Chapter VIII: Part 8

And We caused the thin clouds to shade you _from the heat of the sun in the desert_, and caused the manna and the quails[288] to descend upon you, _and said_, Eat of the good things which We have given you for food, _and store not up.—But they were ungrateful for the benefit, and stored up; wherefore it was cut off from them_. And they injured not Us _thereby_; but they did injure their own souls.

(ii. 54.)

[Remember, O children of Israel,] when ye said, O Moses, we will not bear patiently the having one _kind of_ food, _the manna and the quails_; therefore supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may produce for us _somewhat_ of that which the earth bringeth forth, of its herbs and its cucumbers and its wheat and its lentils and its onions:—he said _unto them_, Will ye take in exchange that which is worse for that which is better?—_But they refused to recede; therefore he supplicated God, and He said_, Get ye down into a great city;[289] for ye shall have _therein_ what ye have asked.—And the _marks of_ abjection and poverty were stamped upon them: _so these characteristics necessarily belong to them, even if they are rich, as necessarily as the stamped coin belongeth to its die_; and they returned with indignation from God. This was because they did disbelieve in the signs of God, and slay the prophets (_as Zechariah and John_) unjustly: this was because they rebelled and did transgress.

(ii. 58.)

And _remember_ when Moses asked drink for his people, _who had become thirsty in the desert_, and We said, Strike with thy rod the stone. (_It was the stone that fled away with his garment:[290] it was light, square, like the head of a man, marble or kedhdhán._[291]) _Accordingly he struck it_; and there gushed out from it twelve fountains, _according to the number of the tribes_, all men (_each tribe of them_) knowing their drinking-place. _And We said unto them_, Eat ye and drink of the supply of God, and commit not evil in the earth, acting corruptly.

(ii. 57.)

_Remember_ also when We obtained your bond _that ye would do according to that which is contained in the Law_, and _had_ lifted up over you the mountain [namely Mount Sinai], _pulled it up by the roots and raised it over you when ye had refused to accept the Law, and We said_, Receive that which We have given you, with resolution, and remember that which is contained in it, _to do according thereto_: peradventure ye will fear _the Fire, or acts of disobedience_.—Then ye turned back after that; and had it not been for the grace of God towards you and His mercy, ye had certainly been of those who perish. And ye know those of you who transgressed on the Sabbath, _by catching fish, when We had forbidden them to do so_ (_and they were the people of Eyleh_[292],) and We said unto them, Be ye apes, driven away from the society of men.—_Thereupon they became such, and they perished after three days._—And We made it (_namely that punishment_) an example unto those who were contemporary with them and those who came after them, and a warning to the pious.

(ii. 60-62.)

And We appointed unto Moses thirty nights, _at the expiration of which We would speak to him, on the condition of his fasting during them; and they were_ [the nights of the month of] _Dhu-l-Ḳaạdeh; and he fasted during them: but, when they were ended, he disliked the smell of his breath; so he used a tooth-stick; whereupon God commanded him to fast ten other nights, that He might speak to Him with the odour of his breath,[293] as He whose name be exalted hath said_,—and We completed them by [adding] ten _nights of Dhu-l-Ḥijjeh_: so the stated time of his Lord was completed, forty nights. And Moses said unto his brother Aaron, _at his departure to the mountain for the private collocution_, Be thou my deputy among my people, and act rightly, and follow not the way of the corrupt doers _by agreeing with them in acts of disobedience_. And when Moses came at Our appointed time, and his Lord spake unto him _without an intermediary_, he said, O my Lord, show me _Thyself_, that I may see Thee. He replied, Thou shalt not see Me: but look at the mountain, _which is stronger than thou_; and if it remain firm in its place, then shalt thou see Me. And when his Lord displayed Himself to the mountain (_that is, when there appeared, of His light, half of the tip of His little finger, as related in a tradition which El-Ḥákim hath verified_), He reduced it to powder, _levelling it even with the ground around it_; and Moses fell down in a swoon. And when he recovered, he said, Extolled be Thy perfection! I turn unto Thee repenting, and I am the first of the believers _in my time_.—_God_ said _unto him_, O Moses, I have chosen thee above the people _of thy time_ [by honouring thee] by My commissions and by My speaking _unto thee_: therefore receive what I have given thee, and be of those who are grateful. And We wrote for him upon the tables of _the Law_[294] (_which were of the lote-tree of Paradise, or of chrysolite, or of emerald; in number seven, or ten_) an admonition concerning every _requisite_ matter _of religion_, and a distinct explanation of everything; _and said_, Therefore receive it with resolution, and command thy people to act according to the most excellent [precepts] thereof.

(vii. 138-142.)

And the people of Moses, after it (_that is, after his departure for the private collocution_), made, of their ornaments (_which they had borrowed of the people of Pharaoh_), a corporeal calf[295] _which Es-Sámiree cast for them,_[296] _and_ which lowed; _for he had the faculty of doing so in consequence of their having put into its mouth some dust taken from_ [beneath] _the hoof of the horse of Gabriel; and they took it as a god_. Did they not see that it spake not to them, nor directed them in the way? They took it _as a god_, and were offenders. But when they repented, and saw that they had erred, _which was after the return of Moses_, they said, Verily if our Lord do not have mercy upon us and forgive us, we shall assuredly be of those who perish.

