The Qur'an

And those who misbelieve say, ‘Shall we guide * A city of Yemen was also called Marab; it was about three days’ journey from Sana’h. The bursting of the dyke of M4rab and the destruction of the city by a flood are historical facts, and happened in about the first or second century of our era. you to a man who will inform you that when ye are torn all to pieces, then ye shal] be a new creation ? he has forged against God a lie, or there is a ginn in him ;’—nay, those who believe not in the hereafter are in the torment and in the remote error ! Have they not looked at what is before them and what is behind them of the heaven and the earth? if we pleased we would cleave the earth open with them, or we would make to fall upon them a portion of the heaven; verily, in that is a sign to every repentant servant. [10] And we did give David grace from us, ‘O ye mountains! echo (God’s praises) with him, and ye birds!’ and we softened fer him iron: ‘Make thou coats of mail and adapt the rings thereof, and do right; verily, I at what ye do do look.’ And to Solomon the wind; its morning journey was a month, and its evening journey was a month ; and we made to flow for him a fountain of molten brass; and of the ginns some to work before him by the permission of his Lord; and whoso swerves amongst them from our bidding we will give him to taste the torment and the blaze; and they made for him what he pleased of chambers, and images, and dishes like troughs, and firm pots; —work, O ye family of David! thankfully; few is it of my servants who are thankful.

And when we decreed for him death, naught guided them to his death save a reptile of the earth that ate his staff; and when he fell down it was made manifest to the ginns that, had they but known the unseen, they need not have tarried in the shameful torment. 1 The Mohammedan legend is that Solomon’ had employed the Seba had in their dwellings a sign; two gardens, on the right hand and on the left, ‘Eat from the provision of your Lord; and give thanks to Him! a good country and a forgiving Lord!’ [15] but they turned away, and we sent against them the flood of the dyke; and we changed for them their two gardens into two gardens that grew bitter fruit and tamarisk, and some few lote trees}. This did we reward them with, for that they misbelieved; and do we so reward any but misbelievers ? And we made between them and the cities which we had blessed (other) cities which were evident; and we measured out the journey: ‘Journey ye thereto nights and days in safety !’ And they said, ‘Our Lord! make a greater distance between our journeys;’ and they wronged themselves, and we made them legends ; and we tore them all to pieces ; verily, in that are signs to every patient, grateful person. And Iblis verified his suspicion concerning them,

ginns to construct the temple of Jerusalem for him, and perceiving that he must die before it was completed, he prayed God to conceal his death from them lest they should relinquish the work when no longer compelled to keep to it by fear of his presence. This prayer was heard, and Solomon, who died while resting on his staff, remained in this position for a year without his death being suspected, until a worm having eaten away his staff it broke, and the corpse fell to the ground, thus revealing the fact of his death. The shameful torment which the ginns might have avoided is their forced labour in building the temple. * The Rhamnus Nabeca of Forshl, the Rhamnus Nabeca Spina Christi of Linneeus, its fruit, which is called Nebuk, is a small round berry, in taste something like the jargonelle pear, and is a great favourite with the Bedawin. It grows freely in the - Sinaitic peninsula. and they followed him, save a party of the believers?. ; [20] Yet had he no authority over them, save that we might know who it was that believed in the hereafter from him who amongst them was in doubt; for thy Lord guards everything.

Say, ‘Call on those whom ye pretend beside God . they cannot control the weight of an atom in the heavens or in the earth; nor have they any partnership in either; nor has He amongst them any supporter; nor is intercession of any avail with Him, except for him whom He permits; so that when fright is removed from their hearts they say, ‘What is it that your Lord says?’ they say, ‘The truth ; for He is the high, the great.’ Say, ‘Who provides from the heavens and the earth?’ Say, ‘God. And, verily, we or ye are surely in guidance or in an obvious error. Say, ‘Ye shall not be asked about what we have sent, nor shall we be asked about what ye do. [25] ‘Our Lord shall assemble us together ; then He shall open between us in truth, for He is the opener who knows.’ Say, ‘Show me those whom ye have added to Him as partners; not so! nay, but He is God, the mighty, the wise!’ 1 A great trade used formerly to exist between Seba and Syria. The Mohammedan commentators suppose that the cessation of traffic, which naturally caused the gradual ruin of the intermediate towns, and the subsequent destruction of Seba or MAreb itself by the flood, was a punishment for the covetous wish of the people of the city, that the distances which traders had to pass over were longer, so that they themselves might earn more money by providing them with camels and escorts.

We have only sent thee to men generally as a herald of glad tidings and a warner; but most men do not know. And they say, ‘When shall this promise be, if ye do speak the truth?’ say, ‘For you is the appointment of a day of which ye shall not keep back an hour, nor shall ye bring it on!’ [30] And those who misbelieve say, ‘We will never believe in this Qur’An or in what is before it;’ but couldst thou see when the unjust are set before their Lord, they shall rebut each other in speech. Those who were thought weak shall say to those who were big with pride, ‘Had it not been for you we should have been believers.’ Those who were big with pride shall say to those who were thought weak, ‘Was it we who turned you away from the guidance after it came to you? nay, ye were sinners.’ And those who were thought weak shall say to those who were big with pride, ‘ Nay, but it was the plotting by night and day, when ye did bid us to disbelieve in God, and to make peers for Him!’ and they shall display repentance when they see the torment; and we will put fetters on the necks of those who misbelieved. Shall they be rewarded except for that which they have done?

We have not sent to any city a warner but the opulent thereof said, ‘We, in what ye are sent with, disbelieve.’ And they say, ‘We have more wealth and children, and we shall not be tormented.’ [35] Say, ‘Verily, my Lord extends provision to whom He pleases or doles it out, but most men do not know; but neither your wealth nor your children is that which will bring you to a near approach to us, save him who believes and does right; these, for them is a double reward for what they have done, and they in upper rooms! shall be secure.’ And those who strive concerning our signs to frustrate them, these in the torment shall be arraigned. Verily, my Lord extends provision to whomsoever He will of His servants, or doles it out to him. And what ye expend in alms at all, He will repay it; for He is the best of providers. And on the day He will gather them all together, then He will say to the angels, ‘Are these those who used to worship you ?’ [40] They shall say, ‘Celebrated be thy praises! thou art our patron instead of them. Nay, they used to worship the ginns, most of them believe in them’. But to-day they cannot control for each other, either profit or harm ;’ and we will say to those who have done wrong, ‘ Taste ye the torment of the fire wherein ye did disbelieve!’

And when our signs are recited to them they say, ‘This is only a man who wishes to turn you from what your fathers served ;’ and they say, ‘This is only a lie forged,’ and those who misbelieve will say of the truth when it comes to them, ‘It is only obvious sorcery |’ But we have not brought them any book which they may study, and we have not sent to them before thee a warner. Those before them said it was a lie, and these? have not reached a tithe of what we had given them. * In Paradise. 2 See Part I, p. 1247, note a. 5 That is, the Meccans. And they said. my apostles were liars, and how great a change was then! [45] Say, ‘I only admonish you of one thing, that ye should stand up before God in twos or singly, and then that ye reflect that there is no ginn in your companion’, He is only a warner to you before the keen torment.’ Say, ‘I do not ask you for it a hire; that is for yourselves; my hire is only from God, and He is witness over all.’ Say, ‘ Verily, my Lord hurls forth the truth; and He well knows the unseen.’

Say, ‘The truth has come, and falsehood shall vanish and shall not come back.’ say, ‘If I err I only err against myself; and if I am guided it is all what my Lord inspires me; verily, He is the hearing, the nigh!’ [50] And couldst thou see when they are scared, and there shall be no escape, and they shall be taken from a place that is nigh. And they say, ‘We believe in it.’ But how can they partake of it from a distant place? They misbelieved before, and conjectured about the unseen from a distant place. And there shall be a barrier between them and that which they lust after; as we did with their fellow sectaries before; verily, they were in hesitating doubt. * That he, Mohammed, is not possessed by a ginn. —

Tue CHAPTER OF THE ANGELS1. In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. | Praise belongs to God, the originator of the heavens and the earth; who makes the angels His messengers, endued with wings in pairs, or threes or fours; He adds to creation what He pleases; verily, God is mighty over all! What God opens to men of His mercy there is none to withhold; and what He withholds, there is none can send it forth after Him; for He is the mighty, the wise. O ye folk! remember the favours of God towards you; is there a creator beside God, who provides you from the heavens and from the earth? There is no god but He; how then can ye lie? And if they call thee liar, apostles were called liars before thee, and unto God affairs return. [5] O ye folk! verily, God’s promise is true; then let not the life of this world beguile you, and let not the beguiler beguile you concerning God. Verily, the devil is to you a foe, so take him as a foe; he only calls his crew to be the fellows of the blaze. Those who misbelieve, for them is keen torment.

But those who believe and do right, for them is forgiveness and a great hire. What! is he whose evil act is made seemly for him, so that he looks upon it as good, — ? 1 Also called ‘of the Originator.’ Verily, God leads astray whom He pleases and guides whom He pleases; let not thy soul then be wasted in sighing for them; verily, God knows what they do! [10] It is God who sends the winds, and they stir up a cloud, and we irrigate therewith a dead country, and we quicken therewith the earth after its death ; so shall the resurrection be! Whosoever desires honour—honour belongs wholely to God; to Him good words ascend, and a righteous deed He takes up; and those who plot evil deeds, for them is keen torment, and their plotting is in vain. God created you from earth, then from a clot; then He made you pairs; and no female bears or is delivered, except by His knowledge; nor does he who is aged reach old age, or is aught diminished from his life, without it is in the Book; verily, that is easy unto God. The two seas are not equal: one is sweet and fresh and pleasant to drink, and the other is salt and pungent; but from each do ye eat fresh flesh, and bring forth ornaments which ye wear; and thou mayest see the ships cleave through it, that ye may search after His grace, and haply ye may give thanks.

He turns the night into day, and He turns the day into night; and He subjects the sun and the moon, each of them runs on to an appointed goal ; that is God, your Lord! Huis is the kingdom; but those ye call on beside Him possess not a straw. [15] If you call upon them they cannot hear your * Literally, the husk of a date stone. call, and if they hear they cannot answer you; and on the resurrection day they will deny your associating them with God; but none can inform thee like the One who is aware. O ye folk! ye are in need of God; but God, He is independent, praiseworthy. If He please He will take you off, and will bring a fresh creation; for that is no hard matter unto God. And no burdened soul shall bear the burden of another; and if a heavily laden one shall call for its load (to be carried) it shall not be carried for it at all, even though it be a kinsman !—thou canst only warn those who fear their Lord in the unseen and who are steadfast in prayer; and he who is pure is only pure for himself; and unto God the journey is.

[20] The blind is not equal with him who sees, nor the darkness with the night, nor the shade with the hot blast ; nor are the living equal with the dead ; verily, God causes whom He pleases to hear, and thou canst not make those who are in their graves hear; thou art but a warner! Verily, we have sent thee in truth a herald of glad tidings and a warner; and there is no nation but its warner has passed away with it. And if they called thee liar, those before thee called their apostles liars too, who came to them with manifest signs, and the Scriptures, and the illuminating Book. Then I seized those who misbelieved, and what a change it was! [25] Dost thou not see that God has sent down from the heaven water, and has brought forth therewith fruits varied in hue, and on the mountains dykes?, white and red, various in hue, and some intensely black, and men and beasts and cattle, various in hue? thus! none fear God but the wise among His servants; but, verily, God is mighty, forgiving. Verily, those who recite the Book of God, and are steadfast in prayer, and give alms of what we have bestowed in secret and in public, hope for the merchandise that shall-not come to naught; that He’ may pay them their hire, and give them increase of His grace; verily, He is forgiving, grateful.

