[a] The chapter bears this title, because some particular relating to several of the ancient prophets are here recited.

[b] Peradventure ye will be asked;] i.e. Concerning the present posture of affairs, by way of consultation: or, that ye may be examined as to your deeds, that ye may receive the reward thereof ^[1] .

[1] Idem, Jallalo’ddin, Al Zamakh

[a] They answered, Wo unto us, &c.] It is related that a prophet was sent to the inhabitants of certain towns in Yaman, but instead of hearkening to his remonstrances, they killed him: upon which God delivered them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, who put them to the sword; a voice at the same time crying from heaven, Vengeance for the blood of the prophets! Upon which they repented, and used the words of this passage.

[b] We created not the heavens and the earth, by way of sport;] But for the manifestation of our power and wisdom to people of understanding, that they may seriously consider the wonders of the creation, and direct their actions to the attainment of future happiness, neglecting the vain pomp and fleeting pleasures of this world.

[c] With that which beseemeth us;] viz. We had sought our pleasure in our own perfections; or, in the spiritual beings which are in our immediate presence; and not in raising of material buildings, with painted roofs, and fine floors, which is the diversion of man.
Some think the original word, translated diversion, signifies in this place, a wife, or a child; and that the passage is particularly levelled against the Christians ^[1] .

[1] Iidem.

[d] Both would be corrupted;] That is, the whole creation would necessarily fall into confusion and be overturned, by the competition of such mighty antagonists.

[e] This is the admonition of those who are contemporary with me, and the admonition of those who have been before me;] i.e. This is the constant doctrine of all the sacred books; not only of the Korân, but of those which were revealed in former ages; all of them bearing witness to the great and fundamental truth of the unity of God.

[f] This passage was revealed on account of the Khozâites, who held the angels to be the daughters of God.

[g] They prevent him not in anything which they say;] i.e. They presume not to say anything, until he hath spoken it; behaving as servants who know their duty.

[a] The heavens and the earth were solid, and we clave the same in sunder;] That is, They were one continued mass of matter, till we separated them, and divided the heaven into seven heavens, and the earth into as many stories; and distinguished the various orbs of the one, and the different climates of the other, &c. Or, as some choose to translate the words, The heavens and the earth were shut up, and we opened the same; their meaning being, that the heavens did not rain, nor the earth produce vegetables, till God interposed his power ^[1] .

[1] Al Beidawi, Jallalo’ddin.

[b] See chap. 16. p. 215.

[c] If thou die therefore, will they be immortal?] This passage was revealed when the infidels said, We expect to see Mohammed die, like the rest of mankind.

[d] Yet they believe not what is mentioned to them of the Merciful;] Denying his unity; or rejecting his apostles and the scriptures which were given for their instruction, and particularly the Korân.

[e] Man is created of precipitation;] Being hasty and inconsiderate ^[2] . It is said this passage was revealed on account of al Nodar Ebn al Hareth, when he desired Mohammed to hasten the divine vengeance with which he threatened the unbelievers ^[3] .

[2] See chap. 17. p. 228, &c.

[3] Al Beidawi.

[a] The distinction;] Arab. al Forkân. See the Prelim. Disc. §. III. p. 57.

[b] His direction;] viz. The ten books of divine revelations which were given him ^[1] .

[1] See the Prel. Disc. §. IV. p. 73.

[c] See chap. 6. p. 106, &c. chap. 19. p. 252. and chap 2. p. 31.

[d] And he brake them all in pieces, except the biggest of them, &c.] Abraham took his opportunity to do this while the Chaldeans were abroad in the fields, celebrating a great festival; and some say he hid himself in the temple: and when he had accomplished his design, that he might the more evidently convince them of their folly in worshipping them, he hung the axe, with which he had hewn and broken down the images, on the neck of the chief idol, named by some writers, Baal; as if he had been the author of all the mischief ^[2] . For this story, which, tho’ it be false, is not ill invented, Mohammed stands indebted to the Jews; who tell it with a little variation: for they say Abraham performed this exploit in his father’s shop, during his absence; that Terah, on his return, demanding the occasion of the disorder, his son told him that the idols had quarrelled and fallen together by the ears about an offering of fine flour, which had been brought them by an old woman; and that the father, finding he could not insist on the impossibility of what Abraham pretended, without confessing the impotence of his gods, fell into a violent passion and carried him to Nimrod that he might be exemplarily punished for his insolence ^[3] .

