The Koran Part 115

And they were vanquished on the spot, and drew back humiliated.

But the other enchanters prostrated themselves adoring:

Said they, "We believe on the Lord of the Worlds,

The Lord of Moses and Aaron."

Said Pharaoh, "Have ye believed on him, ere I have given you leave? This truly is a plot which ye have plotted in this my city, in order to drive out its people. But ye shall see in the end what shall happen.

I will surely cut off your hands and feet on opposite sides; then will I have you all crucified."

They said, "Verily, to our Lord do we return;

And thou takest vengeance on us only because we have believed on the signs of our Lord when they came to us. Lord! pour out constancy upon us, and cause us to die Muslims."

Then said the chiefs of Pharaoh's people-"Wilt thou let Moses and his people go to spread disorders in our land, and desert thee and thy G.o.ds?" He said, "We will cause their male children to be slain and preserve their females alive: and verily we shall be masters over them."

Said Moses to his people, "Cry unto G.o.d for help, and bear up patiently, for the earth is G.o.d's: to such of His servants as He pleaseth doth He give it as a heritage; and for those that fear Him is a happy issue."

"We have been oppressed," they said, "before thou camest to us, and since thou hast been with us:" "Perhaps," said he, "your Lord will destroy your enemy, and will make you his successors in the land, and He will see how ye will act therein."

Already had we chastised the people of Pharaoh with dearth and scarcity of fruits, that haply they might take warning:

And when good fell to their lot they said, "This is our due." But if ill befel them, they regarded Moses and his partisans as (the birds) of evil omen.26 Yet, was not their evil omen from G.o.d? But most of them knew it not.

And they said, "Whatever sign thou bring us for our enchantment, we will not believe on thee."

And we sent upon them the flood and the locusts and the k.u.mmal (lice) and the frogs and the blood,-clear signs27-but they behaved proudly, and were a sinful people.

And when any plague fell upon them, they said, "O Moses! pray for us to thy Lord, according to that which he hath covenanted with thee: Truly if thou take off the plague from us, we will surely believe thee, and will surely send the children of Israel with thee." But when we had taken off the plague from them, and the time which G.o.d had granted them had expired,28 behold!

they broke their promise.

Therefore we took vengeance on them and drowned them in the sea, because they treated our signs as falsehoods and were heedless of them.

And we gave to the people who had been brought so low, the eastern and the western lands, which we had blessed as an heritage: and the good word of thy Lord was fulfilled on the children of Israel because they had borne up with patience: and we destroyed the works and the structures of Pharaoh and his people:

And we brought the children of Israel across the sea, and they came to a people who gave themselves up to their idols. They said, "O Moses! make us a G.o.d, as they have G.o.ds." He said, "Verily, ye are an ignorant people:

For the worship they practise29 will be destroyed, and that which they do, is vain."

He said, "Shall I seek any other G.o.d for you than G.o.d, when it is He who hath preferred you above all other peoples?"

And remember when we rescued you from the people of Pharaoh they had laid on you a cruel affliction; they slew your sons, and let only your daughters live, and in this was a great trial from your Lord.

And we appointed a meeting with Moses for thirty nights, which we completed with ten other nights, so that his whole time with his Lord30 amounted to forty nights. Then said Moses to his brother Aaron, "Take thou my place among my people, and act rightly, and follow not the way of the corrupt doers."

And when Moses came at our set time and his Lord spake with him, he said, "O Lord, shew thyself to me, that I may look upon thee." He said, "Thou shalt not see Me; but look towards the mount, and if it abide firm in its place, then shalt thou see Me." And when G.o.d manifested Himself to the mountain he turned it to dust! and Moses fell in a swoon.

And when he came to himself, he said, "Glory be to thee! To thee do I turn in penitence, and I am the first of them that believe."

He said, "O Moses! thee above all men have I chosen by my commissions, and by my speaking to thee. Take therefore what I have brought thee, and be one of those who render thanks.

And we wrote for him upon the tables a monition concerning every matter, and said, "Receive them thyself with steadfastness, and command thy people to receive them for the observance of its most goodly precepts:-I will shew you the abode of the wicked."

