ArcaMax Publishing > Books > Religion > The Koran > Section 5
The Koran

J.M. Rodwell (translator)

SURA LIV.-THE MOON [XLIX.]

MECCA.-55 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

The hour hath approached and the MOON hath been cleft:

But whenever they see a miracle they turn aside and say, This is well-devised
magic.

And they have treated the prophets as impostors, and follow their own lusts;
but everything is unalterably fixed.

A message of prohibition had come to them-

Consummate wisdom-but warners profit them not.

Quit them then. On the day when the summoner shall summon to a stern
business,

With downcast eyes shall they come forth from their graves, as if they were
scattered locusts,

Hastening to the summoner. "This," shall the infidels say, "is the
distressful day."

Before them the people of Noah treated the truth as a lie. Our servant did
they charge with falsehood, and said, "Demoniac!" and he was rejected.

Then cried he to his Lord, "Verily, they prevail against me; come thou
therefore to my succour."

So we opened the gates of Heaven with water which fell in torrents,

And we caused the earth to break forth with springs, and their waters met by
settled decree.

And we bare him on a vessel made with planks and nails.

Under our eyes it floated on: a recompence to him who had been rejected with
unbelief.

And we left it a sign: but, is there any one who receives the warning?

And how great was my vengeance and my menace!

Easy for warning have we made the Koran-but, is there any one who receives
the warning?

The Adites called the truth a lie: but how great was my vengeance and my
menace;

For we sent against them a roaring wind in a day of continued distress:

It tore men away as though they were uprooted palm stumps.

And how great was my vengeance and my menace!

Easy for warning have we made the Koran-but, is there any one who receives
the warning?

The tribe of Themoud treated the threatenings as lies:

And they said, "Shall we follow a single man from among ourselves? Then
verily should we be in error and in folly.

To him alone among us is the office of warning entrusted? No! he is an
impostor, an insolent person."

To-morrow shall they learn who is the impostor, the insolent.

"For we will send the she-camel to prove them: do thou mark them well, O
Saleh, and be patient:

And foretell them that their waters shall1 be divided between themselves and
her, and that every draught shall come by turns to them."

But they called to their comrade, and he took a knife and ham-strung her.

And how great was my vengeance and my menance!

We sent against them a single shout; and they became like the dry sticks of
the fold-builders.

Easy have we made the Koran for warning-but, is there any one who receives
the warning?

The people of Lot treated his warning as a lie;

But we sent a stone-charged wind against them all, except the family of Lot,
whom at daybreak we delivered,

By our special grace-for thus we reward the thankful.

He, indeed, had warned them of our severity, but of that warning they
doubted.

Even this guess did they demand: therefore we deprived them of sight,

And said, "Taste ye my vengeance and my menace;"

And in the morning a relentless punishment overtook them.

Easy have we made the Koran for warning but, is there any one who receives
the warning?

To the people of Pharaoh also came the threatenings:

All our miracles did they treat as impostures. Therefore seized we them as he
only can seize, who is the Mighty, the Strong.

Are your infidels, O Meccans, better men than these? Is there an exemption
for you in the sacred Books?

Will they say, "We are a host that lend one another aid?"

The host shall be routed, and they shall turn them back.

But, that Hour is their threatened time, and that Hour shall be most severe
and bitter.

Verily, the wicked are sunk in bewilderment and folly.

On that day they shall be dragged into the fire on their faces. "Taste ye the
touch of Hell."

All things have we created after a fixed decree:

Our command was but one word, swift as the twinkling of an eye.

Of old, too, have we destroyed the like of you-yet is any one warned?

And everything that they do is in the Books;2

Each action, both small and great, is written down.

Verily, amid gardens3 and rivers shall the pious dwell.

In the seat of truth, in the presence of the potent King.


_______________________

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.


_______________________

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 of 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."


_______________________

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.

_______________________

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

_______________________

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.
Prev Next All
Printer Friendly Version | Send this page to a friend | Discuss this Book
Your email address is safe with us. View our Privacy policy.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain Category: Fiction Sections: 35 What's this? Table of Contents		Fiction Non Fiction Short Stories Poetry Plays Sci Fi Philosophy Biography