Part 16

And Pharaoh said, O Hámán, build for me a tower, that I may reach the avenues, the avenues of the heavens, and ascend unto the God of Moses;[280] but verily I think him, _namely Moses_, a liar _in his assertion that he hath any god but myself_. And thus the wickedness of his deed was made to seem comely unto Pharaoh, and he was turned away from the path _of rectitude_; and the artifice of Pharaoh [ended] not save in loss. And he who had believed said, O my people, follow me: I will direct you into the right way. O my people, this present life is only a temporary enjoyment; but the world to come is the mansion of firm continuance. Whosoever doeth evil, he shall not be recompensed save with the like of it; and whosoever doeth good, whether male or female, and is a believer, these shall enter Paradise; they shall be provided for therein without reckoning. And, O my people, how is it that I invite you unto salvation, and ye invite me unto the Fire? Ye invite me to deny God, and to associate with Him that of which I have no knowledge; but I invite you unto the Mighty, the Very Forgiving. [There is] no doubt but that the [false gods] _to the worship of_ which ye invite me are not to be invoked in this world, nor in the world to come, and that our return [shall be] unto God, and that the transgressors [shall be] the companions of the Fire. And ye shall remember, _when ye see the punishment_, what I say unto you; and I commit my case unto God; for God seeth [His] servants.—_This he said when they threatened him for his opposing their religion._ Therefore God preserved him from the evils which they had artfully devised (_namely slaughter_), and a most evil punishment encompassed the people of Pharaoh,[281] _with Pharaoh himself (namely the drowning); then_ they shall be exposed to the Fire morning and evening;[282] and on the day when the hour [of judgment] shall come, _it shall be said unto the angels_, Introduce the people of Pharaoh into the most severe punishment.

(xl. 27-49.)

And the nobles of the people of Pharaoh said _unto him_, Wilt thou let Moses and his people go that they may act corruptly in the earth, _by inviting to disobey thee_, and leave thee and thy gods? (_For he had made for them little idols for them to worship, and he said, I am your Lord and their Lord;—and therefore he said, I am your Lord the Most High._) He answered, We will slaughter their male children and will suffer their females to live: and verily we shall prevail over them. _And thus they did unto them; wherefore the children of Israel complained, and_ Moses said unto his people, Seek aid of God, and be patient; for the earth belongeth unto God: He causeth whomsoever He will of His servants to inherit it; and the _prosperous_ end is for those who fear _God_. They replied, We have been afflicted before thou camest unto us and since thou hast come unto us. He said, Perhaps your Lord will destroy your enemy and cause you to succeed [him] in the earth, and He will see how ye will act _therein_.—And We had punished the family of Pharaoh with dearth and with scarcity of fruits, that they might be admonished _and might believe_. But when good betided them, they said, This is ours:—_that is, we deserve it;—and they were not grateful for it_; and if evil befell them, they ascribed it to the ill luck of Moses and those _believers_ who were with him. Nay, their ill luck was only with God: _He brought it upon them_: but the greater number of them know not _this_. And they said _unto Moses_, Whatsoever sign thou bring unto us, to enchant us therewith, we will not believe in thee. _So he uttered an imprecation upon them_, and We sent upon them the flood, _which entered their houses and reached to the throats of the persons sitting, seven days_,[283] and the locusts, _which ate their corn and their fruits_, and the ḳummal, _or grubs, or a kind of tick, which sought after what the locusts had left_, and the frogs, _which filled their houses and their food_, and the blood _in their waters_; distinct signs: but they were proud, _refusing to believe in them_, and were a wicked people. And when the punishment fell upon them, they said, O Moses, supplicate for us thy Lord, according to that which He hath covenanted with thee, _namely that He will withdraw from us the punishment if we believe_: verily, if thou remove from us the punishment, we will assuredly believe thee, and we will assuredly send with thee the children of Israel. But when We removed from them the punishment until a period at which they should arrive, lo, they brake their promise. Wherefore We took vengeance on them, and drowned them in the sea, because they charged our signs with falsehood and were heedless of them. And We caused the people who had been rendered weak, _by being enslaved_, to inherit the eastern parts of the earth and its western parts,[284] which we blessed _with water and trees, (namely Syria)_; and the gracious word of thy Lord was fulfilled on the children of Israel, because they had been patient; and We destroyed the _structures_ which Pharaoh and his people had built and what they had erected.[285]

(vii. 124-133.)

