BOOKS,
In reading a large number of works bearing upon the subjects of this Introduction, I have remarked a curious freedom of quotation in most of the writers. I find the same sentence, or at least the same thought, repeated in several books without any reference to the author who first put it forth. Each writer seems to have studied his predecessors with such minuteness that he can quote their very words, but he does not appear to remember whence the words came. When a thought has once been perfectly expressed, it were a ridiculous vanity to seek to frame it in different words, and so far it is undoubtedly wise to make use of the best of what has preceded us; nevertheless, it is well to acknowledge our debt. Yet thoughts, and even phrases, impress themselves on the memory till one unconsciously comes to appropriate them as his own; and this, I doubt not, is the cause of much of the plagiarism I have noticed. It is extremely probable that I have been guilty of the same sin. I have crowded my pages with marks of quotation, sometimes with foot references, sometimes without (for the student of the subject will know where to look for them), but it is quite likely that I have often unconsciously used another’s phrase or metaphor without rendering thanks. So I now append a list of the principal European books I have used, and beg once and for all to record my indebtedness to their writers. The original Arabic authorities will dispense with my acknowledgments, and the catalogue of them would not assist the English reader who wishes to proceed further in the study of the subject, for whom this list may prove useful.
Burckhardt, J. L. Notes on the Bedouins and Wahábys. 2 vols. 1831.
Deutsch, Emanuel. Literary Remains. 1874.
Dozy, R. Essai sur l´Histoire de l´Islamisme, trad. par V. Chauvin. 1879.
Fresnel, F. Lettres sur l´Histoire des Arabes avant l´Islamisme. 1836-38.
Hughes, Rev. T. P. Notes on Muhammadanism. 2d ed. 1877.
Kremer, A. von. Geschichte der herrschenden Ideen des Isláms. 1868.
—— Culturgeschichte des Orients unter den Chalifen. 2 vols. 1876, 1877.
Lane, E. W. The Modern Egyptians. 5th ed. 1 vol. 1860.
—— The Thousand and One Nights (notes). 2d ed. 3 vols. 1859, 1860.
—— Selections from the Kur-án. 1st ed. 1843.
—— Arabic-English Lexicon, Preface, &c. 1863.
Lyall, C. J. Translations from the Hamâseh and the Aghânî; The Mo´allaqah of Zuheyr. (Journal As. Soc. of Bengal, 1878.)
Muir, Sir W. The Life of Mahomet. 4 vols. New edition.[25] 1867.
Nöldeke, Th. Geschichte des Qorâns. 1860.
—— Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Poesie der alten Araber. 1864.
Palgrave, W. Gifford. Central and Eastern Arabia. 6th ed. 1871.
Perceval, A.-P. Caussin de. Essai sur l´Histoire des Arabes avant l´Islamisme. 3 vols. 1847, 1848.
Poole, R. Stuart. Pagan and Muslim Arabs. (Fortnightly Review, October 15, 1865.)
Rodwell, J. M. El-Korân. 2d ed. 1876.
Sale, G. The Koran. 1836.
Sédillot, L.-A. Histoire Générale des Arabes. 2d ed. 2 vols. 1877.
Smith, R. Bosworth. Mohammed and Mohammedanism. 2d ed. 1876.
Sprenger, A. Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad. 2d ed. 3 vols. 1869.
St. Hilaire, T.-Barthélemy. Mahomet et le Coran. 2d ed. 1865.
Tiele, C. P. Outlines of the History of Religion, translated by J. E. Carpenter. (Trübner’s Philosophical Library. Vol. vii. 1877.)
Weil, G. Das Leben Mohammed’s nach Ibn Ishak bearbeitet von Ibn Hischam. 2 vols. 1864.
SELECTIONS FROM THE ḲUR-ÁN.
PART THE FIRST.
NOTE.
The following extracts were all translated by Mr. Lane, with the exception of those to which an obelus (†) is prefixed, for which I alone am responsible. In the text, the words in italics are inserted from the commentary of the Jeláleyn; words in square brackets [] are Mr. Lane’s additions, inserted where the difference between the Arabic and English idioms required them.
In the foot-notes, words in italics are from the commentary of the Jeláleyn; notes followed by the initial S., from Sale’s Koran; the letters B., Z., and A. F., following S. in parenthesis, point to the authorities from which Sale’s note was derived, the great commentaries of El-Beydáwee and Ez-Zamakhsharee, and Abu-l-Fidá’s Life of Moḥammad, respectively. The other notes are Mr. Lane’s, either from the original edition or extracted from his Modern Egyptians (5th 1 vol. ed. 1860), or his notes to the Thousand and One Nights (2d ed. 1859); except those enclosed in square brackets, which are due to myself.
The numbers at the end of each extract refer to the chapter (soorah) and verse in Flügel’s text of the Ḳur-án (Lipsiæ, 1869).
S. L. P.
PART THE FIRST.
THE OPENING PRAYER.[26]
EL-FÁTIḤAH.
I.
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds,[27]
The Compassionate, the Merciful,
The King of the day of judgment.
Thee do we worship, and of Thee seek we help.[28]
Guide us in the right way,
The way of those to whom Thou hast been gracious,
Not of those with whom Thou art wroth, nor of the erring.
(i.)
PREMONITION.
II.
A.L.M.[29] Respecting this Book there is no doubt;[30] it is a guidance for them that fear Him,
Who believe in the unseen,[31] and perform the prayer, and of what We have bestowed on them expend,
And who believe in that which hath been sent down to thee,[32] and what hath been sent down before thee,[33] and have firm assurance of the life to come.
Those follow a right direction from their Lord, and those are they who shall prosper.
As for those who have disbelieved, it will be equal to them whether thou admonish them or admonish them not: they will not believe.
God hath sealed their hearts and their ears, and over their eyes is a covering, and for them is [ordained] a great punishment.
(ii. 1-6.)
GOD.
III.
Say, He is God, One [God];
God, the Eternal.
He begetteth not nor is begotten,
And there is none equal unto Him.
(cxii.)[34]
IV.
The Throne-Verse.[35]
God! There is no God but He, the Ever-Living, the Ever-Subsisting. Slumber seizeth Him not, nor sleep. To Him belongeth whatsoever is in the Heavens and whatsoever is in the Earth. Who is he that shall intercede with Him, unless by His permission? He knoweth what [hath been] before them and what [shall be] after them, and they shall not compass aught of His knowledge save what He willeth. His Throne comprehendeth the Heavens and the Earth,[36] and the care of them burdeneth Him not. And He is the High, the Great.
(ii. 256.)
V.
†Say, O God, to whom belongeth dominion, Thou givest dominion to whom Thou wilt, and from whom Thou wilt Thou takest it away; Thou exaltest whom Thou wilt, and whom Thou wilt Thou humblest. In Thy hand is good. Verily Thou art all-powerful.
Thou causest the night to pass into the day, and Thou causest the day to pass into the night; and Thou bringest forth the living from the dead, and Thou bringest forth the dead from the living; and thou givest sustenance to whom Thou wilt without measure.
(iii. 25, 26.)
VI.
Blessed be He in whose hand is the dominion and who is all-powerful;[37]
Who hath created death and life, that He may prove you, which of you [will be] best in works: and He is the Mighty, the Very-Forgiving:
Who hath created seven heavens, one above another. Thou seest not any fault in the creation of the Compassionate. But lift up the eyes again to heaven. Dost thou see any fissures?
Then lift up the eyes again twice; the sight shall return unto thee dull and dim.
(lxvii. 1-4.)
VII.
Verily your Lord is God, who created the heavens and the earth in six days: then He ascended the throne. He causeth the night to cover the day; it followeth it swiftly: and He created the sun and the moon and the stars, made subject utterly to His command. Do not the whole creation and command belong to Him? Blessed be God, the Lord of the Worlds.
(vii. 52.)
VIII.
We have placed in heaven the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and adorned them for the beholders with the constellations;
And We have guarded them (by means of shooting stars) from every accursed devil,[38]
Excepting him who listeneth by stealth, whom a manifest shooting star pursueth.
We have also spread forth the earth, and thrown thereon firm mountains,[39] and We have caused to spring forth in it every kind [of green thing] weighed.[40]
And We have provided for you therein necessaries of life, and for him whom ye do not sustain;[41]
And there is not a thing but the storehouses thereof are with Us, and We send it not down save in determined quantities.
We also send the fertilizing winds,[42] and We send down water from heaven, and give you to drink thereof; and ye are not the storers of it.
And verily We give life and death, and We are the heirs of all the creation.
We also know those who have gone before you, and We know those who follow after [you].
And verily thy Lord will assemble them together: for He is Wise, Knowing.
(xv. 16-25.)
IX.
And your God is One God: there is no god but He, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Verily in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the varying of night and day, and the ships that course upon the sea laden with what is profitable to mankind, and the water that God hath sent down from heaven, quickening the earth thereby after its death, and scattering about it all kinds of beasts; and in the changing of the winds, and the clouds that are compelled to do service between heaven and earth, are signs unto a people who understand.
Yet among men are those who take to themselves, beside God, idols, which they love as with the love for God: but those who have believed are more loving towards God than these towards their idols.
(ii. 158-160.)
X.
Verily God causeth the grain to come forth, and the date-stone: He bringeth forth the living from the dead,[43] and He bringeth forth the dead from the living:[44] This is God; then wherefore are ye turned away?
He causeth the dawn to appear, and hath ordained the night for rest, and the sun and the moon for reckoning time: this is the appointment of the Mighty, the Wise.
And it is He who hath ordained for you the stars, that ye may be guided by them in the darknesses of the land and of the sea: We have clearly shown the signs of Our power unto the people who know.[45]
And it is He who hath produced you from one soul, and there is a place of rest and of storing:[46] We have clearly shown the signs to the people who understand.
And it is He who hath sent down water from heaven, and We have produced thereby the germs of everything, and We have caused the green thing to come forth therefrom, from which We draw forth grains massed; and from the palm-tree, from its fruit-branch, clusters of dates heaped together:[47] and gardens of grapes, and the olive and the pomegranate, like one another[48] and not like.[49] Look ye at their fruits when they bear fruit, and their ripening. Verily therein are signs unto the people who believe.
Yet they have set up the Jinn[50] as partners of God, though He hath created them, and without knowledge have they falsely attributed to Him sons and daughters. Extolled be His purity, and high be He exalted above that which they attribute [to Him]!
He is the Author of the heavens and the earth. How then should He have offspring, when He hath no consort, and hath created everything and knoweth everything?
This is God your Lord. There is no God but He, the Creator of everything: therefore worship ye Him;[51] and He is guardian over everything.
The eyes see Him not, but He seeth the eyes: and He is the Gracious, the Knowing.
(vi. 95-103.)
XI.
It is He who maketh the lightning to appear unto you, [causing] fear and hope of rain, and formeth the pregnant clouds.
And the thunder proclaimeth His perfection with His praise; and [likewise] the angels, in fear of Him. And He sendeth the thunderbolts, and striketh with them whom He pleaseth, whilst they dispute concerning God; for He is mighty in power.[52]
(xiii. 13, 14.)
XII.
With Him are the keys of the hidden things: none knoweth them but He: and He knoweth whatsoever is on the land and in the sea, and there falleth not a leaf but He knoweth it, nor a grain in the dark parts of the earth, nor a moist thing nor a dry thing, but [it is noted] in a distinct writing.[53]
And it is He who taketh your souls at night, and knoweth what ye have gained in the day; then He reviveth you therein,[54] that an appointed time[55] may be fulfilled. Then unto Him shall ye return: then will He declare unto you what ye have done.
And He is the Supreme[56] over His servants, and He sendeth watchers over you,[57] until when death cometh unto any one of you, Our messengers take his soul, and they fail not.
Then are they[58] returned unto God their Lord, the True.[59] Doth not judgment belong to Him? And He is the most quick of reckoners.
Say,[60] Who delivereth you from the darknesses of the land and of the sea, when ye supplicate Him humbly and in secret, saying, ‘If Thou deliver us from these dangers, we will assuredly be of [the number of] the thankful’?
Say, God delivereth you from them and from every affliction.
(vi. 59-64.)
XIII.
Verily God will not forgive the associating with Him [any other being as a god], but will forgive other sins unto whom He pleaseth; and whoso associateth [another] with God hath wrought a great wickedness.
(iv. 51.)
XIV.
They[61] say, ‘The Compassionate hath gotten offspring:’ Ye have done an impious thing.
It wanteth little but that the heavens be rent thereat, and that the earth cleave asunder, and that the mountains fall down in pieces.[62]
For that they have attributed offspring to the Compassionate, when it beseemeth not the Compassionate to get offspring.
There is none of all that are in the heavens and the earth but he shall come unto the Compassionate as a servant.[63] He hath known them and numbered them with an exact numbering.
And each of them shall come unto Him on the day of resurrection, alone.[64]
†Verily those who have believed and have done the things that are right, on them the Compassionate will bestow [His] love.
(xix. 91-96.)
XV.
O men of Mekkeh, a parable is propounded, wherefore hearken unto it. Verily, those idols which ye invoke beside God can never create a fly, although they assembled for it: and if the fly carry off from them aught,[65] they cannot recover the same from it. Weak are the seeker and the sought!
(xxii. 72.)
XVI.
The likeness of those who take to themselves Tutelars[66] instead of God is as the likeness of the spider, which maketh for herself a dwelling; and the frailest of dwellings surely is the dwelling of the spider! If they knew[67]——!
Verily God knoweth whatever thing they invoke in His stead; and He is the Mighty, the Wise.
And these parables[68] we propound unto men; but none understand them except the wise.
God hath created the heavens and the earth in truth: verily therein is a sign unto the believers.
(xxix. 40-43.)
MOḤAMMAD AND THE ḲUR-ÁN.
XVII.
†O thou enwrapped in thy mantle,[69]
Arise and warn!
And thy Lord—magnify Him!
And thy raiment—purify it!
And the abomination[70]—flee it!
And bestow not favours that thou mayest receive again with increase.
And for thy Lord wait thou patiently.[71]
(lxxiv. 1-7.)
XVIII.
†By the morning-brightness,
And by the still of night,[72]
Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee, neither hath He hated thee.
And surely the Future will be better for thee than the Present,
And thy Lord will give to thee, and thou wilt be well-pleased.
Did He not find thee an orphan, and sheltered thee?
And He found thee erring, and guided thee,
And found thee needy, and enriched thee.
Then, as to the orphan, oppress him not;
And as to him that asketh of thee, chide him not away;
And as for the bounty of thy Lord, tell it then [abroad].
And as for the bounty of thy Lord, tell it then [abroad].
(xciii.)
XIX.
Say, I do not say unto you, ‘With me[73] are the treasures of God,’ nor, ‘I know what is unseen,’ nor do I say unto you, ‘Verily I am an angel.’ I follow not [aught] but what is revealed unto me.
(vi. 50.)
XX.
†Say, I am only a man like unto you. It is only revealed unto me that your God is One God. He then that hopeth to meet his Lord, let him work a righteous work, and in the worship of his Lord let him not associate any [other god].
(xviii. 110.).
XXI.
†Say, If I err, only against myself shall I err, but if I am rightly-guided, it [is] of what my Lord hath revealed to me. Verily, He is the Hearer, the Near-at-hand!
(xxxiv. 49.)
XXII.
Moḥammad is nought but a Messenger.[74] The Messengers have passed away before him. If then he die or be slain, will ye turn round upon your heels?[75] But he who turneth round upon his heels will not injure God a whit;[76] and God will reward the thankful.
(iii. 138.)
XXIII.
Verily We have revealed unto thee as we revealed unto Noah and the prophets after him, and as We revealed unto Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, and Jesus, and Job, and Jonah, and Aaron, and Solomon; and We gave unto David the Psalms.
(iv. 161.)
XXIV. [77] Say unto them, Do ye argue with us concerning God, when He is our Lord and your Lord,[78] and when we have our works and ye have your works, and when we are sincere towards Him?
Nay, do ye say that Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes were Jews or Christians? Say unto them, Are ye the more knowing, or is God?[79] And who is more unrighteous than they who conceal a testimony that they have from God?[80] But God is not heedless of that which ye do.
(ii. 133, 134.)
XXV.
Remember, when Jesus the son of Mary said, ‘O children of Israel, Verily I am the Messenger of God unto you, confirming the Law which [was] before me, and giving good tidings of a Messenger who shall come after me, whose name [shall be] Aḥmad.’[81] But when he (Aḥmad) came unto them with evident proofs, they said, ‘This is manifest magic!’
And who is more unrighteous than he who forgeth falsehood against God, when he is invited unto El-Islám? And God directeth not the unrighteous people.
They desire to put out the light of God with their mouths: but God will perfect His light, though the unbelievers be loth thereto.
It is He who hath sent His messenger with the direction and the religion of truth, that He may exalt above every religion, though the polytheists be loth thereto.
(lxi. 6-9.)
XXVI.
Those to whom We have given the Scripture know him (Moḥammad) as they know their children.[82] But a party of them do conceal the truth[83] while they know.
(ii. 141.)
XXVII.
The Jews said unto Moḥammad, ‘Verily God hath enjoined us[84] that we should not believe an apostle until he bring us a sacrifice which fire shall devour.’
Say, Apostles have come unto you before me with manifest proofs,[85] and with that ye have mentioned:[86] then wherefore did ye slay them, if ye be speakers of truth?
(iii. 179, 180.)
XXVIII.
The unbelievers of Mekkeh have sworn by God, with the mightiest of their oaths, that if a sign come unto them they will assuredly believe therein. Say, Signs are only with God. And what will make you to know?[87] Verily if they come they will not believe.
And We will turn away their hearts and their eyes,[88] as they believed not therein the first time; and We will leave them in their transgression, wandering about in perplexity.
And though We had sent down unto them the angels, and the dead had spoken unto them, and We had gathered together about them everything in tribes, they had not believed unless God had pleased; but the greater number of them know not.
(vi. 109-111.)
XXIX.
And they have said, ‘O thou unto whom the Admonition[89] hath been sent down, thou art certainly possessed by a Jinnee.[90]
Why dost thou not come unto us with the angels, if thou be of those that speak truth?’
We send not down the angels save with justice,[91] nor would they then be respited.
Verily, We have sent down the Admonition, and We will surely preserve it.
And We have sent Messengers before thee among the sects of the former generations;
And there came not unto them any Messenger but they had him in derision:
In like manner will We put it into the hearts of the sinners of Mekkeh to do so;
They shall not believe in him, and the punishment of the former generations hath passed.
And if We should open above them a gate in heaven, and they should pass the day mounting up to it,
They would say, ‘Our eyes are only intoxicated, or rather we are a people enchanted.’
(xv. 6-15.)
XXX.
†Verily, it is the excellent Ḳur-án,
Written in the Preserved Book.[92]
None shall touch it but they who are purified.[93]
It is a revelation from the Lord of the Worlds.
(lvi. 76-79.)
XXXI.
Say, Verily if mankind and the Jinn assembled together for the purpose of producing the like of this Ḳur-án,[94] they could not produce the like thereof, although they helped one another.[95]
And We have explained unto men in this Ḳur-án every kind of parable,[96] but the greater number of men have refused [all else] save unbelief,
And have said, ‘We will by no means believe in thee until thou cause a fountain to gush forth for us from the earth,
Or thou have a garden of palm-trees and grapes, and thou cause rivers to spring forth in the midst thereof in abundance,
Or thou cause heaven to fall down upon us, as thou hast pretended, in pieces, or thou bring God and the angels before us,
Or thou have a house of gold, or thou ascend into heaven, and we will not believe thy ascending until thou cause a book to descend unto us which we may read.’ Say, Extolled be the perfection of my Lord! Am I [aught] save a man, [sent] as a Messenger?
And nothing hath hindered men from believing when the direction hath come unto them, but their saying, ‘Hath God sent a man as a Messenger?’[97]
Say, If there were upon the earth angels walking at ease,[98] We had sent down unto them from heaven an angel as a Messenger.[99]
Say, God is a sufficient witness between me and you: for He knoweth and seeth His servants.
(xvii. 90-98.)
XXXII.
And this Ḳur-án is not an invention[100] of one who is not God, but it hath been sent down as a confirmation of those books which have been before it, and an explanation of the Scripture—there is no doubt thereof—from the Lord of the Worlds.
Do they say, ‘He[101] hath forged it?’ Say, Then bring ye a Soorah[102] like unto it and call whom ye can,[103] other than God, if ye speak truth.
Nay they have charged with falsehood that which they comprehend not, and the explanation thereof[104] hath not yet come unto them. In like manner did those who were before them charge their Messengers with falsehood; but see how was the end of the offenders!
(x. 38-40.)
XXXIII.
If ye be in doubt concerning that which We have sent down unto Our servant Moḥammad,[105] bring ye a Soorah like unto it,[106] and invoke your witnesses,[107] other than God, if ye be speakers of truth.
But if ye do it not (and do it ye shall not), fear the fire whose fuel is men and stones: it is prepared for the unbelievers.
(ii. 21, 22.)
XXXIV.
Whatsoever[108] verse We abrogate or cause thee to forget, We will produce one better than it or like unto it. Dost thou not know that God is all-powerful?
Dost thou not know that to God belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and that beside God ye have no protector or defender?
(ii. 100, 101.)
XXXV.
When We substitute a verse in the stead of a verse (and God best knoweth what He revealeth), they say, ‘Thou art but a forger!’—but the greater number of them know not!
Say, The Holy Spirit Gabriel hath brought it down from thy Lord with truth, to stablish those who have believed, and as a direction and good tidings unto the Muslims.
And We well know that they say, ‘Only a man[109] teacheth him.’ The tongue of him to whom they incline is foreign, and this is the perspicuous Arabic tongue.
(xvi. 103-105).
XXXVI.
Say, If the sea were ink, for writing the words of my Lord, the sea would be dried up or ever the words of my Lord were exhausted; and [so] if we brought its like in aid.[110]
(xviii. 109).
THE RESURRECTION, PARADISE, AND HELL.
XXXVII.
†The Striking! what is the Striking?
And what shall teach thee what the Striking is?
It is a day when men shall be like scattered moths,
And the mountains like carded wool!
Then as for him whose balances are heavy, his shall be a life well-pleasing.
As for him whose balances are light, his abode shall be the Pit.
And what shall teach thee what that is?
A raging fire!
(ci.)
XXXVIII.
†When the earth is shaken with her shaking,
And the earth hath cast forth her dead,[111]
And man shall say, ‘What aileth her?’
On that day shall she tell out her tidings,
Because thy Lord hath inspired her.
On that day shall men come one by one to behold their works,
And whosoever shall have wrought an ant’s weight of good shall behold it,
And whosoever shall have wrought an ant’s weight of ill shall behold it.
(xcix.)
XXXIX.
†When the heaven shall be cloven asunder,
And when the stars shall be scattered,
And when the seas shall be let loose,
And when the graves shall be turned upside-down,
Every soul shall know what it hath done and left undone.
O man! what hath seduced thee from thy generous Lord,
Who created thee and fashioned thee and disposed thee aright?
In the form which pleased Him hath He fashioned thee.
Nay, but ye treat the Judgment as a lie.
Verily there are watchers over you,
Worthy recorders,
Knowing what ye do.
Verily in delight shall the righteous dwell;
And verily the wicked in Hell[-Fire];
They shall be burnt at it on the day of doom,
And they shall not be hidden from it.
And what shall teach thee what the Day of Judgment is?
Again: What shall teach thee what is the Day of Judgment?
It is a day when one soul shall be powerless for another soul; and all on that day shall be in the hands of God.
(lxxxii.)
XL.
When the sun shall be wrapped up,
And when the stars shall fall down,
And when the mountains shall be made to pass away,
And when the camels ten months gone with young[112] shall be neglected,
And when the wild beasts shall be gathered together,
And when the seas shall overflow,[113]
And when the souls shall be joined to their bodies,
And when the child[114] that hath been buried alive shall be asked
For what crime she was put to death,
And when the books[115] shall be laid open,
And when the heaven shall be removed,[116]
And when Hell shall be made to burn,
And when Paradise shall be brought near,—
Then every soul shall know what it hath done.
