his paternal uncle, and the son of his maternal aunt, and he believed
in him_); but he behaved insolently towards them; for We had bestowed
upon him such treasures that their keys were heavy burdens for a
company of men endowed with strength, _in number, as some say,
seventy; and some, forty; and some, ten; and some, another number.
Remember when his people (the believers among the children of Israel)_
said unto him, Rejoice not _exultingly in the abundance of thy
wealth_; for God loveth not those who _so_ rejoice; but seek to
attain, by means of the _wealth_ which God hath given thee, the latter
abode [of Paradise], _by expending thy wealth in the service of God_;
and neglect not thy part in this world, _to work therein for the world
to come_; but be beneficent _unto mankind, by bestowing alms_, as God
hath been beneficent unto thee; and seek not to act corruptly in the
earth; for God loveth not the corrupt doers. He replied, I have only
been given it on account of the knowledge that I possess. _For he was
the most learned of the children of Israel in the Law, after Moses and
Aaron. God saith_, Did he not know that God had destroyed before him,
of the generations, those that were mightier than he in strength and
who had amassed more abundance _of wealth_? And the wicked shall not
be asked respecting their sins, _because God knoweth them: therefore
they shall be sent into the Fire without a reckoning_. And _Ḳároon_
went forth unto his people in his pomp, _with his many dependants
mounted, adorned with garments of gold and silk, upon decked horses
and mules_. Those who desired the present life said, O would that we
had the like of that which hath been bestowed on Ḳároon _in this
world_! Verily he is possessed of great good fortune!—But those unto
whom knowledge _of what God hath promised in the world to come_ had
been given, said _unto them_, Woe to you! The reward of God _in the
world to come_ (_which is Paradise_) is better for him who believeth
and worketh righteousness _than that which hath been bestowed on
Ḳároon in the present world_; and none shall receive it but the
patient _in the service of God_. And We caused the earth to cleave
asunder and swallow up him and his mansion,[302] and he had no forces
to defend him, in the place of God, nor was he of the [number of the]
saved. And the next morning, those who had wished for his place the
day before said, Aha! God enlargeth provision unto whom He pleaseth of
His servants, and is sparing _of it unto whom He pleaseth!_ Had not
God been gracious unto us, He had caused [the earth] to cleave asunder
and swallow up us! Aha! the ungrateful _for His benefits_ do not
prosper!
(xxviii. 76-82.)
_Remember_, [O children of Israel,] when Moses said unto his people
(_when one of them had been slain, whose murderer was not known, and
they asked him to beg God that He would discover him to them,
wherefore he supplicated Him_), Verily God commandeth you to sacrifice
a cow. They said, Dost thou make a jest of us? He said, I beg God to
preserve me from being _one_ of the foolish. _So when they knew that
he decidedly intended_ [what he had ordered], they said, Supplicate
for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what she is; _that is,
what is her age_. _Moses_ replied, He saith, She is a cow neither old
nor young; _but_ of a middle age, between those _two_: therefore do as
ye are commanded. They said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may
manifest to us what is her colour. He replied, He saith, She is a
red[303] cow: her colour is very bright: she rejoiceth the beholders.
They said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what
she is, _whether she be a pasturing or a working cow_; for cows _of
the description mentioned_ are to us like one another; and we, if God
please, shall indeed be rightly directed _to her_. (_In a tradition it
is said, Had they not said, ‘If God please,’—she had not ever been
manifested to them._) He replied, He saith, She is a cow not subdued
_by work_ that plougheth the ground, nor doth she water the field:
[she is] free _from defects and the marks of work_; there is no colour
in her different from the rest of her colour. They said, Now thou hast
brought the truth. _And they sought her, and found her in the
possession of the young man who acted piously towards his mother, and
they bought her for as much gold as her hide would contain._[304]
Then they sacrificed her; but they were near to leaving it undone, on
_account of the greatness of her price_. (_And in a tradition it is
said, Had they sacrificed any cow whatever, He had satisfied them: but
they acted hardly towards themselves; so God acted hardly towards
them._) And when ye slew a soul, and contended together respecting it,
(and God brought forth [to light] that which ye did conceal—_this is
the beginning of the story_ [and was the occasion of the order to
sacrifice this particular cow,]) We said, Strike him (_that is, the
slain person_) with part of her. _So he was struck with her tongue, or
the root of her tail, or, as some say, with her right thigh; whereupon
he came to life, and said, Such-a-one and such-a-one slew me,—to the
two sons of his uncle. And he died. They two_ [the murderers] _were
therefore deprived of the inheritance, and were slain._[305] Thus God
raiseth to life the dead, and showeth you His signs (_the proof of His
power_), that peradventure ye may understand, _and know that He who is
able to raise to life one soul is able to raise to life many souls._
Then your hearts became hard, _O ye Jews, so as not to accept the
truth_, after that, and they [were] as stones, or more hard: for of
stones there are indeed some from which rivers gush forth; and of them
there are indeed some that cleave asunder and water issueth from them;
and of them there are indeed some that fall down through fear of God;
_whereas your hearts are not impressed, nor do they grow soft, nor do
they become humble._ But God is not heedless of that which ye do: _He
only reserveth you unto your time._
(ii. 63-69.)
