be close over them, and low shall its fruits hang
down:

And vessels of silver and goblets like flagons shall be borne round
among them:

Flagons of silver whose measure themselves shall mete.

And there shall they be given to drink of the cup tempered with
zendjebil (ginger)

From the fount therein whose name is Selsebil (the softly flowing).

Aye-blooming youths go round among them. When thou lookest at
them thou wouldest deem them scattered pearls;

And when thou seest this, thou wilt see delights and a vast
kingdom:

Their clothing green silk robes and rich brocade: with silver
bracelets shall they be adorned; and drink of a pure beverage
shall their Lord give them.

This shall be your recompense. Your efforts shall meet with
thanks.

We ourselves have sent down to thee the Koran as a missive from
on high.

Await then with patience the judgments of thy Lord, and obey not
the wicked among them and the unbelieving:

And make mention of the name of thy Lord at morn, at even,

And at night. Adore him, and praise him the livelong night.

But these men love the fleeting present, and leave behind them the
heavy day of doom.

Ourselves have we created them, and strengthened their joints;
and when we please, with others like unto themselves will we
replace them.

This truly is a warning: And whoso willeth, taketh the way to his
Lord;

But will it ye shall not, unless God will it, for God is Knowing,
Wise.

He causeth whom He will to enter into his mercy. But for the evil
doers, He hath made ready an afflictive chastisement.

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1 When in the womb.

2 With (the water of) Kafoor. Lane.

3 Desire no recompense from you.

SURA XLIV. SMOKE [LIII.]

Mecca. 59 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Ha. Mim.1 By this clear Book!

See! on a blessed night2 have we sent it down, for we would warn
mankind:

On the night wherein all things are disposed in wisdom,3

By virtue of our behest. Lo! we have ever sent forth Apostles,

A mercy from thy Lord: he truly heareth and knoweth all things

Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth and of all that is between
them, if ye be firm in faith

There is no God but He! He maketh alive and killeth! Your Lord
and the Lord of your sires of old!

Yet with doubts do they disport them.

But mark them on the day when the Heaven shall give out a
palpable SMOKE,

Which shall enshroud mankind: this will be an afflictive torment.

They will cry, "Our Lord! relieve us from this torment: see! we are
believers."

But how did warning avail them, when an undoubted apostle had
come to them;

And they turned their backs on him, and said, "Taught by others,
possessed?"

Were we to relieve you from the plague even a little, ye would
certainly relapse.4

On the day when we shall fiercely put forth our great fierceness,
we will surely take vengeance on them!

Of old, before their time, had we proved the people of Pharaoh,
when a noble apostle presented himself to them.

"Send away with me," cried he, "the servants of God; for I am an
apostle worthy of all credit:

And exalt not yourselves against God, for I come to you with
undoubted power;

And I take refuge with Him who is my Lord and your Lord, that ye
stone me not:

And if ye believe me not, at least separate yourselves from me."

And he cried to his Lord, "That these are a wicked people."

"March forth then, said God, with my servants by night, for ye will
be pursued.

And leave behind you the cleft sea: they are a drowned host."

How many a garden and fountain did they quit!

And corn fields and noble dwellings!

And pleasures in which they rejoiced them!

So was it: and we gave them as a heritage to another people.

Nor Heaven nor Earth wept for them, nor was their sentence
respited;

And we rescued the children of Israel from a degrading
affliction

From Pharaoh, for he was haughty, given to excess.

And we chose them, in our prescience, above all peoples,5

And we shewed them miracles wherein was their clear trial.

Yet these infidels say,

"There is but our first death, neither shall we be raised again:

Bring back our sires, if ye be men of truth."

Are they better than the people of Tobba,6

And those who flourished before them whom we destroyed for
their
evil deeds?

We have not created the Heavens and the Earth and whatever is
between them in sport:

We have not created them but for a serious end:7 but the greater
part of them understand it not.

Verily the day of severing8 shall be the appointed time of all:

A day when the master shall not at all be aided by the servant,
neither shall they be helped;

Save those on whom God shall have mercy: for He is the mighty,
the merciful.

Verily the tree of Ez-Zakkoum9

Shall be the sinner's10 food:

Like dregs of oil shall it boil up in their bellies,

Like the boiling of scalding water.

" Seize ye him, and drag him into the mid-fire;

Then pour on his head of the tormenting boiling water.

'Taste this:' for thou forsooth art the mighty, the honourable!

Lo! this is that of which ye doubted."

But the pious shall be in a secure place,

Amid gardens and fountains,

Clothed in silk and richest robes, facing one another:

Thus shall it be: and we will wed them to the virgins with large
dark eyes:

Therein shall they call, secure, for every kind of fruit;

Therein, their first death passed, shall they taste death no more;
and He shall keep them from the pains of Hell:

'Tis the gracious bounty of thy Lord! This is the great felicity.

We have made this Koran easy for thee in thine own tongue, that
they may take the warning.

Therefore wait thou, for they are waiting.11

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1 See Sura lxviii. I, p. 32.

2 Of the 23rd and 24th of Ramadhan, in which, according to the
Muslim creed, all the events of the year subsequent are arranged.
See Sura xcvii. n. 2, p. 27.

3 Lit. We settle each wise affair called wise, because proceeding
direct from the will of Him who is absolute wisdom.

4 Beidh, and others suppose this verse to have been revealed at
Medina. This opinion, however, is based upon the supposition that
it refers to the famine with which Mecca was visited after the
Hejira.

