And we uplifted him to a place on high.21
These are they among the prophets of the posterity of Adam, and among those
whom we bare with Noah, and among the posterity of Abraham and Israel, and
among those whom we have guided and chosen, to whom God hath shewed favour.
When the signs of the God of Mercy were rehearsed to them, they bowed them
down worshipping and weeping.
But others have come in their place after them: they have made an end of
prayer, and have gone after their own lusts; and in the end they shall meet
with evil:-
Save those who turn and believe and do that which is right, these shall enter
the Garden, and in nought shall they be wronged:
The Garden of Eden, which the God of Mercy hath promised to his servants,
though yet unseen:22 for his promise shall come to pass:
No vain discourse shall they hear therein, but only "Peace;" and their food
shall be given them at morn and even:
This is the Paradise which we will make the heritage of those our servants
who fear us.
We23 come not down from Heaven but by thy Lord's command. His, whatever is
before us and whatever is behind us, and whatever is between the two! And thy
Lord is not forgetful,-
Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth, and of all that is between them!
Worship Him, then, and abide thou steadfast in his worship. Knowest thou any
other of the same name?24
Man saith: "What! after I am dead, shall I in the end be brought forth
alive?"
Doth not man bear in mind that we made him at first, when he was nought?
And I swear by thy Lord, we will surely gather together them and the Satans:
then will we set them on their knees round Hell:
Then will we take forth from each band those of them who have been stoutest
in rebellion against the God of Mercy:
Then shall we know right well to whom its burning is most due:
No one is there of you who shall not go down unto it25-This is a settled
decree with thy Lord-
Then will we deliver those who had the fear of God, and the wicked will we
leave in it on their knees.
And when our clear signs are rehearsed to them, the infidels say to those who
believe: "Which of the two parties26 is in the best plight? and which is the
most goodly company?"
But how many generations have we brought to ruin before them, who surpassed
them in riches and in splendour!
SAY: As to those who are in error, the God of Mercy will lengthen out to them
a length of days
Until they see that with which they are threatened, whether it be some
present chastisement, or whether it be "the Hour," and they shall then know
which is in the worse state, and which the more weak in forces:
But God will increase the guidance of the already guided.
And good works which abide, are in thy Lord's sight better in respect of
guerdon, and better in the issue than all worldly good.
Hast thou marked him who believeth not in our signs, and saith, "I shall
surely have riches and children bestowed upon me?"
Hath he mounted up into the secrets of God? Hath he made a compact with the
God of Mercy?
No! we will certainly write down what he saith, and will lengthen the length
of his chastisement:
And we will inherit what he spake of, and he shall come before us all alone.
They have taken other gods beside God to be their help.27
But it shall not be. Those gods will disavow their worship and will become
their enemies.
Seest thou not that we send the Satans against the Infidels to urge them into
sin?
Wherefore be not thou in haste with them;28 for a small number of days do we
number to them.
One day we will gather the God-fearing before the God of Mercy with honours
due:29
But the sinners will we drive unto Hell, like flocks driven to the watering.
None shall have power to intercede, save he who hath received permission at
the hands of the God of Mercy.
They say: "The God of Mercy hath gotten offspring." Now have ye done a
monstrous thing!
Almost might the very Heavens be rent thereat, and the Earth cleave asunder,
and the mountains fall down in fragments,
That they ascribe a son to the God of Mercy, when it beseemeth not the God of
Mercy to beget a son!
Verily there is none in the Heavens and in the Earth but shall approach the
God of Mercy as a servant. He hath taken note of them, and numbered them with
exact numbering:
And each of them shall come to Him, on the day of Resurrection, singly:
But love will the God of Mercy vouchsafe to those who believe and do the
things that be right.
Verily we have made this Koran easy and in thine own tongue, that thou mayest
announce glad tidings by it to the God-fearing, and that thou mayest warn the
contentious by it.
How many generations have we destroyed before them! Canst thou search out one
of them? or canst thou hear a whisper from them?
_______________________
1 Comp. the first 37 verses of this Sura with Sura iii. 35-57 with reference
to the different style adopted by Muhammad in the later Suras, probably for
the purpose of avoiding the imputation of his being merely a poet, a
sorcerer, or person possessed. Sura lii. 29, 30; xxi. 5; lxviii. 2, 51. This
Sura is one of the fullest and earliest Koranic Gospel Histories, and was
recited to the Nagash or King of Æthiopia, in the presence of the ambassadors
of the Koreisch. His. 220; Caussin, i. 392; Sprenger (Life of M.) p. 193.
