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women. Go knoweth your busy employment in the world, and the place of your abode hereafter.* The true believers say, Hath not a Sura been revealed commanding war against the infidels? But when a Sura without any ambiguity is revealed, and war is mentioned therein, thou mayest see those in whose hearts is an infirmity look towards thee with the look of one whom death overshadoweth. But obedience would be more eligible for them, and to speak that which is convenient. And when the command is firmly established, if they give credit unto God, it will be better for them. Were ye ready, therefore, if ye had been put in authority, to commit outrages in the earth, and to violate the ties of blood? These are they whom GOD hath cursed, and hath rendered deaf, and whose eyes he hath blinded. Do they not therefore attentively meditate on the Korân? Are there locks upon their hearts? Verily they who turn their backs, after the true direction is made manifest unto them, Satan shall prepare their wickedness for them, and God shall bear with them for a time. This shall befall them, because they say privately unto those who detest what God hath revealed, We will obey you in part of the matter." But God knoweth their secrets. How therefore will it be with them, when the angels shall cause them to die, and shall strike their faces, and their backs?† This shall they suffer, because they follow that which provoketh Gon to wrath, and are averse to what is weli pleasing unto him: and he will render their works vain. Do they in whose hearts is an infirmity imagine that God will not bring their malice to light? If we pleased, we could surely show them unto thee, and thou shouldest know them by their marks; but thou shalt certainly know them by their perverse pronunciation of their words. GOD knoweth your actions: and we will try you, until we know those among you who fight valiantly, and who persevere with constancy: and we will try the reports of your behaviour. Verily those who believe not, and turn away men from the way of GoD, and make opposition against the apostle, after the divine direction hath been manifested unto them, shall not hurt God at all; but he shall make their works to perish. O true believers, obey GoD; and obey the apostle: and render not your works of no effect. Verily those who believe not, and who turn away men from the

several Mohammedan doctors pretend he was wholly free from sin, and suppose he is here commanded to ask forgiveness, not that he wanted it, but that he might set an example to his followers: wherefore he used to say of himself, if the tradition be true, 1 ask pardon of God an hundred times a day?

He seeth you while that ye wake, and while that ye slumber."-Savary.

'As hypocrisy, cowardice, or instability in their religion.

2

Or, as the words may also be translated, If ye had turned back, and apostatized from your faith.

Satan shall deck vice with flowers to the eyes of the recreant who shall go back unto impiety. He shall procure for him delusive riches."-Savary.

i. e. In part of what ye desire of us; by staying at home and not going forth with Mo

hammed to war, and by private combination against him."

These words are supposed to allude to the examination of the sepulcbre.

These were the tribes of Koreidha and al Nadîr; or those who distributed provision to the army of the Koreish at Bedr.

Jallalo'ddin

'Al Beidâwi.

Idein. See chap. 8, p. 143, note 7.

way of GoD, and then die, being unbelievers, GoD will by no means forgive Faint not therefore, neither invite your enemies to peace, while ye are the superior: for God is with you, and will not defraud you of the merit of your works. Verily this present life is only a play and a vain amusement but if ye believe, and fear God, he will give you your rewards. He doth not require of you your whole substance; if he should require the whole of you, and earnestly press you, ye would become niggardly, and it would raise your hatred against his apostle. Behold, ye are those who are invited to expend part of your substance for the support of God's true religion; and there are some of you who are niggardly. But whoever shall be niggardly shall be niggardly towards his own soul: for God wanteth nothing, but ye are needy and if ye turn back, he will substitute another people in your stead, who shall not be like unto you.

CHAPTER XLVIII

INTITLED, THE VICTORY; REVEALED AT MEDINA.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

VERILY we have granted thee a manifest victory: that God may forgive thee thy preceding and thy subsequent sin, and may complete his favour on thee, and direct thee in the right way; and that God may assist thee with a glorious assistance. It is he who sendeth down secure tranquillity

*

i. e. In backwardness and aversion to the propagation of the faith. The people here designed to be put in the place of these lukewarm Moslems are generally supposed to be the Persians; there being a tradition that Mohammed, being asked what people they were, at a time when Salman was sitting by him, clapped his hand on his thigh, and said, This man and his nation. Others, however, are of opinion that the Ansars, or the angels, are intended in this place.'

