And I swear by thy Lord, we will surely gather together them and the Satans: then will we set them on their knees round Hell:
Then will we take forth from each band those of them who have been stoutest in rebellion against the God of Mercy:
Then shall we know right well to whom its burning is most due:
No one is there of you who shall not go down unto it25–This is a settled decree with thy Lord–
Then will we deliver those who had the fear of God, and the wicked will we leave in it on their knees.
And when our clear signs are rehearsed to them, the infidels say to those who believe: "Which of the two parties26 is in the best plight? and which is the most goodly company?"
But how many generations have we brought to ruin before them, who surpassed them in riches and in splendour!
SAY: As to those who are in error, the God of Mercy will lengthen out to them a length of days
Until they see that with which they are threatened, whether it be some present chastisement, or whether it be "the Hour," and they shall then know which is in the worse state, and which the more weak in forces:
But God will increase the guidance of the already guided.
And good works which abide, are in thy Lord's sight better in respect of guerdon, and better in the issue than all worldly good.
Hast thou marked him who believeth not in our signs, and saith, "I shall surely have riches and children bestowed upon me?"
Hath he mounted up into the secrets of God? Hath he made a compact with theGod of Mercy?
No! we will certainly write down what he saith, and will lengthen the length of his chastisement:
And we will inherit what he spake of, and he shall come before us all alone.
They have taken other gods beside God to be their help.27
But it shall not be. Those gods will disavow their worship and will become their enemies.
Seest thou not that we send the Satans against the Infidels to urge them into sin?
Wherefore be not thou in haste with them;28 for a small number of days do we number to them.
One day we will gather the God-fearing before the God of Mercy with honours due:29
But the sinners will we drive unto Hell, like flocks driven to the watering.
None shall have power to intercede, save he who hath received permission at the hands of the God of Mercy.
They say: "The God of Mercy hath gotten offspring." Now have ye done a monstrous thing!
Almost might the very Heavens be rent thereat, and the Earth cleave asunder, and the mountains fall down in fragments,
That they ascribe a son to the God of Mercy, when it beseemeth not the God ofMercy to beget a son!
Verily there is none in the Heavens and in the Earth but shall approach the God of Mercy as a servant. He hath taken note of them, and numbered them with exact numbering:
And each of them shall come to Him, on the day of Resurrection, singly:
But love will the God of Mercy vouchsafe to those who believe and do the things that be right.
Verily we have made this Koran easy and in thine own tongue, that thou mayest announce glad tidings by it to the God-fearing, and that thou mayest warn the contentious by it.
How many generations have we destroyed before them! Canst thou search out one of them? or canst thou hear a whisper from them?
_______________________
1 Comp. the first 37 verses of this Sura with Sura iii. 35-57 with reference to the different style adopted by Muhammad in the later Suras, probably for the purpose of avoiding the imputation of his being merely a poet, a sorcerer, or person possessed. Sura lii. 29, 30; xxi. 5; lxviii. 2, 51. This Sura is one of the fullest and earliest Koranic Gospel Histories, and was recited to the Nagash or King of Æthiopia, in the presence of the ambassadors of the Koreisch. His. 220; Caussin, i. 392; Sprenger (Life of M.) p. 193.
2 See Sura lxviii. I, p. 32. Golius conjectured that these letters represent coh ya'as, thus he counselled, and that they were added by some Jewish scribe. Sprenger (Journ. of As. Soc. of Bengal, xx. 280) arranges them as Ain, Sad, Kaf, Ha, Ya, and supposes them to be taken from the Arabic words for Aisa (Jesus) of the Nazarenes, King of the Jews. But we can hardly imagine that Muhammad would ascribe such a title to our Lord, and the word which Dr. Sprenger uses for Jews is not the form peculiar to the Koran.
3 Lest they should desert the worship of the God of Israel.
4 Ar. Yahia. It may be true that the name in this form had never been given. Otherwise, we have in this passage a misunderstanding of Luke i. 61, as well as ignorance of the Jewish Scriptures. Comp. 2 Kings xxv. 23; 1 Chron. iii. 16; Ezra viii. 12; Jerem. xl. 8. Some commentators try to avoid the difficulty by rendering samiyan, deserving of the name.
5 Or, with firm resolve. See Sura [xcvii.] iii. 36. The speaker is God.
6 To an eastern chamber in the temple to pray. Or it may mean, to some place eastward from Jerusalem, or from the house of her parents.
7 Thus the Protev. Jac. c. 12 says that Mary, although at a later period, [greek text] But Wahl, she laid aside her veil.
