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Title: The Garotters
Author: William D. Howells
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Introduction
Preface
Index
Sura Number (this edition)
Sura Number (Arabic text)
Title
1 96 Thick Blood or Clots of Blood
2 74 The Enwrapped
3 73 The Enfolded
4 93 The Brightness
5 94 The Opening
6 113 The Daybreak
7 114 Men
8 1 Sura I.
9 109 Unbelievers
10 112 The Unity
11 111 Abu Lahab
12 108 The Abundance
13 104 The Backbiter
14 107 Religion
15 102 Desire
16 92 The Night
17 68 The Pen
18 90 The Soil
19 105 The Elephant
20 106 The Koreisch
21 97 Power
22 86 The Night-Comer
23 91 The Sun
24 80 He Frowned
25 87 The Most High
26 95 The Fig
27 103 The Afternoon
28 85 The Starry
29 101 The Blow
30 99 The Earthquake
31 82 The Cleaving
32 81 The Folded Up
33 84 The Splitting Asunder
34 100 The Chargers
35 79 Those Who Drag Forth
36 77 The Sent
37 78 The News
38 88 The Overshadowing
39 89 The Daybreak
40 75 The Resurrection
41 83 Those Who Stint
42 69 The Inevitable
43 51 The Scattering
44 52 The Mountain
45 56 The Inevitable
46 53 The Star
47 70 The Steps or Ascents
48 55 The Merciful
49 54 The Moon
50 37 The Ranks
51 71 Noah
52 76 Man
53 44 Smoke
54 50 Kaf
55 20 Ta. Ha.
56 26 The Poets
57 15 Hedjr
58 19 Mary
59 38 Sad
60 36 Ya. Sin
61 43 Ornaments of Gold
62 72 Djinn
63 67 The Kingdom
64 23 The Believers
65 21 The Prophets
66 25 Al Furkan
67 17 The Night Journey
68 27 The Ant
69 18 The Cave
70 32 Adoration
71 41 The Made Plain
72 45 The Kneeling
73 16 The Bee
74 30 The Greeks
75 11 Houd
76 14 Abraham, On Whom Be Peace
77 12 Joseph, Peace Be On Him
78 40 The Believer
79 28 The Story
80 39 The Troops
81 29 The Spider
82 31 Lokman
83 42 Counsel
84 10 Jonah, Peace Be On Him!
85 34 Saba
86 35 The Creator, or The Angels
87 7 Al Araf
88 46 Al Ahkaf
89 6 Cattle
90 13 Thunder
91 2 The Cow
92 98 Clear Evidence
93 64 Mutual Deceit
94 62 The Assembly
95 8 The Spoils
96 47 Muhammad
97 3 The Family of Imran
98 61 Battle Array
99 57 Iron
100 4 Women
101 65 Divorce
102 59 The Emigration
103 33 The Confederates
104 63 The Hypocrites
105 24 Light
106 58 She Who Pleaded
107 22 The Pilgrimage
108 48 The Victory
109 66 The Forbidding
110 60 She Who Is Tried
111 110 HELP
112 49 The Apartments
113 9 Immunity
114 5 The Table
Though the youngest of the epoch-making works belonging
to this class of literature,
it yields
to hardly any in the wonderful effect which it has produced on large masses of men.
It has created an all but new phase of human thought and a fresh type of character.
It first transformed a number of heterogeneous desert tribes of the Arabian peninsula into a nation of heroes,
and then proceeded
to create the vast politico-religious organisations of the Muhammedan world which are one of the great forces
with which Europe and the East have
to reckon to-day.
The secret of the power exercised by the book,
of course,
lay in the mind which produced it.
It was,
in fact,
at first not a book,
but a strong living voice,
a kind of wild authoritative proclamation,
a series of admonitions,
promises,
threats,
and instructions addressed
to turbulent and largely hostile assemblies of untutored Arabs.
As a book it was published after the prophet's death.
In Muhammed's life-time there were only disjointed notes,
speeches,
and the retentive memories of those who listened
to them.
To speak of the Koran is,
therefore,
practically the same as speaking of Muhammed,
and in trying
to appraise the religious value of the book one is at the same time attempting
to form an opinion of the prophet himself.
It would indeed be difficult
to find another case in which there is such a complete identity between the literary work and the mind of the man who produced it.
That widely different estimates have been formed of Muhammed is well-known.
To Moslems he is,
of course,
the prophet par excellence,
and the Koran is regarded by the orthodox as nothing less than the eternal utterance of Allah.
The eulogy pronounced by Carlyle on Muhammed in Heroes and Hero Worship will probably be endorsed by not a few at the present day.
The extreme contrary opinion,
which in a fresh form has recently been revived by an able writer,
is hardly likely
to find much lasting support.
The correct view very probably lies between the two extremes.
The relative value of any given system of religious thought must depend on the amount of truth which it embodies as well as on the ethical standard which its adherents are bidden
to follow.
Another important test is the degree of originality that is
to be assigned
to it,
for it can manifestly only claim credit
for that which is new in it,
not
for that which it borrowed from other systeMs. With regard
to the first-named criterion,
there is a growing opinion among students of religious history that Muhammed may in a real sense be regarded as a prophet of certain truths,
though by no means of truth in the absolute meaning of the term.
The shortcomings of the moral teaching contained in the Koran are striking enough if judged from the highest ethical standpoint
with which we are acquainted;
but a much more favourable view is arrived at if a comparison is made between the ethics of the Koran and the moral tenets of Arabian and other forms of heathenism which it supplanted.
The method followed by Muhammed in the promulgation of the Koran also requires
to be treated
with discrimination.
From the first flash of prophetic inspiration which is clearly discernible in the earlier portions of the book he,
later on,
frequently descended
to deliberate invention and artful rhetoric.
He,
in fact,
accommodated his moral sense
to the circumstances in which the r\oc\le he had
to play involved him.
On the question of originality there can hardly be two opinions now that the Koran has been thoroughly compared
with the Christian and Jewish traditions of the time;
and it is,
besides some original Arabian legends,
to those only that the book stands in any close relationship.
The matter is
for the most part borrowed,
but the manner is all the prophet's own.
This is emphatically a case in which originality consists not so much in the creation of new materials of thought as in the manner in which existing traditions of various kinds are utilised and freshly blended
to suit the special exigencies of the occasion.
Biblical reminiscences,
Rabbinic legends,
Christian traditions mostly drawn from distorted apocryphal sources,
and native heathen stories,
all first pass through the prophet's fervid mind,
and thence issue in strange new forms,
tinged
with poetry and enthusiasm,
and well adapted
to enforce his own view of life and duty,
to serve as an encouragement
to his faithful adherents,
and
to strike terror into the hearts of his opponents.
There is,
however,
apart from its religious value,
a more general view from which the book should be considered.
The Koran enjoys the distinction of having been the starting-point of a new literary and philosophical movement which has powerfully affected the finest and most cultivated minds among both Jews and Christians in the Middle Ages.
This general progress of the Muhammedan world has somehow been arrested,
but research has shown that what European scholars knew of Greek philosophy,
of mathematics,
astronomy,
and like sciences,
for several centuries before the Renaissance,
was,
roughly speaking,
all derived from Latin treatises ultimately based on Arabic originals;
and it was the Koran which,
though indirectly,
gave the first impetus
to these studies among the Arabs and their allies.
Linguistic investigations,
poetry,
and other branches of literature,
also made their appearance soon after or simultaneously
with the publication of the Koran;
and the literary movement thus initiated has resulted in some of the finest products of genius and learning.
The style in which the Koran is written requires some special attention in this introduction.
The literary form is
for the most part different from anything else we know.
In its finest passages we indeed seem
to hear a voice akin
to that of the ancient Hebrew prophets,
but there is much in the book which Europeans usually regard as faulty.
The tendency
to repetition which is an inherent characteristic of the Semitic mind appears here in an exaggerated form,
and there is in addition much in the Koran which strikes us as wild and fantastic.
The most unfavourable criticism ever passed on Muhammed's style has in fact been penned by the prophet's greatest British admirer,
Carlyle himself;
and there are probably many now who find themselves in the same dilemma
with that great writer.
The fault appears,
however,
to lie partly in our difficulty
to appreciate the psychology of the Arab prophet.
We must,
in order
to do him justice,
give full consideration
to his temperament and
to the condition of things around him.
We are here in touch
with an untutored but fervent mind,
trying
to realise itself and
to assimilate certain great truths which have been powerfully borne in upon him,
in order
to impart them in a convincing form
to his fellow-tribesmen.
He is surrounded by obstacles of every kind,
yet he manfully struggles on
with the message that is within him.
Learning he has none,
or next
to none.
His chief objects of knowledge are floating stories and traditions largely picked up from hearsay,
and his over-wrought mind is his only teacher.
The literary compositions
to which he had ever listened were the half-cultured,
yet often wildly powerful rhapsodies of early Arabian minstrels,
akin
to Ossian rather than
to anything else within our knowledge.
What wonder then that his Koran took a form which
to our colder temperaments sounds strange,
unbalanced,
and fantastic?
Yet the Moslems themselves consider the book the finest that ever appeared among men.
They find no incongruity in the style.
To them the matter is all true and the manner all perfect.
Their eastern temperament responds readily
to the crude,
strong,
and wild appeal which its cadences make
to them,
and the jingling rhyme in which the sentences of a discourse generally end adds
to the charm of the whole.
The Koran,
even if viewed from the point of view of style alone,
was
to them from the first nothing less than a miracle,
as great a miracle as ever was wrought.
But
to return
to our own view of the case.
Our difficulty in appreciating the style of the Koran even moderately is,
of course,
increased if,
instead of the original,
we have a translation before us.
But one is happy
to be able
to say that Rodwell's rendering is one of the best that have as yet been produced.
It seems
to a great extent
to carry
with it the atmosphere in which Muhammed lived,
and its sentences are imbued
with the flavour of the East.
The quasi-verse form,
with its unfettered and irregular rhythmic flow of the lines,
which has in suitable cases been adopted,
helps
to bring out much of the wild charm of the Arabic.
Not the least among its recommendations is,
perhaps,
that it is scholarly without being pedantic that is
to say,
that it aims at correctness without sacrificing the right effect of the whole
to over-insistence on small details.
Another important merit of Rodwell's edition is its chronological arrangement of the Suras or chapters.
As he tells us himself in his preface,
it is now in a number of cases impossible
to ascertain the exact occasion on which a discourse,
or part of a discourse,
was delivered,
so that the system could not be carried through
with entire consistency.
But the sequence adopted is in the main based on the best available historical and literary evidence;
and in following the order of the chapters as here printed,
the reader will be able
to trace the development of the prophet's mind as he gradually advanced from the early flush of inspiration
to the less spiritual and more equivocal r\oc\le of warrior,
politician,
and founder of an empire.
G.
Margoliouth.
The following is a list of the English translations:
From the original Arabic by G.
Sale,
1734,
1764,
1795,
1801;
many later editions,
which include a memoir of the translator by R.
A.
Davenport,
and notes from Savary's version of the Koran;
an edition issued by E.
M.