2 See Sura lxviii. I, p. 32. Golius conjectured that these letters represent
coh ya'as, thus he counselled, and that they were added by some Jewish
scribe. Sprenger (Journ. of As. Soc. of Bengal, xx. 280) arranges them as
Ain, Sad, Kaf, Ha, Ya, and supposes them to be taken from the Arabic words
for Aisa (Jesus) of the Nazarenes, King of the Jews. But we can hardly
imagine that Muhammad would ascribe such a title to our Lord, and the word
which Dr. Sprenger uses for Jews is not the form peculiar to the Koran.
3 Lest they should desert the worship of the God of Israel.
4 Ar. Yahia. It may be true that the name in this form had never been given.
Otherwise, we have in this passage a misunderstanding of Luke i. 61, as well
as ignorance of the Jewish Scriptures. Comp. 2 Kings xxv. 23; 1 Chron. iii.
16; Ezra viii. 12; Jerem. xl. 8. Some commentators try to avoid the
difficulty by rendering samiyan, deserving of the name.
5 Or, with firm resolve. See Sura [xcvii.] iii. 36. The speaker is God.
6 To an eastern chamber in the temple to pray. Or it may mean, to some place
eastward from Jerusalem, or from the house of her parents.
7 Thus the Protev. Jac. c. 12 says that Mary, although at a later period,
[greek text] But Wahl, she laid aside her veil.
8 Gabriel.
9 See Sura [lxxxix.] vi. 9.
10 It is quite clear from this passage, and from verse 36, that Muhammad
believed Jesus to have been conceived by an act of the divine will. Comp.
Sura [xcvii.] iii. 52; see also note at Sura [xci.] ii. 81.
11 Or, the throes urged her to the trunk of, etc.
12 This was either the Infant which spoke as soon as born, or Gabriel. Comp.
Thilo Cod. Apoc. 136-139 on this passage. Beidhawi explains: from behind the
palm tree.
13 See Thilo Cod. Apoc. N. T. p. 138, and the Hist. Nat. Mar. c. 20, which
connects similar incidents with the flight into Egypt. Thus also Latona,
[greek text], Call. H. in Apoll. and [greek text], H. in Delum.
14 Or, settle, calm thine eye, refresh thine eye. The birth of a son is still
called korrat ol ain.
15 The anachronism is probably only apparent. See Sura iii. 1, n. Muhammad
may have supposed that this Aaron (or Harun) was the son of Imran and Anna.
Or, if Aaron the brother of Moses be meant Mary may be called his sister,
either because she was of the Levitical race, or by way of comparison.
16 See Sura [cxiv.] v. 109.
17 From the change in the rhyme, and from the more polemical tone of the
following five verses, it may be inferred that they were added at a somewhat
later period.
18 The title Nabi, prophet, is used of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as
depositaries of the worship of the one true God, but with a mission
restricted to their own families; whereas Houd, Saleh, Shoaib, etc., are
designated as (Resoul) apostles and envoys, charged with a more extended
mission to the tribes of Arabia. In Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, etc., are
united the office and gift both of prophet (nabi) and apostle (resoul).
19 Made them to be highly praised. Beidh.
20 Enoch. Beidhawi derives the name Edris from the Ar. darasa, to search out,
with reference to his knowledge of divine mysteries. The Heb. Enoch, in like
manner, means initiated.
21 Comp. Gen. v. 24, and the tract Derek Erez in Midr. Jalkut, c. 42, where
Enoch is reckoned among the nine according to other Talmudists, thirteen
(Schroeder's Talm. und Rabb. Judenthum)-individuals who were exempted from
death and taken straight to Paradise. It should be observed that both here
and Sura xxi. 85, Edris is named after Ismael.
22 Maracci and Beidhawi, in absentid. Sale, as an object of faith. Beidhawi
ad f. in reward for their secret faith. Ullmann für die verborgene Zukunft.
23 This verse is to be understood as an answer on the part of Gabriel to
Muhammad's complaints of the long intervals between the revelations.
24 The idolaters called their deities Gods, but as Polytheists were unused to
the singular Allah, God.
25 Even the pious on their way to Paradise are to pass the confines of Hell.
26 The Koreisch, or the Muslims.
27 Or, glory, strength.
28 To call down judgments upon them.
29 As ambassadors come into the presence of a prince. Sale. This is implied
in the original.
SURA XXXVIII.-SAD [LIX.]
MECCA.-88 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
SAD.1 By the Koran full of warning! In sooth the Infidels are absorbed in
pride, in contention with thee.
