Q.
QABĀLAH, QIBĀLAH (قبالة). A deed of conveyance or transfer of right or property. Any contract or bargain or sale signed by a judge. (Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 569.)
QĀBA QAUSAIN (قاب قوسين). Lit. “Two bows’ length.” An expression which occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah liii. 8–10]: “Then he drew near and hovered o’er; until he was two bows’ length off or nigher still. Then he revealed to his servant what he revealed him.” Commentators understand this to refer to the angel Gabriel. Mystic writers use the term to express a state of nearness to God. (See ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)
QĀBĪL (قابيل). [[CAIN].]
AL-QĀBIẒ (القابض). “The Restrainer.” One of the ninety-nine attributes of God. But the word does not occur in the Qurʾān.
QABR (قبر). A grave. [[GRAVE], [TOMB].]
QABŪL (قبول). “Consent.” A term in the Muḥammadan law of marriage, contracts, &c.
QABẒ WA BAST̤ (قبض و بسط). Two terms which are employed to express two opposite states of the heart; qabẓ being a contraction, and bast̤, an expansion, of the spiritual state. (See ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)
QAʿDAH (قعدة). The sitting posture in the daily prayer, when the tashahhūd is recited. [[TASHAHHUD].]
QADAR (قدر). Lit. “Measuring.” (1) The word generally used in the Ḥadīs̤ for fate, or predestination. (2) Al-Qadar, the title of the XCVIIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān. [[TAQDIR], [PREDESTINATION].]
QADARĪYAH (قدرية). A sect of Muḥammadans who deny absolute predestination and believe in the power (qadr) of man’s free will. They were the ancient Muʿtazilahs before al-Wāṣil separated from the school of Ḥasan al-Baṣrī.
QADĪM (قديم). “Ancient; old.” Al-Qadīm, “The one without beginning.” Qadīmu ʾl-Aiyām, “Ancient of days.” God.
AL-QĀDIR (القادر). “The Powerful.” One of the ninety-nine attributes of God. The word occurs in the Qurʾān, at [Sūrah ii. 19], “God is mighty over all,” and in many other passages.
QĀDIRĪYAH (قادرية). An ascetic order of Faqīrs instituted A.H. 561, by Saiyid ʿAbdu ʾl-Qādir al-Jilānī, surnamed Pīr Dastagīr, whose shrine is at Bag͟hdād. It is the most popular religious order amongst the Sunnīs of Asia. [[FAQIR], [ZIKR].]
QĀF (قاف). (1) The twenty-first letter of the Arabic alphabet. (2) The title of the Lth Sūrah of the Qurʾān. (3) The circle of mountains which Easterns fancy encompass the world. The Muḥammadan belief being that they are inhabited by demons and jinn, and that the mountain range is of emerald which gives an azure hue to the sky. Hence in Persian az qāf tā qāf means the whole world. The name is also used for Mount Caucasus.
AL-QAHHĀR (القهار). “The Dominant.” One of the ninety-nine names of God. It occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xiii. 17]: “He is the One, the Dominant.”
QĀʾIF (قائف). Lit. “Skilful in knowing footsteps.” One who can judge of character from the outward appearance.
One instance of the kind is related in the Traditions, namely, ʿĀyishah relates, “One day the Prophet came home in high spirits, and said, ‘O ʿĀyishah, verily Mujazziz al-Mudliji came and saw Usāmah and Zaid covered over with a cloth, except their feet; and he said, “Verily, I know from these feet the relationship of father and son.” ’ ” (Mishkāt, book xiii. ch. xv. pt. 1.) This knowledge is called ʿIlmu ʾl-Qiyāfah.
QAINUQĀʿ (قينقاع). A Jewish tribe near al-Madīnah in the time of Muḥammad. He besieged them in their stronghold in the second year of the Hijrah, and, having conquered them, sent most of them into exile. (See Muir’s Life of Mahomet, vol. iii. p. 134.)
QAIṢAR (قيصر). [CÆSAR.]
QAIS IBN SAʿD (قيس بن سعد). One of the leading companions. He was of the tribe K͟hazraj and the son of Saʿd, a Companion of note. He was a man of large stature and corpulent, eminent for learning, wisdom, and courage. He commanded the Prophet’s body-guard, and under the K͟halīfah ʿAlī he was made Governor of Egypt. Died at al-Madīnah, A.H. 60.
AL-QAIYŪM (القيوم). “The Self-Subsisting.” One of the ninety-nine attributes of God. It occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah iii. 1]: “There is no deity but God, the living, the self-subsisting.”
QALAM (قلم). Lit. “A (reed) pen.” (1) The pen with which God is said to have pre-recorded the actions of men. The Prophet said the first thing which God created was the Pen (qalam), and that it wrote down the quantity of every individual thing to be created, all that was and all that will be to all eternity. (See Mishkāt.) (2) Al-Qalam, the title of the LXVIIIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān.
QALANDAR (قلندر). A Persian title to an order of faqīrs or darwīshes. An Ascetic.
AL-QAMAR (القمر). “The moon.” The title of the LIVth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in the first verse of which the word occurs. “And the moon hath been split in sunder.” [[MOON], SHAQQU ʾL-QAMAR.]
QANĀʿAH (قناعة). Contentment; resignation.
QĀNIT (قانت). Lit. “One who stands in prayer or in the service of God.” Godly, devout, prayerful. The term is used twice in the Qurʾān:—
[Sūrah xvi. 121]: “Verily, Abraham was a leader in religion and obedient to God.”
[Sūrah xxxix. 12]: “He who observeth the hours of the night in devotion.”
QĀNŪN (قانون). Κάνων. Canon; a rule, a regulation, a law, a statute.
QARĀBAH (قرابة). Lit. “Proximity.” A legal term in Muḥammadan law for relationship.
QĀRIʾ (قارى), pl. qurrāʾ. “A reader.” A term used for one who reads the Qurʾān correctly, and is acquainted with the ʿIlmu ʾt-Tajwīd, or the science of reading the Qurʾān. In the history of Islām there are seven celebrated Qurrāʾ, or “readers,” who are known as al-Qurrāʾu ʾs-Sabʿah, or “the seven readers.” They are—
1. Imām Ibn Kas̤īr. Died at Makkah, A.H. 120.
2. Imām ʿĀsim of al-Kūfah, who learnt the way of reading the Qurʾān from ʿAbdu ʾr-Raḥmān as-Salāmī, who was taught by the K͟halīfahs ʿUs̤mān and ʿAlī. He died at al-Kūfah, A.H. 127.
3. Imām Abū ʿUmr was born at Makkah, A.H. 70, and died at al-Kūfah, A.H. 154. It is on his authority that the following important statement has been handed down: “When the first copy of the Qurʾān was written out and presented to the K͟halīfah ʿUs̤mān, he said, ‘There are faults of language in it, let the Arabs of the desert rectify them with their tongues.’” The meaning of this is that they should pronounce the words correctly but not alter the written copy.
4. Imām Ḥamzah of al-Kūfah was born A.H. 80, and died A.H. 156.
5. Imām al-Kisāʾī who had a great reputation as a Qāriʾ, but none as a poet. It was a common saying, among the learned in grammar, that there was no one who knew so little poetry as al-Kisāʾī. He is said to have died at T̤ūs about the year A.H. 182.
6. Imām Nāfiʿ, a native of al-Madīnah, who died A.H. 169.
7. Imām Ibn ʿĀmir, who was a native of Syria. His date is uncertain.
AL-QĀRIʿAH (القارعة). “The Striking.” The title of the CIst Sūrah of the Qurʾān, which begins with the words, “The Striking! What is the Striking? And what shall make thee understand how terrible the striking will be.”
Jalālu ʾd-dīn says it is one of the epithets given to the last day, because it will strike the hearts of all creatures with terror.
QARĪN (قرين). Lit. “The one united.” The demon which is said to be indissolubly united with every man. (See Mishkāt, book xiii. ch. xv.; also Qurʾān, [Sūrah xli. 24]; [Sūrah xliii. 35]; [Sūrah l. 22].)
QARĪNAH (قرينة). The context. A term used in theological and exegetical works.
QĀRŪN (قارون). [[KORAH].]
QARẒ (قرض). Lit. “Cutting.” (1) A word used in the Qurʾān for good deeds done for God, for which a future recompense will be awarded, e.g. [Sūrah v. 15]: “Lend God a liberal loan and I will surely put away from you your evil deeds, and will cause you to enter gardens through which rivers flow.”
(2) Money advanced as a loan without interest, to be repaid at the pleasure of the borrower.
(3) The word is used in Persian, Urdū, and Pushtoo for money lent at interest, but the legal term for such a debt is ribā.
QASAM (قسم). [[OATH].]
QASĀMAH (قسامة). Lit. “Taking an oath.” An oath under the following circumstances:—
When a person is found slain in a place, and it is not known who was the murderer, and his heirs demand satisfaction for his blood from the inhabitants of the district, then fifty of the inhabitants selected by the next of kin, must be put to their oaths and depose to this effect: “I swear by God that I did not kill him, nor do I know the murderer.”
This custom is founded upon the Mosaic law. See [Deut. xxi. 1–9].
AL-QAṢAṢ (القصص). “The narrative.” The title of the XXVIIIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān. So called because in the 25th verse of this chapter Moses is said to have related the narrative of his adventures to Shuʿaib.
QASM (قسم). Lit. “To divide.” A division of conjugal rights, which is enjoined by the Muslim law. (See Mishkāt, book xiii. ch. x.)
AL-QAṢWĀʾ (القصواء). Lit. “One whose ears are cropt.” Muḥammad’s celebrated she-camel who conveyed him in the flight from Makkah.
QATL (قتل). [[MURDER].]
QATTĀT (قتات). A slanderer. A tale-bearer, who, according to the Traditions, will not enter the kingdom of heaven; for the Prophet has said, “A tale-bearer shall not enter Paradise.” (Mishkāt, book xxii. ch. x. pt. 1.)
QAT̤ʿU ʾT̤-T̤ARĪQ (قطع الطريق). [[HIGHWAY ROBBERY].]
QAUL (قول). A saying; a promise; a covenant. The word occurs in the Qurʾān frequently in these senses.
QAULU ʾL-ḤAQQ (قول الحق). “The Word of Truth.” A title given to Jesus Christ in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xix. 35]: “This was Jesus the son of Mary, the word of truth concerning whom they doubt.” By the commentators Ḥusain, al-Kamālān, and ʿAbdu ʾl-Qādir, the words are understood to refer to the statement made, but al-Baiẓāwī says it is a title applied to Jesus the son of Mary. [[JESUS CHRIST].]
QAWAD (قود). “Retaliation.” Lex talionis. [[MURDER], [QISAS], [RETALIATION].]
AL-QAWĪ (القوى). “The Strong.” One of the ninety-nine attributes of God. It occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xi. 69]: “Thy Lord is the Strong, the Mighty.”
QAẒĀʾ (قضاء), pl. aqẓiyah. Lit. “Consummating.” (1) The office of a Qāẓī, or judge. (2) The sentence of a Qāẓī. (3) Repeating prayers to make up for having omitted them at the appointed time. (4) Making up for an omission in religious duties, such as fasting, &c. (5) The decree existing in the Divine mind from all eternity, and the execution and declaration of a decree at the appointed time. (6) Sudden death.
QAẔF (قذف). Lit. “Throwing at.” Accusing a virtuous man or woman of adultery; the punishment for which is eighty lashes, or, in the case of a slave, forty lashes. This punishment was established by a supposed revelation from heaven, when the Prophet’s favourite wife, ʿĀyishah, was accused of improper intimacy with Ṣafwān Ibnu ʾl-Muʿat̤t̤il. Vide Qurʾān, Sūratu ʾn-Nūr [(xxiv.), 4]: “But to those who accuse married persons of adultery and produce not four witnesses, them shall ye scourge with four-score stripes.” (Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 58.)
QIBLAH (قبلة). “Anything opposite.” The direction in which all Muḥammadans must pray, whether in their public or in their private devotions, namely, towards Makkah. It is established by the express injunction of the Qurʾān, contained in the Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah [(ii.), 136–145]:—
“Fools among men will say, What has turned them from their Qiblah on which they were agreed? Say, God’s is the east and the west, He guides whom He will unto the right path. Thus have we made you a middle nation to be witnesses against men, and that the apostle may be a witness against you. We have not appointed the qiblah on which thou wert agreed, save that we might know who follows the Apostle from him who turns upon his heels, although it is a great thing save to those whom God doth guide. But God will not waste your faith, for verily God with men is kind and merciful. We see thee often turn about thy face in the heavens, but we will surely turn thee to a qiblah thou shalt like. Turn, then, thy face towards the Sacred Mosque, wherever ye be turn your faces towards it, for verily those who have the Book know that it is the truth from their Lord. God is not careless of that which ye do. And if thou shouldst bring to those who have been given the Book every sign, they would not follow your qiblah, nor do some of them follow the qiblah of the others; and if thou followest their lusts after the knowledge that has come to thee, then art thou of the evil-doers. Those whom we have given the Book know him as they know their sons, although a sect of them do surely hide the truth the while they know. The truth (is) from thy Lord, be not therefore one of those who doubt thereof. Every sect has some one side to which they turn (in prayer), but do ye hasten onwards to good works, wherever ye are, God will bring you all together. Verily, God is mighty over all. From whencesoever thou comest forth, there turn thy face towards the Sacred Mosque; for it is surely truth from thy Lord, God is not careless about what ye do. And from whencesoever thou comest forth, there turn thy face towards the Sacred Mosque, and wheresoever ye are, turn your faces towards it, that men may have no argument against you, save only those of them who are unjust, and fear them not, but fear me, and I will fulfil my favour to you; perchance ye may be guided yet.”
In explanation of these verses (which are allowed to be of different periods), and the change of Qiblah, al-Baiẓāwī, the commentator, remarks that when Muḥammad was in Makkah he always worshipped towards the Kaʿbah; but after the flight to al-Madīnah, he was ordered by God to change his Qiblah towards aṣ-Ṣak͟hrah, the rock at Jerusalem on which the Temple was formerly erected, in order to conciliate the Jews, but that, about sixteen months after his arrival in al-Madīnah, Muḥammad longed once more to pray towards Makkah, and he besought the Lord to this effect, and then the instructions were revealed, “Verily we have seen thee turning thy face,” &c., as given above. (See al-Baiẓāwī, in loco.)
This temporary change of the Qiblah to Jerusalem is now regarded as “a trial of faith,” and it is asserted that Makkah was always the true Qiblah. But it is impossible for any non-Muslim not to see in this transaction a piece of worldly wisdom on the part of the Prophet.
Jalālu ʾd-dīn as-Suyūt̤ī admits that the 110th verse of the IInd Sūrah—which reads: “The east and the west is God’s, therefore whichever way ye turn is the face of God”—has been abrogated by a more recent verse, and that at one time in the history of Muḥammad’s mission there was no Qiblah at all.
Major Osborne remarks in his Islām under the Arabs, p. 58:—
“There have been few incidents more disastrous in their consequences to the human race than this decree of Muhammad, changing the Kibla from Jerusalem to Mekka. Had he remained true to his earlier and better faith, the Arabs would have entered the religious community of the nations as peace-makers, not as enemies and destroyers. To all alike—Jews, Christians, and Muhammadans—there would have been a single centre of holiness and devotion; but the Arab would have brought with him just that element of conviction which was needed to enlarge and vivify the preceding religions. To the Jew he would have been a living witness that the God who spake in times past to his fathers by the prophets still sent messengers to men, though not taken from the chosen seeds—the very testimony which they needed to rise out of the conception of a national deity to that of a God of all men.
“To the Christians, his deep and ardent conviction of God as a present living and working power, would have been a voice recalling them from their petty sectarian squabbles and virtual idolatry, to the presence of the living Christ. By the change of the Kibla, Islam was placed in direct antagonism to Judaism and Christianity. It became a rival faith, possessing an independent centre of existence. It ceased to draw its authenticity from the same wells of inspiration. Jew and Christian could learn nothing from a creed which they knew only as an exterminator; and the Muhammadan was condemned to a moral and intellectual isolation. And so long as he remains true to his creed, he cannot participate in the onward march of men. The keystone of that creed is a black pebble in a heathen temple. All the ordinances of his faith, all the history of it, are so grouped round and connected with this stone, that were the odour of sanctity dispelled which surrounds it, the whole religion would inevitably perish. The farther and the faster men progress elsewhere, the more hopeless becomes the position of the Muslim. He can only hate the knowledge which would gently lead him to the light. Chained to a black stone in a barren wilderness, the heart and reason of the Muhammadan world would seem to have taken the similitude of the objects they reverence; and the refreshing dews and genial sunshines which fertilise all else, seek in vain for anything to quicken there.” (Islam under the Arabs, p. 58.)
QIBT̤Ī (قبطى). Copt. The Christian descendants of the Ancient Egyptians, derived from Coptos, a great city in Upper Egypt now called Gooft. The favourite slave of Muḥammad, Māriyah, was a Copt, and is known in Muslim history as Māriyatu ʾl-Qibt̤īyah. [[MUHAMMAD, WIVES OF].]
For an account of the manners and customs of the Coptic Christians, see Lane’s Modern Egyptians.
QIMĀR (قمار). Dice or any game at chance. It is forbidden by the Muḥammadan religion. (Mishkāt, book xvii. ch. ii. pt. 2.)
QINN (قن). A slave, especially one born in the family and whose father and mother are slaves.
QINT̤ĀR (قنطار). A talent. A sum of money mentioned in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 67]: “And of the people of the Book there are some of them who if thou entrust them with a qint̤ār give it back to you.”
Muḥammad T̤āhir, the author of the Majmaʿu ʾl-Biḥār, p. 173, says a qint̤ār is a very large sum of money. As much gold as will go into the hide of a cow! or, according to others, 4,000 dīnārs. Others say it is an unlimited sum, which implies a considerable amount of money.
QIRĀʾAH (قراءة). Lit. “Reading.” A term given to the different methods of reading the Qurʾān. A science which is termed ʿIlmu ʾt-Tajwīd. [[QURʾAN].]
QIRĀN (قران). Lit. “Conjunction.” (1) The conjunction of two planets. (2) The performance of the Ḥajj and the ʿUmrah at the same time.
QIṢĀṢ (قصاص). From qaṣaṣ. Lit. “Tracking the footsteps of an enemy.” The law of retaliation. The lex talionis of the Mosaic law, with the important difference that in the Muslim law the next of kin can accept a money compensation for wilful murder.
The subject of retaliation must be considered, first, as to occasions affecting life, and, secondly, as to retaliation in matters short of life.
(1) In occasions affecting life, retaliation is incurred by wilfully killing a person whose blood is under continual protection, such as a Muslim or a Ẕimmī, in opposition to aliens who have only an occasional or temporary protection. A freeman is to be slain for a freeman, and a slave for a slave; but according to Abū Ḥanīfah, a freeman is to be slain for the murder of a slave if the slave be the property of another. A Muslim is also slain for the murder of a ẕimmī, according to Abū Ḥanīfah, but ash-Shāfiʿī disputes this, because the Prophet said a Muslim is not to be put to death for an infidel. A man is slain for a woman, an adult for an infant, and a sound person for one who is blind, infirm, dismembered, lame, or insane. A father is not to be slain for his child, because the Prophet has said, “Retaliation must not be executed upon the parent for his offspring”; but a child is slain for the murder of his parent. A master is not slain for his slave, and if one of two partners in a slave kill such a slave, retaliation is not incurred. If a person inherit the right of retaliating upon his parent, the retaliation fails. Retaliation is to be executed by the next of kin with some mortal weapon or sharp instrument capable of inflicting a mortal wound.
If a person immerse another, whether an infant or an adult, into water from which it is impossible to escape, retaliation, according to Abū Ḥanīfah, is not incurred, but his two disciples maintain otherwise.
(2) Of retaliation short of life. If a person wilfully strike off the hand of another, his hand is to be struck off in return, because it is said in the Qurʾān ([Sūrah v. 49]), “There is retaliation in case of wounds.” If a person strike off the foot of another, or cut off the nose, retaliation is inflicted in return. If a person strike another on the eye, so as to force the member, with its vessels, out of the socket, there is no retaliation; it is impossible to preserve a perfect equality in extracting an eye. If, on the contrary, the eye remain in its place, but the faculty of seeing be destroyed, retaliation is to be inflicted, as in this case equality may be effected by extinguishing the sight of the offender’s corresponding eye with a hot iron. If a person strike out the teeth of another, he incurs retaliation; for it is said in the Qurʾān, “A tooth for a tooth.” ([Sūrah v. 49].)
Retaliation is not to be inflicted in the case of breaking any bones except teeth, because it is impossible to observe an equality in other fractures. There is no retaliation, in offences short of life, between a man and a woman, a free person and a slave, or one slave and another slave; but ash-Shāfiʿī maintains that retaliation holds in these cases. Retaliation for parts of the body holds between a Muslim and an unbeliever, both being upon an equality between each other with respect to fines for the offences in question.
If the corresponding member of the maimer be defective, nothing more than retaliation on that defective member, or a fine; and if such member be in the meantime lost, nothing whatever is due.
There is no retaliation for the tongue or the virile member.
(3) Retaliation may be commuted for a sum of money. When the heirs of a murdered person enter into a composition with the murderer for a certain sum, retaliation is remitted, and the sum agreed to is due, to whatever amount. This is founded upon an express injunction of the Qurʾān: “Where the heir of the murdered person is offered anything, by way of compensation, out of the property of the murderer, let him take it.” And also in the Traditions, it is related that Muḥammad said (Mishkāt, book xiv.): “The heir of the murdered person is at liberty either to take retaliation, or a fine with the murderer’s consent.” Moreover, it is maintained by Muḥammadan jurists that retaliation is purely a matter which rests with the next of kin, who are at liberty to remit entirely by pardon, and that therefore a compensation can be accepted which is advantageous to the heirs and also to the murderer.
When a person who has incurred retaliation dies, the right to retaliation necessarily ceases, and consequently no fine is due from the murderer’s estate. [[MURDER].]
QISSĪS (قسيس). Persian kashīsh. A Christian presbyter or priest. The word occurs once in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah v. 85]: “Thou shalt certainly find those to be nearest in affection to them who say, ‘We are Christians.’ This because some of them are priests (qissīsūn) and monks (ruhbān), and because they are free from pride.”
QIT̤FĪR (قطفير). Potiphar. Alluded to in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xii. 21], as “the man from Egypt who had bought him” (Joseph). Al-Baiẓāwī, the commentator, says his name was Qit̤fīr.
QIYĀM (قيام). Lit. “Standing.” (1) The standing in the Muḥammadan prayers when the Subḥān, the Taʿawwuẕ, the Tasmiyah, the Fātiḥah, and certain portions of the Qurʾān, are recited. [[PRAYER].] (2) Yaumu ʾl-Qiyām, the Day of Judgment.
AL-QIYĀMAH (القيامة). Lit. “The Standing up.” (1) The Day of Resurrection. [[RESURRECTION].] (2) The title of the LXXVth Sūrah of the Qurʾān. (3) The Ṣūfīs use the term in a spiritual sense for the state of a man who, having counted himself dead to the world, “stands up” in a new life in God. (See ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)
QIYĀS (قياس). Lit. “To compare.” The fourth foundation of Islām, that is to say, the analogical reasoning of the learned with regard to the teaching of the Qurʾān, Ḥadīs̤, and Ijmāʿ.
There are four conditions of Qiyās: (1) That the precept or practice upon which it is founded must be of common (ʿāmm) and not of special (k͟hāṣṣ) application; (2) The cause (ʿillah) of the injunction must be known and understood; (3) The decision must be based upon either the Qurʾān, the Ḥadīs̤, or the Ijmāʿ; (4) The decision arrived at must not be contrary to anything declared elsewhere in the Qurʾān and Ḥadīs̤.
Qiyās is of two kinds, Qiyās-i-Jalī, or evident, and Qiyās-i-K͟hafī, or hidden.
An example of Qiyās-i-Jalī is as follows: Wine is forbidden in the Qurʾān under the word k͟hamr, which literally means anything intoxicating; it is, therefore, evident that opium and all intoxicating drugs are also forbidden.
Qiyās-i-K͟hafī is seen in the following example:—In the Ḥadīs̤ it is enjoined that one goat in forty must be given to God. To some poor persons the money may be more acceptable; therefore, the value of the goat may be given instead of the goat.
QUBĀʾ (قباء). A place three miles from al-Madīnah, where the Prophet’s she-camel, al-Qaṣwāʾ knelt down as she brought her master on his flight from Makkah, and where Muḥammad laid the foundations of a mosque. This was the first place of public prayer in Islām. Muḥammad laid the first brick with his javelin, and marked out the direction of prayer. It is this mosque which is mentioned in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah ix. 109]:—“There is a mosque founded from its first day in piety. More worthy is it that thou enter therein: therein are men who aspire to purity, and God loveth the purified.”
It is esteemed the fourth mosque in rank, being next to that of Makkah, al-Madīnah, and Jerusalem, and tradition relates that the Prophet said one prayer in it was equal to a lesser pilgrimage to Makkah. [[UMRAH].] Captain Burton says:—
“It was originally a square building of very small size; Osman enlarged it in the direction of the minaret, making it sixty-six cubits each way. It is no longer ‘mean and decayed’ as in Burckhardt’s time. The Sultan Abdel Hamid, father of Mahmud, created a neat structure of cut stone, whose crenelles make it look more like a place of defence than of prayer. It has, however, no pretensions to grandeur. The minaret is of Turkish shape. To the south, a small and narrow Riwak (riwāq), or raised hypo-style, with unpretending columns, looks out northwards upon a little open area simply sanded over; and this is the whole building.”
AL-QUDDŪS (القدوس). “The Holy.” One of the ninety-nine names of God. It occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah lix. 23]: “He is God beside whom there is no deity, the King, the Holy.”
QUDRAH (قدرة). Power. Omnipotence. One of the attributes of God. Al-Qudratu ʾl-ḥalwāʾ, The sweet cake of God, i.e. The manna of Israel. The word Qudrah does not occur in the Qurʾān.
QUNŪTU ʾL-WITR (قنوت الوتر). A special supplication said after the Witr prayers, or, according to some, after the morning prayers. It was at such times that the Prophet would pray for the liberation of his friends and for the destruction of his enemies.
For the different forms of supplication, see Mishkāt, book iv. chapters xxxvi. and xxxvii.
The following is the one usually recited: “O God! direct me amongst those to whom Thou hast shown the right road, and keep me in safety from the calamities of this world and the next, and love me amongst those Thou hast befriended. Increase Thy favours on me, and preserve me from ill; for verily Thou canst order at Thy will, and canst not be ordered. Verily none are ruined that Thou befriendest, nor are any made great with whom Thou art at enmity.”
QURAISH (قريش). The Arabian tribe from which Muḥammad was descended, and of which his grandfather, ʿAbdu ʾl-Mut̤t̤alib was chief or prince. This tribe occupies a very prominent place in the Qurʾān and in Muḥammadan history. In the Traditions, a special section is set apart for a record of the sayings of the Prophet regarding the good qualities of this tribe.
Muḥammad is related to have said: “Whosoever wishes for the destruction of the Quraish, him may God destroy.”
Ibn ʿUmar relates that the Prophet said, “The office of K͟halīfah should be in the Quraish as long as there are two persons left in the tribe, one to be ruler and the other to be ruled.” (Mishkāt, book xxiv. c. xii.)
The Sharīf, or Sheriff of Makkah, is always of the Quraish tribe, but ever since the extinction of the Abbaside K͟halīfahs, the Sultāns of Turkey have held the office of K͟halīfah, who are not of this tribe. [[KHALIFAH].]
For an account of the Quraish, refer to Sir William Muir’s Life of Mahomet, vol. i. Intro. cxcv. See also article [ARABIA].
Muḥammad T̤āhir, in his Majmaʿu ʾl-Biḥār, vol. ii., p. 133, says Quraish is the name of a great marine monster which preys on fish, and was given to this tribe on account of its strength and importance amongst the tribes of Arabia. Quraish is the title of the CVIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān.
QURAIZ̤AH (قريظة). A tribe of Jews located near al-Madīnah in the time of Muḥammad. They at first professed to support his mission, but afterwards became disaffected. The Prophet asserted that he had been commanded by God to destroy them, and a complete massacre of the men took place, and the women and children were taken captive. The event is referred to at length in the XXXIIIrd Sūrah of the Qurʾān.
