(ii. 60-62.)
And We appointed unto Moses thirty nights,at the expiration of which We would speak to him, on the condition of his fasting during them; and they were[the nights of the month of]Dhu-l-Ḳaạdeh; and he fasted during them: but, when they were ended, he disliked the smell of his breath; so he used a tooth-stick; whereupon God commanded him to fast ten other nights, that He might speak to Him with the odour of his breath,293as He whose name be exalted hath said,—and We completed them by [adding] tennights of Dhu-l-Ḥijjeh: so the stated time of his Lord was completed, forty nights. And Moses said unto his brother Aaron,at his departure to the mountain for the private collocution, Be thou my deputy among my people, and act rightly, and follow not the way of the corrupt doersby agreeing with them in acts of disobedience. And when Moses came at Our appointed time, and his Lord spake unto himwithout an intermediary, he said, O my Lord, show meThyself, that I may see Thee. He replied, Thou shalt not see Me: but look at the mountain,which is stronger than thou; and if it remain firm in its place, then shalt thou see Me. And when his Lord displayed Himself to the mountain (that is, when there appeared, of His light, half of the tip of His little finger, as related in a tradition which El-Ḥákim hath verified), He reduced it to powder,levelling it even with the ground around it; and Moses fell down in a swoon. And when he recovered, he said, Extolled be Thy perfection! I turn unto Thee repenting, and I am the first of the believersin my time.—Godsaidunto him, O Moses, I have chosen thee above the peopleof thy time[by honouring thee] by My commissions and by My speakingunto thee: therefore receive what I have given thee, and be of those who are grateful. And We wrote for him upon the tables ofthe Law294(which were of the lote-tree of Paradise, or of chrysolite, or of emerald; in number seven, or ten) an admonition concerning everyrequisitematterof religion, and a distinct explanation of everything;and said, Therefore receive it with resolution, and command thy people to act according to the most excellent [precepts] thereof.
(vii. 138-142.)
And the people of Moses, after it (that is, after his departure for the private collocution), made, of their ornaments (which they had borrowed of the people of Pharaoh), a corporeal calf295which Es-Sámiree cast for them,296andwhich lowed;for he had the faculty of doing so in consequence of their having put into its mouth some dust taken from[beneath]the hoof of the horse of Gabriel; and they took it as a god. Did they not see that it spake not to them, nor directed them in the way? They took itas a god, and were offenders. But when they repented, and saw that they had erred,which was after the return of Moses, they said, Verily if our Lord do not have mercy upon us and forgive us, we shall assuredly be of those who perish.
(vii. 146-148.)
And Moses returned unto his people297enragedagainst them, exceedingly sorrowful. He said, O my people, did not your Lord promise you a goodtruepromise,that He would give you the Law?But did the time ofmy absenceseem tedious to you, or did ye desire that indignation from your Lord should befall you, and therefore did ye break your promise to me,and abstain from coming after one?—They answered, We did not break our promise to thee of our own authority; but we were made to carry loads of the ornaments of the peopleof Pharaoh(which the children of Israel had borrowed of them under pretence of[requiring them for]a wedding, and which remained in their possession), and we cast theminto the fire, by order of Es-Sámiree. And in like manner also Es-Sámiree casttheir ornaments which he had, and some of the dust which he had taken from the traces of the hoofs of the horse of Gabriel;and he produced unto them a corporeal calf,of flesh and blood, which lowed,by reason of the dust, the property of which is to give life to that into which it is put; and he had put it, after he had moulded the calf, into its mouth. And they (namely, Es-Sámiree and his followers) said, This is your god, and the god of Moses; but he hath forgottenhis lord here, and gone to seek him. God saith, But did they not see that it returned them not an answer, nor was able to cause them hurt or profit? And Aaron had said unto them, beforethe return of Moses, O my people, ye are only tried by it; and verily your Lord is the Compassionate; therefore follow me,by worshipping Him, and obey my command. They replied, We will by no means cease to be devoted tothe worship ofit until Moses return unto us.Mosessaidafter his return, O Aaron, what hindered thee, when thou sawest that they had gone astray, from following me? Hast thou then been disobedient to my command,by remaining among them who worshipped another than God?—He answered, O son of my mother, seize me not by my beard (for he had taken hold of his beard with his left hand), nor by [the hair of] my head (for he had taken hold of his hair with his right hand, in anger). Verily I feared lestif I followed thee (for a company of those who worshipped the calf would inevitably have followed me)thou shouldst say, Thou hast made a division among the children of Israel, and hast not waited for my sentence.Mosessaid, And what was thy motivefor doing as thou hast, O Sámiree? He answered, I saw that which they saw not;298therefore I took a handfulof dustfrom the foot-marksof the horseof the apostleGabriel, and cast itinto the molten calf; and thus my soul allured meto take a handful of the dust above-mentioned, and to cast it upon that which had no life, that it might have life; and I saw that thy people had demanded of thee that thou wouldst make them a god; so my soul suggested to me that this calf should be their god.Mosessaidunto him, Then get thee gonefrom among us, and [the punishment] for thee duringthe period of thylife [shall be], that thou shalt sayunto whomsoever thou shalt see, Touchmenot:—(so he used to wander about the desert, and when he touched any one, or any one touched him, they both became affected with a burning fever:) and verily for thee is a threat which thou shalt by no means find to be false. And look at thy god, tothe worship ofwhich thou hast continued devoted. We will assuredly burn it: then we will assuredly reduce it to powder and scatter it in the sea. (And Moses, after he had slaughtered it, did this.) Your deity is God only, except whom there is no deity. He comprehendeth all things byHisknowledge.—Thus,O Moḥammad, do We relate unto thee accounts ofwhat hath happened heretofore; and We have given thee, from Us, an admonition;namely the Ḳur-án.
(xx. 88-99.)
And they were made to drink down the calf into their hearts,299(that is, the love of it mingled with their hearts as drink mingleth,) because of their unbelief.
(ii. 87.)
[Remember, O children of Israel,] when Moses said unto his peoplewho worshipped the calf, O my people, verily ye have injured your own souls by your taking to yourselves the calfas a god; therefore turn with repentance unto your Creatorfrom the worship of it, and slay one another: (that is, let the innocent among you slay the criminal:) this will be best for you in the estimation of your Creator.And He aided you to do that, sending upon you a black cloud, lest one of you should see another and have compassion on him, until there were slain of you about seventy thousand.AndthereuponHe became propitious towards you,accepting your repentance; for He is the Very Propitious, the Merciful.
(ii. 51.)
[Remember also, O children of Israel,] when ye said,having gone forth with Moses to beg pardon of God for your worship of the calf, and having heard his words, O Moses, we will not believe thee until we see God manifestly:—whereupon the vehement sound assailed you,and ye died, while ye beheldwhat happened to you. Then We raised you to life after ye had been dead, that peradventure ye might give thanks.300
(ii. 52, 53.)