(lxxxi. 1-14.)
XLI.
Hath the news of the Overwhelming reached thee?
Countenances on that day [shall be] abased,
Labouring, toiling:
They shall feel the heat of scorching fire,
They shall be given to drink from a fountain fiercely boiling,
There shall be no food for them but of daree’,[117]—
It shall not fatten nor satisfy hunger.
(lxxxviii. 1-7.)
XLII.
When one blast shall be blown on the trumpet,
And the earth shall be raised and the mountains, and be broken to dust with one breaking,
On that day the Calamity shall come to pass:
And the heaven shall cleave asunder, being frail on that day,
And the angels on the sides thereof; and over them on that day eight of the angels[118] shall bear the throne of thy Lord.
On that day ye shall be presented for the reckoning; none of your secrets shall be hidden.
And as to him who shall have his book given to him in his right hand, he shall say,[119] ‘Take ye, read my book;
Verily I was sure I should come to my reckoning.
And his [shall be] a pleasant life
In a lofty garden,
Whose clusters [shall be] near at hand.
[120]‘Eat ye and drink with benefit on account of that which ye paid beforehand in the past days.’
But as to him who shall have his book given to him in his left hand, he shall say, ‘O would that I had not had my book given to me,
Nor known what [was] my reckoning!
O would that my death had been the ending of me!
My wealth hath not profited me!
My power is passed away from me!’
‘[121]Take him and chain him,
Then cast him into hell to be burnt,
Then in a chain of seventy cubits bind him:
For he believed not in God, the Great,
Nor urged to feed the poor;
Therefore he shall not have here this day a friend,
Nor any food save filth
Which none but the sinners shall eat.’
(lxix. 13-37.)
XLIII.
When the Calamity shall come to pass
There shall not be a soul that will deny its happening,[122]
[It will be] an abaser of some, an exalter of others;
When the earth shall be shaken with a violent shaking,
And the mountains shall be crumbled with a [violent] crumbling,
And shall become fine dust scattered abroad;
And ye shall be three classes.
And the people of the right hand,[123] what [shall be] the people of the right hand![124]
And the people of the left hand, what the people of the left hand![125]
And the Preceders,[126] the Preceders!
These [shall be] the brought-nigh [unto God]
In the gardens of delight,—
A crowd of the former generations,
And a few of the latter generations,
Upon inwrought couches
Reclining thereon, face to face.
Youths ever-young[127] shall go unto them round about
With goblets and ewers and a cup of flowing wine,
Their [heads] shall ache not with it neither shall they be drunken;
And with fruits of the [sorts] which they shall choose,
And the flesh of birds of the [kinds] which they shall desire.
And damsels[128] with eyes[129] like pearls laid up
We will give them as a reward for that which they have done.
Therein shall they hear no vain discourse nor accusation of sin,
But [only] the saying, ‘Peace! Peace!’
And the people of the right hand—what [shall be] the people of the right hand!
[They shall dwell] among lote-trees without thorns
And bananas loaded with fruit,[130]
And a shade ever-spread,
And water ever-flowing,
And fruits abundant
Unstayed and unforbidden,
And couches raised.
Verily we have created them[131] by a [peculiar] creation,
And have made them virgins,
Beloved of their husbands, of equal age [with them],
For the people of the right hand,
A crowd of the former generations
And a crowd of the latter generations.
And the people of the left hand—what [shall be] the people of the left hand!
[They shall dwell] amidst burning wind and scalding water,
And a shade of blackest smoke,
Not cool and not grateful.
For before this they were blest with worldly goods,
And they persisted in heinous sin,[132]
And said, ‘When we shall have died and become dust and bones, shall we indeed be raised to life,
And our fathers the former generations?’
Say, Verily the former and the latter generations
Shall be gathered together for the appointed time of a known day.
Then ye, O ye erring, belying [people],
Shall surely eat of the tree of Ez-Zaḳḳoom,
And fill therewith [your] bellies,
And drink thereon boiling water,
And ye shall drink as thirsty camels drink.—
This [shall be] their entertainment on the day of retribution.
(lvi. 1-56.)
XLIV.
Verily We have prepared for the offenders fire, the smoke of which shall encompass them; and if they ask relief, they shall be relieved with water like the dregs of oil, which shall scald their faces. Miserable shall be the drink, and evil shall be the couch.
As for those who have believed and done the things that are right, verily We will not suffer the reward of him that hath done well to perish:
For these are gardens of perpetual abode, beneath them[133] shall rivers run; they shall be adorned therein with bracelets of gold, and shall wear green garments of fine brocade and of thick brocade, reclining therein on the thrones. Excellent shall be the reward, and pleasant shall be the couch.
(xviii. 28-30.)
XLV.
Call to mind the day when We will cause the mountains to pass away and thou shalt see the earth plain; and We will assemble them[134] and not leave of them any one.
And they shall be set before thy Lord in ranks: ‘Now are ye come unto Us as We created you the first time.[135] Nay, ye thought that We would not perform [Our] promise to you.’[136]
And the book shall be put [in every man’s hand], and thou shalt see the sinners fearful because of that which is [written] therein, and they shall say, ‘O woe is us! what meaneth this book? It leaveth neither a small sin nor a great sin, but it enumerateth it!’ And they shall find that which they shall have wrought present;[137] and thy Lord will not deal unjustly with any one.
(xviii. 45-47.)
XLVI.
They have not esteemed God with the estimation due unto Him, since the whole earth [shall be] His handful on the day of resurrection, and the heavens [shall be] folded together by His right hand. Extolled be His perfection and high be He exalted above the [things] they associate with Him!
And the trumpet shall be blown, and they that are in the heavens and they that are in the earth shall die, except those whom God shall please. Then it shall be blown another time; and lo, they shall arise, waiting.
And the earth shall shine with the light of its Lord. And the book shall be placed, and the prophets shall be brought and the witnesses, and judgment shall be given between them with truth, and they shall not be treated unjustly.
And every soul shall be fully paid the reward of what it hath done, and He well knoweth what they do.
And those who have disbelieved shall be driven in troops unto hell, until when they come to it, its gates shall be opened, and its guardians shall say unto them, ‘Did not Messengers from among you come unto you rehearsing the signs of your Lord, and warning you of the meeting of this your day?’ They shall answer, ‘Yea:’ (But the sentence of punishment[138] hath been justly pronounced against the unbelievers:)
It shall be said, ‘Enter ye the gates of hell to remain therein for ever:’ and evil shall be the abode of the proud.
And those who have feared their Lord shall be urged on in troops unto paradise, until when they come unto it, its gates are already opened, and its guardians say unto them: ‘Peace be on you! Ye have been good: therefore enter it to abide therein for ever.’
And they shall say, ‘Praise be to God, who hath performed unto us His promise, and hath made us to inherit the land, that we may dwell in Paradise wheresoever we please; and how excellent is the reward of the workers!’[139]
And thou shalt see the angels encompassing the throne, extolling the perfection with the praise of their Lord. And judgment shall be given between them[140] with truth: and it shall be said,‘Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds!’
(xxxix. 67-75.)
XLVII.
Paradise shall be brought near unto the pious, to a place not distant from them, so that they shall see it.
And it shall be said unto them, ‘This is what ye have been promised, unto every one who hath earnestly turned himself unto God and kept His laws,
Who hath feared the Compassionate in secret, and come with a penitent heart:
Enter it in peace: this is the Day of Eternity.’
(l. 30-33.)
XLVIII.
†Fairseeming to men is the love of pleasures from women and children, and hoarded riches of gold and silver, and pastured[141] horses, and flocks, and corn-fields. Such is the enjoyment of this world’s life! But God, goodly is the home with Him!
Say, Shall I tell you of better things than these prepared in the presence of their Lord for those that fear [God]? Theirs shall be gardens beneath which rivers run, and in which they shall abide for ever, and stainless wives, and acceptance with God: for God regardeth His servants,
—Who say, ‘O our Lord, verily we have believed; forgive us then our sins, and keep us from the torment of the fire,’—
The patient, and the truthful, and the lowly, and the charitable, and they who seek pardon at each daybreak.
(iii. 12-15.)
XLIX.
†And repute not those slain in God’s cause[142] to be dead: nay, alive with their Lord, they are provided for;
Joyful in what God of His bounty hath vouchsafed them, and rejoicing for those that follow after them, but have not yet overtaken them, that on them no fear shall come, neither shall they grieve;
Rejoicing at the favour of God and His bounty, and that God suffereth not the reward of the faithful to perish.
(iii. 163-165.)
L.
Whosoever doeth the things that are right, whether male or female, being a believer,—these shall enter paradise, and shall not be wronged in the least degree.
(iv. 123.)
LI.
For those who have disbelieved in their Lord [is prepared] the punishment of hell; and evil [shall be] the journey.[143]
When they shall be cast into it they shall hear it braying,[144] while it boileth, well-nigh bursting with fury.
(lxvii. 6-8.)
LII.
If thou shouldst see[145] those who have offended[146] when they see the punishment![147]—for power belongeth altogether unto God, and God is severe in punishing:
When those who have been followed will declare themselves clear of those who have followed [them],[148] when they have seen the punishment, and the ties [that bound them together] shall be severed from them:
And those who have followed shall say, ‘O that there were for us a return to the world! then would we declare ourselves clear of them, like as they have now declared themselves clear of us!’ After this manner will God show them their evil works, for which [they shall pour forth] lamentations; and they shall not come forth from the fire.
(ii. 160-162.)
LIII.
And the Devil[149] shall say, when the matter shall have been determined,[150] ‘Verily God promised you the promise of truth;[151] and I promised you,[152] but I deceived you: yet had I no power over you;
But I only called you and ye answered me. Therefore blame not me, but blame your own selves. I am not a helper of you, neither are ye helpers of me. Verily I renounce your having associated me with God heretofore.’
(xiv. 26, 27).
LIV.
Verily the hypocrites shall be in the lowest abyss of the fire, and thou shalt not find for them any defender.
(iv. 144.)
LV.
They[153] will ask thee respecting the Hour,[154] at what time is its coming fixed. Say, The knowledge of it is only with my Lord: none shall manifest it in its time but He. It is grievous in the heavens and in the earth. It shall not come upon you otherwise than suddenly.
They will ask thee as though thou wert well acquainted therewith. Say, The knowledge of it is only with God: but the greater number of men know not!
Say, I possess not for myself power to procure advantage nor to avert mischief, save as God pleaseth: and if I knew things unseen, I should obtain abundance of good, and evil should not happen unto me. I am only a denouncer of threats unto the unbelievers, and an announcer of good tidings unto the people who believe.
(vii. 186-188.)
PREDESTINATION.
LVI.
A soul cannot die unless by permission of God, according to a writing of God, definite as to time.
(iii. 139.)
LVII.
They say [whose companions were slain at the battle of Oḥod], ‘If aught of the affair had been submitted to us we had not been slain here.’[155] Say, Had ye been in your houses, those of you who were decreed to be slain had gone forth to the places where they lie.
(iii. 148.)
LVIII.
Wheresoever ye be, death will overtake you, although you be in lofty towers. If good fortune betide them,[156] they say, ‘This is from God!’ But if evil betide them, they say, ‘This is from thee, O Moḥammad!’ Say, All is from God. And what aileth this people that they are not near to understanding what is said unto them?
Whatsoever good betideth thee, O man, it is from God; and whatsoever evil betideth thee, from thyself is it.
(iv. 80, 81.)
LIX.
†No soul can believe but by the permission of God.
(x. 100.)
LX.
†And whoso willeth taketh the way to his Lord: But ye shall not will it, unless God will it.
(lxxvi. 29, 30.)
LXI.
†Expend in the way of God, and throw not yourselves into destruction.[157]
(ii. 191.)
ANGELS AND JINN.[158]
LXII.
They say, ‘The Compassionate hath gotten offspring.’[159] Extolled be His purity! Nay, they are honoured servants.
They prevent Him not in speech,[160] and according to His command they act.
He knoweth what is before them and what is behind them, and they shall not intercede
Save for whom He shall please, and they fear in dread of Him.
And him[161] among them who saith, ‘I am a god beside Him,’ that [angel] We will recompense with Hell.
(xxi. 26-30.)
LXIII.
†Say, It hath been revealed to me that a company of the Jinn listened [to me] and said, ‘Verily we have heard a wonderful discourse[162]
Which guideth unto right: wherefore we believed in it, and we will by no means associate any one with our Lord....
We tried the heaven, but we found it filled with a mighty garrison and darting flames;
We sat on some of its seats to listen, but whosoever listeneth now findeth a darting flame in ambush for him.
We know not whether evil be meant for them that are on the earth, or whether their Lord intendeth for them a right guidance.
There are among us the good, and among us those who are not so,—we are of various ways.
(lxxii. 1, 2, 8-11.)
TRUE RELIGION AND FALSE.
LXIV.
Verily God commandeth justice and the doing of good and the giving unto the relation: and He forbiddeth wickedness and iniquity and oppression. He admonisheth you that ye may reflect.
(xvi. 92.)[163]
LXV.
†By the Night when she spreadeth her veil,
By the Day when it appeareth in glory,
By Him who made male and female;
Verily your aims are indeed different!
As then for him who giveth [alms] and feareth [God],
And yieldeth assent to the Good,
To him will We therefore make easy the path to happiness.
But as to him who is covetous and bent on riches,
And calleth the Good a lie,
To him will We make easy the path to distress;
And what shall his wealth avail him when he goeth down headlong?
Truly man’s guidance is with Us,
And Ours the next Life and this life Present.
I warn you therefore of the flaming fire;
None shall be burned at it but the most wretched,—
Who hath called the truth a lie and turned his back.
But the greatly God-fearing shall escape it,—
Who giveth away his substance that he may become pure,
And who [offereth] not favours to any one for the sake of recompense,
But only as seeking the face of his Lord the Most High.
And assuredly in the end he shall be well content.[1]
(xcii.)
LXVI.
†What thinkest thou of him who treateth the day of judgment as a lie?
It is he who thrusteth away the orphan,
And stirreth not [others] up to feed the poor.
Woe, then, to those who pray,
Who in their prayer are careless,
Who make a show [of devotion],
But refuse help [to the needy].[164]
(cvii.)
LXVII.
Your turning your faces in prayer towards the east and the west is not piety: but the pious is he who believeth in God and the Last Day, and in the angels, and the Scripture, and the prophets, and who giveth money, notwithstanding his love of it, to relations and orphans, and to the needy and the son of the road,[165] and to the askers and for the freeing of slaves, and who performeth prayer and giveth the [appointed] alms, and those who perform their covenant when they covenant, and the patient in adversity and affliction and in the time of violence. These are they who have been true: and these are they who fear God.
(ii. 172.)
LXVIII.
†He only shall visit the temples of God who believeth in God and the Last Day, and observeth prayer, and payeth the [appointed] alms, and dreadeth none but God: for these are among the rightly-guided.
(ix. 18.)
LXIX.
O ye who have believed, make not your alms of no effect by reproach and harm, like him who expendeth his wealth to make a vain show unto men, and believeth not in God and the Last Day. For his likeness is as the likeness of a smooth stone upon which was earth, and a violent rain hath fallen upon it, and left it smooth and hard. [Such] cannot have aught that they have gained, and God directeth not the unbelieving people.
And the likeness of those who expend their wealth from a desire of God’s being pleased, and from assurance on their part,[166] is as the likeness of a garden upon a hill, on which a violent rain hath fallen, and it hath produced its fruit twofold: and if a violent rain fall not upon it, a gentle rain falleth.
(ii. 266, 267.)
LXX.
If ye manifest alms, good will it be: but if ye conceal them and give them to the poor, it will be better for you; and it will expiate some of your sins.
(ii. 273.)
LXXI.
A kind speech and forgiveness are better than alms which hurt[167] followeth.
(ii. 265.)
LXXII.
Revile not what they invoke in preference to God,[168] lest they revile God evilly without knowledge.
(vi. 108.)
LXXIII.
Turn away evil by that which is better: and lo, he between whom and thyself [was] enmity [shall become] as though he were a warm friend:
But none is endowed with this[169] except those who have been patient, and none is endowed with it except he who is greatly favoured.[170]
(xli. 34, 35.)
LXXIV.
†If ye are greeted with a greeting, then greet ye with a better greeting, or at least return it: verily God taketh count of all things.
(iv. 88.)
LXXV.
†If there be any [debtor] under a difficulty [of paying his debt], let [his creditor] wait until it be easy: but if ye remit it as alms, it will be better for you.
(ii. 280.)[171]
BELIEVERS AND UNBELIEVERS.
LXXVI.
†Dispute not with the people of the Scripture[172] unless in the kindliest[173] manner, except against such of them as deal evilly [with you]; and say [unto them], We believe in that which hath been sent down unto us and [that which] hath been sent down unto you, and our God and your God is one, and to Him are we self-surrendered.[174]
(xxix. 45.)
LXXVII.
Verily those who have believed,[175] and those who have become Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whosoever hath believed in God and the Last Day, and hath done that which is right,—they shall have their reward with their Lord, and there shall come no fear upon them, neither shall they grieve.
(ii. 59.)[176]
LXVIII.
Whoso desireth any other religion than El-Islám, it shall not be accepted of him, and in the world to come he [shall be] of those that perish.
(iii. 79.)
LXXIX.
The likeness of those who have disbelieved[177] is as the likeness of him who crieth out to that which heareth not [aught] save a calling and a voice. They are deaf, dumb, blind: therefore they do not understand.
(ii. 166.)
LXXX.
[As to] the unbelievers, their works are like a vapour[178] in a plain, which the thirsty imagineth to be water, until when he cometh to it he findeth it not aught:[179] (but he findeth God there, and He fully payeth him his account: and God is swift in reckoning:)
Or, like darknesses in a deep sea, covered by waves over waves,—over them clouds,—darknesses one over another: when [one] putteth forth his hand he is not nearly able to see it. And unto whomsoever God giveth not light, he hath no light.
(xxiv. 39, 40.)
LXXXI.
Propound unto them as a parable two men, on one of whom[180] We bestowed two gardens of grape-vines, and We surrounded them with palm-trees, and put corn between them; each of the gardens brought forth its fruit, and failed not thereof at all;
And We caused a river to flow between them; and he had abundance. And he said unto his companion, disputing with him, ‘I am greater than thou in wealth and more mighty in family.’
And he entered his garden, being unjust to his own soul.[181] He said, ‘I do not think that this will ever perish,
And I do not think that the [Last] Hour will come; and if I should be taken back unto my Lord, I shall assuredly find a better [garden] than it in return.’
His companion said unto him, disputing with him, ‘Dost thou disbelieve in Him who created thee of dust, then completely fashioned thee into a man?
God is my Lord, and I will not associate any one with my Lord.
And why when thou enteredst thy garden didst thou not say, ‘What God willeth[182] [cometh to pass]: there is no power but in God?’ If thou seest me to be inferior to thee in amount of wealth and in number of children,
Perhaps my Lord may give me [what will be] better than thy garden; and may send upon [thine] thunderbolts from heaven, so that it shall become a smooth and slippery ground;
Or its water may become deep-sunk [in the earth], so that thou shalt not be able to draw it.’—
And his possessions were encompassed with destruction, and he began to turn down the palms of his hands for that which he had expended thereon; for it[s vines were] falling down upon its trellises; and he said, ‘O would that I had not associated any one with my Lord!’
And there was no party for him to assist him instead of God, nor was he able to defend himself.
In that case[183] protection [belongeth] unto God, the True; He is the best rewarder and the best giver of success.
(xviii. 31-42.)
LXXXII.
Thou shalt certainly find[184] the Jews and those who have attributed partners to God[185] the most violent of men in hatred of those who have believed; and thou shalt certainly find the nearest of them to friendship to those who have believed those who say, ‘We are Christians.’ This is because there are among them priests and monks, and because they are not proud.[186]
And when they hear that which hath been sent down unto the Apostle, thou seest their eyes overflow with tears because of the truth that they know: they say, ‘O our Lord, we believe, therefore write us down among those who bear witness.’
(v. 85, 86.)
LXXXIII.
The likeness of those who were charged to bear in mind the Law [of Moses], then bore it not in mind,[187] is as the likeness of the ass that beareth books. Evil is the likeness of the people who have charged the signs of God with falsehood: and God directeth not the unjust people.
(lxii. 5.)
LXXXIV.
[188]Among men are those who say, We believe in God and in the Last Day: but they are not believers.
They try to deceive God and those who have believed; but they deceive not any except themselves, and they know [it] not.
In their hearts is a disease, and God hath increased their disease, and for them [is ordained] a painful punishment, because they have charged with falsehood the prophet of God.
And when it is said unto them, Corrupt not in the earth, they reply, ‘We are only rectifiers.’
Assuredly they are the corrupters; but they know [it] not.
And when it is said unto them, Believe ye as other men have believed, they say, ‘Shall we believe as the fools have believed?’ Assuredly they are the fools; but they know it not.
And when they meet those who have believed, they say, ‘We believe:’ but when they retire privately to their devils,[189] they say, ‘We hold with you: we only mock at them.’
God will mock at them, and keep them in their exceeding wickedness, wandering about in perplexity.
These are they who have purchased error in exchange for right guidance: but their traffic hath not been profitable; and they have not been rightly guided.
Their likeness is as the likeness of those who have kindled a fire in the dark, and when it hath enlightened what is around them, God taketh away their light and leaveth them in darkness, seeing not.
They are deaf, dumb, blind: therefore they will not turn back.
Or they are like people in a storm of rain from heaven, wherein are darkness and thunder and lightning: they put their fingers in their ears because of the vehement sounds of the thunder, for fear of death. And God encompasseth the unbelievers.
The lightning almost snatcheth away their eyes: whenever it shineth on them they walk in the light of it, but when darkness cometh on them they stand still. And if God pleased He would certainly take away their ears and eyes: for God is all-powerful.
(ii. 7-19.)
LXXXV.
O ye who have believed, take not the Jews and Christians as friends. They are friends one to another; and whosoever of you taketh them as his friends, verily he is of the number of them.
O ye who have believed, take not as friends those who have made your religion a laughing-stock and a jest, of those who have received the Scripture before you, and the unbelievers: (But fear God if ye be believers:)
And those who when ye call to prayer make it a laughing-stock and a jest. This they do because they are a people who do not understand.
(v. 56, 62, 63.)
LXXXVI.
†The servants of the Merciful are they that walk upon the earth softly; and when the ignorant speak unto them, they reply ‘Peace!’—
And they that pass the night worshipping their Lord, prostrate and standing;—
And that say, ‘O our Lord, turn away from us the torment of Hell: verily its torment is endless; verily it is an ill abode and resting-place!’—
And those who when they spend are neither lavish nor niggard, but keep the mean;—
And those who call on no other gods with God, nor slay whom God hath forbidden to be slain, except for a just cause; nor are unchaste;—
And they who bear not witness to a lie, and when they pass by vain discourse pass it by with dignity;—
These shall be rewarded with the highest Heaven, for that they persevered, and they shall be accosted therein with ‘Welcome and Peace,’ to live therein for ever—a fair abode and resting-place!
(xxv. 64-75.)
PART THE SECOND.
PROPHETS, APOSTLES, AND DIVINE BOOKS.[190]
Say ye, We believe in God, and in that which hath been sent down unto us (namely, the Ḳur-án), and what hath been sent down unto Abraham (the ten books), and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, his children, and what Moses received (namely, the Pentateuch), and Jesus (namely, the Gospel), and what the prophets received from their Lord (namely, books and signs): we make no separation of any of them, believing in some, and disbelieving in some, like the Jews and the Christians; and we resign ourselves unto Him.
(ii. 130.)
ADAM AND EVE.