5 Comp. Ex. xx. 20; Deut. viii. 16.

6 Tobba, i.e. Chalif or successor, is the title of the Kings of
Yemen;
or of Hadramont, Saba, and Hamyar. See Pocock, Spec. Hist. Ar.
p. 60.

7 Lit. in truth.

8 That is, Of the good from the bad.

9 See Sura xxxvii. 60, p. 81.

10 The commentators suppose this sinner to be Abu Jahl, one of
the chief of the Koreisch, and the bitter enemy of Muhammad.

11 To see the turn which events may take.

SURA L. KAF [LIV.]

Mecca. 45 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Kaf1. By the glorious Koran:

They marvel forsooth that one of themselves hath come to them
charged with warnings. "This," say the infidels, "is a marvellous
thing:

What! when dead and turned to dust shall we. ? Far off is such a
return as this?"

Now know we what the earth consumeth of them, and with us is a
Book in which account is kept.

But they have treated the truth which hath come to them as
falsehood; perplexed therefore is their state.

Will they not look up to the heaven above them, and consider how
we have reared it and decked it forth, and that there are no flaws
therein?

And as to the earth, we have spread it out, and have thrown the
mountains upon it, and have caused an upgrowth in it of all
beauteous kinds of plants,

For insight and admonition to every servant who loveth to turn to
God:

And we send down the rain from Heaven with its blessings, by
which we cause gardens to spring forth and the grain of harvest,

And the tall palm trees with date-bearing branches one above the
other

For man's nourishment: And life give we thereby to a dead
country. So also shall be the resurrection.

Ere the days of these (Meccans) the people of Noah, and the men
of Rass2 and Themoud, treated their prophets as impostors:

And Ad and Pharaoh, and the brethren of Lot and the dwellers in
the forest, and the people of Tobba,3 all gave the lie to their
prophets: justly, therefore, were the menaces inflicted.

Are we wearied out with the first creation? Yet are they in doubt
with regard to a new creation!4

We created man: and we know what his soul whispereth to him,
and we are closer to him than his neck-vein.

When the two angels charged with taking account shall take it, one
sitting on the right hand, the other on the left:

Not a word doth he utter, but there is a watcher with him ready to
note it down:

And the stupor of certain death cometh upon him: "This is what
thou wouldst have shunned"

And there shall be a blast on the trumpet, it is the threatened
day!

And every soul shall come, an angel with it urging it along, and
an angel to witness against it5

Saith he, "Of this day didst thou live in heedlessness: but we have
taken off thy veil from thee, and thy sight is becoming sharp this
day."

And he who is at this side6 shall say, "This is what I am prepared
with against thee."

And God will say, "Cast into Hell, ye twain, every infidel, every
hardened one,

The hinderer of the good, the transgressor, the doubter,

Who set up other gods with God. Cast ye him into the fierce
torment."

He who is at his side shall say, "O our Lord! I led him not astray,
yet was he in an error wide of truth."

He shall say, "Wrangle not in my presence. I had plied you
beforehand with menaces:

My doom changeth not, and I am not unjust to man."

On that day will we cry to Hell, "Art thou full?" And it shall say,
"Are there more?"7

And not far from thence shall Paradise be brought near unto the
Pious:

"This is what ye have been promised: to every one who hath
turned in penitence to God and kept his laws;

Who hath feared the God of Mercy in secret, and come to him with
a contrite heart:

Enter it in peace: this is the day of Eternity."

There shall they have all that they can desire: and our's will it be
to augment their bliss:

And how many generations have we destroyed ere the days of
these (Meccans), mightier than they in strength! Search ye then the
land. Is there any escape?

Lo! herein is warning for him who hath a heart, or giveth ear, and
is himself an eye-witness.8

We created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them
in six days, and no weariness touched us.9

Wherefore put up with what they say, and celebrate the praise of
thy Lord before sunrise and before sunset:

And praise Him in the night: and perform the two final
prostrations.

And list for the day whereon the crier shall cry from a place near
to every one alike:

The day on which men shall in truth hear that shout will be the day
of their coming forth from the grave.

Verily, we cause to live, and we cause to die. To us shall all
return.

On the day when the earth shall swiftly cleave asunder over the
dead, will this gathering be easy to Us.

We know best what the infidels say: and thou art not to compel
them.

Warn then by the Koran those who fear my menace.

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1 See Sura lxviii. I, p. 32.

2 See [lxvi.] xxv. 40.

3 See xliv. 36, p. 90.

4 The Resurrection.

5 Lit. a driver and a witness.

6 The Satan who is chained to him. Sura [lxxi.] xli. 24.

7 Lit. is there any addition? which some explain as if Hell
enquired whether, being already full, any addition could be made
to its size. Comp. Prov. xxx. 15, and Othioth Derabbi Akiba, 8, 1:
"That the Prince of Hell saith daily, Give me food enough, is clear
from what is said (Is. v. 14). Therefore Shaol hath enlarged
herself, and opened her mouth without measure, etc."

8 That is, of the ruins of the destroyed cities, etc.

9 This verse is said (by Omar b. Muhammad, Itq. 36, Djelal Eddin,
ap. Maracc. and Beidh.) to have been revealed in answer to the
Jews who told the Prophet that if God rested on the Sabbath, it
was because he was weary. But a connection with verse 14 seems
more natural.

