FOOTNOTES:

Rememberwhen the apostle said, O Jesus, son of Mary, is thy Lord able to cause a table to descend unto us from heaven?337He replied, Fear God,in demanding signs, ifye be believers. They said, We desire that we may eat therefrom, and that our hearts may be at easein consequence of additional evidence, and we may know,with increased knowledge, that thou hast spoken truth unto usin asserting thyself to be a prophet, and may be witnesses thereof.—Jesus the son of Mary said, O God, our Lord, cause a table to descend unto us from heaven, that it (namely the day of its descent) may be unto us a festival,338unto the first of us and the last of us (or those who shall come after us), and a sign from Theeof Thy power, and of my prophetic office; and provide us with foodthereby; for Thou art the best of providers.—God said,in reply to him, Verily I will cause it to descend unto you; but whosoever of you shall disbelieve afterits descent, I will surely punish him with a punishment wherewith I will not punish any [other] of the peoples.—And the angelsdescended with it from heaven: upon it were seven cakes of bread and seven fishes; and they ate of them until they were satisfied. And in a tradition related by Ibn-´Abbás it is said that the table brought down from heaven bread and flesh, and they were commanded not to act deceitfully, nor to store up for the morrow; but they[that is, some of the people]did so, and were transformed into apes and swine. (v. 112-115.)

Propound unto them, as an example, the inhabitants of the cityof Antioch, when the apostlesof Jesuscame unto it;339when We sent unto them two,340and they chargedthem with falsehood; wherefore We strengthenedthemwith a third;341and they said, Verily we are sent unto you. They replied, Ye are not [aught] save men like us, and the Compassionate hath not revealed anything: ye do nothing but lie. They said, Our Lord knoweth that we are indeed sent unto you; and naught is imposed on us but the delivering of a plain message,shown to be true by manifest proofs, namely the cure of him who hath been born blind and of the leper and the sick, and the raising of the dead. [The people of Antioch] said, Verily we presage evil from you;for the rain is withheld from us on your account: if ye desist not, we will assuredly stone you, and a painful punishment shall surely betide you from us. [The apostles] replied, Your evil luck is with youbecause of your unbelief. If ye have been warned,will ye presage evil and disbelieve? Nay, ye are an exorbitant people.—And there came from the furthest part of the city a man (namely Ḥabeeb the carpenter, who had believed in the apostles) running: he said, O my people, follow the apostles: follow those who ask not of you a recompense, and who are rightly directed.And it was said unto him, Art thou of their religion? He replied, And why should I not worship Him who hath created me, and unto whom ye shall be brought backafter death? Shall I take deities beside Him? If the Compassionate be pleased to afflict me, their intercession will not avert from me aught, nor will they deliver. Verily, in that case (if I worshipped aught but God), I should be in a manifest error. Verily I believe in your Lord; therefore hear ye me.—But they stoned him, and he died;342andit was saidunto him at his death, Enter thou into Paradise.And it is said that he entered it alive.He said, O would that my people knew my Lord’s forgiveness of me and His having made me [one] of those who are honoured?—AndWe sent not down against his people after him (that is, after his death) an armyof angelsfrom heavento destroy them, nor were We sending downangels to destroy any one. It (namely their punishment) was naught but one crywhich Gabriel uttered against them; and lo, they were extinct. (xxxvi. 12-28.)

We have cursed the Jews... for their disbeliefin Jesusand their uttering against Mary a great calumny and their saying, We have killed the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, the apostle of God,—Yet they killed him not nor crucified him; but one (namely the person whom they crucified) was made to appear to them likeJesus; and verily those who disagreed respecting him were in doubt concerning him,or his slaughter; for some of them said, when they saw the slain person, The face is the face of Jesus; but the body is not his body:—and others said, It is he:343—they had no knowledge of him; but only followed an opinion. And they did not really kill him; but God took him up unto Himself; and God is mighty [and] wise. And there is not of the people of the Scriptureonebut he shall assuredly believe in him (namely Jesus) before his death;that is, before his own death, or before the death of Jesus, when he descendeth shortly before the resurrection;344and on the day of resurrectionhe (namely Jesus) shall be a witness against them (iv. 155-157.)

