ENTITLED, T. H.;d REVEALED AT MECCA.
IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.
T. H. WE have not sent down the Koran unto thee, that thou shouldest be
unhappy;e
but for an admonition unto him who feareth God:
being sent down from him who created the earth, and the lofty heavens.
The Merciful sitteth on his throne:
unto him belongeth whatsoever is in heaven and on earth, and whatsoever
is between them, and whatsoever is under the earth.
If thou pronounce thy prayers with a loud voice, know that it is not
necessary in respect to God; for he knoweth that which is secret, and what is
yet more hidden.
GOD! there is no GOD but he, he hath most excellent names.f
Hast thou been informed of the history of Moses?g
c viz., The love of GOD and all the inhabitants of heaven. Some
suppose this verse was revealed to comfort the Moslems who were hated and
despised at Mecca, on account of their faith, by the promise of their gaining
the love and esteem of mankind in a short time.
d The signification of these letters, which being prefixed to the
chapter are therefore taken for the title, is uncertain.1 Some, however,
imagine they stand for Ya rajol, i.e. O man! which interpretation, seeming not
easily to be accounted for from the Arabic, is by a certain tradition deduced
from the Ethiopic:2 or for Ta, i.e. tread; telling us that Mohammed, being
employed in watching and prayer the night this passage was revealed, stood on
one foot only, but was hereby commanded to ease himself by setting both feet
to the ground. Others fancy the first letter stands for Tûba, beatitude; and
the latter for Hawiyat, the name of the lower apartment of hell. Tah is also
an interjection commanding silence, and may properly enough be used in this
place.
e Either by reason of thy zealous solicitude for the conversion of the
infidels, or thy fatiguing thyself by watching and other religious exercises;
for, it seems, the Koreish urged the extraordinary fatigues he underwent in
those respects, as the consequence of his having left their religion.3
f See chapter 7, p. 123, and chapter 17, p. 216.
g The relation of the story of Moses, which takes up the greatest part
of this chapter, was designed to encourage Mohammed, by his example, to
discharge the prophetic office with firmness of mind, as being assured of
receiving the like assistance from GOD: for it is said this chapter was one of
the first that were revealed.4
1 See the Prelim. Disc. Sect. III. p. 46, &c. 2 Moham. Ebn Abd
al Baki, ex trad. Acremæ Ebn Abi Sofian. 3 Al Beidâwi. 4
Idem.
When he saw fire, and said unto his family, Tarry ye here; for I perceive
fire:
10 peradventure I may bring you a brand thereout, or may find a direction
in our way by the fire.h
And when he was come near unto it, a voice called unto him, saying, O
Moses,
verily I am thy LORD: wherefore put off thy shoes;i for thou art in the
sacred valley Towa.
And I have chosen thee; therefore hearken with attention unto that which
is revealed unto thee.
Verily I am GOD; there is no god besides me; wherefore worship me, and
perform thy prayer in remembrance of me.
Verily the hour cometh: I will surely manifest the same,
that every soul may receive its reward for that which it hath
deliberately done.
Let not him who believeth not therein, and who followeth his lust,
prevent thee from believing in the same, lest thou perish.
Now what is that in thy right hand, O Moses?
He answered, It is my rod whereon I lean, and with which I beat down
leaves for my flock; and I have other uses for it.j
20 God said unto him, Cast it down, O Moses.
And he cast it down, and behold, it became a serpent,k which ran about.
God said, Take hold on it, and fear not:l we will reduce it to its former
condition.
And put thy right hand under thy left arm: it shall come forth white,m
without any hurt. This shall be another sign:
that we may show thee some of our greatest signs.
Go unto Pharaoh: for he is exceedingly impious.
Moses answered, LORD, enlarge my breast,
and make what thou hast commanded me easy unto me:
and loose the knot of my tongue,
that they may understand my speech.n
30 And give me a counselloro of my family,
namely, Aaron my brother.
Gird up my loins by him,
and make him my colleague in the business:
that we may praise thee greatly, and may remember thee often;
for thou regardest us.
