her whom thou shalt desire of those whom thou shalt have before rejected: and it shall be no crime in thee. This will be more easy, that they may be entirely content, and may not be grieved, but may be well pleased with what thou shalt give every of them: GOD knoweth whatever is in your hearts; and God is knowing and gracious. It shall not be lawful for tree to take other women to wife hereafter, nor to exchange any of thy wives for them,' although their beauty please thee; except the slaves whom thy right hand shall possess: and GoD observeth all things. O true believers, enter not the houses of the prophet, unless it be permitted you to eat meat with him, without waiting his convenient time; but when ye are invited, then enter. And when ye shall have eaten, disperse yourselves; and stay not to enter into familiar discourse: for this incommodeth the prophet. He is ashamed to bid you depart; but God is not ashamed of the truth. And when ye ask of the prophet's wives what ye may have occasion for, ask it of them from behind a curtain. This will be more pure for your hearts and their hearts. Neither is it fit for you to give any uneasiness to the apostle of GOD, or to marry his wives after him for ever:1 for this would be a grievous thing in the sight of GOD. Whether ye divulge a thing or conceal it, verily God knoweth all things. It shall be no crime in them, as to their fathers, or their sons, or their brothers, or their brothers'

By this passage some farther privileges were granted unto Mohammed; for, whereas oher men are obliged to carry themselves equally towards their wives, in case they had more than one, particularly as to the duties of the marriage bed, to which each has a right to be called in her turn, (which right was acknowledged in the most early ages') and cannot take again a wife whom they have divorced the third time, till she has been married to another and divorced by him, the prophet was left absolutely at liberty to deal with them in these and other respects as he thought fit.

The commentators differ as to the express meaning of these words. Some think Mohammed was thereby forbidden to take any more wives than nine, which number he then had, and is supposed to have been his stint, as four was that of other men; some imagine that after this prohibition, though any of the wives he then had should die, or be divorced, yet he could not marry another in her room; some think he was only forbidden from this time forward to marry any other woman than one of the four sorts mentioned in the preceding passage; and others are of opinion that this verse is abrogated by the two preceding verses, or one of them, and was revealed before them, though it be read after them."

By divorcing her and marrying another. Al Zamakhshari tells us, that some are of opinion this prohibition is to be understood of a particular kind of exchange used among the idolatrous Arabs, whereby two men made a mutual exchange of their wives, without any other formality.

That is, Let there be a curtain drawn between you, or let them be veiled, while ye talk with them. As the design of the former precept was to prevent- the impertinence of troublesome visitors, the design of this was to guard against too near an intercourse or familiarity between his wives and his followers; and was occasioned, it is said, by the hand of one of his companions accidentally touching that of Ayesha, which gave the prophet some uneasiness.

i. e. Either such as he shall divorce in his lifetime, or his widows after his death. This was another privilege peculiar to the prophet.

It is related, that in the Khalifat of Omar, Ashath Ebn Kais married the woman whom Mohammed had dismissed without consummating his marriage with her; upon which the Khalif at first was thinking to stone her, but afterwards changed his mind, on its being represented to him that this prohibition related only to such women to whom the prophet had gone in.'

See Gen. xxx. 14, &c.

Al

See chap. 2, p. 26. 2 Al Zamakh., al Beidâwi, Jallalo'ddin, &c. Al Beidâwi.

See Kor. chap. 4, p. 59, &c. 'As Abu'l Kasem Hebatallah. Beidâ wi. 'See before, p. 348, note e.

sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves which their right hands possess, if they speak to them unveiled:" and fear ye GoD;" for GOD is witness of all things. Verily GOD and his angels bless the prophet. O true believers, do ye also bless him, and salute him with a respectful salutation. As to those who offend GoD and his apostle, GoD shall curse them in this world and in the next; and he hath prepared for them a shameful punishment. And they who shall injure the true believers of either sex, without their deserving it, shall surely bear the guilt of calumny and a manifest injustice. O prophet, speak unto thy wives, and thy daughters, and the wives of the true believers, that they cast their outer garments over them when they walk abroad; this will be more proper, that they may be known to be matrons of reputation, and may not be affronted by unseemly words or actions. GOD is gracious and merciful. Verily if the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is an infirmity, and they who raise disturbances in Medina, do not desist, we will surely stir thee up against them, to chastise them: henceforth they shall not be suffered to dwell near thee therein, except for a little time, and being accursed; wherever they are found they shall be taken, and killed with a general slaughter, according to the sentence of GoD concerning those who have been before; and thou shalt not find any change in the sentence of GOD. Men will ask thee concerning the approach of the last hour; answer, Verily the knowledge thereof is with GoD alone; and he will not inform thee: peradventure the hour is nigh at hand. Verily God hath cursed the infidels, and hath prepared for them a fierce fire, wherein they shall remain for ever: they shall find no patron or defender. On the day whereon their faces shall be rolled in hell fire, they shall say, O that we had obeyed GOD, and had obeyed his apostle! And they shall say, O LORD, verily we have obeyed our lords, and our great men; and they have seduced us from the right way. O LORD, give them the double of our punishment; and curse them with a heavy curse! O true believers, be not as those who injured Moses; but GOD cleared him from the scandal which they had spoken concerning him;'

n

See chap. 24, p. 290.

