Sacred Books of Islam.
Koran.—The Mohammedans believe that divine revelations were given to Adam, Seth, Enoch, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, and Mohammed, and that each successive revelation in a measure superseded the preceding one. The books given to Adam, Seth, Enoch, and Abraham have been lost. The Pentateuch, the Psalms, and the Four Gospels are accepted by them, but the interpolations and corruptions of Jews and Christians, they claim, have greatly impaired their value. The Koran is with them the book of books—God’s last and best revelation to man. It was written in rays of light on a tablet before the throne of God. A copy bound in white silk and bedecked with gems was carried by Gabriel to the lowest heaven, where from time to time, during a period of twenty years, portions of it were transmitted to Mohammed until the whole was given to the world. The book is divided into 114 chapters. It is elegant in style, and, like most other Bibles, contains, along with a great deal that is fabulous and puerile, some admirable moral teachings.
Sunna.—The Sunna is a large work containing many thousand legends of Mohammed. It is a sacred book, but of less authority than the Koran.