Nay! would that ye knew it with knowledge of certainty!
Surely ye shall see h.e.l.l-fire.
Then shall ye surely see it with the eye of certainty;
Then shall ye on that day be taken to task concerning pleasures.
SURA XCII.-THE NIGHT [XVI.]
MECCA.-21 Verses
In the name of G.o.d, the Compa.s.sionate, the Merciful
BY the NIGHT when she spreads her veil;
By the Day when it brightly shineth;
By Him who made male and female;
At different ends truly do ye aim!1
But as to him who giveth alms and feareth G.o.d,
And yieldeth a.s.sent to the Good;
To him will we make easy the path to happiness.
But as to him who is covetous and bent on riches,
And calleth the Good a lie,
To him will we make easy the path to misery:
And what shall his wealth avail him when he goeth down?
Truly man"s guidance is with Us
And Our"s, the Future and the Past.
I warn you therefore of the flaming fire;
None shall be cast to it but the most wretched,-
Who hath called the truth a lie and turned his back.
But the G.o.d-fearing shall escape it,-
Who giveth away his substance that he may become pure;2
And who offereth not favours to any one for the sake of recompense,
But only as seeking the face of his Lord the Most High.
And surely in the end he shall be well content.
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1 See Pref., p. 5, line I.
2 Comp. Luke xi. 41. Muhammad perhaps derived this view of the meritorious anture of almsgiving from the Jewish oral law.
SURA LXVIII.-THE PEN [XVII.]
Mecca.-52 Verses
In the Name of G.o.d, the Compa.s.sionate, the Merciful
Nun.1 By the PEN2 and by what they write,
Thou, O Prophet; by the grace of thy Lord art not possessed!3
And truly a boundless recompense doth await thee,
For thou art of a n.o.ble nature.4
But thou shalt see and they shall see Which of you is the demented.
Now thy Lord! well knoweth He the man who erreth from his path, and well doth he know those who have yielded to Guidance;
Give not place, therefore, to those who treat thee as a liar:
They desire thee to deal smoothly with them: then would they be smooth as oil with thee:
But yield not to the man of oaths, a despicable person,
Defamer, going about with slander,
Hinderer of the good, transgressor, criminal,
Harsh-beside this, impure by birth,
Though a man of riches and blessed with sons.
Who when our wondrous verses are recited to him saith-"Fables of the ancients."
We will brand him on the nostrils.