They said, O Mary, thou hast done a strange thing. O sister of Aaron,
(_he was a righteous man; and the meaning is, O thou who art like him
in chastity_,[331]) thy father was not a man of wickedness, nor was
thy mother a harlot. _Then whence gottest thou this child?_—And she
made a sign _to them_, [pointing] towards him, [namely the child, as
though she would say,] _Speak ye unto him._ They said, How shall we
speak unto him who is in the cradle, an infant? He [however] said,
Verily I am the servant of God:[332] He hath given me the book _of the
Gospel_, and hath appointed me a prophet; and He hath made me blessed
wherever I shall be, and hath commanded me to observe prayer and give
alms as long as I shall live, and _hath made me_ dutiful to my mother,
and hath not made me proud [nor] wicked. And peace _from God_ [was] on
me on the day when I was born, and [will be] on the day when I shall
die, and on the day when I shall be raised to life.—This [was] Jesus
the son of Mary. _I have spoken_ the saying of truth, concerning which
they (_namely the Christians_) doubt, _saying that Jesus is the son of
God_. It is not [meet] for God to get a son. Extolled be His purity
_from that_ [imputation]! When He decreeth a thing _that He desireth
to bring into existence_, He only saith unto it, Be,—and it is: _and
thus He created Jesus the son of Mary without a father_.—And _say_,
Verily God is my Lord and your Lord: therefore worship ye Him: this is
a right way, _leading to Paradise_. But the sects have differed among
themselves; _that is, the Christians have differed concerning Jesus,
as to whether he be the son of God, or a deity with Him, or the third
of three_. And woe unto them who have disbelieved _in that which hath
been stated, or in other matters_, on account of the assembly of a
great day, _the day of resurrection, and its terrors_. How will they
hear, and how _will they_ see, on the day when they shall come unto Us
_in the world to come_! But the offenders to-day (_that is, in the
present world_) are in a manifest error: _they are deaf, so that they
hear not the truth; and blind, so that they see it not_. And do thou,
_O Moḥammad_, warn them (_namely the unbelievers of Mekkeh_) of the
day of sighing (_the day of resurrection, when the evil-doer shall
sigh for his having neglected to do good in the present world_),
when the command _for their punishment_ shall be fulfilled, while they
(_in the present world_) are in a state of heedlessness _with respect
to it_, and while they believe not _therein_. Verily We shall inherit
the earth and whomsoever are upon it (_the heedless and others; they
being destroyed_); and unto Us shall they be brought back _to be
recompensed_.
(xix. 16-41.)
_And when God sent him_ [Jesus] _to the children of Israel, he said
unto them, Verily I am the apostle of God unto you_; for I have come
unto you with a sign from your Lord; for I will make for you of earth
the similitude of a bird, and will breathe into it, and it shall be a
bird,[333] by the permission (_or will_) of God;[334] (_and he made
for them a bat; for it is the most perfect of birds in make; and it
flew, while they looked at it; but when it had gone out of their
sight, it fell down dead_;) and I will cure the blind from his birth,
and the leper; (_and he cured in one day fifty thousand, by prayer, on
the condition of faith_;) and I will raise to life the dead, by the
permission of God; (_this he repeated to deny his divinity: and he
raised to life ´Áriz_ [Lazarus] _a friend of his; and a son of the old
woman, and the daughter of the publican; and they lived, and children
were born to them; and Shem the son of Noah, who died immediately_;)
and I will tell you what ye eat and what ye store up in your houses.
Verily therein will be a sign unto you, if ye be believers. And _I
have come unto you_ as a verifier of that which was before me, of the
Law, and to make lawful unto you part of what was made unlawful to
you _therein_; (_and he made lawful to them, of fish and fowls,
whatsoever is without fin or spur; and it is said that he made lawful
all, and that ‘part’ is used in the sense of ‘the whole:’_) and I have
come unto you with a sign from your Lord; therefore fear ye God, and
obey me _in that which I command you, as to the confession of the
unity of God and the service of Him_. Verily God is my Lord and your
Lord; therefore worship Him. This is [the] right way. _But they
accused him of falsehood and believed not in him._ And when Jesus
perceived their unbelief, he said, Who [will be] my helpers for God?
