The Quran (Koran), 1st translation - - (top 100 novels .txt) 📗

would know who will assist Him and his apostle in secret. Verily, God is Powerful, Strong.

And of old sent we Noah and Abraham, and on their seed conferred the gift of prophecy, and the Book; and some of them we guided aright; but many were evil doers.

Then we caused our apostles to follow in their footsteps; and we caused Jesus the son of Mary to follow them; and we gave him the Evangel,10 and we put into the hearts of those who followed him kindness and compassion: but as to the monastic life, they invented it themselves. The desire only of pleasing God did we prescribe to them, and this they observed not as it ought to have been observed: but to such of them as believed gave we their reward, though many of them were perverse.

O ye who believe! fear God and believe in his apostle: two portions of his mercy will He give you. He will bestow on you light to walk in, and He will forgive you: for God is Forgiving, Merciful;

That the people of the Book may know that they have no control over aught of the favours of God, and that these gifts of grace11 are in the hands of God, and that He vouchsafeth them to whom he will; for God is of immense bounty.

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1 The general tone of this Sura shews it to have been revealed at Medina, and from verse 22 it may be inferred that its true date lies between the battle of Ohod and the battle of the Ditch.

2 Lit. the exterior and the interior.

3 To guide them on their route to paradise.

4 Patronus. Mar. Beschutzer. Ullm. Or, what ye have deserved.

5 Against the infidels.

6 Supellex deceptionis. Mar.

7 Of our eternal decrees.

8 Brought by Gabriel to Noah, who imparted its use to his posterity. So say the commentators. But the expression seems rather to be figurative. Comp. Sura lv. 6, p. 74.

9 Or, mighty warlike strength, but the antithesis requires the rendering given in the text. Comp. Gen. iv. 22, and Michna Tr. Aboth, 5, 9.

10 We are not to understand by the word Evangel the actual volume of the New Testament, or any one of its component parts, but rather the revelation made to Jesus by God himself, which Muhammad may have imagined to have been committed to writing subsequently, in the same way as his own Koran.

11 The word in the original is the same for favours, gifts of grace, bounty. The reference is to the gift of prophecy (Beidh.) mentioned verse 27.

SURA IV.-WOMEN1 [C.]

MEDINA.-175 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

O MEN! fear your Lord, who hath created you of one man (nafs, soul), and of him created his wife, and from these twain hath spread abroad so many men and WOMEN. And fear ye God, in whose name ye ask mutual favours,-and reverence the wombs that bare you. Verily is God watching over you!

And give to the orphans their property; substitute not worthless things of your own for their valuable ones, and devour not their property after adding it to your own; for this is a great crime.

And if ye are apprehensive that ye shall not deal fairly with orphans, then, of other women who seem good in your eyes, marry but two, or three, or four;2 and if ye still fear that ye shall not act equitably, then one only; or the slaves whom ye have acquired: this will make justice on your part easier. Give women their dowry freely; but if of themselves they give up aught thereof to you, then enjoy it as convenient, and profitable:

And entrust not to the incapable the substance which God hath placed with you for their support; but maintain them therewith, and clothe them, and speak to them with kindly speech.

And make trial of orphans until they reach the age of marriage; and if ye perceive in them a sound judgment, then hand over their substance to them; but consume ye it not wastefully, or by hastily entrusting it to them;

Because they are growing up. And let the rich guardian not even touch it; and let him who is poor use it for his support (eat of it) with discretion.

And when ye make over their substance to them, then take witnesses in their presence: God also maketh a sufficient account.

Men ought to have a part of what their parents and kindred leave; and women3 a part of what their parents and kindred leave: whether it be little or much, let them have a stated portion.

And when they who are of kin are present at the division, and the orphans and the poor, let them too have a share; and speak to them with kindly speech.

And let those be afraid to wrong the orphans, who, should they leave behind them weakly offspring, would be solicitous on their account. Let them, therefore, fear God, and let them propose what is right.

Verily they who swallow the substance of the orphan wrongfully, shall swallow down only fire into their bellies, and shall burn in the flame!

With regard to your children, God commandeth you to give the male the portion of two females; and if they be females more than two, then they shall have two-thirds of that which their father hath left: but if she be an only daughter, she shall have the half; and the father and mother of the deceased shall each of them have a sixth part of what he hath left, if he have a child; but if he have no child, and his parents be his heirs, then his mother shall have the third: and if he have brethren, his mother shall have the sixth, after paying the bequests he shall have bequeathed, and his debts. As to your fathers, or your children, ye know not which of them is the most advantageous to you. This is the law of God. Verily, God is Knowing, Wise!