What we have inspired thee with of the Book is true, verifying what was before it; verily, God of His servants is well aware and sees. Then we gave the Book for an inheritance to those whom we chose of our servants, and of them are some who wrong themselves, and of them are some who take a middle course, and of them are some who vie in good works by the permission of their Lord; that is great grace. [30] Gardens of Eden shall they enter, adorned therein with bracelets of gold and pearls; and their garments therein shall be silk; and they shall say, ‘Praise belongs to God, who has removed from us our grief; verily, our Lord is forgiving, grateful! who has made us alight in an enduring abode of His grace, wherein no toil shall touch us, and there shall touch us no fatigue.’ | But those who misbelieve, for them is the fire of * The word is here used in its geological sense, and is applied to the various coloured streaks which are so plainly to be seen in the bare mountain sides of Arabia. The Arabs of the desert to this day call them by the same name as is here used in the Qur’Aan.

hell; it shall not be decreed for them to die, nor shall aught of the torment be lightened from them ; thus do we reward every misbeliever; and they shall shriek therein, ‘O our Lord! bring us forth, and we will do right, not what we used to do!’—‘ Did we not let you grow old enough for every one who would be mindful to be mindful? and there came to you a warner !—[35] So taste it, for the unjust shall have none to help!’ verily, God knows the unseen things of the heavens and of the earth; verily, He knows the nature of men’s breasts, He it is who made you vicegerents in the earth, and he who misbelieves, his misbelief is against himself; but their misbelief shall only increase the misbelievers in hatred with their Lord; and their misbelief shall only increase the misbelievers in loss. Say, ‘Have ye considered your associates whom ye call on beside God ?’ show me what they created of the earth; have they a share in the heavens, or have we given them a book that they rest on a manifest sign? nay, the unjust promise each other naught but guile.

Verily, God holds back the heavens and the earth lest they should decline; and if they should decline there is none to hold them back after Him; verily, He is clement, forgiving. [40] They swore by God with their most strenuous oath, verily, if there come to them a warner they would be more guided than any one of the nations ; but when a warner comes to them, it only increases them in aversion, and in being big with pride in the earth, and in plotting evil; but the plotting of evil only entangles those who practise it; can they then expect aught but the course of those of yore? but thou shalt not find any alteration in the course of God; and they shall not find any change in the course of God. Have they not journeyed on in the land and seen what was the end of those before them who were stronger than they? but God, nothing can ever make Him helpless in the heavens or in the earth ; verily, He is knowing, powerful. Were God to catch men up for what they earn, He would not leave upon the back of it! a beast; but He respites them until an appointed time. [45] When their appointed time comes, verily, God looks upon His servants.

In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. Y.S. By the wise Qur'an, verily, thou art of the apostles upon a right way. The revelation of the mighty, the merciful! [5] That thou mayest warn a people whose fathers were not warned, and who themselves are heedless. Now is the sentence due against most of them, for they will not believe. Verily, we will place upon their necks fetters, and they shall reach up to their chins, and they shall have their heads forced back; and we will place before them a barrier, and behind them a barrier; and we will cover them and they shall not see; and it is all the same to them if thou dost warn them or dost warn them not, they will not believe. [10] Thou canst only warn him who follows the reminder, and fears the Merciful in the unseen; but give him glad tidings of forgiveness and a noble hire. | Verily, we quicken the dead, and write down what they have done before, and what vestiges they leave behind; and everything have we counted in a plain model 4. | Strike out for them a parable: the fellows of the city when there came to it the apostles; when we sent those two and they called them both liars, and we strengthened them with a third; and they said, ‘Verily, we are sent to you.’

They said, ‘Ye are only mortals like ourselves, nor has the Merciful sent down aught; ye are naught but liars.’ [15] They said, ‘Our Lord knows that we are sent to you, and we have only our plain message to preach.’ They said, ‘Verily, we have augured concerning you, and if ye do not desist we will surely stone you, and there shall touch you from us a grievous woe.’ Said they, ‘Your augury is with you; what! if ye are reminded—? Nay, ye are an extravagant people!’ And there came from the remote part of the city a man hastening up. Said he, ‘O my people! follow the apostles ; [20] follow those who do not ask you a hire, and who are guided. What ails me that I should not worship Him who originated me, and unto whom I must return? Shall I take gods 1 The Ummal Kitab. See Part I, p. 2, note 2. M 2 164 _ THE Qur’An. XXXVI, 21-36. beside Him? If the Merciful One desires harm for me, their intercession cannot avail me at all, nor can they rescue me. Verily, I should then be in obvious error; verily, I believe in your Lord, then listen ye to me!’

[25] It was said, ‘Enter thou into Paradise!’ said he, ‘O, would that my people did but know! for that my Lord has forgiven me, and has made me of the honoured.’ And we did send down upon his people no hosts from heaven, nor yet what we were wont to send down; it was but a single noise, and lo! they were extinct?, Alas for the servants! there comes to them no apostle but they mock at him! [30] Have they not seen how many generations we have destroyed before them? verily, they shall not return to them; but all of them shall surely altogether be arraigned. And a sign for them is the dead earth which we have quickened and brought forth therefrom seed, and from it do they eat; and we made therein gardens and palms and grapes, and we have caused fountains to gush forth therein, [35] that they may eat from the fruit thereof, and of what their hands have made; will they not then give thanks ? Celebrated be the praises of Him who created 1 The legend is that Jesus sent two of His disciples to the city of Antioch, none believing them but one ‘Habib en Nagg4r, that is, ‘‘Habib the carpenter,’ and all three were thrown into prison. Simon Peter was subsequently sent to their rescue; a great many were converted, and the rest were destroyed by a shout from the angel Gabriel. The shrine of ‘Habib en Nagg4r at Antioch is still a favourite place of pilgrimage for Mohammedans.

all kinds, of what the earth brings forth, and of themselves, and what they know not of! And a sign to them is the night, from which we strip off the day, and lo! they are in the dark; and the sun runs on to a place of rest for it'; that is the ordinance of the mighty, the wise. And the moon, we have ordered for it stations, until it comes again to be like an old dry palm branch. [40] Neither is it proper for it to catch up the moon, nor for the night to outstrip the day, but each one floats on in its sky. And a sign for them is that we bear their seed in a laden ship’, and we have created for them the ‘like thereof whereon to ride; and if we please, we drown them, and there is none for them to appeal to; nor are they rescued, save by mercy from us, as a provision for a season. [45] And when it is said to them, ‘Fear what is before you and what is behind you, haply ye may obtain mercy’; and thou bringest them not any one of the signs of their Lord, but they turn away therefrom ; and when it is said to them, ‘Expend in alms of what God has bestowed upon you, those who misbelieve say to those who believe, ‘Shall we feed him whom, if God pleased, He would feed ? ye are only in an obvious error.

They say, ‘When shall this promise come to pass, if ye do tell the truth?’ They await but a single noise, that shall seize them as they are contending. [50] And they shall not be able to 1 There is a various reading here, ‘and has no place of rest.’ 2 Some take this to refer to Noah’s ark. * That is, the punishment of this world and the next. make a bequest; nor to their people shall they return ; but the trumpet shall be blown, and, behold, from their graves unto their Lord shall they slip out! They shall say, ‘O, woe is us! who has raised us up from our sleeping-place? this is what the Merciful promised, and the apostles told the truth!’ It shall be but a single noise, and lo! they are all arraigned before us. And on that day no soul shall be wronged at all, nor shall ye be rewarded for aught but that which ye have done. [55] Verily, the fellows of Paradise upon that day shall be employed in enjoyment; they and their wives, in shade upon thrones, reclining; therein shall they have fruits, and they shall have what they may call for. ‘Peace!’—a speech from the merciful Lord!

‘Separate yourselves to-day, O ye sinners! [60] Did I not covenant with you, O children of Adam! that ye should not serve Satan? verily, he is to you an open foe; but serve ye me, this is the right way. But he led astray a numerous race of you; what! had ye then no sense? this is hell, which ye were threatened; broil therein to-day, for that ye misbelieved !’ [65] On that day we will seal their mouths, and their hands shall speak to us, and their feet shall bear witness of what they earned. And if we please we could put out their eyes, and they would race along the road; and then how could they see? And if we pleased we would transform them in their places, and they should not be able to go on, nor yet to return. And him to whom we grant old age, we bow him down in his form; have they then no sense ? We have not taught him! poetry, nor was it proper for him; it is but a reminder and a plain Qur'an, [70] to warn him who is living; but the sentence is due against the misbelievers.

Have they not seen that we have created for them of what our hands have made for them, cattle, and they are owners thereof? and we have tamed them for them, and of them are some to ride, and of them are what they eat, and therein have they advantages and beverages; will they not then give thanks ? But they take, beside God, gods that haply they may be helped. [75] They cannot help them; yet are they a host ready for them ”. But let not their speech grieve thee: verily, we know what they conceal and what they display. Has not man seen that we have created him from a clot? and lo! he is an open opponent; and he strikes out for us a likeness; and forgets his creation; and says, ‘Who shall quicken bones when they are rotten?’ Say, ‘He shall quicken them who produced them at first; for every creation does He know; [80] who has made for you fire out of a green tree, and lo! ye kindle therewith.’ Is not He who created the heavens and the earth able to create the like thereof? yea! He is the knowing Creator; His bidding is only, when He desires anything to say to it,‘ BE, and itis. Then celebrated be the praises of Him in whose hands is

? Mohammed. 2 Je. they are ready to defend their false gods. the kingdom of everything! and unto Him shall ye return. THe CHAPTER OF THE ‘ RANGED.’ (XXXVI Mecca.) In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. By the (angels) ranged in ranks, and the drivers driving 1, and the reciters of the reminder, ‘ Verily, your God is one, [5] the Lord of the heavens and the earth and what is between the two, and the Lord of the sunrises !’ Verily, we have adorned the lower heaven with the adornment of the stars, and to preserve it from every rebellious devil, that they may not listen to the exalted chiefs; for they are hurled at from every side’, driven off, and for them is lasting woe; [10] save such as snatches off a word, and there follows him a darting flame ! Ask them * whether they are stronger by nature or (the angels) whom we have created? We have created them of sticky clay. Nay, thou dost wonder and they jest! and when they are reminded they will not remember; and when they see a sign they make a jest thereof, [15] and say, ‘This is naught but obvious sorcery. What! when we are dead, and have become earth and bones, shall we then be raised? what! and our fathers of yore ?’

Say, ‘ Yes, and ye shall shrink up, and it shall only * Driving the clouds or ‘scaring the devils.’ ? See Part I, p. 50, note 2. * The people of Mecca.

be one scare, and, behold, they shall look on, [20] and they shall say, ‘O, woe is us! this is the day of judgment, this is the day of decision, which ye did call a lie!’ Gather ye together, ye who were unjust, with their mates and what they used to serve beside God, and guide them to the way of hell, and stop them; verily, they shall be questioned. [25] ‘Why do ye not help each other?’ nay, on that day they shall resign themselves, and some shall draw near to others, to question each other, and they shall say, ‘Verily, ye came to us from the right?.’ They shall say, ‘Nay, ye were not believers, nor had we any authority over you; nay, ye were an outrageous people. [30] And the sentence of our Lord shall be due for us; verily, we shall surely taste thereof; we did seduce you—verily, we were erring too!’ therefore, verily, on that day they shall share the torment: thus it is that we will do with the sinners. Verily, when it is said to them, ‘ There is no god but God, they get too big with pride, and say, [35] ‘What! shall we leave our gods for an infatuated poet?’ Nay, he came with the truth, and verified the apostles ; verily, ye are going to taste of grievous woe, nor shall ye be rewarded save for that which ye have done!

