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things. Now hath God in truth verified unto his apostle the vision, wherein he said, Ye shall surely enter the holy temple of Mecca, if God please, in full security; having your heads shaved, and your hair cut: ye shall not fear for God knoweth that which ye know not; and he hath appointed you, besides this, a speedy victory. It is he who hath sent his apostle with the direction, and the religion of truth; that he may exalt the same above every religion: and God is a sufficient witness hereof. Mohammed is the apostle of GOD: and those who are with him are fierce against the unbelievers, but compassionate towards one another. Thou mayest see them bowing down, prostrate, seeking a recompense from GOD, and his good will. Their signs are in their faces, being marks of frequent prostration. This is their description in the pentateuch, and their description in the gospel: they are as seed which putteth forth its stalk, and strengtheneth it, and swelleth in the ear, and riseth upon its stem; giving delight unto the sower. Such are the Moslems described to be that the infidels may swell with indignation at them. God hath promised unto such of them as believe, and do good works, pardon and a great reward.

CHAPTER XLIX.

INTITLED, THE INNER APARTMENTS; REVEALED AT MEDINA.

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IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

O TRUE believers, anticipate not any matter in the sight of God and his apostle and fear GoD; for GOD both heareth and knoweth. O true believers, raise not your voices above the voice of the prophet; neither

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I Or dream which Mohammed had at Medina, before he set out for al Hodeibiya; wherein he dreamed that he and his companions entered Mecca in security, with their heads shaven, and their hair cut. This dream, being imparted by the prophet to his followers, occasioned a great deal of joy among them; and they supposed it would be fulfilled that same year: but when they saw the truce concluded, which frustrated their expectation for that time, they were deeply concerned; whereupon this passage was revealed for theit consolation, confirming the vision, which was not to be fulfilled till the year after, wher Mohammed performed the visitation distinguished by the addition of al Kada, or completion, because he then completed the visitation of the former year, when the Koreish not permit ting him to enter Mecca, he was obliged to kill his victims, and to shave himself at al Hodeibiya."

'i. e. Some being shaved, and others having only their hair cut.

'viz. The taking of Khaibar.

The marks of their piety appear on their faces."-Savary.

That is, do not presume to give your own decision in any case, before ye have received the judgment of God and his apostle.

This verse is said to have been occasioned by a dispute between Abu Becr and Omar concerning the appointing of a governor of a certain place; in which they raised their voices so high, in the presence of the apostle, that it was thought proper to forbid such in decencies for the future."

Al Beidawi, Tallalo'ddin. Vide Abulf. Vit. Moh. p. 84, 87.

* Jallalo'ddin.

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speak loud unto him in discourse,* as ye speak loud unto one another, lest your works become vain, and ye perceive it not. Verily they who lower their voices in the presence of the apostle of GOD are those whose hearts GOD hath disposed unto piety: they shall obtain pardon, and a great reward. As to those who call unto thee from without the inner apartments; the greater part of them do not understand the respect due to thee.† If they wait with patience, until thou come forth unto them, it will certainly be better for them: but God is inclined to forgive, and merciful. O true believers, if a wicked man come unto you with a tale, inquire strictly into the truth thereof; lest ye hurt people through ignorance, and afterwards repent of what ye have done; and know that the apostle of God is among you if he should obey you in many things, ye would certainly be guilty of a crime, in leading him into a mistake. But GOD hath made the faith amiable unto you, and hath prepared the same in your hearts; and hath rendered infidelity, and iniquity, and disobedience hateful unto you. These are they who walk in the right way; through mercy from GOD, and grace and GOD is knowing, and wise. If two parties of the believers contend with one another, do ye endeavour to compose the matter between them and if the one of them offer an insult unto the other, fight against that party which offered the insult, until they return unto the judgment of GOD; and if they do return, make peace between them with equity and act with justice; for God loveth those who act justly. Verily the true believers are brethren; wherefore reconcile your brethren; and fear GOD, that ye may obtain mercy. O true believers, let not men laugh other men to scorn; who peradventure may be better than themselves: neither let women laugh other women to scorn; who may possibly be better than themselves. Neither defame one another; nor call one another by oppro

"Speak not unto him with that familiarity which ye use unto each other.”—Savary. These, they say, were Oyeyna Ebn Hosein, and al Akrá Ebn Hâbes; who wanting to speak with Mohammed, when he was sleeping at noon in his women's apartment, had the rudeness to call out several times, Mohammed, come forth to us."

"The interior of thy dwelling is a sanctuary: they who violate it by calling unto thee are deficient in the respect which they owe to the interpreter of heaven."-Savary.

