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Ye have taken idols, besides GoD, to cement affection between you in this life but on the day of resurrection, the one of you shall deny the other. and the one of you shall curse the other; and your abode shall be hell fire, and there shall be none to deliver you. And Lot believed on him. And Abraham said, Verily I fly from my people, unto the place which my LORD. hath commanded me; for he is the mighty, the wise. And we gave him Isaac and Jacob; and we placed among his descendants the gift of prophecy and the scriptures: and we gave him his reward in this world; and in the next he shall be one of the righteous. We also sent Lot; when he said unto his people, Do ye commit filthiness which no creature hath committed before you? Do ye approach lustfully unto men, and lay wait in the highways, and commit wickedness in your assembly? And the answer of his people was no other than that they said, Bring down the vengeance of GOD upon us, if thou speakest truth. Lot said, O LORD, defend me against the corrupt people. And when our messengers came unto Abraham with good tidings,' they said, We will surely destroy the inhabitants of this city; for the inhabitants thereof are unjust doers Abraham answered, Verily Lot dwelleth there. They replied, We well know who dwelleth therein we will surely deliver him and his family, except his wife; she shall be one of those who remain behind. And when ou. messengers came unto Lot, he was troubled for them, and his arm was straitened concerning them. But they said, Fear not, neither be grieved; for we will deliver thee and thy family, except thy wife; for she shall be one of those who remain behind. We will surely bring down upon the inhabitants of this city vengeance from heaven, for that they have been wicked doers; and we have left thereof a manifest sign unto people who understand. And unto the inhabitants of Madian we sent their brother Shoaib; and he said unto them, O my people, serve God, and expect the last day; and transgress not, acting corruptly in the earth. But they accused him of imposture; wherefore a storm from heaven" assailed them,† and in the morning they were found in their dwellings dead and prostrate. And we also destroyed the tribes of Ad, and Thamud; and this is well known unto you from what yet remains of their dwellings. And Satan prepared their works for them, and turned them aside from the way of truth, although they were sagacious people. And we likewise destroyed Karun,

"You have lavished, said he, your incense and your love on impotent deities: at the day of resurrection one part of you shall disown the other, and shall load it with curses. Your abode shall be hell, and ye shall not find a defender."-Savary.

▸ Some suppose the Sodomites robbed and murdered the passengers; others, that they annaturally abused their bodies.

Their meetings being scenes of obscenity and riot.

See chap. 11, p. 182.

See ibid. p. 183.

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.

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"The tempter hid vice for them under flowers."-Savary.

and Pharaoh, and Haman. Moses came unto them with evident miracles, and they behaved themselves insolently in the earth: but they could not escape our vengeance. Every of them did we destroy in his sin. Against some of them we sent a violent wind: some of them did a terrible noise from heaven destroy:* some of them did we cause the earth to swallow up: and some of them we drowned. Neither was God disposed to treat them unjustly; but they dealt unjustly with their own souls. The likeness of those who take other patrons besides God is as the likeness of the spider, which maketh herself a house: but the weakest of all houses surely is the house of the spider; if they knew this. Moreover God knoweth what things they invoke, besides him; and he is the mighty, the wise. These similitudes do we propound unto men: but none understand them, except the wise. GOD hath created the heavens and the earth in truth; verily herein is a sign unto the true believers. *[XXI.] Rehearse that which hath been revealed unto thee of the book of the Korân: and be constant at prayer; for prayer preserveth a man from filthy crimes, and from that which is blameable; and the remembering of GOD is surely a most important duty. God knoweth that which ye do. Dispute not against those who have received the scriptures, unless in the mildest manner: except against such of them as behave injuriously towards you: and say, We believe in the revelation which hath been sent down unto us, and also in that which hath been sent down unto you; our GoD and your God is one, and unto him are we resigned. Thus have we sent down the book of the Koran unto thee: and they unto whom we have given the former scriptures believe therein; and of these Arabians also there is who believeth therein and none reject our signs, except the obstinate infidels. Thou couldest not read any book before this; neither couldest thou write it with thy right hand then had the gainsayers justly doubted of the divine original thereof. But the same is evident signs in the breasts of those who have received understanding: for none reject our signs except the unjust. They say, Unless a sign be sent down unto him from his LORD, we will not believe. Answer, Signs are in the power of God alone; and I am no more than a public preacher. Is it not sufficient for them that we have sent down unto thee the book of the Korûn, to be read unto them? Verily herein is a mercy, and an admonition unto people who believe. Say, GOD is a sufficient witness between me and you: he knoweth whatever is in heaven and earth; and those who believe in vain idols, and deny GOD, they shall perish. They will urge thee to hasten the punishment which they defy thee to bring down upon them: if there had not been a determined time for

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

Which was the end of Ad and Thamud.

As it did Karûn.

As the unbelievers in Noah's time, and Pharaoh and his army.

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.