The words are directed to the prophet's wives..

Hence the Mohammedans seldom mention his name without adding, On whom be the blessing of God, and peace! or the like words.

This verse was revealed, according to some, on occasion of certain hypocrites who had slandered Ali; or, according to others, on occasion of those who falsely accused Ayesha, &c.

The original word properly signifies the large wrappers, usually of white linen, with which the women of the East cover themselves from head to foot when they go abroad.

:

The commentators are not agreed what this injury was. Some say that Moses using to wash himself apart, certain malicious people gave out that he had a rupture (or, say others, that he was a leper, or an hermaphrodite), and for that reason was ashamed to wash with them but God cleared him from this aspersion, by causing the stone on which he had aid his clothes while he washed to run away with them into the camp, whither Moses fol'owed it naked: and by that means the Israelites, in the inidst of whom he was gotten ere he was aware, plainly perceived the falsehood of the report. Others suppose Karun's accusation of Moses is here intended,' or else the suspicion of Aaron's murder, which was

• See chap. 24.

See chap. 28, p. 323.

nd he was of great consideration in the sight of GOD. O true believers, fear GOD, and speak words well directed; that God may correct your works for you, and may forgive you your sins: and whoever shall obey God and his apostle shall enjoy great felicity. We proposed the faith unto the heavens, and the earth, and the mountains: and they refused to undertake the same, and were afraid thereof; but man undertook it: verily he was unjust to himself, and foolish;† that God may punish the hypocritical men, and the hypocritical women, and the idolaters, and the idolatresses; nd that God may be turned unto the true believers, both men and women; for God is gracious and merciful.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

INTITLED, SABA; REVEALED AT MECCA.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

PRAISE be unto God, unto whom belongeth whatever is in the heavens and on earth and unto him be praise in the world to come; for he is wise and intelligent. He knoweth whatsoever entereth into the earth, and

cast on Moses because he was with him when he died on mount Hor; of which latter he was justified by the angels bringing his body and exposing it to public view, or, say some, by the testimony of Aaron himself, who was raised to life for that purpose.

The passage is said to have been occasioned by some reflections which were cast on Mohammed, on his dividing certain spoils; and that when they came to his ear, he said, God be merciful unto my brother Moses: he was wronged more than this, and bore it with patience."

Some copies for inda read abda, according to which the words should be translated, And he was an illustrious servant of God.

t

"O believers, fear the Lord. Let truth govern your speech."-Savary.

By faith is here understood entire obedience to the law of God, which is represented to be of so high concern (no less than eternal happiness or misery depending on the observance or neglect thereof), and so difficult in the performance, that if God should propose the same, on the conditions annexed, to the vaster parts of the creation, and they had understanding to comprehend the offer, they would decline it, and not dare to take on them a duty, the failing wherein must be attended with so terrible a consequence; and yet man is said to have undertaken it, notwithstanding his weakness and the infirmities of his nature. Some imagine this proposal is not hypothetical, but was actually made to the heavens, earth, and mountains, which at their first creation were endued with reason, and that God told them he had made a law, and had created paradise for the recompense of such as were obedient to it, and hell for the punishment of the disobedient; to which they answered, they were content to be obliged to perform the services for which they were created, but would not undertake to fulfil the divine law on those conditions, and therefore desired neither reward nor punishment; they add, that when Adam was created, the same offer was made him, and he accepted it. The commentators have other explications of this passage, which it would be too prolix to transcribe.

"They dared not to receive it. They trembled to bear this holy burden. Man received it, and he hath become unjust and foolish."-Savary.

Unjust to himself, in not fulfilling his engagements and obeying the law he had ccepted; and foolish, in not considering the consequence of his disobedience and neglect. Mention is made of the people of Saba in the fifteenth verse.

As the rain, hidden treasures, the dead, &c.

Jallalo'ddin, al Beidâwi.

• Al Bokhari.

'Jallalo'ddin, al Beidâwi.

