2q8 Al K 0 R A ftft C hap. 25;
that which ye fay: they can neither avert your punifhment, nor g iv e you any
afliftance. And whoever of you lhall be guilty of injuftice, him will we
caufe to tafte a grievous torment. We have fent no mefiengers before thee
but they eat food, and walked through the ftreets : and we make fome of
you an occafion of trial unto others *. Will ye perfevere with patience ?
XlX.jfince your L o r d regardeth your perfeverance. * They who hope not to
meet us at the refurreftion fay, Unlefs the angels be fent down unto us, or
we fee our L o r d himfelf, -we w ill not believe. Verily they behave themfelves
arrogantly ; and have tranfgrefied with an enormous tranfgreffion. The day
whereon they lhall fee the angels b, there lhall be no glad tidings on that
day for the wicked ; and they lhall fay, B e this removed far from us! and we
will come unto the work which they lhall have wrought, and we will make
it as dull fcattered abroad. On that day lhall they who are deftined to
paradife. be more happy in an abode, and have a preferable place of repofe
at noon c. On that day the heaven lhall be cloven in funder by the clouds,
and the angels lhall be fent down, defcending vifibly th e r e ind. On that day
the kingdom lhall of fight belong wholly unto the Merciful ; and that day
lhall be grievous for the unbelievers. On that day, the unjuft perfon'
lhall bite his hands fo r anguijh and defpair, and lhall fay, O that I had taken
the way o f truth with the apoftle! Alas for me ! O that I had not taken
fuch a onef for my friend ! He leduced me from the admonition o f G od, after
it had come unto me: for the devil is the betrayer of man. And the
apoftle lhall fay, O L o r d , verily mv...-people efteemed this K o r a n to be a
vain compofition. In like manner did we ordain unto every prophet an ene-
J - my
* We have made fome o f you an occafion o f trial
unto others;] Giving occafion of envy, repining,
and malice; to the poor, mean, and fide, for example,
when they compare their own condition
with that of the rich, the noble, and thofe who
are in health : and trying the people to whom
prophets are fent, by thofe prophets 1 .
b The day whereon they jh a ll fee the angels;]
viz. At their death, or,at the relurreftion.
c A preferable place o f repofe at noon}] For
the bufinefs of the day of judgment will be
over by that time; and the blefled will pafs
their noon in paradife, and the damned in
hell *.
d The heavens Jhall be cloven in funder, See.]
\. e. They lhall part and make way for the
clouds which lhall defeend with the angels,
bearing the books wherein every man’s adtions
are recorded.
e The unjufi perfon.] It is fuppofed by fome
that thefe words particularly relate to Okba Ebn
Abi Moait, who ufed to be much in Mohammed’a
company, and having once invited him to
an entertainment, the prophet refufed to tafte of
his meat, unlefs he would profefs IJlam; which
accordingly he did. Soon after, Okba, meeting
Obba Ebn Khalf\ his intimate friend, and being
reproached by him for changing his religion, af-
fured him that he had no,t, but had only pronounced
the profeffion of faith to engage Mohammed
to eat with him, becaufe he could not
for lhame let him go out of his houfe without
eating. However, Obba protefted that he would
not be fatisfied, unlefs he went to Mohammed,and
fet his foot on his neck,, and fpit in his face:
which Okba, rather than break with his friend,
performed in the public hall, where he found
Mohammed fitting; whereupon the prophet told
him that if ever he met him out of Mecca, he
would cut off his head. And he was as good
as his wordj for Okba, being afterwards taken
prifoner at the battle of Bedr, had his head
ftruck off by A li, at Mohammed's command. As
for Obba, he received a wound from the prophet’s
own hand, at the battle of Ohod, of which
he died at his return to Mecca 3.
f Such a one;] According to the preceding
note, this was Obba Ebn Khalf.
C h a p . 2 5 . Al K O R A N . 299
my from among the wicked : but thy L o r d is a fufficient director, and defender.