(vii. 146-148.)

And Moses returned unto his people[297] enraged _against them_, exceedingly sorrowful. He said, O my people, did not your Lord promise you a good _true_ promise, _that He would give you the Law?_ But did the time of _my absence_ seem tedious to you, or did ye desire that indignation from your Lord should befall you, and therefore did ye break your promise to me, _and abstain from coming after one?_—They answered, We did not break our promise to thee of our own authority; but we were made to carry loads of the ornaments of the people _of Pharaoh_ (_which the children of Israel had borrowed of them under pretence of_ [requiring them for] _a wedding, and which remained in their possession_), and we cast them _into the fire, by order of Es-Sámiree_. And in like manner also Es-Sámiree cast _their ornaments which he had, and some of the dust which he had taken from the traces of the hoofs of the horse of Gabriel;_ and he produced unto them a corporeal calf, _of flesh and blood_, which lowed, _by reason of the dust, the property of which is to give life to that into which it is put; and he had put it, after he had moulded the calf, into its mouth_. And they (_namely, Es-Sámiree and his followers_) said, This is your god, and the god of Moses; but he hath forgotten _his lord here, and gone to seek him. God saith_, But did they not see that it returned them not an answer, nor was able to cause them hurt or profit? And Aaron had said unto them, before _the return of Moses_, O my people, ye are only tried by it; and verily your Lord is the Compassionate; therefore follow me, _by worshipping Him_, and obey my command. They replied, We will by no means cease to be devoted to _the worship of_ it until Moses return unto us. _Moses_ said _after his return_, O Aaron, what hindered thee, when thou sawest that they had gone astray, from following me? Hast thou then been disobedient to my command, _by remaining among them who worshipped another than God_? —He answered, O son of my mother, seize me not by my beard (_for he had taken hold of his beard with his left hand_), nor by [the hair of] my head (_for he had taken hold of his hair with his right hand, in anger_). Verily I feared lest _if I followed thee (for a company of those who worshipped the calf would inevitably have followed me)_ thou shouldst say, Thou hast made a division among the children of Israel, and hast not waited for my sentence. _Moses_ said, And what was thy motive _for doing as thou hast_, O Sámiree? He answered, I saw that which they saw not;[298] therefore I took a handful _of dust_ from the foot-marks _of the horse_ of the apostle _Gabriel_, and cast it _into the molten calf_; and thus my soul allured me _to take a handful of the dust above-mentioned, and to cast it upon that which had no life, that it might have life; and I saw that thy people had demanded of thee that thou wouldst make them a god; so my soul suggested to me that this calf should be their god. Moses_ said _unto him_, Then get thee gone _from among us_, and [the punishment] for thee during _the period of thy_ life [shall be], that thou shalt say _unto whomsoever thou shalt see_, Touch _me_ not:—(_so he used to wander about the desert, and when he touched any one, or any one touched him, they both became affected with a burning fever:_) and verily for thee is a threat which thou shalt by no means find to be false. And look at thy god, to _the worship of_ which thou hast continued devoted. We will assuredly burn it: then we will assuredly reduce it to powder and scatter it in the sea. (_And Moses, after he had slaughtered it, did this._) Your deity is God only, except whom there is no deity. He comprehendeth all things by _His_ knowledge.—Thus, _O Moḥammad_, do We relate unto thee accounts of what hath happened heretofore; and We have given thee, from Us, an admonition; _namely the Ḳur-án_.

(xx. 88-99.)

And they were made to drink down the calf into their hearts,[299] (_that is, the love of it mingled with their hearts as drink mingleth_,) because of their unbelief.

(ii. 87.)

[Remember, O children of Israel,] when Moses said unto his people _who worshipped the calf_, O my people, verily ye have injured your own souls by your taking to yourselves the calf _as a god_; therefore turn with repentance unto your Creator _from the worship of it_, and slay one another: (_that is, let the innocent among you slay the criminal_:) this will be best for you in the estimation of your Creator. _And He aided you to do that, sending upon you a black cloud, lest one of you should see another and have compassion on him, until there were slain of you about seventy thousand._ And _thereupon_ He became propitious towards you, _accepting your repentance_; for He is the Very Propitious, the Merciful.

(ii. 51.)

[Remember also, O children of Israel,] when ye said, _having gone forth with Moses to beg pardon of God for your worship of the calf, and having heard his words_, O Moses, we will not believe thee until we see God manifestly:—whereupon the vehement sound assailed you, _and ye died_, while ye beheld _what happened to you_. Then We raised you to life after ye had been dead, that peradventure ye might give thanks.[300]

(ii. 52, 53.)

