History of the World/History of the World (Bureau Development, Inc.)(1992).BIN/dp/0247/02473.txt

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$Title{Koran (Qu'ran)
[XCVII.] Part I.}
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$Author{Allah}
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Title:       Koran (Qu'ran)
Author:      Allah

[XCVII.] Part I.

Sura III. - The Family Of Imran ^2

[Footnote 2: Verses 1-87 probably belong to the period between the battle of
Bedr and Hej. 6. - Muhammad supposed Imran or Amran to be the father of the
Virgin Mary (Sura [cix.] lxvi. 12) - Mary and Elizabeth to be sisters; who,
with Jesus, John, and Zacharias, make up the family of Imran.  It is
difficult to avoid the conclusion that Muhammad is guilty of the anachronism
of confounding Miriam with the Virgin Mary.  On the other hand is the
difficulty of conceiving that as the sequence of time and fact is observed
with tolerable accuracy in regard to the main features of Jewish and
Christian History, he should have fallen into so serious an error, or have so
inadvertently adopted, as Mr. Muir supposes, the phraseology of his Jewish
informants (amongst whom the only well-known Mary (Miriam) was the daughter
of Imran and the sister of Moses) as to have overlooked the discrepancy in
their respective dates.  But it is possible that Muhammad believed, as some
Muslim writers assert, that Miriam's soul and body were miraculously
preserved till the time of Jesus in order to become Mary his mother.
Certainly the Talmudists fabled that the Angel of Death and the worm of
corruption had no power over Miriam.  Comp. Babha Bathra, 17.  Jos. Ant. iv.
4, 6.]

Medina. - 200 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

     Elif. Lam. Mim. ^3 God! there is no god but He, the Living, the Merciful!

[Footnote 3: See note, p. 32.]

     In truth hath He sent down to thee "the Book," which confirmeth those
which precede it: For He had sent down the Law, and the Evangel aforetime, as
man's Guidance; and now hath He sent down the "Illumination." ^1  (Furkan.)

[Footnote 1: See Sura xxi. 49, p. 154, n.]

     Verily for those who believe not in the signs of God, is a severe
chastisement!  And God is Mighty, the Avenger!

     God! nought that is in Earth or that is in Heaven, is hidden unto Him.
He it is who formeth you in your mothers' wombs.  There is no god but He; the
Mighty, the Wise!

     He it is who hath sent down to thee "the Book."  Some of its signs are
of themselves perspicuous; - these are the basis ^2 of the Book - and others
are figurative.  But they whose hearts are given to err, follow its figures,
craving discord, craving an interpretation; yet none knoweth its
interpretation but God.  And the stable in knowledge say, "We believe in it:
it is all from our Lord."  But none will bear this in mind, save men endued
with understanding.

[Footnote 2: Lit. mother.]

     O our Lord! suffer not our hearts to go astray after that thou hast once
guided us, and give us mercy from before thee; for verily thou art He who
giveth.

     O our Lord!  For the day of whose coming there is not a doubt, thou wilt
surely gather mankind together.  Verily, God will not fail the promise.

     As for the infidels, their wealth, and their children, shall avail them
nothing against God.  They shall be fuel for the fire.

     After the wont of the people of Pharaoh, and of those who went before
them, they treated our signs as falsehoods.  Therefore God laid hold of them
in their sins; and God is severe in punishing!

     Say to the infidels: ye shall be worsted, and to Hell shall ye be
gathered together; and wretched the couch!

     Ye have already had a sign ^3 in the meeting of the two hosts.  The one
host fought in the cause of God, and the other was infidel.  To their own
eyesight, the infidels saw you twice as many as themselves: And God aided
with his succour whom He would: And in this truly was a lesson for men endued
with discernment.

[Footnote 3: In the battle of Bedr, Muhammad, with 319 followers routed 1000
Meccans, A.H. 2.]

     Fair-seeming to men is the love of pleasures from women and children,
and the treasured treasures of gold and silver, and horses of mark, and
flocks, and cornfields!  Such the enjoyment of this world's life.  But God!
goodly the home with Him.

