works we will pass by; among the inmates shall they be of Paradise:-a true
promise which they are promised.
But he who saith to his parents, "Fie on you both! Promise ye me that I shall
be taken forth from the grave alive, when whole generations have already
passed away before me?" But they both will implore the help of God, and say,
"Alas for thee! Believe: for the promise of God is true." But he saith, "It
is no more than a fable of the ancients."
These are they in whom the sentence passed on the nations, djinn and men, who
flourished before them, is made good. They shall surely perish.6
And there are grades for all, according to their works, that God may repay
them for their works; and they shall not be dealt with unfairly.
And they who believe not shall one day be set before the fire. "Ye made away
your precious gifts during your life on earth; and ye took your fill of
pleasure in them: This day, therefore, with punishment of shame shall ye be
rewarded, for that ye behaved you proudly and unjustly on the earth, and for
that ye were given to excesses."
Remember, too, the brother of Ad7 when he warned his people in AL AHKAF8-and
before and since his time there have been warners-"Worship none but God:
verily I fear for you the punishment of the great day."
They said, "Art thou come to us to turn us away from our Gods? Bring on us
now the woes which thou threatenest if thou speakest truth."
"That knowledge," said he, "is with God alone: I only proclaim to you the
message with which I am sent. But I perceive that ye are a people sunk in
ignorance."
So when they saw a cloud coming straight for their valleys, they said, "It is
a passing cloud that shall give us rain." "Nay, it is that whose speedy
coming ye challenged a blast wherein is an afflictive punishment:-
It will destroy everything at the bidding of its Lord!" And at morn nought
was to be seen but their empty dwellings! Thus repay we a wicked people.
With power had we endued them, even as with power have we endued you; and we
had given them ears and eyes and hearts: yet neither their eyes, nor their
ears, nor their hearts aided them at all, when once they gainsaid the signs
of God; but that punishment which they had mocked at enveloped them on all
sides.
Of old, too, did we destroy the cities which were round about you; and, in
order that they might return to us, we varied our signs before them.
But did those whom they took for gods beside God as his kindred deities, help
them?9 Nay, they withdrew from them. Such was their delusion, and their
device!
And remember when we turned aside a company of the djinn to thee, that they
might hearken to the Koran: and no sooner were they present at its reading
than they said to each other, "Hist;" and when it was ended, they returned to
their people with warnings.
They said, "O our people! verily we have been listening to a book sent down
since the days of Moses, affirming the previous scriptures; it guideth to the
truth, and to the right way.
O our people! Obey the Summoner of God, and believe in him, that He may
forgive your sins, and rescue you from an afflictive punishment.
And he who shall not respond to God's preacher, yet cannot weaken God's power
on earth, nor shall he have protectors beside Him. These are in obvious
error."
See they not that God who created the Heavens and the Earth, and was not
wearied with their creation, is of power to quicken the dead? Yea, he is for
all things Potent.
And a day is coming when the infidels shall be set before the fire. "Is not
this it in truth?" They shall say, "Aye, by our Lord." He said, "Taste then
the punishment for that ye would not believe."
Bear thou up, then, with patience, as did the Apostles endued with firmness,
and seek not to accelerate their doom. For, on the day when they shall see
that with which they have been menaced,
It shall be as though they had waited but an hour of the day. Enough! shall
any perish save they who transgress?
_______________________
1 See Sura lxviii. p. 32.
2 Of a divine revelation, authorising the worship of other gods than God
3 Abdallah bin Salma, say the commentators.
4 Comp. John vii. 48.
5 Thus Mischn. Aboth, v. 21, "at forty years of age a man comes to
intelligence." This verse refers, it is said by the Sonnites, to Abu Bekr,
afterwards Chalif, who embraced Islam in his 40th year. But this
interpretation was probably invented after his accession to power.
6 Lit. suffer loss.
7 The Prophet Houd.
8 That is, Sandhills; at Taief, to which Muhammad had retired in consequence
of the opposition, etc., of the Meccans. Verses 20-31 are probably misplaced,
as they interrupt the connection between 19 and 32, but appear to belong to
the same period as the rest of the Sura.
9 Thus Ullm. als naheverwandte Götter. But Wahl, denen sie sich mit
gottesdienstlichen Opfer näherten. Ad appropinquandum (magis ipsi Deo), by
intercession. Mar. Beidh.
