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The Koran

J.M. Rodwell (translator)

SURA XXXVIII.-SAD [LIX.]

MECCA.-88 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

SAD.1 By the Koran full of warning! In sooth the Infidels are absorbed in
pride, in contention with thee.

How many generations have we destroyed before them! And they cried for mercy
but no time was it of escape!

And they marvel that a warner from among themselves hath come to them; and
the Infidels say, "This is a sorcerer, a liar:

Maketh he the gods to be but one god? A strange thing forsooth is this!"

And their chiefs took themselves off. "Go, said they, and cleave steadfastly2
to your gods. Ye see the thing aimed at.

We heard not of this in the previous creed.3 It is but an imposture:

To him alone of us all hath a book of warning been sent down?" Yes! they are
in doubt as to my warnings, for they have not yet tasted my vengeance.

Are the treasures of the mercy of thy Lord, the Mighty, the bounteous, in
their hands?

Is the kingdom of the heavens and of the earth and of all that is between
them theirs? Then let them mount up by cords!

Any army of the confederates4 shall here be routed.

Before them the people of Noah and Ad and Pharaoh the impaler5 treated their
prophets as impostors;

And Themoud, and the people of Lot, and the dwellers in the forest: these
were the confederates.

Nought did they all but charge the apostles with falsehood: Just, therefore,
the retribution.

And these (Meccans) await but one single trumpet blast-There shall be no
delaying it-

Yet they dare to say, "O our Lord! hasten our lot to us, before the day of
reckoning."

Put thou up with what they say: and remember our servant David, a man strong
of hand6, one who turned him to Us in penitence:

We constrained the mountains7 to join with him in lauds at even and at
sunrise;

And the birds which flocked to him, and would all return to him oft;

And we stablished his kingdom: and wisdom, and skill to pronounce clear
decisions, did we bestow on him.

Hath the story of the two pleaders8 reached thee, O Muhammad, when they
mounted the walls of his closet?

When they entered in upon David, and he was frightened at them, they said,
"Be not afraid; we are two opposing parties: one of us hath wronged the
other. Judge therefore with truth between us, and be not unjust, but guide us
to the right way.

Now this my brother had ninety and nine ewes, and I had but a single ewe; and
he said, make me her keeper. And he over-persuaded me in the dispute."

He said, "Certainly he hath wronged thee in asking for thine ewe to add her
to his own ewes: and truly many associates do one another wrong-except those
who believe and do the things that are right; and few indeed are they!" And
David perceived that we had tried him; so he asked pardon of his Lord, and
fell down and bowed himself and repented.

So we forgave him that his sin; and truly he shall have a high rank with Us,
and an excellent retreat in Paradise.

O David! verily we have made thee our vicegerent upon earth. Judge therefore
between men with truth, and follow not thy passions, lest they cause thee to
err from the way of God. For they who err from the way of God shall meet with
a grievous chastisement, for that they have forgotten the day of reckoning.

We have not created the heaven and the earth and what is between them for
nought. That is the thought of infidels; but woe to the infidels because of
the fire!

Shall we treat those who believe and do the things that are right like those
who propagate evil on earth? Shall we treat the God-fearing like the impious?

A blessed Book9 have we sent down to thee, that men may meditate its verses,
and that those endued with understanding may bear it in mind.

And Solomon gave we unto David. An excellent servant, for he loved to turn
him Godward.

Remember when at eventide the prancing10 chargers were displayed before him,

And he said, "Truly I have loved the love of earthly goods above the
remembrance of my Lord, till the sun hath been hidden by the veil of
darkness.11

Bring them back to me." And he began to sever the legs and necks.

We also made trial of Solomon, and placed a phantom12 on his throne:
whereupon he returned to Us (in penitence).

He said, O my Lord! pardon me, and give me a dominion that may not be to any
one beside me, for thou art the liberal giver.

So we subjected the wind to him; it ran softly at his bidding, whithersoever
he directed it:

And the Satans-every builder and diver-

And others bound in chains:13

"This," said we, "is our gift: be bounteous then, or withhold thy favours; no
account shalt thou render."

And his rank also is high with Us, and an excellent retreat.

And remember our servant Job when he cried to his Lord, "Verily, Satan hath
laid on me disease and pain."

