J. F. Campbell Collection > Koran: or, Alcoran of Mohammed

CHAP. xxvn. AL KORAN. 315
true?* Answer, Peradventm-e some part of thsitpu?iish)ne)?(,vrhich ye desire
to be hastened, may follow close behind you : verily thy Lord is endued with
indulgence towards mankind ; but the greater part of them are not thank-
ful. Verily thy Lord knoweth what their breasts conceal, and what they
discover : and there is nothing hidden in heaven or on earth, but it t.i
loritten in a clear book. Verily this Koran declareth unto the children of
Israel most of those points concerning which they disagi-ee : ^ and it is cer-
tainly a dii-ectiou, and a mercy unto the true believere. Thy Lord will
decide the controversy between them, by his definitive sentence : and he is
the mighty, the wise. Therefore, put thy trust in God ; for thou art in the
manifest truth. Verily thou shalt not make the dead to hear, neither shalt
thou make the deaf to hear thy call to the true faith, when they retire and
turn their backs : neither shalt thou direct the blind to extricate themselves
out of their error. Thou shalt make none to hear thee, except him who
shall believe in our signs : and they are wholly resigned unto us. "When
the sentence shall he ready to f dl upon them, we will cause a beast ^ to
come forth unto them from out of the earth, which shall speak unto them : ^
verily men do not firmly believe in our signs, t On the day of resurrection
we will assemble, out of every nation, a company of those who shall have
charged our signs with falsehood ; and they shall be prevented from mixing
together, until they shall arrive at the place of judgment. And God shall
say unto them, Have ye charged my signs with falsehood, although ye com-
prehended them not with your knowledge? Or what is it that ye were
doing ? And the sentence of damnation shall fall on them, for that they
have acted unjustly : and they shall not speak in their own excuse. Do
they not see that we have ordained the night, that they may rest therein,
and the day giving open light ? ^ Verily herein are signs unto people who
believe. On that day the trumpet shall be sounded ; and whoever are in
heaven and on earth shall be struck with teiTor, except those whom God
shall please to exempt therefrom:^ and all shall come before him in humble
* "When will thy promises be accomplished? Tell us, if the truth enlighteneth
thee." — Snvary.
* Such as the comparing of God to sensible things, or to created beings ; the re-
moving all imperfections from the description of the divine Being; the state of para-
dise and hell; the stories of Ezra and Jesus Christ, &c.'
y The Mohammedans call this beast, whose appearance will be one sign of the
approach of the day of judgment, al Jassasa, or the Spy. I have given the description
of her elsewhere ;8 to which should be added, that she "is to have two wings.
" Or, according to a different reading, (viz. taclimohom instead of tocallimokom)
wJio ."hall wound them'
t " When the sentence of their perdition shall be pronounced, we will cause to
arise from the earth a monster, who shall exclaim, Me7i have not believed in Islam-
ism.'"— Savary.
t " See they not, that we have established the night for rest, and the day for
action?" — Savary.
_' See the Prelim. Disc. sect. iv. p. 59, &c. Some say the persons exempted from
this general consternation will be the angels Gabriel, Michael, Israfil, and Israel ; ^
others suppose them to be the virgins of paradise, and the angels who guard that place,
and carry God's throne;* and others will have them to be the martyrs.^
J Al Ecidawi. 8 Prelim. Disc. sect. iv. p. ,57, kc. » Vide ibid. p. 67.
Jallalo'ddin, Al Beidawi. » lidem. » Ebn Abba«.