Except God's sincere servants,[40]these shall have a stated provision of fruits, and they shall be honoured in the gardens of pleasure, upon couches facing each other?; they shall be served all round with a cup from a spring, [45] white and delicious to those who drink, wherein is no insidious spirit, nor shall they 1 That is, with a good omen. * See Chapter XV, verse 47. be drunk therewith; and with them damsels, restraining their looks, large eyed; as though they were a sheltered egg ; and some shall come forward to ask others; and a speaker amongst them shall say, ‘Verily, I had a mate, [50] who used to say, “Art thou verily of those who credit ? What! when we are dead, and have become earth and bones, shall we be surely judged ?”’ He will say, ‘Are ye looking down?’ and he shall look down and see him in the midst of hell. He shall say,‘ By God, thou didst nearly ruin me! .[55] And had it not been for the favour of my Lord, I should have been among the arraigned..—‘ What! shall we not die save our first death ? and shall we not be tormented ?>—Verily, this is mighty bliss! for the like of this then let the workers work.’

[60] Is that better as an entertainment, or the tree of Ez Zaqqim?!? Verily, we have made it a trial to the unjust”. Verily, it is a tree that comes forth from the bottom of hell; its spathe is as it were the heads of devils; verily, they shall eat therefrom, and fill their bellies therefrom. [65] Then shall they have upon it a mixture of boiling water ; then, verily, their return shall be to hell. Verily, they found their fathers erring, and they hurried on in their tracks; but there had erred before them most of those of yore, [70] and we had sent warners amongst them. Behold, then, what was the end of those who were warned, save God’s sincere servants ! * Ez Zaqqfim is a foreign tree with an exceedingly bitter fruit, the name of which is here used for the infernal tree. * The unbelievers objected that the tree could not grow in hell, where the very stones (see Part I, p. 4, note 1) were fuel for the fire, Noah did call upon us, and a gracious answer did we give; and we saved him and his people from a mighty trouble ; [75] and we made his seed to be the survivors; and we left for him amongst posterity ‘peace upon Noah in the worlds; verily, thus do we reward those who do well; verily, he was of our believing servants.’ [80] Then we drowned the others. |

And, verily, of his sect was Abraham; when he came to his Lord with a sound heart; when he said to his father and his people, ‘What is it that ye serve? with a lie do ye desire gods beside God? [85] What then is your thought respecting the Lord of the worlds ?’ And he looked a look at the stars and said, ‘Verily, I am sick!’ and they turned their backs upon him fleeing?, And he went aside unto their gods and said, ‘Will ye not eat? [90] What ails you that ye will not speak?’ And he went aside to them smiting with the right hand. And they? rushed towards him. Said he, ‘Do ye serve what ye hew out, when God has created you, and what ye make?’ [95] Said they, ‘Build for him a pyre, and throw him into the flaming hell!’ They desired to plot against him, but we made them inferior. Said he, ‘Verily, I am going to my Lord, He will guide me. My Lord! grant me (a son), one of the 1 Mohammedan commentators say that he pretended to a knowledge of astrology and made as though he saw a presage of coming sickness for himself in the stars, whereupon the others fled for fear of contagion, and Abraham took the opportunity of absenting himself from the festival which was being held in honour of the idols.

2 The people of the city. righteous ;’ and we gave him glad tidings of a clement boy. [100] And when he reached the age to work with him, he said, ‘O my boy! verily, I have seen in a dream that I should sacrifice thee!, look then what thou seest right.’ Said he, ‘O my sire! do what thou art bidden; ~ thou wilt find me, if it. please God, one of the patient !’ And when they were resigned, and Abraham had thrown him down upon his forehead, we called to him, ‘O Abraham! [105] thou hast verified the vision ; verily, thus do we reward those who do well. This is surely an obvious trial. And we ransomed him with a mighty victim; and we left for him amongst posterity, ‘Peace upon Abraham; [110] thus do we reward those who do well; verily, he was of our servants who believe!’ And we gave him glad tidings of Isaac, a prophet among the righteous; and we blessed him and Isaac;:—of their seed is one who does well, and one who obviously wrongs himself. And we were gracious unto Moses and Aaron. [115] We saved them and their people from mighty trouble, and we helped them and they had the upper hand; and we gave them both the perspicuous Book ; and we guided them to the right way; and we left for them amongst posterity, [120] ‘ Peace upon Moses and Aaron; verily, thus do we reward those who do well; verily, they were both of our servants who believe !’

* The Mohammedan theory is that it was Ishmael and not Isaac who was taken as a sacrifice, And verily Elyads! was of the apostles; when he said to his people, ‘Will ye not fear ? [125] do ye call upon Baal and leave the best of Creators, God your Lord and the Lord of your fathers of yore ?’ But they called him liar; verily, they shall surely be arraigned, save God’s sincere servants. And we left for him amongst posterity, [130] ‘Peace upon Elyasin?; verily, thus do we reward those who do well; verily, he was of our servants who believe!’ And, verily, Lot was surely among the apostles ; when we saved him and his people altogether, [135] except an old woman amongst those who lingered ; then we destroyed the others; verily, ye pass by them in the morning and at night; have ye then no sense ? | And, verily, Jonah was amongst the apostles; [140] when he ran away® into the laden ship; and he cast lots and was of those who lost; and a fish swallowed him, for he was to be blamed; and had it not been that he was of those who celebrated

1 Supposed by the Mohammedans to be the same as Al ‘Hid/r and Idris. * This is probably another form of the word Ely4s, on the model of many Hebrew words which have survived in the later Arabic dialect. The Mohammedan commentators however conjecturally interpret it in various ways, some consider it to be a plural form, including Elias and his followers; others divide the word and read it Al-ya-sin, i.e. ‘the family of Ya-sin,’ namely, Elias and his father. Others imagine it to mean Mohammed or the Qur’dn. Most probably however the final syllable -in was nothing more than a prolonged utterance of the case-ending, here improperly used in order to preserve the rhyme or final cadence of the verse. The modern Bedawin frequently do the same, and I have heard them singing a song commencing ‘ Zaidtin, Zaidfin, Zaidtin,’ when they should say, Zaidu, ‘O Zaid!’ &c. Trans. * The word used in the text is always applied to runaway slaves. God’s praises he would surely have tarried in the belly thereof to the day when men shall be raised. [145] But we cast him on to the barren shore ; and he was sick; and we made to grow over him a gourd tree; and we sent him to a hundred thousand or more, and they believed; and we gave them enjoyment for a season.

Ask them}, ‘Has thy Lord daughters while they have sons?? [150] or have we created the angels females while they were witnesses ?’ is it not of their lie that they say, ‘God has begotten ?’ verily, they, are Marc. Has he preferred daughters to sons ? what ails you ? how ye judge! [155] will ye not be mindful, or have ye obvious authority? then bring your Book if ye do speak the truth. And they made him to be related to the ginns, while the ginns know that they shall be arraigned ; celebrated be God’s praises from what they attribute !—[160] save God's sincere servants. ‘Verily, ye and what ye worship shall not try any one concerning him, save him who shall broil in hell; there is none amongst us but has his appointed place, and, [165] verily, we are ranged, and, verily, we celebrate His praises %.’ And yet they say, ‘Had we a reminder from those of yore we should surely have been of God’s sincere servants.’ [170] But they misbelieved in it*; but soon shall they know. 2 See Part I, p. 256, note 2. ° This speech is supposed to be the words of the angel Gabriel. 4 Le. in the Qur'an.

But our word has been passed to our servants who were sent that they should be helped; that, verily, our hosts should gain mastery for them. Then turn thou thy back upon them for a time, [175] and look upon them, for soon they too shall look. Would they hasten on our torment ? but when it descends in their court, ill will the morning be of those who have been warned! But turn thy back upon them for a time; and look, for soon they too shall look. [180] Celebrated be the praises of thy Lord, the Lord of glory, above what they attribute! and peace be upon the apostles and praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds ! Tue CHAPTER OF S,! In the name of the merciful and compassionate God, S. By the Qur’4n with its reminder! nay, but those who misbelieve are in pride, schism ! How many a generation have we destroyed before them, and they cried out, but it was no time to escape ! And they wonder that a warner has come from amongst themselves, and the misbelievers say, ‘This 1The Arabic commentators say of this title, ‘God only knows what He means by it.’ All the explanations given of it are purely conjectural. See the Introduction for this and the other mysterious letters used throughout the Qur’an.

is a magician, a liar!’ What! does he make the gods to be one God? verily, this is a wondrous thing. [5] And the chiefs of them went away: ‘Go on and persevere in your gods; this is a thing designed ; we never heard this in any other sect; this is nothing but a fiction! Has a reminder come down upon him from amongst us?’ nay, they are in doubt concerning my reminder; nay, they have not yet tasted of my torment! — Have they the treasures of the mercy of thy mighty Lord, the giver ? or have they the kingdom of the heavens and of the earth, and what is between the two ?—then let them climb up the ropes thereof. [to] Any host whatever of the confederates shall there be routed. Before them did Noah’s people, and ‘Ad, and Pharaoh of the stakes’ call the apostles liars; and Thamtd and the people of Lot, and the fellows of the Grove, they were the confederates too. They all did naught but call the apostles liars, and just was the punishment! Do these? await aught else but one noise for which there shall be no pause ? [15] But they say, ‘O our Lord, hasten for us our share before the day of reckoning !’

Be patient of what they say, and remember our servant David endowed with might; verily, he * Some say this refers to the punishment which Pharaoh used to inflict upon those who had offended him, whom he used to tie to four stakes and then torture. Others take the expression to refer to the stability of Pharaoh’s kingdom. The word in the original is applied to the pegs with which Arabs fasten their tents.

turned frequently to us. Verily, we subjected the mountains to celebrate with him our praises at the evening and the dawn; and the birds too gathered together, each one would oft return to him; and we strengthened his kingdom, and we gave him wisdom and decisive address. [20] Has there come to thee the story of the antagonists when they scaled the chamber wall ? when they entered in unto David, and he was startled at them, they said, ‘Fear not, we are two. antagonists; one of us has injured the other ; judge then between us with the truth and be not partial, but guide us to a level way. Verily, this is my brother: he had ninety-nine ewes and I had one ewe; and he said, “Give her over to my charge ;” and he overcame me in the discourse.’ Said he, ‘He wronged thee in asking for thy ewe in addition to his own ewes. Verily, many associates do injure one another, except those who believe and do what is right, and very few are they!’ And he thought that we were trying him; and he asked pardon of his Lord and fell down bowing, and did turn; and we pardoned him; for, verily, he has a near approach to us and an excellent resort.