Sir William Muir thus records the event:—
“The men and women were penned up for the night in separate yards; they were supplied with dates, and spent the night in prayer, repeating passages from their Scriptures, and exhorting one another in constancy. During the night graves or trenches sufficient to contain the dead bodies of the men were dug in the chief market-place of the city. When these were ready in the morning, Mahomet, himself a spectator of the tragedy, gave command that the captives should be brought forth in companies of five or six at a time. Each company was made to sit down by the brink of the trench destined for its grave, and there beheaded. Party after party they were thus led out, and butchered in cold blood, till the whole were slain. One woman alone was put to death. It was she who threw the millstone from the battlements. For Zoheir, an aged Jew, who had saved some of his allies of the Bani Aus in the battle of Boâth, Thâbit interceded and procured a pardon, including the freedom of his family and restoration of his property. ‘But what hath become of all our chiefs,—of Kâb, of Huwey, of Ozzâl, the son of Samuel?’ asked the old man. As one after another he named the leading chiefs of his tribe, he received to each inquiry the same reply,—they had all been slain already. ‘Then of what use is life to me any longer? Leave me not to that bloodthirsty man who has killed all that are dear to me in cold blood. But slay me also, I entreat thee. Here, take my sword, it is sharp; strike high and hard.’ Thâbit refused, and gave him over to another, who, under Ali’s orders, beheaded the aged man, but attended to his last request in obtaining freedom for his family. When Mahomet was told of his saying, ‘Slay me also, that I may go to my home and join those that have preceded me,’ he answered, ‘Yea, he shall join them in the fire of hell!’
“Having sated his revenge, and drenched the market-place with the blood of eight hundred victims, and having given command for the earth to be smoothed over their remains, Mahomet returned from the horrid spectacle to solace himself with the charms of Rîhâna, whose husband and all whose male relatives had just perished in the massacre. He invited her to be his wife, but she declined, and chose to remain (as, indeed, having refused marriage, she had no alternative) his slave or concubine. She also declined the summons to conversion, and continued in the Jewish faith, at which the Prophet was much concerned. It is said, however, that she afterwards embraced Islâm. She lived with Mahomet till his death.
“The booty was divided into four classes—lands, chattels, cattle, and slaves; and Mahomet took a fifth of each. There were (besides little children who counted with their mothers) a thousand captives; from his share of these, Mahomet made certain presents to his friends of slave girls and female servants. The rest of the women and children he sent to be sold among the Bedouin tribes of Najd, in exchange for horses and arms; for he kept steadily in view the advantage of raising around him a body of efficient horse.” (Life of Mahomet, vol. iii. p. 276.)
QURʾĀN (قران). The sacred book of the Muḥammadans, and believed by them to be the inspired word of God. It is written in the Arabic language.
The word Qurʾān is derived from the Arabic Qaraʾ, which occurs at the commencement of [Sūrah xcv]., which is said to have been the first chapter revealed to Muḥammad, and has the same meaning as the Heb. קָרָא kārā, “to read,” or “to recite,” which is frequently used in [Jeremiah xxxvi]., as well as in other places in the Old Testament. It is, therefore, equivalent to the Heb. מִקְרָא mikrā, rendered in [Nehemiah viii. 8], “the reading.” It is the title given to the Muḥammadan Scriptures which are usually appealed to and quoted from as al-Qurʾān al-Majīd, the “Glorious Qurʾān”; al-Qurʾān ash-Sharīf, the “Noble Qurʾān”; and is also called the Furqān, “Distinguisher”; Kalāmu ʾllāh, the “Word of God”; and al-Kitāb, “the Book.”
According to Jalālu ʾd-dīn as-Suyūt̤ī, in his Itqān, p. 117, the Qurʾān is distinguished in the text of the book by the following fifty-five special titles:—
| 1. | Al-Kitāb | The Book. |
| 2. | Al-Mubīn | The Enlightener. |
| 3. | Al-Qurʾān | The Reading. |
| 4. | Al-Karīm | The Good. |
| 5. | Al-Kalām | The Word. |
| 6. | Al-Burhān | The Proof. |
| 7. | An-Nūr | The Light. |
| 8. | Al-Hudā | The Guidance. |
| 9. | Ar-Raḥmah | The Mercy. |
| 10. | Al-Furqān | The Distinguisher. |
| 11. | Ash-Shifāʾ | The Health. |
| 12. | Al-Muʿiz̤ah | The Sermon. |
| 13. | Aẕ-Ẕikr | The Reminder. |
| 14. | Al-Mubārak | The Blessed. |
| 15. | Al-ʿAlī | The Lofty. |
| 16. | Al-Ḥikmah | The Wisdom. |
| 17. | Al-Ḥakīm | The Philosopher. |
| 18. | Al-Muhaimin | The Preserver. |
| 19. | Al-Muṣaddiq | The Establisher of Truth. |
| 20. | Al-Ḥabl | The Rope. |
| 21. | Aṣ-Ṣirāt̤u ʾl-Mustaqīm | The Straight Path. |
| 22. | Al-Qaiyim | The Strong. |
| 23. | Al-Qaulu ʾl-Faṣl | The Distinguishing Speech. |
| 24. | An-Nabaʾu ʾl-ʿAz̤īm | The Exalted News. |
| 25. | Al-Ḥasanu ʾl-Ḥadīs̤ | The Good Saying. |
| 26. | Al-Mas̤ānī | The Repetition. |
| 27. | Al-Mutashābih | The Uniform. |
| 28. | At-Tanzīl | The Revelation. |
| 29. | Ar-Rūḥ | The Spirit. |
| 30. | Al-Waḥy | The Inspiration. |
| 31. | Al-ʿArabī | The Arabic. |
| 32. | Al-Baṣāʾir | The Enlightenment. |
| 33. | Al-Bayān | The Explanation. |
| 34. | Al-ʿIlm | The Knowledge. |
| 35. | Al-Ḥaqq | The Truth. |
| 36. | Al-Hādī | The Guide. |
| 37. | Al-ʿAjab | The Wonderful. |
| 38. | At-Taẕkirah | The Exhortation. |
| 39. | Al-ʿUrwatu ʾl-Wus̤qā | The Firm Handle. |
| 40. | Aṣ-Ṣidq | The Righteous. |
| 41. | Al-ʿAdl | The Justice. |
| 42. | Al-Amr | The Order. |
| 43. | Al-Munādī | The Preacher. |
| 44. | Al-Bushrā | The Glad Tidings. |
| 45. | Al-Majīd | The Exalted. |
| 46. | Az-Zabūr | The Psalm. |
| 47. | Al-Bashīr | The Herald of Glad Tidings. |
| 48. | An-Naẕīr | The Warner. |
| 49. | Al-ʿAzīz | The Mighty. |
| 50. | Al-Balāg͟h | The Message. |
| 51. | Al-Qaṣaṣ | The Narrative. |
| 52. | As-Sūḥuf | The Pamphlets. |
| 53. | Al-Mukarramah | The Excellent. |
| 54. | Al-Marfūʿah | The Exalted. |
| 55. | Al-Mut̤āharah | The Purified. |
I.—The Inspiration of the Qurʾān.
According to Abū Ḥanīfah, the great Sunnī Imām, the Qurʾān is eternal in its original essence. He says, “The Qurʾān is the Word of God, and is His inspired Word and Revelation. It is a necessary attribute (ṣifah) of God. It is not God, but still it is inseparable from God. It is written in a volume, it is read in a language, it is remembered in the heart, and its letters and its vowel points, and its writing are all created, for these are the works of man, but God’s word is uncreated (g͟hairu ʾl-mak͟hlūq). Its words, its writing, its letters, and its verses, are for the necessities of man, for its meaning is arrived at by their use, but the Word of God is fixed in the essence (ẕāt) of God, and he who says that the word of God is created is an infidel.” (See Kitābu ʾl-Waṣīyah, p. 77.)
Muḥammadans believe the Qurʾān to have been written by “the hands of noble, righteous scribes,” mentioned in the Sūratu ʿAbasa [(lxxx.) 15], and to have been sent down to the lowest heaven complete, from whence it was revealed from time to time to the Prophet by the angel Gabriel. [[GABRIEL].]
There is, however, only one distinct assertion in the Qurʾān of Gabriel having been the medium of inspiration, namely, Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah [(ii.), 91]; and this occurs in a Medinah Sūrah revealed about seven years after the Prophet’s rule had been established. In the Sūratu ʾsh-Shuʿarāʾ [(xxvi.), 193], the Qurʾān is said to have been given by the Rūhu ʾl-Amīn, or “Faithful Spirit”; and in the Sūratu ʾn-Najm [(liii.), 5], Muḥammad claims to have been taught by the Shadīdu ʾl-Quwā, or “One terrible in power”; and in the Traditions the agent of inspiration is generally spoken of as “an angel” (malak). It is, therefore, not quite certain through what agency Muḥammad believed himself to be inspired of God, the Holy Spirit or the angel Gabriel.
According to the traditions, the revelation was first communicated in dreams. ʿĀyishah, one of the Prophet’s wives, relates (Mishkāt, xxiv. 5):—
“The first revelations which the Prophet received were in true dreams; and he never dreamt but it came to pass as regularly as the dawn of day. After this the Prophet was fond of retirement, and used to seclude himself in a cave in Mount Ḥirāʾ and worship there day and night. He would, whenever he wished, return to his family at Makkah, and then go back again, taking with him the necessaries of life. Thus he continued to return to K͟hadījah from time to time, until one day the revelation came down to him, and the angel (Arabic malak, Heb. malak͟h, “an angel; a prophet”; a name of office, not of nature [See Wilson’s Hebrew Lexicon, p. 13]) came to him and said, ‘Read’ (iqraʾ); but the Prophet said, ‘I am not a reader.’ And the Prophet related that he (i.e. the angel) took hold of me and squeezed me as much as I could bear, and he then let me go and said again, ‘Read!’ And I said, ‘I am not a reader.’ Then he took hold of me a second time, and squeezed me as much as I could bear, and then let me go, and said, ‘Read!’ And I said, ‘I am not a reader.’ Then he took hold of me a third time and squeezed me as much as I could bear, and said:—
“ ‘Read! in the name of Thy Lord who created;
Created man from a clot of blood in the womb.
Read! for thy Lord is the most beneficent,
He hath taught men the use of the pen;
He hath taught man that which he knoweth not.’
(These are [the first five verses] of the XCVIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān. The other verses of the Sūrah being of a later date.)
“Then the Prophet repeated the words himself, and with his heart trembling he returned (i.e. from Ḥirāʾ to Makkah) to K͟hadījah, and said, ‘Wrap me up, wrap me up.’ And they wrapped him up in a garment till his fear was dispelled, and he told K͟hadījah what had passed, and he said: ‘Verily, I was afraid I should have died.’ Then K͟hadījah said, ‘No, it will not be so. I swear by God, He will never make you melancholy or sad. For verily you are kind to your relatives, you speak the truth, you are faithful in trust, you bear the afflictions of the people, you spend in good works what you gain in trade, you are hospitable, and you assist your fellow men.’ After this K͟hadījah took the Prophet to Waraqah, who was the son of her uncle, and she said to him, ‘O son of my uncle! hear what your brother’s son says.’ Then Waraqah said to the Prophet, ‘O son of my brother! what do you see?’ Then the Prophet told Waraqah what he saw, and Waraqah said, ‘That is the Nāmūs [[NAMUS]] which God sent to Moses.’ ʿĀyishah also relates that Ḥāris̤ ibn Hishām asked the Prophet, ‘How did the revelation come to you?’ and the Prophet said, ‘Sometimes like the noise of a bell, and sometimes the angel would come and converse with me in the shape of a man.’ ”
According to ʿĀyishah’s statement, the Sūratu ʾl-ʿAlaq (xcvi.) was the first portion of the Qurʾān revealed; but it is more probable that the poetical Sūrahs, in which there is no express declaration of the prophetic office, or of a divine commission, were composed at an earlier period. Internal evidence would assign the earliest date to the Sūrahs az-Zalzalah (xcix.), al-ʿAṣr (ciii.), al-ʿĀdiyāt (c.), and al-Fātiḥah (i.), which are rather the utterances of a searcher after truth than of an Apostle of God.
Although the Qurʾān now appears as one book, the Muslim admits that it was not all made known to the Prophet in one and the same manner.
Mr. Sell, in his Faith of Islām, quoting from the Mudāriju ʾn-Nubūwah, p. 509, gives the following as some of the modes of inspiration:—
“1. It is recorded on the authority of ʾA′yesha, one of Muhammad’s wives, that a brightness like the brightness of the morning came upon the Prophet. According to some commentators, this brightness remained six months. In some mysterious way Gabriel, through this brightness or vision, made known the will of God.
“2. Gabriel appeared in the form of Dahiah (Daḥyah), one of the Companions of the Prophet, renowned for his beauty and gracefulness. A learned dispute has arisen with regard to the abode of the soul of Gabriel when he assumed the bodily form of Dahiah. At times, the angelic nature of Gabriel overcame Muhammad, who was then translated to the world of angels. This always happened when the revelation was one of bad news, such as denunciations or predictions of woe. At other times, when the message brought by Gabriel was one of consolation and comfort, the human nature of the Prophet overcame the angelic nature of the angel, who, in such case, having assumed a human form, proceeded to deliver the message.
“3. The Prophet heard at times the noise of the tinkling of a bell. To him alone was known the meaning of the sound. He alone could distinguish in, and through it, the words which Gabriel wished him to understand. The effect of this mode of Wahí (Waḥy) was more marvellous than that of any of the other ways. When his ear caught the sound his whole frame became agitated. On the coldest day, the perspiration, like beads of silver, would roll down his face. The glorious brightness of his countenance gave place to a ghastly hue, whilst the way in which he bent down his head showed the intensity of the emotion through which he was passing. If riding, the camel on which he sat would fall to the ground. The Prophet one day, when reclining with his head on the lap of Zeid, heard the well-known sound: Zeid, too, knew that something unusual was happening, for so heavy became the head of Muhammad that it was with the greatest difficulty he could support the weight.
“4. At the time of the Miʾráj, or night ascent into heaven, God spoke to the Prophet without the intervention of an angel. It is a disputed point whether the face of the Lord was veiled or not.
“5. God sometimes appeared in a dream, and placing his hands on the Prophet’s shoulders made known his will.
“6. Twice, angels having each six hundred wings, appeared and brought the message from God.
“7. Gabriel, though not appearing in bodily form, so inspired the heart of the Prophet, that the words he uttered under its influence were the words of God. This is technically called Ilka (Ilqāʾ), and is by some supposed to be the degree of inspiration to which the Traditions belong. (See as-Suyūt̤ī’s Itqān, p. 103.)
“Above all, the Prophet was not allowed to remain in any error; if, by any chance, he had made a wrong deduction from any previous revelation, another was always sent to rectify it. This idea has been worked up to a science of abrogation, according to which some verses of the Qurán abrogate others. Muhammad found it necessary to shift his stand-point more than once, and thus it became necessary to annul earlier portions of his revelation. [[MANSUKH].]
“Thus in various ways was the revelation made known to Muhammad. At first there seems to have been a season of doubt, the dread lest after all it might be a mockery. But as years rolled on, confidence in himself and in his mission came. At times, too, there is a joyousness in his utterances as he swears by heaven and earth, by God and man; but more often the visions were weird and terrible. Tradition says:—“He roared like a camel, the sound as of bells well-nigh rent his heart in pieces.” Some strange power moved him, his fear was uncontrollable. For twenty years or more the revelations came, a direction on things of heaven and of earth, to the Prophet as the spiritual guide of all men, to the Warrior-Chief, as the founder of political unity among the Arab tribes.”
A SPECIMEN OF THE FIRST TWO PAGES OF A QURʾAN.
II.—The Collation of the Qurʾān.
The whole book was not arranged until after Muḥammad’s death, but it is believed that the Prophet himself divided the Sūrahs [[SURAH]] and gave most of them their present titles, which are chosen from some word which occurs in the chapter. The following is the account of the collection and arrangement of the Qurʾān, as it stands at present, as given in traditions recorded by al-Buk͟hārī (see Ṣaḥīḥu ʾl-Buk͟hārī, Arabic ed., p. 745.)
“Zaid ibn S̤ābit relates:—‘Abu Bakr sent a person to me, and called me to him, at the time of the battle with the people of Yamāmah; and I went to him, and ʿUmar was with him; and Abu Bakr said to me, “ʿUmar came to me and said, ‘Verily a great many of the readers of the Qurʾān were slain on the day of the battle with the people of Yamāmah; and really I am afraid that if the slaughter should be great, much will be lost from the Qurʾān, because every person remembers something of it; and, verily, I see it advisable for you to order the Qurʾān to be collected into one book.’ I said to ʿUmar, ‘How can I do a thing which the Prophet has not done?’ He said, ‘I swear by God, this collecting of the Qurʾān is a good thing.’ And ʿUmar used to be constantly returning to me and saying: ‘You must collect the Qurʾān,’ till at length God opened my breast so to do, and I saw what ʿUmar had been advising.” And Zaid ibn S̤ābit says that, ‘Abū Bakr said to me, “You are a young and sensible man, and I do not suspect you of forgetfulness, negligence, or perfidy; and, verily, you used to write for the Prophet his instructions from above; then look for the Qurʾān in every place and collect it.” I said, “I swear by God, that if people had ordered me to carry a mountain about from one place to another, it would not be heavier upon me than the order which Abū Bakr has given for collecting the Qurʾān.” I said to Abū Bakr, “How do you do a thing which the Prophet of God did not?” He said, “By God, this collecting of the Qurʾān is a good act.” And he used perpetually to return to me, until God put it into my heart to do the thing which the heart of Abū Bakr had been set upon. Then I sought for the Qurʾān, and collected it from the leaves of the date, and white stones, and the breasts of people that remembered it, till I found the last part of the chapter entitled Tauba (Repentance), with Abū K͟huzaimah al-Anṣārī, and with no other person. These leaves were in the possession of Abū Bakr, until God caused him to die; after which ʿUmar had them in his life-time; after that, they remained with his daughter, Ḥafṣah; after that, ʿUs̤mān compiled them into one book.’
“Anas ibn Mālik relates: ‘Huzaifah came to ʿUs̤mān, and he had fought with the people of Syria in the conquest of Armenia; and had fought in Aẕurbaijān, with the people of al-ʿIrāq, and he was shocked at the different ways of people reading the Qurʾān. And Huzaifah said to ʿUs̤mān, “O ʿUs̤mān, assist this people, before they differ in the Book of God, just as the Jews and Christians differ in their books.” Then ʿUs̤mān sent a person to Ḥafṣah, ordering her to send those portions which she had, and saying, “I shall have a number of copies of them taken, and will then return them to you.” And Ḥafṣah sent the portions to ʿUs̤mān, and ʿUs̤mān ordered Zaid ibn S̤ābit, Anṣārī, and ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn az-Zubair, and Saʿīd ibn Alʿās, and ʿAbdu ʾr-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥāris̤ ibn Hishām; and these were all of the Quraish tribe, except Zaid ibn S̤ābit and ʿUs̤mān. And he said to the three Quraishites, “When you and Zaid ibn-S̤ābit differ about any part of the dialect of the Qurʾān, then do ye write it in the Quraish dialect, because it came not down in the language of any tribe but theirs.” Then they did as ʿUs̤mān had ordered; and when a number of copies had been taken, ʿUs̤mān returned the leaves to Ḥafṣah. And ʿUs̤mān sent a copy to every quarter of the countries of Islām, and ordered all other leaves to be burnt, and Ibn Shahāb said, “K͟hārījah, son of Zaid ibn S̤ābit, informed me, saying, ‘I could not find one verse when I was writing the Qurʾān, which, verily, I heard from the Prophet; then I looked for it, and found it with K͟huzaimah, and entered it into the Sūratu ʾl-Aḥzāb.’ ”
This recension of the Qurʾān produced by the K͟halīfah ʿUs̤mān has been handed down to us unaltered; and there is probably no other book in the world which has remained twelve centuries with so pure a text.
Sir William Muir remarks in his Life of Mahomet:—
“The original copy of the first edition was obtained from Haphsa’s (Ḥafṣah) depository, and a careful recension of the whole set on foot. In case of difference between Zaid and his coadjutors, the voice of the latter, as demonstrative of the Coreishite idiom, was to preponderate; and the new collation was thus assimilated to the Meccan dialect, in which the Prophet had given utterance to his inspiration. Transcripts were multiplied and forwarded to the chief cities in the empire, and the previously existing copies were all, by the Caliph’s command, committed to the flames. The old original was returned to Haphsa’s custody.
“The recension of Othmân (ʿUs̤mān) has been handed down to us unaltered. So carefully, indeed, has it been preserved, that there are no variations of importance,—we might almost say no variations at all, amongst the innumerable copies of the Coran scattered throughout the vast bounds of the empire of Islâm.
“Contending and embittered factions, taking their rise in the murder of Othmân himself within a quarter of a century from the death of Mahomet, have ever since rent the Mahometan world. Yet but one Corân has been current amongst them; and the consentaneous use by them all in every age up to the present day of the same Scripture, is an irrefragable proof that we have now before us the very text prepared by command of the unfortunate Caliph. There is probably in the world no other work which has remained twelve centuries with so pure a text. The various readings are wonderfully few in number, and are chiefly confined to differences in the vowel points and diacritical signs. But these marks were invented at a later date.
“They did not exist at all in the early copies, and can hardly be said to affect the text of Othmân. Since, then, we possess the undoubted text of Othmân’s recension, it remains to be inquired whether that text was an honest reproduction of Abu Bakr’s edition, with the simple reconcilement of unimportant variations. There is the fullest ground for believing that it was so. No early or trustworthy traditions throw suspicion of tampering with the Corân in order to support his own claims upon Othmân. The Sheeahs (Shīʿahs)[115] of later times, indeed, pretend that Othmân left out certain Suras or passages which favoured Ali. But this is incredible. He could not possibly have done so without it being observed at the time; and it cannot be imagined that Ali and his followers (not to mention the whole body of the Mussulmans who fondly regarded the Corân as the word of God,) would have permitted such a proceeding.
“In support of this position, the following arguments may be adduced. First: When Othmân’s edition was prepared, no open breach had yet taken place between the Omeyads and the Alyites. The unity of Islâm was still complete and unthreatened. Ali’s pretensions were as yet undeveloped. No sufficient object can, therefore, be assigned for the perpetration by Othmân of an offence which Moslems regard as one of the blackest dye. Second: On the other hand, Ali, from the very commencement of Othmân’s reign, had an influential party of adherents, strong enough in the end to depose the Caliph, to storm his palace in the heart of Medîna, and to put an end to his life. Can we conceive that these men would have remained quiet, when the very evidence of their leader’s superior claims was being openly expunged from the book of God. Third: At the time of the recension, there were still multitudes alive who had the Corân, as originally delivered, by heart; and of the supposed passages favouring Ali—had any ever existed—there would have been numerous transcripts in the hands of his family and followers. Both of these sources must have proved an effectual check upon any attempt at suppression. Fourth: The party of Ali shortly after assumed an independent attitude, and he himself succeeded to the Caliphate. Is it possible that either Ali, or his party, when thus arrived at power, would have tolerated a mutilated Corân—mutilated expressly to destroy his claims. Yet we find that they used the same Corân as their opponents, and raised no shadow of an objection against it.
“The insurgents are indeed said to have made it one of their complaints against Othmân that he had caused a new edition to be made of the Corân, and had committed all the old copies to the flames; but these proceedings were objected to simply as unauthorised and sacrilegious. No hint was dropped of any alteration or omission. Such a supposition, palpably absurd at the time, is altogether an after-thought of the modern Sheeas.
“We may, then, safely conclude that Othmân’s recension was, what it professed to be, a reproduction of Abu Bakr’s edition, with a more perfect conformity to the dialect of Mecca, and possibly a more uniform arrangement of its parts,—but still a faithful reproduction.
“The most important question yet remains, viz. Whether Abu Bakr’s edition was itself an authentic and complete collection of Mahomet’s Revelations. The following considerations warrant the belief that it was authentic and, in the main, as complete as at the time was possible.
“First.—We have no reason to doubt that Abu Bakr was a sincere follower of Mahomet, and an earnest believer in the divine origin of the Corân. His faithful attachment to the Prophet’s person, conspicuous for the last twenty years of his life, and his simple, consistent, and unambitious deportment as Caliph, admit no other supposition. Firmly believing the revelations of his friend to be the revelations of God himself, his first object would be to secure a pure and complete transcript of them. A similar argument applies with almost equal force to Omar, and the other agents in the revision. The great mass of Mussulmans were undoubtedly sincere in their belief. From the scribes themselves, employed in the compilation, down to the humblest believer who brought his little store of writing on stones or palm-leaves, all would be influenced by the same earnest desire to reproduce the very words which their Prophet had declared as his message from the Lord. And a similar guarantee existed in the feelings of the people at large, in whose soul no principle was more deeply rooted than an awful reverence for the supposed word of God. The Corân itself contains frequent denunciations against those who should presume to ‘fabricate anything in the name of the Lord,’ or conceal any part of that which He had revealed. Such an action, represented as the very worst description of crime, we cannot believe that the first Moslems, in the early ardour of their faith and love, would have dared to contemplate.
“Second.—The compilation was made within two years of Mahomet’s death. We have seen that several of his followers had the entire revelation (excepting, perhaps, some obsolete fragments) by heart; that every Moslem treasured up more or less some portions in his memory; and that there were official Reciters of it, for public worship and tuition, in all countries to which Islâm extended. These formed an unbroken link between the Revelation fresh from Mahomet’s lips, and the edition of it by Zeid. Thus the people were not only sincere and fervent in wishing for a faithful copy of the Corân; they were also in possession of ample means for realising their desire, and for testing the accuracy and completeness of the volume placed in their hands by Abu Bakr.
“Third.—A still greater security would be obtained from the fragmentary transcripts which existed in Mahomet’s life-time, and which must have greatly multiplied before the Corân was compiled. These were in the possession, probably, of all who could read. And as we know that the compilation of Abu Bakr came into immediate and unquestioned use, it is reasonable to conclude that it embraced and corresponded with every extant fragment, and therefore by common consent, superseded them. We hear of no fragments, sentences, or words, intentionally omitted by the compilers, nor of any that differed from the received edition. Had any such been discoverable, they would undoubtedly have been preserved and noticed in those traditional repositories which treasured up the minutest and most trivial acts and sayings of the Prophet.
“Fourth.—The contents and the arrangement of the Corân speak forcibly for its authenticity. All the fragments that could possibly be obtained have with artless simplicity been joined together. The patchwork bears no marks of a designing genius or a moulding hand. It testifies to the faith and reverence of the compilers, and proves that they dared no more than simply collect the sacred fragments and place them in juxtaposition. Hence the interminable repetitions; the palling reiteration of the same ideas, truths, and doctrines; hence, scriptural stories and Arab legends, told over and over again with little verbal variation; hence the pervading want of connection, and the startling chasms between adjacent passages. Again, the frailties of Mahomet, supposed to have been noticed by the Deity, are all with evident faithfulness entered in the Corân. Not less undisguised are the frequent verses which are contradicted or abrogated by later revelations. The editor plainly contented himself with compiling and copying out in a continuous form, but with scrupulous accuracy, the fragmentary materials within his reach. He neither ventured to select from repeated versions of the same incident, nor to reconcile differences, nor by the alteration of a single letter to connect abrupt transitions of context, nor by tampering with the text to soften discreditable appearances. Thus we possess every internal guarantee of confidence.
“But it may be objected,—if the text of Abu Bakr’s Corân was pure and universally received, how came it to be so soon corrupted, and to require, in consequence of its variations, an extensive recension? Tradition does not afford sufficient light to determine the cause of these discrepancies. They may have been owing to various readings in the older fragmentary transcripts which remained in the possession of the people; they may have originated in the diverse dialects of Arabia, and the different modes of pronunciation and orthography; or they may have sprung up naturally in the already vast domains of Islâm, before strict uniformity was officially enforced. It is sufficient for us to know that in Othmân’s revision recourse was had to the original exemplar of the first compilation, and that there is otherwise every security, internal and external, that we possess a text the same as that which Mahomet himself gave forth and used.” (Life of Mahomet, new ed., p. 557 et seqq.)
The various readings (qirāʾah) in the Qurʾān are not such as are usually understood by the term in English authors, but different dialects of the Arabic language. Ibn ʿAbbās says the Prophet said, “Gabriel taught me to read the Qurʾān in one dialect, and when I recited it he taught me to recite it in another dialect, and so on until the number of dialects increased to seven.” (Mishkāt, book ii. ch. ii.)
Muḥammad seems to have adopted this expedient to satisfy the desire of the leading tribes to have a Qurʾān in their own dialect; for ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq says, “The Qurʾān was first revealed in the dialect of the Quraish, which was the Prophet’s native tongue; but when the Prophet saw that the people of other tribes recited it with difficulty, then he obtained permission from God to extend its currency by allowing it to be recited in all the chief dialects of Arabia, which were seven:—Quraish, Taiy, Hawāzin, Yaman, S̤aqīf, Huẕail, and Banū Tamīm. Every one of these tribes accordingly read the Qurʾān in its own dialect, till the time of ʿUs̤mān, when these differences of reading were prohibited.”
These seven dialects are called in Arabic Sabaʿtu Aḥruf, and in Persian Haft Qirāʾāt.
III.—The Divisions of the Qurʾān.
