2 The Arabic words are not those used in later Suras to express the same idea.
3 Said to be Walid b. Mogheira, a person of note among the unbelieving Meccans. This portion of the Sura seems to be of a different date from the first seven verses, though very ancient, and the change of subject is similar to that at v. 9 of the previous Sura.
4 This and the three following verses wear the appearance of having been inserted at a later period to meet objections respecting the number of the angels who guard hell, raised by the Jews; perhaps at Medina, as the four classes of persons specified are those whom Muhammad had to deal with in that city, viz., the Jews, Believers, the Hypocrites, or undecided, and Idolaters. These are constantly mentioned together in the Medina Suras.
5 That is, who believe, and do not believe.
6 As the word sakar disturbs the rhyme, it may have been inserted by a mistake of the copyist for the usual word, which suits it.
7 That is, death. Beidh. Comp. Sura xv. 99.
MECCA. 20 Verses.
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
O THOU ENFOLDED in thy mantle,
Stand up all night, except a small portion of it, for prayer:
Half; or curtail the half a little,-
Or add to it: And with measured tone intone the Koran,2
For we shall devolve on thee weighty words.
Verily, at the oncoming of night are devout impressions strongest, and words are most collected;3
But in the day time thou hast continual employ-
And commemorate the name of thy Lord, and devote thyself to Him with entire devotion.
Lord of the East and of the West! No God is there but He! Take Him for thy protector,
And endure what they say with patience, and depart from them with a decorous departure.
And let Me alone with the gainsayers, rich in the pleasures of this life; and bear thou with them yet a little while:
For with Us are strong fetters, and a flaming fire,
And food that choketh, and a sore torment.
The day cometh when the earth and the mountains shall be shaken; and the mountains shall become a loose sand heap.
Verily, we have sent you an Apostle to witness against you, even as we sent an Apostle to Pharaoh:
But Pharaoh rebelled against the Apostle, and we therefore laid hold on him with a severe chastisement.
And how, if ye believe not, will you screen yourselves from the day that shall turn children greyheaded?
The very heaven shall be reft asunder by it: this threat shall be carried into effect.
Lo! this is a warning. Let him then who will, take the way to his Lord.
Of a truth,4 thy Lord knoweth that thou prayest almost two-thirds, or half, or a third of the night, as do a part of thy followers. But God measureth the night and the day: He knoweth that ye cannot count its hours aright, and therefore, turneth to you mercifully. Recite then so much of the Koran as may be easy to you. He knoweth that there will be some among you sick, while others travel through the earth in quest of the bounties of God; and others do battle in his cause. Recite therefore so much of it as may be easy. And observe the Prayers and pay the legal Alms,5 and lend God a liberal loan: for whatever good works ye send on before for your own behoof, ye shall find with God. This will be best and richest in the recompense. And seek the forgiveness of God: verily, God is forgiving, Merciful.
_______________________
1 From the first line of this Sura, and its expressions concerning the Koran, Prayer, and Future Punishment: from the similarity of the tradition with regard to its having been preceded by a vision of Gabriel (Beidh., etc.), it seems to belong to, or at least to describe, a period, perhaps immediately succeeding the Fatrah, during which the hours of night were spent by Muhammad in devotion and in the labour of working up his materials in rhythmical and rhyming Suras, and in preparation for the public assumption of the prophetic office. Comp. especially verses 11, 19, 20, at the end, with 11, 54, 55, of the preceding Sura.
2 Singe den Koran laut. H.v.P. Psalle Alcoranum psallendo. Mar. Singe den Koran mit singender und lauter Stimme ab. Ullm.
3 Lit. most firm, perhaps, distinct.
4 This verse, according to a tradition of Ayesha, was revealed one year later than the previous part of the Sura. Nöldeke says it is "offenbar ein Medinischer."
5 The reader will not be surprised to find in the very outset of Muhammad's career a frequent mention of Alms, Prayer, Heaven, Hell, Judgment, Apostles, etc., in their usual sense, when he remembers that Judaism was extensively naturalised in Arabia, and Christianity, also, although to a smaller extent. The words and phrases of these religions were doubtless familiar to the Meccans, especially to that numerous body who were anxiously searching after some better religion than the idolatries of their fathers (v. on Sura iii. 19, 60), and provided Muhammad with a copious fund from which to draw.
MECCA.-11 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
BY the noon-day BRIGHTNESS,
And by the night when it darkeneth!
Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee, neither hath he been displeased.
And surely the Future shall be better for thee than the Past,
And in the end shall thy Lord be bounteous to thee and thou be satisfied.