[25] O David! verily, we have made thee a vicegerent, judge then between men with truth and follow not lust, for it will lead thee astray from the path of God. Verily, those who go astray from the path of God, for them is keen torment, for that they did forget the day of reckoning! And we have not created the heavens and the earth, and what is between the two, in vain. That is what those who misbelieved did think, but woe from the fire to those who misbelieve ! Shall we make those who believe and do right like those who do evil in the earth? or shall we make the pious like the sinners? A blessed Book which we have sent down to thee that they may consider its verses, and that those endowed with minds may be mindful. And we gave to David, Solomon, an excellent servant; verily, he turned frequently to us. [30] When there were set before him in the evening the steeds that paw the ground’, and he said, ‘Verily, I have loved the love of good things better than the remembrance of my Lord, until (the sun) was hidden behind the veil; bring them back to me;’ and he began to sever their legs and necks.

And we did try Solomon, and we threw upon his throne a form; then he turned repentant. Said he, * The word in Arabic signifies a horse that stands on three legs and just touches the ground with the fore part of the hoof of the fourth. The story is that Solomon was so lost in the contemplation of his horses one day that he forgot the time of evening prayer, and was so smitten with remorse on discovering his negligence that he sacrificed them all except a hundred of the best. God however recompensed him by giving him dominion over the winds instead. * The Mohammedan legend, borrowed from the Talmud, is that having conquered the king of Sidon and brought away his daughter Gerddeh, he made her his favourite. She however so incessantly mourned her father that Solomon commanded the devils to make an image of him to console her, and to this she and her maids used to pay divine honours. To punish him for encouraging this idolatry, a devil named Sakhar one day obtained possession of his ring, which he used to entrust to a concubine named Aminah when he went out for any necessary purpose. As the whole secret of his

power lay in this ring, which was engraved with the Holy Name, the devil was able to personate Solomon, who, being changed in form, was not recognised by his subjects, and wandered about for the space of forty days, the time during which the image had been worshipped in his house. After this Sakhar flew away and threw ‘My Lord, pardon me and grant me a kingdom that is not seemly for any one after me; verily, thou art He who grants !’ [35] And we subjected to him the wind to run on at his bidding gently wherever he directed it; and the devils—every builder and diver, and others bound in fetters—‘ this is our gift, so be thou lavish or withhold without account !’ And, verily, he had with us a near approach, and a good resort. [40] And remember our servant Job when he called upon his Lord that ‘the devil has touched me with toil and torment!’ ‘Stamp with thy foot, this is a cool washing-place and a drink.’ And we granted him his family, and the like of them with them, as a mercy from us and a reminder to those endowed with minds,—‘ and take in thy hand a bundle, and strike therewith, and break not thy oath!’ Verily, we found him patient!, an excellent servant; verily, he turned frequently to us.

[45] And remember our servants Abraham and the signet into the sea, where it was swallowed by a fish, which was afterwards caught and brought to Solomon, who by this means recovered his kingdom and power. * The Mohammedan legend is that when Job was undergoing his trials, the devil appeared to his wife and promised, if she would worship him, to restore their former prosperity; this she asked her husband to allow herto do. Job was so enraged at her conduct that he swore if he recovered to give her a hundred stripes. When Job had uttered the prayer recorded on page 52, line 19, Gabriel appeared and bade him in the words of the text to strike the ground with his feet. A fountain at once gushed forth, in which he washed and was healed, his wife also becoming young and beautiful again. In order not to break his oath he was commanded to strike her with a bundle of palm ieaves, giving her a hundred painless blows at once. Isaac and Jacob, endowed with might and sight; verily, we made them sincere by a sincere quality —the remembrance of the abode; and, verily, they were with us of the elect, the best.

And remember Ishmael and Elisha and Duu-lkifl, for each was of the righteous'. This is a reminder! verily, for the pious is there an excellent resort,—[50] gardens of Eden with the doors open to them ;—reclining therein; calling therein for much fruit and drink; and beside them maids of modest glance, of their own age,—‘ This is what ye were promised for the day of reckoning !"—‘ This is surely our provision, it is never spent !’ [55] This !—and, verily, for the rebellious is there an evil resort,—hell ; they shall broil therein, and an ill couch shall it be! This,—so let them taste it! —hot water, and pus, and other kinds of the same sort! ‘This is an army plunged in with you! there is no welcome for them! verily, they are going to broil in the fire!’ [60] They shall say, ‘Nay, for you too is there no welcome! it was ye who prepared it beforehand for us, and an ill resting-place it is!’ They shall say, ‘Our Lord! whoso prepared this beforehand for us, give him double torment in the fire!’ And they shall say, ‘What ails us that we do not see men whom we used to think amongst the wicked? whom we used to take for mockery? have our eyes escaped them ?’

Verily, that is the truth; the contention of the people of the fire. [65] Say, ‘I am only a warner; and there is no 1 See page 53. god but God, the one, the victorious, the Lord of the heavens and the earth, and what is between the two, the mighty, the forgiving!’ Say, ‘It is a grand story, and yet ye turn from it!’ I had no knowledge of the exalted chiefs when they contended. [70] Iam only inspired that Iam a aE warner. When thy Lord said to the angels, ‘Verily, I am about to create a mortal out of clay; and when I have fashioned him, and breathed into him of my spirit, then fall ye down before him adoring.’ And the angels adored all of them, save Iblis, who was too big with pride, and was of the misbelievers. [75] Said He, ‘O Iblis! what prevents thee from adoring what I have created with my two hands ? art thou too big with pride ? or art thou amongst the exalted 2?’ Said he, ‘I am better than he, Thou hast created me from fire, and him Thou hast created from clay.’ Said He, ‘Then go forth therefrom, for, verily, thou art pelted, and, verily, upon thee is my curse unto the day of judgment.’

[80] Said he, ‘ My Lord! then respite me until the day when they are raised.’ Said He, ‘Then thou art amongst the respited until the day of the stated time.’ Said he, ‘Then, by Thy might! I will surely seduce them all together, except Thy servants amongst them who are sincere!’ [85] Said He, ‘It is the truth, and the truth I speak; I will surely fill hell with thee and with those who follow thee amongst them all together.’ Say, ‘I do not ask thee for it any hire, nor am I of those who take too much upon myself. It is but a reminder to the servants, and ye shall surely know its story after a time. THe CHAPTER OF THE TROOPS. (XX XIX. Mecca.) In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. : | The sending down of the Book from God, the mighty, the wise. Verily, we have sent down to thee the Book in truth, then serve God, being sincere in religion unto Him. Aye! God's is the sincere religion: and those who take beside Him patrons ‘We do not serve them save that they may bring us near to God Verily, God will judge between them concerning that whereon they do dispute.

[5] Verily, God guides not him who is a misbelieving liar. Had God wished to take to Himself a child, He would have chosen what He pleased from what He creates;—celebrated be His praises! He is God, the one, the victorious. He created the heavens and the earth in truth! It is He who clothes the day with night; and clothes the night with day; and subjects the sun and the moon, each one runs on to an appointed time; aye! He is the mighty, the forgiving! He created you from one soul; then He made from it its mate; and He sent down upon you of the cattle four pairs?! He creates you in the bellies of your mothers,— creation after creation, in three darknesses 2. That is God for you! His is the kingdom, there is no god but He; how then can ye be turned away? * Camel, oxen, sheep, and goats. * I.e. the belly, the womb, and the placenta.

If ye be thankless, yet is God independent of you. He is not pleased with ingratitude in His servants ; but if ye give thanks, He is pleased with that in you. But no burdened soul shall bear the burden of another; then unto your Lord is your return, and He will inform you of that which ye have done. [10] Verily, He knows the natures of men’s breasts! And when distress touches a man he calls his | Lord, turning repentant to Him; then when He confers on him a favour from Himself he forgets what he had called upon Him for before, and makes peers for God to lead astray from His way! Say, ‘Enjoy thyself in thy misbelief a little, verily, thou art of the fellows of the Fire.’ Shall he who is devout throughout the night, adoring and standing, cautious concerning the hereafter, and hoping for the mercy of his Lord... ? Say, ‘Shall those who know be deemed equal with those who know not? only those will remember, who are endowed with minds!’ Say, ‘O my servants who believe! fear your Lord! for those who do well in this world is good, and God's earth is spacious; verily, the patient shall be paid their hire without count !’

Say, ‘Verily, I am bidden to serve God, being sincere in religion to Him; and I am bidden that I be the first of those resigned.’ [15] Say, ‘Verily, I fear, if I rebel against my Lord, the torment of a mighty day. Say, ‘ God do I serve, being sincere in my religion to Him; serve then what ye will beside Him!’ Say, ‘Verily, the losers are those who lose themselves and their families on the resurrection day. Aye, that is the obvious loss.’ They shall have over them shades of fire, and under them shades; with that does God frighten His servants : O my servants! then fear me. But those who avoid 7aghit! and serve them not, but turn repentant unto God, for them shall be glad tidings. Then give glad tidings to my servants who listen to the word and follow the best thereof: they it is whom God guides, and they it is who are endowed with minds. [20] Him against whom the word of torment is due,—canst thou rescue him from the fire ? But for those who fear their Lord for them are upper chambers, and upper chambers above them built, beneath which rivers flow; God’s promise ! God does not fail in His promise.

Hast thou not seen that God sends down from | the heaven water, and conducts it into springs in the earth? then He brings forth therewith corn varied in kind, then it dries up, and ye see it eTow yellow ; then He makes it grit ;—verily, in that is a reminder for those endowed with minds. Is he whose breast God has expanded for IslAm, and who is in light from his Lord....? And woe to those whose hearts are hardened against a remembrance of God! those are in obvious error. God has sent down the best of legends, a book uniform and repeating; whereat the skins of those who fear their Lord do creep! then their skins and their hearts soften at the remembrance of God. That is the guidance of God! He guides therewith _ whom He will. But he whom God leads astray there is no guide for him. * See Part I, p. 40, note 2. - [25] Shall he who must screen himself with his own face from the evil torment on the resurrection day....? And it shall be said of those who do wrong, taste what ye have earned. Those before them called the (prophets) liars, and the torment came to them from whence they perceived it not; and God made them taste disgrace in the life of this world. But surely the torment of the hereafter is greater, if they did but know. We have struck out for men in this Qur’4n every sort of parable, haply they may be mindful. An Arabic QOur’4n with no crookedness therein; haply they may fear!

[30] God has struck out a parable, a man who has partners who oppose each other; and a man who is wholly given up to another ; shall they be deemed equal in similitude ? praise be to God! nay, but most of them know not! Verily, thou shalt die, and, verily, they shall die ; then, verily, on the resurrection day before your Lord shall ye dispute. And who is more unjust than he who lies against God, and calls the truth a lie when it comes to him ? Is there not in hell a resort for those who misbelieve ? but whoso brings the truth and believes in it, these are they who fear. [35] For them is what they please with their Lord, that is the reward of those who do well; that God may cover for them their offences which they have done, and may reward them with their hire for the best of that which they have done. Is not God sufficient for His servants? and yet they would frighten thee with those beside Him 1. '. By their idols. But he whom God leads astray there is no guide for him ; and he whom God guides there is none to lead him astray: is not God mighty, the Lord of vengeance ?

And if thou shouldst ask them who created the heavens and the earth, they will surely say, ‘God!’ Say, ‘Have ye considered what ye call on beside God ? If God wished me harm}, could they remove His harm ? or did He wish me mercy, could they withhold His mercy?’ Say, ‘God is enough for me, and on Him rely those who rely.’ [40] Say, ‘O my people! act according to your power; I too am going to act; and ye _ shall know.’ He to whom the torment comes it shall disgrace him, and there shall alight upon him lasting torment. Verily, we have sent down to thee the Book for men in truth; and whosoever is guided it is for his own soul: but whoso goes astray it is against them, and thou art not a guardian for them. God takes to Himself souls at the time of their death ; and those which do not die (He takes) in their sleep; and He holds back those on whom He has decreed death, and sends others back till their appointed time ;—verily, in that are signs unto a people who reflect. Do they take besides God intercessors? Say, ‘What! though they have no control over anything and have no sense.’

