And SAY: "O my Lord! I betake me to Thee, against the promptings of the
Satans:
And I betake me to Thee, O my Lord! that they gain no hurtful access to me."
When death overtaketh one of the wicked, he saith, "Lord, send me back again,
That I may do the good which I have left undone."12 "By no means." These are
the very words which he shall speak:
But behind them shall be a barrier, until the day when they shall be raised
again.
And when the trumpet shall be sounded, the ties of kindred between them shall
cease on that day; neither shall they ask each other's help.
They whose balances shall be heavy, shall be the blest.
But they whose balances shall be light,�these are they who shall lose their
souls, abiding in hell for ever:
The fire shall scorch their faces, and their lips shall quiver therein:�
�"What! Were not my signs rehearsed unto you? and did ye not treat them as
lies?"
They shall say, "O our Lord! our ill-fortune prevailed against us, and we
became an erring people.
O our Lord! Bring us forth hence: if we go back again to our sins, we shall
indeed be evil doers."
He will say; "Be ye driven down into it; and, address me not."
A part truly of my servants was there, who said, "O our Lord! we believe:
forgive us, then, and be merciful to us, for of the merciful art thou the
best."
But ye received them with such scoffs that they suffered you to forget my
warning, and ye laughed them to scorn.
Verily this day will I reward then, for their patient endurance: the blissful
ones shall they be!
He will say, "What number of years tarried ye on earth?"
They will say, "We tarried a day, or part of a day;13 but ask the recording
angels."14
God will say, "Short indeed was the time ye tarried, if that ye knew it.
What! Did ye then think that we had created you for pastime, and that ye
should not be brought back again to us?" Wherefore let God be exalted, the
King, the Truth! There is no god but He! Lord of the stately throne! And
whoso, together with God, shall call on another god, for whom he hath no
proof, shall surely have to give account to his Lord. Aye, it shall fare ill
with the infidels.
And SAY: "O my Lord, pardon, and have mercy; for of those who show mercy, art
thou the best."
_______________________
1 This Sura is said by Wahidi Intr, and by Assuyűti, 55, to be the last
Meccan revelation. But there seems to be no reason for this opinion.
2 In prayer. Eccl. v. I; Matt. vi. 7. But it may be understood of idle talk
generally.
3 See Sura xxii. 5, n.
4 That is, a perfect man at last, composed of soul and body. The verb halaka,
to create, is used throughout, for which I have necessarily substituted to
make, in order to retain the same word throughout the verse.
5 These words are said by most commentators on Sura vi. 93, to have been
uttered by Muhammad's scribe, Abdallah, on hearing the previous part of this
verse, and to have been adopted by the prophet, at the same moment, as
identical with his own inspirations.
6 Lit. seven paths�a Talmudic expression.
7 See Sura [lxxv.] xi. 42, n.
8 Comp. Sura xix. 22 ff., p. 119. Wahl understands this passage of Paradise.
9 Comp. Sura xxi. 92, p. 157.
10 There is no reliable tradition as to the nature of the visitation here
alluded to.
11 That is, each would have formed a separate and independent kingdom.
12 Or, in the (world) which I have left.
13 That is, our past life seems brevity itself in comparison with eternal
torment.
14 Lit. those who number, or keep account, i.e. our torments distract us too
much to allow us to compute.
SURA XXI.�THE PROPHETS [LXV.]
MECCA.�112 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
THIS people's reckoning hath drawn nigh, yet, sunk in carelessness, they turn
aside.
Every fresh warning that cometh to them from their Lord they only hear to
mock it,�
Their hearts set on lusts: and they who have done this wrong say in secret
discourse, "Is He more than a man like yourselves? What! will ye, with your
eyes open,1 accede to sorcery?"
SAY: "My Lord knoweth what is spoken in the heaven and on the earth: He is
the Hearer, the Knower."
"Nay," say they, "it is the medley of dreams: nay, he hath forged it: nay, he
is a poet: let him come to us with a sign as the prophets of old were sent."
Before their time, none of the cities which we have destroyed, believed: will
these men, then, believe?
