CHAPTER XXXV

ENTITLED, THE CREATOR: REVEALED AT MECCA

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD

1

Praise be unto God, the Creator of heaven and earth; who maketh the angels his messengers, furnished with two, and three, and four pair of wings: 1 God maketh what he pleaseth unto his creatures; for God is almighty. The mercy which God shall freely bestow on mankind, there is none who can withhold; and what he shall withhold, there is none who can bestow, besides him: and he is the mighty, the wise. O men, remember the favor of God toward you: is there any creator, besides God, who provideth food for you from heaven and earth? There is no God but he: how therefore are ye turned aside from acknowledging his unity? If they accuse thee of imposture, apostles before thee have also been accused of imposture; and unto God shall all things return.

O men, verily the promise of God is true: let not therefore the present life deceive you, neither let the deceiver deceive you concerning God: for Satan is an enemy unto you; wherefore hold him for an enemy: he only inviteth his confederates to be the inhabitants of hell. For those who believe not there is prepared a severe torment: but for those who shall believe and do that which is right is prepared mercy and a great reward. Shall he therefore for whom his evil work hath been prepared, and who imagineth it to be good, be as he who is rightly disposed and discerneth the truth? Verily God will cause to err whom he pleaseth, and will direct whom he pleaseth. Let not thy soul therefore be spent in sighs for their sakes, on account of their obstinacy; for God well knoweth that which they do.

It is God who sendeth the winds, and raiseth a cloud; and

1 That is, some angels have a greater and some a lesser number of wings, according to their different orders, the words not being designed to express the particular number. Gabriel is said to have appeared to Mohammed, on the night he made his journey to heaven, with no less than six hundred wings.

THE MOHAMMEDANS' CENTRAL SPOT OF EARTH.

The rock enshrined within the Temple of Jerusalem, the scene of Abraham's sacrifice, sacred to Jews, Christians, and Mohammedans.