no miracles. I? "I am a Public Preacher"; appointed to preach this
doctrine to all creatures. Yet the world, as we can see, had really from
of old been all one great miracle to him. Look over the world, says he;
is it not wonderful, the work of Allah; wholly "a sign to you," if your
eyes were open! This Earth, God made it for you; "appointed paths in
it"; you can live in it, go to and fro on it.--The clouds in the dry
country of Arabia, to Mohammed they are very wonderful: Great clouds, he
says, born in the deep bosom of the Upper Immensity, where do they come
from! They hang there, the great black monsters; pour-down their
rain-deluges "to revive a dead earth," and grass springs, and "tall
leafy palm-trees with their date-clusters hanging round. Is not that a
sign?" Your cattle too,--Allah made them; serviceable dumb creatures;
they change the grass into milk; you have your clothing from them, very
strange creatures; they come ranking home at evening-time, "and," adds
he, "and are a credit to you"! Ships also,--he talks often about ships:
Huge moving mountains, they spread-out their cloth wings, go bounding
through the water there, Heaven's wind driving them; anon they lie
motionless, God has withdrawn the wind, they lie dead, and cannot stir!
Miracles? cries he; What miracle would you have? Are not you yourselves
there? God made _you_, "shaped you out of a little clay." Ye were small
once; a few years ago ye were not at all. Ye have beauty, strength,
thoughts, "ye have compassion on one another." Old age comes-on you, and
gray hairs; your strength fades into feebleness; ye sink down, and again
are not. "Ye have compassion on one another": this struck me much: Allah
might have made you having no compassion on one another,--how had it
been then! This is a great direct thought, a glance at first-hand into
the very fact of things. Rude vestiges of poetic genius, of whatsoever
is best and truest, are visible in this man. A strong untutored
intellect; eyesight, heart: a strong wild man,--might have shaped
himself into Poet, King, Priest, any kind of Hero.
To his eyes it is forever clear that this world wholly is miraculous. He
sees what, as we said once before, all great thinkers, the rude
Scandinavians themselves, in one way or other, have contrived to see:
That this so solid-looking material world is, at bottom, in very deed,
Nothing; is a visual and tactual Manifestation of God's-power and
presence,--a shadow hung-out by Him on the bosom of the void Infinite;
nothing more. The mountains, he says, these great rock-mountains, they
shall dissipate themselves "like clouds"; melt into the Blue as clouds
do, and not be! He figures the Earth, in the Arab fashion, Sale tells
us, as an immense Plain or flat Plate of ground, the mountains are set
on that to _steady_ it. At the Last Day they shall disappear "like
clouds"; the whole Earth shall go spinning, whirl itself off into wreck,
and as dust and vapor vanish in the Inane. Allah withdraws his hand from
it, and it ceases to be. The universal empire of Allah, presence
everywhere of an unspeakable Power, a Splendor, and a Terror not to be
named, as the true force, essence and reality, in all things whatsoever,
was continually clear to this man. What a modern talks-of by the name,
Forces of Nature, Laws of Nature; and does not figure as a divine thing;
not even as one thing at all, but as a set of things, undivine
enough,--saleable, curious, good for propelling steamships! With our
Sciences and Cyclopaedias, we are apt to forget the _divineness_, in
those laboratories of ours. We ought not to forget it! That once well
forgotten, I know not what else were worth remembering. Most sciences, I
think, were then a very dead thing; withered, contentious, empty;--a
thistle in late autumn. The best science, without this, is but as the
dead _timber_; it is not the growing tree and forest,--which gives
ever-new timber, among other things! Man cannot _know_ either, unless he
can _worship_ in some way. His knowledge is a pedantry, and dead
thistle, otherwise.
Much has been said and written about the sensuality of Mohammed's
Religion; more than was just. The indulgences, criminal to us, which he
permitted, were not of his appointment; he found them practised,
unquestioned from immemorial time in Arabia; what he did was to curtail
them, restrict them, not on one but on many sides. His Religion is not
an easy one: with rigorous fasts, lavations, strict complex formulas,
prayers five times a day, and abstinence from wine, it did not "succeed
by being an easy religion." As if indeed any religion, or cause holding
of religion, could succeed by that! It is a calumny on men to say that
they are roused to heroic action by ease, hope of pleasure,
recompense,--sugar-plums of any kind, in this world or the next! In the
meanest mortal there lies something nobler. The poor swearing soldier,
hired to be shot, has his "honor of a soldier," different from
drill-regulations and the shilling a day. It is not to taste sweet
things, but to do noble and true things, and vindicate himself under
God's Heaven as a god-made Man, that the poorest son of Adam dimly
longs. Show him the way of doing that, the dullest daydrudge kindles
into a hero. They wrong man greatly who say he is to be seduced by ease.
Difficulty, abnegation, martyrdom, death are the _allurements_ that act
on the heart of man. Kindle the inner genial life of him, you have a
flame that burns-up all lower considerations. Not happiness, but
something higher: one sees this even in the frivolous classes, with
their "point of honor" and the like. Not by flattering our appetites;
no, by awakening the Heroic that slumbers in every heart, can any
Religion gain followers.
Mohammed himself, after all that can be said about him, was not a
sensual man. We shall err widely if we consider this man as a common
voluptuary, intent mainly on base enjoyments,--nay on enjoyments of any
kind. His household was of the frugalest; his common diet barley-bread
and water: sometimes for months there was not a fire once lighted on his
hearth. They record with just pride that he would mend his own shoes,
patch his own cloak. A poor, hard-toiling, ill-provided man; careless of
what vulgar men toil for. Not a bad man, I should say; something better
in him than _hunger_ of any sort,--or these wild Arab men, fighting and
jostling three-and-twenty years at his hand, in close contact with him
always, would not have reverenced him so! They were wild men, bursting
ever and anon into quarrel, into all kinds of fierce sincerity; without
right worth and manhood, no man could have commanded them. They called
him Prophet, you say? Why, he stood there face to face with them; bare,
not enshrined in any mystery; visibly clouting his own cloak, cobbling
his own shoes; fighting, counselling, ordering in the midst of them:
they must have seen what kind of a man he _was_, let him be _called_
what you like! No emperor with his tiara was obeyed as this man in a
cloak of his own clouting during three-and-twenty years of rough actual
trial. I find something of a veritable Hero necessary for that, of
itself.
His last words are a prayer; broken ejaculations of a heart struggling
up, in trembling hope, towards its Maker. We cannot say that his
religion made him _worse_; it made him better; good, not bad. Generous
things are recorded of him: when he lost his Daughter, the thing he
answers is, in his own dialect, everyway sincere, and yet equivalent to
that of Christians, "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away; blessed
be the name of the Lord." He answered in like manner of Seid, his
emancipated well-beloved Slave, the second of the believers. Seid had
fallen in the War of Tabûc, the first of Mohammed's fightings with the
Greeks. Mohammed said, It was well; Seid had done his Master's work,
Seid had now gone to his Master: it was all well with Seid. Yet Seid's
daughter found him weeping over the body;--the old gray-haired man
melting in tears! "What do I see?" said she.--"You see a friend weeping
over his friend."--He went out for the last time into the mosque, two
days before his death; asked, If he had injured any man? Let his own
back bear the stripes. If he owed any man? A voice answered, "Yes, me
three drachms," borrowed on such an occasion. Mohammed ordered them to
be paid: "Better be in shame now," said he, "than at the Day of
Judgment."--You remember Kadijah, and the "No, by Allah!" Traits of that
kind show us the genuine man, the brother of us all, brought visible
through twelve centuries,--the veritable Son of our common Mother.
Withal I like Mohammed for his total freedom from cant. He is a rough
self-helping son of the wilderness; does not pretend to be what he is
not. There is no ostentatious pride in him; but neither does he go much
upon humility: he is there as he can be, in cloak and shoes of his own
clouting; speaks plainly to all manner of Persian Kings, Greek Emperors,
what it is they are bound to do; knows well enough, about himself, "the
respect due unto thee." In a life-and-death war with Bedouins, cruel
things could not fail; but neither are acts of mercy, of noble natural
pity and generosity, wanting. Mohammed makes no apology for the one, no
boast of the other. They were each the free dictate of his heart; each
called-for, there and then. Not a mealy-mouthed man! A candid ferocity,
if the case call for it, is in him; he does not mince matters! The War
of Tabûc is a thing he often speaks of: his men refused, many of them,
to march on that occasion; pleaded the heat of the weather, the harvest,
and so forth; he can never forget that. Your harvest? It lasts for a
day. What will become of your harvest through all Eternity? Hot weather?
Yes, it was hot; "but Hell will be hotter!" Sometimes a rough sarcasm
turns-up: He says to the unbelievers, Ye shall have the just measure of
your deeds at that Great Day. They will be weighed-out to you; ye shall
not have short weight!--Everywhere he fixes the matter in his eye; he
_sees_ it: his heart, now and then, is as if struck dumb by the
greatness of it. "Assuredly," he says; that word, in the Koran, is
written-down sometimes as a sentence by itself: "Assuredly."
No _Dilettanteism_ in this Mohammed; it is a business of Reprobation and
Salvation with him, of Time and Eternity: he is in deadly earnest about
it! Dilettanteism, hypothesis, speculation, a kind of amateur-search for
Truth, toying and coquetting with Truth: this is the sorest sin. The
root of all other imaginable sins. It consists in the heart and soul of
the man never having been _open_ to Truth;--"living in a vain show."
Such a man not only utters and produces falsehoods, but _is_ himself a
falsehood. The rational moral principle, spark of the Divinity, is sunk
deep in him, in quiet paralysis of life-death. The very falsehoods of
Mohammed are truer than the truths of such a man. He is the insincere
man: smooth-polished, respectable in some times and places; inoffensive,
says nothing harsh to anybody; most _cleanly_,--just as carbonic acid
is, which is death and poison.
