Part 7

Those among the children of Israel who believed not were cursed by the tongue of David, and of Jesus, Son of Mary. This, because they were rebellious, and became transgressors: they forbade not one another the iniquity which they wrought! detestable are their actions!

Thou shalt see many of them make friends of the infidels. Evil the actions which their own passions have sent on beforehand; for God is angry with them, and in torment shall they abide for ever:

But, if they had believed in God, and the Prophet, and the Koran which hath been sent down to him, they had not taken them for their friends; but perverse are most of them.

Of all men thou wilt certainly find the Jews, and those who join other gods with God, to be the most intense in hatred of those who believe; and thou shalt certainly find those to be nearest in affection to them who say, "We are Christians." This, because some of them are priests and monks, and because they are free from pride.

And when they hear that which hath been sent down to the Apostle, thou seest their eyes overflow with tears at the truth they recognise therein, saying, "O our Lord! we believe; write us down therefore with those who bear witness to it.

And why should we not believe in God, and in the truth which hath come down to us, and crave that our Lord would bring us into Paradise with the Just?"

Therefore hath God rewarded them for these their words, with gardens 'neath which the rivers flow; they shall abide therein for ever: this the reward of the righteous! But they who believe not and treat our signs as lies shall be the inmates of Hell-fire.

O you who believe! interdict not the healthful viands which God hath allowed you; go not beyond this limit. God loveth not those who outstep it.

5:90 And eat of what God hath given you for food, that which is lawful and wholesome: and fear God, in whom you believe.

God will not punish you for a mistaken word in your oaths: but he will punish you in regard to an oath taken seriously. Its expiation shall be to feed ten poor persons with such middling food as you feed your own families with, or to clothe them; or to set free a captive. But he who cannot find means, shall fast three days. This is the expiation of your oaths when you shall have sworn. Keep then your oaths. Thus God maketh his signs clear to you, that you may give thanks.

O believers! surely wine and games of chance, and statues and the divining arrows, are an abomination of Satan's work! Avoid them, that you may prosper.

Only would Satan sow hatred and strife among you, by wine and games of chance, and turn you aside from the remembrance of God, and from prayer: will you not, therefore abstain from them? Obey God and obey the Apostle, and be on your guard: but if you turn back, know that our Apostle is only bound to deliver a plain announcement.

No blame shall attach to those who believe and do good works, in regard to any food they have taken, in case they fear God and believe, and do the things that are right, and shall still fear God and believe, and shall still fear him, and do good; for God loveth those who do good.

O you who believe! God will surely make trial of you with such game as you may take with your hands, or your lances, that God may know who feareth him in secret: and whoever after this transgresseth, shall suffer a grievous chastisement.

O believers! kill no game while you are on pilgrimage. Whosoever among you shall purposely kill it, shall compensate for it in domestic animals of equal value (according to the judgment of two just persons among you), to be brought as an offering to the Caaba; or in expiation thereof shall feed the poor; or as the equivalent of this shall fast, that he may taste the ill consequence of his deed. God forgiveth what is past; but whoever doth it again, God will take vengeance on him; for God is mighty and vengeance is His.

It is lawful for you to fish in the sea, and to eat fish, as provision for you and for those who travel; but it is unlawful for you to hunt by land while you are still on pilgrimage: fear you God, therefore, before whom you shall be assembled.

God hath appointed the Caaba, the sacred house, to be a station for mankind, and the sacred month, and the offering, and its ornaments. This, that you may know that God knoweth all that is in the heavens and on the earth, and that God hath knowledge of everything. Know that God is severe in punishing, and that God is Forgiving, Merciful.

The Apostle is only bound to preach: and God knoweth what you bring to light, and what you conceal

5:100 Say: The evil and the good shall not be valued alike, even though the abundance of evil please thee; therefore fear God, O you of understanding! that it may be well with you.

O believers! ask us not of things which if they were told might only pain you; but if you ask of such things when the entire Koran shall have been sent down, they will be declared to you: God will pardon you for this, for God is Forgiving, Gracious. They who were before you, asked concerning such things, and afterwards quickly disbelieved therein.