Half of what your wives leave shall be your's, if they have no issue; but if they have issue, then a fourth of what they leave shall be your's, after paying the bequests they shall bequeath, and debts.

And your wives shall have a fourth part of what ye leave, if ye have no issue; but if ye have issue, then they shall have an eighth part of what ye leave, after paying the bequests ye shall bequeath, and debts.

If a man or a woman make a distant relation their heir, and he or she have a brother or a sister, each of these two shall have a sixth; but if there are more than this, then shall they be sharers in a third, after payment of the bequests he shall have bequeathed, and debts,

Without loss to any one. This is the ordinance of God, and God is Knowing,
Gracious!

These are the precepts of God; and whoso obeyeth God and his prophet, him shall God bring into gardens beneath whose shades the rivers flow, therein to abide for ever: and this, the great blessedness!

And whoso shall rebel against God and his apostle, and shall break His bounds, him shall God place in the fire to abide therein for ever; and his shall be a shameful torment.

If any of your women be guilty of whoredom, then bring four witnesses against them from among yourselves; and if they bear witness to the fact, shut them up within their houses till death release them,4 or God make some way for them.

And if two men among you commit the same crime, then punish them both; but if they turn and amend, then let them be: for God is He who turneth, Merciful!

With God himself will the repentance of those who have done evil ignorantly, and then turn speedily unto Him, be accepted. These! God will turn unto them:for God is Knowing, Wise!

But no place of repentance shall there be for those who do evil, until, when death is close to one of them, he saith, "Now verily am I turned to God;" nor to those who die unbelievers. These! we have made ready for them a grievous torment!

O believers! it is not allowed you to be heirs of your wives against their will; nor to hinder them from marrying, in order to take from them part of the dowry you had given them, unless they have been guilty of undoubted lewdness; but associate kindly with them: for if ye are estranged from them, haply ye are estranged from that in which God hath placed abundant good.

And if ye be desirous to exchange one wife for another, and have given one of them a talent, make no deduction from it. Would ye take it by slandering her, and with manifest wrong?

How, moreover, could ye take it, when one of you hath gone in unto the other, and they have received from you a strict bond of union?

And marry not women whom your fathers have married: for this is a shame, and hateful, and an evil way: though what is past5 may be allowed.

Forbidden to you are your mothers, and your daughters, and your sisters, and your aunts, both on the father and mother's side, and your nieces on the brother and sister's side, and your foster-mothers, and your foster-sisters, and the mothers of your wives, and your step-daughters who are your wards, born of your wives to whom ye have gone in: (but if ye have not gone in unto them, it shall be no sin in you to marry them;) and the wives of your sons who proceed out of your loins; and ye may not have two sisters; except where it is already done. Verily, God is Indulgent, Merciful!

Forbidden to you also are married women, except those who are in your hands as slaves: This is the law of God for you. And it is allowed you, beside this, to seek out wives by means of your wealth, with modest conduct, and without fornication. And give those with whom ye have cohabited their dowry. This is the law. But it shall be no crime in you to make agreements over and above the law. Verily, God is Knowing, Wise!

And whoever of you is not rich enough to marry free believing women, then let him marry such of your believing maidens as have fallen into your hands as slaves; God well knoweth your faith. Ye are sprung the one from the other. Marry them, then, with the leave of their masters, and give them a fair dower: but let them be chaste and free from fornication, and not entertainers of lovers.

If after marriage they commit adultery, then inflict upon them half the penalty enacted for free married women. This law is for him among you who is afraid of doing wrong:6 but if ye abstain,7 it will be better for you. And God is Lenient, Merciful.

God desireth to make this known to you, and to guide you into the ways of those who have been before you, and to turn Him unto you in mercy. And God is Knowing, Wise!

God desireth thus to turn him unto you: but they who follow their own lusts, desire that with great swerving should ye swerve! God desireth to make your burden light: for man hath been created weak.

O believers! devour not each other's substance in mutual frivolities;8 unless there be a trafficking among you by your own consent: and commit not suicide:-of a truth God is merciful to you.

And whoever shall do this maliciously and wrongfully, we will in the end cast him into the fire; for this is easy with God.

If ye avoid the great sins which ye are forbidden, we will blot out your faults, and we will cause you to enter Paradise with honourable entry.

Covet not the gifts by which God hath raised some of you above others. The men shall have a portion according to their deserts, and the women a portion according to their deserts. Of God, therefore, ask his gifts. Verily, God hath knowledge of all things.

To every one have we appointed kindred, as heirs of what parents and relatives, and those with whom ye have joined right hands in contract, leave. Give therefore, to each their portion. Verily, God witnesseth all things.

Men are superior to women on account of the qualities with which God hath gifted