And we sent none, previous to thee, but men to whom we had revealed
ourselves. Ask ye the people who are warned by Scriptures,2 if ye know it
not.
We gave them not bodies which could dispense with food: and they were not to
live for ever.
Then made we good our promise to them; and we delivered them and whom we
pleased, and we destroyed the transgressors.
And now have we sent down to you "the book," in which is your warning: What,
will ye not then understand?
And how many a guilty city have we broken down, and raised up after it other
peoples:
And when they felt our vengeance, lo! they fled from it.
"Flee not," said the angels in mockery, "but come back to that wherein ye
revelled, and to your abodes! Questions will haply be put to you."
They said, "Oh, woe to us! Verily we have been evil doers."
And this ceased not to be their cry, until we made them like reaped corn,
extinct.
We created not the heaven and the earth, and what is between them, for sport:
Had it been our wish to find a pastime, we had surely found it in ourselves;�
if to do so had been our will.
Nay, we will hurl the truth at falsehood, and it shall smite it, and lo! it
shall vanish. But woe be to you for what ye utter of God!
All beings in the heaven and on the earth are His: and they who are in his
presence disdain not his service, neither are they wearied:
They praise Him night and day: they rest not.3
Have they taken gods from the earth who can quicken the dead?
Had there been in either heaven or earth gods besides God, both surely had
gone to ruin. But glory be to God, the Lord of the throne, beyond what they
utter!
He shall not be asked of his doings, but they shall be asked.
Have they taken other gods beside Him? SAY; Bring forth your proofs that they
are gods. This is the warning of those who are with me, and the warning of
those who were before me: but most of them know not the truth, and turn
aside.
No apostle have we sent before thee to whom we did not reveal that "Verily
there is no God beside me: therefore worship me."
Yet they say, "The God of Mercy hath begotten issue from the angels." Glory
be to Him! Nay, they are but His honoured servants:
They speak not till He hath spoken;4 and they do His bidding.
He knoweth what is before them and what is behind them; and no plea shall
they offer
Save for whom He pleaseth; and they tremble for fear of Him.
And that angel among them who saith "I am a god beside Him," will we
recompense with hell: in such sort will we recompense the offenders.
Do not the infidels see that the heavens and the earth were both a solid
mass, and that we clave them asunder, and that by means of water we give life
to everything? Will they not then believe?
And we set mountains on the earth lest it should move with them, and we made
on it broad passages between them as routes for their guidance;
And we made the heaven a roof strongly upholden; yet turn they away from its
signs.
And He it is who hath created the night and the day, and the sun and the
moon, each moving swiftly in its sphere.
At no time5 have we granted to man a life that shall last for ever: if thou
then die, shall they live for ever?
Every soul shall taste of death:6 and for trial will we prove you with evil
and with good; and unto Us shall ye be brought back.
And when the infidels see thee they receive thee only with scoffs:�"What! is
this he who maketh such mention of your gods?" Yet when mention is made to
them of the God of Mercy, they believe not.
"Man," say they, "is made up of haste."7 But I will shew you my signs:8
desire them not then to be hastened.
They say, "When will this threat be made good? Tell us, if ye be men of
truth?"
Did the infidels but know the time when they shall not be able to keep the
fire of hell from their faces or from their backs, neither shall they be
helped!
But it shall come on them suddenly and shall confound them; and they shall
not be able to put it back, neither shall they be respited.
Other apostles have been scoffed at before thee: but that doom at which they
mocked encompassed the scoffers.
SAY: Who shall protect you by night and by day from the God of Mercy? Yet
turn they away from the warning of their Lord.
Have they gods beside Us who can defend them? For their own succour have they
no power; neither shall the gods they join with God screen them from Us.
Yes! we have given these men and their fathers enjoyments so long as their
life lasted. What! see they not that we come to a land and straiten its
borders9 Is it they who are the conquerors?
SAY: I only warn you of what hath been revealed to me: but the deaf will not
hear the call, whenever they are warned;
Yet if a breath of thy Lord's chastisement touch them, they will assuredly
say, "Oh! woe to us! we have indeed been offenders."