And Moses chose _from_ his people seventy men, _of those who had not worshipped the calf, by the command of God_, at the time appointed by Us _for their coming to ask pardon for their companions’ worship of the calf; and he went forth with them_; and when the convulsion (_the violent earthquake_) took them away (_because, saith Ibn-´Abbás, they did not separate themselves from their people when the latter worshipped the calf_), _Moses_ said, O my Lord, if Thou hadst pleased, Thou hadst destroyed them before _my going forth with them, that the children of Israel might have beheld it and might not suspect me_; and me [also]. Wilt Thou destroy us for that which the foolish among us have done? It is naught but Thy trial: Thou wilt cause to err thereby whom Thou pleasest, and Thou wilt rightly guide whom Thou pleasest. Thou art our guardian; and do Thou forgive us and have mercy upon us; for Thou art the best of those who forgive: and appoint for us in this world what is good, and in the world to come; for unto Thee have we turned with repentance.—_God_ replied, I will afflict with My punishment whom I please, and My mercy extendeth over everything _in the world_; and I will appoint it, _in the world to come_, for those who fear and give the legal alms, and those who believe on Our signs, who shall follow the apostle, the illiterate [or Gentile, _i.e._, Arab] prophet, _Moḥammad_, whom they shall find written down with them in the Pentateuch and the Gospel, _by his name and his description_. He will command them that which is right, and forbid them that which is evil; and will allow them as lawful the good things _among those forbidden in their law_, and prohibit them the impure, _as carrion and other things_, and will take off from them their burden and the yokes that were upon them, _as the slaying of a soul_ [for an atonement] _in repentance, and the cutting off of the mark left by impurity_. And those who shall believe in him and honour him and assist him and follow the light which shall be sent down with him, _namely the Ḳur-án_, these shall be the prosperous.

(vii. 154-156).

And _remember_ when Moses said unto his people, O my people, remember the favour of God towards you, since He hath appointed prophets from among you, and made you princes (_masters of servants and other attendants_), and given you what He hath not given any [other] of the peoples (_as the manna and the quails and other things_). O my people, enter the Holy Land which God hath decreed for you (_namely Syria_), and turn not back, lest ye turn losers.—They replied, O Moses, verily there is in it a gigantic people, _of the remains of the tribe of ´Ad_, and we will not enter it until they go forth from it; but if they go forth from it, then we will enter.—[Thereupon] two men, of those who feared _to disobey God, namely Joshua and Caleb, of the chiefs whom Moses sent to discover the circumstances of the giants, and_ upon whom God had conferred favour, _and who had concealed what they had seen of the state of the giants, excepting from Moses, wherefore the other chiefs became cowardly_, said _unto them_, Enter ye upon them through the gate _of the city, and fear them not; for they are bodies without hearts_; and when ye enter it, ye overcome; and upon God place your dependence, if ye be believers.—[But] they said, O Moses, we will never enter it while they remain therein. Therefore go thou and thy Lord, and fight: for we remain here.—_Then Moses_ said, O my Lord, verily I am not master of any but myself and my brother: therefore distinguish between us and the unrighteous people.—_God_ replied, Verily it (_namely the Holy Land_) shall be forbidden them forty years; they shall wander in perplexity in the land: and be not thou solicitous for the unrighteous people.—_The land_ [through which they wandered] _was_ [only] _nine leagues_ [in extent]. _They used to journey during the night with diligence; but in the morning they found themselves in the place whence they had set forth; and they journeyed during the day in like manner. Thus they did until all of them had become extinct, excepting those who had not attained the age of twenty years; and it is said that they were six hundred thousand. Aaron and Moses died in the desert; and mercy was their lot: but punishment was the lot of those. And Moses begged his Lord, when he was about to die, that He would bring him as near as a stone’s throw to the Holy Land: wherefore He did so. And Joshua was made a prophet after the forty [years], and he gave orders to fight against the giants. So he went with those who were with him, and fought against them: and it was Friday; and the sun stood still for him awhile, until he had made an end of fighting against them._

(v. 23-29).

Ḳároon[301] [or Korah] was of the people of Moses (_he was the son of his paternal uncle, and the son of his maternal aunt, and he believed in him_); but he behaved insolently towards them; for We had bestowed upon him such treasures that their keys were heavy burdens for a company of men endowed with strength, _in number, as some say, seventy; and some, forty; and some, ten; and some, another number. Remember when his people (the believers among the children of Israel)_ said unto him, Rejoice not _exultingly in the abundance of thy wealth_; for God loveth not those who _so_ rejoice; but seek to attain, by means of the _wealth_ which God hath given thee, the latter abode [of Paradise], _by expending thy wealth in the service of God_; and neglect not thy part in this world, _to work therein for the world to come_; but be beneficent _unto mankind, by bestowing alms_, as God hath been beneficent unto thee; and seek not to act corruptly in the earth; for God loveth not the corrupt doers. He replied, I have only been given it on account of the knowledge that I possess. _For he was the most learned of the children of Israel in the Law, after Moses and Aaron. God saith_, Did he not know that God had destroyed before him, of the generations, those that were mightier than he in strength and who had amassed more abundance _of wealth_? And the wicked shall not be asked respecting their sins, _because God knoweth them: therefore they shall be sent into the Fire without a reckoning_. And _Ḳároon_ went forth unto his people in his pomp, _with his many dependants mounted, adorned with garments of gold and silk, upon decked horses and mules_. Those who desired the present life said, O would that we had the like of that which hath been bestowed on Ḳároon _in this world_! Verily he is possessed of great good fortune!—But those unto whom knowledge _of what God hath promised in the world to come_ had been given, said _unto them_, Woe to you! The reward of God _in the world to come_ (_which is Paradise_) is better for him who believeth and worketh righteousness _than that which hath been bestowed on Ḳároon in the present world_; and none shall receive it but the patient _in the service of God_. And We caused the earth to cleave asunder and swallow up him and his mansion,[302] and he had no forces to defend him, in the place of God, nor was he of the [number of the] saved. And the next morning, those who had wished for his place the day before said, Aha! God enlargeth provision unto whom He pleaseth of His servants, and is sparing _of it unto whom He pleaseth!_ Had not God been gracious unto us, He had caused [the earth] to cleave asunder and swallow up us! Aha! the ungrateful _for His benefits_ do not prosper!

