[a] The reason of this inscription appears in the first words. Some entitle the chapter, The children of Israel.

[b] Some except eight verses, beginning at these words, It wanted little but that the infidels had seduced thee, &c.

[c] Who transported his servant by night, from the temple of Mecca to the temple of Jerusalem.] From whence he was carried through the seven heavens to the presence of God, and brought back again to Mecca the same night.
This journey of Mohammed to heaven is so well known that I may be pardoned if I omit the description of it. The English reader may find it in Dr. Prideaux’s Life of Mahomet ^[1] , and the learned in Abu’lfeda ^[2] , whose annotator has corrected several mistakes in the relation of Dr. Prideaux, and in other writers.
It is a dispute among the Mohammedan divines, whether their prophet’s night-journey was really performed by him corporally, or whether it was only a dream or vision. Some think the whole was no more than a vision; and allege and express tradition of Moâwiyah ^[3] , one of Mohammed’s successors, to that purpose. Others suppose he was carried bodily to Jerusalem, but no farther; and that he ascended thence to heaven in spirit only. But the received opinion is, that it was no vision, but that he was actually transported in the body to his journey’s end; and if any impossibility be objected, they think it a sufficient answer to say, that it might easily be effected by an omnipotent agent ^[4] .

[1] Pag. 43, &c. See also Morgan’s Mahometism Explained, vol. 2

[2] Vit. Moham. cap. 19.

[3] V. ibid. c. 18.

[4] Al Beidawi.

[d] O posterity of those, &c.] The commentators are put to it to find out the connection of these words with the foregoing. Some think the accusative case is here put for the vocative, as I have translated it: and others interpret the words thus, Take not for your patrons besides me, the posterity of those, &c., meaning, mortal men.

[e] Ye will surely commit evil in the earth twice;] Their first transgression was their rejecting the decisions of the law, their putting Isaiah to death ^[5] , and their imprisoning of Jeremiah ^[6] : and the second, was their slaying of Zachariah and John the Baptist, and their imagining the death of Jesus ^[7] .

[5] Idem.

[6] Jallalo’ddin.

[7] Iidem.

[f] We sent against you our servants;] These were Jalût, or Goliah, and his forces ^[8] ; or Sennacherib the Assyrian; or else Nebuchadnezzar, whom the eastern writers called Bakhtnasr (which was however only his surname, his true name being Gudarz, or Raham), the governor of Babylon under Lohorasp, king of Persia ^[1] , who took Jerusalem, and destroyed the temple.

[8] Jallalo’ddin, Yahya.

[1] Al Zamakhshari, Al Beidawi.

[a] Afterwards we gave you the victory over them, &c.] By permitting David to kill Goliah; or by the miraculous defeat of Sennacherib’s army; or for that God put it into the heart of Bahman the son of Isfandiyar, when he succeeded his grandfather Lohorasp, to order Kiresh, or Cyrus, then governor of Babylon, to send home the Jews from their captivity, under the conduct of Daniel; which he accordingly did, and they prevailed against those whom Bakhtnasr had left in the land ^[2] .

[2] Iidem.

[b] We sent enemies against you to afflict you;] Some imagine the army meant in this place was that of Bakhtnasr ^[3] ; but others say the Persians conquered the Jews this second time, by the arms of Gudarz (by whom they seem to intend Antiochus Epiphanes), one of the successors of Alexander at Babylon. It is related that the general in this expedition, entering the temple, saw blood bubbling up on the great altar, and asking the reason of it, the Jews told him it was the blood of a sacrifice which had not been accepted of God; to which he replied, that they had not told him the truth, and ordered a thousand of them to be slain on the altar; but the blood not ceasing, he told them that if they would not confess the truth, he would not spare one of them; whereupon they acknowledged it was the blood of John: and the general said, Thus hath your Lord taken vengeance on you; and then cried out, O John, my Lord and thy Lord knoweth what hath befallen thy people for thy sake; wherefore let thy blood stop, by God’s permission, lest I leave not one of them alive; upon which the blood immediately stopped ^[4] .
These are the explications of the commentators, wherein their ignorance in ancient history is sufficiently manifest; tho’ perhaps Mohammed himself, in this latter passage, intended the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.

[3] Yahya, Jallalo’ddin.

[4] Al Beidawi.

[c] But if ye return to transgress a third time, we also will return to chastise you.] And this came accordingly to pass; for the Jews being again so wicked as to reject Mohammed, and conspire against his life, God delivered them into his hands; and he exterminated the tribe of Koreidha, and slew the chiefs of al Nadîr, and obliged the rest of the Jewish tribes to pay tribute ^[5] .

