And friend shall not question of friend,
Though they look at one another. Fain would the wicked redeem himself from punishment on that day at the price of his children,
Of his spouse and his brother,
And of his kindred who shewed affection for him,
And of all who are on the earth that then it might deliver him.
But no. For the fire,
Dragging by the scalp,
Shall claim him who turned his back and went away,
And amassed and hoarded.
Man truly is by creation hasty;
When evil befalleth him, impatient;
But when good falleth to his lot, tenacious.
Not so the prayerful,
Who are ever constant at their prayers;
And of whose substance there is a due and stated portion
For him who asketh, and for him who is ashamed3 to beg;
And who own the judgment-day a truth,
And who thrill with dread at the chastisement of their Lord–
For there is none safe from the chastisement of their Lord–
And who control their desires,
(Save with their wives or the slaves whom their right hands have won, for there they shall be blameless;
But whoever indulge their desires beyond this are transgressors);
And who are true to their trusts and their engagements,
And who witness uprightly,
And who keep strictly the hours of prayer:
These shall dwell, laden with honours, amid gardens.
But what hath come to the unbelievers that they run at full stretch around thee,
On the right hand and on the left, in bands?
Is it that every man of them would fain enter that garden of delights?
Not at all. We have created them, they know of what.
It needs not that I swear by the Lord of the East and of the West4 that we have power.
To replace them with better than themselves: neither are we to be hindered.
Wherefore let them flounder on and disport them, till they come face to face with their threatened day,
The day on which they shall flock up out of their graves in haste like men who rally to a standard:–
Their eyes downcast; disgrace shall cover them. Such their threatened day.
_______________________
1 Lit. asking one asked; probably some unbeliever, with reference to the opening of Sura lvi., p. 60, or like statements in some previous Sura.
2 The expression is hyperbolical, and, as such, identical with Sura [lxx.] xxxii. 4. Compare also Sura xcvii., p. 37. where the descent is said to take place in a single night.
3 Lit. forbidden or prevented by shame.
4 See next Sura. v. 16.
MECCA.–78 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The God of MERCY hath taught the Koran,
Hath created man,
Hath taught him articulate speech,
The Sun and the Moon have each their times,
And the plants and the trees bend in adoration.
And the Heaven, He hath reared it on high, and hath appointed the balance;
That in the balance ye should not transgress.
Weigh therefore with fairness, and scant not the balance.
And the Earth, He hath prepared it for the living tribes:
Therein are fruits, and the palms with sheathed clusters,
And the grain with its husk, and the fragrant plants.
Which then of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain1 deny?
He created man of clay like that of the potter.
And He created the djinn of pure fire:
Which then of the bounties, etc.
He is the Lord of the East,2
He is the Lord of the West:
Which, etc.
He hath let loose the two seas3 which meet each other:
Yet between them is a barrier which they overpass not:
Which, etc.
From each he bringeth up pearls both great and small:
Which, etc.
And His are the ships towering up at sea like mountains:
Which, etc.
All on the earth shall pass away,
But the face of thy Lord shall abide resplendent with majesty and glory:
Which, etc.
To Him maketh suit all that is in the Heaven and the Earth. Every day doth some new work employ Him:
Which, etc.
We will find leisure to judge you, O ye men and djinn:4
Which, etc.
O company of djinn and men, if ye can overpass the bounds of the Heavens and the Earth, then overpass them. But by our leave only shall ye overpass them:
Which, etc.
A bright flash of fire shall be hurled at you both, and molten brass, and ye shall not defend yourselves from it:
Which, etc.
When the Heaven shall be cleft asunder, and become rose red, like stained leather:
Which, etc.
On that day shall neither man nor djinn be asked of his sin:
Which, etc.
By their tokens shall the sinners be known, and they shall be seized by their forelocks and their feet:
Which, etc.
"This is Hell which sinners treated as a lie."
To and fro shall they pass between it and the boiling water:
Which, etc.
But for those who dread the majesty of their Lord shall be two gardens:
Which, etc.
With o'erbranching trees in each:
Which, etc.
In each two kinds of every fruit:
Which, etc.
On couches with linings of brocade shall they recline, and the fruit of the two gardens shall be within easy reach:
Which, etc.
Therein shall be the damsels with retiring glances, whom nor man nor djinn hath touched before them:
Which, etc.
Like jacynths and pearls:
Which, etc.
Shall the reward of good be aught but good?
Which, etc.
And beside these shall be two other gardens:5
Which, etc.
Of a dark green:
Which, etc.
With gushing fountains in each:
Which, etc.
In each, fruits and the palm and the pomegranate:
Which, etc.
In each, the fair, the beauteous ones:
Which, etc.
With large dark eyeballs, kept close in their pavilions:
Which, etc.
Whom man hath never touched, nor any djinn:6
Which, etc.
Their spouses on soft green cushions and on beautiful carpets shall recline:
Which, etc.
Blessed be the name of thy Lord, full of majesty and glory.
_______________________
1 Men and djinn. The verb is in the dual.
2 Lit. of the two easts, of the two wests, i.e., of all that lies between the extreme points at which the sun rises and sets at the winter and summer solstices.
3 Lit. he hath set at large, poured forth over the earth the masses of fresh and salt water which are in contact at the mouths of rivers, etc. See Sura [lxviii.] xxvii. 62; [lxxxvi.] xxxv. 13.
4 Lit. O ye two weights; hence, treasures; and, generally, any collective body of men or things.
5 One for men, the other for the Genii; or, two for each man and Genius; or, both are for the inferior classes of Muslims. Beidh.
6 It should be remarked that these promises of the Houris of Paradise are almost exclusively to be found in Suras written at a time when Muhammad had only a single wife of 60 years of age, and that in all the ten years subsequent to the Hejira, women are only twice mentioned as part of the reward of the faithful. Suras ii. 23 and iv. 60. While in Suras xxxvi. 56; xliii. 70; xiii. 23; xl. 8 the proper wives of the faithful are spoken of as accompanying their husbands into the gardens of bliss.
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, OSaleh, 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.
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, andLord 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,
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,
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 andThemoud, 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.
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."