How many generations have we destroyed before them! And they cried for mercy
but no time was it of escape!
And they marvel that a warner from among themselves hath come to them; and
the Infidels say, "This is a sorcerer, a liar:
Maketh he the gods to be but one god? A strange thing forsooth is this!"
And their chiefs took themselves off. "Go, said they, and cleave steadfastly2
to your gods. Ye see the thing aimed at.
We heard not of this in the previous creed.3 It is but an imposture:
To him alone of us all hath a book of warning been sent down?" Yes! they are
in doubt as to my warnings, for they have not yet tasted my vengeance.
Are the treasures of the mercy of thy Lord, the Mighty, the bounteous, in
their hands?
Is the kingdom of the heavens and of the earth and of all that is between
them theirs? Then let them mount up by cords!
Any army of the confederates4 shall here be routed.
Before them the people of Noah and Ad and Pharaoh the impaler5 treated their
prophets as impostors;
And Themoud, and the people of Lot, and the dwellers in the forest: these
were the confederates.
Nought did they all but charge the apostles with falsehood: Just, therefore,
the retribution.
And these (Meccans) await but one single trumpet blast-There shall be no
delaying it-
Yet they dare to say, "O our Lord! hasten our lot to us, before the day of
reckoning."
Put thou up with what they say: and remember our servant David, a man strong
of hand6, one who turned him to Us in penitence:
We constrained the mountains7 to join with him in lauds at even and at
sunrise;
And the birds which flocked to him, and would all return to him oft;
And we stablished his kingdom: and wisdom, and skill to pronounce clear
decisions, did we bestow on him.
Hath the story of the two pleaders8 reached thee, O Muhammad, when they
mounted the walls of his closet?
When they entered in upon David, and he was frightened at them, they said,
"Be not afraid; we are two opposing parties: one of us hath wronged the
other. Judge therefore with truth between us, and be not unjust, but guide us
to the right way.
Now this my brother had ninety and nine ewes, and I had but a single ewe; and
he said, make me her keeper. And he over-persuaded me in the dispute."
He said, "Certainly he hath wronged thee in asking for thine ewe to add her
to his own ewes: and truly many associates do one another wrong-except those
who believe and do the things that are right; and few indeed are they!" And
David perceived that we had tried him; so he asked pardon of his Lord, and
fell down and bowed himself and repented.
So we forgave him that his sin; and truly he shall have a high rank with Us,
and an excellent retreat in Paradise.
O David! verily we have made thee our vicegerent upon earth. Judge therefore
between men with truth, and follow not thy passions, lest they cause thee to
err from the way of God. For they who err from the way of God shall meet with
a grievous chastisement, for that they have forgotten the day of reckoning.
We have not created the heaven and the earth and what is between them for
nought. That is the thought of infidels; but woe to the infidels because of
the fire!
Shall we treat those who believe and do the things that are right like those
who propagate evil on earth? Shall we treat the God-fearing like the impious?
A blessed Book9 have we sent down to thee, that men may meditate its verses,
and that those endued with understanding may bear it in mind.
And Solomon gave we unto David. An excellent servant, for he loved to turn
him Godward.
Remember when at eventide the prancing10 chargers were displayed before him,
And he said, "Truly I have loved the love of earthly goods above the
remembrance of my Lord, till the sun hath been hidden by the veil of
darkness.11
Bring them back to me." And he began to sever the legs and necks.
We also made trial of Solomon, and placed a phantom12 on his throne:
whereupon he returned to Us (in penitence).
He said, O my Lord! pardon me, and give me a dominion that may not be to any
one beside me, for thou art the liberal giver.
So we subjected the wind to him; it ran softly at his bidding, whithersoever
he directed it:
And the Satans-every builder and diver-
And others bound in chains:13
"This," said we, "is our gift: be bounteous then, or withhold thy favours; no
account shalt thou render."
And his rank also is high with Us, and an excellent retreat.
And remember our servant Job when he cried to his Lord, "Verily, Satan hath
laid on me disease and pain."
"Stamp," said we, "with thy foot. This14 is to wash with; cool, and to
drink."
And we gave him back his family, and as many more with them in our mercy; and
for a monition to men of judgment.
And we said, "Take in thine hand a rod, and strike15 with it, nor break thine
oath." Verily, we found him patient!
How excellent a servant, one who turned to Us was he!
And remember our servants Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, men of might and
vision.16
With this cleansing did we cleanse them the remembrance of the abode of
Paradise.
And verily, they were, in our sight, of the elect and of the good.
