The Koran
CHAPTER XX.
ENTITLED, T. H.; REVEALED AT MECCA.
IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.
T. H. We have not sent down the Koran unto thee, that thou shouldest be
unhappy; but for an admonition unto him who feareth God, being sent down
from him who created the earth, and the lofty heavens. The Merciful sitteth
on his throne: unto him belongeth whatsoever is in heaven and on earth,
and whatsoever is between them, and whatsoever is under the earth. If thou
pronounce thy prayers with a loud voice, know that it is not necessary
in respect to God; for he knoweth that which is secret, and what is yet
more hidden. God! there is no god but he: he hath most excellent names.
Hast thou been informed of the history of Moses? When he saw fire, and
said unto his family, Tarry ye here; for I perceive fire: peradventure
I may bring you a brand thereout, or may find a direction in our way by
the fire. And when he was come near into it, a voice called unto him, saying,
O Moses! verily I am thy Lord: wherefore put off thy shoes; for thou art
in the sacred valley Towa. And I have chosen thee; therefore harken with
attention unto that which is revealed unto thee. Verily I am God; there
is no god beside me: wherefore worship me, and perform thy prayer in remembrance
of me. Verily the hour cometh: I will surely manifest the same, that every
soul may receive its reward for that which it hath deliberately done. Let
not him who believeth not therein, and who followeth his lust, prevent
thee from believing in the same, lest thou perish. Now what is that in
thy right hand, O Moses? He answered, It is my rod whereon I lean, and
with which I beat down leaves for my flock; and I have other uses for it.
God said unto him, Cast it down, O Moses, and he cast it down, and behold,
it became a serpent, which ran about. God said, Take hold on it, and fear
not: we will reduce it to its former condition. And put thy right hand
under thy left arm: it shall come forth white, without any hurt. This shall
be another sign: that we may show thee some of our greatest signs. Go unto
Pharaoh: for he is exceedingly impious. Moses answered, Lord, enlarge my
breast, and make what thou hast commanded me easy unto me, and loose the
knot of my tongue, that they may understand my speech. And give me a counsellor
of my family, namely, Aaron my brother. Gird up my loins by him, and make
him my colleague in the business: that we may praise thee greatly, and
may remember thee often; for thou regardest us. God replied, Now hast thou
obtained thy request, O Moses: and we have heretofore been gracious unto
thee, another time; when we revealed unto thy mother that which was revealed
unto her, saying, Put him into the ark, and cast him into the river, and
the river shall throw him on the shore; and my enemy and his enemy shall
take him and bring him up: and I bestowed on thee love from me, that thou
mightest be bred up under my eye. When thy sister went and said, Shall
I bring you unto one who will nurse the child? So we returned thee unto
thy mother, that her mind might be set at ease, and that she might not
be afflicted. And thou slewest a soul, and we delivered thee from trouble;
and we proved thee by several trials: and afterwards thou didst dwell some
years among the inhabitants of Madian. Then thou earnest hither according
to our decree, O Moses; and I have chosen thee for myself: wherefore go
thou and thy brother with my signs; and be not negligent in remembering
me. Go ye unto Pharaoh, for he is excessively impious: and speak mildly
unto him; peradventure he will consider, or will fear our threats. They
answered, O Lord, verily we fear lest he be precipitately violent against
us, or lest he transgress more exorbitantly. God replied, Fear not; for
I am with you: I will hear and will see. Go ye therefore unto him, and
say, Verily we are the messengers of thy Lord: wherefore send the children
of Israel with us, and do not afflict them. Now are we come unto thee with
a sign from thy Lord: and peace be upon him who shall follow the true direction.
Verily it hath been revealed unto us that a punishment shall be inflicted
on him who shall charge us with imposture, and shall turn back. And when
they had delivered their message, Pharaoh said, Who is your Lord, O Moses?