The Qurʾān, which is written in the Arabic language, is divided into: Ḥarf, Kalimah, Āyah, Sūrah, Rukūʾ, Rubʿ, Niṣf, S̤uls̤, Juzʾ, Manzal.
1. Ḥarf (pl. Ḥurūf), Letters; of which there are said to be 323,671, or according to some authorities, 338,606.
2. Kalimah (pl. Kalimāt), Words; of which there are 77,934, or, according to some writers, 79,934.
3. Āyah (pl. Āyāt), Verses. Āyah (Heb. אוֹת) is a word which signifies “sign.” It was used by Muḥammad for short sections or verses of his supposed revelation. The division of verses differs in different editions of the Arabic Qurʾān. The number of verses in the Arabic Qurʾāns are recorded after the title of the Sūrah, and the verses distinguished in the text by a small cypher or circle. The early readers of the Qurʾān did not agree as to the original position of these circles, and so it happens that there are five different systems of numbering the verses.
(a) Kūfah verses. The Readers in the city of al-Kūfah say that they followed the custom of ʿAlī. Their way of reckoning is generally adopted in India. They reckon 6,239 verses.
(b) Baṣrah verses. The Readers of al-Baṣrah follow ʿĀṣim ibn Ḥajjāj, a Companion. They reckon 6,204 verses.
(c) Shāmī verses. The Readers in Syria (Shām) followed ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn ʿUmar, a Companion. They reckon 6,225 verses.
(d) Makkah verses. According to this arrangement, there are 6,219 verses.
(e) Madīnah verses. This way of reading contains 6,211 verses.
4. Sūrah (pl. Suwar), Chapters. A word which signifies a row or series, but which is now used exclusively for the chapters of the Qurʾān, which are one hundred and fourteen in number. These chapters are called after some word which occurs in the text, and, if the Traditions are to be trusted, they were so named by Muḥammad himself, although the verses of their respective Sūrahs were undoubtedly arranged after his death, and sometimes with little regard to their sequence. Muslim doctors admit that the K͟halīfah ʿUs̤mān arranged the chapters in the order in which they now stand in the Qurʾān.
The Sūrahs of the Muḥammadan Qurʾān are similar to the forty-three divisions of the Law amongst the Jews known as סְדָרִים Sidārīm, or “orders.” These were likewise named after a word in the section, e.g. The first is Bereshith, the second Noah, &c. (See Buxtorf’s Tiberias, p. 181.)
Each Sūrah of the Qurʾān, with the exception of the IXth, begins with the words—
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
“In the name of the Merciful, the Compassionate.”
The Sūrahs, as they stand in Arabic editions of the Qurʾān, are as follows:—
5. Rukūʾ (pl. Rukūʾāt), an inclination of the head or bow. These are sections of about ten verses or less, at which the devout Muslim makes a bow of reverence; they are marked on the margin of the Qurʾān with the letter ʿain ع, with the number of the rukūʾ over it. Muḥammadans generally quote their Qurʾān by the Juzʾ or Sīpārah and the Rukūʾ.
6. Rubʿ. The quarter of a Juzʾ, or Sīpārah.
7. Niṣf. The half of a Sīpārah.
8. S̤uls̤. The three-quarters of a Sīpārah. These three divisions are denoted by the words being written on the margin.
9. Juzʾ (pl. Ajzāʾ). Persian Sīpārah. Thirty divisions of the Qurʾān, which have been made to enable the devout Muslim to recite the whole of the Qurʾān in the thirty days of Ramaẓān. Muḥammadans usually quote their Qurʾān by the Sīpārah or Juzʾ and not by the Sūrah.
10. Manzil (pl. Manāzil, Stages). These are seven in number, and are marked by the letters ف م ى ب ش و ق, which are said to spell Famī bi Shauq, “My mouth with desire.” This arrangement is to enable the Muslim to recite the whole in the course of a week.
IV.—The Contents of the Qurʾān and the Chronological Arrangement of its Chapters.
In the Arabic Qurʾān, the Sūrahs are placed as they were arranged by Zaid ibn S̤ābit, who seems to have put them together regardless of any chronological sequence. The initial, or opening prayer, stands first, and then the longest chapters. But the Muḥammadan commentators admit that the Qurʾān is not chronologically arranged; and Jalālu ʾd-dīn, in his Itqān, has given a list of them as they are supposed to have been revealed. This list will be found under the Divisions of the Qurʾān in the present article. And, what is still more confusing, all Muḥammadan doctors allow that in some of the Sūrahs there are verses which belong to a different date from that of other portions of the chapter; for example, in the Sūratu ʾl-ʿAlaq, the first five verses belong to a much earlier date than the others; and in Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah, [verse 234] is acknowledged by all commentators to have been revealed after [verse 240], which it abrogates.
If we arrange the Sūrahs or Chapters according to the order given in Suyūt̤ī’s Itqān, or by Sir William Muir, or by Mr Rodwell, we cannot fail to mark the gradual development of Muḥammad’s mind from that of a mere moral teacher and reformer to that of a prophet and warrior-chief. The contrast between the earlier, middle, and later Sūrahs is very instructive and interesting.
In the earlier Sūrahs we observe a predominance of a poetical element, a deep appreciation of the beauty of natural objects, fragmentary and impassioned utterances; denunciation of woe and punishment being expressed in these earlier Sūrahs with extreme brevity.
“With a change, however, in the position of Muḥammad when he openly assumes the office of ‘public warner,’ the Sūrahs begin to wear a more prosaic and didactic tone, though the poetical ornament of rhyme is preserved throughout. We lose the poet in the missionary aiming to convert, and in the warm asserter of dogmatic truths; the descriptions of natural objects, of the Judgment, of Heaven and Hell, make way for gradually increasing historical statements, first from Jewish, and subsequently from Christian histories; while in the twenty-nine (thirty?) Sūrahs revealed at Medina we no longer listen to vague words, often, as it would seem, without definite aim, but to the earnest disputant with the opponents of the new faith, the Apostle pleading the cause of what he believes to be the truth of God. He who at Mecca is the admonisher and persuader, at Medina is the legislator and the warrior dictating obedience, and who uses other weapons than the pen of the poet and the scribe; while we are startled by finding obedience to God and the Apostle, God’s gifts and the Apostle’s, God’s pleasure and the Apostle’s, spoken of in the same breath, and epithets and attributes elsewhere applied to Allah openly applied to himself. ‘Whoso obeyeth the Apostle obeyeth Allah.’
“The Suras, viewed as a whole, will thus appear to be the work of one who began his career as a thoughtful inquirer after truth, and as an earnest asserter of it in such rhetorical and poetical forms as he deemed most likely to win and attract his countrymen, but who gradually proceeded from the dogmatic teacher to the political founder of a system for which laws and regulations had to be provided as occasions arose. And of all the Suras, it must be remarked that they were intended not only for readers but for hearers—that they were all promulgated by public recital—and that much was left, as the imperfect sentences show, to the manner and suggestive action of the reciter.” (Rodwell’s Preface to the Qurʾān.)
The absence of the historical element from the Qurʾān, as regards the details of Muḥammad’s daily life, may be judged of by the fact that only two of his contemporaries (Abū Lahab and Zaid) are mentioned in the entire volume, and that Muḥammad’s name occurs but five times, although he is all the way through addressed by the angel Gabriel as the recipient of the divine revelations, with the word “Say.” Perhaps also such passages as [Sūrah ii]., verses 5, 246, and 274, and the constant mention of guidance, direction, wandering, may have been suggested by reminiscences of his mercantile journeys in his earlier years.
Sir William Muir has very skilfully arranged the Sūrahs into six periods. (See Corân, S.P.C.K. ed.), and although they are not precisely in the chronological order given by Jalālu ʾd-Dīn in his Itqān, the arrangement seems to be fully borne out by internal evidence. With the assistance of Prof. Palmer’s “Table of Contents” slightly altered (The Qurʾān, Oxford ed. 1880), we shall arrange the contents of the Qurʾān according to these periods.
THE FIRST PERIOD.
Eighteen Sūrahs, consisting of short rhapsodies, may have been composed by Muḥammad before he conceived the idea of a divine mission, none of which are in the form of a message from the Deity.
Chapter CIII.
Sūratu ʾl-ʿAṣr.
The Chapter of the Afternoon.
A short chapter of one verse as follows:—
“By the afternoon! Verily, man is in loss! Save those who believe and do right and bid each other be true, and bid each other be patient.”
Chapter C.
Sūratu ʾl-ʿĀdiyāt.
The Chapter of the Chargers.
Oath by the charging of war-horses.
Man is ungrateful.
Certainty of the Judgment.
Chapter XCIX.
Sūratu ʾz-Zalzalah.
The Chapter of the Earthquake.
The earthquake preceding the Judgment Day.
Chapter XCI.
Sūratu ʾsh-Shams.
The Chapter of the Sun.
Purity of the soul brings happiness.
Example of S̤amūd.
(The latter verses are clearly of a later date than the first ten.)
Chapter CVI.
Sūratu ʾl-Quraish.
The Chapter of the Quraish.
The Quraish are bidden to give thanks to God for the trade of their two yearly caravans.
Chapter I.
Sūratu ʾl-Fātiḥah.
The Opening Chapter.
A prayer for guidance.
(This short chapter, which is the opening chapter of the Qurʾān, is recited in the liturgy.)
“Praise be to God, Lord of all the worlds!
The compassionate, the merciful!
King of the day of reckoning!
Thee only do we worship, and to Thee only do we cry for help.
Guide Thou us in the straight path,
The path of those to whom Thou hast been gracious;
With whom Thou art not angry,
And who go not astray.”
Chapter CI.
Sūratu ʾl-Qāriʿah.
The Chapter of the Smiting.
The terrors of the last day and of hell-fire (al-Hāwiyah).
Chapter XCV.
Sūratu ʾt-Tīn.
The Chapter of the Fig.
The degradation of man.
Future reward and punishment.
Chapter CII.
Sūratu ʾt-Takās̤ur.
The Chapter of the Contention about Numbers.
Two families of the Arabs rebuked for contending which was the more numerous.
Warning of the punishment of hell.
Chapter CIV.
Sūratu ʾl-Humazah.
The Chapter of the Backbiter.
Backbiters shall be cast into hell.
Chapter LXXXII.
Sūratu ʾl-Infit̤ār.
The Chapter of the Cleaving Asunder.
Signs of the Judgment Day.
Guardian angels.
Chapter XCII.
Sūratu ʾl-Lail.
The Chapter of the Night.
Promise of reward to those who give alms and fear God and “believe in the best.”
Chapter CV.
Sūratu ʾl-Fīl.
The Chapter of the Elephant.
The miraculous destruction of the Abyssinian army under Abrahatu ʾl-Ashram by birds when invading Makkah with elephants, in the year that Muḥammad was born.
Chapter LXXXIX.
Sūratu ʾl-Fajr.
The Chapter of the Dawn.
Fate of previous nations who rejected their teachers.
Admonition to those who rely too much on their prosperity.
Chapter XC.
Sūratu ʾl-Balad.
The Chapter of the City.
Exhortation to practise charity.
Chapter XCIII.
Sūratu ʾẓ-Ẓuḥā.
The Chapter of the Forenoon.
Muḥammad encouraged and bidden to remember how God has cared for him hitherto; he is to be charitable in return, and to publish God’s goodness.
Chapter XCIV.
Sūratu ʾl-Inshirāḥ.
The Chapter of “Have we not Expanded?”
God has made Muḥammad’s mission easier to him.
Chapter CVIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Kaus̤ar.
The Chapter of al-Kaus̤ar.
Muḥammad is commanded to offer the sacrifices out of his abundance.
Threat that his enemies shall be childless.
THE SECOND PERIOD.
Four Sūrahs. The opening of Muḥammad’s Ministry. [Sūrah xcvi]. contains the command to recite, and, according to the Traditions, it was the first revelation.
Chapter XCVI.
Sūratu ʾl-ʿAlaq.
The Chapter of Congealed Blood.
Muḥammad’s first call to read the Qurʾān.
Denunciation of Abū Lahab for his opposition.
(The latter verses of this Sūrah are admitted to be of a later date than the former.)
Chapter CXII.
Sūratu ʾl-Ik͟hlāṣ.
The Chapter of the Unity.
Declaration of God’s unity.
(This short Sūrah is highly esteemed, and is recited in the daily liturgy.)
“Say: He is God alone:
God the Eternal!
He begetteth not,
And is not begotten;
And there is none like unto Him.”
Chapter LXXIV.
Sūratu ʾl-Muddas̤s̤ir.
The Chapter of the Covered.
Muḥammad while covered up is bidden to arise and preach.
Denunciation of a rich infidel who mocks at the revelation.
Hell and its nineteen angels.
The infidels rebuked for demanding material scriptures as a proof of Muḥammad’s mission.
Chapter CXI.
Sūratu Tabbat.
The Chapter of “Let Perish.”
Denunciation of Abū Lahab and his wife, who are threatened with hell fire.
THE THIRD PERIOD.
Nineteen Sūrahs, chiefly descriptions of the Resurrection, Paradise, and Hell, with reference to the growing opposition of the Quraish, given from the commencement of Muḥammad’s public ministry to the Abyssinian emigration.
Chapter LXXXVII.
Sūratu ʾl-Aʿlā.
The Chapter of the Most High.
Muḥammad shall not forget any of the revelation save what God pleases.
The revelation is the same as that given to Abraham and Moses.
Chapter XCVII.
Sūratu ʾl-Qadr.
The Chapter of Power.
The Qurʾān revealed on the night of power.
Its excellence.
Angels descend thereon.
Chapter LXXXVIII.
Sūratu ʾl-G͟hāshiyah.
The Chapter of the Overwhelming.
Description of the Last Day, Heaven and Hell.
Chapter LXXX.
Sūratu ʿAbasa.
The Chapter “he Frowned.”
The Prophet rebuked for frowning on a poor blind believer.
The Creation and Resurrection.
Chapter LXXXIV.
Sūratu ʾl-Inshiqāq.
The Chapter of the Rending Asunder.
Signs of the Judgment Day.
The books of men’s actions.
The Resurrection.
Denunciation of misbelievers.
Chapter LXXXI.
Sūratu ʾl-Takwīr.
The Chapter of the Folding-up.
Terrors of the Judgment Day.
The female child who has been buried alive will demand vengeance.
Allusion to the Prophet’s vision of Gabriel on Mount Ḥirāʾ.
He is vindicated from the charge of madness.
Chapter LXXXVI.
Sūratu ʾt̤-T̤āriq.
The Chapter of the Night Star.
By the night-star, every soul has a guardian angel.
Creation and resurrection of man.
The plot of the infidels shall be frustrated.
Chapter CX.
Sūratu ʾn-Naṣr.
The Chapter of Help.
Prophecy that men shall join Islām by troops.
Chapter LXXXV.
Sūratu ʾl-Burūj.
The Chapter of the Zodiacal Signs.
Denunciation of those who persecute believers.
Example of the fate of Pharaoh and S̤amūd.
Chapter LXXXIII.
Sūratu ʾt-Tat̤fīf.
The Chapter of those who give Short Weight.
Fraudulent traders are warned.
Sijjīn, the register of the acts of the wicked.
Hell and heaven.
Chapter LXXVIII.
Sūratu ʾn-Nabaʾ.
The Chapter of the Information.
Description of the Day of Judgment, hell, and heaven.
Chapter LXXVII.
Sūratu ʾl-Mursalāt.
The Chapter of Messengers.
Oath by the angels who execute God’s behests.
Terrors of the Last Day.
Hell and Heaven.
Chapter LXXVI.
Sūratu ʾd-Dahr.
The Chapter of Time.
Man’s conception and birth.
Unbelievers warned and believers promised a reward.
Exhortation to charity.
Bliss of the charitable in Paradise.
The Qurʾān revealed by degrees.
Only those believe whom God wills.
Chapter LXXV.
Sūratu ʾl-Qiyāmah.
The Chapter of Resurrection.
The Resurrection.
Muḥammad is bidden not to be hurried in repeating the Qurʾān so as to commit it to memory.
Dying agony of an infidel.
Chapter LXX.
Sūratu ʾl-Maʿārij.
The Chapter of the Ascents.
An unbeliever mockingly calls for a judgment on himself and his companions.
The terrors of the Judgment Day.
Man’s ingratitude.
Adultery denounced.
Certainty of the Judgment Day.
Chapter CIX.
Sūratu ʾl-Kāfirūn.
The Chapter of the Misbelievers.
The Prophet will not follow the religion of the misbelievers.
Chapter CVII.
Sūratu ʾl-Māʿūn.
The Chapter of Necessaries.
Denunciation of the unbelieving and uncharitable.
Chapter LV.
Sūratu ʾr-Raḥmān.
The Chapter of the Merciful.
An enumeration of the works of the Lord ending with a description of Paradise and Hell.
A refrain runs throughout this chapter:—
“Which then of your Lord’s bounties do ye twain deny?”
Chapter LVI.
Sūratu ʾl-Wāqiʿah.
The Chapter of the Inevitable.
Terrors of the inevitable Day of Judgment.
Description of Paradise and Hell.
Proofs in Nature.
None but the clean may touch the Qurʾān.
The condition of a dying man.
THE FOURTH PERIOD.
Twenty-two Sūrahs, given from the sixth to the tenth year of Muḥammad’s ministry. With this period begin the narratives of the Jewish Scriptures, and Rabbinical and Arab legends. The temporary compromise with idolatry is connected with [Sūrah liii].
Chapter LXVII.
Sūratu ʾl-Mulk.
The Chapter of the Kingdom.
God the Lord of heavens.
The marvels thereof.
The discomfiture of the misbelievers in Hell.
The power of God exhibited in Nature.
Warnings and threats of punishment.
Chapter LIII.
Sūratu ʾn-Najm.
The Chapter of the Star.
Oath by the star that Muḥammad’s vision of his ascent to heaven was not a delusion.
Description of the same.
The amended passage relating to idolatry.
Wickedness of asserting the angels to be females.
Rebuke of an apostle who paid another to take upon him his burden at the Judgment Day.
Definition of true religion.
God’s attributes.
Chapter XXXII.
Sūratu ʾs-Sajdah.
The Chapter of Adoration.
The Qurʾān is truth from the Lord.
God the Creator and Governor.
The Resurrection.
Conduct of true believers when they hear the word.
Their reward.
The punishment of misbelievers.
Description of Hell.
The people are exhorted to believe and are admonished by the fate of the ruined cities they see around them.
They are warned of the Judgment Day.
Chapter XXXIX.
Sūratu ʾz-Zumar.
The Chapter of the Troops.
Rebuke to the idolaters who say they serve false gods as a means of access to God himself.
The unity of God, the Creator and Controller of the universe.
His independence and omnipotence.
Ingratitude of man for God’s help.
Difference between the believers and unbelievers.
Muḥammad is called to sincerity of religion and to Islām.
He is to fear the torment at the Judgment Day if he disobeys the call.
Hell-fire is prepared for the infidels.
Paradise promised to those who avoid idolatry.
The irrigation of the soil and the growth of corn are signs.
The Qurʾān makes the skin of those who fear God creep.
Threat of the Judgment Day.
The Makkans are warned by the fate of their predecessors not to reject the Qurʾān.
Parable showing the uncertain position of the idolaters.
Muḥammad not immortal.
Warning to those who lie against God, and promise of reward to those who assert the truth.
Muḥammad is not to be frightened with the idols of the Makkans.
Their helplessness demonstrated.
The Qurʾān is a guide, but the Prophet cannot compel men to follow it.
Human souls are taken to God during sleep, and those who are destined to live on are sent back.
No intercession allowed with God.
The doctrine of the unity of God terrifies the idolaters.
Prayer to God to decide between them.
The infidels will regret on the Resurrection Day.
Ingratitude of man for God’s help in trouble.
The Makkans are warned by the fate of their predecessors.
Exhortation to repentance before it is too late.
Salvation of the God-fearing.
God the creator and controller of everything.
Description of the Last Judgment.
All souls driven in troops to heaven or to hell.
Chapter LXXIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Muzzammil.
The Chapter of the Enwrapped.
Muḥammad, when wrapped up in his mantle, is bidden to arise and pray.
Is bidden to repeat the Qurʾān and to practice devotion by night.
He is to bear with the unbelievers for a while.
Pharaoh rejected the apostle sent to him.
Stated times for prayer prescribed.
Almsgiving prescribed.
Chapter LXXIX.
Sūratu ʾn-Nāziʿāt.
The Chapter of those who Tear Out.
The coming of the Day of Judgment.
The call of Moses.
His interview with Pharaoh.
Chastisement of the latter.
The Creation and Resurrection.
Chapter LIV.
Sūratu ʾl-Qamar.
The Chapter of the Moon.
The splitting asunder of the moon.
Muḥammad accused of imposture.
The Makkans warned by the stories of Noah and the Deluge, of S̤amūd, the people of Sodom, and Pharaoh.
The sure coming of the Judgment.
Chapter XXXIV.
Sūratu Sabaʾ.
The Chapter of Sabaʾ.
The omniscience of God.
Those who have received knowledge recognise the revelation.
The unbelievers mock at Muḥammad for preaching the Resurrection.
The birds and mountains sing praises with David.
Iron softened for him.
He makes coats of mail.
The wind subjected to Solomon.
A fountain of brass made to flow for him.
The jinns compelled to work for him.
His death only discovered by means of the worm that gnawed.
The staff that supported his corpse.
The prosperity of Sabaʾ.
Bursting of the dyke (al-ʿArim) and ruin of the town.
Helplessness of the false gods.
They cannot intercede for their worshippers when assembled at the Last Day.
Fate of the misbelievers on that day.
The proud and the weak shall dispute as to which misled the others.
The affluence of the Makkans will only increase their ruin.
The angels shall disown the worshippers of false gods.
The Makkans accuse Muḥammad of imposture.
So did other nations deal with their Prophets and were punished for it.
Muḥammad is cleared of the suspicion of insanity.
The wretched plight of the misbelievers on the Last Day.
Chapter XXXI.
Sūratu Luqmān.
The Chapter of Luqmān.
The Qurʾān a guidance to believers.
Denunciation of one who purchased Persian legends and preferred them to the Qurʾān.
God in Nature.
Other gods can create nothing.
Wisdom granted to Luqmān.
His advice to his son.
The obstinacy of the infidels rebuked.
If the sea were ink and the trees pens, they would not suffice to write the words of the Lord.
God manifest in the night and day, in the sun and moon, and in rescuing men from dangers by sea.
God only knows the future.
Chapter LXIX.
Sūratu ʾl-Ḥāqqah.
The Chapter of the Inevitable.
The inevitable judgment.
Fate of those who denied it, of ʿĀd, S̤amūd, and Pharaoh.
The Deluge and the Last Judgment.
Vindication of Muḥammad from the charge of having forged the Qurʾān.
Chapter LXVIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Qalam.
The Chapter of the Pen.
Muḥammad is neither mad nor an impostor.
Denounced by an insolent opponent.
Example from the fate of the owner of the gardens.
Unbelievers threatened.
Muḥammad exhorted to be patient and not to follow the example of Jonah.
Chapter XLI.
Sūratu Fuṣṣilat.
The Chapter “Are Detailed.”
The Makkans are called on to believe the Qurʾān.
The creation of the heavens and the earth.
Warning from the fate of ʿĀd and S̤amūd.
The very skins of the unbelievers shall bear witness against them on the Day of Judgement.
Punishment of those who reject the Qurʾān.
The angels descend and encourage those who believe.
Precept to return good for evil.
Refuge to be sought with God against temptation from the devil.
Against sun and moon worship.
The angels praise God, though the idolators are too proud to do so.
The quickening of the earth with rain is a sign.
The Qurʾān a confirmation of previous scriptures.
If it had been revealed in a foreign tongue the people would have objected that they could not understand it, and that the Prophet, being an Arab, should have had a revelation in his own language.
Moses’ scripture was also the subject of dispute.
God is omniscient.
The false gods will desert their worshippers at the Resurrection.
Man’s ingratitude for God’s help in trouble.
God is sufficient witness of the truth.
Chapter LXXI.
Sūratu Nūḥ.
The Chapter of Noah.
Noah’s preaching to the Antediluvians.
Their five idols also worshipped by the Arabs.
Their fate.
Chapter LII.
Sūratu ʾt̤-T̤ūr.
The Chapter of the Mount.
Oath by Mount Sinai and other things.
Terrors of the Last Day.
Bliss of Paradise.
Muḥammad is neither a madman, soothsayer, poet, nor impostor.
Reproof of the Makkans for their superstitions, and for proudly rejecting the Prophet.
Chapter L.
Sūratu Qāf.
The Chapter of Qāf.
Proofs in nature of a future life.
Example of the fate of the nations of old who rejected the apostles.
Creation of man.
God’s proximity to him.
The two recording angels.
Death and Resurrection.
The Last Judgment and exhortation to believe.
Chapter XLV.
Sūratu ʾl-Jās̤iyah.
The Chapter of the Kneeling.
God revealed in nature.
Denunciation of the infidels.
Trading by sea a sign of God’s providence.
The law first given to Israel, then to Muḥammad in the Qurʾān.
Answer to the infidels who deny the Resurrection, and warning of their fate on that day.
Chapter XLIV.
Sūratu ʾd-Duk͟hān.
The Chapter of the Smoke.
Night of the revelation of the Qurʾān.
Threat of the Last Day, when a smoke shall cover the heavens, and the unbelievers shall be punished for rejecting the Prophet, and saying he is taught by others or distracted.
Fate of Pharaoh for rejecting Moses.
Fate of the people of Jubbaʿ.
The Judgment Day.
The tree Zaqqūm and the punishment of hell.
Paradise and the virgins thereof.
The Qurʾān revealed in Arabic for an admonition.
Chapter XXXVII.
Sūratu ʾṣ-Ṣāffāt.
The Chapter of the Ranged.
Oath by the angels ranged in rank, by those who drive the clouds, and by those who rehearse the Qurʾān, that God is one alone!
They guard the gates of heaven, and pelt the devils, who would listen there, with shooting-stars.
Do the Makkans imagine themselves stronger than the angels, that they mock of God’s signs and deny the Resurrection?
The false gods and the Makkans shall recriminate each other at the Judgment Day.
They say now, “Shall we leave our gods for a mad poet?”
They shall taste hell-fire for their unbelief, while the believers are in Paradise.
Description of the delights thereof.
The maidens there.
The blessed shall see their unbelieving former comrades in hell.
Immortality of the blessed.
Az-Zaqqūm the accursed tree in hell.
Horrors of that place.
The posterity of Noah were blessed.
Abraham mocks at and breaks the idols.
He is condemned to be burnt alive, but is delivered.
Is commanded to offer up his son as a sacrifice; obeys, but his son is spared.
His posterity is blessed.
Moses and Aaron, too, left a good report behind them; so, too, did Elias, who protested against the worship of Baal.
Lot was saved.
Jonah was delivered after having been thrown overboard and swallowed by a fish.
The gourd.
Jonah is sent to preach to the people of the city (of Nineveh).
The Makkans rebuked for saying that God has daughters, and for saying that He is akin to the jinns.
The angels declare that they are but the humble servants of God.
The success of the Prophet and the confusion of the infidels foretold.
Chapter XXX.
Sūratu ʾr-Rūm.
The Chapter of the Greeks.
Victory of the Persians over the Greeks.
Prophecy of the coming triumph of the latter.
The Makkans warned by the fate of former cities.
The idols shall forsake them at the Resurrection.
The believers shall enter Paradise.
God is to be praised in the morning and evening and at noon and sunset.
His creation of man and of the universe and His providence are signs.
He is the incomparable Lord of all.
Warning against idolatry and schism.
Honesty inculcated and usury reproved.
God only creates and kills.
Corruption in the earth through sin.
The fate of former idolaters.
Exhortation to believe before the sudden coming of the Judgment Day.
God’s sending rain to quicken the earth is a sign of His power.
Muḥammad cannot make the deaf hear his message.
Warning of the Last Day.
Chapter XXVI.
Sūratu ʾsh-Shuʿarāʾ.
The Chapter of the Poets.
Muḥammad is not to be vexed by the people’s unbelief.
Though called a liar now, his cause shall triumph in the end.
Moses and Pharaoh.
He fears lest he may be killed for slaying the Egyptian.
Pharaoh charges him with ingratitude.
Their dispute about God.
Pharaoh claims to be God himself.
The miracles of the rod and the white hand.
Moses’ contest with the magicians.
The magicians are conquered and believe.
Pharaoh threatens them with condign punishment.
The Israelites leave Egypt and are pursued.
The passing of the Red Sea and destruction of Pharaoh and his hosts.
The history of Abraham.
He preaches against idolatry.
Noah is called a liar and vindicated.
Hūd preaches to the people of ʿĀd and Ṣāliḥ to S̤amūd.
The latter hamstring the she-camel and perish.
The crime and punishment of the people of Sodom.
