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

Lord, but ye treat them as falsehoods. That punishment which ye desire to be hastened is not in my power; judgment is with God only: He will declare the truth; and He is the best settler of disputes.

SAY: If what ye would hasten on, were in my power, the matter between me and you had been decided: but God best knoweth the impious.

And with Him are the keys13 of the secret things; none knoweth them but He: He knoweth whatever is on the land and in the sea; and no leaf falleth but He knoweth it; neither is there a grain in the darknesses of the earth, nor a thing green or sere, but it is noted in a distinct writing.14

It is He who taketh your souls at night,15 and knoweth what ye have merited in the day: then he awaketh you therein, that the set life-term may be fulfilled: then unto Him shall ye return; and then shall be declare to you that which ye have wrought.

Supreme over his servants, He sendeth forth guardians who watch over you, until, when death overtaketh any one of you, our messengers take his soul, and fail not:

Then are they returned to God their Lord, the True. Is not judgment His?
Swiftest He, of those who take account!

SAY: Who rescueth you from the darkness of the land and of the sea, when humbly and secretly ye cry to Him-"If thou rescue us from this, we will surely be of the thankful?"

SAY: God rescueth you from them, and from every strait: yet afterwards ye give Him companions!

SAY: It is He who hath power to send on you a punishment from above you, or from beneath your feet, or to clothe you with discord,16 and to make some of you to taste the violence of others. See how variously we handle the wondrous verses, that haply they may become wise!

But thy people hath accused the Koran of falsehood, though it be the truth: SAY: I am not in charge of you: To every prophecy is its set time, and bye- and-bye ye shall know it!

And when thou seest those who busy themselves with cavilling at our signs, withdraw from them till they busy themselves in some other subject: and if Satan cause thee to forget this, sit not, after recollection, with the ungodly people:17

Not that they who fear God are to pass any judgment upon them, but the object of recollection is that they may continue to fear Him.

And quit those who make their religion a sport and a pastime, and whom this present life hath deceived: warn them hereby that every soul will be consigned to doom for its own works: patron or intercessor, beside God, shall it have none: and could it compensate with fullest compensation, it would not be accepted from it. They who for their deeds shall be consigned to doom-for them are draughts of boiling water, and a grievous torment; for that they believed not!

SAY: Shall we, beside God, call upon those who can neither help nor hurt us? Shall we turn upon our heel after that God hath guided us? Like some bewildered man whom the Satans have spell-bound in the desert, though his companions call him to the true guidance, with, "Come to us!" SAY: Verily, guidance from God, that is the true guidance; and we are commanded to surrender ourselves to the Lord of the Worlds.

And observe ye the times of prayer, and fear ye God: for it is He to whom ye shall be gathered.

And it is He who hath created the Heavens and the Earth, in truth, and when
He saith to a thing, "Be," it is.

His word is the truth: and His the kingdom, on the day when there shall be a blast on the trumpet: He knoweth alike the unseen and the seen: and He is the Wise, the Cognisant.

And remember when Abraham said to his father Azar,18 Takest thou images as gods? Verily, I see that thou and thy people are in manifest error.

And thus did we shew Abraham the kingdom of the Heavens and of the Earth,19 that he might be stablished in knowledge.

And when the night overshadowed him, he beheld a star. "This," said he, "is my Lord:" but when it set, he said, "I love not gods which set."

And when he beheld the moon uprising, "This," said he, "is my Lord:" but when it set, he said, "Surely, if my Lord guide me not, I shall surely be of those who go astray."

And when he beheld the sun uprise, he said, "This is my Lord; this is greatest." But when it set, he said, "O my people! I share not with you the guilt of joining gods with God;

I turn my face to him who hath created the Heavens and the Earth, following the right religion:20 I am not one of those who add gods to God."

And his people disputed with him.-He said: "Dispute ye with me about God, when He hath guided me? And I fear not the deities whom ye join with Him, for only by the will of my Lord have they any power:21 My Lord embraceth all things in His knowledge. Will ye not then consider?

And how should I fear what ye have joined with God, since ye fear not for having joined with Him that for which He hath sent you down no warranty? Which, therefore, of the two parties is more worthy of safety? Know ye that?

They who believe, and who clothe not their faith with error.22 theirs is safety, and they are guided aright."

This is our reasoning with which we furnished Abraham against his people: We uplift to grades of wisdom whom we will; Verily thy Lord is Wise, Knowing.

And we gave him Isaac and Jacob, and guided both aright; and we had before guided Noah; and among the descendants of Abraham, David and Solomon, and Job and Joseph, and Moses and Aaron: Thus do we recompense the righteous:

And Zachariah, John, Jesus, and Elias: all were just persons:

And Ismael and Elisha and Jonas and Lot: all these have we favoured above mankind:

And some of their fathers, and of their offspring, and of their brethren: and we chose them, and guided them into the straight way.

