Thanksgiving
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s For GOD deprives them not of their senses or understanding; but they corrupt and make an ill use of them. t Either in the world or in the grave. u As if it were but a little while since they parted. But this will happen during the first moments only of the resurrection; for afterwards the terror of the day will disturb and take from them all knowledge of one another.3 x By delivering the prophet and those who believed on him, and destroying the obstinate infidels. y To hide their shame and regret;4 or because their surprise and astonishment will deprive them of the use of speech.5 Some, however, understand the verb which is here rendered will conceal, in the contrary signification, which it sometimes bears; and then it must be translatedÐThey will openly declare their repentance, &c. 2 Idem. See cap. 6, p. 90. 3 Idem. 4 JallaloÕddin. 5 Al Beid‰wi. z See chapter 6, p. 101, &c. a See chapter 4, p. 58, note y. b The preserved table, wherein GODÕS decrees are recorded. c The impious and rebellious talk of the infidels. d See chapter 7, p. 110, &c. e Therefore ye cannot excuse yourselves by saying that I am burdensome to you. f As Hžd, S‰leh, Abraham, Lot, and Shoaib, to those of Ad, Thamžd, Babel, Sodom, and Midian. g See chapter 7, p. 115, &c. h For when he first began to preach, a few of the younger Israelites only believed on him; the others not giving ear to him, for fear of the king. But some suppose the pronoun his refers to Pharaoh, and that these were certain Egyptians, who, together with his wife Asia, believed on Moses.1 i So JallaloÕddin expounds the original word Kebla, which properly signifies that place or quarter toward which one prays. Wherefore al Zamakhshari supposes that the Israelites are here ordered to dispose their oratories in such a manner that, when they prayed, their faces might be turned towards Mecca; which he imagines was the Kebla of Moses, as it is that of the Mohammedans. The former commentator adds that Pharaoh had forbidden the Israelites to pray to GOD; for which reason they were obliged to perform that duty privately in their houses. k As magnificent apparel, chariots, and the like. l The pronoun is in the dual number; the antecedent being Moses and Aaron. The commentators say that, in consequence of this prayer, all the treasures of Egypt were turned into stones.2 m Or, as al Beid‰wi interprets it, Be ye constant and steady in preaching to the people. The Mohammedans pretend that Moses continued in Egypt no less than forty years after he had first published his mission: which cannot be reconciled to scripture. 1 Al Beid‰wi. 2 JallaloÕddin. n These words, it is said, Pharaoh repeated often in his extremity, that he might be heard. But his repentance came too late; for Gabriel soon stopped his mouth with mud, lest he should obtain mercy; reproaching him at the same time in the words which follow. o Some of the children of Israel doubting whether Pharaoh was really drowned. Gabriel, by GODÕS command, caused his naked corpse to swim to shore, that they might see it.3 The word here translated body, signifying also a coat of mail, some imagine the meaning to be, that his corpse floated armed with his coat of mail, which they tell us was of gold, by which they knew that it was he. p i.e., After the law had been revealed, and published by Moses. q That is, concerning the truth of the histories which are here related. The commentators doubt whether the person here spoken to be Mohammed himself or his auditor. r viz., The inhabitants of Ninive, which stood on or near the place where al Mawsel now stands. This people having corrupted themselves with idolatry, Jonas the son of Mattai (or Amittai, which the Mohammedans suppose to be the name of his mother), an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin, was sent by God to preach to and reclaim them. When he first began to exhort them to repentance, instead of hearkening to him, they used him very ill, so that he was obliged to leave the city; threatening them, at his departure, that they should be destroyed within three days, or, as others say, within forty.1 But when the time drew near, and they saw the heavens overcast with a black cloud, which shot forth fire, and filled the air with smoke, and hung directly over their city, they were in a terrible consternation, and getting into the fields with their families and cattle, they put on sackcloth, and humbled themselves before God, calling aloud for pardon, and sincerely repenting of their past wickedness. Whereupon God was pleased to forgive them, and the storm blew over.2 s i.e., Until they died according to the ordinary course of nature. 3 See Exod. xiv. 30. 1 See Jonah iii. 4. 