Of Charity.

Of Charity.When God created the earth, it began to shake and tremble; then God created mountains, and put them upon the earth, and the land became firm and fixed; and the angels were astonished at the hardness of the hills, and said, “O God, is there anything of thy creation harder than hills?” and God said, “Yes, water is harder than the hills, because it breaketh them.” Then the angel said, “O Lord, is there anything of thy creation harder than water?” He said, “Yes, wind overcometh water: it doth agitate it and put it in motion.” They said, “O our Lord! is there anything of thy creation harder than wind?” He said, “Yes, the children of Adam giving alms: those who give with their right hand, and conceal from their left, overcome all.”The liberal man is near the pleasure of God and is near Paradise, which he shall enter into, and is near the hearts of men as a friend, and he is distant from hell; but the niggard is far from God’s pleasure and from paradise, and far from the hearts of men, and near the Fire; and verily a liberal ignorant man is more beloved by God than a niggardly worshipper.A man’s giving in alms one piece of silver in his lifetime is better for him than giving one hundred when about to die.Think not that any good act is contemptible, though it be but your brother’s coming to you with an open countenance and good humour.There is alms for a man’s every joint, every day in which the sun riseth; doing justice between two people is alms; and assisting a man upon his beast, and his baggage, is alms; and pure words, for which are rewards; and answering a questioner with mildness is alms, and every step which is made toward prayer is alms, and removing that which is an inconvenience to man, such as stones and thorns, is alms.The people of the Prophet’s house killed a goat, and the Prophet said, “What remaineth of it?” They said, “Nothing but the shoulder; for they have sent the whole to the poor and neighbours, except a shoulder which remaineth.” The Prophet said, “Nay, it is the whole goat that remaineth except its shoulder: that remaineth which they have given away, the rewards of which will be eternal, and what remaineth in the house is fleeting.”Feed the hungry, visit the sick, and free the captive if he be unjustly bound.

When God created the earth, it began to shake and tremble; then God created mountains, and put them upon the earth, and the land became firm and fixed; and the angels were astonished at the hardness of the hills, and said, “O God, is there anything of thy creation harder than hills?” and God said, “Yes, water is harder than the hills, because it breaketh them.” Then the angel said, “O Lord, is there anything of thy creation harder than water?” He said, “Yes, wind overcometh water: it doth agitate it and put it in motion.” They said, “O our Lord! is there anything of thy creation harder than wind?” He said, “Yes, the children of Adam giving alms: those who give with their right hand, and conceal from their left, overcome all.”

The liberal man is near the pleasure of God and is near Paradise, which he shall enter into, and is near the hearts of men as a friend, and he is distant from hell; but the niggard is far from God’s pleasure and from paradise, and far from the hearts of men, and near the Fire; and verily a liberal ignorant man is more beloved by God than a niggardly worshipper.

A man’s giving in alms one piece of silver in his lifetime is better for him than giving one hundred when about to die.

Think not that any good act is contemptible, though it be but your brother’s coming to you with an open countenance and good humour.

There is alms for a man’s every joint, every day in which the sun riseth; doing justice between two people is alms; and assisting a man upon his beast, and his baggage, is alms; and pure words, for which are rewards; and answering a questioner with mildness is alms, and every step which is made toward prayer is alms, and removing that which is an inconvenience to man, such as stones and thorns, is alms.

The people of the Prophet’s house killed a goat, and the Prophet said, “What remaineth of it?” They said, “Nothing but the shoulder; for they have sent the whole to the poor and neighbours, except a shoulder which remaineth.” The Prophet said, “Nay, it is the whole goat that remaineth except its shoulder: that remaineth which they have given away, the rewards of which will be eternal, and what remaineth in the house is fleeting.”

Feed the hungry, visit the sick, and free the captive if he be unjustly bound.

Of Fasting.A keeper of fasts, who doth not abandon lying and slandering, God careth not about his leaving off eating and drinking.Keep fast and eat also, stay awake at night and sleep also, because verily there is a duty on you to your body, not to labour overmuch, so that ye may not get ill and destroy yourselves; and verily there is a duty on you to your eyes, ye must sometimes sleep and give them rest; and verily there is a duty on you to your wife, and to your visitors and guests that come to see you; ye must talk to them; and nobody hath kept fast who fasted always; the fast of three days in every month is equal to constant fasting: then keep three days’ fast in every month.

A keeper of fasts, who doth not abandon lying and slandering, God careth not about his leaving off eating and drinking.

Keep fast and eat also, stay awake at night and sleep also, because verily there is a duty on you to your body, not to labour overmuch, so that ye may not get ill and destroy yourselves; and verily there is a duty on you to your eyes, ye must sometimes sleep and give them rest; and verily there is a duty on you to your wife, and to your visitors and guests that come to see you; ye must talk to them; and nobody hath kept fast who fasted always; the fast of three days in every month is equal to constant fasting: then keep three days’ fast in every month.

Of Reading the Korān.The state of a Muslim who readeth the Korān is like the orange fruit, whose smell and taste are pleasant; and that of a Muslim who doth not read the Korān, is like a date which hath no smell, but a sweet taste; and the condition of any hypocrite who doth not read the Korān is like the colocynth which hath no smell, but a bitter taste; and the hypocrite who readeth the Korān is like the sweet bazil, whose smell is sweet, but taste bitter.Read the Korān constantly; I sware by Him in the hands of whose might is my life, verily the Korān runneth away faster than a camel which is not tied by the leg.

The state of a Muslim who readeth the Korān is like the orange fruit, whose smell and taste are pleasant; and that of a Muslim who doth not read the Korān, is like a date which hath no smell, but a sweet taste; and the condition of any hypocrite who doth not read the Korān is like the colocynth which hath no smell, but a bitter taste; and the hypocrite who readeth the Korān is like the sweet bazil, whose smell is sweet, but taste bitter.

Read the Korān constantly; I sware by Him in the hands of whose might is my life, verily the Korān runneth away faster than a camel which is not tied by the leg.

Of Labour and Profit.Verily the best things which ye eat are those which ye earn yourselves or which your children earn.Verily it is better for one of you to take a rope and bring a bundle of wood upon his back and sell it, in which case God guardeth his honour, than to beg of people, whether they give him or not; if they do not give him, his reputation suffereth and he returneth disappointed; and if they give him, it is worse than that, for it layeth him under obligations.A man came to the Prophet, begging of him something, and the Prophet said, “Have you nothing at home?” He said, “Yes, there is a large carpet, with one part of which I cover myself, and spread the other, and there is a wooden cup in which I drink water.” Then the Prophet said, “Bring me the carpet and the cup.” And the man brought them, and the Prophet took them in his hand and said, “Who will buy them?” A man said, “I will take them at one silver piece.” He said, “Who will give more?” This he repeated twice or thrice. Another mansaid, “I will take them for two pieces of silver.” Then the Prophet gave the carpet and cup to that man, and took the two pieces of silver, and gave them to the helper, and said, “Buy food with one of these pieces, and give it to your family, that they may make it their sustenance for a few days; and buy a hatchet with the other piece and bring it to me.” And the man brought it; and the Prophet put a handle to it with his own hands, and then said, “Go, cut wood, and sell it, and let me not see you for fifteen days.” Then the man went cutting wood, and selling it; and he came to the Prophet, when verily he had got ten pieces of silver, and he bought a garment with part of it, and food with part. Then the Prophet said, “This cutting and selling of wood, and making your livelihood by it, is better for you than coming on the day of resurrection with black marks on your face.”Acts of begging are scratches and wounds by which a man woundeth his own face; then he who wisheth to guard his face from scratches and wounds must not beg, unless that a man asketh from his prince, or in an affair in which there is no remedy.The Prophet hath cursed ten persons onaccount of wine: one, the first extractor of the juice of the grape for others; the second for himself; the third the drinker of it; the fourth the bearer of it; the fifth the person to whom it is brought; the sixth the waiter; the seventh the seller of it; the eighth the eater of its price; the ninth the buyer of it; the tenth that person who hath purchased it for another.Merchants shall be raised up liars on the Day of Resurrection, except he who abstaineth from that which is unlawful, and doth not swear falsely, but speaketh true in the price of his goods.The taker of interest and the giver of it, and the writer of its papers and the witness to it, are equal in crime.The holder of a monopoly is a sinner and offender.The bringers of grain to the city to sell at a cheap rate gain immense advantage by it, and he who keepeth back grain in order to sell at a high rate is cursed.He who desireth that God should redeem himfrom the sorrows and difficulties of the Day of Resurrection, must delay in calling on poor debtors, or forgive the debt in part or whole.A martyr shall be pardoned every fault but debt.Whosoever has a thing with which to discharge a debt, and refuseth to do it, it is right to dishonour and punish him.A bier was brought to the Prophet, to say prayers over it. He said, “Hath he left any debts?” They said, “Yes.” He said, “Hath he left anything to discharge them?” They said, “No.” The Prophet said, “Say ye prayers over him, I shall not.”Give the labourer his wage before his perspiration be dry.

Verily the best things which ye eat are those which ye earn yourselves or which your children earn.

Verily it is better for one of you to take a rope and bring a bundle of wood upon his back and sell it, in which case God guardeth his honour, than to beg of people, whether they give him or not; if they do not give him, his reputation suffereth and he returneth disappointed; and if they give him, it is worse than that, for it layeth him under obligations.

A man came to the Prophet, begging of him something, and the Prophet said, “Have you nothing at home?” He said, “Yes, there is a large carpet, with one part of which I cover myself, and spread the other, and there is a wooden cup in which I drink water.” Then the Prophet said, “Bring me the carpet and the cup.” And the man brought them, and the Prophet took them in his hand and said, “Who will buy them?” A man said, “I will take them at one silver piece.” He said, “Who will give more?” This he repeated twice or thrice. Another mansaid, “I will take them for two pieces of silver.” Then the Prophet gave the carpet and cup to that man, and took the two pieces of silver, and gave them to the helper, and said, “Buy food with one of these pieces, and give it to your family, that they may make it their sustenance for a few days; and buy a hatchet with the other piece and bring it to me.” And the man brought it; and the Prophet put a handle to it with his own hands, and then said, “Go, cut wood, and sell it, and let me not see you for fifteen days.” Then the man went cutting wood, and selling it; and he came to the Prophet, when verily he had got ten pieces of silver, and he bought a garment with part of it, and food with part. Then the Prophet said, “This cutting and selling of wood, and making your livelihood by it, is better for you than coming on the day of resurrection with black marks on your face.”

Acts of begging are scratches and wounds by which a man woundeth his own face; then he who wisheth to guard his face from scratches and wounds must not beg, unless that a man asketh from his prince, or in an affair in which there is no remedy.

