30 Lit. the set time of his Lord was fulfilled in forty nights.
31 Sale and others render having a body, corporeal, of which the commentators give no satisfactory explanation. I have adopted that given by Freytag in v. That the calf lowed in consequence of Sama‰l having entered into it, is one of the traditions of the Talmud. Pirke R. Eliezer, c. 45.
32 Compare Sura [lxxxi.] xxix. 47, [xciv.] lxxii. 2, [xci.] ii. 73. The word ummyy is derived from ummah, a nation, and means Gentile; it here refers to Muhammad's ignorance, previous to the revelation of Islam, of the ancient Scriptures. It is equivalent to the Gr. laic, ethnic, and to the term gojim, as applied by the Jews to those unacquainted with the Scriptures. There can, however, be no doubt that Muhammad-in spite of his assertions to the contrary, with the view of proving his inspiration-was well acquainted with the Bible histories. He wished to appear ignorant in order to raise the elegance of the Koran into a miracle. For the passages of Scripture said to foretel Muhammad, see Pocock's Sp. Hist. Ar. p. 188, ed. White.
33 If these words, as Nöldeke supposes, contain an allusion to the Ansars, it is likely that this verse was added at Medina. The epithet Al-Ummy (the unlettered) does not, thus, occur in Meccan Suras.
34 The Koran.
35 Pirke R. Eliezer, 45, explains Ex. xxxii. 26, of the tribe of Levi, as not having been implicated with the other tribes in the sin of the golden calf.
36 The Jews changed hittat, absolution, indulgence, into habbat, corn.
37 This and the next six verses are supposed to have been added at Medina.
38 Comp. Sura [xci.] ii. 61. No trace of this legend is to be found in the Talmudists. The city is said to have been Aila (Elath) on the Red Sea.
39 Perhaps in allusion to Deut. xxviii. 49, 50.