said to their people, "Verily, we are clear of you, and of what ye worship
beside God: we renounce you: and between us and hath hatred and enmity sprung
up for ever, until ye believe in God alone." Yet imitate not the language of
Abraham to his Father, "I will pray for thy forgiveness, but not aught shall
I obtain for thee from God."4 O our Lord! in thee do we trust! to thee do we
turn! to thee we shall come back at the last.
O our Lord! expose us not for trial to the unbelievers, and forgive us: for
thou art the Mighty, the Wise!
A good example had ye in them, for all who hope in God and in the last day.
But let who will turn back, God truly is the Rich, the Praiseworthy!
God will, perhaps, establish good will between yourselves and those of them
whom ye take to be your enemies:5 God is Powerful: and God is Gracious,
Merciful.
God doth not forbid you to deal with kindness and fairness toward those who
have not made war upon you on account of your religion, or driven you forth
from your homes: for God loveth those who act with fairness.>Only doth God
forbid you to make friends of those who, on account of your religion, have
warred against you, and have driven you forth from your homes, and have aided
those who drove you forth: and whoever maketh friends of them are wrong-
doers.
O Believers!6 when believing women come over to you as refugees (Mohadjers),
then make TRIAL of them. God best knoweth their faith; but if ye have also
ascertained their faith, let them not go back to the infidels; they are not
lawful for them, nor are the unbelievers lawful for these women. But give
them back what they have spent for their dowers. No crime shall it be in you
to marry them, provided ye give them their dowers. Do not retain any right in
the infidel women, but demand back what you have spent for their dowers, and
let the unbelievers demand back what they have spent for their wives.7 This
is the ordinance of God which He ordaineth among you: and God is Knowing,
Wise.
And if any of your wives escape from you to the Infidels from whom ye
afterwards take any spoil, then give to those whose wives shall have fled
away, the like of what they shall have spent for their dowers; and fear God
in whom ye believe.
O Prophet! when believing women come to thee, and pledge themselves that they
will not associate aught with God, and that they will not steal or commit
adultery, nor kill their children, nor bring scandalous charges,8 nor disobey
thee in what is right, then plight thou thy faith to them, and ask pardon for
them of God: for God is Indulgent, Merciful!
O Believers! enter not into amity with those against whom God is angered;
they despair of the life to come, even as the Infidels despair of the inmates
of the tombs.
_______________________
1 Revealed probably as far as verse 9 (Ramadhan Hej. 8) shortly before the
taking of Mecca.
2 Haleb (?) Ben Abu Baltaa had informed the Koreisch of an intended surprise
of Mecca on the part of Muhammad, with the view of making terms for his own
family who had been left there. The offence was pardoned, but the revelation
was nevertheless published with the view of preventing similar acts of
treachery in future.
3 Speaking of the representatives of the different religious systems
prevalent in the Roman Empire, as Orpheus, Abraham, Christ, Apollonius of
Tyana, enshrined among the household deities of Alexander Severus, Mr. Milman
remarks (Hist. of Christianity, ii. p. 231) that "It is singular that
Abraham, rather than Moses, was placed at the head of Judaism: it is possible
that the traditionary sanctity which attached to the first parent of the
Jewish people, and of many of the Arab tribes, and which was afterwards
embodied in the Koran, was floating in the East, and would comprehend, as it
were, the opinions, not only of the Jews, but of a much wider circle of the
Syrian natives."
4 Sura [cxiii.] ix. 115.
5 That is, by their conversion hereafter.
6 Said (see Nöld. p. 163) to have been revealed at, or shortly after, the
peace of Hudaibiya. According to the terms then agreed upon, a mutual
restitution of property was to take place.
7 Who are converted to Islam.
8 Lit. with a calumny which they have devised between their hands and their
feet. Said to have been revealed at the taking of Mecca. Tab. Beidh.
SURA1 CX.-HELP [CXI.]
MEDINA.-3 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
WHEN the HELP of God and the victory arrive,
And thou seest men entering the religion of God by troops;
Then utter the praise of thy Lord, implore His pardon; for He loveth to turn
in mercy.
_______________________
1 This Sura was revealed at the taking of Mecca, and is supposed to have
given Muhammad warning of his death.
SURA XLIX.-THE APARTMENTS [CXII.]
