bookssland.com » Literary Collections » The Speeches & Table-Talk of the Prophet Mohammad - Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah (microsoft ebook reader txt) 📗

Book online «The Speeches & Table-Talk of the Prophet Mohammad - Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah (microsoft ebook reader txt) 📗». Author Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah



1 ... 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 ... 27
Go to page:
aforetime, whose lives were prolonged, but their hearts were hardened, and many of them were disobedient.
Know that God quickeneth the earth after its death: now have we made clear to you the signs,—haply ye have wits!
Verily the charitable, both men and women, and they who lend God a good loan, it shall be doubled to them, and theirs shall be a noble recompense.
And they who believe in God and His Apostle, these are the truth-tellers and the witnesses before their Lord: they have their reward and their light. And they who disbelieve and deny our signs—these are the inmates of Hell!
Know that the life of this world is but a game and pastime and show and boast among you; and multiplying riches and children is like rain, whose vegetation delighteth the infidels—then they wither away, and thou seest them all yellow, and they become chaff. And in the life to come is grievous torment,
Or else forgiveness from God and His approval: but the life of this world is naught but a delusive joy.
Strive together for forgiveness from your Lord and Paradise, whose width is as the width of heaven and earth, prepared for those who believe in God and in His Apostle. That is the grace of God! who giveth it to whom He pleaseth; and God is the fount of boundless grace.
There happeneth no misfortune on the earth or to yourselves, but it is written in the Book before we created it: verily that is easy to God!—
That ye may not grieve over what is beyond you, nor exult over what cometh to you; for God loveth not any presumptuous boasters,
Who are covetous and commend covetousness to men. But whoso turneth away,—verily God is Rich and worthy to be praised.
We sent Our Apostles with manifestations, and We sent down by them the Book and the Balance, that men might stand upright in equity, and We sent down Iron, wherein is great strength and uses for men,—and that God might know who would help Him and His Apostles in secret: verily God is strong and mighty.
And we sent Noah and Abraham, and we gave their seed prophecy in the Scripture: and some of them are guided, but many are disobedient.
Then we sent our apostles in their footsteps, and we sent Jesus the Son of Mary, and gave him the Gospel, and put in the hearts of those that follow him kindness and pitifulness; but monkery, they invented it themselves! We prescribed it not to them—save only to seek the approval of God, but they did not observe this with due observance. Yet we gave their reward to those of them that believed, but many of them were transgressors.
O ye who believe, fear God and believe in His Apostle; He will give you a double portion of His mercy, and will set you a light to walk by, and will forgive you: for God is forgiving and merciful:—
That the People of the Scripture may know that they have not power over aught of God’s grace; and that grace is in the hands of God alone, who giveth to whom He pleaseth: and God is the fount of boundless grace.

(lvii.)

