[Footnote 58:  According to a tradition of Mohammed, whoever cheateth another will on the day of judgment carry his fraudulent purchase publicly on his neck.]

[Footnote 59:  Some copies, instead of min anfosihim, i.e., of themselves, read min anfasihim, i.e., of the noblest among them; for such was the tribe of Koreish, of which Mohammed was descended.]

[Footnote 60:  Mohammed is said to have declared, that whoever pays not his legal contribution of alms duly shall have a serpent twisted about his neck at the resurrection.]

[Footnote 61:  That is, dearly shall they pay hereafter for taking bribes to stifle the truth.  “Whoever concealeth the knowledge which God has given him,” says Mohammed, “God shall put on him a bridle of fire on the day of resurrection.”]

[Footnote 62:  Namely, Mohammed, with the Koran.]

CHAPTER IV

Entitled, Women[63]—­Revealed at Medina

In the Name of the Most Merciful God.

O men, fear your Lord, who hath created you out of one man, and out of him created his wife, and from them two hath multiplied many men and women:  and fear God by whom ye beseech one another; and respect women who have borne you, for God is watching over you.  And give the orphans when they come to age their substance; and render them not in exchange bad for good:  and devour not their substance, by adding it to your substance; for this is a great sin.  And if ye fear that ye shall not act with equity towards orphans of the female sex, take in marriage of such other women as please you, two, or three, or four, and not more.  But if ye fear that ye cannot act equitably towards so many, marry one only, or the slaves which ye shall have acquired.  This will be easier, that ye swerve not from righteousness.  And give women their dowry freely; but if they voluntarily remit unto you any part of it, enjoy it with satisfaction and advantage.  And give not unto those who are weak of understanding, the substance which God hath appointed you to preserve for them; but maintain them thereout, and clothe them, and speak kindly unto them.  And examine the orphans until they attain the age of marriage:  but if ye perceive they are able to manage their affairs well, deliver their substance unto them; and waste it not extravagantly, or hastily, because they grow up.  Let him who is rich abstain entirely from the orphan’s estates; and let him who is poor take thereof according to what shall be reasonable.  And when ye deliver their substance unto them, call witnesses thereof in their presence:  God taketh sufficient account of your actions.  Men ought to have a part of what their parents and kindred leave behind them when they die:  and women also ought to have a part of what their parents and kindred leave, whether it be little, or whether it be much; a determinate part is due to them.  And when they who are of kin are present at the dividing