CHAPTER XVII. ENTITLED SURAT AL BANI ISRAÍL (THE CHILDREN of israel). Revealed at Makkah. INTRODUCTION. BY some writers this chapter is entitled The Night-Journey on account of the reference to that event in vers. I and 62. But the contents of the chapter justify the ordinary title of The Children of Israel. The burden of this chapter is the sin of the Quraish in rejecting their Prophet. The dreadful character of this sin is illustrated by the history of those who had rejected the messengers of God in past ages, and especially by reference to the destruction of the holy city of Jerusalem, in consequence of the unbelief of the children of Israel. The people of Makkah are therefore warned by the example of these rebellious unbelievers. They are told that no city ever was destroyed until its people had rejected the prophet sent to them. The inference to be drawn is, that the destruction of Makkah is near at hand, unless its people repent and believe on their Prophet. The character of the unbelief of the Quraish is evident from their demanding of Muhammad that he would perform certain miracles, which he confesses himself unable to perform; from their hideous custom of killing their own daughters, while ascribing daughters to God; from their foolish idolatry; and from their rejection of the doctrine of the resurrection. The tone of the whole chapter is moderate, yet showing earnest purpose on the part of the preacher of Makkah. Probable Date of the Revelations. The verses referring to the night-journey (vers. I and 62) must, of course, be placed subsequent to B.H. 1, though they cannot date later than the Hijra. As for the bulk of the chapter, the following data will enable us to fix an approximate date of composition: (1) The exhortation in ver. 55 points to a period when Muhammad still hoped for the conversion of some of his townsmen; (2) the faith of certain Jews and Christians at Makkah, alluded to in vers. 108 and 109, points to a period somewhat removed from the Hijra; and (3) with this agrees the spirit attributed to the unbelieving Quraish, whose opposition is decided, but not as yet of a violent character. From this we conclude that most of the chapter belongs to a period preceding the Ban of the Hashimites, or the final break between Muhammad and the Quraish, say about B.H. 6, or the sixth year of Muhammad's mission. The passage from ver. 24 to ver. 41, however, must be referred to Madína, as the precepts concerning the duties of children to parents, of all to the poor and the orphan, &c., seem to point to a Muslim community with definite laws of its own, and not to a mixed company, as at Makkah previous to the Hijra. I would place this passage at about A.H. 3. The conjectures of the commentators, which would place vers. 75-82 and 87 at Madína, seem to be mistaken. See notes on these verses below. Principal Subjects. God praised for the night-journey The law of Moses a direction to the Israelites Noah's gratitude commended to his posterity The double sin of Israel and its punishment The Qurán a direction to both the faithful and the unbelievers Men inconsiderate in their prayers VERSES I 2 3 4-8 9-11 12 13 14 14, 15 16 God will give every man the record of his life at the judgment No nation left without an apostle The cities destroyed which rejected their apostles Rewards and punishments of the faithful and unbelieving Kindness to be shown to parents, the poor, and the stranger 24-27 Extravagance forbidden Those unable to contribute for the support of the poor may 28, 29 30, 31 32 The substance of the orphan to be sacredly preserved. Various warnings for the Quraish A plurality of gods would lead to rebellion in heaven. All things praise God. The Quraish are judicially blinded to the Quran. Muhammad called a madman The Quraish reject the doctrine of the resurrection The dead when raised will fancy they have been dead but a little while Idolaters and unbelievers to be mildly treated 55,56 Some prophets peculiarly favoured The false gods need divine protection Every city to be destroyed before the judgment-day 58,59 60 57 unbelief of former tribes 61 The night-journey and the Zakkum tree causes of contention The special privileges of mankind In the judgment all shall be fairly judged The unbelievers almost persuade Muhammad to leave them 78, 79 The truth of the Qurán to be proclaimed Man's perversity seen both in prosperity and adversity Revelation (inspiration) a peculiar favour from God to Mu Men and genii could not produce a book like the Qurán Men appointed messengers for men and angels for angels 105 The children of Israel succeed Pharaoh in his possession of the land of Egypt Why the Quran was revealed in parcels Some Jews and Christians believe on the Qurán God and the Merciful the same God hath neither son nor partner VERSES IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. MANZIL. FIFTEENTH (1) PRAISE be unto him who transported his servant FOURTH by night from the sacred temple of Makkah to the farther temple of Jerusalem, the