20090130
Elegy on Husayn
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Elegy (Marthiya) on Husayn: Arabic and Persian
Lynda Clarke, University of Toronto.
I propose to give here an account neither of the development, nor of the themes, of the elegy on Husayn, in Arabic or Persian, nor of the outstanding poets of elegy, the literature in both these languages is too vast for that, and spread out over too great a period. Rather, I would like to give some idea of the place of these marathi in literary and religious tradition, while giving in translation some examples of elegy on Husayn which should serve for those unfamiliar with these languages to form an idea of the beauty and effectiveness of this type of poetry.
I should warn English-speakers that my translations, in one essential respect, do not bear much resemblance to the originals. The Arabic and Persian poetical traditions, at least until very recently (only a few decades ago), required adherence to strict rhyme patterns, often monorhyme, and strict quantitative metre. These things are not only nearly impossible to reproduce in our English language, but also undesirable. It is necessary to imagine that the examples I give had in their original a very regular rhythm, a rhythm which could also be important for ritual purposes, for instance, in religious processions. If the conceits used are sometimes also a little difficult for us to understand immediately, the ideas expressed, and the effect, are, I think, universal.
The tradition of elegiac poetry known in Arabic as marthiya had its roots, as regards themes as well as form, in pre-Islamic times.
The Arabic elegy, in the sometimes lengthy monorhyme qasida form, was like all pre-Islamic poetry highly conventionalized. The virtues of the deceased and the loss of the mourner are described, which then provides an opportunity to dwell on the pathos of this transitory life in the face of fate, always unalterable. Often the mourner curses the enemy and calls for vengeance. While the pre-lslamic elegy was conventionalized, it was also highly specific, or occasional: reflections on mortality only serve to frame a threnodic tribute to a specified personality.
If we express 'marthiya' as 'elegy', then it should be kept in mind that what we mean is not the elegy of Western tradition, which may designate any poem of a subjective kind, and one quite generally connected with the question of mortality. Most of even the earliest forms of the Greek elegiac couplet (from which the Latin and then Western languages take the genre and the name) do not display exclusively themes of death or loss.
If I bring up this point - which may seem somewhat distant from the question of elegy on Husayn in Arabic and Persian - it is to emphasize that the literature of marathi has but weak parallels in Western tradition. More particularly, it is not paralleled in Western Christian tradition, despite an extensive martyrology. Some of the social and attendant historical factors in this contrasting development may be surmised: for one thing, the influence of poetic tradition has been comparatively much stronger among the Arab-speaking peoples and among the once much wider circle of Persian speakers than in the West. What is of relevance here is that it has clearly been the event of Karbala' which allowed this pre-Islamic Arabic tradition to continue into Islamic times and take its central place in the languages of the Islamic tradition. Any elegy (in the restricted sense in which we are speaking here) may strike a universal note; in fact that is one of the requirements of an elegy, but very few examples tend to survive as poetry or as something which would continue to evoke deep emotion. Practically our whole tradition of funeral elegy in English, for example, seems to be quite dead, in the poetical sense. In contrast to this, we have the tradition of Husayn and those martyred with him: the sacrifice of Husayn has provided a vital and meaningful subject for authors (both Shia and Sunni) for all of fourteen centuries (and into the future, God willing). Thus we see that even in Arabic, although the strong tradition of secular elegy continued into this century, that too has declined with other forms and themes considered 'artificial' by modern movements, while marthiya on Husayn and the other martyrs of Karbala' continues in both formal and popular language.
Alongside this, the event of Karbala' has provided a continuing ritual context for elegiac poetry. The marthiya in pre-Islamic times has a ritual function as a lamentation (nawh), often recited by women (and the best of its earliest practitioners known to us were women). Not only would the listener be invited to dwell in the virtues of the deceased, but the pathos of the situation was also revealed, and it may be assumed that those present were then moved to weep. Some of the earliest examples we have of marthiya on Husayn are in fact simple poems of this type: lamentations by his wives and daughters. This piece attributed to Rabab, beloved wife of Husayn, is particularly moving. Rabab said:
He who was a light, shining, is murdered;
Murdered in Karbala', and unburied.
Descendant of the Prophet, may God reward you well;
May you be spared judgement on the day when deeds are weighed:
For you were to me as a mountain, solid, in which I could take refuge;
And you treated us always with kindness, [1] and according to religion.
O who shall speak now for the orphans, for the petitioners;
By whom shall all these wretched be protected, in whom shall they take refuge?
I swear by God, never will I wish to exchange marriage with you for another;
No, not until I am covered; covered in the grave.
And on another occasion Rabab said:
O Husayn! Never shall I forget Husayn!
Pierced by the spears of his enemies,
He whom they abandoned, in Karbala'.
May God now never water the plains of Karbala' ![2]
And regardless of how well attested these pieces of elegy are as literary remains, I think we would have to say that the beauty and deep feeling here has something of the force of memory to testify to their authenticity. In many later elegies on Husayn, the lament is put into the mouths of females of his family, Fatima, for instance, or Zaynab, and this recalls the pre-Islamic elegy.
In the Umayyad period poets were invited to compose laudations (madh) and marathi for the rituals of the gatherings (majalis) of the noble members of the family of the Prophet. This narration concerning the sixth Imam shows the place of marathi in these gatherings:
Jafar b. 'Affan came to al-Sadiq's residence and seated himself next to him, upon which the Imam said, Ja'far, I have been told that you recite poetry for Husayn, peace be upon him, and that you do it well.' 'Yes, and may God make me a sacrifice for you!' replied the poet. 'Recite, then', said al-Sadiq, and Jafar recited these verses:
He who weeps for Husayn might well weep for Islam itself,
For the principles of Islam have been destroyed, and used unlawfully:
On the day when Husayn became the target of spears,
When swords drank from him, busy with their work.
And corpses, scattered, were abandoned in the desert.
Great birds hovering over by night and by day...
And the Imam Sadiq wept and those around him with him, until his face and beard were covered with tears. Then he said, 'By God, Jafar, the angels closest to God are witness here and they hear your words; they have wept as we have, and more ... '[3]
At the end of the 'Abbasid period, the reciter in these commemorative sessions was still known as a na'ih, a lamenter, or mourner. [4]
These marathi, then, provided the germ for early gatherings of partisans of the House of the Prophet; they may also then be seen as the origin or earliest form of the ta'ziya as it is known today among Shi'i peoples. The literary forms known as ta'ziya and marthiya in Arabic are related, the ta'ziya being a kind of extended lamentation which is also intended to comfort the hearer in the face calamity, as the root meaning of the Arabic - 'comforting' - suggests.[5] The 'ritual context' for elegy on Husayn continues to be provided today not only by the developed ta'ziya, but also by various other gatherings within the ten days of Muharram in which marathi are recited. In the Shi'i area of Lebanon, for instance, there are many such gatherings held, and in both the Arabic- and Persian-speaking world gatherings are held exclusively for women.[6]
It was inevitable that once the force of memory receded, themes had to be introduced into elegy on Husayn which would have the desired effect on the hearer by bringing forward the significance of his martyrdom; thus the elegy is linked with the issues surrounding his martyrdom. In the example we have already given by the poet Ja'far ibn 'Affan al-Ta'i (d. 150), Islam itself is put in the position of a martyr. This marthiya of the imam al-Shafi'i introduces, after protestations of personal sorrow, and the image of the martyr, his declaration of love for the House of the Prophet overall. The imam Shafi'i said:
My heart sighed, for my innermost being was in dejection;
Sleep no longer came, and sleeplessness was bewildering.
O who shall be the bearer of a message from me to Husayn,
(Though the hearts and minds of some may disapprove!)
Slaughtered, though without sin himself,
His shirt as if dyed through with crimson.
Now the sword itself wails, and the spear shrieks,
And the horse which once only whinnied, laments.
The world quaked for the sake of the Family of Muhammad;
For their sake, the solid mountains might have melted away.
Heavenly bodies sunk, the stars trembled,
Oh veils were torn, and breasts were rent!
He who asks blessing for the one sent from the Tribe of Hashim,
But attacks his sons;truly, that is strange!
And if my sin is love of the Family of Muhammad:
Then that is a sin which I do not repent.[7]
This qasida of the imam Shafi'i is also notable in that it is, of course, a Sunn'i production; the fact that he composed other such elegies is well attested, and apparently many other Shafi'ites (and Hanafites) in this early period did the same. [8]However, even the attestation by such a person as the imam Shafi'i of his love for the Family of the Prophet left him open in those dangerous times to accusations of 'unorthodoxy', as the following lines attributed to him suggest. The imam Shafi'i said:
They said, 'You are a Rafidi!', and I said, 'But no,
Nor is my religion nor are my beliefs of that kind ...
'But if love of the viceregent of God be Rafidism,
Then I am the most Rafidi of the servants of God!'[9]
Continuing on the subject of 'Sunni' or perhaps we should say 'non-Shi'i, elegy about Husayn, here is a strong piece from the Hadiqat al-Haqiqa or 'Garden of Truth' of Sana'i, as a Persian example from the early twelfth century. I have abridged it in translation by about half; it is given the title 'Concerning Karbala', and the fragrant air of that most glorious place of martyrdom'. Sana'i says:
How excellent Karbala' ! and that honour it received,
Which brought to mankind the odour of Paradise as if on a breeze;
And that body, headless, Iying in clay and dust,
And those precious ones, hearts rent by the sword.
And that elect of all the world, murdered,
His body smeared with earth and blood;
And those great oppressors, those doers of evil,
Persistent in the evil they do.
The sanctity of religion and the Family of the Prophet
Are both borne away, both by ignorance and inanity;
Swords are red like precious ruby with the blood of Husayn,
What disgrace in the world worse than this!
And Mustafa, his garments all torn,
And 'Ali, tears of blood raining from his eyes.
A whole world has become insolent in its cruelty;
The cunning fox has become a roaring lion.
But still unbelievers at the start of the battle,
Were reminded of the stroke of Dhu'l-Fiqar.
Yes, from Husayn they sought satisfaction for their rancour, but that was not to be;
They had to be content with their own malice and disgrace.
And know that any who speak ill of those dogs [those murderers of Husayn]
Will be kings in the world to come![10]
In Arabic poems on Husayn, the elegy, the marthiya proper, becomes very soon only part of a larger developed narrative in which the deeds and nobility of the martyrs of Karbala' are described. This development of narrative can be seen already in the poetry of Di'bil b. 'Ali al-Khuza'i (d. 246) and in the large body of poetry composed by Ibn Hammad al-'Abdi (end of the 4th cent.). However, the marthiya form can still be seen intact within these longer qasidas, and the lament for Husayn still provides the emotional high point; it is often placed at the beginning of the composition. As another example from this early period we give a part of this well known elegy by al-Sharif al-Murtada (d. 406), which he is said to have extemporized on the spot at Karbala'. In this qasida al-Sharif al-Murtada pictures Husayn calling out to his ancestors for aid, but they do not respond; the poet even seems to reproach God for the deaths of the martyrs. In fact, the 'reproach' is a common theme in elegy on Husayn, of the hearer, of the dead relatives of the martyr, or even of God. The elegy for Husayn then turns into a lament for all the Imams supposed to have been martyred, and ends with a call for revenge from the Prophet himself.
O Karbala'! Ever is your name sorrow (karb) and tragedy (bala)!
O what you brought upon the family of Mustafa!
How much blood flowed upon your soil when they fell,
And how many tears were shed there!
And how many a noble horse there was, weeping, its tears coursing,
Its cheek next to one perished of thirst,
Wiping the dust off its hooves
On the stain of a throat covered in blood!
These guests came to a barren plain,
And there was no food to be served them;
Nor did they taste water, until they gathered
At the edge of the sword, and the spring of death.
O murdered one, who struggled with death,
Without uttering an insult, without killing anyone!
And they washed him only with his own blood, shed by spears:
Shrouded him only with a shroud of dust.
Exhausted, he calls, while there is no help for him,
In the name of his benificent father, and his grandfather Mustafa,
And in the name of a mother for whom God has raised a standard,
Not found among all the women of humankind.
And what father, what grandfather does he call!
O grandfather, grandfather, help me, O father!
O Messenger of God, O Fatima,
O Prince of the Faithful, 'Ali, Murtada!
How would God not hasten for their sakes,
To cause the earth to heave, the sky to rain stones!
And O Imams, mountains of the earth, most great, most high;
O moons of this earth, shining, brilliant!
The disaster which befell you
Brought to us deep grief and weeping, never ending.
I know that sorrow for you is not to be forgotten, nor grief for your sake comforted,
Though ages may pass;
For much time has passed since your deaths, and continues to pass,
Yet neither has grief abated, nor tears.
How far are you, O Imams, from him who hoped to achieve by you,
With the Apostle of God, victory and salvation;
On the day of the Great Encounter, when the Apostle Will turn his face from those gathered, and say:
(Speaking to God against them, And how could a generation thus accused prosper?)
'O Lord, on this day I am enemy to them;
I come as one wronged, and this is the day to judge.'[11]
The great impetus for the vast literature of elegy and dirge for Husayn in the Persian language, a literature which is now much larger than the Arabic, which includes a much greater element of elegy on the other martyrs of Karbala', and which has many more forms and recognized ritual uses than in the Arabic tradition, came with the establishment of the Safavid dynasty and the consequent consolidation for Shi'ism of the larger part of the Persian-speaking world. Here as an example from the beginning of the Safavid period, is an elegiac qasida (abridged in translation) by Muhtasham-i Kashani, a favourite court poet. It shows some of the typical themes and imagery of the Persian genre, as well as imaginative expressions of the favourite elegiac theme of what later came to be known in Europe as 'pathetic fallacy'. Kasham says:
The name of this land full of tragedy (bala') is Karbala'.
O pitiless heart, where is your sigh of burning sorrow to burn the heavens?
This desert is the place of the murder of a lord who died athirst.
O tongue. it is the time for lamentation; O eye, it is time to weep!
This space still bears the mark of the sighs ot ones wronged,
So if the sky is become black through the smoke of our sights, it is fitting
This spot which today is covered by the canopies of the bubbles of our tears,
Was once the place where the tents of the People of the House were set up
Here the ship of Husayn's life foundered in disaster;
Then why is the ocean of our tears, in such a maelstrom, stormless?
Behold that dome filled with light from near and far;
Its world-illuminating rays show the way to those gone astray
Behold a grave most illumined, before which
The casket of the horizons with its hundred thousand petals and precious stones is as without value.
Behold beneath the earth, the cypress of the garden of the Prophet,
For sorrow of whom the sky is arched, bent over.[12]
Behold, one clotted with blood, the tree of roses in the garden of Fatima, a woman pure.
For whose defeat of whom the garments of the houris are rent like the rose.
This is the lamp to the eyes of mankind, and now by the sword of oppression,
Extinguished, as though merely a candle - a naked body, the head separated from the rest.
This is the joy of Zahra's breast, and now by horses' hooves
His breast so full of wisdom trampled from all sides by tragedy (bala)
This is Husayn, son of 'Ali, beloved of the Prophet,
Now pierced through by the blade of oppression at the hand of his murderer Sinan.[13]
Set foot with reverence in this place of martyrdom, for its carpet most illumed,
Is anemone colour with blood from the head of him who was the light of the eyes of 'Ali, Murtada.
And even if the eye of a friend should not weep bitterly with sorrow,
Still the cry 'O sorrow!' would be upon the tongues of enemies, a cry of regret!
Now night appears from the setting of the sun, for on the roof of the horizons,
The black standard of the People of the Cloak falls from the shoulder of ever-revolving time,
O viceregent of God, I, Muhtasham, the beggar at your threshold,
Stand at the door of helplessness, empty, and empty-handed.
O how long since I tore my heart from my homeland for your sake!
And now after the long road it has taken, it enters in this palace.
Now the suppliant hand of my heart is raised in wretchedness to the sky,
And that which it seeks depends on your favour.
And though, O Husayn, through the desires of the self, that lover of sin,
My heart sits at the banquet of sin, and astrlde the horse of error,
Yet since the plain of Karbala' is become covered with dust, it would be fit
If you were to take away from this heart, the dust of sin.'[14]
Muhtasham's tarkib-band, a long strophic poem of twelve parts, is much more well known than any other of his numerous elegies on Husayn, and was imitated for centuries after him. Each strophe ends with a refrain, which is particularly effective in elegy. As an example of a modern tarkib-band, here is one strophe taken from a piece by a very popular contemporary poet, Ansari, 'Poet of the House of the Prophet'. It seems that the poet may have been inspired not only by the differing circumstances surrounding the martyrdoms of 'Ali and Husayn, but by the contrast between Najaf and Karbala' as well (Najaf is fairly well watered, but Karbala' is like a desert).
O breeze of morning, take to 'Ali these words of the poet Ansari;
Say: Husayn is fallen. Rise, then, go and see:
To Karbala' from Najaf where you lie,
His body in a hundred pieces pierced by the lance, the dagger, the sword.
O 'Ali! See who was once the light of your eyes,
Now the enemy around him like eyelashes around the eye;
And here you lie, in pleasant repose with Adam and Noah, at rest
While Husayn has as his resting place the burning sand of Karbala' !
Although you were made stranger to yourself by the stroke of the sword,
Around you were both stranger and kin, with refreshment and sweets;
While the body of your Husayn is rent the whole length with wounds.
And would you know the number of those wounds?
They are as many as the stars!
Wherever you turned your gaze, there stood a friend to see,
While Husayn's eye falls only on the enemy.
'Ali. when you gave your life, your family was there beside,
But there on a desert plain far from daughter or sister Husayn dies.
For you the Faithful Spirit, Gabriel, brought a shroud from heaven,
But Husayn fell there on the earth without ablution, without shroud!
'Ali, since Husayn in the last hour took your head on his lap to lie,
As kindness in return, then, lay his head on your lap 'til he dies.[15]
As an example of modern Arabic elegy in the traditional style, here is a piece from the great Lebanese Shi'i scholar Muhsin al-Amin al-'Amili, taken from a collection of elegies he has made of his own and others' poems. Al-Sayyid Muhsin al-Amin died only recently; it should be mentioned that he was active not only in Shi'i scholarship and especially biography, but also in Sunn'i - Shi'i taqrib or rapprochement. This qasida, in a lightweight metre and a simple style, was composed in 1353/1934-5 while the author was travelling in Iraq and Iran, and it might not be too much to see some allusions to the political situation of those areas in certain lines. Al-Sayyid al-Amin says:
O Karbala', you have brought upon us great sorrow;
You have excited sadness and grief.
Now the eye must let its tears flow
To water the grave of one who died thirsty in al-Taff.
Glory, O Abu Fadl, brother of Husayn, for your ways have become
A lesson to the courageous; an example to the brave.
Your way, yes this is the way of brothers
(May the one not live who betrays his brother!)
Glory to you, O tribe of Hashim, for you offered your lives freely
And your lives were sacrifice for the religion of God.
On that day you bought glory dearly:
Your precious lives were the price of glory!
You gave your lives for little for the sake of the religion of Mustafa, and by this
The measure of your lives is become more precious still - and who can equal your deeds after this?
You left your family and your children, despite your love for them;
And you exchanged them for the maidens and the youths of Paradise.
Though kings set on their heads crowns of gold,
Yet it is glory which you wear as your crown.
No sword or spear is truly unsheathed, after you;
No, after your deeds, no weapon has found a hand worthy!
Glory itself submitted to your loftiness, it dared not come near;
And others never attained your station: they did not even approach it.
In excellence all mankind is below you, without exception,
And they who called you low, have ended in shame.[16]
Elegy for Husayn continues in Arabic in popular or dialect form as well, proof of the power of the martry to enter into and affect the life of the common people. The popular strophic form in Lebanese dialect known as zajal is used for many subjects, including political and nationalistic themes. Most villages (Muslim and non-Muslim) have their own zajal poet. A collection of some zajal compositions on the subject of the martyrdom of Husayn has been made by the Shi'i publishing house 'Irfan', but unfortunately I was unable to get the use of the book for this essay. Instead I offer this freely translated part of a piece by the Iraqi folk poet 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Umawi, entitled 'The Revolution of Husayn'. This modern folk poetry is particularly moving in its simplicity (sometimes naivety), and its closeness to the concerns of everyday and political life. As folk poetry often does, it has a great topicality. The poet says:
The revolution you made is holy, O Husayn,
Illuminating political thought, O Husayn;
Through it mankind is liberated;
Through it the earth is illuminated.
O Husayn, religion is a pearl, O Husayn
A precious pearl, and you protect it well, O Husayn.
All men honest and men of good will follow your way
Each philosopher is fascinated by your mysteries;
Even Jesus the Christ spoke of you.
And we are proud of our allegiance to you, O Husayn.
And famous Christian writers have recorded
The glory of your days and of your life, O Husayn.
Your uprising is glory and nobility for Islam,
And the greatest school of religion, O Husayn!
O Husayn, all the stagnation, the apathy,
With which our society is afflicted, O Husayn,
Came from the laws of the Umayyads, those despots
It is that which has brought us low, O Husayn.
And when you saw corruption victorious
The law was brought to life again through your devotion,
The goals of the Qur'an were realized through your determination,
And your blood watered the garden of compassion ...
And we are in awe of your deeds, O Husayn,
Because of these Islam is spread
Spread as far as any modern advanced science.
Then after your partisans had all died,
ou offered up the beloved of your heart.
And your heart shook to its very depths
From the perfidious arrow which pierced it, Husayn.
And when you saw the mutilated body of 'Abd Allah,
The tears of your love flowed forth, O Husayn
His death overcame you with grief.
And your heart burst forth with hears,
The word, once wide, seemed as of it had become narrow:
O Husayn, O Husayn![17]
Notes:
[1] bi-'l-rahm: also, 'as one related to you'.
[2] Muhammad Jawad Maghniya, Adab al-Taff aw Shu'ara' al-Husayn (Beirut, 1388/1969), I, 61.
[3] Hibat al-Din al-Husayni al-Shahristani, Nahdat al-Husayn (Karbala, 1388/1969), p. 154.
[4] Ibid., pp. 159-160.
[5] The K. al-Ta'azi wa al-Marathi of Muhammad h. Yazid al-Mubarrad (d. 282) explains the meaning of ta'ziya and gives examples (ed. Muhammad al-Dibaji [Damascus, 1396/1976], pp. 4ff).
[6] Waddah Sharara, Transformations d'une manifestation religieuse dans un village du Liban-Sud (Beirut, 1968), pp. 43ff, As to the Arab Ashura representation or ta'ziya, it seems that it has until now received too little attention. It may be that the actual dramatic form owes much to Iranian, and largely Safavid, origins, for instance, it is received knowledge among the inhabitants of the chiefly Shi'i town of Nabatiya in South Lebanon that it was Iranian immigrants at the beginning of the century who gave the ta'ziya there (the mere playing of which recently caused the occupying forces to fire on the participants) its present form. However, since the commemorative session itself began, of course, as an Arabic tradition, it would seem worthwhile to examine Arabic language ta'ziya separately for Arabic antecedents to the Persian.
[7] Adab al-Taff, I, 214.
[8] Dhabih Allah Safa, Tarikh-i Adabiyat dar Iran (Tehran, 2536), II, 195.
[9] Adab al-Taff, I, 217.
[10] Hadiqat al-Haqiqa ed. Mudarrisi Razavi (Tehran, 1950), pp. 270 271.
[11] Adab al-Taff, II, 206-208.
[12] The cypress in Persian poetry is thought of metaphorically as a possessor of fair stature. Here the tall-standing and erect cypress is brought down below the ground, and is also in contrast to the sky, bent over in sorrow (the sky is thought of as an arc or dome).
[13] Or: 'the spear of the son of mans, apparently implying the guilt of all humankind. Sinan b. Anos al-Nakhi, according to some accounts, was the murderer of Husayn.
[14] Divan-i Muhtasham, ed. M. Gurgani (Tehran, 1344/ 1965), pp. 299-300.
[15] Divan-i Ansari, ed. A. Usuli (Qum, 1342/1963), pp. 343-344.
[16] Al-Durr al-Nadid fi Marathi al-Sibt al-Shahid (Karbala', n.d.), pp. 339-340.
[17] Anataly Kova;enko, Le Martyre de Husayn dans la poesie populaire d'Iraq (Geneve, 1979), pp. 220-222
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Elegy (Marthiya) on Husayn: Arabic and Persian
Lynda Clarke, University of Toronto.
I propose to give here an account neither of the development, nor of the themes, of the elegy on Husayn, in Arabic or Persian, nor of the outstanding poets of elegy, the literature in both these languages is too vast for that, and spread out over too great a period. Rather, I would like to give some idea of the place of these marathi in literary and religious tradition, while giving in translation some examples of elegy on Husayn which should serve for those unfamiliar with these languages to form an idea of the beauty and effectiveness of this type of poetry.
I should warn English-speakers that my translations, in one essential respect, do not bear much resemblance to the originals. The Arabic and Persian poetical traditions, at least until very recently (only a few decades ago), required adherence to strict rhyme patterns, often monorhyme, and strict quantitative metre. These things are not only nearly impossible to reproduce in our English language, but also undesirable. It is necessary to imagine that the examples I give had in their original a very regular rhythm, a rhythm which could also be important for ritual purposes, for instance, in religious processions. If the conceits used are sometimes also a little difficult for us to understand immediately, the ideas expressed, and the effect, are, I think, universal.
The tradition of elegiac poetry known in Arabic as marthiya had its roots, as regards themes as well as form, in pre-Islamic times.
The Arabic elegy, in the sometimes lengthy monorhyme qasida form, was like all pre-Islamic poetry highly conventionalized. The virtues of the deceased and the loss of the mourner are described, which then provides an opportunity to dwell on the pathos of this transitory life in the face of fate, always unalterable. Often the mourner curses the enemy and calls for vengeance. While the pre-lslamic elegy was conventionalized, it was also highly specific, or occasional: reflections on mortality only serve to frame a threnodic tribute to a specified personality.
If we express 'marthiya' as 'elegy', then it should be kept in mind that what we mean is not the elegy of Western tradition, which may designate any poem of a subjective kind, and one quite generally connected with the question of mortality. Most of even the earliest forms of the Greek elegiac couplet (from which the Latin and then Western languages take the genre and the name) do not display exclusively themes of death or loss.
If I bring up this point - which may seem somewhat distant from the question of elegy on Husayn in Arabic and Persian - it is to emphasize that the literature of marathi has but weak parallels in Western tradition. More particularly, it is not paralleled in Western Christian tradition, despite an extensive martyrology. Some of the social and attendant historical factors in this contrasting development may be surmised: for one thing, the influence of poetic tradition has been comparatively much stronger among the Arab-speaking peoples and among the once much wider circle of Persian speakers than in the West. What is of relevance here is that it has clearly been the event of Karbala' which allowed this pre-Islamic Arabic tradition to continue into Islamic times and take its central place in the languages of the Islamic tradition. Any elegy (in the restricted sense in which we are speaking here) may strike a universal note; in fact that is one of the requirements of an elegy, but very few examples tend to survive as poetry or as something which would continue to evoke deep emotion. Practically our whole tradition of funeral elegy in English, for example, seems to be quite dead, in the poetical sense. In contrast to this, we have the tradition of Husayn and those martyred with him: the sacrifice of Husayn has provided a vital and meaningful subject for authors (both Shia and Sunni) for all of fourteen centuries (and into the future, God willing). Thus we see that even in Arabic, although the strong tradition of secular elegy continued into this century, that too has declined with other forms and themes considered 'artificial' by modern movements, while marthiya on Husayn and the other martyrs of Karbala' continues in both formal and popular language.
Alongside this, the event of Karbala' has provided a continuing ritual context for elegiac poetry. The marthiya in pre-Islamic times has a ritual function as a lamentation (nawh), often recited by women (and the best of its earliest practitioners known to us were women). Not only would the listener be invited to dwell in the virtues of the deceased, but the pathos of the situation was also revealed, and it may be assumed that those present were then moved to weep. Some of the earliest examples we have of marthiya on Husayn are in fact simple poems of this type: lamentations by his wives and daughters. This piece attributed to Rabab, beloved wife of Husayn, is particularly moving. Rabab said:
He who was a light, shining, is murdered;
Murdered in Karbala', and unburied.
Descendant of the Prophet, may God reward you well;
May you be spared judgement on the day when deeds are weighed:
For you were to me as a mountain, solid, in which I could take refuge;
And you treated us always with kindness, [1] and according to religion.
O who shall speak now for the orphans, for the petitioners;
By whom shall all these wretched be protected, in whom shall they take refuge?
I swear by God, never will I wish to exchange marriage with you for another;
No, not until I am covered; covered in the grave.
And on another occasion Rabab said:
O Husayn! Never shall I forget Husayn!
Pierced by the spears of his enemies,
He whom they abandoned, in Karbala'.
May God now never water the plains of Karbala' ![2]
And regardless of how well attested these pieces of elegy are as literary remains, I think we would have to say that the beauty and deep feeling here has something of the force of memory to testify to their authenticity. In many later elegies on Husayn, the lament is put into the mouths of females of his family, Fatima, for instance, or Zaynab, and this recalls the pre-Islamic elegy.
In the Umayyad period poets were invited to compose laudations (madh) and marathi for the rituals of the gatherings (majalis) of the noble members of the family of the Prophet. This narration concerning the sixth Imam shows the place of marathi in these gatherings:
Jafar b. 'Affan came to al-Sadiq's residence and seated himself next to him, upon which the Imam said, Ja'far, I have been told that you recite poetry for Husayn, peace be upon him, and that you do it well.' 'Yes, and may God make me a sacrifice for you!' replied the poet. 'Recite, then', said al-Sadiq, and Jafar recited these verses:
He who weeps for Husayn might well weep for Islam itself,
For the principles of Islam have been destroyed, and used unlawfully:
On the day when Husayn became the target of spears,
When swords drank from him, busy with their work.
And corpses, scattered, were abandoned in the desert.
Great birds hovering over by night and by day...
And the Imam Sadiq wept and those around him with him, until his face and beard were covered with tears. Then he said, 'By God, Jafar, the angels closest to God are witness here and they hear your words; they have wept as we have, and more ... '[3]
At the end of the 'Abbasid period, the reciter in these commemorative sessions was still known as a na'ih, a lamenter, or mourner. [4]
These marathi, then, provided the germ for early gatherings of partisans of the House of the Prophet; they may also then be seen as the origin or earliest form of the ta'ziya as it is known today among Shi'i peoples. The literary forms known as ta'ziya and marthiya in Arabic are related, the ta'ziya being a kind of extended lamentation which is also intended to comfort the hearer in the face calamity, as the root meaning of the Arabic - 'comforting' - suggests.[5] The 'ritual context' for elegy on Husayn continues to be provided today not only by the developed ta'ziya, but also by various other gatherings within the ten days of Muharram in which marathi are recited. In the Shi'i area of Lebanon, for instance, there are many such gatherings held, and in both the Arabic- and Persian-speaking world gatherings are held exclusively for women.[6]
It was inevitable that once the force of memory receded, themes had to be introduced into elegy on Husayn which would have the desired effect on the hearer by bringing forward the significance of his martyrdom; thus the elegy is linked with the issues surrounding his martyrdom. In the example we have already given by the poet Ja'far ibn 'Affan al-Ta'i (d. 150), Islam itself is put in the position of a martyr. This marthiya of the imam al-Shafi'i introduces, after protestations of personal sorrow, and the image of the martyr, his declaration of love for the House of the Prophet overall. The imam Shafi'i said:
My heart sighed, for my innermost being was in dejection;
Sleep no longer came, and sleeplessness was bewildering.
O who shall be the bearer of a message from me to Husayn,
(Though the hearts and minds of some may disapprove!)
Slaughtered, though without sin himself,
His shirt as if dyed through with crimson.
Now the sword itself wails, and the spear shrieks,
And the horse which once only whinnied, laments.
The world quaked for the sake of the Family of Muhammad;
For their sake, the solid mountains might have melted away.
Heavenly bodies sunk, the stars trembled,
Oh veils were torn, and breasts were rent!
He who asks blessing for the one sent from the Tribe of Hashim,
But attacks his sons;truly, that is strange!
