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GOD will bring the same to light; for God is clear-sighted and knowing. Oh my son, be constant at prayer, and command that which is just, and forbid that which is evil: and be patient under the afflictions which shall befall thee; for this is a duty absolutely incumbent on all men.* Distort not thy face out of contempt to men, neither walk in the earth with insolence; for GOD loveth no arrogant, vain-glorious person. And be moderate in thy pace; and lower thy voice; for the most ungrateful of all voices surely is the voice of asses. Do ye not see that God hath subjectea whatever is in heaven and on earth to your service, and hath abundantly poured on you his favours, both outwardly and inwardly? m There are some who dispute concerning GOD without knowledge, and without a direction, and without an enlightening book. And when it is said unto them, Follow that which God hath revealed, they answer, Nay, we will foliow that which we found our fathers to practise. What, though the devil invite them to the torment of hell? Whosoever resigneth himself unto God, being a worker of righteousness, taketh hold on a strong handle; † and unto God belongeth the issue of all things. But whoever hall be an unbeliever, let not his unbelief grieve thee: unto us shall they return; then will we declare unto them that which they have done, for GOD knoweth the innermost parts of the breasts of men. We will suffer them to enjoy this world for a little while: afterwards we will drive them to a severe punishment. If thou ask them who hath created the heavens and the earth, they will surely answer, GOD. Say, GoD be praised! but the greater part of them do not understand. Unto God belongeth whatever is in heaven and earth: for GoD is the self-sufficient, the praise-worthy. If whatever trees are in the earth were pens, and he should after that swell the sea into seven seas of ink, the words of GoD would not be exhausted; " for GOD is mighty and wise. Your creation and your resuscitation are but as the creation and resuscitation of one soul: verily GoD both heareth and seeth. Dost thou not see that God causeth the night to succeed the day, and causeth the day to succeed the night, and compelleth the sun and the moon to serve you? Each of those luminaries hasteneth in its course to a determined period and GoD is well acquainted with that which ye do. This is declared concerning the divine knowledge and power, for that God is the true Being, and for that whatever ye invoke, besides him, is vanity; and for that God is the high, the great God. Dost thou not see that the

"Bear patiently the calamities which befall thee. They are a consequence of the eternal decrees."-Savary.

'To the braying of which animal the Arabs liken a loud and disagreeable voice. i. e. All kinds of blessings, regarding as well the mind as the body.

"He who hath devoted his heart unto Islâmism and unto virtue hath seized hold of an immoveable pillar. He is supported upon God, the end of all things."-Savary.

This passage is said to have been revealed in answer to the Jews, who insisted that all knowledge was contained in the law.'

• God heing able to produce a million of worlds by the single word Kun, i. e. Be, and to raise the dead in general by the single word Kum, i. e. Arise.

'Al Beidâwi.

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ships run 'r the sea, through the favour of GoD, that he may show you his signs Verily herein are signs unto every patient, grateful person When waves cover them, like overshadowing clouds, they call upon God, exhibiting the pure religion unto him; but when he bringeth them safe tc land, there is of them who halteth between the true faith and idolatry Howbeit, none rejecteth our signs, except every perfidious, ungrateful person. O men, fear your LORD, and dread the day whereon a father shall not make satisfaction for his son, neither shall a son make satisfaction for his father at all: the promise of God is assuredly true. Let not this present life, therefore, deceive you; neither let the deceiver deceive you concerning GOD. Verily the knowledge of the hear of judgment is with GOD; and he causeth the rain to descend at his oun appointed time; and he knoweth what is in the wombs of females. No soul knoweth what it shall gain on the morrow; neither doth any soul know in what land it shall die but GoD is knowing and fully acquainted with all things

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CHAPTER XXXII.

INTITLED, ADORATION;' REVEALED AT MECCA.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

A. L. M.

The revelation of this book, there is no doubt thereof, is from the LORD of all creatures. Will they say, Mohammed hath forged it? Nay it is the truth from thy LORD, that thou mayest preach to a people, unto whom no preacher hath come before thee; peradventure they will be directed. It is God who hath created the heavens and the earth, and whatever is between them, in six days; and then ascended his throne. Ye have no patron or intercessor besides him. Will ye not therefore con

"When the billows cover the ship, like gloomy mountains, the mariners call upon the name of God; they manifest unto him a sincere faith."-Savary.

P viz. The devil.

In this passage five things are enumerated which are known to God alone: viz. The time of the day of judgment; the time of rain; what is forming in the womb, as whether it be male or female, &c.; what shall happen on the morrow; and where any person shall die. These the Arabs, according to a tradition of their prophet, call the five keys of secret knowledge. The passage, it is said, was occasioned by al Hareth Ebn Amru, who propounded questions of this nature to Mohammed.

