Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen ... - Teachislam.com

Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen":
MUHAMMAD PROCLAIMS THE
PRESCRIPTIONS OF ISLAM
('Qur'an,' II, 166-75, 180-2, 186-93)
0 believers, eat of the good things wherewith
We have provided you, and give thanks
to God, if it be Him that you serve.
These things only has He forbidden you;
carrion, blood, the flesh of swine,
what has been hallowed to other than God.
Yet whoso is constrained, not desiring,
nor transgressing, no sin shall be on him;
God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.
Those who conceal what of the Book God has sent down
on them, and sell it for a little price-they shall eat naught
but the Fire in their bellies; God shall not
speak to them on the Day of Resurrection
neither purify them; there awaits them
a painful chastisement.
Those are they that have bought error at
the price of guidance, and chastisement at
the price of pardon; how patiently they
shall endure the Fire!
That, because God has sent down the Book
with the Truth, and those that are

at variance regarding the Book
are in wide schism.
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 traveller, beggars,
and to ransom the slave,
to perform the prayer, to pay the alms,
And they who fulfil 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 godfearing.
0 believers, prescribed for you is
retaliation, touching the slain;
freeman for freeman, slave for slave,
female for female. But if aught is pardoned
a man by his brother, let the pursuing
be honourable, and let the payment be
with kindliness. That is a lightening
granted you by your Lord, and a mercy;
and for him who commits aggression
after that-for his there awaits

a painful chastisement.
In retaliation there is life for you,
men possessed of minds; haply you
will be godfearing.
0 believers, prescribed for you is
the Fast, even as it was prescribed for
those that were before you-haply
you will be godfearing-
for days numbered; and if any of you
be sick, or if he be on a journey,
then a number of other days; and for those
who arc able to fast, a redemption
by feeding a poor man. Yet better
it is for him who volunteers good,
and that you should fast is better for you,
if you but know;
the month of Ramadan, wherein the Qur'an
was sent down to be a guidance
to the people, and as clear signs
of the Guidance and the Salvation.
So let those of you, who are present
at the month, fast it; and if any of you
be sick, or if he be on a journey,
then a number of other days; God desires
ease for you, and desires not hardship
for you; and that you fulfil the number, and
magnify God that He has guided you, and haply

you will be thankful.
Permitted to you, upon the night of
the Fast, is to go in to your wives;
they are a vestment for you, and you are
a vestment for them. God knows that you have been
betraying yourselves, and has turned to you
and pardoned you. So now lie with them,
and seek what God has prescribed for you.
And eat and drink, until the white thread
shows clearly to you from the black thread
at the dawn; then complete the Fast
Unto the night, and do not lie with them
while you cleave to the mosques. Those are
God's bounds; keep well within them. So God
makes clear His signs to men; haply they
will be godfearing.
And fight in the way of God with those
who fight with you, but aggress not: God loves
not the aggressors.
And slay them wherever you come upon them,
and expel them from where they expelled you;
persecution is more grievous than slaying.
But fight them not by the Holy Mosque
until they should fight you there;
then, if they fight you, slay them
such is the recompense of unbelievers
but if they give over, surely God is

All-forgiving, All-compassionate.
Fight them, till there is no persecution
and the religion is God's, then if they
give over, there shall be no enmity
save for evildoers.
The holy month for the holy month;
holy things demand retaliation.
Whoso commits aggression against you,
do you commit aggression against him
like as he has committed against you;
and fear you God, and know that God is
with the godfearing.
And expend in the way of God;
and cast not yourselves by your own hands
into destruction, but be good-doers;
God loves the good-doers.
Fulfil the Pilgrimage and the Visitation
unto God, but if you are prevented,
then such offering as may be feasible.
And shave not your heads, till the offering
reaches its place of sacrifice. If any
of you is sick, or injured in his head,
then redemption by fast, or freewill offering,
or ritual sacrifice. When you are secure,
then whosoever enjoys the Visitation
until the Pilgrimage, let his offering
be such as may be feasible; or if he

finds none, then a fast of three days
in the Pilgrimage, and of seven when
you return, that is ten completely;
that is for him whose family are not
present at the Holy Mosque. And fear
God, and know that God is terrible
in retribution.