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NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS 
 SYSTEMS. 
 
 /\ 
 
 THE C O R A N. 
 
 ITS COMPOSITION AND TEACHING; 
 
 AND THE TESTIMONY IT BEARS TO THE 
 HOLY SCRIPTURES. 
 
 / 
 
 SIR WILLIAM MUIR, K.C.S.I., LL.D. 
 
 PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE. 
 
 LONDON : 
 SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE 
 
 SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORIES : 
 77, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN's-INN FIELDS ; 
 4, KOVAL EXCHANGE ; 48, PICCADILLY ; 
 AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 
 
 "Nevr York : Pott, Young, & Co. 
 
LONDON : 
 WYMAN AND SONS, PRINTERS, GREAT QUEEN STREET, 
 
 lincoln's-inn fields, W.C. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 -♦c*- 
 
 THE occasion for this work is the need of a 
 new edition of The Testimony borne by 
 
 THE CORAN TO THE JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN SCRIP- 
 TURES, published at Agra in 1855. The se<:ond 
 edition of this treatise (Allahabad, i860) being out 
 of print, the author was asked to bring out a third, 
 -and in doing so to preface it with some account of the 
 CoRAN itself, and the system founded thereon. 
 
 What has been now attempted will, it is hoped, 
 prove of some service by way of introduction to the 
 study of the Coran. 
 
 I have to express my obligation to Dr. Weil for his 
 admirable introduction to the Coran ; * from which I 
 have freely borrowed, although from some of his views 
 on the teaching of the Coran and the prospects of 
 Islam, I have felt bound to dissent. 
 ■ The " Testimony of the Coran," above noticed, 
 has been translated and published in various oriental 
 languages. It is here reprinted, with but a few cor- 
 rections and amendments, as the Second Part of 
 this work. 
 
 W. M. 
 
 London, I'jth May, 1878. 
 
 *Einleitung in den Koran. Von Dr. Gustave Weii-. Zweite 
 verbesserte Auflage. Bielefeld tmd Leipzig, 1878. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 -*o»- 
 
 PART FIRS;T. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 The Coran as explained by the Life of Mahomet ...pao;e 7 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 
 Compilation and arrangement of the Coran, 37 ; Approxi- 
 mate Chronological order of the Sm-as 44 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 The teaching of the Coran 49 
 
 PART SECOND. 
 
 Testimony of the Coran to the Scriptures of the Old and 
 
 New Testaments, 66 ; Introduction 69 
 
 SECTION L 
 Passages revealed at ^Nlecca 7'- 
 
6 THE CORAN. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 Passages revealed at ]\Iediiia •pO'gs 134 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 Conclusion, 216 ; The Collection complete and im- 
 partial, 217 ; Existence and Currency of the Old and 
 New Testaments ill the time of Mahomet, 218; The 
 Coran attests the inspiration of the Jewish and Christian 
 Scriptures, 222 ; the Jewish and Christian Scriptures 
 praised in the Coran, 222 ; the Scriptures appealed 
 to, and their observance inculcated by Mahomet, 224 ; 
 imputations against the Jews, 226 ; the Scriptures of 
 the time of Mahomet the same as those now extant, 
 235 ; Belief in, and examination of, the Scriptures 
 incumbent on all Mahometans 237 
 
THE CORAN 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE CORAN AS EXPLAINED BY THE LIFE OF 
 
 MAHOMET. 
 
 The Coran is the ground-work of Islam. Its autho- 
 rity is absolute in all matters of polity, ethics, and / 
 science, equally as in matters of religion. " The 
 Lord hath said it," is the standard of daily life. 
 Where revelation is silent, tradition speaks ; and 
 upon the tradition of Mahomet's sayings and 
 example, as well as upon the interpretation and 
 analogy of the text of the Coran, are built up 
 the various schools of Islam. But the Coran is 
 supreme, and much of its teaching is so plain as 
 to admit no question even among contending sec- 
 taries. While, therefore, those who would gain a 
 knowled2;e of Islam, or would seek to influence Ma- 
 hometan thought, must make themselves familiar with 
 the traditional and scholastic lore of the sect among 
 whom they are cast, a still greater incumbency rests 
 on them to study the Coran itself The devotion of 
 the Mussulman to the Coran is intense. In the early 
 Caliphate the ability to repeat it by heart conferred 
 power and distinction, and honour still attaches to 
 the attainment. Familiarity with the Coran is a 
 
8 THE CORAN. 
 
 source of strength for all who have to interchange 
 thought with Mahometans, and adds prestige and 
 influence ; while ignorance of its contents must 
 weaken the power of carr3qng conviction to the 
 jMoslem heart. Before all things, then, he that would 
 deal with the Mahometan world, or even understand 
 the principles which underlie its action, must make 
 himself conversant with the Coran. 
 
 But the Coran, taken by itself, is perhaps of all 
 books the least intelligible. Of the Bible, although 
 the circumstances under which various parts were 
 composed, and even the names and eras of the writers 
 are sometimes obscure, yet the substance is so arranged 
 as seldom to leave the meaning, whether of the narra- 
 tive or didactic portions, doubtful. With the Coran, 
 on the contrary, although the main outlines of the 
 author's life are well known, the whole is confused, 
 and the drift often hard of comprehension. The 
 books or chapters follow one another without any 
 chronological sequence, and the books themselves 
 are frequently composed of fragments put together 
 with no regard either to time or subject. To attain, 
 therefore, a clear idea of the design of this dis- 
 jointed composition, and of the bearing of its seve- 
 ral parts, is only possible in connection with the 
 study of the author's life. With this object in view, 
 I propose to sketch very briefly the outlines of the 
 career of Mahomet, confining myself to the passages 
 needful to illustrate the Coran. 
 
 Mahomet was born at Mecca in the year 570 A.l). 
 That city, situate on the great caravan route from 
 Yemen to Syria, was from time immemorial famous 
 
EXPLAINED BY THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 9 
 
 for the Kaaba, and the neighbouring places of 
 pilgrimage, which were by local tradition consecrated 
 to the memory of Abraham and Ishmael. The 
 leading tribe had for many generations been the 
 Coreish, which discharged the influential offices con- 
 nected with the Temple and the pilgiimage, and was 
 predominant in the councils of the city. Mahomet 
 sprang from the Bani Hashim, a noble, though at this 
 time somewhat decaying, branch of the tribe. His 
 great-grandfather was married to a lady of ]\Iedina, 
 and jMahomet was thus connected with one of the 
 ruling families of that city, the Bani Khazraj. Abdallah, 
 his father, was poor, and died on a mercantile trip 
 to Syria shortly before his birth. His mother, Amina, 
 according to the custom of Mecca, put the infant out 
 to nurse with a Bedouin tribe ; and there the child 
 remained for four or five years, acquiring the free 
 habits and the pure tongue of the nomad race. His 
 foster-mother was alarmed by epileptic symptoms, 
 which more than once attacked her charge, and 
 finally induced her to relinquish it. About a year 
 after, Amina took the lad to visit his relatives at 
 IVIedina, but on the way home she died ; so that in 
 his sixth year JMahomet was left an orphan. His 
 uncle, Abu Talib, became his guardian, and to the 
 day of his death faithfully discharged the trust. While 
 yet a child, Mahomet accompanied his uncle on a 
 mercantile expedition to Syria. The youth of Ma- 
 homet passed uneventfully. Abu Talib was poor, 
 and, finding it difticult to provide for his nephew in 
 iiddition to his own family, procured for him the 
 commission from a rich widow to superintend a 
 
lO THE CO RAN. 
 
 trading caravan to Syria. Khadija, delighted with 
 her agent's service, conceived a tender passion for 
 him, and, though nearly forty, while he was but five- 
 and-twenty years of age, became his wife. She bore 
 him two sons and four daughters. Both sons died. 
 The eldest, who survived two years, was called Casim, 
 whence Mahomet's name of Abul Casim. 
 