Did he not find thee an orphan2 and gave thee a home?
And found thee erring and guided thee,3
And found thee needy and enriched thee.
As to the orphan therefore wrong him not;
And as to him that asketh of thee, chide him not away;
And as for the favours of thy Lord tell them abroad.
_______________________
1 This and the six following Suras are expressions of a state of deep mental anxiety and depression, in which Muhammad seeks to reassure himself by calling to mind the past favours of God, and by fixing his mind steadfastly on the Divine Unity. They belong to a period either before the public commencement of his ministry or when his success was very dubious, and his future career by no means clearly marked out.
2 The charge of the orphaned Muhammad was undertaken by Abd-al-Mutalib, his grandfather, A.D. 576. Hishami, p. 35; Kitab al Wakidi, p. 22, have preserved traditions of the fondness with which the old man of fourscore years treated the child, spreading a rug for him under the shadow of the Kaaba, protecting him from the rudeness of his own sons, etc.
3 Up to his 40th year Muhammad followed the religion of his countrymen. Waq. Tabari says that when he first entered on his office of Prophet, even his wife Chadijah had read the Scriptures, and was acquainted with the History of the Prophets. Spreng. p. 100. But his conformity can only have been partial.
MECCA.-8 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
HAVE we not OPENED thine heart for thee?
And taken off from thee thy burden,
Which galled thy back?
And have we not raised thy name for thee?
Then verily along with trouble cometh ease.
Verily along with trouble cometh ease.
But when thou art set at liberty, then prosecute thy toil.
And seek thy Lord with fervour.
MECCA OR MEDINA.-5 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
SAY: I betake me for refuge to the Lord of the DAY BREAK
Against the mischiefs of his creation;
And against the mischief of the night when it overtaketh me;
And against the mischief of weird women;1
And against the mischief of the envier when he envieth.
_______________________
1 Lit. who blow on knots. According to some commentators an allusion to a species of charm. Comp. Virg.Ec. vi. But the reference more probably is to women in general, who disconcert schemes as thread is disentangled by blowing upon it. Suras cxiii. are called the el mouwwidhetani, or preservative chapters, are engraved on amulets,etc.
MECCA OR MEDINA.-6 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
SAY: I betake me for refuge to the Lord of MEN,
The King of men,
The God of men,
Against the mischief of the stealthily withdrawing whisperer,1
Who whispereth in man's breast-
Against djinn and men.
_______________________
1 Satan.
MECCA.-7 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
PRAISE be to God, Lord of the worlds!
The compassionate, the merciful!
King on the day of reckoning!
Thee only do we worship, and to Thee do we cry for help.
Guide Thou us on the straight path,2
The path of those to whom Thou hast been gracious;-with whom thou art not angry, and who go not astray.3
_______________________
1 This Sura, which Nöldeke places last, and Muir sixth, in the earliest class of Meccan Suras, must at least have been composed prior to Sura xxxvii. 182,where it is quoted, and to Sura xv. 87, which refers to it. And it can scarcely be an accidental circumstance that the words of the first, second, and fifth verses do not occur in any other Suras of the first Meccan period as given by N”ldeke, but frequently in those of the second, which it therefore, in N”ldeke, opinion, immediately precedes. But this may be accounted for by its having been recast for the purposes of private and public devotion by Muhammad himself, which is the meaning probably of the Muhammadan tradition that it was revealed twice. It should also be observed that, including the auspicatory formula, there are the same number of petitions in this Sura as in the Lord's Prayer. It is recited several times in each of the five daily prayers, and on many other occassions, as in concluding a bargain, etc. It is termed "the Opening of the Book," "the Completion," "the Sufficing Sura," the Sura of Praise, Thanks, and Prayer," "the Healer," "the Remedy," "the Basis," "the Treasure," "the Mother of the Book," "the Seven Verses of Repetition." The Muhammadans always say "Amen" after this prayer, Muhammad having been instructed, says the Sonna, to do so by the Angel Gabriel.
2 Islam
3 The following transfer of this Sura from the Arabic into the corresponding English characters may give some idea of the rhyming prose in which the Koran is written:
Bismillahi 'rahhmani 'rrahheem.El-hamdoo lillahi rabi 'lalameen.Arrahhmani raheem.Maliki yowmi-d-deen.Eyaka naboodoo, wa‚yaka nest aeen.Ihdina 'ssirat almostakeem.Sirat alezeena anhamta aleihim, gheiri-'l mughdoobi aleihim, wala dsaleen.Ameen.
MECCA.-6 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
SAY: O ye UNBELIEVERS!
