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them two of the said apostles; but they charged them with imposture. Wherefore we strengthened them with a third. And they said, Verily we are sent unto you by God. The inhabitants answered, Ye are no other than men, as we are; neither hath the Merciful revealed any thing unto you : ye only publish a lie. The apostles replied, Our LORD knoweth that we are really sent unto you and our duty is only public preaching. Thos of Antioch said, Verily we presage evil from you: if ye desist not from preaching, we will surely stone you, and a painful punishment shall be inflicted on you by us. The apostles answered, Your evil presage is with yourselves: although ye be warned,* will ye persist in your errors? Verily ye are a people who transgress exceedingly. And a certain man came hastily from the farther parts of the city, and said, O my people, follow the messengers of God; follow him who demandeth not any reward of you for these are rightly directed. *[XXIII.] What reason have I that I should not worship him who hath created me? for unto him shall ye return. Shall I take other gods besides him? If the Merciful be pleased to afflict me, their intercession will not avail me at all, neither can they deliver me then should I be in a manifest error. Verily I believe in your LORD; wherefore hearken unto me. But they stoned him and as he died, it was said unto him, Enter thou into paradise. And he said, O that my people knew how merciful God hath been unto me! for he hath highly honoured me. And we sent not down against his people, after they had slain him, an army from heaven, nor the other instruments of destruction which we sent down on unbelievers in former days: there was only one

at length, the affair coming to the prince's ear, he ordered them to be imprisoned, for endeavouring to seduce the people. When Jesus heard of this, he sent another of his disciples, generally supposed to have been Simon Peter; who coming to Antioch, and appearing as a zealous idolater, soon insinuated himself into the favour of the inhabitants and of their prince, and at length took an opportunity to desire the prince would order the two persons, who, as he was informed, had been put in prison for broaching new opinions, to be brought before him to be examined; and accordingly they were brought: when Peter, having previously warned them to take no notice that they knew him, asked them who sent them; to which they answered, God who had created all things, and had no companion: he then required some convincing proof of their mission, upon which they restored a blind person to his sight, and performed some other miracles, with which Peter seemed not to be satisfied, for that, according to some, he did the very same miracles himself, but declared that if their God could enable them to raise the dead, he would believe them; which condition the apostles accepting, a lad was brought who had been dead seven days, and at their prayers he was raised to life, and thereupon Peter acknowledged himself convinced, and ran and demolished the idols, a great many of the people following him, and embracing the true faith; but those who believed not were destroyed by the cry of the angel Gabriel.'

Some say these two were John and Paul; but others name different persons.

1 viz. Simon Peter.

i. e. If any evil befall you, it will be the consequence of your own obstinacy and unbelief. See chap. 27, p. 313, note p.

"Suspend your presage; when ye shall have listened to our doctrine, perchance ye will renounce your evil doings."-Savary.

This was Habîb al Najjâr, whose martyrdom is here described: his tomb is still shown near Antioch, and is much visited by the Mohammedans.

As a deluge, or a shower of stones, or a suffocating wind, &c. The words may alsc he translated, Nor did we determine to send down such executioners of our iustice.

Al Zamakh., al Beidâwi. &c. Vide etiam Marracc. in Alc. p. 580. tens, Indic. Geogr. ad calcem Vitæ Saladini, voce Antiochia.

Vide Schul

ery of Gabriel from heaven, and behold, they became utterly extinct. O the misery of men! No apostle cometh unto them, but they laugh him to scorn. Do they not consider how many generations we have destroyed before them? Verily they shall not return unto them: but all of them in general shall be assembled before us. One sign of the resurrection unto them is the dead earth: we quicken the same by the rain, and produce thereout various sorts of grain, of which they eat. And we make therein gardens of palm-trees, and vines; and we cause springs to gush forth in the same that they may eat of the fruits thereof, and of the labour of their hands. Will they not therefore give thanks? Praise be unto him who hath created all the different kinds, both of vegetables, which the earth bringeth forth, and of their own species, by forming the two sexes, and also the various sorts of things which they know not. The night also is a sign unto them: we withdraw the day from the same, and behold, they are covered with darkness and the sun hasteneth to his place of rest. This is the disposition of the mighty, the wise God. And for the moon have we appointed certain mansions, P until she change and return to be like the old branch of a palm-tree.* It is not expedient that the sun should overtake the moon in her course: neither doth the night outstrip the day: but each of these luminaries moveth in a peculiar orbit. It is a sign also unto them, that they carry their offspring in the ship filled with merchandize;' and that we have made for them other conveniences like unto it, whereon they ride. If we please, we drown them, and there is none to help them; neither are they delivered, unless through our mercy, and that they may enjoy life for a season. When it is said unto them, Fear that which is before you, and that which is behind you,' that ye may obtain mercy: they withdraw from thee: and thou dost not bring them one sign, of the signs of their LORD, but they turn aside from the same. And when it is said unto them, Give alms of that which God hath bestowed on you; the unbelievers say unto those who believe, by way of mockery, Shall we feed him whom GOD can feed, if he pleaseth? Verily ye are in no other than a manifest

See chap. 29, p. 326, note m.

