and taking with them the customary offerings, a company of fourteen hundred men journeyed to Mecca. As they drew near the holy valley they were met by a friend from the city, who warned the Prophet that Qureysh had put on their leopard-skins (the badge of valour) and had sworn to prevent his entering the sanctuary; their cavalry was on the road before him. On that, the Prophet ordered a detour through mountain gorges and the Muslims were wred out when they came down at last into the valley of Mecca and encamped at a spot called Al-Hudeybiyah; from thence he tried to open negotiations with Qureysh, explaining that he came only as a pilgrim. The first Hudiy- messenger he sent towards the city was maltreated and his camel hamstrung. He returned without delivering his message. Qureysh on their side sent an envoy who was threatening in tone, and very arrogant. Another of their envoys was too familiar and had to be reminded sternly of the respect due to the Prophet. It was he who, on his return to the city, said; “I have seen Caesar and Chosroes in their pomp, but never have I seen a man honoured as Muhammad is honoured by his comrades.”
The Prophet sought some messenger who would impose respect. Othm^n was finally chosen because of his kinship with the powerful Umayyad family. While the Muslims were awaiting his return the news came that he had been murdered. It was then that the Prophet, sitting under a tree' in Al-Hudeybiyah, took an oath from all his comrades that they would stand or fall together. After a while, however, it became known that OthmSn had not been murdered. A troop which came out from the city to molest the Muslims in their camp were captured before they could do any hurt' and brought before the Prophet, who forgave them on their promise to renounce hostility. Then proper envoys came from Qureysh. After some negotiation, the truce of Al-Hudeybiyah was signed. For ten years there jj-uce of were to be no hostilities between the parties. The Prophet was to Al- return to Al-Madmah without visiting the Ka'bah, but in the follow- Hudey- ing year he might perform the pilgrimage with his comrades, Qureysh promising to evacuate Mecca for three days to allow of his doing so. Deserters from Qureysh to the Muslims during the period of the truce were to be returned; not so deserters from the Muslims to Qureysh. Any tribe or clan who wished to share in the treaty as ' XLVIII, 18. » XLVIll, 24.
The campaign of Kheybar Pilgrimage to Mecca 14 THE GLORIOUS KORAN allies of the Prophet might do so, and any tribe or clan who wished to share in the treaty as allies of Qureysh might do so. There was dismay among the Muslims at these terms. They asked one another: “Where is the victory that we were promised?’’ It was during the return journey from Al-Hudeybiyah that the surah entitled "Victory”' was revealed. This truce proved, in fact, to be the greatest victory that the Muslims had till then achieved. War had been a barrier between them and the idolaters, but now both parties met and talked together, and the new religion spread more rapidly. In the two years which elapsed between the signing of the truce and the fall of Mecca the number of converts was greater than the total number of all previous converts. The Prophet travelled to Al- Hudeybiyah with 1400 men. Two years later, when the Meccans broke the truce, he marched against them with an army of 10,000.
In the seventh year of the Hijrah the Prophet led a campaign against Kheybar, the stronghold of die Jewish tribes in North Arabia, which had become a hornets’ nest of his enemies. The forts of Kheybar were reduced one by one, and the Jews of Kheybar became thenceforth tenants of the Muslims until the expulsion of the Jews from Arabia in the Caliphate of Omar. On the day when the last fort surrendered Ja'far son of Abii Talib, the Prophet’s first cousin, arrived with all who remained of the Muslims who had fled to Abyssinia to escape from persecution in the early days. They had been absent from Arabia fifteen years. It was at Kheybar that a Jewess prepared for the Prophet poisoned meat, of which he only tasted a morsel without swallowing it, then warned his comrades that it was poisoned. One Muslim, who had already swallowed a mouthful, died immediately, and the Prophet himself, from the mere taste of it, derived the illness which eventually caused his death. The woman who had cooked the meat was brought before him. When she said that she had done it on account of the humiliation of her people, he forgave her.
In the same year the Prophet’s vision was fulfilled: he visited the holy place at Mecca unopposed. In accordance with the terms of the truce the idolaters evacuated the city, and from the surrounding heights watched the procedure of the Muslims. At the end of the stipulated three days the chiefs of Qureysh sent to remind the Prophet I XLVIII.
