fefieft the kingdom ; thou giveft the kingdom unto whom thou wilt, and thou
takeft away the kingdom from whom thou wilt: thou exalteft whom thou
wilt, and thou humbleft whom thou wilt: in thy hand is good, for thou art
almighty. Thou makeft the night to fucceed the day: thou bringeft forth the
living out of the dead, and thou bringeft forth the dead out of the living *;
and provided: food for whom thou wilt without meafure. Let not the faithful
take the infidels for their proteftors, rather than the faithful: he who doth
this, fhall not be protested of G od at all ; unlefsye fear any danger from them:
but G o d warneth you to beware of himfelf; for unto G od muft ye return. Say,
Whether ye conceal that which is in your breafts, or whether ye declare it,
G o d knoweth it;-for he knoweth whatever is in heaven, and whatever is on
earth : G od is almighty. On the laft day every foul lhall find the good which
at hath wrought, prefent; and the evil which it hath wrought, it fhall wi(h
that between it felf and that were a wide diftance: but G od warneth you to be-
wareof himfelf j forGoD is gracious unto his fervants. Say, If ye love G o d , follow
me : then. G od fhall love you, and forgive you your fins ; for G od is gracious,
and merciful. Say, Obey G o d , and his apoftle: but if ye go back,
•verily G o d lovethnot the unbelievers. G o d hath furely chofen A d a m , and
N o a h , and the family of A b r a h a m , and the family of Im r a n b above the
r , reft
■ Tbou bringeft forth the living out of the dead,
and the dead out of the living ;] As a man from
feed, and a bird from an egg ; and vice verfd x.
b Imran,"] Or Amran, is the name of two
feveral perfons, according to the Mohammedan
tradition. One was the father of Mofes and
Aaron ; and the other was the father of the virgin
Mary 2 ; but he is called by fome Ghriftian writers
Joachim. The commentators fuppofe the firft,
or rather both of them to be meant in this place;
however the perfon intended in the next paiTage,
it is agreed, was the latter; who befides Mary
■ the mother of Jesus, had alfo a ion named
Aaron 3, and another daughter, named IJhd (or
Elizabeth) who married Zacharias, and was the
mother of John the Baptift; whence that prophet
and Jesus are ufually called by the Mohammedans,
fiv e two fons of the aunt, or the couiin
germans.
From the identity of names it has been generally
imagined by Chriftian writers 4 that the
Koranhtre confounds Mary the mother of Jesus,
with Mary or Miriam, the lifter of Mofes and
Aaron; which intolerable anachronifm, if it were
.certain, is fufficient of it felf to deftroy the
pretended authority o f this book. But tho’ Mohammed
may be fuppofed to have been ignorant
enough in ancient hiftory and chronology, to
have committed fo grofs a blunder ; yèt I do not
fee how it can be made'out from the words of
the Koran. For it does not follow, becaufe two
perfons have the fame name, and have each a
father and brother who bear the fame names, that
they muft therefore necelfarily be the lame perfon
: befides fuch a miftake is inconfiftent with
a number of other places in the Koran, whereby
it manifeftly appears, that Mohammed well
knew and afferted that Mofes preceded Jesus
lèverai ages. And the commentators accordingly
fail not to tell us; that there had palfed about
one thoufand eight hundred years between Am-
ran the father of Mofes, and Amrân the father
of the virgin Mary : they alfo make them the
fons o f different perfons; the firft, they fay, was
the fon of Yejhar, or Izhar (tho’ he was really
his brother) * the fon of Kâhath, the fon of
Levi ; and.the other was the fon of Matban 6,
whofe genealogy they trace, but in a very corrupt
and imperfeâ manner, up to David, and
thence to Adam 7.
It
1 Jalx.alö’ddin. 2 ^ /Z amakhshari, ä/B eidawi. 3 Koran, c. 19. 4 V. Re-
.land, de rel. Moh.p. 211. Marraçc. in Ale. p. 115, &c. Prideaux, letter to the Deifts, p. 18$.
' Exod. vL 18. 6 ^ /Z amakh. ^/Beidawi. 7 V. B eland. ubifut. D’Herbelot. BUT. Orient.
