Part 17

Ḳároon[301] [or Korah] was of the people of Moses (_he was the son of his paternal uncle, and the son of his maternal aunt, and he believed in him_); but he behaved insolently towards them; for We had bestowed upon him such treasures that their keys were heavy burdens for a company of men endowed with strength, _in number, as some say, seventy; and some, forty; and some, ten; and some, another number. Remember when his people (the believers among the children of Israel)_ said unto him, Rejoice not _exultingly in the abundance of thy wealth_; for God loveth not those who _so_ rejoice; but seek to attain, by means of the _wealth_ which God hath given thee, the latter abode [of Paradise], _by expending thy wealth in the service of God_; and neglect not thy part in this world, _to work therein for the world to come_; but be beneficent _unto mankind, by bestowing alms_, as God hath been beneficent unto thee; and seek not to act corruptly in the earth; for God loveth not the corrupt doers. He replied, I have only been given it on account of the knowledge that I possess. _For he was the most learned of the children of Israel in the Law, after Moses and Aaron. God saith_, Did he not know that God had destroyed before him, of the generations, those that were mightier than he in strength and who had amassed more abundance _of wealth_? And the wicked shall not be asked respecting their sins, _because God knoweth them: therefore they shall be sent into the Fire without a reckoning_. And _Ḳároon_ went forth unto his people in his pomp, _with his many dependants mounted, adorned with garments of gold and silk, upon decked horses and mules_. Those who desired the present life said, O would that we had the like of that which hath been bestowed on Ḳároon _in this world_! Verily he is possessed of great good fortune!—But those unto whom knowledge _of what God hath promised in the world to come_ had been given, said _unto them_, Woe to you! The reward of God _in the world to come_ (_which is Paradise_) is better for him who believeth and worketh righteousness _than that which hath been bestowed on Ḳároon in the present world_; and none shall receive it but the patient _in the service of God_. And We caused the earth to cleave asunder and swallow up him and his mansion,[302] and he had no forces to defend him, in the place of God, nor was he of the [number of the] saved. And the next morning, those who had wished for his place the day before said, Aha! God enlargeth provision unto whom He pleaseth of His servants, and is sparing _of it unto whom He pleaseth!_ Had not God been gracious unto us, He had caused [the earth] to cleave asunder and swallow up us! Aha! the ungrateful _for His benefits_ do not prosper!

(xxviii. 76-82.)

_Remember_, [O children of Israel,] when Moses said unto his people (_when one of them had been slain, whose murderer was not known, and they asked him to beg God that He would discover him to them, wherefore he supplicated Him_), Verily God commandeth you to sacrifice a cow. They said, Dost thou make a jest of us? He said, I beg God to preserve me from being _one_ of the foolish. _So when they knew that he decidedly intended_ [what he had ordered], they said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what she is; _that is, what is her age_. _Moses_ replied, He saith, She is a cow neither old nor young; _but_ of a middle age, between those _two_: therefore do as ye are commanded. They said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what is her colour. He replied, He saith, She is a red[303] cow: her colour is very bright: she rejoiceth the beholders. They said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what she is, _whether she be a pasturing or a working cow_; for cows _of the description mentioned_ are to us like one another; and we, if God please, shall indeed be rightly directed _to her_. (_In a tradition it is said, Had they not said, ‘If God please,’—she had not ever been manifested to them._) He replied, He saith, She is a cow not subdued _by work_ that plougheth the ground, nor doth she water the field: [she is] free _from defects and the marks of work_; there is no colour in her different from the rest of her colour. They said, Now thou hast brought the truth. _And they sought her, and found her in the possession of the young man who acted piously towards his mother, and they bought her for as much gold as her hide would contain._[304] Then they sacrificed her; but they were near to leaving it undone, on _account of the greatness of her price_. (_And in a tradition it is said, Had they sacrificed any cow whatever, He had satisfied them: but they acted hardly towards themselves; so God acted hardly towards them._) And when ye slew a soul, and contended together respecting it, (and God brought forth [to light] that which ye did conceal—_this is the beginning of the story_ [and was the occasion of the order to sacrifice this particular cow,]) We said, Strike him (_that is, the slain person_) with part of her. _So he was struck with her tongue, or the root of her tail, or, as some say, with her right thigh; whereupon he came to life, and said, Such-a-one and such-a-one slew me,—to the two sons of his uncle. And he died. They two_ [the murderers] _were therefore deprived of the inheritance, and were slain._[305] Thus God raiseth to life the dead, and showeth you His signs (_the proof of His power_), that peradventure ye may understand, _and know that He who is able to raise to life one soul is able to raise to life many souls._ Then your hearts became hard, _O ye Jews, so as not to accept the truth_, after that, and they [were] as stones, or more hard: for of stones there are indeed some from which rivers gush forth; and of them there are indeed some that cleave asunder and water issueth from them; and of them there are indeed some that fall down through fear of God; _whereas your hearts are not impressed, nor do they grow soft, nor do they become humble._ But God is not heedless of that which ye do: _He only reserveth you unto your time._

