FOOTNOTES:

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Stanley Lane-Poole

[1] See prefatory note, p. 2.

[2] i.e., the glory of the clan.

[3] Battles.

[4] This and the other verses quoted in this chapter are taken from the translations of old Arab poetry contributed by Mr. C. J. Lyall to the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal (Translations from the HamÂseh and the AghÂnÎ; The Mo`allaqah of Zuheyr). They imitate the metres of the original Arabic verse, but are nevertheless as literal as need be. The transliteration of proper names in the verses (and in other quotations) has been assimilated to the system adopted by Mr. Lane, from which in this work I only depart in the case of names which by frequent use have become almost the property of the English language.

[5] A tribe.

[6] The subject of the poem, mentioned in the second hemistich of the third verse as ‘thou,’ whose death the supposed author (‘one valiant’) avenged.

[7] For these and other stories about ?Átim, see Caussin de Perceval’s Essai sur l’Histoire des Arabes, ii. 607-628: a book which is a treasury of Arab life, and abounds in those anecdotes which reveal more of the character of the people than whole volumes of ethnological treatise.

[8] The later Arabic poets were mostly incapable of the genius of the old singers: the times had changed, and the ancient poetry appeared almost as exotic to their ideas as it does to our own. No greater mistake can be made than to judge of the old poets by such a writer as BehÁ-ed-deen Zoheyr, of whom Professor E. H. Palmer has lately given us so beautiful a version. There is nothing in common between El-BehÁ and ´Antarah—scarcely even the language.

[9] Deutsch, Lit. Remains, 453, 454: cp. NÖldeke, BeitrÄge zur Kennt. d. Poesie d. alten Araber, xxiii., xxiv.

[10] Ezekiel xxvii. 19-24. The identifications of the various names with Arabian towns are partly conjectural, but the general reference is clearly to Arabia. Cf. the ‘Speaker’s’ Commentary, vi. 122; and the interpretations of Hitzig, Movers, Tuch, and MÉnant.

[11] C. P. Tiele, Outlines of the History of Religion: tr. J. E. Carpenter, p. 63.

[12] Deutsch. Lit. Remains, pp. 70-72.

[13] R. Bosworth Smith, Mohammed and Mohammedanism, 2d ed. p. 131.

[14] Or ‘read,’ ‘recite.’ These lines are the beginning of the 96th Soorah of the ?ur-Án.

[15] Sir W. Muir, Life of Mahomet, 402.

[16] The following is an abridgment: cp. Muir 485, and the Seeret-er-Rasool, tr. Weil, ii. 316, 317.

[17] An attempt has been made to explain away Mo?ammad’s fidelity to Khadeejeh, by adducing the motive of pecuniary prudence. Mo?ammad, they say, was a poor man, Khadeejeh rich and powerfully connected; any affaire de coeur on the husband’s part would have been followed by a divorce and the simultaneous loss of property and position. It is hardly necessary to point out that the fear of poverty—a matter of little consequence in Arabia and at that time—would not restrain a really sensual man for five-and-twenty years; especially when it is by no means certain that Khadeejeh, who loved him with all her heart in a motherly sort of way, would have procured a divorce for any cause soever. And this explanation leaves Mo?ammad’s loving remembrance of his old wife unaccounted for. If her money alone had curbed him for twenty-five years, one would expect him at her death to throw off the cloak, thank Heaven for the deliverance, and enter at once upon the rake’s progress. He does none of those things. The story of Zeyneb, the divorced wife of Zeyd, is a favourite weapon with Mo?ammad’s accusers. It is not one to enter upon here; but I may say that the lady’s own share in the transaction has never been sufficiently considered. In all probability Zeyd, the freed slave, was glad enough to get rid of his too well-born wife, and certainly he bore no rancour against Mo?ammad. The real point of the story is the question of forged revelations, which is discussed below.

[18] ‘The Prophet said: Whosoever shall bear witness that there is one God; and that Mo?ammad is His servant and messenger; and that Jesus Christ is His servant and messenger, and that he is the son of the hand-maid of God, and that he is the Word of God, the word which was sent to Mary, and Spirit from God; and [shall bear witness] that there is truth in Heaven and Hell, will enter into paradise, whatever sins he may be chargeable with.’—MishkÁt-el-MasÁbeeh, i. 11.

[19] R. Bosworth Smith: Mohammed and Mohammedanism, 2d ed., 255-257.

[20] The People of Turkey, by a Consul’s Daughter, preface, xxii.

[21] MishkÁt-el-MasÁbeeh, i. 46, 51.

[22] Dr. E. Blyden. See his article on Mohammadanism in Western Africa in The People of Africa. (New York, 1871.)

[23] It may be interesting to some readers to judge for themselves of the different characteristics of these four groups of soorahs; and though in a series of translated selections it will hardly be possible to gain a thorough appreciation of the change of style or matter, some notion may nevertheless be obtained by reading the First Part of these Selections in the following order (the numbers referring to the figures at the head of each extract):—

Mekka—First Period:—xvii., lxvi., lxv., xviii., xxxvii., xxxviii., xxxix., xl., xli., xlii., xliii., xxx., iii., i.

Second Period:—lx., xlvii., xxix., viii., xiv., lxiii., vi., li., lxii., xxxi., xliv., lxxxvi., lxxxi., xlv., xxxvi., xx.

Third Period:—lxxiii., lxiv., xxxv., liii., xlvi., xvi., lxxvi., xxxii., lix., xxi., vii., lv., xix., xii., x., lxxii., xxviii., xi.

Medina:—ii., lxxxiv., xxxiii., lxxvii., xxxiv., xxiv., xxvi., ix., lii., lxxix., lxvii., lxi., iv., lxxi., lxix., lxx., lxxv., lxxxiii., xlviii., v., lxxviii., xxii., lvi., lvii., xlix., xxvii., xxv., xiii., lviii., lxxiv., l., liv., xxiii., lxxx., xv., lxviii., lxxxv., lxxxii.

[24] This is generally believed to be the night of (that is, preceding) the 27th day of the month.

[25] In the Introduction, the references are to the new one volume edition, 1877. Since writing my chapter on the early Arabs, Sir W. Muir has published an interesting essay on old Arabic poetry in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (xi part i. 1879).

[26] The ‘Lord’s Prayer’ of the Muslims, recited several times in each of the five daily prayers, and on many other occasions.

[27] That is, of all creatures.

[28] [‘Do we beg assistance,’ in the original ed.]

[29] God knoweth best what He meaneth by these letters.

[30] That it is from God.

[31] In the resurrection and paradise and hell.

[32] The ?ur-Án.

[33] The Pentateuch and the Gospel and other books.

[34] This chapter is held in particular veneration by the Mo?ammadans, and declared, by a tradition of their prophet, to be equal in value to a third part of the whole KorÂn.—S.

[35] One of the most admired passages in the ?ur-Án, recited (though not by all Muslims) at the close of each of the five daily prayers, and often engraved on an ornament of gold or silver or a precious stone to be worn as an amulet.

[36] ‘The seven heavens and earths in comparison with the Throne are nought but as seven dirhems [silver coins] cast into a shield.’—Trad.

[37] [‘Able to do everything,’ orig. ed. Lit. ‘potent over everything.’]

[38] Lit. ‘driven away with stones.’ This expression alludes to a tradition, that Abraham, when the devil tempted him to disobey God, in not sacrificing his son, drove the fiend away by throwing stones at him; in memory of which, the Mo?ammadans, at the pilgrimage of Mecca, throw a certain number of stones at the devil, with certain ceremonies, in the valley of Mina.—S. The devils, or evil jinn, it is said, had liberty to enter any of the seven heavens till the birth of Jesus, when they were excluded from three of them; on the birth of Mo?ammad they were forbidden the other four. They continue, however, to ascend to the confines of the lowest heaven, and there, listening to the conversation of the angels respecting things decreed by God, obtain knowledge of futurity, which they sometimes impart to men, who by means of talismans or certain invocations make them to serve the purposes of magical performances. Shooting stars are often hurled at the devils when they thus listen.

[39] That it may not move with its inhabitants.

[40] Or determined.

[41] Slaves and beasts and cattle: for it is God only who sustaineth them.

[42] Which cause the clouds to fill with water.

[43] As the bird from the egg.

[44] As the egg from the bird.

[45] Or consider.

[46] For you previously to birth.

[47] [‘Compacted,’ orig. ed. Strictly, words such as ‘come forth’ should be supplied before ‘clusters.’]

[48] In leaf.

[49] In fruit.

[50] [Genii.] since they have obeyed them in worshipping idols. See p. 33.

[51] Alone.

[52] This was revealed with reference to a man unto whom the Prophet sent one to invite him to the faith; but he said, Who is the apostle of God, and what is God? Is he of gold, or silver, or brass? Whereupon a thunderbolt fell upon him, and struck off his skull.

[53] On the Preserved Tablet.

[54] Restoring your souls in the daytime.

[55] The term of life.

[56] [‘Predominant,’ orig. ed.]

[57] Angels who register your deeds.

[58] The creatures.

[59] That He may recompense them.

[60] O Mo?ammad, to the people of Mekkeh.

[61] Namely, the Jews and the Christians, and those [Arabs] who assert that the angels are daughters of God.

[62] [‘Demolished,’ orig. ed.]

[63] On the day of resurrection.

[64] Without wealth or helper.

