thereof shall be borne by the person who shall be called on, although he be ever so nearly related. Thou shalt admonish those who fear their LORD in secret and are constant at prayer: and whoever cleanseth himself from the guilt of disobedience, cleanseth himself to the advantage of his own soul; for all shall be assembled before God at the last day. The blind and the seeing shall not be held equal; neither darkness and light; nor the cool shade and the scorching wind: neither shall the living and the dead be held equal." GOD shall cause him to hear whom he pleaseth: but thou shalt not make those to hear who are in their graves. Thou art no other than a preacher : verily we have sent thee with truth, a bearer of good tidings, and a denouncer of threats. There hath been no nation, but a preacher hath in past times been conversant among them: if they charge thee with imposture, they who were before them likewise charged their apostles with imposture. Their apostles came unto them with evident miracles, and with divine writings, and with the enlightening book: afterwards I chastised those who were unbelievers; and how severe was my vengeance! Dost thou not see that GOD sendeth down rain from heaven, and that we thereby produce fruits of various colours? In the mountains also there are some tracts white and red, of various colours; and others are of a deep black:* and of men, and beasts, and cattle there are whose colours are in like manner various. Such only of his servants fear GoD as are endued with understanding: verily GoD is mighty and ready to forgive. Verily they who read the book of GOD, and are constant at prayer, and give alms out of what we have bestowed on them, both in secret and openly, hope for a merchandize which shall not perish: that God may fully pay them their wages, and make them a superabundant addition of his liberality; for he is ready to forgive the faults of his servants, and to requite their endeavours. That which we have revealed unto thee of the book of the Koran is the truth, confirming the scriptures which were revealed before it for God knoweth and regardeth his servants. And we have given the book of the Korân in heritage unto such of our servants as we have chosen of them there is one who injureth his own soul; and there is another of them who keepeth the middle way; and there is another of them who outstrippeth others in good works, by the permission of GOD. This is the great excellence. They shall be introduced into gardens of perpetual abode; they shall be adorned therein with bracelets of gold and

This passage expresses the great difference between a true believer and an infidel, truth and vanity, and their future reward and punishment.

i. e. Those who obstinately persist in their unbelief, who are compared to the dead. As the volumes delivered to Abraham, and to other prophets before Moses.

viz. The Law, or the Gospel.

That is, of different kinds. See chap. 16, p. 215.

Being more or less intense."

"The paths of the mountains are red, white, or of various colours. The raven is black."-Savary.

By not practising what he is taught and commanded in the Korán.

That is, Who meaneth well, and performeth his duty for the most part, but not perfectly.

• Al Beidâwi.

pearls, and their clothing therein shall be of silk: and they shall say, Praise be unto God, who hath taken away sorrow from us! verily, our LORD is ready to forgive the sinners, and to reward the obedient: who hath caused us to take up our rest in a dwelling of eternal stability, through his bounty, wherein no labour shall touch us, neither shall any weariness affect us. But for the unbelievers is prepared the fire of hell: it shall not be decreed them to die a second time; neither shall any part of the punishment thereof be made lighter unto them. Thus shall every infidel be rewarded. And they shall cry out aloud in hell, saying, LORD, take us hence, and we will work righteousness, and not what we have formerly wrought. But it shall be answered them, Did we not grant you lives of length sufficient, that whoever would be warned might be warned therein; and did not the preacher come unto you? taste therefore the pains of hell. And the unjust shall have no protector. Verily God knoweth the secrets both of heaven and earth, for he knoweth the innermost parts of the breasts of men. It is he who hath made you to succeed in the earth.* Whoever shall disbelieve, on him be his unbelief; and their unbelief shall only gain the unbelievers greater indignation in the sight of their LORD; and their unbelief shall only increase the perdition of the unbelievers. Say, What think ye of your deities which ye invoke besides GOD? Show me what part of the earth they have created. Or had they any share in the creation of the heavens? Have we given unto the idolaters any book of revelations, so that they may rely on any proof therefrom to authorize their practice? Nay; but the ungodly make unto one another only deceitful promises. Verily GoD sustaineth the heavens and the earth, lest they fail and if they should fail, none could support the same besides him; he is gracious and merciful. The Koreish swore by GoD, with a most solemn oath, that if a preacher had come unto them, they would surely have been more willingly directed than any nation but now a preacher is come unto them, it hath only increased in them their aversion from the truth, their arrogance in the earth, and their contriving of evil; but the contrivance of evil shall only encompass the authors thereof. Do they expect any other than the punishment awarded against the unbelievers of former times? For thou shalt not find any change in the ordinance of GOD; neither shalt thou find any variation in the ordinance of GOD. Have they not gone through the earth, and seen what hath been the end of those who were before them; although they were more mighty in strength than they? GoD is not to be frustrated by any thing either in heaven or on earth; for he is wise and powerful. If God should punish men according to what they deserve, he would not leave on the back of the earth so much as a beast: but he respiteth them to a determined time; and when their time shall come, verily God will regard his servants.

viz. Mohammed.