[45] Say, ‘God’s is the intercession, all of it; His 1 The pronoun in Arabic is feminine, and refers to the false gods, especially to the favourite goddesses of the Qurais. is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; then unto Him shall ye be sent back.’ And when God alone is mentioned the hearts of those who believe not in the hereafter quake, and when those beside Him are mentioned, lo, they are joyful ! Say, ‘O God! originator of the heavens and the earth, who knowest the unseen and the visible, thou wilt judge between thy servants concerning that whereon they do dispute!’ And had those who do wrong all that is in the earth, and the like thereof with it, they would ransom themselves therewith from the evil of the torment on the resurrection day! but there shall appear to them from God that which they had not reckoned on; and the evils of what they have earned shall appear to them; but that shall close in on them at which they mocked! [50] And when harm touches man he alls on us; then, when we grant him favour from us, he says, ‘Verily, I am given it through knowledge!’ nay, it is a trial—but most of them do not know!

Those before them said it too, but that availed them not which they had earned, and there befel them the evil deeds of what they had earned: and those who do wrong of these (Meccans), there shall befall them too the evil deeds of what they had earned, nor shall they frustrate Him. Have they not known that God extends His provision to whom He pleases, or doles it out ? verily, in that are signs unto a people who believe. Say, ‘O my servants! who have been extravagant against their own souls!’ be not in despair of the mercy of God; verily, God forgives sins, all of them; verily, He is forgiving, merciful. [55] But turn repentant unto your Lord, and resign yourselves to Him, before there comes on you torment! then ye shall not be helped: and follow the best of what has been sent down to you from your Lord, before there come on you the torment suddenly, ere ye can perceive! Lest a soul should say, ‘O my sighing! for what I have neglected towards God! for, verily, I was amongst those who did jest!’ or lest it should say, ‘If God had but guided me, I should surely have been of those who fear!’ or lest it should say, when it sees the torment, ‘ Had I another turn I should be of those who do well?’

[60] ‘Yea! there came to thee my signs and thou didst call them lies, and wert too big with pride, and wert of those who misbelieved!’ And on the resurrection day thou shalt see those who lied against God, with their faces blackened. Is there not in hell a resort for those who are too big with pride? And God shall rescue those who fear Him, into their safe place ; no evil shall touch them, nor shall they be grieved. God is the creator of everything, and He is guardian over everything; His are the keys of the heavens and the earth; and those who misbelieve in the signs of God, they it is who lose! Say, ‘What! other than God would you bid me serve, O ye ignorant ones? [65] When He has inspired thee and those before thee that, “If thou dost associate aught with Him, thy work will surely be in vain, and thou shalt surely be of those who lose!” Nay, but God do thou serve, and be of those who do give thanks!’ | And they do not value God at His true value; while the earth all of it is but’a handful for Him on the resurrection day, and the heavens shall be rolled up in His right hand! Celebrated be His praise! and exalted be He above what they associate with Him! And the trumpet shall be blown, and those who are in the heavens and in the earth shall swoon, save whom God pleases.

Then it shall be blown again, and, lo! they shall stand up and look on. And the earth shall beam with the light of its Lord, and the Book shall be set forth, and the prophets and martyrs! shall be brought ; and it shall be decreed between them in truth, and they shall not be wronged! [70] And every soul shall be paid for what it has done, and He knows best that which they do; and those who misbelieve shall be driven to hell in troops; and when they come there, its doors shall be opened, and its keepers shall say to them, ‘Did not apostles from amongst yourselves come to you to recite to you the signs of your Lord, and to warn you of the meeting of this day of yours? They shall say, ‘Yea, but the sentence of torment was due against the misbelievers!’ It shall be said, ‘Enter ye the gates of hell, to dwell therein for aye! Hell is the resort of those who are too big with pride!’

But those who fear their Lord shall be driven to Paradise in troops; until they come there, its doors shall be opened, and its keepers shali say to them, ‘ Peace be upon you, ye have done well! so enter in to dwell for aye!’ and they shall say, ‘Praise be to God, who hath made good His promise to us, and hath given us the earth to inherit! We establish ourselves in Paradise wherever we please ; and goodly is the reward of those who work!’ [75] And thou shalt see the angels circling round about the throne, celebrating the praise of their Lord; and it shall be decided between them in truth ; and it shall be said, ‘Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds!’

In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. ‘H.M. The sending down of the Book from God, _ the mighty, the knowing, the forgiver of sin and accepter of repentance, keen at punishment, longsuffering! there is no god but He! to whom the journey is! None wrangle concerning the signs of God but those who misbelieve; then let not their going to and fro in the cities deceive thee. [5] The people of Noah before them called the prophets liars; and the confederates after them; and every nation schemed against their Apostle to catch him. And they wrangled with falsehood that they might refute the truth thereby, but I seized them, and how was my punishment! Thus was the sentence of thy Lord due against those who misbelieved, that they are the fellows of the Fire! Those who bear the throne and those around it celebrate the praise of their Lord, and believe in Him, and ask pardon for those who believe: ‘ Our Lord! thou dost embrace all things in mercy and knowledge, then pardon those who turn repentant and follow thy way, and guard them from the torment of hell! Our Lord! make them enter into gardens of Eden which thou hast promised to them, and to those who do well of their fathers, and their wives, and their seed; verily, thou art the mighty, the wise! and guard them from evil deeds, for he whom thou shalt guard from evil deeds on that day, thou wilt have had mercy on, and that is mighty bliss!’

[10] Verily, those who misbelieve shall be cried out to, ‘Surely, God's hatred is greater than your hatred of each other when ye were called unto the faith and misbelieved !’ They shall say, ‘Our Lord! Thou hast killed us twice, and Thou hast quickened us twice!; and we do confess our sins: is there then a way for getting out ?’ ; That is because when God alone was proclaimed ye did disbelieve ; but when partners were joined to Him ye did believe ; but judgment belongs to God, the high, the great! He it is who shows you His signs, and sends down to you from heaven provision; but none is mindful except him who turns repentant; then call on God, being sincere in your religion to Him, averse although the misbelievers be! [15] Exalted of degrees! The Lord * Referring to the absence of life before birth and the deprivation of it at death, and to the being quickened at birth and raised again after death. of the throne! He throws the spirit by His bidding upon whom He will of His servants, to give warning of the day of meeting. The day when they shall be issuing forth, naught concerning them shall be hidden from God. Whose is the kingdom on that day?—God’s, the one, the dominant! to-day shall every soul be recompensed for that which it has earned. There is no wrong to-day; verily, God is quick at reckoning up!

And warn them of the day that approaches, when hearts are choking in the gullets; those who do wrong shall have no warm friend, and no intercessor who shall be obeyed. [20] He knows the deceitful of eye and what men’s breasts conceal, and God decides with truth; but those they call on beside Him do not decide at all: verily, God, He both hears and looks. Have they not journeyed on in the earth and seen how was the end of those who journeyed on before them? They were stronger than them in might, and their vestiges are in the land; but God caught them up in their sins, and they had none to guard them against God. That is for that their apostles did come to them with manifest signs, and they misbelieved, and God caught them up; verily, He is mighty, keen to punish ! And we did send Moses with our signs, and with obvious authority, [25] unto Pharaoh and Haman and Qartin. They said,‘A lying sorcerer!’ and when . ~they came to them with truth from us, they said, ‘Kill the sons of those who believe with him, and let their women live!’ but the stratagem of the misbelievers is only in error!

And Pharaoh said, ‘ Let me kill Moses; and then let him call upon his Lord! verily, 1 fear that he will change your religion, or that he will cause evil doing to appear in the land,’ And Moses said, ‘Verily, I take refuge in my Lord and your Lord from every one who is big with pride and believes not on the day of reckoning.’ And a believing man of Pharaoh's people, who concealed his faith, said, ‘Will ye kill a man for saying, My Lord is God, when he has come to you with manifest signs from your Lord ? and if he bea liar, against him is his lie; and if he be truthful, there will befall you somewhat of that which he threatens you; verily, God guides not him who is an extravagant liar. [30] O my people! yours is the kingdom to-day, ye are eminent in the land, but who will help us against the violence of God, if it comes upon us?’ Said Pharaoh, ‘I will only show you what I see, and I will only guide you into the way of right direction.’ And he who believed said, ‘O my people! verily, I fear for you the like of the day of the confederates, the like of the wont of the people of Noah and ‘Ad and Haman, and of those after them ; for God desires not injustice for His servants. O my people! verily, I fear for you the day of crying out,— [35] the day when ye shall turn your backs, fleeing, with no defender for you against God; for he whom God leads astray, for him there is no guide!

‘And Joseph came to you before with manifest signs, but ye ceased not to doubt concerning what he brought you, until, when he perished, ye said. “God will not send after him an apostle;” thus does God lead astray him who is extravagant, a doubter. | ‘Those who wrangle concerning the signs of God without authority having come to them are greatly hated by God and by those who believe; thus does God set a stamp upon the heart of every tyrant too big with pride!’ And Pharaoh said, ‘O Haman! build for me a tower, haply I may reach the tracts,—the tracts of heaven, and may mount up to the God of Moses, for, verily, I think him a liar.’ [40] And thus was his evil deed made seemly to Pharaoh, and he was turned from the way; but Pharaoh's stratagem ended only in ruin, and he who believed said, ‘O my people! follow me, I will guide you to the way of the right direction. O my people! verily, the life of this world is but a provision, but, verily, the hereafter, that is the abode of stability! Whoso does evil, he shall only be recompensed with - the like thereof; and whoso does right, be it male or female and a believer, these shall enter into Paradise; they shall be provided therein without count. O my people! why should I call you to salvation, and you call me to the fire? [45] Ye call on me to disbelieve in God, and to join with Him what I have no knowledge of; but I call you to the mighty forgiving One! no doubt that what ye call me to, ought not to be called on in this world or in the hereafter, and that we shall be sent back to God, and that the extravagant, they are the fellows” of the Fire!

‘But ye shall remember what I say to you; and I entrust my affair to God, verily, God looks upon His servants !,’ And God guarded him from the evils of what they plotted, and there closed in upon Pharaoh evil woe. The fire—they shall be exposed to it morning and evening; and ‘on the day the Hour shall arise, enter, O people of Pharaoh! into the keenest torment. [50] And when they argue together in the fire, and the weak say to those who were big with pride, ‘Verily, we were followers of yours, can ye then avail us against a portion of the fire ?’ Those who were big with pride shall say, ‘ Verily, we are all in it; verily, God has judged between His servants.’ | And those who are in the fire shall say unto the keepers of hell, ‘Call upon your Lord to lighten from us one day of the torment.’ They shall say, ‘ Did not your apostles come to you with manifest signs ?’ aney shall say. = veal . Ehey shail ‘cay, © Phen, call!’—but the call of the misbelievers is only in error. Verily, we will help our apostles, and those who believe, in the life of this world and on the day when the witnesses shall stand up: [55] the day when their excuse shall not avail the unjust; but for them is the curse, and for them is an evil abode. .

