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

CONCERNING what do the unbelievers ask questions of one another?

Concerning the great news of the resurrection, about which they disagree.

a.s.suredly they shall hereafter know the truth thereof.

Again, a.s.suredly they shall hereafter know the truth thereof.

Have we not made the earth for a bed, and the mountains for stakes to fix the same?

And have we not created you of two s.e.xes; and appointed your sleep for rest; 10 and made the night a garment to cover you; and destined the day to the gaining your livelihood; and built over you seven solid heavens; and placed therein a burning lamp?

And do we not send down from the clouds pressing forth rain, water pouring down in abundance, that we may thereby produce corn, and herbs, and gardens planted thick with trees?

Verily the day of separation is a fixed period: the day whereon the trumpet shall sound, and ye shall come in troops to judgment; and the heaven shall be opened, and shall be full of gates for the angels to pa.s.s through; 20 and the mountains shall pa.s.s away, and become as a vapor; verily h.e.l.l shall be a place of ambush, a receptacle for the transgressors, who shall remain therein for ages: they shall not taste any refreshment therein, or any drink, except boiling water, and filthy corruption: a fit recompense for their deeds!

For they hope that they should not be brought to an account, and they disbelieved our signs, accusing them of falsehood.

But everything have we computed, and written down.

30 Taste, therefore: we will not add unto you any other than torment.

But for the pious is prepared a place of bliss: gardens planted with trees, and vineyards, and damsels with swelling b.r.e.a.s.t.s, of equal age with themselves, and a full cup.

They shall hear no vain discourse there, nor any falsehood.

This shall be their recompense from thy LORD; a gift fully sufficient: from the LORD of heaven and earth, and of whatever is between them; the Merciful. The inhabitants of heaven or of earth shall not dare to demand audience of him: the day whereon the spirit Gabriel and the other angels shall stand in order, they shall not speak in behalf of themselves or others, except he only to whom the Merciful shall grant permission, and who shall say that which is right.

This is the infallible day. Whoso, therefore, willeth, let him return unto his LORD.

40 Verily we threaten you with a punishment nigh at hand: the day whereon a man shall behold the good or evil deeds which his hands have sent before him; and the unbeliever shall say, Would to G.o.d I were dust!

CHAPTER LXXIX.

ENt.i.tLED, THOSE WHO TEAR FORTH; REVEALED AT MECCA.

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

BY the angels who tear forth the souls of some with violence; and by those who draw forth the souls of others with gentleness; by those who glide swimmingly through the air with the commands of G.o.d; and those who precede and usher the righteous to paradise; and those who subordinately govern the affairs of this world: on a certain day, the disturbing blast of the trumpet shall disturb the universe; and the subsequent blast shall follow it.

On that day men's hearts shall tremble: their looks shall be cast down.

10 The infidels say, Shall we surely be made to return whence we came?

After we shall have become rotten bones, shall we be again raised to life?

They say, This then will be a return to loss.

Verily it will be but one sounding of the trumpet, and, behold, they shall appear alive on the face of the earth.

Hath not the story of Moses reached thee?

When his LORD called unto him in the holy valley Towa, saying, Go unto Pharaoh; for he is insolently wicked: and say, Hast thou a desire to become just and holy; and I will direct thee unto thy LORD, that thou mayest fear to transgress.

20 And he showed him the very great sign of the rod turned into a serpent: but he charged Moses with imposture, and rebelled against G.o.d.

Then he turned back hastily; and he a.s.sembled the magicians, and cried aloud, saying, I am your supreme LORD.

Wherefore G.o.d chastised him with the punishment of the life to come, and also of this present life.

Verily herein is an example unto him who feareth to rebel.

Are ye more difficult to create, or the heaven which G.o.d hath built?

He hath raised the height thereof, and hath perfectly formed the same: and he hath made the night thereof dark, and hath produced the light thereof.

