Thanksgiving

1 Abulfeda, JallaloÕddin, al Beid‰wi, &c.

to his waist, then to his neck, he cried out four several times, O Moses, have mercy on me! but that Moses continued to say, O earth, swallow them up, till at last he wholly disappeared; upon which GOD said to Moses, Thou hast no mercy on Karžn, though he asked pardon of thee four times; but I would have had compassion on him if he had asked pardon of me but once.²

^g The original word properly signifies any number of persons from ten to forty. Some pretend these keys were a sufficient load for seventy men; and Abulfeda says forty mules used to be employed to carry them.

^h This passage is parallel to that in the New Testament, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.<sup>3

i</sup> For some say he was the most learned of all the Israelites, and the best versed in the law, after Moses and Aaron; others pretend he was skilled in chemistry, or in merchandising, or other arts of gain, and others suppose (as the Jews also fable⁴) that he found out the treasures of Joseph in Egypt.<sup>5

k</sup> It is said he rode on a white mule adorned with trappings of gold, and that he was clothed in purple, and attended by four thousand men, all well mounted and richly dressed.

^l This verse, some say, was revealed to Mohammed when he arrived at Johsa, in his flight from Mecca to Medina, to comfort him and still his complaints.
2 Al Beid‰wi. Vide DÕHerbel. Bibl. Orient. Art. Carun. 3 Luke xvi. 9. 4 Vide R. Ghedal, Shalsh. hakkab. p. 13. 5 JallaloÕddin, al Beid‰wi.

^m Transient mention is made of this insect towards the middle of the chapter.

ⁿ Some think the first ten verses, ending with these words, And he well knoweth the hypocrites, were revealed at Medina, and the rest at Mecca; and others believe the reverse.

^o See the Prelim. Disc. Sect. III. p. 46, &c.

^p Literally, That they shall be let alone, &c.

^q This passage reprehends the impatience of some of the prophetÕs companions, under the hardships which they sustained in defence of their religion, and the losses which they suffered from the infidels; representing to them that such trials and afflictions were necessary to distinguish the sincere person from the hypocrite, and the steady from the wavering. Some suppose it to have been occasioned by the death of Mahja, OmarÕs slave, killed by an arrow at the battle of Bedr, which was deeply lamented and laid to heart by his wife and parents.<sup>1

r</sup> That is, If they endeavour to pervert thee to idolatry. The passage is said to have been revealed on account of Saad Ebn Abi Wakk‰s, and his mother Hamna, who, when she heard that her son had embraced Mohammedism, swore that she would neither eat nor drink till he returned to his old religion, and kept her oath for three days.²
1 Al Beid‰wi. 2 Idem.

^s viz., The guilt of seducing others, which shall be added to the guilt of their own obstinacy without diminishing the guilt of such as shall be seduced by them.

^t This is true, if the whole life of Noah be reckoned; and accordingly Abulfeda says he was sent to preach in his two hundred and fiftieth year, and that he lived in all nine hundred and fifty: but the text seeming to speak of those years only which he spent in preaching to the wicked antediluvians, the commentators suppose him to have lived much longer. Some say the whole length of his life was a thousand and fifty years; that his mission happened in the fortieth year of his age, and that he lived after the Flood sixty years;¹ and others give different numbers; one, in particular, pretending that Noah lived near sixteen hundred years.²

This circumstance, says al Beid‰wi, was mentioned to encourage Mohammed, and to assure him that God, who supported Noah so many years against the opposition and plots of the antediluvian infidels, would not fail to defend him against all attempts of the idolatrous Meccans and their partisans.

^u i.e., The ark.

^x This seems to be part of AbrahamÕs speech to his people: but some suppose that GOD here speaks, by way of apostrophe, first to the Koreish, and afterwards to Mohammed; and that the parenthesis is continued to these words, And the answer of his people was no other, &c. In which case we should have said, If ye charge Mohammed your apostle with imposture, &c.