Wherry,
with additional notes and commentary
(Tr\du\ubner's Oriental Series),
1882,
etc.;
Sale's translation has also been edited in the Chandos Classics,
and among Lubbock's Hundred Books
(No.
22).
The Holy Qur\da\an,
translated by Dr. Mohammad Abdul Hakim Khan,
with short notes,
1905;
Translation by J.
M.
Rodwell,
with notes and index
(the Suras arranged in chronological order),
1861,
2nd ed.,
1876;
by E.
H.
Palmer
(Sacred Books of the East,
vols.
vi.,
ix.).
Selections:
Chiefly from Sale's edition,
by E.
W.
Lane,
1843;
revised and enlarged
with introduction by S.
Lane-Poole.
(Tr\du\ubner's Oriental Series),
1879;
The Speeches and Table-Talk of the Prophet Mohammad,
etc.,
chosen and translated,
with introduction and notes by S.
Lane-Poole,
1882
(Golden Treasury Series);
Selections
with introduction and explanatory notes
(from Sale and other writers),
by J.
Murdock
(Sacred Books of the East),
2nd ed.,
1902;
The Religion of the Koran,
selections
with an introduction by A.
N.
Wollaston
(The Wisdom of the East),
1904.
TO SIR WILLIAM MARTIN,
K.T.,
D.C.L.
LATE CHIEF JUSTICE OF NEW ZEALAND,
THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED,
WITH SINCERE FEELINGS OF ESTEEM
for HIS PRIVATE WORTH,
PUBLIC SERVICES,
AND EMINENT LITERARY ATTAINMENTS,
BY The Translator.
Preface It is necessary that some brief explanation should be given
with reference
to the arrangement of the Suras,
or chapters,
adopted in this translation of the Koran.
It should be premised that their order as it stands in all Arabic manuscripts,
and in all hitherto printed editions,
whether Arabic or European,
is not chronological,
neither is there any authentic tradition
to shew that it rests upon the authority of Muhammad himself.
The scattered fragments of the Koran were in the first instance collected by his immediate successor Abu Bekr,
about a year after the Prophet's death,
at the suggestion of Omar,
who foresaw that,
as the Muslim warriors,
whose memories were the sole depositaries of large portions of the revelations,
died off or were slain,
as had been the case
with many in the battle of Yemƒma,
A.H.
12,
the loss of the greater part,
or even of the whole,
was imminent.
Zaid Ibn Thƒbit,
a native of Medina,
and one of the Ansars,
or helpers,
who had been Muhammad's amanuensis,
was the person fixed upon
to carry out the task,
and we are told that he
"gathered together"
the fragments of the Koran from every quarter,
"from date leaves and tablets of white stone,
and from the breasts of men."
The copy thus formed by Zaid probably remained in the possession of Abu Bekr during the remainder of his brief caliphate,
who committed it
to the custody of Haphsa,
one of Muhammad's widows,
and this text continued during the ten years of Omar's caliphate
to be the standard.
In the copies made from it,
various readings naturally and necessarily sprung up;
and these,
under the caliphate of Othman,
led
to such serious disputes between the faithful,
that it became necessary
to interpose,
and in accordance
with the warning of Hodzeifa,
"to stop the people,
before they should differ regarding their scriptures,
as did the Jews and Christians."
In accordance
with this advice,
Othman determined
to establish a text which should be the sole standard,
and entrusted the redaction
to the Zaid already mentioned,
with whom he associated as colleagues,
three,
according
to others,
twelve of the Koreisch,
in order
to secure the purity of that Meccan idiom in which Muhammad had spoken,
should any occasions arise in which the collators might have
to decide upon various readings.
Copies of the text formed were thus forwarded
to several of the chief military stations in the new empire,
and all previously existing copies were committed
to the flames.
Zaid and his coadjutors,
however,
do not appear
to have arranged the materials which came into their hands upon any system more definite than that of placing the longest and best known Suras first,
immediately after the Fatthah,
or opening chapter
(the eighth in this edition);
although even this rule,
artless and unscientific as it is,
has not been adhered
to
with strictness.
Anything approaching
to a chronological arrangement was entirely lost sight of.
Late Medina Suras are often placed before early Meccan Suras;
the short Suras at the end of the Koran are its earliest portions;
while,
as will be seen from the notes,
verses of Meccan origin are
to be found embedded in Medina Suras,
and verses promulged at Medina scattered up and down in the Meccan Suras.
It would seem as if Zaid had
to a great extent put his materials together just as they came
to hand,
and often
with entire disregard
to continuity of subject and uniformity of style.
The text,
therefore,
as hitherto arranged,
necessarily assumes the form of a most unreadable and incongruous patchwork;
"une assemblage,"
says M.
Kasimirski in his Preface,
"informe et incoh‚rent de pr‚ceptes moraux,
religieux,
civils et politiques,
mˆl‚s d'exhortations,
de promesses,
et de menaces"
and conveys no idea whatever of the development and growth of any plan in the mind of the founder of Islam,
or of the circumstances by which he was surrounded and influenced.
It is true that the manner in which Zaid contented himself
with simply bringing together his materials and transcribing them,
without any attempt
to mould them into shape or sequence,
and without any effort
to supply connecting links between adjacent verses,
to fill up obvious chasms,
or
to suppress details of a nature discreditable
to the founder of Islam,
proves his scrupulous honesty as a compiler,
as well as his reverence
for the sacred text,
and
to a certain extent guarantees the genuineness and authenticity of the entire volume.
But it is deeply
to be regretted that he did not combine some measure of historical criticism
with that simplicity and honesty of purpose which forbade him,
as it certainly did,
in any way
to tamper
with the sacred text,
to suppress contradictory,
and exclude or soften down inaccurate,
statements.
The arrangement of the Suras in this translation is based partly upon the traditions of the Muhammadans themselves,
with reference especially
to the ancient chronological list printed by Weil in his Mohammed der Prophet,
as well as upon a careful consideration of the subject matter of each separate Sura and its probable connection
with the sequence of events in the life of Muhammad.
Great attention has been paid
to this subject by Dr. Weil in the work just mentioned;
by Mr. Muir in his Life of Mahomet,
who also publishes a chronological list of Suras,
21 however of which he admits have
"not yet been carefully fixed;"
and especially by N"ldeke,
in his Geschichte des Q"rans,
a work
to which public honours were awarded in 1859 by the Paris Academy of Inscriptions.
From the arrangement of this author I see no reason
to depart in regard
to the later Suras.
It is based upon a searching criticism and minute analysis of the component verses of each,
and may be safely taken as a standard,
which ought not
to be departed from without weighty reasons.
I have,
however,
placed the earlier and more fragmentary Suras,
after the two first,
in an order which has reference rather
to their subject matter than
to points of historical allusion,
which in these Suras are very few;
whilst on the other hand,
they are mainly couched in the language of self-communion,
of aspirations after truth,
and of mental struggle,
are vivid pictures of Heaven and Hell,
or descriptions of natural objects,
and refer also largely
to the opposition met
with by Muhammad from his townsmen of Mecca at the outset of his public career.
This remark applies
to what N"ldeke terms
"the Suras of the First Period."
The contrast between the earlier,
middle,
and later Suras is very striking and interesting,
and will be at once apparent from the arrangement here adopted.
In the Suras as far as the 54th,
p.
76,
we cannot but notice the entire predominance of the poetical element,
a deep appreciation
(as in Sura xci.
p.
38)
of the beauty of natural objects,
brief fragmentary and impassioned utterances,
denunciations of woe and punishment,
expressed
for the most part in lines of extreme brevity.
With a change,
however,
in the position of Muhammad when he openly assumes the office of
"public warner,"
the Suras begin
to assume a more prosaic and didactic tone,
though the poetical ornament of rhyme is preserved throughout.
We gradually lose the Poet in the missionary aiming
to convert,
the warm asserter of dogmatic truths;
the descriptions of natural objects,
of the judgment,
of Heaven and Hell,
make way
for gradually increasing historical statements,
first from Jewish,
and subsequently from Christian histories;
while,
in the 29 Suras revealed at Medina,
we no longer listen
to vague words,
often as it would seem without positive aim,
but
to the earnest disputant
with the enemies of his faith,
the Apostle pleading the cause of what he believes
to be the Truth of God.
He who at Mecca is the admonisher and persuader,
at Medina is the legislator and the warrior,
who dictates obedience,
and uses other weapons than the pen of the Poet and the Scribe.
When business pressed,
as at Medina,
Poetry makes way
for Prose,
and although touches of the Poetical element occasionally break forth,
and he has
to defend himself up
to a very late period against the charge of being merely a Poet,
yet this is rarely the case in the Medina Suras;
and we are startled by finding obedience
to God and the Apostle,
God's gifts and the Apostle's,
God's pleasure and the Apostle's,
spoken of in the same breath,
and epithets and attributes elsewhere applied
to Allah openly applied
to himself as in Sura ix.,
118,
129.
The Suras,
viewed as a whole,
strike me as being the work of one who began his career as a thoughtful enquirer after truth,
and an earnest asserter of it in such rhetorical and poetical forms as he deemed most likely
to win and attract his countrymen,
and who gradually proceeded from the dogmatic teacher
to the politic founder of a system
for which laws and regulations had
to be provided as occasions arose.
And of all the Suras it must be remarked that they were intended not
for readers but
for hearers that they were all promulgated by public recital and that much was left,
as the imperfect sentences shew,
to the manner and suggestive action of the reciter.
It would be impossible,
and indeed it is unnecessary,
to attempt a detailed life of Muhammad within the narrow limits of a Preface.
The main events thereof
with which the Suras of the Koran stand in connection,
are The visions of Gabriel,
seen,
or said
to have been seen,
at the outset of his career in his 40th year,
during one of his seasons of annual monthly retirement,
for devotion and meditation
to Mount Hirƒ,
near Mecca,
the period of mental depression and re-assurance previous
to the assumption of the office of public teacher the Fatrah or pause
(see n.
p.
20)
during which he probably waited
for a repetition of the angelic vision his labours in comparative privacy
for three years,
issuing in about 40 converts,
of whom his wife Chadijah was the first,
and Abu Bekr the most important:
(for it is
to him and
to Abu Jahl the Sura xcii.
p.
32,
refers)
struggles
with Meccan unbelief and idolatry followed by a period during which probably he had the second vision,
Sura liii.
p.
69,
and was listened
to and respected as a person
"possessed"
(Sura lxix.
42,
p.
60,
lii.
29,
p.
64)
the first emigration
to Abyssinia in A.D.
616,
in consequence of the Meccan persecutions brought on by his now open attacks upon idolatry
(Taghout)
increasing reference
to Jewish and Christian histories,
shewing that much time had been devoted
to their study the conversion of Omar in 617 the journey
to the Thaquifites at Taief in A.D.
620 the intercourse
with pilgrims from Medina,
who believed in Islam,
and spread the knowledge thereof in their native town,
in the same year the vision of the midnight journey
to Jerusalem and the Heavens the meetings by night at Acaba,
a mountain near Mecca,
in the 11th year of his mission,
and the pledges of fealty there given
to him the command given
to the believers
to emigrate
to Yathrib,
henceforth Medinat-en-nabi
(the city of the Prophet)
or El-Medina
(the city),
in April of A.D.