We will not praise Mohammed's moral precepts as always of the
superfinest sort; yet it can be said that there is always a tendency to
good in them; that they are the true dictates of a heart aiming towards
what is just and true. The sublime forgiveness of Christianity, turning
of the other cheek when the one has been smitten, is not here: you _are_
to revenge yourself, but it is to be in measure, not overmuch, or beyond
justice. On the other hand, Islam, like any great Faith, and insight
into the essence of man, is a perfect equalizer of men: the soul of one
believer outweighs all earthly kingships; all men, according to Islam
too, are equal. Mohammed insists not on the propriety of giving alms,
but on the necessity of it: he marks-down by law how much you are to
give, and it is at your peril if you neglect. The tenth part of a man's
annual income, whatever that may be, is the _property_ of the poor, of
those that are afflicted and need help. Good all this: the natural voice
of humanity, of pity and equity dwelling in the heart of this wild Son
of Nature speaks _so_.
Mohammed's Paradise is sensual, his Hell sensual: true; in the one and
the other there is enough that shocks all spiritual feeling in us. But
we are to recollect that the Arabs already had it so; that Mohammed, in
whatever he changed of it, softened and diminished all this. The worst
sensualities, too, are the work of doctors, followers of his, not his
work. In the Koran there is really very little said about the joys of
Paradise; they are intimated rather than insisted on. Nor is it
forgotten that the highest joys even there shall be spiritual; the pure
Presence of the Highest, this shall infinitely transcend all other joys.
He says, "Your salutation shall be, Peace." _Salam_, Have Peace!--the
thing that all rational souls long for, and seek, vainly here below, as
the one blessing. "Ye shall sit on seats, facing one another: all
grudges shall be taken away out of your hearts." All grudges! Ye shall
love one another freely; for each of you, in the eyes of his brothers,
there will be Heaven enough!
In reference to this of the sensual Paradise and Mohammed's sensuality,
the sorest chapter of all for us, there were many things to be said;
which it is not convenient to enter upon here. Two remarks only I shall
make, and therewith leave it to your candor. The first is furnished me
by Goethe; it is a casual hint of his which seems well worth taking note
of. In one of his Delineations, in _Meister's Travels_ it is, the hero
comes-upon a Society of men with very strange ways, one of which was
this: "We require," says the Master, "that each of our people shall
restrict himself in one direction," shall go right against his desire in
one matter, and _make_ himself do the thing he does not wish, "should we
allow him the greater latitude on all other sides." There seems to me a
great justness in this. Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not
the evil: it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that
is. Let a man assert withal that he is king over his habitudes; that he
could and would shake them off, on cause shown: this is an excellent
law. The Month Ramadhan for the Moslem, much in Mohammed's Religion,
much in his own Life, bears in that direction; if not by forethought, or
clear purpose of moral improvement on his part, then by a certain
healthy manful instinct, which is as good.
But there is another thing to be said about the Mohammedan Heaven and
Hell. This namely, that, however gross and material they may be, they
are an emblem of an everlasting truth, not always so well remembered
elsewhere. That gross sensual Paradise of his; that horrible flaming
Hell; the great enormous Day of Judgment he perpetually insists on: what
is all this but a rude shadow, in the rude Bedouin imagination, of that
grand spiritual Fact, and Beginning of Facts, which it is ill for us too
if we do not all know and feel: the Infinite Nature of Duty? That man's
actions here are of _infinite_ moment to him, and never die or end at
all; that man, with his little life, reaches upwards high as Heaven,
downwards low as Hell, and in his threescore years of Time holds an
Eternity fearfully and wonderfully hidden: all this had burnt itself, as
in flame-characters, into the wild Arab soul. As in flame and lightning,
it stands written there; awful, unspeakable, ever present to him. With
bursting earnestness, with a fierce savage sincerity, halt,
articulating, not able to articulate, he strives to speak it, bodies it
forth in that Heaven and that Hell. Bodied forth in what way you will,
it is the first of all truths. It is venerable under all embodiments.
What is the chief end of man here below? Mohammed has answered this
question, in a way that might put some of _us_ to shame! He does not,
like a Bentham, a Paley, take Right and Wrong, and calculate the profit
and loss, ultimate pleasure of the one and of the other; and summing all
up by addition and subtraction into a net result, ask you, Whether on
the whole the Right does not preponderate considerably? No; it is not
_better_ to do the one than the other; the one is to the other as life
is to death,--as Heaven is to Hell. The one must in nowise be done, the
other in nowise left undone. You shall not measure them; they are
incommensurable: the one is death eternal to a man, the other is life
eternal. Benthamee Utility, virtue by Profit and Loss; reducing this
God's-world to a dead brute Steam-engine, the infinite celestial Soul of
Man to a kind of Hay-balance for weighing hay and thistles on, pleasures
and pains on:--if you ask me which gives, Mohammed or they, the
beggarlier and falser view of Man and his Destinies in this Universe, I
will answer, It is not Mohammed!--
On the whole, we will repeat that this Religion of Mohammed's is a kind
of Christianity; has a genuine element of what is spiritually highest
looking through it, not to be hidden by all its imperfections. The
Scandinavian God _Wish_, the god of all rude men,--this has been
enlarged into a Heaven by Mohammed; but a Heaven symbolical of sacred
Duty, and to be earned by faith and well-doing, by valiant action, and a
divine patience which is still more valiant. It is Scandinavian
Paganism, and a truly celestial element super-added to that. Call it not
false; look not at the falsehood of it, look at the truth of it. For
these twelve centuries, it has been the religion and life-guidance of
the fifth part of the whole kindred of Mankind. Above all things, it has
been a religion heartily _believed_. These Arabs believe their religion,
and try to live by it! No Christians, since the early ages, or only
perhaps the English Puritans in modern times, have ever stood by their
Faith as the Moslem do by theirs,--believing it wholly, fronting Time
with it, and Eternity with it. This night the watchman on the streets of
Cairo when he cries, "Who goes?" will hear from the passenger, along
with his answer, "There is no God but God." _Allah akbar, Islam_, sounds
through the souls, and whole daily existence, of these dusky millions.
Zealous missionaries preach it abroad among Malays, black Papuans,
brutal Idolaters;--displacing what is worse, nothing that is better or
good.
To the Arab Nation it was as a birth from darkness into light; Arabia
first became alive by means of it. A poor shepherd people, roaming
unnoticed in its deserts since the creation of the world: a Hero-Prophet
was sent down to them with a word they could believe: see, the unnoticed
becomes world-notable, the small has grown world-great; within one
century afterwards, Arabia is at Grenada on this hand, at Delhi on
that;--glancing in valor and splendor and the light of genius, Arabia
shines through long ages over a great section of the world. Belief is
great, life-giving. The history of a Nation becomes fruitful,
soul-elevating, great, so soon as it believes. These Arabs, the man
Mohammed, and that one century,--is it not as if a spark had fallen, one
spark, on a world of what seemed black unnoticeable sand; but lo, the
sand proves explosive powder, blazes heaven-high from Delhi to Grenada!
I said, the Great Man was always as lightning out of Heaven; the rest of
men waited for him like fuel, and then they too would flame.
THE KORAN
CHAPTER I
Entitled, the Preface, or Introduction--Revealed at Mecca
_In the Name of the Most Merciful God_.
Praise be to God, the Lord of all creatures, the most merciful, the king
of the day of judgment. Thee do we worship, and of thee do we beg
assistance. Direct us in the right way, in the way of those to whom thou
hast been gracious; not of those against whom thou art incensed, nor of
those who go astray.[21]
[Footnote 21: This chapter is a prayer, and held in great veneration by
the Mohammedans, who give it several other honorable titles; as the
chapter of prayer, of praise, of thanksgiving, of treasure. They esteem
it as the quintessence of the whole Koran, and often repeat it in their
devotions both public and private, as the Christians do the Lord's
Prayer.]
CHAPTER II
Entitled, the Cow[22]--Revealed Partly at Mecca, and Partly at Medina
_In the Name of the Most Merciful God_,
A.L.M. There is no doubt in this book; it is a direction to the pious,
who believe in the mysteries of faith, who observe the appointed times
of prayer, and distribute alms out of what we have bestowed on them; and
who believe in that revelation, which hath been sent down unto thee, and
that which hath been sent down unto the prophets before thee, and have
firm assurance in the life to come: these are directed by their Lord,
and they shall prosper. As for the unbelievers, it will be equal to them
whether thou admonish them, or do not admonish them; they will not
believe. God hath sealed up their hearts and their hearing; a dimness
covereth their sight, and they shall suffer a grievous punishment. There
are some who say, We believe in God and the last day, but are not really
believers; they seek to deceive God, and those who do believe, but they
deceive themselves only, and are not sensible thereof. There is an
infirmity in their hearts, and God hath increased that infirmity; and
they shall suffer a most painful punishment because they have
disbelieved. When one saith unto them, Act not corruptly in the earth,
they reply, Verily, we are men of integrity. Are not they themselves
corrupt doers? but they are not sensible thereof. And when one saith
unto them, Believe ye as others believe; they answer, Shall we believe
as fools believe? Are not they themselves fools? but they know it not.
