Then into a chain whose length is seventy cubits thrust him;
For he believed not in God, the Great,
And was not careful to feed the poor;
No friend therefore shall he have here this day,
Nor food, but corrupt sores,
Which none shall eat but the sinners.”
It needs not that I swear by what ye see.
And by that which ye see not,
40That this verily is the word of an apostle worthy of all honour!
And that it is not the word of a poet—how little do ye believe!
Neither is it the word of a soothsayer (Kahin)—how little do ye receive warning!
It is a missive from the Lord of the worlds.
But if Muhammad had fabricated concerning us any sayings.
We had surely seized him by the right hand.
And had cut through the vein of his neck.[1]
Nor would We have withheld any one of you from him.
But, verily, It (the Koran) is a warning for the God-fearing;
And we well know that there are of you who treat it as a falsehood.
50But it shall be the despair of infidels.
For it is the very truth of sure knowledge.
Praise, then, the name of thy Lord, the Great.
[XLIII.]
SURA LI.—THE SCATTERING
Mecca.—60 Verses.
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
By the clouds[2] which scatter with SCATTERING,
And those which bear their load,
- ↑ In allusion to the mode of executing criminals in many eastern countries
- ↑ Lit. (I swear) by those which scatter {i.e., the rain) with a scattering, (2) and by those which carry a burden, (3) and by those which run lightly, (4) and by those which divide a matter, or, by command. The participles are all in the feminine: hence some interpret verse 1 of winds; verse 2 of clouds; verse 3 of ships; verse 4 of angels.