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This victory, from which the chapter takes its title, according to most received interpretation, was the taking of the city of Mecca. The passage is said to have been revealed on Mohammed's return from the expedition of al Hodeibiya, and contains a promise or prediction of this signal success, which happened not till two years after; the preterite tense being therein used, according to the prophetic style, for the future.

There are some, notwithstanding, who suppose the advantage here intended was the pacification of al Hodeibiya, which is here called a victory, because the Meccans sued for peace, and made a truce there with Mohammed, their breaking of which occasioned the taking of Mecca. Others think the conquest of Khaibar, or the victory over the Greeks at Muta, &c. to be meant in this place.

That is to say, That God may give thee an opportunity of deserving forgiveness by eradicating of idolatry, and exalting his true religion, and the delivering of the weak from the hands of the ungodly, &c.

i. e. Whatever thou hast done worthy of reprehension; or, thy sins committed as well in the time of ignorance, as since. Some expound the words more particularly, and say the preceding or former fault was his lying with his handmaid Mary, contrary to his oath; and the latter his marrying of Zeinab, the wife of Zeid his adopted son."

* "God hath pardoned unto thee thy faults: he hath fulfilled his favours; and he will lead thee in the way of justice."-Savary.

• Al Beidâwi. 'hereon.

Al Zamakh., al Beidâwi, &c.
See chap. 33, and the notes thereon.

See chap. 66, and the notes Al Zamakh.

into the hearts of the true believers, that they may increase in faith, beyond their former faith; (the hosts of heaven and earth are God's; and GOD is knowing and wise): that he may lead the true believers of both sexes into gardens beneath which rivers flow, to dwell therein for ever; and may expiate their evil deeds from them: (this will be great felicity with GoD): and that he may punish the hypocritical men, and the hypocritical women, and the idolaters, and the idolatresses, who conceive an ill opinion of GOD. They shall experience a turn of evil fortune; and GoD shall be angry with them, and shall curse them, and hath prepared hell for them; an ill journey shall it be thither! Unto God belong the hosts of heaven and earth; and GOD is mighty and wise. Verily we have sent thee to be a witness, and a bearer of good tidings, and a denouncer of threats; that ye may believe in GOD, and his apostle; and may assist him, and revere him, and praise him morning and evening. Verily they who swear fealty unto thee, swear fealty unto God: the hand of GoD is over their hands. Whoever shall violate his oath, will violate the same to the hurt only of his own soul: but whoever shall perform that which he hath covenanted with GOD, he will surely give him a great reward. The Arabs of the desert who were left behind will say unto thee, Our substance and our families employed us, so that we went not forth with thee to war; wherefore, ask pardon for us. They speak that with their tongues, which is not in their hearts. Answer, Who shall be able to obtain for you any thing from GOD to the contrary, if he is pleased to afflict you, or is pleased to be gracious unto you? Yea, verily, God is well acquainted with that which ye do. Truly ye imagined that the apostle and the true believers would never return to their families and this was prepared in your hearts: but ye imagined an evil imagination; and ye are a corrupt people. Whoso believeth not in GOD and his apostle, verily we have prepared burning fire for the unbelievers. Unto GOD belongeth the kingdom of heaven and earth: he forgiveth whom he pleaseth: and he punisheth whom he pleaseth: and God is inclined to forgive, and merciful. Those who were left behind will say, when ye go forth to take the spoil,' Suffer us to follow you. They

:

The original word signifies publicly to acknowledge or inaugurate a prince, by swearing fidelity and obedience to him.

That is, He beholdeth from above, and is witness to the solemnity of your giving your faith to his apostle; and will reward you for it. The expression alludes to the manner of their plighting their faith on these occasions.

