Part 22
But
whoever of you shall obey God and His Apostle, and shall do that which is
right, twice over will we give her her reward, and we have prepared for her a
noble provision
O
wives of the Prophet! you are not as other women. If you fear God, be not too complaisant
of speech, lest the man of unhealthy heart should lust after you, but speak
with discreet speech.
And
abide still in your houses, and go not in public decked as in the days of your
former ignorance, but observe prayer, and pay the impost, and obey God and the
Apostle: for God only desireth to put away
filthiness from you as his household, and with cleansing to cleanse you.
And
recollect what is rehearsed to you in your houses of the Book of God, and of
wisdom: for God is keen-sighted, cognisant of
all.
Truly
the men who resign themselves to God (Muslims), and the women who resign
themselves, and the believing men and the believing women, and the devout men
and the devout women, and the men of truth, and the women of truth, and the
patient men and the patient women, and the humble men and the humble women, and
the men who give alms and the women who give alms, and the men who fast and the
women who fast, and the chaste men and the chaste women, and the men and the
women who oft remember God: for them hath God
prepared forgiveness and a rich recompense.
And it
is not for a believer, man or woman, to have any choice in their affairs, when
God and His Apostle have decreed a matter: and
whoever disobeyeth God and His Apostle, erreth with palpable error.
And,
remember, when thou saidst to him unto whom God had shewn favour, and to whom
thou also hadst shewn favour, "Keep thy wife to thyself, and fear
God;" and thou didst hide in they mind what God would bring to light, and
thou didst fear man; but more right had it been to fear God. And when Zaid had
settled concerning her to divorce her, we married her to thee, that it might
not be a crime in the faithful to marry the wives of their adopted sons, when
they have settled the affair concerning them. And the behest of God is to be
performed.
No
blame attacheth to the prophet where God hath given him a permission. Such was
the way of God with those prophets who flourished before thee; for God's behest
is a fixed decree --
Who
fulfilled the mission with which God had charged them, and feared Him, and
feared none but god. And God taketh a sufficient account.
33:40 Muhammad is not the father of any man
among you, but he is the Apostle of God, and the seal of the prophets: and God knoweth all things.
O
Believers! remember God with frequent remembrance, and praise Him morning and
evening.
He
blesseth you, and His angels intercede for you, that He may bring you forth out
of darkness into light: and Merciful is He to
the Believers.
Their
greeting on the day when they shall meet Him shall be "Peace!" And He
hath got ready for them a noble recompense.
O
Prophet! we have sent thee to be a witness, and a herald of glad tidings, and a
warner;
And
one who, through His own permission, summoneth to god, and a light-giving
torch.
Announce,
therefore, to believers, that great boons do await them from God;
And
obey not the Infidels and Hypocrites -- yet abstain from injuring them: and put thou thy trust in God, for God is a
sufficient guardian.
O
Believers! when you marry believing women, and then divorce them before you
have consummated the marriage, you have no term prescribed you, which you must
fulfil towards them: provide for them, and
dismiss them with a reputable dismissal.
O
Prophet! we allow thee thy wives whom thou hast dowered, and the slaves whom
thy right hand possesseth out of the booty which God hath granted thee, and the
daughters of thy uncle, and of thy paternal and maternal aunts who fled with
thee to Medina, and any believing woman who hath given herself up to the
Prophet, if the Prophet desired to wed her -- a Privilege for thee above the
rest of the Faithful.
33:50 We well know what we have settled for
them, in regard to their wives and to the slaves whom their right hands hold,
that there may be no fault on thy part: and
God is Indulgent, Merciful!
Thou
mayest decline for the present whom thou wilt of them, and thou mayest take to
thy bed her whom thou wilt, and whomsoever thou shalt long for of those thou
shalt have before neglected; and this shall not be a crime in thee. Thus will
it be easier to give them the desire of their eyes, and not to put them to
grief, and to satisfy them with what thou shalt accord to each of them. God knoweth
what is in your hearts, and God is Knowing, Gracious.
