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proudly in the earth, without justice: and although they see every sign, yet they shall not believe therein; and although they see the way of righteousness, yet they shall not take that way; but if they see the way of error, they shall take that way. This shall come to pass because they accuse our signs of imposture, and neglect the same. But as for them who deny the truth of our signs and the meeting of the life to come, their works shall be vain: shall they be rewarded otherwise than according to what they shall have wrought? And the people of Moses, after his departure, took a corporeal calf, made of their ornaments,' which lowed.

Did they not

see that it spake not unto them, neither directed them in the way? yet they took it for their god, and acted wickedly. But when they repented with sorrow," and saw that they had gone astray, they said, Verily if our LORD have not mercy upon us, and forgive us not, we shall certainly become of the number of those who perish. And when Moses returned unto his people, full of wrath and indignation, he said, An evil thing is it that ye nave committed after my departure; have ye hastened the command of your LORD? And he threw down the tables, and took his brother by the hair of the head, and dragged him unto him. And Aaron said unto him, Son of my mother, verily the people prevailed against me, and it wanted little but they had slain me: make not my enemies therefore to rejoice over me, neither place me with the wicked people. Moses said, O Lord, forgive me and my brother, and receive us into thy mercy; for thou art the most merciful of those who exercise mercy. Verily as for them who took the calf for their god, indignation shall overtake them from their LORD," and ignominy in this life: thus will we reward those who imagine falsehood. But unto them who do evil, and afterwards repent, and believe in God, verily thy LORD will thereafter be clement and merciful. And when the anger of Moses was appeased, he took the tables; and in what was written thereon was a direction and mercy, unto those who feared their LORD. And Moses chose out of his people seventy men, to go up with him to the mountain at the time appointed by us: and when a storm of thunder and lightning had taken them away, he said, O LORD, if thou hadst pleased, thou hadst destroyed them before, and me also; wilt thou destroy us for

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That is, as some understand it, consisting of flesh and blood; or, as others, being a mere body or mass of metal, without a soul.

Such as their rings and bracelets of gold and silver.'

See chap. xx., and the notes to chap. ii. p. 7.

Father Marracci seems not to have understood the meaning of this phrase, having fiterally translated the Arabic words, wa lamma sokita fi eídîhim, without any manner of sense, Et cum cadere factus fuisset in manibus eorum.

By neglecting his precepts, and bringing down his swift vengeance on you.

Which were all broken and taken up to heaven, except one only; and this, they say, contained the threats and judicial ordinances, and was afterwards put into the ark.' Literally, rendered me weak.

See chap. 2, p. 8.

Or the fragments of that which was left.

An earthquake swallowed them up."-Savary.

See chap. 2. p. 8, and chap. 4, p. 78.

Al Beidâwi. See chap. 20, and the notes to chap. 2, p. 7.

• Vide ibid

A. Beidâwi. Vide D'Herbelot, ubi sup. p. 649.

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that which the foolish men among us have committed? This is only thy trial; thou wilt thereby lead into error whom thou pleasest, and thou wilt direct whom thou pleasest. Thou art our protector, therefore forgive us, and be merciful unto us; for thou art the best of those who forgive. And write down for us good in this world, and in the life to come; for unto thee are we directed. God answered, I will inflict my punishment on whom I please; and my mercy extendeth over all things: and I will write down good unto those who shall fear me, and give alms, and who shall believe in our signs; who shall follow the apostle, the illiterate prophet," whom they shall find written down with them in the law and the gospel he will command them that which is just, and will forbid them that which is evil; and will allow them as lawful the good things which were before forbidden,' and will prohibit those which are bad; and he will ease them of their heavy burden, and of the yokes which were upon them." And those who believe in him, and honour him, and assist him, and follow the light, which hath been sent down with him, shall be happy. Say, O men, Verily I am the messenger of GOD unto you all: unto him belongeth the kingdom of heaven and earth; there is no God but he he giveth life, and he causeth to die. Believe therefore in GoD and his apostle, the illiterate prophet, who believeth in GoD and his word; and follow him, that ye may be rightly directed. Of the people of Moses there is a party who direct others with truth, and act justly according to the same. And we divided them into twelve tribes, as into so many nations. And we spake by revelation unto Moses, when his people asked drink of him, and we said, Strike the rock with thy rod; and there gushed thereout twelve fountains, and men knew their respective drinking-place. And we caused clouds to overshadow them, and manna and quails to descend upon them, saying, Eat of the good things which we have given you for food: and they injured not us, but they injured their own souls. And call to That is Mohammed. See the Prelim. Disc. sect. ii.

1. e. Both foretold by name and certain description.

See chap. 3, p. 42.

As the eating of blood and swine's flesh, and the taking of usury, &c.

See chap. 2, p. 35.