SURA XX.1 TA. HA. [LV.]

MECCA. 135 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

TA. HA.2 Not to sadden thee have we sent down this Koran to
thee,

But as a warning for him who feareth;

It is a missive from Him who hath made the earth and the lofty
heavens!

The God of Mercy sitteth on his throne:

His, whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth,
and whatsoever is between them both, and whatsoever is beneath
the humid soil!

Thou needest not raise thy voice:3 for He knoweth the secret
whisper, and the yet more hidden.

God! There is no God but He! Most excellent His titles!

Hath the history of Moses reached thee?

When he saw a fire, and said to his family, "Tarry ye here, for I
perceive a fire:

Haply I may bring you a brand from it, or find at the fire a
guide."4

And when he came to it, he was called to, "O Moses!

Verily, I am thy Lord:. therefore pull off thy shoes: for thou art in
the holy valley of Towa.

And I have chosen thee: hearken then to what shall be revealed.

Verily, I am God: there is no God but me: therefore worship me,
and observe prayer for a remembrance of me.

Verily the hour is coming: I all but manifest it

That every soul may be recompensed for its labours.

Nor let him who believeth not therein and followeth his lust, turn
thee aside from this truth, and thou perish.

Now, what is that in thy right hand, O Moses?"

Said he, "It is my staff on which I lean, and with which I beast
down leaves for my sheep, and I have other uses for it."

He said, "Cast it down, O Moses!"

So he cast it down, and lo! it became a serpent that ran along.

He said, "Lay hold on it, and fear not: to its former state will we
restore it."

"Now place thy right hand to thy arm-pit: it shall come forth
white, but unhurt: another sign!

That We may shew thee the greatest of our signs.

Go to Pharaoh, for he hath burst all bounds."

He said, "O my Lord! enlarge my breast for me,

And make my work easy for me,

And loose the knot of my tongue,5

That they may understand my speech.

And give me a counsellor6 from among my family,

Aaron my brother;

By him gird up my loins,7

And make him a colleague in my work,

That we may praise thee oft and oft remember thee,

For thou regardest us."

He said, "O Moses, thou hast obtained thy suit:

Already, at another time, have we showed thee favour,

When we spake unto thy mother what was spoken:

'Cast him into the ark:8 then cast him on the sea [the river], and
the sea shall throw him on the shore: and an enemy

to me and an enemy to him shall take him up.' And I myself have
made thee an object of love,

That thou mightest be reared in mine eye.

When thy sister went and said, 'Shall I shew you one who will
nurse him?'9 Then We returned thee to thy mother that her eye
might be cheered, and that she might not grieve. And when thou
slewest a person, We delivered thee from trouble, and We tried
thee with other trial.

For years didst thou stay among the people of Midian; then camest
thou hither by my decree, O Moses:

And I have chosen thee for Myself.

Go thou and thy brother with my signs and be not slack to
remember me.

Go ye to Pharaoh, for he hath burst all bounds:

But speak ye to him with gentle speech; haply he will reflect or
fear."

They said, "O our Lord! truly we fear lest he break forth against
us, or act with exceeding injustice."

He said, "Fear ye not, for I am with you both. I will hearken and I
will behold.

Go ye then to him and say, 'Verily we are Sent ones of thy Lord;
send therefore the children of Israel with us and vex them not: now
are we come to thee with signs from thy Lord, and, Peace shall be
on him who followeth the right guidance.

For now hath it been revealed to us, that chastisement shall be on
him who chargeth with falsehood, and turneth him away."'

And he said, "Who is your Lord, O Moses?"

He said, "Our Lord is He who hath given to everything its form
and then guideth it aright."

"But what," said he, "was the state of generations past?"10

He said, "The knowledge thereof is with my Lord in the Book of
his decrees. My Lord erreth not, nor forgetteth.

He hath spread the earth as a bed, and hath traced out paths for
you therein, and hath sent down rain from Heaven, and by it we
bring forth the kinds11 of various herbs:

'Eat ye, and feed your cattle.' Of a truth in this are signs unto
men endued with understanding.

From it have we created you, and into it will we return you, and
out of it will we bring you forth a second time."12

And we shewed him all our signs: but he treated them as
falsehoods, and refused to believe.

He said, "Hast thou come, O Moses, to drive us from our land by
thine enchantments?

Therefore will we assuredly confront thee with like enchantments:
so appoint a meeting between us and you we will not fail it, we,
and do not thou in a place alike for both."

He said, "On the feast day13 be your meeting, and in broad
daylight let the people be assembled."

And Pharaoh turned away, and collected his craftsmen and came.

Said Moses to them, "Woe to you! devise not a lie against God:

For then will he destroy you by a punishment. They who have lied
have ever perished."

And the magicians discussed their plan, and spake apart in secret:

They said, "These two are surely sorcerers: fain would they drive
you from your land by their sorceries, and lead away in their paths
your chiefest men:

So muster your craft: then come in order: well this day shall it be
for him, who shall gain the upper hand."

They said, "O Moses, wilt thou first cast down thy rod, or shall we
be the first who cast?"

He said, "Yes, cast ye down first." And lo! by their enchantment
their cords and rods seemed to him as if they ran.