[65] Of the perfume and saffron with which they are overdaubed.

[66] Idols.

[67] This they would not worship them.

[68] [‘Similitudes,’ orig. ed. It is the plural of the same word as that translated ‘parable’ at the beginning of the preceding extract, and ‘likeness’ twice in this extract.]

[69] [It is said that Mo?ammad, when a revelation came down to him, used to say, ‘Cover ye me with something whereby I may become warm.’ Lane: Lexicon, voce dathara.]

[70] [Idolatry.]

[71] [This rendering is Mr. Rodwell’s. I do not think it can be bettered.]

[72] [Lit. ‘And by the night when it becometh still;’ or (but this is less strongly supported) ‘when it darkeneth.’]

[73] [‘In my possession,’ orig. ed.]

[74] [‘Apostle,’ in the orig. ed.; but Christian associations have somewhat restricted the original meaning of the word, and I have therefore in this and other instances substituted ‘Messenger,’ which exactly represents the Arabic rasool.]

[75] To unbelief.

[76] He will only injure himself.

[77] The Jews said unto the Muslims, We are the people of the first book (the Pentateuch), and our ?ibleh (the point to which we turn our faces in praying) is the more ancient, and the prophets have not been of the Arabs, and if Mo?ammad were a prophet, he had been of us. Therefore the following was revealed.

[78] So that He may choose of His servants whom He pleaseth.

[79] That is, God is; and He hath acquitted Abraham of belonging to them by His saying [?ur. iii. 60], Abraham was not a Jew nor a Christian; and the other persons above-mentioned with him were followers of him.

[80] They are the Jews, who have concealed the testimony of God, in the Pentateuch, of Abraham’s orthodoxy.

[81] [Mo?ammad and A?mad are from the same root, ?amd, meaning ‘praise;’ and both names were borne by the Prophet. The supposed prediction of Mo?ammad’s coming arose, perhaps, from a confusion between Parakletos and Perikleitos or possibly Periklytos in Evang. S. Jo. xvi. 7, where the coming of ‘the Paraclete’ is promised; in some Arabic version of which the word may have been ignorantly rendered by ‘A?mad,’ and thus reported to Mo?ammad.]

[82] By the description of him in their books.

[83] The description of him.

[84] In the Law.

[85] Or miracles.

[86] As Zechariah and John, and ye slew them.

[87] Their belief, if the signs come. The copies of the original differ in this verse, but not in an important manner.

[88] From the truth, so that they shall not believe.

[89] The ?ur-Án.

[90] Or art mad.

[91] That is, with punishment.

[92] [The original copy kept by God.]

[93] [This line is often inscribed on the covers of copies of the ?ur-Án.]

[94] In eloquence.

[95] [In orig. edition, and literally, ‘Although some of them assisted others.’]

[96] That they may be admonished.

[97] And not sent an angel?

[98] Instead of mankind.

[99] For no apostle is sent unto a people but one of their own kind.

[100] Forgery.

[101] Mo?ammad.

[102] Chapter.

[103] To assist you.

[104] The result of the threat that it containeth.

[105] As to its being from God.

[106] In eloquence and beauty of composition and information concerning what is unseen.

[107] Your deities whom ye worship, that they may aid you.

[108] When the unbelievers cavilled at abrogation, and said, ‘Mo?ammad commandeth his companions to-day to do a thing and forbiddeth it tomorrow,’ the following was revealed.

[109] Namely, a Christian slave whom the Prophet used to visit. [The Mekkans accounted for the production of the ?ur-Án by an unlearned man like Mo?ammad by ascribing it to the teaching of some Christian, whom is doubtful. Mo?ammad’s reply is that the Christian’s was a foreign tongue, whilst the ?ur-Án was in Arabic.]

[110] [‘As a further supply,’ orig. ed.]

[111] [Lit. ‘Burdens:’ explained by El-Bey?Áwee and others as buried treasures and as dead.]

[112] The most highly esteemed of property.

[113] [‘Be set on fire,’ orig. ed. Both these renderings, and also ‘be dried up,’ are supported by various authorities. See Lane: Lex. voce sejera.]

[114] Woman-child.

[115] Of men’s actions.

[116] As the skin is plucked off a slaughtered sheep.

[117] A kind of thorn which no beast eateth, by reason of its impurity.

[118] Or eight ranks of them.

[119] Unto a company, by reason of his joy thereat.

[120] And it shall be said unto such.

[121] And it shall be said unto the keepers of hell.

[122] As it hath denied it in the present world.

[123] Those who shall receive their books in their right hands.

[124] How honourable shall they be!

[125] How contemptible shall they be!

[126] In the way to good fortune (namely, the Prophets), how honourable shall be!

[127] [‘Destined to continue for ever in boyhood,’ orig. ed.]

[128] [?ooreeyehs.]

[129] Intensely black and white, large-eyed.

[130] From bottom to top.

[131] [The ?ooreeyehs.]

[132] Polytheism.

[133] Beneath the tents thereof.

[134] The believers and the unbelievers.

[135] One after another, barefooted, naked, unarmed.

[136] Of the resurrection.

[137] Written in their books.

[138] I will surely fill Hell, &c. [?ur. vii. 17, given below, p. 51].

[139] Of righteousness.

[140] Between all creatures.

[141] [Or ‘marked’ or ‘goodly.’]

[142] [Fighting for the faith.]

[143] [Or ‘end,’ ‘result.’]

[144] “Arms on armour clashing bray’d Horrible discord.”—Par. Lost, vi. 209.

[145] O Mo?ammad. The copies of the original differ here, but the differences are unimportant.

[146] By taking to themselves idols.

[147] Thou wouldst see a great thing!

[148] Denying their having led them into error.

[149] Iblees.

[150] And the people of paradise are introduced into paradise, and the people of the fire into the fire, and when the latter have assembled around him.

[151] Respecting the resurrection and retribution.

[152] The contrary.

[153] The people of Mekkeh.

[154] Of the resurrection.

[155] If the choice had been given us we had not gone forth and had not been slain.

[156] Namely, the Jews.

[157] [See Modern Egyptians, 5th ed., p 284.]

[158] [On the various orders of the Jinn, see Lane’s Thousand and One Nights, Introduction, note 21. And see above, pp. 7, 9.]

[159] Consisting of the angels.

[160] They speak not until after He hath spoken.

[161] Iblees [the devil].

[162] [In the Arabic, ‘?ur-Án.’]

[163] This is said to be the most comprehensive verse in the ?ur-Án with respect to good and evil. [The commentators say it contains the whole duty of man, both in respect of doing and of shunning. It is needless to enumerate the various virtues and sins which they consider are implied in each of the simple words of the text.]

[164] [Mr. Rodwell’s rendering.]

[165] The traveller.

[166] Of being rewarded for so doing.

[167] Or reproach.

[168] Their idols.

[169] Disposition.

[170] [Lit., and in orig. ed., ‘hath great good fortune.’]

[171] [Mod. Egypt., 104.]

[172] [The Christians and Jews.]

[173] [Or ‘best:’ so in Mod. Egypt., 280.]

[174] [This is Mr. Rodwell’s word, and is, I think, more expressive of the original (muslimoona) than ‘resigned.’]

[175] In the prophets.

[176] [Some suppose this verse to be abrogated by the next extract: others try to explain it away.]

[177] And of him who inviteth them to the true religion.

[178] Mirage (sarÁb).

[179] In like manner the unbeliever reckoneth that his works will profit him, until, when he dieth and is brought before his Lord, he findeth not his works.

[180] The unbeliever.

[181] By his unbelief.

[182] In the tradition it is said, ‘Whosoever hath any good thing given unto him, whether of family or wealth, and saith on the occasion thereof, ‘What God willeth (`mÁ-shÁÄ-llÁh)! There is no power but in God!’ he will not see in it aught displeasing.’

[183] On the day of resurrection.

[184] O Mo?ammad.

[185] Of the people of Mekkeh.

[186] So as to disdain receiving the truth. (This was revealed as respecting the envoys who came from the King of Abyssinia: the Prophet recited the Soorat YÁ-Seen [xxxvi.], whereupon they wept and became Muslims, and said, ‘How like is this to that which was revealed to Jesus.’)

[187] Not believing in Mo?ammad.

[188] With respect to the hypocrites the following was revealed.

[189] Their chiefs.

[190] The number of the prophets which have been from time to time sent by God into the world amounts to no less than 224,000, according to one Mo?ammadan tradition, or to 124,000 according to another; among whom 313 were apostles, sent with special commissions to reclaim mankind from infidelity and superstition; and six of them brought new laws or dispensations, which successively abrogated the preceding: these were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mo?ammad. All the prophets in general the Mo?ammadans believe to have been free from great sins and errors of consequence, and professors of one and the same religion, that is, El-IslÁm, notwithstanding the different laws and institutions which they observed. In this great number of prophets, they not only reckon divers patriarchs and persons named in Scripture but not recorded to have been prophets (wherein the Jewish and Christian writers have sometimes led the way), as Adam, Seth, Lot, Ishmael, Nun, Joshua, &c., and introduce some of them under different names, as Enoch, Heber, and Jethro, who are called in the ?ur-Án, Idrees, Hood, and Sho´eyb; but several others whose very names do not appear in Scripture (though they endeavour to find some persons there to fix them on), as ?Áli?, El-Khi?r, Dhu-l-Kifl.

