The Qur’ân
The Opening Chapter.
(I. Mecca.)
IN the name of the merciful and compassionate God.
Praise belongs to God, the Lord of the worlds, the merciful, the compassionate, the ruler of the day of judgment! Thee we serve and Thee we ask for aid. Guide us in the right path, the path of those Thou art gracious to; not of those Thou art wroth with; nor of those who err.
The Chapter of the Heifer.
(II. Medina.)
IN the name of the merciful and compassionate God.
A. L. M. That is the book! there is no doubt therein; a guide to the pious, who believe in the unseen, and are steadfast in prayer, and of what we have given them expend in alms; who believe in what is revealed to thee, and what was revealed before thee, and of the hereafter they are sure. These are in guidance from their Lord, and these are the prosperous. Verily, those who misbelieve, it is the same to them if ye warn them or if ye warn them not, they will not believe. God has set a seal upon their hearts and on their hearing; and on their eyes is dimness, and for them is grievous woe. And there are those among men who say, ‘We believe in God and in the last day;’ but they do not believe. They would deceive God and those who do believe; but they deceive only themselves and they do not perceive. In their hearts is a sickness, and God has made them still more sick, and for them is grievous woe because they lied. And when it is said to them, ‘Do not evil in the earth,’ they say, ‘We do but what is right.’ Are not they the evildoers? and yet they do not perceive. And when it is said to them, ‘Believe as other men believe,’ they say, ‘Shall we believe as fools believe? ‘Are not they themselves the fools? and yet they do not know. And when they meet those who believe, they say, ‘We do believe;’ but when they go aside with their devils, they say, ‘We are with you; we were but mocking!’ God shall mock at them and let them go on in their rebellion, blindly wandering on.
Those who buy error for guidance, their traffic profits not, and they are not guided. Their likeness is as the likeness of one who kindles a fire; and when it lights up all around, God goes off with their light, and leaves them in darkness that they cannot see. Deafness, dumbness, blindness, and they shall not return! Or like a storm-cloud from the sky, wherein is darkness and thunder and lightning; they put their fingers in their ears at the thunder-clap, for fear of death, for God encompasses the misbelievers. The lightning well-nigh snatches off their sight, whenever it shines for them they walk therein; but when it is dark for them they halt; and if God willed He would go off with their hearing and their sight; verily, God is mighty over all.
O ye folk! serve your Lord who created you and those before you; haply ye may fear! who made the earth for you a bed and the heaven a dome; and sent down from heaven water, and brought forth therewith fruits as a sustenance for you; so make no peers for God, the while ye know!
And if ye are in doubt of what we have revealed unto our servant, then bring a chapter like it, and call your witnesses other than God if ye tell truth. But if ye do it not, and ye shall surely do it not, then fear the fire whose fuel is men and stones , prepared for misbelievers. But bear the glad tidings to those who believe and work righteousness, that for them are gardens beneath which rivers flow; whenever they are provided with fruit therefrom they say, ‘This is what we were provided with before,’ and they shall be provided with the like ; and there are pure wives for them therein, and they shall dwell therein for aye.
Why, God is not ashamed to set forth a parable of a gnat , or anything beyond; and as for those who believe, they know that it is truth from the Lord; but as for those who disbelieve, they say, ‘What is it that God means by this as a parable? He leads astray many and He guides many;’ — but He leads astray only the evildoers; who break God’s covenant after the fixing thereof, and cut asunder what God has ordered to be joined, and do evil in the earth; — these it is who lose.
How can ye disbelieve in God, when ye were dead and He made you alive, and then He will kill you and then make you alive again, and then to Him will ye return? It is He who created for you all that is in the earth, then he made for the heavens and fashioned them seven heavens; and He knows all things.
