Order; containing 182 verses 334 38. Entitled, S.; containing 86 verses 339 39. Entitled, The Troops; containing 75 verses 344 40. Entitled, The True Believer; containing 85 verses 350 41. Entitled, Are distinctly explained; containing 54 verses 355 42. Entitled, Consultation; containing 53 verses 359 43. Entitled, The Ornaments of Gold; containing 89 verses 362 44. Entitled, Smoke; containing 57 verses 367 45. Entitled, The Kneeling; containing 36 verses 369 46. Entitled, Al Ahkaf; containing 35 verses 371 47. Entitled, Mohammed; containing 38 verses 374 48. Entitled, The Victory; containing 29 verses 377 49. Entitled, The Inner Apartments; containing 18 verse 381 50. Entitled, K.; containing 45 verses 383 51. Entitled, The Dispersing; containing 60 verses 385 52. Entitled, The Mountain; containing 48 verses 387 53. Entitled, The Star; containing 61 verses 389 54. Entitled, The Moon; containing 55 verses 391 55. Entitled, The Merciful; containing 78 verses 394 56. Entitled, The Inevitable; containing 99 verses 396 57. Entitled, Iron; containing 29 verses 399 58. Entitled, She who disputed; containing 22 verses 402 59. Entitled, The Emigration; containing 24 verses 404 60. Entitled, She who is tried; containing 13 verses 407 61. Entitled, Battle Array; containing 14 verses 409 62. Entitled, The Assembly; containing 11 verses 410 63. Entitled, The Hypocrites; containing 11 verses 412 64. Entitled, Mutual Deceit; contianing 18 verses 413 65. Entitled, Divorce; containing 12 verses 414 66. Entitled, Prohibition; containing 12 verses 415 67. Entitled, The Kingdom; containing 30 verses 418 68. Entitled, The Pen; containing 52 verses 419 69. Entitled, The Infallible; containing 52 verses 421 70. Entitled, The Steps; containing 44 verses 423 71. Entitled, Noah; containing 28 verses 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