The unbelievers fay, Unlefs the K o r a n be fenc down unto him entire
at oncea, we will not believe. But in this manner have we revealed it,
that we might confirm thy heart thereby b, and we have didtated it gradually,
by diftinft parcels. They lhall not come unto thee with any ftrange queftion ;
but we will bring thee the truth in anfwer, and a moft excellent interpretation.
They who lhall be dragged on their faces into hell, lhall be in the
worft condition, and lhall ftray moft widely from the way of falvation. We
heretofore delivered unto M o s e s the book of the law •, and we appointed him
Aaron his brother for a-counfellor. And we faid unto them, Go ye to the
people who charge our figns with fallhood. And we deftroyed them with a
fignal deftrudtion. And remember the people of N o a h , when they accufed
tur apoftles of impofture: we drowned them, and made them a lign unto
mankind. And we have prepared for the unjuft a painful torment. Remember
alfo A d , and T h a m u d , and thole who dwelt at a l R a s s c } and many
other generations, within this period. Unto each of them did we propound
examples for their admonition ; and each of them did we deftroy with an utter
deftruftion. The Koreish have palfed frequently near the city which was
rained on by a fatal rain1 : have they not feen where it once flood? Yet have they
not dreaded the relurreition. When they fee thee, they will receive thee on-
Q _ q 2 l y
3 Unlefs the Koran be revealed at once;] As tions, the prophet Sboaib was fent to preach to
were the Pentateuch, Pfalms, and Gofpel, them ; but they not believing on him, the well
according to the Mohammedan notion j whereas fell in, and they and their houfes were all fwal-
it was twenty three year« before the Koran was lowed up. Another fuppofes it to have been a
compleatly revealed $v town in Yamdma, where a remnant of the Tbab
That we might confirm thy heart;] Both to mudites fettled, to whom a prophet was alfo
infufe courage and eonftancy into thy mind, and fent; but they flaying him, were utterly de-
to ftrengthen thy memory and underftanding. ftroyed. Another thinks it was a well near An-
For, fay the commentators, the prophet’s receiv- tiocb, where the prophet Habib a l Najjar
ing the divine dire&ion, from time to time, how (whofe tomb is ftill to be feen there, being fre-
to behave, and to fpeak, on any emergency, quently vifited by the Mohammedans) was mar-
and the frequent vifits of the angel Gabriel, tyred 3. And a fourth takes alRafs to be a well
greatly incouraged and fupported him under all in Hadramaut, by which dwelt fome idolatrous
his difficulties: and the revealing of the Koran Thamudites, whofe prophet was Handba, or
by degrees was a great, and, to him, a neceffa- Khantala (for I find the name written both
ry help for his retaining and underftanding i t ; ways) Ebn Safwan +. Thefe people were firll
which it would have been impoffible for him to annoyed by certain monftrous birds, called Ankd,
have done, with any exaftnefs, had it been re- which lodged in the mountain above them, and
vealed at once j Mohammed's cafe being intirely ufed to fnatch away their children, when they
different from that of Mofes, David, and Jefus, wanted other prey : but this calamity was fo far
who could all read and write, whereas he was from humbling them, that on their prophet’s call-
perfettly illiterate 2. ing down a judgment upon them, they killed
c Thofe who dwelt at al Rafs;] The comriftn- him, and were all deftroyed *.
tators are at a lofs where to place al Rafs. Ac- d The city which was rained on by a fa ta l rain »1
cording to one opinion it was the name of a viz. Sodom j for the Koreijh often palled by the
well (as the word fignifies) near Midi an, about place where it once Hood, in the journeys they
which fome idolaters having fixed their habita- took to Syria for the fake of trade.
1 See the Prelim. Difc. §. III. p. 64, £sV. * A l Beidawj, £*jV. 3 A bu’lf., Gecg.
V. Fit. Saladini, p . 86. 4 See chap. 22. p . 279. not. a. * A l B eid awj, Ja llalo’ddin.