^y The infidels are bid to consider how GOD causeth the fruits of the earth to spring forth, and reneweth them every year, as in the preceding; which is an argument of his power to raise man, whom he created at first, to life again after death, at his own appointed time.

^z See Psalm cxxxix. 7, &c.
1 Idem, al Zamakh. 2 Caab, apud Yahyam.

^a See chapter 21.

^b Some suppose the Sodomites robbed and murdered the passengers; others, that they unnaturally abused their bodies.

^c Their meetings being scenes of obscenity and riot.

^d See chapter 11, p. 165, &c.

^e See ibid. p. 166.

^f viz., The story of its destruction, handed down by common tradition; or else its ruins, or some other footsteps of this signal judgment; it being pretended that several of the stones, which fell from heaven on those cities, are still to be seen, and that the ground where they stood appears burnt and blackish.

^g See chapter 7, p. 114.

^h The original word properly signifies a wind that drives the gravel and small stones before it; by which the storm, or shower of stones, which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, seems to be intended.

ⁱ Which was the end of Ad and Thamud.

^k As it did Karžn.

^l As the unbelievers in NoahÕs time, and Pharaoh and his army

^m i.e., Without ill language or passion. This verse is generally supposed to have been abrogated by that of the sword; though some think it relates only to those who are in alliance with the Moslems.

ⁿ See chapter 6, p. 93

^o That is, If ye cannot serve me in one city or country, fly unto another, where ye may profess the true religion in safety; for the earth is wide enough, and ye may easily find places of refuge. Mohammed is said to have declared, That whoever flies for the sake of his religion, though he stir but the distance of a span, merits paradise, and shall be the companion of Abraham and of himself.<sup>1

p</sup> And particularly who will make a good, and who will make a bad use of their riches.
1 Al Beid‰wi.

^q The original word is al Ržm; by which the later Greeks, or subjects of the Constantinopolitan empire, are here meant; though the Arabs give the same name also to the Romans, and other Europeans.

^r Some except the verse beginning at these words, Praise be unto GOD.

^s The Prelim. Disc. Sect. III. p. 46, &c.

^t The accomplishment of the prophecy contained in this passage, which is very famous among the Mohammedans, being insisted on by their doctors as a convincing proof that the Kor‰n really came down from heaven, it may be excusable to be a little particular.

The passage is said to have been revealed on occasion of a great victory obtained by the Persians over the Greeks, the news whereof coming to Mecca, the infidels became strangely elated, and began to abuse Mohammed and his followers, imagining that this success of the Persians, who, like themselves, were idolaters, and supposed to have no scriptures, against the Christians, who pretended as well as Mohammed to worship one GOD, and to have divine scriptures, was an earnest of their own future successes against the prophet and those of his religion: to check which vain hopes, it was foretold, in the words of the text, that how improbable soever it might seem, yet the scale should be turned in a few years, and the vanquished Greeks prevail as remarkably against the Persians.

That this prophecy was exactly fulfilled the commentators fail not to observe, though they do not exactly agree in the accounts they give of its accomplishment; the number of years between the two actions being not precisely determined. Some place the victory gained by the Persians in the fifth year before the Hejra, and their defeat by the Greeks in the second year after it, when the battle of Bedr was fought:¹ others place the former in the third or fourth year before the Hejra, and the latter in the end of the sixth or beginning of the seventh year after it, when the expedition of al Hodeibiyah was undertaken.²

The date of the victory gained by the Greeks, in the first of these accounts, interferes with a story which the commentators tell, of a wager laid by Abu Becr with Obba Ebn Khalf, who turned this prophecy into ridicule. Abu Becr at first laid ten young camels that the Persians should receive an overthrow within three years; but on his acquainting Mohammed with what he had done, that prophet told him that the word bedÕ, made use of in this passage, signified no determinate number of years, but any number from three to nine (though some suppose the tenth year is included), and therefore advised him to prolong the time, and to raise the wager; which he accordingly proposed to Obba, and they agreed that the time assigned should be nine years, and the wager a hundred camels. Before the time was elapsed, Obba died of a wound he had received at Ohod, in the third year of the Hejra;³ but the event afterwards showing that Abu Becr had won, he received the camels of ObbaÕs heirs, and brought them in triumph to Mohammed.⁴