Remember, O Moḥammad, when thy Lord said unto the angels, I am about to place in the earth a vicegerent to act for me in the execution of my ordinances therein, namely, Adam,—they said, Wilt Thou place in it one who will corrupt in it by disobediences, and will shed blood (as did the sons of El-Jánn,[191] who were in it; wherefore, when they acted corruptly, God sent to them the angels, who drove them away to the islands and the mountains), when we [on the contrary] celebrate the divine perfection, occupying ourselves with Thy praise, and extol Thy holiness? Therefore we are more worthy of the vicegerency.—God replied, Verily, I know that which ye know not, as to the affair of appointing Adam vicegerent, and that among his posterity will be the obedient and the rebellious, and the just will be manifest among them. And He created Adam from the surface of the earth, taking a handful of every colour that it comprised, which was kneaded with various waters; and He completely formed it, and breathed into it the soul: so it became an animated sentient being.[192] And He taught Adam the names of all things, infusing the knowledge of them into his heart. Then He showed them (namely, the things) to the angels, and said, Declare unto me the names of these things, if ye say truth in your assertion that I will not create any more knowing than ye, and that ye are more worthy of the vicegerency. They replied, [We extol] Thy perfection! We have no knowledge excepting what Thou hast taught us; for Thou art the Knowing, the Wise.—God said, O Adam, tell them their names. And when he had told them their names, God said, Did I not say unto you that I know the secrets of the heavens and the earth, and know what ye reveal of your words, saying, Wilt thou place in it, etc., and what ye did conceal of your words, saying, He will not create any more generous towards Him than we, nor any more knowing?
(ii. 28-31.)
We created you; that is, your father Adam: then we formed you; we formed him, and you in him: then We said unto the angels, Prostrate yourselves unto Adam, by way of salutation; whereupon they prostrated themselves, except Iblees, the father of the jinn, who was amid the angels: he was not of those who prostrated themselves. God said, What hath hindered thee from prostrating thyself, when I commanded thee? He answered, I am better than he: Thou hast created me of fire, and Thou hast created him of earth. [God] said, Then descend thou from it; that is, from Paradise; or, as some say, from the heavens; for it is not fit for thee that thou behave thyself proudly therein: so go thou forth: verily thou [shalt be] of the contemptible. He replied, Grant me respite until the day when they (that is, mankind) shall be raised from the dead. He said, Thou shalt be of those [who are] respited: and, in another verse [in xv. 38, it is said], until the day of the known period; that is, until the period of the first blast [of the trumpet]. [And the devil] said, Now, as Thou hast led me into error, I will surely lay wait for them (that is, for the sons of Adam) in Thy right way, the way that leadeth to Thee: then I will surely come upon them, from before them, and from behind them, and from their right hands, and from their left, and hinder them from pursuing the way (but, saith Ibn-´Abbás, he cannot come upon them above, lest he should intervene between the servant and God’s mercy), and Thou shalt not find the greater number of them grateful, or believing. [God] said, Go forth from it, despised and driven away from mercy. Whosoever of them (that is, of mankind) shall follow thee, I will surely fill hell with you all; with thee, and thy offspring, and with men.
(vii. 10-17.)
And we said, O Adam, dwell thou and thy wife (Howwá [or Eve], whom God created from a rib of his left side) in the garden, and eat ye therefrom plentifully, wherever ye will; but approach ye not this tree, to eat thereof; (and it was wheat, or the grape-vine, or some other tree;) for if ye do so, ye will be of the number of the offenders. But the devil, Iblees, caused them to slip from it, that is, from the garden, by his saying unto them, Shall I show you the way to the tree of eternity? And he swore to them by God that he was one of the faithful advisers to them: so they ate of it, and He ejected them from that state of delight in which they were. And We said, Descend ye[193] to the earth, ye two with the offspring that ye comprise [yet unborn], one of you (that is, of your offspring) an enemy to another; and there shall be for you, in the earth, a place of abode, and a provision, of its vegetable produce, for a time, until the period of the expiration of your terms of life. And Adam learned, from his Lord, words, which were these:—O Lord, we have acted unjustly to our own souls, and if Thou do not forgive us, and be merciful unto us, we shall surely be of those who suffer loss.[194] And he prayed in these words; and He became propitious towards him, accepting his repentance; for He is the Very Propitious, the Merciful. We said, Descend ye from it (from the garden) altogether; and if there come unto you from Me a direction (a book and an apostle), those who follow my direction, there shall come no fear on them, nor shall they grieve in the world to come; for they shall enter paradise: but they who disbelieve and accuse our signs[195] of falsehood, these shall be the companions of the fire: they shall remain therein for ever.
(ii. 33-37.)
ABEL AND CAIN.
Recite, O Moḥammad, unto them (that is, to thy people) the history of the two sons of Adam, namely, Abel and Cain,[196] with truth. When they offered [their] offering to God[197] (Abel’s being a ram, and Cain’s being produce of the earth), and it was accepted from one of them (that is, from Abel; for fire descended from heaven, and devoured his offering), and it was not accepted from the other, Cain was enraged; but he concealed his envy until Adam performed a pilgrimage, when he said unto his brother, I will assuredly slay thee. Abel said, Wherefore? Cain answered, Because of the acceptance of thine offering to the exclusion of mine. Abel replied, God only accepteth from the pious. If thou stretch forth to me thy hand to slay me, I will not stretch forth to thee my hand to slay thee; for I fear God, the Lord of the worlds. I desire that thou shouldst bear the sin [which thou intendest to commit] against me, by slaying me, and thy sin which thou hast committed before, and thou wilt be of the companions of the fire.—And that is the recompense of the offenders.—But his soul suffered him to slay his brother: so he slew him; and he became of [the number of] those who suffer loss. And he knew not what to do with him; for he was the first dead person upon the face of the earth of the sons of Adam. So he carried him upon his back. And God sent a raven, which scratched up the earth with its bill and its talons and raised it over a dead raven that was with it until it hid it, to show him how he should hide the corpse of his brother. He said, O my disgrace! Am I unable to be like this raven, and to hide the corpse of my brother?—And he became of [the number of] the repentant. And he digged for him, and hid him.—On account of this which Cain did We commanded the children of Israel that he who should slay a soul (not for the latter’s having slain a soul or committed wickedness in the earth, such as infidelity, or adultery, or intercepting the way, and the like) [should be regarded] as though he had slain all mankind; and he who saveth it alive, by abstaining from slaying it, as though he had saved alive all mankind.
v. 30-35.
NOAH AND THE FLOOD.
We formerly sent Noah [Nooḥ] unto his people, saying, Verily I am unto you a plain admonisher that ye worship not [any] but God. Verily I fear for you, if ye worship any other, the punishment of an afflictive day in this world and in the world to come.—But the chiefs who disbelieved among his people replied, We see thee not to be other than a man, like unto us; and we see not any to have followed thee except the meanest of us, as the weavers and the cobblers, at first thought (or rashly), nor do we see you to have any excellence above us: nay, we imagine you to be liars in your claim to the apostolic commission. He said, O my people, tell me, if I have an evident proof from my Lord and He hath bestowed on me mercy (the gift of prophecy) from Himself which is hidden from you, shall we compel you to receive it when ye are averse thereto? We cannot do so. And, O my people, I ask not of you any riches for it; namely, for delivering my message. My reward is not due from any but God; and I will not drive away those who have believed as ye have commanded me [because they are poor people]. Verily they shall meet their Lord at the resurrection, and He will recompense them, and will exact for them [reparation] from those who have treated them with injustice, and driven them away. But I see you [to be] a people who are ignorant of the end of your case. And, O my people, who will defend me against God if I drive them away? Will ye not then consider? And I do not say unto you, I have the treasures of God; nor [do I say], I know the things unseen; nor do I say, Verily I am an angel; nor do I say, of those whom your eyes contemn, God will by no means bestow on them good: (God best knoweth what is in their minds:) verily I should in that case be [one] of the offenders.—They replied, O Noah, thou hast disputed with us and multiplied disputes with us: now bring upon us that punishment wherewith thou threatenest us, if thou be of those that speak truth. He said, Only God will bring it upon you, if He please to hasten it unto you; for it is His affair, not mine; and ye shall not escape God: nor will my counsel profit you, if I desire to counsel you, if God desire to lead you into error. He is your Lord; and unto Him shall ye be brought back.
(xi. 27-36.)
And it was said by revelation unto Noah, Verily there shalt not believe of thy people [any] but they who have already believed; therefore be not grieved for that which they have done.
(xi. 38.)
And he uttered an imprecation upon them, saying, O my Lord, leave not upon the earth any one of the unbelievers; for if Thou leave them, they will lead Thy servants into error, and will not beget [any] but a wicked, ungrateful [offspring]. O my Lord, forgive me and my parents (for they were believers), and whomsoever entereth my house (my abode, or my place of worship), being a believer, and the believing men, and the believing women, (to the day of resurrection), and add not to the offenders [aught] save destruction.
(lxxi. 27-29.)
And God answered his prayer, and said, Construct the ark in our sight and according to our revelation, and speak not unto Me concerning those who have offended, to beg Me not to destroy them; for they [shall be] drowned. And he constructed the ark; and whenever a company of his people passed by him, they derided him. He said, If ye deride us, we will deride you, like as ye deride, when we are saved and ye are drowned, and ye shall know on whom shall come a punishment which shall render him vile, and whom shall befall a lasting punishment. [Thus he was employed] until when Our decree for their destruction came to pass, and the baker’s oven overflowed with water[198] (for this was a signal unto Noah), We said, Carry into it (that is, into the ark) of every pair, male and female, of each of these descriptions, two (and it is related that God assembled for Noah the wild beasts and the birds and other creatures, and he proceeded to put his hands upon each kind, and his right hand fell always upon the male, and his left upon the female, and he carried them into the ark), and thy family (excepting him upon whom the sentence of destruction hath already been pronounced, namely, Noah’s wife, and his son Canaan: but Shem and Ham and Japheth and their three wives he took), and those who have believed; but there believed not with him save a few: they were six men and their wives: and it is said that all who were in the ark were eighty, half of whom were men and half women. And Noah said, Embark ye therein. In the name of God [be] its course and its mooring.[199] Verily my Lord is very forgiving [and] merciful.—And it moved along with them amid waves like mountains; and Noah called unto his son, Canaan, who was apart from the ark, O my child, embark with us, and be not with the unbelievers! He replied, I will betake me to a mountain which will secure me from the water. [Noah] said, There is nought that will secure to-day from the decree of God [any] but him on whom He hath mercy. And the waves intervened between them; so he became [one] of the drowned. And it was said, O earth, swallow up thy water (whereupon it drank it up, except what had descended from heaven, which became rivers and seas), and, O heaven, cease from raining;—and the water abated, and the decree was fulfilled, and it (namely, the ark) rested on El-Joodee (a mountain of El-Jezeereh, near El-Mósil); and it was said, Perdition to the offending people![200]
(xi. 38-46.)
And Noah called upon his Lord, and said, O my Lord, verily my son is of my family, and Thou hast promised me to save them, and verily Thy promise is true, and Thou art the most just of those who exercise judgment. God replied, O Noah, verily he is not of thy family who should be saved, or of the people of thy religion. Verily it (namely, thine asking me to save him) is not a righteous act; for he was an unbeliever, and there is no safety for the unbelievers; therefore ask not of me that wherein thou hast no knowledge. I admonish thee, lest thou become [one] of the ignorant.—Noah said, O my Lord, I beg Thee to preserve me from asking Thee that wherein I have no knowledge; and if Thou do not forgive me and have mercy upon me, I shall be of those who suffer loss.—It was said, O Noah, descend from the ark,[201] with peace from Us, and blessings, upon thee and upon peoples [that shall proceed] from those who are with thee in the ark (that is, their believing posterity); but peoples [that shall proceed] from those who are with thee We will permit to enjoy the provisions of this world; then a painful punishment shall befall them from Us, in the world to come; they being unbelievers.
xi. 47-50.
´AD AND THAMOOD.
And we sent unto the former [tribe of] ´Ád[202] their brother Hood.[203] He said, O my people, worship God: assert His unity. Ye have no other deity than Him. Will ye not then fear Him, and believe?—The chiefs who disbelieved among his people answered, Verily we see thee to be in a foolish way, and verily we esteem thee one of the liars with respect to the apostolic commission. He replied, O my people, there is no folly in me; but I am an apostle from the Lord of the worlds. I bring unto you the messages of my Lord, and I am unto you a counsellor, intrusted with the apostolic office. Do ye wonder that an admonition hath come unto you from your Lord by the tongue of a man from among you, that he may warn you? And remember how He hath appointed you vicegerents in the earth after the people of Noah, and increased you in tallness of stature. (For the tall among them was a hundred cubits, and the short among them sixty.) Remember, then, the benefits of God, that ye may prosper. They said, Art thou come unto us that we may worship God alone, and relinquish what our fathers worshipped? Then bring upon us that punishment with which thou threatenest us, if thou be of those who speak truth.—He replied, Punishment and indignation from your Lord have become necessary for you. Do ye dispute with me concerning names which ye and your fathers have given to idols which ye worship, concerning which (that is, the worship of which) God hath not set down any convincing proof? Then await ye the punishment. I am with you, of those who await that, for your accusing me of falsehood. And the unprofitable wind was sent upon them. But We delivered him (namely, Hood) and them who were with him (of the believers) by Our mercy; and We cut off the uppermost part of those who charged Our signs with falsehood and who were not believers.
(vii. 63-70.)
And We sent unto the tribe of Thamood[204] their brother Ṣáliḥ. He said, O my people, worship God. Ye have no other deity than Him. A miraculous proof of my veracity hath come unto you from your Lord, this she-camel of God being a sign unto you. [He had caused her, at their demand, to come forth from the heart of a rock.] Therefore let her feed in God’s earth, and do her no harm, lest a painful punishment seize you. And remember how He hath appointed you vicegerents in the earth after [the tribe of] ´Ád, and given you a habitation in the earth: ye make yourselves, on its plains, pavilions wherein ye dwell in summer, and cut the mountains into houses wherein ye dwell in winter. Remember then the benefits of God, and do not evil in the earth, acting corruptly.—The chiefs who were elated with pride, among his people, said unto those who were esteemed weak, namely, to those who had believed among them, Do ye know that Ṣáliḥ hath been sent unto you from his Lord? They answered, Yea: verily we believe in that wherewith he hath been sent. Those who were elated with pride replied, Verily we disbelieve in that wherein ye have believed.—And the she-camel had a day to water; and they had a day; and they became weary of this. And they hamstrung the she-camel (Ḳudár [the son of Sálif] doing so by their order and slaying her with the sword);[205] and they impiously transgressed the command of their Lord,[206] and said, O Ṣáliḥ, bring upon us that punishment with which thou threatenest us for killing her, if thou be [one] of the apostles. And the violent convulsion (a great earthquake, and a cry from heaven[207]) assailed them, and in the morning they were in their dwellings prostrate and dead. So he turned away from them, and said, O my people, I have brought unto you the message of my Lord and given you faithful counsel; but ye loved not faithful counsellors.
(vii. 71-77.)
DHU-L-ḲARNEYN.
They (namely, the Jews) will ask thee concerning Dhu-l-Ḳarneyn.[208] (His name was El-Iskender, and he was not a prophet.) Answer, I will recite unto you an account of him. We gave him ability in the earth, by facilitating his journeying therein, and gave him a way to attain everything that he required. And he followed a way towards a place where the sun setteth, until, when he came to the place where the sun setteth, he found that it set in a spring of black mud, as it appeared to the eye; but really that spring was greater than the world; and he found near it a people who were unbelievers.[209] We said, by inspiration, O Dhu-l-Ḳarneyn, either punish the people by slaughter, or proceed against them gently, taking them captive. He said, As to him who offendeth by polytheism, we will punish him by slaughter: then he shall be taken back to his Lord, and He will punish him with a severe punishment, in the fire of hell. But as to him who believeth, and doeth that which is right, he shall have as a reward paradise, and We will say unto him, in Our command, that which will be easy unto him.—Then he followed a way towards the place where the sun riseth, until, when he came to the place where the sun riseth, he found that it rose upon a people (namely, the Zenj) unto whom We had not given anything wherewith to shelter themselves therefrom, neither clothing nor roof; for their land bore no building; but they had subterranean dwellings, into which they retired at sunrise, and they came forth when the sun was high. Thus was the case; and We comprehended with Our knowledge what were with him (namely, Dhu-l-Ḳarneyn), of weapons and forces and other things.—Then he followed a way until, when he came between the two barriers (or mountains, at the confines of the country of the Turks, between which is the barrier of El-Iskender, as will be related presently), he found before them a people who could scarce understand speech. They said, O Dhu-l-Ḳarneyn, verily Yájooj and Májooj [Gog and Magog[210]] are corrupting in the earth, by plunder and tyranny, when they came forth unto us. Shall we therefore pay thee tribute, on the condition that thou make a barrier between us and them?—He answered, The ability which my Lord hath given me, by wealth and other things, is better than your tribute, which I need not. I will make the barrier for you gratuitously: but assist me strenuously by doing that which I desire: I will make between you and them a strong barrier. Bring me pieces of iron of the size of the blocks of stone used in building.—And he built with them, and placed amid them firewood and charcoal, until, when it [the mass] filled up the space between the upper parts of the two mountains, and he had put the bellows and fire around that mass, he said, Blow ye [with the bellows]. So they blew until, when he had made it (that is, the iron) like fire, he said, Bring me molten brass, that I may pour upon it. And he poured the molten brass upon the heated iron, so that it entered between its pieces and the whole became one mass. And they (namely, Yájooj and Májooj) were not able to ascend to its top by reason of its height and smoothness; nor were they able to perforate it by reason of its hardness and thickness. Dhu-l-Ḳarneyn said, This (namely, the barrier, or the gift of the ability to construct it) is a mercy from my Lord: but when the promise of my Lord, as to the eruption of Yájooj and Májooj shortly before the resurrection, shall come to be fulfilled, He will reduce it (namely, the barrier) to dust; and the promise of my Lord concerning their eruption and other events is true. And We will suffer some of them, on that day (the day of their eruption), to pour tumultuously among others: and the trumpet shall be blown for the resurrection, and We will gather them (namely, all creatures) together in a body, in one place. And We will set hell, on that day, near before the unbelievers, whose eyes have been veiled from my admonition (the Ḳur-án), and who, being blind, have not been directed by it, and who could not hear what the prophet recited unto them, by reason of their hatred of him; wherefore they believed not in him.
xviii. 82-101.
ABRAHAM, ISHMAEL, ISAAC.
Remember when Abraham [Ibráheem] said to his father A´zar (this was the surname of Terah), Dost thou take images as deities?[211] Verily I see thee and thy people to be in a manifest error.—(And thus, as We showed him the error of his father and his people, did We show Abraham the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and [We did so] that he might be of [the number of] those who firmly believe.) And when the night overshadowed him, he saw a star (it is said that it was Venus), [and] he said unto his people, who were astrologers, This is my Lord, according to your assertion.—But when it set, he said, I like not those that set, to take them as Lords, since it is not meet for a Lord to experience alteration and change of place, as they are of the nature of accidents. Yet this had no effect upon them. And when he saw the moon rising, he said unto them, This is my Lord.—But when it set, he said, Verily if my Lord direct me not (if He confirm me not in the right way), I shall assuredly be of the erring people.—This was a hint to his people that they were in error; but it had no effect upon them. And when he saw the sun rising, he said, This is my Lord. This is greater than the star and the moon.—But when it set, and the proof had been rendered more strong to them, yet they desisted not, he said, O my people, verily I am clear of the [things] which ye associate with God; namely, the images and the heavenly bodies. So they said unto him, What dost thou worship? He answered, Verily I direct my face unto Him who hath created the heavens and the earth, following the right religion, and I am not of the polytheists.—And his people argued with him; [but] he said, Do ye argue with me respecting God, when He hath directed me, and I fear not what ye associate with Him, unless my Lord will that aught displeasing should befall me? My Lord comprehendeth everything by His knowledge. Will ye not therefore consider? And wherefore should I fear what ye have associated with God, when ye fear not for your having associated with God that of which He hath not sent down unto you a proof? Then which of the two parties is the more worthy of safety? Are we, or you? If ye know who is the more worthy of it, follow him.—God saith, They who have believed, and not mixed their belief with injustice (that is, polytheism), for these shall be safety from punishment, and they are rightly directed.
(vi. 74-82.)
Relate unto them, in the book (that is, the Ḳur-án), the history of Abraham. Verily he was a person of great veracity, a prophet. When he said unto his father A´zar, who worshipped idols, O my father, wherefore dost thou worship that which heareth not, nor seeth, nor averteth from thee aught, whether of advantage or of injury? O my father, verily by obeying him in serving idols; for the devil is very rebellious unto the Compassionate. O my father, verily I fear that a punishment will betide thee from the Compassionate, if thou repent not, and that thou wilt be unto the devil an aider, and a companion in hell-fire.—He replied, Art thou a rejector of my Gods, O Abraham, and dost thou revile them? If thou abstain not, I will assuredly assail thee with stones or with ill words; therefore beware of me, and leave me for a long time.—Abraham said, Peace from me be on thee! I will ask pardon for thee of my Lord; for He is gracious unto me: and I will separate myself from you and from what ye invoke instead of God; and I will call upon my Lord: perhaps I shall not be unsuccessful in calling upon my Lord, as ye are in calling upon idols.—And when he had separated himself from them, and from what they worshipped instead of God, by going to the Holy Land, We gave him two sons, that he might cheer himself thereby, namely, Isaac and Jacob; and each [of them] We made a prophet; and We bestowed upon them (namely, the three), of our mercy, wealth and children; and We caused them to receive high commendation.
(xix. 42-51.)
We gave unto Abraham his direction formerly, before he had attained to manhood; and We knew him to be worthy of it. When he said unto his father and his people, What are these images, to the worship of which ye are devoted?—they answered, We found our fathers worshipping them, and we have followed their example. He said unto them, Verily ye and your fathers have been in a manifest error. They said, Hast thou come unto us with truth in saying this, or art thou of those who jest? He answered, Nay, your Lord (the being who deserveth to be worshipped) is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, who created them, not after the similitude of anything pre-existing; and I am of those who bear witness thereof. And, by God, I will assuredly devise a plot against your idols after ye shall have retired, turning your backs.—So, after they had gone to their place of assembly, on a day when they held a festival, he brake them in pieces with an axe, except the chief of them, upon whose neck he hung the axe; that they might return unto it (namely, the chief) and see what he had done with the others. They said, after they had returned and seen what he had done, Who hath done this unto our gods? Verily he is of the unjust.—And some of them said, We heard a young man mention them reproachfully: he is called Abraham. They said, Then bring him before the eyes of the people, that they may bear witness against him of his having done it. They said unto him, when he had been brought, Hast thou done this unto our gods, O Abraham? He answered, Nay, this their chief did it: and ask ye them, if they [can] speak. And they returned unto themselves, upon reflection, and said unto themselves, Verily ye are the unjust, in worshipping that which speaketh not. Then they reverted to their obstinacy, and said, Verily thou knowest that these speak not: then wherefore dost thou order us to ask them? He said, Do ye then worship, instead of God, that which doth not profit you at all, nor injure you if ye worship it not? Fy on you, and on that which ye worship instead of God! Do ye not then understand?—They said, Burn ye him, and avenge your gods, if ye will do so. So they collected abundance of firewood for him, and set fire to it; and they bound Abraham, and put him into an engine, and cast him into the fire. But, saith God, We said, O fire, be thou cold, and a security unto Abraham! So nought of him was burned save his bonds: the heat of the fire ceased, but its light remained; and by God’s saying, Security,—Abraham was saved from dying, by reason of its cold. And they intended against him a plot; but he caused them to be the sufferers.[212] And We delivered him and Lot, the son of his brother Haran, from El-´Eráḳ, [bringing them] unto the land which we blessed for the peoples, by the abundance of its rivers and trees, namely, Syria. Abraham took up his abode in Palestine, and Lot in El-Mu-tekifeh, between which is a day’s journey. And when Abraham had asked a son, We gave unto him Isaac, and Jacob as an additional gift, beyond what he had asked, being a son’s son; and all of them We made righteous persons and prophets. And We made them models of religion who directed men by Our command unto Our religion; and We commanded them by inspiration to do good works and to perform prayer and to give the appointed alms; and they served Us. And unto Lot We gave judgment and knowledge; and We delivered him from the city which committed filthy actions; for they were a people of evil, shameful doers; and We admitted him into our mercy; for he was [one] of the righteous.