As to the Scriptures, the Mo?ammadans are taught by the ?ur-Án that God, in divers ages of the world, gave revelations of His will in writing to several prophets, the whole and every word of which it is absolutely necessary for a good Muslim to believe. The number of these sacred books was, according to them, 104; of which ten were given to Adam, fifty to Seth, thirty to Idrees or Enoch, ten to Abraham; and the other four, being the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Gospel, and the ?ur-Án, were successively delivered to Moses, David, Jesus, and Mo?ammad; which last being the seal of the prophets, those revelations are now closed and no more are to be expected. All these divine books, except the four last, they agree to be now entirely lost and their contents unknown; though the Sabians have several books which they attribute to some of the antediluvian prophets. And of those four, the Pentateuch, Psalms, and Gospel, they say, have undergone so many alterations and corruptions, that though there may possibly be some part of the true word of God therein, yet no credit is to be given to the present copies in the hands of the Jews and Christians.—S.

[191] ‘El-JÁnn’ is here used as a name of Iblees, the father of the jinn. It also signifies the jinn themselves.

[192] According to a tradition of the Prophet, the height of Adam was equal to that of a tall palm-tree.

[193] The Mo?ammadans say, that when they were cast down from Paradise [which is in the seventh heaven], Adam fell on the isle of Ceylon, or Sarandeeb, and Eve near Juddah (the port of Mekkeh) in Arabia; and that, after a separation of two hundred years, Adam was, on his repentance, conducted by the angel Gabriel to a mountain near Mekkeh, where he found and knew his wife, the mountain being thence named ´ArafÁt; and that he afterwards retired with her to Ceylon.—S.

[194] The prayer is inserted by the commentary from ?ur. vii. 22.

[195] This word has various significations in the ?ur-Án; sometimes, as in this passage, it signifies divine revelation, or scripture in general; sometimes the verses of the ?ur-Án in particular; and at other times, visible miracles. But the sense is easily distinguished by the context.—S.

[196] Called in Arabic HÁbeel and ?Ábeel.

[197] The occasion of their making this offering is thus related, according to the common tradition in the East. Each of them being born with a twin-sister, when they were grown up, Adam by God’s direction ordered Cain to marry Abel’s twin-sister, and Abel to marry Cain’s; (for it being the common opinion that marriages ought not to be had in the nearest degrees of consanguinity, since they must necessarily marry their sisters, it seemed reasonable to suppose they ought to take those of the remoter degree;) but this Cain refusing to agree to, because his own sister was the handsomest, Adam ordered them to make their offerings to God, thereby referring the dispute to His determination. The commentators say Cain’s offering was a sheaf of the very worst of his corn; but Abel’s a fat lamb of the best of his flock.—S.

[198] Or, as the original literally signifies, boiled over [or boiled], which is consonant to what the Rabbins say, that the waters of the deluge were boiling hot.—This oven was, as some say, at El-Koofeh, in a spot whereon a mosque now stands; or, as others rather think, in a certain place in India, or else at ´Eyn-el-Wardeh in Mesopotamia. Some pretend that it was the same oven which Eve made use of to bake her bread in, being of a form different from those we use, having the mouth in the upper part, and that it descended from patriarch to patriarch till it came to Noah. It is remarkable that Mo?ammad, in all probability, borrowed this circumstance from the Persian Magi, who also fancied that the first waters of the deluge gushed out of the oven of a certain old woman named Zala CÛfa.—But the word “tennoor,” which is here translated “oven,” also signifying “the superficies of the earth,” or “a place whence waters spring forth,” or “where they are collected,” some suppose it means no more in this passage than the spot or fissure whence the first eruption of waters broke forth.—S.

[199] It is a custom of many Muslims to pronounce these words, ‘In the name of God be its course and its mooring,’ on embarking for any voyage.—L. The commentators tell us that Noah was two years in building the ark, which was framed of Indian plane-tree; that it was divided into three stories, of which the lower was designed for the beasts, the middle one for the men and women, and the upper for the birds; and the men were separated from the women by the body of Adam, which Noah had taken into the ark. This last is a tradition of the Eastern Christians.—S.

[200] The original of this passage is considered the most sublime in the ?ur-Án.

[201] The Mo?ammadans say that Noah went into the ark on the tenth of Rejeb, and came out of it on the tenth of Mo?arram; which therefore became a fast: so that the whole time of Noah’s being in the ark according to them was six months.—S. (B.)

[202] ´Ád was an ancient and potent tribe of Arabs, and zealous idolaters. They chiefly worshipped four deities, SÁkiyeh, ?Áfi?hah, RÁzi?ah, and SÁlimeh; the first, as they imagined, supplying them with rain, the second preserving them from all dangers abroad, the third providing food for their sustenance, and the fourth restoring them to health when afflicted with sickness; according to the signification of the several names.—S.

[203] Generally supposed to be the same person as Heber.—S.

[204] Thamood was another tribe of the ancient Arabs who fell into idolatry. They dwelt first in the country of the ´Ádites, but their numbers increasing, they removed to the territory of ?ejr.—S.

[205] This extraordinary camel frighting the other cattle from their pasture, a certain rich woman, named ´Oneyzeh Umm-GhÁnim, having four daughters, dressed them out, and offered one ?udÁr his choice of them, if he would kill the camel. Whereupon he chose one, and with the assistance of eight other men hamstrung and killed the dam, and pursuing the young one which fled to the mountain, killed that also, and divided his flesh among them. Others tell the story somewhat differently, adding ?ada?ah Bint-El-MukhtÁr as a joint-conspiratress with ´Oneyzeh, and pretending that the young one was not killed.’—S. (A.F., B.)

[206] Defying the vengeance with which they were threatened; because they trusted in their strong dwellings hewn in the rocks, saying that the tribe of ´Ád perished only because their houses were not built with sufficient strength.—S.

[207] Like violent and repeated claps of thunder; which some say was no other than the voice of the angel Gabriel, which rent their hearts. It is said that after they had killed the camel, ?Áli? told them that on the morrow their faces should become yellow, the next day red, and the third day black; and that on the fourth God’s vengeance should light on them: and that, the first three signs happening accordingly, they sought to put him to death; but God delivered him by sending him into Palestine.—S. (A.F., B.)

[208] In the Mir-Át-ez-ZemÁn it is stated that there are various opinions respecting the age in which this person lived: 1. That he lived in the first century after the Deluge, and was of the sons of Japheth, and was born in the land of the Greeks: so said ´Alee; 2. That he was after Thamood: so said El-?asan; 3. That he was of the lineage of Esau, the son of Isaac: so said Mu?Átil; 4. That he lived between the times of Moses and Jesus; 5. That he lived between Jesus and Mo?ammad; and 6. That he was of the lineage of YoonÁn, son [as some say] of Noah, in the days of Abraham; and this, adds the author, is the most correct.—But some suppose him to be the same with Alexander the Great.—Respecting his surname of ‘Dhu-l-?arneyn,’ the most obvious signification of which is ‘the two-horned,’ the more judicious in general are of opinion that he received it because he made expeditions to the extreme parts of the east and west, and therefore that it signifies ‘Lord of the two extreme parts of the earth.’

[209] Who were clothed in the skins of wild beasts, and lived upon what the sea cast on shore.—S. (B.)

[210] The Arabs call them YÁjooj and MÁjooj, and say they are two nations or tribes descended from Japheth the son of Noah; or, as others write, Gog are a tribe of the Turks, and Magog of those of GeelÁn, the Geli and GelÆ of Ptolemy and Strabo.—It is said these barbarous people made their irruptions into the neighbouring countries in the spring, and destroyed and carried off all the fruits of the earth; and some pretend they were man-eaters.—S. (B.)

[211] The Eastern authors unanimously agree that he (Ázar) was a statuary, or carver of idols; and he is represented as the first who made images of clay, pictures only having been in use before, and taught that they were to be adored as gods. However, we are told his employment was a very honourable one, and that he was a great lord and in high favour with Nimrod, whose son-in-law he was, because he made his idols for him and was excellent in his art. Some of the Rabbins say Terah was a priest and chief of the order.—S.

[212] Some tell us that Nimrod, on seeing this miraculous deliverance from his palace, cried out that he would make an offering to the God of Abraham; and that he accordingly sacrificed four thousand kine. [B.] But, if he ever relented, he soon relapsed into his former infidelity: for he built a tower that he might ascend to heaven to see Abraham’s God; which being overthrown [?ur. xvi. 28], still persisting in his design, he would be carried to heaven in a chest borne by four monstrous birds; but after wandering for some time through the air, he fell down on a mountain with such force that he made it shake, whereto (as some fancy) a passage in the ?ur-Án [xiv. 47] alludes, which may be translated, ‘although their contrivances be such as to make the mountains tremble.’—Nimrod, disappointed in his design of making war with God, turned his arms against Abraham, who, being a great prince, raised forces to defend himself; but God, dividing Nimrod’s subjects, and confounding their language, deprived him of the greater part of his people, and plagued those who adhered to him by swarms of gnats, which destroyed almost all of them; and one of those gnats having entered into the nostril, or ear, of Nimrod, penetrated to one of the membranes of his brain, where, growing bigger every day, it gave him such intolerable pain, that he was obliged to cause his head to be beaten with a mallet, in order to procure some ease, which torture he suffered four hundred years; God being willing to punish, by one of the smallest of His creatures, him who insolently boasted himself to be lord of all. A Syrian calendar places the death of Nimrod, as if the time were well known, on the eighth of Tamooz, or July.—S.