_Remember_ when Moses said to his young man _Joshua the son of Nun,
who served him and acquired knowledge from him_, I will not cease _to
go forward_ until I reach the place where the two seas (_the Sea of
Greece and the Sea of Persia_) meet, or travel for a long space of
time. And when they reached the place where they (_the two seas_) met
they forgot their fish: _Joshua forgot to take it up, on their
departure; and Moses forgot to remind him_; and it made its way in the
sea by a hollow passage, _God withholding the water from it_. And when
they had passed beyond _that place, and proceeded until the time of
the morning-meal on the following day_, [Moses] said unto his young
man, Bring us our morning-meal: we have experienced fatigue from this
our journey. He replied, What thinkest thou? When we repaired to the
rock to rest _at that place_, I forgot the fish, and none made me
forget to mention it but the devil; and it made its way in the sea in
a wonderful manner.—_Moses_ said, That (_namely our loss of the fish_)
is what we were desiring; _for it is a sign unto us of our finding him
whom we seek_. And they returned by the way that they had come,
following the footsteps, _and came to the rock_. And they found one of
Our servants (_namely El-Khiḍr_[306]) unto whom We had granted mercy
from Us (_that is the gift of prophecy in the opinion of some, and the
rank of a saint according to another opinion which most of the learned
hold_), and whom We had taught knowledge from Us respecting things
unseen.—_El-Bukháree hath related a tradition stating that Moses
performed the office of a preacher among the children of Israel, and
was asked who was the most knowing of men; to which he answered,
I:—whereupon God blamed him for this, because he did not refer the
knowledge thereof to Him. And God said unto him by revelation,
Verily I have a servant at the place where the two seas meet, and he
is more knowing than thou. Moses said, O my Lord, and how shall I meet
with him? He answered, Thou shalt take with thee a fish, and put it
into a measuring-vessel, and where thou shalt lose the fish, there is
he. So he took a fish, and put it into a vessel. Then he departed, and
Joshua the son of Nun departed with him, until they came to the rock,
where they laid down their heads and slept. And the fish became
agitated in the vessel, and escaped from it, and fell into the sea,
and it made its way in the sea by a hollow passage, God withholding
the water from the fish so that it became like a vault over it: and
when Moses’ companion awoke, he forgot to inform him of the fish._
Moses said unto him [namely El-Khiḍr], Shall I follow thee, that thou
mayest teach me [part] of that which thou hast been taught, for a
direction _unto me_? He answered, Verily thou canst not have patience
with me. For how canst thou be patient with respect to that whereof
thou comprehendest not the knowledge?—He replied, Thou shalt find me,
if God please, patient; and I will not disobey any command of thine.
