CHAPTER VII.

ENTITLED, AL ARAF; REVEALED AT MECCA.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

A. L. M. S. A book hath been sent down unto thee: and therefore let there be no doubt in thy breast concerning it; that thou mayest preach the same, and that it may be an admonition unto the faithful. Follow that which hath been sent down unto you from your Lord; and follow no guide besides him: how little will ye be warned! How many cities have we destroyed; which our vengeance overtook by night, or while they were reposing themselves at noonday! And their supplication, when our punishment came upon them, was no other than that they said, Verily we have been unjust. We will surely call those to an account, unto whom a prophet hath been sent; and we will also call those to account who have been sent unto them. And we will declare their actions unto them with knowledge; for we are not absent from them. The weighing of men's actions on that day shall be just; and they whose balances laden with their good works shall be heavy, are those who shall be happy; but they whose balances shall be light, are those who have lost their souls, because they injured our signs. And now have we placed you on the earth, and have provided you food therein; but how little are ye thankful! We created you, and afterwards formed you; and then said unto the angels, Worship Adam; and they all worshipped him, except Eblis, who was not one of those who worshipped. God said unto him, What hindered thee from worshipping Adam, since I had commanded thee? He answered, I am more excellent than he; thou hast created me of fire, and hast created him of clay. God said, Get thee down therefore from paradise; for it is not fit that thou behave thyself proudly therein: get thee hence; thou shalt be one of the contemptible. He answered, Give me respite until the day of resurrection. God said, Verily thou shalt be one of those who are respited. The devil said, Because thou hast depraved me, I will lay wait for men in thy strait way; then will I come upon them from before, and from behind, and from their right hands, and from their left; and thou shalt not find the greater part of them thankful. God said unto him, Get thee hence, despised, and driven far away: verily whoever of them shall follow thee, I will surely fill hell with you all: but as for thee, O Adam, dwell thou and thy wife in paradise; and eat of the fruit thereof wherever ye will; but approach not this tree, lest ye become of the number of the unjust. And Satan suggested to them both, that he would discover unto them their nakedness, which was hidden from them; and he said, Your Lord hath not

forbidden you this tree, for any other reason but lest ye should become angels, or lest ye become immortal. And he sware unto them, saying, Verily I am one of those who counsel you aright. And he caused them to fall through deceit. And when they had tasted of the tree, their nakedness appeared unto them; and they began to join together the leaves of paradise, to cover themselves. And their Lord called to them, saying, Did I not forbid you this tree; and did I not say unto you, Verily Satan is your declared enemy? They answered, O Lord, we have dealt unjustly with our own souls; and if thou forgive us not, and be not merciful unto us, we shall surely be of those who perish. God said, Get ye down, the one of you an enemy unto the other; and ye shall have a dwelling-place upon earth, and a provision for a season. He said, Therein shall ye live, and therein shall ye die, and from thence shall ye be taken forth at the resurrection. O children of Adam, we have sent down unto you apparel, to conceal your nakedness, and fair garments; but the clothing of piety is better. This is one of the signs of God; that peradventure ye may consider. O children of Adam, let not Satan seduce you, as he expelled your parents out of paradise, by stripping them of their clothing, that he might show them their nakedness: verily he seeth you, both he and his companions, whereas ye see not them. We have appointed the devils to be the patrons of those who believe not: and when they commit a filthy action, they say, We found our fathers practising the same: and God hath commanded us to do it. Say. Verily God commandeth not filthy actions. Do ye speak concerning God that which ye know. not? Say, My Lord hath commandeth me to observe justice; therefore set your faces to pray at every place of worship, and call upon him, approving unto him the sincerity of your religion. As he produced you at first, so unto him shall ye return. A part of mankind hath he directed; and a part hath been justly led into error, because they have taken the devils for their patrons besides God, and imagine that they are rightly directed. O children of Adam, take your de cent apparel at every place of worship, and eat and drink, but be not guilty of excess; for he loveth not those who are guilty of excess. Say, Who hath forbidden the decent apparel of God, which he hath produced for his servants, and the good things which he hath provided for food? Say. These things are for those who believe, in this present life, but peculiarly on the day of resurrection. Thus do we distinctly explain our signs unto people who understand. Say, Verily my Lord hath forbidden filthy actions, both that which is discovered thereof, and that which is concealed, and also iniquity, and unjust violence; and hath forbidden you to associate with God that concerning which he hath sent you down no authority, or to speak of God that which ye know not. Unto every nation there is a prefixed term; therefore when their term is expired, they shall not have respite for an hour, neither shall they be anticipated. O children of Adam, verily apostles from among you shall come unto you, who

