Chapter IX: Part 9

[Then Solomon] said, Alter ye her throne so that it may not be known by her, that we may see whether she be rightly directed _to the knowledge thereof_, or whether she be of those who are not rightly directed _to the knowledge of that which is altered. He desired thereby to try her intelligence. So they altered it, by adding to it, or taking from it, or in some other manner._ And when she came, it was said _unto her_, Is thy throne like this? She answered, As though it were the same. (_She answered them ambiguously like as they had questioned her ambiguously, not saying, Is this thy throne?—and had they so said, she had answered, Yes._) _And when Solomon saw her knowledge, he said_, And we have had knowledge bestowed on us before her, and have been Muslims. But what she worshipped instead of God hindered her _from worshipping Him_; for she was of an unbelieving people.—It was said unto her _also_, Enter the palace. _It had a floor of white, transparent glass, beneath which was running water, wherein were fish. Solomon had made it on its being said unto him that her legs and feet were_ [hairy] _like the legs of an ass._ And when she saw it, she imagined it to be a great water, and she uncovered her legs, _that she might wade through it; and Solomon was on his throne at the upper end of the palace, and he saw that her legs and her feet were handsome_. He said _unto her_, Verily it is a palace evenly spread with glass. _And he invited her to embrace El-Islám_, [whereupon] she said, O my Lord, verily I have acted unjustly towards mine own soul, _by worshipping another than Thee_, and I resign myself, with Solomon, unto God, the Lord of the worlds. _And he desired to marry her; but he disliked the hair upon her legs; so the devils made for him the depilatory of quick-lime, wherewith she removed the hair, and he married her; and he loved her, and confirmed her in her kingdom. He used to visit her every month once, and to remain with her three days; and her reign expired on the expiration of the reign of Solomon. It is related that he began to reign when he was thirteen years of age, and died at the age of three and fifty years. Extolled be the perfection of Him to the duration of whose dominion there is no end!_

(xxvii. 15-45.)

_We subjected_ unto Solomon the wind, which travelled in the morning (_unto the period when the sun began to decline_) _the distance of_ a month’s _journey_, and in the evening _from the commencement of the declining of the sun into its setting_ a month’s _journey_. And We made the fountain of molten brass to flow for him _three days with their nights_ [in every month], _as water floweth;[319] and the people worked until the day_ [of its flowing], _with that which had been given into Solomon_. And of the jinn [were] those who worked in his presence, by the will of his Lord; and such of them as swerved from _obedience to_ Our command We will cause to taste of the punishment of hell _in the world to come_ (_or, as it is said by some, We cause to taste of its punishment in the present world, an angel beating them with a scourge from hell, the stripe of which burneth them_). They made for him whatever he pleased, of lofty halls (_with steps whereby to ascend to them_), and images (_for they were not forbidden by his law_[320]), and large dishes, like great tanks for watering camels, _around each of which assembled a thousand men, eating from it_, and cooking-pots standing firmly _on their legs, cut out from the mountains in El-Yemen, and to which they ascended by ladders_. _And We said_, Work, O family of David, _in the service of God_, with thanksgiving _unto Him for what He hath given you_:—but few of My servants are the thankful. And when We decreed that he (_namely, Solomon_) should die, _and he died, and remained standing, and leaning upon his staff for a year, dead, the jinn meanwhile performing those difficult works as they were accustomed to do, not knowing of his death, until the worm ate his staff, whereupon he fell down_, nothing showed them his death but the eating reptile (_the worm_) that ate his staff.[321] And when he fell down, the jinn plainly perceived that if they had known things unseen (_of which things was the death of Solomon_), they had not continued in the ignominious affliction (_that is, in their difficult works_), _imagining that he was alive, inconsistently with their opinion that they knew things unseen. And that the period was a year was known by calculating what the worm had eaten of his staff since his death in each day and night or other space of time._ (xxxiv. 11-13.)

_JONAH._

Verily Jonah [Yoonus] was one of the apostles. [Remember] when he fled unto the laden ship, _being angry with his people, because the punishment wherewith he had threatened them did not fall upon them; wherefore he embarked in the ship; and it became stationary in the midst of the sea: so the sailors said, Here is a slave who hath fled from his master, and the lot will discover him_:—and he cast lots _with those who were in the ship_, and he was [the] one upon whom the lot fell. _They therefore cast him into the sea_, and the fish swallowed him; and he was reprehensible, _for having gone to the sea, and embarked in the ship, without the permission of his Lord_. And had he not been of those who glorified God (_by his saying often in the belly of the fish, There is no god but Thou! I extol Thy perfection! Verily I have been of the offenders!_), he had remained in his belly until the day of resurrection.[322] And We cast him on the plain land, _the same day, or after three or seven days, or twenty or forty days_; and he was sick; and We caused a gourd plant[323] to grow up over him, _to shade him_. _It had a trunk, contrary to what is the case of gourds in general, being miraculously produced for him._[324] _And a wild she-goat came to him evening and morning, of whose milk he drank until he became strong._ And We sent him _after that, as before_, unto _his people in Nineveh, in the land of El-Moṣil_, a hundred thousand, or they were a greater number by _twenty or thirty or seventy thousand_; and they believed _on beholding the punishment wherewith they had been threatened_;[325] wherefore We allowed them enjoyment _of their goods_ for a time, _until the expiration of their terms of life_.

(xxxvii. 139-148.)

