we sent against them a roaring wind in a day of continued distress:
It tore men away as though they were uprooted palm stumps.
And how great was my vengeance and my menace!
Easy for warning have we made the Koran-but, is there any one who receives the warning?
The tribe of Themoud treated the threatenings as lies:
And they said, "Shall we follow a single man from among ourselves? Then verily should we be in error and in folly.
To him alone among us is the office of warning entrusted? No! he is an impostor, an insolent person."
To-morrow shall they learn who is the impostor, the insolent.
"For we will send the she-camel to prove them: do thou mark them well, O
Saleh, and be patient:
And foretell them that their waters shall1 be divided between themselves and her, and that every draught shall come by turns to them."
But they called to their comrade, and he took a knife and ham-strung her.
And how great was my vengeance and my menance!
We sent against them a single shout; and they became like the dry sticks of the fold-builders.
Easy have we made the Koran for warning-but, is there any one who receives the warning?
The people of Lot treated his warning as a lie;
But we sent a stone-charged wind against them all, except the family of Lot, whom at daybreak we delivered,
By our special grace-for thus we reward the thankful.
He, indeed, had warned them of our severity, but of that warning they doubted.
Even this guess did they demand: therefore we deprived them of sight,
And said, "Taste ye my vengeance and my menace;"
And in the morning a relentless punishment overtook them.
Easy have we made the Koran for warning but, is there any one who receives the warning?
To the people of Pharaoh also came the threatenings:
All our miracles did they treat as impostures. Therefore seized we them as he only can seize, who is the Mighty, the Strong.
Are your infidels, O Meccans, better men than these? Is there an exemption for you in the sacred Books?
Will they say, "We are a host that lend one another aid?"
The host shall be routed, and they shall turn them back.
But, that Hour is their threatened time, and that Hour shall be most severe and bitter.
Verily, the wicked are sunk in bewilderment and folly.
On that day they shall be dragged into the fire on their faces. "Taste ye the touch of Hell."
All things have we created after a fixed decree:
Our command was but one word, swift as the twinkling of an eye.
Of old, too, have we destroyed the like of you-yet is any one warned?
And everything that they do is in the Books;2
Each action, both small and great, is written down.
Verily, amid gardens3 and rivers shall the pious dwell.
In the seat of truth, in the presence of the potent King.
1. See Sura [lvi.] xxvi. 155; also Sura [lxxxvii.] vii. 71.
2. Kept by the Guardian Angels.
3. The Talmudic descriptions of the Gardens-for the later Jews believed in more than one Paradise-and of the rivers and trees therein, will be found in Schr der Talm. Rabb. Judenthum, pp. 418-432.
SURA L. THE RANKS
MECCA.-182 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
By the angels ranged in order for Songs of Praise,
And by those who repel demons,1
And by those who recite the Koran for warning,
Truly your God is but one,
Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth, and of all that is between them, and
Lord of the East.2
We have adorned the lower heaven with the adornment of the stars.
They serve also as a guard against every rebellious Satan,
That they overhear not what passeth in the assembly on high, for they are darted at from every side,3
Driven off and consigned to a lasting torment;
While, if one steal a word by stealth, a glistening flame pursueth him.
Ask the Meccans then, Are they, or the angels whom we have made, the stronger creation? Aye, of coarse clay have we created them.
But while thou marvellest they mock;
When they are warned, no warning do they take;
And when they see a sign, they fall to mocking,
And say, "This is no other than clear sorcery:
What! when dead, and turned to dust and bones, shall we indeed be raised?
Our sires also of olden times?"
Say, Yes; and ye shall be covered with disgrace.
For, one blast only, and lo! they shall gaze around them, And shall say, "Oh! woe to us! this is the day of reckoning; This is the day of decision which ye gainsaid as an untruth."
Gather together those who have acted unjustly, and their consorts,4 and the gods whom they adored
Beside God; and guide them to the road for Hell.
Set them forth: they shall be questioned.
"How now, that ye help not one another?"
But on this day they shall submit themselves to God,
And shall address one another with mutual reproaches.
They shall say, "In sooth, ye came to us in well-omened sort:"5
But they will answer, "Nay, it was ye who would not believe; and we had no power whatever over you. Nay, ye were people given to transgress;
Just, therefore, is the doom which our Lord hath passed upon us.6 We shall surely taste it:
We made