And if my sin is love of the Family of Muhammad:
Then that is a sin which I do not repent.[7]
This qasida of the imam Shafi'i is also notable in that it is, of course, a Sunn'i production; the fact that he composed other such elegies is well attested, and apparently many other Shafi'ites (and Hanafites) in this early period did the same. [8]However, even the attestation by such a person as the imam Shafi'i of his love for the Family of the Prophet left him open in those dangerous times to accusations of 'unorthodoxy', as the following lines attributed to him suggest. The imam Shafi'i said:
They said, 'You are a Rafidi!', and I said, 'But no,
Nor is my religion nor are my beliefs of that kind ...
'But if love of the viceregent of God be Rafidism,
Then I am the most Rafidi of the servants of God!'[9]
Continuing on the subject of 'Sunni' or perhaps we should say 'non-Shi'i, elegy about Husayn, here is a strong piece from the Hadiqat al-Haqiqa or 'Garden of Truth' of Sana'i, as a Persian example from the early twelfth century. I have abridged it in translation by about half; it is given the title 'Concerning Karbala', and the fragrant air of that most glorious place of martyrdom'. Sana'i says:
How excellent Karbala' ! and that honour it received,
Which brought to mankind the odour of Paradise as if on a breeze;
And that body, headless, Iying in clay and dust,
And those precious ones, hearts rent by the sword.
And that elect of all the world, murdered,
His body smeared with earth and blood;
And those great oppressors, those doers of evil,
Persistent in the evil they do.
The sanctity of religion and the Family of the Prophet
Are both borne away, both by ignorance and inanity;
Swords are red like precious ruby with the blood of Husayn,
What disgrace in the world worse than this!
And Mustafa, his garments all torn,
And 'Ali, tears of blood raining from his eyes.
A whole world has become insolent in its cruelty;
The cunning fox has become a roaring lion.
But still unbelievers at the start of the battle,
Were reminded of the stroke of Dhu'l-Fiqar.
Yes, from Husayn they sought satisfaction for their rancour, but that was not to be;
They had to be content with their own malice and disgrace.
And know that any who speak ill of those dogs [those murderers of Husayn]
Will be kings in the world to come![10]
In Arabic poems on Husayn, the elegy, the marthiya proper, becomes very soon only part of a larger developed narrative in which the deeds and nobility of the martyrs of Karbala' are described. This development of narrative can be seen already in the poetry of Di'bil b. 'Ali al-Khuza'i (d. 246) and in the large body of poetry composed by Ibn Hammad al-'Abdi (end of the 4th cent.). However, the marthiya form can still be seen intact within these longer qasidas, and the lament for Husayn still provides the emotional high point; it is often placed at the beginning of the composition. As another example from this early period we give a part of this well known elegy by al-Sharif al-Murtada (d. 406), which he is said to have extemporized on the spot at Karbala'. In this qasida al-Sharif al-Murtada pictures Husayn calling out to his ancestors for aid, but they do not respond; the poet even seems to reproach God for the deaths of the martyrs. In fact, the 'reproach' is a common theme in elegy on Husayn, of the hearer, of the dead relatives of the martyr, or even of God. The elegy for Husayn then turns into a lament for all the Imams supposed to have been martyred, and ends with a call for revenge from the Prophet himself.
O Karbala'! Ever is your name sorrow (karb) and tragedy (bala)!
O what you brought upon the family of Mustafa!
How much blood flowed upon your soil when they fell,
And how many tears were shed there!
And how many a noble horse there was, weeping, its tears coursing,
Its cheek next to one perished of thirst,
Wiping the dust off its hooves
On the stain of a throat covered in blood!
These guests came to a barren plain,
And there was no food to be served them;
Nor did they taste water, until they gathered
At the edge of the sword, and the spring of death.
O murdered one, who struggled with death,
Without uttering an insult, without killing anyone!
And they washed him only with his own blood, shed by spears:
Shrouded him only with a shroud of dust.
Exhausted, he calls, while there is no help for him,
In the name of his benificent father, and his grandfather Mustafa,
And in the name of a mother for whom God has raised a standard,
Not found among all the women of humankind.
And what father, what grandfather does he call!
O grandfather, grandfather, help me, O father!
O Messenger of God, O Fatima,
O Prince of the Faithful, 'Ali, Murtada!
How would God not hasten for their sakes,
To cause the earth to heave, the sky to rain stones!
And O Imams, mountains of the earth, most great, most high;
O moons of this earth, shining, brilliant!
The disaster which befell you
Brought to us deep grief and weeping, never ending.
I know that sorrow for you is not to be forgotten, nor grief for your sake comforted,
Though ages may pass;
For much time has passed since your deaths, and continues to pass,
Yet neither has grief abated, nor tears.
How far are you, O Imams, from him who hoped to achieve by you,
With the Apostle of God, victory and salvation;
On the day of the Great Encounter, when the Apostle Will turn his face from those gathered, and say:
(Speaking to God against them, And how could a generation thus accused prosper?)
'O Lord, on this day I am enemy to them;
I come as one wronged, and this is the day to judge.'[11]
The great impetus for the vast literature of elegy and dirge for Husayn in the Persian language, a literature which is now much larger than the Arabic, which includes a much greater element of elegy on the other martyrs of Karbala', and which has many more forms and recognized ritual uses than in the Arabic tradition, came with the establishment of the Safavid dynasty and the consequent consolidation for Shi'ism of the larger part of the Persian-speaking world. Here as an example from the beginning of the Safavid period, is an elegiac qasida (abridged in translation) by Muhtasham-i Kashani, a favourite court poet. It shows some of the typical themes and imagery of the Persian genre, as well as imaginative expressions of the favourite elegiac theme of what later came to be known in Europe as 'pathetic fallacy'. Kasham says:
The name of this land full of tragedy (bala') is Karbala'.
O pitiless heart, where is your sigh of burning sorrow to burn the heavens?
This desert is the place of the murder of a lord who died athirst.
O tongue. it is the time for lamentation; O eye, it is time to weep!
This space still bears the mark of the sighs ot ones wronged,
So if the sky is become black through the smoke of our sights, it is fitting
This spot which today is covered by the canopies of the bubbles of our tears,
Was once the place where the tents of the People of the House were set up
Here the ship of Husayn's life foundered in disaster;
Then why is the ocean of our tears, in such a maelstrom, stormless?
Behold that dome filled with light from near and far;
Its world-illuminating rays show the way to those gone astray
Behold a grave most illumined, before which
The casket of the horizons with its hundred thousand petals and precious stones is as without value.
Behold beneath the earth, the cypress of the garden of the Prophet,
For sorrow of whom the sky is arched, bent over.[12]
Behold, one clotted with blood, the tree of roses in the garden of Fatima, a woman pure.
For whose defeat of whom the garments of the houris are rent like the rose.
This is the lamp to the eyes of mankind, and now by the sword of oppression,
Extinguished, as though merely a candle - a naked body, the head separated from the rest.
This is the joy of Zahra's breast, and now by horses' hooves
His breast so full of wisdom trampled from all sides by tragedy (bala)
This is Husayn, son of 'Ali, beloved of the Prophet,
Now pierced through by the blade of oppression at the hand of his murderer Sinan.[13]
Set foot with reverence in this place of martyrdom, for its carpet most illumed,
Is anemone colour with blood from the head of him who was the light of the eyes of 'Ali, Murtada.
And even if the eye of a friend should not weep bitterly with sorrow,
Still the cry 'O sorrow!' would be upon the tongues of enemies, a cry of regret!
Now night appears from the setting of the sun, for on the roof of the horizons,
The black standard of the People of the Cloak falls from the shoulder of ever-revolving time,
O viceregent of God, I, Muhtasham, the beggar at your threshold,
Stand at the door of helplessness, empty, and empty-handed.
O how long since I tore my heart from my homeland for your sake!
And now after the long road it has taken, it enters in this palace.
Now the suppliant hand of my heart is raised in wretchedness to the sky,
And that which it seeks depends on your favour.
And though, O Husayn, through the desires of the self, that lover of sin,
My heart sits at the banquet of sin, and astrlde the horse of error,
Yet since the plain of Karbala' is become covered with dust, it would be fit
If you were to take away from this heart, the dust of sin.'[14]
Muhtasham's tarkib-band, a long strophic poem of twelve parts, is much more well known than any other of his numerous elegies on Husayn, and was imitated for centuries after him. Each strophe ends with a refrain, which is particularly effective in elegy. As an example of a modern tarkib-band, here is one strophe taken from a piece by a very popular contemporary poet, Ansari, 'Poet of the House of the Prophet'. It seems that the poet may have been inspired not only by the differing circumstances surrounding the martyrdoms of 'Ali and Husayn, but by the contrast between Najaf and Karbala' as well (Najaf is fairly well watered, but Karbala' is like a desert).
O breeze of morning, take to 'Ali these words of the poet Ansari;
Say: Husayn is fallen. Rise, then, go and see:
To Karbala' from Najaf where you lie,
His body in a hundred pieces pierced by the lance, the dagger, the sword.
O 'Ali! See who was once the light of your eyes,
Now the enemy around him like eyelashes around the eye;
And here you lie, in pleasant repose with Adam and Noah, at rest
While Husayn has as his resting place the burning sand of Karbala' !
Although you were made stranger to yourself by the stroke of the sword,
Around you were both stranger and kin, with refreshment and sweets;
While the body of your Husayn is rent the whole length with wounds.
And would you know the number of those wounds?
They are as many as the stars!
Wherever you turned your gaze, there stood a friend to see,
While Husayn's eye falls only on the enemy.
'Ali. when you gave your life, your family was there beside,
But there on a desert plain far from daughter or sister Husayn dies.
For you the Faithful Spirit, Gabriel, brought a shroud from heaven,
But Husayn fell there on the earth without ablution, without shroud!
'Ali, since Husayn in the last hour took your head on his lap to lie,
As kindness in return, then, lay his head on your lap 'til he dies.[15]
As an example of modern Arabic elegy in the traditional style, here is a piece from the great Lebanese Shi'i scholar Muhsin al-Amin al-'Amili, taken from a collection of elegies he has made of his own and others' poems. Al-Sayyid Muhsin al-Amin died only recently; it should be mentioned that he was active not only in Shi'i scholarship and especially biography, but also in Sunn'i - Shi'i taqrib or rapprochement. This qasida, in a lightweight metre and a simple style, was composed in 1353/1934-5 while the author was travelling in Iraq and Iran, and it might not be too much to see some allusions to the political situation of those areas in certain lines. Al-Sayyid al-Amin says:
O Karbala', you have brought upon us great sorrow;
You have excited sadness and grief.
Now the eye must let its tears flow
To water the grave of one who died thirsty in al-Taff.
Glory, O Abu Fadl, brother of Husayn, for your ways have become
A lesson to the courageous; an example to the brave.
Your way, yes this is the way of brothers
(May the one not live who betrays his brother!)
Glory to you, O tribe of Hashim, for you offered your lives freely
And your lives were sacrifice for the religion of God.
On that day you bought glory dearly:
Your precious lives were the price of glory!
You gave your lives for little for the sake of the religion of Mustafa, and by this
The measure of your lives is become more precious still - and who can equal your deeds after this?
You left your family and your children, despite your love for them;
And you exchanged them for the maidens and the youths of Paradise.
Though kings set on their heads crowns of gold,
Yet it is glory which you wear as your crown.
No sword or spear is truly unsheathed, after you;
No, after your deeds, no weapon has found a hand worthy!
Glory itself submitted to your loftiness, it dared not come near;
And others never attained your station: they did not even approach it.
In excellence all mankind is below you, without exception,
And they who called you low, have ended in shame.[16]
Elegy for Husayn continues in Arabic in popular or dialect form as well, proof of the power of the martry to enter into and affect the life of the common people. The popular strophic form in Lebanese dialect known as zajal is used for many subjects, including political and nationalistic themes. Most villages (Muslim and non-Muslim) have their own zajal poet. A collection of some zajal compositions on the subject of the martyrdom of Husayn has been made by the Shi'i publishing house 'Irfan', but unfortunately I was unable to get the use of the book for this essay. Instead I offer this freely translated part of a piece by the Iraqi folk poet 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Umawi, entitled 'The Revolution of Husayn'. This modern folk poetry is particularly moving in its simplicity (sometimes naivety), and its closeness to the concerns of everyday and political life. As folk poetry often does, it has a great topicality. The poet says:
The revolution you made is holy, O Husayn,
Illuminating political thought, O Husayn;
Through it mankind is liberated;
Through it the earth is illuminated.
O Husayn, religion is a pearl, O Husayn
A precious pearl, and you protect it well, O Husayn.
All men honest and men of good will follow your way
Each philosopher is fascinated by your mysteries;
Even Jesus the Christ spoke of you.
And we are proud of our allegiance to you, O Husayn.
And famous Christian writers have recorded
The glory of your days and of your life, O Husayn.
Your uprising is glory and nobility for Islam,
And the greatest school of religion, O Husayn!
O Husayn, all the stagnation, the apathy,
With which our society is afflicted, O Husayn,
Came from the laws of the Umayyads, those despots
It is that which has brought us low, O Husayn.
And when you saw corruption victorious
The law was brought to life again through your devotion,
The goals of the Qur'an were realized through your determination,
And your blood watered the garden of compassion ...
And we are in awe of your deeds, O Husayn,
Because of these Islam is spread
Spread as far as any modern advanced science.
Then after your partisans had all died,
ou offered up the beloved of your heart.
And your heart shook to its very depths
From the perfidious arrow which pierced it, Husayn.
And when you saw the mutilated body of 'Abd Allah,
The tears of your love flowed forth, O Husayn
His death overcame you with grief.
And your heart burst forth with hears,
The word, once wide, seemed as of it had become narrow:
O Husayn, O Husayn![17]
Notes:
[1] bi-'l-rahm: also, 'as one related to you'.
[2] Muhammad Jawad Maghniya, Adab al-Taff aw Shu'ara' al-Husayn (Beirut, 1388/1969), I, 61.
[3] Hibat al-Din al-Husayni al-Shahristani, Nahdat al-Husayn (Karbala, 1388/1969), p. 154.
[4] Ibid., pp. 159-160.
[5] The K. al-Ta'azi wa al-Marathi of Muhammad h. Yazid al-Mubarrad (d. 282) explains the meaning of ta'ziya and gives examples (ed. Muhammad al-Dibaji [Damascus, 1396/1976], pp. 4ff).
[6] Waddah Sharara, Transformations d'une manifestation religieuse dans un village du Liban-Sud (Beirut, 1968), pp. 43ff, As to the Arab Ashura representation or ta'ziya, it seems that it has until now received too little attention. It may be that the actual dramatic form owes much to Iranian, and largely Safavid, origins, for instance, it is received knowledge among the inhabitants of the chiefly Shi'i town of Nabatiya in South Lebanon that it was Iranian immigrants at the beginning of the century who gave the ta'ziya there (the mere playing of which recently caused the occupying forces to fire on the participants) its present form. However, since the commemorative session itself began, of course, as an Arabic tradition, it would seem worthwhile to examine Arabic language ta'ziya separately for Arabic antecedents to the Persian.
[7] Adab al-Taff, I, 214.
[8] Dhabih Allah Safa, Tarikh-i Adabiyat dar Iran (Tehran, 2536), II, 195.
[9] Adab al-Taff, I, 217.
[10] Hadiqat al-Haqiqa ed. Mudarrisi Razavi (Tehran, 1950), pp. 270 271.
[11] Adab al-Taff, II, 206-208.
[12] The cypress in Persian poetry is thought of metaphorically as a possessor of fair stature. Here the tall-standing and erect cypress is brought down below the ground, and is also in contrast to the sky, bent over in sorrow (the sky is thought of as an arc or dome).
[13] Or: 'the spear of the son of mans, apparently implying the guilt of all humankind. Sinan b. Anos al-Nakhi, according to some accounts, was the murderer of Husayn.
[14] Divan-i Muhtasham, ed. M. Gurgani (Tehran, 1344/ 1965), pp. 299-300.
[15] Divan-i Ansari, ed. A. Usuli (Qum, 1342/1963), pp. 343-344.
[16] Al-Durr al-Nadid fi Marathi al-Sibt al-Shahid (Karbala', n.d.), pp. 339-340.
[17] Anataly Kova;enko, Le Martyre de Husayn dans la poesie populaire d'Iraq (Geneve, 1979), pp. 220-222
* * *
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Karbala in Verse
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* * *
"Karbala and the Imam Husayn in Persian
and Indo-Muslim literature"
Annemarie Schimmel, Harvard University
I still remember the deep impression which the first Persian poem I ever read in connection with the tragic events of Karbala' left on me. It was Qaani's elegy which begins with the words:
What is raining? Blood.
Who? The eyes.
How? Day and night.
Why? From grief.
Grief for whom?
Grief for the king of Karbala'
This poem, in its marvellous style of question and answer, conveys much of the dramatic events and of the feelings a pious Muslim experiences when thinking of the martyrdom of the Prophet's beloved grandson at the hands of the Umayyad troops.
The theme of suffering and martyrdom occupies a central role in the history of religion from the earliest time. Already, in the myths of the ancient Near East, we hear of the hero who is slain but whose death, then, guarantees the revival of life: the names of Attis and Osiris from the Babylonian and Egyptian traditions respectively are the best examples for the insight of ancient people that without death there can be no continuation of life, and that the blood shed for a sacred cause is more precious than anything else. Sacrifices are a means for reaching higher and loftier stages of life; to give away parts of one's fortune, or to sacrifice members of one's family enhances one's religious standing; the Biblical and Qur'anic story of Abraham who so deeply trusted in God that he, without questioning, was willing to sacrifice his only son, points to the importance of such sacrifice. Iqbal was certainly right when he combined, in a well known poem in Bal-i Jibril (1936), the sacrifice of Ismail and the martyrdom of Husayn, both of which make up the beginning and the end of the story of the Ka'ba.
Taking into account the importance of sacrifice and suffering for the development of man, it is not surprising that Islamic history has given a central place to the death on the battlefield of the Prophet's beloved grandson Husayn, and has often combined with that event the death by poison of his elder brother Hasan. In popular literature we frequently find both Hasan and Husayn represented as participating in the battle of Karbala', which is historically wrong, but psychologically correct.
It is not the place here to discuss the development of the whole genre of marthiya and taziya poetry in the Persian and Indo-Persian world, or in the popular Turkish tradition. But it is interesting to cast a glance at some verses in the Eastern Islamic tradition which express predominantly the Sunni poets' concern with the fate of Husayn, and echo, at the same time, the tendency of the Sufis to see in him a model of the suffering which is so central for the growth of the soul.
The name of Husayn appears several times in the work of the first great Sufi poet of Iran, Sana'i (d. 1131). Here, the name of the martyred hero can be found now and then in connection with bravery and selflessness, and Sana'i sees him as the prototype of the shahid, higher and more important than all the other shahids who are and have been in the world:
Your religion is your Husayn, greed and wish are your pigs and dogs
You kill the one, thirsty, and nourish the other two.
[Divan, page 655]
This means that man has sunk to such a lowly state that he thinks only of his selfish purposes and wishes and does everything to fondle the material aspects of his life, while his religion, the spiritual side of his life, is left without nourishment, withering away, just like Husayn and the martyrs of Karbala' were killed after nobody had cared to give them water in the desert. This powerful idea is echoed in other verses, both in the Divan and in the Hadiqat al-Haqiqa; but one has to be careful in one's assessment of the long praise of Husayn and the description of Karbala' as found in the Hadiqa, as they are apparently absent from the oldest manuscripts of the work, and may have been inserted at some later point. This, however, does not concern us here. For the name of the hero, Husayn, is found in one of the central poems of Sana'is Divan, in which the poet describes in grand images the development of man and the long periods of suffering which are required for the growth of everything that aspires to perfection. It is here that he sees in the 'street of religion' those martyrs who were dead and are alive, those killed by the sword like Husayn, those murdered by poison like Hasan (Divan 485).
The tendency to see Husayn as the model of martyrdom and bravery continues, of course, in the poetry written after Sana'i by Persian and Turkish mystics, and of special interest is one line in the Divan of 'Attar (nr. 376) in which he calls the novice on the path to proceed and go towards the goal, addressing him:
Be either a Husayn or a Mansur.
That is, Husayn b. Mansur al-Hallaj, the arch-martyr of mystical Islam, who was cruelly executed in Baghdad in 922. He, like his namesake Husayn b. 'Ali, becomes a model for the Sufi; he is the suffering lover, and in quite a number of Sufi poems his name appears alongside that of Husayn: both were enamoured by God, both sacrificed themselves on the Path of divine love, both are therefore the ideal lovers of God whom the pious should strive to emulate. Ghalib skillfully alludes to this combination in his tawhid qasida:
God has kept the ecstatic lovers like Husayn and Mansur in the place of gallows and rope, and cast the fighters for the faith, like Husayn and 'Ali, in the place of swords and spears: in being martyrs they find eternal life and happiness and become witnesses to God's mysterious power.
This tradition is particularly strong in the Turkish world, where the names of both Husayns occur often in Sufi songs.
Turkish tradition, especially in the later Bektashi order, is deeply indebted to Shi'i Islam; but it seems that already in some of the earliest popular Sufi songs in Turkey, those composed by Yunus Emre in the late 13th or early 14th century, the Prophet's grandsons played a special role. They are described, in a lovely song by Yunus, as the 'fountain head of the martyrs', the 'tears of the saints', and the 'lambs of mother Fatima'. Both of them, as the 'kings of the eight paradises', are seen as the helpers who stand at Kawthar and distribute water to the thirsting people, a beautiful inversion of Husayn suffering in the waterless desert of Karbala'. (Yunus Emre Divani, p. 569.)
The well known legend according to which the Prophet saw Gabriel bring a red and a green garment for his two grandsons, and was informed that these garments pointed to their future deaths through the sword and poison respectively, is mentioned in early Turkish songs, as it also forms a central piece of the popular Sindhi manaqiba which are still sung in the Indus Valley. And similar in both traditions are the stories of how the boys climbed on their grandfather Prophet's back, and how he fondled them. Thus, Hasan and Husayn appear, in early Turkish songs, in various, and generally well known images, but to emphasize their very special role, Yunus Emre calls them 'the two earrings of the divine Throne'. (Divan, p. 569)
The imagery becomes even more colourful in the following centuries when the Shi'i character of the Bektashi order increased and made itself felt in ritual and poetical expression. Husayn b. 'Ali is 'the secret of God', the 'light of the eyes of Mustafa' (thus Seher Abdal, 16th cent.), and his contemporary, Hayreti, calls him, in a beautiful marthiya, 'the sacrifice of the festival of the greater jihad'. Has not his neck, which the Prophet used to kiss, become the place where the dagger fell?
The inhabitants of heaven and earth shed black tears today.
And have become confused like your hair, O Husayn.
Dawn sheds its blood out of sadness for Husayn, and the red tulips wallow in blood and carry the brandmarks of his grief on their hearts...
(Ergun, Bektasi sairleri, p. 95).
The Turkish tradition and that in the regional languages of the Indian subcontinent are very similar. Let us have a look at the development of the marthiya, not in the major literary languages, but rather in the more remote parts of the subcontinent, for the development of the Urdu marthiya from its beginnings in the late 16th century to its culmination in the works of Sauda and particularly Anis and Dabir is well known. In the province of Sind, which had a considerable percentage of Shi'i inhabitants, Persian marthiyas were composed, as far as we can see, from around 1700 onwards. A certain'Allama (1682-1782), and Muhammad Mu'in T'haro are among the first marthiya-gus mentioned by the historians, but it is particularly Muhammad Muhsin, who lived in the old, glorious capital of lower Sind, Thatta, with whose name the Persian marthiya in Sind is connected. During his short life (1709-1750), he composed a great number of tarji'band and particularly salam, in which beautiful, strong imagery can be perceived:
The boat of Mustafa's family has been drowned in blood;
The black cloud of infidelity has waylaid the sun;
The candle of the Prophet was extinguished by the breeze of the Kufans.
But much more interesting than the Persian tradition is the development of the marthiya in Sindhi and Siraiki proper. As Christopher Shackle has devoted a long and very informative article on the Multani marthiya, I will speak here only on some aspects of the marthiya in Sindhi. As in many other fields of Sindhi poetry, Shah 'Abdu'l-Latif of Bhit (1689-1752) is the first to express ideas which were later taken up by other poets. He devoted Sur Kedaro in his Hindi Risalo to the martyrdom of the grandson of the Prophet, and saw the event of Karbala' as embedded in the whole mystical tradition of Islam. As is his custom, he begins in media res, bringing his listeners to the moment when no news was heard from the heroes:
The moon of Muharram was seen, anxiety about the princes occurred.
What has happened?
Muharram has come back, but the Imams have not come.
O princes of Medina, may the Lord bring us together
He meditates about the reason for their silence and senses the tragedy:
The Mirs have gone out from Medina, they have not come back.
But then he realizes that there is basically no reason for sadness or mourning, for:
The hardship of martyrdom, listen, is the day of joy.
Yazid has not got an atom of this love.
Death is rain for the children of 'Ali.
For rain is seen by the Oriental poets in general, and by Shah 'Abdul Latif in particular, as the sign of divine mercy, of rahmat, and in a country that is so much dependant on rain, this imagery acquires its full meaning.
The hardship of martyrdom is all joyful rainy season.
Yazid has not got the traces of this love.
The decision to be killed was with the Imams from the very beginning.
This means that, already in pre-eternity, Hasan and Husayn had decided to sacrifice their lives for their ideals: when answering the divine address Am I not you Lord? (7:171), they answered 'Bala' (=Yes)', and took upon themselves all the affliction (bala) which was to come upon them. Their intention to become a model for those who gain eternal life by suffering and sacrifice was made, as Shah'Abdu'I-Latif reminds his listeners, at the very day of the primordial covenant. Then, in the following chapter, our Sindhi poet goes into more concrete details.
The perfect ones, the lion-like sayyids, have come to Karbala';
Having cut with Egyptian swords, they made heaps of carcasses;
Heroes became confused, seeing Mir Husayn's attack.
But he soon turns to the eternal meaning of this battle and continues in good Sufi spirit:
The hardship of martyrdom is all coquetry (naz).
The intoxicated understand the secret of the case of Karbala'.
In having his beloved suffer, the divine Beloved seems to show his coquetry, trying and examining their faith and love, and thus even the most cruel manifestations of the battle in which the 'youthful heroes', as Shah Latif calls them, are enmeshed, are signs of divine love.
The earth trembles, shakes; the skies are in uproar;
This is not a war, this is the manifestation of Love.
The poet knows that affliction is a special gift for the friends of God, Those who are afflicted most are the prophets, then the saints, then the others in degrees', and so he continues:
The Friend kills the darlings, the lovers are slain,
For the elect friends He prepares difficulties.
God, the Eternal, without need what He wants, He does.
Shah 'Abdu'l-Latif devotes two chapters to the actual battle, and to Hurr's joining the fighters 'like a moth joins the candle', e.g., ready to immolate himself in the battle. But towards the end of the poem the mystical aspect becomes once more prominent; those who 'fight in the way of God' reach Paradise, and the houris bind rose chains for them, as befits true bridegrooms. But even more:
Paradise is their place, overpowering they have gone to Paradise,
They have become annihilated in God, with Him they have become He...
The heroes, who have never thought of themselves, but only of love of God which makes them face all difficulties, have finally reached the goal: the fana fi Allah, annihilation in God and remaining in Him. Shah 'Abdu'l-Latif has transformed the life of the Imams, and of the Imam Husayn in particular, into a model for all those Sufis who strive, either in the jihad-i asghar or in the jihad-i akbar, to reach the final annihilation in God, the union which the Sufis so often express in the imagery of love and loving union. And it is certainly no accident that our Sindhi poet has applied the tune Husayni, which was originally meant for the dirges for Husayn, to the story of his favourite heroine, Sassui, who annihilated herself in her constant, brave search for her beloved, and is finally transformed into him.
Shah'Abdu'l-Latif's interpretation of the fate of the Imam Husayn as a model of suffering love, and thus as a model of the mystical path, is a deeply impressive piece of literature. It was never surpassed, although in his succession a number of poets among the Shi'i of Sindh composed elegies on Karbala' . The most famous of them is Thabit 'Ali Shah (1740-1810), whose speciality was the genre of suwari, the poem addressed to the rider Husayn, who once had ridden on the Prophet's back, and then was riding bravely into the battlefield. This genre, as well as the more common forms, persists in Sindhi throughout the whole of the 18th and 19th centuries, and even into our own times (Sachal Sarmast, Bedil Rohriwaro, Mir Hasan, Shah Naser, Mirza Baddhal Beg, Mirza Qalich Beg, to mention only a few, some of whom were Sunni Sufis). The suwari theme was lovingly elaborated by Sangi, that is the Talpur prince 'Abdu'l-Husayn, to whom Sindhi owes some very fine and touching songs in honour of the prince of martyrs, and who strongly emphasizes the mystical aspects of the event of Karbala', Husayn is here put in relation with the Prophet.
The Prince has made his miraj on the ground of Karbala',
The Shah's horse has gained the rank of Buraq.
Death brings the Imam Husayn, who was riding his Dhu'l janah, into the divine presence as much as the winged Buraq brought the Prophet into the immediate divine presence during his night journey and ascent into heaven.
Sangi knows also, as ever so many Shi'i authors before him, that weeping for the sake of the Imam Husayn will be recompensed by laughing in the next world, and that the true meditation of the secret of sacrifice in love can lead the seeker to the divine presence, where, finally, as he says
Duality becomes distant, and then one reaches unity.
The theme of Husayn as the mystical model for all those who want to pursue the path of love looms large in the poetry of the Indus Valley and in the popular poetry of the Indian Muslims, whose thought was permeated by the teaching of the Suf'is, and for whom, as for the Turkish Suf'is and for 'Attar (and innumerable others), the suffering of the Imam Husayn, and that of Hasan b. Mansur, formed a paradigm of the mystic's life. But there was also another way to understand the role of Husayn in the history of the Islamic people, and importantly, the way was shown by Muham-mad Iqbal, who was certainly a Sunni poet and philosopher. We mentioned at the beginning that it was he who saw the history of the Ka'ba defined by the two sacrifices, that of Ismail at the beginning, and that of Husayn b. 'Ali in the end (Bal-i Jibril, p. 92). But almost two decades before he wrote those lines, he had devoted a long chapter to Husayn in his Rumuz-i bekhudi (p. 126ff). Here, Husayn is praised, again in the mystical vocabulary, as the imam of the lovers, the son of the virgin, the cypresso of freedom in the Prophet's garden. While his father, Hazrat 'Ali, was, in mystical interpretation, the b of the bismi'llah, the son became identified with the 'mighty slaughtering', a beautiful mixture of the mystical and Qur'anic interpretations. But Iqbal, like his predecessors, would also allude to the fact that Husayn, the prince of the best nation, used the back of the last prophet as his riding camel, and most beautiful is Iqbal's description of the jealous love that became honoured through his blood, which, through its imagery, again goes back to the account of the martyrdom of Husayn b. Mansur al-Hallaj, who rubbed the bleeding stumps of his hands over his blackened face in order to remain surkh ru, red-faced and honoured, in spite of his suffering.
For Iqbal, the position of Husayn in the Muslim community is as central as the position of the surat al-ikhlas in the Holy Book.
Then he turns to his favourite topic, the constant tension between the positive and negative forces, between the prophet and saint on the one hand, and the oppressor and unbeliever on the other. Husayn and Yazid stand in the same line as Moses and Pharaoh. Iqbal then goes on to show how the khilafat was separated from the Qur'anic injunctions and became a worldly kingdom with the appearance of the Umayyads, and it was here that Husayn appeared like a raincloud, again the image of the blessing rain which always contrasts so impressively with the thirst and dryness of the actual scene of Karbala'. It was Husayn's blood that rained upon the desert of Karbala' and left the red tulips there.