The Prophet hath cursed ten persons onaccount of wine: one, the first extractor of the juice of the grape for others; the second for himself; the third the drinker of it; the fourth the bearer of it; the fifth the person to whom it is brought; the sixth the waiter; the seventh the seller of it; the eighth the eater of its price; the ninth the buyer of it; the tenth that person who hath purchased it for another.

Merchants shall be raised up liars on the Day of Resurrection, except he who abstaineth from that which is unlawful, and doth not swear falsely, but speaketh true in the price of his goods.

The taker of interest and the giver of it, and the writer of its papers and the witness to it, are equal in crime.

The holder of a monopoly is a sinner and offender.

The bringers of grain to the city to sell at a cheap rate gain immense advantage by it, and he who keepeth back grain in order to sell at a high rate is cursed.

He who desireth that God should redeem himfrom the sorrows and difficulties of the Day of Resurrection, must delay in calling on poor debtors, or forgive the debt in part or whole.

A martyr shall be pardoned every fault but debt.

Whosoever has a thing with which to discharge a debt, and refuseth to do it, it is right to dishonour and punish him.

A bier was brought to the Prophet, to say prayers over it. He said, “Hath he left any debts?” They said, “Yes.” He said, “Hath he left anything to discharge them?” They said, “No.” The Prophet said, “Say ye prayers over him, I shall not.”

Give the labourer his wage before his perspiration be dry.

Of Fighting for the Faith.We came out with the Prophet, with a part of the army, and a man passed by a cavern in which was water and verdure, and he said in his heart, “I shall stay here, and retire from the world.” Then he asked the Prophet’s permission to live in the cavern; but he said, “Verily I have not been sent on the Jewish religion, nor the Christian, to quit the delights of society; but I have been sent on the religion inclining to truth, and that which is easy, wherein is no difficulty or austerity. I swear by God, in whose hand is my life, that marching about morning and evening to fight for religion is better than the world and everything that is in it: and verily the standing of one of you in the line of battle is better than supererogatory prayers performed in your house for sixty years.”When the Prophet sent an army out to fight, he would say, March in the name of God and by His aid and on the religion of the Messenger of God. Kill not the old man who cannot fight, nor young children nor women; and steal not the spoils of war, but put your spoils together; and quarrel not amongst yourselves, but be good to one another, for God loveth the doer of good.

We came out with the Prophet, with a part of the army, and a man passed by a cavern in which was water and verdure, and he said in his heart, “I shall stay here, and retire from the world.” Then he asked the Prophet’s permission to live in the cavern; but he said, “Verily I have not been sent on the Jewish religion, nor the Christian, to quit the delights of society; but I have been sent on the religion inclining to truth, and that which is easy, wherein is no difficulty or austerity. I swear by God, in whose hand is my life, that marching about morning and evening to fight for religion is better than the world and everything that is in it: and verily the standing of one of you in the line of battle is better than supererogatory prayers performed in your house for sixty years.”

When the Prophet sent an army out to fight, he would say, March in the name of God and by His aid and on the religion of the Messenger of God. Kill not the old man who cannot fight, nor young children nor women; and steal not the spoils of war, but put your spoils together; and quarrel not amongst yourselves, but be good to one another, for God loveth the doer of good.

Of Judgments.The first judgment that God will pass on man at the Day of Resurrection will be for murder.Whosoever throweth himself from the top of a mountain and killeth himself is in Hell Fire for ever; and whosoever killeth himself with iron, his iron shall be in his hand, and he will stab his belly with it in Hell Fire everlastingly.No judge must decide between two persons whilst he is angry.There is no judge who hath decided between men, whether just or unjust, but will come to God’s court on the Day of Resurrection held by the neck by an angel; and the angel will raise his head towards the heavens and wait for God’s orders; and if God ordereth to throw him into hell, the angel will do it from a height of forty years’ journey.Verily there will come on a just judge at the Day of Resurrection such fear and horror, that he will wish, Would to God that I had not decided between two persons in a trial for a single date.

The first judgment that God will pass on man at the Day of Resurrection will be for murder.

Whosoever throweth himself from the top of a mountain and killeth himself is in Hell Fire for ever; and whosoever killeth himself with iron, his iron shall be in his hand, and he will stab his belly with it in Hell Fire everlastingly.

No judge must decide between two persons whilst he is angry.

There is no judge who hath decided between men, whether just or unjust, but will come to God’s court on the Day of Resurrection held by the neck by an angel; and the angel will raise his head towards the heavens and wait for God’s orders; and if God ordereth to throw him into hell, the angel will do it from a height of forty years’ journey.

Verily there will come on a just judge at the Day of Resurrection such fear and horror, that he will wish, Would to God that I had not decided between two persons in a trial for a single date.

Of Women and Slaves.The world and all things in it are valuable, but the most valuable thing in the world is a virtuous woman.I have not left any calamity more hurtful to man than woman.A Muslim cannot obtain (after righteousness) anything better than a well-disposed, beautiful wife: such a wife as, when ordered by her husband to do anything, obeyeth; and if her husband look at her, is happy; and if her husband swear by her to do a thing, she doth it to make his oath true; and if he be absent from her, she wisheth him well in her own person by guarding herself from inchastity, and taketh care of his property.Verily the best of women are those who are content with little.Admonish your wives with kindness; for women were created out of a crooked rib of Adam, therefore if ye wish to straighten it, ye will break it; and if ye let it alone, it will be always crooked.Every woman who dieth, and her husband is pleased with her, shall enter into paradise.That which is lawful but disliked by God is divorce.A woman may be married by four qualifications: one, on account of her money; another, on account of the nobility of her pedigree; another, on account of her beauty; a fourth, on account of her faith; therefore look out for religious women, but if ye do it from any other consideration, may your hands be rubbed in dirt.A widow shall not be married until she be consulted; nor shall a virgin be married until her consent be asked, whose consent is by her silence.When the Prophet was informed that the people of Persia had made the daughter of Chosroes their Queen, he said, The tribe that constitutes a woman its ruler will not find redemption.Do not prevent your women from coming to the mosque; but their homes are better for them.O assembly of women, give alms, although it be of your gold and silver ornaments; for verily ye are mostly of Hell on the Day of Resurrection.When ye return from a journey and enter your town at night, go not to your houses, so that your wives may have time to comb their dishevelled hair.God has ordained that your brothers should be your slaves: therefore him whom God hath ordained to be the slave of his brother, his brother must give him of the food which he eateth himself, and of the clothes wherewith he clotheth himself, and not order him to do anything beyond his power, and if he doth order such a work, he must himself assist him in doing it.He who beateth his slave without fault, or slappeth him in the face, his atonement for this is freeing him.A man who behaveth ill to his slave will not enter into paradise.Forgive thy servant seventy times a day.

The world and all things in it are valuable, but the most valuable thing in the world is a virtuous woman.

I have not left any calamity more hurtful to man than woman.

A Muslim cannot obtain (after righteousness) anything better than a well-disposed, beautiful wife: such a wife as, when ordered by her husband to do anything, obeyeth; and if her husband look at her, is happy; and if her husband swear by her to do a thing, she doth it to make his oath true; and if he be absent from her, she wisheth him well in her own person by guarding herself from inchastity, and taketh care of his property.

Verily the best of women are those who are content with little.

Admonish your wives with kindness; for women were created out of a crooked rib of Adam, therefore if ye wish to straighten it, ye will break it; and if ye let it alone, it will be always crooked.

Every woman who dieth, and her husband is pleased with her, shall enter into paradise.

That which is lawful but disliked by God is divorce.

A woman may be married by four qualifications: one, on account of her money; another, on account of the nobility of her pedigree; another, on account of her beauty; a fourth, on account of her faith; therefore look out for religious women, but if ye do it from any other consideration, may your hands be rubbed in dirt.

A widow shall not be married until she be consulted; nor shall a virgin be married until her consent be asked, whose consent is by her silence.

When the Prophet was informed that the people of Persia had made the daughter of Chosroes their Queen, he said, The tribe that constitutes a woman its ruler will not find redemption.

Do not prevent your women from coming to the mosque; but their homes are better for them.

O assembly of women, give alms, although it be of your gold and silver ornaments; for verily ye are mostly of Hell on the Day of Resurrection.

When ye return from a journey and enter your town at night, go not to your houses, so that your wives may have time to comb their dishevelled hair.

God has ordained that your brothers should be your slaves: therefore him whom God hath ordained to be the slave of his brother, his brother must give him of the food which he eateth himself, and of the clothes wherewith he clotheth himself, and not order him to do anything beyond his power, and if he doth order such a work, he must himself assist him in doing it.

He who beateth his slave without fault, or slappeth him in the face, his atonement for this is freeing him.

A man who behaveth ill to his slave will not enter into paradise.

Forgive thy servant seventy times a day.

Of Dumb Animals.Fear God in respect of animals: ride them when they are fit to be ridden, and get off when they are tired.A man came before the Prophet with a carpet, and said, “O Prophet! I passed through a wood, and heard the voices of the young of birds; and I took and put them into my carpet; and their mother came fluttering round my head, and I uncovered the young, and the mother fell down upon them, then I wrapped them up in my carpet; and there are the young which I have.” Then the Prophet said, “Put them down.” And when he did so, their mother joined them: and the Prophet said, “Do you wonder at the affection of the mother towards her young? I swear by Him who hath sent me, verily God is more loving to His servants than the mother to these young birds. Return them to the place from which ye took them, and let their mother be with them.”Verily there are rewards for our doing good to dumb animals, and giving them water to drink. An adulteress was forgiven who passed by a dog at a well; for the dog was holding out his tongue from thirst, which was near killing him; and the woman took off her boot, and tied it to the end of her garment, and drew water for the dog, and gave him to drink; and she was forgiven for that act.

Fear God in respect of animals: ride them when they are fit to be ridden, and get off when they are tired.

A man came before the Prophet with a carpet, and said, “O Prophet! I passed through a wood, and heard the voices of the young of birds; and I took and put them into my carpet; and their mother came fluttering round my head, and I uncovered the young, and the mother fell down upon them, then I wrapped them up in my carpet; and there are the young which I have.” Then the Prophet said, “Put them down.” And when he did so, their mother joined them: and the Prophet said, “Do you wonder at the affection of the mother towards her young? I swear by Him who hath sent me, verily God is more loving to His servants than the mother to these young birds. Return them to the place from which ye took them, and let their mother be with them.”

