50 Fly, therefore, unto G.o.d; verily I am a public warner unto you, from him.

And set not up another G.o.d with the true G.o.d: verily I am a public warner unto you, from him.

In like manner there came no apostle unto their predecessors, but they said, This man is a magician, or a madman.

Have they bequeathed this behavior successively the one to the other?

Yea; they are a people who enormously transgress.

Wherefore withdraw from them; and thou shalt not be blameworthy in so doing.

Yet continue to admonish: for admonition profiteth the true believers.

I have not created genii and men for any other end than that they should serve me.

I require not any sustenance from them; neither will I that they feed me.

Verily G.o.d is he who provideth for all creatures; possessed of mighty power.

Unto those who shall injure our apostle shall be given a portion like unto the portion of those who behaved like them in times past; and they shall not wish the same to be hastened.

60 Woe, therefore, to the unbelievers, because of their day with which they are threatened!

CHAPTER LII.

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

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

BY the mountain of Sinai; and by the book written in an expanded scroll; and by the visited house; and by the elevated roof of heaven; and by the swelling ocean: verily the punishment of thy LORD will surely descend; there shall be none to withhold it.

On that day the heaven shall be shaken, and shall reel; 10 and the mountains shall walk and pa.s.s away.

And on that day woe be unto those who accused G.o.d's apostles of imposture; who amused themselves in wading in vain disputes!

On that day shall they be driven and thrust into the fire of h.e.l.l; and it shall be said unto them, This is the fire which ye denied as a fiction.

Is this a magic illusion? Or do ye not see?

Enter the same to be scorched: whether ye bear your torments patiently, or impatiently, it will be equal unto you: ye shall surely receive the reward of that which ye have wrought.

But the pious shall dwell amidst gardens and pleasures; delighting themselves in what their LORD shall have given them: and their LORD shall deliver them from the pains of h.e.l.l.

And it shall be said unto them, Eat and drink with easy digestion; because of that which ye have wrought: 20 leaning on couches disposed in order: and we will espouse them unto virgins having large black eyes.

And unto those who believe, and whose offspring follow them in the faith, we will join their offspring in paradise: and we will not diminish unto them aught of the merit of their works. (Every man is given in pledge for that which he shall have wrought.) And we will give them fruits in abundance, and flesh of the kinds which they shall desire.

They shall present unto one another therein a cup of wine, wherein there shall be no vain discourse, nor any incitement unto wickedness.

And youths appointed to attend them shall go round them: beautiful as pearls hidden in their sh.e.l.l.

And they shall approach unto one another, and shall ask mutual questions.

And they shall say, Verily we were heretofore amidst our family, in great dread with regard to our state after death: but G.o.d hath been gracious unto us, and hath delivered us from the pain of burning fire: for we called on him heretofore; and he is the beneficent, the merciful.

Wherefore do thou, O prophet, admonish thy people. Thou art not, by the grace of thy LORD, a soothsayer, or a madman.

30 Do they say, He is a poet; we wait, concerning him, some adverse turn of fortune?

Say, Wait ye my ruin: verily I wait, with you, the time of your destruction.

Do their mature understandings bid them say this; or are they people who perversely transgress?

Do they say, He hath forged the Koran? Verily they believe not.

Let them produce a discourse like unto it, if they speak truth.

Were they created by nothing; or were they creators of themselves?

Did they create the heavens and the earth? Verily they are not firmly persuaded that G.o.d hath created them.

Are the stores of thy LORD in their hands? Are they the supreme dispensers of all things?

Have they a ladder whereby they may ascend to heaven, and hear the discourses of angels? Let one, therefore, who hath heard them, produce an evident proof thereof.

Hath G.o.d daughters, and have ye sons?

40 Dost thou ask them a reward for thy preaching? but they are laden with debts.

Are the secrets of futurity with them; and do they transcribe the same from the table of G.o.d's degrees?

Do they seek to lay a plot against thee? But the unbelievers are they who shall be circ.u.mvented.

Have they any G.o.d, besides G.o.d? Far be G.o.d exalted above the idols which they a.s.sociate with him!

If they should see a fragment of the heaven falling down upon them, they would say, It is only a thick cloud.

