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Handout #92 |
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Extracts from the surah of the Cow (Koran, Chapter II) |
| The Koran is divided into
surahs or chapters, often named after one subject with which they deal.
The name of the second surah comes from vv.63f ., which describe the
sacrifice of a cow by Moses.
It is not piety that you turn your faces to the East and to the West. True piety is this: to believe in God, and the Last Day, the angels, the Book and the Prophets, to give of one's substance, however cherished to kinsmen, and orphans, the needy, the traveler, beggars, and to ransom the slave, to perform the prayer, to pay the alms. And they who fulfill their covenant when they have engaged in a covenant, and endure with fortitude misfortune, hardship and peril, these are they who are true in their faith, these are the truly god fearing (172). The people were one nation: then God sent forth the Prophets, good tidings to bear and warning, and he sent down with them the book with the truth, that he might decide between the people touching their differences; and only those who had been given it were at variance upon it, after the clear signs had come to them being insolent one to another, then God guided those who believed to the truth, touching which they were at variance, by his leave; and God guides whomsoever he will to a straight path (209). God there is no god but he, the Living, the everlasting. Slumber seizes him not, neither sleep; to him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth. Who is there that shall intercede with him save by his leave? He knows what lies before them and what is after them, and they comprehend not anything of his knowledge save such as he wills. His throne comprises the heavens and earth; the preserving of them oppresses him not; he is the all-high, the all-glorious (256) The Koran, trs. A. J. Arberry, OUP - 1964 |