He answered, Our Lord is he who giveth all things: he hath created them,
and directeth them by his providence. Pharaoh said, What therefore is the
condition of the former generations? Moses answered, The knowledge thereof
is with my Lord, in the book of his decrees: my Lord erreth not, neither
doth he forget. It is he who hath spread the earth as a bed for you, and
hath made you paths therein; and who sendeth down rain from heaven, whereby
we cause various kinds of vegetables to spring forth; saying, Eat of part,
and feed your cattle with other part thereof. Verily herein are signs unto
those who are endued with understanding. Out of the ground have we created
you; and to the same will we cause you to return, and we will bring you
forth from thence another time. And we showed Pharaoh all our signs which
we had empowered Moses to perform: but he accused him of imposture, and
refused to believe; and he said, Art thou come unto us that thou mayest
dispossess us of our land by thy enchantments, O Moses? Verily we will
meet thee with the like enchantments: wherefore fix an appointment between
us and thee; we will not fail it, neither shalt thou, in an equal place.
Moses answered, Let your appointment be on the day of your solemn feast:
and let the people be assembled in open day. And Pharaoh turned away from
Moses, and gathered together the most expert magicians, to execute his
stratagem; and then came to the appointment. Moses said unto them, Woe
be unto you! do not devise a lie against God, lest he utterly destroy you
by some judgment: for he shall not prosper who deviseth lies. And the magicians
disputed concerning their affair among themselves, and discoursed in private:
and they said, These two are certainly magicians: they seek to dispossess
you of your land by their sorcery; and to lead away with them your chiefest
and most considerable men. Wherefore collect all your cunning, and then
come in order, for he shall prosper this day, who shall be superior. They
said, O Moses, whether wilt thou cast down thy rod first, or shall we be
the first who cast down our rods? He answered, Do ye cast down your rods
first. And behold, their cords and their rods appeared unto him, by their
enchantment, to run about like serpents: wherefore Moses conceived fear
in his heart. But we said unto him, Fear not; for, thou shalt be superior:
therefore cast down the rod which is in thy right hand; and it shall swallow
up the seeming serpents which they have made: for what they have made is
only the deceit of an enchanter; and an enchanter shall not prosper, whithersoever
he cometh. And the magicians, when they saw the miracle which Moses performed,
fell down and worshipped, saying, We believe in the Lord of Aaron and of
Moses. Pharaoh said unto them, Do ye believe in him before I give you permission?
Verily this is your master, who hath taught you magic. But I will surely
cut off your hands and your feet on the opposite sides; and I will crucify
you on trunks of palm-trees: and ye shall know which of us is more severe
in punishing, and can longer protract your pains. They answered, We will
by no means have greater regard unto thee, than unto those evident miracles
which have been shown us, or than unto him who hath created us. Pronounce
therefore, that sentence against us which thou art about to pronounce;
for thou canst only give sentence as to this present life. Verily we believe
in our Lord, that he may forgive us our sins, and the sorcery which thou
hast forced us to exercise: for God is better to reward, and more able
to prolong punishment than thou. Verily whosoever shall appear before his
Lord on the day of judgment, polluted with crimes, shall have hell for
his reward; he shall not die therein, neither shall he live. But whoever
shall appear before him, having been a true believer, and shall have worked
righteousness, for these are prepared the highest degrees of happiness;
namely, gardens of perpetual abode, which shall be watered by rivers; they
shall remain therein for ever: and this shall be the reward of him who
shall be pure. And we spake by revelation unto Moses, saying, Go forth
with my servants out of Egypt by night; and smite the waters with the rod,
and make them a dry path through the sea: be not apprehensive of Pharaoh’s
overtaking thee; neither be thou afraid. And when Moses had done so, Pharaoh
followed them with his forces; and the waters of the sea which overwhelmed
them, overwhelmed them. And Pharaoh caused his people to err, neither did
he direct them aright. Thus, O children of Israel, we delivered you from
your enemy; and we appointed you the right side of mount Sinai to discourse
with Moses and to give him the law; and we caused manna and quails to descend