[2] Al Beidawi, Jallalo’ddin, &c. V. Hyde, de Rel. vet. Pers. c. 2.

[3] R. Gedal. in Shalshel. hakkab. p. 8 V. Maimon. Yad hazzaka, c. I, de idol.

[a] They returned unto themselves;] That is, They became sensible of their folly.

[b] Afterwards they relapsed into their former obstinacy;] Literally, They were turned down upon their heads.

[c] They said, Burn him, &c.] Perceiving they could not prevail against Abraham by dint of argument, says al Beidâwi, they had recourse to persecution and torments. The same commentator tells us the person who gave this counsel was a Persian Curd ^[1] , named Heyyûn, and that the earth opened and swallowed him up alive: some, however, say it was Andeshân, a Magian priest ^[2] ; and others, that it was Nimrod himself.

[1] V. D’Herbel. Bibl. Orient. Art. Dhokak. & Schultens, Indic. Geogr. in Vit. Saladini, voce Curdi.

[2] V. D’Herbel. p. 115.

[d] We said, O fire, be thou cold, &c.] The commentators relate that, by Nimrod’s order, a large space was enclosed at Cûtha, and filled with a vast quantity of wood, which being set on fire burned so fiercely, that none dared to venture near it: then they bound Abraham, and putting him into an engine (which some suppose to have been of the devil’s invention,) shot him into the midst of the fire; from which he was preserved by the angel Gabriel who was sent to his assistance; the fire burning only the cords with which he was bound ^[3] . They add that the fire having miraculously lost its heat, in respect to Abraham, became an odoriferous air, and that the pile changed to a pleasant meadow; tho’ it raged so furiously otherwise, that, according to some writers, about two thousand of the idolaters were consumed by it ^[4] .
This story seems to have had no other foundation than that passage of Moses, where God is said to have brought Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees ^[5] , misunderstood: which words the Jews, the most trifling interpreters of scripture, and some moderns who have followed them, have translated, out of the fire of the Chaldees; taking the word Ur, not for the proper name of a city, as it really is, but for an appellative, signifying fire ^[6] . However, it is a fable of some antiquity, and credited, not only by the Jews, but by several of the eastern Christians; the twenty-fifth of the second Canûn, or January, being set apart in the Syrian calendar, for the commemoration of Abraham’s being cast into the fire ^[7] .
The Jews also mention some other persecutions which Abraham underwent on account of his religion, particularly a ten years’ imprisonment ^[8] ; some saying he was imprisoned by Nimrod ^[9] ; and others, by his father Terah ^[10] .

[3] Al Beidawi, Jallalo’ddin, &c. V. Morgan’s Mahometism Expl. v. I, chap. 4.

[4] The MS Gospel of Barnabas, ch. 28.

[5] Genes. xv. 7.

[6] V. Targ. Jonath. & Hierosol. in Genes. c. II, & 15; & Hyde, de Rel. vet. Pers. p. 74, &c.

[7] V. Hyde, ibid. p. 73.

[8] R. Eliez. Pirke, c. 26, &c. V. Maim. More Nev. l. 3, c. 29.

[9] Glossa Talmud. in Gemar. Bava bathra, 91, I.

[10] In Aggada.

[e] We caused them to be the losers;] Some tell us that Nimrod, on seeing this miraculous deliverance from his palace, cried out, that he would make an offering to the God of Abraham; and that he accordingly sacrificed four thousand kine ^[11] . But, if he ever relented, he soon relapsed into his former infidelity: for he built a tower that he might ascend to heaven to see Abraham’s God; which being overthrown ^[12] , still persisting in his design, he would be carried to heaven in a chest borne by four monstrous birds; but after wandering for some time through the air, he fell down on a mountain with such a force, that he made it shake, whereto (as some fancy) a passage in the Korân ^[1] alludes, which may be translated, although their contrivances be such as to make the mountains tremble.
Nimrod, disappointed in his design of making war with God, turned his arms against Abraham, who, being a great prince, raised forces to defend himself; but God, dividing Nimrod’s subjects, and confounding their language, deprived him of the greater part of his people, and plagued those who adhered to him by swarms of gnats, which destroyed almost all of them: and one of those gnats having entered into the nostril, or ear, of Nimrod, penetrated to one of the membranes of his brain, where, growing bigger every day, it gave him such intolerable pain, that he was obliged to cause his head to be beaten with a mallet, in order to procure some ease, which torture he suffered four hundred years; God being willing to punish, by one of the smallest of his creatures, him who insolently boasted himself to be lord of all ^[2] . A Syrian calendar places the death of Nimrod, as if the time were well known, on the eighth of Thamûz, or July ^[3] .