The connection between the tulips in their red garments and the bloodstained garments of the martyrs has been a favourite image of Persian poetry since at least the 15th century, and when one thinks of the central place which the tulip occupies in Iqbal's thought and poetry as the flower of the manifestation of the divine fire, as the symbol of the Burning Bush on Mount Sinai, and as the flower that symbolizes the independent growth of man's khudi (=self) under the most difficult circumstances, when one takes all these aspects of the tulip together, one understands why the poet has the Imam Husayn 'plant tulips in the desert of Karbala". Perhaps the similarity of the sound of la ilah and lala (=tulip), as well as the fact that lala has the same numerical value as the word Allah, e.g., 66, may have enhanced Iqbal's use of the image in connection with the Imam Husayn, whose blood 'created the meadow', and who constructed a building of 'there is no deity but God.'
But whereas earlier mystical poets used to emphasize the person of Husayn as model for the mystic who through self-sacrifice, finally reaches union with God, Iqbal, understandably, stresses another point: 'To lift the sword is the work of those who fight for the glory of religion, and to preserve the God-given order.' 'Husayn blood, as it were, wrote the commentary on these words, and thus awakened a sleeping nation.'
Again, the parallel with Husayn b. Mansur is evident (at least with Husayn b. Mansur in the way Iqbal interprets him: he too claims, in the Falak-i mushtari in the Javidnama, that he had come to bring resurrection to the spiritually dead, and had therefore to suffer). But when Husayn b. 'Ali drew the sword, the sword of Allah, he shed the blood of those who are occupied with, and interested in, things other than God; graphically, the word la, the beginning of the shahada, resembles the form of a sword (preferably a two-edged sword, like Dhu'l-fiqar), and this sword does away with everything that is an object of worship besides God. It is the prophetic 'No' to anything that might be seen beside the Lord. By using the sword of 'No', Husayn, by his martyrdom, wrote the letters 'but God' (illa Allah) in the desert, and thus wrote the title of the script by which the Muslims find salvation.
It is from Husayn, says Iqbal, that we have learned the mysteries of the Qur'an, and when the glory of Syria and Baghdad and the marvels of Granada may be forgotten, yet, the strings of the instrument of the Muslims still resound with Husayn's melody, and faith remains fresh thanks to his call to prayer.
Husayn thus incorporates all the ideals which a true Muslim should possess, as Iqbal draws his picture: bravery and manliness, and, more than anything else, the dedication to the acknowledgement of God's absolute Unity; not in the sense of becoming united with Him in fana as the Sufi poets had sung, but, rather, as the herald who by his shahada, by his martyrdom, is not only a shahid, a martyr, but at the same time a witness, a shahid, for the unity of God, and thus the model for all generations of Muslims.
It is true, as Iqbal states, that the strings of the Muslims' instruments still resound with his name, and we may close with the last verse of the chapter devoted to him in the Rumuz-i bekhudi:
O zephir, O messenger of those who are far away
Bring our tears to his pure dust.
* * *
--
* * *
"Karbala and the Imam Husayn in Persian
and Indo-Muslim literature"
Annemarie Schimmel, Harvard University
I still remember the deep impression which the first Persian poem I ever read in connection with the tragic events of Karbala' left on me. It was Qaani's elegy which begins with the words:
What is raining? Blood.
Who? The eyes.
How? Day and night.
Why? From grief.
Grief for whom?
Grief for the king of Karbala'
This poem, in its marvellous style of question and answer, conveys much of the dramatic events and of the feelings a pious Muslim experiences when thinking of the martyrdom of the Prophet's beloved grandson at the hands of the Umayyad troops.
The theme of suffering and martyrdom occupies a central role in the history of religion from the earliest time. Already, in the myths of the ancient Near East, we hear of the hero who is slain but whose death, then, guarantees the revival of life: the names of Attis and Osiris from the Babylonian and Egyptian traditions respectively are the best examples for the insight of ancient people that without death there can be no continuation of life, and that the blood shed for a sacred cause is more precious than anything else. Sacrifices are a means for reaching higher and loftier stages of life; to give away parts of one's fortune, or to sacrifice members of one's family enhances one's religious standing; the Biblical and Qur'anic story of Abraham who so deeply trusted in God that he, without questioning, was willing to sacrifice his only son, points to the importance of such sacrifice. Iqbal was certainly right when he combined, in a well known poem in Bal-i Jibril (1936), the sacrifice of Ismail and the martyrdom of Husayn, both of which make up the beginning and the end of the story of the Ka'ba.
Taking into account the importance of sacrifice and suffering for the development of man, it is not surprising that Islamic history has given a central place to the death on the battlefield of the Prophet's beloved grandson Husayn, and has often combined with that event the death by poison of his elder brother Hasan. In popular literature we frequently find both Hasan and Husayn represented as participating in the battle of Karbala', which is historically wrong, but psychologically correct.
It is not the place here to discuss the development of the whole genre of marthiya and taziya poetry in the Persian and Indo-Persian world, or in the popular Turkish tradition. But it is interesting to cast a glance at some verses in the Eastern Islamic tradition which express predominantly the Sunni poets' concern with the fate of Husayn, and echo, at the same time, the tendency of the Sufis to see in him a model of the suffering which is so central for the growth of the soul.
The name of Husayn appears several times in the work of the first great Sufi poet of Iran, Sana'i (d. 1131). Here, the name of the martyred hero can be found now and then in connection with bravery and selflessness, and Sana'i sees him as the prototype of the shahid, higher and more important than all the other shahids who are and have been in the world:
Your religion is your Husayn, greed and wish are your pigs and dogs
You kill the one, thirsty, and nourish the other two.
[Divan, page 655]
This means that man has sunk to such a lowly state that he thinks only of his selfish purposes and wishes and does everything to fondle the material aspects of his life, while his religion, the spiritual side of his life, is left without nourishment, withering away, just like Husayn and the martyrs of Karbala' were killed after nobody had cared to give them water in the desert. This powerful idea is echoed in other verses, both in the Divan and in the Hadiqat al-Haqiqa; but one has to be careful in one's assessment of the long praise of Husayn and the description of Karbala' as found in the Hadiqa, as they are apparently absent from the oldest manuscripts of the work, and may have been inserted at some later point. This, however, does not concern us here. For the name of the hero, Husayn, is found in one of the central poems of Sana'is Divan, in which the poet describes in grand images the development of man and the long periods of suffering which are required for the growth of everything that aspires to perfection. It is here that he sees in the 'street of religion' those martyrs who were dead and are alive, those killed by the sword like Husayn, those murdered by poison like Hasan (Divan 485).
The tendency to see Husayn as the model of martyrdom and bravery continues, of course, in the poetry written after Sana'i by Persian and Turkish mystics, and of special interest is one line in the Divan of 'Attar (nr. 376) in which he calls the novice on the path to proceed and go towards the goal, addressing him:
Be either a Husayn or a Mansur.
That is, Husayn b. Mansur al-Hallaj, the arch-martyr of mystical Islam, who was cruelly executed in Baghdad in 922. He, like his namesake Husayn b. 'Ali, becomes a model for the Sufi; he is the suffering lover, and in quite a number of Sufi poems his name appears alongside that of Husayn: both were enamoured by God, both sacrificed themselves on the Path of divine love, both are therefore the ideal lovers of God whom the pious should strive to emulate. Ghalib skillfully alludes to this combination in his tawhid qasida:
God has kept the ecstatic lovers like Husayn and Mansur in the place of gallows and rope, and cast the fighters for the faith, like Husayn and 'Ali, in the place of swords and spears: in being martyrs they find eternal life and happiness and become witnesses to God's mysterious power.
This tradition is particularly strong in the Turkish world, where the names of both Husayns occur often in Sufi songs.
Turkish tradition, especially in the later Bektashi order, is deeply indebted to Shi'i Islam; but it seems that already in some of the earliest popular Sufi songs in Turkey, those composed by Yunus Emre in the late 13th or early 14th century, the Prophet's grandsons played a special role. They are described, in a lovely song by Yunus, as the 'fountain head of the martyrs', the 'tears of the saints', and the 'lambs of mother Fatima'. Both of them, as the 'kings of the eight paradises', are seen as the helpers who stand at Kawthar and distribute water to the thirsting people, a beautiful inversion of Husayn suffering in the waterless desert of Karbala'. (Yunus Emre Divani, p. 569.)
The well known legend according to which the Prophet saw Gabriel bring a red and a green garment for his two grandsons, and was informed that these garments pointed to their future deaths through the sword and poison respectively, is mentioned in early Turkish songs, as it also forms a central piece of the popular Sindhi manaqiba which are still sung in the Indus Valley. And similar in both traditions are the stories of how the boys climbed on their grandfather Prophet's back, and how he fondled them. Thus, Hasan and Husayn appear, in early Turkish songs, in various, and generally well known images, but to emphasize their very special role, Yunus Emre calls them 'the two earrings of the divine Throne'. (Divan, p. 569)
The imagery becomes even more colourful in the following centuries when the Shi'i character of the Bektashi order increased and made itself felt in ritual and poetical expression. Husayn b. 'Ali is 'the secret of God', the 'light of the eyes of Mustafa' (thus Seher Abdal, 16th cent.), and his contemporary, Hayreti, calls him, in a beautiful marthiya, 'the sacrifice of the festival of the greater jihad'. Has not his neck, which the Prophet used to kiss, become the place where the dagger fell?
The inhabitants of heaven and earth shed black tears today.
And have become confused like your hair, O Husayn.
Dawn sheds its blood out of sadness for Husayn, and the red tulips wallow in blood and carry the brandmarks of his grief on their hearts...
(Ergun, Bektasi sairleri, p. 95).
The Turkish tradition and that in the regional languages of the Indian subcontinent are very similar. Let us have a look at the development of the marthiya, not in the major literary languages, but rather in the more remote parts of the subcontinent, for the development of the Urdu marthiya from its beginnings in the late 16th century to its culmination in the works of Sauda and particularly Anis and Dabir is well known. In the province of Sind, which had a considerable percentage of Shi'i inhabitants, Persian marthiyas were composed, as far as we can see, from around 1700 onwards. A certain'Allama (1682-1782), and Muhammad Mu'in T'haro are among the first marthiya-gus mentioned by the historians, but it is particularly Muhammad Muhsin, who lived in the old, glorious capital of lower Sind, Thatta, with whose name the Persian marthiya in Sind is connected. During his short life (1709-1750), he composed a great number of tarji'band and particularly salam, in which beautiful, strong imagery can be perceived:
The boat of Mustafa's family has been drowned in blood;
The black cloud of infidelity has waylaid the sun;
The candle of the Prophet was extinguished by the breeze of the Kufans.
But much more interesting than the Persian tradition is the development of the marthiya in Sindhi and Siraiki proper. As Christopher Shackle has devoted a long and very informative article on the Multani marthiya, I will speak here only on some aspects of the marthiya in Sindhi. As in many other fields of Sindhi poetry, Shah 'Abdu'l-Latif of Bhit (1689-1752) is the first to express ideas which were later taken up by other poets. He devoted Sur Kedaro in his Hindi Risalo to the martyrdom of the grandson of the Prophet, and saw the event of Karbala' as embedded in the whole mystical tradition of Islam. As is his custom, he begins in media res, bringing his listeners to the moment when no news was heard from the heroes:
The moon of Muharram was seen, anxiety about the princes occurred.
What has happened?
Muharram has come back, but the Imams have not come.
O princes of Medina, may the Lord bring us together
He meditates about the reason for their silence and senses the tragedy:
The Mirs have gone out from Medina, they have not come back.
But then he realizes that there is basically no reason for sadness or mourning, for:
The hardship of martyrdom, listen, is the day of joy.
Yazid has not got an atom of this love.
Death is rain for the children of 'Ali.
For rain is seen by the Oriental poets in general, and by Shah 'Abdul Latif in particular, as the sign of divine mercy, of rahmat, and in a country that is so much dependant on rain, this imagery acquires its full meaning.
The hardship of martyrdom is all joyful rainy season.
Yazid has not got the traces of this love.
The decision to be killed was with the Imams from the very beginning.
This means that, already in pre-eternity, Hasan and Husayn had decided to sacrifice their lives for their ideals: when answering the divine address Am I not you Lord? (7:171), they answered 'Bala' (=Yes)', and took upon themselves all the affliction (bala) which was to come upon them. Their intention to become a model for those who gain eternal life by suffering and sacrifice was made, as Shah'Abdu'I-Latif reminds his listeners, at the very day of the primordial covenant. Then, in the following chapter, our Sindhi poet goes into more concrete details.
The perfect ones, the lion-like sayyids, have come to Karbala';
Having cut with Egyptian swords, they made heaps of carcasses;
Heroes became confused, seeing Mir Husayn's attack.
But he soon turns to the eternal meaning of this battle and continues in good Sufi spirit:
The hardship of martyrdom is all coquetry (naz).
The intoxicated understand the secret of the case of Karbala'.
In having his beloved suffer, the divine Beloved seems to show his coquetry, trying and examining their faith and love, and thus even the most cruel manifestations of the battle in which the 'youthful heroes', as Shah Latif calls them, are enmeshed, are signs of divine love.
The earth trembles, shakes; the skies are in uproar;
This is not a war, this is the manifestation of Love.
The poet knows that affliction is a special gift for the friends of God, Those who are afflicted most are the prophets, then the saints, then the others in degrees', and so he continues:
The Friend kills the darlings, the lovers are slain,
For the elect friends He prepares difficulties.
God, the Eternal, without need what He wants, He does.
Shah 'Abdu'l-Latif devotes two chapters to the actual battle, and to Hurr's joining the fighters 'like a moth joins the candle', e.g., ready to immolate himself in the battle. But towards the end of the poem the mystical aspect becomes once more prominent; those who 'fight in the way of God' reach Paradise, and the houris bind rose chains for them, as befits true bridegrooms. But even more:
Paradise is their place, overpowering they have gone to Paradise,
They have become annihilated in God, with Him they have become He...
The heroes, who have never thought of themselves, but only of love of God which makes them face all difficulties, have finally reached the goal: the fana fi Allah, annihilation in God and remaining in Him. Shah 'Abdu'l-Latif has transformed the life of the Imams, and of the Imam Husayn in particular, into a model for all those Sufis who strive, either in the jihad-i asghar or in the jihad-i akbar, to reach the final annihilation in God, the union which the Sufis so often express in the imagery of love and loving union. And it is certainly no accident that our Sindhi poet has applied the tune Husayni, which was originally meant for the dirges for Husayn, to the story of his favourite heroine, Sassui, who annihilated herself in her constant, brave search for her beloved, and is finally transformed into him.
Shah'Abdu'l-Latif's interpretation of the fate of the Imam Husayn as a model of suffering love, and thus as a model of the mystical path, is a deeply impressive piece of literature. It was never surpassed, although in his succession a number of poets among the Shi'i of Sindh composed elegies on Karbala' . The most famous of them is Thabit 'Ali Shah (1740-1810), whose speciality was the genre of suwari, the poem addressed to the rider Husayn, who once had ridden on the Prophet's back, and then was riding bravely into the battlefield. This genre, as well as the more common forms, persists in Sindhi throughout the whole of the 18th and 19th centuries, and even into our own times (Sachal Sarmast, Bedil Rohriwaro, Mir Hasan, Shah Naser, Mirza Baddhal Beg, Mirza Qalich Beg, to mention only a few, some of whom were Sunni Sufis). The suwari theme was lovingly elaborated by Sangi, that is the Talpur prince 'Abdu'l-Husayn, to whom Sindhi owes some very fine and touching songs in honour of the prince of martyrs, and who strongly emphasizes the mystical aspects of the event of Karbala', Husayn is here put in relation with the Prophet.
The Prince has made his miraj on the ground of Karbala',
The Shah's horse has gained the rank of Buraq.
Death brings the Imam Husayn, who was riding his Dhu'l janah, into the divine presence as much as the winged Buraq brought the Prophet into the immediate divine presence during his night journey and ascent into heaven.
Sangi knows also, as ever so many Shi'i authors before him, that weeping for the sake of the Imam Husayn will be recompensed by laughing in the next world, and that the true meditation of the secret of sacrifice in love can lead the seeker to the divine presence, where, finally, as he says
Duality becomes distant, and then one reaches unity.
The theme of Husayn as the mystical model for all those who want to pursue the path of love looms large in the poetry of the Indus Valley and in the popular poetry of the Indian Muslims, whose thought was permeated by the teaching of the Suf'is, and for whom, as for the Turkish Suf'is and for 'Attar (and innumerable others), the suffering of the Imam Husayn, and that of Hasan b. Mansur, formed a paradigm of the mystic's life. But there was also another way to understand the role of Husayn in the history of the Islamic people, and importantly, the way was shown by Muham-mad Iqbal, who was certainly a Sunni poet and philosopher. We mentioned at the beginning that it was he who saw the history of the Ka'ba defined by the two sacrifices, that of Ismail at the beginning, and that of Husayn b. 'Ali in the end (Bal-i Jibril, p. 92). But almost two decades before he wrote those lines, he had devoted a long chapter to Husayn in his Rumuz-i bekhudi (p. 126ff). Here, Husayn is praised, again in the mystical vocabulary, as the imam of the lovers, the son of the virgin, the cypresso of freedom in the Prophet's garden. While his father, Hazrat 'Ali, was, in mystical interpretation, the b of the bismi'llah, the son became identified with the 'mighty slaughtering', a beautiful mixture of the mystical and Qur'anic interpretations. But Iqbal, like his predecessors, would also allude to the fact that Husayn, the prince of the best nation, used the back of the last prophet as his riding camel, and most beautiful is Iqbal's description of the jealous love that became honoured through his blood, which, through its imagery, again goes back to the account of the martyrdom of Husayn b. Mansur al-Hallaj, who rubbed the bleeding stumps of his hands over his blackened face in order to remain surkh ru, red-faced and honoured, in spite of his suffering.
For Iqbal, the position of Husayn in the Muslim community is as central as the position of the surat al-ikhlas in the Holy Book.
Then he turns to his favourite topic, the constant tension between the positive and negative forces, between the prophet and saint on the one hand, and the oppressor and unbeliever on the other. Husayn and Yazid stand in the same line as Moses and Pharaoh. Iqbal then goes on to show how the khilafat was separated from the Qur'anic injunctions and became a worldly kingdom with the appearance of the Umayyads, and it was here that Husayn appeared like a raincloud, again the image of the blessing rain which always contrasts so impressively with the thirst and dryness of the actual scene of Karbala'. It was Husayn's blood that rained upon the desert of Karbala' and left the red tulips there.
The connection between the tulips in their red garments and the bloodstained garments of the martyrs has been a favourite image of Persian poetry since at least the 15th century, and when one thinks of the central place which the tulip occupies in Iqbal's thought and poetry as the flower of the manifestation of the divine fire, as the symbol of the Burning Bush on Mount Sinai, and as the flower that symbolizes the independent growth of man's khudi (=self) under the most difficult circumstances, when one takes all these aspects of the tulip together, one understands why the poet has the Imam Husayn 'plant tulips in the desert of Karbala". Perhaps the similarity of the sound of la ilah and lala (=tulip), as well as the fact that lala has the same numerical value as the word Allah, e.g., 66, may have enhanced Iqbal's use of the image in connection with the Imam Husayn, whose blood 'created the meadow', and who constructed a building of 'there is no deity but God.'
But whereas earlier mystical poets used to emphasize the person of Husayn as model for the mystic who through self-sacrifice, finally reaches union with God, Iqbal, understandably, stresses another point: 'To lift the sword is the work of those who fight for the glory of religion, and to preserve the God-given order.' 'Husayn blood, as it were, wrote the commentary on these words, and thus awakened a sleeping nation.'
Again, the parallel with Husayn b. Mansur is evident (at least with Husayn b. Mansur in the way Iqbal interprets him: he too claims, in the Falak-i mushtari in the Javidnama, that he had come to bring resurrection to the spiritually dead, and had therefore to suffer). But when Husayn b. 'Ali drew the sword, the sword of Allah, he shed the blood of those who are occupied with, and interested in, things other than God; graphically, the word la, the beginning of the shahada, resembles the form of a sword (preferably a two-edged sword, like Dhu'l-fiqar), and this sword does away with everything that is an object of worship besides God. It is the prophetic 'No' to anything that might be seen beside the Lord. By using the sword of 'No', Husayn, by his martyrdom, wrote the letters 'but God' (illa Allah) in the desert, and thus wrote the title of the script by which the Muslims find salvation.
It is from Husayn, says Iqbal, that we have learned the mysteries of the Qur'an, and when the glory of Syria and Baghdad and the marvels of Granada may be forgotten, yet, the strings of the instrument of the Muslims still resound with Husayn's melody, and faith remains fresh thanks to his call to prayer.
Husayn thus incorporates all the ideals which a true Muslim should possess, as Iqbal draws his picture: bravery and manliness, and, more than anything else, the dedication to the acknowledgement of God's absolute Unity; not in the sense of becoming united with Him in fana as the Sufi poets had sung, but, rather, as the herald who by his shahada, by his martyrdom, is not only a shahid, a martyr, but at the same time a witness, a shahid, for the unity of God, and thus the model for all generations of Muslims.
It is true, as Iqbal states, that the strings of the Muslims' instruments still resound with his name, and we may close with the last verse of the chapter devoted to him in the Rumuz-i bekhudi:
O zephir, O messenger of those who are far away
Bring our tears to his pure dust.
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Karbala poetry
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"The Social and Spiritual Significance of Urdu Marthiya"
Karrar Husain (1984)
The Shias of South Asia borrowed most of the Muharram rites and ceremonies from Iran. But they have been discriminating in their borrowings, and moulded whatever they borrowed according to their genius, developing forms of activity and expression peculiar to themselves. They rejected the Iranian taziya, or Passion Play; nor did the graphic representation of the Prophet and His Family find any favour with them.
Of the symbols in the Muharram ritual, they developed what they call taziya, something very different from the taziya of Iran.
The South Asian taziya is an imitation in an architectural form through whatever medium‑it may be wood and paper or any metal or grass and flowers or tender shoots of wheat and barley‑of the idea of the mausoleum of the Imam Husayn.
This root idea proliferated into myriad shapes, peculiar to each city, and even to each guild. Taziyas are meant for just one day's parade along with the Ashura processions, to be buried in the earth or thrown into water in the evening‑an example of the artist losing himself in the work of art fulfilling itself as an act of worship.
In the field of literature, the glorious achievement of the South Asian Shias is the evolution of the Urdu marthiya out of the threnodies and dirges on the martyrs of Karbala and its final establishment as one of the most essentially characteristic forms of Urdu poetry.
It may be noted that unlike other centres in the Muslim world, Muharram celebrations in South Asia are not exclusively the concern of the Shias. The initiative did come from the Shias, but the Sunni and even the Hindus take part in Muharram celebrations. The taziyas are almost all built by the Sunni, and the marthiya majlis is not only attended by many Sunni and Hindus, but many Sunni and non‑Muslim poets have cultivated this form with high artistic skill and deep devotion.
The Muharram celebrations started in the Deccan in the late seventeenth century comprising Roza Khawani (the sad narration of the events of Karbala) and mourning processions accompanied by dirge chanting and breast beating. It was a popular pageant of sorrow participated in and patronized by the Shia sultans, and one of them, Mohammad Qutub Shah, also composed marthiyas, which were simple lyrics of deep lamentation and devotion.
In 18th century Delhi, where Urdu poets like Mir and Sauda were exploring, in a fit of creative energy as it were, the power and virtue of the newly‑developed medium of Urdu language, and getting free of the tutelage of the Persian tradition, they experimented with many modes of expression for the marthiya, but thematically went little beyond lamentation and devotion.
In the Shia Kingdom of Oudh, it was all different.
Lucknow, in the late 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries, was the last refuge of Muslim talent in the troubled world of North India, a spot of light and peace among the lengthening shadows of anarchy, the sophisticated, self‑conscious, and very prodigal inheritor of ten centuries of Indo‑Muslim culture, not resplendent with the sunset colours of a declining civilization.
Lucknow was, like ancient Athens, a closed but complete universe, and the marthaya, with its roots deep in popular devotion and its branches absorbing the sunshine of courtly patronage, grew like a hot‑house plant into a form of poetry fit to take its place along with tragedy on one hand, and epic on the other.
The inspirational source of the marthiya is, of course, Karbala, and there is something so deeply pathetic, so tremendously sublime, and bewilderingly enigmatic about one's perception of Karbala!
That God's own man, beloved of the Prophet, holding all authority from God, and master of Time and Destiny, the aim and end of Creation, its support and mainstay, the symbol of all that is holy and sacred, the inheritor and custodian of the Prophetic charisma, should meet what looks like total destruction, overwhelmed by forces of darkness in a state of utter helplessness, is not a mere historical event, not even the fall of a house, but almost a cataclysm in the divine order of things. Such ambivalence between the physical and the metaphysical levels of existence cannot fail to strike the deepest chords in man's moral and spiritual constitution and raise questions about the quiddity of divine dispensation and the mystery of human destiny ‑ what a covenant, what fulfilment, what reward.
The matter now passes from the rational to the existential realm, and through the pressure of emotional intensity, it becomes interiorized as experienced reality. And as this experience is shared universally, it becomes part of collective consciousness.
To the startled, kindled imagination, Karbala becomes the focal point of human history, all the past leading up to it and all the future‑until the Day of Judgement‑flowing out of it, a fiery moment in which the beginning of time and the end of time coalesce.
Legends, symbolising the meaning and significance that cannot be expressed through ordinary modes of communication, and which have yet to be expressed (so irrepressible and imperative is the urge) cluster around the fact. This constellation of legends forms a sort of myth (mythos, as distinguished from logos), a timeless cosmic drama in which all the forces of creation and chaos take part in an epic battle between the congregated might of darkness and the flickering inextinguishable beacon light of Heaven and Earth, a fertility myth of the resurrection of faith and truth, an apocalypse of redemption and intercession, and the final justification of the ways of God to man.
Karbala has thus become a compendium containing signs and intimations of Man's predicament, his journey through this vale of suffering and tears, his social and spiritual values, his destiny and final redemption. And just as the Greek poet hewed out of the granite mass of Greek mythology the shades of his tragedies and epics, so a gifted artist like Anis or Dabeer sees the integrated outline of his marthiyas etched out in the different episodes or parts, or combinations and relations of parts of the inexhaustible tale of Karbala. And as the tale is inexhaustible, so are the marthiyas that emerge out of it innumerable‑limited only by the insight and imagination of the poet.
The world of the marthiya opens with the constrained journey of the Imam Husayn and his relatives from Madina to Mecca. It extends along the Imam Husayn's journey from Mecca towards Kufa, which is intercepted at Karbala. Karbala is the centre of this world, where the battle of truth is fought: the field of Destiny. From Karbala it follows the caravan of the surviving widows and orphans and the sole surviving son of the Imam Husayn, the Imam Zayn al-Abidin, all chained and manacled, through the merry market crowds and festive courts of Kufa and Damascus.
The last phase is the return of this torn and tattered caravan from Damascus to Karbala, now turned into a graveyard, and from there back to Medina. At this point the world of marthiya closes. It stretches like a track of light, a trail of suffering in the midst of deepening shadows of ghoulish darkness closing in upon it from all sides and trying to obliterate it. And yet this world, so narrow and confined in its temporal dimensions, is so immense in its relationships and significance. It reaches back to the days of the Holy Prophet and beyond it to the Divine Covenant on which the fate and future of Islam depends, and looks forward to the end of time and the Day of Judgement and Redemption. All nature and all history is deeply involved in the final outcome of these events and in what happens in this world. For the poet this world is inexhaustible, peopled with innumerable marthayas waiting for his eye and pen to be quickened into life.
The marthiya is a well‑organized whole of about 150 to 200 stanzas of six lines each, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. The structure, particularly of marthiyas dealing with the death of a hero on the plains of Karbala, follows a more or less standardized pattern which resembles the ebb and flow of a tide. In marthiyas dealing with other subjects the poet modifies this basic structure to suit his vision.
The first part is the opening, or `face' (chechra as it is called). It may start with any subject, however remote, but it must artistically lead to the immediate occasion that gives rise to the action of the marthiya. In this part the hero is introduced.
The second part is the rising action that comprises the leave‑taking of the hero in the tent or base camp until his appearance before the hostile army.
The third part is the climax. The hero identifies himself to the hostile forces and reprimands them, challenging and threatening them with grievous chastisement at his hands and at the hands of God. Then the hero is shown engaged in single combats, which are depicted correctly in all details of war craft. Routed in single combats, the enemy launches a mass attack. Here the poet uses all the resources of his art and invention to describe the lightening and wonderful exploits of the horse, and the deadly onslaught of the sword. The horse and the sword, being projections of the hero, acquire a personality of their own.
The fourth part is the falling action, or denouement. The hero, tough, invincible, has to be brought down. This change is a very delicate part of the poem, and must be handled very deftly and very reverentially.
The last part, the catastrophe, and in the spiritual sense the climax, closes on the death of the hero, and the hero departing in a crescendo of grief and sorrow.
Such is the skeleton, and the poet fills it out with flesh and blood and gives it a hundred shapes. He takes pride in playing a thousand changes on a single theme.
The basic unit of the medium is the mussudas stanza, four rhyming lines rounded off by a rhyming couplet. The stanza has an individuality of its own, a rising movement in the four rhyming lines clinched by the rhyming couplet. And yet it is just a stop in the progression, a marble slab suiting its place in a very complex edifice. The effect is architectural, very different from the monotonous flow of the mathnavi. The meter is neither short nor long, capable of being manipulated for every effect of dialogue and action.
The discovery of the medium proved to be as crucial for the development of the marthiya as the discovery of blank verse for the flourishing of Elizabethan drama.
The language is assiduously cultured and tastefully polished, fit to be spoken in a king's court. Yet far from displaying any signs of stiffness or artificiality, it has a flow and suppleness, and is alive with colour and movement and dramatic shifts and nuances. This is the natural language of a very formal and sophisticated civilization, and is capable of expressing every mood and portraying every situation.
For the last two hundred years, this language has carried the tradition of marthiya with ease and grace without undergoing any apparent change or looking like going out of date.
The marthiya, like drama, is a composite art. It consists not only of composition, it is also performance. The poet's art of poetry, the reciter's art of presentation (the reciter may be the poet himself, or someone else, but reciting the marthiya is an art in its own right), attuned to the devotional spirit animating the congregation and the solemnity of the place and the occasion, cumulatively produce the desired effect and fulfil the marthiya.
The Imam Bargah is the King's Court, the court of Shah‑i Karbala'. All the pervading influence and the presiding presence is the Lady of Light, Fatima Zahra, the mother of the Imam Husayn. The Prophet and the Family and the angels of God are here‑all sharing and watching. The majlis is the Darbar‑i `Amm, the King's audience of the populace. And for every gesture and every movement, the proper etiquette is described, to which it must conform.
The poet is the court poet, the bard. The reciter is the court herald. His performance is neither sing‑song recitation, nor histrionic representation of the stage, nor rhapsodical abandon. Such things would be too vulgar. And yet the reciter has to present the whole variety of situations, from the holiest and the purest to the most execrable, and lead his audience through the whole gamut of human moods from highest exaltation to deepest pain, and through the whole range of emotions, love and devotion, joy and pride, hatred and anger. He has to give full weight and value to every word of the poet‑and he does that just with a restrained movement of his hand, eyebrows, the expression of his face, a change of tone or accent, with an undertone of reverence throughout, controlled by a sense of solemnity.
Until he brings the congregation to the appointed tryst, the sacred conclave of grief where full vent is given to the pent‑up pathos, and tears are turned into screams. No trace of despair or depression is left. There has been a washing of the heart and the soul. The sinner feels so light. A sort of communion has been established between him and those who sacrificed their all for men, and whom God has invested with authority, and out of this communion springs eternally the hope and certainty of redemption and felicity, a catharsis of a deeply mystical quality.
Marthiya is not religious poetry in the sense that the poet is expressing his religious experiences, though the attitude of the poet towards his subject is one of deep reverence, and the majlis is a religious rite. Nor is it religious poetry in the sense of a hymn, or a eulogy, or an elegy. It unfolds a panorama of life.
The features of this life are drawn from an idealized image of contemporary Oudh society. This panorama of life is shown at its most climactic moment‑the conflict between good and evil, between the insolence and aggressiveness of evil and the suffering and sacrifice of truth. Religion pervades here, as the spirit of human culture, and religious values walk the world in different shapes of human excellence. Just as Thomas Aquinas provides Dante with the key and criterion to judge all humanity, so in the same way does the faith of Anis in Karbala give him an insight into the mystery of human life, its beauty and its justification.