(ii. 63-69.)

_Remember_ when Moses said to his young man _Joshua the son of Nun, who served him and acquired knowledge from him_, I will not cease _to go forward_ until I reach the place where the two seas (_the Sea of Greece and the Sea of Persia_) meet, or travel for a long space of time. And when they reached the place where they (_the two seas_) met they forgot their fish: _Joshua forgot to take it up, on their departure; and Moses forgot to remind him_; and it made its way in the sea by a hollow passage, _God withholding the water from it_. And when they had passed beyond _that place, and proceeded until the time of the morning-meal on the following day_, [Moses] said unto his young man, Bring us our morning-meal: we have experienced fatigue from this our journey. He replied, What thinkest thou? When we repaired to the rock to rest _at that place_, I forgot the fish, and none made me forget to mention it but the devil; and it made its way in the sea in a wonderful manner.—_Moses_ said, That (_namely our loss of the fish_) is what we were desiring; _for it is a sign unto us of our finding him whom we seek_. And they returned by the way that they had come, following the footsteps, _and came to the rock_. And they found one of Our servants (_namely El-Khiḍr_[306]) unto whom We had granted mercy from Us (_that is the gift of prophecy in the opinion of some, and the rank of a saint according to another opinion which most of the learned hold_), and whom We had taught knowledge from Us respecting things unseen.—_El-Bukháree hath related a tradition stating that Moses performed the office of a preacher among the children of Israel, and was asked who was the most knowing of men; to which he answered, I:—whereupon God blamed him for this, because he did not refer the knowledge thereof to Him. And God said unto him by revelation, Verily I have a servant at the place where the two seas meet, and he is more knowing than thou. Moses said, O my Lord, and how shall I meet with him? He answered, Thou shalt take with thee a fish, and put it into a measuring-vessel, and where thou shalt lose the fish, there is he. So he took a fish, and put it into a vessel. Then he departed, and Joshua the son of Nun departed with him, until they came to the rock, where they laid down their heads and slept. And the fish became agitated in the vessel, and escaped from it, and fell into the sea, and it made its way in the sea by a hollow passage, God withholding the water from the fish so that it became like a vault over it: and when Moses’ companion awoke, he forgot to inform him of the fish._