INTRODUCTION 15 that the time was up. He then withdrew, and the idolaters reoccupied the city.
In the eighth year of the Hijrah, hearing that the Byzantine emperor was gathering a force in Syria for the destruction of Al- IsMm, the Prophet sent three thousand men to Syria under the com- Mu'tah mand of his freedman Zeyd. The campaign was unsuccessful except expedt- that it impressed the Syrians with a notion of the reckless valour of the Muslims. The three thousand did not hesitate to join battle with a hundred thousand. When all the three leaders appointed by the Prophet had been killed, the survivors obeyed Kh^lid ibn al-Walid, who, by his strategy and courage, managed to preserve a remnant and return with them to Al-Madinah.
In the same year Qureysh broke the truce by attacking a tribe that Truce was in alliance with the Prophet and massacring them even in the broken by sanctuary at Mecca. Afterwards they were afraid because of what Q“reysh they had done. They sent Abu SufySn to Al-Madinah to ask for the existing treaty to be renewed and its term prolonged. They hoped that he would arrive before the tidings of the massacre. But a messenger from the injured tribe had been before him, and his embassy was fruitless.
Then the Prophet summoned all the Muslims capable of bearing Conquest arms and marched to Mecca. Qureysh were overawed. Their cavalry Mecca put up a show of defence before the town, but were routed without bloodshed; and the Prophet entered his native city as conqueror. The inhabitants expected vengeance for their past misdeeds. The Prophet proclaimed a general amnesty. Only a few known criminals were proscribed, and most of those were in the end forgiven. In their relief and surprise, the whole population of Mecca hastened to swear allegiance. The Prophet caused all the idols which were in the sanctuary to be destroyed, saying; "Truth hath come; darkness hath vanished away;’’^ and the Muslim call to prayer was heard in Mecca.
In the same year there was an angry gathering of pagan tribes eager to regain the Ka'bah. The Prophet led twelve thousand men against them. At Huneyn, in a deep ravine, his troops were ambushed by the enemy and almost put to flight. It was with difliculty that they Battle of were rallied to the Prophet and his bodyguard of faithful comrades Huntyn who alone stood firm. But the victory, when it came, was complete Conquest of Ta’ff The Tabuk expedi¬ tion Declaration of Immunity The Year of Deputations i6 THE GLORIOUS KORAN and the booty enormous, for many of the hostile tribes had brought out with them everything that they possessed. The tribe of Thaqif were among the enemy at Huneyn. After that victory their city of Ta’if was besieged by the Muslims, and finally reduced. Then the Prophet appointed a governor of Mecca, and himself returned to Al-Madinah to the boundless joy of the Ansir, who had feared lest, now chat he had regained his native city, he might forsake them and make Mecca the capital.
In the ninth year of the Hijrah, hearing that an army was again being mustered in Syria, the Prophet called on all the Muslims to support him in a great campaign. The far distance, the hot season, the fact that it was harvest time and the prestige of the enemy caused many to excuse themselves and many more to stay behind without excuse. Those defaulters are denounced in the Koran.* But the campaign ended peacefully. The army advanced to Tabuk, on the confines of Syria, and there learnt that the enemy had not yet gathered.
Although Mecca had been conquered and its people were now Muslims, the official order of the pilgrimage had not been changed; the pagan Arabs performing it in their manner, and the Muslims in their manner. It was only after the pilgrims’ caravan had left Al- Madinah in the ninth year of the Hijrah, when Al-IslSm was dominant in North Arabia, that the Declaration of Immunityas it is called, was revealed. The Prophet sent a copy of it by messenger to Abu Bakr, leader of the pilgrimage, with the instruction that Ali was to read it to the multitudes at Mecca. Its purport was that after that year Muslims only were to make the pilgrimage, exception being made for such of the idolaters as had a treaty with the Muslims and had never broken their treaty nor supported anyone against them. Such were to enjoy the privileges of their treaty for the term thereof, but when their treaty expired they would be as other idolaters. That proclamation marks the end of idol-worship in Arabia.
