Men will ask thee of "the Hour." SAY: The knowledge of it is with God alone: and who can tell thee whether haply the Hour be not nigh at hand?
Verily, God hath cursed the Infidels, and hath got ready for them the flame: For aye shall they abide therein; none to befriend them, no helper shall they find!
On the day when their faces shall be rolled in the fire, they shall cry: "Oh! would that we had obeyed God, and obeyed the Apostle!"
And they shall say: "Oh our Lord! indeed we obeyed our chiefs and our great ones, and they misled us from the way of God- O our Lord! give them a double chastisement, and curse them with a heavy curse."
O Believers! be not like those who affronted Moses.26 But God cleared him from what they said of him, and of God was he highly esteemed.
O Believers! fear God, and speak with well-guided speech.
That God may bless your doings for you, and forgive you your sins. And whoso obeyeth God and His Apostle with great bliss shall be blessed.
Verily, we proposed to the Heavens, and to the Earth, and to the Mountains to receive the Faith, but they refused the burden, and they feared to receive it. Man undertook to bear it, but hath proved unjust, senseless!
Therefore will God punish the hypocritical men and the hypocritical women, and the men and the women who join gods with God; but to the believing men and women will God turn him: for God is Indulgent, Merciful!
1 Medina was besieged, when this Sura was revealed, by certain confederate tribes at the instigation of the Jews, an. Hej. 5. The first nine verses, however, have no immediate reference to this event, but to Muhammad's cotemporary marriage with Zeinab. See below, verse 37.
2 The Arabians had been accustomed, before the time of Muhammad, to divorce their wives with the words,-thy back be to me as the back of my mother. The drift and motive of this passage is explained by verse 37 below. It had also been the custom to hold adopted sons to be as nearly related to them as their natural ones. See Sura lviii. 2, p. 451.
3 The Mohadjers-those who had emigrated with Muhammad from Mecca. This verse abrogates Sura [xcv.] viii. 73.
4 How they have discharged their prophetic functions.
5 Verses 9-33 have reference to the events of the year Hej. 5, towards the close. See next note. His. 688; Waq. 4 f.
6 In the engagement which took place under the walls of Medina, some of the enemy were posted on a height to the east of the city, others in a valley on the west. The besiegers were 12,000, the Muslims 3,000 strong, when a violent storm, which upset the tents, put out the camp fires, and blinded the eyes of the confederates with sand, turned the scale of victory against them. Muhammad ascribes the storm to angelic agency.
7 That is, with infidelity.
8 The ancient name of El-Medina.
9 In the trenches which had been dug around the city by the advice of Salmân, the Persian.
10 They would speedily have quitted the city to attack the faithful in the trenches.
11 That is, raise the siege.
12 That is, that through trials we should attain to Paradise, v. 29.
13 After the siege of Medina had been raised, Muhammad made a successful expedition against the Jews of Koreidha, for their treason and violation of treaties.
14 Muhammad's wives having caused him much annoyance by demands of rich dresses, etc., he gave them the choice of continuing with him as before, or of divorce. They chose the former. See Abulfeda's Hist. Moh. p. 77, and Gagnier's Vie de Moh. i. 4, chap. ii.
15 That is, Idolatry. Acts xvii. 30. Freytag (Einl. p. 453) thinks that previous to Islam, the Arabian women went in public unveiled.
16 The pronoun is in the pl. masc., whereas the pl. fem. is used in the previous part of the verse. The partisans of Ali quote this passage to prove the intimate union of Ali and his posterity with the Prophet.
17 That is, to Zaid. The favour of God to Zaid consisted in having caused him to become a Muslim: the favour of Muhammad in adopting him as his son. Zaid and Abu Lahab (Sura cxi. p. 29) are the only contemporaries of Muhammad mentioned by name in the Koran.
18 Thy plan to obtain Zeinab, or Zenobia, Zaid's wife, as thy wife.
19 Lit, who brought the messages of God.
20 If thou makest use of the special prerogative (conferred in verse 49).
21 He had nine wives at this period, beside slaves. The number of wives allowed to the faithful is four. See note, p. 411. 22 The first slave whom Muhammad took to wife was Raihana, at the conquest of the Banu Koreidha. His. 693. Weil, 170.
23 Verses 53-55 refer to the conduct of the guests at Muhammad's house after his marriage with Zeinab. Albuhari passim. Muslim i. 824 ff. Wah. Comp. Caussir, iii. 151.
