ENTITLED, AL FORKAN; REVEALED AT MECCA.
IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.
BLESSED be he who hath revealed the Forkans unto his servant, that he may
be a preacher to all creatures:
unto whom belongeth the kingdom of heaven and of earth: who hath begotten
no issue; and hath no partner in his kingdom: who hath created all things, and
disposed the same according to his determinate will.
Yet have they taken other gods besides him; which have created nothing,
but are themselves created:t
and are able neither to avert evil from, nor to procure good unto
themselves; and have not the power of death, or of life, or of raising the
dead.
And the unbelievers say, This Koran is no other than a forgery which he
hath contrived; and other people have assisted him therein:u but they utter an
unjust thing, and a falsehood.
They also say, These are fables of the ancients, which he hath caused to
be written down; and they are dictated unto him morning and evening.
Say, He hath revealed it, who knoweth the secrets in heaven and earth:
verily he is gracious and merciful.
And they say, What kind of apostle is this? He eateth food, and walketh
in the streets,x as we do: unless an angel be sent down unto him, and become a
fellow preacher with him;
or unless a treasure be cast down unto him; or he have a garden, of the
fruit whereof he may eat; we will not believe. The ungodly also say, Ye
follow no other than a man who is distracted.
10 Behold what they liken thee unto. But they are deceived; neither can
they find a just occasion to reproach thee.
Blessed be he, who, if he pleaseth, will make for thee a better provision
than this which they speak of; namely, gardens through which rivers flow: and
he will provide thee palaces.
But they reject the belief of the hour of judgment, as a falsehood: and
we have prepared for him, who shall reject the belief of that hour, burning
fire;
when it shall see them from a distant place, they shall hear it furiously
raging and roaring.
And when they shall be cast, bound together, into a strait place thereof,
they shall there call for death;
but it shall be answered them, Call not this day for one death, but call
for many deaths.
Say, Is this better, or a garden of eternal duration, which is promised
unto the pious? It shall be given unto them for a reward, and a retreat:
s Which is one of the names of the Korân. See the Prelim. Disc. Sect.
III. p. 44.
t Being either the heavenly bodies, or idols, the works of men's hands.
u See chapter 16, p. 203. It is supposed the Jews are particularly
intended in this place; because they used to repeat passages of ancient
history to Mohammed, on which he used to discourse and make observations.1
x Being subject to the same wants and infirmities of nature, and
obliged to submit to the same low means of supporting himself and his family,
with ourselves. The Meccans were acquainted with Mohammed, and with his
circumstances and way of life, too well to change their old familiarity into
the reverence due to the messenger of GOD; for a prophet hath no honour in his
own country.
1 Al Beidâwi.
therein shall they have whatever they please, continuing in the same
forever. This is a promise to be demanded at the hands of thy LORD.
On a certain day he shall assemble them, and whatever they worship,
besides GOD; and shall say unto the worshipped, Did ye seduce these my
servants; or did they wander of themselves from the right way?
They shall answer, GOD forbid! It was not fitting for us, that we should
take any protectors besides thee: but thou didst permit them and their fathers
to enjoy abundance; so that they forgot thy admonition, and became lost
people.
20 And God shall say unto their worshippers, Now have these convinced you
of falsehood, in that which ye say: they can neither avert your punishment,
nor give you any assistance.
And whoever of you shall be guilty of injustice, him will we cause to
taste a grievous torment.
We have sent no messengers before thee, but they ate food, and walked
through the streets: and we make some of you an occasion of trial unto
others.y Will ye persevere with patience? since the LORD regardeth your
perseverance.
They who hope not to meet us at the resurrection say, Unless the angels
be sent down unto us, or we see our LORD himself, we will not believe. Verily
they behave themselves arrogantly; and have transgressed with an enormous
transgression.
The day whereon they shall see the angels,z there shall be no glad
tidings on that day for the wicked; and they shall say, Be this removed far
from us?
and we will come unto the work which they shall have wrought, and we will
make it as dust scattered abroad.