This passage was occasioned, it is said, by the following accident. Al Walid Ebn Okba being sent by Mohammed to collect the alms from the tribe of al Mostalek, when he saw them come out to meet him in great numbers, grew apprehensive they designed him some mischief, because of past enmity between him and them, in the time of ignorance, and immediately turned back, and told the prophet they refused to pay their alms, and attempted to kill him; upon which Mohammed was thinking to reduce them by force: but on sending Khaled Ebn al Walid to them, he found his former messenger had wronged them, and that they continued in their obedience.

This verse is supposed to have been occasioned by a fray, which happened between the tribes of al Aws and al Khazraj Some relate, that the prophet one day riding on an ass, as he passed near Abdallah Ebn Obba, the ass chanced to stale, at which Ebn Obba stopped his nose; and Ebn Rawaha said to him, By God, the piss of his ass smells sweeter than thy musk; whereupon a quarrel ensued between their followers, and they came to blows, though they struck one another only with their hands and slippers, or with palm-branches.'

• Al Beidâwi.

(By the interior is to be understood the women's apartment, to which the Arabs give the name of Harem (the forbidden place.) Only the husband is allowed to enter it: he urally passes the afternoon there, in the midst of his wives and children, and dislikes o be called out of it.)—Savary.

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brious appellations. An ill name it is to be charged with wickedness, after having embraced the faith: and whoso repenteth not, they will be the unjust doers. O true believers, carefully avoid entertaining a suspicio.. of another: for some suspicions are a crime. Inquire not too curiously into other men's failings: neither let the one of you speak ill of another in his absence. Would any of you desire to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Surely ye would abhor it. And fear God; for GOD is easy to be reconciled, and merciful. O men, verily we have created you of a male and a female; and we have distributed you into nations and tribes,'that ye might know one another. Verily the most honourable of you, in the sight of GOD, is the most pious of you: and GOD is wise and knowing. The Arabs of the desert say, We believe. Answer, Ye do by no means believe; but say, We have embraced Islâm: for the faith hath not yet entered into your hearts.* If ye obey God and his apostle, he will not defraud you of any part of the merit of your works: for God is inclined to forgive, and merciful. Verily the true believers are those only who believe in God and his apostle, and afterwards doubt not; and who employ their substance and their persons in the defence of God's true religion: these are they who speak sincerely. Say, Will ye inform GoD concerning your religion?1 But God knoweth whatever is in heaven and in earth: for GOD is omniscient. They upbraid thee that they have embraced Islâm. Answer, Upbraid me not with your having embraced Islâm: rather God upbraideth you, that he hath directed you to the faith; if ye speak sincerely.† Verily GOD knoweth the secrets of heaven and earth and GOD beholdeth that which ye do.

It is said that this verse was revealed on account of Safiya Bint Hoyai, one of the prophet's wives; who came to her husband and complained that the women said to her, O thou Jewess, the daughter of a Jew and of a Jewess; to which he answered, Canst thou not say, Aaron is my father, and Moses is my uncle, and Mohammed is my husband? 1

These were certain of the tribe of Asad, who came to Medina in a year of scarcity, and having professed Mohammedism, told the prophet that they had brought all their goods and their families, and would not oppose him, as some other tribes had done: and his they said to obtain a part of the alms, and to upbraid him with their having embraced his religion and party.

That is, ye are not sincere believers, but outward professors only of the true religion. (The distinction which the Mohammedans make between faith and Islâmism is, that the one is the internal belief, and the other the external sign of that belief by religious acts.)-Savary.

1i. e. Will ye pretend to deceive him, by saying ye are true believers?

The obligation being not on God's side, but on yours, for that he has favoured you so far as to guide you into the true faith, if ye are sincere believers.

They return thanks unto thee for having embraced Islamism. Say to them, His eligion cometh not from me; it is the gift of heaven: he will lead you if your hearts be sincere."-Savary.

Al Beidâwi. See Prid. Life of Moham. p. 111, &c.

• Idem

CHAPTER L.

INTITLED, K; REVEALED AT MECCA.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

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K. By the glorious Korân: verily they wonder that a preacher from among themselves is come unto them; and the unbelievers say, This is a wonderful thing: after we shall be dead, and become dust, shall we return to life? This is a return remote from thought. Now we know what the earth consumeth of them; and with us is a book which keepeth an account thereof. But they charge falsehood on the truth, after it hath come unto them: wherefore they are plunged in a confused business. Do they not look up to the heaven above them, and consider how we have raised it and adorned it; and that there are no flaws therein? We have also spread forth, the earth, and thrown thereon mountains firmly rooted: and we caused every beautiful kind of vegetables to spring up therein; for a subject of meditation, and an admonition unto every man who turneth unto us. And we send down rain as a blessing from heaven, whereby we cause gardens to spring forth, and the grain of harvest, and tall palm-trees having branches laden with dates hanging one above another,† as a provision for mankind; and we thereby quicken a dead country: so shall be the coming forth of the dead from their graves. The people of Noah, and those who dwelt at Al Rass, and Thamud, and Ad, and Pharaoh, accused the prophets of imposture. before the Meccans; and also the brethren of Lot, and the inhabitants of the wood near Midian, and the people of Tobba: all these accused the apostles of imposture; wherefore the judgments which I threatened were justly inflicted on them. Is our power exhausted by the first creation? Yea; they are in a perplexity, because of a new creation which is foretold

Some imagine that this letter is designed to express the mountain Kâf, which several eastern writers fancy encompasses the whole world. Others say it stands for Kada al amr, i. e. The matter is decreed, viz. the chastisement of the infidels. See the Prelim. Disc. sect. iii. p. 42, &c.