And Moses chosefromhis people seventy men,of those who had not worshipped the calf, by the command of God, at the time appointed by Usfor their coming to ask pardonfor their companions’ worship of the calf; and he went forth with them; and when the convulsion (the violent earthquake) took them away (because, saith Ibn-´Abbás, they did not separate themselves from their people when the latter worshipped the calf),Mosessaid, O my Lord, if Thou hadst pleased, Thou hadst destroyed them beforemy going forth with them, that the children of Israel might have beheld it and might not suspect me; and me [also]. Wilt Thou destroy us for that which the foolish among us have done? It is naught but Thy trial: Thou wilt cause to err thereby whom Thou pleasest, and Thou wilt rightly guide whom Thou pleasest. Thou art our guardian; and do Thou forgive us and have mercy upon us; for Thou art the best of those who forgive: and appoint for us in this world what is good, and in the world to come; for unto Thee have we turned with repentance.—Godreplied, I will afflict with My punishment whom I please, and My mercy extendeth over everythingin the world; and I will appoint it,in the world to come, for those who fear and give the legal alms, and those who believe on Our signs, who shall follow the apostle, the illiterate [or Gentile,i.e., Arab] prophet,Moḥammad, whom they shall find written down with them in the Pentateuch and the Gospel,by his name and his description. He will command them that which is right, and forbid them that which is evil; and will allow them as lawful the good thingsamong those forbidden in their law, and prohibit them the impure,as carrion and other things, and will take off from them their burden and the yokes that were upon them,as the slaying of a soul[for an atonement]in repentance, and the cutting off of the mark left by impurity. And those who shall believe in him and honour him and assist him and follow the light which shall be sent down with him,namely the Ḳur-án, these shall be the prosperous.
(vii. 154-156).
Andrememberwhen Moses said unto his people, O my people, remember the favour of God towards you, since He hath appointed prophets from among you, and madeyou princes (masters of servants and other attendants), and given you what He hath not given any [other] of the peoples (as the manna and the quails and other things). O my people, enter the Holy Land which God hath decreed for you (namely Syria), and turn not back, lest ye turn losers.—They replied, O Moses, verily there is in it a gigantic people,of the remains of the tribe of ´Ád, and we will not enter it until they go forth from it; but if they go forth from it, then we will enter.—[Thereupon] two men, of those who fearedto disobey God, namely Joshua and Caleb, of the chiefs whom Moses sent to discover the circumstances of the giants, andupon whom God had conferred favour,and who had concealed what they had seen of the state of the giants, excepting from Moses, wherefore the other chiefs became cowardly, saidunto them, Enter ye upon them through the gateof the city, and fear them not; for they are bodies without hearts; and when ye enter it, ye overcome; and upon God place your dependence, if ye be believers.—[But] they said, O Moses, we will never enter it while they remain therein. Therefore go thou and thy Lord, and fight: for we remain here.—Then Mosessaid, O my Lord, verily I am not master of any but myself and my brother: therefore distinguish between us and the unrighteous people.—Godreplied, Verily it (namely the Holy Land) shall be forbidden them forty years; they shall wander in perplexity in the land: and be not thou solicitous for the unrighteous people.—The land[through which they wandered]was[only]nine leagues[in extent].They used to journey during the night with diligence; but in the morning they found themselves in the place whence they had set forth; and they journeyed during the day in like manner. Thus they did until all of them had become extinct, excepting those who had not attained the age of twenty years; and it is said that they were six hundred thousand. Aaron and Moses died in the desert; and mercy was their lot: but punishment was the lot of those. And Moses begged his Lord, when he was about to die, that Hewould bring him as near as a stone’s throw to the Holy Land: wherefore He did so. And Joshua was made a prophet after the forty [years], and he gave orders to fight against the giants. So he went with those who were with him, and fought against them: and it was Friday; and the sun stood still for him awhile, until he had made an end of fighting against them.
(v. 23-29).
Ḳároon301[or Korah] was of the people of Moses (he was the son of his paternal uncle, and the son of his maternal aunt, and he believed in him); but he behaved insolently towards them; for We had bestowed upon him such treasures that their keys were heavy burdens for a company of men endowed with strength,in number, as some say, seventy; and some, forty; and some, ten; and some, another number. Remember when his people (the believers among the children of Israel)said unto him, Rejoice notexultingly in the abundance of thy wealth; for God loveth not those whosorejoice; but seek to attain, by means of thewealthwhich God hath given thee, the latter abode [of Paradise],by expending thy wealth in the service of God; and neglect not thy part in this world,to work therein for the world to come; but be beneficentunto mankind, by bestowing alms, as God hath been beneficent unto thee; and seek not to act corruptly in the earth; for God loveth not the corrupt doers. He replied, I have only been given it on account of the knowledge that I possess.For he was the most learned of the children of Israel in the Law, after Moses and Aaron. God saith, Did he not know that God had destroyed before him, of the generations, those that were mightier than he in strength and who had amassed more abundanceof wealth? And the wicked shall not be asked respecting their sins,because God knoweth them: therefore they shall be sent into the Fire without a reckoning. AndḲároonwent forth unto his peoplein his pomp,with his many dependants mounted, adorned with garments of gold and silk, upon decked horses and mules. Those who desired the present life said, O would that we had the like of that which hath been bestowed on Ḳároonin this world! Verily he is possessed of great good fortune!—But those unto whom knowledgeof what God hath promised in the world to comehad been given, saidunto them, Woe to you! The reward of Godin the world to come(which is Paradise) is better for him who believeth and worketh righteousnessthan that which hath been bestowed on Ḳároon in the present world; and none shall receive it but the patientin the service of God. And We caused the earth to cleave asunder and swallow up him and his mansion,302and he had no forces to defend him, in the place of God, nor was he of the [number of the] saved. And the next morning, those who had wished for his place the day before said, Aha! God enlargeth provision unto whom He pleaseth of His servants, and is sparingof it unto whom He pleaseth!Had not God been gracious unto us, He had caused [the earth] to cleave asunder and swallow up us! Aha! the ungratefulfor His benefitsdo not prosper!
(xxviii. 76-82.)
