_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._
Extolled be the glory of Him who conveyed his servant by night from
the Sacred Mosque to the furthest mosque, whose precincts we have
blessed, to show him our signs! Verily, He it is who heareth and
seeth!
And we gave the Book of the Law to Moses and made it a guide to the
CHILDREN OF ISRAEL--“Take ye no guardian beside Me,
Seed of those whom we bare [in the ark] with Noah! Verily he was a
grateful servant!”
And we ordained for the Children of Israel in the Book,--“Ye shall
surely work iniquity in the earth twice, and ye shall be puffed
up with a mighty arrogance.”
So when the threat came to pass for the first of the two sins, we
sent upon you servants of ours armed with grievous punishment;
and they went among your houses, and the threat was carried out.
Then in turn we gave you victory over them, and helped you with
riches and sons, and made you a very numerous host.
If ye do well, ye will do well to your own souls, and if ye do ill,
it will be to them also. And when the threat came to pass for the
second sin,--[the enemy came] to afflict you, and to enter the
mosque as they entered it the first time, and to utterly destroy
what they had overpowered.
Haply your Lord will have mercy on you! and if ye turn, we will
turn; but we have made Hell for a prison for the unbelievers.
Verily this Korān guideth to the right way and giveth good tidings
to believers,
Who do that which is right, that for them is a great reward;
And that for those who believe not in the life to come, we have
made ready an aching torment.
Man prayeth for evil as he prayeth for good: for man was ever hasty.
We have made the night and the day for two signs: then we blot out
the sign of the night, and make the sign of the day manifest,
that ye may seek bounty from your Lord, and may know the number
of the years and the reckoning of time; and we have defined
everything definitely.
And every man’s fate we have fastened about his neck. And we will
bring to him on the day of Resurrection a book which shall be
offered to him open:--
“Read thy Book: thou thyself art accountant enough against thyself
this day.”
He who is guided, for his own good only shall he be guided, and he
who erreth but to his own hurt; and one burthened soul shall not
be burthened with another’s burthen.
And we did not punish until we had sent an apostle.
And when we resolved to destroy a city, we enjoined its men of
wealth, but they disobeyed therein; so the sentence proved true,
and we destroyed it utterly.
How many generations have we swept away since Noah! and thy Lord
knoweth and seeth enough of the sins of His servants.
Whoso desireth the present life, we will present him with what we
please therein, to whom we choose: finally, we will make Hell for
him to roast in, disgraced and banished:
But whoso desireth the life to come, and striveth after it
strenuously, and he a believer,--the endeavour of these shall be
acceptable:
To all, to these and those, will we extend the gifts of thy Lord;
and the gifts of thy Lord are not limited.
See how we have made some of them excellent above others! but the
life to come is greater in degrees and greater in excellence.
Set no other god with God, lest thou sit down disgraced and
defenceless.
Thy Lord hath ordained that ye worship none but Him; and kindness
to your parents, whether one or both of them attain old age with
thee: then say not to them, “Fie!” neither reproach them; but
speak to them generous words,
And droop the wing of humility to them out of compassion, and say,
“Lord, have compassion on them, like as they fostered me when I
was little.”
(Your Lord knoweth perfectly what is in your souls, whether ye be
well-doers;
And verily He is forgiving to the repentant.)
And render to thy kinsman his due, and to the poor and to the son
of the road (but lavish not wastefully;
Truly the wasteful are brothers of the Devil, and the Devil is
ungrateful to his Lord:)
But if thou turnest away from them, to seek the mercy which thou
hopest from thy Lord, yet speak to them gentle words.
And let not thy hand be chained to thy neck; nor yet stretch
it forth right open, or thou wilt sit down in reproach and
destitution.
Verily thy Lord will be openhanded with provision for whom He
pleaseth, or He will be sparing; He knoweth and seeth His
servants.
And slay not your children for fear of want: we will provide for
them. Beware! verily killing them is a great sin.
And draw not near to inchastity; verily it is a foul thing, and
evil is the course.
And slay not the soul whom God hath forbidden you to slay, unless
for a just cause: and whosoever shall be slain wrongfully, we
give his heir the right [of retaliation]; but let him not exceed
in slaying; verily he is protected.
And approach not the substance of the orphan, except to make it
better, till he cometh to maturity: and observe your covenants;
verily covenants shall be inquired of hereafter.
And give full measure when ye measure, weigh with an even balance;
that is best and fairest in the end.
And follow not that of which thou hast no knowledge: verily the
hearing, and the sight, and the heart,--all of them shall be
inquired of.
And walk not proudly on the earth: verily thou shalt never cleave
the earth, nor reach to the mountains in height!