[213] They tell us that Gabriel thrust his wing under them and lifted them up so high that the inhabitants of the lower heaven heard the barking of the dogs and the crowing of the cocks; and then, inverting them, threw them down to the earth.—S. (B.)

[214] It is the most received opinion among the Mo?ammadans that the son whom Abraham offered was Ishmael and not Isaac; Ishmael being his only son at that time: for the promise of Isaac’s birth is mentioned lower, as subsequent in time to this transaction. They also allege the testimony of their prophet, who is reported to have said, ‘I am the son of the two who were offered in sacrifice;’ meaning his great ancestor, Ishmael, and his own father ´Abd-Allah: for ´Abd-el-Mu??alib had made a vow that if God would permit him to find out and open the well Zemzem and should give him ten sons he would sacrifice one of them; accordingly, when he had obtained his desire in both respects, he cast lots on his sons, and the lot falling on ´Abd-Allah, he redeemed him by offering a hundred camels, which was therefore ordered to be the price of a man’s blood in the Sunneh.—S. (B., Z.)

[215] The occasion of this request of Abraham is said to have been a doubt proposed to him by the devil in human form, how it was possible for the several parts of a corpse of a man which lay on the sea-shore and had been partly devoured by the wild beasts, the birds, and the fish, to be brought together at the resurrection.—S.

[216] In the original, ‘ImÁm,’ which answers to the Latin Antistes. This title the Mo?ammadans give to their priests [if such a title may be used, for want of one more correct] who begin the prayers in their mosques, and whom all the congregation follow.—S.

[217] The term ‘rek´ah’ signifies the repetition of a set form of words, chiefly from the ?ur-Án, and ejaculations of ‘God is most Great!’ etc., accompanied by particular postures; part of the words being repeated in an erect posture, part sitting, and part in other postures: an inclination of the head and body, followed by two prostrations, distinguishing each rek´ah. Each of the five daily prayers of the Muslims consist of a certain number of rek´ahs.

[218] The city of E?-?ÁÏf was so called, according to Abu-l-Fida and several other Arab authors, because it, with the the adjacent fields, was separated from Syria during the Deluge, and after floating round about upon the water at length rested in its present situation, where its soil has continued to produce the fruits of Syria.

[219] Namely, the Ka?beh.

[220] In the original, ‘Muslims,’ which is the peculiar and very appropriate title of the believers in the religion taught by Mo?ammad; and as he professed not to teach a religion essentially new, this title is given to all true believers before him.

[221] ‘El-Islam’ signifies the resigning oneself to God and to His service, and is the name given by Mo?ammad to that religion which, he asserted, all the prophets before him had taught, and he restored; the foundation of which was the unity of God.

[222] This well, say some, was a certain well near Jerusalem, or not far from the river Jordan; but others call it the well of Egypt, or Midian. The commentators tell us that when the sons of Jacob had gotten Joseph with them in the field, they began to abuse and to beat him so unmercifully that they had killed him had not Judah on his crying out for help insisted on the promise they had made not to kill him but to cast him into the well. Whereupon they let him down a little way; but as he held by the sides of the well, they bound him, and took off his inner garment, designing to stain it with blood to deceive their father. Joseph begged hard to have his garment returned to him, but to no purpose, his brothers telling him, with a sneer, that the eleven stars and the sun and the moon might clothe him and keep him company.—S. (B., Z.)

[223] The commentators pretend that Gabriel also clothed him in the well with a garment of silk of Paradise. For they say that when Abraham was thrown into the fire by Nimrod, he was stripped; and that Gabriel brought him this garment and put it on him; and that from Abraham it descended to Jacob, who folded it up and put it into an amulet, which he hung about Joseph’s neck, whence Gabriel drew it out.—S. (B., Z.)

[224] These races they used by way of exercise; and the commentators generally understand here that kind of race wherein they also showed their dexterity in throwing darts, which is still used in the East.—S.

[225] This Jacob had reason to suspect, because when the garment was brought to him, he observed that, though it was bloody, yet it was not torn.—S. (B.)

[226] Three days after Joseph had been thrown into it.—S.

[227] The commentators are so exact as to give us the name of this man, who as they pretend, was MÁlik Ibn-Do?r, of the tribe of KhuzÁ´ah.—S. (B.)

[228] The expositors are not agreed whether the pronoun they relates to MÁlik and his companions, or to Joseph’s brethren. They who espouse the former opinion say that those who came to draw water concealed the manner of their coming by him from the rest of the caravan, that they might keep him to themselves; pretending that some people of the place had given him to them to sell for them in Egypt. And they who prefer the latter opinion tell us that Judah carried victuals to Joseph every day while he was in the well; but not finding him there on the fourth day, he acquainted his brothers with it: whereupon they all went to the caravan and claimed Joseph as their slave, he not daring to discover that he was their brother, lest something worse should befall him; and at length they agreed to sell him to them.—S. (B.)

[229] A corruption of Potiphar. He was a man of great consideration, being superintendent of the royal treasury.—S. (B.)

[230] That is, to ?i?feer and his friends. The occasion of Joseph’s imprisonment is said to be either that they suspected him to be guilty notwithstanding the proofs which had been given of his innocence, or else that Zeleekha desired it, feigning, to deceive her husband, that she wanted to have Joseph removed from her sight till she could conquer her passion by time; though her real design was to force him to compliance.—S.

[231] According to the explication of some who take the pronoun him to relate to Joseph, this passage may be rendered, ‘But the devil caused him (i.e., Joseph) to forget to make his application unto his lord;’ and to beg the good offices of his fellow-prisoner for his deliverance, instead of relying on God alone, as it became a prophet, especially, to have done.—S. (B.)

[232] This prince, as the Oriental writers generally agree, was Er-ReiyÁn the son of El-Weleed the Amalekite, who was converted by Joseph to the worship of the true God, and died in the lifetime of that prophet. But some pretend that the Pharaoh of Joseph and of Moses were one and the same person, and that he lived (or rather reigned) four hundred years.—S. (B.)

[233] The commentators say that Joseph, being taken out of prison, after he had washed and changed his clothes, was introduced to the king, whom he saluted in the Hebrew tongue, and on the king’s asking what language that was, he answered that it was the language of his fathers. This prince, they say, understood no less than seventy languages, in every one of which he discoursed with Joseph, who answered him in the same; at which the king, greatly marvelling, desired him to relate his dream, which he did, describing the most minute circumstances: whereupon the king placed Joseph by him on his throne, and made him his Wezeer, or chief minister.—S. (B.)

[234] Namely, Ephraim and Manasses: so that according to this tradition, she was the same woman who is called Asenath by ‘Moses.’ This supposed marriage, which authorized their amours, probably encouraged the Mo?ammadan divines to make use of the loves of Joseph and Zeleekha as an allegorical emblem of the spiritual love between the Creator and the creature, God and the soul; just as the Christians apply the Song of Solomon to the same mystical purpose.—S.

[235] Joseph, being made Wezeer, governed with great wisdom; for he not only caused justice to be impartially administered and encouraged the people to industry and the improvement of agriculture during the seven years of plenty, but began and perfected several works of great benefit; the natives at this day ascribing to the patriarch Joseph almost all the ancient works of public utility throughout the kingdom; as particularly the rendering the province of El-Feiyoom, from a standing pool or marsh, the most fertile and best-cultivated land in all Egypt. When the years of famine came, the effects of which were felt not only in Egypt but in Syria and the neighbouring countries, the inhabitants were obliged to apply to Joseph for corn, which he sold to them, first for their money, jewels, and ornaments, then for their cattle and lands, and at length for their persons; so that all the Egyptians in general became slaves to the king, though Joseph by his consent soon released them and returned them their substance.—S. (B.)

[236] At length Joseph asked them whom they had to vouch for their veracity; but they told him they knew no man who could vouch for them in Egypt. Then, replied he, one of you shall stay behind with me as a pledge, and the others may return home with their provision; and when ye come again, ye shall bring your younger brother with you, that I may know ye have told me the truth. Whereupon, it being in vain to dispute the matter, they cast lots who should stay behind, and the lot fell upon Simeon. When they departed, Joseph gave each of them a camel, and another for their brother.—S. (B.)

[237] The original word signifying not only money but also goods bartered or given in exchange for other merchandise, some commentators tell us that they paid for their corn, not in money, but in shoes and dressed skins.—S. (B.)

[238] The belief in the influence of the evil eye prevails among all the Muslims, even the most religious and learned; for their prophet said, ‘The eye hath a complete influence; because verily, if there were a thing to overcome fate, it most certainly would be a malignant eye.’ Hence he permitted charms (which he disallowed in almost every other case) to be employed for the purpose of counteracting its influence.

[239] It is related that Joseph, having invited his brethren to an entertainment, ordered them to be placed two and two together; by which means, Benjamin, the eleventh, was obliged to sit alone, and, bursting into tears, said, If my brother Joseph were alive, he would have sat with me. Whereupon Joseph ordered him to be seated at the same table with himself, and when the entertainment was over, dismissed the rest, ordering that they should be lodged two and two in a house, but kept Benjamin in his own apartment, where he passed the night. The next day, Joseph asked him whether he would accept of himself for his brother, in the room of him whom he had lost; to which Benjamin replied, ‘Who can find a brother comparable unto thee? Yet thou art not the son of Jacob and Rachel.’ And upon this, Joseph discovered himself to him.—S. (B.).