History informs us that the successes of Khosru Parviz, king of Persia, who carried on a terrible war against the Greek empire, to revenge the death of Maurice, his father-in-law, slain by Phocas, were very great, and continued in an uninterrupted course for two and twenty years. Particularly in the year of Christ 615, about the beginning of the sixth year before the Hejra the Persians, having the preceding year conquered Syria, made themselves masters of Palestine, and took Jerusalem; which seems to be that signal advantage gained over the Greeks mentioned in this passage, as agreeing best with the terms here used, and most likely to alarm the Arabs by reason of their vicinity to the scene of action: and there was so little probability, at that time, of the Greeks being able to retrieve their losses, much less to distress the Persians, that in the following years the arms of the latter made still farther and more considerable progresses, and at length they laid siege to Constantinople itself. But in the year 625, in which the fourth year of the Hejra began, about ten years after the taking of Jerusalem, the Greeks, when it was least expected, gained a remarkable victory over the Persians, and not only obliged them to quit the territories of the empire, by carrying the war into their own country, but drove them to the last extremity, and spoiled the capital city al Mad‰yen; Heraclius enjoying thenceforward a continued series of good fortune, to the deposition and death of Khosru. For more exact information in these matters, and more nicely fixing the dates, either so as to correspond with or to overturn this pretended prophecy (neither of which is my business here), the reader may have recourse to the historians and chronologers.⁵
1 JallaloÕddin, &c. 2 Al Zamakh., al Beid‰wi. 3 See p. 272, note ^h. 4 Al Beid‰wi, JallaloÕddin, &c. 5 Vide etiam Asseman, Bibl. Orient. t. 3, part i. p. 411, &c. et Boulainy. Vie de Mahom. p. 333, &c.

^u Some interpreters, supposing that the land here meant is the land of Arabia, or else that of the Greeks, place the scene of action in the confines of Arabia and Syria, near Bostra and Adhra‰t;⁶ others imagine the land of Persia is intended, and lay the scene in Mesopotamia, on the frontiers of that kingdom;⁷ but Ebn Abbas, with more probability, thinks it was in Palestine.

^x To dig for water and minerals, and to till the ground for seed, &c.<sup>8

y</sup> Some are of opinion that the five times of prayer are intended in this passage; the evening including the time both of the prayer of sunset, and of the evening prayer properly so called, and the word I have rendered at sunset, marking the hour of afternoon prayer, since it may be applied also to the time a little before sunset.

^z See chapter 3, p. 34.
6 Yahya, al Beid‰wi. 7 Mojahed, apud Zamakh. JallaloÕddin. 8 Al Beid‰wi.
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^z Which are certainly most wonderful, and, as I conceive, very hard to be accounted for, if we allow the several nations in the world to be all the offspring of one man, as we are assured by scripture they are, without having recourse to the immediate omnipotency of GOD.

^a That is, in speaking of him we ought to make use of the most noble and magnificent expressions we can possibly devise.

^b See chapter 16, p. 200

^c i.e., The immutable law, or rule, to which man is naturally disposed to conform, and which every one would embrace, as most fit for a rational creature, if it were not for the prejudices of education. The Mohammedans have a tradition that their prophet used to say, That every person is born naturally disposed to become a Moslem; but that a manÕs parents make him a Jew, a Christian, or a Magian.

^d That is, Have we either by the mouth of any prophet, or by any written revelation, commanded or encouraged the worship of more gods than one?

^e And seek not to regain the favour of GOD by timely repentance.

^f Or by way of bribe. The word may include any sort of extortion or illicit gain.

^g viz., Mischief and public calamities, such as famine, pestilence, droughts, shipwrecks, &c. or erroneous doctrines, or a general depravity of manners.