_EZRA._

[Hast thou not considered] him who passed by a city (_which was Jerusalem_), _riding upon an ass, and having with him a basket of figs and a vessel of the juice of grapes_ (_and he was ´Ozeyr_ [Ezra]), and it was falling down upon its roofs, _Nebuchadnezzar having ruined it_? He said, _wondering at the power of God_, How will God quicken this after its death?—And God caused him to die for a hundred years. Then He raised him to life: [and] He said _unto him_, How long hast thou tarried _here_?—He answered I have tarried a day, or part of a day.—_For he slept in the first part of the day, and was deprived of his life, and was reanimated at sunset._ He said Nay, thou hast tarried a hundred years: but look at thy food and thy drink: they have not become changed by time: and look at thine ass.—_And he beheld it dead, and its bones white and shining.—We have done this that thou mayest know_, and that We may make thee a sign _of the resurrection_ unto men. And look at the bones _of thine ass_, how We will raise them; then We will clothe them with flesh.—_So he looked at them, and they had become put together, and were clothed with flesh, and life was breathed into it, and it brayed._ Therefore when it had been made manifest to him he said, I know that God is able to accomplish everything. (ii. 261.)

_THE MESSIAH._

_Remember_ when the wife of ´Imrán[326] said, (_when she had become aged, and desired offspring, wherefore she supplicated God, and became sensible of pregnancy_,) O my Lord, verily I devote unto Thee what is in my womb, to be dedicated _to the service of Thy holy house_: then accept [it] from me; for Thou art the Hearer _of prayer_, the Knower _of intentions_. _And ´Imrán perished while she was pregnant._ And when she gave birth to it, (_namely her daughter; and she was hoping that it might be a boy; since none but boys were dedicated_,) she said, O my Lord, verily I have brought forth a female, (and God well knew what she had brought forth,) and the male is not as the female, _the latter not being fit for the service_ [of the temple]; and I have named her Mary [Maryam]; and I beg thy protection for her and her offspring from the accursed devil.[327] (_In the traditions_ [it is said], _No child is born but the devil hath touched it at the time of its birth, wherefore it first raiseth its voice by crying, excepting Mary and her son._[328]) And her Lord accepted her (_that is, He accepted Mary from her mother_) with a gracious acceptance, and caused her to grow with an excellent growth, _as though she grew in a day as a child_ [generally] _groweth in a month_. _Her mother took her to the doctors, the keepers of the Holy House, and said, Receive ye this devoted child. And they eagerly desired her, because she was the daughter of their chief. But Zechariah said, I am more worthy of having her; for her maternal aunt is with me. They however replied, Nay, but we will cast lots.—So they departed (and they were nine and twenty) to the river Jordan, and cast their divining arrows on the understanding that he whose arrow should become steady in the water and rise should be_ [acknowledged] _most worthy of her; and the arrow of Zechariah became steady, and he took her, and built for her a chamber in the temple, with stairs to which no one ascended but himself. And he used to bring her her food and her drink and her ointment; and used to find with her the fruits of winter in summer, and the fruits of summer in winter, as He—whose name be exalted!—hath said_, And Zechariah maintained her. Whenever Zechariah went in to her in the chamber, he found with her provisions. He said, O Mary, whence came to thee this? She answered, (_being then a little child_,) It is from God: _He bringeth it to me from Paradise_: for God supplieth whom He pleaseth without reckoning.

Then, _when he saw this, and knew that He who was able to produce a thing out of its season was able to give a child in old age, (and the people of his house had become extinct,)_ Zechariah supplicated his Lord, _when he had entered the chamber to pray in the latter part of the night_. He said, O my Lord, give me from Thee a good offspring (_a righteous son_); for Thou art the Hearer of prayer.—And the angels (_by which is meant Gabriel_) called to him as he stood praying in the chamber (_that is, the temple_), saying, God promiseth thee John [Yaḥyá], who shall be a verifier of [the] Word _which cometh_ from God, (_that is, Jesus_ [´Eesa]; _for he is the Spirit of God, and was named_ [the] _Word because he was created by the word Be_,) and a chief, (_or one followed_,) and chaste, and a prophet, of the righteous. (_It is related that he neither did any sin nor intended any._)—He said, O my Lord, how shall I have a son, when old age hath come upon me, _when I have attained the utmost age, a hundred and twenty years_, and my wife is barren, _and hath attained the age of eight and ninety_?—He answered, _It shall be_ thus. God will do what He pleaseth.—He said, O my Lord, give me a sign.—He replied, Thy sign [shall be] that thou shalt not speak unto men for three days, except by signal; but remember thy Lord often, and glorify [Him] in the evening and in the morning.

(iii. 31-36.)

And he went forth unto his people from the chamber, and made a sign unto them, [as though he would say] Glorify [God] in the morning and in the evening _as usual_. _And he knew by his being prevented from speaking unto them that his wife had conceived John. And after his birth, by some years, God said unto him_, O John, receive the book (_that is, the Law_) with resolution. And We bestowed on him wisdom (_the gift of prophecy_) [when he was yet] a child, _three years of age_, and compassion from Us _for mankind_, and [a disposition to bestow] alms _upon them_. And he was pious, and dutiful to his parents, and was not proud [nor] rebellious _toward his Lord_; and peace _from Us_ [was] on him on the day when he was born, and on the day of his death, and [shall be] on the day when he shall be raised to life. (xix. 12-15.)

And _remember_ when the angels (_that is, Gabriel_) said, O Mary, verily God hath chosen thee and hath purified thee and hath chosen thee above the women of the peoples _of thy time_. O Mary, be devout towards thy Lord and prostrate thyself and bow down with those who bow down: _pray with those who pray_.—This is [one] of the announcements of things unseen _by thee_: We reveal it unto thee, _O Moḥammad_; for thou wast not with them when they cast their divining arrows _that it might appear to them_ which of them should rear Mary, and thou wast not with them when they disputed together _as to rearing her_.—_Remember_ when the angels (_that is, Gabriel_) said, O Mary, verily God promiseth thee [the] Word from Him, whose name [shall be] the Messiah [El-Meseeḥ], Jesus the son of Mary, honourable in this world _by his prophetic office_, and in the world to come _by his intercession and high stations_, and of those admitted near _unto God_; and he shall speak unto men in the cradle, and when of full age,[329] and [he shall be] of the righteous.—She said, O my Lord, how shall I have a son, when a man hath not touched me?—He answered, _It shall be_ thus; God will create what He pleaseth: when He determineth a thing, He only saith unto it, Be,—and it is. And He will teach him writing and wisdom and the Law and the Gospel, and _constitute him_ an apostle to the children of Israel, _in youth or after adolescence_. _And Gabriel breathed into the bosom of her shift; whereupon she conceived; and those events of her history which are related in the Soorat Maryam_ [Ḳur. xix.] _happened_.