Just balances will we set up for the day of the resurrection, neither shall
any soul be wronged in aught; though, were a work but the weight of a grain
of mustard seed, we would bring it forth to be weighed: and our reckoning
will suffice.
We gave of old to Moses and Aaron the illumination,10 and a light and a
warning for the God-fearing,
Who dread their Lord in secret, and who tremble for "the Hour."
And this Koran which we have sent down is a blessed warning: will ye then
disown it?
Of old we gave unto Abraham his direction,11 for we knew him worthy.
When he said to his Father and to his people, "What are these images to which
ye are devoted?"
They said, "We found our fathers worshipping them."
He said, "Truly ye and your fathers have been in a plain mistake."
They said, "Hast thou come unto us in earnest? or art thou of those who
jest?"
He said, "Nay, your Lord is Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth, who hath
created them both; and to this am I one of those who witness:
�And, by God, I will certainly lay a plot against your idols, after ye shall
have retired and turned your backs."
So, he broke them all in pieces, except the chief of them, that to it they
might return, inquiring.
They said, "Who hath done this to our gods? Verily he is one of the unjust."
They said, "We heard a youth make mention of them: they call him Abraham."
They said, "Then bring him before the people's eyes, that they may witness
against him."
They said, "Hast thou done this to our gods, O Abraham?"
He said, "Nay, that their chief hath done it: but ask ye them, if they can
speak."
So they turned their thoughts upon themselves, and said, "Ye truly are the
impious persons:"
Then became headstrong in their former error12 and exclaimed,"Thou knowest
that these speak not."
He said, "What! do ye then worship, instead of God, that which doth not
profit you at all, nor injure you? Fie on you and on that ye worship instead
of God! What! do ye not then understand?"
They said:13 "Burn him, and come to the succour of your gods: if ye will do
anything at all."
We said, "O fire! be thou cold, and to Abraham a safety!"14
And they sought to lay a plot against him, but we made them the sufferers.
And we brought him and Lot in safety to the land which we have blessed for
all human beings:
And we gave him Isaac and Jacob as a farther gift, and we made all of them
righteous:
We also made them models who should guide others by our command, and we
inspired them with good deeds and constancy in prayer and almsgiving, and
they worshipped us.
And unto Lot we gave wisdom, and knowledge; and we rescued him from the city
which wrought filthiness; for they were a people, evil, perverse:
And we caused him to enter into our mercy, for he was of the righteous.
And remember Noah when aforetime he cried to us and we heard him, and
delivered him and his family from the great calamity;
And we helped him against the people who treated our signs as impostures. An
evil people verily were they, and we drowned them all.
And David and Solomon; when they gave judgment concerning a field when some
people's sheep had caused a waste therein; and we were witnesses of their
judgment.
And we gave Solomon insight into the affair; and on both of them we bestowed
wisdom and knowledge. And we constrained the mountains and the birds to join
with David in our praise: Our doing was it!
And we taught David the art of making mail15 for you, to defend you from each
other's violence: will ye therefore be thankful?
And to Solomon we subjected we subjected the strongly blowing wind; it sped
at his bidding to the land we had blessed; for we know all things:
And sundry Satans16 who should dive for him and perform other work beside:
and we kept watch over them.
And remember Job: When he cried to his Lord, "Truly evil hath touched me: but
thou art the most merciful of those who shew mercy."
So we heard him, and lightened the burden of his woe; and we gave him back
his family, and as many more with them,�a mercy from us, and a memorial for
those who serve us:
And Ismael, and Edris17 and Dhoulkefl18�all steadfast in patience.
And we caused them to enter into our mercy; for they were of the righteous:
And Dhoulnoun;19 when he went on his way in anger, and thought that we had no
power over him. But in the darkness he cried "There is no God but thou: Glory
be unto Thee! Verily, I have been one of the evil doers:"
So we heard him and rescued him from misery: for thus rescue we the faithful:
And Zacharias; when he called upon his Lord saying, "O my Lord, leave me not
childless: but there is no better heir than Thyself."20
So we heard him, and gave him John, and we made his wife fit for child-
bearing. Verily, these vied in goodness, and called upon us with love and
fear, and humbled themselves before us:
And her who kept her maidenhood, and into whom21 we breathed of our spirit,
and made her and her son a sign to all creatures.
