Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 9.djvu/233

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ⅩⅬⅢ, 76-86.
the chapter of gilding.
217

And they shall cry out, ‘ O Mâlik[1]! let thy lord make an end of us ;’ he shall say, ‘ Verily, ye are to tarry here.’

We have brought you the truth, but most of you are averse from the truth. Have they arranged the affair ? then will we arrange it too[2]!

80 Or do they reckon that we did not hear their secrets and their whispering ? Nay, but our messengers are with them writing down[3].

Say, ‘ If the Merciful One has a son then am I the first to worship him. Celebrated be the praise of the Lord of the heavens and the earth ! the Lord of the throne, above all they attribute to Him !

But leave them to ponder and to play until they meet that day of theirs which they are promised.

He it is who is in the heaven a God and in the earth a God ! and He is the wise, the knowing. 85 And blessed be he whose is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and what is between both, and His is the knowledge of the Hour, and unto Him shall ye be brought back !

And those they call on beside Him shall not possess intercession except those only who bear witness for the truth and who do know.

And if thou shouldst ask them who created them they will surely say, ‘ God !’ How then can they lie ?

And what he[4] says, ‘ O Lord, verily, these are


  1. Mâlik is the keeper of hell, and presides over the tortures of the damned.
  2. The word used signifies twisting up the strands of a rope.
  3. I. e. the recording angel.
  4. Mohammed.