Fear God in respect of animals: ride them when they are fit to be ridden, and get off when they are tired.
* * * * * A man came before the Prophet with a carpet, and said, “O Prophet! I passed through a wood, and heard the voices of the young of birds; and I took and put them into my carpet; and their mother came fluttering round my head, and I uncovered the young, and the mother fell down upon them, then I wrapped them up in my carpet; and there are the young which I have.” Then the Prophet said, “Put them down.” And when he did so, their mother joined them: and the Prophet said, “Do you wonder at the affection of the mother towards her young? I swear by Him who hath sent me, verily God is more loving to His servants than the mother to these young birds. Return them to the place from which ye took them, and let their mother be with them.”
* * * * * * * * * * Verily there are rewards for our doing good to dumb animals, and giving them water to drink. An adulteress was forgiven who passed by a dog at a well; for the dog was holding out his tongue from thirst, which was near killing him; and the woman took off her boot, and tied it to the end of her garment, and drew water for the dog, and gave him to drink; and she was forgiven for that act.
* * * * * _Of Hospitality._ When a man cometh into his house and remembereth God and repeateth His name at eating his meals, the Devil saith to his followers, “Here is no place for you to stay in to-night, nor is there any supper for you.” And when a man cometh into his house without remembering God’s name, the Devil saith to his followers, “You have got a place to spend the night in.”
* * * * * Whosoever believeth in God and the Day of Resurrection must respect his guest, and the time of being kind to him is one day and one night, and the period of entertaining him is three days, and after that, if he doth it longer, he benefiteth him more. It is not right for a guest to stay in the house of the host so long as to inconvenience him.
* * * * * I heard this, that God is pure, and loveth purity; and God is liberal, and loveth liberality; God is munificent, and loveth munificence: then keep the courts of your house clean, and do not be like Jews who do not clean the courts of their houses.
* * * * * _Of Government._ Government is a trust from God, and verily government will be at the Day of Resurrection a cause of inquiry, unless he who hath taken it be worthy of it and have acted justly and done good.
* * * * * Verily a king is God’s shadow upon the earth; and every one oppressed turneth to him: then when the king doeth justice, for him are rewards and gratitude from his subject: but, if the king oppresseth, on him is his sin, and for the oppressed resignation.
* * * * * That is the best of men who disliketh power. Beware! ye are all guardians; and ye will be asked about your subjects: then the leader is the guardian of the subject, and he will be asked respecting the subject; and a man is a shepherd to his own family, and will be asked how they behaved, and his conduct to them; and a wife is guardian to her husband’s house and children, and will be interrogated about them; and a slave is a shepherd to his master’s property, and will be asked about it, whether he took good care of it or not.
* * * * * There is no prince who oppresseth the subject and dieth, but God forbiddeth Paradise to him.
* * * * * If a negro slave is appointed to rule over you, hear him, and obey him, though his head should be like a dried grape.
* * * * * There is no obedience due to sinful commands, nor to any other than what is lawful.
* * * * * O Prophet of God, if we have princes over us, wanting our rights, and withholding our rights from us, then what do you order us? He said, “Ye must hear them and obey their orders: it is on them to be just and good, and on you to be obedient and submissive.”
* * * * * He is not strong or powerful who throws people down, but he is strong who withholds himself from anger.
* * * * * When one of you getteth angry, he must sit down, and if his anger goeth away from sitting, so much the better; if not, let him lie down.
* * * * * _Of Vanities and Sundry Matters._ The angels are not with the company with which is a dog nor with the company with which is a bell.
* * * * * The angels do not enter a house in which is a dog, nor that in which there are pictures.
* * * * * Every painter is in Hell Fire; and God will appoint a person at the Day of Resurrection for every picture he shall have drawn, to punish him, and they will punish him in Hell. Then if you must make pictures, make them of trees and things without souls.
* * * * * Whosoever shall tell a dream, not having dreamt, shall be put to the trouble at the Day of Resurrection of joining two barleycorns; and he can by no means do it; and he will be punished. And whosoever listeneth to others’ conversation, who dislike to be heard by him, and avoid him, boiling lead will be poured into his ears at the Day of Resurrection. And whosoever draweth a picture shall be punished by ordering him to breathe a spirit into it, and this he can never do, and so he will be punished as long as God wills.