THE VICTORY.
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Verily we have won for thee a clear Victory—
That God may forgive thee thy former and latter sins, and fulfil His grace to thee, and guide thee on the straight way,
And that God may help thee mightily.
He it is who sent down peace into the hearts of the faithful, to strengthen their faith with faith, (for God’s are the armies of the heavens and the earth, and God is All-knowing and Wise:)
To bring the faithful, men and women, into gardens beneath which rivers flow, to dwell therein for ever, and to take away their offences; and that is the great prize with God:
And to torment the hypocrites and the idolaters, men and women, who think of God an evil thought; there shall come upon them a turn of evil, and God is wroth with them and hath cursed them, and hath prepared Hell for them, and evil shall be their journey.
God’s are the armies of the heavens and the earth, and God is Mighty and Wise!
Verily we have sent thee as a witness and a herald of gladness and a warner,
That ye may believe in God and in His Apostle; and may revere Him, and honour Him, and magnify Him morning and evening.
In truth, they who swear fealty to thee, do but swear fealty to God: the hand of God is upon their hands! Whosoever therefore breaketh it, breaketh it only to his own hurt; but whosoever is true to what he hath covenanted with God, He will give him a great reward.
The Arabs of the desert who were left behind will say to thee, “Our property and our families employed us; so ask pardon for us.” They speak with their tongues what is not in their hearts. Say: But who can obtain aught for you from God, if He design for you harm, or design for you benefit? Nay, God is acquainted with what ye do!
Nay, ye thought that the Apostles and the faithful would not come back to their families any more, and that seemed good in your hearts, and ye thought an evil thought, and ye are a lost people.
And whosoever believeth not in God and His Apostle ... verily we have made ready a flame for the unbelievers!
And God’s is the kingdom of the heavens and of the earth; He forgiveth whom He will, and He tormenteth whom He will: and God is Forgiving, Merciful!
They who were left behind will say when ye go forth to the spoil to take it, “Let us follow you.” They would fain change the Word of God. Say: Ye shall by no means follow us; thus hath God said already. Then they will say, “Nay, ye are jealous of us.” Nay, they are men of but little understanding.
Say to those who were left behind of the Arabs of the desert, Ye shall be called out against a people of mighty valour; ye shall fight with them, or they shall profess Islam. If, therefore, ye obey, God will bring you a goodly reward; but if ye turn your backs as ye turned your backs before, He will torment you with aching torment.
For the blind it is no crime, and for the lame no crime, and for the sick no crime [to turn the back.] And whoso obeyeth God and His Apostle He shall bring him into gardens whereunder rivers flow: but whoso turneth his back, He will torment him with aching torment.
Well-pleased was God with the believers, when they sware fealty to thee under the tree; and He knew what was in their hearts: therefore did He send down tranquillity upon them, and rewarded them with a victory near at hand,
And many spoils to take, for God is Mighty and Wise!
God promised you many spoils to take, and sped this for you; (and He held back men’s hands from you, that it might be a sign to the faithful, and that He might guide you on the straight way;)
And other spoils which ye could not take: but now hath God compassed it, for God is powerful over all.
If the unbelievers had fought against you, they would assuredly have turned their backs; then would they have met with no protector or helper.
This is God’s way which prevailed before: and no changing wilt thou find in God’s way.
And He it was who held back their hands from you, and your hands from them, in the valley of Mekka, after that He had given you the victory over them; for God ever seeth what ye do.
These are they who believed not, and kept you away from the Sacred Mosque, as well as the offering, which was prevented from reaching its destination. And but for the faithful men and women, whom ye did not know and might have trampled, so that guilt might have lighted on you on their account without your knowledge, that God might bring whom He pleased into His mercy; had they been separate, we had surely punished the unbelievers among them with a grievous torment.
When the unbelievers had put disdain in their hearts,—the disdain of ignorance,—God sent down His tranquillity on His Apostle and the faithful, and fixed firmly in them the word of piety, for they were most worthy and fit for it, and God well knoweth all things.
Now hath God spoken truth to His Apostle in the night vision: “Ye shall surely enter the Sacred Mosque, if God please, safe, with shaven heads, or hair cut; ye shall not fear, for He knoweth what ye do not know; and He hath ordained you, besides that, a victory near at hand.”
It is He who hath sent his Apostle with the guidance and the religion of truth, to make it triumph over every religion; and God is witness enough!
Mohammad is the Apostle of God, and those of his party are vehement against the infidels, but compassionate to one another. Thou mayest see them bowing down, worshipping, seeking grace from God, and His approval; their tokens are on their faces—the traces of their prostrations. This is their likeness in the Torah, and their likeness in the Gospel, like a seed which putteth forth its stalk, and strengtheneth it, and it groweth stout, and standeth up upon its stem, rejoicing the sowers—to anger unbelievers thereby. To those among them who believe, and do the things that are right, God hath promised forgiveness and a mighty reward.

(xlviii.)

HELP.
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
When the Help of God and victory come,
And thou seest the people entering the religion of God in troops;
Then magnify the praises of thy Lord, and seek forgiveness of Him; verily He is ever relenting.

(cx.)

THE LAW GIVEN AT MEDINA RELIGIOUS LAW.

It is not righteousness that ye turn your face towards the east or the west, but righteousness is [in] him who believeth in God and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Scripture, and the Prophets, and who giveth wealth for the love of God to his kinsfolk and to orphans and the needy and the son of the road and them that ask and for the freeing of slaves, and who is instant in prayer, and giveth the alms; and those who fulfil their covenant when they covenant, and the patient in adversity and affliction and in time of violence, these are they who are true, and these are they who fear God.—ii. 172.

Say: We believe in God, and what hath been sent down to thee, and what was sent down to Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, and what was given to Moses, and to Jesus, and the prophets from their Lord,—we make no distinction between any of them,—and to Him are we resigned: and whoso desireth other than Resignation [Islām] for a religion, it shall certainly not be accepted from him, and in the life to come he shall be among the losers.—iii. 78, 79.

Observe the prayers, and the middle prayer, and stand instant before God. And if ye fear, then afoot or mounted; but when

1 ... 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 ... 27
Go to page:

Free e-book «The Speeches & Table-Talk of the Prophet Mohammad - Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah (microsoft ebook reader txt) 📗» - read online now

Comments (0)

There are no comments yet. You can be the first!
Add a comment