The characters on the side of the Imam Husayn are different shapes of human excellence, full of compassion and grace and the milk of human kindness, the very soul of loyalty and fidelity, steadfast and eager to destroy the forces of evil and meet the hero's death, each one occupying a definite and well‑defined position in that society, and each one knowing the obligation and etiquette of that position‑which is adab, the essence of religious conduct. Yet each character is subtlety individualized; `Abbas, the soul of chivalry, the hope and support of all, the protector of women's honour and children's smiles, power pledged to truth, like his father `Ali; `Ali Akbar the very image of the Prophet, a beautiful soul residing in a beautiful body, shedding grace and light like the prophet Joseph wherever he moves; Qasim, mild and retiring and loveable; the two sons of Zaynab restless with the adolescent dreams and ambitions to rise to the stature of their forefathers 'Ali and Ja'far; `Ali Asghar representing humanity in its most tender and innocent condition; Hurr, the honest, brave soldier, conscience stricken, atoning for the past by being the first on the list of martyrs.
Surpassing all these is Zaynab, in womanhood; its infinite power of suffering, healing, protecting, preserving and hating all that is mean and impure and tyrannical; and Husayn, the man, in whom all the qualities of power and beauty, of firmness and gentleness mixed in balanced perfection.
The enemies are all painted black with little differentiation, except that Yazid is a drunken tyrant; Ibn Ziyad, his relentless tool; `Umar Sa'd has sold his soul for mere pittance; and Shimr is a malignant and degenerate brute. The soldiers are mercenaries, full of sound and fury, putting up a brave show, but cowards at heart.
Against this background of darkness, the characters of light are shown in action. The poetry of the marthiya may justly be called the poetry of the beauty and sanctity of human relationships.
The marthiya resembles a dramatic tragedy in many respects. It resembles the tragedy in construction. At the heart of it is a dramatic conflict that defies resolution on the social plane. The tragic flaw of the hero is that he is flawless‑too good for the world. The action is portrayed in graphic details with changes and surprises. The dialogue has the modulations of dramatic dialogue, typical at once of the situation, of the character, of the interlocutors, and of the poet's art.
But it is very different from a tragedy in the technical sense. It is not meant for stage representation. The hero is not beset by tragic loneliness‑he belongs to a universe more real than any other
Though it raises the issue of human destiny, the idea of fate; excluded by too lively a conscience in the presence of God throughout. The catharsis of a tragedy leaves one, in some sense, a sadder and wiser person, but it is lacking in some positive elements, like the sense of communion and the sense of satisfaction, which are essential ingredients of the overall impression left by the marthiya.
Nor is the marthiya obviously an epic. It does not narrate‑it presents. But the battle that it presents is epic in significance and to some extent in magnitude as well. The hero has epic stature, although the poet emphasizes his very human aspects. And like the epic it unfolds a whole civilization, its mores and manners, its values and morals, its philosophy and worldview.
Though not a very wise thing to do, a working definition of the marthiya may be attempted somewhat in this way.
Constructed out of a repertoire of Karbala stories, the marthiya is a complete and integrated presentation, in the suitable poetic form, and through the cultured language, of an action or episode portraying confrontation ant the conflict of good and evil, and the tragic death of the hero, in such a way that feelings of exaltation and adoration are aroused for the hero or heroes, and feelings of hatred and execration for the villains, and a bond of communion and partnership are all established through congregational mourning, thus providing a cathartic pleasure proper to the marthiya.
Let us imagine the condition of late 18th and early 19th century Oudh.
The Deccan sultanates situated on the border of the great Indo‑Muslim civilization had long disappeared. Delhi, the centre of that civilization, is decaying. The civilization is breaking up. All around is anarchy, and an alien power is advancing from all sides. The indigenous civilization does not know this power, does not understand it, nor the meaning and purpose of it. With the decay of civilization, small pockets of culture are forming, closed but complete worlds. Oudh is one of them. These small worlds are doomed to be overrun and overwhelmed by the forces of barbarism in the near future. What can be the choice before this beleaguered culture? Live fully, brightly, and gracefully while there is still time to do so, and when the hour strikes, give the barbarians a run for their money, and go down fighting like heroes, leaving the rest to God, and to the barbarians.
And this is just what the people of Oudh did in the War of Independence of 1857.
The Karbala of the classical marthiya is not the fall of a house, but the crash of a civilization, and also a noble, civilized way to face such a crash.
Even today the tradition continues, and the marthiya is flourishing. But times have changed. Gone are the days of that cultural twilight when poetry seemed to be the main business of life. Today the business of life is making poetry itself redundant. The marthiya does not now belong to the mainstream of life. Even its place in the King's Court has been taken up by pulpit oratory. It now exists as an important branch of poetry. We do not live in a closed and complete world. Winds of change are blowing and our culture has lost its shape. We feel culturally disinherited and are in search of our identity. Life is not so much an experience as a set of problems. Along with the change in times, the vision and approach of the marthiya have also changed.
In our marthiya we are very much concerned with the causes and consequences of Karbala. From myth we have come down to history. What lessons useful to us can be learned from Karbala? What lay sermons can be proclaimed on the theme? From presentation we have moved to the propagation of messages. Our marthiyas now open with the discussion of some abstract idea that gives the marthiya its label or heading. The idea has taken the place of the image. Between us and Karbala, there stands our interpretation of Karbala. The classical poet wrote Karbala‑we can at best write about Karbala. The climax of the Marthiya, the sacrament of weeping and wailing, does not grow out of modern marthiya. It hangs loose, like an appendage. We do not need sacrament as much as we need revolution. The temper of our marthiya is rational and revolutionary, and perhaps this is as it should be.
Every age inherits a great tradition by reliving it, and this it can do only in its own peculiar way, according to its spiritual needs and its ethos.
[ Imam Husayn Conference, London 6 July 1984.]
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"The Social and Spiritual Significance of Urdu Marthiya"
Karrar Husain (1984)
The Shias of South Asia borrowed most of the Muharram rites and ceremonies from Iran. But they have been discriminating in their borrowings, and moulded whatever they borrowed according to their genius, developing forms of activity and expression peculiar to themselves. They rejected the Iranian taziya, or Passion Play; nor did the graphic representation of the Prophet and His Family find any favour with them.
Of the symbols in the Muharram ritual, they developed what they call taziya, something very different from the taziya of Iran.
The South Asian taziya is an imitation in an architectural form through whatever medium‑it may be wood and paper or any metal or grass and flowers or tender shoots of wheat and barley‑of the idea of the mausoleum of the Imam Husayn.
This root idea proliferated into myriad shapes, peculiar to each city, and even to each guild. Taziyas are meant for just one day's parade along with the Ashura processions, to be buried in the earth or thrown into water in the evening‑an example of the artist losing himself in the work of art fulfilling itself as an act of worship.
In the field of literature, the glorious achievement of the South Asian Shias is the evolution of the Urdu marthiya out of the threnodies and dirges on the martyrs of Karbala and its final establishment as one of the most essentially characteristic forms of Urdu poetry.
It may be noted that unlike other centres in the Muslim world, Muharram celebrations in South Asia are not exclusively the concern of the Shias. The initiative did come from the Shias, but the Sunni and even the Hindus take part in Muharram celebrations. The taziyas are almost all built by the Sunni, and the marthiya majlis is not only attended by many Sunni and Hindus, but many Sunni and non‑Muslim poets have cultivated this form with high artistic skill and deep devotion.
The Muharram celebrations started in the Deccan in the late seventeenth century comprising Roza Khawani (the sad narration of the events of Karbala) and mourning processions accompanied by dirge chanting and breast beating. It was a popular pageant of sorrow participated in and patronized by the Shia sultans, and one of them, Mohammad Qutub Shah, also composed marthiyas, which were simple lyrics of deep lamentation and devotion.
In 18th century Delhi, where Urdu poets like Mir and Sauda were exploring, in a fit of creative energy as it were, the power and virtue of the newly‑developed medium of Urdu language, and getting free of the tutelage of the Persian tradition, they experimented with many modes of expression for the marthiya, but thematically went little beyond lamentation and devotion.
In the Shia Kingdom of Oudh, it was all different.
Lucknow, in the late 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries, was the last refuge of Muslim talent in the troubled world of North India, a spot of light and peace among the lengthening shadows of anarchy, the sophisticated, self‑conscious, and very prodigal inheritor of ten centuries of Indo‑Muslim culture, not resplendent with the sunset colours of a declining civilization.
Lucknow was, like ancient Athens, a closed but complete universe, and the marthaya, with its roots deep in popular devotion and its branches absorbing the sunshine of courtly patronage, grew like a hot‑house plant into a form of poetry fit to take its place along with tragedy on one hand, and epic on the other.
The inspirational source of the marthiya is, of course, Karbala, and there is something so deeply pathetic, so tremendously sublime, and bewilderingly enigmatic about one's perception of Karbala!
That God's own man, beloved of the Prophet, holding all authority from God, and master of Time and Destiny, the aim and end of Creation, its support and mainstay, the symbol of all that is holy and sacred, the inheritor and custodian of the Prophetic charisma, should meet what looks like total destruction, overwhelmed by forces of darkness in a state of utter helplessness, is not a mere historical event, not even the fall of a house, but almost a cataclysm in the divine order of things. Such ambivalence between the physical and the metaphysical levels of existence cannot fail to strike the deepest chords in man's moral and spiritual constitution and raise questions about the quiddity of divine dispensation and the mystery of human destiny ‑ what a covenant, what fulfilment, what reward.
The matter now passes from the rational to the existential realm, and through the pressure of emotional intensity, it becomes interiorized as experienced reality. And as this experience is shared universally, it becomes part of collective consciousness.
To the startled, kindled imagination, Karbala becomes the focal point of human history, all the past leading up to it and all the future‑until the Day of Judgement‑flowing out of it, a fiery moment in which the beginning of time and the end of time coalesce.
Legends, symbolising the meaning and significance that cannot be expressed through ordinary modes of communication, and which have yet to be expressed (so irrepressible and imperative is the urge) cluster around the fact. This constellation of legends forms a sort of myth (mythos, as distinguished from logos), a timeless cosmic drama in which all the forces of creation and chaos take part in an epic battle between the congregated might of darkness and the flickering inextinguishable beacon light of Heaven and Earth, a fertility myth of the resurrection of faith and truth, an apocalypse of redemption and intercession, and the final justification of the ways of God to man.
Karbala has thus become a compendium containing signs and intimations of Man's predicament, his journey through this vale of suffering and tears, his social and spiritual values, his destiny and final redemption. And just as the Greek poet hewed out of the granite mass of Greek mythology the shades of his tragedies and epics, so a gifted artist like Anis or Dabeer sees the integrated outline of his marthiyas etched out in the different episodes or parts, or combinations and relations of parts of the inexhaustible tale of Karbala. And as the tale is inexhaustible, so are the marthiyas that emerge out of it innumerable‑limited only by the insight and imagination of the poet.
The world of the marthiya opens with the constrained journey of the Imam Husayn and his relatives from Madina to Mecca. It extends along the Imam Husayn's journey from Mecca towards Kufa, which is intercepted at Karbala. Karbala is the centre of this world, where the battle of truth is fought: the field of Destiny. From Karbala it follows the caravan of the surviving widows and orphans and the sole surviving son of the Imam Husayn, the Imam Zayn al-Abidin, all chained and manacled, through the merry market crowds and festive courts of Kufa and Damascus.
The last phase is the return of this torn and tattered caravan from Damascus to Karbala, now turned into a graveyard, and from there back to Medina. At this point the world of marthiya closes. It stretches like a track of light, a trail of suffering in the midst of deepening shadows of ghoulish darkness closing in upon it from all sides and trying to obliterate it. And yet this world, so narrow and confined in its temporal dimensions, is so immense in its relationships and significance. It reaches back to the days of the Holy Prophet and beyond it to the Divine Covenant on which the fate and future of Islam depends, and looks forward to the end of time and the Day of Judgement and Redemption. All nature and all history is deeply involved in the final outcome of these events and in what happens in this world. For the poet this world is inexhaustible, peopled with innumerable marthayas waiting for his eye and pen to be quickened into life.
The marthiya is a well‑organized whole of about 150 to 200 stanzas of six lines each, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. The structure, particularly of marthiyas dealing with the death of a hero on the plains of Karbala, follows a more or less standardized pattern which resembles the ebb and flow of a tide. In marthiyas dealing with other subjects the poet modifies this basic structure to suit his vision.
The first part is the opening, or `face' (chechra as it is called). It may start with any subject, however remote, but it must artistically lead to the immediate occasion that gives rise to the action of the marthiya. In this part the hero is introduced.
The second part is the rising action that comprises the leave‑taking of the hero in the tent or base camp until his appearance before the hostile army.
The third part is the climax. The hero identifies himself to the hostile forces and reprimands them, challenging and threatening them with grievous chastisement at his hands and at the hands of God. Then the hero is shown engaged in single combats, which are depicted correctly in all details of war craft. Routed in single combats, the enemy launches a mass attack. Here the poet uses all the resources of his art and invention to describe the lightening and wonderful exploits of the horse, and the deadly onslaught of the sword. The horse and the sword, being projections of the hero, acquire a personality of their own.
The fourth part is the falling action, or denouement. The hero, tough, invincible, has to be brought down. This change is a very delicate part of the poem, and must be handled very deftly and very reverentially.
The last part, the catastrophe, and in the spiritual sense the climax, closes on the death of the hero, and the hero departing in a crescendo of grief and sorrow.
Such is the skeleton, and the poet fills it out with flesh and blood and gives it a hundred shapes. He takes pride in playing a thousand changes on a single theme.
The basic unit of the medium is the mussudas stanza, four rhyming lines rounded off by a rhyming couplet. The stanza has an individuality of its own, a rising movement in the four rhyming lines clinched by the rhyming couplet. And yet it is just a stop in the progression, a marble slab suiting its place in a very complex edifice. The effect is architectural, very different from the monotonous flow of the mathnavi. The meter is neither short nor long, capable of being manipulated for every effect of dialogue and action.
The discovery of the medium proved to be as crucial for the development of the marthiya as the discovery of blank verse for the flourishing of Elizabethan drama.
The language is assiduously cultured and tastefully polished, fit to be spoken in a king's court. Yet far from displaying any signs of stiffness or artificiality, it has a flow and suppleness, and is alive with colour and movement and dramatic shifts and nuances. This is the natural language of a very formal and sophisticated civilization, and is capable of expressing every mood and portraying every situation.
For the last two hundred years, this language has carried the tradition of marthiya with ease and grace without undergoing any apparent change or looking like going out of date.
The marthiya, like drama, is a composite art. It consists not only of composition, it is also performance. The poet's art of poetry, the reciter's art of presentation (the reciter may be the poet himself, or someone else, but reciting the marthiya is an art in its own right), attuned to the devotional spirit animating the congregation and the solemnity of the place and the occasion, cumulatively produce the desired effect and fulfil the marthiya.
The Imam Bargah is the King's Court, the court of Shah‑i Karbala'. All the pervading influence and the presiding presence is the Lady of Light, Fatima Zahra, the mother of the Imam Husayn. The Prophet and the Family and the angels of God are here‑all sharing and watching. The majlis is the Darbar‑i `Amm, the King's audience of the populace. And for every gesture and every movement, the proper etiquette is described, to which it must conform.
The poet is the court poet, the bard. The reciter is the court herald. His performance is neither sing‑song recitation, nor histrionic representation of the stage, nor rhapsodical abandon. Such things would be too vulgar. And yet the reciter has to present the whole variety of situations, from the holiest and the purest to the most execrable, and lead his audience through the whole gamut of human moods from highest exaltation to deepest pain, and through the whole range of emotions, love and devotion, joy and pride, hatred and anger. He has to give full weight and value to every word of the poet‑and he does that just with a restrained movement of his hand, eyebrows, the expression of his face, a change of tone or accent, with an undertone of reverence throughout, controlled by a sense of solemnity.
Until he brings the congregation to the appointed tryst, the sacred conclave of grief where full vent is given to the pent‑up pathos, and tears are turned into screams. No trace of despair or depression is left. There has been a washing of the heart and the soul. The sinner feels so light. A sort of communion has been established between him and those who sacrificed their all for men, and whom God has invested with authority, and out of this communion springs eternally the hope and certainty of redemption and felicity, a catharsis of a deeply mystical quality.
Marthiya is not religious poetry in the sense that the poet is expressing his religious experiences, though the attitude of the poet towards his subject is one of deep reverence, and the majlis is a religious rite. Nor is it religious poetry in the sense of a hymn, or a eulogy, or an elegy. It unfolds a panorama of life.
The features of this life are drawn from an idealized image of contemporary Oudh society. This panorama of life is shown at its most climactic moment‑the conflict between good and evil, between the insolence and aggressiveness of evil and the suffering and sacrifice of truth. Religion pervades here, as the spirit of human culture, and religious values walk the world in different shapes of human excellence. Just as Thomas Aquinas provides Dante with the key and criterion to judge all humanity, so in the same way does the faith of Anis in Karbala give him an insight into the mystery of human life, its beauty and its justification.
The characters on the side of the Imam Husayn are different shapes of human excellence, full of compassion and grace and the milk of human kindness, the very soul of loyalty and fidelity, steadfast and eager to destroy the forces of evil and meet the hero's death, each one occupying a definite and well‑defined position in that society, and each one knowing the obligation and etiquette of that position‑which is adab, the essence of religious conduct. Yet each character is subtlety individualized; `Abbas, the soul of chivalry, the hope and support of all, the protector of women's honour and children's smiles, power pledged to truth, like his father `Ali; `Ali Akbar the very image of the Prophet, a beautiful soul residing in a beautiful body, shedding grace and light like the prophet Joseph wherever he moves; Qasim, mild and retiring and loveable; the two sons of Zaynab restless with the adolescent dreams and ambitions to rise to the stature of their forefathers 'Ali and Ja'far; `Ali Asghar representing humanity in its most tender and innocent condition; Hurr, the honest, brave soldier, conscience stricken, atoning for the past by being the first on the list of martyrs.
Surpassing all these is Zaynab, in womanhood; its infinite power of suffering, healing, protecting, preserving and hating all that is mean and impure and tyrannical; and Husayn, the man, in whom all the qualities of power and beauty, of firmness and gentleness mixed in balanced perfection.
The enemies are all painted black with little differentiation, except that Yazid is a drunken tyrant; Ibn Ziyad, his relentless tool; `Umar Sa'd has sold his soul for mere pittance; and Shimr is a malignant and degenerate brute. The soldiers are mercenaries, full of sound and fury, putting up a brave show, but cowards at heart.
Against this background of darkness, the characters of light are shown in action. The poetry of the marthiya may justly be called the poetry of the beauty and sanctity of human relationships.
The marthiya resembles a dramatic tragedy in many respects. It resembles the tragedy in construction. At the heart of it is a dramatic conflict that defies resolution on the social plane. The tragic flaw of the hero is that he is flawless‑too good for the world. The action is portrayed in graphic details with changes and surprises. The dialogue has the modulations of dramatic dialogue, typical at once of the situation, of the character, of the interlocutors, and of the poet's art.
But it is very different from a tragedy in the technical sense. It is not meant for stage representation. The hero is not beset by tragic loneliness‑he belongs to a universe more real than any other
Though it raises the issue of human destiny, the idea of fate; excluded by too lively a conscience in the presence of God throughout. The catharsis of a tragedy leaves one, in some sense, a sadder and wiser person, but it is lacking in some positive elements, like the sense of communion and the sense of satisfaction, which are essential ingredients of the overall impression left by the marthiya.
Nor is the marthiya obviously an epic. It does not narrate‑it presents. But the battle that it presents is epic in significance and to some extent in magnitude as well. The hero has epic stature, although the poet emphasizes his very human aspects. And like the epic it unfolds a whole civilization, its mores and manners, its values and morals, its philosophy and worldview.
Though not a very wise thing to do, a working definition of the marthiya may be attempted somewhat in this way.
Constructed out of a repertoire of Karbala stories, the marthiya is a complete and integrated presentation, in the suitable poetic form, and through the cultured language, of an action or episode portraying confrontation ant the conflict of good and evil, and the tragic death of the hero, in such a way that feelings of exaltation and adoration are aroused for the hero or heroes, and feelings of hatred and execration for the villains, and a bond of communion and partnership are all established through congregational mourning, thus providing a cathartic pleasure proper to the marthiya.
Let us imagine the condition of late 18th and early 19th century Oudh.
The Deccan sultanates situated on the border of the great Indo‑Muslim civilization had long disappeared. Delhi, the centre of that civilization, is decaying. The civilization is breaking up. All around is anarchy, and an alien power is advancing from all sides. The indigenous civilization does not know this power, does not understand it, nor the meaning and purpose of it. With the decay of civilization, small pockets of culture are forming, closed but complete worlds. Oudh is one of them. These small worlds are doomed to be overrun and overwhelmed by the forces of barbarism in the near future. What can be the choice before this beleaguered culture? Live fully, brightly, and gracefully while there is still time to do so, and when the hour strikes, give the barbarians a run for their money, and go down fighting like heroes, leaving the rest to God, and to the barbarians.
And this is just what the people of Oudh did in the War of Independence of 1857.
The Karbala of the classical marthiya is not the fall of a house, but the crash of a civilization, and also a noble, civilized way to face such a crash.
Even today the tradition continues, and the marthiya is flourishing. But times have changed. Gone are the days of that cultural twilight when poetry seemed to be the main business of life. Today the business of life is making poetry itself redundant. The marthiya does not now belong to the mainstream of life. Even its place in the King's Court has been taken up by pulpit oratory. It now exists as an important branch of poetry. We do not live in a closed and complete world. Winds of change are blowing and our culture has lost its shape. We feel culturally disinherited and are in search of our identity. Life is not so much an experience as a set of problems. Along with the change in times, the vision and approach of the marthiya have also changed.
In our marthiya we are very much concerned with the causes and consequences of Karbala. From myth we have come down to history. What lessons useful to us can be learned from Karbala? What lay sermons can be proclaimed on the theme? From presentation we have moved to the propagation of messages. Our marthiyas now open with the discussion of some abstract idea that gives the marthiya its label or heading. The idea has taken the place of the image. Between us and Karbala, there stands our interpretation of Karbala. The classical poet wrote Karbala‑we can at best write about Karbala. The climax of the Marthiya, the sacrament of weeping and wailing, does not grow out of modern marthiya. It hangs loose, like an appendage. We do not need sacrament as much as we need revolution. The temper of our marthiya is rational and revolutionary, and perhaps this is as it should be.
Every age inherits a great tradition by reliving it, and this it can do only in its own peculiar way, according to its spiritual needs and its ethos.
[ Imam Husayn Conference, London 6 July 1984.]
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20090128
20090127
Koran Portions
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[ Excerpts from the Muslim Holy Scripture:
Presented here are some portions of the
Holy Koran, the Book of God.
Given are the opening few verses of Chapter 2 to 5;
and complete verses of Chapters 1, and 67 to 114.
The Sacred Book was revealed to Prophet Muhammad
at Arabia by the holy spirit angel Gabriel from
the years 610 to 632 A.D. Its verses are also
known as signs, or revelations. There are 114 chapters
called Surahs, containing over six thousand verses.
The Arabic word for one true God was Allah.]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"THE GLORIOUS KORAN"
Author: God The Most High
. al-Fatiha
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Praise to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.
The Kind, the Merciful.
Master of the Day of Judgment.
We worship Thee; and we ask Thee for help.
Guide us on the Sraight Path.
The Path of those whom You have favoured;
Not of those on whom is Your wrath;
Nor who are astray.
. al-Baqarah
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Aleef. Laam. Meem.
This is the Book in which there is no doubt, a guidance for the righteous; who believe in the Unseen, and establish prayers, and spend (in charity) from what We have given to them; and who believe in that which is revealed to you (O Muhammad) and that which was revealed before you, and are certain of the Hereafter. These depend on guidance from their Lord. These are the successful.
As for the disbelievers, whether you warn them, or do not warn them, it is the same for them; they will not believe. Allah has sealed their hearing and their hearts, and on their eyes there is a covering. Theirs will be a terrible penalty.
And of mankind are some who say: We believe in God and the final day, when (actually) they do not believe. They think to fool Allah and the believers, but they fool no one but themselves; and they do not (even) know it. In their hearts is a disease, and Allah increases their disease. A painful punshiment is theirs because they lie.
And when it is said to them: Do not make not mischief in the earth, they say: We are only peacemakers. Are not they indeed the trouble makers? And they do not (even) realise it.
And when it is said to them believe (in God) like the people believe, they say: shall we believe as the foolish believe? Are they now indeed the foolish? But they know not.
And when they fall in with those who believe, they say: We believe; but when they go apart to their devils they declare: Lo! we are with you; verily we only mocked.
Allah does mock them, leaves them to wander blindly on in their foolishness.
These are they who purchase error at the price of guidance, so their trade does not prosper, neither are they guided. Their likeness is as the likeness of one who kindles fire, and when it sheds its light around him Allah takes away their light and leaves them in darkness, where they cannot see. Deaf, dumb and blind; and they do not turn back.
Or, like a rainstorm from the sky, wherein is darkness, thunder and the flash of lightning. They thrust their fingers in their ears by reason of the thunder-claps, for fear of death. Allah surrounds the disbelievers. The lightning almost snatches away their sight from them. As often as it flashes forth for them they walk therein, and when it darkens against them they stand still. If Allah willed, He could destroy their hearing and their sight. Lo! Allah has Power over all things.
O mankind! Worship your Lord, Who has created you, and those before you, so that you become righteous. He has appointed the earth a resting place for you, and the sky a canopy; and causes water to pour down from the sky, thereby producing fruits as food for you. And do not set up rivals to Allah when you know.
And if you (disbelievers) are in doubt concerning what We reveal to Our man (Muhammad), then produce a chapter of the like it, and if you are honest, call (all) your helpers besides Allah. And if you do not do it - and you could never do it - then prepare yourselves against the Fire made ready for disbelievers, whose fuel is men and rocks.
And give great news to believers that do good deeds; theirs are Gardens (of Paradise) underneath which rivers flow; as often as they are fed its fruits, they say: this is what we use to eat before; and it is (now) given to them in resemblance. For them are pure mates; they will abide there forever.
Lo! Allah disdains not to coin the similitude even of a fly. Those who believe know that this is the truth from their Lord; but those who disbelieve say: What does Allah wish by such a similitude? He misleads many thereby, and He guides many thereby; but He misleads only traitors; those who break the covenant of Allah after ratifying it, and sever that which Allah ordered to be joined, and (who) make mischief in the earth: Those are the ones who are the losers.
How can you reject Allah when you were dead and He gave life to you! Then He will give you death, then life again, and then to Him you will return.
He it is who created for you all that is in the earth. Then turned He to the heaven, and fashioned it as seven heavens. And He is knower of all things...
. Allay-Imran
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Aleef. Laam. Meem.
Allah! There is no God but Him, the Alive, the Eternal.
He has revealed to you (O Muhammad) the Book with truth, confirming that which came before it, even as He revealed the Tauwrat and the Injeel. Aforetime, for a guidance to mankind; and has revealed the Criterion (of right and wrong). Lo! those who disbelieve the revelations of Allah, theirs will be a heavy doom. Allah is Mighty, Able to Requite (the wrong).
Lo! nothing in the earth or in the heavens is hidden from Allah.
He it is Who fashions you in the wombs as pleases Him. There is no God save Him, the Almighty, the Wise.
He it is who has revealed to you (O Muhammad) the Book wherein are clear verses - they are the essence of the Book - and others are allegorical. But those in whose hearts is a disease, pursue that which is allegorical, seeking mischief with their interpretations. No one knows the interpretation accept Allah and those firm in knowledge, (who) say: We believe in it; all of it is from our Lord. But only men of understanding will take heed.
Our Lord! Cause not our hearts to stray after Thou hast guided us, and bestow upon us mercy from Thy Presence. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Bestower.
Our Lord! Lo! it is Thou Who gathers mankind together to a Day of which there is no doubt. Lo! Allah does not fails His promise.
Neither the riches nor the progeny of disbelievers will aught avail them with Allah. They will be fuel for Fire.
Like Pharaoh's folk and those who were before them, they disbelieved Our revelations and so Allah seized them for their sins. And Allah is severe in punishment.
Say unto those who disbelieve: Ye shall be overcome and gathered unto Hell, an evil resting-place.
There was a token for you in two hosts which met: one army fighting in the way of Allah, and another disbelieving, whom they saw as twice their number, clearly, with their very eyes. Thus Allah strengthens with His succour whom He will. Lo! herein verily is a lesson for those who have eyes.
Beautified for mankind is love of the joys (that come) from women and offspring; and stored-up heaps of gold and silver, and horses branded (with their mark), and cattle and land. That is comfort of the life of the world. Allah! With Him is a more excellent abode.
Say: Shall I inform you of something better than that? For those who keep from evil, with their Lord, are Gardens underneath which rivers flow wherein they will abide, and pure companions, and contentment from Allah. Allah is Seer of His bondmen,
Those who say: Our Lord! Lo! we believe. So forgive us our sins and guard us from the punishment of Fire;
The steadfast, and the truthful, and the obedient, those who spend (and hoard not), those who pray for pardon in the watches of the night.
Allah (Himself) is Witness that there is no God save Him. And the angels and the men of learning (too are witness). Maintaining His creation in justice, there is no God save Him the Almighty, the Wise.
Lo! religion with Allah (is) the Surrender (to His Will and Guidance). Those who (formerly) received the Book differed only after knowledge came unto them, through transgression among themselves. Whoso disbelieveth the revelations of Allah (will find that) lo! Allah is swift at reckoning.
And if they argue with thee, say: I have surrendered my purpose to Allah and (so have) those who follow me. And say unto those who have received the Book and those who read not: Have ye (too) surrendered? If they surrender, then truly they are rightly guided, and if they turn away, then it is thy duty only to convey the message (unto them). Allah is Seer of (His) bondmen.
Lo! those who disbelieve the revelations of Allah, and slay the prophets wrongfully, and slay those of mankind who enjoin equity: promise them a painful doom.
Those are they whose efforts have failed in the world and the Hereafter; and they have no helpers.
Hast thou not seen how those who have received a portion of the Book invoke Allah’s Book (in their disputes) that it may judge between them; then a faction of them turn away, being opposed (to it)?
That is because they say: The Fire will not touch us save for a certain number of days. That which they used to invent hath deceived them regarding their religion.
How (will it be with them) when We have brought them all together to a Day of which there is no doubt, when every soul will be paid in full what it hath earned, and they will not be wronged.
Say: O Allah! Owner of Sovereignty! Thou givest sovereignty unto whom Thou wilt, and Thou withdrawest sovereignty from whom Thou wilt. Thou exaltest whom Thou wilt, and Thou abasest whom Thou wilt. In Thy hand is the good. Lo! Thou art Able to do all things.
Thou causest the night to pass into the day, and Thou causest the day to pass into the night. And Thou bringest forth the living from the dead, and Thou bringest forth the dead from the living. And Thou givest sustenance to whom Thou choosest, without stint.
Let not the believers take disbelievers for their friends in preference to believers. Whoso doeth that hath no connection with Allah unless (it be) that ye but guard yourselves against them, taking (as it were) security. Allah biddeth you beware (only) of Himself. Unto Allah is the journeying.
Say: Whether ye hide that which is in your breasts or reveal it, Allah knoweth it. He knoweth that which is in the heavens and that which is in the earth, and Allah is Able to do all things.
On the Day when every soul will find itself confronted with all that it hath done of good and all that it hath done of evil (every soul) will long that there might be a mighty space of distance between it and that (evil). Allah biddeth you beware of Him. And Allah is Full of Pity for (His) bondmen.
Say, (O Muhammad): If ye love Allah, follow me; Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
Say: Obey Allah and the messenger. But if they turn away, lo! Allah loveth not the disbelievers (in His guidance).
