2 This formula-Bismillahi 'rrahmani 'rrahim-is of Jewish origin. It was in the first instance taught to the Koreisch by Omayah of Taief, the poet, who was a contemporary with, but somewhat older than, Muhammad; and who, during his mercantile journeys into Arabia Petr‘a and Syria, had made himself acquainted with the sacred books and doctrines of Jews and Christians. (Kitab al-Aghâni, 16. Delhi.) Muhammad adopted and constantly used it, and it is prefixed to each Sura except the ninth. The former of the two epithets implies that the mercy of God is exercised as occasions arise, towards all his creatures; the latter that the quality of mercy is inherent in God and permanent, so that there is only a shade of difference between the two words. Maracci well renders, In Nomine Dei Miseratoris, Misericordis. The rendering I have adopted is that of Mr. Lane in his extracts from the Koran. See also Freytag's Lex. ii. p. 133. Perhaps, In the name of Allah, the God of Mercy, the Merciful, would more fully express the original Arabic. The first five verses of this Sura are, in the opinion of nearly all commentators, ancient and modern, the earliest revelations made to Muhammad, in the 40th year of his life, and the starting point of El-Islam. (See the authorities quoted in detail in Nöldeke's Geschichte des Qorâns, p. 62, n.)
3 The usual rendering is read. But the word qaraa, which is the root of the word Koran, analogous to the Rabbinic mikra, rather means to address, recite; and with regard to its etymology and use in the kindred dialects to call, cry aloud, proclaim. Compare Isai. lviii. 1; 1 Kings xviii. 37; and Gesen. Thesaur. on the Hebrew root. I understand this passage to mean, "Preach to thy fellow men what thou believest to be true of thy Lord who has created man from the meanest materials, and can in like manner prosper the truth which thou proclaimest. He has taught man the art of writing (recently introduced at Mecca) and in this thou wilt find a powerful help for propagating the knowledge of the divine Unity." The speaker in this, as in all the Suras, is Gabriel, of whom Muhammad had, as he believed, a vision on the mountain Hirâ, near Mecca. See note 1 on the next page. The details of the vision are quite unhistorical.
4 This, and the following verses, may have been added at a later period, though previous to the Flight, and with special reference, if we are to believe the commentators Beidhawi, etc., to the opposition which Muhammad experienced at the hands of his opponent, Abu Jahl, who had threatened to set his foot on the Prophet's neck when prostrate in prayer. But the whole passage admits of application to mankind in general.
5 That is Muhammad. Nöldeke, however, proposes to render "a slave." And it is certain that the doctrines of Islam were in the first instance embraced by slaves, many of whom had been carried away from Christian homes, or born of Christian parents at Mecca. "Men of this description," says Dr. Sprenger (Life of Mohammad. Allahabad. p. 159), "no doubt prepared the way for the Islam by inculcating purer notions respecting God upon their masters and their brethren. These men saw in Mohammad their liberator; and being superstitious enough to consider his fits as the consequence of an inspiration, they were among the first who acknowledged him as a prophet. Many of them suffered torture for their faith in him, and two of them died as martyrs. The excitement among the slaves when Mohammad first assumed his office was so great, that Abd Allah bin Jod'an, who had one hundred of these sufferers, found it necessary to remove them from Makkah, lest they should all turn converts." See Sura xvi. 105, 111; ii. 220.
6 Lit. hast thou seen if he be upon the guidance.
7 The principal men of the Koreisch who adhered to Abu Jahl.
8 During a period variously estimated from six months to three years from the revelation of this Sura, or of its earliest verses, the prophetic inspiration and the revelation of fresh Suras is said to have been suspended. This interval is called the Fatrah or intermission; and the Meccan Suras delivered at its close show that at or during this period Muhammad had gained an increasing and more intimate acquaintance with the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. "The accounts, however," says Mr. Muir (vol. ii. 86) "are throughout confused, if not contradictory; and we can only gather with certainty that there was a time during which his mind hung in suspense, and doubted the divine mission." The idea of any supernatural influence is of course to be entirely excluded; although there is no doubt that Muhammad himself had a full belief in the personality and influence of Satans and Djinn. Profound meditation, the struggles of an earnest mind anxious to attain to truth, the morbid excitability of an epileptic subject, visions seen in epileptic swoons, disgust at Meccan idolatry, and a desire to teach his countrymen the divine Unity will sufficiently account for the period of indecision termed the Fatrah, and for the determination which led Muhammad, in all sincerity, but still self-deceived, to take upon himself the office and work of a Messenger from God. We may perhaps infer from such passages as Sura ii. 123, what had ever been the leading idea in Muhammad's mind.