He said, Then if thou follow me, ask me not respecting anything: _but
be patient_ until I give thee an account thereof. _And Moses assented
to his condition._ And they departed, _walking along the shore of the
sea_, until, when they embarked in the ship _that passed by them_, he
(El-Khiḍr) made a hole in it, _by pulling out a plank or two planks
from it on the outside by means of an axe when it reached the middle
of the sea. Moses_ said _unto him_, Hast thou made a hole in it that
thou mayest drown its people? Thou hast done a grievous thing.—(_But
it is related that the water entered not the hole._) He replied, Did I
not say that thou couldst not have patience with me? [Moses] said,
Chastise me not for my forgetfulness, nor impose on me a difficulty in
my case.—And they departed, _after they had gone forth from the
vessel_, _walking on_, until, when they found a boy _who had not
attained the age of knowing right and wrong, playing with other
children, and he was the most beautiful of them in countenance_, and
he (_El-Khiḍr_) slew him, _Moses_ said _unto him_, Hast thou slain an
innocent soul, without _his having slain_ a soul? Thou hast done an
iniquitous thing.—He replied, Did I not say that thou couldst not have
patience with me? [Moses] said, If I ask thee concerning anything
after this _time_, suffer me not to accompany thee. Now hast thou
received from me an excuse _for thy separating thyself from me_.—And
they departed [and proceeded] until, when they came to the people of a
city (_which was Antioch[307]_), they asked food of its people; but
they refused to entertain them: and they found therein a wall, _the
height whereof was a hundred cubits_, which was about to fall down;
whereupon he (_El-Khiḍr_) set it upright _with his hand_. _Moses_ said
_unto him_, If thou wouldst, thou mightest have obtained pay for it,
_since they did not entertain us, notwithstanding our want of food_.
_El-Khiḍr_ said _unto him_, This shall be a separation between me and
thee; _but before my separation from thee_, I will declare unto thee
the interpretation of that which thou couldst not bear with patience.
As to the vessel, it belonged to _ten_ poor men,[308] who pursued
their business on the sea; and I desired to render it unsound; for
there was behind them a king, _an unbeliever_, who took every _sound_
vessel by force. And as to the boy, his parents were believers, and we
feared that he would transgress against them rebelliously and
impiously: _for, according to a tradition related by Muslim, he was
constituted by nature an unbeliever, and had he lived he had so
acted_; wherefore we desired that their Lord should create for them a
better than he in virtue, and [one] more disposed than he to filial
piety. _And God created for them a daughter, who married a prophet,
and gave birth to a prophet, by means of whom God directed a people
to the right way_. And as to the wall, it belonged to two orphan
youths in the city, and beneath it was a treasure _buried_, _of gold
and silver_, belonging to them; and their father was a righteous man;
and thy Lord desired that they should attain their age of strength and
take forth their treasure through the mercy of thy Lord. And I did it
not (_namely what hath been mentioned_) of mine own will, _but by
direction of God_. This is the interpretation of that which thou
couldst not bear with patience.
(Chap. xviii. 59-81.)
SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON.
Hast thou not considered the assembly of the children of Israel after
_the death of_ Moses, when they said unto a prophet of theirs, _namely
Samuel_, Set up for us a king, _under whom_ we will fight in the way
of God? He said _unto them_, If fighting be prescribed as incumbent on
you, will ye, peradventure, abstain from fighting? They replied, And
wherefore should we not fight in the way of God, since we have been
expelled from our habitations and our children _by their having been
taken prisoners and slain?_—_The people of Goliath_ [Jáloot] _had done
thus unto them_.—But when fighting was commanded them, they turned
back, excepting a few of them, _who crossed the river with Saul_
[Ṭáloot], _as will be related_. And God knoweth the offenders. _And
the prophet begged his Lord to send a king; whereupon he consented to
send Saul._ And their prophet said unto them, Verily God hath set up
Saul as your king. They said, How shall he have the dominion over us,
when we are more worthy of the dominion than he, (_for he was not of
the royal lineage, nor of the prophetic, and he was a tanner, or a
tender of flocks or herds,_) and he hath not been endowed with ample
wealth? He replied, Verily God hath chosen him _as king_ over you, and
increased him in largeness of knowledge and of body, (_for he was the
wisest of the children of Israel at that time, and the most comely of
them, and the most perfect of them in make,_) and God giveth his
kingdom unto whom He pleaseth; and God is ample _in His beneficence_,
knowing _with respect to him who is worthy of the kingdom_.—And their
prophet said unto them, _when they demanded of him a sign in proof of
his kingship_, Verily the sign of his kingship shall be that the ark
shall come unto you (_in it were the images of the prophets: God sent
it down unto Adam, and it passed into their possession; but the
Amalekites took it from them by force: and they used to seek victory
thereby over their enemy, and to advance it in the fight, and to trust