Remember, [O children of Israel,] when Moses said unto his people (when one of them had been slain, whose murderer was not known, and they asked him to beg God that He would discover him to them, wherefore he supplicated Him), Verily God commandeth you to sacrifice a cow. They said, Dostthou make a jest of us? He said, I beg God to preserve me from beingoneof the foolish.So when they knew that he decidedly intended[what he had ordered], they said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what she is;that is, what is her age.Mosesreplied, He saith, She is a cow neither old nor young;butof a middle age, between thosetwo: therefore do as ye are commanded. They said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what is her colour. He replied, He saith, She is a red303cow: her colour is very bright: she rejoiceth the beholders. They said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what she is,whether she be a pasturing or a working cow; for cowsof the description mentionedare to us like one another; and we, if God please, shall indeed be rightly directedto her. (In a tradition it is said, Had they not said, ‘If God please,’—she had not ever been manifested to them.) He replied, He saith, She is a cow not subduedby workthat plougheth the ground, nor doth she water the field: [she is] freefrom defects and the marks of work; there is no colour in her different from the rest of her colour. They said, Now thou hast brought the truth.And they sought her, and found her in the possession of the young man who acted piously towards his mother, and they bought her for as much gold as her hide would contain.304Then they sacrificed her; but they were near to leaving it undone, onaccount of the greatness of her price. (And in a tradition it is said, Had they sacrificed any cow whatever, He had satisfied them: but they acted hardly towards themselves; so God acted hardly towards them.) And when ye slew a soul, and contended together respecting it, (and God brought forth [to light] that which ye did conceal—this is the beginning of the story[and was the occasion of the order to sacrifice this particular cow,]) We said, Strike him (that is, the slain person) with part of her.So he was struck with her tongue, or the root of her tail, or, as some say, with her right thigh; whereupon he came to life, and said, Such-a-one and such-a-one slew me,—to the two sons of his uncle. And he died. They two[the murderers]were therefore deprived of the inheritance, and were slain.305Thus God raiseth to life the dead, and showeth you His signs (the proof of His power), that peradventure ye may understand,and know that He who is able to raise to life one soul is able to raise to life many souls.Then your hearts became hard,O ye Jews, so as not to accept the truth, after that, and they [were] as stones, or more hard: for of stones there are indeed some from which rivers gush forth; and of them there are indeed some that cleave asunder and water issueth from them; and of them there are indeed some that fall down through fear of God;whereas your hearts are not impressed, nor do they grow soft, nor do they become humble.But God is not heedless of that which ye do:He only reserveth you unto your time.
(ii. 63-69.)
Rememberwhen Moses said to his young manJoshua the son of Nun, who served him and acquired knowledge from him, I will not ceaseto go forwarduntil I reach the place where the two seas (the Sea of Greece and the Sea of Persia) meet, or travel for a long space of time. And when they reached the place where they (the two seas) met they forgottheir fish:Joshua forgot to take it up, on their departure; and Moses forgot to remind him; and it made its way in the sea by a hollow passage,God withholding the water from it. And when they had passed beyondthat place, and proceeded until the time of the morning-meal on the following day, [Moses] said unto his young man, Bring us our morning-meal: we have experienced fatigue from this our journey. He replied, What thinkest thou? When we repaired to the rock to restat that place, I forgot the fish, and none made me forget to mention it but the devil; and it made its way in the sea in a wonderful manner.—Mosessaid, That (namely our loss of the fish) is what we were desiring;for it is a sign unto us of our finding him whom we seek. And they returned by the way that they had come, following the footsteps,and came to the rock. And they found one of Our servants (namely El-Khiḍr306) unto whom We had granted mercy from Us (that is the gift of prophecy in the opinion of some, and the rank of a saint according to another opinion which most of the learned hold), and whom We had taught knowledge from Us respecting things unseen.—El-Bukháree hath related a tradition stating that Moses performed the office of a preacher among the children of Israel, and was asked who was the most knowing of men; to which he answered, I:—whereupon God blamed him for this, because he did not refer theknowledge thereof to Him. And God said unto him by revelation, Verily I have a servant at the place where the two seas meet, and he is more knowing than thou. Moses said, O my Lord, and how shall I meet with him? He answered, Thou shalt take with thee a fish, and put it into a measuring-vessel, and where thou shalt lose the fish, there is he. So he took a fish, and put it into a vessel. Then he departed, and Joshua the son of Nun departed with him, until they came to the rock, where they laid down their heads and slept. And the fish became agitated in the vessel, and escaped from it, and fell into the sea, and it made its way in the sea by a hollow passage, God withholding the water from the fish so that it became like a vault over it: and when Moses’ companion awoke, he forgot to inform him of the fish.
Moses said unto him [namely El-Khiḍr], Shall I follow thee, that thou mayest teach me [part] of that which thou hast been taught, for a directionunto me? He answered, Verily thou canst not have patience with me. For how canst thou be patient with respect to that whereof thou comprehendest not the knowledge?—He replied, Thou shalt find me, if God please, patient; and I will not disobey any command of thine. He said, Then if thou follow me, ask me not respecting anything:but be patientuntil I give thee an account thereof.And Moses assented to his condition.And they departed,walking along the shore of the sea, until, when they embarked in the shipthat passed by them, he (El-Khiḍr) made a hole in it,by pulling out a plank or two planks from it on the outside by means of an axe when it reached the middle of the sea. Mosessaidunto him, Hast thou made a hole in it that thou mayest drown its people? Thou hast done a grievous thing.—(But it is related that the water entered not the hole.) He replied, Did I not say that thou couldst not have patience with me? [Moses] said, Chastise me not for my forgetfulness, nor impose on me a difficulty in my case.—And they departed,after they had gone forth from the vessel,walking on, until, when they found a boywhohad not attained the age of knowing right and wrong, playing with other children, and he was the most beautiful of them in countenance, and he (El-Khiḍr) slew him,Mosessaidunto him, Hast thou slain an innocent soul, withouthis having slaina soul? Thou hast done an iniquitous thing.—He replied, Did I not say that thou couldst not have patience with me? [Moses] said, If I ask thee concerning anything after thistime, suffer me not to accompany thee. Now hast thou received from me an excusefor thy separating thyself from me.—And they departed [and proceeded] until, when they came to the people of a city (which was Antioch307), they asked food of its people; but they refused to entertain them: and they found therein a wall,the height whereof was a hundred cubits, which was about to fall down; whereupon he (El-Khiḍr) set it uprightwith his hand.Mosessaidunto him, If thou wouldst, thou mightest have obtained pay for it,since they did not entertain us, notwithstanding our want of food.El-Khiḍrsaidunto him, This shall be a separation between me and thee;but before my separation from thee, I will declare unto thee the interpretation of that which thou couldst not bear with patience.
As to the vessel, it belonged totenpoor men,308who pursued their business on the sea; and I desired to render it unsound; for there was behind them a king,an unbeliever, who took everysoundvessel by force. And as to the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared that he would transgress against them rebelliously and impiously:for, according to a tradition related by Muslim, he was constituted by nature an unbeliever, and had he lived he had so acted; wherefore we desired that their Lord should create for them a better than he in virtue, and [one] more disposed than he to filial piety.And God created for them a daughter, who married a prophet, and gave birth toa prophet, by means of whom God directed a people to the right way. And as to the wall, it belonged to two orphan youths in the city, and beneath it was a treasureburied,of gold and silver, belonging to them; and their father was a righteous man; and thy Lord desired that they should attain their age of strength and take forth their treasure through the mercy of thy Lord. And I did it not (namely what hath been mentioned) of mine own will,but by direction of God. This is the interpretation of that which thou couldst not bear with patience. (Chap. xviii. 59-81.)