Lo! Allah preferred Adam and Noah and the Family of Abraham and the Family of 'Imran above (all His) creatures.
They were descendants one of another. Allah is Hearer, Knower...
. Nisa
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
O mankind! Be careful of your responsibility to your Lord, who created you from a single soul, and from it created its mate, and from these two has spread abroad a multitude of men and women. Be careful of your duty toward Allah in whom ye claim (your rights) of one another, and toward the wombs (that bare you). Lo! Allah has been a watcher over you.
Give unto orphans their wealth. Exchange not the good for the bad (in your management thereof) nor absorb their wealth into your own wealth. Lo! that would be a great sin.
And if ye fear that ye will not deal fairly by the orphans, marry of the women, who seem good to you, two or three or four; and if ye fear that ye cannot do justice (to so many) then one (only) or (the captives) that your right hands possess. Thus it is more likely that ye will not do injustice.
And give unto the women (whom ye marry) free gift of their marriage portions; but if they of their own accord remit unto you a part thereof, then ye are welcome to absorb it (in your wealth).
Give not unto the foolish (what is in) your (keeping of their) wealth, which Allah hath given you to maintain; but feed and clothe them from it, and speak kindly unto them.
Prove orphans till they reach the marriageable age; then, if ye find them of sound judgment, deliver over unto them their fortune; and devour it not by squandering and in haste lest they should grow up Whoso (of the guardians) is rich, let him abstain generously (from taking of the property of orphans); and whoso is poor let him take thereof in reason (for his guardianship). And when ye deliver up their fortune unto orphans, have (the transaction) witnessed in their presence. Allah sufficeth as a Reckoner.
Unto the men (of a family) belongeth a share of that which parents and near kindred leave, and unto the women a share of that which parents and near kindred leave, whether it be little or much - a legal share.
And when kinsfolk and orphans and the needy are present at the division (of the heritage), bestow on them therefrom and speak kindly unto them.
And let those fear (in their behaviour toward orphans) who if they left behind them weak offspring would be afraid for them. So let them mind their duty to Allah, and speak justly.
Lo! Those who devour the wealth of orphans wrongfully, they do but swallow fire into their bellies, and they will be exposed to burning flame.
Allah chargeth you concerning (the provision for) your children: to the male the equivalent of the portion of two females, and if there be women more than two, then theirs is two-thirds of the inheritance, and if there be one (only) then the half. And to each of his parents a sixth of the inheritance, if he have a son; and if he have no son and his parents are his heirs, then to his mother appertaineth the third; and if he have brethren, then to his mother appertaineth the sixth, after any legacy he may have bequeathed, or debt (hath been paid). Your parents and your children: Ye know not which of them is nearer unto you in usefulness. It is an injunction from Allah. Lo! Allah is Knower, Wise.
And unto you belongeth a half of that which your wives leave, if they have no child; but if they have a child then unto you the fourth of that which they leave, after any legacy they may have bequeathed, or debt (they may have contracted, hath been paid). And unto them belongeth the fourth of that which ye leave if ye have no child, but if ye have a child then the eighth of that which ye leave, after any legacy ye may have bequeathed, or debt (ye may have contracted, hath been paid). And if a man or a woman have a distant heir (having left neither parent nor child), and he (or she) have a brother or a sister (only on the mother's side) then to each of them twain (the brother and the sister) the sixth, and if they be more than two, then they shall be sharers in the third, after any legacy that may have been bequeathed or debt (contracted) not injuring (the heirs by willing away more than a third of the heritage) hath been
These are the limits (imposed by) Allah. Whoso obeyeth Allah and His messenger, He will make him enter Gardens underneath which rivers flow, where such will dwell for ever. That will be the great success.
And whoso disobeyeth Allah and His messenger and transgresseth His limits, He will make him enter Fire, where he will dwell forever; his will be a shameful doom.
As for those of your women who are guilty of lewdness, call to witness four of you against them. And if they testify (to the truth of the allegation) then confine them to the houses until death take them or (until) Allah appoint for them a way (through new legislation).
And as for the two of you who are guilty thereof, punish them both. And if they repent and improve, then let them be. Lo! Allah is ever relenting, Merciful.
Forgiveness is only incumbent on Allah toward those who do evil in ignorance (and) then turn quickly (in repentance) to Allah. These are they toward whom Allah relenteth. Allah is ever Knower, Wise.
The forgiveness is not for those who do ill-deeds until, when death attendeth upon one of them, he saith: Lo! I repent now; nor yet for those who die while they are disbelievers. For such We have prepared a painful doom.
O ye who believe! It is not lawful for you forcibly to inherit the women (of your deceased kinsmen), nor (that) ye should put constraint upon them that ye may take away a part of that which ye have given them, unless they be guilty of flagrant lewdness. But consort with them in kindness, for if ye hate them it may happen that ye hate a thing wherein Allah hath placed much good.
And if ye wish to exchange one wife for another and ye have given unto one of them a sum of money (however great), take nothing from it. Would ye take it by the way of calumny and open wrong?
How can ye take it (back) after one of you hath gone in unto the other, and they have taken a strong pledge from you?
And marry not those women whom your fathers married, except what hath already happened (of that nature) in the past. Lo! it was ever lewdness and abomination, and an evil way.
Forbidden unto you are your mothers, and your daughters, and your sisters, and your father's sisters, and your mother's sisters, and your brother's daughters and your sister's daughters, and your foster-mothers, and your foster-sisters, and your mothers-in-law, and your step-daughters who are under your protection (born) of your women unto whom ye have gone in - but if ye have not gone in unto them, then it is no sin for you (to marry their daughters) - and the wives of your sons who (spring) from your own loins. And (it is forbidden unto you) that ye should have two sisters together, except what hath already happened (of that nature) in the past. Lo! Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful.
And all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess. It is a decree of Allah for you. Lawful unto you are all beyond those mentioned, so that ye seek them with your wealth in honest wedlock, not debauchery. And those of whom ye seek content (by marrying them), give unto them their portions as a duty. And there is no sin for you in what ye do by mutual agreement after the duty (hath been done). Lo! Allah is ever Knower, Wise.
And whoso is not able to afford to marry free, believing women, let them marry from the believing maids whom your right hands possess. Allah knoweth best (concerning) your faith. Ye (proceed) one from another; so wed them by permission of their folk, and give unto them their portions in kindness, they being honest, not debauched nor of loose conduct. And if when they are honourably married they commit lewdness they shall incur the half of the punishment (prescribed) for free women (in that case). This is for him among you who feareth to commit sin. But to have patience would be better for you. Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
Allah would explain to you and guide you by the examples of those who were before you, and would turn to you in mercy. Allah is Knower, Wise.
And Allah would turn to you in mercy; but those who follow vain desires would have you go tremendously astray.
Allah would make the burden light for you, for man was created weak.
O ye who believe! Squander not your wealth among yourselves in vanity, except it be a trade by mutual consent, and kill not one another. Lo! Allah is ever Merciful unto you.
Whoso doeth that through aggression and injustice, we shall cast him into Fire, and that is ever easy for Allah.
If ye avoid the great (things) which ye are forbidden, We will remit from you your evil deeds and make you enter at a noble gate.
And covet not the thing in which Allah hath made some of you excel others. Unto men a fortune from that which they have earned, and unto women a fortune from that which they have earned. (Envy not one another) but ask Allah of His bounty. Lo! Allah is ever Knower of all things.
And unto each We have appointed heirs of that which parents and near kindred leave; and as for those with whom your right hands have made a covenant, give them their due. Lo! Allah is ever Witness over all things.
Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them. Lo! Allah is ever High, Exalted, Great.
And if ye fear a breach between them twain (the man and wife), appoint an arbiter from his folk and an arbiter from her folk. If they desire amendment Allah will make them of one mind. Lo! Allah is ever Knower, Aware.
And serve Allah. Ascribe no thing as partner unto Him. (Show) kindness unto parents, and unto near kindred, and orphans, and the needy, and unto the neighbour who is of kin (unto you) and the neighbour who is not of kin, and the fellow-traveller and the wayfarer and (the slaves) whom your right hands possess. Lo! Allah loveth not such as are proud and boastful,
Who hoard their wealth and enjoin avarice on others, and hide that which Allah hath bestowed upon them of His bounty. For disbelievers We prepare a shameful doom;
And (also) those who spend their wealth in order to be seen of men, and believe not in Allah nor the Last Day. Whoso taketh Satan for a comrade, a bad comrade hath he.
What have they (to fear) if they believe in Allah and the Last Day and spend (aright) of that which Allah hath bestowed upon them, when Allah is ever Aware of them (and all they do)?
Lo! Allah wrongeth not even of the weight of an ant; and if there is a good deed, He will double it and will give (the doer) from His presence an immense reward.
But how (will it be with them) when We bring of every people a witness, and We bring thee (O Muhammad) a witness against these?
On that day those who disbelieved and disobeyed the messenger will wish that they were level with the ground, and they can hide no fact from Allah.
. al-Maidah
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
O ye who believe! Fulfil your duties. The four legged animals are made lawful unto you (for food), except that which is announced unto you (herein), game being unlawful when ye are on the pilgrimage. Lo! Allah ordaineth that which pleaseth Him.
O ye who believe! Profane not Allah's monuments nor the Sacred Month nor the offerings nor the garlands, nor those repairing to the Sacred House, seeking the grace and pleasure of their Lord. But when ye have left the sacred territory, then go hunting (if ye will). And let not your hatred of a folk who (once) stopped your going to the inviolable place of worship seduce you to transgress; but help ye one another unto righteousness and pious duty. Help not one another unto sin and transgression, but keep your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is severe in punishment.
Forbidden unto you (for food) are carrion and blood and swine flesh, and that which hath been dedicated unto any other than Allah, and the strangled, and the dead through beating, and the dead through falling from a height, and that which hath been killed by (the goring of) horns, and the devoured of wild beasts, saving that which ye make lawful (by the death-stroke), and that which hath been immolated unto idols. And (forbidden is it) that ye swear by the divining arrows. This is an abomination. This day are those who disbelieve in despair of (ever harming) your religion; so fear them not, fear Me! This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour unto you, and have chosen for you as religion al-Islam. Whoso is forced by hunger, not by will, to sin: (for him) lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
They ask thee what is made lawful for them. Say: (all) good things are made lawful for you. And those beasts and birds of prey which ye have trained as hounds are trained, ye teach them that which Allah taught you; so eat of that which they catch for you and mention Allah's name upon it, and observe your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is swift to take account.
This day are (all) good things made lawful for you. The food of those who have received the Book is lawful for you, and your food is lawful for them. And so are the virtuous women of the believers and the virtuous women of those who received the Book before you (lawful for you) when ye give them their marriage portions and live with them in honour, not in fornication, nor taking them as secret concubines. Whoso denieth the faith, his work is vain and he will be among the losers in the Hereafter.
O ye who believe! When ye rise up for prayer, wash you faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and lightly rub your heads and (wash) your feet up to the ankles. And if ye are unclean, purify yourselves. And if ye are sick or on a journey, or one of you cometh from the closet, or ye have had contact with women, and ye find not water, then go to clean, high ground and rub your faces and your hands with some of it. Allah would not place a burden on you, but He would purify you and would perfect His grace upon you, that ye may give thanks.
Remember Allah's grace upon you and His covenant by which He bound you when ye said: We hear and we obey; And keep your duty to Allah. Lo! He knoweth what is in the breasts (of men).
O ye who believe! Be steadfast witnesses for Allah in equity, and let not hatred of any people seduce you that ye deal not justly. Deal justly, that is nearer to your duty. Observe your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is Informed of what ye do.
Allah hath promised those who believe and do good deeds: Theirs will be forgiveness and a tremendous reward.
And they who disbelieve and deny Our revelations, such are rightful owners of hell.
O ye who believe! Remember Allah's favour unto you, how a people were minded to stretch out their hands against you but He withheld their hands from you; and keep your duty to Allah. In Allah let believers put their trust...
. al-Mulk
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Blessed is He in whose hand is the Sovereignty; and He has Power over all things.
Who created death and life so that He may try you, which of you is best in conduct; and He is the Mighty, the Forgiving,
Who hath created seven heavens in harmony. Thou canst see no fault in the Beneficent One's creation; then look again: Canst thou see any rifts?
Then look again and yet again, thy sight will return unto thee weakened and made dim.
And verily We have beautified the world's heaven with lamps, and We have made them missiles for the devils, and for them We have prepared the doom of flame.
And for those who disbelieve in their Lord there is the doom of hell, a hapless journey's end!
When they are flung therein they hear its roaring as it boileth up,
As it would burst with rage. Whenever a (fresh) host is flung therein the wardens thereof ask them: Came there unto you no warner?
They say: Yea, verily, a warner came unto us; but we denied and said: Allah hath naught revealed; ye are in naught but a great error.
And they say: Had we been wont to listen or have sense, we had not been among the dwellers in the flames.
So they acknowledge their sins; but far removed (from mercy) are the dwellers in the flames.
Lo! those who fear their Lord in secret, theirs will be forgiveness and a great reward.
And keep your opinion secret or proclaim it, lo! He is Knower of all that is in the breasts (of men).
Should He not know what He created? And He is the Subtile, the Aware.
He it is Who hath made the earth subservient unto you, so Walk in the paths thereof and eat of His providence. And unto Him will be the resurrection (of the dead).
Have ye taken security from Him Who is in the heaven that He will not cause the earth to swallow you when lo! it is convulsed?
Or have ye taken security from Him Who is in the heaven that He will not let loose on you a hurricane? But ye shall know the manner of My warning.
And verily those before them denied, then (see) the manner of My wrath (with them)!
Have they not seen the birds above them spreading out their wings and closing them? Naught upholdeth them save the Beneficent. Lo! He is Seer of all things.
Or who is he that will be an army unto you to help you instead of the Beneficent? The disbelievers are in naught but illusion.
Or who is he that will provide for you if He should withhold His providence? Nay, but they are set in pride and frowardness.
Is he who goeth groping on his face more rightly guided, or he who walketh upright on a straight road?
Say (unto them, O Muhammad): He it is who gave you being, and hath assigned unto you ears and eyes and hearts. Small thanks give ye!
Say: He it is Who multiplieth you in the earth, and unto Whom ye will be gathered.
And they say: When (will) this promise (be fulfilled), if ye are truthful?
Say: The knowledge is with Allah only, and I am but a plain warner;
But when they see it nigh, the faces of those who disbelieve will be awry, and it will be said (unto them): This is that for which ye used to call.
Say: Have ye thought: Whether Allah causeth me and those with me to perish or hath mercy on us, still, who will protect the disbelievers from a painful doom?
Say: He is the Beneficent. In Him we believe and in Him we put our trust. And ye will soon know who it is that is in error manifest.
Say: Have ye thought: If (all) your water were to disappear into the earth, who then could bring you gushing water?
. al-Qalam
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Nun.
By the pen and that which they write (therewith),
Thou art not mad, by thy Lord's grace unto thee.
And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing.
And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature.
And thou wilt see and they will see
Which of you is the demented.
Lo! thy Lord is Best Aware of him who strayeth from His way, and He is Best Aware of those who walk aright.
Therefore obey not thou the rejecters
Who would have had thee compromise, that they may compromise.
Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger,
Detracter, spreader abroad of slanders,
Hinderer of the good, transgressor, malefactor
Greedy therewithal, intrusive.
It is because he is possessed of wealth and children
That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old.
We shall brand him on the nose.
Lo! We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed that they would pluck its fruit next morning,
And made no exception (for the Will of Allah);
Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept
And in the morning it was as if plucked.
And they cried out one unto another in the morning,
Saying: Run unto your field if ye would pluck (the fruit).
So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones:
No needy man shall enter it to-day against you.
They went betimes, strong in (this) purpose.
But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error!
Nay, but we are desolate!
The best among them said: Said I not unto you: Why glorify ye not (Allah)?
They said: Glorified be our Lord! Lo! we have been wrong-doers.
Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching.
They said: Alas for us! In truth we were outrageous.
It may be that our Lord will give us better than this in place thereof. Lo! we beseech our Lord.
Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know.
Lo! for those who keep from evil are gardens of bliss with their Lord.
Shall We then treat those who have surrendered as We treat the guilty?
What aileth you? How foolishly ye judge!
Or have ye a Book wherein ye learn
That ye shall indeed have all that ye choose?
Or have ye a covenant on oath from us that reacheth to the Day of Judgment, that yours shall be all that ye ordain?
Ask them which of them will vouch for that!
Or have they other gods? Then let them bring their other gods if they are truthful
On the day when it befalleth in earnest, and they are ordered to prostrate themselves but are not able,
With eyes downcast, abasement stupefying them. And they had been summoned to prostrate themselves while they were yet unhurt.
Leave Me (to deal) with those who give the lie to this pronouncement. We shall lead them on by steps from whence they know not.
Yet I bear with them, for lo! My scheme is firm.
Or dost thou (O Muhammad) ask a fee from them so that they are heavily taxed?
Or is the Unseen theirs that they can write (thereof)?
But wait thou for thy Lord's decree, and be not like him of the fish, who cried out in despair.
Had it not been that favour from his Lord had reached him he surely had been cast into the wilderness while he was reprobate.
But his Lord chose him and placed him among the righteous.
And lo! those who disbelieve would fain disconcert thee with their eyes when they hear the Reminder, and they say: Lo! he is indeed mad;
When it is naught else than a Reminder to creation.
. al-Hakkah
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
The Reality!
What is the Reality?
Ah, what will convey unto thee what the reality is!
(The tribes of) Thamud and Aaad disbelieved in the judgment to come.
As for Thamud, they were destroyed by the lightning.
And as for Aaad, they were destroyed by a fierce roaring wind,
Which He imposed on them for seven long nights and eight long days so that thou mightest have seen men lying overthrown, as they were hollow trunks of palm- trees.
Canst thou see any remnant of them?
And Pharaoh and those before him, and the communities that were destroyed, brought error,
And they disobeyed the messenger of their Lord, therefore did He grip them with a tightening grip.
Lo! when the waters rose, We carried you upon the ship
That We might make it a memorial for you, and that remembering ears (that heard the story) might remember.
And when the trumpet shall sound one blast
And the earth with the mountains shall be lifted up and crushed with one crash,
Then, on that day will the Event befall.
And the heaven will split asunder, for that day it will be frail.
And the angels will be on the sides thereof, and eight will uphold the Throne of thy Lord that day, above them.
On that day ye will be exposed; not a secret of you will be hidden.
Then, as for him who is given his record in his right hand, he will say: Take, read my book!
Surely I knew that I should have to meet my reckoning.
Then he will be in blissful state
In a high garden
Whereof the clusters are in easy reach.
(And it will be said unto those therein): Eat and drink at ease for that which ye sent on before you in past days.
But as for him who is given his record in his left hand, he will say: Oh, would that I had not been given my book
And knew not what my reckoning!
Oh, would that it had been death!
My wealth hath not availed me,
My power hath gone from me.
(It will be said): Take him and fetter him
And then expose him to hell-fire
And then insert him in a chain whereof the length is seventy cubits.
Lo! He used not to believe in Allah the Tremendous,
And urged not on the feeding of the wretched.
Therefore hath he no lover here this day,
Nor any food save filth
Which none but sinners eat.
But nay! I swear by all that ye see
And all that ye see not
That it is indeed the speech of an illustrious messenger.
It is not poet's speech - little is it that ye believe!
Nor diviner's speech - little is it that ye remember!
It is a revelation from the Lord of the Worlds.
And if he had invented false sayings concerning Us,
We assuredly had taken him by the right hand
And then severed his life-artery,
And not one of you could have held Us off from him.
And lo! it is a warrant unto those who ward off (evil).
And lo! We know that some among you will deny (it).
And lo! it is indeed an anguish for the disbelievers.
And lo! it is absolute truth.
So glorify the name of thy Tremendous Lord.
. al-Marij
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
A questioner questioned concerning the doom about to fall
Upon the disbelievers, which none can repel,
From Allah, Lord of the Ascending Stairways
(Whereby) the angels and the Spirit ascend unto Him in a Day whereof the span is fifty thousand years.
But be patient with a patience fair to see.
Lo! they behold it afar off
While we behold it nigh:
The day when the sky will become as molten copper,
And the hills become as flakes of wool,
And no familiar friend will ask a question of his friend
Though they will be given sight of them. The guilty man will long to be able to ransom himself from the punishment of that day at the price of his children
And his spouse and his brother
And his kin that harboured him
And all that are in the earth, if then it might deliver him.
But nay! for lo! it is the fire of hell
Eager to roast;
It calleth him who turned and fled (from truth),
And hoarded (wealth) and withheld it.
Lo! man was created anxious,
Fretful when evil befalleth him
And, when good befalleth him, grudging;
Save worshippers.
Who are constant at their worship
And in whose wealth there is a right acknowledged
For the beggar and the destitute;
And those who believe in the Day of Judgment,
And those who are fearful of their Lord's doom -
Lo! the doom of their Lord is that before which none can feel secure -
And those who preserve their chastity
Save with their wives and those whom their right hands possess, for thus they are not blameworthy;
But whoso seeketh more than that, those are they who are transgressors;
And those who keep their pledges and their covenant,
And those who stand by their testimony
And those who are attentive at their worship.
These will dwell in Gardens, honoured.
What aileth those who disbelieve, that they keep staring toward thee (O Muhammad), open-eyed,
On the right and on the left, in groups?
Doth every man among them hope to enter the Garden of Delight?
Nay, verily. Lo! We created them from what they know.
But nay! I swear by the Lord of the rising-places and the setting-places of the planets that We verily are Able
To replace them by (others) better than them. And we are not to be outrun.
So let them chat and play until they meet their Day which they are promised,
The day when they come forth from the graves in haste, as racing to a goal,
With eyes aghast, abasement stupefying them: Such is the Day which they are promised.
. Nuh
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Lo! We sent Noah unto his people (saying): Warn thy people before the painful doom come unto them.
He said: O my people! Lo! I am a plain warner unto you: Serve Allah and keep your duty unto Him and obey me,
That He may forgive you somewhat of your sins and respite you to an appointed term. Lo! the term of Allah, when it cometh, cannot be delayed, if ye but knew.
He said: My Lord! Lo! I have called unto my people night and day
But all my calling doth but add to their repugnance;
And lo! whenever I call unto them that Thou mayst pardon them they thrust their fingers in their ears and cover themselves with their garments and persist (in their refusal) and magnify themselves in pride.
And lo! I have called unto them aloud,
And lo! I have made public proclamation unto them, and I have appealed to them in private.
And I have said: Seek pardon of your Lord. Lo! He was ever Forgiving.
He will let loose the sky for you in plenteous rain,
And will help you with wealth and sons, and will assign unto you Gardens and will assign unto you rivers.
What aileth you that ye hope not toward Allah for dignity
When He created you by (divers) stages?
See ye not how Allah hath created seven heavens in harmony,
And hath made the moon a light therein, and made the sun a lamp?
And Allah hath caused you to grow as a growth from the earth,
And afterward He maketh you return thereto, and He will bring you forth again, a (new) forthbringing.
And Allah hath made the earth a wide expanse for you
That ye may thread the valley-ways thereof.
Noah said: My Lord! Lo! they have disobeyed me and followed one whose wealth and children increase him in naught save ruin;
And they have plotted a mighty plot,
And they have said: Forsake not your gods. Forsake not Wadd, nor Suwa', nor Yaghuth and Ya'uq and Nasr.
And they have led many astray, and Thou increasest the wrong-doers in naught save error.
Because of their sins they were drowned, then made to enter a Fire. And they found they had no helpers in place of Allah.
And Noah said: My Lord! Leave not one of the disbelievers in the land.
If Thou shouldst leave them, they will mislead Thy slaves and will beget none save lewd ingrates.
My Lord! Forgive me and my parents and him who entereth my house believing, and believing men and believing women, and increase not the wrong-doers in aught save ruin.
. Jinn
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Say (O Muhammad): It is revealed unto me that a company of the Jinn gave ear, and they said: Lo! we have heard a marvellous Koran,
Which guideth unto righteousness, so we believe in it and we ascribe no partner unto our Lord.
And (we believe) that He - exalted be the glory of our Lord! - hath taken neither wife nor son,
And that the foolish one among us used to speak concerning Allah an atrocious lie.
And lo! we had supposed that humankind and jinn would not speak a lie concerning Allah -
And indeed individuals of humankind used to invoke the protection of individuals of the jinn, so that they increased them in revolt against Allah);
And indeed they supposed, even as ye suppose, that Allah would not raise anyone (from the dead) -
And (the Jinn who had listened to the Koran said): We had sought the heaven but had found it filled with strong warders and meteors.
And we used to sit on places (high) therein to listen. But he who listeneth now findeth a flame in wait for him;
And we know not whether harm is boded unto all who are in the earth, or whether their Lord intendeth guidance for them.
And among us there are righteous folk and among us there are far from that. We are sects having different rules.
And we know that we cannot escape from Allah in the earth, nor can we escape by flight.
And when we heard the guidance, we believed therein, and whoso believeth in his Lord, he feareth neither loss nor oppression.
And there are among us some who have surrendered (to Allah) and there are among us some who are unjust. And whoso hath surrendered to Allah, such have taken the right path purposefully.
And as for those who are unjust, they are firewood for hell.
If they (the idolaters) tread the right path, We shall give them to drink of water in abundance
That We may test them thereby, and whoso turneth away from the remembrance of his Lord; He will thrust him into ever-growing torment.
And the places of worship are only for Allah, so pray not unto anyone along with Allah.
And when the slave of Allah stood up in prayer to Him, they crowded on him, almost stifling.
Say (unto them, O Muhammad): I pray unto Allah only, and ascribe unto Him no partner.
Say: Lo! I control not hurt nor benefit for you.
Say: Lo! none can protect me from Allah, nor can I find any refuge beside Him
(Mine is) but conveyance (of the Truth) from Allah, and His messages; and whoso disobeyeth Allah and His messenger, lo! his is fire of hell, wherein such dwell for ever.
Till (the day) when they shall behold that which they are promised (they may doubt); but then they will know (for certain) who is weaker in allies and less in multitude.
Say: I know not whether that which ye are promised is nigh, or if my Lord hath set a distant term for it.
(He is) the Knower of the Unseen, and He revealeth unto none His secret,
Save unto every messenger whom He hath chosen, and then He maketh a guard to go before him and a guard behind him
That He may know that they have indeed conveyed the messages of their Lord. He surroundeth all their doings, and He keepeth count of all things.
. al-Muzammil
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
O thou wrapped up in thy raiment!
Keep vigil the night long, save a little -
A half thereof, or abate a little thereof
Or add (a little) thereto - and chant the Koran in measure,
For we shall charge thee with a word of weight.
Lo! the vigil of the night is (a time) when impression is more keen and speech more certain.
Lo! thou hast by day a chain of business.
So remember the name of thy Lord and devote thyself with a complete devotion -
Lord of the East and the West; there is no God save Him; so choose thou Him alone for thy defender -
And bear with patience what they utter, and part from them with a fair leave- taking.
Leave Me to deal with the deniers, lords of ease and comfort (in this life); and do thou respite them awhile.
Lo! with Us are heavy fetters and a raging fire,
And food which choketh (the partaker), and a painful doom
On the day when the earth and the hills rock, and the hills become a heap of running sand.
Lo! We have sent unto you a messenger as witness against you, even as We sent unto Pharaoh a messenger.
But Pharaoh rebelled against the messenger, whereupon We seized him with no gentle grip.
Then how, if ye disbelieve, will ye protect yourselves upon the day which will turn children grey,
The very heaven being then rent asunder. His promise is to be fulfilled.
Lo! This is a Reminder. Let him who will, then, choose a way unto his Lord.
Lo! thy Lord knoweth how thou keepest vigil sometimes nearly two-thirds of the night, or (sometimes) half or a third thereof, as do a party of those with thee. Allah measureth the night and the day. He knoweth that ye count it not, and turneth unto you in mercy. Recite, then, of the Koran that which is easy for you. He knoweth that there are sick folk among you, while others travel in the land in search of Allah's bounty, and others (still) are fighting for the cause of Allah. So recite of it that which is easy (for you), and establish worship and pay the poor-due, and (so) lend unto Allah a goodly loan. Whatsoever good ye send before you for your souls, ye will find it with Allah, better and greater in the recompense. And seek forgiveness of Allah. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
. al-Mudathir
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
O thou enveloped in thy cloak,
Arise and warn!
Thy Lord magnify,
Thy raiment purify,
Pollution shun!
And show not favour, seeking wordly gain!
For the sake of thy Lord, be patient!
For when the trumpet shall sound,
Surely that day will be a day of anguish,
Not of ease, for disbelievers.
Leave Me (to deal) with him whom I created lonely,
And then bestowed upon him ample means,
And sons abiding in his presence
And made (life) smooth for him.
Yet he desireth that I should give more.
Nay! For lo! he hath been stubborn to Our revelations.
On him I shall impose a fearful doom.
For lo! he did consider; then he planned -
(Self-)destroyed is he, how he planned!
Again (self-)destroyed is he, how he planned! -
Then looked he,
Then frowned he and showed displeasure.
Then turned he away in pride
And said: This is naught else than magic from of old;
This is naught else than speech of mortal man.
Him shall I fling unto the burning.
- Ah, what will convey unto thee what that burning is! -
It leaveth naught; it spareth naught
It shrivelleth the man.
Above it are nineteen.
We have appointed only angels to be wardens of the Fire, and their number have We made to be a stumbling-block for those who disbelieve; that those to whom the Book hath been given may have certainty, and that believers may increase in faith; and that those to whom the Book hath been given and believers may not doubt; and that those in whose hearts there is disease, and disbelievers, may say: What meaneth Allah by this similitude? Thus Allah sendeth astray whom He will, and whom He will He guideth. None knoweth the hosts of thy Lord save Him. This is naught else than a Reminder unto mortals.
Nay, by the Moon
And the night when it withdraweth
And the dawn when it shineth forth,
Lo! this is one of the greatest (portents)
As a warning unto men,
Unto him of you who will advance or hang back.
Every soul is a pledge for its own deeds;
Save those who will stand on the right hand.
In gardens they will ask one another
Concerning the guilty:
What hath brought you to this burning?
They will answer: We were not of those who prayed
Nor did we feed the wretched.
We used to wade (in vain dispute) with (all) waders,
And we used to deny the Day of Judgment,
Till the Inevitable came unto us.
The mediation of no mediators will avail them then.
Why now turn they away from the Admonishment,
As they were frightened asses
Fleeing from a lion?
Nay, but everyone of them desireth that he should be given open pages (from Allah).
Nay, verily. They fear not the Hereafter.
Nay, verily. Lo! this is an Admonishment.
So whosoever will may heed.
And they will not heed unless Allah willeth (it). He is the fount of fear. He is the fount of Mercy.
. al-Qiyamah
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Nay, I swear by the Day of Resurrection;
Nay, I swear by the accusing soul.
Thinks man that We shall not assemble his bones?
Yea, verily. We are Able to restore his very fingers!
But man would fain deny what is before him.
He asketh: When will be this Day of Resurrection?
But when sight is confounded
And the moon is eclipsed
And sun and moon are united,
On that day man will cry: Whither to flee!
Alas! No refuge!
Unto thy Lord is the recourse that day.
On that day man is told the tale of that which he hath sent before and left behind.
Oh, but man is a telling witness against himself,
Although he tender his excuses.
Stir not thy tongue herewith to hasten it.
Lo! upon Us (resteth) the putting together thereof and the reading thereof.
And when We read it, follow thou the reading;
Then lo! upon Us (resteth) the explanation thereof.
Nay, but ye do love the fleeting Now
And neglect the Hereafter.
That day will faces be resplendent,
Looking toward their Lord;
And that day will other faces be despondent,
Thou wilt know that some great disaster is about to fall on them.
Nay, but when the life cometh up to the throat
And men say: Where is the wizard (who can save him now)?
And he knoweth that it is the parting;
And agony is heaped on agony;
Unto thy Lord that day will be the driving.
For he neither trusted, nor prayed.
But he denied and flouted.
Then went he to his folk with glee.
Nearer unto thee and nearer,
Again nearer unto thee and nearer (is the doom).
Thinketh man that he is to be left aimless?
