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Sale, 1734

CHAP. XXXVI.

Intitled, Y. S; revealed at Mecca.


In the name of the most merciful God.
Y. S [a] . I swear by the instructive Koran, that thou art one of the messengers of God, sent to shew the right way. This is a revelation of the most mighty, the merciful God : that thou mayest warn a people whose fathers were not warned, and who live in negligence. Our sentence [b] hath justly been pronounced against the greater part of them; wherefore they shall not believe. We have put yokes [c] on their necks, which come up to their chins; and they are forced to hold up their heads; and we have set a bar before them, and a bar behind them [d] ; and we have covered them with darkness; wherefore they shall not see [e] . It shall be equal unto them whether thou preach unto them, or do not preach unto them; they shall not believe. But thou shalt preach with effect unto him only who followeth the admonition of the Koran, and feareth the Merciful in secret. Wherefore bear good tidings unto him, of mercy, and an honourable reward. Verily we will restore the [362] dead to life, and will write down their works which they shall have sent before them, and their footsteps which they shall have left behind them [a] : and everything do we set down in a plain register. Propound unto them as an example the inhabitants of the city of Antioch, when the apostles of Jesus came thereto [b] : when we sent unto them two of the said apostles [c] ; but they charged them with imposture. Wherefore we strengthened them with a third [d] . And they said, Verily we are sent unto you by God. The inhabitants answered, Ye are no other than men, as we are; neither hath the Merciful revealed any thing unto you: ye only publish a lie. The apostles replied, Our Lord knoweth that we are really sent unto you: and our duty is only public preaching. Those of Antioch said, Verily we presage evil from you: if ye desist not from preaching, we will surely stone you, and a painful punishment shall be inflicted on you by us. The apostles answered, Your evil presage is with yourselves [e] : although ye be warned, will ye persist in yours errors? Verily ye are a people who transgress exceedingly. And a certain man [f] came [363] hastily from the farther parts of the city, and said, O my people, follow the messengers of God ; follow him who demandeth not any reward of you: for these are rightly directed. What reason have I that I should not worship him who hath created me? for unto him shall ye return. Shall I take other gods besides him? If the Merciful be pleased to afflict me, their intercession will not avail me at all, neither can they deliver me: then should I be in a manifest error. Verily I believe in your Lord; wherefore hearken unto me. But they stoned him: and as he died, it was said unto him, Enter thou into paradise. And he said, O that my people knew how merciful God hath been unto me! for he hath highly honoured me. And we sent not down against his people, after they had slain him, an army from heaven, nor the other instruments of destruction which we sent down on unbelievers in former days [a] : there was only one cry of Gabriel from heaven, and behold, they became utterly extinct. Oh the misery of men! No apostle cometh unto them, but they laugh him to scorn. Do they not consider how many generations we have destroyed before them? Verily they shall not return unto them: but all of them in general shall be assembled before us. One sign of the resurrection unto them is the dead earth [b] : we quicken the same by the rain, and produce thereout various sorts of grain, of which they eat. And we make therein gardens of palm-trees, and vines; and we cause springs to gush forth in the same: that they may eat of the fruits thereof, and of the labour of their hands. Will they not therefore give thanks? Praise be unto him who hath created all the different kinds, both of vegetables, which the earth bringeth forth, and of their own species, by forming the two sexes, and also the various sorts of things which they know not. The night also is a sign unto them: we withdraw the day from the same, and behold, they are covered with darkness: and the sun hasteneth to his place of rest [c] . This is the disposition of the mighty, the wise God. and for the moon have we appointed certain mansions [d] , until she change and return to be like the old branch of a palm-tree [e] . It is not expedient that the sun should overtake the moon in her course: neither doth the night outstrip the day: but each of these luminaries moving in a peculiar orbit. It is a sign also unto them, that we carry their offspring in the ship filled with merchandise [f] ; and that we have made for [364] them other conveniences like unto it [a] , whereon they ride. If we please, we drown them, and there is none to help them; neither are they delivered, unless through our mercy, and that they may enjoy life for a season. When it is said unto them, Fear that which is before you, and that which is behind you [b] , that ye may obtain mercy; they withdraw from thee: and thou dost not bring them one sign, of the signs of their Lord, but they turn aside from the same. And when it is said unto them, Give alms of that which God hath bestowed on you; the unbelievers say unto those who believe, by way of mockery, Shall we feed him whom God can feed, if he pleaseth [c] ? Verily ye are in no other than a manifest error. And they say, When will this promise of the resurrection be fulfilled, if ye speak truth? They only wait for one sounding of the trumpet [d] , which shall overtake them while they are disputing together; and they shall not have time to make any disposition of their effects, neither shall they return to their family. And the trumpet shall be sounded again [e] ; and behold they shall come forth from their graves, and hasten unto their Lord. They shall say, Alas for us! who hath awakened us from our bed [f] ? This is what the Merciful promised us; and his apostles spoke the truth. It shall be but one sound of the trumpet, and behold, they shall be all assembled before us. On this day no soul shall be unjustly treated in the least; neither shall ye be rewarded, but according to what ye shall have wrought. On this day the inhabitants of paradise shall be wholly taken up with joy: they and their wives shall rest in shady groves, leaning on magnificent couches. There shall they have fruit, and they shall obtain whatever they shall desire. Peace shall be the word spoken unto the righteous, by a merciful Lord: but he shall say unto the wicked, Be ye separated this day, O ye wicked, from the righteous. Did I not command you, O sons of Adam, that ye should not worship Satan; because he was an open enemy unto you? And did I not say, Worship me; this is the right way? But now hath he seduced a great multitude of you: did ye not therefore understand? This is hell, with which ye were threatened: be ye cast into the same this day to be burned; for that ye have been unbelievers. On this day we will seal up their mouths, that they shall not open them in their own defence; and their hands shall speak unto us, and their feet shall bear [365] witness of that which they have committed [a] . If we pleased we could put out their eyes, and they might run with emulation in the way they use to take; and how should they see their error? And if we pleased we could transform them into other shapes, in their places where they should be found; and they should not be able to depart; neither should they repent [b] . Unto whomsoever we grant a long life, him do we cause to bow down his body through age. Will they not therefore understand? We have not taught Mohammed the art of poetry [c] ; nor is it expedient for him to be a poet. This book is no other than an admonition from God, and a perspicuous Korân; that he may warn him who is living [d] : and the sentence of condemnation will be justly executed on the unbelievers. Do they not consider that we have created for them, among the things which our hands have wrought, cattle of several kinds, of which they are possessors; and that we have put the same in subjection under them? Some of them are for their riding; and on some of them do they feed: and they receive other advantages therefrom; and of their milk do they drink. Will they not, therefore, be thankful? They have taken other gods, besides God, in hopes that they may be assisted by them; but they are not able to give them any assistance: yet are they a party of troops ready to defend them. Let not their speech, therefore, grieve thee: we know that which they privately conceal, and that which they publickly discover. Doth not man know that we have created him of seed? yet behold, he is an open disputer against the resurrection; and he propoundeth unto us a comparison, and forgetteth his creation. He saith, Who shall restore bones to life, when they are rotten [e] ? Answer, He shall restore them to life, who produced them the first time: for he is skilled in every kind of creation: who giveth you fire out of the green tree [f] , and behold, ye kindle your fewel from thence. Is not he who hath created the heavens and the earth able to create new creatures like unto them? Yea certainly: for he is the wise Creator. His command, when he willeth a thing, is only that he saith unto it, Be; and it is. Wherefore praise be unto him, in whose hand is the kingdom of all things, and unto whom ye shall return at the last day.

