But did those whom they took for gods beside God as his kindred deities, help them?9 Nay, they withdrew from them. Such was their delusion, and their device! And remember when we turned aside a company of the djinn to thee, that they might hearken to the Koran: and no sooner were they present at its reading than they said to each other, "Hist;" and when it was ended, they returned to their people with warnings. They said, "O our people! verily we have been listening to a book sent down since the days of Moses, affirming the previous scriptures; it guideth to the truth, and to the right way. O our people! Obey the Summoner of God, and believe in him, that He may forgive your sins, and rescue you from an afflictive punishment. And he who shall not respond to God's preacher, yet cannot weaken God's power on earth, nor shall he have protectors beside Him. These are in obvious error." See they not that God who created the Heavens and the Earth, and was not wearied with their creation, is of power to quicken the dead? Yea, he is for all things Potent. And a day is coming when the infidels shall be set before the fire. "Is not this it in truth?" They shall say, "Aye, by our Lord." He said, "Taste then the punishment for that ye would not believe." Bear thou up, then, with patience, as did the Apostles endued with firmness, and seek not to accelerate their doom. For, on the day when they shall see that with which they have been menaced, It shall be as though they had waited but an hour of the day. Enough! shall any perish save they who transgress? _______________________ 1 See Sura lxviii. p. 32. 2 Of a divine revelation, authorising the worship of other gods than God 3 Abdallah bin Salma, say the commentators. 4 Comp. John vii. 48. 5 Thus Mischn. Aboth, v. 21, "at forty years of age a man comes to intelligence." This verse refers, it is said by the Sonnites, to Abu Bekr, afterwards Chalif, who embraced Islam in his 40th year. But this interpretation was probably invented after his accession to power. 6 Lit. suffer loss. 7 The Prophet Houd. 8 That is, Sandhills; at Taief, to which Muhammad had retired in consequence of the opposition, etc., of the Meccans. Verses 20-31 are probably misplaced, as they interrupt the connection between 19 and 32, but appear to belong to the same period as the rest of the Sura. 9 Thus Ullm. als naheverwandte Götter. But Wahl, denen sie sich mit gottesdienstlichen Opfer näherten. Ad appropinquandum (magis ipsi Deo), by intercession. Mar. Beidh. SURA VI.–CATTLE [LXXXIX.] MECCA.–165 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful PRAISE be to God, who hath created the Heavens and the Earth, and ordained the darkness and the light! Yet unto their Lord do the infidels give peers! He it is who created you of clay then decreed the term of your life: and with Him is another prefixed term for the resurrection. Yet have ye doubts thereof!