(xxviii. 76-82.)

_Remember_, [O children of Israel,] when Moses said unto his people (_when one of them had been slain, whose murderer was not known, and they asked him to beg God that He would discover him to them, wherefore he supplicated Him_), Verily God commandeth you to sacrifice a cow. They said, Dost thou make a jest of us? He said, I beg God to preserve me from being _one_ of the foolish. _So when they knew that he decidedly intended_ [what he had ordered], they said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what she is; _that is, what is her age_. _Moses_ replied, He saith, She is a cow neither old nor young; _but_ of a middle age, between those _two_: therefore do as ye are commanded. They said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what is her colour. He replied, He saith, She is a red[303] cow: her colour is very bright: she rejoiceth the beholders. They said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what she is, _whether she be a pasturing or a working cow_; for cows _of the description mentioned_ are to us like one another; and we, if God please, shall indeed be rightly directed _to her_. (_In a tradition it is said, Had they not said, ‘If God please,’—she had not ever been manifested to them._) He replied, He saith, She is a cow not subdued _by work_ that plougheth the ground, nor doth she water the field: [she is] free _from defects and the marks of work_; there is no colour in her different from the rest of her colour. They said, Now thou hast brought the truth. _And they sought her, and found her in the possession of the young man who acted piously towards his mother, and they bought her for as much gold as her hide would contain._[304] Then they sacrificed her; but they were near to leaving it undone, on _account of the greatness of her price_. (_And in a tradition it is said, Had they sacrificed any cow whatever, He had satisfied them: but they acted hardly towards themselves; so God acted hardly towards them._) And when ye slew a soul, and contended together respecting it, (and God brought forth [to light] that which ye did conceal—_this is the beginning of the story_ [and was the occasion of the order to sacrifice this particular cow,]) We said, Strike him (_that is, the slain person_) with part of her. _So he was struck with her tongue, or the root of her tail, or, as some say, with her right thigh; whereupon he came to life, and said, Such-a-one and such-a-one slew me,—to the two sons of his uncle. And he died. They two_ [the murderers] _were therefore deprived of the inheritance, and were slain._[305] Thus God raiseth to life the dead, and showeth you His signs (_the proof of His power_), that peradventure ye may understand, _and know that He who is able to raise to life one soul is able to raise to life many souls._ Then your hearts became hard, _O ye Jews, so as not to accept the truth_, after that, and they [were] as stones, or more hard: for of stones there are indeed some from which rivers gush forth; and of them there are indeed some that cleave asunder and water issueth from them; and of them there are indeed some that fall down through fear of God; _whereas your hearts are not impressed, nor do they grow soft, nor do they become humble._ But God is not heedless of that which ye do: _He only reserveth you unto your time._

(ii. 63-69.)

_Remember_ when Moses said to his young man _Joshua the son of Nun, who served him and acquired knowledge from him_, I will not cease _to go forward_ until I reach the place where the two seas (_the Sea of Greece and the Sea of Persia_) meet, or travel for a long space of time. And when they reached the place where they (_the two seas_) met they forgot their fish: _Joshua forgot to take it up, on their departure; and Moses forgot to remind him_; and it made its way in the sea by a hollow passage, _God withholding the water from it_. And when they had passed beyond _that place, and proceeded until the time of the morning-meal on the following day_, [Moses] said unto his young man, Bring us our morning-meal: we have experienced fatigue from this our journey. He replied, What thinkest thou? When we repaired to the rock to rest _at that place_, I forgot the fish, and none made me forget to mention it but the devil; and it made its way in the sea in a wonderful manner.—_Moses_ said, That (_namely our loss of the fish_) is what we were desiring; _for it is a sign unto us of our finding him whom we seek_. And they returned by the way that they had come, following the footsteps, _and came to the rock_. And they found one of Our servants (_namely El-Khiḍr_[306]) unto whom We had granted mercy from Us (_that is the gift of prophecy in the opinion of some, and the rank of a saint according to another opinion which most of the learned hold_), and whom We had taught knowledge from Us respecting things unseen.—_El-Bukháree hath related a tradition stating that Moses performed the office of a preacher among the children of Israel, and was asked who was the most knowing of men; to which he answered, I:—whereupon God blamed him for this, because he did not refer the knowledge thereof to Him. And God said unto him by revelation, Verily I have a servant at the place where the two seas meet, and he is more knowing than thou. Moses said, O my Lord, and how shall I meet with him? He answered, Thou shalt take with thee a fish, and put it into a measuring-vessel, and where thou shalt lose the fish, there is he. So he took a fish, and put it into a vessel. Then he departed, and Joshua the son of Nun departed with him, until they came to the rock, where they laid down their heads and slept. And the fish became agitated in the vessel, and escaped from it, and fell into the sea, and it made its way in the sea by a hollow passage, God withholding the water from the fish so that it became like a vault over it: and when Moses’ companion awoke, he forgot to inform him of the fish._

