The Speeches & Table-Talk of the Prophet Mohammad · Prophet Muhammad
THE THUNDER.
_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._ A. L. M. R. These are the Signs of the Book! and that which was sent down to thee from thy Lord is the truth: but most men do not believe. It is God who raised the heavens without pillars that ye can see; then ascended the Throne, and subdued the sun and the moon: each runneth to its appointed goal, to rule every thing, to manifest signs. Haply ye will be convinced of meeting your Lord! And it is He who spread out the earth, and put thereon firm mountains, and rivers; and of every fruit He hath made therein two kinds: He maketh the night to cover the day; verily in that are signs for reflecting folk. And on the earth are neighbouring tracts, and gardens of grapes, and corn, and palms clustered and not clustered at the root; they are watered by the same water, yet we make some better than others for food: verily in that are signs for folk that have wits. If ever thou dost wonder, wonderful is their saying, “What! when we have become dust, shall we indeed become a new creation?” These are they who disbelieve in their Lord: and these shall have the shackles on their necks, and these shall be the inmates of the fire to abide therein for ever.
They will bid thee hasten evil rather than good: examples have passed away before them; and verily thy Lord is full of forgiveness unto men despite their iniquity; and verily thy Lord is heavy in punishing. And they who disbelieve say, “Unless a sign be sent down to him from his Lord ...” Thou art but a warner, and to every people its guide. God knoweth what every woman beareth, and the decrease of the wombs and the increase; for the pattern of all things is with Him, Who knoweth the hidden and the seen, the Great, the Most High. Equal is he of you who concealeth his words and he that proclaimeth them: he who hideth by night, and he who goeth abroad by day. Each hath angels before him and behind him, who watch over him by God’s command. Verily God doth not change towards a people, till they change themselves; and when God willeth evil unto a people, there is no averting it, nor have they any protector beside Him. It is He who showeth you the lightning for fear and hope [of rain], and gathereth the lowering clouds, And the THUNDER magnifieth His praise, and the angels, for awe of Him, and He sendeth His thunderbolts and smiteth therewith whom He pleaseth:--and they are wrangling about God! but strong is His might! Unto Him is the true cry: but those whom they cry to beside Him shall answer them naught save as one who stretcheth forth his hands to the water that it may reach his mouth, but it doth not reach it! The cry of the unbelievers is but in error. And unto God bow down all things in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly, and their shadows at morn and eve!
Say: Who is Lord of the heavens and the earth? Say: God. Say: Why then have ye taken beside Him Patrons who are powerless for weal or woe to themselves? Say: What! are the blind and the seeing alike? or are darkness and light the same? or have they made Partners for God, who create as He creates, so that they confuse the creation? Say: God is the Creator of all things, He is the One, the Conqueror. He sendeth down water from heaven; and the valleys flow in their degree, and the torrent beareth along foaming froth, and from the [ore] which they burn in the fire, desiring ornaments or necessaries, a scum like it ariseth. So doth God liken truth and falsehood. As to the scum it passeth off as refuse, and as to what profiteth man it remaineth on the earth. Thus doth God frame parables. For those who respond to their Lord, good; but those who respond not to Him, had they all that the earth containeth and its like beside it, they would surely give it in ransom: these shall have an evil reckoning, and Hell shall be their home,--and wretched the bed!
Is he who knoweth that what hath been sent down to thee from thy Lord is naught but the truth, like to him who is blind? but men of understanding alone will mind, Who fulfil their covenant with God and break not the compact; And who join what God hath bidden to be joined, and who fear their Lord and dread the evil reckoning; And who are patient, seeking the face of their Lord, and perform prayer and give alms secretly and openly of what we have provided them, and turn away evil with good: for these is the reward of the Abode,-- Gardens of eternity, into which they shall enter together with those who were just of their fathers and their wives and their offspring: and the angels shall go in unto them at every gate [saying]:-- “Peace be upon you! because ye were patient.” And pleasant is the reward of the Abode! But those who break God’s covenant after they have pledged it, and cut asunder what God hath bidden to be joined, and work iniquity in the earth, for these is a curse and a sore abode!
God is lavish with provision to whom He pleaseth, or He stinteth it. And they rejoice in the life of this world; but the life of this world is but a passing joy to the life to come. And they who disbelieve say, “Unless a sign be sent down to him from his Lord ...” Say: God truly misleadeth whom He will; and He guideth to himself those who repent, Who believe, and whose hearts are at peace in the remembrance of God! yea, in the remembrance of God shall the hearts be at peace of those who believe and do the things that are right--good betide them, and happy be their goal! Thus have we sent thee among a nation, before whom other nations have passed away, that thou mayest tell them what we have inspired thee with: yet they disbelieve in the Merciful! Say: He is my Lord--there is no God but Him. In Him do I put my trust, and unto Him is my return. Though there were a Korān by which the mountains were removed or the earth cloven or the dead given speech--Nay! to God belongeth the rule in all: know not they who believe, that if God pleased, He would certainly have guided men in all?
And calamity shall not cease to befal the unbelievers for what they have done, or settle hard by their dwellings, until the promise of God shall come to pass. Verily God will not fail in what He promised. Before thee apostles have been mocked at--and long I suffered those who disbelieved; then I took hold of them; and how great was my punishment! Who then is he that is standing over every soul to mark what it hath earned? Yet they made Partners with God! Say: Name them! could ye inform him of what He knoweth not in the earth, or are they aught beyond words? Nay, their artifice commended itself to those who disbelieve; and they are turned aside from the road; and whom God misleadeth, he hath no guide. Torment is theirs in the life of this world, and assuredly the torment of the world to come shall be worse, and they shall have no one to ward them from God. A likeness of the Paradise which is promised to those that fear God:--The rivers flow beneath it; its food and its shades are everlasting. That is the end of those who fear God: but the end of the unbelievers is the Fire.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.