MEDINA.-18 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
O BELIEVERS! enter not upon any affair ere God and His Apostle1 permit you;
and fear ye God: for God Heareth, Knoweth.2
O Believers! raise not your voices above the voice of the Prophet, neither
speak loud to him as ye speak loud one to another, lest your works come to
nought, and ye unaware of it.
They who lower their voices in the presence of the Apostle of God, are the
persons whose hearts God hath inclined to piety. Forgiveness shall be theirs
and a rich reward.
They who call out to thee while thou art within3 thine APARTMENTS, have most
of them no right perception of what is due to thee.
But if they wait patiently till thou come forth to them, it were far better
for them. But God is Indulgent, Merciful.
O Believers! if any bad man4 come to you with news, clear it up at once, lest
through ignorance ye harm others, and speedily have to repent of what ye have
done.
And know that an Apostle of God is among you! should he give way to you in
many matters ye would certainly become guilty of a crime. But God hath
endeared the faith to you, and hath given it favour in your hearts, and hath
made unbelief, and wickedness, and disobedience hateful to you. Such are they
who pursue a right course.
Through the bounty and grace which is from God: and God is Knowing, Wise.
If two bodies of the faithful are at war, then make ye peace between them:5
and if the one of them wrong the other, fight against that party which doth
the wrong, until they come back to the precepts of God: if they come back,
make peace between them with fairness, and act impartially; God loveth those
who act with impartiality.
Only the faithful are brethren; wherefore make peace between your brethren;
and fear God, that ye may obtain mercy.
O Believers! let not men laugh men to scorn who haply may be better than
themselves; neither let women laugh women to scorn who may haply be better
than themselves!6 Neither defame one another, nor call one another by
nicknames. Bad is it to be called wicked after having professed the faith:7
and whoso repent not of this are doers of wrong.
O Believers! avoid frequent suspicions, for some suspicions are a crime; and
pry not: neither let the one of you traduce another in his absence. Would any
one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Surely ye would loathe
it. And fear ye God: for God is Ready to turn, Merciful.
O men! verily, we have created you of a male and a female; and we have
divided you into peoples and tribes that ye might have knowledge one of
another. Truly, the most worthy of honour in the sight of God is he who
feareth Him most.8 Verily, God is Knowing, Cognisant.
The Arabs of the desert9 say, "We believe." Say thou: Ye believe not; but
rather say, "We profess Islam;" for the faith hath not yet found its way into
your hearts. But if ye obey God and His Apostle, he will not allow you to
lose any of your actions: for God is Indulgent, Merciful.
The true believers are those only who believe in God and His Apostle, and
afterwards doubt not; and who contend with their substance and their persons
on the path of God. These are the sincere.
SAY: Will ye teach God about your religion? when God knoweth whatever is in
the Heavens and on the Earth: yea, God hath knowledge of all things.
They taunt thee with their having embraced Islam.10 SAY: Taunt me not with
your having embraced Islam: God rather taunteth you with His having guided
you to the faith: acknowledge this if ye are sincere.
Verily, God knoweth the secrets of the Heavens and of the Earth: and God
beholdeth what ye do.
_______________________
1 Or anticipate not, take not the lead of God and His Apostle.
2 All the ancient Interpreters (as His. 933 ff., Ibn Sa'd. 320, Tab. Agâní.
116 f.-comp. also Weil 244 ff., Caussin, iii. 271) refer from 1-5 to the
disrespectful demeanour, in Muhammad's presence, of the envoys of the Banu
Tamim in Hej. 9 or 10.
3 Lit. from without.
4 The commentators mentioned in the last note, as well as others, explain
this verse of Al Walid ben Uqba, who had brought a false report of the
refusal of the Banu'lmustaliq to pay certain alms which Muhammad had sent him
to demand. This Al Walid became governor of Kufa under Othman. He probably
was never really converted to Islam.
5 Upon this passage 91-2, die Muslimen, says Nöldeke, verschiedene
Geschichten erzählen, so dass sich Nichts sicher bestimmen Iässt, p. 164.
This remark applies to the great mass of Muhammadan comment.
6 Said to refer to Safia, one of Muhammad's wives. who had been taunted by
his other wives with being a Jewess.
