The Speeches & Table-Talk of the Prophet Mohammad · Prophet Muhammad
THE KINGDOM.
_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._ Blessed be He in whose hand is the KINGDOM: and He is powerful over all; Who created death and life to prove you which of you is best in actions, and He is the Mighty, the Very Forgiving; Who hath created seven heavens in stages: thou seest no fault in the creation of the Merciful; but lift up thine eyes again; dost thou see any cracks? Then lift up the eyes again twice; thy sight will recoil to thee dazzled and dim. Moreover, we have decked the lower heaven with lamps, and have made them for pelting the devils, and we have prepared for them the torment of the flame. And for those who disbelieve in their Lord, the torment of Hell: and evil the journey to it! When they shall be cast into it, they shall hark to its braying as it boileth;-- It shall well-nigh burst with fury! Every time a troop is thrown into it, its keepers shall ask them, “Did not a warner come to you?” They shall say, “Yea! a warner came to us; but we took him for a liar, and said, ‘God hath not sent down anything. Verily, ye are only in great error.’”
And they shall say, “Had we but hearkened or understood, we had not been among the people of the flame!” And they will confess their sins: so a curse on the people of the flame! Verily they who fear their Lord in secret, for them is forgiveness--a great reward. And whether ye hide your speech, or say it aloud, verily He knoweth well the secrets of the breast! What! shall He not know, who created? and He is the subtle, the well-aware! It is He who hath made the earth smooth for you: so walk on its sides, and eat of what He hath provided--and unto Him shall be the resurrection. Are ye sure that He who is in the Heaven will not make the earth sink with you? and behold, it shall quake! Or are ye sure that He who is in the Heaven will not send against you a sand-storm,--so shall ye know about the warning! And assuredly those who were before them called it a lie, and how was it with their denial? Or do they not look up at the birds over their heads, flapping their wings? None supporteth them but the Merciful: verily He seeth all.
Who is it that will be a host for you, to defend you, if not the Merciful? verily the unbelievers are in naught but delusion! Who is it that will provide for you, if He withhold His provision? Nay, they persist in pride and running away! Is he, then, who goeth grovelling on his face better guided than he who goeth upright on a straight path? Say: it is He who produced you and made you hearing and sight and heart--little are ye thankful! Say: it is He who sowed you in the earth, and to Him shall ye be gathered. But they say, “When shall this threat be, if ye are speakers of truth?” Say: the knowledge thereof is with God alone, and I am naught but a plain warner. But when they shall see it nigh, the countenance of those who disbelieved shall be evil,--and it shall be said, “This is what ye called for.” Say: Have ye considered--whether God destroy me and those with me, or whether we win mercy--still who will save the unbelievers from aching torment? Say: He is the Merciful: we believe in Him, and in Him we put our trust--and ye shall soon know which it is that is in manifest error! Say: Have ye considered if your waters should sink away to-morrow, who will bring you running water? (lxvii.)
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.