upon you; saying, Eat of the good things which we have given you for food;
and transgress not therein, lest my indignation fall on you: and on whomsoever
my indignation shall fall, he shall go down headlong into perdition. But
I will be gracious unto him who shall repent and believe, and shall do
that which is right; and who shall be rightly directed. What hath caused
thee to hasten from thy people, O Moses, to receive the law? He answered,
These follow close on my footsteps, but I have hastened unto thee, O Lord,
that thou mightest be well pleased with me. God said, We have already made
a trial of thy people, since thy departure; and al Sameri hath seduced
them to idolatry. Wherefore Moses returned unto his people in great wrath,
and exceedingly afflicted. And he said, O my people, had not your Lord
promised you a most excellent promise? Did the time of my absence seem
long unto you? Or did ye desire that indignation from your Lord should
fall on you, and therefore fail to keep the promise which ye made me? They
answered, We have not failed in what we promised thee of our own authority:
but we were made to carry in several loads of gold and silver, of the ornaments
of the people, and we cast them into the fire; and in like manner al Sameri
also cast in what he had collected, and he produced unto them a corporeal
calf, which lowed. And al Sameri and his companions said, This is your
god, and the god of Moses; but he hath forgotten him, and is gone to seek
some other. Did they not therefore see that their idol returned them no
answer, and was not able to cause them either hurt or profit? And Aaron
had said unto them before, O my people, verily ye are only proved by this
calf; for your Lord is the Merciful: wherefore follow me, and obey my command.
They answered, We will by no means cease to be devoted to its worship,
until Moses return unto us. And when Moses was returned, he said, O Aaron,
what hindered thee, when thou sawest that they went astray, that thou didst
not follow me? Hast thou therefore been disobedient to my command? Aaron
answered, O son of my mother, drag me not by my beard, nor by the hair
of my head. Verily I feared lest thou shouldest say, Thou hast made a division
among the children of Israel, and thou hast not observed my saying. Moses
said unto al Sameri, What was thy design, O Sameri? He answered, I saw
that which they saw not; wherefore I took a handful of dust from the footsteps
of the messenger of God, and I cast it into the molten calf; for so did
my mind direct me. Moses said, Get thee gone; for thy punishment in this
life shall be, that thou shalt say unto those who shall meet thee, Touch
me not; and a threat is denounced against thee of more terrible pains,
in the life to come, which thou shalt by no means escape. And behold now
thy god, to whose worship thou hast continued assiduously devoted: verily
we will burn it; and we will reduce it to powder, and scatter it in the
sea. Your God is the true God, besides whom there is no other god: he comprehendeth
all things by his knowledge. Thus do we recite unto thee, O Mohammed, relations
of what hath passed heretofore; and we have given thee an admonition from
us. He who shall turn aside from it, shall surely carry a load of guilt
on the day of resurrection: they shall continue thereunder for ever; and
a grievous burthen shall it be unto them on the day of resurrection; On
that day the trumpet shall be sounded; and we will gather the wicked together
on that day, having grey eyes. They shall speak with a low voice to one
another, saying, Ye have not tarried above ten days. We well know what
they will say; when the most conspicuous among them for behavior shall
say, Ye have not tarried above one day. They will ask thee concerning the
mountains: Answer, My Lord will reduce them to dust, and scatter them abroad;
and he will leave them a plain equally extended: thou shalt see no part
of them higher or lower than another. On that day mankind shall follow
the angel who will call them to judgment, none shall have power to turn
aside from him; and their voices shall be low before the Merciful, neither
shalt thou hear any more than the hollow sound of their feet. On that day
the intercession of none shall be of advantage unto another, except the
intercession of him to whom the Merciful shall grant permission, and who
shall be acceptable unto, him in what he saith. God knoweth that which
is before them, and that which is behind them; but they comprehend not
the same by their knowledge: and their faces shall be humbled before the
living, the self-subsisting God; and he shall be wretched who shall bear
his iniquity. But whosoever shall do good works, being a true believer,
shall not fear any injustice, or any diminution of his reward from God.