SURA LXXIV.-THE ENWRAPPED1 [II.]
MECCA.-55 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful O THOU, ENWRAPPED in thy mantle!
Arise and warn!
Thy Lord-magnify Him!
Thy raiment-purify it!
The abomination-flee it!
And bestow not favours that thou mayest receive again with increase; And for thy Lord wait thou patiently.
For when there shall be a trump on the trumpet,2 That shall be a distressful day, A day, to the Infidels, devoid of ease.
Leave me alone to deal with him3 whom I have created, And on whom I have bestowed vast riches, And sons dwelling before him, And for whom I have smoothed all things smoothly down;- Yet desireth he that I should add more!
But no! because to our signs he is a foe I will lay grievous woes upon him.
For he plotted and he planned!
May he be cursed! How he planned!
Again, may he be cursed! How he planned!
Then looked he around him, Then frowned and scowled, Then turned his back and swelled with disdain, And said, “This is merely magic that will be wrought; It is merely the word of a mortal.”
We will surely cast him into Hell-fire.
And who shall teach thee what Hell-fire is?
It leaveth nought, it spareth nought, Blackening the skin.
Over it are nineteen angels.
None but angels have we made guardians of the fire:4 nor have we made this to be their number but to perplex the unbelievers, and that they who possess the Scriptures may be certain of the truth of the Koran, and that they who believe may increase their faith; And that they to whom the Scriptures have been given, and the believers, may not doubt; And that the infirm of heart and the unbelievers may say, What meaneth God by this parable?
Thus God misleadeth whom He will, and whom He will doth He guide aright: and none knoweth the armies of thy Lord but Himself: and this is no other than a warning to mankind.
Nay, by the Moon!
By the Night when it retreateth!
By the Morn when it brighteneth!
Hell is one of the most grievous woes, Fraught with warning to man, To him among you who desireth to press forward, or to remain behind.5 For its own works lieth every soul in pledge. But they of God’s right hand In their gardens shall ask of the wicked;- “What hath cast you into Hell-fire?”6 They will say, “We were not of those who prayed, And we were not of those who fed the poor, And we plunged into vain disputes with vain disputers, And we rejected as a lie, the day of reckoning, Till the certainty7 came upon us”- And intercession of the interceders shall not avail them.
Then what hath come to them that they turn aside from the Warning As if they were affrighted asses fleeing from a lion?
And every one of them would fain have open pages given to him out of Heaven.
It shall not be. They fear not the life to come.
It shall not be. For this Koran is warning enough. And whoso will, it warneth him.
But not unless God please, shall they be warned. Meet is He to be feared. Meet is forgiveness in Him.
1 This Sura is placed by Muir in the “second stage” of Meccan Suras, and twenty-first in chronological order, in the third or fourth year of the Prophet’s career. According, however, to the chronological list of Suras given by Weil (Leben M. p. 364) from ancient tradition, as well as from the consentient voice of tradionists and commentaries (v. Nöld. Geschichte, p. 69; Sprenger’s Life of Mohammad, p. 111) it was the next revealed after the Fatrah, and the designation to the prophetic office. The main features of the tradition are, that Muhammad while wandering about in the hills near Mecca, distracted by doubts and by anxiety after truth, had a vision of the Angel Gabriel seated on a throne between heaven and earth, that he ran to his wife, Chadijah, in the greatest alarm, and desired her, perhaps from superstitious motives (and believing that if covered with clothes he should be shielded from the glances of evil spirits-comp. Stanley on I Cor. xi. 10), to envelope him in his mantle; that then Gabriel came down and addressed him as in v. I. This vision, like that which preceded Sura xcvi., may actually have occurred during the hallucinations of one of the epileptic fits from which Muhammad from early youth appears to have suffered. Hence Muhammad in Sura lxxxi. appeals to it as a matter of fact, and such he doubtless believe it to be. It may here be observed, that however absurd the Muslim traditions may be in many of their details, it will generally be found that where there is an ancient and tolerably universal consent, there will be found at the bottom a residuum of fact and historical truth. At the same time there can be no doubt but that the details of the traditions are too commonly founded upon the attempt to explain or to throw light upon a dark passage of the Koran, and are pure inventions of a later age.