It is
not permitted thee to take other wives hereafter, nor to change thy present
wives for other women, though their beauty charm thee, except slaves whom thy
right hand shall possess. And God watcheth all things.
O
Believers! enter not into the houses of the Prophet, save by his leave, for a
meal, without waiting his time. When you are invited then enter, and when you
have eaten then disperse at once. And engage not in familiar talk, for this would
cause the Prophet trouble, and he would be ashamed to bid you go; but God is
not ashamed to say the truth. And when you would ask any gift of his wives, ask
it from behind a veil. Purer will this be for your hearts and for their hearts.
And you must not trouble the Apostle of God, nor marry his wives, after him,
for ever. This would be a grave offense with God.
Whether
you bring a matter to the light or hide it, God truly hath knowledge of all
things.
No
blame shall attach to them (your wives) for speaking to their fathers unveiled,
or to their sons, or to their brothers, or to their brothers' sons, or to their
sisters' sons, or to their women, or to the slaves whom their right hands hold.
And fear you God: for God witnesseth all
things.
Verily,
God and His Angels bless the Prophet! Bless you Him, O Believers, and salute
Him with salutations of Peace.
Verily,
they who affront God and His Apostle, the curse of God is on them in this
world, and in the world to come: and He hath
prepared for them a shameful chastisement.
And
they who shall affront believing men and believing women, for no fault of
theirs, they shall surely bear the guilt of slander, and of a clear wrong.
O
Prophet! speak to thy wives and to thy daughters, and to the wives of the
Faithful, that they let their veils fall low. Thus will they more easily be
known, and they will not be affronted. God is Indulgent, Merciful!
33:60 If the Hypocrites, and the men of
tainted hearts, and the stirrers of sedition in Medina desist not, we will surely
stir thee up against them. Then shall they not be suffered to dwell near thee
therein, but a little while:
Cursed
wherever they are found; they shall be seized and slain with slaughter!
Such
hath been the way of God with those who lived before them; and no change canst
thou find in the way of God.
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. But God cleared him from what
they said of him, and of God what he high esteemed.
33:70 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 he 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!
Sura XXXIV (34)
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In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Praise
be to God! to whom belongeth all that is in the Heavens and all that is on the
Earth; and to Him be praise in the next world:
for he is the All-wise, the All-informed!
He knoweth
what entereth into the earth, and what proceedeth from it; and what cometh down
from heaven, and what goeth up into it: and He
is the Merciful, the Forgiving!
"Never,"
say the unbelievers, "will the Hour come upon us!" Say: Yea, by my Lord who knoweth the unseen, it will
surely come upon you! not the weight of a mote either in the Heavens or in the
Earth escapeth him; nor is there aught less than this or aught greater, which
is not in the clear Book; --
To the
intent that God may reward those who have believed and done the things that are
right: Pardon and a noble provision shall they
receive:
But as
for those who aim to invalidate our signs, -- a chastisement of painful torment
awaiteth them!
And they
to whom knowledge hath been given see that what hath been sent down to thee
from thy Lord is the truth, and that it guideth into the way of the Glorious
one, the Praiseworthy.
But
the unbelievers say to those whom they fall in with, "Shall we shew you a
man who will foretell you that when you shall have been utterly torn and rent
to pieces, you shall be restored in a new form?
He
deviseth a lie about God, or there is a djinn in him," but they who
believe not in the next life, shall incur the chastisement, and be lost in the
mazes of estrangement from God.
What!
have they never contemplated that which is before them and behind them, the
Heaven and the Earth? If such were our pleasure, we could sink them into that
Earth, or cause a portion of that Heaven to fall upon them! herein truly is a
sign for our every returning servant.
34:10 Of old bestowed we on David a gift,
our special boon: -- "You mountains and
you birds answer his songs of praise." And we made the iron soft for him: -- "Make coats of mail, and arrange its
plates; and work you righteousness; for I behold your actions."