Verily there are rewards for our doing good to dumb animals, and giving them water to drink. An adulteress was forgiven who passed by a dog at a well; for the dog was holding out his tongue from thirst, which was near killing him; and the woman took off her boot, and tied it to the end of her garment, and drew water for the dog, and gave him to drink; and she was forgiven for that act.

Of Hospitality.When a man cometh into his house and remembereth God and repeateth His name at eating his meals, the Devil saith to his followers, “Here is no place for you to stay in to-night, nor is there any supper for you.” And when a man cometh into his house without remembering God’s name, the Devil saith to his followers, “You have got a place to spend the night in.”Whosoever believeth in God and the Day of Resurrection must respect his guest, and the time of being kind to him is one day and one night, and the period of entertaining him is three days, and after that, if he doth it longer, he benefiteth him more. It is not right for a guest to stay in the house of the host so long as to inconvenience him.I heard this, that God is pure, and loveth purity; and God is liberal, and loveth liberality; God is munificent, and loveth munificence: then keep the courts of your house clean, and do not be like Jews who do not clean the courts of their houses.

When a man cometh into his house and remembereth God and repeateth His name at eating his meals, the Devil saith to his followers, “Here is no place for you to stay in to-night, nor is there any supper for you.” And when a man cometh into his house without remembering God’s name, the Devil saith to his followers, “You have got a place to spend the night in.”

Whosoever believeth in God and the Day of Resurrection must respect his guest, and the time of being kind to him is one day and one night, and the period of entertaining him is three days, and after that, if he doth it longer, he benefiteth him more. It is not right for a guest to stay in the house of the host so long as to inconvenience him.

I heard this, that God is pure, and loveth purity; and God is liberal, and loveth liberality; God is munificent, and loveth munificence: then keep the courts of your house clean, and do not be like Jews who do not clean the courts of their houses.

Of Government.Government is a trust from God, and verily government will be at the Day of Resurrection a cause of inquiry, unless he who hath taken it be worthy of it and have acted justly and done good.Verily a king is God’s shadow upon the earth; and every one oppressed turneth to him: then when the king doeth justice, for him are rewards and gratitude from his subject: but, if the king oppresseth, on him is his sin, and for the oppressed resignation.That is the best of men who disliketh power. Beware! ye are all guardians; and ye will be asked about your subjects: then the leader is the guardian of the subject, and he will be asked respecting the subject; and a man is a shepherd to his own family, and will be asked how they behaved, and his conduct to them; and a wife is guardian to her husband’s house and children, and will be interrogated about them; and a slave is a shepherd to his master’s property, and will be asked about it, whether he took good care of it or not.There is no prince who oppresseth the subject and dieth, but God forbiddeth Paradise to him.If a negro slave is appointed to rule over you, hear him, and obey him, though his head should be like a dried grape.There is no obedience due to sinful commands, nor to any other than what is lawful.O Prophet of God, if we have princes over us, wanting our rights, and withholding our rights from us, then what do you order us? He said, “Ye must hear them and obey their orders: it is on them to be just and good, and on you to be obedient and submissive.”He is not strong or powerful who throws people down, but he is strong who withholds himself from anger.When one of you getteth angry, he must sit down, and if his anger goeth away from sitting, so much the better; if not, let him lie down.

Government is a trust from God, and verily government will be at the Day of Resurrection a cause of inquiry, unless he who hath taken it be worthy of it and have acted justly and done good.

Verily a king is God’s shadow upon the earth; and every one oppressed turneth to him: then when the king doeth justice, for him are rewards and gratitude from his subject: but, if the king oppresseth, on him is his sin, and for the oppressed resignation.

That is the best of men who disliketh power. Beware! ye are all guardians; and ye will be asked about your subjects: then the leader is the guardian of the subject, and he will be asked respecting the subject; and a man is a shepherd to his own family, and will be asked how they behaved, and his conduct to them; and a wife is guardian to her husband’s house and children, and will be interrogated about them; and a slave is a shepherd to his master’s property, and will be asked about it, whether he took good care of it or not.

There is no prince who oppresseth the subject and dieth, but God forbiddeth Paradise to him.

If a negro slave is appointed to rule over you, hear him, and obey him, though his head should be like a dried grape.

There is no obedience due to sinful commands, nor to any other than what is lawful.

O Prophet of God, if we have princes over us, wanting our rights, and withholding our rights from us, then what do you order us? He said, “Ye must hear them and obey their orders: it is on them to be just and good, and on you to be obedient and submissive.”

He is not strong or powerful who throws people down, but he is strong who withholds himself from anger.

When one of you getteth angry, he must sit down, and if his anger goeth away from sitting, so much the better; if not, let him lie down.

Of Vanities and Sundry Matters.The angels are not with the company with which is a dog nor with the company with which is a bell.A bell is the Devil’s musical instrument.The angels do not enter a house in which is a dog, nor that in which there are pictures.Every painter is in Hell Fire; and God will appoint a person at the Day of Resurrection for every picture he shall have drawn, to punish him, and they will punish him in Hell. Then if you must make pictures, make them of trees and things without souls.Whosoever shall tell a dream, not having dreamt, shall be put to the trouble at the Day of Resurrection of joining two barleycorns; and he can by no means do it; and he will be punished. And whosoever listeneth to others’ conversation, who dislike to be heard by him, and avoid him, boiling lead will be poured into his ears at the Day of Resurrection. And whosoever draweth a picture shall be punished by ordering him to breathe a spiritinto it, and this he can never do, and so he will be punished as long as God wills.O servants of God use medicine: because God hath not created a pain without a remedy for it, to be the means of curing it, except age; for that is a pain without a remedy.He who is not loving to God’s creatures and to his own children, God will not be loving to him.The truest words spoken by any poet are those of Lebīd, who said, “Know that everything is vanity except God.”Verily he who believeth fighteth with his sword and tongue: I swear by God, verily abuse of infidels in verse is worse to them than arrows.Meekness and shame are two branches of faith, and vain talking and embellishing are two branches of hypocrisy.The calamity of knowledge is forgetfulness, and to lose knowledge is this, to speak of it to the unworthy.Whoso pursueth the road of knowledge, God will direct him to the road of Paradise; and verily the angels spread their arms to receive him who seeketh after knowledge; and everything in heaven and earth will ask grace for him; and verily the superiority of a learned man over a mere worshipper is like that of the full moon over all the stars.Hearing is not like seeing: verily God acquainted Moses of his tribe’s worshipping a calf, but he did not throw down the tables; but when Moses went to his tribe, and saw with his eyes the calf they had made, he threw down the tables and broke them.Be not extravagant in praising me, as the Christians are in praising Jesus, Mary’s Son, by calling him God, and the Son of God; I am only the Lord’s servant; then call me the servant of God, and His messenger.It was asked, “O Messenger of God, what relation is most worthy of doing good to?” He said, “Your mother,” this he repeated thrice: “and after her your father, and after him your other relations by propinquity.”God’s pleasure is in a father’s pleasure, and God’s displeasure is a father’s displeasure.Verily one of you is a mirror to his brother: Then if he see a vice in his brother he must tell him to get rid of it.The best person near God is the best amongst his friends; and the best of neighbours near God is the best person in his own neighbourhood.Deliberation in undertaking is pleasing to God, and haste is pleasing to the devil.The heart of the old is always young in two things, in love for the world and length of hope.

The angels are not with the company with which is a dog nor with the company with which is a bell.

A bell is the Devil’s musical instrument.

The angels do not enter a house in which is a dog, nor that in which there are pictures.

Every painter is in Hell Fire; and God will appoint a person at the Day of Resurrection for every picture he shall have drawn, to punish him, and they will punish him in Hell. Then if you must make pictures, make them of trees and things without souls.

Whosoever shall tell a dream, not having dreamt, shall be put to the trouble at the Day of Resurrection of joining two barleycorns; and he can by no means do it; and he will be punished. And whosoever listeneth to others’ conversation, who dislike to be heard by him, and avoid him, boiling lead will be poured into his ears at the Day of Resurrection. And whosoever draweth a picture shall be punished by ordering him to breathe a spiritinto it, and this he can never do, and so he will be punished as long as God wills.

O servants of God use medicine: because God hath not created a pain without a remedy for it, to be the means of curing it, except age; for that is a pain without a remedy.

He who is not loving to God’s creatures and to his own children, God will not be loving to him.

The truest words spoken by any poet are those of Lebīd, who said, “Know that everything is vanity except God.”

Verily he who believeth fighteth with his sword and tongue: I swear by God, verily abuse of infidels in verse is worse to them than arrows.

Meekness and shame are two branches of faith, and vain talking and embellishing are two branches of hypocrisy.

The calamity of knowledge is forgetfulness, and to lose knowledge is this, to speak of it to the unworthy.

Whoso pursueth the road of knowledge, God will direct him to the road of Paradise; and verily the angels spread their arms to receive him who seeketh after knowledge; and everything in heaven and earth will ask grace for him; and verily the superiority of a learned man over a mere worshipper is like that of the full moon over all the stars.

Hearing is not like seeing: verily God acquainted Moses of his tribe’s worshipping a calf, but he did not throw down the tables; but when Moses went to his tribe, and saw with his eyes the calf they had made, he threw down the tables and broke them.

Be not extravagant in praising me, as the Christians are in praising Jesus, Mary’s Son, by calling him God, and the Son of God; I am only the Lord’s servant; then call me the servant of God, and His messenger.

It was asked, “O Messenger of God, what relation is most worthy of doing good to?” He said, “Your mother,” this he repeated thrice: “and after her your father, and after him your other relations by propinquity.”

God’s pleasure is in a father’s pleasure, and God’s displeasure is a father’s displeasure.

Verily one of you is a mirror to his brother: Then if he see a vice in his brother he must tell him to get rid of it.

The best person near God is the best amongst his friends; and the best of neighbours near God is the best person in his own neighbourhood.

Deliberation in undertaking is pleasing to God, and haste is pleasing to the devil.

The heart of the old is always young in two things, in love for the world and length of hope.

