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

136 AL KORAN. CU4P. Tii.
the similitude of those people who accuse our signs of falsehood, and injure
their own souls. Whomsoevei- God shall dii-ect, he will be rightly directed ;
and whomsoever he shall lead astray, they shall perish. Moreover we
have created for hell many of the genii and of men ; they have hearts
by which they understand not, and tliey have eyes by which they see not ;
and they have ears by which they hear not. These are like the brute
beasts; yea they go more astray : these are the negligent. God hath most
excellent names : ^ therefore call on him by the same ; and mthdraw from
those who use his name perversely : ^ they shall be rewarded for that which
they shall have wi-ought. And of those whom we have created there are a
jieople who dii-ect others with truth, and act justly r.ccording thereto."* But
tliose who devise lies against our signs, we will suifer them to fall gi-adually
into niin, by a method which they knew not : ^ and I will grant them to
enjoy a long and prosperous life ;* for my stratagem is eflFectual. Do they
not consider that there is no devil in their companion ?^ He is no other
than a public preacher. Or do they not contemplate the kingdom of
heaven and earth, and the things which God hath created ; and consider
that peradventure it may be that their end draweth nigh ? And in what
new declaration will they believe, after this %^ lie whom God shall cause
to err, shall have no director ; and he shall leave them in their impiety,
wandering in confusion. They will ask thee concerning the last houi*; at
what time its coming is fixed ? Answer, Verily the knowledge thereof is
with my Lord ; none shall declare the fixed time thereof, except he. Hie
expectation thereof is grievous in heaven and on earth : '^ it shall come upon
you no otherwise than suddenly. They 'ivill ask thee, as though thou
wast well acquainted therewith. Answer, Verily the knowledge thereof is
with God alone : but the greater part of men know it not. Say, I am able
neither to j^rocure advantage unto myself, nor to avert miscliief yVom me,
but as God pleaseth. If I knew the secrets of God, I should surely enjoy
abundance of good, neither should evil befall me. Verily I am no other
than a denouncer of threats, and a messenger of good tidings unto people
» Expressing his glorious attributes. Of these the Mohammedan Arabs have no
less than ninety-nine, which are reckoned up by Marracci.^
t As did Walid Ebn al Mogheira ; who liearing Mohammed give God the title of
al Rahman, or tlie merciful, laughed aloud, saying that he knew none of that name,
except a certain man who dwelt in Yamama:^ or as the idolatrous Moccans did,
who deduced the names of their idols from those of the true God; deriving, for ex-
ample, Allat from Allah; al Uzza from al Aziz, the mighty; and Manat from al
JMannan, the bountiful?
" As it is said a little above, that God had created many to eternal misery, so here
he is said to have created others to eternal happiness.*
3t By flattering them with prosperity in this life, and permitting them to sin in an
uninterrupted security ; till they find themselves unexpectedly ruined.*
* "Though my vengeance be slow, it is only the more terrible." — Savary.
y Viz. in Mohammed ; whom they gave out to be possessed when he went up to
mount Safa, and from thence called to the several families of each respective tribe,
in order to warn them of Gods vengeance if they continued in their idolatry."
' i. e. After they have rejected the Koran. For what more evident revelation can
they hereafter expect?''
» Not only to men and genii, but to the angels also.
^ In Ale. p. 414. » Marracc. Vit. :Moh. p. 19. s Al Bcidawi, Jallalo'ddin. So*
\he Prelim. Disc. sect. i. * Al Beidawi. * Idem. « Idem. ~' Idf^m.