Hast thou not considered the assembly of the children of Israel afterthe death ofMoses, when they said unto a prophet of theirs,namely Samuel, Set up for us a king,under whomwe will fight in the way of God? He saidunto them, If fighting be prescribed as incumbent on you, will ye, peradventure, abstain from fighting? They replied, And wherefore should we not fight in the way of God, since we have been expelled from our habitations and our childrenby their having been taken prisoners and slain?—The people of Goliath[Jáloot]had done thus unto them.—But when fighting was commanded them, they turned back, excepting a few of them,who crossed the river with Saul[Ṭáloot],as will be related. And God knoweth the offenders.And the prophet begged his Lord to send a king; whereupon he consented to send Saul.And their prophet said unto them, Verily God hath set up Saul as your king. They said, How shall he have the dominion over us, when we are more worthy of the dominion than he, (for he was not of the royal lineage, nor of the prophetic, and he was a tanner, or a tender of flocks or herds,) and he hath not been endowed with ample wealth? He replied, Verily God hath chosen himas kingover you, and increased him in largeness of knowledge and of body, (for he was the wisest of the children of Israel at that time, and the most comely of them, and the most perfect of them in make,) and God giveth his kingdom unto whom He pleaseth; and God is amplein His beneficence, knowingwith respect to him who is worthy of the kingdom.—And their prophet said unto them,when they demanded of him a signin proof of his kingship, Verily the sign of his kingship shall be that the ark shall come unto you (in it were the images of the prophets: God sent it down unto Adam, and it passed into their possession; but the Amalekites took it from them by force: and they used to seek victory thereby over their enemy, and to advance it in the fight, and to trust in it, as He—whose name be exalted!—hath said); therein [shall be] tranquillity from your Lord,309and relics of what the family of Moses and the family of Aaron have left:namely, the two shoes (or sandals) of Moses, and his rod, and the turban of Aaron, and a measure of the manna that used to descend upon them, and the fragments of the tables[of the Law]: the angels shall bear it. Verily in this shall be a sign unto youof his kingship, if ye be believers.Accordingly the angels bore it between heaven and earth, while they looked at it, until they placed it by Saul; whereupon they acknowledged his kingship, and hastened to the holy war; and he chose of their young men seventy thousand.
And when Saul went forth with the troopsfrom Jerusalem, and it was violently hot weather, and they demanded of him water, he said, Verily God will try you by a river,that the obedient among you, and the disobedient, may appear, (and it was between the Jordan and Palestine,) and whoso drinketh thereof, he is not of my party (but he who tasteth not thereof, he is of my party), excepting him who taketh forth a draught in his hand,and is satisfied therewith, not adding to it; for he is of my party;—then they drank thereof abundantly, excepting a few of them,who were content only with the handful of water. It is related that it sufficed them for their own drinking and for their beasts, and they were three hundred, and somewhat morethan ten.And when he had passed over it, he and those who believed with him, they (that is, those who had drunk[plentifully]) said, We have no power to-dayto contendagainst Goliath and his troops.And they were cowardly, and passed not over it.They [however] who held it as certain that they should meet Godat the resurrection(and they were those who had passed over it) said, How many a small body of men hath overcome a great body by the permission (or will) of God! And God is with the patient,to defend and aid.—And when they went forth to battle against Goliath and his troops, they said, O our Lord, pour upon us patience, and make firm our feet,by strengthening our hearts for the holy war, and help us against the unbelieving people!—And they routed them by the permission (or will) of God, and David [Dáwood, vulg. Dáood],who was in the army of Saul, slew Goliath. And God gave him (David) the kingshipover the children of Israel, and wisdom (that is prophecy),after the death of Samuel and Saul, and they[namely these two gifts]had not been given together to any one before him; and He taught him what He pleased,310as the art of making coats of mail, and the language of birds. And were it not for God’s repelling men, one by another, surely the earth had become corruptby the predominance of the polytheists and the slaughter of the Muslims and the ruin of the places of worship: but God is beneficent to the peoples,and hath repelled some by others.
(ii. 247-252.)
Hath the story of the two opposing parties come unto thee,O Moḥammad, when they ascended over the walls of the oratory ofDavid, having been prevented going in unto him by the door, because of his being engaged in devotion?When they went in unto David, and he was frightened at them, they said, Fear not:we aretwo opposing parties.It is said that they were two parties of more than one each; and it is said that they were two individuals, angels, who came as two litigants, to admonish David, who had ninety-nine wives, and had desired the wife of a person who had none but her, and married her and taken her as his wife.311[One of them said,] One of us hath wronged the other; therefore judge between us with truth, and be not unjust, but direct us into the right way. Verily this my brotherin religionhad nine-and-ninety ewes, and I had one ewe; and he said, Make me her keeper. And he overcame me in the dispute.—And the other confessed him to have spoken truth.—[David] said, Verily he hath wronged thee in demanding thy eweto add herto his ewes; and verily many associates wrong one another, except those who believe and do righteous deeds: and few indeed are they.—And the two angels said, ascending in their[proper or assumed]forms to heaven, The man hath passed sentence against himself. So David was admonished.And David perceived that We had tried himby his love of that woman; wherefore he asked pardon of his Lord, and fell down bowing himself (or prostrating himself), and repented. So We forgave him that; and verily for him [was ordained] a high rank with Us (that is, an increase of good fortune in this world), and [there shallbe for him] an excellent retreatin the world to come.
(xxxviii. 20-24.)
We compelled the mountains to glorify Us, with David, and the birdsalso, on his commanding them to do so, when he experienced languor; and We didthis. And We taught him the art of making coats of mail (for before his time plates of metal were used) for youamong mankind in general, that they might defend you from your sufferingin warring with your enemies.—Will ye then,O people of Mekkeh, be thankfulfor My favours, believing the apostles?—AndWe subjectedunto Solomon [Suleymán] the wind, blowing strongly,and being light at his desire, which ran at his command312to the land that We blessed (namely Syria);313and We knew all things (knowing that what We gave him would stimulate him to be submissive to his Lord). AndWe subjected, of the devils, those who should dive for himin the sea and bring forth from it jewels for him, and do other work besides that;that is, building, and performing other services; and We watched over them,that they might not spoil what they executed; for they used, when they had finished a work before night, to spoil it, if they were not employed in something else.
(xxi. 79-82.)
