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VII, 185-191. THE CHAPTER OF AL AARÂF.
whom God leads astray there is no guide for him! He leaves them in their rebellion, blindly wandering on.
They will ask you about the Hour, for what time it is fixed?—say, 'The knowledge thereof is only with my Lord; none shall manifest it at its time but He; it is heavy in the heavens and the earth, it will not come to you save on a sudden.'
They will ask as though thou wert privy to it, say, 'The knowledge thereof is only with God,'-but most folk do not know.
161
Say, 'I cannot control profit or harm for myself, save what God will. If I knew the unseen I should surely have much that is good, nor would evil touch me; I am but a warner and a herald of good tidings unto a people who believe.'
He it is who created you from one soul, and made therefrom its mate to dwell therewith; and when he covered her she bore a light burden and went about therewith; but when it grew heavy they called on God, Lord of them both, 'Surely if thou givest us a rightly-shaped child we shall of a surety be of those who thank.' [190] And when He gave them both a rightly-shaped child they joined partners with Him for that which He had given them, but exalted be God above that which they associate with Him'. Will they associate with Him those who cannot create aught,
This story is said to refer to Adam and Eve; the act of idolatry mentioned being the naming of their first son, at the instigation of Satan, 'Abd el 'Hareth, servant of 'Hareth,' instead of 'servant of God,' 'Hareth being Satan's name among the angels. The legend arose probably from a misunderstanding of the title given to Cain in the Bible, 'Obed Adâma, 'a tiller of the ground,' which would read word for word in Arabic 'Abd el 'Hareth.
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