or a third of the night, as do a part of thy followers. But God measureth the
night and the day: He knoweth that ye cannot count its hours aright, and
therefore, turneth to you mercifully. Recite then so much of the Koran as may
be easy to you. He knoweth that there will be some among you sick, while
others travel through the earth in quest of the bounties of God; and others
do battle in his cause. Recite therefore so much of it as may be easy. And
observe the Prayers and pay the legal Alms,5 and lend God a liberal loan: for
whatever good works ye send on before for your own behoof, ye shall find with
God. This will be best and richest in the recompense. And seek the
forgiveness of God: verily, God is forgiving, Merciful.
_______________________
1 From the first line of this Sura, and its expressions concerning the Koran,
Prayer, and Future Punishment: from the similarity of the tradition with
regard to its having been preceded by a vision of Gabriel (Beidh., etc.), it
seems to belong to, or at least to describe, a period, perhaps immediately
succeeding the Fatrah, during which the hours of night were spent by Muhammad
in devotion and in the labour of working up his materials in rhythmical and
rhyming Suras, and in preparation for the public assumption of the prophetic
office. Comp. especially verses 11, 19, 20, at the end, with 11, 54, 55, of
the preceding Sura.
2 Singe den Koran laut. H.v.P. Psalle Alcoranum psallendo. Mar. Singe den
Koran mit singender und lauter Stimme ab. Ullm.
3 Lit. most firm, perhaps, distinct.
4 This verse, according to a tradition of Ayesha, was revealed one year later
than the previous part of the Sura. Nöldeke says it is "offenbar ein
Medinischer."
5 The reader will not be surprised to find in the very outset of Muhammad's
career a frequent mention of Alms, Prayer, Heaven, Hell, Judgment, Apostles,
etc., in their usual sense, when he remembers that Judaism was extensively
naturalised in Arabia, and Christianity, also, although to a smaller extent.
The words and phrases of these religions were doubtless familiar to the
Meccans, especially to that numerous body who were anxiously searching after
some better religion than the idolatries of their fathers (v. on Sura iii.
19, 60), and provided Muhammad with a copious fund from which to draw.
SURA XCIII.1-THE BRIGHTNESS [IV.]
MECCA.-11 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
BY the noon-day BRIGHTNESS,
And by the night when it darkeneth!
Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee, neither hath he been displeased.
And surely the Future shall be better for thee than the Past,
And in the end shall thy Lord be bounteous to thee and thou be satisfied.
Did he not find thee an orphan2 and gave thee a home?
And found thee erring and guided thee,3
And found thee needy and enriched thee.
As to the orphan therefore wrong him not;
And as to him that asketh of thee, chide him not away;
And as for the favours of thy Lord tell them abroad.
_______________________
1 This and the six following Suras are expressions of a state of deep mental
anxiety and depression, in which Muhammad seeks to reassure himself by
calling to mind the past favours of God, and by fixing his mind steadfastly
on the Divine Unity. They belong to a period either before the public
commencement of his ministry or when his success was very dubious, and his
future career by no means clearly marked out.
2 The charge of the orphaned Muhammad was undertaken by Abd-al-Mutalib, his
grandfather, A.D. 576. Hishami, p. 35; Kitab al Wakidi, p. 22, have preserved
traditions of the fondness with which the old man of fourscore years treated
the child, spreading a rug for him under the shadow of the Kaaba, protecting
him from the rudeness of his own sons, etc.
3 Up to his 40th year Muhammad followed the religion of his countrymen. Waq.
Tabari says that when he first entered on his office of Prophet, even his
wife Chadijah had read the Scriptures, and was acquainted with the History of
the Prophets. Spreng. p. 100. But his conformity can only have been partial.
SURA XCIV.-THE OPENING [V.]
MECCA.-8 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
HAVE we not OPENED thine heart for thee?
And taken off from thee thy burden,
Which galled thy back?
And have we not raised thy name for thee?
Then verily along with trouble cometh ease.
Verily along with trouble cometh ease.
But when thou art set at liberty, then prosecute thy toil.
And seek thy Lord with fervour.
SURA CXIII.-THE DAYBREAK [VI.]
MECCA OR MEDINA.-5 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
SAY: I betake me for refuge to the Lord of the DAY BREAK
Against the mischiefs of his creation;
And against the mischief of the night when it overtaketh me;
And against the mischief of weird women;1
And against the mischief of the envier when he envieth.
_______________________
1 Lit. who blow on knots. According to some commentators an allusion to a
species of charm. Comp. Virg.Ec. vi. But the reference more probably is to
women in general, who disconcert schemes as thread is disentangled by blowing
upon it. Suras cxiii. are called the el mouwwidhetani, or preservative
chapters, are engraved on amulets,etc.
SURA CXIV.-MEN [VII.]
MECCA OR MEDINA.-6 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
SAY: I betake me for refuge to the Lord of MEN,
The King of men,
The God of men,
Against the mischief of the stealthily withdrawing whisperer,1
Who whispereth in man's breast-
Against djinn and men.