7 Lit. Bad the name, wickedness, after faith.
8 That is, not the most nobly born, like the Koreisch. This verse is said to
have been revealed in Mecca on the day of its conquest. See Weil, Leben,
p.372, and n.
9 The Banû Asad had come to Medina in a year of famine to seek support for
themselves and families, and made profession of Islamism. Beidh.-Thus, also
Ibn Sad. Tabari. Wah.
10 As if by so doing they had conferred a favour on the Prophet.
SURA IX.1-IMMUNITY [CXIII.]
MEDINA.-130 Verses
An IMMUNITY from God and His Apostle to those with whom ye are in league,
among the Polytheist Arabs! (those who join gods with God).
Go ye, therefore, at large in the land four months: but know that God ye
shall not weaken;2 and that those who believe not, God will put to shame-
And a proclamation on the part of God and His Apostle to the people on the
day of the greater pilgrimage, that God is free from any engagement with the
votaries of other gods with God as is His Apostle! If, therefore, ye turn to
God it will be better for you; but if ye turn back, then know that ye shall
not weaken God: and to those who believe not, announce thou a grievous
punishment.
But this concerneth not those Polytheists with whom ye are in league, and who
shall have afterwards in no way failed you, nor aided anyone against you.
Observe, therefore, engagement with them through the whole time of their
treaty: for God loveth those who fear Him.
And when the sacred months3 are passed, kill those who join other gods with
God wherever ye shall find them; and seize them, besiege them, and lay wait
for them with every kind of ambush: but if they shall convert, and observe
prayer, and pay the obligatory alms, then let them go their way, for God is
Gracious, Merciful.
If any one of those who join gods with God ask an asylum of thee, grant him
an asylum, that he may hear the Word of God, and then let him reach his place
of safety. This, for that they are people devoid of knowledge.
How shall they who add gods to God be in league with God and with His
Apostle, save those with whom ye made a league at the sacred temple? So long
as they are true to you, be ye true to them; for God loveth those who fear
Him.
How can they? since if they prevail against you, they will not regard in you
either ties of blood or faith. With their mouths will they content you, but
their hearts will be averse. The greater part of them are perverse doers.
They sell the signs of God for a mean price, and turn others aside from his
way: evil is it that they do!
They regard not in a believer either ties of blood or faith; these are the
transgressors!
Yet if they turn to God and observe prayer, and pay the impost, then are they
your brethren in religion. We make clear our signs to those who understand.
But if, after alliance made, they break their oaths and revile your religion,
then do battle with the ring-leaders of infidelity-for no oaths are binding
with them that they may desist.
What! will ye not fight against those Meccans who have broken their oaths and
aimed to expel your Apostle, and attacked you first? Will ye dread them? God
is more worthy of your fear, if ye are believers!
So make war on them: By your hands will God chastise them, and will put them
to shame, and will give you victory over them, and will heal the bosoms of a
people who believe;
And will take away the wrath of their hearts. God will be turned unto whom He
will: and God is Knowing, Wise.
Think ye that ye shall be forsaken as if God did not yet know those among you
who do valiantly, and take none for their friends beside God, and His
Apostle, and the faithful? God is well apprised of your doings.
It is not for the votaries of other gods with God, witnesses against
themselves of infidelity, to visit the temples of God. These! vain their
works: and in the fire shall they abide for ever!
He only should visit the temples of God who believeth in God and the last
day, and observeth prayer, and payeth the legal alms, and dreadeth none but
God. These haply will be among the rightly guided.
Do ye place the giving drink to the pilgrims, and the visitation of the
sacred temple,4 on the same level with him who believeth in God and the last
day, and fighteth on the way of God? They shall not be held equal by God: and
God guideth not the unrighteous.
They who have believed, and fled their homes, and striven with their
substance and with their persons on the path of God, shall be of highest
grade with God: and these are they who shall be happy!
Tidings of mercy from Himself, and of His good pleasure, doth their Lord send
them, and of gardens in which lasting pleasure shall be theirs;
Therein shall they abide for ever; for God! with Him is a great reward.
O Believers! make not friends of your fathers or your brethren if they love
unbelief above faith: and whoso of you shall make them his friends, will be
wrong doers.
