And the unbelievers say, This Koran is no other than a forgery which he hath contrived; and other people have a.s.sisted him therein: but they utter an unjust thing, and a falsehood.

They also say, These are fables of the ancients, which he hath caused to be written down; and they are dictated unto him morning and evening.

Say, He hath revealed it, who knoweth the secrets in heaven and earth: verily he is gracious and merciful.

And they say, What kind of apostle is this? He eateth food, and walketh in the streets, as we do: unless an angel be sent down unto him, and become a fellow preacher with him; or unless a treasure be cast down unto him; or he have a garden, of the fruit whereof he may eat; we will not believe. The unG.o.dly also say, Ye follow no other than a man who is distracted.

Behold what they liken thee unto. But they are deceived; neither can they find a just occasion to reproach thee.

10 Blessed be he, who, if he pleaseth, will make for thee a better provision than this which they speak of; namely, gardens through which rivers flow: and he will provide thee palaces.

But they reject the belief of the hour of judgment, as a falsehood: and we have prepared for him, who shall reject the belief of that hour, burning fire; when it shall see them from a distant place, they shall hear it furiously raging and roaring.

And when they shall be cast, bound together, into a strait place thereof, they shall there call for death; but it shall be answered them, Call not this day for one death, but call for many deaths.

Say, Is this better, or a garden of eternal duration, which is promised unto the pious? It shall be given unto them for a reward, and a retreat: therein shall they have whatever they please, continuing in the same forever. This is a promise to be demanded at the hands of thy LORD.

On a certain day he shall a.s.semble them, and whatever they worship, besides G.o.d; and shall say unto the worshipped, Did ye seduce these my servants; or did they wander of themselves from the right way?

They shall answer, G.o.d forbid! It was not fitting for us, that we should take any protectors besides thee: but thou didst permit them and their fathers to enjoy abundance; so that they forgot thy admonition, and became lost people.

And G.o.d shall say unto their worshippers, Now have these convinced you of falsehood, in that which ye say: they can neither avert your punishment, nor give you any a.s.sistance. And whoever of you shall be guilty of injustice, him will we cause to taste a grievous torment.

20 We have sent no messengers before thee, but they ate food, and walked through the streets: and we make some of you an occasion of trial unto others. Will ye persevere with patience? since the LORD regardeth your perseverance.

They who hope not to meet us at the resurrection say, Unless the angels be sent down unto us, or we see our LORD himself, we will not believe. Verily they behave themselves arrogantly; and have transgressed with an enormous transgression.

The day whereon they shall see the angels, there shall be no glad tidings on that day for the wicked; and they shall say, Be this removed far from us?

and we will come unto the work which they shall have wrought, and we will make it as dust scattered abroad.

On that day shall they who are destined to paradise be more happy in an abode, and have a preferable place of repose at noon.

On that day the heaven shall be cloven in sunder by the clouds, and the angels shall be sent down, descending visibly therein.

On that day the kingdom shall of right belong wholly unto the Merciful; and that day shall be grievous for the unbelievers.

On that day the unjust person shall bite his hand for anguish and despair, and shall say, Oh that I had taken the way of truth with the apostle!

Alas for me! Oh that I had not taken such a one for my friend!

He seduced me from the admonition of G.o.d, after it had come unto me: for the devil is the betrayer of man.

30 And the apostle shall say, O LORD, verily my people esteemed this Koran to be a vain composition.

In like manner did we ordain unto every prophet an enemy from among the wicked: but thy LORD is a sufficient director and defender.

The unbelievers say, Unless the Koran be sent down unto him entire at once, we will not believe. But in this manner have we revealed it, that we might confirm thy heart thereby, and we have dictated it gradually, by distinct parcels.

They shall not come unto thee with any strange question; but we will bring thee the truth in answer, and a most excellent interpretation.

They who shall be dragged on their faces into h.e.l.l shall be in the worst condition, and shall stray most widely from the way of salvation.

We heretofore delivered unto Moses the book of the law; and we appointed him Aaron his brother for a counsellor.

And we said unto them, Go ye to the people who charge our signs with falsehood. And we destroyed them with a signal destruction.