SURA VI.-CATTLE [LXXXIX.]
MECCA.-165 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
PRAISE be to God, who hath created the Heavens and the Earth, and ordained
the darkness and the light! Yet unto their Lord do the infidels give peers!
He it is who created you of clay then decreed the term of your life: and with
Him is another prefixed term for the resurrection. Yet have ye doubts
thereof!
And He is God in the Heavens and on the Earth! He knoweth your secrets and
your disclosures! and He knoweth what ye deserve.
Never did one single sign from among the signs of their Lord come to them,
but they turned away from it;
And now, after it hath reached them, have they treated the truth itself as a
lie. But in the end, a message as to that which they have mocked, shall reach
them.
See they not how many generations we have destroyed before them? We had
settled them on the earth as we have not settled you, and we sent down the
very heavens upon them in copious rains, and we made the rivers to flow
beneath their feet: yet we destroyed them in their sins, and raised up other
generations to succeed them.
And had we sent down to thee a Book written on parchment, and they had
touched it with their hands, the infidels had surely said, "This is nought
but plain sorcery."
They say, too, "Unless an angel be sent down to him. . . ." But if we had
sent down an angel, their judgment would have come on them at once,1 and they
would have had no respite:
And if we had appointed an angel, we should certainly have appointed one in
the form of a man, and we should have clothed him before them in garments
like their own.2
Moreover, apostles before thee have been laughed to scorn: but that which
they laughed to scorn encompassed the mockers among them!
SAY: Go through the land: then see what hath been the end of those who
treated them as liars.
SAY: Whose is all that is in the Heavens and the Earth?
SAY: God's. He had imposed mercy on Himself as a law. He will surely assemble
you on the Resurrection day; there is no doubt of it. They who are the
authors of their own ruin, are they who will not believe.
His, whatsoever hath its dwelling in the night and in the day! and He, the
Hearing, the Knowing!
SAY: Other than God shall I take as Lord, maker of the Heavens and of the
Earth, who nourisheth all, and of none is nourished? SAY: Verily, I am bidden
to be the first of those who surrender them to God (profess Islam): and, be
not thou of those who join gods with God.
SAY: Verily, I fear, should I rebel against my Lord, the punishment of the
great day.
From whomsoever it shall be averted on that day, He will have had mercy on
him: and this will be the manifest bliss.
If God touch thee with trouble, none can take it off but He: and if He visit
thee with good-it is He whose power is over all things;
And He is the Supreme over his servants; and He is the Wise, the Cognisant!
SAY: What thing is weightiest in bearing witness? SAY: God is witness between
me and you; and this Koran hath been revealed to me that I should warn you by
it, and all whom it shall reach. What! will ye really bear witness that there
are other gods with God? SAY: I bear no such witness. SAY: Verily, He is one
God, and truly am guiltless of what ye join with Him.
They to whom we have given the Book, recognise him (Muhammad) as they do
their own children:3 but they who are the authors of their own perdition are
they who will not believe.
And who more wicked than he who inventeth a lie concerning God, or who
treateth our signs as lies? Verily those wicked ones shall not prosper.4
And on "the Day" we will gather them all together: then will we say to those
who joined gods with God, "Where are those companion-gods of yours, as ye
supposed them?"
Then shall they find no other excuse than to say, "By God our Lord! we joined
not companions with Him."
Behold! how they lie against themselves-and the gods of their own inventing
desert them!
Some among them hearken unto thee: but we have cast veils over their hearts
that they should not understand the Koran, and a weight into their ears: and
though they should see all kinds of signs, they will refuse all faith in
them, until when they come to thee, to dispute with thee, the infidels say,
"Verily, this is nothing but fables of the ancients."
And they will forbid it, and depart from it:-but they are only the authors of
their own perdition, and know it not.
If thou couldst see when they shall be set over the fire, and shall say, "Oh!
would we might be sent back! we would not treat the signs of our Lord as
lies! we would be of the believers."
Aye! that hath become clear5 to them which they before concealed; but though
they should return, they would surely go back to that which was forbidden
them; for they are surely liars!
And they say, "There is no other than our life in this world, neither shall
we be raised again."
But if thou couldest see when they shall be set before their Lord! He shall
say to them, "Is not this it6 in truth?" They shall say, "Yea, by our Lord!"