"He hath established you on the ruins of the past generations."-Savary.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

INTITLED, Y. S.; REVEALED AT MECCA.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

Y. S. I swear by the instructive Korân, that thou art one of the messengers of God, sent to show the right way. This is a revelation of the most mighty, the merciful God: that thou mayest warn a people whose fathers were not warned, and who live in negligence. Our sentence hath justly been pronounced against the greater part of them; wherefore they shall not believe. We have put yokes on their necks, which come up to their chins; and they are forced to hold up their heads;* and we have set a bar before them, and a bar behind them; and we have covered them with darkness; wherefore they shall not see. It shall be equal unto them whether thou preach unto them, or do not preach unto them; they shall not believe. But thou shalt preach with effect unto him only who followeth the admonition of the Korán, and feareth the Merciful in secret. Wherefore bear good tidings unto him, of mercy, and an honourable reward. Verily we will restore the dead to life, and will write down their works which they shall have sent before them, and their footsteps which they shall have left behind them and every thing do we set down in a plain register. Propound unto them as an example the inhabitants of the city of Antioch, when the apostles of Jesus came thereto : when we sent unto

The meaning of these letters is unknown: some, however, from a tradition of Ebn Abbas, pretend they stand for Ya insan, i. e. O man. This chapter, it is said, had several other titles given it by Mohammed himself, and particularly that of The heart of the Korân. The Mohammedans read it to dying persons in their last agony."

viz. The sentence of damnation, which God pronounced against the greater part of genii and men, at the fall of Adam.'

Or collars, such as are described p. 200, note o.

"The most part of them will verify our predictions, because that they are unbelievers. We have loaded their necks with long and heavy chains. In vain would they raise up their heads."-Savary.

That is, We have placed obstacles to prevent their looking either forwards or backwards. The whole passage represents the blindness and invincible obstinacy, with which God justly curses perverse and reprobate men.

It is said that when the Koreish, in pursuance of a resolution they had taken, had sent a select number to beset Mohammed's house, and to kill him,' the prophet, having caused Ali to lie down on his bed to deceive the assassins, went out and threw a handful of dust at them, repeating the nine first verses of this chapter, which end here; and that they were thereupon stricken with blindness, so that they could not see him.2

As their good or evil example, doctrine, &c.

To explain this passage, the commentators tell the following story.

The people of Antioch being idolaters, Jesus sent two of his disciples thither to preach to them: and when they drew near the city, they found Habib surnamed al Najjar, or the carpenter, feeding sheep, and acquainted him with their errand: whereupon he asked them what proof they had of their veracity, and they told him they could cure the sick, and the blind, and the lepers; and to demonstrate the truth of what they said, they laid their hands on a child of his who was sick, and immediately restored him to health. Habîb was convinced by this miracle, and believed; after which they went into the city and preached the worship of one true God, curing a great number of people of several infirmities: but Vide Bobov. De visit. ægrot. n. 17. See the Prelim. Disc. p. 35. ide

See the Prelim. Disc. sect. 3, p. 42, &c. See chap. 7, p. 117, chap. 11, p. 186, &c. Abulf. Vit. Moh. p. 50.

them two of the said apostles; but they charged them with imposture. Wherefore we strengthened them with a third. And they said, Verily we are sent unto you by God. The inhabitants answered, Ye are no other than men, as we are; neither hath the Merciful revealed any thing unto you : ye only publish a lie. The apostles replied, Our LORD knoweth that wo are really sent unto you and our duty is only public preaching. Those of Antioch said, Verily we presage evil from you: if ye desist not from preaching, we will surely stone you, and a painful punishment shall be inflicted on you by us. The apostles answered, Your evil presage is with yourselves although ye be warned,* will ye persist in your errors? Verily ye are a people who transgress exceedingly. And a certain man' came hastily from the farther parts of the city, and said, O my people, follow the messengers of God; follow him who demandeth not any reward of you for these are rightly directed. *[XXIII.] What reason have I that I should not worship him who hath created me? for unto him shall ye return. Shall I take other gods besides him? If the Merciful be pleased to afflict me, their intercession will not avail me at all, neither can they deliver me then should I be in a manifest error. Verily I believe in your LORD; wherefore hearken unto me. But they stoned him and as he died, it was said unto him, Enter thou into paradise. And he said, O that my people knew how merciful God hath been unto me! for he hath highly honoured me. And we sent not down against his people, after they had slain him, an army from heaven, nor the other instruments of destruction which we sent down on unbelievers in former days: there was only one