Moses said unto him [namely El-Khiḍr], Shall I follow thee, that thou mayest teach me [part] of that which thou hast been taught, for a direction _unto me_? He answered, Verily thou canst not have patience with me. For how canst thou be patient with respect to that whereof thou comprehendest not the knowledge?—He replied, Thou shalt find me, if God please, patient; and I will not disobey any command of thine. He said, Then if thou follow me, ask me not respecting anything: _but be patient_ until I give thee an account thereof. _And Moses assented to his condition._ And they departed, _walking along the shore of the sea_, until, when they embarked in the ship _that passed by them_, he (El-Khiḍr) made a hole in it, _by pulling out a plank or two planks from it on the outside by means of an axe when it reached the middle of the sea. Moses_ said _unto him_, Hast thou made a hole in it that thou mayest drown its people? Thou hast done a grievous thing.—(_But it is related that the water entered not the hole._) He replied, Did I not say that thou couldst not have patience with me? [Moses] said, Chastise me not for my forgetfulness, nor impose on me a difficulty in my case.—And they departed, _after they had gone forth from the vessel_, _walking on_, until, when they found a boy _who had not attained the age of knowing right and wrong, playing with other children, and he was the most beautiful of them in countenance_, and he (_El-Khiḍr_) slew him, _Moses_ said _unto him_, Hast thou slain an innocent soul, without _his having slain_ a soul? Thou hast done an iniquitous thing.—He replied, Did I not say that thou couldst not have patience with me? [Moses] said, If I ask thee concerning anything after this _time_, suffer me not to accompany thee. Now hast thou received from me an excuse _for thy separating thyself from me_.—And they departed [and proceeded] until, when they came to the people of a city (_which was Antioch[307]_), they asked food of its people; but they refused to entertain them: and they found therein a wall, _the height whereof was a hundred cubits_, which was about to fall down; whereupon he (_El-Khiḍr_) set it upright _with his hand_. _Moses_ said _unto him_, If thou wouldst, thou mightest have obtained pay for it, _since they did not entertain us, notwithstanding our want of food_. _El-Khiḍr_ said _unto him_, This shall be a separation between me and thee; _but before my separation from thee_, I will declare unto thee the interpretation of that which thou couldst not bear with patience.

As to the vessel, it belonged to _ten_ poor men,[308] who pursued their business on the sea; and I desired to render it unsound; for there was behind them a king, _an unbeliever_, who took every _sound_ vessel by force. And as to the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared that he would transgress against them rebelliously and impiously: _for, according to a tradition related by Muslim, he was constituted by nature an unbeliever, and had he lived he had so acted_; wherefore we desired that their Lord should create for them a better than he in virtue, and [one] more disposed than he to filial piety. _And God created for them a daughter, who married a prophet, and gave birth to a prophet, by means of whom God directed a people to the right way_. And as to the wall, it belonged to two orphan youths in the city, and beneath it was a treasure _buried_, _of gold and silver_, belonging to them; and their father was a righteous man; and thy Lord desired that they should attain their age of strength and take forth their treasure through the mercy of thy Lord. And I did it not (_namely what hath been mentioned_) of mine own will, _but by direction of God_. This is the interpretation of that which thou couldst not bear with patience.

(Chap. xviii. 59-81.)

SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON.

Hast thou not considered the assembly of the children of Israel after _the death of_ Moses, when they said unto a prophet of theirs, _namely Samuel_, Set up for us a king, _under whom_ we will fight in the way of God? He said _unto them_, If fighting be prescribed as incumbent on you, will ye, peradventure, abstain from fighting? They replied, And wherefore should we not fight in the way of God, since we have been expelled from our habitations and our children _by their having been taken prisoners and slain?_—_The people of Goliath_ [Jáloot] _had done thus unto them_.—But when fighting was commanded them, they turned back, excepting a few of them, _who crossed the river with Saul_ [Ṭáloot], _as will be related_. And God knoweth the offenders. _And the prophet begged his Lord to send a king; whereupon he consented to send Saul._ And their prophet said unto them, Verily God hath set up Saul as your king. They said, How shall he have the dominion over us, when we are more worthy of the dominion than he, (_for he was not of the royal lineage, nor of the prophetic, and he was a tanner, or a tender of flocks or herds,_) and he hath not been endowed with ample wealth? He replied, Verily God hath chosen him _as king_ over you, and increased him in largeness of knowledge and of body, (_for he was the wisest of the children of Israel at that time, and the most comely of them, and the most perfect of them in make,_) and God giveth his kingdom unto whom He pleaseth; and God is ample _in His beneficence_, knowing _with respect to him who is worthy of the kingdom_.—And their prophet said unto them, _when they demanded of him a sign in proof of his kingship_, Verily the sign of his kingship shall be that the ark shall come unto you (_in it were the images of the prophets: God sent it down unto Adam, and it passed into their possession; but the Amalekites took it from them by force: and they used to seek victory thereby over their enemy, and to advance it in the fight, and to trust in it, as He—whose name be exalted!—hath said_); therein [shall be] tranquillity from your Lord,[309] and relics of what the family of Moses and the family of Aaron have left: _namely, the two shoes (or sandals) of Moses, and his rod, and the turban of Aaron, and a measure of the manna that used to descend upon them, and the fragments of the tables_ [of the Law]: the angels shall bear it. Verily in this shall be a sign unto you _of his kingship_, if ye be believers. _Accordingly the angels bore it between heaven and earth, while they looked at it, until they placed it by Saul; whereupon they acknowledged his kingship, and hastened to the holy war; and he chose of their young men seventy thousand._

