In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
The Smiting! What is the Smiting?
And what shall teach thee what is the Smiting?
The Day when men shall be like moths adrift,
And the hills shall be like wool-flocks rift:
Then as for him whose scales are heavy, his shall be a life of
bliss:
And as for him whose scales are light, a place in the Pit is his:
And what shall teach thee what that place is--
A Fire that blazes!
* * * * *
P. 3. THE NIGHT.--The formula “_In the Name of God, the Compassionate,
the Merciful_,” precedes all the chapters of the Korān but one.
_We._--God speaks in the plural in the Korān.
* * * * *
P. 5. THE COUNTRY.--_The two highways_: the _steep one_ to heaven, and
the smooth one to hell.
P. 6. _The people of the right hand_--those that receive the book
of the record of their actions in their right hand--the blessed.
Contrariwise--_the people of the left hand_--the damned.
* * * * *
P. 7. THE SMITING.--One of many similar names for the Day of Judgment.
_The Bottomless Pit_, “El-Hāwiyeh,” is the lowest stage of the Hell of
the Korān.
* * * * *
P. 8. THE QUAKING.--_Burdens_, _i.e._ the dead. _Her tidings_: “The
tidings of the earth are these--she will bear witness to the actions of
every man and woman done upon her surface.”--Tradition of Mohammad.
* * * * *
P. 9. THE RENDING ASUNDER.--_Reporters_: two angels who note
respectively the good and the evil deeds and words of every man.
* * * * *
P. 13. THE BACKBITER.--This speech is said to have been levelled at a
personal enemy.
_Blasting Hell_, “El-Hutameh,” is the third stage of the Mohammadan
Inferno.
* * * * *
P. 14. THE SPLENDOUR OF MORNING.--Evidently uttered in a time of
despondency and with the intention of self-encouragement.
* * * * *
P. 15. THE MOST HIGH.--_The books of eld._ Mohammad asserted that his
doctrine was a revival of the religion of Abraham and the patriarchs,
as it was before the Jews corrupted it.
* * * * *
P. 17. THE WRAPPING.--A simile from the wrapping of a head in a turban.
_Camels ten months_ gone with young were the Arabs’ most valuable
property.
_The child that was buried alive._ Infanticide of female children was
among the crimes of the ancient Arab.
_The Books_--in which men’s actions are recorded.
_Stars that hide_, _i.e._ that set; or, as others say, “that
retrogress,” _i.e._ the planets.
P. 18. _Mad._ The people commonly believed Mohammad to be possessed
with a jinni (or genius).
_Pelted devil._ The evil jinn or devils are supposed to act the
eavesdropper on the confines of heaven, and to be driven away by
shooting stars.
_A reminder_, _scil._, of the true religion of Abraham and the
prophets, which men had forgotten. Cf. LANE: _Selections from the
Kur-ān_, lxxxi. 15, 47, 48 (2d ed., Trübner’s Oriental Series).
* * * * *
P. 19. THE NEWS.--One of the many names which Mohammad employed to
bring home to his people the reality and fearfulness of the Last Day.
_Tent-pegs._ Mountains were believed to keep the earth steady, as pegs
do a tent.
* * * * *
P. 22. THE FACT.--One of the names of the Last Day: the event which
must inevitably happen.
_Abasing_ the sinners, and _exalting_ the righteous.
_Three kinds_: the “outstrippers,” the “people of the right hand,”
and the “people of the left hand.” In the original the same word means
“right hand” and “happiness,” or “good omen;” contrariwise, “left hand”
and “misfortune.” Cp. the use of _dexter_ and _sinister_. An instance
of Mohammad’s practice of playing upon the different senses of a word.
_The outstrippers_, _i.e._ those who are the first to adopt the true
religion--the prophets and apostles, who shall be rewarded by being
allowed to stand nearest to God in the next world. The following
fifteen lines describe their happy fate; after which, fourteen refer
to the _people of the right hand_, or ordinary believers; and then
seventeen lines to the _people of the left hand_, or damned.
P. 24. _Zakkūm_: A thorny tree with a bitter fruit, which grows up from
the bottomless pit.
P. 26. _Preserved Book._--Mohammad taught that every “revelation” in
the Korān was but a transcript from the pages of a great book, known as
the “_Mother of the Book_,” “preserved” under the throne of God. The
sentence, _Let none touch it but the purified_, is commonly inscribed
upon the cover of the Korān.
_Those brought nearest_, _i.e._ the _outstrippers_, or prophets.
* * * * *
P. 27. THE MERCIFUL.--_Then which of the bounties_, etc. A refrain or
burden of this kind is rare in the Korān, and is in no other instance
so often repeated. The _twain_ are mankind and the jinn (or genii).
