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others to feed the poor. Woe be unto those who pray, ligent at their prayer:

and who are negwho play the hypocrites, and deny necessaries to

the needy.

CHAPTER CVIII.

INTITLED, AL CAWTHAR; REVEALED AT MECCA.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

VERILY we have given thee al Cawthar. Wherefore pray unto thy LORD, and slay the victims. Verily he who hateth thee shall be childless."†

The original word al Maûn properly signifies utensils, or whatever is of necessary use, as a hatchet, a pot, a dish, and a needle, to which some add a bucket and a hand-mill; or, according to a tradition of Ayesha, fire, water, and salt; and this signification it bore in the time of ignorance: but since the establishment of the Mohammedan religion, the word has been used to denote alms, either legal, or voluntary; which seems to be the true meaning in this place.

"Hast thou remarked the unbeliever who denieth the day of judgment? It is he who devoureth the substance of the orphan. He thinketh not of feeding the poor. Woe to the hypocrites. They pray negligently, and only from ostentation. They refuse to stretch out a succouring hand unto their fellow-creatures."-Savary.

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There are some, however, who think it to have been revealed at Medina.

d This word signifies abundance, especial y of good, and thence the gift of wisdom and prophecy, the Koran, the office of intercessor, &c. Or it may imply abundance of children, followers, and the like. It is generally, however, expounded of a river in paradise of that name, whence the water is derived into Mohammed's pond, of which the blessed are to drink before their admission into that place. According to a tradition of the prophet's, this river, wherein his Lord promised him abundant good, is sweeter than honey, whiter than milk, cooler than snow, and smoother than cream; its banks are of chrysolites, and the vessels to drink thereout of silver; and those who drink of it shall never thirst.

Euthymius Zigabenus, instead of Cauthar, reading Canthar, supposes the word to have the same signification in Arabic as in Greek, and translates the two first verses of the chapter thus: Ἡμεῖ δεδώκαμέν σοι τὸν κάνθαρον καὶ ἔυξαι πρὸς τὸν κύριόν σου, καὶ σφάξον, We have given thee the beetle; wherefore pray unto thy Lord, and slay it; and then he cries out, O wonderful and magnificent sacrifice, worthy of the legislator!

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Which are to be sacrificed, at the pilgrimage, in the valley of Mina. Al Beidâwi explains the words thus: Pray with fervency and intense devotion, not out of hypocrisy ; and slay the fatted camels and oxen, and distribute the flesh among the poor: for he says this chapter is the counterpart of the preceding, exhorting to those virtues which are op. posite to the vices there condemned.

These words were revealed against al As Ebn Wayel, who, on the death of Al Kâsem, Mohammed's son, called that prophet Abtar, which signifies one who has no children, or posterity."

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CHAPTER CIX.

INTITLED, THE UNBELIEVERS; REVEALED AT MECCA.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST merciful goD."

SAY: O unbelievers, I will not worship that which ye worship; nor will ye worship that which I worship. Neither do I worship that which ye worship; neither do ye worship that which I worship. Ye have your religion, and I my religion.

CHAPTER CX.

INTITLED, ASSISTANCE; REVEALED AT MECCA.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

WHEN the assistance of GOD shall come, and the victory; and thou shalt see the people enter into the religion of GOD by troops: celebrate the praise of thy LORD, and ask pardon of him; for he is inclined to forgive.

It is said that certain of the Koreish once proposed to Mohammed, that if he would worship their gods for a year, they would worship his God for the same space of time, upon which this chapter was revealed.'

(This chapter is one of those which the Mohammedans repeat daily as a prayer.)— Savary.

i. e. When God shall cause thee to prevail over thy enemies, and thou shalt take the city of Mecca.

Which happened in the ninth year of the Hejra, when, Mohammed having made himself master of Mecca, and obliged the Koreish to submit to him, the rest of the Arabs came in to him in great numbers, and professed Islâm.

Most of the commentators agree this chapter to have been revealed before the taking of Mecca, and suppose it gave Mohammed warning of his death: for they say that when he read it al Abbas wept, and being asked by the prophet what was the reason of his weeping, answered, Because it biddeth thee to prepare for death; to which Mohammed replied, It is as thou sayest. And hence, adds Jallalo'ddin, after the revelation of this chapter, the prophet was more frequent in praising and asking pardon of God; because he thereby knew that his end approached: for Mecca was taken in the eighth year of the Hejru, and he died in the beginning of the tenth.

'Jalla'o'ddin, al Beidâ wi

See the Prelim. Disc. sect. 2, p. 39.

'Al Beid&wi

CHAPTER CXI.

INTITLED. ABU LAHEB; REVEALED AT MECCA.

• IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

His

THE hands of Abu Laheb shall perish,' and he shall perish. riches shall not profit him, neither that which he hath gained." He shall go down to be burned into flaming fire; and his wife also, bearing wood, having on her neck a cord of twisted fibres of a palm-tree.

CHAPTER CXII.

INTITLED, THE DECLARATION OF GOD'S UNITY;' WHERE IT WAS REVEALED IS DISPUTED.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

SAY, God is one God; the eternal GOD: he begetteth not, neither is he Degutten: and there is not any one like unto him.