(xxi. 52-75.)
Hast thou not considered him who disputed with Abraham concerning his Lord, because God had given him the kingdom? And he was Nimrod. When Abraham said, (upon his saying unto him, Who is thy Lord, unto whom thou invitest us?), My Lord is He who giveth life and causeth to die,—he replied, I give life and cause to die.—And he summoned two men, and slew one of them, and left the other. So when he saw that he understood not, Abraham said, And verily God bringeth the sun from the east: now do thou bring it from the west.—And he who disbelieved was confounded; and God directeth not the offending people.
(ii. 260.)
And Our messengers came formerly unto Abraham with good tidings of Isaac and Jacob, who should be after him. They said, Peace. He replied, Peace be on you. And he tarried not, but brought a roasted calf. And when he saw that their hands touched it not, he disliked them and conceived a fear of them. They said, Fear not: for we are sent unto the people of Lot, that we may destroy them. And his wife Sarah was standing serving them, and she laughed, rejoicing at the tidings of their destruction. And we gave her good tidings of Isaac [Isḥáḳ]; and after Isaac, Jacob [Yaạḳoob]. She said, Alas! shall I bear a child when I am an old woman, of nine and ninety years, and when this my husband is an old man, of a hundred or a hundred and twenty years? Verily this [would be] a wonderful thing.—They said, Dost thou wonder at the command of God? The mercy of God and His blessings be on you, O people of the house (of Abraham)! for He is praiseworthy, glorious.—And when the terror had departed from Abraham, and the good tidings had come unto him, he disputed with Us (that is, with Our messengers) respecting the people of Lot; for Abraham was gentle, compassionate, repentant. And he said unto them, Will ye destroy a city wherein are three hundred believers? They answered, No. He said, And will ye destroy a city wherein are two hundred believers? They answered, No. He said, And will ye destroy a city wherein are forty believers? They answered, No. He said, And will ye destroy a city wherein are fourteen believers? They answered, No. He said, And tell me, if there be in it one believer? They answered, No. He said, Verily in it is Lot. They replied, We know best who is in it. And when their dispute had become tedious, they said, O Abraham, abstain from this disputation; for the command of thy Lord hath come for their destruction, and a punishment not [to be] averted is coming upon them.
xi. 72-78.
And when Our decree for the destruction of the people of Lot came [to be executed], We turned them (that is, their cities) upside-down; for Gabriel raised them to heaven, and let them fall upside-down to the earth;[213] and We rained upon them stones of baked clay, sent one after another, marked with thy Lord, each with the name of him upon whom it should be cast: and they [are] not far distant from the offenders; that is, the stones are not, or the cities of the people of Lot were not, far distant from the people of Mekkeh.
(xi. 84.)
And [Abraham] said [after his escape from Nimrod], Verily I am going unto my Lord, who will direct me unto the place whither He hath commanded me to go, namely, Syria. And when he had arrived at the Holy Land, he said, O my Lord, give me a son [who shall be one] of the righteous. Whereupon We gave him the glad tidings of a mild youth. And when he had attained to the age when he could work with him (as some say, seven years; and some, thirteen), he said, O my child, verily I have seen in a dream that I should sacrifice thee (and the dreams of prophets are true; and their actions, by the command of God); therefore consider what thou seest advisable for me to do. He replied, O my father, do what thou art commanded: thou shalt find me, if God please, [of the number] of the patient. And when they had resigned themselves, and he had laid him down on his temple, in [the valley of] Mind, and had drawn the knife across his throat (but it produced no effect, by reason of an obstacle interposed by the divine power), We called unto him, O Abraham, thou hast verified the vision. Verily thus do We reward the well-doers. Verily this was the manifest trial. And We ransomed him whom he had been commanded to sacrifice (and he was Ishmȧel [Ismá´eel] or Isaac; for there are two opinions)[214] with an excellent victim, a ram from Paradise, the same that Abel had offered: Gabriel (on whom be peace!) brought it, and the lord Abraham sacrificed it, saying, God is most great! And We left this salutation [to be bestowed] on him by the latter generations, Peace [be] on Abraham! Thus do We reward the well-doers: for he was of our believing servants.
(xxxvii. 97-111.)
Remember when Abraham said, O my Lord, show me how Thou will raise to life the dead.[215]—He said, Hast thou not believed? He answered, Yea: but I have asked Thee that my heart may be at ease. He replied, Then take four birds and draw them towards thee, and cut them in pieces and mingle together their flesh and their feathers; then place upon each mountain of thy land a portion of them, then call them unto thee: they shall come unto thee quickly: and know thou that God is mighty [and] wise.—And he took a peacock and a vulture and a raven and a cock, and did with them as hath been described, and kept their heads with him, and called them; whereupon the portions flew about, one to another, until they became complete: then they came to their heads.
(ii. 262.)
Remember when his Lord had tried Abraham by [certain] words, commands and prohibitions, and he fulfilled them, God said unto him, I constitute thee a model of religion unto men.[216] He replied, And of my offspring constitute models of religion. [God] said, My covenant doth not apply to the offenders, the unbelievers among them.—And when We appointed the house (that is, the Kaạbeh) to be a place for the resort of men, and a place of security (a man would meet the slayer of his father there and he would not provoke him [to revenge],) and [said], Take, O men, the station of Abraham (the stone upon which he stood at the time of building the House) as a place of prayer, that ye may perform behind it the prayers of the two rek´ahs[217] [which are ordained to be performed after the ceremony] of the circuiting [of the Kaạbeh].—And We commanded Abraham and Ishmael, [saying], Purify my House (rid it of the idols) for those who shall compass [it], and those who shall abide there, and those who shall bow down and prostrate themselves.—And when Abraham said, O my Lord, make this place a secure territory (and God hath answered his prayer, and made it a sacred place, wherein the blood of man is not shed, nor is any one oppressed in it, nor is its game hunted [or shot], nor are its plants cut or pulled up), and supply its inhabitants with fruits which hath been done by the transporting of Eṭ-Ṭáïf from Syria thither, when it [that is, the territory of Mekkeh] was desert, without sown land or water,[218] such of them as shall believe in God and the last day.—He mentioned them peculiarly in the prayer agreeably with the saying of God, My covenant doth not apply to the offenders.—God replied, And I will supply him who disbelieveth: I will make him to enjoy a supply of food in this world, a little while: then I will force him, in the world to come, to the punishment of the fire; and evil shall be the transit.
(ii. 118-120.)
And remember when Abraham was raising the foundations of the House[219] (that is, building it), together with Ishmael, and they said, O our Lord, accept of us our building; for Thou art the Hearer of what is said, the Knower of what is done. O our Lord, also make us resigned[220] unto Thee, and make from among our offspring a people resigned unto Thee, and show us our rites (the ordinances of our worship, or our pilgrimage), and be propitious towards us; for Thou art the Very Propitious, the Merciful. (They begged Him to be propitious to them, notwithstanding their honesty, from a motive of humility, and by way of instruction to their offspring.) O our Lord, also send unto them (that is, the people of the House) an apostle from among them (and God hath answered their prayer by sending Moḥammad), who shall recite unto them Thy signs (the Ḳur-án), and shall teach them the book (the Ḳur-án), and the knowledge that it containeth, and shall purify them from polytheism; for Thou art the Mighty, the Wise.—And who will be averse from the religion of Abraham but he who maketh his soul foolish, who is ignorant that it is God’s creation, and that the worship of Him is incumbent on it; or who lightly esteemeth it and applieth it to vile purposes; when We have chosen him in this world as an apostle and a friend, and he shall be in the world to come one of the righteous for whom are high ranks?—And remember when his lord said unto him, Resign thyself:—he replied, I resign myself unto the Lord of the worlds.—And Abraham commanded his children to follow it (namely, the religion); and Jacob, his children; saying, O my children, verily God hath chosen for you the religion of El-Islám;[221] therefore die not without your being Muslims.—It was a prohibition from abandoning El-Islám and a command to persevere therein unto death.
(ii. 121-126.)
When the Jews said, Abraham was a Jew, and we are of his religion,—and the Christians said the like, [the following] was revealed:—O people of the Scripture, wherefore do ye argue respecting Abraham, asserting that he was of your religion, when the Pentateuch and the Gospel were not sent down but after him a long time? Do ye not then understand the falsity of your saying? So ye, O people, have argued respecting that of which ye have knowledge, concerning Moses and Jesus, and have asserted that ye are of their religion: then wherefore do ye argue respecting that of which ye have no knowledge, concerning Abraham? But God knoweth his case, and ye know it not. Abraham was not a Jew nor a Christian: but he was orthodox, a Muslim [or one resigned], a unitarian, and he was not of the polytheists.
(iii. 58-60.)
JACOB, JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN.
Remember, when Joseph [Yoosuf] said unto his father, O my father, verily I saw in sleep eleven stars and the sun and the moon: I saw them making obeisance unto me. He replied, O my child, relate not thy vision to thy brethren, lest they contrive a plot against thee, knowing its interpretation to be that they are the stars and that the sun is thy mother and the moon thy father; for the devil is unto man a manifest enemy. And thus, as thou sawest, thy Lord will choose thee, and teach thee the interpretation of events, or dreams, and will accomplish his favour upon thee by the gift of prophecy, and upon the family of Jacob, as He accomplished it upon thy fathers before, Abraham and Isaac; for thy Lord is knowing [and] wise.—Verily in the history of Joseph and his brethren are signs to the inquirers.—When they (the brethren of Joseph) said, one to another, Verily Joseph and his brother Benjamin are dearer unto our father than we, and we are a number of men; verily our father is in a manifest error; slay ye Joseph, or drive him away into a distant land; so the face of your father shall be directed alone unto you, regarding no other, and ye shall be after it a just people:—a speaker among them, namely, Judah, said, Slay not Joseph, but throw him to the bottom of the well; then some of the travellers may light upon him, if ye do this. And they were satisfied therewith. They said, O our father, wherefore dost thou not intrust us with Joseph, when verily we are faithful unto him? Send him with us tomorrow into the plain, that he may divert himself and sport; and we will surely take care of him.—He replied, Verily your taking him away will grieve me, and I fear lest the wolf devour him while ye are heedless of him. They said, Surely if the wolf devour him, when we are a number of men, we shall in that case be indeed weak. So he sent him with them. And when they went away with him, and agreed to put him at the bottom of the well, they did so.[222] They pulled off his shirt, after they had beaten him and had treated him with contempt and had desired to slay him; and they let him down; and when he had arrived half-way down the well they let him fall, that he might die; and he fell into the water. He then betook himself to a mass of rock; and they called to him; so he answered them, imagining that they would have mercy upon him. They however desired to crush him with a piece of rock; but Judah prevented them. And We said unto him by revelation, while he was in the well (and he was seventeen years of age, or less), to quiet his heart, Thou shalt assuredly declare unto them this their action, and they shall not know thee at the time.[223] And they came to their father at nightfall weeping. They said, O our father, we went to run races,[224] and left Joseph with our clothes, and the wolf devoured him; and thou wilt not believe us, though we speak truth. And they brought false blood upon his shirt. Jacob said unto them, Nay, your minds have made a thing seem pleasant unto you, and ye have done it;[225] but patience is seemly, and God’s assistance is implored with respect to that which ye relate.
And travellers came on their way from Midian (Medyen) to Egypt, and alighted near the well;[226] and they sent their drawer of water,[227] and he let down his bucket into the well: so Joseph caught hold upon it, and the man drew him forth; and when he saw him, he said, O good news! This is a young man!—And his brethren thereupon knew his case; wherefore they came unto him, and they[228] concealed his case, making him as a piece of merchandise; for they said, He is our slave who hath absconded. And Joseph was silent, fearing lest they should slay him. And God knew that which they did. And they sold him for a mean price, [for] some dirhems counted down, twenty, or two-and-twenty; and they were indifferent to him. The travellers then brought him to Egypt, and he who had bought him sold him for twenty deenárs and a pair of shoes and two garments. And the Egyptian who bought him, namely, Ḳiṭfeer,[229] said unto his wife Zeleekha, Treat him hospitably; peradventure he may be advantageous to us, or we may adopt him as a son. For he was childless. And thus We prepared an establishment for Joseph in the land of Egypt, to teach him the interpretation of events, or dreams; for God is well able to effect His purpose; but the greater number of men, namely, the unbelievers, know not this. And when he had attained his age of strength (thirty years, or three-and-thirty), We bestowed on him wisdom and knowledge in matters of religion, before he was sent as a prophet; for thus do We recompense the well-doers. (xii. 4-22.—Then follows an account of his temptation by his mistress, Zeleekha.)
Then it seemed good unto them,[230] after they had seen the signs of his innocence, to imprison him. They will assuredly imprison him for a time, until the talk of the people respecting him cease. So they imprisoned him. And there entered with him into the prison two young men, servants of the king, one of whom was his cup-bearer and the other was his victualler. And they found that he interpreted dreams; wherefore one of them, namely, the cup-bearer, said, I dreamed that I was pressing grapes: and the other said, I dreamed that I was carrying upon my head some bread, whereof the birds did eat: acquaint us with the interpretation thereof; for we see thee to be [one] of the beneficent.—He replied, There shall not come unto you any food wherewith ye shall be fed in a dream, but I will acquaint you with the interpretation thereof when ye are awake, before the interpretation of it come unto you. This is a part of that which my Lord hath taught me. Verily I have abandoned the religion of a people who believe not in God and who disbelieve in the world to come; and I follow the religion of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. It is not fit for us to associate anything with God. This knowledge of the unity [hath been given us] of the bounty of God towards us and towards mankind; but the greater number of men are not thankful. O ye two companions (or inmates) of the prison, are sundry lords better, or is God, the One, the Almighty? Ye worship not, beside Him, [aught] save names which ye and your fathers have given to idols, concerning which God hath not sent down any convincing proof. Judgment belongeth not [unto any] save unto God alone. He hath commanded that ye worship not [any] but Him. This is the right religion; but the greater number of men know not. O ye two companions of the prison, as to one of you, namely, the cup-bearer, he will serve wine unto his lord as formerly; and as to the other, he will be crucified, and the birds will eat from off his head.—Upon this they said, We dreamed not aught. He replied, The thing is decreed concerning which ye [did] ask a determination, whether ye have spoken truth or have lied. And he said unto him whom he judged to be the person who should escape of them two, namely the cup-bearer, Mention me unto thy Lord, and say unto him, In the prison is a young man imprisoned unjustly.—And he went forth. But the devil caused him to forget to mention Joseph unto his lord:[231] so he remained in the prison some years: it is said, seven; and it is said, twelve.
And the king of Egypt,[232] Er-Reiyán the son of El-Weleed said, Verily I saw [in a dream] seven fat kine which seven lean kine devoured, and seven green ears of corn and seven other ears dried up. O ye nobles, explain unto me my dream, if ye interpret a dream.—They replied, These are confused dreams, and we know not the interpretation of dreams. And he who had escaped, of the two young men, namely the cup-bearer, said (for he remembered after a time the condition of Joseph), I will acquaint you with the interpretation thereof; wherefore send me. So they sent him; and he came unto Joseph, and said, O Joseph, O thou of great veracity, give us an explanation respecting seven fat kine which seven lean [kine] devoured, and seven green ears of corn and other [seven] dried up, that I may return unto the men (the king and his companions), that they may know the interpretation thereof. He replied, Ye shall sow seven years as usual: (this is the interpretation of the seven fat kine:) and what ye reap do ye leave in its ear, lest it spoil; except a little, whereof ye shall eat. Then there shall come, after that, seven grievous [years]: (this is the interpretation of the seven lean kine:) they shall consume what ye shall have provided for them, of the grain sown in the seven years of plenty, except a little which ye shall have kept. Then there shall come, after that, a year wherein men shall be aided with rain, and wherein they shall press grapes and other fruits.—And the king said, when the messenger came unto him and acquainted him with the interpretation of the dream, Bring unto me him who hath interpreted it.
(xii. 35-50.)
And when he had spoken unto him,[233] he said unto him, Thou art this day firmly established with us, and intrusted with our affairs. What then seest thou fit for us to do?—He answered, Collect provision, and sow abundant seed in these plentiful years, and store up the grain in its ear: then the people will come unto thee that they may obtain provision from thee. The king said, And who will act for me in this affair? Joseph said, Set me over the granaries of the land; for I am careful [and] knowing.—Thus did We prepare an establishment for Joseph in the land, that he might take for himself a dwelling therein wherever he pleased.—And it is related that the king crowned him, and put a ring on his finger, and instated him in the place of Ḳiṭfeer, whom he dismissed from his office; after which, Ḳiṭfeer died, and thereupon the king married him to his wife Zeleekha, and she bore him two sons.[234] We bestow Our mercy on whom We please, and We cause not the reward of the well-doers to perish: and certainly the reward of the world to come is better for those who have believed and have feared.
And the years of scarcity began, and afflicted the land of Canaan and Syria, and the brethren of Joseph came, except Benjamin, to procure provision, having heard that the governor of Egypt gave food for its price.[235] And they went in unto him, and he knew them; but they knew him not; and they spake unto him in the Hebrew language; whereupon he said, as one who distrusted them, What hath brought you to my country? So they answered, For corn. But he said, Perhaps ye are spies. They replied, God preserve us [from being spies]! He said, Then whence are ye? They answered, From the land of Canaan, and our father is Jacob, the prophet of God. He said, And hath he sons beside you? They answered, Yea: we were twelve; but the youngest of us went away, and perished in the desert, and he was the dearest of us unto him; and his uterine brother remained, and he retained him that he might console himself thereby for the loss of the other.[236] And Joseph gave orders to lodge them, and to treat them generously. And when he had furnished them with their provision, and given them their full measure, he said, Bring me your brother from your father, namely, Benjamin, that I may know your veracity in that ye have said. Do ye not see that I give full measure, and that I am the most hospitable of the receivers of guests? But if ye bring him not, there shall be no measuring of corn for you from me, nor shall ye approach me.—They replied, We will solicit his father for him, and we will surely perform that. And he said unto his young men, Put their money,[237] which they brought as the price of the corn, in their sacks, that they may know it when they have returned to their family: peradventure they will return to us; for they will not deem it lawful to keep it.—And when they returned to their father, they said, O our father, the measuring [of corn] is denied us if thou send not our brother unto him; therefore send with us our brother, that we may obtain measure; and we will surely take care of him. He said, Shall I intrust you with him otherwise than as I intrusted you with his brother Joseph before? But God is the best guardian, and He is the most merciful of those who show mercy.—And when they opened their goods, they found their money had been returned unto them. They said, O our father, what desire we of the, generosity of the king greater than this? This our money hath been returned unto us; and we will provide corn for our family, and will take care of our brother, and shall receive a camel-load more, for our brother. This is a quantity easy unto the king, by reason of his munificence.—He said, I will by no means send him with you until ye give me a solemn promise by God that ye will assuredly bring him back unto me unless an inevitable and insuperable impediment encompass you. And they complied with this his desire. And when they had given him their solemn promise, he said, God is witness of what we say. And he sent him with them; and he said, O my sons, enter not the city of Miṣr by one gate; but enter by different gates; lest the [evil] eye fall upon you.[238] But I shall not avert from you, by my saying this, anything decreed to befall you from God: I only say this from a feeling of compassion. Judgment belongeth not [unto any] save unto God alone. On Him do I rely, and on Him let those rely who rely.
And when they entered as their father had commanded them, separately, it did not avert from them anything decreed to befall them from God, but [only satisfied] a desire in the soul of Jacob, which he accomplished; that is, the desire of averting the [evil] eye, arising from a feeling of compassion: and he was endowed with knowledge, because We had taught him: but the greater number of men, namely the unbelievers, know not God’s inspiration of His saints. And when they went in unto Joseph, he received unto him (or pressed unto him) his brother. He said, Verily I am thy brother;[239] therefore be not sorrowful for that which they did from envy to us. And he commanded him that he should not inform them, and agree with him that he should employ a stratagem to retain him with him. And when he had furnished them with their provision, he put the cup, which was a measure made of gold set with jewels,[240] in the sack of his brother Benjamin. Then a crier cried, after they had gone forth from the chamber of Joseph, O company of travellers, ye are surely thieves. They said (and turned unto them), What is it that ye miss? They answered, We miss the king’s measure; and to him who shall bring it [shall be given] a camel-load of corn, and I am surety for it, namely the load. They replied, By God! ye well know that we have not come to act corruptly in the land, and we have not been thieves. The crier and his companions said, Then what shall be the recompense of him who hath stolen it, if ye be liars in your saying, We have not been thieves,—and it be found among you? They answered, His recompense [shall be that] he in whose sack it shall be found shall be made a slave: he, the thief, shall be compensation for it; namely, for the thing stolen. Such was the usage of the family of Jacob. Thus do We recompense the offenders who are guilty of theft.—So they turned towards Joseph, that he might search their sacks. And he began with their sacks, and searched them before the sack of his brother [Benjamin], lest he should be suspected. Then he took it forth (namely, the measure) from the sack of his brother. Thus, saith God, did We contrive a stratagem for Joseph. It was not [lawful] for him to take his brother as a slave for theft by the law of the king of Egypt (for his recompense by his law was beating, and a fine of twice the value of the thing stolen; not the being made a slave), unless God had pleased, by inspiring him to inquire of his brethren and inspiring them to reply according to their usage. We exalt unto degrees [of knowledge and honour] whom We please, as Joseph; and [there is who is] knowing above every one [else] endowed with knowledge.—They said, If he steal, a brother of his hath stolen before; namely, Joseph;[241] for he stole an idol of gold belonging to the father of his mother, and broke it, that he might not worship it. And Joseph concealed it in his mind, and did not discover it to them. He said within himself, Ye are in a worse condition than Joseph and his brother, by reason of your having stolen your brother from your father and your having treated him unjustly; and God well knoweth what ye state concerning him.—They said, O prince, verily he hath a father, a very old man, who loveth him more than us, and consoleth himself by him for the loss of his son who hath perished, and the separation of him grieveth him; therefore take one of us as a slave in his stead; for we see thee [to be one] of the beneficent. He replied, God preserve us from taking [any] save him in whose possession we found our property; for then (if we took another), we [should be] unjust.
And when they despaired of [obtaining] him, they retired to confer privately together. The chief of them in age (namely, Reuben, or in judgment, namely, Judah), said, Do ye not know that your father hath obtained of you a solemn promise in the name of God, with respect of your brother, and how ye formerly failed of your duty with respect to Joseph? Therefore I will by no means depart from the land of Egypt until my father give me permission to return to him, or God decide for me by the delivery of my brother; and He is the best, the most just, of those who decide. Return ye to your father, and say, O our father, verily thy son hath committed theft, and we bore not testimony against him save according to that which we knew of a certainty, by our seeing the cup in his sack; and we were not acquainted with what was unseen by us when we gave the solemn promise: had we known that he would commit theft, we had not taken him. And send thou, and ask the people of the city in which we have been (namely, Miṣr)[242] and the company of travellers with whom we have arrived (who were a people of Canaan): and we are surely speakers of truth.—So they returned to him, and said unto him those words. He replied, Nay, your minds have made a thing seem pleasant unto you, and ye have done it (he suspected them, on account of their former conduct in the case of Joseph); but patience is seemly: peradventure God will bring them back (namely, Joseph and his brother) unto me, together; for He is the Knowing with respect to my case, the Wise in His acts. And he turned from them, and said, O! my sorrow for Joseph! And his eyes became white in consequence of mourning, and he was oppressed with silent grief. They said, By God, thou wilt not cease to think upon Joseph until thou be at the point of death, or be of [the number of] the dead. He replied, I only complain of my great and unconcealable grief and my sorrow unto God; not unto any beside Him; for He it is unto whom complaint is made with advantage; and I know [by revelation] from God what ye know not; namely, that the dream of Joseph was true, and that he is living. Then he said, O my sons, go and seek news of Joseph and his brother; and despair not of the mercy of God; for none despaireth of the mercy of God except the unbelieving people.