8 Gabriel.
9 See Sura [lxxxix.] vi. 9.
10 It is quite clear from this passage, and from verse 36, that Muhammad believed Jesus to have been conceived by an act of the divine will. Comp. Sura [xcvii.] iii. 52; see also note at Sura [xci.] ii. 81.
11 Or, the throes urged her to the trunk of, etc.
12 This was either the Infant which spoke as soon as born, or Gabriel. Comp. Thilo Cod. Apoc. 136-139 on this passage. Beidhawi explains: from behind the palm tree.
13 See Thilo Cod. Apoc. N. T. p. 138, and the Hist. Nat. Mar. c. 20, which connects similar incidents with the flight into Egypt. Thus also Latona, [greek text], Call. H. in Apoll. and [greek text], H. in Delum.
14 Or, settle, calm thine eye, refresh thine eye. The birth of a son is still called korrat ol ain.
15 The anachronism is probably only apparent. See Sura iii. 1, n. Muhammad may have supposed that this Aaron (or Harun) was the son of Imran and Anna. Or, if Aaron the brother of Moses be meant Mary may be called his sister, either because she was of the Levitical race, or by way of comparison.
16 See Sura [cxiv.] v. 109.
17 From the change in the rhyme, and from the more polemical tone of the following five verses, it may be inferred that they were added at a somewhat later period.
18 The title Nabi, prophet, is used of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as depositaries of the worship of the one true God, but with a mission restricted to their own families; whereas Houd, Saleh, Shoaib, etc., are designated as (Resoul) apostles and envoys, charged with a more extended mission to the tribes of Arabia. In Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, etc., are united the office and gift both of prophet (nabi) and apostle (resoul).
19 Made them to be highly praised. Beidh.
20 Enoch. Beidhawi derives the name Edris from the Ar. darasa, to search out, with reference to his knowledge of divine mysteries. The Heb. Enoch, in like manner, means initiated.
21 Comp. Gen. v. 24, and the tract Derek Erez in Midr. Jalkut, c. 42, where Enoch is reckoned among the nine according to other Talmudists, thirteen (Schroeder's Talm. und Rabb. Judenthum)–individuals who were exempted from death and taken straight to Paradise. It should be observed that both here and Sura xxi. 85, Edris is named after Ismael.
22 Maracci and Beidhawi, in absentid. Sale, as an object of faith. Beidhawi ad f. in reward for their secret faith. Ullmann für die verborgene Zukunft.
23 This verse is to be understood as an answer on the part of Gabriel to Muhammad's complaints of the long intervals between the revelations.
24 The idolaters called their deities Gods, but as Polytheists were unused to the singular Allah, God.
25 Even the pious on their way to Paradise are to pass the confines of Hell.
26 The Koreisch, or the Muslims.
27 Or, glory, strength.
28 To call down judgments upon them.
29 As ambassadors come into the presence of a prince. Sale. This is implied in the original.
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 ofParadise.
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 thePotent, 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 fillHell, 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.
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 asEarth 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 theMighty, 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. ThisBook 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.
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, theKnowing.
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.
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.
MECCA.– 30 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
BLESSED be He is whose hand is the KINGDOM! and over all things is He potent:
Who hath created death and life to prove which of you will be most righteous in deed; and He is the Mighty, the Forgiving!
Who hath created seven Heavens one above another: No defect canst thou see in the creation of the God of Mercy: Repeat the gaze: seest thou a single flaw?
Then twice more repeat the gaze: thy gaze shall return to thee dulled and weary.
Moreover we have decked the lowest heaven with lights, and have placed them there to be hurled at the Satans, for whom we have prepared the torment of the flaming fire.
And for those who believe not in their Lord is the torment of Hell; and horrid the journey thither!
When they shall be thrown into it, they shall hear it braying:1 and it shall boil–
Almost shall it burst for fury. So oft as a crowd shall be thrown into it, its keepers shall ask them, "Came not the warner to you?"
They shall say, Yes! there came to us one charged with warnings; but we treated him as a liar, and said, "Nothing hath God sent down: ye are in nothing but a vast delusion."
And they shall say, "Had we but hearkened or understood, we had not been among the dwellers in the flames;"
And their sin shall they acknowledge: but, "Avaunt, ye dwellers in the flame."
But pardon and a great reward for those who fear their Lord in secret!
Be your converse hidden or open, He truly knoweth the inmost recess of your breasts!
What! shall He not know who hath created? for He is the Subtil,2 theCognizant.
It is He who hath made the earth level for you: traverse then its broad sides, and eat of what He hath provided.–Unto Him shall be the resurrection.
What! are ye sure that He who is in Heaven will not cleave the Earth beneath you? And lo, it shall quake.