2 The Arabic words are not those used in later Suras to express the same idea.
3 Said to be Walid b. Mogheira, a person of note among the unbelieving Meccans. This portion of the Sura seems to be of a different date from the first seven verses, though very ancient, and the change of subject is similar to that at v. 9 of the previous Sura.
4 This and the three following verses wear the appearance of having been inserted at a later period to meet objections respecting the number of the angels who guard hell, raised by the Jews; perhaps at Medina, as the four classes of persons specified are those whom Muhammad had to deal with in that city, viz., the Jews, Believers, the Hypocrites, or undecided, and Idolaters. These are constantly mentioned together in the Medina Suras.
5 That is, who believe, and do not believe.
6 As the word sakar disturbs the rhyme, it may have been inserted by a mistake of the copyist for the usual word, which suits it.
7 That is, death. Beidh. Comp. Sura xv. 99.
SURA LXXIII. THE ENFOLDED1 [III.]
MECCA. 20 Verses.
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful O THOU ENFOLDED in thy mantle, Stand up all night, except a small portion of it, for prayer: Half; or curtail the half a little,- Or add to it: And with measured tone intone the Koran,2 For we shall devolve on thee weighty words.
Verily, at the oncoming of night are devout impressions strongest, and words are most collected;3 But in the day time thou hast continual employ- And commemorate the name of thy Lord, and devote thyself to Him with entire devotion.
Lord of the East and of the West! No God is there but He! Take Him for thy protector, And endure what they say with patience, and depart from them with a decorous departure.
And let Me alone with the gainsayers, rich in the pleasures of this life; and bear thou with them yet a little while: For with Us are strong fetters, and a flaming fire, And food that choketh, and a sore torment.
The day cometh when the earth and the mountains shall be shaken; and the mountains shall become a loose sand heap.
Verily, we have sent you an Apostle to witness against you, even as we sent an Apostle to Pharaoh: But Pharaoh rebelled against the Apostle, and we therefore laid hold on him with a severe chastisement.
And how, if ye believe not, will you screen yourselves from the day that shall turn children greyheaded?
The very heaven shall be reft asunder by it: this threat shall be carried into effect.
Lo! this is a warning. Let him then who will, take the way to his Lord.
Of a truth,4 thy Lord knoweth that thou prayest almost two-thirds, or half, or a third of the night, as do a part of thy followers. But God measureth the night and the day: He knoweth that ye cannot count its hours aright, and therefore, turneth to you mercifully. Recite then so much of the Koran as may be easy to you. He knoweth that there will be some among you sick, while others travel through the earth in quest of the bounties of God; and others do battle in his cause. Recite therefore so much of it as may be easy. And observe the Prayers and pay the legal Alms,5 and lend God a liberal loan: for whatever good works ye send on before for your own behoof, ye shall find with God. This will be best and richest in the recompense. And seek the forgiveness of God: verily, God is forgiving, Merciful.
1 From the first line of this Sura, and its expressions concerning the Koran, Prayer, and Future Punishment: from the similarity of the tradition with regard to its having been preceded by a vision of Gabriel (Beidh., etc.), it seems to belong to, or at least to describe, a period, perhaps immediately succeeding the Fatrah, during which the hours of night were spent by Muhammad in devotion and in the labour of working up his materials in rhythmical and rhyming Suras, and in preparation for the public assumption of the prophetic office. Comp. especially verses 11, 19, 20, at the end, with 11, 54, 55, of the preceding Sura.
2 Singe den Koran laut. H.v.P. Psalle Alcoranum psallendo. Mar. Singe den Koran mit singender und lauter Stimme ab. Ullm.
3 Lit. most firm, perhaps, distinct.
4 This verse, according to a tradition of Ayesha, was revealed one year later than the previous part of the Sura. Nöldeke says it is "offenbar ein Medinischer."
