unto his people, Do ye commit a wickednefs, wherein no creature hath fet you
an example ? Do ye approach luftfully unto men, leaving the women ? Certainly
ye are peoplewho tranfgrefs a ll modefty. But the-anfwer of his people
Was no other than that they faid the one to the other, Expel them s your city;
for they are men who preferve themfelyes pure from the crimes which ye commit.
Therefore we delivered him and his family, except his wife ; Ihe was
one of thofe who ftaid behindb: and we rained a fhower o f ft ones upon them
Behold therefore what was the end of the wicked. And unto M A d i a n * we fen!
their brother S h o a i b '. He faid unto them, O my people, worfhip G o d ; ye
have no God befides him. Now hath an evident demonftration ’ come unto
you from your L o r d . Therefore give full meafure and juft weight, and di-
minifh not unto men ought o f their matters8; neither aft corruptly-in the
earth, after its reformation h. This will be better for you, if ye believe. And
befet not every way, threatening the paffenger'1 *; and turning afide from the path
of G o d him who believeth in him, and feeking to make it 'crooked. And
remember, when ye were few, and God multiplied you : and behold, what
hath been the end of chofe who afted corruptly. And if part of you believe
in that wherewith I am fent, and part believe not, wait patiently until . God
* Expel them, &c.] viz. Lot, and thofe who afterwards Shoaib-, and adds that he was a come*
believe on him. ly perfon, but fpare and lean, very thoughtful
6 See chap. 11. and of few words. Dofior Prideaux writes this
e See ibid. name, after the French tranflation, Chaib s.
' Madian,] or Midian, was a city of Hejdz, ‘ An evident demmftration ;]This demonflrati-
and the habitation of a tribe of the fame name, on the commentators fuppofe to have been a
the defcendants of Midinn, the fon of Abraham power of working miracles, tho’ the Koran men-
by Keturab1, who afterwards coalefced with the tions none in particular. However they fay (after
Ifmaelitti, as it feems s Mofes naming the fame the Jews) that he gave his fon-in-law that wen-
merchants who fold Jefepb to Potipbar, in one der-working rod 9, with which he performed all
place Ifmaelites *, and in another Midianiles 3 * *. thofe miracles in Egypt and the defart, - and alfo
This city was fituated on the red fea, fouth- excellent advice and inftrudlions tos whence he
call of mount Sinai, and is doubtlefs the fame had the furn ime of Kbatib al anbiya, or the
with the Modiana of Ptolemy, what was remain- preacher to the prophets11.
ing of it in Mohammed's time, was foon after * Give full meafure and juft weight, &c.] For
demolilhed in the fucceeding wars * , and it re- one' of the great crimes which the Midtanilis
mains defolate to this day. The people of the were guilty of, was the uftng of diverfe meafure!
country .pretend to (hew the well whence Mofes and weights, a great and a fmall, buying by one
watered Jethro's flocks and felling by another ,a .
0 Shoaib.'] Some Mohammedan writers make b See before, p. 122. not. b.
him the fon of Mikail, the fon of TTaJbjar, the 1 Befet notevery way, threatening the paftengeri]
fon of Madian 6 ; and they generally fuppofe him Robbing on the high way, it feems, was ano-
to be the fame perfon with the father-in-law of ther crying fin, frequent among thefe people.
Mofes, who is named in fcripture Reuel or Ra- But fome of the commenfators interpret1 this paf-
guel, and Jethro7. But Ahmed Ebn Abtalbalim fage figuratively, of their befetting the way of
charges thofe who entertain thisopinioiiwithig- truth, and threatening thofe who gave ear to the
norance. AlKcJJai fays that his father’s name was remonftrances of Shoaibl3 .