circuit of which we have blessed, SIPARA. that we might show some of our signs; for God is he who R (1) Who transported his servant . . . to the farther temple. "From whence he was carried through the seven heavens to the presence of God, and brought back again to Makkah the same night. "This journey of Muhammad to heaven is so well known that I may be pardoned if I omit the description of it. The English reader may find it in Dr. Prideaux's Life of Mohammed (p. 43, &c.), and the learned in Abulfida (Life of Mahom., chap. xix.), whose annotator has corrected several mistakes in the relation of Dr. Prideaux, and in other writers. "It is a dispute among the Muhammadan divines whether their Prophet's night-journey was really performed by him corporeally, or whether it was only a dream or a vision. Some think the whole was no more than a vision; and allege an express tradition of Muáviah, one of Muhammad's successors, to that purpose. Others suppose he was carried bodily to Jerusalem, but no farther; and that he ascended thence to heaven in spirit only. But the received opinion is, that it was no vision, but that he was actually transported in the body to his journey's end; and if any impossibility be objected, they think it a sufficient answer to say, that it might easily be effected by an omnipotent agent."-Sale, Baidhúwi. The celebrated night-journey from Makkah to Jerusalem, and from there through the seven heavens up to the throne of God, is regarded by Muir, Noëldeke, Bosworth Smith, and other writers, as simply a vision, on which tradition has brooded and hatched out the story as related by most orthodox Muslims. Sprenger, however, considers Muhammad to have been guilty of perpetrating "an unblushing forgery," saying, "he sold a description of the Temple of Jerusalem, which he may have obtained from books or oral information, to the best advantage." Some traditions favour the opinion that it was a vision, while others point to the opinion that it was a bodily journey. There seems to me to be two questions involved here: (1) Whether the night-journey was originally simply a vision? heareth and seeth. (2) And we gave unto Moses the book of the law, and appointed the same to be a direction unto the children of Israel, commanding them, saying, Beware that ye take not any other patron besides me. (3) O posterity of those whom we carried in the ark with Noah: verily he was a grateful servant. (4) And we expressly declared unto the children of Israel in the book of the law, saying, Ye will surely commit evil in the earth twice, and ye will be elated with great insolence. (5) And when the punishment threatened for the first of those (2) Whether Muhammad, in speaking of this visionary journey, did not represent it as a reality? I think the arguments of Muir versus Sprenger (Life of Mahomet, vol. ii. p. 222) prove the journey to have been in reality a vision; but I do not think they satisfy all the conditions of the problem. For, if simply a vision, and if related as such by Muhammad, why should Omm Háni have "seized him by the mantle, and conjured him not to expose himself to the mockery and revilings of the unbelievers?" Why should the faithful have been staggered in their faith in their Prophet, had it been merely a dream? And, finally, why should Abu Baqr have declared his belief in the story of Muhammad, were it only a tale of a dream? It seems to me clear that Muhammad represented this journey as a reality; and, viewed in the light of the many palpable forgeries of the Quran, we think Sprenger's judgment, in this case, on the whole well established. See also below on ver. 95. The farther temple. This could only refer to the site of the Temple, or perhaps the Christian edifice erected in its place, which Muhammad thought to be the Jewish temple. (2) Rodwell notes the incongruity of this verse with the preceding, and suggests a verse may have been lost, and that this ver. I has been placed at the head of the chapter because the night-journey is elsewhere alluded to in it. But such want of connection between the verses of the Qurán is too common to excite wonder here. (3) O posterity, &c. "The commentators are put to it to find out the connection of these words with the foregoing. Some think the accusative case is here put for the vocative, as I have translated it : and others interpret the words thus, 'Take not for your patrons, besides me, the posterity of those,' &c., meaning, mortal men.”—Sale. (4) Ye will surely commit evil... twice. "Their first transgression was their rejecting the decisions of the law, their putting Isaiah to death, and their imprisoning of Jeremiah: and the second was their slaying of Zachariah and John the Baptist, and their imagining the death of Jesus.”—Sale, Baidháwi, Jaláluddin. The commentators here give six instances of evil committed instead of two. The allusion may be to the two destructions of Jerusalem, by the Babylonians and the Romans. The next verse, compared with ver. 7, certainly points in this direction. |