Wherefore leave them, until they arrive at their day wherein they shall swoon for fear: a day, in which their subtle contrivances shall not avail them at all, neither shall they be protected.

And those who act unjustly shall surely suffer another punishment besides this: but the greater part of them do not understand.

And wait thou patiently the judgment of thy LORD concerning them; for thou art in our eye: and celebrate the praise of thy LORD, when thou risest up; and praise him in the night-season, and when the stars begin to disappear.

CHAPTER LIII.

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

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

BY the star, when it setteth; your companion Mohammed erreth not; nor is he led astray: neither doth he speak of his own will.

It is no other than a revelation, which hath been revealed unto him.

One mighty in power, endued with understanding, taught it him: and he appeared in the highest part of the horizon.

Afterwards he approached the prophet, and near unto him; until he was at the distance of two bows' length from him, or yet nearer; 10 and he revealed unto his servant that which he revealed.

The heart of Mohammed did not falsely represent that which he saw.

Will ye therefore dispute with him concerning that which he saw?

He also saw him another time, by the lote-tree beyond which there is no pa.s.sing: near it is the garden of eternal abode.

When the lote-tree covered that which it covered, his eyesight turned not aside, neither did it wander: and he really beheld some of the greatest signs of his LORD.

What think ye of Allat, and Al Uzza, 20 and Manah, that other third G.o.ddess?

Have ye male children, and G.o.d female?

This, therefore, is an unjust part.i.tion.

They are no other than empty names, which ye and your fathers have named G.o.ddesses. G.o.d hath not revealed concerning them anything to authorize their worship. They follow no other than a vain opinion, and what their souls desire: yet hath the true direction come unto them from their LORD.

Shall man have whatever he wisheth for?

The life to come and the present life are G.o.d'S: and how many angels soever there be in the heavens, their intercession shall be of no avail, until after G.o.d shall have granted permission unto whom he shall please and shall accept.

Verily they who believe not in the life to come give unto the angels a female appellation.

But they have no knowledge herein: they follow no other than a bare opinion; and a bare opinion attaineth not anything of truth.

Wherefore withdraw from him who turneth away from our admonition, and seeketh only the present life.

30 This is their highest pitch of knowledge. Verily thy LORD well knoweth him who erreth from his way; and he well knoweth him who is rightly directed.

Unto G.o.d belongeth whatever is in heaven and earth: that he may reward those who do evil, according to that which they shall have wrought; and may reward those who do well, with the most excellent reward.

As to those who avoid great crimes, and heinous sins, and are guilty only of lighter faults; verily thy LORD will be extensive in mercy towards them.

He well knew you when he produced you out of the earth, and when ye were embryos in your mothers' wombs: wherefore justify not yourselves: he best knoweth the man who feareth him.

What thinkest thou of him who turneth aside from following the truth, and giveth little, and covetously stoppeth his hand?

Is the knowledge of futurity with him, so that he seeth the same?

Hath he not been informed of that which is contained in the books of Moses, and of Abraham who faithfully performed his engagements?

To wit: that a burdened soul shall not bear the burden of another; and that nothing shall be imputed to a man for righteousness, except his own labor; 40 and that his labor shall surely be made manifest hereafter, and that he shall be rewarded for the same with a most abundant reward; and that unto thy LORD will be the end of all things; and that he causeth to laugh, and causeth to weep; and that he putteth to death, and giveth life: and that he createth the two s.e.xes, the male and the female, of seed when it is emitted; and that unto him appertaineth another production, namely, the raising of the dead again to life hereafter; and that he enricheth, and causeth to acquire possessions; and that he is the LORD of the dog-star; 50 and that he destroyed the ancient tribe of Ad, and Thamud, and left not any of them alive; and also the people of Noah, before them; for they were most unjust and wicked: and he overthrew the cities which were turned upside down; and that which covered them, covered them.

Which, therefore, of thy LORD'S benefits, O man, wilt thou call in question?

This our apostle is a preacher like the preachers who preceded him.

The approaching day of judgment draweth near: there is none who can reveal the exact time of the same, besides G.o.d.

Do ye, therefore, wonder at this new revelation, 60 and do ye laugh, and not weep, spending your time in idle diversions?

But rather worship G.o.d, and serve him.