pioufly tranfgrefs, their abode /hall be bell fire ; fo often as they fhall endeavour
to get thereout, they fhall be'dragged back into the fame, and it fhall
be faid unto them, Tafte ye the torment of bell' fire, which ye rejefted as a
falfhood. And we will caufe them to tafte the nearer punifhnient of this
world, befides the more grievous punifhment of the next; peradventure they
will repent. Who is more unjuft than he who is warned by the figns of his
L o r d , and then turneth afide from the fame ? We will furely take vengeance
on the wicked. We heretofore delivered the book of the Itlw unto M oses ;
wherefore be not thou in doubt as to the revelation thereof*: and we ordained
the “fame to le a direction unto the children of I s r a e l ; and we appointed
teachers from among them, who fhould direft the people at our command,
when they had perfevered with patience, and had firmly believed in our figns.
Verily thy L o r d will judge between them, on the day of refurreftion, concerning
that wherein they have difagreed. Is it not known unto them how
many generations we have deftroyed before them, through whofe dwellings
they walk b ? Verily herein are figns: will they not therefore hearken? Do
they not fee that we drive rain unto a land bare of grafs and parched up,
and thereby produce corn, of which their cattle eat, and themfelves alfo ?
Will they not therefore regard ? The infidels fay to the true believers, When
'will this decifion he made between us, if ye fpeak truth? Anfwer, On the
day of that decifion % the faith of thofe who fhall have difbelieved fhall not
avail them •, neither fhall they be refpited any longer. Wherefore avoid
them, and expedt the ijfue: verily they expect to obtain fame advantage over
thee.
CHAP.
a Be not thou in doubt as to the tevelation
thereof}] Or, as fome interpret it, o f the revelation
of the Koran to thy fe lf; fince the delivery
of the law to Mofes proves that the revelation
of the Koran to thee is not the firft inftance of
the kind. Others think the words fhould be
tranflated thus, Be not thou in doubt as to'thy
meeting o f that prophet s fuppofing that the interview
between Mofes and Mohammed in the
fixth heaven, when the latter took his night-
journey thither, is here intended 1.
b Through whofe dwellings they walk;'] The
Meccans frequently palling by the places where the
Aditest Tbamudites, Midianites, Sodomites, &c.
ontie dwelt..
c On the day o f that decifion;] That is, On the
day of judgment: thoy feme fbppofe the day
here intended to be that of the victory at Bedr,
or elfe that of the taking of Mecca, when feve-
ral of thofe who had been profcribed were put
to death without remiffion a.
1 Idem. a See the Prelim. Difc. §. II. p. 55.
CHAP . XXXIII.
Intitled, The Confederatesa; revealed «/Medina.
In the name of the moft merciful G od.
0 Prophet, fear G od, and obey not the unbelievers and the hypocrites6:
verily G od is knowing and wife. But follow that which is revealed
unto thee from thy L ord ; for G od is well-acquainted with that which ye do:
and put thy truft in G od ; for G od is a fufficient protedtor. G od hath not
given a man two hearts within him ; neither hath he made your wives (fome of
whom ye divorce, regarding them thereafter as your mothers).your true mothers
nor hath he made your adopted fons your true fonsc. This is your faying in
your mouths : but G od fpeaketh the truth ; and he diredteth the right way.
Call fuch as are adopted, the fons of their natural fathers: this will be more
juft in the fight of G od. And if ye know not their fathers, let them be as
your brethren in religion, and your companions : and it fhall be no crime
in you, that ye err d in this matter ; but that fhall be criminal which your
hearts
a Part of this chapter was revealed on occa-
lion of the war of the Ditch, which happened
in the fifth year of the Hejra, when Medina was
befieged, for above twenty days, by the joint and
confederate forces of feveral JewiJh tribes, and
of the inhabitants of Meccay Najd, and Tehama, at
the inftigation of the Jews of tne tribe of Nadhir,
who had been -driven out of their fettlement
near Medina, by Mohammedthe year before I .
b Obey not the unbelievers and hypocrites;] It is
related that Abu So fa n , Acrema Ebn Abi Jahlf
and Abu"l A'war al-Salami having an amicable
interview with Mohammed, at which were pre-
fent alfo Abdallah Ebn Obba, Moatteb Ebn Ko-
Jheir, and Jadd Ebn Kais, they propofed to the
prophet, thal if he would leave off preaching
againft the worfhip of their gods, and acknowledge
them to be mediators, they would give him and
his L ord no' farther difturbance s upon which
thefe words were revealed 4.
c G od hath not given a man two heartsy &c.]
This paffage was revealed to abolifh two
cuftoms among the old Arabs. The firft was
their manner of divorcing their wives, when
they had no minc^ to let them go out of their
houfe, or to marry again : and this the husband
did by faying to the woman, Thou art henceforward
to me, as the back o f my mother; after
which words pronounced he abftained from her
bed, and regarded her in all refpedls as his
mother, and fhe became related to all his kindred
in the fame degree as if flie had been really
fo. The other cuftom was the holding their
adopted fons to be as nearly related to' them as
their natural fons, fo that the fame impedim&its
of marriage arofe from that fuppofed relation,
in the prohibited degrees, as it would have
done in the cafe of a genuine.fon. The latter
Mohammed had a peculiar reafon to abolifh. v iz .
his marrying the divorced wife of his freed-man
Zeid, who was alfo his adopted fon j of which
more will be faid by and by. By the declaration
which introduces this palfage, that G od
has tiot given a man two hearts, is meant, that.a
man cannot have the fame affedlion for fuppofed
parents, and adopted children, as for thofe who
are really fo. They tell us the Arabs ufed to fay,
of a prudent and acute perfon, that he had two
hearts ; whence one Abu Mdmer, or, as others
write, Jemil Ebn Afad al Fihri, was .furnamed
DhuTkalbein, or the man with two hearts 3.
d That ye err;] Through ignorance or miT-
take; or, That ye have erred for the time
paft.
1 V. A bu’lfedae
Beidawi. 3
Vit. Mob. p. 73. & G agnier, Vie de Mahomet, l. 4. c. 1.’
Idem, J allalq-’ddin, &c. * A l