The Speeches & Table-Talk of the Prophet Mohammad · Prophet Muhammad
RELIGIOUS LAW.
It is not righteousness that ye turn your face towards the east or the west, but righteousness is [in] him who believeth in God and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Scripture, and the Prophets, and who giveth wealth for the love of God to his kinsfolk and to orphans and the needy and the son of the road and them that ask and for the freeing of slaves, and who is instant in prayer, and giveth the alms; and those who fulfil their covenant when they covenant, and the patient in adversity and affliction and in time of violence, these are they who are true, and these are they who fear God.--ii. 172. Say: We believe in God, and what hath been sent down to thee, and what was sent down to Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, and what was given to Moses, and to Jesus, and the prophets from their Lord,--we make no distinction between any of them,--and to Him are we resigned: and whoso desireth other than Resignation [Islām] for a religion, it shall certainly not be accepted from him, and in the life to come he shall be among the losers.--iii. 78, 79. Observe the prayers, and the middle prayer, and stand instant before God. And if ye fear, then afoot or mounted; but when ye are safe remember God, how he taught you what ye did not know.--ii. 239, 240.
When the call to prayer soundeth on the Day of Congregation (Friday), then hasten to remember God, and abandon business; that is better for you if ye only knew: and when prayer is done, disperse in the land and seek of the bounty of God.--lxii. 9, 10. Turn thy face towards the Sacred Mosque; wherever ye be, turn your faces thitherwards.--ii. 139. Give alms on the path of God, and let not your hands cast you into destruction; but do good, for God loveth those who do good; and accomplish the pilgrimage and the visit to God: but if ye be besieged, then [send] what is easiest as an offering.--ii. 191. They will ask thee what it is they must give in alms. Say: Let what good ye give be for parents, and kinsfolk, and the orphan, and the needy, and the son of the road; and what good ye do, verily God knoweth it.--ii. 211. They will ask thee what they shall expend in alms; say, The surplus.--ii. 216. If ye give alms openly, it is well; but if ye conceal it, and give it to the poor, it is better for you, and will take away from you some of your sins: and God knoweth what ye do.--ii. 273.
O ye who believe, make not your alms of no effect by taunts and vexation, like him who spendeth what he hath to be seen of men, and believeth not in God and the Last Day: for his likeness is as the likeness of a stone with earth upon it, and a heavy rain falleth upon it and leaveth it bare; they accomplish nothing with what they earn, for God guideth not the people that disbelieve. And the likeness of those who expend their wealth for the sake of pleasing God and for the certainty of their souls is as the likeness of a garden on a hill: a heavy rain falleth on it and it bringeth forth its fruit twofold; and if no heavy rain falleth on it, then the dew falleth; and God seeth what ye do.--ii. 266, 267. Kind speech and forgiveness is better than alms which vexation followeth; and God is rich and ruthful.--ii. 265.
O ye who believe, there is prescribed for you the fast as it was prescribed for those before you; maybe ye will fear God for a certain number of days, but he amongst you who is sick or on a journey may fast a [like] number of other days. And for those who are able to fast [and do not], the expiation is feeding a poor man; but he who voluntarily doeth a good act, it is better for him; and to fast is better for you, if ye only knew. The month of Ramadān, wherein the Korān was sent down for guidance to men, and for proofs of the guidance, and the distinguishing [of good and evil]; whoso amongst you seeth this month, let him fast it; but he who is sick or on a journey, a [like] number of other days:--God wisheth for you what is easy, and wisheth not for you what is difficult--that ye may fulfil the number, and magnify God, in that He hath guided you;--and maybe ye will be thankful.--ii. 179-181. Proclaim among the people a Pilgrimage: let them come to thee on foot and on every fleet camel, coming by every deep pass, to be present at its benefits to them, and to make mention of God’s name at the appointed days over the beasts with which He hath provided them: then eat thereof, and feed the poor and needy; then let them end the neglect of their persons, and pay their vows, and make the circuit of the ancient House.--xxii. 28-30.
He only shall visit the Mosques of God who believeth in God and the Last Day, and is instant in prayer, and payeth the alms, and feareth God only.--ix. 18. Do ye place the giving drink to the pilgrims, and the visiting of the Sacred Mosque, on the same level with him who believeth in God and the Last Day, and fighteth on the path of God? They are not equal in the sight of God.--ix. 19. Fight in the path of God with those who fight with you;--but exceed not; verily God loveth not those who exceed.--And kill them wheresoever ye find them, and thrust them out from whence they thrust you out; for dissent is worse than slaughter; but fight them not at the Sacred Mosque, unless they fight you there: but if they fight you, then kill them: such is the reward of the infidels! But if they desist, then verily God is forgiving and merciful.--But fight them till there be no dissent, and the worship be only to God;--but, if they desist, then let there be no hostility save against the transgressors.--ii. 186-189. They will ask thee of the sacred month, and fighting therein; say, Fighting therein is a great sin; but turning people away from God’s path, and disbelief in Him and in the Sacred Mosque, and turning His people out therefrom, is a greater in God’s sight, and dissent is a greater sin than slaughter.--ii. 214.
Forbidden to you is that which dieth of itself, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that which is dedicated to other than God, and what is strangled, and what is killed by a blow, or by falling, and what is gored, and what wild beasts have preyed on--except what ye kill in time--and what is sacrificed to idols; and to divide by [the divination of] arrows, that is transgression in you.--v. 4. Make not God the butt of your oaths, that ye will be pious and fear God, and make peace among men, for God heareth and knoweth.--ii. 224. O ye who believe, verily wine and gambling and statues and divining arrows are only an abomination of the devil’s making: avoid them then; haply ye may prosper.--v. 92.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.