We gave unto David Solomonhis son. How excellent a servantwas he! For he was one who earnestly turned himself unto God,glorifying and praising Him at all times. [Remember] when, in the latter part of the day,after the commencement of the declining of the sun, themaresstanding on three feet and touching the ground with the edge of the fourth foot, swift in the course, weredisplayed before him.They were a thousand mares, which were displayed before him after he had performed the noon-prayers, on the occasion of his desiring to make use of them in a holy war; and when nine hundred of them had been displayed, the sun set, and he had not performed the afternoon-prayers. So he was grieved, and he said, Verily I have preferred the love of [earthly] goods above the remembrance of my Lord, (that is, the performance of the afternoon-prayers,) so thatthe sunis concealed by the veil. Bring them (namely the horses) back unto me.Therefore they brought them back.And he began to severwith his swordthe legs and the necks,slaughtering them, and[then]cutting off their legs, as a sacrifice unto God, and gave their flesh in alms; and God gave him in compensation what was better than they were and swifter, namely the wind, which travelled by his command whithersoever he desired.—And We tried Solomonby depriving him of his kingdom. This was because he married a woman of whom he became enamoured, and she used to worship an idol in his palace without his knowledge. His dominion was in his signet; and he pulled it off once and deposited it with his wife, who was named El-Emeeneh; and a jinnee came unto her in the form of Solomon, and took it from her.And We placed upon his throne a [counterfeit] body;namely that jinnee, who was Ṣakhr, or another. He sat upon the throne of Solomon, and the birds and other creatures surrounded him; and Solomon went forth, with a changed appearance, and saw him upon his throne, and said unto the people, I am Solomon:—but they denied him.Then he returnedunto his kingdom, after some days, having obtained the signet and put it on, and seated himself upon his throne.314He said, Omy Lord, forgive me, and give me a dominion that may not be to any one after me (or beside me); for Thou art the Liberal Giver. So We subjected unto him the wind, which ran gently at his command whithersoever he desired; and the devils [also], every builderof wonderful structures, and diverthat brought up pearls from the sea, and others bound in chainswhich connected their hands to their necks. And We said unto him, This is Our gift, and bestow thouthereof upon whomsoever thou wilt, or refrainfrom bestowing, withoutrenderingan account. And verily for him [was ordained] a high rank with Us, and an excellent retreat.
(xxxviii. 29-39.)
We bestowed on David and Solomon knowledgein judging men and in the language of the birds and other matters; and they said, Praise be to God who hath made us to excel many of His believing servants,by the gift of prophecy and by the subjection of the jinn and mankind and the devils. And Solomon inherited from Davidthe gift of prophecy and knowledge; and he said, O men, we have been taught the language of the birds,315and have had bestowed on us of everythingwherewith prophets and kings are gifted. Verily this is manifest excellence.—And his armies of jinn and men and birds were gathered together unto Solomon, and they were led on in order, until, when they came unto the valley of ants, (which[was]at Eṭ-Ṭáïf or in Syria, the ants whereof[were]small or great,) an ant (the queen of the ants),having seen the troops of Solomon, said, O ants, enter your habitations, lest Solomon and his troops crush you violently, while they perceive not. AndSolomonsmiled,afterwardslaughing at her saying,which he heard from the distance of three miles, the wind conveying it to him: so he withheld his forces when he came in sight of their valley, until the ants had entered their dwellings: and his troops were on horses and on foot in this expedition.And he said, O my Lord, inspire me to be thankful for Thy favour which Thou hast bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and to do righteousness which Thou shalt approve, and admit me, in Thy mercy, among Thy servants, the righteous,the prophets and the saints.
And he examined the birds,316that he might see the lapwing, that saw the water beneath the earth, and directed to it by pecking the earth, whereupon the devils used to draw it forth when Solomon wanted it[to perform the ablution]for prayer; but he saw it not: and he said, Wherefore do I not see the lapwing? Is it [one] of the absent?—And when he was certain of the case he said, I will assuredly punish it with a severe punishment,by plucking out its feathers and its tail and casting it in the sun so that it shall not be able to guard against excessive thirst; or I will slaughter it; or it shall bring me a manifest convincing proofshowing its excuse.—And it tarried not longbefore it presented itself unto Solomon submissively, and raised its head and relaxed its tail and its wings: so he forgave it; and he asked it what it had met with during its absence; and it said, I have become acquainted with that wherewith thou hast not become acquainted, and I have come unto thee from Seba (a tribe of El-Yemen) with a sure piece of news. I found a woman reigning over them,named Bilḳees, and she hath been gifted with everythingthat princes require, and hath a magnificent throne.(Its length was eighty cubits; and its breadth, forty cubits; and its height, thirty cubits: it was composed of gold and silver set with fine pearls and with rubies and chrysolites, and its legs were of rubies and chrysolites and emeralds: upon it[wereclosed]seven doors: to each chamber[through which one passed to it was]a closed door.) I found her and her people worshipping the sun instead of God, and the devil hath made their works to seem comely unto them, so that he hath hindered them from therightway, wherefore they are not rightly directed to the worship of God, who produceth what is hidden (namely the rain and vegetables) in the heavens and the earth, and knoweth what they [that is, mankind and others] concealin their hearts, and what they revealwith their tongues. God: there is no deity but He, the Lord of the magnificent throne,between which and the throne of Bilḳees is a vast difference.
Solomonsaidto the lapwing, We will see whether thou hast spoken truth or whether thou art of the liars.Then the lapwing guided them to the water, and it was drawn forth[by the devils];and they quenched their thirst and performed the ablution and prayed. Then Solomon wrote a letter, the form whereof was this:—From the servant of God, Solomon the son of David, to Bilḳees the queen of Seba. In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Peace be on whomsoever followeth the right direction. After[this salutation, I say],Act ye not proudly towards me; but come unto me submitting.—He then sealed it with musk, and stamped it with his signet, and said unto the lapwing, Go with this my letter and throw it down unto them (namely Bilḳees and her people): then turn away from them,but stay near them, and see whatreplythey will return.So the lapwing took it, and came unto her, and around her were her forces; and he threw it down into her lap; and when she saw it, she trembled with fear. Then she considered what was in it, andshe saidunto the nobles of her people, O nobles, an honourable (sealed) letter hath been thrown down unto me. It is from Solomon; and it isthis:—In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Act ye not proudly towards me: but come unto me submitting.—She said, O nobles, advise me in mine affair. I will not decide upon a thing unless yebear me witness.—They replied, We are endowed with strength and endowed with great valour; but the command [belongeth] to thee; therefore see what thou wilt commandus to do, and we will obey thee. She said, Verily kings, when they enter a city, waste it, and render the mighty of its inhabitants abject; and thus will they dowho have sent the letter. But I will send unto them with a gift, and I will see with what the messengers will return,whether the gift will be accepted, or whether it will be rejected. If he be[merely]a king, he will accept it; and if he be a prophet, he will not accept it.—And she sent male and female servants, a thousand in equal numbers[five hundred of each sex],and five hundred bricks of gold, and a crown set with jewels, and musk and ambergris and other things, by a messenger with a letter.317And the lapwing hastened unto Solomon, to tell him the news; on hearing which, he commanded that bricks of gold and silver should be cast, and that a horse-course should be extended to the length of nine leagues from the place where he was, and that they should build around it a wall with battlements, of gold and silver, and that the handsomest of the beasts of the land and of the sea should be brought with the sons of the jinn on the right side of the horse-course and on its left.