(iii. 37-43.)

Relate in the book (_that is, the Ḳur-án_) _the history of_ Mary, when she retired from her family to a place towards the east, _in the house_, and she took a veil [to conceal herself] from them; and We sent unto her our spirit _Gabriel_, and he appeared unto her as a perfect man. She said, I beg the Compassionate to preserve me from thee! If thou be a pious person, _thou wilt withdraw from me_.—He replied, I am only the messenger of thy Lord [to inform thee] that He will give thee a pure son, _endowed with the gift of prophecy_. She said, How shall I have a son, when a man hath not touched me, and I am not a harlot? He answered, Thus _shall it be: a son shall be created unto thee without a father_. Thy Lord saith, This is easy unto Me; and _thus shall it be_ that We may make him a sign unto men, _showing Our power_, and a mercy from Us _unto him who shall believe in him_: for it is a thing decreed.—And she conceived him; and she retired with him [yet unborn] to a distant place _far from her family_; and the pains of childbirth urged her to repair to the trunk of a palm-tree _that she might lean against it_. _And she gave birth to the child, which was conceived and formed and born in an hour._[330] She said, Oh! would that I had died before this _event_, and had been a thing forgotten [and] unnoticed!—But he who was below her (_namely Gabriel, who was on a lower place than she_) called to her, Grieve not. God hath made below thee a rivulet: and shake thou towards thee the trunk of the palm-tree (_which was dried-up_); it shall let fall upon thee ripe dates, fresh-gathered: therefore eat _of the dates_, and drink _of the water of the rivulet_, and be of cheerful eye _on account of the child_: and if thou see any one of mankind, _asking thee concerning the child_, say, I have vowed unto the Compassionate an abstinence _from speech with mankind respecting him and other matters_; therefore I will not speak to-day unto a man _after this_.

And she brought him [namely the child] unto her people, carrying him. They said, O Mary, thou hast done a strange thing. O sister of Aaron, (_he was a righteous man; and the meaning is, O thou who art like him in chastity_,[331]) thy father was not a man of wickedness, nor was thy mother a harlot. _Then whence gottest thou this child?_—And she made a sign _to them_, [pointing] towards him, [namely the child, as though she would say,] _Speak ye unto him._ They said, How shall we speak unto him who is in the cradle, an infant? He [however] said, Verily I am the servant of God:[332] He hath given me the book _of the Gospel_, and hath appointed me a prophet; and He hath made me blessed wherever I shall be, and hath commanded me to observe prayer and give alms as long as I shall live, and _hath made me_ dutiful to my mother, and hath not made me proud [nor] wicked. And peace _from God_ [was] on me on the day when I was born, and [will be] on the day when I shall die, and on the day when I shall be raised to life.—This [was] Jesus the son of Mary. _I have spoken_ the saying of truth, concerning which they (_namely the Christians_) doubt, _saying that Jesus is the son of God_. It is not [meet] for God to get a son. Extolled be His purity _from that_ [imputation]! When He decreeth a thing _that He desireth to bring into existence_, He only saith unto it, Be,—and it is: _and thus He created Jesus the son of Mary without a father_.—And _say_, Verily God is my Lord and your Lord: therefore worship ye Him: this is a right way, _leading to Paradise_. But the sects have differed among themselves; _that is, the Christians have differed concerning Jesus, as to whether he be the son of God, or a deity with Him, or the third of three_. And woe unto them who have disbelieved _in that which hath been stated, or in other matters_, on account of the assembly of a great day, _the day of resurrection, and its terrors_. How will they hear, and how _will they_ see, on the day when they shall come unto Us _in the world to come_! But the offenders to-day (_that is, in the present world_) are in a manifest error: _they are deaf, so that they hear not the truth; and blind, so that they see it not_. And do thou, _O Moḥammad_, warn them (_namely the unbelievers of Mekkeh_) of the day of sighing (_the day of resurrection, when the evil-doer shall sigh for his having neglected to do good in the present world_), when the command _for their punishment_ shall be fulfilled, while they (_in the present world_) are in a state of heedlessness _with respect to it_, and while they believe not _therein_. Verily We shall inherit the earth and whomsoever are upon it (_the heedless and others; they being destroyed_); and unto Us shall they be brought back _to be recompensed_.

(xix. 16-41.)

