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The Learning Curve (Weird Science, 1996).iso
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xxxv.mecca
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1995-03-12
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THE CHAPTER OF THE ANGELS
(XXXV. Mecca.)
IN the name of the merciful and compassionate God.
Praise belongs to' God, the originator of the heavens and the earth;
who makes the angels His messengers, endued with wings in pairs, or
threes or fours; He adds to creation what He pleases; verily, God is
mighty over all!
What God opens to men of His mercy there is none to withhold; and
what He withholds, there is none can send it forth after Him; for He
is the mighty, the wise.
O ye folk! remember the favours of God towards you; is there a
creator beside God, who provides you from the heavens and from the
earth? There is no god but He; how then can ye lie?
And if they call thee liar, apostles were called liars before
thee, and unto God affairs return.
O ye folk! verily, God's promise is true; then let not the life of
this world beguile you, and let not the beguiler beguile you
concerning God. Verily, the devil is to you a foe, so take him as a
foe; he only calls his crew to be the fellows of the blaze.
Those who misbelieve, for them is keen torment.
But those who believe and do right, for them is forgiveness and a
great hire.
What! is he whose evil act is made seemly for him, so that he
looks upon it as good,--? Verily, God leads astray whom He pleases and
guides whom He pleases; let not thy soul then be wasted in sighing for
them; verily, God knows what they do!
It is God who sends the winds, and they stir up a cloud, and we
irrigate therewith a dead country, and we quicken therewith the
earth after its death; so shall the resurrection be!
Whosoever desires honour-honour belongs wholely to God; to Him
good words ascend, and a righteous deed He takes up; and those who
plot evil deeds, for them is keen torment, and their plotting is in
vain.
God created you from earth, then from a clot; then He made y'ou
pairs; and no female bears or is delivered, except by His knowledge;
nor does he who is aged reach old age, or is aught diminished from his
life, without it is in the Book; verily, that is easy unto God.
The two seas are not equal: one is sweet and fresh and pleasant to
drink, and the other is salt and pungent; but from each do ye eat
fresh flesh, and bring forth ornaments which ye wear; and thou
mayest see the ships cleave through it, that ye may search after His
grace, and haply ye may give thanks.
He turns the night into day, and He turns the day into night; and He
subjects the sun and the moon, each of them runs on to an appointed
goal; that is God, your Lord! His is the kingdom; but those ye call on
beside Him possess not a straw.
If you call upon them they cannot hear your call, and if they hear
they cannot answer you; and on the resurrection day they will deny
your associating them with God; but none can inform thee like the
One who is aware.
O ye folk! ye are in need of God; but God, He is independent,
praiseworthy.
If He please He will take you off, and will bring a fresh
creation; for that is no hard matter unto God.
And no burdened soul shall bear the burden of another; and if a
heavily laden one shall call for its load (to be carried) it shall not
be carried for it at all, even though it be a kinsman!-thou canst only
warn those who fear their Lord in the unseen and who are steadfast
in prayer; and he who is pure is only pure for himself; and unto God
the journey is.
The blind is not equal with him who sees, nor the darkness with
the night, nor the shade with the hot blast; nor are the living
equal with the dead; verily, God causes whom He pleases to hear, and
thou canst not make those who are in their graves hear; thou art but a
warner!
Verily, we have sent thee in truth a herald of glad tidings and a
warner; and there is no nation but its warner has passed away with it.
And if they called thee liar, those before thee called their
apostles liars too, who came to them with manifest signs, and the
Scriptures, and the illuminating Book.
Then I seized those who misbelieved, and what a change it was!
Dost thou not see that God has sent down from the heaven water,
and has brought forth therewith fruits varied in hue, and on the
mountains dykes, white and red, various in hue, and some intensely
black, and men and beasts and cattle, various in hue? thus! none
fear God but the wise among His servants; but, verily, God is
mighty, forgiving.
Verily, those who recite the Book of God, and are steadfast in
prayer, and give alms of what we have bestowed in secret and in
public, hope for the merchandise that shall not come to naught; that
He may pay them their hire, and give them increase of His grace;
verily, He is forgiving, grateful.
What we have inspired thee with of the Book is true, verifying
what was before it; verily, God of His servants is well aware and
sees.
Then we gave the Book for an inheritance to those whom we chose of
our servants, and of them are some who wrong themselves, and of them
are some who take a middle course, and of them are some who vie in
good works by the permission of their Lord; that is great grace.
Gardens of Eden shall they enter, adorned therein with bracelets
of gold and pearls; and their garments therein shall be silk; and they
shall say, 'Praise belongs to God, who has removed from us our
grief; verily, our Lord is forgiving, grateful! who has made us alight
in an enduring abode of His grace, wherein no toil shall touch us, and
there shall touch us no fatigue.'
But those who misbelieve, for them is the fire of hell; it shall not
be decreed for them to die, nor shall aught of the torment be
lightened from them; thus do we reward every misbeliever; and they
shall shriek therein, 'O our Lord! bring us forth, and we will do
right, not what we used to do!'-'Did we not let you grow old enough
for every one who would be mindful to be mindful? and there came to
you a warner!-So taste it, for the unjust shall have none to help!'
verily, God knows the unseen things of the heavens and of the earth;
verily, He knows the nature of men's breasts, He it is who made you
vicegerents in the earth, and he who misbelieves, his misbelief is
against himself; but their misbelief shall only increase the
misbelievers in hatred with their Lord; and their misbelief shall only
increase the misbelievers in loss.
Say, 'Have ye considered your associates whom ye call on beside
God?' show me what they created of the earth; have they a share in the
heavens, or have we given them a book that they rest on a manifest
sign? nay, the unjust promise each other naught but guile.
Verily, God holds back the heavens and the earth lest they should
decline; and if they should decline there is none to hold them back
after Him; verily, He is clement, forgiving.
They swore by God with their most strenuous oath, verily, if there
come to them a warner they would be more guided than any one of the
nations; but when a warner comes to them, it only increases them in
aversion, and in being big with pride in the earth, and in plotting
evil; but the plotting of evil only entangles those who practise it;
can they then expect aught but the course of those of yore? but thou
shalt not find any alteration in the course of God; and they shall not
find any change in the course of God.
Have they not journeyed on in the land and seen what was the end
of those before them who were stronger than they? but God, nothing can
ever make Him helpless in the heavens or in the earth; verily, He is
knowing, powerful.
Were God to catch men up for what they earn, He would not leave upon
the back of it a beast; but He respites them until an appointed
time. When their appointed time comes, verily, God looks upon His
servants.