And when Saul went forth with the troops _from Jerusalem, and it was violently hot weather, and they demanded of him water_, he said, Verily God will try you by a river, _that the obedient among you, and the disobedient, may appear_, (_and it was between the Jordan and Palestine_,) and whoso drinketh thereof, he is not of my party (but he who tasteth not thereof, he is of my party), excepting him who taketh forth a draught in his hand, _and is satisfied therewith, not adding to it; for he is of my party_;—then they drank thereof abundantly, excepting a few of them, _who were content only with the handful of water. It is related that it sufficed them for their own drinking and for their beasts, and they were three hundred, and somewhat more than ten._ And when he had passed over it, he and those who believed with him, they (_that is, those who had drunk_ [plentifully]) said, We have no power to-day _to contend_ against Goliath and his troops. _And they were cowardly, and passed not over it._ They [however] who held it as certain that they should meet God _at the resurrection_ (_and they were those who had passed over it_) said, How many a small body of men hath overcome a great body by the permission (_or will_) of God! And God is with the patient, _to defend and aid_.—And when they went forth to battle against Goliath and his troops, they said, O our Lord, pour upon us patience, and make firm our feet, _by strengthening our hearts for the holy war_, and help us against the unbelieving people!—And they routed them by the permission (_or will_) of God, and David [Dáwood, vulg. Dáood], _who was in the army of Saul_, slew Goliath. And God gave him (_David_) the kingship _over the children of Israel_, and wisdom (_that is prophecy_), _after the death of Samuel and Saul, and they_ [namely these two gifts] _had not been given together to any one before him_; and He taught him what He pleased,[310] _as the art of making coats of mail, and the language of birds_. And were it not for God’s repelling men, one by another, surely the earth had become corrupt _by the predominance of the polytheists and the slaughter of the Muslims and the ruin of the places of worship_: but God is beneficent to the peoples, _and hath repelled some by others_.

(ii. 247-252.)

Hath the story of the two opposing parties come unto thee, _O Moḥammad_, when they ascended over the walls of the oratory of _David, having been prevented going in unto him by the door, because of his being engaged in devotion?_ When they went in unto David, and he was frightened at them, they said, Fear not: _we are_ two opposing parties. _It is said that they were two parties of more than one each; and it is said that they were two individuals, angels, who came as two litigants, to admonish David, who had ninety-nine wives, and had desired the wife of a person who had none but her, and married her and taken her as his wife._[311] [One of them said,] One of us hath wronged the other; therefore judge between us with truth, and be not unjust, but direct us into the right way. Verily this my brother _in religion_ had nine-and-ninety ewes, and I had one ewe; and he said, Make me her keeper. And he overcame me in the dispute.—_And the other confessed him to have spoken truth._—[David] said, Verily he hath wronged thee in demanding thy ewe _to add her_ to his ewes; and verily many associates wrong one another, except those who believe and do righteous deeds: and few indeed are they.—_And the two angels said, ascending in their_ [proper or assumed] _forms to heaven, The man hath passed sentence against himself. So David was admonished._ And David perceived that We had tried him _by his love of that woman_; wherefore he asked pardon of his Lord, and fell down bowing himself (_or prostrating himself_), and repented. So We forgave him that; and verily for him [was ordained] a high rank with Us (_that is, an increase of good fortune in this world_), and [there shall be for him] an excellent retreat _in the world to come_.

(xxxviii. 20-24.)

We compelled the mountains to glorify Us, with David, and the birds _also, on his commanding them to do so, when he experienced languor_; and We did _this_. And We taught him the art of making coats of mail (_for before his time plates of metal were used_) for you _among mankind in general_, that they might defend you from your suffering _in warring with your enemies_.—Will ye then, _O people of Mekkeh_, be thankful _for My favours, believing the apostles_?—And _We subjected_ unto Solomon [Suleymán] the wind, blowing strongly, _and being light at his desire_, which ran at his command[312] to the land that We blessed (_namely Syria_);[313] and We knew all things (_knowing that what We gave him would stimulate him to be submissive to his Lord_). And _We subjected_, of the devils, those who should dive for him _in the sea and bring forth from it jewels for him_, and do other work besides that; _that is, building, and performing other services_; and We watched over them, _that they might not spoil what they executed; for they used, when they had finished a work before night, to spoil it, if they were not employed in something else_.

