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CHAPTER XXXIX.

ENTITLED SURAT AL ZAMR (THE TROOPS).

Revealed at Makkah.

INTRODUCTION.

THE title given to this chapter is taken from the statement of vers. 71-73, that the Muslims and the infidels should be conducted to heaven and hell "by troops."

suras.

As to its contents, this chapter differs little from other Makkan There is the usual assertion of prophetic claims on the part of the Prophet; the usual declamation against idolatry, with threats of divine wrath against the impenitent; the usual reference to former prophets, and the destruction of their unbelieving hearers; and finally, the usual emphatic testimony to the great doctrine of the resurrection, and the contrasted condition of true believers and the infidels after the judgment-day.

An important point of interest in this chapter is the reiterated claim of Muhammad to have been appointed a prophet and to have received the Qurán in order to exhibit "the pure religion" of God (see vers. 1-3, 14-16, 42, and 56). Everywhere Muhammad appears as simply a preacher of the truth of Islám (ver. 23) and a witness against the idolaters of Makkah (ver. 40).

Probable Date of the Revelations.

All authorities agree that this chapter originated at Makkah before the Hijra, excepting ver. 54, or vers. 54-56, or vers. 54–61, which some Muslim authorities regard as Madínic. A few writers assign vers. 13 and 24 also to Madína.

The story of Al Wahshi and other malefactors, given by the commentators on the authority of tradition to explain ver. 54, may be true (in which case the passage must be Madinic; but I confess to

a strong suspicion that the story has been fabricated to illustrate the passage in question. The words of that verse (ver. 54) very naturally follow what precedes it, and were no doubt intended to comfort penitent idolaters, who might feel themselves included in the sweeping condemnation of ver. 52. The connection is natural, and I can see no good reason for disconnecting them. I would therefore refer this passage also to Makkah.

On the ground of the words "God's earth is spacious" (ver. 13), it is thought that this chapter was written shortly before the Hijra. But granting that these words were addressed to those who either had fled their country or were meditating flight, surely it does not follow that the flight to Madína was intended. Would it not be more natural to apply these words to the first flight to Abyssinia, which occurred at a time when the idea of flight from persecution was new to the Muslims? The quiet, pacific style of the whole chapter seems to me fatal to the theory which would fix the date of composition so late as the near approach of the Hijra—a time when the fierce hatred aroused on both sides by persecution could not fail to have found expression in the style and matter of discourse. I therefore venture to assign this chapter to a period preceding the first flight to Abyssinia, i.e., about the fourth year of Muhammad's ministry (B.H. 9).;.

Principal Subjects.

The Qurán a revelation from God to Muhammad
Muhammad to exhibit a pure religion to God
God will not show favour to idolaters

God hath not chosen to have a son

God manifest in his works of creation and providence

God is Sovereign in his dealings with men

The ingratitude of idolaters

The righteous and wicked not equal before God

The righteous shall be rewarded

Muhammad, the first Muslim, must exhibit the pure re

ligion of God

The loss of the idolaters

Idolaters who repent shall be rewarded

Muhammad cannot deliver the reprobate

The reward of the faithful.

God revealed in the growth and decay of Nature

The Muslim and the infidel not equal

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The Quran first frightens, then comforts, the Muslims
The punishment of the wicked in hell

VERSES

I, 2

2, 3

4, 5

6

7,8

9, IO

II

12

13

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Former infidels punished for maligning their prophets
Every kind of parable in the Qurán.

Muhammad and the infidels shall debate before the Lord

The reward and punishment of believers and unbelievers
The infidels of Makkah threaten Muhammad

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True believers shall be rightly directed
Idolaters acknowledge God as creator

Muhammad yet to be vindicated

God shall raise the dead as he raiseth from sleep
None can intercede except by God's permission.
Idolaters dread God but joy in their false gods
God shall judge between the faithful and the idolaters
Idolaters will give two worlds to escape God's wrath.
They shall not escape the evils of the judgment-day
The infidels of former times were punished
The idolaters of Makkah shall not escape

Idolaters exhorted to repent; their sin will be forgiven
The regrets of the impenitent at the judgment-day
God shall reject their apologies and blacken their faces
But he will save the righteous

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67-69

70-73

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God the Sovereign Ruler of heaven and earth
Muhammad cannot worship idols, seeing he has received a

revelation from God

The resurrection and the judgment-day, fearful scenes of Troop of the righteous and wicked, their reward and punishment

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God shall be praised by righteous men and angels

