The Koran Part 3

For its own works lieth every soul in pledge. But they of G.o.d's right hand

In their gardens shall ask of the wicked;-

"What hath cast you into h.e.l.l-fire?"6

They will say, "We were not of those who prayed,

And we were not of those who fed the poor,

And we plunged into vain disputes with vain disputers,

And we rejected as a lie, the day of reckoning,

Till the certainty7 came upon us"-

And intercession of the interceders shall not avail them.

Then what hath come to them that they turn aside from the Warning

As if they were affrighted a.s.ses fleeing from a lion?

And every one of them would fain have open pages given to him out of Heaven.

It shall not be. They fear not the life to come.

It shall not be. For this Koran is warning enough. And whoso will, it warneth him.

But not unless G.o.d please, shall they be warned. Meet is He to be feared.

Meet is forgiveness in Him.

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1 This Sura is placed by Muir in the "second stage" of Meccan Suras, and twenty-first in chronological order, in the third or fourth year of the Prophet's career. According, however, to the chronological list of Suras given by Weil (Leben M. p. 364) from ancient tradition, as well as from the consentient voice of tradionists and commentaries (v. Nold. Geschichte, p.

69; Sprenger's Life of Mohammad, p. 111) it was the next revealed after the Fatrah, and the designation to the prophetic office. The main features of the tradition are, that Muhammad while wandering about in the hills near Mecca, distracted by doubts and by anxiety after truth, had a vision of the Angel Gabriel seated on a throne between heaven and earth, that he ran to his wife, Chadijah, in the greatest alarm, and desired her, perhaps from superst.i.tious motives (and believing that if covered with clothes he should be s.h.i.+elded from the glances of evil spirits-comp. Stanley on I Cor. xi. 10), to envelope him in his mantle; that then Gabriel came down and addressed him as in v. I. This vision, like that which preceded Sura xcvi., may actually have occurred during the hallucinations of one of the epileptic fits from which Muhammad from early youth appears to have suffered. Hence Muhammad in Sura lx.x.xi. appeals to it as a matter of fact, and such he doubtless believe it to be. It may here be observed, that however absurd the Muslim traditions may be in many of their details, it will generally be found that where there is an ancient and tolerably universal consent, there will be found at the bottom a residuum of fact and historical truth. At the same time there can be no doubt but that the details of the traditions are too commonly founded upon the attempt to explain or to throw light upon a dark pa.s.sage of the Koran, and are pure inventions of a later age.

2 The Arabic words are not those used in later Suras to express the same idea.

3 Said to be Walid b. Mogheira, a person of note among the unbelieving Meccans. This portion of the Sura seems to be of a different date from the first seven verses, though very ancient, and the change of subject is similar to that at v. 9 of the previous Sura.

4 This and the three following verses wear the appearance of having been inserted at a later period to meet objections respecting the number of the angels who guard h.e.l.l, raised by the Jews; perhaps at Medina, as the four cla.s.ses of persons specified are those whom Muhammad had to deal with in that city, viz., the Jews, Believers, the Hypocrites, or undecided, and Idolaters.

These are constantly mentioned together in the Medina Suras.

5 That is, who believe, and do not believe.

6 As the word sakar disturbs the rhyme, it may have been inserted by a mistake of the copyist for the usual word, which suits it.

7 That is, death. Beidh. Comp. Sura xv. 99.

SURA LXXIII. THE ENFOLDED1 [III.]

MECCA. 20 Verses.

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

O THOU ENFOLDED in thy mantle,

Stand up all night, except a small portion of it, for prayer:

Half; or curtail the half a little,-

Or add to it: And with measured tone intone the Koran,2

For we shall devolve on thee weighty words.

Verily, at the oncoming of night are devout impressions strongest, and words are most collected;3

But in the day time thou hast continual employ-

And commemorate the name of thy Lord, and devote thyself to Him with entire devotion.

Lord of the East and of the West! No G.o.d is there but He! Take Him for thy protector,

And endure what they say with patience, and depart from them with a decorous departure.

And let Me alone with the gainsayers, rich in the pleasures of this life; and bear thou with them yet a little while:

For with Us are strong fetters, and a flaming fire,

And food that choketh, and a sore torment.

The day cometh when the earth and the mountains shall be shaken; and the mountains shall become a loose sand heap.

Verily, we have sent you an Apostle to witness against you, even as we sent an Apostle to Pharaoh:

But Pharaoh rebelled against the Apostle, and we therefore laid hold on him with a severe chastis.e.m.e.nt.

And how, if ye believe not, will you screen yourselves from the day that shall turn children greyheaded?

The very heaven shall be reft asunder by it: this threat shall be carried into effect.

Lo! this is a warning. Let him then who will, take the way to his Lord.

Of a truth,4 thy Lord knoweth that thou prayest almost two-thirds, or half, or a third of the night, as do a part of thy followers. But G.o.d measureth the night and the day: He knoweth that ye cannot count its hours aright, and therefore, turneth to you mercifully. Recite then so much of the Koran as may be easy to you. He knoweth that there will be some among you sick, while others travel through the earth in quest of the bounties of G.o.d; and others do battle in his cause. Recite therefore so much of it as may be easy. And observe the Prayers and pay the legal Alms,5 and lend G.o.d a liberal loan: for whatever good works ye send on before for your own behoof, ye shall find with G.o.d. This will be best and richest in the recompense. And seek the forgiveness of G.o.d: verily, G.o.d is forgiving, Merciful.

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