The Koran Part 82

They say, "When will this decision take place? Tell us, if ye are men of truth?"

SAY: On the day of that decision, the faith of infidels shall not avail them, and they shall have no further respite.

Stand aloof from them then, and wait thou, for they too wait.6

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1 See Sura lxviii. 1, p. 32.

2 Comp. Sura [cvii.] xxii. 46, and Ps. xc. 4, which is taken literally by many of the Talmudists. Comp. e.g. Sanhed. 96, 2.

3 Lit. ex spermate genitali.

4 Lit. their sides are raised.

5 Noldeke thinks that the word for meeting is used here in the same sense as in v. 10 above and Sura [lxxi.] xli. 54, and that the clause does not belong to this verse, p. 108, n.

6 Wait thou for their punishment as they wait for thy downfall.

SURA1 XLI.-THE MADE PLAIN [LXXI.]

MECCA.-54 Verses

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

HA. MIM.2 A Revelation from the Compa.s.sionate, the Merciful!

A Book whose verses (signs) are MADE PLAIN-an Arabic Koran, for men of knowledge;

Announcer of glad tidings and charged with warnings! But most of them withdraw and hearken not:

And they say, "Our hearts are under shelter from thy teachings, and in our ears is a deafness, and between us and thee there is a veil. Act as thou thinkest right: we verily shall act as we think right."

SAY: I am only a man like you.3 It is revealed to me that your G.o.d is one G.o.d: go straight then to Him, and implore his pardon. And woe to those who join G.o.ds with G.o.d;

Who pay not the alms of obligation, and in the life to come believe not!

But they who believe and do the things that are right shall receive a perfect4 recompense.

SAY: Do ye indeed disbelieve in Him who in two days created the earth? and do ye a.s.sign Him peers? The Lord of the worlds is He!

And he hath placed on the earth the firm mountains which tower above it; and He hath blessed it, and distributed food throughout it, for the cravings of all alike, in four days:

Then He applied himself to the Heaven, which then was but smoke: and to it and to the Earth He said, "Come ye, whether in obedience or against your will?" and they both said, "We come obedient."

And He made them seven heavens in two days, and in each heaven made known its office: And we furnished the lower heaven with lights and guardian angels.

This, the disposition of the Almighty, the All-knowing.

If they turn away, then SAY: I warn you of a tempest, like the tempest of Ad and Themoud!

When the apostles came to them on every side,5 saying, "Wors.h.i.+p none but G.o.d," they said, "Had our Lord been pleased to send down, He had surely sent down angels; and in sooth, your message we do not believe."

As to Ad, they bore them proudly and unjustly in the land, and said, "Who more mighty than we in prowess?" Saw they not that G.o.d their creator was mightier than they in prowess? And they rejected our signs.

Therefore on ill-omened days did we send against them an impetuous blast that we might make them taste the chastis.e.m.e.nt of shame in this world:-but more shameful shall be the chastis.e.m.e.nt of the life to come; and they shall not be protected.

And as to Themoud, we had vouchsafed them guidance; but to guidance did they prefer blindness; wherefore the tempest of a shameful punishment overtook them for their doings:

But we rescued the believing and the G.o.d-fearing:

And warn of the day when the enemies of G.o.d shall be gathered6 unto the fire urged on in bands:

Until when they reach it, their ears and their eyes and their skins shall bear witness against them of their deeds:

And they shall say to their skins, "Why witness ye against us?" They shall say, "G.o.d, who giveth a voice to all things, hath given us a voice: He created you at first, and to Him are ye brought back.

And ye did not hide yourselves so that neither your ears nor your eyes nor your skins should witness against you: but ye thought that G.o.d knew not many a thing that ye did!

And this your thought which ye did think of your Lord hath ruined you, so that ye are become of those who perish."

And be they patient, still the fire shall be their abode: or if they beg for favour, yet shall they not be of favoured.

And we will appoint Satans as their fast companions; for it was they who made their present and future state seem fair and right to them; and the sentence pa.s.sed on the peoples of Djinn and men who flourished before them hath become their due, and they shall perish.

Yet the unbelievers say, "Hearken not to this Koran, but keep up a talking, that ye may overpower the voice of the reader."

Surely therefore will we cause the unbelievers to taste a terrible punishment;

And recompense them according to the worst of their actions.

This the reward of the enemies of G.o.d,-the Fire! it shall be their eternal abode, in requital for their gainsaying our signs.

And they who believed not shall say, "O our Lord! shew us those of the Djinn and men who led us astray: both of them will we put under out feet, that they may be of the humbled."

But as for those who say, "Our Lord is G.o.d;" and who go straight to Him,7 angels shall descend to them and say, "Fear ye not, neither be ye grieved, but rejoice ye in the paradise which ye have been promised.

We are your guardians in this life and in the next: your's therein shall be your soul's desire, and your's therein whatever ye shall ask for,

The hospitality of a Gracious, a Merciful One."

And who speaketh fairer than he who biddeth to G.o.d and doth the thing that is right, and saith, "I for my part am of the Muslims"?

Moreover, good and evil are not to be treated as the same thing. Turn away evil by what is better, and lo! he between whom and thyself was enmity, shall be as though he were a warm friend.

But none attain to this save men steadfast in patience, and none attain to it except the most highly favoured.8