* * * * * O servants of God use medicine: because God hath not created a pain without a remedy for it, to be the means of curing it, except age; for that is a pain without a remedy.
* * * * * He who is not loving to God’s creatures and to his own children, God will not be loving to him.
* * * * * The truest words spoken by any poet are those of Lebīd, who said, “Know that everything is vanity except God.”
* * * * * Verily he who believeth fighteth with his sword and tongue: I swear by God, verily abuse of infidels in verse is worse to them than arrows.
* * * * * Meekness and shame are two branches of faith, and vain talking and embellishing are two branches of hypocrisy.
* * * * * The calamity of knowledge is forgetfulness, and to lose knowledge is this, to speak of it to the unworthy.
* * * * * Whoso pursueth the road of knowledge, God will direct him to the road of Paradise; and verily the angels spread their arms to receive him who seeketh after knowledge; and everything in heaven and earth will ask grace for him; and verily the superiority of a learned man over a mere worshipper is like that of the full moon over all the stars.
* * * * * Hearing is not like seeing: verily God acquainted Moses of his tribe’s worshipping a calf, but he did not throw down the tables; but when Moses went to his tribe, and saw with his eyes the calf they had made, he threw down the tables and broke them.
* * * * * Be not extravagant in praising me, as the Christians are in praising Jesus, Mary’s Son, by calling him God, and the Son of God; I am only the Lord’s servant; then call me the servant of God, and His messenger.
* * * * * It was asked, “O Messenger of God, what relation is most worthy of doing good to?” He said, “Your mother,” this he repeated thrice: “and after her your father, and after him your other relations by propinquity.”
* * * * * Verily one of you is a mirror to his brother: Then if he see a vice in his brother he must tell him to get rid of it.
* * * * * The best person near God is the best amongst his friends; and the best of neighbours near God is the best person in his own neighbourhood.
* * * * * Deliberation in undertaking is pleasing to God, and haste is pleasing to the devil.
* * * * * The heart of the old is always young in two things, in love for the world and length of hope.
* * * * * _Of Death._ Wish not for death any one of you; either a doer of good works, for peradventure he may increase them by an increase of life; or an offender, for perhaps he may obtain the forgiveness of God by repentance.
* * * * * When the soul is taken from the body, the eyes follow it, and look towards it: on this account the eyes remain open.
* * * * * When a believer is nearly dead, angels of mercy come, clothed in white silk garments, and say to the soul of the dying man, “Come out, O thou who art satisfied with God, and with whom He is satisfied; come out to rest, which is with God, and the sustenance of God’s mercy and compassion, and to the Lord, who is not angry.” Then the soul cometh out like the smell of the best musk, so that verily it is handed from one angel to another, till they bring it to the doors of the celestial regions. Then the angels say, “What a wonderful pleasant smell this is which is come to you from the earth!” Then they bring it to the souls of the faithful, and they are very happy at its coming; more than ye are at the coming of one of your family after a long journey. And the souls of the faithful ask it, “What hath such an one done, and such an one? how are they?” and they mention the names of their friends who are left in the world. And some of them say, “Let it alone, do not ask it, because it was grieved in the world, and came from thence aggrieved; ask it when it is at rest.” Then the soul saith when it is at ease, “Verily such an one about whom ye ask is dead.” And as they do not see him amongst themselves, they say to one another, “Surely he was carried to his mother, which is Hell Fire.”
And verily when an infidel is near death, angels of punishment come to him, clothed in sackcloth, and say to his soul, “Come out, thou discontented, and with whom God is displeased; come to God’s punishments.” Then it cometh out with a disagreeable smell, worse than the worst stench of a dead body, until they bring it upon the earth, and they say, “What an extraordinary bad smell this is;” till they bring it to the souls of the infidels.
* * * * * A bier was passing, and the Prophet stood up for it; and we stood with him and said, “O Prophet! verily this bier is of a Jewish woman; we must not respect it.” Then the Prophet said, “Verily death is dreadful: therefore when ye see a bier stand up.”
* * * * * Do not abuse or speak ill of the dead, because they have arrived at what they sent before them; they have received the rewards of their actions; if the reward is good, you must not mention them as sinful; and if it is bad, perhaps they may be forgiven, but if not, your mentioning their badness is of no use.
* * * * * Sit not upon graves, nor say your prayers fronting them.