And thus have we sent down this book, being a Koran in the Arabic tongue;
and we have inserted various threats and promises therein, that men may
fear God, or that it may awaken some consideration in them: wherefore let
God be highly exalted, the King, the Truth! Be not overhasty in receiving
or repeating the Koran, before the revelation thereof be completed unto
thee; and say, Lord, increase my knowledge. We heretofore gave a command
unto Adam; but he forgot the same, and eat of the forbidden fruit; and
we found not in him a firm resolution. And remember when we said unto the
angels, Worship ye Adam; and they worshipped him: but Eblis refused. And
we said, O Adam, verily this is an enemy unto thee, and thy wife: wherefore
beware lest he turn you out of paradise; for then shalt thou be miserable,
Verily we have made a provision for thee, that thou shalt not hunger therein,
neither shalt thou be naked: and there is also a provision made for thee,
that thou shalt not thirst therein, neither shalt thou be incommoded by
heat. But Satan whispered evil suggestions unto him, saying, O Adam, shall
I guide thee to the tree of eternity, and a kingdom which faileth not?
And they both ate thereof: and their nakedness appeared unto them; and
they began to sew together the leaves of paradise, to cover themselves.
And thus Adam became disobedient unto his Lord, and was seduced. Afterwards
his Lord accepted him, on his repentance, and was turned unto him, and
directed him. And God said, Get ye down hence, all of you: the one of you
shall be an enemy unto the other. But hereafter shall a direction come
unto you from me; and whosoever shall follow my direction, shall not err,
neither shall he be unhappy; but whosoever shall turn aside from my admonition,
verily he shall lead a miserable life; and we will cause him to appear
before us on the day of resurrection, blind. And he shall say, O Lord,
why hast thou brought me before thee blind, whereas before I saw clearly?
God shall answer, Thus have we done, because our signs came unto thee,
and thou didst forget them; and in the same manner shalt thou be forgotten
this day. And thus will we reward him who shall be negligent, and shall
not believe in the signs of his Lord: and the punishment of the life to
come shall be more severe, and more lasting, than the punishment of this
life. Are not the Meccans therefore acquainted how many generations we
have destroyed before them; in whose dwellings they walk? Verily herein
are signs unto those who are endued with understanding. And unless a decree
had previously gone forth from thy Lord for their respite, verily their
destruction had necessarily followed: but there is a certain time determined
by God for their punishment. Wherefore do thou, O Mohammed, patiently bear
that which they say; and celebrate the praise of thy Lord before the rising
of the sun, and before the setting thereof, and praise him in the hours
of the night, and in the extremities of the day, that thou mayest be well-pleased
with the prospect of receiving favor from God. And cast not thine eyes
on that which we have granted divers of the unbelievers to enjoy, namely,
the splendor of this present life, that we may prove them thereby: for
the provision of thy Lord is better, and more permanent. Command thy family
to observe prayer; and do thou persevere therein. We require not of thee
that thou labor to gain necessary provisions for thyself and family: we
will provide for thee; for the prosperous issue shall attend on piety.
The unbelievers say, Unless he come unto us with a sign from his Lord,
we will not believe on him. Hath not a plain declaration come unto them,
of that which is contained in the former volumes of scripture, by the revelation
of the Koran? If we had destroyed them by a judgment before the same had
been revealed, they would have said, at the resurrection, O Lord, how could
we believe since thou didst not send unto us an apostle, that we might
follow thy signs, before we were humbled and covered with shame? Say, Each
of us wait the issue: wait therefore; for ye shall surely know hereafter
who have been the followers of the even way, and who have been rightly
directed.
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