[11] Al Beidawi.

[12] See chap. 16. p. 216.

[1] Cap. 14. p. 209.

[2] V. D’Herbel. Bibl. Orient. Art. Nemrod. Hyde, ubi supra.

[3] V. Hyde, ibid. p. 74.

[a] The land wherein we have blessed all creatures;] i.e. Palestine; in which country the greater part of the prophets appeared.

[b] See chap. 2. p. 16.

[c] See chap. 7. p. 125, &c., and chap. 11. p. 183.

[d] See chap. 8. p. 147. not. c.

[e] When they pronounced judgment concerning a field, &c.] Some sheep, in their shepherd’s absence, having broken into another man’s field (or vineyard, say others), by night, and eaten up the corn, a dispute arose thereupon: and the cause being brought before David and Solomon, the former said, that the owner of the land should take the sheep, in compensation of the damage which he had sustained; but Solomon, who was then but eleven years old, was of opinion that it would be more just for the owner of the field to take only the profit of the sheep, viz. their milk, lambs, and wool, till the shepherd should, by his own labour and at his own expense, put the field into as good condition as when the sheep entered it; after which the sheep might be returned to their master. And this judgment of Solomon was approved by David himself as better than his own ^[4] .

[4] Al Beidawi, Jallalo’ddin., &c.

[f] We compelled the mountains to praise us with David, and the birds also;] Mohammed, it seems, taking the visions of the Talmudists for truth, believed that when David was fatigued with singing psalms, the mountains, birds, and other parts of the creation, both animate and inanimate, relieved him in chanting the divine praises. This consequence the Jews draw from the words of the psalmist, when he calls on the several parts of nature to join with him in celebrating the praise of God ^[1] .; it being their perverse custom to expound passages in the most literal manner, which cannot bear a literal sense without a manifest absurdity; and, on the contrary, to turn the plainest passages into allegorical fancies.

[1] See Pslam. cxlvii.

[a] The art of making coats of mail;] Men, before his inventing them, used to arm themselves with broad plates of metal. Lest this fable should want something of the marvellous, one writer tells us, that the iron which David used became soft in his hands like wax ^[2] .

[2] Tarikh Montakkab. V. D’Herbel. p. 284.

[b] A strong wind;] Which transported his throne with prodigious swiftness. Some say, this wind was violent or gentle, just as Solomon pleased ^[3] .

[3] See chap. 27.

[c] To the land whereon we had bestowed our blessing;] viz. Palestine: whither the wind brought back Solomon’s throne in the evening, after having carried it to a distant country in the morning.

[d] And perform other work;] Such as the building of cities and palaces, the fetching of rare pieces of art from foreign countries, and the like.

[e] And we watched over them;] Lest they should swerve from his orders, or do mischief according to their natural inclinations. Jallalo’ddin says, that when they had finished any piece of building, they pulled it down before night, if they were not employed in something new.

[f] The Mohammedan writers tell us, that Job was of the race of Esau, and was blessed with a numerous family, and abundant riches; but that God proved him, by taking away all that he had, even his children, who were killed by the fall of a house; notwithstanding which he continued to serve God, and to return him thanks, as usual; that he was then struck with a filthy disease, his body being full of worms, and so offensive, that as he lay on the dunghill none could bear to come near him: that his wife, however (whom some call Rahmat the daughter of Ephraim the son of Joseph, and others Makhir the daughter of Manasses), attended him with great patience, supporting him with what she earned by her labour; but that the devil appeared to her one day, after having reminded her of her past prosperity, promised her that if she would worship him, he would restore all they had lost; whereupon she asked her husband’s consent, who was so angry at the proposal, that he swore, if he recovered, to give his wife a hundred stripes: that Job having pronounced the prayer recorded in this passage, God sent Gabriel, who taking him by the hand raised him up; and at the same time a fountain sprang up at his feet, of which having drank, the worms fell off his body, and washing therein he recovered his former health and beauty: that God then restored all to him double; his wife also becoming young and handsome again, and bearing him twenty-six sons; and that Job, to satisfy his oath, was directed by God to strike her one blow with a palm-branch having a hundred leaves ^[4] . Some, to express the great riches which were bestowed on Job after his sufferings, say he had two threshing floors, one for wheat, and the other for barley, and that God sent two clouds which rained gold on the one, and silver on the other, till they ran over ^[5] . The traditions differ as to the continuance of Job’s calamities; one will have it to be eighteen years, another thirteen, another three, and another exactly seven years seven months and seven hours.