[5] Idem.

[d] Man prayeth for evil as he prayeth for good;] Out of ignorance, mistaking evil for good; or making wicked imprecations on himself and others, out of passion and impatience.

[e] Man is hasty;] Or inconsiderate, not weighing the consequence of what he asks.
It is said that the person here meant is Adam, who, when the breath of life was breathed into his nostrils, and had reached so far as his navel, tho’ the lower part of his body was, as yet, but a piece of clay, must needs try to rise up, and got an ugly fall by the bargain. But others pretend the passage was revealed on the following occasion. Mohammed committed a certain captive to the charge of his wife, Sawda bint Zamáa, who, moved with compassion at the man’s groans, unbound him, and let him escape: upon which the prophet, in the first motions of his anger, wished her hand might fall off; but immediately composing himself, said aloud, O God, I am but a man: therefore turn my curse into a blessing ^[1] .

[1] Jallalo’ddin.

[a] The fate;] Literally, the bird, which is here used to signify a man’s fortune or success; the Arabs, as well as the Greeks and Romans, taking omens from the flight of birds, which they supposed to portend good luck, if they flew from the left to the right, but if from the right to the left, the contrary; the like judgment they also made when certain beasts passed before them.

[b] Have we bound about his neck;] Like a collar, which he cannot by any means get off. See the Prelim. Disc. §. IV p. 103.

[c] See ibid. p. 89.

[d] With thee;] That is, receiving their support and maintenance from thee.

[a] Submit to behave humbly, &c.] Literally, Lower the wing of humility, &c.

[b] His due;] That is, friendship and affection, and assistance in time of need.

[c] The profuse are brethren of the devils;] Prodigality, and squandering away one’s substance in folly or luxury, being a very great sin. The Arabs were particularly guilty of extravagance in killing camels, and distributing them by lot, merely out of vanity and ostentation; which they are forbidden by this passage, and commanded to bestow what they could spare on their poor relations, and other indigent people ^[1] .

[1] Al Beidawi.

[d] If thou turn from them in expectation, &c.] That is, If thy present circumstances will not permit thee to assist others, defer thy charity till God shall grant thee better ability.

[e] Let not thy hand be tied up, neither open it with an unbounded expansion;] i.e. Be neither niggardly nor profuse, but observe the mean between the two extremes, wherein consists true liberality ^[2] .

[2] Idem.

[f] See chap. 6. p. 113 and 115, and chap. 81.

[g] Unless for a just cause;] The crimes for which a man may justly be put to death are these: apostacy, adultery and murder ^[3] .

[3] Idem.

[h] We have given his heir power to demand satisfaction;] It being at the election of the heir, or next of kin, either to take the life of the murderer or to accept of a fine in lieu of it ^[4] .

[4] See chap. 2. p. 20, 21.

[i] Since he is assisted, &c.] Some refer the pronoun he to the person slain, for the avenging whose death this law was made; some to the heir, who has a right granted him to demand satisfaction for his friend’s blood ^[5] ; and others to him who shall be slain by the heir, if he carry his vengeance too far ^[6] .

[5] Yahya.

[6] V. Al Beidawi.

[k] See chap. 4. p. 60, 61.

[l] More easy for determining every, &c.] Or, more advantageous in the end ^[7] .

[7] Idem, Al Zamakh.

[a] Follow not that whereof thou hast no knowledge;] i.e. Vain and uncertain opinions, which thou hast not good reason to believe true, or at least probable. Some interpret the words, Accuse not another of a crime whereof thou hast no knowledge; supposing they forbid the bearing false witness, or the spreading or giving credit to idle reports of others ^[1] .

[1] Iidem.

[b] See chap. 16. p. 218, 219.

[c] They would make some attempt against the possessor of the throne;] i.e. They would in all probability contend with God for superiority, and endeavour to dethrone him, in the same manner as princes act with one another on earth.

[d] Of thy Lord only;] Not allowing their gods to be his associates, nor praying their intercession with him.

[e] Ye shall obey, with celebration of his praise;] 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.

[f] That ye tarried;] viz. In your graves; or in the world.

[a] Your Lord well knoweth you, &c.] 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] .

[1] Al Beidawi.

[b] Thy Lord well knoweth all persons, &c.] And may choose whom he pleases for his embassador. 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] .

[2] Idem.

[c] The psalms;] 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] .