Of Death.Wish not for death any one of you; either a doer of good works, for peradventure he may increase them by an increase of life; or an offender, for perhaps he may obtain the forgiveness of God by repentance.When the soul is taken from the body, the eyes follow it, and look towards it: on this account the eyes remain open.When a believer is nearly dead, angels of mercy come, clothed in white silk garments, and say to the soul of the dying man, “Come out, O thou who art satisfied with God, and with whom He is satisfied; come out to rest, which is with God, and the sustenance of God’s mercy and compassion, and to the Lord, who is not angry.” Then the soul cometh out like the smell of the best musk, so that verily it is handed from one angel to another, till they bring it to the doors of the celestial regions. Then the angels say, “What a wonderful pleasant smell this is which is come to you from the earth!” Then they bring it to the souls of the faithful, and they are very happy at its coming; more than ye are at the coming of one of your family after along journey. And the souls of the faithful ask it, “What hath such an one done, and such an one? how are they?” and they mention the names of their friends who are left in the world. And some of them say, “Let it alone, do not ask it, because it was grieved in the world, and came from thence aggrieved; ask it when it is at rest.” Then the soul saith when it is at ease, “Verily such an one about whom ye ask is dead.” And as they do not see him amongst themselves, they say to one another, “Surely he was carried to his mother, which is Hell Fire.”And verily when an infidel is near death, angels of punishment come to him, clothed in sackcloth, and say to his soul, “Come out, thou discontented, and with whom God is displeased; come to God’s punishments.” Then it cometh out with a disagreeable smell, worse than the worst stench of a dead body, until they bring it upon the earth, and they say, “What an extraordinary bad smell this is;” till they bring it to the souls of the infidels.A bier was passing, and the Prophet stood up for it; and we stood with him and said, “O Prophet! verily this bier is of a Jewish woman; we must not respect it.” Then the Prophet said, “Verily death is dreadful: therefore when ye see a bier stand up.”Do not abuse or speak ill of the dead, because they have arrived at what they sent before them; they have received the rewards of their actions; if the reward is good, you must not mention them as sinful; and if it is bad, perhaps they may be forgiven, but if not, your mentioning their badness is of no use.Sit not upon graves, nor say your prayers fronting them.Whoso consoleth one in misfortune, for him is a reward equal to that of the sufferer.Whoso comforteth a woman who has lost her child will be covered with a garment in Paradise.The Prophet passed by graves in Medina, and turned his face towards them, and said, “Peace be to you, O people of the graves. God forgive us and you! Ye have passed on before us, and we are following you.”

Wish not for death any one of you; either a doer of good works, for peradventure he may increase them by an increase of life; or an offender, for perhaps he may obtain the forgiveness of God by repentance.

When the soul is taken from the body, the eyes follow it, and look towards it: on this account the eyes remain open.

When a believer is nearly dead, angels of mercy come, clothed in white silk garments, and say to the soul of the dying man, “Come out, O thou who art satisfied with God, and with whom He is satisfied; come out to rest, which is with God, and the sustenance of God’s mercy and compassion, and to the Lord, who is not angry.” Then the soul cometh out like the smell of the best musk, so that verily it is handed from one angel to another, till they bring it to the doors of the celestial regions. Then the angels say, “What a wonderful pleasant smell this is which is come to you from the earth!” Then they bring it to the souls of the faithful, and they are very happy at its coming; more than ye are at the coming of one of your family after along journey. And the souls of the faithful ask it, “What hath such an one done, and such an one? how are they?” and they mention the names of their friends who are left in the world. And some of them say, “Let it alone, do not ask it, because it was grieved in the world, and came from thence aggrieved; ask it when it is at rest.” Then the soul saith when it is at ease, “Verily such an one about whom ye ask is dead.” And as they do not see him amongst themselves, they say to one another, “Surely he was carried to his mother, which is Hell Fire.”

And verily when an infidel is near death, angels of punishment come to him, clothed in sackcloth, and say to his soul, “Come out, thou discontented, and with whom God is displeased; come to God’s punishments.” Then it cometh out with a disagreeable smell, worse than the worst stench of a dead body, until they bring it upon the earth, and they say, “What an extraordinary bad smell this is;” till they bring it to the souls of the infidels.

A bier was passing, and the Prophet stood up for it; and we stood with him and said, “O Prophet! verily this bier is of a Jewish woman; we must not respect it.” Then the Prophet said, “Verily death is dreadful: therefore when ye see a bier stand up.”

Do not abuse or speak ill of the dead, because they have arrived at what they sent before them; they have received the rewards of their actions; if the reward is good, you must not mention them as sinful; and if it is bad, perhaps they may be forgiven, but if not, your mentioning their badness is of no use.

Sit not upon graves, nor say your prayers fronting them.

Whoso consoleth one in misfortune, for him is a reward equal to that of the sufferer.

Whoso comforteth a woman who has lost her child will be covered with a garment in Paradise.

The Prophet passed by graves in Medina, and turned his face towards them, and said, “Peace be to you, O people of the graves. God forgive us and you! Ye have passed on before us, and we are following you.”

Of the State after Death.To whomsoever God giveth wealth, and he doth not perform the charity due from it, his wealth will be made into the shape of a serpent on the Day of Resurrection, which shall not have any hair upon its head, and this is a sign of its poison and long life, and it hath two black spots upon its eyes, and it will be twisted round his neck like a chain on the Day of Resurrection; then the serpent will seize the man’s jaw-bones, and will say, “I am thy wealth, the charity for which thou didst not give, and I am thy treasure, from which thou didst not separate any alms.”The Prophet asked us, “Did any one of you dream?” We said, “No.” He said, “But I did. Two men came to me and took hold of my hands, and carried me to a pure land: and behold, there was a man sitting and another standing: the first had an iron hook in his hand, and was hooking the other in the lip, and split it to the back of the neck, and then did the same with the other lip. While this was doing the first healed, and the man kept on from one lip to the other.” I said, “What is this?” They said, “Move on,” and we did so till we reached a man sleeping on his back, and anotherstanding at his head with a stone in his hand, with which he was breaking the other’s head, and afterwards rolled the stone about and then followed it, and had not yet returned, when the man’s head was healed and well. Then he broke it again, and I said, “What is this?” They said, “Walk on,” and we walked, till we came to a hole like an oven, with its top narrow and its bottom wide, and fire was burning under it, and there were naked men and women in it; and when the fire burnt high the people mounted also, and when the fire subsided they subsided also. Then I said “What is this?” They said, “Move on,” and we went on till we came to a river of blood, with a man standing in the middle of it, and another man on the bank, with stones in his hands: and when the man in the river attempted to come out, the other threw stones in his face, and made him return. And I said, “What is this?” They said, “Advance,” and we moved forward, till we arrived at a green garden, in which was a large tree, and an old man and children sitting on the roots of it, and near it was a man lighting a fire. Then I was carried upon the tree, and put into a house which was in the middle of it,—a better house I have never seen: and there were old men, young men, women, and children. After that they broughtme out of the house and carried me to the top of the tree, and put me into a better house, where were old men and young men. And I said to my two conductors, “Verily ye have shown me a great many things to-night, then inform me of what I have seen.” They said, “Yes: as to the man whom you saw with split lips, he was a liar, and will be treated in that way till the Day of Resurrection; and the person you saw getting his head broken is a man whom God taught the Korān, and he did not repeat it in the night, nor practice what is in it by day, and he will be treated as you saw till the Day of Resurrection; and the people you saw in the oven are adulterers; and those you saw in the river are receivers of usury; and the old man you saw under the tree is Abraham; and the children around them are the children of men: and the person who was lighting the fire was Mālik, the keeper of hell; and the first house you entered was for the common believers; and as to the second house, it is for the martyrs: and we who conducted you are one of us Gabriel, and the other Michael; then raise up your head;” and I did so, and saw above it as it were a cloud: and they said, “That is your dwelling.” I said, “Call it here, that I may enter it;” and they said, “Verily your life remaineth, but when you have completed it, you will come into your house.”When God created Paradise, He said to Gabriel, “Go and look at it,” then Gabriel went and looked at it and at the things which God had prepared for the people of it. After that Gabriel came and said, “O my Lord! I swear by thy glory no one will hear a description of Paradise but will be ambitious of entering it.” After that God surrounded Paradise with distress and troubles, and said, “O Gabriel, go and look at Paradise.” And he went and looked, and then returned and said, “O my Lord, I fear that verily no one will enter it.” And when God created Hell Fire He said to Gabriel, “Go and take a look at it.” And he went and looked at it, and returned and said, “O my Lord, I swear by thy glory that no one who shall hear a description of Hell Fire will wish to enter it.” Then God surrounded it with sins, desires, and vices, after that said to Gabriel, “Go and look at Hell Fire,” and he went and looked at it, and said, “O my Lord, I swear by thy glory I am afraid that every one will enter Hell, because sins are so sweet that there is none but will incline to them.”If ye knew what I know of the condition of the resurrection and futurity, verily ye would weep much and laugh little.Then I said, “O messenger of God! shall we perish while the virtuous are amongst us?” He said, Yes, when the wickedness shall be excessive, verily there will be tribes of my sects that will consider the wearing of silks and drinking liquor lawful, and will listen to the lute: and there will be men with magnificent houses, and their milch animals will come to them in the evening, full of milk, and a man will come begging a little and they will say, Come to-morrow. Then God will quickly send a punishment upon them, and will change others into the shape of monkeys and swine, unto the Day of Resurrection.Verily among the signs of the Resurrection will be the taking away of knowledge from amongst men; and their being in great ignorance and much wickedness and much drinking of liquor, and diminution of men, and there being many women; to such a degree that there will be fifty women to one man, and he will work for a livelihood for the women.How can I be happy, when Isrāfīl hath put the trumpet to his mouth to blow it, leaning his ear towards the true God for orders, and hath already knit his brow, waiting in expectation of orders to blow it?

To whomsoever God giveth wealth, and he doth not perform the charity due from it, his wealth will be made into the shape of a serpent on the Day of Resurrection, which shall not have any hair upon its head, and this is a sign of its poison and long life, and it hath two black spots upon its eyes, and it will be twisted round his neck like a chain on the Day of Resurrection; then the serpent will seize the man’s jaw-bones, and will say, “I am thy wealth, the charity for which thou didst not give, and I am thy treasure, from which thou didst not separate any alms.”

