THE KORAN. KORAN, the well-known sacred book of the Mohammedans. The word is variously written Coran, Kur'an, Qur'ân, or with the article, Alcoran, Al-Koran, El-Qur'ân. It is derived from a word meaning to chant, to recite, or to read aloud, especially as an act of Divine service. The Koran is perhaps the most widely read book in the world. It is the text-book in all Mohammedan schools. All Moslems know large parts of it by heart. Devout Moslems read it through once a month. Portions of it are recited in the five daily prayers, and the recitation of the whole book is a meritorious work frequently performed at solemn or festival anniversaries. What Arabic science there is, has the Koran as its object; and the ambition of every devout Moslem student is to apprehend the divine philosophy which it is supposed to contain. SELECTIONS FROM THE Koran. (From "The Sacred Books of the East.") THE OPENING CHAPTER. IN the name of the merciful and compassionate God. Praise belongs to God, the Lord of the worlds, the merciful, the compassionate, the ruler of the Day of Judgment! Thee we serve, and thee we ask for aid. Guide us in the right path, the path of those thou art gracious to; not of those thou art wroth with, nor of those who err. THE CHAPTER OF THE NIGHT. In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. By the night when it veils! And the day when it is displayed! And by what created male and female! Verily, your efforts are diverse! But as for him who gives alms and fears God, And believes in the best, We will send him easily to ease! But as for him who is niggardly, And calls the good a lie, We will send him easily to difficulty! And his wealth shall not avail him Verily it is for us to guide; And verily, ours are the hereafter and the former life! None shall broil thereon but the most wretched, who says it is a lie and turns his back. But the pious shall be kept away from it- he who gives his wealth in alms, and who gives no favor to any one for the sake of reward, but only craving the face of his Lord the most High; in the end he shall be well pleased! THE CHAPTER OF THE DAWN. In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. And the single and the double! And the night when it travels on! Is there in that an oath for a man of common-sense? Hast thou not seen how thy Lord did with Ad? — with Iram of the columns? the like of which has not been created in the land? And Tharmud when they hewed the stones in the valley? And Pharaoh of the stakes? Who were outrageous in the land, and did multiply wickedness therein, and thy Lord poured out upon them the scourge of torment. Verily, thy Lord is on a watch-tower! and as for man, whenever his Lord tries him and honors him and grants him favor, then he says, "My Lord has honored me;" but whenever he tries him and doles out to him his subsistence, then he says, "My Lord despises me!" Nay, but ye do not honor the orphan, nor do ye urge each other to feed the poor, and ye devour the inheritance [of the weak] with a general devouring, and ye love wealth with a complete love! Nay, when the earth is crushed to pieces, and thy Lord comes with the angels, rank on rank, and hell is brought on that day, on that day shall man be reminded! but how shall he have a reminder? He will say, "Would that I had something forward for my life!" But on that day no one shall be tormented with a torment like his, and no one shall be bound with bonds like his! O thou comforted soul! return unto thy Lord well pleased and well pleased with! And enter amongst my servants and enter my Paradise! THE CHAPTER OF THE MOST HIGH. In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. Celebrate the name of thy Lord most High, who created and fashioned, and who decreed and guided, and who brings forth the pasture, and then makes it dusky stubble! We shall make thee recite, and thou shalt not forget, save what God pleases. Verily, he knows the open and what is concealed; and we will send thee easily to ease: wherefore remind, for verily the reminder is useful. But he who fears will be mindful: but the wretch will avoid it; he will broil on the great fire, and then therein shall neither die nor live! Prosperous is he who purifies himself and remembers the name of his Lord and prays! Nay, but yet prefer the life of this world, while the hereafter is better and more lasting. Verily, this was in the books of yore, the books of Abraham and Moses. THE CHAPTER OF THE ZODIACAL SIGNS. In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. And the promised day! And the witness and the witnessed! The fellows of the pit were slain; And the fire with its kindling, When they sat over it And witnessed, that while, what they were doing with those who believed. And they took not vengeance on them save for their belief in God, the mighty, the praiseworthy, Who is the kingdoms of the heavens and the earth; Verily, those who make trial of the believers, men and women, and do not repent, for them is the torment of hell, and for them is the torment of the burning! Verily, those who believe and act aright, for them are gardens beneath which rivers flow, that is the great bliss! Verily, the violence of thy Lord is keen! Verily, he produces and returns, and he is the forgiving, the loving, the Lord of the glorious throne; the doer of what he will! Has there come to thee the story of the hosts of Pharaoh and Tharmud? Nay, those who misbelieve do say it is a lie; but God is behind them-encompassing! Nay, it is a glorious Qur'an in a preserved tablet. THE CHAPTER OF THE CLEAVING ASUNDER. In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. And when the stars are scattered, And when the seas gush together, And when the tombs are turned upside down, The soul shall know what it has sent on or kept back! O man! what has seduced thee concerning thy generous Lord, who created thee and fashioned thee, and gave thee symmetry, and in what form he pleased composed thee? Nay, but ye call the judgment a lie! but over you are guardians set, noble, writing down! they know what ye do! Verily, the righteous are in pleasure, and verily, the wicked. are in hell: they shall broil therein upon the Judgment Day; nor shall they be absent therefrom! And what shall make thee know what is Judgment Day? Again, what shall make thee know what is the Judgment Day? a day when no soul shall control aught for another; and the bidding on that day belongs to God! THE CHAPTER OF THOSE SENT. In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. By those sent in a series! And by those who speed swiftly! VOL. XIII.14 And by the dispensers abroad! And by the separators apart! And by those who instill the reminder, as an excuse or warning! Verily, what ye are threatened with will surely happen! And when the stars shall be erased! And when the heaven shall be cleft! And when the mountains be winnowed! And when the Apostles shall have a time appointed for them! For what day is the appointment made? For the day of decision! and what shall make thee know what the decision is? Woe on that day for those who say it is a lie! Have we not destroyed those of yore, and then followed them up with those of the latter day? Thus do we with sinners! Woe on that day for those who say it is a lie! Did we not create you from contemptible water, and place it in a sure depository unto a certain decreed term? for we are able, and well able too! Woe on that day for those who say it is a lie! Have we not made for them the earth to hold the living and the dead? and set thereon firm mountains reared aloft? and given you to drink water in streams? Woe on that day for those who say it is a lie! Go off to that which ye did call a lie! Go off to the shadow of three columns, that shall not shade or avail against the flame! Verily, it throws off sparks like towers, -as though they were yellow camels! Woe on that day for those who say it is a lie! This is the day when they may not speak, when they are not permitted to excuse themselves! Woe on that day for those who say it is a lie! This is the day of decision! We have assembled you with those of yore: if ye have any stratagem, employ it now! Woe on that day for those who say it is a lie! Verily, the pious are amid shades and springs and fruit such as they love."Eat and drink with good digestion, for that which ye have done!" Verily, thus we do reward those who do well! |