The Koran Part 70

And sundry Satans16 who should dive for him and perform other work beside: and we kept watch over them.

And remember Job: When he cried to his Lord, "Truly evil hath touched me: but thou art the most merciful of those who shew mercy."

So we heard him, and lightened the burden of his woe; and we gave him back his family, and as many more with them,-a mercy from us, and a memorial for those who serve us:

And Ismael, and Edris17 and Dhoulkefl18-all steadfast in patience.

And we caused them to enter into our mercy; for they were of the righteous:

And Dhoulnoun;19 when he went on his way in anger, and thought that we had no power over him. But in the darkness he cried "There is no G.o.d but thou: Glory be unto Thee! Verily, I have been one of the evil doers:"

So we heard him and rescued him from misery: for thus rescue we the faithful:

And Zacharias; when he called upon his Lord saying, "O my Lord, leave me not childless: but there is no better heir than Thyself."20

So we heard him, and gave him John, and we made his wife fit for child- bearing. Verily, these vied in goodness, and called upon us with love and fear, and humbled themselves before us:

And her who kept her maidenhood, and into whom21 we breathed of our spirit, and made her and her son a sign to all creatures.

Of a truth, this, your religion, is the one22 Religion, and I your Lord; therefore serve me:

But they have rent asunder this their great concern among themselves into sects. All of them shall return to us.

And whoso shall do the things that are right, and be a believer, his efforts 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 wors.h.i.+p beside G.o.d,24 shall be fuel for h.e.l.l: ye shall go down into it.

Were these G.o.ds, 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 G.o.d.

We have not sent thee otherwise than as mercy unto all creatures.

SAY: Verily it hath been revealed to me that your G.o.d is one G.o.d; 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.

G.o.d 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 G.o.d of Mercy-whose help is to be sought against what ye utter.

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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; [lx.x.xi.] 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 aeth. deliverance, liberation. Thus, Sura viii. 29, 42, and hence, illumination, revelation, generally. The usual interpretation here and in other pa.s.sages is the distinction, i.e. between good and evil, lawful and unlawful. The t.i.tle 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-wors.h.i.+p, break images, escape the wrath of the king by a miracle, and preach that there is one G.o.d 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.