The Prophet asked us, “Did any one of you dream?” We said, “No.” He said, “But I did. Two men came to me and took hold of my hands, and carried me to a pure land: and behold, there was a man sitting and another standing: the first had an iron hook in his hand, and was hooking the other in the lip, and split it to the back of the neck, and then did the same with the other lip. While this was doing the first healed, and the man kept on from one lip to the other.” I said, “What is this?” They said, “Move on,” and we did so till we reached a man sleeping on his back, and anotherstanding at his head with a stone in his hand, with which he was breaking the other’s head, and afterwards rolled the stone about and then followed it, and had not yet returned, when the man’s head was healed and well. Then he broke it again, and I said, “What is this?” They said, “Walk on,” and we walked, till we came to a hole like an oven, with its top narrow and its bottom wide, and fire was burning under it, and there were naked men and women in it; and when the fire burnt high the people mounted also, and when the fire subsided they subsided also. Then I said “What is this?” They said, “Move on,” and we went on till we came to a river of blood, with a man standing in the middle of it, and another man on the bank, with stones in his hands: and when the man in the river attempted to come out, the other threw stones in his face, and made him return. And I said, “What is this?” They said, “Advance,” and we moved forward, till we arrived at a green garden, in which was a large tree, and an old man and children sitting on the roots of it, and near it was a man lighting a fire. Then I was carried upon the tree, and put into a house which was in the middle of it,—a better house I have never seen: and there were old men, young men, women, and children. After that they broughtme out of the house and carried me to the top of the tree, and put me into a better house, where were old men and young men. And I said to my two conductors, “Verily ye have shown me a great many things to-night, then inform me of what I have seen.” They said, “Yes: as to the man whom you saw with split lips, he was a liar, and will be treated in that way till the Day of Resurrection; and the person you saw getting his head broken is a man whom God taught the Korān, and he did not repeat it in the night, nor practice what is in it by day, and he will be treated as you saw till the Day of Resurrection; and the people you saw in the oven are adulterers; and those you saw in the river are receivers of usury; and the old man you saw under the tree is Abraham; and the children around them are the children of men: and the person who was lighting the fire was Mālik, the keeper of hell; and the first house you entered was for the common believers; and as to the second house, it is for the martyrs: and we who conducted you are one of us Gabriel, and the other Michael; then raise up your head;” and I did so, and saw above it as it were a cloud: and they said, “That is your dwelling.” I said, “Call it here, that I may enter it;” and they said, “Verily your life remaineth, but when you have completed it, you will come into your house.”

When God created Paradise, He said to Gabriel, “Go and look at it,” then Gabriel went and looked at it and at the things which God had prepared for the people of it. After that Gabriel came and said, “O my Lord! I swear by thy glory no one will hear a description of Paradise but will be ambitious of entering it.” After that God surrounded Paradise with distress and troubles, and said, “O Gabriel, go and look at Paradise.” And he went and looked, and then returned and said, “O my Lord, I fear that verily no one will enter it.” And when God created Hell Fire He said to Gabriel, “Go and take a look at it.” And he went and looked at it, and returned and said, “O my Lord, I swear by thy glory that no one who shall hear a description of Hell Fire will wish to enter it.” Then God surrounded it with sins, desires, and vices, after that said to Gabriel, “Go and look at Hell Fire,” and he went and looked at it, and said, “O my Lord, I swear by thy glory I am afraid that every one will enter Hell, because sins are so sweet that there is none but will incline to them.”

If ye knew what I know of the condition of the resurrection and futurity, verily ye would weep much and laugh little.

Then I said, “O messenger of God! shall we perish while the virtuous are amongst us?” He said, Yes, when the wickedness shall be excessive, verily there will be tribes of my sects that will consider the wearing of silks and drinking liquor lawful, and will listen to the lute: and there will be men with magnificent houses, and their milch animals will come to them in the evening, full of milk, and a man will come begging a little and they will say, Come to-morrow. Then God will quickly send a punishment upon them, and will change others into the shape of monkeys and swine, unto the Day of Resurrection.

Verily among the signs of the Resurrection will be the taking away of knowledge from amongst men; and their being in great ignorance and much wickedness and much drinking of liquor, and diminution of men, and there being many women; to such a degree that there will be fifty women to one man, and he will work for a livelihood for the women.

How can I be happy, when Isrāfīl hath put the trumpet to his mouth to blow it, leaning his ear towards the true God for orders, and hath already knit his brow, waiting in expectation of orders to blow it?

Of Destiny.The hearts of men are at the disposal of God like unto one heart, and He turneth them about in any way that He pleaseth. O Director of hearts, turn our hearts to obey Thee.The first thing which God created was a pen, and He said to it, “Write.” It said, “What shall I write?” And God said, “Write down the quantity of every separate thing to be created.” And it wrote all that was and all that will be to eternity.There is not one among you whose sitting-place is not written by God whether in the fire or in Paradise. The Companions said, “O Prophet! since God hath appointed our place, may we confide in this and abandon our religious and moral duty?” He said, “No, because the happy will do good works, and those who are of the miserable will do bad works.”The Prophet of God said that Adam and Moses (in the world of spirits) maintained a debate before God, and Adam got the better of Moses; who said, “Thou art that Adam whom God created by the power of His hands, andbreathed into thee from His own spirit, and made the angels bow before thee, and gave thee an habitation in His own Paradise: after that thou threwest man upon the earth, from the fault which thou committedst.” Adam said, “Thou art that Moses whom God elected for His prophecy, and to converse with, and He gave to thee twelve tables, in which are explained everything, and God made thee His confidant, and the bearer of His secrets: then how long was the Bible written before I was created?” Moses said, “Forty years.” Then Adam said, “Didst thou see in the Bible that Adam disobeyed God?” He said, “Yes.” Adam said, “Dost thou then reproach me on a matter which God wrote in the Bible forty years before creating me?”'Aïsha relates that the Prophet said to her, “Do you know, O 'Aïsha! the excellence of this night?” (the fifteenth of Ramadān.) I said, “What is it, O Prophet?” He said, “One thing in this night is, that all the children of Adam to be born in the year are written down; and also those who are to die in it, and all the actions of the children of Adam are carried up to heaven in this night; and their allowances are sent down.” Then I said, “O Prophet, do none enter Paradiseexcept by God’s mercy?” He said, “No, none enter except by God’s favour:” this he said thrice. I said, “You, also, O Prophet! will you not enter into Paradise, excepting by God’s compassion?” Then the Prophet put his hand on his head, and said, “I shall not enter, except God cover me with His mercy:” this he said thrice.A man asked the Prophet what was the mark whereby a man might know the reality of his faith. He said, “If thou derive pleasure from the good which thou hast done, and be grieved for the evil which thou hast committed, thou art a true believer.” The man said, “What doth a fault really consist in?” He said, “When anything pricketh thy conscience forsake it.”I am no more than man: when I order you anything with respect to religion, receive it, and when I order you about the affairs of the world then I am nothing more than man.

The hearts of men are at the disposal of God like unto one heart, and He turneth them about in any way that He pleaseth. O Director of hearts, turn our hearts to obey Thee.

The first thing which God created was a pen, and He said to it, “Write.” It said, “What shall I write?” And God said, “Write down the quantity of every separate thing to be created.” And it wrote all that was and all that will be to eternity.

There is not one among you whose sitting-place is not written by God whether in the fire or in Paradise. The Companions said, “O Prophet! since God hath appointed our place, may we confide in this and abandon our religious and moral duty?” He said, “No, because the happy will do good works, and those who are of the miserable will do bad works.”

The Prophet of God said that Adam and Moses (in the world of spirits) maintained a debate before God, and Adam got the better of Moses; who said, “Thou art that Adam whom God created by the power of His hands, andbreathed into thee from His own spirit, and made the angels bow before thee, and gave thee an habitation in His own Paradise: after that thou threwest man upon the earth, from the fault which thou committedst.” Adam said, “Thou art that Moses whom God elected for His prophecy, and to converse with, and He gave to thee twelve tables, in which are explained everything, and God made thee His confidant, and the bearer of His secrets: then how long was the Bible written before I was created?” Moses said, “Forty years.” Then Adam said, “Didst thou see in the Bible that Adam disobeyed God?” He said, “Yes.” Adam said, “Dost thou then reproach me on a matter which God wrote in the Bible forty years before creating me?”

'Aïsha relates that the Prophet said to her, “Do you know, O 'Aïsha! the excellence of this night?” (the fifteenth of Ramadān.) I said, “What is it, O Prophet?” He said, “One thing in this night is, that all the children of Adam to be born in the year are written down; and also those who are to die in it, and all the actions of the children of Adam are carried up to heaven in this night; and their allowances are sent down.” Then I said, “O Prophet, do none enter Paradiseexcept by God’s mercy?” He said, “No, none enter except by God’s favour:” this he said thrice. I said, “You, also, O Prophet! will you not enter into Paradise, excepting by God’s compassion?” Then the Prophet put his hand on his head, and said, “I shall not enter, except God cover me with His mercy:” this he said thrice.

A man asked the Prophet what was the mark whereby a man might know the reality of his faith. He said, “If thou derive pleasure from the good which thou hast done, and be grieved for the evil which thou hast committed, thou art a true believer.” The man said, “What doth a fault really consist in?” He said, “When anything pricketh thy conscience forsake it.”

I am no more than man: when I order you anything with respect to religion, receive it, and when I order you about the affairs of the world then I am nothing more than man.