These were the tribes of Aslam, Joheinah, Mozeinah, and Ghifar, who being summoned to attend Mohammed in the expedition of al Hodeibiya, stayed behind, and excused themselves by saying their families must suffer in their absence, and would be robbed of the little they had (for these tribes were of the poorer Arabs); whereas in reality they wanted firmness in the faith, and courage to face the Koreish.'

*Ye imagined that the prophet and the faithful were for ever divided from their families: your hearts eagerly adopted this opinion. It has deceived you; it will cause your ruin."-Savary.

viz. In the expedition of Khaibar. The prophet returned from al Hodeibiya in Dhu'lhajja, in the sixth year of the Hejra, and staid at Medina the remainder of that month and the beginning of Moharram, and then set forward against the Jews of Khaibar, those only who had attended him to al Hodeibiya; and having made himself ster

10 Jallalo'ddin.

* Jallalo'ddin, al Beidâwi.

seek to change the word of God. Say, Ye shall by no means follow us : thus hath GOD said heretofore. They will reply, Nay: ye envy us a share of the booty. But they are men of small understanding. Say unto the Arabs of the desert who were left behind, Ye shall be called forth against a mighty and a warlike nation;" ye shall fight against them, or they shall profess Islâm.* If ye obey, GoD will give you a glorious reward: but if ye turn back, as ye turned back heretofore, he will chastise you with a ☛rievous chastisement. It shall be no crime in the blind, neither shall it be crime in the lame, neither shall it be a crime in the sick, if they go not forth to war: and whoso shall obey GoD and his apostle, he shall lead them into gardens beneath which rivers flow; but whoso shall turn back, he will chastise him with a grievous chastisement. Now GoD was well pleased with the true believers, when they sware fidelity to thee under the tree;" and he knew that which was in their hearts; wherefore he sent down on them tranquillity of mind, and rewarded them with a speedy victory,' and many spoils which they took: for God is mighty and wise. God promised you many spoils which ye should take; but he gave you these by way of earnest; and he restrained the hands of men from you: that the same may be a sign unto the true believers; and that he may guide you into the right way. And he also promiseth you other spoils, which ye have not yet been able to take: but now hath God encompassed them for you; and GOD is almighty. If the unbelieving Meccans had fought against you, verily they had turned their backs; and they would not have found a patron of

of the place, and all e castles and strongholds in that territory, took spoils to a great value, which he divided among them who were present at that expedition, and none else.'

Which was his promise to those who attended the prophet to al Hodeibiya, that he would make them amends for their missing of the plunder of Mecca at that time, by giving them that of Khaibar in lieu thereof. Some think the word here intended, to be that passage in the ninth chapter, Ye shall not go forth with me for the future, &c. which yet was plainly revealed long after the taking of Khaibar, on occasion of the expedition of

Tabuc.'

These were Banu Honeifa, who inhabited al Yamâma, and were the followers of Moseilama, Mohammed's competitor; or any other of those tribes which apostatized from Mohammedism; or, as others rather suppose, the Persians, or the Greeks.'

*“Ye shall make war against them until they shall have embraced Islâmism."Savary.

Mohammed, when at al Hodeibiya, sent Jawwâs Ebn Omeyya, the Khozaïte, to ac quaint the Meccans that he was come with a peaceable intention, to visit the temple; but they, on some jealousy conceived, refusing to admit him, the prophet sent Othman Ebn Affan, whom they imprisoned, and a report ran that he was slain: whereupon Mohammed called his men about him, and they took an oath to be faithful to him, even to death; during which ceremony he sat under a tree, supposed by some to have been the Egyptian thorn, and by others a kind of lote-tree."

▸ The original word is Sakînat, of which notice has been taken elsewhere.'

Namely, the success of Khaibar, or, as some rather imagine, the taking of Mecca, &c. i. e. The hands of those of Khaibar, or of their successors of the tribes of Asad and Ghatfân; or of the inhabitants of Mecca, by the pacification of al Hodeibiya.10 (Mohammed was encamped near Mecca. camp for the purpose of killing some of his pardoned them, and restored them to liberty. and concord.)-Savary.

