*

who kept off their sheep at a distance. And he said unto them, What is the matter with you? They answered, We shall not water our flock, until the shepherds shall have driven away theirs; for our father is an old man, stricken in years. So Moses watered their sheep for them, and afterwards retired to the shade, saying, O LORD, verily I stand in need of the good which thou shalt send down unto me. And one of the damsels" came unto him, walking bashfully, and said, My father calleth thee, that he may recompense thee for the trouble which thou hast taken in watering our sheep for us. And when he was come unto Shoaib, and had told him the story of his adventures,† he said unto him, Fear not thou hast escaped from unjust people. And one of the damsels said, My father, hire him for certain wages: the best servant thou canst hire is an able and trusty person." And Shoaib said unto Moses, Verily I will give thee one of these my two daughters in marriage, on condition that thou serve me for hire eight years: and if thou fulfil ten years, it is in thine own breast; for I seek not to impose a hardship on thee: and thou shalt find me, if GOD please, a man of probity. Moses answered, Let this be the covenant between me and thee: whichsoever of the two terms I shall fulfil let it be no crime in me if I then quit thy service; and GOD is witness of that which we say. And when Moses had fulfilled the term, and was journeying with his family towards Egypt, he saw fire on the side of mount Sinai. And he said unto his family, Tarry ye here; for I see fire: peradventure I may bring you thence some tidings of the way, or at least a brand out of the fire, that ye may

By rolling away a stone of a prodigious weight, which had been laid over the month of the well by the shepherds, and required no less than seven men (though some name a much larger number) to remove it.3

This was Sefûra (or Zipporah) the elder, or, as others suppose, the younger daughter of Shoaib, whom Moses afterwards married.

"One of the sisters came unto him."-Savary.

(When Moses arrived at the residence of Shoaib, says Jallalo'ddin, he found dinner ready. "Be seated and eat with us," said the old man. "I will not accept thy offer," replied Moses, "as a reward for the service which I have rendered to thy daughters. To do good without receiving a recompence for it is an inviolable law in my family." "And it is my custom," answered Shoaib, "and was that of my ancestors, to give a kind reception to shy guests, and to supply them with food."-Hospitality is still held in respect by the Turks. If a stranger introduces himself at meal-times, he is made to sit down, and is treated like the rest. No one asks whence he comes, whither he is going, or what he is; questions which are so painful to the unfortunate. He is a man who is come at the hour of repast; he is received as if he were one of the family, and is treated with the same kindness. The consequence of this is, that no Mohammedan is ever seen degrading humanity by exposing his misery to his fellow-creatures in the streets and highways.)— Savary.

The girl, being asked by her father how she knew Moses deserved this character, told him that he had removed the vast stone above mentioned, without any assistance; and that he looked not in her face, but held down his head till he had heard her message, and desired her to walk behind him, because the wind ruffled her garments a little, and discovered some part of her legs.*

"If God please, thou shalt experience on my part only humanity and justice." -Savary.

Viz., the longest term of ten years. The Mohammedans say, after the Jews, that Moses received from Shoaib the rod of the prophets, (which was a branch of a myrtle of paradise, and had descended to him from Adam,) to keep off the wild beasts from his sheep; and that this was the rod with which he performed all those wonders in Egypt.

See chap. 20, p. 256.

Al Beidawi, Jallalo'ddin, Interp. Yahya. p. 12, R. Eliez. Pirke, c. 40, &c.

+ Jidem.

Vide Shals, hakkab.

be warmed. And when he was come thereto, a voice cried unto him from the right side of the valley, in the sacred bottom, from the tree, saying, O Moses, verily I am GOD, the LORD of all creatures: cast down now thy rod. And when he saw it that it moved, as though it had been a serpent, he retreated and fled, and returned not. And God said unto him, O Moses, draw near, and fear not; for thou art safe. Put thy hand into thy bosom, and it shall come forth white, without any hurt: draw back thy hand unto thee which thou stretchest forth for fear. These shall be two evident signs from thy LORD, unto Pharaoh and his princes; for they are a wicked people. Moses said, O LORD, verily I have slain one of them; and I fear they will put me to death: but my brother Aaron is of a more eloquent tongue than I am; wherefore send him with me for an assistant, that he may gain me credit; for I fear lest they accuse me of imposture. God said, We will strengthen thine arm by thy brother, and we will give each of you extraordinary power, so that they shall not come up to you, in our signs. Ye two, and whoever shall follow you, shall be the conquerors. And when Moses came unto them with our evident signs, they said, This is no other than a deceitful piece of sorcery: neither have we heard of any thing like this among our forefathers. And Moses said, My LORD best knoweth who cometh with a direction from him; and who shall have success in this life, as well as the next: but the unjust shall not prosper. And Pharaoh said, O princes, I did not know that ye had any other god besides me. Wherefore do thou, O Haman, burn me clay into bricks; and build me a high tower,f that I may ascend unto the GOD of Moses: for I verily believe him to be a liar. And both he and his forces behaved themselves insolently and unjustly in the earth; and imagined that they should not be brought before us to be judged. Wherefore we took him and his forces, and cast them into the sea. Behold, therefore, what was the end of the unjust. And we made them deceitful guides, inviting their followers to hell fire; and on the day of resurrection they shall not be screened from punishment. We pursued them with a curse in this life; and on the day of resurrection they shall be shamefully rejected. And we gave the book of the aw unto Moses, after he had destroyed the former generations, to enlighten the minds of men, and for a direction, and a mercy; that peradventure they might consider. Thou, O prophet, wast not on the west side of mount Sinai, when we delivered Moses his commission: neither wast thou one of

d Literally thy wing: the expression alludes to the action of birds, which stretch forth their wings to fly away when they are frighted, and fold them together again when they think themselves secure. 6

See chap. 26, p. 303.