whatsoever cometh out of the same, and whatsoever descendeth from heaven, and whatsoever ascendeth thereto : and he is merciful and ready to forgive. The unbelievers say, The hour of judgment will not come unto us. Answer, Yea, by my LORD, it will surely come unto you; it is he who knoweth the hidden secret: the weight of an ant, either in heaven or in earth, is not absent from him, nor any thing lesser than this or greater, but the same is written in the perspicuous book of his decrees; that he may recompense those who shall have believed, and wrought righteousness: they shall receive pardon, and an honourable provision. But they who endeavour to render our signs of none effect shall receive a punishment of painful torment. Those unto whom knowledge hath been given, see that the book which hath been revealed unto thee from thy LORD is the truth, and directeth into the glorious and laudable way. The unbelievers say to one another, Shall we show you a man who shall prophesy unto you, that when ye shall have been dispersed with a total dispersion, ye shall be raised a new creature? He hath forged a lie concerning GOD, or rather he is distracted. But they who believe not in the life to come shall fall into punishment and a wide error. Have they not therefore considered what is before them, and what is behind them, of the heaven and the earth? If we please, we wil' cause the earth to open and swallow them up, or will cause a piece of the heaven to fall upon them :* verily herein is a sign unto every servant, who turneth unto God. We heretofore bestowed on David excellence from us : and we said, O mountains, sing alternate praises with him; and we obliged the birds also to join therein. And we softened the iron for him, saying, Make thereof complete coats of mail, and rightly dispose the small plates which compose the same: and work ye righteousness, O family of David; for I see that which ye do. And we made the wind subject unto Solomon: it blew in the morning for a month, and in the evening for a month. And we made a fountain of molten brass to flow for him. And some of the genii were obliged to work in his presence, by the will of his LORD; and whoever of them turned aside from our command, we will cause him to taste the pain of hell fire. They made for him whatever he pleased of palaces, and statues,' and large dishes like fish-ponds, and caldrons standing firm on

As animals, plants, metals, spring water, &c.

As the angels, scriptures, decrees of God, rain, thunder and lightning, &c.

As the angels, men's works, vapours, smoke, &c."

"Have they raised their looks towards the firmament? Have they cast them down upon the earth? Who can prevent us from opening an abyss under their feet, or from causing a part of heaven to fall upon their heads ?"-Savary.

See chap. 21, p. 270.

See ibid. p. 270.

"We taught unto him the art of softening iron, and of making coats of mail thereof." -Savary.

See chap. 21, and chap. 27, p. 310.

This fountain they say was in Yaman, and flowed three days in a month.

Or, as some expound the words, We caused him to taste the pain of burning; by which

they understand the correction the disobedient genii received at the hands of the angel set over them, who whipped them with a whip of fire.

Some suppose these were images of the angels and prophets, and that the making

their trevets; and we said, Work righteousness, O family of David, with thanksgiving; for few of my servants are thankful. And when we had decreed that Solomon should die, nothing discovered his death unto them, except the creeping thing of the earth, which gnawed his staff. And when his body fell down, the genii plainly perceived that if they had known that which is secret, they had not continned in a vile punishment. The descendants of Saba' had heretofore a sign in their dwelling; namely, two gardens on the right hand and on the left, and it was said unto them, Eat ye of the provision of your LORD, and give thanks unto him; ye have a good country, and a gracious LORD. But they turned aside from what we had commanded them; wherefore we sent against them the inundation of al Arem," and we changed their two gardens for them into two gardens

of them was not then forbidden; or else that they were not such images as were forbidden by the law. Some say these spirits made him two lions, which were placed at the foot of his throne, and two eagles, which were set above it; and that when he mounted it the lions stretched out their paws, and when he sat down the eagles shaded him with their wings.

Being so monstrously large that a thousand men might eat out of each of them at

once.

h These caldrons, they say, were cut out of the mountains of Yaman, and were so vastly big that they could not be moved; and the people went up to them by steps.'

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

Possibly this fable of the temple's being built by genií, and not by men, might take its rise from what is mentioned in scripture, that the house was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was building: the Rabbins indeed tell us of a worm, which might assist the workmen, its virtue being such as to cause the rocks and stones to fly in sunder.' Whether the worm which gnawed Solomon's staff were of the same breed with this other, I know not; but the story has perfectly the air of a Jewish invention.

* i. e. They had not continued in servile subjection to the command of Solomon, nor had gone on with the work of the temple.

Saba was the son of Yashhab, the son of Yárab, the son of Khatân, whose posterity dwelt in Yaman, in the city of Mâreb, called also Saba, about three days' journey from Sanaa.

That is, two tracts of land, one on this side their city, and the other on that, planted with trees, and made into gardens, which lay so thick and close together, that each tract seemed to be one continued garden: or, it may be, every house had a garden on each hand of it.'

*"The inhabitants of Saba possessed two gardens, which were traversed by a brook." -Savary.

The commentators set down several significations of the word al Arem, which are scarce worth mentioning: it most properly signifies mounds or dams for the stopping or containing of water, and is here used for that stupendous mound or building which formed the vast reservoir above the city of Saba, described in another place, and which, for the great impiety, pride, and insolence of the inhabitants, was broken down in the night by a mighty flood, and occasioned a terrible destruction. Al Beidawi supposes this mound was the work of queen Balkîs, and that the above-mentioned catastrophe hippened after the time of Jesus Christ; wherein he seems to be mistaken.

Al Beidâwi, Jallalo'ddin. * Jallalo'ddin. 6 Al Beidâwi, Jallalo'ddin. 1 King • Vide Kimchi, in loc. Buxt. Lex. Talm. p. 2456, et Schickardi Tarich Reg. 1 Al Beidâwi. See the Prelim. Disc. sect. i. p. 7. * See ibid.

v. 7.
Pers. p. 62.