2 Al Beid‰wi, JallaloÕddin, Abulfeda. See cap. 21 and 37. t The story of which prophet is repeated in this chapter. u See the Prelim. Disc. p. 46, &c. x According to the various senses which the verb ohkimat, in the original, may bear, the commentators suggest as many different interpretations. Some suppose the meaning to be, according to our version, that the Kor‰n is not liable to be corrupted,1 as the law and the gospel have been, in the opinion of the Mohammedans; others, that every verse in this particular chapter is in full force, and not one of them abrogated; others, that the verses of the Kor‰n are disposed in a clear and perspicuous method, or contain evident and demonstrative arguments; and others, that they comprise judicial declarations, to regulate both faith and practice.2 y The signification of the verb fossilat, which is here used, being also ambiguous, the meaning of this passage is supposed to be, either that the verses are distinctly proposed or expressed in a clear manner; or that the subject matter of the whole may be distinguished or divided into laws, monitions, and examples; or else that the verses were revealed by parcels. 1 See the Prelim. Disc. p. 53. 2 Al Beid‰wi, JallaloÕddin, al Zamakhshari, &c. z Or, as it may be translated, Do they not turn away their breasts, &c. a This passage was occasioned by the words of certain of the idolaters, who said to one another, When we let down our curtains (such as the women use in the east to screen themselves from the sight of the men when they happen to be in the room), and wrap ourselves up in our garments, and fold up our breasts, to conceal our malice against Mohammed, how should he come to the knowledge of it? Some suppose the passage relates to certain hypocritical Moslems; but this opinion is generally rejected, because the verse was revealed at Mecca, and the birth of hypocrisy among the Mohammedans happened not till after the Hejra. b i.e., Both during its life and after its death; or the repository of every animal, before its birth, in the loins and wombs of the parents. c For the Mohammedans suppose this throne, and the waters whereon it stands, which waters they imagine are supported by a spirit or wind, were, with some other things, created before the heavens and earth. This fancy they borrowed from the Jews, who also say that the throne of glory then stood in the air, and was borne on the face of the waters, by the breath of GODÕS mouth.1 d Casting aside all hopes of the divine favour, for want of patience and trust in GOD. e This was the number which he first challenged them to compose; but they not being able to do it, he made the matter still easier, challenging them to produce a single chapter only,2 comparable to the Kor‰n in doctrine and eloquence. 1 Rashi, ad Gen. i. 2. Vide Reland. de Relig. Moh. p. 50, &c. 2 See c. 2, p. 3; c. 10, p. 153, &c. f Or containing several passages wrapped up in dark and mysterious expressions, which can proceed from and are perfectly comprehended by none but GOD.3 g The Kor‰n; or, as others suppose, the angel Gabriel. h Which bears testimony thereto. i That is, the angels, and prophets, and their own members. k For they shall be punished both in this life and in the next. l i.e., The believers and the infidels. m See chapter 7, p. 110, &c. n For want of mature consideration, and moved by the first impulse of their fancy. 3 See c. 3, p. 32. o For this they asked him to do, because they were poor mean people. The same thing the Koreish demanded of Mohammed, but he was forbidden to comply with their request.1 p See chapter 6, p. 93. q For building a vessel in an inland country, and so far from the sea; and for that he was turned carpenter after he had set up for a prophet.2 r Or, as the original literally signifies, boiled over; which is consonant to what the Rabbins say, that the waters of the Deluge were boiling hot. This oven was, as some say, at Cžfa, in a spot whereon a mosque now stands; or, as others rather think, in a certain place in India, or else at Ain warda in Mesopotamia;3 and its exundation was the sign by which Noah knew the flood was coming.4 Some pretend that it was the same oven which Eve made use of to bake her bread in, being of a form different from those we use, having the mouth in the upper part, and that it descended from patriarch to patriarch, till it came to Noah.5 It is remarkable that Mohammed, in all probability, borrowed this circumstance from the Persian Magi, who also fancied that the first waters of the Deluge gushed out of the oven of a certain old woman named Zala Cžfa.6 But the word tannžr, which is here translated oven, also signifying the superficies of the earth, or a place whence waters spring forth, or where they are collected, some suppose it means no more in this passage than the spot or fissure whence the first eruption of waters brake forth.