_And when God sent him_ [Jesus] _to the children of Israel, he said unto them, Verily I am the apostle of God unto you_; for I have come unto you with a sign from your Lord; for I will make for you of earth the similitude of a bird, and will breathe into it, and it shall be a bird,[333] by the permission (_or will_) of God;[334] (_and he made for them a bat; for it is the most perfect of birds in make; and it flew, while they looked at it; but when it had gone out of their sight, it fell down dead_;) and I will cure the blind from his birth, and the leper; (_and he cured in one day fifty thousand, by prayer, on the condition of faith_;) and I will raise to life the dead, by the permission of God; (_this he repeated to deny his divinity: and he raised to life ´Áriz_ [Lazarus] _a friend of his; and a son of the old woman, and the daughter of the publican; and they lived, and children were born to them; and Shem the son of Noah, who died immediately_;) and I will tell you what ye eat and what ye store up in your houses. Verily therein will be a sign unto you, if ye be believers. And _I have come unto you_ as a verifier of that which was before me, of the Law, and to make lawful unto you part of what was made unlawful to you _therein_; (_and he made lawful to them, of fish and fowls, whatsoever is without fin or spur; and it is said that he made lawful all, and that ‘part’ is used in the sense of ‘the whole:’_) and I have come unto you with a sign from your Lord; therefore fear ye God, and obey me _in that which I command you, as to the confession of the unity of God and the service of Him_. Verily God is my Lord and your Lord; therefore worship Him. This is [the] right way. _But they accused him of falsehood and believed not in him._ And when Jesus perceived their unbelief, he said, Who [will be] my helpers for God? The apostles[335] answered, We [will be] the helpers of God. We have believed in God; and bear thou witness, _O Jesus_, that we are Muslims [or resigned]. O our Lord, we have believed in that which Thou hast sent down _of the Gospel_, and we have followed the Apostle, _Jesus_; therefore write us down among those who bear witness _of Thy unity and of the truth of Thine apostle_.—And they (_that is, the unbelievers among the children of Israel_) devised a stratagem _against Jesus, to slay him treacherously_; but God devised a stratagem _against them; for He put the likeness of Jesus upon one who intended his slaughter, and they slew him; and Jesus was taken up_ [into heaven],[336] and God is the best of those who devise stratagems.... _It is related that God sent a cloud to Jesus, and it took him up; but his mother clung unto him and wept: whereupon he said unto her, Verily the resurrection will unite us.—It is also related that he will descend shortly before the resurrection and judge according to the law of our prophet_ [Moḥammad], _slay Antichrist and the swine, break the cross, and impose the capitation-tax_ [on unbelievers].—_Also, that he will remain, according to one tradition, seven years; according to another, forty years; and die, and be prayed over: but it is probable that_ [by the latter period] _is meant the whole time of his tarrying upon the earth, before the ascension and after_.

(iii. 43—47.)

_Remember_ when the apostle said, O Jesus, son of Mary, is thy Lord able to cause a table to descend unto us from heaven?[337] He replied, Fear God, _in demanding signs_, if ye be believers. They said, We desire that we may eat therefrom, and that our hearts may be at ease _in consequence of additional evidence_, and we may know, _with increased knowledge_, that thou hast spoken truth unto us _in asserting thyself to be a prophet_, and may be witnesses thereof.—Jesus the son of Mary said, O God, our Lord, cause a table to descend unto us from heaven, that it (_namely the day of its descent_) may be unto us a festival,[338] unto the first of us and the last of us (_or those who shall come after us_), and a sign from Thee _of Thy power, and of my prophetic office_; and provide us with food _thereby_; for Thou art the best of providers.—God said, _in reply to him_, Verily I will cause it to descend unto you; but whosoever of you shall disbelieve after _its descent_, I will surely punish him with a punishment wherewith I will not punish any [other] of the peoples.—_And the angels descended with it from heaven: upon it were seven cakes of bread and seven fishes; and they ate of them until they were satisfied. And in a tradition related by Ibn-´Abbás it is said that the table brought down from heaven bread and flesh, and they were commanded not to act deceitfully, nor to store up for the morrow; but they_ [that is, some of the people] _did so, and were transformed into apes and swine_.

(v. 112-115.)

Propound unto them, as an example, the inhabitants of the city _of Antioch_, when the apostles _of Jesus_ came unto it;[339] when We sent unto them two,[340] and they charged them with falsehood; wherefore We strengthened _them_ with a third;[341] and they said, Verily we are sent unto you. They replied, Ye are not [aught] save men like us, and the Compassionate hath not revealed anything: ye do nothing but lie. They said, Our Lord knoweth that we are indeed sent unto you; and naught is imposed on us but the delivering of a plain message, _shown to be true by manifest proofs, namely the cure of him who hath been born blind and of the leper and the sick, and the raising of the dead_. [The people of Antioch] said, Verily we presage evil from you; _for the rain is withheld from us on your account_: if ye desist not, we will assuredly stone you, and a painful punishment shall surely betide you from us. [The apostles] replied, Your evil luck is with you _because of your unbelief_. If ye have been warned, _will ye presage evil and disbelieve_? Nay, ye are an exorbitant people.—And there came from the furthest part of the city a man (_namely Ḥabeeb the carpenter, who had believed in the apostles_) running: he said, O my people, follow the apostles: follow those who ask not of you a recompense, and who are rightly directed. _And it was said unto him, Art thou of their religion? He replied_, And why should I not worship Him who hath created me, and unto whom ye shall be brought back _after death_? Shall I take deities beside Him? If the Compassionate be pleased to afflict me, their intercession will not avert from me aught, nor will they deliver. Verily, in that case (_if I worshipped aught but God_), I should be in a manifest error. Verily I believe in your Lord; therefore hear ye me.—_But they stoned him, and he died;[342] and_ it was said _unto him at his death_, Enter thou into Paradise. _And it is said that he entered it alive._ He said, O would that my people knew my Lord’s forgiveness of me and His having made me [one] of those who are honoured?—And We sent not down against his people after him (_that is, after his death_) an army _of angels_ from heaven _to destroy them_, nor were We sending down _angels to destroy any one_. It (_namely their punishment_) was naught but one cry _which Gabriel uttered against them_; and lo, they were extinct.

(xxxvi. 12-28.)

_We have cursed the Jews_ ... for their disbelief _in Jesus_ and their uttering against Mary a great calumny and their saying, We have killed the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, the apostle of God,—Yet they killed him not nor crucified him; but one (_namely the person whom they crucified_) was made to appear to them like _Jesus_; and verily those who disagreed respecting him were in doubt concerning him, _or his slaughter; for some of them said, when they saw the slain person, The face is the face of Jesus; but the body is not his body:—and others said, It is he_:[343]—they had no knowledge of him; but only followed an opinion. And they did not really kill him; but God took him up unto Himself; and God is mighty [and] wise. And there is not of the people of the Scripture _one_ but he shall assuredly believe in him (_namely Jesus_) before his death; _that is, before his own death, or before the death of Jesus, when he descendeth shortly before the resurrection_;[344] and on the day of resurrection he (_namely Jesus_) shall be a witness against them.

