424 72. Entitled, The Genii; containing 28 verses 426 73. Entitled, The Wrapped up; containing 19 verses 427 74. Entitled, The Covered; containing 55 verses 429 75. Entitled, The Resurrection; containing 40 verses 431 76. Entitled, Man; containing 31 verses 432 77. Entitled, Those which are sent; containing 50 verses 434 78. Entitled, The News; containing 40 verses 435 79. Entitled, Those who tear forth; containing 46 verses 436 80. Entitled, He Frowned; containing 42 verses 437 81. Entitled, The Folding up; containing 29 verses 438 82. Entitled, The Cleaving in Sunder; containing 19 verses 439 83. Entitled, Those who give Short Measure or Weight; containing 36 verses 440 84. Entitled, The Rending in Sunder; containing 23 verses 441 85. Entitled, The Celestial Signs; containing 22 verses 442 86. Entitled, The Star which appeareth by Night; containing 17 verses 443 87. Entitled, The Most High; containing 19 verses 443 88. Entitled, The Overwhelming; containing 26 verses 444
CHAPTER Page 89. Entitled, The Daybreak; containing 30 verses 445 90. Entitled, The Territory; containing 20 verses 447 91. Entitled, The Sun; containing 15 verses 447 92. Entitled, The Night; containing 21 verses 448 93. Entitled, The Brightness; containing 11 verses 448 94. Entitled, Have we not Opened; containing 8 verses 449 95. Entitled, The Fig; containing 8 verses 449 96. Entitled, Congealed Blood; containing 19 verses 450 97. Entitled, Al Kadr; containing 5 verses 451 98. Entitled, The Evidence; containing 8 verses 451 99. Entitled, The Earthquake, containing 8 verses 452 100. Entitled, The War Horses which run swiftly; containing 11 verses 453 101. Entitled, The Striking; containing 10 verses 453 102. Entitled, The Emulous Desire of Multiplying; containing 8 verses 454 103. Entitled, The Afternoon; containing 3 verses 454 104. Entitled, The Slanderer; containing 9 verses 454 105. Entitled, The Elephant; containing 5 verses 455 106. Entitled, Koreish; containing 4 verses 456 107. Entitled, Necessaries; containing 7 verses 457 108. Entitled, Al Cawthar; containing 3 verses 457 109. Entitled, The Unbelievers; containing 6 verses 458 110. Entitled, Assistance; containing 3 verses 458 111. Entitled, Abu Laheb; containing 5 verses 459 112. Entitled, The Declaration of God's Unity; containing 4 verses 459 113. Entitled, The Daybreak; containing 5 verses 460 114. Entitled, Men; containing 6 verses 460
THE
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE
SECTION I.
OF THE ARABS BEFORE MOHAMMED; OR, AS THEY EXPRESS IT, IN THE TIME OF IGNORANCE; THEIR HISTORY, RELIGION, LEARNING, AND CUSTOMS
THE Arabs, and the country they inhabit, which themselves call Jezîrat al Arab, or the Peninsula of the Arabians, but we Arabia, were so named from Araba, a small territory in the province of Tehâma;1 to which Yarab the son of Kahtân, the father of the ancient Arabs, gave his name, and where, some ages after, dwelt Ismael the son of Abraham by Hagar. The Christian writers for several centuries speak of them under the appellation of Saracens; the most certain derivation of which word is from shark, the east, where the descendants of Joctan, the Kahtân of the Arabs, are placed by Moses,2 and in which quarter they dwelt in respect to the Jews.3 The name of Arabia (used in a more extensive sense) sometimes comprehends all that large tract of land bounded by the river Euphrates, the Persian Gulf, the Sindian, Indian, and Red Seas, and part of the Mediterranean: above two- thirds of which country, that is, Arabia properly so called, the Arabs have possessed almost from the Flood; and have made themselves masters of the rest, either by settlements or continual incursions; for which reason the Turks and Persians at this day call the whole Arabistân, or the country of the Arabs. But the limits of Arabia, in its more usual and proper sense, are much narrower, as reaching no farther northward than the Isthmus, which runs from Aila to the head of the Persian Gulf, and the borders of the territory of Cûfa; which tract of land the Greeks nearly comprehended under the name of Arabia the Happy. The eastern geographers make Arabia Petræa to belong partly to Egypt, and partly to Shâm or Syria, and the desert Arabia they call the deserts of Syria.4 Proper Arabia is by the oriental writers generally divided into five provinces,5 viz., Yaman, Hejâz, Tehâma, Najd, and Yamâma; to which
1 Pocock, Specim. Hist. Arab. 33. 2 Gen. x. 30. 3 See Pocock, Specim. 33, 34. 4 Golius ad Alfragan. 78, 79. 5 Strabo says Arabia Felix was in his time divided into five kingdoms, l. 16, p. 1129.
