The Koran Part 12

4 Descriptions of the Day of Judgment now become very frequent. See Sura lx.x.xv. p. 42, and almost every Sura to the lv., after which they become gradually more historical.

SURA Lx.x.xVII.-THE MOST HIGH [XXV.]

MECCA.-19 Verses

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

PRAISE the name of thy Lord THE MOST HIGH,

Who hath created and balanced all things,

Who hath fixed their destinies and guideth them,

Who bringeth forth the pasture,

And reduceth it to dusky stubble.

We will teach thee to recite the Koran, nor aught shalt thou forget,

Save what G.o.d pleaseth; for he knoweth alike things manifest and hidden;

And we will make easy to thee our easy ways.

Warn, therefore, for the warning is profitable:

He that feareth G.o.d will receive the warning,-

And the most reprobate only will turn aside from it,

Who shall be exposed to the terrible fire,

In which he shall not die, and shall not live.

Happy he who is purified by Islam,

And who remembereth the name of his Lord and prayeth.

But ye prefer this present life,

Though the life to come is better and more enduring.

This truly is in the Books of old,

The Books of Abraham1 and Moses.

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1 Thus the Rabbins attribute the Book Jezirah to Abraham. See Fabr. Cod.

Apoc. V. T. p. 349.

SURA XCV.-THE FIG [XXVI.]

MECCA.-8 Verses

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

I SWEAR by the FIG and by the olive,

By Mount Sinai,

And by this inviolate soil!1

That of goodliest fabric we created man,

Then brought him down to be the lowest of the low;-

Save who believe and do the things that are right, for theirs shall be a reward that faileth not.

Then, who after this shall make thee treat the Judgment as a lie?

What! is not G.o.d the most just of judges?

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1 In allusion to the sacredness of the territory of Mecca. This valley in about the fourth century of our 'ra was a kind of sacred forest of 37 miles in circ.u.mference, and called Haram a name applied to it as early as the time of Pliny (vi. 32). It had the privilege of asylum, but it was not lawful to inhabit it, or to carry on commerce within its limits, and its religious ceremonies were a bond of union to several of the Bedouin tribes of the Hejaz. The Koreisch had monopolised most of the offices and advantages of the Haram in the time of Muhammad. See Sprenger's Life of Mohammad, pp. 7 20.

SURA CIII.-THE AFTERNOON [XXVII.]

MECCA.-3 Verses

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

I SWEAR by the declining day!

Verily, man's lot is cast amid destruction,1

Save those who believe and do the things which be right, and enjoin truth and enjoin stedfastness on each other.

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1 Said to have been recited in the Mosque shortly before his death by Muhammad. See Weil, p. 328.