And remember the people of Noah, when they accused our apostles of imposture: we drowned them, and made them a sign unto mankind. And we have prepared for the unjust a painful torment.

Remember also Ad, and Thamud, and those who dwelt at al Ra.s.s; and many other generations within this period.

Unto each of them did we propound examples for their admonition; and each of them did we destroy with an utter destruction.

40 The Koreish have pa.s.sed frequently near the city which was rained on by a fatal rain; have they not seen where it once stood? Yet have they not dreaded the resurrection.

When they see thee, they will receive thee only with scoffing, saying, Is this he whom G.o.d hath sent as his apostle?

Verily he had almost drawn us aside from the worship of our G.o.ds, if we had not firmly persevered in our devotion towards them. But they shall know hereafter, when they shall see the punishment prepared for them, who hath strayed more widely from the right path.

What thinkest thou? He who taketh his l.u.s.t for his G.o.d; canst thou be his guardian?

Dost thou imagine that the greater part of them hear, or understand?

They are no other than like the brute cattle; yea, they stray more widely from the true path.

Dost thou not consider the works of thy LORD, how he stretcheth forth the shadow before sunrise? If he had pleased, he would have made it immovable forever. Then we cause the sun to rise, and to show the same; and afterwards we contract it by an easy and gradual contraction.

It is he who hath ordained the night to cover you as a garment; and sleep to give you rest; and hath ordained the day for waking.

It is he who sendeth the winds, driving abroad the pregnant clouds, as the forerunners of his mercy: and we send down pure water from heaven, that we may thereby revive a dead country, and give to drink thereof unto what we have created, both of cattle and men, in great numbers; 50 and we distribute the same among them at various times, that they may consider: but the greater part of men refuse to consider, only out of ingrat.i.tude.

If we had pleased, we had sent a preacher unto every city: wherefore, do not thou obey the unbelievers; but oppose them herewith, with a strong opposition.

It is he who hath let loose the two seas; this fresh and sweet, and that salt and bitter; and hath placed between them a bar, and a bound which cannot be pa.s.sed.

It is he who hath created man of water, and hath made him to bear the double relation of consanguinity and affinity; for thy LORD is powerful.

They worship, besides G.o.d, that which can neither profit them nor hurt them: and the unbeliever is an a.s.sistant of the devil against his LORD.

We have sent thee to be no other than a bearer of good tidings, and a denouncer of threats.

Say, I ask not of you any reward for this my preaching; besides the conversion of him who shall desire to take the way unto his LORD.

And do thou trust in him who liveth, and dieth not; and celebrate his praise: (he is sufficiently acquainted with the faults of his servants): who hath created the heavens and the earth, and whatever is between them, in six days; and then ascended his throne: the Merciful. Ask now the knowing concerning him.

60 When it is said unto the unbelievers, Adore the Merciful; they reply, And who is the Merciful? Shall we adore that which thou commandest us? And this precept causeth them to fly the faster from the faith.

Blessed be he who hath placed the twelve signs in the heavens; and hath placed therein a lamp by day, and the moon which shineth by night!

It is he who hath ordained the night and the day to succeed each other, for the observation of him who will consider, or desireth to show his grat.i.tude.

The servants of the Merciful are those who walk meekly on the earth, and when the ignorant speak unto them, answer, Peace: and who pa.s.s the night adoring their LORD, and standing up to pray unto him; and who say, O LORD, avert from us the torment of h.e.l.l, for the torment thereof is perpetual; verily the same is a miserable abode and a wretched station: and who, when they bestow, are neither profuse nor n.i.g.g.ardly; but observe a just medium between these; and who invoke not another G.o.d together with the true G.o.d; neither slay the soul which G.o.d hath forbidden to be slain, unless for a just cause: and who are not guilty of fornication. But he who shall do this shall meet the reward of his wickedness: his punishment shall be doubled unto him on the day of resurrection; and he shall remain therein, covered with ignominy, forever: 70 except him who shall repent and believe, and shall work a righteous work; unto them will G.o.d change their former evils into good; for G.o.d is ready to forgive, and merciful.

