Selections from the Kur-an

by Unknown

(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.)