The Project Gutenberg ebook of The Koran
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| "No poor man shall set foot this day within your garden;"
And they went out at daybreak with this settled purpose. But when they beheld it, they said, "Truly we have been in fault: Yes! we are forbidden our fruits." The most rightminded of them said, "Did I not say to you, Will ye not give praise to God?" They said, "Glory to our Lord! Truly we have done amiss." And they fell to blaming one another: They said, "Oh woe to us! we have indeed transgressed! Haply our Lord will give us in exchange a better garden than this: verily we crave it of our Lord." Such hath been our chastisement�but heavier shall be the chastisement of the next world. Ah! did they but know it. Verily, for the God-fearing are gardens of delight in the presence of their Lord.
those who offend him?
resurrection, that ye shall have what yourselves judge right? Ask them which of them will guarantee this? Or is it that they have joined gods with God? let them produce those associate-gods of theirs, if they speak truth. On the day when men's legs shall be bared,6 and they shall be called upon to bow in adoration, they shall not be able: Their looks shall be downcast: shame shall cover them: because, while yet in safety, they were invited to bow in worship, but would not obey. Leave me alone therefore with him who chargeth this revelation with imposture. We will lead them by degrees to their ruin; by ways which they know not;
God?
the fish,7 when in deep distress he cried to God.
the naked shore, overwhelmed with shame: But his Lord chose him and made him of the just. Almost would the infidels strike thee down with their very looks when they hear the warning of the Koran. And they say, "He is certainly possessed." Yet is it nothing less than a warning for all creatures. _______________________ 1 It has been conjectured that as the word Nun means fish, there may be a reference to the fish which swallowed Jonas (v. 48). The fact, however, is that the meaning of this and of the similar symbols, throughout the Koran, was unknown to the Muhammadans themselves even in the first century. Possibly the letters Ha, Mim, which are prefixed to numerous successive Suras were private marks, or initial letters, attached by their proprietor to the copies furnished to Said when effecting his recension of the text under Othman. In the same way, the letters prefixed to other Suras may be monograms, or abbreviations, or initial letters of the names of the persons to whom the copies of the respective Suras belonged. addenda: The symbol nun may possibly refer to this letter as forming the Rhyme in most of the verses of this Sura. 2 This Sura has been supposed by ancient Muslim authorities to be, if not the oldest, the second revelation, and to have followed Sura xcvi. But this opinion probably originated from the expression in v. 1 compared with Sura xcvi. 4. Verses 17-33 read like a later addition, and this passage, as well as verse 48-50, has been classed with the Medina revelations. In the absence of any reliable criterion for fixing the date, I have placed this Sura with those which detail the opposition encountered by the Prophet at Mecca.
action of stripping previous to wrestling, swimming, etc. 7 Lit. the companion of the fish. Comp. on Jonah Sura xxxvii. 139-148, and Sura xxi. 87. SURA XC.�THE SOIL [XVIII.]