Was he not a drop of fluid which gushed forth?
Then he became a clot; then (Allah) shaped and fashioned
And made of him a pair, the male and female.
Is not He (Who doeth so) Able to bring the dead to life?
. ad-Dahr
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Has there come upon man (ever) any period of time in which he was a thing forgotten?
Lo! We create man from a drop of thickened fluid to test him; so We make him hearing, knowing.
Lo! We have shown him the way, whether he be grateful or disbelieving.
Lo! We have prepared for disbelievers manacles and carcans and a raging fire.
Lo! the righteous shall drink of a cup whereof the mixture is of Kafur,
A spring wherefrom the slaves of Allah drink, making it gush forth abundantly,
(Because) they perform the vow and fear a day whereof the evil is wide- spreading,
And feed with food the needy wretch, the orphan and the prisoner, for love of Him,
(Saying): We feed you, for the sake of Allah only. We wish for no reward nor thanks from you;
Lo! we fear from our Lord a day of frowning and of fate.
Therefore Allah hath warded off from them the evil of that day, and hath made them find brightness and joy;
And hath awarded them for all that they endured, a Garden and silk attire;
Reclining therein upon couches, they will find there neither (heat of) a sun nor bitter cold.
The shade thereof is close upon them and the clustered fruits thereof bow down.
Goblets of silver are brought round for them, and beakers (as) of glass
(Bright as) glass but (made) of silver, which they (themselves) have measured to the measure (of their deeds).
There are they watered with a cup whereof the mixture is of Zanjabil,
(The water of) a spring therein, named Salsabil.
There wait on them immortal youths, whom, when thou seest, thou wouldst take for scattered pearls.
When thou seest, thou wilt see there bliss and high estate.
Their raiment will be fine green silk and gold embroidery. Bracelets of silver will they wear. Their Lord will slake their thirst with a pure drink.
(And it will be said unto them): Lo! this is a reward for you. Your endeavour (upon earth) hath found acceptance.
Lo! We, even We, have revealed unto thee the Koran, a revelation;
So submit patiently to thy Lord's command, and obey not of them any guilty one or disbeliever.
Remember the name of thy Lord at morn and evening.
And worship Him (a portion) of the night. And glorify Him through the livelong night.
Lo! these love fleeting life, and put behind them (the remembrance of) a grievous day.
We, even We, created them, and strengthened their frame. And when We will, We can replace them, bringing others like them in their stead.
Lo! this is an Admonishment, that whosoever will may choose a way unto his Lord.
Yet ye will not, unless Allah willeth. Lo! Allah is Knower, Wise.
He maketh whom He will to enter His mercy, and for evil-doers hath prepared a painful doom.
. al-Mursalat
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the emissary winds, (sent) one after another.
By the raging hurricanes,
By those which cause earth's vegetation to revive;
By those who winnow with a winnowing,
By those who bring down the Reminder,
To excuse or to warn,
Surely that which ye are promised will befall.
So when the stars are put out,
And when the sky is riven asunder,
And when the mountains are blown away,
And when the messengers are brought unto their time appointed -
For what day is the time appointed?
For the Day of Decision.
And what will convey unto thee what the Day of Decision is! -
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
Destroyed We not the former folk,
Then caused the latter folk to follow after?
Thus deal We ever with the guilty.
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
Did We not create you from a base fluid
Which We laid up in a safe abode
For a known term?
Thus We arranged. How excellent is Our arranging!
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
Have We not made the earth a receptacle
Both for the living and the dead,
And placed therein high mountains and given you to drink sweet water therein?
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
(It will be said unto them:) Depart unto that (doom) which ye used to deny;
Depart unto the shadow falling threefold,
(Which yet is) no relief nor shelter from the flame.
Lo! it throweth up sparks like the castles,
(Or) as it might be camels of bright yellow hue.
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
This is a day wherein they speak not,
Nor are they suffered to put forth excuses.
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
This is the Day of Decision, We have brought you and the men of old together.
If now ye have any wit, outwit Me.
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
Lo! those who kept their duty are amid shade and fountains,
And fruits such as they desire.
(Unto them it is said:) Eat, drink and welcome, O ye blessed, in return for what ye did.
Thus do We reward the good.
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
Eat and take your ease (on earth) a little. Lo! ye are guilty.
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
When it is said unto them: Bow down, they bow not down!
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
In what statement, after this, will they believe?
. an-Nabah
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Whereof do they question one another?
(It is) of the awful tidings,
Concerning which they are in disagreement.
Nay, but they will come to know!
Nay, again, but they will come to know!
Have We not made the earth an expanse,
And the high hills bulwarks?
And We have created you in pairs,
And have appointed your sleep for repose,
And have appointed the night as a cloak,
And have appointed the day for livelihood.
And We have built above you seven strong (heavens),
And have appointed a dazzling lamp,
And have sent down from the rainy clouds abundant water,
Thereby to produce grain and plant,
And gardens of thick foliage.
Lo! the Day of Decision is a fixed time,
A day when the trumpet is blown and ye come in multitudes,
And the heaven is opened and becometh as gates,
And the hills are set in motion and become as a mirage.
Lo! hell lurketh in ambush,
A home for the rebellious.
They will abide therein for ages.
Therein taste they neither coolness nor (any) drink
Save boiling water and a paralysing cold:
Reward proportioned (to their evil deeds).
For lo! they looked not for a reckoning;
They called Our revelations false with strong denial.
Everything have We recorded in a Book.
So taste (of that which ye have earned). No increase do We give you save of torment.
Lo! for the duteous is achievement -
Gardens enclosed and vineyards,
And maidens for companions,
And a full cup.
There hear they never vain discourse, nor lying -
Requital from thy Lord - a gift in payment -
Lord of the heavens and the earth, and (all) that is between them, the Beneficent; with Whom none can converse.
On the day when the angels and the Spirit stand arrayed, they speak not, saving him whom the Beneficent alloweth and who speaketh right.
That is the True Day. So whoso will should seek recourse unto his Lord.
Lo! We warn you of a doom at hand, a day whereon a man will look on that which his own hands have sent before, and the disbeliever will cry: "Would that I were dust!"
. an-Naziaat
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By those who drag forth to destruction,
By the meteors rushing,
By the lone stars floating,
By the angels hastening,
And those who govern the event,
On the day when the first trump resoundeth.
And the second followeth it,
On that day hearts beat painfully
While eyes are downcast
(Now) they are saying: Shall we really be restored to our first state
Even after we are crumbled bones?
They say: Then that would be a vain proceeding.
Surely it will need but one shout,
And lo! they will be awakened.
Hath there come unto thee the history of Moses?
How his Lord called him in the holy vale of Tuwa,
(Saying:) Go thou unto Pharaoh - Lo! he hath rebelled -
And say (unto him): Hast thou (will) to grow (in grace)?
Then I will guide thee to thy Lord and thou shalt fear (Him).
And he showed him the tremendous token.
But he denied and disobeyed,
Then turned he away in haste,
Then gathered he and summoned
And proclaimed: "I (Pharaoh) am your Lord the Highest."
So Allah seized him (and made him) an example for the after (life) and for the former.
Lo! herein is indeed a lesson for him who feareth.
Are ye the harder to create, or is the heaven that He built?
He raised the height thereof and ordered it;
And He made dark the night thereof, and He brought forth the morn thereof.
And after that He spread the earth,
And produced therefrom the water thereof and the pasture thereof,
And He made fast the hills,
A provision for you and for your cattle.
But when the great disaster cometh,
The day when man will call to mind his (whole) endeavour,
And hell will stand forth visible to him who seeth,
Then, as for him who rebelled
And chose the life of the world,
Lo! hell will be his home.
But as for him who feared to stand before his Lord and restrained his soul from lust,
Lo! the Garden will be his home.
They ask thee of the Hour: when will it come to port?
Why (ask they)? What hast thou to tell thereof?
Unto thy Lord belongeth (knowledge of) the term thereof.
Thou art but a warner unto him who feareth it.
On the day when they behold it, it will be as if they had but tarried for an evening or the morn thereof.
. Abasa
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
He frowned and turned away
Because the blind man came unto him.
What could inform thee but that he might grow (in grace)
Or take heed and so the reminder might avail him?
As for him who thinketh himself independent,
Unto him thou payest regard.
Yet it is not thy concern if he grow not (in grace).
But as for him who cometh unto thee with earnest purpose
And hath fear,
From him thou art distracted.
Nay, but verily it is an Admonishment,
So let whosoever will pay heed to it,
On honoured leaves
Exalted, purified,
(Set down) by scribes
Noble and righteous.
Man is (self-)destroyed: how ungrateful!
From what thing doth He create him?
From a drop of seed. He createth him and proportioneth him,
Then maketh the way easy for him,
Then causeth him to die, and burieth him;
Then, when He will, He bringeth him again to life.
Nay, but (man) hath not done what He commanded him.
Let man consider his food:
How We pour water in showers
Then split the earth in clefts
And cause the grain to grow therein
And grapes and green fodder
And olive-trees and palm-trees
And garden-closes of thick foliage
And fruits and grasses:
Provision for you and your cattle.
But when the Shout cometh
On the day when a man fleeth from his brother
And his mother and his father
And his wife and his children,
Every man that day will have concern enough to make him heedless (of others).
On that day faces will be bright as dawn,
Laughing, rejoicing at good news;
And other faces, on that day, with dust upon them,
Veiled in darkness,
Those are the disbelievers, the wicked.
. at-Takwir
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
When the sun is overthrown,
And when the stars fall,
And when the hills are moved,
And when the camels big with young are abandoned,
And when the wild beasts are herded together,
And when the seas rise,
And when souls are reunited,
And when the girl-child that was buried alive is asked
For what sin she was slain,
And when the pages are laid open,
And when the sky is torn away,
And when hell is lighted,
And when the Garden is brought nigh,
(Then) every soul will know what it hath made ready.
Oh, but I call to witness the planets,
The stars which rise and set,
And the close of night,
And the breath of morning
That this is in truth the word of an honoured messenger,
Mighty, established in the presence of the Lord of the Throne,
(One) to be obeyed, and trustworthy;
And your comrade is not mad.
Surely he beheld Him on the clear horizon.
And he is not avid of the Unseen.
Nor is this the utterance of a devil worthy to be stoned.
Whither then go ye?
This is naught else than a reminder unto creation,
Unto whomsoever of you willeth to walk straight.
And ye will not, unless (it be) that Allah willeth, the Lord of Creation.
. al-Infitar
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
When the heaven is cleft asunder,
When the planets are dispersed,
When the seas are poured forth,
And the sepulchres are overturned,
A soul will know what it hath sent before (it) and what left behind.
O man! What hath made thee careless concerning thy Lord, the Bountiful,
Who created thee, then fashioned, then proportioned thee?
Into whatsoever form He will, He casteth thee.
Nay, but ye deny the Judgment.
Lo! there are above you guardians,
Generous and recording,
Who know (all) that ye do.
Lo! the righteous verily will be in delight.
And lo! the wicked verily will be in hell;
They will burn therein on the Day of Judgment,
And will not be absent thence.
Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Day of Judgment is!
Again, what will convey unto thee what the Day of Judgment is!
A day on which no soul hath power at all for any (other) soul. The (absolute) command on that day is Allah's.
. at-Tatfif
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Woe unto the defrauders:
Those who when they take the measure from mankind demand it full,
But if they measure unto them or weight for them, they cause them loss.
Do such (men) not consider that they will be raised again
Unto an Awful Day,
The day when (all) mankind stand before the Lord of the Worlds?
Nay, but the record of the vile is in Sijjin -
Ah! what will convey unto thee what Sijjin is! -
A written record.
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
Those who deny the Day of Judgment
Which none denieth save each criminal transgressor,
Who, when thou readest unto him Our revelations, saith: (Mere) fables of the men of old.
Nay, but that which they have earned is rust upon their hearts.
Nay, but surely on that day they will be covered from (the mercy of) their Lord.
Then lo! they verily will burn in hell,
And it will be said (unto them): This is that which ye used to deny.
Nay, but the record of the righteous is in 'Illiyin -
Ah, what will convey unto thee what 'Illiyin is! -
A written record,
Attested by those who are brought near (unto their Lord).
Lo! the righteous verily are in delight,
On couches, gazing,
Thou wilt know in their faces the radiance of delight.
They are given to drink of a pure wine, sealed,
Whose seal is musk - for this let (all) those strive who strive for bliss -
And mixed with water of Tasnim,
A spring whence those brought near (to Allah) drink.
Lo! the guilty used to laugh at those who believed,
And wink one to another when they passed them;
And when they returned to their own folk, they returned jesting;
And when they saw them they said: Lo! these have gone astray.
Yet they were not sent as guardians over them.
This day it is those who believe who have the laugh of disbelievers,
On high couches, gazing.
Are not the disbelievers paid for what they used to do?
. al-Inshiqaq
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
When the heaven is split asunder
And attentive to her Lord in fear,
And when the earth is spread out
And hath cast out all that was in her, and is empty
And attentive to her Lord in fear!
Thou, verily, O man, art working toward thy Lord a work which thou wilt meet (in His presence).
Then whoso is given his account in his right hand
He truly will receive an easy reckoning
And will return unto his folk in joy.
But whoso is given his account behind his back,
He surely will invoke destruction
And be thrown to scorching fire.
He verily lived joyous with his folk,
He verily deemed that he would never return (unto Allah).
Nay, but lo! his Lord is ever looking on him!
Oh, I swear by the afterglow of sunset,
And by the night and all that it enshroudeth,
And by the moon when she is at the full,
That ye shall journey on from plane to plane.
What aileth them, then, that they believe not
And, when the Koran is recited unto them, worship not (Allah)?
Nay, but those who disbelieve will deny;
And Allah knoweth best what they are hiding.
So give them tidings of a painful doom,
Except those who believe and behave good, for theirs is a reward unfailing.
. al-Buruj
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the heaven, holding mansions of the stars,
And by the Promised Day.
And by the witness and that whereunto he beareth testimony,
(Self-)destroyed were the owners of the ditch
Of the fuel-fed fire,
When they sat by it,
And were themselves the witnesses of what they did to the believers.
They had naught against them save that they believed in Allah, the Mighty, the Owner of Praise,
Him unto Whom belongeth the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth; and Allah is of all things the Witness.
Lo! they who persecute believing men and believing women and repent not, theirs verily will be the doom of hell, and theirs the doom of burning.
Lo! those who believe and behave good, theirs will be Gardens underneath which rivers flow. That is the Great Success.
Lo! the punishment of thy Lord is stern.
Lo! He it is Who produceth, then reproduceth,
And He is the Forgiving, the Loving,
Lord of the Throne of Glory,
Doer of what He will.
Hath there come unto thee the story of the hosts
Of Pharaoh and (the tribe of) Thamud?
Nay, but those who disbelieve live in denial
And Allah, all unseen, surroundeth them.
Nay, but it is a glorious Koran.
On a guarded tablet.
. at-Tariq
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the heaven and the Morning Star
- Ah, what will tell thee what the Morning Star is!
- The piercing Star!
No human soul but hath a guardian over it.
So let man consider from what he is created.
He is created from a gushing fluid
That issued from between the loins and ribs.
Lo! He verily is Able to return him (unto life)
On the day when hidden thoughts shall be searched out.
Then will he have no might nor any helper.
By the heaven which giveth the returning rain,
And the earth which splitteth (with the growth of trees and plants)
Lo! this (Koran) is a conclusive word,
It is no pleasantry.
Lo! they plot a plot (against thee, O Muhammad)
And I plot a plot (against them).
So give a respite to the disbelievers. Deal thou gently with them for a while.
. al-Ahla
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Praise the name of thy Lord the Most High,
Who createth, then disposeth;
Who measureth, then guideth;
Who bringeth forth the pasturage,
Then turneth it to russet stubble.
We shall make thee read so that thou shalt not forget
Save that which Allah willeth. Lo! He knoweth the disclosed and that which still is hidden;
And We shall ease thy way unto the state of ease.
Therefore remind (men), for of use is the reminder.
He will heed who feareth,
But the most hapless will flout it,
He who will be flung to the great Fire
Wherein he will neither die nor live.
He is successful who groweth,
And remembereth the name of his Lord, so prayeth,
But ye prefer the life of the world
Although the Hereafter is better and more lasting.
Lo! This is in the former scrolls.
The Books of Abraham and Moses.
. al-Ghashiya
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Hath there come unto thee tidings of the Overwhelming?
On that day (many) faces will be downcast,
Toiling, weary,
Scorched by burning fire,
Drinking from a boiling spring,
No food for them save bitter thorn-fruit
Which doth not nourish nor release from hunger.
In that day other faces will be calm,
Glad for their effort past,
In a high Garden
Where they hear no idle speech,
Wherein is a gushing spring,
Wherein are couches raised
And goblets set at hand
And cushions ranged
And silken carpets spread.
Will they not regard the camels, how they are created?
And the heaven, how it is raised?
And the hills, how they are set up?
And the earth, how it is spread?
Remind them, for thou art but a remembrancer,
Thou art not at all a warder over them.
But whoso is averse and disbelieveth,
Allah will punish him with direst punishment.
Lo! unto Us is their return
And Ours their reckoning.
. al-Fajr
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the Dawn
And ten nights,
And the Even and the Odd,
And the night when it departeth,
There surely is an oath for thinking man.
Dost thou not consider how thy Lord dealt with (the tribe of) A'ad,
With many-columned Iram,
The like of which was not created in the lands;
And with (the tribe of) Thamud, who clove the rocks in the valley;
And with Pharaoh, firm of might,
Who (all) were rebellious (to Allah) in these lands,
And multiplied iniquity therein?
Therefore thy Lord poured on them the disaster of His punishment.
Lo! thy Lord is ever watchful.
As for man, whenever his Lord trieth him by honouring him, and is gracious unto him, he saith: My Lord honoureth me.
But whenever He trieth him by straitening his means of life, he saith: My Lord despiseth me.
Nay, but ye (for your part) honour not the orphan
And urge not on the feeding of the poor.
And ye devour heritages with devouring greed.
And love wealth with abounding love.
Nay, but when the earth is ground to atoms, grinding, grinding,
And thy Lord shall come with angels, rank on rank,
And hell is brought near that day; on that day man will remember, but how will the remembrance (then avail him)?
He will say: Ah, would that I had sent before me (some provision) for my life!
None punisheth as He will punish on that day!
None bindeth as He then will bind.
But ah! thou soul at peace!
Return unto thy Lord, content in His good pleasure!
Enter thou among My bondmen!
Enter thou My Garden!
. al-Balad
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Nay, I swear by this city -
And thou art an indweller of this city -
And the begetter and that which he begat,
We verily have created man in an atmosphere:
Thinketh he that none hath power over him?
And he saith: I have destroyed vast wealth:
Thinketh he that none beholdeth him?
Did We not assign unto him two eyes
And a tongue and two lips,
And guide him to the parting of the mountain ways?
But he hath not attempted the Ascent -
Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Ascent is! -
(It is) to free a slave,
And to feed in the day of hunger.
An orphan near of kin,
Or some poor wretch in misery,
And to be of those who believe and exhort one another to perseverance and exhort one another to pity.
Their place will be on the right hand.
But those who disbelieve Our revelations, their place will be on the left hand.
Fire will be an awning over them.
. ash-Shams
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the sun and his brightness,
And the moon when she followeth him,
And the day when it revealeth him,
And the night when it enshroudeth him,
And the heaven and Him Who built it,
And the earth and Him Who spread it,
And a soul and Him Who perfected it
And inspired it (with conscience of) what is wrong for it and (what is) right for it.
He is indeed successful who causeth it to grow,
And he is indeed a failure who stunteth it.
(The tribe of) Thamud denied (the truth) in their rebellious pride,
When the basest of them broke forth
And the messenger of Allah said: It is the she-camel of Allah, so let her drink!
But they denied him, and they hamstrung her, so Allah doomed them for their sin and rased (their dwellings).
He dreadeth not the sequel (of events).
. al-Layl
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the night enshrouding
And the day resplendent
And Him Who hath created male and female,
Lo! your effort is dispersed (toward divers ends).
As for him who giveth and is dutiful (toward Allah)
And believeth in goodness;
Surely We will ease his way unto the state of ease.
But as for him who hoardeth and deemeth himself independent,
And disbelieveth in goodness;
Surely We will ease his way unto adversity.
His riches will not save him when he perisheth.
Lo! Ours it is (to give) the guidance
And lo! unto Us belong the latter portion and the former.
Therefore have I warned you of the flaming Fire
Which only the most wretched must endure,
He who denieth and turneth away.
Far removed from it will be the righteous
Who giveth his wealth that he may grow (in goodness).
And none hath with him any favour for reward,
Except as seeking (to fulfil) the purpose of his Lord Most High.
He verily will be content.
. ad-Duha
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the morning hours
And by the night when it is stillest,
Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee nor doth He hate thee,
And verily the latter portion will be better for thee than the former,
And verily thy Lord will give unto thee so that thou wilt be content.
Did He not find thee an orphan and protect (thee)?
Did He not find thee wandering and direct (thee)?
Did He not find thee destitute and enrich (thee)?
Therefore the orphan oppress not,
Therefore the beggar drive not away,
Therefore of the bounty of thy Lord be thy discourse.
. al-Inshirah
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Have We not caused thy bosom to dilate,
And eased thee of the burden
Which weighed down thy back;
And exalted thy fame?
But lo! with hardship goeth ease,
Lo! with hardship goeth ease;
So when thou art relieved, still toil
And strive to please thy Lord.
. at-Tean:
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the fig and the olive,
And Mount Sinai,
And by this land made safe;
Surely We created man of the best stature
Then we reduced him to the lowest of the low,
Save those who believe and do good works, and theirs is a reward unfailing.
So who henceforth will give the lie to thee about the judgment?
Is not Allah the most conclusive of all judges?
. al-Alaq
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Read in the Name of thy Lord Who creates.
Creates man from a clot.
Read, for thy Lord is the Most Bounteous,
Who teaches by the pen,
Teaches man that which he knew not.
Nay, but verily man is rebellious
That he thinketh himself independent!
Lo! unto thy Lord is the return.
Hast thou seen him who dissuadeth
A slave when he prayeth?
Hast thou seen if he relieth on the guidance (of Allah)
Or enjoineth piety?
Hast thou seen if he denieth (Allah's guidance) and is froward?
Is he then unaware that Allah seeth?
Nay, but if he cease not We will seize him by the forelock -
The lying, sinful forelock -
Then let him call upon his henchmen!
We will call the guards of hell.
Nay, Obey not thou him. But prostrate thyself, and draw near (unto Allah).
. al-Qadr
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Lo! We revealed it in the Night of Power.
Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Night of Power is!
The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.
The Angels and the Spirit descend therein, by the permission of their Lord, with all decrees.
Peace until dawn.
. al-Bayyinah
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Those who disbelieve among the People of the Book and the idolaters could not have left off (erring) till the clear proof came unto them,
A messenger from Allah, reading purified pages
Containing correct scriptures.
Nor were the People of the Book divided until after the clear proof came unto them.
And they are ordered naught else than to serve Allah, keeping religion pure for Him, as men by nature upright, and to establish worship and to pay the poor-due. That is true religion.
Lo! those who disbelieve, among the People of the Book and the idolaters, will abide in fire of hell. They are the worst of created beings.
(And) lo! those who believe and do good deeds are the best of created beings.
Their reward is with their Lord: Gardens of Eden underneath which rivers flow, wherein they dwell for ever. Allah hath pleasure in them and they have pleasure in Him. This is (in store) for him who feareth his Lord.
. al-Zilzal
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
When Earth is shaken with her (final) earthquake
And Earth yieldeth up her burdens,
And man saith: What aileth her?
That day she will relate her chronicles,
Because thy Lord inspireth her.
That day mankind will issue forth in scattered groups to be shown their deeds.
And whoso doeth good an atom's weight will see it then,
And whoso doeth ill an atom's weight will see it then.
. al-Adiyat
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the snorting courses,
Striking sparks of fire
And scouring to the raid at dawn,
Then, therewith, with their trail of dust,
Cleaving, as one, the centre (of the foe),
Lo! man is an ingrate unto his Lord
And lo! he is a witness unto that;
And lo! in the love of wealth he is violent.
Knoweth he not that, when the contents of the graves are poured forth
And the secrets of the breasts are made known,
On that day will their Lord be perfectly informed concerning them.
. al-Qariah
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
The Calamity!
What is the Calamity?
Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Calamity is!
A day wherein mankind will be as thickly-scattered moths
And the mountains will become as carded wool.
Then, as for him whose scales are heavy (with good works),
He will live a pleasant life.
But as for him whose scales are light,
A bereft and Hungry One will be his mother,
Ah, what will convey unto thee what she is! -
Raging Fire.
. at-Takathur
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Rivalry in worldly increase distracts you
Until ye come to the graves.
Nay, but ye will come to know!
Nay, but ye will come to know!
Nay, would that ye knew (now) with a sure knowledge!
For ye will behold hell-fire.
Aye, ye will behold it with sure vision.
Then, on that day, ye will be asked concerning pleasure.
. al-Asr
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the (last) Age,
Lo! Man is at a loss.
Except those who believe, and do good works, and exhort one another to the truth and exhort one another to steadfastness.
. al-Humazah
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Woe unto every slandering traducer,
Who hath gathered wealth (of this world) and arranged it.
He thinketh that his wealth will render him immortal.
Nay, but verily he will be flung to the Consuming One.
Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Consuming One is!
(It is) the fire of Allah, kindled,
Which leapeth up over the hearts (of men).
Lo! it is closed in on them
In outstretched columns.
. al-Fil
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Have you not seen how thy Lord dealt with the owners of the Elephant?
Did He not bring their strategy to naught,
And send against them swarms of birds,
Which pelted them with stones of baked clay,
And made them like green crops devoured (by cattle)?
. al-Quraysh
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
For the taming of Qureysh (tribe).
For their taming (We cause) the caravans to set forth in winter and summer.
So let them worship the Lord of this House,
Who hath fed them against hunger and hath made them safe from fear.
. al-Maun
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Have you seen him who belieth religion?
That is he who repelleth the orphan,
And urgeth not the feeding of the needy.
Ah, woe unto worshippers
Who are heedless of their prayer;
Who would be seen (at worship)
Yet refuse small kindnesses!
. al-Kauthar
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Lo! We have given thee Kowser (fountain);
So glorify thy Lord, and sacrifice.
Lo! it is thy enemy who is without lingeage.
. al-Kafirun
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Say: O disbelievers!
I worship not that which you worship;
Nor worship you that which I worship.
And I shall not worship that which you worship.
Nor will you worship that which I worship.
To you your religion, and to me my religion.
. al-Lahab
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
The power of Abu Lahab will perish, and he will perish.
His wealth and gains will not exempt him.
He will be plunged in flaming Fire,
And his wife, the wood-carrier,
Will have upon her neck a halter of palm-fibre.
. al-Ikhlas
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Say: He is Allah, the One!
Allah, the Absolute!
He begets not nor was He begotten.
And there is none like unto Him.
. al-Falaq
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of the Daybreak
From the evil of that which He created;
From the evil of the darkness when it is intense,
And from the evil of malignant witchcraft,
And from the evil of the envier when he envies.
. an-Nas
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind,
The King of mankind,
The God of mankind,
From the evil of the slinking whisperer,
Who whispers in the hearts of mankind,
Of Jinn and Men.
--
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
[Note: Given here were only some parts of the Holy Quran.
The complete printed text of the Sacred Book is
available in published editions.]
FMB - Moharram 1430.
--
[ Excerpts from the Muslim Holy Scripture:
Presented here are some portions of the
Holy Koran, the Book of God.
Given are the opening few verses of Chapter 2 to 5;
and complete verses of Chapters 1, and 67 to 114.
The Sacred Book was revealed to Prophet Muhammad
at Arabia by the holy spirit angel Gabriel from
the years 610 to 632 A.D. Its verses are also
known as signs, or revelations. There are 114 chapters
called Surahs, containing over six thousand verses.
The Arabic word for one true God was Allah.]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"THE GLORIOUS KORAN"
Author: God The Most High
. al-Fatiha
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Praise to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.
The Kind, the Merciful.
Master of the Day of Judgment.
We worship Thee; and we ask Thee for help.
Guide us on the Sraight Path.
The Path of those whom You have favoured;
Not of those on whom is Your wrath;
Nor who are astray.
. al-Baqarah
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Aleef. Laam. Meem.
This is the Book in which there is no doubt, a guidance for the righteous; who believe in the Unseen, and establish prayers, and spend (in charity) from what We have given to them; and who believe in that which is revealed to you (O Muhammad) and that which was revealed before you, and are certain of the Hereafter. These depend on guidance from their Lord. These are the successful.
As for the disbelievers, whether you warn them, or do not warn them, it is the same for them; they will not believe. Allah has sealed their hearing and their hearts, and on their eyes there is a covering. Theirs will be a terrible penalty.
And of mankind are some who say: We believe in God and the final day, when (actually) they do not believe. They think to fool Allah and the believers, but they fool no one but themselves; and they do not (even) know it. In their hearts is a disease, and Allah increases their disease. A painful punshiment is theirs because they lie.
And when it is said to them: Do not make not mischief in the earth, they say: We are only peacemakers. Are not they indeed the trouble makers? And they do not (even) realise it.
And when it is said to them believe (in God) like the people believe, they say: shall we believe as the foolish believe? Are they now indeed the foolish? But they know not.
And when they fall in with those who believe, they say: We believe; but when they go apart to their devils they declare: Lo! we are with you; verily we only mocked.
Allah does mock them, leaves them to wander blindly on in their foolishness.
These are they who purchase error at the price of guidance, so their trade does not prosper, neither are they guided. Their likeness is as the likeness of one who kindles fire, and when it sheds its light around him Allah takes away their light and leaves them in darkness, where they cannot see. Deaf, dumb and blind; and they do not turn back.
Or, like a rainstorm from the sky, wherein is darkness, thunder and the flash of lightning. They thrust their fingers in their ears by reason of the thunder-claps, for fear of death. Allah surrounds the disbelievers. The lightning almost snatches away their sight from them. As often as it flashes forth for them they walk therein, and when it darkens against them they stand still. If Allah willed, He could destroy their hearing and their sight. Lo! Allah has Power over all things.
O mankind! Worship your Lord, Who has created you, and those before you, so that you become righteous. He has appointed the earth a resting place for you, and the sky a canopy; and causes water to pour down from the sky, thereby producing fruits as food for you. And do not set up rivals to Allah when you know.
And if you (disbelievers) are in doubt concerning what We reveal to Our man (Muhammad), then produce a chapter of the like it, and if you are honest, call (all) your helpers besides Allah. And if you do not do it - and you could never do it - then prepare yourselves against the Fire made ready for disbelievers, whose fuel is men and rocks.
And give great news to believers that do good deeds; theirs are Gardens (of Paradise) underneath which rivers flow; as often as they are fed its fruits, they say: this is what we use to eat before; and it is (now) given to them in resemblance. For them are pure mates; they will abide there forever.
Lo! Allah disdains not to coin the similitude even of a fly. Those who believe know that this is the truth from their Lord; but those who disbelieve say: What does Allah wish by such a similitude? He misleads many thereby, and He guides many thereby; but He misleads only traitors; those who break the covenant of Allah after ratifying it, and sever that which Allah ordered to be joined, and (who) make mischief in the earth: Those are the ones who are the losers.
How can you reject Allah when you were dead and He gave life to you! Then He will give you death, then life again, and then to Him you will return.
He it is who created for you all that is in the earth. Then turned He to the heaven, and fashioned it as seven heavens. And He is knower of all things...
. Allay-Imran
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Aleef. Laam. Meem.
Allah! There is no God but Him, the Alive, the Eternal.
He has revealed to you (O Muhammad) the Book with truth, confirming that which came before it, even as He revealed the Tauwrat and the Injeel. Aforetime, for a guidance to mankind; and has revealed the Criterion (of right and wrong). Lo! those who disbelieve the revelations of Allah, theirs will be a heavy doom. Allah is Mighty, Able to Requite (the wrong).
Lo! nothing in the earth or in the heavens is hidden from Allah.
