P. [18]. Mad. The people commonly believed Mohammad to be possessed with a jinni (or genius).
Pelted devil. The evil jinn or devils are supposed to act the eavesdropper on the confines of heaven, and to be driven away by shooting stars.
A reminder, scil., of the true religion of Abraham and the prophets, which men had forgotten. Cf. Lane: Selections from the Kur-ān, lxxxi. 15, 47, 48 (2d ed., Trübner’s Oriental Series).
P. [19]. The News.—One of the many names which Mohammad employed to bring home to his people the reality and fearfulness of the Last Day.
Tent-pegs. Mountains were believed to keep the earth steady, as pegs do a tent.
P. [22]. The Fact.—One of the names of the Last Day: the event which must inevitably happen.
Abasing the sinners, and exalting the righteous.
Three kinds: the “outstrippers,” the “people of the right hand,” and the “people of the left hand.” In the original the same word means “right hand” and “happiness,” or “good omen;” contrariwise, “left hand” and “misfortune.” Cp. the use of dexter and sinister. An instance of Mohammad’s practice of playing upon the different senses of a word.