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

cnAF. Till. AL KORAN. 143
the vraj of God :^ tliey shall expend it, but afterwards it shall become
matter q/ sighing and regret nnto them, and at length they shall be over-
•jome ; and the imbelievei-s sliall be gathered together into hell; that God
may distinguish the wncked from the good, and may throw the wicked one
upon the other, and may gather them all in a heap, and cast them into hell.
These are they who shall perish. Say unto the unbelievers, that if they
desist /j-om opposing thee, what is already past shall be forgiven them; but
if they return to attach thee, the exemphxry punishment of the former
opposers of tlie prophets is already past, and the like shall he inflicted on them.
Therefore fight against them until there be no opposition in favour oj
idolatry, and the religion be wliolly God's. If they desist, verily God
seeth that which they do : but if they turn back, know that God is your
patron; he is the best patron, and the best helper. *[X.] And know
that whenever ye gain any spoils, a fifth part thereof belongeth unto God,
and to the apostle, and his kindred, and the orphans, and the poor, and the
traveller;' if ye believe in God, and that which we have sent down unto
our servant on the day of distinction,* on the day whereon the two armies
met : and God is almighty. When ye were encamped on the hithermost
side of the valley,' and they were encamped on the fiui;her side, and the
caravan was below you ;"* and if ye had mutually appointed to come to a
battle, ye would certainly have declined the appointment;^ hwt ye were
brought to an engagement without any previous appointment, that God might
accomplish the thing which was decreed to be done;^ that he who perisheth
hereafter may perish after demonstrative eA-idence, and that he who liveth
may live by the same evidence ; God both heareth and knoweth. When
thy Lord caused the enemy to appear unto thee in thy sleep few in num-
1 Tho persons particularly meant in this passage were twelve of the Koreish who
gave each of them ten camels every day to be killed for provisions for their army
in the expedition of Bedr ; or, according to others, the owners of the effects brought
by the caravan, who gave great part of them to the support of the succours from
Mecca. It is also said that Abu SofFan, in the expedition of Ohod, hired two thou-
sand Arabs, who cost him a considerable sum, besides the auxiliaries which he had
obtained gratisJ
' According to this law, a fifth part of the spoils is appropriated to the particular
uses here mentioned, and the other four-fifths are to be equally divided among those
who were present at the action: but in what manner, or to whom the first fifth is
to be distributed, the Mohammedan doctors differ, as we have elsewhere observed.'*
Though it be the general opinion that this verse was revealed at Bedr, yet there
are some who suppose it was revealed iu the expedition against the Jewish tribe of
Kainoka, which happened a little above a month after.*
• i. e. Of the battle of Bedr; which is so called because it distinguished the true
believers from the infidels.
° Viz., by the sea side, making the best of their way to Mecca.
* "You were encamped near the rivulet,^ the enemies were on the opposite bank.
Your cavalry was inferior." — Savary.
* Because of the great superiority of the enemy, and the disadvantages ye lay
under.
y By granting a miraculous victory to the faithful, and overthrowing their enemiea
for the conviction of the latter, and the confirmation of the former.^
' Al Beidawi. ^ ggg the Prelim. Cisc. sect. vi. » Al Beidawi. ^ " Mahomet
was encamped near Bedr. This is the name of a well. This post was a very ad-
vantageous one, because it enabled him to procure water, which is exceedingly
scarce in Arabia." — Savary ' Al BeidawL