And remember Ishmael and Elisha and Dhoulkefl, for all these were of the
just.
This is a monition: and verily, the pious shall have a goodly retreat:
Gardens of Eden, whose portals shall stand open to them:
Therein reclining, they shall there call for many a fruit and drink:
And with them shall be virgins of their own age, with modest retiring
glances:
"This is what ye were promised at the day of reckoning."
"Yes! this is our provision: it shall never fail."
Even so. But for the evil doers is a wretched home-
Hell-wherein they shall be burned: how wretched a bed!
Even so. Let them then taste it-boiling water and gore,
And other things of kindred sort!
To their leaders it shall be said, "This company shall be thrown in headlong
with you. No greetings shall await them, for they shall be burned in the
fire."
They shall say: "But ye, too! there shall be no welcome for you. It was ye
who prepared this for us, and wretched is the abode!"
They will say: "O our Lord! increase twofold in the fire, the punishment of
him who hath brought this upon us."
And they will say: "Why see we not the men whom we numbered among the wicked-
Whom we used to treat with scorn? Have they escaped our eyes?"17
Verily this is truth-the wrangling together of the people of the fire.
SAY: I am but a warner; and there is no God but God the One, the Almighty!
Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth, and of all that is between them,18 the
Potent, the Forgiving!
SAY: this is a weighty message,19
From which ye turn aside!
Yet had I no knowledge of what passed among the celestial chiefs when they
disputed,20
-Verily, it hath been revealed to me only because I am a public preacher-
When thy Lord said to the angels, "I am about to make man of clay,21
And when I have formed him and breathed my spirit into him, then worshipping
fall down before him."
And the angels prostrated themselves, all of them with one accord,
Save Eblis. He swelled with pride, and became an unbeliever.
"O Eblis," said God, "what hindereth thee from prostrating thyself before him
whom my hands have made?
Is it that thou are puffed up with pride? or art thou a being of lofty
merit?"
He said: "I am more excellent than he; me hast thou created of fire:22 of
clay hast thou created him."
He said: "Begone then hence: thou art accursed,23
And lo! my ban shall be on thee till the day of the reckoning."
He said: "O my Lord! respite me till the day of Resurrection."
He said, "One then of the respited shalt thou be,
Till the day of the time appointed."
He said: "I swear by thy might then that all of them will I seduce,
Save thy sincere servants among them."
He said: "It is truth, and the truth I speak. From thee will I surely fill
Hell, and with such of them as shall follow thee, one and all.
Say: I ask no wage of you for this, nor am I one who intermeddleth.
Of a truth the Koran is no other than a warning to all creatures.
And after a time shall ye surely know its message.
_______________________
1 The letter S. See Sura lxviii. p. 32.
2 These verses are said to have been revealed when, upon the conversion of
Omar, the Koreisch went in a body to Abu Talib and requested him to withdraw
his protection from Muhammad, but being put to silence by the latter,
departed in great confusion. Wah. Beidh.
3 That is, in the Christian religion, which teaches, Muhammad ironically
implies, a plurality of Gods.
4 This may allude to the so-called "confederacy" of the Koreisch against
Muhammad.
5 This term is also applied to Pharaoh, Sura lxxxix. 9, p. 54. He is said to
have fastened the Israelites to stakes, and then subjected them to various
torments.
addenda: This is the usual interpretation. Lit. Lord of, or, possessor of
stakes (comp. li. 39 in Ar.), i.e., Forces. Dr. Sprenger ingenuously
suggests that Muhammad’s Jewish informant may have described Pharaoh as rich
in neçyb, i.e., fortresses; whereas, in Ar., naçyb, means an erection,
pillar, etc., for which Muhammad substituted the word for tent stakes. Vol.
i. (470).
6 Præditi (manibus) virtute. Mar.
7 Comp. Ps. cxlviii. 9, 10.
8 Two angels who pretended to appeal to David in order to convince him of his
sin in the matter of Uriah's wife. Comp. I Sam. xii.
9 The Psalms, if we suppose with Nöldeke, p. 99, that David is still
addressed: the Koran, if with Sale we refer the passage to Muhammad.
10 The Commentators say that the word used in the original implies that the
mares stood on three feet, and touched the ground with the edge of the fourth
foot.
11 Solomon, in his admiration of these horses, the result, we are told, of
David's or his own conquests, forgot the hour of evening prayer, and when
aware of his fault commenced their slaughter. The Tr. Sanhedr. fol. 21,
mentions Solomon's love for horses, and that he determined to have a large
stud; yet not to send the people to Egypt (Deut. xvii. 16) but to have them
brought to him out of Egypt (I Kings x. 28).