And whenthe messengercamewith the gift, and with him his attendants, unto Solomon, he [Solomon] said, Do ye aid me with wealth? But what God hath given me (namely the gift of prophecy and the kingdom) is better than what He hath given you,of worldly goods; yet ye rejoice in your gift,because ye glory in the showy things of this world. Return unto themwith the gift that thou hast brought; for we will surely come unto them with forces with which they have not power [to contend], andwe will surely drive them out from it, (that is, from their country, Seba, which was named after the father of their tribe,) abject and contemptible,if they come not unto us submitting. And when the messenger returned unto her with the gift, she placed her throne within seven doors, within her palace, and her palace was within seven palaces; and she closed the doors, and set guards to them, and prepared to go unto Solomon, that she might see what he would command her to do. She departed with twelve thousand kings, each king having with him many thousands, and proceeded until she came as near to him as a league’s distance; when he knew of her[approach,] he said, O nobles, which of you will bring unto me her throne before they come unto me submitting? An ´efreet, of the jinn, answered, I will bring it unto thee before thou shalt arise from thy placewherein thou sittest to judge from morning until mid-day; for I am able to do it, [and] trustworthywith respect to the jewels that it compriseth and other matters. Solomon said, I desire it more speedily.[And thereupon] he with whom was knowledge of therevealedscripture (namely[his Wezeer]Áṣaf the son of Barkhiya, who was a just person, acquainted with the most great name of God, which ensured an answer to him who invoked thereby318) said, I will bring it unto thee before thy glance can be withdrawnfrom any object. And he said unto him, Look at the sky. So he looked at it; then he withdrew his glance, and found it placed before him: for during his look towards the sky, Áṣaf prayed, by the most great name, that God would bring it; and it so happened, the throne passing under the ground until it came up before the throne of Solomon.And when he saw it firmly placed before him, he said, This is of the favour of my Lord, that He may try me, whether I shall be thankful or whether I shall be unthankful. And he who is thankful is thankful forthe sake ofhis own soul,which will have the reward of histhankfulness; and [as to] him who is ungrateful, my Lord is independent [and] bountiful.
[Then Solomon] said, Alter ye her throne so that it may not be known by her, that we may see whether she be rightly directedto the knowledge thereof, or whether she be of those who are not rightly directedto the knowledge of that which is altered. He desired thereby to try her intelligence. So they altered it, by adding to it, or taking from it, or in some other manner.And when she came, it was saidunto her, Is thy throne like this? She answered, As though it were the same. (She answered them ambiguously like as they had questioned her ambiguously, not saying, Is this thy throne?—and had they so said, she had answered, Yes.)And when Solomon saw her knowledge, he said, And we have had knowledge bestowed on us before her, and have been Muslims. But what she worshipped instead of God hindered herfrom worshipping Him; for she was of an unbelieving people.—It was said unto heralso, Enter the palace.It had a floor of white, transparent glass, beneath which was running water, wherein were fish. Solomon had made it on its being said unto him that her legs and feet were[hairy]like the legs of an ass.And when she saw it, she imagined it to be a great water, and she uncovered her legs,that she might wade through it; and Solomon was on his throne at the upper end of the palace, and he saw that her legs and her feet were handsome. He saidunto her, Verily it is a palace evenly spread with glass.And he invited her to embrace El-Islám, [whereupon] she said, O my Lord, verily I have acted unjustly towards mine own soul,by worshipping another than Thee, and I resign myself, with Solomon, unto God, the Lord of the worlds.And he desired to marry her; but he disliked the hair upon her legs; so the devils made for him the depilatory of quick-lime, wherewith she removed the hair, and he married her; and he loved her, and confirmed her in her kingdom. He used to visit her every month once, and to remain with her three days; and her reign expired on the expiration ofthe reign of Solomon. It is related that he began to reign when he was thirteen years of age, and died at the age of three and fifty years. Extolled be the perfection of Him to the duration of whose dominion there is no end!
(xxvii. 15-45.)
We subjectedunto Solomon the wind, which travelled in the morning (unto the period when the sun began to decline)the distance ofa month’sjourney, and in the eveningfrom the commencement of the declining of the sun into its settinga month’sjourney. And We made the fountain of molten brass to flow for himthree days with their nights[in every month],as water floweth;319and the people worked until the day[of its flowing],with that which had been given into Solomon. And of the jinn [were] those who worked in his presence, by the will of his Lord; and such of them as swerved fromobedience toOur command We will cause to taste of the punishment of hellin the world to come(or, as it is said by some, We cause to taste of its punishment in the present world, an angel beating them with a scourge from hell, the stripe of which burneth them). They made for him whatever he pleased, of lofty halls (with steps whereby to ascend to them), and images (for they were not forbidden by his law320), and large dishes, like great tanks for watering camels,around each of which assembled a thousand men, eating from it, and cooking-pots standing firmlyon their legs, cut out from the mountains in El-Yemen, and to which they ascended by ladders.And We said, Work, O family of David,in the service of God, with thanksgivingunto Him for what He hath given you:—but few of My servants are the thankful. And when We decreed that he (namely, Solomon) should die,and he died, and remained standing, and leaning upon his staff for a year, dead, the jinn meanwhileperforming those difficult works as they were accustomed to do, not knowing of his death, until the worm ate his staff, whereupon he fell down, nothing showed them his death but the eating reptile (the worm) that ate his staff.321And when he fell down, the jinn plainly perceived that if they had known things unseen (of which things was the death of Solomon), they had not continued in the ignominious affliction (that is, in their difficult works),imagining that he was alive, inconsistently with their opinion that they knew things unseen. And that the period was a year was known by calculating what the worm had eaten of his staff since his death in each day and night or other space of time.(xxxiv. 11-13.)
Verily Jonah [Yoonus] was one of the apostles. [Remember] when he fled unto the laden ship,being angry with his people, because the punishment wherewith he had threatened them did not fall upon them; wherefore he embarked in the ship; and it became stationary in the midst of the sea: so the sailors said, Here is a slave who hath fled from his master, and the lot will discover him:—and he cast lotswith those who were in the ship, and he was [the] one upon whom the lot fell.They therefore cast him into the sea, and the fish swallowed him; and he was reprehensible,for having gone to the sea, and embarked in the ship, without the permission of his Lord. And had he not been of those who glorified God (by his saying often in the belly of the fish, There is no god but Thou! I extol Thy perfection! Verily I have been of the offenders!), he had remained in his belly until the day of resurrection.322And We cast him on the plain land,the same day, or after three or seven days, or twenty or forty days; and he was sick; and We caused a gourd plant323to grow up over him,to shade him.It had a trunk, contrary to what is the case of gourds in general, being miraculously produced for him.324And a wild she-goat cameto him evening and morning, of whose milk he drank until he became strong.And We sent himafter that, as before, untohis people in Nineveh, in the land of El-Moṣil, a hundred thousand, or they were a greater number bytwenty or thirty or seventy thousand; and they believedon beholding the punishment wherewith they had been threatened;325wherefore We allowed them enjoymentof their goodsfor a time,until the expiration of their terms of life. (xxxvii. 139-148.)