The apostles[335] answered, We [will be] the helpers of God. We have
believed in God; and bear thou witness, _O Jesus_, that we are Muslims
[or resigned]. O our Lord, we have believed in that which Thou hast
sent down _of the Gospel_, and we have followed the Apostle, _Jesus_;
therefore write us down among those who bear witness _of Thy unity and
of the truth of Thine apostle_.—And they (_that is, the unbelievers
among the children of Israel_) devised a stratagem _against Jesus, to
slay him treacherously_; but God devised a stratagem _against them;
for He put the likeness of Jesus upon one who intended his slaughter,
and they slew him; and Jesus was taken up_ [into heaven],[336] and
God is the best of those who devise stratagems.... _It is related that
God sent a cloud to Jesus, and it took him up; but his mother clung
unto him and wept: whereupon he said unto her, Verily the resurrection
will unite us.—It is also related that he will descend shortly before
the resurrection and judge according to the law of our prophet_
[Moḥammad], _slay Antichrist and the swine, break the cross, and
impose the capitation-tax_ [on unbelievers].—_Also, that he will
remain, according to one tradition, seven years; according to another,
forty years; and die, and be prayed over: but it is probable that_ [by
the latter period] _is meant the whole time of his tarrying upon the
earth, before the ascension and after_.
(iii. 43—47.)
_Remember_ when the apostle said, O Jesus, son of Mary, is thy Lord
able to cause a table to descend unto us from heaven?[337] He replied,
Fear God, _in demanding signs_, if ye be believers. They said, We
desire that we may eat therefrom, and that our hearts may be at ease
_in consequence of additional evidence_, and we may know, _with
increased knowledge_, that thou hast spoken truth unto us _in
asserting thyself to be a prophet_, and may be witnesses
thereof.—Jesus the son of Mary said, O God, our Lord, cause a table to
descend unto us from heaven, that it (_namely the day of its descent_)
may be unto us a festival,[338] unto the first of us and the last of
us (_or those who shall come after us_), and a sign from Thee _of Thy
power, and of my prophetic office_; and provide us with food
_thereby_; for Thou art the best of providers.—God said, _in reply to
him_, Verily I will cause it to descend unto you; but whosoever of you
shall disbelieve after _its descent_, I will surely punish him with a
punishment wherewith I will not punish any [other] of the
peoples.—_And the angels descended with it from heaven: upon it
were seven cakes of bread and seven fishes; and they ate of them until
they were satisfied. And in a tradition related by Ibn-´Abbás it is
said that the table brought down from heaven bread and flesh, and they
were commanded not to act deceitfully, nor to store up for the morrow;
but they_ [that is, some of the people] _did so, and were transformed
into apes and swine_.
(v. 112-115.)
Propound unto them, as an example, the inhabitants of the city _of
Antioch_, when the apostles _of Jesus_ came unto it;[339] when We sent
unto them two,[340] and they charged them with falsehood; wherefore
We strengthened _them_ with a third;[341] and they said, Verily we are
sent unto you. They replied, Ye are not [aught] save men like us, and
the Compassionate hath not revealed anything: ye do nothing but lie.
They said, Our Lord knoweth that we are indeed sent unto you; and
naught is imposed on us but the delivering of a plain message, _shown
to be true by manifest proofs, namely the cure of him who hath been
born blind and of the leper and the sick, and the raising of the
dead_. [The people of Antioch] said, Verily we presage evil from you;
_for the rain is withheld from us on your account_: if ye desist not,
we will assuredly stone you, and a painful punishment shall surely
betide you from us. [The apostles] replied, Your evil luck is with you
_because of your unbelief_. If ye have been warned, _will ye presage
evil and disbelieve_? Nay, ye are an exorbitant people.—And there came
from the furthest part of the city a man (_namely Ḥabeeb the
carpenter, who had believed in the apostles_) running: he said, O my
people, follow the apostles: follow those who ask not of you a
recompense, and who are rightly directed. _And it was said unto him,
Art thou of their religion? He replied_, And why should I not worship
Him who hath created me, and unto whom ye shall be brought back _after
death_? Shall I take deities beside Him? If the Compassionate be
pleased to afflict me, their intercession will not avert from me
aught, nor will they deliver. Verily, in that case (_if I worshipped
aught but God_), I should be in a manifest error. Verily I believe in
your Lord; therefore hear ye me.—_But they stoned him, and he
died;[342] and_ it was said _unto him at his death_, Enter thou into
Paradise. _And it is said that he entered it alive._ He said, O would
that my people knew my Lord’s forgiveness of me and His having made me
[one] of those who are honoured?—And We sent not down against his
people after him (_that is, after his death_) an army _of angels_ from
heaven _to destroy them_, nor were We sending down _angels to destroy
any one_. It (_namely their punishment_) was naught but one cry _which
Gabriel uttered against them_; and lo, they were extinct.
