The Koran Part 98

And your Lord saith, "Call upon me-I will hearken unto you: but they who turn in disdain from my service shall enter h.e.l.l with shame."

It is G.o.d who hath ordained the night for your rest, and the day to give you light: verily G.o.d is rich in bounties to men: but most men render not the tribute of thanks.

This is G.o.d your Lord, Creator of all things: no G.o.d is there but He: why then do ye turn away from Him?

Yet thus are they turned aside who gainsay the signs of G.o.d.

It is G.o.d who hath given you the earth as a sure foundation, and over it built up the Heaven, and formed you, and made your forms beautiful, and feedeth you with good things. This is G.o.d your Lord. Blessed then be G.o.d the Lord of the Worlds!

He is the Living One. No G.o.d is there but He. Call then upon Him and offer Him a pure wors.h.i.+p. Praise be to G.o.d the Lord of the Worlds!

SAY: Verily I am forbidden to wors.h.i.+p what ye call on beside G.o.d, after that the clear tokens have come to me from my Lord, and I am bidden to surrender myself to the Lord of the Worlds.

He it is who created you of the dust, then of the germs of life, then of thick blood, then brought you forth infants: then he letteth you reach your full strength, and then become old men (but some of you die first), and reach the ordained term. And this that haply ye may understand.

It is He who giveth life and death; and when He decreeth a thing, He only saith of it, "Be," and it is.

Seest thou not those who cavil at the signs of G.o.d? how are they turned aside!

They who treat "the Book," and the message with which we have sent our Sent Ones, as a lie, shall know the truth hereafter,

When the collars shall be on their necks and the chains to drag them into h.e.l.l: then in the fire shall they be burned.

Then shall it be said to them, "Where are they whom ye made the objects of joint wors.h.i.+p with G.o.d?" They shall say, "They have vanished away from us.

Yea, it was nought on which we called heretofore." Thus G.o.d leadeth the unbelievers astray.

-"This for you, because of your unrighteous insolence and immoderate joys on earth.

Enter ye the portals of h.e.l.l to abide therein for ever. And, wretched the abode of the haughty ones!"

Therefore be thou steadfast in patience: for the promise of G.o.d is truth: and whether we shall make thee see part of the woes with which we threatened them, or whether we cause thee first to die, unto us shall they be brought back.

And we have already sent apostles before thee: of some we have told thee, and of others we have told thee nothing:10 but no apostle had the power to work a miracle unless by the leave of G.o.d. But when G.o.d's behest cometh, everything will be decided with truth: and then they perish who treated it as a vain thing.

It is G.o.d who hath given you the cattle that on some of them ye may ride, and of some may eat:

(Other advantages too do ye derive from them)-and that by them ye may effect the projects ye cherish in your b.r.e.a.s.t.s; for on them, and on s.h.i.+ps are ye borne:

And He sheweth you His signs: which, then, of the signs of G.o.d will ye deny?

Have they not journeyed in this land, and seen what hath been the end of those who flourished before them? More were they than these in number and mightier in strength, and greater are the traces of their power remaining in the land:11 yet their labours availed them nothing.

And when their apostles had come to them with the tokens of their mission, they exulted in what they possessed of knowledge; but that retribution at which they scoffed, encompa.s.sed them.

And when they beheld our vengeance they said, "We believe in G.o.d alone, and we disbelieve in the deities we once a.s.sociated with Him."

But their faith, after they had witnessed our vengeance, profited them not.

Such the procedure of G.o.d with regard to his servants who flourished of old.

And then the unbelievers perished.

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1 See Sura 1xviii. 1, p. 32.

2 The Cherubic beings of Scripture are said to be above the throne of G.o.d (Is. vi. 1), beneath it (Ezek. x.); and the mystical beasts in the Revelations are said to be in the midst of the throne and round about it.

3 Probably the union of life and death in the womb, and the subsequent life followed by death.

4 See Sura [lxxix.] xxviii. 76.

5 Thus Sura [lxxix.] xxviii 20, and Sura [lx.] x.x.xvi. 19, we have a similar character introduced into the narrative.

6 Comp. Acts v. 38, 39.

7 These tribes no doubt constantly formed temporary alliances. Muhammad implies that they were confederate against their prophets.

8 Haman, the favourite of Ahasuerus and the enemy of the Jews, is thus made the vizier of Pharaoh. The Rabbins make this vizier to have been Korah, Jethro, or Balaam. Midr. Jalkut on Ex. ch. 1, Sect. 162-168; and Tr. Solah, fol. 11. See Sura [lxxix.] xxviii. 5.

9 Thy remissness in propagating Islam. Beidh.

10 It is possible that Muhammad, conscious of his ignorance of Jewish history, intends in this verse to screen himself from the charge of pa.s.sing over the histories of many of their prophets.

11 The wealth of Mecca, although it still numbered about 12,000 inhabitants (as well as of Arabia generally), had much declined at the time of Muhammad, owing mainly to the navigation of the Red Sea, under the Roman dominion over Egypt, which of course impoverished the tribes situated on the line of the old mercantile route southward. Mecca, however, was still to a certain extent prosperous. Comp. Sura [lxi.] xliii. 28.

SURA XXVIII.-THE STORY [LXXIX.]

MECCA.-88 Verses

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

TA. SIN. MIM.1 These are the signs of the lucid Book.

We will recite to thee portions of the History of Moses and Pharaoh with truth, for the teaching of the faithful.

Now Pharaoh lifted himself up in the earth, and divided his people into parties: one portion of them he brought low-He slew their male children, and let their females only live; for he was one of those who wrought disorders.

And we were minded to shew favour to those who were brought low in the land, and to make them spiritual chiefs,2 and to make them Pharaoh's heirs,

And to stablish them in the land;3 and to make Pharaoh and Haman and their hosts, the eye-witnesses of what they dreaded from them.

And we said by revelation to the mother of Moses, "Give him suck; and if thou fearest for him, launch him on the sea; and fear not, neither fret; for we will restore him to thee, and make him one of the apostles."

And Pharaoh's family took him up to be a foe and a sorrow to them, for sinners were Pharaoh and Haman and their hosts!

And Pharaoh's wife said, "Joy of the eye4 to me and thee! put him not to death: haply he will be useful to us, or we may adopt him as a son." But they knew not what they did.