The Koran Part 151

O Believers! fear G.o.d, and speak with well-guided speech.

That G.o.d may bless your doings for you, and forgive you your sins. And whoso obeyeth G.o.d and His Apostle with great bliss shall be blessed.

Verily, we proposed to the Heavens, and to the Earth, and to the Mountains to receive the Faith, but they refused the burden, and they feared to receive it. Man undertook to bear it, but hath proved unjust, senseless!

Therefore will G.o.d punish the hypocritical men and the hypocritical women, and the men and the women who join G.o.ds with G.o.d; but to the believing men and women will G.o.d turn him: for G.o.d is Indulgent, Merciful!

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1 Medina was besieged, when this Sura was revealed, by certain confederate tribes at the instigation of the Jews, an. Hej. 5. The first nine verses, however, have no immediate reference to this event, but to Muhammad's cotemporary marriage with Zeinab. See below, verse 37.

2 The Arabians had been accustomed, before the time of Muhammad, to divorce their wives with the words,-thy back be to me as the back of my mother. The drift and motive of this pa.s.sage is explained by verse 37 below. It had also been the custom to hold adopted sons to be as nearly related to them as their natural ones. See Sura lviii. 2, p. 451.

3 The Mohadjers-those who had emigrated with Muhammad from Mecca. This verse abrogates Sura [xcv.] viii. 73.

4 How they have discharged their prophetic functions.

5 Verses 9-33 have reference to the events of the year Hej. 5, towards the close. See next note. His. 688; Waq. 4 f.

6 In the engagement which took place under the walls of Medina, some of the enemy were posted on a height to the east of the city, others in a valley on the west. The besiegers were 12,000, the Muslims 3,000 strong, when a violent storm, which upset the tents, put out the camp fires, and blinded the eyes of the confederates with sand, turned the scale of victory against them.

Muhammad ascribes the storm to angelic agency.

7 That is, with infidelity.

8 The ancient name of El-Medina.

9 In the trenches which had been dug around the city by the advice of Salman, the Persian.

10 They would speedily have quitted the city to attack the faithful in the trenches.

11 That is, raise the siege.

12 That is, that through trials we should attain to Paradise, v. 29.

13 After the siege of Medina had been raised, Muhammad made a successful expedition against the Jews of Koreidha, for their treason and violation of treaties.

14 Muhammad's wives having caused him much annoyance by demands of rich dresses, etc., he gave them the choice of continuing with him as before, or of divorce. They chose the former. See Abulfeda's Hist. Moh. p. 77, and Gagnier's Vie de Moh. i. 4, chap. ii.

15 That is, Idolatry. Acts xvii. 30. Freytag (Einl. p. 453) thinks that previous to Islam, the Arabian women went in public unveiled.

16 The p.r.o.noun is in the pl. masc., whereas the pl. fem. is used in the previous part of the verse. The partisans of Ali quote this pa.s.sage to prove the intimate union of Ali and his posterity with the Prophet.

17 That is, to Zaid. The favour of G.o.d to Zaid consisted in having caused him to become a Muslim: the favour of Muhammad in adopting him as his son. Zaid and Abu Lahab (Sura cxi. p. 29) are the only contemporaries of Muhammad mentioned by name in the Koran.

18 Thy plan to obtain Zeinab, or Zen.o.bia, Zaid's wife, as thy wife.

19 Lit, who brought the messages of G.o.d.

20 If thou makest use of the special prerogative (conferred in verse 49).

21 He had nine wives at this period, beside slaves. The number of wives allowed to the faithful is four. See note, p. 411. 22 The first slave whom Muhammad took to wife was Raihana, at the conquest of the Banu Koreidha. His.

693. Weil, 170.

23 Verses 53-55 refer to the conduct of the guests at Muhammad's house after his marriage with Zeinab. Albuhari pa.s.sim. Muslim i. 824 ff. Wah. Comp.

Caussir, iii. 151.

24 Ullmann, p. 263, quotes a similar precept from the Talmud, "Do all that the master of the house biddeth, but wait not to be asked to depart."

25 This verse cannot be of later date than Hej. 8, when Muhammad's daughter Omm Kulthum died. leaving only Fatima.

26 This may refer to the charge of adultery said by the Rabbins to have been brought by Korah against Moses. Comp. Tr. Sanhedrin, fol. 110a. and Numbers xii. 1. The verse is said to have been revealed on account of aspersions thrown on Muhammad for unfairly dividing spoils, whereupon he said, "G.o.d be merciful to my brother Moses. He was wronged more than this, and bore it with patience."

SURA LXIII.1-THE HYPOCRITES [CIV.]

MEDINA.-11 Verses

In the Name of G.o.d, the Compa.s.sionate, the Merciful

WHEN the Hypocrites come to thee, they say, "We bear witness that thou art the Sent One of G.o.d." G.o.d knoweth that thou art His Sent One: but G.o.d beareth witness that the HYPOCRITES do surely lie.

Their faith2 have they used as a cloak, and they turn aside others from the way of G.o.d! Evil are all their doings.

This, for that they believed, then became unbelievers!Therefore hath a seal been set upon their hearts, and they understand not.

When thou seest them, their persons make thee marvel; and if they speak, thou listenest with pleasure to their discourse. Like timbers are they leaning against a wall!3 They think that every shout is against them. They are enemies-Beware of them then-G.o.d do battle with them! How false are they!

And when it is said to them, "Come, the Apostle of G.o.d will ask pardon for you," they turn their heads aside, and thou seest them withdraw in their pride.

Alike shall it be to them whether thou ask forgiveness for them, or ask it not. By no means will G.o.d forgive them: G.o.d hath no guidance for a perverse people.

These are they who say to you of Medina, "Spend not aught upon those who are with the Apostle of G.o.d, and they will be forced to quit him." Yet the treasures of the Heavens and of the Earth are G.o.d's! But the Hypocrites have no understanding.

They say: "If we return to the city, the mightier will a.s.suredly drive out the weaker from it." But might is with G.o.d, and with the Apostle, and with the Faithful! Yet the Hypocrites understand not.

O ye who believe! let not your wealth and your children delude you into forgetfulness of G.o.d. Whoever shall act thus, shall surely suffer loss.

And expend in the cause of G.o.d out of that with which we have supplied you, ere death surprise each one of you, and he say, "O Lord! wilt thou not respite me to a term not far distant, that I may give alms, and become one of the just?"

And by no means will G.o.d respite a soul when its hour hath come! And G.o.d is fully cognisant of what ye do.

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1 Revealed shortly after the expedition against the Banu 'l Mustaliq in Hej.

6. See Nold. p. 156 n. The "Hypocrites" mentioned in the later Suras are the disaffected portion of the population of Medina, who covertly opposed the claims of Muhammad to temporal authority over that city. They were gradually absorbed, as the authority of Islam increased.

2 Or, in accordance with another reading, oaths. Comp. Ps. cix. 18.