CHAP. XXXVIII.
Intitled, S; revealed at Mecca.
In the name of the most merciful God.
[a] The meaning of this letter is unknown [1] : some guess it stands for Sidk, i.e. Truth; or for Sadaka, i.e. He (viz. Mohammed) speaketh the truth; and others propose different conjectures, all equally uncertain.
[1] See the Prel. Disc. §. III. p. 59, &c.
[b] By the Koran, &c.] Something must be understood to answer this oath, which the commentators variously supply.
[c] And the chief men among them departed, &c.] On the conversion of Omar, the Koreish being greatly irritated, the most considerable of them went in a body to Abu Taleb, to complain to him of his nephew Mohammed’s proceedings; but being confounded and put to silence by the prophet’s arguments, they left the assembly, and encouraged one another in their obstinacy [2] .
[2] Al Beidawi.
[d] This is the thing which is designed;] Namely, to draw us from their worship.
[e] In the last religion;] i.e. In the religion which we received from our fathers; or, in the religion of Jesus, which was the last before the mission of Mohammed [3] .
[3] Idem.
[f] The contriver of the stakes;] For they say Pharaoh used to tie those he had a mind to punish by the hands and feet to four stakes fixed in the ground, and so tormented them [4] . Some interpret the words, which may also be translated the lord or master of the stakes, figuratively, of the firm establishment of Pharaoh’s kingdom; because the Arabs fix their tents with stakes [5] ; but they may possibly intend that prince’s obstinacy and hardness of heart.
[4] Jallalo’ddin.
[5] Al Beidawi.
[a] See chap. 15. p. 213.
[b] Indued with strength;] The commentators suppose that ability to undergo the frequent practice of religious exercises is here meant. They say David used to fast every other day, and to spend one-half of the night in prayer [1] .
[1] Iidem Interp.
[c] See chap. 21. p. 270.
[d] The two adversaries;] These were two angels, who came unto David in the shape of men, to demand judgment in the feigned controversy after mentioned. It is no other than Nathan’s parable to David [2] , a little disguised.
[2] 2 Sam. xii.
[e] He was afraid of them;] Because they came suddenly upon him, on a day of privacy; when the doors were guarded, and no person admitted to disturb his devotions. For David, they say, divided his time regularly, setting apart one day for the service of God, another day for rendering justice to his people, another day for preaching to them, and another day for his own affaires [3] .
[3] Al Beidawi, Jallalo’ddin.
[f]
And David perceived that we had tried him;]
The crime of which David had been guilty, was the taking the wife of
Uriah, and ordering her husband to be set in the front of the battle to be
slain
[4]
.
Some suppose this story was told to serve as an admonition to Mohammed,
who, it seems, was apt to covet what was another’s.
[4] Iidem.
[a] So as to permit injustice to go unpunished, and righteousness unrewarded.
[b] When the horses were set in parade before him, &c.] Some say that Solomon brought these horses, being a thousand in number, from Damascus and Nisibis, which cities he had taken; others say that they were left him by his father, who took them from the Amalekites; while others, who prefer the marvellous, pretend that they came up out of the sea, and had wings. However, Solomon, having one day a mind to view these horses, ordered them to be brought before him, and was so taken up with them that he spent the remainder of the day, till after sunset, in looking on them; by which means he neglected the prayer, which ought to have been said at that time, till it was too late; but when he perceived his omission, he was so greatly concerned at it, that ordering the horses to be brought back, he killed them all as an offering to God, except only a hundred of the best of them. But God made him ample amends for the loss of these horses, by giving him dominion over the winds [1] .
[1] Al Beidawi, Al Zamakh. Yahya.
[c]
We placed on his throne a counterfeit body, &c.]
The most received exposition of this passage is taken from the
following Talmudic fable
[2]
.
Solomon, having taken Sidon, and slain the king of that city, brought
away his daughter Jerâda, who became his favourite; and because she ceased not
to lament her father’s loss, he ordered the devils to make an image of him for
her consolation: which being done, and placed in her chamber, she and her
maids worshipped it morning and evening, according to their custom. At length
Solomon being informed of this idolatry, which was practised under his roof,
by his vizir Asâf, he broke the image, and having chastised the woman, went
out into the desart, where he wept and made supplications to God; who did not
think fit, however, to let his negligence pass without some correction. It
was Solomon’s custom, while he eased or washed himself, to entrust his signet,
on which his kingdom depended, with a concubine of his named Amîna: one day,
therefore, when she had the ring in her custody, a devil, named Sakhar, came
to her in the shape of Solomon, and received the ring from her; by virtue of
which he became possessed of the kingdom, and sat on the throne in the shape
which he had borrowed, making what alterations in the law he pleased.
Solomon, in the meantime, being changed in his outward appearance, and known
to none of his subjects, was obliged to wander about, and beg alms for his
subsistence; till at length, after the space of forty days, which was the time
the image had been worshipped in his house, the devil flew away, and threw the
signet into the sea: the signet was immediately swallowed by a fish, which
being taken and given to Solomon, he found the ring in its belly, and having
by this means recovered the kingdom, took Sakhar, and tying a great stone to
his neck, threw him into the lake of Tiberias
[1]
.
[2] V. Talm. En Jacob, part 2. & Yalkut in lib. Reg. p. 182.
[1] Al Beid. Jallal. Abu’lfeda.
[a] A kingdom which may not be obtained by any after me;] i.e. That I may surpass all future princes in magnificence and power.
[b] See chap. 21. p. 271; chap. 27. p. 310, &c.
[c] Be bounteous, or be sparing, &c.] Some suppose these words to relate to the genii, and that Solomon is thereby empowered to release or to keep in chains such of them as he pleased.
[d] See chap. 21. p. 271.
[e] A fountain;] Some say there were two springs, one of hot water, wherein he bathed; and the other of cold, of which he drank [2] .
[2] Al Beidawi.
[f] A handful of rods;] The original not expressing what this handful was to consist of, one supposes it was to be only a handful of dry grass or of rushes, and another that it was a branch of a palm-tree [3] .
[3] See the notes to chap. 21. p. 271.
[g] Strike thy wife therewith;] The commentators are not agreed what fault Job’s wife had committed to deserve this chastisement: we have mentioned one opinion already [4] . Some think it was only because she stayed too long on an errand.
[4] See ibid.
[h] Break not thine oath;] For he had sworn to give her a hundred stripes if he recovered.
[i] We purified them with a perfect purification, through the remembrance of the life to come;] Or, as the words may be interpreted, according to al Zamakhshari, We have purified them, or peculiarly destined and fitted them for paradise.
[k] Elisha;] See chap. 6. p. 107.
[l] Dhu’lkefl;] See chap. 21. p. 272. Al Beidâwi here takes notice of another tradition concerning this prophet, viz. that he entertained and took care of a hundred Israelites, who fled to him from certain slaughter, from which action he probably had the name of Dhu’lkefl given him, the primary signification of the verb cafala being to maintain or take care of another. If a conjecture might be founded on this tradition, I should fancy the person intended was Obadiah, the governor of Ahab’s house [5] .
[5] See i Kings xviii. 4.
[a] Of equal age with them;] i.e. About thirty or thirty-three [1] .
[1] See the Prelim. §. IV. p. 99.
[b] The exalted princes;] That is, the angels.
[c] See chap. 2. p. 5.
[a] See chap. 7. p. 117, and chap. 15. p. 211, &c.