Читать книгу The Holy Qur-an: Text, Translation and Commentary - Abdullah Yusuf Ali - Страница 16

C. 16.—Behold! There was born into the world of sense

The unlettered Apostle, the comely child,

Noble of birth, but nobler still

In the grace and wisdom of human love

And human understanding; dowered with the key

Which opened to him the enchanted palace

Of nature; marked out to receive—

To receive and preach in burning words

The spiritual truth and message of the Most High.

C. 17.—Others before him had been born

In darkness, beyond the reach

Of history; others again it pleased God

To send as Messengers, preaching, working

In the dim twilight of history,

Wherein men fashion legends

After their own hearts, and dimly seek

A light afar, remote from the lives,

Mean and sordid, such as they knew.

C. 18.—But Muḥammad came in the fullest blaze

Of history; with no learning he put to shame

The wisdom of the learned; with pasture folk

He lived and worked, and won their love; in hills

And valleys, caves and deserts, he wandered,

But never lost his way to truth and righteousness;

From his pure and spotless heart the Angels washed

Off the dust that flew around him; through the ways

Of crooked city folk, he walked upright and straight,

And won from them the ungrudging name

Of the Man of Faith who never broke his word.

C. 19.—To the Praiseworthy indeed be praise:

Born in the Sacred City he destroyed

Its superstition; loyal to his people to the core,

He stood for all humanity; orphan-born

And poor, he envied not the rich,

And made his special care all those

Whom the world neglected or oppressed,—

Orphans, women, slaves, and those in need

Of food or comforts, mental solace, spiritual strength,

Or virtues down-trodden in the haunts of men.

C. 20.—His mother and his foster-mother

Loved and wondered at the child;

His grandfather, ’Abdul Muṭṭalib,

Of all his twice-eight children and their offspring,

Loved him best and all his sweet and gentle ways;

His uncle Abu Ṭālib, loth though he was

To give up the cult of his fathers,

Knew well the purity of Muḥammad’s

Mind and soul, and was his stoutest champion

When the other chiefs of Mecca sought to kill

The man who challenged in his person

Their narrow Pagan selfish lives.

C. 21.—To his cousin ’Alī, the well-beloved,

Born when he was thirty, he appeared

As the very pattern of a perfect man,

As gentle as he was wise and true and strong,

The one in whose defence and aid

He spent his utmost strength and skill,

Holding life cheap in support of a cause so high,

And placing without reserve his chivalry,

His prowess, his wit and learning, and his sword

At the service of this mighty Messenger of God.