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THE QUR'ÂN.
LXIX, 39-LXX, 4.
not see, [40] verily, it is the speech of a noble apostle; and it is not the speech of a poet :-little is it ye believe!
And it is not the speech of a soothsayer,-little is it that ye mind!-a revelation from the Lord of the worlds.
Why if he had invented against us any sayings, [45] we would have seized him by the right hand, then we would have cut his jugular vein; nor could any one of you have kept us off from him.
Verily, it is a memorial to the pious; and, verily, we know that there are amongst you those who say it is a lie; [50] and, verily, it is a source of sighing to the misbelievers; and, verily, is certain truth! Therefore celebrate the name of thy mighty Lord!
THE CHAPTER OF THE ASCENTS.
(LXX. Mecca.)
IN the name of the merciful and compassionate God.
An asker1 asked for torment that must befall, for the unbelievers; there is no repelling it; from God the Lord of the ascents 2, whereby ascend the angels
The person referred to is said to have been either Abu Gahl, who challenged Mohammed to cause a portion of the heaven to fall on them, see Chapter XXVI, verse 187, p. 97, or one Nadhr ibn el 'Hâreth, who said of Islâm, 'If this be the truth from Thee, then rain down on us stones from heaven!'
2 Either steps by which the prayers of the righteous or the angels ascend to heaven; or the word may refer to the various degrees of the angels, or to the seven heavens themselves. See Introduction, p. lxx.
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