And
unto Solomon did we subject the wind, which travelled in the morning a month's
journey, and a month's journey in the evening. And we made a fountain of molten
brass to flow for him. And of the Djinn were some who worked in his presence,
by the will of his Lord; and such of them as swerved from our bidding will we
cause to taste the torment of the flame.
They
made for him whatever he pleased, of lofty halls, and images, and dishes large
as tanks for watering camels, and cooking pots that stood firmly.
"Work," said we, "o family of David with thanksgiving:" But few of my servants are the thankful!
And
when we decreed the death of Solomon, nothing shewed them that he was dead but
a reptile of the earth that gnawed the staff which supported his corpse. And
when it fell, the Djinn perceived that if they had known the things unseen,
they had not continued in this shameful affliction.
A sign
there was to Saba, in their dwelling places:
-- two gardens, the one on the right hand and the other on the left: -- "Eat you of your Lord's supplies, and give
thanks to him: Goodly is the country, and
gracious is the Lord!"
But
they turned aside: so we sent upon them the
flood of Irem; and we changed them their gardens into two gardens of bitter
fruit and tamarisk and some few jujube trees.
Such
was our retribution on them for their ingratitude:
but do we thus recompense any except the ungrateful?
And we
placed between them and the cities which we have blessed, conspicuous cities,
and we fixed easy stages: "Travel you
through them by night and day, secure."
But
they said, "O Lord! make the distance between our journeys longers;"
- and against themselves did they act unjustly:
so we made them a tale, and scattered them with an utter scattering. Truly
herein are signs to everyone that is patient, grateful.
And
Eblis found that he had judged truly of them:
and they all except a remnant of the faithful, followed him:
34:20 Yet no power had he over them. Only we
would discern him who believed in the life to come, from him who doubted of it;
for thy Lord watched all things.
Say: Call you upon those whom you deem gods, beside God: their power in the Heavens and in the Earth is not
the weight of an atom -- neither have they any share in either; nor hath He a
helper from among them.
No
intercession shall avail with Him but that which He shall Himself allow. Until
when at last their hearts shall be relieved from terror, they shall say,
"What saith your Lord?" they shall say, "The Truth; and He is
the High, the Great."
Say: Who supplied you out of the Heavens and the Earth?
Say: God. And either we or you have guidance,
or are in palpable error!
Say: Not as to our faults shall you be questioned;
neither shall we be questioned as to your actions.
Say: Our Lord will gather us together: then will He judge between us in justice; for He
is the Judge, the Knowing!
Say: Shew me those whom you have united with Him as
associates: Nay, rather, He is God, the
Mighty, the Wise!
And we
have sent thee to mankind at large, to announce and to threaten. But most men
understand not.
And
they say, "When will this threat come to pass? Tell us, if you be men of
truth."
Say: You are menaced with a day, which not for an hour
shall you retard or hasten on.
34:30 The unbelievers say, "We will not
believe in this Koran, nor in the Books which preceded it." But couldst
thou see when the wicked shall be set before their Lord! With reproaches will
they answer one another. The weak shall say to the mighty ones, "But for
you we had been believers:"
Then
shall the mighty ones say to the weak, "What! was it we would turned you
aside from the guidance which had reached you? Nay, but you acted wickedly
yourselves."
And
the weak shall say to the mighty ones, "Nay, but there was a plot by night
and by day, when you bad us believe not in God, and gave him peers." And
they shall proclaim their repentance after they have seen the punishment! And
yokes will we place on the necks of those who have not believed! Shall they be
rewarded but as they have wrought?
And
never have we sent a warner to any city whose opulent men did not say, "In
sooth we disbelieve your message."
And
they said, "We are the more abundant in riches and in children, nor shall
we be among the punished."
Say: Of a truth my Lord will be liberal or sparing in
his supplies to whom he pleaseth: but the
greater part of men acknowledge it not.