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That is, he hasteneth to run his daily course: the setting of the sun resembling a traveller's going to rest. Some copies vary in this place, and instead of limostakarrin laha, read la mostakarra laha; according to which the sentence should be rendered, The sun runneth his course without ceasing, and hath not a place of rest.

viz. These are twenty-eight constellations, through one of which the moon passes every night, thence called the mansions or houses of the moon.

"We have appointed the phases of the moon, and the moment at which she appeareth suspended like the clusters of the date-tree."-Savary.

For when a palm-branch grows old, it shrinks, and becomes crooked and yellow, not

ill representing the appearance of the new moon.

Some suppose that the deliverance of Noah and his companions, in the ark, is here in ended: and then the words should be translated, That we carried their progeny in the ark filled with living creatures. (Savary adopts this reading.)

As camels, which are the land-ships; of lesser vessels and boats.

i. e. The punishment of this world and of the next.

When the poor Moslems asked alms of the richer Koreish, they told them that if Gou

See the Prelim. Disc. sect. i, p. 22.

"The date-tree produces two or three large clusters, which spring from its summit. and are suspended around."-Savary.

error. And they say, When will this promise of the resurrection be fulfilled, if ye speak truth? They only wait for one sounding of the trumpet, which shall overtake them while they are disputing together; and they shall not have time to make any disposition of their effects, neither shall they return to their family. And the trumpet shall be sounded again; and behold they shall come forth from their graves, and hasten unto their LORD. They shall say, Alas for us! who hath awakened us from our bed? This is what the Merciful promised us; and his apostles spoke the truth. It shall be but one sound of the trumpet, and behold, they shall be all assembled before us. On this day no soul shall be unjustly treated in the least; neither shall ye be rewarded, but according to what ye shall have wrought. On this day the inhabitants of paradise shall be wholly taken up with joy: they and their wives shall rest in shady groves, leaning on magnificent couches. There shall they have fruit, and they shall obtain whatever they shall desire. Peace shall be the word spoken unto the righteous, by a merciful LORD but he shall say unto the wicked, Be ye separated this day, O ye wicked, from the righteous. Did I not command you, O sons of Adam, that ye should not worship Satan; because he was an open enemy unto you? And did I not say, Worship me; this is the right way? But now hath he seduced a great multitude of you: did ye not therefore understand? This is hell, with which ye were threatened: be ye cast into the same this day to be burned; for that ye have been unbelievers. On this day we will seal up their mouths, that they shall not open them in their own defence ; and their hands shall speak unto us, and their feet shall bear witness of that which they have committed. If we pleased we could put out their eyes, and they might run with emulation in the way they use to take ;* and how should they see their error? And if we pleased we could transform them into other shapes, in their places when they should be found; and they should not be able to depart: neither should they repent. Unto whomsoever we grant a long life, him do we cause to bow down his body through age.† Will they not therefore understand? We have not taught Mohammed the art of poetry; nor is it expedient for him to be a poet. This book is no other than an admonition from God, and a perspicuous Korân; that he may

could provide for them, as they imagined, and did not, it was an argument that they deserved not his favour so well as themselves: whereas God permits some to be in want, to try the rich and exercise their charity.

* See the Prelim. Disc. sect. iv. p. 59, and the notes to chap. 39.

▾ See ibid.

For they shall sleep during the interval between these two blasts of the trumpet, and shall feel no pain.'

See the Prelim. Disc. sect. iv. p. 63.

"We could deprive them of sight, and they would wander hither and thither in the midst of darkness."-Savary.

That is, They deserve to be thus treated for their infidelity and disobedience; but we bear with them out of mercy, and grant them respite.

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"He whose old age we lengthen approaches unto childhood."-Savary.

This is in answer to the infidels, who pretended the Korân was only a poetical com position.