When they meet those who believe, they say, We do believe: but when they
retire privately to their devils, they say, We really hold with you, and
only mock at those people: God shall mock at them, and continue them in
their impiety; they shall wander in confusion. These are the men who
have purchased error at the price of true direction: but their traffic
hath not been gainful, neither have they been rightly directed. They are
like unto one who kindleth a fire, and when it hath enlightened all
around him, God taketh away their light and leaveth them in darkness,
they shall not see; they are deaf, dumb, and blind, therefore will they
not repent. Or like a stormy cloud from heaven, fraught with darkness,
thunder, and lightning, they put their fingers in their ears, because of
the noise of the thunder, for fear of death; God encompasseth the
infidels: the lightning wanteth but little of taking away their sight;
so often as it enlighteneth them, they walk therein, but when darkness
cometh on them, they stand still; and if God so pleased, He would
certainly deprive them of their hearing and their sight, for God is
almighty. O men of Mecca! serve your Lord who hath created you, and
those who have been before you: peradventure ye will fear him; who hath
spread the earth as a bed for you, and the heaven as a covering, and
hath caused water to descend from heaven, and thereby produced fruits
for your sustenance. Set not up therefore any equals unto God, against
your own knowledge. If ye be in doubt concerning that revelation which
we have sent down unto our servant, produce a chapter like unto it, and
call upon your witnesses, besides God, if ye say truth. But if ye do it
not, nor shall ever be able to do it, justly fear the fire whose fuel is
men and stones, prepared for the unbelievers. But bear good tidings unto
those who believe, and do good works, that they shall have gardens
watered by rivers; so often as they eat of the fruit thereof for
sustenance, they shall say, This is what we have formerly eaten of; and
they shall be supplied with several sorts of fruit having a mutual
resemblance to one another. There shall they enjoy wives subject to no
impurity, and there shall they continue forever. Moreover God will not
be ashamed to propound in a parable a gnat, or even a more despicable
thing: for they who believe will know it to be the truth from their
Lord; but the unbelievers will say, What meaneth God by this parable? he
will thereby mislead many, and will direct many thereby: but he will not
mislead any thereby, except the transgressors, who make void the
covenant of God after the establishing thereof, and cut in sunder that
which God hath commanded to be joined, and act corruptly in the earth;
they shall perish. How is it that ye believe not in God? Since ye were
dead, and he gave you life; he will hereafter cause you to die, and will
again restore you to life; then shall ye return unto him. It is he who
hath created for you whatsoever is on earth, and then set his mind to
the creation of heaven, and formed it into seven heavens; he knoweth all
things. When thy Lord said unto the angels, I am going to place a
substitute on earth,[23] they said, Wilt thou place there one who will
do evil therein, and shed blood? but we celebrate thy praise, and
sanctify thee. God answered, Verily I know that which ye know not; and
he taught Adam the names of all things, and then proposed them to the
angels, and said, Declare unto me the names of these things if ye say
truth. They answered, Praise be unto thee, we have no knowledge but what
thou teachest us, for thou art knowing and wise. God said, O Adam, tell
them their names. And when he had told them their names, God said, Did I
not tell you that I know the secrets of heaven and earth, and know that
which ye discover, and that which ye conceal? And when we said unto the
angels, Worship Adam, they all worshipped him, except Eblis, who
refused, and was puffed up with pride, and became of the number of
unbelievers.[24] And we said, O Adam, dwell thou and thy wife in the
garden, and eat of the fruit thereof plentifully wherever ye will; but
approach not this tree, lest ye become of the number of the
transgressors. But Satan caused them to forfeit paradise, and turned
them out of the state of happiness wherein they had been; whereupon we
said, Get ye down, the one of you an enemy unto the other; and there
shall be a dwelling-place for you on earth, and a provision for a
season. And Adam learned words of prayer from his Lord, and God turned
unto him, for he is easy to be reconciled and merciful. We said, Get ye
all down from hence; hereafter shall there come unto you a direction
from me, and whoever shall follow my direction, on them shall no fear
come, neither shall they be grieved; but they who shall be unbelievers,
and accuse our signs of falsehood, they shall be the companions of hell
fire, therein shall they remain forever. O children of Israel,[25]
remember my favor wherewith I have favored you; and perform your
covenant with me and I will perform my covenant with you; and revere me;
and believe in the revelation which I have sent down, confirming that
which is with you, and be not the first who believe not therein, neither
exchange my signs for a small price; and fear me. Clothe not the truth
with vanity, neither conceal the truth against your own knowledge;
observe the stated times of prayer, and pay your legal alms, and bow
down yourselves with those who bow down. Will ye command men to do
justice, and forget your own souls? yet ye read the book of the law: do
ye not therefore understand? Ask help with perseverance and prayer; this
indeed is grievous, unless to the humble, who seriously think they shall
meet their Lord, and that to him they shall return. O children of
Israel, remember my favor wherewith I have favored you, and that I have
preferred you above all nations: dread the day wherein one soul shall
not make satisfaction for another soul, neither shall any intercession
be accepted from them, nor shall any compensation be received, neither
shall they be helped. Remember when we delivered you from the people of
Pharaoh, who grievously oppressed you, they slew your male children, and
let your females live: therein was a great trial from your Lord. And
when we divided the sea for you and delivered you, and drowned Pharaoh's
people while ye looked on. And when we treated with Moses forty nights;
then ye took the calf[26] for your God, and did evil; yet afterwards we
forgave you, that peradventure ye might give thanks. And when we gave
Moses the book of the law, and the distinction between good and evil,
that peradventure ye might be directed. And when Moses said unto his
people, O my people, verily ye have injured your own souls, by your
taking the calf for your God; therefore be turned unto your Creator, and
slay those among you who have been guilty of that crime; this will be
better for you in the sight of your Creator; and thereupon he turned
unto you, for he is easy to be reconciled, and merciful. And when ye
said, O Moses, we will not believe thee, until we see God manifestly;
therefore a punishment came upon you, while ye looked on; then we raised
you to life after ye had been dead, that peradventure ye might give
thanks. And we caused clouds to overshadow you, and manna and quails[27]
to descend upon you, saying, Eat of the good things which we have given
you for food: and they injured not us, but injured their own souls. And
when we said, Enter into this city, and eat of the provisions thereof
plentifully as ye will; and enter the gate worshipping, and say,
Forgiveness! we will pardon you your sins, and give increase unto the
well-doers. But the ungodly changed the expression into another,
different from what had been spoken unto them; and we sent down upon the
ungodly indignation from heaven, because they had transgressed. And when
Moses asked drink for his people, we said, Strike the rock with thy rod;
and there gushed thereout twelve fountains according to the number of
the tribes, and all men knew their respective drinking-place. Eat and
drink of the bounty of God, and commit not evil in the earth, acting
unjustly. And when ye said, O Moses, we will by no means be satisfied
with one kind of food; pray unto thy Lord therefore for us, that he
would produce for us of that which the earth bringeth forth, herbs, and
cucumbers, and garlic, and lentils, and onions; Moses answered, Will ye
exchange that which is better, for that which is worse? Get ye down into
Egypt, for there shall ye find what ye desire; and they were smitten
with vileness and misery, and drew on themselves indignation from God.
This they suffered, because they believed not in the signs of God, and
killed the prophets unjustly; this, because they rebelled and
transgressed. Surely those who believe, and those who Judaize, and
Christians, and Sabeans, whoever believeth in God, and the last day, and
doth that which is right, they shall have their reward with their Lord;
there shall come no fear on them, neither shall they be grieved. Call to
mind also when we accepted your covenant, and lifted up the mountain of
Sinai over you, saying, Receive the law which we have given you, with a
resolution to keep it, and remember that which is contained therein,
that ye may beware. After this ye again turned back, so that if it had
not been for God's indulgence and mercy towards you, ye had certainly
been destroyed. Moreover, ye know what befell those of your nation who
transgressed on the Sabbath day: We said unto them, Be ye changed into
apes, driven away from the society of men. And we made them an example
unto those who were contemporary with them, and unto those who came
after them, and a warning to the pious. And when Moses said unto his
people, Verily God commandeth you to sacrifice a cow;[28] they answered,
Dost thou make a jest of us? Moses said, God forbid that I should be one
of the foolish. They said, Pray for us unto thy Lord, that he would show
us what cow it is. Moses answered, He saith, She is neither an old cow,
nor a young heifer, but of a middle-age between both: do ye therefore
that which ye are commanded. They said, Pray for us unto the Lord, that
he would show us what color she is of. Moses answered, He saith, She is
a red cow, intensely red, her color rejoiceth the beholders. They said,
Pray for us unto thy Lord, that he would further show us what cow it is,
for several cows with us are like one another, and we, if God please,
will be directed. Moses answered, He saith, She is a cow not broken to
plough the earth, or water the field: a sound one, there is no blemish
in her. They said, Now hast thou brought the truth. Then they sacrificed
her; yet they wanted little of leaving it undone. And when ye slew a
man, and contended among yourselves concerning him, God brought forth to
light that which ye concealed. For we said, Strike the dead body with
part of the sacrificed cow; so God raiseth the dead to life, and showeth
you his signs, that peradventure ye may understand. Then were your
hearts hardened after this, even as stones, or exceeding them in
hardness: for from some stones have rivers burst forth, others have been
rent in sunder, and water hath issued from them, and others have fallen
down for fear of God. But God is not regardless of that which ye do. Do
ye therefore desire that the Jews should believe you? yet a part of them
heard the word of God, and then perverted it, after they had understood
it, against their own conscience. And when they meet the true believers,
they say, We believe: but when they are privately assembled together,
they say, Will ye acquaint them with what God hath revealed unto you,
that they may dispute with you concerning it in the presence of your
Lord? Do ye not therefore understand? Do not they know that God knoweth
that which they conceal as well as that which they publish? But there
are illiterate men among them, who know not the book of the law, but
only lying stories, although they think otherwise. And woe unto them who
transcribe corruptly the book of the law with their hands, and then say,
This is from God: that they may sell it for a small price. Therefore woe
unto them because of that which their hands have written; and woe unto
them for that which they have gained. They say, The fire of hell shall
not touch us but for a certain number of days. Answer, Have ye received
any promise from God to that purpose? for God will not act contrary to
his promise: or do ye speak concerning God that which ye know not?
Verily whoso doth evil, and is encompassed by his iniquity, they shall
be the companions of hell fire, they shall remain therein forever: but
they who believe and do good works, they shall be the companions of
paradise, they shall continue therein forever. Remember also, when we
accepted the covenant of the children of Israel, saying, Ye shall not
worship any other except God, and ye shall show kindness to your parents
and kindred, and to orphans, and to the poor, and speak that which is
good unto men, and be constant at prayer, and give alms. Afterwards ye
turned back, except a few of you, and retired afar-off. And when we
accepted your covenant, saying, Ye shall not shed your brother's blood,
nor dispossess one another of your habitations, then ye confirmed it,
and were witnesses thereto. Afterwards ye were they who slew one
another, and turned several of your brethren out of their houses,
mutually assisting each other against them with injustice and enmity;
but if they come captives unto you, ye redeem them: yet it is equally
unlawful for you to dispossess them. Do ye therefore believe in part of
the book of the law, and reject other parts thereof? But whoso among you
doth this, shall have no other reward than shame in this life, and on
the day of resurrection they shall be sent to a most grievous
punishment; for God is not regardless of that which ye do. These are
they who have purchased this present life, at the price of that which is
to come; wherefore their punishment shall not be mitigated, neither
shall they be helped. We formerly delivered the book of the law unto
Moses, and caused apostles to succeed him, and gave evident miracles to
Jesus the son of Mary, and strengthened him with the holy spirit. Do ye
therefore, whenever an apostle cometh unto you with that which your
souls desire not, proudly reject him, and accuse some of imposture, and
slay others? The Jews say, Our hearts are uncircumcised: but God hath
cursed them with their infidelity, therefore few shall believe. And when
a book came unto them from God, confirming the scriptures which were
with them, although they had before prayed for assistance against those
who believed not, yet when that came unto them which they knew to be
from God, they would not believe therein: therefore the curse of God
shall be on the infidels. For a vile price have they sold their souls,
that they should not believe in that which God hath sent down; out of
envy, because God sendeth down his favors to such of his servants as he
pleaseth: therefore they brought on themselves indignation on
indignation; and the unbelievers shall suffer an ignominious punishment.
