feathered and others unfeathered, kept for this purpose in the temple of
Mecca. See Pocock, Spec. Hist. Ar., under the word Hobal.
8 In the sense of sound, healthful.
9 Thus Talm. Tr. Berachoth, 46.
10 This refers to the oath of fidelity which Muhammad's followers took at Al
Akaba. Abulf. Vit.Moh.p.43.
11 It is quite uncertain to what events this refers. The commentators
narrate, and have doubtless invented, various incidents as having occasioned
it.
12 Verses 15-38 belong probably to the period shortly before the taking of
Chaibar in the beginning of Hej. 7. It is remarkable that Muhammad, although
he has invented these twelve leaders of tribes, should nowhere mention the
number of the Apostles. There is no doubt, however, from the ancient
biographies, that he chose twelve assistants for the propagation of Islam.
See Gagnier, Vie de M. ii. xvi.
13 The space between the mission of different prophets.
14 Called by the Arabians Habeel and Kabeel. The dialogue between Cain and
Abel is slightly varied from that given in Targ. Jerus. on Gen. iv. 8, and
Jonath. Ben Uzziel.
15 Or, the sin against me, i.e. of slaying me.
16 In the Jewish tradition the raven shews the mode of burial to Adam, not to
Cain. Pirke R. Elieser, c. 21. Midr. fol. II ap. Weil (Legenden, p. 39).
17 Or, corpse.
18 Thus Mischn. Sanhedr. iv. 5, "We find it said in the case of Cain who
murdered his brother–'The voice of thy brother's bloods crieth'–It is not
said, blood of thy brother, but bloods, i.e. his blood and the blood of his
seed. Therefore was man created single, in order to shew that to him who
kills a single individual of Israel it shall be reckoned as if he had slain
the whole race, and that he, etc." precisely as in the text. Comp. also the
same form of expression in Bab. Tal, Kidush, § 1, "If one fulfil but one
commandment, he causes the scale of innocence to preponderate for himself and
the whole world; but if he commit one sin, he causes the scale of guilt to
preponderate for himself and the whole world.
19 Muhammad is said by the early traditionists to have punished a woman who
had been guilty of theft in this manner while on the route to Mecca previous
to its capture. We are, therefore, able to fix the date of verses 39-44.
20 Usury, bribes.
21 Ex. xxi. 23-27.
22 This may refer to proposals made to the Muslims to enter into alliance
with the Jews and Christians against the heathen, after the reverse at Ohod.
Lane observes (Mod. Egyptians, i. 358) with regard to this precept, that "of
the leading features of the character of the Mooslims none is more remarkable
than their religious pride. They regard persons of every other faith as the
children of perdition; and such the Mooslim is early taught to despise." They
are, however, "as remarkable for their toleration as for their contempt of
unbelievers."
23 Weil suggests that verses 64-88 were revealed subsequently to contests
with the Jews, but before Muhammad had broken with the Christians, i.e.
between Hej. 4 and 8.
24 That is, God has ceased to be bounteous. The Muslims believe that at the
day of judgment all the Jews will appear with the right hand tied to the
neck.
25 That is, the Koran. The Jew was to retain a faith in the Towrât, or Law;
the Christian in the Injil, or Gospel; but both Jews and Christians were to
receive the Koran as the complement of both.
26 See Sura [xci.] ii. 59, p. 344.
27 I Thess. ii. 15.
28 Did not give herself out to be a goddess. Djelal.
29 That is, were human beings, and subject to the usual wants and liabilities
of ordinary persons.
30 See Sura ii. 61, p. 344. Mark viii. 30.
31 Geiger derives both the Arabic words from Syriac terms, and renders elders
and clerics, p. 51. But the root of the Arabic word rendered monk is
generally said to be rahaba, to fear.
32 Comp. Sura [cix.] 1xvi. 2. The date of verses 89-91 is therefore probably
Hej. 7.
33 If you violate it.
34 See verse 4. Tradition has expanded the word ansab, so as to include all
figures, and hence the strict observers of the letter of the Koran forbid the
game of chess. The Persians, however, and Indians generally interpret this
verse more liberally.
35 This and the two following verses are placed by the commentators in the
year of Hudaibiya, as also 98, 99, 100.
36 That is, Cube-House. Maison Carrée. It is also commonly called the Bait
Ullah, House of God. The Caaba is an oblong massive structure 55 ft. in
length, 45 in breadth, and the height somewhat greater than the length. At
the S.E. corner is the famous Hajar El-Aswad, or Black Stone, according to
Lieut. Burton, an undoubted aerolite. It is figured in Mr. Muir's "Life of
Mahomet." The Caaba stands in an open parallelogram of about 500 ft. by 530
ft. and is surrounded by colonnades, the pillars of which, made of various
marbles, some Egyptian but mostly Meccan, stand in a quadruple row on the
east side, and three deep on the other sides, and amount to 554. It has been
rebuilt several times, but has not been materially altered since A.H. 1040.
37 Names given to the sacred animals which were marked and allowed to range
for pasture at liberty. The dedicated mother-camel was the Saiba; the Wasila
included also goats or ewes; the eleventh female offspring of the camel was
Bahira; the dedicated stallion was Hami. These forms of superstition grew up,
obviously, from a remote period, out of the intense affection of the Bedouin
for his flocks, especially his horses and camels.
38 Lit. on you your souls.
39 Lit. upon its face, i.e. according to its plain scope.
40 See Evang. Infant. c. 1, Invenimus in libro Josephi Pontificis qui vixit
tempore Christi, Jesum locutum esse, et quidem cum in cunis jaceret, etc. The
date of verse 108 to the end is uncertain.
41 Precisely the same expression is applied to our Lord in the Arabic Evang.
Infantiæ, c. 36 at the end, which also relates the story of the Birds.
42 Ar. El-hawariyin, a different word from that used for Jesus, Hud, Saleh,
and the other apostles par excellence. The root of the word is the Æthiopic
hawyra, to go, send; hence the Church is called in Æthiopic the Beth
chrestyan ant hawariyat, i.e. Apostolic. See, however, the note on Thilo's
Cod. Apoc. p. 152, who derives from the root hur, to be white, pure; hence,
friends, helpers.
43 Comp. 1 Cor. xi. 27, sqq.–Muhammad obviously refers to the Eucharist.
44 Thou hast a right to do so as their Lord.