And Moses conceived a secret fear within him.

We said, "Fear not, for thou shalt be the uppermost:

Cast forth then what is in thy right hand: it shall swallow up what
they have produced: they have only produced the deceit of an
enchanter: and come where he may, ill shall an enchanter fare."

And the magicians fell down and worshipped. They said,

"We believe in the Lord of Aaron and of Moses."

Said Pharaoh, "Believe ye on him ere I give you leave? He, in
sooth, is your Master who hath taught you magic. I will therefore
cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides, and I will
crucify you on trunks of the palm, and assuredly shall ye learn
which of us is severest in punishing, and who is the more
abiding."14

They said, "We will not have more regard to thee than to the clear
tokens which have come to us, or than to Him who hath made us:
doom the doom thou wilt: Thou canst only doom as to this present
life: of a truth we have believed on our Lord that he may pardon
us our sins and the sorcery to which thou hast forced us, for God is
better, and more abiding than thou.15

As for him who shall come before his Lord laden with crime for
him verily is Hell: he shall not die in it and he shall not live.

But he who shall come before Him, a believer, with righteous
works, these! the loftiest grades await them:

Gardens of Eden, beneath whose trees16 the rivers flow: therein
shall they abide for ever. This, the reward of him who hath been
pure."

Then revealed we to Moses, "Go forth by night with my servants
and cleave for them a dry path in the sea;

Fear not thou to be overtaken, neither be thou afraid."

And Pharaoh followed them with his hosts, and the whelming
billows of the sea overwhelmed them,17 for Pharaoh misled his
people, and did not guide them.

O children of Israel! we rescued you from your foes; and We
appointed a meeting with you on the right side of the mountain;
and We caused the manna and the quail to descend upon you:

"Eat," said We, "of the good things with which we have supplied
you; but without excess, lest my wrath fall upon you; for on whom
my wrath doth fall, he perisheth outright.

Surely however will I forgive him who turneth to God and
believeth, and worketh righteousness, and then yieldeth to
guidance.

But what hath hastened thee on apart from thy people,18 O
Moses?"

He said, "They are hard on my footsteps: but to thee, O Lord, have
I hastened, that thou mightest be well pleased with me."

He said, "Of a truth now have we proved thy people since thou
didst leave them, and Samiri19 had led them astray."

And Moses returned to his people, angered, sorrowful.

He said, "O my people! did not your Lord promise you a good
promise? Was the time of my absence long to you? or desired ye
that wrath from your Lord should light upon you, that ye failed in
your promise to me?"

They said, "Not of our own accord have we failed in the promise
to thee, but we were made to bring loads of the people's trinkets,
and we threw them into the fire and Samiri likewise cast them in,
and brought forth to them a corporeal lowing20 calf: and they said,
"This is your God and the God of Moses, whom he hath
forgotten."'

What! saw they not that it returned them no answer, and could
neither hurt nor help them?

And Aaron had before said to them, "O my people! by this calf are
ye only proved: surely your Lord is the God of Mercy: follow me
therefore and obey my bidding."

They said, "We will not cease devotion to it, till Moses come back
to us."

He said, "O Aaron! when thou sawest that they had gone astray,
what hindered thee from following me? Hast thou then disobeyed
my command?"

He said, "O Son of my mother! seize me not by my beard, nor by
my head: indeed I feared lest thou shouldst say,

Thou hast rent the children of Isreal asunder, and hast not
observed my orders."'

He said, "And what was thy motive, O Samiri?" He said, "I saw
what they saw not: so I took a handful of dust from the track21 of
the messenger of God, and flung it into the calf, for so my soul
prompted me."

He said, "Begone then: verily thy doom even in this life shall be to
say, 'Touch me not.'22 And there is a threat against thee, which
thou shalt not escape hereafter. Now look at thy god to which thou
hast continued so devoted: we will surely burn it and reduce it to
ashes, which we will cast into the sea.

Your God is God, beside whom there is no God: In his knowledge
he embraceth all things."

Thus do We recite to thee histories of what passed of old; and
from
ourself have we given thee admonition.

Whoso shall turn aside from it shall verily carry a burden on the
day of Resurrection:

Under it shall they remain: and grievous, in the day of
Resurrection, shall it be to them to bear.

On that day there shall be a blast on the trumpet, and We will
gather the wicked together on that day with leaden23 eyes:

They shall say in a low voice, one to another, "Ye tarried but ten
days on earth."

We are most knowing with respect to that which they will say
when
the most veracious24 of them will say. "Ye have not tarried above
a
day."

And they will ask thee of the mountains: SAY: scattering my Lord
will scatter them in dust;

And he will leave them a level plain: thou shalt see in it no
hollows
or jutting hills.

On that day shall men follow their summoner25 he marcheth
straight on: and low shall be their voices before the God of Mercy,
nor shalt thou hear aught but the light footfall.

No intercession shall avail on that day, save his whom the God of
Mercy shall allow to intercede, and whose words he shall approve.

He knoweth their future and their past; but in their own knowledge
they comprehend it not:

And humble shall be their faces before Him that Liveth, the
Self-subsisting: and undone he, who shall bear the burden of
iniquity;

But he who shall have done the things that are right and is a
believer, shall fear neither wrong nor loss.

Thus have We sent down to thee an Arabic Koran, and have set
forth menaces therein diversely, that haply they may fear God, or
that it may give birth to reflection in them.

