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t The dead, says al Beidâwi, at his call shall immediately rise, and
shaking the dust off their heads, shall say, Praise be unto thee, O God.
u viz., In your graves; or in the world.
x These words are designed as a pattern for the Moslems to follow, in
discoursing with the idolaters; by which they are taught to use soft and
dubious expressions, and not to tell them directly that they are doomed to
hell fire; which, besides the presumption in offering to determine the
sentence of others, would only make them more irreconcilable enemies.1
y And may choose whom he pleases for his ambassador. This is an answer
to the objections of the Koreish, that Mohammed was the orphan pupil of Abu
Taleb, and followed by a parcel of naked and hungry fellows.2
z Which were a greater honour to him than his kingdom; and wherein
Mohammed and his people are foretold by these words, among others:3 The
righteous shall inherit the earth.4
a viz., The angels and prophets, who are the servants of GOD as well as
yourselves.
b See chapter 7, p. 112.
c Mohammed's journey to heaven is generally agreed to be intended in
this place; which occasioned great heats and debates among his followers, till
they were quieted by Abu Becr's bearing testimony to the truth of it.5 The
word vision, here used, is urged by those who take this journey to have been
no more than a dream, as a plain confirmation of their opinion. Some,
however, suppose the vision meant in this passage was not the night-journey,
but the dream Mohammed saw at al Hodeibiya, wherein he seemed to make his
entrance into Mecca;6 or that at Bedr;7 or else a vision he had relating to
the family of Ommeya, whom he saw mount his pulpit, and jump about in it like
monkeys; upon which he said, This is their portion in this world, which they
have gained by their profession of Islâm.1 But if any of these latter
expositions be true, the verse must have been revealed at Medina.
d Called al Zakkûm, which springs from the bottom of hell.2

1 Al Beidâwi. 2 Idem. 3 Vide Marracc. in Alc. p.
28, &c. Prid. Life of Mah. p. 122. 4 Psal. xxxvii. 28. Al Beid.
5 Vide Abulf. Vit. Moh. p. 39, and not. ibid Prideaux, Life of Mah. p.
50, and Prelim. Disc. Sect. II, p. 36.
6 See Kor. chapter 48. 7 See chapter 8, p. 129. 1 Al
Beidâwi. 2 See chapter 37.

And remember when we said unto the angels, Worship Adam; and they all
worshipped him except Eblis, who said, Shall I worship him whom thou hast
created of clay?
And he said, What thinkest thou, as to this man whom thou hast honoured
above me? verily, if thou grant me respite until the day of resurrection, I
will extirpate his offspring, except a few.
God answered, Begone, I grant thee respite: but whosoever of them shall
follow thee, hell shall surely be your reward; an ample reward for your
demerits!e
And entice to vanity such of them as thou canst, by thy voice; and
assault them on all sides with thy horsemen and thy footmen;f and partake with
them in their riches, and their children;g and make them promises; (but the
devil shall make them no other than deceitful promises:)
as to my servants, thou shalt have no power over them; for thy LORD is a
sufficient protector of those who trust in him.
It is your LORD who driveth forward the ships for you in the sea, that ye
may seek to enrich yourselves of his abundance by commerce; for he is merciful
towards you.
When a misfortune befalleth you at sea, the false deities whom ye invoke
are forgotten by you, except him alone: yet when he bringeth you safe to dry
land, ye retire afar off from him, and return to your idols; for man is
ungrateful.h
70 Are ye therefore secure that he will not cause the dry land to swallow
you up, or that he will not send against you a whirlwind driving the sands to
overwhelm you? Then shall ye find none to protect you.
Or are ye secure that he will not cause you again to commit yourselves to
the sea another time, and send against you a tempestuous wind, and drown you;
for that ye have been ungrateful? then shall ye find none to defend you
against us, in that distress.
And now have we honoured the children of Adam by sundry peculiar
privileges and endowments; and we have given them conveniences of carriage by
land and by sea, and have provided food for them of good things; and we have
preferred them before many of our creatures which we have created, by granting
them great prerogatives.
On a certain day we will call all men to judgment with their respective
leader:i and whosoever shall have his book given him into his right hand, they
shall read their book with joy and satisfaction;j and they shall not be
wronged a hair.k

e See chapter 2, p. 5, and chapter 7, p. 106, &c.
f i.e., With all thy forces.
g Instigating them to get wealth by unlawful means, and to spend it in
supporting vice and superstition; and tempting them to incestuous mixtures,
and to give their children names in honour of their idols, as Abd Yaghuth,
Abd' al Uzza, &c.3
h See chapter 10, p. 152.
i Some interpret this of the prophet sent to every people; others, of
the heads of sects; others, of the various religions professed in the world;
others, of the books which shall be given to every man at the resurrection,
containing a register of their good and bad actions.
j See the Prelim. Disc. Sect. IV. p. 70.
k See chapter 4, p. 60, note o.