God hath not ordained anything on the subject of Bahira, or Saiba, or Wasila, or Hami; but the unbelievers have invented this lie against God: and most of them had no understanding.

And when it ws said to them, "Accede to that which God hath sent down, and to the Apostle:" they said, "Sufficient for us in the faith in which we found our fathers." What! though their fathers knew nothing, and had no guidance?

O believers! take heed to yourselves. He who erreth shall not hurt you when you have the "guidance:" to God shall you all return, and He will tell you that which you have done.

O believers! let there be witnesses between you, when death draweth nigh to any of you, at the time of making the testament; two witnesses -- just men from among yourselves, or two others of a different tribe from yourselves -- if you be journeying the earth, and the calamity of death surprise you. You shall shut them both up, after the prayer; and if you doubt them, they shall swear by God, "We will not take a bribe though the party be of kin to us, neither will we conceal the testimony of God, for then we should be among the wicked."

But if it shall be made clear that both have been guilty of a falsehood, two others of those who have convicted them thereof, the two nearest in blood shall stand up in their place, and they shall swear by God, "Verily our witness is more true than the witness of these two; neither have we advanced anything untrue, for then should we be of the unjust."

Thus will it be easier for men to bear a true witness, or fear lest after their oath another oath be given. Therefore fear God and hearken; for God guideth not the perverse.

One day will God assemble the Apostles, and say, "What reply was made to you?" They shall say, "We have no knowledge, but Thou art the Knower of Secrets."

When He shall say: O Jesus! Son of Mary! call to mind my favour upon thee and upon thy mother, when I strengthened thee with the Holy Spirit, that thou shouldest speak to men alike in the cradle, and when grown up; --

5:110 And when I taught thee the Scripture, and Wisdom, and the Law, and the Evangel: and thou didst create of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, by my leave, and didst breathe into it, and by my leave it became a bird, and thou didst heal the blind and the leper, by my leave; and when, by my leave, thou didst bring forth the dead; and when I withheld the children of Israel from thee, when thou hadst come to them with clear tokens: and such of them as believed not said, "This is nought but plain sorcery;"

And when I revealed unto the Apostles, "Believe on me and on my Sent One," they said, "We believed; and bear thou witness that we are Muslims."

Remember when the Apostles said -- "O Jesus, son of Mary! is thy Lord able to send down a furnished table to us out of Heaven?" He said -- "Fear God if you be believers."

They said -- "We desire to eat therefrom, and to have our hearts assured; and to know that thou hast indeed spoken truth to us, and to be witnesses thereof."

Jesus, Son of Mary, said -- "O God, our Lord! send down a table to us out of Heaven, that it may become a recurring festival to us, to the first of us and to the last of us, and a sign from thee; and do thou nourish us, for thou art the best of nourishers."

And God said -- Verily, I will cause it to descend unto you; but whoever among you after that shall disbelieve, I will surely chastise him with a chastisement, wherewith I will not chastise any other creature.

And when God shall say -- "O Jesus, Son of Mary: hast thou said unto mankind -- 'Take me and my mother as two Gods, beside God?'" He shall say -- "Glory be unto Thee! it is not for me to say that which I know to be not the truth; had I said that, verily thou wouldest have known it: Thou knowest what is in me, but I know not what is in Thee; for Thou well knowest things unseen!

"I spake not to them aught but that which thou didst bid me -- 'Worship God, my Lord and your Lord;' and I was a witness of their actions while I stayed among them; but since thou hast taken me to Thyself, Thou hast Thyself watched them, and Thou art witness of all things:

"If Thou punish them, they are Thy servants, and if Thou forgive them.... Thou, verily, art the Mighty, the Wise!"

God will say -- This day shall their truth advantage the truthful. Gardens shall have have 'neath which the rivers flow, and remain therein for ever: God is well pleased with them and they with Him. This shall be the great bliss.

5:120 Unto God belongeth the sovereignty of the Heavens and of the Earth, and of all that they contain; and He hath power over all things.

Sura VI

The Cattle (6)

[Mecca -- 165 verses]

________________________________________

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Praise be to God, who hath created the Heavens and the Earth, and ordained the darkness and the light! Yet unto their Lord do the infidels give peers!