some add Bahrein, as a sixth, but this province the more exact make part of Irák;6 others reduce them all to two, Yaman and Hejâz, the last including the three other provinces of Tehâma, Najd, and Yamâma. The province of Yaman, so called either from its situation to the right hand, or south of the temple of Mecca, or else from the happiness and verdure of its soil, extends itself along the Indian Ocean from Aden to Cape Rasalgat; part of the Red Sea bounds it on the west and south sides, and the province of Hejâz on the north.1 It is subdivided into several lesser provinces, as Hadramaut, Shihr, Omân, Najrân, &c., of which Shihr alone produces the frankincense.2 The metropolis of Yaman is Sanaa, a very ancient city, in former times called Ozal, and much celebrated for its delightful situation; but the prince at present resides about five leagues northward from thence, at a place no less pleasant, called Hisn almawâheb, or the Castle of delights.3 This country has been famous from all antiquity for the happiness of its climate, its fertility and riches,4 which induced Alexander the Great, after his return from his Indian expedition, to form a design of conquering it, and fixing there his royal seat; but his death, which happened soon after, prevented the execution of this project.5 Yet, in reality, great part of the riches which the ancients imagined were the produce of Arabia, came really from the Indies and the coasts of Africa; for the Egyptians, who had engrossed that trade, which was then carried on by way of the Red Sea, to themselves, industriously concealed the truth of the matter, and kept their ports shut to prevent foreigners penetrating into those countries, or receiving any information thence; and this precaution of theirs on the one side, and the deserts, unpassable to strangers, on the other, were the reason why Arabia was so little known to the Greeks and Romans. The delightfulness and plenty of Yaman are owing to its mountains; for all that part which lies along the Red Sea is a dry, barren desert, in some places ten or twelve leagues over, but in return bounded by those mountains, which being well watered, enjoy an almost continual spring, and, besides coffee, the peculiar produce of this country, yield great plenty and variety of fruits, and in particular excellent corn, grapes, and spices. There are no rivers of note in this country, for the streams which at certain times of the year descend from the mountains, seldom reach the sea, being for the most part drunk up and lost in the burning sands of that coast.1 The soil of the other provinces is much more barren than that of Yaman; the greater part of their territories being covered with dry sands, or rising into rocks, interspersed here and there with some fruitful spots, which receive their greatest advantages from their water and palm trees. The province of Hejâz, so named because it divides Najd from Tehâma, is bounded on the south by Yaman and Tehâma, on the west by the Red Sea, on the north by the deserts of Syria, and on the east by the province of Najd.2 This province is famous for its two chief cities, Mecca and Medina, one of which is celebrated for its temple, and having given birth to Mohammed; and the other for being the
6 Gol. ad Alfragan. 79. 1 La Roque, Voyage de l'Arab, heur. 121. 2 Gol. ad Alfragan. 79, 87. 3 Voyage de l'Arab, heur. 232. 4 Vide Dionys. Perieges. v. 927, &c. 5 Strabo, l. 16, p. 1132. Arrian, 161. 1 Voy. de l'Arab. heur. 121, 123, 153. 2 Vide Gol. ad Alfrag. 98. Abulfeda Descr. Arab. p. 5.
place of his residence for the last ten years of his life, and of his interment. Mecca, sometimes also called Becca, which words are synonymous, and signify a place of great concourse, is certainly one of the most ancient cities of the world: it is by some3 thought to be the Mesa of the scripture,4 a name not unknown to the Arabians, and supposed to be taken form