So they departed towards Egypt, unto Joseph; and when they went in unto him, they said, O Prince, distress (that is, hunger) hath affected us and our family, and we have come with paltry money (it was base money, or some other sort): yet give us full measure, and be charitable to us, by excusing the badness of our money; for God recompenseth those who act charitably. And he had pity upon them, and compassion affected him, and he lifted up the curtain that was between him and them: then he said unto them in reproach, Do ye know what ye did unto Joseph, in beating and selling and other actions, and his brother, by your injurious conduct to him after the separation of his brother, when ye were ignorant of what would be the result of the case of Joseph?[243] They replied, after they had recognised him (desiring confirmation), Art thou indeed Joseph? He answered, I am Joseph, and this is my brother. God hath been gracious unto us, by bringing us together; for whosoever feareth God and is patient [will be rewarded]: God will not suffer the reward of the well-doers to perish. They replied, By God, verily God hath preferred thee above us, and we have been indeed sinners. He said, [There shall be] no reproach [cast] on you this day: God forgive you; for He is the most merciful of those that show mercy. And he asked them respecting his father: so they answered, His eyes are gone. And he said, Go ye with this my shirt (it was the shirt of Abraham, which he wore when he was cast into the fire: it was on his [that is, Joseph’s] neck [appended as an amulet] in the well; and it was from paradise: Gabriel commanded him to send it, and said, In it is its odour [that is, the odour of paradise], and it shall not be cast upon any one afflicted [with a disease] but he shall be restored to health), and cast it [said Joseph] upon the face of my father: he shall recover his sight; and bring unto me all your family.—And when the company of travellers had gone forth from El-´Areesh[244] of Egypt, their father said, unto those who were present of his offspring, Verily I perceive the smell of Joseph (for the zephyr had conveyed it to him, by permission of Him whose name be exalted, from the distance of three days’ journey, or eight, or more): were it not that ye think I dote, ye would believe me. They replied, By God, thou art surely in thine old error. And when the messenger of good tidings (namely, Judah) came with the shirt (and he had borne the bloody shirt; wherefore he desired to rejoice him, as he had grieved him), he cast it upon his face, and he recovered his sight. [Thereupon Jacob] said, Did I not say unto you, I know, from God, what ye know not? They said, O our father, ask pardon of our crimes for us; for we have been sinners. He replied, I will ask pardon for you of my Lord; for He is the Very forgiving, the Merciful.—He delayed doing so until the first appearance of the dawn, that the prayer might be more likely to be answered; or, as some say, until the night of [that is, preceding] Friday.
They then repaired to Egypt, and Joseph and the great men came forth to meet them; and when they went in unto Joseph, in his pavilion or tent, he received unto him (or pressed unto him) his parents (his father and his mother and his maternal aunt), and said unto them, Enter ye Miṣr, if God please, in safety.[245] So they entered; and Joseph seated himself upon his couch, and he caused his parents to ascend upon the seat of state, and they (that is, his parents and his brethren) fell down, bowing themselves unto him[246] (bending, but not putting the forehead) [upon the ground]: such being their mode of obeisance in that time. And he said, O my father, this is the interpretation of my dream of former times: my Lord hath made it true; and He hath shown favour unto me, since He took me forth from the prison (he said not, from the well,—from a motive of generosity, that his brethren might not be abashed), and hath brought you from the desert, after that the devil had excited discord between me and my brethren; for my Lord is gracious unto whom He pleaseth; for He is the Knowing, the Wise.—And his father resided with him four and twenty years, or seventeen; and the period of his separation was eighteen, or forty, or eighty years. And death came unto him; and thereupon he charged Joseph that he should carry him and bury him by his fathers. So he went himself and buried him. Then he returned to Egypt and remained after him three and twenty years; and when his case was ended, and he knew that he should not last [upon earth], and his soul desired the lasting possession, he said, O my Lord, Thou hast given me dominion, and taught me the interpretation of events (or dreams): Creator of the heavens and the earth, Thou art my guardian in this world and in the world to come. Make me to die a Muslim, and join me with the righteous among my forefathers. And he lived after that a week, or more, and died a hundred and twenty years old. And the Egyptians disputed concerning his burial: so they put him in a chest of marble, and buried him in the upper part of the Nile, that the blessing [resulting from him] might be general to the tracts on each side of it.[247] Extolled be the perfection of Him to whose dominion there is no end!
(xii. 54-102).
JOB.
And remember Our servant Job [Eiyoob[248]] when he called unto his Lord, Verily the devil hath afflicted me with calamity and pain. (The affliction is attributed to the devil, though all was from God.) And it was said unto him, Strike the earth with thy foot. And he did so; whereupon a fountain of water sprang forth.[249] And it was said, This is cool water for thee to wash with, and to drink. So he washed himself and drank; and every disease that he had, external and internal, quitted him. And We gave unto him his family, and as many more with them (that is, God raised to life for him those of his children who had died, and blest him with as many more),[250] in Our mercy and as an admonition unto those who are endowed with faculties of understanding. [And We said unto him,] Take in thy hand a handful of dry grass, or of twigs,[251] and strike with it thy wife (for he had sworn that he would inflict upon her a hundred blows, because she had staid away from him too long one day[252]) and break not thine oath by abstaining from striking her.—So he took a hundred stalks of schoemanthus, or some other plant, and gave her one blow with them. Verily We found him a patient person. How excellent a servant was he! For he was one who earnestly turned himself unto God.
(xxxviii. 40-44.)
SHO´EYB.
And we sent unto Midian [Medyen] their brother Sho´eyb.[253] He said, O my people, worship God; assert His unity. Ye have no other deity but Him. And give not short measure and weight. Verily I see you [to be] in a state of prosperity that placeth you above the need of doing so; and verily I fear for you, if ye believe not, the punishment of a day that will encompass you with destruction. And, O my people, give full measure and weight with equity; and diminish not unto men aught of their things nor commit injustice in the earth, acting corruptly, by murder or other offences. The residue of God (His supply that remaineth to you after the completion of the measure) will be better for you than diminution, if ye be believers. And I am not a guardian over you, to recompense you for your actions: I have only been sent as an admonisher.—They replied, in mockery, O Sho´eyb, do thy prayers command thee that we are to leave what our fathers worshipped, or cease to do with our riches what we please? Verily thou art the mild, the right director. This they said in mockery.—He said, O my people, tell me, if I act according to an evident proof from my Lord, and He hath supplied me with a good lawful provision, shall I mix it up with what is forbidden, and shall I not desire to oppose you, and shall I betake myself to that which I forbid you? I desire not [aught] but your reformation, as far as I am able [to effect it], and my help is not [in any] but in God: on Him do I rely, and unto Him do I turn me. And, O my people, let not the opposition of me procure for you the befalling you of the like of that which befell the people of Noah or the people of Hood or the people of Ṣáliḥ. And the abodes of the people of Lot [are] not distant from you: (or the time of their destruction was not long ago:) therefore be admonished. And ask ye forgiveness of your Lord, and turn unto Him with repentance; for my Lord is merciful to the believers, loving to them. They replied, O Sho´eyb, we understand not much of what thou sayest, and verily we see thee to be weak[254] among us; and were it not for thy family, we had stoned thee; for thou art not, in our estimation, an honourable person: thy family only are the honourable. He said, O my people, are my family more honourable in your estimation than God, and do ye abstain from slaying me for their sake, and not preserve me for God, and have ye cast Him behind you as a thing neglected? Verily my Lord comprehendeth that which ye do, and He will recompense you. And, O my people, act ye according to your condition: verily I will act according to mine. Ye shall know on whom shall come a punishment that shall render him vile, and who is a liar: and await ye the issue of your case: verily I await with you.—And when Our degree for their destruction came [to be executed], we delivered Sho´eyb and those who believed with him, in our mercy, and the cry of Gabriel assailed those who had offended, so that in the morning they were in their abodes prostrate and dead, as though they had not dwelt therein. Was not Midian removed as Thamood had been removed?
(xi. 85-98.)
MOSES AND HIS PEOPLE.
We will rehearse unto thee, [O Moḥammad, somewhat] of the history of Moses [Moosá] and Pharaoh [Fir´own or Far´oon],[255] with truth, for the sake of people who believe. Verily Pharaoh exalted himself in the land of Egypt, and divided its inhabitants into parties to serve him. He rendered weak one class of them, namely the children of Israel, slaughtering their male children, and preserving alive their females, because one of the diviners said unto him, A child will be born among the children of Israel, who will be the means of the loss of thy kingdom;—for he was [one] of the corrupt doers. And We desired to be gracious unto those who had been deemed weak in the land, and to make them models of religion, and to make them the heirs of the possessions of Pharaoh, and to establish them in the land of Egypt, and in Syria, and to show Pharaoh and Hámán[256] and their forces what they feared from them. And We said, by revelation, unto the mother of Moses, the child above-mentioned, of whose birth none knew save his sister, Suckle him; and when thou fearest for him cast him in the river Nile, and fear not his being drowned, nor mourn for his separation; for We will restore him unto thee, and will make him [one] of the apostles.[257] So she suckled him three months, during which he wept not; and then she feared for him, wherefore she put him into an ark pitched within and furnished with a bed for him, and she closed it and cast it in the river Nile by night. And the family (or servants) of Pharaoh lighted upon him in the ark on the morrow of that night;[258] so they put it before him, and it was opened, and Moses was taken forth from it, sucking milk from his thumb: [this happened] that he might be unto them eventually an enemy (slaying their men) and an affliction (making slaves of their women); for Pharaoh and Hámán (his Wezeer) and their forces were sinners; wherefore they were punished by his hand. And the wife of Pharaoh said, when he and his servants had proposed to kill him, He is delight of the eye unto me and unto thee: do not ye kill him: peradventure he may be serviceable unto us, or we may adopt him as a son. And they complied with her desire; and they knew not the consequence.
And the heart of the mother of Moses, when she knew of his having been lighted upon, became disquieted; and she had almost made him known to be her son, had We not fortified her heart with patience, that she might be [one] of the believers in Our promise. And she said unto his sister Maryam [or Mary], Trace him, that thou mayest know his case. And she watched him from a distance, while they knew not that she was his sister and that she was watching him. And We forbade him the breasts, preventing him from taking the breast of any nurse except his mother, before his restoration to her: so his sister said, Shall I direct you unto the people of a house who will nurse him for you, and who will be faithful unto him? And her offer was accepted; therefore she brought his mother, and he took her breast: so she returned with him to her house, as God hath said,—And We restored him to his mother, that her eye might be cheerful and that she might not grieve, and that she might know that the promise of God to restore him unto her was true: but the greater number of them (that is, of mankind) know not this. And it appeared not that this was his sister and this his mother; and he remained with her until she had weaned him; and her hire was paid her, for every day a deenár, which she took [without scruple] because it was the wealth of a hostile person. She then brought him unto Pharaoh, and he was brought up in his abode, as God hath related of him in the Chapter of the Poets,[259] [where Pharaoh said unto Moses,] Have we not brought thee up among us a child, and hast thou not dwelt among us [thirty] years of thy life?
And when he had attained his age of strength (thirty years or thirty and three), and had become of full age (forty years), We bestowed on him wisdom and knowledge in religion, before he was sent as a prophet; and thus do We reward the well-doers. And he entered the city of Pharaoh, which was Munf [or Memphis], after he had been absent from him a while, at a time when its inhabitants were inadvertent, at the hour of the noon-sleep, and he found therein two men fighting; this [being] of his party (namely an Israelite), and this of his enemies (an Egyptian), who was compelling the Israelite to carry firewood to the kitchen of Pharaoh without pay: and he who was of his party begged him to aid him against him who was of his enemies. So Moses said unto the latter, Let him go. And it is said that he replied to Moses, I have a mind to put the burden upon thee. And Moses struck him with his fist, and killed him. But he intended not to kill him; and he buried him in the sand. He said, This is of the work of the devil, who hath excited my anger; for he is an enemy unto the son of Adam, a manifest misleader of him. He said, in repentance, O my Lord, verily I have acted injuriously unto mine own soul, by killing him; therefore forgive me. So He forgave him: for He is the Very Forgiving, the Merciful.—He said, O my Lord, by the favours with which Thou hast favoured me, defend me, and I will by no means be an assistant to the sinners after this.—And the next morning he was afraid in the city, watching for what might happen unto him on account of the slain man; and lo, he who had begged his assistance the day before was crying out to him for aid against another Egyptian. Moses said unto him, Verily thou art a person manifestly in error, because of that which thou hast done yesterday and to-day. But when he was about to lay violent hands upon him who was an enemy unto them both, (namely unto Moses and him who begged his aid,) the latter said, imagining that he would lay violent hands upon him, because of that which he had said unto him, O Moses, dost thou desire to kill me, as thou killedst a soul yesterday? Thou desirest not [aught] but to be an oppressor in the land, and thou desirest not to be [one] of the reconcilers.—And the Egyptian heard that: so he knew that the killer was Moses; wherefore he departed unto Pharaoh and acquainted him therewith, and Pharaoh commanded the executioners to slay Moses, and they betook themselves to seek him. But a man who was a believer of the family of Pharaoh[260] came from the furthest part of the city, running by a way that was nearer than the way by which they had come: he said, O Moses, verily the chiefs of the people of Pharaoh are consulting respecting thee, to slay thee; therefore go forth from the city: verily I am unto thee [one] of the admonishers. So he went forth from it in fear, watching in fear of pursuer, or for the aid of God. He said, O my Lord, deliver me from the unjust people of Pharaoh![261]
And when he was journeying towards Medyen, which was the city of Sho´eyb, eight days’ journey from Miṣr (named after Medyen the son of Abraham), and he knew not the way unto it, he said, Peradventure my Lord will direct me unto the right way, or the middle way. And God sent unto him an angel, having in his hand a short spear; and he went with him thither.[262] And when he came unto the water (or well) of Medyen, he found at it a company of men watering their animals; and he found besides them two women keeping away their sheep from the water. He said unto them (namely the two women), What is the matter with you that ye water not? They answered, We shall not water until the pastors shall have driven away their animals; and our father is a very old man, who cannot water the sheep. And he watered for them from another well near unto them, from which he lifted a stone that none could lift but ten persons. Then he retired to the shade of an Egyptian thorn-tree on account of the violence of the heat of the sun; and he was hungry, and he said, O my Lord, verily I am in need of the good provision which Thou shalt send down unto me. And the two women returned unto their father in less time than they were accustomed to do: so he asked them the reason thereof; and they informed him of the person who had watered for them; whereupon he said unto one of them, Call him unto me.
And one of them[263] came unto him, walking bashfully, with the sleeve of her shift over her face, by reason of her abashment at him: she said, My father calleth thee, that he may recompense thee with the reward of thy having watered for us. And he assented to her call, disliking in his mind the receiving of the reward: but it seemeth that she intended the compensation if he were of such as desired it. And she walked before him; and the wind blew her garment, and her legs were discovered: so he said unto her, Walk behind me and direct me in the way. And she did so, until she came unto her father, who was Sho´eyb, on whom be peace! and with him was [prepared] a supper. He said unto him, Sit and sup. But he replied, I fear lest it be a compensation for my having watered for them, and we are a family who seek not a compensation for doing good. He said, Nay, it is my custom and hath been the custom of my fathers to entertain the guest and to give food. So he ate; and acquainted, him with his case. And when he had come unto him, and had related to him the story of his having killed the Egyptian and their intention to kill him and his fear of Pharaoh, he replied, Fear not: thou hast escaped from the unjust people. (For Pharaoh had no dominion over Medyen.) One of them [namely of the women] said (and she was the one who had been sent), O my father, hire him to tend our sheep in our stead; for the best whom thou canst hire is the strong, the trustworthy. So he asked her respecting him, and she acquainted him with what hath been above related, his lifting up the stone of the well, and his saying unto her, Walk behind me;—and moreover, that when she had come unto him, and he knew of her presence, he hung down his head and raised it not. He therefore said, Verily I desire to marry thee unto one of these my two daughters, on the condition that thou shalt be a hired servant to me, to tend my sheep, eight years; and if thou fulfil ten years, it shall be of thine own will; and I desire not to lay a difficulty upon thee by imposing as a condition the ten years: thou shalt find me, if God please, [one] of the just, who are faithful to their covenants. He replied, This [be the covenant] between me and thee: whichever of the two terms I fulfil, there shall be no injustice against me by demanding an addition thereto; and God is witness of what we say. And the marriage-contract was concluded according to this; and Sho´eyb ordered his daughter to give unto Moses a rod wherewith to drive away the wild beasts from his sheep: and the rods of the prophets were in his possession; and the rod of Adam, of the myrtle of paradise, fell into her hand; and Moses took it, with the knowledge of Sho´eyb.
(xxviii. 21-28.)
Hath the history of Moses been related to thee? when he saw fire,[264] during his journey from Medyen, on his way to Egypt, and said unto his family, or his wife, Tarry ye here; for I have seen fire: perhaps I may bring you a brand from it, or find at the fire a guide to direct me in the way. For he had missed the way in consequence of the darkness of the night. And when he came unto it (and it was a bramble-bush), he was called to [by a voice saying], O Moses, verily I am thy Lord; therefore pull off thy shoes;[265] for thou art in the holy valley of Ṭuwa. And I have chosen thee from among thy people; wherefore hearken attentively unto that which is revealed unto thee by Me. Verily I am God: there is no Deity except Me; therefore worship Me, and perform prayer in remembrance of Me. Verily the hour is coming: I will manifest it unto mankind, and its nearness shall appear unto them by its signs, that every soul may be recompensed therein for its good and evil work: therefore let not him who believeth not in it, and followeth his lust, hinder thee from believing in it, lest thou perish. And what is that in thy right hand, O Moses?—He answered, It is my rod, whereon I lean and wherewith I beat down leaves for my sheep that they may eat them; and I have other uses for it, as the carrying of provision and the water-skin, and the driving away of reptiles. He said, Cast it down, O Moses. So he cast it down; and lo, it was a serpent,[266] running along. God said, Take it, and fear it not:[267] we will restore it to its former state. And he put his hand into its mouth; whereupon it became again a rod. [And God said,] And put thy right hand to thy left arm-pit, and take it forth: it shall come forth white, without evil, (that is, without leprosy; shining like the rays of the sun, dazzling the sight,) as another sign, that We may show thee the greatest of our signs of thine apostleship. (And when he desired to restore his hand to its first state, he put it as before described, and drew it forth.) Go as an apostle unto Pharaoh and those who are with him; for he hath acted with exceeding impiety by arrogating to himself divinity.—Moses said, O my Lord, dilate my bosom, that it may hear the message, and make my affair easy unto me, and loose the knot of my tongue (this had arisen from his having been burned in his mouth by a live coal when he was a child),[268] that they may understand my speech when I deliver the message. And appoint unto me a Wezeer of my family, namely Aaron [Hároon] my brother. Strengthen my back by him, and make him a colleague in my affair, that we may glorify Thee much, and remember Thee much; for Thou knowest us.
God replied, Thou hast obtained thy petition, O Moses, and We have been gracious unto thee another time: forasmuch as We revealed unto thy mother what was revealed, when she gave birth to thee and feared that Pharaoh would kill thee among the others that were born, [saying,] Cast him into the ark, and then cast him, in the ark, into the river Nile, and the river shall throw him on the shore; then an enemy unto Me and an enemy unto him (namely Pharaoh) shall take him. And I bestowed on thee, after he had taken thee, love from Me, that thou mightest be loved by men, so that Pharaoh and all that saw thee loved thee; and that thou mightest be bred up in Mine eye. [Also] forasmuch as thy sister Maryam went that she might learn what became of thee, after they had brought nurses and thou hadst refused to take the breast of any one of them, and she said, Shall I direct you unto one who will nurse him? (whereupon her proposal was accepted, and she brought his mother): so We restored thee to thy mother, that her eye might become cheerful and that she might not grieve. And thou slewest a soul, namely the Copt in Egypt, and wast sorry for his slaughter, on account of Pharaoh, and We delivered thee from sorrow; and We tried thee with other trial, and delivered thee from it.[269] And thou stayedst ten years among the people of Medyen, after thou hadst come thither from Egypt, at the abode of Sho´eyb the prophet, and he married thee to his daughter. Then thou camest according to My decree, as to the time of thy mission, when thou hadst attained the age of forty years, O Moses; and I have chosen thee for Myself. Go thou and thy brother[270] unto the people, with My nine signs, and cease ye not to remember Me. Go ye unto Pharaoh; for he hath acted with exceeding impiety, by arrogating to himself divinity, and speak unto him with gentle speech, exhorting him to relinquish that conduct: peradventure he will consider, or will fear God, and repent. (The [mere] hope with respect to the two [results is expressed] because of God’s knowledge that he would not repent.)—They replied, O our Lord, verily we fear that he may be precipitately violent against us, hastening to punish us, or that he may act with exceeding injustice towards us. He said, Fear ye not; for I am with you: I will hear and will see. Therefore go ye unto him, and say, Verily we are the apostles of thy Lord: therefore send with us the children of Israel unto Syria, and do not afflict them, but cease to employ them in thy difficult works, such as digging and building and carrying the heavy burden. We have come unto thee with a sign from thy Lord, attesting our veracity in asserting ourselves apostles: and peace be on him who followeth the right direction:—that is, he shall be secure from punishment. Verily it hath been revealed unto us that punishment [shall be inflicted] upon him who chargeth with falsehood that wherewith we have come, and turneth away from it.
(xx. 8-50.)
Then We sent after them, namely the apostles before mentioned [who were Sho´eyb and his predecessors], Moses, with Our signs unto Pharaoh and his nobles, and they acted unjustly with respect to them, disbelieving in the signs: but see what was the end of the corrupt doers. And Moses said, O Pharaoh, verily I am an apostle from the Lord of the worlds unto thee. But he charged him with falsehood: so he said, I am right not to say of God aught but the truth. I have come unto you with a proof from your Lord: therefore send with me to Syria the children of Israel.—Pharaoh said unto him, If thou hast come with a sign confirmatory of thy pretension, produce it, if thou be of those who speak truth, So he cast down his rod; and lo, it was a manifest serpent.[271] And he drew forth his hand from his bosom; and lo, it was white and radiant unto the beholders.[272] The nobles of the people of Pharaoh said, Verily this is a knowing enchanter: he desireth to expel you from your land. What then do ye command?—They answered, Put off for a time him and his brother, and send unto the cities collectors [of the inhabitants], that they may bring unto thee every knowing enchanter. And the enchanters came unto Pharaoh. They said, Shall we surely have a reward if we be the party who overcome? He answered, Yea; and verily ye shall be of those who are admitted near [unto my person]. They said, O Moses, either do thou cast down thy rod, or we will cast down what we have with us. He replied, Cast ye. And when they cast down their cords and their rods, they enchanted the eyes of the men, diverting them from the true perception of them; and they terrified them; for they imagined them to be serpents running; and they performed a great enchantment.[273] And We spake by revelation unto Moses, [saying,] Cast down thy rod. And lo, it swallowed up what they had caused to appear changed.[274] So the truth was confirmed, and that which they had wrought became vain; and they were overcome there, and were rendered contemptible. And the enchanters cast themselves down prostrate:[275] they said, We believe in the Lord of the worlds, the Lord of Moses and Aaron. Pharaoh said, Have ye believed in Him before I have given you permission? Verily this is a plot that ye have contrived in the city, that ye may cause its inhabitants to go forth from it. But ye shall know what shall happen unto you at my hand. I will assuredly cut off your hands and your feet on the opposite sides—the right hand of each and his left foot: then I will crucify you all.—They replied. Verily unto our Lord shall we return, after our death, of whatever kind it be; and thou dost not take vengeance on us but because we believed in the signs of our Lord when they came unto us. O our Lord, pour upon us patience, and cause us to die Muslims![276]
(vii. 101-123.)