NOTES.The Mekka Speeches.I.—The Poetic Period.The rhyming prose in which the Korān is written may be seen to best advantage in this earliest phase of Mohammad’s oratory, when the sentences are short and the rhythm morechantantthan in the later speeches. “The Smiting” (p.7), will serve as a specimen of the sound of the original Arabic, as far as it can be represented in Roman characters:—Bismi-llahi-r-rahmāni-r-rahīmEl-kāri'atu mā-l-kāri'ahWa-mā adrāka mā-l-kāri'ahYawma yekūnu-n-nāsu ke-l-farāsi-l-mabthūthWa-tekūnu-l-jibālu ke-l-'ihni-l-manfūshFe-amma men thekulet mawāzīnuhu fe-huwa fī 'īshetin rādiyehWa-amma men khaffet mawāzīnuhu fe-ummuhu hāwiyehWa-mā adrāka mā hiyehNārun hāmiyehThe effect of which may be thus roughly preserved in English:—In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.The Smiting! What is the Smiting?And what shall teach thee what is the Smiting?The Day when men shall be like moths adrift,And the hills shall be like wool-flocks rift:Then as for him whose scales are heavy, his shall be a life of bliss:And as for him whose scales are light, a place in the Pit is his:And what shall teach thee what that place is—A Fire that blazes!P.3.The Night.—The formula “In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,” precedes all the chapters of the Korān but one.We.—God speaks in the plural in the Korān.P.5.The Country.—The two highways: thesteep oneto heaven, and the smooth one to hell.P.6.The people of the right hand—those that receive the book of the record of their actions in their right hand—the blessed. Contrariwise—the people of the left hand—the damned.P.7.The Smiting.—One of many similar names for the Day of Judgment.The Bottomless Pit, “El-Hāwiyeh,” is the lowest stage of the Hell of the Korān.P.8.The Quaking.—Burdens,i.e.the dead.Her tidings: “The tidings of the earth are these—she will bear witness to the actions of every man and woman done upon her surface.”—Tradition of Mohammad.P.9.The Rending Asunder.—Reporters: two angels who note respectively the good and the evil deeds and words of every man.P.13.The Backbiter.—This speech is said to have been levelled at a personal enemy.Blasting Hell, “El-Hutameh,” is the third stage of the Mohammadan Inferno.P.14.The Splendour of Morning.—Evidently uttered in a time of despondency and with the intention of self-encouragement.P.15.The Most High.—The books of eld.Mohammad asserted that his doctrine was a revival of the religion of Abraham and the patriarchs, as it was before the Jews corrupted it.P.17.The Wrapping.—A simile from the wrapping of a head in a turban.Camels ten monthsgone with young were the Arabs’ most valuable property.The child that was buried alive.Infanticide of female children was among the crimes of the ancient Arab.The Books—in which men’s actions are recorded.Stars that hide,i.e.that set; or, as others say, “that retrogress,”i.e.the planets.P.18.Mad.The people commonly believed Mohammad to be possessed with a jinni (or genius).Pelted devil.The evil jinn or devils are supposed to act the eavesdropper on the confines of heaven, and to be driven away by shooting stars.A reminder,scil., of the true religion of Abraham and the prophets, which men had forgotten. Cf.Lane:Selections from the Kur-ān, lxxxi. 15, 47, 48 (2d ed., Trübner’s Oriental Series).P.19.The News.—One of the many names which Mohammad employed to bring home to his people the reality and fearfulness of the Last Day.Tent-pegs.Mountains were believed to keep the earth steady, as pegs do a tent.P.22.The Fact.—One of the names of the Last Day: the event which must inevitably happen.Abasingthe sinners, andexaltingthe righteous.Three kinds: the “outstrippers,” the “people of theright hand,” and the “people of the left hand.” In the original the same word means “right hand” and “happiness,” or “good omen;” contrariwise, “left hand” and “misfortune.” Cp. the use ofdexterandsinister. An instance of Mohammad’s practice of playing upon the different senses of a word.The outstrippers,i.e.those who are the first to adopt the true religion—the prophets and apostles, who shall be rewarded by being allowed to stand nearest to God in the next world. The following fifteen lines describe their happy fate; after which, fourteen refer to thepeople of the right hand, or ordinary believers; and then seventeen lines to thepeople of the left hand, or damned.P.24.Zakkūm: A thorny tree with a bitter fruit, which grows up from the bottomless pit.P.26.Preserved Book.—Mohammad taught that every “revelation” in the Korān was but a transcript from the pages of a great book, known as the “Mother of the Book,” “preserved” under the throne of God. The sentence,Let none touch it but the purified, is commonly inscribed upon the cover of the Korān.Those brought nearest,i.e.theoutstrippers, or prophets.P.27.The Merciful.—Then which of the bounties, etc. A refrain or burden of this kind is rare in the Korān, and is in no other instance so often repeated. Thetwainare mankind and the jinn (or genii). “Jinn,” it may be remarked, is a plural, and the singular is “jinni” (a genius), for the masculine, and “jinnīyeh” for the feminine.The two Easts.The rising-places of the sun in summerand winter;the two Wests, the corresponding setting-places.P.28.Two notables, or “weighty ones,”i.e.men and jinn.P.32.The Unity.—This profession of faith is held by Muslims to be equal in value to a third of the whole Korān.P.33.The Fātihah, or “Opening” chapter, so called because it is placed at the beginning of the authorised arrangement of the Korān. It is thePaternosterof Islam, and is repeated many times in the five daily prayers of the Muslims, and on every solemn occasion.The Mekka Speeches.II.—The Rhetorical Period.P.39.The Kingdom.Say:i.e.God bids Mohammad say. It must never be forgotten that Mohammad is only supposed to recite what God wrote in the Preserved Book (seenote to p. 26) before the world began.P.41.The Moon.—Sign,i.e.miracle, which Mohammad insistently declared his inability to work.The Summoner: the archangel Isrāfīl.Called it a lie,i.e.denied the doctrine of one God and of a Day of Judgment.P.42.Ad: an ancient Arab people, destroyed in prehistoric days. SeeLane:Selections from the Kur-ān, 60-62.Thamūd: another tribe, which experienced a similar fate. SeeLane,ibid.P.45. K.—As to the meaning of this letter of the Arabic alphabet, which gives a title to this speech, in the words of the Muslim commentator, “God alone knoweth what He meaneth by it.”A warner from among themselves.The Mekkans were offended that an angel was not sent to them as an apostle, instead of a mere man.Marvellous thing: the Resurrection.P.46.The people of Tubba': the Himyarites of Arabia Felix.A driver and a witness.—Two angels, who are supposed to carry on the ensuing colloquy with God.P.48.A tyrant.—Mohammad was sent to warn, not to compel the obedience and faith of his people.P.49. Y. S.—Seenote to Kabove, andto p. 87below.P.50.Plain Exemplar: thePreserved Book, mentioned above (note to p. 26).P.51.Enter into Paradise: the people had stoned him to death.P.52.Her resting-place.—The sun is feminine in Arabic, and the moon masculine.P.55.Poetry.—It was a common charge against Mohammad that he was a mad poet.P.57.The Children of Israel, otherwise calledThe Night Journey, from the reference in the first verse to a dream in which Mohammad saw himself carried from the Kaaba (theSacred Mosque) at Mekka, to theTemple (theFurthest Mosque) at Jerusalem; upon which Mohammadan theologians have raised a noble superstructure of fable. The first verse is probably later than the rest. Thetwo sinsand punishments of the Jews have also greatly exercised the commentators’ minds. What they were Mohammad probably did not very precisely know himself.P.60.The son of the road,i.e.the traveller.P.61.A just cause: apostacy, adultery, or murder.P.62.Daughters from among the angels.—The Arabs worshipped the angels and jinn as daughters of God; and it is against this polytheism and blasphemous relationship that Mohammad protests, whilst he never denies but contrariwise admits the existence of such spirits. Further on (p.64) he refers to these angels and other Arabian divinities, as beings who are not to be invoked, since they can have no influence for good or ill, and who themselves are in hope and fear of God’s mercy and torment, like human beings. It should be noticed that hitherto Mohammad has directed his preaching against disbelief in the One God, but has not pointedly attacked the idolatry of the Mekkans. In Y. S., however, he begins to speak ofother gods(p.55), and in the Third or Argumentative Period, the angels and jinn which the Mekkans worshipped, and represented in the shape of idols, are frequently denounced, especially under the name ofPartners(see pp.76,84,90,92,93,97,98,103,106, etc.)P.65.The accursed tree: Zakkūm, seenote to p. 24. The full Koranic history of Adam and Eve, and how Iblīs, the father of the devils, refused to do homage to the father of mankind, may be read inLane’sSelections, pp. 49-52.P.67.Well-nigh tempted: referring apparently to an inclination of Mohammad to temporize with idolatry on a special occasion.P.68.The Spirit: Gabriel, the teacher of Mohammad, and the bearer of revelations from God to His prophet.P.71.Call upon God, or call upon the Merciful.—Mohammad’s use of two general names for God had apparently caused some confusion among the faithful, which this verse removed.The “Children of Israel” speech is especially important, since it contains more definite regulations of conduct than any other of the orations delivered at Mekka.The Mekka Speeches.III.—The Argumentative Period.P.76.The Believer.Twice hast thou given us death, etc.—Referring to the absence of life before birth, and the deprivation of it at death, and to the being quickened at birth, and raised again after death.P.78.Their footprints, or vestiges:i.e.their buildings and public works.Moses.For the Koranic history of the Israelites, seeLane’sSelections, pp. 97-131.P.84.I am bidden to resign myself:i.e.I am bidden to become a Muslim, forMuslim(Moslem or Musulman) means “one who is resigned,” andIslām, belonging to the same root, signifies “resignation,” or “self-surrender.” This is the correct name of the religion taught by the Arabian prophet, who would have regarded the epithet“Mohammadan,” as applied to the creed, or the professor thereof, as nothing short of blasphemy.Jonah.P.87. A. L. R.—Letters the import of which is as mysterious as K. and Y. S. before, and A. L. M. R. afterwards. Nöldeke believes them to be abbreviations of the names of the first reporters of the speeches.P.89.I had dwelt a lifetime:i.e.I should not have waited till I was forty before I began preaching, if I was the designing impostor you take me for.P.90.Ye are in ships—and they run with them.—The reader must have observed that sudden transitions from the second to the third person, and from the singular to the plural, are very common in the Korān. They may perhaps be regarded as convincing evidence of the fidelity of Mohammad’s reporters.P.97.God hath taken Him a son: referring to the Christian doctrine.P.100.Kibla: The point towards which prayer must be said. See p.134.P.101.Now!—The angel Gabriel is credited with this taunt.Thunder.P.104. A. L. M. R.—Mystic letters as above; perhaps for AL-MogheyReh, as the first reporter of this particular speech.P.106.Patrons,i.e.Idols.P.108.Join what God hath bidden to be joined:i.e.believe in the whole series of prophets, and join good works to faith.P.111.Mother of the Book.—The Preserved Book mentioned before inThe Fact(seenote to p. 26).The Medina Speeches.The Period of Harangue.Deception.P.117.Obey God and obey the Apostle.—This is a sure indication of the Medina origin of at least this verse, for the self-importance of the phrase would have been inappropriate in Mohammad’s weak and insignificant position at Mekka. (The speech is, however, by some ascribed to the Mekka division.) Further on the wordsBelieve in God and His Apostle(inIron, p. 118), andThey who swear fealty to thee do but swear fealty to God(inVictory, p.125), indicate the same spirit of self-exaltation which began with the prophet’s prosperity at Medina.Iron.P.119.Manifest signs: the revelations contained in the Korān.P.122.It is written in the Book:i.e.Every event is set down in the Preserved Book before the event itself is created.God is rich:i.e.He has no need of your grudging alms.Victory.P.124.—The victory in question was probably the peaceful but real triumph of the Truce of Hudeybia, ina.h.6; though some commentators prefer to regard the speech as prophetical of the conquest of Mekka two years later.P.125.The Arabs of the desert who were left behindwere certain tribes who held aloof from the pilgrimagetowards Mekka, which ended in the Truce of Hudeybia. Mohammad punished them by refusing to allow them to share in the booty which soon after fell to the faithful in the Khaibar expedition; hence the reference on p.126.P.128.In the valley of Mekka: referring to the Truce of Hudeybia.Kept you away from the Sacred Mosque: the Koreysh refused to allow Mohammad and his followers to enter Mekka or perform the pilgrimage; whereupon the truce was concluded, by which the pilgrimage was to take place (Ye shall surely enter the Sacred Mosque) in the following year (see Introduction, p. xlv.)P.129.Traces:i.e.dust from touching the ground.P.130.Help.—Revealed after the conquest of Mekka, and shortly before Mohammad’s death, and believed to have given him warning of it.The Law Given at Medina.The forty paragraphs arranged on pp.133-144, contain, it is believed, all the definite ordinances of Mohammad as set forth in the Medina speeches, with the exception of some regulations relating to women. The bulk of the Medina speeches are indeed rather collections of separate decisions or “rulings” put together for convenience of reference by the Muslims themselves than separate and complete orations. But as the practical teaching is interspersed with frequent and verbose prophetical legends of the kind with which the reader is already perhaps only too familiar and with animadversions on the political partiesof Medina, and similar ephemeral matters, it has been thought best to extract the marrow of these lengthy and composite harangues, and place them in some sort of connected order. Chapter II., for instance, “The Cow,” contains 286 verses; the first half is filled with the usual arguments and illustrations, and the old stories about Adam and Moses; whilst the second half contains a certain number of laws and precepts mixed with many repetitions of the proofs and appeals to reason which occur in most of the preceding speeches: altogether, 29 verses out of 286 are needed for the purpose of showing what Mohammad actually prescribed in civil and religious law. For an account of the modern interpretation of this law, seeLane’sModern Egyptians, 5th ed. Ch. III.;Sell’sFaith of Islam; andHughes’Notes on Mohammadanism, 2d ed. 1877.P.134.Observe the prayer, and the middle prayer.It is not easy to make out the five daily prayers of Islam in the Korān. In the speech entitled “Hūd” (Mekka, Third Period, xi. 116) it is enjoined: “Observe prayer at two ends of the day, and at two parts of the night”; and again, in “T. H.” (xx. 130), the praises of God are to be celebrated “before the rising of the sun and before its setting, and at times of the night and at the ends of the day”; and in “The Greeks” (xxx. 17) praise is ordained “in the evening and in the morning, and at the evening and at noon.” The Muslim commentators differ as to the application of these injunctions to the five times of prayer recognized throughout the Mohammadan world; which are (1) just after sunset, (2) at nightfall, (3) at daybreak, (4) just after noon, and (5) in the middle of the afternoon.Turn thy face towards the Sacred Mosque:i.e.towards the Kaaba of Mekka. Originally Mohammad placed the Kibla, or direction of prayer, at Jerusalem; but after his disagreement with the Jews of Medina he reverted to the old Mekkan temple as the focus of Islām.P.135. It is enacted (ii. 183) that the fast is to be observed from the time when you can distinguish a white thread from a black thread in the morning, till night; but from nightfall till dawn the Muslim may eat and drink and enjoy himself.P.136.Make mention of God’s name over the beasts:i.e.Sacrifice them, saying, “In the name of God.”P.140. The Korān contains a list of prohibited degrees (“Women,” iv. 26, 27), which comprises mothers and stepmothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, nieces, fostermothers, fostersisters, mothers-in-law, stepdaughters, daughters-in-law, and two sisters, and other men’s wives.P.142.Keep the women in houses.Immuring was afterwards changed to stoning both the man and the woman.Table-Talk of Mohammad.P.147.Retaliation is equal.—It is worth noticing, that while sin is requited with equal punishment or with forgiveness, good deeds are rewarded tenfold.P.150.Rising or setting of the sun.—The exact moment was forbidden, for fear of even the suspicion of sun-worship.P.164. It is recorded of the prophet, that when, being on a journey, he alighted at any place, he did not say his prayers until he had unsaddled his camel.

