The Koran Part 79

And thou mightest have seen the sun when it arose, pa.s.s on the right of their cave, and when it set, leave them on the left, while they were in its s.p.a.cious chamber. This is one of the signs of G.o.d. Guided indeed is he whom G.o.d guideth; but for him whom He misleadeth, thou shalt by no means find a patron, director.

And thou wouldst have deemed them awake,3 though they were sleeping: and we turned them to the right and to the left. And in the entry lay their dog with paws outstretched.4 Hadst thou come suddenly upon them, thou wouldst surely have turned thy back on them in flight, and have been filled with fear at them.

So we awaked them that they might question one another. Said one of them, "How long have ye tarried here?" They said, "We have tarried a day or part of day." They said, "Your Lord knoweth best how long ye have tarried: Send now one of you with this your coin into the city, and let him mark who therein hath purest food, and from him let him bring you a supply: and let him be courteous, and not discover you to any one.

For they, if they find you out, will stone you or turn you back to their faith, and in that case it will fare ill with you for ever."

And thus made we their adventure known to their fellow citizens, that they might learn that the promise of G.o.d is true, and that as to "the Hour" there is no doubt of its coming. When they disputed among themselves concerning what had befallen them, some said, "Build a building over them; their Lord knoweth best about them." Those who prevailed in the matter said, "A place of wors.h.i.+p will we surely raise over them."

Some say, "They were three; their dog the fourth:" others say, "Five; their dog the sixth," guessing at the secret: others say, "Seven; and their dog the eighth." SAY: My Lord best knoweth the number: none, save a few, shall know them.

Therefore be clear in they discussions about them,5 and ask not any Christian concerning them.

Say not thou of a thing, " I will surely do it to-morrow;" without , "If G.o.d will."6 And when thou hast forgotten, call thy Lord to mind; and say, "Haply my Lord will guide me, that I may come near to the truth of this story with correctness."

And they tarried in their cave 300 years, and 9 years over.7

SAY: G.o.d best knoweth how long they tarried: With Him are the secrets of the Heavens and of the Earth: Look thou and hearken unto Him alone.8 Man hath no guardian but Him, and none may bear part in his judgments:-

And publish what hath been revealed to thee of the Book of thy Lord-none may change his words,-and thou shalt find no refuge beside Him.

Be patient with those who call upon their Lord at morn and even, seeking his face: and let not thine eyes be turned away from them in quest of the pomp of this life;9 neither obey him10 whose heart we have made careless of the remembrance of Us, and who followeth his own l.u.s.ts, and whose ways are unbridled.

And SAY: the truth is from your Lord: let him then who will, believe; and let him who will, be an infidel. But for the offenders we have got ready the fire whose smoke shall enwrap them: and if they implore help, helped shall they be with water like molten bra.s.s which shall scald their Wretched the drink! and an unhappy couch!

But as to those who have believed and done the things that are right,-Verily we will not suffer the reward of him whose works were good, to peris.h.!.+

For them, the gardens of Eden, under whose shades shall rivers flow: decked shall they be therein with bracelets of gold, and green robes of silk and rich brocade shall they wear, reclining them therein on thrones. Blissful the reward! and a pleasant couch!11

And set forth to them as a parable two men; on one of whom we bestowed two gardens of grape vines, and surrounded both with palm trees, and placed corn fields between them: Each of the gardens did yield its fruit, and failed not thereof at all:

And we caused a river to flow in their midst: And this man received his fruit, and said, disputing with him, to his companion, "More have I than thou of wealth, and my family is mightier."

And he went into his garden-to his own soul unjust. He said, "I do not think that this will ever perish:

And I do not think that 'the Hour' will come: and even if I be taken back to my Lord, I shall surely find a better than it in exchange."

His fellow said to him, disputing with him, "What ! hast thou no belief in him who created thee of the dust, then of the germs of life,12 then fas.h.i.+oned thee a perfect man?

But G.o.d is my Lord; and no other being will I a.s.sociate with my Lord.

And why didst thou not say when thou enteredst thy garden, 'What G.o.d willeth!