 In Mahomet's thirty-fifth year, the Kaaba, which 
 had been dilapidated by a flood, was rebuilt ; and 
 when the sacred black stone had to be deposited in 
 its place, the lot fell, as by a strange interposition, 
 upon Mahomet (who, for his virtue and integrity, 
 was called by his fellow-citizens " the Faithful ") to 
 undertake the task. Shortly after, Mahomet relieved 
 his uncle, Abu Talib, of the charge of Ali, one of his 
 sons, then five or six years of age. A strong attach- 
 ment thenceforth bound together the two cousins ; 
 and twenty years after, Ali married Fatima, Maho- 
 met's youngest daughter. Another close friendship 
 was formed with Zeid, a slave belonging to Khadija, 
 who had been captured from a Christian tribe. Him 
 Mahomet, having freed, adopted ; and he was thence- 
 forth called " Zeid, the son of Mahomet." 
 
 Christianity was widely professed by the Syrian and 
 border tribes, and there were some Christian settle- 
 ments even in the heart of Arabia. The Gospel, 
 therefore, was not altogether unknown at Mecca, 
 though in an imperfect and garbled form. Four 
 " Inquirers " are spoken of by tradition as in search 
 of the " true religion," at that time expected to appear. 
 One of these was the aged Waraca, a cousin of 
 Khadija, who is said to have written out some parts 
 
EXPLAINED BY THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. II 
 
 of the Gospel ; and another, Zeid ibn Amr, who is 
 alleged to have recognized in Mahomet the coming 
 Prophet. Amid much of this sort of tradition, that 
 is marvellous and evidently proleptic, we may perhaps 
 discern the fact that in some quarters a spirit of inquiry 
 had been aroused in the Arab mind. Whether stirred 
 up by such influences, or arising within spontaneously, 
 it is certain that about the age of forty a new life was 
 quickening in the soul of Mahomet. He had passed 
 fifteen years, quiet and unobtrusive, in the bosom of 
 his family, with nothing to distinguish him (save, per- 
 haps, a singular gravity and virtue) from other men. 
 He now began to court solitude and meditation, and for 
 the purpose would retire for days at a time 
 
 . ^ . iEtat. 40-43. 
 
 to a cave m Mount Hira, one or two miles 
 distant from the city. Perplexed with the mysterious 
 destiny of man, and the failure of repeated revelations 
 to enlighten the gross darkness shrouding the peninsula, 
 he would fall into ecstatic reveries ; and at last he 
 believed himself called to be a preacher of righteous- 
 ness and the reformer of his people. On one such 
 occasion he seemed to see the vision of an angel, 
 from whom he received the command (embodied in 
 the Ninety-sixth Sura) to — 
 
 *' Recite in the name of the Lord who created, — 
 Created man from nought but congealed blood. 
 
 Recite ! For thy Lord is beneficent. 
 It is He who hath taught [to record revelation] with the pen : 
 Hath taught man that which he knoweth not." 
 
 The vision, we are told, was followed by a considerable 
 period (the Fair ah) during which further revelations 
 
12 THE CORAX. 
 
 were withheld ; and Mahomet, plunged in deep de- 
 pression, thought to cast himself headlong from a 
 height, but was held back by the same heavenly 
 messenger. Shortly after this, as, wrapped in his 
 garments, he lay stretched upon his carpet, the angel 
 addressed him in these words : — 
 
 Sura LXXIV. " Oh, thou that art covered ! 
 Arise and preach ! 
 And magnify thy Lord ; 
 And purify thy clothes ; 
 And depart from unclcanness. 
 And show not thy favours in the hope of aggrandisement ; 
 But wait patiently for thy Lord," 
 
 Here was now the commission to preach. Mahomet 
 was constituted the Messenger of the Lord and his 
 Apostle, and thenceforward revelations began to follow 
 with frequency one upon another. 
 
 Such is the tradition concerning the first beginnings 
 of inspiration in the mind of Mahomet. Some of 
 the shorter Suras, couched in ecstatic language, were 
 probably delivered at a still earlier period. The 
 reader must bear in mind that the Coran professes 
 to be a revelation proceeding immediately from the 
 Almighty. Its contents are nowhere subjective ; 
 that is, they nowhere represent the aspirations of an 
 inspired heart, or the teachings of a prophet himself 
 enlightened of God. Word for word, the revelation 
 comes direct from heaven. The formula, " Speak, 
 thus saith the Lord," either precedes every single 
 sentence, or must be so understood. Thus, to the 
 Moslem, the Coran is in the truest sense Divine ; and 
 as such it was meant by Mahomet to be received. 
 
EXPLAINED BY THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. I3 
 
 Some of the rhapsodical fragments embodied in the 
 Coran were probably composed by Mahomet as his 
 own, before he conceived the notion of an absolutely 
 objective revelation; but by the true believer the 
 supposition would be rejected as impious. From 
 beginning to end, in his eyes, every word of the 
 Coran emanates direct from the Almighty. 
 
 For some time before his assumption of the pro- 
 phetic office, Mahomet had been sharing the burden 
 of his soul with the more intimate friends and relatives 
 around him. Khadija was the first repository of his 
 spiritual yearnings ; and at a time when he laboured 
 under fear of diabolical influence, it was she who 
 comforted him, and brought the aged Waraca to re- 
 assure his conviction of a Divine mission. Gradually 
 there gathered around him a little band of devoted 
 followers. Ali and Zeid were among the earliest ; 
 and also Abu Bekr, a faithful friend, through whose 
 influence four others (including Othman) and several 
 ransomed slaves, joined the little circle of believers. 
 
 As the teaching of Mahomet developed, and his 
 assertion of the unity of God and rejection of idolatry 
 became more uncompromising, the men of Mecca 
 began strongly to oppose him. They mocked the 
 idea of a resurrection, derided his revelations as the 
 effusions of a frenzied poet, and began to persecute 
 the faith. Mahomet himself was safe under the 
 guardianship of Abu Talib. But those who had no 
 such protection were hard pressed ; and a d 6i 
 
 a body of eleven men, some with their 
 families, fled the country, and found refuge across the 
 Red Sea, at the court of Abyssinia. Among these 
 
14 THE GORAN. 
 
 was Othman, with his wife Rockeya, the Prophet's 
 daughter. 
 
 A few months after this emigration a strange epi- 
 sode occurred, in which Mahomet sought a com- 
 promise with his people, by admitting their gods into 
 his system, as intercessors with the supreme Divinity. 
 While the Coreish sat beneath the Kaaba, he began 
 to recite before them the LIII. Sura, in which, after 
 referring to his vision of the angel, he proceeds : — 
 
 "And see ye not Lat and Ozza, 
 And Manat the third besides ? 
 These are the exalted Females^ 
 And verily their intercession is to be hoped for.'''' 
 
 All were reconciled by the concession, and bowed 
 themselves before the God of Mahomet. But his 
 heart smote him within; and, not long after, the 
 obnoxious lines (the two in italics) were recalled 
 by Gabriel as suggested by the Evil One ; and there 
 was substituted the uncompromising denunciation of 
 idolatry, from which he never after swerved : — 
 
 " What ! shall there be unto you male progeny, and female unto 
 
 Him? 
 That Avere, indeed, an unjust partition ! 
 They are naught but names which ye and your fathers have 
 
 invented," &c. 
 