God replied, Now hast thou obtained thy request, O Moses:
and we have heretofore been gracious unto thee, another time;
h The commentators say, that Moses having obtained leave of Shoaib, or
Jethro, his father-in-law, to visit his mother, departed with his family from
Midian towards Egypt; but coming to the valley of Towa, wherein Mount Sinai
stands, his wife fell in labour, and was delivered of a son, in a very dark
and snowy night; he had also lost his way, and his cattle were scattered from
him; when on a sudden he saw a fire by the side of a mountain, which on his
nearer approaching he found burning in a green bush.1
i This was a mark of humility and respect: though some fancy there was
some uncleanness in the shoes themselves, because they were made of the skin
of an ass not dressed.2
j As to drive away wild beasts from my flock, to carry my bottle of
water on, to stick up and hang my upper garment on to shade me from the sun;
and several other uses enumerated by the commentators.
k Which was at first no bigger than the rod, but afterwards swelled to
a prodigious size.3
l When Moses saw the serpent move about with great nimbleness, and
swallow stones and trees, he was greatly terrified, and fled from it; but
recovering his courage at these words of GOD, he had the boldness to take the
serpent by the jaws.4
m See chapter 7, p. 116.
n For Moses had an impediment in his speech, which was occasioned by
the following accident. Pharaoh one day carrying him in his arms, when a
child, he suddenly laid hold of his bear, and plucked it in a very rough
manner, which put Pharaoh into such a passion, that he ordered him to be put
to death: but Asia, his wife, representing to him that he was but a child, who
could not distinguish between a burning coal and a ruby, he ordered the
experiment to be made; and a live coal and a ruby being set before Moses, he
took the coal and put it into his mouth, and burnt his tongue; and thereupon
he was pardoned. This is a Jewish story a little altered.5
o The Arabic word is Wazîr, which signifies one who has the chief
administration of affairs under a prince.
1 Idem. 2 Idem. 3 Idem. 4 Idem.
5 Vide Shalsh. Hakkab, p. 11.
when we revealed unto thy mother that which was revealed unto her,p
saying, Put him into the ark, and cast him into the river and the river
shall throw him on the shore; and my enemy and his enemy shall take him and
bring him up;q and I bestowed on thee love from me,r
40 that thou mightest be bred up under my eye.
When thy sister went and said, Shall I bring you unto one who will nurse
the child?s So we returned thee unto thy mother, that her mind might be set
at ease, and that she might not be afflicted. And thou slewest a soul, and we
delivered thee from trouble;t and we proved thee by several trials:u
and afterwards thou didst dwell some yearsx among the inhabitants of
Madian. Then thou camest hither according to our decree, O Moses;
and I have chosen thee for myself;
wherefore go thou and thy brothery with my signs; and be not negligent in
remembering me.
Go ye unto Pharaoh, for he is excessively impious:
and speak mildly unto him; peradventure he will consider, or will fear
our threats.
They answered, O LORD, verily we fear lest he be precipitately violent
against us, or lest he transgress more exorbitantly.
God replied, Fear not; for I am with you: I will hear and will see.
Go ye therefore unto him, and say, Verily we are the messengers of thy
LORD: wherefore send the children of Israel with us, and do not afflict them.
Now are we come unto thee with a sign from thy LORD: and peace be upon him who
shall follow the true direction.
50 Verily it hath been revealed unto us, that a punishment shall be
inflicted on him who shall charge us with imposture, and shall turn back.
And when they had delivered their message, Pharaoh said, Who is your
LORD, O Moses?
He answered, Our LORD is he who giveth all things: he hath created them,
and directeth them by his providence.
p The commentators are not agreed by what means this revelation was
made; whether by private inspiration, by a dream, by a prophet, or by an
angel.
q The commentators say, that his mother accordingly made an ark of the
papyrus, and pitched it, and put in some cotton; and having laid the child
therein, committed it to the river, a branch of which went into Pharaoh's
garden: that the stream carried the ark thither into a fishpond, at the head
of which Pharaoh was then sitting, with his wife Asia, the daughter of
Mozahem; and that the king, having commanded it to be taken up and opened, and
finding in it a beautiful child, took a fancy to it, and ordered it to be
brought up.1
Some writers mention a miraculous preservation of Moses before he was
put into the ark; and tell us, that his mother having hid him from Pharaoh's
officers in an oven, his sister, in her mother's absence, kindled a large fire
in the oven to heat it, not knowing the child was there, but that he was
afterwards taken out unhurt.2
r That is, I inspired the love of thee into the hearts of those who saw
thee, and particularly into the heart of Pharaoh.
