The Koran Part 87

To those also who after their trials fled their country,18 then fought and endured with patience, verily, thy Lord will in the end be forgiving, gracious.

On a certain day shall every soul come to plead for itself, and every soul shall be repaid according to its deeds; and they shall not be wronged.

G.o.d proposeth the instance of a city,19 secure and at ease, to which its supplies come in plenty from every side. But she was thankless for the boons of G.o.d; G.o.d therefore made her taste the woe20 of famine and of fear, for what they had done.

Moreover, an apostle of their own people came to them, and they treated him as an impostor. So chastis.e.m.e.nt overtook them because they were evil doers.

Of what G.o.d hath supplied you eat the lawful and good, and be grateful for the favours of G.o.d, if ye are his wors.h.i.+ppers.

Forbidden to you is that only which dieth of itself, and blood, and swine's flesh, and that which hath been slain in the name of any other than G.o.d: but if any be forced, and neither l.u.s.t for it nor wilfully transgress, then verily G.o.d is forgiving, gracious.21

And say not with a lie upon your tongue, "This is lawful and this is forbidden:" for so will ye invent a lie concerning G.o.d: but they who invent a lie of G.o.d shall not prosper:

Brief their enjoyment, but sore their punishment!

To the Jews22 we have forbidden that of which we before told thee; we injured them not, but they injured themselves.

To those who have done evil in ignorance, then afterwards have repented and amended, verily thy Lord is in the end right gracious, merciful.

Verily, Abraham was a leader in religion:23 obedient to G.o.d, sound in faith:24 he was not of those who join G.o.ds with G.o.d.

Grateful was he for His favours: G.o.d chose him and guided him into the straight way;

And we bestowed on him good things in this world: and in the world to come he shall be among the just.

We have moreover revealed to thee that thou follow the religion of Abraham, the sound in faith. He was not of those who join G.o.ds with G.o.d.

The Sabbath was only ordained for those who differed about it: and of a truth thy Lord will decide between them on the day of resurrection as to the subject of their disputes.

Summon thou to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and with kindly warning: dispute with them in the kindest manner: thy Lord best knoweth those who stray from his way, and He best knoweth those who have yielded to his guidance.

If ye make reprisals,25 then make them to the same extent that ye were injured: but if ye can endure patiently, best will it be for the patiently enduring.

Endure then with patience. But thy patient endurance must be sought in none but G.o.d. And be not grieved about the infidels, and be not troubled at their devices; for G.o.d is with those who fear him and do good deeds.

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1 See Sura [lx.x.xiv.] x. 5, n.

2 Ex gutta spermatis. Pirke Aboth iii. Unde venisti? ex gutta foetida. This verse is said to be an allusion to a difficulty proposed by an idolatrous Arab, who brought a carious leg-bone to Muhammad, and asked whether it could be restored to life. Compare a similar argument for the Resurrection, Tr.

Sanhedrin, fol. 91 a.

3 Lit. there is beauty in them for you, i.e. they win you credit.

4 In allusion to Gen. xi. 1-10.

5 An Arabian idol.

6 Ps. x.x.xv. 9.

7 Lit. the family of the admonition, i.e. Jews and Christians versed in the Pentateuch and Gospel.

8 The idolatrous Arabians regarded Angels as females and daughters of G.o.d.

But their own preference was always for male offspring. Thus Rabbinism teaches that to be a woman is a great degradation. The modern Jew says in his Daily Prayers, fol. 5, 6, "Blessed art thou, O Lord our G.o.d! King of the Universe! who hath not made me a woman."

9 See Sura lx.x.xi. 8, p. 45. It is said that the only occasion on which Othman ever shed a tear was when his little daughter, whom he was burying alive, wiped the dust of the grave-earth from his beard.

10 Lit. the likeness of evil to those, etc.

11 The Arabs are curious in and fond of honey: Mecca alone affords eight or nine varieties-green, white, red, and brown. Burton's Pilgr. iii. 110.

12 Ex. xx. 4.

13 The slave, and the dumb in verse following, are the idols.

14 See Sura [xcvii.] iii. 34, and n. 1, p. 114.

15 Gabriel.

16 This pa.s.sage has been supposed to refer to Salman the Persian. He did not, however, embrace Islam till a much later period, at Medina. Nold. p. 110. Mr.

Muir thinks that it may refer to Suheib, son of Sinan, "the first fruits of Greece," as Muhammad styled him, who, while yet a boy, had been carried off by some Greeks as a slave, from Mesopotamia to Syria, brought by a party of the Beni Kalb, and sold to Abdallah ibn Jodda'an of Mecca. He became rich, and embraced Islam. Dr. Sprenger thinks the person alluded to may have been Addas, a monk of Nineveh, who had settled at Mecca. Life of M. p. 79.

17 This is to be understood of the persecutions endured by the more humble and needy Muslims by their townspeople of Mecca.

18 From Mecca to Medina, i.e. the Mohadjers, to whom also verse 43 refers.

Both pa.s.sages, therefore, are of a later date than the rest of this Sura.

Thus Noldeke. Sprenger, however (Life, p. 159), explains this pa.s.sage of the seven slaves purchased and manumitted by Abu Bekr. They had been tortured for professing Islam, shortly after Muhammad a.s.sumed the Prophetic office.

19 Mecca.

20 Lit. the garment.

21 Comp. Sura [lx.x.xix.] vi. 119.

22 Comp. Sura [lx.x.xix.] vi. 147. This verse as well as the following, and verse 125, were probably added at Medina.

23 Antistes. Maracci. Or the text may be literally rendered Abraham was a people, i.e. the people of Abraham; from whom the idolatrous Koreisch pretended to derive their origin.

24 Ar. a Hanyf. According to a tradition in Waquidi, fol. 255, Zaid (who died only five years before Muhammad received his first inspiration, and undoubtedly prepared the way for many of his subsequent announcements) adopted this term at the instance of a Christian and a Jew, who exhorted him to become a Hanyf. Zaid having at this time renounced idolatry, and being unable to receive either Judaism or Christianity, "What," said he, "is a Hanyf?" They both told him, it was the religion of Abraham, who wors.h.i.+pped nothing but G.o.d. On this Zaid exclaimed, "O G.o.d, I bear witness that I follow the religion of Abraham." The root, whence Hanyf is derived, means generally to turn from good to bad, or vice versa, and is equivalent to the verbs convert and pervert.

25 All Muhammadan commentators explain this verse as a prohibition to avenge the death of Hamza on the Meccans with too great severity.

SURA x.x.x.-THE GREEKS [LXXIV.]

MECCA.-60 Verses