shall expound my signs unto you: whosoever therefore shall fear God and amend, there shall come no fear on them, neither shall they be grieved. But they who shall accuse our signs of falsehood, and shall proudly reject them, they shall be the companions of hell fire; they shall remain therein for ever. And who is more unjust than he who deviseth a lie concerning God, or accuseth his signs of imposture? Unto these shall be given their portion of worldly happiness, according to what is written in the book of God's decrees, until our messengers come unto them, and shall cause them to die; saying, Where are the idols which ye called upon, besides God? They shall answer, They have disappeared from us. And they shall bear witness against themselves, that they were unbelievers. God shall say unto them at the resurrection, Enter ye with the nations which have preceded you, of genii and of men, into hell fire; so often as one nation shall enter, it shall curse its sister, until they shall all have successively entered therein. The latter of them shall say of the former of them, O Lord, these have seduced us; therefore inflict on them a double punishment of the fire of hell. God shall answer, It shall be doubled unto all; but ye know it not. And the former of them shall say unto the latter of them, Ye have not therefore any favour above us; taste the punishment for that which ye have gained. Verily they who shall charge our signs with falsehood, and shall proudly reject them, the gates of heaven shall not be opened unto them, neither shall they enter into paradise, until a camel pass through the eye of a needle; and thus will we reward the wicked doers. Their couch shall be in hell, and over them shall be coverings of fire; and thus will we reward the unjust. But they who believe and do that which is right (we will not load any soul but according to its ability), they shall be the companions of paradise; they shall remain therein for ever. And we will remove all grudges from their minds; rivers shall run at their feet, and they shall say, Praised be God, who hath directed us unto this felicity! for we should not have been rightly directed, if God had not directed us: now are we convinced by demonstration that the apostles of our Lord came unto us with truth. And it shall be proclaimed unto them, This is paradise, whereof ye are made heirs, as a reward for that which ye have wrought. And the inhabitants of paradise shall call out to the inhabitants of hell fire, saying, Now have we found that which our Lord promised us to be true; have ye also found that which your Lord promised to be true? They shall answer, Yea. And a crier shall proclaim between them, The curse of God shall be on the wicked; who turn men aside from the way of God, and seek to render it crooked, and who deny the life to come. And between the blessed and the damned there shall be a veil; and men shall stand on al Arâf, who shall know every one of them by their marks; and shall call unto the inhabitants of paradise, saying, Peace be upon you: yet they shall not enter therein, although they earnestly desire it. And when they shall turn