All that is evil in thy Lord’s eye, an abomination.
That is part of the wisdom which thy Lord hath revealed to thee.
And make no other god beside God, or thou wilt be thrown into
Hell in reproach and banishment.
Hath then the Lord assigned to you sons, and shall He take for
himself daughters from among the angels? verily ye do say a
tremendous saying!
And we made variations in this Korān to warn them; yet it only
increaseth their repulsion.
Say: If there were other gods with Him, as ye say, they would then
seek occasion against the Lord of the throne.
Extolled be His glory, and be He greatly exalted far above what
they say!
The seven heavens, and the earth, and all that is therein, magnify
Him, and there is naught but magnifieth His praise; only ye
understand not their worship. Verily He is forbearing, forgiving.
When thou declaimest the Korān, we put between thee and those who
believe not in the life to come a close veil;
And we put coverings over their hearts, lest they should understand
it, and deafness in their ears.
And when thou tellest of thy Lord in the Korān as One, they turn
their backs in repulsion.
We know well what they listen for, when they listen to thee, and
when they whisper apart, when the wicked say, “Ye do but follow a
man enchanted.”
See what comparisons they make for thee! but they wander and cannot
find the way.
They say, “What! when we have become bones and dust, shall we
forsooth be raised as a new creature?”
Say: Yes! were ye stones, or iron, or any creature, the hardest [to
raise again] that your minds can imagine. But they will say, “Who
shall restore us?” Say: He who began you in the beginning! And
they will wag their heads at thee and say, “When shall this be?”
Say: Maybe it is nigh at hand.--
A day when God shall summon you and ye shall answer with His
praise; and ye shall think that ye have tarried but a little
while.
And say to my servants that they speak pleasantly: verily the Devil
provoketh strife among them; verily the Devil is man’s open enemy.
Your Lord knoweth you well; if He please He will have mercy on you;
or if He please He will torment you; and we have not sent thee to
be our governor over them!
Thy Lord knoweth well who is in the heavens and in the earth. And
we distinguished some of the prophets above others, and we gave
to David the Psalms.
Say: Call ye upon those whom ye profess beside Him; but they will
have no power to put away trouble from you or alter it.
Those whom they invoke do themselves strive for access to their
Lord, which of them shall be nearest: and they hope for His mercy
and fear His torment: verily the torment of thy Lord is to be
dreaded.
There is no city but we will destroy it before the Day of
Resurrection, or torment it with grievous torment. That is
written in the Book.
Nothing hindered our sending thee with signs but that the people of
yore called them lies. We gave Thamūd the she-camel before their
very eyes, but they maltreated her; and we send not [a prophet]
with signs except to terrify.
And when we said to thee, “Verily thy Lord encompasseth
mankind;”--and we made the vision which we showed thee, and
the accursed tree in the Korān, only to prove men; and we will
terrify them; but it shall only add to their great disobedience.
And when we said to the angels, “Bow down to Adam:” and they all
bowed down save Iblīs: who said, “What! shall I bow down to him
whom thou hast created of clay?”
And said, “Dost thou consider this one whom thou hast honoured
above me? Verily, if thou didst spare me till the day of
Resurrection, I would utterly destroy his offspring, all but a
few!”
God said, “Begone; but whosoever of them followeth thee, verily,
Hell is to be your reward--reward enough!
And tempt whom thou canst of them by thy voice; and assail them
with thy horsemen and thy footmen, and share with them in their
riches and their children, and make them promises. (But the
Devil’s promises are deceitful.)
Verily thou hast no power over my servants: and thy Lord sufficeth
for a defender.”
It is your Lord who driveth your ships on the sea, that ye may seek
of His abundance, verily He is merciful to you.
And when a harm befalleth you at sea, they whom ye call on beside
Him are missing! Then when He bringeth you safe to land, ye stand
aloof: for man was ever thankless.
Are ye sure that He will not swallow you up on the shore, or send
a sand-storm against you? then ye would not find for you any
defender.
Or are ye sure that He will not turn you back again to sea, and
send against you a storm of wind and drown you, because ye were
thankless? Then shall ye find for yourselves no helper against us.
And we have honoured the sons of Adam; and we have borne them on
the land and on the sea, and have fed them with good things, and
distinguished them above many of our creatures.
On a day we will summon all men with their scripture: then whoso is
given his book into his right hand,--these shall read their book
and not be wronged a whit.
And he who has been blind in this life shall be blind in the life
to come, and miss the road yet more.