24 Ullmann, p. 263, quotes a similar precept from the Talmud, "Do all that the master of the house biddeth, but wait not to be asked to depart."
25 This verse cannot be of later date than Hej. 8, when Muhammad's daughter Omm Kulthum died. leaving only Fatima.
26 This may refer to the charge of adultery said by the Rabbins to have been brought by Korah against Moses. Comp. Tr. Sanhedrin, fol. 110a. and Numbers xii. 1. The verse is said to have been revealed on account of aspersions thrown on Muhammad for unfairly dividing spoils, whereupon he said, "God be merciful to my brother Moses. He was wronged more than this, and bore it with patience."
SURA LXIII.1-THE HYPOCRITES [CIV.]
MEDINA.-11 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful WHEN the Hypocrites come to thee, they say, "We bear witness that thou art the Sent One of God." God knoweth that thou art His Sent One: but God beareth witness that the HYPOCRITES do surely lie.
Their faith2 have they used as a cloak, and they turn aside others from the way of God! Evil are all their doings.
This, for that they believed, then became unbelievers!Therefore hath a seal been set upon their hearts, and they understand not.
When thou seest them, their persons make thee marvel; and if they speak, thou listenest with pleasure to their discourse. Like timbers are they leaning against a wall!3 They think that every shout is against them. They are enemies-Beware of them then-God do battle with them! How false are they!
And when it is said to them, "Come, the Apostle of God will ask pardon for you," they turn their heads aside, and thou seest them withdraw in their pride.
Alike shall it be to them whether thou ask forgiveness for them, or ask it not. By no means will God forgive them: God hath no guidance for a perverse people.
These are they who say to you of Medina, "Spend not aught upon those who are with the Apostle of God, and they will be forced to quit him." Yet the treasures of the Heavens and of the Earth are God's! But the Hypocrites have no understanding.
They say: "If we return to the city, the mightier will assuredly drive out the weaker from it." But might is with God, and with the Apostle, and with the Faithful! Yet the Hypocrites understand not.
O ye who believe! let not your wealth and your children delude you into forgetfulness of God. Whoever shall act thus, shall surely suffer loss.
And expend in the cause of God out of that with which we have supplied you, ere death surprise each one of you, and he say, "O Lord! wilt thou not respite me to a term not far distant, that I may give alms, and become one of the just?"
And by no means will God respite a soul when its hour hath come! And God is fully cognisant of what ye do.
1 Revealed shortly after the expedition against the Banu 'l Mustaliq in Hej. 6. See Nöld. p. 156 n. The "Hypocrites" mentioned in the later Suras are the disaffected portion of the population of Medina, who covertly opposed the claims of Muhammad to temporal authority over that city. They were gradually absorbed, as the authority of Islam increased.
2 Or, in accordance with another reading, oaths. Comp. Ps. cix. 18.
3 Like timbers or joists supported in a wall or leaned against it, i.e., their persons are bulky, but their hearts so hypocritical and cowardly that they are afraid of the slightest noise. In the original, saïkat is perhaps an allusion to the shout of Gabriel, that is to exterminate the wicked.
SURA XXIV.-LIGHT [CV.]
MEDINA.-64 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful A SURA which we have sent down and sanctioned! Clear signs have we sent down therein, that ye may take warning.
The whore and the whoremonger-scourge each of them with an hundred stripes; and let not compassion keep you from carrying out the sentence of God, if ye believe in God and the last day: And let some of the faithful witness their chastisement.1 The whoremonger shall not marry other than a whore or an idolatress; and the whore shall not marry other than a whoremonger or an idolater. Such alliances are forbidden to the faithful.
They who defame virtuous women,2 and bring not four witnesses, scourge them with fourscore stripes, and receive ye not their testimony for ever, for these are perverse persons- Save those who afterwards repent and live virtuously; for truly God is Lenient, Merciful!
And they who shall accuse their wives, and have no witnesses but themselves, the testimony of each of them shall be a testimony by God four times repeated, that he is indeed of them that speak the truth.3 And the fifth time that the malison of God be upon him, if he be of them that lie.
But it shall avert the chastisement from her if she testify a testimony four times repeated, by God, that he is of them that lie; And a fifth time to call down the wrath of God on her, if he have spoken the truth.
And but for the goodness and mercy of God towards you, and that God is He who loveth to turn, Wise...!