[4] See D’Herbel. Bibl. Orient. Art. Aioub.

[5] Jallalo’ddin.

[a] See chap. 19. p. 253.

[b] Dhu’lkefl;] Who this prophet was is very uncertain. One commentator will have him to be Elias, or Joshua, or Zacharias ^[1] : another supposes him to have been the son of Job, and to have dwelt in Syria; to which some add, that he was first a very wicked man, but afterwards repenting, died; upon which these words appeared miraculously written over his door, Now hath God been merciful unto Dhu’lkefl ^[2] : and a third tells us he was a person of great strictness of life, and one who used to decide causes to the satisfaction of all parties, because he was never in a passion: and that he was called Dhu’lkefl from his continual fasting, and other religious exercises ^[3] .

[1] Al Beidawi.

[2] Abu’lf.

[3] Jallalo’ddin.

[c] Dhu’lnun;] This is the surname of Jonas; which was given him because he was swallowed by the fish. See chap. 10. p. 174.

[d] When he departed in wrath;] Some suppose Jonas’s anger was against the Ninevites, being tired with preaching to them for so long a time, and greatly disgusted at their obstinacy and ill usage of him; but others, more agreeably to scripture, say the reason of his ill humour was God’s pardoning of that people on their repentance, and averting the judgment which Jonas had threatened them with, so that he thought he had been made a liar ^[4] .

[4] Al Beidawi.

[e] In the darkness;] i.e. Out of the belly of the fish.

[f] See chap. 37.

[g] Her who preserved her virginity;] Namely, the virgin Mary

[h] This your religion is one religion;] Being the same which was professed by all the prophets, and holy men and women, without any fundamental difference or variation.

[i] Until Gog and Magog shall have a passage opened for them;] i.e. Until the resurrection; one sign of the approach whereof will be the eruption of those barbarians ^[5] .

[5] See the Prelim. Disc. §. IV. p. 81.

[k] They shall hasten from every high hill;] In this passage some copies, instead of hadabin, i.e. an elevated part of the earth, have jadathin, which signifies a grave; and if we follow the latter reading, the pronoun they must not refer to Gog and Magog, but to mankind in general.

[a] They shall not hear ought therein;] Because of their astonishment and the insupportable torments they shall endure; or, as others expound the words, They shall not hear therein anything which may give them the least comfort.

[b] As for those unto whom paradise hath been predestinated, &c.] One Ebn al Zabári objected to the preceding words, Both ye and that which ye worship besides God, shall be cast into hell, because, being general , they asserted an absolute falsehood; some of the objects of idolatrous worship being so far from any danger of damnation, that they were in the highest favour with God, as Jesus, Ezra, and the angels: wherefore this passage was revealed, excepting those who were predestined to salvation ^[1] .

[1] Al Beidawi, Jallalo’ddin.

[c] The angel al Sijil;] Whose office it is to write down the actions of every man’s life, which, at his death, he rolls up, as completed. Some pretend one of Mohammed’s scribes is here meant: and others take the word Sijil, or, as it is also written, Sijjill, for an appellative, signifying a book or written scroll; and accordingly render the passage, as a written scroll is rolled up ^[2] .

[2] Iidem, &c.

[d] These words are taken from Psalm xxxvii. v. 29.

[e] I proclaim war against you, &c.] Or, I have publickly declared unto you what I was commanded.

[f] That which ye are threatened with;] viz. The losses and disgraces which ye shall suffer by the future successes of the Moslems; or, the day of judgment.