The people of the Grove and the prophet Shuʿaib.
The Qurʾān revealed through the instrumentality of the Faithful Spirit (Gabriel) in plain Arabic.
The learned Jews recognise its truth from the prophecies in their own scriptures.
The devils could not have brought it.
Muḥammad is to be meek towards believers and to warn his clansmen.
Those upon whom the devils descend, namely, the poets who wander distraught in every vale.
Chapter XV.
Sūratu ʾl-Ḥijr.
The Chapter of al-Ḥijr.
Misbelievers will one day regret their misbelief.
No city was ever destroyed without warning.
The infidels mockingly ask Muḥammad to bring down angels to punish them.
So did the sinners of old act towards their apostles.
There are signs enough in the zodiac, guarded as they are from the devils who are pelted with shooting-stars if they attempt to listen.
All nature is under God’s control.
Man created from clay, and jinn from smokeless fire.
The angels bidden to adore Adam.
The devil refuses, is cursed and expelled, but respited until the Day of Judgment.
Is allowed to seduce mankind.
Hell, with its seven doors, promised to misbelievers, and Paradise to believers.
Story of Abraham’s angelic guests.
They announce to him the birth of a son.
They proceed to Lot’s family.
The crime and punishment of the people of Sodom.
The ruined cities still remain to tell the tale.
Similar fate of the people of the Grove and of al-Ḥijr.
The hour draws nigh.
The Lord Omniscient Creator has sent the Qurʾān and the seven verses of repetition.
Muḥammad is not to grieve at the worldly success of unbelievers.
Those who dismember the Qurʾān are threatened with punishment.
Muḥammad is encouraged against the misbelievers.
Chapter LI.
Sūratu ʾẕ-Ẕāriyāt.
The Chapter of the Scatterers.
Oaths by different natural phenomena that the Judgment Day will come.
Story of Abraham’s entertaining the angels.
The destruction of Sodom.
Fate of Pharaoh, of ʿĀd, of S̤amūd, and of the people of Noah.
Vindication of Muḥammad against the charges of imposture or madness.
THE FIFTH PERIOD.
Thirty-one Sūrahs. From the tenth year of Muḥammad’s ministry to the flight from Makkah.
The Sūrahs of this period contain some narratives from the gospel. The rites of pilgrimage are enjoined. The cavillings of the Quraish are refuted; and we have vivid picturings of the Resurrection and Judgment, of Heaven and Hell, with proofs of God’s unity, power and providence.
From stage to stage the Sūrahs become, on the average, longer, and some of them now fill many pages. In the latter Sūrahs of this period, we meet not unfrequently with Madīnah passages, which have been interpolated as bearing on some connected subject. As examples may be taken, [verse 40 of Sūrah xxii]., in which permission is given to bear arms against the Makkans; [verse 33, Sūrah xvii]., containing rules for the administration of justice; [verse 111, Sūrah xvi]., referring to such believers as had fled their country and fought for the faith; being all passages which could have been promulgated only after the Flight to al-Madīnah.
Chapter XLVI.
Sūratu ʾl-Aḥqāf.
The Chapter of al-Aḥqāf.
God the only God and Creator.
The unbelievers call Muḥammad a sorcerer or a forger.
The book of Moses was revealed before, and the Qurʾān is a confirmation of it in Arabic.
Conception, birth, and life of man.
Kindness to parents and acceptance of Islām enjoined.
The misbelievers are warned by the example of ʿĀd, who dwell in Aḥqāf, and by that of the cities whose ruins lie around Makkah.
Allusion to the jinns who listened to Muḥammad’s preaching at Makkah on his return from at̤-T̤āʾif.
Warning to unbelievers of the punishment of the Last Day.
Chapter LXXII.
Sūratu ʾl-Jinn.
The Chapter of the Jinn.
A crowd of jinns listen to Muḥammad’s teaching at Nak͟hlah.
Their account of themselves.
Muḥammad exhorted to persevere in preaching.
Chapter XXXV.
Sūratu ʾl-Malāʾikah.
The Chapter of the Angels.
Praise of God, who makes the Angels his messengers.
God’s unity.
Apostles before Muḥammad were accused of imposture.
Punishment in store for the unbelievers.
Muḥammad is not to be vexed on their account.
God sends rain to quicken the dead earth.
This is a sign of the Resurrection.
The power of God shown in all nature.
The helplessness of the idols.
They will disclaim their worshippers at the Resurrection.
No soul shall bear the burden of another.
Muḥammad cannot compel people to believe.
He is only a warner.
Other nations have accused their prophets of imposture and perished.
Reward of the God-fearing of believers, and of those who read and follow the Qurʾān.
Punishment of hell for the infidels.
The idolaters shall be confounded on the Judgment Day.
The Quraish, in spite of their promises and of the examples around them, are more arrogant and unbelieving than other people.
If God were to punish men as they deserve, he would not leave so much as a beast on the earth; but He respites them for a time.
Chapter XXXVI.
Sūratu Yā Sīn.
The Chapter of Yā Sīn.
Muḥammad is God’s messenger, and the Qurʾān is a revelation from God to warn a heedless people.
The infidels are predestined not to believe.
All men’s work shall be recorded.
The apostles of Jesus rejected at Antioch.
Ḥabību ʾn-Najjār exhorts the people to follow their advice.
He is stoned to death by the populace.
Gabriel cries out and the sinful people are destroyed.
Men will laugh at the apostles who come to them, but they have an example in the nations who have perished before them.
The quickening of the dead earth is a sign of the Resurrection.
God’s power shown in the procreation of species.
The alternation of night and day, the phases of the moon, the sun and moon in their orbits, are signs of God’s power.
So, too, the preservation of men in ships at sea.
Almsgiving enjoined.
The unbelievers jeer at the command.
The sudden coming of the Judgment Day.
Blessed state of the believers in Paradise, and misery of the unbelievers in hell.
Muḥammad is no mere poet.
The Qurʾān an admonition.
God’s providence.
The false gods will not be able to help their worshippers.
Proofs of the Resurrection.
Chapter XIX.
Sūratu Maryam.
The Chapter of Mary.
Zachariah prays for an heir.
He is promised a son, who is to be called John.
Is struck dumb for three days as a sign.
John is born and given the Book, Judgment, grace, and purity.
Story of Mary.
The annunciation.
Her delivery beneath a palm-tree.
The infant Jesus in the cradle testifies to her innocence and to his own mission.
Warning of the Day of Judgment.
Story of Abraham.
He reproves his father, who threatens to stone him.
Abraham prays for him.
Isaac and Jacob are born to him.
Moses communes with God and has Aaron for a help.
Ishmael and Idrīs mentioned as Prophets.
Their seed, when the signs of the Merciful are read, fall down adoring.
The Makkans, their successors, are promised reward in Paradise, if they repent and believe.
The angels only descend at the bidding of the Lord.
Certainty of the Resurrection.
Punishment of those who have rebelled against the Merciful.
Reproof of one who said he should have wealth and children on the Judgment Day.
The false gods shall deny their worshippers then.
The devils sent to tempt unbelievers.
The gathering of the Judgment Day.
All nature is convulsed at the imputation that the Merciful has begotten a son.
This revelation is only to warn mankind by the example of the generations who have passed away.
Chapter XVIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Kahf.
The Chapter of the Cave.
The Qurʾān is a warning especially to those who say God has begotten a son.
Muḥammad is not to grieve if they refuse to believe.
Story of the Fellows of the Cave.
Their number known only to God.
Muḥammad rebuked for promising a revelation on the subject.
He is enjoined to obey God in all things, and not to be induced to give up his poorer followers.
Hell-fire threatened for the unbelievers and Paradise promised to the good.
Parable of the proud man’s garden which was destroyed, while that of the humble man flourished.
This life is like the herb that springs up and perishes.
Good works are more lasting than wealth and children.
The Last Day.
The devil refuses to adore Adam.
The men are not to take him for a patron.
They shall be forsaken by their patrons at the Last Day.
Men would believe, but that the example of those of yore must be repeated.
Misbelievers are unjust, and shall not be allowed to understand, or be guided.
But God is merciful.
Story of Moses and his servant in search of al-K͟hiẓr.
They lose their fish at the confluence of the two seas.
They meet a strange prophet, who bids Moses not question anything he may do.
He scuttles a ship, kills a boy, and builds up a tottering wall.
Moses desires an explanation, which the stranger gives, and leaves him.
Story of Ẕū ʾl-Qarnain.
He travels to the ocean of the setting sun.
Builds a rampart to keep in Gog and Magog.
These are to be let loose again before the Judgment Day.
Reward and punishment on that day.
Were the sea ink, it would not suffice for the words of the Lord.
The Prophet is only a mortal.
Chapter XXVII.
Sūratu ʾn-Naml.
The Chapter of the Ant.
The Qurʾān a guidance to believers.
God appears to Moses in the fire.
Moses is sent to Pharaoh with signs, but is called a sorcerer.
David and Solomon endowed with knowledge.
Solomon taught the speech of birds.
His army of men, jinns, and birds, marches through the valley of the ant.
One ant bids the rest retire to their holes lest Solomon and his hosts crush them.
Solomon smiles and answers her.
He reviews the birds and misses the hoopoe, who, returning, brings news of the magnificence of the Queen of Sheba.
Solomon sends him back with a letter to the Queen.
A demon brings him her throne.
She comes to Solomon, recognises her throne; marvels at the palace with the glass floor, which she mistakes for water.
Becomes a Muslim.
S̤amūd rejects Ṣāliḥ and perish.
Lot is saved, while the people of Sodom are destroyed.
The Lord, the God of nature; the only God and Creator.
Certainty of the Resurrection.
The ruins of ancient cities an example.
The Qurʾān decides disputed points for the Jews.
Muḥammad bidden to trust in God, for he cannot make the deaf to hear his message.
The beast that shall appear at the Resurrection.
Terrors of the Last Day.
The Prophet bidden to worship the Lord of this land, to recite the Qurʾān, and to become a Muslim.
Chapter XLII.
Sūratu ʾsh-Shūrā.
The Chapter of Counsel.
The Qurʾān inspired by God to warn the Mother of cities of the judgment to come.
God is one, the Creator of all things, who provides for all.
He calls men to the same religion as that of the prophets of old, which men have broken up into sects.
Muḥammad has only to proclaim his message.
Those who argue about God shall be confuted.
None knows when the hour shall come but God.
The idolaters shall only have their portion in this life.
God will vindicate the truth of His revelation.
His creation and providence signs of His power.
Men’s misfortunes by land and sea are due to their own sins.
The provision of the next world is best for the righteous.
It is not sinful to retaliate if wronged, though forgiveness is a duty.
The sinners shall have none to help them on the Day of Judgement.
They are exhorted to repent before it comes.
Ingratitude of man.
God controls all.
No mortal has ever seen God face to face.
He speaks to men only through inspiration of His apostles.
This Qurʾān was revealed by a spirit to guide into the right way.
Chapter XL.
Sūratu ʾl-Muʾmin.
The Chapter of the Believer.
Attributes of God.
Muḥammad encouraged by the fate of other nations who rejected their apostles.
The angels’ prayer for the believers.
Despair in hell of the idolaters.
The terrors of the Judgment Day.
God alone the Omniscient Judge.
The vestiges of former nations are still visible in the land to warn the people.
The story of Moses and Pharaoh.
The latter wishes to kill Moses, but a secret believer makes a long appeal.
Pharaoh bids Hāmān construct a tower to mount up to the God of Moses.
God saves the believer, and Pharaoh is ruined by his own devices.
Mutual recrimination of the damned.
Exhortation to patience and praise.
Those who wrangle about God rebuked.
The certain coming of the Hour.
The unity of God asserted and His attributes enumerated.
Idolatry forbidden.
The conception, birth, life, and death of man.
Idolaters shall find out their error in hell.
Muḥammad encouraged to wait for the issue.
Cattle to ride on and to eat are signs of God’s providence.
The example of the nations who perished of old for rejecting the apostles.
Chapter XXXVIII.
Sūratu ʾṣ-Ṣād.
The Chapter of Ṣād.
Oath by the Qurʾān.
Example of former generations who perished for unbelief, and for saying that their prophets were sorcerers and the Scriptures forgeries.
The Makkans are warned thereby.
Any hosts of the confederates shall be routed.
Fate of the people of Noah, ʿĀd, Pharaoh, S̤amūd, and Lot.
The Makkans must expect the same.
Muḥammad exhorted to be patient of what they say.
He is reminded of the powers bestowed on David.
The parable of the ewe lambs proposed to David by the two antagonists.
David exhorted not to follow lust.
The heaven and earth were not created in vain, as the misbelievers think.
The Qurʾān a reminder.
Solomon, lost in admiration of his horses, neglects his devotions, but, repenting, slays them.
A jinn in Solomon’s likeness is set on his throne to punish him.
He repents and prays God for a kingdom such as no one should ever possess again.
The wind and the devils made subject to him.
The patience of Job.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Elisha and Ẕū ʾl-Kifl.
Happiness of the righteous in Paradise.
Misery and mutual recrimination of the wicked in hell.
Muḥammad only sent to warn people and proclaim God’s unity.
The creation of man and disobedience of Iblīs, who is expelled.
He is respited till the Judgment Day, that he may seduce people to misbelief.
But he and those who follow him shall fill hell.
Chapter XXV.
Sūratu ʾl-Furqān.
The Chapter of the Discrimination.
The Discrimination sent down as a warning that God is one, the Creator and Governor of all; yet the Makkans call it old folks’ tales.
They object that the Prophet acts and lives as a mere mortal or is crazy.
Hell-fire shall be the punishment of those who disbelieve in the Resurrection.
Description of the Judgment Day.
The Quraish object that the Qurʾān was revealed piecemeal.
Moses and Aaron and Noah were treated like Muḥammad, but those who called them liars were punished.
ʿĀd and S̤amūd perished for the same sin.
The ruins of the cities of the plain are existing examples.
Yet they will not accept the Prophet.
God controls the shadow, gives night for a repose, quickens the dead earth with rain.
He lets loose the two seas, but places a barrier between them.
He has created man.
He is the loving and merciful God.
The Quraish object to the Merciful as a new God.
The lowly and moderate are His servants.
They abstain from idolatry, murder, false witness, and frivolous discourse.
These shall be rewarded.
God cares nothing for the rejection of his message by the infidels.
Their punishment shall be lasting.
Chapter XX.
Sūratu T̤ā Hā.
The Chapter of T̤ā Hā.
The Qurʾān a reminder from the Merciful, who owns all things and knows all things.
There is no god but He.
His are the excellent names.
Story of Moses.
He perceives the fire and is addressed from it by God in the holy valley T̤uvan.
God shows him the miracle of the staff turned to a snake and of the white hand.
Sends him to Pharaoh.
Moses excuses himself because of the impediment in his speech.
Aaron is given him as a minister.
Moses’ mother throws him into the sea.
His sister watches him.
He is restored to his mother.
Slays an Egyptian and flees to Midian.
Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and call on him to believe.
Pharaoh charges them with being magicians.
Their contest with the Egyptian magicians, who believe, and are threatened with punishment by Pharaoh.
Moses leads the children of Israel across the sea, by a dry road.
Pharaoh and his people are overwhelmed.
The covenant on Mount Sinai.
The miracle of the manna and quails.
As-Sāmirī makes the calf in Moses absence.
Moses seizes his brother angrily by the beard and destroys the calf.
Misbelievers threatened with the terrors of the Resurrection Day.
Fate of the mountains on that day.
All men shall be summoned to judgment.
No intercession shall avail except from such as the Merciful permits.
The Qurʾān is in Arabic that people may fear and remember.
Muḥammad is not to hasten on its revelation.
Adam broke his covenant with God.
Angels bidden to adore Adam.
Iblīs refuses.
Tempts Adam.
Adam, Eve, and the Devil expelled from Paradise.
Misbelievers shall be gathered together blind on the Resurrection Day.
The Makkans pass by the ruined dwellings of the generations who have been aforetime destroyed for unbelief.
But for the Lord’s word being passed, they would have perished too.
Muḥammad is exhorted to bear their insults patiently and to praise God through the day.
The fate of those of yore a sufficient sign.
Let them wait and see the issue.
Chapter XLIII.
Sūratu ʾz-Zuk͟hruf.
The Chapter of Gilding.
The original of the Qurʾān is with God.
The example of the nations of old who mocked at the prophets.
God the Creator.
Men are bidden to praise Him who provides man with ships and cattle whereon to ride.
The Arabs are rebuked for attributing female offspring to God, when they themselves repine when a female child is born to any one of them.
They are also blamed for asserting that the angels are female.
The excuse that this was the religion of their fathers, will not avail.
It is the same as older nations made.
Their fate.
Abraham disclaimed idolatry.
The Makkans were permitted to enjoy prosperity only until the Apostle came, and now that he has come they reject him.
They are reproved for saying that had the Prophet been a man of consideration at Makkah and at̤-T̤āʾif, they would have owned him.
Misbelievers would have had still more wealth and enjoyment, but that men would have then all become infidels.
Those who turn from the admonition shall be chained to devils, who shall mislead them.
God will take vengeance on them, whether Muḥammad live to see it or not.
He is encouraged to persevere.
Moses was mocked by Pharaoh, whom he was sent to warn.
But Pharaoh and his people were drowned.
Answer to the Arabs, who objected that Jesus, too, must come under the ban against false gods.
But Jesus did not assume to be a god.
Threat of the coming of the Hour.
The joys of Paradise and the terrors of Hell.
The damned shall beg Mālik to make an end of them.
The recording angels note down the secret plots of the infidels.
God has no son.
He is the Lord of all.
Chapter XII.
Sūratu Yūsuf.
The Chapter of Joseph.
The Qurʾān revealed in Arabic that the Makkans may understand.
It contains the best of stories.
Story of Joseph.
He tells his father his dream.
Jacob advises him to keep it to himself.
Jealousy of Joseph’s brethren.
They conspire to throw him in a pit.
Induce his father to let him go with them.
They cast him in the pit, and bring home his shirt covered with lying blood.
Travellers discover him and sell him into Egypt.
He is adopted by his master.
His mistress endeavours to seduce him.
His innocence proved.
His mistress shows him to the women of the city to excuse her conduct.
Their amazement at his beauty.
He is imprisoned.
Interprets the dreams of the baker and the cupbearer.
Pharaoh’s dream.
Joseph is sent for to expound it.
He is appointed to a situation of trust in the land.
His brethren arrive and do not recognise him.
They ask for corn and he requires them to bring their youngest brother as the condition of his giving it to them.
The goods they had brought to barter are returned to their sacks.
Benjamin is sent back.
Joseph discovers himself to him.
Joseph places the king’s drinking-cup in his brother’s pack.
Accuses them all of the theft.
Takes Benjamin as a bondsman for the theft.
They return to Jacob, who, in great grief, sends them back again, to bring him news.
Joseph discovers himself to them and sends back his shirt.
Jacob recognises it by the smell.
Jacob goes back with them to Egypt.
This story appealed to as a proof of the truth of the Revelation.
Chapter XI.
Sūratu Hūd.
The Chapter of Hūd.
The Qurʾān a book calling men to believe in the unity of God.
Nothing is hidden from Him.
He is the Creator of all.
Men will not believe, and deem themselves secure, because their punishment is deferred.
They demand a sign, or say the Qurʾān is invented by the Prophet; but they and their false gods together cannot bring ten such Sūrahs.
Misbelievers threatened with future punishment, while believers are promised Paradise.
Noah was likewise sent, but his people objected that he was a mere mortal like themselves, and only followed by the meaner sort of men.
He also is accused of having invented his revelation.
He is saved in the ark and the unbelievers drowned.
He endeavours to save his son.
The ark settles on Mount al-Jūdī.
Hūd was sent to ʿĀd.
His people plotted against him and were destroyed, while he was saved.
Ṣālih was sent to S̤amūd.
The she-camel given for a sign.
The people hamstring her and perish.
Abraham entertains the angels who are sent to the people of Lot.
He pleads for them.
Lot offers his daughters to the people of Sodom, to spare the angels.
He escapes by night, and Sodom is destroyed.
Shuʿaib is sent to Midian, and his people, rejecting his mission, perish too.
Moses sent to Pharaoh, who shall be punished at the Resurrection.
The Makkans, too, shall be punished.
They are threatened with the Judgment Day, when they shall be sent to hell, while the believers are in Paradise.
The Makkans are bidden to take warning by the fate of the cities whose stories are related above.
These stories are intended to strengthen the Prophet’s heart.
He is bidden to wait and leave the issue to God.
Chapter X.
Sūratu Yūnus.
The Chapter of Jonah.
No wonder that the Qurʾān was revealed to a mere man.
Misbelievers deem him a sorcerer.
God the Creator and Ruler.
No one can intercede with Him except by His permission.
Creation is a sign of His power.
Reward hereafter for the believers.
Man calls on God in distress, but forgets Him when deliverance comes.
Warning from the fall of former generations.
The infidels are not satisfied with the Qurʾān.
Muḥammad dare not invent a false revelation.
False gods can neither harm nor profit them.
People require a sign.
God saves people in dangers by land and sea.
This life is like grass.
Promise of Paradise and threat of Hell.
Fate of the idolaters and false gods at the Last Day.
God the Lord of all.
Other religions are mere conjecture.
The Qurʾān could only have been devised by God.
The Makkans are challenged to produce a single Sūrah like it.
Unbelievers warned of the Last Day by the fate of previous nations.
Reproval of those who prohibit lawful things.
God is ever watchful over the Prophet’s actions.
Happiness of the believers.
The infidels cannot harm the Prophet.
Refutation of those who ascribe offspring to God.
Muḥammad encouraged by the story of Noah and the other prophets of old.
Fate of Pharaoh and vindication of Moses and Aaron.
The people of the Book (Jews and Christians) appealed to in confirmation of the truth of the Qurʾān.
The story of Jonah.
The people of Nineveh saved by repenting and believing in time.
The people are exhorted to embrace Islām, the faith of the Ḥanīf.
God alone is powerful.
Belief or unbelief affect only the individual himself.
Resignation and patience inculcated.
Chapter XIV.
Sūratu Ibrāhīm.
The Chapter of Abraham.
The Qurʾān revealed to bring men from darkness into light.
God is Lord of all.
No apostle sent except with the language of his own people.
Moses sent to Pharaoh.
The people of Noah.
ʿĀd and S̤amūd objected that their prophets were mortals like themselves.
The prophets relied on God, who vindicated them.
Frightful description of hell.
Misbelievers are like ashes blown away by the stormy wind.
Helplessness of the damned.
But believers are in Paradise.
A good word is like a good tree whose root is in the earth and whose branches are in the sky, and which gives fruit in all seasons.
A bad word is as a tree that is felled.
God’s word is sure.
Idolaters are threatened with hell-fire.
God is the Creator of all.
He subjects all things to man’s use.
Abraham prayed that the territory of Makkah might be a sanctuary.
The unjust are only respited till the Judgment Day.
The ruins of the dwellings of those who have perished for the denying the mission of their apostles, are a proof of the truth of Muḥammad’s mission.
The Lord will take vengeance on the Last Day, when sinners shall burn in hell with shirts of pitch to cover them.
The Qurʾān is a warning and an admonition.
Chapter VI.
Sūratu ʾl-Anʿām.
The Chapter of Cattle.
Light and darkness are both created by God.
Rebuke to idolaters.
They are exhorted to take warning by the fate of those of old who rejected the prophets.
Had the revelation been a material book, they would have disbelieved it.
If the Prophet had been an angel, he would have come in the guise of a man.
Attributes of God.
Muḥammad bidden to become a Muslim.
Those who have the Scriptures ought to recognise Muḥammad as the one foretold in them.
The idolaters will be disappointed of the intercession of their gods on the Judgment Day.
They deny the Resurrection Day now, but hereafter they will have awful proof of its truth.
The next world is preferable to this.
Prophets aforetime were also mocked at, and they were patient.
God could send them a sign if He pleased.
Beasts, birds, and the like, are communities like men.
Their fate is all written in the book.
They, too, shall be gathered on the Judgment Day.
Arguments in proof of the supreme power of God.
Muḥammad is only a messenger.
He is to disclaim miraculous power.
Is not to repulse believers.
He is bidden to abjure idolatry and not follow the lusts of the Makkans.
God’s omniscience.
He takes men’s souls to Himself during sleep.
Sends guardian angels to watch over them.
Preserves men in danger by land and sea.
Muḥammad is not to join in discussions on religion with idolaters, nor to associate with those who make a sport of it.
Folly of idolatry set forth.
God the Creator.
Abraham’s perplexity in seeking after the true God.
Worships successively the stars, the moon, and the sun, but is convinced that they are not gods by seeing them set.
Turns to God and becomes a Ḥanīf.
Other prophets of old were inspired.
The Qurʾān is also a special revelation from God to the Makkans, fulfilling their Scriptures, but the Jews have perverted or suppressed parts of them.
Denunciation of one who falsely pretended to be inspired.
The Creation a proof of God’s unity.
Rebuke to those who call the jinn His partners, or attribute offspring to Him.
Idolaters are not to be abused, lest they, too, speak ill of God.
The Makkans would not have believed even if a sign had been given them.
Muḥammad is to trust to God alone.
Men are not to abstain from food over which God’s name has been pronounced.
God will vindicate His messenger.
Belief or the reverse depends on God’s grace.
The jinns and false gods, together with their worshippers, will be condemned to everlasting torment.
God never punishes without first sending an apostle with warning.
The threatened doom cannot be averted.
Denunciation of the idolatrous practices of the Arabs.
Setting apart portions of the produce of the land for God and for the idols, and defrauding God of His portion.
Infanticide.
Declaring cattle and tilth inviolable.
God created all fruits and all cattle, both are therefore lawful.
Argument proving the absurdity of some of these customs.
Enumeration of the only kinds of food that are unlawful.
The prohibition to the Jews of certain food was only on account of their sins.
God’s revealed word is the only certain argument.
Declaration of things really forbidden, namely, harshness to parents, infanticide, abominable sins, and murder.
The property of orphans is to be respected and fair-dealing to be practised.
No soul compelled beyond its capacity.
The Qurʾān to be accepted on the same authority as the Book of Moses was.
Faith required now without signs.
No latter profession on the Judgment Day shall profit them.
Good works to be rewarded tenfold, but evil works only by the same amount.
Islām is the religion of Abraham the Ḥanīf.
A belief in one God, to whom all prayer and devotion is due.
Each soul shall bear its own burden.
The high rank of some of the Makkans is only a trial from the Lord whereby to prove them.
Chapter LXIV.
Sūratu ʾt-Tag͟hābun.
The Chapter of Mutual Deceit.
God the Creator.
The Resurrection.
The Unity of God.
Wealth and children must not distract men from the service of God.
Chapter XXVIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Qaṣaṣ.
The Chapter of the Story.
The history of Moses and Pharaoh.
The latter and his vizier.
Hāmān oppresses the children of Israel.
Moses is exposed on the river by his mother.
He is adopted by Pharaoh.
His sister watches him, and his mother is engaged to nurse him.
He grows up and slays the Egyptian.
Flees to Midian.
Helps the two Midianites to draw water.
Serves their father Shohaib for ten years and then marries his daughter.
God appears to him in the fire.
Is sent with his brother Aaron to Pharaoh.
Hāmān builds Pharaoh a high tower to ascend to the God of Moses.
His punishment.
Moses gives the Law.
These stories are proofs of Muḥammad’s mission.
The Arabs reject the Book of Moses and the Qurʾān as two impostures.
Those who have the Scriptures recognise the truth of the Qurʾān.
The Makkans warned by the example of the cities of old that have perished.
Disappointment of the idolaters at the Day of Judgment.
Helplessness of the idols before God.
Qārūn’s great wealth.
The earth opens and swallows him up for his pride and his insolence to Moses.
Muḥammad encouraged in his faith and purpose.
Chapter XXIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Muʾminīn.
The Chapter of Believers.
The humble, chaste, and honest, shall prosper.
The creation, birth, death, and resurrection of man.
God’s goodness in providing for men’s sustenance.
Noah sent to his people, who reject him because he is a mere mortal.
They are drowned, and he is saved in the ark.
Moses and Aaron were also called liars.
Mary and her son the cause of their followers’ division into sects.
The God-fearing encouraged.
The Quraish rebuked for their pride, and for denying Muḥammad, and calling him possessed.
They are reminded of the famine and defeat they have already experienced.
Doctrine of the Resurrection.
The unity of God.
He has no offspring.
Is omniscient.
Muḥammad is encouraged not to care for the false accusations of the Makkans, but to seek refuge in God.
Punishment, on the Day of Resurrection, of those who mocked at the little party of believers.
Chapter XXII.
Sūratu ʾl-Ḥajj.
The Chapter of the Pilgrimage.
Terrors of the Last Day, yet men dispute about God and follow devils.
The conception, birth, growth, and death of men, and the growth of herbs in the ground are proofs of the Resurrection.
But some dispute, others waver between two opinions.