Of a truth, they who advanced that lie4 were a large number of you; but regard it not as an evil to you. No, it is an advantage to you.5 To every man among them shall it be done according to the offence he hath committed; and as to that person6 among them who took on himself to aggravate it, a sore punishment doth await him.
Did not the faithful of both sexes, when ye heard of this, form a favourable judgment in their own minds, and say, "This is a manifest lie?"
Have they brought four witnesses of the fact? If they cannot produce the witnesses, they are the liars in the sight of God.
And but for the goodness of God towards you, and His mercy in this world and in the next, a severe punishment had come upon you for that which ye spread abroad, when ye uttered with your tongues, and spake with your mouths that of which ye had no knowledge. Ye deemed it to be a light matter, but with God it was a grave one.
And did ye say when ye heard it, "It is not for us to talk of this affair! O God! By thy Glory, this is a gross calumny?"
God hath warned you that ye go not back to the like of this for ever, if ye be believers: And God maketh His signs clear to you: for God is Knowing, Wise.
But as for those who love that foul calumnies should go forth against those who believe, a grievous chastisement awaits them In this world and in the next. And God hath knowledge, but ye have not.
And but for the goodness of God towards you and His Mercy, and that God is Kind, Merciful...!
O ye who believe! follow not the steps of Satan, for whosoever shall follow the steps of Satan, he will enjoin on him what is base and blameworthy; and but for the goodness of God towards you,7 and His mercy, no one of you had been cleansed for ever: but God maketh whom He will to be clean, and God Heareth, Knoweth.
And let not persons of wealth and means among you swear that they will not give to their kindred, to the poor, and to those who have fled their homes in the cause of God; let them rather pardon and pass over the offence.8 Desire ye not that God should forgive you? And God is Gracious, Merciful!
Verily, they who throw out charges against virtuous but careless women, who yet are believers, shall be cursed in this world and in the world to come; and a terrible punishment doth await them.
Their own tongues, and hands, and feet, shall one day bear witness against them of their own doings.9 On that day will God pay them their just due, and they shall know that God is the clear Truth itself.
Bad women for bad men, and bad men for bad women; but virtuous women for virtuous men, and virtuous men for virtuous women! These shall be cleared from calumnies; theirs shall be forgiveness and an honourable provision.
O ye who believe! enter not into other houses10 than your own, until ye have asked leave, and have saluted its inmates. This will be best for you: haply ye will bear this in mind.
And if ye find no one therein, then enter it not till leave be given you; and if it be said to you, "Go ye back," then go ye back. This will be more blameless in you, and God knoweth what ye do.
There shall be no harm in your entering houses in which no one dwelleth, for the supply of your needs: and God knoweth what ye do openly and what ye hide.
Speak unto the believers that they restrain their eyes and observe continence. Thus will they be more pure. God is well aware of what they do.
And speak to the believing women that they refrain their eyes, and observe continence; and that they display not their ornaments, except those which are external; and that they throw their veils over their bosoms, and display not their ornaments, except to their husbands or their fathers, or their husbands' fathers, or their sons, or their husbands' sons, or their brothers, or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or their slaves, or male domestics who have no natural force, or to children who note not women's nakedness. And let them not strike their feet together, so as to discover their hidden ornaments.11 And be ye all turned to God, O ye Believers! that it may be well with you.
And marry those among you who are single, and your good servants, and the handmaidens. If they are poor, God of His bounty will enrich them. God is all-bounteous, Knowing.
And let those who cannot find a match12 live in continence till God of His bounty shall enrich them. And to those of your slaves who desire a deed of manumission, execute it for them, if ye know good in them, and give them a portion of the wealth of God which He hath given you.13 Force not your female slaves into sin, in order that ye may gain the casual fruitions of this world, if they wish to preserve their modesty. Yet if any one compel them, then Verily to them, after their compulsion, will God be Forgiving, Merciful.
And now have we sent down to you clear signs, and an instance from among those who flourished before you, and a caution for the God-fearing.14 God is the LIGHT of the Heavens and of the Earth. His Light is like a niche in which is a lamp-the lamp encased in glass-the glass, as it were, a glistening star. From a blessed tree is it lighted, the olive neither of the East nor of the West, whose oil would well nigh shine out, even though fire touched it not! It is light upon light. God guideth whom He will to His light, and God setteth forth parables to men, for God knoweth all things.
In the temples which God hath allowed to be reared, that His name may therein be remembered, do men praise Him morn and even.
