shouldest say thou hast made a division among the children of Israel, and thou hast not observed my saying. (96) Moses said unto al Sámirí, What was thy design, O Sámirí? He answered, I saw that which they saw not; wherefore I took a handful of dust from the footsteps of the messenger of God, and I cast it into the molten calf, for so did my mind direct me. (97) Moses said, Get thee gone, for thy punishment in this life shall be that thou shalt say unto those who shall meet thee, Touch me not; and a threat is denounced against thee of more terrible pains in the life to come, which thou shalt by no means escape. And behold now thy god, to whose worship thou hast continued assiduously devoted; verily we will burn it, and we will reduce it to powder and scatter it in the sea. (98) Your GOD is the true GOD, besides whom there is no other god: he comprehendeth all things by his knowledge. (99) Thus do we recite unto thee, O Muhammad, relations of

(96) Which they saw not, viz., "that the messenger sent to thee from God was a pure spirit, and that his footsteps gave life to whatever they touched, being no other than the Angel Gabriel mounted on the horse of life, and therefore I made use of the dust of his feet to animate the molten calf. It is said al Sámirí knew the angel, because he had saved and taken care of him when a child, and exposed by his mother for fear of Pharaoh."-Sale, Baidhawi, Jaláluddin.

A handful of dust. See note on chap. ii. 50, and above on ver. 91. (97) Thou shalt say .. touch me not. "Lest they infect thee with a burning fever, for that was the consequence of any man's touching him, and the same happened to the persons he touched; for which reason he was obliged to avoid all communication with others, and was also shunned by them, wandering in the desert like a wild beast."-Baidhawi.

"Hence it is concluded that a tribe of Samaritan Jews, said to inhabit a certain isle in the Red Sea, are the descendants of our al Sámirí, because it is their peculiar mark of distinction at this day to use the same words, viz., Lá misás, i.e., 'Touch me not,' to those they meet (vide Geogr. Nub., p. 45). It is not improbable that this story may owe its rise to the known hatred borne by the Samaritans to the Jews, and their superstitious avoiding to have any commerce with them or any other strangers."-Sale.

We will burn it. "Or, as the word may also be translated, 'We will file it down;' but the other is the more received interpretation.” -Sale.

what hath passed heretofore, and we have given thee an admonition from us. (100) He who shall turn aside from it shall surely carry a load of guilt on the day of resurrection: (101) they shall continue thereunder for ever, and a grievous burden shall it be unto them on the day of resurrection. (102) On that day the trumpet shall be sounded, and we will gather the wicked together on that day, having grey eyes. (103) They shall speak with a low voice to one another, saying, Ye have not tarried above ten days. (104) We well know what they will say, when the most conspicuous among them for behaviour shall say, Ye have not tarried above one day.

|| (105) They will ask thee concerning the mountains: R Answer, My LORD will reduce them to dust, and scatter them abroad; (106) and he will leave them a plain equally extended: thou shalt see no part of them higher or lower than another. (107) On that day mankind shall follow the angel who will call them to judgment; none shall have power to turn aside from him; and their voices shall be low before the Merciful; neither shalt thou hear any more than the hollow sound of their feet. (108) On that day, the intercession of none shall be of advantage unto another, except the intercession of him to whom the Merciful shall

(101) A grievous burden. See note on chap. vi. 30.

(102) Grey eyes. "For this with the Arabs is one mark of an enemy, or a person they abominate; to say a man has a black liver (though I think we express our aversion by the term white-livered), reddish whiskers, and grey eyes, being a periphrasis for a foe, and particularly a Greek, which nation were the most inveterate enemies of the Arabs, and have usually hair and eyes of those colours. The original word, however, signifies also those who are squint-eyed, or even blind of a suffusion."-Sale, Baidháwi, Jauhari in Lex.

(103) Ye have not tarried in the grave. See notes on chap. xxiii. 103-115, and x. 46.

(105) See Prelim. Disc., p. 135.

(107) The angel who will call. See Prelim. Disc., p. 120.

(108) Intercession. See notes on chap. ii. 47, vii. 50, and xix. 90. The idea of intercession in the Christian sense is logically inconsistent with Islám. The ground of salvation, according to the Qurán, is the confession of faith in the unity of the Godhead and the apostleship of Muhammad, accompanied by the performance of

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grant permission, and who shall be acceptable unto him. in what he saith. (109) God knoweth that which is before them, and that which is behind them; but they comprehend not the same by their knowledge: (110) and their faces shall be humbled before the living, the self-subsisting God; and he shall be wretched who shall bear his iniquity. (111) But whosoever shall do good works, being a true

the duties of Islám, viz., prayer, fasting at stated periods, giving of legal alms, and performance of pilgrimage to Makkah. The obedience required is outward and formal, and the penalties of transgression are all such as are easily atoned for by repentance (see note, chap. ii. 199), or the pronouncing of the declaration of the divine unity. For a man to be a Muslim is to be sure of final salvation. Purgatorial sufferings are to be endured (according to the teaching of tradition), but these will all be ended before the final day of judgment. On the contrary, all infidels, hypocrites, and apostates are absolutely condemned to eternal suffering. Now, it is difficult to see what end could be served by the intercession of Muhammad in the judgment-day. So far as true Muslims are concerned, they need no intercession. If it is to bestow a higher degree of reward on certain Muslims than on others, as has been claimed by some of my Muhammadan friends, then the reply still remains, that such rewards will be, as they only can be, strictly in accord with divine justice, otherwise God would show partiality.

