Chapter 103
ENTITLED, CONGEALED BLOOD; REVEALED AT MECCA.l
IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.
READ, in the name of thy LORD, who hath created all things; who hath created man of congealed blood.m Read, by thy most beneficent LORD;n who taught the use of the pen; who teacheth man that which he knoweth not. Assuredly. Verily man becometh insolent, because he seeth himself abound in riches.o Verily unto thy LORD shall be the return of all. What thinkest thou as to him who forbiddeth 10 our servant, when he prayeth?p What thinkest thou; if he follow the right direction; or command piety? What thinkest thou; if he accuse the divine revelations of falsehood, and turn his back?
h viz., The territory of Mecca.4 These words seem to argue the chapter to have been revealed there. i i.e., As the commentators generally expound this passage, We created man of comely proportion of body, and great perfection of mind; and yet we have doomed him, in case of disobedience, to be an inhabitant of hell. Some, however, understand the words of the vigorous constitution of man in the prime and strength of his age, and of his miserable decay when he becomes old and decrepit: but they seem rather to intimate the perfect state of happiness wherein man was originally created, and his fall from thence, in consequence of Adam's disobedience, to a state of misery in this world, and becoming liable to one infinitely more miserable in the next.5 k Some suppose these words directed to Mohammed, and others to man in general, by way of apostrophe. l The first five verses of this chapter, ending with the words, Who taught man that which he knew not, are generally allowed to be the first passage of the Korân which was revealed, though some give this honour to the seventy-four chapter, and others to the first, the next, they say, being the sixty-eighth. m All men being created of thick or concreted blood,6 except only Adam, Eve, and Jesus.7 n These words, containing a repetition of the command, are supposed to be a reply to Mohammed, who, in answer to the former words spoken by the angel, had declared that he could not read, being perfectly illiterate; and intimate a promise that GOD, who had inspired man with the art of writing, would graciously remedy this defect in him.8 o The commentators agree the remaining part of the chapter to have been revealed against Abu Jahl, Mohammed's great adversary. p For Abu Jahl threatened that if he caught Mohammed in the act of adoration, he would set his foot on his neck; but when he came and saw him in that posture, he suddenly turned back as in a fright, and, being asked what was the matter, said there was a ditch of fire between himself and Mohammed, and a terrible appearance of troops, to defend him.9
4 See the Prelim. Disc. Sect. IV. 5 Vide Marracc. in loc. p. 809. 6 See cap. 22, p. 250. 7 Yahya. 8 Al Beidâwi. 9 Idem.
Doth he not know that GOD seeth? Assuredly. Verily, if he forbear not, we will drag him by the forelock,q the lying, sinful forelock. And let him call his councilr to his assistance: we also will call the infernal guards to cast him into hell. Assuredly. Obey him not: but continue to adore God; and draw nigh unto him.
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