He it is who created you of clay -- then decreed the term of your life: and with Him is another prefixed term for the resurrection. Yet have you doubts thereof!

And He is God in the Heavens and on the Earth! He knoweth your secrets and your disclosures! and He knoweth what you deserve.

Never did one single sign from among the signs of their Lord come to them, but they turned away from it;

And now, after it hath reached them, have they treated the truth itself as a lie. But in the end, a message as to that which they have mocked, shall reach them.

See they not how many generations we have destroyed before them? We had settled them on the earth as we have not settled you, and we sent down the very heavens upon them in copious rains, and we made the rivers to flow beneath their feet: yet we destroyed them in their sins, and raised up other generations to succeed them.

And had we sent down to thee a Book written on parchment, and they had touched it with their hands, the infidels had surely said, "This is nought but plain sorcery."

They say, too, "Unless an angel be sent down to him...." But if we had sent down an angel, their judgment would have come on them at once, and they would have had no respite:

And if we had appointed an angel, we should certainly have appointed one in the form of a man, and we should have clothed him before them in garments like their own.

6:10 Moreover, apostles before thee have been laughed to scorn: but that which they laughed to scorn encompassed the mockers among them!

Say: go through the land: then see what hath been the end of those who treated them as liars.

Say: Whose is all that is in the Heavens and the Earth? Say: God's. He had imposed mercy on Himself as a law. He will surely assemble you on the Resurrection day; there is no doubt of it. They who are the authors of their own ruin, are they who will not believe.

His, whatsoever hath its dwelling in the night and in the day! and He, the Hearing, the Knowing!

Say: Other than god shall I take as Lord, maker of the Heavens and of the Earth, who nourisheth all, and of none is nourished? Say: Verily, I am bidden to be the first of those who surrender them to God (profess Islam): and, be not thou of those who join gods with God.

Say: Verily, I fear, should I rebel against my Lord, the punishment of the great day.

From whomsoever it shall be averted on that day, He will have had mercy on him: and this will be the manifest bliss.

If God touch thee with trouble, none can take it off but He: and if He visit thee with good -- it is He whose power is over all things;

And He is the Supreme over his servants; and He is the Wise, the Cognisant!

Say: What thing is weightiest in bearing witness? Say: God is witness between me and you; and this Koran hath been revealed to me that I should warn you by it, and all whom it shall reach,. What! will you really bear witness that there are other gods with God? Say: I bear no such witness. Say: Verily, He is one God, and I truly am guiltless of what you join with Him.

6:20 They to whom we have given the Book, recognise him (Muhammad) as they do their own children: but they who are the authors of their own perdition are they who will not believe.

And who more wicked than he who inventeth a lie concerning God, or who treateth our signs as lies? Verily those wicked ones shall not prosper.

And on "the Day" we will gather them all together: then will we say to those who joined gods with God, "Where are those companion-gods of yours, as you supposed them?"

Then shall they find no other excuse than to say, "By God our Lord! we joined not companions with Him."

Behold! how they lie against themselves -- and the gods of their own inventing desert them!

Some among them hearken unto thee: but we have cast veils over their hearts that they should not understand the Koran, and a weight into their ears: and though they should see all kinds of signs, they will refuse all faith in them, until when they come to thee, to dispute with thee, the infidels say, "Verily, this is nothing but fables of the ancients."

And they will forbid it, and depart from it: -- but they are only the authors of their own perdition, and know it not.

If thou couldst see when they shall be set over the fire, and shall say, "Oh! would we might be sent back! we would not treat the signs of our Lord as lies! we would be of the believers."

Aye! that hath become clear to them which they before concealed; but though they should return, they would surely go back to that which was forbidden them; for they are surely liars!

And they say, "There is no other than our life in this world, neither shall we be raised again."

6:30 But if thou couldest see when they shall be set before their Lord! He shall say to them, "Is not this it in truth." They shall say, "Yea, by our Lord!" "Taste then," saith He, "the torment, for that you believed not!"

Lost are they who deny the meeting with God until "the Hour" cometh suddenly upon them! Then will they say, "Oh, our signs for past negligence of this hour!" and they shall bear their burdens on their back! Will not that be evil with which they shall be burdened?