"Stamp," said we, "with thy foot. This14 is to wash with; cool, and to
drink."

And we gave him back his family, and as many more with them in our mercy; and
for a monition to men of judgment.

And we said, "Take in thine hand a rod, and strike15 with it, nor break thine
oath." Verily, we found him patient!

How excellent a servant, one who turned to Us was he!

And remember our servants Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, men of might and
vision.16

With this cleansing did we cleanse them the remembrance of the abode of
Paradise.

And verily, they were, in our sight, of the elect and of the good.

And remember Ishmael and Elisha and Dhoulkefl, for all these were of the
just.

This is a monition: and verily, the pious shall have a goodly retreat:

Gardens of Eden, whose portals shall stand open to them:

Therein reclining, they shall there call for many a fruit and drink:

And with them shall be virgins of their own age, with modest retiring
glances:

"This is what ye were promised at the day of reckoning."

"Yes! this is our provision: it shall never fail."

Even so. But for the evil doers is a wretched home-

Hell-wherein they shall be burned: how wretched a bed!

Even so. Let them then taste it-boiling water and gore,

And other things of kindred sort!

To their leaders it shall be said, "This company shall be thrown in headlong
with you. No greetings shall await them, for they shall be burned in the
fire."

They shall say: "But ye, too! there shall be no welcome for you. It was ye
who prepared this for us, and wretched is the abode!"

They will say: "O our Lord! increase twofold in the fire, the punishment of
him who hath brought this upon us."

And they will say: "Why see we not the men whom we numbered among the wicked-

Whom we used to treat with scorn? Have they escaped our eyes?"17

Verily this is truth-the wrangling together of the people of the fire.

SAY: I am but a warner; and there is no God but God the One, the Almighty!

Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth, and of all that is between them,18 the
Potent, the Forgiving!

SAY: this is a weighty message,19

From which ye turn aside!

Yet had I no knowledge of what passed among the celestial chiefs when they
disputed,20

-Verily, it hath been revealed to me only because I am a public preacher-

When thy Lord said to the angels, "I am about to make man of clay,21

And when I have formed him and breathed my spirit into him, then worshipping
fall down before him."

And the angels prostrated themselves, all of them with one accord,

Save Eblis. He swelled with pride, and became an unbeliever.

"O Eblis," said God, "what hindereth thee from prostrating thyself before him
whom my hands have made?

Is it that thou are puffed up with pride? or art thou a being of lofty
merit?"

He said: "I am more excellent than he; me hast thou created of fire:22 of
clay hast thou created him."

He said: "Begone then hence: thou art accursed,23

And lo! my ban shall be on thee till the day of the reckoning."

He said: "O my Lord! respite me till the day of Resurrection."

He said, "One then of the respited shalt thou be,

Till the day of the time appointed."

He said: "I swear by thy might then that all of them will I seduce,

Save thy sincere servants among them."

He said: "It is truth, and the truth I speak. From thee will I surely fill
Hell, and with such of them as shall follow thee, one and all.

Say: I ask no wage of you for this, nor am I one who intermeddleth.

Of a truth the Koran is no other than a warning to all creatures.

And after a time shall ye surely know its message.


_______________________

1 The letter S. See Sura lxviii. p. 32.

2 These verses are said to have been revealed when, upon the conversion of
Omar, the Koreisch went in a body to Abu Talib and requested him to withdraw
his protection from Muhammad, but being put to silence by the latter,
departed in great confusion. Wah. Beidh.

3 That is, in the Christian religion, which teaches, Muhammad ironically
implies, a plurality of Gods.

4 This may allude to the so-called "confederacy" of the Koreisch against
Muhammad.

5 This term is also applied to Pharaoh, Sura lxxxix. 9, p. 54. He is said to
have fastened the Israelites to stakes, and then subjected them to various
torments.

addenda: This is the usual interpretation.  Lit. Lord of, or, possessor of
stakes (comp. li. 39 in Ar.), i.e., Forces.  Dr. Sprenger ingenuously
suggests that Muhammad’s Jewish informant may have described Pharaoh as rich
in neçyb, i.e., fortresses; whereas, in Ar., naçyb, means an erection,
pillar, etc., for which Muhammad substituted the word for tent stakes.  Vol.
i. (470).