That is, to all mankind in general, and not to one particular nation, as the former prophets were sent.

viz. Those Jews who seemed better disposed than the rest of their brethren to receive Mohammed's law; or perhaps such of them as had actually received it. Some imagine they were a Jewish nation dwelling somewhere beyond China, which Mohammed saw the night he made his journey to heaven, and who believed on him."

4 See chap. 2, p. 8.

To what is said in the notes there we may add, that, according to a certain tradition, the stone, on which this miracle was wrought, was thrown down from paradise by Adam, and came into the possession of Shoaib, who gave it with the rod to Moses; and that, according to another, the water issued thence by three orifices on each of the four sides of the stone, making twelve in all, and that it ran in so many rivulets, to the quarter of each tribe in the camp.

• See chap. 2, p. 7.

"Their murmurs did injury only to themselves."-Savary.

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mind when it was said unto them, Dwell in this city, and eat of the provisions thereof wherever ye will, and say, Forgiveness; and enter the gate worshipping: we will pardon you your sins, and will give increase into the well-doers. But they who were ungodly among them changed the expression into another, which had not been spoken unto them. Wherefore we sent down upon them indignation from heaven, because they transgressed. And ask them concerning the city, which was situate on the sea, when they transgressed on the sabbath day: when their fish came unto them on their sabbath day, appearing openly on the water; but on the day whereon they celebrated no sabbath, they came not unto them. Thus did we prove them, because they were wicked-doers. And when a party of them said unto the others, Why do ye warn a people whom God will destroy, or will punish with a grievous punishment? They answered, This is an excuse for us unto your LORD, and peradventure they will beware. But when they had forgotten the admonitions which had been given them, we delivered those who forbade them to do evil; and we inflicted on those who had transgressed a severe punishment, because they had acted wickedly. And when they proudly refused to desist from what had been forbidden them, we said unto them, Be ye transformed into apes, driven away from the society of men. And remember when thy LORD declared that he would surely send against the Jews, until the day of resurrection, some nation who should afflict them with a grievous oppression: for thy LORD is swift in punishing, and he is also ready to forgive, and merciful: and we dispersed them among the nations in the earth. Some of them are upright persons, and some of them are otherwise. And we proved them with prosperity and with adversity, that they might return from their disobedience; and a succession of their posterity hath succeeded after them, who have inherited the book of the law, who receive the temporal goods of this world,and say, It will surely be forgiven us: and if a temporal advantage like the former be offered them, they accept it also. Is it not the covenant of the book of the law established with them, that they should not speak of GoD

See this passage explained, chap. 2, p. 7.

Professor Sike says, that being prone to leave spiritual for worldly matters, instead of Hittaton they said Hintaton, which signifies wheat,' and comes much nearer the true word than the expression I have, in the place last quoted, set down from Jallalo'ddin. Whether he took this from the same commentator or not, does not certainly appear, though he mentions him just before; but if he did, his copy must differ from that which I have followed.

This city was Ailah. or Elath, on the Red Sea; though some pretend it was Midian, and others Tiberias. The whole story is already given in the notes to chap. 2, p. 9. Some suppose the following five or eight verses to have been revealed at Medina.

vis. The religious persons among them, who strictly observed the sabbath, and endea voured to reclaim the others, till they despaired of success. But some think these words were spoken by the offenders, in answer to the admonitions of the others.

That we have done our duty in dissuading them from their wickedness.

'See chap. 5, p. 91, note f.

By accepting of bribes for wresting judgment, and for corrupting the copies of the Pentateuch; and by extorting of usury, &c.

Sike in not. ad Evang. Infant. p. 71.

• Al Beidâwi.

aught but the truth?" Yet they diligently read that which is therein. But the enjoyment of the next life will be better for those who fear God than the wicked gains of these people; (Do ye not therefore understand?) and for those who hold fast the book of the law, and are constant at prayer: for we will by no means suffer the reward of the righteous to perish. And when we shook the mountain of Sinai over them, as though it had been a covering, and they imagined that it was falling upon them; and we said, Receive the law which we have brought you with reverence; and remember that which is contained therein, that ye may take heed. And when thy LORD drew forth their posterity from the loins of the sons of Adam,” and took them to witness against themselves, saying, Am not I your LORD? They answered, Yea: we do bear witness. This was done lest ye should say, at the day of resurrection, Verily we were negligent as to this matter, because we were not apprised thereof: or lest ye should say, Verily our fathers were formerly guilty of idolatry, and we are their posterity who have succeeded them; wilt thou therefore destroy us for that which vain men have committed? Thus do we explain our signs, that they may return from their vanities. And relate unto the Jews the history of him unto whom we brought our signs, and the departed from them; wherefore Satan followed him, and he became one of those who were seduced. And if we had pleased, we had surely raised him thereby unto wisdom; but he inclined unto the earth, and followed his own desire." Wherefore his likeness as the likeness of a dog, which, if thou drive him away, putteth forth his tongue, or, if thou let him alone, putteth forth his tongue also. This is the likeness of the people, who accuse our signs of falsehood. Rehearse therefore this history unto them, that they may consider. Evil is

Particularly by giving out that God will forgive their corruption without sincere repentance and amendment.

