Chapter I: The Poetic Period

_Aet._ 40-44
A.D. 609-613

THE NIGHT.

_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._

By the NIGHT when she spreadeth her veil,
By the DAY when it is manifested,
By what made the male and the female:
Verily your aims are diverse.

Then as for him who giveth alms and feareth God,
And putteth his faith in the Best,
We will speed him onward to ease.
And as for him who is covetous and desirous of riches,
And denieth the Best,
We will speed him onward to trouble;
And his riches shall not avail him when he falleth down into Hell.
Verily ours is the guiding,
And ours the latter and the former life.

And I have warned you of a flaming fire:
None shall be burned in it but the wretch,
Who hath called it a lie and turned his back.
But the righteous shall be guided away from it--
He that giveth his substance in charity,
And doeth no man a kindness in hope of reward,
But only in seeking the face of his Lord the Most High;
And in the end he shall surely be well pleased.

(xcii.)

THE COUNTRY.

_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._

I swear by this COUNTRY--
And thou art a dweller in this country--
And by father and child!
Verily we have created man amid trouble:--
Doth he think that no one shall prevail against him?
He saith “I have squandered riches in abundance:”
Doth he think that no one seeth him?
Have we not made him two eyes,
And a tongue and two lips,
And pointed him out the two highways?
Yet he doth not attempt the steep one.
And what shall teach thee what the steep one is?
The ransoming of captives,
Or feeding on the day of famine
The orphan of thy kindred
Or the poor that lieth in the dust;
Finally, to be of those who believe, and enjoin steadfastness on
each other, and enjoin mercy on each other:--
These are the people of the right hand.
And those who disbelieve in our signs, they are the people of the
left:
Over them a Fire closeth.

(xc.)

THE SMITING.

_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._

THE SMITING! what is the Smiting?
And what shall teach thee what the Smiting is?
The Day when men shall be like scattered moths,
And the mountains like carded wool!
Then as for him whose scales are heavy--his shall be a life
well-pleasing.
And as for him whose scales are light--his abode shall be the
Bottomless Pit.
And what shall teach thee what that is?
A Raging Fire!

(ci.)

THE QUAKING.

_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._

When the earth shall quake with her QUAKING,
And when the earth hath cast forth her burdens,
And man shall say, “What aileth her?”
On that day shall she tell out her tidings,
Because thy Lord doth inspire her.
On that day shall men come in companies to behold their works,
And whosoever hath wrought an ant’s weight of good shall behold it,
And whosoever hath wrought an ant’s weight of evil shall behold it.

(xcix.)

THE RENDING ASUNDER.

_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._

When the Heaven is RENT ASUNDER,
And when the stars are scattered,
And when the seas are let loose,
And when the tombs are turned upside-down,
The soul shall know what it hath done and left undone.
O man! what hath deceived thee respecting thy Lord, the Generous;
Who created thee, and fashioned thee, and moulded thee aright?
In what form it pleased him He builded thee.
Nay! but ye take the Judgment for a lie!
But verily there are watchers over you--
Worthy reporters--
Knowing what ye do.
Verily the righteous shall be in delight,
And the wicked in Hell-Fire:
They shall be burnt at it on the day of doom,
And they shall not be hidden from it.
What shall teach thee what is the Day of Judgment?
Again, what shall teach thee what is the Day of Judgment?
A day when no soul can avail aught for another soul, for the
ordering on that day is with God.

(lxxxii.)

THE CHARGERS.

_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._

By the CHARGERS that pant,
And the hoofs that strike fire,
And the scourers at dawn,
Who stir up the dust with it,
And cleave through a host with it!

Verily Man is thankless towards his Lord,
And verily he is witness thereof,
And verily in his love of weal he is grasping.
Doth he not know?--when what is in the tombs shall be laid open,
And what is in men’s breasts shall be laid bare;
Verily on that day their Lord shall know them well!

(c.)

