Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 6.djvu/114

ⅽⅷ creator and controller of everything. Description of the last judgment. All souls driven in troops to heaven or to hell.

ⅩⅬ. (Mecca.)

Attributes of God. Mohammed encouraged by the fate of other nations who rejected their apostles. The angels’ prayer for the believers. Despair in hell of the idolaters. The terrors of the judgment day. God alone the omniscient judge. The vestiges of former nations are still visible in the land to warn the people. The story of Moses and Pharaoh: the latter wishes to kill Moses; but a secret believer makes a long appeal: Pharaoh bids Hâmân construct a tower to mount up to the God of Moses. God saves the believer, and Pharaoh is ruined by his own devices. Mutual recrimination of the damned. Exhortation to patience and praise. Those who wrangle about God rebuked. The certain coming of the Hour. The unity of God asserted and His attributes enumerated. Idolatry forbidden. The conception, birth, life, and death of man. Idolaters shall find out their error in hell. Mohammed encouraged to wait for the issue. Cattle to ride on and to eat are signs of God’s providence. The example of the nations who perished of old for rejecting the Apostle.

ⅩⅬⅠ. (Mecca.)

The Meccans are called on to believe the Qurʼân. The creation of the heavens and the earth. Warning from the fate of ʿÂd and Thamûd. The very skins of the unbelievers shall bear witness against them on the day of judgment. Punishment of those who reject the Qurʼân. The angels descend and encourage those who believe. Precept to return good for evil. Refuge to be sought with God against temptation from the devil. Against sun and moon worship. The angels praise God, though the idolaters are too proud to do so. The quickening of the earth with rain is a sign. The Qurʼân a confirmation of previous scriptures. If it had been revealed in a foreign tongue the people would have objected that they could not understand it, and that the prophet being an Arab should have had a revelation in his own language. Moses’ scripture was also the subject of dispute. God is omniscient. The false gods will desert their worshippers at the resurrection. Man’s ingratitude for God’s help in trouble. God is sufficient witness of the truth.