. Sanitn, and that he was firft called Boyun, and
1 Gen. xxv. 2. 2 Gen. xxxix. 1. 3 Gen. xxxvii. 36. + V. G olii not. in Alfrag. p. 143-
3 A m m o \ Defer. Arab. p.*[t. G eocr.N ub. p. 109. ^ / B eidawj, T arikh Montakhab.
T Exod. ii. 18, in. 1. 8 Life of Mah. p. 24. 8 ^/BeidaWt. V. Shaljhel. bakhab. p. rs~
10 Exod. xviii. 13, tsfe. 11 V. D’H erbelot, Bill. Orient. Art. Schoaib. l t V. ib-
A l Beidawi, See.Deal. pexv. .13, 14. 13 Idem.
iudve between us ; for he is the. beft judge. * The chiefs of his people, who IX.
J ° eiated with pride, anfwered, We will furely call thee, O S h o a i b , and
thofe who believe with thee, out of our city ; or elfe thou fhalt certainly return
unto our religion. He faid, What, though we be averfe thereto ? We lhall
furely imagine a lie againft G o d , if we return unto your religion, after that G o d
hath delivered us from the fame: and we have no reafon to return unto it,
unlefs G o d our L o r d lhall pleafe to abandon us. Our L o r d comprehendeth
everv thing by his knowledge. In G o d do we put our truft. O L o r d , do
thou judge between us and our nation with truth ; for thou art the beft judge.
And the chiefs of his people, who believed not, faid, If ye follow S h o a i b ,
ye lhall furely perifh. Therefore-a ftorm from heaven a aflailed them, and
in the morning they were found in their dwellings dead and proftrate. They
who accufed S h o a i b of impofture became as though they had never dwelt therein
■, they who accufed S h o a i b of impofture perifhed themfelves. And he departed
from them, and faid, O my people, now have I performed unto you the
meffages of my L o r d ; and I advifed you aright: but why Ihould I be grieved
for an unbelieving people ? We have never fent any prophet unto a city, but
we afflifted "the inhabitants thereof with calamity and adverfity, that they
might humble themfelves. Then we gave them in exchange good in lieu of
evil, until they abounded, and faid, Adverfity and profpenty formerly happened
unto our fathers, as unto us. Therefore we took vengeance on them
fuddenly, and- they perceived it not before-hand. But if the inhabitants of
thofe cities had believed and feared Gor), we would furely have opened to
them blefiings both from heaven and earth. But they charged, our apofiles
with fallhobd ; wherefore we took vengeance on them, for that which they
had been guilty of.. Were the inhabitants therefore of thofe cities fecure, thac
our punifhment Ihould not fall on them by night, while they flept ? Or were the
inhabitants' of thofe cities fecure that our punifhment Ihould not fall on them by
day, while they [ported ? Were they therefore fecure from the ftratagem of
G o d b? But none will think himfelf fecure from the ftratagem of G o d , except
the people who perifh. And hath it not manifeftly appeared unto thofe
who have inherited the earth after the former inhabitants thereof, that, if we
pleafe, we can afflift them for their fins ? But we will feal up their hearts;
and they fhall not hearken. We will relate unto thee fome (lories of thefe
ciqies. Their apoftles had come unto them with evident miracles, but they were
not difpofed to believe in that which they had before gainfaid. Thus will G o d
feal up the hearts of the unbelievers. And we found not in the greater pare
of them any obfervance of their covenant ; but we found the greater part of
them
a AJlorm from h ea v e n ;] Like that which.de- !y exprefled the manner of G od’ s dealing with
ftroyed the fhamudites. Some fuppofe it to have proud and ungrateful men, by buffering them to
been an earthquake, fpr the original word figni- fill up the meafure of their.iniquity, without
fies either,, or both» and both thefe dreadful ca- vouchfafing to bring them to a fenfe of their
lamities may well be fuppofed to have jointly condition by ehadifements and afflictions till they
executed the divine vengeance. find themfelves utterly 16(1, when they leaf!
. she ftratagem of G od ;] Hereby is figurative- expedt i t r.
1 A l BeidaWo , ,h,-| y:.