SURA XXVI.-THE POETS1 [LVI.]
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Rodwell, J. M. (John Medows)
The people of Lot treated their apostles as liars,
When their brother Lot said to them, "Will ye not fear God?
I am your Apostle worthy of all credit:
Fear God, then, and obey me.
For this I ask you no reward: my reward is of the Lord of the worlds alone.
What! with men, of all creatures, will ye have commerce?
And leave ye your wives whom your Lord hath created for you? Ah! ye are an erring people!"
They said, "O Lot, if thou desist not, one of the banished shalt thou surely be."
He said, "I utterly abhor your doings:
My Lord! deliver me and my family from what they do."
So we delivered him and his whole family-
Save an aged one among those who tarried-
Then we destroyed the rest-
And we rained a rain upon them, and fatal was the rain to those whom we had warned.
In this truly was a sign; but most of them did not believe.
But thy Lord! He is the Powerful, the Merciful!
The dwellers in the forest of Madian15 treated the Apostles as liars.
When Shoaib their brother said to them, "Will ye not fear God?
I truly am your trustworthy Apostle.
Fear God, then, and obey me:
No reward ask I of you for this: my reward is of the Lord of the Worlds alone.
Fill the measure, and be not of those who minish:
Weigh with exact balance:
And defraud not men in their substance, and do no wrong on the earth by deeds of licence;
And fear Him who made you and the races of old."
They said, "Certainly thou art a person bewitched.
Thou art but a man like us, and we deem thee liar-
Make now a part of the heaven to fall down upon us, if thou art a man of truth."
He said, "My Lord best knoweth your doings."
And when they treated him as a liar, the chastisement of the day of cloud overtook them. This truly was the chastisement of a dreadful day!
In this was a sign, but most of them believed not.
But thy Lord!-He is the Mighty, the Merciful!
Verily from the Lord of the Worlds hath this Book come down;
The faithful spirit16 hath come down with it
Upon thy heart, that thou mightest become a warner-
In the clear Arabic tongue:
And truly it is foretold in the Scriptures of them of yore.17
Was it not a sign to them18 that the learned among the children of Israel recognised it?
If we had sent it down unto any foreigner,
And he had recited it to them, they had not believed.