other, and enjoin compassion on each other. These shall be the people of the right hand: While they who disbelieve our signs, Shall be the people of the left. Around them the fire shall close. _______________________ 1 Lit. and begetter and what he hath begotten 2 Of good and evil. 3 Thus we read in Hilchoth Matt'noth Aniim, c. 8, "The ransoming of captives takes precedence of the feeding and clothing of the poor, and there is no commandment so great as this." SURA CV.�THE ELEPHANT [XIX.] MECCA.�5 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful HAST thou not seen1 how thy Lord dealt with the army of the ELEPHANT? Did he not cause their stratagem to miscarry? And he sent against them birds in flocks (ababils), Claystones did they hurl down upon them, And he made them like stubble eaten down! _______________________ 1 This Sura is probably Muhammad's appeal to the Meccans, intended at the same time for his own encouragement, on the ground of their deliverance from the army of Abraha, the Christian King of Abyssinia and Arabia Felix, said to have been lost in the year of Muhammad's birth in an expedition against Mecca for the purpose of destroying the Caaba. This army was cut off by small-pox (Wakidi; Hishami), and there is no doubt, as the Arabic word for small-pox also means "small stones," in reference to the hard gravelly feeling of the pustules, what is the true interpretation of the fourth line of this Sura, which, like many other poetical passages in the Koran, has formed the starting point for the most puerile and extravagant legends. Vide Gibbon's Decline and Fall, c. 1. The small-pox first shewed itself in Arabia at the time of the invasion by Abraha. M. de Hammer Gemaldesaal, i. 24. Reiske opusc. Med. Arabum. Hal�, 1776, p. 8. SURA CVI.�THE KOREISCH [XX.] MECCA.�4 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful For the union of the KOREISCH:� Their union in equipping caravans winter and summer. And let them worship the Lord of this house, who hath provided them with food against hunger, And secured them against alarm.1 _______________________ 1 In allusion to the ancient inviolability of the Haram, or precinct round Mecca. See Sura, xcv. n. p. 41. This Sura, therefore, like the preceding, is a brief appeal to the Meccans on the ground of their peculiar privileges. SURA XCVII.�POWER [XXI.] MECCA.�5 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful VERILY, we have caused It1 to descend on the night of POWER. And who shall teach thee what the night of power is? The night of power excelleth a thousand months: Therein descend the angels and the spirit by permission of their Lord for every matter;2 And all is peace till the breaking of the morn. _______________________ 1 The Koran, which is now pressed on the Meccans with increased prominence, as will be seen in many succeeding Suras of this period. 2 The night of Al Kadr is one of the last ten nights of Ramadhan, and as is commonly believed the seventh of those nights reckoning backward. See Sura xliv. 2. "Three books are opened on the New Year's Day, one of the perfectly righteous, one of the perfectly wicked, one of the intermediate. The perfectly righteous are inscribed and sealed for life," etc. Bab. Talm. Rosh. Hash., § I. SURA LXXXVI. THE NIGHT-COMER [XXII.]
SURA XCI.�THE SUN [XXIII.] MECCA.�15 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful BY the SUN and his noonday brightness! By the Moon when she followeth him! By the Day when it revealeth his glory! By the Night when it enshroudeth him! By the Heaven and Him who built it! By the Earth and Him who spread it forth! By a Soul and Him who balanced it, And breathed into it its wickedness and its piety, Blessed now is he who hath kept it pure, And undone is he who hath corrupted it! Themoud1 in his impiety rejected the message of the Lord, When the greatest wretch among them rushed up:� Said the Apostle of God to them,�"The Camel of God! let her drink." But they treated him as an impostor and hamstrung her. So their Lord destroyed them for their crime, and visited all alike: Nor feared he the issue. _______________________ 1 See Sura vii. 33, for the story of Themoud. SURA LXXX.�HE FROWNED [XXIV.] MECCA.�42 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful HE FROWNED, and he turned his back,1 Because the blind man came to him! But what assured thee that he would not be cleansed by the Faith, Or be warned, and the warning profit him? As to him who is wealthy� To him thou wast all attention: Yet is it not thy concern if he be not cleansed:2 But as to him who cometh to thee in earnest, And full of fears� Him dost thou neglect. Nay! but it (the Koran) is a warning; (And whoso is willing beareth it in mind) Written on honoured pages, Exalted, purified, By the hands of Scribes, honoured, righteous. Cursed be man! What hath made him unbelieving? Of what thing did God create him? Out of moist germs.3 He created him and fashioned him, Then made him an easy passage from the womb, Then causeth him to die and burieth him; Then, when he pleaseth, will raise him again to life. Aye! but man hath not yet fulfilled the bidding of his Lord. Let man look at his food: It was We who rained down the copious rains, Then cleft the earth with clefts, And caused the upgrowth of the grain, And grapes and healing herbs, And the olive and the palm, And enclosed gardens thick with trees, And fruits and herbage, For the service of yourselves and of your cattle. But when the stunning trumpet-blast shall arrive,4 On that day shall a man fly from his brother, And his mother and his father, And his wife and his children; For every man of them on that day his own concerns shall be enough. There shall be faces on that day radiant, Laughing and joyous: And faces on that day with dust upon them: Blackness shall cover them! These are the Infidels, the Impure. _______________________ 1 We are told in the traditions, etc., that when engaged in converse with Walid, a chief man among the Koreisch, Muhammad was interrupted by the blind Abdallah Ibn Omm Maktűm, who asked to hear the Koran. The Prophet spoke very roughly to him at the time, but afterwards repented, and treated him ever after with the greatest respect. So much so, that he twice made him Governor of Medina. 2 That is, if he does not embrace Islam, and so become pure from sin, thou wilt not be to blame; thou art simply charged with the delivery of a message of warning.