When one saith unto them, Believe in that which God hath sent down; they
answer, We believe in that which hath been sent down unto us: and they
reject what hath been revealed since, although it be the truth,
confirming that which is with them. Say, Why therefore have ye slain the
prophets of God in times past, if ye be true believers? Moses formerly
came unto you with evident signs, but ye afterwards took the calf for
your god and did wickedly. And when we accepted your covenant, and
lifted the mountain of Sinai over you, saying, Receive the law which we
have given you, with a resolution to perform it, and hear; they said, We
have heard, and have rebelled: and they were made to drink down the calf
into their hearts for their unbelief. Say, A grievous thing hath your
faith commanded you, if ye be true believers. Say, If the future mansion
with God be prepared peculiarly for you, exclusive of the rest of
mankind, wish for death, if ye say truth: but they will never wish for
it, because of that which their hands have sent before them; God knoweth
the wicked doers; and thou shalt surely find them of all men the most
covetous of life, even more than the idolaters: one of them would desire
his life to be prolonged a thousand years, but none shall reprieve
himself from punishment, that his life may be prolonged: God seeth that
which they do. Say, Whoever is an enemy to Gabriel (for he hath caused
the Koran to descend on thy heart, by the permission of God, confirming
that which was before revealed, a direction, and good tidings to the
faithful); whosoever is an enemy to God, or his angels, or his apostles,
or to Gabriel, or Michael, verily God is an enemy to the unbelievers.
And now we have sent down unto thee evident signs, and none will
disbelieve them but the evil-doers. Whenever they make a covenant, will
some of them reject it? yea, the greater part of them do not believe.
And when there came unto them an apostle from God, confirming that
scripture which was with them, some of those to whom the scriptures were
given, cast the book of God behind their backs, as if they knew it not:
and they followed the device which the devils devised against the
kingdom of Solomon; and Solomon was not an unbeliever; but the devils
believed not, they taught men sorcery, and that which was sent down to
the two angels at Babel, Harût, and Marût: yet those who taught no man
until they had said, Verily we are a temptation, therefore be not an
unbeliever. So men learned from those two a charm by which they might
cause division between a man and his wife; but they hurt none thereby,
unless by God's permission; and they learned that which would hurt them,
and not profit them; and yet they knew that he who bought that art
should have no part in the life to come, and woful is the price for
which they have sold their souls, if they knew it. But if they had
believed and feared God, verily the reward they would have had from God
would have been better, if they had known it. O true believers, say not
to our apostle, Raina; but say, Ondhorna;[29] and hearken: the infidels
shall suffer a grievous punishment. It is not the desire of the
unbelievers, either among those unto whom the scriptures have been
given, or among the idolaters, that any good should be sent down unto
you from your Lord: but God will appropriate his mercy unto whom he
pleaseth; for God is exceeding beneficent. Whatever verse we shall
abrogate, or cause thee to forget, we will bring a better than it, or
one like unto it. Dost thou not know that God is almighty? Dost thou not
know that unto God belongeth the kingdom of heaven and earth? neither
have ye any protector or helper except God. Will ye require of your
apostle according to that which was formerly required of Moses? but he
that hath exchanged faith for infidelity, hath already erred from the
straight way. Many of those unto whom the scriptures have been given,
desire to render you again unbelievers, after ye have believed; out of
envy from their souls, even after the truth is become manifest unto
them; but forgive them, and avoid them, till God shall send his command;
for God is omnipotent. Be constant in prayer, and give alms; and what
good ye have sent before for your souls, ye shall find it with God;
surely God seeth that which ye do. They say, Verily none shall enter
paradise, except they who are Jews or Christians: this is their wish.
Say, Produce your proof of this, if ye speak truth. Nay, but he who
resigneth himself to God, and doth that which is right, he shall have
his reward with his Lord; there shall come no fear on them, neither
shall they be grieved. The Jews say, The Christians are grounded on
nothing; and the Christians say, The Jews are grounded on nothing; yet
they both read the scriptures. So likewise say they who know not the
scripture, according to their saying. But God shall judge between them
on the day of the resurrection, concerning that about which they now
disagree. Who is more unjust than he who prohibiteth the temples of God,
that his name should be remembered therein, and who hasteth to destroy
them? Those men cannot enter therein, but with fear: they shall have
shame in this world, and in the next a grievous punishment. To God
belongeth the east and the west; therefore, whithersoever ye turn
yourselves to pray, there is the face of God; for God is omnipresent and
omniscient. They say God hath begotten children. God forbid! To him
belongeth whatever is in heaven, and on earth; all is possessed by him,
the Creator of heaven and earth; and when he decreeth a thing, he only
saith unto it, Be, and it is. And they who know not the scriptures say,
Unless God speak unto us, or thou show us a sign, we will not believe.
So said those before them, according to their saying: their hearts
resemble each other. We have already shown manifest signs unto people
who firmly believe; we have sent thee in truth, a bearer of good
tidings, and a preacher; and thou shalt not be questioned concerning the
companions of hell. But the Jews will not be pleased with thee, neither
the Christians, until thou follow their religion; say, The direction of
God is the true direction. And verily if thou follow their desires,
after the knowledge which hath been given thee, thou shalt find no
patron or protector against God. They to whom we have given the book of
the Koran, and who read it with its true reading, they believe therein;
and whoever believeth not therein, they shall perish. O children of
Israel, remember my favor wherewith I have favored you, and that I have
preferred you before all nations; and dread the day wherein one soul
shall not make satisfaction for another soul, neither shall any
compensation be accepted from them, nor shall any intercession avail,
neither shall they be helped. Remember when the Lord tried Abraham by
certain words, which he fulfilled: God said, Verily I will constitute
thee a model of religion unto mankind; he answered, And also of my
posterity; God said, My covenant doth not comprehend the ungodly. And
when we appointed the holy house of Mecca to be the place of resort for
mankind, and a place of security; and said, Take the station of Abraham
for a place of prayer; and we covenanted with Abraham and Ismael, that
they should cleanse my house for those who should compass it, and those
who should be devoutly assiduous there, and those who should bow down
and worship. And when Abraham said, Lord, make this a territory of
security, and bounteously bestow fruits on its inhabitants, such of them
as believe in God and the last day; God answered, And whoever believeth
not, I will bestow on him little: afterwards I will drive him to the
punishment of hell fire; an ill journey shall it be! And when Abraham
and Ismael raised the foundations of the house, saying, Lord, accept it
from us, for thou art he who heareth and knoweth: Lord, make us also
resigned unto thee, and of our posterity a people resigned unto thee,
and show us our holy ceremonies, and be turned unto us, for thou art
easy to be reconciled, and merciful; Lord, send them likewise an apostle
from among them, who may declare thy signs unto them, and teach them the
book of the Koran and wisdom, and may purify them; for thou art mighty
and wise. Who will be averse to the religion of Abraham, but he whose
mind is infatuated? Surely we have chosen him in this world, and in that
which is to come he shall be one of the righteous. When his Lord said
unto him, Resign thyself unto me, he answered, I have resigned myself
unto the Lord of all creatures. And Abraham bequeathed this religion to
his children, and Jacob did the same, saying, My children, verily, God
hath chosen this religion for you, therefore die not, unless ye also be
resigned. Were ye present when Jacob was at the point of death? when he
said to his sons, Whom will ye worship after me? They answered, We will
worship thy God, and the God of thy fathers, Abraham and Ismael, and
Isaac, one God, and to him will we be resigned. That people are now
passed away, they have what they have gained, and ye shall have what ye
gain; and ye shall not be questioned concerning that which they have
done. They say, Become Jews or Christians that ye may be directed. Say,
Nay, we follow the religion of Abraham the orthodox, who was no
idolater. Say, We believe in God, and that which hath been sent down
unto us, and that which hath been sent down unto Abraham, and Ismael,
and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, and that which was delivered unto
Moses, and Jesus, and that which was delivered unto the prophets from
their Lord: We make no distinction between any of them, and to God are
we resigned. Now if they believe according to what ye believe, they are
surely directed, but if they turn back, they are in schism. God shall
support thee against them, for he is the hearer, the wise. The baptism
of God[30] have we received, and who is better than God to baptize? him
do we worship. Say, Will ye dispute with us concerning God, who is our
Lord, and your Lord? we have our works, and ye have your works, and unto
him are we sincerely devoted. Will ye say, Truly Abraham, and Ismael,
and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes were Jews or Christians? Say, Are
ye wiser, or God? And who is more unjust than he who hideth the
testimony which he hath received from God? But God is not regardless of
that which ye do. That people are passed away, they have what they have
gained, and ye shall have what ye gain, nor shall ye be questioned
concerning that which they have done. The foolish men will say, What
hath turned them from their Keblah, towards which they formerly
prayed?[31] Say, Unto God belongeth the east and the west: he directeth
whom he pleaseth into the right way. Thus have we placed you, O
Arabians, an intermediate nation, that ye may be witnesses against the
rest of mankind, and that the apostle may be a witness against you. We
appointed the Keblah towards which thou didst formerly pray, only that
we might know him who followeth the apostle, from him who turneth back
on his heels; though this change seem a great matter, unless unto those
whom God hath directed. But God will not render your faith of no effect;
for God is gracious and merciful unto man. We have seen thee turn about
thy face towards heaven with uncertainty, but we will cause thee to turn
thyself towards a Keblah that will please thee. Turn, therefore, thy
face towards the holy temple of Mecca; and wherever ye be, turn your
