Part 21

[212] Some tell us that Nimrod, on seeing this miraculous deliverance from his palace, cried out that he would make an offering to the God of Abraham; and that he accordingly sacrificed four thousand kine. [B.] But, if he ever relented, he soon relapsed into his former infidelity: for he built a tower that he might ascend to heaven to see Abraham’s God; which being overthrown [Ḳur. xvi. 28], still persisting in his design, he would be carried to heaven in a chest borne by four monstrous birds; but after wandering for some time through the air, he fell down on a mountain with such force that he made it shake, whereto (as some fancy) a passage in the Ḳur-án [xiv. 47] alludes, which may be translated, ‘although their contrivances be such as to make the mountains tremble.’—Nimrod, disappointed in his design of making war with God, turned his arms against Abraham, who, being a great prince, raised forces to defend himself; but God, dividing Nimrod’s subjects, and confounding their language, deprived him of the greater part of his people, and plagued those who adhered to him by swarms of gnats, which destroyed almost all of them; and one of those gnats having entered into the nostril, or ear, of Nimrod, penetrated to one of the membranes of his brain, where, growing bigger every day, it gave him such intolerable pain, that he was obliged to cause his head to be beaten with a mallet, in order to procure some ease, which torture he suffered four hundred years; God being willing to punish, by one of the smallest of His creatures, him who insolently boasted himself to be lord of all. A Syrian calendar places the death of Nimrod, as if the time were well known, on the eighth of Tamooz, or July.—S.

[213] They tell us that Gabriel thrust his wing under them and lifted them up so high that the inhabitants of the lower heaven heard the barking of the dogs and the crowing of the cocks; and then, inverting them, threw them down to the earth.—S. (B.)

[214] It is the most received opinion among the Moḥammadans that the son whom Abraham offered was Ishmael and not Isaac; Ishmael being his only son at that time: for the promise of Isaac’s birth is mentioned lower, as subsequent in time to this transaction. They also allege the testimony of their prophet, who is reported to have said, ‘I am the son of the two who were offered in sacrifice;’ meaning his great ancestor, Ishmael, and his own father ´Abd-Allah: for ´Abd-el-Muṭṭalib had made a vow that if God would permit him to find out and open the well Zemzem and should give him ten sons he would sacrifice one of them; accordingly, when he had obtained his desire in both respects, he cast lots on his sons, and the lot falling on ´Abd-Allah, he redeemed him by offering a hundred camels, which was therefore ordered to be the price of a man’s blood in the Sunneh.—S. (B., Z.)

[215] The occasion of this request of Abraham is said to have been a doubt proposed to him by the devil in human form, how it was possible for the several parts of a corpse of a man which lay on the sea-shore and had been partly devoured by the wild beasts, the birds, and the fish, to be brought together at the resurrection.—S.

[216] In the original, ‘Imám,’ which answers to the Latin _Antistes_. This title the Moḥammadans give to their priests [if such a title may be used, for want of one more correct] who begin the prayers in their mosques, and whom all the congregation follow.—S.

[217] The term ‘rek´ah’ signifies the repetition of a set form of words, chiefly from the Ḳur-án, and ejaculations of ‘God is most Great!’ etc., accompanied by particular postures; part of the words being repeated in an erect posture, part sitting, and part in other postures: an inclination of the head and body, followed by two prostrations, distinguishing each rek´ah. Each of the five daily prayers of the Muslims consist of a certain number of rek´ahs.

[218] The city of Eṭ-Ṭáïf was so called, according to Abu-l-Fida and several other Arab authors, because it, with the adjacent fields, was separated from Syria during the Deluge, and after floating round about upon the water at length rested in its present situation, where its soil has continued to produce the fruits of Syria.

[219] Namely, the Kaạbeh.

[220] In the original, ‘Muslims,’ which is the peculiar and very appropriate title of the believers in the religion taught by Moḥammad; and as he professed not to teach a religion essentially _new_, this title is given to all true believers before him.