Neither
by your riches nor by your children shall you bring yourselves into nearness
with Us; but they who believe and do the thing that is right shall have a
double reward for what they shall have done:
and in the pavilions of Paradise shall they dwell secure!
But
they who shall aim to invalidate our signs, shall be consigned to punishment.
Say: Of a truth my Lord will be liberal in supplies to
whom he pleaseth of his servants, or will be sparing to him: and whatever you shall give in alms he will
return; and He is the best dispenser of gifts.
One
day he will gather them all together: then
shall he say to the angels, "Did these worship you?"
34:40 They shall say, "Glory be to
thee! Thou art our master, not these! But they worshipped the Djinn: it was in them that most of them believed.
On
this day the one of you shall have no power over others for help or hurt. And
we will say to the evil doers, "Taste you the torment of the fire, which
you treated as a delusion."
For
when our distinct signs are recited to them, they say, "This is merely a
man who would fain pervert you from your father's Worship." And they say,
"This (Koran) is no other than a forged falsehood." And the
unbelievers say to the truth when it is presented to them, "Tis nothing
but palpable sorcery."
Yet
have we given them no books in which to study deeply, nor have we sent any one
to them before thee, charged with warnings.
They
also flourished before them, treated our apostles as impostors in like sort: but not to the tenth part of what we bestowed on
them, have these attained. And yet when they charged my apostles with deceit,
how terrible was my vengeance:
Say: One thing in sooth do I advise you: -- that you stand up before God two and two, or
singly, and then reflect that in your fellow citizen is no djinn:P he is no other than your warner before a severe
punishment.
Say: I ask not any wage from you: keep it for yourselves: my
wage is from God alone. And He is witness over all things!
Say: Truly my Lord sendeth forth the Truth: -- Knower of things unseen!
Say: Truth is come, and falsehood shall vanish and
return no more.
Say: If I err, verily to my own cost only shall I err: but if I have guidance, it will be of my Lord's
revealing, for He is the Hearer, the near at hand.
34:50 Couldst thou see how they shall
tremble and find no escape, and be taken forth from the place that is so near;
And
shall say, "We believe in Him!" But how, in their present distance,
shall they receive the faith,
When
they had before denied it, and aimed their shafts at the mysteries from afar?:
And a
gulf shall be between them and that which they shall desire --
As was
done unto their likes of old, who were lost in the questionings of doubt.
Sura XXXV (35)
The Creator, Or The Angels
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In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
35:1 Praise be to God, Maker of the Heavens
and of the Earth! Who employeth the angels as envoys, with pairs of wings, two,
three and four: He addeth to his creature what
He will! Truly God hath power for all things.
The
mercy which God layeth open for man, no one can keep back; and what He shall
keep back, none can afterwards send forth. And He is the Mighty, the Wise.
O men!
bear in mind the favour of God towards you. Is there a creator other than God,
who nourisheth you with the gifts of heaven and earth? There is no God but He!
How then are you turned aside from Him?
If
they treat thee as an impostor, then before thee have apostles been treated as
impostors. But to God shall all things return.
O men!
assuredly the promise of God is true: let not
then the present life deceive you: and let not
the Deceiver deceive you as to God.
Yes,
Satan is your foe. For a foe then hold him. He calleth his followers to him
that they may become inmates of the flame.
The
unbelievers -- for them a terrible punishment!
But
believers and doers of good works, for them is mercy, and a great reward!
Shall
he, the evil of whose deeds are so tricked out to him that he deemeth them
good, be treated like him who seeth things aright? Verily God misleadeth whom
He will, and guideth whom He will. Spend not thy soul in sights for them: God knoweth their doings
35:10 It is God who sendeth forth the winds
which raise the clouds aloft: then drive we them
on to some land dead from drought, and give life thereby to the earth after its
death. So shall be the resurrection.
If any
one desireth greatness, all greatness is in God. The good word riseth up to
Him, and the righteous deed will He exalt. But a severe punishment awaiteth the
plotters of evil things; and the plots of such will He render vain.
