Part 48
It is He who hath sent His Apostle with "the Guidance," and the religion of truth, that He may exalt it above every religion. And enough for thee is this testimony on the part of God.
Muhammad is the Apostle of God; and his comrades are vehement against the infidels, but full of tenderness among themselves. Thou mayst see them bowing down, prostrating themselves, imploring favours from God, and His acceptance. Their tokens10 are on their faces, the marks of their prostrations. This is their picture in the Law, and their picture in the Evangel:11 they are as the seed which putteth forth its stalk; then strengtheneth it, and it groweth stout, and riseth upon its stem,12 rejoicing the husbandman–that the infidels may be wrathful at them. To such of them as believe and do the things that are right, hath God promised forgiveness and a noble recompense.
_______________________
1 This Sura was probably revealed shortly after the peace of Hudaibiya. Ann. Hej. 6. Some commentators, however, understand the Victory of the taking of Mecca two years–later the preterite being used in the prophetic style for the future–others of the taking of Chaibar, or Muta (?), a town of the Roman empire.
2 Lit. were left behind.
3 On the return to Medina. See Weil's Leben M. p. 173 (n.).
4 The law relative to booty, viz. that those who were not at Hudaibiya should have no share in the booty to be obtained from the Jews at Chaibar. Muhammad marched against them in Hej. 7.
5 When the rumour reached Muhammad at Hudaibiya that Othman Ibn Affan, whom he had sent to inform the Meccans that he was merely coming to visit their temple, and with peaceable intentions, had been slain by them.
6 At Chaibar.
7 The valley of Mecca may mean Hudaibiya. But the commentators explain this verse of different events. It probably, however, refers to the 50 (according to Djalalein 80) prisoners whom Muhammad dismissed freely at Hudaibiya.
8 Had the believers been separate from the infidels.
9 This dream Muhammad had at Medina, before he set out for al Hudaibiya. His followers expected its fulfilment within the year, but when the truce frustrated their hopes, this verse was revealed to pacify them.
10 Dust from the pavement. The Muhammadans who say their prayers on carpets often place little bricks before them which they touch in prostration with their forehead.
11 Comp. Mark iv. 28.
12 Lit. legs.
SURA LXVI.–THE FORBIDDING [CIX.]
MEDINA.–12 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
WHY,1 O Prophet! dost thou hold that to be FORBIDDEN which God hath made lawful to thee, from a desire to please thy wives, since God is Lenient, Merciful?
God hath allowed you release from your oaths; and God is your master: and He is the Knowing, Wise.
When the prophet told a recent occurrence as a secret to one of his wives, and when she divulged it and God informed him of this, he acquainted her with part and withheld part.2 And when he had told her of it, she said, "Who told thee this?" He said, "The Knowing, the Sage hath told it me.
"If ye both be turned to God in penitence, for now have your hearts gone astray . . . .3 but if ye conspire against the Prophet, then know that God is his Protector, and Gabriel, and every just man among the faithful; and the angels are his helpers besides.
"Haply if he put you both away, his Lord will give him in exchange other wives better than you, Muslims, believers, devout, penitent, obedient, observant of fasting, both known of men and virgins."
O Believers! save yourselves and your families from the fire whose fuel is men and stones, over which are set angels fierce and mighty: they disobey not God in what He hath commanded them, but execute His behests.
O ye Infidels! make no excuses for yourselves this day; ye shall surely be recompensed according to your works.
O Believers! turn to God with the turning of true penitence; haply your Lord will cancel your evil deeds, and will bring you into the gardens 'neath which the rivers flow, on the day when God will not shame the Prophet, nor those who have shared his faith: their light shall run before them, and on their right hands! they shall say, "Lord perfect our light, and pardon us: for thou hast power over all things."
O Prophet! make war on the infidels and hypocrites, and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their abode! and wretched the passage to it!
God setteth forth as an example to unbelievers the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot; they were under two of our righteous servants, both of whom they deceived: but their husbands availed them nought against God: and it shall be said "Enter ye into the fire with those who enter."
God also holdeth forth to those who believe the example of the wife of Pharaoh,4 when she said, "Lord, build me an house with thee in Paradise, and deliver me from Pharaoh and his doings; and deliver me from the wicked:"
And Mary, the daughter of Imran, who kept her maidenhood, and into whose womb5 we breathed of our spirit, and who believed in the words of her Lord and His Scriptures, and was one of the devout.
_______________________
1 The first verses of this Sura were revealed (Hej. 7.) on occasion of Muhammad's reviving affection for Mary, a Copt slave sent him by the governor of Egypt, from whom he had recently (verse 3) sworn to his wife Hafsa to separate entirely. Hafsa, who had been greatly incensed at their amour, of which Muhammad had himself informed her, communicated the matter in confidence to Ayesha, from whose altered manner, probably, the prophet found that his secret had been betrayed. To free Muhammad from his obligation to Hafsa was the object of this chapter.