s The Mohammedans pretend that several nurses were brought, but the
child refused to take the breast of any, till his sister Miriam, who went to
learn news of him, told them she would find a nurse, and brought his mother.3
t Moses killed an Egyptian, in defence of an Israelite, and escaped the
danger of being punished for it, by flying to Midian, which was eight days'
journey distant from Mesr.4
The Jews pretend he was actually imprisoned for the fact, and condemned
to be beheaded, but that, when he should have suffered, his neck became as
hard as ivory, and the sword rebounded on the executioner.5
u For he was obliged to abandon his country and his friends, and to
travel several days, in great terror and want of necessary provisions, to seek
a refuge among strangers; and was afterwards forced to serve for hire, to gain
a livelihood.
x i.e., Ten.6
y Aaron being by this time come out to meet his brother, either by
divine inspiration, or having notice of his design to return to Egypt.7
1 Al Beidâwi. 2 Abulfeda, &c. 3 Al Beidâwi.
4 Idem.
5 Shalsh Hakkab. p. 11. 6 Al Beidâwi. 7 Idem.
Pharaoh said, What therefore is the condition of the former generations?z
Moses answered, The knowledge thereof is with my LORD, in the book of his
decrees: my LORD erreth not, neither doth he forget.
It is he who hath spread the earth as a bed for you, and hath made you
paths therein; and who sendeth down rain from heaven, whereby we cause various
kinds of vegetables to spring forth:
saying, Eat of part, and feed your cattle with other part thereof.
Verily herein are signs unto those who are endued with understanding.
Out of the ground have we created you; and to the same will we cause you
to return, and we will bring you forth from thence another time.
And we showed Pharaoh all our signs which we had empowered Moses to
perform: but he accused him of imposture, and refused to believe;
and he said, Art thou come unto us that thou mayest dispossess us of our
land by the enchantments, O Moses?
60 Verily we will meet thee with the like enchantments; wherefore fix an
appointment between us and thee; we will not fail it, neither shalt thou, in
an equal place.
Moses answered, Let your appointment be on the day of your solemn feast;a
and let the people be assembled in open day.
And Pharaoh turned away from Moses, and gathered together the most expert
magicians to execute his stratagem; and then came to the appointment.
Moses said unto them, Woe be unto you! do not devise a lie against GOD,b
lest he utterly destroy you by some judgment: for he shall not prosper
who deviseth lies.
And the magicians disputed concerning their affair among themselves, and
discoursed in private:
and they said, These two are certainly magicians: they seek to dispossess
you of your land by their sorcery; and to lead away with them your chiefest
and most considerable men.
Wherefore collect all your cunning, and then come in order: for he shall
prosper this day, who shall be superior.
They said, O Moses, whether wilt thou cast down thy rod first, or shall
we be the first who cast down our rods?
He answered, Do ye cast down your rods first. And behold, their cords
and their rods appeared unto him, by their enchantment, to run about like
serpents;c
70 wherefore Moses conceived fear in his heart.
But we said unto him, Fear not; for thou shalt be superior:
therefore cast down the rod which is in thy right hand; and it shall
swallow up the seeming serpents which they have made: for what they have made
is only the deceit of an enchanter; and an enchanter shall not prosper,
withersoever he cometh.
And the magicians, when they saw the miracle which Moses performed, fell
down and worshipped, saying, We believe in the LORD of Aaron and of Moses.
Pharaoh said unto them, Do ye believe in him before I give you
permission? Verily this is your master, who hath taught you magic. But I
will surely cut off your hands and your feet on the opposite sides; and I will
crucify you on trunks of palm-trees:d and ye shall know which of us is more
severe in punishing, and can longer protract your pains.
z viz., As to happiness or misery after death.
a Which was probably the first day of their new year.
b By saying the miracles performed in his name are the effects of
magic.
c They rubbed them over with quicksilver, which being wrought upon by
the heat of the sun, caused them to move.1 See chapter 7, p. 116.
d See Ibid.
