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

probably is, that the scandal raised against Ayesha resembled the scandal in the case of Joseph in Egypt, and of the Virgin Mary, detailed in previous suras.

15 An idea perhaps derived from Gen. i. 20, 21. Comp. Tr. Cholin, fol. 27a.

16 Verses 46-56 obviously refer to a period, perhaps that between the battle of Ohod and the end of the war of the Ditch, when Muhammad's prospects were overclouded and the confidence of his followers shaken.

17 This verse was intended to relieve the scruples of the Muslims, who. following the superstitious customs of the Arabs, thought that they ought not to admit the blind, etc. to their tables, to eat alone, or in a house of which they were entrusted with the key, etc.

18 Lit. make not the calling of the Apostle among you, like the calling of some of you to others, i.e., address him by some respectful and honourable title. Thus in the Talmud, "It is forbidden to a disciple to call his Rabbi by name even when he is not in his presence;" and again: "Neither is he to salute his Rabbi, nor to return his salutation, in the same way that salutations are given and returned among friends." "Whoever despises the wise men hath no portion in the world to come." See Hilchoth Torah, c.5.

SURA LVIII.-SHE WHO PLEADED [CVI.]

MEDINA.-22 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

God hath heard the words of HER1 WHO PLEADED with thee against her husband, and made her plaint to God; and God hath heard your mutual intercourse: for God Heareth, Beholdeth.

As to those of you who put away their wives by saying, "Be thou to me as my mother's back" their mothers2 they are not; they only are their mothers who gave them birth! they certainly say a blameworthy thing and an untruth:

But truly, God is Forgiving, Indulgent.

And those who thus put away their wives, and afterwards would recall their words, must free a captive before they can come together again. To this are ye warned to conform: and God is aware of what ye do.

And he who findeth not a captive to set free, shall fast two months in succession before they two come together. And he who shall not be able to do so, shall feed sixty poor men. This, that he may believe in God and His Apostle. These are the statutes of God: and for the unbelievers is an afflictive chastisement!

Truly they who oppose God and His Apostle shall be brought low, as those who were before them were brought low. And now have we sent down demonstrative signs: and, for the Infidels is a shameful chastisement.

On the day when God shall raise them all to life, and shall tell them of their doings. God hath taken count of them, though they have forgotten them! and God is witness over all things.

Dost thou not see that God knoweth all that is in the Heavens and all that is in the Earth? Three persons speak not privately together, but He is their fourth; nor five, but He is their sixth; nor fewer nor more, but wherever they be He is with them. Then on the day of resurrection He will tell them of their deeds: for God knoweth all things.

Hast thou not marked those who have been forbidden secret talk, and return to what they have been forbidden, and talk privately together with wickedness, and hate, and disobedience towards the Apostle? And when they come to thee, they greet thee not as God greeteth thee:3 and they say among themselves, "Why doth not God punish us for what we say?" Hell shall be their meed:4 they shall be burned at its fire: and a wretched passage thither!

O Believers! when ye hold private converse together, let it not be with wickedness, and hate, and disobedience towards the Apostle; but let your private talk be with justice and the fear of God: aye, fear ye God unto whom ye shall be gathered!

Only of Satan is this clandestine talk, that he may bring the faithful to grief: but, unless by God's permission, not aught shall he harm them! in God then let the faithful trust.

O ye who believe! when it is said to you, "Make room in your assemblies," then make ye room. God will make room for you in Paradise! And when it is said to you, "Rise up," then rise ye up. God will uplift those of you who believe, and those to whom "the Knowledge" is given, to lofty grades! and God is cognisant of your actions.

O ye who believe! when ye go to confer in private with the Apostle, give alms before such conference. Better will this be for you, and more pure. But if ye have not the means, then truly God is Lenient, Merciful.

Do ye hesitate to give alms previously to your private conference? Then if ye do it not (and God will excuse it in you), at least observe prayer, and pay the stated impost, and obey God and His Apostle: for God is cognisant of your actions.

Hast thou not remarked those who make friends of that people with whom God is angered? They are neither of your party nor of theirs; and they swear to a lie,5 knowing it to be such.

God hath got ready for them a severe torment: for, evil is that they do.

They make a cloak of their faith, and turn others aside from the way of God: wherefore a shameful torment awaiteth them.

Not at all shall their wealth or their children avail them aught against God.
Companions shall they be of the fire: they shall abide therein for ever.

On the day when God shall raise them all, they will swear to Him as they now swear to you, deeming that it will avail them. Are they not-yes they-the liars?

Satan hath gotten mastery over them, and made them forget the remembrance of God. These are Satan's party. What! shall not verily the party of Satan be for ever lost.

Verily, they who oppose God and His Apostle shall be among the most vile. God hath written this decree: "I will surely prevail, and my Apostles also." Truly God is Strong, Mighty.