P 5*3;
a Qr ft» world ; a race descending the one from the other : God is he -\$rho
heareth and knoweth. Remember when the wife of Im r a n a faid,^ L o r d ,
verilv I have vowed unto thee that which is in my womb, to be dedicated to
th\ Service":, accept it therefore of me; for thou art he who heareth and
knoweth. And when fhe was delivered of it, fhe faid, L o r d , verily I have
brouo-ht forth a female, (and G od well knew what fhe had brought forth)
and a°male is not as a femalec: I have called her M a r y ; and I commend
her to thy prote&ion, and alfo her ifiue, againft S a t a n driven away with
ftones d. Therefore the L o r d accepted her with a gracious acceptancec, and
caufed her to bear an excellent offspring. And Z a c h a r ia s took care of the
child- whenever Z a c h a r ia s went into the chamber to her, he found provi-
fionswith herf : and he faid, O M a r y , whence hadfl thou this ? fhe anfwered,
This is from GoD : for G od provideth for whom he pleafeth without mea-
It muft be obferved, that tho’ the virgin Mary
is called in the Koran 1, the After of Aaron,
yet lhe is no where called the filler of Mofes;
however fome Mohammedan writers have imagined
that the fame individual Mary the filler of
Mofes, was miraculoully preferved alive from his
time till that of Jesus Christ, purpofely to
become the mother of the latter 2.
a The wife of Imran.] The Imran here mentioned,
was the father of the virgin Mary, and
his wife’s name was Hannah or Ann, the daughter
of Fakudh. This woman, fay the commentators,
being aged, and barren, on- feeing a bird
feed her young ones, became very defirous of
iffue, and begged a child of G od, promiling to
confecrate it to his fervice in the temple; where-
upoh lhe had a child, but it proved a daughter
. b Dedicated to thy fervice.] The Arabic word
is free ', but here fignifies particularly one that is
free or detached from all worldly defires and occupations,
and wholly devoted to God’s fervice4.
* A male is not as a female ;] Becaufe a female
could not minifter in the temple as a male
could L
d Satan driven away with ft ones. T h i s expref-
fion alludes to a tradition, that Abraham, when
the devil tempted him to difobey G od in not fa-
crificing his fon, drove the fiend away by throwing
Hones at him ; in memory of which the Mohammedans,
at the pilgrimage of Mecca, throw
a certain number of Hones at the devil, with
certain ceremonies, in the valley of Mina 6.
It is not improbable that the pretended immaculate
conception of the virgin Mary is intimated
in this paffage. For according to a tradition
of Mohammed, every perfon that comes
into the world, is touched at his birth by the
devil, and therefore cries out, Mary and her fon
only excepted; between whom, and the evil fpirit
God placed a veil, fo that his touch did not
reach them 7. And for this reafon they fay,
neither of them were guilty of any fin, like the
reft of the children of Adam 8 ; which peculiar
grace they obtained by virtue of this recommendation
of them by Hannah to God’s pro-
teftion.
e The Lord accepted her, &c.] Though the child
happened not to be a male, yet her mother pre-
fented her to the priefts who had the care of the
temple, as one dedicated to G od ; and they having
received her, lhe was committed to the care
of Zacharias, as will be obferved by and by, and
he built her an apartment in the temple, and
fupplied her with neceffaries 9.
f Whenever Zacharias went into the chamberr
he found provifions with her, &c.] The commentators
fay that none went into Mary's apartment
but Zacharias himfelf, .and that he locked
Teven doors upon her ; yet he found ihe had always
winter fruits in fummer, and fummer fruits
in winter io .
1 Chap. 19. 2 V. Guadagnol. Apolog. pro rel. Chrift. contra Ahmed Ebn Zein al Abedirr.
p. 279. } Al Beidawi, al T halabi. 4 Jallalo’ddin, al Zamakhshari. s Jallalo’ddin.
6 See the Prelim. Dif. § 4. 7 Jallalo'ddin. Beidawi: 8 Kitada.
9 Jallalo’ddin. al Beidawi. V. Lud. de D ieu, in not. ad Hift. Chrifti Xaverii, p. 542.
xo ^ /B eidawi. V. de Dieu, ub.fupr.p. 548.