The life in this world is but a play and pastime; and better surely for men of godly fear will be the future mansion! Will you not then comprehend?

Now know we that what they speak vexeth thee: But it is not merely thee whom they charge with falsehood, but the ungodly gainsay the signs of God.

Before thee have apostles already been charged with falsehood: but they bore the charge and the wrong with constancy, till our help came to them; -- for none can change the words of God. But this history of His Sent Ones hath already reached thee.

But if their estrangement be grievous to thee, and if thou art able to seek out an opening into the earth or a ladder into Heaven, that thou mightest bring them a sign.... Yes! But if God pleased, He would surely bring them, one and all, to the guidance! therefore be not thou one of the ignorant.

To those only who shall lend an ear will He make answer: as for the dead, God will raise them up; then unto Him shall they return.

They say, "Unless a sign be sent down to him from his Lord...." Say: Verily, God is able to send down a sign; but the greater part of them know it not.

No kind of beast is there on earth nor fowl that flieth with its wings, but is a folk like you: nothing have we passed over in the Book: then unto their Lord shall they be gathered.

They who gainsay our signs are deaf, and dumb, in darkness: God will mislead whom He pleaseth, and whom He pleaseth He will place upon the straight path.

6:40 Say: What think you? If the punishment of God were to come upon you, or "the Hour" were to come upon you, will you cry to any other than God? Tell me, if you speak the truth?

Yes! to Him will you cry: and if He please He will deliver you from that you shall cry to Him to avert, and you shall forget the partners you have joined with Him.

Already have we sent apostles to nations that were before thee, and we laid hold on them with troubles and with straits in order that they might humble themselves:

Yet, when our trouble came upon them, they did not humble themselves; but their hearts were hardened, and Satan pre-arranged for them their course of conduct.

And when they had forgotten their warnings, we set open to them the gates of all things, until, as they were rejoicing in our gifts, we suddenly laid hold upon them, and lo! they were plunged into despair.

And the uttermost part of that impious people was cut off. All praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds!

Say: What think you? If God should take away your hearing and your sight and set a seal upon your hearts, what god beside God would restore them to you? See! how we vary our wondrous verses (signs)! yet they turn away from them!

Say: What think you? If the punishment of God come on you suddenly or foreseen, shall any perish except the impious?

We send not our Sent Ones but as heralds of good news and warners; and whoso shall believe and amend, on them shall come no fear, neither shall they be sorrowful:

But whoso shall charge our signs with falsehood, on them shall fall a punishment for their wicked doings.

6:50 Say: I say not to you, "In my possession are the treasures of God;" neither say I, "I know things secret;" neither do I say to you, "Verily, I am an angel:" Only what is revealed to me do I follow. Say: Shall the blind and the seeing be esteemed alike? Will you not then reflect?

And warn those who dread their being gathered to their Lord, that patron or intercessor they shall have none but Him, -- to the intent that they may fear Him!

And thrust not thou away those who cry to their Lord at morn and even, craving to behold his face. It is not for thee in anything to judge of their motives, nor for them in anything to judge of thee. If thou thrust them away thou wilt be of the doers of wrong.

Thus have we made proof of some of them by others, that they may say, "Are these they among us to whom God hath been gracious?" Doth not God best know the thankful?

And when they who believe in our signs come to thee, Say: Peace be upon you! Your Lord hath laid down for himself a law of mercy; so that if any one of you commit a fault through ignorance, and afterwards turn and amend, He surely will be Gracious, Merciful.

Thus have we distinctly set forth our signs, that the way of the wicked might be made known.

Say: Forbidden am I to worship those whom you call on beside God. Say: I will not follow your wishes; for then should I have gone astray, and should not be of the guided.

Say: I act upon proofs from my Lord, but you treat them as falsehoods. That punishment which you desire to be hastened is not in my power; judgment is with God only: He will declare the truth; and He is the best settler of disputes.

Say: If what you would hasten on, were in my power, the matter between me and you had been decided: but God best knoweth the impious.

And with Him are the keys of the secret things; none knoweth them but He: He knoweth whatever is on the land and in the sea; and no leaf falleth but He knoweth it; neither is there a grain in the darknesses of the earth, nor a thing green or sere, but it is noted in a distinct writing.