I worship not that which ye worship,
And ye do not worship that which I worship;
I shall never worship that which ye worship,
Neither will ye worship that which I worship.
To you be your religion; to me my religion.1
_______________________
1 This Sura is said to have been revealed when Walîd urged Muhammad to consent that his God should be worshipped at the same time with the old Meccan deities, or alternately every year. Hishâmi, p. 79; Tabari, p. 139. It is a distinct renunciation of Meccan idolatry, as the following Sura is a distinct recognition of the Divine Unity.
MECCA.-4 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
SAY: He is God alone:
God the eternal!
He begetteth not, and He is not begotten;
And there is none like unto Him.
MECCA. 5 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
LET the hands of ABU LAHAB1 perish,and let himself perish!
His wealth and his gains shall avail him not.
Burned shall he be at the fiery flame,2
And his wife laden with fire wood,-
On her neck a rope of palm fibre.
_______________________
1 Undoubtedly one of the earliest Suras, and refers to the rejection of Muhammad's claim to the prophetic office by his uncle, Abu Lahab, at the instigation of his wife, Omm Djemil, who is said to have strewn the path of Muhammad on one occasion with thorns. The following six Suras, like the two first, have special reference to the difficulties which the Prophet met with the outset of his career, especially from the rich.
2 In allusion to the meaning of Abu Lahab, father of flame.
MECCA.-3 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
TRULY we have given thee an ABUNDANCE;
Pray therefore to the Lord, and slay the victims.
Verily whoso hateth thee shall be childless.1
_______________________
1 A reply to those who had taunted Muhammad with the death of his sons, as a mark of the divine displeasure.
MECCA.-9 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Woe to every BACKBITER, Defamer!
Who amasseth wealth and storeth it against the future!
He thinketh surely that his wealth shall be with him for ever.
Nay! for verily he shall be flung into the Crushing Fire;
And who shall teach thee what the Crushing Fire is?
It is God's kindled fire,
Which shall mount above the hearts of the damned;
It shall verily rise over them like a vault,
On outstretched columns.
MECCA.-7 Verses
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
WHAT thinkest thou of him who treateth our RELIGION as a lie?
He it is who trusteth away the orphan,
And stirreth not others up to feed the poor.
Woe to those who pray,
But in their prayer are careless;
Who make a shew of devotion,
But refuse help to the needy.
MECCA.-8 Verses
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
THE DESIRE of increasing riches occupieth you,
Till ye come to the grave.
Nay! but in the end ye shall know
Nay! once more,in the end ye shall know your folly.
Nay! would that ye knew it with knowledge of certainty!
Surely ye shall see hell-fire.
Then shall ye surely see it with the eye of certainty;
Then shall ye on that day be taken to task concerning pleasures.
MECCA.-21 Verses
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
BY the NIGHT when she spreads her veil;
By the Day when it brightly shineth;
By Him who made male and female;
At different ends truly do ye aim!1
But as to him who giveth alms and feareth God,
And yieldeth assent to the Good;
To him will we make easy the path to happiness.
But as to him who is covetous and bent on riches,
And calleth the Good a lie,
To him will we make easy the path to misery:
And what shall his wealth avail him when he goeth down?
Truly man’s guidance is with Us
And Our’s, the Future and the Past.
I warn you therefore of the flaming fire;
None shall be cast to it but the most wretched,-
Who hath called the truth a lie and turned his back.
But the God-fearing shall escape it,-
Who giveth away his substance that he may become pure;2
And who offereth not favours to any one for the sake of recompense,
But only as seeking the face of his Lord the Most High.
And surely in the end he shall be well content.
_______________________
1 See Pref., p. 5, line I. 2 Comp. Luke xi. 41. Muhammad perhaps derived this view of the meritorious anture of almsgiving from the Jewish oral law.
Mecca.-52 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Nun.1 By the PEN2 and by what they write,
Thou, O Prophet; by the grace of thy Lord art not possessed!3
And truly a boundless recompense doth await thee,
For thou art of a noble nature.4
But thou shalt see and they shall see Which of you is the demented.
Now thy Lord! well knoweth He the man who erreth from his path, and well doth he know those who have yielded to Guidance;
Give not place, therefore, to those who treat thee as a liar:
They desire thee to deal smoothly with them: then would they be smooth as oil with thee:
But yield not to the man of oaths, a despicable person,
Defamer, going about with slander,
Hinderer of the good, transgressor, criminal,
Harsh-beside this, impure by birth,
Though a man of riches and blessed with sons.
Who when our wondrous verses are recited to him saith-"Fables of the ancients."
We will brand him on the nostrils.