And when thy Lord said unto the angels, ‘I am about to place a vicegerent in the earth,’ they said, ‘Wilt Thou place therein one who will do evil therein and shed blood? we celebrate Thy praise and hallow Thee.’ Said (the Lord), ‘I know what ye know not.’ And He taught Adam the names, all of them; then He propounded them to the angels and said, ‘Declare to me the names of these, if ye are truthful : They said, ‘Glory be to Thee! no knowledge is ours but what Thou thyself hast taught us, verily, Thou art the knowing, the wise.’ Said the Lord, ‘O Adam declare to them their names;’ and when he had declared to them their names He said, ‘Did I not say to you, I know the secrets of the heavens and of the earth, and I know what ye show and what ye were hiding?’ And when we said to the angels, ‘Adore Adam,’ they adored him save only Iblîs, who refused and was too proud and became one of the misbelievers. And we said, ‘O Adam dwell, thou and thy wife, in Paradise, and eat therefrom amply as you wish; but do not draw near this tree or ye will be of the transgressors. And Satan made them backslide therefrom and drove them out from what they were in, and we said, ‘Go down, one of you the enemy of the other, and in the earth there is an abode and a provision for a time.’ And Adam caught certain words from his Lord, and He turned towards him, for He is the compassionate one easily turned. We said, ‘Go down therefrom altogether and haply there may come from me a guidance, and whoso follows my guidance, no fear is theirs, nor shall they grieve. But those who misbelieve, and call our signs lies, they are the fellows of the Fire, they shall dwell therein for aye.’
O ye children of Israel! remember my favours which I have favoured you with; fulfil my covenant and I will fulfil your covenant; me therefore dread. Believe in what I have revealed, verifying what ye have got, and be not the first to disbelieve in it, and do not barter my signs for a little price, and me do ye fear. Clothe not truth with vanity, nor hide the truth the while ye know. Be steadfast in prayer, give the alms, and bow down with those who bow. Will ye order men to do piety and forget yourselves? ye read the Book, do ye not then understand? Seek aid with patience and prayer, though it is a hard thing save for the humble, who think that they will meet their Lord, and that to Him will they return.
O ye children of Israel! remember my favours which I have favoured you with, and that I have preferred you above the worlds. Fear the day wherein no soul shall pay any recompense for another soul, nor shall intercession be accepted for it, nor shall compensation be taken from it, nor shall they be helped.
When we saved you from Pharaoh’s people who sought to wreak you evil and woe, slaughtering your sons and letting your women live; in that was a great trial for you from your Lord. When we divided for you the sea and saved you and drowned Pharaoh’s people while ye looked on. When we treated with Moses forty nights, then ye took the calf after he had gone and ye did wrong. Yet then we forgave you after that; perhaps ye may be grateful. And when we gave Moses the Scriptures and the Discrimination; perhaps ye will be guided. When Moses said to his people, ‘O my people! Ye have wronged yourselves in taking this calf; repent unto your Creator and kill each other , that will be better for you in your Creator’s eyes; and He turned unto you, for He is the compassionate one easily turned.’ And when ye said to Moses, ‘O Moses! we will not believe in thee until we see God manifestly,’ and the thunderbolt caught you while ye yet looked on. Then we raised you up after your death; perhaps ye may be grateful. And we overshadowed you with the cloud, and sent down the manna and the quails; ‘Eat of the good things we have given you.’ They did not wrong us, but it was themselves they were wronging. And when we said, ‘Enter this city and eat therefrom as plentifully as ye wish; and enter the gate worshipping and say ‘hittatun . So will we pardon you your sins and give increase unto those who do well.’
When Moses, too, asked drink for his people and we said, ‘Strike with thy staff the rock,’ and from it burst forth twelve springs; each man among them knew his drinking place. ‘Eat and drink of what God has provided, and transgress not on the earth as evildoers.’
And when they said, ‘O Moses, we cannot always bear one kind of food; pray then thy Lord to bring forth for us of what the earth grows, its green herbs, its cucumbers, its garlic, its lentils, and its onions.’ Said he, ‘Do ye ask what is meaner instead of what is best? Go down to Egypt, — there is what ye ask.’ Then were they smitten with abasement and poverty, and met with wrath from God. That was because they had misbelieved in God’s signs and killed the prophets undeservedly; that was for that they were rebellious and had transgressed.