We brought the children of Israel across the sea, and Pharaoh and his troops pursued them with violence and hostility, until, when drowning overtook him, he said, I believe that there is no deity but He in whom the children of Israel believe, and I am [one] of the Muslims. _But Gabriel thrust into his mouth some of the mire of the sea, lest mercy should be granted him, and said_, Now _thou believest_, and thou hast been rebellious hitherto, and wast [one] of the corrupters. But to-day we will raise thee with thy lifeless body _from the sea_, that thou mayest be a sign unto those [who shall come] after thee. (_It is related, on the authority of Ibn-´Abbás, that some of the children of Israel doubted his death; wherefore he was brought forth to them that they might see him._)[286] But verily many men are heedless of Our signs.

(x. 90-92.)

And We brought the children of Israel across the sea; and they came unto a people who gave themselves up to _the worship of_ idols belonging to them;[287] [whereupon] they said, O Moses, make for us a god (_an idol for us to worship_), like as they have gods. He replied, Verily ye are a people who are ignorant, _since ye have requited God’s favour towards you with that which ye have said_; for that [religion] in which these are [occupied shall be] destroyed, and vain is that which they do. He said, Shall I seek for you any other deity than God, when He hath preferred you above the peoples _of your time_?

(vii. 134-136.)

And We caused the thin clouds to shade you _from the heat of the sun in the desert_, and caused the manna and the quails[288] to descend upon you, _and said_, Eat of the good things which We have given you for food, _and store not up.—But they were ungrateful for the benefit, and stored up; wherefore it was cut off from them_. And they injured not Us _thereby_; but they did injure their own souls.

(ii. 54.)

[Remember, O children of Israel,] when ye said, O Moses, we will not bear patiently the having one _kind of_ food, _the manna and the quails_; therefore supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may produce for us _somewhat_ of that which the earth bringeth forth, of its herbs and its cucumbers and its wheat and its lentils and its onions:—he said _unto them_, Will ye take in exchange that which is worse for that which is better?—_But they refused to recede; therefore he supplicated God, and He said_, Get ye down into a great city;[289] for ye shall have _therein_ what ye have asked.—And the _marks of_ abjection and poverty were stamped upon them: _so these characteristics necessarily belong to them, even if they are rich, as necessarily as the stamped coin belongeth to its die_; and they returned with indignation from God. This was because they did disbelieve in the signs of God, and slay the prophets (_as Zechariah and John_) unjustly: this was because they rebelled and did transgress.

(ii. 58.)

And _remember_ when Moses asked drink for his people, _who had become thirsty in the desert_, and We said, Strike with thy rod the stone. (_It was the stone that fled away with his garment:[290] it was light, square, like the head of a man, marble or kedhdhán._[291]) _Accordingly he struck it_; and there gushed out from it twelve fountains, _according to the number of the tribes_, all men (_each tribe of them_) knowing their drinking-place. _And We said unto them_, Eat ye and drink of the supply of God, and commit not evil in the earth, acting corruptly.

(ii. 57.)

_Remember_ also when We obtained your bond _that ye would do according to that which is contained in the Law_, and _had_ lifted up over you the mountain [namely Mount Sinai], _pulled it up by the roots and raised it over you when ye had refused to accept the Law, and We said_, Receive that which We have given you, with resolution, and remember that which is contained in it, _to do according thereto_: peradventure ye will fear _the Fire, or acts of disobedience_.—Then ye turned back after that; and had it not been for the grace of God towards you and His mercy, ye had certainly been of those who perish. And ye know those of you who transgressed on the Sabbath, _by catching fish, when We had forbidden them to do so_ (_and they were the people of Eyleh_[292],) and We said unto them, Be ye apes, driven away from the society of men.—_Thereupon they became such, and they perished after three days._—And We made it (_namely that punishment_) an example unto those who were contemporary with them and those who came after them, and a warning to the pious.

