R 4.

(55) And be turned unto your LORD, and resign yourselves unto him before the threatened punishment overtake you; for then ye shall not be helped. (56) And follow the most excellent instructions which have been sent down unto you from your LORD before the punishment come suddenly upon you, and ye perceive not the approach thereof; (57) and a soul say, Alas! for that I have been negligent in my duty to GOD, verily I have been one of the scorners: (58) or say, If GOD had directed me, verily I had been one of the pious: (59) or say, when it seeth the prepared punishment, If I could return once more into the world, I would become one of the righteous. (60) But God shall answer, My signs came unto thee heretofore, and thou didst charge them with falsehood, and wast puffed up with pride; and thou becamest one of the unbelievers. (61) On the day of resurrection thou shalt see the faces of those who have uttered lies concerning GOD become black is there not an abode prepared in hell for the arrogant? (62) But GOD shall deliver those who shall fear him, and shall set them in their place of safety: evil shall not touch them, neither shall they be grieved. (63) GOD is the creator of all things, and he is the governor of all things. His are the keys of heaven and earth; and they who believe not in the signs of GOD they shall perish. (64) Say, Do ye therefore bid me to worship other than GOD, O ye fools?

(65) Since it hath been spoken by revelation unto thee, and also unto the prophets who have been before thee, saying, Verily if thou join any partners with God thy work will be altogether unprofitable, and thou shalt certainly be one of those who perish; (66) wherefore rather fear God, and be one of those who give thanks. (67) But they make not a due estimation of GOD, since the whole earth shall fess his unity; for the sins of idolaters will not be forgiven."Sale.

See note on chap. ii. 80. Comp. Matt. xii. 31, 32.

(61) See Prelim. Disc., pp. 149, 150.

(67) See note on chap. vi. 92. Comp. Isa. xl. 12 and xxxiv. 4.

be but his handful on the day of resurrection, and the heavens shall be rolled together in his right hand. Praise be unto him! and far be he exalted above the idols which they associate with him! (68) The trumpet shall be sounded, and whoever are in heaven, and whoever are on earth shall expire, except those whom GOD shall please to exempt from the common fate. Afterwards it shall be sounded again, and behold they shall arise and look up. (69) And the earth shall shine by the light of its LORD; and the book shall be laid open, and the prophets and the martyrs shall be brought as witnesses; and judgment shall be given between them with truth, and they shall not be treated unjustly. (70) And every soul shall be fully rewarded, according to that which it shall have wrought, for he perfectly knoweth whatever they do.

|| (71) And the unbelievers shall be driven unto hell by R troops, until, when they shall arrive at the same, the gates thereof shall be opened, and the keepers thereof shall say unto them, Did not apostles from among you come unto you who rehearsed unto you the signs of your LORD, and warned you of the meeting. of this your day? They shall

(68) The trumpet shall be sounded. "The first time, says al Baidhawi, who consequently supposes there will be no more than two blasts (and two only are distinctly mentioned in the Qurán), though others suppose there will be three (see Prelim. Disc., p. 139 and note)."-Sale.

Except those whom God shall please. "These, some say, will be the Angels Gabriel, Michael, and Israil, and the Angel of Death, who yet will afterwards all die at the command of God; it being the constant opinion of the Muhammadan doctors that every soul, both of men and of animals, which live either on land or in the sea, and of the angels also, must necessarily taste of death; others suppose those who will be exempted are the angels who bear the throne of God, or the black-eyed damsels and other inhabitants of Paradise.

"The space between these two blasts of the trumpet will be forty days, according to Yahya and others; there are some, however, who suppose it will be as many years (Prelim. Disc., p. 139)."—Sale, Baidhawi, Jalaluddin, Yahya.

(69) The book, &c. See Prelim. Disc., p. 144.

(71) The keepers. See chap. lxxiv. 30, 31, and the Prelim. Disc., p. 148.

They shall answer, Yea; but, &c. See notes on chaps. vii. 179, 183,

answer, Yea; but the sentence of eternal punishment hath been justly pronounced on the unbelievers. (72) It shall be said unto them, Enter ye the gates of hell, to dwell therein for ever; and miserable shall be the abode of the proud! (73) But those who shall have feared their LORD shall be conducted by troops towards Paradise, until they shall arrive at the same, and the gates thereof shall be ready set open, and the guards thereof shall say unto them, Peace be on you! ye have been good, wherefore enter ye into Paradise, to remain therein for ever. (74) And they shall answer, Praise be unto GOD, who hath performed his promise unto us, and hath made us to inherit the earth, that we may dwell in Paradise wherever we please! How excellent is the reward of those who work righteousness! (75) And thou shalt see the angels going in procession round the throne celebrating the praises of their LORD; and judgment shall be given between them with truth; and they shall say, Praise be unto GOD, the LORD of all creatures!

xi. 118, 119. Sale says, "It seems as if the damned, by these words, attributed their ruin to God's decree of predestination."

