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believe! Neither is it the discourse of a soothsayer: how little are ye admonished! It is a revelation from the LORD of all creatures. If Mohammed had forged any part of these discourses concerning us, verily we had taken him by the right hand, and had cut in sunder the vein of his heart; neither would we have withheld any of you from chastising him. And verily this book is an admonition unto the pious; and we well know that there are some of you who charge the same with imposture: but it shall surely be an occasion of grievous sighing unto the infidels; for it is the truth of a certainty. Wherefore praise the name of thy LORD, the great God.

CHAPTER LXX.

INTITLED, THE STEPS; REVEALED AT MECCA.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

ONE demanded and called for vengeance to fall on the unbelievers: P† there shall be none to avert the same from being inflicted by GoD, the possessor of the steps: by which the angels ascend unto him, and the spirit Gabriel also, in a day whose space is fifty thousand years: wherefore bear

*"We should have seized him on the spot, and should have cut the vein of the heart. No one should have had the power to suspend our vengeance."-Savary.

The person here meant is generally supposed to have been al Nodar Ebn al Hareth, who said, O God, if what Mohammed preaches be the truth from thee, rain down upon us a shower of stones, or send some dreadful judgment to punish us. Others, however, think it was Abu Jahl, who challenged Mohammed to cause a fragment of heaven to fall on them."

"The prophet hath been questioned concerning the punishments which are to come." -Savary.

By which prayers and righteous actions ascend to heaven; or by which the angels ascend to receive the divine commands, or the believers will ascend to paradise. Some understand thereby the different orders of angels; or the heavens, which rise gradually one above another.

This is supposed to be the space which would be required for their ascent from the lowest part of the creation to the throne of God, if it were to be measured; or the time which it would take a man to perform a journey: and this is not contradictory to what is said elsewhere; (if it be to be interpreted of the ascent of the angels) that the length of the day whereon they ascend is 1000 years; because that is meant only of their ascent from earth to the lower heaven, including also the time of their descent.

But the commentators generally, taking the day spoken of in both these passages to be the day of judgment, have recourse to several expedients to reconcile them, some of which we have mentioned in another place and as both passages seem to contradict what Mohammedan doctors teach, that God will judge all creatures in the space of half a day,' they suppose those large numbers of years are designed to express the time of the previous attendance of those who are to be judged; or else to the space wherein God will judge the unbelieving nations, of which, they say, there will be fifty, the trial of each nation taking up 1000 years, though that of the true believers will be over in the short space above-mentioned.

"God is the author of them. He possesseth the celestial steps. By them the angels and Gabriel will ascend towards his throne on the day of judgment, the duration of which shall be fifty thousand years."-Savary.

Al Zamakh., al Beidâwi.

• Prelim. Disc. sect. 4, p. 60.

Al Zamakh.

• Al Beidâwi.
See ibid. p. 63.

Chap. 32, p. 339. See ibid. p. 61, 62.

the insults of the Meccans with becoming patience; for they see their punishment afar off, but we see it nigh at hand. On a certain day the heaven shall become like molten brass, and the mountains like wool of various colours, scattered abroad by the wind: and a friend shall not ask a friend concerning his condition, although they see one another. The wicked shall wish to redeem himself from the punishment of that day, by giving up his children, and his wife, and his brother, and his kindred who showed kindness unto him, and all who are in the earth; and that this might deliver him: by no means: for hell fire, dragging them by their scalps, shall call him who shall have turned his back, and fled from the faith, and shall have amassed riches, and covetously hoarded them. Verily man is created extremely impatient: when evil toucheth him, he is full of complaint; but when good befalleth him, he becometh niggardly: except those who are devoutly given, and who persevere in their prayers; and those of whose substance a due and certain portion is ready to be given unto him who asketh, and him who is forbidden by shame to ask and those who sincerely believe the day of judgment, and who dread the punishment of their LORD: (for there is none secure from the punishment of their LORD:) and who abstain from the carnal knowledge of women other than their wives, or the slaves which their right hands possess: (for as to them they shall be blameless; but whoever coveteth any woman besides these, they are transgressors :) and those who faithfully keep what they are intrusted with, and their covenant; and who are upright in their testimonies, and who carefully observe the requisite rites in their prayers: these shall dwell amidst gardens, highly honoured. What aileth the unbelievers, that they run before thee in companies, on the right hand and on the left? Doth every man of them wish to enter into a garden of delight? By no means: verily we have created them of that which they know. I swear" by the LORD of the east and of the west, that we are able to destroy them, and to substitute better than them in their room; neither are we to be prevented, if we shall please so to do. Wherefore suffer them to wade in vain disputes, and to amuse themselves with sport: until they meet their day with which they have been threatened; † the day whereon they shall come forth hastily from their graves, as though they were troops hastening to their standard: their looks shall be downcast; ignominy shall attend them. This is the day with which they have been threatened.

