Thus in various ways was the revelation made known to Muhammad. At first there seems to have been a season of doubt (Ante p. [3]), 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,[[43]] to the Warrior-Chief, as the founder of political unity among the Arab tribes.
A Muhammadan student, after passing through a course of instruction in grammar, rhetoric, logic, law, and dogmatics, at length reaches the stage when he is permitted to enter upon the study of "'Ilm-i-usúl," or the exegesis of the Qurán, and the inspired sayings of the Prophet. This done, he can henceforth read the approved commentaries in order to learn what the Fathers of Islám have to say. This science in one way fits him to be a commentator, for the work of a Muslim divine now is, not to bring things "new and old" out of the sacred book, but to hand down to others the things old. There is no indwelling spirit in the Church of Islám which can reveal to the devout mind new views of truth, or lead the pious scholar on to deeper and more profound knowledge.
The greatest proficient in theology is the man who can repeat the Qurán by heart, who knows also and can reproduce at will what the early commentators have said, who can remember, and quote in the most apposite manner, the
Prophet's sayings preserved in the Traditions handed down by the Companions, their followers, and their followers' followers, who can point out a flaw in the Isnád (i.e. chain of narrators) of a Tradition quoted by an opponent, or maintain, by repeating the long list of names, the authority of the Isnád of the Tradition he quotes himself. A good memory, not critical acumen, is the great desideratum in a Muslim theologian. The chief qualification of a Háfiz, a man who can repeat the whole Qurán by heart, is not that he shall understand its meaning, but that he shall be able to pronounce each word correctly. By men who are not Arabs by birth, this is only to be attained after years of practice from childhood. The Sunnís say that no Shía'h can ever become a Háfiz, from which fact they draw the conclusion that the Shía'hs are heretics. In the early days of Islám, the great authorities on the question of the correct pronunciation of the Qurán were the Khalífs Abu Bakr, Omar, Osmán, and 'Alí, and ten of the Companions, who learned from the Prophet himself the exact way in which Gabriel had spoken. The Arabic of heaven was the Arabic of Islám. The effort, however, to preserve one uniform method of repeating the Qurán failed. Men of other lands could not acquire the pure intonation of Mecca, and so no less than seven different ways of reading the sacred book became current. Here was a great difficulty, but it proved surmountable. Abu Ibn Káb, one of the Companions, had become so famous as a reader that the Prophet himself said: "read the Qurán under Abu Ibn Káb." These men remembered that Abu Ibn Káb had stated, that one day when scandalized at man after man who entered the mosque repeating the Qurán in different ways, he spoke to Muhammad about it. His Highness said: "O Abu Ibn Káb! intelligence was sent to me to read the Qurán in one dialect, and I was attentive to the Court of God, and said: 'make easy the reading of the Qurán to my sects.' These instructions were sent to me a second time saying: 'read the
Qurán in two dialects.' Then I turned myself to the Court of God saying: 'make easy the reading of the Qurán to my sects.' Then a voice was sent to me the third time saying: 'read the Qurán in seven dialects.'"
This removed all difficulty, and the foresight displayed by the Prophet in thus obtaining a divine sanction for the various ways of reading was looked upon as a proof of his inspiration. Thus arose the "haft qirá,at," or seven readings of the Qurán, now recognised.
In the Qurán compiled by the order of the Khalíf Osmán there were no vowel-points, but when men of other countries embraced Islám they found great difficulty in mastering Arabic. Khalid bin Ahmad, a great grammarian, then invented the short vowels and other diacritical marks. The seven famous "Readers" whose names have been given to the various modes of reading, are Imám Nafi of Madína, Imám Ibn-i-Kasir of Mecca, Imám Abu 'Umr of Basra, Imám Hamza of Kufa, Imám Ibn 'Amir of Syria, Imám 'Ásim of Kufa, Imám Kisáe of Kufa.[[44]] These learned men affixed different vowel-points in many places in the Qurán, and thus slight differences of meaning arose. In India the "qirá,at—reading,—of Imám 'Ásim is followed by both Sunnís and Shía'hs. There are three readings of lesser note allowable when reading the Qurán privately, but not when reading any part in a liturgical service. During the month of Ramazán the Qurán is repeated every night in the mosque, it being so arranged that one-thirtieth part shall be recited each night. The Imám of the mosque, or public Reader, (Qárí) who commences according to one of the seven recognised readings (qirá,at), must keep to the same all the month. As he has to recite without a book this involves a great exercise of the memory. A good Háfiz will know the whole seven varieties. The various readings thus introduced, though
unimportant in their nature,[[45]] amount to about five hundred in number. The following are a few illustrations. In the second Súra Abu 'Umr reads: "Nor shall ye be questioned concerning that which they have done;" but 'Ásim reads: "That which ye have done." This is caused by putting two dots above the line instead of below it. Again 'Ásim reads: "Enter ye the gates of hell" (Súra xxxix. 73), but Nafi reads: "Ye will be made to enter hell,"—that is, by a slight change the passive is substituted for the active voice. These are fair samples of the rest. No doctrine, so far as I know, is touched, but the way in which Tradition records the Prophet's anticipation of the difficulty is instructive to the student of Islám. At times, too, fierce disputes have arisen between the followers of the seven famous Readers whose names I have given above. In the year 935 A.H., Ibn Shanabud, a resident of Baghdád, ventured to introduce some different readings in his recital of the Qurán. The people of Baghdád, not knowing these, were furious, and the Khalíf was compelled to cast the offender into prison. A Council of divines was called together, before whom the unhappy Ibn Shanabud was produced. For a while he maintained the correctness of his "readings," but after being whipped seven times he said: "I renounce my manner of reading, and in future I shall follow no other than that of the manuscript drawn up by the Khalíf Osmán, and that which is generally received."[[46]]
Closely connected with this subject is the history of the rise of the science of grammar. As Islám spread, it became necessary to expound the Qurán to persons unacquainted with Arabic. The science of grammar then became an important branch of study, and the collection of Traditions a necessary duty. The Faithful were for a long time in
doubt as to the lawfulness of applying the laws of grammar to so sacred a book. There was no command in the book itself to do so, nor had the Prophet given any directions on this point. It was then neither "farz" nor "sunnat," that is, neither a command based on the Qurán nor one based on any saying or act of the Prophet. The Traditions, however, solve the difficulty.