(xxxvi. 12-28.)
_We have cursed the Jews_ ... for their disbelief _in Jesus_ and their
uttering against Mary a great calumny and their saying, We have killed
the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, the apostle of God,—Yet they
killed him not nor crucified him; but one (_namely the person whom
they crucified_) was made to appear to them like _Jesus_; and verily
those who disagreed respecting him were in doubt concerning him, _or
his slaughter; for some of them said, when they saw the slain person,
The face is the face of Jesus; but the body is not his body:—and
others said, It is he_:[343]—they had no knowledge of him; but only
followed an opinion. And they did not really kill him; but God took
him up unto Himself; and God is mighty [and] wise. And there is not of
the people of the Scripture _one_ but he shall assuredly believe in
him (_namely Jesus_) before his death; _that is, before his own death,
or before the death of Jesus, when he descendeth shortly before the
resurrection_;[344] and on the day of resurrection he (_namely
Jesus_) shall be a witness against them.
(iv. 155-157.)
When God shall say, _on the day of resurrection_, O Jesus, son of
Mary, hast thou said unto men, Take me and my mother as two deities,
beside God?—_Jesus_ shall answer, _after being agitated_ (_or after it
shall have thundered_), Extolled be Thy purity _from the imputation of
aught that is unsuitable to Thee, as the having a partner, and other
things_! It is not for me to say that which is not right for me. Had I
said it, Thou hadst known it. Thou knowest what is in me; but I know
not what is in Thee; for Thou well-knowest things unseen. I said not
unto them aught but that which Thou commandedst me; _namely_ Worship
ye God, my Lord and your Lord;—and I was a watcher over them,
_commanding them to abstain from what they said_, while I remained
among them: but since Thou hast taken me to Thyself,[345] Thou hast
been the watcher over them, and Thou art the witness of all things. If
Thou punish them, (_that is, such of them as have continued in
unbelief_,) they are Thy servants _and Thou mayest do with them as
Thou pleasest_; and if Thou forgive them, (_that is, such of them as
have believed_,) Thou art the Mighty, the Wise.
(v. 116-118.)
When the son of Mary was proposed as an instance (_when the saying of
God was revealed, Verily ye and what ye worship beside God_ [shall be]
_fuel of hell_ [Kur. xxi. 98], _and the polytheists said, We are
content for our gods to be with Jesus, for he hath been worshipped
beside God_,[346]) lo, thy people, _the polytheists_, cried out _in
joy_ thereat, and they said, [Are] our gods better, or [is] he? _We
are content for our gods to be with him._—They proposed not it
(_namely the instance_) unto thee otherwise than as a cause of dispute
(_knowing that the word ‘what’ applieth to that which is not endowed
with reason; so that it doth not reflect upon Jesus, on whom be
peace!_): yea, they are a contentious people. He (_namely Jesus_) is
no other than a servant whom We favoured _with the gift of prophecy_;
and We proposed him, _by reason of his having come into existence
without a father_, as an instance _of the divine power_ unto the
children of Israel. And if We pleased, We would substitute for you
angels to succeed in the earth.[347] And verily he (_namely Jesus_)
_shall be_ a sign of the [last] hour:[348] _it shall be known by his
descending_: wherefore doubt not thereof.—And _say unto them_, Follow
ye me _in confessing the unity of God_: this, _which I command you to
follow_, is a right way. And let not the devil turn you away _from the
religion of God_; for he is unto you a manifest enemy.—And when Jesus
came with manifest proofs (_with miracles and ordinances_), he said, I
have come unto you with wisdom (_with prophecy and with the ordinances
of the Gospel_), and to explain unto you part of [the things]
concerning which ye disagree: therefore fear ye God, and obey me.