6 Præditi (manibus) virtute. Mar.

7 Comp. Ps. cxlviii. 9, 10.

8 Two angels who pretended to appeal to David in order to convince him of his
sin in the matter of Uriah's wife. Comp. I Sam. xii.

9 The Psalms, if we suppose with Nöldeke, p. 99, that David is still
addressed: the Koran, if with Sale we refer the passage to Muhammad.

10 The Commentators say that the word used in the original implies that the
mares stood on three feet, and touched the ground with the edge of the fourth
foot.

11 Solomon, in his admiration of these horses, the result, we are told, of
David's or his own conquests, forgot the hour of evening prayer, and when
aware of his fault commenced their slaughter. The Tr. Sanhedr. fol. 21,
mentions Solomon's love for horses, and that he determined to have a large
stud; yet not to send the people to Egypt (Deut. xvii. 16) but to have them
brought to him out of Egypt (I Kings x. 28).

12 One of the Djinn. The absurd fiction may be seen in extenso in Sale.
Compare Tr. Sanhedr. fol. 20, b. and Midr. Jalkut on I Kings vi. § 182.

13 Thus the second Targum on Esther i. 2, mentions the four different kinds
of Demons which were "given into the hand" of Solomon-a legend derived from a
misunderstanding of Eccl. ii. 8.

14 The fountain which had sprung up. To this history the Talmudists have no
allusion.

15 Thy wife;-on whom he had sworn that he would inflict an hundred blows,
because she had absented herself from him when in need of her assistance, or
for her words (Job ii. 9). The oath was kept, we are told, by his giving her
one blow with a rod of a hundred stalks. This passage is often quoted by the
Muslims as authorising any similar manner of release from an oath
inconsiderately taken.

16 Lit. men of hand and of sight.

17 Lit. or do our eyes wander from them.

18 See verses 9, 26, above. It seems to have been one of the peculiarities of
Muhammad, as a person very deficient in imagination, to dwell upon and repeat
the same ideas, with an intensity which is at once an evidence of deep
personal conviction and consciousness, of the simple Arabian especially.

19 The connection between the concluding episode and the preceding part of
the Sura does not seem very clear. It probably originated at a different but
uncertain period.

20 About the creation of man.

21 Comp. Sura [xci.] ii. 28, ff.

22 Comp. Ps. civ. 4.

23 Lit. stoned. See Sura xv. 34, p. 114.


SURA XXXVI.-YA. SIN [LX.]

MECCA.-83 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

YA. SIN.1 By the wise Koran!

Surely of the Sent Ones, Thou,

Upon a right path!

A revelation of the Mighty, the Merciful,

That thou shouldest warn a people whose fathers were not warned and therefore
lived in heedlessness!

Just, now, is our sentence2 against most of them; therefore they shall not
believe.

On their necks have we placed chains which reach the chin, and forced up are
their heads:

Before them have we set a barrier and behind them a barrier, and we have
shrouded them in a veil, so that they shall not see.

Alike is it to them if thou warn them or warn them not: they will not
believe.

Him only shalt thou really warn, who followeth the monition and feareth the
God of mercy in secret: him cheer with tidings of pardon, and of a noble
recompense.

Verily, it is We who will quicken the dead, and write down the works which
they have sent on before them, and the traces which they shall have left
behind them: and everything have we set down in the clear Book of our
decrees.3

Set forth to them the instance of the people of the city4 when the Sent Ones
came to it.

When we sent two unto them and they charged them both with imposture-
therefore with a third we strengthened them: and they said, "Verily we are
the Sent unto you of God."

They said, "Ye are only men like us: Nought hath the God of Mercy sent down.
Ye do nothing but lie."

They said, "Our Lord knoweth that we are surely sent unto you;

To proclaim a clear message is our only duty."

They said, "Of a truth we augur ill from you:5 if ye desist not we will
surely stone you, and a grievous punishment will surely befall you from us."

They said, "Your augury of ill is with yourselves. Will ye be warned?6 Nay,
ye are an erring people."

Then from the end of the city a man came running:7 He said, "O my people!
follow the Sent Ones;

Follow those who ask not of you a recompense, and who are rightly guided.