1 Idem.
They answered, We will by no means have greater regard unto thee than
unto those evident miracles which have been shown us, or than unto him who
hath created us. Pronounce therefore that sentence against us which thou art
about to pronounce: for thou canst only give sentence as to this present life.
Verily we believe in our LORD, that he may forgive us our sins, and the
sorcery which thou hast forced us to exercise: for GOD is better to reward,
and more able to prolong punishment than thou.
Verily whosoever shall appear before his LORD on the day of judgment,
polluted with crimes, shall have hell for his reward; he shall not die
therein, neither shall he live.
But whoever shall appear before him, having been a true believer, and
shall have worked righteousness, for these are prepared the highest degrees of
happiness;
namely, gardens of perpetual abode,e which shall be watered by rivers;
they shall remain therein forever: and this shall be the reward of him who
shall be pure.
And we spake by revelation unto Moses, saying, Go forth with my servants
out of Egypt by night; and smite the waters with thy rod, and make them a dry
path through the sea:f
80 be not apprehensive of Pharaoh's overtaking thee; neither be thou
afraid.
And when Moses had done so, Pharaoh followed them with his forces; and
the waters of the sea overwhelmed them. And Pharaoh caused his people to err,
neither did he direct them aright.
Thus, O children of Israel, we delivered you from your enemy; and we
appointed you the right side of Mount Sinai to discourse with Moses and to
give him the law; and we caused manna and quails to descend upon you,g
saying, Eat of the good things which we have given you for food; and
transgress not therein,h lest my indignation fall on you; and on whomsoever my
indignation shall fall, he shall go down headlong into perdition.
But I will be gracious unto him who shall repent and believe, and shall
do that which is right; and who shall be rightly directed.
What hath caused thee to hasten from thy people, O Moses, to receive the
law?i
He answered, These follow close on my footsteps; but I have hastened unto
thee, O LORD, that thou mightest be well pleased with me.
God said, We have already made a trial of thy people, since thy
departure;j and al Sâmerik hath seduced them to idolatry.
e Literally, gardens of Eden; see chapter 9, p. 142, 143.
f The expositors add, that the sea was divided into twelve separate
paths, one for each tribe:1 a fable borrowed from the Jews.2
g See chapter 2, p. 7.
h By ingratitude, excess, or insolent behaviour.
i For Moses, it seems, outwent the seventy elders, who had been chosen,
in obedience to the divine command, to accompany him to the mount,3 and
appeared before GOD while they were at some, though no great, distance behind
him.
j They continued in the worship of the true GOD for the first twenty
days of Moses's absence, which, by taking the nights also into their
reckoning, they computed to be forty, and at their expiration concluded they
had stayed the full time which Moses had commanded them, and so fell into the
worship of the golden calf.4
k This was not his proper name, but he had this appellation because he
was of a certain tribe among the Jews called Samaritans (wherein the
Mohammedans strangely betray their ignorance in history); though some say he
was a proselyte, but a hypocritical one, and originally of Kirmân, or some
other country. His true name was Moses, or Mûsa, Ebn Dhafar.5
Selden is of opinion that this person was no other than Aaron himself,
(who was really the maker of the calf), and that he is here called al Sâmeri,
from the Hebrew verb shamar, to keep;1 because he was the Keeper or Guardian
of the children of Israel during his brother's absence in the mount; which is
a very ingenious conjecture, not absolutely inconsistent with the text of the
Korân (though Mohammed seems to have mistaken al Sâmeri for the name of a
different person), and offers a much more probable origin of that appellation,
than to derive it, as the Mohammedans do, from the Samaritans, who were not
formed into a people, nor bore that name till many ages after.
1 Idem, Abulfed. in Hist. 2 Vide R. Eliezer, Pirke, chapter
42. 3 See chapter 2, p. 6, 7; chapter 7, p. 120, &c.
4 Al Beidâwi. 5 Idem.
Wherefore Moses returned unto his peoplel in great wrath, and exceedingly
afflicted.
