The Koran Part 10

The night of power excelleth a thousand months:

Therein descend the angels and the spirit by permission of their Lord for every matter;2

And all is peace till the breaking of the morn.

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1 The Koran, which is now pressed on the Meccans with increased prominence, as will be seen in many succeeding Suras of this period.

2 The night of Al Kadr is one of the last ten nights of Ramadhan, and as is commonly believed the seventh of those nights reckoning backward. See Sura xliv. 2. "Three books are opened on the New Year's Day, one of the perfectly righteous, one of the perfectly wicked, one of the intermediate. The perfectly righteous are inscribed and sealed for life," etc. Bab. Talm. Rosh.

Hash., -- I.

SURA Lx.x.xVI. THE NIGHT-COMER [XXII.]

MECCA. 17 Verses

In the Name of G.o.d, the Compa.s.sionate, the Merciful

BY the heaven, and by the NIGHT-COMER!

But who shall teach thee what the night-comer is?

'Tis the star of piercing radiance.

Over every soul is set a guardian.

Let man then reflect out of what he was created.

He was created of the poured-forth germs,

Which issue from the loins and breastbones:

Well able then is G.o.d to restore him to life,-

On the day when all secrets shall be searched out,

And he shall have no other might or helper.

I swear by the heaven which accomplisheth its cycle,

And by the earth which openeth her bosom,

That this Koran is a discriminating discourse,

And that it is not frivolous.

They plot a plot against thee,

And I will plot a plot against them.

Deal calmly therefore with the infidels; leave them awhile alone.

SURA XCI.-THE SUN [XXIII.]

MECCA.-15 Verses

In the Name of G.o.d, the Compa.s.sionate, the Merciful

BY the SUN and his noonday brightness!

By the Moon when she followeth him!

By the Day when it revealeth his glory!

By the Night when it enshroudeth him!

By the Heaven and Him who built it!

By the Earth and Him who spread it forth!

By a Soul and Him who balanced it,

And breathed into it its wickedness and its piety,

Blessed now is he who hath kept it pure,

And undone is he who hath corrupted it!

Themoud1 in his impiety rejected the message of the Lord,

When the greatest wretch among them rushed up:-

Said the Apostle of G.o.d to them,-"The Camel of G.o.d! let her drink."

But they treated him as an impostor and hamstrung her.

So their Lord destroyed them for their crime, and visited all alike:

Nor feared he the issue.

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1 See Sura vii. 33, for the story of Themoud.