And praise be to God the Lord of the worlds.
_______________________
1 I have given in the text the sense of these first two verses according to the Muhammadan commentators. The original, literally translated, viz. By the ranks which rank themselves, and by the repellers who repel, would not convey an intelligible idea to the English reader. Mar. renders, Per ordinantes ordinando et agitantes agitando.
2 Ar. Easts. Errat in pluralitate mundorum. Mar. But the allusion probably is to the different points of the horizon at which the sun rises and sets in the course of the year.
3 See Sura [lvii.] xv. 18.
4 Or, comrades, i.e. the demons.
5 Lit. on the right hand, the side of good omen i.e. with semblance of truth.
6 See Sura [lx.] xxxvi. 6.
7 The ostrich egg carefully protected from dust.
8 Lit. and are we not among the punished?