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[a] The meaning of these letters is unknown [1] : some, however, from a tradition of Ebn Abbas, pretend they stand for Ya insân, i.e. O man. This chapter, it is said, had several other titles given it by Mohammed himself, and particularly that of The heart of the Korân. The Mohammedans read it to dying persons in their last agony [2] .

[1] See the Prelim. Disc. §. III. p. 59, &c.

[2] V. Bobov. De visit. ægrot. p. 17.

[b] Our sentence;] viz. The sentence of damnation, which God pronounced against the greater part of genii and men at the fall of Adam [3] .

[3] See chap. 7, p. 118; chap. II, p. 187, &c.

[c] Yokes;] Or collars, such as are described pag. 201, note a.

[d] We have set a bar before them, and a bar behind them;] That is, we have placed obstacles to prevent their looking either forwards or backwards. The whole passage represents the blindness and invincible obstinacy, with which God justly curses perverse and reprobate men.

[e] It is said that when the Koreish, in pursuance of a resolution they had taken, had sent a select number to beset Mohammed’s house, and to kill him [4] , the prophet, having caused Ali to lye down on his bed to deceive the assassins, went out and threw a handful of dust at them, repeating the nine first verses of this chapter, which end here; and they were thereupon stricken with blindness, so that they could not see him [5] .

[4] See the Prelim. Disc. p. 50.

[5] V. Abulf. vit Moh. p. 50.

[a] And their footsteps which they shall have left behind them;] As their good or evil example, doctrine, &c.