* * * * * Whoso consoleth one in misfortune, for him is a reward equal to that of the sufferer.
* * * * * Whoso comforteth a woman who has lost her child will be covered with a garment in Paradise.
* * * * * The Prophet passed by graves in Medina, and turned his face towards them, and said, “Peace be to you, O people of the graves. God forgive us and you! Ye have passed on before us, and we are following you.”
* * * * * _Of the State after Death._ To whomsoever God giveth wealth, and he doth not perform the charity due from it, his wealth will be made into the shape of a serpent on the Day of Resurrection, which shall not have any hair upon its head, and this is a sign of its poison and long life, and it hath two black spots upon its eyes, and it will be twisted round his neck like a chain on the Day of Resurrection; then the serpent will seize the man’s jaw-bones, and will say, “I am thy wealth, the charity for which thou didst not give, and I am thy treasure, from which thou didst not separate any alms.”
* * * * * The Prophet asked us, “Did any one of you dream?” We said, “No.” He said, “But I did. Two men came to me and took hold of my hands, and carried me to a pure land: and behold, there was a man sitting and another standing: the first had an iron hook in his hand, and was hooking the other in the lip, and split it to the back of the neck, and then did the same with the other lip. While this was doing the first healed, and the man kept on from one lip to the other.” I said, “What is this?” They said, “Move on,” and we did so till we reached a man sleeping on his back, and another standing at his head with a stone in his hand, with which he was breaking the other’s head, and afterwards rolled the stone about and then followed it, and had not yet returned, when the man’s head was healed and well. Then he broke it again, and I said, “What is this?” They said, “Walk on,” and we walked, till we came to a hole like an oven, with its top narrow and its bottom wide, and fire was burning under it, and there were naked men and women in it; and when the fire burnt high the people mounted also, and when the fire subsided they subsided also. Then I said “What is this?” They said, “Move on,” and we went on till we came to a river of blood, with a man standing in the middle of it, and another man on the bank, with stones in his hands: and when the man in the river attempted to come out, the other threw stones in his face, and made him return. And I said, “What is this?” They said, “Advance,” and we moved forward, till we arrived at a green garden, in which was a large tree, and an old man and children sitting on the roots of it, and near it was a man lighting a fire. Then I was carried upon the tree, and put into a house which was in the middle of it,--a better house I have never seen: and there were old men, young men, women, and children. After that they brought me out of the house and carried me to the top of the tree, and put me into a better house, where were old men and young men. And I said to my two conductors, “Verily ye have shown me a great many things to-night, then inform me of what I have seen.” They said, “Yes: as to the man whom you saw with split lips, he was a liar, and will be treated in that way till the Day of Resurrection; and the person you saw getting his head broken is a man whom God taught the Korān, and he did not repeat it in the night, nor practice what is in it by day, and he will be treated as you saw till the Day of Resurrection; and the people you saw in the oven are adulterers; and those you saw in the river are receivers of usury; and the old man you saw under the tree is Abraham; and the children around them are the children of men: and the person who was lighting the fire was Mālik, the keeper of hell; and the first house you entered was for the common believers; and as to the second house, it is for the martyrs: and we who conducted you are one of us Gabriel, and the other Michael; then raise up your head;” and I did so, and saw above it as it were a cloud: and they said, “That is your dwelling.” I said, “Call it here, that I may enter it;” and they said, “Verily your life remaineth, but when you have completed it, you will come into your house.”
* * * * * When God created Paradise, He said to Gabriel, “Go and look at it,” then Gabriel went and looked at it and at the things which God had prepared for the people of it. After that Gabriel came and said, “O my Lord! I swear by thy glory no one will hear a description of Paradise but will be ambitious of entering it.” After that God surrounded Paradise with distress and troubles, and said, “O Gabriel, go and look at Paradise.” And he went and looked, and then returned and said, “O my Lord, I fear that verily no one will enter it.” And when God created Hell Fire He said to Gabriel, “Go and take a look at it.” And he went and looked at it, and returned and said, “O my Lord, I swear by thy glory that no one who shall hear a description of Hell Fire will wish to enter it.” Then God surrounded it with sins, desires, and vices, after that said to Gabriel, “Go and look at Hell Fire,” and he went and looked at it, and said, “O my Lord, I swear by thy glory I am afraid that every one will enter Hell, because sins are so sweet that there is none but will incline to them.”