And Pharaoh said, Let me alone, that I may kill Moses, (for they had diverted him from killing him,) and let him call upon his Lord to defend him from me. Verily I fear lest he change your religion, and prevent your worshipping me, or that he may cause corruption to appear in the earth (that is, slaughter, and other offences).—And Moses said unto his people, having heard this, Verily I have recourse for defence unto my Lord and your Lord from every proud person who believeth not in the day of account. And a man [who was] a believer, of the family of Pharaoh (it is said that he was the son of his paternal uncle,)[277] who concealed his faith, said, Will ye kill a man because he saith, My Lord is God,—when he hath come unto you with evident proofs from your Lord? And if he be a liar, on him [will be] the evil consequence of his lie; but if he be a speaker of truth, somewhat of that punishment with which he threateneth you will befall you speedily. Verily God directeth not him who is a transgressor, or polytheist, [and] a liar. O my people, ye have the dominion to-day, being overcomers in the land of Egypt; but who will defend us from the punishment of God if ye kill his favourite servants, if it come unto us?[278]—Pharaoh said, I will not advise you to do [aught] save what I see to be advisable, which is, to kill Moses; and I will not direct you save into the right way. And he who had believed said, O my people, verily I fear for you the like of the day of the confederates,[279] the like of the condition of the people of Noah and ´Ád and Thamood and those who [have lived] after them: and God willeth not injustice unto [His] servants. And, O my people, verily I fear for you the day of calling (that is, the day of resurrection, when the people of Paradise and those of Hell shall often call one to another). On the day when ye shall turn back from the place of reckoning unto hell, ye shall have no protector against God. And he whom God shall cause to err shall have no director. Moreover, Joseph (who was Joseph the son of Jacob according to one opinion, and who lived unto the time of Moses; and Joseph the son of Abraham the son of Joseph the son of Jacob, according to another opinion) came unto you before Moses, with evident miraculous proofs; but ye ceased not to be in doubt respecting that wherewith he came unto you, until, when he died, ye said without proof God will by no means send an apostle after him. Thus God causeth to err him who is a transgressor, or polytheist, [and] a sceptic. They who dispute respecting the signs of God, without any convincing proof having come unto them, their disputing is very hateful with God and with those who have believed. Thus God sealeth every heart (or the whole heart) of a proud contumacious person.
And Pharaoh said, O Hámán, build for me a tower, that I may reach the avenues, the avenues of the heavens, and ascend unto the God of Moses;[280] but verily I think him, namely Moses, a liar in his assertion that he hath any god but myself. And thus the wickedness of his deed was made to seem comely unto Pharaoh, and he was turned away from the path of rectitude; and the artifice of Pharaoh [ended] not save in loss. And he who had believed said, O my people, follow me: I will direct you into the right way. O my people, this present life is only a temporary enjoyment; but the world to come is the mansion of firm continuance. Whosoever doeth evil, he shall not be recompensed save with the like of it; and whosoever doeth good, whether male or female, and is a believer, these shall enter Paradise; they shall be provided for therein without reckoning. And, O my people, how is it that I invite you unto salvation, and ye invite me unto the Fire? Ye invite me to deny God, and to associate with Him that of which I have no knowledge; but I invite you unto the Mighty, the Very Forgiving. [There is] no doubt but that the [false gods] to the worship of which ye invite me are not to be invoked in this world, nor in the world to come, and that our return [shall be] unto God, and that the transgressors [shall be] the companions of the Fire. And ye shall remember, when ye see the punishment, what I say unto you; and I commit my case unto God; for God seeth [His] servants.—This he said when they threatened him for his opposing their religion. Therefore God preserved him from the evils which they had artfully devised (namely slaughter), and a most evil punishment encompassed the people of Pharaoh,[281] with Pharaoh himself (namely the drowning); then they shall be exposed to the Fire morning and evening;[282] and on the day when the hour [of judgment] shall come, it shall be said unto the angels, Introduce the people of Pharaoh into the most severe punishment.
(xl. 27-49.)
And the nobles of the people of Pharaoh said unto him, Wilt thou let Moses and his people go that they may act corruptly in the earth, by inviting to disobey thee, and leave thee and thy gods? (For he had made for them little idols for them to worship, and he said, I am your Lord and their Lord;—and therefore he said, I am your Lord the Most High.) He answered, We will slaughter their male children and will suffer their females to live: and verily we shall prevail over them. And thus they did unto them; wherefore the children of Israel complained, and Moses said unto his people, Seek aid of God, and be patient; for the earth belongeth unto God: He causeth whomsoever He will of His servants to inherit it; and the prosperous end is for those who fear God. They replied, We have been afflicted before thou camest unto us and since thou hast come unto us. He said, Perhaps your Lord will destroy your enemy and cause you to succeed [him] in the earth, and He will see how ye will act therein.—And We had punished the family of Pharaoh with dearth and with scarcity of fruits, that they might be admonished and might believe. But when good betided them, they said, This is ours:—that is, we deserve it;—and they were not grateful for it; and if evil befell them, they ascribed it to the ill luck of Moses and those believers who were with him. Nay, their ill luck was only with God: He brought it upon them: but the greater number of them know not this. And they said unto Moses, Whatsoever sign thou bring unto us, to enchant us therewith, we will not believe in thee. So he uttered an imprecation upon them, and We sent upon them the flood, which entered their houses and reached to the throats of the persons sitting, seven days,[283] and the locusts, which ate their corn and their fruits, and the ḳummal, or grubs, or a kind of tick, which sought after what the locusts had left, and the frogs, which filled their houses and their food, and the blood in their waters; distinct signs: but they were proud, refusing to believe in them, and were a wicked people. And when the punishment fell upon them, they said, O Moses, supplicate for us thy Lord, according to that which He hath covenanted with thee, namely that He will withdraw from us the punishment if we believe: verily, if thou remove from us the punishment, we will assuredly believe thee, and we will assuredly send with thee the children of Israel. But when We removed from them the punishment until a period at which they should arrive, lo, they brake their promise. Wherefore We took vengeance on them, and drowned them in the sea, because they charged our signs with falsehood and were heedless of them. And We caused the people who had been rendered weak, by being enslaved, to inherit the eastern parts of the earth and its western parts,[284] which we blessed with water and trees, (namely Syria); and the gracious word of thy Lord was fulfilled on the children of Israel, because they had been patient; and We destroyed the structures which Pharaoh and his people had built and what they had erected.[285]
(vii. 124-133.)
We brought the children of Israel across the sea, and Pharaoh and his troops pursued them with violence and hostility, until, when drowning overtook him, he said, I believe that there is no deity but He in whom the children of Israel believe, and I am [one] of the Muslims. But Gabriel thrust into his mouth some of the mire of the sea, lest mercy should be granted him, and said, Now thou believest, and thou hast been rebellious hitherto, and wast [one] of the corrupters. But to-day we will raise thee with thy lifeless body from the sea, that thou mayest be a sign unto those [who shall come] after thee. (It is related, on the authority of Ibn-´Abbás, that some of the children of Israel doubted his death; wherefore he was brought forth to them that they might see him.)[286] But verily many men are heedless of Our signs.
(x. 90-92.)
And We brought the children of Israel across the sea; and they came unto a people who gave themselves up to the worship of idols belonging to them;[287] [whereupon] they said, O Moses, make for us a god (an idol for us to worship), like as they have gods. He replied, Verily ye are a people who are ignorant, since ye have requited God’s favour towards you with that which ye have said; for that [religion] in which these are [occupied shall be] destroyed, and vain is that which they do. He said, Shall I seek for you any other deity than God, when He hath preferred you above the peoples of your time?
(vii. 134-136.)
And We caused the thin clouds to shade you from the heat of the sun in the desert, and caused the manna and the quails[288] to descend upon you, and said, Eat of the good things which We have given you for food, and store not up.—But they were ungrateful for the benefit, and stored up; wherefore it was cut off from them. And they injured not Us thereby; but they did injure their own souls.
(ii. 54.)
[Remember, O children of Israel,] when ye said, O Moses, we will not bear patiently the having one kind of food, the manna and the quails; therefore supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may produce for us somewhat of that which the earth bringeth forth, of its herbs and its cucumbers and its wheat and its lentils and its onions:—he said unto them, Will ye take in exchange that which is worse for that which is better?—But they refused to recede; therefore he supplicated God, and He said, Get ye down into a great city;[289] for ye shall have therein what ye have asked.—And the marks of abjection and poverty were stamped upon them: so these characteristics necessarily belong to them, even if they are rich, as necessarily as the stamped coin belongeth to its die; and they returned with indignation from God. This was because they did disbelieve in the signs of God, and slay the prophets (as Zechariah and John) unjustly: this was because they rebelled and did transgress.
(ii. 58.)
And remember when Moses asked drink for his people, who had become thirsty in the desert, and We said, Strike with thy rod the stone. (It was the stone that fled away with his garment:[290] it was light, square, like the head of a man, marble or kedhdhán.[291]) Accordingly he struck it; and there gushed out from it twelve fountains, according to the number of the tribes, all men (each tribe of them) knowing their drinking-place. And We said unto them, Eat ye and drink of the supply of God, and commit not evil in the earth, acting corruptly.
(ii. 57.)
Remember also when We obtained your bond that ye would do according to that which is contained in the Law, and had lifted up over you the mountain [namely Mount Sinai], pulled it up by the roots and raised it over you when ye had refused to accept the Law, and We said, Receive that which We have given you, with resolution, and remember that which is contained in it, to do according thereto: peradventure ye will fear the Fire, or acts of disobedience.—Then ye turned back after that; and had it not been for the grace of God towards you and His mercy, ye had certainly been of those who perish. And ye know those of you who transgressed on the Sabbath, by catching fish, when We had forbidden them to do so (and they were the people of Eyleh[292],) and We said unto them, Be ye apes, driven away from the society of men.—Thereupon they became such, and they perished after three days.—And We made it (namely that punishment) an example unto those who were contemporary with them and those who came after them, and a warning to the pious.
(ii. 60-62.)
And We appointed unto Moses thirty nights, at the expiration of which We would speak to him, on the condition of his fasting during them; and they were [the nights of the month of] Dhu-l-Ḳaạdeh; and he fasted during them: but, when they were ended, he disliked the smell of his breath; so he used a tooth-stick; whereupon God commanded him to fast ten other nights, that He might speak to Him with the odour of his breath,[293] as He whose name be exalted hath said,—and We completed them by [adding] ten nights of Dhu-l-Ḥijjeh: so the stated time of his Lord was completed, forty nights. And Moses said unto his brother Aaron, at his departure to the mountain for the private collocution, Be thou my deputy among my people, and act rightly, and follow not the way of the corrupt doers by agreeing with them in acts of disobedience. And when Moses came at Our appointed time, and his Lord spake unto him without an intermediary, he said, O my Lord, show me Thyself, that I may see Thee. He replied, Thou shalt not see Me: but look at the mountain, which is stronger than thou; and if it remain firm in its place, then shalt thou see Me. And when his Lord displayed Himself to the mountain (that is, when there appeared, of His light, half of the tip of His little finger, as related in a tradition which El-Ḥákim hath verified), He reduced it to powder, levelling it even with the ground around it; and Moses fell down in a swoon. And when he recovered, he said, Extolled be Thy perfection! I turn unto Thee repenting, and I am the first of the believers in my time.—God said unto him, O Moses, I have chosen thee above the people of thy time [by honouring thee] by My commissions and by My speaking unto thee: therefore receive what I have given thee, and be of those who are grateful. And We wrote for him upon the tables of the Law[294] (which were of the lote-tree of Paradise, or of chrysolite, or of emerald; in number seven, or ten) an admonition concerning every requisite matter of religion, and a distinct explanation of everything; and said, Therefore receive it with resolution, and command thy people to act according to the most excellent [precepts] thereof.
(vii. 138-142.)
And the people of Moses, after it (that is, after his departure for the private collocution), made, of their ornaments (which they had borrowed of the people of Pharaoh), a corporeal calf[295] which Es-Sámiree cast for them,[296] and which lowed; for he had the faculty of doing so in consequence of their having put into its mouth some dust taken from [beneath] the hoof of the horse of Gabriel; and they took it as a god. Did they not see that it spake not to them, nor directed them in the way? They took it as a god, and were offenders. But when they repented, and saw that they had erred, which was after the return of Moses, they said, Verily if our Lord do not have mercy upon us and forgive us, we shall assuredly be of those who perish.
(vii. 146-148.)
And Moses returned unto his people[297] enraged against them, exceedingly sorrowful. He said, O my people, did not your Lord promise you a good true promise, that He would give you the Law? But did the time of my absence seem tedious to you, or did ye desire that indignation from your Lord should befall you, and therefore did ye break your promise to me, and abstain from coming after one?—They answered, We did not break our promise to thee of our own authority; but we were made to carry loads of the ornaments of the people of Pharaoh (which the children of Israel had borrowed of them under pretence of [requiring them for] a wedding, and which remained in their possession), and we cast them into the fire, by order of Es-Sámiree. And in like manner also Es-Sámiree cast their ornaments which he had, and some of the dust which he had taken from the traces of the hoofs of the horse of Gabriel; and he produced unto them a corporeal calf, of flesh and blood, which lowed, by reason of the dust, the property of which is to give life to that into which it is put; and he had put it, after he had moulded the calf, into its mouth. And they (namely, Es-Sámiree and his followers) said, This is your god, and the god of Moses; but he hath forgotten his lord here, and gone to seek him. God saith, But did they not see that it returned them not an answer, nor was able to cause them hurt or profit? And Aaron had said unto them, before the return of Moses, O my people, ye are only tried by it; and verily your Lord is the Compassionate; therefore follow me, by worshipping Him, and obey my command. They replied, We will by no means cease to be devoted to the worship of it until Moses return unto us. Moses said after his return, O Aaron, what hindered thee, when thou sawest that they had gone astray, from following me? Hast thou then been disobedient to my command, by remaining among them who worshipped another than God? —He answered, O son of my mother, seize me not by my beard (for he had taken hold of his beard with his left hand), nor by [the hair of] my head (for he had taken hold of his hair with his right hand, in anger). Verily I feared lest if I followed thee (for a company of those who worshipped the calf would inevitably have followed me) thou shouldst say, Thou hast made a division among the children of Israel, and hast not waited for my sentence. Moses said, And what was thy motive for doing as thou hast, O Sámiree? He answered, I saw that which they saw not;[298] therefore I took a handful of dust from the foot-marks of the horse of the apostle Gabriel, and cast it into the molten calf; and thus my soul allured me to take a handful of the dust above-mentioned, and to cast it upon that which had no life, that it might have life; and I saw that thy people had demanded of thee that thou wouldst make them a god; so my soul suggested to me that this calf should be their god. Moses said unto him, Then get thee gone from among us, and [the punishment] for thee during the period of thy life [shall be], that thou shalt say unto whomsoever thou shalt see, Touch me not:—(so he used to wander about the desert, and when he touched any one, or any one touched him, they both became affected with a burning fever:) and verily for thee is a threat which thou shalt by no means find to be false. And look at thy god, to the worship of which thou hast continued devoted. We will assuredly burn it: then we will assuredly reduce it to powder and scatter it in the sea. (And Moses, after he had slaughtered it, did this.) Your deity is God only, except whom there is no deity. He comprehendeth all things by His knowledge.—Thus, O Moḥammad, do We relate unto thee accounts of what hath happened heretofore; and We have given thee, from Us, an admonition; namely the Ḳur-án.
(xx. 88-99.)
And they were made to drink down the calf into their hearts,[299] (that is, the love of it mingled with their hearts as drink mingleth,) because of their unbelief.
(ii. 87.)
[Remember, O children of Israel,] when Moses said unto his people who worshipped the calf, O my people, verily ye have injured your own souls by your taking to yourselves the calf as a god; therefore turn with repentance unto your Creator from the worship of it, and slay one another: (that is, let the innocent among you slay the criminal:) this will be best for you in the estimation of your Creator. And He aided you to do that, sending upon you a black cloud, lest one of you should see another and have compassion on him, until there were slain of you about seventy thousand. And thereupon He became propitious towards you, accepting your repentance; for He is the Very Propitious, the Merciful.
(ii. 51.)
[Remember also, O children of Israel,] when ye said, having gone forth with Moses to beg pardon of God for your worship of the calf, and having heard his words, O Moses, we will not believe thee until we see God manifestly:—whereupon the vehement sound assailed you, and ye died, while ye beheld what happened to you. Then We raised you to life after ye had been dead, that peradventure ye might give thanks.[300]
(ii. 52, 53.)
And Moses chose from his people seventy men, of those who had not worshipped the calf, by the command of God, at the time appointed by Us for their coming to ask pardon for their companions’ worship of the calf; and he went forth with them; and when the convulsion (the violent earthquake) took them away (because, saith Ibn-´Abbás, they did not separate themselves from their people when the latter worshipped the calf), Moses said, O my Lord, if Thou hadst pleased, Thou hadst destroyed them before my going forth with them, that the children of Israel might have beheld it and might not suspect me; and me [also]. Wilt Thou destroy us for that which the foolish among us have done? It is naught but Thy trial: Thou wilt cause to err thereby whom Thou pleasest, and Thou wilt rightly guide whom Thou pleasest. Thou art our guardian; and do Thou forgive us and have mercy upon us; for Thou art the best of those who forgive: and appoint for us in this world what is good, and in the world to come; for unto Thee have we turned with repentance.—God replied, I will afflict with My punishment whom I please, and My mercy extendeth over everything in the world; and I will appoint it, in the world to come, for those who fear and give the legal alms, and those who believe on Our signs, who shall follow the apostle, the illiterate [or Gentile, i.e., Arab] prophet, Moḥammad, whom they shall find written down with them in the Pentateuch and the Gospel, by his name and his description. He will command them that which is right, and forbid them that which is evil; and will allow them as lawful the good things among those forbidden in their law, and prohibit them the impure, as carrion and other things, and will take off from them their burden and the yokes that were upon them, as the slaying of a soul [for an atonement] in repentance, and the cutting off of the mark left by impurity. And those who shall believe in him and honour him and assist him and follow the light which shall be sent down with him, namely the Ḳur-án, these shall be the prosperous.
(vii. 154-156).
And remember when Moses said unto his people, O my people, remember the favour of God towards you, since He hath appointed prophets from among you, and made you princes (masters of servants and other attendants), and given you what He hath not given any [other] of the peoples (as the manna and the quails and other things). O my people, enter the Holy Land which God hath decreed for you (namely Syria), and turn not back, lest ye turn losers.—They replied, O Moses, verily there is in it a gigantic people, of the remains of the tribe of ´Ád, and we will not enter it until they go forth from it; but if they go forth from it, then we will enter.—[Thereupon] two men, of those who feared to disobey God, namely Joshua and Caleb, of the chiefs whom Moses sent to discover the circumstances of the giants, and upon whom God had conferred favour, and who had concealed what they had seen of the state of the giants, excepting from Moses, wherefore the other chiefs became cowardly, said unto them, Enter ye upon them through the gate of the city, and fear them not; for they are bodies without hearts; and when ye enter it, ye overcome; and upon God place your dependence, if ye be believers.—[But] they said, O Moses, we will never enter it while they remain therein. Therefore go thou and thy Lord, and fight: for we remain here.—Then Moses said, O my Lord, verily I am not master of any but myself and my brother: therefore distinguish between us and the unrighteous people.—God replied, Verily it (namely the Holy Land) shall be forbidden them forty years; they shall wander in perplexity in the land: and be not thou solicitous for the unrighteous people.—The land [through which they wandered] was [only] nine leagues [in extent]. They used to journey during the night with diligence; but in the morning they found themselves in the place whence they had set forth; and they journeyed during the day in like manner. Thus they did until all of them had become extinct, excepting those who had not attained the age of twenty years; and it is said that they were six hundred thousand. Aaron and Moses died in the desert; and mercy was their lot: but punishment was the lot of those. And Moses begged his Lord, when he was about to die, that He would bring him as near as a stone’s throw to the Holy Land: wherefore He did so. And Joshua was made a prophet after the forty [years], and he gave orders to fight against the giants. So he went with those who were with him, and fought against them: and it was Friday; and the sun stood still for him awhile, until he had made an end of fighting against them.
(v. 23-29).
Ḳároon[301] [or Korah] was of the people of Moses (he was the son of his paternal uncle, and the son of his maternal aunt, and he believed in him); but he behaved insolently towards them; for We had bestowed upon him such treasures that their keys were heavy burdens for a company of men endowed with strength, in number, as some say, seventy; and some, forty; and some, ten; and some, another number. Remember when his people (the believers among the children of Israel) said unto him, Rejoice not exultingly in the abundance of thy wealth; for God loveth not those who so rejoice; but seek to attain, by means of the wealth which God hath given thee, the latter abode [of Paradise], by expending thy wealth in the service of God; and neglect not thy part in this world, to work therein for the world to come; but be beneficent unto mankind, by bestowing alms, as God hath been beneficent unto thee; and seek not to act corruptly in the earth; for God loveth not the corrupt doers. He replied, I have only been given it on account of the knowledge that I possess. For he was the most learned of the children of Israel in the Law, after Moses and Aaron. God saith, Did he not know that God had destroyed before him, of the generations, those that were mightier than he in strength and who had amassed more abundance of wealth? And the wicked shall not be asked respecting their sins, because God knoweth them: therefore they shall be sent into the Fire without a reckoning. And Ḳároon went forth unto his people in his pomp, with his many dependants mounted, adorned with garments of gold and silk, upon decked horses and mules. Those who desired the present life said, O would that we had the like of that which hath been bestowed on Ḳároon in this world! Verily he is possessed of great good fortune!—But those unto whom knowledge of what God hath promised in the world to come had been given, said unto them, Woe to you! The reward of God in the world to come (which is Paradise) is better for him who believeth and worketh righteousness than that which hath been bestowed on Ḳároon in the present world; and none shall receive it but the patient in the service of God. And We caused the earth to cleave asunder and swallow up him and his mansion,[302] and he had no forces to defend him, in the place of God, nor was he of the [number of the] saved. And the next morning, those who had wished for his place the day before said, Aha! God enlargeth provision unto whom He pleaseth of His servants, and is sparing of it unto whom He pleaseth! Had not God been gracious unto us, He had caused [the earth] to cleave asunder and swallow up us! Aha! the ungrateful for His benefits do not prosper!
(xxviii. 76-82.)
Remember, [O children of Israel,] when Moses said unto his people (when one of them had been slain, whose murderer was not known, and they asked him to beg God that He would discover him to them, wherefore he supplicated Him), Verily God commandeth you to sacrifice a cow. They said, Dost thou make a jest of us? He said, I beg God to preserve me from being one of the foolish. So when they knew that he decidedly intended [what he had ordered], they said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what she is; that is, what is her age. Moses replied, He saith, She is a cow neither old nor young; but of a middle age, between those two: therefore do as ye are commanded. They said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what is her colour. He replied, He saith, She is a red[303] cow: her colour is very bright: she rejoiceth the beholders. They said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what she is, whether she be a pasturing or a working cow; for cows of the description mentioned are to us like one another; and we, if God please, shall indeed be rightly directed to her. (In a tradition it is said, Had they not said, ‘If God please,’—she had not ever been manifested to them.) He replied, He saith, She is a cow not subdued by work that plougheth the ground, nor doth she water the field: [she is] free from defects and the marks of work; there is no colour in her different from the rest of her colour. They said, Now thou hast brought the truth. And they sought her, and found her in the possession of the young man who acted piously towards his mother, and they bought her for as much gold as her hide would contain.[304] Then they sacrificed her; but they were near to leaving it undone, on account of the greatness of her price. (And in a tradition it is said, Had they sacrificed any cow whatever, He had satisfied them: but they acted hardly towards themselves; so God acted hardly towards them.) And when ye slew a soul, and contended together respecting it, (and God brought forth [to light] that which ye did conceal—this is the beginning of the story [and was the occasion of the order to sacrifice this particular cow,]) We said, Strike him (that is, the slain person) with part of her. So he was struck with her tongue, or the root of her tail, or, as some say, with her right thigh; whereupon he came to life, and said, Such-a-one and such-a-one slew me,—to the two sons of his uncle. And he died. They two [the murderers] were therefore deprived of the inheritance, and were slain.[305] Thus God raiseth to life the dead, and showeth you His signs (the proof of His power), that peradventure ye may understand, and know that He who is able to raise to life one soul is able to raise to life many souls. Then your hearts became hard, O ye Jews, so as not to accept the truth, after that, and they [were] as stones, or more hard: for of stones there are indeed some from which rivers gush forth; and of them there are indeed some that cleave asunder and water issueth from them; and of them there are indeed some that fall down through fear of God; whereas your hearts are not impressed, nor do they grow soft, nor do they become humble. But God is not heedless of that which ye do: He only reserveth you unto your time.
