Sura  28 - The Story
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SURA XXVIII (28) - THE STORY    (Mecca - 88 Verses)            LXXXIX -  247   
 
       In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
 
       Ta. Sin. Mim.  These are the signs of the lucid Book.
 
       We will recite to thee portions of the History of Moses and Pharaoh with
truth, for the teaching of the faithful.
 
       Now Pharaoh lifted himself up in the earth, and divided his people into
parties:  one portion of them he brought low - He slew their male children,
and let their females only live; for he was one of those who wrought disorders.
 
       And we were minded to shew favour to those who were brought lo in the
land, and to make them spiritual chief, and to make them spiritual chiefs, and
to make them Pharaoh's heirs,
 
       And to stablish them in the land; and to make Pharaoh and Haman and
their hosts, the eye-witnesses of what they dreaded from them.
 
       And we said by revelation to the mother of Moses, "Give him suck; and if
thou fearest for him, launch him on the sea; and fear not, neither fret; for we
will restore him to thee, and make him one of the apostles."
 
       And Pharaoh's family took him up to be a foe and a sorrow to them, for
sinners were Pharaoh and Haman and their hosts!
 
       And Pharaoh's wife said, "Joy of the eye to me and thee! put him not to
death: haply he will be useful to us, or we may adopt him as a son."  But they
knew not what they did.
 
       And the heart of Moses' mother became a blank through fear:  and almost
had she discovered him, but that we girt up her heart with constancy, in order
that she might be one of those who believe.
 
28:10  She said to his sister, "Follow him." And she watched him from afar:
and they perceived it not.
 
       And we caused him to refuse the nurses, until his sister came and said,
Shall I point out to you the family of a house that will rear him for you, and
will be careful of him?
 
       So we restored him to his mother, to be the joy of her eyes, and that
she
might not fret, and that she might know that the promise of God was true.  But
most men knew it not.
 
       And when he had reached his age of strength, and had become a man, we
bestowed on him wisdom and knowledge; for thus do we reward the righteous.
 
       And he entered a city at the time when its inhabitants would not observe
him, and found therein two men fights:  the one, of his own people; the other,
of his enemies.  And he who was of his own people asked his help against him
who was of his enemies.  And Moses smote him with his fist and slew him.  Said
he, "This is a work of Satan; for he is an enemy, a manifest misleader."
 
       He said, "O my Lord, I have sinner to mine own hurt: forgive me."  So
God forgave him; for He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.
 
       He said, "Lord, because thou hast showed me this grace, I will never
again be a helper of the wicked."
 
       And in the city at noon he was full of fear, casting furtive glances
round him:  and lo!  the man whom he had helped the day before, cried out to
him again for help.  Said Moses to him, "Thou art plainly a most depraved
person."
 
       And when he would have laid violent hands on him who was their common
foe, he said to him, "O Moses, dost thou desire to slay me, as thou slayedst a
man yesterday?  Thou desirest only to become a tyrant in this land, and
desirest not to become a peacemaker."
 
       But a man came running up from the city's end.  He said, "O Moses, of a
truth, the nobles consult to slay thee - Begone then - I counsel thee as a
friend."
 
28:20  So forth he went from it in fear, looking warily about him.  He said,
"O Lord, deliver me from the unjust people."
 
       And when he was journeying toward Madian, he said, "Haply my Lord will
direct me in an even path."
 
       And when he arrived at the water of Madian, he found at it a company of
men watering.
 
       And he found beside them, two women keeping back their flock:  "Why do
ye," said he, "thus?"  They said "We shall not water till the shepherds shall
have driven off; for our father is very aged."
 
       So he watered for them - then retired to the shade and said, 'O my Lord,
of the good thou hast caused me to meet with I stand in need."
 
       And one of them came to him, walking bashfully.  Said she, "My father
calleth thee, that he may pay thee wages for thy watering for us."  And when he
came to him and had told him his story, "Fear not," said he, "thou hast escaped
from an unjust people."
 
       One of them said, "O my father, hire him: for the best thou canst hire
is the strong, the trusty."
 
       He said, "Truly to one of these my two daughters I desire to marry thee,
if for eight years thou wilt be my hired servant: and if thou fulfil ten, it
shall be of thine own accord, for I wish not to deal hardly with thee.  Thou
wilt find me, if God will, one of the upright."
 
       He said, "Be it so between me and thee:  Whichever of the two terms I
fulfil, there will be no injustice to me.  And God is witness of what we say."
 
       And when Moses had fulfilled the term, and was journeying with his
family, he perceived a fire on the mountain side.  He said to his family, "Wait
ye, for I perceive a fire.  Haply I may you tidings from it, or a brand from
the fire to warm you."
 