^h Some copies read in the first person plural, That we might cause them to taste &c.
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ⁱ viz., In the world or in their graves. See chapter 23, p. 262.

^k That is, according to his foreknowledge and decree in the preserved table; or according to what is said in the Kor‰n, where the state of the dead is expressed by these words:¹ Behind them there shall be a bar until the day of resurrection.<sup>2

l</sup> The chapter is so entitled from a person of this name mentioned therein, of whom more immediately.

^m Some except the fourth verse, beginning at these words, Who observe the appointed times of prayer, and give alms, &c. And others three verses, beginning at these words, If all the trees in the earth were pens, &c.

ⁿ See the Prelim. Disc. Sect. III. p. 46, &c.

^o i.e., Vain and silly fables. The passage was revealed, it is said, on occasion of al Nodar Ebn al Hareth, who, having brought from Persia the romance of Rostam and Isfandiyar, the two heroes of that country, recited it in the assemblies of the Koreish, highly extolling the power and splendour of the ancient Persian kings, and preferring their stories to those of Ad and Thamud, David and Solomon, and the rest which are told in the Kor‰n. Some say that al Nodar bought singing girls, and carried them to those who were inclined to become Moslems to divert them from their purpose by songs and tales.³
1 Cap. 23, p. 261. 2 Al Beid‰wi. 3 Idem

^p See chapter 16, p. 196. A learned writer,¹ in his notes on this passage, says the original word raw‰siya, which the commentators in general will have to signify stable mountains, seems properly to express the Hebrew word mechonim, i.e., bases or foundations; and therefore he thinks the Kor‰n has here translated that passage of the Psalms, He laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved for ever.² This is not the only instance which might be given that the Mohammedan doctors are not always the best interpreters of their own scriptures.

^q The Arab writers say, that Lokm‰n was the son of Bažra who was the son or grandson of a sister or aunt of Job; and that he lived several centuries, and to the time of David, with whom he was conversant in Palestine. According to the description they give of his person, he must have been deformed enough; for they say he was of a black complexion (whence some call him an Ethiopian), with thick lips and splay feet: but in return he received from GOD wisdom and eloquence in a great degree, which some pretend were given him in a vision, on his making choice of wisdom preferably to the gift of prophecy, either of which were offered him. The generality of the Mohammedans, therefore, hold him to have been no prophet, but only a wise man. As to his condition, they say he was a slave, but obtained his liberty on the following occasion: His master having one day given him a bitter melon to eat, he paid him such exact obedience as to eat it all; at which his master being surprised, asked him how he could eat so nauseous a fruit? To which he replied, it was no wonder that he should for once accept a bitter fruit from the same hand from which he had received so many favours.³ The commentators mention several quick repartees of Lokm‰n, which, together with the circumstances above mentioned, agree so well with what Maximus Planudes has written of Esop, that from thence, and from the fables attributed to Lokm‰n by the orientals, the latter has been generally thought to have been no other than the Esop of the Greeks. However, that be (for I think the matter will bear a dispute), I am of opinion that Planudes borrowed great part of his life of Esop from the traditions he met with in the east concerning Lokm‰n, concluding them to have been the same person, because they were both slaves, and supposed to be the writers of those fables which go under their respective names, and bear a great resemblance to one another; for it has long since been observed by learned men that the greater part of that monkÕs performance is an absurd romance, and supported by no evidence of the ancient writers.<sup>4

r</sup> Whom some name An‡m (which comes pretty near the Ennus of Planudes), some Ashcam, and others Mathan.