[3] V. Marracc. in Alc. p. 28, &c. Prid. life of Mah. p. 122.

[4] Psal. xxxvii. 28. Al Beid.

[d] Those whom ye invoke;] viz. The angels and prophets, who are the servants of God as well as yourselves.

[e] See chap. 7. p. 124, 125.

[f] The vision which we shewed thee, &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 ^[8] . But if any of these latter expositions be true, the verse must have been revealed at Medina.

[5] V. Abulf. vit. Moh. p. 39, & not. ibid Prideaux, life of Mah. p. 50, and Prelim. Disc. §. II, p. 47.

[6] See Kor. chap. 48.

[7] See chap. 8. p. 144.

[8] Al Beidawi.

[g] The cursed tree;] Called al Zakkûm, which springs from the bottom of hell ^[9] .

[9] See chap. 37.

[a] See chap. 2. p. 4, and chap. 7. p. 117, &c.

[b] With thy horsemen and thy footmen;] i.e. With all thy forces.

[c] And partake with them in their riches, and their children;] 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 ^[1] .

[1] Al Beidawi.

[d] See chap. 10. p. 168.

[e] Their respective leader;] 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 ^[2] .

[2] Idem.

[f] See the Prelim. Disc. §. IV. p. 89.

[g] See chap. 4. p. 67. not. l.

[a] It wanted little but the unbelievers had seduced thee, &c.] 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 shew his respect.

[1] See the Prelim. Disc. p. 18.

[2] Al Beidawi, Jallalo’ddin. V. Abulf. vit. Moham. p. 126, &c.

[b] The punishment of life, and the punishment of death;] 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] .

[3] Al Beidawi.

[c] The unbelievers had likewise almost caused thee to depart the land, &c.] 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] .

[4] Idem.

[5] Idem, Jallalo’ddin.

[d] Then should they not have tarried therein after thee, except a little while.] 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] .

[6] Iidem.

[e] At the declension of the sun;] 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.

[f] At the first darkness of the night;] The time of the last evening prayer.

[g] The prayer of day-break;] Literally, the reading of the day-break; whence some suppose the reading of the Korân at that time is here meant.

[h] By the angels;] 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] .

[7] Al Beidawi.

[a] An honourable station;] According to a tradition of Abu Horeira, the honourable station here intended is that of intercessor for others ^[1] .

[1] Idem.

[b] Cause me to enter with a favorable entry and cause me to come forth with a favorable coming forth;] 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] .

[2] Numb. xxiii. 10.

[3] See the Prelim. Disc. §. II. p. 51.

[4] Al Beidawi, Jallalo’ddin.

[c] Say, Truth is come, and falsehood is vanished, &c.] 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] .

[5] Iidem. V. Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. 2, p. 127.

[d] Every one acteth after his own manner;] 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 bodyn ^[6] .

[6] Al Beidawi.

[e] Concerning the spirit;] Or the soul of man. Some interpret it of the angel Gabriel, or of the divine revelation ^[7] .

[7] Idem.

[f] The spirit was created at the command of my Lord;] 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 caven ^[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] .

[8] See the next chapter.

[9] See ib.

[10] Al Beidawi.

[g] Ye have no knowledge given unto you, except a little;] 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] .

[11] Idem.

[h] We should certainly take away that which we have revealed;] viz. The Korân; by razing it both from the written copies, and the memories of men.

[a] Until thou cause a spring of water to gush forth, &c.] This and the following miracles were demanded of Mohammed by the Koreish, as proofs of his mission.

[b] Thy ascending thither alone;] As thou pretendest to have done in thy night-journey; but of which no man was witness.

[c] See the Prelim. Disc. §. IV. p. 85.

[d] So often as the fire shall be extinguished, we will rekindle a burning flame to torment them;] i.e. When the fire shall go out or abate for want of fewel, 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] .

[1] Al Beidawi. See chap. 4. p. 68.

[e] A limited term;] Or life, or resurrection.

[f] For fear of spending them;] That is, lest they should be exhausted.

[g] Nine signs;] 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 ^[1] . 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 desart 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 ^[1] .

[1] Idem, Jallalo’ddin.

[1] Al Beidawi.

[a] Do thou ask the children of Israel, &c.] 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.

[b] See the Prelim. Disc. §. III. p. 64, 65.

[c] On their faces;] Literally, on their chins.

[d] Call on God, or the Merciful;] 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 chap. 7. p. 136.

[e] Pronounce not thy prayer aloud, nor with too low a voice, &c.] 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.