SAY: If your fathers, and your sons, and your brethren, and your wives, and
your kindred, and the wealth which ye have gained, and merchandise which ye
fear may be unsold, and dwellings wherein ye delight, be dearer to you than
God and His Apostle and efforts on his Path, then wait until God shall
Himself enter on His work:5 and God guideth not the impious.
Now hath God helped you in many battlefields, and, on the day of Honein,6
when ye prided yourselves on your numbers; but it availed you nothing; and
the earth, with all its breadth, became too straight for you:7 then turned ye
your backs in flight:
Then did God send down His spirit of repose8 upon His Apostle, and upon the
faithful, and He sent down the hosts which ye saw not, and He punished the
Infidels: This, the Infidels' reward!
Yet, after this, will God be turned to whom He pleaseth; for God is Gracious,
Merciful!
O Believers! only they who join gods with God are unclean! Let them not,
therefore, after this their year, come near the sacred Temple. And if ye fear
want,9 God, if He please, will enrich you of His abundance: for God is
Knowing, Wise.
Make war upon such of those to whom the Scriptures have been given as believe
not in God, or in the last day, and who forbid not that which God and His
Apostle have forbidden, and who profess not the profession of the truth,
until they pay tribute out of hand,10 and they be humbled.11
The Jews say, "Ezra (Ozair) is a son of God";12 and the Christians say, "The
Messiah is a son of God." Such the sayings in their mouths! They resemble the
saying of the Infidels of old! God do battle with them! How are they
misguided!
They take their teachers, and their monks, and the Messiah, son of Mary, for
Lords13 beside God, though bidden to worship one God only. There is no God
but He! Far from His glory be what they associate with Him!
Fain would they put out God's light with their mouths: but God only desireth
to perfect His light, albeit the Infidels abhor it.
He it is who hath sent His Apostle with the Guidance and a religion of the
truth, that He may make it victorious14 over every other religion, albeit
they who assign partners to God be averse from it.
O Believers! of a truth, many of the teachers and monks do devour man's
substance in vanity, and turn them from the Way of God. But to those who
treasure up gold and silver and expend it not in the Way of God, announce
tidings of a grievous torment.
On that day their treasures shall be heated in hell fire, and their
foreheads, and their sides, and their backs, shall be branded with them. . .
. "This is what ye have treasured up for yourselves: taste, therefore, your
treasures!"
Twelve months is the number of months with God,15 according to God's book,
since the day when He created the Heavens and the Earth: of these four are
sacred: this is the right usage: But wrong not yourselves therein; attack
those who join gods with God in all, as they attack you in all: and know that
God is with those who fear Him.
To carry over a sacred month to another, is only a growth of infidelity. The
Infidels are led into error by it. They allow it one year, and forbid it
another, that they may make good the number of months which God hath
hallowed, and they allow that which God hath prohibited. The evil of their
deeds hath been prepared for them by Satan: for God guideth not the people
who do not believe.
O Believers! what possessed you, that when it was said to you, "March forth
on the Way of God," ye sank heavily earthwards? What! prefer ye the life of
this world to the next? But the fruition of this mundane life, in respect of
that which is to come, is but little.16
Unless ye march forth, with a grievous chastisement will He chastise you; and
He will place another people in your stead, and ye shall in no way harm Him:
for over everything is God potent.
If ye assist not your Prophet . . . God assisted him formerly, when the
unbelievers drove him forth, in company with a second only!17 when they two
were in the cave; when the Prophet said to his companion, "Be not distressed;
verily, God is with us." And God sent down His tranquillity upon him, and
strengthened him with hosts ye saw not, and made the word of those who
believed not the abased, and the word of God was the exalted: for God is
Mighty, Wise.
March ye forth the light and heavy armed,18 and contend with your substance
and your persons on the Way of God. This, if ye know it, will be better for
you.
Had there been a near advantage and a short journey, they would certainly
have followed thee; but the way seemed long to them.19 Yet will they swear by
God, "Had we been able, we had surely gone forth with you:" they are self-
destroyers! And God knoweth that they are surely liars!
God forgive thee! Why didst thou give them leave to stay behind, ere they who
make true excuses had become known to thee, and thou hadst known the liars?
They who believe in God and in the last day will not ask leave of thee to be
exempt from contending with their substance and their persons. But God
knoweth those who fear Him!
They only will ask thy leave who believe not in God and the last day, and
whose hearts are full of doubts, and who are tossed up and down in their
doubtings.