Not knowing what certainly to affirm of the Korân; calling it sometimes a piece of poetry, at other times a piece of sorcery, and at other times a piece of divination, &c. "The spirit of confusion hath seized upon them." -Savary.

See chap. 16, p. 215; and chap. 31, p. 335.

† (The date-tree produces three or four large clusters, which rise from the summit of the tree, and hang round. They are formed of small branches, long and flexible, from which hang the dates. These clusters will sometimes weigh as much as a hundred and twenty pounds. The date is at first of a deep green: as it ripens, it turns red, and it becomes blackish when it is ripe. This fruit, which is of a sugary and agreeable taste, loses much by drying. Savary

See chap. 25, p. 299.

"The inhabitants of Aleica."-Savary.

See chap. 44, p. 403.

Vide D'Herbel. Bibl. Orient. Art. Caf.

'Al Beidâwi, Jallalo'ddin.

(The unbelievers pretended that Mohammed was a magician, and the Korân a book of magic; others that he was a poet, and the Korân a book of poetry. The last reproach is not wholly unfounded: the whole of the Korân is written in verses. The first chapters are in rhymed prose; a part of the last in verse. Mohammed has displayed in his work all the treasures of eloquence and poetry.)-Savary.

them, namely the raising of the dead. We created man, and we know what Lis soul whispereth within him; and we are nearer unto him than his jugular vein. When the two angels deputed to take account of a man's behaviour, take an account thereof; one sitting on the right hand, and the other on the left: he uttereth not a word, but there is with him a watcher, ready to note it. And the agony of death shall come in truth: this, O mun, is what thou soughtest to avoid. And the trumpet shall sound: this will be the day which hath been threatened. And every soul shall come; and therewith shall be a driver and a witness. r * And the former shall say unto the unbeliever, Thou wast negligent heretofore of this day but we have removed thy veil from off thee; and thy sight is become piercing this day. And his companions shall say, This is what is ready with me to be attested. And God shall say, Cast into hell every unbeliever, and perverse person, and every one who forbade good, and every transgressor, and doubter of the faith, who set up another god with the true God; and cast him into a grievous His companion shall say, O LORD, I did not seduce him; but he was in a wide error. God shall say, Wrangle not in my presence: since I threatened you beforehand with the torments which ye now see prepared for you. The sentence is not changed with me: neither do I treat my servants unjustly. On that day we will say unto hell, Art thou full? and it shall answer, Is there yet any addition? And paradise shall be brought near unto the pious; and it shall be said unto them, This is what ye have been promised; unto every one who turned himself unto God, and kept his commandments; who feared the Merciful in secret, and came unto him with a converted heart: enter the same in peace: this is the day of eternity. Therein shall they have whatever they shall desire

torment.

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The intent of the passage is to exalt the omniscience of God; who wants not the information of the guardian angels, though he has thought fit, in his wisdom, to give them that employment: for if they are so exact as to write down every word which falls from a man's mouth, how can we hope to escape the observation of him who sees our inmost thoughts?

The Mohammedans have a tradition that the angel who notes a man's good actions has the command over him who notes his evil actions; and that when a man does a good ac tion, the angel of the right hand writes it down ten times, and when he commits an ill action, the same angel says to the angel of the left hand, Forbear setting it down for seven hours; peradventure he may pray, or may ask pardon."

i. e. Two angels, one acting as a serjeant, to bring every person before the tribunal; and the other prepared as a witness, to testify either for or against him. Some say the former will be the guardian angel who took down his evil actions, and the other the angel who took down his good actions.'

* "Every man shall present himself there with a guide and with a witness."-Savary • vis. The devil which shall be chained to him.

This will be the answer of the devil, whom the wicked person will accuse as his seducer; for the devil has no power over a man, to cause him to do evil, any otherwise than by suggesting what is agreeable to his corrupt inclinations.'

i. e. Are there yet any more condemned to this place; or is my space to be enlarged

and rendered more capacious to receive them?

The commentators suppose hell will be quite filled at the day of judgment, according so that repeated expression in the Korân, Verily I will fill hell with you, &c.

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