3 Al Beidâwi.

And whoever hath been blind in this life shall be also blind in the next,
and shall wander more widely from the path of salvation.
It wanted little but the unbelievers had tempted thee to swerve from the
instructions which we had revealed unto thee, that thou shouldest devise
concerning us a different thing;l and then would they have taken thee for
their friend:
and unless we had confirmed thee, thou hadst certainly been very near
inclining unto them a little.
Then would we surely have caused thee to taste the punishment of life,
and the punishment of death;m and thou shouldest not have found any to protect
thee against us.
The unbelievers had likewise almost caused thee to depart the land, that
they might have expelled thee thence:n but then should they not have tarried
therein after thee, except a little while.o
This is the method of dealing which we have prescribed ourselves in
respect to our apostles, whom we have already sent before thee: and thou shalt
not find any change in our prescribed method.
80 Regularly perform thy prayer at the declension of the sun, at the first
darkness of the night,q and the prayer of daybreak;r for the prayer of
daybreak is borne witness unto by the angels.s

l These are generally supposed to have been the tribe of Thakîf, the
inhabitants of al Tâyef, who insisted on Mohammed's granting them several very
extraordinary privileges, as the terms of their submission to him; for they
demanded that they might be free from the legal contribution of alms, and from
observing the appointed times of prayer; that they might be allowed to keep
their idol Allât for a certain time,1 and that their territory might be
declared a place of security and not be violated, like that of Mecca, &c. And
they added, that if the other Arabs asked him the reason of these concessions,
he should say, that GOD had commanded him so to do.2 According to which
explication it is plain this verse must have been revealed long after the
Hejra.
Some, however, will have the passage to have been revealed at Mecca, on
occasion of the Koreish; who told Mohammed they would not suffer him to kiss
the black stone in the wall of Caaba, unless he also visited their idols, and
touched them with his hand, to show his respect.
m i.e., Both of this life and the next. Some interpret the first of
the punishment in the next world, and the latter of the torture of the
sepulchre.3
n The commentators differ as to the place where this passage was
delivered, and the occasion of it. Some think it was revealed at Mecca, and
that it refers to the violent enmity which the Koreish bore Mohammed, and
their restless endeavours to make him leave Mecca;4 as he was at length
obliged to do. But as the persons here spoken of seem not to have prevailed
in their project, others suppose that the verse was revealed at Medina, on the
following occasion. The Jews, envious of Mohammed's good reception and stay
there, told him, by way of counsel, that Syria was the land of the prophets,
and that if he was really a prophet he ought to go thither. Mohammed
seriously reflecting on what they had said, began to think they had advised
him well; and actually set out, and proceeded a day's journey in his way to
Syria: whereupon GOD acquainted him with their design by the revelation of
this verse; and he returned to Medina.5
o This was fulfilled, according to the former of the above-mentioned
explications, by the loss of the Koreish at Bedr; and according to the latter,
by the great slaughter of the Jews of Koreidha and al Nadîr.6
p i.e., At the time of noon prayer, when the sun declines from the
meridian; or, as some choose to translate the words, at the setting of the
sun, which is the time of the first evening prayer.
q The time of the last evening prayer.
r Literally, the reading of the daybreak; whence some suppose the
reading of the Korân at that time is here meant.
s viz., The guardian angels, who, according to some, are relieved at
that time; or else the angels appointed to make the change of night into day,
&c.7

1 See the Prelim. Disc. p. 14. 2 Al Beidâwi, Jallalo'ddin.
Vide Abulf. Vit. Moham. p. 126, &c. 3 Al Beidâwi.
4 Idem. 5 Idem, Jallalo'ddin. 6 Iidem. 7 Al
Beidâwi.