[221] ‘El-Islam’ signifies the _resigning_ oneself to God and to His service, and is the name given by Moḥammad to that religion which, he asserted, all the prophets before him had taught, and he restored; the foundation of which was the unity of God.

[222] This well, say some, was a certain well near Jerusalem, or not far from the river Jordan; but others call it the well of Egypt, or Midian. The commentators tell us that when the sons of Jacob had gotten Joseph with them in the field, they began to abuse and to beat him so unmercifully that they had killed him had not Judah on his crying out for help insisted on the promise they had made not to kill him but to cast him into the well. Whereupon they let him down a little way; but as he held by the sides of the well, they bound him, and took off his inner garment, designing to stain it with blood to deceive their father. Joseph begged hard to have his garment returned to him, but to no purpose, his brothers telling him, with a sneer, that the eleven stars and the sun and the moon might clothe him and keep him company.—S. (B., Z.)

[223] The commentators pretend that Gabriel also clothed him in the well with a garment of silk of Paradise. For they say that when Abraham was thrown into the fire by Nimrod, he was stripped; and that Gabriel brought him this garment and put it on him; and that from Abraham it descended to Jacob, who folded it up and put it into an amulet, which he hung about Joseph’s neck, whence Gabriel drew it out.—S. (B., Z.)

[224] These races they used by way of exercise; and the commentators generally understand here that kind of race wherein they also showed their dexterity in throwing darts, which is still used in the East.—S.

[225] This Jacob had reason to suspect, because when the garment was brought to him, he observed that, though it was bloody, yet it was not torn.—S. (B.)

[226] Three days after Joseph had been thrown into it.—S.

[227] The commentators are so exact as to give us the name of this man, who as they pretend, was Málik Ibn-Doạr, of the tribe of Khuzá´ah.—S. (B.)

[228] The expositors are not agreed whether the pronoun _they_ relates to Málik and his companions, or to Joseph’s brethren. They who espouse the former opinion say that those who came to draw water concealed the manner of their coming by him from the rest of the caravan, that they might keep him to themselves; pretending that some people of the place had given him to them to sell for them in Egypt. And they who prefer the latter opinion tell us that Judah carried victuals to Joseph every day while he was in the well; but not finding him there on the fourth day, he acquainted his brothers with it: whereupon they all went to the caravan and claimed Joseph as their slave, he not daring to discover that he was their brother, lest something worse should befall him; and at length they agreed to sell him to them.—S. (B.)

[229] A corruption of Potiphar. He was a man of great consideration, being superintendent of the royal treasury.—S. (B.)

[230] That is, to Ḳiṭfeer and his friends. The occasion of Joseph’s imprisonment is said to be either that they suspected him to be guilty notwithstanding the proofs which had been given of his innocence, or else that Zeleekha desired it, feigning, to deceive her husband, that she wanted to have Joseph removed from her sight till she could conquer her passion by time; though her real design was to force him to compliance.—S.

[231] According to the explication of some who take the pronoun _him_ to relate to Joseph, this passage may be rendered, ‘But the devil caused him (_i.e._, Joseph) to forget to make his application unto his lord;’ and to beg the good offices of his fellow-prisoner for his deliverance, instead of relying on God alone, as it became a prophet, especially, to have done.—S. (B.)

[232] This prince, as the Oriental writers generally agree, was Er-Reiyán the son of El-Weleed the Amalekite, who was converted by Joseph to the worship of the true God, and died in the lifetime of that prophet. But some pretend that the Pharaoh of Joseph and of Moses were one and the same person, and that he lived (or rather reigned) four hundred years.—S. (B.)

[233] The commentators say that Joseph, being taken out of prison, after he had washed and changed his clothes, was introduced to the king, whom he saluted in the Hebrew tongue, and on the king’s asking what language that was, he answered that it was the language of his fathers. This prince, they say, understood no less than seventy languages, in every one of which he discoursed with Joseph, who answered him in the same; at which the king, greatly marvelling, desired him to relate his dream, which he did, describing the most minute circumstances: whereupon the king placed Joseph by him on his throne, and made him his Wezeer, or chief minister.—S. (B.)