5 The reader will not be surprised to find in the very outset of Muhammad's career a frequent mention of Alms, Prayer, Heaven, Hell, Judgment, Apostles, etc., in their usual sense, when he remembers that Judaism was extensively naturalised in Arabia, and Christianity, also, although to a smaller extent. The words and phrases of these religions were doubtless familiar to the Meccans, especially to that numerous body who were anxiously searching after some better religion than the idolatries of their fathers (v. on Sura iii. 19, 60), and provided Muhammad with a copious fund from which to draw.
SURA XCIII.1-THE BRIGHTNESS [IV.]
MECCA.-11 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful BY the noon-day BRIGHTNESS, And by the night when it darkeneth!
Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee, neither hath he been displeased.
And surely the Future shall be better for thee than the Past, And in the end shall thy Lord be bounteous to thee and thou be satisfied.
Did he not find thee an orphan2 and gave thee a home?
And found thee erring and guided thee,3 And found thee needy and enriched thee.
As to the orphan therefore wrong him not; And as to him that asketh of thee, chide him not away; And as for the favours of thy Lord tell them abroad.
1 This and the six following Suras are expressions of a state of deep mental anxiety and depression, in which Muhammad seeks to reassure himself by calling to mind the past favours of God, and by fixing his mind steadfastly on the Divine Unity. They belong to a period either before the public commencement of his ministry or when his success was very dubious, and his future career by no means clearly marked out.
2 The charge of the orphaned Muhammad was undertaken by Abd-al-Mutalib, his grandfather, A.D. 576. Hishami, p. 35; Kitab al Wakidi, p. 22, have preserved traditions of the fondness with which the old man of fourscore years treated the child, spreading a rug for him under the shadow of the Kaaba, protecting him from the rudeness of his own sons, etc.
3 Up to his 40th year Muhammad followed the religion of his countrymen. Waq. Tabari says that when he first entered on his office of Prophet, even his wife Chadijah had read the Scriptures, and was acquainted with the History of the Prophets. Spreng. p. 100. But his conformity can only have been partial.
SURA XCIV.-THE OPENING [V.]
MECCA.-8 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful HAVE we not OPENED thine heart for thee?
And taken off from thee thy burden, Which galled thy back?
And have we not raised thy name for thee?
Then verily along with trouble cometh ease.
Verily along with trouble cometh ease.
But when thou art set at liberty, then prosecute thy toil.
And seek thy Lord with fervour.
SURA CXIII.-THE DAYBREAK [VI.]
MECCA OR MEDINA.-5 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful SAY: I betake me for refuge to the Lord of the DAY BREAK Against the mischiefs of his creation; And against the mischief of the night when it overtaketh me; And against the mischief of weird women;1 And against the mischief of the envier when he envieth.
1 Lit. who blow on knots. According to some commentators an allusion to a species of charm. Comp. Virg.Ec. vi. But the reference more probably is to women in general, who disconcert schemes as thread is disentangled by blowing upon it. Suras cxiii. are called the el mouwwidhetani, or preservative chapters, are engraved on amulets,etc.
SURA CXIV.-MEN [VII.]
MECCA OR MEDINA.-6 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful SAY: I betake me for refuge to the Lord of MEN, The King of men, The God of men, Against the mischief of the stealthily withdrawing whisperer,1 Who whispereth in man's breast- Against djinn and men.
1 Satan.
SURA I.1 [VIII.]
MECCA.-7 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful PRAISE be to God, Lord of the worlds!
The compassionate, the merciful!
King on the day of reckoning!
Thee only do we worship, and to Thee do we cry for help.