The ninth year of the Hijrah is called the Year of Deputations, because from all parts of Arabia deputations came to Al-Madinah^ to swear allegiance to the Prophet and to hear the Koran. The Prophet had become, in fact, the emperor of Arabia, but his way of life remained as simple as before.
3 XLIX.
INTRODUCTION 17 The number of the campaigns which he led in person during the last ten pears of his life is twenty-seven, in nine of which there was hard fighting. The number of the expeditions which he planned and sent out under other leaders is thirty-eight. He personally controlled every detail of organisation, judged every case and was accessible to every suppliant. In those ten years he destroyed idolatry in Arabia; raised woman from the status of a chattel to complete legal equality with man; effectually stopped the drunkenness and immorality which had till then disgraced the Arabs; made men in love with faith, sincerity and honest dealing; transformed tribes who had been for centuries content with ignorance into a people with the greatest thirst for knowledge; and for the first time in history made universal human brotherhood a fact and principle of common law. And his support and guide in all that work was the Koran.
In the tenth year of the Hijrah he went to Mecca as a pilgrim for the last time—his “pilgrimage of farewell," it is called—when from The Fare- Mt. 'Arafat he preached to an enormous throng of pilgrims. He re- well Pil- minded them of all the duties Al-Isllm enjoined upon them, and that they would one day have to meet their Lord, who would judge each one of them according to his work. At the end of the discourse, he asked; “Have I not conveyed the Message?" And from that great multitude of men who a few months or years before had all been conscienceless idolaters the shout went up: “O Allah! Yes!" The Prophet said: "O Allah! Be Thou witness!"
It was during that last pilgrimage that the surah entitled “Succour"* was revealed, which he received as an announcement of approaching death. Soon after his return to Al-Madlnah he fell ill.
The tidings of his illness caused dismay throughout Arabia and illness anguish to the folk of Al-Madinah, Mecca and Ti’if, the home- and death towns. At early dawn on the last day of his earthly life he came out from his room beside the mosque at Al-Madinah and joined the ^ public prayer, which Abd Bakr had been leading since his illness.
And there was great relief among the people, who supposed him well again. When, later in the day, the rumour grew that he was dead, Omar threatened those who spread the rumour with dire punishment, declaring it a crime to think that the Messenger of God could die. He was storming at the people in that strain when Abu Bakr came • CX.
THE GLORIOUS KORAN into the mosque and overheard him. Abu Bakr went to the chamber of his daughter Ayeshah, where the Prophet lay. Having ascertained the fact, and kissed the dead man’s forehead, he went back into the mosque. The people were still listening to Omar, who was saying that the rumour was a wicked lie, that the Prophet who was all in all to them could not be dead. Abu Bakr went up to Omar and tried to stop him by a whispered word. Then, finding he would pay no heed, Abu Bakr called to the people, who, recognising his voice, left Omar and came crowding round him. He first gave praise to Allah, and then said; “O people! Lo! as for him who used to worship Muhammad, Muhammad is dead. But as for him who used to worship Allah, Allah is Alive and dieth not.” He then recited the verse of the Koran: “And Muhammad is but a messenger, messengers the like of whom have passed away before him. Will it be that, when he dieth or is slain, ye will turn back on your heels? He who turneth back doth no hurt to Allah, and Allah will reward the thankful.”* "And,” says the narrator, an eye-witness, “it was as if the people had not known that such a verse had been revealed till Abu Bakr recited it.” And another witness tells how Omar used to say: “Directly I heard Abu Bakr recite that verse my feet were cut from beneath me and I fell to the ground, for I knew that Allah’s messenger was dead. May Allah bless and keep him!”
All the surahs of the Koran had been recorded in writing before the Prophet’s death, and many Muslims had committed the whole Koran to memory. But the written surahs were dispersed among the people; and when, in a battle which took place during the Caliphate of Abu Bakr—that is to say, within two years of the Prophet’s death— a large number of those who knew the whole Koran by heart were killed, a collection of the whole Koran was made and put in writing. In the Caliphate of OthmSn, all existing copies of sfirahs were called in, and an authoritative version, based on Abu Bakr’s collection and the testimony of those who had the whole Koran by heart, was compiled exactly in the present form and order, which is regarded as traditional and as the arrangement of the Prophet himself, the Caliph Othmin and his helpers being Comrades of the Prophet and the INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION 19 most devout students of the Revelation. The Koran has thus been very carefully preserved.