Thou shalt not find that any of those who believe in God, and in the last day, love him who opposeth God and His Apostle, even though they be their fathers, or their sons, or their brethren, or their nearest kin. On the hearts of these hath God graven the Faith, and with His own Spirit hath He strengthened them; and He will bring them into gardens, beneath whose shades the rivers flow, to remain therein eternally. God is well pleased in them, and they in Him. These are God's party! Shall not, of a truth, a party of God be for ever blessed?

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1 Khaula, daughter of Thalaba, who had been divorced by the formula in verse 2, which was understood among the Arabs to imply perpetual separation. This Muhammad had asserted in her case; but in consequence of the woman's prayers, etc., a relaxation of the law, on fulfilment of the conditions mentioned in verses 4, 5, was hereby allowed. None of the earlier traditions fix any date for this Sura, though later authorities (Weil, 184) fix the end of Hej. 6, or the beginning of Hej. 7.-The subject matter is in part similar to that of Sura xxiv.

2 See Sura [ciii.] xxxiii. 4.

3 Instead of saying, Es-salam aleika, "Peace be on thee," the Infidels and Jews said, Es-sam aleika, "a plague, or poison on thee." See Geiger, p. 18.

4 Lit. sufficiency.

5 The Jews swear that they are Muslims.

SURA XXII.-THE PILGRIMAGE [CVII.]

MEDINA.1-78 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

O MEN of Mecca, fear your Lord. Verily, the earthquake of the last Hour will be a tremendous thing!

On the day when ye shall behold it, every suckling woman shall forsake her sucking babe; and every woman that hath a burden in her womb shall cast her burden; and thou shalt see men drunken, yet are they not drunken: but it is the mighty chastisement of God!

There is a man2 who, without knowledge, wrangleth about God, and followeth every rebellious Satan;

Concerning whom it is decreed, that he shall surely beguile and guide into the torment of the Flame, whoever shall take him for his Lord.

O men! if ye doubt as to the resurrection, yet, of a truth, have We created you of dust, then of the moist germs of life, then of clots of blood, then of pieces of flesh shapen and unshapen, that We might give you proofs of our power! And We cause one sex or the other, at our pleasure, to abide in the womb until the appointed time; then We bring you forth infants; then permit you to reach your age of strength; and one of you dieth, and another of you liveth on to an age so abject that all his former knowledge is clean forgotten!3 And thou hast seen the earth dried up and barren: but when We send down the rain upon it, it stirreth and swelleth, and groweth every kind of luxuriant herb.

This, for that God is the Truth, and that it is He who quickeneth the dead,- and that He hath power over everything:

And that "the Hour" will indeed come-there is no doubt of it-and that God will wake up to life those who are in the tombs.

A man there is who disputeth about God without knowledge or guidance or enlightening Book,

Turning aside in scorn to mislead others from the way of God! Disgrace shall be his in this world; and on the day of the resurrection, We will make him taste the torment of the burning:-

"This, for thy handywork of old! for God is not unjust to His servants."

There are some who serve God in a single point. If good come upon one of them, he resteth in it; but if trial come upon him, he turneth him round (to infidelity) with the loss both of this world and of the next! This same is the clear ruin!

He calleth upon that beside God which can neither hurt him nor profit him.
This same is the far-gone error!

He calleth on him who would sooner hurt than profit him. Surely, bad the lord, and, surely, bad the vassal!

But God will bring in those who shall believe and do the things that are right, into gardens 'neath which the rivers flow: for God doth that which He pleaseth.

Let him who thinketh that God will not help His Apostle in this world and in the next, stretch a cord aloft as if to destroy himself; then let him cut it, and see whether his devices can bring that4 to nought at which he was angry!

Thus send we down the Koran with its clear signs (verses): and because God guideth whom He pleaseth.

As to those who believe, and the Jews, and the Sabeites,5 and the Christians, and the Magians, and those who join other gods with God, of a truth, God shall decide between them on the day of resurrection: for God is witness of all things.

Seest thou not that all in the Heavens and all on the Earth adoreth God? the sun and the moon and the stars, and the mountains, and the trees, and the beasts, and many men? But of many is chastisement the due:

And whom God shall disgrace there shall be none to honour: God doth that which pleaseth Him.

These, the Faithful and the Infidels, are the two disputants who dispute concerning their Lord: but for those who have disbelieved, garments of fire shall be cut out; the boiling water shall be poured down upon their heads:

All that is in their bowels, and their skins, shall be dissolved: and there are maces of iron for them!

So oft as they, for very anguish, would fain come forth thence, back shall they be turned into it: and-"Taste ye the torment of the burning."

But God will bring in those who shall have believed, and done the things that are right, into gardens 'neath which the rivers flow. Adorned shall they be therein with golden bracelets and with pearls, and their raiment therein shall be of silk;

For they were guided to the best of words; guided to the glorious path!

But those