When God shall say,on the day of resurrection, O Jesus, son of Mary, hast thou said unto men, Take me and my mother as two deities, beside God?—Jesusshall answer,after being agitated(or after it shall have thundered), Extolled be Thy purityfrom the imputation of aught that is unsuitable to Thee, as the having a partner, and other things! It is not for me to say that which is not right for me. Had I said it, Thou hadst known it. Thou knowest what is in me; but I know not what is in Thee; for Thou well-knowest things unseen. I said not unto them aught but that which Thou commandedst me;namelyWorship ye God, my Lord and your Lord;—and I was a watcher over them,commanding them to abstain from what they said, while I remained among them: but since Thou hast taken me to Thyself,345Thou hast been the watcher over them, and Thou art the witness of all things. If Thou punish them, (that is, such of them as have continued in unbelief,) they are Thy servantsand Thou mayest do with them as Thou pleasest; and if Thou forgive them, (that is, such of them as have believed,) Thou art the Mighty, the Wise. (v. 116-118.)

When the son of Mary was proposed as an instance (when the saying of God was revealed, Verily ye and what ye worship beside God[shall be]fuel of hell[Kur. xxi. 98],and the polytheists said, We are content for our gods to be with Jesus, for he hath been worshipped beside God,346)lo, thy people,the polytheists, cried outin joythereat, and they said, [Are] our gods better, or [is] he?We are content for our gods to be with him.—They proposed not it (namely the instance) unto thee otherwise than as a cause of dispute (knowing that the word ‘what’ applieth to that which is not endowed with reason; so that it doth not reflect upon Jesus, on whom be peace!): yea, they are a contentious people. He (namely Jesus) is no other than a servant whom We favouredwith the gift of prophecy; and We proposed him,by reason of his having come into existence without a father, as an instanceof the divine powerunto the children of Israel. And if We pleased, We would substitute for you angels to succeed in the earth.347And verily he (namely Jesus)shall bea sign of the [last] hour:348it shall be known by his descending: wherefore doubt not thereof.—Andsay unto them, Follow ye mein confessing the unity of God: this,which I command you to follow, is a right way. And let not the devil turn you awayfrom the religion of God; for he is unto you a manifest enemy.—And when Jesus came with manifest proofs (with miracles and ordinances), he said, I have come unto you with wisdom (with prophecy and with the ordinances of the Gospel), and to explain unto you part of [the things] concerning which ye disagree: therefore fear ye God, andobey me. Verily God is my Lord and your Lord; wherefore worship ye Him: this is a right way.—But the parties disagreed among themselvesrespecting Jesus, whether he were God, or the son of God, or the third of three: and woe unto them that transgressedin that which they said respecting Jesus, because of the punishment of an afflicting day! (xliii. 57-65.)

Verily the similitude of Jesus in the sight of God is as the similitude of Adam. He created him (Adam) of earth: then He said unto him, Be,—and he was.In like manner he said unto Jesus, Be, without a father,—and he was.This isthe truth from thy Lord: therefore be not thou of those who doubt. And whosoeverof the Christiansargueth with thee respecting him, after the knowledge that hath come unto theeconcerning him, say, Come ye, let us call our sons and your sons and our wives and your wives, and ourselves and yourselveswill assemble: then we will invoke, and will lay the curse of God on those who lie,saying, O God, curse the liar respecting the nature of Jesus!—And the prophet invited a company from Nejrán to do so, when they had argued with him respecting Jesus; and they said, [Wait]until we consider our case: then we will come unto thee. And their counsellor said, Ye know his prophetic office, and that no people have execrated a prophet but they have perished. They however quieted the man, and departed, and came unto the prophet. And he had come forth, having with him El-Ḥasan and El-Ḥoseyn and Fáṭimeh and ´Alee; and he said unto them, When I pray, say ye Amen. But they refused to execrate, and made peace with him on the condition of their paying tribute.—Verily this is indeed the true history, and there is no deity but God, and verily God is indeed the Mighty, the Wise. (iii. 52-55.)

O people of the Scripture (that is, of the Gospel), exceed not the just bounds in your religion,349nor say of God[aught] but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, [was] only the apostle of God, and His Word, which he transmitted unto Mary, and a spirit (that is, a being possessing a spirit) from Him. (He is mentioned in conjunction with God, in order to show him honour, and is not, as ye assert, the son of God, or a God with Him, or the third of three; for the being possessing a spirit is compound, and the Deity must be confessed to be pure from the imputation of composition and the relationship of a compound being to Him.) Therefore believe in God and His apostles, and say not,There arethreegods, God and Jesus and his mother.350Abstainfrom this, and say what will bebetter for you;that is, assert the unity of God. God is only one god. Extolled be His purity from the imputation of His having a son! To Him belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth: and God is a sufficient witnessthereof. The Messiah doth not disdain to be a servant unto God, nor do the angels who are admitted nearunto Him. (iv. 169, 170.)