     Say: Shall I tell you of better things than these, prepared for those
who fear God, in His presence?  Theirs shall be gardens, beneath whose
pavilions the rivers flow, and in which shall they abide for aye: and wives
of stainless purity, and acceptance with God: for God regardeth his
servants -

     Who say, "O our Lord! we have indeed believed; pardon us our sins, and
keep us from the torment of the fire;" -

     The patient, and the truthful, the lowly, and the charitable, and they
who seek pardon at each daybreak.

     God witnesseth that there is no god but He: and the angels, and men
endued with knowledge, stablished in righteousness, proclaim "There is no god
but He, the Mighty, the Wise!"

     The true religion with God is Islam: and they to whom the Scriptures had
been given, differed not till after "the knowledge" ^1 had come to them, and
through mutual jealousy.  But as for him who shall not believe in the signs
of God - God will be prompt to reckon with him!

[Footnote 1: That is, knowledge, or revelation, became the cause of
disputings.]

     If they shall dispute with thee, then say: I have surrendered myself to
God, as have they who follow me.

     Say to those who have received the Book, and to the common folk, Do ye
surrender yourselves unto God? ^2  If they become Muslims, then are they
guided aright: but if they turn away - thy duty is only preaching; and God's
eye is on His servants.

[Footnote 2: That is, will ye receive Islam?  The Ummiin, or common folk, the
heathen Arabians destitute of Revelation.  In the earliest extant biography
of Muhammad by Ibn Ishaq, we find these words addressed by Zaid, previous to
the assumption of the prophetic office by Muhammad, to the Koreisch.  This is
one of the facts which shew that the way was to a great extent prepared for
Islam.  This whole address of Zaid's - which contains not less than six
passages afterwards repeated in the Koran - may be seen in Dr. Sprenger's
Life of M. p. 42.  The instances of others who had learned to disbelieve in
idolatry, and had either become Jews or Christians, or held their minds in
suspense, might easily be multiplied Comp. Sharastani, p. 437.  Masudi, ch.
6.]

     But to those who believe not in the signs of God, and unjustly slay the
prophets, and slay those men who enjoin uprightness, - announce an afflictive
chastisement.

     These are they whose works come to nought in this world, and in the
next; and none shall they have to help them!

     Hast thou not marked those who have received a portion of the
Scriptures, when they are summoned to the Book of God, that it may settle
their differences?  Then did a part of them turn back, and withdrew far off.

     This - because they said, "The fire shall by no means touch us, but for
certain days:" - Their own devices have deceived them in their religion.

     But how, when we shall assemble them together for the day of (which)
whose coming there is no doubt, and when every soul shall be paid what it
hath earned, and they shall not be wronged?

     Say: O God, possessor of all power, ^1 thou givest power to whom thou
wilt, and from whom thou wilt, thou takest it away!  Thou raisest up whom
thou wilt, and whom thou wilt thou dost abase!  In thy hand is good; for thou
art over all things potent.

[Footnote 1: The King of the Kingdom, or, Lord of Might.  This verse and the
following are either fragments  of some lost Sura, or belonging to one of the
Meccan Suras.  At any rate, they are misplaced, interrupting as they do the
connection of the preceding and subsequent verses.]

     Thou causest the night to pass into the day, and thou causest the day to
pass into the night.  Thou bringest the living out of the dead, and thou
bringest the dead out of the living; and thou givest sustenance to whom thou
wilt, without measure.

     Let not believers take infidels for their friends rather than believers:
whoso shall do this hath nothing to hope from God - unless, indeed, ye fear a
fear from them: But God would have you beware of Himself; for to God ye
return.  Say: Whether ye hide what is in your breasts, or whether ye publish
it abroad, God knoweth it: He knoweth what is in the heavens and what is in
the earth; and over all things is God potent.

     On that day shall every soul find present to it, whatever it hath
wrought of good: and as to what it hath wrought of evil, it will wish that
wide were the space between itself and it!  But God would have you beware of
Himself; for God is kind to His servants.

     Say: If ye love God, then follow me: God will love you, and forgive your
sins, for God is Forgiving, Merciful.  Say: Obey God and the Apostle; but if
ye turn away, then verily, God loveth not the unbelievers.

