[a] By the fig and the olive;] God, say the commentators swears by these two fruits, because of their great uses and virtues: for the fig is wholesome and of easy digestion, and physically good to carry off phlegm, and gravel in the kidneys or bladder, and to remove obstructions of the liver and spleen, and also cures the piles and the gout, &c.; the olive produces oil, which is not only excellent to eat, but otherwise useful for the compounding of ointments ^[1] ; the wood of the olive- tree, moreover, is good for cleansing the teeth, preventing their growing rotten, and giving a good odour to the mouth, for which reason the prophets, and Mohammed in particular, made use of no other for toothpicks ^[2] .
Some, however, suppose that these words do not mean the fruits or trees above mentioned, but two mountains in the holy land, where they grow in plenty; or else the temple of Damascus and that at Jerusalem. ^[3]

[1] Idem, Al Zamakh.

[2] Al Zamakh

[3] Idem, Yahya, Al Beidawi, Jallal.

[b] The territory of security;] Viz. The territory of Mecca ^[4] . These words seem to argue the chapter to have been revealed there.

[4] See the Prelim. Disc. §. IV.

[c] We created man of a most excellent fabric; afterwards we rendered him the vilest of the vile:] i.e. as the commentators generally expound this passage, We created man of comely proportion of body, and great perfection of mind; and yet we have doomed him, in case of disobedience, to be an inhabitant of hell. Some, however, understand the words of the vigorous constitution of man in the prime and strength of his age, and of his miserable decay when he becomes old and decrepit: but they seem rather to intimate the perfect state of happiness wherein man was originally created, and his fall from thence, in consequence of Adam ’s disobedience, to a state of misery in this world, and becoming liable to one infinitely more miserable in the next ^[5]

[5] V. Marracc. in loc. p. 809.

[d] What shall cause thee to deny the day of judgment after this ?] Some suppose these words directed to Mohammed, and others to man in general, by way of apostrophe.