“Jinn,” it may be remarked, is a plural, and the singular is “jinni” (a
genius), for the masculine, and “jinnīyeh” for the feminine.
_The two Easts._ The rising-places of the sun in summer and winter;
_the two Wests_, the corresponding setting-places.
P. 28. _Two notables_, or “weighty ones,” _i.e._ men and jinn.
* * * * *
P. 32. THE UNITY.--This profession of faith is held by Muslims to be
equal in value to a third of the whole Korān.
* * * * *
P. 33. THE FĀTIHAH, or “Opening” chapter, so called because it is
placed at the beginning of the authorised arrangement of the Korān. It
is the _Paternoster_ of Islam, and is repeated many times in the five
daily prayers of the Muslims, and on every solemn occasion.
THE MEKKA SPEECHES.
II.--THE RHETORICAL PERIOD.
P. 39. THE KINGDOM. _Say_: _i.e._ God bids Mohammad say. It must never
be forgotten that Mohammad is only supposed to recite what God wrote in
the Preserved Book (see note to p. 26) before the world began.
* * * * *
P. 41. THE MOON.--_Sign_, _i.e._ miracle, which Mohammad insistently
declared his inability to work.
_The Summoner_: the archangel Isrāfīl.
_Called it a lie_, _i.e._ denied the doctrine of one God and of a Day
of Judgment.
P. 42. _Ad_: an ancient Arab people, destroyed in prehistoric days. See
LANE: _Selections from the Kur-ān_, 60-62.
_Thamūd_: another tribe, which experienced a similar fate. See LANE,
_ibid._
* * * * *
P. 45. K.--As to the meaning of this letter of the Arabic alphabet,
which gives a title to this speech, in the words of the Muslim
commentator, “God alone knoweth what He meaneth by it.”
_A warner from among themselves._ The Mekkans were offended that an
angel was not sent to them as an apostle, instead of a mere man.
_Marvellous thing_: the Resurrection.
P. 46. _The people of Tubba'_: the Himyarites of Arabia Felix.
_A driver and a witness._--Two angels, who are supposed to carry on the
ensuing colloquy with God.
P. 48. _A tyrant._--Mohammad was sent to warn, not to compel the
obedience and faith of his people.
* * * * *
P. 49. Y. S.--See note to K above, and to p. 87 below.
P. 50. _Plain Exemplar_: the _Preserved Book_, mentioned above (note to
p. 26).
P. 51. _Enter into Paradise_: the people had stoned him to death.
P. 52. _Her resting-place._--The sun is feminine in Arabic, and the
moon masculine.
P. 55. _Poetry._--It was a common charge against Mohammad that he was a
mad poet.
* * * * *
P. 57. THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, otherwise called THE NIGHT JOURNEY,
from the reference in the first verse to a dream in which Mohammad saw
himself carried from the Kaaba (the _Sacred Mosque_) at Mekka, to the
Temple (the _Furthest Mosque_) at Jerusalem; upon which Mohammadan
theologians have raised a noble superstructure of fable. The first
verse is probably later than the rest. The _two sins_ and punishments
of the Jews have also greatly exercised the commentators’ minds. What
they were Mohammad probably did not very precisely know himself.
P. 60. _The son of the road_, _i.e._ the traveller.
P. 61. _A just cause_: apostacy, adultery, or murder.
P. 62. _Daughters from among the angels._--The Arabs worshipped the
angels and jinn as daughters of God; and it is against this polytheism
and blasphemous relationship that Mohammad protests, whilst he never
denies but contrariwise admits the existence of such spirits. Further
on (p. 64) he refers to these angels and other Arabian divinities, as
beings who are not to be invoked, since they can have no influence for
good or ill, and who themselves are in hope and fear of God’s mercy and
torment, like human beings. It should be noticed that hitherto Mohammad
has directed his preaching against disbelief in the One God, but has
not pointedly attacked the idolatry of the Mekkans. In Y. S., however,
he begins to speak of _other gods_ (p. 55), and in the Third or
Argumentative Period, the angels and jinn which the Mekkans worshipped,
and represented in the shape of idols, are frequently denounced,
especially under the name of _Partners_ (see pp. 76, 84, 90, 92, 93,
97, 98, 103, 106, etc.)
P. 65. _The accursed tree_: Zakkūm, see note to p. 24. The full Koranic
history of Adam and Eve, and how Iblīs, the father of the devils,
refused to do homage to the father of mankind, may be read in LANE’S
_Selections_, pp. 49-52.
P. 67. _Well-nigh tempted_: referring apparently to an inclination of
Mohammad to temporize with idolatry on a special occasion.