faces towards that place. They to whom the scripture hath been given,
know this to be truth from their Lord. God is not regardless of that
which ye do. Verily although thou shouldst show unto those to whom the
scripture hath been given all kinds of signs, yet they will not follow
thy Keblah, neither shalt thou follow their Keblah; nor will one part of
them follow the Keblah of the other. And if thou follow their desires,
after the knowledge which hath been given thee, verily thou wilt become
one of the ungodly. They to whom we have given the scripture know our
apostle, even as they know their own children; but some of them hide the
truth, against their own knowledge. Truth is from thy Lord, therefore
thou shalt not doubt. Every sect hath a certain tract of heaven to which
they turn themselves in prayer; but do ye strive to run after good
things: wherever ye be, God will bring you all back at the resurrection,
for God is almighty. And from what place soever thou comest forth, turn
thy face towards the holy temple; for this is truth from thy Lord;
neither is God regardless of that which ye do. From what place soever
thou comest forth, turn thy face towards the holy temple; and wherever
ye be, thitherward turn your faces, lest men have matter of dispute
against you; but as for those among them who are unjust doers, fear them
not, but fear me, that I may accomplish my grace upon you, and that ye
may be directed. As we have sent unto you an apostle from among you, to
rehearse our signs unto you, and to purify you, and to teach you the
book of the Koran and wisdom, and to teach you that which ye knew not:
therefore remember me, and I will remember you, and give thanks unto me,
and be not unbelievers. O true believers, beg assistance with patience
and prayer, for God is with the patient. And say not of those who are
slain in fight for the religion of God, that they are dead; yea, they
are living: but ye do not understand. We will surely prove you by
afflicting you in some measure with fear, and hunger, and decrease of
wealth, and loss of lives, and scarcity of fruits; but bear good tidings
unto the patient, who when a misfortune befalleth them, say, We are
God's, and unto him shall we surely return. Upon them shall be blessings
from their Lord and mercy, and they are the rightly directed. Moreover
Safa and Merwah are two of the monuments of God: whoever therefore goeth
on pilgrimage to the temple of Mecca or visiteth it, it shall be no
crime in him if he compass them both. And as for him who voluntarily
performeth a good work; verily God is grateful and knowing. They who
conceal any of the evident signs, or the direction which we have sent
down, after what we have manifested unto men in the scripture, God shall
curse them; and they who curse shall curse them. But as for those who
repent and amend, and make known what they concealed, I will be turned
unto them, for I am easy to be reconciled and merciful. Surely they who
believe not, and die in their unbelief, upon them shall be the curse of
God, and of the angels, and of all men; they shall remain under it
forever, their punishment shall not be alleviated, neither shall they be
regarded. Your God is one God, there is no God but He, the most
merciful. Now in the creation of heaven and earth, and the vicissitude
of night and day, and in the ship which saileth in the sea, laden with
what is profitable for mankind, and in the rain-water which God sendeth
from heaven, quickening thereby the dead earth, and replenishing the
same with all sorts of cattle, and in the change of winds, and the
clouds that are compelled to do service between heaven and earth, are
signs to people of understanding: yet some men take idols beside God,
and love them as with the love due to God; but the true believers are
more fervent in love towards God. Oh that they who act unjustly did
perceive, when they behold their punishment, that all power belongeth
unto God, and that he is severe in punishing! When those who have been
followed, shall separate themselves from their followers, and shall see
the punishment, and the cords of relation between them shall be cut
asunder; the followers shall say, If we could return to life, we would
separate ourselves from them, as they have now separated themselves from
us. So God will show them their works; they shall sigh grievously, and
shall not come forth from the fire of hell. O men, eat of that which is
lawful and good on the earth; and tread not in the steps of the devil,
for he is your open enemy. Verily he commandeth you evil and wickedness,
and that ye should say that of God which ye know not. And when it is
said unto them who believe not, Follow that which God hath sent down;
they answer, Nay, but we will follow that which we found our fathers
practised. What? though their fathers knew nothing, and were not rightly
directed? The unbelievers are like unto one who crieth aloud to that
which heareth not so much as his calling, or the sound of his voice.
They are deaf, dumb, and blind, therefore they do not understand. O true
believers, eat of the good things which we have bestowed on you for
food, and return thanks unto God, if ye serve him. Verily he hath
forbidden you to eat that which dieth of itself, and blood, and swine's
flesh, and that on which any other name but God's hath been
invocated.[32] But he who is forced by necessity, not lusting, nor
returning to transgress, it shall be no crime in him if he eat of those
things, for God is gracious and merciful. Moreover they who conceal any
part of the scripture which God hath sent down unto them, and sell it
for a small price, they shall swallow into their bellies nothing but
fire; God shall not speak unto them on the day of resurrection, neither
shall he purify them, and they shall suffer a grievous punishment. These
are they who have sold direction for error, and pardon for punishment:
but how great will their suffering be in the fire! This they shall
endure, because God sent down the book of the Koran with truth, and they
who disagree concerning that book, are certainly in a wide mistake. It
is not righteousness that ye turn your faces in prayer towards the east
and the west, but righteousness is of him who believeth in God and the
last day, and the angels, and the scriptures, and the prophets; who
giveth money for God's sake unto his kindred, and unto orphans, and the
needy, and the stranger, and those who ask, and for redemption of
captives; who is constant at prayer, and giveth alms; and of those who
perform their covenant, when they have covenanted, and who behave
themselves patiently in adversity, and hardships, and in time of
violence: these are they who are true, and these are they who fear God.
O true believers, the law of retaliation is ordained you for the slain:
the free shall die for the free, and the servant for the servant, and a
woman for a woman; but he whom his brother shall forgive, may be
prosecuted, and obliged to make satisfaction according to what is just,
and a fine shall be set on him[33] with humanity. This is indulgence
from your Lord, and mercy. And he who shall transgress after this, by
killing the murderer, shall suffer a grievous punishment. And in this
law of retaliation ye have life, O ye of understanding, that
peradventure ye may fear. It is ordained you, when any of you is at the
point of death, if he leave any goods, that he bequeath a legacy to his
parents and kindred, according to what shall be reasonable.[34] This is
a duty incumbent on those who fear God. But he who shall change the
legacy, after he hath heard it bequeathed by the dying person, surely
the sin thereof shall be on those who change it, for God is he who
heareth and knoweth. Howbeit he who apprehendeth from the testator any
mistake or injustice, and shall compose the matter between them, that
shall be no crime in him, for God is gracious and merciful. O true
believers, a fast is ordained you, as it was ordained unto those before
you, that ye may fear God. A certain number of days shall ye fast: but
he among you who shall be sick, or on a journey, shall fast an equal
number of other days. And those who can keep it, and do not, must redeem
their neglect by maintaining of a poor man. And he who voluntarily
dealeth better with the poor man than he is obliged, this shall be
better for him. But if ye fast it will be better for you, if ye knew it.
The month of Ramadhan shall ye fast, in which the Koran was sent down
from heaven, a direction unto men, and declarations of direction, and
the distinction between good and evil. Therefore let him among you who
shall be present in this month, fast the same month; but he who shall be
sick, or on a journey, shall fast the like number of other days. God
would make this an ease unto you, and would not make it a difficulty
unto you; that ye may fulfil the number of days, and glorify God, for
that he hath directed you, and that ye may give thanks. When my servants
ask thee concerning me, Verily I am near; I will hear the prayer of him
that prayeth, when he prayeth unto me: but let them hearken unto me, and
believe in me, that they may be rightly directed. It is lawful for you
on the night of the fast to go in unto your wives: they are a garment
unto you, and ye are a garment unto them. God knoweth that ye defraud
yourselves therein, wherefore he turneth unto you and forgiveth you. Now
therefore go in unto them; and earnestly desire that which God ordaineth
you, and eat and drink, until ye can plainly distinguish a white thread
from a black thread by the daybreak: then keep the fast until night, and
go not in unto them, but be constantly present in the places of worship.
These are the prescribed bounds of God, therefore draw not near them to
transgress them. Thus God declareth his signs unto men, that ye may fear
him. Consume not your wealth among yourselves in vain; nor present it
unto judges, that ye may devour part of men's substance unjustly,
against your own consciences. They will ask thee concerning the phases
of the moon. Answer, They are times appointed unto men, and to show the
season of the pilgrimage to Mecca. It is not righteousness that ye enter
your houses by the back part thereof, but righteousness is of him who
feareth God. Therefore enter your houses by their doors; and fear God,
that ye may be happy. And fight for the religion of God against those
who fight against you, but transgress not by attacking them first, for
God loveth not the transgressors. And kill them wherever ye find them,
and turn them out of that whereof they have dispossessed you; for
temptation to idolatry is more grievous than slaughter: yet fight not
against them in the holy temple, until they attack you therein; but if
they attack you, slay them there. This shall be the reward of the
infidels. But if they desist, God is gracious and merciful. Fight
therefore against them, until there be no temptation to idolatry, and
the religion be God's: but if they desist, then let there be no
hostility, except against the ungodly. A sacred month for a sacred
month, and the holy limits of Mecca, if they attack you therein, do ye
also attack them therein in retaliation; and whoever transgresseth
against you by so doing, do ye transgress against him in like manner as
he hath transgressed against you, and fear God, and know that God is
with those who fear him. Contribute out of your substance towards the
defence of the religion of God, and throw not yourselves with your own
hands into perdition; and do good, for God loveth those who do good.