And watch some part of the night in the same exercise, as a work of
supererogation for thee: peradventure thy LORD will raise thee to an
honourable station.t
And say, O LORD, cause me to enter with a favorable entry, and cause me
to come forthu with a favorable coming forth; and grant me from thee an
assisting power.
And say, Truth is come, and falsehood is vanished: for falsehood is of
short continuance.x
We send down of the Koran that which is a medicine and mercy unto the
true believers; but it shall only increase the perdition of the unjust.
When we bestow favors on man, he retireth and withdraweth himself
ungratefully from us: but when evil toucheth him, he despaireth of our mercy.
Say, Every one acteth after his own manner:y but your LORD best knoweth
who is most truly directed in his way.
They will ask thee concerning the spirit:z answer, The spirit was created
at the command of my LORD:a but ye have no knowledge given unto you, except a
little.b
If we pleased, we should certainly take away that which we have revealed
unto thee;c in such case thou couldst not find any to assist thee therein
against us,
unless through mercy from thy LORD; for his favor towards thee hath been
great.
90 Say, Verily if men and genii were purposely assembled, that they might
produce a book like this Koran, they could not produce one like unto it,
although the one of them assisted the other.
And we have variously propounded unto men in this Koran every kind of
figurative argument; but the greater part of men refuse to receive it, merely
out of infidelity.

t According to a tradition of Abu Horeira, the honourable station here
intended is that of intercessor for others.1
u That is, Grant that I may enter my grave with peace, and come forth
from it, at the resurrection, with honour and satisfaction. In which sense
this petition is the same with that of Balaam, Let me die the death of the
righteous, and let my last end be like his.2
But as the person here spoken to is generally supposed to be Mohammed,
the commentators say he was commanded to pray in these words for a safe
departure from Mecca, and a good reception at Medina; or for a sure refuge in
the cave, where he hid himself when he fled from Mecca;3 or (which is the more
common opinion) for a victorious entrance into Mecca, and a safe return
thence.4
x These words Mohammed repeated, when he entered the temple of Mecca,
after the taking of that city, and cleansed it of the idols; a great number of
which are said to have fallen down on his touching them with the end of the
stick he held in his hand.5
y i.e., According to his judgment or opinion, be it true or false; or
according to the bent of his mind, and the natural constitution of his body.6
z Or the soul of man. Some interpret it of the angel Gabriel, or of
the divine revelation.7
a viz., By the word Kun, i.e., Be; consisting of an immaterial
substance, and not generated, like the body. But, according to a different
opinion, this passage should be translated, The spirit is of those things, the
knowledge of which thy Lord hath reserved to himself. For it is said that the
Jews bid the Koreish ask Mohammed to relate the history of those who slept in
the cave,8 and of Dhu'lkarnein,9 and to give them an account of the soul of
man; adding, that if he pretended to answer all the three questions, or could
answer none of them, they might be sure he was no prophet; but if he gave an
answer to one or two of the questions and was silent as to the other, he was
really a prophet. Accordingly, when they propounded the questions to him, he
told them the two histories, but acknowledged his ignorance as to the origin
of the human soul.10
b All your knowledge being acquired from the information of your
senses, which must necessarily fail you in spiritual speculations, without the
assistance of divine revelation.11
c viz., The Korân; by razing it both from the written copies, and the
memories of men.

1 Idem. 2 Numb. xxiii. 10. 3 See the Prelim. Disc.
Sect. II. p. 39. 4 Al Beidâwi, Jallalo'ddin. 5 Iidem.
Vide Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. 2, p. 127. 6 Al Beidâwi.
7 Idem.
8 See the next chapter. 9 See ib. 10 Al Beidâwi.
11 Idem.