     Verily above all human beings did God choose Adam, and Noah, and the
family of Abraham, and the family of Imran, the one the posterity of the
other: And God Heareth, Knoweth.

     Remember when the wife of Imran ^1 said, "O my Lord!  I vow to thee what
is in my womb, for thy special service.  Accept it from me, for thou Hearest,
Knowest!"  And when she had given birth to it, she said, "O my Lord!  Verily
I have brought forth a female," - God knew what she had brought forth; a male
is not as a female ^2 - "and I have named her Mary, and I take refuge with
thee for her and for her offspring, from Satan the stoned." ^3

[Footnote 1: The wife of Imran is Hannah or Anne.  Comp. Protev. Jac. iv.. -
Evang. de Nat. Mar. 1: Voverunt tamen (Mariae parentes) si forte donaret eis
Deus sobolem, eam se Dni servitio mancipaturos. - Although Muhammad had no
direct access to the Apocryphal Gospels, yet these may have influenced, or at
any rate, contained much in common with, the ordinary traditions of S. Syria.
And of this, the Immaculate Conception of the B. V. Mary, supposed by Gibbon
(ch. 50) to have been "borrowed from the Koran," probably formed a part.]

[Footnote 2: That is, the female could not become a priest.]

[Footnote 3: See note, p. 114.]

     So with goodly acceptance did her Lord accept her, and with goodly
growth did he make her grow. ^4  Zacharias reared her.  So oft as Zacharias
went in to Mary at the sanctuary, he found her supplied with food. ^5  "Oh,
Mary!" said he, "whence hast thou this?"  She said, "It is from God; for God
supplieth whom He will, without reckoning!"

[Footnote 4: According to a tradition of Muhammad every new-born child is
touched by Satan, with the exception of Mary and her Son, between whom and
Satan God interposed a veil. (Djelal. Beidh.)  Hence this passage may imply
the Immaculate Conception of the B. V. Mary.  See v. 37 below.]

[Footnote 5: Evang. de Nat.  Mar. 7: Quotidie ab angelis frequentabatur,
quotidie divina visione fruebatur, quae eam a malis omnibus custodiebat et
bonis omnibus redundare faciebat.  Protev. ac. 8. Hist. Nativ. Mar. 6:
Quotidie esca, quam de manu angeli accipiebat, ipsa tantum reficiebatur.]

     There did Zacharias call upon his Lord: "O my Lord!" said he, "vouchsafe
me from thyself good descendants, ^6 for thou art the hearer of prayer."  Then
did the angels call to him, as he stood praying in the sanctuary: ^7

[Footnote 6: The word rendered descendants is a collective noun.  Gerock (p.
20) thinks that Zacharias' prayer was not for a son of his own, but for an
adopted son - as, for instance, the future husband of Mary who might become
his heir, and hence accounts for his surprise and unbelief at the
announcement of John.]

[Footnote 7: Lit. chamber.  Comp. Luke i. 21.]

     "God announceth John (Yahia) to thee, who shall be a verifier of the
word from God, and a great one, chaste, and a prophet of the number of the
just."

     He said, "O my Lord! how shall I have a son, now that
old age hath come upon me, and my wife is barren?"  He said, "Thus will God
do His pleasure."

     He said, "Lord! give me a token."  He said, "Thy token shall be, that
for three days thou shalt speak to no man but by signs: But remember thy Lord
often, and praise him at even and at morn:"

     And remember when the angels said, "O Mary! verily hath God chosen
thee, ^1 and purified thee, and chosen thee above the women of the
worlds!

[Footnote 1: Luke i. 28.]

     O Mary! be devout towards thy Lord, ^2 and prostrate thyself, and bow
down with those who bow."

[Footnote 2: Hist. de Nativ. Mar. 6: Abierunt simul Joachim et Anna uxor ejus
ad templum domini, et . . . tradiderunt . . . ariam in contubernio virginum
quae die noctuque in Dei laudibus manebant.]

     This is one of the announcements of things unseen by thee: To thee, O
Muhammad! do we reveal it; for thou wast not with them when they cast lots
with reeds ^3 which of them should rear Mary; nor wast thou with them when
they disputed about it.