Guide Thou us on the straight path,2 The path of those to whom Thou hast been gracious;-with whom thou art not angry, and who go not astray.3 1 This Sura, which Nöldeke places last, and Muir sixth, in the earliest class of Meccan Suras, must at least have been composed prior to Sura xxxvii. 182,where it is quoted, and to Sura xv. 87, which refers to it. And it can scarcely be an accidental circumstance that the words of the first, second, and fifth verses do not occur in any other Suras of the first Meccan period as given by N”ldeke, but frequently in those of the second, which it therefore, in N”ldeke, opinion, immediately precedes. But this may be accounted for by its having been recast for the purposes of private and public devotion by Muhammad himself, which is the meaning probably of the Muhammadan tradition that it was revealed twice. It should also be observed that, including the auspicatory formula, there are the same number of petitions in this Sura as in the Lord's Prayer. It is recited several times in each of the five daily prayers, and on many other occassions, as in concluding a bargain, etc. It is termed "the Opening of the Book," "the Completion," "the Sufficing Sura," the Sura of Praise, Thanks, and Prayer," "the Healer," "the Remedy," "the Basis," "the Treasure," "the Mother of the Book," "the Seven Verses of Repetition." The Muhammadans always say "Amen" after this prayer, Muhammad having been instructed, says the Sonna, to do so by the Angel Gabriel.
2 Islam 2 Islam 3 The following transfer of this Sura from the Arabic into the corresponding English characters may give some idea of the rhyming prose in which the Koran is written: Bismillahi 'rahhmani 'rrahheem. El-hamdoo lillahi rabi 'lalameen. Arrahhmani raheem. Maliki yowmi-d-deen. Eyaka naboodoo, wa‚yaka nest aeen. Ihdina 'ssirat almostakeem. Sirat alezeena anhamta aleihim, gheiri-'l mughdoobi aleihim, wala dsaleen. Ameen.
SURA CIX.-UNBELIEVERS [IX.]
MECCA.-6 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful SAY: O ye UNBELIEVERS!
I worship not that which ye worship, And ye do not worship that which I worship; I shall never worship that which ye worship, Neither will ye worship that which I worship.
To you be your religion; to me my religion.1 1 This Sura is said to have been revealed when Walîd urged Muhammad to consent that his God should be worshipped at the same time with the old Meccan deities, or alternately every year. Hishâmi, p. 79; Tabari, p. 139. It is a distinct renunciation of Meccan idolatry, as the following Sura is a distinct recognition of the Divine Unity.
SURA CXII.-THE UNITY [X.]
MECCA.-4 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful SAY: He is God alone: God the eternal!
He begetteth not, and He is not begotten; And there is none like unto Him.
SURA CXI. ABU LAHAB [XI.]
MECCA. 5 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful LET the hands of ABU LAHAB1 perish,and let himself perish!
His wealth and his gains shall avail him not.
Burned shall he be at the fiery flame,2 And his wife laden with fire wood,- On her neck a rope of palm fibre.
1 Undoubtedly one of the earliest Suras, and refers to the rejection of Muhammad's claim to the prophetic office by his uncle, Abu Lahab, at the instigation of his wife, Omm Djemil, who is said to have strewn the path of Muhammad on one occasion with thorns. The following six Suras, like the two first, have special reference to the difficulties which the Prophet met with the outset of his career, especially from the rich.
2 In allusion to the meaning of Abu Lahab, father of flame.
SURA CVIII.-THE ABUNDANCE [XII.]
MECCA.-3 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful TRULY we have given thee an ABUNDANCE; Pray therefore to the Lord, and slay the victims.
Verily whoso hateth thee shall be childless.1 1 A reply to those who had taunted Muhammad with the death of his sons, as a mark of the divine displeasure.
SURA CIV.-THE BACKBITER [XII.]
MECCA.-9 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful Woe to every BACKBITER, Defamer!
Who amasseth wealth and storeth it against the future!
He thinketh surely that his wealth shall be with him for ever.
Nay! for verily he shall be flung into the Crushing Fire; And who shall teach thee what the Crushing Fire is?
It is God's kindled fire, Which shall mount above the hearts of the damned; It shall verily rise over them like a vault, On outstretched columns.
SURA CVII.-RELIGION [XIV.]
MECCA.-7 Verses In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful WHAT thinkest thou of him who treateth our RELIGION as a lie?
He it is who trusteth away the orphan, And stirreth not others up to feed the poor.
Woe to those who pray, But in their prayer are careless; Who make a shew of devotion, But refuse help to the needy.
SURA CII.-DESIRE [XV.]
MECCA.-8 Verses In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful THE DESIRE of increasing riches occupieth you, Till ye come to the grave.
Nay! but in the end ye shall know Nay! once more,in the end ye shall know your folly.
Nay! would that ye knew it with knowledge of certainty!
Surely ye shall see hell-fire.