 Upon this, persecution was resumed by the Coreish 
 more hotly than ever. The emigrants had returned 
 on the report of the compromise; they now again 
 fled to Abyssinia, where they were gradually increased 
 by fresh arrivals from Mecca to the number of above 
 
EXPLAINED BY THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 1 5 
 
 one hundred souis. The cause of Islam was about 
 this time unexpectedly strengthened by the conver- 
 sion of two brave and influential citizens, Hamza, 
 the Prophet's uncle, and Omar. Alarmed at the bold 
 front which Mahomet and his adherents ifl conse- 
 quence assumed, the Coreish formed a hostile con- 
 federacy, by which all intercourse with the Moslems 
 ^nd their supporters was suspended. Abu Talib, with 
 the Hashimites, though himself and many of the clan 
 unbelievers in the mission of Mahomet, stood faith- 
 fully by their kinsman, and they all re- 
 tired into the " Quarter of Abu Talib," ^'^' ^'^'^''^' 
 where, for two or three years, they remained cut off 
 ^rom communication with the outer world. It was 
 only at the time of pilgrimage that the Prophet was 
 able now to prosecute his ministry ; but, cast off by his 
 own people, he found little response from the other 
 tribes to which his preaching was addressed. 
 
 The Coran, as at this period delivered, was fast 
 assuming a different character. The Suras are longer ; 
 and although we still meet with frequent traces of the 
 early fire, the style becomes tamer and more prosaic. 
 The phenomena of nature, and its adaptations to the 
 wants of man, are adduced to prove the existence of a 
 Supreme Being and an over-ruling Providence. There 
 are lengthened descriptions of a grossly material hell 
 and paradise, and of the resurrection. Steadfastness 
 and patience are inculcated on the Prophet, who is 
 encouraged to persevere by the example of the 
 messengers that preceded him, both Arabian and 
 Jewish, and in one place by the fortitude of the 
 Christian martyrs of Najran. A new feature also 
 
1 6 THE CORAN". 
 
 appears in the appeal which Mahomet now makes 
 frequently in the Coran to the former Scriptures 
 and to the Jews, as witnesses to his claims. His 
 position is fortified by long and discursive nar- 
 ratives from Old Testament history, — such as the 
 creation and fall of man, the flood, the stories of 
 Abraham, David, and Solomon, given sometimes in 
 the very language of the Bible, but overlaid and dis- 
 torted by rabbinical fiction and conceits, and some- 
 times also by native legend. There is evidently Jewisli 
 inspiration, but whence derived we have not the 
 means of saying. Mahomet was accused by the 
 Coreish of plagiarism and fabrication. "They are 
 fables of the ancients," said his adversaries, " which 
 he hath had written down ; they are dictated to him 
 morning and evening." " Nay," replied the Prophet, 
 "He hath revealed it who knoweth that which is 
 hidden in the heavens and in the earth." The reve- 
 lations were, in fact, fresh evidence of his inspiration. 
 The severity of the ban at last over-reached its 
 object. The sympathies of many were 
 ^' ' ^^°' enlisted by their privations in favour of 
 
 Mahomet and his followers; and in the tenth year 
 of his ministry the interdict was cancelled and the 
 Hashimites restored to freedom. But soon Khadija 
 died, and shortly after, Abu Talib. Dispirited by the 
 double bereavement and the failing prospects of his 
 cause, Mahomet, accompanied by Zeid alone, pro- 
 ceeded to Taif, a city lying some sixty miles to the 
 east of Mecca. But his appeal, though urged for 
 several days upon them, was unheeded by the leading 
 men of Taif, and he was at last driven forth of 
 
EXPLAINED BY THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. I 7 
 
 the rabble, wounded by showers of stones. As he 
 
 rested on his way back, at Nakhla, he had a vision, 
 
 in which a body of the Genii pressed around him, 
 
 eager to listen to the Goran and embrace 
 
 the new faith. He returned to Mecca ^J^xxn^^' 
 
 with darkening prospects. Within two 
 
 months of the death of Khadija he married Sauda, 
 
 the widow of one of the Abyssinian emigrants, and 
 
 also betrothed to himself Ayesha, the daughter of his 
 
 friend Abu Bekr, then but six or seven years of age. 
 
 Hope dawned at last from an unexpected quarter. 
 At the yearly pilgrimage a little group of worshippers 
 from Medina was attracted and won over at Mina by 
 the preaching of Islam ; and the following 
 
 i- <-> A.D. 621. 
 
 year, now increased to twelve, they met 
 Mahomet on the same spot, and took an oath of 
 allegiance. At Medina the claims of the new Prophet 
 found a ready response. The circumstances were all 
 favourable. Several Jewish tribes had been long 
 settled in the immediate neighbourhood; and the 
 religion and Scripture of the Jews, on which Mahomet 
 had now begun to lean as one of his chief supports, 
 were familiar there. The city had for years been dis- 
 tracted by civil war ; the factions of the Aus and Khaz- 
 raj were nearly balanced, and there was no one to take 
 the lead. A teacher was deputed from Mecca to Me- 
 dina, and the new faith spread with marvellous rapidity. 
 There was now a lull at ^Mecca. The two parties 
 remained at bay, watching one the other. The Suras 
 of the period breathe a calm and lofty spirit of 
 assurance, with occasional warnings of Divine wrath 
 and punishment against the ungodly city. There 
 
 c 
 
1 8 THE COrAn. 
 
 was no hope of further success at Mecca; the ex- 
 pectation of Mahomet was directed northwards. His 
 _ ^...^ very dreams lay there. He was carried 
 
 Sura XVII. . •' 
 
 by night to the Temple at Jerusalem ; and 
 
 thence (so runs the tradition) upwards to the very 
 
 presence of the Almighty, from whom he received the 
 
 ^^^, ordinance for prayer five times a day. 
 
 Sura XXX. . ^ ■' ■' 
 
 He likewise adventured an augury that 
 victory would be achieved by Heraclius speedily over 
 his Persian foes. 
 
 Again the time of pilgrimage arrived, and Mahomet 
 found himself surrounded by an enthusiastic band of 
 
 above seventy disciples from Medina, who, 
 
 in a secret defile at Mina, pledged them- 
 selves to receive and defend him at the risk of life 
 and property. Forthwith he resolved to quit the 
 ungrateful and rebellious city, and gave command to 
 his followers to " depart unto Medina ; for the Lord 
 verily hath given you brethren in that city, and a home 
 in which ye may find refuge." And so, abandoning 
 house and home, they set out secretly in little parties 
 for Medina, where the numbers soon reached perhaps 
 one hundred and fifty, counting women and children. 
 At last Mahomet, with Abu Bekr and Ali, and their 
 families, were left almost alone behind. The Coreish, 
 disconcerted by this unexpected turn, now held a 
 council. It is thus described in the Coran : 
 
 "And call to mind when the Unbelievers 
 
 Sura VIII. 29. . . , - 
 
 plotted against thee, that they might de- 
 tain thee, or slay thee, or expel thee. Yea, they 
 plotted : but God plotted likewise. And God is the 
 best of plotters." But Mahomet, warned of their 
 
EXPLAINED BY THE LIFE OF MAHOMET, 1 9 
 
 designs, made his escape to a cave in Mount Thaur, 
 near Mecca; and three days after, eluding 
 
 1 . ., r ■] • • 1 • Sura IX. 42. 
 
 the Vigilance of his enemies, was on his 
 
 way to Medina. The day of his flight marks the era 
 
 of the Hegira (or emigration) A.D. 622. 
 
 The portions of the Coran belonging to the last 
 few years at Mecca, reiterate the arguments already 
 described against idolatry and the objections urged 
 by the unbelievers ; proofs of the Divine attributes ; 
 Scriptural and legendary tales ; with vivid, and some- 
 times dramatic, representations of heaven and hell. 
 Towards the close of this period will also be found 
 allusions to the impending emigration. The Suras 
 grow much longer (extending often over many pages), 
 and the diction becomes still tamer and more artifi- 
 cial, but every here and there with bursts of bold 
 imagery and impassioned poetry. 
 