30 After this, he stretched out the earth, whence he caused to spring forth the water thereof, and the pasture thereof; and he established the mountains, for the use of yourselves, and of your cattle.

When the prevailing, the great day shall come, on that day shall a man call to remembrance what he hath purposely done: and h.e.l.l shall be exposed to the view of the spectator.

And whoso shall have transgressed, and shall have chosen this present life; verily h.e.l.l shall be his abode; 40 but whoso shall have dreaded the appearing before his LORD, and shall have refrained his soul from l.u.s.t, verily paradise shall be his abode.

They will ask thee concerning the last hour, when will be the fixed time thereof?

By what means canst thou give any information of the same?

Unto thy LORD belongeth the knowledge of the period thereof: and thou art only a warner, who fearest the same.

The day whereon they shall see the same, it shall seem to them as though they had not tarried in the world longer than an evening, or a morning thereof.

CHAPTER Lx.x.x.

ENt.i.tLED, HE FROWNED; REVEALED AT MECCA.

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

THE prophet frowned, and turned aside, because the blind man came unto him: and how dost thou know whether he shall peradventure be cleansed from his sins, or whether he shall be admonished, and the admonition shall profit him?

The man who is wealthy, thou receivest respectfully; whereas it is not to be charged on thee, that he is not cleansed: but him who cometh unto thee earnestly, seeking his salvation, and who feareth G.o.d, 10 dost thou neglect.

By no means shouldst thou act thus. Verily the Koran is an admonition (and he who is willing retaineth the same;) written in volumes honourable, exalted, and pure; by the hands of scribes honoured, and just.

May man be cursed! What hath seduced him to infidelity?

Of what thing doth G.o.d create him?

Of a drop of seed doth he create him; and he formeth him with proportion; 20 and then facilitateth his pa.s.sage out of the womb: afterwards he causeth him to die, and layeth him in the grave; hereafter, when it shall please him, he shall raise him to life.

a.s.suredly, He hath not hitherto fully performed what G.o.d hath commanded him.

Let man consider his food; in what manner it is provided.

We pour down water by showers; afterwards we cleave the earth in clefts, and we cause corn to spring forth therein, and grapes, and clover, and the olive, and the palm, 30 and gardens planted thick with trees, and fruits, and gra.s.s, for the use of yourselves and of your cattle.

When the stunning sound of the trumpet shall be heard; on that day shall a man fly from his brother, and his mother, and his father, and his wife, and his children.

Every man of them, on that day, shall have business of his own sufficient to employ his thoughts.

On that day the faces of some shall be bright, laughing, and joyful: 40 and upon the faces of others, on that day, shall there be dust; darkness shall cover them.

These are the unbelievers, the wicked.

CHAPTER Lx.x.xI.

ENt.i.tLED, THE FOLDING UP; REVEALED AT MECCA.

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

WHEN the sun shall be folded up; and when the stars shall fall; and when the mountains shall be made to pa.s.s away; and when the camels ten months gone with young shall be neglected; and when the wild beasts shall be gathered together; and when the seas shall boil; and when the souls shall be joined again to their bodies; and when the girl who hath been buried alive shall be asked for what crime she was put to death; 10 and when the books shall be laid open; and when the heaven shall be removed; and when h.e.l.l shall burn fiercely; and when paradise shall be brought near; every soul shall know what it hath wrought.

Verily I swear by the stars which are retrograde, which move swiftly, and which hide themselves; and by the night, when it cometh on; and by the morning, when it appeareth; these these are the words of an honourable messenger, 20 endued with strength, of established dignity in the sight of the possessor of the throne, obeyed by the angels under his authority, and faithful: and your companion Mohammed is not distracted.

He had already seen him in the clear horizon: and he suspected not the secrets revealed unto him.

Neither are these the words of an accursed devil.

Whither, therefore, are you going?

This is no other than an admonition unto all creatures; unto him among you who shall be willing to walk uprightly: but ye shall not will, unless G.o.d willeth, the LORD of all creatures.