in it, as He—whose name be exalted!—hath said_); therein [shall be]
tranquillity from your Lord,[309] and relics of what the family of
Moses and the family of Aaron have left: _namely, the two shoes (or
sandals) of Moses, and his rod, and the turban of Aaron, and a measure
of the manna that used to descend upon them, and the fragments of the
tables_ [of the Law]: the angels shall bear it. Verily in this shall
be a sign unto you _of his kingship_, if ye be believers. _Accordingly
the angels bore it between heaven and earth, while they looked at it,
until they placed it by Saul; whereupon they acknowledged his
kingship, and hastened to the holy war; and he chose of their young
men seventy thousand._
And when Saul went forth with the troops _from Jerusalem, and it was
violently hot weather, and they demanded of him water_, he said,
Verily God will try you by a river, _that the obedient among you, and
the disobedient, may appear_, (_and it was between the Jordan and
Palestine_,) and whoso drinketh thereof, he is not of my party (but he
who tasteth not thereof, he is of my party), excepting him who taketh
forth a draught in his hand, _and is satisfied therewith, not adding
to it; for he is of my party_;—then they drank thereof abundantly,
excepting a few of them, _who were content only with the handful of
water. It is related that it sufficed them for their own drinking and
for their beasts, and they were three hundred, and somewhat more
than ten._ And when he had passed over it, he and those who believed
with him, they (_that is, those who had drunk_ [plentifully]) said, We
have no power to-day _to contend_ against Goliath and his troops. _And
they were cowardly, and passed not over it._ They [however] who held
it as certain that they should meet God _at the resurrection_ (_and
they were those who had passed over it_) said, How many a small body
of men hath overcome a great body by the permission (_or will_) of
God! And God is with the patient, _to defend and aid_.—And when they
went forth to battle against Goliath and his troops, they said, O our
Lord, pour upon us patience, and make firm our feet, _by strengthening
our hearts for the holy war_, and help us against the unbelieving
people!—And they routed them by the permission (_or will_) of God, and
David [Dáwood, vulg. Dáood], _who was in the army of Saul_, slew
Goliath. And God gave him (_David_) the kingship _over the children of
Israel_, and wisdom (_that is prophecy_), _after the death of Samuel
and Saul, and they_ [namely these two gifts] _had not been given
together to any one before him_; and He taught him what He
pleased,[310] _as the art of making coats of mail, and the language of
birds_. And were it not for God’s repelling men, one by another,
surely the earth had become corrupt _by the predominance of the
polytheists and the slaughter of the Muslims and the ruin of the
places of worship_: but God is beneficent to the peoples, _and hath
repelled some by others_.
(ii. 247-252.)
Hath the story of the two opposing parties come unto thee, _O
Moḥammad_, when they ascended over the walls of the oratory of _David,
having been prevented going in unto him by the door, because of his
being engaged in devotion?_ When they went in unto David, and he was
frightened at them, they said, Fear not: _we are_ two opposing
parties. _It is said that they were two parties of more than one each;
and it is said that they were two individuals, angels, who came as two
litigants, to admonish David, who had ninety-nine wives, and had
desired the wife of a person who had none but her, and married her and
taken her as his wife._[311] [One of them said,] One of us hath
wronged the other; therefore judge between us with truth, and be not
unjust, but direct us into the right way. Verily this my brother _in
religion_ had nine-and-ninety ewes, and I had one ewe; and he said,
Make me her keeper. And he overcame me in the dispute.—_And the other
confessed him to have spoken truth._—[David] said, Verily he hath
wronged thee in demanding thy ewe _to add her_ to his ewes; and verily
many associates wrong one another, except those who believe and do
righteous deeds: and few indeed are they.—_And the two angels said,
ascending in their_ [proper or assumed] _forms to heaven, The man hath
passed sentence against himself. So David was admonished._ And David
perceived that We had tried him _by his love of that woman_; wherefore
he asked pardon of his Lord, and fell down bowing himself (_or
prostrating himself_), and repented. So We forgave him that; and
verily for him [was ordained] a high rank with Us (_that is, an
increase of good fortune in this world_), and [there shall be for
him] an excellent retreat _in the world to come_.
(xxxviii. 20-24.)
We compelled the mountains to glorify Us, with David, and the birds
_also, on his commanding them to do so, when he experienced languor_;
and We did _this_. And We taught him the art of making coats of mail
(_for before his time plates of metal were used_) for you _among
mankind in general_, that they might defend you from your suffering
_in warring with your enemies_.—Will ye then, _O people of Mekkeh_, be
thankful _for My favours, believing the apostles_?—And _We subjected_
unto Solomon [Suleymán] the wind, blowing strongly, _and being light
at his desire_, which ran at his command[312] to the land that We
blessed (_namely Syria_);[313] and We knew all things (_knowing that
what We gave him would stimulate him to be submissive to his Lord_).
