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

304 AI. R-OllA-N. CHAP. XXVI.
companions of Moses said, We shall surely be overtaken.* Moses answered,
By no means ; for my Lord is with me, who will surely diiect me. And
we commanded Moses by revelation, saying, Smite the sea with thy rod.
And when he had sinUten it, it became divided into twelve parts, between
which were as many pat/ts, and every part was like a vast mountain. And
we drew thither the others ; and we delivered Moses and all those who
were with him: then we drowned the others. Verily herein was a sign;
but the greater part of them did not believe. Verily thy Lord is the
mighty and the merciful. And rehearse unto them the story of Abraham :
■Jvhen he said unto his father, and his people, What do ye worship 1 They
answered, We worship idols ; and we constantly serve them all the day
long. Abraham said, Do they hear you when ye invoke them 1 Or do
they either profit you, or hurt you? They answered, But we found our
fathers do the same. He said, What think ye'? The gods which ye worship
and your forefathers worshipped, are my enemy : except only the Loud of
all creatures, who hath created me, and directeth me ; and whogiveth me
to eat, and to drink, and when I am sick healeth me; and who will cause
me to die, and will afterwards restore me to life; and who, I hope,
will forgive ray sins on the day of judgment. O Lord, grant me wisdom ;
and join me with the righteous: and grant that I may be spoken of with
honour'^ among the latest ;jos<eri7y / 1 and make me an heir of the garden
of delight : and forgive my father, for that he hath been one of those who go
astray.^ And cover me not with shame on the day of resurrection ; on the
day in which neither riches nor children shall avail, unless unto him
who shall come unto God with a sincere heart : wlien paradise shall
be brought near to the view of the pious, and hell shall appear plainly
to those who shall have erred : and it shall be said unto them. Where are
your deities which ye served besides God? will they deliver you from
vanishment, or will they deliver themselves? And they shall be cast into
the same, both they,™ and those who have been seduced to their worship ;
and all the host of Eblis. The seduced shall dispute therein with their false
gods, saying, By God, we were in a manifest error, when we equalled you
with the Lord of all creatures : and none seduced us but the wicked. We
have now no intercessors, nor any friend who careth for us. If we were
host, returned to Egypt, and possessed themselves of the riches of that country.*
But others are of opinion that the meaning^ is no more than that God gave them
the like possessions and dwellings in another country.'
• "The Hebrews said unto Moses, We are surely undone." — Savary.
* Literally, Grant me a tongue of truth; that is, a high encomium. The same ex-
pression is used in chapter 19, p. 252.
f " Lord, give unto me wisdom and justice. Cause my voice to make known
the truth to posterity."— Sarar^.
' By disposing him to repentance, and the receiving of the true faith. Some
Buppose Abraham pronounced this prayer after his father's death, thinking tiiat
possibly he might have been inwardly a true believer, but have concealed his coa-
version for fear of Nimrod, and before he was forbidden to pray for him.*
•» See chap. 21, p. 272.
• Jallalo'ddin, Yahya. « Al Zamakh. See chap. 7, p. 130.
« See chap. 9, p. 163, and chap. 14, p. 208.