Men whom neither merchandise nor traffic beguile from the remembrance of God, and from the observance of prayer, and the payment of the stated alms, through fear of the day when hearts shall throb and eyes shall roll: That for their most excellent works may God recompense them, and of His bounty increase it to them more and more: for God maketh provision for whom He pleaseth without measure.
But as to the infidels, their works are like the vapour in a plain which the thirsty dreameth to be water, until when he cometh unto it, he findeth it not aught, but findeth that God is with him; and He fully payeth him his account: for swift to take account is God: Or like the darkness on the deep sea when covered by billows riding upon billows, above which are clouds: darkness upon darkness. When a man reacheth forth his hand, he cannot nearly see it! He to whom God shall not give light, no light at all hath he!
Hast thou not seen how all in the Heavens and in the Earth uttereth the praise of God?-the very birds as they spread their wings? Every creature knoweth its prayer and its praise! and God knoweth what they do.
God's, the Kingdom of the Heavens and of the Earth: and unto God the final return!
Hast thou not seen that God driveth clouds lightly forward, then gathereth them together, then pileth them in masses? And then thou seest the rain forthcoming from their midst; and He causeth clouds like mountains charged with hail, to descend from the heaven, and He maketh it to fall on whom He will, and from whom He will He turneth it aside.-The brightness of His lightning all but taketh away the sight!
God causeth the day and the night to take their turn. Verily in this is teaching for men of insight. And God hath created every animal of water.15 Some go upon the belly; some go upon two feet; some go upon four feet. God hath created what He pleased. Aye, God hath power over all things.
Now have we sent down distinct signs.-And God guideth whom He will into the right path: For there are who say "We believe on God and on the Apostle, and we obey;" yet, after this, a part of them turn back.16 But these are not of the faithful.
And when they are summoned before God and His Apostle that He may judge between them, lo! a part of them withdraw: But had the truth been on their side, they would have come to Him, obedient.
What! are they diseased of heart? Do they doubt? Are they afraid that God and His Apostles will deal unfairly with them? Nay, themselves are the unjust doers.
The words of the believers, when called to God and His Apostle that He may judge between them, are only to say, "We have heard, and we obey:" these are they with whom it shall be well.
And whoso shall obey God, and His Apostle, and shall dread God and fear Him, these are they that shall be the blissful.
And they have sworn by God, with a most solemn oath, that if thou give them the word, they will certainly march forth. Say: swear ye not: of more worth is obedience. Verily, God is well aware of what ye do.
SAY: Obey God and obey the Apostle. Suppose that ye turn back, still the burden of his duty is on him only, and the burden of your duty rests on you. If ye obey Him, ye shall have guidance: but plain preaching is all that devolves upon the Apostle.
God hath promised to those of you who believe and do the things that are right, that He will cause them to succeed others in the land, as He gave succession to those who were before them, and that He will establish for them that religion which they delight in, and that after their fears He will give them security in exchange. They shall worship Me: nought shall they join with Me: And whoso, after this, believe not, they will be the impious.
But observe prayer, and pay the stated alms, and obey the Apostle, that haply ye may find mercy.
Let not the Infidels think that they can weaken God on His own Earth: their dwelling place shall be the Fire! and right wretched the journey!
O ye who believe! let your slaves, and those of you who have not come of age, ask leave of you, three times a day, ere they come into your presence;-before the morning prayer, and when ye lay aside your garments at mid-day, and after the evening prayer. These are your three times of privacy. No blame shall attach to you or to them, if after these times, when ye go your rounds of attendance on one another, they come in without permission. Thus doth God make clear to you His signs: and God is Knowing, Wise!
And when your children come of age, let them ask leave to come into your presence, as they who were before them asked it. Thus doth God make clear to you his signs: and God is Knowing, Wise.
As to women who are past childbearing, and have no hope of marriage, no blame shall attach to them if they lay aside their outer garments, but so as not to shew their ornaments. Yet if they abstain from this, it will be better for them: and God Heareth, Knoweth.
No crime17 shall it be in the blind, or in the lame, or in the sick, to eat at your tables: or in yourselves, if ye eat in your own houses, or in the houses of your fathers, or of your mothers, or of your brothers, or of your sisters, or of your uncles on the father's side, or of your aunts on the father's side, or of your uncles on the mother's side, or of your aunts on the mother's side, or in those of which ye possess the keys, or in the house of your friend. No blame shall attach to you whether ye eat together or apart.