Perform the pilgrimage of Mecca, and the visitation of God; if ye be
besieged, send that offering which shall be the easiest; and shave not
your heads, until your offering reacheth the place of sacrifice. But
whoever among you is sick, or is troubled with any distemper of the
head, must redeem the shaving his head by fasting, or alms, or some
offering. When ye are secure from enemies, he who tarrieth in the
visitation of the temple of Mecca until the pilgrimage, shall bring that
offering which shall be the easiest. But he who findeth not anything to
offer, shall fast three days in the pilgrimage, and seven when ye are
returned: they shall be ten days complete. This is incumbent on him
whose family shall not be present at the holy temple. And fear God, and
know that God is severe in punishing. The pilgrimage must be performed
in the known months; whosoever therefore purposeth to go on pilgrimage
therein, let him not know a woman, nor transgress, nor quarrel in the
pilgrimage. The good which ye do, God knoweth it. Make provision for
your journey; but the best provision is piety: and fear me, O ye of
understanding. It shall be no crime in you, if ye seek an increase from
your Lord, by trading during the pilgrimage. And when ye go in
procession from Arafat, remember God near the holy monument; and
remember him for that he hath directed you, although ye were before this
of the number of those who go astray. Therefore go in procession from
whence the people go in procession, and ask pardon of God, for God is
gracious and merciful. And when ye have finished your holy ceremonies,
remember God, according as ye remember your fathers, or with a more
reverent commemoration. There are some men who say, O Lord, give us our
portion in this world; but such shall have no portion in the next life:
and there are others who say, O Lord, give us good in this world, and
also good in the next world, and deliver us from the torment of hell
fire. They shall have a portion of that which they have gained: God is
swift in taking an account. Remember God the appointed number of days;
but if any haste to depart from the valley of Mina in two days, it shall
be no crime in him. And if any tarry longer, it shall be no crime in
him, in him who feareth God. Therefore fear God, and know that unto him
ye shall be gathered. There is a man who causeth thee to marvel[35] by
his speech concerning this present life, and calleth God to witness that
which is in his heart, yet he is most intent in opposing thee; and when
he turneth away from thee, he hasteth to act corruptly in the earth, and
to destroy that which is sown, and springeth up;[36] but God loveth not
corrupt doing. And if one say unto him, Fear God; pride seizeth him,
together with wickedness; but hell shall be his reward, and an unhappy
couch shall it be. There is also a man who selleth his soul for the sake
of those things which are pleasing unto God;[37] and God is gracious
unto his servants. O true believers, enter into the true religion
wholly, and follow not the steps of Satan, for he is your open enemy. If
ye have slipped after the declarations of our will have come unto you,
know that God is mighty and wise. Do the infidels expect less than that
God should come down to them overshadowed with clouds, and the angels
also? but the thing is decreed, and to God shall all things return. Ask
the children of Israel how many evident signs we have showed them; and
whoever shall change the grace of God, after it shall have come unto
him, verily God will be severe in punishing him. The present life was
ordained for those who believe not, and they laugh the faithful to
scorn; but they who fear God shall be above them, on the day of the
resurrection: for God is bountiful unto whom he pleaseth without
measure. Mankind was of one faith, and God sent prophets bearing good
tidings, and denouncing threats; and sent down with them the scripture
in truth, that it might judge between men of that concerning which they
disagreed: and none disagreed concerning it, except those to whom the
same scriptures were delivered, after the declarations of God's will had
come unto them, out of envy among themselves. And God directed those who
believed, to that truth concerning which they disagreed, by his will:
for God directeth whom he pleaseth into the right way. Did ye think ye
should enter paradise, when as yet no such thing had happened unto you,
as hath happened unto those who have been before you? They suffered
calamity and tribulation, and were afflicted; so that the apostle, and
they who believed with him, said, When will the help of God come? Is not
the help of God nigh? They will ask thee what they shall bestow in alms:
Answer, The good which ye bestow, let it be given to parents, and
kindred, and orphans, and the poor, and the stranger. Whatsoever good ye
do, God knoweth it. War is enjoined you against the Infidels; but this
is hateful unto you: yet perchance ye hate a thing which is better for
you, and perchance ye love a thing which is worse for you: but God
knoweth and ye know not. They will ask thee concerning the sacred month,
whether they may war therein: Answer, To war therein is grievous; but to
obstruct the way of God, and infidelity towards him, and to keep men
from the holy temple, and to drive out his people from thence, is more
grievous in the sight of God, and the temptation to idolatry is more
grievous than to kill in the sacred months. They will not cease to war
against you, until they turn you from your religion, if they be able:
but whoever among you shall turn back from his religion, and die an
infidel, their works shall be vain in this world and the next; they
shall be the companions of hell fire, they shall remain therein forever.
But they who believe, and who fly for the sake of religion, and fight in
God's cause, they shall hope for the mercy of God; for God is gracious
and merciful. They will ask thee concerning wine[38] and lots:[39]
Answer, In both there is great sin, and also some things of use unto
men, but their sinfulness is greater than their use. They will ask thee
also what they shall bestow in alms: Answer, What ye have to spare. Thus
God showeth his signs unto you, that peradventure ye might seriously
think of this present world, and of the next. They will also ask thee
concerning orphans: Answer, To deal righteously with them is best; and
if ye intermeddle with the management of what belongs to them, do them
no wrong; they are your brethren: God knoweth the corrupt dealer from
the righteous; and if God please, he will surely distress you, for God
is mighty and wise. Marry not women who are idolaters, until they
believe: verily a maid-servant who believeth is better than an
idolatress, although she please you more. And give not women who believe
in marriage to the idolaters, until they believe; for verily a servant
who is a true believer, is better than an idolater, though he please you
more. They invite into hell fire, but God inviteth unto paradise and
pardon through his will, and declareth his signs unto men, that they may
remember. They will ask thee also concerning the courses of women:
Answer, They are a pollution: therefore separate yourselves from women
in their courses, and go not near them until they be cleansed. But when
they are cleansed, go in unto them as God hath commanded you, for God
loveth those who repent, and loveth those who are clean. Your wives are
your tillage; go in therefore unto your tillage in what manner soever ye
will: and do first some act that may be profitable unto your souls; and
fear God, and know that ye must meet him; and bear good tidings unto the
faithful. Make not God the object of your oaths, that ye may deal
justly, and be devout, and make peace among men;[40] for God is he who
heareth and knoweth. God will not punish you for an inconsiderate word
in your oaths; but he will punish you for that which your hearts have
assented unto: God is merciful and gracious. They who vow to abstain
from their wives, are allowed to wait four months: but if they go back
from their vow, verily God is gracious and merciful; and if they resolve
on a divorce, God is he who heareth and knoweth. The women who are
divorced shall wait concerning themselves until they have their courses
thrice, and it shall not be lawful for them to conceal that which God
hath created in their wombs, if they believe in God and the last day;
and their husbands will act more justly to bring them back at this time,
if they desire a reconciliation. The women ought also to behave towards
their husbands in like manner as their husbands should behave towards
them, according to what is just: but the men ought to have a superiority
over them. God is mighty and wise. Ye may divorce your wives twice; and
then either retain them with humanity, or dismiss them with kindness.
But it is not lawful for you to take away anything of what ye have given
them, unless both fear that they cannot observe the ordinances of God.
And if ye fear that they cannot observe the ordinances of God, it shall
be no crime in either of them on account of that for which the wife
shall redeem herself. These are the ordinances of God; therefore
transgress them not; for whoever transgresseth the ordinances of God,
they are unjust doers. But if the husband divorce her a third time, she
shall not be lawful for him again, until she marry another husband. But
if he also divorce her, it shall be no crime in them, if they return to
each other, if they think they can observe the ordinances of God; and
these are the ordinances of God: he declareth them to people of
understanding. But when ye divorce women, and they have fulfilled their
prescribed time, either retain them with humanity, or dismiss them with
kindness; and retain them not by violence, so that ye transgress; for he
who doth this, surely injureth his own soul. And make not the signs of
God a jest: but remember God's favor towards you, and that he hath sent
down unto you the book of the Koran, and wisdom, admonishing you
thereby; and fear God, and know that God is omniscient. But when ye have
divorced your wives, and they have fulfilled their prescribed time,
hinder them not from marrying their husbands, when they have agreed
among themselves according to what is honorable. This is given in
admonition unto him among you who believeth in God, and the last day.
This is most righteous for you, and most pure. God knoweth, but ye know
not. Mothers, after they are divorced, shall give suck unto their
children two full years, to him who desireth the time of giving suck to
be completed; and the father shall be obliged to maintain them and
clothe them in the meantime, according to that which shall be
reasonable. No person shall be obliged beyond his ability. A mother
shall not be compelled to what is unreasonable on account of her child,
nor a father on account of his child. And the heir of the father shall
be obliged to do in like manner. But if they choose to wean the child
before the end of two years, by common consent and on mutual
consideration, it shall be no crime in them. And if ye have a mind to
provide a nurse for your children, it shall be no crime in you, in case
ye fully pay what ye offer her, according to that which is just. And
fear God, and know that God seeth whatever ye do. Such of you as die,
and leave wives, their wives must wait concerning themselves four months
and ten days, and when they shall have fulfilled their term, it shall be
no crime in you, for that which they shall do with themselves, according
to what is reasonable. God well knoweth that which ye do. And it shall
be no crime in you, whether ye make public overtures of marriage unto
such women, within the said four months and ten days, or whether ye
conceal such your designs in your minds: God knoweth that ye will
remember them. But make no promise unto them privately, unless ye speak
honorable words; and resolve not on the knot of marriage, until the
prescribed time be accomplished; and know that God knoweth that which is
in your minds, therefore beware of him, and know that God is gracious
and merciful. It shall be no crime in you, if ye divorce your wives, so
long as ye have not touched them, nor settled any dowry on them. And
provide for them (he who is at his ease must provide according to his
circumstances, and he who is straitened according to his circumstances)
necessaries, according to what shall be reasonable. This is a duty
incumbent on the righteous. But if ye divorce them before ye have
touched them, and have already settled a dowry on them, ye shall give
them half of what ye have settled, unless they release any part, or he
release part in whose hand the knot of marriage is; and if ye release
the whole, it will approach nearer unto piety. And forget not liberality
among you, for God seeth that which ye do. Carefully observe the
appointed prayers, and the middle prayer,[41] and be assiduous therein,
with devotion towards God. But if ye fear any danger, pray on foot or on
horseback; and when ye are safe, remember God, how he hath taught you
what as yet ye knew not. And such of you as shall die and leave wives,
ought to bequeath their wives a year's maintenance, without putting them
out of their houses: but if they go out voluntarily, it shall be no
crime in you, for that which they shall do with themselves, according to
what shall be reasonable; God is mighty and wise. And unto those who are
divorced, a reasonable provision is also due; this is a duty incumbent
on those who fear God. Thus God declareth his signs unto you, that ye
may understand. Hast thou not considered those who left their
habitations (and they were thousands) for fear of death? And God said
unto them, Die; then he restored them to life, for God is gracious
towards mankind; but the greater part of men do not give thanks. Fight
for the religion of God, and know that God is he who heareth and
knoweth. Who is he that will lend unto God on good usury? verily he will
double it unto him manifold; for God contracteth and extendeth his hand
as he pleaseth, and to him shall ye return. Hast thou not considered the
assembly of the children of Israel, after the time of Moses; when they
said unto their prophet Samuel, Set a king over us, that we may fight
for the religion of God? The prophet answered, If ye are enjoined to go
to war, will ye be near refusing to fight? They answered, And what
should ail us that we should not fight for the religion of God, seeing
we are dispossessed of our habitations, and deprived of our children?
