CHAP. XXXIV.
Intitled, Saba
[a]
; revealed at Mecca.
In the name of the most merciful God.
[a] Mention is made of the people of Saba in the fifteenth verse.
[b] Whatsoever entereth into the earth;] As the rain, hidden treasures, the dead, &c.
[c] And whatsoever cometh out of the same;] As animals, plants, metals, spring-water, &c.
[d] Whatsoever descendeth from heaven;] As the angels, scriptures, decrees of God, rain, thunder and lightning, &c.
[e] And whatsoever ascendeth thereto;] As the angels, men’s works, vapours, smoke, &c [1] .
[1] Al Beidawi.
[a] See chap. 21. p. 270.
[b] See ibid. p. 271.
[c] See ibid. and chap. 27. p. 311.
[d] A fountain of molten brass;] This fountain they say was in Yaman, and flowed three days in a month [1] .
[1] Idem, Jallalo’ddin.
[e] We will cause him to taste the pain of hell fire;] Or, as some expound the words, We caused him to taste the pain of burning; by which they understand the correction the disobedient genii received at the hands of the angel set over them, who whipped them with a whip of fire.
[f] Statues;] Some suppose these were images of the angels and prophets, and that the making of them was not then forbidden; or else that they were not such images as were forbidden by the law. Some say these spirits made him two lions, which were placed at the foot of his throne, and two eagles, which were set above it; and that when he mounted it the lions stretched out their paws, and when he sat down the eagles shaded him with their wings [2] .
[2] Idem.
[g] Dishes like fishponds;] Being so monstrously large that a thousand men might eat out of each of them at once.
[h] And caldrons standing firm on their trevets;] These cauldrons, they say, were cut out of the mountains of Yaman, and were so vastly big that they could not be moved; and people went up to them by steps [3] .
[3] Jallalo’ddin.
[i]
Nothing discovered his
death unto them, but the creeping thing of the earth, which gnawed his
staff;] The commentators, to explain this passage, tell us that David, having
laid the foundations of the temple of Jerusalem, which was to be in lieu of
the tabernacle of Moses, when he died, left it to be finished by his son
Solomon, who employed the genii in the work: that Solomon, before the edifice
was quite completed, perceiving his end drew nigh, begged of God that his
death might be concealed from the genii till they had entirely finished it;
that God therefore so ordered it, that Solomon died as he stood at his
prayers, leaning on his staff, which supported the body in that posture a full
year; and the genii, supposing him to be alive, continued their work during
that term, at the expiration whereof the temple being perfectly completed, a
worm, which had gotten into the staff, ate it through, and the corpse fell to
the ground and discovered the king’s death
[4]
.
Possibly this fable of the temple’s being built by genii, and not by
men, might take its rise from what is mentioned in scripture, that the house
was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was
neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was
building
[5]
;
the Rabbins indeed, tell us of a worm, which might assist the
workmen, its virtue being such as to cause the rocks and stones to fly in
sunder
[6]
.
Whether the worm which gnawed Solomon’s staff were of the same breed
with this other, I know not; but the story has perfectly the air of a Jewish
invention.
[4] Al Beidawi, Jallalo’ddin.
[5] I Kings, vi. 7.
[6] V. Kimhi, in loc. Buxt. Lex. Talm. p. 2456, & Schickardi Tarich reg. Pers. p. 62.
[a] They had not continued in a vile punishment;] i.e. They had not continued in servile subjection to the command of Solomon, nor had gone on with the work of the temple.
[b] The descendants of Saba;] Saba was the son of Yashhab, the son of Yárab, the son of Kahtân, whose posterity dwelt in Yaman, in the city of Mâreb, called also Saba, about three days journey from Sanaa.
[c] Two gardens on the right hand, and on the left;] That is, two tracts of land, one on this side of their city, and the other on that, planted with trees, and made into gardens, which lay so thick and close together, that each tract seemed to be one continued garden: or, it may be, every house had a garden on each hand of it [1] .
[1] Al Beidawi.
[d] The inundation of al Arem;] The commentators set down several significations of the word al Arem, which are scarce worth mentioning: it most properly signifies mounds or dams for the stopping or containing of water, and is here used for that stupendous mound or building which formed the vast reservoir above the city of Saba, described in another place [2] , and which, for the great impiety, pride, and insolence of the inhabitants, was broken down in the night by a mighty flood, and occasioned a terrible destruction [3] . Al Beidâwi supposes this mound was the work of queen Balkîs, and that the above-mentioned catastrophe happened after the time of Jesus Christ; wherein he seems to be mistaken.