[240] Some, however, are of opinion that it was a drinking-cup.

[241] The occasion of this suspicion, it is said, was that Joseph having been brought up by his father’s sister, she became so fond of him, that when he grew up and Jacob designed to take him from her she contrived the following stratagem to keep him. Having a girdle which had once belonged to Abraham, she girt it about the child, and then pretending she had lost it, caused strict search to be made for it; and it being at length found on Joseph, he was adjudged, according to the above-mentioned law of the family, to be delivered to her as her property. Some, however, say that Joseph actually stole an idol of gold, which belonged to his mother’s father, and destroyed it; a story probably taken from Rachel’s stealing the images of Laban: and others tell us that he once stole a goat or a hen, to give to a poor man.—S.

[242] Mi?r is the name both of Egypt and its capital.

[243] The injury they did Benjamin was the separating him from his brother, after which they kept him in so great subjection that he durst not speak to them but with the utmost submission. Some say that these words were occasioned by a letter which Joseph’s brethren delivered to him from their father, requesting the releasement of Benjamin, and by their representing his extreme affliction at the loss of him and his brother. The commentators observe that Joseph, to excuse his brethren’s behaviour towards him, attributes it to their ignorance and the heat of youth.—S. (B.)

[244] The frontier town of Egypt towards Syria.

[245] El-Bey?Áwee tell us that Joseph sent carriages and provisions for his father and his family; and that he and the king of Egypt went forth to meet them. He adds that the number of the children of Israel who entered Egypt with him was seventy-two; and that when they were led out thence by Moses, they were increased to six hundred thousand five hundred and seventy men, and upwards, besides the old people and children.—S.

[246] A transposition is supposed to be in these words:—he seated his father and mother after they had bowed down to him, and not before.—S. (B.)

[247] But when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, he took up the coffin, and carried Joseph’s bones with him into Canaan, where he buried them by his ancestors.—S. (B.)

[248] The Mo?ammadan writers tell us that Job was of the race of Esau, and was blessed with a numerous family and abundant riches; but that God proved him by taking away all that he had, even his children, who were killed by the fall of a house; notwithstanding which he continued to serve God and to return Him thanks as usual; that he was then struck with a filthy disease, his body being full of worms and so offensive that as he lay on the dunghill none could bear to come near him: that his wife, however (whom some call Ra?meh the daughter of Ephraim the son of Joseph, and others Makhir the daughter of Manasses), attended him with great patience, supporting him with what she earned by her labour; but that the devil appearing to her one day, after having reminded her of her past prosperity, promised her that if she would worship him, he would restore all they had lost; whereupon she asked her husband’s consent, who was so angry at the proposal, that he swore, if he recovered, to give his wife a hundred stripes.—S. (B., J., A.F.)

[249] Some say there were two springs, one of hot water wherein he bathed, and the other of cold of which he drank.—S. (B.)

[250] His wife also becoming young and handsome again, and bearing him twenty-six sons. Some, to express the great riches which were bestowed on Job after his sufferings, say he had two threshing-floors, one for wheat and the other for barley, and that God sent two clouds, which rained gold on the one and silver on the other till they ran over.—(J.) The traditions differ as to the continuance of Job’s calamities: one will have it to be eighteen years; another, thirteen; another, three; and another, exactly seven years seven months and seven hours.—S.

[251] Or ‘a palm-branch having a hundred leaves.’—S.

[252] But see note 1.

[253] The commentators generally suppose him to be the same person with the father-in-law of Moses, who is named in Scripture Reuel or Raguel, and Jethro. But A?mad Ibn-´Abd-El-?aleem charges those who entertain this opinion with ignorance. They say (after the Jews) that he gave his son-in-law [Moses] that wonder-working rod with which he performed all those miracles in Egypt and the Desert, and also excellent advice and instructions; whence he had the surname of ‘Kha?eeb-el-Ambiya,’ or ‘the Preacher to the Prophets.’—S.

[254] The Arabic word ‘?a´eef’ (weak) signifying also in the ?imyaritic dialect ‘blind,’ some suppose that Sho´eyb was so, and that the Midianites objected that to him as a defect which disqualified him for the prophetic office.—S.

[255] Which of the kings of Egypt this Pharaoh of Moses was is uncertain. Not to mention the opinions of the European writers, those of the East generally suppose him to have been El-Weleed, who according to some was an Arab of the tribe of ´Ád, or according to others the son of Mu?´ab the son of Er-ReiyÁn the son of El-Weleed the Amalekite. There are historians, however, who suppose ?Áboos the brother and predecessor of El-Weleed was the prince we are speaking of, and pretend he lived six hundred and twenty years and reigned four hundred. Which is more reasonable, at least, than the opinion of those who imagine it was his father Mu?´ab or grandfather Er-ReiyÁn. Abu-l-Fida says the Mu?´ab, being one hundred and seventy years old and having no child, while he kept the herds saw a cow calve, and heard her say at the same time, ‘O Mu?´ab, be not grieved, for thou shalt have a wicked son, who will be at length cast into hell.’ And he accordingly had this Weleed, who afterwards coming to be king of Egypt proved an impious tyrant.—S. (A.F., Z.)

[256] This name is given to Pharaoh’s chief minister; from whence it is generally inferred that Mo?ammad had been made Haman the favorite of Ahasuerus king of Persia, and who indisputably lived many years after Moses, to be that prophet’s contemporary.—S.

[257] It is related that the midwife appointed to attend the Hebrew women, terrified by a light which appeared between the eyes of Moses at his birth, and touched with an extraordinary affection for the child, did not discover him to the officers, so that his mother kept him in her house, and nursed him three months; after which it was impossible for her to conceal him any longer, the king then giving orders to make the searches more strictly.—S. (B.)

[258] The commentators say that his mother made an ark of the papyrus, and pitched it, and put in some cotton; and having laid the child therein, committed it to the river, a branch of which went into Pharaoh’s garden: that the stream carried the ark thither into a fishpond, at the head of which Pharaoh was then sitting with his wife Ásiyeh the daughter of MuzÁ?em; and that the king, having commanded it to be taken up and opened, and finding in it a beautiful child, took a fancy to it, and ordered it to be brought up.—Some writers mention a miraculous preservation of Moses before he was put into the ark; and tell us, that his mother having hid him from Pharaoh’s officers in an oven, his sister, in her mother’s absence, kindled a large fire in the oven to heat it, not knowing the child was there; but that he was afterwards taken out unhurt.—S. (B., A.F.)

[259] ?ur. xxvi. 17.

[260] This person, says the tradition, was an Egyptian and Pharaoh’s uncle’s son.—S.

[261] The Jews pretend he was actually imprisoned for the fact, and condemned to be beheaded; but that when he should have suffered his neck became as hard as ivory, and the sword rebounded on the executioner.—S.

[262] According to El-Bey?Áwee, Moses knew not the way, and, coming to a place where three roads met, committed himself to the guidance of God, and took the middle road, which was the right; Providence likewise so ordering it that his pursuers took the other two roads, and missed him.—S.

[263] This was ?afoora [also called ?afoorah and ?afooriya], or Zipporah, the elder, or as others suppose the younger, daughter of Sho´eyb, whom Moses afterwards married.—S.

[264] The commentators say, that Moses, having obtained leave of Sho´eyb or Jethro, his father-in-law, to visit his mother, departed with his family from Midian towards Egypt; but coming to the valley of ?uwa, wherein Mount Sinai stands, his wife fell in labour and was delivered of a son in a very dark and snowy night: he had also lost his way, and his cattle were scattered from him, when on a sudden he saw a fire by the side of a mountain, which on his nearer approach he found burning in a green bush.—S. (B.)

[265] This was a mark of humility and respect: though some fancy there was some uncleanness in the shoes themselves, because they were made of the skin of an ass not dressed.—S. (B.)

[266] Which was at first no bigger than the rod, but afterwards swelled to a prodigious size.—S. (B.)

[267] When Moses saw the serpent move about with great nimbleness and swallow stones and trees, he was greatly terrified, and fled from it; but recovering his courage at these words of God, he had the boldness to take the serpent by the jaws.—S. (B.)

[268] Moses had an impediment in his speech, which was occasioned by the following accident. Pharaoh one day carrying him in his arms when a child, he suddenly laid hold of his beard and plucked it in a very rough manner, which put Pharaoh into such a passion that he ordered him to be put to death: but Ásiyeh his wife representing to him that he was but a child, who could not distinguish between a burning coal and a ruby, he ordered the experiment to be made; and a live coal and a ruby being set before Moses, he took the coal and put it into his mouth, and burnt his tongue: and thereupon he was pardoned.—This is a Jewish story a little altered.—S.

[269] For he was obliged to abandon his country and his friends, and to travel several days in great terror and want of necessary provisions to seek a refuge among strangers; and was afterwards forced to serve for hire to gain a livelihood.—S.

[270] Aaron being by this time come out to meet his brother, either by divine inspiration, or having notice of his design to return to Egypt.—S. (B.)