Exalted then be God, the King, the Truth! Be not hasty in its
recital26 while the revelation of it to thee is incomplete. Say
rather,
"O my Lord, increase knowledge unto me."

And of old We made a covenant with Adam; but he forgat it; and
we found no firmness of purpose in him.

And when We said to the angels, "Fall down and worship Adam,"
they worshipped all, save Eblis, who refused: and We said, "O
Adam! this truly is a foe to thee and to thy wife. Let him not
therefore drive you out of the garden, and ye become wretched;

For to thee is it granted that thou shalt not hunger therein, neither
shalt thou be naked;

But Satan whispered him: said he, "O Adam! shall I shew thee the
tree of Eternity,27 and the Kingdom that faileth not?"

And they both ate thereof, and their nakedness appeared to them,
and they began to sew of the leaves of the Garden to cover them,
and Adam disobeyed his Lord and went astray.

Afterwards his Lord chose him for himself, and was turned
towards him, and guided him.

And God said, "Get ye all down hence, the one of you a foe unto
the other. Hereafter shall guidance come unto you from me;

And whoso followeth my guidance shall not err, and shall not be
wretched:

But whoso turneth away from my monition, his truly shall be a life
of misery:

And We will assemble him with others on the day of Resurrection,
blind."28

He will say, "O my Lord! why hast thou assembled me with others,
blind? whereas I was endowed with sight."

He will answer, "Thus is it, because our signs came unto thee and
thou didst forget them, and thus shalt thou be forgotten this day."

Even thus will We recompense him who hath transgressed and
hath not believed in the signs of his Lord; and assuredly the
chastisement of the next world will be more severe and more
lasting.

Are not they, who walk the very places where they dwelt, aware
how many generations we have destroyed before them? Verily in
this are signs to men of insight.

And had not a decree of respite from thy Lord first gone forth,
their chastisement had at once ensued. Yet the time is fixed.

Put up then with what they say; and celebrate the praise of thy
Lord before the sunrise, and before its setting; and some time in
the night do thou praise him, and in the extremes29 of the day, that
thou haply mayest please Him.

And strain not thine eye after what We have bestowed on divers of
them the braveries of this world that we may thereby prove
them. The portion which thy Lord will give, is better and more
lasting.

Enjoin prayer on thy family, and persevere therein. We ask not of
thee to find thine own provision we will provide for thee, and a
happy issue shall there be to piety.

But they say, "If he come not to us with a sign from his Lord !"30
But have not clear proofs for the Koran come to them, in what is in
the Books of old?

And had We destroyed them by a chastisement before its time,
they
would surely have said, "O our Lord! How could we believe if
thou didst not send unto us an Apostle that we might follow thy
signs ere that we were humbled and disgraced."

Say: Each one of us awaiteth the end. Wait ye then, and ye shall
know which of us have been followers of the even way, and who
hath been the rightly guided.

_______________________

1 The first 14 or 16 verses of this Sura are said to have induced
Omar to embrace Islam (His. 226. Ibn Sƒd, i. and v. Comp. Weil,
p. 60. Causs. i. 396 ff.) in the sixth year before the Hejira.

2 Freytag supposes these letters to mean, Hush! but see Sura lxviii.
1, p. 32.

3 Lit. if thou raise thy voice.

4 Lit. guidance. Moses had lost his way, say the Commentators,
when journeying to Egypt to visit his mother.

5 The Muhammadan Commentators tell how Moses when a child
burnt his tongue with a live coal. The same story is found in Midr.
Jalkut on Ex. c. 166, and in Shalsheleth Hakabalah, p. 5, b. Ed.
Amsterd.

6 Lit vizir.

7 Or, strengthen my back.

8 The form of the word in the original is not the pure Hebraic, but
the later Rabbinic form.

9 See Sura [lxxix.] xxviii. 11, 12.

10 What is their condition after their death as to happiness or
misery. Beidh. whom Sale follows. But the word state, which Mar.
renders mens, refers rather to their creed. "How," enquires
Pharaoh, "do you explain the fact that the generations of men
have always practised a different worship?"

11 Lit. pairs.

12 The Midrasch Tanchumah on Ex. vii. gives a very similar
dialogue between Pharaoh and Moses.

13 Lit. the day of ornament.

14 In punishing. Beidh.

15 To recompense. Beidh.

16 As the garden is said in Sura lxxxviii. to be lofty in point of
situation, this frequently recurring phrase may mean that rivers
run at its base. The Commentators, however, generally understand
it to imply that the rivers flow beneath its shades or pavilions.

17 Lit. and there overwhelmed them of the sea that which
overwhelmed them.

18 The 70 elders who were to have accompanied him.

19 That is, the Samaritan. This rendering, which is probably the
true explanation of the word Samiri, involves a grievous ignorance
of history on the part of Muhammad. Selden (de diis Syr. Syn. i.
ch.
4) supposes that Samiri is Aaron himself, the Shomeer, or keeper
of Israel during the absence of Moses. Many Arabians identify him
with the Micha of Judges xvii. who is said to have assisted in
making the calf (Raschi, Sanhedr. 102, 2 Hottinger Hist. Orient. p.
84). Geiger suggests that Samiri may be a corruption of Samael.
See next note. But it is probable that the name and its application
in the present instance, is to be traced to the old national feud
between the Jews and Samaritans. See De Sacy, Chrestom. i. p.
189, who quotes Abu Rihan Muhammad as stating that the
Samaritans were called Al-limsahsit, the people who say, "Touch
me not" (v. 97, below), and Juynboll Chron. Sam. (Leid. 1848) p.
113. Sale also mentions a similar circumstance of a tribe of
Samaritan Jews dwelling on one of the islands in the Red Sea.

