Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 9.djvu/72

56 . (ⅩⅫ. Mecca.)

In the name of the merciful and compassionate God.

O ye folk ! fear your Lord. Verily, the earthquake of the Hour is a mighty thing.

On the day ye shall see it, every suckling woman shall be scared away from that to which she gave suck ; and every pregnant woman shall lay down her load ; and thou shalt see men drunken, though they be not drunken : but the torment of God is severe.

And amongst men is one who wrangles about God without knowledge, and follows every rebellious devil ; against whom it is written down that whoso takes him for a patron, verily, he will lead him astray, and will guide him towards the torment of the blaze !

O ye folk ! if ye are in doubt about the raising (of the dead), — verily, we created you from earth, then from a clot, then from congealed blood, then from a morsel, shaped or shapeless, that we may explain to you. And we make what we please rest in the womb until an appointed time; then we bring you forth babes ; then let you reach your full age ; and of you are some who die ; and of you are some who are kept back till the most decrepit age, till he knows no longer aught of knowledge. And ye see the earth parched, and when we send down water on it, it stirs and swells, and brings forth herbs of every beauteous kind.

That is because God, He is the truth, and because