 A new feature appears in Christianity now coming 
 under notice. In the earlier Suras our Faith is men- 
 tioned seldom and but allusively. Throughout the 
 Coran, indeed, passages relating to the Gospel are com- 
 paratively few j but two or three are given in great 
 detail, and recite the narratives of the ^ ,,,^ 
 
 buras XIX. 
 
 births of John the Baptist and of Jesus : the i ; m. 33 ; v. 
 first of these was produced shortly after 
 Mahomet's return from Taif There are also some 
 passages regarding our Lord's miracles, a few refe- 
 rences to the Apostles, and the tale (ren- 
 dered with much fantastic colouring) of ^^^''g^^^^^' 
 the Seven Sleepers. The Gospel narrative 
 corresponds generally with the opening of St. Luke, 
 
 c 2 
 
20 THE CORAN. 
 
 being sometimes couched in the very words, but 
 
 abounds with childish marvels, such as we find in 
 
 the Gospel of the Infancy. The Crucifixion is denied ; 
 
 the Lord's Supper and Baptism are un- 
 
 SuralV. 155. J • 1 • ^- r •, 
 
 noticed ; and in his conception of the 
 Trinity (a doctrine which he repeatedly repudiates 
 indignantly), the Virgin Mary would seem to have 
 been regarded as one of the Persons. Yet he appeals 
 to the Gospel equally as to the Pentateuch in con- 
 firmation of his mission ; and his rupture at Medina 
 with the Jews led him thereafter to speak more kindly 
 of the Christians than of them. Thus, although some 
 portions of the Gospel were without doubt known to 
 Mahomet, it must have been in the most fragmentary 
 form, and his acquaintance with the teaching of 
 Christianity was to the last scant and distorted. 
 
 Islam (meaning thereby the surrender of the will 
 
 to God) underlay all previous revelation. 
 ^Surasii. 62; 'Pq pious Jcws and Christians, and even 
 
 Sabians, salvation was assured, as well as 
 to Moslems. The mission of Mahomet was intended 
 primarily for the Arabs. It had not as yet assumed 
 an exclusive and antagonistic attitude. Mahomet 
 was a mere preacher, a simple warner. The idea of 
 force and compulsion had not up to this time entered 
 his mind. But from his followers he even at this 
 stage demanded and received an absolute submission. 
 They were bound implicitly to " obey God and His 
 Prophet." Along with exhortations to the fear of God, 
 charity, humility, rectitude, purity, and other virtues, 
 there now appear precepts for the stated observance of 
 prayer, and the ceremonial of the Kaaba is enjoined 
 
EXPLAINED BY THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 21 
 
 as part of the great catholic faith of Abraham. We 
 find also Jewish restrictions as to certain kinds of food, 
 but the positive precepts as yet are few. 
 
 The flight to Medina changes the scene, and with 
 it the character of the portions of the Coran there 
 revealed. The idolaters of Mecca disappear, and their 
 place is taken by the " hypocrites " of Medina. Here 
 there was no open opposition either to Mahomet or 
 his doctrines ; but, nevertheless, a powerful faction was 
 jealous of the stranger's advent, and an undercurrent 
 of disaffection prevailed w^hich not unfrequently ap- 
 pears upon the surface. The head of this party was 
 Abdallah ibn Obey, who, but for the new turn in the 
 fortunes of his city, was on the point of being its 
 chief. The disaffected citizens continue the object 
 of bitter denunciation in the Coran, till near the close 
 of the Prophet's career, when, before the success of 
 Islam, they, too, vanish from the scene. 
 
 But the most prominent subject of discourse in the 
 early Medina revelations is the Jewish people and 
 their religion. At the outset Mahomet spared no 
 endeavour to attach them to his cause. He dwelt 
 upon the lives of their prophets and worthies, and 
 sought, by recounting the interpositions of the 
 Almighty in the land of Egypt and elsewhere, to 
 stir their gratitude, and induce them to publish the 
 evidence in his favour w^hich he contended that their 
 books contained; but he failed. Excepting a few 
 apostates, they refused to admit his prophetic claims. 
 Disappointment soon ripened into enmity ; and they 
 who had been appealed to before as witnesses are now 
 
22 THE CORAX. 
 
 denounced as blind and reprobate, fit descendants of 
 the people who killed their Prophets and rejected their 
 Messiah. The Pentateuch and the Gospel are still ap- 
 pealed to ; but it more and more becomes the mission 
 of Mahomet, in an ever-widening circle, to bring back 
 all those who had perverted the doctrines of their 
 sacred books to the old catholic faith. Abraham was 
 neither Jew nor Christian, but a true Moslem ; and 
 the faith of Abraham was now at last recovered and 
 perfected in the Coran. The Scriptures had foretold 
 the coming Prophet ; the Jews recognized him as they 
 would one of their own children ; but, perverted by 
 bigotry and malice, they falsified their evidence. Their 
 hearts were seared ; a " thick covering " enveloped 
 them ; and the Suras of the period abound with pas- 
 sages to enforce and illustrate this conclusion. 
 
 The first year of Mahomet's residence at Medina 
 was chiefly occupied in building the great Mosque, 
 and providing houses for himself and his followers, 
 who for the first few months had been received 
 into their homes and hospitably entertained by the 
 citizens of Medina. The authority of the Prophet 
 was at the outset recognized only by the professed 
 converts to Islam ; but it gradually extended, till 
 soon he became virtual chief of the whole city. 
 
 The ritual for prayer, preceded by lustrations of a 
 
 Jewish character, was observed from the 
 
 ^Suras IV. 42 ; ^^.g^. arrival of Mahomet ; but it grew 
 
 , rather out of his practice than by Divine 
 
 prescription. At the five stated periods of the day the 
 
 believers were summoned by the Adzan, or call of the 
 
EXPLAINED BY THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 23 
 
 Crier, to a short service in the Mosque, which might 
 also be performed elsewhere; and Friday was set apart, 
 though without the sacredness of the Jewish Sabbath, 
 for a more general and solemn observance. 
 
 T^ -r^ . , . , . , . - Sura LXII. 
 
 JBut rriday is nowhere mentioned in the 
 Coran, excepting at a later period, when the believers 
 are chided for quitting the Alosque on the arrival of 
 a caravan, and leaving the Prophet standing alone 
 in the pulpit. At first Mahomet followed some of the 
 Jewish fasts and festivals ; but his growing aversion 
 from the Jews led to the establishment of separate 
 institutions, which, though of a kindred character, 
 differed from the Jewish both in time and circum- 
 stance. At the bednninsf he worshipped 
 
 Ti 1 -r -. T , 1 SiiralL 188. 
 
 like the Jews, towards Jerusalem ; but 
 the Kibla, or direction of prostration at prayer, was 
 now changed to the Kaaba. So, also, the fast of the 
 Atonement was at first kept by Mahomet ; but in the 
 following year the month of Ramadhan 
 was ordained as a fast, professedly after 
 the example " of those who had gone before.'' And, 
 to mark a still further divergence from Judaism and 
 approximation to the worship of IMecca, the Eed al 
 Zoha, or sla5'ing of victims, was observxd at Medina 
 on the same day as the corresponding rite at Mina, 
 and in substitution for the Jewish rite of Sacrifice. 
 
 V 
 
 In the second year of the Hegira, with hostilities 
 against the Coreish, there opens a new 
 phase of the Coran. Hitherto, as we 
 have seen, Mahomet had declared himself to be a 
 simple preacher. He was not the "keeper" of the 
 
24 THE CORAN. 
 
 iinbeliev'-ers. Even in Medina, at the beginning, there 
 
 was to be " no constraint in religion." 
 
 ^Surasii. 357; j3ut the principles of Islam gradually 
 
 underwent a change. The caravans of 
 
 Mecca offered a tempting opportunity for reprisals, 
 
 and several expeditions were organized against them. 
 