20 "The calf came forth (Ex. xxxii. 24) lowing and the Israelites
beheld it. R. Jehuda saith, Samuel entered into it and lowed in
order to mislead Israel." Pirke R. Eliezer,  45.

21 From the track of Gabriel's horse, or of Gabriel himself.

22 Lit. no touch.

23 I have adopted the word leaden as expressive of the idea
implied in the original word, viz. grey or greyish blue; hence,
dulled, dimmed. The Arabians have a great aversion to blue and
grey eyes as characteristic of their enemies the Greeks. The word,
however, may also mean blind. Comp. v. 124, 5.

24 Lit. the most excellent or just of them in his way: dignitate,
Mar. But Kam. in Freyt. (iii. 150) justissimus eorum, simillimus
veracibus. The sense of the last clause is, "Yes have not tarried
even so much as ten days, such, now that we look back upon it, is
the brevity of life." See Sura [lxiv.] xxiii. 115.

25 The angel Israfil.

26 Compare Sura lxxv. 16-19, p. 56.

27 It should be observed that here and in Sura vii. 19, Muhammad
seems unaware of the distinction between the tree of knowledge,
and the tree of life, as given in Gen. ii. 9, and iii. 5.

28 From the intensity of the light, mentioned Sura [1xxx.] xxxix.
69.

29 In order to reconcile this passage with the prescribed hours,
some understand the extremes to mean the mid-day, when the day
is as it were divided.

30 Supply, we will not believe.

SURA XXVI. THE POETS1 [LVI.]

Mecca. 228 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Ta. Sin. Mim.2 These are the signs of the lucid Book.

Haply thou wearest thyself away with grief because they will not
believe.

Were it our will we could send down to them a sign from Heaven,
before which they would humbly bow.3

But from each fresh warning that cometh to them from the God of
Mercy they have only turned aside,

And treated it as a lie: But tidings shall reach them which they
shall not laugh to scorn.

Have they not beheld the earth how we have caused every kind of
noble plant to spring up therein?

Verily, in this is a sign: but most of them believe not.

And assuredly, thy Lord! He is the Mighty, the Merciful.

And remember when thy Lord called to Moses, "Go to the wicked
people,

The people of Pharaoh. What! will they not fear me?"

He said, "My Lord, in sooth I fear lest they treat me as a liar:

And my breast is straitened, and I am slow of speech:4 send
therefore to Aaron to be my helpmate.

For they have a charge5 against me, and I fear lest they put me to
death."

He said, "Surely not. Go ye therefore with our signs: we will be
with you and will hearken.

And go to Pharaoh and say: 'Verily we are the messengers of the
Lord of the worlds

Send forth with us the children of Israel."'

He said, "Did we not rear thee among us when a child? And hast
thou not passed years of thy life among us?

And yet what a deed is that which thou hast done!6 Thou art one of
the ungrateful."

He said, "I did it indeed, and I was one of those who erred: And I
fled from you because I feared you; but my Lord hath given me
wisdom and hath made me one of his Apostles.

And is this the favour thou hast conferred on me, that thou hast
enslaved the children of Israel?"

Said Pharaoh, "Who then is the Lord of the Worlds?"

He said, "The Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth and of all that
is between them, if only ye believe it."

Said Pharaoh to those around him, "Hear ye this?"

"Your Lord," said Moses, "and the Lord of your sires of old."

"In sooth, your Apostle whom He hath sent to you," said Pharaoh,
"is certainly possessed."

He said, "Lord is He of the East and of the West, and of all that is
between them, if ye can understand."

He said, "If ye take any God beside me, I will surely put thee in
ward."

Said Moses, "What! if I shew thee that which shall be a proof of
my mission?"

He said, "Forth with it then, if thou speakest truth."

Then threw he down his staff, and lo! an undoubted serpent:

And he drew out his hand, and lo! it was white7 to the beholders.

He said to his nobles around him. "This truly is a right cunning
sorcerer:

Fain would he drive you out of your land by his Sorcery. But what
do ye suggest?"

They said, "Put him and his brother off awhile, and send
summoners to all the cities,

Who shall bring to thee every cunning magician."

So the magicians were mustered at a set time, on a solemn day:

And it was said to the people, "Are ye all assembled?"

"Yes! and we will follow the magicians if they gain the day."

And when the magicians were arrived they said to Pharaoh, "Shall
we have a reward if we gain the day?"

He said, "Yes. And verily in that case ye shall be of those who are
near my person."

Moses said to them, "Throw down what ye have to throw."

So they cast down their ropes and rods, and said, "By Pharaoh's
might we shall surely win."

Then Moses threw down his rod, and lo! it swallowed up their
cheating wonders.

Then the magicians threw themselves down in worship:

They said, "We believe on the Lord of the Worlds,

The Lord of Moses and of Aaron."

Said Pharaoh, "Have ye then believed on him ere I gave you
leave? He truly is your master who hath taught you magic.8 But
bye and bye ye shall surely know my power.

