Heretofore and in this Book, that the Apostles may be a witness against you, and that ye may be witnesses against the rest of mankind.  Therefore observe prayer, and pay the legal impost, and cleave fast to God.  He is your liege Lord-a goodly Lord, and a goodly Helper!

_______________________

1 This Sura is generally said to have been revealed at Mecca,-but this is probably only the case with verses 1-24; 43-56; 60-65; 67-75.  Mr. Muir places it at the close of the Meccan Suras of the fifth period.  See Nöld, p. 158.

2 Said to be Abu Jahl.  See Sura xcvi. p. 20, n. 2.

3 Lit. so that after knowledge he knoweth not aught.

4 The teachings and progress of Islam.

5 See Sura [xci.] ii. 59.  The Sabeites were probably Hanyfs.  See Pref.

6 The Kaaba.  Sharastani informs us that there was an opinion prevalent among the Arabs, that the walking round the Kaaba, and other ceremonies, were symbolic of the motion of the planets and of other astronomical facts.  Watwat, Mabahij al Fikr., Lib. i., c. 2, says that “most Arabic tribes were originally star-worshippers, Sabeans.  The people of Saba worshipped the Sun, the tribes of Asad and Kaninah the Moon, etc. etc.  At a later period they all sunk into idolatry, and in the time of Muhammad, the idols round the Kaaba amounted to 360.”

7 Lit. thin, with the implied sense of fleet.

8 The ten first days of the Dhu’lhajja.  For the ceremonies, see Freytag’s Einleitung, p. 418; Burton’s Pilgrimage, vol. iii.; Sale’s Notes and Prelim.  Disc.

9 That is, the uncut beards, nails, etc.

10 Offerings of animals are by no means confined to Mecca and the Pilgrimage.  “It is not uncommon,” says Mr. Lane, “without any definite view but that of obtaining general blessings, to make vows (of animals):  and sometimes a peasant vows that he will sacrifice, for the sake of a saint, a calf which he possesses, as soon as it is grown and fatted.  It is let loose, by consent of all his neighbours, to pasture where it will, even in fields of young wheat; and at last, after it has been sacrificed, a public feast is made of its meat.  Many a large bull is thus given away.”  Modern Egyptians, i. 307.  Compare Dr. Gobat’s Abyssinia, p. 294, 7, for similar customs among Christians of probably Arabian extraction.  Five or six thousand animals are said to have been slain in the valley of Mina by the pilgrims of the year 1854. (See Lieut.  Burton’s Pilgrimage, iii. p. 313.) The victim is considered by the devout as an expression of their conviction that death is their desert at the hands of God.

11 See Ibn Batoutah, iv. 106. (Par. ed.)

12 Comp.  Sur. xxxii. 4, p. 190.

13 The ayats, signs or verses of the Koran.  It is said by tradition that Muhammad was consoled by this revelation for the Satanic suggestion mentioned Sur. liii. 20, p. 70 (n.).  But in this view of the text, for among whose desires, or affections, we should render when he recited.