The Koran Part 83

And if an enticement from Satan entice thee, then take refuge in G.o.d, for He is the Hearing, the Knowing.

And among his signs are the night, and the day, and the sun, and the moon.

Bend not in adoration to the sun or the moon, but bend in adoration before G.o.d who created them both, if ye would serve Him.

But if they are too proud for this, yet they who are with thy Lord do celebrate His praises night and day,9 and cease not.

And among His signs is this, that thou seest the earth drooping: but, when we send down the rain upon it, it is stirred and swelleth; verily He who giveth it life, will surely give life to the dead; for His might extendeth over all things.10

They truly who with obloquy disown our signs are not hidden from us. Is he then who shall be cast into the fire, or he who shall come forth secure on the day of resurrection, in the better position? Do what ye will: but His eye is on all your doings.

Verily, they who believe not in "the warning," after it hath come to them . .

. and yet the Koran is a glorious book!

Falsehood, from whatever side it cometh, shall not come night it;11 it is a missive down from the Wise, the Praiseworthy.

Nothing hath been said to thee which hath not been said of old to apostles before thee. Verily with thy Lord is forgiveness, and with Him is terrible retribution.

Had we made it a Koran in a foreign tongue, they had surely said, "Unless its signs be made clear ... !12 What! in a foreign tongue? and the people Arabian?" SAY: It is to those who believe a guide and a medicine;13 but as to those who believe not, there is a thickness in their ears, and to them it is a blindness: they are like those who are called to from afar.

Of old we gave the Book to Moses, and disputes arose about it: and if a decree of respite from thy Lord had gone before, there would surely have been a decision between them: for great were their doubts and questionings about it.14

He who doth right-it is for himself:15 and he who doth evil-it is for himself: and thy Lord will not deal unfairly with his servants.

With Him alone16 is the knowledge of "the Hour." No fruit cometh forth from its coverings, neither doth any female conceive, nor is she delivered, but with His knowledge. And on that day He shall call men to Him, saying, "Where are the companions ye gave me?" They shall say, "We own to thee, there is no one of us can witness for them."

And what they erst called on shall pa.s.s away from them, and they shall perceive that there will be no escape for them.

Man ceaseth not to pray for good: but if evil betide him he despondeth, despairing.

And if we cause him to taste our mercy after affliction hath touched him, he is sure to say, "This is my due: and I take no thought of the Hour of Resurrection: and if I be brought back to my Lord, I shall indeed attain with Him my highest good." But we will then certainly declare their doings to the Infidels, and cause them to taste a stern punishment.

When we are gracious to man, he withdraweth and turneth him aside: but when evil toucheth him, he is a man of long prayers.

SAY: What think ye? If this Book be from G.o.d and ye believe it not, who will have gone further astray than he who is at a distance from it?

We will shew them our signs in different countries and among themselves, until it become plain to them that it is the truth. Is it not enough for thee that thy Lord is witness of all things?

Are they not in doubt as to the meeting with their Lord? But doth he not encompa.s.s all things?

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1 In some MSS. this Sura is ent.i.tled Adoration. Thus Beidh. According to His.

186, comp. Caussin 1, 375 f., Muhammad's aim in this Sura was the conversion of a n.o.ble Meccan, Utba ben Rabia, to Islam. The precise year is uncertain.

2 See Sura lxviii. 1, p. 32.

3 Thus SS. Paul and Barnabas, Acts xiv. 15.

4 Or, never failing.

5 Lit. from before them and from behind them.

6 See Sura [lx.] x.x.xvi. 64, n.

7 Comp. Sura [lx.x.xviii.] xlvi. 12.

8 Lit. the possessor of great good fortune.

9 Comp. Rev. iv. 8 in the original.

10 Thus Tr. Taanith (init.).

11 Lit. vanity shall not come to it from before it, or from behind it.

12 We will not receive it. The literal rendering of the following words is what! foreign and Arabian?

13 Comp. Sura [lxvii.] xvii. 83, 84.

14 Lit. verily they were in suspicious doubting about it.

15 Lit. for his soul. See next Sura, v. 14.

16 Lit. to Him is referred.

SURA XLV.-THE KNEELING [LXXII.]

MECCA.-36 Verses

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

HA. MIM.1 This Book is sent down2 from G.o.d, the Mighty, the Wise!

a.s.suredly in the Heavens and the Earth are signs for those who believe:

And in your own creation, and in the beasts which are scattered abroad are signs to the firm in faith:

And in the succession of night and day, and in the supply which G.o.d sendeth down from the Heaven whereby He giveth life to the earth when dead, and in the change of the winds, are signs for a people of discernment.

Such are the signs of G.o.d: with truth do we recite them to thee. But in what teaching will they believe, if they reject3 G.o.d and his signs?

Woe to every lying sinner,

Who heareth the signs of G.o.d recited to him, and then, as though he heard them not, persisteth in proud disdain! Apprise him of an afflictive punishment.

And when he becometh acquainted with any of our signs he turneth them into ridicule. These! a shameful punishment for them!

h.e.l.l is behind them! and neither their gains nor the lords whom they have adopted beside G.o.d shall avail them in the least: and theirs, a great punishment!