2 Muhammad withheld the fact that Ayesha, as well as God, was his informant, but taxed Hafsa with not having kept his secret.
3 Supply God will pardon you.
4 Asia, a name, perhaps, corrupted from that of Pharaoh's daughter Bithiah. 1 Chron. iv.18.
5 See Sura xxi. 91. Lit. quae rimam suam tuita est, in quam (rimam) inflavimus Spiritus nostri partem. Thus Beidh.
SURA1 LX.–SHE WHO IS TRIED [CX.]
MEDINA.–13 Versus
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
O YE who believe! take not my foe2 and your foe for friends, shewing them kindness, although they believe not that truth which hath come to you: they drive forth the Apostles and yourselves because ye believe in God your Lord! If ye go forth to fight on my way, and from a desire to please me, and shew them kindness in private, I well know what ye conceal, and what ye discover! Whoso doth this hath already gone astray from the even way.
If they meet with you they will prove your foes: hand and tongue will they put forth for your hurt, and will desire that you become infidels again.
Neither your kindred nor your children shall at all avail you on the day of the resurrection. A severance between you will it make! and your actions doth God behold.
A good example had ye in Abraham,3 and in those who followed him, when they said to their people, "Verily, we are clear of you, and of what ye worship beside God: we renounce you: and between us and hath hatred and enmity sprung up for ever, until ye believe in God alone." Yet imitate not the language of Abraham to his Father, "I will pray for thy forgiveness, but not aught shall I obtain for thee from God."4 O our Lord! in thee do we trust! to thee do we turn! to thee we shall come back at the last.
O our Lord! expose us not for trial to the unbelievers, and forgive us: for thou art the Mighty, the Wise!
A good example had ye in them, for all who hope in God and in the last day. But let who will turn back, God truly is the Rich, the Praiseworthy!
God will, perhaps, establish good will between yourselves and those of them whom ye take to be your enemies:5 God is Powerful: and God is Gracious, Merciful.
God doth not forbid you to deal with kindness and fairness toward those who have not made war upon you on account of your religion, or driven you forth from your homes: for God loveth those who act with fairness.>Only doth God forbid you to make friends of those who, on account of your religion, have warred against you, and have driven you forth from your homes, and have aided those who drove you forth: and whoever maketh friends of them are wrong- doers.
O Believers!6 when believing women come over to you as refugees (Mohadjers), then make TRIAL of them. God best knoweth their faith; but if ye have also ascertained their faith, let them not go back to the infidels; they are not lawful for them, nor are the unbelievers lawful for these women. But give them back what they have spent for their dowers. No crime shall it be in you to marry them, provided ye give them their dowers. Do not retain any right in the infidel women, but demand back what you have spent for their dowers, and let the unbelievers demand back what they have spent for their wives.7 This is the ordinance of God which He ordaineth among you: and God is Knowing, Wise.
And if any of your wives escape from you to the Infidels from whom ye afterwards take any spoil, then give to those whose wives shall have fled away, the like of what they shall have spent for their dowers; and fear God in whom ye believe.
O Prophet! when believing women come to thee, and pledge themselves that they will not associate aught with God, and that they will not steal or commit adultery, nor kill their children, nor bring scandalous charges,8 nor disobey thee in what is right, then plight thou thy faith to them, and ask pardon for them of God: for God is Indulgent, Merciful!
O Believers! enter not into amity with those against whom God is angered; they despair of the life to come, even as the Infidels despair of the inmates of the tombs.
_______________________
1 Revealed probably as far as verse 9 (Ramadhan Hej. 8) shortly before the taking of Mecca.
2 Haleb (?) Ben Abu Baltaa had informed the Koreisch of an intended surprise of Mecca on the part of Muhammad, with the view of making terms for his own family who had been left there. The offence was pardoned, but the revelation was nevertheless published with the view of preventing similar acts of treachery in future.
3 Speaking of the representatives of the different religious systems prevalent in the Roman Empire, as Orpheus, Abraham, Christ, Apollonius of Tyana, enshrined among the household deities of Alexander Severus, Mr. Milman remarks (Hist. of Christianity, ii. p. 231) that "It is singular that Abraham, rather than Moses, was placed at the head of Judaism: it is possible that the traditionary sanctity which attached to the first parent of the Jewish people, and of many of the Arab tribes, and which was afterwards embodied in the Koran, was floating in the East, and would comprehend, as it were, the opinions, not only of the Jews, but of a much wider circle of the Syrian natives."