12 One of the Djinn. The absurd fiction may be seen in extenso in Sale.
Compare Tr. Sanhedr. fol. 20, b. and Midr. Jalkut on I Kings vi. § 182.
13 Thus the second Targum on Esther i. 2, mentions the four different kinds
of Demons which were "given into the hand" of Solomon-a legend derived from a
misunderstanding of Eccl. ii. 8.
14 The fountain which had sprung up. To this history the Talmudists have no
allusion.
15 Thy wife;-on whom he had sworn that he would inflict an hundred blows,
because she had absented herself from him when in need of her assistance, or
for her words (Job ii. 9). The oath was kept, we are told, by his giving her
one blow with a rod of a hundred stalks. This passage is often quoted by the
Muslims as authorising any similar manner of release from an oath
inconsiderately taken.
16 Lit. men of hand and of sight.
17 Lit. or do our eyes wander from them.
18 See verses 9, 26, above. It seems to have been one of the peculiarities of
Muhammad, as a person very deficient in imagination, to dwell upon and repeat
the same ideas, with an intensity which is at once an evidence of deep
personal conviction and consciousness, of the simple Arabian especially.
19 The connection between the concluding episode and the preceding part of
the Sura does not seem very clear. It probably originated at a different but
uncertain period.
20 About the creation of man.
21 Comp. Sura [xci.] ii. 28, ff.
22 Comp. Ps. civ. 4.
23 Lit. stoned. See Sura xv. 34, p. 114.
SURA XXXVI.-YA. SIN [LX.]
MECCA.-83 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
YA. SIN.1 By the wise Koran!
Surely of the Sent Ones, Thou,
Upon a right path!
A revelation of the Mighty, the Merciful,
That thou shouldest warn a people whose fathers were not warned and therefore
lived in heedlessness!
Just, now, is our sentence2 against most of them; therefore they shall not
believe.
On their necks have we placed chains which reach the chin, and forced up are
their heads:
Before them have we set a barrier and behind them a barrier, and we have
shrouded them in a veil, so that they shall not see.
Alike is it to them if thou warn them or warn them not: they will not
believe.
Him only shalt thou really warn, who followeth the monition and feareth the
God of mercy in secret: him cheer with tidings of pardon, and of a noble
recompense.
Verily, it is We who will quicken the dead, and write down the works which
they have sent on before them, and the traces which they shall have left
behind them: and everything have we set down in the clear Book of our
decrees.3
Set forth to them the instance of the people of the city4 when the Sent Ones
came to it.
When we sent two unto them and they charged them both with imposture-
therefore with a third we strengthened them: and they said, "Verily we are
the Sent unto you of God."
They said, "Ye are only men like us: Nought hath the God of Mercy sent down.
Ye do nothing but lie."
They said, "Our Lord knoweth that we are surely sent unto you;
To proclaim a clear message is our only duty."
They said, "Of a truth we augur ill from you:5 if ye desist not we will
surely stone you, and a grievous punishment will surely befall you from us."
They said, "Your augury of ill is with yourselves. Will ye be warned?6 Nay,
ye are an erring people."
Then from the end of the city a man came running:7 He said, "O my people!
follow the Sent Ones;
Follow those who ask not of you a recompense, and who are rightly guided.
And why should I not worship Him who made me, and to whom ye shall be brought
back?
Shall I take gods beside Him? If the God of Mercy be pleased to afflict me,
their intercession will not avert from me aught, nor will they deliver:
Truly then should I be in a manifest error.
Verily, in your Lord have I believed; therefore hear me."8
-It was said to him, "Enter thou into Paradise:" And he said, "Oh that my
people knew
How gracious God hath been to me, and that He hath made me one of His
honoured ones."
But no army sent we down out of heaven after his death, nor were we then
sending down our angels-
There was but one shout from Gabriel, and lo! they were extinct.
Oh! the misery that rests upon my servants! No apostle cometh to them but
they laugh him to scorn.
See they not how many generations we have destroyed before them?
Not to false gods is it that they shall be brought9 back,
But all, gathered together, shall be set before Us.
Moreover, the dead earth is a sign to them: we quicken it and bring forth the
grain from it, and they eat thereof:
And we make in it gardens of the date and vine; and we cause springs to gush
forth in it;
That they may eat of its fruits and of the labour of their hands. Will they
not therefore be thankful?
Glory be to Him, who hath created all the sexual pairs of such things as
Earth produceth,10 and of mankind themselves; and of things beyond their ken!