Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 10. AL-JABBAR, by EDWIN ARNOLD


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PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 10. AL-JABBAR, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sura the nine and fiftieth: 'fear ye god
Last Line: Bend, though more stubborn than the hills.
Subject(s): God; Islam


The "All-Compelling! golden is that verse,
Which doth His title—Al-Jabbâr—rehearse.

Sura the nine and fiftieth: "Fear ye God,
Oh, true believers! and let every soul
Heed what it doth to-day, because to-morrow
The same thing it shall find gone forward there
To meet and make and judge it. Fear ye God,
For He knows whatsoever deeds ye do.
Be not as those who have forgotten Him,
For they are those who have forgot themselves;
They are the evil-doers: not for such,
And for the heritors of Paradise,
Shall it be equal; Paradise is kept
For those thrice blessed who have ears to hear.

Lo! had we sent "the Book" unto Our Hills,
Our hills had bowed their crests in reverence,
And opened to the heart their breasts of rock
To take Heaven's message. Fear ye Him who knows
Present, and Past, and Future; fear ye Him
Who is the Only, Holy, Faithful Lord,
Glorious and good, compelling to His will
All things, for all things He hath made and rules.

So rules, Al-Jabbâr; make our ills
Bend, though more stubborn than the hills.





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