And whoever repenteth, and doth that which is right; verily he turneth unto G.o.d with an acceptable conversion.

And they who do not bear false witness; and when they pa.s.s by vain discourse, pa.s.s by the same with decency; and who, when they are admonished by the signs of their LORD, fall not down as if they were deaf and blind, but stand up and are attentive thereto: and who say, O LORD, grant us of our wives and our offspring such as may be the satisfaction of our eyes; and make us patterns unto those who fear thee.

These shall be rewarded with the highest apartments in paradise, because they have persevered with constancy; and they shall meet therein with greeting and salutation; they shall remain in the same forever: it shall be an excellent abode, and a delightful station.

Say, My LORD is not solicitous on your account, if ye do not invoke him: ye have already charged his apostle with imposture; but hereafter shall there be a lasting punishment inflicted on you.

CHAPTER XXVI.

ENt.i.tLED, THE POETS; REVEALED AT MECCA.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL G.o.d.

T.S.M.

THESE are the signs of the perspicuous book.

Peradventure thou afflictest thyself unto death, lest the Meccans become not believers.

If we pleased, we could send down unto them a convincing sign from heaven, unto which their necks would humbly submit.

But there cometh unto them no admonition from the Merciful, being newly revealed as occasions require, but they turn aside from the same; and they have charged it with falsehood: but a message shall come unto them, which they shall not laugh to scorn.

Do they not behold the earth, how many vegetables we cause to spring up therein, of every n.o.ble species?

Verily herein is a sign: but the greater part of them do not believe.

Verily thy LORD is the mighty, the merciful G.o.d.

10 Remember when thy LORD called Moses, saying, Go to the unjust people, the people of Pharaoh; will they not dread me?

Moses answered, O LORD, verily I fear lest they accuse me of falsehood, and lest my breast become straitened, and my tongue be not ready in speaking: send therefore unto Aaron, to be my a.s.sistant.

Also they have a crime to object against me: and I fear they will put me to death.

G.o.d said, They shall by no means put thee to death: wherefore go ye with our signs; for we will be with you, and will hear what pa.s.ses between you and them.

Go ye therefore unto Pharaoh, and say, Verily we are the apostle of the LORD of all creatures: send away with us the children of Israel.

And when they had delivered their message, Pharaoh answered, Have we not brought thee up, among us, when a child; and hast thou not dwelt among us for several years of thy life?

Yet hast thou done thy deed which thou hast done, and thou art an ungrateful person.

20 Moses replied, I did it indeed, and I was one of those who erred; wherefore I fled from you, because I feared you: but my LORD hath bestowed on me wisdom, and hath appointed me one of his apostles.

And this is the favor which thou hast bestowed on me, that thou hast enslaved the children of Israel.

Pharaoh said, And who is the LORD of all creatures?

Moses answered, The LORD of heaven and earth, and whatever is between them: if ye are men of sagacity.

Pharaoh said unto those who were about him, Do ye not hear?

Moses said, Your LORD, and the LORD of your forefathers.

Pharaoh said unto those who were present, Your apostle, who is sent unto you, is certainly distracted.

Moses said, The LORD of the east, and of the west, and of whatever is between them; if ye are men of understanding.

Pharaoh said unto him, Verily if thou take any G.o.d besides me, I will make thee one of those who are imprisoned.

30 Moses answered, What, although I come unto you with a convincing miracle?

Pharaoh replied, Produce it therefore, if thou speakest truth.

And he cast down his rod, and behold, it became a visible serpent: and he drew forth his hand out of his bosom; and behold, it appeared white unto the spectators.

Pharaoh said unto the princes who were about him, Verily this man is a skilful magician: he seeketh to dispossess you of your land by his sorcery; what therefore do ye direct?

They answered , Delay him and his brother by good words for a time; and send through the cities men to a.s.semble and bring unto thee every skilful magician.

So the magicians were a.s.sembled at an appointed time, on a solemn day.

And it was said unto the people, Are ye a.s.sembled together?

40 Perhaps we may follow the magicians, if they do get the victory.