[1]See prefatory note, p. 2.

[2]i.e., the glory of the clan.

[3]Battles.

[4]This and the other verses quoted in this chapter are taken from the translations of old Arab poetry contributed by Mr. C. J. Lyall to theJournal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal (Translations from the Hamâseh and the Aghânî; The Mo`allaqah of Zuheyr). They imitate the metres of the original Arabic verse, but are nevertheless as literal as need be. The transliteration of proper names in the verses (and in other quotations) has been assimilated to the system adopted by Mr. Lane, from which in this work I only depart in the case of names which by frequent use have become almost the property of the English language.

[5]A tribe.

[6]The subject of the poem, mentioned in the second hemistich of the third verse as ‘thou,’ whose death the supposed author (‘one valiant’) avenged.

[7]For these and other stories about Ḥátim, see Caussin de Perceval’sEssai sur l’Histoire des Arabes, ii. 607-628: a book which is a treasury of Arab life, and abounds in those anecdotes which reveal more of the character of the people than whole volumes of ethnological treatise.

[8]The later Arabic poets were mostly incapable of the genius of the old singers: the times had changed, and the ancient poetry appeared almost as exotic to their ideas as it does to our own. No greater mistake can be made than to judge of the old poets by such a writer as Behá-ed-deen Zoheyr, of whom Professor E. H. Palmer has lately given us so beautiful a version. There is nothing in common between El-Behá and ´Antarah—scarcely even the language.

[9]Deutsch,Lit. Remains, 453, 454: cp. Nöldeke,Beiträge zur Kennt. d. Poesie d. alten Araber, xxiii., xxiv.

[10]Ezekiel xxvii.19-24. The identifications of the various names with Arabian towns are partly conjectural, but the general reference is clearly to Arabia. Cf. the ‘Speaker’s’Commentary, vi. 122; and the interpretations of Hitzig, Movers, Tuch, and Ménant.

[11]C. P. Tiele,Outlines of the History of Religion: tr. J. E. Carpenter, p. 63.

[12]Deutsch.Lit. Remains, pp. 70-72.

[13]R. Bosworth Smith,Mohammed and Mohammedanism, 2d ed. p. 131.

[14]Or ‘read,’ ‘recite.’ These lines are the beginning of the 96th Soorah of the Ḳur-án.

[15]Sir W. Muir,Life of Mahomet, 402.

[16]The following is an abridgment: cp. Muir 485, and theSeeret-er-Rasool, tr. Weil, ii. 316, 317.

[17]An attempt has been made to explain away Moḥammad’s fidelity to Khadeejeh, by adducing the motive of pecuniary prudence. Moḥammad, they say, was a poor man, Khadeejeh rich and powerfully connected; anyaffaire de cœuron the husband’s part would have been followed by a divorce and the simultaneous loss of property and position. It is hardly necessary to point out that the fear of poverty—a matter of little consequence in Arabia and at that time—would not restrain a really sensual man for five-and-twenty years; especially when it is by no means certain that Khadeejeh, who loved him with all her heart in a motherly sort of way, would have procured a divorce for any cause soever. And this explanation leaves Moḥammad’s loving remembrance of his old wife unaccounted for. If her money alone had curbed him for twenty-five years, one would expect him at her death to throw off the cloak, thank Heaven for the deliverance, and enter at once upon the rake’s progress. He does none of those things. The story of Zeyneb, the divorced wife of Zeyd, is a favourite weapon with Moḥammad’s accusers. It is not one to enter upon here; but I may say that the lady’s own share in the transaction has never been sufficiently considered. In all probability Zeyd, the freed slave, was glad enough to get rid of his too well-born wife, and certainly he bore no rancour against Moḥammad. The real point of the story is the question of forged revelations, which is discussed below.

[18]‘The Prophet said: Whosoever shall bear witness that there is one God; and that Moḥammad is His servant and messenger; and that Jesus Christ is His servant and messenger, and that he is the son of the hand-maid of God, and that he is the Word of God, the word which was sent to Mary, and Spirit from God; and [shall bear witness] that there is truth in Heaven and Hell, will enter into paradise, whatever sins he may be chargeable with.’—Mishkát-el-Masábeeh, i. 11.

[19]R. Bosworth Smith:Mohammed and Mohammedanism, 2d ed., 255-257.

[20]The People of Turkey, by a Consul’s Daughter, preface, xxii.