6:60 It is He who taketh your souls at night, and knoweth what you have merited in the day: then he awaketh you therein, that the set life-term may be fulfilled: then unto Him shall you return; and then shall he declare to you that which you have wrought.

Supreme over his servants He sendeth forth guardians who watch over you, until, when death overtaketh any one of you, our messengers take his soul, and fail not:

Then are they returned to God their Lord, the True. Is not judgment His? Swiftest He, of those who take account!

Say: Who rescueth you from the darkness of the land and of the sea, when humbly and secretly you cry to Him -- "If thou rescue us from this, we will surely be of the thankful?"

Say: God rescueth you from them, and from every strait: yet afterwards you give Him companions!

Say: It is He who hath power to send on you a punishment from above you, or from beneath your feet, or to clothe you with discord, and to make some of you to taste the violence of others. See how variously we handle the wondrous verses, that haply they may become wise!

But thy people hath accused the Koran of falsehood, though it be the truth: Say: I am not in charge of you: To every prophecy is its set time, and bye-and-bye you shall know it!

And when thou seest those who busy themselves with cavilling at our signs, withdraw from them till they busy themselves in some other subject: and if Satan cause thee to forget this, sit not, after recollection, with the ungodly people:

Not that they who fear God are to pass any judgment upon them, but the object of recollection is that they may continue to fear Him.

And quit those who make their religion a sport and a pastime, and whom this present life hath deceived: warn them hereby that every soul will be consigned to doom for its own works: patron or intercessor, beside God, shall it have none: and could it compensate with fullest compensation, it would not be accepted from it. They who for their deeds shall be consigned to doom -- for them are draughts of boiling water, and a grievous torment; for that they believed not!

6:70 Say: Shall we, beside God, call upon those who can neither help nor hurt us? Shall we turn upon our heel after that God hath guided us? Like some bewildered man whom the Satans have spell-bound in the desert, though his companions call him to the true guidance, with, "Come to us!" Say: Verily, guidance from God, that is the true guidance; and we are commanded to surrender ourselves to the Lord of the Worlds.

And observe you the times of prayer, and fear you God: for it is He to whom you shall be gathered.

And it is He who hath created the Heavens and the Earth, in truth, and when He saith to a thing, "Be," it is.

His word is the truth: and His the kingdom, on the day when there shall be a blast on the trumpet: He knoweth alike the unseen and the seen: and He is the Wise, the Cognisant.

And remember when Abraham said to his father Azar, Takest thou images as gods? Verily, I see that thou and thy people are in manifest error.

And thus did we shew Abraham the kingdom of the Heavens and of the Earth, that he might be stablished in knowledge.

And when the night overshadowed him, he beheld a star. "This," said he, "is my Lord:" but when it set, he said, "I love not gods which set."

And when he beheld the moon uprising, "This," said he, "is my Lord:" but when it set, he said, "Surely, if my Lord guide me not, I shall surely be of those who go astray."

And when he beheld the sun uprise, he said, "This is my Lord; this is greatest." But when it set, he said, "O my people! I share not with you the guilt of joining gods with God;

I turn my face to him who hath created the Heavens and the Earth, following the right religion: I am not one of those who add gods to God.

6:80 And his people disputed with him. -- He said: "Dispute you with me about God, when He hath guided me? And I fear not the deities whom you join with Him, for only by the will of my Lord have they any power: My Lord embraceth all things in His knowledge. Will you not then consider?

And how should I fear what you have joined with God, since you fear not for having joined with Him that for which He hath sent you down no warranty? Which, therefore, of the two parties is more worthy of safety? Know you that?

They who believe, and who clothe not their faith with error. theirs is safety, and they are guided aright."

This is our reasoning with which we furnished Abraham against his people: We uplift to grades of wisdom whom we will; Verily thy Lord is Wise, Knowing.

And we gave him Isaac and Jacob, and guided both aright; and we had before guided Noah; and among the descendants of Abraham, David and Solomon, and Job and Joseph, and Moses and Aaron: Thus do we recompense the righteous:

And Zachariah, John, Jesus, and Elias: all were just persons:

And Ismael and Elisha and Jonas and Lot: all these have we favoured above mankind:

And some of their fathers, and of their offspring, and of their brethren: and we chose them, and guided them into the straight way.