622 the escape of Muhammad and Abu Bekr from Mecca
to the cave of Thaur the FLIGHT
to Medina in June 20,
A.D.
622 treaties made
with Christian tribes increasing,
but still very imperfect acquaintance
with Christian doctrines the Battle of Bedr in Hej.
2,
and of Ohod the coalition formed against Muhammad by the Jews and idolatrous Arabians,
issuing in the siege of Medina,
Hej.
5
(A.D.
627)
the convention,
with reference
to the liberty of making the pilgrimage,
of Hudaibiya,
Hej.
6 the embassy
to Chosroes King of Persia in the same year,
to the Governor of Egypt and
to the King of Abyssinia,
desiring them
to embrace Islam the conquest of several Jewish tribes,
the most important of which was that of Chaibar in Hej.
7,
a year marked by the embassy sent
to Heraclius,
then in Syria,
on his return from the Persian campaign,
and by a solemn and peaceful pilgrimage
to Mecca the triumphant entry into Mecca in Hej.
8
(A.D.
630),
and the demolition of the idols of the Caaba the submission of the Christians of Nedjran,
of Aila on the Red Sea,
and of Taief,
etc.,
in Hej.
9,
called
"the year of embassies or deputations,"
from the numerous deputations which flocked
to Mecca proffering submission and lastly in Hej.
10,
the submission of Hadramont,
Yemen,
the greater part of the southern and eastern provinces of Arabia and the final solemn pilgrimage
to Mecca.
While,
however,
there is no great difficulty in ascertaining the Suras which stand in connection
with the more salient features of Muhammad's life,
it is a much more arduous,
and often impracticable task,
to point out the precise events
to which individual verses refer,
and out of which they sprung.
It is quite possible that Muhammad himself,
in a later period of his career,
designedly mixed up later
with earlier revelations in the same Suras not
for the sake of producing that mysterious style which seems so pleasing
to the mind of those who value truth least when it is most clear and obvious but
for the purpose of softening down some of the earlier statements which represent the last hour and awful judgment as imminent;
and thus leading his followers
to continue still in the attitude of expectation,
and
to see in his later successes the truth of his earlier predictions.
If after-thoughts of this kind are
to be traced,
and they will often strike the attentive reader,
it then follows that the perplexed state of the text in individual Suras is
to be considered as due
to Muhammad himself,
and we are furnished
with a series of constant hints
for attaining
to chronological accuracy.
And it may be remarked in passing,
that a belief that the end of all things was at hand,
may have tended
to promote the earlier successes of Islam at Mecca,
as it unquestionably was an argument
with the Apostles,
to flee from
"the wrath
to come."
It must be borne in mind that the allusions
to contemporary minor events,
and
to the local efforts made by the new religion
to gain the ascendant are very few,
and often couched in terms so vague and general,
that we are forced
to interpret the Koran solely by the Koran itself.
And
for this,
the frequent repetitions of the same histories and the same sentiments,
afford much facility:
and the peculiar manner in which the details of each history are increased by fresh traits at each recurrence,
enables us
to trace their growth in the author's mind,
and
to ascertain the manner in which a part of the Koran was composed.
The absence of the historical element from the Koran as regards the details of Muhammad's daily life,
may be judged of by the fact,
that only two of his contemporaries are mentioned in the entire volume,
and that Muhammad's name occurs but five times,
although he is all the way through addressed by the Angel Gabriel as the recipient of the divine revelations,
with the word SAY.
Perhaps such passages as Sura ii.
15,
p.
339,
and v.
246,
p.
365,
and the constant mention of guidance,
direction,
wandering,
may have been suggested by reminiscences of his mercantile journeys in his earlier years.
It may be considered quite certain that it was not customary
to reduce
to writing any traditions concerning Muhammad himself
for at least the greater part of a century.
They rested entirely on the memory of those who have handed them down,
and must necessarily have been coloured by their prejudices and convictions,
to say nothing of the tendency
to the formation of myths and
to actual fabrication,
which early shews itself,
especially in interpretations of the Koran,
to subserve the purposes of the contending factions of the Ommeyads and Abbƒsides.
It was under the 5th Caliph,
Al-Mƒm-n,
that three writers
(mentioned below)
on whom we mainly depend
for all really reliable information,
flourished:
and even their writings are necessarily coloured by the theological tendencies of their master and patron,
who was a decided partizan of the divine right of Ali and of his descendants.
The incidents mentioned in the Koran itself,
for the interpretation of which early tradition is available,
are comparatively few,
and there are many passages
with which it is totally at variance;
as,
for instance,
that Muhammad worked miracles,
which the Koran expressly disclaiMs. Traditions can never be considered as at all reliable,
unless they are traceable
to some common origin,
have descended
to us by independent witnesses,
and correspond
with the statements of the Koran itself always of course deducting such texts as
(which is not unfrequently the case)
have themselves given rise
to the tradition.
It soon becomes obvious
to the reader of Muslim traditions and commentators that both miracles and historical events have been invented
for the sake of expounding a dark and perplexing text;
and that even the earlier traditions are largely tinged
with the mythical element.
The first biographer of Muhammad of whom we have any information was Zohri,
who died A.H.
124,
aged 72;
but his works,
though abundantly quoted by later writers,
are no longer extant.
Much of his information was derived from Orwa,
who died A.H.
94,
and was a near relative of Ayesha,
the prophet's favourite wife.
Ibn Ishaq,
who died in A.H.
151,
and who had been a hearer of Zohri,
composed a Biography of Muhammad
for the use of the Caliph Al M ns-r.
On this work,
considerable remains of which have come down
to us,
Ibn Hisham,
who died A.H.
213,
based his Life of Muhammad.
Waquidi of Medina,
who died A.H.
207,
composed a biographical work,
which has reached us in an abbreviated form through his secretary
(Katib).
It is composed entirely of traditions.
Tabari,
"the Livy of the Arabians"
(Gibbon,
51,
n.
1),
who died at Baghdad A.H.
310,
composed annals of Muhammad's life and of the progress of Islam.
These ancient writers are the principal sources whence anything like authentic information as
to the life of Muhammad has been derived.
And it may be safely concluded that after the diligent investigations carried on by the professed collectors of traditions in the second century after the Hejira,
that little or nothing remains
to be added
to our stores of information relative
to the details of Muhammad's life,
or
to facts which may further illustrate the text of the Koran.
But however this may be,
no records which are posterior in date
to these authorities can be considered as at all deserving of dependance.
"To consider,"
says Dr. Sprenger,
"late historians like Abulfeda as authorities,
and
to suppose that an account gains in certainty because it is mentioned by several of them,
is highly uncritical."
Life of Mohammad,
p.
73.
The sources whence Muhammad derived the materials of his Koran are,
over and above the more poetical parts,
which are his own creation,
the legends of his time and country,
Jewish traditions based upon the Talmud,
or perverted
to suit his own purposes,
and the floating Christian traditions of Arabia and of S.
Syria.
At a later period of his career no one would venture
to doubt the divine origin of the entire book.
But at its commencement the case was different.
The people of Mecca spoke openly and tauntingly of it as the work of a poet,
as a collection of antiquated or fabulous legends,
or as palpable sorcery.
They accused him of having confederates,
and even specified foreigners who had been his coadjutors.
Such were Salman the Persian,
to whom he may have owed the descriptions of Heaven and Hell,
which are analogous
to those of the Zendavesta;
and the Christian monk Sergius,
or as the Muhammadans term him,
Boheira.
From the latter,
and perhaps from other Christians,
especially slaves naturalised at Mecca,
Muhammad obtained access
to the teaching of the Apocryphal Gospels,
and
to many popular traditions of which those Gospels are the concrete expression.
His wife Chadijah,
as well as her cousin Waraka,
a reputed convert
to Christianity,
and Muhammad's intimate friend,
are said
to have been well acquainted
with the doctrines and sacred books both of Jews and Christians.
And not only were several Arab tribes in the neighbourhood of Mecca converts
to the Christian faith,
but on two occasions Muhammad had travelled
with his uncle,
Abu Talib,
as far as Bostra,
where he must have had opportunities of learning the general outlines of Oriental Christian doctrine,
and perhaps of witnessing the ceremonial of their worship.
And it appears tolerably certain that previous
to and at the period of his entering into public life,
there was a large number of enquirers at Mecca,
who like Zaid,
Omayah of Taief,
Waraka,
etc.,
were dissatisfied equally
with the religion of their fathers,
the Judaism and the Christianity which they saw around them,
and were anxiously enquiring
for some better way.
The names and details of the lives of twelve of the
"companions"
of Muhammad who lived in Mecca,
Medina,
and Taief,
are recorded,
who previous
to his assumption of the Prophetic office,
called themselves Hanyfs,
i.e.,
converts,
puritans,
and were believers in one God,
and regarded Abraham as the founder of their religion.
Muhammad publicly acknowledged that he was a Hanyf and this sect of the Hanyfites
(who are in no way
to be confounded
with the later sect of the same name)
were among his Meccan precursors.
See n.
pp.
209,
387.
Their history is
to be found in the Fihrist MS. Paris,
anc.
fonds,
nr.
874
(and in other treatises)
which Dr. Sprenger believes
to have been in the library of the Caliph El-Mƒm-n.
In this treatise,
the Hanyfs are termed Sabeites,
and said
to have received the Volumes
(Sohof)
or Books of Abraham,
mentioned in Sura lxxxvii.
19,
p.
40,
41,
which most commentators affirm
to have been borrowed from them,
as is also the case
with the latter part of Sura liii.
37,
ad f.
p.
71;
so that from these
"Books"
Muhammad derived the legends of Ad and Themoud,
whose downfall,
recent as it was
(see note p.
300),
he throws back
to a period previous
to that of Moses,
who is made
to ask
(Sura xiv.
9,
p.
226)
"whether their history had reached his hearers."
Muhammad is said
to have discovered these
"Books"
to be a recent forgery,
and that this is the reason why no mention of them occurs after the fourth year of his Prophetic function,
A.D.
616.
Hence too,
possibly,
the title Hanyf was so soon dropped and exchanged
for that of Muslim,
one who surrenders or resigns himself
to God.
The Waraka above mentioned,
and cousin of Chadijah,
is said
to have believed on Muhammad as long as he continued true
to the principles of the Hanyfs,
but
to have quitted him in disgust at his subsequent proceedings,
and
to have died an orthodox Christian.
It has been supposed that Muhammad derived many of his notions concerning Christianity from Gnosticism,
and that it is
to the numerous gnostic sects the Koran alludes when it reproaches the Christians
with having
"split up their religion into parties."
But
for Muhammad thus
to have confounded Gnosticism
with Christianity itself,
its prevalence in Arabia must have been far more universal than we have any reason
to believe it really was.
In fact,
we have no historical authority
for supposing that the doctrines of these heretics were taught or professed in Arabia at all.
It is certain,
on the other hand,
that the Basilidans,
Valentinians,
and other gnostic sects had either died out,
or been reabsorbed into the orthodox Church,
towards the middle of the fifth century,
and had disappeared from Egypt before the sixth.
