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

252 AL KORAN. CHAP. xix.
I will lead thee into an even way. O my father, serve not Satan ; for
Satan was rebellious unto the Merciful O my father, verily I fear lest a
punishment be inflicted on thee from the Merciful, and thou become a
companion of Satan. His fatlier answered. Dost thou reject my gods, O
Abraham 1 If thou forbear not, I will surely stoue thee : wherefore leave
me for a long time. Abraham replied. Peace he on thee : I will ask pardon
for thee of my Lord; for he is gracious unto me. And I will separate
myself from you, and from the idols which ye invoke besides God ; and I
will call upon my Lord : it may be that I shall not be unsuccessful in
calling on my Lord, as ye are in calling upon them. And when he
had separated himself from them, and from the idols which they wor-
shipped besides God," we gave him Isaac and Jacob ; and we made each of
them a prophet ; and we bestowed on them, through our mercy, the gift of
prophecy, and children, and wealth; and we caused them to deserve the
highest commendations.' And remember Moses in the book of the Kordn :
for he was sincerely upright, and was an apostle and a. prophet. And we
called unto him from the right side of mount Sinai, and caused him to
draw near, and to discourse privately with us.^ And we gave him, through
our mercy, his brother Aaron a prophet, for his assistant. Remember
also Ishmael in the same book ; for he was true to his promise,^ and was
an apostle, and a prophet. And he commanded his family to observe prayer,
and to give alms : and he was acceptable unto his Lord. And remember
Edris^ in the same book; for he was a just person, and a prophet: and we
exalted him to a high place." These are they unto whom God hath been
bounteous, of the prophets of the posterity of Adam, and of those whom we
carried in the ark with Noah ; and of the posterity of Abraham, and
of Israel, and of those whom we have directed and chosen. When the
signs of the Merciful were read unto them, they fell down, worshipping, and
wept: but a succeeding generation have come after them, who neglect
» By flying to Harr^n, and thence to Palestine.
' Literally, We granted them a lofty tongue of truth.
» Or, as some expound it, And we raised him on high ; for, say they, he was raised
to so great an elevation, that he heard the creaking of the pen writing on the table
of God's decrees.*
y Being celebrated on that account; and particularly for his behaving with that
resignation and constancy which he had promised his father, on his receiving God's
command to sacrifice him :* for the Mohammedans say it was Ishmael, and not Isaac,
whom he was commanded to offer.
« Or Enoch, the great grandfather of Noah, who had that surname from his great
knowledge ; for he was favoured with no less than thirty books of divine revelations,
and was the first who wrote with a pen, and studied the sciences of astronomy and
arithmetic, &c.^
The learned Bartolocci endeavours to snow, from the testimonies of the ancient
Jews, that Enoch, surnamed Edris, was a very different person from the Enoch of
Moses, and many ages younger.^
• Some understand by this the honour of the prophetic office, and his familiamy
with God ; but others suppose his translation is here meant : for they say that he
was taken up by God into heaven at the age of three hundred and fifty, having first
suffered death, and been restored to life ; and that he is now alive in one of the seven
heavens, or in paradise.'
» Al Beida,wi. « Idem. ' Idem, Jallalo'ddin, &c. ^ Bartol. Bibl. Bab.
part ii. D. 845. » Al Beidawi, Jallalo'ddin, Abu'ifeda.