Verily God is my Lord and your Lord; wherefore worship ye Him: this is
a right way.—But the parties disagreed among themselves _respecting
Jesus, whether he were God, or the son of God, or the third of three_:
and woe unto them that transgressed _in that which they said
respecting Jesus_, because of the punishment of an afflicting day!
(xliii. 57-65.)
Verily the similitude of Jesus in the sight of God is as the
similitude of Adam. He created him (_Adam_) of earth: then He said
unto him, Be,—and he was. _In like manner he said unto Jesus, Be,
without a father,—and he was. This is_ the truth from thy Lord:
therefore be not thou of those who doubt. And whosoever _of the
Christians_ argueth with thee respecting him, after the knowledge that
hath come unto thee _concerning him_, say, Come ye, let us call our
sons and your sons and our wives and your wives, and ourselves and
yourselves _will assemble_: then we will invoke, and will lay the
curse of God on those who lie, _saying, O God, curse the liar
respecting the nature of Jesus!—And the prophet invited a company from
Nejrán to do so, when they had argued with him respecting Jesus; and
they said_, [Wait] _until we consider our case: then we will come unto
thee. And their counsellor said, Ye know his prophetic office, and
that no people have execrated a prophet but they have perished. They
however quieted the man, and departed, and came unto the prophet. And
he had come forth, having with him El-Ḥasan and El-Ḥoseyn and Fáṭimeh
and ´Alee; and he said unto them, When I pray, say ye Amen. But they
refused to execrate, and made peace with him on the condition of their
paying tribute._—Verily this is indeed the true history, and there is
no deity but God, and verily God is indeed the Mighty, the Wise.
(iii. 52-55.)
O people of the Scripture (_that is, of the Gospel_), exceed not the
just bounds in your religion,[349] nor say of God [aught] but the
truth. The Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, [was] only the apostle of
God, and His Word, which he transmitted unto Mary, and a spirit (_that
is, a being possessing a spirit_) from Him. (_He is mentioned in
conjunction with God, in order to show him honour, and is not, as ye
assert, the son of God, or a God with Him, or the third of three; for
the being possessing a spirit is compound, and the Deity must be
confessed to be pure from the imputation of composition and the
relationship of a compound being to Him._) Therefore believe in God
and His apostles, and say not, _There are_ three _gods, God and Jesus
and his mother_.[350] Abstain _from this, and say what will be_ better
for you; _that is, assert the unity of God_. God is only one god.
Extolled be His purity from the imputation of His having a son! To Him
belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth:
and God is a sufficient witness _thereof_. The Messiah doth not
disdain to be a servant unto God, nor do the angels who are admitted
near _unto Him_. (iv. 169, 170.)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See prefatory note, p. 2.
[2] _i.e._, the glory of the clan.
[3] Battles.
[4] This and the other verses quoted in this chapter are taken from
the translations of old Arab poetry contributed by Mr. C. J. Lyall to
the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal (Translations from
the Hamâseh and the Aghânî; The Mo`allaqah of Zuheyr)_. They imitate
the metres of the original Arabic verse, but are nevertheless as
literal as need be. The transliteration of proper names in the verses
(and in other quotations) has been assimilated to the system adopted
by Mr. Lane, from which in this work I only depart in the case of
names which by frequent use have become almost the property of the
English language.
[5] A tribe.
[6] The subject of the poem, mentioned in the second hemistich of the
third verse as ‘thou,’ whose death the supposed author (‘one valiant’)
avenged.
[7] For these and other stories about Ḥátim, see Caussin de Perceval’s
_Essai sur l’Histoire des Arabes_, ii. 607-628: a book which is a
treasury of Arab life, and abounds in those anecdotes which reveal
more of the character of the people than whole volumes of ethnological
treatise.
