THIS chapter is quoted by Muir in his "Life of Mahomet," vol. ii. p. 65, to show how earnestly Muhammad at first strove after the truth. According to this author, these revelations, along with those of seventeen more of these short Suras, are not to be regarded as having been proclaimed publicly at the time of composition, but as expressing rather the private thoughts of the inquirer after truth, entertained even years before he set up his claim to he a prophet of God. The eighteen chapters thus described are as follows—103, 100, 99, 91, 106, 1, 101, 95, 102, 104, 82, 92, 105, 89, 90, 93, 94, and 108.

The commentators fancy a definite individual to be addressed in this chapter, and, as usual, they suggest the ubiquitous character of Waild Ibnal Mughaira. It is better to regard the exhortation here to be addressed to men in general.

All authorities agree in placing this chapter among the earliest Makkan revelations. It is safe to assign it to the first year of the Call, when, even if written before, it was proclaimed as one of the " signs" to an unbelieving people.

Man, though created in misery, yet boasts of his riches... 1-7
Captives to be freed and the poor and orphan to be fed .... 8 - 16
Description of the companions of the right and left hand ... 17-20

R 1/15

(1) I swear by this territory, (2) (and thou, O Prophet, residest in this territory), (3) and by the begetter, and that which he hath begotten; (4) verily we have created man in misery. (5) Doth he think that none shall prevail over him? (6) He saith, I have wasted plenty of riches. (7) Doth he think that none seeth him? (8) Have we not made him two eyes, (9) and a tongue, and two lips; (10) and shown him the two highways of good and evil? (11) Yet he attempteth not the cliff. (12) What shall make thee to understand what the cliff is? (13) It is to free the captive; (14) or to feed, in the day of famine, (15) the orphan who is of kin, (16) or the poor man who

(1) I swear. Or, I will not swear. See note on chap. lvi. 74.

Territory, viz., "the sacred territory of Makkah." - Sale See Prelim. Disc. p. 181.

(2) "Or, Thou shalt be allowed to do what thou pleasest in this territory; the words, in this sense, importing a promise of that absolute power which Muhammad attained on the taking of Makkah."
"This interpretation is a mere fancy of the commentators." - Sale Baidháwi

. (3) "Some understand these words generally; others of Adam or Abraham, and of their offspring, and of Muhammad in particular." - Sale, Baidháwi.

(4) Misery. "Or, ‘to trouble.' The passage was revealed to comfort the Prophet under the persecutions oi the Quraish." - Sale, Baidháwi.

(5) "Some expositors take a particular person to be here intended, who was one of Muhammad's most inveterate adversaries, as al Walid Ibn al Mughaira; others suppose Abul Ashadd Ibn Qalda to be the man, who was so very strong, that a large skin being spread under his feet, and ten men pulling at it, they could not make him fall, though they tore the skin to pieces." - Sale, Zamakhshari, Baidháwi.

(6) He saith. "In a vain and ostentatious manner, or in opposing of Muhammad." - Sale, Baidháwi.

(13) To free the captive. This passage seems to tell forcibly against those Muslims who pursue the slave-trade. The disposition to free the slave is here said to be a sign bf a man's being a true believer. Muhammad himself practised the precept here enunciated. How sad that he should have so far modified this teaching, indefinite as it is, as to make Islam responsible for nearly all the slave-dealing practised at the present day! One might hope for a reform on this subject among Muslims, based on passages like this and the example of the Prophet already alluded to, but unfortunately these precepts

lieth on the ground. (17) Whoso doth this, and is one of believe, and recommend perseverance unto and recommend mercy unto each other; (18) these shall be the companions of the right hand. (19) But they who shall disbelieve our signs shall be the companions of the left hand: (20) above them shall be arched 

belong to the earlier chapters of the Quran, and must therefore be regarded as having been abrogated by the later utterances. The worst of it is that even in this passage slaveholding is not condemned as a sin inconsistent with love to our neighbour. It is right to hold the slave, but a great merit to bestow upon him freedom,

(18, 19) See note on chap. 1, 16, 17.

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