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 Æth. 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."
SAY: He hath sent it down who knoweth the secrets of the Heavens and of the
Earth. He truly is the Gracious, the Merciful.
And they say, "What sort of apostle is this? He eateth food and he walketh
the streets! Unless an angel be sent down and take part in his warnings,
Or a treasure be thrown down to him, or he have a garden that supplieth him
with food . . ."4 and those unjust persons say, "Ye follow but a man
enchanted."
See what likenesses they strike out for thee! But they err, and cannot find
their way.
Blessed be He who if he please can give thee better than that of which they
speak–Gardens, 'neath which the rivers flow: and pavilions will He assign
thee.
Aye, they have treated the coming of "the Hour" as a lie. But a flaming fire
have we got ready for those who treat the coming of the Hour as a lie.
When it shall see them from afar, they shall hear its raging and roaring,–
And when they shall be flung into a narrow space thereof bound together, they
shall invoke destruction on the spot:
–"Call not this day for one destruction, but call for destructions many."
SAY: Is this, or the Paradise of Eternity which was promised to the God-
fearing, best? Their recompense shall it be and their retreat;
Abiding therein for ever, they shall have in it all that they desire! It is a
promise to be claimed of thy Lord.
And on the day when he shall gather them together, and those whom they
worshipped beside God, he will say, "Was it ye who led these my servants
astray, or of themselves strayed they from the path?"
They will say, "Glory be to thee! It beseemed not us to take other lords than
thee. But thou gavest them and their fathers their fill of good things, till
they forgat the remembrance of thee, and became a lost people."
Then will God say to the Idolaters, "Now have they made you liars in what ye
say,5 and they have no power to avert your doom, or to succour you."
And whosoever of you thus offendeth, we will make him taste a great
punishment.
Never have we sent Apostles before thee who ate not common food, and walked
not the streets. And we test you by means of each other. Will ye be
steadfast? Thy Lord is looking on!
They who look not forward to meet Us say, "If the angels be not sent down to
us, or unless we behold our Lord. . . .” Ah! they are proud of heart, and
exceed with great excess!
On the day when they shall see the angels, no good news shall there be for
the guilty ones, and they shall cry out, "A barrier that cannot be passed!"6
Then will we proceed to the works which they have wrought, and make them as
scattered dust.
Happier, on that day, the inmates of the Garden as to abode, and better off
as to place of noontide slumber!
On that day shall the heaven with its clouds be cleft, and the angels shall
be sent down, descending:
On that day shall all empire be in very deed with the God of Mercy, and a
hard day shall it be for the Infidels.
And on that day shall the wicked one7 bite his hands, and say, "Oh! would
that I had taken the same path with the Apostle!
"Oh! woe is me! would that I had not taken such an one8 for my friend!
It was he who led me astray from the Warning which had reached me! and Satan
is man's betrayer."9
Then said the Apostle, "O my Lord! truly my people have esteemed this Koran
to be vain babbling."
Thus have we given to every Prophet an enemy from among the wicked ones–But
thy Lord is a sufficient guide and helper.
And the infidels say, "Unless the Koran be sent down to him all at once. . .
." But in this way would we stablish thy heart by it; in parcels have we
parcelled it out to thee;10
Nor shall they come to thee with puzzling questions,11 but we will come to
thee with the truth, and their best solution.
They who shall be gathered upon their faces into hell, shall have the worst
place, and be farthest from the path of happiness.
Heretofore we gave the law to Moses, and appointed his brother Aaron to be
his counsellor:12
And we said, "Go ye to the people who treat our signs as lies." And them
destroyed we with utter destruction.
And as to the people of Noah! when they treated their Apostles as impostors,
we drowned them; and we made them a sign to mankind:–A grievous chastisement
have we prepared for the wicked!
And Ad and Themoud, and the men of Rass,13 and divers generations between
them:
Unto each of them did we set forth parables for warnings, and each of them
did we utterly exterminate.
Oft are this have the unbelieving Meccans passed by the city on which was
rained a fatal rain. What! Have they not seen it? Yet have they no hope of a
resurrection!
And when they see thee, they do but take thee as the subject of their
railleries. "What! Is this he whom God has sent as an Apostle?
Indeed he had well nigh led us astray from our gods, had we not persevered
steadfastly in their service." But in the end they shall know, when they
shall see the punishment, who hath most strayed from the path.
What thinkest thou? He who hath taken his passions as a god–wilt thou be a
guardian over him?
Thinkest thou that the greater part of them hear or understand? They are just
like the brutes! Yes! they stray even further from the right way.
Hast thou not seen how thy Lord lengtheneth out the shadow?14 Had He pleased
he had made it motionless.15 But we made the sun to be its guide;
Then draw it in unto Us with easy indrawing.
He it is who ordaineth the night as a garment, and sleep for rest, and
ordaineth the day for waking up to life:
He it is who sendeth the winds as the forerunner of his mercy (rain); and
pure water send we down from Heaven,
That we may revive by it a dead land: and we give it for drink to our
creation, beasts and men in numbers;
And we distribute it among them on all sides, that they may reflect: but most
men refuse to be aught but thankless.
