CHAPTER CXI. INTITLED, ABU LAHEB; REVEALED AT MECCA. IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. THE hands of Abu Laheb shall perish, and he shall perish." His 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 begotten 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 uncle to Mohammed. He was a most bitter enemy to his nephew, and opposed the establishment 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 person; others, by a metonymy, his affairs in general, they being transacted with those members; or his hopes in this world, and the next. He died of grief and vexation at the defeat his friends had received at Bedr, surviving that misfortune but seven days.1 They add, that his corpse was left above ground three days, till it stank, and then some negroes were hired to bury him." "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 at Mecca, were of no service to him, nor could protect him against the vengeance of God. Al Beidâwi 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, når dhât laheb; alluding to the surname of Abu Laheb, which signifies the father of flames. P Her name was Omm Jemil; 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 Mohammed; or, bearing a bundle of thorns and brambles, because she carried such, and strewed them by night in the prophet's way.3 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 Korân. 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.1 8 See the Prelim. Disc. sect. ii. p. 31. Vit. Mohammed, p. 57. * Al Beidâwi. Al Beidâwi, Jallalo'ddin, &c. 1 Abull Iidem. 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 Beidawi, 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. ti. 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, that Lobeid, a Jew, with the assistance of his daughters, bewitched Mohammed, by tying eleven knots on a cord, which they hid in a well: whereupon 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.7 (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 them evening and morning.)-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. 7 Al Beidâwi, Jallalo'ddin. AN INDEX OF THE PRINCIPAL MATTERS CONTAINED IN THE KORAN, AND AARON, vide Moses. Al Abbâs, one of Mohammed's uncles, Abda'llah Dhu'lbajadîn, 161, n. Abdallah Ebn Rawaha, rebukes Ebn Abda'llah Ebn Saad, one of Mohammed's Abdallah Ebn Salam, a Jew intimate Abd Menâf, a dispute between his de- Abraha al Ashram, king of Yaman, his Abraham, the patriarch, an idolater in his Ad, a potent tribe of Arabs, destroyed for Adam, traditions concerning his creation, Adulterers, Mohammed's sentence against Adversaries, the dispute of two terminated Ahmed, the name under which Moham- med was foretold by Christ, 449. Al Akhnas, a hypocrite, 24, n., 460, n. Amena, Mohammed's mother, he is not Ammar Ebn Yaser, tortured on account of Amru Ebn Lohai, the great introducer of 162, D. Anam, the name of Lokmân's son, 336, n. Animals, irrational, will be raised at the Ans Ebn al Nadar, his behaviour at Ohod, Ansars, or helpers, who, 160, n.; three of Apostles were not believed who wrought Apparel, what kind ought to be worn by 118. Arabians, their acuteness, 115; their cus- daughter a misfortune, 218, n.; the re- Arabs of the desert, more obstinate, 160. Arafat, Mount, why so called, 5, n.; the Al Arem, the inundation of, 353, n. Asaf, Solomon's vizir, 312, n. Ashama, king of Ethiopia, embraces Mo Asia, the wife of Pharaoh, martyred by Astrology, hinted at, 57. Al Aswad al Ansi, the false prophet, 89, n. Aws and Khazrai, their enmity, 48, n. Azer, the name given to Terah, Abraham's Azrail, the angel of death, why appointed BAAL, the chief idol of the Chaldeans, 268, n. Bakhtnasr, vide Nebuchadnezzar. Balkis, queen of Saba, visits Solomon, and her reception, 312; her legs hairy, 313; Barnabas, his apocryphal gospel, some ex- Bedr, Mohammed's victory there, 36, 50, Bees made use of as a similitude, 219. Believers, the sincere ones, described, 281; Blood forbidden, 20. Boath, the battle of, 48, n. Bodeil, a dispute concerning his effects, oc- Bribery to pervert justice, forbidden, 22. CAAB Ebn al Ashraf, a Jew, Mohammed's Al Caaba, appointed for a place of worship, Caleb, vide Joshua. Calf, the golden, of what and by whom Camels, an instance of God's wisdom, 488; appointed for sacrifice, 277; Jacob ab- Carrion forbidden to be eaten, 20. Cattle, their use, 113, 388; superstitions of Children, to inherit their parents' substance, Christ, vide Jesus. Christians declared infidels, 83; and tains sing praises with him, 352; makes Days appointed to commemorate God, 276. Debtors to be mercifully dealt with, 34. Devils, included under the name Genii, 111; Dhu'lkefl, the prophet, opinions concerning Dhu Nowâs, king of Yaman, a Jew, perse- Disputes to be carried on with mildness, 328. Al Dorâh, the celestial model of the Caaba, Drink of the damned, 104, 105. Dying persons, what part of the Korân EARTH, its creation, 389, 390; remonstrates Eblis refuses to worship Adam at Gode Eden, the meaning of the word in Arabic, Edris, supposed to be the same with Enoch Education makes a man an infidel, 332, n. mies of the Moslems, ib. Vide Jews. Commandments given the Jews, 236, n. Companions of God, what, 112. Congealed blood, the matter of which man Eucharist, seems to have occasioned a fable is created, 494. Contracts to be performed, 81. Cow ordered to be sacrificed by the in the Korân, 97, n. Israel-Evidence, vide Witness. Creation, some account of it, 389, 390. DAVID kills Goliah, 30, 227; his extraordi- Examination of the sepulchre, 145, D., 112. Exhortation to the worship of God, 384; to Ezekiel raises the dry bones, 29, n. |