I will cut off your hands and feet on opposite sides, and I will have
you all crucified."

They said, "It cannot harm us, for to our Lord shall we return:

Assuredly we trust that our Lord will forgive us our sins, since we
are of the first who believe."

Then revealed we this order to Moses: "Go forth by night with my
servants, for ye will be pursued."

And Pharaoh sent summoners through the cities:

"These Israelites," said they, "are a scanty band;

Yet are they enraged against us

But we truly are numerous, wary."

Thus we caused them to quit gardens and fountains,

And treasures and splendid dwellings;

So was it; and we gave them to the children of Israel for an
heritage.9

Then at sunrise the Egyptians followed them:

And when the hosts came in view of one another, the comrades of
Moses said, "We are surely overtaken."

He said, "By no means: for my Lord is with me He will guide
me."

And we revealed this order to Moses, "Strike the sea with thy
rod." And it clave asunder, and each part became like a huge
mountain.

Then made we the others to draw on;

And we saved Moses, and those who were with him, all;

But we drowned the others.

Truly in this was a sign; but most of them did not believe.

But verily thy Lord, He is the Mighty, the Merciful!

And recite to them the story of Abraham

When he said to his Father and to his people, "What worship ye?"

They said, "We worship idols, and constant is our devotion to
them."

He said, "Can they hear you when ye cry to them?

Or help you or do you harm?"

They said, "But we found our Fathers do the like."

He said, "How think ye? They whom ye worship,

Ye and your fathers of early days,

Are my foes: but not so10 the Lord of the Worlds,

Who hath created me, and guideth me,

Who giveth me food and drink;

And when I am sick, he healeth me,

And who will cause me to die and again quicken me,

And who, I hope, will forgive me my sins in the day of reckoning.

My Lord! bestow on me wisdom and join me to the just,

And give me a good name11 among posterity,

And make me one of the heirs of the garden of delight,

And forgive my father, for he was one of the erring,

And put me not to shame on the day when mankind shall be raised
up,

The day when neither wealth nor children shall avail,

Save to him who shall come to God with a sound heart:

When Paradise shall be brought near the pious,

And Hell shall lay open for those who have gone astray.

And it shall be said to them, 'Where are they whom ye worshipped

Beside God? Can they harm you or help themselves?'

And they shall be cast into it the seducers and the seduced,

And all the host of Eblis.

They shall say, as they wrangle therein together,

'By God, we were in a plain error,

When we equalled you with the Lord of the Worlds:

And none misled us but the wicked,

And we have none to plead for us,

Nor friend who careth for us.

Could we but return, we would be of the believers."'

Verily, in this was a sign: but most of them believed not.

And truly thy Lord! He is the Mighty, the Merciful!

The people of Noah gainsaid the Apostles,

When their brother Noah said to them, "Will ye not fear God?

Of a truth am I your faithful Apostle;

Fear God then and obey me.

I ask of you no reward for this, for my reward is of the Lord of the
Worlds alone:

Fear God then and obey me."

They said, "Shall we believe on thee when the meanest only are
thy followers?"

He said, "But I have no knowledge of that they did:12

To my Lord only must their account be given: would that ye
understood this!

And I will not thrust away those who believe,

For I am only one charged with plain warnings."

They said, "Now unless thou desist, O Noah, one of the stoned
shalt thou surely be."

He said, "Lord! my people treat me as a liar:

Decide thou therefore a decision between me and them, and rescue
me and the faithful who are with me."

So we saved him and those who were with him in the fullyladen
ark,

And afterwards we drowned the rest.

Herein truly was a sign, but most of them believed not.

But thy Lord! He is the Mighty, the Merciful.

The Adites13 treated their Apostles as liars,

When their brother Houd said to them, "Will ye not fear God?

I am your Apostle, worthy of all credit;

Fear God then and obey me:

I ask for no reward for this; for my reward is of the Lord of the
Worlds alone.

What! build ye landmarks on all heights in mere pastime?

And raise ye structures to be your lasting abodes?14

And when ye put forth your power do ye put it forth with
harshness?

Fear ye God then and obey me;

And fear ye Him who hath plenteously betowed on you ye well
know what:

Plenteously bestowed on you flocks and children,

And gardens and fountains;

Indeed I fear for you the punishment of a tremendous day."

They said, "It is the same to us whether thou warn or warn us not.

This is but a tale of the ancients,

And we are not they who shall be punished."

And they charged him with imposture; and we destroyed them. In
this was a sign: but most of them believed not.

But thy Lord! He is the Mighty, the Merciful!

The Themoudites also treated their Apostles as liars,

When their brother Saleh said to them, "Will ye not fear God?

I am your Apostle worthy of all credit:

Fear God, then, and obey me.

I ask of you no reward for this: my reward is of the Lord of the
Worlds alone.

Shall ye be left secure amid these things here?

Amid gardens and fountains,

And corn-fields and palm-trees, with flower-sheathing branches?

And, insolent that ye are, will ye hew out your dwellings in the
mountains?

But fear God and obey me,

And obey not the bidding of those who commit excess,

Who act disorderly on the earth and reform it not."

They said, "Certainly thou art a person bewitched;

Thou art only a man like us: produce now a sign if thou art a man
of truth."