at length, the affair coming to the prince's ear, he ordered them to be imprisoned, for endeavouring to seduce the people. When Jesus heard of this, he sent another of his disciples, generally supposed to have been Simon Peter; who coming to Antioch, and appearing as a zealous idolater, soon insinuated himself into the favour of the inhabitants and of their prince, and at length took an opportunity to desire the prince would order the two persons, who, as he was informed, had been put in prison for broaching new opinions, to be brought before him to be examined; and accordingly they were brought: when Peter, having previously warned them to take no notice that they knew him, asked them who sent them; to which they answered, God who had created all things, and had no companion: he then required some convincing proof of their mission, upon which they restored a blind person to his sight, and performed some other miracles, with which Peter seemed not to be satisfied, for that, according to some, he did the very same miracles himself, but declared that if their God could enable them to raise the dead, he would believe them; which condition the apostles accepting, a lad was brought who had been dead seven days, and at their prayers he was raised to life, and thereupon Peter acknowledged himself convinced, and ran and demolished the idols, a great many of the people following him, and embracing the true faith; but those who believed not were destroyed by the cry of the angel Gabriel."

Some say these two were John and Paul; but others name different persons.

1 viz. Simon Peter.

i. e. If any evil befall you, it will be the consequence of your own obstinacy and unbelief. See chap. 27, p. 313, note p.

Suspend your presage; when ye shall have listened to our doctrine, perchance ye will renounce your evil doings."-Savary.

This was Habîb al Najjar, whose martyrdom is here described: his tomb is still shown near Antioch, and is much visited by the Mohammedans.*

As a deluge, or a shower of stones, or a suffocating wind, &c. The words may also be translated, Nor did we determine to send down such executioners of our justice.

Al Zamakh., al Beidâwi, &c. Vide etiam Marracc. in Alc. p. 580. • Vide Schultens, Indic. Geogr. ad calcem Vitæ Saladini, voce Antiochia.

ery of Gabriel from heaven, and behold, they became utterly extinct. O the misery of men! No apostle cometh unto them, but they laugh him to scorn. Do they not consider how many generations we have destroyed before them? Verily they shall not return unto them: but all of them in general shall be assembled before us. One sign of the resurrection unto them is the dead earth: we quicken the same by the rain, and produce thereout various sorts of grain, of which they eat. And we make therein gardens of palm-trees, and vines; and we cause springs to gush forth in the same that they may eat of the fruits thereof, and of the labour of their hands. Will they not therefore give thanks? Praise be unto him who hath created all the different kinds, both of vegetables, which the earth bringeth forth, and of their own species, by forming the two sexes, and also the various sorts of things which they know not. The night also is a sign unto them: we withdraw the day from the same, and behold, they are covered with darkness and the sun hasteneth to his place of rest. This is the disposition of the mighty, the wise God. And for the moon have we appointed certain mansions, until she change and return to be like the old branch of a palm-tree.* It is not expedient that the sun should overtake the moon in her course: neither doth the night outstrip the day: but each of these luminaries moveth in a peculiar orbit. It is a sign also unto them, that they carry their offspring in the ship filled with merchandize; and that we have made for them other conveniences like unto it, whereon they ride. If we please, we drown them, and there is none to help them; neither are they delivered, unless through our mercy, and that they may enjoy life for a season. When it is said unto them, Fear that which is before you, and that which is behind you, that ye may obtain mercy: they withdraw from thee: and thou dost not bring them one sign, of the signs of their LORD, but they turn aside from the same. And when it is said unto them, Give alms of that which God hath bestowed on you; the unbelievers say unto those who believe, by way of mockery, Shall we feed him whom GOD can feed, if he pleaseth?" Verily ye are in no other than a manifest

See chap. 29, p. 326, note m.

That is, he hasteneth to run his daily course: the setting of the sun resembling a traveller's going to rest. Some copies vary in this place, and instead of limostakarrin laha, read la mostakarra laha; according to which the sentence should be rendered, The sun runneth his course without ceasing, and hath not a place of rest.

P viz. These are twenty-eight constellations, through one of which the moon passes every night, thence called the mansion's or houses of the moon.

"We have appointed the phases of the moon, and the moment at which she appeareth suspended like the clusters of the date-tree."-Savary.

For when a palm-branch grows old, it shrinks, and becomes crooked and yellow, not

ill representing the appearance of the new moon.

Some suppose that the deliverance of Noah and his companions, in the ark, is here intended: and then the words should be translated, That we carried their progeny in the ark filled with living creatures. (Savary adopts this reading.)

As camels, which are the land-ships; of lesser vessels and boats.

ti. e. The punishment of this world and of the next.

"When the poor Moslems asked alms of the richer Koreish, they told them that if God

See the Prelim. Disc. sect. i, p. 22.

"The date-tree produces two or three large clusters, which spring from its summit, and are suspended around."-Savary.