besides him. Now hath an evident demonstration come unto you from your LORD. Therefore give full measure and just weight, and diminish not unto men aught of their matters: neither act corruptly in the earth after its reformation. This will be better for you, if ye believe. (87) And beset not every way, threatening the passenger, and turning aside from the path of GOD him who believeth in him, and seeking to make it crooked. And remember, when ye were few and God multiplied you: and behold what hath been the end of those who acted corruptly. (88) And if part of you believe in that wherewith I am sent, and part believe not, wait patiently until GOD judge between us; for he is the best judge.

SIPARA.

(89) The chiefs of his people, who were elated with NINTH pride, answered, We will surely cast thee, O Shuaib, and those who believe with thee, out of our city: or else thou shalt certainly return unto our religion. He said, What! though we be averse thereto? (90) We shall surely imagine a lie against GOD if we return unto your religion, after that GOD hath delivered us from the same: and we have no reason to return unto it, unless GOD our LORD shall please to abandon us. Our LORD comprehendeth everything by his knowledge. In GOD do we put our trust. O LORD, do thou judge between us and our nation with

Give full measure. One of the great crimes of the Midianites was keeping two different kinds of weights and measures, buying by one and selling by the other. Baidhawi, Tafsír-i-Raufi.

After reformation. See on ver. 57.

(87) Beset not every way, &c. Robbing on the highway, it seems, was another crying sin, frequent among these people. But some of the commentators interpret this passage figuratively of their besetting the way of truth, and threatening those who gave ear to the remonstrances of Shuaib."-Sale, Baidhawi.

(88) Wait patiently, &c. This is no doubt what Muhammad himself taught his hearers at Makkah. It would appear that, unable to work miracles, he either hoped for the power to do so (see notes on chap. vi. 109-111), or he trusted that something would turn up to favour his cause in the future.

(89) We will surely cast thee

out of our city. Rodwell relates a Jewish tradition of similar import regarding Jethro. See Koran,

R 1,2.

truth; for thou art the best judge. (91) And the chiefs of his people who believed not said, If ye follow Shuaib, ye shall surely perish. (92) Therefore a storm from heaven. assailed them, and in the morning they were found in their dwellings dead and prostrate. (93) They who accused Shuaib of imposture became as though they had never dwelt therein; they who accused Shuaib of imposture perished themselves. (94) And he departed from them, and said, O my people, now have I performed unto you the messages of my LORD; and I advised you aright: but why should I be grieved for an unbelieving people?

|| (95) We have never sent any prophet unto a city but we afflicted the inhabitants thereof with calamity and adversity, that they might humble themselves. (96) Then we gave them in exchange good in lieu of evil, until they abounded, and said, Adversity and prosperity formerly happened unto our fathers as unto us. Therefore we took vengeance on them suddenly, and they perceived it not beforehand. (97) But if the inhabitants of those cities had believed and feared God, we would surely have opened to them blessings both from heaven and earth. But they charged our apostles with falsehood, wherefore we took

p. 117 note.
This passage seems to point to the time when the
Quraish proscribed Muhammad and his followers and sympathisers,
and compelled them to retire to "the Sheb of Abu Tálib," about five
or six years before the Hijra.

(91) A storm "like that which destroyed the Thamúdites."-Sale. Some translate the word earthquake. See Tafsir-i-Raufi.

(93) The fate of the Quraish is here prefigured. See notes on chap. iii. 185, and notes above on vers. 2, 60, 66, and 74. (94) Why should I be grieved, &c. xix. 41, 42; xxiii. 34.

Comp. Matt. xxiii. 37, and Luke

(95) See note on chap. vi. 131. There is here, in all probability, allusion to some calamity which had befallen the city of Makkah. Some say it was a famine.

(97-100) Those cities, i.e., those described above as inhabited by the people of Moab, Húd, Sálih, Lot, and Shuaib, whose dreadful fate is set forth as a warning to those who refuse to believe on Muhammad. The great crime of these people was that they charged their prophets with being impostors. Was not Muhammad conscious of his own imposture? See note on ver. 2.

vengeance on them for that which they had been guilty of. (98) Were the inhabitants therefore of those cities secure that our punishment should not fall on them by night while they slept? (99) Or were the inhabitants of those cities secure that our punishment should not fall on them by day while they sported? (100) Were they therefore secure from the stratagem of GOD? But none will think himself secure from the stratagem of GOD except the people who perish.

|| (101) And hath it not manifestly appeared unto those R 13. who have inherited the earth after the former inhabitants thereof, that if we please we can afflict them for their sins? But we will seal up their hearts, and they shall not hearken. (102) We will relate unto thee some stories of these cities. Their apostles had come unto them with evident miracles, but they were not disposed to believe in that which they had before gainsaid. Thus will GOD seal up the hearts of the unbelievers. (103) And we found not in the greater part of them any observance of their covenant; but we found the greater part of them wicked doers. (104) Then we sent after the above-named apostles Moses with our signs unto Pharaoh and his princes, who treated

(100) The stratagem of God. "Hereby is figuratively expressed the manner of God's dealing with proud and ungrateful men, by suffering them to fill up the measure of their iniquity, without vouchsafing to bring them to a sense of their condition by chastisements and afflictions till they find themselves utterly lost, when they least expect it."-Sale, Baidhawi.