Like molten silver."-Savary.

See chap. 17, p. 228.

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viz. Of filthy seed, which bears no relation or resemblance to holy beings: wherefore t is necessary for him who would hope to be an inhabitant of paradise, to perfect himself in faith and spiritual virtues, to fit himself for that place.'

"Or, I will not swear, &c. See chap. 56, p. 437, note d. (Savary prefers this reading.) The original words are in the plural number, and signify the different points of the horizon at which the sun rises and sets in the course of the year. See chap. 37, p. 366, note i

+"Suffer them to waste their lives in frivolous disputes. The day with which they are threatened shall come on them unawares."-Savary.

1 Al Beidâwi.

CHAPTER LXXI.

INTITLED, NOAH;* REVEALED AT MECCA.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

VERILY we sent Noah unto his people, saying, Warn thy people, before grievous punishment overtake them. Noah said, O my people, verily I am a public warner unto you; wherefore serve GOD, and fear him, and obey me; he will forgive you part of your sins; and will grant you respite until a determined time for GoD's determined time, when it cometh, shall not be deferred; if ye were men of understanding, ye would know this. He said, LORD, verily I have called my people night and day; but my calling only increaseth their aversion: and whensoever I call them to the true faith, that thou mayest forgive them, they put their fingers in their ears, and cover themselves with their garments, and persist in their infidelity, and proudly disdain my counsel. Moreover I invited them openly, and I spake to them again in public; and I also secretly admonished them in private; and I said, Beg pardon of your LORD; for he is inclined to forgive: and he will cause the heaven to pour down rain plentifully upon you, and will give you increase of wealth and of children; and he will provide you gardens, and furnish you with rivers. What aileth you, that ye hope not for benevolence in GoD; since he hath created you variously? Do ye not see how God hath created the seven heavens, one above another; and hath placed the moon therein for a light, and hath appointed the sun for a taper? God hath also produced and caused you to spring forth from the earth: hereafter he will cause you to return into the same; and he will again take you thence, by bringing you forth from your graves. And God hath spread the earth as a carpet for you, that ye may walk therein through spacious paths. Noah said, LORD, verily they are disobedient unto me; and they follow him whose riches and children do no other than increase his perdition. And they devised a dangerous plot against Noah: and the chief men said

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*"Peace be with him."-Savary.

i. e. Your past sins; which are done away by the profession of the true faith. "They cover their faces with their garments. They persist in error. They manifest only pride and obstinacy."-Savary.

It is said, that after Noah had for a long time preached to them in vain, God shut up the heaven for forty years, and rendered their women barren."

i. e. That God will accept and amply reward those who serve him? For some suppose Noah's people made him this answer, If what we now follow be the truth, we ought not to forsake it; but if it be false, how will God accept, or be favourable unto us, whe have rebelled against him?

That is, as the commentators expound it, by various steps or changes, from the original matter, till ye become perfect men.'

"He hath hung the moon in the firmament to reflect the light, and the sun to impart it."-Savary.

• Al Zamakh.

. Idem.

• See chap. 22, p. 274, and chap. 23, p. 281, &c.

to the others, Ye shall by no means leave your gods; neither shall ye forsake Wadd, nor Sowa, nor Yaghuth, and Yauk, and Nesr. And they seduced many; (for thou shalt only increase error in the wicked :) because of their sins they were drowned, and cast into the fire of hell; and they found none to protect them against GOD. And Noah said, LORD, leave not any families of the unbelievers on the earth for if thou leave them, they will seduce thy servants, and will beget none but a wicked and unbelieving offspring. LORD, forgive me and my parents," and every one who shall enter my house, being a true believer, and the true believers of both sexes; and add unto the unjust doers nothing but destruction.

CHAPTER LXXII.

