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XLII.—SURA VI., v. 155[155-157].
سورة الأنعام
وَهَـذَا كِتَابٌ أَنزَلْنَاهُ مُبَارَكٌ
فَاتَّبِعُوهُ وَاتَّقُواْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ أَن تَقُولُواْ إِنَّمَا
أُنزِلَ الْكِتَابُ عَلَى طَآئِفَتَيْنِ مِن قَبْلِنَا وَإِن كُنَّا عَن
دِرَاسَتِهِمْ لَغَافِلِينَ أَوْ تَقُولُواْ لَوْ أَنَّا أُنزِلَ عَلَيْنَا
الْكِتَابُ لَكُنَّا أَهْدَى مِنْهُمْ فَقَدْ جَاءكُم بَيِّنَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ
وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةٌ الخ *
And this book (the Corân) We have sent down,—blessed; wherefore follow
it, and fear God, if haply ye may find mercy;—
lest ye should say,—Verily the
Scripture hath been revealed to two people before us, and we are ignorant of
their reading; —
or lest ye should say,—If the Scripture had been revealed to
us, we surely would have followed its direction better than they; and now verily
a clear exposition hath come unto you from your Lord, a direction and mercy,
&c.
"Lest ye should say,—verily the Scripture hath been revealed to
two people before us; i.e. to the Jews and Christians."
على طائفتين أي اليهود والنصاري
Baidhâwi
and Jelalooddeen.
The object of the Corân is here stated to be the taking away of all excuse
from the Meccans and Arabs, lest they should say;—"The Scriptures have
indeed been revealed to the Jews and the Christians; but they are of no avail
to us; for we cannot read nor understand the foreign tongue in which they are
written. If the Scripture had been revealed to us in
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TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES |
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Arabic, we had been as good believers as they, or better." The Corân
purports to have been revealed in order to take away this excuse. It was not
because the previous Scripture was defective,-(on the contrary, it is stated to
"be perfect in all that is excellent, an explication of every matter, a
guide and a mercy") —that the Corân was sent to the Arabs, but because it
was written in a foreign tongue. And there is here as little imputation against
the integrity and purity of the Bible, as against its completeness. The only
imperfection was that it was not available in the Arabic tongue. It was written
in foreign languages which the Arabs did not know, and this is the want which
the Corân is here represented as intended to supply.
XLIII.—SURA XXVIII., v. 44[43].
سورة القصص
وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا مُوسَى الْكِتَابَ مِن بَعْدِ
مَا أَهْلَكْنَا الْقُرُونَ الْأُولَى بَصَائِرَ لِلنَّاسِ وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةً
لَّعَلَّهُمْ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ
And verily We gave Moses the book, after that We had destroyed the former
generations,-an enlightenment unto mankind, and a direction, and a mercy, if
haply they might be admonished.
A striking testimony not only to the divine origin of the Pentateuch, but to
its value as a light to lighten the Gentiles,—all "mankind";—a guide,
and a mercy to admonish and direct them.
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