over as for those who believe not the signs of GOD, GOD will not direct them, and they shall suffer a painful torment: verily they imagine a falsehood who believe not in the signs of GoD, and they are really the liars. Whoever denieth GoD, after he hath believed, except him who shall be compelled against his will, and whose heart continueth sted fast in the faith, shall be severely chastised but whoever shall voluntarily profess infidelity, on those shall the indignation of GoD fall, and they shall suffer a grievous punishment. This shall be their sentence, because they have loved the present life above that which is to come, and for that God directeth not the unbelieving people. These are they whose hearts, and hearing, and sight, GOD hath sealed up; and these are the negligent: there is no doubt but that in the next life they shall perish. Moreover thy LORD will be favourable unto those who have fled their country, after having suffered persecution," and had been compelled to deny the faith by

From the answer given in this passage of the Korân to the objection of the infidels, viz. that the person suspected by him to have had a hand in the Korân spoke a foreign language, and therefore could not, with any face of probability, be supposed to assist in a composition written in the Arabic tongue, and with so great elegance, it is plain this person was no Arabian. The word Ajami, which is here used, signifies any foreign or barbarous language in general; but the Arabs applying it more particularly to the Persian, it has been thence concluded by some that Salman was the person: however, if it be true that he came not to Mohammed till after the Hejra, either he could not be the man here intended, or else this verse must have been revealed at Medina, contrary to the common opinion.

46

The men who deny Islamism add blasphemy to falsehood.”—Savary.

These words were added for the sake of Ammâr Ebn Yaser, and some others, who being taken and tortured by the Koreish, renounced their faith out of fear, though their hearts agreed not with their mouths. It seems Ammâr wanted the constancy of his father and mother, Yâser and Sommeya, who underwent the like trial at the same time with their son, and resolutely refusing to recant, were both put to death, the infidels Iving Sommeya between two camels, and striking a lance through her privy parts. When news was brought to Mohammed that Ammâr had denied the faith, he said, it could not be, for that Ammâr was full of faith, from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, faith being mixed and incorporated with his very flesh and blood; and when Ammar himself came weeping to the prophet, he wiped his eyes, saying, What fault was it of thine, if they forced thee?

But though it be here said that those who apostatize in appearance only, to avoid death or torments, may hope for pardon from God, yet it is unanimously agreed by the Mohammedan doctors to be inuch more meritorious and pleasing in the sight of God courageously and nobly to persist in the true faith, and rather to suffer death itself than renounce it, even in words. Nor did the Mohammedan religion want its martyrs, in the strict sense of the word; of which I will here give two instances, besides the above. mentioned. One is that of Khobaib Ebn Ada, who being perfidiously sold to the Koreish, was by them put to death in a cruel manner, by mutilation, and cutting off his flesh piece-meal; and being asked, in the midst of his tortures, whether he did not wish Mohammed was in his place, answered. I would not wish to be with my family, my substance, and my children, on condition that Mohammed was only to be pricked with a thorn The other is that of a man who was put to death by Moseilama, on the following occasion. That false prophet, having taken two of Mohammed's followers, asked one of them, what he said of Mohammed? The man answered. That he was the apostle of God: And what sayest thou of me? added Moseilama; to which he replied, Thou also art the apostle of God; whereupon he was immediately dismissed in safety. But the other, having returned the same answer to the former question, refused to give any to the last, though required to do it three several times, but pretended to be deaf, and was therefore slain. It is related that Mohammed, when the story of these two men was told him, said, The first of them threw himself on God's mercy; but the latter professed the truth; and he shall find his account in it."

