Shall surely eat of the tree Ez-zakkoum,
And fill your bellies with it,
And thereupon shall ye drink boiling water,
And ye shall drink as the thirsty camel drinketh.
This shall be their repast in the day of reckoning!
We created you, will ye not credit us?12
What think ye? The germs of life13-
Is it ye who create them? or are we their creator?
It is we who have decreed that death should be among you;
Yet are we not thereby hindered14 from replacing you with others, your likes, or from producing you again in a form which ye know not!
Ye have known the first creation: will ye not then reflect?
What think ye? That which ye sow-
Is it ye who cause its upgrowth, or do we cause it to spring forth?
If we pleased we could so make your harvest dry and brittle that ye would ever marvel and say,
"Truly we have been at cost,15 yet are we forbidden harvest."
What think ye of the water ye drink?
Is it ye who send it down from the clouds, or send we it down?
Brackish could we make it, if we pleased: will ye not then be thankful?
What think ye? The fire which ye obtain by friction-
Is it ye who rear its tree, or do we rear it?
It is we who have made it for a memorial and a benefit to the wayfarers of the desert,
Praise therefore the name of thy Lord, the Great.
It needs not that I swear by the setting of the stars,
And it is a great oath, if ye knew it,
That this is the honourable Koran,
Written in the preserved Book:16
Let none touch it but the purified,17
It is a revelation from the Lord of the worlds.
Such tidings as these will ye disdain?
Will ye make it your daily bread to gainsay them?
Why, at the moment when the soul of a dying man shall come up into his throat,
And when ye are gazing at him,
Though we are nearer to him than ye, although ye see us not:-
Why do ye not, if ye are to escape the judgment,
Cause that soul to return? Tell me, if ye speak the truth.
But as to him who shall enjoy near access to G.o.d,
His shall be repose, and pleasure, and a garden of delights.
Yea, for him who shall be of the people of the right hand,
Shall be the greeting from the people of the right hand-"Peace be to thee."
But for him who shall be of those who treat the prophets as deceivers,
And of the erring,
His entertainment shall be of scalding water,
And the broiling of h.e.l.l-fire.
Verily this is a certain truth:
Praise therefore the name of thy Lord, the Great.
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1 The renderings of Mar. c.u.m inciderit casura, or as in Sur. lxix, 15, ingruerit ingruens nearly express the peculiar force of the Arabic verb and of the noun formed from it; i.e. a calamity that falls suddenly and surely.
Weil renders, ween der Auferstehung"s Tag eintritt (p. 389). Lane, when the calamity shall have happened.
2 Comp. Tr. Rosch Haschanah, fol. 16, 6.
3 Lit., the companions of the right hand, what shall be the companions of the right hand! and thus in verses 9, 37, 40.