He it is Who fashions you in the wombs as pleases Him. There is no God save Him, the Almighty, the Wise.
He it is who has revealed to you (O Muhammad) the Book wherein are clear verses - they are the essence of the Book - and others are allegorical. But those in whose hearts is a disease, pursue that which is allegorical, seeking mischief with their interpretations. No one knows the interpretation accept Allah and those firm in knowledge, (who) say: We believe in it; all of it is from our Lord. But only men of understanding will take heed.
Our Lord! Cause not our hearts to stray after Thou hast guided us, and bestow upon us mercy from Thy Presence. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Bestower.
Our Lord! Lo! it is Thou Who gathers mankind together to a Day of which there is no doubt. Lo! Allah does not fails His promise.
Neither the riches nor the progeny of disbelievers will aught avail them with Allah. They will be fuel for Fire.
Like Pharaoh's folk and those who were before them, they disbelieved Our revelations and so Allah seized them for their sins. And Allah is severe in punishment.
Say unto those who disbelieve: Ye shall be overcome and gathered unto Hell, an evil resting-place.
There was a token for you in two hosts which met: one army fighting in the way of Allah, and another disbelieving, whom they saw as twice their number, clearly, with their very eyes. Thus Allah strengthens with His succour whom He will. Lo! herein verily is a lesson for those who have eyes.
Beautified for mankind is love of the joys (that come) from women and offspring; and stored-up heaps of gold and silver, and horses branded (with their mark), and cattle and land. That is comfort of the life of the world. Allah! With Him is a more excellent abode.
Say: Shall I inform you of something better than that? For those who keep from evil, with their Lord, are Gardens underneath which rivers flow wherein they will abide, and pure companions, and contentment from Allah. Allah is Seer of His bondmen,
Those who say: Our Lord! Lo! we believe. So forgive us our sins and guard us from the punishment of Fire;
The steadfast, and the truthful, and the obedient, those who spend (and hoard not), those who pray for pardon in the watches of the night.
Allah (Himself) is Witness that there is no God save Him. And the angels and the men of learning (too are witness). Maintaining His creation in justice, there is no God save Him the Almighty, the Wise.
Lo! religion with Allah (is) the Surrender (to His Will and Guidance). Those who (formerly) received the Book differed only after knowledge came unto them, through transgression among themselves. Whoso disbelieveth the revelations of Allah (will find that) lo! Allah is swift at reckoning.
And if they argue with thee, say: I have surrendered my purpose to Allah and (so have) those who follow me. And say unto those who have received the Book and those who read not: Have ye (too) surrendered? If they surrender, then truly they are rightly guided, and if they turn away, then it is thy duty only to convey the message (unto them). Allah is Seer of (His) bondmen.
Lo! those who disbelieve the revelations of Allah, and slay the prophets wrongfully, and slay those of mankind who enjoin equity: promise them a painful doom.
Those are they whose efforts have failed in the world and the Hereafter; and they have no helpers.
Hast thou not seen how those who have received a portion of the Book invoke Allah’s Book (in their disputes) that it may judge between them; then a faction of them turn away, being opposed (to it)?
That is because they say: The Fire will not touch us save for a certain number of days. That which they used to invent hath deceived them regarding their religion.
How (will it be with them) when We have brought them all together to a Day of which there is no doubt, when every soul will be paid in full what it hath earned, and they will not be wronged.
Say: O Allah! Owner of Sovereignty! Thou givest sovereignty unto whom Thou wilt, and Thou withdrawest sovereignty from whom Thou wilt. Thou exaltest whom Thou wilt, and Thou abasest whom Thou wilt. In Thy hand is the good. Lo! Thou art Able to do all things.
Thou causest the night to pass into the day, and Thou causest the day to pass into the night. And Thou bringest forth the living from the dead, and Thou bringest forth the dead from the living. And Thou givest sustenance to whom Thou choosest, without stint.
Let not the believers take disbelievers for their friends in preference to believers. Whoso doeth that hath no connection with Allah unless (it be) that ye but guard yourselves against them, taking (as it were) security. Allah biddeth you beware (only) of Himself. Unto Allah is the journeying.
Say: Whether ye hide that which is in your breasts or reveal it, Allah knoweth it. He knoweth that which is in the heavens and that which is in the earth, and Allah is Able to do all things.
On the Day when every soul will find itself confronted with all that it hath done of good and all that it hath done of evil (every soul) will long that there might be a mighty space of distance between it and that (evil). Allah biddeth you beware of Him. And Allah is Full of Pity for (His) bondmen.
Say, (O Muhammad): If ye love Allah, follow me; Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
Say: Obey Allah and the messenger. But if they turn away, lo! Allah loveth not the disbelievers (in His guidance).
Lo! Allah preferred Adam and Noah and the Family of Abraham and the Family of 'Imran above (all His) creatures.
They were descendants one of another. Allah is Hearer, Knower...
. Nisa
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
O mankind! Be careful of your responsibility to your Lord, who created you from a single soul, and from it created its mate, and from these two has spread abroad a multitude of men and women. Be careful of your duty toward Allah in whom ye claim (your rights) of one another, and toward the wombs (that bare you). Lo! Allah has been a watcher over you.
Give unto orphans their wealth. Exchange not the good for the bad (in your management thereof) nor absorb their wealth into your own wealth. Lo! that would be a great sin.
And if ye fear that ye will not deal fairly by the orphans, marry of the women, who seem good to you, two or three or four; and if ye fear that ye cannot do justice (to so many) then one (only) or (the captives) that your right hands possess. Thus it is more likely that ye will not do injustice.
And give unto the women (whom ye marry) free gift of their marriage portions; but if they of their own accord remit unto you a part thereof, then ye are welcome to absorb it (in your wealth).
Give not unto the foolish (what is in) your (keeping of their) wealth, which Allah hath given you to maintain; but feed and clothe them from it, and speak kindly unto them.
Prove orphans till they reach the marriageable age; then, if ye find them of sound judgment, deliver over unto them their fortune; and devour it not by squandering and in haste lest they should grow up Whoso (of the guardians) is rich, let him abstain generously (from taking of the property of orphans); and whoso is poor let him take thereof in reason (for his guardianship). And when ye deliver up their fortune unto orphans, have (the transaction) witnessed in their presence. Allah sufficeth as a Reckoner.
Unto the men (of a family) belongeth a share of that which parents and near kindred leave, and unto the women a share of that which parents and near kindred leave, whether it be little or much - a legal share.
And when kinsfolk and orphans and the needy are present at the division (of the heritage), bestow on them therefrom and speak kindly unto them.
And let those fear (in their behaviour toward orphans) who if they left behind them weak offspring would be afraid for them. So let them mind their duty to Allah, and speak justly.
Lo! Those who devour the wealth of orphans wrongfully, they do but swallow fire into their bellies, and they will be exposed to burning flame.
Allah chargeth you concerning (the provision for) your children: to the male the equivalent of the portion of two females, and if there be women more than two, then theirs is two-thirds of the inheritance, and if there be one (only) then the half. And to each of his parents a sixth of the inheritance, if he have a son; and if he have no son and his parents are his heirs, then to his mother appertaineth the third; and if he have brethren, then to his mother appertaineth the sixth, after any legacy he may have bequeathed, or debt (hath been paid). Your parents and your children: Ye know not which of them is nearer unto you in usefulness. It is an injunction from Allah. Lo! Allah is Knower, Wise.
And unto you belongeth a half of that which your wives leave, if they have no child; but if they have a child then unto you the fourth of that which they leave, after any legacy they may have bequeathed, or debt (they may have contracted, hath been paid). And unto them belongeth the fourth of that which ye leave if ye have no child, but if ye have a child then the eighth of that which ye leave, after any legacy ye may have bequeathed, or debt (ye may have contracted, hath been paid). And if a man or a woman have a distant heir (having left neither parent nor child), and he (or she) have a brother or a sister (only on the mother's side) then to each of them twain (the brother and the sister) the sixth, and if they be more than two, then they shall be sharers in the third, after any legacy that may have been bequeathed or debt (contracted) not injuring (the heirs by willing away more than a third of the heritage) hath been
These are the limits (imposed by) Allah. Whoso obeyeth Allah and His messenger, He will make him enter Gardens underneath which rivers flow, where such will dwell for ever. That will be the great success.
And whoso disobeyeth Allah and His messenger and transgresseth His limits, He will make him enter Fire, where he will dwell forever; his will be a shameful doom.
As for those of your women who are guilty of lewdness, call to witness four of you against them. And if they testify (to the truth of the allegation) then confine them to the houses until death take them or (until) Allah appoint for them a way (through new legislation).
And as for the two of you who are guilty thereof, punish them both. And if they repent and improve, then let them be. Lo! Allah is ever relenting, Merciful.
Forgiveness is only incumbent on Allah toward those who do evil in ignorance (and) then turn quickly (in repentance) to Allah. These are they toward whom Allah relenteth. Allah is ever Knower, Wise.
The forgiveness is not for those who do ill-deeds until, when death attendeth upon one of them, he saith: Lo! I repent now; nor yet for those who die while they are disbelievers. For such We have prepared a painful doom.
O ye who believe! It is not lawful for you forcibly to inherit the women (of your deceased kinsmen), nor (that) ye should put constraint upon them that ye may take away a part of that which ye have given them, unless they be guilty of flagrant lewdness. But consort with them in kindness, for if ye hate them it may happen that ye hate a thing wherein Allah hath placed much good.
And if ye wish to exchange one wife for another and ye have given unto one of them a sum of money (however great), take nothing from it. Would ye take it by the way of calumny and open wrong?
How can ye take it (back) after one of you hath gone in unto the other, and they have taken a strong pledge from you?
And marry not those women whom your fathers married, except what hath already happened (of that nature) in the past. Lo! it was ever lewdness and abomination, and an evil way.
Forbidden unto you are your mothers, and your daughters, and your sisters, and your father's sisters, and your mother's sisters, and your brother's daughters and your sister's daughters, and your foster-mothers, and your foster-sisters, and your mothers-in-law, and your step-daughters who are under your protection (born) of your women unto whom ye have gone in - but if ye have not gone in unto them, then it is no sin for you (to marry their daughters) - and the wives of your sons who (spring) from your own loins. And (it is forbidden unto you) that ye should have two sisters together, except what hath already happened (of that nature) in the past. Lo! Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful.
And all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess. It is a decree of Allah for you. Lawful unto you are all beyond those mentioned, so that ye seek them with your wealth in honest wedlock, not debauchery. And those of whom ye seek content (by marrying them), give unto them their portions as a duty. And there is no sin for you in what ye do by mutual agreement after the duty (hath been done). Lo! Allah is ever Knower, Wise.
And whoso is not able to afford to marry free, believing women, let them marry from the believing maids whom your right hands possess. Allah knoweth best (concerning) your faith. Ye (proceed) one from another; so wed them by permission of their folk, and give unto them their portions in kindness, they being honest, not debauched nor of loose conduct. And if when they are honourably married they commit lewdness they shall incur the half of the punishment (prescribed) for free women (in that case). This is for him among you who feareth to commit sin. But to have patience would be better for you. Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
Allah would explain to you and guide you by the examples of those who were before you, and would turn to you in mercy. Allah is Knower, Wise.
And Allah would turn to you in mercy; but those who follow vain desires would have you go tremendously astray.
Allah would make the burden light for you, for man was created weak.
O ye who believe! Squander not your wealth among yourselves in vanity, except it be a trade by mutual consent, and kill not one another. Lo! Allah is ever Merciful unto you.
Whoso doeth that through aggression and injustice, we shall cast him into Fire, and that is ever easy for Allah.
If ye avoid the great (things) which ye are forbidden, We will remit from you your evil deeds and make you enter at a noble gate.
And covet not the thing in which Allah hath made some of you excel others. Unto men a fortune from that which they have earned, and unto women a fortune from that which they have earned. (Envy not one another) but ask Allah of His bounty. Lo! Allah is ever Knower of all things.
And unto each We have appointed heirs of that which parents and near kindred leave; and as for those with whom your right hands have made a covenant, give them their due. Lo! Allah is ever Witness over all things.
Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them. Lo! Allah is ever High, Exalted, Great.
And if ye fear a breach between them twain (the man and wife), appoint an arbiter from his folk and an arbiter from her folk. If they desire amendment Allah will make them of one mind. Lo! Allah is ever Knower, Aware.
And serve Allah. Ascribe no thing as partner unto Him. (Show) kindness unto parents, and unto near kindred, and orphans, and the needy, and unto the neighbour who is of kin (unto you) and the neighbour who is not of kin, and the fellow-traveller and the wayfarer and (the slaves) whom your right hands possess. Lo! Allah loveth not such as are proud and boastful,
Who hoard their wealth and enjoin avarice on others, and hide that which Allah hath bestowed upon them of His bounty. For disbelievers We prepare a shameful doom;
And (also) those who spend their wealth in order to be seen of men, and believe not in Allah nor the Last Day. Whoso taketh Satan for a comrade, a bad comrade hath he.
What have they (to fear) if they believe in Allah and the Last Day and spend (aright) of that which Allah hath bestowed upon them, when Allah is ever Aware of them (and all they do)?
Lo! Allah wrongeth not even of the weight of an ant; and if there is a good deed, He will double it and will give (the doer) from His presence an immense reward.
But how (will it be with them) when We bring of every people a witness, and We bring thee (O Muhammad) a witness against these?
On that day those who disbelieved and disobeyed the messenger will wish that they were level with the ground, and they can hide no fact from Allah.
. al-Maidah
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
O ye who believe! Fulfil your duties. The four legged animals are made lawful unto you (for food), except that which is announced unto you (herein), game being unlawful when ye are on the pilgrimage. Lo! Allah ordaineth that which pleaseth Him.
O ye who believe! Profane not Allah's monuments nor the Sacred Month nor the offerings nor the garlands, nor those repairing to the Sacred House, seeking the grace and pleasure of their Lord. But when ye have left the sacred territory, then go hunting (if ye will). And let not your hatred of a folk who (once) stopped your going to the inviolable place of worship seduce you to transgress; but help ye one another unto righteousness and pious duty. Help not one another unto sin and transgression, but keep your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is severe in punishment.
Forbidden unto you (for food) are carrion and blood and swine flesh, and that which hath been dedicated unto any other than Allah, and the strangled, and the dead through beating, and the dead through falling from a height, and that which hath been killed by (the goring of) horns, and the devoured of wild beasts, saving that which ye make lawful (by the death-stroke), and that which hath been immolated unto idols. And (forbidden is it) that ye swear by the divining arrows. This is an abomination. This day are those who disbelieve in despair of (ever harming) your religion; so fear them not, fear Me! This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour unto you, and have chosen for you as religion al-Islam. Whoso is forced by hunger, not by will, to sin: (for him) lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
They ask thee what is made lawful for them. Say: (all) good things are made lawful for you. And those beasts and birds of prey which ye have trained as hounds are trained, ye teach them that which Allah taught you; so eat of that which they catch for you and mention Allah's name upon it, and observe your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is swift to take account.
This day are (all) good things made lawful for you. The food of those who have received the Book is lawful for you, and your food is lawful for them. And so are the virtuous women of the believers and the virtuous women of those who received the Book before you (lawful for you) when ye give them their marriage portions and live with them in honour, not in fornication, nor taking them as secret concubines. Whoso denieth the faith, his work is vain and he will be among the losers in the Hereafter.
O ye who believe! When ye rise up for prayer, wash you faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and lightly rub your heads and (wash) your feet up to the ankles. And if ye are unclean, purify yourselves. And if ye are sick or on a journey, or one of you cometh from the closet, or ye have had contact with women, and ye find not water, then go to clean, high ground and rub your faces and your hands with some of it. Allah would not place a burden on you, but He would purify you and would perfect His grace upon you, that ye may give thanks.
Remember Allah's grace upon you and His covenant by which He bound you when ye said: We hear and we obey; And keep your duty to Allah. Lo! He knoweth what is in the breasts (of men).
O ye who believe! Be steadfast witnesses for Allah in equity, and let not hatred of any people seduce you that ye deal not justly. Deal justly, that is nearer to your duty. Observe your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is Informed of what ye do.
Allah hath promised those who believe and do good deeds: Theirs will be forgiveness and a tremendous reward.
And they who disbelieve and deny Our revelations, such are rightful owners of hell.
O ye who believe! Remember Allah's favour unto you, how a people were minded to stretch out their hands against you but He withheld their hands from you; and keep your duty to Allah. In Allah let believers put their trust...
. al-Mulk
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Blessed is He in whose hand is the Sovereignty; and He has Power over all things.
Who created death and life so that He may try you, which of you is best in conduct; and He is the Mighty, the Forgiving,
Who hath created seven heavens in harmony. Thou canst see no fault in the Beneficent One's creation; then look again: Canst thou see any rifts?
Then look again and yet again, thy sight will return unto thee weakened and made dim.
And verily We have beautified the world's heaven with lamps, and We have made them missiles for the devils, and for them We have prepared the doom of flame.
And for those who disbelieve in their Lord there is the doom of hell, a hapless journey's end!
When they are flung therein they hear its roaring as it boileth up,
As it would burst with rage. Whenever a (fresh) host is flung therein the wardens thereof ask them: Came there unto you no warner?
They say: Yea, verily, a warner came unto us; but we denied and said: Allah hath naught revealed; ye are in naught but a great error.
And they say: Had we been wont to listen or have sense, we had not been among the dwellers in the flames.
So they acknowledge their sins; but far removed (from mercy) are the dwellers in the flames.
Lo! those who fear their Lord in secret, theirs will be forgiveness and a great reward.
And keep your opinion secret or proclaim it, lo! He is Knower of all that is in the breasts (of men).
Should He not know what He created? And He is the Subtile, the Aware.
He it is Who hath made the earth subservient unto you, so Walk in the paths thereof and eat of His providence. And unto Him will be the resurrection (of the dead).
Have ye taken security from Him Who is in the heaven that He will not cause the earth to swallow you when lo! it is convulsed?
Or have ye taken security from Him Who is in the heaven that He will not let loose on you a hurricane? But ye shall know the manner of My warning.
And verily those before them denied, then (see) the manner of My wrath (with them)!
Have they not seen the birds above them spreading out their wings and closing them? Naught upholdeth them save the Beneficent. Lo! He is Seer of all things.
Or who is he that will be an army unto you to help you instead of the Beneficent? The disbelievers are in naught but illusion.
Or who is he that will provide for you if He should withhold His providence? Nay, but they are set in pride and frowardness.
Is he who goeth groping on his face more rightly guided, or he who walketh upright on a straight road?
Say (unto them, O Muhammad): He it is who gave you being, and hath assigned unto you ears and eyes and hearts. Small thanks give ye!
Say: He it is Who multiplieth you in the earth, and unto Whom ye will be gathered.
And they say: When (will) this promise (be fulfilled), if ye are truthful?
Say: The knowledge is with Allah only, and I am but a plain warner;
But when they see it nigh, the faces of those who disbelieve will be awry, and it will be said (unto them): This is that for which ye used to call.
Say: Have ye thought: Whether Allah causeth me and those with me to perish or hath mercy on us, still, who will protect the disbelievers from a painful doom?
Say: He is the Beneficent. In Him we believe and in Him we put our trust. And ye will soon know who it is that is in error manifest.
Say: Have ye thought: If (all) your water were to disappear into the earth, who then could bring you gushing water?
. al-Qalam
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Nun.
By the pen and that which they write (therewith),
Thou art not mad, by thy Lord's grace unto thee.
And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing.
And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature.
And thou wilt see and they will see
Which of you is the demented.
Lo! thy Lord is Best Aware of him who strayeth from His way, and He is Best Aware of those who walk aright.
Therefore obey not thou the rejecters
Who would have had thee compromise, that they may compromise.
Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger,
Detracter, spreader abroad of slanders,
Hinderer of the good, transgressor, malefactor
Greedy therewithal, intrusive.
It is because he is possessed of wealth and children
That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old.
We shall brand him on the nose.
Lo! We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed that they would pluck its fruit next morning,
And made no exception (for the Will of Allah);
Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept
And in the morning it was as if plucked.
And they cried out one unto another in the morning,
Saying: Run unto your field if ye would pluck (the fruit).
So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones:
No needy man shall enter it to-day against you.
They went betimes, strong in (this) purpose.
But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error!
Nay, but we are desolate!
The best among them said: Said I not unto you: Why glorify ye not (Allah)?
They said: Glorified be our Lord! Lo! we have been wrong-doers.
Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching.
They said: Alas for us! In truth we were outrageous.
It may be that our Lord will give us better than this in place thereof. Lo! we beseech our Lord.
Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know.
Lo! for those who keep from evil are gardens of bliss with their Lord.
Shall We then treat those who have surrendered as We treat the guilty?
What aileth you? How foolishly ye judge!
Or have ye a Book wherein ye learn
That ye shall indeed have all that ye choose?
Or have ye a covenant on oath from us that reacheth to the Day of Judgment, that yours shall be all that ye ordain?
Ask them which of them will vouch for that!
Or have they other gods? Then let them bring their other gods if they are truthful
On the day when it befalleth in earnest, and they are ordered to prostrate themselves but are not able,
With eyes downcast, abasement stupefying them. And they had been summoned to prostrate themselves while they were yet unhurt.
Leave Me (to deal) with those who give the lie to this pronouncement. We shall lead them on by steps from whence they know not.
Yet I bear with them, for lo! My scheme is firm.
Or dost thou (O Muhammad) ask a fee from them so that they are heavily taxed?
Or is the Unseen theirs that they can write (thereof)?
But wait thou for thy Lord's decree, and be not like him of the fish, who cried out in despair.
Had it not been that favour from his Lord had reached him he surely had been cast into the wilderness while he was reprobate.
But his Lord chose him and placed him among the righteous.
And lo! those who disbelieve would fain disconcert thee with their eyes when they hear the Reminder, and they say: Lo! he is indeed mad;
When it is naught else than a Reminder to creation.
. al-Hakkah
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
The Reality!
What is the Reality?
Ah, what will convey unto thee what the reality is!
(The tribes of) Thamud and Aaad disbelieved in the judgment to come.
As for Thamud, they were destroyed by the lightning.
And as for Aaad, they were destroyed by a fierce roaring wind,
Which He imposed on them for seven long nights and eight long days so that thou mightest have seen men lying overthrown, as they were hollow trunks of palm- trees.
Canst thou see any remnant of them?
And Pharaoh and those before him, and the communities that were destroyed, brought error,
And they disobeyed the messenger of their Lord, therefore did He grip them with a tightening grip.
Lo! when the waters rose, We carried you upon the ship
That We might make it a memorial for you, and that remembering ears (that heard the story) might remember.
And when the trumpet shall sound one blast
And the earth with the mountains shall be lifted up and crushed with one crash,
Then, on that day will the Event befall.
And the heaven will split asunder, for that day it will be frail.
And the angels will be on the sides thereof, and eight will uphold the Throne of thy Lord that day, above them.
On that day ye will be exposed; not a secret of you will be hidden.
Then, as for him who is given his record in his right hand, he will say: Take, read my book!
Surely I knew that I should have to meet my reckoning.
Then he will be in blissful state
In a high garden
Whereof the clusters are in easy reach.
(And it will be said unto those therein): Eat and drink at ease for that which ye sent on before you in past days.
But as for him who is given his record in his left hand, he will say: Oh, would that I had not been given my book
And knew not what my reckoning!
Oh, would that it had been death!
My wealth hath not availed me,
My power hath gone from me.
(It will be said): Take him and fetter him
And then expose him to hell-fire
And then insert him in a chain whereof the length is seventy cubits.
Lo! He used not to believe in Allah the Tremendous,
And urged not on the feeding of the wretched.
Therefore hath he no lover here this day,
Nor any food save filth
Which none but sinners eat.
But nay! I swear by all that ye see
And all that ye see not
That it is indeed the speech of an illustrious messenger.
It is not poet's speech - little is it that ye believe!
Nor diviner's speech - little is it that ye remember!
It is a revelation from the Lord of the Worlds.
And if he had invented false sayings concerning Us,
We assuredly had taken him by the right hand
And then severed his life-artery,
And not one of you could have held Us off from him.
And lo! it is a warrant unto those who ward off (evil).
And lo! We know that some among you will deny (it).
And lo! it is indeed an anguish for the disbelievers.
And lo! it is absolute truth.
So glorify the name of thy Tremendous Lord.
. al-Marij
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
A questioner questioned concerning the doom about to fall
Upon the disbelievers, which none can repel,
From Allah, Lord of the Ascending Stairways
(Whereby) the angels and the Spirit ascend unto Him in a Day whereof the span is fifty thousand years.
But be patient with a patience fair to see.
Lo! they behold it afar off
While we behold it nigh:
The day when the sky will become as molten copper,
And the hills become as flakes of wool,
And no familiar friend will ask a question of his friend
Though they will be given sight of them. The guilty man will long to be able to ransom himself from the punishment of that day at the price of his children
And his spouse and his brother
And his kin that harboured him
And all that are in the earth, if then it might deliver him.
But nay! for lo! it is the fire of hell
Eager to roast;
It calleth him who turned and fled (from truth),
And hoarded (wealth) and withheld it.
Lo! man was created anxious,
Fretful when evil befalleth him
And, when good befalleth him, grudging;
Save worshippers.
Who are constant at their worship
And in whose wealth there is a right acknowledged
For the beggar and the destitute;
And those who believe in the Day of Judgment,
And those who are fearful of their Lord's doom -
Lo! the doom of their Lord is that before which none can feel secure -
And those who preserve their chastity
Save with their wives and those whom their right hands possess, for thus they are not blameworthy;
But whoso seeketh more than that, those are they who are transgressors;
And those who keep their pledges and their covenant,
And those who stand by their testimony
And those who are attentive at their worship.
These will dwell in Gardens, honoured.
What aileth those who disbelieve, that they keep staring toward thee (O Muhammad), open-eyed,
On the right and on the left, in groups?
Doth every man among them hope to enter the Garden of Delight?
Nay, verily. Lo! We created them from what they know.
But nay! I swear by the Lord of the rising-places and the setting-places of the planets that We verily are Able
To replace them by (others) better than them. And we are not to be outrun.
So let them chat and play until they meet their Day which they are promised,
The day when they come forth from the graves in haste, as racing to a goal,
With eyes aghast, abasement stupefying them: Such is the Day which they are promised.
. Nuh
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Lo! We sent Noah unto his people (saying): Warn thy people before the painful doom come unto them.
He said: O my people! Lo! I am a plain warner unto you: Serve Allah and keep your duty unto Him and obey me,
That He may forgive you somewhat of your sins and respite you to an appointed term. Lo! the term of Allah, when it cometh, cannot be delayed, if ye but knew.
He said: My Lord! Lo! I have called unto my people night and day
But all my calling doth but add to their repugnance;
And lo! whenever I call unto them that Thou mayst pardon them they thrust their fingers in their ears and cover themselves with their garments and persist (in their refusal) and magnify themselves in pride.
And lo! I have called unto them aloud,
And lo! I have made public proclamation unto them, and I have appealed to them in private.
And I have said: Seek pardon of your Lord. Lo! He was ever Forgiving.
He will let loose the sky for you in plenteous rain,
And will help you with wealth and sons, and will assign unto you Gardens and will assign unto you rivers.
What aileth you that ye hope not toward Allah for dignity
When He created you by (divers) stages?
See ye not how Allah hath created seven heavens in harmony,
And hath made the moon a light therein, and made the sun a lamp?
And Allah hath caused you to grow as a growth from the earth,
And afterward He maketh you return thereto, and He will bring you forth again, a (new) forthbringing.
And Allah hath made the earth a wide expanse for you
That ye may thread the valley-ways thereof.
Noah said: My Lord! Lo! they have disobeyed me and followed one whose wealth and children increase him in naught save ruin;
And they have plotted a mighty plot,
And they have said: Forsake not your gods. Forsake not Wadd, nor Suwa', nor Yaghuth and Ya'uq and Nasr.
And they have led many astray, and Thou increasest the wrong-doers in naught save error.
Because of their sins they were drowned, then made to enter a Fire. And they found they had no helpers in place of Allah.
And Noah said: My Lord! Leave not one of the disbelievers in the land.
If Thou shouldst leave them, they will mislead Thy slaves and will beget none save lewd ingrates.
My Lord! Forgive me and my parents and him who entereth my house believing, and believing men and believing women, and increase not the wrong-doers in aught save ruin.
. Jinn
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Say (O Muhammad): It is revealed unto me that a company of the Jinn gave ear, and they said: Lo! we have heard a marvellous Koran,
Which guideth unto righteousness, so we believe in it and we ascribe no partner unto our Lord.
And (we believe) that He - exalted be the glory of our Lord! - hath taken neither wife nor son,
And that the foolish one among us used to speak concerning Allah an atrocious lie.
And lo! we had supposed that humankind and jinn would not speak a lie concerning Allah -
And indeed individuals of humankind used to invoke the protection of individuals of the jinn, so that they increased them in revolt against Allah);
And indeed they supposed, even as ye suppose, that Allah would not raise anyone (from the dead) -
And (the Jinn who had listened to the Koran said): We had sought the heaven but had found it filled with strong warders and meteors.
And we used to sit on places (high) therein to listen. But he who listeneth now findeth a flame in wait for him;
And we know not whether harm is boded unto all who are in the earth, or whether their Lord intendeth guidance for them.
And among us there are righteous folk and among us there are far from that. We are sects having different rules.
And we know that we cannot escape from Allah in the earth, nor can we escape by flight.
And when we heard the guidance, we believed therein, and whoso believeth in his Lord, he feareth neither loss nor oppression.
And there are among us some who have surrendered (to Allah) and there are among us some who are unjust. And whoso hath surrendered to Allah, such have taken the right path purposefully.
And as for those who are unjust, they are firewood for hell.
If they (the idolaters) tread the right path, We shall give them to drink of water in abundance
That We may test them thereby, and whoso turneth away from the remembrance of his Lord; He will thrust him into ever-growing torment.
And the places of worship are only for Allah, so pray not unto anyone along with Allah.
And when the slave of Allah stood up in prayer to Him, they crowded on him, almost stifling.
Say (unto them, O Muhammad): I pray unto Allah only, and ascribe unto Him no partner.
Say: Lo! I control not hurt nor benefit for you.
Say: Lo! none can protect me from Allah, nor can I find any refuge beside Him
(Mine is) but conveyance (of the Truth) from Allah, and His messages; and whoso disobeyeth Allah and His messenger, lo! his is fire of hell, wherein such dwell for ever.
Till (the day) when they shall behold that which they are promised (they may doubt); but then they will know (for certain) who is weaker in allies and less in multitude.
Say: I know not whether that which ye are promised is nigh, or if my Lord hath set a distant term for it.
(He is) the Knower of the Unseen, and He revealeth unto none His secret,
Save unto every messenger whom He hath chosen, and then He maketh a guard to go before him and a guard behind him
That He may know that they have indeed conveyed the messages of their Lord. He surroundeth all their doings, and He keepeth count of all things.
. al-Muzammil
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
O thou wrapped up in thy raiment!
Keep vigil the night long, save a little -
A half thereof, or abate a little thereof
Or add (a little) thereto - and chant the Koran in measure,
For we shall charge thee with a word of weight.
Lo! the vigil of the night is (a time) when impression is more keen and speech more certain.
Lo! thou hast by day a chain of business.
So remember the name of thy Lord and devote thyself with a complete devotion -
Lord of the East and the West; there is no God save Him; so choose thou Him alone for thy defender -
And bear with patience what they utter, and part from them with a fair leave- taking.
Leave Me to deal with the deniers, lords of ease and comfort (in this life); and do thou respite them awhile.
Lo! with Us are heavy fetters and a raging fire,
And food which choketh (the partaker), and a painful doom
On the day when the earth and the hills rock, and the hills become a heap of running sand.
Lo! We have sent unto you a messenger as witness against you, even as We sent unto Pharaoh a messenger.
But Pharaoh rebelled against the messenger, whereupon We seized him with no gentle grip.
Then how, if ye disbelieve, will ye protect yourselves upon the day which will turn children grey,
The very heaven being then rent asunder. His promise is to be fulfilled.
