REFERENCES.
In the Introduction, pp. xviii.-xxv. and xliv.-xlviii., appeared before in my Introduction to Lane’s Selections from the Kur-ān, 2nd ed. (Trübner’s Oriental series, 1879), to which I must refer the reader for further information on Mohammad and Islām, and especially concerning the portions of the Korān dealing with the Jewish legends purposely omitted from the present work. Pp. xxxv.-xxxviii. reproduce a few paragraphs from the Edinburgh Review, No. 316, October 1881, p. 371, ff. The Arab poetry quoted in the Introduction is from the admirable versions contributed by Mr. C. J. Lyall to the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1877 and 1881. The description of Mohammad’s person and mode of life, pp. xxvii.-xxix., is from E. Deutsch, Literary Remains, p. 70, ff; and R. Bosworth Smith, Mohammed and Mohammedanism, 2d ed., p. 131; to which, and to the Rev. E. Sell’s Faith of Islam, in many respects the best treatise on the Mohammadan religion, as it now is, that has appeared in recent years, the reader is referred for much concerning modern and historical Mohammadanism which is beyond the design of the present volume.
In the text, I must acknowledge my general indebtedness to the versions of George Sale and the Rev. J. M. Rodwell for many valuable interpretations; but I wish especially to record my obligations to Prof. E. H. Palmer, in respect of some fine renderings which he has been the first to use in his translation of the Korān for the series of Sacred Books of the East, and which I have not hesitated to adopt.
S. L.-P.
ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS.
| PAGE | |||
| [INTRODUCTION] | [v] | ||
| The Korān is capable of adequate representationin small compass and approximatelychronological order. The original audienceof Mohammad’s speeches: Arabian characteristicsin desert-life and town-life, poetryand religion. Mohammad’s early life, personand habits, call to preach, and workat Mekka. The three periods of Mekkaspeeches. Change of position at Medina,and consequent change in oratory. TheMedina speeches. Incompleteness of thelaw of the Korān. The Traditions orTable-talk. | |||
| [References] | [lvi] | ||
| [Analytical Table of Contents] | [lvii] | ||
| THE SPEECHES AT MEKKA [I.—THE POETIC PERIOD.] Aet. 40-44, a.d. 609-613 | [1] | ||
| [The Night] (xcii.) | [3] | ||
| The difference between the good and thewicked in their lives and their futurestates; warning of hell and promise ofheaven. | |||
| [The Country] (xc) | [5] | ||
| The steep road to the life to come is bycharity and faith. | |||
| [The Smiting] (ci.) | [7] | ||
| The terrors of the Judgment Day and theBottomless Pit. | |||
| [The Quaking] (xcix.) | [8] | ||
| Signs of the Last Day, when all secrets shallbe revealed. | |||
| [The Rending Asunder] (lxxxii.) | [9] | ||
| Signs of the Last Day; man’s unbelief;angels record his actions, by which hisfate shall be decided. | |||
| [The Chargers] (c.) | [11] | ||
| Man’s ingratitude towards God will be exposedon the Last Day. | |||
| [Support] (cvii.) | [12] | ||
| Uncharitable hypocrites denounced. | |||
| [The Backbiter] (civ.) | [13] | ||
| The covetous slanderer shall be cast intoBlasting Hell. | |||
| [The Splendour of Morning] (xciii.) | [14] | ||
| The goodness of God towards Mohammadmust be imitated towards others. | |||
| [The Most High] (lxxxvii.) | [15] | ||
| God the Creator is to be magnified. Mohammadis enjoined to admonish thepeople; the opposite fates of those whohearken and those who turn away; themessage is the same as that delivered byAbraham and Moses. | |||
| [The Wrapping] (lxxxi.) | [17] | ||
| Signs of the Last Day. Authenticity of theKorān: Mohammad neither mad norpossessed. The Korān a reminder, butman is powerless to follow it except byGod’s decree. | |||
| [The News] (lxxviii.) | [19] | ||
| Men dispute about the Last Day: yet it shallcome as surely as God created all things.The last trump and the gathering of mankindto judgment. Description of thetorments of Hell and the delights ofParadise. | |||
| [The Fact] (lvi.) | [22] | ||
| Signs of the Last Day. The three kinds ofmen—prophets, righteous, and wicked—andthe future state of each. The powerof God shown in creation. The Korāntrue and sacred. The state after death. | |||
| [The Merciful] (lv.) | [27] | ||
| A Benedicite reciting the works of God, andthe Judgment and Paradise and Hell,with a refrain challenging genii and mankindto deny His signs. | |||
| [The Unity] (cxii.) | [32] | ||
| A profession of faith in one God. | |||
