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LVI, 67-90.
THE CHAPTER OF THE INEVITABLE.
265
Have ye considered the water which ye drink? Do ye make it come down from the clouds, or do
we make it come down ? If we pleased we could make it pungent-why then
do ye not give thanks ? [70] Have ye considered the fire which ye strike ? Do ye produce the tree that gives it', or do we
produce it? We have made it a memorial and a chattel for the
traveller of the waste ? Then celebrate the grand name of thy Lord ! So I will not swear by the positions of the stars ;
[75] and, verily, it is a grand oath if ye did but know—that, verily, this is the honourable Qur'ân
-in the laid-up Book ! Let none touch it but the purified ! A revelation from the Lord of the worlds. [80] What! this new discourse will ye despise ? And make for your provision, that you call it a
lie? Why then—when it comes up to the throat, and ye
at that time look on, though we are nearer to him than you are, but ye cannot see, [85] why, if ye are not to be judged, do ye not send it back, if
ye do tell the truth ? But either, if he be of those brought nigh to God,--then rest and fragrance and the garden
of pleasure ! Or, if he be of the fellows of the right! [90] then
Peace to thee!' from the fellows of the right!
The ancient Arabs produced fire by the friction of a stick in a hollow piece of wood. Cf. p. 167, line 25.
2 The soul of a dying man.
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