112 The CORÂN
XLIV.—SURA XXVIII., v. 47[46-49].

سورة القصص

وَمَا كُنتَ بِجَانِبِ الطُّورِ إِذْ نَادَيْنَا وَلَكِن رَّحْمَةً مِّن رَّبِّكَ لِتُنذِرَ قَوْمًا مَّا أَتَاهُم مِّن نَّذِيرٍ مِّن قَبْلِكَ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ
وَلَوْلَا أَن تُصِيبَهُم مُّصِيبَةٌ بِمَا قَدَّمَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ فَيَقُولُوا رَبَّنَا لَوْلَا أَرْسَلْتَ إِلَيْنَا رَسُولًا فَنَتَّبِعَ آيَاتِكَ وَنَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
فَلَمَّا جَاءهُمُ الْحَقُّ مِنْ عِندِنَا قَالُوا لَوْلَا أُوتِيَ مِثْلَ مَا أُوتِيَ مُوسَى أَوَلَمْ يَكْفُرُوا بِمَا أُوتِيَ مُوسَى مِن قَبْلُ قَالُوا سِحْرَانِ تَظَاهَرَا وَقَالُوا إِنَّا بِكُلٍّ كَافِرُونَ
قُلْ فَأْتُوا بِكِتَابٍ مِّنْ عِندِ اللَّهِ هُوَ أَهْدَى مِنْهُمَا أَتَّبِعْهُ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ

And thou wert not on the side of Mount Sinai, when We called out (to Moses;) but (thou art) a mercy from thy Lord, that thou mayest admonish a people unto whom no warner hath come before thee, if perchance they may receive admonition;—

and lest, if there befall them a calamity for the evil works they have committed, they should say,—Oh Lord! if thou hadst sent unto us a prophet, we had followed thy revelations, and been of the number of the believers. 

And now that the truth hath come unto them from us, they say,—if there were to come (a revelation) like unto that which came unto Moses (we should believe). What! do they not disbelieve in that which was given unto Moses heretofore; they say,—two impostures (var. read. impostors,) that mutually assist one another; and they say,—verily we reject them both.

Say,—bring a book from God that guideth

TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES 113

more aright than these two, if ye be true; and if they answer not, &c.

For سحران two pieces of magic or cunningly devised fabrications, others read ساحران two magicians, i.e. Moses and Mahomet, two men who have fabricated a cunning piece of imposture. So Baidhâwi:—"Two magicians, var. read. two pieces of magic,—that is, the Pentateuch and the Corân. ساحران وفي قراءة سحران أي التوراة والقرآن

The object of Mahomet's mission is here again stated to be the admonishing of a people, namely the Arabs, unto whom no warner had before been sent;—lest, when condemned, these Arabs, should say,—"Had a prophet come unto us, we had been believers." Yet when Mahomet arises a prophet, the people of Mecca refuse to believe in him, unless he come with Scriptures (or var. read. with Miracles,) like those of Moses. "But," replies Mahomet, "what an inconsistency is this! have you not already rejected the revelation of Moses brought forward by me to substantiate my claims, and said of it and of the Corân they are but two cunning fabrications, one supporting the other; we reject both as impostures." Upon which God is represented as directing Mahomet to say,—"Show me a book more right in its direction than these two, that I may follow it," &c.

The testimony here borne to the authority and value of the book of Moses, and the appeal to the citizens of Mecca to bring forward any other Scripture containing truer direction, are unequivocal and