Moreover, had they been desirous to take the field, they would have got ready
for that purpose the munitions of war.20 But God was averse to their
marching forth, and made them laggards; and it was said, "Sit ye at home with
those who sit."
Had they taken the field with you, they would only have added a burden to
you, and have hurried about among you, stirring you up to sedition; and some
there are among you who would have listened to them: and God knoweth the evil
doers.
Of old aimed they at sedition, and deranged thy affairs, until the truth
arrived, and the behest of God became apparent, averse from it though they
were.
Some of them say to thee, "Allow me to remain at home, and expose me not to
the trial." Have they not fallen into a trial already? But verily, Hell shall
environ the Infidels!
If a success betide thee, it annoyeth them: but if a reverse betide thee,
they say, "We took our own measures before:" and they turn their backs and
are glad.
SAY: Nothing can befall us but what God hath destined21 for us. Our liege-
lord is He; and on God let the faithful trust!
SAY: Await ye for us, other than one of the two best things?22 But we await
for you the infliction of a chastisement by God, from himself, or at our
hands. Wait ye then; we verily will wait with you.
SAY: Make ye your offerings willingly or by constraint; it cannot be accepted
from you, because ye are a wicked people:
And nothing hindreth the acceptance of their offerings, but that they believe
not in God and His Apostle, and discharge not the duty of prayer but with
sluggishness, and make not offerings but with reluctance.
Let not, therefore, their riches or their children amaze thee. God is only
minded to punish them by means of these, in this life present, and that their
souls may depart while they are unbelievers.23
And they swear by God that they are indeed of you, yet they are not of you,
but they are people who are afraid of you:
If they find a place of refuge, or caves, or a hiding place, they assuredly
turn towards it and haste thereto.
Some of them also defame thee in regard to the alms; yet if a part be given
them, they are content, but if no part be given them, behold, they are angry!
Would that they were satisfied with that which God and His Apostle had given
them, and would say "God sufficeth us! God will vouchsafe unto us of His
favour, and so will His Apostle: verily unto God do we make our suit!"
But alms are only to be given to the poor and the needy,24 and those who
collect them, and to those25 whose hearts are won to Islam, and for ransoms,
and for debtors, and for the cause of God, and the wayfarer. This is an
ordinance from God: and God is Knowing, Wise.
There are some of them who injure26 the Prophet and say, "He is all ear."
Say: An ear of good to you! He believeth in God, and believeth the believers:
and is a mercy to such of you as believe:
But they who injure the Apostle of God, shall suffer a dolorous chastisement.
They swear to you by God to please you; but worthier is God, and His Apostle,
that they should please Him, if they are believers.
Know they not, that for him who opposeth God and His Apostle, is surely the
fire of Hell, in which he shall remain for ever? This is the great ignominy!
The hypocrites are afraid lest a Sura should be sent down concerning them, to
tell them plainly what is in their hearts. SAY: Scoff ye; but God will bring
to light that which ye are afraid of.
And if thou question them, they will surely say, "We were only discoursing
and jesting." SAY: What! do ye scoff at God, and His signs, and His Apostle?
Make no excuse: from faith ye have passed to infidelity! If we forgive some
of you, we will punish others: for that they have been evil doers.
Hypocritical men and women imitate one another.27 They enjoin what is evil,
and forbid what is just, and shut up their hands.28 They have forgotten God,
and He hath forgotten them. Verily, the hypocrites are the perverse doers.
God promiseth the hypocritical men and women, and the unbelievers, the fire
of Hell-therein shall they abide-this their sufficing portion! And God hath
cursed them, and a lasting torment shall be theirs.
Ye act like those who flourished before you. Mightier were they than you in
prowess, and more abundant in wealth and children, and they enjoyed their
portion: so ye also enjoy your portion, as they who were before you enjoyed
theirs; and ye hold discourses like their discourses. These! vain their works
both for this world and for that which is to come! These! they are the lost
ones.
Hath not the history reached them of those who were before them?-of the
people of Noah,29 and of Ad, and of Themoud, and of the people of Abraham,
and of the inhabitants of Madian, and of the overthrown cities? Their
apostles came to them with clear proofs of their mission: God would not deal
wrongly by them, but they dealt wrongly by themselves.