The Koran Part 73

The Commentators doubt whether they are spoken by the wicked of the impossibility of their attaining Paradise, or by the angels to the wicked.

7 Said by Beidh. to be the polytheist Okbeh, the son of Abu Mo'eyt, who by Muhammad's persuasion professed Islam, but afterwards retracted to please Ubei ben Khalaf. See Gagnier's Vie de Mahom. i. 362.

8 Ar. fulani (whence the Spanish fulano) identical with the Heb. p. 155, used of a person only in Ruth iv. 1, but by the Rabbinic writers, constantly.

9 Or, abandoner.

10 This verse shews that the Koran was of gradual growth in the time of Muhammad himself.

11 Lit. parables.

12 Lit. vizier.

13 It is uncertain whether Ra.s.s is the name of a city in Yemama; or merely, as some interpret it, of a well near Midian; or, according to others, in the territory of Hadramont.

14 Geiger is mistaken in supposing that this pa.s.sage alludes to 2 Kings xx. 9 12, and his translation is inaccurate.

15 Lit. quiescent, i.e. always the same.

16 According to some commentators, Muhammad here speaks of the waters of the Tigris, which do not mingle with the salt water of the sea till they have reached a considerable distance from the river-mouth. See Zech. xiv. 8.

17 See Sura [cv.] xxiv. 44, n.

18 "Thou art taught that whoever would make a profit by the Law depriveth himself of life." Pirke Aboth, i. 4. This precept is of frequent occurrence in the Talmud.

19 Comp. Sura [xc.] xiii. 29; and the following Sura xvii. 109, n.

20 The idolaters.

SURA XVII.-THE NIGHT JOURNEY [LXVII.]

MECCA.1-111 Verses

In the Name of G.o.d, the Compa.s.sionate, the Merciful

GLORY be to Him who carried his servant by night2 from the sacred temple of Mecca to the temple3 that is more remote, whose precinct we have blessed, that we might shew him of our signs! for He is the Hearer, the Seer.

And4 we gave the Book to Moses and ordained it for guidance to the children of Israel-"that ye take no other Guardian than me."

O posterity of those whom we bare with Noah! He truly was a grateful servant!

And we solemnly declared to the children of Israel in the Book, "Twice surely will ye enact crimes in the earth, and with great loftiness of pride will ye surely be uplifted."

So when the menace for the first crime5 came to be inflicted, we sent against you our servants endued with terrible prowess; and they searched the inmost part of your abodes, and the menace was accomplished.

Then we gave you the mastery over them6 in turn, and increased you in wealth and children, and made you a most numerous host.

We said, "If ye do well, to your own behoof will ye do well: and if ye do evil, against yourselves will ye do it. And when the menace for your latter crime7 came to be inflicted, then we sent an enemy to sadden your faces, and to enter the temple as they entered it at first, and to destroy with utter destruction that which they had conquered.

Haply your Lord will have mercy on you! but if ye return, we will return:8 and we have appointed h.e.l.l-the prison of the infidels.

Verily, this Koran guideth to what is most upright; and it announceth to believers

Who do the things that are right, that for them is a great reward;

And that for those who believe not in the life to come, we have got ready a painful punishment.

Man prayeth for evil as he prayeth for good; for man is hasty.

We have made the night and the day for two signs: the sign of the night do we obscure, but the sign of the day cause we to s.h.i.+ne forth, that ye may seek plenty from your Lord, and that ye may know the number of the years and the reckoning of time; and we have made everything distinct by distinctiveness.

And every man's fate9 have we fastened about his neck: and on the day of resurrection will we bring forth to him a book which shall be proffered to him wide open:

-"Read thy Book:10 there needeth none but thyself to make out an account against thee this day."

For his own good only shall the guided yield to guidance, and to his own loss only shall the erring err; and the heavy laden shall not be laden with another's load. We never punished until we had first sent an apostle:

And when we willed to destroy a city, to its affluent ones did we address our bidding; but when they acted criminally therein, just was its doom, and we destroyed it with an utter destruction.

And since Noah, how many nations have we exterminated! And of the sins of his servants thy Lord is sufficiently informed, observant.

Whoso chooseth this quickly pa.s.sing life, quickly will we bestow therein that which we please-even on him we choose; afterward we will appoint h.e.l.l for him, in which he shall burn-disgraced, outcast:

But whoso chooseth the next life, and striveth after it as it should be striven for, being also a believer,-these! their striving shall be grateful to G.o.d:

To all-both to these and those-will we prolong the gifts of thy Lord; for not to any shall the gifts of thy Lord be denied.

See how we have caused some of them to excel others! but the next life shall be greater in its grades, and greater in excellence.

Set not up another G.o.d with G.o.d, lest thou sit thee down disgraced, helpless.11

Thy Lord hath ordained that ye wors.h.i.+p none but him; and, kindness to your parents, whether one or both of them attain to old age with thee: and say not to them, "Fie!" neither reproach them; but speak to them both with respectful speech;

And defer humbly to them12 out of tenderness; and say, "Lord, have compa.s.sion on them both, even as they reared me when I was little."

Your Lord well knoweth what is in your souls; he knoweth whether ye be righteous:

And gracious is He to those who return to Him.

And to him who is of kin render his due, and also to the poor and to the wayfarer; yet waste not wastefully,

For the wasteful are brethren of the Satans, and Satan was ungrateful to his Lord:

But if thou turn away from them, while thou thyself seekest boons from thy Lord for which thou hopest, at least speak to them with kindly speech:

And let not thy hand be tied up to thy neck; nor yet open it with all openness, lest thou sit thee down in rebuke, in beggary.

Verily, thy Lord will provide with open hand for whom he pleaseth, and will be sparing. His servants doth he scan, inspect.