Of a truth, this, your religion, is the one22 Religion, and I your Lord;
therefore serve me:
But they have rent asunder this their great concern among themselves into
sects. All of them shall return to us.
And whoso shall do the things that are right, and be a believer, his efforts
shall not be disowned: and surely will we write them down for him.
There is a ban on every city which we shall have destroyed, that they shall
not rise again,
Until a way is opened for Gog and Magog,23 and they shall hasten from every
high land,
And this sure promise shall draw on. And lo! the eyes of the infidels shall
stare amazedly; and they shall say, "Oh, our misery! of this were we
careless! yea, we were impious persons."
Verily, ye, and what ye worship beside God,24 shall be fuel for hell: ye
shall go down into it.
Were these gods, they would not go down into it; but they shall all abide in
it for ever.
Therein shall they groan; but nought therein shall they hear to comfort them.
But they for whom we have before ordained good things, shall be far away from
it:
Its slightest sound they shall not hear: in what their souls longed for, they
shall abide for ever:
The great terror shall not trouble them; and the angel shall meet them with,
"This is your day which ye were promised."
On that day we will roll up the heaven as one rolleth up25 written scrolls.
As we made the first creation, so will we bring it forth again. This promise
bindeth us; verily, we will perform it.
And now, since the Law was given, have we written in the Psalms that "my
servants, the righteous, shall inherit the earth."26
Verily, in this Koran is teaching for those who serve God.
We have not sent thee otherwise than as mercy unto all creatures.
SAY: Verily it hath been revealed to me that your God is one God; are ye then
resigned to Him? (Muslims.)
But if they turn their backs, then SAY: I have warned you all alike; but I
know not whether that with which ye are threatened be nigh or distant.
God truly knoweth what is spoken aloud, and He also knoweth that which ye
hide.
And I know not whether haply this delay be not for your trial, and that ye
may enjoy yourselves for a time.
My Lord saith: Judge ye with truth; for our Lord is the God of Mercy�whose
help is to be sought against what ye utter.
_______________________
1 Lit. while ye see it to be such.
2 Lit. the people or family of the admonition. Itq. 34 considers this verse
to have been revealed at Medina.
3 Or, they invent not (concerning Him). Comp. Rev. iv. 8.
4 Lit. they precede him not in speech.
5 Lit. before thee, which might seem to imply that the grant of immortality
had been made to Muhammad. I have therefore rendered, as in the text, to
avoid the ambiguity. Comp. Suras [xcvii.] iii. 182; [lxxxi.] xxix. 57, and
Weil's Life of Mohammad, p. 350.
6 Comp. Matt. xvi. 28; Heb. ii. 9. Hist. Josephi Fabr. Lign. c. 22 at the
end.
7 See the index under the word Man. The Rabbins teach that man was created
with innate evil propensities. See Schr der's Talm. Rabb.- Judenthum, p. 378.
8 That is, my teaching as to the future lot of the infidels, etc.
9 Muhammad appeals to the rapid progress of Islam as a proof of his divine
mission.
10 Ar. furquan�a derived by Muhammad from the Jews, constantly used in the
Talmud, and meaning as in Syr. and Ćth. deliverance, liberation. Thus, Sura
viii. 29, 42, and hence, illumination, revelation, generally. The usual
interpretation here and in other passages is the distinction, i.e. between
good and evil, lawful and unlawful. The title is applied to the Koran and
Pentateuch alike.
11 This story is taken in part verbatim from Midr. Rabbah on Gen. par. 17.
See also Schalscheleth Hakabala, 2; Maimon de Idol. ch. 1; and Yad
Hachazakah, vii. 6, who makes Abraham�in his 40th year�renounce star-worship,
break images, escape the wrath of the king by a miracle, and preach that
there is one God of the whole universe.
12 Lit. sie neigten sich nach ihren Kopfen. They were turned down upon their
heads. Ullm. and Sale in notes. But Ullm. in the text, verfielen sie wieder
in ihren Aberglauben.
