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

CHAP. xxn. AL KORAN. 307
my reward from no other than the Lord of all creatures. Give just
measure, and be not defrauJers ; and weigh with an equal balance j and
diminish not imto men aught of their matters; neither commit violence iu
the earth, acting corruptly. And fear him who hath created you, and
also the former generations.* They answered, Certainly thou art distracted :
thou art no more than a man, like unto us : and we do surely esteem thee
to be a liar. Cause now a part of the heaven to fall upon us, if thou
speakest truth. Shoaib said, My Lord best knoweth that which ye do.
And they charged him with falsehood : wherefore the punishment of the
day of the shadowing cloud " overtook them ; and this was the punishment
of a grievous day. Verily herein was a sign ; but the greater part of theni
did not believe. Thy Lord is the mighty, the merciful. Tbis book is
certainly a revelation from the Lord of all creatures, which the faithful
spirit^ hath caused to descend upon thy heart, that thou mightest be a
preacher to thy people, in the perspicuous Arabic tongue :t and it is borne
witness to in the scriptures of former ages. Was it not a sign unto them
that the wise men among the children of Israel knew it 1 Had we revealed
it unto any of the foreigners, and he had read the same unto them, yet they
would not have believed therein. Thushave we caused obstinate injidelilyi
to enter the hearts of the wicked : they shall not believe therein, until they
see a painful punishment. It shall come suddenly \ipon them, and they
shall not foresee it : and they shall say, Shall we be respited 1 Do they
therefore desire our punishment to be hastened?^ ^Yhat thinkest thoul
If we suffer them to enjoy the advantage of this life for several years, and
afterwards that with which thej' are threatened come upon them ; what
will that which they have enjoyed profit them 1 We have destroyed no city,
but preachers were first sent unto it, to admonish the inhabitants thereof;
neither did we treat them unjustly. The devils did not descend with the
Koran, as the infidels give out : it is not for their purpose, neither are they
able to produce such a book; for they are far removed from hearing the
discourse of the angels in heaven.^ Invoke no other god with the true God,
lest thou become 07ie of those who are doomed to punishment. And
admonish thy more near relations." And behave thyself with meekness**
* "Fear him who created you, and who created the first man." — Savary.
" God first plagued them with such intolerable heat for seven days, that all their
waters were dried up ; and then brought a cloud over them, under whose shade they
ran, and were all destroyed by a hot wind and fire which proceeded from it.^
^ t. e. Gabriel; who is entrusted with the divine secrets and revelations.
f " It is written in Arabic, and the style of it is pure." — Savary.
y The infidels were continually defying Mohammed to bring some signai and mi-
raculous destruction on them, as a shower of stones, &c.
^ See chap. 15, p. 210.
' The commentators suppose the same command to have been virtually contained
in the seventy-fourth chapter, which is prior to this in point of time."- It is said
that Mohammed, on receiving the passage before us, went up immediately to Mount
ISafa, and having called the several families to him, one by one, when they were ail
assembled, asked them, whether if he should tell them that mountain would bring
forth a smaller mountain, they would believe him ; to which they answering in the
afiirmative, Verily, says he, I am a warner sent uuto you be/ore a severe chastisement*
^ Literally, Lower thy wing.
8 Al Beidawi. i See the notes thereon, and the Prelim. Dis. sect, iu p. 8L
' Al Beidawi.