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

120 AL KORAN. CHAP. vu.
and they shall say, Praised be God, who hath directed us unto this fdicily /
fov we should not have been rigidly directed, if God had not directed us :
no-w are loe convinced by demonstration that the apostles of our Lord came
unto us with trutL And it shall be proclaimed unto them. This is
pai-adise, whereof ye are made heirs, as a reward for that which ye have
wi-ought. And the inliabitants ^ of paradise shall call out to the Lahabitants
of hell fire, saying, Now have we found that which our Lord promised us
to be true : have ye also found that which your Lord promised you to be
true? They shall answer, Yea. And a crier ^ shall proclaim bet ween them,
The curse of Gou shall be on the wicked ; who turn inen aside from the
way of God, and seek to render it crooked, and who deny the life to come.
And between the blessed and tJte damned there shall be a veil ; and men
shall stand on Al Araf ^ who shall know every one of them by their marks;"
and shall call unto the inhabitants of paradise, saying, Peace be upon you :
y/t they shall not enter therein, although they earnestly desire it.^ And
when they shall turn their eyes towards the companions of Iiell fire, they
say, O Lord, place us not wdth the ungodly people ! And those who stand
on Al Ai'af shall call unto certain men," whom they shall know by their
marks, and shall say, What hath your gathering of riches availed you, and
that ye were puffed up with pride ? Are these the men on whom ye sware
that God would not bestow mercy 1 ^ Eater ye into paradise ; there shall
coTne no fear on you, neither shall ye be grieved." And the inliabitants of
hell fire shall call unto the inhabitants of i)aradise, saying, Pour upon us
some water, or of those refreshments which God hath bestowed on you.''
They shall answer, Verily God hath forbidden them imto the unbelievers ;
This Ali is said to have hoped would prove true to himself and his inveterate enemies,
Othman, Telha, and al Zobeir.s
» Literally, the companions.
1 This crier, some say, will be the angel Israfil.
* Al Araf is the name of a wall or partition which, as Mohammed taught, will
separate paradise from hell.» But as to the persons who are to be placed thereon,
the commentators differ, as has been elsewhere observed.^
• f. e. Who shall distinguish the blessed from the damned by their proper
characteristics; such as the whiteness and splendour of the faces of the former
and the blackness of those of the latter.'
*> From this circumstance it seems that their opinion is the most probable who
make this intermediate partition a sort of purgatory for those, who though they
deserve not to be sent to hell, yet have not merits sufficient to gain them immediate
admittance into paradise, and will be tantalized here for a certain time with a bare
view of the felicity of that place.
« That is, the chiefs and ringleaders of the infidels.'
* These were the inferior and poorer among the believers, whom they despised in
their lifetimes as unworthy of God's favour.
• These words are directed, by an apostrophe, to the poor and despised believers
above mentioned. Some commentators however imagine these and the next pre-
ceding words are to be understood of those who will be confined in Al Araf; and
that the damned will, in return for their reproachful speech, swear that they shall
never enter paradise themselves; whereupon God of his mercy shall order them to
be admitted by these words.*
f i. e. Of the other liquors or fruits of paradise. Compare this passage with the
parable of Dives and Lazarus.
8 Al Beidawi. « See the Prelim. Disc sect iv. ^ Se€ Ibid- * Al Beidiwi \
s Idem. * Idem.