Abu Laheb was the surname of Abd'al Uzza, one of the sons of Abd'almotalleb, and ancle to Mohammed. He was a most bitter enemy to his nephew, and opposed the estab⚫ lishment of his new religion to the utmost of his power. When that prophet, in obedience to the command he had received to admonish his relations," had called them all together, and told them that he was a warner sent unto them before a grievous chastisement, Abu Laheb cried out, Mayest thou perish! hast thou called us together for this? and took up a stone to cast at him. Whereupon this passage was revealed.'

By the hands of Abu Laheb some commentators, by a synecdoche, understand his per. son; others, by a metonymy, his affairs in general, they being transacted with those members; or his hopes in this world, and the next.

m He died of grief and vexation at the defeat his friends had received at Bedr, surviving that misfortune but seven days.' They add, that his corpse was left above ground three days, till it stank, and then some negroes were hired to bury him."

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"The power of Abu Laheb hath vanished. He himself hath perished.”—Savary. And accordingly his great possessions, and the rank and esteem in which he lived a! Mecca, were of no service to him, nor could protect him against the vengeance of God Al Beidawi mentions also the loss of his son Otba, who was torn to pieces by a lion, in the way to Syria, though surrounded by the whole caravan.

• Arab. nâr dhâ: laheb; alluding to the surname of Abu Laheb, which signifies the father of flames.

Her name was Omm Jemîl; she was the daughter of Harb, and sister of Abu Sofiân For fuel in hell; because she fomented the hatred which her husband bore to Mo hammed; or, bearing a bundle of thorns and brambles, because she carried such, and strewed them by night in the prophet's way."

This chapter is held in particular veneration by the Mohammedans, and declared, by a tradition of their prophet, to be equal in value to a third part of the whole Koran. It is said to have been revealed in answer to the Koreish, who asked Mohammed concerning the distinguishing attributes of the God he invited them to worship.

• See the Prelim. Disc. sect. 2, p. 31. Vit. Mohammed, p. 57. • Al Beidâwi.

Al Beidâwi, Jallalo'ddin, &c. 1 Abulf

' Idem, Jallalo'ddin. ⚫lidem.

CHAPTER CXIII.

INTITLED, THE DAY-BREAK; WHERE IT WAS REVEALED IS DISPUTED.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

SAY, I fly for refuge unto the LORD of the day-break,** that he may deliver me from the mischief of those things which he hath created; and from the mischief of the night, when it cometh on;"† and from the mischief of women blowing on knots; and from the mischief of the envious, when he envieth.

CHAPTER CXIV.

INTITLED, MEN; WHERE IT WAS REVEALED IS DISPUTED.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

SAY, I fly for refuge unto the LORD of men, the king of men, the God of men, that he may deliver me from the mischief of the whisperer who slily withdraweth, who whispereth evil suggestions into the breasts of men;

from genii and men.

•The original word properly signifies a cleaving, and denotes, says al Beidâwi, the production of all things in general from the darkness of privation to the light of existence, and especially of those things which proceed from others, as springs, rain, plants, children, &c. and hence it is used more particularly to signify the breaking forth of the light from darkness, which is a most wonderful instance of the divine power.

"Say, I put my trust in the God of the morning."-Savary.

i. e. From the mischiefs proceeding either from the perverseness and evil choice of those beings which have a power to choose, or the natural effects of necessary agents, as fire, poison, &c. the world being good in the whole, though evils may follow from those two causes.'

Or, as the words may be rendered, From the mischief of the moon when she is eclipsed. "That he may deliver me from the evils with which the human race is surrounded; from the influence of the moon, shrouded in darkness."-Savary.

* That is, of witches, who used to tie knots in a cord, and to blow on them, uttering at the same time certain magical words over them, in order to work on, or debilitate the person they had a mind to injure. This was a common practice in former days: what they call in France, Nouër l'eguillette, and the knots which the wizards in the northern parts tie, when they sell mariners a wind, (if the stories told of them be true,) are also relics of the same superstition.

The commentators relate, the Lobeid, a Jew, with the assistance of his daughters, be. witched Mohammed, by tying eleven knots on a cord, which they hid in a well: where upon Mohammed falling ill, God revealed this chapter and the following, and Gabriel acquainted him with the use he was to make of them, and of the place where the cord was hidden: according to whose directions the prophet sent Ali to fetch the cord, and the same being brought, he repeated the two chapters over it, and at every verse (for they consist of eleven), a knot was loosed, till on finishing the last words, he was entirely freed from the charm."

(The Mohammedans have an implicit faith in the efficacy of the words contained in these two chapters. They consider them as a sovereign specific against magic, lunar influences, and the temptations of the evil spirit. They never fail to repeat then evening and morn. ing. Savary.

This chapter was revealed on the same occasion, and at the same time with the former. i. e. The devil; who withdraweth when a man mentioneth God, or hath recourse to his protection.

That he may deliver me from the temptations of Satan."-Savary

• Al Beidâwi

• Vide Virgil. in Pharmaceutria.

'Al Beidawi, Jallalo'ddin.

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