On that day shall they who are destined to paradise be more happy in an
abode, and have a preferable place of repose at noon.a
On that day the heaven shall be cloven in sunder by the clouds, and the
angels shall be sent down, descending visibly therein.b
On that day the kingdom shall of right belong wholly unto the Merciful;
and that day shall be grievous for the unbelievers.
On that day the unjust personc shall bite his hand for anguish and
despair, and shall say, Oh that I had taken the way of truth with the apostle!
y Giving occasion of envy, repining, and malice; to the poor, mean, and
sick, for example, when they compare their own condition with that of the
rich, the noble, and those who are in health: and trying the people to whom
prophets are sent, by those prophets.1
z viz., At their death, or at the resurrection.
a For the business of the day of judgment will be over by that time;
and the blessed will pass their noon in paradise, and the damned in hell.2
b i.e., They shall part and make way for the clouds which shall descend
with the angels, bearing the books wherein every man's actions are recorded.
c It is supposed by some that these words particularly relate to Okba
Ebn Abi Moait, who used to be much in Mohammed's company, and having once
invited him to an entertainment, the prophet refused to taste of his meat
unless he would profess Islâm; which accordingly he did. Soon after, Okba,
meeting Obba Ebn Khalf, his intimate friend, and being reproached by him for
changing his religion, assured him that he had not, but had only pronounced
the profession of faith to engage Mohammed to eat with him, because he could
not for shame let him go out of his house without eating. However, Obba
protested that he would not be satisfied, unless he went to Mohammed, and set
his foot on his neck, and spit in his face: which Okba, rather than break with
his friend, performed in the public hall, where he found Mohammed sitting;
whereupon the prophet told him that if ever he met him out of Mecca, he would
cut off his head. And he was as good as his word: for Okba, being afterwards
taken prisoner at the battle of Bedr, had his head struck off by Ali at
Mohammed's command. As for Obba, he received a wound from the prophet's own
hand, at the battle of Ohod, of which he died at his return to Mecca.3
1 Idem, Jallal. 2 Idem. 3 Al Beidâwi. Vide Gagnier,
Vie de Mahom. vol. I, p. 362.
30 Alas for me! Oh that I had not taken such a oned for my friend!
He seduced me from the admonition of God, after it had come unto me: for
the devil is the betrayer of man.
And the apostle shall say, O LORD, verily my people esteemed this Korân
to be a vain composition.
In like manner did we ordain unto every prophet an enemy from among the
wicked: but thy LORD is a sufficient director and defender.
The unbelievers say, Unless the Koran be sent down unto him entire at
once,e we will not believe. But in this manner have we revealed it, that we
might confirm thy heart thereby,f and we have dictated it gradually, by
distinct parcels.
They shall not come unto thee with any strange question; but we will
bring thee the truth in answer, and a most excellent interpretation.
They who shall be dragged on their faces into hell shall be in the worst
condition, and shall stray most widely from the way of salvation.
We heretofore delivered unto Moses the book of the law; and we appointed
him Aaron his brother for a counsellor.
And we said unto them, Go ye to the people who charge our signs with
falsehood. And we destroyed them with a signal destruction.
And remember the people of Noah, when they accused our apostles of
imposture: we drowned them, and made them a sign unto mankind. And we have
prepared for the unjust a painful torment.
40 Remember also Ad, and Thamud, and those who dwelt at al Rass;g and many
other generations within this period.
Unto each of them did we propound examples for their admonition; and each
of them did we destroy with an utter destruction.