The most desperate means cannot thwart the divine decrees.
God will decide between the Jews, Christians, Sabians, Magians, and idolaters on the Judgment Day.
All nature adores God.
The misbelievers are threatened with hell-fire, and the believers promised Paradise.
Punishment threatened to those who prohibit men from visiting the Sacred Mosque.
Abraham, when bidden to cleanse the Kaʿbah, was told to proclaim the pilgrimage.
The rules of the Ḥajj enjoined.
Cattle are lawful food.
Warning against idolatry and exhortation to become Ḥanīfs.
Sacrifices at the Kaʿbah are enjoined.
All men have their appointed rites.
The name of God is to be mentioned over cattle when slaughtered.
Camels may be sacrificed and eaten.
God will defend believers, but loves not misbelieving traitors.
Those who have been driven from their homes for acknowledging God’s unity are allowed to fight.
If men did not fight for such a cause, all places of worship would be destroyed.
The people of Noah, ʿĀd, S̤amūd, Abraham, and Lot, called their prophets liars, and were allowed to range at large, but at last they were punished.
Their cities were destroyed, and the ruins are visible to travellers still.
Muḥammad is only sent to warn the Makkans of a like fate.
Satan contrives to suggest a wrong reading to the Prophet while reading the Qurʾān.
The Kingdom shall be God’s upon the Judgment Day.
Those who flee or are slain in the cause, shall be provided for and rewarded.
Believers who take revenge and are again attacked, will be helped.
All nature is subject to God.
Every nation has its rites to observe.
The idolaters treat the revelation with scorn.
The false gods could not even create a fly.
Exhortation to worship God and fight for the faith of Abraham, whose religion the Muslims profess.
God is the Sovereign and Helper.
Chapter XXI.
Sūratu ʾl-Ambiyāʾ.
The Chapter of the Prophets.
Men mock at the revelation.
They say it is a jumble of dreams, and that Muḥammad is a poet, and they ask for a sign.
The prophets of old were but mortal.
The people who rejected them perished.
Heaven and earth were not created in sport.
Truth shall crush falsehood.
All things praise God.
If there were other gods than He, heaven and earth would be corrupted.
All former prophets were taught there is no god but God.
The Merciful has not begotten children.
The angels are only His servants.
The separation of earth from heaven, the creation of living things from water, the steadying of the earth by mountains, and placing the sky as a roof over it, and the creation of the night and day, and of the sun and moon, are signs.
No one was ever granted immortality.
Every soul must taste of death.
The unbelievers mock at Muḥammad and disbelieve in the Merciful.
Man is hasty.
The infidels are threatened with punishment in the next world.
Those who mocked at the prophets of old perished.
No one shall be wronged on the Last Day.
Moses and Aaron received a scripture.
Abraham destroys the images which his people worshipped.
He tells them that it was the largest idol which did it.
He is condemned to be burnt alive, but the fire is miraculously made cool and safe.
Abraham, Lot, Isaac, and Jacob, all inspired.
Lot was brought safely out of a city of wrong-doers.
Noah also was saved.
David and Solomon give judgment about a field.
The mountains and birds are made subject to David.
He is taught the art of making coats of mail.
The wind and the demons are subjected to Solomon.
Job was saved.
Ishmail, Idrīs, and Ẕū ʾl-Kifl were patient, and entered into the mercy of the Lord.
Ẕū ʾn-Nūn (Jonah) was saved in the fish’s belly.
Zachariah had his prayer granted and a son (John) given him.
The spirit was breathed into the Virgin Mary.
But their followers have divided into sects.
A city once destroyed for unbelief shall not be restored till Gog and Magog are let loose.
The promise draws nigh.
Idolaters shall be the pebbles of hell.
But the elect shall be rolled up as as-Sijill rolls up a book.
As is written in the Psalms, “The righteous shall inherit the earth.”
Muḥammad sent as a mercy to the worlds.
God is one God.
He knows all.
He is the Merciful.
Chapter XVII.
Sūratu Banī Isrāʾīl.
The Chapter of the Children of Israel.
Allusion to the night journey from the Sacred Mosque (at Makkah) to the Remote Mosque (at Jerusalem).
Moses received the book.
Noah was a faithful servant.
Israel’s two sins and their punishment.
The Qurʾān a guide and a good tidings.
Man prays for evil and is hasty.
Night and day are two signs.
Every man’s augury is round his neck.
Each one shall have a book on the Resurrection Day with an account of his deeds.
Each is to bear the burden of his own sins.
No city is destroyed till warned by an apostle.
Choice of good in this world or the next.
Muḥammad is not to associate others with God.
Kindness to parents enjoined.
Moderation to be practised.
Infanticide and fornication are sins.
Homicide is not to be avenged except for just cause.
Honesty and humility inculcated.
The angels are not the daughters of God.
If there were other gods, they would rebel against God.
All in the heavens praise Him.
Unbelievers cannot understand the Qurʾān.
The unity of God unacceptable to the Makkans.
The Resurrection.
Idolaters not to be provoked.
Some prophets preferred over others.
False gods themselves have recourse to God.
All cities to be destroyed before the Judgment Day.
Had Muḥammad been sent with signs, the Makkans would have disbelieved them like S̤amūd.
The vision (of the Night Journey) and the Zaqqūm tree of hell, are causes of contention.
Iblīs’ disobedience and fall.
He is given permission to delude men.
Safety by land and sea a special mercy from God.
All shall have justice at the Last Day.
The S̤aqīf tribe at at̤-T̤āʾif nearly seduced Muḥammad into promulgating an unauthorised sentence.
Injunction to pray.
Man is ungrateful.
Departure of the spirit.
Mankind and jinns together could not produce the like of the Qurʾān.
Signs demanded of Muḥammad.
He is only a mortal.
Fate of those who disbelieve in the Resurrection.
Moses brought nine signs, but Pharaoh disbelieved in them.
His fate.
The children of Israel succeeded him in his possessions.
The Qurʾān was revealed as occasion required.
Those who believe the scripture recognise it.
God and the Merciful One are not two gods, for God has no partner.
Chapter XVI.
Sūratu ʾn-Naḥl.
The Chapter of the Bee.
God’s decree will come to pass.
He sends the angels to instruct his servants to give warning that there is no other God.
The creation and ordering of all natural objects are signs of His power.
The false gods are inanimate and powerless.
God is but one.
The unbelievers who call the revelation old folks’ tales, must bear the burden of their own sins.
On the Resurrection Day, their associates will disown them.
Reception by the angels of the wicked and the good in Hell and in Paradise.
The infidels strenuously deny the Resurrection.
The Muhājirūn are promised a good reward.
The Jews and Christians to be asked to confirm the Qurʾān.
All nature adores God.
Unity of God affirmed.
When in distress, men turn to God, but forget Him and become idolaters when deliverance comes.
The practice of setting aside part of their produce for the idols reproved.
The practice of female infanticide, while they ascribe daughters to God, is reproved, and disbelief in the future life also rebuked.
Satan is the patron of the infidels.
The Qurʾān sent down as a guidance and mercy.
The rain which quickens the dead earth, and the cattle which give milk, and the vines which give fruit and wine are signs.
The bee is inspired from the Lord to build hives and to use those made first by men.
Its honey is lawful.
The rich Arabs are reproved for their treatment of their slaves.
Helplessness of the false gods illustrated by the parable of the slave and of the dumb man.
Goodness of God in providing food and shelter for men.
Idolaters shall be disowned by the false gods at the Resurrection.
Every nation shall have a witness against it on that day.
Justice and good faith inculcated, especially the duty of keeping to a treaty once made.
Satan has no power over believers.
Verses of the Qurʾān abrogated.
The Holy Spirit (Gabriel) is the instrument of the revelation.
Suggestion that Muḥammad is helped by some mortal to compose the Qurʾān.
This cannot be, as the person hinted at speaks a foreign language and the Qurʾān is in Arabic.
Denunciation of misbelievers.
Warning of the fate Makkah is to expect if its inhabitants continue to disbelieve.
Unlawful foods.
God will forgive wrong done through ignorance.
Abraham was Ḥanīf.
The ordinance of the Sabbath.
Muḥammad is to dispute with his opponents kindly.
The believers are not to take too savage revenge.
They are exhorted to patience and trust in God.
Chapter XIII.
Sūratu ʾr-Raʿd.
The Chapter of Thunder.
The Qurʾān a revelation from the Lord, the Creator and Governor of all.
Misbelievers are threatened.
God knows all, and the recording angels are ever present.
Lightning and thunder celebrate God’s praises.
All in heaven and earth acknowledge Him.
God sends rain and causes the torrents to flow.
The scum thereof is like the dross on smelted ore.
The righteous and the believers are promised Paradise, and the misbelievers are threatened with hell-fire.
Exhortation to believe in the Merciful.
Were the Qurʾān to convulse nature, they would not believe.
Further threats against misbelievers.
God notes the deeds of every soul.
Stratagem unavailing against Him.
Paradise and Hell.
Muḥammad bidden to persevere in asserting the unity of God.
Had he not followed the Qurʾān, God would have forsaken him.
Other apostles have had wives and children.
None could bring a sign without God’s permission.
For every period there is a revelation.
God can annul or confirm any part of His revelation which He pleases.
He has the Mother of the Book (i.e. the Eternal Original).
Whether Muḥammad live to see his predictions fulfilled or not, God only knows.
His duty is only to preach the message.
The conquests of Islām pointed to.
God will support the prophets against misbelievers.
Chapter XXIX.
Sūratu ʾl-ʿAnkabūt.
The Chapter of the Spider.
Believers must be proved.
Kindness to be shown to parents; but they are not to be obeyed if they endeavour to lead their children to idolatry.
The hypocrites stand by the Muslims only in success.
The unbelievers try to seduce the believers by offering to bear their sins.
Noah delivered from the deluge.
Abraham preaches against idolatry.
Is cast into the fire, but saved.
Flees from his native land.
Isaac and Jacob born to him.
Lot and the fate of the inhabitants of Sodom.
Midian and their prophet Shuʿaib.
ʿĀd and S̤amūd.
Fate of Qārūn, Pharaoh, and Hāmān.
Similitude of the spider.
Muḥammad bidden to rehearse the Qurʾān.
Prayer enjoined.
Those who have scriptures are to be mildly dealt with in disputation.
They believe in the Qurʾān.
Muḥammad unable to read.
Signs are only in the power of God.
The idolaters reproved, and threatened with punishment.
The believers promised reward.
God provides for all.
This world is but a sport.
God saves men in dangers by sea, yet they are ungrateful.
The territory of Makkah inviolable.
Exhortation to strive for the faith.
Chapter VII.
Sūratu ʾl-Aʿrāf.
The Chapter of al-Aʿrāf.
Muḥammad is bidden to accept the Qurʾān fearlessly.
The Makkans must take warning by the fate of those who rejected the prophets of old.
The creation and fall of Adam.
Iblīs allowed to tempt mankind.
Men are to go to mosque decently clad.
God has only prohibited sinful actions.
Men are warned not to reject the mission of the apostles.
Their punishment at and after death if they do so.
The happiness of believers in Paradise.
Description of al-Aʿrāf, the partition between heaven and hell.
Immediate belief in the Qurʾān required.
God the Creator.
Humble and secret prayer enjoined.
Proofs of God’s goodness.
Noah sent to warn his people.
He is saved in the ark while they are drowned.
Hūd sent to ʿĀd.
They reject his preaching and are punished.
Ṣāliḥ sent to S̤amūd.
Produces the she-camel as a sign.
The people hamstring her and are punished.
Lot sent to the people of Sodom.
Their punishment.
Shuʿaib sent to Midian.
His people reject him and are destroyed.
Thus city after city was destroyed for rejecting the apostles.
Moses sent to Pharaoh.
The miracles of the snake and the white hand.
The magicians contend with Moses, are overcome and believe.
Pharaoh punishes them.
The slaughter of the first-born.
The plagues of Egypt.
The Israelites are delivered.
Moses communes with God, who appears to him on the mount.
The giving of the Law.
The golden calf.
Moses’ wrath against Aaron.
The seventy elders.
The coming of Muḥammad, the illiterate Prophet, foretold.
Some Jews are just and rightly guided.
The division into twelve tribes.
The miracle of smiting the rock.
The manna and quails.
The command to enter the city, saying, “Ḥit̤t̤atun,” and punishment for disobedience.
The Sabbath-breaking city.
The transformation of the wicked inhabitants into apes.
The dispersion of the Jews.
The mountain held over the Jews.
The covenant of God with the posterity of Adam.
Am I not your Lord?
Humiliation of one who, having foretold the coming of a prophet in the time of Muḥammad, would not acknowledge the latter as such.
Many, both of the jinn and of mankind, predestined to hell.
The names of God are not to be perverted.
Muḥammad is not possessed.
The coming of the Hour.
Creation of Adam and Eve.
Conception and birth of their first child, ʿAbdu ʾl-Hāris̤.
Their idolatry.
Idols are themselves servants of God.
They have neither life nor senses.
Muḥammad is bidden to treat his opponents with mildness.
The mention of God’s name repels devilish influences.
Men are recommended to listen to the Qurʾān and to humble themselves before God, whom the angels adore.
Chapter CXIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Falaq.
The Chapter of the Daybreak.
The Prophet seeks refuge in God from evil influences.
Chapter CXIV.
Sūratu ʾn-Nās.
The Chapter of Men.
The Prophet seeks refuge in God from the devil and his evil suggestions.
THE SIXTH AND LAST PERIOD.
Twenty Sūrahs given at al-Madīnah.
Chapter XCVIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Baiyinah.
The Chapter of the Manifest Sign.
Rebuke to Jews and Christians for doubting the manifest sign of Muḥammad’s mission.
Chapter II.
Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah.
The Chapter of the Heifer.
The Qurʾān a guidance.
A parable of one who kindles fire.
God is not ashamed of trifling similitudes.
The creation of man.
Adam taught the names.
Iblīs refuses to adore him.
The temptation and fall.
The Children of Israel.
Their trials in Egypt.
The golden calf.
The manna and quails.
Bidden to enter the city and say, “Ḥit̤t̤atun.”
Moses strikes the rock.
He bids the people slaughter a dun cow to discover a murder.
Charge against the Jews of corrupting the Scriptures.
The golden calf.
The mountain held over them.
Gabriel reveals the Qurʾān.
Hārūt and Mārūt.
Believers are not to say “Rāʿinā,” but “Unz̤urnā.”
Verses which are annulled will be replaced by better ones.
Paradise not exclusively for Jews and Christians.
Mosques to be free.
Story of Abraham.
He rebuilds the Kaʿbah.
Was a Ḥanīf.
The qiblah free.
Aṣ-Ṣafā and al-Marwah may be compassed.
Proofs of God’s unity.
Lawful and unlawful food.
The law of retaliation for homicide.
Testators.
The fast of Ramaẓān.
Rites of the pilgrimage.
Its duration.
Fighting for religion lawful during the sacred months.
Wine and gaming forbidden.
Marriage with idolaters unlawful.
The law of divorce.
Of suckling children.
The Muhājirūn to be rewarded.
The Children of Israel demand a king.
Saul (T̤ālūt).
The shechina.
The ark.
Saul and Gideon confounded.
Goliath.
Jesus.
The Āyatu ʾl-kursī (verse of the throne), asserting the self-subsistence and omnipresence of God.
Nimrod and Abraham.
Almsgiving.
No compulsion in religion.
Proofs of the Resurrection.
Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones referred to.
Abraham and the birds.
Almsgiving recommended.
Usurers denounced.
Laws relating to debt and trading.
Persons mentally incapable are to act by agents.
The believer’s prayer.
Chapter III.
Sūratu Āli ʿImrān.
The Chapter of ʿImrān’s Family.
God’s unity and self-subsistence.
The Qurʾān confirmatory of previous scripture.
The verses are either decisive or ambiguous.
Example of Pharaoh’s punishment.
The battle of Badr.
Islām the true religion.
Future torment eternal.
Obedience to God and the Apostle enjoined.
Conception of the Virgin Mary.
She is brought up by Zachariah.
Birth of John.
The annunciation of the Virgin.
Birth and infancy of Jesus.
The miracle of the birds of clay.
The disciples.
Allusion to Muḥammad’s dispute with a Christian deputation from Najrān.
Abraham a Ḥanīf.
Reproof to Jews who pretend to believe and then recant, and who pervert the scriptures.
No distinction to be made between the prophets.
The Jews rebuked for prohibiting certain kinds of food.
The foundation of the Kaʿbah.
Abraham’s station.
Pilgrimage enjoined.
Schism and misbelief reproved.
Battle of Uḥud referred to.
The victory at Badr due to angelic aid.
Usury denounced.
Fate of those who rejected the prophets of old.
Muḥammad’s death must not divert the believers from their faith.
Promise of God’s help.
Further account of the battle of Badr.
The Muslim martyrs to enter Paradise.
The victory of Badr more than counterbalanced the defeat at Uḥud.
The hypocrites detected and reproved.
Death the common lot, even of apostles.
Prayer for the believers.
Exhortation to vie in good works and be patient.
Chapter VIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Anfāl.
The Chapter of the Spoils.
Spoils belong to God and the Apostle.
Who are the true believers?
The expedition of Muḥammad against the caravan from Syria under Abū Sufyān.
The miraculous victory at Badr.
Address to the Makkans who, fearing an attack from Muḥammad, took sanctuary in the Kaʿbah, and prayed to God to decide between themselves and him.
Exhortation to believe and avoid treachery.
Plots against Muḥammad frustrated by Divine interference.
The revelation treated as old folks’ tales.
Rebuke of the idolaters for mocking the Muslims at prayer.
Offer of an amnesty to those who will believe.
Exhortation to fight the infidels.
Division of the spoils.
Description of the battle.
The enemy made to seem few in the Muslim’s eyes, while they seemed more numerous than they really were.
The infidels forsaken by Satan, their leader, on the day of battle.
Fate of the hypocrites.
Warning from Pharaoh’s fate.
The infidels who break their treaty.
Treachery to be met with the like.
God will help the Prophet against the traitors.
A few enduring believers shall conquer a multitude of infidels.
The Muslims are reproved for accepting ransom for the captives taken at Badr.
The spoils are lawful.
The Muhājirūn who fled with Muḥammad, and the inhabitants of al-Madīnah who gave him refuge, are to form ties of brotherhood.
Chapter XLVII.
Sūratu Muḥammad.
The Chapter of Muḥammad.
Promise of reward to believers.
Exhortation to deal severely with the enemy.
Description of Paradise and of Hell.
Reproof to some pretended believers and hypocrites who hesitate to obey the command to make war against the unbelievers.
Their secret malice shall be revealed.
Exhortation to believe, and to obey God and the Apostles, and sacrifice all for the faith.
Chapter LXII.
Sūratu ʾl-Jumaʿah.
The Chapter of the Congregation.
God has sent the illiterate prophet.
The Jews rebuked for unbelief.
Muslims are not to leave the congregation during divine service for the sake of merchandise.
Chapter V.
Sūratu ʾl-Māʾidah.
The Chapter of the Table.
Believers are to fulfil their compacts.
Brute beasts, except those hereafter mentioned, are lawful, but chase during the pilgrimage is unlawful.
The rites and sacrifices of the Pilgrimage are lawful.
The Muslims are not to bear ill-will against the Quraish, who prevented them at Ḥudaibiyah from making the Pilgrimage.
Forbidden meats.
The food of Jews and Christians is lawful to Muslims.
So, too, their women.
Ablutions before prayers.
Rules for purification in cases of pollution.
The Muslims are bidden to remember the oath of fealty (at ʿAqabah), and how God made a similar covenant with the children of Israel, and chose twelve wardens.
Muḥammad is warned against their treachery, as well as against the Christians.
Refutation of the doctrine that Christ is God, and of the idea that the Jews and Christians are the sons of God and His beloved.
Muḥammad sent as a warner and herald of glad tidings.
Moses bade the children of Israel invade the Holy Land, and they were punished for hesitating.
Story of the two sons of Adam.
The crow shows Cain how to bury the body of Abel.
Gravity of homicide.
Those who make war against God and His Apostle are not to receive quarter.
Punishment for theft.
Muḥammad is to judge both Jews and Christians by the Qurʾān, in accordance with their own Scriptures, but not according to their lusts.
Or would they prefer to be judged according to the unjust laws of the time of the pagan Arabs?
The Muslims are not to take Jews and Christians for patrons.
The hypocrites hesitate to join the believers.
They are threatened.
Further appeals to the Jews and Christians.
Fate of those before them who were transformed for their sins.
The Jews reproved for saying that God’s hand is fettered.
Some of them are moderate, but the greater part are misbelievers.
The Prophet is bound to preach his message.
Sabians, Jews, and Christians appealed to as believers.
Prophets of old were rejected.
Against the worship of the Messiah and the doctrine of the Trinity.
Jews and idolaters are the most hostile to the Muslims, and the Christians are nearest in love to them.
Expiation for an inconsiderate oath.
Wine and gambling forbidden.
Game not to be hunted or eaten during pilgrimage.
Expiation for violating this precept.
Fish is lawful at this time.
Rites of the Ḥajj to be observed.
Believers must not ask about painful things till the whole Qurʾān is revealed.
Denunciation of the superstitious practices of the Pagan Arabs with respect to certain cattle.
Witnesses required when a dying man makes his testament.
The mission of Jesus.
The Apostles ask for a table from heaven as a sign.
Jesus denies commanding men to worship him and his mother as gods.
Chapter LIX.
Sūratu ʾl-Ḥashr.
The Chapter of Assembly.
The chastisements of the Jews who would not believe in the Qurʾān.
The divisions of the spoils.
The treacherous conduct of the hypocrites.
Chapter IV.
Sūratu ʾn-Nisāʾ.
The Chapter of Women.
God creates and watches over man.
Women’s dowries.
Administration of the property of orphans and idiots.
Distribution of property among the heirs.
Witnesses required to prove adultery.
Believers are not to inherit women’s estates against their will.
No false charge of adultery to be made with a view of keeping a woman’s dowry.
Women whom it is unlawful to marry.
Men are superior to women.
Punishment of refractory wives.
Arbitration between man and wife.
Duty towards parents, kinsmen, orphans, the poor, neighbours, &c.
Almsgiving for appearance sake a crime.
Believers must not pray when drunk or polluted.
Sand may be used for purification when water is not to be had.
Charge against Jews of perverting the Scriptures and saying, “Rāʿinā.”
They are threatened with transformation, like those who broke the Sabbath, for their unbelief.
Idolatry the unpardonable sin.
Some who have Scriptures believe.
Trusts to be paid back.
Quarrels to be referred to God and the apostles only.
The Apostle will intercede for the believers.
Muḥammad commanded to settle their differences.
Believers to take precautions in sallying forth to battle.
They are exhorted to fight, and promised Paradise if they fall.
Obedience to the Prophet is obedience to God.
Salutation to be returned.
The hypocrites.
Deserters are to be slain, unless they have taken refuge with a tribe in league with the Muslims.
Penalty for killing a believer by mistake.
Believers are not to plunder others on the mere pretence that they are infidels.
Fate of the half-hearted Muslims who fell at Badr.
Precautions to be taken against an attack during prayers.
Exhortation to sincerity in supporting the faith.
Rebuke to the pagan Arabs for their idolatry and superstitious practices.
Islām the best religion, being that of Abraham the Ḥanīf.
Laws respecting women and orphans.
Equity and kindness recommended.
Partiality to one wife rather than another reproved.
Fear of God inculcated.
God does not pardon the unstable in faith or the hypocrites.
No middle course is allowed.
The Jews were punished for demanding a book from heaven.
Of old they asked Moses to show them God openly, and were punished.
They are reproached for breaking their covenant with God, for calumniating Mary, and for pretending that they killed Jesus, whereas they only killed his similitude, for God took him to Himself.
Certain lawful foods forbidden the Jews for their injustice and usury.
Muḥammad is inspired in the same manner as the other apostles and prophets.
Jesus is only an apostle of God and His Word, and a spirit from Him.
Doctrine of the Trinity denounced.
God has not begotten a son.
The law of inheritance in the case of remote kinship.
Chapter LVIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Mujādilah.
The Chapter of the Disputer.
Abolition of the idolatrous custom of divorcing women with the formula, “Thou art to me as my mother’s back.”
God’s omniscience and omnipresence.
He knows the secret plottings of the disaffected.
Discourse on the duties of true believers.
Denunciation of those who oppose the Apostle.
Chapter LXV.
Sūratu ʾt̤-T̤alāq.
The Chapter of Divorce.
The laws of divorce.
The Arabs are admonished by the fate of former nations to believe in God.
The seven stories of heaven and earth.
Chapter LXIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Munāfīqīn.
The Chapter of the Hypocrites.
The treacherous designs of the hypocrites revealed.
Chapter XXIV.
Sūratu ʾn-Nūr.
The Chapter of Light.
(This chapter deals with the accusation of unchastity against ʿĀyishah.)
Punishment of the whore and the whoremonger.
Witnesses required in the case of an imputation of unchastity to a wife.
Vindication of ʿĀyishah’s character and denunciation of the accusers.
Scandalmongers rebuked and threatened with punishment at the Last Day.
Believers are not to enter other persons’ houses without permission, or in the absence of the owners.
Chastity and modest deportment enjoined, particularly upon women.
Those by whom women may be seen unveiled.
Slaves to be allowed to purchase their freedom.
Slave-girls not to be compelled to prostitute themselves.
God the Light of the Heavens.
Nothing keeps the believers from the service of God, but the unbeliever’s works are like the mirage on a plain, or like darkness on a deep sea.
All nature is subject to God’s control.
Reproof to a sect who would not accept the Prophet’s arbitration.
Actual obedience required rather than an oath that they will be obedient.
Belief in the unity of God, steadfastness in prayer, and the giving of alms enjoined.
Slaves and children not to be admitted into an apartment without asking permission, when the occupant is likely to be undressed.
Rules for the social intercourse of women past child-bearing, and of the blind, lame, or sick.
Persons in whose houses it is lawful to eat food.
Salutations to be exchanged on entering houses.
Behaviour of the Muslims towards the Apostle.
He is to be more respectfully addressed than other people.
Chapter XXXIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Aḥzāb.
The Chapter of the Confederates.
Muḥammad is warned against the hypocrites.
Wives divorced by the formula, “Thou art henceforth to me like my mother’s back,” are not to be considered as real mothers, and as such regarded as unlawful.
Neither are adopted sons to be looked upon as real sons.
The real ties of kinship and consanguinity are to supersede the tie of sworn brotherhood.
God’s covenant with the Prophet.
Miraculous interference in favour of the Muslims when besieged by the confederate army at al-Madīnah.
Conduct of the hypocrites on the occasion.
Departure of the invaders.
Siege and defeat of the Banū Quraiz̤ah Jews.
The men are executed.
Their women and children are sold into slavery and their property confiscated.
Laws for the Prophet’s wives.
They are to be discreet and avoid ostentation.
Encouragement to the good and true believers of either sex.
Vindication of Muḥammad’s conduct in marrying Zainab, the divorced wife of his freed man and adopted son Zaid (who is mentioned by name).
No term need be observed in the case of women divorced before cohabitation.
Peculiar privileges granted to Muḥammad in the matter of women.
Limitation of his licence to take wives.
Muslims are not to enter the Prophet’s house without permission.
After, they are to retire without inconveniencing him by familiar discourse.
Are to be very modest in their demeanour to his wives.
Are not to marry any of his wives after him.
Those relations who are permitted to see them unveiled.
God and His angels bless the Prophet.
Slander of misbelievers will be punished.
The women are to dress modestly.
Warning to the hypocrites and disaffected at al-Madīnah.
The fate of the infidels at the Last Judgment.
Man alone of all creation undertook the responsibility of faith.
Chapter LVII.
Sūratu ʾl-Ḥadīd.
The Chapter of Iron.
God the controller of all nature.
Exhortation to embrace Islām.
Those who do so before the taking of Makkah are to have the precedence.
Discomfiture of the hypocrites and unbelievers at the Last Day.
The powers vouchsafed to former apostles.
Chapter LXI.
Sūratu ʾṣ-Ṣaff.
The Chapter of the Ranks.
Believers are bidden to keep their word and to fight for the faith.
Moses was disobeyed by his people.
Jesus prophesied the coming of Aḥmad.
The Christians rebuked.
Chapter XLVIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Fatḥ.
The Chapter of Victory.
Announcement of a victory.
God comforts the believers and punishes the hypocrites and idolaters.
The oath of fealty.
The cowardice and excuses of the desert Arabs.
Those left behind wish to share the spoil gained at K͟haibar.
The incapacitated alone are to be excused.
The oath of fealty at the tree.
God prevented a collision between the Makkans and the Muslims, when the latter were prohibited from making the pilgrimage.
Prophecy of the pilgrimage to be completed the next year.
Chapter LX.
Sūratu ʾl-Mumtaḥinah.
The Chapter of the Tried.
Exhortations to the Muslims not to treat secretly with the Quraish.