The arrangement is not easy to understand. Revelations of various dates and on different subjects are to be found together in one surah; verses of Madmah revelation are found in Meccan surahs; some of the Madinah surahs, though of late revelation, are placed first and the very early Meccan surahs at the end. But the arrangement is not haphazard, as some have hastily supposed. Closer study will reveal a sequence and significance—as, for instance, with regard to the placing of the very early Meccan surahs at the end. The inspiration of the Prophet progressed from inmost things to outward things, whereas most people find their way through outward things to things within.
There is another peculiarity which is disconcerting in translation though it proceeds from one of the beauties of the original, and is unavoidable without abolishing the verse-division of great importance for reference. In the Arabic the verses are divided according to the rhythm of the language. When a certain sound which marks the rhythm recurs there is a strong pause and the verse ends naturally, although the sentence may go on to the next verse or to several subsequent verses. That is of the spirit of the Arabic language; but attempts to reproduce such rhythm in English have the opposite effect to that produced by the Arabic. Here only the division is preserved, the verses being divided as in the Koran, and numbered.
SURAH I SURAH I Al-Fatihah, “The Opening,” or Fati^atu l-Kitdb, “The Opening of the Scripture” or Ummu’l-Qurdn, “The Essence of the Koran,” as it is variously named, has been called the Lord’s Prayer of the Muslims. It is an essential part of all Muslim worship, public and private, and no solemn contract or transaction is complete unless it is recited. The date of revelation is uncertain, but the fact that it has always, from the very earliest times, formed a part of Muslim worship, there being no record or remembrance of its introduction, or of public prayer without it, makes it clear that it was revealed before the fourth year of the Prophet’s Mission (the tenth year before the Hijrah); because we know for certain that by that time regular congregational prayers were offered by the little group of Muslims in Mecca. In that year, as the result of insult and attack’ by the idolaters, the Prophet arranged for the services, which had till then been held out of doors, to take place in a private house.
This surah is also often called Saharan min al-Mathdni, “Seven of the Oft-repeated” (“verses” being understood), S. XV, 87, words which are taken as referring to this surah.* * Un HishSm, Stfah (Cairo ed.), Parc I, p. 88.
* See Noldeke, Geschichu dcs Qordns, Zweite Aufiage, bearbeitet von Fr. Schwally, Part I, pp. no stq.
Translator's Note: I have retained the word Allah throughout, because there is no corresponding word in English. The word Allah (the stress is on the last syllable) has neither feminine nor plural, and has never been applied to anything other than the unimaginable Supreme Being. I use the word “God” only where the corresponding word ildh is found in the Arabic.
The words in brackets are interpolated to explain the meaning.
20 SURAH I THE OPENING Revealed at Mecca In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
1. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, 2. The Beneficent, the Merciful.
3. Owner of the Day of Judgment, 4. Thee (alone) we worship; Thee (alone) we ask for help.
5. Show us the straight path, 6. The path of those whom Thou hast favoured; 7. Not (the path) of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray.
SURAH II Al-Baqarah (The Cow) is so named from the story of the yellow heifer (vv. 67—71.). As is the case with many other surahs, the title is taken from some word or incident which surprised the listeners. All suggestions to the contrary notwithstanding, it seems probable that the whole of this surah was revealed during the first four years after the Hijrah, and that by far the greater portion of it was revealed in the first eighteen months of the Prophet’s reign at Al-Madmah—that is to say, before the battle of Badr.* The Jewish tribes, once paramount in Yathrib had, not very long before the coming of Al-Islim, been reduced by the pagan Arab tribes of Aus and Khazraj, each Jewish tribe becoming an adherent of one or the other. But they had preserved a sort of intellectual ascendancy owing to their possession of the Scripture and their fame for occult science, the pagan Arabs consulting their rabbis on occasions and paying heed to what they said. Before the coming of Al-IslSm,® these Jewish rabbis had often told their neighbours that a Prophet was about to come, and had often threatened them that, when he came, they (the Jews) would destroy the pagan Arabs as the tribes of A‘&d and Thamud had been destroyed of old.^ So plainly did they describe the coming prophet that pilgrims from Yathrib recognised the Prophet, when he addressed them in Mecca, as the same whom the Jewish doctors had described to them. But the Jewish idea of a Prophet was one who would give them dominion, not one who would make them brethren of every pagan Arab who chose to accept Al-Islim. When they found that they could not make use of the newcomer, they opposed him and tried to bewilder him with questions from their theology, speaking to him as men who possessed superior wisdom; failing to perceive that, from a Prophet’s standpoint, theology is childish nonsense, the very opposite of religion, and ^ Th. Noldeke, Cischichte des Qprdns, Zweite Auflage, bearbeitet von Fr. Schwally, Part I, pp. 173 sq. ® AUlsldm means "The Surrender”— i.e. man’s surrender to God’s will and purpose.