lxxxv. p. 42, and almost every Sura to the lv., after which they become gradually more historical. SURA LXXXVII.�THE MOST HIGH [XXV.] MECCA.�19 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful PRAISE the name of thy Lord THE MOST HIGH, Who hath created and balanced all things, Who hath fixed their destinies and guideth them, Who bringeth forth the pasture, And reduceth it to dusky stubble. We will teach thee to recite the Koran, nor aught shalt thou forget, Save what God pleaseth; for he knoweth alike things manifest and hidden; And we will make easy to thee our easy ways. Warn, therefore, for the warning is profitable: He that feareth God will receive the warning,� And the most reprobate only will turn aside from it, Who shall be exposed to the terrible fire, In which he shall not die, and shall not live. Happy he who is purified by Islam, And who remembereth the name of his Lord and prayeth. But ye prefer this present life, Though the life to come is better and more enduring. This truly is in the Books of old, The Books of Abraham1 and Moses. _______________________ 1 Thus the Rabbins attribute the Book Jezirah to Abraham. See Fabr. Cod. Apoc. V. T. p. 349. SURA XCV.�THE FIG [XXVI.]
reward that faileth not. Then, who after this shall make thee treat the Judgment as a lie? What! is not God the most just of judges? _______________________ 1 In allusion to the sacredness of the territory of Mecca. This valley in about the fourth century of our �ra was a kind of sacred forest of 37 miles in circumference, and called Haram a name applied to it as early as the time of Pliny (vi. 32). It had the privilege of asylum, but it was not lawful to inhabit it, or to carry on commerce within its limits, and its religious ceremonies were a bond of union to several of the Bedouin tribes of the Hejaz. The Koreisch had monopolised most of the offices and advantages of the Haram in the time of Muhammad. See Sprenger's Life of Mohammad, pp. 7 20. SURA CIII.�THE AFTERNOON [XXVII.]
enjoin stedfastness on each other. _______________________
Muhammad. See Weil, p. 328. SURA LXXXV.�THE STARRY [XXVIII.]
Praiseworthy:4 His the kingdom of the Heavens and of the Earth; and God is the witness of everything. Verily, those who vexed the believers, men and women, and repented not, doth the torment of Hell, and the torment of the burning, await. But for those who shall have believed and done the things that be right, are the Gardens beneath whose shades the rivers flow. This the immense bliss! Verily, right terrible will be thy Lord's vengeance! He it is who produceth all things, and causeth them to return; And is He the Indulgent, the Loving; Possessor of the Glorious throne; Worker of that he willeth. Hath not the story reached thee of the hosts Of Pharaoh and Themoud? Nay! the infields are all for denial: But God surroundeth them from behind. Yet it is a glorious Koran, Written on the preserved Table. _______________________ 1 Lit. By the Heaven furnished with towers, where the angels keep watch; also, the signs of the Zodiac: this is the usual interpretation. See Sura xv. 15.
Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap. xii. towards the end. Pocock Sp. Hist. Ar. p. 62. And thus the comm. generally. But Geiger (p. 192) and Nöldeke (p. 77 n.) understand the passage of Dan. iii. But it should be borne in mind that the Suras of this early period contain very little allusion to Jewish or Christian legends. 4 Verses 8-11 wear the appearance of a late insertion, on account of their length, which is a characteristic of the more advanced period. Observe also the change in the rhymes. SURA CI.�THE BLOW [XXIX.] MECCA.�8 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful THE BLOW! what is the Blow? Who shall teach thee what the Blow is? The Day when men shall be like scattered moths, And the mountains shall be like flocks of carded wool, Then as to him whose balances are heavy�his shall be a life that shall please him well: And as to him whose balances are light�his dwelling-place1 shall be the pit. And who shall teach thee what the pit (El-Hawiya) is? A raging fire! _______________________ 1 Lit. Mother. SURA XCIX.�THE EARTHQUAKE [XXX.] MECCA.�8 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful WHEN the Earth with her quaking shall quake And the Earth shall cast forth her burdens, And man shall say, What aileth her? On that day shall she tell out her tidings, Because thy Lord shall have inspired her. On that day shall men come forward in throngs to behold their works, And whosoever shall have wrought an atom's weight of good shall behold it, And whosoever shall have wrought an atom's weight of evil shall behold it. SURA LXXXII.�THE CLEAVING [XXXI.] MECCA.�19 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful WHEN the Heaven shall CLEAVE asunder, And when the stars shall disperse, And when the seas1 shall be commingled, And when the graves shall be turned upside down, Each soul shall recognise its earliest and its latest actions. O man! what hath misled thee against thy generous Lord, Who hath created thee and moulded thee and shaped thee aright? In the form which pleased Him hath He fashioned thee. Even so; but ye treat the Judgment as a lie. Yet truly there are guardians over you� Illustrious recorders� Cognisant of your actions. Surely amid delights shall the righteous dwell, But verily the impure in Hell-fire: They shall be burned at it on the day of doom, And they shall not be able to hide themselves from it. Who shall teach thee what the day of doom is? Once more. Who shall teach thee what the day of doom is? It is a day when one soul shall be powerless for another soul: all sovereignty on that day shall be with God. _______________________
SURA LXXXI.�THE FOLDED UP [XXXII.] MECCA.�29 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful WHEN the sun shall be FOLDED UP,1 And when the stars shall fall, And when the mountains shall be set in motion, And when the she-camels shall be abandoned, And when the wild beasts shall be gathered together,2 And when the seas shall boil, And when souls shall be paired with their bodies, And when the female child that had been buried alive shall be asked For what crime she was put to death,3 And when the leaves of the Book shall be unrolled, And when the Heaven shall be stripped away,4 And when Hell shall be made to blaze, And when Paradise shall be brought near, Every soul shall know what it hath produced. It needs not that I swear by the stars5 of retrograde motions Which move swiftly and hide themselves away, And by the night when it cometh darkening on, And by the dawn when it brighteneth, That this is the word of an illustrious Messenger,6 Endued with power, having influence with the Lord of the Throne, Obeyed there by Angels, faithful to his trust, And your compatriot is not one possessed by djinn; For he saw him in the clear horizon:7 Nor doth he grapple with heaven's secrets,8 Nor doth he teach the doctrine of a cursed9 Satan. Whither then are ye going? Verily, this is no other than a warning to all creatures; To him among you who willeth to walk in a straight path: But will it ye shall not, unless as God willeth it,10 the Lord of the worlds. _______________________ 1 Involutus fuerit tenebris. Mar. Or, thrown down. 2 Thus Bab. Talm. Erchin, 3. "In the day to come (i.e., of judgment) all the beasts will assemble and come, etc." 3 See Sura xvi. 61; xvii. 33. 4 Like a skin from an animal when flayed. The idea is perhaps borrowed from the Sept. V. of Psalm civ. 2. Vulg. sicut pellem. 5 Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn. 6 Gabriel; of the meaning of whose name the next verse is probably a paraphrase. 7 Sura 1iii. 7. 8 Like a mere Kahin, or soothsayer. 9 Lit. stoned. Sura iii. 31. This vision or hallucination is one of the few clearly stated miracles, to which Muhammad appeals in the Koran. According to the tradition of Ibn-Abbas in Waquidi he was preserved by it from committing suicide by throwing himself down from Mount Hira, and that after it, God cheered him and strengthened his heart, and one revelation speedily followed another.
SURA LXXXIV.�THE SPLITTING ASUNDER [XXXIII.]
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