[271] The Arab writers tell enormous fables of this serpent or dragon. For they say that he was hairy and of so prodigious a size that when he opened his mouth his jaws were fourscore cubits asunder and when he laid his lower jaw on the ground his upper reached to the top of the palace [or rather, I believe, the throne of Pharaoh]: that Pharaoh, seeing this monster make towards him, fled from it; and that the whole assembly also betaking themselves to their heels, no less than twenty-five thousand of them lost their lives in the press. They add that Pharaoh, upon this abjured Moses by God who had sent him to take away the serpent, and promised he would believe on Him and let the Israelites go; but when Moses had done what he requested, he relapsed and grew as hardened as before.—S. (B.)

[272] There is a tradition that Moses was a very swarthy man; and that when he put his hand into his bosom, and drew it out again, it became extremely white and splendid, surpassing the brightness of the sun.—S. (B.)

[273] They provided themselves with a great number of thick ropes and long pieces of wood, which they contrived by some means to move and make them twist themselves one over the other; and so imposed on the beholders, who at a distance took them to be true serpents. It is also said that they rubbed them over with quicksilver, which being wrought upon by the heat of the sun caused them to move.—S. (B.)

[274] The expositors add that when this serpent had swallowed up all the rods and cords he made directly towards the assembly and put them into so great a terror that they fled and a considerable number were killed in the crowd: then Moses took it up and it became a rod in his hand as before. Whereupon the magicians declared that it could be no enchantment, because in such case their rods and cords would not have disappeared.—S. (B.)

[275] Sale observes that some writers introduce only two of the enchanters as acknowledging Moses’ miracle to be wrought by the power of God. These two, they say, were brothers, and the sons of a famous magician then dead; but on their being sent for to court on this occasion, their mother persuaded them to go to their father’s tomb and ask his advice. Being come to the tomb, the father answered their call, and when they had acquainted him with the affair, he told them that they should inform themselves whether the rod of which they spoke became a serpent while its masters slept, or only when they were awake; for, said he, enchantments have no effect while the enchanter is asleep, and therefore if it be otherwise in this case, you may be assured that they act by a divine power. These two magicians then, arriving at the capital of Egypt, on inquiry found to their great astonishment that when Moses and Aaron went to rest their rod became a serpent and guarded them while they slept. And this was the first step towards their conversion.—S.

[276] Some think these converted magicians were executed accordingly: but others deny it, and say that the king was not able to put them to death; insisting on these words of the ?ur-Án [xxviii. 35], ‘Ye two, and they who follow you, shall overcome.’—S.

[277] See p. 101, l. 5, n. 1.

[278] Cp. Act. Apost. v. 38, 39.

[279] ‘The people of Noah and of ´Ád and of Thamood, and those whom God destroyed after them.’ So explained in the ?Ámoos.

[280] It is said that HÁmÁn having prepared bricks and other materials employed no less than fifty thousand men besides labourers in the building, which they carried to so immense a height that the workmen could no longer stand on it: that Pharaoh ascending this tower threw a javelin towards heaven, which fell back again stained with blood, whereupon he impiously boasted that he had killed the god of Moses; but at sunset God sent the angel Gabriel, who with one stroke of his wing demolished the tower, a part whereof falling on the king’s army destroyed a million of men.—S. (Z.)

[281] Some are of opinion that those who were sent by Pharaoh to seize the true believer, his kinsman, are the persons more particularly meant in this place: for they tell us that the said believer fled to a mountain, where they found him at prayers, guarded by the wild beasts, which ranged themselves in order about him; and that his pursuers thereupon returned in a great fright to their master, who put them to death for not performing his command.—S. (B.)

[282] Some expound these words of the previous punishment they are doomed to suffer, according to a tradition of Ibn-Mes´ood, which informs us that their souls are in the crops of black birds which are exposed to hell-fire every morning and evening until the Day of Judgment.—S. (B.)

[283] As there is no mention of any such miraculous inundation in the [so-called] Mosaic writings, some have imagined this plague to have been either a pestilence, or the smallpox, or some other epidemical distemper. (B.) For the word ‘?oofÁn,’ which is used in this place, and is generally rendered a ‘deluge,’ may also signify any other universal destruction or mortality.—S.

[284] That is, the land of Syria, of which the Eastern geographers reckon Palestine a part, and wherein the commentators say the children of Israel succeeded the kings of Egypt and the Amalekites.—S. (B.)

[285] Particularly the lofty tower [before mentioned] which Pharaoh caused to be built, that he might attack the God of Moses.—S.

[286] The word here translated ‘body’ signifying also a ‘coat of mail,’ some imagine the meaning to be that his corpse floated armed with his coat of mail, which they tell us was of gold, by which they knew it was he.—S.

[287] These people some will have to be of the tribe of Amalek, whom Moses was commanded to destroy, and others of the tribe of Lakhm. Their idols, it is said, were images of oxen, which gave the first hint to the making of the golden calf.—S. (B.)

[288] The Eastern writers say these quails were of a peculiar kind of be found nowhere else but in El-Yemen, from whence they were brought by a south wind in great numbers to the Israelites’ camp in the desert. The Arabs called these birds ‘selwa,’ which is plainly the same with the Hebrew ‘salwim,’ and say they have no bones, but are eaten whole.—S.

[289] The word here rendered ‘a great city,’ namely ‘mi?ran,’ is rendered by Marracci and Sale ‘Egypt,’ and is so understood by many learned Arabs; but according to a general rule, to have this signification it should be ‘mi?ra:’ in some copies of the ?ur-Án, however, it is thus written.

[290] See Sale’s note in loc.

[291] A kind of soft stone, like dry mud.

[292] The story here alluded to, though it occurs among passages respecting Moses and his people, is said to relate to a different age and to be as follows:—In the days of David, some Israelites dwelt at Eyleh, or Elath, on the Red Sea, where, on the night of the Sabbath, the fish used to come in great numbers to the shore, and stay there all the Sabbath, to tempt them; but the night following they returned into the sea again. At length, some of the inhabitants, neglecting God’s commandment, catched fish on the Sabbath, and dressed and ate them; and afterwards cut canals from the sea, for the fish to enter, with sluices, which they shut on the Sabbath, to prevent their return to the sea. The other part of the inhabitants, who strictly observed the Sabbath, used both persuasion and force to stop this impiety, but to no purpose, the offenders growing only more and more obstinate; whereupon David cursed the Sabbath-breakers, and God transformed them into apes. It is said, that one going to see a friend of his that was among them found him in the shape of an ape moving his eyes about wildly; and asking him whether he was not such a one, the ape made a sign with his head that it was he; whereupon the friend said to him, Did not I advise you to desist? at which the ape wept. They add, that these unhappy people remained three days in this condition, and were afterwards destroyed by a wind which swept them all into the sea.—S. (A. F.)

[293] His breath before [he used the tooth-stick] had the odour of musk.—S. (B.)

[294] It is said that not only the ten commandments, but the whole law was written thereon.—S.

[295] That is, as some understand it, consisting of flesh and blood; or, as others, being a mere body or mass of metal, without a soul.—S. (B.)

[296] The person who cast this calf, the Mo?ammadans say, was not Aaron but Es-SÁmiree, one of the principal men among the children of Israel, some of whose descendants, it is pretended, still inhabit an island of that name in the Arabian Gulf. It was made of the rings and bracelets of gold, silver, and other materials, which the Israelites had borrowed of the Egyptians; for Aaron, who commanded in his brother’s absence, having ordered Es-SÁmiree to collect those ornaments from the people, who carried on a wicked commerce with them, and to keep them together till the return of Moses, Es-SÁmiree, understanding the founder’s art, put them altogether into a furnace, to melt them down into one mass, which came out in the form of a calf. One writer says, that all the Israelites adored this calf, except only twelve thousand.—S. (A. F.)

[297] After he had completed his forty days’ stay in the mount, and had received the Law.—S. (B.)

[298] Or, I knew that which they knew not—that the messenger sent to thee from God was a pure spirit, and that his footsteps gave life to whatever they touched; being no other than the angel Gabriel, mounted on the horse of life: and therefore I made use of the dust of his feet to animate the molten calf. It is said, Es-SÁmiree knew the angel because he had saved and taken care of him when a child and exposed by his mother for fear of Pharaoh.—S. (B., JelÁl.)

[299] The word here rendered ‘hearts’ often signifies stomachs; and if this be its meaning here, the narrative agrees with the [so-called] Mosaic account: for Moses ‘took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel to drink of it.’—Exod. xxxii. 20.

[300] The persons here meant are said to have been seventy men, who were made choice of by Moses, and heard the voice of God talking with him. But not being satisfied with that, they demanded to see God; whereupon they were all struck dead by lightning, and on Moses’ intercession restored to life.—S.

[301] This person is represented by the commentators as the most beautiful of the Israelites, and so far surpassing them all in opulence that the riches of ?Ároon have become a proverb.—S.

[302] Moses, as some say, having complained to God of a false accusation brought against him by ?Ároon, He directed him to command the earth what he pleased, and it should obey him; whereupon he said, ‘O earth, swallow them up;’ and immediately the earth opened under ?Ároon and his confederates, and swallowed them up, with his palace and all his riches.—There goes a tradition that as ?Ároon sank gradually into the ground, first to his knees, then to his waist, then to his neck, he cried out four several times, ‘O Moses, have mercy on me!’ but that Moses continued to say, ‘O earth, swallow them up!’ till at last he wholly disappeared: upon which God said to Moses, ‘Thou hadst no mercy on ?Ároon, though he asked pardon of thee four times; but I would have had compassion on him if he had asked pardon of me but once.’—S. (B.)