[Hast thou not considered] him who passed by a city (which was Jerusalem),riding upon an ass, and having with him a basket of figs and a vessel of the juice of grapes(and he was ´Ozeyr[Ezra]), and it was falling down upon its roofs,Nebuchadnezzar having ruined it? He said,wondering at the power of God, How will God quicken this after its death?—And God caused him to die for a hundred years. Then He raised him to life: [and] He saidunto him, How long hast thou tarriedhere?—He answered I have tarried a day, or part of a day.—For he slept in the first part of the day, and was deprived of his life, and was reanimated at sunset.He said Nay, thou hast tarried a hundred years: but look at thy food and thy drink: they have not become changed by time: and look at thine ass.—And he beheld it dead, and its bones white and shining.—We have done this that thou mayest know, and that We may make thee a signof the resurrectionunto men. And look at the bonesof thine ass, how We will raise them; then We will clothe them with flesh.—So he looked at them, and they had become put together, and were clothed with flesh, and life was breathed into it, and it brayed.Therefore when it had been made manifest to him he said, I know that God is able to accomplish everything. (ii. 261.)
Rememberwhen the wife of ´Imrán326said, (when she had become aged, and desired offspring, wherefore she supplicated God, and became sensible of pregnancy,) O my Lord, verily I devote unto Thee what is in my womb, to be dedicatedto the service of Thy holy house: then accept [it] from me; for Thou art the Hearerof prayer, the Knowerof intentions.And ´Imrán perished while she was pregnant.And when she gave birth to it, (namely her daughter; and she was hoping that it might be a boy; since none but boys were dedicated,) she said, O my Lord, verily I have brought forth a female, (and God well knew what she had brought forth,) and the male is not as the female,the latter not being fit for the service[of the temple]; and I have named her Mary [Maryam]; and I beg thy protection for her and her offspring from the accursed devil.327(In the traditions[it is said],No child is born but the devil hath touched it at the time of its birth, wherefore it first raiseth its voice by crying, excepting Mary and her son.328) And her Lord accepted her (that is, He accepted Mary from her mother) with a gracious acceptance, and caused her to grow with an excellent growth,as though she grew in a day as a child[generally]groweth in a month.Her mother took her to the doctors, the keepers of the Holy House, and said, Receiveye this devoted child. And they eagerly desired her, because she was the daughter of their chief. But Zechariah said, I am more worthy of having her; for her maternal aunt is with me. They however replied, Nay, but we will cast lots.—So they departed (and they were nine and twenty) to the river Jordan, and cast their divining arrows on the understanding that he whose arrow should become steady in the water and rise should be[acknowledged]most worthy of her; and the arrow of Zechariah became steady, and he took her, and built for her a chamber in the temple, with stairs to which no one ascended but himself. And he used to bring her her food and her drink and her ointment; and used to find with her the fruits of winter in summer, and the fruits of summer in winter, as He—whose name be exalted!—hath said, And Zechariah maintained her. Whenever Zechariah went in to her in the chamber, he found with her provisions. He said, O Mary, whence came to thee this? She answered, (being then a little child,) It is from God:He bringeth it to me from Paradise: for God supplieth whom He pleaseth without reckoning.
Then,when he saw this, and knew that He who was able to produce a thing out of its season was able to give a child in old age, (and the people of his house had become extinct,)Zechariah supplicated his Lord,when he had entered the chamber to pray in the latter part of the night. He said, O my Lord, give me from Thee a good offspring (a righteous son); for Thou art the Hearer of prayer.—And the angels (by which is meant Gabriel) called to him as he stood praying in the chamber (that is, the temple), saying, God promiseth thee John [Yaḥyá], who shall be a verifier of [the] Wordwhich comethfrom God, (that is, Jesus[´Eesa];for he is the Spirit of God, and was named[the]Word because he was created by the word Be,) and a chief, (or one followed,) and chaste, and a prophet, of the righteous. (It is related that he neither did any sin nor intended any.)—He said, O my Lord, how shall I have a son, when oldage hath come upon me,when I have attained the utmost age, a hundred and twenty years, and my wife is barren,and hath attained the age of eight and ninety?—He answered,It shall bethus. God will do what He pleaseth.—He said, O my Lord, give me a sign.—He replied, Thy sign [shall be] that thou shalt not speak unto men for three days, except by signal; but remember thy Lord often, and glorify [Him] in the evening and in the morning. (iii. 31-36.)
And he went forth unto his people from the chamber, and made a sign unto them, [as though he would say] Glorify [God] in the morning and in the eveningas usual.And he knew by his being prevented from speaking unto them that his wife had conceived John. And after his birth, by some years, God said unto him, O John, receive the book (that is, the Law) with resolution. And We bestowed on him wisdom (the gift of prophecy) [when he was yet] a child,three years of age, and compassion from Usfor mankind, and [a disposition to bestow] almsupon them. And he was pious, and dutiful to his parents, and was not proud [nor] rebellioustoward his Lord; and peacefrom Us[was] on him on the day when he was born, and on the day of his death, and [shall be] on the day when he shall be raised to life. (xix. 12-15.)
Andrememberwhen the angels (that is, Gabriel) said, O Mary, verily God hath chosen thee and hath purified thee and hath chosen thee above the women of the peoplesof thy time. O Mary, be devout towards thy Lord and prostrate thyself and bow down with those who bow down:pray with those who pray.—This is [one] of the announcements of things unseenby thee: We reveal it unto thee,O Moḥammad; for thou wast not with them when they cast their divining arrowsthat it might appear to themwhich of them should rear Mary, and thou wast not with them when they disputed togetheras to rearing her.—Rememberwhen the angels (that is, Gabriel) said, OMary, verily God promiseth thee [the] Word from Him, whose name [shall be] the Messiah [El-Meseeḥ], Jesus the son of Mary, honourable in this worldby his prophetic office, and in the world to comeby his intercession and high stations, and of those admitted nearunto God; and he shall speak unto men in the cradle, and when of full age,329and [he shall be] of the righteous.—She said, O my Lord, how shall I have a son, when a man hath not touched me?—He answered,It shall bethus; God will create what He pleaseth: when He determineth a thing, He only saith unto it, Be,—and it is. And He will teach him writing and wisdom and the Law and the Gospel, andconstitute himan apostle to the children of Israel,in youth or after adolescence.And Gabriel breathed into the bosom of her shift; whereupon she conceived; and those events of her history which are related in the Soorat Maryam[Ḳur. xix.]happened. (iii. 37-43.)
