but whoever among you shall disbelieve hereafter, I
will surely punish him with a punishment wherewith I will not punish any
other creature. And when God shall say unto Jesus, at the last day, O
Jesus, son of Mary, hast thou said unto men, Take me and my mother for
two gods, beside God? He shall answer, Praise be unto thee! it is not
for me to say that which I ought not; if I had said so, thou wouldst
surely have known it: thou knowest what is in me, but I know not what is
in thee; for thou art the knower of secrets. I have not spoken to them
any other than what thou didst command me; namely, Worship God, my Lord
and your Lord: and I was a witness of their actions while I stayed among
them; but since thou hast taken me to thyself, thou hast been the
watcher over them; for thou art witness of all things. If thou punish
them, they are surely thy servants; and if thou forgive them, thou art
mighty and wise. God will say, This day shall their veracity be of
advantage unto those who speak truth; they shall have gardens wherein
rivers flow, they shall remain therein forever: God hath been well
pleased in them, and they have been well pleased in him. This shall be
great felicity. Unto God belongeth the kingdom of heaven and of earth,
and of whatever therein is; and he is almighty.
[Footnote 82: This title is taken from the Table, which, towards the end
of the chapter, is fabled to have been let down from heaven to Jesus. It
is sometimes also called the chapter of Contracts, which word occurs in
the first verse.]
[Footnote 83: As camels, oxen, and sheep; and also wild cows, antelopes,
but not swine, nor what is taken in hunting during the pilgrimage.]
[Footnote 84: The sacred months in the Mohammedan calendar were the
first, the seventh, the eleventh, and the twelfth.]
[Footnote 85: A game similar to raffling, arrowheads being used as
counters.]
[Footnote 86: The Arabic word _al Fatra_ signifies the intermediate
space of time between two prophets, during which no new revelation or
dispensation was given; as the interval between Moses and Jesus, and
between Jesus and Mohammed, at the expiration of which last, Mohammed
pretended to be sent.]
[Footnote 87: But this punishment, according to the Sonna, is not to be
inflicted, unless the value of the thing stolen amount to four dinars,
or about $10. For the first offence, the criminal is to lose his right
hand, which is to be cut off at the wrist; the second offence, h
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