And why should I not worship Him who made me, and to whom ye shall be brought
back?

Shall I take gods beside Him? If the God of Mercy be pleased to afflict me,
their intercession will not avert from me aught, nor will they deliver:

Truly then should I be in a manifest error.

Verily, in your Lord have I believed; therefore hear me."8

-It was said to him, "Enter thou into Paradise:" And he said, "Oh that my
people knew

How gracious God hath been to me, and that He hath made me one of His
honoured ones."

But no army sent we down out of heaven after his death, nor were we then
sending down our angels-

There was but one shout from Gabriel, and lo! they were extinct.

Oh! the misery that rests upon my servants! No apostle cometh to them but
they laugh him to scorn.

See they not how many generations we have destroyed before them?

Not to false gods is it that they shall be brought9 back,

But all, gathered together, shall be set before Us.

Moreover, the dead earth is a sign to them: we quicken it and bring forth the
grain from it, and they eat thereof:

And we make in it gardens of the date and vine; and we cause springs to gush
forth in it;

That they may eat of its fruits and of the labour of their hands. Will they
not therefore be thankful?

Glory be to Him, who hath created all the sexual pairs of such things as
Earth produceth,10 and of mankind themselves; and of things beyond their ken!

A sign to them also is the Night. We withdraw the day from it, and lo! they
are plunged in darkness;

And the Sun hasteneth to her place of rest. This, the ordinance of the
Mighty, the Knowing!

And as for the Moon, We have decreed stations for it, till it change like an
old and crooked palm branch.

To the Sun it is not given to overtake the Moon, nor doth the night outstrip
the day; but each in its own sphere doth journey on.

It is also a sign to them that we bare their posterity in the full-laden Ark;

And that we have made for them vessels like it on which they embark;

And if we please, we drown them, and there is none to help them, and they are
not rescued,

Unless through our mercy, and that they may enjoy themselves for yet awhile.

And when it is said to them, Fear what is before you and what is behind
you,11 that ye may obtain mercy. . . .

Aye, not one sign from among the signs of their Lord dost thou bring them,
but they turn away from it!

And when it is said to them, Give alms of what God hath bestowed on you,12
they who believe not say to the believers, "Shall we feed him whom God can
feed if He will? Truly ye are in no other than a plain error."

And they say, "When will this promise be fulfilled, if what ye say be true?"

They await but a single blast: as they are wrangling shall it assail them:

And not a bequest shall they be able to make, nor to their families shall
they return.

And the trumpet shall be blown, and, lo! they shall speed out of their
sepulchres to their Lord:

They shall say, "Oh! woe to us! who hath roused us from our sleeping place?
'Tis what the God of Mercy promised; and the Apostles spake the truth."

But one blast shall there be,13 and, lo! they shall be assembled before us,
all together.

And on that day shall no soul be wronged in the least: neither shall ye be
rewarded but as ye shall have wrought.

But joyous on that day shall be the inmates of Paradise, in their employ;

In shades, on bridal couches reclining, they and their spouses:

Therein shall they have fruits, and shall have whatever they require-

"Peace!" shall be the word on the part of a merciful Lord.

"But be ye separated this day, O ye sinners!

Did I not enjoin on you, O sons of Adam, 'Worship not Satan, for that he is
your declared foe,'

But 'Worship Me: this is a right path'?

But now hath he led a vast host of you astray. Did ye not then comprehend?

This is Hell with which ye were threatened:

Endure its heat this day, for that ye believed not."

On that day will we set a seal upon their mouths; yet shall their hands speak
unto us, and their feet14 shall bear witness of that which they shall have
done.

And, if we pleased, we would surely put out their eyes: yet even then would
they speed on with rivalry in their path: but how should they see?

And, if we pleased, we would surely transform them as they stand,15 and they
would not be able to move onward, or to return.

Him cause we to stoop through age whose days we lengthen. Will they not
understand?

We have not taught him (Muhammad) poetry,16 nor would it beseem him. This
Book is no other than a warning and a clear Koran,

To warn whoever liveth; and, that against the Infidels sentence may be justly
given.

See they not that we have created for them among the things which our hands
have wrought, the animals of which they are masters?

