The Speeches & Table-Talk of the Prophet Mohammad, Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah [speed reading book TXT] 📗
- Author: Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah
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And him whom we make old, we bow down his body: have they no wits?
We have not taught [Mohammad] poetry, nor would it befit him. It is only a warning and a plain Korān,
To warn whosoever liveth: and the sentence shall be carried out upon the unbelievers.
Do they not see that we have created for them, of what our hands have made, the cattle which they possess?
And we have subdued them unto them, and some of them are for riding and of some they eat,
And they have in them profit and milk to drink: and will they not be thankful?
But they have taken other gods beside God, if haply they may be holpen:
They are not able to help them; yet they themselves are an army arrayed for their defence.
But let not their speech grieve thee: verily, we know what they hide and what they show!
Doth not man see that we created him from a germ? Yet, behold he is an open adversary,
And he putteth arguments to us, and forgetteth his creation, saying, “Who can quicken bones that are rotten?”
Say: He who first made them to be shall quicken them: for all creating He knoweth well;—
Who made for you fire from a green tree, and behold, ye kindle with it;
And is not He who created the Heavens and the Earth able to create their like? Yea! for He is the wise Creator.
His command, when he willeth a thing, is only to say to it “Be,” and it is!
Then extolled be the Perfection of Him in whose hand is the empire over all, and to whom ye must return.
(xxxvi.)
THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Extolled be the glory of Him who conveyed his servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the furthest mosque, whose precincts we have blessed, to show him our signs! Verily, He it is who heareth and seeth!
And we gave the Book of the Law to Moses and made it a guide to the Children of Israel—“Take ye no guardian beside Me,
Seed of those whom we bare [in the ark] with Noah! Verily he was a grateful servant!”
And we ordained for the Children of Israel in the Book,—“Ye shall surely work iniquity in the earth twice, and ye shall be puffed up with a mighty arrogance.”
So when the threat came to pass for the first of the two sins, we sent upon you servants of ours armed with grievous punishment; and they went among your houses, and the threat was carried out.
Then in turn we gave you victory over them, and helped you with riches and sons, and made you a very numerous host.
If ye do well, ye will do well to your own souls, and if ye do ill, it will be to them also. And when the threat came to pass for the second sin,—[the enemy came] to afflict you, and to enter the mosque as they entered it the first time, and to utterly destroy what they had overpowered.
Haply your Lord will have mercy on you! and if ye turn, we will turn; but we have made Hell for a prison for the unbelievers.
Verily this Korān guideth to the right way and giveth good tidings to believers,
Who do that which is right, that for them is a great reward;
And that for those who believe not in the life to come, we have made ready an aching torment.
Man prayeth for evil as he prayeth for good: for man was ever hasty.
We have made the night and the day for two signs: then we blot out the sign of the night, and make the sign of the day manifest, that ye may seek bounty from your Lord, and may know the number of the years and the reckoning of time; and we have defined everything definitely.
And every man’s fate we have fastened about his neck. And we will bring to him on the day of Resurrection a book which shall be offered to him open:—
“Read thy Book: thou thyself art accountant enough against thyself this day.”
He who is guided, for his own good only shall he be guided, and he who erreth but to his own hurt; and one burthened soul shall not be burthened with another’s burthen.
And we did not punish until we had sent an apostle.
And when we resolved to destroy a city, we enjoined its men of wealth, but they disobeyed therein; so the sentence proved true, and we destroyed it utterly.
How many generations have we swept away since Noah! and thy Lord knoweth and seeth enough of the sins of His servants.
Whoso desireth the present life, we will present him with what we please therein, to whom we choose: finally, we will make Hell for him to roast in, disgraced and banished:
But whoso desireth the life to come, and striveth after it strenuously, and he a believer,—the endeavour of these shall be acceptable:
To all, to these and those, will we extend the gifts of thy Lord; and the gifts of thy Lord are not limited.
See how we have made some of them excellent above others! but the life to come is greater in degrees and greater in excellence.
Set no other god with God, lest thou sit down disgraced and defenceless.
Thy Lord hath ordained that ye worship none but Him; and kindness to your parents, whether one or both of them attain old age with thee: then say not to them, “Fie!” neither reproach them; but speak to them generous words,
And droop the wing of humility to them out of compassion, and say, “Lord, have compassion on them, like as they fostered me when I was little.”