And we did give Moses the guidance; and we made the children of Israel to inherit the Book, as a guidance and a reminder to those endowed with minds. Be thou patient, then; verily, God’s promise is true: and ask thou forgiveness for thy sins, and ron THE QURAN. XL, 57-66. celebrate the praise of thy Lord in the evening and in the morn. Verily, those who wrangle concerning the signs of God without authority having come to them, there is naught in their breasts but pride; but they shall not attain it: do thou then seek refuge in God; verily, He both hears and looks! Surely the creation of the heavens and the earth is greater than the creation of man: but most men know it not. [60] The blind and the seeing shall not be deemed alike, nor those who believe and do right and the evildoer ; little is it that they remember. Verily, the Hour will surely come; there is no doubt therein; but most men do not believe! And your Lord said, ‘Call upon me, I will answer you; verily, those who are too big with pride to worship shall enter into hell, shrinking up.’

God it is who has made for you the night to repose therein, and the day to see by; verily, God is Lord of grace to men, but most men give no thanks! There is God for you! your Lord! the creator of everything! there is no god but He, how then can ye lie’? [65] Thus did those lie who gainsaid the signs of God. God it is who has made for you the earth as a resting-place, and a heaven as building, and has formed you and made excellent your forms; and has provided you with good things! there is God for you!—your Lord! then blessed be God, the Lord of the worlds! ? Or ‘turn away.’ He is the living One, there is no god but He! then call on Him, being sincere in your religion to Him; praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds! Say, ‘ Verily, I am forbidden to serve those whom ye call on beside God, since there have come to me manifest signs from my Lord, and I am bidden to be resigned unto the Lord of the worlds.’ He it is who created you from the earth, then from a clot, then from congealed blood, then He brings you forth a child; then ye reach to puberty; then do ye become old men,—though of you there are some who are taken away before,—that ye may reach an appointed time, and haply ye may have some sense.

[70] He it is who quickens and kills, and when He decrees a matter, then He only says to it, ‘BE, and it is. Hast thou not seen those who wrangle concerning the signs of God how they are turned away? Those who call the Book, and what we have sent our apostles with, a lie, soon shall they know—when the fetters are on their necks and the chains, as they are dragged into hell!—then in the fire shall they be baked. Then it shall be said to them, ‘Where is what ye did associate beside God?’ They shall say, ‘They have strayed away from us; nay, we did not call before upon anything !’—thus does God lead the misbelievers astray. [75] There! for that ye did rejoice in the land without right; and for that ye did exult; enter ye the gates of hell, to dwell therein for aye; for evil is the resort of those who are too big with pride ! But be thou patient; verily, the promise of God is true; and whether we show thee a part of what we promised them, or whether we surely take thee to ourself, unto us shall they be returned.

And we did send apostles before thee: of them are some whose stories we have related to thee, and of them are some whose stories we have not related to thee; and no apostle might ever bring a sign except by the permission of God; but when God’s bidding came it was decided with truth, and there were those lost who deemed it vain! God it is who has made for you cattle, that ye may ride on some of them ;—and of them ye eat, [80] and ye have in them advantages ;—and that ye may attain thereon a want which is in your breasts ; upon them and upon ships are ye borne. He shows you His signs; which sign then of your _ Lord do ye deny? Have they not journeyed on in the land and seen how was the end of those before them, who were more numerous than they and stronger in might, and in their vestiges which are still in the land? but of | no avail to them was that which they had earned. And when there came to them their apostles with manifest signs they rejoiced in what knowledge they had; but there closed in upon them that whereat they had mocked.

And when they saw our violence they said, ‘We believe in God alone, and we disbelieve in what we once associated with Him.’ [$5] But their faith was of no avail to them when they saw our violence—the course of God with His servants in time past, and there the misbelievers lose! SEAS st: THE CHAPTER ‘ DETAILED. 199 Tue CHAPTER ‘ DETAILED.’

In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. ‘H. M. A ‘revelation from the merciful, the compassionate; a book ‘whose signs are detailed; an Arabic Qur'an for a people who do know; a herald of glad tidings and a warning. But most-of them turn aside and:do‘not hear, ‘and say, ‘ Our hearts are veiled from what thou dost call us to, and in our ears is dulness, and between us and thee there is a veil. Act thou; verily, we are acting too!’ [5] Say, ‘I am but a mortal like yourselves, I am inspired that your God is one ‘God; then go straight to Him, and ask forgiveness of Him; and woe to the idolaters, who give not alms, and in the hereafter disbelieve!’ Verily, those who believe and do right, for them is a hire that is not grudged. Say, “What! do ye really misbelieve in Him who created the earth in two days, and‘do ye make peers for Him ?—that is the Lord of the worlds!’ And He placed thereon! firm mountains above it and blessed it, and apportioned therein its foods in four days alike for those who ask. [10] Then He made for the heaven and it'was but smoke, and He said to it and to the earth, ‘Come, ye two, whether ye will or no!’ They said, ‘We come willingly!’

And He decreed them seven heavens in two days, and inspired every heaven with its bidding: and we ? On -the earth. adorned the lower heaven with lamps and guardian angels; that is the decree of the mighty, the knowing One. But if they turn aside, then say, ‘I have warned you of a thunder-clap like the thunder-clap of ‘Ad and Thamtd; when their apostles came to them from before them and from behind them (saying), “Serve ye none but God.”’ They said, ‘If our Lord pleased He would send down angels; so we in what ye are sent with disbelieve.’ And as for ‘Ad, they were big with pride in the land, without right, and said, ‘Who is stronger than us in might?’ Did they not see that God who created them He was stronger than they in might? But they did gainsay our signs. [15] And we sent upon them a cold blast in unfortunate days, that we might make them taste the torment of disgrace in the life of this world ;—but the torment of the hereafter is more disgraceful, and they shall not be helped. And as for Thamiid we guided them; but they preferred blindness to guidance, and the thunderclap of the torment of abasement caught them for what they had earned; but we saved those who believed and who did fear.

And the day when the enemies of God shall be gathered together into the fire, marshalled along; until when they come to it, their hearing and their eyesight and their skins shall bear witness against them of that which they have done. [20] And they shall say to their skins, ‘Why have ye borne witness against us? they shall say, ‘God gave us speech who has given speech to everything ; He created you at first, and unto Him shall ye be returned ; and ye could not conceal yourselves that your hearing and your eyesight should not be witness against you, nor your skins; but ye thought that God did not know much of what ye do. And that thought of yours which ye thought concerning your Lord has destroyed you, and ye have now become of those who lose!’ And if they are patient, still the fire is a resort for them; and if they ask for favour again, they shall not be taken into favour. We will allot to them mates!, for they have made seemly to them what was before them and what was behind them ; and due against them was the sentence on the nations who passed away before them ; both of ginns and of mankind; verily, they were the losers !

[25] Those who misbelieve say, ‘Listen not to this Qur’4n, but talk foolishly about it, haply ye may gain the upper hand®.” But we will make those who misbelieve taste keen torment; and we will recompense them with the worst of that which they have done. That is, the recompence of the enemies of God,—the fire! for them is an eternal abode therein: a recompence for that they did gainsay our signs. And those who misbelieved say, ‘Our Lord, show us those who have led us astray amongst the ginns and mankind; we will place them beneath our feet, and they shall both be amongst those who are put down!’ [30] Verily, those who say, ‘Our Lord is God, and then go straight, the angels descend upon them—‘ fear not and be not grieved, but receive the glad tidings of Paradise which ye were promised; Devils, opposed to the guardian angels of the believers. * T.e. interrupt the reading of the Qur'an by talking, in order to overpower the voice of the reader, . we are your patrons in the life of this world and in the next, and ye shall have therein what your souls desire, and ye shall have therein what ye call for,—an entertainment from the forgiving, the merciful !’

And who speaks better than he who calls to God and does right, and says, ‘Verily, I.am of those resigned ?’ | Good and evil shall not ‘be deemed alike ; repel (evil) with what is best, and lo! He between whom and thyself was enmity is as though he were a warm patron. [35] But none shall meet with it save those who are patient; and none shall meet with it save those who are endowed with mighty good fortune. And if an incitement from the devil incites you, then seek refuge in God; verily, He both hears and knows. And of His signs are the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. Adore ye not the sun, neither the moon; :but adore God who created you, if it be Him ye serve. But if they be too big with pride—yet those who are with thy Lord celebrate His praises by night and day, and they are never weary. And of His signs (is this), that thou mayest see the earth drooping, and when we send down water upon it it stirs and swells ; verily, He who quickens it will surely quicken the dead ; verily, He is mighty over all.

[40] Verily, those who are inclined to oppose our signs are not hidden from us. Is he who is cast © into the fire better, or he who comes safe on the resurrection day? Do what ye will: verily, He on what ye do doth look. Verily, those who misbelieve in the reminder when it comes to them——and, verily, it is a glorious Book! falsehood shall not come to it, from before it, nor from behind it—a revelation from the wise, the praiseworthy One. Naught is said to thee but what was said to the apostles before thee, ‘Verily, thy Lord is Lord of forgiveness and Lord of grievous torment !’ And had we made it a foreign Qur'an, they would have said, ‘Unless its signs be detailed.... What! foreign and Arabic!?’ Say, ‘It is, for those who believe, a guidance and a healing. But those who believe not, in their ears is dulness, and it is blindness to them; these are called to from a far-off place.’ [45] And we gave Moses the ‘Book, and it was disputed about; but had it not been for thy Lord’s word already passed it would have been decided between them, for, verily, they were in hesitating doubt thereon.

Whoso does right it is for his soul, and whoso does evil it is against it, for thy Lord is not unjust towards His servants. To Him is referred the knowledge of the Hour: and no fruits come forth from their husks, and no female conceives, or is delivered, save with His knowledge. And the day when He shall call to them, ‘Where 1 T.e. they would have said, ‘What! is the revelation in a foreign tongue, and we who are expected to read it Arabs?’ This is paraphrased by Sale: ‘If we had revealed the Qur’an in a foreign language, they had surely said, “‘ Unless the signs thereof be distinctly explained we will not receive the same: is the Book to be written in a foreign tongue, and the person unto whom it is directed an Arabian?”’ are the partners ye did join with me?’ they shall say, ‘We do own to thee there is no witness amongst us!’ and that on which they used to call before shall stray away from them, and they shall think there is no escape for them. Man is never tired of praying for good, but if evil touch him, then he is despairing and hopeless. :

[50] But if we make him taste mercy from us after distress has touched him he will surely say, ‘ This is for me, and I do not think the Hour is imminent ; and if I be brought back to my Lord, verily, I shall surely have good with Him?!;’ but we will inform those who misbelieve of what they have done, and we will surely make them taste wretched torment. And when we have been gracious to man, he turns away and goes aside; but when evil touches him he is one of copious prayer. Say, ‘Let us see now! if it be from God and ye disbelieve in it, who is more in error than he who is In a remote schism ?’ We will show them our signs in the regions and in themselves, until it is plain to them that it is the truth. Is it not enough for thy Lord that He is witness over all? Ay, verily, they are in doubt about the meeting of their Lord! Ay, verily, He encompasses all! * Or the words may be rendered, ‘ There is good with him still due to me,’

Tue CHAPTER OF COUNSEL. (Xt Slecca) In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. ‘H. M. °H.S.Q. Thus does God, the mighty, the wise, inspire thee and those before thee. His is what is in the heavens and what is in the earth, and He is the high, the mighty ! The heavens well-nigh cleave asunder from above them ; and the angels celebrate the praises of their Lord, and ask forgiveness for those who are on the earth. Ay, verily, God, He is the forgiving and merciful! but those who take beside Him patrons, God watches over them, and thou hast not charge over them. [5] Thus have we revealed an Arabic Qur’dn, that thou mayest warn the Mother of cities! and all around it ; and warn them of a day of gathering, there is no doubt therein ;—a part in Paradise and a part in the blaze. But had God pleased He would have made them one nation; but He makes whom He will enter into His mercy; and the unjust have neither patron nor help. Do they take other patrons besides Him, when God He is the patron, and He quickens the dead and He is mighty over all ?

