502 A l K O \R A N . C hap. 105.
down upon them {tones of baked clay a ; and render them like the leaves of
corn eaten by cattle ?
CHAP.
one Nofail, as he is named by fame, of the tribe This remarkable defeat of Abraha happened
of Kenânab, who getting into the aforefaid the very year Mohammed was - born, and as this
church by night, defiled the altar and walls, chapter* was revealed before the Hejra, and*
thereof with his excrements. At this profana- within 54 years, at leaft, after it came to pafs,
tion Abraha being highly incenfed, vowed the when lèverai perfons who could have dete&ed
deftru&ion of the Gaab'a, and accordingly fét the lye, - had Mohammed forged this- ftory out of
out againft Mecca at the head of a confider- his own head, were alive, it feems as if there
able army, wherein were .feveral elephants, was really fomething extraordinary in the mat-
which he had obtained of the king àî Fthio- ter, which might, by adding fome circumftan-
pia, their number being, as fome fay, thirteen, ces, have been'worked :up into a miijacleiito his
though others mention but; one. The Meccans, hands. Marracci 2 judges theJwfyole-to bè ei-
at the approach of fo confiderable a hoft, retir- ther a fable, or elfe a feat of fome evil fpirits,
ed to the neighbouring mountains,being unable . of which he gives a parallel inftance,as He thinks,
to defend their city or temple: but G od himfelf in the ftrange defeat of Brennus, when he*was
undertook the/proteftion of both. For when A- marching to attack the temple of Apo!lo'z.t Del-
braha drew near to Mecca,znà would have entred phi §» Dr. Pridea.ux dire&Iy charges. Moham-
it, the elephant on which he rode, which was med with coining this miracle, notwithftanding
a very large one, and named Mahmud, refu- he might have been fo eafily difproved, and fup-
fed to advance any nigher to the town, but knelt pofes, without any foundation, that this ‘Chap-
down whenever they endeavoured to force ter might not have been, publifhed till Othma/fs
him that way, though he would rife and march edition o f the Koran4, which was many years '
briskly enough if they turned him towards any after, when all might be dead who could ré-
other quarter : and while matters were in this member any thing of the abovementioned war
pofture, on a fudden a large flock of birds, like But Mohammed had no occalion to coin fuch a
fwallows, came flying from the fea coaft, every miracle himfelf, to. gain the temple of Mecca any
one of which carried three ftones, one in each greater veneration : the Meccans were but too
foot, and one in its bill ; and thefe ftones they fuperftitioufly fond of it, and obliged him, a-
threw down upon the heads of Abraha's men, gairift his inclinations and original defign, tp
certainly killing every one they ftruck. Then make it the chief place of his new invented
G od fent a flood, which fwept the dead bodies, worfhip. I canhojf, however, but obferve Dr.
and fome of thofe who had 'not been ftruck by Prideaux's partiality on this occafion, compared
the ftones, into the fea:_the reft fled towards with the favourable reception he gives to the
Taman, but perifhed by the way ; none of them ftory of the miraculous overthrow of Brennus
reaching Sanaa, -except only Abraha himfelf, and his army,which he concludes in the follow-
who died Toon after his arrival there, being ing words. “ Thus was G od pleafed in a very
ftruck with a fort of plague or putrefa&ion, fo “ extraordinary manner to execute his venge-
that his body opened, and his limbs rotted off “ ance upon thofe facrilegious wretches for the
by piece-meal. It is faid that one oï Abraha's “ fake of religion in general, how falfe and ido-
army, named Abu Tacfum, efcaped over the red “ latrous foever that particular religion was, for
fea into Ethiopia, and going dire&ly to the “ which that temple at Delphos was ere&ed 6
king, told him the tragical ftory ; and upon that I f it be anfwered, that the Gauls believed the
prince’s asking him what fort of birds they were, religion, to the. devotions o f which that temple
that had occafioned fuch a deftru&ion, the was confecrated, to be true, ( though that be not
man pointed to one of them, which had follow- certain,) and therefore it was an impiety in them
ed him all the way, and was at that time hover- to offer violence to it., whereas Abraha ac-
ing direétly over his head,when immediately the knowledged not the holinefs of the Caaba or
bird let fall the ftone, and ftruck him dead at the worfhip there pradlifed j lreply,That the doc-
