the road and them that ask and for the freeing of slaves, and who is instant in prayer, and giveth alms; and those who fulfill their covenant when they covenant, and the patient in adversity and affliction and in time of violence; these are they who are true, and these are they who fear God.

Say: We believe in God, and what hath been sent down to thee, and what was sent down to Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes of Israel, and what was given to Moses, and to Jesus, and the prophets from their Lord we make no distinction between any of them and to Him are we resigned: and whoso desireth other than Islam1 for a religion, it shall certainly not be accepted from him, and in the life to come he shall be among the losers.

When the call to prayer soundeth on the Day of Congregation, then hasten to remember God, and abandon business; that is better for you if ye only knew: and when prayer is done, disperse in the land and seek of the bounty of God.

3

Turn thy face toward the Sacred Mosque; wherever ye be, turn your faces thitherwards.

Give alms on the path of God, and let not your hands cast you into destruction; but do good, for God loveth those who do good; and accomplish the pilgrimage and the visit to God: but if ye be besieged, then send what is easiest as an offering. They will ask thee what they shall expend in alms; say, the surplus.

If ye give alms openly, it is well; but if ye conceal it, and give it to the poor, it is better for you and will take away from you some of your sins: and God knoweth what ye do.

Kind speech and forgiveness is better than alms which vexation followeth; and God is rich and ruthful.

28. Fasts and Pilgrimages 4

O ye who believe, there is prescribed for you the fast as it was prescribed for those before you; maybe ye will fear God

1 That is, Resignation. 3 At Mecca.

2 Al Jum'a, Friday, the Mohammedan Sabbath.
4 Lane-Poole, Speeches and Table-talk, pp. 135-137.

for a certain number of days, but he among you who is sick or on a journey may fast a like number of other days. And for those who are able to fast and do not, the expiation is feeding a poor man; but he who voluntarily doeth a good act, it is better for him; and to fast is better for you, if ye only knew. The month of Ramadan, wherein the Koran was sent down for guidance to men, and for proofs of the guidance, and the distinguishing of good and evil; whoso among you seeth this month, let him fast in it; but he who is sick or on a journey, a like number of other days.

...

Proclaim among the people a pilgrimage: let them come on foot and on every fleet camel to be present at its benefits to them, and to make mention of God's name at the appointed days over the beasts with which He hath provided them: then eat thereof, and feed the poor and needy; then let them end the neglect of their persons, and pay their vows, and make the circuit of the ancient House.1

Do ye place the giving drink to the pilgrims, and the visiting of the Sacred Mosque, on the same level with him who believeth in God and the Last Day, and fighteth on the path of God? They are not equal in the sight of God.

29. Prohibitions 2

Fight in the path of God with those who fight with you - but exceed not; verily God loveth not those who exceed. And kill them wheresoever ye find them, and thrust them out from whence they thrust you out; for dissent is worse than slaughter; but fight them not at the Sacred Mosque, unless they fight you there: but if they fight you, then kill them: such is the reward of the infidels! But if they desist, then verily God is forgiving and merciful. But fight them till there be no dissent, and the worship be only to God; but, if they desist, then let there be no hostility save against the transgressors.

1 The Kaaba, or chief sanctuary of Mecca.

2 Lane-Poole, Letters and Table-talk, pp. 137-138.

They will ask thee of the sacred month,1 and fighting therein; say, Fighting therein is a great sin; but turning people away from God's path, and disbelief in Him and in the Sacred Mosque, and turning His people out therefrom, is a greater sin in God's sight, and dissent is a greater sin than slaughter.

Forbidden to you is that which dieth of itself, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that which is dedicated to other than God, and what is strangled, and what is killed by a blow, or by falling, and what is gored, and what wild beasts have preyed on, and what is sacrificed to idols; and to divine by the divination of arrows, that is transgression in you.

Make not God the butt of your oaths, that ye may be pious and fear God, and make peace among men, for God heareth and knoweth.