'Jallalo'ddin.

warn him who is living: and the sentence of condemnation will be justly executed on the unbelievers. Do they not consider that we have createc for them, among the things which our hands have wrought, cattle of several kinds, of which they are possessors; and that we have put the same in subjection under them? Some of them are for their riding; and on som of them do they feed: and they receive other advantages therefrom; and of their milk do they drink. Will they not, therefore, be thankful? They have taken other gods, besides GOD, in hopes that they may be assisted by them; but they are not able to give them any assistance: yet are they a party of troops ready to defend them. Let not their speech, therefore, grieve thee we know that which they privately conceal, and that which they publicly discover. Doth not man know that we have created him of seed? yet behold, he is an open disputer against the resurrection; and he propoundeth unto us a comparison, and forgetteth his creation. He saith, Who shall restore bones to life, when they are rotten? Answer, He shall restore them to life, who produced them the first time: for he is skilled in every kind of creation: who giveth you fire out of the green tree, and behold, ye kindle your fuel from thence. Is not he who hath created the heavens and the earth able to create new creatures like unto them? Yea certainly for he is the wise Creator. His command, when he willeth a thing, is only that he saith unto it, Be; and it is. Wherefore praise be unto him, in whose hand is the kingdom of all things, and unto whom ye shall return at the last day.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

INTITLED, THOSE WHO RANK THEMSELVES IN ORDER; REVEALED AT MECCA.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

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By the angels who rank themselves in order; and by those who drive forward and dispel the clouds; and by those who read the Korân for

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i. e. Indued with understanding; the stupid and careless being like dead persons."

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They are incapable of giving succour. The worshipper and the idol shall be the prey of the flames."-Savary.

• See chap. 16, p. 214, note a.

The usual way of striking fire in the east is by rubbing together two pieces of wood, e of which is commonly of the tree called Markh, and the other of that called Afar: and it will succeed even though the wood be green and wet."

Some understand by these words the souls of men who range themselves in obedience to God's laws, and put away from them all infidelity and corrupt doings; or the souls of those who rank themselves in battle array, to fight for the true religion, and push on their horses to charge the infidels, &c.'

Or, who put in motion all bodies, in the upper and lower world, according to the divine command; or, who keep off men from disobedience to God, by inspiring them with good doughts and inclinations; or, who drive away the devils from them, &c.'

• Al Beidâwi. • Vide Hyde, de Rel. vet. Pers. c. 25, p. 333, &c.

Al Beida w

an admonition; verily your GOD is one: the LORD of heaven and earth, and of whatever is between them, and the LORD of the east.' We have adorned the lower heaven with the ornament of the stars: and we have placed therein a guard against every rebellious devil; that they may not listen to the discourse of the exalted princes (for they are darted at from every side, to repel them, and a lasting torment is prepared for them); except him who catcheth a word by stealth, and is pursued by a shining flame. Ask the Meccans, therefore, whether they be stronger by nature, r the angels, whom we have created? We have surely created them of stiff clay. Thou wonderest at God's power and their obstinacy; but they mock at the arguments urged to convince them: when they are warned, they do not take warning; and when they see any sign, they scoff thereat, and say, This is no other than manifest sorcery: after we shall be dead, and become dust and bones, shall we really be raised to life, and our forefathers also? Answer, Yea: and ye shall then be despicable. There shall be but one blast of the trumpet, and they shall see themselves raised: and they shall say, Alas for us! this is the day of judgment; this is the day of distinction between the righteous and the wicked, which ye rejected as a falsehood. Gather together those who have acted unjustly, and their comrades, and the idols which they worshipped besides GoD, and direct them in the way to hell; and set them before God's tribunal; for they shall be called to account. What aileth you that ye defend not one another? But on this day they shall submit themselves to the judgment of God: and they shall draw nigh unto one another, and shall dispute among themselves. And the seduced shall say unto those who seduced them, Verily ye came unto us with presages of prosperity; and the seducers shall answer, Nay, rather ye were not true believers: for we had no power over you to compel you; but ye were people who voluntarily transgressed: wherefore the sentence of our LORD hath been justly pronounced against us, and we shall surely taste his vengeance. We seduced you; but we also erred ourselves. They shall both therefore be made partakers of the same pun ishment on that day. Thus will we deal with the wicked: because, when it is said unto them, There is no god besides the true God, they swell with arrogance, and say, Shall we abandon our gods for a distracted poet? Nay: he cometh with the truth, and beareth witness to the former apostles. Ye

I swear by the bands of angels, by those who threaten, by those who read,' your God is the only God."-Savary.

The original word, being in the plural number, is supposed to signify the different points of the horizon, from whence the sun rises in the course of the year, which are in number three hundred and sixty (equal to the number of days in the old civil year), and have as many corresponding points where it successively sets, during that space. Marracci groundlessly imagines this interpretation to be built on the error of the plurality of worlds.' One of them approached by stealth the celestial spheres, but a penetrating flame precipitated him down."-Savary.

*See chap. 15, p. 210.

Literally, from the right hand. The words may also be rendered, with fore, to 1ɔm pel us; or, with an oath, swearing that ye were in the right.

344

The angels who read the Korân are here meant."-Savary.
'Al Beidawi, Yahya.
Marracc. in Alc. p. 589.

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