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

CHAP. XIX, AL KORAN. 253
prayer, and follow their lusts ; and they shall surely fall into evil :* except
him who repenteth, and belie veth, and doth that which is right ; these shall
enter paradise, and they shall not in the least be wronged : gardens of
perpetual abode shall be their reward, which the Merciful hath promised
unto his servants, as an object of faith ; for his promise will surely come ^)
he fulfilled. Therein shall they hear no vain discourse, but peace ;^ and
their provision shall be prepared for them therein morning and evening.
This is paradise, which we will give for an inheritance unto such of our
servants as shall be pioixs. We descend not from heaven, unless by the
command of thy Lord : unto him helongeth whatsoever is before us, and
whatsoever is behind us, and whatsoever is in the intermediate space ;
neither is thy Lord forgetful oftJiee." He is the Lord of heaven and earth,
and of whatsoever is between them : wherefore worship him, and be
constant in his worship. Dost thou know any named like him?'* Man
saith,* After I shall have been dead, shall I really be brought forth alive
from the grave 1 Doth not man remember that we created him heretofore,
when he was nothing ? But by thy Lord we will surely assemble them
and the devils to judgment ; ^ then wiU we set them round about hell
on their knees : afterwards we will draw forth from every sect such of them
as shall have been a more obstinate rebel against the Merciful ; ^ and we
best know which of them are more worthy to be burned therein.'' There
shall be none of you but shall appi'oach near the same:' tins is an estab-
lished decree with thy Lord. Afterwards we will deliver those who shall
have been pious, but we will leave the ungodly therein on their knees.
"When our manifest signs are read unto them, the infidels say uuto the true
believers. Which of the two parties is in the more eligible condition, and
* " A corrupt generation has succeeded to them. It hath forsaken prayer, and
followed the torrent of its passions. It shall be plunged into the stream of hell."
-Savary.
^ i. e. Words of peace and comfort; or the salutations of the angels,^ &c.
« These art generally supposed to have been the words of the angel Gabriel, in
answer to Mohammed's complaint for his long delay of fifteen, or according t(j
another tradition, of forty days, before he brought him instructions what solution
he should give to the questions which had been asked him concerning the sleepers,
Dhu'lkarnein and the spirit.'
Others, however, are of opinion tliat they are the words which the godly will
use at their entrance into paradise ; and that their meaning is. We take up our abode
here at the command and through the mercy of God alone, tvho ruleih all things, past
future and present ; and who is not forgetful of the works of his servants.^
^ That is. Deserving, or having a right to the name and attributes of God.
• Some suppose a particular person is here meant, namely, Obba Ebn Khalf.*
' It is said that every infidel will appear, at the day of judgment, chamed to the
devil who seduced him.*
K Hence, says al Beidawi, it appears that God will pardon some of the rebellious
people. But perhaps the distmguishiug the unbelievers into different classes, in
order to consign them to different places and degrees of torment, is here meant.
•" riz., the mor« obstinate and perverse, and especially the heads of sects, who will
Buffer a double punishment for their own errors and their seducing of others.
' Eor the true believers must also pass by or through hell, but the fire will be
damped, and the flames abated, so as not to hurt them, though it will lay hold on the
others. Some, however, suppose that the words intend no more than the passage
oyer the narrow bridge, which is laid over hell.'
» See chap. 10, p. 27. ' See before, p. 131. ' Al Beidawi. * See chap. Ifl^
p. 214. ♦ Al Beidawi. « Idem. See the Prelim. Disc. sect. iv. p. 65.
2c