The rhyming prose in which the Korān is written may be seen to best advantage in this earliest phase of Mohammad’s oratory, when the sentences are short and the rhythm morechantantthan in the later speeches. “The Smiting” (p.7), will serve as a specimen of the sound of the original Arabic, as far as it can be represented in Roman characters:—

Bismi-llahi-r-rahmāni-r-rahīmEl-kāri'atu mā-l-kāri'ahWa-mā adrāka mā-l-kāri'ahYawma yekūnu-n-nāsu ke-l-farāsi-l-mabthūthWa-tekūnu-l-jibālu ke-l-'ihni-l-manfūshFe-amma men thekulet mawāzīnuhu fe-huwa fī 'īshetin rādiyehWa-amma men khaffet mawāzīnuhu fe-ummuhu hāwiyehWa-mā adrāka mā hiyehNārun hāmiyeh

Bismi-llahi-r-rahmāni-r-rahīmEl-kāri'atu mā-l-kāri'ahWa-mā adrāka mā-l-kāri'ahYawma yekūnu-n-nāsu ke-l-farāsi-l-mabthūthWa-tekūnu-l-jibālu ke-l-'ihni-l-manfūshFe-amma men thekulet mawāzīnuhu fe-huwa fī 'īshetin rādiyehWa-amma men khaffet mawāzīnuhu fe-ummuhu hāwiyehWa-mā adrāka mā hiyehNārun hāmiyeh

Bismi-llahi-r-rahmāni-r-rahīm

El-kāri'atu mā-l-kāri'ah

Wa-mā adrāka mā-l-kāri'ah

Yawma yekūnu-n-nāsu ke-l-farāsi-l-mabthūth

Wa-tekūnu-l-jibālu ke-l-'ihni-l-manfūsh

Fe-amma men thekulet mawāzīnuhu fe-huwa fī 'īshetin rādiyeh

Wa-amma men khaffet mawāzīnuhu fe-ummuhu hāwiyeh

Wa-mā adrāka mā hiyeh

Nārun hāmiyeh

The effect of which may be thus roughly preserved in English:—

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.The Smiting! What is the Smiting?And what shall teach thee what is the Smiting?The Day when men shall be like moths adrift,And the hills shall be like wool-flocks rift:Then as for him whose scales are heavy, his shall be a life of bliss:And as for him whose scales are light, a place in the Pit is his:And what shall teach thee what that place is—A Fire that blazes!

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.The Smiting! What is the Smiting?And what shall teach thee what is the Smiting?The Day when men shall be like moths adrift,And the hills shall be like wool-flocks rift:Then as for him whose scales are heavy, his shall be a life of bliss:And as for him whose scales are light, a place in the Pit is his:And what shall teach thee what that place is—A Fire that blazes!

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

The Smiting! What is the Smiting?

And what shall teach thee what is the Smiting?

The Day when men shall be like moths adrift,

And the hills shall be like wool-flocks rift:

Then as for him whose scales are heavy, his shall be a life of bliss:

And as for him whose scales are light, a place in the Pit is his:

And what shall teach thee what that place is—

A Fire that blazes!

P.3.The Night.—The formula “In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,” precedes all the chapters of the Korān but one.We.—God speaks in the plural in the Korān.

P.5.The Country.—The two highways: thesteep oneto heaven, and the smooth one to hell.

P.6.The people of the right hand—those that receive the book of the record of their actions in their right hand—the blessed. Contrariwise—the people of the left hand—the damned.

P.7.The Smiting.—One of many similar names for the Day of Judgment.The Bottomless Pit, “El-Hāwiyeh,” is the lowest stage of the Hell of the Korān.

P.8.The Quaking.—Burdens,i.e.the dead.Her tidings: “The tidings of the earth are these—she will bear witness to the actions of every man and woman done upon her surface.”—Tradition of Mohammad.

P.9.The Rending Asunder.—Reporters: two angels who note respectively the good and the evil deeds and words of every man.

P.13.The Backbiter.—This speech is said to have been levelled at a personal enemy.

Blasting Hell, “El-Hutameh,” is the third stage of the Mohammadan Inferno.

P.14.The Splendour of Morning.—Evidently uttered in a time of despondency and with the intention of self-encouragement.

P.15.The Most High.—The books of eld.Mohammad asserted that his doctrine was a revival of the religion of Abraham and the patriarchs, as it was before the Jews corrupted it.

P.17.The Wrapping.—A simile from the wrapping of a head in a turban.

Camels ten monthsgone with young were the Arabs’ most valuable property.

The child that was buried alive.Infanticide of female children was among the crimes of the ancient Arab.

The Books—in which men’s actions are recorded.

Stars that hide,i.e.that set; or, as others say, “that retrogress,”i.e.the planets.

P.18.Mad.The people commonly believed Mohammad to be possessed with a jinni (or genius).

Pelted devil.The evil jinn or devils are supposed to act the eavesdropper on the confines of heaven, and to be driven away by shooting stars.

A reminder,scil., of the true religion of Abraham and the prophets, which men had forgotten. Cf.Lane:Selections from the Kur-ān, lxxxi. 15, 47, 48 (2d ed., Trübner’s Oriental Series).

P.19.The News.—One of the many names which Mohammad employed to bring home to his people the reality and fearfulness of the Last Day.

Tent-pegs.Mountains were believed to keep the earth steady, as pegs do a tent.

P.22.The Fact.—One of the names of the Last Day: the event which must inevitably happen.

Abasingthe sinners, andexaltingthe righteous.

Three kinds: the “outstrippers,” the “people of theright hand,” and the “people of the left hand.” In the original the same word means “right hand” and “happiness,” or “good omen;” contrariwise, “left hand” and “misfortune.” Cp. the use ofdexterandsinister. An instance of Mohammad’s practice of playing upon the different senses of a word.

The outstrippers,i.e.those who are the first to adopt the true religion—the prophets and apostles, who shall be rewarded by being allowed to stand nearest to God in the next world. The following fifteen lines describe their happy fate; after which, fourteen refer to thepeople of the right hand, or ordinary believers; and then seventeen lines to thepeople of the left hand, or damned.

P.24.Zakkūm: A thorny tree with a bitter fruit, which grows up from the bottomless pit.

P.26.Preserved Book.—Mohammad taught that every “revelation” in the Korān was but a transcript from the pages of a great book, known as the “Mother of the Book,” “preserved” under the throne of God. The sentence,Let none touch it but the purified, is commonly inscribed upon the cover of the Korān.

Those brought nearest,i.e.theoutstrippers, or prophets.

P.27.The Merciful.—Then which of the bounties, etc. A refrain or burden of this kind is rare in the Korān, and is in no other instance so often repeated. Thetwainare mankind and the jinn (or genii). “Jinn,” it may be remarked, is a plural, and the singular is “jinni” (a genius), for the masculine, and “jinnīyeh” for the feminine.

The two Easts.The rising-places of the sun in summerand winter;the two Wests, the corresponding setting-places.

P.28.Two notables, or “weighty ones,”i.e.men and jinn.

P.32.The Unity.—This profession of faith is held by Muslims to be equal in value to a third of the whole Korān.

P.33.The Fātihah, or “Opening” chapter, so called because it is placed at the beginning of the authorised arrangement of the Korān. It is thePaternosterof Islam, and is repeated many times in the five daily prayers of the Muslims, and on every solemn occasion.

