XIV, 5-13- THE CHAPTER OF ABRAHAM. 239
and remind them of the days * of God ! ' verily, in that are signs to every patient, grateful one.
When Moses said to his people, ' Remember the favours of God towards you, when He saved you from Pharaoh's people, who sought to wreak you evil woe, slaughtering your sons and letting your women live ; ' in that was a great trial for you from your Lord. When your Lord proclaimed, * If ye give thanks I will surely give you increase ; but if ye misbelieve, verily, my torment is severe!' And Moses said, * If ye misbelieve, ye and those who are on the earth altogether — then, verily, God is rich, and to be praised !'
Has not the story come to you of those who were before you, of the people of Noah, and e Ad, and Thamfid, [10] and those who came after them ? none knows them save God. Apostles came unto them with manifest signs ; but they thrust their hands into their mouths 2 and said, 'Verily, we disbelieve in that which ye are sent with, and we are in hesitating doubt concerning that to which ye call us ! ' Their apostles said, * Is there doubt about God, the originator of the heavens and the earth ? He calls you to pardon you for your sins, and to respite you until an appointed time.'
They said, ' Ye are but mortals like ourselves ; ye wish to turn us from what our fathers used to serve. Bring us, then, obvious authority !'
Their apostles said unto them, 'We are only
1 This may, according to the Arab idiom, mean either c battles ' in which God had given victory to the believers ; or simply ' days ' on which God has shown them favour.
8 Easterns, when annoyed, always bite their hands ; see Chapter III, verse 115.
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