Or are ye sure that He who is in Heaven will not send against you a stone- charged whirlwind? Then shall ye know what my warning meant!
And verily, those who flourish before you treated their prophets as liars: and how grievous my wrath!
Behold they not the birds over their heads, outstretching and drawing in their wings? None, save the God of Mercy, upholdeth them: for he regardeth all things.
Who is he that can be as an army to you, to succour you, except the God ofMercy? Truly, the infidels are in the merest delusion.
Or who is he that will furnish you supplies, if He withhold His supplies? Yet do they persist in pride and in fleeing from Him!
Is he who goeth along grovelling on his face, better guided than he who goeth upright on a straight path?
SAY: It is He who hath brought you forth, and gifted you with hearing and sight and heart: yet how few are grateful!
SAY: It is He who hath sown you in the earth, and to Him shall ye be gathered.
And they say, "When shall this threat be put in force, if ye speak the truth?"
SAY: Nay truly, this knowledge is with God alone: and I am only an open warner.
But when they shall see it nigh, sad shall wax the countenances of the infidels: and it shall be said, "This is what ye have been calling for."
SAY: What think ye? Whether God destroy me or not, and those who follow me, or whether he have mercy on us, yet who will protect the infidels from a woeful torment?
SAY: He is the God of Mercy: in Him do we believe, and in Him put we our trust; and ye shall know hereafter who is in a manifest error.
SAY: What think ye? If at early morn your waters shall have sunk away, who then will give you clear running water?
_______________________
1 Thus Shakespeare uses the word braying of clamours of Hell; and Milton speaks of braying horrible discord. Comp. Sura xxv. 12-21.
2 Der alles durchdringt. Ullm.; perspicax. Mar.; sagacious. Sale. The primary meaning of the Arabic root is to draw near; hence the above signification, in the sense of God's presence as interpenetrating all things: hence also the other sense of benign, as in Sura [lxxxiii.] xlii. 18.
MECCA.1–118 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
HAPPY now the BELIEVERS,
Who humble them in their prayer,
And who keep aloof from vain words,2
And who are doers of alms deeds,
And who restrain their appetites,
(Save with their wives, or the slaves whom their right hands possess: for in that case they shall be free from blame:
But they whose desires reach further than this are transgressors:)
And who tend well their trusts and their covenants,
And who keep them strictly to their prayers:
These shall be the heritors,
Who shall inherit the paradise, to abide therein for ever.
Now of fine clay have we created man:
Then we placed him, a moist germ,3 in a safe abode;
Then made we the moist germ a clot of blood: then made the clotted blood into a piece of flesh; then made the piece of flesh into bones: and we clothed the bones with flesh: then brought forth man of yet another make4–Blessed therefore be God, the most excellent of Makers5–
Then after this ye shall surely die:
Then shall ye be waked up on the day of resurrection.
And we have created over you seven heavens:6–and we are not careless of the creation.
And we send down water from the Heaven in its due degree, and we cause it to settle on the earth;–and we have power for its withdrawal:–
And by it we cause gardens of palm trees, and vineyards to spring forth for you, in which ye have plenteous fruits, and whereof ye eat;
And the tree that groweth up on Mount Sinai; which yieldeth oil and a juice for those who eat.
And there is a lesson for you in the cattle: We give you to drink of what is in their bellies, and many advantages do ye derive from them, and for food they serve you;
And on them and on ships are ye borne.
We sent Noah heretofore unto his people, and he said, "O my people! serveGod: ye have no other God than He: will ye not therefore fear Him?
But the chiefs of the people who believed not said, "This is but a man like yourselves: he fain would raise himself above you: but had it pleased God to send, He would have sent angels: We heard not of this with our sires of old;–
Verily he is but a man possessed; leave him alone therefore for a time."
He said, "O my Lord! help me against their charge of imposture."
So we revealed unto him, "Make the ark under our eye, and as we have taught, and when our doom shall come on, and the earth's surface shall boil up,7
Carry into it of every kind a pair, and thy family, save him on whom sentence hath already passed: and plead not with me for the wicked, for they shall be drowned.
And when thou, and they who shall be with thee, shall go up into the ark; say, 'Praise be unto God, who hath rescued us from the wicked folk.'
And say, 'O my Lord! disembark me with a blessed disembarking: for thou art the best to disembark."'
Verily in this were signs, and verily we made proof of man.
We then raised up other generations after them;
And we sent among them an apostle from out themselves, with, "Worship ye God! ye have no other God than He: will ye not therefore fear Him?"
And the chiefs of His people who believed not, and who deemed the meeting with us in the life to come to be a lie, and whom we had richly supplied in this present life, said, "This is but a man like yourselves; he eateth of what ye eat,