Abraham’s example.
Other idolaters who have not borne arms against them may be made friends of.
Women who desert from the infidels are to be tried before being received into Islām.
If they are really believers, they are, ipso facto, divorced.
The husbands are to be recompensed to the amount of the women’s dowries.
Chapter LXVI.
Sūratu ʾt-Taḥrīm.
The Chapter of Prohibition.
The Prophet is relieved from a vow he had made to please his wives.
The jealousies in his ḥaram occasioned by his intrigue with the Coptic slave-girl, Mary.
Exhortation to hostilities against the infidels.
The example of the disobedient wives of Noah and Lot.
And of the good wife of Pharaoh.
And of the Virgin Mary.
Chapter IX.
Sūratu ʾt-Taubah.
The Chapter of Repentance.
(This chapter is without the initial formula, “In the name of the Merciful,” &c.)
An immunity for four months proclaimed to such of the idolaters as have made a league with the Prophet, but they are to be killed wherever found when the sacred months have expired.
An idolater seeking refuge is to be helped, in order that he may hear the word of God.
None are to be included in the immunity but those with whom the league was made at the Sacred Mosque.
They are not to be trusted.
Exhortation to fight against the Makkans.
Idolaters may not repair to the mosques of God.
Reproof to al-ʿAbbās, the Prophet’s uncle, who, while refusing to believe, claimed to have done enough in supplying water to the pilgrims and in making the pilgrimage himself.
Chapter XLIX.
Sūratu ʾl-Ḥujurāt.
The Chapter of the Inner Chambers.
Rebuke to some of the Muslims who had presumed too much in the presence of the Apostle, and of the others who had called out rudely to him.
Also of a man who had nearly induced Muḥammad to attack a tribe who were still obedient.
Of certain Muslims who contended together.
Of others who use epithets of abuse against each other.
Who entertain unfounded suspicions.
Exhortation to obedience and reproof of the hypocrites.
The Muhājirūn are to hold the first rank.
Infidels are not to be taken for patrons, even when they are fathers or brothers.
Religion is to be preferred to ties of kinship.
The victory of Ḥunain.
The idolaters are not to be allowed to enter the Sacred Mosque at Makkah another year.
The infidels are to be attacked.
The Jews denounced for saying that Ezra is the son of God.
The assumption of the title Rabbi reproved.
Diatribe against Jewish doctors and Christian monks.
Of the sacred months and the sin of deferring them.
Exhortation to the Muslims to march forth to battle.
Allusions to the escape of Muḥammad and Abū Bakr from Makkah, and their concealment in a cave.
Rebuke to those who seek to be excused from fighting and to those who sought to excite sedition in the Muslim ranks.
Reproof to the hypocrites and half-hearted and to those who found fault with the Prophet for his use of the alms (zakāt).
Proper destination of the alms.
Hypocrites and renegades denounced.
They are warned by the example of the people of old who rejected the Prophets.
Rewards promised to the true believers.
Continued denunciation of the hypocrites and of those who held back from the fight.
Muḥammad is not to pray at the grave of any one of them who dies.
Their seeming prosperity is not to deceive him.
Happiness in store for the Apostle, the believers, and the Muhājirūn.
Those who may lawfully be excused military service.
The desert Arabs are among the worst of the hypocrites, though some believe.
Some people of al-Madīnah also denounced as hypocrites.
Others have sinned but confessed.
Others wait for God’s pleasure.
Denunciation of some who had set up a mosque from motives of political opposition.
Muḥammad is not to sanction this mosque, but rather to use that of Qubāʾ, founded by him while on his way from Makkah to al-Madīnah during the Flight.
God has bought the persons and wealth of the believers at the price of Paradise.
The Prophet and the believers must not ask forgiveness for the idolaters, however near of kin.
Abraham only asked pardon for his idolatrous father in fulfilment of a promise.
The three Anṣārs who refused to accompany Muḥammad to Tabūk are forgiven.
The people of al-Madīnah and the neighbouring Arabs blamed for holding back on the occasion.
All sacrifices for the sake of the religion are counted to them.
Exhortation to fight rigorously against the infidels.
Reproof to those who receive the revelation suspiciously.
God will stand by his Apostle.
V.—Sources of the Qurʾān.
Muḥammadanism owes more to Judaism (see a book by M. Geiger, entitled, Was hat Muhammed aus dem Judenthume aufgenommen, in which that learned Jew has traced all the leading features of Islām to Talmudic sources; also Literary Remains of Emanuel Deutsch, Essay on Islām; also article on [JUDAISM] in the present work) than it does to either Christianity or Sabeanism, for it is simply Talmudic Judaism adapted to Arabia, plus the Apostleship of Jesus and Muḥammad; and wherever Muḥammad departs from the monotheistic principles of Judaism, as in the idolatrous practices of the Pilgrimage to the Kaʿbah, it is evident that it is done as a necessary concession to the national feelings and sympathies of the people of Arabia, and it is absolutely impossible for Muḥammadan divines to reconcile the idolatrous rites of the Kaʿbah with that simple monotheism which it was evidently Muḥammad’s intention to establish in Arabia.
“The sources (says Mr. Rodwell) whence Muhammad derived the materials of his Korân, are, over and above the more poetical parts which are his own creation, the legends of his time and country, Jewish traditions based upon the Talmud, and the Christian traditions of Arabia and of S. Syria. At a later period of his career, no one would venture to doubt the divine origin of his whole book. But at its commencement the case was different. The people of Mecca spoke openly and tauntingly of it as the work of a poet, as a collection of antiquated or fabulous legends, or as palpable sorcery. They accused him of having confederates, and even specified foreigners who had been his coadjutors. Such were Salman the Persian (Salmān al-Fārisī), to whom he may have owed the descriptions of heaven and hell, which are analogous to those of the Zendavesta; and the Christian monk Sergius, or, as the Muhammadans term him, Boheira (Buḥairah). From the latter, and perhaps from other Christians, especially slaves naturalized at Mecca, Muhammad obtained access to the teaching of the Apocryphal Gospels, and to many popular traditions of which those gospels are the concrete expression. His wife Chadijah (K͟hadījah), as well as her cousin Waraka (Waraqah), a reputed convert to Christianity, and Muhammad’s intimate friend, are said to have been well acquainted with the doctrines and sacred books, both of Jews and Christians. And not only were several Arab tribes in the neighbourhood of Mecca converts to the Christian faith, but on two occasions Muhammad had travelled with his uncle Abu Talib, as far as Bostra, where he must have had opportunities of learning the general outlines of Oriental Christian doctrine, and perhaps of witnessing the ceremonial of their worship.
* * *
“It has been supposed that Muhammad derived many of his notions concerning Christianity from Gnosticism and that it is to the numerous Gnostic sects the Korân alludes when it reproaches the Christians with having ‘split up their religion into parties.’ But for Muhammad thus to have confounded Gnosticism with Christianity itself, its prevalence in Arabia must have been far more universal than we have reason to believe that it really was. In fact, we have no historical authority for supposing that the doctrines of these heretics were taught or professed in Arabia at all. It is certain, on the other hand, that the Basilidans, Valentinians, and other Gnostic sects had either died out, or been reabsorbed into the Orthodox Church, towards the middle of the fifth century, and had disappeared from Egypt before the sixth. It remains possible, however, that the Gnostic doctrine concerning the Crucifixion may have been adopted by Muhammad as likely to reconcile the Jews to Islam, as a religion embracing both Judaism and Christianity, if they might believe that Jesus had not been put to death, and thus find the stumbling-block of the Atonement removed out of their path. The Jews would, in this case, have simply been called upon to believe in Jesus as a divinely born and inspired teacher, who, like the patriarch Enoch, or the prophet Elijah, had been miraculously taken from the earth. But, in all other respects, the sober and matter-of-fact statements of the Korân, relative to the family and history of Jesus, are opposed to the wild and fantastic doctrines of Gnostic emanations, and especially to the manner in which they supposed Jesus, at his baptism, to have been brought into union with a higher nature. It is more clear that Muhammad borrowed in several points from the doctrines of the Ebionites, Essenes, and Sabeites. Epiphanius describes the notions of the Ebionites of Nabathæa, Moabites, and Basanites, with regard to Adam Jesus, almost in the very words of [Sura iii. 52]. He tells us that they observed circumcision, were opposed to celibacy, forbade turning to the sunrise, but enjoined Jerusalem as their Kebla (Qiblah), (as did Muhammad during twelve years), that they prescribed (as did the Sabeites) washings, very similar to those enjoined in the Korân, and allowed oaths (by certain natural objects, as clouds, signs of the Zodiac, oil, the winds, etc.), which also we find adopted therein. These points of contact with Islam, knowing as we do Muhammad’s eclecticism, can hardly be accidental.
“We have no evidence that Muhammad had access to the Christian scriptures, though it is just possible that fragments of the Old or New Testament may have reached him through Chadijah or Waraka, or other Meccan Christians, possessing MSS. of our sacred volume. There is but one direct quotation ([Sura xxi. 105]) in the whole Korân from the Scriptures; and though there are a few passages, as where alms, are said to be given to be seen of men, and as, none forgiveth sins but God only, which might seem to be identical with texts of the New Testament, yet this similarity is probably merely accidental. It is, however, curious to compare such passages as [Deut. xxvi. 14], [17], and [1 Peter v. 2], with [Sura xxiv. 50], and [Sura x. 73]—[John vii. 15], with the ‘illiterate’ prophet—[Matt. xxiv. 36], and [John xii. 27], with the use of the word hour, as meaning any judgment or crisis, and the last Judgment—the voice of the Son of God which the dead are to hear, with the exterminating or awakening cry of Gabriel, etc. The passages of this kind, with which the Korân abounds, result from Muhammad’s general acquaintance with scriptural phraseology, partly through the popular legends, partly from personal intercourse with Jews and Christians. And we may be quite certain that, whatever materials Muhammad may have derived from our Scriptures, directly or indirectly, were carefully recast.
“It should also be borne in mind that we have no clear traces of the existence of Arabic versions of the Old or New Testament previous to the time of Muhammad. The passage of St. Jerome—‘Hæc autem translatio nullum de veteribus sequitur interpretem; sed ex ipso Hebraico, Arabicoque sermone, et interdum Syro, nunc verba, nunc sensum, nunc simul utrumque resonabit’ (Prol. Gal.), obviously does not refer to versions, but to idiom. The earliest Ar. version of the Old Testament of which we have any knowledge is that of R. Saadias Gaon, A.D. 900: and the oldest Ar. version of the New Testament is that published by Erpenius in 1616, and transcribed in the Thebais, in the year 1271, by a Coptic bishop, from a copy made by a person whose name is known, but whose date is uncertain. Michaelis thinks that the Arabic versions of the New Testament were made between the Saracen conquests in the seventh century and the Crusades in the eleventh century—an opinion in which he follows, or coincides with, Walton (Prol. in Polygl. § xiv.), who remarks—‘Plane constat versionem Arabicam apud eas (ecclesias orientales) factam esse postquam lingua Arabica per victorias et religionem Muhammedanicam per Orientem propagata fuerat, et in multis locis facta esset vernacula.’ If, indeed, in these comparatively late versions, the general phraseology, especially in the histories common to the Scriptures and to the Korân, bore any similarity to each other, and if the orthography of the proper names had been the same in each, it might have been fair to suppose that such versions had been made, more or less, upon the basis of others, which, though now lost, existed in the ages prior to Muhammad, and influenced, if they did not directly form, his sources of information. But this does not appear to be the case. The phraseology of our existing versions is not that of the Korân, and the versions as a whole appear to have been made from the Septuagint, the Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and Greek; Tischendorf, indeed, says that the four Gospels originem mixtam habere videntur; but the internal evidence is clearly in favour of the Greek origin of the Arabic Gospels. This can be seen in part even from the order of the words, which was retained, like that of the Greek, so far as possible, even in such constructions and transpositions of words as violate the rules of Arabic Syntax.
“From the Arab Jews, Muhammad would be enabled to derive an abundant though distorted knowledge of the Scripture histories. The secrecy in which he received his instructions from them and from his Christian informants, enabled him boldly to declare to the ignorant pagan Meccans that God had revealed those Biblical histories to him. But there can be no doubt, from the constant identity between the Talmudic perversions of Scripture histories and the statements of the Korân, that the Rabbis of Hejaz communicated their legends to Muhammad. And it should be remembered that the Talmud was completed a century previous to the era of Muhammad, and cannot fail to have extensively influenced the religious creed of all the Jews of the Arabian peninsula. In one passage, Muhammad speaks of an individual Jew—perhaps some one of note among his professed followers, as a witness to his mission; and there can be no doubt that his relations with the Jews were, at one time, those of friendship and intimacy, when we find him speaking of their recognizing him as they do their own children, and blaming their most colloquial expressions. It is impossible, however, for us at this distance of time to penetrate the mystery in which this subject is involved. Yet certain it is, that, although their testimony against Muhammad was speedily silenced, the Koreish knew enough of his private history to disbelieve and to disprove his pretensions of being the recipient of a divine revelation, and to accuse him of writing from the dictation of teachers morning and evening. And it is equally certain that all the information received by Muhammad was embellished and recast in his own mind and with his own words. There is a unity of thought, a directness and simplicity of purpose, a peculiar and laboured style, a uniformity of diction, coupled with a certain deficiency of imaginative power, which indicate that the ayats (signs or verses) of the Korân are the product of a single mind. The longer narratives were, probably, elaborated in his leisure hours, while the shorter verses, each proclaiming to be a sign or miracle, were promulgated as occasion required them. And, whatever Muhammad may himself profess in the Korân as to his ignorance even of reading and writing, and however strongly modern Muhammadans may insist upon the same point—an assertion, by the way, contradicted by many good authors—there can be no doubt that to assimilate and work up his materials, to fashion them into elaborate Suras, and to fit them for public recital, must have been a work requiring much time, study, and meditation, and presumes a far greater degree of general culture than any orthodox Muslim will be disposed to admit.” (The Preface to Rodwell’s El-Korân, p. xvi. et seq.)
VI.—The Recital and Reading of the Qurʾān.
Tilāwah (تلاوة), or “the recital of the Qurʾān,” has been developed into a science known as ʿIlmu ʾt-Tajwīd (علم التجويد), which includes a knowledge of the peculiarities of the spelling of many words in the Qurʾān; of the qirāʾāt (قراءات), or various readings; of the ejaculations, responses, and prayers to be said at the close of appointed passages; of the various divisions, punctuations, and marginal instructions; of the proper pronunciation of the Arabic words; and of the correct intonation of different passages.
The reading or recital of the Qurʾān should commence with legal ablution and prayer. The usual prayer is, “I seek protection from God against the cursed Satan!” which is followed by the invocation, “In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate!”
The mosque is considered the most suitable of all places in which to read the Qurʾān, and the most auspicious days of the week are Friday, Monday, and Thursday. The ordinary time allowed for reading the Qurʾān through is forty days, although by reciting a juzʾ or sīpārah daily, it can be done in thirty days, which is said to have been the custom of the Prophet. Some read it through by manzils, or stages, of which there are seven, which is done in a week. On no account should it be read through in less than three days, for which there is a three-fold division, known in Persian as the K͟hatam-i-Manzil-i-Fīl, the initial letters of each portion (فى ال) forming the word fīl.
Ejaculations, or responses, are made at certain places. For example, at the end of the Sūratu ʾl-Fātiḥah (i.) and of the Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah (ii.), say, “Amen!” At the end of the Sūratu Banī Isrāʾīl (xvii.), say, “God is great!” After the last verse of the Sūratu ʾl-Qiyāmah (lxxv.), say, “Is He not powerful enough to raise the dead? Say, Yes, for He is my Lord Most High!” At the end of the Sūratu ʾl-Mulk (lxvii.), say, “God brings it (clear water) to us and He is Lord of all the Worlds!”
In addition to responses to be made after each Sūrah, or Chapter, there are certain ejaculations to be made after certain verses, for example, after the sixteenth verse of the third Sūrah, “There is no God but He, the Mighty, the Wise!” say, “I am a witness to this!”
There are fourteen verses known as the Ayātu ʾs-Sajdah, after which a prostration is made. They are [Sūrahs vii. 205]; [xiii. 16]; [xvi. 51]; [vii. 109]; [xix. 59]; [xxii. 19]; [xxv. 61]; [xxvii. 26]; [xxxii. 15]; [xxxviii. 24]; [xli. 38]; [liii. 62]; [lxxxiv. 20]; [xcvi. 18].
There are numerous instructions given as to pronunciation, and there have arisen seven schools of pronunciation, which are known as those of the Qurrāʾu ʾs-Sabʿah, or “seven readers” (for a list of these readers, see [QARI]). It is considered quite lawful to recite the Qurʾān according to the pronunciation established by any one of these seven worthies.
There are many marks and symbols on the margin of an Arabic Qurʾān. Mr. Sell, in his Ilm i Tajwid, gives them in detail. (Ilm i Tajwid, Keys & Co., Madras, 1852.) The symbol for full stop is o, when the reader should take breath. The word سكنة is written when a slight pause is made, but no breath taken. There are also signs which are known as waqf, or pause. They were originally of five kinds, but many more have been added in modern times. They are distinguished by letters and words. [[WAQF].]
There are twenty-nine Sūrahs of the Qurʾān which begin with certain letters of the alphabet. These letters, the learned say, have some profound meaning, known only to the Prophet himself, although it seems probable that they are simply marks recorded by the amanuensis.
(1) Six Sūrahs begin with the letters Alif, Lām, Mīm. الم ALM, viz. Sūrahs al-Baqarah ([ii.]), Ālu ʿImrān ([iii.]), al-ʿAnkabūt ([xxix.]), al-Rūm ([xxx.]), Luqmān ([xxxi.]), as-Sajdah ([xxxii.]). Golius thinks that they probably stand for Amr li-Muḥammad, “At the command of Muḥammad,” and to have been written by the amanuensis. Jalālu ʾd-dīn as-Suyūt̤ī says that Ibn ʿAbbās said that they stood for Anā ʾllāhu aʿlimu, “I, God, know” (that this is true). Al-Baiẓāwī thinks A stands for “Allāh,” L for “Gabriel,” and M for “Muḥammad.” Mr. Sale gives the meaning as Allāhu Lat̤ifun Majīdun, “God is gracious and exalted”; others have suggested Allāhu li-Muḥammad, “God to Muḥammad.” But the general belief is that the letters have a hidden meaning.
(2) At the commencement of Sūratu ʾl-Aʿrāf ([vii.]), there is Alif, Lām, Mīm, Ṣād. المص ALMṢ, which may mean: A, “Anā”; L, “Allāh”; M, “Raḥmān”; Ṣ, “Ṣamad”; i.e. “I am God, the Merciful, the Eternal.”
(3) The Sūratu ʾr-Raʿd ([xiii.]) begins with the letters Alif, Lām, Mīm, Rā. المر ALMR, which al-Baiẓāwī takes to mean, A, “Anā”; L, “Allāhu”; M, “Aʿlimu”; R, “Arā.” “I, God, both know and see.”
(4) Five Sūrahs begin with Alif, Lām, Rā. الر ALR, which some understand to mean Amara lī Rabbī, “My Lord hath said to me,” or Anā ʾllāhu arā, “I, God, see.” These Sūrahs are Yūnus ([x.]), Hūd ([xi.]), Yūsuf ([xii.]), Ibrāhīm ([xiv.]), al-Ḥijr ([xv.]).
(5) The Sūratu Maryam ([xix.]) begins with the letters Kāf, Hā, Yā, ʿAin, Ṣād. كهيعص KHYʿAṢ, which Ibn ʿAbbās says stand for five attributes of the Almighty: Karīm, “Gracious”; Hādi, “Guide”; Ḥakīm (taking the middle letter), “Wise”; ʿAlīm, “Learned”; Ṣādiq, “Righteous.”
(6) The Sūratu T̤H ([xx.]), as its title implies, begins with the letters T̤ā Hā طه, which Ḥusain says may signify T̤āhir, “Pure”; Hādi, “Guide”; being attributes of God.
(7) Six Sūrahs commence with the letters Ḥā Mīm حم, ḤM, namely, Sūrahs al-Muʾmin ([xl.]), Fuṣṣilat ([xli.]), az-Zuk͟hruf ([xliii.]), ad-Duk͟hān ([xliv.]), al-Jās̤iyah ([xlv.]), al-Aḥqāf ([xlvi.]). Ibn ʿAbbās says they indicate the attribute Raḥmān, “Merciful.”
(8) The Sūratu ʾsh-Shūrā ([xlii.]) begins with Ḥa Mīm ʿAin Sīn Qāf. حمعسق HMʿASQ, which Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb understood to mean Ḥ for Raḥmān, “Merciful”; M for Raḥīm, “Gracious”; ʿA, ʿAlīm, “Learned”; S, Quddūs, “Holy”; Q, Qahhār, “Dominant”; being attributes of God.
(9) The Sūratu YS ([xxxvi.]), as its title implies, begins with the letters Yā Sīn يس, which is supposed to stand for Yā insān, “O man!”
(10) The Sūratu Ṣ ([xxxviii.]), as its title signifies, begins with the letter Ṣād ص, which some say means Ṣidq, “Truth.”
(11) The Sūratu Q ([l.]), as its name implies, begins with the letter Qāf ق, which Jalālu ʾd-Dīn as-Suyūt̤ī says stands for Qādir, “Powerful,” an attribute of God. Others think it means the mountain of Qāf.
(12) The Sūratu ʾl-Naml ([xxvii.]) begins with the letters T̤ā Sīn طس, which Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb says stand for Ẕū ʾt̤-t̤aul, “Most Powerful,” and Quddūs, “Holy,” being attributes of the Almighty.
(13) Two Sūrahs, namely ash-Shuʿarāʾ ([xxvi.]), and al-Qaṣaṣ ([xxviii.]), begin with T̤ā Sīn Mīm طسم, which supplies the addition of the attribute Raḥmān, “Merciful,” to those of the former section, indicated by T̤S.
(14) The Sūratu ʾl-Qalam ([lxviii.]) begins with Nūn, ن N, which some say stands for an ink-horn, others for a fish, and some for the attribute of Nūr, or “Light.”
VII.—The Interpretation of the Qurʾān.
ʿIlmu ʾl-Uṣūl (علم الاصول), or the Exegesis of the Qurʾān, is a very important science, and is used by the Muslim divine to explain away many apparent or real contradictions. The most authoritative works on the ʿIlmu ʾl-Uṣūl of the Qurʾān, are Manāru ʾl-Uṣūl and its commentary, the Nūru ʾl-Anwār, and as-Suyūt̤ī’s Itqān (ed. by Sprenger). The various laws of interpretation laid down in these books are very complicated, requiring the most careful study. We have only space for a mere outline of the system.
The words (alfāz̤) of the Qurʾān are of four classes: K͟hāṣṣ, ʿĀmm, Mushtarak, and Muʾawwal.
(1) K͟hāṣṣ, Words used in a special sense. This speciality of sense is of three kinds: K͟huṣūṣu ʾl-jins, Speciality of genus, e.g. mankind; K͟huṣūṣu ʾn-nauʿ, Speciality of species, e.g. a man; K͟huṣūṣu ʾl-ʿain, Speciality of an individual, e.g. Muḥammad.
(2) ʿĀmm, Collective or common, which embrace many individuals or things, e.g. people.
(3) Mushtarak, Complex words which have several significations; e.g. ʿain, a word which signifies an Eye, a Fountain, the Knee, or the Sun.
(4) Muʾawwal, words which have several significations, all of which are possible, and so a special explanation is required. For example, [Sūrah cviii. 2], reads thus in Sale’s translation: “Wherefore pray unto the Lord and slay (the victims).” The word translated “slay” is in Arabic inḥar, from the root naḥr, which has several meanings. The followers of the great Legist, Abū Ḥanīfah, render it “sacrifice,” and add the words (the “victims”). The followers of Ibn Ash-Shāfiʿī say it means “placing the hands on the breast in prayer.”
II. The Sentences (ʿIbārah) of the Qurʾān are either Z̤āhir or K͟hafī, i.e. either Obvious or Hidden.
Obvious sentences are of four classes:—Z̤āhir, Naṣṣ, Mufassar, Muḥkam.
(1.) Z̤āhir.—Those sentences, the meaning of which is Obvious or clear, without any assistance from the context (qarīnah).
(2.) Naṣṣ, a word commonly used for a text of the Qurʾān, but in its technical meaning here expressing what is meant by a sentence, the meaning of which is made clear by some word which occurs in it. The following sentence illustrates both Z̤āhir and Naṣṣ: “Take in marriage of such other women as please you, two, three, four.” This sentence is Z̤āhir, because marriage is here declared lawful; it is Naṣṣ, because the words “one, two, three, four,” which occur in the sentence, show the unlawfulness of having more than four wives.
(3.) Mufassar, or explained. A sentence which needs some word in it to explain it and make it clear. Thus: “And the angels prostrated themselves, all of them with one accord, save Iblīs (Satan).” Here the words “save Iblīs” show that he did not prostrate himself. This kind of sentence may be abrogated.
(4.) Muḥkam, or perspicuous. A sentence as to the meaning of which there can be no doubt, and which cannot be controverted, thus: “God knoweth all things.” This kind of sentence cannot be abrogated. To act on such sentences without departing from the literal sense is the highest degree of obedience to God’s command.
The difference between these sentences is seen when there is a real or apparent contradiction between them. If such should occur, the first must give place to the second, and so on. Thus Muḥkam cannot be abrogated or changed by any of the preceding, or Mufassar by Naṣṣ, &c.
Hidden sentences are either K͟hafī, Mushkil, Mujmal, or Mutashābih.
(1.) K͟hafī.—Sentences in which other persons or things are hidden beneath the plain meaning of a word or expression contained therein: e.g. Sūratu ʾl-Māʾidah [(v.), 42], “As for a thief whether male or female cut ye off their hands in recompense for their doings.” In this sentence the word sāriq, “thief,” is understood to have hidden beneath its literal meaning, both pickpockets and highway robbers.
(2.) Mushkil.—Sentences which are ambiguous; e.g. Sūratu ʾd-Dahr [(lxxvi.), 15], “And (their attendants) shall go round about them with vessels of silver and goblets. The bottles shall be bottles of silver.” The difficulty here is that bottles are not made of silver, but of glass. The commentators say, however, that glass is dull in colour, though it has some lustre, whilst silver is white, and not so bright as glass. Now it may be, that the bottles of Paradise will be like glass bottles as regards their lustre, and like silver as regards their colour. But anyhow, it is very difficult to ascertain the meaning.
(3.) Mujmal.—Sentences which may have a variety of interpretations, owing to the words in them being capable of several meanings; in that case the meaning which is given to the sentence in the Traditions relating to it should be acted on and accepted; or which may contain some very rare word, and thus its meaning may be doubtful, as: “Man truly is by creation hasty” ([Sūrah lxx. 19]). In this verse the word halūʿ, “hasty,” occurs. It is very rarely used, and had it not been for the following words, “when evil toucheth him, he is full of complaint; but when good befalleth him, he becometh niggardly,” its meaning would not have been at all easy to understand.
The following is an illustration of the first kind of Mujmal sentences: “Stand for prayer (ṣalāt) and give alms (zakāt).” Both ṣalāt and zakāt are “Mushtarak” words. The people, therefore, did not understand this verse, so they applied to Muḥammad for an explanation. He explained to them that ṣalāt might mean the ritual of public prayer, standing to say the words “God is great,” or standing to repeat a few verses of the Qurʾān; or it might mean private prayer. The primitive meaning of zakāt is “growing.” The Prophet, however, fixed the meaning here to that of “almsgiving,” and said, “Give of your substance one-fortieth part.”
(4.) Mutashābih.—Intricate sentences, or expressions, the exact meaning of which it is impossible for man to ascertain until the day of resurrection, but which was known to the Prophet: e.g. the letters Alif, Lām, Mīm (A. L. M.); Alif, Lām, Rāʾ (A. L. R.); Alif, Lām, Mīm, Rāʾ (A. L. M. R.), &c., at the commencement of different Sūrahs or chapters. Also Sūratu ʾl-Mulk [(lxvii.) 1], “In whose hand is the Kingdom,” i.e. God’s hand (Arabic, yad); and Sūratu T̤H (xx.), “He is most merciful and sitteth on His throne,” i.e. God sitteth (Arabic, istawā); and Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah [(ii.), 115], “The face of God” (Arabic, wajhu ʾllāh).
III. The use (istiʿmāl) of words in the Qurʾān is divided into four classes. They are either Ḥaqīqah, Majāz, Ṣarīḥ, or Kināyah.
(1.) Ḥaqīqah.—Words which are used in their literal meaning: e.g. rukūʿ, “a prostration”; zināʿ, “adultery.”
(2.) Majāz.—Words which are figurative; as ṣalāt in the sense of namāz, or the liturgical prayers.
(3.) Ṣarīḥ.—Words the meaning of which is clear and palpable: e.g. “Thou art free,” “Thou art divorced.”