And that we have subjected them unto them? And on some they ride, and of
others they eat;

And they find in them profitable uses and beverages:

Yet have they taken other gods beside God that they might be helpful to them.

No power have they to succour them: yet are their votaries an army at their
service.

Let not their speech grieve thee: We know what they hide and what they bring
to light.

Doth not man perceive that we have created him of the moist germs of life?
Yet lo! is he an open caviller.

And he meeteth us with arguments,17 and forgetteth his creation: "Who," saith
he, "shall give life to bones when they are rotten?"

SAY: He shall give life to them who gave them being at first, for in all
creation is he skilled:

Who even out of the green tree hath given you fire18, and lo! ye kindle flame
from it.

What! must not He who hath created the Heavens and the Earth be mighty enough
to create your likes? Yes! and He is the skilful creator.

His command when He willeth aught, is but to say to it, BE, and IT IS.

So glory be to Him in whose hand is sway over all things! And to Him shall ye
be brought back.


_______________________

1 This Sura is said to have been termed by Muhammad "the heart of the Koran."
It is recited in all Muhammadan countries to the dying, at the tombs of
saints, etc. On Ya. Sin, see Sura lxviii. p. 32.

2 Sura xxxviii. 85, p. 129.

3 Lit. in the clear prototype, that is, in the Preserved Table, on which all
the actions of mankind are written down.

4 Antioch, to which Jesus is said to have sent two disciples to preach the
unity of God, and subsequently Simon Peter. This vague story, and that of the
seven sleepers in Sura xviii. are the only traces to be found in the Koran of
any knowledge, on the part of Muhammad, of the history of the Church
subsequent to the day of Pentecost, or of the spread of the Christian
religion.

5 Comp. Sura xxvii. 48; vii. 128, where, as in this passage, the word augur
refers to the mode of divination practised previous to Islam, by the flight
of birds.

6 Lit. if ye have been warned (will ye still disbelieve?).

7 Habib, the carpenter, who, as implied at verse 25, was martyred, and whose
tomb at Antioch is still an object of veneration to the Muhammadans.

8 Ullm. following Wahl, renders, Als sie (die stadtlente) darauf ihn
schändlich behandleten. The verb in the original is thus used in the 4th
conj. Nöldeke supposes that words to this effect have been lost from the
text. But of this there is no trace in the Commentators.

9 Or, the Apostles shall not return to them again. Ullm.

10 For instance, date trees, the female blossoms of which were carefully
impregnated, when requisite, by branches of the male plant. See Freyt. Einl.
p. 271.

11 The chastisements of this world and of the next.

12 On account of this precept, Itq. 35, and Omar b. Muhammad suppose the
verse to have originated at Medina.

13 The Muhammadans affirm that a space of forty years will intervene between
two blasts of the Trumpet. Maracci suggests that the idea of the two blasts
is derived from 1 Thess. iv. 16, "the voice of the archangel and . . . the
trump of God."

14 Thus Chagiga, 16; Taanith, 11. "The very members of a man bear witness
against him, for thus is it written (Is. xliii. 12), Ye yourselves are my
witnesses, saith the Lord." See also Sura [lxxi.] xli. 19, 20.

15 Lit. in their place.

16 See Sura xxvi. 225, p. III.

17 Lit. he setteth forth to us comparisons.

18 The form of the Arabic word is Rabbinic Hebrew.


SURA XLIII.-ORNAMENTS OF GOLD [LXI.]

MECCA.-89 Verses.

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Ha. Mim.1 By the Luminous Book!

We have made it an Arabic Koran that ye may understand:

And it is a transcript of the archetypal Book,2 kept by us; it is lofty,
filled with wisdom,

Shall we then turn aside this warning from you because ye are a people who
transgress?

Yet how many prophets sent we among those of old!

But no prophet came to them whom they made not the object of their scorn:

Wherefore we destroyed nations mightier than these Meccans in strength; and
the example of those of old hath gone before!