INTITLED, THE GENII; REVEALED AT MECCA.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

SAY, It hath been revealed unto me that a company of genii attentively heard me reading the Korán, and said, Verily we have heard an admirable discourse; which directeth unto the right institution; wherefore we believe therein, and we will by no means associate any other with our LORD. He (may the majesty of our LORD be exalted!) hath taken no wife, nor hath he begotten any issue. Yet the foolish among us hath spoken that which is extremely false of God; but we verily thought that neither man nor genius would by any means have uttered a lie concerning GOD. And there are certain men who fly for refuge unto certain of the genii; but they increase their folly and transgression: and they also thought, as ye thought,* that God would not raise any one to life. And we formerly attempted to pry into what was transacting in heaven; but we found the same filled with a strong guard of angels, and with flaming darts: and we sat on some of the

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These were five idols worshipped by the antediluvians, and afterwards by the ancient Arabs. See the Prelim. Disc. sect. 1, p. 13.

They say Noah preferred not this prayer for the destruction of his people, till after he had tried them for nine hundred and fifty years, and found them incorrigible reprobates.

His father Lamech, and his mother, whose name was Shamkha, the daughter of Enosh, being true believers.

The commentators are uncertain whether Noah's dwelling-house be here meant, or the temple he had built for the worship of God, or the ark.

See chap. 46, p. 409, note o.

hviz. Eblis, or the rebellious genii.

For the Arabs. when they found themselves in a desert in the evening (the genii being supposed to hawa such places about that time), used to say, I fly for refuge unto the Lord of this valley, that he may defend me from the foolish among his people.

* It is uncertain which of these pronouns is to be referred to mankind, and which to the genii: some expositors taking that of the third person to relate to the former, and that of the second person to the latter; and others being of the contrary opinion.

• Al Beidâwi.

:

seats thereof to hear the discourse of its inhabitants; but whoever listeneth now, findeth a flame laid in ambush for him, to guard the celestial confines.1 And we know not whether evil be hereby intended against those who are in the earth, or whether their LORD intendeth to direct them aright. There are some among us who are upright; and there are some among us who are otherwise we are of different ways. And we verily thought that we could by no means frustrate GOD in the earth, neither could we escape him by flight wherefore, when we had heard the direction contained in the Koran, we believed therein. And whoever believeth in his LORD, need not fear any diminution of his reward, nor any injustice. There are some Moslems among us; and there are others of us who swerve from righteousness. And whoso embraceth Islam, they earnestly seek true direction: but those who swerve from righteousness shall be fuel for hell. If they tread in the way of truth, we will surely water them with abundant rain; " that we may prove them thereby but whoso turneth aside from the admonition of his LORD, him will he send into a severe torment. Verily the places of worship are set apart unto God: wherefore invoke not any other therein together with GOD. When the servant of GOD stood up to invoke him, it wanted little but that the genii had pressed on him in crowds, to hear him rehearse the Korân. Say, Verily I call upon my LORD only, and I associate no other god with him. Say, Verily I am not able, of myself, to procure you either hurt, or a right institution. Say, Verily none can protect me against GOD; neither shall I find any refuge besides him.* I can do no more than publish what hath been revealed unto me from God, and his messages. And whosoever shall be disobedient unto God, and his apostle, for him is the fire of hell prepared; they shall remain therein for ever. Until they see the vengeance with which they are threatened, they will not cease their opposition: but then shall they know who were the weaker in a protector, and the fewer in number. Say, I know not whether the punishment with which ye are threatened be nigh, or whether my LORD will appoint for it a distant term. He knoweth the secrets of futurity; and he doth not communicate his secrets unto any, except an apostle in whom he is well pleased and he causeth a guard of angels to march before him, and behind him; that he may know that they have executed the commissions of their LORD; he comprehendeth whatever is with them; and counteth all things by number.

P

See chap. 15, p. 210.

See the Prelim. Disc. sect. iv. p. 52, &c.

2. e. We will grant them plenty of all good things. Some think by these words rain is promised to the Meccans, after their seven years' drought, on their embracing Islam. • viz. Mohammed.

*I shall find no shelter from his wrath."-Savary.

That is to say, Either that the prophet may know that Gabriel and the other angels, who bring down the revelation, have communicated it to him pure and free from any dia. bolical suggestions; or that God may know that the prophet has published the same to mankind.

• Al Beidâwi.

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