It is nevertheless possible that the gnostic doctrine concerning the Crucifixion was adopted by Muhammad as likely
to reconcile the Jews
to Islam,
as a religion embracing both Judaism and Christianity,
if they might believe that Jesus had not been put
to death,
and thus find the stumbling-block of the atonement removed out of their path.
The Jews would in this case have simply been called upon
to believe in Jesus as being what the Koran represents him,
a holy teacher,
who,
like the patriarch Enoch or the prophet Elijah,
had been miraculously taken from the earth.
But,
in all other respects,
the sober and matter-of-fact statements of the Koran relative
to the family and history of Jesus,
are altogether opposed
to the wild and fantastic doctrines of Gnostic emanations,
and especially
to the manner in which they supposed Jesus,
at his Baptism,
to have been brought into union
with a higher nature.
It is quite clear that Muhammad borrowed in several points from the doctrines of the Ebionites,
Essenes,
and Sabeites.
Epiphanius
(H'r.
x.)
describes the notions of the Ebionites of Nabath'a,
Moabitis,
and Basanitis
with regard
to Adam and Jesus,
almost in the very words of Sura iii.
52.
He tells us that they observed circumcision,
were opposed
to celibacy,
forbad turning
to the sunrise,
but enjoined Jerusalem as their Kebla
(as did Muhammad during twelve years),
that they prescribed
(as did the Sabeites),
washings,
very similar
to those enjoined in the Koran,
and allowed oaths
(by certain natural objects,
as clouds,
signs of the Zodiac,
oil,
the winds,
etc.),
which we find adopted in the Koran.
These points of contact
with Islam,
knowing as we do Muhammad's eclecticism,
can hardly be accidental.
We have no evidence that Muhammad had access
to the Christian Scriptures,
though it is just possible that fragments of the Old or New Testament may have reached him through Chadijah or Waraka,
or other Meccan Christians,
possessing MSS.
of the sacred volume.
There is but one direct quotation
(Sura xxi.
105)
in the whole Koran from the Scriptures;
and though there are a few passages,
as where alms are said
to be given
to be seen of men,
and as,
none forgiveth sins but God only,
which might seem
to be identical
with texts of the New Testament,
yet this similarity is probably merely accidental.
It is,
however,
curious
to compare such passages as Deut.
xxvi.
14,
17;
1 Peter v.
2,
with Sura xxiv.
50,
p.
448,
and x.
73,
p.
281 John vii.
15,
with the
"illiterate"
Prophet Matt.
xxiv.
36,
and John xii.
27,
with the use of the word hour as meaning any judgment or crisis,
and The last judgment the voice of the Son of God which the dead are
to hear,
with the exterminating or awakening cry of Gabriel,
etc.
The passages of this kind,
with which the Koran abounds,
result from Muhammad's general acquaintance
with Scriptural phraseology,
partly through the popular legends,
partly from personal intercourse
with Jews and Christians.
And we may be quite certain that whatever materials Muhammad may have derived from our Scriptures,
directly or indirectly,
were carefully recast.
He did not even use its words without due consideration.
For instance,
except in the phrase
"the Lord of the worlds,"
he seems carefully
to have avoided the expression the Lord,
probably because it was applied by the Christians
to Christ,
or
to God the Father.
It should also be borne in mind that we have no traces of the existence of Arabic versions of the Old or New Testament previous
to the time of Muhammad.
The passage of St. Jerome
"H'c autem translatio nullum de veteribus sequitur interpretem;
sed ex ipso Hebraico,
Arabicoque sermone,
et interdum Syro,
nunc verba,
nunc sensum,
nunc simul utrumque resonabit,"
(Prol.
Gal.)
obviously does not refer
to versions,
but
to idiom.
The earliest Ar.
version of the Old Testament,
of which we have any knowledge,
is that of R.
Saadias Gaon,
A.D.
900;
and the oldest Ar.
version of the New Testament,
is that published by Erpenius in 1616,
and transcribed in the Thebais,
in the year 1171,
by a Coptic Bishop,
from a copy made by a person whose name is known,
but whose date is uncertain.
Michaelis thinks that the Arabic versions of the New Testament were made between the Saracen conquests in the seventh century,
and the Crusades in the eleventh century an opinion in which he follows,
or coincides with,
Walton
(Prol.
in Polygl.
xiv.)
who remarks
"Plane constat versionem Arabicam apud eas
(ecclesias orientales)
factam esse postquam lingua Arabica per victorias et religionem Muhammedanicam per Orientem propagata fuerat,
et in multis locis facta esset vernacula."
If,
indeed,
in these comparatively late versions,
the general phraseology,
especially in the histories common
to the Scriptures and
to the Koran,
bore any similarity
to each other,
and if the orthography of the proper names had been the same in each,
it might have been fair
to suppose that such versions had been made,
more or less,
upon the basis of others,
which,
though now lost,
existed in the ages prior
to Muhammad,
and influenced,
if they did not directly form,
his sources of information.
But this does not appear
to be the case.
The phraseology of our existing versions is not that of the Koran and these versions appear
to have been made from the Septuagint,
the Vulgate,
Syriac,
Coptic,
and Greek;
the four Gospels,
says Tischendorf originem mixtam habere videntur.
From the Arab Jews,
Muhammad would be enabled
to derive an abundant,
though most distorted,
knowledge of the Scripture histories.
The secrecy in which he received his instructions from them,
and from his Christian informants,
enabled him boldly
to declare
to the ignorant pagan Meccans that God had revealed those Biblical histories
to him.
But there can be no doubt,
from the constant identity between the Talmudic perversions of Scripture histories and Rabbinic moral precepts,
that the Rabbins of the Hejaz communicated their legends
to Muhammad.
And it should be remembered that the Talmud was completed a century previous
to the era of Muhammad,
and cannot fail
to have extensively influenced the religious creed of all the Jews of the Arabian peninsula.
In one passage,
Muhammad speaks of an individual Jew perhaps some one of note among his professed followers,
as a witness
to his mission;
and there can be no doubt that his relations
with the Jews were,
at one time,
those of friendship and intimacy,
when we find him speak of their recognising him as they do their own children,
and hear him blaming their most colloquial expressions.
It is impossible,
however,
for us at this distance of time
to penetrate the mystery in which this subject is involved.
Yet certain it is,
that,
although their testimony against Muhammad was speedily silenced,
the Koreisch knew enough of his private history
to disbelieve and
to disprove his pretensions of being the recipient of a divine revelation,
and that they accused him of writing from the dictation of teachers morning and evening.
And it is equally certain,
that all the information received by Muhammad was embellished and recast in his own mind and
with his own words.
There is a unity of thought,
a directness and simplicity of purpose,
a peculiar and laboured style,
a uniformity of diction,
coupled
with a certain deficiency of imaginative power,
which proves the ayats
(signs or verses)
of the Koran at least
to be the product of a single pen.
The longer narratives were,
probably,
elaborated in his leisure hours,
while the shorter verses,
each claiming
to be a sign or miracle,
were promulgated as occasion required them.
And,
whatever Muhammad may himself profess in the Koran as
to his ignorance,
even of reading and writing,
and however strongly modern Muhammadans may insist upon the same point an assertion by the way contradicted by many good authors there can be no doubt that
to assimilate and work up his materials,
to fashion them into elaborate Suras,
to fit them
for public recital,
must have been a work requiring much time,
study,
and meditation,
and presumes a far greater degree of general culture than any orthodox Muslim will be disposed
to admit.
In close connection
with the above remarks,
stands the question of Muhammad's sincerity and honesty of purpose in coming forward as a messenger from God.
For if he was indeed the illiterate person the Muslims represent him
to have been,
then it will be hard
to escape their inference that the Koran is,
as they assert it
to be,
a standing miracle.
But if,
on the other hand,
it was a Book carefully concocted from various sources,
and
with much extraneous aid,
and published as a divine oracle,
then it would seem that the author is at once open
to the charge of the grossest imposture,
and even of impious blasphemy.
The evidence rather shews,
that in all he did and wrote,
Muhammad was actuated by a sincere desire
to deliver his countrymen from the grossness of its debasing idolatries that he was urged on by an intense desire
to proclaim that great truth of the Unity of the Godhead which had taken full possession of his own soul that the end
to be attained justified
to his mind the means he adopted in the production of his Suras that he worked himself up into a belief that he had received a divine call and that he was carried on by the force of circumstances,
and by gradually increasing successes,
to believe himself the accredited messenger of Heaven.
The earnestness of those convictions which at Mecca sustained him under persecution,
and which perhaps led him,
at any price as it were,
and by any means,
not even excluding deceit and falsehood,
to endeavour
to rescue his countrymen from idolatry,
naturally stiffened at Medina into tyranny and unscrupulous violence.
At the same time,
he was probably,
more or less,
throughout his whole career,
the victim of a certain amount of self-deception.
A cataleptic subject from his early youth,
born according
to the traditions of a highly nervous and excitable mother,
he would be peculiarly liable
to morbid and fantastic hallucinations,
and alternations of excitement and depression,
which would win
for him,
in the eyes of his ignorant countrymen,
the credit of being inspired.
It would be easy
for him
to persuade himself that he was
"the seal of the Prophets,"
the proclaimer of a doctrine of the Divine Unity,
held and taught by the Patriarchs,
especially by Abraham a doctrine that should present
to mankind Judaism divested of its Mosaic ceremonial,
and Christianity divested of the Atonement and the Trinity doctrine,
as he might have believed,
fitted and destined
to absorb Judaism,
Christianity,
and Idolatry;
and this persuasion,
once admitted into his mind as a conviction,
retained possession of it,
and carried him on,
though often in the use of means,
towards the end of his career,
far different from those
with which he commenced it,
to a victorious consummation.
It is true that the state of Arabia previous
to the time of Muhammad was one of preparedness
for a new religion that the scattered elements were there,
and wanted only the mind of a master
to harmonise and enforce them and that Islam was,
so
to speak,
a necessity of the time.
Still Muhammad's career is a wonderful instance of the force and life that resides in him who possesses an intense Faith in God and in the unseen world;
and whatever deductions may be made and they are many and serious from the noble and truthful in his character,
he will always be regarded as one of those who have had that influence over the faith,
morals,
and whole earthly life of their fellow-men,
which none but a really great man ever did,
or can,
exercise;
and as one of those,
whose efforts
to propagate some great verity will prosper,
in spite of manifold personal errors and defects,
both of principle and character.
The more insight we obtain,
from undoubted historical sources,
into the actual character of Muhammad,
the less reason do we find
to justify the strong vituperative language poured out upon his head by Maracci,
Prideaux,
and others,
in recent days,
one of whom has found,
in the Byzantine
"Maometis,"
the number of the Beast
(Rev.
xii)! It is nearer
to the truth
to say that he was a great though imperfect character,
an earnest though mistaken teacher,
and that many of his mistakes and imperfections were the result of circumstances,
of temperament,
and constitution;
and that there must be elements both of truth and goodness in the system of which he was the main author,
to account
for the world-wide phenomenon,
that whatever may be the intellectual inferiority
(if such is,
indeed,
the fact)
of the Muslim races,
the influence of his teaching,
aided,
it is true,
by the vast impulse given
to it by the victorious arms of his followers,
has now lasted
for nearly thirteen centuries,
and embraces more than one hundred millions of our race more than one-tenth part of the inhabitants of the globe.