But when they were enjoined to go to war, they turned back, except a few
of them: and God knew the ungodly. And their prophet said unto them,
Verily God hath set Talût king over you: they answered, How shall he
reign over us, seeing we are more worthy of the kingdom than he, neither
is he possessed of great riches? Samuel said, Verily God hath chosen him
before you, and hath caused him to increase in knowledge and stature,
for God giveth his kingdom unto whom he pleaseth; God is bounteous and
wise. And their prophet said unto them, Verily the sign of his kingdom
shall be, that the ark shall come unto you: therein shall be
tranquillity from your Lord, and the relics which have been left by the
family of Moses, and the family of Aaron; the angels shall bring it.
Verily this shall be a sign unto you, if ye believe. And when Talût
departed with his soldiers, he said, Verily God will prove you by the
river: for he who drinketh thereof, shall not be on my side (but he who
shall not taste thereof he shall be on my side) except he who drinketh a
draught out of his hand. And they drank thereof, except a few of them.
And when they had passed the river, he and those who believed with him,
they said, We have no strength to-day against Jalut and his forces. But
they who considered that they should meet God at the resurrection, said,
How often hath a small army discomfited a great army, by the will of
God? and God is with those who patiently persevere. And when they went
forth to battle against Jalut and his forces, they said, O Lord, pour on
us patience, and confirm our feet, and help us against the unbelieving
people. Therefore they discomfited them, by the will of God, and David
slew Jalut. And God gave him the kingdom and wisdom, and taught him his
will; and if God had not prevented men, the one by the other, verily the
earth had been corrupted: but God is beneficent towards his creatures.
These are the signs of God: we rehearse them unto thee with truth, and
thou art surely one of those who have been sent by God. These are the
apostles; we have preferred some of them before others: some of them
hath God spoken unto, and hath exalted the degree of others of them. And
we gave unto Jesus the son of Mary manifest signs, and strengthened him
with the holy spirit. And if God had pleased, they who came after those
apostles would not have contended among themselves, after manifest signs
had been shown unto them. But they fell to variance; therefore some of
them believed, and some of them believed not; and if God had so pleased,
they would not have contended among themselves, but God doeth what he
will. O true believers, give alms of that which we have bestowed on you,
before the day cometh wherein there shall be no merchandising, nor
friendship, nor intercession. The infidels are unjust doers. God! there
is no God but he;[42] the living, the self-subsisting: neither slumber
nor sleep seizeth him; to him belongeth whatsoever is in heaven, and on
earth. Who is he that can intercede with him, but through his good
pleasure! He knoweth that which is past, and that which is to come unto
them, and they shall not comprehend anything of his knowledge, but so
far as he pleaseth. His throne is extended over heaven and earth,[43]
and the preservation of both is no burden unto him. He is the high, the
mighty. Let there be no violence in religion. Now is right direction
manifestly distinguished from deceit: whoever therefore shall deny
Tagut, and believe in God, he shall surely take hold on a strong handle,
which shall not be broken; God is he who heareth and seeth. God is the
patron of those who believe; he shall lead them out of darkness into
light: but as to those who believe not, their patrons are Tagut; they
shall lead them from the light into darkness; they shall be the
companions of hell fire, they shall remain therein forever. Hast thou
not considered him who disputed with Abraham concerning his Lord,
because God had given him the kingdom? When Abraham said, My Lord is he
who giveth life, and killeth: he answered, I give life, and I kill.
Abraham said, Verily God bringeth the sun from the east, now do thou
bring it from the west. Whereupon the infidel was confounded; for God
directeth not the ungodly people. Or hast thou not considered how he
behaved who passed by a city which had been destroyed, even to her
foundations? He said, How shall God quicken this city, after she hath
been dead? And God caused him to die for a hundred years, and afterwards
raised him to life. And God said, How long hast thou tarried here? He
answered, A day, or part of a day. God said, Nay, thou hast tarried here
a hundred years. Now look on thy food and the drink, they are not yet
corrupted; and look on thine ass: and this have we done that we might
make thee a sign unto men. And look on the bones of thine ass, how we
raise them, and afterwards clothe them with flesh. And when this was
shown unto him, he said, I know that God is able to do all things. And
when Abraham said, O Lord, show me how thou wilt raise the dead; God
said, Dost thou not yet believe? He answered, Yea; but I ask this that
my heart may rest at ease. God said, take therefore four birds, and
divide them; then lay a part of them on every mountain; then call them,
and they shall come swiftly unto thee: and know that God is mighty and
wise. The similitude of those who lay out their substance for advancing
the religion of God, is as a grain of corn which produceth seven ears,
and in every ear a hundred grains; for God giveth twofold unto whom he
pleaseth: God is bounteous and wise. They who lay out their substance
for the religion of God, and afterwards follow not what they have so
laid out by reproaches or mischief, they shall have their reward with
their Lord; upon them shall no fear come, neither shall they be grieved.
A fair speech, and to forgive, is better than alms followed by mischief.
God is rich and merciful. O true believers, make not your alms of no
effect by reproaching, or mischief, as he who layeth out what he hath to
appear unto men to give alms, and believeth not in God and the last day.
The likeness of such a one is as a flint covered with earth, on which a
violent rain falleth, and leaveth it hard. They cannot prosper in
anything which they have gained, for God directeth not the unbelieving
people. And the likeness of those who lay out their substance from a
desire to please God, and for an establishment for their souls, is as a
garden on a hill, on which a violent rain falleth, and it bringeth forth
its fruits twofold; and if a violent rain falleth not on it, yet the dew
falleth thereon: and God seeth that which ye do. Doth any of you desire
to have a garden of palm-trees and vines, through which rivers flow,
wherein he may have all kinds of fruits, and that he may attain to old
age, and have a weak offspring? then a violent fiery wind shall strike
it, so that it shall be burned. Thus God declareth his signs unto you,
that ye may consider. O true believers, bestow alms of the good things
which ye have gained, and of that which we have produced for you out of
the earth, and choose not the bad thereof, to give it in alms, such as
ye would not accept yourselves, otherwise than by connivance: and know
that God is rich and worthy to be praised. The devil threateneth you
with poverty, and commandeth you filthy covetousness; but God promiseth
you pardon from himself and abundance: God is bounteous and wise. He
giveth wisdom unto whom he pleaseth; and he unto whom wisdom is given,
hath received much good: but none will consider, except the wise of
heart. And whatever alms ye shall give, or whatever vow ye shall vow,
verily God knoweth it; but the ungodly shall have none to help them. If
ye make your alms to appear, it is well; but if ye conceal them, and
give them unto the poor, this will be better for you, and will atone for
your sins: and God is well informed of that which ye do. The direction
of them belongeth not unto thee; but God directeth whom he pleaseth. The
good that ye shall give in alms shall redound unto yourselves; and ye
shall not give unless out of desire of seeing the face of God. And what
good thing ye shall give in alms, it shall be repaid you, and ye shall
not be treated unjustly; unto the poor who are wholly employed in
fighting for the religion of God, and cannot go to and fro in the earth;
whom the ignorant man thinketh rich, because of their modesty: thou
shalt know them by this mark, they ask not men with importunity; and
what good ye shall give in alms, verily God knoweth it. They who
distribute alms of their substance night and day, in private and in
public, shall have their reward with the Lord; on them shall no fear
come, neither shall they be grieved. They who devour usury shall not
arise from the dead, but as he ariseth whom Satan hath infected by a
touch: this shall happen to them because they say, Truly selling is but
as usury: and yet God hath permitted selling and forbidden usury. He
therefore who, when there cometh unto him an admonition from his Lord,
abstaineth from usury for the future, shall have what is past forgiven
him, and his affair belongeth unto God. But whoever returneth to usury,
they shall be the companions of hell fire, they shall continue therein
forever. God shall take his blessing from usury, and shall increase
alms: for God loveth no infidel, or ungodly person. But they who believe
and do that which is right, and observe the stated times of prayer, and
pay their legal alms, they shall have their reward with their Lord:
there shall come no fear on them, neither shall they be grieved. O true
believers, fear God, and remit that which remaineth of usury, if ye
really believe; but if ye do it not, hearken unto war, which is declared
against you from God and his apostle: yet if ye repent, ye shall have
the capital of your money. Deal not unjustly with others, and ye shall
not be dealt with unjustly. If there be any debtor under a difficulty of
paying his debt, let his creditor wait till it be easy for him to do it;
but if ye remit it as alms, it will be better for you, if ye knew it.