(4.) Kināyah.—Words which are metaphorical in their meaning: e.g. “Thou art separated”; by which may be meant, “thou art divorced.”
IV. The deduction of arguments, or istidlāl, as expressed in the Qurʾān, is divided into four sections: ʿIbārah, Ishārah, Dalālah, and Iqtiẓāʾ.
(1.) ʿIbārah, or the plain sentence. “Mothers, after they are divorced, shall give suck unto their children two full years, and the father shall be obliged to maintain them and clothe them according to that which is reasonable.” ([Sūrah ii. 233].) From this verse two deductions are made. First, from the fact that the word “them” is in the feminine plural, it must refer to the mothers and not to the children; secondly, as the duty of supporting the mother is incumbent on the father, it shows that the relationship of the child is closer with the father than with the mother. Penal laws may be based on a deduction of this kind.
(2.) Ishārah, that is, a sign or hint which may be given from the order in which the words are placed; e.g. “Born of him,” meaning, of course, the father.
(3.) Dalālah, or the argument which may be deducted from the use of some special word in the verse, as: “say not to your parents, ‘Fie!’ (Arabic, uff).” ([Sūrah xvii. 23].) From the use of the word uff, it is argued that children may not beat or abuse their parents. Penal laws may be based on dalālah, thus: “And they strive after violence on the earth; but God loveth not the abettors of violence.” ([Sūrah v. 69].) The word translated “strive” is in Arabic literally yasʿauna, “they run.” From this the argument is deduced that as highway-men wander about, they are included amongst those whom “God loveth not,” and that, therefore, the severest punishment may be given to them, for any deduction that comes under the head of dalālah is a sufficient basis for the formation of the severest penal laws.
(4.) Iqtiẓāʾ. This is a deduction which demands certain conditions: “whosoever killeth a believer by mischance, shall be bound to free a believer from slavery.” ([Sūrah iv. 94].) As a man has no authority to free his neighbour’s slave, the condition here required, though not expressed, is that the slave should be his own property.
VIII.—The Abrogation of Passages in the Qurʾān.
Some passages of the Qurʾān are contradictory, and are often made the subject of attack; but it is part of the theological belief of the Muslim doctors that certain passages of the Qurʾān are mansūk͟h (منسوخ), or abrogated by verses revealed afterwards, entitled nāsik͟h (ناسخ). This was the doctrine taught by Muḥammad in the Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah (ii.) 105: “Whatever verses we (i.e. God) cancel or cause thee to forget, we bring a better or its like.” This convenient doctrine fell in with that law of expediency which appears to be the salient feature in Muḥammad’s prophetical career.
In the Tafsīr-i-ʿAzīzī, it is written, that abrogated (mansūk͟h) verses of the Qurʾān are of three kinds: (1) Where the verse has been removed from the Qurʾān and another given in its place; (2) Where the injunction is abrogated and the letters of the verse remain; (3) Where both the verse and its injunction are removed from the text. This is also the view of Jalālu ʾd-Dīn, who says that the number of abrogated verses has been variously estimated from five to five hundred.
The Greek verb καταλύω, in [St. Matthew v. 17], has been translated in some of the versions of the New Testament by mansūk͟h; but it conveys a wrong impression to the Muḥammadan mind as to the Christian view regarding this question. According to most Greek lexicons, the Greek word means to throw down, or to destroy (as of a building), which is the meaning given to the word in our authorised English translation. Christ did not come to destroy, or to pull down, the Law and the Prophets; but we all admit that certain precepts of the Old Testament were abrogated by those of the New Testament. Indeed, we further admit that the old covenant was abrogated by the new covenant of grace. “He taketh away the first that he may establish the second,” [Heb. x. 9].
In the Arabic translation of the New Testament, printed at Beyrut A.D. 1869, καταλύω is translated by naqẓ, “to demolish”; in Mr. Loewenthal’s Pushto translation, A.D. 1863, by bāt̤ilawal, “to destroy,” or “render void”; and in Henry Martyn’s Persian Testament, A.D. 1837, it is also translated by the Arabic ibt̤āl, i.e. “making void.” In both the Arabic-Urdū and Roman-Urdū it is unfortunately rendered mansūk͟h, a word which has a technical meaning in Muḥammadan theology contrary to that implied in the word used by our Lord in [Matthew v. 17].
Jalālu ʾd-Dīn in his Itqān, gives the following list of twenty verses which are acknowledged by all commentators to be abrogated. The verses are given as numbered in the Itqān.
| No. | Mansūk͟h, or abrogated verses. | Nāsik͟h, or abrogating verses. | The Subject abrogated. |
| 1 | Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah [(ii.), 119]. | Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah [(ii.), 145]. | The Qiblah. |
| 2 | Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah [(ii.), 178]. | Sūratu ʾl-Māʾidah [(v.), 49]. Sūratu Banī Isrāʾīl, [(xvii.), 35]. | Qiṣāṣ, or Retaliation. |
| 3 | Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah [(ii.), 183]. | Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah [(ii.), 187]. | The Fast of Ramaẓān. |
| 4 | Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah [(ii.), 184]. | Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah [(ii.), 185]. | Fidyah, or Expiation. |
| 5 | Sūratu Āli ʿImrān [(iii.), 102]. | Sūratu ʾt-Tag͟hābun [(lxiv.), 16]. | The fear of God. |
| 6 | Sūratu ʾn-Nisāʾ [(iv.), 88]. | Sūratu ʾn-Nisāʾ [(iv.), 89]. Sūratu ʾt-Taubah [(ix.), 5]. | Jihād, or war with infidels. |
| 7 | Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah [(ii.), 216]. | Sūratu ʾt-Taubah [(ix.), 36]. | Jihād in the Sacred months. |
| 8 | Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah [(ii.), 240]. | Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah [(ii.), 234]. | Provision for widows. |
| 9 | Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah [(ii.), 191]. | Sūratu ʾt-Taubah [(ix.), 5]. | Slaying enemies in the Sacred Mosque. |
| 10 | Sūratu ʾn-Nisāʾ [(iv.), 14]. | Sūratu ʾn-Nūr [(xxiv.), 2]. | Imprisonment of the adulteress. |
| 11 | Sūratu ʾl-Māʾidah [(v.), 105]. | Sūratu ʾt̤-T̤alāq [(lxv.), 2]. | Witnesses. |
| 12 | Sūratu ʾl-Anfāl [(vii.), 66]. | Sūratu ʾl-Anfāl [(vii.), 67]. | Jihād, or war with infidels. |
| 13 | Sūratu ʾn-Nūr [(xxiv.), 3]. | Sūratu ʾn-Nūr [(xxiv.), 32]. | The marriage of adulterers. |
| 14 | Sūratu ʾl-Aḥzāb [(xxxiii.), 52]. | Sūratu ʾl-Aḥzāb [(xxxiii.), 49]. | The Prophet’s wives. |
| 15 | Sūratu ʾl-Mujādilah [(lviii.), 13], first part of verse. | Sūratu ʾl-Mujādilah [(lviii.), 13], latter part of verse. | Giving alms before assembling a council. |
| 16 | Sūratu ʾl-Mumtaḥinah [(lx.), 11]. | Sūratu ʾt-Taubah [(ix.), 1]. | Giving money to infidels for women taken in marriage. |
| 17 | Sūratu ʾt-Taubah [(ix.), 39]. | Sūratu ʾt-Taubah [(ix.), 92]. | Jihād, or war with infidels. |
| 18 | Sūratu ʾl-Muzzammil [(lxxiii.), 2]. | Sūratu ʾl-Muzzammil [(lxxiii.), 20]. | The night prayer. |
| 19 | Sūratu ʾn-Nūr [(xxiv.), 57]. | Sūratu ʾn-Nūr [(xxiv.), 58]. | Permission to young children to enter a house. |
| 20 | Sūratu ʾn-Nisāʾ [(iv.), 7]. | Sūratu ʾn-Nisāʾ [(iv.), 11]. | Division of property. |
IX.—The Reputed Excellence of the Qurʾān, and its Miraculous Character.
Copies of the Qurʾān are held in the greatest esteem and reverence amongst Muḥammadans. They dare not to touch it without being first washed and purified, and they read it with the greatest care and respect, never holding it below their girdles. They swear by it, consult it on all occasions, carry it with them to war, write sentences of it on their banners, suspend it from their necks as a charm, and always place it on the highest shelf or in some place of honour in their houses. Muḥammadans, as we have already remarked, believe the Qurʾān to be uncreated and eternal, subsisting in the very essence of God. There have, however, been great differences of opinion on this subject. It was a point controverted with so much heat that it occasioned many calamities under the Abbaside K͟halīfahs. Al-Maʾmūn (A.H. 218) made a public edict declaring the Qurʾān to be created, which was confirmed by his successors al-Muʿtaṣim and al-Wās̤iq, who whipped and imprisoned and put to death those of the contrary opinion. But at length al-Mutawakkil, who succeeded al-Wās̤iq, put an end to these persecutions by revoking the former edicts, releasing those that were imprisoned on that account, and leaving every man at liberty as to his belief on this point. (Abū ʾl-Faraj, p. 262.) The Qurʾān is, however, generally held to be a standing miracle, indeed, the one miracle which bears witness to the truth of Muḥammad’s mission, an assumption which is based upon the Prophet’s own statements in the Qurʾān ([Sūrah x. 39], xi. 16, lii. 34), where he calls upon the people who charge him with having invented it to procure a single chapter like it. But the Muʿtazilites have asserted that there is nothing miraculous in its style and composition (vide Sharḥu ʾl-Muwāqif). The excellences of the Qurʾān, as explained by the Prophet himself, claim a very important place in the traditions (see Faẓāʾilu ʾl-Qurʾān, in the Traditions of al-Buk͟hārī and Muslim), from which the following are a few extracts:—
“The best person amongst you is he who has learnt the Qurʾān, and teaches it.”
“Read the Qurʾān as long as you feel a pleasure in it, and when tired leave off.”
“If the Qurʾān were wrapped in a skin and thrown into a fire, it would not burn.”
“He who is an expert in the Qurʾān shall rank with the ‘Honoured Righteous Scribes,’ and he who reads the Qurʾān with difficulty and gets tired over it shall receive double rewards.”
“The state of a Musulman who reads the Qurʾān is like the orange fruit whose smell and taste are pleasant.”
“The person who repeats three verses from the beginning of the chapter of the Cave ([Sūrah xviii].) shall be guarded from the strife of ad-Dajjāl.”
“Everything has a heart, and the heart of the Qurʾān is the chapter Yā-sīn ([Sūrah xxxvi].); and he who reads it, God will write for him rewards equal to those for reading the whole Qurʾān ten times.”
“There is a Sūrah in the Qurʾān of thirty verses which intercedes for a man until he is pardoned, and it is that commencing with the words, ‘Blessed is he in whose hands is the kingdom.’ ” ([Sūrah lxvii].)
“God wrote a book two thousand years before creating the heavens and the earth, and sent two verses down from it, which are the two last verses of the chapter of the Cow ([Sūrah ii].); and if they are not repeated in a house for three nights, the devil will be near that house.”
“Verily the devil runs away from the house in which the chapter entitled the Cow is read.”
“The chapter commencing with these words, ‘Say God is one God’ ([Sūrah cxii].), is equal to a third of the Qurʾān.”
“The person that repeats the chapter of the Cave ([Sūrah xviii].) on Friday, the light of faith brightens him between two Fridays.”
In the Qurʾān there are many assertions of its excellence; the following are a few selected verses:—
[Sūrah iv. 94]: “Can they not consider the Qurʾān? Were it from any other than God, they would assuredly have found in it many contradictions.”
[Sūrah ix. 16]: “If they shall say, ‘The Qurʾān is his own device.’ Then bring ten Sūrahs like it of your devising.”
[Sūrah xlvi. 7]: “Will they say, ‘He hath devised it’? Say, If I have devised it, then not one single thing can ye ever obtain for me from God.”
[Sūrah liii. 4]: “Verily the Qurʾān is none other than a revelation. One terrible in power taught it him.”
Maracci, von Hammer, and other Orientalists, have selected the XCIst chapter of the Qurʾān, entitled the Sūratu ʾsh-Shams, or the Chapter of the Sun, as a favourable specimen of the best style of the Qurʾān. It begins in Arabic thus:—
١ وَٱلشَّمْسِ وَضُحَاهَا
٢ وَٱلقَمَرِ إذَا تَلَاهَا
٣ وَٱلنَّهَارِ إذَا جَلَّاهَا
٤ وَٱللَّيْلِ إذَا يَغْشَاهَا
٥ وَٱلسَّمَآءِ وَمَا بَنَاهَا
٦ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا طَحَاهَا
٧ وَنَفْسٍ وَمَا سَوَّاهَا
٨ فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَاهَا
٩ قَدْ أَفْلَعَ مَنْ زَكَّاهَا
١٠ وَقَدْ خَابَ مَنْ دَسَّاهَا
Which Mr. Rodwell translates as follows:—
1 By the Sun and his noonday brightness!
2 By the Moon when she followeth him!
3 By the Day when it revealeth his glory!
4 By the Night when it enshroudeth him!
5 By the Heaven and Him who built it!
6 By the Earth and Him who spread it forth!
7 By a soul and Him who balanced it,
8 And breathed into it its wickedness and its piety,
9 Blessed now is he who hath kept it pure,
10 And undone is he who hath corrupted it!
Baron von Hammer rendered it in German thus:—
1 Bey der Sonne, und ihrem Schimmer;
2 Bey dem Mond der ihr folget immer;
3 Bey dem Tag der sie zeigt in vollem Glanz;
4 Bey der Nacht, die sie verfinstert ganz;
5 Bey den Himmeln und dem der sie gemacht;
6 Bey der Erde und dem der sie schuf eben;
7 Bey der Seele und dem der sie ins Gleichgewicht gebracht,
8 Bey dem der ihr das Bewusstseyn des Guten und Bösen gegeben,
9 Selig wer seine Seele reinigt;
10 Wer dieselbe verdunkelt wird auf ewig gepeinigt.
The renowned Orientalist, Sir William Jones, praised the following account of the drowning of Noah’s sons as truly magnificent, and inferior in sublimity only to the simple declaration of the creation of light in Genesis. D’Herbelot also considers it one of the finest passages in the Qurʾān ([Sūrah xi. 44–46]):—
وَهِىَ تَجْرِى بِهِمْ فىِ مَوْجٍ كَٱلْجِبَالِ وَنَادَى نُوحٌ ٱبْنَهُ وَكَانَ فىِ مَعْزِلٍ يَا بُنَىَّ ٱرْكَبْ مَعَنَا وَلَا تَكُنْ مَعَ ٱلْكَافرينَ قَالَ سَآوى إلَى جَبَلٍ يَعْصِمُنِى مِنَ ٱلْمَآءِ قَالَ لَا عَاصِم ٱلْيَوْم مِنْ أَمْرِ ٱلَّهِ إِلَّا مَن رَحِمَ وَحَالَ بَيْنَهُمَا ٱلْمَوْجُ فَكَانَ مِنَ ٱلْمُغْرَقِينَ وَقِيلَ يَا أَرْضُ ٱبْلَعِى مَٱءَكِ وَيَا سَمَٱءُ أَقْلِعِى وَغِيض ٱلْمَٱءُ وَقُضِىَ ٱلْأَمْرُ وَٱسْتَوَتْ عَلَى ٱلْجُودِىِّ وَقِيلَ بُعْدًا للْقَوْمِ ٱلظّالِمِينَ
It may be rendered as follows:—
“And the ark moved on with them amid waves like mountains:
“And Noah called to his son—for he was apart—
“ ‘Embark with us, O my child! and stay not with the unbelievers.’
“He said, ‘I will betake myself to a mountain that shall save me from the water.’
“He said, ‘None shall be saved this day from God’s decree, save him on whom He shall have mercy.’
“And a wave passed between them and he was drowned.
“And it was said, ‘O earth! swallow up thy water! and O heaven! withhold thy rain!’ And the water abated, and God’s decree was fulfilled, and the ark rested on al-Jūdī.
“And it was said, ‘Avaunt, ye tribe of the wicked!’ ”
X.—Commentaries on the Qurʾān.
In the earliest ages of Islām the expositions of the Qurʾān were handed down in the traditional sayings of the companions and their successors, but we have it on the authority of the Kashfu ʾz̤-Z̤unūn that one Qutaibah ibn Aḥmad, who died A.H. 316, compiled a systematic commentary on the whole of the Qurʾān. The work is not now extent.
Muslim commentaries are very numerous. Dr. M. Arnold (Islam and Christianity, p. 81) says there are no less than 20,000 in the Library at Tripolis.
The best known commentaries amongst the Sunnīs are those of:—
Al-Bag͟hawī, A.H. 515.
Az-Zamak͟hsharī, A.H. 604.
At-Tafsīru ʾl-Kabīr, A.H. 606.
Ibnu ʾl-ʿArabi, A.H. 628.
Al-Baiẓāwī, A.H. 685.
Al-Mudārik, A.H. 701.
Ḥusain, A.H. 900.
Al-Jalālān, A.H. 864, A.H. 911.
Al-Mazharī, A.H. 1225.
ʿAzīzī, A.H. 1239.
Amongst the Shīʿahs the following are works of reputation:—
Shaik͟h Ṣadūq, A.H. 381.
At-Tafsīru ʾl-Kabīr, by Saiyid Muḥammad ar-Rāzī, 30 volumes, A.H. 606.
Aṣ-Ṣāfī, A.H. 668.
As-Sirru ʾl-Wajīz, A.H. 715.
Sidratu ʾl-Muntahā, by Mīr Bakir, A.H. 1041.
Al-Burhān, by Saiyid Hasham, A.H. 1160.
XI.—Editions and Translations of the Qurʾān.
The Qurʾān was first printed in Arabic at Rome by Pagninus Brixiensis, Romæ, 1530, but it was either burned or remained unpublished. Since then the following editions of the Arabic text have appeared in Europe:—
Al-Coranus, seu lex Islamitica, &c., the Arabic text of the Qurʾān, published by A. Hinkelmann, Hamburg, 1649, 4to.
Alcorani textus universus, &c., the Arabic text with a Latin translation and numerous extracts from the principal commentaries, and preceded by a Prodromus, containing a “refutation” of the Qurʾān, by Maracci, Padua, 1698, folio.
القران, an annotated text of the Qurʾān, published by order and at the cost of the Empress Catherine II. of Russia, at St. Petersburgh in 1787, 1 vol. in folio. This edition was reprinted at St. Petersburgh in 1790, 1793, 1796, and 1798, and without any change at Kasan in 1803, 1809, and 1839. Another edition, in two vols. 4to, without notes, was published at Kasan, 1817, reprinted 1821 and 1843, and a third edition, in 6 vols. 8vo, at the same place, 1819.
Corani textus arabicus, &c., the first critical edition of the text, by G. Flügel, Leipzig, 1834, 4to. Second edition, 1842; third edition, 1869.
Coranus arabice, &c., revised republication of Flügel’s text, by G. M. Redslob, Leipzig, 1837, 8vo.
Beidhawii commentarius in Coranum, &c., the text of the Qurʾān with al-Baiẓāwī’s Commentary, by H. O. Fleisher, two vols. 4to, Leipzig, 1846.
The Muḥammadans, so far from thinking the Qurʾān profaned by a translation, as some authors have written (Marracci de Alcoran, p. 33), have taken care to have it translated into various languages, although these translations are always interlineary with the original text. Translations exist in Persian, Urdū, Pushto, Turkish, Javan, Malayan, and other languages, which have been made by Muḥammadans themselves.
The first translation attempted by Europeans was a Latin version translated by an Englishman, Robert of Retina, and a German, Hermann of Dalmatia. This translation, which was done at the request of Peter, Abbot of the Monastery of Clugny, A.D. 1143, remained hidden nearly 400 years till it was published at Basle, 1543, by Theodore Bibliander, and was afterwards rendered into Italian, German, and Dutch. The next translation in German was by Schweigger, at Nürnberg, in 1616. This was followed by the above-mentioned work of Maracci, consisting of the Qurʾān, in Arabic, with a Latin version with notes and refutations, A.D. 1698.
The oldest French translation was done by M. Du Ryer (Paris, 1647). A Russian version appeared at St. Petersburg in 1776. M. Savary translated the Qurʾān into French in 1783. There have also been more recent French translations by Kasimirski (Paris, 1st ed. 1840, 2nd ed. 1841, 3rd ed. 1857).
The first English Qurʾān was Alexander Ross’s translation of Du Ryer’s French version (1649–1688). Sale’s well-known work first appeared in 1734, and has since passed through numerous editions. A translation by the Rev. J. M. Rodwell, with the Sūrahs arranged in chronological order, was printed in 1861 (2nd ed. 1876). Professor Palmer, of Cambridge, translated the Qurʾān in 1880 (Oxford Press). A Roman-Urdū edition of the Qurʾān was published at Allahabad in 1844, and a second and revised edition at Ludianah in 1876 (both these being a transliteration of ʿAbdu ʾl-Qādir’s well-known Urdū translation).
The best known translations in German are those by Boysen, published in 1773, with an Introduction and notes, and again revised and corrected from the Arabic by G. Wahl in 1828, and another by Dr. L. Ullmann, which has passed through two editions (1840, 1853).
XII.—The Opinions of European Writers on the Qurʾān.
Mr. Sale, in his Preliminary Discourse, remarks:—
“The style of the Korân is generally beautiful and fluent, especially where it imitates the prophetic manner, and scripture phrases. It is concise, and often obscure, adorned with bold figures after the Eastern taste, enlivened with florid and sententious expressions, and in many places, especially where the majesty and attributes of God are described, sublime and magnificent; of which the reader cannot but observe several instances, though he must not imagine the translation comes up to the original, notwithstanding my endeavours to do it justice.
“Though it be written in prose, yet the sentences generally conclude in a long continued rhyme, for the sake of which the sense is often interrupted, and unnecessary repetitions too frequently made, which appear still more ridiculous in a translation, where the ornament, such as it is, for whose sake they were made, cannot be perceived. However, the Arabians are so mightily delighted with this jingling that they employ it in their most elaborate compositions, which they also embellish with frequent passages of and allusions to the Korân, so that it is next to impossible to understand them without being well versed in this book.
“It is probable the harmony of expression which the Arabians find in the Korân might contribute not a little to make them relish the doctrine therein taught, and give an efficacy to arguments, which, had they been nakedly proposed without this rhetorical dress, might not have so easily prevailed. Very extraordinary effects are related of the power of words well chosen and artfully placed, which are no less powerful either to ravish or amaze than music itself; wherefore as much as has been ascribed by the best orators to this part of rhetoric as to any other. He must have a very bad ear, who is not uncommonly moved with the very cadence of a well-turned sentence; and Mohammed seems not to have been ignorant of the enthusiastic operation of rhetoric on the minds of men; for which reason he has not only employed his utmost skill in these his pretended revelations, to preserve that dignity and sublimity of style, which might seem not unworthy of the majesty of that Being, whom he gave out to be the author of them, and to imitate the prophetic manner of the Old Testament; but he has not neglected even the other arts of oratory; wherein he succeeded so well, and so strangely captivated the minds of his audience, that several of his opponents thought it the effect of witchcraft and enchantment, as he sometimes complains ([Sūrah xv. 21], &c.).”
The late Professor Palmer, in his Introduction to the Qurʾān, remarks:—
“The Arabs made use of a rhymed and rhythmical prose, the origin of which it is not difficult to imagine. The Arabic language consists for the most part of triliteral roots, i.e. the single words expressing individual ideas consist generally of three consonants each, and the derivative forms expressing modifications of the original idea are not made by affixes and terminations alone, but also by the insertion of letters in the root. Thus ẓaraba means ‘he struck,’ and qatala, ‘he killed,’ while maẓrûb and maqtûl signify ‘one struck’ and ‘one killed.’ A sentence, therefore, consists of a series of words which would each require to be expressed in clauses of several words in other languages, and it is easy to see how a next following sentence, explanatory of or completing the first, would be much more clear and forcible if it consisted of words of a similar shape and implying similar modifications of other ideas. It follows then that the two sentences would be necessarily symmetrical, and the presence of rhythm would not only please the ear but contribute to the better understanding of the sense, while the rhyme would mark the pause in the sense and emphasize the proposition.
“The Qurʾān is written in this rhetorical style, in which the clauses are rhythmical though not symmetrically so, and for the most part end in the same rhyme throughout the chapter.
“The Arabic language lends itself very readily to this species of composition, and the Arabs of the desert in the present day employ it to a great extent in their more formal orations, while the literary men of the towns adopt it as the recognised correct style, deliberately imitating the Qurʾān.
“That the best of Arab writers has never succeeded in producing anything equal in merit to the Qurʾān itself is not surprising.
“In the first place, they have agreed beforehand that it is unapproachable, and they have adopted its style as the perfect standard; any deviation from it therefore must of necessity be a defect. Again, with them this style is not spontaneous as with Mohammed and his contemporaries, but is as artificial as though Englishmen should still continue to follow Chaucer as their model, in spite of the changes which their language has undergone. With the prophet the style was natural, and the words were those used in every-day ordinary life, while with the later Arabic authors the style is imitative and the ancient words are introduced as a literary embellishment. The natural consequence is that their attempts look laboured and unreal by the side of his impromptu and forcible eloquence.
“That Mohammed, though, should have been able to challenge even his contemporaries to produce anything like the Qurʾān, ‘And if ye are in doubt of what we have revealed unto our servant, then bring a chapter like it.… But if ye do it not, and ye surely shall do it not, &c.,’ is at first sight surprising, but, as Nöldeke has pointed out, this challenge really refers much more to the subject than to the mere style,—to the originality of the conception of the unity of God and of a revelation supposed to be couched in God’s own words. Any attempt at such a work must of necessity have had all the weakness and want of prestige which attaches to an imitation. This idea is by no means foreign to the genius of the old Arabs.
“Amongst a people who believed firmly in witchcraft and soothsaying, and who, though passionately fond of poetry, believed that every poet had his familiar spirit who inspired his utterances, it was no wonder that the prophet should be taken for ‘a soothsayer,’ for ‘one possessed with an evil spirit,’ or for ‘an infatuated poet.’ ”
Mr. Stanley Lane Poole, in his Introduction to Lane’s Selections from the Ḳur-án, remarks:—
“It is confused in its progression and strangely mixed in its contents; but the development of Moḥammad’s faith can be traced in it, and we can see dimly into the workings of his mind, as it struggles with the deep things of God, wrestles with the doubts which echoed the cavils of the unbelievers, soars upwards on the wings of ecstatic faith, till at last it gains the repose of fruition. Studied thus, the Ḳur-án is no longer dull reading to one who cares to look upon the working of a passionate troubled human soul, and who can enter into its trials and share in the joy of its triumphs.
“In the soorahs revealed at Mekka, Moḥammad has but one theme—God; and one object—to draw his people away from their idols and bring them to the feet of that God. He tells them of Him in glowing language, that comes from the heart’s white heat. He points to the glories of nature, and tells them these are God’s works. With all the brilliant imagery of the Arab, he tries to show them what God is, to convince them of His power and His wisdom and His justice. The soorahs of this period are short, for they are pitched in too high a key to be long sustained. The language has the ring of poetry, though no part of the Ḳur-án complies with the demands of Arab metre. The sentences are short and full of half-restrained energy, yet with a musical cadence. The thought is often only half expressed; one feels the speaker has essayed a thing beyond words, and has suddenly discovered the impotence of language, and broken off with the sentence unfinished. There is the fascination of true poetry about these earliest soorahs; as we read them we understand the enthusiasm of the Prophet’s followers, though we cannot fully realise the beauty and the power, inasmuch as we cannot hear them hurled forth with Moḥammad’s fiery eloquence. From first to last the Ḳur-án is essentially a book to be heard, not read, but this is especially the case with the earliest chapters.
“In the soorahs of the second period of Mekka, we begin to trace the decline of the Prophet’s eloquence. There are still the same earnest appeals to the people, the same gorgeous pictures of the Last Day and the world to come; but the language begins to approach the quiet of prose, the sentences become longer, the same words and phrases are frequently repeated, and the wearisome stories of the Jewish prophets and patriarchs, which fill so large a space in the later portion of the Ḳur-án, now make their appearance. The fierce passion of the earliest soorahs, that could not out save in short burning verses, gives place to a calmer more argumentative style. Moḥammad appeals less to the works of God as proofs of his teaching, and more to the history of former teachers, and the punishments of the people who would not hear them. And the characteristic oaths of the first period, when Moḥammad swears by all the varied sights of nature as they mirrored themselves in his imagination, have gone, and in their place we find only the weaker oath ‘by the Ḳur-án.’ And this declension is carried still further in the last group of the soorahs revealed at Mekka. The style becomes more involved and the sentences longer, and though the old enthusiasm bursts forth ever and anon, it is rather an echo of former things than a new and present intoxication of faith. The fables and repetitions become more and more dreary, and but for the rich eloquence of the old Arabic tongue, which gives some charm even to inextricable sentences and dull stories, the Ḳur-án at this period would be unreadable. As it is, we feel we have fallen the whole depth from poetry to prose, and the matter of the prose is not so superlative as to give us amends for the loss of the poetic thought of the earlier time and the musical fall of the sentences.