And when ye enter houses, salute one another with a good and blessed greeting as from God. Thus doth God make clear to you His signs, that haply ye may comprehend them.
Verily, they only are believers who believe in God and His Apostle, and who, when they are with him upon any affair of common interest, depart not until they have sought his leave. Yes, they who ask leave of thee, are those who believe in God and His Apostle. And when they ask leave of Thee on account of any affairs of their own, then grant it to those of them whom thou wilt, and ask indulgence for them of God: for God is Indulgent, Merciful.
Address not the Apostle as ye address one another.18 God knoweth those of you who withdraw quietly from the assemblies, screening themselves behind others. And let those who transgress his command beware, lest some present trouble befall them, or a grievous chastisement befall them, hereafter.
Is not whatever is in the Heavens and the Earth God's? He knoweth your state; and one day shall men be assembled before Him, and He will tell them of what they have done: for God knoweth all things.
1 With this verse commences the reference to the scandal against Ayesha, to which verses 6-9 read like a later addition. See His. 731 ff. Albuhari, passim. Muslim ii. 628 ff. Tirm. 524. Tabari and Weil, p. 151.
2 Said to refer to Hilal ben Umaiya (Muslim i. 886. Tirm. 523. Annasai, 409 f. Assamarq.) who had accused his wife of adultery. Two of these commentators, however, give the name of another Muslim as the person intended.
3 Comp. Numb. v. ii, 31, with which Muhammad must have been acquainted.
4 The rumour of improper intimacy between Ayesha and Safwan Ibn El Moattal, during Muhammad's return from the expedition against the tribe of Mostaliq (an. Hej. 9), in which he was separated from her for an entire day, which she passed in the company of Safwan, who had found her when accidentally left behind. Verses 4-26 were revealed shortly after the return.
5 Whose characters are cleared.
6 Abdallah Ibn Obba. (Abulf. p. 83.)
8 Abubekr had been desirous to punish one of his relatives, Mestah, who had propagated the scandal against Ayesha, by refusing him gifts or alms.
9 "The very members of a man shall testify against him, for thus we read (Jer. xliii. 12), Ye are yourselves my witnesses saith the Lord." Chagiga, 16. Thaanith, 11a.
10 It was the custom in Arabia, before Islam, to enter houses without permission. Freyt. Einl. p. 216.
11 That is, the anklets. Comp. Isai. iii. 16, 18 12 On account of poverty.
13 Comp. Deut. xv. 12 15.
14 The meaning probably is, that the scandal raised against Ayesha resembled the scandal in the case of Joseph in Egypt, and of the Virgin Mary, detailed in previous suras.
15 An idea perhaps derived from Gen. i. 20, 21. Comp. Tr. Cholin, fol. 27a.
16 Verses 46-56 obviously refer to a period, perhaps that between the battle of Ohod and the end of the war of the Ditch, when Muhammad's prospects were overclouded and the confidence of his followers shaken.
17 This verse was intended to relieve the scruples of the Muslims, who. following the superstitious customs of the Arabs, thought that they ought not to admit the blind, etc. to their tables, to eat alone, or in a house of which they were entrusted with the key, etc.
18 Lit. make not the calling of the Apostle among you, like the calling of some of you to others, i.e., address him by some respectful and honourable title. Thus in the Talmud, "It is forbidden to a disciple to call his Rabbi by name even when he is not in his presence;" and again: "Neither is he to salute his Rabbi, nor to return his salutation, in the same way that salutations are given and returned among friends." "Whoever despises the wise men hath no portion in the world to come." See Hilchoth Torah, c.5.
SURA LVIII.-SHE WHO PLEADED [CVI.]
MEDINA.-22 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful God hath heard the words of HER1 WHO PLEADED with thee against her husband, and made her plaint to God; and God hath heard your mutual intercourse: for God Heareth, Beholdeth.
As to those of you who put away their wives by saying, "Be thou to me as my mother's back" their mothers2 they are not; they only are their mothers who gave them birth! they certainly say a blameworthy thing and an untruth: But truly, God is Forgiving, Indulgent.
And those who thus put away their wives, and afterwards would recall their words, must free a captive before they can come together again. To this are ye warned to conform: and God is aware of what ye do.
And he who findeth not a captive to set free, shall fast two months in succession before they two come together. And he who shall not be able to do so, shall feed sixty poor men. This, that he may believe in God and His Apostle. These are the statutes of God: and for the unbelievers is an afflictive chastisement!
