said, Will ye present me with riches? Verily that which God hath given me is better than what he hath given you: but ye do glory in your gifts. Return unto the people of Saba. We will surely come unto them with forces, which they shall not be able to withstand; and we will drive them out from their city, humbled; and they shall become contemptible. And Solomon said, O nobles, which of you will bring unto me her throne, before they come and surrender themselves unto me? A terrible genius answered, I will bring it unto thee, before thou arise from thy place: for 1 am able to perform it, and may be trusted. And one with whom was the knowledge of the scriptures' said, I will bring it unto thee, in the twinkling of an eye. And when Solomon saw the throne placed before him, he said, This is a favour of my LORD, that he may make trial of me, whether I will be grateful, or whether I will be ungrateful; and he who is grateful is grateful to his own advantage, but if any shall be ungrateful, verily my LORD is self-sufficient and munificent. And Solomon said unto his servants, Alter her throne, that she may not know it, to the end we may see whether she be rightly directed, or whether she be one of those who are not rightly directed. And when she was come unto Solomon, it was said unto her, Is thy throne like this? She answered, As though it were the same. And we have had knowledge bestowed on us before this, and have been resigned unto God. But that which she worshipped, besides GOD, had turned her aside from the truth; for she was of an unbelieving people. It was said unto her,, Enter the palace. And when she saw it, she imagined it to be a great water; and she discovered her legs, by lifting up her robe to pass manner of their taking water, and ordered one worm to bore the pearl, and another to pass a thread through the onyx. They also tell us, that Solomon, having notice of this embassy, by means of the lapwing, even before they set out, ordered a large square to be enclosed with a wall built of gold and silver bricks, wherein he ranged his forces and attendants to receive them.' * 44 'Keep your gifts."-Savary. This was an Ifrit, or one of the wicked and rebellious genii; and his name, says al Beidawi, was Dhacwân or Sakhr, i. e. From thy seat of justice. For Solomon used to sit in judgment every day till noon. This person, as is generally supposed, was Asaf the son of Barachia, Solomon's wazir (or visir), who knew the great or ineffable name of God, by pronouncing of which he performed this wonderful exploit. Others, however, suppose it was al Khedr, or else Gabriel, or some other angel; and some imagine it to have been Solomon himself." The original is, Before thou canst look at any object, and take thy eye off it. It is said that Solomon, at Asaf's desire, looked up to heaven, and before he cast his eye down. wards, the throne made its way under ground, and appeared before him. For, on the return of her ambassador, she determined to go and submit herself to that prince, but before her departure she secured her throne, as she thought, by locking it up in a strong castle, and setting a guard to defend it; after which she set out, attended by a vast army." It is uncertain whether these be the words of Balkis, acknowledging her conviction by the wonders she had already seen; or of Solomon and his people, acknowledging the favour of God, in calling them to the true faith before her. * Or, as some understand the word, the court before the palace, which Solomon had commanded to be built against the arrival of Balkîs; the floor or pavement being of transparent glass, laid over running water, in which fish were swimming. Fronting this pave ment was placed the royal throne, on which Solomon sat to receive the queen.' Al Beidâwi. 'Jallalo'ddin. Al Beidâwi. "Jallalo'ddin. Al Beidâwi, Jallalo'ddin, interp. ⚫ Jallalo'ddin Idem, Al Beidâwi through it. Whereupon Solomon said unto her, Verily this is a palace evenly floored with glass.* Then said the queen, O LORD, verily I have dealt unjustly with my own soul; and I resign myself, together with Solomon, unto God, the LORD of all creatures.TM Also we heretofore sent unto the tribe of Thamud their brother Saleh; who said unto them, Serve ye God. And behold, they were divided into two parties, who disputed among themselves." Saleh said, O my people why do ye hasten evil rather than good? Unless ye ask pardon of GoD, that ye may obtain mercy, ye are lost. They answered, We presage evil from thee, and from those who are with thee. Saleh replied, The evil which ye presage is with GOD: but ye are a people who are proved by a vicissitude of prosperity and adversity. And there were nine men in the city, who acted corruptly in the earth, and behaved not with integrity. And they said unto one another, Swear ye reciprocally by God, that we will fall upon Saleh and his family by night: and afterwards we will say unto him who hath right to avenge his blood, We were not so much as present at the destruction of his family; and we certainly speak the truth. And they devised a plot against him: but we devised a plot against them ;† and they perceived it not. And see what was the issue of their plot, we utterly destroyed them and their whole people; and these their habitations remain empty, because of the injustice which they committed. Verily herein is a sign unto people who understand. And we delivered those who believed, and feared God. And remember Lot; when he said unto his people, Do ye commit a wickedness, though ye see the heinousness thereof? Do ye approach lustfully unto men, leaving the women? Ye are surely an ignorant people. [XX.] But the answer of his people was no other than that they said, Cast the family of Lot out of your city: for they are men who preserve themselves pure from the crimes of which ye are guilty. 