Translation:
"Lead to destruction those whom you canst among them, 2254 with your (seductive) voice; 2255 make assaults on them 2256 with your cavalry and your infantry; mutually share with them wealth and children; 2257 and make promises to them." But Satan promises them nothing but deceit. 2258
"Lead to destruction those whom you canst among them, 2254 with your (seductive) voice; 2255 make assaults on them 2256 with your cavalry and your infantry; mutually share with them wealth and children; 2257 and make promises to them." But Satan promises them nothing but deceit. 2258
Translation:
Entice, then, with thy voice such of them as thou canst, and bear upon them with all thy horses and all thy men, 77 and be their partner in [all sins relating to] worldly goods and children, 78 and hold out [all manner of] promises to them: and [they will not know that] whatever Satan promises them is but meant to delude the mind. 79
Entice, then, with thy voice such of them as thou canst, and bear upon them with all thy horses and all thy men, 77 and be their partner in [all sins relating to] worldly goods and children, 78 and hold out [all manner of] promises to them: and [they will not know that] whatever Satan promises them is but meant to delude the mind. 79
Commentary:
77 This is an idiomatically established metaphor, signifying "with all thy might".
78 An allusion to possessions acquired by sinful means or spent on sinful purposes, and to the begetting of children through fornication or adultery. (It must, however, be pointed out that in the ethics and the canon law of Islam no moral stigma and no legal disability whatever attaches to the child thus begotten.)
79 Cf. 4:120 and the corresponding note 142.
77 This is an idiomatically established metaphor, signifying "with all thy might".
78 An allusion to possessions acquired by sinful means or spent on sinful purposes, and to the begetting of children through fornication or adultery. (It must, however, be pointed out that in the ethics and the canon law of Islam no moral stigma and no legal disability whatever attaches to the child thus begotten.)
79 Cf. 4:120 and the corresponding note 142.
2254 "Do thy worst; but ye are both warned that that path leads to destruction."
2255 Evil has many snares for mankind. The one that is put in the foreground is the voice-the seductive personal appeal, that "makes the worse appear the better part."
2256 The forcible assault of Evil is next mentioned under the metaphor of cavalry and infantry. It is when cajolery and tempting fair-seeming seem to fail that an attack is made in force with weapons of violence of all kinds, like the different arms in an organised army
2257 If the first assaults are resisted, Evil has other weapons in its armoury. Tangible fruits are dangled before the eyes, ill-gotten gains and children of sin, that follow from certain very alluring methods of indulgence in passion. Or it may be children dedicated to sin or worldly gains, etc. And then there are all kinds of promises for the future.
2258 This is a parenthetical clause inserted to show up what the promises of the Evil One are worth.