And verily they had well-nigh tempted thee from what we revealed to
thee, to forge against us something false; and then they would
have taken thee to friend;
And had we not prevented thee, thou hadst well-nigh inclined to
them a little:
In that case we would have made thee to taste of torment double in
life and double in death, then should’st thou find for thyself no
helper against us.
And they well-nigh frightened thee from the land, to drive thee out
of it; but if they had, they should only have tarried a little
while behind thee.
[This was our] custom with our apostles whom we sent before thee,
and thou shalt find no changing in our custom.
Perform prayer from the setting of the sun till the fall of night,
and the recital at dawn,--verily the recital at dawn is witnessed:
And watch thou part of the night as a voluntary service; it may be
that thy Lord will raise thee to a place of praise:
And say: O my Lord, cause me to enter with a right entry, and to
come forth with a right forthcoming, and grant me from thyself a
power of defence.
And say: Truth is come and falsehood is fled away: verily falsehood
is a fleeting thing.
And we send down from the Korān healing and mercy to the faithful;
but it shall only add to the ruin of the wicked.
And when we are gracious to man, he turneth away and standeth
aloof; but when evil touches him he is in despair.
Say: Every one doeth after his own fashion, but your Lord knoweth
perfectly who is best guided on the road.
And they will ask thee of the Spirit; Say: The Spirit cometh at my
Lord’s behest, and ye are given but scant knowledge.
And assuredly, if we pleased we could take away what we have
revealed to thee: then wouldst thou not find for thyself a
defender against us,
Save in mercy from thy Lord; verily His bounty towards thee is
great.
Say: Surely if mankind and the Jinn united in order to produce the
like of this Korān, they could not produce its like, though they
helped one another.
We have varied every kind of parable for men in this Korān, but
most men consent only to discredit it.
And they say, “We will by no means believe in thee till thou makest
a spring to gush forth for us from the earth;
Or till there cometh to thee a garden of palm-trees and grapes, and
thou makest rivers to gush forth abundantly in its midst;
Or thou make the heaven to fall down in pieces upon us, as thou
pretendest; or bring God and the angels before us;
Or thou have a house of gold; or thou ascend up into Heaven; and we
will not believe in thy ascent until thou send down to us a book
which we may read.” Say: Extolled be the glory of my Lord! Am I
aught save a man, a messenger?
And nothing prevented men from believing, when the guidance came to
them, but their saying, “Hath God sent a mere man as a messenger?”
Say: Had there been angels upon the earth walking at ease, we had
surely sent them an angel from heaven as an apostle.
Say: God is witness enough between me and you: verily He knoweth
and seeth His servants.
And whom God guideth, he is guided, and whom He misleadeth, thou
shalt find him no protectors beside Him; and we will gather them
on the day of Resurrection upon their faces, blind, and dumb, and
deaf, hell is their abode; so oft as its fire dieth down, we will
stir up the flame.
This is their reward, for that they believed not our signs, and
said, “When we are become bones and dust, shall we indeed be
raised a new creature?”
Do they not see that God, who created the heavens and the earth is
able to create their likes? and He hath made an appointed term
for them: there is no doubt of it; but the wicked consent only to
deny it!
Say: If ye possessed the treasures of the mercy of thy Lord, ye
would then assuredly keep them, in fear of spending: for man is
niggardly.
Heretofore We brought to Moses nine evident signs: Ask then the
Children of Israel [the story]--when he came unto them, and
Pharaoh said unto him, “Verily I consider thee to be bewitched, O
Moses.”
He said, “Thou knowest that none hath sent these down as proofs
but the Lord of the heavens and the earth; and verily I consider
thee, O Pharaoh, accursed.”
So he sought to drive them out of the land; but we drowned him and
those with him, every one.
And after this we said to the Children of Israel, “Dwell ye in the
land, and when the promise of the life to come befalleth, we will
bring you in a troop to judgment.”
And in truth have we sent down [the Korān], and in truth came it
down, and we have sent thee only to give good tidings and to warn.
And the Korān have we divided that thou mayest recite it unto men
by degrees; and we have sent it down by [separate] sendings.
Say: Believe ye therein or believe ye not;--those verily to whom
knowledge hath been given before, when it is told to them, fall
down on their faces in adoration, and say, “Extolled be the glory
of our Lord! verily the promise of our Lord is accomplished.”
And they fall down upon their faces weeping, and it increaseth
their humility.
Say: Call upon God, or call upon the Merciful, whichever ye call
Him by; for His are the goodliest names. And be not loud in thy
prayer, nor yet mutter it low; but follow a course between.
And Say: Praise be to God who hath not taken a son, and who hath no
partner in the Kingdom, and no protector hath He for abasement;
and glorify Him gloriously.
(xvii.)