And if thou ask them who created the Heavens and the Earth, they will say:
"The Mighty, the Sage, created them both,"

Who hath made the Earth as a couch for you, and hath traced out routes
therein for your guidance;

And who sendeth down out of Heaven the rain in due degree, by which we
quicken a dead land; thus shall ye be brought forth from the grave:

And who hath created the sexual couples, all of them, and hath made for you
the ships and beasts whereon ye ride:

That ye may sit balanced on their backs and remember the goodness of your
Lord as ye sit so evenly thereon, and say: "Glory to Him who hath subjected
these to us! We could not have attained to it of ourselves:

And truly unto our Lord shall we return."

Yet do they assign to him some of his own servants for offspring! Verily man
is an open ingrate!

Hath God adopted daughters from among those whom he hath created, and chosen
sons for you?

But when that3 is announced to any one of them, which he affirmeth to be the
case with the God of Mercy,4 his face settleth into darkness and he is
silent-sad.

What! make they a being to be the offspring of God who is brought up among
trinkets, and is ever contentious without reason?

And they make the angels who are the servants of God of Mercy, females. What!
did they witness their creation? Their witness shall be taken down, and they
shall hereafter be enquired at.

And they say: "Had the God of Mercy so willed it we should never have
worshipped them." No knowledge have they in this: they only lie.

Have we ere this given them a Book?5 and do they possess it still?

But say they: "Verily we found our fathers of that persuasion, and verily, by
their footsteps do we guide ourselves."

And thus never before thy time did we send a warner to any city but its
wealthy ones said: "Verily we found our fathers with a religion, and in their
tracks we tread."

SAY,-such was our command to that apostle-"What! even if I bring you a
religion more right than that ye found your fathers following?" And they
said, "Verily we believe not in your message."

Wherefore we took vengeance on them, and behold what hath been the end of
those who treated our messengers as liars!

And bear in mind when Abraham said to his father and to his people, "Verily I
am clear of what ye worship,

Save Him who hath created me; for he will vouchsafe me guidance."

And this he established as a doctrine that should abide among his posterity,
that to God might they be turned.

In sooth to these idolatrous Arabians and to their fathers did I allow their
full enjoyments, till the truth should come to them, and an undoubted
apostle:

But now that the truth hath come to them, they say, "'Tis sorcery, and we
believe it not."

And they say, "Had but this Koran been sent down to some great one of the two
cities6 . . .!"

Are they then the distributors of thy Lord's Mercy?7 It is we who distribute
their subsistence among them in this world's life; and we raise some of them
by grades above others, that the one may take the other to serve him: but
better is the mercy of thy Lord than all their hoards.

But for fear that all mankind would have become a single people of
unbelievers, verily we would certainly have given to those who believe not in
the God of Mercy roofs of silver to their houses, and silver stairs to ascend
by;

And doors of silver to their houses, and couches of silver to recline on;

And ORNAMENTS OF GOLD: for all these are merely the good things of the
present life; but the next life doth thy Lord reserve for those who fear Him.

And whoso shall withdraw from the Warning of the God of Mercy, we will chain
a Satan to him, and he shall be his fast companion:

For the Satans will turn men aside from the Way, who yet shall deem
themselves rightly guided;

Until when man shall come before us, he shall say, "O Satan, would that
between me and thee were the distance of the East and West."8 And a wretched
companion is a Satan.

But it shall not avail you on that day, because ye were unjust: partners
shall ye be in the torment.

What! Canst thou then make the deaf to hear, or guide the blind and him who
is in palpable error?

Whether therefore we take thee off by death, surely will we avenge ourselves
on them;

Or whether we make thee a witness of the accomplishment of that with which we
threatened them, we will surely gain the mastery over them.9

Hold thou fast therefore what hath been revealed to thee, for thou art on a
right path:

For truly to thee and to thy people it is an admonition; and ye shall have an
account to render for it at last.10

And ask our Sent Ones whom we have sent before thee,

"Appointed we gods beside the God of Mercy whom they should worship?"11

Of old sent we Moses with our signs to Pharaoh and his nobles: and he said,
"I truly am the Apostle of the Lord of the worlds."

And when he presented himself before them with our signs, lo! they laughed at
them,

Though we shewed them no sign that was not greater than its fellow:12 and
therefore did we lay hold on them with chastisement, to the intent that they
might be turned to God.

Then they said, "O Magician! call on thy Lord on our behalf to do as he hath
engaged with thee, for truly we would fain be guided."

But when we relieved them from the chastisement, lo! they broke their pledge.