As did Ammar, who made one in both the flights. Some, reading the verb with dif 'Al Beidâwi, Al Zamakh. Yahya. "Al Beidâwi. ⚫ Ebn Shohnah. Al beidâwi,

violence, and who have since fought in defence of the true religion, and have persevered with patience; verily unto these will thy LORD be gracious and merciful, after they shall have shown their sincerity. On a certain day shall every soul come to plead for itself," and every soul shall be repaid that which it shall have wrought; and they shall not be treated unjustly. GOD propoundeth as a parable a city which was secure and quiet, unto which her provisions came in abundance from every side; but she ungrate fully denied the favour of God: wherefore GOD caused her to taste tho extreme famine, and fear, because of that which they had done. And now is an apostle come unto the inhabitants of Mecca from among themselves; and they accuse him of imposture: wherefore a punishment shall be inflicted on them, while they are acting unjustly. Eat of what GOD hath given you for food, that which is lawful and good; and be thankful for the favours of God, if ye serve him. He hath only forbidden you that which dieth of itself, and blood, and swine's flesh, and that which hath been slain in the name of any, besides God. But unto him who shall be compelled by necessity to eat of these things, not lusting nor wil fully transgressing, GoD will surely be gracious and merciful. And say not that wherein your tongues utter a lie; This is lawful, and this is unlawful;" that ye may devise a lie concerning GoD: for they who devise concerning GOD shall not prosper. They shall have small enjoyment in this world, and in that which is to come they shall suffer a grievous torment. Unto the Jews did we forbid that which we have told thee formerly and we did them no injury in that respect; but they injured their own souls. Moreover thy LORD will be favourable unto those who do evil through ignorance, and afterwards repent and amend: verily unto these will thy LORD be gracious and merciful, after their repentance. Abraham was a model of true religion, obedient unto God, orthodox, and was not an idolater:" he was also grateful for his benefits: wherefore God chose him, and directed him into the right way. And we bestowed on him good in this world; and in the next he shall surely be one of the righteous. We have also spoken unto thee, O Mohammed, by revelation, saying, Follow

ferent vowels, render the last words, after having persecuted the true believers; and instance in al Hadrami, who obliged a servant of his to renounce Mohammedism, by force, but afterwards, together with that servant, professed the same faith, and fled for it.1 That is, every person shall be solicitous for his own salvation, not concerning himself with the condition of another, but crying out, My own soul, my own soul!?

This example is applied to every city which having received great blessings from God becometh insolent and unthankful, and is therefore chastised by some signal judgment, or rather to Mecca in particular, on which the calamities threatened in this passage, viz. both famine and sword, were inflicted."

See chap. 5, p. 81.

Allowing what God hath forbidden, and superstitiously abstaining from what he hath allowed See chap. 6, p. 113.

viz. In the 6th chapter, p. 113.

i. c. They were forbidden things which were in themselves indifferent, as a punishment for their wickedness and rebellion.

This was to reprehend the idolatrous Koreish, who pretended that they professed the religion of Abraham.

the religion of Abraham, who was orthodox, and was no idolater. The sabbath was only appointed unto those who differed with their prophet concerning it; and thy LoRD will surely judge between them, on the day of resurrection, as to that concerning which they differed. Invite men unto the way of thy LoRD, by wisdom, and mild exhortation; and dispute with them in the most condescending manner: for thy LoRd well knoweth him who strayeth from his path, and he well knoweth those who are rightly directed. If ye take vengeance on any, take a vengeance prò portionable to the wrong which hath been done you; but if ye suffer wrong patiently, verily this will be better for the patient. Wherefore, do thou bear opposition with patience; but thy patience shall not be practicable, unless with God's assistance. And be thou not grieved on account of the unbelievers; neither be thou troubled for that which they subtilely devise; for GoD is with those who fear him, and are upright.

CHAPTER XVII.

INTITLED THE NIGHT JOURNEY;' REVEALED AT MECCA.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

[XV.] PRAISE be unto him who transported his servant by night, from the sacred temple of Mecca to the farther temple of Jerusalem, the circuit

These were the Jews; who, being ordered by Moses to set apart Friday (the day now observed by the Mohammedans) for the exercise of divine worship, refused it, and chose the sabbath day, because on that day God rested from his works of creation; for which reason they were commanded to keep the day they had chosen in the strictest manner.'