(xxi. 79-82.)

We gave unto David Solomon _his son_. How excellent a servant _was he_! For he was one who earnestly turned himself unto God, _glorifying and praising Him at all times_. [Remember] when, in the latter part of the day, _after the commencement of the declining of the sun_, the _mares_ standing on three feet and touching the ground with the edge of the fourth foot, swift in the course, were displayed before him. _They were a thousand mares, which were displayed before him after he had performed the noon-prayers, on the occasion of his desiring to make use of them in a holy war; and when nine hundred of them had been displayed, the sun set, and he had not performed the afternoon-prayers. So he was grieved_, and he said, Verily I have preferred the love of [earthly] goods above the remembrance of my Lord, (_that is, the performance of the afternoon-prayers_,) so that _the sun_ is concealed by the veil. Bring them (_namely the horses_) back unto me. _Therefore they brought them back._ And he began to sever _with his sword_ the legs and the necks, _slaughtering them, and_ [then] _cutting off their legs, as a sacrifice unto God, and gave their flesh in alms; and God gave him in compensation what was better than they were and swifter, namely the wind, which travelled by his command whithersoever he desired._—And We tried Solomon _by depriving him of his kingdom. This was because he married a woman of whom he became enamoured, and she used to worship an idol in his palace without his knowledge. His dominion was in his signet; and he pulled it off once and deposited it with his wife, who was named El-Emeeneh; and a jinnee came unto her in the form of Solomon, and took it from her._ And We placed upon his throne a [counterfeit] body; _namely that jinnee, who was Ṣakhr, or another. He sat upon the throne of Solomon, and the birds and other creatures surrounded him; and Solomon went forth, with a changed appearance, and saw him upon his throne, and said unto the people, I am Solomon:—but they denied him._ Then he returned _unto his kingdom, after some days, having obtained the signet and put it on, and seated himself upon his throne._[314] He said, O my Lord, forgive me, and give me a dominion that may not be to any one after me (_or beside me_); for Thou art the Liberal Giver. So We subjected unto him the wind, which ran gently at his command whithersoever he desired; and the devils [also], every builder _of wonderful structures_, and diver _that brought up pearls from the sea_, and others bound in chains _which connected their hands to their necks. And We said unto him_, This is Our gift, and bestow thou _thereof upon whomsoever thou wilt_, or refrain _from bestowing_, without _rendering_ an account. And verily for him [was ordained] a high rank with Us, and an excellent retreat.

(xxxviii. 29-39.)

We bestowed on David and Solomon knowledge _in judging men and in the language of the birds and other matters_; and they said, Praise be to God who hath made us to excel many of His believing servants, _by the gift of prophecy and by the subjection of the jinn and mankind and the devils_. And Solomon inherited from David _the gift of prophecy and knowledge_; and he said, O men, we have been taught the language of the birds,[315] and have had bestowed on us of everything _wherewith prophets and kings are gifted_. Verily this is manifest excellence.—And his armies of jinn and men and birds were gathered together unto Solomon, and they were led on in order, until, when they came unto the valley of ants, (_which_ [was] _at Eṭ-Ṭáïf or in Syria, the ants whereof_ [were] _small or great_,) an ant (_the queen of the ants_), _having seen the troops of Solomon_, said, O ants, enter your habitations, lest Solomon and his troops crush you violently, while they perceive not. And _Solomon_ smiled, _afterwards_ laughing at her saying, _which he heard from the distance of three miles, the wind conveying it to him: so he withheld his forces when he came in sight of their valley, until the ants had entered their dwellings: and his troops were on horses and on foot in this expedition_. And he said, O my Lord, inspire me to be thankful for Thy favour which Thou hast bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and to do righteousness which Thou shalt approve, and admit me, in Thy mercy, among Thy servants, the righteous, _the prophets and the saints_.

And he examined the birds,[316] _that he might see the lapwing, that saw the water beneath the earth, and directed to it by pecking the earth, whereupon the devils used to draw it forth when Solomon wanted it_ [to perform the ablution] _for prayer; but he saw it not_: and he said, Wherefore do I not see the lapwing? Is it [one] of the absent?—_And when he was certain of the case he said_, I will assuredly punish it with a severe punishment, _by plucking out its feathers and its tail and casting it in the sun so that it shall not be able to guard against excessive thirst_; or I will slaughter it; or it shall bring me a manifest convincing proof _showing its excuse_.—And it tarried not long _before it presented itself unto Solomon submissively, and raised its head and relaxed its tail and its wings: so he forgave it; and he asked it what it had met with during its absence_; and it said, I have become acquainted with that wherewith thou hast not become acquainted, and I have come unto thee from Seba (_a tribe of El-Yemen_) with a sure piece of news. I found a woman reigning over them, _named Bilḳees_, and she hath been gifted with everything _that princes require_, and hath a magnificent throne. _(Its length was eighty cubits; and its breadth, forty cubits; and its height, thirty cubits: it was composed of gold and silver set with fine pearls and with rubies and chrysolites, and its legs were of rubies and chrysolites and emeralds: upon it_ [were closed] _seven doors: to each chamber_ [through which one passed to it was] _a closed door_.) I found her and her people worshipping the sun instead of God, and the devil hath made their works to seem comely unto them, so that he hath hindered them from the _right_ way, wherefore they are not rightly directed to the worship of God, who produceth what is hidden (_namely the rain and vegetables_) in the heavens and the earth, and knoweth what they [that is, mankind and others] conceal _in their hearts_, and what they reveal _with their tongues_. God: there is no deity but He, the Lord of the magnificent throne, _between which and the throne of Bilḳees is a vast difference_.