There is no power but in G.o.d.' Though thou seest that I have less than thou of wealth and children,

Yet haply my Lord may bestow on me better than thy garden, and may send his bolts upon it out of Heaven, so that the next dawn shall find it barren dust;

Or its water become deep sunk, so that thou art unable to find it."

And his fruits were encompa.s.sed by destruction. Then began he to turn down the palms of his hands at what he had spent on it; for its vines were falling down on their trellises, and he said, "Oh that I had not joined any other G.o.d to my Lord!"

And he had no host to help him instead of G.o.d, neither was he able to help himself.

Protection in such a case is of G.o.d-the Truth: He is the best rewarder, and He bringeth to the best issue.

And set before them a similitude of the present life. It is as water which we send down from Heaven, and the herb of the Earth is mingled with it, and on the morrow it becometh dry stubble which the winds scatter: for G.o.d hath power over all things.

Wealth and children are the adornment of this present life: but good works, which are lasting, are better in the sight of thy Lord as to recompense, and better as to hope.

And call to mind the day when we will cause the mountains to pa.s.s away,13 and thou shalt see the earth a levelled plain, and we will gather mankind together, and not leave of them any one.

And they shall be set before thy Lord in ranks:-"Now are ye come unto us as we created you at first: but ye thought that we should not make good to you the promise."

And each shall have his book put into his hand: and thou shalt see the wicked in alarm at that which is therein: and they shall say, "O woe to us! what meaneth this Book? It leaveth neither small nor great unnoted down!" And they shall find all that they have wrought present to them, and thy Lord will not deal unjustly with any one.

When we said to the angels, "Prostrate yourselves before Adam," they all prostrated them save Eblis, who was of the Djinn,14 and revolted from his Lord's behest. behest.-What! will ye then take him and his offspring as patrons rather than Me? and they your enemies? Sad exchange for the unG.o.dly!

I made them not witnesses of the creation of the Heavens and of the Earth, nor of their own creation, neither did I take seducers as my helpers.

On a certain day, G.o.d shall say, "Call ye on the companions ye joined with me, deeming them to be G.o.ds:" and they shall call on them, but they shall not answer them: then will we place a valley of perdition between them:

And the wicked shall see the fire, and shall have a foreboding that they shall be flung into it, and they shall find no escape from it.

And now in this Koran we have presented to man similitudes of every kind: but, at most things is man a caviller.

And what, now that guidance is come to them, letteth men from believing and from asking forgiveness of their Lord-unless they wait till that the doom of the ancients overtake them, or the chastis.e.m.e.nt come upon them in the sight of the universe?

We send not our Sent Ones but to announce and to warn: but the infidels cavil with vain words in order to refute the truth; and they treat my signs and their own warnings with scorn.

But who is worse than he who when told of the signs of his Lord turneth him away and forgetteth what in time past his hands have wrought? Truly we have thrown veils over their hearts lest they should understand this Koran, and into their ears a heaviness:

And if thou bid them to "the guidance" yet will they not even then be guided ever.

The gracious one, full of compa.s.sion, is thy Lord! if he would have chastised them for their demerits he would have hastened their chastis.e.m.e.nt. But they have a time fixed for the accomplishment of our menaces: and beside G.o.d they shall find no refuge.

And those cities did we destroy when they became impious; and of their coming destruction we gave them warning.

Remember when Moses said to his servant, "I will not stop till I reach the confluence of the two seas,15 or for years will I journey on."

But when they reached their confluence, they forgot their fish, and it took its way in the sea at will.

And when they had pa.s.sed on, said Moses to his servant, "Bring us our morning meal; for now have we incurred weariness from this journey."

He said, "What thinkest thou? When we repaired to the rock for rest I forgot the fish; and none but Satan made me forget it, so as not to mention it; and it hath taken its way in the sea in a wondrous sort."

He said, "It is this we were in quest of."16 And they both went back retracing their footsteps.

Then found they one of our servants to whom we had vouchsafed our mercy, and whom we had instructed with our knowledge.