But whatsoever ye dispute about, the judgment of it is God’s. There is God for you!—my Lord! upon Him do I rely, and unto Him I turn repentant. The originator of the heavens and the earth, He 206 THE QuR’AN. XLII, 9-15. has made for you from yourselves wives; and of the cattle mates; producing you thereby. There is naught like Him, for He both hears and sees. [10] His are the keys of the heavens and the earth, He extends provision to whom He will, or doles it out; verily, He knows everything. He has enjoined upon you for religion what He prescribed to Noah and what we inspired thee with, and what we inspired Abraham and Moses and Jesus,—to be steadfast in religion, and not to part into sects therein—a great thing to the idolaters is that which ye call them to! God elects for Himself whom He pleases and guides unto Himself him who turns repentant. But they did not part into sects until after the knowledge had come to them, through mutual envy; and had it not been for thy Lord’s word already passed for an appointed time, it would surely have been decided between them; but, verily, those who have been given the Book as an inheritance after them, are in hesitating doubt concerning it.

Wherefore call thou, and go straight on as thou art bidden, and follow not their lusts; and say, ‘I believe in the Book which God has sent down; and I am bidden to judge justly between you. God is our Lord and your Lord; we have our works and ye have your works ; there is no argument between us and you. God will assemble us together and unto Him the journey is.’ [15] But those who argue about God after it has been assented to’, their arguments shall be rebutted ’ Te. after the faith of Islam had been accepted by them, or after God had assented to the prophet’s prayer and supported the before their Lord; and upon them shall be wrath, and for them shall be keen torment. God it is who has sent down the Book with truth, and the balance!; and what shall make thee know whether haply the Hour be nigh? Those who believe not would hurry it on; and those who believe shrink with terror at it and know that it is true. Ay, verily, those who dispute concerning the Hour are in remote error ! God is kind to His servants; He provides whom He will, and He is the mighty, the glorious.

He who wishes for the tilth of the next world, we will increase for him the tilth; and he who desires the tilth of this world, we will give him thereof: but in the next he shall have no portion. [20] Have they associates who have enjoined any religion on them which God permits not ?—but were it not for the word of decision? it would have been decreed to them. Verily, the unjust,—for them 1s grievous woe. Thou shalt see the unjust shrink with terror from what they have gained as it falls upon them; and those who believe and do right, in meads of Paradise, they shall have what they please with their Lord ;—that is great grace | That is what God gives glad tidings of to His servants who believe and do righteous acts. Say, ‘I do not ask for it a hire—only the love of my kinsfolk.. And he who gains a good action faith, or after the Jews and Christians had assented to the teaching of Mohammed, for the commentaries are uncertain as to the exact meaning of the phrase. 1 T.e. the law contained in the Qur’an. * Le. were it not that God has promised that those things shall be decided at the day of judgment.

we will increase good for him thereby; verily, God is forgiving and grateful ! Or will they say he has forged against God a lie? But if God pleased He could set a seal upon thy heart; but God will blot out falsehood and verify — truth by His word; verily, He knows the nature of men’s breasts! He it is who accepts repentance from His servants and pardons their offences and knows that which ye do. [25] And He answers the prayer of those who believe and do right, and gives them increase of His grace; but the misbelievers,—for them is keen torment. And if God were to extend provision to His servants they would be wanton in the earth. But He sends down by measure what He pleases; verily, of His servants He is well aware and sees. He it is who sends down the rain after they have despaired ; and disperses His mercy, for He is the praiseworthy patron. And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and what He hath spread abroad therein of beasts; and He is able to collect them © when He will. And what misfortunes befall you it is for what your hands have earned; but He pardons much; [30] yet ye cannot make Him helpless in the earth, nor have ye, besides God, either a patron or a helper.

And of His signs are the ships that sail like mountains in the sea. If He will, He calms the © wind, and they become motionless on the back thereof: verily, in that are signs to every patient, grateful person :—or He makes them founder for what they have earned; but He pardons much. But let those who wrangle about our signs know that they shall have no escape! And whatever ye are given it is but a provision of the life of this world; but what is with God is better and more lasting for those who believe and who upon their Lord rely, [35] and those who avoid great sins and abominations, and who when they are wroth forgive, and who assent to their Lord, and are steadfast in prayer, and whose affairs go by counsel amongst themselves, and who of what we have bestowed on them give alms, and who, when wrong befalls them, help themselves. For the recompence of evil is evil like unto it; but he who pardons and does well, then his reward is with God; verily, He loves not the unjust. And he who helps himself after he has been wronged, for -these—there is no way against them. [40] The way is only against those who wrong men and are wanton in the earth without right; these—for them is grievous woe.

But surely he who is patient and forgives,—verily, that is a determined affair 1. But whomsoever God leads astray he has no patron after Him; and thou mayest see the unjust when they see the torment say, ‘Is there no way to avert this??’ and thou mayest see them exposed to it, humbled with abasement, looking with a stealthy glance. And those who believe shall say, ‘ Verily, the losers are they who have lost themselves and their families too upon the resurrection day!’ Ay, verily, the unjust are in lasting torment! * Ie. it is a duty laid down by law. ? Or ‘to return (to the world), Baidhavi. [45] And they shall have no patrons to help them beside God, and whomsoever God leads astray, there is no way for him. Assent to your Lord before the day comes of which there is no averting from God; there is no refuge for you on that day; and for you there is no denial. But if they turn aside, we have not sent thee to them as a guardian, thou hast only thy message to preach. And, verily, when we have made man taste of mercy from us he rejoices therein ; but if there befall them an evil for what their hands have done before— then, verily, man is ungrateful!

God’s is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, He creates what He pleases, He grants to whom He pleases females, and He grants to whom He pleases males, or He gives them in pairs, males and females; and He makes whom He pleases barren; verily, He is knowing, powerful! [50] It is not for any mortal that God should speak to him, except by inspiration, or from behind a veil, or by sending an apostle and inspiring, by His permission, what He pleases; verily, He is high and wise | And thus have we inspired thee by a spirit! at our bidding ; thou didst not know what the Book was, nor the faith: but we made it a light whereby we guide whom we will of our servants. And, verily, thou shalt surely be guided into the right way,—the way of God, whose is what is in the heavens and what is in the earth. Ay, to God affairs do tend ! THe CHAPTER OF GILDING. In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. ‘H.M. By the perspicuous Book, verily, we have made it an Arabic Qur’An; haply ye will have some sense. And it is in the Mother of the Book with us,—high and wise. Shall we then push aside from you the Reminder, because ye are a people who are extravagant ? |

[5] How many prophets have we sent amongst those of yore ? and there never came to them a prophet but they did mock at him; then we destroyed them—more valiant than these?; and the example of those of yore passed away. And if thou shouldst ask them who created the heavens and the earth, they will surely say, ‘ The mighty, the knowing One created them, who made for you the earth a couch and placed for you therein roads, haply ye may be guided: [10] and who sent down from the heaven water in due measure; and we raised up thereby a dead country; thus shall ye too be brought forth; and who has created all species; and has made for you the ships and the cattle whereon to ride that ye may settle yourselves on their backs; then remember the favour of your Lord when ye settled thereon, and say, ‘Celebrated be the praises of Him who hath subjected this to us! We could not have got this ourselves; and, verily, unto our Lord shall we return !’ 1 See Part I, p. 2,-note 2. 2 T.e. the Meccans. ae Yet they make for Him of His servants offspring ; verily, man is surely obviously ungrateful.

[15] Has He taken of what He creates daughters, and chosen sons for you ? . Yet when the tidings! are given any one of that which he strikes out as a similitude for the Merciful One, his face grows black and he is choked. What! one brought up amongst ornaments, and who is always in contention without obvious cause ?? And have they made the angels, who are the servants of the Merciful One, females? Were they witnesses of their creation ? their witness shall be written down, and they shall be questioned; and they say, ‘Had the Merciful pleased we should never have worshipped them.’ They have no knowledge of that, they only conjecture. [20] Have we given them a book? before it to which they might hold? Nay; they say, ‘We found our fathers (agreed) upon a religion, and, verily, we are guided by their traces.’ Thus, too, did we never send before thee to a city any warner, but the affluent ones thereof said, ‘Verily, we found our fathers (agreed) upon a religion, and, verily, we are led by their traces.’ Say, ‘What! if I come to you with what is a better guide than what ye found your fathers agreed upon ?’ and they will say, ‘Verily, we in what ye are sent with disbelieve !’

T.e. of the birth of a daughter, see Part I, p. 256, note 2. 2 T.e. what! do they assign children of this kind, viz. daughters, to God? ° J.e. a scripture authorising the practice of their religion, such as the worship of angels and the ascribing of daughters to God. Then we took vengeance on them, and see how was the end of those who called the (apostles) liars. [25] When Abraham said to his father and his people, ‘Verily, I am clear of all that ye serve, except Him who created me; for, verily, He will guide me:’ and he made it a word remaining among his posterity, that haply they might return. Nay; but I let these (Meccans) and their fathers have enjoyment until the truth came to them, and an apostle. And when the truth came to them they said, ‘This is magic, and we therein do disbelieve !’ [30] And they say, ‘Unless this Qur'an were sent down to a man great in the two cities... .1.’ Is it they who distribute the mercy of thy Lord? We distribute amongst them their livelihood in the life of this world, and we exalt some of them above others in degrees, that some may take others into subjection; but the mercy of thy Lord is better than that which they amass.

And but that men would then have been one nation, we would have made for those who misbelieve in the Merciful One roofs of silver for their houses, and steps up thereto which they might mount; and to their houses doors, and bedsteads on which they might recline; and gilding,—for, verily, all that is a provision of the life of this world, but the hereafter is better with thy Lord for those who fear! [35] And whosoever turns from the reminder of the Merciful One, we will chain to him a devil, who shall 1 T.e. had it been sent down to some man of influence and importance in Mecca and 72@’if we would have received it. be his mate; and, verily, these shall turn them from the path while they reckon that they are guided; until when he comes to us he shall say, ‘O, would that between me and thee there were the distance of the two orients!, for an evil mate (art thou)!’ But it shall not avail you on that day, since ye were unjust ; verily, in the torment shall ye share! What! canst thou make the deaf to hear, or guide the blind, or him who is in obvious error ?

[40] Whether then we take thee off we will surely take vengeance on them; or whether we show thee that which we have promised them; for, verily, we have power over them. Say, ‘Dost thou hold to what is inspired thee ?’ verily, thou art in the right way, and, verily, it is a reminder to thee and to thy people, but in the end they shall be asked. And ask those whom we have sent before thee amongst the prophets, ‘Did we make gods beside the Merciful One for them to serve ?’ [45] We did send Moses with our signs to Pharaoh and his chiefs, and he said, ‘ Verily, I am the apostle of the Lord of the worlds; but when he came to them with our signs, lo, they laughed at them !’ And we did not show them a sign, but it was greater than its fellow; and we seized them with the torment, haply they might turn. And they said, ‘O thou magician! pray for us to thy Lord, as He has engaged with thee: verily, we are guided.’ ‘ Ie. the east and west, though some understand it between the two solstices, And when we removed from them the torment, behold they broke their word.

