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

This the reward of the enemies of God,-the Fire! it shall be their eternal abode, in requital for their gainsaying our signs.

And they who believed not shall say, "O our Lord! shew us those of the Djinn and men who led us astray: both of them will we put under out feet, that they may be of the humbled."

But as for those who say, "Our Lord is God;" and who go straight to Him,7 angels shall descend to them and say, "Fear ye not, neither be ye grieved, but rejoice ye in the paradise which ye have been promised.

We are your guardians in this life and in the next: your's therein shall be your soul's desire, and your's therein whatever ye shall ask for,

The hospitality of a Gracious, a Merciful One."

And who speaketh fairer than he who biddeth to God and doth the thing that is right, and saith, "I for my part am of the Muslims"?

Moreover, good and evil are not to be treated as the same thing. Turn away evil by what is better, and lo! he between whom and thyself was enmity, shall be as though he were a warm friend.

But none attain to this save men steadfast in patience, and none attain to it except the most highly favoured.8

And if an enticement from Satan entice thee, then take refuge in God, 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
God 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 pass 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 God 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 encompass all things?

_______________________

1 In some MSS. this Sura is entitled Adoration. Thus Beidh. According to His. 186, comp. Caussin 1, 375 f., Muhammad's aim in this Sura was the conversion of a noble 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.] xxxvi. 64, n.

7 Comp. Sura [lxxxviii.] 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.

MECCA.-36 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

HA. MIM.1 This Book is sent down2 from God, the Mighty, the Wise!

Assuredly 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 God 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 God: with truth do we recite them to thee. But in what teaching will they believe, if they reject3 God and his signs?

Woe to every lying sinner,

Who heareth the signs of God 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!

Hell is behind them! and neither their gains nor the lords whom they have adopted beside God shall avail them in the least: and theirs, a great punishment!

This is "Guidance:" and for those who disbelieve the signs of their Lord is the punishment of an afflictive torment.

It is God who hath subjected the sea to you that the ships may traverse it at his bidding, and that ye may go in quest of the gifts of his bounty, and that ye may be thankful.

And he hath subjected to you all that is in the Heavens and all that is on the Earth: all is from him. Verily, herein are signs for those who reflect.

Tell the believers to pardon those who hope not for the days of God4 in which
He purposeth to reward men according to their deeds.

He who doth that which is right, doth it to his own behoof, and whoso doth evil, doth it to his own hurt. Hereafter, to your Lord shall ye be brought back.

To the children of Israel gave we of old the Book and the Wisdom, and the gift of Prophecy, and we supplied them with good things, and privileged them above all peoples:

And we gave them clear sanctions for our behests: neither did they differ, through mutual envy, till after they had become possessed of knowledge; but thy Lord will judge between them on the day of resurrection, as to the subject of their disputes.

Afterwards we set thee over our divine law:5 follow it then: and follow not the wishes of those who have no knowledge,

For against God shall they avail thee nothing. And in sooth, the doers of evil are one another's patrons; but the patron of them that fear Him is God himself.

This Book hath insight for mankind, and a Guidance and Mercy to a people who are firm in faith.

Deem they whose gettings are only evil, that we will deal with them as with those who believe and work righteousness, so that their lives and deaths shall be alike? Ill do they judge.

In all truth hath God created the Heavens and the Earth, that he may reward every one as he shall have wrought; and they shall not be wronged.

What thinkest thou? He who hath made a God of his passions, and whom God causeth wilfully to err, and whose ears and whose heart he hath sealed up, and over whose sight he hath placed a veil-who, after his rejection by God, shall guide such a one? Will ye not then be warned?

And they say, "There is only this our present life: we die and we live, and nought but time destroyeth us." But in this they have no knowledge: it is merely their own conceit.

And when our clear signs are recited to them, their only argument is to say,
"Bring back our fathers, if ye speak the truth."

Say: God giveth you life, then causeth you to die: then will He assemble you on the day of resurrection: there is no doubt of it: but most men have not this knowledge.

And God's is the kingdom of the Heavens and of the Earth; and on the day when the Hour shall arrive, on that day shall the despisers6 perish.

And thou shalt see every nation KNEELING: to its own book shall every nation be summoned:-This day shall ye be repaid as ye have wrought.

This our Book will speak of you with truth: therein have we written down whatever ye have done."

As to those who have believed and wrought righteously, into his mercy shall their Lord cause them to enter. This shall be undoubted bliss!

But as to the Infidels-"Were not my signs recited to you? but ye proudly scorned them, and became a sinful people."

And when it was said, "Verily the Promise of God is truth; and as to the Hour, there is no doubt of it;" ye said, "We know not what the hour is-we conceive it a mere conceit,-we have no assurance of it."

And the evils they have wrought shall rise up into their view, and that at which they mocked shall hem them in on every side.

And it shall be said to them, "This day will we forget you as ye forgat your meeting with us this day, and your abode shall be the fire, and none shall there be to succour you:-

This, because ye received the signs of God with mockery, and this present life deceived you." On that day therefore they shall not come out from it; and they shall not be asked to win the favour of God.

Praise then be to God, Lord of the Heavens and Lord of the Earth; the Lord of the worlds!

And His be the greatness in the Heavens and on the Earth; for He is the
Mighty, the Wise!

_______________________

1 See Sura lxviii. p.