It must be acknowledged,
too,
that the Koran deserves the highest praise
for its conceptions of the Divine nature,
in reference
to the attributes of Power,
Knowledge,
and universal Providence and Unity that its belief and trust in the One God of Heaven and Earth is deep and fervent and that,
though it contains fantastic visions and legends,
teaches a childish ceremonial,
and justifies bloodshedding,
persecution,
slavery,
and polygamy,
yet that at the same time it embodies much of a noble and deep moral earnestness,
and sententious oracular wisdom,
and has proved that there are elements in it on which mighty nations,
and conquering though not,
perhaps,
durable empires can be built up.
It is due
to the Koran,
that the occupants in the sixth century of an arid peninsula,
whose poverty was only equalled by their ignorance,
become not only the fervent and sincere votaries of a new creed,
but,
like Amru and many more,
its warlike propagators.
Impelled possibly by drought and famine,
actuated partly by desire of conquest,
partly by religious convictions,
they had conquered Persia in the seventh century,
the northern coasts of Africa,
and a large portion of Spain in the eighth,
the Punjaub and nearly the whole of India in the ninth.
The simple shepherds and wandering Bedouins of Arabia,
are transformed,
as if by a magician's wand,
into the founders of empires,
the builders of cities,
the collectors of more libraries than they at first destroyed,
while cities like Fostƒt,
Baghdad,
Cordova,
and Delhi,
attest the power at which Christian Europe trembled.
And thus,
while the Koran,
which underlays this vast energy and contains the principles which are its springs of action,
reflects
to a great extent the mixed character of its author,
its merits as a code of laws,
and as a system of religious teaching,
must always be estimated by the changes which it introduced into the customs and beliefs of those who willingly or by compulsion embraced it.
In the suppression of their idolatries,
in the substitution of the worship of Allah
for that of the powers of nature and genii
with Him,
in the abolition of child murder,
in the extinction of manifold superstitious usages,
in the reduction of the number of wives
to a fixed standard,
it was
to the Arabians an unquestionable blessing,
and an accession,
though not in the Christian sense a Revelation,
of Truth;
and while every Christian must deplore the overthrow of so many flourishing Eastern churches by the arms of the victorious Muslims,
it must not be forgotten that Europe,
in the middle ages,
owed much of her knowledge of dialectic philosophy,
of medicine,
and architecture,
to Arabian writers,
and that Muslims formed the connecting link between the West and the East
for the importation of numerous articles of luxury and use.
That an immense mass of fable and silly legend has been built up upon the basis of the Koran is beyond a doubt,
but
for this Muhammad is not answerable,
any more than he is
for the wild and bloodthirsty excesses of his followers in after ages.
I agree
with Sale in thinking that,
"how criminal soever Muhammad may have been in imposing a false religion on mankind,
the praises due
to his real virtues ought not
to be denied him"
(Preface),
and venture
to think that no one can rise from the perusal of his Koran without argeeing
with that motto from St. Augustin,
which Sale has prefixed
to his title page,
"Nulla falsa doctrina est,
qu'
non aliquid veri permisceat."
Qu'st.
Evang.
ii.
40.
The Arabic text from which this translation has been made is that of Fluegel.
Leips.
1841.
The translations of Sale,
Ullmann,
Wahl,
Hammer von Purgstall in the Fundgruben des Orients,
and M.
Kasimirski,
have been collated throughout;
and above all,
the great work of Father Maracci,
to whose accuracy and research search Sale's work mainly owes its merits.
Sale has,
however,
followed Maracci too closely,
especially by introducing his paraphrastic comments into the body of the text,
as well as by his constant use of Latinised instead of Saxon words.
But
to Sale's
"Preliminary Discourse"
the reader is referred,
as
to a storehouse of valuable information;
as well as
to the works of Geiger,
Gerock,
and Freytag,
and
to the lives of Muhammad by Dr. Weil,
Mr. Muir,
and that of Dr. Sprenger now issuing from the press,
in German.
The more brief and poetical verses of the earlier Suras are translated
with a freedom from which I have altogether abstained in the historical and prosaic portions;
but I have endeavoured nowhere
to use a greater amount of paraphrase than is necessary
to convey the sense of the original.
"Vel verbum e verbo,"
says S.
Jerome
(Pr'f.
in Jobum)
of versions,
"vel sensum e sensu,
vel ex utroque commixtum,
et medie temperatum genus translationis."
The proper names are usually given as in our Scriptures:
the English reader would not easily recognise Noah as N-h,
Lot as L-t,
Moses as Musa,
Abraham as Ibrahym,
Pharaoh as Firaun,
Aaron as Harun,
Jesus as Isa,
John as Yahia,
etc.;
and it has been thought best
to give different renderings of the same constantly recurring words and phrases,
in order more fully
to convey their meaning.
For instance,
the Arabic words which mean Companions of the fire,
are also rendered inmates of,
etc.,
given up to,
etc.;
the People of the Book,
i.e.
Jews,
Christians and Sabeites,
is sometimes retained,
sometimes paraphrased.
This remark applies
to such words as tanzyl,
lit.
downsending or Revelation;
zikr,
the remembrance or constant repetition or mention of God's name as an act of devotion;
saha,
the Hour of present or final judgment;
and various epithets of Allah.
I have nowhere attempted
to represent the rhymes of the original.
The
"Proben"
of H.
v.
Purgstall,
in the Fundgruben des Orients,
excellent as they are in many respects,
shew that this can only be done
with a sacrifice of literal translation.
I subjoin as a specimen Lieut.
Burton's version of the Fatthah,
or opening chapter of previous editions.
See Sura [viii.] p.
28.
"I have endeavoured,"
he adds,
"in this translation
to imitate the imperfect rhyme of the original Arabic.
Such an attempt,
however,
is full of difficulties.
The Arabic is a language in which,
like Italian,
it is almost impossible not
to rhyme."
Pilgr.
ii.
78.
SURA1 XCVI.
THICK BLOOD,
OR CLOTS OF BLOOD [I.] Mecca.
19 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful2 RECITE3 thou,
in the name of thy Lord who created;
Created man from CLOTS OF BLOOD:
Recite thou!
for thy Lord is the most Beneficent,
Who hath taught the use of the pen;
Hath taught Man that which he knoweth not.
Nay,
verily,4 Man is insolent,
Because he seeth himself possessed of riches.
Verily,
to thy Lord is the return of all.
What thinkest thou of him that holdeth back A servant5 of God when he prayeth?
What thinkest thou?6 Hath he followed the true Guidance,
or enjoined Piety?
What thinkest thou?
Hath he treated the truth as a lie and turned his back?
What! doth he not know how that God seeth?
Nay,
verily,
if he desist not,
We shall seize him by the forelock,
The lying sinful forelock! Then let him summon his associates;7 We too will summon the guards of Hell:
Nay! obey him not;
but adore,
and draw nigh
to God.8 _______________________ 1 The word Sura occurs nine times in the Koran,
viz.
Sur.
ix.
65,
87,
125,
128;
xxiv.
1;
xlvii.
22
(twice);
ii.
21;
x.
39;
but it is not easy
to determine whether it means a whole chapter,
or part only of a chapter,
or is used in the sense of
"revelation."
See Weil's Mohammed der Prophet,
pp.
361-363.
It is understood by the Muhammadan commentators
to have a primary reference
to the succession of subjects or parts,
like the rows of bricks in a wall.
The titles of the Suras are generally taken from some word occurring in each,
which is printed in large type throughout,
where practicable.
2 This formula Bismillahi
'rrahmani
'rrahim is of Jewish origin.
It was in the first instance taught
to the Koreisch by Omayah of Taief,
the poet,
who was a contemporary with,
but somewhat older than,
Muhammad;
and who,
during his mercantile journeys into Arabia Petr'a and Syria,
had made himself acquainted
with the sacred books and doctrines of Jews and Christians.
(Kitab al-Aghƒni,
16.
Delhi.)
Muhammad adopted and constantly used it,
and it is prefixed
to each Sura except the ninth.
The former of the two epithets implies that the mercy of God is exercised as occasions arise,
towards all his creatures;
the latter that the quality of mercy is inherent in God and permanent,
so that there is only a shade of difference between the two words.
Maracci well renders,
In Nomine Dei Miseratoris,
Misericordis.
The rendering I have adopted is that of Mr. Lane in his extracts from the Koran.
See also Freytag's Lex.
ii.
p.
133.
Perhaps,
In the name of Allah,
the God of Mercy,
the Merciful,
would more fully express the original Arabic.
The first five verses of this Sura are,
in the opinion of nearly all commentators,
ancient and modern,
the earliest revelations made
to Muhammad,
in the 40th year of his life,
and the starting point of El-Islam.
(See the authorities quoted in detail in N"ldeke's Geschichte des Qorƒns,
p.
62,
n.)
3 The usual rendering is read.
But the word qaraa,
which is the root of the word Koran,
analogous
to the Rabbinic mikra,
rather means
to address,
recite;
and
with regard
to its etymology and use in the kindred dialects
to call,
cry aloud,
proclaim.
Compare Isai.
lviii.
1;
1 Kings xviii.
37;
and Gesen.
Thesaur.
on the Hebrew root.
I understand this passage
to mean,
"Preach
to thy fellow men what thou believest
to be true of thy Lord who has created man from the meanest materials,
and can in like manner prosper the truth which thou proclaimest.
He has taught man the art of writing
(recently introduced at Mecca)
and in this thou wilt find a powerful help
for propagating the knowledge of the divine Unity."
The speaker in this,
as in all the Suras,
is Gabriel,
of whom Muhammad had,
as he believed,
a vision on the mountain Hirƒ,
near Mecca.
See note 1 on the next page.
The details of the vision are quite unhistorical.
4 This,
and the following verses,
may have been added at a later period,
though previous
to the Flight,
and
with special reference,
if we are
to believe the commentators Beidhawi,
etc.,
to the opposition which Muhammad experienced at the hands of his opponent,
Abu Jahl,
who had threatened
to set his foot on the Prophet's neck when prostrate in prayer.
But the whole passage admits of application
to mankind in general.
5 That is Muhammad.
N"ldeke,
however,
proposes
to render
"a slave."
And it is certain that the doctrines of Islam were in the first instance embraced by slaves,
many of whom had been carried away from Christian homes,
or born of Christian parents at Mecca.
"Men of this description,"
says Dr. Sprenger
(Life of Mohammad.
Allahabad.
p.
159),
"no doubt prepared the way
for the Islam by inculcating purer notions respecting God upon their masters and their brethren.
These men saw in Mohammad their liberator;
and being superstitious enough
to consider his fits as the consequence of an inspiration,
they were among the first who acknowledged him as a prophet.
Many of them suffered torture
for their faith in him,
and two of them died as martyrs.
The excitement among the slaves when Mohammad first assumed his office was so great,
that Abd Allah bin Jod'an,
who had one hundred of these sufferers,
found it necessary
to remove them from Makkah,
lest they should all turn converts."
