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XXXVII, 123-143. THE CHAPTER OF THE RANGED.
173
And verily Elyâs? was of the apostles; when he said to his people, “Will ye not fear ? [125] do ye call upon Baal and leave the best of Creators, God your Lord and the Lord of your fathers of yore?'
But they called him liar; verily, they shall surely be arraigned, save God's sincere servants. And we left for him amongst posterity, [130] 'Peace upon Elyâsîna; verily, thus do we reward those who do well; verily, he was of our servants who believe!'
And, verily, Lot was surely among the apostles; when we saved him and his people altogether, [135] except an old woman amongst those who lingered ; then we destroyed the others; verily, ye pass by them in the morning and at night; have ye then no sense ?
And, verily, Jonah was amongst the apostles ; [140] when he ran away into the laden ship; and he cast lots and was of those who lost; and a fish swallowed him, for he was to be blamed; and had it not been that he was of those who celebrated
1 Supposed by the Mohammedans to be the same as Al Hidhr and Idrîs.
This is probably another form of the word Elyâs, on the model of many Hebrew words which have survived in the later Arabic dialect. The Mohammedan commentators however conjecturally interpret it in various ways, some consider it to be a plural form, including Elias and his followers; others divide the word and read it Âl-ya-sîn, i.e. the family of Ya-sin,' namely, Elias and his father. Others imagine it to mean Mohammed or the Qur'an. Most probably however the final syllable -în was nothing more than a prolonged utterance of the case-ending, here improperly used in order to preserve the rhyme or final cadence of the verse. The modern Bedawîn frequently do the same, and I have heard them singing a song commencing • Zaidûn, Zaidūn, Zaidûn,' when they should say, Zaidu, O Zaid I' &c. Trans.
3 The word used in the text is always applied to runaway slaves.
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