The Koreish have passed frequently near the city which was rained on by a
fatal rain;h have they not seen where it once stood? Yet have they not
dreaded the resurrection.
d According to the preceding note, this was Obba Ebn Khalf.
e As were the Pentateuch, Psalms, and Gospel, according to the
Mohammedan notion whereas it was twenty-three years before the Korân was
completely revealed.1
f Both to infuse courage and constancy into thy mind, and to strengthen
thy memory and understanding. For, say the commentators, the prophet's
receiving the divine direction, from time to time, how to behave, and to
speak, on any emergency, and the frequent visits of the angel Gabriel, greatly
encouraged and supported him under all his difficulties: and the revealing of
the Korân by degrees was a great, and, to him, a necessary help for his
retaining and understanding it; which it would have been impossible for him to
have done with any exactness, had it been revealed at once; Mohammed's case
being entirely different from that of Moses, David, and JESUS, who could all
read and write, whereas he was perfectly illiterate.2
g The commentators are at a loss where to place al Rass. According to
one opinion it was the name of a well (as the word signifies) near Midian,
about which some idolaters having fixed their habitations, the prophet Shoaib
was sent to preach to them; but they not believing on him, the well fell in,
and they and their houses were all swallowed up. Another supposes it to have
been in a town in Yamâma, where a remnant of the Thamûdites settled, to whom a
prophet was also sent; but they slaying him, were utterly destroyed. Another
thinks it was a well near Antioch, where Habîb al Najjâr (whose tomb is still
to be seen there, beige frequently visited by Mohammedans) was martyred.3 And
a fourth takes al Rass to be a well in Hadramaut, by which dwelt some
idolatrous Thamûdites, whose prophet was Handha, or Khantala (for I find the
name written both ways) Ebn Safwân.4 These people were first annoyed by
certain monstrous birds, called Ankâ, which lodged in the mountain above them,
and used to snatch away their children, when they wanted other prey; but this
calamity was so far from humbling them, that on their prophet's calling down a
judgment upon them, they killed him, and were all destroyed.5
h viz., Sodom; for the Koreish often passed by the place where it once
stood, in the journeys they took to Syria for the sake of trade.
1 See the Prelim. Disc. Sect. III. p. 50, &c. 2 Al Beidâwi, &c.
3 Abu'lf. Geog. Vide Vit. Saladini, p. 86.
4 See chapter 22, p. 254, note y. 5 Al Beidâwi, Jallalo'ddin.
When they see thee, they will receive thee only with scoffing, saying, Is
this he whom GOD hath sent as his apostle?
Verily he had almost drawn us aside from the worship of our gods, if we
had not firmly persevered in our devotion towards them. But they shall know
hereafter, when they shall see the punishment prepared for them, who hath
strayed more widely from the right path.
What thinkest thou? He who taketh his lust for his god; canst thou be
his guardian?i
Dost thou imagine that the greater part of them hear, or understand?
They are no other than like the brute cattle; yea, they stray more widely from
the true path.
Dost thou not consider the works of thy LORD, how he stretcheth forth the
shadow before sunrise? If he had pleased, he would have made it immovable
forever. Then we cause the sun to rise, and to show the same;
and afterwards we contract it by an easy and gradual contraction.
It is he who hath ordained the night to cover you as a garment; and sleep
to give you rest; and hath ordained the day for waking.
50 It is he who sendeth the winds, driving abroad the pregnant clouds, as
the forerunners of his mercy:j and we send down pure waterk from heaven,
that we may thereby revive a dead country, and give to drink thereof unto
what we have created, both of cattle and men, in great numbers;l
and we distribute the same among them at various times, that they may
consider: but the greater part of men refuse to consider, only out of
ingratitude.m
If we had pleased, we had sent a preacher unto every city:n
wherefore, do not thou obey the unbelievers; but oppose them herewith,
with a strong opposition.
It is he who hath let loose the two seas; this fresh and sweet, and that
salt and bitter; and hath placed between them a bar,o and a bound which cannot
be passed.
It is he who hath created man of water,p and hath made him to bear the
double relation of consanguinity and affinity; for thy LORD is powerful.