3 Ibn Hisham (Cairo ed.), Part I, pp. 180 sq.
22 s 6 rah ii THE COW 23 its enemy; religion, for the Prophet, being not a matter of conjecture and speech, but of fact and conduct.
Ibn Ishiq' states definitely that vv. i—141 were revealed concerning these Jewish rabbis and such of the new converts to Al-IsHm as were half-hearted and inclined to them. There follows the order to change the Qiblah (the place toward which the Muslims turn their face in prayer) from Jerusalem to the Ka'bah at Mecca, which was built by Abraham, the choice of Jerusalem having led to a misunderstanding on the part of the Jews that the Prophet was. groping his way toward their religion and stood in need of their guidance and instruction.
All through the surah runs the note of warning, which sounds indeed throughout the whole Koran, that it is not the mere profession of a creed, but righteous conduct, which is true religion. There is the repeated announcement that the religion of Abraham, to which Judaism and Christianity (which springs from Judaism) trace their origin, is the only true religion, and that that religion consists in the Surrender of man’s will and purpose to the Will and Purpose of the lord of Creation as manifested in His creation and revealed by way of guidance through successive Prophets. Of sincerity in that religion the o ne test is conduct, and the standard of that religion is for all ali.ke.
At the time when this surah was revealed at Al-Madinah, the ropnet’s own tribe, the pagan Qureysh at Mecca, were preparing to attack the Muslims in their place of refuge. Cruel persecution was the lot of Muslims who had stayed in Meccan territory or who journeyed thither, and Muslims were being prevented from performing the pilgrimage. The possible necessity of fighting had been foreseen in the terms of the oath, taken at Al-‘Aqabah by the Muslims of Yathrib before the Flight, to defend the Prophet as they would their own wives and children, and the first commandment to fight was revealed to the Prophet before his flight from Mecca; but there was no actual fighting by the Muslims until the battle of Badr. Many of them were reluctant, having before been subject to a rule of strict non-violence. It was with difficulty that they could accept the idea of fighting even in self-defence, as can be seen from several verses in this surah; which contains also rules for fasting and the pilgrimage, bequests, almsgiving, divorce and contracts, and verses which dis- ^ Apud Ibn Hisham, Sirah (Cairo ed.), pp. 189 seq.
S^RAH 24 THE GLORIOUS KORAN countenance usury, strong drink and gambling. It concludes with a statement of the universal character of Al-Islim, the religion of Allah’s sovereignty, and a prayer for the forgiveness of shortcomings. This surah might be described as the Koran in little. It contains mention of all the essential points of the Revelation, which are elaborated elsewhere. This accounts for the precedence given to it in the arrangement of the Book.
The period of revelation is the years 1 and 2 A.H. for the most part, certain verses of legislation being considered as of later date.
THE COW Revealed at Al-Madinah In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
1. Alif. LIm. Mini.* 2. This is the Scripture whereof there is no do’ guidance unto those w'ho ward off (evil).
3. Who believe in the unseen, and establish worship, an spend of that We have bestowed upon them; 4. And who believe in that which is revealed unto thee (Muhammad) and that which was revealed before thee, and are certain of the Hereafter.