And they say, We will by no means believe on thee, until thou cause a
spring of water to gush forth for us out of the earth;d
or thou have a garden of palm-trees and vines, and thou cause rivers to
spring forth from the midst thereof in abundance;
or thou cause the heaven to fall down upon us, as thou hast given out, in
pieces; or thou bring down GOD and the angels to vouch for thee;
or thou have a house of gold; or thou ascend by a ladder to heaven:
neither will we believe thy ascending thither alone,e until thou cause a book
to descend unto us, bearing witness of thee, which we may read. Answer My
LORD be praised! Am I other than a man, sent as an apostle?
And nothing hindereth men from believing, when a direction is come unto
them, except that they say, Hath GOD sent a man for his apostle?
Answer, If the angels had walked on earth as familiar inhabitants
thereof, we had surely sent down unto them from heaven an angel for our
apostle.
Say, GOD is a sufficient witness between me and you: for he knoweth and
regardeth his servants.
Whom GOD shall direct, he shall be the rightly directed; and whom he
shall cause to err, thou shalt find none to assist, besides him. And we will
gather them together on the day of resurrection, creeping on their faces,
blind, and dumb, and deaf:f their abode shall be hell; so often as the fire
thereof shall be extinguished, we will rekindle a burning flame to torment
them.g
100 This shall be their reward, because they disbelieve in our signs, and
say, When we shall have been reduced to bones and dust, shall we surely be
raised new creatures?
Do they not perceive that GOD, who created the heavens and the earth, is
able to create other bodies, like their present? And he hath appointed them a
limited term;h there is no doubt thereof: but the ungodly reject the truth,
merely out of unbelief.
Say, If ye possessed the treasures of the mercy of my LORD, ye would
surely refrain from using them, for fear of spending them;i for man is
covetous.
We heretofore gave unto Moses the power of working nine evident signs.j
And do thou ask the children of Israel, as to the story of Moses;k when he
came unto them, and Pharaoh said unto him, Verily I esteemed thee, O Moses, to
be deluded by sorcery.

d This and the following miracles were demanded of Mohammed by the
Koreish, as proofs of his mission.
e As thou pretendest to have done in thy night-journey; but of which no
man was witness.
f See the Prelim. Disc. Sect. IV. p. 66.
g i.e., When the fire shall go out or abate for want of fuel, after the
consumption of the skins and flesh of the damned, we will add fresh vigour to
the flames by giving them new bodies.1
h Or life, or resurrection.
i That is, lest they should be exhausted.
j These were, the changing his rod into a serpent, the making his hand
white and shining, the producing locusts, lice, frogs, and blood, the dividing
of the Red Sea, the bringing water out of the rock, and the shaking of Mount
Sinai over the children of Israel. In lieu of the three last some reckon the
inundation of the Nile, the blasting of the corn, and scarcity of the fruits
of the earth.2 These words, however, are interpreted by others, not of nine
miracles, but of nine commandments, which Moses gave his people, and were thus
numbered up by Mohammed himself to a Jew, who asked him the question, viz.,
That they should not be guilty of idolatry, nor steal, nor commit adultery or
murder, nor practise sorcery or usury, nor accuse an innocent man to take away
his life, or a modest woman of whoredom, nor desert the army; to which he
added the observing of the sabbath, as a tenth commandment, but which
peculiarly regarded the Jews: upon which answer, it is said, the Jew kissed
the prophet's hands and feet.3
k Some think these words are directed to Moses, who is hereby commanded
to demand the children of Israel of Pharaoh, that he might let them go with
him.

1 Al Beidâwi. See chapter 4, p. 60. 2 Idem, Jallalo'ddin.
3 Al Beidâwi.

Moses answered, Thou well knowest that none hath sent down these evident
signs except the LORD of heaven and earth; and I surely esteem thee, O
Pharaoh, a lost man.
Wherefore Pharaoh sought to drive them out of the land; but we drowned
him and all those who were with him.
And we said unto the children of Israel, after his destruction, Dwell ye
in the land: and when the promise of the next life shall come to be fulfilled,
we will bring you both promiscuously to judgment. We have sent down the Koran
with truth, and it hath descended with truth: and we have not sent thee
otherwise than to be a bearer of good tidings, and a denouncer of threats.
And we have divided the Koran, revealing it by parcels, that thou
mightest read it unto men with deliberation: and we have sent it down, causing
it to descend as occasion required.l
Say, Whether ye believe therein, or do not believe, verily those who have
been favored with the knowledge of the scriptures which were revealed before
it, when the same is rehearsed unto them, fall down on their faces,m
worshipping, and say, Our LORD be praised, for that the promise of our LORD is
surely fulfilled!
and they fall down on their faces, weeping; and the hearing thereof
increaseth their humility.
110 Say, call upon GOD, or call on the Merciful: by whichsoever of the two
names ye invoke him, it is equal; for he hath most excellent names.n
Pronounce not thy prayer aloud, neither pronounce it with too low a voice,o
but follow a middle way between these:
and say, Praise be unto GOD, who hath not begotten any child; who hath no
partner in the kingdom, nor hath any to protect him from contempt: and magnify
him by proclaiming his greatness.

