Nor they that deviate! Amen.^179
"In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds!
The Compassionate, the Merciful!
King on the day of judgment!
Thee only do we worship, and to Thee do we cry for help.
Guide Thou us on the right path,
The path of those to whom Thou art gracious;
Not of those with whom Thou art angered,
Nor of those who go astray."^180
We add the most recent version in prose:
"In the name of the merciful and compassionate God.Praise belongs to God, the Lord of the worlds, the merciful, the compassionate, the
ruler of the day of judgment! Thee we serve and Thee we ask for aid. Guide us in the right
path, the path of those Thou art gracious to; not of those Thou art wroth with; nor of those
who err."^181
As this Sura invites a comparison with the Lord’s Prayer infinitely to the advantage of the
latter, so do the Koran’s descriptions of Paradise when contrasted with St. John’s vision of the
heavenly Jerusalem:
"Joyous on that day shall be the inmates of Paradise in their employ;
In shades, on bridal couches reclining, they and their spouses:
Therein shall they have fruits, and whatever they require —
’Peace!’ shall be the word on the part of a merciful Lord.
But be ye separated this day, O ye sinners!"^182
"The sincere servants of God
A stated banquet shall they have
Of fruits; and honored shall they be
In the gardens of delight,
Upon couches face to face.
A cup shall be borne round among them from a fountain,
Limpid, delicious to those who drink;
It shall not oppress the sense, nor shall they therewith be drunken,
And with them are the large-eyed ones with modest refraining glances,
fair like the sheltered egg."^183(^179) Translated by Lieut. Burton.
(^180) Rodwell, The Korân (2nd ed., 1876), p. 10.
(^181) E. H. Palmer, The Qur’ân, Oxford, 1880, Part I., p. 1.
(^182) · Sura 36 (in Rodwell, p. 128).
(^183) · The ostrich egg carefully protected from dust. Sura 37 (in Rodwell, p 69). Brides and wives always figure in the
Mohammedan Paradise.