Verily, we have proved them (the Meccans) as we proved the owners of the garden, when they swore that at morn they would cut its fruits;
But added no reserve.5
Wherefore an encircling desolation from thy Lord swept round it while they slumbered,
And in the morning it was like a garden whose fruits had all been cut.
Then at dawn they called to each other,
"Go out early to your field, if ye would cut your dates."
So on they went whispering to each other,
"No poor man shall set foot this day within your garden;"
And they went out at daybreak with this settled purpose.
But when they beheld it, they said, "Truly we have been in fault:
Yes! we are forbidden our fruits."
The most rightminded of them said, "Did I not say to you, Will ye not give praise to God?"
They said, "Glory to our Lord! Truly we have done amiss."
And they fell to blaming one another:
They said, "Oh woe to us! we have indeed transgressed!
Haply our Lord will give us in exchange a better garden than this: verily we crave it of our Lord."
Such hath been our chastisement-but heavier shall be the chastisement of the next world. Ah! did they but know it.
Verily, for the God-fearing are gardens of delight in the presence of theirLord.
Shall we then deal with those who have surrendered themselves to God, as with those who offend him?
What hath befallen you that ye thus judge?
Have ye a Scripture wherein ye can search out
That ye shall have the things ye choose?
Or have ye received oaths which shall bind Us even until the day of the resurrection, that ye shall have what yourselves judge right?
Ask them which of them will guarantee this?
Or is it that they have joined gods with God? let them produce those associate-gods of theirs, if they speak truth.
On the day when men's legs shall be bared,6 and they shall be called upon to bow in adoration, they shall not be able:
Their looks shall be downcast: shame shall cover them: because, while yet in safety, they were invited to bow in worship, but would not obey.
Leave me alone therefore with him who chargeth this revelation with imposture. We will lead them by degrees to their ruin; by ways which they know not;
Yet will I bear long with them; for my plan is sure.
Askest thou any recompense from them? But they are burdened with debt.
Are the secret things within their ken? Do they copy them from the Book ofGod?
Patiently then await the judgment of thy Lord, and be not like him who was in the fish,7 when in deep distress he cried to God.
Had not favour from his Lord reached him, cast forth would he have been on the naked shore, overwhelmed with shame:
But his Lord chose him and made him of the just.
Almost would the infidels strike thee down with their very looks when they hear the warning of the Koran. And they say, "He is certainly possessed."
Yet is it nothing less than a warning for all creatures.
_______________________
1 It has been conjectured that as the word Nun means fish, there may be a reference to the fish which swallowed Jonas (v. 48). The fact, however, is that the meaning of this and of the similar symbols, throughout the Koran, was unknown to the Muhammadans themselves even in the first century. Possibly the letters Ha, Mim, which are prefixed to numerous successive Suras were private marks, or initial letters, attached by their proprietor to the copies furnished to Said when effecting his recension of the text under Othman. In the same way, the letters prefixed to other Suras may be monograms, or abbreviations, or initial letters of the names of the persons to whom the copies of the respective Suras belonged.
addenda: The symbol nun may possibly refer to this letter as forming the Rhyme in most of the verses of this Sura.
2 This Sura has been supposed by ancient Muslim authorities to be, if not the oldest, the second revelation, and to have followed Sura xcvi. But this opinion probably originated from the expression in v. 1 compared with Sura xcvi. 4. Verses 17-33 read like a later addition, and this passage, as well as verse 48-50, has been classed with the Medina revelations. In the absence of any reliable criterion for fixing the date, I have placed this Sura with those which detail the opposition encountered by the Prophet at Mecca.
3 By djinn. Comp. Sur. xxxiv. 45.
4 In bearing the taunts of the unbelievers with patience.
5 They did not add the restriction, if God will.
6 An expression implying a grievous calamity; borrowed probably from the action of stripping previous to wrestling, swimming, etc.
7 Lit. the companion of the fish. Comp. on Jonah Sura xxxvii. 139-148, and Sura xxi. 87.
MECCA.-20 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
I NEED not to swear by this SOIL,
This soil on which thou dost dwell,
Or by sire and offspring!1
Surely in trouble have we created man.
What! thinketh he that no one hath power over him?
"I have wasted," saith he, "enormous riches!"
What! thinketh he that no one regardeth him?
What! have we not made him eyes,
And tongue, and lips,
And guided him to the two highways?2
Yet he attempted not the steep.
And who shall teach thee what the steep is?
It is to ransom the captive,3
Or to feed in the day of famine,
The orphan who is near of kin, or the poor that lieth in the dust;
Beside this, to be of those who believe, and enjoin stedfastness on each other, and enjoin compassion on each other.
