CHAP. XXIX.
Intitled, The Spider
[a]
; revealed at Mecca
[b]
.
In the name of the most merciful God.
[a] Transient mention is made of this insect towards the middle of the chapter.
[b] Some think the first ten verses, ending with these words, And he well knoweth the hypocrites, were revealed at Medina, and the rest at Mecca; and others believe the reverse.
[c] See the Prelim. Disc. §. III. p. 59, &c.
[d] That it shall be sufficient for them;] Literally, That they shall be let alone, &c.
[e] While they not be proved.] This passage reprehends the impatience of some of the prophet’s companions, under the hardships which they sustained in defence of their religion, and the losses which they suffered from the infidels; representing to them that such trials and afflictions were necessary to distinguish the sincere person from the hypocrite, and the steady from the wavering. Some suppose it to have been occasioned by the death of Mahja, Omar’s slave, killed by an arrow at the battle of Bedr, which was deeply lamented and laid to heart by his wife and parents [1] .
[1] Al Beidawi.
[f] If they endeavor to prevail with thee to associate with me that concerning which thou hast no knowledge;] That is, If they endeavour to pervert thee to idolatry. The passage is said to have been revealed on account of Saad Ebn Abi Wakkâs, and his mother Hamna, who, when she heard that her son had embraced Mohammedism, swore that she would neither eat nor drink till he returned to his old religion, and kept her oath for three days [2] .
[2] Idem.
[a] Other burthens besides their own;] viz. The guilt of seducing others, which shall be added to the guilt of their own obstinacy without diminishing the guilt of such as shall be seduced by them.
[b]
Noah tarried his people one
thousand years and fifty years;] This is true, if the whole life of Noah be reckoned; and accordingly
Abu’lfeda says he was sent to preach in his two hundred and fiftieth year, and
that he lived in all nine hundred and fifty: but the text seeming to speak of
those years only which he spent in preaching to the wicked antediluvians, the
commentators suppose him to have lived much longer. Some say the whole length
of his life was a thousand and fifty years; that his mission happened in the
fortieth year of his age, and that he lived after the flood sixty years
[1]
;
and
others give different numbers; one, in particular, pretending that Noah lived
near sixteen hundred years
[2]
.
This circumstance, says al Beidâwi, was mentioned to encourage Mohammed,
and to assure him that God, who supported Noah so many years against the
opposition and plots of the antediluvian infidels, would not fail to defend
him against all attempts of the idolatrous Meccans and their partisans.
[1] Idem,Al Zamakh.
[2] Caab, apud Yahyam.
[c] The same;] i.e. The ark.
[d] If ye charge me with imposture;] This seems to be part of Abraham’s speech to his people: but some suppose that God here speaks, by way of apostrophe, first to the Koreish, and afterwards to Mohammed; and that the parenthesis is continued to these words, And the answer of his people was no other, &c. In which case we should have said, If ye charge Mohammed your apostle with imposture, &c.
[e] Do they not see how God produceth creatures, and afterwards restoreth them?] The infidels are bid to consider how God causeth the fruits of the earth to spring forth, and reneweth them every year, as in the preceding; which is an argument of his power to raise man, whom he created at first, to life again after death, at his own appointed time.
[f] See Psalm cxxxix. 7, &c.
[a] See chap. 21. p. 269
[b] And lay wait in the highways;] Some suppose the Sodomites robbed and murdered the passengers; others, that they unnaturally abused their bodies.
[c] And commit wickedness in your assembly;] Their meetings being scenes of obscenity and riot.
[d] See chap. 11. p. 182, &c.
[e] See ibid. p. 183.
[f] We have left thereof a manifest sign;] viz. The story of its destruction, handed down by common tradition; or else its ruins, or some other footsteps of this signal judgment; it being pretended that several of the stones, which fell from heaven on those cities, are still to be seen, and that the ground where they stood appears burnt and blackish.
[g] See chap. 7. p. 127.
[a] Against some of them we sent a violent wind;] The original word properly signifies a wind that drives the gravel and small stones before it; by which the storm, or shower of stones, which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, seems to be intended.
[b] Some of them did a terrible noise from heaven destroy;] Which was the end of Ad and Thamud.
[c] Some of them did we cause the earth to swallow up;] As it did Karûn.
[d] Some of them we drowned;] As the unbelievers in Noah’s time, and Pharaoh and his army
[e] In the mildest manner;] i.e. Without ill language or passion. This verse is generally supposed to have been abrogated by that of the sword; tho’ some think it relates only to those who are in alliance with the Moslems.
[a] See chap. 6. p. 104
[b] My earth is spacious; wherefore serve me;] That is, If ye cannot serve me in one city or country, fly unto another, where ye may profess the true religion in safety; for the earth is wide enough, and ye may easily find places of refuge. Mohammed is said to have declared, That whoever flies for the sake of his religion, tho’ he stir but the distance of a span, merits paradise, and shall be the companion of Abraham and of himself [1] .
[1] Al Beidawi.
[c] God knoweth all things;] And particularly who will make a good, and who will make a bad use of their riches.