Moreover,
God created you of dust -- then of the germs of life -- then made you two sexes: and no female conceiveth or bringeth forth without
his knowledge; and the aged ageth not, nor is aught minished from man's age,
but in accordance with the Book. An easy thing truly is this to God.
Nor
are the two seas alike: the one fresh, sweet,
pleasant for drink, and the other salt, bitter; yet from both you eat fresh
fish, and take forth for you ornaments to wear, and thou seest the ships
cleaving their waters that you may go in quest of his bounties, and that you
may be thankful.
He
causeth the night to enter in upon the day, and the day to enter in upon the
night; and He hath given laws to the sun and to the moon, so that each
journeyeth to its appointed goal: This is God
your Lord: All power is His: But the gods whom you call on beside Him have no
power over the husk of a date stone!
If you
cry to them they will not hear your cry; and if they heard they would not
answer you, and in the day of resurrection they will disown your joining them
with God: and none can instruct thee like Him
who is informed of all.
O men!
you are but paupers in need of God; but God is the Rich, the Praiseworthy!
If He
please, He could sweep you away, and bring forth a new creation!
Nor
will this be hard for God.
And
the burdened soul shall not bear the burden of another:
and if the heavy laden soul cry out for its burden to be carried, yet shall not
aught of it be carried, even by the near of kin! Thou shalt warn those who fear
their Lord in secret, and observe prayer. And whosoever shall keep himself
pure, he purifieth himself to his own behoof:
for unto God shall be the final gathering.
35:20 And the blind and the seeing are not
alike; neither darkness and light; nor the shade and the hot wind;
Nor
are the living and the dead the same thing! God indeed shall make whom He will
to hearken, but thou shalt not make those who are in their graves to hearken;
for only with warning are thou charged.
Verily
we have sent thee with the truth; a bearer of good tidings and a warner; nor
hath there been a people unvisited by its warner.
And if
they treat thee as a liar, so did those who were before them threat their
Apostles who came to them with the proofs of their mission, and with the
Scriptures and with the enlightening Book:
Then
chastised I the unbelievers: and how great was
my vengeance!
Seest
thou not how that God sendeth down water from the Heaven, and that by it we
cause the up-growth of fruits of varied hues, and that on the mountains are
tracks of varied hues, white and red, and others are of a raven black? And of
men, and reptiles and animals, various likewise are the hues. Such only of his
servants as are possessed of knowledge fear God. Lo! God is Mighty, Gracious!
Verily
they who recite the Book of God, and observe prayer, and give alms in public
and in private from what we have bestowed upon them, may hope for a merchandise
that shall not perish:
God
will certainly pay them their due wages, and of his bounty increase them: for He is Gracious, Grateful.
And
that which we have revealed to thee of the Book is the very Truth, confirmatory
of previous Scriptures: for God knoweth and
beholdeth his servants.
Moreover,
we have made the Book an heritage to those of our servants whom we have chosen.
Some of them injure themselves by evil deeds; others keep the midway between
good and evil; and others, by the permission of God, outstrip in goodness; this
is the great merit!
35:30 Into the gardens of Eden shall they
enter: with bracelets of gold and pearl shall
they be decked therein, and therein shall their raiment be of silk:
And
they shall say, "Praise be to God who hath put away sorrow from us. Verily
our Lord is Gracious, Grateful.
Who of
His bounty hath placed us in a mansion that shall abide for ever: therein no toil shall reach us, and therein no
weariness shall touch us."
But
for infidels is the fire of Hell; to die shall never be decreed them, nor shall
aught of its torment be made light to them. Thus reward we every infidel!
And
therein shall they cry aloud, "Take us hence, O our Lord! righteousness
will we work, and not what we wrought of old." -- "Prolonged we not
your days that whoever would be warned might be warned therein? And the
preacher came to you --
Taste
it then." -- There is no protector for the unjust.