(iv. 155-157.)

When God shall say, _on the day of resurrection_, O Jesus, son of Mary, hast thou said unto men, Take me and my mother as two deities, beside God?—_Jesus_ shall answer, _after being agitated_ (_or after it shall have thundered_), Extolled be Thy purity _from the imputation of aught that is unsuitable to Thee, as the having a partner, and other things_! It is not for me to say that which is not right for me. Had I said it, Thou hadst known it. Thou knowest what is in me; but I know not what is in Thee; for Thou well-knowest things unseen. I said not unto them aught but that which Thou commandedst me; _namely_ Worship ye God, my Lord and your Lord;—and I was a watcher over them, _commanding them to abstain from what they said_, while I remained among them: but since Thou hast taken me to Thyself,[345] Thou hast been the watcher over them, and Thou art the witness of all things. If Thou punish them, (_that is, such of them as have continued in unbelief_,) they are Thy servants _and Thou mayest do with them as Thou pleasest_; and if Thou forgive them, (_that is, such of them as have believed_,) Thou art the Mighty, the Wise.

(v. 116-118.)

When the son of Mary was proposed as an instance (_when the saying of God was revealed, Verily ye and what ye worship beside God_ [shall be] _fuel of hell_ [Kur. xxi. 98], _and the polytheists said, We are content for our gods to be with Jesus, for he hath been worshipped beside God_,[346]) lo, thy people, _the polytheists_, cried out _in joy_ thereat, and they said, [Are] our gods better, or [is] he? _We are content for our gods to be with him._—They proposed not it (_namely the instance_) unto thee otherwise than as a cause of dispute (_knowing that the word ‘what’ applieth to that which is not endowed with reason; so that it doth not reflect upon Jesus, on whom be peace!_): yea, they are a contentious people. He (_namely Jesus_) is no other than a servant whom We favoured _with the gift of prophecy_; and We proposed him, _by reason of his having come into existence without a father_, as an instance _of the divine power_ unto the children of Israel. And if We pleased, We would substitute for you angels to succeed in the earth.[347] And verily he (_namely Jesus_) _shall be_ a sign of the [last] hour:[348] _it shall be known by his descending_: wherefore doubt not thereof.—And _say unto them_, Follow ye me _in confessing the unity of God_: this, _which I command you to follow_, is a right way. And let not the devil turn you away _from the religion of God_; for he is unto you a manifest enemy.—And when Jesus came with manifest proofs (_with miracles and ordinances_), he said, I have come unto you with wisdom (_with prophecy and with the ordinances of the Gospel_), and to explain unto you part of [the things] concerning which ye disagree: therefore fear ye God, and obey me. Verily God is my Lord and your Lord; wherefore worship ye Him: this is a right way.—But the parties disagreed among themselves _respecting Jesus, whether he were God, or the son of God, or the third of three_: and woe unto them that transgressed _in that which they said respecting Jesus_, because of the punishment of an afflicting day!

(xliii. 57-65.)

Verily the similitude of Jesus in the sight of God is as the similitude of Adam. He created him (_Adam_) of earth: then He said unto him, Be,—and he was. _In like manner he said unto Jesus, Be, without a father,—and he was. This is_ the truth from thy Lord: therefore be not thou of those who doubt. And whosoever _of the Christians_ argueth with thee respecting him, after the knowledge that hath come unto thee _concerning him_, say, Come ye, let us call our sons and your sons and our wives and your wives, and ourselves and yourselves _will assemble_: then we will invoke, and will lay the curse of God on those who lie, _saying, O God, curse the liar respecting the nature of Jesus!—And the prophet invited a company from Nejrán to do so, when they had argued with him respecting Jesus; and they said_, [Wait] _until we consider our case: then we will come unto thee. And their counsellor said, Ye know his prophetic office, and that no people have execrated a prophet but they have perished. They however quieted the man, and departed, and came unto the prophet. And he had come forth, having with him El-Ḥasan and El-Ḥoseyn and Fáṭimeh and ´Alee; and he said unto them, When I pray, say ye Amen. But they refused to execrate, and made peace with him on the condition of their paying tribute._—Verily this is indeed the true history, and there is no deity but God, and verily God is indeed the Mighty, the Wise.

(iii. 52-55.)

O people of the Scripture (_that is, of the Gospel_), exceed not the just bounds in your religion,[349] nor say of God [aught] but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, [was] only the apostle of God, and His Word, which he transmitted unto Mary, and a spirit (_that is, a being possessing a spirit_) from Him. (_He is mentioned in conjunction with God, in order to show him honour, and is not, as ye assert, the son of God, or a God with Him, or the third of three; for the being possessing a spirit is compound, and the Deity must be confessed to be pure from the imputation of composition and the relationship of a compound being to Him._) Therefore believe in God and His apostles, and say not, _There are_ three _gods, God and Jesus and his mother_.[350] Abstain _from this, and say what will be_ better for you; _that is, assert the unity of God_. God is only one god. Extolled be His purity from the imputation of His having a son! To Him belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth: and God is a sufficient witness _thereof_. The Messiah doth not disdain to be a servant unto God, nor do the angels who are admitted near _unto Him_. (iv. 169, 170.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See prefatory note, p. 2.

[2] _i.e._, the glory of the clan.

[3] Battles.