This passage is supposed to have been revealed at Medina, on occasion of Hamza, Mohammed's uncle, being slain at the battle of Ohod. For the infidels having abused his dead body, by taking out his bowels, and cutting off his ears and his nose, when Mohammed saw it, he swore that if God granted him success, he would retaliate those cruelties on seventy of the Koreish; but he was by these words forbidden to execute what he had sworn, and he accordingly made void his oath. Abu'lfeda makes the number on which Mohammed swore to wreak his vengeance to be but thirty: but it may be observed by the way, that the translator renders this passage in that author, God hath revealed unto me that I shall retaliate, &c., instead of, If God grant me victory over the Koreish, I will retaliate, &c, reading Lain adhharni, for adhfarni; God, far from putung this design into the prophet's head by a revelation, expressly forbidding him to put it in execution.

Here, says al Beidâwi, the Koran principally points at Mohammed, who was of all men the most conspicuous for meekness and clemency.

The reason of this inscription appears in the first words. Some intitle the chapter, The Children of Israel.

Some except eight verses, beginning at these words, It wanted little but that the infidels had seduced thee, &c.

From whence he was carried through the seven heavens to the presence of God, and brought back again to Mecca the same night.

This journey of Mohamme, to heaven is so well known, that I may be pardoned if I omit the description of it. The English reader may find it in Dr. Prideaux's Life of Mohammed, and the learned in Abu'lfeda, whose annotator has corrected several mistakes in the relation of Dr. Prideaux, and in other writers.

It is a dispute among the Mohammedan divines, whether their prophet's night-journey

4

Al Beidâwi, Jallalo'ddin.

Iidem.

Abulf. Vit. Moh., p. 68.

Vit. Moham. cap. 19

&c. See also Morgan's Mohammedism Explained, vol. 2.

of which we have blessed, that we might show some of our signs; for God is he who heareth, and seeth. And we gave unto Moses the book of the law, and appointed the same to be a direction unto the children of .srael, commanding them, saying, Beware that ye take not any other patror. besides me. O posterity of those whom we carried in the ark with Noah: verily he was a grateful servant. And we expressly declared unto the children of Israel in the book of the law, saying, Ye will surely commit evil in the earth twice, and ye will be elated with great insolence. And when the punishment threatened for the first of those transgressions came to be executed, we sent against you our servants,' endued with exceeding strength in war, and they searched the inner apartments of your houses; and the prediction became accomplished. Afterwards we gave you the victory over them, in your turn, and we granted you increase of wealth ånd children, and we made you a more numerous people, saying, If ye do well, ye will do well to your own souls; and if ye do evil, ye will do it unto the same. And when the punishment threatened for your latter transgression came to be executed, we sent enemies against you to afflict you,"

was really performed by him corporeally, or whether it was only a dream or a vision. Some think the whole was no more than a vision; and allege an express tradition of Moawiyah, one of Mohammed's successors, to that purpose. Others suppose he was carried bodily to Jerusalem, but no farther; and that he ascended thence to heaven in spirit only. But the received opinion is, that it was no vision, but that he was actually transported in the body to his journey's end; and if any impossibility be objected, they think it a sufficient answer to say, that it might easily be effected by an omnipotent agent.'

That we might leave there the tokens of our power."-Savary.

The commentators are put to it to find out the connexion of these words with the foregoing. Some think the accusative case is here put for the vocative, as I have translated it and others interpret the words thus, Take not for your patrons, besides me, the posterity of those, &c., meaning, mortal men.

Their first transgression was their rejecting the decisions of the law, their putting Isaiah to death, and their imprisoning of Jeremiah: and the second was their slaying of Zachariah and John the Baptist, and their imagining the death of Jesus.*

These were Jalût, or Goliah, and his forces; or Sennacherib the Assyrian; or else Nebuchadnezzar, whom the eastern writers call Bakhtnasr (which was, however, only his surname, his true name being Gudarz, or Raham) the governor of Babylon under Lohorasp, king of Persia, who took Jerusalem, and destroyed the temple.

By permitting Javid to kill Goliah; or by the miraculous defeat of Sennacherib's army; or for toat God put it into the heart of Bahman the son of Isfandiyar, when he succeeded his grandfather Lohorasp, to order Kiresh, or Cyrus, then governor of Babylon, to send ho...e the Jews from their captivity, under the conduct of Daniel; which he accordingly did, and they prevailed ugainst those whom Bakhtnasr had left in the land."