SUPPORT.

_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._

What thinkest thou of him who calleth the Day of Judgment a lie?
He it is who driveth away the orphan,
And is not urgent for the feeding of the poor.
Woe then to those who pray,
Those who are careless in their prayers,
Who make a pretence,
But withhold SUPPORT.

(cvii.)

THE BACKBITER.

_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._

Woe to every BACKBITER, slanderer!
Who hath heaped up riches and counted them over!
He thinketh that his riches have made him everlasting:
Nay! he shall surely be cast into Blasting Hell.
And what shall teach thee what Blasting Hell is?
The fire of God kindled,
Which reaches over the hearts;
Verily it is closed over them [like a tent],
With stays well-stretched.

(civ.)

THE SPLENDOUR OF MORNING.

_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._

By the SPLENDOUR OF MORNING,
And the still of night!
Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee nor hated thee;
And the future will surely be better for thee than the present,
And thy Lord will surely give to thee and thou wilt be well pleased.
Did He not find thee an orphan and sheltered thee,
And found thee erring and guided thee,
And found thee poor and enriched thee?
Then as for the orphan, oppress him not,
And as for him who asketh of thee, chide him not away,
And as for the bounty of thy Lord, tell of it.

(xciii.)

THE MOST HIGH.

_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._

Magnify the name of thy LORD, THE MOST HIGH,
Who created, and fashioned,
And decreed, and guided,
Who bringeth forth the pasturage,
Then turneth it dry and brown.

We will make thee cry aloud, and thou shalt not forget,
Except what God pleaseth; verily He knoweth the plain and the
hidden.
And we will speed thee to ease.
Admonish, therefore,--verily admonishing profiteth,--
Whoso feareth God will mind;
And there will turn away from it only the wretch
Who shall broil upon the mighty fire;
And then shall neither die therein, nor live.
Happy is he who purifieth himself,
And remembereth the name of his Lord, and prayeth.
But ye prefer the life of this world,
Though the life to come is better and more enduring.
Truly this is in the books of eld,
The books of Abraham and Moses.

(lxxxvii.)

THE WRAPPING.

_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._

When the sun shall be WRAPPED UP,
And when the stars shall fall down,
And when the mountains shall be removed,
And when the ten-month camels shall be neglected,
And when the wild beasts shall be huddled together,
And when the seas shall boil over,
And when souls shall be joined to their bodies,
And when the child that was buried alive shall be asked
For what crime she was slain;
And when the Books shall be laid open,
And when the sky shall be peeled off,
And when Hell shall be set a-blaze,
And when Paradise shall be brought near,--
The soul shall know what it hath wrought.

And I swear by the stars that hide,
That move swiftly and hide,
And by the darkening night,
And by the breath of dawn,--
Verily this is the word of a noble messenger,
Strong, firm in the favour of the Lord of the Throne,
Obeyed and trusted.
And your companion is not mad:
Of a surety he saw [the Angel] on the clear horizon:
And he is not mistrusted as to the unseen,
Nor is his the speech of a pelted devil.
Then whither go ye?
Verily this is but a Reminder to the worlds,
To whomsoever of you chooseth to walk aright:
But ye shall not choose it, except God choose it, the Lord of the
worlds.

(lxxxi.)

THE NEWS.

_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._

Of what do they question together?
Of the great NEWS,
About which they dispute?
Nay, but they shall know!
Again,--Nay, but they shall know!
Have we not made the earth as a bed?
And the mountains as tent-pegs?
And created you in pairs,
And made your sleep for rest,
And made the night for a mantle,
And made the day for bread-winning,
And built above you seven firmaments,
And put therein a burning lamp,
And sent down water pouring from the squeezed clouds
To bring forth grain and herb withal,
And gardens thick with trees?