(ii. 63-69.)
Remember when Moses said to his young man Joshua the son of Nun, who served him and acquired knowledge from him, I will not cease to go forward until I reach the place where the two seas (the Sea of Greece and the Sea of Persia) meet, or travel for a long space of time. And when they reached the place where they (the two seas) met they forgot their fish: Joshua forgot to take it up, on their departure; and Moses forgot to remind him; and it made its way in the sea by a hollow passage, God withholding the water from it. And when they had passed beyond that place, and proceeded until the time of the morning-meal on the following day, [Moses] said unto his young man, Bring us our morning-meal: we have experienced fatigue from this our journey. He replied, What thinkest thou? When we repaired to the rock to rest at that place, I forgot the fish, and none made me forget to mention it but the devil; and it made its way in the sea in a wonderful manner.—Moses said, That (namely our loss of the fish) is what we were desiring; for it is a sign unto us of our finding him whom we seek. And they returned by the way that they had come, following the footsteps, and came to the rock. And they found one of Our servants (namely El-Khiḍr[306]) unto whom We had granted mercy from Us (that is the gift of prophecy in the opinion of some, and the rank of a saint according to another opinion which most of the learned hold), and whom We had taught knowledge from Us respecting things unseen.—El-Bukháree hath related a tradition stating that Moses performed the office of a preacher among the children of Israel, and was asked who was the most knowing of men; to which he answered, I:—whereupon God blamed him for this, because he did not refer the knowledge thereof to Him. And God said unto him by revelation, Verily I have a servant at the place where the two seas meet, and he is more knowing than thou. Moses said, O my Lord, and how shall I meet with him? He answered, Thou shalt take with thee a fish, and put it into a measuring-vessel, and where thou shalt lose the fish, there is he. So he took a fish, and put it into a vessel. Then he departed, and Joshua the son of Nun departed with him, until they came to the rock, where they laid down their heads and slept. And the fish became agitated in the vessel, and escaped from it, and fell into the sea, and it made its way in the sea by a hollow passage, God withholding the water from the fish so that it became like a vault over it: and when Moses’ companion awoke, he forgot to inform him of the fish.
Moses said unto him [namely El-Khiḍr], Shall I follow thee, that thou mayest teach me [part] of that which thou hast been taught, for a direction unto me? He answered, Verily thou canst not have patience with me. For how canst thou be patient with respect to that whereof thou comprehendest not the knowledge?—He replied, Thou shalt find me, if God please, patient; and I will not disobey any command of thine. He said, Then if thou follow me, ask me not respecting anything: but be patient until I give thee an account thereof. And Moses assented to his condition. And they departed, walking along the shore of the sea, until, when they embarked in the ship that passed by them, he (El-Khiḍr) made a hole in it, by pulling out a plank or two planks from it on the outside by means of an axe when it reached the middle of the sea. Moses said unto him, Hast thou made a hole in it that thou mayest drown its people? Thou hast done a grievous thing.—(But it is related that the water entered not the hole.) He replied, Did I not say that thou couldst not have patience with me? [Moses] said, Chastise me not for my forgetfulness, nor impose on me a difficulty in my case.—And they departed, after they had gone forth from the vessel, walking on, until, when they found a boy who had not attained the age of knowing right and wrong, playing with other children, and he was the most beautiful of them in countenance, and he (El-Khiḍr) slew him, Moses said unto him, Hast thou slain an innocent soul, without his having slain a soul? Thou hast done an iniquitous thing.—He replied, Did I not say that thou couldst not have patience with me? [Moses] said, If I ask thee concerning anything after this time, suffer me not to accompany thee. Now hast thou received from me an excuse for thy separating thyself from me.—And they departed [and proceeded] until, when they came to the people of a city (which was Antioch[307]), they asked food of its people; but they refused to entertain them: and they found therein a wall, the height whereof was a hundred cubits, which was about to fall down; whereupon he (El-Khiḍr) set it upright with his hand. Moses said unto him, If thou wouldst, thou mightest have obtained pay for it, since they did not entertain us, notwithstanding our want of food. El-Khiḍr said unto him, This shall be a separation between me and thee; but before my separation from thee, I will declare unto thee the interpretation of that which thou couldst not bear with patience.
As to the vessel, it belonged to ten poor men,[308] who pursued their business on the sea; and I desired to render it unsound; for there was behind them a king, an unbeliever, who took every sound vessel by force. And as to the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared that he would transgress against them rebelliously and impiously: for, according to a tradition related by Muslim, he was constituted by nature an unbeliever, and had he lived he had so acted; wherefore we desired that their Lord should create for them a better than he in virtue, and [one] more disposed than he to filial piety. And God created for them a daughter, who married a prophet, and gave birth to a prophet, by means of whom God directed a people to the right way. And as to the wall, it belonged to two orphan youths in the city, and beneath it was a treasure buried, of gold and silver, belonging to them; and their father was a righteous man; and thy Lord desired that they should attain their age of strength and take forth their treasure through the mercy of thy Lord. And I did it not (namely what hath been mentioned) of mine own will, but by direction of God. This is the interpretation of that which thou couldst not bear with patience. (Chap. xviii. 59-81.)
SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON.
Hast thou not considered the assembly of the children of Israel after the death of Moses, when they said unto a prophet of theirs, namely Samuel, Set up for us a king, under whom we will fight in the way of God? He said unto them, If fighting be prescribed as incumbent on you, will ye, peradventure, abstain from fighting? They replied, And wherefore should we not fight in the way of God, since we have been expelled from our habitations and our children by their having been taken prisoners and slain?—The people of Goliath [Jáloot] had done thus unto them.—But when fighting was commanded them, they turned back, excepting a few of them, who crossed the river with Saul [Ṭáloot], as will be related. And God knoweth the offenders. And the prophet begged his Lord to send a king; whereupon he consented to send Saul. And their prophet said unto them, Verily God hath set up Saul as your king. They said, How shall he have the dominion over us, when we are more worthy of the dominion than he, (for he was not of the royal lineage, nor of the prophetic, and he was a tanner, or a tender of flocks or herds,) and he hath not been endowed with ample wealth? He replied, Verily God hath chosen him as king over you, and increased him in largeness of knowledge and of body, (for he was the wisest of the children of Israel at that time, and the most comely of them, and the most perfect of them in make,) and God giveth his kingdom unto whom He pleaseth; and God is ample in His beneficence, knowing with respect to him who is worthy of the kingdom.—And their prophet said unto them, when they demanded of him a sign in proof of his kingship, Verily the sign of his kingship shall be that the ark shall come unto you (in it were the images of the prophets: God sent it down unto Adam, and it passed into their possession; but the Amalekites took it from them by force: and they used to seek victory thereby over their enemy, and to advance it in the fight, and to trust in it, as He—whose name be exalted!—hath said); therein [shall be] tranquillity from your Lord,[309] and relics of what the family of Moses and the family of Aaron have left: namely, the two shoes (or sandals) of Moses, and his rod, and the turban of Aaron, and a measure of the manna that used to descend upon them, and the fragments of the tables [of the Law]: the angels shall bear it. Verily in this shall be a sign unto you of his kingship, if ye be believers. Accordingly the angels bore it between heaven and earth, while they looked at it, until they placed it by Saul; whereupon they acknowledged his kingship, and hastened to the holy war; and he chose of their young men seventy thousand.
And when Saul went forth with the troops from Jerusalem, and it was violently hot weather, and they demanded of him water, he said, Verily God will try you by a river, that the obedient among you, and the disobedient, may appear, (and it was between the Jordan and Palestine,) and whoso drinketh thereof, he is not of my party (but he who tasteth not thereof, he is of my party), excepting him who taketh forth a draught in his hand, and is satisfied therewith, not adding to it; for he is of my party;—then they drank thereof abundantly, excepting a few of them, who were content only with the handful of water. It is related that it sufficed them for their own drinking and for their beasts, and they were three hundred, and somewhat more than ten. And when he had passed over it, he and those who believed with him, they (that is, those who had drunk [plentifully]) said, We have no power to-day to contend against Goliath and his troops. And they were cowardly, and passed not over it. They [however] who held it as certain that they should meet God at the resurrection (and they were those who had passed over it) said, How many a small body of men hath overcome a great body by the permission (or will) of God! And God is with the patient, to defend and aid.—And when they went forth to battle against Goliath and his troops, they said, O our Lord, pour upon us patience, and make firm our feet, by strengthening our hearts for the holy war, and help us against the unbelieving people!—And they routed them by the permission (or will) of God, and David [Dáwood, vulg. Dáood], who was in the army of Saul, slew Goliath. And God gave him (David) the kingship over the children of Israel, and wisdom (that is prophecy), after the death of Samuel and Saul, and they [namely these two gifts] had not been given together to any one before him; and He taught him what He pleased,[310] as the art of making coats of mail, and the language of birds. And were it not for God’s repelling men, one by another, surely the earth had become corrupt by the predominance of the polytheists and the slaughter of the Muslims and the ruin of the places of worship: but God is beneficent to the peoples, and hath repelled some by others.
(ii. 247-252.)
Hath the story of the two opposing parties come unto thee, O Moḥammad, when they ascended over the walls of the oratory of David, having been prevented going in unto him by the door, because of his being engaged in devotion? When they went in unto David, and he was frightened at them, they said, Fear not: we are two opposing parties. It is said that they were two parties of more than one each; and it is said that they were two individuals, angels, who came as two litigants, to admonish David, who had ninety-nine wives, and had desired the wife of a person who had none but her, and married her and taken her as his wife.[311] [One of them said,] One of us hath wronged the other; therefore judge between us with truth, and be not unjust, but direct us into the right way. Verily this my brother in religion had nine-and-ninety ewes, and I had one ewe; and he said, Make me her keeper. And he overcame me in the dispute.—And the other confessed him to have spoken truth.—[David] said, Verily he hath wronged thee in demanding thy ewe to add her to his ewes; and verily many associates wrong one another, except those who believe and do righteous deeds: and few indeed are they.—And the two angels said, ascending in their [proper or assumed] forms to heaven, The man hath passed sentence against himself. So David was admonished. And David perceived that We had tried him by his love of that woman; wherefore he asked pardon of his Lord, and fell down bowing himself (or prostrating himself), and repented. So We forgave him that; and verily for him [was ordained] a high rank with Us (that is, an increase of good fortune in this world), and [there shall be for him] an excellent retreat in the world to come.
(xxxviii. 20-24.)
We compelled the mountains to glorify Us, with David, and the birds also, on his commanding them to do so, when he experienced languor; and We did this. And We taught him the art of making coats of mail (for before his time plates of metal were used) for you among mankind in general, that they might defend you from your suffering in warring with your enemies.—Will ye then, O people of Mekkeh, be thankful for My favours, believing the apostles?—And We subjected unto Solomon [Suleymán] the wind, blowing strongly, and being light at his desire, which ran at his command[312] to the land that We blessed (namely Syria);[313] and We knew all things (knowing that what We gave him would stimulate him to be submissive to his Lord). And We subjected, of the devils, those who should dive for him in the sea and bring forth from it jewels for him, and do other work besides that; that is, building, and performing other services; and We watched over them, that they might not spoil what they executed; for they used, when they had finished a work before night, to spoil it, if they were not employed in something else.
(xxi. 79-82.)
We gave unto David Solomon his son. How excellent a servant was he! For he was one who earnestly turned himself unto God, glorifying and praising Him at all times. [Remember] when, in the latter part of the day, after the commencement of the declining of the sun, the mares standing on three feet and touching the ground with the edge of the fourth foot, swift in the course, were displayed before him. They were a thousand mares, which were displayed before him after he had performed the noon-prayers, on the occasion of his desiring to make use of them in a holy war; and when nine hundred of them had been displayed, the sun set, and he had not performed the afternoon-prayers. So he was grieved, and he said, Verily I have preferred the love of [earthly] goods above the remembrance of my Lord, (that is, the performance of the afternoon-prayers,) so that the sun is concealed by the veil. Bring them (namely the horses) back unto me. Therefore they brought them back. And he began to sever with his sword the legs and the necks, slaughtering them, and [then] cutting off their legs, as a sacrifice unto God, and gave their flesh in alms; and God gave him in compensation what was better than they were and swifter, namely the wind, which travelled by his command whithersoever he desired.—And We tried Solomon by depriving him of his kingdom. This was because he married a woman of whom he became enamoured, and she used to worship an idol in his palace without his knowledge. His dominion was in his signet; and he pulled it off once and deposited it with his wife, who was named El-Emeeneh; and a jinnee came unto her in the form of Solomon, and took it from her. And We placed upon his throne a [counterfeit] body; namely that jinnee, who was Ṣakhr, or another. He sat upon the throne of Solomon, and the birds and other creatures surrounded him; and Solomon went forth, with a changed appearance, and saw him upon his throne, and said unto the people, I am Solomon:—but they denied him. Then he returned unto his kingdom, after some days, having obtained the signet and put it on, and seated himself upon his throne.[314] He said, O my Lord, forgive me, and give me a dominion that may not be to any one after me (or beside me); for Thou art the Liberal Giver. So We subjected unto him the wind, which ran gently at his command whithersoever he desired; and the devils [also], every builder of wonderful structures, and diver that brought up pearls from the sea, and others bound in chains which connected their hands to their necks. And We said unto him, This is Our gift, and bestow thou thereof upon whomsoever thou wilt, or refrain from bestowing, without rendering an account. And verily for him [was ordained] a high rank with Us, and an excellent retreat.
(xxxviii. 29-39.)
We bestowed on David and Solomon knowledge in judging men and in the language of the birds and other matters; and they said, Praise be to God who hath made us to excel many of His believing servants, by the gift of prophecy and by the subjection of the jinn and mankind and the devils. And Solomon inherited from David the gift of prophecy and knowledge; and he said, O men, we have been taught the language of the birds,[315] and have had bestowed on us of everything wherewith prophets and kings are gifted. Verily this is manifest excellence.—And his armies of jinn and men and birds were gathered together unto Solomon, and they were led on in order, until, when they came unto the valley of ants, (which [was] at Eṭ-Ṭáïf or in Syria, the ants whereof [were] small or great,) an ant (the queen of the ants), having seen the troops of Solomon, said, O ants, enter your habitations, lest Solomon and his troops crush you violently, while they perceive not. And Solomon smiled, afterwards laughing at her saying, which he heard from the distance of three miles, the wind conveying it to him: so he withheld his forces when he came in sight of their valley, until the ants had entered their dwellings: and his troops were on horses and on foot in this expedition. And he said, O my Lord, inspire me to be thankful for Thy favour which Thou hast bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and to do righteousness which Thou shalt approve, and admit me, in Thy mercy, among Thy servants, the righteous, the prophets and the saints.
And he examined the birds,[316] that he might see the lapwing, that saw the water beneath the earth, and directed to it by pecking the earth, whereupon the devils used to draw it forth when Solomon wanted it [to perform the ablution] for prayer; but he saw it not: and he said, Wherefore do I not see the lapwing? Is it [one] of the absent?—And when he was certain of the case he said, I will assuredly punish it with a severe punishment, by plucking out its feathers and its tail and casting it in the sun so that it shall not be able to guard against excessive thirst; or I will slaughter it; or it shall bring me a manifest convincing proof showing its excuse.—And it tarried not long before it presented itself unto Solomon submissively, and raised its head and relaxed its tail and its wings: so he forgave it; and he asked it what it had met with during its absence; and it said, I have become acquainted with that wherewith thou hast not become acquainted, and I have come unto thee from Seba (a tribe of El-Yemen) with a sure piece of news. I found a woman reigning over them, named Bilḳees, and she hath been gifted with everything that princes require, and hath a magnificent throne. (Its length was eighty cubits; and its breadth, forty cubits; and its height, thirty cubits: it was composed of gold and silver set with fine pearls and with rubies and chrysolites, and its legs were of rubies and chrysolites and emeralds: upon it [were closed] seven doors: to each chamber [through which one passed to it was] a closed door.) I found her and her people worshipping the sun instead of God, and the devil hath made their works to seem comely unto them, so that he hath hindered them from the right way, wherefore they are not rightly directed to the worship of God, who produceth what is hidden (namely the rain and vegetables) in the heavens and the earth, and knoweth what they [that is, mankind and others] conceal in their hearts, and what they reveal with their tongues. God: there is no deity but He, the Lord of the magnificent throne, between which and the throne of Bilḳees is a vast difference.
Solomon said to the lapwing, We will see whether thou hast spoken truth or whether thou art of the liars. Then the lapwing guided them to the water, and it was drawn forth [by the devils]; and they quenched their thirst and performed the ablution and prayed. Then Solomon wrote a letter, the form whereof was this:—From the servant of God, Solomon the son of David, to Bilḳees the queen of Seba. In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Peace be on whomsoever followeth the right direction. After [this salutation, I say], Act ye not proudly towards me; but come unto me submitting.—He then sealed it with musk, and stamped it with his signet, and said unto the lapwing, Go with this my letter and throw it down unto them (namely Bilḳees and her people): then turn away from them, but stay near them, and see what reply they will return. So the lapwing took it, and came unto her, and around her were her forces; and he threw it down into her lap; and when she saw it, she trembled with fear. Then she considered what was in it, and she said unto the nobles of her people, O nobles, an honourable (sealed) letter hath been thrown down unto me. It is from Solomon; and it is this:—In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Act ye not proudly towards me: but come unto me submitting.—She said, O nobles, advise me in mine affair. I will not decide upon a thing unless ye bear me witness.—They replied, We are endowed with strength and endowed with great valour; but the command [belongeth] to thee; therefore see what thou wilt command us to do, and we will obey thee. She said, Verily kings, when they enter a city, waste it, and render the mighty of its inhabitants abject; and thus will they do who have sent the letter. But I will send unto them with a gift, and I will see with what the messengers will return, whether the gift will be accepted, or whether it will be rejected. If he be [merely] a king, he will accept it; and if he be a prophet, he will not accept it.—And she sent male and female servants, a thousand in equal numbers [five hundred of each sex], and five hundred bricks of gold, and a crown set with jewels, and musk and ambergris and other things, by a messenger with a letter.[317] And the lapwing hastened unto Solomon, to tell him the news; on hearing which, he commanded that bricks of gold and silver should be cast, and that a horse-course should be extended to the length of nine leagues from the place where he was, and that they should build around it a wall with battlements, of gold and silver, and that the handsomest of the beasts of the land and of the sea should be brought with the sons of the jinn on the right side of the horse-course and on its left.
And when the messenger came with the gift, and with him his attendants, unto Solomon, he [Solomon] said, Do ye aid me with wealth? But what God hath given me (namely the gift of prophecy and the kingdom) is better than what He hath given you, of worldly goods; yet ye rejoice in your gift, because ye glory in the showy things of this world. Return unto them with the gift that thou hast brought; for we will surely come unto them with forces with which they have not power [to contend], and we will surely drive them out from it, (that is, from their country, Seba, which was named after the father of their tribe,) abject and contemptible, if they come not unto us submitting. And when the messenger returned unto her with the gift, she placed her throne within seven doors, within her palace, and her palace was within seven palaces; and she closed the doors, and set guards to them, and prepared to go unto Solomon, that she might see what he would command her to do. She departed with twelve thousand kings, each king having with him many thousands, and proceeded until she came as near to him as a league’s distance; when he knew of her [approach,] he said, O nobles, which of you will bring unto me her throne before they come unto me submitting? An ´efreet, of the jinn, answered, I will bring it unto thee before thou shalt arise from thy place wherein thou sittest to judge from morning until mid-day; for I am able to do it, [and] trustworthy with respect to the jewels that it compriseth and other matters. Solomon said, I desire it more speedily. [And thereupon] he with whom was knowledge of the revealed scripture (namely [his Wezeer] Áṣaf the son of Barkhiya, who was a just person, acquainted with the most great name of God, which ensured an answer to him who invoked thereby[318]) said, I will bring it unto thee before thy glance can be withdrawn from any object. And he said unto him, Look at the sky. So he looked at it; then he withdrew his glance, and found it placed before him: for during his look towards the sky, Áṣaf prayed, by the most great name, that God would bring it; and it so happened, the throne passing under the ground until it came up before the throne of Solomon. And when he saw it firmly placed before him, he said, This is of the favour of my Lord, that He may try me, whether I shall be thankful or whether I shall be unthankful. And he who is thankful is thankful for the sake of his own soul, which will have the reward of his thankfulness; and [as to] him who is ungrateful, my Lord is independent [and] bountiful.
[Then Solomon] said, Alter ye her throne so that it may not be known by her, that we may see whether she be rightly directed to the knowledge thereof, or whether she be of those who are not rightly directed to the knowledge of that which is altered. He desired thereby to try her intelligence. So they altered it, by adding to it, or taking from it, or in some other manner. And when she came, it was said unto her, Is thy throne like this? She answered, As though it were the same. (She answered them ambiguously like as they had questioned her ambiguously, not saying, Is this thy throne?—and had they so said, she had answered, Yes.) And when Solomon saw her knowledge, he said, And we have had knowledge bestowed on us before her, and have been Muslims. But what she worshipped instead of God hindered her from worshipping Him; for she was of an unbelieving people.—It was said unto her also, Enter the palace. It had a floor of white, transparent glass, beneath which was running water, wherein were fish. Solomon had made it on its being said unto him that her legs and feet were [hairy] like the legs of an ass. And when she saw it, she imagined it to be a great water, and she uncovered her legs, that she might wade through it; and Solomon was on his throne at the upper end of the palace, and he saw that her legs and her feet were handsome. He said unto her, Verily it is a palace evenly spread with glass. And he invited her to embrace El-Islám, [whereupon] she said, O my Lord, verily I have acted unjustly towards mine own soul, by worshipping another than Thee, and I resign myself, with Solomon, unto God, the Lord of the worlds. And he desired to marry her; but he disliked the hair upon her legs; so the devils made for him the depilatory of quick-lime, wherewith she removed the hair, and he married her; and he loved her, and confirmed her in her kingdom. He used to visit her every month once, and to remain with her three days; and her reign expired on the expiration of the reign of Solomon. It is related that he began to reign when he was thirteen years of age, and died at the age of three and fifty years. Extolled be the perfection of Him to the duration of whose dominion there is no end!
(xxvii. 15-45.)