And he said, O my people, had not your LORD promised you a most excellent
promise?m Did the time of my absence seem long unto you? Or did ye desire
that indignation from your LORD should fall on you, and therefore failed to
keep the promise which ye made me?
90 They answered, We have not failed in what we promised thee of our own
authority; but we were made to carry in several loads of gold and silver, of
the ornaments of the people,n and we cast them into the fire; and in like
manner al Sâmeri also cast in what he had collected, and he produced unto them
a corporeal calf,o which lowed. And al Sâmeri and his companions said, This
is your god, and the god of Moses; but he hath forgotten him, and is gone to
seek some other.
Did they not therefore see that their idol returned them no answer, and
was not able to cause them either hurt or profit?
And Aaron had said unto them before, O my people, verily ye are only
proved by this calf; for your LORD is the Merciful: wherefore, follow me, and
obey my command.
They answered, We will by no means cease to be devoted to its worship,
until Moses return unto us.
And when Moses was returned, he said, O Aaron, what hindered thee, when
thou sawest that they went astray, that thou didst not follow me?p Hast thou,
therefore, been disobedient to my command?
Aaron answered, O son of my mother, drag me not by the beard, nor by the
hair of my head. Verily I feared lest thou shouldest say,
Thou hast made a division among the children of Israel, and thou hast not
observed my saying.q
Moses said unto al Sâmeri, What was thy design, O Sâmeri? He answered, I
saw that which they saw not;r wherefore I took a handful of dust from the
footsteps of the messenger of God, and I cast it into the molten calf;s for so
did my mind direct me.
l viz., After he had completed his forty days' stay in the mount, and
had received the law.2
m i.e., The law, containing a light and certain direction to guide you
in the right way.
n These ornaments were rings, bracelets, and the like, which the
Israelities had borrowed of the Egyptians, under pretence of decking
themselves out for some feast, and had not returned to them; or, as some
think, what they had stripped from the dead bodies of the Egyptians, cast on
shore by the sea: and al Sameri, conceiving them unlawful to be kept, and the
occasion of much wickedness, persuaded Aaron to let him collect them from the
people; which being done, he threw them all into the fire, to melt them down
into one mass.3
It is observable, that the Mohammedans generally suppose the cast
metal's coming forth in the shape of a calf, was beside the expectation of al
Sameri, who had not made a mould of that figure: and that when Aaron excuses
himself to his brother, in the pentateuch, he seems as if he would persuade
him it was an accident.4
o See chapter 7, p. 119, note n.
p By these words Moses reprehends Aaron for not seconding his zeal in
taking arms against the idolaters; or for not coming after him to the
mountain, to acquaint him with their rebellion.
q i.e., Lest if I had taken arms against the worshippers of the calf,
thou shouldest say that I had raised a sedition; or if I had gone after thee,
thou shouldest blame me for abandoning my charge, and not waiting thy return
to rectify what was amiss.
r Or, I knew that which they knew not; viz., That the messenger sent to
thee from GOD was a pure spirit, and that his footsteps gave life to whatever
they touched; being no other than the angel Gabriel, mounted on the horse of
life: and therefore I made use of the dust of his feet to animate the molten
calf. It is said al Sâmeri knew the angel, because he had saved and taken
care of him when a child and exposed by his mother for fear of Pharaoh.1
s See chapter 2, p. 6.
1 Selden, de Diis Syris, Synt. I, chapter 4. 2 Al Beidâwi.
3 Idem. Vide D'Herbel. Bibl. Orient. p. 650, and Kor. chapter 2, p. 6,
&c. 4 See Exod. xxxii. 24. 1 Al Beidâwi, Jallalo'ddin.
Moses said, Get thee gone; for thy punishment in this life shall be, that
thou shalt say unto those who shall meet thee, Touch me not;t and a threat is
denounced against thee of more terrible pains, in the life to come, which thou
shalt by no means escape. And behold now thy god, to whose worship thou hast
continued assiduously devoted; verily we will burn it;u and we will reduce it
to powder, and scatter it in the sea.
Your GOD is the true GOD, besides whom there is no other god: he
comprehendeth all things by his knowledge.
