The Koran
CHAPTER XLVIII.
ENTITLED, THE VICTORY, REVEALED AT MEDINA
IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD
VERILY we have granted thee a manifest victory: that God may forgive thee
thy preceding and thy subsequent sin, and may complete his favor on thee,
and direct thee in the right way; and that God may assist thee with a glorious
assistance. It is he who sendeth down secure tranquillity into the hearts
of the true believers, that they may increase in faith, beyond their former
faith (the hosts of heaven and earth are God’s, and God is knowing and
wise): that he may lead the true believers of both sexes into gardens beneath
which rivers flow, to dwell therein forever; and may expiate their evil
deeds from them (this will be great felicity with God); and that he may
punish the hypocritical men, and the hypocritical women, and the idolaters,
and the idolatresses, who conceive an ill opinion of God. They shall experience
a turn of evil fortune; and God shall be angry with them, and shall curse
them, and hath prepared hell for them; an ill journey shall it be thither!
Unto God belong the hosts of heaven and earth, and God is mighty and wise.
Verily we have sent thee to be a witness, and a bearer of good tidings,
and a denouncer of threats, that ye may believe in God and his apostle;
and may assist him, and revere him, and praise him morning and evening.
Verily they who swear fealty unto thee, swear fealty unto God: the hand
of God is over their hands. Whoever shall violate his oath, will violate
the same to the hurt only of his own soul: but whoever shall perform that
which he hath covenanted with God, he will surely give him a great reward.
The Arabs of the desert who were left behind will say unto thee, Our substance
and our families employed us, so that we went not forth with thee to war;
wherefore ask pardon for us. They speak that with their tongues, which
is not in their hearts. Answer, Who shall be able to obtain for you anything
from God to the contrary, if he is pleased to afflict you, or is pleased
to be gracious unto you? Yea verily, God is well acquainted with that which
ye do. Truly ye imagined that the apostle and the true believers would
never return to their families; and this was prepared in your hearts: but
ye imagined an evil imagination: and ye are a corrupt people. Whoso believeth
not in God and his apostle, verily we have prepared burning fire for the
unbelievers. Unto God belongeth the kingdom of heaven and earth: he forgiveth
whom he pleaseth, and he punisheth whom he pleaseth; and God is inclined
to forgive, and merciful. Those who were left behind will say, when ye
go forth to take the spoil, Suffer us to follow you. They seek to change
the word of God. Say, Ye shall by no means follow us: thus hath God said
heretofore. They will reply, Nay; ye envy us a share of the booty. But
they are men of small understanding. Say unto the Arabs of the desert who
were left behind, Ye shall be called forth against a mighty and a warlike
nation: ye shall fight against them, or they shall profess Islam. If ye
obey, God will give you a glorious reward: but if ye turn back, as ye turned
back heretofore, he will chastise you with a grievous chastisement. It
shall be no crime in the blind, neither shall it be a crime in the lame,
neither shall it be a crime in the sick, if they go not forth to war: and
whoso shall obey God and his apostle, he shall lead him into gardens beneath
which rivers flow; but whoso shall turn back, he will chastise him with
a grievous chastisement. Now God was well pleased with the true believers,
when they sware fidelity unto thee under the tree; and he knew that which
was in their hearts: wherefore he sent down on them tranquillity of mind,
and rewarded them with a speedy victory, and many spoils which they took:
for God is mighty and wise. God promised you many spoils which ye should
take; but he gave you these by way of earnest; and he restrained the hands
of men from you: and the same may be a sign unto the true believers; and
that he may guide you into the right way. And he also promiseth you other
spoils, which ye have not yet been able to take: but now hath God encompassed
them for you; and God is almighty. If the unbelieving Meccans had fought
against you, verily they had turned their backs, and they would not have
found a patron or protector: according to the ordinance of God, which hath
been put in execution heretofore against opposers of the prophets; for
thou shalt not find any change in the ordinance of God. It was he who restrained
their hands from you, and your hands from them, in the valley of Mecca;
after that he had given you the victory over them: and God saw that which
ye did. These are they who believed not, and hindered you from visiting
the holy temple, and also hindered the offering, being detained, that it
should not arrive at the place where it ought to be sacrificed. Had it
not been that ye might have trampled on divers true believers, both men
and women, whom ye knew not, being promiscuously assembled with the infidels,
and that a crime might therefore have lighted on you on their account,
without your knowledge, he had not restrained your hands from them: but
this was done, that God might lead whom he pleaseth into his mercy. If
they had been distinguished from one another, we had surely chastised such
of them as believed not, with a severe chastisement. When the unbelievers
had put in their hearts an effected preciseness, the preciseness of ignorance,
and God sent down his tranquillity on his apostle and on the true believers;
and firmly fixed in them the word of piety, and they were the most worthy
of the same, and the most deserving thereof: for God knoweth all things.
Now hath God in truth verified unto his apostle the vision, wherein he
said, Ye shall surely enter the holy temple of Mecca, if God please, in
full security; having your heads shaved, and your hair cut: ye shall not
fear: for God knoweth that which ye know not; and he hath appointed you,
besides this, a speedy victory. It is he who hath sent his apostle with
the direction, and the religion of truth; that he may exalt the same above
every religion: and God is a sufficient witness hereof. Mohammed is the
apostle of God: and those who are with him are fierce against the unbelievers,
but compassionate towards one another. Thou mayest see them bowing down,
prostrate, seeking a recompense from God, and his goodwill. Their signs
are in their faces, being marks of frequent prostration. This is their
description in the Pentateuch, and their description in the gospel: they
are as seed which putteth forth its stalk, and strengtheneth it, and swelleth
in the ear, and riseth upon its stem; giving delight unto the sower. Such
are the Moslems described to be: that the infidels may swell with indignation
at them. God hath promised unto such of them as believe and do good works,
pardon and a great reward.
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