[2] See the Prelim. Disc. §. I. p. 10
[3] See ibid.
[e] Tamarisks;] A low shrub bearing no fruit, and delighting in saltish and barren ground.
[f] The cities which we have blessed;] viz. The cities of Syria.
[g] We made the journey easy between them;] By reason of their near distance, so that during the whole journey a traveller might rest in one town during the heat of the day, and in another at night; nor was he obliged to carry provisions with him [4] .
[4] Jallal. Al Beidawi.
[h] Put a greater distance between our journeys;] This petition they made out of covetousness, that the poor being obliged to be longer on the road, they might make greater advantages in letting out their cattle, and furnishing the travellers with provision: and God was pleased to punish them by granting them their wish, and permitting most of the cities, which were between Saba and Syria, to be ruined and abandoned [5] .
[5] Iidem.
[i]
We made them the subject of discourse,
and dispersed them with a total dispersion;] For the neighbouring nations justly wondered at so sudden and
unforeseen a revolution in the affairs of this once flourishing people: whence
it became a proverbial saying, to express a total dispersion, that they were
gone and scattered like Saba
[6]
.
Of the descendants of Saba, who quitted their country and sought new
settlements on this inundation, the tribe of Ghassân went into Syria, the
tribe of Anmâr to Yathreb, the tribe of Jodhâm to Tehâmah, the tribe of al Azd
to Omân
[1]
,
the tribe of Tay to Najd, the tribe of Khozâah to Batn Marr near
Mecca, Banu Amela to a mountain, thence called the Mountain of Amela, near
Damascus, and others went to Hira in Irâk
[2]
,
&c.
[6] Al Beidawi. V. Gol. not. in Alfrag. p. 87.
[1] Al Beidawi.
[2] V. Poc. Spec. p. 42, 45, & 66.
[a] Eblis found his opinion of them to be true;] Either his opinion of the Sabeans, when he saw them addicted to pride and ingratitude, and the satisfying their lusts; or else the opinion he entertained of all mankind at the fall of Adam, or at his creation, when he heard the angels say, Wilt thou place in the earth one who will do evil therein, and shed blood [3] ?
[3] See chap. 2. p. 4. chap. 7. p. 117. and chap. 15. p. 212, &c.
[b] Except a party of the true believers;] Who were saved from the common destruction.
[c] See chap. 19. p. 255.
[d] When the terror shall be taken off from their hearts;] i.e. From the hearts of the intercessors, and of those for whom God shall allow them to intercede, by the permission which he shall then grant them; for no angel or prophet shall dare to speak at the last day without the divine leave.
[e] Nor in that which hath been revealed before it;] It is said that the infidels of Mecca, having inquired of the Jews and Christians concerning the mission of Mohammed, were assured by them that they found him described as the prophet who should come, both in the Pentateuch and in the Gospel; at which they were very angry, and broke out into the words here recorded [4] .
[4] Al Beidawi.
[f] See chap. 14. p. 207. not. a
[a] See chap. 10. p. 171. not. a.
[b] That ye stand before God by two and two, and singly, &c.] i.e. That ye set yourselves to deliberate and judge of me and my pretensions coolly and sincerely, as in the sight of God, without passion or prejudice. The reason why they are ordered to consider either alone, or by two and two at most together, is because in larger assembles, where noise, passion, and prejudice generally prevail, men have not that freedom of judgment which they have in private [1] .
[1] Al Beidawi.
[a] I ask not of you any reward, &c.] Mohammed, having in the preceding words answered the imputation of madness or vain enthusiasm, by appealing to their cooler thoughts of him and his actions, endeavours by these to clear himself of the suspicion of any worldly view or interest, declaring that he desired no salary or support from them for executing his commission, but expected his wages from God alone.
[b] See chap. 25. p. 301.
[c] When the unbelievers shall tremble;] viz. At their death, or the day of judgment, or the battle of Bedr [2] .
[2] Idem.
[d] And shall be taken from a near place;] That is, from the outside of the earth to the inside thereof; or, from before God’s tribunal to hell fire; or, from the plain of Bedr to the well into which the dead bodies of the slain were thrown [3] .
[3] Idem.
[e] From a distant place;] i.e. When they are in the other world; whereas faith is to be received in this.