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1 The initial letters, it has been conjectured, of (Amara li Muhammad sahdiq), thus spake to me Muhammad the truthful. But see Sura 1xviii. p. 32. The first part of this Sura was perhaps revealed when the Arabians were assembled at the Pilgrimage. See verse 29.
2 A figure of frequent occurence in the Talmud. See Tr. Rosh. Haschana, 17a.
3 Comp. Sura xx. 118, p. 101.
4 Gen. iii. 15.
5 Lit. towards each Mosque, i.e. towards the kibla of each Mosque. The word mosque, mesjid, however, is usually applied only to that of Mecca. The common term in use for larger places of worship is djami, a word unknown, in that sense, to the Koran.
6 For full information as to the clothing of the ancient Arabians see Freyt. Einl. pp. 295 327. The Koreisch (we are told in Sirat Arrasul, fol. 26, and Beidh.), in order to instil a deep respect for the Caaba and other holy places into the minds of the Arabians, had forbidden all food during the processions, and required that no clothes, except those borrowed from Meccans, should be worn, or that those who wore their own should devote them to God as holy vestments. The consequence was that most of the pilgrims visited the holy places in perfect nudity. Hence the precept in the text.
7 The Angels of Death.
8 Comp. Matth. xix. 24; Mark x. 25; Luke xviii. 25. By the change of a single vowel in the Arabic word for camel, we obtain the rendering, cable. In the Rabbinic form of the proverb, however, the elephant is substituted for the camel, which confirms the usual rendering and reading.
9 "On this wall (the name of which is derived from Arafa, 'to know,' with allusion to the employment of those upon it) will stand those whose good and evil works are equal, and are not, therefore, deserving of either Paradise or Gehenna. The idea, which is analogous to that of Purgatory, may be derived from the Talmud. Thus in the Midrasch on Eccl. vii. 14, 'How much space is there between the two' (Paradise and Hell)? R. Jochanan saith, a wall; R. Acha, a span: others hold them to be so close that a person may see from one into the other." See Plato's Phaed. 62.