Lo! This is a Reminder. Let him who will, then, choose a way unto his Lord.
Lo! thy Lord knoweth how thou keepest vigil sometimes nearly two-thirds of the night, or (sometimes) half or a third thereof, as do a party of those with thee. Allah measureth the night and the day. He knoweth that ye count it not, and turneth unto you in mercy. Recite, then, of the Koran that which is easy for you. He knoweth that there are sick folk among you, while others travel in the land in search of Allah's bounty, and others (still) are fighting for the cause of Allah. So recite of it that which is easy (for you), and establish worship and pay the poor-due, and (so) lend unto Allah a goodly loan. Whatsoever good ye send before you for your souls, ye will find it with Allah, better and greater in the recompense. And seek forgiveness of Allah. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
. al-Mudathir
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
O thou enveloped in thy cloak,
Arise and warn!
Thy Lord magnify,
Thy raiment purify,
Pollution shun!
And show not favour, seeking wordly gain!
For the sake of thy Lord, be patient!
For when the trumpet shall sound,
Surely that day will be a day of anguish,
Not of ease, for disbelievers.
Leave Me (to deal) with him whom I created lonely,
And then bestowed upon him ample means,
And sons abiding in his presence
And made (life) smooth for him.
Yet he desireth that I should give more.
Nay! For lo! he hath been stubborn to Our revelations.
On him I shall impose a fearful doom.
For lo! he did consider; then he planned -
(Self-)destroyed is he, how he planned!
Again (self-)destroyed is he, how he planned! -
Then looked he,
Then frowned he and showed displeasure.
Then turned he away in pride
And said: This is naught else than magic from of old;
This is naught else than speech of mortal man.
Him shall I fling unto the burning.
- Ah, what will convey unto thee what that burning is! -
It leaveth naught; it spareth naught
It shrivelleth the man.
Above it are nineteen.
We have appointed only angels to be wardens of the Fire, and their number have We made to be a stumbling-block for those who disbelieve; that those to whom the Book hath been given may have certainty, and that believers may increase in faith; and that those to whom the Book hath been given and believers may not doubt; and that those in whose hearts there is disease, and disbelievers, may say: What meaneth Allah by this similitude? Thus Allah sendeth astray whom He will, and whom He will He guideth. None knoweth the hosts of thy Lord save Him. This is naught else than a Reminder unto mortals.
Nay, by the Moon
And the night when it withdraweth
And the dawn when it shineth forth,
Lo! this is one of the greatest (portents)
As a warning unto men,
Unto him of you who will advance or hang back.
Every soul is a pledge for its own deeds;
Save those who will stand on the right hand.
In gardens they will ask one another
Concerning the guilty:
What hath brought you to this burning?
They will answer: We were not of those who prayed
Nor did we feed the wretched.
We used to wade (in vain dispute) with (all) waders,
And we used to deny the Day of Judgment,
Till the Inevitable came unto us.
The mediation of no mediators will avail them then.
Why now turn they away from the Admonishment,
As they were frightened asses
Fleeing from a lion?
Nay, but everyone of them desireth that he should be given open pages (from Allah).
Nay, verily. They fear not the Hereafter.
Nay, verily. Lo! this is an Admonishment.
So whosoever will may heed.
And they will not heed unless Allah willeth (it). He is the fount of fear. He is the fount of Mercy.
. al-Qiyamah
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Nay, I swear by the Day of Resurrection;
Nay, I swear by the accusing soul.
Thinks man that We shall not assemble his bones?
Yea, verily. We are Able to restore his very fingers!
But man would fain deny what is before him.
He asketh: When will be this Day of Resurrection?
But when sight is confounded
And the moon is eclipsed
And sun and moon are united,
On that day man will cry: Whither to flee!
Alas! No refuge!
Unto thy Lord is the recourse that day.
On that day man is told the tale of that which he hath sent before and left behind.
Oh, but man is a telling witness against himself,
Although he tender his excuses.
Stir not thy tongue herewith to hasten it.
Lo! upon Us (resteth) the putting together thereof and the reading thereof.
And when We read it, follow thou the reading;
Then lo! upon Us (resteth) the explanation thereof.
Nay, but ye do love the fleeting Now
And neglect the Hereafter.
That day will faces be resplendent,
Looking toward their Lord;
And that day will other faces be despondent,
Thou wilt know that some great disaster is about to fall on them.
Nay, but when the life cometh up to the throat
And men say: Where is the wizard (who can save him now)?
And he knoweth that it is the parting;
And agony is heaped on agony;
Unto thy Lord that day will be the driving.
For he neither trusted, nor prayed.
But he denied and flouted.
Then went he to his folk with glee.
Nearer unto thee and nearer,
Again nearer unto thee and nearer (is the doom).
Thinketh man that he is to be left aimless?
Was he not a drop of fluid which gushed forth?
Then he became a clot; then (Allah) shaped and fashioned
And made of him a pair, the male and female.
Is not He (Who doeth so) Able to bring the dead to life?
. ad-Dahr
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Has there come upon man (ever) any period of time in which he was a thing forgotten?
Lo! We create man from a drop of thickened fluid to test him; so We make him hearing, knowing.
Lo! We have shown him the way, whether he be grateful or disbelieving.
Lo! We have prepared for disbelievers manacles and carcans and a raging fire.
Lo! the righteous shall drink of a cup whereof the mixture is of Kafur,
A spring wherefrom the slaves of Allah drink, making it gush forth abundantly,
(Because) they perform the vow and fear a day whereof the evil is wide- spreading,
And feed with food the needy wretch, the orphan and the prisoner, for love of Him,
(Saying): We feed you, for the sake of Allah only. We wish for no reward nor thanks from you;
Lo! we fear from our Lord a day of frowning and of fate.
Therefore Allah hath warded off from them the evil of that day, and hath made them find brightness and joy;
And hath awarded them for all that they endured, a Garden and silk attire;
Reclining therein upon couches, they will find there neither (heat of) a sun nor bitter cold.
The shade thereof is close upon them and the clustered fruits thereof bow down.
Goblets of silver are brought round for them, and beakers (as) of glass
(Bright as) glass but (made) of silver, which they (themselves) have measured to the measure (of their deeds).
There are they watered with a cup whereof the mixture is of Zanjabil,
(The water of) a spring therein, named Salsabil.
There wait on them immortal youths, whom, when thou seest, thou wouldst take for scattered pearls.
When thou seest, thou wilt see there bliss and high estate.
Their raiment will be fine green silk and gold embroidery. Bracelets of silver will they wear. Their Lord will slake their thirst with a pure drink.
(And it will be said unto them): Lo! this is a reward for you. Your endeavour (upon earth) hath found acceptance.
Lo! We, even We, have revealed unto thee the Koran, a revelation;
So submit patiently to thy Lord's command, and obey not of them any guilty one or disbeliever.
Remember the name of thy Lord at morn and evening.
And worship Him (a portion) of the night. And glorify Him through the livelong night.
Lo! these love fleeting life, and put behind them (the remembrance of) a grievous day.
We, even We, created them, and strengthened their frame. And when We will, We can replace them, bringing others like them in their stead.
Lo! this is an Admonishment, that whosoever will may choose a way unto his Lord.
Yet ye will not, unless Allah willeth. Lo! Allah is Knower, Wise.
He maketh whom He will to enter His mercy, and for evil-doers hath prepared a painful doom.
. al-Mursalat
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the emissary winds, (sent) one after another.
By the raging hurricanes,
By those which cause earth's vegetation to revive;
By those who winnow with a winnowing,
By those who bring down the Reminder,
To excuse or to warn,
Surely that which ye are promised will befall.
So when the stars are put out,
And when the sky is riven asunder,
And when the mountains are blown away,
And when the messengers are brought unto their time appointed -
For what day is the time appointed?
For the Day of Decision.
And what will convey unto thee what the Day of Decision is! -
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
Destroyed We not the former folk,
Then caused the latter folk to follow after?
Thus deal We ever with the guilty.
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
Did We not create you from a base fluid
Which We laid up in a safe abode
For a known term?
Thus We arranged. How excellent is Our arranging!
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
Have We not made the earth a receptacle
Both for the living and the dead,
And placed therein high mountains and given you to drink sweet water therein?
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
(It will be said unto them:) Depart unto that (doom) which ye used to deny;
Depart unto the shadow falling threefold,
(Which yet is) no relief nor shelter from the flame.
Lo! it throweth up sparks like the castles,
(Or) as it might be camels of bright yellow hue.
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
This is a day wherein they speak not,
Nor are they suffered to put forth excuses.
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
This is the Day of Decision, We have brought you and the men of old together.
If now ye have any wit, outwit Me.
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
Lo! those who kept their duty are amid shade and fountains,
And fruits such as they desire.
(Unto them it is said:) Eat, drink and welcome, O ye blessed, in return for what ye did.
Thus do We reward the good.
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
Eat and take your ease (on earth) a little. Lo! ye are guilty.
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
When it is said unto them: Bow down, they bow not down!
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
In what statement, after this, will they believe?
. an-Nabah
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Whereof do they question one another?
(It is) of the awful tidings,
Concerning which they are in disagreement.
Nay, but they will come to know!
Nay, again, but they will come to know!
Have We not made the earth an expanse,
And the high hills bulwarks?
And We have created you in pairs,
And have appointed your sleep for repose,
And have appointed the night as a cloak,
And have appointed the day for livelihood.
And We have built above you seven strong (heavens),
And have appointed a dazzling lamp,
And have sent down from the rainy clouds abundant water,
Thereby to produce grain and plant,
And gardens of thick foliage.
Lo! the Day of Decision is a fixed time,
A day when the trumpet is blown and ye come in multitudes,
And the heaven is opened and becometh as gates,
And the hills are set in motion and become as a mirage.
Lo! hell lurketh in ambush,
A home for the rebellious.
They will abide therein for ages.
Therein taste they neither coolness nor (any) drink
Save boiling water and a paralysing cold:
Reward proportioned (to their evil deeds).
For lo! they looked not for a reckoning;
They called Our revelations false with strong denial.
Everything have We recorded in a Book.
So taste (of that which ye have earned). No increase do We give you save of torment.
Lo! for the duteous is achievement -
Gardens enclosed and vineyards,
And maidens for companions,
And a full cup.
There hear they never vain discourse, nor lying -
Requital from thy Lord - a gift in payment -
Lord of the heavens and the earth, and (all) that is between them, the Beneficent; with Whom none can converse.
On the day when the angels and the Spirit stand arrayed, they speak not, saving him whom the Beneficent alloweth and who speaketh right.
That is the True Day. So whoso will should seek recourse unto his Lord.
Lo! We warn you of a doom at hand, a day whereon a man will look on that which his own hands have sent before, and the disbeliever will cry: "Would that I were dust!"
. an-Naziaat
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By those who drag forth to destruction,
By the meteors rushing,
By the lone stars floating,
By the angels hastening,
And those who govern the event,
On the day when the first trump resoundeth.
And the second followeth it,
On that day hearts beat painfully
While eyes are downcast
(Now) they are saying: Shall we really be restored to our first state
Even after we are crumbled bones?
They say: Then that would be a vain proceeding.
Surely it will need but one shout,
And lo! they will be awakened.
Hath there come unto thee the history of Moses?
How his Lord called him in the holy vale of Tuwa,
(Saying:) Go thou unto Pharaoh - Lo! he hath rebelled -
And say (unto him): Hast thou (will) to grow (in grace)?
Then I will guide thee to thy Lord and thou shalt fear (Him).
And he showed him the tremendous token.
But he denied and disobeyed,
Then turned he away in haste,
Then gathered he and summoned
And proclaimed: "I (Pharaoh) am your Lord the Highest."
So Allah seized him (and made him) an example for the after (life) and for the former.
Lo! herein is indeed a lesson for him who feareth.
Are ye the harder to create, or is the heaven that He built?
He raised the height thereof and ordered it;
And He made dark the night thereof, and He brought forth the morn thereof.
And after that He spread the earth,
And produced therefrom the water thereof and the pasture thereof,
And He made fast the hills,
A provision for you and for your cattle.
But when the great disaster cometh,
The day when man will call to mind his (whole) endeavour,
And hell will stand forth visible to him who seeth,
Then, as for him who rebelled
And chose the life of the world,
Lo! hell will be his home.
But as for him who feared to stand before his Lord and restrained his soul from lust,
Lo! the Garden will be his home.
They ask thee of the Hour: when will it come to port?
Why (ask they)? What hast thou to tell thereof?
Unto thy Lord belongeth (knowledge of) the term thereof.
Thou art but a warner unto him who feareth it.
On the day when they behold it, it will be as if they had but tarried for an evening or the morn thereof.
. Abasa
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
He frowned and turned away
Because the blind man came unto him.
What could inform thee but that he might grow (in grace)
Or take heed and so the reminder might avail him?
As for him who thinketh himself independent,
Unto him thou payest regard.
Yet it is not thy concern if he grow not (in grace).
But as for him who cometh unto thee with earnest purpose
And hath fear,
From him thou art distracted.
Nay, but verily it is an Admonishment,
So let whosoever will pay heed to it,
On honoured leaves
Exalted, purified,
(Set down) by scribes
Noble and righteous.
Man is (self-)destroyed: how ungrateful!
From what thing doth He create him?
From a drop of seed. He createth him and proportioneth him,
Then maketh the way easy for him,
Then causeth him to die, and burieth him;
Then, when He will, He bringeth him again to life.
Nay, but (man) hath not done what He commanded him.
Let man consider his food:
How We pour water in showers
Then split the earth in clefts
And cause the grain to grow therein
And grapes and green fodder
And olive-trees and palm-trees
And garden-closes of thick foliage
And fruits and grasses:
Provision for you and your cattle.
But when the Shout cometh
On the day when a man fleeth from his brother
And his mother and his father
And his wife and his children,
Every man that day will have concern enough to make him heedless (of others).
On that day faces will be bright as dawn,
Laughing, rejoicing at good news;
And other faces, on that day, with dust upon them,
Veiled in darkness,
Those are the disbelievers, the wicked.
. at-Takwir
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
When the sun is overthrown,
And when the stars fall,
And when the hills are moved,
And when the camels big with young are abandoned,
And when the wild beasts are herded together,
And when the seas rise,
And when souls are reunited,
And when the girl-child that was buried alive is asked
For what sin she was slain,
And when the pages are laid open,
And when the sky is torn away,
And when hell is lighted,
And when the Garden is brought nigh,
(Then) every soul will know what it hath made ready.
Oh, but I call to witness the planets,
The stars which rise and set,
And the close of night,
And the breath of morning
That this is in truth the word of an honoured messenger,
Mighty, established in the presence of the Lord of the Throne,
(One) to be obeyed, and trustworthy;
And your comrade is not mad.
Surely he beheld Him on the clear horizon.
And he is not avid of the Unseen.
Nor is this the utterance of a devil worthy to be stoned.
Whither then go ye?
This is naught else than a reminder unto creation,
Unto whomsoever of you willeth to walk straight.
And ye will not, unless (it be) that Allah willeth, the Lord of Creation.
. al-Infitar
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
When the heaven is cleft asunder,
When the planets are dispersed,
When the seas are poured forth,
And the sepulchres are overturned,
A soul will know what it hath sent before (it) and what left behind.
O man! What hath made thee careless concerning thy Lord, the Bountiful,
Who created thee, then fashioned, then proportioned thee?
Into whatsoever form He will, He casteth thee.
Nay, but ye deny the Judgment.
Lo! there are above you guardians,
Generous and recording,
Who know (all) that ye do.
Lo! the righteous verily will be in delight.
And lo! the wicked verily will be in hell;
They will burn therein on the Day of Judgment,
And will not be absent thence.
Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Day of Judgment is!
Again, what will convey unto thee what the Day of Judgment is!
A day on which no soul hath power at all for any (other) soul. The (absolute) command on that day is Allah's.
. at-Tatfif
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Woe unto the defrauders:
Those who when they take the measure from mankind demand it full,
But if they measure unto them or weight for them, they cause them loss.
Do such (men) not consider that they will be raised again
Unto an Awful Day,
The day when (all) mankind stand before the Lord of the Worlds?
Nay, but the record of the vile is in Sijjin -
Ah! what will convey unto thee what Sijjin is! -
A written record.
Woe unto the repudiators on that day!
Those who deny the Day of Judgment
Which none denieth save each criminal transgressor,
Who, when thou readest unto him Our revelations, saith: (Mere) fables of the men of old.
Nay, but that which they have earned is rust upon their hearts.
Nay, but surely on that day they will be covered from (the mercy of) their Lord.
Then lo! they verily will burn in hell,
And it will be said (unto them): This is that which ye used to deny.
Nay, but the record of the righteous is in 'Illiyin -
Ah, what will convey unto thee what 'Illiyin is! -
A written record,
Attested by those who are brought near (unto their Lord).
Lo! the righteous verily are in delight,
On couches, gazing,
Thou wilt know in their faces the radiance of delight.
They are given to drink of a pure wine, sealed,
Whose seal is musk - for this let (all) those strive who strive for bliss -
And mixed with water of Tasnim,
A spring whence those brought near (to Allah) drink.
Lo! the guilty used to laugh at those who believed,
And wink one to another when they passed them;
And when they returned to their own folk, they returned jesting;
And when they saw them they said: Lo! these have gone astray.
Yet they were not sent as guardians over them.
This day it is those who believe who have the laugh of disbelievers,
On high couches, gazing.
Are not the disbelievers paid for what they used to do?
. al-Inshiqaq
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
When the heaven is split asunder
And attentive to her Lord in fear,
And when the earth is spread out
And hath cast out all that was in her, and is empty
And attentive to her Lord in fear!
Thou, verily, O man, art working toward thy Lord a work which thou wilt meet (in His presence).
Then whoso is given his account in his right hand
He truly will receive an easy reckoning
And will return unto his folk in joy.
But whoso is given his account behind his back,
He surely will invoke destruction
And be thrown to scorching fire.
He verily lived joyous with his folk,
He verily deemed that he would never return (unto Allah).
Nay, but lo! his Lord is ever looking on him!
Oh, I swear by the afterglow of sunset,
And by the night and all that it enshroudeth,
And by the moon when she is at the full,
That ye shall journey on from plane to plane.
What aileth them, then, that they believe not
And, when the Koran is recited unto them, worship not (Allah)?
Nay, but those who disbelieve will deny;
And Allah knoweth best what they are hiding.
So give them tidings of a painful doom,
Except those who believe and behave good, for theirs is a reward unfailing.
. al-Buruj
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the heaven, holding mansions of the stars,
And by the Promised Day.
And by the witness and that whereunto he beareth testimony,
(Self-)destroyed were the owners of the ditch
Of the fuel-fed fire,
When they sat by it,
And were themselves the witnesses of what they did to the believers.
They had naught against them save that they believed in Allah, the Mighty, the Owner of Praise,
Him unto Whom belongeth the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth; and Allah is of all things the Witness.
Lo! they who persecute believing men and believing women and repent not, theirs verily will be the doom of hell, and theirs the doom of burning.
Lo! those who believe and behave good, theirs will be Gardens underneath which rivers flow. That is the Great Success.
Lo! the punishment of thy Lord is stern.
Lo! He it is Who produceth, then reproduceth,
And He is the Forgiving, the Loving,
Lord of the Throne of Glory,
Doer of what He will.
Hath there come unto thee the story of the hosts
Of Pharaoh and (the tribe of) Thamud?
Nay, but those who disbelieve live in denial
And Allah, all unseen, surroundeth them.
Nay, but it is a glorious Koran.
On a guarded tablet.
. at-Tariq
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the heaven and the Morning Star
- Ah, what will tell thee what the Morning Star is!
- The piercing Star!
No human soul but hath a guardian over it.
So let man consider from what he is created.
He is created from a gushing fluid
That issued from between the loins and ribs.
Lo! He verily is Able to return him (unto life)
On the day when hidden thoughts shall be searched out.
Then will he have no might nor any helper.
By the heaven which giveth the returning rain,
And the earth which splitteth (with the growth of trees and plants)
Lo! this (Koran) is a conclusive word,
It is no pleasantry.
Lo! they plot a plot (against thee, O Muhammad)
And I plot a plot (against them).
So give a respite to the disbelievers. Deal thou gently with them for a while.
. al-Ahla
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Praise the name of thy Lord the Most High,
Who createth, then disposeth;
Who measureth, then guideth;
Who bringeth forth the pasturage,
Then turneth it to russet stubble.
We shall make thee read so that thou shalt not forget
Save that which Allah willeth. Lo! He knoweth the disclosed and that which still is hidden;
And We shall ease thy way unto the state of ease.
Therefore remind (men), for of use is the reminder.
He will heed who feareth,
But the most hapless will flout it,
He who will be flung to the great Fire
Wherein he will neither die nor live.
He is successful who groweth,
And remembereth the name of his Lord, so prayeth,
But ye prefer the life of the world
Although the Hereafter is better and more lasting.
Lo! This is in the former scrolls.
The Books of Abraham and Moses.
. al-Ghashiya
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Hath there come unto thee tidings of the Overwhelming?
On that day (many) faces will be downcast,
Toiling, weary,
Scorched by burning fire,
Drinking from a boiling spring,
No food for them save bitter thorn-fruit
Which doth not nourish nor release from hunger.
In that day other faces will be calm,
Glad for their effort past,
In a high Garden
Where they hear no idle speech,
Wherein is a gushing spring,
Wherein are couches raised
And goblets set at hand
And cushions ranged
And silken carpets spread.
Will they not regard the camels, how they are created?
And the heaven, how it is raised?
And the hills, how they are set up?
And the earth, how it is spread?
Remind them, for thou art but a remembrancer,
Thou art not at all a warder over them.
But whoso is averse and disbelieveth,
Allah will punish him with direst punishment.
Lo! unto Us is their return
And Ours their reckoning.
. al-Fajr
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the Dawn
And ten nights,
And the Even and the Odd,
And the night when it departeth,
There surely is an oath for thinking man.
Dost thou not consider how thy Lord dealt with (the tribe of) A'ad,
With many-columned Iram,
The like of which was not created in the lands;
And with (the tribe of) Thamud, who clove the rocks in the valley;
And with Pharaoh, firm of might,
Who (all) were rebellious (to Allah) in these lands,
And multiplied iniquity therein?
Therefore thy Lord poured on them the disaster of His punishment.
Lo! thy Lord is ever watchful.
As for man, whenever his Lord trieth him by honouring him, and is gracious unto him, he saith: My Lord honoureth me.
But whenever He trieth him by straitening his means of life, he saith: My Lord despiseth me.
Nay, but ye (for your part) honour not the orphan
And urge not on the feeding of the poor.
And ye devour heritages with devouring greed.
And love wealth with abounding love.
Nay, but when the earth is ground to atoms, grinding, grinding,
And thy Lord shall come with angels, rank on rank,
And hell is brought near that day; on that day man will remember, but how will the remembrance (then avail him)?
He will say: Ah, would that I had sent before me (some provision) for my life!
None punisheth as He will punish on that day!
None bindeth as He then will bind.
But ah! thou soul at peace!
Return unto thy Lord, content in His good pleasure!
Enter thou among My bondmen!
Enter thou My Garden!
. al-Balad
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Nay, I swear by this city -
And thou art an indweller of this city -
And the begetter and that which he begat,
We verily have created man in an atmosphere:
Thinketh he that none hath power over him?
And he saith: I have destroyed vast wealth:
Thinketh he that none beholdeth him?
Did We not assign unto him two eyes
And a tongue and two lips,
And guide him to the parting of the mountain ways?
But he hath not attempted the Ascent -
Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Ascent is! -
(It is) to free a slave,
And to feed in the day of hunger.
An orphan near of kin,
Or some poor wretch in misery,
And to be of those who believe and exhort one another to perseverance and exhort one another to pity.
Their place will be on the right hand.
But those who disbelieve Our revelations, their place will be on the left hand.
Fire will be an awning over them.
. ash-Shams
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the sun and his brightness,
And the moon when she followeth him,
And the day when it revealeth him,
And the night when it enshroudeth him,
And the heaven and Him Who built it,
And the earth and Him Who spread it,
And a soul and Him Who perfected it
And inspired it (with conscience of) what is wrong for it and (what is) right for it.
He is indeed successful who causeth it to grow,
And he is indeed a failure who stunteth it.
(The tribe of) Thamud denied (the truth) in their rebellious pride,
When the basest of them broke forth
And the messenger of Allah said: It is the she-camel of Allah, so let her drink!
But they denied him, and they hamstrung her, so Allah doomed them for their sin and rased (their dwellings).
He dreadeth not the sequel (of events).
. al-Layl
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the night enshrouding
And the day resplendent
And Him Who hath created male and female,
Lo! your effort is dispersed (toward divers ends).
As for him who giveth and is dutiful (toward Allah)
And believeth in goodness;
Surely We will ease his way unto the state of ease.
But as for him who hoardeth and deemeth himself independent,
And disbelieveth in goodness;
Surely We will ease his way unto adversity.
His riches will not save him when he perisheth.
Lo! Ours it is (to give) the guidance
And lo! unto Us belong the latter portion and the former.
Therefore have I warned you of the flaming Fire
Which only the most wretched must endure,
He who denieth and turneth away.
Far removed from it will be the righteous
Who giveth his wealth that he may grow (in goodness).
And none hath with him any favour for reward,
Except as seeking (to fulfil) the purpose of his Lord Most High.
He verily will be content.
. ad-Duha
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the morning hours
And by the night when it is stillest,
Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee nor doth He hate thee,
And verily the latter portion will be better for thee than the former,
And verily thy Lord will give unto thee so that thou wilt be content.
Did He not find thee an orphan and protect (thee)?
Did He not find thee wandering and direct (thee)?
Did He not find thee destitute and enrich (thee)?
Therefore the orphan oppress not,
Therefore the beggar drive not away,
Therefore of the bounty of thy Lord be thy discourse.
. al-Inshirah
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Have We not caused thy bosom to dilate,
And eased thee of the burden
Which weighed down thy back;
And exalted thy fame?
But lo! with hardship goeth ease,
Lo! with hardship goeth ease;
So when thou art relieved, still toil
And strive to please thy Lord.
. at-Tean:
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the fig and the olive,
And Mount Sinai,
And by this land made safe;
Surely We created man of the best stature
Then we reduced him to the lowest of the low,
Save those who believe and do good works, and theirs is a reward unfailing.
So who henceforth will give the lie to thee about the judgment?
Is not Allah the most conclusive of all judges?
. al-Alaq
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Read in the Name of thy Lord Who creates.
Creates man from a clot.
Read, for thy Lord is the Most Bounteous,
Who teaches by the pen,
Teaches man that which he knew not.
Nay, but verily man is rebellious
That he thinketh himself independent!
Lo! unto thy Lord is the return.
Hast thou seen him who dissuadeth
A slave when he prayeth?
Hast thou seen if he relieth on the guidance (of Allah)
Or enjoineth piety?
Hast thou seen if he denieth (Allah's guidance) and is froward?
Is he then unaware that Allah seeth?
Nay, but if he cease not We will seize him by the forelock -
The lying, sinful forelock -
Then let him call upon his henchmen!
We will call the guards of hell.
Nay, Obey not thou him. But prostrate thyself, and draw near (unto Allah).
. al-Qadr
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Lo! We revealed it in the Night of Power.
Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Night of Power is!
The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.
The Angels and the Spirit descend therein, by the permission of their Lord, with all decrees.
Peace until dawn.
. al-Bayyinah
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Those who disbelieve among the People of the Book and the idolaters could not have left off (erring) till the clear proof came unto them,
A messenger from Allah, reading purified pages
Containing correct scriptures.
Nor were the People of the Book divided until after the clear proof came unto them.
And they are ordered naught else than to serve Allah, keeping religion pure for Him, as men by nature upright, and to establish worship and to pay the poor-due. That is true religion.
Lo! those who disbelieve, among the People of the Book and the idolaters, will abide in fire of hell. They are the worst of created beings.
(And) lo! those who believe and do good deeds are the best of created beings.
Their reward is with their Lord: Gardens of Eden underneath which rivers flow, wherein they dwell for ever. Allah hath pleasure in them and they have pleasure in Him. This is (in store) for him who feareth his Lord.
. al-Zilzal
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
When Earth is shaken with her (final) earthquake
And Earth yieldeth up her burdens,
And man saith: What aileth her?
That day she will relate her chronicles,
Because thy Lord inspireth her.
That day mankind will issue forth in scattered groups to be shown their deeds.
And whoso doeth good an atom's weight will see it then,
And whoso doeth ill an atom's weight will see it then.
. al-Adiyat
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the snorting courses,
Striking sparks of fire
And scouring to the raid at dawn,
Then, therewith, with their trail of dust,
Cleaving, as one, the centre (of the foe),
Lo! man is an ingrate unto his Lord
And lo! he is a witness unto that;
And lo! in the love of wealth he is violent.
Knoweth he not that, when the contents of the graves are poured forth
And the secrets of the breasts are made known,
On that day will their Lord be perfectly informed concerning them.
. al-Qariah
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
The Calamity!
What is the Calamity?
Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Calamity is!
A day wherein mankind will be as thickly-scattered moths
And the mountains will become as carded wool.
Then, as for him whose scales are heavy (with good works),
He will live a pleasant life.
But as for him whose scales are light,
A bereft and Hungry One will be his mother,
Ah, what will convey unto thee what she is! -
Raging Fire.
. at-Takathur
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Rivalry in worldly increase distracts you
Until ye come to the graves.
Nay, but ye will come to know!
Nay, but ye will come to know!
Nay, would that ye knew (now) with a sure knowledge!
For ye will behold hell-fire.
Aye, ye will behold it with sure vision.
Then, on that day, ye will be asked concerning pleasure.
. al-Asr
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
By the (last) Age,
Lo! Man is at a loss.
Except those who believe, and do good works, and exhort one another to the truth and exhort one another to steadfastness.
. al-Humazah
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Woe unto every slandering traducer,
Who hath gathered wealth (of this world) and arranged it.
He thinketh that his wealth will render him immortal.
Nay, but verily he will be flung to the Consuming One.
Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Consuming One is!
(It is) the fire of Allah, kindled,
Which leapeth up over the hearts (of men).
Lo! it is closed in on them
In outstretched columns.
. al-Fil
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Have you not seen how thy Lord dealt with the owners of the Elephant?
Did He not bring their strategy to naught,
And send against them swarms of birds,
Which pelted them with stones of baked clay,
And made them like green crops devoured (by cattle)?
. al-Quraysh
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
For the taming of Qureysh (tribe).
For their taming (We cause) the caravans to set forth in winter and summer.
So let them worship the Lord of this House,
Who hath fed them against hunger and hath made them safe from fear.
. al-Maun
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Have you seen him who belieth religion?
That is he who repelleth the orphan,
And urgeth not the feeding of the needy.
Ah, woe unto worshippers
Who are heedless of their prayer;
Who would be seen (at worship)
Yet refuse small kindnesses!
. al-Kauthar
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Lo! We have given thee Kowser (fountain);
So glorify thy Lord, and sacrifice.
Lo! it is thy enemy who is without lingeage.
. al-Kafirun
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Say: O disbelievers!
I worship not that which you worship;
Nor worship you that which I worship.
And I shall not worship that which you worship.
Nor will you worship that which I worship.
To you your religion, and to me my religion.
. al-Lahab
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
The power of Abu Lahab will perish, and he will perish.
His wealth and gains will not exempt him.
He will be plunged in flaming Fire,
And his wife, the wood-carrier,
Will have upon her neck a halter of palm-fibre.
. al-Ikhlas
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Say: He is Allah, the One!
Allah, the Absolute!
He begets not nor was He begotten.
And there is none like unto Him.
. al-Falaq
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of the Daybreak
From the evil of that which He created;
From the evil of the darkness when it is intense,
And from the evil of malignant witchcraft,
And from the evil of the envier when he envies.
. an-Nas
In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Merciful.
Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind,
The King of mankind,
The God of mankind,
From the evil of the slinking whisperer,
Who whispers in the hearts of mankind,
Of Jinn and Men.
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
[Note: Given here were only some parts of the Holy Quran.
The complete printed text of the Sacred Book is
available in published editions.]
FMB - Moharram 1430.
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