Then shall ye surely see it with the eye of certainty; Then shall ye on that day be taken to task concerning pleasures.
SURA XCII.-THE NIGHT [XVI.]
MECCA.-21 Verses In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful BY the NIGHT when she spreads her veil; By the Day when it brightly shineth; By Him who made male and female; At different ends truly do ye aim!1 But as to him who giveth alms and feareth God, And yieldeth assent to the Good; To him will we make easy the path to happiness.
But as to him who is covetous and bent on riches, And calleth the Good a lie, To him will we make easy the path to misery: And what shall his wealth avail him when he goeth down?
Truly man’s guidance is with Us And Our’s, the Future and the Past.
I warn you therefore of the flaming fire; None shall be cast to it but the most wretched,- Who hath called the truth a lie and turned his back.
But the God-fearing shall escape it,- Who giveth away his substance that he may become pure;2 And who offereth not favours to any one for the sake of recompense, But only as seeking the face of his Lord the Most High.
And surely in the end he shall be well content.
1 See Pref., p. 5, line I. 2 Comp. Luke xi. 41. Muhammad perhaps derived this view of the meritorious anture of almsgiving from the Jewish oral law.
SURA LXVIII.-THE PEN [XVII.]
Mecca.-52 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful Nun.1 By the PEN2 and by what they write, Thou, O Prophet; by the grace of thy Lord art not possessed!3 And truly a boundless recompense doth await thee, For thou art of a noble nature.4 But thou shalt see and they shall see Which of you is the demented.
Now thy Lord! well knoweth He the man who erreth from his path, and well doth he know those who have yielded to Guidance; Give not place, therefore, to those who treat thee as a liar: They desire thee to deal smoothly with them: then would they be smooth as oil with thee: But yield not to the man of oaths, a despicable person, Defamer, going about with slander, Hinderer of the good, transgressor, criminal, Harsh-beside this, impure by birth, Though a man of riches and blessed with sons.
Who when our wondrous verses are recited to him saith-"Fables of the ancients."
We will brand him on the nostrils.
Verily, we have proved them (the Meccans) as we proved the owners of the garden, when they swore that at morn they would cut its fruits; But added no reserve.5 Wherefore an encircling desolation from thy Lord swept round it while they slumbered, And in the morning it was like a garden whose fruits had all been cut.
Then at dawn they called to each other, "Go out early to your field, if ye would cut your dates."
So on they went whispering to each other, "No poor man shall set foot this day within your garden;" And they went out at daybreak with this settled purpose.
But when they beheld it, they said, "Truly we have been in fault: Yes! we are forbidden our fruits."
The most rightminded of them said, "Did I not say to you, Will ye not give praise to God?"
They said, "Glory to our Lord! Truly we have done amiss."
And they fell to blaming one another: They said, "Oh woe to us! we have indeed transgressed!
Haply our Lord will give us in exchange a better garden than this: verily we crave it of our Lord."
Such hath been our chastisement-but heavier shall be the chastisement of the next world. Ah! did they but know it.
Verily, for the God-fearing are gardens of delight in the presence of their Lord.
Shall we then deal with those who have surrendered themselves to God, as with those who offend him?
What hath befallen you that ye thus judge?
Have ye a Scripture wherein ye can search out That ye shall have the things ye choose?
Or have ye received oaths which shall bind Us even until the day of the resurrection, that ye shall have what yourselves judge right?
Ask them which of them will guarantee this?
Or is it that they have joined gods with God? let them produce those associate-gods of theirs, if they speak truth.
On the day when men's legs shall be bared,6 and they shall be called upon to bow in adoration, they shall not be able: Their looks shall be downcast: shame shall cover them: because, while yet in safety, they were invited to bow in worship, but would not obey.
Leave me alone therefore with him who chargeth this revelation with imposture. We will lead them by degrees to their ruin; by ways which they know not; Yet will I bear long with them; for my plan is sure.
Askest thou any recompense from them? But they are burdened with debt.
Are the secret things within their ken? Do they copy them from the Book of God?
Patiently then await the judgment of thy Lord, and be not like him who was in the fish,7 when in deep distress he cried to God.
Had not favour from his Lord reached him, cast forth would he have been on the naked shore, overwhelmed with shame: But his Lord chose him and made him of the just.