It is said that Haman, having prepared bricks and other materials, employed no less than fifty thousand men, besides labourers, in the building; which they carried to so immense a height that the workmen could no longer stand on it: that Pharaoh, ascending this tower, threw a javelin towards heaven, which fell back again stained with blood, whereupon he impiously boasted that he had killed the God of Moses; but at sunset God sent the angel Gabriel, who with one stroke of his wing demolished the tower, a part whereof, falling on the king's army, destroyed

a million of men.?

g

those who were present at his receiving it: but we raised up several generations after Moses; and life was prolonged unto them. Neither didst thou dwell among the inhabitants of Madian, rehearsing unto them our signs; but we have sent thee fully instructed in every particular. Nor wast thou present on the side of the mount, when we called unto Moses; but thou art sent as a mercy from thy LORD; that thou mightest preach unto a people to whom no preacher hath come before thee, that peradventure they may be warned; and lest, if a calamity had befallen them, for that which their hands had previously committed, they should have said, O LORD, since thou hast not sent an apostle unto us, that we might follow thy signs, and become true believers, are we not excusable? Yet when the truth is come unto them from before us, they say, Unless he receive the same power to work miracles as Moses received, we will not believe. Have they not likewise rejected the revelation which was heretofore given unto Moses? They say, two cunning imposturesh have mutually assisted one another: and they say, Verily we reject them both. Say, Produce therefore a book from GOD, which is more right than these two, that I may follow it; if ye speak truth. But if they return thee no answer, know that they only follow their own desires: and who erreth more widely from the truth than he who followeth his own desire, without a direction from GOD? Verily GoD directeth not the unjust people. And now have we caused our word to come unto them, that they may be admonished. They unto whom we have given the scriptures which were revealed before it, believe in the same; and when it is read unto them, say, We believe therein; it is certainly the truth from our LORD: verily we were Moslems before this. These shall receive their reward twice, because they have persevered, and repel evil by good, and distribute alms out of that which we have bestowed on them; and when they hear vain discourse, avoid the same, saying, We have our works, and ye have your works; peace be on you; we covet not the acquaintance of the ignorant. Verily thou canst not direct whom thou wilt but GOD directeth whom he pleaseth; and he best knoweth those who will submit to be directed. The Meccans say, If we follow the same direction with thee, we shall be forcibly expelled our land. Have we not established for them a secure asylum," to which

m

That is, to the Arabians; to whom no prophet had been sent, at least since Ismael. Viz., the Pentateuch and the Korân. Some copies read, Two impostors, meaning Moses and Mohammed.

Holding the same faith in fundamentals, before the revelation of the Korân, which we receive because it is consonant to the scriptures, and attested to by them. The passage intends those Jews and Christians who had embraced Mohammedism. Because they have believed both in their own scriptures, and in the Korân. 1 See chap. 25, p. 300, note P.

This objection was made by Al Hareth Ebn Othmân Ebn Nawfal Ebn Abd Menâf, who came to Mohammed and told him that the Koreish believed he preached the truth, but were apprehensive that, if they made the Arabs their enemies by quitting their religion, they would be obliged likewise to quit Mecca, being but a handful of men, in comparison to the whole nation.8

By giving them for their habitation the sacred territory of Mecca, a place protected by God, and reverenced by man.

8 Al Beidâwi

fruits of every sort are brought, as a provision for our bounty but the greater part of them do not understand. How many cities have we destroyed, whose inhabitants lived in ease and plenty and these their dwellings are not inhabited after them, unless for a little while;° and we were the inheritors of their wealth.P* But thy LORD did not destroy those cities, until he had sent unto their capital an apostle, to rehearse our signs unto them: neither did we destroy those cities, unless their inhabitants were injurious to their apostle. The things which are given you are the provisions of this present life, and the pomp thereof; but that which is with GOD is better and more durable: will ye not therefore understand? Shall he then, unto whom we have promised an excellent promise of future happiness, and who shall attain the same, be as he on whom we have bestowed the provision of this present life, and who, on the day of resurrection, shall be one of those who are delivered up to eternal punishment? On that day God shall call unto them, and shall say, Where are my partners, which ye imagined to be so? And they upon whom the sentence of damnation shall be justly pronounced shall answer, These, O LORD, are those whom we seduced; we seduced them as we also had been seduced: but now we clearly quit them, and turn unto thee. They did not worship us, but their own lusts. And it shall be said unto the idolaters, Call now upon those whom ye associated with God: and they shall call upon them, but they shall not answer them; and they shall see the punishment prepared for them, and shall wish that they had submitted to be directed. On that day, God shall call unto them, and shall say, What answer did ye return to our messengers? But they shall not be able to give an account thereof on that day; neither shall they ask one another for information. Howbeit whoso shall repent and believe, and shall do that which is right, may expect to be happy. Thy LORD createth what he pleaseth; and chooseth freely: but they have no free choice. Praise be unto God; and far be he removed from the idols which they associate with him! Thy LORD knoweth both the secret malice which their breasts conceal, and the open hatred which they discover. He is GOD; there is no God but he. Unto him is the praise due, both in this life and in that which is to come: unto him doth judgment belong; and before him shall ye be assembled at the last day. Say, what think ye? If GOD should cover you with perpetual night, until the day of resurrection; what god, besides GOD, would bring you light? Will ye not therefore hearken? Say, What think ye!