See Sura xvi.
105,
111;
ii.
220.
6 Lit.
hast thou seen if he be upon the guidance.
7 The principal men of the Koreisch who adhered
to Abu Jahl.
8 During a period variously estimated from six months
to three years from the revelation of this Sura,
or of its earliest verses,
the prophetic inspiration and the revelation of fresh Suras is said
to have been suspended.
This interval is called the Fatrah or intermission;
and the Meccan Suras delivered at its close show that at or during this period Muhammad had gained an increasing and more intimate acquaintance
with the Jewish and Christian Scriptures.
"The accounts,
however,"
says Mr. Muir
(vol.
ii.
86)
"are throughout confused,
if not contradictory;
and we can only gather
with certainty that there was a time during which his mind hung in suspense,
and doubted the divine mission."
The idea of any supernatural influence is of course
to be entirely excluded;
although there is no doubt that Muhammad himself had a full belief in the personality and influence of Satans and Djinn.
Profound meditation,
the struggles of an earnest mind anxious
to attain
to truth,
the morbid excitability of an epileptic subject,
visions seen in epileptic swoons,
disgust at Meccan idolatry,
and a desire
to teach his countrymen the divine Unity will sufficiently account
for the period of indecision termed the Fatrah,
and
for the determination which led Muhammad,
in all sincerity,
but still self-deceived,
to take upon himself the office and work of a Messenger from God.
We may perhaps infer from such passages as Sura ii.
123,
what had ever been the leading idea in Muhammad's mind.
SURA LXXIII.
THE ENFOLDED1 [III.] MECCA.
20 Verses.
In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful O THOU ENFOLDED in thy mantle,
Stand up all night,
except a small portion of it,
for prayer:
Half;
or curtail the half a little,
Or add
to it:
And
with measured tone intone the Koran,2
for we shall devolve on thee weighty words.
Verily,
at the oncoming of night are devout impressions strongest,
and words are most collected;3 But in the day time thou hast continual employ And commemorate the name of thy Lord,
and devote thyself
to Him
with entire devotion.
Lord of the East and of the West! No God is there but He! Take Him
for thy protector,
And endure what they say
with patience,
and depart from them
with a decorous departure.
And let Me alone
with the gainsayers,
rich in the pleasures of this life;
and bear thou
with them yet a little while:
For
with Us are strong fetters,
and a flaming fire,
And food that choketh,
and a sore torment.
The day cometh when the earth and the mountains shall be shaken;
and the mountains shall become a loose sand heap.
Verily,
we have sent you an Apostle
to witness against you,
even as we sent an Apostle
to Pharaoh:
But Pharaoh rebelled against the Apostle,
and we therefore laid hold on him
with a severe chastisement.
And how,
if ye believe not,
will you screen yourselves from the day that shall turn children greyheaded?
The very heaven shall be reft asunder by it:
this threat shall be carried into effect.
Lo! this is a warning.
Let him then who will,
take the way
to his Lord.
Of a truth,4 thy Lord knoweth that thou prayest almost two-thirds,
or half,
or a third of the night,
as do a part of thy followers.
But God measureth the night and the day:
He knoweth that ye cannot count its hours aright,
and therefore,
turneth
to you mercifully.
Recite then so much of the Koran as may be easy
to you.
He knoweth that there will be some among you sick,
while others travel through the earth in quest of the bounties of God;
and others do battle in his cause.
Recite therefore so much of it as may be easy.
And observe the Prayers and pay the legal Alms,5 and lend God a liberal loan:
for whatever good works ye send on before
for your own behoof,
ye shall find
with God.
This will be best and richest in the recompense.
And seek the forgiveness of God:
verily,
God is forgiving,
Merciful.
_______________________ 1 From the first line of this Sura,
and its expressions concerning the Koran,
Prayer,
and Future Punishment:
from the similarity of the tradition
with regard
to its having been preceded by a vision of Gabriel
(Beidh.,
etc.),
it seems
to belong to,
or at least
to describe,
a period,
perhaps immediately succeeding the Fatrah,
during which the hours of night were spent by Muhammad in devotion and in the labour of working up his materials in rhythmical and rhyming Suras,
and in preparation
for the public assumption of the prophetic office.
Comp.
especially verses 11,
19,
20,
at the end,
with 11,
54,
55,
of the preceding Sura.
2 Singe den Koran laut.
H.v.P.
Psalle Alcoranum psallendo.
Mar.
Singe den Koran mit singender und lauter Stimme ab.
Ullm.
3 Lit.
most firm,
perhaps,
distinct.
4 This verse,
according
to a tradition of Ayesha,
was revealed one year later than the previous part of the Sura.
N"ldeke says it is
"offenbar ein Medinischer."
5 The reader will not be surprised
to find in the very outset of Muhammad's career a frequent mention of Alms,
Prayer,
Heaven,
Hell,
Judgment,
Apostles,
etc.,
in their usual sense,
when he remembers that Judaism was extensively naturalised in Arabia,
and Christianity,
also,
although
to a smaller extent.
The words and phrases of these religions were doubtless familiar
to the Meccans,
especially
to that numerous body who were anxiously searching after some better religion than the idolatries of their fathers
(v.
on Sura iii.
19,
60),
and provided Muhammad
with a copious fund from which
to draw.
SURA LXXIII.
THE ENFOLDED1 [III.] MECCA.
20 Verses.
In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful O THOU ENFOLDED in thy mantle,
Stand up all night,
except a small portion of it,
for prayer:
Half;
or curtail the half a little,
Or add
to it:
And
with measured tone intone the Koran,2
for we shall devolve on thee weighty words.
Verily,
at the oncoming of night are devout impressions strongest,
and words are most collected;3 But in the day time thou hast continual employ And commemorate the name of thy Lord,
and devote thyself
to Him
with entire devotion.
Lord of the East and of the West! No God is there but He! Take Him
for thy protector,
And endure what they say
with patience,
and depart from them
with a decorous departure.
And let Me alone
with the gainsayers,
rich in the pleasures of this life;
and bear thou
with them yet a little while:
For
with Us are strong fetters,
and a flaming fire,
And food that choketh,
and a sore torment.
The day cometh when the earth and the mountains shall be shaken;
and the mountains shall become a loose sand heap.
Verily,
we have sent you an Apostle
to witness against you,
even as we sent an Apostle
to Pharaoh:
But Pharaoh rebelled against the Apostle,
and we therefore laid hold on him
with a severe chastisement.
And how,
if ye believe not,
will you screen yourselves from the day that shall turn children greyheaded?
The very heaven shall be reft asunder by it:
this threat shall be carried into effect.
Lo! this is a warning.
Let him then who will,
take the way
to his Lord.
Of a truth,4 thy Lord knoweth that thou prayest almost two-thirds,
or half,
or a third of the night,
as do a part of thy followers.
But God measureth the night and the day:
He knoweth that ye cannot count its hours aright,
and therefore,
turneth
to you mercifully.
Recite then so much of the Koran as may be easy
to you.
He knoweth that there will be some among you sick,
while others travel through the earth in quest of the bounties of God;
and others do battle in his cause.
Recite therefore so much of it as may be easy.
And observe the Prayers and pay the legal Alms,5 and lend God a liberal loan:
for whatever good works ye send on before
for your own behoof,
ye shall find
with God.
This will be best and richest in the recompense.
And seek the forgiveness of God:
verily,
God is forgiving,
Merciful.
_______________________ 1 From the first line of this Sura,
and its expressions concerning the Koran,
Prayer,
and Future Punishment:
from the similarity of the tradition
with regard
to its having been preceded by a vision of Gabriel
(Beidh.,
etc.),
it seems
to belong to,
or at least
to describe,
a period,
perhaps immediately succeeding the Fatrah,
during which the hours of night were spent by Muhammad in devotion and in the labour of working up his materials in rhythmical and rhyming Suras,
and in preparation
for the public assumption of the prophetic office.
Comp.
especially verses 11,
19,
20,
at the end,
with 11,
54,
55,
of the preceding Sura.
2 Singe den Koran laut.
H.v.P.
Psalle Alcoranum psallendo.
Mar.
Singe den Koran mit singender und lauter Stimme ab.
Ullm.
3 Lit.
most firm,
perhaps,
distinct.
4 This verse,
according
to a tradition of Ayesha,
was revealed one year later than the previous part of the Sura.
N"ldeke says it is
"offenbar ein Medinischer."
5 The reader will not be surprised
to find in the very outset of Muhammad's career a frequent mention of Alms,
Prayer,
Heaven,
Hell,
Judgment,
Apostles,
etc.,
in their usual sense,
when he remembers that Judaism was extensively naturalised in Arabia,
and Christianity,
also,
although
to a smaller extent.
The words and phrases of these religions were doubtless familiar
to the Meccans,
especially
to that numerous body who were anxiously searching after some better religion than the idolatries of their fathers
(v.
on Sura iii.
19,
60),
and provided Muhammad
with a copious fund from which
to draw.
SURA XCIII.1 THE BRIGHTNESS [IV.] MECCA.
11 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful BY the noon-day BRIGHTNESS,
And by the night when it darkeneth! Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee,
neither hath he been displeased.
And surely the Future shall be better
for thee than the Past,
And in the end shall thy Lord be bounteous
to thee and thou be satisfied.
Did he not find thee an orphan2 and gave thee a home?
And found thee erring and guided thee,3 And found thee needy and enriched thee.
As
to the orphan therefore wrong him not;
And as
to him that asketh of thee,
chide him not away;
And as
for the favours of thy Lord tell them abroad.
_______________________ 1 This and the six following Suras are expressions of a state of deep mental anxiety and depression,
in which Muhammad seeks
to reassure himself by calling
to mind the past favours of God,
and by fixing his mind steadfastly on the Divine Unity.
They belong
to a period either before the public commencement of his ministry or when his success was very dubious,
and his future career by no means clearly marked out.
2 The charge of the orphaned Muhammad was undertaken by Abd-al-Mutalib,
his grandfather,
A.D.
576.
Hishami,
p.
35;
Kitab al Wakidi,
p.
22,
have preserved traditions of the fondness
with which the old man of fourscore years treated the child,
spreading a rug
for him under the shadow of the Kaaba,
protecting him from the rudeness of his own sons,
etc.
3 Up
to his 40th year Muhammad followed the religion of his countrymen.
Waq.
Tabari says that when he first entered on his office of Prophet,
even his wife Chadijah had read the Scriptures,
and was acquainted
with the History of the Prophets.
Spreng.
p.
100.
But his conformity can only have been partial.
SURA XCIV.
THE OPENING [V.] MECCA.
8 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful HAVE we not OPENED thine heart
for thee?
And taken off from thee thy burden,
Which galled thy back?
And have we not raised thy name
for thee?
Then verily along
with trouble cometh ease.
Verily along
with trouble cometh ease.
But when thou art set at liberty,
then prosecute thy toil.
And seek thy Lord
with fervour.
SURA CXIII.
THE DAYBREAK [VI.] MECCA OR MEDINA.
5 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful SAY:
I betake me
for refuge
to the Lord of the DAY BREAK Against the mischiefs of his creation;
And against the mischief of the night when it overtaketh me;
And against the mischief of weird women;1 And against the mischief of the envier when he envieth.