4 Sura [cxiii.] ix. 115.
5 That is, by their conversion hereafter.
6 Said (see Nöld. p. 163) to have been revealed at, or shortly after, the peace of Hudaibiya. According to the terms then agreed upon, a mutual restitution of property was to take place.
7 Who are converted to Islam.
8 Lit. with a calumny which they have devised between their hands and their feet. Said to have been revealed at the taking of Mecca. Tab. Beidh.
SURA1 CX.–HELP [CXI.]
MEDINA.–3 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
WHEN the HELP of God and the victory arrive,
And thou seest men entering the religion of God by troops;
Then utter the praise of thy Lord, implore His pardon; for He loveth to turn in mercy.
_______________________
1 This Sura was revealed at the taking of Mecca, and is supposed to have given Muhammad warning of his death.
SURA XLIX.–THE APARTMENTS [CXII.]
MEDINA.–18 Verses
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
O BELIEVERS! enter not upon any affair ere God and His Apostle1 permit you; and fear ye God: for God Heareth, Knoweth.2
O Believers! raise not your voices above the voice of the Prophet, neither speak loud to him as ye speak loud one to another, lest your works come to nought, and ye unaware of it.
They who lower their voices in the presence of the Apostle of God, are the persons whose hearts God hath inclined to piety. Forgiveness shall be theirs and a rich reward.
They who call out to thee while thou art within3 thine APARTMENTS, have most of them no right perception of what is due to thee.
But if they wait patiently till thou come forth to them, it were far better for them. But God is Indulgent, Merciful.
O Believers! if any bad man4 come to you with news, clear it up at once, lest through ignorance ye harm others, and speedily have to repent of what ye have done.
And know that an Apostle of God is among you! should he give way to you in many matters ye would certainly become guilty of a crime. But God hath endeared the faith to you, and hath given it favour in your hearts, and hath made unbelief, and wickedness, and disobedience hateful to you. Such are they who pursue a right course.
Through the bounty and grace which is from God: and God is Knowing, Wise.
If two bodies of the faithful are at war, then make ye peace between them:5 and if the one of them wrong the other, fight against that party which doth the wrong, until they come back to the precepts of God: if they come back, make peace between them with fairness, and act impartially; God loveth those who act with impartiality.
Only the faithful are brethren; wherefore make peace between your brethren; and fear God, that ye may obtain mercy.
O Believers! let not men laugh men to scorn who haply may be better than themselves; neither let women laugh women to scorn who may haply be better than themselves!6 Neither defame one another, nor call one another by nicknames. Bad is it to be called wicked after having professed the faith:7 and whoso repent not of this are doers of wrong.
O Believers! avoid frequent suspicions, for some suspicions are a crime; and pry not: neither let the one of you traduce another in his absence. Would any one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Surely ye would loathe it. And fear ye God: for God is Ready to turn, Merciful.
O men! verily, we have created you of a male and a female; and we have divided you into peoples and tribes that ye might have knowledge one of another. Truly, the most worthy of honour in the sight of God is he who feareth Him most.8 Verily, God is Knowing, Cognisant.
The Arabs of the desert9 say, "We believe." Say thou: Ye believe not; but rather say, "We profess Islam;" for the faith hath not yet found its way into your hearts. But if ye obey God and His Apostle, he will not allow you to lose any of your actions: for God is Indulgent, Merciful.
The true believers are those only who believe in God and His Apostle, and afterwards doubt not; and who contend with their substance and their persons on the path of God. These are the sincere.
SAY: Will ye teach God about your religion? when God knoweth whatever is in the Heavens and on the Earth: yea, God hath knowledge of all things.
They taunt thee with their having embraced Islam.10 SAY: Taunt me not with your having embraced Islam: God rather taunteth you with His having guided you to the faith: acknowledge this if ye are sincere.
Verily, God knoweth the secrets of the Heavens and of the Earth: and God beholdeth what ye do.
_______________________
1 Or anticipate not, take not the lead of God and His Apostle.
2 All the ancient Interpreters (as His. 933 ff., Ibn Sa'd. 320, Tab. Agâní. 116 f.–comp. also Weil 244 ff., Caussin, iii. 271) refer from 1-5 to the disrespectful demeanour, in Muhammad's presence, of the envoys of the Banu Tamim in Hej. 9 or 10.
3 Lit. from without.
4 The commentators mentioned in the last note, as well as others, explain this verse of Al Walid ben Uqba, who had brought a false report of the refusal of the Banu'lmustaliq to pay certain alms which Muhammad had sent him to demand. This Al Walid became governor of Kufa under Othman. He probably was never really converted to Islam.
5 Upon this passage 91-2, die Muslimen, says Nöldeke, verschiedene Geschichten erzählen, so dass sich Nichts sicher bestimmen Iässt, p. 164. This remark applies to the great mass of Muhammadan comment.
