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78 THE CORÂN.
VIII.-SURA XXXIV., v. 31.

سورة سبأ

وقال الذينَ كفروا لن نؤمنَ بهذا القرآن ولا بالذي بين يديه

And the unbelievers say;—We will not believe in this Corân, nor in that (which was revealed) before it.

"The revelation before it"; lit., that between its hands, —already existing, and preceding the Corân.

Baidhâwi explains: The unbelievers say "We will not believe in this Corân, nor in that which precedeth it of the Scriptures testifying to the Mission of Mahomet;" ولا بما تقدمه من ا لكتب الدالة على البعث ;—And Jelalooddeen adds, as the Tourât and the Gospel; كالتوراة والإنجيل

Mahomet, in his reasoning with the citizens of Mecca, appealed to the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, as well as to the Corân, in proof of the Resurrection which they denied. But they replied that they believed neither in the one nor in the other.

Note, that the manner in which the citizens of Mecca are here and elsewhere represented as speaking of these Jewish and Christian Scriptures, is as of known books, extant and current in the land.

IX.—SURA XLI, v. 45.

سورة فصلت

وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا مُوسَى الْكِتَابَ فَاخْتُلِفَ فِيهِ

TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 79

And verily We gave Moses the book,
and they fell to variance concerning it.

X.—SURA XLV., v. 16[-17].

سورة الجاثية

وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحُكْمَ وَالنبُوَّةَ
وَرَزَقْنَاهُم منَ الطيبَاتِ وَفَضلْنَاهُمْ عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ
وَآتَيْنَاهُم بَينَاتٍ منَ الأمْرِ فَمَا اخْتَلَفوا إلا مِن بَعْدِ
مَا جَاءهُمْ الْعِلْمُ بَغْيًا بَيْنَهُمْ إِنَّ رَبكَ يَقْضِي بَيْنَهُمْ
يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فِيمَا كَانُوا فِيهِ يَخْتَلِفُونَ

And verily We gave the children of Israel the book, and wisdom, and prophecy, and We nourished them with pleasant food, and We exalted them above the rest of the world; 
And We gave them plain directions in the matter (of religion;) and they fell not to variance until after divine knowledge (or the Revelation,) had come unto them, out of jealousy among themselves. Verily thy Lord will decide between them on the day of judgment, concerning that about which they disagree.

This passage, besides bearing testimony to the divine origin of the Jewish Scriptures, illustrates the nature of the errors into which the possessors of that Revelation are said to have fallen. The Revelation contained plain instructions for their direction; yet notwithstanding they fell to variance among themselves; —alluding probably to the differences between the Jews and Christians, which, according to the Corân, Mahomet was sent authoritatively to compose. It was, in the language of the text, from ill-feeling,

           

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