SURA1 XLVII.-MUHAMMAD [XCVI.]
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Rodwell, J. M. (John Medows)
O Meccans! if ye desired a decision, now hath the decision come to you.8 It will be better for you if ye give over the struggle. If ye return to it, we will return; and your forces, though they be many, shall never avail you aught, for God is with the faithful.
O ye faithful! obey God and his apostle, and turn not away from Him, now that ye hear the truth;
And be not like those who say "We hear," when they hear not;
For the vilest beasts in God's sight, are the deaf, the dumb, who understand not.
Had God known any good in them, he would certainly have made them hear. But even if He had made them hear, they would certainly have turned back and withdrawn afar.
O ye faithful! make answer to the appeal of God and his apostle when he calleth you to that which giveth you life. Know that God cometh in between a man and his own heart, and that to him shall ye be gathered.
And be afraid of temptation: the evil doers among you will not be the only ones on whom it will light: And know ye that God is severe in punishment.
And remember when ye were few, and reputed weak in the land:9 ye feared lest men should pluck you away; then was it that He took you in and strengthened you with his help, and supplied you with good things, that haply ye might give thanks.
O ye who believe! deal not falsely with God and his apostle; and be not false in your engagements, with your own knowledge:
And know that your wealth and your children are a temptation; and that God! with Him is a glorious recompense.
O ye who believe! if ye fear God he will make good your deliverance, and will put away your sins from you, and will forgive you. God is of great bounteousness!
And call to mind when the unbelievers plotted against thee, to detain thee prisoner, or to kill thee, or to banish thee: They plotted-but God plotted: and of plotters is God the best!
And oft as our signs were rehearsed to them, they said, "Now have we heard: if we pleased we could certainly utter its like! Yes, it is mere tales of the ancients."
And when they said, "God! if this be the very truth from before thee, rain down stones upon us from Heaven, or lay on us some grievous chastisement."
But God chose not to chastise them while thou wast with them, nor would God chastise them when they sued for pardon.
But because they debarred the faithful from the holy temple, albeit they are not its guardians, nothing is there on their part why God should not chastise them. The Godfearing only are its guardians; but most of them know it not.
And their prayer at the house of God is no other than whistling through the fingers and clapping of the hands-"Taste then the torment, for that ye have been unbelievers."
The infidels spend their riches10 with intent to turn men aside from the way of God: spend it they shall; then shall sighing be upon them, and then shall they be overcome.
And the infidels shall be gathered together into Hell,
That God may separate the bad from the good, and put the bad one upon the other, and heap them all up and put them into Hell! These are they who shall be lost.
SAY to the infidels: If they desist from their unbelief, what is now past shall be forgiven them; but if they return to it, they have already before them11 the doom of the ancients!
Fight then against them till strife be at an end, and the religion be all of it God's. If they desist, verily God beholdeth what they do:
But if they turn their back, know ye that God is your protector: Excellent protector! excellent helper!
And know ye, that when ye have taken any booty, a fifth12 part belongeth to God and to the Apostle, and to the near of kin, and to orphans, and to the poor, and to the wayfarer, if ye believe in God, and in that which we have sent down to our servant on the day of the victory,13 the day of the meeting of the Hosts. Over all things is God potent.
When ye were encamped on the near side of the valley, and they were on the further side, and the caravan was below you, if ye had made an engagement to attack ye would have failed the engagement; but ye were led into action notwithstanding, that God might accomplish the thing destined to be done:
That he who should perish might perish with a clear token14 before him, and that he who liveth might live with it. And verily, God Heareth, Knoweth.
Remember when God shewed them to thee in thy dream, as few: Had he shown them numerous, ye would certainly have become fainthearted, and would certainly have disputed about the matter-But from this God kept you-He knoweth the very secrets of the breast-
And when, on your meeting, he made them to appear to your eyes as few, and diminished you in their eyes, that God might carry out the thing that was to be done.15 To God do all things return.
Believers! when ye confront a troop, stand firm and make frequent mention of the name of God, that it may fare well with you:
And obey God and his Apostle; and dispute not, lest ye become fainthearted and your success go from you; but endure with steadfastness, for God is with the steadfastly enduring.
And be not like those Meccans who came out of their houses insolently and to be seen of men, and who turn others from the way of God: God is round about their actions.
When Satan prepared their works for them, and said, "No man shall conquer you this day; and verily I will be near to help you:" But when the two armies came in sight, he turned on his heel and said, "Ay, I am clear of you: ay, I see what ye see not:16 ay, I fear God; for God is severe in punishing."
When the hypocrites and the diseased of heart said, "Their Religion hath misled the Muslims:17 But whoso putteth his trust in God. , , , Yes, verily God is Mighty, Wise!
If thou didst see, when the angels cause the infidels to die! They smite their faces and their backs, and-"Taste ye the torture of the burning:
This, for what your hands have sent on before you:"-and God is not unjust to his servants.
Their state is like that of the people of Pharaoh and of those before them who believed not in the signs of God: therefore God seized upon them in their sin! God is Mighty, severe in punishing.
This, because God changeth not the favour with which he favoureth a people, so long as they change not what is in their hearts; and for that God Heareth, Knoweth.
Their state is like that of the people of Pharaoh, and of those before them who treated their Lord's signs as lies. We therefore destroyed them in their sins, and we drowned the people of Pharaoh; for they were all doers of wrong.
The worst beasts truly in the sight of God are the thankless who will not believe;
They with whom thou hast leagued, and who are ever breaking their league, and who fear not God!