[FN#367] Koran ix.: this was the last chapter revealed and the only one revealed entire except verse 110.
[FN#368] Ali was despatched from Al-Medinah to Meccah by the Prophet on his own slit-eared camel to promulgate this chapter; and meeting the assembly at Al-'Akabah he also acquainted them with four things; (1) No Infidel may approach the Meccah temple; (2) naked men must no longer circut the Ka'abah; (3) only Moslems enter Paradise, and (4) public faith must be kept.
[FN#369] Dictionaries give the word "Basmalah" (=saying
Bismillah); but the common pronunciation is "Bismalah."
[FN#370] Koran xvii. 110, a passage revealed because the Infidels, hearing Mohammed calling upon The Compassionate, imagined that Al-Rahmαn was other deity but Allah. The "names" have two grand divisions, Asmα Jalαlν, the fiery or terrible attributes, and the Asmα Jamαlν (airy, watery, earthy or) amiable. Together they form the Asmα al-Husna or glorious attributes, and do not include the Ism al-A'azam, the ineffable name which is known only to a few.
[FN#371] Koran ii. 158.
[FN#372] Koran xcvi. before noticed.
[FN#373] A man of Al-Medinah, one of the first of Mohammed's disciples.
[FN#374] Koran lxxiv. 1, etc., supposed to have been addressed by Gabriel to Mohammed when in the cave of Hira or Jabal Nϊr. He returned to his wife Khadijah in sore terror at the vision of one sitting on a throne between heaven and earth, and bade her cover him up. Whereupon the Archangel descended with this text, supposed to be the first revealed. Mr. Rodwell (p. 3) renders it, "O thou enwrapped in thy mantle!" and makes it No. ii. after a Fatrah or silent interval of six months to three years.
[FN#375] There are several versets on this subject (chapts. ii. and xxx.)
[FN#376] Koran cx. 1.