 In one of these, conducted under sealed instructions, 
 
 the caravan, with two of the Coreishite convoy, was 
 
 captured, and a citizen of Mecca killed, and this after 
 
 ) the sacred month of Rajab had set in. Mahomet 
 
 at first disowned the transaction as sacrilegious, and 
 
 placed the prisoners and booty in bond ; but it was 
 
 not Ions; before a Divine order, iustifyins; 
 
 Sura II. 217. , .,. .^ . , n , 
 
 nostilities, even m the sacred months, as 
 less grievous than idolatry and opposition to Islam, 
 removed his scruples. Thereafter the Coran abounds 
 with incitements to fight for the faith, and with war- 
 like denunciations against the Coreish. 
 
 Mahomet now assumes the position of a theocratic 
 I'uler, and the Coran is freely used for making public 
 his commands. Every word still purports to emanate 
 from the Deity, as addressed to his Vicegerent on 
 earth. Spiritual precepts mingle with other matters, 
 but the Revelation becomes more and more the or- 
 gan of the Prophet's government. " General orders " 
 on victory or defeat, the disposal of booty and the 
 treatment of prisoners, statutes of criminal law and 
 civil rights, ordinances on marriage, slavery, and di- 
 vorce, instructions descending even to the regulation 
 of social life and intercourse, and of Mahomet's own 
 domestic privileges, appear mingled indiscriminately 
 with religious teaching in the pages of the Cordn. 
 
EXPLAINED BY THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 25 
 
 About eighteen months after the Flight, the first/ 
 pitched battle with the Coreish took place at Bedr. 
 With an army of 305 followers (of whom two-thirds 
 were citizens of Medina), Mahomet routed a force 
 three times the number, with great slaughter, and 
 taking many prisc^iers. He thus not only struck 
 terror into the Coreish, but effectually established his 
 position of Chief of Medina. Here was 
 an evident proof of his mission ; for it and"vni!^ 
 was by the Divine interposition, and by 
 the aid of angelic hosts, that the victory — or Decision J 
 as it is termed — was gained. 
 
 A twelvemonth later the Coreish had their revenge. 
 Theyadvanced upon Medina 3,000 strong. 
 Mahomet met them at Ohod, a hill three 
 miles distant from the city, at the head of but 700 
 followers ; for his ranks had been thinned by the 
 defection of Abdallah ibn Obey. He was signally 
 defeated, with the loss of 70 men, including his uncle 
 Hamza : and he himself was wounded 
 
 jiir3. Ill 
 
 and stunned. Still the hand of the Lord i 
 
 was manifest. Defeat was needed to sift the luke- j 
 warm from the true believers, and success, as before 
 at Bedr, would be again vouchsafed. What if Maho- 
 met himself had been killed ? The cause was of God, j 
 and would survive triumphant. And so, with masterly ( 
 address, both victory and defeat were made to serve 
 his purpose. 
 
 Shortly after the victory of Bedr, a difference having 
 arisen between Mahomet and the Bani Caynocaa, one 
 of the Jewish tribes settled in the outskirts of Medina, 
 he invested their fortress. They capitulated. Their 
 
26 THE CORAN. 
 
 lives were spared at the prayer of their ally, Abdallah 
 ibri Obey, but they were driven into exile. About a 
 year and a half after, Mahomet found occasion to pick 
 a quarrel with the Bani Nadhir, another of the Jewish 
 tribes, inhabiting a well-fortified suburb surrounded 
 by rich date-groves. After a siege of three weeks 
 Mahomet accepted their offer to surrender lands 
 and gardens to him, and leave the country. The 
 LIX. Sura is devoted to the subject. The Prophet 
 is there justified in having broken the laws of Arab 
 warfare in cutting down and burning the date-trees, 
 and the disaffected party are taunted with their in- 
 ability to assist their Jewish confederates. 
 ~ In the fourth year of the Hegira there was no actual 
 fiditinoj. The leaders of the two armies 
 
 A.H. 4. 
 
 at Ohod had appointed a hostile meeting 
 to take place at the fair of Bedr the following year. 
 Both marched forth. But the Coreish, harassed by 
 drought, halted on the way and returned ; while the 
 Moslems encamped eight days on the appointed spot^ 
 buying and selling at the fair. In the III. Sura 
 the Divine satisfaction is signified at the result. 
 
 In the fifth year, during an expedition against the 
 Bani Mustalick, a disloyal tribe, an alter- 
 cation arose between the men of Me- 
 dina and the refugees from Mecca. High words 
 led to blows, and Abdallah ibn Obey began to taunt 
 his people with having brought upon themselves this 
 influx of insolent strangers. " When we return to 
 Medina," he said, " the mightier shall surely expel 
 the meaner." Mahomet, alarmed at the bold expres- 
 sion of so dangerous a sentiment, gave orders for a 
 
EXPLAINED BY THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 27 
 
 long and immediate march. Soon after, the LXIII. 
 Sura was revealed, with a bitter reprimand against 
 Abdallah and his disaffected followers. 
 
 This year is remarkable for certain scandals con- 
 nected with the domestic life of Mahomet. He had 
 now five wives, two of whom had been but recently 
 added to his harem. Nevertheless, he was smitten 
 by the charms of Zeinab, wife of his adopted son 
 Zeid, who, seeing this, divorced her, that she might 
 be married to his friend. Mahomet hesitated to take 
 to wife one who, according to Arab custom, was of 
 prohibited affinity. But the passion was irrepressible ; 
 and at last a revelation was produced 
 
 I.- u 1.-J J 1 • r r 1 J 1 SuraXXXIIL 
 
 which chided his fear of man ; ruled that 
 adoption made no virtual affinity ; and, " that there 
 might be no offence chargeable to believers in marry- 
 ing the wives of their adopted sons," joined the 
 Prophet in marriage to Zeinab. 
 
 A few months later another delicate affair, but of a 
 different complexion, occurred. On his various expe- 
 ditions, Mahomet was accompanied by one or more 
 of his wives. At the last stage, returning from the 
 campaign against the Mustalick tribe, Ayesha's tent 
 and litter were by inadvertence carried away while 
 she was for the moment absent, and on her return she 
 found herself in the dark all alone. Expecting the mis- 
 take to be discovered, she sat down to await the issue, 
 when, after some delay, one of the followers came up 
 and, finding her in this plight, bade her mount his 
 camel, and so conducted her to Medina. The citi- 
 zens drew sinister conclusions from the circumstance. 
 Mahomet himself became estranged from Ayesha, 
 
28 THE CORAN. 
 
 and she retired to her father's house. Several weeks 
 elapsed thus, when at length the Proi^het 
 
 Sura XXIV. . '■ 
 
 was supernaturally apprised of her inno- 
 cence ; and the law was promulgated which requires 
 four eye-witnesses to establish the charge of adultery, 
 in default of which the imputation is to be punished 
 as a slander. And so Ayesha was taken back, and 
 her accusers beaten with stripes. 
 
 About this time certain commands were also issued 
 ,„,„ for the veilinfjj of women when they walk 
 
 Sura XXV. i i i i 
 
 abroad, and for the decent regulation of 
 social and domestic intercourse. These were more 
 stringent in the case of the Prophet's own wives, who, 
 
 in case of incontinence, were threatened 
 
 bura XXXIII. 
 
 With a double punishment. They were 
 not as other women, and more than others were to 
 abstain from being bland in speech, " lest he indulge 
 desire in whose heart is disease " ; and, finally, the 
 jealousy of Mahomet was allayed by the injunction that 
 ,,,„„ they should never marry ao-ain, even after 
 
 Sura XLVIII. ,., ... 
 
 his death. The obligation devolving on 
 believers to consort equally with their several wives 
 was also relaxed specially in the Prophet's favour. 
 