Almost would the infidels strike thee down with their very looks when they hear the warning of the Koran. And they say, "He is certainly possessed."
Yet is it nothing less than a warning for all creatures.
1 It has been conjectured that as the word Nun means fish, there may be a reference to the fish which swallowed Jonas (v. 48). The fact, however, is that the meaning of this and of the similar symbols, throughout the Koran, was unknown to the Muhammadans themselves even in the first century. Possibly the letters Ha, Mim, which are prefixed to numerous successive Suras were private marks, or initial letters, attached by their proprietor to the copies furnished to Said when effecting his recension of the text under Othman. In the same way, the letters prefixed to other Suras may be monograms, or abbreviations, or initial letters of the names of the persons to whom the copies of the respective Suras belonged.
addenda: The symbol nun may possibly refer to this letter as forming the Rhyme in most of the verses of this Sura.
2 This Sura has been supposed by ancient Muslim authorities to be, if not the oldest, the second revelation, and to have followed Sura xcvi. But this opinion probably originated from the expression in v. 1 compared with Sura xcvi. 4. Verses 17-33 read like a later addition, and this passage, as well as verse 48-50, has been classed with the Medina revelations. In the absence of any reliable criterion for fixing the date, I have placed this Sura with those which detail the opposition encountered by the Prophet at Mecca.
3 By djinn. Comp. Sur. xxxiv. 45.
4 In bearing the taunts of the unbelievers with patience.
5 They did not add the restriction, if God will.
6 An expression implying a grievous calamity; borrowed probably from the action of stripping previous to wrestling, swimming, etc.
7 Lit. the companion of the fish. Comp. on Jonah Sura xxxvii. 139-148, and Sura xxi. 87.
SURA XC.-THE SOIL [XVIII.]
MECCA.-20 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful I NEED not to swear by this SOIL, This soil on which thou dost dwell, Or by sire and offspring!1 Surely in trouble have we created man.
What! thinketh he that no one hath power over him?
"I have wasted," saith he, "enormous riches!"
What! thinketh he that no one regardeth him?
What! have we not made him eyes, And tongue, and lips, And guided him to the two highways?2 Yet he attempted not the steep.
And who shall teach thee what the steep is?
It is to ransom the captive,3 Or to feed in the day of famine, The orphan who is near of kin, or the poor that lieth in the dust; Beside this, to be of those who believe, and enjoin stedfastness on each other, and enjoin compassion on each other.
These shall be the people of the right hand: While they who disbelieve our signs, Shall be the people of the left.
Around them the fire shall close.
1 Lit. and begetter and what he hath begotten 2 Of good and evil.
3 Thus we read in Hilchoth Matt'noth Aniim, c. 8, "The ransoming of captives takes precedence of the feeding and clothing of the poor, and there is no commandment so great as this."
SURA CV.-THE ELEPHANT [XIX.]
MECCA.-5 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful HAST thou not seen1 how thy Lord dealt with the army of the ELEPHANT?
Did he not cause their stratagem to miscarry?
And he sent against them birds in flocks (ababils), Claystones did they hurl down upon them, And he made them like stubble eaten down!
1 This Sura is probably Muhammad's appeal to the Meccans, intended at the same time for his own encouragement, on the ground of their deliverance from the army of Abraha, the Christian King of Abyssinia and Arabia Felix, said to have been lost in the year of Muhammad's birth in an expedition against Mecca for the purpose of destroying the Caaba. This army was cut off by small-pox (Wakidi; Hishami), and there is no doubt, as the Arabic word for small-pox also means "small stones," in reference to the hard gravelly feeling of the pustules, what is the true interpretation of the fourth line of this Sura, which, like many other poetical passages in the Koran, has formed the starting point for the most puerile and extravagant legends. Vide Gibbon's Decline and Fall, c. 1. The small-pox first shewed itself in Arabia at the time of the invasion by Abraha. M. de Hammer Gemaldesaal, i. 24. Reiske opusc. Med. Arabum. Hal‘, 1776, p. 8.
SURA CVI.-THE KOREISCH [XX.]
MECCA.-4 Verses In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful For the union of the KOREISCH:- Their union in equipping caravans winter and summer.