_Solomon_ said _to the lapwing_, We will see whether thou hast spoken truth or whether thou art of the liars. _Then the lapwing guided them to the water, and it was drawn forth_ [by the devils]; _and they quenched their thirst and performed the ablution and prayed. Then Solomon wrote a letter, the form whereof was this:—From the servant of God, Solomon the son of David, to Bilḳees the queen of Seba. In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Peace be on whomsoever followeth the right direction. After_ [this salutation, I say], _Act ye not proudly towards me; but come unto me submitting.—He then sealed it with musk, and stamped it with his signet, and said unto the lapwing_, Go with this my letter and throw it down unto them (_namely Bilḳees and her people_): then turn away from them, _but stay near them_, and see what _reply_ they will return. _So the lapwing took it, and came unto her, and around her were her forces; and he threw it down into her lap; and when she saw it, she trembled with fear. Then she considered what was in it, and_ she said _unto the nobles of her people_, O nobles, an honourable (_sealed_) letter hath been thrown down unto me. It is from Solomon; and it is _this_:—In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Act ye not proudly towards me: but come unto me submitting.—She said, O nobles, advise me in mine affair. I will not decide upon a thing unless ye bear me witness.—They replied, We are endowed with strength and endowed with great valour; but the command [belongeth] to thee; therefore see what thou wilt command _us to do, and we will obey thee_. She said, Verily kings, when they enter a city, waste it, and render the mighty of its inhabitants abject; and thus will they do _who have sent the letter_. But I will send unto them with a gift, and I will see with what the messengers will return, _whether the gift will be accepted, or whether it will be rejected. If he be_ [merely] _a king, he will accept it; and if he be a prophet, he will not accept it.—And she sent male and female servants, a thousand in equal numbers_ [five hundred of each sex], _and five hundred bricks of gold, and a crown set with jewels, and musk and ambergris and other things, by a messenger with a letter.[317] And the lapwing hastened unto Solomon, to tell him the news; on hearing which, he commanded that bricks of gold and silver should be cast, and that a horse-course should be extended to the length of nine leagues from the place where he was, and that they should build around it a wall with battlements, of gold and silver, and that the handsomest of the beasts of the land and of the sea should be brought with the sons of the jinn on the right side of the horse-course and on its left._

And when _the messenger_ came _with the gift, and with him his attendants_, unto Solomon, he [Solomon] said, Do ye aid me with wealth? But what God hath given me (_namely the gift of prophecy and the kingdom_) is better than what He hath given you, _of worldly goods_; yet ye rejoice in your gift, _because ye glory in the showy things of this world_. Return unto them _with the gift that thou hast brought_; for we will surely come unto them with forces with which they have not power [to contend], and we will surely drive them out from it, (_that is, from their country, Seba, which was named after the father of their tribe_,) abject and contemptible, _if they come not unto us submitting. And when the messenger returned unto her with the gift, she placed her throne within seven doors, within her palace, and her palace was within seven palaces; and she closed the doors, and set guards to them, and prepared to go unto Solomon, that she might see what he would command her to do. She departed with twelve thousand kings, each king having with him many thousands, and proceeded until she came as near to him as a league’s distance; when he knew of her_ [approach,] he said, O nobles, which of you will bring unto me her throne before they come unto me submitting? An ´efreet, of the jinn, answered, I will bring it unto thee before thou shalt arise from thy place _wherein thou sittest to judge from morning until mid-day_; for I am able to do it, [and] trustworthy _with respect to the jewels that it compriseth and other matters. Solomon said, I desire it more speedily._ [And thereupon] he with whom was knowledge of the _revealed_ scripture (_namely_ [his Wezeer] _Áṣaf the son of Barkhiya, who was a just person, acquainted with the most great name of God, which ensured an answer to him who invoked thereby_[318]) said, I will bring it unto thee before thy glance can be withdrawn _from any object. And he said unto him, Look at the sky. So he looked at it; then he withdrew his glance, and found it placed before him: for during his look towards the sky, Áṣaf prayed, by the most great name, that God would bring it; and it so happened, the throne passing under the ground until it came up before the throne of Solomon._ And when he saw it firmly placed before him, he said, This is of the favour of my Lord, that He may try me, whether I shall be thankful or whether I shall be unthankful. And he who is thankful is thankful for _the sake of_ his own soul, _which will have the reward of his thankfulness_; and [as to] him who is ungrateful, my Lord is independent [and] bountiful.