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Eighty of the idolaters roamed round the soldiers: they were made prisoners. He His clemency conduced to establish peace

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• Idem, al Beidâwi. Vide Abulf. Vit. Moh. p. 86.
10 Al Beidâwi,

pro'ector: according to the ordinance of God, which hath been put in execution heretofore against opposers of the prophets; for thou shalt not find any change in the ordinance of GOD. It was he who restrained their hands from you, and your hands from them, in the valley of Mecca; after that he had given you the victory over them: and God saw that which ye did. These are they who believed not, and hindered you from visiting the holy temple, and also hindered the offering being detained, that it should not arrive at the place where it ought to be sacrificed. Had it not been that ye might have trampled on divers true believers, both men and women, whom ye know not, being promiscuously assembled with the infidels, and that a crime might therefore have lighted on you on their account, without your knowledge, he had not restrained your hands from them: but this was done, that God might lead whom he pleased into his mercy. If they had been distinguished from one another, we had surely chastised such of them as believed not, with a severe chastisement. When the unbelievers had put in their hearts an affected preciseness, the preciseness of ignorance, and GOD sent down his tranquillity on his apostle and on the true believers; " and firmly fixed in them the word of piety, and they were the most worthy of the same, and the most deserving thereof: for God knoweth all

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Jallalo'ddin says, that fourscore of the infidels came privately to Mohammed's camp, at al Hodeibiya, with an intent to surprise some of his men, but were taken and brought before the prophet, who pardoned them and ordered them to be set at liberty: and this generous action was the occasion of the truce struck up by the Koreish with Mohammed; for thereupon they sent Sohail Ebn Amru and some others (and not Arwa Ebn Masud, as is said, by mistake, in another place; for his errand was an actual defiance), to treat of peace.

Al Beidêwi explains the passage by another story: telling us that Acrema Ebn Abi Jahl marching from Mecca at the head of five hundred men to al Hodeibiya, Mohammed sent against him Khâled Ebn al Walid, with a detachment, who drove the infidels back to the innermost part of Mecca (as the word here translated valley properly signifies), and then left them, out of respect to the place.

Mohammed's intent, in the expedition of al Hodeibiya, being only to visit the temple of Mecca in a peaceable manner, and to offer a sacrifice in the valley of Mina, according to the established rites, he carried beasts with him for that purpose, but was not permitted by the Koreish either to enter the temple, or to go to Mina.

This passage was occasioned by the stiffness of Sohail and his companions, in wording the treaty concluded with Mohammed: for when the prophet ordered Ali to begin with the form, In the name of the most merciful God, they objected to it, and insisted that he should begin with this, In thy name, O God; which Mohammed submitted to, and proceeded to dictate, These are the conditions on which Mohammed, the apostle of God, has made peace with those of Mecca; to this Sohail again objected, saying, If we had acknowledged thee to be the apostle of God, we had not given thee any opposition: whereupon Mohammed ordered Ali to write, as Sohail desired, These are the conditions which Mohammed, the son of Abdallah, &c. But the Moslems were so disgusted thereat, that they were on the point of breaking off the treaty, and had fallen on the Meccans, had not God appeased and calmed their minds; as it follows in the text.

The terms of this pacification were, that there should be a truce for ten years; that any person might enter into league, either with Mohammed, or with the Koreish, as he should think fit; and that Mohammed should have the liberty to visit the temple of Mecca the next year, for three days."

*"While the idolaters cherished in their hearts the fury of a blind fanaticism, God sent peace unto the prophet and unto the believers."-Savary.

i. e. The Mohammedan profession of faith, or the Bismillah, and the words, Mohammed, the apostle of God; which were rejected by the infidels.

See the Prelim. Disc. sect. 2, p. 37. • Lidem.

Al Beidâwi. Vide Abulf. Vit. Moh. p. 82

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