And fear the day wherein ye shall return unto God; then shall every soul
be paid what it hath gained, and they shall not be treated unjustly. O
true believers, when ye bind yourselves one to the other in a debt for a
certain time, write it down; and let a writer write between you
according to justice, and let not the writer refuse writing according to
what God hath taught him; but let him write, and let him who oweth the
debt dictate, and let him fear God his Lord, and not diminish aught
thereof. But if he who oweth the debt be foolish, or weak, or be not
able to dictate himself, let his agent dictate according to equity; and
call to witness two witnesses of your neighboring men; but if there be
not two men, let there be a man and two women of those whom ye shall
choose for witnesses: if one of those women should mistake, the other of
them will cause her to recollect. And the witnesses shall not refuse,
whensoever they shall be called. And disdain not to write it down, be it
a large debt, or be it a small one, until its time of payment: this will
be more just in the sight of God, and more right for bearing witness,
and more easy, that ye may not doubt. But if it be a present bargain
which ye transact between yourselves, it shall be no crime in you, if ye
write it not down. And take witnesses when ye sell one to the other, and
let no harm be done to the writer, nor to the witness; which if ye do,
it will surely be injustice in you: and fear God, and God will instruct
you, for God knoweth all things. And if ye be on a journey, and find no
writer, let pledges be taken: but if one of you trust the other, let him
who is trusted return what he is trusted with, and fear God his Lord.
And conceal not the testimony, for he who concealeth it hath surely a
wicked heart: God knoweth that which ye do. Whatever is in heaven and on
earth is God's; and whether ye manifest that which is in your minds, or
conceal it, God will call you to account for it, and will forgive whom
he pleaseth, and will punish whom he pleaseth; for God is almighty. The
apostle believeth in that which hath been sent down unto him from his
Lord, and the faithful also. Every one of them believeth in God, and his
angels, and his scriptures, and his apostles: we make no distinction at
all between his apostles.[44] And they say, We have heard, and do obey:
we implore thy mercy, O Lord, for unto thee must we return. God will not
force any soul beyond its capacity: it shall have the good which it
gaineth, and it shall suffer the evil which it gaineth. O Lord, punish
us not, if we forget, or act sinfully: O Lord, lay not on us a burden
like that which thou hast laid on those who have been before us;[45]
neither make us, O Lord, to bear what we have not strength to bear, but
be favorable unto us, and spare us, and be merciful unto us. Thou art
our patron, help us therefore against the unbelieving nations.
[Footnote 22: This title was occasioned by the story of the red heifer,
mentioned p. 217.]
[Footnote 23: Concerning the creation of Adam, here intimated, the
Mohammedans have several peculiar traditions. They say the angels,
Gabriel, Michael, and Israfil, were sent by God, one after another, to
fetch for that purpose seven handfuls of earth from different depths,
and of different colors (whence some account for the various complexion
of mankind); but the earth being apprehensive of the consequence, and
desiring them to represent her fear to God that the creature he designed
to form would rebel against him, and draw down his curse upon her, they
returned without performing God's command; whereupon he sent Azraïl on
the same errand, who executed his commission without remorse, for which
reason God appointed that angel to separate the souls from the bodies,
being therefore called the angel of death. The earth he had taken was
carried into Arabia, to a place between Mecca and Tayef, where, being
first kneaded by the angels, it was afterwards fashioned by God himself
into a human form, and left to dry for the space of forty days, or, as
others say, as many years, the angels in the meantime often visiting it,
and Eblis (then one of the angels who are nearest to God's presence,
afterwards the devil) among the rest; but he, not contented with looking
on it, kicked it with his foot, and knowing God designed that creature
to be his superior, took a secret resolution never to acknowledge him as
such. After this, God animated the figure of clay and endued it with an
intelligent soul, and when he had placed him in paradise, formed Eve out
of his left side.]
[Footnote 24: This occasion of the devil's fall has some affinity with
an opinion which has been pretty much entertained among Christians,
viz., that the angels being informed of God's intention to create man
after his own image, and to dignify human nature by Christ's assuming
it, some of them, thinking their glory to be eclipsed thereby, envied
man's happiness, and so revolted.]
[Footnote 25: The Jews are here called upon to receive the Koran, as
verifying and confirming the Pentateuch, particularly with respect to
the unity of God, and the mission of Mohammed. And they are exhorted not
to conceal the passages of their law which bear witness to those truths,
nor to corrupt them by publishing false copies of the Pentateuch, for
which the writers were but poorly paid.]
[Footnote 26: The person who cast this calf, the Mohammedans say, was
(not Aaron but) al Sâmeri, one of the principal men among the children
of Israel, some of whose descendants it is pretended still inhabit an
island of that name in the Arabian Gulf. It was made of the rings and
bracelets of gold, silver, and other materials, which the Israelites had
borrowed of the Egyptians; for Aaron, who commanded in his brother's
absence, having ordered al Sâmeri to collect those ornaments from the
people, who carried on a wicked commerce with them, and to keep them
together till the return of Moses; al Sâmeri, understanding the
founder's art, put them into a furnace to melt them down into one mass,
which came out in the form of a calf.]
[Footnote 27: The eastern writers say these quails were of a peculiar
kind, to be found nowhere but in Yaman, from whence they were brought by
a south wind in great numbers to the Israelites' camp in the desert. The
Arabs call these birds Salwä, which is plainly the same with the Hebrew
Salwim, and say they have no bones, but are eaten whole.]
[Footnote 28: The occasion of this sacrifice is thus related: A certain
man at his death left his son, then a child, a cow-calf, which wandered
in the desert till he came to age; at which time his mother told him the
heifer was his, and bid him fetch her, and sell her for three pieces of
gold. When the young man came to the market with his heifer, an angel in
the shape of a man accosted him, and bid him six pieces of gold for her;
but he would not take the money till he had asked his mother's consent;
which when he had obtained, he returned to the market-place, and met the
angel, who now offered him twice as much for the heifer, provided he
would say nothing of it to his mother; but the young man refusing, went
and acquainted her with the additional offer. The woman perceiving it
was an angel, bid her son go back and ask him what must be done with the
heifer; whereupon the angel told the young man that in a little time the
children of Israel would buy that heifer of him at any price. And soon
after it happened that an Israelite, named Hammiel, was killed by a
relation of his, who, to prevent discovery, conveyed the body to a place
considerably distant from that where the act was committed. The friends
of the slain man accused some other persons of the murder before Moses;
but they denying the fact, and there being no evidence to convict them,
God commanded a cow, of such and such particular marks, to be killed;
but there being no other which answered the description except the
orphan's heifer, they were obliged to buy her for as much gold as her
hide would hold; according to some, for her full weight in gold, and as
others say, for ten times as much. This heifer they sacrificed, and the
dead body being, by divine direction, struck with a part of it, revived,
and standing up, named the person who had killed Him; after which it
immediately fell down dead again. The whole story seems to be borrowed
from the red heifer which was ordered by the Jewish law to be burnt, and
the ashes kept for purifying those who happened to touch a dead corpse;
and from the heifer directed to be slain for the expiation of an
uncertain murder. See Deut. xxi. 1-9.]
[Footnote 29: Those two Arabic words have both the same signification,
viz., Look on us; and are a kind of salutation. Mohammed had a great
aversion to the first, because the Jews frequently used it in derision,
it being a word of reproach in their tongue. They alluded, it seems, to
the Hebrew verb _ruá_, which signifies to be bad or mischievous.]
[Footnote 30: By baptism is to be understood the religion which God
instituted in the beginning; because the signs of it appear in the
person who professes it, as the signs of water appear in the clothes of
him that is baptized.]
[Footnote 31: At first, Mohammed and his followers observed no
particular rite in turning their faces towards any certain place, or
quarter, of the world, when they prayed; it being declared to be
perfectly indifferent.]
[Footnote 32: For this reason, whenever the Mohammedans kill any animal
for food, they always say, _Bismi allah_, or "In the name of God";
which, if it be neglected, they think it not lawful to eat of it.]
[Footnote 33: This is the common practice in Mohammedan countries,
particularly in Persia, where the relations of the deceased may take
their choice, either to have the murderer put into their hands to be put
to death, or else to accept of a pecuniary satisfaction.]
[Footnote 34: That is, the legacy was not to exceed a third part of the
testator's substance, nor to be given where there was no necessity. But
this injunction is abrogated by the law concerning inheritances.]
[Footnote 35: This person was al Akhnas Ebn Shoraik, a fair-spoken
dissembler, who swore that he believed in Mohammed, and pretended to be
one of his friends, and to contemn this world. But God here reveals to
the prophet his hypocrisy and wickedness.]
[Footnote 36: Setting fire to his neighbor's corn, and killing his asses
by night.]
[Footnote 37: The person here meant was one Soheib, who being persecuted
by the idolaters of Mecca forsook all he had and fled to Medina.]
[Footnote 38: Under the name of wine all sorts of strong and inebriating
liquors are comprehended.]
[Footnote 39: The original word, _al Meiser_, properly signifies a
particular game performed with arrows, and much in use with the pagan
Arabs. But by lots we are here to understand all games whatsoever, which
are subject to chance or hazard, as dice and cards.]
[Footnote 40: Some commentators expound this negatively, "That ye will
not deal justly, nor be devout ..." For such wicked oaths, they say,
were customary among the idolatrous inhabitants of Mecca; which gave
occasion to the following saying of Mohammed: "When you swear to do a
thing, and afterwards find it better to do otherwise, do that which is
better, and make void your oath."]
[Footnote 41: Yahya interprets this from a tradition of Mohammed, who,
being asked which was the middle prayer, answered, The evening prayer,
which was instituted by the prophet Solomon.]
[Footnote 42: The following seven lines contain a magnificent
description of the divine majesty and providence; but it must not be
supposed the translation comes up to the dignity of the original. This
passage is justly admired by the Mohammedans, who recite it in their
prayers; and some of them wear it about them, engraved on an agate or
other precious stone.]
[Footnote 43: This throne, in Arabic called Corsi, is by the Mohammedans
supposed to be God's tribunal, or seat of justice.]
[Footnote 44: But this, say the Mohammedans, the Jews do, who receive
Moses but reject Jesus; and the Christians, who receive both those
prophets, but reject Mohammed.]
[Footnote 45: That is, on the Jews, who, as the commentators tell us,
were ordered to kill a man by way of atonement, to give one-fourth of
their substance in alms, and to cut off an unclean ulcerous part, and
were forbidden to eat fat, or animals that divided the hoof, and were
obliged to observe the Sabbath, and other particulars wherein the
Mohammedans are at liberty.]
CHAPTER III
Entitled, the Family of Imran[46]--Revealed at Medina
_In the Name of the Most Merciful God_.