_______________________ 1 Lit.
who blow on knots.
According
to some commentators an allusion
to a species of charm.
Comp.
Virg.Ec.
vi.
But the reference more probably is
to women in general,
who disconcert schemes as thread is disentangled by blowing upon it.
Suras cxiii.
are called the el mouwwidhetani,
or preservative chapters,
are engraved on amulets,etc.
SURA CXIV.
MEN [VII.] MECCA OR MEDINA.
6 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful SAY:
I betake me
for refuge
to the Lord of MEN,
The King of men,
The God of men,
Against the mischief of the stealthily withdrawing whisperer,1 Who whispereth in man's breast Against djinn and men.
_______________________ 1 Satan.
SURA I.1 [VIII.] MECCA 7 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful PRAISE be
to God,
Lord of the worlds! The compassionate,
the merciful! King on the day of reckoning! Thee only do we worship,
and
to Thee do we cry
for help.
Guide Thou us on the straight path,2 The path of those
to whom Thou hast been gracious;
with whom thou art not angry,
and who go not astray.3 _______________________ 1 This Sura,
which N"ldeke places last,
and Muir sixth,
in the earliest class of Meccan Suras,
must at least have been composed prior
to Sura xxxvii.
182,where it is quoted,
and
to Sura xv.
87,
which refers
to it.
And it can scarcely be an accidental circumstance that the words of the first,
second,
and fifth verses do not occur in any other Suras of the first Meccan period as given by N"ldeke,
but frequently in those of the second,
which it therefore,
in N"ldeke,
opinion,
immediately precedes.
But this may be accounted
for by its having been recast
for the purposes of private and public devotion by Muhammad himself,
which is the meaning probably of the Muhammadan tradition that it was revealed twice.
It should also be observed that,
including the auspicatory formula,
there are the same number of petitions in this Sura as in the Lord's Prayer.
It is recited several times in each of the five daily prayers,
and on many other occassions,
as in concluding a bargain,
etc.
It is termed
"the Opening of the Book,"
"the Completion,"
"the Sufficing Sura,"
the Sura of Praise,
Thanks,
and Prayer,"
"the Healer,"
"the Remedy,"
"the Basis,"
"the Treasure,"
"the Mother of the Book,"
"the Seven Verses of Repetition."
The Muhammadans always say
"Amen"
after this prayer,
Muhammad having been instructed,
says the Sonna,
to do so by the Angel Gabriel.
2 Islam 3 The following transfer of this Sura from the Arabic into the corresponding English characters may give some idea of the rhyming prose in which the Koran is written:
Bismillahi
'rahhmani
'rrahheem.
El-hamdoo lillahi rabi
'lalameen.
Arrahhmani raheem.
Maliki yowmi-d-deen.
Eyaka naboodoo,
wa‚yaka nest aeen.
Ihdina
'ssirat almostakeem.
Sirat alezeena anhamta aleihim,
gheiri-'l mughdoobi aleihim,
wala dsaleen.
Ameen.
SURA CIX.
UNBELIEVERS [IX.] MECCA.
6 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful SAY:
O ye UNBELIEVERS! I worship not that which ye worship,
And ye do not worship that which I worship;
I shall never worship that which ye worship,
Neither will ye worship that which I worship.
To you be your religion;
to me my religion.1 _______________________ 1 This Sura is said
to have been revealed when WalŒd urged Muhammad
to consent that his God should be worshipped at the same time
with the old Meccan deities,
or alternately every year.
Hishƒmi,
p.
79;
Tabari,
p.
139.
It is a distinct renunciation of Meccan idolatry,
as the following Sura is a distinct recognition of the Divine Unity.
SURA CXII.
THE UNITY [X.] MECCA.
4 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful SAY:
He is God alone:
God the eternal! He begetteth not,
and He is not begotten;
And there is none like unto Him.
SURA CXI.
ABU LAHAB [XI.] MECCA.
5 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful LET the hands of ABU LAHAB1 perish,and let himself perish! His wealth and his gains shall avail him not.
Burned shall he be at the fiery flame,2 And his wife laden
with fire wood,
On her neck a rope of palm fibre.
_______________________ 1 Undoubtedly one of the earliest Suras,
and refers
to the rejection of Muhammad's claim
to the prophetic office by his uncle,
Abu Lahab,
at the instigation of his wife,
Omm Djemil,
who is said
to have strewn the path of Muhammad on one occasion
with thorns.
The following six Suras,
like the two first,
have special reference
to the difficulties which the Prophet met
with the outset of his career,
especially from the rich.
2 In allusion
to the meaning of Abu Lahab,
father of flame.
SURA CVIII.
THE ABUNDANCE [XII.] MECCA.
3 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful TRULY we have given thee an ABUNDANCE;
Pray therefore
to the Lord,
and slay the victims Verily whose hateth thee shall be childless.1 _______________________ 1 A reply
to those who had taunted Muhammad
with the death of his sons,
as a mark of the divine displeasure.
SURA CIV.
THE BACKBITER [XII.] MECCA.
9 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful Woe
to every BACKBITER,
Defamer! Who amasseth wealth and storeth it against the future! He thinketh surely that his wealth shall be
with him
for ever.
Nay!
for verily he shall be flung into the Crushing Fire;
And who shall teach thee what the Crushing Fire is?
It is God's kindled fire,
Which shall mount above the hearts of the damned;
It shall verily rise over them like a vault,
On outstretched columns.
SURA CVII.
RELIGION [XIV.] MECCA.
7 Verses In the name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful WHAT thinkest thou of him who treateth our RELIGION as a lie?
He it is who trusteth away the orphan,
And stirreth not others up
to feed the poor.
Woe
to those who pray,
But in their prayer are careless;
Who make a shew of devotion,
But refuse help
to the needy.
SURA CII.
DESIRE [XV.] MECCA.
8 Verses In the name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful THE DESIRE of increasing riches occupieth you,
Till ye come
to the grave.
Nay! but in the end ye shall know Nay! once more,in the end ye shall know your folly.
Nay! would that ye knew it
with knowledge of certainty! Surely ye shall see hell-fire.
Then shall ye surely see it
with the eye of certainty;
Then shall ye on that day be taken
to task concerning pleasures.
SURA LXVIII.
THE PEN [XVII.] Mecca.
52 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful Nun.1 By the PEN2 and by what they write,Thou,
O Prophet;
by the grace of thy Lord art not possessed!3 And truly a boundless recompense doth await thee,
For thou art of a noble nature.4 But thou shalt see and they shall see Which of you is the demented.
Now thy Lord! well knoweth He the man who erreth from his path,
and well doth he know those who have yielded
to Guidance;
Give not place,
therefore,
to those who treat thee as a liar:
They desire thee
to deal smoothly
with them:
then would they be smooth as oil
with thee:
But yield not
to the man of oaths,
a despicable person,
Defamer,
going about
with slander,
Hinderer of the good,
transgressor,
criminal,
Harsh beside this,
impure by birth,
Though a man of riches and blessed
with sons.
Who when our wondrous verses are recited
to him saith
"Fables of the ancients."
We will brand him on the nostrils.
Verily,
we have proved them
(the Meccans)
as we proved the owners of the garden,
when they swore that at morn they would cut its fruits;
But added no reserve.5 Wherefore an encircling desolation from thy Lord swept round it while they slumbered,
And in the morning it was like a garden whose fruits had all been cut.
Then at dawn they called
to each other,
"Go out early
to your field,
if ye would cut your dates."
So on they went whispering
to each other,
"No poor man shall set foot this day within your garden;"
And they went out at daybreak
with this settled purpose.
But when they beheld it,
they said,
"Truly we have been in fault:
Yes! we are forbidden our fruits."
The most rightminded of them said,
"Did I not say
to you,
Will ye not give praise
to God?"
They said,
"Glory
to our Lord! Truly we have done amiss."
And they fell
to blaming one another:
They said,
"Oh woe
to us! we have indeed transgressed! Haply our Lord will give us in exchange a better garden than this:
verily we crave it of our Lord."
Such hath been our chastisement but heavier shall be the chastisement of the next world.
Ah! did they but know it.
Verily,
for the God-fearing are gardens of delight in the presence of their Lord.
Shall we then deal
with those who have surrendered themselves
to God,
as
with those who offend him?
What hath befallen you that ye thus judge?
Have ye a Scripture wherein ye can search out That ye shall have the things ye choose?
Or have ye received oaths which shall bind Us even until the day of the resurrection,
that ye shall have what yourselves judge right?
Ask them which of them will guarantee this?
Or is it that they have joined gods
with God?
let them produce those associate-gods of theirs,
if they speak truth.
On the day when men's legs shall be bared,6 and they shall be called upon
to bow in adoration,
they shall not be able:
Their looks shall be downcast:
shame shall cover them:
because,
while yet in safety,
they were invited
to bow in worship,
but would not obey.
Leave me alone therefore
with him who chargeth this revelation
with imposture.
We will lead them by degrees
to their ruin;
by ways which they know not;
Yet will I bear long
with them;
for my plan is sure.
Askest thou any recompense from them?
But they are burdened
with debt.
Are the secret things within their ken?
Do they copy them from the Book of God?
Patiently then await the judgment of thy Lord,
and be not like him who was in the fish,7 when in deep distress he cried
to God.
Had not favour from his Lord reached him,
cast forth would he have been on the naked shore,
overwhelmed
with shame:
But his Lord chose him and made him of the just.
Almost would the infidels strike thee down
with their very looks when they hear the warning of the Koran.
And they say,
"He is certainly possessed."
Yet is it nothing less than a warning
for all creatures.
_______________________ 1 It has been conjectured that as the word Nun means fish,
there may be a reference
to the fish which swallowed Jonas
(v.
48).
The fact,
however,
is that the meaning of this and of the similar symbols,
throughout the Koran,
was unknown
to the Muhammadans themselves even in the first century.
Possibly the letters Ha,
Mim,
which are prefixed
to numerous successive Suras were private marks,
or initial letters,
attached by their proprietor
to the copies furnished
to Said when effecting his recension of the text under Othman.
In the same way,
the letters prefixed
to other Suras may be monograms,
or abbreviations,
or initial letters of the names of the persons
to whom the copies of the respective Suras belonged.
2 This Sura has been supposed by ancient Muslim authorities
to be,
if not the oldest,
the second revelation,
and
to have followed Sura xcvi.
But this opinion probably originated from the expression in v.
1 compared
with Sura xcvi.
4.
Verses 17-33 read like a later addition,
and this passage,
as well as verse 48-50,
has been classed
with the Medina revelations.
In the absence of any reliable criterion
for fixing the date,
I have placed this Sura
with those which detail the opposition encountered by the Prophet at Mecca.
3 By djinn.
Comp.
Sur.
xxxiv.
45.
4 In bearing the taunts of the unbelievers
with patience.
5 They did not add the restriction,
if God will.
6 An expression implying a grievous calamity;
borrowed probably from the action of stripping previous
to wrestling,
swimming,
etc.
7 Lit.
the companion of the fish.