28:30  And when he came up to it, a Voice cried to him out of the bush from the
right side of the valley in the sacred hollow, "O Moses, I truly am God, the
Lord of the Worlds:
 
       Throw down now thy rod."  And when he saw it move as though it were a
serpent, the retreated and fled and returned not.  "O Moses," cried the Voice,
"draw near and fear not, for thou art in safety.
 
       Put thy hand into thy bosom; it shall come forth white, but unharmed:
and draw back thy hand to thee without fear.  These shall be two signs from thy
Lord to Pharaoh and his nobles; for they are a perverse people.
 
       He said, "O my Lord! truly I have slain one of them, therefore fear I
lest they slay me.
 
       My brother Aaron is clearer of speech than I.  Send him, therefore, with
me as a help, and to make good my cause, for I fear lest they treat me as an
imposter."
 
       He said, "We will strengthen thine arm with thy brother, and we will
give power unto you both, and they shall not equal you in our signs. Ye twain
and they who shall follow you, shall gain the day."
 
       And when Moses came to him with our demonstrative signs they said, "This
is nought but magical device.  We never heard the like among our sires of old."
 
        And Moses said, "My Lord best knoweth on whom He hath bestowed His
guidance, and whose shall be the recompense of the abode of Paradise.  Verily,
the wicked shall not prosper."
 
       And Pharaoh said, "O ye nobles, ye have no other God that I know of but
myself.  Burn me then, Haman, bricks of clay, and build me a tower that I may
mount up to the God of Moses, for in sooth, I deem him a liar."
 
       And he and his hosts behaved themselves proudly and unjustly on the
earth, and thought that they should never be brought back to us.
 
28:40  But we seized on him and his hosts and cast them into the sea:
Behold, then, the end of the wrongful doers:
 
       And we made them imams who invite to the fire of hell, and on the day of
Resurrection they shall not be helped.
 
       We followed them with a curse in this world, and covered shall they be
with shame on the day of Resurrection.
 
       And after we had destroyed the former generations, we gave the book of
the Law to Moses for man's enlightening, and a guidance and a mercy, that haply
they might reflect.
 
       And thou wast not on the western slope of Sinai when we laid his charge
on Moses, nor wast thou one of the witnesses;
 
       But we raised up generations after Moses, men whose days were
lengthened; neither didst thou dwell among the inhabitants of Madian to
rehearse to them our signs, but we sent Apostles to them.
 
       Nor wast thou on the slope of Sinai when we called to Moses, but it is
of the mercy of thy Lord that thou warnest a people, to whom no warner had come
before thee, to the intent that they should reflect:
 
       And that they should not say when a calamity shall befal them for the
previous handy work, "O our Lord! why hast thou not sent an Apostle to us?
Then we should have followed thy signs and have been of the believers."
 
       Yet when the truth came to them from our very presence, they said,
"Unless the like powers be given to him that were given to Moses...." But did
they not disbelieve in what of old was given to Moses?  They said, "Two works
of sorcery have helped each other;" and they said, "We disbelieve them both."
 
       Say:  Bring then a Book from before God which shall be a better tuide
than these, that I may follow it; if ye speak the truth.
 
28:50  And if they answer thee not, then know that verily they are following
their own caprices:  and who goeth more widely astray that he who followeth his
own caprice without guidance from God? for God guideth not the wicked.
 
       And now have we caused our word to come unto them, that they may be
warned:
 
       They to whom we gave the Scriptures for it, do in it believe.
 
       And when it is recited to them they say, "We believe in it, for it is
the truth from our Lord.  We were Muslims before it came."
 
       Twice shall their reward be given them, for that they suffered with
patience, and repelled evil with good, and gave alms out of that with which we
provided them.
 
       And when they hear light discourse they withdraw from it, and say, "Our
works for us and your works for you!  Peace be on you!  We are not in quest of
fools!"
 
       Thou truly canst not guide whom thou desirest; but God guideth whom He
will; and He best knoweth those who yield to guidance.
 
       But they say, "If we follow the way in which thou art guided, we shall
be driven from our country." But have we not established for them a sacred
secure precinct, to which fruits of every kind, our gift for their support, are
gathered together?  But most of them have no knowledge.
 
       And how many cities have we destroyed that flourished in wanton ease!
And these their dwellings have not been inhabited since their time save by a
few, and it is we who became their heirs.
 
       But thy Lord did not destroy the cities till He had sent an apostle to
their mother-city to rehearse our signs to its people:  nor did we destroy the
cities unless its people were unjust.
 
