Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 6.djvu/109

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OF THE QURʼÂN.
ⅽⅲ

ⅩⅩⅩ. The Chapter of the Greeks. (Mecca.)

Victory of the Persians over the Greeks: prophecy of the coming triumph of the latter. The Meccans warned by the fate of former cities. The idols shall forsake them at the resurrection: the believers shall enter Paradise. God is to be praised in the morning and evening and at noon and sunset. His creation of man and of the universe and His providence are signs. He is the incomparable Lord of all. Warning against idolatry and schism. Honesty inculcated and usury reproved. God only creates and kills. Corruption in the earth through sin. The fate of former idolaters. Exhortation to believe before the sudden coming of the judgment day. God’s sending rain to quicken the earth is a sign of His power. Mohammed cannot make the deaf hear his message. Warning of the last day.

ⅩⅩⅪ. The Chapter of Loqmân. (Mecca.)

The Qurʼân a guidance to believers. Denunciation of one who purchased Persian legends and preferred them to the Qurʼân. God in nature. Other gods can create nothing. Wisdom granted to Loqmân: his advice to his son. The obstinacy of the infidels rebuked. If the sea were ink and the trees pens they would not suffice to write the words of the Lord. God manifest in the night and day, in the sun and moon, and in rescuing men from dangers by sea. God only knows the future.

ⅩⅩⅫ. The Chapter of Adoration. (Mecca).

The Qurʼân is truth from the Lord. God the creator and governor. The resurrection. Conduct of true believers when they hear the word: their reward: the punishment of misbelievers: description of hell. The people are exhorted to believe and are admonished by the fate of the ruined cities they see around them: they are warned of the judgment day.

ⅩⅩⅩⅢ. The Chapter of the Confederates. (Medînah.)

Mohammed is warned against the hypocrites. Wives divorced by the formula 'thou art henceforth to me like my mother’s back' are not to be considered as real mothers and as such regarded as unlawful. Neither are adopted sons to be looked upon as real sons. The real ties of kinship and consanguinity are to supersede