And Pharaoh made proclamation among his people. Said he, "O my people! is not
the kingdom of Egypt mine, and these rivers which flow at my feet?13 Do ye
not behold?

Am I not mightier than this despicable fellow,

And who scarce can speak distinctly?

Have bracelets of gold14 then been put upon him, or come there with him a
train of Angels?"

And he inspired his people with levity, and they obeyed him; for they were a
perverse people:

And when they had angered us, we took vengeance on them, and we drowned them
all.

And we made them a precedent and instance of divine judgments to those who
came after them.

And when the Son of Mary was set forth as an instance of divine power, lo!
thy people cried out for joy thereat:

And they said, "Are our gods or is he the better?"15 They put this forth to
thee only in the spirit of dispute. Yea, they are a contentious people.

Jesus is no more than a servant whom we favoured, and proposed as an instance
of divine power to the children of Israel.

(And if we pleased, we could from yourselves bring forth Angels to succeed
you on earth:)16

And he shall be a sign of the last hour;17 doubt not then of it, and follow
ye me: this is the right way;

And let not Satan turn you aside from it, for he is your manifest foe.

And when Jesus came with manifest proofs, he said, "Now am I come to you with
wisdom; and a part of those things about which ye are at variance I will
clear up to you; fear ye God therefore and obey me.

Verily, God is my Lord and your Lord; wherefore worship ye him: this is a
right way."

But the different parties18 fell into disputes among themselves; but woe to
those who thus transgressed, because of the punishment of an afflictive day!

For what wait they but for the hour "to come suddenly on them, while they
expect it not?"

Friends on that day shall become foes to one another, except the God-
fearing:-

"O my servants! on this day shall no fear come upon you, neither shall ye be
put to grief,

Who have believed in our signs and become Muslims:

Enter ye and your wives into Paradise, delighted."

Dishes and bowls of gold shall go round unto them: there shall they enjoy
whatever their souls desire, and whatever their eyes delight in; and therein
shall ye abide for ever.

This is Paradise, which ye have received as your heritage in recompense for
your works;

Therein shall ye have fruits in abundance, of which ye shall eat.

But in the torment of Hell shall the wicked remain for ever:

It shall not be mitigated to them, and they shall be mute for despair
therein,

For it is not we who have treated them unjustly, but it was they who were
unjust to themselves.

And they shall cry: "O Malec!19 would that thy Lord would make an end of us!"
He saith: "Here must ye remain."

We have come to you with the truth (O Meccans), but most of you abhor the
truth.

Have they drawn tight their toils for thee?20 We too will tighten ours.

Think they that we hear not their secrets and their private talk? Yes, and
our angels who are at their sides write them down.

SAY: If the God of Mercy had a son, the first would I be to worship him:

But far be the Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth, the Lord of the Throne,
from that which they impute to Him!

Wherefore let them alone, to plunge on, and sport, until they meet the day
with which they are menaced.

He who is God in the Heavens is God in earth also: and He is the Wise, the
Knowing.

And Blessed be He whose is the kingdom of the Heavens and of the Earth and of
all that is between them; for with Him is the knowledge of the Hour, and to
Him shall ye be brought back.

The gods whom they call upon beside Him shall not be able to intercede for
others: they only shall be able who bore witness to the truth and21 knew it."

If thou ask them who hath created them, they will be sure to say, "God." How
then hold they false opinions?

And one22 saith, "O Lord! verily these are people who believe not."

Turn thou then from them, and say, "Peace:" In the end they shall know their
folly.


_______________________

1 See Sura lxviii. I, p. 32.

2 Lit. it is in the Mother of the Book, i.e. the original of the Koran,
preserved before God.

3 That is, of the birth of a female.

4 Lit. which he imputeth to the God of Mercy, as his likeness.

5 To authorise angel-worship.

6 Supply, Mecca and Taief, we would have received it.

7 Lit. mercy, i.e. the gift and office of prophecy.

8 Lit. the two Easts, by which some understand the distance between the two
solstices.

9 Comp. Suras xl. 77; xxiii. 97; x. 47; xxix. 53; xxxvii. 179; xiii. 42.
These passages clearly show that Muhammad had at this period-towards the
close of his Meccan period-full faith in his ultimate success, and in the
fulfilment of his menaces against the unbelievers.

