God: all these are distinguishing marks of the Prophet's consciousness of
growing power at Madina, leading him on to the bold assumption of a position he
would not have ventured to take, or at all events did not take, in the earlier
days when he dwelt at Mecca.
There is a very marked difference in the style of the Madina Suras. The
language is prosaic and the poetic fire so prominent in the early Meccan Suras
has died out, still there are occasional passages of great beauty, which no
translation can do justice to, such as:
God! There is no god but He;
The Living, the Eternal.
Slumber takes Him not, nor sleep.
His, whatsoever is in the heavens, and
Whatsoever is in the earth.
Who is it that intercedes with Him save by His permission?
He knoweth what is before and what is behind them, Yet nought of His knowledge
shall they grasp, save what He pleases.
His throne reacheth over the heavens and the earth,
And it tires Him not to guard them both,
He is the High, the Great. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 256.1
He maketh alive and killeth, He hath power over all things,
He is the First and the Last;
The Seen and the Hidden He all things doth know. Sura Al-Hadid (lvii) 2-3.
The Arabic arrangement of the contents of the Qur'an is so confused that it
conveys no idea whatever of the growth of any plan in the mind of the Prophet,
and it is extremely difficult for the reader