P. 68. _The Spirit_: Gabriel, the teacher of Mohammad, and the bearer
of revelations from God to His prophet.
P. 71. _Call upon God, or call upon the Merciful._--Mohammad’s use of
two general names for God had apparently caused some confusion among
the faithful, which this verse removed.
The “Children of Israel” speech is especially important, since it
contains more definite regulations of conduct than any other of the
orations delivered at Mekka.
THE MEKKA SPEECHES.
III.--THE ARGUMENTATIVE PERIOD.
P. 76. THE BELIEVER. _Twice hast thou given us death_, etc.--Referring
to the absence of life before birth, and the deprivation of it at
death, and to the being quickened at birth, and raised again after
death.
P. 78. _Their footprints_, or vestiges: _i.e._ their buildings and
public works.
_Moses._ For the Koranic history of the Israelites, see LANE’S
_Selections_, pp. 97-131.
P. 84. _I am bidden to resign myself_: _i.e._ I am bidden to become a
Muslim, for _Muslim_ (Moslem or Musulman) means “one who is resigned,”
and _Islām_, belonging to the same root, signifies “resignation,” or
“self-surrender.” This is the correct name of the religion taught by
the Arabian prophet, who would have regarded the epithet “Mohammadan,”
as applied to the creed, or the professor thereof, as nothing short of
blasphemy.
* * * * *
JONAH. P. 87. A. L. R.--Letters the import of which is as mysterious as
K. and Y. S. before, and A. L. M. R. afterwards. Nöldeke believes them
to be abbreviations of the names of the first reporters of the speeches.
P. 89. _I had dwelt a lifetime_: _i.e._ I should not have waited till I
was forty before I began preaching, if I was the designing impostor you
take me for.
P. 90. _Ye are in ships--and they run with them._--The reader must have
observed that sudden transitions from the second to the third person,
and from the singular to the plural, are very common in the Korān.
They may perhaps be regarded as convincing evidence of the fidelity of
Mohammad’s reporters.
P. 97. _God hath taken Him a son_: referring to the Christian doctrine.
P. 100. _Kibla_: The point towards which prayer must be said. See p.
134.
P. 101. _Now!_--The angel Gabriel is credited with this taunt.
* * * * *
THUNDER. P. 104. A. L. M. R.--Mystic letters as above; perhaps for
AL-MogheyReh, as the first reporter of this particular speech.
P. 106. _Patrons_, _i.e._ Idols.
P. 108. _Join what God hath bidden to be joined_: _i.e._ believe in the
whole series of prophets, and join good works to faith.
P. 111. _Mother of the Book._--The Preserved Book mentioned before in
THE FACT (see note to p. 26).
THE MEDINA SPEECHES.
THE PERIOD OF HARANGUE.
DECEPTION. P. 117. _Obey God and obey the Apostle._--This is a
sure indication of the Medina origin of at least this verse, for
the self-importance of the phrase would have been inappropriate in
Mohammad’s weak and insignificant position at Mekka. (The speech is,
however, by some ascribed to the Mekka division.) Further on the
words _Believe in God and His Apostle_ (in IRON, p. 118), and _They
who swear fealty to thee do but swear fealty to God_ (in VICTORY, p.
125), indicate the same spirit of self-exaltation which began with the
prophet’s prosperity at Medina.
* * * * *
IRON. P. 119. _Manifest signs_: the revelations contained in the Korān.
P. 122. _It is written in the Book_: _i.e._ Every event is set down in
the Preserved Book before the event itself is created.
_God is rich_: _i.e._ He has no need of your grudging alms.
* * * * *
VICTORY. P. 124.--The victory in question was probably the peaceful
but real triumph of the Truce of Hudeybia, in A.H. 6; though some
commentators prefer to regard the speech as prophetical of the conquest
of Mekka two years later.
P. 125. _The Arabs of the desert who were left behind_ were certain
tribes who held aloof from the pilgrimage towards Mekka, which ended
in the Truce of Hudeybia. Mohammad punished them by refusing to allow
them to share in the booty which soon after fell to the faithful in the
Khaibar expedition; hence the reference on p. 126.
P. 128. _In the valley of Mekka_: referring to the Truce of Hudeybia.
_Kept you away from the Sacred Mosque_: the Koreysh refused to allow
Mohammad and his followers to enter Mekka or perform the pilgrimage;
whereupon the truce was concluded, by which the pilgrimage was to take
place (_Ye shall surely enter the Sacred Mosque_) in the following year
(see Introduction, p. xlv.)
P. 129. _Traces_: _i.e._ dust from touching the ground.
* * * * *
P. 130. HELP.--Revealed after the conquest of Mekka, and shortly before
Mohammad’s death, and believed to have given him warning of it.