Wherefore 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 to 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.t 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

Nevertheless, they associate divinities in his worship."

See chap. 7, p. 125, and chap. 11, p. 183. *"Hath God an equal! Savary.

See chap. 25, p. 300. equivalent import.

The word barzakh is not used here, but another of

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 deluded, is but one of the fables of antiquity."-Savary.

true?* 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 thankful. 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 certainly 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. Do 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

"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.7

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 elsewhere; to which should be added, that she is to have two wings.

8

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 Islam. ism."-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 Israel; 1 others suppose them to be the virgins of paradise, and the angels who guard that place, and carry God's throne; and others will have them to be the martyrs,3

7 Al Beidâwi.

2

8 Prelim. Disc. sect. iv. p. 57, &c.

1 Jallalo'ddin, Al Beidâwi.

• Iidem.

Ebn Abbas.

• Vide ibid. p. 57.

1

*

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.

b 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.

a 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.

b Viz., the Israelites.

4 Al Beidawi.

m

make them models of religion; and to make them the heirs of the wealth of Pharaoh and his people,' and to establish a place for them in the earth; and to show Pharaoh, and Haman,* and their forces, that destruction of their kingdom and nation by them, which they sought to avoid.1* And we directed the mother of Moses by revelation, saying, Give him suck and if thou fearest for him, cast him into the river; and fear not, neither be afflicted; for we will restore him unto thee, and will appoint him one of our apostles. And when she had put the child in the ark, and had cast it into the river, the family of Pharaoh took him up; providence designing that he should become an enemy, and a sorrow unto them. Verily Pharaoh and Haman, and their forces were sinners. And the wife of Pharaoh said, This child is a delight of the eye to me, and to thee:" kill him not; peradventure it may happen that he may be serviceable unto us; or we may adopt him for our son. And they perceived not the consequence of what they were doing. And the heart of the mother of Moses became oppressed with fear; and she had almost discovered him, had we not armed her heart with constancy, that she might be one of those who believe the promises of God. And she said unto his sister, Follow him. And she watched him at a distance; and they perceived it not. And we suffered him not to take the breasts of the nurses who were provided before his sister came up : and she said, Shall I direct you unto some of his nation, who may nurse him for you, and will be careful of him? And, at their desire, she brought his mother to them. So we restored him to his mother, that her mind might be set at ease, and that she might not be afflicted; and that

See chap. 26, p. 303.

This name is given to Pharaoh's chief minister; from whence it is generally inferred that Mohammed has here made Haman, the favourite of Ahasuerus king of Persia, and who indisputably lived many ages after Moses, to be that prophet's contemporary. But how probable soever this mistake may seem to us, it will be very hard, if not impossible, to convince a Mohammedan of it, for, as has been observed in a parallel case, two very different persons may bear the same name."

For Pharaoh had either dreamed, or been told by some diviners, that one of the Hebrew nation should be the ruin of his kingdom; which prophecy is supposed to have been the occasion of his cruelty to them. This circumstance is owing to the invention of the Jews.s

"We were minded to secure unto them a habitation upon the earth, and to display before the eyes of Pharaoh, of Haman, and of their armies, the miracles which they dreaded."-Savary.

It is related that the midwife appointed to attend the Hebrew woman, terrified by a light which appeared between the eyes of Moses at his birth, and touched with an extraordinary affection for the child, did not discover him to the officers, so that his mother kept him in her house, and nursed him three months; after which it was impossible for her to conceal him any longer, the king then giving orders to make the searches more strictly."

"The family of Pharaoh received him who was one day to become their enemy, and a bitter cause of sorrow unto them, because that Pharaoh, Haman, and their soldiers, were transgressors."-Savary.

This sudden affection or admiration was raised in them either by his uncommon beauty, or by the light which shone on his forehead, or because, when they opened the ark, they found him sucking his thumb, which supplied him with milk.10 See chap. 20, p. 257.

Vide Reland, de Rel. Mobam. p. 217.

7 See chap.

See p. 38. note". 7, p. 129. 8 Vide Shalshel. hakkab. p. 11, and R. Eliez. Pirke, c. 48. 9 Al Beidawi. See the notes to chap. 20, p. 257. 10 Idem Jallalo'ddin.

r

she might know that the promise of GOD was true: but the greater part of mankind know not the truth. And when Moses had attained his age of full strength, and was become a perfect man, we bestowed on him wisdom and knowledge: and thus do we reward the upright. And he went into the city, at a time when the inhabitants thereof observed not what passed in the street: P and he found therein two men fighting; the one being of his own party, and the other of his enemies. And he who was of his party begged his assistance against him who was of the contrary party; and Moses struck him with his fist, and slew him: but being sorry for what had happened, he said, This is of the work of the devil; for he is a seducing and an open enemy. And he said, O LORD, verily I have injured my own soul: where fore forgive me. So God forgave him; for he is ready to forgive, and merciful. He said, O LORD, by the favours with which thou hast favoured me, I will not be an assistant to the wicked for the future. And the next morning he was afraid in the city, and looked about him, as one apprehensive of danger: and behold, he whom he had assisted the day before cried out unto him for help a second time. But Moses said unto him, Thou art plainly a quarrelsome fellow. And when he sought to lay hold on him who was an enemy unto them both, he said, O Moses, Dost thou intend to kill me, as thou killedst a man yesterday?" Thou seekest only to be an oppressor in the earth, and seekest not to be a reconciler of quarrels.* And a certain man,t came from the farther part of the city, running hastily, and said, O Moses, verily the magistrates are deliberating concerning thee, to put thee to death: depart, therefore; I certainly advise thee well. Wherefore he departed out of the city in great fear, looking this way and that, lest he should be pursued. And he said, O LORD, deliver me from the unjust people. And when he was journeying towards Madian, he said, Peradventure my LORD will direct me in the right way. And when he arrived at the water of Madian, he found about the well a company of men, who were watering their flocks. And he found, besides them, two women,t

P Viz., at noon; at which time it is usual, in those countries, for people to retire to sleep; or, as others rather suppose, a little within night.

ai. e. The one being an Israelite, of his own religion and nation, and the other an idolatrous Egyptian.

Mohammed allows that Moses killed the Egyptian wrongfully; but, to excuse it, supposes that he struck him without designing to kill him.

Some suppose these words to have been spoken by the Israelite, who, because Moses had reprimanded him, imagined he was going to strike him; and others, by the Egyptian, who either knew or suspected that Moses had killed his countryman the day before.

* 66 Wilt thou hearken only to thy violence? Hast thou, then, renounced virtue?" -Savary.

This person, says the tradition, was an Egyptian, and Pharaoh's uncle's son, but a true believer; who finding that the king had been informed of what Moses had done, and designed to put him to death, gave him immediate notice to provide for his safety by flight.

For Moses knew not the way, and coming to a place where three roads met, committed himself to the guidance of God, and took the middle road, which was the right; providence likewise so ordering it, that his pursuers took the other two roads. and missed him. Some say that he was led by an angel in the appearance of a

traveller."