[Footnote 3: These reeds, say the commentators, were written over with
passages from the law, and cast into Jordan.  That of Zacharias alone swam,
and was the token that the charge of Mary was to devolve on him.  Others
render, their divining arrows.  See a detailed account of the manner in which
this matter was settled by virgae, in Protev. Jac.  Thilo. p. 204.  Hist. Nat.
Mar. ib. p. 359 sqq.]

     Remember when the angel said, "O Mary!  Verily God announceth to thee
the Word from Him: His name shall be, Messiah Jesus the son of Mary ^4,
illustrious in this world, and in the next, and one of those who have near
access to God;

[Footnote 4: Ar. El-Mesich Isa ben Mariam, illustrious in this world as a
Prophet, in the next as an Intercessor.  Beidh.]

     And He shall speak to men alike when in the cradle and when grown up;
And he shall be one of the just."

     She said, "How, O my Lord! shall I have a son, when man hath not touched
me?"  He said, "Thus: God will create what He will; When He decreeth a thing,
He only saith, 'Be,' and it is."

     And he will teach him the Book, and the Wisdom, and the Law, and the
Evangel; and he shall be an apostle to the children of Israel.  "Now have I
come," he will say, "to you with a sign from your Lord: Out of clay will I
make for you, as it were, the figure of a bird: and I will breathe into it,
and it shall become, by God's leave, a bird. ^5  And I will heal theblind, and
the leper; and by God's leave will I quicken the dead; and I will tell you
what ye eat, and what ye store up in your houses!  Truly in this will be a
sign for you, if ye are believers.

[Footnote 5: Evang. Thomae, ch. 2 (Thilo. p. 281) and Evang. Infantiae Arab.
ch. 36, 46.  (Thilo. p. 111, 123.]

     And I have come to attest the law which was before me; and to allow you
part of that which had been forbidden you; and I come to you with a sign from
your Lord: Fear God, then, and obey me; of a truth God is my Lord, and your
Lord: Therefore worship Him.  This is a right way."

     And when Jesus perceived unbelief on their part, He said, "Who my
helpers with God?"  The apostles ^1 said, "We will be God's helpers!  We
believe in God, and bear thou witness that we are Muslims.

[Footnote 1: See Sura [cxiv.] v. 111.]

     O our Lord! we believe in what thou hast sent down, and we follow the
apostle; write us up, then, with those who bear witness to him."

     And the Jews plotted, and God plotted: But of those who plot is God the
best.

     Remember when God said, "O Jesus! verily I will cause thee to die, ^2 and
will take thee up to myself and deliver thee from those who believe not; and
I will place those who follow thee above those who believe not, until the day
of resurrection.  Then, to me is your return, and wherein ye differ will I
decide between you.

[Footnote 2: Muhammad probably believed that God took the dead body of Jesus
to Heaven - for three hours according to some - while the Jews crucified a
man who resembled him.  Sura [c.] iv. 156.  The word motewaffika (comp. Sura
[lxxx.] xxxix. 156) means, in speaking of God, to cause to die, take to
himself.  It would also seem from Sura [lviii.] xix. 4, that Muhammad
supposed Jesus to have died a natural death, though it is nowhere said how
long he continued in that state.  The Muhammadans believe that Jesus on his
return to earth at the end of the world will slay the Antichrist, die, and be
raised again.  A vacant place is reserved for his body in the Prophet's tomb
at Medina.  See Lieut. Burton's Pilgrimage, vol. ii.]

     And as to those who believe not, I will chastise them with a terrible
chastisement in this world and in the next; and none shall they have to help
them."

     But as to those who believe, and do the things that are right, He will
pay them their recompense.  God loveth not the doers of evil.

     These signs, and this wise warning do we rehearse to thee.

     Verily, Jesus is as Adam in the sight of God. ^3  He created him of dust:
He then said to him, "Be" - and he was.

[Footnote 3: Lit. verily the similitude or analogy of Isa is as the
similitude or analogy of Adam, i.e. either of them had a human father.]

     The truth from thy Lord!  Be not thou, therefore, of those who doubt.

