Part 176

11 Lit. he was cried to. According to Muhammad, Moses had resolved to quit Madian previously to the Vision of the Bush, which, according to Ex. iii., was the real occasion.

12 Lit. thy wing.

13 Lit. kindle upon the clay. Comp. [lxxviii.] xl. 38-49. "He (Pharaoh) said to them: From the first have ye spoken an untruth, for Lord of the Worlds am I. I created myself and the Nile, as it is said (Ez. xxix. 3), 'My river is mine own and I have made it for myself."' (E.T.) Mid. Rab. on Ex. Par. 5.

14 So that the oral traditions would be easily handed down.

15 Or, yet have we sent thee as an Apostle to them.

16 Supply, we will not believe.

17 That is, the Pentateuch and the Koran.

18 The Meccan Jews and Christians who had formerly embraced Islam, and could now affirm that they had always held the same faith. This passage could not have been written after Muhammad's experience of Jewish unbelief at Medina.

19 Lit. the guidance with thee.

20 But their own imaginations and passions.

21 Lit. the account shall be blind or dark to them. Sie werden vor Bestürzung keine Rechenschaft geben. Ullm.

22 Potestas judiciaria. Mar. Richteramt. Ullm.

23 Ar. Karun. "Joseph concealed three treasures in Egypt, one of which became known to Korah . . . the keys of Korah's treasure chambers were a burden for 300 white mules." Midr. Jalkut on Eccl. v. 12, "Riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt,"-which may have furnished Muhammad with the nucleus of this story. Compare also Tract. Psachim. fol. 119 a.

24 Or, against God.

25 Probably to Paradise, according to others to Mecca, as a conqueror. But this latter interpretation involves the revelation of this verse at least, at Medina.

SURA XXXIX.-THE TROOPS [LXXX.]

MECCA.-75 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

THE Book1 sent down from God, the Mighty, the Wise!

We have sent down the Book to thee with the truth: serve thou God then, and be sincere in thy worship:

Is not a sincere worship due to God?

But they who take others beside him as lords saying, "We serve them only that they may bring us near to God"-God will judge between them and the faithful, concerning that wherein they are at variance.

Verily God will not guide him who is a liar, an infidel.

Had God desired to have had a son, he had surely chosen what he pleased out of his own creation. But praise be to Him! He is God, the One, the Almighty.

For truth2 hath he created the Heavens and the Earth: It is of Him that the night returneth upon the day and that the day returneth upon the night: and He controlleth the sun and the moon so that each speedeth to an appointed goal. Is He not the Mighty, the Gracious?

He created you all of one man, from whom He afterwards formed his wife; and of cattle He hath sent down to you four pairs.3 In the wombs of your mothers did He create you by creation upon creation in triple darkness. It is He who is God your Lord: the kingdom is His: There is no God but He. How then are ye so turned aside from Him?

Suppose ye render him no thanks! yet forsooth is God rich without you: but He is not pleased with thanklessness in His servants: yet if ye be thankful He will be pleased with you. The soul burdened with its own works shall not be burdened with the burden of another: hereafter shall ye return to your Lord, and he will tell you of all your works,

For he knoweth the very secrets of your breasts.