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

204
AL KORAN. CHAP. Yiv.
given the scriptures, rejoice at what hath been revealed unto thee.® Yet
there are some of the confederates who deny part thereof Say unto tliem,
Verily I am commanded to worship God alone ; and to give him no com-
panion : upon him do I call, and unto him shall I return. To this pui-pose
have we sent down tlte Kordn a ride o/judgment, in the Arabic language.
And verily, if thou follow their desu-es, after the knowledge which hath
been given thee, there shall be none to defend or protect thee against God.
We have foi-merly sent apostles before thee, and bestowed on them wives
and children ;^ and no apostle had the power to come with a sign, unless by
the permission of God. Every age hath its book of revelation : God shall
abolish and shall confirm wJiat he pleaseth. With him is the original of the
book.^ Moreover, whether we cause thee to see any part of that punish-
ment wherewith we have threatened them, or whether we cause thee to
die before it be inflicted on them, verily unto thee belongeth preaching onli/,
but unto us inquisition. Do they not see that we come into their land,
and straiten the borders thereof, 5y the conquest of the true believers ?
When God judgeth, there is none to reverse his judgment : and he will be
Bvri£t in taking an account. Their predecessors formerly devised subtle
plots against their prophets; but God is master of every subtle device. He
knoweth that which eveiy soul deserveth : and the infidels shall surely
know, whose vsdll be the reward of paradise. The imbelievers* wiU say,
Thou art not sent of God. Answer, God is a sufficient witness between
me and you, and he who imderstandeth the scriptures.
CHAPTER XIV.
INTITLED, ABRAHAM ;k REVEALED AT MECCA.
IN THE NAME OF THE MOST M
Al. R.^ This book have we sent down unto thee, that thou mayest lead
men forth from darkness into light, by the permission of their Lord, into
• Viz., the first proselytes to Mohammedism from Judaism and Christianity; or
the Jews and Christians in general, who were pleased to find the Kor§,n so consonant
to their own scriptures.*
'That is, such of them as had entered into a confederacy to oppose Mohammed;
as did Caab Ebn al Ashraf, and the Jews who followed him, and al Seyid al Najrani,
al Akib, and several other Christians; who denied such parts of the Koran as con.
tradicted their corrupt doctrines and traditions.*
s As we have on thee. This passage was revealed in answer to the reproaches
which were cast on Mohammed on account of the great number of his wires. For
the Jews said, That if he was a true prophet, his care and attention would be era-
ployed about something else than women and the getting of children. ^ It mav be
observed that it is a maxim of the Jews, that nothing is more repugnant to prophecy
than carnality.''
^ Literally, the mother of the book ; by which is meant, the preserved table, from
which all the written revelations which have been from time to time published to
mankind, according to the several dispensations, are transcripts.
' The persons intended in this passage, it is said, were the Jewish doctors.*
^ Mention is made of this patriarch towards the end of the chapter. (After the
patriarch's Tiame, Savary's translation adds, " Peace be with him.")
' See the Prelim. Disc. sect. iii. p. 42, &c.
* See chap. 3, p. 58. * Idem. « Jallalo'ddin, Yahya, 7 Vide Maimon.
More Nev. part 2, c. 36, &c. ^ Al BeidAwi.