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

19S AL KORAN. CHAP. xn.
forgivetli you ; for he is tlie most merciful of tliO£:e who show mercy.
Depart ye with this my inner garment/ and thi'ow it on my father's face;
and he shall recover his sight : and then come unto me with all your family.
And when the company of travellers was de'parted from Ugypt on tlieir
journey towards Canaan, their father said unto those who were about him,
Verily I pei'ceive the smell of Joseph;'' although ye think that I dote.
They answered, By God, thou art in thy old mistake,* But when the
messenger of good tidings^ was come with Joseph's inner garment, he threw
it over his face; and he recovered his eye-sight. And Jacob said, Did I
not tell you that I knew from God, that which ye knew not 1 They
answered, O father, ask pardon of our sins for us, for we have surely been
sinners. He replied, 1 will surely ask pardon for you of my Loud;*' for he
ts gracious and merciful. And when Jacob and his family arrived in
Egypt, and were introduced unto Joseph, he received his parents unto him,'*
and said, Enter ye into Egypt, by God's favour, in full security. And hs
raised his parents to the seat of state, and tliey, together with his brethren,
fell down, and did obeisance unto him.® And he said, O my father, this
is the interpretation of my vision, which I saw heretofore : now hath my
Loud i-endered it true. And he hath surely been gracious unto me, since
he took me forth from the prison, and hath brought you liither from the
desort ; after that the devil had sown discord between me and my brethren:
foi my Lord is gracious unto whom he pleaseth ; and he is the knowing,
the wise God. O Lord, thou hast given me a part of the kingdom, and
hast tauglit me the interpretation of dark sayings. The Creator of heaven
and earth ! thou art my protector in this world, and in tliat which is to
come : make me to die a Moslem, and join me with the righteous.' This
Which the commentators generally suppose to be the same garment with which
Gabriel invested him in the well ; which, having originally come from paradise,
had preserved the odour of that place, and was of so great virtue as to cure any
distemper in the person who was touched with it.'
" This was the odour of the garment above mentioned, brought by the wind to
Jacob, who smelt it, as is pretended, at the distance of eighty parasangs;' or, as
others will have, three, or eight days' journey off.*
» Being led into this imagination by thy excessive love of Joseph.
'' Viz., Judah; who, as he had formerly grieved his father, by bringing him
Joseph's coat stained with blood, now rejoiced him as much, by being the bearer of
this vest, and the news of Josejih's prosperity.*
" Deferring it, as some fancy, till he should see Joseph, and hare his consent.
^ Viz., his father, and Leah, his mother's sister, whom he looked on as his mother,
after Rachel's death.^
Al Beidawi tells us that Joseph sent carriages and provisions for his father and
his family ; and that he and the king of Egypt went forth to meet them. He adds,
that the number of the children of Israel who entered Egypt with him, was seventy-
two ; and that when they were led out thence by Moses, they were increased to six
hundred thousand five hundred and seventy men and upwards, besides the old
people and children.
« A transposition is supposed to be in these words, and that he seated his father and
mother after they had bowed down to him, and not before.''
' The Mohammedan authors write, that Jacob dwelt in Egypt twenty-four years,
and at his death ordered his body to be buried in Palestine by his father, which
Joseph took care to perform ; and then returning into Egypt, died twenty-three
years after. They add, that such high disputes arose among the Egyptians,
2 Al Beidawi, Jallalo'ddin. ^ Idem. * Jallalo'ddin. » Al Beidawi
« Idem. See Gen. xxxvii. 10. ' Al BeidawL