These shall be the people of the right hand:
While they who disbelieve our signs,
Shall be the people of the left.
Around them the fire shall close.
_______________________
1 Lit. and begetter and what he hath begotten
2 Of good and evil.
3 Thus we read in Hilchoth Matt'noth Aniim, c. 8, "The ransoming of captives takes precedence of the feeding and clothing of the poor, and there is no commandment so great as this."
MECCA.-5 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
HAST thou not seen1 how thy Lord dealt with the army of the ELEPHANT?
Did he not cause their stratagem to miscarry?
And he sent against them birds in flocks (ababils),
Claystones did they hurl down upon them,
And he made them like stubble eaten down!
_______________________
1 This Sura is probably Muhammad's appeal to the Meccans, intended at the same time for his own encouragement, on the ground of their deliverance from the army of Abraha, the Christian King of Abyssinia and Arabia Felix, said to have been lost in the year of Muhammad's birth in an expedition against Mecca for the purpose of destroying the Caaba. This army was cut off by small-pox (Wakidi; Hishami), and there is no doubt, as the Arabic word for small-pox also means "small stones," in reference to the hard gravelly feeling of the pustules, what is the true interpretation of the fourth line of this Sura, which, like many other poetical passages in the Koran, has formed the starting point for the most puerile and extravagant legends. Vide Gibbon's Decline and Fall, c. 1. The small-pox first shewed itself in Arabia at the time of the invasion by Abraha. M. de Hammer Gemaldesaal, i. 24. Reiske opusc. Med. Arabum. Hal‘, 1776, p. 8.
MECCA.-4 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
For the union of the KOREISCH:-
Their union in equipping caravans winter and summer.
And let them worship the Lord of this house, who hath provided them with food against hunger,
And secured them against alarm.1
_______________________
1 In allusion to the ancient inviolability of the Haram, or precinct round Mecca. See Sura, xcv. n. p. 41. This Sura, therefore, like the preceding, is a brief appeal to the Meccans on the ground of their peculiar privileges.
MECCA.-5 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
VERILY, we have caused It1 to descend on the night of POWER.
And who shall teach thee what the night of power is?
The night of power excelleth a thousand months:
Therein descend the angels and the spirit by permission of their Lord for every matter;2
And all is peace till the breaking of the morn.
_______________________
1 The Koran, which is now pressed on the Meccans with increased prominence, as will be seen in many succeeding Suras of this period.
2 The night of Al Kadr is one of the last ten nights of Ramadhan, and as is commonly believed the seventh of those nights reckoning backward. See Sura xliv. 2. "Three books are opened on the New Year's Day, one of the perfectly righteous, one of the perfectly wicked, one of the intermediate. The perfectly righteous are inscribed and sealed for life," etc. Bab. Talm. Rosh. Hash., § I.
MECCA. 17 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
BY the heaven, and by the NIGHT-COMER!
But who shall teach thee what the night-comer is?
'Tis the star of piercing radiance.
Over every soul is set a guardian.
Let man then reflect out of what he was created.
He was created of the poured-forth germs,
Which issue from the loins and breastbones:
Well able then is God to restore him to life,-
On the day when all secrets shall be searched out,
And he shall have no other might or helper.
I swear by the heaven which accomplisheth its cycle,
And by the earth which openeth her bosom,
That this Koran is a discriminating discourse,
And that it is not frivolous.
They plot a plot against thee,
And I will plot a plot against them.
Deal calmly therefore with the infidels; leave them awhile alone.
MECCA.-15 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
BY the SUN and his noonday brightness!
By the Moon when she followeth him!
By the Day when it revealeth his glory!
By the Night when it enshroudeth him!
By the Heaven and Him who built it!
By the Earth and Him who spread it forth!
By a Soul and Him who balanced it,
And breathed into it its wickedness and its piety,
Blessed now is he who hath kept it pure,
And undone is he who hath corrupted it!
Themoud1 in his impiety rejected the message of the Lord,
When the greatest wretch among them rushed up:-
Said the Apostle of God to them,-"The Camel of God! let her drink."
But they treated him as an impostor and hamstrung her.
So their Lord destroyed them for their crime, and visited all alike:
Nor feared he the issue.
_______________________
1 See Sura vii. 33, for the story of Themoud.
MECCA.-42 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
HE FROWNED, and he turned his back,1
Because the blind man came to him!
But what assured thee that he would not be cleansed by the Faith,
Or be warned, and the warning profit him?