[4] This and the other verses quoted in this chapter are taken from the translations of old Arab poetry contributed by Mr. C. J. Lyall to the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal (Translations from the Hamâseh and the Aghânî; The Mo`allaqah of Zuheyr)_. They imitate the metres of the original Arabic verse, but are nevertheless as literal as need be. The transliteration of proper names in the verses (and in other quotations) has been assimilated to the system adopted by Mr. Lane, from which in this work I only depart in the case of names which by frequent use have become almost the property of the English language.

[5] A tribe.

[6] The subject of the poem, mentioned in the second hemistich of the third verse as ‘thou,’ whose death the supposed author (‘one valiant’) avenged.

[7] For these and other stories about Ḥátim, see Caussin de Perceval’s _Essai sur l’Histoire des Arabes_, ii. 607-628: a book which is a treasury of Arab life, and abounds in those anecdotes which reveal more of the character of the people than whole volumes of ethnological treatise.

[8] The later Arabic poets were mostly incapable of the genius of the old singers: the times had changed, and the ancient poetry appeared almost as exotic to their ideas as it does to our own. No greater mistake can be made than to judge of the old poets by such a writer as Behá-ed-deen Zoheyr, of whom Professor E. H. Palmer has lately given us so beautiful a version. There is nothing in common between El-Behá and ´Antarah—scarcely even the language.

[9] Deutsch, _Lit. Remains_, 453, 454: cp. Nöldeke, _Beiträge zur Kennt. d. Poesie d. alten Araber_, xxiii., xxiv.

[10] Ezekiel xxvii. 19-24. The identifications of the various names with Arabian towns are partly conjectural, but the general reference is clearly to Arabia. Cf. the ‘Speaker’s’ _Commentary_, vi. 122; and the interpretations of Hitzig, Movers, Tuch, and Ménant.

[11] C. P. Tiele, _Outlines of the History of Religion_: tr. J. E. Carpenter, p. 63.

[12] Deutsch. _Lit. Remains_, pp. 70-72.

[13] R. Bosworth Smith, _Mohammed and Mohammedanism_, 2d ed. p. 131.

[14] Or ‘read,’ ‘recite.’ These lines are the beginning of the 96th Soorah of the Ḳur-án.

[15] Sir W. Muir,_ Life of Mahomet_, 402.

[16] The following is an abridgment: cp. Muir 485, and the _Seeret-er-Rasool_, tr. Weil, ii. 316, 317.

[17] An attempt has been made to explain away Moḥammad’s fidelity to Khadeejeh, by adducing the motive of pecuniary prudence. Moḥammad, they say, was a poor man, Khadeejeh rich and powerfully connected; any _affaire de cœur_ on the husband’s part would have been followed by a divorce and the simultaneous loss of property and position. It is hardly necessary to point out that the fear of poverty—a matter of little consequence in Arabia and at that time—would not restrain a really sensual man for five-and-twenty years; especially when it is by no means certain that Khadeejeh, who loved him with all her heart in a motherly sort of way, would have procured a divorce for any cause soever. And this explanation leaves Moḥammad’s loving remembrance of his old wife unaccounted for. If her money alone had curbed him for twenty-five years, one would expect him at her death to throw off the cloak, thank Heaven for the deliverance, and enter at once upon the rake’s progress. He does none of those things. The story of Zeyneb, the divorced wife of Zeyd, is a favourite weapon with Moḥammad’s accusers. It is not one to enter upon here; but I may say that the lady’s own share in the transaction has never been sufficiently considered. In all probability Zeyd, the freed slave, was glad enough to get rid of his too well-born wife, and certainly he bore no rancour against Moḥammad. The real point of the story is the question of forged revelations, which is discussed below.

[18] ‘The Prophet said: Whosoever shall bear witness that there is one God; and that Moḥammad is His servant and messenger; and that Jesus Christ is His servant and messenger, and that he is the son of the hand-maid of God, and that he is the Word of God, the word which was sent to Mary, and Spirit from God; and [shall bear witness] that there is truth in Heaven and Hell, will enter into paradise, whatever sins he may be chargeable with.’—_Mishkát-el-Masábeeh_, i. 11.

[19] R. Bosworth Smith: _Mohammed and Mohammedanism_, 2d ed., 255-257.

[20] _The People of Turkey_, by a Consul’s Daughter, preface, xxii.

[21] _Mishkát-el-Masábeeh_, i. 46, 51.

[22] Dr. E. Blyden. See his article on Mohammadanism in Western Africa in _The People of Africa_. (New York, 1871.)

[23] It may be interesting to some readers to judge for themselves of the different characteristics of these four groups of soorahs; and though in a series of translated selections it will hardly be possible to gain a thorough appreciation of the change of style or matter, some notion may nevertheless be obtained by reading the First Part of these Selections in the following order (the numbers referring to the figures at the head of each extract):—

Mekka—First Period:—xvii., lxvi., lxv., xviii., xxxvii., xxxviii., xxxix., xl., xli., xlii., xliii., xxx., iii., i.

Second Period:—lx., xlvii., xxix., viii., xiv., lxiii., vi., li., lxii., xxxi., xliv., lxxxvi., lxxxi., xlv., xxxvi., xx.

Third Period:—lxxiii., lxiv., xxxv., liii., xlvi., xvi., lxxvi., xxxii., lix., xxi., vii., lv., xix., xii., x., lxxii., xxviii., xi.

Medina:—ii., lxxxiv., xxxiii., lxxvii., xxxiv., xxiv., xxvi., ix., lii., lxxix., lxvii., lxi., iv., lxxi., lxix., lxx., lxxv., lxxxiii., xlviii., v., lxxviii., xxii., lvi., lvii., xlix., xxvii., xxv., xiii., lviii., lxxiv., l., liv., xxiii., lxxx., xv., lxviii., lxxxv., lxxxii.

[24] This is generally believed to be the night of (that is, preceding) the 27th day of the month.

[25] In the Introduction, the references are to the new one volume edition, 1877. Since writing my chapter on the early Arabs, Sir W. Muir has published an interesting essay on old Arabic poetry in the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_ (xi part i. 1879).

