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Sale, 1734

CHAP. LXXIII.

Intitled, The Wrapped up; revealed at Mecca [a] .


In the name of the most merciful God.
O Thou wrapped up [b] , arise to prayer, and continue therein during the night, except a small part [c] ; that is to say, during one half thereof: or do [470] thou lessen the same a little or add thereto [a] . And repeat the Koran with a distinct and sonorous voice: for we will lay on thee a weighty word [b] . Verily the rising by night [c] is more efficacious for steadfast continuance in devotion, and more conducive to decent pronunciation [d] : for in the day-time thou hast long employment. And commemorate the name of thy Lord; and separate thyself unto him, renouncing worldly vanities. He is the Lord of the east, and of the west; there is no God but he. Wherefore take him for thy patron: and patiently suffer the contumelies which the infidels utter against thee; and depart from them with a decent departure. And let me alone with those who charge the Koran with falsehood, who enjoy the blessings of this life; and bear with them for a while: verily with us are heavy fetters, and a burning fire, and food ready to choake him who swalloweth it [e] , and painful torment. On a certain day the earth shall be shaken, and the mountains also, and the mountains shall become a heap of sand poured forth. Verily we have sent unto you an apostle, to bear witness against you; as we sent an apostle unto Pharaoh; but Pharaoh was disobedient unto the apostle; wherefore we chastised him with a heavy chastisement. How, therefore, will ye escape, if ye believe not, the day which shall make children become gray-headed through terror? The heaven shall be rent in sunder thereby: the promise thereof shall surely be performed. Verily this is an admonition; and whoever is willing to be admonished will take the way unto his Lord. Thy Lord knoweth that thou continuest in prayer and meditation sometimes near two third parts of the night, and sometimes one half thereof, and at other times one third part thereof; and a part of thy companions, who are with thee, do the same. But God measureth the night and the day; he knoweth that ye cannot exactly compute the same: wherefore he turneth favourably unto you [f] . [471] Read, therefore, so much of the Koran as may be easy unto you. He knoweth that there will be some infirm among you; and others travel through the earth, that they may obtain a competency of the bounty of God; and others fight in the defence of God’s faith. Read, therefore, so much of the same as may be easy. And observe the stated times of prayer, and pay the legal alms; and lend unto God an acceptable loan; for whatever good ye send before your souls, ye shall find the same with God. This will be better, and will merit a greater reward [a] . And ask God forgiveness; for God is ready to forgive, and merciful.

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[a] Some will have the last verse, beginning at these words, Verily thy Lord knoweth, &c., to have been revealed at Medina.

[b] O Thou wrapped up;] When this revelation was brought to Mohammed, he was wrapped up in his garments, being affrighted at the appearance of Gabriel; or, as some say, he lay sleeping unconcernedly, or, according to others, praying, wrapped up in one part of a large mantle or rug, with the other part of which Ayesha had covered herself to sleep [1] .
This epithet of wrapped up, and another of the same import given to Mohammed in the next chapter, have been imagined, by several learned men [2] , pretty plainly to intimate his being subject to the falling sickness: a malady generally attributed to him by the Christians [3] , but mentioned by no Mohammedan writer. Tho’ such an inference may be made, yet I think it scarce probable, much less necessary [4] .

[1] Al Zamakh, Al Beidawi.

[2] Hotting. Hist. Orient. l. I, c. 2. Marracc. in Alc. p. 763. V. Gagnier, not. ad Abulf. vit. Moh. p. 9.

[3] See Prideaux, Life of Mahomet, p. 1. and the authors there cited.

[4] See Ockley’s Hist. of the Saracens, Vol. i. p. 300, &c.

[c] Except a small part;] For a half is such, with respect to the whole. Or, as the sentence may be rendered, Pray half the night, within a small matter, &c. Some expound these words as an exception to nights in general; according to whom the sense will be, Spend one-half of every night in prayer, except some few nights in the year, &c [5] .

[5] Al Beidawi.

[a] Or do thou lessen the same, or add thereto;] i.e. Set apart either less than half the night, as one third, for example, or more, as two thirds. Or the meaning may be, either take a small matter from a lesser part of the night than one half, e.g. from one third, and so reduce it to a fourth; or add to such lesser part, and make it a full half [1] .

[1] Idem.

[b] A weighty word;] viz. The precepts contained in the Korân; which are heavy and difficult to those who are obliged to observe them, and especially to the prophet, whose care it was to see that his people observed them also [2] .

[2] Idem, Jallal.

[c] The rising by night;] Or, the person who riseth by night; or, the hours, or particularly the first hours of the night, &c.

[d] The rising by night is more efficacious for steadfast continuance and more conducive to decent pronunciation;] For the night-time is most proper for meditation and prayer, and also for reading God’s word distinctly and with attention, by reason of the absence of every noise and object which may distract the mind.
Marracci, having mentioned this natural explication of the Mohammedan commentators, because he finds one word in the verse which may be taken in a sense tending that way, says the whole may with greater exactness be expounded of the fitness of the night season for amorous diversions and discourse; and he paraphrases it in Latin thus: Certe in principio noctis majus robur et vim habet homo, ad foeminas premendas et subagitandas, et ad clarioribus verbis amores suos propalandos [3] . A most effectual way, this, to turn a book into ridicule!

[3] Marracc. in Alc. p. 759.

[e] Choaking food;] As thorns and thistles, the fruit of the infernal tree al Zakkûm, and the corruption flowing from the bodies of the damned.

[f] Wherefore he turneth favourably unto you;] By making the matter easy to you, and dispensing with your scrupulous counting of the hours of the night which ye are directed to spend in reading and praying: for some of the Moslems, not knowing how the time passed, used to watch the whole night, standing and walking about till their legs and feet swelled in a sad manner. The commentators add that this precept of dedicating a part of the night to devotion, is abrogated by the institution of the five hours of prayer [1] .

[1] Al Beidawi.

[a] This will merit a greater reward;] i.e. The good which ye shall do in your lifetime will be much more meritorious in the sight of God, than what ye shall defer till death, and order by will [2] .

[2] Idem.