As to him who is wealthy-
To him thou wast all attention:
Yet is it not thy concern if he be not cleansed:2
But as to him who cometh to thee in earnest,
And full of fears-
Him dost thou neglect.
Nay! but it (the Koran) is a warning;
(And whoso is willing beareth it in mind)
Written on honoured pages,
Exalted, purified,
By the hands of Scribes, honoured, righteous.
Cursed be man! What hath made him unbelieving?
Of what thing did God create him?
Out of moist germs.3
He created him and fashioned him,
Then made him an easy passage from the womb,
Then causeth him to die and burieth him;
Then, when he pleaseth, will raise him again to life.
Aye! but man hath not yet fulfilled the bidding of his Lord.
Let man look at his food:
It was We who rained down the copious rains,
Then cleft the earth with clefts,
And caused the upgrowth of the grain,
And grapes and healing herbs,
And the olive and the palm,
And enclosed gardens thick with trees,
And fruits and herbage,
For the service of yourselves and of your cattle.
But when the stunning trumpet-blast shall arrive,4
On that day shall a man fly from his brother,
And his mother and his father,
And his wife and his children;
For every man of them on that day his own concerns shall be enough.
There shall be faces on that day radiant,
Laughing and joyous:
And faces on that day with dust upon them:
Blackness shall cover them!
These are the Infidels, the Impure.
_______________________
1 We are told in the traditions, etc., that when engaged in converse with Walid, a chief man among the Koreisch, Muhammad was interrupted by the blind Abdallah Ibn Omm Maktûm, who asked to hear the Koran. The Prophet spoke very roughly to him at the time, but afterwards repented, and treated him ever after with the greatest respect. So much so, that he twice made him Governor of Medina.
2 That is, if he does not embrace Islam, and so become pure from sin, thou wilt not be to blame; thou art simply charged with the delivery of a message of warning.
3 Ex spermate.
4 Descriptions of the Day of Judgment now become very frequent. See Sura lxxxv. p. 42, and almost every Sura to the lv., after which they become gradually more historical.
MECCA.-19 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
PRAISE the name of thy Lord THE MOST HIGH,
Who hath created and balanced all things,
Who hath fixed their destinies and guideth them,
Who bringeth forth the pasture,
And reduceth it to dusky stubble.
We will teach thee to recite the Koran, nor aught shalt thou forget,
Save what God pleaseth; for he knoweth alike things manifest and hidden;
And we will make easy to thee our easy ways.
Warn, therefore, for the warning is profitable:
He that feareth God will receive the warning,-
And the most reprobate only will turn aside from it,
Who shall be exposed to the terrible fire,
In which he shall not die, and shall not live.
Happy he who is purified by Islam,
And who remembereth the name of his Lord and prayeth.
But ye prefer this present life,
Though the life to come is better and more enduring.
This truly is in the Books of old,
The Books of Abraham1 and Moses.
_______________________
1 Thus the Rabbins attribute the Book Jezirah to Abraham. See Fabr. Cod. Apoc. V. T. p. 349.
MECCA.-8 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
I SWEAR by the FIG and by the olive,
By Mount Sinai,
And by this inviolate soil!1
That of goodliest fabric we created man,
Then brought him down to be the lowest of the low;-
Save who believe and do the things that are right, for theirs shall be a reward that faileth not.
Then, who after this shall make thee treat the Judgment as a lie?
What! is not God the most just of judges?
_______________________
1 In allusion to the sacredness of the territory of Mecca. This valley in about the fourth century of our ‘ra was a kind of sacred forest of 37 miles in circumference, and called Haram a name applied to it as early as the time of Pliny (vi. 32). It had the privilege of asylum, but it was not lawful to inhabit it, or to carry on commerce within its limits, and its religious ceremonies were a bond of union to several of the Bedouin tribes of the Hejaz. The Koreisch had monopolised most of the offices and advantages of the Haram in the time of Muhammad. See Sprenger's Life of Mohammad, pp. 7 20.
MECCA.-3 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
I SWEAR by the declining day!
Verily, man's lot is cast amid destruction,1
Save those who believe and do the things which be right, and enjoin truth and enjoin stedfastness on each other.
_______________________
1 Said to have been recited in the Mosque shortly before his death by Muhammad. See Weil, p. 328.
MECCA.-22 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
BY the star-bespangled Heaven!1
By the promised Day!
By the witness and the witnessed!2
Cursed the masters of the trench3
Of the fuel-fed fire,
When they sat around it
Witnesses of what they inflicted on the believers!
Nor did they torment them but for their faith in God, the Mighty, thePraiseworthy:4
His the kingdom of the Heavens and of the Earth; and God is the witness of everything.