[26] The ‘Lord’s Prayer’ of the Muslims, recited several times in each of the five daily prayers, and on many other occasions.

[27] _That is, of all creatures._

[28] [‘Do we beg assistance,’ in the original ed.]

[29] _God knoweth best what He meaneth by these letters._

[30] _That it is from God._

[31] _In the resurrection and paradise and hell._

[32] _The Ḳur-án._

[33] _The Pentateuch and the Gospel and other books._

[34] This chapter is held in particular veneration by the Moḥammadans, and declared, by a tradition of their prophet, to be equal in value to a third part of the whole Korân.—S.

[35] One of the most admired passages in the Ḳur-án, recited (though not by all Muslims) at the close of each of the five daily prayers, and often engraved on an ornament of gold or silver or a precious stone to be worn as an amulet.

[36] ‘The seven heavens and earths in comparison with the Throne are nought but as seven dirhems [silver coins] cast into a shield.’—Trad.

[37] [‘Able to do everything,’ orig. ed. Lit. ‘potent over everything.’]

[38] Lit. ‘driven away with stones.’ This expression alludes to a tradition, that Abraham, when the devil tempted him to disobey God, in not sacrificing his son, drove the fiend away by throwing stones at him; in memory of which, the Moḥammadans, at the pilgrimage of Mecca, throw a certain number of stones at the devil, with certain ceremonies, in the valley of Mina.—S. The devils, or evil jinn, it is said, had liberty to enter any of the seven heavens till the birth of Jesus, when they were excluded from three of them; on the birth of Moḥammad they were forbidden the other four. They continue, however, to ascend to the confines of the lowest heaven, and there, listening to the conversation of the angels respecting things decreed by God, obtain knowledge of futurity, which they sometimes impart to men, who by means of talismans or certain invocations make them to serve the purposes of magical performances. Shooting stars are often hurled at the devils when they thus listen.

[39] _That it may not move with its inhabitants._

[40] _Or determined._

[41] _Slaves and beasts and cattle: for it is God only who sustaineth them._

[42] _Which cause the clouds to fill with water._

[43] _As the bird from the egg._

[44] _As the egg from the bird._

[45] _Or consider._

[46] _For you previously to birth._

[47] [‘Compacted,’ orig. ed. Strictly, words such as ‘come forth’ should be supplied before ‘clusters.’]

[48] _In leaf._

[49] _In fruit._

[50] [Genii.] _since they have obeyed them in worshipping idols_. See p. 33.

[51] _Alone._

[52] _This was revealed with reference to a man unto whom the Prophet sent one to invite him_ to the faith; _but he said, Who is the apostle of God, and what is God? Is he of gold, or silver, or brass? Whereupon a thunderbolt fell upon him, and struck off his skull_.

[53] _On the Preserved Tablet._

[54] _Restoring your souls in the daytime._

[55] _The term of life._

[56] [‘Predominant,’ orig. ed.]

[57] _Angels who register your deeds._

[58] _The creatures._

[59] _That He may recompense them._

[60] _O Moḥammad, to the people of Mekkeh._

[61] _Namely, the Jews and the Christians, and those_ [Arabs] _who assert that the angels are daughters of God_.

[62] [‘Demolished,’ orig. ed.]

[63] _On the day of resurrection._

[64] _Without wealth or helper._

[65] _Of the perfume and saffron with which they are overdaubed._

[66] _Idols._

[67] _This they would not worship them._

[68] [‘Similitudes,’ orig. ed. It is the plural of the same word as that translated ‘parable’ at the beginning of the preceding extract, and ‘likeness’ twice in this extract.]

[69] [It is said that Moḥammad, when a revelation came down to him, used to say, ‘Cover ye me with something whereby I may become warm.’ Lane: Lexicon, voce _dathara_.]

[70] [Idolatry.]

[71] [This rendering is Mr. Rodwell’s. I do not think it can be bettered.]

[72] [Lit. ‘And by the night when it becometh still;’ or (but this is less strongly supported) ‘when it darkeneth.’]

[73] [‘In my possession,’ orig. ed.]

[74] [‘Apostle,’ in the orig. ed.; but Christian associations have somewhat restricted the original meaning of the word, and I have therefore in this and other instances substituted ‘Messenger,’ which exactly represents the Arabic _rasool_.]

[75] _To unbelief._

[76] _He will only injure himself._

[77] _The Jews said unto the Muslims, We are the people of the first book_ (the Pentateuch), _and our Ḳibleh_ (the point to which we turn our faces in praying) _is the more ancient, and the prophets have not been of the Arabs, and if Moḥammad were a prophet, he had been of us_. _Therefore_ the following _was revealed_.

[78] _So that He may choose of His servants whom He pleaseth._

[79] _That is, God is; and He hath acquitted Abraham of belonging to them by His saying_ [Ḳur. iii. 60], _Abraham was not a Jew nor a Christian; and the other persons above-mentioned with him were followers of him_.

[80] _They are the Jews, who have concealed the testimony of God, in the Pentateuch, of Abraham’s orthodoxy._

[81] [Moḥammad and Aḥmad are from the same root, _ḥamd_, meaning ‘praise;’ and both names were borne by the Prophet. The supposed prediction of Moḥammad’s coming arose, perhaps, from a confusion between Parakletos and Perikleitos or possibly Periklytos in Evang. S. Jo. xvi. 7, where the coming of ‘the Paraclete’ is promised; in some Arabic version of which the word may have been ignorantly rendered by ‘Aḥmad,’ and thus reported to Moḥammad.]

[82] _By the description of him in their books._

[83] _The description of him._

[84] _In the Law._

[85] _Or miracles._

[86] _As Zechariah and John, and ye slew them._

[87] _Their belief, if the signs come._ The copies of the original differ in this verse, but not in an important manner.