Again, so far as non-Muslims are concerned, the day of grace is past, and no intercession can avail for them. Besides, I find no hint anywhere in the Qurán that Muhammad is the intercessor of unbelieving sinners. On the contrary, it proves him to be a sinner, needing intercession himself. See chaps. xlvii. 21, xlviii. 2.

We may therefore boldly say to Muslims, that Muhammad's intercession can be of no use to any one. Sinners need an intercessor Now, ere death seals their fate as either infidels or believers. But Muhammad lies in the grave at Madína; the dead cannot hear the cry of the living. Besides, his intercession is limited by this verse and many others of like import to the day of judgment.

Let the Christian therefore confidently hold up Jesus-the ascended, the living, and exalted Jesus-as the only intercessor between God and man. The Qurán and tradition admit that he was the only sinless Prophet; that he was of miraculous birth; that he was taken up to heaven, where he now lives; that he will descend and destroy Dajjál, or Antichrist; and that he will rule over the whole world. Surely, this person, of all the prophets of Islám, is alone qualified for the office of intercessor, even on the showing of Islám itself.

(110) Their faces shall be humbled. "The original word properly expresses the humility and dejected looks of captives in the presence of their conqueror."-Sale.

believer, shall not fear any injustice, or any diminution of his reward from God. (112) And thus have we sent down this book, being a Qurán in the Arabic tongue: and we have inserted various threats and promises therein, that men may fear God, or that it may awaken some consideration in them: (113) wherefore, let GOD be highly exalted, the King, the Truth! Be not over-hasty in receiving or repeating the Qurán before the revelation thereof be completed unto thee; and say, LORD, increase my knowledge. (114) We heretofore gave a command unto Adam; but he forgot the same, and ate of the forbidden fruit; and we found not in him a firm resolution.

|| (115) And remember when we said unto the angels, R Worship ye Adam; and they worshipped him: but Iblís refused. And we said, O Adam, verily this is an enemy unto thee, and thy wife; wherefore, beware lest he turn you out of Paradise; for then shalt thou be miserable. (116) Verily we have made a provision for thee, that thou shalt not hunger therein, neither shalt thou be naked:

(112, 113) "Muhammad is here commanded not to be impatient at any delay in Gabriel's bringing the divine revelations, or not to repeat it too fast after the angel, so as to overtake him before he had finished the passage. But some suppose the prohibition relates to the publishing any verse before the same was perfectly explained to him."-Sale, Baidháwi.

The Tafsir-i-Raufi gives a tradition, on the authority of Hasn Basri, to the effect that a man struck his wife on the cheek, whereupon she ran to Muhammad seeking for revenge. Muhammad desired to avenge her, and accordingly sought for a command (from God) to do so, when this verse was revealed. Such traditions are fatal to the Muslim claim that Muhammad was at all times inspired, and therefore infallible.

(114) He forgot. "Adam's so soon forgetting the divine command has occasioned some Arab etymologists to derive the word Insân, i.e., man, from nasiya, to forget, and has also given rise to the following proverbial saying, Awwalo násin awwalonnási; that is, The first forgetful person was the first of men, alluding to the like sound of the words."-Sale.

This verse is fatal to the Muslim theory of the sinlessness of the prophets.

(115-122) See notes on parallel passages in chap. ii. 34-37, and chap. vii. 11-26.

(117) and there is also a provision made for thee, that thou shalt not thirst therein, neither shalt thou be incommoded by heat. (118) But Satan whispered evil suggestions unto him, saying, O Adam, shall I guide thee to the tree of eternity and a kingdom which faileth not? (119) And they both ate thereof: and their nakedness appeared unto them; and they began to sew together the leaves of Paradise, to cover themselves. And thus Adam became disobedient unto his LORD, and was seduced. (120) Afterwards his LORD accepted him, on his repentance, and was turned unto him, and directed him. And (121) God said, Get ye down hence, all of you: the one of you shall be an enemy unto the other. (122) But hereafter shall a direction come unto you from me: and whosoever shall follow my direction shall not err, neither shall he be unhappy; (123) but whosoever shall turn aside from my admonition, verily he shall lead a miserable life, (124) and we will cause him to appear before us on the day of resurrection blind. (125) And he shall say, O LORD, why hast thou brought me before thee blind, whereas before I saw clearly? (126) God shall answer, Thus have we done, because our signs came unto thee, and thou didst forget them; and in the same manner shalt thou be forgotten this day. (127) And thus will we reward him who shall be negligent, and shall not believe in the signs of his LORD and the punishment of the life to come shall be more severe, and more lasting, than the punishment of this life. (128) Are not the Makkans, therefore, acquainted how many generations we have destroyed before them; in whose dwellings they walk? Verily herein are signs unto those who are endued with understanding. R|| (129) And unless a decree had previously gone forth from thy LORD for their respite, verily their destruction had necessarily followed: but there is a certain time deter

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(124) Blind. See Prelim. Disc., p. 139.

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(128) In whose dwellings they walk. Seeing the footsteps of their destruction; as of the tribes of Ád and Thamud.”—Sale.