The Speeches & Table-Talk of the Prophet Mohammad · Prophet Muhammad
IRON.
_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._ All that is in the heavens and the earth magnifieth God, and He is the Mighty, the Wise. His is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, He giveth life and giveth death, and He is powerful over all things. He is the first and the last, the seen and the unseen, and all things doth He know. It is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then ascended the Throne; He knoweth what goeth into the earth and what cometh out of it, and what cometh down from the sky and what riseth up into it; and He is with you, wherever ye be; and God seeth what ye do. His is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and to God shall all things return. He maketh the night to follow the day, and He maketh the day to follow the night, and He knoweth the secrets of the breast.
Believe in God and His apostle, and give alms of what He hath made you to inherit; for to those of you who believe and give alms shall be a great reward. What aileth you that ye do not believe in God and His Apostle who calleth you to believe in your Lord? He hath already accepted your covenant if ye believe. It is He who hath sent down to His servant manifest signs to lead you from darkness into light: for God is indeed kind and merciful towards you. And what aileth you that ye give not alms in the path of God, when God’s is the heritage of the heavens and the earth? Those of you who give before the victory, and fight, shall not be deemed equal,--they are of nobler degree than those who give afterwards and fight. Yet to all hath God promised the beauteous reward; and God knoweth what ye do. Who is he who will lend God a good loan?--He will double it for him, and his shall be a noble recompense.
The day ye shall see the faithful, men and women, their light running in front and on their right hand--“Glad tidings for you this day!--gardens whereunder rivers flow, to abide therein for ever:” that is the great prize! The day when the hypocrites, men and women, will say to those who believe, “Stay for us, that we may kindle our light from yours.” It shall be said, “Go back and find a light.” And there shall be set up between them a wall, with a gate in it; and inside, within it, shall be Mercy, and outside, in front of it, Torment! They shall cry out, “Were we not with you?” The others shall say, “Yea! but ye fell into temptation, and waited, and doubted, and your desires deceived you, till the behest of God came,--and the arch-tempter beguiled you from God.” And on that day no ransom shall be accepted from you, nor from those who disbelieved--your goal is the Fire, which is your master; and evil is the journey thereto.
Hath not the Hour come to those who believe, to humble their hearts to the warning of God and the truth which He hath sent down? and that they may not be like those who received the Scripture aforetime, whose lives were prolonged, but their hearts were hardened, and many of them were disobedient. Know that God quickeneth the earth after its death: now have we made clear to you the signs,--haply ye have wits! Verily the charitable, both men and women, and they who lend God a good loan, it shall be doubled to them, and theirs shall be a noble recompense. And they who believe in God and His Apostle, these are the truth-tellers and the witnesses before their Lord: they have their reward and their light. And they who disbelieve and deny our signs--these are the inmates of Hell! Know that the life of this world is but a game and pastime and show and boast among you; and multiplying riches and children is like rain, whose vegetation delighteth the infidels--then they wither away, and thou seest them all yellow, and they become chaff. And in the life to come is grievous torment, Or else forgiveness from God and His approval: but the life of this world is naught but a delusive joy.
Strive together for forgiveness from your Lord and Paradise, whose width is as the width of heaven and earth, prepared for those who believe in God and in His Apostle. That is the grace of God! who giveth it to whom He pleaseth; and God is the fount of boundless grace. There happeneth no misfortune on the earth or to yourselves, but it is written in the Book before we created it: verily that is easy to God!-- That ye may not grieve over what is beyond you, nor exult over what cometh to you; for God loveth not any presumptuous boasters, Who are covetous and commend covetousness to men. But whoso turneth away,--verily God is Rich and worthy to be praised. We sent Our Apostles with manifestations, and We sent down by them the Book and the Balance, that men might stand upright in equity, and We sent down IRON, wherein is great strength and uses for men,--and that God might know who would help Him and His Apostles in secret: verily God is strong and mighty. And we sent Noah and Abraham, and we gave their seed prophecy in the Scripture: and some of them are guided, but many are disobedient.
Then we sent our apostles in their footsteps, and we sent Jesus the Son of Mary, and gave him the Gospel, and put in the hearts of those that follow him kindness and pitifulness; but monkery, they invented it themselves! We prescribed it not to them--save only to seek the approval of God, but they did not observe this with due observance. Yet we gave their reward to those of them that believed, but many of them were transgressors. O ye who believe, fear God and believe in His Apostle; He will give you a double portion of His mercy, and will set you a light to walk by, and will forgive you: for God is forgiving and merciful:-- That the People of the Scripture may know that they have not power over aught of God’s grace; and that grace is in the hands of God alone, who giveth to whom He pleaseth: and God is the fount of boundless grace. (lvii.)
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.