They worship, besides GOD, that which can neither profit them nor hurt
them: and the unbeliever is an assistant of the devil against his LORD.q
We have sent thee to be no other than a bearer of good tidings, and a
denouncer of threats.
i i.e., Dost thou expect to reclaim such a one from idolatry and
infidelity?
j See chapter 7, p. 110. There is the same various reading here as is
mentioned in the notes to that passage.
k Properly, purifying water; which epithet may perhaps refer to the
cleansing quality of that element, of so great use both on religious and on
common occasions.
l That is, To such as live in the dry deserts, and are obliged to drink
rain-water; which the inhabitants of towns, and places well-watered, have no
occasion to do.
m Or, out of infidelity: for the old Arabs used to think themselves
indebted for their rains, not to GOD, but to the influence of some particular
stars.
n And had not given thee, O Mohammed, the honour and trouble of being a
preacher to the whole world in general.
o To keep them asunder, and prevent their mixing with each other. The
original word is barzakh; which has been already explained.2
p With which Adam's primitive clay was mixed; or, of seed. See chapter
24, p. 268.
q Joining with him in his rebellion and infidelity. Some think Abu
Jahl is particularly struck at in this passage. The words may also be
translated, The unbeliever is contemptible in the sight of his Lord.
1 See the Prelim. Disc. Sect. I. p. 24. 2 In not. ad cap. 23,
p. 261.
Say, I ask not of you any reward for this my preaching; besides the
conversion of him who shall desire to take the way unto his LORD.a
60 And do thou trust in him who liveth, and dieth not; and celebrate his
praise: (he is sufficiently acquainted with the faults of his servants): who
hath created the heavens and the earth, and whatever is between them, in six
days; and then ascended his throne: the Merciful. Ask now the knowing
concerning him.
When it is said unto the unbelievers, Adore the Merciful; they reply, And
who is the Merciful?b Shall we adore that which thou commandest us? And
this precept causeth them to fly the faster from the faith.
Blessed be he who hath placed the twelve signs in the heavens; and hath
placed therein a lamp by day,c and the moon which shineth by night!
It is he who hath ordained the night and the day to succeed each other,
for the observation of him who will consider, or desireth to show his
gratitude.
The servants of the Merciful are those who walk meekly on the earth, and
when the ignorant speak unto them, answer, Peace:d
and who pass the night adoring their LORD, and standing up to pray unto
him;
and who say, O LORD, avert from us the torment of hell, for the torment
thereof is perpetual; verily the same is a miserable abode and a wretched
station:
and who, when they bestow, are neither profuse nor niggardly; but observe
a just medium between these;e
and who invoke not another god together with the true GOD; neither slay
the soul which GOD hath forbidden to be slain, unless for a just cause: and
who are not guilty of fornication. But he who shall do this shall meet the
reward of his wickedness:
his punishment shall be doubled unto him on the day of resurrection; and
he shall remain therein, covered with ignominy, forever:
70 except him who shall repent and believe, and shall work a righteous
work; unto them will GOD change their former evils into good;f for GOD is
ready to forgive, and merciful.
And whoever repenteth, and doth that which is right; verily he turneth
unto GOD with an acceptable conversion.
And they who do not bear false witness; and when they pass by vain
discourse, pass by the same with decency;
and who, when they are admonished by the signs of their LORD, fall not
down as if they were deaf and blind, but stand up and are attentive thereto:
and who say, O LORD, grant us of our wives and our offspring such as may
be the satisfaction of our eyes; and make us patterns unto those who fear
thee.
These shall be rewarded with the highest apartments in paradise, because
they have persevered with constancy; and they shall meet therein with greeting
and salutation;
they shall remain in the same forever: it shall be an excellent abode,
and a delightful station.
Say, My LORD is not solicitous on your account, if ye do not invoke him:
ye have already charged his apostle with imposture; but hereafter shall there
be a lasting punishment inflicted on you.
a Seeking to draw near unto him, by embracing the religion taught by me
his apostle; which is the best return I expect from you for my labours.1 The
passage, however, is capable of another meaning, viz., that Mohammed desires
none to give, but him who shall contribute freely and voluntarily towards the
advancement of GOD'S true religion.
b See chapter 17, p. 237.
c i.e., The sun.
d This is intended here not as a salutation, but as a waiving all
farther discourse and communication with the idolaters.
e See chapter 17, p. 230.
f Blotting out their former rebellion, on their repentance, and
confirming and increasing their faith and obedience.2
1 Al Beidâwi. 2 Idem.