[8] The later Arabic poets were mostly incapable of the genius of the
old singers: the times had changed, and the ancient poetry appeared
almost as exotic to their ideas as it does to our own. No greater
mistake can be made than to judge of the old poets by such a writer as
Behá-ed-deen Zoheyr, of whom Professor E. H. Palmer has lately given
us so beautiful a version. There is nothing in common between El-Behá
and ´Antarah—scarcely even the language.
[9] Deutsch, _Lit. Remains_, 453, 454: cp. Nöldeke, _Beiträge zur
Kennt. d. Poesie d. alten Araber_, xxiii., xxiv.
[10] Ezekiel xxvii. 19-24. The identifications of the various names
with Arabian towns are partly conjectural, but the general reference
is clearly to Arabia. Cf. the ‘Speaker’s’ _Commentary_, vi. 122; and
the interpretations of Hitzig, Movers, Tuch, and Ménant.
[11] C. P. Tiele, _Outlines of the History of Religion_: tr. J. E.
Carpenter, p. 63.
[12] Deutsch. _Lit. Remains_, pp. 70-72.
[13] R. Bosworth Smith, _Mohammed and Mohammedanism_, 2d ed. p. 131.
[14] Or ‘read,’ ‘recite.’ These lines are the beginning of the 96th
Soorah of the Ḳur-án.
[15] Sir W. Muir,_ Life of Mahomet_, 402.
[16] The following is an abridgment: cp. Muir 485, and the
_Seeret-er-Rasool_, tr. Weil, ii. 316, 317.
[17] An attempt has been made to explain away Moḥammad’s fidelity to
Khadeejeh, by adducing the motive of pecuniary prudence. Moḥammad,
they say, was a poor man, Khadeejeh rich and powerfully connected; any
_affaire de cœur_ on the husband’s part would have been followed by
a divorce and the simultaneous loss of property and position. It is
hardly necessary to point out that the fear of poverty—a matter of
little consequence in Arabia and at that time—would not restrain a
really sensual man for five-and-twenty years; especially when it is by
no means certain that Khadeejeh, who loved him with all her heart in a
motherly sort of way, would have procured a divorce for any cause
soever. And this explanation leaves Moḥammad’s loving remembrance of
his old wife unaccounted for. If her money alone had curbed him for
twenty-five years, one would expect him at her death to throw off the
cloak, thank Heaven for the deliverance, and enter at once upon the
rake’s progress. He does none of those things. The story of Zeyneb,
the divorced wife of Zeyd, is a favourite weapon with Moḥammad’s
accusers. It is not one to enter upon here; but I may say that the
lady’s own share in the transaction has never been sufficiently
considered. In all probability Zeyd, the freed slave, was glad enough
to get rid of his too well-born wife, and certainly he bore no rancour
against Moḥammad. The real point of the story is the question of
forged revelations, which is discussed below.
[18] ‘The Prophet said: Whosoever shall bear witness that there is one
God; and that Moḥammad is His servant and messenger; and that Jesus
Christ is His servant and messenger, and that he is the son of the
hand-maid of God, and that he is the Word of God, the word which was
sent to Mary, and Spirit from God; and [shall bear witness] that there
is truth in Heaven and Hell, will enter into paradise, whatever sins
he may be chargeable with.’—_Mishkát-el-Masábeeh_, i. 11.
[19] R. Bosworth Smith: _Mohammed and Mohammedanism_, 2d ed., 255-257.
[20] _The People of Turkey_, by a Consul’s Daughter, preface, xxii.
[21] _Mishkát-el-Masábeeh_, i. 46, 51.
[22] Dr. E. Blyden. See his article on Mohammadanism in Western Africa
in _The People of Africa_. (New York, 1871.)
[23] It may be interesting to some readers to judge for themselves of
the different characteristics of these four groups of soorahs; and
though in a series of translated selections it will hardly be possible
to gain a thorough appreciation of the change of style or matter, some
notion may nevertheless be obtained by reading the First Part of these
Selections in the following order (the numbers referring to the
figures at the head of each extract):—
Mekka—First Period:—xvii., lxvi., lxv., xviii., xxxvii., xxxviii.,
xxxix., xl., xli., xlii., xliii., xxx., iii., i.