Verily, those who vexed the believers, men and women, and repented not, doth the torment of Hell, and the torment of the burning, await.
But for those who shall have believed and done the things that be right, are the Gardens beneath whose shades the rivers flow. This the immense bliss!
Verily, right terrible will be thy Lord's vengeance!
He it is who produceth all things, and causeth them to return;
And is He the Indulgent, the Loving;
Possessor of the Glorious throne;
Worker of that he willeth.
Hath not the story reached thee of the hosts
Of Pharaoh and Themoud?
Nay! the infields are all for denial:
But God surroundeth them from behind.
Yet it is a glorious Koran,
Written on the preserved Table.
_______________________
1 Lit. By the Heaven furnished with towers, where the angels keep watch; also, the signs of the Zodiac: this is the usual interpretation. See Sura xv. 15.
2 That is, by Muhammad and by Islam; or, angels and men. See, however, v. 7.
3 Prepared by Dhu Nowas, King of Yemen, A.D. 523, for the Christians. See Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap. xii. towards the end. Pocock Sp. Hist. Ar. p. 62. And thus the comm. generally. But Geiger (p. 192) and Nöldeke (p. 77 n.) understand the passage of Dan. iii. But it should be borne in mind that the Suras of this early period contain very little allusion to Jewish or Christian legends.
4 Verses 8-11 wear the appearance of a late insertion, on account of their length, which is a characteristic of the more advanced period. Observe also the change in the rhymes.
MECCA.-8 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
THE BLOW! what is the Blow?
Who shall teach thee what the Blow is?
The Day when men shall be like scattered moths,
And the mountains shall be like flocks of carded wool,
Then as to him whose balances are heavy-his shall be a life that shall please him well:
And as to him whose balances are light-his dwelling-place1 shall be the pit.
And who shall teach thee what the pit (El-Hawiya) is?
A raging fire!
_______________________
1 Lit. Mother.
MECCA.-8 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
WHEN the Earth with her quaking shall quake
And the Earth shall cast forth her burdens,
And man shall say, What aileth her?
On that day shall she tell out her tidings,
Because thy Lord shall have inspired her.
On that day shall men come forward in throngs to behold their works,
And whosoever shall have wrought an atom's weight of good shall behold it,
And whosoever shall have wrought an atom's weight of evil shall behold it.
MECCA.-19 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
WHEN the Heaven shall CLEAVE asunder,
And when the stars shall disperse,
And when the seas1 shall be commingled,
And when the graves shall be turned upside down,
Each soul shall recognise its earliest and its latest actions.
O man! what hath misled thee against thy generous Lord,
Who hath created thee and moulded thee and shaped thee aright?
In the form which pleased Him hath He fashioned thee.
Even so; but ye treat the Judgment as a lie.
Yet truly there are guardians over you-
Illustrious recorders-
Cognisant of your actions.
Surely amid delights shall the righteous dwell,
But verily the impure in Hell-fire:
They shall be burned at it on the day of doom,
And they shall not be able to hide themselves from it.
Who shall teach thee what the day of doom is?
Once more. Who shall teach thee what the day of doom is?
It is a day when one soul shall be powerless for another soul: all sovereignty on that day shall be with God.
_______________________
1 Salt water and fresh water.
MECCA.-29 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
WHEN the sun shall be FOLDED UP,1
And when the stars shall fall,
And when the mountains shall be set in motion,
And when the she-camels shall be abandoned,
And when the wild beasts shall be gathered together,2
And when the seas shall boil,
And when souls shall be paired with their bodies,
And when the female child that had been buried alive shall be asked
For what crime she was put to death,3
And when the leaves of the Book shall be unrolled,
And when the Heaven shall be stripped away,4
And when Hell shall be made to blaze,
And when Paradise shall be brought near,
Every soul shall know what it hath produced.
It needs not that I swear by the stars5 of retrograde motions
Which move swiftly and hide themselves away,
And by the night when it cometh darkening on,
And by the dawn when it brighteneth,
That this is the word of an illustrious Messenger,6
Endued with power, having influence with the Lord of the Throne,
Obeyed there by Angels, faithful to his trust,
And your compatriot is not one possessed by djinn;
For he saw him in the clear horizon:7
Nor doth he grapple with heaven's secrets,8
Nor doth he teach the doctrine of a cursed9 Satan.
Whither then are ye going?
Verily, this is no other than a warning to all creatures;
To him among you who willeth to walk in a straight path:
But will it ye shall not, unless as God willeth it,10 the Lord of the worlds.
