________________
THE QUR'ÂN.
III, 188-198.
created this in vain. We celebrate Thy praise; then keep us from the torment of the fire! Lord! verily, whomsoever Thou hast made to enter the fire, Thou hast disgraced him; and the unjust shall have none to help them.
[190] Lord! verily, we heard a crier calling to the faith, “Believe in your Lord,” and we did believe. Lord! forgive us our sins and cover our offences, and let us die with the righteous. Lord! and bring us what Thou hast promised us by Thy apostles, and disgrace us not upon the resurrection day; for, verily, Thou dost not break Thy promises !' And the Lord shall answer them, ‘I waste not the works of a worker amongst you, be it male or female,-one of you is from the other.
Those who fled, and were turned out of their houses, and were harmed in my way, and who fought and were killed, I will cover their offences, and I will make them enter into gardens beneath which rivers flow.' [195] A reward from God; for God, with Him are the best of rewards.
Let it not deceive you that those who misbelieve go to and fro in the earth. It is a slight possession, and then their resort is Hell; an evil couch shall it be. But those who fear their Lord, for them are gardens beneath which rivers flow, and they shall dwell therein for aye,-an entertainment from God; and that which is with God is best for the righteous.
Verily, of the people of the Book are some who do believe in God, and in what has been revealed to
1 This passage was revealed in answer to the objection of Umm Salma, one of Mohammed's wives, when the women who fled with him were not mentioned as well as the men in the promised reward of the future life,
Digized by Google