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

|| (1) The revelation of this book is from the mighty, R the wise GOD. (2) Verily we have revealed this book unto thee with truth: wherefore serve GOD, exhibiting the pure religion unto him. (3) Ought not the pure religion to be exhibited unto GOD? (4) But as to those who take other patrons besides him, saying, We worship

(1-3) Muhammad claims at once inspiration for his Quran and sets forth the reason of his own appointment to the prophetic office, viz., to re-establish pure religion upon the earth.

them only that they may bring us nearer unto God; verily GOD will judge between them concerning that wherein they disagree. (5) Surely GOD will not direct him who is a liar or ungrateful. (6) If GOD had been minded to have had a son, he had surely chosen what he pleased out of that which he hath created. But far be such a thing from him! He is the sole, the almighty GOD. (7) He hath created the heavens and the earth with truth: he causeth the night to succeed the day, and he causeth the day to succeed the night, and he obligeth the sun and the moon to perform their services; each of them hastening to an appointed period. Is not he the mighty, the forgiver of sins? (8) He created you of one man, and afterwards out of him formed his wife; and he hath bestowed on you four pair of cattle. He formeth you in the wombs of your mothers, by several gradual formations, within three veils

(4) That they may bring us nearer unto God. The Arab idolaters regarded the angels as mediators, and spoke of them as the offspring of God. See Prelim. Disc., pp. 38 and 39.

That wherein they disagree, i.e., in bestowing divine honours upon different gods and goddesses.

(6) A son. Palgrave translates a child, there being no distinction of sex implied in the original. The Tafsir-i-Raufi and Abdul Qadir have it family. The allusion is to the Arab notion that the angels were the offspring of God. See above on ver. 4. There is no allusion here to the Christian doctrine of the sonship of Christ, which doctrine, however, is confounded in the Qurán with the error animadverted in this passage.

He had surely chosen, &c. "Because, says Al Baidhawi, there is no being besides himself but what hath been created by him, since there cannot be two necessarily existent beings; and hence appears the absurdity of the imagination here condemned, because no creature can resemble the Creator, or be worthy to bear the relation of a son to him."-Sale.

(7) With truth. Literally, in truth.

(8) He hath bestowed. Literally, 'He hath sent down ;' from which expression some have imagined that these four kinds of beasts were created in Paradise, and thence sent down to earth.”—Sale, Zamakhshari.

Four pair of cattle. See note on chap. vi. 143. The Tafsir-iRaufi describes the four pair as "the male and female of camels, cow cattle, sheep, and goats."

Gradual formations. See chap. xxii. 4-7, and note there.

Three veils of darkness, i.e., "the belly, the womb, and the membranes which enclose the embryo."-Sale.

of darkness. This is GOD, your LORD: his is the kingdom: there is no GOD but he. Why therefore are ye turned aside from the worship of him to idolatry? (9) If ye be ungrateful, verily GOD hath no need of you: yet he liketh not ingratitude in his servants; but if ye be thankful, he will be well pleased with you. A burdened soul shall not bear the burden of another; hereafter shall ye return unto your LORD, and he shall declare unto you that which ye have wrought, and will reward you accordingly; (10) for he knoweth the innermost parts of your breasts. (11) When harm befalleth a man, he calleth upon his LORD, and turneth unto him: yet afterwards, when God hath bestowed on him favour from himself, he forgetteth that Being which he invoked before, and setteth up equals unto GOD, that he may seduce men from his way. Say unto such a man, Enjoy this life in thy infidelity for a little while; but hereafter shalt thou surely be one of the inhabitants of hell-fire. (12) Shall he who giveth himself up to prayer in the hours of the night, prostrate and standing, and who taketh heed as to the life to come, and hopeth for the mercy of his LORD, be dealt with as the wicked unbeliever? Say, Shall they who know their duty and they who know it not be held equal? Verily the men of understanding only will be warned.

|| (13) Say, O my servants who believe, fear your R LORD. They who do good in this world shall obtain good in the next; and GOD's earth is spacious: verily those who persevere with patience shall receive their

"He forgetteth the evil which he before

(11) Compare chap. x. 22-24. Forgetteth, &c. Or, prayed against."

Inhabitants of hell-fire. (13) In the next, or,

in this world."

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See note on chap. ii. 8o.

they who do good shall obtain good even

God's earth is spacious. "Wherefore let him who cannot safely exercise his religion where he was born or resides fly to a place of liberty and security."-Sale, Baidhawi.

Rodwell thinks the wording of this verse indicates a time when Muhammad was meditating flight from Makkah; with this agree

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