[234] Namely, Ephraim and Manasses: so that according to this tradition, she was the same woman who is called Asenath by ‘Moses.’ This supposed marriage, which authorized their amours, probably encouraged the Moḥammadan divines to make use of the loves of Joseph and Zeleekha as an allegorical emblem of the spiritual love between the Creator and the creature, God and the soul; just as the Christians apply the Song of Solomon to the same mystical purpose.—S.

[235] Joseph, being made Wezeer, governed with great wisdom; for he not only caused justice to be impartially administered and encouraged the people to industry and the improvement of agriculture during the seven years of plenty, but began and perfected several works of great benefit; the natives at this day ascribing to the patriarch Joseph almost all the ancient works of public utility throughout the kingdom; as particularly the rendering the province of El-Feiyoom, from a standing pool or marsh, the most fertile and best-cultivated land in all Egypt. When the years of famine came, the effects of which were felt not only in Egypt but in Syria and the neighbouring countries, the inhabitants were obliged to apply to Joseph for corn, which he sold to them, first for their money, jewels, and ornaments, then for their cattle and lands, and at length for their persons; so that all the Egyptians in general became slaves to the king, though Joseph by his consent soon released them and returned them their substance.—S. (B.)

[236] At length Joseph asked them whom they had to vouch for their veracity; but they told him they knew no man who could vouch for them in Egypt. Then, replied he, one of you shall stay behind with me as a pledge, and the others may return home with their provision; and when ye come again, ye shall bring your younger brother with you, that I may know ye have told me the truth. Whereupon, it being in vain to dispute the matter, they cast lots who should stay behind, and the lot fell upon Simeon. When they departed, Joseph gave each of them a camel, and another for their brother.—S. (B.)

[237] The original word signifying not only money but also goods bartered or given in exchange for other merchandise, some commentators tell us that they paid for their corn, not in money, but in shoes and dressed skins.—S. (B.)

[238] The belief in the influence of the evil eye prevails among all the Muslims, even the most religious and learned; for their prophet said, ‘The eye hath a complete influence; because verily, if there were a thing to overcome fate, it most certainly would be a malignant eye.’ Hence he permitted charms (which he disallowed in almost every other case) to be employed for the purpose of counteracting its influence.

[239] It is related that Joseph, having invited his brethren to an entertainment, ordered them to be placed two and two together; by which means, Benjamin, the eleventh, was obliged to sit alone, and, bursting into tears, said, If my brother Joseph were alive, he would have sat with me. Whereupon Joseph ordered him to be seated at the same table with himself, and when the entertainment was over, dismissed the rest, ordering that they should be lodged two and two in a house, but kept Benjamin in his own apartment, where he passed the night. The next day, Joseph asked him whether he would accept of himself for his brother, in the room of him whom he had lost; to which Benjamin replied, ‘Who can find a brother comparable unto thee? Yet thou art not the son of Jacob and Rachel.’ And upon this, Joseph discovered himself to him.—S. (B.).

[240] Some, however, are of opinion that it was a drinking-cup.

[241] The occasion of this suspicion, it is said, was that Joseph having been brought up by his father’s sister, she became so fond of him, that when he grew up and Jacob designed to take him from her she contrived the following stratagem to keep him. Having a girdle which had once belonged to Abraham, she girt it about the child, and then pretending she had lost it, caused strict search to be made for it; and it being at length found on Joseph, he was adjudged, according to the above-mentioned law of the family, to be delivered to her as her property. Some, however, say that Joseph actually stole an idol of gold, which belonged to his mother’s father, and destroyed it; a story probably taken from Rachel’s stealing the images of Laban: and others tell us that he once stole a goat or a hen, to give to a poor man.—S.

[242] Miṣr is the name both of Egypt and its capital.

[243] The injury they did Benjamin was the separating him from his brother, after which they kept him in so great subjection that he durst not speak to them but with the utmost submission. Some say that these words were occasioned by a letter which Joseph’s brethren delivered to him from their father, requesting the releasement of Benjamin, and by their representing his extreme affliction at the loss of him and his brother. The commentators observe that Joseph, to excuse his brethren’s behaviour towards him, attributes it to their ignorance and the heat of youth.—S. (B.)