[b] When the apostles of Jesus came to Antioch;] To explain this passage, the commentators tell the following story:
The people of Antioch being idolaters, Jesus sent two of his disciples thither to preach to them; and when they drew near the city they found Habîb, surnamed al Najjâr, or the carpenter, feeding sheep, and acquainted him with their errand; whereupon he asked them what proof they had of their veracity, and they told him they could cure the sick, and the blind, and the lepers; and to demonstrate the truth of what they said, they laid their hands on a child of his who was sick, and immediately restored him to health. Habîb was convinced by this miracle, and believed; after which they went into the city and preached the worship of one true God, curing a great number of people of several infirmities; but at length, the affair coming to the prince’s ear, he ordered them to be imprisoned for endeavouring to seduce the people. When Jesus heard of this, he sent another of his disciples, generally supposed to have been Simon Peter, who, coming to Antioch, and appearing as a zealous idolater, soon insinuated himself into the favour of the inhabitants and of their prince, and at length took an opportunity to desire the prince would order the two persons who, as he was informed, had been put in prison for broaching new opinions, to be brought before him to be examined; and accordingly they were brought: when Peter, having previously warned them to take no notice that they knew him, asked them who sent them, to which they answered, God, who had created all things, and had no companion. He then required some convincing proof of their mission, upon which they restored a blind person to his sight and performed some other miracles, with which Peter seemed not to be satisfied, for that, according to some, he did the very same miracles himself, but declared that, if their God could enable them to raise the dead, he would believe them; which condition the two apostles accepting, a lad was brought who had been dead seven days, and at their prayers he was raised to life; and thereupon Peter acknowledged himself convinced, and ran and demolished the idols, a great many of the people following him, and embracing the true faith; but those who believed not were destroyed by the cry of the angel Gabriel [1] .

[1] Al Zamakh., al Beidâwi, &c. V. etiam Marracc. in Alc. p. 580.

[c] We sent unto them two of the said apostles;] Some say these two were John and Paul; but others name different persons.

[d] A bird] viz. Simon Peter.

[e] Your evil presage is with yourselves;] i.e. If any evil befal you, it will be the consequence of your own obstinacy and unbelief. See chap. 27. p. 313. not. h.

[f] A certain man;] This was Habîb al Najjâr, whose martyrdom is here described. His tomb is still shown near Antioch, and is much visited by the Mohammedans [2] .

[2] V. Schultens, Indic. Geogr. ad calcem Vitæ Saladini, voce Antiochia.

[a] Nor the other instruments of destruction, which we sent down on unbelievers in former days As a deluge, or a shower of stones, or a suffocating wind, &c. The words may also be translated, Nor did we determine to send down such executioners of our justice.

[b] See chap. 29. p. 326. not. e.

[c] The sun hasteneth to his place of rest;] That is, he hasteneth to run his daily course, the setting of the sun resembling a traveller’s going to rest. Some copies vary in this place, and instead of limostakarrin laha, read la mostakarra laha; according to which the sentence should be rendered, The sun runneth his course without ceasing, and hath not a place of rest.

[d] Certain mansions;] viz. These are twenty eight constellations, through one of which the moon passes every night, thence called the mansions or houses of the moon [1] .

[1] See the Prelim. Disc. §. I. p. 31.

[e] Until she change and return to be like the old branch of a palm-tree;] For when a palm-branch grows old, it shrinks, and becomes crooked and yellow, not ill representing the appearance of the new moon.

[f] That we carry their offspring in the ship filled with merchandise;] Some suppose that the deliverance of Noah and his companions in the ark is here intended; and then the words should be translated, That we carried their progeny in the ark filled with living creatures.

[a] Other conveniences like unto it;] As camels, which are the land-ships; or lesser vessels and boats.

[b] Fear that which is before you, and that which is behind you;] i.e. The punishment of this world and of the next.

[c] Shall we feed him whom God can feed, if he pleases;] When the poor Moslems asked alms of the richer Koreish, they told them that if God could provide for them, as they imagined, and did not, it was an argument that they deserved not his favour so well as themselves: whereas God permits some to be in want, to try the rich and exercise their charity.

[d] See the Prelim. Disc. §. IV. p. 82, 83, and the notes to chap. 39.

[e] See ibid.

[f] Who hath awakened us from our bed;] For they shall sleep during the interval between these two blasts of the trumpet, and shall feel no pain [1] .

[1] Jallalo’ddin.

[a] See the Prelim. Disc. §. IV. p. 88.

[b] If we pleased we could put out their eyes, &c.] That is, They deserve to be thus treated for their infidelity and disobedience; but we bear with them out of mercy, and grant them respite.

[c] We have not taught Mohammed the art of poetry.] That is in answer to the infidels, who pretended the Korân was only a poetical composition.

[d] Him who is living;] i.e. Indued with understanding; the stupid and careless being like dead persons [1] .

[1] Al Beidâwi.

[e] See chap. 16. p. 215. not. a.

[f] Who giveth you fire out of the green tree.] The usual way of striking fire in the east is by rubbing together two pieces of wood, one of which is commonly of the tree called Markh, and the other of that called Afâr: and it will succeed even tho’ the wood be green and wet [2] .

[2] V. Hyde, de Rel. Vet. Pers. c. 25, p. 333, &c.