1 Some Arab writers tell us, Solomon had been informed that Balkîs's legs and feet were covered with hair, like those of an ass, of the truth of which he had hereby an opportunity of being satisfied by ocular demonstration. "It is a solid edifice built of glass, said Solomon unto her."-Savary. The queen of Saba having by these words professed Islâm, and renounced idolatry, Solomon had thoughts of making her his wife; but could not resolve to do it, till the devils had, by a depilatory, taken off the hair from her legs. Some, however, will have it that she did not marry Solomon, but a prince of the tribe of Hamdân. Concerning the doctrine preached by Saleh; one party believing on him, and the other treating him as an impostor. i. e. Why do ye urge and defy the divine vengeance with which ye are threatened, instead of averting it by repentance! ▸ See chap. 7, p. 129, where the Egyptians in the same manner accuse Moses as the cause of their calamities. "While they were devising their plot, we decreed the moment of their ruin, and thev knew it not."-Savary. It is related that Saleh, and those who believed on him, usually meeting to pray in a certain narrow place between the mountains, the infidels said, He thinks to make an end of us after three days, but we will be beforehand with him: and that a party of them went directly to the straits above-mentioned, thinking to execute their design, but were terribly disappointed; for, instead of catching the prophet, they were caught themselves, ther retreat being cut off by a large piece of rock, which fell down at the mouth of the straits. so that they perished there in a miserable manner. • Jallalo'ddin. • Apud Al Beidâwi. 'See chap. 7, p. 124, note k. Wherefor we delivered him and his family, except his wife. whom we decreed to be one of those who remained behind to be destroyed. And we rained on them a shower of stones: and dreadful was the shower which fell on those who had been warned in vain! Say, Praise be unto God; and peace be upon his servants whom he hath chosen! Is God more worthy, or the false gods which they associate with him? Is not he to be preferred, who hath created the heavens and the earth, and sendeth down rain for you from heaven, whereby we cause delicious groves to spring up? It is not in your power to cause the trees thereof to shoot forth. Is there any other god partner with the true God? Verily these are a people who deviate from the truth.* Is not he more worthy to be adored, who hath established the earth, and hath caused rivers to flow through the midst thereof, and placed thereon immoveable mountains, and set a bar between the two seas? Is there any other god equal with the true God? Yet the greater part of them know it not. Is not he more worthy who heareth the afflicted, when he calleth upon him, and taketh off the evil which distressed him and who hath made you the successors of your forefathers in the earth? Is there any other god who can be equalled with the true God? How few consider these things! Is not he more worthy who directeth you in the dark paths of the land and of the sea; and who sendeth the winds driving abroad the clouds, as the forerunners of his mercy!" Is there any other god who can be equalled with the true God? Far be GoD from having those partners in his power, which ye associate with him. Is not he more worthy, who produceth a creature, and after it hath been dead restoreth it. life; and who giveth you food from heaven and earth? Is there any other god with the true GOD, who doth this? Say, Produce your proof thereof, if ye speak truth. Say, None either in heaven or earth knoweth that which is hidden, besides GOD: neither do they understand when they shall be raised. However, their knowledge attaineth some notion of the life to come yet they are in an uncertainty concerning the same; yea, they are blind as to the real circumstances thereof. And the unbelievers say, When we and our fathers shall have been reduced to dust, shall we be taken forth from the grave? Verily we have been threatened with this, both we and our fathers, heretofore. This is no other than fables of the ancients.† Say unto them, Pass through the earth, and see what hath been the end of the wicked. And be not thou grieved for them; neither be thou in any concern on account of the plots which they are contriving against thee. And they say, When will this threat be accomplished, if ye speak 'See chap. 7, p. 125, and chap. 11, p. 183. Hath God an equal! Nevertheless, they associate divinities in his worship."-Savary. • See chap. 25, p. 300. The word barzakh is not used here, but another of equivalent import. Literally, Him who is driven by distress to implore God's assistance. See chap. 7, p. 121, and chap. 25, p. 300. Or the words may be translated thus: Yea, their knowledge faileth as to the life to come; yea, &c. This promise with which we are flattered, and with which our fathers were de luded, is but one of the fables of antiquity."