[21]Mishkát-el-Masábeeh, i. 46, 51.

[22]Dr. E. Blyden. See his article on Mohammadanism in Western Africa inThe People of Africa. (New York, 1871.)

[23]It may be interesting to some readers to judge for themselves of the different characteristics of these four groups of soorahs; and though in a series of translated selections it will hardly be possible to gain a thorough appreciation of the change of style or matter, some notion may nevertheless be obtained by reading the First Part of these Selections in the following order (the numbers referring to the figures at the head of each extract):—Mekka—First Period:—xvii., lxvi., lxv., xviii., xxxvii., xxxviii., xxxix., xl., xli., xlii., xliii., xxx., iii., i.Second Period:—lx., xlvii., xxix., viii., xiv., lxiii., vi., li., lxii., xxxi., xliv., lxxxvi., lxxxi., xlv., xxxvi., xx.Third Period:—lxxiii., lxiv., xxxv., liii., xlvi., xvi., lxxvi., xxxii., lix., xxi., vii., lv., xix., xii., x., lxxii., xxviii., xi.Medina:—ii., lxxxiv., xxxiii., lxxvii., xxxiv., xxiv., xxvi., ix., lii., lxxix., lxvii., lxi., iv., lxxi., lxix., lxx., lxxv., lxxxiii., xlviii., v., lxxviii., xxii., lvi., lvii., xlix., xxvii., xxv., xiii., lviii., lxxiv., l., liv., xxiii., lxxx., xv., lxviii., lxxxv., lxxxii.

Mekka—First Period:—xvii., lxvi., lxv., xviii., xxxvii., xxxviii., xxxix., xl., xli., xlii., xliii., xxx., iii., i.

Second Period:—lx., xlvii., xxix., viii., xiv., lxiii., vi., li., lxii., xxxi., xliv., lxxxvi., lxxxi., xlv., xxxvi., xx.

Third Period:—lxxiii., lxiv., xxxv., liii., xlvi., xvi., lxxvi., xxxii., lix., xxi., vii., lv., xix., xii., x., lxxii., xxviii., xi.

Medina:—ii., lxxxiv., xxxiii., lxxvii., xxxiv., xxiv., xxvi., ix., lii., lxxix., lxvii., lxi., iv., lxxi., lxix., lxx., lxxv., lxxxiii., xlviii., v., lxxviii., xxii., lvi., lvii., xlix., xxvii., xxv., xiii., lviii., lxxiv., l., liv., xxiii., lxxx., xv., lxviii., lxxxv., lxxxii.

[24]This is generally believed to be the night of (that is, preceding) the 27th day of the month.

[25]In the Introduction, the references are to the new one volume edition, 1877. Since writing my chapter on the early Arabs, Sir W. Muir has published an interesting essay on old Arabic poetry in theJournal of the Royal Asiatic Society(xi part i. 1879).

[26]The ‘Lord’s Prayer’ of the Muslims, recited several times in each of the five daily prayers, and on many other occasions.

[27]That is, of all creatures.

[28][‘Do we beg assistance,’ in the original ed.]

[29]God knoweth best what He meaneth by these letters.

[30]That it is from God.

[31]In the resurrection and paradise and hell.

[32]The Ḳur-án.

[33]The Pentateuch and the Gospel and other books.

[34]This chapter is held in particular veneration by the Moḥammadans, and declared, by a tradition of their prophet, to be equal in value to a third part of the whole Korân.—S.

[35]One of the most admired passages in the Ḳur-án, recited (though not by all Muslims) at the close of each of the five daily prayers, and often engraved on an ornament of gold or silver or a precious stone to be worn as an amulet.

[36]‘The seven heavens and earths in comparison with the Throne are nought but as seven dirhems [silver coins] cast into a shield.’—Trad.

[37][‘Able to do everything,’ orig. ed. Lit. ‘potent over everything.’]

[38]Lit. ‘driven away with stones.’ This expression alludes to a tradition, that Abraham, when the devil tempted him to disobey God, in not sacrificing his son, drove the fiend away by throwing stones at him; in memory of which, the Moḥammadans, at the pilgrimage of Mecca, throw a certain number of stones at the devil, with certain ceremonies, in the valley of Mina.—S. The devils, or evil jinn, it is said, had liberty to enter any of the seven heavens till the birth of Jesus, when they were excluded from three of them; on the birth of Moḥammad they were forbidden the other four. They continue, however, to ascend to the confines of the lowest heaven, and there, listening to the conversation of the angels respecting things decreed by God, obtain knowledge of futurity, which they sometimes impart to men, who by means of talismans or certain invocations make them to serve the purposes of magical performances. Shooting stars are often hurled at the devils when they thus listen.