the king’s feet1. tor
1 T / Z amakh. Al Beidawi, Ja l l a l . A bul'f. Hift.Gen. Sec. See P rid. Life of Mah. p.
61. &c. and D’H erbel. Bibl. Orient. Art. Abrahah. 2 Refut. in Alcor. p. 823. 3 See
P rid. Connexion, part II. book I. p. 25. and the authors there quoted. * See the Prelim. Difc,
$. Ill« p. 46. 5 Prid. Life of .Mah, p. 63, .64. 6 P rid. Connection, in the place above cited.
C i iap; 106. A l K O R A N . 503
tor, on occafion of Cambyfes being killed by a “ general wounded hereby, there are many
wound he accidentally received in the fame 0 inftances in hiftory, wherein G od hath very
part of the body where he had before mortally “ fignally punifhed the prophanations of religi-
wounded the Apis, or bull worfhipped* by the t( on in the worft of times, and under the
Egyptians , whofe religion and worfhip that “ worft modes of heathen idolatry 1 ” .
prince moft certainly believed to be falfe and fu- a Stones of baked clay; ] Thefe ftones were of
perftitious,; makes the fame reflexion j. “ The the fame kind with thofe by which the Spdo-
“ Egyptians' fays He,’ reckoned this as an efpe- miles were deftroyed 2, and were no bigger than
u cial judgment from heaven upon him for that vetches, though they fell with fuch force as to
“ fa£t, and perchance they Were not much out pierce the helmet and the man through, paf-
4‘ in i t : for it feldom happening in an affront fing out at his fundament. It’is faid alfo that
*.* given to any mode of worlhip, how errone- on each ftone was written the name of him who
tf ous foever it may be, but that religion is in was* to be flain by it.
1 Ibid, parti, book III. p. 173. 9 See chap. 11. p. 184.
CHAP. CVI.
Intitled, K oreish ; revealed at M ec ca .
In the name of the moft merciful G od.
FOR the uniting o f thetribe of Koreish a ; their uniting in fending forth the
caravan of merchants and purveyors b in winter and fummer : let them
ferve the*L ord of this houfe ; who fupplieth them with food againft hunger c,
and hath rendred them fecure from fear d.
a For the uniting of the Koreifh; ] Some con- who was fo called becaufe of his intrepid bold-
ne<El thefe words with the following, and fup- nefs, the word being a diminutive of Karjh,
pofe the natural order to be, Let them ferve the which is the name of a fea-monfter, very ftrong
L ord of this houfe, for the uniting, &c. Others and daring; though there be other reafons given
conned them with the laft words of the preced- for its impofition
ing chapter, and take the meaning to be, that -b Their uniting in fending forth the caravan,
G od had fo deftroyed the army of Abraha, for See. ] It was Ndjhem, the great grandfather of
the uniting of the Koreifh, Sec. And the laft Mohammed, who firft appointed the two yearly
opinion is confirmed by one copy, mentioned caravans, here mentioned 2 ; one of which fet
by al Beidawi, wherein this and the preceding out in the winter for Taman, and the other in
make but one chapter. It may not be amifs to fummer for Syria 3.
obferve, that the tribe of Koreifh, the moft no- c Who fupplyeth them with food againft hunger\\
ble among all the Arabians, and of which was By means of the'aforefaid caravans of purveyors }
Mohammed himfelf, were the pofterity of Febr, or, Who fupplied them with food in time of a fa -
furnamed Koreifh, the fon of Malec, the fon of mine, which thofe of Mecca had, fuffered +.
al Nadr, who was defeended in a right line ^ And hath rendred them fecure from fear ; },
from Ifmael. Some writers fay that al Nadr By delivering them from Abraha and his troops*
bore the furname of Koreifh, but the more re- or, by making the territory of Mecca a place of
ceived opinion is, that it was his grandfon Febr, fecurity.
1 V. G agnier, Vie de Mah. t. 1. p. 44» & 46. * See the Prelim. Difc. p. 4. 3 A l
Z amakh. jALLAt. Al Beidawi, 4 lidem*