mistake of the copyist for the usual word, which suits it.

7 That is, death. Beidh. Comp. Sura xv. 99.


SURA LXXIII. THE ENFOLDED1 [III.]

MECCA. 20 Verses.

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

O THOU ENFOLDED in thy mantle,

Stand up all night, except a small portion of it, for prayer:

Half; or curtail the half a little,-

Or add to it: And with measured tone intone the Koran,2

For we shall devolve on thee weighty words.

Verily, at the oncoming of night are devout impressions strongest, and words
are most collected;3

But in the day time thou hast continual employ-

And commemorate the name of thy Lord, and devote thyself to Him with entire
devotion.

Lord of the East and of the West! No God is there but He! Take Him for thy
protector,

And endure what they say with patience, and depart from them with a decorous
departure.

And let Me alone with the gainsayers, rich in the pleasures of this life; and
bear thou with them yet a little while:

For with Us are strong fetters, and a flaming fire,

And food that choketh, and a sore torment.

The day cometh when the earth and the mountains shall be shaken; and the
mountains shall become a loose sand heap.

Verily, we have sent you an Apostle to witness against you, even as we sent
an Apostle to Pharaoh:

But Pharaoh rebelled against the Apostle, and we therefore laid hold on him
with a severe chastisement.

And how, if ye believe not, will you screen yourselves from the day that
shall turn children greyheaded?

The very heaven shall be reft asunder by it: this threat shall be carried
into effect.

Lo! this is a warning. Let him then who will, take the way to his Lord.

Of a truth,4 thy Lord knoweth that thou prayest almost two-thirds, or half,
or a third of the night, as do a part of thy followers. But God measureth the
night and the day: He knoweth that ye cannot count its hours aright, and
therefore, turneth to you mercifully. Recite then so much of the Koran as may
be easy to you. He knoweth that there will be some among you sick, while
others travel through the earth in quest of the bounties of God; and others
do battle in his cause. Recite therefore so much of it as may be easy. And
observe the Prayers and pay the legal Alms,5 and lend God a liberal loan: for
whatever good works ye send on before for your own behoof, ye shall find with
God. This will be best and richest in the recompense. And seek the
forgiveness of God: verily, God is forgiving, Merciful.


_______________________

1 From the first line of this Sura, and its expressions concerning the Koran,
Prayer, and Future Punishment: from the similarity of the tradition with
regard to its having been preceded by a vision of Gabriel (Beidh., etc.), it
seems to belong to, or at least to describe, a period, perhaps immediately
succeeding the Fatrah, during which the hours of night were spent by Muhammad
in devotion and in the labour of working up his materials in rhythmical and
rhyming Suras, and in preparation for the public assumption of the prophetic
office. Comp. especially verses 11, 19, 20, at the end, with 11, 54, 55, of
the preceding Sura.

2 Singe den Koran laut. H.v.P. Psalle Alcoranum psallendo. Mar. Singe den
Koran mit singender und lauter Stimme ab. Ullm.

3 Lit. most firm, perhaps, distinct.

4 This verse, according to a tradition of Ayesha, was revealed one year later
than the previous part of the Sura. Nöldeke says it is "offenbar ein
Medinischer."

5 The reader will not be surprised to find in the very outset of Muhammad's
career a frequent mention of Alms, Prayer, Heaven, Hell, Judgment, Apostles,
etc., in their usual sense, when he remembers that Judaism was extensively
naturalised in Arabia, and Christianity, also, although to a smaller extent.
The words and phrases of these religions were doubtless familiar to the
Meccans, especially to that numerous body who were anxiously searching after
some better religion than the idolatries of their fathers (v. on Sura iii.


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