CHAP. LII.
Intitled, The Mountain; revealed at Mecca.
In the name of the most merciful God.
[a] By the book, &c.] The book here intended, according to different opinions, is either the book or register wherein every man’s actions are recorded; or the preserved table containing God’s decrees; or the book of the law, which was written by God, Moses hearing the creaking of the pen; or else the Korân [1] .
[1] Al Zamakh. Al Beidawi.
[b] The visited house;] i.e. The Caaba, so much visited by pilgrims; or, as some rather think, the original model of that house in heaven, called al Dorâh, which is visited and compassed by the angels, as the other is by men [2] .
[2] See the Prelim. Disc. §. IV.
[c] Every man is given in pledge for that which he shall have wrought;] i.e. Every man is pledged unto God for his behaviour; and if he does well, he redeems his pledge, but if evil, he forfeits it.
[a] They are not firmly persuaded that God hath created them;] For tho’ they confess this with their tongues, yet they deny it by their averseness to render him his due worship.
[b] See chap. 16. p. 218, &c.
[c] See chap. 8. p. 142, &c.
[d] If they should see a fragment of the heaven falling down upon them, &.] This was one of the judgments which the idolatrous Meccans defied Mohammed to bring down upon them; and yet, says the text, if they should see a part of the heaven falling on them, they would not believe it till they were crushed to death by it [1] .
[1] Al Beidawi.
[e] The day wherein they shall swoon for fear;] i.e. At the first sound of the trumpet [2] .
[2] See the Prelim. Disc. §. IV. p. 82.
[f] Another punishment besides this;] That is, besides the punishment to which they shall be doomed at the day of judgment, they shall be previously chastised by calamities in this life, as the slaughter at Bedr, and the seven years’ famine, and also after their death, by the examination of the sepulchre [3] .
[3] Al Beidawi.