the heads of devils * ; and the damned fhall eat of the fame, and iliall fill
their bellies therewith ; and there Jhall be given them thereon a mixture of
filthy and boiling water to drink: afterwards fhall they return into hellb.
They found their fathers going aftray, andfthey trod haftily in their foot-
fteps: for the greater part of the ancients'erred before them. And we fent
warners unto them heretofore: and fee how miferable was the end of thofe
who were warned;' except the fincere fervants of G o d . N o a h called on
.us in former days, and we heard him gracioufly: and we delivered him and
his family out of the great diftrefs ; and we caufed his off-fpring to be thofe
who furvived to people the earth .* and we left the following Jaluta ion to be
beftowed on him by the lateft pofterity., namely, Peace be on N o a h among
all creatures 1 Thus do we reward the righteous; for he was one of our
fervants the true believers. Afterwards we drowned the others. A brah
a m alfo was of his religion': when he came unto his L o r d with a perfect
heart. When he faid unto his father and his people, What do ye wor-
fhip? Do ye choofe falfie gods preferably to the true G od ? What therefore is
your opinion of the L o r d of all creatures? And he looked and oblerved
the ftars, and faid, Verily I fhall be tickd, and Jhall not ajfifi at your fa-
orifices : and they turned .their; backs and departed from him e. And A b u -
ham went privately to. their gods, and faid fcojfingly .unto them, Do ye not
eat of the meat which is.JeVbefoYe you? What aileth you that ye fpeak not?
And he turned upon theni; and ftruck them with his right hand, and dt-
motijhed them. And the people came haftily unto him : and he faid, Do
ye worfhip the images' which ye carve? whereas G od hath created you,
affd alfo that which ye make. They faid, Build a pile for him, and call
him into the glowing fire. And they devifed a plot againft him ; but we
made them the inferior, and delivered him f. And A braham faid, Verily I
am ooing unto my L o r d 8,' who will direft me." O L o r d , grant me a
righteous iffiie. Wherefore we 'acquainted him that -he'Jhould have a fin,
who Jhouldbe a meek youth. And when he had attained to yean of dif-
cretionh, and could'join in atis of religion with him; A braham faid unit
him O my fon, verily I faw in a dream that I fhould offer thee in facrificc:
i O f d e v ils i \ Or Of ferpentsftigly to behold:
rhe original word fignifies both.
b A fte rw a rd s J b a l l they retu rn into h e ll.'] Some
/uppoie that the entertainment above mentioned
will be the welcome given the damned before
they enter that place; and others, that they will
be fuffcred to come out of hell' from time to
time, to drink their Raiding liquor.
' ■ « Abraham alfo was o f bis r elig ion 5] For Noah
and he agreed in the fundamental points Both
of faith and pradtice ; tho’ the fpace between
.them was no lefs than 2640 years 1.
s A n d b e o k ftrv ed th e f ta r s , and f a id , 1 f h a l l
be fick ;J He made as if he gathered fo much
from the afpeft of the heavens (the people being
greatly addidled to the fuperilitions of aftro-
logy) and made it his excule for being abfent
from their feltival, to which they had invited
him.
' e And they turned their backs, Scc."\ Fearing
he had foine ; contagious diltemper a.
. f See chap. 21: p. 268, CrV.'
2 TJnto my L ord i. e. Whither he hath
commanded me.» - .
hf To years of diferetiom] He was then thirteen
years old J.
fice “ : confider therefore what thou art of opinion I Jhould do. He anfwer-
ed, O my father, do what thou art commanded: thou /halt find me, ii
G od pleafe, a patient perfon. And when they had fubmitted themfelves to the
divine willy and A braham had laid bis Jon proftrate on his faceb, we cried
unto him, O A braham, now haft thou verified the vifion. Thus do we
reward the righteous. Verily this was a manifeft trial. And we ranfom-
ed him with a noble vi&im e. And we left the following falutation to he he-
flowed on him by the lateft- pofterity, namely, Peace be on A braham !
Thus do we reward the righteous: for he was one of ouf faithful fervants.
And we rejoiced him with the promife of Isaac, a righteous prophet; and
we blefied him and Isaac : and of their off-fpring were fome righteous doers,
and others who manifeftly injured their own fouls. We were alfo gracious
unto Moses and A aron,, heretofore: and we delivered them and their people
from a great diftrefs. And we afiifted them againjh the E g y p t i a n s ,
and they became the conquerors. And we gave them the perfpicuous book
of the law, and we directed them into the right way : and we left thefoh
lowing falutation to he beftowed on them by the lateft pofterity, namely,
Peace be on Moses and A aron ! Thus do we reward the righteous ; for
they were two of our faithful fervants. And Elias'1 * was alfo one of thofe
B b b * who
51 I dreamed that Ifhould facrifice thee,. &c.] fons, and the lot falling on ' AbcTallah,- he re-
The commentators fay, that Abraham was or- deemed him. by offering an hundred camels,
dered in a vifion, which he faw on the eighth which was therefore ordered to be the price of
night of the month Dhu'lhajja, to facrifice his a man’s blood in thé Sonna 1.
fon ; and to affure him that this was not from b And had laid him proftrate on his face.] The
the devil, as he was inclined to fufpedt, the commentators add, that Abraham went fo far
fame vifion was repeated a fécond time the next as to draw the knife with all his ftrength acrofs
night, when he knew it to be from G od, and the lad’s throat,; but was miraculoufly hindred
alfo a third time the night following, when he from hurting him *.
refolved to obey it, and to facrifice his fon : and c A noble viftim ;] The epithet of great or
hence fome think the 8th, 9‘h, and 10th days of [ noble is here added., either becaufe it was large
Dhu'lhajja are called Yawm altarwiya,yawm arafat, and fat, or becaufe it was accepted as the ranfom
znàyawm alnehr, that is, the day of the vifion, the of a prophet. Somefuppofe this victim was a
day of knowledge, and the day of the facrifice. . ram, and, if we may believe a common tradi-
It is the Hioft received opinion among the Mo- tion, the very fame which Abel facrificed; hav-
hammedans that the fon whom Abraham offered, ing been brought to Abraham out of paradife ;
was Jfmael, and not Ifaac ; Ifmael being his others fancy it was a wild-goat, which came
only fon at that time : for the promife of Ifaac s down from mount Tbabir, near Mecca : for the
birth is mentioned lower, as fubfequent in time Mohammedans lay the feene of this tranfadtion
to this tranfadtion. They alfo alledge the tefti- in the valley of Mina ; as a proof of which
mony of their prophet, who is reported to have they tell us that the horns of the vidtim were
faid I am the fon of the two who were offered in hung up on the fpout of the Caaba, where
facrifice ; meaning his great anceftor, Ifmael, they remained till they were burnt, together
and his own father Abd'aJIab : for Abd'almotàlleb with that building, in the days of Abda'llah Ebn
had made à vow, that if G od would permit Zobeir3 ;; tho’ others affure us that they had
him to find out and open the well Zemzem, and been before taken down by Mohammed him-
fhould give him ten fons, he would facrifice felf, to remove all occafion of idolatry4-.
one of them î accordingly, when he had obtained i d Elias i] This prophet the Mohammedans
his defire In both refpedts, he caft lots on his generally fuppofe to be the fame with alKhedr,
and
1 Idem, Jallalo’ddin, al Z amakh. * Idem, Jallalo’ddin. 3 lidem. A V. D’Herb.
Bibl. Orient. Art. Ifmail.