 Towards the close of the same year the Coreish, 
 with an army of 4,000 men, again attacked ]\Iedina. 
 Mahomet, resolved not a second time to hazard an 
 engagement without the town, intrenched his posi- 
 tion by a deep ditch, behind which he opposed the 
 enemy. For fifteen days the siege was pressed, to 
 the great alarm and peril of the city, when the host, 
 wearied and pressed by stress of weather, sudden)}^ 
 decamped. Mahomet had hardly begun to lay aside 
 
EXPLAINED BY THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 29 
 
 his armour when he was visited by the angel Gabriel, 
 with the command, " Arise, and go forth against the 
 Bani Coreitza. Behold, I go before thee to shake 
 their walls." This was the only Jewish tribe now left 
 in the neighbourhood. Charged with having listened 
 to the overtures of the Coreish, they were besieged 
 by the Moslem army. After fourteen days, reduced 
 to extremity, they surrendered at discretion. The 
 men, to the number of 600 to 800, were deliberately 
 beheaded in parties, one after another, and the women 
 (one of whom the Prophet reserved for himself) and 
 the children were sold into slavery. These events are 
 treated of in the XXXIII. Sura, where the alarm 
 of the citizens, the cowardice of the " hypocrites," 
 the signal deliverance wrought by the Lord, and the 
 destruction of the Jews, are graphically described. 
 
 In the sixth year of the Hegira Mahomet conceived 
 the project of peacefully visiting ]\Iecca, 
 to perform the rites of pilgrimage. Few 
 of his Bedouin allies responded to the invitation. 
 Nevertheless, the cavalcade, arrayed in pilgrim garb, 
 numbered 1,500 followers. But the Coreish, suspi- 
 cious of the design, opposed their entrance ; so they 
 encamped outside the sacred limits, at Hodeibia, 
 where, after protracted negotiations, a truce was 
 signed. Hostilities were suspended for ten years ; 
 all tribes were declared free to enter into treaty with 
 Mahomet ; and liberty was accorded to converts from 
 Mecca to join him at their pleasure. The pilgrims 
 were at once to return without entering Mecca, but 
 permission was promised for the performance of the 
 pilgrimage in the coming year. During the negotiations 
 
30 THE CORAN. 
 
 Othman had been sent as an envoy to the Coreish, and, 
 his return having been delayed, a rumour spread of 
 foul play. The pilgrims crowded round the Prophet, 
 as he stood under an acacia-tree, and enthusiastically 
 pledged themselves to stand by his absent son-in-law. 
 The stirring scene, know^n as " the pledge of the tree," 
 is thus noticed in the XLVIII. Sura : " Verily, God 
 was well pleased with the beHevers when they pledged 
 themselves under the tree." In the same Sura the truce 
 is termed " an evident victory " ; and in effect it was a 
 real triumph for Mahomet, because it recognized him 
 as an equal and independent powder. But his followers 
 were disappointed ; and he allayed their chagrin by 
 the promise of early conquest and abundant spoil 
 elsewhere, a prospect from which, as the severest 
 punishment for their lukew^armness, the backward 
 Bedouins were excluded. In another Sura, revealed 
 about the same time, the Moslems are 
 
 SuraLX. _ . ^ .,.' . , ^ . , , . 
 
 warned agamst familiarity and friendship 
 with the unbelievers, and rules are laid down for the 
 treatment of such female converts as came over from 
 Mecca j the marriage bond between believers and 
 their unbelieving wives who remained at Mecca was 
 annulled ; and the dower of the one w^as allowed to 
 be set off against the dower of the other. 
 
 Before many months the promise of victory and 
 spoil was amply redeemed by the cam- 
 paign against the Jews of Kheibar, a 
 territory several days' journey north of Mecca, where 
 a rich booty and ample domains were secured by 
 Mahomet for himself and his followers. The seventh 
 year of the Hegira passed otherwise uneventfully, and 
 
EXPLAINED BY THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 3 1 
 
 at its close the postponed pilgrimage was peacefully 
 performed according to the treaty. 
 
 In the eighth year another scene took place in the 
 Prophet's harem, which gave occasion to au s 
 
 some strange passages similar to those 
 revealed in the affair of Zeinab. In the previous year 
 Mahomet had sent despatches summoning the kings 
 of the earth to the true faith. To none of these 
 did he receive satisfactory response, excepting from 
 Muckouckas, Governor of Egypt, who, among other 
 gifts, forwarded two slave girls. Being sisters, only 
 one (according to the Moslem law) was lawful to him, 
 and he selected Mary. In the following year she 
 presented him with a son, who died in infancy. The 
 fondness of Mahomet for the Coptic maid was re- 
 sented by his numerous wives, one of whom surprised 
 him in her own room alone with Mary ; and he pro- 
 mised to forego her society if the affair were kept 
 quiet. But the scandal could not be concealed, and 
 Mahomet soon found his harem cold and estranged. 
 He withdrew from their society, and for a month lived 
 with Mary alone. A revelation appeared upon this 
 occasion, chiding him because he had " forbidden 
 himself that which God had made lawful to him, out 
 of desire to please his wives " ; allowing him to abro- 
 gate his promise ; and threatening his wives with the 
 displeasure of God and man. " Haply his Lord, if 
 he divorce you, will give him in your stead better 
 wives than ye are — submissive unto God, believers, 
 pious, repentant, devout, fasting — both women married 
 previously and virgins." Whether Mahomet intended 
 such passages to be perpetuated in the Goran we have 
 
32 THE CORAN. 
 
 not the means of determining ; but there is certainly 
 nothing, either in tradition or in the Coran itself, 
 which would lead to the supposition of his having 
 been abashed at the frailty and licentiousness dis- 
 closed by these transactions, or was even conscious 
 of the discredit attaching to them. 
 
 In this year the arms of Mahomet had a serious 
 reverse at Muta, on the Syrian border, where his 
 friend Zeid was killed. A new phase, however, now 
 opened on Islam ; an indirect breach of the truce by 
 the Coreish was eagerly challenged, and the Prophet, 
 at the head of 10,000 men, entered Mecca as a con- 
 queror. He treated the prostrate city with singular 
 forbearance and generosity ; the whole population 
 came over to his cause ; and in a few weeks we find 
 the once hostile chiefs of the Coreish marching under 
 the banner of Mahomet. The Bedouin tribes of the 
 neighbourhood were more stubborn. They rapidly 
 concentrated at Taif ; and an engagement took place 
 in the valley of Honein, which at the first threatened 
 to be critical, for the ranks of Mahomet, as they 
 defiled through the narrow pass, were thrown into 
 confusion by an ambush of the enemy rushing 
 wildly upon them. The Moslems rallied at the call, 
 which touched a double chord, — "Ye men of the 
 Sura Bacr ! Ye men of the tree of fealty ! " * and 
 driving back the Bedouins, secured a complete victory, 
 together with great spoil. After an unsuccessful at- 
 tempt to carry Taif by siege, Mahomet divided the 
 booty and turned homewards. To gain the hearts of 
 
 * Sura II., the first revealed at Medina. The "tree of* 
 fealty," i.e. Hodeibia. 
 
EXPLAINED BY THE LIFE OF MAHOxMET. 
 
 00 
 
 the chiefs of Mecca, he, at the distribution, gave 
 them special largesses from the spoil. This caused dis- 
 content among his older followers, whom he appeased 
 by protestations of his regard, and of his resolve never 
 to abandon Medina or return to live at Mecca. In 
 the IX. Sura the special application of the booty 
 is justified, the panic at Honein described, and the 
 eventual success ascribed to angelic aid. 
 
 The power of Mahomet now overshadowed the 
 Peninsula, and the ninth year of the 
 Hegira is known as the "Year of Depu- ^'^' ^" 
 
 tations," which poured in upon him from all quarters, 
 to acknowledge his supremacy, and receive instruction 
 in the requirements of Islam,— prayer, the giving of 
 tithes, and fasting. Some of the visitors were rude 
 sons of the desert ; and one party, on arriving at his 
 door, called out in a loud voice for Mahomet to come 
 forth. Courteous and condescending, Mahomet had 
 still a just respect for his own dignity, and the occasion 
 was not thought too inconsiderable for a revelation 
 (Sura XLIX.), commanding that the Prophet should 
 be addressed in a more courtly and submissive tone. 
 