(Your Lord knoweth perfectly what is in your souls, whether ye be well-doers;
And verily He is forgiving to the repentant.)
And render to thy kinsman his due, and to the poor and to the son of the road (but lavish not wastefully;
Truly the wasteful are brothers of the Devil, and the Devil is ungrateful to his Lord:)
But if thou turnest away from them, to seek the mercy which thou hopest from thy Lord, yet speak to them gentle words.
And let not thy hand be chained to thy neck; nor yet stretch it forth right open, or thou wilt sit down in reproach and destitution.
Verily thy Lord will be openhanded with provision for whom He pleaseth, or He will be sparing; He knoweth and seeth His servants.
And slay not your children for fear of want: we will provide for them. Beware! verily killing them is a great sin.
And draw not near to inchastity; verily it is a foul thing, and evil is the course.
And slay not the soul whom God hath forbidden you to slay, unless for a just cause: and whosoever shall be slain wrongfully, we give his heir the right [of retaliation]; but let him not exceed in slaying; verily he is protected.
And approach not the substance of the orphan, except to make it better, till he cometh to maturity: and observe your covenants; verily covenants shall be inquired of hereafter.
And give full measure when ye measure, weigh with an even balance; that is best and fairest in the end.
And follow not that of which thou hast no knowledge: verily the hearing, and the sight, and the heart,—all of them shall be inquired of.
And walk not proudly on the earth: verily thou shalt never cleave the earth, nor reach to the mountains in height!
All that is evil in thy Lord’s eye, an abomination.
That is part of the wisdom which thy Lord hath revealed to thee. And make no other god beside God, or thou wilt be thrown into Hell in reproach and banishment.
Hath then the Lord assigned to you sons, and shall He take for himself daughters from among the angels? verily ye do say a tremendous saying!
And we made variations in this Korān to warn them; yet it only increaseth their repulsion.
Say: If there were other gods with Him, as ye say, they would then seek occasion against the Lord of the throne.
Extolled be His glory, and be He greatly exalted far above what they say!
The seven heavens, and the earth, and all that is therein, magnify Him, and there is naught but magnifieth His praise; only ye understand not their worship. Verily He is forbearing, forgiving.
When thou declaimest the Korān, we put between thee and those who believe not in the life to come a close veil;
And we put coverings over their hearts, lest they should understand it, and deafness in their ears.
And when thou tellest of thy Lord in the Korān as One, they turn their backs in repulsion.
We know well what they listen for, when they listen to thee, and when they whisper apart, when the wicked say, “Ye do but follow a man enchanted.”
See what comparisons they make for thee! but they wander and cannot find the way.
They say, “What! when we have become bones and dust, shall we forsooth be raised as a new creature?”
Say: Yes! were ye stones, or iron, or any creature, the hardest [to raise again] that your minds can imagine. But they will say, “Who shall restore us?” Say: He who began you in the beginning! And they will wag their heads at thee and say, “When shall this be?” Say: Maybe it is nigh at hand.—
A day when God shall summon you and ye shall answer with His praise; and ye shall think that ye have tarried but a little while.
And say to my servants that they speak pleasantly: verily the Devil provoketh strife among them; verily the Devil is man’s open enemy.
Your Lord knoweth you well; if He please He will have mercy on you; or if He please He will torment you; and we have not sent thee to be our governor over them!
Thy Lord knoweth well who is in the heavens and in the earth. And we distinguished some of the prophets above others, and we gave to David the Psalms.
Say: Call ye upon those whom ye profess beside Him; but they will have no power to put away trouble from you or alter it.
Those whom they invoke do themselves strive for access to their Lord, which of them shall be nearest: and they hope for His mercy and fear His torment: verily the torment of thy Lord is to be dreaded.
There is no city but we will destroy it before the Day of Resurrection, or torment it with grievous torment. That is written in the Book.
Nothing hindered our sending thee with signs but that the people of yore called them lies. We gave Thamūd the she-camel before their very eyes, but they maltreated her; and we send not [a prophet] with signs except to terrify.
And when we said to thee, “Verily thy Lord encompasseth mankind;”—and we made the vision which we showed thee, and the accursed tree in the Korān, only to prove men; and we will terrify them; but it shall only add to their great disobedience.
And when we said to the angels, “Bow down to Adam:” and they all bowed down save Iblīs: who said, “What! shall I bow down to him whom thou hast created
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