Moses said unto him [namely El-Khiḍr], Shall I follow thee, that thou mayest teach me [part] of that which thou hast been taught, for a direction _unto me_? He answered, Verily thou canst not have patience with me. For how canst thou be patient with respect to that whereof thou comprehendest not the knowledge?—He replied, Thou shalt find me, if God please, patient; and I will not disobey any command of thine. He said, Then if thou follow me, ask me not respecting anything: _but be patient_ until I give thee an account thereof. _And Moses assented to his condition._ And they departed, _walking along the shore of the sea_, until, when they embarked in the ship _that passed by them_, he (El-Khiḍr) made a hole in it, _by pulling out a plank or two planks from it on the outside by means of an axe when it reached the middle of the sea. Moses_ said _unto him_, Hast thou made a hole in it that thou mayest drown its people? Thou hast done a grievous thing.—(_But it is related that the water entered not the hole._) He replied, Did I not say that thou couldst not have patience with me? [Moses] said, Chastise me not for my forgetfulness, nor impose on me a difficulty in my case.—And they departed, _after they had gone forth from the vessel_, _walking on_, until, when they found a boy _who had not attained the age of knowing right and wrong, playing with other children, and he was the most beautiful of them in countenance_, and he (_El-Khiḍr_) slew him, _Moses_ said _unto him_, Hast thou slain an innocent soul, without _his having slain_ a soul? Thou hast done an iniquitous thing.—He replied, Did I not say that thou couldst not have patience with me? [Moses] said, If I ask thee concerning anything after this _time_, suffer me not to accompany thee. Now hast thou received from me an excuse _for thy separating thyself from me_.—And they departed [and proceeded] until, when they came to the people of a city (_which was Antioch[307]_), they asked food of its people; but they refused to entertain them: and they found therein a wall, _the height whereof was a hundred cubits_, which was about to fall down; whereupon he (_El-Khiḍr_) set it upright _with his hand_. _Moses_ said _unto him_, If thou wouldst, thou mightest have obtained pay for it, _since they did not entertain us, notwithstanding our want of food_. _El-Khiḍr_ said _unto him_, This shall be a separation between me and thee; _but before my separation from thee_, I will declare unto thee the interpretation of that which thou couldst not bear with patience.

As to the vessel, it belonged to _ten_ poor men,[308] who pursued their business on the sea; and I desired to render it unsound; for there was behind them a king, _an unbeliever_, who took every _sound_ vessel by force. And as to the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared that he would transgress against them rebelliously and impiously: _for, according to a tradition related by Muslim, he was constituted by nature an unbeliever, and had he lived he had so acted_; wherefore we desired that their Lord should create for them a better than he in virtue, and [one] more disposed than he to filial piety. _And God created for them a daughter, who married a prophet, and gave birth to a prophet, by means of whom God directed a people to the right way_. And as to the wall, it belonged to two orphan youths in the city, and beneath it was a treasure _buried_, _of gold and silver_, belonging to them; and their father was a righteous man; and thy Lord desired that they should attain their age of strength and take forth their treasure through the mercy of thy Lord. And I did it not (_namely what hath been mentioned_) of mine own will, _but by direction of God_. This is the interpretation of that which thou couldst not bear with patience.

(Chap. xviii. 59-81.)

SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON.

Hast thou not considered the assembly of the children of Israel after _the death of_ Moses, when they said unto a prophet of theirs, _namely Samuel_, Set up for us a king, _under whom_ we will fight in the way of God? He said _unto them_, If fighting be prescribed as incumbent on you, will ye, peradventure, abstain from fighting? They replied, And wherefore should we not fight in the way of God, since we have been expelled from our habitations and our children _by their having been taken prisoners and slain?_—_The people of Goliath_ [Jáloot] _had done thus unto them_.—But when fighting was commanded them, they turned back, excepting a few of them, _who crossed the river with Saul_ [Ṭáloot], _as will be related_. And God knoweth the offenders. _And the prophet begged his Lord to send a king; whereupon he consented to send Saul._ And their prophet said unto them, Verily God hath set up Saul as your king. They said, How shall he have the dominion over us, when we are more worthy of the dominion than he, (_for he was not of the royal lineage, nor of the prophetic, and he was a tanner, or a tender of flocks or herds,_) and he hath not been endowed with ample wealth? He replied, Verily God hath chosen him _as king_ over you, and increased him in largeness of knowledge and of body, (_for he was the wisest of the children of Israel at that time, and the most comely of them, and the most perfect of them in make,_) and God giveth his kingdom unto whom He pleaseth; and God is ample _in His beneficence_, knowing _with respect to him who is worthy of the kingdom_.—And their prophet said unto them, _when they demanded of him a sign in proof of his kingship_, Verily the sign of his kingship shall be that the ark shall come unto you (_in it were the images of the prophets: God sent it down unto Adam, and it passed into their possession; but the Amalekites took it from them by force: and they used to seek victory thereby over their enemy, and to advance it in the fight, and to trust in it, as He—whose name be exalted!—hath said_); therein [shall be] tranquillity from your Lord,[309] and relics of what the family of Moses and the family of Aaron have left: _namely, the two shoes (or sandals) of Moses, and his rod, and the turban of Aaron, and a measure of the manna that used to descend upon them, and the fragments of the tables_ [of the Law]: the angels shall bear it. Verily in this shall be a sign unto you _of his kingship_, if ye be believers. _Accordingly the angels bore it between heaven and earth, while they looked at it, until they placed it by Saul; whereupon they acknowledged his kingship, and hastened to the holy war; and he chose of their young men seventy thousand._

