Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 6.djvu/366

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24O THE QUR AN. XIV, 13-22.

mortals like yourselves ; but God is gracious unto whomsoever He will of His servants, and it is not for us to bring you an authority, save by His per- mission ; but upon God do the believers rely!' [15] What ails us that we should not rely on God when He has guided us in our paths ? we will be surely patient in your hurting us ; for upon God rely those who do rely.

And those who misbelieved said to their apostles, ' We will drive you forth from our land ; or else ye shall return to our faith !' And their Lord inspired them, * We will surely destroy the unjust ; and we will make you to dwell in the land after them. That is for him who fears my place and fears my threat !'

Then they asked for an issue ; and disappointed was every rebel tyrant! Behind such a one is hell, and he shall be given to drink liquid pus 1 ! [20] He shall try to swallow it, but cannot gulp it down ; and death shall come upon him from every place, and yet he shall not die ; and behind him shall be rigorous woe !

The likeness of those who disbelieve on their Lord, — their works are as ashes whereon the wind blows fiercely on a stormy day. They have no power at all over that which they have earned. — That is the remote error !

Dost not thou see that God created the heavens and the earth in truth ? If He please He can take

1 Sale and Rodwell have softened down this filthy expression, one rendering it 'filthy water' and the other 'tainted water;' the Arabic, however, will not bear this rendering. The first word meaning ' water ' or c liquid/ and the second, in apposition with it, ' pus/ or purulent matter oozing from a corpse or a sore.

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