It is to be observed that the more judicious commentators make the dimensions of the ark to be the same with those assigned by Moses:13 Notwithstanding, others have enlarged them most extravagantly,14 as some Christian writers15 have also done. They likewise tell us that Noah was two years in building the ark, which was framed of Indian plane-tree,16 that it was divided into three stories, of which the lower was designed for the beasts, the middle one for the men and women, and the upper for the birds;17 and that the men were separated from the women by the body of Adam, which Noah had taken into the ark.18 This last is a tradition of the eastern Christians,19 some of whom pretend that the matrimonial duty was superseded and suspended during the time Noah and his family were in the ark;20 though Ham has been accused of not observing continency on that occasion, his wife, it seems, bringing forth Caanan in the very ark.21 a The waters prevailing fifteen cubits above the mountains.22 b See above, note u. c This mountain is one of those which divide Armenia, on the south, from Mesopotamia, and that part of Assyria which is inhabited by the Curds, from whom the mountains took the name 1 Aben Ezra, Justin Martyr, Origen, &c. 2 Gen. vii. 2. 3 JallaloÕddin. 4 Al Beid‰wi. 5 Yahya. 6 JallaloÕddin, al Beid‰wi. 7 Ebn Shohnah. 8 Al Zamakhshari. Vide DÕHerbel. Bibl. Orient. p. 676. 9 JallaloÕddin, al Zamakhshari, al Beid‰wi. 10 See c. 7, p. 111. 11 See ibid. note x. 12 Al Beid‰wi, &c. 13 Idem, &c. 14 Yahya. Vide Marracc. in Alcor. p. 340. 15 Origen. Contr. Cels. l. 4. Vide Kircher. de Arca Noe, c. 8. 16 Al Beid‰wi. Vide DÕHerbel. p. 675, and Eutych. p. 34. 17 Al Beid‰wi. Vide Eutych. Annal. p. 34. 18 Yahya. 19 Jacob, Edessenus, apud Barcepham de Parad. part i. c. 14. Eutych. ubi sup. Vide etiam Eliezer. pirke c. 23. 20 Ambros. de Noa et Arca, c. 21. 21 Vide Heidegger. Hist. Patriarchar. vol. i. p. 409. 22 Al Beid‰wi. of Cardu, or Gardu, by the Greeks turned into Gordy¾i, and other names.1 Mount al Jždi (which name seems to be a corruption, though it be constantly so written by the Arabs, for Jordi, or Giordi) is also called Thamanin,2 probably from a town at the foot of it,3 so named from the number of persons saved in the ark, the word thamanin signifying eighty, and overlooks the country of Diy‰r Rab”ah, near the cities of Mawsel, Forda, and Jaz”rat Ebn Omar, which last place one affirms to be but four miles from the place of the ark, and says that a Mohammedan temple was built there with the remains of that vessel, by the Khalif Omar Ebn AbdÕalaziz, whom he by mistake calls Omar Ebn al Khatt‰b.4 The tradition which affirms the ark to have rested on these mountains, must have been very ancient, since it is the tradition of the Chaldeans themselves:5 the Chaldee paraphrasts consent to their opinion,6 which obtained very much formerly, especially among the eastern Christians.7 To confirm it, we are told that the remainders of the ark were to be seen on the Gordy¾an mountains: Berosus and Abydenus both declare there was such a report in their time;8 the first observing that several of the inhabitants thereabouts scraped the pitch off the planks as a rarity, and carried it about them for an amulet: and the latter saying that they used the wood of the vessel against many diseases with wonderful success. The relics of the ark were also to be seen here in the time of Epiphanius, if we may believe him;9 and we are told the emperor Heraclius went from the town of Thamanin up to the mountain al Jždi, and saw the place of the ark.10 There was also formerly a famous monastery, called the monastery of the ark, upon some of these mountains, where the Nestorians used to celebrate a feast day on the spot where they supposed the ark rested; but in the year of Christ 776, that monastery was destroyed by lightning, with the church, and a numerous congregation in it.11 Since which time it seems the credit of this tradition hath declined, and given place to another, which obtains at present, and according to which the ark rested on Mount Masis, in Armenia, called by the Turks Aghir dagh, or the heavy or great mountain, and situate about twelve leagues south-east of Erivan.12 d Noah here challenges GODÕS promise that he would save his family. e Being cut off from it on account of his infidelity. f According to a different reading, this passage may be rendered, For he hath acted unrighteously. g The Mohammedans say that Noah went into the ark on the tenth of Rajeb, and came out of it the tenth of al Moharram, which therefore became a fast. So that the whole time of NoahÕs being in the ark, according to them, was six months.1 h viz., Such of them as continued in their belief. i That is, such of his posterity as should depart from the true faith, and fall into idolatry. k See chapter 7, p. 111. 1 See Bochart. Phaleg. l. I, c. 3. 2 Geogr. Nub. p. 202. 3 Vide DÕHerbel. Bibl. Orient. p. 404 and 676, and Agathiam, l. 14, p. 135. 4 Benjamin. Itiner. p. 61. 