ed*. And be ye all turned unto G od, O true believers, that ye mav be
happy. Marry thole who are Angleb among you, and fuch as are honed
of your men-fervants, and your maid-fervants: if they be poor, G od will
enrich them of his abundances for G od is bounteous and wife. And let
thole who find not a match, keep themfelves from fornication, until G od
fit all enrich them of his abundance. And unto fuch of your flaves' as defire
a written inftrument allowing them to redeem themfelves on paying a certain
fum*, write one, if ye know goo4 in them's and give them of the
riches of G o d , which he hath given y‘ouf. And compel not your maid-
fervants to proftitute themfelves, if they be willing to live chaftly; that ye
may feek the cafual advantage of this prefent life 8: but whoever lhall
compel them thereto, verily G od will be gracious and merciful unto fuch
women after their compulfion. And now have we revealed unto you evident
figns, and a hiftory like unto fome of the hijlories of thofe who have gone
before you h, and an admonition unto the pious. G od is the ligk of
heaven and earth: the fimilitude of his light is as a nich in a wall
wherein a lamp is placed, and the lamp inclofed in a cafe o f glafs s the glafs
appears as it were a Ihining ftar. It is lighted with the oil o f a bleffed
tree, an olive neither of the eaft, nor of the weft1 *: it wanteth little but that the
oil thereof would give light, although no fire touched it. This is light aided
unto light k: G od will direct unto his light whom he pleafeth. G od
: proa
Let them not make a noife with their feet, &c.]
By lhaking the rings, which the women in the
eaft wear about their ancles, and are ufually of
gold or filver I. The pride which the JewiJb
ladies of old took in making a tinkling with
thefe ornaments o f their feet, is (among other
things of that nature) feverely reproved by the
prophet Ifaiah *.
b Thofe who are Jingle ;] i. e. Thofe who are
unmarried of either fex ; whether they have
been married before or not.
c Tour flaves;] O f either fex.
d A written inftrument, &c.] Whereby the
mafter obliges himfelf to fet his flave at liberty,
on receiving a certain fum of money,
which the flave undertakes to pay.
e I f ye know good in tbem,~\ That is, I f ye
have found them faithful, and have reafon to
believe they will perform their engagement.
f Give them o f the riches which G od hath
given you;] Either by bellowing fomething on
them of your own fubftance, or by abating
them a part of their ranfom. Some fuppofe
thefe words are diredled, not to the mailers
only, but to all Moflems in general; recommending
it to them to affill thofe who have
obtained their freedom, and paid their ranfom,
either out of their own Hock,or by admitting them
1 |idem- * Ifaiah iii. j 6 and 18. 3
1 Idem. 6 Idem.
to have.-a Ihare in the public alms3.
E Compel not your maid-fervants to proftitute
themfelves, &c.] It feems Abdallah Ebn Obh
had fix women flaves, on whom he laid a certain
tax, which he obliged them to earn by the pro*
ftitution of their bodies : and one of them made
her complaint to Mohammed, which occafioned
the revelation of this paflage ♦ .
h A hiftory like unto fome o f the hijlories of
thofe who have gone before you ;] i. e. The ltory
of the falfe acculation of Ayefha, which re*
fembles thofe of Jofepb and the virgin Marys.
* Neither o f the eaft nor o f the weft ;] But of
a more excellent kind. Some think the meaning
to be that the tree grows neither in the
eallern nor the wellern parts, but in the midft
of the world, namely in Syria, where the bell
olives grow 6.
k This is light added unto lig h t}] Or a light
whofe brightnefs is doubly increafed by the cir-
cumllances abovementioned.
The commentators explain this allegory, and
every particular of it, with great fubtilty ; interpreting
the light here defcribed, to be the
light revealed in the Koran, or G od’s in-
lightening grace in the heart of man; and in
divers other manners.
^f/BfilDAWI. 4 Idem, Jal lalo ’ ddin.
propoundeth parables unto men ; for G od knoweth all things. In the houfes,
which G od hath permitted to be railed*, and that his name be commemorated
therein : men celebrate his praife in the fame morning and evening, whom
neither merchandizing, nor felling diverteth from the remembring of G o d ,
and the obfervance of prayer, and the giving of alms; fearing the day whereon
1 men’s hearts and eyes lhall be troubled ; that G od may recompenle them according
to the utrnoft merit of what they lhall have wrought, and may add
unto them of his abundance a more excellent reward-, for G od beftoweth
on whom he pleafeth without meafure. But as to the unbelievers, their works
are like the vapour in a plain b, which the thirfty traveller thinketh to
be water, until, - when he cometh thereto, he findeth it to be nothing ;
but he findeth G od with him' , and he will fully pay him his account;
and G od is fwift in taking an account: or, as the darknefs in a deep fea,
covered by waves riding on waves, above which are clouds, being additions o f
darknefs one over the other; when one ftretcheth forth his hand, he is far
from feeing it. And unto whomfoever G od lhall not grant his light, he
lhall enjoy no light at all. Doll thou not perceive that all creatures both
in heaven and earth praife G od ; and the birds alfo, extending their wings?
Every one knoweth his prayer, and his praife : and G od knoweth that-
which they do. Unto G od belongeth the kingdom of heaven and earth;
and unto G od Jhallbe the return at the laft day. Doll thou not fee that
God gently driveth forward the clouds, and gathereth them together and
then layeth them on heaps? Thou alfo feeft the rain, which faileth’from
the midft thereof; and God fendeth down from heaven as it were mountains,
.wherein there is hail; he ftriketh therewith whom he pleafeth and
turneth the fame away from whom he pleafeth: the brightnefs of his’ lio-ht
mng wanteth but little of taking away the fight. G od Ihifteth the night
and the day : verily herein is an inftruftion unto thofe who have fight’ :
And G od hath created every animal of water d ; one of them goeth on his
belly, *
a In the houfes,See.’] . c o n n e x i o n of thefe
words is not very obvious. Some fuppofe they
ought to be joined with the preceding words,
Like a nich, or It is lighted in the houfes, &e.
and that, the comparifon is more ftrong and
juft, by being made to the lamps in Mofques,
which arc larger than thofe in private houfes.
Some think they are rather to be connedled with
the following words, Men praife, &c. And 0-
thers are of opinion they are an imperfedl beginning
of a fentence, and that the words,
Praife ye G od, or the like, are to be underftood.
However the houfes here intended are thofe fet
apart for divine worlhip ; or particularly the
three principal temples of Mecca, Medina, and
Jerufalem 1.
The vapour in a plain i] The Arabic word
Serab fignifies that falfe appearance which, in
the eaftern countries,is often feen in fandy plains
about noon, refembling a large lake of water in
motion, and is occafioned by the reverberation
of the fun-beams. It fometimes tempts -thirfty
travellers out of their way, but deceives them
when they come near, either going forward,(for
it always appears at the fame diftance,) or duite
vaniftiing*. |J
c He findeth G od with him ;] That is, He
will notefcape the notice or vengeance of God.
O f water}] This aflertion, which has already
occurred in another place 3, being not
true in ftridtnefs, the commentators fuppofe
that; by water is meant feeds or elfe that,
water is mentioned only as the chief caufe of the
growth of animals, and a confiderableand ne-
ceflary cbnftituent part o f their bodies.
j S r h ..DA ,WI-, CuRT- * rebm A le x - m - 7 - £sf Gol. m A lfrag. p- i n . & in
A ra b , ad ealeem Gram. Erp. p. 93. 3 Chap. 21, p . 267. ‘ &
ft