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176
THE QUR'ÂN.
XXXVIII, 3-16.
is a magician, a liar!' What! does he make the gods to be one God? verily, this is a wondrous thing.
[5] And the chiefs of them went away: 'Go on and persevere in your gods; this is a thing designed; we never heard this in any other sect; this is nothing but a fiction! Has a reminder come down upon him from amongst us ?' nay, they are in doubt concerning my reminder ; nay, they have not yet tasted of my torment!
Have they the treasures of the mercy of thy mighty Lord, the giver ? or have they the kingdom of the heavens and of the earth, and what is between the two ?-then let them climb up the ropes thereof.
[10] Any host whatever of the confederates shall there be routed.
Before them did Noah's people, and 'Âd, and Pharaoh of the stakes call the apostles liars; and Thamud and the people of Lot, and the fellows of the Grove, they were the confederates too.
They all did naught but call the apostles liars, and just was the punishment! Do these 2 await aught else but one noise for which there shall be no pause ?
[15] But they say, 'O our Lord, hasten for us our share before the day of reckoning !
Be patient of what they say, and remember our servant David endowed with might; verily, he
'Some say this refers to the punishment which Pharaoh used to inflict upon those who had offended him, whom he used to tie to four stakes and then torture. Others take the expression to refer to the stability of Pharaoh's kingdom. The word in the original is applied to the pegs with which Arabs fasten their tents.
The Meccans.
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