ENTITLED, THE CELESTIAL SIGNS; REVEALED AT MECCA.
IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.
BY the heaven adorned with signs;y
by the promised day of judgment;
by the witness, and the witnessed;z
cursed were the contrivers of the pit,a
of fire supplied with fuel;
when they sat around the same,
and were witnesses of what they did against the true believers:b
and they afflicted them for no other reason, but because they believed in
the mighty, the glorious GOD,
unto whom belongeth the kingdom of heaven and earth: and GOD is witness
of all things.
10 Verily for those who persecute the true believers of either sex, and
afterwards repent not, is prepared the torment of hell; and they shall suffer
the pain of burning.c
But for those who believe, and do that which is right, are destined
gardens beneath which rivers flow: this shall be great felicity.
Verily the vengeance of thy LORD is severe.
He createth, and he restoreth to life:
he is inclined to forgive, and gracious;
the possessor of the glorious throne,
who effecteth that which he pleaseth.
Hath not the story of the hosts
of Pharaohd and of Thamude reached thee?
Yet the unbelievers cease not to accuse the divine revelations of
falsehood:
y The original word properly signifies towers, which some interpret of
real towers,1 wherein it is supposed the angels keep guard;2 and others, of
the stars of the first magnitude: but the generality of expositors understand
thereby the twelve signs of the zodiac, wherein the planets make their several
stations.3
z The meaning of these words is very uncertain, and the explications of
the commentators consequently vary. One thinks the witness to be Mohammed,
and that which is borne witness of, to be the resurrection, or the professors
of the Mohammedan faith; or else that these latter are the witness, and the
professors of every other religion, those who will be witnessed against by
them. Another supposes the witness to be the guardian angel, and his charge
the person witnessed against. Another expounds the words of the day of
Arafat, the 9th of Dhu'lhajja, and of the day of slaying the victims, which is
the day following, or else of Friday, the day of the weekly assembling of the
Mohammedans at their mosques, and of the people who are assembled on those
days, &c.4
a Literally, the lords of the pit. These were the ministers of the
persecution raised by Dhu Nowâs, king of Yaman, who was of the Jewish
religion, against the inhabitants of Najrân; for they having embraced
Christianity (at that time the true religion, by the confession of Mohammed
himself), the bigoted tyrant commanded all those who would not renounce their
faith to be cast into a pit, or trench, filled with fire, and there burnt to
ashes.5 Others, however, tell the story with different circumstances.6
b Or, as some choose to understand the words, And shall be witnesses
against themselves, at the day of judgment, of their unjust treatment of the
true believers.
c Which pain, it is said, the persecutors of the Christian martyrs
above mentioned felt in this life; the fire bursting forth upon them from the
pit, and consuming them.7
d See chapter 7, p. 115, &c.
e See ibid. p. 111, &c.
1 Yahya. 2 See cap. 15, p. 191. 3 Jallal., al Beidâwi,
Yahya. 4 Idem. 5 Idem. Vide Poc. Spec. p. 62;
Ecchellens. Hist. Arab. part i. c. 10; and Prid. Life of Mah. p. 61.
6 Vide D'Herbel. Bibl. Orient. Art. Abou Navas.
7 Al Beidâwi, Yahya.
20 but GOD encompasseth them behind, that they cannot escape.
Verily that which they reject is a glorious Koran;
the original whereof is written in a table kept in heaven.f
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