[244] The frontier town of Egypt towards Syria.

[245] El-Beyḍáwee tell us that Joseph sent carriages and provisions for his father and his family; and that he and the king of Egypt went forth to meet them. He adds that the number of the children of Israel who entered Egypt with him was seventy-two; and that when they were led out thence by Moses, they were increased to six hundred thousand five hundred and seventy men, and upwards, besides the old people and children.—S.

[246] A transposition is supposed to be in these words:—he seated his father and mother after they had bowed down to him, and not before.—S. (B.)

[247] 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.—S. (B.)

[248] The Moḥammadan writers tell us that Job was of the race of Esau, and was blessed with a numerous family and abundant riches; but that God proved him by taking away all that he had, even his children, who were killed by the fall of a house; notwithstanding which he continued to serve God and to return Him thanks as usual; that he was then struck with a filthy disease, his body being full of worms and so offensive that as he lay on the dunghill none could bear to come near him: that his wife, however (whom some call Raḥmeh the daughter of Ephraim the son of Joseph, and others Makhir the daughter of Manasses), attended him with great patience, supporting him with what she earned by her labour; but that the devil appearing to her one day, after having reminded her of her past prosperity, promised her that if she would worship him, he would restore all they had lost; whereupon she asked her husband’s consent, who was so angry at the proposal, that he swore, if he recovered, to give his wife a hundred stripes.—S. (B., J., A.F.)

[249] Some say there were two springs, one of hot water wherein he bathed, and the other of cold of which he drank.—S. (B.)

[250] His wife also becoming young and handsome again, and bearing him twenty-six sons. Some, to express the great riches which were bestowed on Job after his sufferings, say he had two threshing-floors, one for wheat and the other for barley, and that God sent two clouds, which rained gold on the one and silver on the other till they ran over.—(J.) The traditions differ as to the continuance of Job’s calamities: one will have it to be eighteen years; another, thirteen; another, three; and another, exactly seven years seven months and seven hours.—S.

[251] Or ‘a palm-branch having a hundred leaves.’—S.

[252] But see note 1 (248).

[253] The commentators generally suppose him to be the same person with the father-in-law of Moses, who is named in Scripture Reuel or Raguel, and Jethro. But Aḥmad Ibn-´Abd-El-Ḥaleem charges those who entertain this opinion with ignorance. They say (after the Jews) that he gave his son-in-law [Moses] that wonder-working rod with which he performed all those miracles in Egypt and the Desert, and also excellent advice and instructions; whence he had the surname of ‘Khaṭeeb-el-Ambiya,’ or ‘the Preacher to the Prophets.’—S.

[254] The Arabic word ‘ḍa´eef’ (weak) signifying also in the Ḥimyaritic dialect ‘blind,’ some suppose that Sho´eyb was so, and that the Midianites objected that to him as a defect which disqualified him for the prophetic office.—S.

[255] Which of the kings of Egypt this Pharaoh of Moses was is uncertain. Not to mention the opinions of the European writers, those of the East generally suppose him to have been El-Weleed, who according to some was an Arab of the tribe of ´Ád, or according to others the son of Muṣ´ab the son of Er-Reiyán the son of El-Weleed the Amalekite. There are historians, however, who suppose Ḳáboos the brother and predecessor of El-Weleed was the prince we are speaking of, and pretend he lived six hundred and twenty years and reigned four hundred. Which is more reasonable, at least, than the opinion of those who imagine it was his father Muṣ´ab or grandfather Er-Reiyán. Abu-l-Fida says the Muṣ´ab, being one hundred and seventy years old and having no child, while he kept the herds saw a cow calve, and heard her say at the same time, ‘O Muṣ´ab, be not grieved, for thou shalt have a wicked son, who will be at length cast into hell.’ And he accordingly had this Weleed, who afterwards coming to be king of Egypt proved an impious tyrant.—S. (A.F., Z.)

