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Professor of English Department of Humanities and Social Science |
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Home | HSS 211
Spring 1999 Dr. Lynch
Excerpts from THE KORAN
from Sura 47 (Muhammad) God [Allah] will bring to nothing the deeds of those who disbelieve and debar others from His path. As for the faithful who do good works and believe in what is revealed to Muhammad--which is the truth from their Lord--He will forgive them their sins and ennoble their state. (47:1) When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield strike off their heads and, when you have laid them low, bind your captives firmly. Then grant them their freedom or take ransom from them, until War shall lay down her burdens. (47:4) As for those who are slain in the cause of God, He will not allow their works to perish. He will vouchsafe them guidance and ennoble their state; He will admit the to the Paradise He has made known to them. (47:8) Have they never journeyed through the land and seen what was the end of those who have gone before them? God destroyed them utterly. A similar fate awaits the unbelievers, because God is the protector of the faithful: because the unbelievers have no protector. (47:10) This is the Paradise which the righteous have been promised. There shall flow in it rivers of purest water, and rivers of milk for ever fresh; rivers of wine delectable to those that drink it, and rivers of clearest honey. They shall eat therein of every fruit and receive forgiveness from their Lord. Is this the lot of those who shall abide in Hell for ever, and drink scalding water that will tear their bowels? (47:15) The life of this world is but
a sport and a pastime. He will reward you if you believe in Him and
guard yourself against evil. He does not ask for all your wealth.
If He demanded all and strongly pressed you, you would grow niggardly,
and this would show your malice. (47:37)
from Sura 56 (That Which is Coming) When the earth shakes and quivers, and the mountains crumble away and scatter abroad into fine dust, you shall be divided into three multitudes: those on the right (blessed shall be those on the right); those on the left (damned shall be those on the left); and those to the fore (foremost shall be those). (56:4) Those on the right hand--happy shall be those on the right hand! They shall recline on couches raised on high in the shade of thornless sidrs and clusters of talh; amidst gushing waters and abundant fruits, unforbidden, neverending. We created the houris and
made them virgins, loving companions for those on the right hand: a multitude
from the men of old, and a multitude from the later generations.
(56:27-32)
from Sura 4 (Women) Fear God, in whose name you plead with one another, and honour the mothers that bore you. God is ever watching you. (4:2) Give orphans the property which belongs to them. . . . If you fear you cannot treat orphans with fairness, then you may marry other women who seem good to you: one, two, three, or four of them. But if you fear that you cannot maintain equality among them, marry one only or any slave-girls you may own. This will make it easier for you to avoid injustice. (4:3) Men shall have a share in what their parents and kinsmen leave; and women shall have a share in what their parents and kinsmen leave: whether it be little or much, they shall be legally entitled to their share. (4:8) God has thus enjoined you concerning
your children:
He that obeys God and His apostle shall dwell for ever in gardens watered by running streams. This is the supreme triumph. But he that defies God and His apostle and transgresses His bounds, shall be cast into a Fire wherein he will abide for ever. A shameful punishment awaits him. (4:13) God forgives those who commit evil in ignorance and then quickly turn to Him in repentance. God will pardon them. God is all-knowing and wise. But he will not forgive those who do evil and, when death comes to them, say, "Now we repent!" Nor those who die unbelievers: for them we have prepared a woeful scourge. (4:18) Believers, it is unlawful for you to inherit the women of your deceased kinsmen against their will, or to bar them from re-marrying, in order that you may force them to give up a part of what you have given them, unless they be guilty of a proven crime. Treat them with kindness; for even if you dislike them, it may well be that you dislike a thing which God has meant for your own abundant good. (4:19) You shall not marry the women whom your fathers married: all previous such marriages excepted. That was an evil practice, indecent and abominable. (4:21) Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them. (4:34) Let those who would exchange the life of this world for the hereafter, fight for the cause of God; whoever fights for the cause of God, whether he dies or triumphs, We shall richly reward him. (4:74) For people that have faith and do good works, We shall admit them to gardens watered by running streams, and there they shall abide for ever. Such is God's true promise: and who has a truer word than God? (4:121) It shall not be in accordance
with your wishes, nor shall it be as the People of the Book desire.
He that does evil shall be requited with evil: he that shall find none
to protect or help him. But the believers who do good works, both
men and women, shall enter Paradise. They shall not suffer the least
injustice. (4:124)
from Sura 19 (Mary) And you shall recount in the
Book the story of Mary: how she left her people and betook herself to a
solitary place in the east.
She made a sign to [her people],
pointing to the child. But they replied; "How can we speak with a
babe in the cradle?"
from Sura 24 (Light) This is a chapter which we
have revealed and sanctioned, proclaiming in it clear revelations, so that
you may take heed.
Those that defame honourable women and cannot produce four witnesses shall be given eighty lashes. Do not accept their testimony ever after . . . (24:4) If a man accuses his wife but has no witnesses except himself, he shall swear four times by God that his charge is true, calling down upon himself the curse of God if he is lying. But if his wife swears four times by God that his charge is false and calls down His curse upon herself if it be true, she shall receive no punishment. (24:6-9) Unclean women are for unclean men, and unclean men for unclean women. But good women are for good men, and good men for good women. These shall be cleared of calumny; they shall be shown forgiveness, and a generous provision shall be made for them. (24:25) Enjoin believing women to turn their eyes away from temptation and to preserve their chastity; to cover their adornments (except such as are normally displayed); to draw their veils over their bosoms and not to reveal their finery except to their husbands, their fathers, their sons . . . And let them not stamp their feet when walking so as to reveal their hidden trinkets. (24:31) (N. J. Dawood's translation, Penguin
Classics edition, 1990)
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