-Savary. rue? Answer, Peradventure some part of that punishment, which ye desire to be hastened, may follow close behind you: verily thy LORD is endued with indulgence towards mankind; but the greater part of them are not thank ful. Verily thy LORD knoweth what their breasts conceal, and what they discover and there is nothing hidden in heaven or on earth, but it is written in a clear book. Verily this Korân declareth unto the children of Israel most of those points concerning which they disagree and it is cer tainly a direction, and a mercy unto the true believers. Thy LORD will decide the controversy between them, by his definitive sentence: and he is the mighty, the wise. Therefore, put thy trust in God; for thou art in the manifest truth. Verily thou shalt not make the dead to hear, neither shalt thou make the deaf to hear thy call to the true faith, when they retire and turn their backs: neither shalt thou direct the blind to extricate themselves out of their error. Thou shalt make none to hear thee, except him who shall believe in our signs: and they are wholly resigned unto us. When the sentence shall be ready to fall upon them, we will cause a beast to come forth unto them from out of the earth, which shall speak unto them: verily men do not firmly believe in our signs.† On the day of resurrection we will assemble, out of every nation, a company of those who shall have charged our signs with falsehood; and they shall be prevented from mixing together, until they shall arrive at the place of judgment. And God shall say unto them, Have'ye charged my signs with falsehood, although ye comprehended them not with your knowledge. Or what is it that ye were doing? And the sentence of damnation shall fall on them, for that they have acted unjustly: and they shall not speak in their own excuse. they not see that we have ordained the night, that they may rest therein, and the day giving open light? Verily herein are signs unto people who believe. On that day the trumpet shall be sounded; and whoever are in heaven and on earth shall be struck with terror, except those whom God shall please to exempt therefrom: and all shall come before him in humble a Do "When will thy promises be accomplished? Tell us, if the truth enlighteneth thee." -Savary. Such as the comparing of God to sensible things, or to created beings; the removing all imperfections from the description of the divine Being; the state of paradise and hell; the stories of Ezra and Jesus Christ, &c.' The Mohammedans call this beast, whose appearance will be one sign of the approach of the day of judgment, al Jassâsa, or the Spy. I have given the description of her else. where; to which should be added, that she is to have two wings. 'Or, according to a different reading, (viz. taclimohom instead of tocallimohom) who shall wound them.' "When the sentence of their perdition shall be pronounced, we will cause to arise from the earth a monster, who shall exclaim, Men have not believed in Islamism."—Savary. ↑ "See they not, that we have established the night for rest, and the day for action?"Savary. See the Prelim. Disc. sect. iv p. 59, &c. Some say the persons exempted from this general consternation will be the angels Gabriel, Michael, Israfil, and Izrael others sup. pose them to be the virgins of paradise, and the angels who guard that place, and carry God throne;" and others will have them to be the inartyrs." 'Al Beidâwi. Jallalo'dain, Al Beidâwi. Prelim. Disc. sect. iv. p. 57, &c. • Iidem. •Vide ibid. p. 57. guise. And thou shalt see the mountains, and shalt think them firmly fixed; but they shall pass away, even as the clouds pass away. This will be the work of GOD, who hath rightly disposed all things: and he is well acquainted with that which ye do. Whoever shall have wrought righteousness, shall receive a reward beyond the desert thereof; and they shall be secure from the terror of that day but whoever shall have wrought evil, shall be thrown on their faces into hell fire. Shall ye receive the reward of any other than of that which ye shall have wrought? Verily I am commanded to worship the LORD of this territory of Mecca, who hath sanctified the same: unto him belong all things. And I am commanded to be a Moslem, and to rehearse the Korân: he who shall be directed thereby will be directed to his own advantage; and to him who shall go astray, say, Verily I am a warner only. And say, Praise be unto God! he will show you his signs, and ye shall know them and thy LORD is not regardless of that which they do. CHAPTER XXVIII. INTITLED, THE STORY; REVEALED AT MECCA.• IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. T. S. M. These are the signs of the perspicuous book. We will dictate unto thee, O Mohammed, some parts of the history of Moses and Pharaoh, with truth; for the sake of people who believe. Now Pharaoh lifted himself up in the land of Egypt; and he caused his subjects to be divided into parties he weakened one party of them, by slaying their male children, and preserving their females alive; for he was an oppressor. And we were minded to be gracious unto those who were weakened in the land, and to "When the blast of the trumpet shall resound, all that is in heaven and on the earth shall be smitten with terror, except the chosen of the Lord. All men shall appear before him, humbly prostrate."-Savary. "Thou shalt see the mountains, like unto congealed water, disappear as a cloud, at the voice of God, who hath wisely disposed all things, and who knoweth the actions of mortals."-Savary. That is, from the fear of damnation, and the other terrors which will, disturb the wicked; not from the general terror or consternation before-mentioned. viz. The successes of the true believers against the infidels; and particularly the victory of Bedr. The title is taken from the twenty-sixth verse, where Moses is said to have related the story of his adventures to Shoaib. Some except a verse towards the latter end. beginning with these words, He who hath given the Koran for a rule of faith and practice, &c. See the Prelim. Disc. sect. iii. p. 42. i. e. Either into companies, that they might the better attend his order, and perform the services he exacted of them; or into opposite factions, to prevent their attempting any thing against him to deliver themselves from his tyranny.* vis. The Israelites • Al Beidâwi |