[303] Or rather, fawn-coloured; as are most of the cows of Arabia. The word in the original properly signifies yellow.

[304] The story of this young man is thus related:—A certain man at his death left his son, then a child, a cow-calf, which wandered in the desert till he came to age; at which time his mother told him the heifer was his, and bid him fetch her and sell her for three pieces of gold. When the young man came to the market with his heifer, an angel in the shape of a man accosted him and bid him six pieces of gold for her; but he would not take the money till he had asked his mother’s consent; which when he had obtained, he returned to the market-place, and met the angel, who now offered him twice as much for the heifer, provided he would say nothing of it to his mother; but the young man, refusing, went and acquainted her with the additional offer. The woman, perceiving it was an angel, bid her son go back and ask him what must be done with the heifer; whereupon the angel told the young man that in a little time the children of Israel would buy that heifer of him at any price.—S. (A.F.)

[305] The more common tradition seems to be that the man was murdered by one person, the son of his brother, who desired to obtain his property (as his inheritance), or his daughter, or both. (Mir-Át-ez-ZemÁn).

[306] Also called El-Kha?ir. This mysterious person, whom the vulgar and some others regard as a prophet, and identify with IlyÁs (Elias or Elijah), and whom some confound with St. George, was, according to the more approved opinion of the learned, a just man or saint, the Wezeer and counsellor of that equally doubtful personage Dhu-l-?arneyn, whose story has already been related in this volume. El-Khi?r is said to have drunk of the Fountain of Life, by virtue of which he still lives, and will live till the day of judgment. He is also said to appear frequently to Muslims in perplexity, and to be generally clad in green garments; whence, according to some, his name.—Sale states, in a note on this passage, that the Muslims usually confound El-Khi?r with Phineas, as well as Elias and St. George, saying that his soul passed by a metempsychosis successively through all three; and he adds, that part of these fictions they took from the Jews, some of whom also fancy Phineas was Elias.

[307] Or, as some rather think, El-Ubulleh, near El-Basrah, or else BÁjarwÁn in Armenia.—S. (B.)

[308] They were ten brothers, five of whom were past their labour by reason of their age.—S. (B.)

[309] That is, because of the great confidence the Israelites placed in it, having won several battles by its miraculous assistance. I imagine, however, that the Arabic word ‘sekeeneh,’ which signifies ‘tranquillity’ or ‘security of mind,’ and is so understood by the commentators, may not improbably mean the ‘divine presence’ or ‘glory,’ which used to appear on the Ark, and which the Jews express by the same word ‘Shekinah.’—S.

[310] Sale observes that Ya?yÁ most rationally understands hereby the divine revelations which David received from God, and not the art of making coats of mail.—The cause of his applying himself to this art is thus related in the Mir-Át-ez-ZemÁn:—He used to go forth in disguise; and when he found any people who knew him not, he approached them and asked them respecting the conduct of David, and they praised him and prayed for him; but one day, as he was asking questions respecting himself as usual, God sent to him an angel in the form of a human being, who said, ‘An excellent man were David if he did not take from the public treasury:’—whereupon the heart of David was contracted, and he begged of God to render him independent: so He made iron soft to him, and it became in his hands as thread; and he used to sell a coat of mail for four thousand [pieces of money—whether gold or silver is not said] and with part of this he obtained food for himself, and part he gave in alms, and with part he fed his family.—Hence an excellent coat of mail is often called by the Arabs ‘DÁwoodee,’ i.e., ‘Davidean.’ See my translation of ‘The Thousand and One Nights,’ chap. viii. note 5.

[311] For David, they say, divided his time regularly, setting apart one day for the service of God, another day for rendering justice to his people, another day for preaching to them, and another day for his own affairs.—S. (B.)

[312] They say that he had a carpet of green silk, on which his throne was placed, being of a prodigious length and breadth, and sufficient for all his forces to stand on, the men placing themselves on his right hand, and the spirits [or jinn] on his left; and that when all were in order the wind at his command took up the carpet and transported it with all that were upon it wherever he pleased; the army of birds at the same time flying over their heads and forming a kind of canopy to shade them from the sun.—S.

[313] Whither the wind brought back Solomon’s throne in the evening, after having carried it to a distant country in the morning.—S.

[314] After the space of forty days, which was the time the image had been worshipped in his house, the devil [or jinnee] flew away, and threw the signet into the sea: the signet was immediately swallowed by a fish, which being taken and given to Solomon, he found the ring in its belly, and, having by this means recovered the kingdom, took ?akhr, and, tying a great stone to his neck, threw him into the Lake of Tiberias.—S. (B., A.F.)

[315] See note 30 to the Introduction of my translation of the ‘Thousand and One Nights.’

[316] The Arab historians tell us that Solomon, having finished the Temple of Jerusalem, went in pilgrimage to Mekkeh, where having stayed as long as he pleased, he proceeded towards El-Yemen; and leaving Mekkeh in the morning he arrived by noon at ?an´a, and being extremely delighted with the country rested there; but wanting water to make the ablution, he looked among the birds for the lapwing which found it for him.—S. (B.)

[317] Some add that Bil?ees, to try whether Solomon was a prophet or not, drest the boys like girls and the girls like boys, and sent him in a casket a pearl not drilled and an onyx drilled with a crooked hole; and that Solomon distinguished the boys from the girls by the different manner of their taking water, and ordered one worm to bore the pearl, and another to pass a thread through the onyx.—S. (B.)

[318] Others, however, suppose it was El-Khi?r, or else Gabriel, or some other angel; and some imagine it to have been Solomon himself.—S. (B.)

[319] This fountain they say was in El-Yemen.—S. (B.)

[320] Some say these spirits made him two lions, which were placed at the foot of his throne; and two eagles, which were set above it; and that when he mounted it, the lions stretched out their paws; and when he sat down, the eagles shaded him with their wings.—S. (B.)

[321] The commentators to explain this passage tell us that David, having laid the foundations of the Temple of Jerusalem, which was to be in lieu of the tabernacle of Moses, when he died, left it to be finished by his son Solomon, who employed the genii in the work; that Solomon, before the edifice was quite completed, perceiving his end drew nigh, begged of God that his death might be concealed from the genii till they had entirely finished it; that God therefore so ordered it that Solomon died as he stood at his prayers, leaning on his staff, which supported the body in that posture a full year; and the genii, supposing him to be alive, continued their work during that term, at the expiration whereof, the temple being perfectly completed, a worm, which had gotten into the staff, ate it through, and the corpse fell to the ground and discovered the king’s death.—S. (B., JelÁl.)

[322] It is said that the fish, after it had swallowed Jonah, swam after the ship with its head above water, that the prophet might breathe; who continued to praise God till the fish came to land and vomited him out.—S.

[323] Sale states that some imagine Jonah’s plant to have been a fig; and others, the mÓz (or banana), which bears very large leaves and excellent fruit.

[324] The commentators add that this plant withered the next morning, and that Jonah being much concerned at it God made a remonstrance to him in behalf of the Ninevites, agreeably to what is recorded in Scripture.—S.

[325] When he first began to exhort them to repentance, instead of hearkening to him, they used him very ill, so that he was obliged to leave the city, threatening them at his departure that they should be destroyed within three days, or, as others say, within forty. But when the time drew near, and they saw the heavens overcast with a black cloud which shot forth fire and filled the air with smoke and hung directly over the city, they were in a terrible consternation, and getting into the fields, with their families and cattle, they put on sackcloth and humbled themselves before God, calling aloud for pardon and sincerely repenting of their past wickedness. Whereupon God was pleased to forgive them, and the storm blew over.—S. (B., JelÁl, A.F.)

[326] ´ImrÁn, as observed by Sale, is the name of two several persons according to the Muslims: one was the father of Moses and Aaron, and the other was the father of the Virgin Mary. The latter is here meant, and his wife’s name was Hannah.

[327] Or the devil driven away with stones.—See note 1, p. 7.

[328] And for this reason, they say, neither of them was guilty of any sin, like the rest of the children of Adam.—S. (?atÁdeh.)

[329] That is, between thirty, or thirty-four, and fifty-one: and the passage may relate to Christ’s preaching here on earth. But as he had scarce attained this age when he was taken up into heaven, the commentators choose to understand it of his second coming.—S.

[330] The age of the Virgin Mary at the time of her conception was thirteen, or, as others say, ten; and she went six, seven, eight, or nine months with him, according to different traditions; though some say the child was conceived at its full growth of nine months, and that she was delivered of him within an hour after.—S. (B., Yahya.)

[331] Some say the Virgin Mary had really a brother named Aaron, who had the same father but a different mother: others suppose Aaron the brother of Moses is here meant, but say Mary is called his sister either because she was of the Levitical race, (as, by her having been related to Elizabeth, it should seem she was,) or by way of comparison: others say that it was a different person of that name who was contemporary with her and conspicuous for his good or bad qualities, and that they likened her to him either by way of commendation or of reproach.—S. (B., Z., &c.)

[332] These were the first words which were put into the mouth of Jesus, to obviate the imagination of his partaking of the divine nature or having a right to the worship of mankind on account of his miraculous speaking so soon after his birth.—S. (B.)