* * * * * If ye knew what I know of the condition of the resurrection and futurity, verily ye would weep much and laugh little.
* * * * * Then I said, “O messenger of God! shall we perish while the virtuous are amongst us?” He said, Yes, when the wickedness shall be excessive, verily there will be tribes of my sects that will consider the wearing of silks and drinking liquor lawful, and will listen to the lute: and there will be men with magnificent houses, and their milch animals will come to them in the evening, full of milk, and a man will come begging a little and they will say, Come to-morrow. Then God will quickly send a punishment upon them, and will change others into the shape of monkeys and swine, unto the Day of Resurrection.
* * * * * Verily among the signs of the Resurrection will be the taking away of knowledge from amongst men; and their being in great ignorance and much wickedness and much drinking of liquor, and diminution of men, and there being many women; to such a degree that there will be fifty women to one man, and he will work for a livelihood for the women.
* * * * * How can I be happy, when Isrāfīl hath put the trumpet to his mouth to blow it, leaning his ear towards the true God for orders, and hath already knit his brow, waiting in expectation of orders to blow it?
* * * * * _Of Destiny._ The hearts of men are at the disposal of God like unto one heart, and He turneth them about in any way that He pleaseth. O Director of hearts, turn our hearts to obey Thee.
* * * * * The first thing which God created was a pen, and He said to it, “Write.” It said, “What shall I write?” And God said, “Write down the quantity of every separate thing to be created.” And it wrote all that was and all that will be to eternity.
* * * * * There is not one among you whose sitting-place is not written by God whether in the fire or in Paradise. The Companions said, “O Prophet! since God hath appointed our place, may we confide in this and abandon our religious and moral duty?” He said, “No, because the happy will do good works, and those who are of the miserable will do bad works.”
* * * * * * * * * * The Prophet of God said that Adam and Moses (in the world of spirits) maintained a debate before God, and Adam got the better of Moses; who said, “Thou art that Adam whom God created by the power of His hands, and breathed into thee from His own spirit, and made the angels bow before thee, and gave thee an habitation in His own Paradise: after that thou threwest man upon the earth, from the fault which thou committedst.” Adam said, “Thou art that Moses whom God elected for His prophecy, and to converse with, and He gave to thee twelve tables, in which are explained everything, and God made thee His confidant, and the bearer of His secrets: then how long was the Bible written before I was created?” Moses said, “Forty years.” Then Adam said, “Didst thou see in the Bible that Adam disobeyed God?” He said, “Yes.” Adam said, “Dost thou then reproach me on a matter which God wrote in the Bible forty years before creating me?”
* * * * * * * * * * 'Aïsha relates that the Prophet said to her, “Do you know, O 'Aïsha! the excellence of this night?” (the fifteenth of Ramadān.) I said, “What is it, O Prophet?” He said, “One thing in this night is, that all the children of Adam to be born in the year are written down; and also those who are to die in it, and all the actions of the children of Adam are carried up to heaven in this night; and their allowances are sent down.” Then I said, “O Prophet, do none enter Paradise except by God’s mercy?” He said, “No, none enter except by God’s favour:” this he said thrice. I said, “You, also, O Prophet! will you not enter into Paradise, excepting by God’s compassion?” Then the Prophet put his hand on his head, and said, “I shall not enter, except God cover me with His mercy:” this he said thrice.
* * * * * A man asked the Prophet what was the mark whereby a man might know the reality of his faith. He said, “If thou derive pleasure from the good which thou hast done, and be grieved for the evil which thou hast committed, thou art a true believer.” The man said, “What doth a fault really consist in?” He said, “When anything pricketh thy conscience forsake it.”
* * * * * I am no more than man: when I order you anything with respect to religion, receive it, and when I order you about the affairs of the world then I am nothing more than man.
NOTES.
THE MEKKA SPEECHES. I.--THE POETIC PERIOD.
The rhyming prose in which the Korān is written may be seen to best advantage in this earliest phase of Mohammad’s oratory, when the sentences are short and the rhythm more _chantant_ than in the later speeches. “The Smiting” (p. 7), will serve as a specimen of the sound of the original Arabic, as far as it can be represented in Roman characters:-- The effect of which may be thus roughly preserved in English:-- In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. The Smiting! What is the Smiting? And what shall teach thee what is the Smiting? The Day when men shall be like moths adrift, And the hills shall be like wool-flocks rift: Then as for him whose scales are heavy, his shall be a life of bliss: And as for him whose scales are light, a place in the Pit is his: And what shall teach thee what that place is-- A Fire that blazes!