And when Saul went forth with the troops _from Jerusalem, and it was violently hot weather, and they demanded of him water_, he said, Verily God will try you by a river, _that the obedient among you, and the disobedient, may appear_, (_and it was between the Jordan and Palestine_,) and whoso drinketh thereof, he is not of my party (but he who tasteth not thereof, he is of my party), excepting him who taketh forth a draught in his hand, _and is satisfied therewith, not adding to it; for he is of my party_;—then they drank thereof abundantly, excepting a few of them, _who were content only with the handful of water. It is related that it sufficed them for their own drinking and for their beasts, and they were three hundred, and somewhat more than ten._ And when he had passed over it, he and those who believed with him, they (_that is, those who had drunk_ [plentifully]) said, We have no power to-day _to contend_ against Goliath and his troops. _And they were cowardly, and passed not over it._ They [however] who held it as certain that they should meet God _at the resurrection_ (_and they were those who had passed over it_) said, How many a small body of men hath overcome a great body by the permission (_or will_) of God! And God is with the patient, _to defend and aid_.—And when they went forth to battle against Goliath and his troops, they said, O our Lord, pour upon us patience, and make firm our feet, _by strengthening our hearts for the holy war_, and help us against the unbelieving people!—And they routed them by the permission (_or will_) of God, and David [Dáwood, vulg. Dáood], _who was in the army of Saul_, slew Goliath. And God gave him (_David_) the kingship _over the children of Israel_, and wisdom (_that is prophecy_), _after the death of Samuel and Saul, and they_ [namely these two gifts] _had not been given together to any one before him_; and He taught him what He pleased,[310] _as the art of making coats of mail, and the language of birds_. And were it not for God’s repelling men, one by another, surely the earth had become corrupt _by the predominance of the polytheists and the slaughter of the Muslims and the ruin of the places of worship_: but God is beneficent to the peoples, _and hath repelled some by others_.

(ii. 247-252.)

Hath the story of the two opposing parties come unto thee, _O Moḥammad_, when they ascended over the walls of the oratory of _David, having been prevented going in unto him by the door, because of his being engaged in devotion?_ When they went in unto David, and he was frightened at them, they said, Fear not: _we are_ two opposing parties. _It is said that they were two parties of more than one each; and it is said that they were two individuals, angels, who came as two litigants, to admonish David, who had ninety-nine wives, and had desired the wife of a person who had none but her, and married her and taken her as his wife._[311] [One of them said,] One of us hath wronged the other; therefore judge between us with truth, and be not unjust, but direct us into the right way. Verily this my brother _in religion_ had nine-and-ninety ewes, and I had one ewe; and he said, Make me her keeper. And he overcame me in the dispute.—_And the other confessed him to have spoken truth._—[David] said, Verily he hath wronged thee in demanding thy ewe _to add her_ to his ewes; and verily many associates wrong one another, except those who believe and do righteous deeds: and few indeed are they.—_And the two angels said, ascending in their_ [proper or assumed] _forms to heaven, The man hath passed sentence against himself. So David was admonished._ And David perceived that We had tried him _by his love of that woman_; wherefore he asked pardon of his Lord, and fell down bowing himself (_or prostrating himself_), and repented. So We forgave him that; and verily for him [was ordained] a high rank with Us (_that is, an increase of good fortune in this world_), and [there shall be for him] an excellent retreat _in the world to come_.