 In the summer of this year occurred the expedition 
 to Tebuk, the last that was undertaken by Mahomet. 
 It was intended to overawe the Syrian tribes, which 
 had been stirred up by Roman influence to assemble 
 on the frontier. The lukewarm party at Medina, and 
 even some of IMahomet's sincere adherents, afraid 
 of the heat and discomforts of the march, held back ; 
 while others showed the utmost alacrity, and con- 
 tributed largely towards the equipment of the force. 
 After a successful campaign, in which several Christian 
 
 D * 
 
34 THE CORAN. 
 
 and Jewish chieftains tendered their submission, Ma- 
 homet returned, and promulgated an in- 
 dignant diatribe against the maUngerers, 
 who, by their absence upon false pretences, had in- 
 curred the Divine displeasure. Those who frankly 
 confessed their fault were more leniently dealt with ; 
 and the " Weepers," that is the indigent believers, 
 who bewailed their inability to equip themselves for 
 the march, are mentioned with special commendation. 
 The displeasure of Mahomet was about the same 
 time kindled against a party, w^ho had built a mosque 
 in the suburbs, with some disloyal purpose. He not 
 only caused the building to be dismantled, but stigma- 
 tized its foundations as " built on the brink 
 of a crumbling bank to be swept away with 
 the builder into the fire of hell." The disaffected 
 faction, however, had now but little countenance at 
 Medina, and Abdallah ibn Obey dying shortly after, 
 it disappeared entirely from the scene. 
 
 In the course of the year, Taif having tendered sub- 
 mission, there was no longer opposition anywhere in 
 the Peninsula. Therefore, when the month of pilgrim- 
 age came round, Mahomet deputed Ali to recite, before 
 the multitude assembled at Medina, the " Release," 
 according to which, after the term of four 
 months, the Prophet was discharged from 
 the obligations otherwise devolving upon him, and com- 
 manded to wage war against all unbelievers failing to 
 submit themselves to Islam. None but Moslems were 
 ever after to approach the holy Temple, nor (so it was 
 declared) should any unbeliever enter paradise.* 
 
 * This last clause (as well as the prohibition against making 
 
EXPLAINED BY THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 2>S 
 
 In the latter period of the life of Mahomet little 
 notice is taken either of Jews or Christians. He had 
 not received from them the countenance he claimed ; 
 and, indeed, his object now attained, their sup- 
 port was no longer needed. When not indifferent, 
 his attitude was unfriendly towards the Christians ; 
 and towards the Jews, embittered. A Christian em- 
 bassy from Najran, headed by their bishop, visited 
 Medina, and entered into argument with the Prophet. 
 As the discussion waxed warm, Mahomet defied his 
 opponents to bring the matter to the test of an oath : 
 — " Come, let us call over the names of our sons and 
 your sons, of our wives and your wives, of ourselves 
 and yourselves ; then let us curse one the other, and 
 lay the curse of God upon those that lie." This 
 
 stransre challenge is embodied in the Co- 
 
 A » , , ,^ 1 T -, Sura in. 
 
 ran. At the last, Mahomet was directed 
 
 to fight against the recusant " people who possessed 
 
 the Scriptures," that is, both Jews and Christians, 
 
 until they agreed to " pay tribute with their hand, 
 
 and were humbled." Both are cursed for 
 
 their " lying vanities," the Jews for calling 
 
 30-36 
 Ezra, and the Christians for callino: their 
 
 Sura IX. 
 
 ^ their 
 
 Messiah, the Son of God ; and the priests and monks, 
 who on former occasions had been spoken kindly of, 
 are now bitterly condemned : — " These devour the 
 wealth of the people in vanity, and obstruct the 
 ways of the Lord ; . . . their gold and silver shall be 
 
 the circuit of the Kaaba, naked) does not appear in Sura IX., 
 though it is imphed in some other passages, as Suras III. 84; 
 XLVIII. 13. It was, I need hardly add, in direct contraven- 
 tion of Mahomet's earlier teaching. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 THE CORAN. 
 
 heated in the fire of hell, and their foreheads, and their 
 sides, and their backs, shall be seared therewith ; — This 
 is that which ye have treasured up for yourselves^ taste 
 tJmt which ye have treasured upy But of the Scriptures 
 themselves, both of the Old and New Testaments, 
 iMahomet never, from first to last, made mention but 
 with profound respect and veneration. 
 
 The life of ]Mahomet was now drawing to a close, 
 when in the loth year of the Hegira, accompanied 
 by his wives and by a vast multitude, he performed 
 the "Farewell pilgrimage," of which the rites were 
 now divested of every idolatrous association. On the 
 sacred mount of Arafat he recited certain passages of 
 the Coran, ending with the 4th verse of Sura V. : — 
 " This day have I perfected my religion unto you." 
 Returning to Medina, he admonished the people in 
 their various duties, social and domestic ; and pro- 
 claimed the equality of every believer with his brother, 
 and the sacredness of life and property. Then he 
 recited the verses in Sura IX., which abolish inter- 
 calation of the year and prohibit change of the 
 sacred months. He warned them of the wiles b)- 
 which Satan would seek to beguile the faithful even 
 in matters trifling and indifferent ; and concluded : — 
 "Verily I have fulfilled my mission. 1 have left that 
 amongst you, a plain command, — the Book of God, 
 and manifest ordinances, — which, if ye hold fast, )e 
 shall never go astray." 
 
 Three months after, Mahomet fell sick ; and on 
 the 8th of June, A.D. 632, he died, in 
 the sixty-third year of his age. 
 
THE CO RAX. 37 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 COMPILATION AND ARR-\NGEMEN~r OF THE CORAN. 
 
 During the lifetime of Mahomet no attempt w-os 
 made to collect the multitudinous revelations consti- 
 tuting the Comn, into one book. The A-arious passages 
 had been Avritten down from his lips, from time to time 
 at their deliver)", by some friend or follower performing 
 the office of amanuensis ; or they had been first com- 
 mitted to memor>\ and then at some subsequent 
 period recorded. For this purpose the rude mate- 
 rials in use among the Ambs were employed, as 
 palm-leaves, leather, stone tablets, or the shoulder- 
 blades of Croats and camels. There AN'as no s\'stematic 
 arrangement of these materials. There were, indeed, 
 recognized ** Sums," or chapters ; and it seems pro- 
 bable that the greater part of the revelation was so 
 arranged during the Prophet's lifetime, and used in that 
 form for private reading, and also for recitation at the 
 daily prayers.* Some of the Suras were short and 
 self-contained ; others were longer, and from time to 
 lime were added to by the command of Mahomet, 
 who would direct a new revelation to be " entered in 
 the Sum treating of such and such a subject." There 
 was no fixed repository- for these materials : but there 
 
 * A ** Sura" means a row or series, such as a line ot bricks 
 arrangevl in a wall. 
 
38 THE CORAN. 
 
 is reason to conjecture that the greater portion, or at 
 least the most important chapters, were laid up in the 
 habitation of one of the Prophet's wives (for he had 
 no separate room or dwelling-place of his own), or 
 left in the custody of the scribes or secretaries who 
 had first recorded them. They were, moreover, trea- 
 sured up with pious reverence in the memories of the 
 people ; and transcripts of the several Suras or frag- 
 ments, especially of those most frequently in use for 
 meritorious repetition, or for pubHc and private de- 
 votion, were even before the FHght in the hands of 
 many persons, and so preserved with religious and 
 even superstitious care. As the Faith extended, 
 teachers were sent forth to the various tribes through- 
 out Arabia to instruct the new converts in the require- 
 ments of Islam ; and these carried with them, either 
 in a recorded form or indelibly imprinted on the mind 
 (for the Arab memory was possessed of a marvellous 
 tenacity), the leading portions of the Revelation. 
 