Comp.
on Jonah Sura xxxvii.
139-148,
and Sura xxi.
87.
SURA XC.
THE SOIL [XVIII.] MECCA.
20 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful I NEED not
to swear by this SOIL,
This soil on which thou dost dwell,
Or by sire and offspring!1 Surely in trouble have we created man.
What! thinketh he that no one hath power over him?
"I have wasted,"
saith he,
"enormous riches!"
What! thinketh he that no one regardeth him?
What! have we not made him eyes,
And tongue,
and lips,
And guided him
to the two highways?2 Yet he attempted not the steep.
And who shall teach thee what the steep is?
It is
to ransom the captive,3 Or
to feed in the day of famine,
The orphan who is near of kin,
or the poor that lieth in the dust;
Beside this,
to be of those who believe,
and enjoin stedfastness on each other,
and enjoin compassion on each other.
These shall be the people of the right hand:
While they who disbelieve our signs,
Shall be the people of the left.
Around them the fire shall close.
_______________________ 1 Lit.
and begetter and what he hath begotten.
2 Of good and evil.
3 Thus we read in Hilchoth Matt'noth Aniim,
c.
8,
"The ransoming of captives takes precedence of the feeding and clothing of the poor,
and there is no commandment so great as this."
SURA CV.
THE ELEPHANT [XIX.] MECCA.
5 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful HAST thou not seen1 how thy Lord dealt
with the army of the ELEPHANT?
Did he not cause their stratagem
to miscarry?
And he sent against them birds in flocks
(ababils),
Claystones did they hurl down upon them,
And he made them like stubble eaten down! _______________________ 1 This Sura is probably Muhammad's appeal
to the Meccans,
intended at the same time
for his own encouragement,
on the ground of their deliverance from the army of Abraha,
the Christian King of Abyssinia and Arabia Felix,
said
to have been lost in the year of Muhammad's birth in an expedition against Mecca
for the purpose of destroying the Caaba.
This army was cut off by small-pox
(Wakidi;
Hishami),
and there is no doubt,
as the Arabic word
for small-pox also means
"small stones,"
in reference
to the hard gravelly feeling of the pustules,
what is the true interpretation of the fourth line of this Sura,
which,
like many other poetical passages in the Koran,
has formed the starting point
for the most puerile and extravagant legends.
Vide Gibbon's Decline and Fall,
c.
1.
The small-pox first shewed itself in Arabia at the time of the invasion by Abraha.
M.
de Hammer Gemaldesaal,
i.
24.
Reiske opusc.
Med.
Arabum.
Hal',
1776,
p.
8.
SURA CVI.
THE KOREISCH [XX.] MECCA.
4 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful
for the union of the KOREISCH:
Their union in equipping caravans winter and summer.
And let them worship the Lord of this house,
who hath provided them
with food against hunger,
And secured them against alarm.1 _______________________ 1 In allusion
to the ancient inviolability of the Haram,
or precinct round Mecca.
See Sura,
xcv.
n.
p.
41.
This Sura,
therefore,
like the preceding,
is a brief appeal
to the Meccans on the ground of their peculiar privileges.
SURA XCVII.
POWER [XXI.] MECCA.
5 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful VERILY,
we have caused It1
to descend on the night of POWER.
And who shall teach thee what the night of power is?
The night of power excelleth a thousand months:
Therein descend the angels and the spirit by permission of their Lord
for every matter;2 And all is peace till the breaking of the morn.
_______________________ 1 The Koran,
which is now pressed on the Meccans
with increased prominence,
as will be seen in many succeeding Suras of this period.
2 The night of Al Kadr is one of the last ten nights of Ramadhan,
and as is commonly believed the seventh of those nights reckoning backward.
See Sura xliv.
2.
"Three books are opened on the New Year's Day,
one of the perfectly righteous,
one of the perfectly wicked,
one of the intermediate.
The perfectly righteous are inscribed and sealed
for life,"
etc.
Bab.
Talm.
Rosh.
Hash.,
1.
SURA LXXXVI.
THE NIGHT-COMER [XXII.] MECCA.
17 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful BY the heaven,
and by the NIGHT-COMER! But who shall teach thee what the night-comer is?
'Tis the star of piercing radiance.
Over every soul is set a guardian.
Let man then reflect out of what he was created.
He was created of the poured-forth germs,
Which issue from the loins and breastbones:
Well able then is God
to restore him
to life,
On the day when all secrets shall be searched out,
And he shall have no other might or helper.
I swear by the heaven which accomplisheth its cycle,
And by the earth which openeth her bosom,
That this Koran is a discriminating discourse,
And that it is not frivolous.
They plot a plot against thee,
And I will plot a plot against them.
Deal calmly therefore
with the infidels;
leave them awhile alone.
SURA XCI.
THE SUN [XXIII.] MECCA.
15 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful BY the SUN and his noonday brightness! By the Moon when she followeth him! By the Day when it revealeth his glory! By the Night when it enshroudeth him! By the Heaven and Him who built it! By the Earth and Him who spread it forth! By a Soul and Him who balanced it,
And breathed into it its wickedness and its piety,
Blessed now is he who hath kept it pure,
And undone is he who hath corrupted it! Themoud1 in his impiety rejected the message of the Lord,
When the greatest wretch among them rushed up:
Said the Apostle of God
to them,
"The Camel of God! let her drink."
But they treated him as an impostor and hamstrung her.
So their Lord destroyed them
for their crime,
and visited all alike:
Nor feared he the issue.
_______________________ 1 See Sura vii.
33,
for the story of Themoud.
SURA LXXX.
HE FROWNED [XXIV.] MECCA.
42 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful HE FROWNED,
and he turned his back,1 Because the blind man came
to him! But what assured thee that he would not be cleansed by the Faith,
Or be warned,
and the warning profit him?
As
to him who is wealthy
to him thou wast all attention:
Yet is it not thy concern if he be not cleansed:2 But as
to him who cometh
to thee in earnest,
And full of fears Him dost thou neglect.
Nay! but it
(the Koran)
is a warning;
(And whoso is willing beareth it in mind)
Written on honoured pages,
Exalted,
purified,
By the hands of Scribes,
honoured,
righteous.
Cursed be man! What hath made him unbelieving?
Of what thing did God create him?
Out of moist gerMs. 3 He created him and fashioned him,
Then made him an easy passage from the womb,
Then causeth him
to die and burieth him;
Then,
when he pleaseth,
will raise him again
to life.
Aye! but man hath not yet fulfilled the bidding of his Lord.
Let man look at his food:
It was We who rained down the copious rains,
Then cleft the earth
with clefts,
And caused the upgrowth of the grain,
And grapes and healing herbs,
And the olive and the palm,
And enclosed gardens thick
with trees,
And fruits and herbage,
For the service of yourselves and of your cattle.
But when the stunning trumpet-blast shall arrive,4 On that day shall a man fly from his brother,
And his mother and his father,
And his wife and his children;
For every man of them on that day his own concerns shall be enough.
There shall be faces on that day radiant,
Laughing and joyous:
And faces on that day
with dust upon them:
Blackness shall cover them! These are the Infidels,
the Impure.
_______________________ 1 We are told in the traditions,
etc.,
that when engaged in converse
with Walid,
a chief man among the Koreisch,
Muhammad was interrupted by the blind Abdallah Ibn Omm Makt-m,
who asked
to hear the Koran.
The Prophet spoke very roughly
to him at the time,
but afterwards repented,
and treated him ever after
with the greatest respect.
So much so,
that he twice made him Governor of Medina.
2 That is,
if he does not embrace Islam,
and so become pure from sin,
thou wilt not be
to blame;
thou art simply charged
with the delivery of a message of warning.
3 Ex spermate.
4 Descriptions of the Day of Judgment now become very frequent.
See Sura lxxxv.
p.
42,
and almost every Sura
to the lv.,
after which they become gradually more historical.
SURA LXXXVII.
THE MOST HIGH [XXV.] MECCA.
19 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful PRAISE the name of thy Lord THE MOST HIGH,
Who hath created and balanced all things,
Who hath fixed their destinies and guideth them,
Who bringeth forth the pasture,
And reduceth it
to dusky stubble.
We will teach thee
to recite the Koran,
nor aught shalt thou forget,
Save what God pleaseth;
for he knoweth alike things manifest and hidden;
And we will make easy
to thee our easy ways.
Warn,
therefore,
for the warning is profitable:
He that feareth God will receive the warning,
And the most reprobate only will turn aside from it,
Who shall be exposed
to the terrible fire,
In which he shall not die,
and shall not live.
Happy he who is purified by Islam,
And who remembereth the name of his Lord and prayeth.
But ye prefer this present life,
Though the life
to come is better and more enduring.
This truly is in the Books of old,
The Books of Abraham1 and Moses.
_______________________ 1 Thus the Rabbins attribute the Book Jezirah
to Abraham.
See Fabr.
Cod.
Apoc.
V.
T.
p.
349.
SURA XCV.
THE FIG [XXVI.] MECCA.
8 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful I SWEAR by the FIG and by the olive,
By Mount Sinai,
And by this inviolate soil!1 That of goodliest fabric we created man,
Then brought him down
to be the lowest of the low;
Save who believe and do the things that are right,
for theirs shall be a reward that faileth not.
Then,
who after this shall make thee treat the Judgment as a lie?
What! is not God the most just of judges?
_______________________ 1 In allusion
to the sacredness of the territory of Mecca.
This valley in about the fourth century of our
'ra was a kind of sacred forest of 37 miles in circumference,
and called Haram a name applied
to it as early as the time of Pliny
(vi.
32).
It had the privilege of asylum,
but it was not lawful
to inhabit it,
or
to carry on commerce within its limits,
and its religious ceremonies were a bond of union
to several of the Bedouin tribes of the Hejaz.
The Koreisch had monopolised most of the offices and advantages of the Haram in the time of Muhammad.
See Sprenger's Life of Mohammad,
pp.
7 20.
SURA CIII.
THE AFTERNOON [XXVII.] MECCA.
3 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful I SWEAR by the declining day! Verily,
man's lot is cast amid destruction,1 Save those who believe and do the things which be right,
and enjoin truth and enjoin stedfastness on each other.
_______________________ 1 Said
to have been recited in the Mosque shortly before his death by Muhammad.
See Weil,
p.
328.
SURA LXXXV.
THE STARRY [XXVIII.] MECCA.
22 Verses In the Name of God,
the Compassionate,
the Merciful BY the star-bespangled Heaven!1 By the promised Day! By the witness and the witnessed!2 Cursed the masters of the trench3 Of the fuel-fed fire,
When they sat around it Witnesses of what they inflicted on the believers! Nor did they torment them but
for their faith in God,
the Mighty,
the Praiseworthy:4 His the kingdom of the Heavens and of the Earth;
and God is the witness of everything.
Verily,
those who vexed the believers,
men and women,
and repented not,
doth the torment of Hell,
and the torment of the burning,
await.
But
for those who shall have believed and done the things that be right,
are the Gardens beneath whose shades the rivers flow.
This the immense bliss! Verily,
right terrible will be thy Lord's vengeance! He it is who produceth all things,
a