17 See Sura xix. 55, 6, p. 121.

18 The man of the lot or portion.  Or, of care, support.  According to some Elias, as others say, Isaiah.  It is more probable, however, that he is he Obadiah of 1 Kings xviii. 4, who supported 100 prophets in the cave, or Ezechiel, who is called Kephil by the Arabs.  See Niebuhr, Travels, ii. 265.

19 The man of the fish-Jonah.

20 See Suras [xcvii.] iii. 33; xix. p. 117, for the story of Zacharias in full.  The concluding sentence of this clause is obscure.  It probably means that even if no heir were vouchsafed to Zacharias, yet since God will be the heir of all things he would take Zacharias to himself and thus abundantly recompense him.  See Sura [lxxix.] xxviii. 58.

21 See Sura [cix.] lxvi. 12.  It is quite clear from these two passages that Muhammad believed in the Immaculate and miraculous conception of Jesus.

22 That is, identical with that of the previous prophets, etc.

23 See Sura [lxix.] xviii. 93.  Thus, the ancient Jewish and Christian legend connects Gog and Magog with the end of the world.  Rev. xx. 8.  Pseudojon on Lev. xxvi. 44.  Comp.  Numb. xi. 27.  Gog, however, is probably the mountain Ghef or Ghogh (see Reinegg’s Beschreib. der Caucasus, ii. 79) and the syllable Ma in Magog, the Sanscrit mah, maha great.

24 “Whenever a people is punished (for idolatry) the beings honoured by them as gods, shall also be punished, for so it is written, on all the gods also of Egypt will I inflict judgments.” (Sakkah, 29.)

25 Ar.  Sidjill, which is supposed by some to be the name of the angel who writes down the actions of every man’s life upon a scroll, which is rolled up at his death (comp.  Isai. xxxiv. 4); by others, to be the name of one of Muhammad’s secretaries.

26 Ps. xxxvii. 29.  This is the only text quoted in the Koran.

SURA XXV.-AL FURKAN [LXVI.]

Mecca.-77 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Blessed be He who hath sent down al Furkan1 (the illumination) on his servant, that to all creatures he may be a warner.

His the Kingdom of the Heavens and of the Earth!  No son hath He begotten!  No partner hath He in his Empire!  All things hath He created, and decreeing hath decreed their destinies.

Yet have they adopted gods beside Him which have created nothing, but were themselves created: 

And no power have they over themselves for evil or for good, nor have they power of death, or of life, or of raising the dead.

And the infidels say, “This Koran is a mere fraud of his own devising, and others have helped him with it,2 who had come hither by outrage and lie."3

And they say, “Tales of the ancients that he hath put in writing! and they were dictated to him morn and even.”

Say:  He hath sent it down who knoweth the secrets of the Heavens and of the Earth.  He truly is the Gracious, the Merciful.