28:60  And all that hath been bestowed on you is merely for enjoyment and pomp
of this life present:  but that which is with God is better and more lasting.
Will ye not be wise?
 
       Shall he then to whom we have promised a goodly promise and who
obtaineth it, be as he on whom we have bestowed the enjoyments of this life
present, and who on the day of Resurrection shall be brought up for punishment?
 
       On that day will God cry to them and say, "Where are my companions, as
ye supposed them?"
 
       They on whom doom shall be justly pronounced will say, "O our Lord!
these are they whom we led astray:  we led them astray even as we had been led
astray ourselves:  Thou hast no cause of blame against us:  It was not we whom
they worshipped.
 
       And it shall be said, "Call now on those whom ye made God's companions:"
and they shall call on them, but they will not answer them.  And they shall see
the punishment, and wish that they had been guided aright.
 
       And on that day shall God call to them and say, "How answered ye the
apostles?"
 
       But on that day they shall be too blinded with confusion to give an
account, nor shall they ask it of one another.
 
       Yet as to him who shall turn to God and believe and do the thing that is
right, it may come to pass that he shall be among the happy.
 
       And thy Lord createth what he will and hath a free choice.  But they,
the false gods, have no power to choose.  Glory be to God! and high let him be
exalted above those whom they associate with him.
 
       And thy Lord knoweth what their breasts conceal and what they bring to
light.
 
28:70  And He is God!  There is no god but He!  His, all praise in this life
and in the next, and His the power supreme, and to Him shall ye be brought
back!
 
       Say:  What think ye?  If God should enshroud you with a long night until
the day of resurrection, what god beside God would bring you light?  Will ye
not then hearken?
 
       Say:  What think ye?  If God should make it one long day for you until
the day of resurrection, what god but God could bring you the night in which to
take your rest?  Will ye not then see?
 
       Of His mercy he hath made for you the night that ye may take your rest
in it; and the day that ye may seek what ye need out of his bounteous supplies,
and that ye may give thanks.
 
       One day God will call to them and say, "Where are my companions as ye
supposed them?
 
       And we will bring up a witness out of every nation and say, "Bring your
proofs."  And they shall know that the truth is with God alone, and the gods of
their own devising shall desert them.
 
       Now Korah was of the people of Moses:  but he behaved haughtily toward
them; for we had given him such treasure that its keys would have burdened a
company of men of strength.  When his people said to him, "Exult not, for God
loveth not those who exult;
 
       But seek, by means of what God hath given thee, to attain the future
Mansion; and neglect not thy part in this world, but be bounteous to others as
God hath been bounteous to thee, and seek not to commit excesses on the earth;
for God loveth not those who commit excesses:"
 
       He said, "It hath been given me only on account of the knowledge that is
in me." Did he not know that God had destroyed before him generations that were
mightier than he in strength and had amassed more abundant wealth?  But the
wicked shall not be asked of their crimes.
 
       And Korah went forth to his people in his pomp.  Those who were greedy
for this present life said, "Oh that we had the like of that which hath been
bestowed on Korah!  Truly he is possessed of great good fortune.
 
28:80  But they to whom knowledge had been given said, "Woe to you! the reward
of God is better for him who believeth and worketh righteousness, and none
shall win it but those who have patiently endured."
 
       And we clave the earth for him and for his palace, and he had no forces,
in the place of God, to help him, nor was he among those who are succoured.
 
       And in the morning those who the day before had coveted his lot said,
"Aha! God enlargeth supplies to whom he pleaseth of his servants, or is
sparing.  Had not God been gracious to us, He had caused it to cleave for us.
Aha! the ungrateful can never prosper."
 
       As to this future mansion, we will bestow it on those who seek not to
exalt them in the earth or to do wrong:  And there is a happy issue for the
God-fearing.
 
       Whoso doeth good shall have reward beyond its merits, and whoso doeth
evil, they who do evil shall be rewarded only as they shall have wrought.
 
       He who hath sanctioned the Koran to thee will certainly bring thee to
thy home.  Say:  My Lord best knoweth who hath guidance, and who is in
undoubted error.
 
       Thou didst never expect that the Book would be given thee.  Of thy
Lord's mercy only hath it been sent down.  Be not thou helpful then to the
unbelievers:
 
       Neither let them turn thee aside from the signs of God after they have
been sent down to thee, but bid men to thy Lord: and be not among those who add
gods to God:
 
       And call not on any other god with God.  There is no god but He!
Everything shall perish except Himself!  Judgment is His, and to Him shall ye
return!
-- Sura  28 - The Story