_______________________
1 Satan.
SURA I.1 [VIII.]
MECCA.-7 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
PRAISE be to God, Lord of the worlds!
The compassionate, the merciful!
King on the day of reckoning!
Thee only do we worship, and to Thee do we cry for help.
Guide Thou us on the straight path,2
The path of those to whom Thou hast been gracious;-with whom thou art not
angry, and who go not astray.3
_______________________
1 This Sura, which Nöldeke places last, and Muir sixth, in the earliest class
of Meccan Suras, must at least have been composed prior to Sura xxxvii.
182,where it is quoted, and to Sura xv. 87, which refers to it. And it can
scarcely be an accidental circumstance that the words of the first, second,
and fifth verses do not occur in any other Suras of the first Meccan period
as given by N”ldeke, but frequently in those of the second, which it
therefore, in N”ldeke, opinion, immediately precedes. But this may be
accounted for by its having been recast for the purposes of private and
public devotion by Muhammad himself, which is the meaning probably of the
Muhammadan tradition that it was revealed twice. It should also be observed
that, including the auspicatory formula, there are the same number of
petitions in this Sura as in the Lord's Prayer. It is recited several times
in each of the five daily prayers, and on many other occassions, as in
concluding a bargain, etc. It is termed "the Opening of the Book," "the
Completion," "the Sufficing Sura," the Sura of Praise, Thanks, and Prayer,"
"the Healer," "the Remedy," "the Basis," "the Treasure," "the Mother of the
Book," "the Seven Verses of Repetition." The Muhammadans always say "Amen"
after this prayer, Muhammad having been instructed, says the Sonna, to do so
by the Angel Gabriel.
2 Islam
3 The following transfer of this Sura from the Arabic into the corresponding
English characters may give some idea of the rhyming prose in which the Koran
is written:
Bismillahi 'rahhmani 'rrahheem.
El-hamdoo lillahi rabi 'lalameen.
Arrahhmani raheem.
Maliki yowmi-d-deen.
Eyaka naboodoo, wa‚yaka nest aeen.
Ihdina 'ssirat almostakeem.
Sirat alezeena anhamta aleihim, gheiri-'l mughdoobi aleihim, wala dsaleen.
Ameen.
SURA CIX.-UNBELIEVERS [IX.]
MECCA.-6 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
SAY: O ye UNBELIEVERS!
I worship not that which ye worship,
And ye do not worship that which I worship;
I shall never worship that which ye worship,
Neither will ye worship that which I worship.
To you be your religion; to me my religion.1
_______________________
1 This Sura is said to have been revealed when Walîd urged Muhammad to
consent that his God should be worshipped at the same time with the old
Meccan deities, or alternately every year. Hishâmi, p. 79; Tabari, p. 139. It
is a distinct renunciation of Meccan idolatry, as the following Sura is a
distinct recognition of the Divine Unity.
SURA CXII.-THE UNITY [X.]
MECCA.-4 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
SAY: He is God alone:
God the eternal!
He begetteth not, and He is not begotten;
And there is none like unto Him.
SURA CXI. ABU LAHAB [XI.]
MECCA. 5 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
LET the hands of ABU LAHAB1 perish,and let himself perish!
His wealth and his gains shall avail him not.
Burned shall he be at the fiery flame,2
And his wife laden with fire wood,-
On her neck a rope of palm fibre.
_______________________
1 Undoubtedly one of the earliest Suras, and refers to the rejection of
Muhammad's claim to the prophetic office by his uncle, Abu Lahab, at the
instigation of his wife, Omm Djemil, who is said to have strewn the path of
Muhammad on one occasion with thorns. The following six Suras, like the two
first, have special reference to the difficulties which the Prophet met with
the outset of his career, especially from the rich.
2 In allusion to the meaning of Abu Lahab, father of flame.
SURA CVIII.-THE ABUNDANCE [XII.]
MECCA.-3 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
TRULY we have given thee an ABUNDANCE;
Pray therefore to the Lord, and slay the victims.
Verily whoso hateth thee shall be childless.1
_______________________
1 A reply to those who had taunted Muhammad with the death of his sons, as a
mark of the divine displeasure.
SURA CIV.-THE BACKBITER [XII.]
MECCA.-9 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Woe to every BACKBITER, Defamer!
Who amasseth wealth and storeth it against the future!
He thinketh surely that his wealth shall be with him for ever.
Nay! for verily he shall be flung into the Crushing Fire;
And who shall teach thee what the Crushing Fire is?
It is God's kindled fire,
Which shall mount above the hearts of the damned;
It shall verily rise over them like a vault,
On outstretched columns.
SURA CVII.-RELIGION [XIV.]
MECCA.-7 Verses
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
WHAT thinkest thou of him who treateth our RELIGION as a lie?
He it is who trusteth away the orphan,
And stirreth not others up to feed the poor.
Woe to those who pray,
But in their prayer are careless;
Who make a shew of devotion,
But refuse help to the needy.
SURA CII.-DESIRE [XV.]