O ye who believe, verily wine and gambling and statues and divining arrows are only an abomination of the Devil's making: avoid them then; haply ye may prosper.

30. Civil and Criminal Law 2

It is not for a believer to kill a believer, but by mistake; and whoso killeth a believer by mistake must free a believing slave; and the blood-price must be paid to his family, unless they remit it in alms. . . . And whoso killeth a believer on purpose, his reward is hell, to abide therein forever, and God will be wroth with him, and curse him, and prepare for him a mighty torment.

O ye who believe! Retaliation is prescribed for you for the slain: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, the woman for the woman, yet for him who is remitted aught by his brother, shall be prosecution in reason and payment in generosity. . .

The man thief and the woman thief, cut off the hands of both in requital for what they have done: an example from God, for God is mighty and wise.

1 The month of Ramadan

2 Lane-Poole, Speeches and Table-talk, pp. 139-143.

They who practice usury shall not rise again, save as he riseth whom the Devil hath smitten with his touch; that is because they say, "Selling is only like usury": but God hath allowed selling, and forbidden usury.

Marry those of you who are single, and the good among your servants, and your handmaidens. If they be poor, God of his bounty will enrich them, and God is liberal and wise. And let those who cannot find a match, live in chastity, till God of His bounty shall enrich them.

Wed not idolatrous women until they believe, for surely a believing handmaiden is better than an idolatress, although she captivate you. And wed not idolaters until they believe, for a believing slave is better than the idolater, although he charm you. Divorce may be twice: then take wives in reason or let them go with kindness. . . . And for the divorced there should be a maintenance in reason: this is a duty on those who fear God....

It is prescribed for you that, when one of you is at the point of death, if he leave property, the legacy is to his parents and to his kindred in reason a duty upon those that fear God....

These are God's statutes, and whoso obeyeth God and His prophet He will bring him into gardens, whereunder rivers flow, to abide therein for aye - that is the great prize! But whoso rebelleth against God and His prophet, and transgresseth His statutes, He will bring him into fire, to dwell therein for aye; and his shall be a shameful torment.

31. Traditional Sayings 1

When God created the creation, He wrote a book, which is near Him upon His throne; and what is written in it is this: "Verily my compassion overcometh my wrath."

Say not, if people do good to us, we will do good to them, and if people oppress us, we will oppress them: but resolve

1 Lane-Poole, Speeches and Table-talk, pp. 147-182.

that if people do good to you, you will do good to them, and if they oppress you, oppress them not again.

The most excellent of all actions is to befriend anyone on God's account, and to be at enmity with whosoever is the enemy of God.

When a Moslem performeth the ablution, it washeth from his face those faults which he may have cast his eyes upon; and when he washeth his hands, it removeth the faults they may have committed, and when he washeth his feet, it dispelleth the faults toward which they may have carried him; so that he will rise up in purity from the place of ablution.

A man's giving in alms one piece of silver in his lifetime is better for him than giving one hundred when about to die. Feed the hungry, visit the sick, and free the captive if he be unjustly bound.

A keeper of fasts, who doth not abandon lying and slandering, God careth not about his leaving off eating and drinking.

Read the Koran constantly: I sware by Him in the hands of whose might is my life, verily the Koran runneth away faster than a camel which is not tied by the leg.

The Prophet hath cursed ten persons on account of wine: one, the first extractor of the juice of the grape for others; the second for himself; the third the drinker of it; the fourth the bearer of it; the fifth the person to whom it is brought; the sixth the waiter; the seventh the seller of it; the eighth the eater of its price; the ninth the buyer of it; the tenth that person who hath purchased it for another.

Merchants shall be raised up liars on the Day of Resurrection, except he who abstaineth from that which is unlawful, and doth not swear falsely, but speaketh truth as to the price of his goods.

The taker of interest and the giver of it, and the writer of its papers and the witness to it, are equal in crime.

The bringers of grain to the city to sell at a cheap rate gain immense advantage by it, and he who keepeth back grain in order to sell at a high rate is cursed.