“In the soorahs of the Medina period these faults reach their climax. We read a singularly varied collection of criminal laws, social regulations, orders for battle, harangues to the Jews, first conciliatory, then denunciatory, and exhortations to spread the faith, and such-like heterogeneous matters. Happily the Jewish stories disappear in the latest soorahs, but their place is filled by scarcely more palatable materials. The chapters of this period are interesting chiefly as containing the laws which have guided every Muslim state, regulated every Muslim society, and directed in their smallest acts every Moḥammadan man and woman in all parts of the world from the Prophet’s time till now. The Medina part of the Ḳur-án is the most important part for Islám, considered as a scheme of ritual and a system of manners; the earliest Mekka revelations are those which contain what is highest in a great religion and what was purest in a great man.”
Mr. Rodwell, in his Introduction to his Qurʾān, says:—
“The contrast between the earlier, middle, and later Suras is very striking and interesting, and will be at once apparent from the arrangement here adopted. In the Suras as far as the 54th, we cannot but notice the entire predominance of the poetical element, a deep appreciation (as in [Sura xci].) of the beauty of natural objects, brief fragmentary and impassioned utterances, denunciations of woe and punishment, expressed for the most part in lines of extreme brevity. With a change, however, in the position of Muhammad when he openly assumes the office of ‘public warner,’ the Suras begin to assume a more prosaic and didactic tone, though the poetical ornament of rhyme is preserved throughout. We gradually lose the Poet in the missionary aiming to convert, the warm asserter of dogmatic truths; the descriptions of natural objects, of the judgment, of heaven and hell, make way for gradually increasing historical statements, first from Jewish, and subsequently from Christian histories; while, in the 29 Suras revealed at Medina, we no longer listen to vague words, often as it would seem without positive aim, but to the earnest disputant with the enemies of his faith, the Apostle pleading the cause of what he believes to be the Truth of God. He who at Mecca is the admonisher and persuader, at Medina is the legislator and warrior, who dictates obedience, and uses other weapons than the pen of the Poet and the Scribe. When business pressed, as at Medina, Poetry makes way for prose, and although touches of the Poetical element occasionally break forth, and he has to defend himself up to a very late period against the charge of being merely a Poet, yet this is rarely the case in the Medina Suras; and we are startled by finding obedience to God and the Apostle, God’s gifts and the Apostle’s, God’s pleasure and the Apostle’s, spoken of in the same breath, and epithets and attributes elsewhere applied to Allah openly applied to himself, as in [Sura ix. 118, 129].
“The Suras, viewed as a whole, strike me as being the work of one who began his career as a thoughtful enquirer after truth, and an earnest asserter of it in such rhetorical and poetical forms as he deemed most likely to win and attract his countrymen, and who gradually proceeded from the dogmatic teacher to the politic founder of a system for which laws and regulations had to be provided as occasions arose. And of all the Suras it must be remarked that they were intended not for readers but for hearers—that they were all promulgated by public recital—and that much was left, as the imperfect sentences shew, to the manner and suggestive action of the reciter. It would be impossible, and indeed it is unnecessary, to attempt a detailed life of Muhammad within the narrow limits of a Preface. The main events thereof with which the Suras of the Koran stand in connection, are—The visions of Gabriel, seen, or said to have been seen, at the outset of his career in his 40th year, during one of his seasons of annual monthly retirement, for devotion and meditation to Mount Hirâ, near Mecca,—the period of mental depression and re-assurance previous to the assumption of the office of public teacher—the Fatrah or pause during which he probably waited for a repetition of the angelic vision—his labours in comparative privacy for three years, issuing in about 40 converts, of whom his wife Chadijah was the first, and Abu Bekr the most important; (for it is to him and to Abu Jahl the [Sura xcii]. refers)—struggles with Meccan unbelief and idolatry followed by a period during which probably he had the second vision, Sura liii. and was listened to and respected as a person ‘possessed’ ([Sura lxix. 42], [lii. 29])—the first emigration to Abyssinia in A.D. 616, in consequence of the Meccan persecutions brought on by his now open attacks upon idolatry (Taghout)—increasing reference to Jewish and Christian histories, shewing that much time had been devoted to their study—the conversion of Omar in 617—the journey to the Thaquifites at Taief in A.D. 620—the intercourse with pilgrims from Medina, who believed in Islam, and spread the knowledge thereof in their native town, in the same year—the vision of the midnight journey to Jerusalem and the Heavens—the meetings by night at Acaba, a mountain near Mecca, in the 11th year of his mission, and the pledges of fealty there given to him—the command given to the believers to emigrate to Yathrib, henceforth Medinat-en-nabi (the city of the Prophet), or El-Medina (the city), in April of A.D. 622—the escape of Muhammad and Abu Bekr from Mecca to the cave of Thaur—the [FLIGHT] to Medina in June 20, A.D. 622—treaties made with Christian tribes—increasing, but still very imperfect acquaintance with Christian doctrines—the Battle of Bedr in Hej. 2, and of Ohod—the coalition formed against Muhammad by the Jews and idolatrous Arabians, issuing in the siege of Medina, Hej. 5 (A.D. 627)—the convention, with reference to the liberty of making the pilgrimage, of Hudaibiya, Hej. 6—the embassy to Chosroes King of Persia in the same year, to the Governor of Egypt and to the King of Abyssinia, desiring them to embrace Islam—the conquest of several Jewish tribes, the most important of which was that of Chaibar in Hej. 7, a year marked by the embassy sent to Heraclius, then in Syria, on his return from the Persian campaign, and by a solemn and peaceful pilgrimage to Mecca—the triumphant entry into Mecca in Hej. 8 (A.D. 630), and the demolition of the idols of the Caaba—the submission of the Christians of Nedjran, of Aila on the Red Sea, and of Taief, etc., in Hej. 9, called ‘the year of embassies or deputations,’ from the numerous deputations which flocked to Mecca proffering submission—and lastly in Hej. 10, the submission of Hadhramaut, Yemen, the greater part of the southern and eastern provinces of Arabia—and the final solemn pilgrimage to Mecca.
“While, however, there is no great difficulty in ascertaining the Suras which stand in connection with the more salient features of Muhammad’s life, it is a much more arduous, and often impracticable, task, to point out the precise events to which individual verses refer, and out of which they sprung. It is quite possible that Muhammad himself, in a later period of his career, designedly mixed up later with earlier revelations in the same Suras—not for the sake of producing that mysterious style which seems so pleasing to the mind of those who value truth least when it is most clear and obvious—but for the purpose of softening down some of the earlier statements which represent the last hour and awful judgment as imminent; and thus leading his followers to continue still in the attitude of expectation, and to see in his later successes the truth of his earlier predictions. If after-thoughts of this kind are to be traced, and they will often strike the attentive reader, it then follows that the perplexed state of the text in individual Suras is to be considered as due to Muhammad himself, and we are furnished with a series of constant hints for attaining to chronological accuracy. And it may be remarked in passing, that a belief that the end of all things was at hand, may have tended to promote the earlier successes of Islam at Mecca, as it unquestionably was an argument with the Apostles, to flee from ‘the wrath to come.’ It must be borne in mind that the allusions to contemporary minor events, and to the local efforts made by the new religion to gain the ascendant are very few, and often couched in terms so vague and general, that we are forced to interpret the Koran solely by the Koran itself. And for this, the frequent repetitions of the same histories and the same sentiments, afford much facility: and the peculiar manner in which the details of each history are increased by fresh traits at each recurrence, enables us to trace their growth in the author’s mind, and to ascertain the manner in which a part of the Koran was composed. The absence of the historical element from the Koran as regards the details of Muhammad’s daily life, may be judged of by the fact, that only two of his contemporaries are mentioned in the entire volume, and that Muhammad’s name occurs but five times, although he is all the way through addressed by the Angel Gabriel as the recipient of the divine revelations, with the word Say. Perhaps such passages as [Sura ii. 15] and [v. 246], and the constant mention of guidance, direction, wandering, may have been suggested by reminiscences of his mercantile journeys in his earlier years.”
Dr. Steingass, the learned compiler of the English-Arabic and Arabic-English Dictionaries (W. H. Allen & Co.), has obligingly recorded his opinion as follows:—
Invited to subjoin a few further remarks on the composition and style of the Qurʾān, in addition to the valuable and competent opinions contained in the above extracts, I can scarcely introduce them better than by quoting the striking words of Göthe, which Mr. Rodwell places by way of motto on the reverse of the title page of his Translation. These words seem to me so much the more weighty and worthy of attention, as they are uttered by one who, whatever his merits or demerits in other respects may be deemed to be, indisputably belongs to the greatest masters of language of all times, and stands foremost as a leader of modern thought and the intellectual culture of modern times. Speaking of the Qurʾān in his West-Oestlicher Divan, he says: “However often we turn to it, at first disgusting us each time afresh, it soon attracts, astounds, and in the end enforces our reverence.… Its style, in accordance with its contents and aim, is stern, grand, terrible—ever and anon truly sublime.… Thus this book will go on exercising through all ages a most potent influence.”
A work, then, which calls forth so powerful and seemingly incompatible emotions, even in the distant reader—distant as to time, and still more so as to mental development—a work which not only conquers the repugnance with which he may begin its perusal, but changes this adverse feeling into astonishment and admiration, such a work must be a wonderful production of the human mind indeed, and a problem of the highest interest to every thoughtful observer of the destinies of mankind. Much has been said in the preceding pages, to acknowledge, to appreciate, and to explain the literary excellencies of the Qurʾān, and a more or less distinct admission that Buffon’s much-quoted saying: “Le style c’est l’homme,” is here more justified than ever, underlies all these various verdicts. We may well say the Qurʾān is one of the grandest books ever written, because it faithfully reflects the character and life of one of the greatest men that ever breathed. “Sincerity,” writes Carlyle, “sincerity, in all senses, seems to me the merit of the Koran.” This same sincerity, this ardour and earnestness in the search for truth, this never-flagging perseverance in trying to impress it, when partly found, again and again upon his unwilling hearers, appears to me as the real and undeniable “seal of prophecy” in Muḥammad.
Truth, and above all religious truth, can only be one. Christianity may duly rejoice in the thought that, at the very moment when the representative of the greatest Empire of the ancient world mockingly or despairingly put forth the question, “What is truth?” this one eternal truth was about to be written down with the blood of the Divine Redeemer in the salvation deed of our race, Christ’s glorious and holy Gospel. But the approaches to truth are many, and he who devoted all his powers and energies, with untiring patience and self-denial, to the task of leading a whole nation by one of these approaches, from a coarse and effete idolatry, to the worship of the living God, has certainly a strong claim to our warmest sympathies as a faithful servant and noble champion of truth.
It is, however, not my intention to dwell here any longer upon this side of the question. Praise has been bestowed in this work on the Qurʾān and its author without stint or grudge, and the unanimity of so many distinguished voices in this respect will no doubt impress the general reader in favour of the sacred book of the Muḥammadans, which until now he may have known only by name. At the same time, it will be noticed that no less unanimity prevails in pointing out the inferiority of the later portions of the Qurʾān in comparison with the earlier Sūrahs; a falling off, as it were, from the original poetical grandeur and loftiness of its composition into prose and common-place. Göthe, we have seen, uses such a strong word as disgust, again and again experienced by him at the very outset of its repeated reading.
Not being an Arabic scholar himself, he knew the Qurʾān only through the translations existing at the time, which follow throughout the order of the received text. Thus he was made to pass, roughly speaking, from the later to the earlier Madīnah Sūrahs, and from these again to the Sūrahs given at Makkah at the various stages which mark Muḥammad’s ministry, while he was yet staying in his irresponsive parent town. In other words, he would have proceeded from the utterances of the worldly ruler and lawgiver to those of the inspired Divine, who had just succeeded in laying the foundation-stones of a new religion, under fierce struggles and sufferings, but in obedience to a call which, in his innermost heart, he felt had gone out to him, and which he had accepted with awe, humility, and resignation. While, therefore, in the beginning of his studies, Göthe may have met with a number of details in the vast structure raised by Muḥammad which appeared distasteful to the refined scion of the nineteenth century, his interest must have been awakened, his admiration kindled and kept increasing, the more he became acquainted, through the work itself, with the nature and personality of its creator, and with the purity and exalted character of the main-spring of his motives.
Those critics, on the other hand, who view the Qurʾān with regard to the chronological order of its constituents, follow the descending scale in their estimate. Speaking at first highly—nay, frequently with enthusiasm—of the earlier parts, they complain more and more of the growing tediousness and wearisomeness of the Sūrahs of later origin.
Nöldeke, for instance, the learned and ingenious author of Geschichte des Qorâns, speaking of the deficiencies in style, language, and treatment of the subject matter, which, in his opinion, characterise the second and third period of the Makkan revelations, and in general the Madīnah Sūrahs, pointedly terminates his indictment by the sentence, “if it were not for the exquisite flexibility and vigour (die ungemeine Feinheit und Kraft) of the Arabic language itself, which, however, is to be attributed more to the age in which the author lived than to his individuality, it would scarcely be bearable to read the later portions of the Qurʾān a second time.”
But if we consider the variety and heterogeneousness of the topics on which the Qurʾān touches, uniformity of style and diction can scarcely be expected; on the contrary, it would appear to be strangely out of place. Let us not forget that in the book, as Muḥammad’s newest biographer, Ludolf Krehl (Das Leben des Muhammed, Leipzig, 1884), expresses it, “there is given a complete code of creed and morals, as well as of the law based thereupon. There are also the foundations laid for every institution of an extensive commonwealth, for instruction, for the administration of justice, for military organization, for the finances, for a most careful legislation for the poor: all built up on the belief in the one God, who holds man’s destinies in His hand.” Where so many important objects are concerned, the standard of excellence by which we have to gauge the composition of the Qurʾān as a whole must needs vary with the matter treated upon in each particular case. Sublime and chaste, where the supreme truth of God’s unity is to be proclaimed; appealing in high-pitched strains to the imagination of a poetically-gifted people, where the eternal consequences of man’s submission to God’s holy will, or of rebellion against it, are pictured; touching in its simple, almost crude, earnestness, when it seeks again and again encouragement or consolation for God’s messenger, and a solemn warning for those to whom he has been sent, in the histories of the prophets of old: the language of the Qurʾān adapts itself to the exigencies of every-day life, when this every-day life, in its private and public bearings, is to be brought in harmony with the fundamental principles of the new dispensation.
Here, therefore, its merits as a literary production should, perhaps, not be measured by some preconceived maxims of subjective and æsthetic taste, but by the effects which it produced in Muḥammad’s contemporaries and fellow-countrymen. If it spoke so powerfully and convincingly to the hearts of his hearers as to weld hitherto centrifugal and antagonistic elements into one compact and well-organised body, animated by ideas far beyond those which had until now ruled the Arabian mind, then its eloquence was perfect, simply because it created a civilized nation out of savage tribes, and shot a fresh woof into the old warp of history.
Nöldeke’s above-quoted remark, it seems to me, raises, however, a very important question. It must, of course, be admitted that the Arabic language, which is now so greatly and deservedly admired, cannot be attributed to Muḥammad individually, but originated in and was at his time the common property of the Arabic-speaking section of the human race, or, more accurately, of its Semitic branch, who were then living within the Peninsula and in some of the neighbouring countries. But we may well ask ourselves, what would in all probability have become of this language without Muḥammad and his Qurʾān? This is not at all an idle and desultory speculation. It is true the Arabic language had already produced numerous fine specimens of genuine and high-flown poetry, but such poetry was chiefly, if not exclusively, preserved in the memory of the people, for the art of writing was certainly very little known, and still less practised.
Moreover, poetry is not tantamount to literature; it may lead to it, and will always form a most essential part of it; but it will live on, and perhaps die, in solitary isolation, unless it becomes, as it were, as Brahmans say, “twice-born,” by participating in a literary development of vaster dimensions and a more general character. Divided among themselves into numerous tribes, who were engaged in a perpetual warfare against each other, the Arabs, and with them their various dialects, would more and more have drifted asunder, poetry would have followed in the wake, and the population of Arabia would have broken up into a multitude of clans, with their particular bards, whose love- and war-songs enterprising travellers of our days might now collect, like the popular songs of the Kosaks of the steppe, or the Kalmuks and similar nationalities, vegetating for centuries in a more or less primitive state of existence.
It seems, then, that it is only a work of the nature of the Qurʾān which could develop ancient Arabic into a literary language, notwithstanding the fact that it had already been admirably handled by local poets. As this book places the national life of the Arabs upon an entirely new basis, giving it at the same time a much-needed centre and a wonderful power of expansion, it became a matter of the utmost importance, nay, of urgent necessity, that the contents of the volume should be preserved with scrupulous accuracy and undisputable conformity. This again was only possible by fixing upon one dialect, which by its recognized excellence commended itself to general acceptance, and also by establishing a written text.
But not only by raising a dialect, through its generalization, to the power of a language, and by rendering the adoption of writing indispensable, has the Qurʾān initiated the development of an Arabic literature; its composition itself has contributed two factors absolutely needful to this development: it has added to the existing poetry the origins of rhetoric and prose.
Although the decidedly poetical character of the earlier Sūrahs is obvious, they differ in two important points from the hitherto acknowledged form of poetry, which is that of the Qaṣīdah. This form consists of baits, or distichs, measured by some variation of one of the fifteen (or sixteen) principal metres, and each containing two half-lines, the same rhyme running through both hemistichs of the first bait, and through every second one of the following. For instance:
1. Qifā nabki min ẕikrā ḥabībin wa-manzilī
Bi-siqti ʾl-liwā baina ʾd-dak͟hūli wa-ḥaumalī
2. Fa-tūẓiḥa fa ʾl-maqrāti lam yaʿfu rasmuhā
Li-mā nasajat-hā min junūbin washamʾalī
which would scan:
⏑ – Qifā – nab- | ⏑ ki – min – – ẕikrā | ⏑ – – ḥabībin | ⏑ – ⏑ – wamanzilī &c.
and belongs to the first variation of the metre T̤awīl.
Emancipating himself from the fetters of metre, and gradually also of the uniform rhyme, Muḥammad created what is now called sajʿ, that is to say, a rhythmical prose, in which the component parts of a period are balanced and cadenced by a varying rhyme, and of which e.g. the Sūratu ʾl-Qiyāmah (lxxv.) offers some fair examples; as (5–10):—
Bal yurīdu ʾl-insānu li-yafjura amāmah,
Yasʾalu aiyāna yaumu ʾl-qiyāmah,
Fa-iẕā bariqa ʾl-baṣar,
Wa-k͟hasafa ʾl-qamar
Wa-jumiʿa ʾsh-shamsu wa ʾl-qamar
Yaqūlu ʾl-insānu yaumaʾiẕin aina ʾl-mafarr.
(But man chooseth to go astray as to his future;
He asketh, “When this Day of Resurrection?”
When the eye-sight shall be dazzled,
And the moon shall be darkened,
And the sun and the moon shall be together,
On that day man shall cry, “Where is there a place to flee to?”)
And again (22–30):
Wa-wujūhin yaumaʾiẕin nāẓirah
Ilā rabbi-hā nāz̤irah,
Wa-wujūhin yaumaʾiẕin bāsirah
Taz̤annu an yufʿala bi-hā fāqirah.
Kallā iẕā balag͟hati ʾt-tarāqiya
Wa-qīla man rāq
Wa-z̤anna annahu ʾl-firāq
Wa ʾl-taffati ʾs-sāqu bi ʾs-sāq
Ilā rabbi-ka yaumaʾiẕini ʾl-masāq.
(On that day shall faces beam with light,
Out-looking towards their lord;
And faces on that day shall be dismal,
As if they thought that some calamity would therein befall them.
Assuredly when the soul shall come up to the breast-bone,
And there shall be a cry, “Who is the magician to restore him?”
And the man feeleth that the time of his departure is come,
And when one leg shall be enlaced with the other,
To thy Lord on that day shall he be driven on.)
This kind of rhetorical style, the peculiarity of which Professor Palmer, in the passage quoted, p. 523, aptly explains from the etymological structure of Arabic, has become the favourite model of oratorical and ornate language with the later Arabs. It is frequently employed in ordinary narratives, such as the tales of the Arabian Nights, whenever the occasion requires a more elevated form of speech; it is the usual garb of that class of compositions, which is known by the name of Maqāmāt, and even extensive historical works, as the Life of Timur, by ʿArab Shāh, are written in it throughout.
But Muḥammad made a still greater and more decisive step towards creating a literature for his people. In those Sūrahs, in which he regulated the private and public life of the Muslim, he originated a prose, which has remained the standard of classical purity ever since.
With regard to this point, however, it has been stated, seemingly in disparagement of the later Arabic authors, that their accepting Muḥammad’s language as a perfect standard, from which no deviation is admissible, has led them to adopt an artificial style, as unnatural “as though Englishmen should still continue to follow Chaucer as their model, in spite of the changes which their language has undergone.” But is such a parallel justified in facts? In English, as amongst modern nations in general, the written language has always kept in close contact with the spoken language; the changes which the former has undergone are simply the registration and legalisation of the changes which in course of time had taken place in the latter. Not so in Arabic. From the moment when, at the epoch of its fullest and richest growth, it was, through the composition of the Qurʾān, invested with the dignity of a literary language, it was, by its very nature, for many centuries to come, precluded from any essential change, whether this be considered as an advantage or not.
The reason for this lies in the first instance in the triliteral character of the Semitic roots, referred to by Professor Palmer, which allows such a root to form one, two, or three syllables, according to the pronunciation of each letter, with or without a vowel. Let us take as an example once more the root ẓ-r-b (ضرب), which conveys the idea of “beating,” and serves in Arabic grammars, like the Greek τυπτω, to form paradigms, by way of a wholesome admonition, I suppose, to the youthful student. The first of these three consonants can only remain quiescent, i.e. vowel-less, if it is preceded by a vowel, as in the Imperative i-ẓrib (اِضْرِبْ), “beat thou,” where the root appears as a monosyllable, or in the aorist ya-ẓribu (يَضْرِبُ), “he beats or will beat,” where it takes together with the final u a disyllabic form. If we leave the second consonant quiescent and pronounce the first with a, we have ẓarb, with the nominative termination ẓarbun (ضَرْبٌ), the verbal noun “beating” or infinitive “to beat.” Vocalising both the first letters, we may obtain ẓārib, the active participle “beating,” or ẓurūb, plural of the last mentioned ẓarb, with the nominative termination ẓāribun (ضَارِبٌ) and ẓurūbun (ضُرُوبٌ). If we read all three consonants with vowels, it may be ẓaraba (ضَرَبَ), “he did beat,” or ẓarabū (ضَرَبُوا), “they did beat.” Taking, again, the two forms ẓaraba, “he did beat,” and yaẓribu, “he beats or will beat,” a simple change of vowels suffices to transform the active into the passive: ẓuriba (ضُرِبَ), “he was beaten,” and yuẓrabu (يُضْرَبُ), “he is beaten or will be beaten.” Lastly, it must be noticed, that the distinction between the two fundamental tenses of the Arabic verb rests on the principle that the affixes, representing the personal pronouns, are in the preterite placed at the end, in the aorist at the beginning of the root: ẓarab-nā, “we did beat,” but na-ẓribu, “we beat or will beat.”
From all this it will be easily understood that any essential change in the written language must deeply affect the whole system of Arabic accidence, and that this language will, therefore, naturally be averse to such changes. But, moreover, this system stands in closest connection with and dependence on the syntactical structure of the language, which is equally “conservative,” if I may use this expression, in its fundamental principles. The Arabic syntax knows only two kinds of sentences (jumlah), one called nominal (ismīyah), because it begins with a noun, the other verbal (fiʿlīyah), because it begins with a verb. Reduced to their shortest expression, an example of the first would be: Zaidun ẓāribun (زَيْدٌ ضَارِبٌ), “Zaid (is) beating”; of the second: ẓaraba zaidun (ضَرَبَ زَيْدٌ), “(there) did beat Zaid.” The constituent parts of the nominal sentence, which we would call subject and predicate, are termed mubtadaʾ, “incipient,” and k͟habar, “report,” meaning that which is enounced or stated of the subject. The k͟habar need not be an attributive, as in the sentence given above, but it may be another clause, either nominal or verbal, and if it is the former, its own mubtadaʾ admits even of a third clause as a second k͟habar for its complement. The subject of the verbal sentence is called agent, or fāʿil, and, as mentioned before, follows the verb, fiʿl, in the nominative.
The verb with its agent (fiʿl and fāʿil), or the subject with its predicate (mubtadaʾ and k͟habar), form the essential elements of the Arabic sentence. But there are a great many accidental elements, called faẓlah, “what is superabundant or in excess,” which may enter into the composition of a clause, and expand it to considerable length. Such are additional parts of speech expressing the various objective relations (mafʿūl) in which a noun may stand to an active verb, or the condition (ḥāl) of the agent at the moment when the action occurred, or circumstances of time and place (z̤arf) accompanying the action, or specificative distinctions (tamyīz) in explanation of what may be vague in a noun, or the dependence of one noun upon another (iẓāfah) or upon a preposition (k͟hafẓ), or the different kinds of apposition (tawābiʿ) in which a noun may be joined to another, either in the subject or the predicate, and so on.
All these numerous component parts of a fully-developed sentence are influenced by certain ruling principles (ʿawāmil, or “regents”), some merely logical, but most of them expressed in words and particles, which determine the iʿrāb, that is, the grammatical inflection of nouns and verbs, and bring into play those various vowel-changes, of which we have above given examples with regard to the interior of roots, and which, we must now add, apply equally to the terminations employed in declension and conjugation.
The subject and predicate, for instance, of the nominal sentence stand originally, as it is natural, both in the nominative. There are, however, certain regents called nawāsik͟h, “effacing ones,” which, like the particle inna, “behold,” change the nominative of the subject into the accusative, while others, like the verb kāna, “he was,” leave the subject unaltered, but place the predicate in the objective case: zaid-un ẓārib-un becomes thus either inna zaid-an ẓārib-un, or kāna zaid-un ẓārib-an.
Again, we have seen that the aorist proper of the third person singular terminates in u (yaẓrib-u). But under the influence of one class of regents this vowel changes into a (yaẓrib-a); under that of others it is dropped altogether, and in both cases the meaning and grammatical status of the verb is thereby considerably modified. If we consider the large number of these governing parts of speech—a well-known book treats of the “hundred regents,” but other grammarians count a hundred and fifteen and more—it will be seen what delicate and careful handling the Arabic syntax requires, and how little scope there is left for the experiments of wilful innovators.
At the time of Muḥammad this then was, apart from some slight dialectical differences, the spoken language of his people. He took it, so to say, from the mouth of his interlocutors, but, wielding it with the power of a master-mind, he made in the Qurʾān such a complete and perfect use of all its resources as to create a work that, in the estimation of his hearers, appeared worthy to be thought the word of God Himself.
When a long period of conquests scattered the Arabs to the farthest East and to the farthest West, their spoken language might deviate from its pristine purity, slurring over unaccented syllables and dropping terminations. But the fine idiom of their fore-fathers, as deposited in the Qurʾān, remained the language of their prayer and their pious meditation, and thus lived on with them, as a bond of unity, an object of national love and admiration, and a source of literary development for all times.
AL-QURʾĀNU ʾL-ʿAZ̤ĪM (القران العظيم). Lit. “The Exalted Reading.” A title given to the Introductory Chapter of the Qurʾān by Muhammad. (Mishkāt, book viii. ch. i. pt. 1.)
QURBĀN (قربان), Lit. “Approaching near.” Heb. קָרְבָּן korbān. A term used in the Qurʾān and in the Traditions for a sacrifice or offering. [Sūrah v. 30]: “Truly when they (Cain and Abel) offered an offering.” [[SACRIFICE].]
QURBU ʾS-SĀʿAH (قرب الساعة). “An hour which is near.” A term used for the Day of Resurrection and Judgment.
QUST̤ANT̤ĪNĪYAH (قسطنطينية). The word used in the Traditions and in Muḥammadan history for Constantinople. (See Ḥadīs̤u ʾt-Tirmiẕī.) Istambūl (استمبول), is the word generally used by modern Muslims.
QUT̤B (قطب). Lit. “A stake, an axis, a pivot.” The highest stage of sanctity amongst Muslim saints. A higher position than that of g͟hauṣ. According to the Kashshāfu ʾl-Iṣt̤ilāḥāt, a qut̤b is one who has attained to that degree of sanctity which is a reflection of the heart of the Prophet himself. Qut̤bu ʾd-Dīn, “the axis of religion,” a title given to eminent Muslim divines. [[FAQIR].]