[256] This name is given to Pharaoh’s chief minister; from whence it is generally inferred that Moḥammad had been made Haman the favorite of Ahasuerus king of Persia, and who indisputably lived many years after Moses, to be that prophet’s contemporary.—S.

[257] It is related that the midwife appointed to attend the Hebrew women, terrified by a light which appeared between the eyes of Moses at his birth, and touched with an extraordinary affection for the child, did not discover him to the officers, so that his mother kept him in her house, and nursed him three months; after which it was impossible for her to conceal him any longer, the king then giving orders to make the searches more strictly.—S. (B.)

[258] The commentators say that his mother made an ark of the papyrus, and pitched it, and put in some cotton; and having laid the child therein, committed it to the river, a branch of which went into Pharaoh’s garden: that the stream carried the ark thither into a fishpond, at the head of which Pharaoh was then sitting with his wife Ásiyeh the daughter of Muzáḥem; and that the king, having commanded it to be taken up and opened, and finding in it a beautiful child, took a fancy to it, and ordered it to be brought up.—Some writers mention a miraculous preservation of Moses before he was put into the ark; and tell us, that his mother having hid him from Pharaoh’s officers in an oven, his sister, in her mother’s absence, kindled a large fire in the oven to heat it, not knowing the child was there; but that he was afterwards taken out unhurt.—S. (B., A.F.)

[259] Ḳur. xxvi. 17.

[260] This person, says the tradition, was an Egyptian and Pharaoh’s uncle’s son.—S.

[261] The Jews pretend he was actually imprisoned for the fact, and condemned to be beheaded; but that when he should have suffered his neck became as hard as ivory, and the sword rebounded on the executioner.—S.

[262] According to El-Beyḍáwee, Moses knew not the way, and, coming to a place where three roads met, committed himself to the guidance of God, and took the middle road, which was the right; Providence likewise so ordering it that his pursuers took the other two roads, and missed him.—S.

[263] This was Ṣafoora [also called Ṣafoorah and Ṣafooriya, or Zipporah, the elder, or as others suppose the younger, daughter of Sho´eyb, whom Moses afterwards married.—S.]

[264] The commentators say, that Moses, having obtained leave of Sho´eyb or Jethro, his father-in-law, to visit his mother, departed with his family from Midian towards Egypt; but coming to the valley of Ṭuwa, wherein Mount Sinai stands, his wife fell in labour and was delivered of a son in a very dark and snowy night: he had also lost his way, and his cattle were scattered from him, when on a sudden he saw a fire by the side of a mountain, which on his nearer approach he found burning in a green bush.—S. (B.)

[265] This was a mark of humility and respect: though some fancy there was some uncleanness in the shoes themselves, because they were made of the skin of an ass not dressed.—S. (B.)

[266] Which was at first no bigger than the rod, but afterwards swelled to a prodigious size.—S. (B.)

[267] When Moses saw the serpent move about with great nimbleness and swallow stones and trees, he was greatly terrified, and fled from it; but recovering his courage at these words of God, he had the boldness to take the serpent by the jaws.—S. (B.)

[268] Moses had an impediment in his speech, which was occasioned by the following accident. Pharaoh one day carrying him in his arms when a child, he suddenly laid hold of his beard and plucked it in a very rough manner, which put Pharaoh into such a passion that he ordered him to be put to death: but Ásiyeh his wife representing to him that he was but a child, who could not distinguish between a burning coal and a ruby, he ordered the experiment to be made; and a live coal and a ruby being set before Moses, he took the coal and put it into his mouth, and burnt his tongue: and thereupon he was pardoned.—This is a Jewish story a little altered.—S.

[269] For he was obliged to abandon his country and his friends, and to travel several days in great terror and want of necessary provisions to seek a refuge among strangers; and was afterwards forced to serve for hire to gain a livelihood.—S.

[270] Aaron being by this time come out to meet his brother, either by divine inspiration, or having notice of his design to return to Egypt.—S. (B.)