P.39.The Kingdom.Say:i.e.God bids Mohammad say. It must never be forgotten that Mohammad is only supposed to recite what God wrote in the Preserved Book (seenote to p. 26) before the world began.

P.41.The Moon.—Sign,i.e.miracle, which Mohammad insistently declared his inability to work.

The Summoner: the archangel Isrāfīl.

Called it a lie,i.e.denied the doctrine of one God and of a Day of Judgment.

P.42.Ad: an ancient Arab people, destroyed in prehistoric days. SeeLane:Selections from the Kur-ān, 60-62.

Thamūd: another tribe, which experienced a similar fate. SeeLane,ibid.

P.45. K.—As to the meaning of this letter of the Arabic alphabet, which gives a title to this speech, in the words of the Muslim commentator, “God alone knoweth what He meaneth by it.”

A warner from among themselves.The Mekkans were offended that an angel was not sent to them as an apostle, instead of a mere man.

Marvellous thing: the Resurrection.

P.46.The people of Tubba': the Himyarites of Arabia Felix.

A driver and a witness.—Two angels, who are supposed to carry on the ensuing colloquy with God.

P.48.A tyrant.—Mohammad was sent to warn, not to compel the obedience and faith of his people.

P.49. Y. S.—Seenote to Kabove, andto p. 87below.

P.50.Plain Exemplar: thePreserved Book, mentioned above (note to p. 26).

P.51.Enter into Paradise: the people had stoned him to death.

P.52.Her resting-place.—The sun is feminine in Arabic, and the moon masculine.

P.55.Poetry.—It was a common charge against Mohammad that he was a mad poet.

P.57.The Children of Israel, otherwise calledThe Night Journey, from the reference in the first verse to a dream in which Mohammad saw himself carried from the Kaaba (theSacred Mosque) at Mekka, to theTemple (theFurthest Mosque) at Jerusalem; upon which Mohammadan theologians have raised a noble superstructure of fable. The first verse is probably later than the rest. Thetwo sinsand punishments of the Jews have also greatly exercised the commentators’ minds. What they were Mohammad probably did not very precisely know himself.

P.60.The son of the road,i.e.the traveller.

P.61.A just cause: apostacy, adultery, or murder.

P.62.Daughters from among the angels.—The Arabs worshipped the angels and jinn as daughters of God; and it is against this polytheism and blasphemous relationship that Mohammad protests, whilst he never denies but contrariwise admits the existence of such spirits. Further on (p.64) he refers to these angels and other Arabian divinities, as beings who are not to be invoked, since they can have no influence for good or ill, and who themselves are in hope and fear of God’s mercy and torment, like human beings. It should be noticed that hitherto Mohammad has directed his preaching against disbelief in the One God, but has not pointedly attacked the idolatry of the Mekkans. In Y. S., however, he begins to speak ofother gods(p.55), and in the Third or Argumentative Period, the angels and jinn which the Mekkans worshipped, and represented in the shape of idols, are frequently denounced, especially under the name ofPartners(see pp.76,84,90,92,93,97,98,103,106, etc.)

P.65.The accursed tree: Zakkūm, seenote to p. 24. The full Koranic history of Adam and Eve, and how Iblīs, the father of the devils, refused to do homage to the father of mankind, may be read inLane’sSelections, pp. 49-52.

P.67.Well-nigh tempted: referring apparently to an inclination of Mohammad to temporize with idolatry on a special occasion.

P.68.The Spirit: Gabriel, the teacher of Mohammad, and the bearer of revelations from God to His prophet.

P.71.Call upon God, or call upon the Merciful.—Mohammad’s use of two general names for God had apparently caused some confusion among the faithful, which this verse removed.

The “Children of Israel” speech is especially important, since it contains more definite regulations of conduct than any other of the orations delivered at Mekka.

P.76.The Believer.Twice hast thou given us death, etc.—Referring to the absence of life before birth, and the deprivation of it at death, and to the being quickened at birth, and raised again after death.

P.78.Their footprints, or vestiges:i.e.their buildings and public works.

Moses.For the Koranic history of the Israelites, seeLane’sSelections, pp. 97-131.

P.84.I am bidden to resign myself:i.e.I am bidden to become a Muslim, forMuslim(Moslem or Musulman) means “one who is resigned,” andIslām, belonging to the same root, signifies “resignation,” or “self-surrender.” This is the correct name of the religion taught by the Arabian prophet, who would have regarded the epithet“Mohammadan,” as applied to the creed, or the professor thereof, as nothing short of blasphemy.

Jonah.P.87. A. L. R.—Letters the import of which is as mysterious as K. and Y. S. before, and A. L. M. R. afterwards. Nöldeke believes them to be abbreviations of the names of the first reporters of the speeches.

P.89.I had dwelt a lifetime:i.e.I should not have waited till I was forty before I began preaching, if I was the designing impostor you take me for.

P.90.Ye are in ships—and they run with them.—The reader must have observed that sudden transitions from the second to the third person, and from the singular to the plural, are very common in the Korān. They may perhaps be regarded as convincing evidence of the fidelity of Mohammad’s reporters.

P.97.God hath taken Him a son: referring to the Christian doctrine.

P.100.Kibla: The point towards which prayer must be said. See p.134.

P.101.Now!—The angel Gabriel is credited with this taunt.

Thunder.P.104. A. L. M. R.—Mystic letters as above; perhaps for AL-MogheyReh, as the first reporter of this particular speech.

P.106.Patrons,i.e.Idols.

P.108.Join what God hath bidden to be joined:i.e.believe in the whole series of prophets, and join good works to faith.

P.111.Mother of the Book.—The Preserved Book mentioned before inThe Fact(seenote to p. 26).

Deception.P.117.Obey God and obey the Apostle.—This is a sure indication of the Medina origin of at least this verse, for the self-importance of the phrase would have been inappropriate in Mohammad’s weak and insignificant position at Mekka. (The speech is, however, by some ascribed to the Mekka division.) Further on the wordsBelieve in God and His Apostle(inIron, p. 118), andThey who swear fealty to thee do but swear fealty to God(inVictory, p.125), indicate the same spirit of self-exaltation which began with the prophet’s prosperity at Medina.

Iron.P.119.Manifest signs: the revelations contained in the Korān.

P.122.It is written in the Book:i.e.Every event is set down in the Preserved Book before the event itself is created.

God is rich:i.e.He has no need of your grudging alms.

Victory.P.124.—The victory in question was probably the peaceful but real triumph of the Truce of Hudeybia, ina.h.6; though some commentators prefer to regard the speech as prophetical of the conquest of Mekka two years later.

P.125.The Arabs of the desert who were left behindwere certain tribes who held aloof from the pilgrimagetowards Mekka, which ended in the Truce of Hudeybia. Mohammad punished them by refusing to allow them to share in the booty which soon after fell to the faithful in the Khaibar expedition; hence the reference on p.126.

P.128.In the valley of Mekka: referring to the Truce of Hudeybia.Kept you away from the Sacred Mosque: the Koreysh refused to allow Mohammad and his followers to enter Mekka or perform the pilgrimage; whereupon the truce was concluded, by which the pilgrimage was to take place (Ye shall surely enter the Sacred Mosque) in the following year (see Introduction, p. xlv.)

P.129.Traces:i.e.dust from touching the ground.

P.130.Help.—Revealed after the conquest of Mekka, and shortly before Mohammad’s death, and believed to have given him warning of it.

The forty paragraphs arranged on pp.133-144, contain, it is believed, all the definite ordinances of Mohammad as set forth in the Medina speeches, with the exception of some regulations relating to women. The bulk of the Medina speeches are indeed rather collections of separate decisions or “rulings” put together for convenience of reference by the Muslims themselves than separate and complete orations. But as the practical teaching is interspersed with frequent and verbose prophetical legends of the kind with which the reader is already perhaps only too familiar and with animadversions on the political partiesof Medina, and similar ephemeral matters, it has been thought best to extract the marrow of these lengthy and composite harangues, and place them in some sort of connected order. Chapter II., for instance, “The Cow,” contains 286 verses; the first half is filled with the usual arguments and illustrations, and the old stories about Adam and Moses; whilst the second half contains a certain number of laws and precepts mixed with many repetitions of the proofs and appeals to reason which occur in most of the preceding speeches: altogether, 29 verses out of 286 are needed for the purpose of showing what Mohammad actually prescribed in civil and religious law. For an account of the modern interpretation of this law, seeLane’sModern Egyptians, 5th ed. Ch. III.;Sell’sFaith of Islam; andHughes’Notes on Mohammadanism, 2d ed. 1877.

P.134.Observe the prayer, and the middle prayer.It is not easy to make out the five daily prayers of Islam in the Korān. In the speech entitled “Hūd” (Mekka, Third Period, xi. 116) it is enjoined: “Observe prayer at two ends of the day, and at two parts of the night”; and again, in “T. H.” (xx. 130), the praises of God are to be celebrated “before the rising of the sun and before its setting, and at times of the night and at the ends of the day”; and in “The Greeks” (xxx. 17) praise is ordained “in the evening and in the morning, and at the evening and at noon.” The Muslim commentators differ as to the application of these injunctions to the five times of prayer recognized throughout the Mohammadan world; which are (1) just after sunset, (2) at nightfall, (3) at daybreak, (4) just after noon, and (5) in the middle of the afternoon.

Turn thy face towards the Sacred Mosque:i.e.towards the Kaaba of Mekka. Originally Mohammad placed the Kibla, or direction of prayer, at Jerusalem; but after his disagreement with the Jews of Medina he reverted to the old Mekkan temple as the focus of Islām.

P.135. It is enacted (ii. 183) that the fast is to be observed from the time when you can distinguish a white thread from a black thread in the morning, till night; but from nightfall till dawn the Muslim may eat and drink and enjoy himself.

P.136.Make mention of God’s name over the beasts:i.e.Sacrifice them, saying, “In the name of God.”

P.140. The Korān contains a list of prohibited degrees (“Women,” iv. 26, 27), which comprises mothers and stepmothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, nieces, fostermothers, fostersisters, mothers-in-law, stepdaughters, daughters-in-law, and two sisters, and other men’s wives.

P.142.Keep the women in houses.Immuring was afterwards changed to stoning both the man and the woman.

P.147.Retaliation is equal.—It is worth noticing, that while sin is requited with equal punishment or with forgiveness, good deeds are rewarded tenfold.

P.150.Rising or setting of the sun.—The exact moment was forbidden, for fear of even the suspicion of sun-worship.

P.164. It is recorded of the prophet, that when, being on a journey, he alighted at any place, he did not say his prayers until he had unsaddled his camel.

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