their eyes towards the companions of hell fire, they shall say, O Lord, place us not with the ungodly people! And those who stand on al Arâf shall call unto certain men, whom they shall know by their marks, and shall say, What hath your gathering of riches availed you, and that ye were puffed up with pride? Are these the men on whom ye sware that God would not bestow mercy? Enter ye into paradise; there shall come no fear on you, neither shall ye be grieved. And the inhabitants of hell fire shall call unto the inhabitants of paradise, saying, Pour upon us some water, or of those refreshments which God hath bestowed on you. They shall answer, Verily God hath forbidden them unto the unbelievers; who made a laughing-stock and a sport of their religion, and whom the life of the world hath deceived: therefore this day will we forget them, as they did forget the meeting of this day, and for that they denied our signs to be from God. And now we have brought unto those of Mecca a book of divine revelations: we have explained it with knowledge; a direction and mercy unto people who shall believe. Do they wait for any other than the interpretation thereof? On the day whereon the interpretation thereof shall come, they who had forgotten the same before, shall say, Now are we convinced by demonstration that the messengers of our Lord came unto us with truth: shall we therefore have any intercessors, who will intercede for us? or shall we be sent back into the world, that we may do other works than what we did in our lifetime? But now have they lost their souls; and that which they impiously imagined, hath fled from them. Verily your Lord is God, who created the heavens and the earth in six days; and then ascended his throne: he causeth the night to cover the day; it succeedeth the same swiftly: he also created the sun and the moon, and the stars, which are absolutely subject unto his command. Is not the whole creation, and the empire thereof, his? Blessed be God, the Lord of all creatures! Call upon your Lord humbly and in secret: for he loveth not those who transgress. And act not corruptly in the earth, after its reformation, and call upon him with fear and desire: for the mercy of God is near unto the righteous. It is he who sendeth the winds, spread abroad before his mercy, until they bring a cloud heavy with rain, which we drive unto a dead country; and we cause water to descend thereon, by which we cause all sorts of fruits to spring forth. Thus will we bring forth the dead from their graves; that peradventure ye may consider. From a good country shall its fruit spring forth abundantly, by the permission of its Lord; but from the land which is bad, it shall not spring forth otherwise than scarcely. Thus do we explain the signs of divine providence unto people who are thankful. We formerly sent Noah unto his people: and he said, O my people, worship God: ye have no other God than him. Verily I fear for the punishment of the great day, The chiefs of his people answered him, We surely perceive thee to be in a manifest error. He replied, O my people, there is no error in me; but I am a messenger

from the Lord of all creatures. I bring unto you the messages of my Lord; and I counsel you aright: for I know from God that which ye know not. Do ye wonder that an admonition hath come unto you from your Lord by a man from among you, to warn you, that ye may take heed to yourselves, and that peradventure ye may obtain mercy? And they accused him of imposture. but we delivered him and those who were with him in the ark, and we drowned those who charged our signs with falsehood; for they were a blind people. And unto the tribe of Ad we sent their brother Hûd. He said, O my people worship God; ye have no other God than him: will ye not fear him? The chiefs of those among his people who believed not, answered, Verily we perceive that thou art guided by folly: and we certainly esteem thee to be one of the liars. He replied, Ŏ my people, I am not guided by folly; but I am a messenger unto you from the Lord of all creatures: I bring unto you the messages of my Lord; and I am a faithful counsellor unto you. Do ye wonder that an admonition hath come unto you from your Lord, by a man from among you, that he may warn you? Call to mind how he hath appointed you successors unto the people of Noah, and hath added unto you in stature largely. Remember, the benefits of God, that ye may prosper. They said, Art thou come unto us, that we should worship God alone, and leave the deities which our fathers worshipped? Now bring down that judgment upon us, with which thou threatenest us, if thou speakest truth. Hûd answered, Now shall there suddenly fall upon you from your Lord vengeance and indignation. Will ye dispute with me concerning the names which ye have named, and your fathers; as to which God hath not revealed unto you any authority? Do ye wait therefore, and I will be one of those who wait with you. And we delivered him, and them who believed with him, by our mercy; and we cut off the uttermost part of those who charged our signs with falsehood, and were not believers. And unto the tribe of Thamûd we sent their brother Sâleh. He said, O my people, worship God: ye have no God besides him. Now hath a manifest proof come unto you from your Lord. This she-camel of God is a sign unto you: therefore dismiss her freely, that she may feed in God's earth; and do her no hurt, lest a painful punishment seize you. And cail to mind how he hath appointed you successors unto the tribe of Ad, and hath given you a habitation on earth; ye build yourselves castles on the plains thereof, and cut out the mountains into houses. Remember therefore the benefits of God, commit not violence in the earth, acting corruptly. The chiefs among his people who were puffed up with pride, said unto those who were esteemed weak, namely, unto those who believed among them, Do ye know that Saleh hath been seat from his Lord? They answered, We do surely believe in that wherewith he hath been sent. Those who were elated with pride replied, Verily we believe not in that wherein ye believe. And they