10 That is, accursed.  According to the Muhammadan tradition, Abraham drove Satan away with stones when he would have hindered him from sacrificing Ismael.  Hence the custom during the pilgrimage of throwing a certain number of stones-the Shafeis, 49; the Hanafis, 70-as if at Satan, in the valley of Mina, near Mecca.  The spot where the apparition of Satan to Abraham took place is marked by three small pillars, at which the stones are now thrown.  Comp.  Gen. xv.  II.

11 Lit.  I will embellish, prepare.

12 Thus, in Sota, 10, David is said to have rescued Absalom from “the seven dwellings of Hell;” in Midr. on Ps. xi.  “There are seven houses of abode for the wicked in Hell;” and in Sohar ii. 150, “Hell hath seven gates.”

13 At the arrival of strangers.

14 Comp.  Midr.  Rabbah on Gen. Par. 50.

15 From Arabia to Syria.  The pronoun in the fem. sing. may refer to the Pentapolis as to a single city, or to Sodom alone.

16 See Sura [lvi.] xxvi. 176.

17 See Sura [lxxiii.] xvi. 3.

18 That is, the seven verses of Sura 1, p. 28.  Others understand, the seven long Suras; or, the fifteen Suras which make a seventh of the whole; or, this Sura (Hedjr) as originally the seventh.  Mathani is an allusion, according to some, to the frequency with which the fatthah is to be repeated; or, to the frequent repetitions of great truths, etc., in order to impress them on the memory of the hearer and reader; or, to the manner in which waid and wa’d, promises and threatenings, alternate and balance each other in the same or subsequent verses and Suras, in pairs.  This verse and Sura x. 10 shew that a part at least of the Koran was known under that name and existed as a whole in the time of Muhammad.  Geiger’s interpretations at pp. 59, 60 (and in the note) seem very forced.

19 Comp.  Sura [lvi.] xxvi. 215, i.e. demean thyself gently.

20 Lit. as we sent down upon the dividers, i.e. the Jews and Christians, who receive part of the Scriptures and reject part.  Others render obstructors and explain the passage of twelve idolaters, who in order to intimidate the Meccans, seized upon the public revenues of Mecca during the pilgrimage.

21 In this, the fourth year of his mission, Muhammad is said to have hazarded the step of mounting the Safa, a slight eminence in one of the streets of Mecca, and publicly preached to the Koreisch.  The authorities are given in Sprenger (Life of M. p. 177, 8).

22 Lit. contracted.

23 Death.

SURA XIX.1-MARY [LVIII.]

Mecca.-98 Verses

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Kaf.  Ha.  Ya.  Ain.  Sad.2 A recital of thy Lord’s mercy to his servant
Zachariah;

When he called upon his Lord with secret calling,