We subjected unto Solomon the wind, which travelled in the morning (unto the period when the sun began to decline) the distance of a month’s journey, and in the evening from the commencement of the declining of the sun into its setting a month’s journey. And We made the fountain of molten brass to flow for him three days with their nights [in every month], as water floweth;[319] and the people worked until the day [of its flowing], with that which had been given into Solomon. And of the jinn [were] those who worked in his presence, by the will of his Lord; and such of them as swerved from obedience to Our command We will cause to taste of the punishment of hell in the world to come (or, as it is said by some, We cause to taste of its punishment in the present world, an angel beating them with a scourge from hell, the stripe of which burneth them). They made for him whatever he pleased, of lofty halls (with steps whereby to ascend to them), and images (for they were not forbidden by his law[320]), and large dishes, like great tanks for watering camels, around each of which assembled a thousand men, eating from it, and cooking-pots standing firmly on their legs, cut out from the mountains in El-Yemen, and to which they ascended by ladders. And We said, Work, O family of David, in the service of God, with thanksgiving unto Him for what He hath given you:—but few of My servants are the thankful. And when We decreed that he (namely, Solomon) should die, and he died, and remained standing, and leaning upon his staff for a year, dead, the jinn meanwhile performing those difficult works as they were accustomed to do, not knowing of his death, until the worm ate his staff, whereupon he fell down, nothing showed them his death but the eating reptile (the worm) that ate his staff.[321] And when he fell down, the jinn plainly perceived that if they had known things unseen (of which things was the death of Solomon), they had not continued in the ignominious affliction (that is, in their difficult works), imagining that he was alive, inconsistently with their opinion that they knew things unseen. And that the period was a year was known by calculating what the worm had eaten of his staff since his death in each day and night or other space of time. (xxxiv. 11-13.)
JONAH.
Verily Jonah [Yoonus] was one of the apostles. [Remember] when he fled unto the laden ship, being angry with his people, because the punishment wherewith he had threatened them did not fall upon them; wherefore he embarked in the ship; and it became stationary in the midst of the sea: so the sailors said, Here is a slave who hath fled from his master, and the lot will discover him:—and he cast lots with those who were in the ship, and he was [the] one upon whom the lot fell. They therefore cast him into the sea, and the fish swallowed him; and he was reprehensible, for having gone to the sea, and embarked in the ship, without the permission of his Lord. And had he not been of those who glorified God (by his saying often in the belly of the fish, There is no god but Thou! I extol Thy perfection! Verily I have been of the offenders!), he had remained in his belly until the day of resurrection.[322] And We cast him on the plain land, the same day, or after three or seven days, or twenty or forty days; and he was sick; and We caused a gourd plant[323] to grow up over him, to shade him. It had a trunk, contrary to what is the case of gourds in general, being miraculously produced for him.[324] And a wild she-goat came to him evening and morning, of whose milk he drank until he became strong. And We sent him after that, as before, unto his people in Nineveh, in the land of El-Moṣil, a hundred thousand, or they were a greater number by twenty or thirty or seventy thousand; and they believed on beholding the punishment wherewith they had been threatened;[325] wherefore We allowed them enjoyment of their goods for a time, until the expiration of their terms of life. (xxxvii. 139-148.)
EZRA.
[Hast thou not considered] him who passed by a city (which was Jerusalem), riding upon an ass, and having with him a basket of figs and a vessel of the juice of grapes (and he was ´Ozeyr [Ezra]), and it was falling down upon its roofs, Nebuchadnezzar having ruined it? He said, wondering at the power of God, How will God quicken this after its death?—And God caused him to die for a hundred years. Then He raised him to life: [and] He said unto him, How long hast thou tarried here?—He answered I have tarried a day, or part of a day.—For he slept in the first part of the day, and was deprived of his life, and was reanimated at sunset. He said Nay, thou hast tarried a hundred years: but look at thy food and thy drink: they have not become changed by time: and look at thine ass.—And he beheld it dead, and its bones white and shining.—We have done this that thou mayest know, and that We may make thee a sign of the resurrection unto men. And look at the bones of thine ass, how We will raise them; then We will clothe them with flesh.—So he looked at them, and they had become put together, and were clothed with flesh, and life was breathed into it, and it brayed. Therefore when it had been made manifest to him he said, I know that God is able to accomplish everything. (ii. 261.)
THE MESSIAH.
Remember when the wife of ´Imrán[326] said, (when she had become aged, and desired offspring, wherefore she supplicated God, and became sensible of pregnancy,) O my Lord, verily I devote unto Thee what is in my womb, to be dedicated to the service of Thy holy house: then accept [it] from me; for Thou art the Hearer of prayer, the Knower of intentions. And ´Imrán perished while she was pregnant. And when she gave birth to it, (namely her daughter; and she was hoping that it might be a boy; since none but boys were dedicated,) she said, O my Lord, verily I have brought forth a female, (and God well knew what she had brought forth,) and the male is not as the female, the latter not being fit for the service [of the temple]; and I have named her Mary [Maryam]; and I beg thy protection for her and her offspring from the accursed devil.[327] (In the traditions [it is said], No child is born but the devil hath touched it at the time of its birth, wherefore it first raiseth its voice by crying, excepting Mary and her son.[328]) And her Lord accepted her (that is, He accepted Mary from her mother) with a gracious acceptance, and caused her to grow with an excellent growth, as though she grew in a day as a child [generally] groweth in a month. Her mother took her to the doctors, the keepers of the Holy House, and said, Receive ye this devoted child. And they eagerly desired her, because she was the daughter of their chief. But Zechariah said, I am more worthy of having her; for her maternal aunt is with me. They however replied, Nay, but we will cast lots.—So they departed (and they were nine and twenty) to the river Jordan, and cast their divining arrows on the understanding that he whose arrow should become steady in the water and rise should be [acknowledged] most worthy of her; and the arrow of Zechariah became steady, and he took her, and built for her a chamber in the temple, with stairs to which no one ascended but himself. And he used to bring her her food and her drink and her ointment; and used to find with her the fruits of winter in summer, and the fruits of summer in winter, as He—whose name be exalted!—hath said, And Zechariah maintained her. Whenever Zechariah went in to her in the chamber, he found with her provisions. He said, O Mary, whence came to thee this? She answered, (being then a little child,) It is from God: He bringeth it to me from Paradise: for God supplieth whom He pleaseth without reckoning.
Then, when he saw this, and knew that He who was able to produce a thing out of its season was able to give a child in old age, (and the people of his house had become extinct,) Zechariah supplicated his Lord, when he had entered the chamber to pray in the latter part of the night. He said, O my Lord, give me from Thee a good offspring (a righteous son); for Thou art the Hearer of prayer.—And the angels (by which is meant Gabriel) called to him as he stood praying in the chamber (that is, the temple), saying, God promiseth thee John [Yaḥyá], who shall be a verifier of [the] Word which cometh from God, (that is, Jesus [´Eesa]; for he is the Spirit of God, and was named [the] Word because he was created by the word Be,) and a chief, (or one followed,) and chaste, and a prophet, of the righteous. (It is related that he neither did any sin nor intended any.)—He said, O my Lord, how shall I have a son, when old age hath come upon me, when I have attained the utmost age, a hundred and twenty years, and my wife is barren, and hath attained the age of eight and ninety?—He answered, It shall be thus. God will do what He pleaseth.—He said, O my Lord, give me a sign.—He replied, Thy sign [shall be] that thou shalt not speak unto men for three days, except by signal; but remember thy Lord often, and glorify [Him] in the evening and in the morning. (iii. 31-36.)
And he went forth unto his people from the chamber, and made a sign unto them, [as though he would say] Glorify [God] in the morning and in the evening as usual. And he knew by his being prevented from speaking unto them that his wife had conceived John. And after his birth, by some years, God said unto him, O John, receive the book (that is, the Law) with resolution. And We bestowed on him wisdom (the gift of prophecy) [when he was yet] a child, three years of age, and compassion from Us for mankind, and upon them. And he was pious, and dutiful to his parents, and was not proud [nor] rebellious toward his Lord; and peace from Us [was] on him on the day when he was born, and on the day of his death, and [shall be] on the day when he shall be raised to life. (xix. 12-15.)
And remember when the angels (that is, Gabriel) said, O Mary, verily God hath chosen thee and hath purified thee and hath chosen thee above the women of the peoples of thy time. O Mary, be devout towards thy Lord and prostrate thyself and bow down with those who bow down: pray with those who pray.—This is [one] of the announcements of things unseen by thee: We reveal it unto thee, O Moḥammad; for thou wast not with them when they cast their divining arrows that it might appear to them which of them should rear Mary, and thou wast not with them when they disputed together as to rearing her.—Remember when the angels (that is, Gabriel) said, O Mary, verily God promiseth thee [the] Word from Him, whose name [shall be] the Messiah [El-Meseeḥ], Jesus the son of Mary, honourable in this world by his prophetic office, and in the world to come by his intercession and high stations, and of those admitted near unto God; and he shall speak unto men in the cradle, and when of full age,[329] and [he shall be] of the righteous.—She said, O my Lord, how shall I have a son, when a man hath not touched me?—He answered, It shall be thus; God will create what He pleaseth: when He determineth a thing, He only saith unto it, Be,—and it is. And He will teach him writing and wisdom and the Law and the Gospel, and constitute him an apostle to the children of Israel, in youth or after adolescence. And Gabriel breathed into the bosom of her shift; whereupon she conceived; and those events of her history which are related in the Soorat Maryam [Ḳur. xix.] happened. (iii. 37-43.)
Relate in the book (that is, the Ḳur-án) the history of Mary, when she retired from her family to a place towards the east, in the house, and she took a veil [to conceal herself] from them; and We sent unto her our spirit Gabriel, and he appeared unto her as a perfect man. She said, I beg the Compassionate to preserve me from thee! If thou be a pious person, thou wilt withdraw from me.—He replied, I am only the messenger of thy Lord [to inform thee] that He will give thee a pure son, endowed with the gift of prophecy. She said, How shall I have a son, when a man hath not touched me, and I am not a harlot? He answered, Thus shall it be: a son shall be created unto thee without a father. Thy Lord saith, This is easy unto Me; and thus shall it be that We may make him a sign unto men, showing Our power, and a mercy from Us unto him who shall believe in him: for it is a thing decreed.—And she conceived him; and she retired with him [yet unborn] to a distant place far from her family; and the pains of childbirth urged her to repair to the trunk of a palm-tree that she might lean against it. And she gave birth to the child, which was conceived and formed and born in an hour.[330] She said, Oh! would that I had died before this event, and had been a thing forgotten [and] unnoticed!—But he who was below her (namely Gabriel, who was on a lower place than she) called to her, Grieve not. God hath made below thee a rivulet: and shake thou towards thee the trunk of the palm-tree (which was dried-up); it shall let fall upon thee ripe dates, fresh-gathered: therefore eat of the dates, and drink of the water of the rivulet, and be of cheerful eye on account of the child: and if thou see any one of mankind, asking thee concerning the child, say, I have vowed unto the Compassionate an abstinence from speech with mankind respecting him and other matters; therefore I will not speak to-day unto a man after this.
And she brought him [namely the child] unto her people, carrying him. They said, O Mary, thou hast done a strange thing. O sister of Aaron, (he was a righteous man; and the meaning is, O thou who art like him in chastity,[331]) thy father was not a man of wickedness, nor was thy mother a harlot. Then whence gottest thou this child?—And she made a sign to them, [pointing] towards him, [namely the child, as though she would say,] Speak ye unto him. They said, How shall we speak unto him who is in the cradle, an infant? He [however] said, Verily I am the servant of God:[332] He hath given me the book of the Gospel, and hath appointed me a prophet; and He hath made me blessed wherever I shall be, and hath commanded me to observe prayer and give alms as long as I shall live, and hath made me dutiful to my mother, and hath not made me proud [nor] wicked. And peace from God [was] on me on the day when I was born, and [will be] on the day when I shall die, and on the day when I shall be raised to life.—This [was] Jesus the son of Mary. I have spoken the saying of truth, concerning which they (namely the Christians) doubt, saying that Jesus is the son of God. It is not [meet] for God to get a son. Extolled be His purity from that [imputation]! When He decreeth a thing that He desireth to bring into existence, He only saith unto it, Be,—and it is: and thus He created Jesus the son of Mary without a father.—And say, Verily God is my Lord and your Lord: therefore worship ye Him: this is a right way, leading to Paradise. But the sects have differed among themselves; that is, the Christians have differed concerning Jesus, as to whether he be the son of God, or a deity with Him, or the third of three. And woe unto them who have disbelieved in that which hath been stated, or in other matters, on account of the assembly of a great day, the day of resurrection, and its terrors. How will they hear, and how will they see, on the day when they shall come unto Us in the world to come! But the offenders to-day (that is, in the present world) are in a manifest error: they are deaf, so that they hear not the truth; and blind, so that they see it not. And do thou, O Moḥammad, warn them (namely the unbelievers of Mekkeh) of the day of sighing (the day of resurrection, when the evil-doer shall sigh for his having neglected to do good in the present world), when the command for their punishment shall be fulfilled, while they (in the present world) are in a state of heedlessness with respect to it, and while they believe not therein. Verily We shall inherit the earth and whomsoever are upon it (the heedless and others; they being destroyed); and unto Us shall they be brought back to be recompensed. (xix. 16-41.)
And when God sent him [Jesus] to the children of Israel, he said unto them, Verily I am the apostle of God unto you; for I have come unto you with a sign from your Lord; for I will make for you of earth the similitude of a bird, and will breathe into it, and it shall be a bird,[333] by the permission (or will) of God;[334] (and he made for them a bat; for it is the most perfect of birds in make; and it flew, while they looked at it; but when it had gone out of their sight, it fell down dead;) and I will cure the blind from his birth, and the leper; (and he cured in one day fifty thousand, by prayer, on the condition of faith;) and I will raise to life the dead, by the permission of God; (this he repeated to deny his divinity: and he raised to life ´Áriz [Lazarus] a friend of his; and a son of the old woman, and the daughter of the publican; and they lived, and children were born to them; and Shem the son of Noah, who died immediately;) and I will tell you what ye eat and what ye store up in your houses. Verily therein will be a sign unto you, if ye be believers. And I have come unto you as a verifier of that which was before me, of the Law, and to make lawful unto you part of what was made unlawful to you therein; (and he made lawful to them, of fish and fowls, whatsoever is without fin or spur; and it is said that he made lawful all, and that ‘part’ is used in the sense of ‘the whole:’) and I have come unto you with a sign from your Lord; therefore fear ye God, and obey me in that which I command you, as to the confession of the unity of God and the service of Him. Verily God is my Lord and your Lord; therefore worship Him. This is [the] right way. But they accused him of falsehood and believed not in him. And when Jesus perceived their unbelief, he said, Who [will be] my helpers for God? The apostles[335] answered, We [will be] the helpers of God. We have believed in God; and bear thou witness, O Jesus, that we are Muslims [or resigned]. O our Lord, we have believed in that which Thou hast sent down of the Gospel, and we have followed the Apostle, Jesus; therefore write us down among those who bear witness of Thy unity and of the truth of Thine apostle.—And they (that is, the unbelievers among the children of Israel) devised a stratagem against Jesus, to slay him treacherously; but God devised a stratagem against them; for He put the likeness of Jesus upon one who intended his slaughter, and they slew him; and Jesus was taken up [into heaven],[336] and God is the best of those who devise stratagems.... It is related that God sent a cloud to Jesus, and it took him up; but his mother clung unto him and wept: whereupon he said unto her, Verily the resurrection will unite us.—It is also related that he will descend shortly before the resurrection and judge according to the law of our prophet [Moḥammad], slay Antichrist and the swine, break the cross, and impose the capitation-tax [on unbelievers].—Also, that he will remain, according to one tradition, seven years; according to another, forty years; and die, and be prayed over: but it is probable that [by the latter period] is meant the whole time of his tarrying upon the earth, before the ascension and after. (iii. 43—47.)
Remember when the apostle said, O Jesus, son of Mary, is thy Lord able to cause a table to descend unto us from heaven?[337] He replied, Fear God, in demanding signs, if ye be believers. They said, We desire that we may eat therefrom, and that our hearts may be at ease in consequence of additional evidence, and we may know, with increased knowledge, that thou hast spoken truth unto us in asserting thyself to be a prophet, and may be witnesses thereof.—Jesus the son of Mary said, O God, our Lord, cause a table to descend unto us from heaven, that it (namely the day of its descent) may be unto us a festival,[338] unto the first of us and the last of us (or those who shall come after us), and a sign from Thee of Thy power, and of my prophetic office; and provide us with food thereby; for Thou art the best of providers.—God said, in reply to him, Verily I will cause it to descend unto you; but whosoever of you shall disbelieve after its descent, I will surely punish him with a punishment wherewith I will not punish any [other] of the peoples.—And the angels descended with it from heaven: upon it were seven cakes of bread and seven fishes; and they ate of them until they were satisfied. And in a tradition related by Ibn-´Abbás it is said that the table brought down from heaven bread and flesh, and they were commanded not to act deceitfully, nor to store up for the morrow; but they [that is, some of the people] did so, and were transformed into apes and swine. (v. 112-115.)
Propound unto them, as an example, the inhabitants of the city of Antioch, when the apostles of Jesus came unto it;[339] when We sent unto them two,[340] and they charged them with falsehood; wherefore We strengthened them with a third;[341] and they said, Verily we are sent unto you. They replied, Ye are not [aught] save men like us, and the Compassionate hath not revealed anything: ye do nothing but lie. They said, Our Lord knoweth that we are indeed sent unto you; and naught is imposed on us but the delivering of a plain message, shown to be true by manifest proofs, namely the cure of him who hath been born blind and of the leper and the sick, and the raising of the dead. [The people of Antioch] said, Verily we presage evil from you; for the rain is withheld from us on your account: if ye desist not, we will assuredly stone you, and a painful punishment shall surely betide you from us. [The apostles] replied, Your evil luck is with you because of your unbelief. If ye have been warned, will ye presage evil and disbelieve? Nay, ye are an exorbitant people.—And there came from the furthest part of the city a man (namely Ḥabeeb the carpenter, who had believed in the apostles) running: he said, O my people, follow the apostles: follow those who ask not of you a recompense, and who are rightly directed. And it was said unto him, Art thou of their religion? He replied, And why should I not worship Him who hath created me, and unto whom ye shall be brought back after death? Shall I take deities beside Him? If the Compassionate be pleased to afflict me, their intercession will not avert from me aught, nor will they deliver. Verily, in that case (if I worshipped aught but God), I should be in a manifest error. Verily I believe in your Lord; therefore hear ye me.—But they stoned him, and he died;[342] and it was said unto him at his death, Enter thou into Paradise. And it is said that he entered it alive. He said, O would that my people knew my Lord’s forgiveness of me and His having made me [one] of those who are honoured?—And We sent not down against his people after him (that is, after his death) an army of angels from heaven to destroy them, nor were We sending down angels to destroy any one. It (namely their punishment) was naught but one cry which Gabriel uttered against them; and lo, they were extinct. (xxxvi. 12-28.)
We have cursed the Jews ... for their disbelief in Jesus and their uttering against Mary a great calumny and their saying, We have killed the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, the apostle of God,—Yet they killed him not nor crucified him; but one (namely the person whom they crucified) was made to appear to them like Jesus; and verily those who disagreed respecting him were in doubt concerning him, or his slaughter; for some of them said, when they saw the slain person, The face is the face of Jesus; but the body is not his body:—and others said, It is he:[343]—they had no knowledge of him; but only followed an opinion. And they did not really kill him; but God took him up unto Himself; and God is mighty [and] wise. And there is not of the people of the Scripture one but he shall assuredly believe in him (namely Jesus) before his death; that is, before his own death, or before the death of Jesus, when he descendeth shortly before the resurrection;[344] and on the day of resurrection he (namely Jesus) shall be a witness against them (iv. 155-157.)
When God shall say, on the day of resurrection, O Jesus, son of Mary, hast thou said unto men, Take me and my mother as two deities, beside God?—Jesus shall answer, after being agitated (or after it shall have thundered), Extolled be Thy purity from the imputation of aught that is unsuitable to Thee, as the having a partner, and other things! It is not for me to say that which is not right for me. Had I said it, Thou hadst known it. Thou knowest what is in me; but I know not what is in Thee; for Thou well-knowest things unseen. I said not unto them aught but that which Thou commandedst me; namely Worship ye God, my Lord and your Lord;—and I was a watcher over them, commanding them to abstain from what they said, while I remained among them: but since Thou hast taken me to Thyself,[345] Thou hast been the watcher over them, and Thou art the witness of all things. If Thou punish them, (that is, such of them as have continued in unbelief,) they are Thy servants and Thou mayest do with them as Thou pleasest; and if Thou forgive them, (that is, such of them as have believed,) Thou art the Mighty, the Wise. (v. 116-118.)
When the son of Mary was proposed as an instance (when the saying of God was revealed, Verily ye and what ye worship beside God [shall be] fuel of hell [Kur. xxi. 98], and the polytheists said, We are content for our gods to be with Jesus, for he hath been worshipped beside God,[346]) lo, thy people, the polytheists, cried out in joy thereat, and they said, [Are] our gods better, or [is] he? We are content for our gods to be with him.—They proposed not it (namely the instance) unto thee otherwise than as a cause of dispute (knowing that the word ‘what’ applieth to that which is not endowed with reason; so that it doth not reflect upon Jesus, on whom be peace!): yea, they are a contentious people. He (namely Jesus) is no other than a servant whom We favoured with the gift of prophecy; and We proposed him, by reason of his having come into existence without a father, as an instance of the divine power unto the children of Israel. And if We pleased, We would substitute for you angels to succeed in the earth.[347] And verily he (namely Jesus) shall be a sign of the [last] hour:[348] it shall be known by his descending: wherefore doubt not thereof.—And say unto them, Follow ye me in confessing the unity of God: this, which I command you to follow, is a right way. And let not the devil turn you away from the religion of God; for he is unto you a manifest enemy.—And when Jesus came with manifest proofs (with miracles and ordinances), he said, I have come unto you with wisdom (with prophecy and with the ordinances of the Gospel), and to explain unto you part of [the things] concerning which ye disagree: therefore fear ye God, and obey me. Verily God is my Lord and your Lord; wherefore worship ye Him: this is a right way.—But the parties disagreed among themselves respecting Jesus, whether he were God, or the son of God, or the third of three: and woe unto them that transgressed in that which they said respecting Jesus, because of the punishment of an afflicting day! (xliii. 57-65.)
Verily the similitude of Jesus in the sight of God is as the similitude of Adam. He created him (Adam) of earth: then He said unto him, Be,—and he was. In like manner he said unto Jesus, Be, without a father,—and he was. This is the truth from thy Lord: therefore be not thou of those who doubt. And whosoever of the Christians argueth with thee respecting him, after the knowledge that hath come unto thee concerning him, say, Come ye, let us call our sons and your sons and our wives and your wives, and ourselves and yourselves will assemble: then we will invoke, and will lay the curse of God on those who lie, saying, O God, curse the liar respecting the nature of Jesus!—And the prophet invited a company from Nejrán to do so, when they had argued with him respecting Jesus; and they said, [Wait] until we consider our case: then we will come unto thee. And their counsellor said, Ye know his prophetic office, and that no people have execrated a prophet but they have perished. They however quieted the man, and departed, and came unto the prophet. And he had come forth, having with him El-Ḥasan and El-Ḥoseyn and Fáṭimeh and ´Alee; and he said unto them, When I pray, say ye Amen. But they refused to execrate, and made peace with him on the condition of their paying tribute.—Verily this is indeed the true history, and there is no deity but God, and verily God is indeed the Mighty, the Wise. (iii. 52-55.)
O people of the Scripture (that is, of the Gospel), exceed not the just bounds in your religion,[349] nor say of God [aught] but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, [was] only the apostle of God, and His Word, which he transmitted unto Mary, and a spirit (that is, a being possessing a spirit) from Him. (He is mentioned in conjunction with God, in order to show him honour, and is not, as ye assert, the son of God, or a God with Him, or the third of three; for the being possessing a spirit is compound, and the Deity must be confessed to be pure from the imputation of composition and the relationship of a compound being to Him.) Therefore believe in God and His apostles, and say not, There are three gods, God and Jesus and his mother.[350] Abstain from this, and say what will be better for you; that is, assert the unity of God. God is only one god. Extolled be His purity from the imputation of His having a son! To Him belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth: and God is a sufficient witness thereof. The Messiah doth not disdain to be a servant unto God, nor do the angels who are admitted near unto Him. (iv. 169, 170.)