Lo! the Day of Decision is appointed--
The day when there shall be a blowing of the trumpet, and ye shall
come in troops,
And the heavens shall be opened, and be full of gates,
And the mountains shall be removed, and turn into mist.
Verily Hell lieth in wait,
The goal for rebels,
To abide therein for ages;
They shall not taste therein coolness nor drink,
Save scalding water and running sores,--
A meet reward!
Verily they did not expect the reckoning,
And they denied our signs with lies;
But everything have we recorded in a book:--
“Taste then: for we will only add torment to you.”
Verily for the pious is a place of joy,
Gardens and vineyards,
And full-bosomed girls, their mates,
And a cup brimming over:
There shall they hear neither folly nor lying;--
A reward of thy Lord--a gift sufficient,
Of the Lord of the heavens and of the earth, and of what is between
them, the Merciful!
They shall not obtain speech of him:--
On the day when the Spirit and the Angels shall stand in ranks,
they shall have no utterance, save he to whom the Merciful shall
give leave, and who speaketh rightly.
That is the day of truth! Then he that chooseth, let him make for
his Lord as his goal.
Verily we warn you of torment nigh at hand;
On the day when man shall see what his hands have sent before him,
and the unbeliever shall say, “Oh! that I were dust.”

(lxxviii.)

THE FACT.

_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._

When the FACT becomes fact,
None shall deny it is a fact,--
Abasing,--exalting!
When the earth shall be shaken in a shock,
And the mountains shall be powdered in powder,
And become like flying dust,
And ye shall be three kinds.

Then the people of the right hand--what people of good omen!
And the people of the left hand--what people of ill omen!
And the outstrippers, still outstripping:--
These are the nearest [to God],
In gardens of delight;
A crowd of the men of yore,
And a few of the latter days;
Upon inwrought couches,
Reclining thereon face to face.
Youths ever young shall go unto them round about
With goblets and ewers and a cup of flowing wine,--
Their heads shall not ache with it, neither shall they be confused;
And fruits of their choice,
And flesh of birds to their desire;
And damsels with bright eyes like hidden pearls,--
A reward for what they have wrought.
They shall hear no folly therein, nor any sin,
But only the greeting, “Peace! peace!”

And the people of the right hand--what people of good omen!
Amid thornless lote-trees,
And bananas laden with fruit,
And shade outspread,
And water flowing,
And fruit abundant,
Never failing, nor forbidden,
And wives exalted--
Verily we produced them specially
And made them virgins,
Amorous, of equal age,
For the people of the right hand,--
A crowd of the men of yore,
And a crowd of the latter days.
But the people of the left hand--what people of ill omen!--
Amid burning wind and scalding water,
And a shade of black smoke,
Not cool or grateful!
Verily, before that, they were prosperous;
But they persisted in the most grievous sin,
And used to say,
“When we have died, and become dust and bones, shall we indeed be
raised again,
And our fathers the men of yore?”
Say: Verily those of yore and of the latter days
Shall surely be gathered to the trysting-place of a day which is
known.
Then ye, O ye who err and call it a lie,
Shall surely eat of the tree of Zakkūm,
And fill your bellies with it,
And drink upon it scalding water,--
Drink like the thirsty camel:--
This shall be their entertainment on the Day of Judgment!

It is we who created you; why then will ye not believe?
Have ye considered the germs of life--
Is it ye who create them, or are we the creators?
It is we who have decreed death among you; yet are we not debarred
From changing you for your likes, or producing you how ye know not.
But ye have known the first creation: why will ye not mind?
Have ye considered what ye sow?
Is it ye who raise it, or are we the raisers thereof?
If we pleased we could surely make it dry, so that ye would stop
and marvel, [saying]
“We have spent, yet we are forbidden [the fruits].”
Have ye considered the water ye drink?
Is it ye who send it down from the clouds, or do we send it down?
If we pleased we could make it salt; why will ye not be thankful?
Have ye considered the fire which ye kindle?
Is it ye who make the wood that produces it, or do we make it?
It is we who have made it for a reminder and a benefit to the
traveller.
Then magnify the name of thy Lord the Most Great.

