■ Whom G o d -fhall caufe to err, he fhalF afterwards have no protector. And
thou fhalt fee the ungodly, who fhall fay, when they behold the punifhmenc
prepared for them, Is there no way to return back' into the world? And thou
flialt fee them expofed unto hell fire ; dejedted, becaufe of the ignominy they
jhall undergo: they fhall look at the fire fideways, and by ftealth ; and the
true believers fhall fay, Verily the lofers are they who have loft their own
fouls, and their families, on the day of refurredtion: Jhall not the ungodly
continue in eternal torment ? They fhall have no protedtors to defend them
againft G od : and whom G od fhall caufe to err, he fhall find no way to the
truth. Hearken unto your L o r d , before the day come, which G od will not
keep back : ye fhall have no place of refuge on that day ; neither fhall ye
be able to deny your fins. But if thofe to whom thou preacheft turn afide from
thy admonitions, verily we have not fent thee to he a guardian over them : thy
duty is preaching only. When we caufe man to tafte mercy from us, he
rejoiceth thereat: but if evil befal them, for that which their hands have formerly
committed, verily man hecometh ungrateful. Unto G od appertained
the kingdom of heaven and earth : he createth that which he pleafeth 5 he
giveth females unto whom he pleafeth, and he giveth males unto whom he
pleafeth s or he giveth them males and females jointly : and he maketh whom
he pleafeth to be childlefs ; for he it wife, and powerful. It is not fit for man,
that G od fhould fpeak unto him otherwife than by private revelation, or from
behind a vail, or by his fending of a mefiengerto reveal, by his permiffion,
that which he pleafeth; for he is high and wife. Thus have we revealed unto
thee a revelation % by our command. Thou didft not underftand, before
this, what the book of the K o r a n was, nor what the faith was: but we have
ordained the fame for a light ; we will thereby diredt fuch of our fervants
as we pleafe : and thou fhalt furely diredt them into the right way, the
way of G o d , unto whom belongeth whatever is- heaven and in earth. Shall not
all things; return unto G od ?"
a Thus h av e w e r ev ealed unto th ee a r e v e la tio n ;] h av e w e f e n t th e f p i r i t Gabriel u n to tbees w i th a
Or,, as the words m a y be alfo tranilated, Thus reve lation .
CHAP. XLIIL
Intifledy The Ornaments of Gold*; revealed at Mecca13.
In the name of the moll merciful G o n-
H. Mv By the perfpicuous book; verily we have ordained the fame an
i Arabic K o r a n , that ye may underftand: and it is certainly written in
the
a The word chofen for the tide of -this chap- words, A n d ask our apoflies whom we h a v e fen t
ter, occurs p. 3 98. ' ' before th ee, Sec.
f Some except the verfe beginning with thefe ‘ See the Prel. Difc. §. III. p. 59, £sV.
the original book “, kept with us, being fublime and full of wifdom. Shall we
therefore turn away from you the admonition, and deprive you thereof, becaufe
ye are a people who tranfgrefs ? And how many prophets have we lent a-
mong thofe of old ? and no prophet came unto them, but they laughed him'to
fcorn : wherefore we deftroyed nations who were more mighty than thefe in
ftrength ; and the example of thofe who were of old, hath been already fet before
them. If thou afk them who created the heavens and the earth, they will certainly
anfwer, The mighty, the wife G o d created them: who hath fpread
the earth as a bed for you, and hath made you paths therein, that ye may
be directed: and who fendeth down rain from heaven by meafure, whereby
we quicken, a dead country ; (fo fhall ye be brought forth from your graves:)
and who hath created all the various fpecies of things, and hath given you
fhips and cattle, whereon ye are carried; that ye may fit firmly on the
backs thereof, and may remember the favour of your L o r d , when ye fit
thereon, and may fay, Praife be unto him, who hath fubjedted thefe unto our
fervice ! for we could not have maftered them by our own power: and unto
our L ord fhall we furely return. Yet have they attributed unto him feme of
his fervants as his offspring : verily man is openly ungrateful. Hath G o d
taken daughters out of thofe beings which he hath created •, ■ and hath he chofen
fens for you ? But when one of them hath the news brought of the birth of a
child of that fex which'they attribute unto the Merciful, as his fimilitude, his
face becometh black, and he is oppreffed with lorrowb. Do they therefore
attribute unto G o d female■ iffue, which are. brought up among ornaments, and
are contentious without caufe? And do they make the angels, who are the
fervants of the Merciful, females? Were they prefent at their creation?
Their, teftimony fhall be written down, and they fhall be examined concerning
the fame, on the day of judgment.- And they fay, If the Merciful had pleated,
we had not worfhipped them. They have no knowledge herein: they only
utter a vain lye. Have we given them a book of revelations before this ; and
do they keep the fame in their cuffiody ? But they fay, Verily we found our
fathers pradtifing a religion ; and we are guided in their footfteps. Thus we
fent no preacher, before thee, unto any city, but the inhabitants thereof who
lived ■ in affluence, faid, Verily we found our fathers pradtifing a religion :
and we tread in their footfteps. And the preacher anfwered, What, although
I bring you a more right religion than that which ye found your fathers to
pradtife? And they replied, Verily we believe not that which ye are fent to
preach. Wherefore we took vengeance on them : and behold what hath been
the end of thofe who accufed our apoftles of impofture. Remember when
A braham faid unto his father, and his people, Verily I am clear of the gods
which ye worfhip, except him who hath created me ; for he will diredt m<?
aright. And, he ordained this to be a conftant dodtrine among his pofterity ;
that they fhould be turned from idolatry to the worfhip of the only true G o d .
Verily I have permitted thefe M e c c a n s and their fathers to live in profperity,
until the truth fhould come unto them, and a manifeft apoftle : but now the
truth
i, In th e o r ig in a l books] i. e. The, preferved Table ; which is the orig'nal of all the ferip-
tures in general. J ' See chap. 16. p. hi letc.