________

CHAPTER XVIII.

ENTITLED, THE CAVE;p REVEALED AT MECCA.q

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

PRAISE be unto GOD, who hath sent down unto his servant the book of the
Korân, and hath not inserted therein any crookedness,
but hath made it a straight rule: that he should threaten a grievous
punishment unto the unbelievers, from his presence; and should bear good
tidings unto the faithful, who work righteousness, that they should receive an
excellent reward, namely, paradise, wherein they shall remain forever:

l See the Prelim. Disc. Sect. III. p. 50.
m Literally, on their chins.
n The infidels hearing Mohammed say, O GOD, and O Merciful, imagined
the Merciful was the name of a deity different from GOD, and that he preached
the worship of two; which occasioned this passage. See chapter 7, p. 123.
o Neither so loud, that the infidels may overhear thee, and thence take
occasion to blaspheme and scoff; nor so softly as not to be heard by the
assistants. Some suppose that by the word prayer, in this place, is meant the
reading of the Korân.
p The chapter is thus inscribed because it makes mention of the cave
wherein the seven sleepers concealed themselves.
q Some except one verse, which begins thus, Behave thyself with
constancy, &c.

and that he should warn those who say, GOD hath begotten issue;
of which matter they have no knowledge, neither had their fathers. A
grievous saying it is, which proceedeth from their mouths: they speak no other
than a lie.
Peradventure thou wilt kill thyself with grief after them, out of thy
earnest zeal for their conversion, if they believe not in this new revelation
of the Koran.
Verily we have ordained whatsoever is on the earth for the ornament
thereof, that we might make trial of men, and see which of them excelleth in
works:
and we will surely reduce whatever is thereon to dry dust.
Dost thou consider that the companions of the cave,r and Al Rakim,s were
one of our signs, and a great miracle?
When the young men took refuge in the cave, they said, O LORD, grant us
mercy from before thee, and dispose our business for us to a right issue.
10 Wherefore we struck their ears with deafness, so that they slept without
disturbance in the cave for a great number of years:
then we awaked them, that we might know which of the two partiest was
more exact in computing the space which they had remained there.
We will relate unto thee their history with truth. Verily they were
young men who had believed in their LORD: and we had abundantly directed them:
and we fortified their hearts with constancy when they stood before the
tyrant; and they said, Our LORD is the LORD of heaven and earth: we will by no
means call on any god besides him; for then should we surely utter an
extravagance.
These our fellow people have taken other gods, besides him; although they
bring no demonstrative argument for them: and who is more unjust than he who
deviseth a lie concerning GOD?
And they said the one to the other, When ye shall separate yourselves
from them, and from the deities which they worship, except GOD,u fly into the
cave: your LORD will pour his mercy on you abundantly, and will dispose your
business for you to advantage.

r These were certain Christian youths, of a good family in Ephesus,
who, to avoid the persecution of the emperor Decius, by the Arab writers
called Decianus, hid themselves in a cave, where they slept for a great number
of years.1
This apocryphal story (for Baronius2 treats it as no better, and Father
Marracci3 acknowledges it to be partly false, or at least doubtful, though he
calls Hottinger a monster of impiety, and the off-scum of heretics, for
terming it a fable4), was borrowed by Mohammed from the Christian traditions,5
but has been embellished by him and his followers with several additional
circumstances.6
s What is meant by this word the commentators cannot agree. Some will
have it to be the name of the mountain, or the valley, wherein the cave was;
some say it was the name of their dog; and others (who seem to come nearest
the true signification) that it was a brass plate, or stone table, placed near
the mouth of the cave, on which the names of the young men were written.
There are some, however, who take the companions of al Rakîm to be
different from the seven sleepers; for they say the former were three men who
were driven by ill weather into a cave for shelter, and were shut in there by
the falling down of a vast stone, which stopped the cave's mouth; but on their
begging GOD'S mercy, and their relating each of them a meritorious action
which they hoped might entitle them to it, were miraculously delivered by the
rock's rending in sunder to give them passage.7
t viz., Of the sleepers themselves, or others, who were divided in
opinion as to the length of their stay in the cave.
u For they, like other idolaters, worshipped the true GOD and idols
also.8