The Quran (Koran), 1st translation, - [red queen free ebook txt] 📗

-"Cry not for help this day, for by Us ye shall not be succoured:

Long since were my signs rehearsed to you, but ye turned back on your heels,

Puffed up with pride, discoursing foolishly by night."

Do they not then heed the things spoken-whether that hath come to them which came not to their fathers of old?

Or do they not recognise their apostle; and therefore disavow him?

Or say they, "A Djinn is in him?" Nay! he hath come to them with the truth; but the truth do most of them abhor.

But if the truth had followed in the train of their desires, the heavens and the earth, and all that therein is, had surely come to ruin! But we have brought them their warning; and from their warning they withdraw.

Dost thou ask them for remuneration? But, remuneration from thy Lord is best; and He is the best provider.

And thou indeed biddest them to the right path;

But verily they who believe not in the life to come, from that path do surely wander!

And if we had taken compassion on them, and relieved them from their trouble, they would have plunged on in their wickedness, wildly wandering.10

We formerly laid hold on them with chastisement, yet they did not humble them to their Lord, nor did they abase them;

Until, when we have opened upon them the door of a severe punishment, lo! they are in despair at it.

It is He who hath implanted in you hearing, and sight, and heart; how few of you give thanks!

It is He who hath caused you to be born on the earth: and unto Him shall ye be gathered.

And it is He who maketh alive and killeth, and of Him is the change of the night and of the day: Will ye not understand?

But they say, as said those of old:-

They say,"What! When we shall be dead, and have become dust and bones, shall we, indeed, be waked to life?

This have we been promised, we and our fathers aforetime: but it is only fables of the ancients."

SAY: Whose is the earth, and all that is therein;-if ye know?

They will answer, "God's." SAY: Will ye not, then reflect?

SAY: Who is the Lord of the seven heavens, and the Lord of the glorious throne?

They will say, "They are God's". SAY: Will ye not, then, fear Him?

SAY: In whose hand is the empire of all things, who protecteth but is not protected? if ye know:

They will answer, "In God's." SAY: How, then, can ye be so spell-bound?

Yea, we have brought them the truth; but they are surely liars:

God hath not begotten offspring; neither is there any other God with Him: else had each god assuredly taken away that which he had created,11 and some had assuredly uplifted themselves above others! Far from the glory of God, be what they affirm of Him!

He knoweth alike the unseen and the seen: far be He uplifted above the gods whom they associate with Him!

SAY: O my Lord! If thou wilt let me witness the infliction of that with which they have been threatened!

O my Lord! place me not among the ungodly people.

Verily, we are well able to make thee see the punishment with which we have threatened them.

Turn aside evil with that which is better: we best know what they utter against thee.

And SAY: "O my Lord! I betake me to Thee, against the promptings of the
Satans:

And I betake me to Thee, O my Lord! that they gain no hurtful access to me."

When death overtaketh one of the wicked, he saith, "Lord, send me back again,

That I may do the good which I have left undone."12 "By no means." These are the very words which he shall speak:

But behind them shall be a barrier, until the day when they shall be raised again.

And when the trumpet shall be sounded, the ties of kindred between them shall cease on that day; neither shall they ask each other's help.

They whose balances shall be heavy, shall be the blest.

But they whose balances shall be light,-these are they who shall lose their souls, abiding in hell for ever:

The fire shall scorch their faces, and their lips shall quiver therein:-

-"What! Were not my signs rehearsed unto you? and did ye not treat them as lies?"

They shall say, "O our Lord! our ill-fortune prevailed against us, and we became an erring people.

O our Lord! Bring us forth hence: if we go back again to our sins, we shall indeed be evil doers."

He will say; "Be ye driven down into it; and, address me not."

A part truly of my servants was there, who said, "O our Lord! we believe: forgive us, then, and be merciful to us, for of the merciful art thou the best."

But ye received them with such scoffs that they suffered you to forget my warning, and ye laughed them to scorn.

Verily this day will I reward then, for their patient endurance: the blissful ones shall they be!

He will say, "What number of years tarried ye on earth?"

They will say, "We tarried a day, or part of a day;13 but ask the recording angels."14

God will say, "Short indeed was the time ye tarried, if that ye knew it.

What! Did ye then think that we had created you for pastime, and that ye should not be brought back again to us?" Wherefore let God be exalted, the King, the Truth! There is no god but He! Lord of the stately throne! And whoso, together with God, shall call on another god, for whom he hath no proof, shall surely have to give account to his Lord. Aye, it shall fare ill with the infidels.

And SAY: "O my Lord, pardon, and have mercy; for of those who show mercy, art thou the best."

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1 This Sura is said by Wahidi Intr, and by Assuyűti, 55, to be the last Meccan revelation. But there seems to be no reason for this opinion.