As to the last particular, al Beidâwi relates the following story. The angel of death passing once by Solomon in a visible shape, and looking at one who was sitting with him, the man asked who he was, and upon Solomon's acquainting him that it was the angel of death, said, He seems to want me; wherefore order the wind to carry me from hence into India which being accordingly done, the angel said to Solomon, I looked so earn estly at the man out of wonder; because I was commanded to take his soul in India, and found him with thee in Palestine.

This title is taken from the middle of the chapter, where the believers are said to fali down adoring.

See the Prelim. Disc. sect. iii. p. 42, &c.

"The Sovereign of the universe hath caused the Korân to descend from heaven. This book ought to leave no doubt."-Savary.

See chap. 28, p. 321.

sider? He governeth all things from heaven even to the earth: hereafter shall they return unto him, on the day whose length shall be a thousand years," of those which ye compute. This is he who knoweth the future, and the present; the mighty, the merciful. It is he who hath made every thing which he hath created exceeding good; and first created man of clay, and afterwards made his posterity of an extract of despicable water;' and then formed him into proper shape, and breathed of his spirit into him; and hath given you the senses of hearing and seeing, and hearts to understand. How small thanks do ye return! And they say, When we shall lie hidden in the earth, shall we be raised thence a new creature? Yea, they deny the meeting of their LORD at the resurrection. Say, The angel of death, who is set over you, shall cause you to die: then shall ye be brought back unto your LORD. If thou couldest see, when the wicked shall bow down their heads before their LORD, saying, O LORD, we have seen, and have heard: suffer us therefore to return into the world, and we will work that which is right; since we are now certain of the truth of what hath been preached to us: thou wouldest see an amazing sight. If we had pleased we had certainly given unto every soul its direction: but the word which hath proceeded from me must necessarily be fulfilled, when I said, Verily I will fill hell with genii and men, altogether. Taste therefore the torment prepared for you, because ye have forgotten the coming of this your day: we also have forgotten you; taste therefore the punishment of eternal duration, for that which ye have wrought. Verily they only believe in our signs, who, when they are warned thereby, fall down adoring, and celebrate the praise of their LORD, and are not elated with pride; their sides are raised from their beds, calling on their LORD with fear and with hope; and they distribute alms out of what we have bestowed on them. No soul knoweth the complete satisfaction which is secretly prepared for them, as a reward for that which

As to the reconciliation of this passage with another,' which seems contradictory, see the Prelim. Disc. sect. iv. p. 60.

Some, however, do not interpret the passage before us of the resurrection, but suppose that the words here describe the making and executing of the decrees of God, which are sent down from heaven to earth, and are returned (or ascend, as the verb properly signifies,) back to him, after they have been put in execution; and present themselves, as it were, so executed, to his knowledge, in the space of a day with God, but with man, of a thousand years. Others imagine this space to be the time which the angels, who carry the divine decrees, and bring them back executed, take in descending and re-ascending, because the distance from heaven to earth is a journey of five hundred years: and others fancy that the angels bring down at once decrees for a thousand years to come, which being expired, they return back for fresh orders, &c.'

▾ i. e. Seed.

See the Prelim. Disc. sect. iv. p. 51.

* See chap. 7, p. 119, and chap. 11, p. 186.

Not even an angel of those who approach nearest God's throne, nor any prophet who hath been sent by him.'

Literally, The joy of the eyes. The commentators fail not, on occasion of this passage, to produce that saying of their prophet, which was originally none of his own; God saith, I have prepared for my righteous servants what eye hath not seen, nor hath ear heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man to conceive

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they have wrought. Shall he, therefore, who is a true believer, be as he who is an impious transgressor? They shall not be held equal. As to those who believe and do that which is right, they shall have gardens of perpetual abode, an ample recompense for that which they shall have wrought but as for those who impiously transgress, their abode shall be hell fire; so often as they shall endeavour to get thereout, they shall be dragged back into the same, and it shall be said unto them, Taste ye the torment of hell fire, which ye rejected as a falsehood. And we will cause them to taste the nearer punishment of this world, besides the more grievous punishment of the next; peradventure they will repent. Who is more unjust than he who is warned by the signs of his LORD, and then turneth aside from the same? We will surely take vengeance on the wicked. We heretofore delivered the book of the law unto Moses; wherefore be not thou in doubt as to the revelation thereof: and we ordained the same to be a direction unto the children of Israel; and we appointed teachers from among them, who should direct the people at our command, when they had persevered with patience, and had firmly believed in our signs. Verily thy LORD will judge between them, on the day of resurrection, concerning that wherein they have disagreed. Is it not known unto them how many generations we have destroyed before them, through whose dwellings they walk? Verily herein are signs: will they not therefore hearken? Do they not see that we drive rain unto a land bare of grass and parched up, and thereby produce corn, of which their cattle eat, and themselves also? Will they not therefore regard? The infidels say to the true believers, When will this decision be made between us, if ye speak truth? Answer, On the day of that decision, the faith of those who shall have disbelieved shall not avail them; neither shall they be respited any longer Wherefore avoid them, and expect the issue: verily they expect to obtain some advantage over thee.