6 Said to refer to Safia, one of Muhammad's wives. who had been taunted by his other wives with being a Jewess.
7 Lit. Bad the name, wickedness, after faith.
8 That is, not the most nobly born, like the Koreisch. This verse is said to have been revealed in Mecca on the day of its conquest. See Weil, Leben, p.372, and n.
9 The Banû Asad had come to Medina in a year of famine to seek support for themselves and families, and made profession of Islamism. Beidh.–Thus, also Ibn Sad. Tabari. Wah.
10 As if by so doing they had conferred a favour on the Prophet.
SURA IX.1–IMMUNITY [CXIII.]
MEDINA.–130 Verses
An IMMUNITY from God and His Apostle to those with whom ye are in league, among the Polytheist Arabs! (those who join gods with God).
Go ye, therefore, at large in the land four months: but know that God ye shall not weaken;2 and that those who believe not, God will put to shame–
And a proclamation on the part of God and His Apostle to the people on the day of the greater pilgrimage, that God is free from any engagement with the votaries of other gods with God as is His Apostle! If, therefore, ye turn to God it will be better for you; but if ye turn back, then know that ye shall not weaken God: and to those who believe not, announce thou a grievous punishment.
But this concerneth not those Polytheists with whom ye are in league, and who shall have afterwards in no way failed you, nor aided anyone against you. Observe, therefore, engagement with them through the whole time of their treaty: for God loveth those who fear Him.
And when the sacred months3 are passed, kill those who join other gods with God wherever ye shall find them; and seize them, besiege them, and lay wait for them with every kind of ambush: but if they shall convert, and observe prayer, and pay the obligatory alms, then let them go their way, for God is Gracious, Merciful.
If any one of those who join gods with God ask an asylum of thee, grant him an asylum, that he may hear the Word of God, and then let him reach his place of safety. This, for that they are people devoid of knowledge.
How shall they who add gods to God be in league with God and with His Apostle, save those with whom ye made a league at the sacred temple? So long as they are true to you, be ye true to them; for God loveth those who fear Him.
How can they? since if they prevail against you, they will not regard in you either ties of blood or faith. With their mouths will they content you, but their hearts will be averse. The greater part of them are perverse doers.
They sell the signs of God for a mean price, and turn others aside from his way: evil is it that they do!
They regard not in a believer either ties of blood or faith; these are the transgressors!
Yet if they turn to God and observe prayer, and pay the impost, then are they your brethren in religion. We make clear our signs to those who understand.
But if, after alliance made, they break their oaths and revile your religion, then do battle with the ring-leaders of infidelity–for no oaths are binding with them that they may desist.
What! will ye not fight against those Meccans who have broken their oaths and aimed to expel your Apostle, and attacked you first? Will ye dread them? God is more worthy of your fear, if ye are believers!
So make war on them: By your hands will God chastise them, and will put them to shame, and will give you victory over them, and will heal the bosoms of a people who believe;
And will take away the wrath of their hearts. God will be turned unto whom He will: and God is Knowing, Wise.
Think ye that ye shall be forsaken as if God did not yet know those among you who do valiantly, and take none for their friends beside God, and His Apostle, and the faithful? God is well apprised of your doings.
It is not for the votaries of other gods with God, witnesses against themselves of infidelity, to visit the temples of God. These! vain their works: and in the fire shall they abide for ever!
He only should visit the temples of God who believeth in God and the last day, and observeth prayer, and payeth the legal alms, and dreadeth none but God. These haply will be among the rightly guided.
Do ye place the giving drink to the pilgrims, and the visitation of the sacred temple,4 on the same level with him who believeth in God and the last day, and fighteth on the way of God? They shall not be held equal by God: and God guideth not the unrighteous.
They who have believed, and fled their homes, and striven with their substance and with their persons on the path of God, shall be of highest grade with God: and these are they who shall be happy!
Tidings of mercy from Himself, and of His good pleasure, doth their Lord send them, and of gardens in which lasting pleasure shall be theirs;
Therein shall they abide for ever; for God! with Him is a great reward.
O Believers! make not friends of your fathers or your brethren if they love unbelief above faith: and whoso of you shall make them his friends, will be wrong doers.
SAY: If your fathers, and your sons, and your brethren, and your wives, and your kindred, and the wealth which ye have gained, and merchandise which ye fear may be unsold, and dwellings wherein ye delight, be dearer to you than God and His Apostle and efforts on his Path, then wait until God shall Himself enter on His work:5 and God guideth not the impious.
Now hath God helped you in many battlefields, and, on the day of Honein,6 when ye prided yourselves on your numbers; but it availed you nothing; and the earth, with all its breadth, became too straight for you:7 then turned ye your backs in flight: