fac-similé
Sale, 1734
CHAP. XI.
Intitled, Hud
[a]
; revealed at Mecca.
In the name of the most merciful God.
notes originales
[a] The story of which prophet is repeated in this chapter.
[b] See the Prelim. Disc. p. 59, &c.
[c] The verses whereof are guarded against corruption;] According to the various senses which the verb ohkimat, in the original, may bear, the commentators suggest as many different interpretations. Some suppose the meaning to be, according to our version, that the Korân is not liable to be corrupted [1] , as the law and the gospel have been, in the opinion of the Mohammedans; others, that every verse in this particular chapter is in full force, and not one of them abrogated; others, that the verses of the Korân are disposed in a clear and perspicuous method, or contain evident and demonstrative arguments; and others, that they comprise judicial declarations, to regulate both faith and practice [2] .
[1] See the Prelim. Disc. p. 75.
[2] Al Beidawi, Jallalo’ddin, Al Zamakhshari, &c.
[d] And are also distinctly explained;] The signification of the verb fossilat, which is here used, being also ambiguous, the meaning of this passage is supposed to be, either that the verses are distinctly proposed or expressed in a clear manner; or that the subject matter of the whole may be distinguished or divided into laws, monitions, and examples; or else that the verses were revealed by parcels [3] .
[3] Iidem.
[e] Do they not double the folds of their breasts;] Or, as it may be translated, Do they not turn away their breasts, &c.
[a] This passage was occasioned by the words of certain of the idolaters, who said to one another, When we let down our curtains, (such as the women use in the east to screen themselves from the sight of the men when they happen to be in the room,) and wrap ourselves up in our garments, and fold up our breasts, to conceal our malice against Mohammed, how should he come to the knowledge of it? Some suppose the passage relates to certain hypocritical Moslems; but this opinion is generally rejected, because the verse was revealed at Mecca, and the birth of hypocrisy among the Mohammedans happened not till after the Hejra.
[b] The place of its retreat, and where it is laid up;] i.e. Both during its life and after its death; or the repository of every animal, before its birth, in the loins and wombs of the parents.
[c] But his throne was above the waters before the creation thereof;] For the Mohammedans suppose this throne, and the waters whereon it stands, which waters they imagine are supported by a spirit or wind, were, with some other things, created before the heavens and earth. This fancy they borrowed from the Jews, who also say, that the throne of glory then stood in the air, and was borne on the face of the waters, by the breath of God’s mouth [1] .
[1] Rashi, ad Gen. i. 2. V. Reland. de Relig. Moh. p. 50, &c.
[d] Desperate;] Casting aside all hopes of the divine favour, for want of patience and trust in God.
[e] Ten chapters;] This was the number which he first challenged them to compose; but they not being able to do it, he made the matter still easier, challenging them to produce a single chapter only [2] , comparable to the Korân in doctrine and eloquence.
[2] See chap. 2. p. 3. chap. 10. p. 170.
[f] By the knowledge of God only;] Or containing several passages wrapped up in dark and mysterious expressions, which can proceed from and are perfectly comprehended by none but God [3] .
[3] See chap. 3. p. 35.
[a] A witness from him;] viz. The Korân; or, as others suppose, the angel Gabriel.
[b] Preceded by the book of Moses;] Which bears testimony thereto.
[c] The witnesses;] That is, the angels, and prophets, and their own members.
[d] Their punishment shall be doubled;] For they shall be punished both in this life and in the next.
[e] Of the two parties;] i.e. The believers and the infidels.
[f] See chap. 7. p. 122, &c.
[g] By a rash judgment;] For want of mature consideration, and moved by the first impulse of their fancy.
[h] I will not drive away those who have believed;] For this they asked him to do, because they were poor mean people. The same thing the Koreish demanded of Mohammed, but he was forbidden to comply with their request [1] .
[1] See chap. 6. p. 103.
[a] See chap. 6. p. 103.
[b] They derided him;] For building a vessel in an inland country, and so far from the sea; and for that he was turned carpenter after he had set up for a prophet [2] .
[2] Al Beidawi.
[c]
And the
oven poured forth water;] Or, as the original literally signifies, boiled over; which is
consonant to what the Rabbins say, that the waters of the deluge were boiling
hot.
This oven was, as some say, at Cûfa, in a spot whereon a mosque now
stands; or, as others rather think, in a certain place in India, or else at
Ain warda in Mesopotamia
[3]
;
and its exundation was the sign by which Noah knew
the flood was coming
[4]
.
Some pretend that it was the same oven which Eve made
use of to bake her bread in, being of a form different from those we use,
having the mouth in the upper part, and that it descended from patriarch to
patriarch, till it came to Noah
[5]
.
It is remarkable that Mohammed, in all
probability, borrowed this circumstance from the Persian Magi, who also
fancied that the first waters of the deluge gushed out of the oven of a
certain old woman named Zala Cûfa
[6]
.
But the word tannûr, which is here translated oven, also signifying the
superficies of the earth, or a place whence waters spring forth, or where they
are collected, some suppose it means no more in this passage than the spot or
fissure whence the first eruption of waters brake forth.
[3] Idem.
[4] Jallalo’ddin, &c.
[5] V. D’Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. Art. Noah
[6] V. Hyde de Rel. Vet. Persar, and Lord’s account of the Relig. of the Persees. p. 9.
[a] One pair;] Or, as the words may also be rendered, and some commentators think they ought, two pair, that is, two males and two females of each species; wherein they partly agree with divers Jewish and Christian writers [1] , who from the Hebrew expression, seven and seven, and two and two, the male and his female [2] , suppose there went into the ark fourteen pair of every clean, and two pair of every unclean species. There is a tradition that God gathered together unto Noah, all sorts of beasts, birds, and other animals (it being indeed difficult to conceive how he should come by them all without some supernatural assistance), and that as he laid hold on them, his right hand constantly fell on the male, and his left on the female [3] .
[1] See Bochart. Phaleg. l. I, c. 3.
[2] Geogr. Nub. p. 202.
[3] V. D’Herbel. Bibl. Orient. p. 404 & 676. & Agathiam, l. 14, p. 135.
[b] Thy family;] Namely thy wife; and thy sons and their wives [4] .
[4] Benjamin. Itiner. p. 61.
[c] Except him on whom a previous sentence of destruction hath passed;] This was an unbelieving son of Noah [5] , named Canaan [6] , or Yam [7] ; tho’ others say he was not the son of Noah, but his grandson by his son Ham, or his wife’s son by another husband; nay, some pretend he was related to him no farther than by having been educated and brought up in his house [8] . The best commentators add, that Noah’s wife, named Wâïla, who was n infidel, was also comprehended in this exception, and perished with her son [9] .
[5] Berosus, apud Joseph. Antiq. l. 1, c. 4.
[6] Onkelos & Jonathan, in Gen. viii. 4.
[7] V. Eutych. Annal. p. 41.
[8] Berosus, apud Joseph. ubi sup. Abydenus, apud Euseb. Præp. Ev. l. 9, c. 4.
[9] Epiph. Hæres. 18.
[d] And those who believe;] Noah’s family being mentioned before, it is supposed that by these words are intended the other believers, who were his proselytes, but not of his family: whence the common opinion among the Mohammedans, of a greater number than eight being saved in the ark, seems to have taken its rise [10] .
[10] Elmacin. l. 1, c. 1.
[e] There believed not with him except a few;] viz. His other wife, who was a true believer, his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet, and their wives, and seventy two persons more [11] .
[11] V. Chronic. Dionysii Patriarch. Jacobitar. apud Asseman. Bibl. Orient. T. 2, p. 113.
[f]
Embark thereon, in the name of God; while it moveth
forward, and while it standeth still;] That is, omit no opportunity of getting on board. According to a
different reading, the latter words may be rendered, Who shall cause it to
move forward, and to stop, as there shall be occasion. The commentators tell
us that the ark moved forwards, or stood still, as Noah would have it, on his
pronouncing only the words, In the name of God
[12]
.
It is to be observed that the more judicious commentators make the
dimensions of the ark to be the same with those assigned by Moses
[13]
:
Notwithstanding, others have enlarged them most extravagantly
[14]
,
as some
Christian writers
[15]
have also done. They likewise tell us that Noah was two
years in building the ark, which was framed of Indian plane tree
[16]
,
that it
was divided into three stories, of which the lower was designed for the
beasts, the middle one for the men and women, and the upper for the birds
[17]
;
and that the men were separated from the women by the body of Adam, which Noah
had taken into the ark
[18]
.
This last is a tradition of the eastern
Christians
[19]
, some of whom pretend that the matrimonial duty was superseded
and suspended during the time Noah and his family were in the ark
[20]
;
tho’
Ham has been accused of not observing continency on that occasion, his wife,
it seems, bringing forth Caanan in the very ark
[21]
.
[12] Al Beidawi., &c.
[13] Idem, &c.
[14] Yahya. V. Marracc. in Alcor. p. 340.
[15] Origen. contr. Cels. l. 4. V. Kircher. de Arca Noe, c. 8.
[16] Al Beidawi. V. D’Herbel. p. 675, and Eutych. p. 34.
[17] Al Beidawi. V. Eutych. annal. p. 34.
[18] Yahya.
[19] Jacob, Edessenus, apud Barcepham de Parad. part 1. c. 14. Eutych. ubi sup. V. etiam Eliezer. pirke c. 23.
[20] Ambros. de Noa et Arca, c. 21.
[21] V. Heidegger. Hist. Patriarchar. v. 1. p. 409.
[g] Between waves like mountains;] The waters prevailing fifteen cubits above the mountains [22] .
[22] Al Beidawi.
[h] See above. not. c.
[a]
And the ark rested on the mountain al Judi;] This mountain is one of those which divide Armenia, on the south,
from Mesopotamia, and that part of Assyria which is inhabited by the Curds,
from whom the mountains took the name of Cardu, or Gardu, by the Greeks turned
into Gordyæi, and other names
[1]
.
Mount al Jûdi, (which name seems to be a
corruption, tho’ it be constantly so written by the Arabs, for Jordi, or
Giordi) is also called Thamanin
[2]
,
probably from a town at the foot of it
[3]
,
so
named from the number of persons saved in the ark, the word thamanin
signifying eighty, and overlooks the country of Diyâr Rabîah, near the cities
of Mawsel, Forda, and Jazîrat Ebn Omar, which last place one affirms to be but
four miles from the place of the ark, and says that a Mohammedan temple was
built there with the remains of that vessel, by the Khalif
Omar Ebn
Abd’alaziz, whom he by mistake calls Omar Ebn al Khattâb
[4]
.
The tradition which affirms the ark to have rested on these mountains,
must have been very ancient, since it is the tradition of the Chaldeans
themselves
[5]
:
the Chaldee paraphrasts consent to their opinion
[6]
,
which obtained
very much formerly, especially among the eastern Christians
[7]
. To confirm it,
we are told that the remainders of the ark were to be seen on the Gordyæan
mountains: Berosus and Abydenus both declare there was such a report in their
time
[8]
;
the first observing that several of the inhabitants thereabouts scraped
the pitch off the planks as a rarity, and carried it about them for an amulet:
and the latter saying that they used the wood of the vessel against many
diseases with wonderful success. The relics of the ark were also to be seen
here in the time of Epiphanius, if we may believe him
[9]
;
and we are told the
emperor Heraclius went from the town of Thamanin up to the mountain al Jûdi,
and saw the place of the ark
[10]
.
There was also formerly a famous monastery,
called the monastery of the ark, upon some of these mountains, where the
Nestorians used to celebrate a feast day on the spot where they supposed the
ark rested; but in the year of Christ 776, that monastery was destroyed by
lightning, with the church, and a numerous congregation in it
[11]
.
Since which
time it seems the credit of this tradition hath declined, and given place to
another, which obtains at present, and according to which the ark rested on
mount Masis in Armenia, called by the Turks Aghir dagh, or the heavy or great
mountain, and situate about twelve leagues south east of Erivan
[12]
.
[1] See Bochart. Phaleg. l. I, c. 3.
[2] Geogr. Nub. p. 202.
[3] V. D’Herbel. Bibl. Orient. p. 404 & 676, & Agathiam, l. 14, p. 135.
[4] Benjamin. Itiner. p. 61.
[5] Berosus, apud Joseph. Antiq. l. 1, c. 4.
[6] Onkelos & Jonathan, in Gen. viii. 4.
[7] V. Eutych. Annal. p. 41.
[8] Berosus, apud Joseph. ubi sup. Abydenus, apud Euseb. Præp. Ev. l. 9, c. 4.
[9] Epiph. Hæres. 18.
[10] Elmacin. l. 1, c. 1.
[11] V. Chronic. Dionysii Patriarch. Jacobitar. apud Asseman. Bibl. Orient. T. 2, p. 113.
[12] Al Beidawi.
[b] Thy promise is true;] Noah here challenges God’s promise, that he would save his family.
[c] He is not of thy family;] Being cut off from it on account of his infidelity.
[d] According to a different reading, this passage may be rendered, For he hath acted unrighteously.
[a] Come down from the ark, &c.] The Mohammedans say that Noah went into the ark on the tenth of Rajeb, and came out of it the tenth of al Moharram, which therefore became a fast. So that the whole time of Noah’s being in the ark, according to them, was six months [1] .
[1] Al Beidawi. See D’Herbel. ubi sup.
[b] With peace, and blessing, on a part of them;] viz. Such of them as continued in their belief.
[c] But as for a part of them;] That is, such of his posterity as should depart from the true faith, and fall into idolatry.
[d] See chap. 7. p. 123.
[e] He will send you rain plentifully;] For the Adites were grievously distressed by a drought for three years [2] .
[2] See the notes to chap. 7. p. 124.
[f] And will increase your strength;] By giving you children; the wombs of their wives being also rendered barren during the time of the drought, as well as their lands [3] .
[3] Al Beidawi.
[g] Have afflicted thee with evil;] Or madness; having deprived thee of thy reason for the indignities thou hast offered them.
[h] There is no beast, but he holdeth it by its forelock;] That is, he exerciseth an absolute power over it. A creature held in this manner being supposed to be reduced to the lowest subjection.
[i] And those who had believed with him;] Who were in number four thousand [4] .
[4] Idem.
[a] See chap. 7. p. 124.
[b] We had placed our hopes on thee before this;] Designing to have made thee our prince, because of the singular prudence and other good qualities which we observed in thee; but thy dissenting from us in point of religious worship has frustrated those hopes [1] .
[1] Al Beidawi.
[c] For three days;] viz. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday [2] . See chap. 7. p. 125. not. c.
[2] Idem.
[d] Our messengers;] These were the angels who were sent to acquaint Abraham with the promise of Isaac, and to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Some of the commentators pretend they were twelve, or nine, or ten in number; but others, agreeably to scripture, say they were but three, viz. Gabriel, Michael and Israfîl [3] .
[3] Idem, Jallalo’ddin. See Gen. xviii.
[e] He entertained a fear of them;] Apprehending they had some ill design against him, because they would not eat with him.
[f] We are sent unto the people of Lot;] Being angels, whose nature needs not the support of food [4] .
[4] Idem.
[g] Sarah was standing by;] Either behind the curtain, or door of the tent; or else waiting upon them.
[h] And she laughed;] The commentators are so little acquainted with scripture, that, not knowing the true occasion of Sarah’s laughter, they strain their invention to give some reason for it. One says that she laughed at the angels discovering themselves, and ridding Abraham and herself of their apprehensions; and another, that it was at the approaching destruction of the Sodomites, (a very probable motive in one of her sex). Some, however, interpret the original word differently, and will have it that she did not laugh, but that her courses, which had stopped for several years, came upon her at this time, as a previous sign of her future conception [1] .
[1] Idem, Jallalo’ddin, Al Zamakhshari.
[a] Shall I bear a son who am old, my husband also being advanced in years? Al Beidâwi writes that Sarah was then ninety or ninety nine years old, and Abraham a hundred and twenty.
[b] The family of the house;] Or the stock whence all the prophets were to proceed for the future. Or the expression may perhaps refer to Abraham and Ismael’s building the Caaba, which is often called, by way of excellence, the house.
[c] He disputed with us concerning the people of Lot;] That is, he interceded with us for them [2] . Jallalo’ddin, instead of the numbers mentioned by Moses, says that Abraham first asked whether God would destroy those cities if three hundred righteous persons were found therein, and so fell successively to two hundred, forty, fourteen, and at last came to one: but there was not one righteous person to be found among them, except only Lot and his family.
[2] V. Gen. xviii. 23, &c.
[d] He was troubled for them;] Because they appeared in the shape of beautiful young men, which must needs tempt those of Sodom to abuse them [3] .
[3] Jallalo’ddin, Al Beidawi. V. Joseph. Ant. l. I, c. II.
[e] His arm was straightened concerning them;] i.e. He knew himself unable to protect them against the insults of his townsmen.
[f] The angels said, O Lot - they shall by no means come in unto thee;] Al Beidâwi says that Lot shut his door, and argued the matter with the riotous assembly from behind it; but at length they endeavoured to get over the wall: whereupon Gabriel, seeing his distress, struck them on the face with one of his wings, and blinded them; so that they moved off, crying out for help, and saying that Lot had magicians in his house.
