J. F. Campbell Collection > Koran: or, Alcoran of Mohammed

130 ^-^ RORAN CHAP, viu
ever sign tliou show unto us, to enchant us therewith, we will not believe on
thee. Wherefore we sent upon them a flood," and locusts, and lice,* and
frogs, and blood; distiiict miracles: but they behaved proudly, and became
a wicked people. And when the plague" fell on them, they said, O Moses,
entreat thy Loud for us, according to that which he hath covenanted with
thee: verily, if thou take the plague from off us, we will surely believe
thee, and we will let the children of Israel go with thee. But when we
had taken the plague from off them, until the term which God had granted
iihem was expired, behold, they broke their promise. Wherefore we took
vengeance on them, and drowned them in the Eed Sea;'' because they
charged our signs with falsehood, and neglected them. And we caused the
people who had been rendered weak to inherit the eastern parts of the earth •
and the western parts thereof,^ which we blessed withferlilUij; and the
gracious word of thy Lord was fulfilled on the children of Israel, for that
they had endured with patience: and we destroyed the structures which
Pharaoh and his people had made, and that which they had erected.^ And
we CJiused the children of Israel to pass through the sea, and they came
unto a people who gave themselves up to t/ie worship o/" their idols," and
they said, O Moses, make us a god, in like manner as these people have
gods. Moses answered, Verily ye are an ignorant people : for the religion
which these follow ivill be destroyed, and that which they do is vain. He
said, Shall I seek fir you any other god than God; since he hath preferred
you to the rest of the world 1 And remember when we delivered you from
the people of Pharaoh, who grievously oppressed you; they slew your male
children, and let your females live : therein was a great trial from your
Lord.* And we appointed unto IMoses a fast o/" thirty nights before we gave
* This inundation, they say, was occasioned by unusual rains which continued
eight days together, and the overflowing of the Nile; and not only covered their
lands, but came into their houses, and rose as high as their backs and necks ; but
the children of Israel had no rain in their quarters.^ As there is no mention of
any such miraculous inundation in the Mosaic writings, some have imagined this
plague to have been either a pestilence, or the small-pox, or some other epidemical
distemper.8 For the word tufdn, which is used in this place, and is generally ren-
dered a deluge, may also signify any other universal destruction or mortality.
I Some will have these insects to have been a larger sort of tick ; others, the
young locusts before they have wings.*
" Viz. any of the calamities already mentioned, or the pestilence which God sent
upon them afterwards.
' See this wonderful event more particularly described in the tenth and twentieth
chapters.
* That is, the land of Syria, of which the eastern geographers reckon Palestine
a part, and wherein the commentators say the children of Israel succeeded the
kings of Egypt and the Amalekites.i
y Particularly the lofty tower which Pharaoh caused to be built, that he miglit
attack the God of Moses.'
» These people some will have to be of the tribe of Amalek, whom Moses was
commanded to destroy, and others of the tribe of Lakhm. Their idols, it is said,
were images of oxen, which gave the first hint to the making of the golden calf.'
* Savary, referring the final clause to the deliverance, translates it, " This was
an eminent favour from the divine goodness."
1 Al Beidawi, Jallalo'ddin, Abulfed. ^ a1 Bcid.lwl » Idem.
* Idem. 2 Vide Koran, chap. 28, and 40, ' Al BeidawL