Relate in the book (that is, the Ḳur-án)the history ofMary, when she retired from her family to a place towards the east,in the house, and she took a veil [to conceal herself] from them; and We sent unto her our spiritGabriel, and he appeared unto her as a perfect man. She said, I beg the Compassionate to preserve me from thee! If thou be a pious person,thou wilt withdraw from me.—He replied, I am only the messenger of thy Lord [to inform thee] that He will give thee a pure son,endowed with the gift of prophecy. She said, How shall I have a son, when a man hath not touched me, and I am not a harlot? He answered, Thusshall it be: a son shall be created unto thee without a father. Thy Lord saith, This is easy unto Me; andthus shall it bethat We may make him a sign unto men,showing Our power, and a mercy from Usunto him who shall believe in him: for it is a thing decreed.—Andshe conceived him; and she retired with him [yet unborn] to a distant placefar from her family; and the pains of childbirth urged her to repair to the trunk of a palm-treethat she might lean against it.And she gave birth to the child, which was conceived and formed and born in an hour.330She said, Oh! would that I had died before thisevent, and had been a thing forgotten [and] unnoticed!—But he who was below her (namely Gabriel, who was on a lower place than she) called to her, Grieve not. God hath made below thee a rivulet: and shake thou towards thee the trunk of the palm-tree (which was dried-up); it shall let fall upon thee ripe dates, fresh-gathered: therefore eatof the dates, and drinkof the water of the rivulet, and be of cheerful eyeon account of the child: and if thou see any one of mankind,asking thee concerning the child, say, I have vowed unto the Compassionate an abstinencefrom speech with mankind respecting him and other matters; therefore I will not speak to-day unto a manafter this.
And she brought him [namely the child] unto her people, carrying him. They said, O Mary, thou hast done a strange thing. O sister of Aaron, (he was a righteous man; and the meaning is, O thou who art like him in chastity,331) thy father was not a man of wickedness, nor was thy mother a harlot.Then whence gottest thou this child?—And she made a signto them, [pointing] towards him, [namely the child, as though she would say,]Speak ye unto him.They said, How shall we speak unto himwho is in the cradle, an infant? He [however] said, Verily I am the servant of God:332He hath given me the bookof the Gospel, and hath appointed me a prophet; and He hath made me blessed wherever I shall be, and hath commanded me to observe prayer and give alms as long as I shall live, andhath made medutiful to my mother, and hath not made me proud [nor] wicked. And peacefrom God[was] on me on the day when I was born, and [will be] on the day when I shall die, and on the day when I shall be raised to life.—This [was] Jesus the son of Mary.I have spokenthe saying of truth, concerning which they (namely the Christians) doubt,saying that Jesus is the son of God. It is not [meet] for God to get a son. Extolled be His purityfrom that[imputation]! When He decreeth a thingthat He desireth to bring into existence, He only saith unto it, Be,—and it is:and thus He created Jesus the son of Mary without a father.—Andsay, Verily God is my Lord and your Lord: therefore worship ye Him: this is a right way,leading to Paradise. But the sects have differed among themselves;that is, the Christians have differed concerning Jesus, as to whether he be the son of God, or a deity with Him, or the third of three. And woe unto them who have disbelievedin that which hath been stated, or in other matters, on account of the assembly of a great day,the day of resurrection, and its terrors. How will they hear, and howwill theysee, on the day when they shall come unto Usin the world to come! But the offenders to-day (that is, in the present world) are in a manifest error:they are deaf, so that they hear not the truth; and blind, so that they see it not. And do thou,O Moḥammad, warn them (namely the unbelievers of Mekkeh) of the day of sighing (the day of resurrection, when the evil-doer shall sigh for his having neglectedto do good in the present world), when the commandfor their punishmentshall be fulfilled, while they (in the present world) are in a state of heedlessnesswith respect to it, and while they believe nottherein. Verily We shall inherit the earth and whomsoever are upon it (the heedless and others; they being destroyed); and unto Us shall they be brought backto be recompensed. (xix. 16-41.)
And when God sent him[Jesus]to the children of Israel, he said unto them, Verily I am the apostle of God unto you; for I have come unto you with a sign from your Lord; for I will make for you of earth the similitude of a bird, and will breathe into it, and it shall be a bird,333by the permission (or will) of God;334(and he made for them a bat; for it is the most perfect of birds in make; and it flew, while they looked at it; but when it had gone out of their sight, it fell down dead;) and I will cure the blind from his birth, and the leper; (and he cured in one day fifty thousand, by prayer, on the condition of faith;) and I will raise to life the dead, by the permission of God; (this he repeated to deny his divinity: and he raised to life ´Áriz[Lazarus]a friend of his; and a son of the old woman, and the daughter of the publican; and they lived, and children were born to them; and Shem the son of Noah, who died immediately;) and I will tell you what ye eat and what ye store up in your houses. Verily therein will be a sign unto you, if ye be believers. AndI have come unto youas a verifier of that which was before me, of theLaw, and to make lawful unto you part of what was made unlawful to youtherein; (and he made lawful to them, of fish and fowls, whatsoever is without fin or spur; and it is said that he made lawful all, and that ‘part’ is used in the sense of ‘the whole:’) and I have come unto you with a sign from your Lord; therefore fear ye God, and obey mein that which I command you, as to the confession of the unity of God and the service of Him. Verily God is my Lord and your Lord; therefore worship Him. This is [the] right way.But they accused him of falsehood and believed not in him.And when Jesus perceived their unbelief, he said, Who [will be] my helpers for God? The apostles335answered, We [will be] the helpers of God. We have believed in God; and bear thou witness,O Jesus, that we are Muslims [or resigned]. O our Lord, we have believed in that which Thou hast sent downof the Gospel, and we have followed the Apostle,Jesus; therefore write us down among those who bear witnessof Thy unity and of the truth of Thine apostle.—And they (that is, the unbelievers among the children of Israel) devised a stratagemagainst Jesus, to slay him treacherously; but God devised a stratagemagainst them; for He put the likeness of Jesus upon one who intended his slaughter, and they slew him; and Jesus was taken up[into heaven],336and God is the best of those who devise stratagems....It is related that God sent a cloud to Jesus, and it took him up; but his mother clung unto him and wept: whereupon he said unto her, Verily the resurrection will unite us.—It is also related that he will descend shortly before the resurrection and judge according to the law of our prophet[Moḥammad],slay Antichrist and the swine, break the cross, and impose the capitation-tax[on unbelievers].—Also, that he will remain, according to one tradition, seven years; according to another, forty years; and die, and be prayed over: but it is probable that[by the latter period]is meant the whole time of his tarrying upon the earth, before the ascension and after. (iii. 43—47.)