[39]That it may not move with its inhabitants.

[40]Or determined.

[41]Slaves and beasts and cattle: for it is God only who sustaineth them.

[42]Which cause the clouds to fill with water.

[43]As the bird from the egg.

[44]As the egg from the bird.

[45]Or consider.

[46]For you previously to birth.

[47][‘Compacted,’ orig. ed. Strictly, words such as ‘come forth’ should be supplied before ‘clusters.’]

[48]In leaf.

[49]In fruit.

[50][Genii.]since they have obeyed them in worshipping idols. See p. 33.

[51]Alone.

[52]This was revealed with reference to a man unto whom the Prophet sent one to invite himto the faith;but he said, Who is the apostle of God, and what is God? Is he of gold, or silver, or brass? Whereupon a thunderbolt fell upon him, and struck off his skull.

[53]On the Preserved Tablet.

[54]Restoring your souls in the daytime.

[55]The term of life.

[56][‘Predominant,’ orig. ed.]

[57]Angels who register your deeds.

[58]The creatures.

[59]That He may recompense them.

[60]O Moḥammad, to the people of Mekkeh.

[61]Namely, the Jews and the Christians, and those[Arabs]who assert that the angels are daughters of God.

[62][‘Demolished,’ orig. ed.]

[63]On the day of resurrection.

[64]Without wealth or helper.

[65]Of the perfume and saffron with which they are overdaubed.

[66]Idols.

[67]This they would not worship them.

[68][‘Similitudes,’ orig. ed. It is the plural of the same word as that translated ‘parable’ at the beginning of the preceding extract, and ‘likeness’ twice in this extract.]

[69][It is said that Moḥammad, when a revelation came down to him, used to say, ‘Cover ye me with something whereby I may become warm.’ Lane: Lexicon, vocedathara.]

[70][Idolatry.]

[71][This rendering is Mr. Rodwell’s. I do not think it can be bettered.]

[72][Lit. ‘And by the night when it becometh still;’ or (but this is less strongly supported) ‘when it darkeneth.’]

[73][‘In my possession,’ orig. ed.]

[74][‘Apostle,’ in the orig. ed.; but Christian associations have somewhat restricted the original meaning of the word, and I have therefore in this and other instances substituted ‘Messenger,’ which exactly represents the Arabicrasool.]

[75]To unbelief.

[76]He will only injure himself.

[77]The Jews said unto the Muslims, We are the people of the first book(the Pentateuch),and our Ḳibleh(the point to which we turn our faces in praying)is the more ancient, and the prophets have not been of the Arabs, and if Moḥammad were a prophet, he had been of us.Thereforethe followingwas revealed.

[78]So that He may choose of His servants whom He pleaseth.

[79]That is, God is; and He hath acquitted Abraham of belonging to them by His saying[Ḳur. iii. 60],Abraham was not a Jew nor a Christian; and the other persons above-mentioned with him were followers of him.

[80]They are the Jews, who have concealed the testimony of God, in the Pentateuch, of Abraham’s orthodoxy.

[81][Moḥammad and Aḥmad are from the same root,ḥamd, meaning ‘praise;’ and both names were borne by the Prophet. The supposed prediction of Moḥammad’s coming arose, perhaps, from a confusion between Parakletos and Perikleitos or possibly Periklytos in Evang. S. Jo. xvi. 7, where the coming of ‘the Paraclete’ is promised; in some Arabic version of which the word may have been ignorantly rendered by ‘Aḥmad,’ and thus reported to Moḥammad.]

[82]By the description of him in their books.

[83]The description of him.

[84]In the Law.

[85]Or miracles.

[86]As Zechariah and John, and ye slew them.

[87]Their belief, if the signs come.The copies of the original differ in this verse, but not in an important manner.

[88]From the truth, so that they shall not believe.

[89]The Ḳur-án.

[90]Or art mad.

[91]That is, with punishment.

[92][The original copy kept by God.]

[93][This line is often inscribed on the covers of copies of the Ḳur-án.]

[94]In eloquence.

[95][In orig. edition, and literally, ‘Although some of them assisted others.’]

[96]That they may be admonished.

[97]And not sent an angel?

[98]Instead of mankind.

[99]For no apostle is sent unto a people but one of their own kind.

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