5 Berosus, apud Joseph. Antiq. l. I, c. 4. 6 Onkelos et Jonathan, in Gen. viii. 4. 7 Vide Eutych. Annal. p. 41. 8 Berosus, apud Joseph. ubi sup. Abydenus, apud Euseb. Pr¾p. Ev. l. 9, c.4. 9 Epiph. H¾res. 18. 10 Elmacin. l. I, c. I. 11 Vide Chronic. Dionysii Patriarch. Jacobitar. apud Asseman. Bibl. Orient. t. 2, p. 113. 12 Al Beid‰wi. 1 Idem. See DÕHerbel. ubi sup. l For the Adites were grievously distressed by a drought for three years.2 m By giving you children; the wombs of their wives being also rendered barren during the time of the drought, as well as their lands.3 n Or madness; having deprived thee of thy reason for the indignities thou hast offered them. o That is, he exerciseth an absolute power over it. A creature held in this manner being supposed to be reduced to the lowest subjection. p Who were in number four thousand.4 q See chapter 7, p. 112. r Designing to have made thee our prince, because of the singular prudence and other good qualities which we observed in thee; but thy dissenting from us in point of religious worship has frustrated those hopes.5 2 See the notes to cap. 7, p. 111. 3 Al Beid‰wi. 4 Idem. 5 Idem. s viz., Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.1 See chapter 7, p. 113, note m. t These were the angels who were sent to acquaint Abraham with the promise of Isaac, and to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Some of the commentators pretend they were twelve, or nine, or ten in number; but others, agreeably to scripture, say they were but three, viz., Gabriel, Michael and Israf”l.2 u Apprehending they had some ill design against him, because they would not eat with him. x Being angels, whose nature needs not the support of food.3 y Either behind the curtain, or door of the tent; or else waiting upon them. z The commentators are so little acquainted with scripture, that, not knowing the true occasion of SarahÕs laughter, they strain their invention to give some reason for it. One says that she laughed at the angels discovering themselves, and ridding Abraham and herself of their apprehensions; and another, that it was at the approaching destruction of the Sodomites (a very probable motive in one of her sex). Some, however, interpret the original word differently, and will have it that she did not laugh, but that her courses, which had stopped for several years, came upon her at this time, as a previous sign of her future conception.4 a Al Beid‰wi writes that Sarah was then ninety or ninety-nine years old, and Abraham a hundred and twenty. b Or the stock whence all the prophets were to proceed for the future. Or the expression may perhaps refer to Abraham and IsmaelÕs building the Caaba, which is often called, by way of excellence, the house. c That is, he interceded with us for them.5 JallaloÕddin, instead of the numbers mentioned by Moses, says that Abraham first asked whether GOD would destroy those cities if three hundred righteous persons were found therein, and so fell successively to two hundred, forty, fourteen, and at last came to one: but there was not one righteous person to be found among them, except only Lot and his family. 1 Idem. 2 Idem, JallaloÕddin. See Gen. xviii. 3 Idem. 4 Idem, JallaloÕddin, al Zamakhshari. 5 Vide Gen. xviii. 23, &c. d Because they appeared in the shape of beautiful young men, which must needs tempt those of Sodom to abuse them.6 e i.e., He knew himself unable to protect them against the insults of his townsmen. f Al Beid‰wi says that Lot shut his door, and argued the matter with the riotous assembly from behind it; but at length they endeavoured to get over the wall: whereupon Gabriel, seeing his distress, struck them on the face with one of his wings, and blinded them; so that they moved off, crying out for help, and saying that Lot had magicians in his house. g This seems to be the true sense of the passage; but according to a different reading of the vowel, some interpret it, Except thy wife; the meaning being that Lot is here commanded to take his family with him except his wife. Wherefore the commentators cannot agree whether LotÕs wife went forth with him or not; some denying it, and pretending that she was left behind and perished in the common destruction; and others affirming it, and saying that when she heard the noise of the storm and overthrow of the cities, she turned back lamenting their fate, and was immediately struck down and killed by one of the stones mentioned a little lower.1 A punishment she justly merited for her infidelity and disobedience to her husband.2 h For they tell us that Gabriel thrust his wing under them, and lifted them up so high, that the inhabitants of the lower heaven heard the barking of the dogs and the crowing of the cocks; and then, inverting them, threw them down to the earth.3 Yüklə 2,27 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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