| [The Fātihah] (i.) | [33] | ||
| A prayer for guidance and help: the MuslimPaternoster. | |||
| THE SPEECHES AT MEKKA [II.—THE RHETORICAL PERIOD.] Aet. 44-46, a.d. 613-615 | [35] | ||
| [The Kingdom] (lxvii.) | [37] | ||
| The power of God shown in creation; Hellthe reward of those who disbelieve inGod’s messengers and discredit His signs.None but God knows when the Last Daywill be. | |||
| [The Moon] (liv.) | [41] | ||
| The Judgment approaches, but men will notheed the warning, and call it a lie andmagic. Even so did former generationsreject their apostles: the people of Noah,Ad, Thamūd, Lot, Pharaoh; and therecame upon all of them a grievous punishment.Neither shall the men of Mekkaescape. Refrain: the certainty of punishmentand the heedlessness of man. | |||
| [K.] (l.) | [45] | ||
| Why is the Resurrection so incredible? Doesnot God continually create and re-create?Former generations were equally incredulous,but they all found the threat ofpunishment was true. So shall it beagain. The recording angels shall bearwitness, and hell shall be filled. Whocan escape God, who created all things,and to whom all things must one dayreturn? | |||
| [Y.S.] (xxxvi.) | [49] | ||
| Mohammad a true messenger from God towarn the people, whose ancestors wouldnot be warned. God hardens their heartsso that they cannot believe. Everythingis written down in the Book of God.Just so did the people of Antioch rejectthe apostles of Jesus, and stoned the onlyconvert among themselves; and therecame a shout from heaven and exterminatedthem. Why do not men reflect onsuch warnings? Signs of the Resurrectionare seen in the revival of spring and thegrowth of plants, and the alternations ofnight and day, and the changes of the sunand moon, and the ships that sail on thesea. Yet they are not convinced! TheLast Day shall come upon them suddenly.Paradise and Hell. The Korān not apoem, but a plain warning of God’s mightand judgment to come. Their idolsneed protection instead of giving it. Godwho first made life can quicken it again:his “Fiat” is instantly carried out. | |||
| [The Children of Israel] (xvii.) | [57] | ||
| The dream of the journey to Jerusalem.The two sins of the children of Israel andtheir punishments. The Korān givespromise of a great reward for righteousnessand an aching torment for disbelief.Each man shall be judged by his owndeeds, and none shall be punished foranother’s sin; nor was any folk destroyedwithout warning. Kindness and respectto parents, and duty to kinsfolk andtravellers and the poor; hospitality, yetwithout waste; faithfulness in engagements,and honesty in trading, enjoined.Idolatry, infanticide, inchastity, homicide(except in a just cause and in fair retaliation),and abusing orphans’ trust, andpride, forbidden. The angels are not thedaughters of God: He has no partner,and the whole creation worships Him.But God hardens people’s hearts so thatthey turn away from the Korān. TheResurrection is nearer than they think.The faithful must speak pleasantly and notwrangle. Mohammad has no power tocompel belief. The false gods themselvesdread God’s torment. The power ofworking miracles was not given to Mohammad,because the people of yore alwaysdisbelieved in them: so Thamūdwith the miraculous camel. The story ofthe devil’s original enmity to Adam; butthe devil cannot protect his followersagainst God, to whom belongs all poweron land and sea, and whose is the Judgment.Mohammad nearly tempted totemporize. Prayer at sunset and dawnand night vigils commended. Man’s insincerity.The spirit sent from God.The Korān inimitable. The demand formiracles and for angelic messengers repudiated.The fate of those who disbelievein the resurrection. Moses andPharaoh: the consequences of unbelief.The Korān divided for convenience. Thesolace of the faithful. God and theMerciful the same deity. | |||
| THE SPEECHES AT MEKKA [III.—THE ARGUMENTATIVE PERIOD.] Aet. 46-53, a.d. 615-622 | [73] | ||
| [The Believer] (xl.) | [75] | ||
| The revelation is from God. Former generationsrejected their apostles and werepunished. The angels praise God. Thedespair of the damned. The great tryst:the judgment of God is unerring. Thegenerations of yore were greater thanthose of to-day: yet nothing could savethem from God. The history of Mosesand Pharaoh and the Egyptian convert,and the evil fate of the infidels. Theproud shall not win in the end. Praiseof God in His attributes. Hell is the goalof idolaters and polytheists. Patienceenjoined upon Mohammad. The signsof God’s might and the dire consequencesof doubting it. | |||