This is God's guidance: He guideth by it such of his servants as he will: But if they join other gods with Him, vain assuredly shall be all their works.

These are they to whom we gave the Scripture and Wisdom and Prophecy: but if these their posterity believe not therein, we will entrust these gifts to a people who will not disbelieve therein.

6:90 These are they whom God hath guided: follow therefore their guidance. Say: No pay do I ask of you for this: Verily it is no other than the teaching for all creatures.

No just estimate do they form of God when they say, "Nothing hath God sent down to man." Say: Who sent down the Book which Moses brought, a light and guidance to man, which you set down on paper, publishing part, but concealing most; though you have now been taught that which neither you nor your fathers knew? Say: It is God: then leave them in their pastime of cavillings.

And this Book which we have sent down is blessed, confirming that which was before it; and in order that thou mightest warn the mother-city and those who dwell round about it. They who believe in the next life will believe in It, and will keep strictly to their Prayers.

But is any more wicked than he who deviseth a lie of God, or saith, "I have had a revelation," when nothing was revealed to him? And who saith, "I can bring down a book like that which God hath sent down"? But couldst thou see when the ungodly are in the floods of death, and the angels reach forth their hands saying, "Yield up your souls: -- this day shall you be recompensed with a humiliating punishment for your untrue sayings about God, and for proudly rejecting his signs!"

"And now are you come back to us, alone, as we created you at first, and you leave behind you the good things which we had given you, and we see not with you your intercessors whom you regarded as the companions of God among you. There is a severance between you now, and those whom you regarded as partners with God have deserted you."

Verily God causeth the grain and the date stone to put forth: He bringeth forth the living from the dead, and the dead from the living! This is God! Why, then, are you turned aside from Him?

He causeth the dawn to appear, and hath ordained the night for rest, and the sun and the moon for computing time! The ordinance of the Mighty, the Wise!

And it is He who hath ordained the stars for you that you may be guided thereby in the darknesses of the land and of the sea! clear have we made our signs to men of knowledge.

And it is He who hath produced you from one man, and hath provided for you an abode and resting-place! Clear have we made our signs for men of insight.

And it is He who sendeth down rain from Heaven: and we bring forth by it the buds of all the plants, and from them bring we forth the green foliage, and the close growing grain, and palm trees with sheaths of clustering dates, and gardens of grapes, and the olive and the pomegranate, like and unlike. Look you on their fruits when they fruit and ripen. Truly herein are signs unto people who believe.

6:100 Yet have they assigned the Djinn to God as his associates, though He created them; and in their ignorance have they falsely ascribed to him sons and daughters. Glory be to Him! And high let Him be exalted above that which they attribute to Him!

Sole maker of the Heavens and of the Earth! how, when He hath no consort, should He have a son? He hath created everything, and He knoweth everything!

This God your Lord. There is no God but He, the creator of all things: therefore worship Him alone; -- and He watcheth over all things.

No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision: and He is the Subtile, the All-informed.

Now have proofs that may be seen, come to you from your Lord; whoso seeth them, the advantage will be his own: and whoso is blind to them, his own will be the loss: I am not made a keeper over you.

Thus variously do we apply our signs, that they may say, " Thou hast studied deep:" and that to people of understanding we may make them clear.

Follow thou that which hath been revealed to thee by thy Lord: there is no god but He! and withdraw from those who join other gods with Him.

Had God pleased, they had not joined other gods with Him: and we have not made thee keeper over them, neither art thou a guardian over them.

Revile not those whom they call on beside God, lest they, in their ignorance, despitefully revile Him. Thus have we planned out their actions for every people; then shall they return to their Lord, and He will declare to them what those actions have been.

With their most solemn oath have they sworn by God, that if a sign come unto them they will certainly believe it; Say: Signs are in the power of God alone; and He teacheth you not thereby, only because when they were wrought, you did not believe.

6:110 And we will turn their hearts and their eyes away from the truth, because they did not believe therein at first, and we will leave them in their transgressions, wandering in perplexity.