"Taste then," saith He, "the torment, for that ye believed not!"
Lost are they who deny the meeting with God until "the Hour" cometh suddenly
upon them! Then will they say, "Oh, our sighs for past negligence of this
hour!" and they shall bear their burdens on their back! Will not that be evil
with which they shall be burdened?
The life in this world is but a play and pastime; and better surely for men
of godly fear will be the future mansion! Will ye not then comprehend?
Now know we that what they speak vexeth thee:7 But it is not merely thee whom
they charge with falsehood, but the ungodly gainsay the signs of God.
Before thee have apostles already been charged with falsehood: but they bore
the charge and the wrong with constancy, till our help came to them;-for none
can change the words of God. But this history of His Sent Ones hath already
reached thee.
But if their estrangement be grievous to thee, and if thou art able to seek
out an opening into the earth or a ladder into Heaven,8 that thou mightest
bring them a sign. . . . Yes! But if God pleased, He would surely bring
them, one and all, to the guidance! therefore be not thou one of the
ignorant.
To those only who shall lend an ear will He make answer: as for the dead, God
will raise them up; then unto Him shall they return.
They say, "Unless a sign be sent down to him from his Lord. . . ." SAY:
Verily, God is able to send down a sign; but the greater part of them know it
not.
No kind of beast is there on earth nor fowl that flieth with its wings, but
is a folk9 like you: nothing have we passed over in the Book:10 then unto
their Lord shall they be gathered.
They who gainsay our signs are deaf, and dumb, in darkness: God will mislead
whom He pleaseth, and whom He pleaseth He will place upon the straight path.
SAY: What think ye? If the punishment of God were to come upon you, or "the
Hour" were to come upon you, will ye cry to any other than God? Tell me, if
ye speak the truth?
Yes! to Him will ye cry: and if He please He will deliver you from that ye
shall cry to Him to avert, and ye shall forget the partners ye joined with
Him.
Already have we sent apostles to nations that were before thee, and we laid
hold on them with troubles and with straits in order that they might humble
themselves:
Yet, when our trouble came upon them, they did not humble themselves; but
their hearts were hardened, and Satan pre-arranged for them11 their course of
conduct.
And when they had forgotten their warnings, we set open to them the gates of
all things, until, as they were rejoicing in our gifts, we suddenly laid hold
upon them, and lo! they were plunged into despair,
And the uttermost part of that impious people was cut off. All praise be to
God, the Lord of the Worlds!
SAY: What think ye? If God should take away your hearing and your sight and
set a seal upon your hearts, what god beside God would restore them to you?
See! how we vary our wondrous verses (signs)! yet they turn away from them!
SAY: What think ye? If the punishment of God come on you suddenly or
foreseen,12 shall any perish except the impious?
We send not our Sent Ones but as heralds of good news and warners; and whoso
shall believe and amend, on them shall come no fear, neither shall they be
sorrowful:
But whoso shall charge our signs with falsehood, on them shall fall a
punishment for their wicked doings.
SAY: I say not to you, "In my possession are the treasures of God;" neither
say I, "I know things secret;" neither do I say to you, "Verily, I am an
angel:" Only what is revealed to me do I follow. SAY: Shall the blind and the
seeing be esteemed alike? Will ye not then reflect?
And warn those who dread their being gathered to their Lord, that patron or
intercessor they shall have none but Him,-to the intent that they may fear
Him!
And thrust not thou away those who cry to their Lord at morn and even,
craving to behold his face. It is not for thee in anything to judge of their
motives, nor for them in anything to judge of thee. If thou thrust them away
thou wilt be of the doers of wrong.
Thus have we made proof of some of them by others, that they may say, "Are
these they among us to whom God hath been gracious?" Doth not God best know
the thankful?
And when they who believe in our signs come to thee, SAY: Peace be upon you!
Your Lord hath laid down for himself a law of mercy; so that if any one of
you commit a fault through ignorance, and afterwards turn and amend, He
surely will be Gracious, Merciful.
Thus have we distinctly set forth our signs, that the way of the wicked might
be made known.
SAY: Forbidden am I to worship those whom ye call on beside God. SAY: I will
not follow your wishes; for then should I have gone astray, and should not be
of the guided.