The unjustly proud ones of the earth will I turn aside from my signs, for even if they see every sign they will not believe them; and if they see the path of uprightness, they will not take it for their path, but if they see the path of error, for their path will they take it.

This,-for that they treated our signs as lies, and were heedless of them.

Vain will be the works of those who treated our signs, and the meeting of the life to come, as lies! Shall they be rewarded but as they have wrought?

And the people of Moses took during his absence a calf made of their ornaments, and ruddy like gold, and lowing.31 Saw they not that it could not speak to them, nor guide them in the way?

Yet they took if for a G.o.d and became offenders!

But when they repented, and saw that they had erred, they said, Truly if our Lord have not mercy on us, and forgive us, we shall surely be of those who perish.

And when Moses returned to his people, wrathful, angered, he said, "Evil is it that ye have done next upon my departure. Would ye hasten on the judgments of your Lord?" And he threw down the tables, and seized his brother by the head and dragged him unto him. Said he, "Son of my mother! the people thought me weak, and had well nigh slain me. Make not mine enemies to rejoice over me, and place me not among the wrong doers."

He said, "O Lord, forgive me and my brother, and bring us into thy mercy; for of those who shew mercy thou art the most merciful."

Verily as to those who took the calf as a G.o.d, wrath from their Lord shall overtake them, and shame in this present life: for thus recompense we the devisers of a lie.

But to those who have done evil, then afterwards repent and believe, thy Lord will thereafter be Lenient, Merciful.

And when the anger of Moses was stilled, he took up the tables; and in their writing was guidance and mercy for those who dread their Lord.

And Moses chose seventy men of his people for a meeting appointed by us. And when the earthquake overtook them, he said, "O my Lord! if it had been thy pleasure, thou hadst destroyed them and me ere this! wilt thou destroy us for what our foolish ones have done? It is nought but thy trial: thou wilt mislead by it whom thou wilt, and guide whom thou wilt. Our guardian, thou!

Forgive us then and have mercy on us; for of those who forgive art thou the best:

And write down for us what is good in this world, as well as in the world to come, for to thee are we guided." He said, "My chastis.e.m.e.nt shall fall on whom I will, and my mercy embraceth all things, and I write it down for those who shall fear me, and pay the alms, and believe in our signs,

Who shall follow the Apostle, the unlettered32 Prophet-whom they shall find described with them in the Law and Evangel. What is right will he enjoin them, and forbid them what is wrong, and will allow them healthful viands and prohibit the impure, and will ease them of their burden, and of the yokes which were upon them; and those who shall believe in him, and strengthen him, and help him,33 and follow the light34 which hath been sent down with him,- these are they with whom it shall be well."

SAY to them: O men! Verily I am G.o.d's apostle to you all;

Whose is the kingdom of the Heavens and of the Earth! Therefore believe on G.o.d but He! He maketh alive and killeth! Therefore believe on G.o.d, and his Apostle-the unlettered Prophet-who believeth in G.o.d and his word. And follow him that ye may be guided aright.

And among the people of Moses there is a certain number35 who guide others with truth, and practise what is right according to it.

And we divided the Israelites into twelve tribes, as nations; and we revealed unto Moses when the people asked drink of him-"Strike the rock with thy staff:" and there gushed forth from it twelve fountains-the men all knew their drinking places. And we caused clouds to overshadow them, and sent down upon them the manna and the quails... . "Eat of the good things with which we have supplied you." But it was not us whom they injured, but they injured their own selves:

And when it was said to them, "Dwell in this city, and eat therefrom what ye will, and say 'Hittat' (forgiveness), and enter the gate with prostrations; then will we pardon your offences,-we will give increase to the doers of good:"

But the unG.o.dly ones among them changed that word into another than that which had been told them:36 therefore sent we forth wrath out of Heaven upon them for their wrong doings.

And37 ask them about the city that stood by the sea, when its inhabitants broke the Sabbath; when their fish came to them on their Sabbath day appearing openly, but came not to them on the day when they kept no Sabbath.

Thus did we make trial of them, for that they were evildoers.38