• See chap. 2, p. 9, note z.

This was done in the plain of Dahia, in India, or, as others imagine, in a valley near Mecca. The commentators tell us that God stroked Adam's back, and extracted from his loins his whole posterity, which should come into the world until the resurrection, one generation after another; that these men were actually assembled all together in the shape of small ants, which were endued with understanding; and that after they had, in the presence of the angels, confessed their dependence on God, they were again caused to return into the loins of their great ancestor. From this fiction it appears that the doctrine of pre-existence is not unknown to the Mohammedans; and there is some little conformity between it and the modern theory of generation ex animalculis in semine maritum.

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Some suppose the person here intended to be a Jewish rabbi, or one Ommeya Ebn Abi'lsalt, who read the scriptures and found thereby that God would send a prophet about that time, and was in hopes that he might be the man; but when Mohammed declared his mission, believed not on him through envy. But according to the more general opinion, it was Balaam the son of Beor, of the Canaanitish race, well acquainted with part, at least, of the scripture, having even been favoured with some revelations from God; who being requested by his nation to curse Moses and the children of Israel, refused it at first, saying, How can I curse those who are protected by the angels? But afterwards he was prevailed on by gifts; and he had no sooner done it than he began to put his tongue out like a dog, and it hung down upon his breast.

'Loving the wages of unrighteousness, and running greedily after error for reward.'

ΚΑΙ

Al Beide wi, Jallalo'ddin, Yahya. Vide D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. p. 54. Bidawi, Jallalo'ddin, al Zamakhshari. Vide D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient, Ar Balaani ⚫z Pet. ii. 5. Jude 11.

the similitude of those people who accuse our signs of falsehood, and injure their own souls. Whomsoever GoD shall direct, he will be rightly di rected; and whomsoever he shall lead astray, they shall perish. Moreover we have created for hell many of the genii and of men; they have hearts by which they understand not, and they have eyes by which they see not; and they have ears by which they hear not. These are like the brute beasts; yea they go more astray: these are the negligent. God hath most excellent names: therefore call on him by the same; and withdraw from those who use his name perversely: they shall be rewarded for that which they shall have wrought. And of those whom we have created there are a people who direct others with truth, and act justly according thereto." But those who devise lies against our signs, we will suffer them to fall gradually into ruin, by a method which they knew not:* and I will grant them to enjoy a long and prosperous life;* for my stratagem is effectual. Do they not consider that there is no devil in their companion? He is no other than a public preacher. Or do they not contemplate the kingdom of heaven and earth, and the things which God hath created; and consider that peradventure it may be be that their end draweth nigh? And in what new declaration will they believe, after this? He whom God shall cause to err, shall have no director; and he shall leave them in their impiety, wandering in confusion. They will ask thee concerning the last hour; at what time its coming is fixed? Answer, Verily the knowledge thereof is with my LORD; none shall declare the fixed time thereof, except he. The expectation thereof is grievous in heaven and on earth: it shall come upon you no otherwise than suddenly. They will ask thee, as though thou wast well acquainted therewith. Answer, Verily the knowledge thereof is with God alone: but the greater part of men know it not. Say, I am able neither to procure advantage unto myself, nor to avert mischief from me, but as GoD pleaseth. If I knew the secrets of God, I should surely enjoy abundance of good, neither should evil befall me. Verily I am no other than a denouncer of threats, and a messenger of good tidings unto people

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Expressing his glorious attributes. Of these the Mohammedan Arabs have no less than ninety-nine, which are reckoned up by Marracci.'

As did Walid Ebn al Mogheira; who hearing Mohammed give God the title of al Rahmân, or the merciful, laughed aloud, saying that he knew none of that name, except a certain man who dwelt in Yamama : or as the idolatrous Meccans did, who deduced the names of their idols from those of the true God; deriving, for example, Allât from Allah; al Uzza from al Azîz, the mighty; and Manât from al Mannân, the bountiful.3

As it is said a little above, that God hath created many to eternal misery, so here he 's said to have created others to eternal happiness."

By flattering them with prosperity in this life, and permitting them to sin in an unin. terrupted security; till they find themselves unexpectedly ruined.

*Though my vengeance be slow, it is only the more terrible."-Savary.

viz. In Mohammed; whom they gave out to be possessed when he went up to mount Safâ, and from thence called to the several families of each respective tribe, in order to warn them of God's vengeance if they continued in their idolatry."

* i. e. After they have rejected the Korân. For what more evident revelation can ther hereafter expect?'

Not only to men and genii, but to the angels also.

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