[88] _From the truth, so that they shall not believe._

[89] _The Ḳur-án._

[90] Or art mad.

[91] _That is, with punishment._

[92] [The original copy kept by God.]

[93] [This line is often inscribed on the covers of copies of the Ḳur-án.]

[94] _In eloquence._

[95] [In orig. edition, and literally, ‘Although some of them assisted others.’]

[96] _That they may be admonished._

[97] _And not sent an angel?_

[98] _Instead of mankind._

[99] _For no apostle is sent unto a people but one of their own kind._

[100] Forgery.

[101] _Moḥammad._

[102] Chapter.

[103] _To assist you._

[104] _The result of the threat that it containeth._

[105] _As to its being from God._

[106] _In eloquence and beauty of composition and information concerning what is unseen._

[107] _Your deities whom ye worship, that they may aid you._

[108] _When the unbelievers cavilled at abrogation, and said, ‘Moḥammad commandeth his companions to-day to do a thing and forbiddeth it tomorrow,’_ the following _was revealed_.

[109] _Namely, a Christian slave whom the Prophet used to visit._ [The Mekkans accounted for the production of the Ḳur-án by an unlearned man like Moḥammad by ascribing it to the teaching of some Christian, whom is doubtful. Moḥammad’s reply is that the Christian’s was a foreign tongue, whilst the Ḳur-án was in Arabic.]

[110] [‘As a further supply,’ orig. ed.]

[111] [Lit. ‘Burdens:’ explained by El-Beyḍáwee and others _as buried treasures_ and as _dead_.]

[112] _The most highly esteemed of property._

[113] [‘Be set on fire,’ orig. ed. Both these renderings, and also ‘be dried up,’ are supported by various authorities. See Lane: Lex. voce _sejera_.]

[114] Woman-child.

[115] _Of men’s actions._

[116] _As the skin is plucked off a_ slaughtered _sheep_.

[117] _A kind of thorn which no beast eateth, by reason of its impurity._

[118] _Or eight ranks of them._

[119] _Unto a company, by reason of his joy thereat._

[120] _And it shall be said unto such._

[121] _And it shall be said unto the keepers of hell._

[122] _As it hath denied it in the present world._

[123] _Those who shall receive their books in their right hands._

[124] _How honourable shall they be!_

[125] _How contemptible shall they be!_

[126] _In the way to good fortune (namely, the Prophets), how honourable shall be!_

[127] [‘Destined to continue for ever _in boyhood_,’ orig. ed.]

[128] [Ḥooreeyehs.]

[129] Intensely black and white, large-eyed.

[130] From bottom to top.

[131] [The Ḥooreeyehs.]

[132] _Polytheism._

[133] Beneath the tents thereof.

[134] _The believers and the unbelievers._

[135] _One after another, barefooted, naked, unarmed._

[136] _Of the resurrection._

[137] _Written in their books._

[138] _I will surely fill Hell_, &c. [Ḳur. vii. 17, given below, p. 51].

[139] Of righteousness.

[140] _Between all creatures._

[141] [Or ‘marked’ or ‘goodly.’]

[142] [Fighting for the faith.]

[143] [Or ‘end,’ ‘result.’]

[144] “Arms on armour clashing bray’d Horrible discord.”—_Par. Lost_, vi. 209.

[145] _O Moḥammad._ The copies of the original differ here, but the differences are unimportant.

[146] _By taking to themselves idols._

[147] _Thou wouldst see a great thing!_

[148] _Denying their having led them into error._

[149] _Iblees._

[150] _And the people of paradise are introduced into paradise, and the people of the fire into the fire, and when the latter have assembled around him._

[151] _Respecting the resurrection and retribution._

[152] _The contrary._

[153] _The people of Mekkeh._

[154] _Of the resurrection._

[155] _If the choice had been given us we had not gone forth and had not been slain._

[156] _Namely, the Jews._

[157] [See _Modern Egyptians_, 5th ed., p 284.]

[158] [On the various orders of the Jinn, see Lane’s _Thousand and One Nights_, Introduction, note 21. And see above, pp. 7, 9.]

[159] _Consisting of the angels._

[160] _They speak not until after He hath spoken._

[161] _Iblees_ [the devil].

[162] [In the Arabic, ‘Ḳur-án.’]

[163] _This is said to be the most comprehensive verse in the Ḳur-án with respect to good and evil._ [The commentators say it contains the whole duty of man, both in respect of doing and of shunning. It is needless to enumerate the various virtues and sins which they consider are implied in each of the simple words of the text.]

[164] [Mr. Rodwell’s rendering.]

[165] The traveller.

[166] _Of being rewarded for so doing._

[167] _Or reproach._

[168] _Their idols._

[169] _Disposition._

[170] [Lit., and in orig. ed., ‘hath great good fortune.’]

[171] [_Mod. Egypt._, 104.]

[172] [The Christians and Jews.]

[173] [Or ‘best:’ so in _Mod. Egypt._, 280.]

[174] [This is Mr. Rodwell’s word, and is, I think, more expressive of the original (_muslimoona_) than ‘resigned.’]

[175] _In the prophets._

[176] [Some suppose this verse to be abrogated by the next extract: others try to explain it away.]

[177] _And of him who inviteth them to the true religion._

[178] Mirage (_saráb_).

[179] _In like manner the unbeliever reckoneth that his works will profit him, until, when he dieth and is brought before his Lord, he findeth not his works._

[180] _The unbeliever._

[181] _By his unbelief._

[182] _In the tradition it is said, ‘Whosoever hath any good thing given unto him, whether of family or wealth, and saith on the occasion thereof, ‘What God willeth (`má-sháä-lláh)! There is no power but in God!’ he will not see in it aught displeasing.’_

[183] _On the day of resurrection._

[184] _O Moḥammad._

[185] _Of the people of Mekkeh._