2 In prayer. Eccl. v. I; Matt. vi. 7. But it may be understood of idle talk generally.

3 See Sura xxii. 5, n.

4 That is, a perfect man at last, composed of soul and body. The verb halaka, to create, is used throughout, for which I have necessarily substituted to make, in order to retain the same word throughout the verse.

5 These words are said by most commentators on Sura vi. 93, to have been uttered by Muhammad's scribe, Abdallah, on hearing the previous part of this verse, and to have been adopted by the prophet, at the same moment, as identical with his own inspirations.

6 Lit. seven paths-a Talmudic expression.

7 See Sura [lxxv.] xi. 42, n.

8 Comp. Sura xix. 22 ff., p. 119. Wahl understands this passage of Paradise.

9 Comp. Sura xxi. 92, p. 157.

10 There is no reliable tradition as to the nature of the visitation here alluded to.

11 That is, each would have formed a separate and independent kingdom.

12 Or, in the (world) which I have left.

13 That is, our past life seems brevity itself in comparison with eternal torment.

14 Lit. those who number, or keep account, i.e. our torments distract us too much to allow us to compute.

MECCA.-112 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

THIS people's reckoning hath drawn nigh, yet, sunk in carelessness, they turn aside.

Every fresh warning that cometh to them from their Lord they only hear to mock it,-

Their hearts set on lusts: and they who have done this wrong say in secret discourse, "Is He more than a man like yourselves? What! will ye, with your eyes open,1 accede to sorcery?"

SAY: "My Lord knoweth what is spoken in the heaven and on the earth: He is the Hearer, the Knower."

"Nay," say they, "it is the medley of dreams: nay, he hath forged it: nay, he is a poet: let him come to us with a sign as the prophets of old were sent."

Before their time, none of the cities which we have destroyed, believed: will these men, then, believe?

And we sent none, previous to thee, but men to whom we had revealed ourselves. Ask ye the people who are warned by Scriptures,2 if ye know it not.

We gave them not bodies which could dispense with food: and they were not to live for ever.

Then made we good our promise to them; and we delivered them and whom we pleased, and we destroyed the transgressors.

And now have we sent down to you "the book," in which is your warning: What, will ye not then understand?

And how many a guilty city have we broken down, and raised up after it other peoples:

And when they felt our vengeance, lo! they fled from it.

"Flee not," said the angels in mockery, "but come back to that wherein ye revelled, and to your abodes! Questions will haply be put to you."

They said, "Oh, woe to us! Verily we have been evil doers."

And this ceased not to be their cry, until we made them like reaped corn, extinct.

We created not the heaven and the earth, and what is between them, for sport:

Had it been our wish to find a pastime, we had surely found it in ourselves;- if to do so had been our will.

Nay, we will hurl the truth at falsehood, and it shall smite it, and lo! it shall vanish. But woe be to you for what ye utter of God!

All beings in the heaven and on the earth are His: and they who are in his presence disdain not his service, neither are they wearied:

They praise Him night and day: they rest not.3

Have they taken gods from the earth who can quicken the dead?

Had there been in either heaven or earth gods besides God, both surely had gone to ruin. But glory be to God, the Lord of the throne, beyond what they utter!

He shall not be asked of his doings, but they shall be asked.

Have they taken other gods beside Him? SAY; Bring forth your proofs that they are gods. This is the warning of those who are with me, and the warning of those who were before me: but most of them know not the truth, and turn aside.

No apostle have we sent before thee to whom we did not reveal that "Verily there is no God beside me: therefore worship me."

Yet they say, "The God of Mercy hath begotten issue from the angels." Glory be to Him! Nay, they are but His honoured servants:

They speak not till He hath spoken;4 and they do His bidding.

He knoweth what is before them and what is behind them; and no plea shall they offer

Save for whom He pleaseth; and they tremble for fear of Him.

And that angel among them who saith "I am a god beside Him," will we recompense with hell: in such sort will we recompense the offenders.

Do not the infidels see that the heavens and the earth were both a solid mass, and that we clave them asunder, and that by means of water we give life to everything? Will they not then believe?

And we set mountains on the earth lest it should move with them, and we made on it broad passages between them as routes for their guidance;

And we made the heaven a roof strongly upholden; yet turn they away from its signs.

And He it is who hath created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon, each moving swiftly in its sphere.

At no time5 have we granted to man a life that shall last for ever: if thou then die, shall they live for ever?

Every soul shall taste of death:6 and for trial will we prove you with evil and with good; and unto Us shall ye be brought back.

And when the infidels see thee they receive thee only with scoffs:-"What! is this he who maketh such mention of your gods?" Yet when mention is made to them of the God of Mercy, they believe not.

"Man," say they,