* * * * * * * * * * P. 3. THE NIGHT.--The formula “_In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful_,” precedes all the chapters of the Korān but one. _We._--God speaks in the plural in the Korān.
* * * * * P. 5. THE COUNTRY.--_The two highways_: the _steep one_ to heaven, and the smooth one to hell.
P. 6. _The people of the right hand_--those that receive the book of the record of their actions in their right hand--the blessed. Contrariwise--_the people of the left hand_--the damned.
* * * * * P. 7. THE SMITING.--One of many similar names for the Day of Judgment. _The Bottomless Pit_, “El-Hāwiyeh,” is the lowest stage of the Hell of the Korān.
* * * * * P. 8. THE QUAKING.--_Burdens_, _i.e._ the dead. _Her tidings_: “The tidings of the earth are these--she will bear witness to the actions of every man and woman done upon her surface.”--Tradition of Mohammad.
* * * * * P. 9. THE RENDING ASUNDER.--_Reporters_: two angels who note respectively the good and the evil deeds and words of every man.
* * * * * P. 13. THE BACKBITER.--This speech is said to have been levelled at a personal enemy.
_Blasting Hell_, “El-Hutameh,” is the third stage of the Mohammadan Inferno.
* * * * * P. 14. THE SPLENDOUR OF MORNING.--Evidently uttered in a time of despondency and with the intention of self-encouragement.
* * * * * P. 15. THE MOST HIGH.--_The books of eld._ Mohammad asserted that his doctrine was a revival of the religion of Abraham and the patriarchs, as it was before the Jews corrupted it.
_Camels ten months_ gone with young were the Arabs’ most valuable property.
_The child that was buried alive._ Infanticide of female children was among the crimes of the ancient Arab.
_The Books_--in which men’s actions are recorded.
_Stars that hide_, _i.e._ that set; or, as others say, “that retrogress,” _i.e._ the planets.
P. 18. _Mad._ The people commonly believed Mohammad to be possessed with a jinni (or genius).
_Pelted devil._ The evil jinn or devils are supposed to act the eavesdropper on the confines of heaven, and to be driven away by shooting stars.
_A reminder_, _scil._, of the true religion of Abraham and the prophets, which men had forgotten. Cf. LANE: _Selections from the Kur-ān_, lxxxi. 15, 47, 48 (2d ed., Trübner’s Oriental Series).
* * * * * P. 19. THE NEWS.--One of the many names which Mohammad employed to bring home to his people the reality and fearfulness of the Last Day.
_Tent-pegs._ Mountains were believed to keep the earth steady, as pegs do a tent.
* * * * * P. 22. THE FACT.--One of the names of the Last Day: the event which must inevitably happen.
_Abasing_ the sinners, and _exalting_ the righteous.
_Three kinds_: the “outstrippers,” the “people of the right hand,” and the “people of the left hand.” In the original the same word means “right hand” and “happiness,” or “good omen;” contrariwise, “left hand” and “misfortune.” Cp. the use of _dexter_ and _sinister_. An instance of Mohammad’s practice of playing upon the different senses of a word.
_The outstrippers_, _i.e._ those who are the first to adopt the true religion--the prophets and apostles, who shall be rewarded by being allowed to stand nearest to God in the next world. The following fifteen lines describe their happy fate; after which, fourteen refer to the _people of the right hand_, or ordinary believers; and then seventeen lines to the _people of the left hand_, or damned.
P. 24. _Zakkūm_: A thorny tree with a bitter fruit, which grows up from the bottomless pit.
P. 26. _Preserved Book._--Mohammad taught that every “revelation” in the Korān was but a transcript from the pages of a great book, known as the “_Mother of the Book_,” “preserved” under the throne of God. The sentence, _Let none touch it but the purified_, is commonly inscribed upon the cover of the Korān.
_Those brought nearest_, _i.e._ the _outstrippers_, or prophets.
* * * * * P. 27. THE MERCIFUL.--_Then which of the bounties_, etc. A refrain or burden of this kind is rare in the Korān, and is in no other instance so often repeated. The _twain_ are mankind and the jinn (or genii). “Jinn,” it may be remarked, is a plural, and the singular is “jinni” (a genius), for the masculine, and “jinnīyeh” for the feminine.