     As for those ^1 who dispute with thee about Him, after "the knowledge"
hath come to thee, Say: Come, ^2 let us summon our sons and your sons, our
wives and your wives, and ourselves and yourselves.  Then will we invoke and
lay the malison of God on those that lie!

[Footnote 1: This refers to an embassy from the Christians in Nedjran in
Arabia, with their Bishop, Abu Hareth, at their head, to Muhammad at Medina,
who had now acquired political power.  The embassy declined to be parties to
the strange mode of settling the dispute here proposed, but consented to pay
tribute on condition of not being molested in their religion or lands.]

[Footnote 2: If this be not a mere figure of speech, it must mean let us call
over and curse the names, the persons being at a distance.]

     This recital is very truth, and there is no god but God; and verily God
is the Mighty, the Wise.

     But if they turn away, then verily God hath knowledge of the corrupt
doers.

     Say: O people of the Book! come ye to a just judgment between us and you
- That we worship not aught but God, and that we join no other god with Him,
and that the one of us take not the other for lords, ^3 beside God.  Then if
they turn their backs, Say: Bear ye witness that we are Muslims.

[Footnote 3: As the Christians do their Bishops and Priests:]

     O people of the Book!  Why dispute about Abraham, ^4 when the Law and the
Evangel were not sent down till after him?  Do ye not then
understand?

[Footnote 4: Whether he were a Jew or Christian.]

     Lo! ye are they who dispute about that in which ye have knowledge; ^5 but
why dispute ye about that of which ye have no knowledge?  God hath knowledge,
but ye know nothing.

[Footnote 5: About Moses and Jesus, and their respective faiths.]

     Abraham was neither Jew nor Christian; but he was sound in the faith, ^6
a Muslim; and not of those who add gods to God.

[Footnote 6: See Sura xvi. 21, p. 209, note.]

     They among men, who are nearest of kin to Abraham, are surely those who
follow him, and this prophet Muhammad, and they who believe on him.  And God
is the protector of the faithful.

     A party among the people of the Book would fain mislead you: but they
only mislead themselves, and perceive it not.

     O people of the Book! why disbelieve the signs of God, of which
yourselves have been witnesses?

     O people of the Book! why clothe ye the truth with falsehood?  Why
wittingly hide the truth?

     Others of the people of the Book say: "Believe in what hath been sent
down to the believers, at daybreak, and deny it at its close" - Thus do they
go back -

     "And believe in those only who follow your Religion."  Say: True
guidance is guidance from God - that to others may be imparted the like of
what hath been imparted to you.  Will they wrangle then with you in the
presence of their Lord?  Say: Plenteous gifts are in the hands of God: He
imparteth them unto whom He will, and God is Bounteous, Wise.

     He will vouchsafe His mercy to whom He will, for God is of great
bounteousness.

     Among the people of the Book are some, to one of whom if thou entrust a
thousand dinars, he will restore them to thee: And there is of them to whom
if thou entrust a dinar, he will not restore it to thee, unless thou be ever
instant with him.

     This - because they say, "We are not bound to keep faith with the
ignorant (Pagan) folk, and they utter a lie against God, and know they do
so:"

     But whoso is true to his engagement, and feareth God, - verily God
loveth those that fear Him.

     Verily they who barter their engagement with God, and their oaths, for
some paltry price - These! no portion for them in the world to come! and God
will not speak to them, and will not look on them, on the day of
resurrection, and will not assoil them! for them, a grievous chastisement!

     And some truly are there among them who torture the Scriptures with
their tongues, in order that ye may suppose it to be from the Scripture, yet
it is not from the Scripture.  And they say, "This is from God;" yet it is
not from God: and they utter a lie against God, and they know they do so.

     It beseemeth not a man, that God should give him the Scriptures and the
Wisdom, and the gift of prophecy, and that then he should say to his
followers, "Be ye worshippers of me, as well as of God;" ^1 but rather, "Be ye
perfect in things pertaining to God, since ye know the Scriptures, and have
studied deep."

[Footnote 1: Muhammad insinuates that the claim to be equal with God could
never have been made by Jesus himself, but by his followers, in ignorance of
the Scriptures and of his true nature.]