He said, "This she-camel, then drink shall there be for her, and
drink shall there be for you, on a several day for each.

But harm her not, lest the punishment of a tremendous day
overtake you."

But they ham-strung her, and repented of it on the morrow;

For the punishment overtook them. In this truly was a sign, but
most of them believed not.

But thy Lord! He is the Powerful, the Merciful!

The people of Lot treated their apostles as liars,

When their brother Lot said to them, "Will ye not fear God?

I am your Apostle worthy of all credit:

Fear God, then, and obey me.

For this I ask you no reward: my reward is of the Lord of the
worlds alone.

What! with men, of all creatures, will ye have commerce?

And leave ye your wives whom your Lord hath created for you?
Ah! ye are an erring people!"

They said, "O Lot, if thou desist not, one of the banished shalt thou
surely be."

He said, "I utterly abhor your doings:

My Lord! deliver me and my family from what they do."

So we delivered him and his whole family

Save an aged one among those who tarried

Then we destroyed the rest

And we rained a rain upon them, and fatal was the rain to those
whom we had warned.

In this truly was a sign; but most of them did not believe.

But thy Lord! He is the Powerful, the Merciful!

The dwellers in the forest of Madian15 treated the Apostles as
liars.

When Shoaib their brother said to them, "Will ye not fear God?

I truly am your trustworthy Apostle.

Fear God, then, and obey me:

No reward ask I of you for this: my reward is of the Lord of the
Worlds alone.

Fill the measure, and be not of those who minish:

Weigh with exact balance:

And defraud not men in their substance, and do no wrong on the
earth by deeds of licence;

And fear Him who made you and the races of old."

They said, "Certainly thou art a person bewitched.

Thou art but a man like us, and we deem thee liar

Make now a part of the heaven to fall down upon us, if thou art a
man of truth."

He said, "My Lord best knoweth your doings."

And when they treated him as a liar, the chastisement of the day of
cloud overtook them. This truly was the chastisement of a dreadful
day!

In this was a sign, but most of them believed not.

But thy Lord! He is the Mighty, the Merciful!

Verily from the Lord of the Worlds hath this Book come down;

The faithful spirit16 hath come down with it

Upon thy heart, that thou mightest become a warner

In the clear Arabic tongue:

And truly it is foretold in the Scriptures of them of yore.17

Was it not a sign to them18 that the learned among the children of
Israel recognised it?

If we had sent it down unto any foreigner,

And he had recited it to them, they had not believed.

In such sort have we influenced19 the heart of the wicked ones,

That they will not believe it till they see the grievous
chastisement?

And it shall come upon them on a sudden when they look not for
it:

And they will say, "Can we be respited?"

What! will they seek to hasten on our chastisement?

How thinkest thou? If after we have given them their fill for years,

That with which they are menaced come upon them at last,

Of what avail will their enjoyments be to them?

We never destroyed a city which had not first its warners

With admonition; nor did we deal unjustly.

The Satans were not sent down with this Koran:

It beseemed them not, and they had not the power,

For they are far removed from hearing it.20

Call not thou on any other god but God, lest thou be of those
consigned to torment:

But warn thy relatives of nearer kin,21

And kindly lower thy wing over the faithful who follow thee.

And if they disobey thee, then say: "I will not be answerable for
your doings;"

And put thy trust in Him that is the Mighty, the Merciful,

Who seeth thee when thou standest in prayer,

And thy demeanour amongst those who worship;

For He heareth, knoweth all.

Shall I tell you on whom Satan descend?

They descend on every lying, wicked person:

They impart what they have heard;22 but most of them are liars.

It is the POETS23 whom the erring follow:

Seest thou not how they rove distraught in every valley?

And that they say that which they do not?

Save those who believe and do good works, and oft remember
God;

And who defend themselves when unjustly treated. But they who
treat them unjustly shall find out what a lot awaiteth them.

_______________________

1 This Sura belongs to about the seventh year of Muhammad's
prophetic life.

2 See Sura 1xviii. I, p. 32.

3 Lit. to which their necks would humble themselves.

4 Lit. my tongue is not free. This verse appears to be a studied
simplification of Ex. iv. 10-13.

5 The murder of the Egyptian. See Geiger, 159.

6 Lit. and thou hast done thy deed which thou hast done. See
xxviii. 15.

7 Thus Pirke R. Elieser  48. "He placed his hand in his bosom,
and drew it forth, white as snow with leprosy."

8 "The Pharaoh who lived in the days of Moses was a great
magician." Mid. Jalkut, c. 182. Comp. Sura xxviii. 38, where, in
accordance with the Rabbinic traditions Pharaoh claims to be a
God.

9 See ii. 58, and Midr. Jalkut on Ex. xii. c. 208.

10 Lit. except.

11 Lit. a tongue of truth, i.e. high repute. Or, grant that my words
may be believed among posterity. See [lviii.] xix. 47.

12 Of their motives in embracing Islam.

13 The Adites are mentioned in vii. and xi.

14 This is to be understood of the small forts erected by the
nomades of the Hejaz along the route of the caravans to guarantee
their safety. Comp. Gen. xi. 1-10, and Sura lxxxix. 6, p. 54.

15 The Madian and the El-Aika of other Suras are unquestionably
one and the same place, as they have the same prophet Shoaib (or
Sho'eyb), the Jethro of Scripture a name perhaps altered from


 


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