SAY: I act upon proofs from my Lord, but ye treat them as falsehoods. That
punishment which ye desire to be hastened is not in my power; judgment is
with God only: He will declare the truth; and He is the best settler of
disputes.
SAY: If what ye would hasten on, were in my power, the matter between me and
you had been decided: but God best knoweth the impious.
And with Him are the keys13 of the secret things; none knoweth them but He:
He knoweth whatever is on the land and in the sea; and no leaf falleth but He
knoweth it; neither is there a grain in the darknesses of the earth, nor a
thing green or sere, but it is noted in a distinct writing.14
It is He who taketh your souls at night,15 and knoweth what ye have merited
in the day: then he awaketh you therein, that the set life-term may be
fulfilled: then unto Him shall ye return; and then shall be declare to you
that which ye have wrought.
Supreme over his servants, He sendeth forth guardians who watch over you,
until, when death overtaketh any one of you, our messengers take his soul,
and fail not:
Then are they returned to God their Lord, the True. Is not judgment His?
Swiftest He, of those who take account!
SAY: Who rescueth you from the darkness of the land and of the sea, when
humbly and secretly ye cry to Him-"If thou rescue us from this, we will
surely be of the thankful?"
SAY: God rescueth you from them, and from every strait: yet afterwards ye
give Him companions!
SAY: It is He who hath power to send on you a punishment from above you, or
from beneath your feet, or to clothe you with discord,16 and to make some of
you to taste the violence of others. See how variously we handle the wondrous
verses, that haply they may become wise!
But thy people hath accused the Koran of falsehood, though it be the truth:
SAY: I am not in charge of you: To every prophecy is its set time, and bye-
and-bye ye shall know it!
And when thou seest those who busy themselves with cavilling at our signs,
withdraw from them till they busy themselves in some other subject: and if
Satan cause thee to forget this, sit not, after recollection, with the
ungodly people:17
Not that they who fear God are to pass any judgment upon them, but the object
of recollection is that they may continue to fear Him.
And quit those who make their religion a sport and a pastime, and whom this
present life hath deceived: warn them hereby that every soul will be
consigned to doom for its own works: patron or intercessor, beside God, shall
it have none: and could it compensate with fullest compensation, it would not
be accepted from it. They who for their deeds shall be consigned to doom-for
them are draughts of boiling water, and a grievous torment; for that they
believed not!
SAY: Shall we, beside God, call upon those who can neither help nor hurt us?
Shall we turn upon our heel after that God hath guided us? Like some
bewildered man whom the Satans have spell-bound in the desert, though his
companions call him to the true guidance, with, "Come to us!" SAY: Verily,
guidance from God, that is the true guidance; and we are commanded to
surrender ourselves to the Lord of the Worlds.
And observe ye the times of prayer, and fear ye God: for it is He to whom ye
shall be gathered.
And it is He who hath created the Heavens and the Earth, in truth, and when
He saith to a thing, "Be," it is.
His word is the truth: and His the kingdom, on the day when there shall be a
blast on the trumpet: He knoweth alike the unseen and the seen: and He is the
Wise, the Cognisant.
And remember when Abraham said to his father Azar,18 Takest thou images as
gods? Verily, I see that thou and thy people are in manifest error.
And thus did we shew Abraham the kingdom of the Heavens and of the Earth,19
that he might be stablished in knowledge.
And when the night overshadowed him, he beheld a star. "This," said he, "is
my Lord:" but when it set, he said, "I love not gods which set."
And when he beheld the moon uprising, "This," said he, "is my Lord:" but when
it set, he said, "Surely, if my Lord guide me not, I shall surely be of those
who go astray."
And when he beheld the sun uprise, he said, "This is my Lord; this is
greatest." But when it set, he said, "O my people! I share not with you the
guilt of joining gods with God;
I turn my face to him who hath created the Heavens and the Earth, following
the right religion:20 I am not one of those who add gods to God."
And his people disputed with him.-He said: "Dispute ye with me about God,
when He hath guided me? And I fear not the deities whom ye join with Him, for
only by the will of my Lord have they any power:21 My Lord embraceth all
things in His knowledge. Will ye not then consider?
And how should I fear what ye have joined with God, since ye fear not for
having joined with Him that for which He hath sent you down no warranty?
Which, therefore, of the two parties is more worthy of safety? Know ye that?