^s The two verses which begin at these words, and end with the following, viz., And then will I declare unto you that which ye have done, are no part of Lokm‰nÕs advice to his son, but are inserted by way of parenthesis, as very pertinent and proper to be repeated here, to show the heinousness of idolatry; they are to be read (excepting some additions) in the twenty-ninth chapter, and were originally revealed on account of Saad Ebn Abi Wakk‰s, as has been already observed.⁵
1 Gol. in Append. ad Erpenii Gram. p. 187. 2 Ps. civ. 5. 3 Al Zamakh, al Beid‰wi, &c. Vide DÕHerbel. Bibl. Orient. p. 516, et Marracc. in Alc. p. 547. 4 Vide la Vie dÕEsope, par M. de Meziriac, et Bayle, Dict. Hist. Art. Esope. Rem. B. 5 See cap. 29, p. 297, and the notes thereon.

^t That is, show them all deference and obedience, so far as may be consistent with thy duty towards GOD.

^u The person particularly meant here was Abu Becr, at whose persuasion Saad had become a Moslem.

^x To the braying of which animal the Arabs liken a loud and disagreeable voice.

^y i.e., All kinds of blessings, regarding as well the mind as the body.

^z This passage is said to have been revealed in answer to the Jews, who insisted that all knowledge was contained in the law.<sup>1

a</sup> GOD being able to produce a million of worlds by the single word Kun, i.e., Be, and to raise the dead in general by the single word Kum, i.e., Arise.
1 Al Beid‰wi.

^b viz., The devil.

^c In this passage five things are enumerated which are known to GOD alone, viz., The time of the day of judgment; the time of rain; what is forming in the womb, as whether it be male or female, &c.; what shall happen on the morrow; and where any person shall die. These the Arabs, according to a tradition of their prophet, call the five keys of secret knowledge. The passage, it is said, was occasioned by al Hareth Ebn Amru, who propounded questions of this nature to Mohammed.

As to the last particular, al Beid‰wi relates the following story: The angel of death passing once by Solomon in a visible shape, and looking at one who was sitting with him, the man asked who he was, and upon SolomonÕs acquainting him that it was the angel of death, said, He seems to want me; wherefore order the wind to carry me from hence into India; which being accordingly done, the angel said to Solomon, I looked so earnestly at the man out of wonder; because I was commanded to take his soul in India, and found him with thee in Palestine.

^d The title is taken from the middle of the chapter, where the believers are said to fall down adoring

^e See the Prelim. Disc. Sect. III p. 46, &c.

^f See chapter 28, p. 293.

^g As to the reconciliation of this passage with another,¹ which seems contradictory, see the Prelim. Disc. Sect. IV. p. 65.

Some, however, do not interpret the passage before us of the resurrection, but suppose that the words here describe the making and executing of the decrees of GOD, which are sent down from heaven to earth, and are returned (or ascend, as the verb properly signifies) back to him, after they have been put in execution; and present themselves, as it were, so executed, to his knowledge, in the space of a day with GOD, but with man, of a thousand years. Others imagine this space to be the time which the angels, who carry the divine decrees, and bring them back executed, take in descending and reascending, because the distance from heaven to earth is a journey of five hundred years: and others fancy that the angels bring down at once decrees for a thousand years to come, which being expired, they return back for fresh orders, &c.²

^h i.e., Seed.

ⁱ See the Prelim. Disc. Sect. IV. p. 56.

^k See chapter 7, p. 106, and chapter 11, p. 169.

^l Not even an angel of those who approach nearest GODÕS throne, nor any prophet who hath been sent by him.<sup>3

m</sup> Literally, The joy of the eyes. The commentators fail not, on occasion of this passage, to produce that saying of their prophet, which was originally none of his own; GOD saith, I have prepared for my righteous servants, what eye hath not seen, nor hath ear heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man to conceive.
1 Cap. 20. 2 Al Beid‰wi. 3 Idem.

ⁿ Or, as some interpret it, of the revelation of the Kor‰n to thyself; since the delivery of the law to Moses proves that the revelation of the Kor‰n to thee is not the first instance of the kind. Others think the words should be translated thus: Be thou not in doubt as to thy meeting of that prophet; supposing that the interview between Moses and Mohammed in the sixth heaven, when the latter took his night journey thither, is here intended.⁴