Truly they who oppose God and His Apostle shall be brought low, as those who were before them were brought low. And now have we sent down demonstrative signs: and, for the Infidels is a shameful chastisement.
On the day when God shall raise them all to life, and shall tell them of their doings. God hath taken count of them, though they have forgotten them! and God is witness over all things.
Dost thou not see that God knoweth all that is in the Heavens and all that is in the Earth? Three persons speak not privately together, but He is their fourth; nor five, but He is their sixth; nor fewer nor more, but wherever they be He is with them. Then on the day of resurrection He will tell them of their deeds: for God knoweth all things.
Hast thou not marked those who have been forbidden secret talk, and return to what they have been forbidden, and talk privately together with wickedness, and hate, and disobedience towards the Apostle? And when they come to thee, they greet thee not as God greeteth thee:3 and they say among themselves, "Why doth not God punish us for what we say?" Hell shall be their meed:4 they shall be burned at its fire: and a wretched passage thither!
O Believers! when ye hold private converse together, let it not be with wickedness, and hate, and disobedience towards the Apostle; but let your private talk be with justice and the fear of God: aye, fear ye God unto whom ye shall be gathered!
Only of Satan is this clandestine talk, that he may bring the faithful to grief: but, unless by God's permission, not aught shall he harm them! in God then let the faithful trust.
O ye who believe! when it is said to you, "Make room in your assemblies," then make ye room. God will make room for you in Paradise! And when it is said to you, "Rise up," then rise ye up. God will uplift those of you who believe, and those to whom "the Knowledge" is given, to lofty grades! and God is cognisant of your actions.
O ye who believe! when ye go to confer in private with the Apostle, give alms before such conference. Better will this be for you, and more pure. But if ye have not the means, then truly God is Lenient, Merciful.
Do ye hesitate to give alms previously to your private conference? Then if ye do it not (and God will excuse it in you), at least observe prayer, and pay the stated impost, and obey God and His Apostle: for God is cognisant of your actions.
Hast thou not remarked those who make friends of that people with whom God is angered? They are neither of your party nor of theirs; and they swear to a lie,5 knowing it to be such.
God hath got ready for them a severe torment: for, evil is that they do.
They make a cloak of their faith, and turn others aside from the way of God: wherefore a shameful torment awaiteth them.
Not at all shall their wealth or their children avail them aught against God. Companions shall they be of the fire: they shall abide therein for ever.
On the day when God shall raise them all, they will swear to Him as they now swear to you, deeming that it will avail them. Are they not-yes they-the liars?
Satan hath gotten mastery over them, and made them forget the remembrance of God. These are Satan's party. What! shall not verily the party of Satan be for ever lost.
Verily, they who oppose God and His Apostle shall be among the most vile. God hath written this decree: "I will surely prevail, and my Apostles also." Truly God is Strong, Mighty.
Thou shalt not find that any of those who believe in God, and in the last day, love him who opposeth God and His Apostle, even though they be their fathers, or their sons, or their brethren, or their nearest kin. On the hearts of these hath God graven the Faith, and with His own Spirit hath He strengthened them; and He will bring them into gardens, beneath whose shades the rivers flow, to remain therein eternally. God is well pleased in them, and they in Him. These are God's party! Shall not, of a truth, a party of God be for ever blessed?
1 Khaula, daughter of Thalaba, who had been divorced by the formula in verse 2, which was understood among the Arabs to imply perpetual separation. This Muhammad had asserted in her case; but in consequence of the woman's prayers, etc., a relaxation of the law, on fulfilment of the conditions mentioned in verses 4, 5, was hereby allowed. None of the earlier traditions fix any date for this Sura, though later authorities (Weil, 184) fix the end of Hej. 6, or the beginning of Hej. 7.-The subject matter is in part similar to that of Sura xxiv.
2 See Sura [ciii.] xxxiii. 4.
3 Instead of saying, Es-salam aleika, "Peace be on thee," the Infidels and Jews said, Es-sam aleika, "a plague, or poison on thee." See Geiger, p. 18.
4 Lit. sufficiency.
5 The Jews swear that they are Muslims.
SURA XXII.-THE PILGRIMAGE [CVII.]
MEDINA.1-78 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful O MEN of Mecca, fear your Lord. Verily, the earthquake of the last Hour will be a tremendous thing!
