SURA XXVI.-THE POETS1 [LVI.]
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Rodwell, J. M. (John Medows)
And when I am sick, he healeth me,
And who will cause me to die and again quicken me,
And who, I hope, will forgive me my sins in the day of reckoning.
My Lord! bestow on me wisdom and join me to the just,
And give me a good name11 among posterity,
And make me one of the heirs of the garden of delight,
And forgive my father, for he was one of the erring,
And put me not to shame on the day when mankind shall be raised up,
The day when neither wealth nor children shall avail,
Save to him who shall come to God with a sound heart:
When Paradise shall be brought near the pious,
And Hell shall lay open for those who have gone astray.
And it shall be said to them, 'Where are they whom ye worshipped
Beside God? Can they harm you or help themselves?'
And they shall be cast into it-the seducers and the seduced,
And all the host of Eblis.
They shall say, as they wrangle therein together,
'By God, we were in a plain error,
When we equalled you with the Lord of the Worlds:
And none misled us but the wicked,
And we have none to plead for us,
Nor friend who careth for us.
Could we but return, we would be of the believers."'
Verily, in this was a sign: but most of them believed not.
And truly thy Lord!-He is the Mighty, the Merciful!
The people of Noah gainsaid the Apostles,
When their brother Noah said to them, "Will ye not fear God?
Of a truth am I your faithful Apostle;
Fear God then and obey me.
I ask of you no reward for this, for my reward is of the Lord of the Worlds alone:
Fear God then and obey me."
They said, "Shall we believe on thee when the meanest only are thy followers?"
He said, "But I have no knowledge of that they did:12
To my Lord only must their account be given: would that ye understood this!
And I will not thrust away those who believe,
For I am only one charged with plain warnings."
They said, "Now unless thou desist, O Noah, one of the stoned shalt thou surely be."
He said, "Lord! my people treat me as a liar:
Decide thou therefore a decision between me and them, and rescue me and the faithful who are with me."
So we saved him and those who were with him in the fully-laden ark,