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XLII, 1-9.
THE CHAPTER OF COUNSEL.
205
THE CHAPTER OF COUNSEL.
(XLII. Mecca.) In the name of the merciful and compassionate God.
H. M. 'H. S. Q. Thus does God, the mighty, the wise, inspire thee and those before thee.
His is what is in the heavens and what is in the earth, and He is the high, the mighty !
The heavens well-nigh cleave asunder from above them; and the angels celebrate the praises of their Lord, and ask forgiveness for those who are on the earth. Ay, verily, God, He is the forgiving and merciful! but those who take beside Him patrons, God watches over them, and thou hast not charge over them.
[5] Thus have we revealed an Arabic Qur'ân, that thou mayest warn the Mother of cities 1 and all around it; and warn them of a day of gathering, there is no doubt therein ;-a part in Paradise and a part in the blaze.
But had God pleased He would have made them one nation; but He makes whom He will enter into His mercy; and the unjust have neither patron nor. help. Do they take other patrons besides Him, when God He is the patron, and He quickens the dead and He is mighty over all ?
But whatsoever ye dispute about, the judgment of it is God's. There is God for you my Lord! upon Him do I rely, and unto Him I turn repentant. The originator of the heavens and the earth, He
1 Mecca.
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