They who believe, and who clothe not their faith with error.22 theirs is
safety, and they are guided aright."
This is our reasoning with which we furnished Abraham against his people: We
uplift to grades of wisdom whom we will; Verily thy Lord is Wise, Knowing.
And we gave him Isaac and Jacob, and guided both aright; and we had before
guided Noah; and among the descendants of Abraham, David and Solomon, and Job
and Joseph, and Moses and Aaron: Thus do we recompense the righteous:
And Zachariah, John, Jesus, and Elias: all were just persons:
And Ismael and Elisha and Jonas and Lot: all these have we favoured above
mankind:
And some of their fathers, and of their offspring, and of their brethren: and
we chose them, and guided them into the straight way.
This is God's guidance: He guideth by it such of his servants as he will: But
if they join others god with Him, vain assuredly shall be all their works.
These are they to whom we gave the Scripture and Wisdom and Prophecy: but if
these their posterity believe not therein, we will entrust these gifts to a
people who will not disbelieve therein.
These are they whom God hath guided: follow therefore their guidance. SAY: No
pay do I ask of you for this:23 Verily it is no other than the teaching for
all creatures.
No just estimate do they form of God when they say, "Nothing hath God sent
down to man." SAY: Who sent down the Book which Moses brought, a light and
guidance to man, which ye set down on paper, publishing part, but concealing
most: though ye have now been taught that which neither ye nor your fathers
knew? SAY: It is God: then leave them in their pastime of cavillings.24
And this Book which we have sent down is blessed, confirming that which was
before it; and in order that thou mightest warn the mother-city and those who
dwell round about it. They who believe in the next life will believe in It,
and will keep strictly to their Prayers.
But is any more wicked than he who deviseth a lie of God, or saith, "I have
had a revelation," when nothing was revealed to him?25 And who saith, "I can
bring down a book like that which God hath sent down"? But couldst thou see
when the ungodly are in the floods of death, and the angels reach forth their
hands, saying, "Yield up your souls:-this day shall ye be recompensed with a
humiliating punishment for your untrue sayings about God, and for proudly
rejecting his signs!"
"And now are ye come back to us, alone, as we created you at first, and ye
leave behind you the good things which we had given you, and we see not with
you your intercessors whom ye regarded as the companions of God among you.
There is a severance between you now, and those whom ye regarded as partners
with God have deserted you."
Verily God causeth the grain and the date stone to put forth: He bringeth
forth the living from the dead, and the dead from the living! This is God!
Why, then, are ye turned aside from Him?
He causeth the dawn to appear, and hath ordained the night for rest, and the
sun and the moon for computing time! The ordinance of the Mighty, the Wise!
And it is He who hath ordained the stars for you that ye may be guided
thereby in the darknesses of the land and of the sea! clear have we made our
signs to men of knowledge.
And it is He who hath produced you from one man, and hath provided for you an
abode and resting-place!26 Clear have we made our signs for men of insight.
And it is He who sendeth down rain from Heaven: and we bring forth by it the
buds of all the plants, and from them bring we forth the green foliage, and
the close growing grain, and palm trees with sheaths of clustering dates, and
gardens of grapes, and the olive and the pomegranate, like and unlike.27 Look
ye on their fruits when they fruit and ripen. Truly herein are signs unto
people who believe.
Yet have they assigned the Djinn to God as his associates, though He created
them; and in their ignorance have they falsely ascribed to him sons and
daughters. Glory be to Him! And high let Him be exalted above that which they
attribute to Him!
Sole maker of the Heavens and of the Earth! how, when He hath no consort,
should He have a son? He hath created everything, and He knoweth everything!
This is God your Lord. There is no God but He, the creator of all things:
therefore worship Him alone;-and He watcheth over all things.
No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision:28 and He is the
Subtile, the All-informed.
Now have proofs that may be seen, come to you from your Lord; whoso seeth
them, the advantage will be his own: and whoso is blind to them, his own will
be the loss: I am not made a keeper over you.
Thus variously do we apply our signs,29 that they may say, "Thou hast studied
deep:" and that to people of understanding we may make them clear.
Follow thou that which hath been revealed to thee by thy Lord: there is no
god but He! and withdraw from those who join other gods with Him.
Had God pleased, they had not joined other gods with Him: and we have not
made thee keeper over them, neither art thou a guardian over them.