And _We subjected_, of the devils, those who should dive for him _in
the sea and bring forth from it jewels for him_, and do other work
besides that; _that is, building, and performing other services_; and
We watched over them, _that they might not spoil what they executed;
for they used, when they had finished a work before night, to spoil
it, if they were not employed in something else_.
(xxi. 79-82.)
We gave unto David Solomon _his son_. How excellent a servant _was
he_! For he was one who earnestly turned himself unto God, _glorifying
and praising Him at all times_. [Remember] when, in the latter part of
the day, _after the commencement of the declining of the sun_, the
_mares_ standing on three feet and touching the ground with the edge
of the fourth foot, swift in the course, were displayed before him.
_They were a thousand mares, which were displayed before him after he
had performed the noon-prayers, on the occasion of his desiring to
make use of them in a holy war; and when nine hundred of them had been
displayed, the sun set, and he had not performed the
afternoon-prayers. So he was grieved_, and he said, Verily I have
preferred the love of [earthly] goods above the remembrance of my
Lord, (_that is, the performance of the afternoon-prayers_,) so that
_the sun_ is concealed by the veil. Bring them (_namely the horses_)
back unto me. _Therefore they brought them back._ And he began to
sever _with his sword_ the legs and the necks, _slaughtering them,
and_ [then] _cutting off their legs, as a sacrifice unto God, and gave
their flesh in alms; and God gave him in compensation what was better
than they were and swifter, namely the wind, which travelled by his
command whithersoever he desired._—And We tried Solomon _by depriving
him of his kingdom. This was because he married a woman of whom he
became enamoured, and she used to worship an idol in his palace
without his knowledge. His dominion was in his signet; and he pulled
it off once and deposited it with his wife, who was named El-Emeeneh;
and a jinnee came unto her in the form of Solomon, and took it from
her._ And We placed upon his throne a [counterfeit] body; _namely that
jinnee, who was Ṣakhr, or another. He sat upon the throne of
Solomon, and the birds and other creatures surrounded him; and Solomon
went forth, with a changed appearance, and saw him upon his throne,
and said unto the people, I am Solomon:—but they denied him._ Then he
returned _unto his kingdom, after some days, having obtained the
signet and put it on, and seated himself upon his throne._[314] He
said, O my Lord, forgive me, and give me a dominion that may not be
to any one after me (_or beside me_); for Thou art the Liberal Giver.
So We subjected unto him the wind, which ran gently at his command
whithersoever he desired; and the devils [also], every builder _of
wonderful structures_, and diver _that brought up pearls from the
sea_, and others bound in chains _which connected their hands to their
necks. And We said unto him_, This is Our gift, and bestow thou
_thereof upon whomsoever thou wilt_, or refrain _from bestowing_,
without _rendering_ an account. And verily for him [was ordained] a
high rank with Us, and an excellent retreat.
(xxxviii. 29-39.)
We bestowed on David and Solomon knowledge _in judging men and in the
language of the birds and other matters_; and they said, Praise be to
God who hath made us to excel many of His believing servants, _by the
gift of prophecy and by the subjection of the jinn and mankind and the
devils_. And Solomon inherited from David _the gift of prophecy and
knowledge_; and he said, O men, we have been taught the language of
the birds,[315] and have had bestowed on us of everything _wherewith
prophets and kings are gifted_. Verily this is manifest
excellence.—And his armies of jinn and men and birds were gathered
together unto Solomon, and they were led on in order, until, when they
came unto the valley of ants, (_which_ [was] _at Eṭ-Ṭáïf or in Syria,
the ants whereof_ [were] _small or great_,) an ant (_the queen of the
ants_), _having seen the troops of Solomon_, said, O ants, enter your
habitations, lest Solomon and his troops crush you violently, while
they perceive not. And _Solomon_ smiled, _afterwards_ laughing at her
saying, _which he heard from the distance of three miles, the wind
conveying it to him: so he withheld his forces when he came in sight
of their valley, until the ants had entered their dwellings: and his
troops were on horses and on foot in this expedition_. And he said, O
my Lord, inspire me to be thankful for Thy favour which Thou hast
bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and to do righteousness which
Thou shalt approve, and admit me, in Thy mercy, among Thy servants,
the righteous, _the prophets and the saints_.