(74) Hath made us to inherit the earth. “This is a metaphorical expression, representing the perfect security and abundance which the blessed will enjoy in Paradise.”—Sale.

Heaven is here represented as a country possessing land, trees, rivers, &c. It is constantly called a garden in the Qurán. See chaps. ii. 25, iii. 15, 136, v. 88, &c. The passage is therefore to be understood in a strictly literal sense.

CHAPTER XL.

ENTITLED SURAT AL MUMIN (THE TRUE BELIEVER).

Revealed at Makkah.

INTRODUCTION.

THE title of this chapter is taken from ver. 29, where mention is made of "a man who was a true believer, of the family of Pharaoh." The circumstances under which at least a portion of this chapter was written were those of discouragement and lack of zeal on the part of Muhammad himself, and may be on the part of his followers also (ver. 57). What the cause of this discouragement was can be learned with considerable certainty from a careful consideration of the contents of this chapter. That it was due in part to the obstinate unbelief of the Quraish is certain (vers. 57 and 77). They had confederated against the Prophet and his adherents (vers. 5 and 31). The prosperity of the confederates seems to have been a temptation to even Muhammad himself (ver. 4). If we are right in believing that the experiences of former prophets, whose history is related as a warning to the infidels of Makkah, reflect the experiences of Muhammad himself at the time such revelations were enunciated to his followers, we may conclude from the narratives of Moses and others found here that the enmity of the Quraish towards their "warner" was now not only very bitter but organised. As we have already noted, a confederacy had been formed, Muhammad was called a liar, a sorcerer, and an impostor (vers. 5, 25, and 39), and his life was even threatened (vers. 27-29). We learn further that his cause was espoused by an influential person related to the leader of the opposition, who was enabled to save his life, though unsuccessful in his effort to convert his enemies. This determined resistance on the part of the chief men of Makkah, now organised for his destruction, was most probably the cause of the discouragement alluded to in this chapter.

VOL. III.

2 c

There was another cause of sorrow and disappointment. There was a fault on the part of Muhammad himself of more than ordinary heinousness. It is spoken of in ver. 57, where Muhammad is commanded to ask pardon for his fault. The commentators tell us either that there was no fault, the command to ask pardon having relation to his followers, or that the fault was remissness in preaching owing to fear of the infidels. On a point of this character the sayings of the commentators are quite worthless owing to their dogma that the prophets are sinless. This is specially true when the moral character of Muhammad is in question. Looking at the circumstances noted above, and comparing them with the experience of Muhammad as recorded in history, it seems pretty clear that the fault of Muhammad alluded to here was his compromise with the national idolatry, described so graphically by Muir in his Life of Mahomet, vol. ii. chap. v. The only flaw in the comparison of the circumstances of Muhammad after his disowning the compromise with the national religion with those reflected from the story of Moses in this chapter is that we must regard Abu Tálib as corresponding to the "true believer" of vers. 27-29. But may not Muhammad have either regarded his uncle as a secret believer, since he braved all to defend him, or have alluded to his defender under the sobriquet of "true believer"? This understanding as to the fault gathers strength from vers. 45 and 46, where Muhammad not only declines to accept the invitation of the Quraish to return to idolatry, but where he expressly declares that their false gods "deserve not to be invoked. either in this world or in the next," words which very well express his disavowal of the strange words he had uttered in praise of these deities only a short time before (see notes on chap. xxii. 53). This theory fits in well with all parts of this chapter, explaining the cause of the fierce hatred of the Quraish, the danger of the Prophet, how it was averted, his discouragement and penitence.

The remainder of this chapter contains the usual exhortations to faith in Islám, with threatenings of divine wrath against the unbelievers.

Probable Date of the Revelations.

From what has been said above it follows that the date of this chapter must be placed soon after the lapse of Muhammad, which would be in the latter part of the fifth year of Muhammad's mission (B.H. 7). Some writers (Umr Bin Muhammad, &c. (see Itqán, 35), Noëldeke) regard ver. 58 as Madínic, but this is due to a misinterpretation of the passage, which makes it allude to the Jews of Madína.

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