[50] And Pharaoh proclaimed amongst his people ; said he,‘O my people! is not the kingdom of Egypt mine? and these rivers that flow beneath me? What! can ye then not see? Am I better than this fellow, who is contemptible, who can hardly explain himself!? Unless then bracelets of gold be cast upon him, or there come with him angels as his mates...!’ And he taught his people levity; and they obeyed him: verily, they were an abominable people. [55] And when they had annoyed us we took vengeance on them, and we drowned them all together, and we made them a precedent and an example to those after them. And when the son of Mary was set forth as a parable, behold thy people turned away from him and said,‘ Are our gods better, or is he?’ They did not set it forth to thee save for wrangling. Nay, but they are a contentious people *. He is but a servant whom we have been gracious to, and we have made him an example for the children of Israel. [60] And if we please we can make of you angels in the earth to succeed you®. And, verily, he is a sign of the Hour*. Doubt not then

1 See p. 36, note 1. 2 The Arabs objected that Jesus was worshipped by Christians as a God, and that when Mohammed cursed their false gods, the ban must apply equally to him. 8 Just as Jesus was miraculously conceived, so can miraculously conceived offspring be produced among the Meccans themselves. * Some read, ‘a sign,’ which is perhaps better. The reference is to the predicted second advent of the Messiah, which is to precede concerning it, but follow this right way; and let not the devil turn you away; verily, he is to you an open foe! And when Jesus came with manifest signs he said, ‘I am come to you with wisdom, and I will explain to you something of that whereon ye did dispute, then fear God, obey me; verily, God, He is my Lord and your Lord, serve Him then, this is the right way.’ [65] But the confederates disputed amongst themselves; and woe to those who are unjust from the torment of a grievous day! Do they expect aught but that the Hour will come upon them suddenly while they do not perceive ? Friends on that day shall be foes to each other, save those who fear.

O my servants! there is no fear for you on that day; nor shall ye be grieved who believe in our signs and who are resigned. [70] Enter ye into Paradise, ye and your wives, happy! Dishes of gold and pitchers shall be sent round to them; therein is what souls desire, and eyes shall be delighted, and ye therein shall dwell for aye; for that is Paradise which ye are given as an inheritance for that which ye have done. Therein shall ye have much fruit whereof to eat. Verily, the sinners are in the torment of hell to dwell for aye. [75] It shall not be intermitted for them, and they therein shall be confused. We have not wronged them, but it was themselves they wronged. the end of the world. Some commentators, however, read ‘it,’ instead of ‘he,’ referring to the Qur'an, instead of to Jesus. And they shall cry out, ‘O Malik!! let thy lord make an end of us;’ he shall say, ‘ Verily, ye are to tarry here.’ We have brought you the truth, but most of you are averse from the truth. Have they arranged the affair ? then will we arrange it too?!

[80] Or do they reckon that we did not hear their secrets and their whispering? Nay, but our messengers are with them writing down’. Say, ‘If the Merciful One has a son then am I the first to worship him. Celebrated be the praise of the Lord of the heavens and the earth! the Lord of the throne, above all they attribute to Him! But leave them to ponder and to play until they meet that day of theirs which they are promised. He it is who is in the heaven a God and in the earth a God! and He is the wise, the knowing. [85] And blessed be he whose is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and what is between both, and His is the knowledge of the Hour, and unto Him shall ye be brought back! And those they call on beside Him shall not possess intercession except those only who bear witness for the truth and who do know. And if thou shouldst ask them who created them they will surely say, ‘God!’ How then can they lie? And what he‘ says, ‘O Lord, verily, these are * Malik is the keeper of hell, and presides over the tortures of the damned. :

* The word used signifies twisting up the strands of a rope. ° T.e. the recording angel. a people who do not believe; shun them then and say, “Peace!” for they at length shall know!’

In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. ‘H.M. By the perspicuous Book! verily, we have sent it down on a blessed night ;—verily, we had given warning—wherein is decided every wise affair, as an order from us. Verily, we were sending (apostles)—[5] a mercy from thy Lord; verily, He both hears and knows: from the Lord of the heavens and the earth and what is between the two, if ye were but sure. There is no god but He, He quickens and He kills—your Lord and the Lord of your fathers of yore! Nay, they in doubt do play! But expect thou the day when the heaven shall bring obvious smoke [10] to cover men—this is grievous torment ! Our Lord! remove from us the torment ; verily, we are believers. How can they have the reminder (now), when they have had a plain apostle, and when they turned their backs away from him and said, ‘Taught! mad!’ Verily, we will remove the torment a little, (but) ye will surely return! [15] On the day when we will assault with the great assault, verily, we will take vengeance. And we already tried the people of Pharaoh when there came to them a noble apostle : ‘Send back to

me God’s servants; verily, I am to you a faithful apostle ;’ and, ‘Exalt not yourselves above God; verily, I come to you with obvious authority. And, verily, I seek refuge in my Lord and your Lord, that ye stone me not. [20] And if ye believe not in me then let me alone!’ Then he called upon his Lord, ‘Verily, these are a sinful people. So journey with my servants by night—verily, ye will be pursued. But leave the sea in quiet—verily, they are a host to be drowned! How many gardens and springs have they left, [25] and corn lands and a noble place, and comfort wherein they did enjoy themselves! Thus—and we gave them for an inheritance to another people. And the heaven wept not for them, nor the earth, nor were they respited. But we saved the children of Israel from shameful woe!—[30]—from Pharaoh; verily, he was haughty, one of the extravagant! And we did choose them, wittingly, above the worlds; and we gave them signs wherein was an obvious trial ! Verily, these+ say, ‘It is but our first death?, so bring our fathers, if ye do speak the truth !’ [35] Are they better than the people of Tubba’h°, and those before them? We destroyed them— verily, they were sinners!

Nor did we create the heavens and the earth, and what is between the two in sport: we did but create them in truth, though most of them know it not! * The Meccans. 2 T.e. we shall only die once. * The Himyarite Arabs, whose kings were called Tubba’h, i.e. ‘successors.’ [40] Verily, the day of separation is their appointed term; the day when master shall not avail client at all, nor shall they be helped; save whomsoever God shall have mercy on; verily, He is the mighty, the merciful ! Verily, the Zaqqtim tree (shall be) the food of the sinful : [45] as it were melting ', shall it boil in their bellies like the boiling of hot water !—‘Take him and hale him into the midst of hell! then pour over his head the torment of hot water !—Taste! verily, thou art the mighty, the honourable! [50] Verily, this is that whereon ye did dispute!’ Verily, the pious shall be in a safe place! in gardens and springs, they shall be clad in satin and stout silk face to face. Thus!—and we will wed them to bright and large-eyed maids! [55] They shall call therein for every fruit in safety. They shall not taste therein of death save their first death, and we will keep them from the torment of hell! Grace from thy Lord, that is the grand bliss !

And we have only made it easy for thy tongue, that haply they may be mindful. Then watch thou ; verily, they are watching too ! Tue CHAPTER OF THE KNEELING.

In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. ‘H.M. A revelation of the Book from God, the mighty, the wise. Verily, in the heavens and the 1 Or ‘like the dregs of oil.’ earth are signs to those who believe; and in your creation and the beasts that are spread abroad are signs to a people who are sure; and in the alternation of night and day, and the provision that God has sent down from heaven and quickened thereby the earth after its death, and in the veering of the winds are signs unto a people who have sense. [5] These are the signs of God which we recite to thee in truth; and in what new story after God and His signs will they believe ? Woe to every sinful liar who hears God's signs sent to him, then persists in being big with pride as though he heard them not—so give him the glad tidings of grievous woe—and when he knows something of our signs takes them for a jest! These,—for them is shameful woe, behind them is hell, and what they have earned shall not avail them aught, nor what they have taken besides God for patrons; and for them is mighty woe.

[10] This is a guidance, and those who misbelieve in the signs of their Lord, for them is torment of a grievous plague. God it is who subjects to you the sea that the ships may sail thereon at his bidding, and that ye may crave of His grace, and that haply ye may give thanks; and He has subjected to you what is in the heavens and what is in the earth,—all from Him; verily, in that are signs unto a people who reflect. Say to those who believe that they pardon those who hope not for God's days’, that He may reward a peopte for that which they have earned. ' That is, the successful battles against the infidels, ‘battles’ being always spoken of by the ancient Arabs as ‘ days.’ Whosoever acts aright it is for his own soul, and whosoever does evil it is against it; then unto your Lord shall ye be returned. [15] And we did bring the children of Israel the Book and judgment and prophecy, and we provided them with good things, and preferred them above the worlds. And we brought them manifest proofs of the affair, and they disputed not until after knowledge had come to them, through mutual envy. Verily, thy Lord will decide between them on the resurrection day concerning that whereon they did dispute.

Then we did set thee’ over a law concerning the affair: follow it then, and follow not the lusts of those who do not know. Verily, they shall not avail thee against God at all; and, verily, the wrongdoers are patrons of each other, but God is the patron of those who fear. This is an insight for men and a guidance and a mercy to a people who are sure. [20] Do those who commit evil deeds count that we will make them like those who believe and work righteous deeds, equal in their life and their death? —ill it is they judge. And God created the heavens and the earth in truth ; and every soul shall be recompensed for that which it has earned, and they shall not be wronged. Hast thou considered him who takes his lusts for his god, and God leads him astray wittingly, and has set a seal upon his hearing and his heart, and has placed upon his eyesight dimness ? who then shall guide him after God? Will they not then mind? They say, ‘It is only our life in this world, we die and we live, and naught destroys us but time!’ But they have no knowledge of this; they do but suspect. :

And when our signs are rehearsed to them with evidences their only argument is to say, ‘ Bring our fathers, if ye speak the truth.’ [25] Say,‘God quickens you,then He kills you, then He will gather you unto the resurrection day, there is no doubt therein; but most men do not know.’ God’s is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and on the day when the Hour shall arise on that day shall those who call it! vain be losers! And thou shalt see each nation kneeling, each nation summoned to its book, ‘To-day are ye rewarded for that which ye have done.’ This is our Book that speaketh to you with truth; verily, we have written down what ye have done. But as to those who believe and do righteous deeds their Lord will make them enter into His mercy: that is the obvious bliss. [30] And as for those who misbelieve,—were not my signs recited to you and ye were too big with pride and ye were a sinful people? And when it was said, ‘Verily, the promise of God is true, and the Hour there is no doubt therein ;’ ye said, ‘We know not what the Hour is, we only suspect, and we are not sure.’

But there shall appear to them the evils of what they have done, and that shall encompass them at which they have been mocking. And it shall be said, ‘To-day will we forget you as ye forgat the meeting of this day of yours, and your resort shall be the fire, and ye shall have no helpers. That is because ye took the signs of God for a jest and the life of this world deceived you; wherefore to-day ye shall not be brought forth therefrom, neither shall ye be taken back into favour.’ [35] God’s then is the praise, the Lord of the heavens and the Lord of the earth, the Lord of the ~ worlds! His is the grandeur in the heavens and the earth, and He is the mighty and the wise! THe CuHapTer oF Et A‘HQAF!,