SURA XXIX.-THE SPIDER [LXXXI.]
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Rodwell, J. M. (John Medows)
SAY: Verily I fear if I rebel against my Lord the punishment of a great day.
SAY: God will I serve, presenting him with a sincere worship:
And serve ye what ye choose beside Him. SAY: The losers truly will they be who shall lose their own souls and their families on the day of resurrection: Is not this the clear ruin?
Canopies of fire shall be over them, and floors of fire beneath them. With this doth God alarm his servants: Fear ye me, then, O my servants!
But good tidings are there for those who shun the worship of Thagout and are turned to God. Cheer then with good tidings those my servants who hearken to my word and follow its excellence. These are they whom God guideth, and these are men of insight.
Him then on whom the sentence of punishment hath justly lighted-him who is doomed to the fire canst thou rescue?
But for those who fear their Lord are storied pavilions beneath which shall the rivers flow: it is the promise of God, and God will not fail in his promise.
Seest thou not that God sendeth down water from heaven, and guideth it along so as to form springs in the earth-then bringeth forth by it corn of varied sorts-then causeth he it to wither, and thou seest it become yellow-then crumbleth it away? Lo! herein is teaching for men of insight.
Shall he then whose breast God hath opened to Islam, and who hath light from his Lord . . .? But woe to those whose hearts are hardened against the remembrance of God! They plainly err.
The best of recitals hath God sent down a book in unison with itself, and teaching by iteration.5 The very skins of those who fear their Lord do creep at it! Then do their skins and their hearts soften at the remembrance of their Lord! This is God's guidance: by it will He guide whom He pleaseth; and, whom God shall mislead, no guide shall there be for him.
Shall he who shall have nought but his own face to shelter him with from the torment of the punishment on the day of the resurrection . . .? Aye, to the evil doers it shall be said, "Taste what ye have earned."
They who were before them said it was a lie; but a punishment came upon them whence they looked not for it:
And God made them taste humiliation in this present life: but greater surely will be the punishment of the life to come. Did they but know it!
Now have we set before man in this Koran every kind of parable for their warning:
An Arabic Koran, free from tortuous wording, to the intent that they may fear God.
God setteth forth the comparison of a man with associates6 at variance among themselves, and of a man devoted wholly to a man. Are these to be held alike? No, praise be to God! But the greater part of them understand not.
Thou truly shall die, O Muhammad, and they too shall die:
Then, at the day of resurrection, ye shall wrangle with one another in the presence of your Lord.
And who acteth more unjustly than he who lieth of God, and treateth the truth when it cometh to him as a lie? Is there not a dwelling-place in Hell for the infidels?
But he who bringeth the truth, and he who believeth it to be the truth: these are the God-fearing.
Whatever they shall desire, awaiteth them with their Lord! This is the reward of the righteous;
That God may do away the guilt of their worst actions, and for their best actions render them their reward.
Is not God all-sufficient for his servant? Yet would they scare thee by their idols. But no guide shall there be for him whom God misleadeth:
And he whom God guideth shall have none to mislead him. Is not God, all- mighty, able to revenge?
And if thou ask them who hath created the Heavens and the Earth, they will surely answer, God. SAY: Think ye, then, that they7 on whom ye call beside God, if God choose to afflict me, could remove his affliction? or if he choose to show me mercy, could they withhold His mercy? SAY: God sufficeth me: in Him let the trusting trust.
SAY: O my people, act your part as best ye can, I too will act mine; and in the end ye shall know
On whom shall light a punishment that shall shame him, and on whom a lasting punishment shall fall.
Assuredly we have sent down the Book to thee for man and for the ends of truth. Whoso shall be guided by it-it will be for his own advantage, and whoso shall err, shall only err to his own loss. But not to thy keeping are they entrusted.
God taketh souls unto Himself at death; and during their sleep those who do not die:8 and he retaineth those on which he hath passed a decree of death, but sendeth the others back till a time that is fixed. Herein are signs for the reflecting.
Have they taken aught beside God as intercessors? SAY: What! though they have no power over anything, neither do they understand?
SAY: Intercession is wholly with God:9 His the kingdom of the Heavens and of the Earth! To him shall ye be brought back hereafter!
But when the One God is named, the hearts of those who believe not in the life to come, shrivel up: but when the deities who are adored beside Him are named, lo! they are filled with joy.
SAY: O God, creator of the Heaven and of the Earth, who knowest the hidden and the manifest, thou shalt judge between thy servants as to the subject of their disputes.
If the wicked possessed all that is in the earth and as much again therewith, verily they would ransom themselves with it from the pain of the punishment on the day of the resurrection; and there shall appear to them, from God, things they had never reckoned on:
And their own ill deeds shall be clearly perceived by them, and that fire at which they mocked shall encircle them on every side.
When trouble befalleth a man he crieth to Us; afterwards, when we have vouchsafed favour to him, he saith, "God knew that I deserved it."10 Nay, it is a trial. But the greater part of them knew it not.
The same said those who flourished before them; but their deeds profited them not.
And their own ill deeds recoiled upon them. And whoso among these (Meccans) shall do wrong, on them likewise their own misdeeds shall light, neither shall they invalidate God.
Know they not that God giveth supplies with open hand, and that He is sparing to whom He will? Of a truth herein are signs to those who believe.
SAY: O my servants who have transgressed to your own hurt,11 despair not of God's mercy, for all sins doth God forgive. Gracious, Merciful is He!