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

CHAP. IX. AL KORAN. 159
shall suflcr a gricrous jjunishmeut. Ask forgiveness for them, or do not ask
forgivenubs for tliem ; ii will be equal. If thou ask forgiveness for them
seventy times, God will by no means forgive them.' This is the divina
pleasure, for that they believe not in God, and his apostle; and God
directt'th not t/ie ungodly people. They who were left at home in the
expedilion of Tuhuc, were glad of their staying behind the apostle of GoD,
and were unwilling to employ their substance and their persons for the
advancement of God's true religion; and they said, Go not forth in tho
heat.* Say, the fire of hell will be hotter; if they understood this.
Wherefore let them laugh little, and weep much, as a reward for that
which they have dont'.* If God bring thee back unto some of then:," and
tliey ask thee leave to go forth to war with thee, say. Ye shall not go forth
with me for the future, neither shall ye fight an enemy with me; ye were
pleased with sitting at home the first time ; sit ye at home therefore with
those who stay behind. Neither do thou ever pray over any of them who
shall die,^ neither stand at his grave ;' for that they believed not in God
and his apostle, and die in their wickedness. Let not their riches or their
children cause thee to marvel : for God intendeth only to punish them
therewith in this world; and that their souls may depart, while they are
infidels. When a Sura' is sent down, wherein it is said, Believe in
God, and go forth to war with his apostle; those who are in plentiful
circumstances among them ask leave of thee to stay behind, and say,
SuflTer us to be 0/ the number of those who sit at home. They are
Well pleased to be with those who stay behind, and their hearts are sealed
Othman very largely; viz. as it is said, three hundred camels for slaughter, and a
thousand din&rs of gold. ^
° In the last sickness of Abda'llah Ebn Obba the hypocrite, (who died in the ninth
year of the Hejra,) his son, named also Abda'llah, came and asked Mohammed to
heg pardon of God for him ; which he did, and thereupon the former part of this
verse was revealed. But the prophet, not taking that for a repulse, said he would
pray seventy times for him ; upon which the latter part of the verse was revealed.
declaring it would be absolutely in vain. It may be observed, that the numbers
seven, and seventy, and seven hnmlred, are frequently used by the eastern writers to
signify, not so many precisely, but only an indefinite number, greater or lesser;'
several examples of which are to be met with in the scripture.*
* This they spoke in a scoffing manner to one another; because, as has been
observed, the expedition to Tabuc was undertaken in a very hot and dry season.
* "Let them laugh for a few moments! Long-continued tears will "be the conse-
quence of their conduct." — Sauary.
" That is, if thou return in satety to Medina to the hypocrites ; who are here called
eome of them who stayed behind, because they were not all hypocrites. The whole
nurabei is said to have been twelve.*
" This passage was also revealed on account of Abda'llah Ebn Obba. In his last
illness he desired to see Mohammed, and when he was come, asked him to beg for-
giveness of God for him, and requested that his corpse might he wrapped up in the
garment that was next his body, (which might have the same efficacy with the habit
of a Franciscan,) and that he would pray over him when dead. Accordingly, when
he was dead, the prophet sent his shirt, or inner vestment, to shroud the corpse, and
was going to pray over it, but was forbidden by these words. Some say they were
not revealed till be had actually prayed for him.*
y Eithei by assisting at his funeral, or visiting his sepulchre.
* See before, p. 15G, note i. and Prelim. Disc. p. 4L
1 Abulfed. Vit. Mob. p. 123. 2 a1 Beidawi. « Matt, xv
' Al Beidawi.