That is, for a day, or a few hours only, while travellers stay there to rest and refresh themselves; or, as the original may also signify, unless by a few inhabitants : some of those ancient cities and dwellings being utterly desolate, and others thinly

inhabited.

P There being none left to enjoy it after them.

"How many cities have we destroyed, which were devoted to lust and debauchery? The greatest number of these cities have not again been inhabited, and we retain the inheritance of them."-Savary.

"God overthrew no empire before he sent unto the capital of it a prophet to preach his commandments: and the cities of which the inhabitants were impious are those alone which were destroyed."-Savary.

4 See chap. 10, p. 169.

Literally, The account thereof shall be dark unto them; for the consternation they shall then be under will render them stupid, and unable to return an answer.

If God should give you continual day, until the day of resurrection; what god, besides GOD, would bring you night, that ye might rest therein? Will ye not therefore consider? Of his mercy he hath made for you the night and the day, that ye may rest in the one, and may seek to obtain provision for yourselves of his abundance, by your industry in the other; and that ye may give thanks. On a certain day God shall call unto them, and shall say, Where are my partners, which ye imagined to share the divine power with me? And we will produce a witness out of every nation," and will say, Bring hither your proof of what ye have asserted. And they shall know that the right is God's alone; and the deities which they have devised shall abandon them. Karun was of the people of Moses;* but he behaved insolently towards them: for we had given him so much treasure, that his keys would have loaded several strong men." When his people said unto him, Rejoice not immoderately; for GOD loveth not those who rejoice in their riches immoderately: but seek to attain, by means of the wealth which God hath given thee. the future mansion of paradise. And forget not thy portion in this world; but be thou bounteous unto others, as GOD hath been bounteous unto thee; and seek not to act corruptly in the earth; for GOD loveth not the corrupt doers. He answered, I have received these riches, only because of the knowledge which is with me

Viz., the prophet who shall have been sent to each nation.

The commentators say, Karûn was the son of Yeshar (or Izhar), the uncle of Moses, and consequently make him the same with the Korah of the scriptures. This person is represented by them as the most beautiful of the Israelites, and so far surpassing them all in opulency, that the riches of Karûn have become a proverb. The Mohammedans are indebted to the Jews for this last circumstance, to which they have added several other fables: for they tell us that he built a large palace overlaid with gold, the doors whereof were of massy gold: that he became so insolent, because of his immense riches, as to raise a sedition against Moses; though some pretend the occasion of his rebellion to have been his unwillingness to give alms, as Moses had commanded; that one day when that prophet was preaching to the people, and, among other laws which he published, declared that adulterers should be stoned, Karan asked him, what if he should be found guilty of the same crime? to which Moses answered, that in such case he would suffer the same punishment; and thereupon Karûn produced a harlot, whom he had hired to swear that Moses had lain with her, and charged him publicly with it; but on Moses's adjuring the woman to speak the truth, her resolution failed her, and she confessed that she was suborned by Karûn to accuse him wrongfully; that then God directed Moses, who had complained to him of this usage, to command the earth what he pleased, and it should obey him; whereupon he said, O earth, swallow them up! and that immediately the earth opened under Karûn and his confederates, and swallowed them up, with his palace and all his riches.1 There goes a tradition, that as Karûn sunk gradually into the ground, first to his knees, then to his waist, then to his neck, he cried out four several times, O Moses, have mercy on me! but that Moses continued to say, O earth swallow them up, till at last he wholly disappeared: upon which God said to Moses, Thou hadst no mercy on Karûn, though he asked pardon of thee four times; but I would have had compassion on him, if he had asked pardon of me but once."

The original word properly signifies any number of persons from ten to forty. Some pretend these keys were a sufficient load for seventy men; and Abulfeda says forty mules used to be employed to carry them.

This passage is parallel to that in the New Testament, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations.3

"For some say he was the most learned of all the Israelites, and the best versed

1 Abu'lfeda, Jallalo'ddin, Al Beidâwi, &c. Bibl. Orient. Art. Carun. 8 Luke xvi. 9.

Al Beidawi. Vide D'Herbel.