10 Lit. ye shall be examined in the end.

11 This verse is said (see Nöld. p. 100, n.) to have been revealed in the
temple at Jerusalem on the occasion of the night journey thither. See also
Weil's Muhammed der Prophet, p. 374.

12 Lit. sister.

13 See Sura [lxxix.] xxviii. 39, n.

14 Comp. Gen. xli. 42.

15 This was a captious objection made to Muhammad by the idolaters of Mecca
when he condemned their gods (Sura xxi. 98), as if they had said, "Jesus is
worshipped as a God by the Christians: does he come under your anathema
equally with our idols? we shall be content for our gods to be with him."

16 That is, as we caused Jesus to be born without a human father.

17 At his return to this earth. Some refer this to the Koran as revealing the
last Hour. Lit. He (or It) is for knowledge of the Hour.

18 Jewish and Christian sects.

19 Malec is one of the keepers of Hell, who specially presides over the
torments of the damned.

20 Lit. if they have twisted tight or set firmly the affair, i.e. their plots
against thee and the truth.

21 Or, and they (the Infidels). The Commentators say that Jesus, Ezra, and
the angels, will be allowed to intercede.

22 Muhammad.


SURA LXXII.-DJINN [LXII.]

MECCA.-28 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

SAY: It hath been revealed to me that a company of

DJINN1 listened, and said,-"Verily, we have heard a marvellous discourse
(Koran);

It guideth to the truth; wherefore we believed in it, and we will not
henceforth join any being with our Lord;

And He,-may the majesty of our Lord be exalted!-hath taken no spouse neither
hath he any offspring.

But the foolish among us hath spoken of God that which is unjust:

And we verily thought that no one amongst men or Djinn would have uttered a
lie against God.

There are indeed people among men, who have sought for refuge unto people
among Djinn: but they only increased their folly:

And they thought, as ye think, that God would not raise any from the dead.

And the Heavens did we essay, but found them filled with a mighty garrison,
and with flaming darts;

And we sat on some of the seats to listen, but whoever listeneth findeth an
ambush ready for him of flaming darts.

And truly we know not whether evil be meant for them that are on earth, or
whether their Lord meaneth guidance for them.

And there are among us good, and others among us of another kind;-we are of
various sorts:

And verily we thought that no one could weaken God on earth, neither could we
escape from him by flight:

Wherefore as soon as we had heard 'the guidance' we believed in it; and
whoever believeth in his Lord, need not fear either loss or wrong.

There are some among us who have resigned themselves to God (the Muslims);
and there are others of us who have gone astray. And whoso resigneth himself
to God pursueth the way of truth;

But they who go astray from it shall be fuel for Hell."

Moreover, if they (the Meccans) keep straight on in that way, we will surely
give them to drink of abundant waters,

That we may prove them thereby: but whoso withdraweth from the remembrance of
his Lord, him will He send into a severe torment.

It is unto God that the temples are set apart: call not then on any other
therein with God.

When the servant of God stood up to call upon Him, the djinn almost jostled
him by their crowds.

SAY: I call only upon my Lord, and I join no other being with Him.

SAY: No control have I over what may hurt or benefit you.

SAY: Verily none can protect me against God;

Neither shall I find any refuge beside Him.

My sole work is preaching from God, and His message: and for such as shall
rebel against God and his apostle is the fire of Hell! they shall remain
therein alway,-for ever!

Until they see their threatened vengeance they will be perverse! but then
shall they know which side was the weakest in a protector and the fewest in
number.

SAY: I know not whether that with which ye are threatened be nigh, or whether
my Lord hath assigned it to a distant day: He knoweth the secret, nor doth He
divulge his secret to any,

Except to that Apostle who pleaseth Him; and before him and behind him He
maketh a guard to march:

That He may know if his Apostles have verily delivered the messages of their
Lord: and He embraceth in his knowledge all their ways, and taketh count of
all that concerneth them.


_______________________

1 This interview with the Djinn took place at Nakhla, probably the "Wady
Mohram" of Burckhardt, midway between Mecca and Ta‹ef, when Muhammad was
driven from Mecca. A.D. 620.
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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