[g] But as for thy wife, &c.] This seems to be the true sense of the passage; but according to a different reading of the vowel, some interpret it, Except thy wife; the meaning being that Lot is here commanded to take his family with him except his wife. Wherefore the commentators cannot agree whether Lot’s wife went forth with him or not; some denying it, and pretending that she was left behind and perished in the common destruction; and others affirming it, and saying that when she heard the noise of the storm and overthrow of the cities, she turned back lamenting their fate, and was immediately struck down and killed by one of the stones mentioned a little lower [1] . A punishment she justly merited for her infidelity and disobedience to her husband [2] .
[1] Idem interpretes.
[2] See chap. 66.
[a] We turned those cities upside down;] For they tell us that Gabriel thrust his wing under them, and lifted them up so high, that the inhabitants of the lower heaven heard the barking of the dogs and the crowing of the cocks; and then, inverting them, threw them down to the earth [3] .
[3] Al Beidawi. Jallalo’ddin.
[b] Stones of baked clay;] The kiln wherein they were burned some imagine to have been hell.
[c] And being marked;] That is, as some suppose, streaked with white and red, or having some other peculiar mark to distinguish them from ordinary stones. But the common opinion is that each stone had the name of the person who was to be killed by it written thereon [4] . The army of Abraha al Ashram was also destroyed by the same kind of stones.
[d] And they are not far distant from those who act unjustly;] This is a kind of threat to other wicked persons, and particularly to the infidels of Mecca, who deserved and might justly apprehend the same punishment.
[e] See chap. 7. p. 126, &c.
[f] I see you to be in a happy condition;] That is, enjoying plenty of all things; and therefore having the less occasion to defraud one another, and being the more strongly bound to be thankful and obedient unto God.
[g] That we should not do what we please with our substance;] For this liberty they imagined was taken from them, by his prohibition of false weights and measures, or to diminish or adulterate their coin [5] .
[5] Al Beidawi.
[a] Neither was the people of Lot far distant from you;] For Sodom and Gomorrah were situate not a great way from you, and their destruction happened not many ages ago; neither did they deserve it, on account of their obstinacy and wickedness, much more than your selves.
[b] A man of no power;] The Arabic word daîf, weak, signifying also, in the Hamyaritic dialect, blind, some suppose that Shoaib was so, and that the Midianites objected that to him as a defect which disqualified him for the prophetic office.
[c] For the sake of thy family;] i.e. For the respect we bear to thy family and relations, whom we honour as being of our religion, and not for any apprehension we have of their power to assist you against us. The original word, here translated family, signifies any number from three to seven or ten, but not more [1] .
[1] Al Beidawi.
[d] See chap. 6. p. 113. not. a.
[e] See chap. 7. p. 128, &c.
[f] Demolished;] Literally, mown down; the sentence presenting the different images of corn standing, and cut down, which is also often used by the sacred writers.
[a] There shall they wail and bemoan themselves;] The two words in the original signify properly the vehement drawing in and expiration of one’s breath, which is usual to persons in great pain and anguish; and particularly the reciprocation of the voice of an ass, when he brays.
[b] So long as the heavens and the earth shall endure;] This is not to be strictly understood as if either the punishment of the damned should have an end, or the heavens and the earth should endure for ever; the expression being only used by way of image or comparison, which need not agree in every point with the thing signified. Some, however, think the future heavens and earth, into which the present shall be changed, are here meant [1] .
[1] Al Beidawi.
[c] See the Prelim. Disc. §. IV. p. 92, 93.
[d] Morning and evening;] Literally, in the two extremities of the day.
[e] And in the former part of the night;] That is, after sunset and before supper, when the Mohammedans say their fourth prayer, called by them Salât al moghreb, or the evening prayer [2] .
[2] Idem.
[f] Followed the delights which they enjoyed in this world;] Making it their sole business to please their luxurious desires and appetites, and placing their whole felicity therein.
[g] Al Beidâwi says that this passage gives the reason why the nations were destroyed of old; viz. for their violence and injustice, their following their own lusts, and for their idolatry and unbelief.
[a] Unjustly;] Or, as the commentator just named explains it, for their idolatry only, when they observed justice in other respects.
[b] See chap. 6. p. 113. not. a.