_The two Easts._ The rising-places of the sun in summer and winter; _the two Wests_, the corresponding setting-places.
* * * * * P. 32. THE UNITY.--This profession of faith is held by Muslims to be equal in value to a third of the whole Korān.
* * * * * P. 33. THE FĀTIHAH, or “Opening” chapter, so called because it is placed at the beginning of the authorised arrangement of the Korān. It is the _Paternoster_ of Islam, and is repeated many times in the five daily prayers of the Muslims, and on every solemn occasion.
THE MEKKA SPEECHES. II.--THE RHETORICAL PERIOD.
P. 39. THE KINGDOM. _Say_: _i.e._ God bids Mohammad say. It must never be forgotten that Mohammad is only supposed to recite what God wrote in the Preserved Book (see note to p. 26) before the world began.
* * * * * P. 41. THE MOON.--_Sign_, _i.e._ miracle, which Mohammad insistently declared his inability to work.
_The Summoner_: the archangel Isrāfīl.
_Called it a lie_, _i.e._ denied the doctrine of one God and of a Day of Judgment.
P. 42. _Ad_: an ancient Arab people, destroyed in prehistoric days. See LANE: _Selections from the Kur-ān_, 60-62.
_Thamūd_: another tribe, which experienced a similar fate. See LANE, _ibid._ * * * * * P. 45. K.--As to the meaning of this letter of the Arabic alphabet, which gives a title to this speech, in the words of the Muslim commentator, “God alone knoweth what He meaneth by it.”
_A warner from among themselves._ The Mekkans were offended that an angel was not sent to them as an apostle, instead of a mere man.
_Marvellous thing_: the Resurrection.
P. 46. _The people of Tubba'_: the Himyarites of Arabia Felix.
_A driver and a witness._--Two angels, who are supposed to carry on the ensuing colloquy with God.
P. 48. _A tyrant._--Mohammad was sent to warn, not to compel the obedience and faith of his people.
P. 52. _Her resting-place._--The sun is feminine in Arabic, and the moon masculine.
P. 55. _Poetry._--It was a common charge against Mohammad that he was a mad poet.
* * * * * P. 57. THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, otherwise called THE NIGHT JOURNEY, from the reference in the first verse to a dream in which Mohammad saw himself carried from the Kaaba (the _Sacred Mosque_) at Mekka, to the Temple (the _Furthest Mosque_) at Jerusalem; upon which Mohammadan theologians have raised a noble superstructure of fable. The first verse is probably later than the rest. The _two sins_ and punishments of the Jews have also greatly exercised the commentators’ minds. What they were Mohammad probably did not very precisely know himself.
P. 60. _The son of the road_, _i.e._ the traveller.
P. 61. _A just cause_: apostacy, adultery, or murder.
P. 62. _Daughters from among the angels._--The Arabs worshipped the angels and jinn as daughters of God; and it is against this polytheism and blasphemous relationship that Mohammad protests, whilst he never denies but contrariwise admits the existence of such spirits. Further on (p. 64) he refers to these angels and other Arabian divinities, as beings who are not to be invoked, since they can have no influence for good or ill, and who themselves are in hope and fear of God’s mercy and torment, like human beings. It should be noticed that hitherto Mohammad has directed his preaching against disbelief in the One God, but has not pointedly attacked the idolatry of the Mekkans. In Y. S., however, he begins to speak of _other gods_ (p. 55), and in the Third or Argumentative Period, the angels and jinn which the Mekkans worshipped, and represented in the shape of idols, are frequently denounced, especially under the name of _Partners_ (see pp. 76, 84, 90, 92, 93, 97, 98, 103, 106, etc.)
P. 65. _The accursed tree_: Zakkūm, see note to p. 24. The full Koranic history of Adam and Eve, and how Iblīs, the father of the devils, refused to do homage to the father of mankind, may be read in LANE’S _Selections_, pp. 49-52.
P. 67. _Well-nigh tempted_: referring apparently to an inclination of Mohammad to temporize with idolatry on a special occasion.
P. 68. _The Spirit_: Gabriel, the teacher of Mohammad, and the bearer of revelations from God to His prophet.
P. 71. _Call upon God, or call upon the Merciful._--Mohammad’s use of two general names for God had apparently caused some confusion among the faithful, which this verse removed.