Some imagine the army meant in this place was that of Bakhtnasr; but others say. the Persians conquered the Jews this second time, by the arms of Gudarz (by whom they seem to intend Antiochus Epiphanes), one of the successors of Alexander at Babylon. It is related that the general in this expedition, entering the temple, saw blood bubbling up on the great altar, and asking the reason of it, the Jews told him it was the blood of a sacrifice which had not been accepted of God; to which he replied, that they had not told him the truth, and ordered a thousand of them to be s'ain on the altar: but the blood not ceasing, he told them, that if they would not confess the truth, he would not spare one of them; whereupon, they acknowledged it was the blood of John: and the general said, Thus hath your Lord taken vengeance on you; and then cried out, O John, my Lord and thy Lord knoweth what hath befallen thy people for thy sake; wherefore, let thy blood stop, • Vide Vit. Moham. cap. 18. 1 Al Beidâwi. • Idem. Jallalo'ddin. • Idem. • Idem, Yahya. Al Zamakhshari, al Beidâwi.

' Idem.

Yahya,

Jallalo'ddin.

and to enter the temple, as they entered it the first time, and utterly to destroy that which they had conquered. Peradventure your LORD will have mercy on you hereafter: but if ye return to transgress a third time, we also will return to chastise you; and we have appointed hell to be the prison of the unbelievers. Verily this Korân directeth unto the way which is most right, and declareth unto the faithful, who do good works, that they shall receive a great reward; and that for those who believe not in the life to come, we have prepared a grievous punishment. Man prayeth for evil, as he prayeth for good; for man is hasty. We have ordained the night and the day for two signs of our power: afterwards we blot out the sigr. of the night, and we cause the sign of the day to shine forth, that ye may endeavour obtain plenty from your LORD by doing your business therein, and that ye may know the number of years, and the computation of time; and every thing necessary have we explained by a perspicuous explication.* The fate of every man have we bound about his neck;a and we will produce unto him, on the day of resurrection, a book wherein his actions shall be recorded: it shall be offered him open, and the angels shall say unto him, Read thy book; thine own soul will be a sufficient accountant against thee, this day. He who shall be rightly directed, shall be directed to the advantage only of his own soul; and he who shall err shall err only against the same: neither shall any laden soul be charged with the

m

by God's permission, lest I leave not one of them alive; upon which the blood immediately stopped."

These are the explications of the commentators, wherein their ignorance in ancien history is sufficiently manifest; though, perhaps, Mohammed himself, in this latter passage, intended the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.

And this came accordingly to pass for the Jews being again so wicked as to reject Mohammed, and conspire against his life, God delivered them into his hands; and he exterminated the tribe of Koreidha, and slew the chiefs of that of al Nadîr, and obliged the rest of the Jewish tribes to pay tribute.10

Out of ignorance, mistaking evil for good; or making wicked imprecations on himself and others, out of passion and impatience.

Or, inconsiderate, not weighing the consequence of what he asks.

It is said that the person here meant is Adam, who, when the breath of life was breathed into his nostrils, and had reached so far as his navel, though the lower part of his body was, as yet, but a piece of clay, must needs try to rise up, and got an ugly fall by the bargain. But others pretend the passage was revealed on the following occasion. Mohammed committed a certain captive to the charge of his wife, Sawda bint Zamáa, who, moved with compassion at the man's groans, unbound him, and let him escape: upon which the prophet, in the first motions of his anger, wished her hand might fall off; but immediately composing himself, said aloud, O God, I am but a man; therefore turn my curse into a blessing.

*The night and the day bear witness to our power. We have covered the night with a veil, and enlightened the face of day, that ye may employ it in seeking abundance. It enables you to compute the years and the times. The impress of our wisdom is resplendent in all parts."-Savary.

Literally, the bird, which is here used to signify a man's fortune or success: the Arabs, as well as the Greeks and Romans, taking omens from the flight of birds, which they supposed to portend good luck, if they flew from the left to the right, but if from the right to the left, the contrary; the like judgment they also made when certain beasts passed before them.

"Like a collar, which he cannot by any means get off. See the Prelim. Disc. sect. iv. D 73.

See ibid. p. 64

• Al Beidâwi.

1. Idem.

'Jallalo'ddin.