1 See Sura [lxxxiv.] x. 5, n.
2 Ex gutta spermatis. Pirke Aboth iii. Unde venisti? ex guttá foetidâ. This verse is said to be an allusion to a difficulty proposed by an idolatrous Arab, who brought a carious leg-bone to Muhammad, and asked whether it could be restored to life. Compare a similar argument for the Resurrection, Tr. Sanhedrin, fol. 91 a.
3 Lit. there is beauty in them for you, i.e. they win you credit.
4 In allusion to Gen. xi. 1-10.
5 An Arabian idol.
6 Ps. xxxv. 9.
7 Lit. the family of the admonition, i.e. Jews and Christians versed in the Pentateuch and Gospel.
8 The idolatrous Arabians regarded Angels as females and daughters of God. But their own preference was always for male offspring. Thus Rabbinism teaches that to be a woman is a great degradation. The modern Jew says in his Daily Prayers, fol. 5, 6, "Blessed art thou, O Lord our God! King of the Universe! who hath not made me a woman."
9 See Sura lxxxi. 8, p. 45. It is said that the only occasion on which Othman ever shed a tear was when his little daughter, whom he was burying alive, wiped the dust of the grave-earth from his beard.
10 Lit. the likeness of evil to those, etc.