(ii. 60-62.)

And We appointed unto Moses thirty nights, _at the expiration of which We would speak to him, on the condition of his fasting during them; and they were_ [the nights of the month of] _Dhu-l-Ḳaạdeh; and he fasted during them: but, when they were ended, he disliked the smell of his breath; so he used a tooth-stick; whereupon God commanded him to fast ten other nights, that He might speak to Him with the odour of his breath,[293] as He whose name be exalted hath said_,—and We completed them by [adding] ten _nights of Dhu-l-Ḥijjeh_: so the stated time of his Lord was completed, forty nights. And Moses said unto his brother Aaron, _at his departure to the mountain for the private collocution_, Be thou my deputy among my people, and act rightly, and follow not the way of the corrupt doers _by agreeing with them in acts of disobedience_. And when Moses came at Our appointed time, and his Lord spake unto him _without an intermediary_, he said, O my Lord, show me _Thyself_, that I may see Thee. He replied, Thou shalt not see Me: but look at the mountain, _which is stronger than thou_; and if it remain firm in its place, then shalt thou see Me. And when his Lord displayed Himself to the mountain (_that is, when there appeared, of His light, half of the tip of His little finger, as related in a tradition which El-Ḥákim hath verified_), He reduced it to powder, _levelling it even with the ground around it_; and Moses fell down in a swoon. And when he recovered, he said, Extolled be Thy perfection! I turn unto Thee repenting, and I am the first of the believers _in my time_.—_God_ said _unto him_, O Moses, I have chosen thee above the people _of thy time_ [by honouring thee] by My commissions and by My speaking _unto thee_: therefore receive what I have given thee, and be of those who are grateful. And We wrote for him upon the tables of _the Law_[294] (_which were of the lote-tree of Paradise, or of chrysolite, or of emerald; in number seven, or ten_) an admonition concerning every _requisite_ matter _of religion_, and a distinct explanation of everything; _and said_, Therefore receive it with resolution, and command thy people to act according to the most excellent [precepts] thereof.

(vii. 138-142.)

And the people of Moses, after it (_that is, after his departure for the private collocution_), made, of their ornaments (_which they had borrowed of the people of Pharaoh_), a corporeal calf[295] _which Es-Sámiree cast for them,_[296] _and_ which lowed; _for he had the faculty of doing so in consequence of their having put into its mouth some dust taken from_ [beneath] _the hoof of the horse of Gabriel; and they took it as a god_. Did they not see that it spake not to them, nor directed them in the way? They took it _as a god_, and were offenders. But when they repented, and saw that they had erred, _which was after the return of Moses_, they said, Verily if our Lord do not have mercy upon us and forgive us, we shall assuredly be of those who perish.

(vii. 146-148.)

And Moses returned unto his people[297] enraged _against them_, exceedingly sorrowful. He said, O my people, did not your Lord promise you a good _true_ promise, _that He would give you the Law?_ But did the time of _my absence_ seem tedious to you, or did ye desire that indignation from your Lord should befall you, and therefore did ye break your promise to me, _and abstain from coming after one?_—They answered, We did not break our promise to thee of our own authority; but we were made to carry loads of the ornaments of the people _of Pharaoh_ (_which the children of Israel had borrowed of them under pretence of_ [requiring them for] _a wedding, and which remained in their possession_), and we cast them _into the fire, by order of Es-Sámiree_. And in like manner also Es-Sámiree cast _their ornaments which he had, and some of the dust which he had taken from the traces of the hoofs of the horse of Gabriel;_ and he produced unto them a corporeal calf, _of flesh and blood_, which lowed, _by reason of the dust, the property of which is to give life to that into which it is put; and he had put it, after he had moulded the calf, into its mouth_. And they (_namely, Es-Sámiree and his followers_) said, This is your god, and the god of Moses; but he hath forgotten _his lord here, and gone to seek him. God saith_, But did they not see that it returned them not an answer, nor was able to cause them hurt or profit? And Aaron had said unto them, before _the return of Moses_, O my people, ye are only tried by it; and verily your Lord is the Compassionate; therefore follow me, _by worshipping Him_, and obey my command. They replied, We will by no means cease to be devoted to _the worship of_ it until Moses return unto us. _Moses_ said _after his return_, O Aaron, what hindered thee, when thou sawest that they had gone astray, from following me? Hast thou then been disobedient to my command, _by remaining among them who worshipped another than God_? —He answered, O son of my mother, seize me not by my beard (_for he had taken hold of his beard with his left hand_), nor by [the hair of] my head (_for he had taken hold of his hair with his right hand, in anger_). Verily I feared lest _if I followed thee (for a company of those who worshipped the calf would inevitably have followed me)_ thou shouldst say, Thou hast made a division among the children of Israel, and hast not waited for my sentence. _Moses_ said, And what was thy motive _for doing as thou hast_, O Sámiree? He answered, I saw that which they saw not;[298] therefore I took a handful _of dust_ from the foot-marks _of the horse_ of the apostle _Gabriel_, and cast it _into the molten calf_; and thus my soul allured me _to take a handful of the dust above-mentioned, and to cast it upon that which had no life, that it might have life; and I saw that thy people had demanded of thee that thou wouldst make them a god; so my soul suggested to me that this calf should be their god. Moses_ said _unto him_, Then get thee gone _from among us_, and [the punishment] for thee during _the period of thy_ life [shall be], that thou shalt say _unto whomsoever thou shalt see_, Touch _me_ not:—(_so he used to wander about the desert, and when he touched any one, or any one touched him, they both became affected with a burning fever:_) and verily for thee is a threat which thou shalt by no means find to be false. And look at thy god, to _the worship of_ which thou hast continued devoted. We will assuredly burn it: then we will assuredly reduce it to powder and scatter it in the sea. (_And Moses, after he had slaughtered it, did this._) Your deity is God only, except whom there is no deity. He comprehendeth all things by _His_ knowledge.—Thus, _O Moḥammad_, do We relate unto thee accounts of what hath happened heretofore; and We have given thee, from Us, an admonition; _namely the Ḳur-án_.

(xx. 88-99.)

And they were made to drink down the calf into their hearts,[299] (_that is, the love of it mingled with their hearts as drink mingleth_,) because of their unbelief.

(ii. 87.)

[Remember, O children of Israel,] when Moses said unto his people _who worshipped the calf_, O my people, verily ye have injured your own souls by your taking to yourselves the calf _as a god_; therefore turn with repentance unto your Creator _from the worship of it_, and slay one another: (_that is, let the innocent among you slay the criminal_:) this will be best for you in the estimation of your Creator. _And He aided you to do that, sending upon you a black cloud, lest one of you should see another and have compassion on him, until there were slain of you about seventy thousand._ And _thereupon_ He became propitious towards you, _accepting your repentance_; for He is the Very Propitious, the Merciful.

(ii. 51.)

[Remember also, O children of Israel,] when ye said, _having gone forth with Moses to beg pardon of God for your worship of the calf, and having heard his words_, O Moses, we will not believe thee until we see God manifestly:—whereupon the vehement sound assailed you, _and ye died_, while ye beheld _what happened to you_. Then We raised you to life after ye had been dead, that peradventure ye might give thanks.[300]

(ii. 52, 53.)

