The Koran Part 65

Almost shall it burst for fury. So oft as a crowd shall be thrown into it, its keepers shall ask them, "Came not the warner to you?"

They shall say, Yes! there came to us one charged with warnings; but we treated him as a liar, and said, "Nothing hath G.o.d sent down: ye are in nothing but a vast delusion."

And they shall say, "Had we but hearkened or understood, we had not been among the dwellers in the flames;"

And their sin shall they acknowledge: but, "Avaunt, ye dwellers in the flame."

But pardon and a great reward for those who fear their Lord in secret!

Be your converse hidden or open, He truly knoweth the inmost recess of your b.r.e.a.s.t.s!

What! shall He not know who hath created? for He is the Subtil,2 the Cognizant.

It is He who hath made the earth level for you: traverse then its broad sides, and eat of what He hath provided.-Unto Him shall be the resurrection.

What! are ye sure that He who is in Heaven will not cleave the Earth beneath you? And lo, it shall quake.

Or are ye sure that He who is in Heaven will not send against you a stone- charged whirlwind? Then shall ye know what my warning meant!

And verily, those who flourish before you treated their prophets as liars: and how grievous my wrath!

Behold they not the birds over their heads, outstretching and drawing in their wings? None, save the G.o.d of Mercy, upholdeth them: for he regardeth all things.

Who is he that can be as an army to you, to succour you, except the G.o.d of Mercy? Truly, the infidels are in the merest delusion.

Or who is he that will furnish you supplies, if He withhold His supplies? Yet do they persist in pride and in fleeing from Him!

Is he who goeth along grovelling on his face, better guided than he who goeth upright on a straight path?

SAY: It is He who hath brought you forth, and gifted you with hearing and sight and heart: yet how few are grateful!

SAY: It is He who hath sown you in the earth, and to Him shall ye be gathered.

And they say, "When shall this threat be put in force, if ye speak the truth?"

SAY: Nay truly, this knowledge is with G.o.d alone: and I am only an open warner.

But when they shall see it nigh, sad shall wax the countenances of the infidels: and it shall be said, "This is what ye have been calling for."

SAY: What think ye? Whether G.o.d destroy me or not, and those who follow me, or whether he have mercy on us, yet who will protect the infidels from a woeful torment?

SAY: He is the G.o.d of Mercy: in Him do we believe, and in Him put we our trust; and ye shall know hereafter who is in a manifest error.

SAY: What think ye? If at early morn your waters shall have sunk away, who then will give you clear running water?

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1 Thus Shakespeare uses the word braying of clamours of h.e.l.l; and Milton speaks of braying horrible discord. Comp. Sura xxv. 12-21.

2 Der alles durchdringt. Ullm.; perspicax. Mar.; sagacious. Sale. The primary meaning of the Arabic root is to draw near; hence the above signification, in the sense of G.o.d's presence as interpenetrating all things: hence also the other sense of benign, as in Sura [lx.x.xiii.] xlii. 18.

SURA XXIII.-THE BELIEVERS [LXIV.]

MECCA.1-118 Verses

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

HAPPY now the BELIEVERS,

Who humble them in their prayer,

And who keep aloof from vain words,2

And who are doers of alms deeds,

And who restrain their appet.i.tes,

(Save with their wives, or the slaves whom their right hands possess: for in that case they shall be free from blame:

But they whose desires reach further than this are transgressors:)

And who tend well their trusts and their covenants,

And who keep them strictly to their prayers:

These shall be the heritors,

Who shall inherit the paradise, to abide therein for ever.

Now of fine clay have we created man:

Then we placed him, a moist germ,3 in a safe abode;

Then made we the moist germ a clot of blood: then made the clotted blood into a piece of flesh; then made the piece of flesh into bones: and we clothed the bones with flesh: then brought forth man of yet another make4-Blessed therefore be G.o.d, the most excellent of Makers5-

Then after this ye shall surely die:

Then shall ye be waked up on the day of resurrection.

And we have created over you seven heavens:6-and we are not careless of the creation.

And we send down water from the Heaven in its due degree, and we cause it to settle on the earth;-and we have power for its withdrawal:-

And by it we cause gardens of palm trees, and vineyards to spring forth for you, in which ye have plenteous fruits, and whereof ye eat;

And the tree that groweth up on Mount Sinai; which yieldeth oil and a juice for those who eat.