100 Thus do we recite unto thee, O Mohammed, relations of what hath passed
heretofore; and we have given thee an admonition from us.
He who shall turn aside from it shall surely carry a load of guilt on the
day of resurrection:
they shall continue thereunder forever; and a grievous burden shall it be
unto them on the day of resurrection;x
On that day the trumpet shall be sounded; and we will gather the wicked
together on that day, having grey eyes.y
They shall speak with a low voice to one another, saying, Ye have not
tarriedz above ten days.
We well know what they will say; when the most conspicuous among them for
behavior shall say, Ye have not tarried above one day.
They will ask thee concerning the mountains: Answer, My LORD will reduce
them to dust, and scatter them abroad;a
and he will leave them a plain equally extended: thou shalt see no part
of them higher or lower than another.
On that day mankind shall follow the angel who will call them to
judgment,b none shall have power to turn aside from him; and their voices
shall be low before the Merciful, neither shalt thou hear any more than the
hollow sound of their feet.
t Lest they infect thee with a burning fever: for that was the
consequence of any man's touching him, and the same happened to the persons he
touched; for which reason he was obliged to avoid all communication with
others, and was also shunned by them, wandering in the desert like a wild
beast.2
Hence, it is concluded that a tribe of Samaritan Jews, said to inhabit a
certain isle in the Red Sea, are the descendants of our al Sâmeri; because it
is their peculiar mark of distinction, at this day, to use the same words,
viz., La mesâs, i.e., Touch me not, to those they meet.3 It is not improbable
that this story may owe its rise to the known hatred borne by the Samaritans
to the Jews, and their superstitiously avoiding to have any commerce with
them, or any other strangers.4
u Or, as the word may also be translated, We will file it down; but the
other is the more received interpretation.
x See chapter 6, p. 91.
y For this, with the Arabs, is one mark of an enemy, or a person they
abominate; to say a man has a black liver (though I think we express our
aversion by the term white-livered), reddish whiskers and grey eyes, being a
periphrasis for a foe, and particularly a Greek, which nation were the most
inveterate enemies of the Arabs, and have usually hair and eyes of those
colours.5 The original word, however, signifies also those who are squint-
eyed, or even blind of a suffusion.
z viz., In the world; or, in the grave.
a See the Prelim. Disc. Sect. IV. p. 64.
b See ibid. p. 56.
2 Iidem. 3 Vide Geogr. Nub. p. 45. 4 Vide Selden,
ubi sup. 5 Al Beidâwi, Jawhari, in Lex.
25
On that day, the intercession of none shall be of advantage unto another,
except the intercession of him to whom the Merciful shall grant permission,c
and who shall be acceptable unto him in what he saith.
110 God knoweth that which is before them, and that which is behind them;
but they comprehend not the same by their knowledge:
and their faces shall be humbledd before the living, the self-subsisting
God; and he shall be wretched who shall bear his iniquity.
But whosoever shall do good works, being a true believer, shall not fear
any injustice, or any diminution of his reward from God.
And thus have we sent down this book, being a Koran in the Arabic tongue;
and we have inserted various threats and promises therein, that men may fear
God, or that it may awaken some consideration in them:
wherefore, let GOD be highly exalted, the King, the Truth! Be not over-
hasty in receiving or repeating the Koran before the revelation thereof be
completed unto thee;e and say, LORD, increase my knowledge.
We heretofore gave a command unto Adam; but he forgot the same,f and ate
of the forbidden fruit; and we found not in him a firm resolution.
And remember when we said unto the angels, Worship ye Adam; and they
worshipped him: but Eblis refused.g And we said, O Adam, verily this is an
enemy unto thee, and thy wife: wherefore, beware lest he turn you out of
paradise; for then shalt thou be miserable.
Verily we have made a provision for thee, that thou shalt not hunger
therein, neither shalt thou be naked:
and there is also a provision made for thee, that thou shalt not thirst
therein, neither shalt thou be incommoded by heat. But Satan whispered evil
suggestions unto him, saying, O Adam, shall I guide thee to the tree of
eternity, and a kingdom which faileth not?
And they both ate thereof: and their nakedness appeared unto them; and
they began to sew together the leaves of paradise, to cover themselves.h And
thus Adam became disobedient unto his LORD, and was seduced.