This is God's guidance: He guideth by it such of his servants as he will: But if they join others god with Him, vain assuredly shall be all their works.

These are they to whom we gave the Scripture and Wisdom and Prophecy: but if these their posterity believe not therein, we will entrust these gifts to a people who will not disbelieve therein.

These are they whom God hath guided: follow therefore their guidance. SAY: No pay do I ask of you for this:23 Verily it is no other than the teaching for all creatures.

No just estimate do they form of God when they say, "Nothing hath God sent down to man." SAY: Who sent down the Book which Moses brought, a light and guidance to man, which ye set down on paper, publishing part, but concealing most: though ye have now been taught that which neither ye nor your fathers knew? SAY: It is God: then leave them in their pastime of cavillings.24

And this Book which we have sent down is blessed, confirming that which was before it; and in order that thou mightest warn the mother-city and those who dwell round about it. They who believe in the next life will believe in It, and will keep strictly to their Prayers.

But is any more wicked than he who deviseth a lie of God, or saith, "I have had a revelation," when nothing was revealed to him?25 And who saith, "I can bring down a book like that which God hath sent down"? But couldst thou see when the ungodly are in the floods of death, and the angels reach forth their hands, saying, "Yield up your souls:-this day shall ye be recompensed with a humiliating punishment for your untrue sayings about God, and for proudly rejecting his signs!"

"And now are ye come back to us, alone, as we created you at first, and ye leave behind you the good things which we had given you, and we see not with you your intercessors whom ye regarded as the companions of God among you. There is a severance between you now, and those whom ye regarded as partners with God have deserted you."

Verily God causeth the grain and the date stone to put forth: He bringeth forth the living from the dead, and the dead from the living! This is God! Why, then, are ye turned aside from Him?

He causeth the dawn to appear, and hath ordained the night for rest, and the sun and the moon for computing time! The ordinance of the Mighty, the Wise!

And it is He who hath ordained the stars for you that ye may be guided thereby in the darknesses of the land and of the sea! clear have we made our signs to men of knowledge.

And it is He who hath produced you from one man, and hath provided for you an abode and resting-place!26 Clear have we made our signs for men of insight.

And it is He who sendeth down rain from Heaven: and we bring forth by it the buds of all the plants, and from them bring we forth the green foliage, and the close growing grain, and palm trees with sheaths of clustering dates, and gardens of grapes, and the olive and the pomegranate, like and unlike.27 Look ye on their fruits when they fruit and ripen. Truly herein are signs unto people who believe.

Yet have they assigned the Djinn to God as his associates, though He created them; and in their ignorance have they falsely ascribed to him sons and daughters. Glory be to Him! And high let Him be exalted above that which they attribute to Him!

Sole maker of the Heavens and of the Earth! how, when He hath no consort, should He have a son? He hath created everything, and He knoweth everything!

This is God your Lord. There is no God but He, the creator of all things: therefore worship Him alone;-and He watcheth over all things.

No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision:28 and He is the
Subtile, the All-informed.

Now have proofs that may be seen, come to you from your Lord; whoso seeth them, the advantage will be his own: and whoso is blind to them, his own will be the loss: I am not made a keeper over you.

Thus variously do we apply our signs,29 that they may say, "Thou hast studied deep:" and that to people of understanding we may make them clear.

Follow thou that which hath been revealed to thee by thy Lord: there is no god but He! and withdraw from those who join other gods with Him.

Had God pleased, they had not joined other gods with Him: and we have not made thee keeper over them, neither art thou a guardian over them.

Revile not those whom they call on beside God,30 lest they, in their ignorance, despitefully revile Him. Thus have we planned out their actions for every people; then shall they return to their Lord, and He will declare to them what those actions have been.

With their most solemn oath have they sworn by God, that if a sign come unto them they will certainly believe it; SAY: Signs are in the power of God alone; and He teacheth you not thereby, only because when they were wrought, ye did not believe.31

And we will turn their hearts and their eyes away from the truth, because they did not believe therein at first, and we will leave them in their transgressions, wandering in perplexity.

And though we had sent down the angels to them, and the dead had spoken to them, and we had gathered all things about them in tribes, they had not believed, unless God had willed it! but most of them do not know it.

Thus have we given an enemy to every prophet Satans among men and among Djinn: tinsel discourses do they suggest the one to the other, in order to deceive: and had thy Lord willed it, they would not have done it. Therefore, leave them and their vain imaginings-

And let the hearts of those who believe not in the