(xxxviii. 20-24.)

We compelled the mountains to glorify Us, with David, and the birds _also, on his commanding them to do so, when he experienced languor_; and We did _this_. And We taught him the art of making coats of mail (_for before his time plates of metal were used_) for you _among mankind in general_, that they might defend you from your suffering _in warring with your enemies_.—Will ye then, _O people of Mekkeh_, be thankful _for My favours, believing the apostles_?—And _We subjected_ unto Solomon [Suleymán] the wind, blowing strongly, _and being light at his desire_, which ran at his command[312] to the land that We blessed (_namely Syria_);[313] and We knew all things (_knowing that what We gave him would stimulate him to be submissive to his Lord_). And _We subjected_, of the devils, those who should dive for him _in the sea and bring forth from it jewels for him_, and do other work besides that; _that is, building, and performing other services_; and We watched over them, _that they might not spoil what they executed; for they used, when they had finished a work before night, to spoil it, if they were not employed in something else_.

(xxi. 79-82.)

We gave unto David Solomon _his son_. How excellent a servant _was he_! For he was one who earnestly turned himself unto God, _glorifying and praising Him at all times_. [Remember] when, in the latter part of the day, _after the commencement of the declining of the sun_, the _mares_ standing on three feet and touching the ground with the edge of the fourth foot, swift in the course, were displayed before him. _They were a thousand mares, which were displayed before him after he had performed the noon-prayers, on the occasion of his desiring to make use of them in a holy war; and when nine hundred of them had been displayed, the sun set, and he had not performed the afternoon-prayers. So he was grieved_, and he said, Verily I have preferred the love of [earthly] goods above the remembrance of my Lord, (_that is, the performance of the afternoon-prayers_,) so that _the sun_ is concealed by the veil. Bring them (_namely the horses_) back unto me. _Therefore they brought them back._ And he began to sever _with his sword_ the legs and the necks, _slaughtering them, and_ [then] _cutting off their legs, as a sacrifice unto God, and gave their flesh in alms; and God gave him in compensation what was better than they were and swifter, namely the wind, which travelled by his command whithersoever he desired._—And We tried Solomon _by depriving him of his kingdom. This was because he married a woman of whom he became enamoured, and she used to worship an idol in his palace without his knowledge. His dominion was in his signet; and he pulled it off once and deposited it with his wife, who was named El-Emeeneh; and a jinnee came unto her in the form of Solomon, and took it from her._ And We placed upon his throne a [counterfeit] body; _namely that jinnee, who was Ṣakhr, or another. He sat upon the throne of Solomon, and the birds and other creatures surrounded him; and Solomon went forth, with a changed appearance, and saw him upon his throne, and said unto the people, I am Solomon:—but they denied him._ Then he returned _unto his kingdom, after some days, having obtained the signet and put it on, and seated himself upon his throne._[314] He said, O my Lord, forgive me, and give me a dominion that may not be to any one after me (_or beside me_); for Thou art the Liberal Giver. So We subjected unto him the wind, which ran gently at his command whithersoever he desired; and the devils [also], every builder _of wonderful structures_, and diver _that brought up pearls from the sea_, and others bound in chains _which connected their hands to their necks. And We said unto him_, This is Our gift, and bestow thou _thereof upon whomsoever thou wilt_, or refrain _from bestowing_, without _rendering_ an account. And verily for him [was ordained] a high rank with Us, and an excellent retreat.

(xxxviii. 29-39.)