room iç tbe.alTembïy;.make room*; G od will grant,you ample room in
paradife. And when it is faid unto you. Rife up,; rife up : G od will raife
thofe of you who believe» and 'thofe to whom knowledge is given, to fu-
perior degrees of honour : and G od is fully apprized of that which ye do.
O true believers, when ye go to fpeak with the apoftle, give alms previouf-
ly to your difcourfing with him V this will be better for you, and more pure.
But if ye find not what to give, verily G od will be gracious and merciful
unto you. Do ye fear to give alms previoufly to your difcourfing with the
prophet, lefi ye Jhoüld impoverijh yourfehes ? Therefore if ye do it not, and
G od is gracious unto you, by difpenfing with the faid precept for the future, be
confiant at prayer, and pay the legal alms ; and obey G od and his apoftle
in all other matters : for G od well knoweth that which ye do. Haft thou
not obferved thofe who have taken for their friends a pfeople againft whom
G od is incenfed'? They are neither of y oui nor of themd : and they
fwear to a lye ' knowingly. G od hath prepared for them a grievous punifh-
ment ; for it is evil which they do. They have taken their oaths for a cloak,
and they have turned men afide from the way of G qd : wherefore a-lhameful
punilhment awaiteth theQj -, neither their wealth nor their children fhall avail
them at all againft G od. Thefe fhall be the inhabitants of helldrey they
fhall abide therein for ever. On a certain day G od fhall raife them all ; then
will they fwear Onto him, as they fwear now unto you, imagining that it
will be of fervice to them. Are they not liars? Sa t a n hath prevailed a-
gainft them, and hath caiifed them to. forget the remembrance of G o d .
Thefe are the party of the devil ; and fhall not the party of the devil be
doomed to perdition? Verily they who oppofe G od and his apoftle, fa ll be
placed among the molt vile. G od hath written ; Verily I will prevail, and my
apoftles: for God is ftrong and mighty. Thou fhalt not find people-who
believe in G od and the laft day, to love him .who oppofeth G od and his
apoftle ; although they be their fathers, or their fons, or their brethren, or
their nearelt relations. In the hearts of thefe hath G od written faith s and
he hath ftrengthened them with his fpirit : and he will lead them into gardens»
beneath which rivers flow, to remain therein for ever. G od is well pleafed in
them ; and they are well pleafed in him. Thefe are the party of God .* and
fhall not the party of G od profper ?
CH A P .
a When it is faid unto you, Make room, in the ntied-but a vsry little while in force, being a-
Afiembly ; make room.] In this paflage the Mojlems greed on all hands to be, abrogated by the foi-
are commanded to give place, in the public aflem- lowing paflage, Do yefear to give almsSee. 1 .
blies, to the prophet and the more honourable of c A 'people againft whom God is incenfed} ] i. e.
his1companions; and nôt to prefsaûd'croud upon The Jews.
him,, as they ufed to do,, put of a de fire o f be- d They are neither oft. your nor of them i ] Be-
in gnearhim, and hearing his difeourfe. , ing hypocrites, and wavering between the two
0 When ye go to fpeak with the apoftle, give. parties/
alias, &c. } To fliew your fincerity, and to ho- , e They fwear to. a lye ; ] i. e. They have fo-
aour the apoftle. It is doubted whether this be lemnly profefled IJlâm, which they believe not
a counfel or a precept i but however it conti- in their hearts.
* 1'idt.m,
C H A P . LIX;
Intitled, The Emigration 3; revealed at Medina.
In the name of the moft merciful God.
WHatever is in heaven and earth celebratèth the praife of G od : and he
is the mighty, the wife. It was he who «jaufed thofe who believed
not1, of thé people who receive the feripture, .todepart from their -habitations
at thé firft emigration b. Ye did not think that they would go forth :
and they thought that their fortreffes would proteél them againft G od. But
the chdftifement of G od came upon them, from whence they did not expedt ;
and he call terror into their hearts. They pulled down their houfes with
their own handsand the hands of the true believers. Wherefore take ex-
L 11 2 ample
veral years after, in the reign of Omar, when
that Kbalif banifhed thole who had fettled at
Khaibar, and obliged them to' depart out of
Arabia *.
Dr. Prideaux, lpeaking o f Mohammed's
obliging thofe of al Nadir to quit their fettle-
ments, fays that a party of his men punfued
thofe who fled into Syria, and having' overtaken
them, -put them-all to the fwofd^ excepting
only one man that efcaped. With fucb
cruelty, continues he, did thofe barbarians firft
f it up to fight for that impoftqre they had been
deluded into 5. But a learned gentleman has
already obferved that this is all grounded on a
miftake, which the do£lor was led into by art
impèrfedion in the printed edition of Elmaci-
pus; where, after merttioning the expulfion of
the Nadirites, are inferted fome incoherent
words relating to another ‘attion, which happened
the month before; and wherein 70
Mojlems, inftead of putting others to the fw;ord.
were furprized and put to the fword them7
felves, together with their leader al Mondag
Ebn Omar, Caab Ebn Zeid alone efcaping +. 1
c They pulled down their houfes with tbeif
own hands i] Doing- what damage they could',
that the Moftems. might make the lefs advantage
of what they were obliged to leave behind
them.
a The original word flgnifies the quitting or
removing, from one's native country, or fettle-
men t, to dwell elfewhere, whether it be by
•choice or compullion.
b It was G od who caufed the unbelievers, of
thofe who receive the feriptures, to depart from
their habitations at the firft emigration.] The
people here intended were the Jews of the
tribe of: al Nadir, who dwelt - in Medina,' and
when Mohammed fled thither from Mecca, pro-
mifed him to ftand neuter between him and his
opponents, and made a treaty with him to that
purpofe. When he had gained the battle of
Bedr, they eonfefled that he was the prophet
deferibed in the law : but upon his receiving
that .difgrace at Ohod, they changed their note s
and Caab Ebn al Afhraf with 40 hprfc went
and made a league with Abu Sofian, which
they confirmed by oath. Upon this, Mohammed
got Caab difpatched, and, in thé 4th year
of the Hejra, fet forward againft al Nadir, and
befieged them in their fortrefs, which flood a-
bout 3 miles from Medina, for 6 days, at the
■ end or which they capitulated, and were allowed
to depart, on condition that they fhould
entirely quit that place: and accordingly fome
o f them went' itito Syria, and others to Khaibar
and Hira 1.
This was the' firft emigration, mentioned in
the paflage before us. The other happenéd fe-
1 A l Beidawi, Jax ea l. & c. V. A bulf. vit. Mob._ cap;. 3^,. * Idem Interpp, 5 Fiun,
Life of Mah. p. 82. 4 V. G agn ier . n'oU in. Abulf. vit, Mob. p. 72.