Second Period:—lx., xlvii., xxix., viii., xiv., lxiii., vi., li.,
lxii., xxxi., xliv., lxxxvi., lxxxi., xlv., xxxvi., xx.
Third Period:—lxxiii., lxiv., xxxv., liii., xlvi., xvi., lxxvi.,
xxxii., lix., xxi., vii., lv., xix., xii., x., lxxii., xxviii., xi.
Medina:—ii., lxxxiv., xxxiii., lxxvii., xxxiv., xxiv., xxvi., ix.,
lii., lxxix., lxvii., lxi., iv., lxxi., lxix., lxx., lxxv., lxxxiii.,
xlviii., v., lxxviii., xxii., lvi., lvii., xlix., xxvii., xxv., xiii.,
lviii., lxxiv., l., liv., xxiii., lxxx., xv., lxviii., lxxxv., lxxxii.
[24] This is generally believed to be the night of (that is,
preceding) the 27th day of the month.
[25] In the Introduction, the references are to the new one volume
edition, 1877. Since writing my chapter on the early Arabs, Sir W.
Muir has published an interesting essay on old Arabic poetry in the
_Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_ (xi part i. 1879).
[26] The ‘Lord’s Prayer’ of the Muslims, recited several times in each
of the five daily prayers, and on many other occasions.
[27] _That is, of all creatures._
[28] [‘Do we beg assistance,’ in the original ed.]
[29] _God knoweth best what He meaneth by these letters._
[30] _That it is from God._
[31] _In the resurrection and paradise and hell._
[32] _The Ḳur-án._
[33] _The Pentateuch and the Gospel and other books._
[34] This chapter is held in particular veneration by the Moḥammadans,
and declared, by a tradition of their prophet, to be equal in value to
a third part of the whole Korân.—S.
[35] One of the most admired passages in the Ḳur-án, recited (though
not by all Muslims) at the close of each of the five daily prayers,
and often engraved on an ornament of gold or silver or a precious
stone to be worn as an amulet.
[36] ‘The seven heavens and earths in comparison with the Throne are
nought but as seven dirhems [silver coins] cast into a shield.’—Trad.
[37] [‘Able to do everything,’ orig. ed. Lit. ‘potent over
everything.’]
[38] Lit. ‘driven away with stones.’ This expression alludes to a
tradition, that Abraham, when the devil tempted him to disobey God, in
not sacrificing his son, drove the fiend away by throwing stones at
him; in memory of which, the Moḥammadans, at the pilgrimage of Mecca,
throw a certain number of stones at the devil, with certain
ceremonies, in the valley of Mina.—S. The devils, or evil jinn, it is
said, had liberty to enter any of the seven heavens till the birth of
Jesus, when they were excluded from three of them; on the birth of
Moḥammad they were forbidden the other four. They continue, however,
to ascend to the confines of the lowest heaven, and there, listening
to the conversation of the angels respecting things decreed by God,
obtain knowledge of futurity, which they sometimes impart to men, who
by means of talismans or certain invocations make them to serve the
purposes of magical performances. Shooting stars are often hurled at
the devils when they thus listen.
[39] _That it may not move with its inhabitants._
[40] _Or determined._
[41] _Slaves and beasts and cattle: for it is God only who sustaineth
them._
[42] _Which cause the clouds to fill with water._
[43] _As the bird from the egg._
[44] _As the egg from the bird._
[45] _Or consider._
[46] _For you previously to birth._
[47] [‘Compacted,’ orig. ed. Strictly, words such as ‘come forth’
should be supplied before ‘clusters.’]
[48] _In leaf._
[49] _In fruit._
[50] [Genii.] _since they have obeyed them in worshipping idols_. See
p. 33.
[51] _Alone._
[52] _This was revealed with reference to a man unto whom the Prophet
sent one to invite him_ to the faith; _but he said, Who is the apostle
of God, and what is God? Is he of gold, or silver, or brass? Whereupon
a thunderbolt fell upon him, and struck off his skull_.
[53] _On the Preserved Tablet._