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Or, as some interpret it, of the revelation of the Korân to thyself; since the delivery of the law to Moses proves that the revelation of the Korân to thee is not the first instance of the kind. Others think the words should be translated thus, Be not thou in doubt as to thy meeting of that prophet, supposing that the interview between Moses and Mohammed in the sixth heaven, when the latter took his night journey thither, is here intended."

The Meccans frequently passing by the places where the Adites, Thamudites, Midianites, Sodomites, &c. once dwelt.

That is, On the day of judgment: though some suppose the day here intended to be that of the victory of Bedr, or else that of the taking of Mecca, when several of those who had been proscribed were put to death without remission."

"Al Beidâwi.

See the Prelim. Disc. sect. ii. p. 39.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

INTITLED, THE CONFEDERATES; REVEALED AT MEDINA

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

O PROPHET, fear GoD, and obey not the unbelievers and the hypocrites: verily God is knowing and wise. But follow that which is revealed unto thee from thy LORD; for GOD is well acquainted with that which ye do and put thy trust in God; for God is a sufficient protector.* God hath not given a man two hearts within him; neither hath he made your wives (some of whom ye divorce, regarding them thereafter as your mothers) your true mothers; nor hath he made your adopted sons your true sons.' This is your saying in your mouths: but GoD speaketh the truth; and he directed the right way. Call such as are adopted, the sons of their natural fathers this will be more just in the sight of GOD. And if ye know not their fathers, let them be as your brethren in religion, and your companions: and it shall be no crime in you, that ye errs in this matter ; but that shall be criminal which your hearts purposely design; for God is gracious and

Part of this chapter was revealed on occasion of the war of the Ditch, which happened in the fifth year of the Hejra, when Medina was besieged, for above twenty days, by the joint and confederate forces of several Jewish tribes, and of the inhabitants of Mecca, Najd, and Tehâma, at the instigation of the Jews of the tribe of Nadhîr, who had been driven out of their settlement near Medina, by Mohammed, the year before."

It is related that Abu Sofian, Acrema Abn Abi Jahl, and Abu'l A'war al Salami, having an amicable interview with Mohammed, at which were present also Abdallah Ebn Obba, Moatteb Ebn Kosheir, and Jadd Ebn Kais, they proposed to the prophet, that if he would leave off preaching against the worship of their gods, and acknowledge them to be mediators, they would give him and his Lord no farther disturbance; upon which these words were revealed.'

* “Put thy confidence in him. His protection is a powerful shield.”—Savary.

This passage was revealed to abolish two customs among the old Arabs. The first was their manner of divorcing their wives, when they had no mind to let them go out of their house, or to marry again: and this the husband did by saying to the woman, Thou art henceforward to me as the back of my mother; after which words pronounced he abstained from her bed, and regarded her in all respects as his mother, and she became related to all his kindred in the same degree as if she had been really so. The other cus. tom was the holding their adopted sons to be as nearly related to them as their natural sons, so that the same impediments of marriage arose from that supposed relation, in the prohibited degrees, as it would have done in the case of a genuine son. The latter Mohammed had a peculiar reason to abolish, viz. his marrying the divorced wife of his freed man Zeid, who was also his adopted son; of which more will be said by and by. By the declaration which introduces this passage, that God has not given a man two hearts, is meant, that a man cannot have the same affection for supposed parents, and adopted children, as for those who are really so. They tell us the Arabs used to say, of a pru. dent and acute person, that he had two hearts; whence one Abu Mâmer, or, as others write, Jemîl Ebn Asad al Fihri, was surnamed Dhu'lkalbein, or the man with two hearts.

• Through ignorance or mistake; or, That ye have erred for the time past. "Restore your adopted sons unto their fathers. This action is equitable in the sight of God. If ye know not the authors of their existence, let religion impel you to cherish them as your brothers, as your kindred. If by an involuntary error ye deviate from the precept, it shall not render you culpable."-Savary.

• Vide Abu'lfedæ Vit. Moh. p. 73, et Gagnier, Vie de Menammed, lib. 4. c. 1. Beidawi. Idem, Jallalo'ddin, &c.

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