And I swear by the setting-places of the stars,
And that, if ye knew it, is verily a mighty oath,
Verily this is the honourable Korān,
Written in the preserved Book:
Let none touch it but the purified,--
A revelation from the Lord of the worlds.
Will ye then disdain this discourse,
And make it your daily bread to discredit it?
Why then when the dying man’s soul has come up to his throat,
And ye at the moment are watching,--
And we are nearer to him than ye, although ye see us not,--
Why, if ye are to have no Judgment,
Do ye not cause that soul to return, if ye speak the truth?
But if he be one of those brought nearest to God,
There is rest for him and sweet odour and a garden of delights.
And if he be of the people of the right hand,
[He shall be greeted with] “Peace to thee,” from the people of the
right.
And if he be of those who call it a lie,
The erring,
Then an entertainment of scalding water,
And broiling in Hell.
Verily this is assured truth!
So magnify the name of thy Lord the Most Great.

(lvi.)

THE MERCIFUL.

_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._

THE MERCIFUL hath taught the Korān;
He created man,
Taught him clear speech;
The sun and the moon in their courses,
And the plants and the trees do homage.
And the Heaven, He raised it, and appointed the balance.
(That ye should not transgress in the balance:--
But weigh ye justly and stint not the balance.)
And the Earth, He prepared it for living things,
Therein is fruit, and the palm with sheaths,
And grain with its husk, and the fragrant herb:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
He created man of clay like a pot,
And He created the Jinn of clear fire:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
Lord of the two Easts,
And Lord of the two Wests:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
He has let loose the two seas which meet together;
Yet between them is a barrier they cannot pass:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
He bringeth up therefrom pearls great and small:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
And His are the ships towering on the sea like mountains:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
All on the earth passeth away,
But the face of thy Lord abideth endued with majesty and honour:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
All things in the Heaven and Earth supplicate Him, every day is He
at work:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
We will apply ourselves to you, O ye two notables:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
O company of Jinn and men, if ye are able to compass the boundaries
of the Heavens and of the Earth, then compass them; but ye shall
not compass them, save in our might:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
There shall be shot at you a flash of fire and molten brass; ye
cannot defend yourselves:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
And when the Heaven shall be rent and become rosy like a red hide:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
On that day neither man nor Jinn shall be asked about their sin:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
The sinners shall be known by their signs, and they shall be seized
by the forelock and the feet:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
“This is Hell which the sinners took for a lie,”
To and fro shall they wander between it and water scalding hot:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
But for him who feareth the majesty of his Lord [shall be] two
gardens:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
With trees branched over:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
And therein two flowing wells:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
And therein of every fruit two kinds:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
Reclining on couches with linings of brocade and the fruit of the
gardens to their hand:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
Therein the shy-eyed maidens neither man nor Jinn hath touched
before:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
Like rubies and pearls:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
Shall the reward of good be aught but good?
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
And beside these shall be two other gardens:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
Dark green in hue:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
With gushing wells therein:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
Therein fruit and palm and pomegranate:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
Therein the best and comeliest maids:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
Bright-eyed, kept in tents:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
Man hath not touched them before, nor Jinn:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
Reclining on green cushions and fine carpets:
_Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny?_
Blessed be the name of thy Lord endued with majesty and honour.

(lv.)

THE UNITY.

_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._

Say: He is ONE God;
God the Eternal.
He begetteth not, nor is begotten;
Nor is there one like unto Him.

(cxii.)

THE FĀTIHAH.

_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._

Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds!
The Compassionate, the Merciful!
King of the day of judgment!
Thee we worship, and Thee we ask for help.
Guide us in the straight way,
The way of those to whom Thou art gracious;
Not of those upon whom is Thy wrath nor of the erring.

(i.)

THE SPEECHES AT MEKKA