(101) Those who have inherited the earth, &c., i.e., the Quraish, who are here warned of the judgments in store for them on account of their unbelief, unless they repent.

But we will seal up, &c. Rodwell rightly connects this with the preceding by the copulative and instead of the disjunctive but. The passage should therefore read, We can afflict them for their sins, and seal up their hearts, and (wherefore) they shall not hearken.

(102, 103) These verses give a sort of summary of what has gone before, and would have been more appropriately placed before ver. 60.

(104) We sent... Moses. The Qurán everywhere presents Moses as the apostle of the Egyptians as well as of the Israelites. He is sent to them to warn them against idolatry, and to urge them to the

VOL. II.

P

them unjustly; but behold what was the end of the corrupt doers? (105) And Moses said, O Pharaoh, verily I am an apostle sent from the LORD of all creatures. (106) It is just that I should not speak of God other than the truth. Now am I come unto you with an evident sign from your LORD: send therefore the children of Israel away with Pharaoh answered, If thou comest with a sign, produce it, if thou speakest truth. (107) Wherefore he cast down his rod; and behold, it became a visible serpent.

me.

worship of the true God. The children of Israel who believe on him are therefore his followers-are true Muslims. See parallel passages in chaps. x. 76-93, and xl. 24-49.

The Moses of the Qurán is a Muhammad in disguise. Muslima believe Moses to have been a black man.

Pharaoh. "Which of the kings of Egypt this Pharaoh of Moses was is uncertain. Not to mention the opinions of the European writers, those of the East generally suppose him to have been al Walid, who, according to some, was an Arab of the tribe of Ád, or, according to others, the son of Musáb, the son of Riyán, the son of Walid the Amalekite. There are historians, however, who suppose Kabús, the brother and predecessor of al Walid, was the prince we are speaking of, and pretend he lived six hundred and twenty years. and reigned four hundred,-which is more reasonable, at least, than the opinion of those who imagine it was his father Musáb, or grandfather Riyán. Abulfida says that Musáb being one hundred and seventy years old, and having no child, while he kept the herds saw a cow calve, and heard her say at the same time, O Musáb, be not grieved, for thou shalt have a wicked son, who will be at length cast into hell. And he accordingly had this Walíd, who afterwards coming to be king of Egypt, proved an impious tyrant."—Sale, Baidháwi, Zamakhshari.

Treated them unjustly, i.e., refused to believe the signs of his apostleship.

(107) A visible serpent. "The Arab writers tell enormous fables of this serpent or dragon. For they say that he was hairy, and of so prodigious a size, that when he opened his mouth, his jaws were fourscore cubits asunder, and when he laid his lower jaw on the ground, his upper reached to the top of the palace; that Pharaoh seeing this monster make towards him, fled from it, and was so terribly frightened that he befouled himself; and that the whole assembly also betaking themselves to their heels, no less than twentyfive thousand of them lost their lives in the press. They add that Pharaoh upon this adjured Moses by God who had sent him to take away the serpent, and promised he would believe on him and let the Israelites go; but when Moses had done what he requested, he relapsed, and grew as hardened as before."-Sale, Baidhawi.

(108) And he drew forth his hand out of his bosom; and behold, it appeared white unto the spectators.

|| (109) The chiefs of the people of Pharaoh said, This R 1 man is certainly an expert magician: (110) he seeketh to dispossess you of your land. What therefore do ye direct? (111) They answered, Put off him and his brother by fair promises for some time, and in the mean while send unto the cities persons, (112) who may assemble and bring unto thee every expert magician. (113) So the magicians came unto Pharaoh; (114) and they said, Shall we surely receive a reward if we do overcome? (115) He answered, Yea; and ye shall certainly be of those who approach near unto my throne. (116) They said, O Moses, either do thou cast down thy rod first, or we will cast down ours. Moses answered, Do ye cast down your rods first. (117) And when they had cast them down, they enchanted the eyes of

The common view is that it was an ordinary serpent, and that the Egyptians regarded it as having been produced by magic.

(108) He drew forth his hand, &c. The Bible nowhere says this miracle was performed before Pharaoh. There seems to have been Jewish tradition to which Muhammad was indebted for his knowledge on this point (see Rodwell's note in loco). Sale thinks we may fairly infer from Exod. iv. 8, 9, that both signs were shown to Pharaoh.

(109) The chiefs of the people. These chiefs, who symbolise the Arab chiefs of Makkah, are represented as equally guilty with Pharaoh. They continually mock at the miracles or signs of Moses and Aaron, and stir up Pharaoh to rebellion against God.

(110) What... do ye direct? This is a question addressed by Pharaoh to his counsellors.

(113) Magicians. "The Arabian writers name several of these magicians, besides their chief priest Simeon, viz., Sadúr and Ghadúr, Jaath and Musfa, Warán and Zamán, each of whom came attended with their disciples, amounting in all to several thousands."-Sale.

The Tafsir-i-Raufi gives the names of these magicians as follows: ---Simeon, Sadúr and Adúr, Hathat and Musfa. They were accompanied by 70,000 followers.

(117) They enchanted the eyes. "They provided themselves with a great number of thick ropes and long pieces of wood, which they contrived by some means to move, and make them twist themselves one over the other; and so imposed on the beholders, who at a dis tance took them to be true serpents."-Sale, Baidhawi.

The Tafsir-i-Raufi says they prepared their ropes by rubbing upon