_______________________
1 Involutus fuerit tenebris. Mar. Or, thrown down.
2 Thus Bab. Talm. Erchin, 3. "In the day to come (i.e., of judgment) all the beasts will assemble and come, etc."
3 See Sura xvi. 61; xvii. 33.
4 Like a skin from an animal when flayed. The idea is perhaps borrowed from the Sept. V. of Psalm civ. 2. Vulg. sicut pellem.
5 Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn.
6 Gabriel; of the meaning of whose name the next verse is probably a paraphrase.
7 Sura 1iii. 7.
8 Like a mere Kahin, or soothsayer.
9 Lit. stoned. Sura iii. 31. This vision or hallucination is one of the few clearly stated miracles, to which Muhammad appeals in the Koran. According to the tradition of Ibn-Abbas in Waquidi he was preserved by it from committing suicide by throwing himself down from Mount Hira, and that after it, God cheered him and strengthened his heart, and one revelation speedily followed another.
10 Comp. the doctrine of predestination in Sura 1xxvi. v. 25 to end.
MECCA.-25 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
WHEN the Heaven shall have SPLIT ASUNDER
And duteously obeyed its Lord;1
And when Earth shall have been stretched out as a plain,
And shall have cast forth what was in her and become empty,
And duteously obeyed its Lord;
Then verily, O man, who desirest to reach thy Lord, shalt thou meet him.
And he into whose right hand his Book shall be given,
Shall be reckoned with in an easy reckoning,
And shall turn, rejoicing, to his kindred.
But he whose Book shall be given him behind his back2
Shall invoke destruction:
But in the fire shall he burn,
For that he lived joyously among his kindred,
Without a thought that he should return to God.
Yea, but his Lord beheld him.
It needs not therefore that I swear by the sunset redness,
And by the night and its gatherings,
And by the moon when at her full,
That from state to state shall ye be surely carried onward.3
What then hath come to them that they believe not?
And that when the Koran is recited to them they adore not?
Yea, the unbelievers treat it as a lie.
But God knoweth their secret hatreds:
Let their only tidings4 be those of painful punishment;
Save to those who believe and do the things that be right.
An unfailing recompense shall be theirs.
_______________________
1 Lit. and obeyed its Lord, and shall be worthy, or capable, i.e., of obedience.
2 That is, into his left hand. The Muhammadans believe that the right hand of the damned will be chained to the neck; the left chained behind the back.
3 From Life to Death, from the Grave to Resurrection, thence to Paradise.
4 The expression is ironical. See Freyt. on the word. Lit. tell them glad tidings.
Mecca.-11 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
By the snorting CHARGERS!
And those that dash off sparks of fire!
And those that scour to the attack at morn!
And stir therein the dust aloft;
And cleave therein their midway through a host!
Truly, Man is to his Lord ungrateful.
And of this he is himself a witness;
And truly, he is vehement in the love of this world's good.
Ah! knoweth he not, that when that which is in the graves shall be laid bare,
And that which is in men's breasts shall be brought forth,
Verily their Lord shall on that day be informed concerning them?
MECCA.-46 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
By those angels who DRAG FORTH souls with violence,
And by those who with joyous release release them;
By those who swim swimmingly along;
By those who are foremost with foremost speed;2
By those who conduct the affairs of the universe!
One day, the disturbing trumpet-blast shall disturb it,
Which the second blast shall follow:
Men's hearts on that day shall quake:-
Their looks be downcast.
The infidels will say, "Shall we indeed be restored as at first?
What! when we have become rotten bones?"
"This then," say they, "will be a return to loss."
Verily, it will be but a single blast,
And lo! they are on the surface of the earth.
Hath the story of Moses reached thee?
When his Lord called to him in Towa's holy vale:
Go to Pharaoh, for he hath burst all bounds:
And say, "Wouldest thou become just?
Then I will guide thee to thy Lord that thou mayest fear him."
And he showed him a great miracle,-
But he treated him as an impostor, and rebelled;
Then turned he his back all hastily,
And gathered an assembly and proclaimed,
And said, "I am your Lord supreme."
So God visited on him the punishment of this life and of the other.
Verily, herein is a lesson for him who hath the fear of God.
Are ye the harder to create, or the heaven which he hath built?
He reared its height and fashioned it,
And gave darkness to its night, and brought out its light,
And afterwards stretched forth the earth,-
He brought forth from it its waters and its pastures;
And set the mountains firm
For you and your cattle to enjoy.
But when the grand overthrow shall come,
The day when a man shall reflect on the pains that he hath taken,
And Hell shall be in full view of all who are looking on;
Then, as for him who hath transgressed
And hath chosen this present life,