On the day when ye shall behold it, every suckling woman shall forsake her sucking babe; and every woman that hath a burden in her womb shall cast her burden; and thou shalt see men drunken, yet are they not drunken: but it is the mighty chastisement of God!
There is a man2 who, without knowledge, wrangleth about God, and followeth every rebellious Satan; Concerning whom it is decreed, that he shall surely beguile and guide into the torment of the Flame, whoever shall take him for his Lord.
O men! if ye doubt as to the resurrection, yet, of a truth, have We created you of dust, then of the moist germs of life, then of clots of blood, then of pieces of flesh shapen and unshapen, that We might give you proofs of our power! And We cause one sex or the other, at our pleasure, to abide in the womb until the appointed time; then We bring you forth infants; then permit you to reach your age of strength; and one of you dieth, and another of you liveth on to an age so abject that all his former knowledge is clean forgotten!3 And thou hast seen the earth dried up and barren: but when We send down the rain upon it, it stirreth and swelleth, and groweth every kind of luxuriant herb.
This, for that God is the Truth, and that it is He who quickeneth the dead,- and that He hath power over everything: And that "the Hour" will indeed come-there is no doubt of it-and that God will wake up to life those who are in the tombs.
A man there is who disputeth about God without knowledge or guidance or enlightening Book, Turning aside in scorn to mislead others from the way of God! Disgrace shall be his in this world; and on the day of the resurrection, We will make him taste the torment of the burning:- "This, for thy handywork of old! for God is not unjust to His servants."
There are some who serve God in a single point. If good come upon one of them, he resteth in it; but if trial come upon him, he turneth him round (to infidelity) with the loss both of this world and of the next! This same is the clear ruin!
He calleth upon that beside God which can neither hurt him nor profit him. This same is the far-gone error!
He calleth on him who would sooner hurt than profit him. Surely, bad the lord, and, surely, bad the vassal!
But God will bring in those who shall believe and do the things that are right, into gardens 'neath which the rivers flow: for God doth that which He pleaseth.
Let him who thinketh that God will not help His Apostle in this world and in the next, stretch a cord aloft as if to destroy himself; then let him cut it, and see whether his devices can bring that4 to nought at which he was angry!
Thus send we down the Koran with its clear signs (verses): and because God guideth whom He pleaseth.
As to those who believe, and the Jews, and the Sabeites,5 and the Christians, and the Magians, and those who join other gods with God, of a truth, God shall decide between them on the day of resurrection: for God is witness of all things.
Seest thou not that all in the Heavens and all on the Earth adoreth God? the sun and the moon and the stars, and the mountains, and the trees, and the beasts, and many men? But of many is chastisement the due: And whom God shall disgrace there shall be none to honour: God doth that which pleaseth Him.
These, the Faithful and the Infidels, are the two disputants who dispute concerning their Lord: but for those who have disbelieved, garments of fire shall be cut out; the boiling water shall be poured down upon their heads: All that is in their bowels, and their skins, shall be dissolved: and there are maces of iron for them!
So oft as they, for very anguish, would fain come forth thence, back shall they be turned into it: and-"Taste ye the torment of the burning."
But God will bring in those who shall have believed, and done the things that are right, into gardens 'neath which the rivers flow. Adorned shall they be therein with golden bracelets and with pearls, and their raiment therein shall be of silk; For they were guided to the best of words; guided to the glorious path!
But those who believe not, and seduce others from the way of God, and from the Holy Mosque which we have appointed to all men, alike for those who abide therein, and for the stranger; And those who seek impiously to profane it, we will cause to taste a grievous punishment.
And call to mind when we assigned the site of the House6 to Abraham and said: "Unite not aught with Me in worship, and cleanse My House for those who go in procession round it, and who stand or bow in worship:"- And proclaim to the peoples a PILGRIMAGE: Let them come to thee on foot and on every fleet7 camel, arriving by every deep defile: That they may bear witness of its benefits to them, and may make mention of God's name on the appointed days,8 over the brute beasts with which He hath supplied them for sustenance: Therefore eat thereof yourselves, and feed the needy, the poor: Then let them bring the neglect of their persons to a close,9 and let them pay their vows, and circuit the ancient House.
This do. And he that respecteth the sacred ordinances of God, this will be best for him with his Lord. The flesh of cattle is allowed you, save of those already specified to you. Shun ye, therefore, the pollutions of idols; and shun ye the word of falsehood;