13 The Rabbins make Nimrod to have been the persecutor of Abraham. Comp.
Targ. Jon. on Gen. xv. 7. Tr. Bava Bathra, fol. 91 a. Maimon. More Nevochim,
iii. 29. Weil, Legenden, p. 74.
14 Or, let peace be upon Abraham. Comp. Targ. Jon. on Gen. xi. 28, from the
mistranslation of which this legend took its rise, the word ur in Heb.
meaning fire. See also Targ. Jon. on. Gen. xv. 7. The legend was adopted by
some of the Eastern Christians; and commemorated in the Syrian Calendar on
Jan. 29. (Hyde de Rel. V. Pers. 74). Comp. the Abyssinian Calendar on Jan.
25. (Ludolf. Hist. p. 409).
15 It has been observed that the blacksmith has ever been looked upon with
awe by barbarians on the same principle that made Vulcan a deity. In
Abyssinia all artisans are Budah, sorcerers, especially the blacksmith, and
he is a social outcast, as among the Somal; Throughout the rest of El-
Islam, the blacksmith is respected as treading in the path of David, the
father of the craft. Burton. First Footsteps in E. Africa, p. 33. The
numerous wars in which David was engaged, may have given rise to the myth of
his being the inventor of mail.
16 See Sura xxxviii. 37, p. 127.
17 See Sura xix. 55, 6, p. 121.
18 The man of the lot or portion. Or, of care, support. According to some
Elias, as others say, Isaiah. It is more probable, however, that he is he
Obadiah of 1 Kings xviii. 4, who supported 100 prophets in the cave, or
Ezechiel, who is called Kephil by the Arabs. See Niebuhr, Travels, ii. 265.
19 The man of the fish�Jonah.
20 See Suras [xcvii.] iii. 33; xix. p. 117, for the story of Zacharias in
full. The concluding sentence of this clause is obscure. It probably means
that even if no heir were vouchsafed to Zacharias, yet since God will be the
heir of all things he would take Zacharias to himself and thus abundantly
recompense him. See Sura [lxxix.] xxviii. 58.
21 See Sura [cix.] lxvi. 12. It is quite clear from these two passages that
Muhammad believed in the Immaculate and miraculous conception of Jesus.
22 That is, identical with that of the previous prophets, etc.
23 See Sura [lxix.] xviii. 93. Thus, the ancient Jewish and Christian legend
connects Gog and Magog with the end of the world. Rev. xx. 8. Pseudojon on
Lev. xxvi. 44. Comp. Numb. xi. 27. Gog, however, is probably the mountain
Ghef or Ghogh (see Reinegg's Beschreib. der Caucasus, ii. 79) and the
syllable Ma in Magog, the Sanscrit mah, maha great.
24 "Whenever a people is punished (for idolatry) the beings honoured by them
as gods, shall also be punished, for so it is written, on all the gods also
of Egypt will I inflict judgments." (Sakkah, 29.)
25 Ar. Sidjill, which is supposed by some to be the name of the angel who
writes down the actions of every man's life upon a scroll, which is rolled up
at his death (comp. Isai. xxxiv. 4); by others, to be the name of one of
Muhammad's secretaries.
26 Ps. xxxvii. 29. This is the only text quoted in the Koran.
SURA XXV.�AL FURKAN [LXVI.]
MECCA.�77 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
BLESSED be He who hath sent down AL FURKAN1 (the illumination) on his
servant, that to all creatures he may be a warner.
His the Kingdom of the Heavens and of the Earth! No son hath He begotten! No
partner hath He in his Empire! All things hath He created, and decreeing hath
decreed their destinies.
Yet have they adopted gods beside Him which have created nothing, but were
themselves created:
And no power have they over themselves for evil or for good, nor have they
power of death, or of life, or of raising the dead.
And the infidels say, "This Koran is a mere fraud of his own devising, and
others have helped him with it,2 who had come hither by outrage and lie."3
And they say, "Tales of the ancients that he hath put in writing! and they
were dictated to him morn and even."
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