5. These depend on guidance from their Lord. These are the successful.
6. As for the disbelievers, whether thou warn them or thou warn them not it is all one for them; they believe not.
7. Allah hath sealed their hearing and their hearts, and on their eyes there is a covering. Theirs will be an awful doom. * Three letters of the Arabic alphabet. Many sfirahs begin thus with letters of the alphabet. Opinions differ as to their significance, the prevalent view being that they indicate some mystic words. Some have opined mat they ate merely the initials of the scribe. They are always included in the text and recited as part of it.
II THE COW 25 8. And of mankind are some who say: We believe in Allah and the Last Day, when they believe not.
9. They think to beguile Allah and those who believe, and they beguile none save themselves; but they perceive not.
10. In their hearts is a disease, and Allah increaseth their disease. A painful doom is theirs because they lie.
11. And when it is said unto them: Make not mischief in the earth, they say: We are peacemakers only.
12. Are not they indeed the mischief-makers? But they perceive not.
13. And when it is said unto them: Believe as the people" believe, they say:-Shall we believe as the foolish believe? Are not they indeed the foolish? But they know not.
14. And when they fall in with those who believe, they say: We believe; but when they go apart to their devils they declare: Lo! we are with you; verily we did but mock. 15. Allah (Himself) doth mock them, leaving them to wander blindly on in their contumacy.
16. These are they who purchase error at the price of guidance, so their commerce doth not prosper, neither are 17. Their likeness is as the likeness of one who kindleth fire, and when it sheddeth its light around him Allah taketh away their light and leaveth them in darkness, where they cannot see, 18. Deaf, dumb and blind; and they return not.
19. Or like a rainstorm from the sky, wherein is darkness, thunder and the flash of lightning. They thrust their fingers I i.e. the people of Al-Madinah, most of. whom were Muslims, vv. 8 to 19 refer to the “Hypocrites,” or lukewarm Muslims of Al-Madinah, whose leader was Abdullah ibn Ubeyy. They pretended that their aim was to make peace between the Muslims and the Jewish rabbis, but they only embittered the controversy.
S^TRAH 26 THE GLORIOUS KORAN in their ears by reason of the thunder-claps, for fear of death. Allah encompasseth the disbelievers {in His guidance).
20. The lightning almost snatcheth away their sight from them. As often as it flasheth forth for them they walk therein, and when it darkeneth against them they stand still. If Allah willed. He could destroy their hearing and their sight. Lo! Allah is Able to do all things. 21. O mankind! Worship your Lord, Who hath created you and those before you, so that ye may ward off (evil).
22. Who hath appointed the earth a resting-place for you, and the sky a canopy; and causeth water to pour down from the sky, thereby producing fruits as food for you. And do not set up rivals to Allah when ye know (better).
23. And if ye are in doubt concerning that which We reveal unto Our slave’ (Muhammad), then produce a surah of the like thereof, and call your witnesses beside Allah if ye are truthful.
24. And if ye do it not—and ye can never do it—then guard yourselves against the fire prepared for disbelievers, whose fuel is of men and stones.
25. And give glad tidings (O Muhammad) unto those who believe and do good works; that theirs are Gardens underneath which-rivers flow; as often as they are regaled with food of the fruit thereof, they say: This is what was given us aforetime;^ and it is given to them in resemblance. There for them are pure companions; there for ever they abide.
26. Lo! Allah disdaineth not to coin the similitude even I To be the slave of Allah is the proudest boast of the Muslim, bondage to Allah liberating from all other servitudes. In the Koran mankind are often called God’s slaves or bondmen, a stronger and more just expression than the word "servants” generally substituted in translations, “ The joys of Paradise will recall, in a rapturous degree, the joys the righteous tasted in their life on earth.
II THE COW 27 of a gnat. Those who believe know that it is the truth from their Lord; but those who disbelieve say; What doth Allah wish (to teach) by such a similitude? He misleadeth many thereby, and He guideth many thereby; and He misleadeth thereby only miscreants; 27. Those who break the covenant of Allah after ratifying it, and sever that which Allah ordered to be joined, and (who) make mischief in the earth; Those are they who are the losers.
28. How disbelieve ye in Allah when ye were dead and He gave life to you! Then he will give you death, then life again, and then unto Him ye will return, 29. He it is Who created for you all that is in the earth. Then turned He to the heaven, and fashioned it as seven heayens. And He is Know'er of all things.