[333] It is related in the spurious Gospel of the Infancy of Christ that Jesus being seven years old and at play with several children of his age, they made several figures of birds and beasts of clay for their diversion; and each preferring his own workmanship, Jesus told them that he would make his walk and leap; which accordingly at his command they did. He made also several figures of sparrows and other birds, which flew about or stood on his hands as he ordered them, and also ate and drank when he offered them meat and drink. The children, telling this to their parents, were forbidden to play any more with Jesus, whom they held to be a sorcerer.—S.

[334] The commentators observe that these words are added lest it should be thought Jesus did these miracles by his own power, or was God.—S. (B.)

[335] In Arabic, ‘el-?awÁreeyoon;’ which word they derive from ‘?Ára,’ ‘to be white’ [or rather, ‘to whiten’ clothes], and suppose the apostles were so called either from the candour and sincerity of their minds, or because they were princes and wore white garments, or else because they were by trade fullers.—(B., JelÁl.) According to which last opinion, their vocation is thus related: That as Jesus passed by the sea-side, he saw some fullers at work, and, accosting them, said, ‘Ye cleanse these clothes, but cleanse not your hearts;’ upon which they believed on him. But the true etymology seems to be from the Ethiopic verb ‘hawyra,’ ‘to go;’ whence ‘hawÂrya’ signifies ‘one that is sent,’ a ‘messenger,’ or ‘apostle.’—S.

[336] The person crucified some will have to be a spy that was sent to entrap him; others that it was one Titian, who by the direction of Judas entered in at a window of the house where Jesus was; to kill him; and others that it was Judas himself, who agreed with the rulers of the Jews to betray him for thirty pieces of silver, and led those who were sent to take him.—They add, that Jesus, after his crucifixion in effigy, was sent down again to the earth to comfort his mother and disciples and acquaint them how the Jews were deceived, and was then taken up a second time into heaven.

It is supposed by several that this story was an original invention of Mo?ammad’s; but they are certainly mistaken: for several sectaries held the same opinion long before his time. The Basilidians, in the very beginning of Christianity, denied that Christ himself suffered, but [asserted] that Simon the Cirenean was crucified in his place. The Corinthians before them, and the Carpocratians next (to name no more of those who affirmed Jesus to have been a mere man), did believe the same thing, that it was not himself, but one of his followers, very like him, that was crucified. Photius tells us that he read a book entitled ‘The Journeys of the Apostles,’ relating the acts of Peter, John, Andrew, Thomas, and Paul; and among other things contained therein this was one, that Christ was not crucified, but another in his stead, and that therefore he laughed at his crucifiers, or those who thought they had crucified him.—S.

[337] This miracle is thus related by the commentators. Jesus having at the request of his followers asked it of God, a red table immediately descended in their sight between two clouds and was set before them; whereupon he rose up, and, having made the ablution, prayed, and then took off the cloth which covered the table, saying, ‘In the name of God, the best provider of food.’ What the provisions were with which the table was furnished is a matter wherein the expositors are not agreed. One will have them to be nine cakes of bread and nine fishes; another, bread and flesh; another, all sorts of food except flesh; another, all sorts of food except bread and flesh; another, all except bread and fish; another, one fish which had the taste of all manner of food; another, fruits of Paradise: but the most received tradition is that when the table was uncovered there appeared a fish ready dressed, without scales or prickly fins, dropping with fat, having salt placed at its head, and vinegar at its tail, and round it all sorts of herbs except leeks, and five loaves of bread, on one of which there were olives, on the second honey, on the third butter, on the fourth cheese, and on the fifth dried flesh. They add that Jesus at the request of the apostles showed them another miracle by restoring the fish to life and causing its scales and fins to return to it; at which the standers-by being affrighted, he caused it to become as it was before: that one thousand three hundred men and women, all afflicted with bodily infirmities or poverty, ate of these provisions and were satisfied, the fish remaining whole as it was at the first: that then the table flew up to heaven in the sight of all; and every one who had partaken of this food were delivered from their infirmities and misfortunes: and that it continued to descend for forty days together, at dinner-time, and stood on the ground till the sun declined, and was then taken up into the clouds. Some of the Mo?ammadan writers are of opinion that this table did not really descend, but it was only a parable; but most think that the words of the ?ur-Án are plain to the contrary. A further tradition is that several men were changed into swine [and apes] for disbelieving this miracle and attributing it to magic art; or, as others pretend, for stealing some of the victuals from off it. Several other fabulous circumstances are also told, which are scarce worth transcribing.—S. (B.)

[338] Some say the table descended on a Sunday, which was the reason of the Christians’ observing that day as sacred. Others pretend this day is still kept among them as a very great festival; and it seems as if the story had its rise from an imperfect notion of Christ’s last supper and the institution of the Eucharist.—S.

[339] To explain this passage, the commentators tell the following story:—The people of Antioch being idolaters, Jesus sent two of his disciples thither to preach to them; and when they drew near the city, they found ?abeeb, surnamed En-NejjÁr, or The Carpenter, feeding sheep, and acquainted him with their errand; whereupon he asked them what proof they had of their veracity, and they told him they could cure the sick and the blind and the lepers; and to demonstrate the truth of what they said they laid their hands on a child of his who was sick and immediately restored him to health. ?abeeb was convinced by this miracle and believed; after which they went into the city and preached the worship of one true God, curing a great number of people of several infirmities; but at length, the affair coming to the prince’s ear, he ordered them to be imprisoned for endeavouring to seduce the people. When Jesus heard of this, he sent another of his disciples, generally supposed to have been Simon Peter; who, coming to Antioch, and appearing as a zealous idolater, soon insinuated himself into the favour of the inhabitants and of their prince, and at length took an opportunity to desire the prince would order the two persons who, as he was informed, had been put in prison for broaching new opinions to be brought before him to be examined; and accordingly they were brought: when Peter, having previously warned them to take no notice that they knew him, asked them who sent them; to which they answered, God, who had created all things and had no companion. He then required some convincing proof of their mission, upon which they restored a blind person to his sight and performed some other miracles, with which Peter seemed not to be satisfied, for that according to some he did the very same miracles himself, but declared that if their God could enable them to raise the dead he would believe them; which condition the two apostles accepting, a lad was brought who had been dead seven days, and at their prayers he was raised to life; and thereupon Peter acknowledged himself convinced, and ran and demolished the idols, a great many of the people following him and embracing the true faith; but those who believed not were destroyed by the cry of the angel Gabriel.—S. (B., Z., &c.)

[340] Some say these two were John and Paul; but others name different persons.—S.

[341] Simon Peter.

[342] His tomb is still shown near Antioch, and is much visited by the Mo?ammadans.—S.

[343] Also some said he was taken up into heaven; and others, that his manhood only suffered, and that his godhead ascended into heaven.—S. (B.)

[344] Some, referring the relative his to the first antecedent, take the meaning to be that no Jew or Christian shall die before he believes in Jesus; for they say that when one of either of those religions is ready to breathe his last, and sees the angel of death before him, he shall then believe in that prophet as he ought, though his faith will not then be of any avail. According to a tradition of El-HajjÁj, when a Jew is expiring the angels will strike him on the back and face, and say to him, ‘O thou enemy of God, Jesus was sent as a prophet unto thee, and thou didst not believe on him;’ to which he will answer, ‘I now believe him to be the servant of God:’ and to a dying Christian they will say, ‘Jesus was sent as a prophet unto thee, and thou hast imagined him to be God, or the son of God;’ whereupon he will believe him to be the servant of God only and His apostle.—Others, taking the above-mentioned relative to refer to Jesus, suppose the intent of the passage to be that all Jews and Christians in general [the dead being raised to life in their graves] shall have a right faith in that prophet before his death, that is, when he descends from heaven and returns into the world, where he is to kill Antichrist and to establish the Mo?ammadan religion and a most perfect tranquillity and security on earth [where he will remain forty years, and then die.—Others again suppose that the words ‘believe in him’ signify ‘believe in God.’]—S. (B., Z., JelÁl, &c.)

[345] It is a dispute among the Mo?ammadans whether Christ actually died or not before his assumption.—S. (B.)

[346] Some, however, are of opinion it [this passage] might have been revealed in answer to certain idolaters, who said that the Christians, who received the Scriptures, worshipped Jesus, supposing him to be the son of God; whereas the angels were more worthy of that honour than he.—S. (B.)

[347] As easily as We produced Jesus without a father [B.]. The intent of the words is to show how just and reasonable it is to think that the angels should bear the relation of children to men rather than to God, they being His creatures as well as men, and equally in His power.—S.

[348] For some time before the resurrection Jesus is to descend on earth according to the Mo?ammadans near Damascus, or as some say near a rock [or rather a mountain-road] named [´A?abet] Afeek, with a lance in his hand, wherewith he is to kill Antichrist, whom he will encounter at Ludd, or Lydda, a small town not far from Joppa. They add that he will arrive at Jerusalem at the time of morning-prayer, that he shall perform his devotions after the Mo?ammadan institution, and officiate instead of the ImÁm, who shall give place to him; that he will break down the cross, and destroy the churches of the Christians, of whom he will also make a general slaughter, excepting only such as shall profess El-IslÁm.—S. (B.)

[349] Either by rejecting and contemning Jesus, as the Jews do; or raising him to an equality with God, as do the Christians.—S. (B.)

[350] For the Eastern writers mention a sect of Christians which held the Trinity to be composed of those three; but it is allowed that this heresy has been long since extinct.—S.

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