MECCA.-8 Verses
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
THE DESIRE of increasing riches occupieth you,
Till ye come to the grave.
Nay! but in the end ye shall know
Nay! once more,in the end ye shall know your folly.
Nay! would that ye knew it with knowledge of certainty!
Surely ye shall see hell-fire.
Then shall ye surely see it with the eye of certainty;
Then shall ye on that day be taken to task concerning pleasures.
SURA XCII.-THE NIGHT [XVI.]
MECCA.-21 Verses
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
BY the NIGHT when she spreads her veil;
By the Day when it brightly shineth;
By Him who made male and female;
At different ends truly do ye aim!1
But as to him who giveth alms and feareth God,
And yieldeth assent to the Good;
To him will we make easy the path to happiness.
But as to him who is covetous and bent on riches,
And calleth the Good a lie,
To him will we make easy the path to misery:
And what shall his wealth avail him when he goeth down?
Truly man’s guidance is with Us
And Our’s, the Future and the Past.
I warn you therefore of the flaming fire;
None shall be cast to it but the most wretched,-
Who hath called the truth a lie and turned his back.
But the God-fearing shall escape it,-
Who giveth away his substance that he may become pure;2
And who offereth not favours to any one for the sake of recompense,
But only as seeking the face of his Lord the Most High.
And surely in the end he shall be well content.
_______________________
1 See Pref., p. 5, line I.
2 Comp. Luke xi. 41. Muhammad perhaps derived this view of the meritorious
anture of almsgiving from the Jewish oral law.
SURA LXVIII.-THE PEN [XVII.]
Mecca.-52 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Nun.1 By the PEN2 and by what they write,
Thou, O Prophet; by the grace of thy Lord art not possessed!3
And truly a boundless recompense doth await thee,
For thou art of a noble nature.4
But thou shalt see and they shall see Which of you is the demented.
Now thy Lord! well knoweth He the man who erreth from his path, and well doth
he know those who have yielded to Guidance;
Give not place, therefore, to those who treat thee as a liar:
They desire thee to deal smoothly with them: then would they be smooth as oil
with thee:
But yield not to the man of oaths, a despicable person,
Defamer, going about with slander,
Hinderer of the good, transgressor, criminal,
Harsh-beside this, impure by birth,
Though a man of riches and blessed with sons.
Who when our wondrous verses are recited to him saith-"Fables of the
ancients."
We will brand him on the nostrils.
Verily, we have proved them (the Meccans) as we proved the owners of the
garden, when they swore that at morn they would cut its fruits;
But added no reserve.5
Wherefore an encircling desolation from thy Lord swept round it while they
slumbered,
And in the morning it was like a garden whose fruits had all been cut.
Then at dawn they called to each other,
"Go out early to your field, if ye would cut your dates."
So on they went whispering to each other,
"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.
Shall we then deal with those who have surrendered themselves to God, as with
those who offend him?
What hath befallen you that ye thus judge?
Have ye a Scripture wherein ye can search out
That ye shall have the things ye choose?
Or have ye received oaths which shall bind Us even until the day of the
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;
Yet will I bear long with them; for my plan is sure.
Askest thou any recompense from them? But they are burdened with debt.
Are the secret things within their ken? Do they copy them from the Book of
God?
Patiently then await the judgment of thy Lord, and be not like him who was in
the fish,7 when in deep distress he cried to God.
Had not favour from his Lord reached him, cast forth would he have been on
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.
3 By djinn. Comp. Sur. xxxiv. 45.
4 In bearing the taunts of the unbelievers with patience.
5 They did not add the restriction, if God will.
6 An expression implying a grievous calamity; borrowed probably from the
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.]
MECCA.-20 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
I NEED not to swear by this SOIL,
This soil on which thou dost dwell,
Or by sire and offspring!1
Surely in trouble have we created man.
What! thinketh he that no one hath power over him?
"I have wasted," saith he, "enormous riches!"
What! thinketh he that no one regardeth him?
What! have we not made him eyes,
And tongue, and lips,
And guided him to the two highways?2
Yet he attempted not the steep.
And who shall teach thee what the steep is?
It is to ransom the captive,3
Or to feed in the day of famine,
The orphan who is near of kin, or the poor that lieth in the dust;
Beside this, to be of those who believe, and enjoin stedfastness on each
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.]
MECCA. 17 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
BY the heaven, and by the NIGHT-COMER!
But who shall teach thee what the night-comer is?
'Tis the star of piercing radiance.
Over every soul is set a guardian.
Let man then reflect out of what he was created.
He was created of the poured-forth germs,
Which issue from the loins and breastbones:
Well able then is God to restore him to life,-
On the day when all secrets shall be searched out,
And he shall have no other might or helper.
I swear by the heaven which accomplisheth its cycle,
And by the earth which openeth her bosom,
That this Koran is a discriminating discourse,
And that it is not frivolous.
They plot a plot against thee,
And I will plot a plot against them.
Deal calmly therefore with the infidels; leave them awhile alone.
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,