| [Jonah] (x.) | [87] | ||
| Repudiation of sorcery. Signs of God’spower, and the consequences of believingand disbelieving them. Insincerity ofman: but former generations were destroyedfor unbelief. Mohammad has nopower to speak the Korān save as Godreveals it. Idolatry ridiculed. Miraclesdisclaimed. Man believes when he isin danger, and disbelieves when he isrescued. The life of this world like grassthat will be mown to-morrow. Thereward of well and evil doing and thejudgment of idolaters. God’s might increation. The Korān no forgery, as willbe plainly seen one day. Every nationhas its apostle and its appointed term,which cannot be hastened or retarded.Now the people are warned, and all theydo is seen of God. God’s power: Hehas no Son. The story of Noah and theark, and Moses and the magicians, andthe passage of the Red Sea, and theestablishing of the Children of Israel.The people of Jonah. God compels unbeliefor belief as He pleases, and nonecan believe without His permission. Thesigns of God are in the heavens and theearth. True worship. | |||
| [Thunder] (xiii.) | [104] | ||
| The mighty works of God. The punishmentof unbelief. Miracles disclaimed.The omniscience and unvariableness ofGod, the hurler of thunder and lightningand the giver of rain. The reward of thefaithful; the torment of apostates. Godmisleads whom He will, and, if He pleased,could guide all mankind aright. Apostleshave been mocked at before: and themockers were punished. Paradise. Mohammad’stask is only to warn: it is God’sbusiness to punish. | |||
| SPEECHES OF MEDINA [THE PERIOD OF HARANGUE.] Aet. 53-63, a.d. 622-632 | [113] | ||
| [Deception] (lxiv.) | [115] | ||
| God’s power in creation. Former apostleswere rejected. The resurrection, thoughdisbelieved, is a fact—a day when peopleshall find their hopes are deceptive. Paradiseand Hell. All things are ordainedby God. Obedience to God and theapostle enjoined. The pleasures of thisworld are to be distrusted, but the fear ofGod and almsgiving commendable. | |||
| [Iron] (lvii.) | [118] | ||
| Praise of God and exhortation to belief andalmsgiving and fighting for the faith.The future state of the faithful and ofthe hypocrites. The charitable shall bedoubly rewarded. The present life onlya pastime and delusion. Everything predestined.The sending of the apostles,of Noah, Abraham, and Jesus. Asceticismrepudiated. Exhortation to faithand fear. | |||
| [The Victory] (xlviii.) | [124] | ||
| A victory was given to encourage the faithful.Commendation of those who pledgedthemselves to support Mohammad andrebuke to the desert Arabs who heldaloof (on the occasion of the expeditionto Hudeybia); they shall not share inthe spoil (of Khaibar). Promise of booty.The truce (of Hudeybia). The oppositionto Mohammad’s pilgrimage to Mekkashall be withdrawn; and a victory shallsoon be won. The devotion of the faithfuland their likeness. | |||
| [Help] (cx.) | [130] | ||
| Exhortation to praise God in the hour oftriumph. | |||
| [THE LAW GIVEN AT MEDINA] | [131] | ||
| [Religious Law] | [133] | ||
| Creed and good works. Prayer. Alms.Fast. Pilgrimage. Fighting for the faith.Sacred month. Forbidden food. Oaths.Wine. Gambling. Statues. Divination. | |||
| [Civil and Criminal Law] | [139] | ||
| Homicide; the blood-wit; murder; retaliation.Fighting against the faith. Theft.Usury. Marriage; adultery; divorce;slander. Testaments and heirs. Maintenancefor widows. Testimony. Freeingslaves. Asylum. Small offences andgreat. | |||
| [THE TABLE-TALK OF MOHAMMAD] | [145] | ||
| [Concerning prayer] | [149] | ||
| [Of charity] | [151] | ||
| [Of fasting] | [153] | ||
| [Of reading the Korān] | [154] | ||
| [Of labour and profit] | [155] | ||
| [Of fighting for the faith] | [159] | ||
| [Of judgments] | [160] | ||
| [Of women and slaves] | [161] | ||
| [Of dumb animals] | [164] | ||
| [Of hospitality] | [165] | ||
| [Of government] | [166] | ||
| [Of vanities and sundry matters] | [168] | ||
| [Of death] | [172] | ||
| [Of the state after death] | [175] | ||
| [Of destiny] | [180] | ||
| [Notes] | [183] | ||
| [The Mekka Speeches, I—The Poetic Period] | [183] | ||
| [The Mekka Speeches, II—The Rhetorical Period] | [187] | ||
| [The Mekka Speeches, III—The Argumentative Period] | [190] | ||
| [The Medina Speeches, The Period of Harangue] | [192] | ||
| [The Law Given at Medina] | [193] | ||
| [Table-Talk of Mohammad] | [195] | ||
| [Index of Chapters of the Korān Translated in This Volume] | [196] | ||
| [The Golden Treasury Series] | [1] | ||
| [Transcriber's Note] | |||