in the life to come. But people could not be praised for "holding
fast" by any other than a genuine and uncorrupted Scripture.
Jelalooddeen instances Abdallah-ibn-Sallâm as one of the pious Jews here
alluded to.
Where then are the Scriptures which these converted Jews were directed to
hold fast by, if they are not the same which have been handed down from the
time of Mahomet from generation to generation,—even as before his time?
سورة المدثر
عَلَيْهَا تِسْعَةَ عَشَرَوَمَا جَعَلْنَا أَصْحَابَ النَّارِ إِلَّا
مَلَائِكَةً وَمَا جَعَلْنَا عِدَّتَهُمْ إِلَّا فِتْنَةً لِّلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا
لِيَسْتَيْقِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ وَيَزْدَادَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا
إِيمَانًا وَلَا يَرْتَابَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ
وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ
Over it (Hell) are nineteen angels;
and We have not made the guardians of the fire other than angels; and We have
not expressed their number, except as a trial to those who disbelieve, and in
order that those to whom We have given the book may firmly believe, and that
they who believe may increase in faith; and that those to whom We have given the
book may not doubt, nor the believers.
This is a Meccan Sura, but the text is believed to have been added to it
after Mahomet went to Medîna.
The passage is obscure. But it appears to point to some supposed
coincidence between what is,