The “Children of Israel” speech is especially important, since it contains more definite regulations of conduct than any other of the orations delivered at Mekka.
THE MEKKA SPEECHES. III.--THE ARGUMENTATIVE PERIOD.
P. 76. THE BELIEVER. _Twice hast thou given us death_, etc.--Referring to the absence of life before birth, and the deprivation of it at death, and to the being quickened at birth, and raised again after death.
P. 78. _Their footprints_, or vestiges: _i.e._ their buildings and public works.
_Moses._ For the Koranic history of the Israelites, see LANE’S _Selections_, pp. 97-131.
P. 84. _I am bidden to resign myself_: _i.e._ I am bidden to become a Muslim, for _Muslim_ (Moslem or Musulman) means “one who is resigned,” and _Islām_, belonging to the same root, signifies “resignation,” or “self-surrender.” This is the correct name of the religion taught by the Arabian prophet, who would have regarded the epithet “Mohammadan,” as applied to the creed, or the professor thereof, as nothing short of blasphemy.
* * * * * * * * * * JONAH. P. 87. A. L. R.--Letters the import of which is as mysterious as K. and Y. S. before, and A. L. M. R. afterwards. Nöldeke believes them to be abbreviations of the names of the first reporters of the speeches.
P. 89. _I had dwelt a lifetime_: _i.e._ I should not have waited till I was forty before I began preaching, if I was the designing impostor you take me for.
P. 90. _Ye are in ships--and they run with them._--The reader must have observed that sudden transitions from the second to the third person, and from the singular to the plural, are very common in the Korān. They may perhaps be regarded as convincing evidence of the fidelity of Mohammad’s reporters.
P. 97. _God hath taken Him a son_: referring to the Christian doctrine.
P. 100. _Kibla_: The point towards which prayer must be said. See p. 134.
P. 101. _Now!_--The angel Gabriel is credited with this taunt.
* * * * * THUNDER. P. 104. A. L. M. R.--Mystic letters as above; perhaps for AL-MogheyReh, as the first reporter of this particular speech.
P. 108. _Join what God hath bidden to be joined_: _i.e._ believe in the whole series of prophets, and join good works to faith.
P. 111. _Mother of the Book._--The Preserved Book mentioned before in THE FACT (see note to p. 26).
THE MEDINA SPEECHES. THE PERIOD OF HARANGUE.
DECEPTION. P. 117. _Obey God and obey the Apostle._--This is a sure indication of the Medina origin of at least this verse, for the self-importance of the phrase would have been inappropriate in Mohammad’s weak and insignificant position at Mekka. (The speech is, however, by some ascribed to the Mekka division.) Further on the words _Believe in God and His Apostle_ (in IRON, p. 118), and _They who swear fealty to thee do but swear fealty to God_ (in VICTORY, p. 125), indicate the same spirit of self-exaltation which began with the prophet’s prosperity at Medina.
P. 122. _It is written in the Book_: _i.e._ Every event is set down in the Preserved Book before the event itself is created.
_God is rich_: _i.e._ He has no need of your grudging alms.
* * * * * VICTORY. P. 124.--The victory in question was probably the peaceful but real triumph of the Truce of Hudeybia, in A.H. 6; though some commentators prefer to regard the speech as prophetical of the conquest of Mekka two years later.
P. 125. _The Arabs of the desert who were left behind_ were certain tribes who held aloof from the pilgrimage towards Mekka, which ended in the Truce of Hudeybia. Mohammad punished them by refusing to allow them to share in the booty which soon after fell to the faithful in the Khaibar expedition; hence the reference on p. 126.
P. 128. _In the valley of Mekka_: referring to the Truce of Hudeybia. _Kept you away from the Sacred Mosque_: the Koreysh refused to allow Mohammad and his followers to enter Mekka or perform the pilgrimage; whereupon the truce was concluded, by which the pilgrimage was to take place (_Ye shall surely enter the Sacred Mosque_) in the following year (see Introduction, p. xlv.)
P. 129. _Traces_: _i.e._ dust from touching the ground.
* * * * * P. 130. HELP.--Revealed after the conquest of Mekka, and shortly before Mohammad’s death, and believed to have given him warning of it.
THE LAW GIVEN AT MEDINA.