30. And when thy Lord said unto the angels; Lo! I am about to place a viceroy in the earth, they said; Wilt Thou place therein one who will do harm therein and will shed blood, while we, we hymn Thy praise and sanctify Thee? He said; Surely I know that which ye know not. 31. And He taught Adam all the names,' then showed them to the angels, saying; Inform me of the names of these, if ye are truthful.
32. They said; Be glorified! We have no knowledge saving that which Thou hast taught us. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Knower, the Wise.
33. He said; O Adam! Inform them of their names, and when he had informed them of their names. He said; Did I not tell you that I know the secret of the heavens and the earth? And I know that which ye disclose and which ye hide.
34. And when We said unto the angels; Prostrate your- * Some, especially Sufis, hold "the names” to be the attributes of Allah; others, the names of animals and plants.
SlI!rRAH 28 THE GLORIOUS KORAN selves before Adam, they fell prostrate, all save Iblis. He demurred through pride, and so bedame a disbeliever.
35. And We said: O Adam! Dwell thou and thy wife in the Garden, and eat ye" freely (of the fruits) thereof where ye will; but come not nigh this tree lest ye become wrongdoers. 36. But Satan caused them to deflect therefrom and expelled them from the (happy) state in which they were; and We said: Fall down,"" one of you a foe unto the other! There shall be for you on earth a habitation and provision for a time.
37. Then Adam received from his Lord words (of revela- toin), and He relented toward him. Lo! He is the Relenting, the Merciful.
38. We said: Go down, all of you, from hence; but verily there cometh unto you from Me a guidance; and whoso followeth My guidance, there shall no fear come upon them neither shall they grieve.
39. But they who disbelieve, and deny Our revelations, such are rightful owners of the Fire. They will abide therein.
40. O Children of Israel! Remember My favour wherewith I favoured you, and fulfil your (part of the) covenant, I shall fulfil My (part of the) covenant, and fear Me.
41. And believe in that which I reveal, confirming that which ye possess already (of the Scripture), and be not first to disbelieve therein, and part not with My revelations for a trifling price, and keep your duty unto Me.
42. Confound not truth with falsehood, nor knowingly conceal the truth. 43. Establish worship, pay the poor-due,^ and bow your heads with those who bow (in worship).
1 Here the command is in the dual, as addressed to Adam and his wife, 2 Here the command is in the plural, as addressed to Adam’s race.
3 Az^Zakah: a tax at a fixed rate in proportion to the worth of property, collected from the well-to-do and distributed among the poor Muslims.
11 THE COW 29 44. Enjoin ye righteousness upon mankind while ye yourselves forget (to practise it)? And ye are readers of the Scripture! Have ye then no sense?
45. Seek help in patience and prayer; and truly it is hard save for the humble-minded, 46. Who know that they will have to meet their Lord, and that unto Him they are returning.
47. O Children of Israel! Remember My favour wherewith I favoured you and how I preferred you to (all) creatures.
48. And guard yourselves against a day when no soul will in aught avail another, nor will intercession be accepted from it, nor will compensation be received from it, nor will they be helped. 49. And (remember) when We did deliver you from Pharaoh’s folk, who were aihicting you with dreadful torment, slaying your sons and sparing your women: That was a tremendous trial from your Lord.
50. And when We brought you through the sea and rescued you, and drowned the folk of Pharaoh in your sight.
51. And when We did appoint for Moses forty nights (of solitude), and then ye chose the calf, when he had gone from you, and were wrongdoers.
52. Then, even after that, we pardoned you in order that e might give thanks, 53. And when We gave unto Moses the Scripture and the Iterion (of right and wrong), that ye might be led aright.
54. And when Moses said unto his people: O my people! Ye have wronged yourselves by your choosing of the calf (for worship) so turn in penitence to your Creator, and kill (the guilty) yourselves. That will be best for you with your Creator and He will relent toward you. Lo! He is the Relenting, the Merciful.
30 THE GLORIOUS KORAN sOrah 55. And when ye said: O Moses! We will not believe in thee till we see Allah plainly; and even while ye gazed the lightning seized you.
56. Then We revived you after your extinction, that ye might give thanks.