Had we pleased, we had raised up a warner in every city.
Give not way therefore to the Infidels, but by means of this Koran strive
against them with a mighty strife.
And He it is who hath let loose the two seas,16 the one sweet, fresh; and the
other salt, bitter; and hath put an interspace between them, and a barrier
that cannot be passed.
And it is He who hath created man of water,17 and established between them
the ties of kindred and affinity: and potent is thy Lord.
Yet beside God do they worship what can neither help nor hurt them: and the
Infidel is Satan's helper against his Lord:
Still we have sent thee only as a herald and a warner.
SAY: I ask of you no recompense for it,18 except from him who is willing to
take the way to his Lord.
And put thou thy trust in Him that liveth and dieth not, and celebrate his
praise; (He fully knoweth the faults of his servants) who in six days created
the Heavens and the Earth, and whatever is between them, then mounted his
Throne: the God of Mercy! Ask now of the Wise concerning Him.
But when it is said to them, "Bow down before the God of Mercy," they say,
"Who is the God of Mercy? Shall we bow down to what thou biddest?" And they
fly from thee the more.
Blessed be He who hath placed in the Heaven the sign of the Zodiac!19 who
hath placed in it the Lamp of the Sun, and the light-giving Moon!
And it is He who hath ordained the night and the day to succeed one another
for those who desire to think on God or desire to be thankful.
And the servants of the God of Mercy are they who walk upon the Earth softly;
and when the ignorant20 address them, they reply, "Peace!"
They that pass the night in the worship of their lord prostrate and
standing:–
And that say, "O our Lord! turn away from us the torment of Hell, for its
torment is endless: it is indeed an ill abode and resting place!
Those who when they spend are neither lavish nor niggard, but keep the mean:–
Those who call on no other gods with God, nor slay whom God hath forbidden to
be slain, except for a just cause, and who commit not fornication (for he who
doth this shall meet the reward of his wickedness:
Doubled to him shall be the torment on the day of Resurrection; and in it
shall he remain, disgraced, for ever:–
Save those who shall repent and believe and do righteous works–for them God
will change their evil things into good things, for God is Gracious,
Merciful–
And whose turneth to God and doeth what is right, he verily will convert with
a true conversion):
And they who bear not witness to that which is false, and when they pass by
frivolous sport, pass on with dignity:–
And they who, when monished by the signs of their Lord, fall not down
thereat, as if deaf and blind:–
And who say, "O our Lord! give us in our wives and offspring the joy of our
eyes, and make us examples to those who fear thee:"
These shall be rewarded with the High Places of Paradise for their steadfast
endurance, and they shall meet therein with–Welcome and Salutation:–
For ever shall they remain therein: a fair abode and resting-place!
SAY: Not on your account doth my Lord care if ye call not on Him! ye have
treated his Apostle as an impostor: but bye and bye a punishment shall cleave
to them.
_______________________
1 See Sura [lxv.] xxi. 49.
2 Comp. Sura [lxxiii.] xvi. 105. The frequency with which Muhammad feels it
necessary to rebut this charge by mere denial is strongly indicative of its
truth.
3 "The meaning may possibly be that the teachers of Muhammad were persons who
had taken refuge in Arabia for offences and heresies." Sprenger, Life of M.
p. 96, n. Or, but they utter an injustice and a falsehood. Nöldeke combats
Dr. Sprenger's supposition that "Tales of the ancients" (verse 6) is a book.
Hist. of Qoran, p. 13.
4 Supply, we will not believe.
5 In your ascriptions of divinity to them. Beidh.
6 Or, far, far be they removed. The same words occur at the end of verse 55.
The Commentators doubt whether they are spoken by the wicked of the
impossibility of their attaining Paradise, or by the angels to the wicked.
7 Said by Beidh. to be the polytheist Okbeh, the son of Abu Mo'eyt, who by
Muhammad's persuasion professed Islam, but afterwards retracted to please
Ubei ben Khalaf. See Gagnier's Vie de Mahom. i. 362.
8 Ar. fulani (whence the Spanish fulano) identical with the Heb. p. 155, used
of a person only in Ruth iv. 1, but by the Rabbinic writers, constantly.
9 Or, abandoner.
10 This verse shews that the Koran was of gradual growth in the time of
Muhammad himself.
11 Lit. parables.
12 Lit. vizier.
13 It is uncertain whether Rass is the name of a city in Yemama; or merely,
as some interpret it, of a well near Midian; or, according to others, in the
territory of Hadramont.
14 Geiger is mistaken in supposing that this passage alludes to 2 Kings xx. 9
12, and his translation is inaccurate.
15 Lit. quiescent, i.e. always the same.
16 According to some commentators, Muhammad here speaks of the waters of the
Tigris, which do not mingle with the salt water of the sea till they have
reached a considerable distance from the river-mouth. See Zech. xiv. 8.
17 See Sura [cv.] xxiv. 44, n.
18 "Thou art taught that whoever would make a profit by the Law depriveth
himself of life." Pirke Aboth, i. 4. This precept is of frequent occurrence
in the Talmud.
