Part 153

9 See Sura lxxxi. 8, p. 45. It is said that the only occasion on which Othman ever shed a tear was when his little daughter, whom he was burying alive, wiped the dust of the grave-earth from his beard.

10 Lit. the likeness of evil to those, etc.

11 The Arabs are curious in and fond of honey: Mecca alone affords eight or nine varieties-green, white, red, and brown. Burton's Pilgr. iii. 110.

12 Ex. xx. 4.

13 The slave, and the dumb in verse following, are the idols.

14 See Sura [xcvii.] iii. 34, and n. 1, p. 114.

15 Gabriel.

16 This passage has been supposed to refer to Salman the Persian. He did not, however, embrace Islam till a much later period, at Medina. Nöld. p. 110. Mr. Muir thinks that it may refer to Suheib, son of Sinan, "the first fruits of Greece," as Muhammad styled him, who, while yet a boy, had been carried off by some Greeks as a slave, from Mesopotamia to Syria, brought by a party of the Beni Kalb, and sold to Abdallah ibn Jodda'ân of Mecca. He became rich, and embraced Islam. Dr. Sprenger thinks the person alluded to may have been Addas, a monk of Nineveh, who had settled at Mecca. Life of M. p. 79.

17 This is to be understood of the persecutions endured by the more humble and needy Muslims by their townspeople of Mecca.

18 From Mecca to Medina, i.e. the Mohadjers, to whom also verse 43 refers. Both passages, therefore, are of a later date than the rest of this Sura. Thus Nöldeke. Sprenger, however (Life, p. 159), explains this passage of the seven slaves purchased and manumitted by Abu Bekr. They had been tortured for professing Islam, shortly after Muhammad assumed the Prophetic office.

19 Mecca.

20 Lit. the garment.

21 Comp. Sura [lxxxix.] vi. 119.

22 Comp. Sura [lxxxix.] vi. 147. This verse as well as the following, and verse 125, were probably added at Medina.

23 Antistes. Maracci. Or the text may be literally rendered Abraham was a people, i.e. the people of Abraham; from whom the idolatrous Koreisch pretended to derive their origin.

24 Ar. a Hanyf. According to a tradition in Waquidi, fol. 255, Zaid (who died only five years before Muhammad received his first inspiration, and undoubtedly prepared the way for many of his subsequent announcements) adopted this term at the instance of a Christian and a Jew, who exhorted him to become a Hanyf. Zaid having at this time renounced idolatry, and being unable to receive either Judaism or Christianity, "What," said he, "is a Hanyf?" They both told him, it was the religion of Abraham, who worshipped nothing but God. On this Zaid exclaimed, "O God, I bear witness that I follow the religion of Abraham." The root, whence Hanyf is derived, means generally to turn from good to bad, or vice versâ, and is equivalent to the verbs convert and pervert.

25 All Muhammadan commentators explain this verse as a prohibition to avenge the death of Hamza on the Meccans with too great severity.

SURA XXX.-THE GREEKS [LXXIV.]

MECCA.-60 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

ELIF. LAM. MIM.1 THE GREEKS have been defeated2

In a land hard by: But after their defeat they shall defeat their foes,

In a few years.3 First and last is the affair with God. And on that day shall the faithful rejoice

In the aid of their God: He aideth whom He will; and He is the Mighty, the Merciful.

It is the promise of God: To his promise God will not be untrue: but most men know it not.

They know the outward shews of this life present, but of the next life are they careless.

Have they not considered within themselves that God hath not created the Heavens and the Earth and all that is between them but for a serious end, and for a fixed term? But truly most men believe not that they shall meet their Lord.

Have they never journeyed through the land, and seen what hath been the end of those who were before them? Mightier were they than these in strength; and they broke up the land, and dwelt in it in greater numbers than they who dwell there now; and their apostles came to them with proofs of their mission: and it was not God who would wrong them, but they wronged themselves.