See chap. 6, p. 103.

their respite, the punishment had come upon them before this; but it shall surely overtake them suddenly, and they shall not foresee it. They urge thee to bring down vengeance swiftly upon them: but hell shall surely encompass the unbelievers. On a certain day their punishment shall suddenly assail them, both from above them, and from under their feet, and God shall say, Taste ye the reward of that which ye have wrought. O my servants who have believed, verily my earth is spacious: wherefore serve me. Every soul shall taste death: afterwards shall ye return unto us; and as for those who shall have believed, and wrought righteousness, we will surely lodge them in the higher apartments of paradise; * rivers shall flow beneath them, and they shall continue therein for ever. How excellent will be the reward of the workers of righteousness; who persevere with patience, and put their trust in their LORD! How many beasts are there, which provide not their food? It is God who provideth for them, and for you; and he both heareth and knoweth. Verily, if thou ask the Meccans, who hath created the heavens and the earth, and hath obliged the sun and the moon to serve in their courses? they will answer, GOD. How therefore do they lie, in acknowledging of other gods? GOD maketh abundant provision for such of his servants as he pleaseth; and is sparing unto him, if he pleaseth: for God knoweth all things. Verily if thou ask them, who sendeth rain from heaven, and thereby quickeneth the earth, after it hath been dead? they will answer, GOD. Say, GOD be praised! But the greater part of them do not understand. This present life is no other than a toy, and a plaything; but the future mansion of paradise is life indeed: if they knew this they would not prefer the former to the latter. When they sail in a ship, they call upon GoD, sincerely exhibiting unto him the true religion : but when he bringeth them safe to land, behold, they return to their idolatry; to show themselves ungrateful for that which we have bestowed on them, and that they may enjoy the delights of this life; but they shall hereafter know the issue. Do they not see that we have made the territory of Mecca an inviolable and secure asylum, when men are spoiled in the countries round about them? Do they therefore believe in that which is vain, and acknowledge not the goodness of GOD? But who is more unjust than he who deviseth a lie against GoD, or denieth the truth, when it hath come unto him? Is there not in hell an abode for the unbelievers? Whoever do their utmost endeavour to promote our true religion, we will direct them into our ways; for God is with the righteous.

That is, If ye cannot serve me in one city or country, fly into 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.10

"Those who shall have professed Islamism, and practised charity, shall dwell eter nally in the garden of delights, through which rivers flow."-Savary.

And particularly who will make a good, and who will make a bad, use of their riches. "See they not that we have given unto them a secure asylum, while the men wàc dwell around them are led away captive ?"-Savary.

10 A! Beidâwi.

CHAPTER XXX.

INTITLED, THE GREEKS;• REVEALED AT MECCA.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

A. L. M. THE Greeks have been overcome by the Persians in the

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

'Some except the verse beginning at these words, Praise be unto God.

See the Prelim. Disc. sect. iii. p. 42, &c.

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 Koran 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 Chistians, 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 n the second year after it, when the battle of Bedr was fought: 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."

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 Beer 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 bed, 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 received at Ohod, in the third year of the Hejra;' but the event afterwards showing that Abu Becr had won, he received the camels of Obba's heirs, and brought them in triumph to Mohammed.

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 ess 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 Madâyen; Heraclius enjoying, thence forward, a continued series of

'Jallalo'ddin, &c. Beidâwi, Jallalo'ddin, &c.

Al Zamakh, al Beidâwi.

'See p. 298, note w. 'Al

nearest part of the land; but after their defeat, they shall overcome the others in their turn, within a few years. Unto God belongeth the disposa of this matter, both for what is past, and for what is to come: and on that day shall the believers rejoice in the success granted by GoD; for he granteth success unto whom he pleaseth, and he is the mighty, the merciful. This is the promise of GOD: GOD will not act contrary to his promise; but the greater part of men know not the veracity of God. They know the outward appearance of this present life; but they are careless as to the life to come.† Do they not consider within themselves that God hath not created the heavens and the earth, and whatever is between them, otherwise than in truth, and hath set them a determined period? Verily a great number of men reject the belief of their future meeting their LORD at the resurrection. Do they not pass through the earth, and see what hath been the end of those who were before them? They excelled the Meccans in strength, and broke up the earth, and inhabited it in greater affluence and prosperity than they inhabit the same: and their apostles came unto them with evident miracles; and GOD was not disposed to treat them unjustly, but they injured their own souls by their obstinate infidelity; and the end of those who had done evil was evil, because they charged the signs of GOD with falsehood, and laughed the same to scorn. GOD produceth creatures, and will hereafter restore them to life: then shall ye return unto him. And on the day whereon the hour shall come, the wicked shall be struck dumb for despair; and they shall have no intercessors from among the idols which they associated with God. And they shall deny the false gods which they associated with him. On the day whereon the hour shall come, on that day shall the true believers and the infidels be separated: and they who shall have believed, and wrought righteousness, shall take their pleasure in a delightful meadow; but as for those who shall have disbelieved, and rejected our signs, and the meeting of the next life, they shall be delivered up to punishment. Wherefore glorify GoD, when the evening overtaketh you, and when ye rise in the morning and unto him be praise in heaven and earth; and at sunset, and

:

good fortune, to the deposition and death of Khosru. For more exact information on 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.'

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They have been defeated on the frontier."-Savary.

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 Adhraât; others imagine the land of Persia is intended, and lay the scene in Mesopotamia, on the frontiers of that kingdom: but Ebn Abbas, with more probability, thinks it was in Palestine.

↑ "Intoxicated with earthly pleasures, men forget the life which is to come."-Savary. "Have they not traversed the earth? Have they not seen what hath been the fate of the ancient nations? More powerful than they are, those nations have left there monuments of their greatness. They have dwelt there for a longer period.”—Savary. I To dig for water and minerals, and to till the ground for seed, &c.*

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Vide etiam Asseman. Bibl. Orient. t, 3, part 1, p. 411, &c. et Boulainv. Vie de Mo ham. p. 333, &c. Yahya al Beidâwi. Mojahed, apud Zamakh. • Al Beidâwi

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