19 Comp. Sura [xc.] xiii. 29; and the following Sura xvii. 109, n.
20 The idolaters.
SURA XVII.–THE NIGHT JOURNEY [LXVII.]
MECCA.1–111 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
GLORY be to Him who carried his servant by night2 from the sacred temple of
Mecca to the temple3 that is more remote, whose precinct we have blessed,
that we might shew him of our signs! for He is the Hearer, the Seer.
And4 we gave the Book to Moses and ordained it for guidance to the children
of Israel–"that ye take no other Guardian than me."
O posterity of those whom we bare with Noah! He truly was a grateful servant!
And we solemnly declared to the children of Israel in the Book, "Twice surely
will ye enact crimes in the earth, and with great loftiness of pride will ye
surely be uplifted."
So when the menace for the first crime5 came to be inflicted, we sent against
you our servants endued with terrible prowess; and they searched the inmost
part of your abodes, and the menace was accomplished.
Then we gave you the mastery over them6 in turn, and increased you in wealth
and children, and made you a most numerous host.
We said, "If ye do well, to your own behoof will ye do well: and if ye do
evil, against yourselves will ye do it. And when the menace for your latter
crime7 came to be inflicted, then we sent an enemy to sadden your faces, and
to enter the temple as they entered it at first, and to destroy with utter
destruction that which they had conquered.
Haply your Lord will have mercy on you! but if ye return, we will return:8
and we have appointed Hell–the prison of the infidels.
Verily, this Koran guideth to what is most upright; and it announceth to
believers
Who do the things that are right, that for them is a great reward;
And that for those who believe not in the life to come, we have got ready a
painful punishment.
Man prayeth for evil as he prayeth for good; for man is hasty.
We have made the night and the day for two signs: the sign of the night do we
obscure, but the sign of the day cause we to shine forth, that ye may seek
plenty from your Lord, and that ye may know the number of the years and the
reckoning of time; and we have made everything distinct by distinctiveness.
And every man's fate9 have we fastened about his neck: and on the day of
resurrection will we bring forth to him a book which shall be proffered to
him wide open:
–"Read thy Book:10 there needeth none but thyself to make out an account
against thee this day."
For his own good only shall the guided yield to guidance, and to his own loss
only shall the erring err; and the heavy laden shall not be laden with
another's load. We never punished until we had first sent an apostle:
And when we willed to destroy a city, to its affluent ones did we address our
bidding; but when they acted criminally therein, just was its doom, and we
destroyed it with an utter destruction.
And since Noah, how many nations have we exterminated! And of the sins of his
servants thy Lord is sufficiently informed, observant.
Whoso chooseth this quickly passing life, quickly will we bestow therein that
which we please–even on him we choose; afterward we will appoint hell for
him, in which he shall burn–disgraced, outcast:
But whoso chooseth the next life, and striveth after it as it should be
striven for, being also a believer,–these! their striving shall be grateful
to God:
To all–both to these and those–will we prolong the gifts of thy Lord; for not
to any shall the gifts of thy Lord be denied.
See how we have caused some of them to excel others! but the next life shall
be greater in its grades, and greater in excellence.
Set not up another god with God, lest thou sit thee down disgraced,
helpless.11
Thy Lord hath ordained that ye worship none but him; and, kindness to your
parents, whether one or both of them attain to old age with thee: and say not
to them, "Fie!" neither reproach them; but speak to them both with respectful
speech;
And defer humbly to them12 out of tenderness; and say, "Lord, have compassion
on them both, even as they reared me when I was little."
Your Lord well knoweth what is in your souls; he knoweth whether ye be
righteous:
And gracious is He to those who return to Him.
And to him who is of kin render his due, and also to the poor and to the
wayfarer; yet waste not wastefully,
For the wasteful are brethren of the Satans, and Satan was ungrateful to his
Lord:
But if thou turn away from them, while thou thyself seekest boons from thy
Lord for which thou hopest, at least speak to them with kindly speech:
And let not thy hand be tied up to thy neck; nor yet open it with all
openness, lest thou sit thee down in rebuke, in beggary.
Verily, thy Lord will provide with open hand for whom he pleaseth, and will
be sparing. His servants doth he scan, inspect.
Kill not your children for fear of want:13 for them and for you will we
provide. Verily, the killing them is a great wickedness.
Have nought to do with adultery; for it is a foul thing and an evil way:
Neither slay any one whom God hath forbidden you to slay, unless for a just
cause: and whosoever shall be slain wrongfully, to his heir14 have we given
powers; but let him not outstep bounds in putting the manslayer to death, for
he too, in his turn, will be assisted and avenged.
And touch not the substance of the orphan, unless in an upright way, till he
attain his age of strength: And perform your covenant; verily the covenant
shall be enquired of:
And give full measure when you measure, and weigh with just balance. This
will be better, and fairest for settlement:
And follow not that of which thou hast no knowledge;15 because the hearing
and the sight and the heart,–each of these shall be enquired of:
And walk not proudly on the earth, for thou canst not cleave the earth,
neither shalt thou reach to the mountains in height:
All this is evil; odious to thy Lord.