God
truly knoweth the hidden things both of the Heavens and of the Earth: for He knoweth the very secrets of the breast.
He
hath appointed you his vicegerents in the earth:
And whoever believeth not, on him shall be his unbelief; and their unbelief
shall only increase for the unbelievers, hatred at the hands of their Lord: -- and their unbelief shall only increase for the
unbelievers their own perdition!
Say: What think you of the gods whom you invoke beside
God? Shew me what part of the earth they have created? Had they a share in the
creation of the Heavens? Have we given them a Book in which they can find proofs
that they are to be called on? Nay, the wicked promise one another only
deceits.
Verily
God holdeth fast the Heavens and the Earth that they pass not away: and if they were passing away one could hold them
back but He: for He is Kind, Gracious.
35:40 They swore by God with their mightiest
oath that should a preacher come to them they would yield to guidance more than
any people: but when the preacher came to them
it only increased in them their estrangement,
Their
haughtiness on earth and their plotting of evil! But the plotting of evil shall
only enmesh those who make use of it. Look they then for aught but God's way of
dealing with the peoples of old? Thou shalt not find any change in the way of
God, --
Yea,
thou shalt not find any variableness in the way of God.
Have
they never journeyed in the land and seen what hath been the end of those who
flourished before them, though mightier in strength than they? God is not to be
frustrated by aught in the Heavens or in the Earth; for He is the All-knowing,
the All-mighty.
If,
moreover, God should chastise men according to their deserts, He would not
leave even a reptile on the back of the earth! But to an appointed time doth He
respite them.
And
when their time shall come, then verily God's eye is on his servants.
Sura XXXVI (36)
Ya. Sin.
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In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
36:1 Ya. Sin. By the wise Koran!
Surely
of the Sent Ones, Thou,
Upon a
right path!
A revelation
of the Mighty, the Merciful,
That
thou shouldest warn a people whose fathers were not warned and therefore lived
in heedlessness!
Just,
now, is our sentence against most of them; therefore they shall not believe.
On
their necks have we placed chains which reach the chin, and forced up are their
heads:
Before
them have we set a barrier and behind them a barrier, and we have shrouded them
in a veil, so that they shall not see.
Alike
is it to them if thou warn them or warn them not:
they will not believe.
36:10 Him only shalt thou really warn, who
followeth the monition and feareth the God of mercy in secret: him cheer with tidings of pardon, and of a noble
recompense.
Verily,
it is We who will quicken the dead, and write down the works which they have
sent on before them, and the traces which they shall have left behind them: and everything have we set down in the clear Book
of our decrees.
Set
forth to them the instance of the people of the city when the Sent Ones came to
it.
When
we sent two unto them and they charged them both with imposture -- therefore
with a third we strengthened them: and they
said, "Verily we are the Sent unto you of God."
They
said, "You are only men like us: Nought
hath the God of Mercy sent down. You do nothing but lie."
They
said, "our Lord knoweth that we are surely sent unto you;
To
proclaim a clear message is our only duty."
They
said, "Of a truth we augur ill from you:
if you desist not we will surely stone you, and a grievous punishment will
surely befall you from us."
They
said, "Your augury of ill is with yourselves. Will you be warned? Nay, we
are an erring people."
Then
from the end of the city a man came running:
He said, "O my people! follow the Sent Ones;
36:20 Follow those who ask not of you a recompense,
and who are rightly guided.
And
why should I not worship Him who made me, and to whom you shall be brought
back?
Shall
I take gods beside Him? If the God of Mercy be pleased to afflict me, their
intercession will not avert from me aught, nor will they deliver:
Truly
then should I be in a manifest error.
Verily,
in your Lord have I believed; therefore hear me."
- It
was said to him, "Enter thou into Paradise:"
And he said, "Oh that my people knew
How gracious
God hath been to me, and that He hath made me one of His honoured ones."
But no
army sent we down out of heaven after his death, nor were we then sending down
our angels --