And Moses chose _from_ his people seventy men, _of those who had not worshipped the calf, by the command of God_, at the time appointed by Us _for their coming to ask pardon for their companions’ worship of the calf; and he went forth with them_; and when the convulsion (_the violent earthquake_) took them away (_because, saith Ibn-´Abbás, they did not separate themselves from their people when the latter worshipped the calf_), _Moses_ said, O my Lord, if Thou hadst pleased, Thou hadst destroyed them before _my going forth with them, that the children of Israel might have beheld it and might not suspect me_; and me [also]. Wilt Thou destroy us for that which the foolish among us have done? It is naught but Thy trial: Thou wilt cause to err thereby whom Thou pleasest, and Thou wilt rightly guide whom Thou pleasest. Thou art our guardian; and do Thou forgive us and have mercy upon us; for Thou art the best of those who forgive: and appoint for us in this world what is good, and in the world to come; for unto Thee have we turned with repentance.—_God_ replied, I will afflict with My punishment whom I please, and My mercy extendeth over everything _in the world_; and I will appoint it, _in the world to come_, for those who fear and give the legal alms, and those who believe on Our signs, who shall follow the apostle, the illiterate [or Gentile, _i.e._, Arab] prophet, _Moḥammad_, whom they shall find written down with them in the Pentateuch and the Gospel, _by his name and his description_. He will command them that which is right, and forbid them that which is evil; and will allow them as lawful the good things _among those forbidden in their law_, and prohibit them the impure, _as carrion and other things_, and will take off from them their burden and the yokes that were upon them, _as the slaying of a soul_ [for an atonement] _in repentance, and the cutting off of the mark left by impurity_. And those who shall believe in him and honour him and assist him and follow the light which shall be sent down with him, _namely the Ḳur-án_, these shall be the prosperous.

(vii. 154-156).

And _remember_ when Moses said unto his people, O my people, remember the favour of God towards you, since He hath appointed prophets from among you, and made you princes (_masters of servants and other attendants_), and given you what He hath not given any [other] of the peoples (_as the manna and the quails and other things_). O my people, enter the Holy Land which God hath decreed for you (_namely Syria_), and turn not back, lest ye turn losers.—They replied, O Moses, verily there is in it a gigantic people, _of the remains of the tribe of ´Ad_, and we will not enter it until they go forth from it; but if they go forth from it, then we will enter.—[Thereupon] two men, of those who feared _to disobey God, namely Joshua and Caleb, of the chiefs whom Moses sent to discover the circumstances of the giants, and_ upon whom God had conferred favour, _and who had concealed what they had seen of the state of the giants, excepting from Moses, wherefore the other chiefs became cowardly_, said _unto them_, Enter ye upon them through the gate _of the city, and fear them not; for they are bodies without hearts_; and when ye enter it, ye overcome; and upon God place your dependence, if ye be believers.—[But] they said, O Moses, we will never enter it while they remain therein. Therefore go thou and thy Lord, and fight: for we remain here.—_Then Moses_ said, O my Lord, verily I am not master of any but myself and my brother: therefore distinguish between us and the unrighteous people.—_God_ replied, Verily it (_namely the Holy Land_) shall be forbidden them forty years; they shall wander in perplexity in the land: and be not thou solicitous for the unrighteous people.—_The land_ [through which they wandered] _was_ [only] _nine leagues_ [in extent]. _They used to journey during the night with diligence; but in the morning they found themselves in the place whence they had set forth; and they journeyed during the day in like manner. Thus they did until all of them had become extinct, excepting those who had not attained the age of twenty years; and it is said that they were six hundred thousand. Aaron and Moses died in the desert; and mercy was their lot: but punishment was the lot of those. And Moses begged his Lord, when he was about to die, that He would bring him as near as a stone’s throw to the Holy Land: wherefore He did so. And Joshua was made a prophet after the forty [years], and he gave orders to fight against the giants. So he went with those who were with him, and fought against them: and it was Friday; and the sun stood still for him awhile, until he had made an end of fighting against them._

(v. 23-29).