120 Afterwards his LORD accepted him, on his repentance, and was turned unto
him, and directed him.
And God said, Get ye down hence, all of you: the one of you shall be an
enemy unto the other. But hereafter shall a direction come unto you from me:i
and whosoever shall follow my direction shall not err, neither shall he
be unhappy;
but whosoever shall turn aside from my admonition, verily he shall lead a
miserable life,
and we will cause him to appear before us on the day of resurrection,
blind.j
And he shall say, O LORD, why hast thou brought me before thee blind,
whereas before I saw clearly?
c Or, Except unto him, &c. See chapter 19, p. 232.
d The original word properly expresses the humility and dejected looks
of captives in the presence of their conqueror.
e Mohammed is here commanded not to be impatient at any delay in
Gabriel's bringing the divine revelations, or not to repeat it too fast after
the angel, so as to overtake him before he had finished the passage. But some
suppose the prohibition relates to the publishing any verse before the same
was perfectly explained to him.1
f Adam's so soon forgetting the divine command, has occasioned some
Arab etymologists to derive the word Insân, i.e., man, from nasiya, to forget;
and has also given rise to the following proverbial saying, Awwalo nâsin
awwalo 'nnâsi, that is, The first forgetful person was the first of men;
alluding to the like sound of the words
g See chapter 2, p. 4, &c.; chapter 7, p. 105, &c.
h See chapter 7, p. 106.
i See chapter 2, p. 5.
j See the Prelim. Disc. Sect. IV. p. 66.
1 Al Beidâwi, Jallalo'ddin
God shall answer, Thus have we done, because our signs came unto thee,
and thou didst forget them; and in the same manner shalt thou be forgotten
this day.
And thus will we reward him who shall be negligent, and shall not believe
in the signs of his LORD: and the punishment of the life to come shall be more
severe, and more lasting, than the punishment of this life.
Are not the Meccans, therefore, acquainted how many generations we have
destroyed before them; in whose dwellings they walk?k Verily herein are signs
unto those who are endued with understanding.
And unless a decree had previously gone forth from thy LORD for their
respite, verily their destruction had necessarily followed: but there is a
certain time determined by God for their punishment.
130 Wherefore, do thou, O Mohammed, patiently bear that which they say; and
celebrate the praise of thy LORD before the rising of the sun, and before the
setting thereof, and praise him in the hours of the night, and in the
extremities of the day,l that thou mayest be well-pleased with the prospect of
receiving favor from God.
And cast not thine eyes on that which we have granted divers of the
unbelievers to enjoy, namely, the splendor of this present life,m that we may
prove them thereby; for the provision of thy LORDn is better, and more
permanent.
Command thy family to observe prayer; and do thou persevere therein. We
require not of thee that thou labor to gain necessary provisions for thyself
and family; we will provide for thee; for the prosperous issue shall attend on
piety.o
The unbelievers say, Unless he come unto us with a sign from his LORD, we
will not believe on him. Hath not a plain declaration come unto them, of that
which is contained in the former volumes of scripture, by the revelation of
the Koran?
if we had destroyed them by a judgment before the same had been revealed,
they would have said, at the resurrection, O LORD, how could we believe since
thou didst not send unto us an apostle, that we might follow thy signs, before
we were humbled and covered with shame?
Say, Each of us wait the issue: wait, therefore; for ye shall surely know
hereafter who have been the followers of the even way, and who hath been
rightly directed.
k Seeing the footsteps of their destruction; as of the tribes of Al,
and Thamûd.
l i.e., Evening and morning; which times are repeated as the principal
hours of prayer. But some suppose these words intend the prayer of noon; the
first half of the day ending, and the second half beginning at that time.1
m That is, do not envy or covet their pomp and prosperity in this
world.2
n viz., The reward laid up for thee in the next life: or the gift of
prophecy, and the revelations with which GOD had favoured thee.
o It is said that when Mahommed's family were in any strait or
affliction, he used to order them to go to prayers, and to repeat this verse.3
1 Iidem. 2 See chapter 15, p. 194. 3 Al
Beidâwi.