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

CUAP. JUi. Ali KORAN. 199
is a secret Hstorj wliicli we reveal tmto thee, Mohammed, although thon
wast not present with the brethren of Joseph, when they concerted their
design, and contrived a plot against him. But the greater part of men,
although they earnestly desire it, will not believe. Thou shalt not demand
of them any reward for thi/ ]mblishing the Kordn; it is no other than an
admonition unto all creatures. And how many signs soever tliere be of the
being, unity, and j^rovidence of God, in the heavens and the earth; they
will pass by them, and will retire afar off from them. And the greater
part of them believe not in God, without being also gmlty of idolatry.^ Do
they not believe that some overwhelming affliction shall fall on them, as a.
punishment from GoD ; or that the hour of judgment shall overtake them
suddenly, when they consider not its apjiroarh i Say unto those of Mecca,
This is my way : I iavite you unto God by an evident demonstration ;
both I and he who followeth me ; and, praise be unto God ! I am not an
idolater. "We sent not any apostles before thee, except men, unto whom
we revealed our will, and whom we chose out of those who dwelt in cities.'*
WiU they not go through the earth, and see what hath been the end of
those who have preceded them? But the dwelling of the next life shall
surely be better for those who fear Gud. Will they not therefore under-
stand] Tlieir predecessors were borne with for a time, until, when our
apostles despaired of tlieir conversion, and they thought that they were liars,
our help came imto them, and we delivered whom we pleased; but our
vengeance was not turned away from the wicked people. Yerily in the
histories of tlbe propliets and their -people, there is an instructive example
unto those who are endued with imderstauding. The Kordn is not a new
invented fiction ; but a confii-mation of those scriptures which have beeyi
revealed before it, and a distinct explication of every thing necessary, in
respect either to faith or practice, and a direction and mercy unto people
who believe.
concerning his burial, that they had like to have come to blows ; but at length they
agreed to put his body into a marble coffin, and to sink it in the Nile; out of a
superstitious imagination that it might help the regular increase of the river, and
deliver them from famine for the future : but when Moses led the Israelites out of
Egypt, he took up the coffin, and carried Joseph's bones with him into Canaan,
where he buried them by his ancestors.^
8 For this crime Mohammed charges not only on the idolatrous Meccans, but also
on the Jews and Christians ; as has been already observed more than once.
'' And not of the inhabitants of the deserts ; because the former are more knowint^
and compassionate, and the latter more ignorant and hard-hearted.^
" Al BeidAwi. • Idem. Soo the Prelim. Disc. ecct. L p. 22.