 Such was the state of things at the Prophet's death, 
 and so it continued for about a year. After the battle 
 of Yemama, in which many of the reciters of the 
 Coran were slain, the risk of leaving the Revelation 
 on this precarious footing presented itself forcibly to 
 the mind of Omar. '•' I fear," he said, addressing the 
 Caliph Abu Bekr, " that slaughter may again wax hot 
 among the reciters of the Coran in other fields of battle, 
 and that much may be lost therefrom. Now, therefore, 
 my advice is that thou shouldest give speedy orders 
 for collecting the same together." Abu Bekr, recog- 
 nizing the wisdom of this counsel, appointed Zeid, the 
 chief amanuensis of the Prophet, to the task ; and so 
 
COMPILATION AND ARRANGEMENT. 39 
 
 Zeid sought out the various Suras and fragments of 
 the Coran from every quarter, and " gathered them 
 together from pahn-leaves and tablets of white stone, 
 and from the breasts of men." The manuscript of 
 the Coran, as thus compiled, was committed to the 
 keeping of Haphsa, one of the Prophet's widows, and 
 continued to be the standard text during the ten 
 years of Omar's Caliphate. 
 
 But by degrees variety crept into the many tran- 
 scripts from this compilation, and the Caliph Othman 
 was persuaded to apply a trenchant remedy. Zeid 
 was appointed to the recension of his former work ; 
 and as the differences were mainly of dialect and ex- 
 pression, a syndicate was nominated of three Coreish 
 authorities to act as final judges in the matter. The 
 various readings were searched out from all the 
 provinces of the Empire, and the new collection was 
 assimilated to the pure Meccan dialect in which Ma- 
 homet had given utterance to his inspiration. Tran- 
 scripts were then multiplied, and forv/arded to the chief 
 cities as standards for reference. All previous copies 
 were called in, and committed to the flames. The 
 recension of Zeid has been handed down unaltered. 
 So carefully has it been followed, that there is but one 
 and the same Coran in use throughout the vast bounds 
 of the Mahometan world. Various readings are almost 
 unknown. The few variations are almost entirely con- 
 fined to the vowel forms and the diacritical points, 
 which, having been invented at a later period, formed 
 no part of the original or of Zeid's recension. 
 
 There is every security that the work of Zeid was 
 executed faithfully ; and, indeed, the acceptance of 
 
40 THE CORAN. 
 
 the Coran by Ali and his party, the antagonists of the 
 unfortunate Othman, is the surest guarantee of its 
 genuineness. It is possible that some of the earUer 
 and of the more ephemeral fragments which proceeded 
 from Mahomet may have before his death become 
 obsolete, and thus escaped collection ; but the pious 
 veneration with which the whole body of the Mus- 
 sulmans from the first regarded the Revelation as the 
 Word of God, the devotion with which they committed 
 it to memory, and the evidence that transcripts existed 
 even from an early period of Mahomet's ministry, com- 
 bined with the fact that Zeid's collection came into 
 immediate and unquestioned use, — all this leaves no 
 doubt in the mind that the Coran as we read it now 
 contains the very words delivered by the Prophet* 
 
 But the Coran has this drawback, that we are never 
 sure of the context. While some Suras, especially the 
 shorter chapters, the lyrics, and narrative portions, are 
 more or less complete, and presumably in the form 
 in which they were first promulgated, there prevails 
 throughout the great body of the work an utter dis- 
 regard of chronological sequence. There are not only 
 startling breaks and gaps, but later passages not un- 
 frequently precede the earlier. The fragments have 
 been set with artless simplicity. The materials were 
 too sacred to be dressed by human hand, and so we 
 have this tangled mass — a mosaic of which the parts 
 are so rudely and fortuitously put together that the 
 design is often marred and unintelligible. 
 
 * The subject is followed out in greater detail in the first 
 chapter of the Introduction to the " Life of Mahomet," re- 
 produced as an Appendix in the second edition. 
 
COMPILATION AND ARRANGEMENT. 4 1 
 
 In a work extending over so many years, based 
 upon the changing incidents of the day, and bearing 
 so manifestly the impress of an imjDulsive mind, dis- 
 crepancies were to be looked for ; and they certainly 
 are not wanting in the Coran. Inconsistency and 
 contradiction are incompatible with the idea of a 
 Divine revelation, although a positive command may 
 be cancelled or amended. When, therefore, two 
 passages are opposed to one another, expositors hold 
 that the earlier is abrogated by the later, 
 in accordance with the text : " Whatever 
 verses We cancel or cause thee to forget, We give 
 thee better in their stead, or the like thereof" 
 
 While the component parts of each Sura are thus 
 often wanting in connection, whether as to time or sub- 
 ject, the several Suras or chapters follow one another 
 upon no principle whatever, excepting it be that of 
 length ; for the longest are placed first, then the shorter, 
 and so on till the smallest of all come at the close of 
 the volume. And since the shorter Suras belong, as 
 a rule, to the early period of Mahomet's ministry, and 
 the longer to the later period, the arrangement is a 
 direct inversion of the natural order, insomuch that 
 the reader who would begin at the end of the Coran 
 and read backwards to the beginning, would have a 
 much truer conception of the teaching with which 
 Mahomet commenced his ministry, and the stages by 
 which it advanced to the fully developed Islam, than 
 if he had begun at the beginning. 
 
 Any attempt to arrange the Suras in true chrono- 
 logical order can at the best be approximate ; but 
 there are guides which, within certain limits, may be 
 
r 
 
 42 THE CORAN. 
 
 depended upon. First, the style : wild and rhap- 
 sodical in the early period, prosaic and narrative in 
 the second, official and authoritative in the last. Then 
 there is the development of doctrine and precept ; the 
 bearing of the argument, whether addressed to the 
 idolater of Mecca, to the Jew or Christian, or to 
 the disaffected citizen of Medina; to the believer 
 oppressed and persecuted, or to the same believer 
 militant and triumphant. And, lastly, there are dis- 
 tinct references to historical landmarks, which, within 
 certain limits, fix the period of composition. On the 
 other hand, a great portion of the Suras — certainly 
 all the longer ones — being formed of fragments be- 
 longing to various periods of the Prophet's life, it 
 often happens that a Sura of such composite character 
 cannot be assigned wholly to any one particular pe- 
 riod ; thus, even in a chapter which is rightly classed 
 as a Medina Sura, we not unfrequently meet with 
 passages evidently given forth long before at Mecca, 
 and vice versa. It will also be understood that there 
 are great portions of the Coran which, having nothing 
 very characteristic about them, it is hardly possible 
 on sufficient grounds to assign to any specific period, 
 and the arrangement of which must therefore rest on 
 purely arbitrary assumption. 
 
 In the following pages the Suras, 114 in number, 
 have been arranged to the best of my judgment ; and 
 while the general order may be accepted as based on 
 sufficient grounds, it will be gathered from the pre- 
 ceding remarks that, with certain exceptions of deter- 
 minate epochs, a considerable latitude must be allowed 
 in fixing the place of individual Suras. 
 
COMPILATION AND ARRANGEMENT. 43 
 
 Approximate Chronological Order of the Suras. 
 
 First Period. — Eighteen Suras : CIII., C, XCIX., XCI., 
 CVL, I., CL, XCV., CIL, CIV., LXXXIL, XCIL, CV., 
 LXXXIX., XC, XCIII., XCIV., CVIII. These are all short 
 rhapsodies, some of only one or two lines. They may have been 
 composed before Mahomet had conceived the idea of a Divine 
 mission, or of a Revelation communicated to hiin direct from 
 heaven. None of them are in the form of a message from the 
 Deity. 
 
 Second Period. — The Opening of Mahomet's Ministry, 
 
 Sura XCVI . contains the command to ' ' recite in the name of 
 the Lord." According to tradition, it was the first revelation 
 received by him, after which an interval (the Fatrah) elapsed 
 during which inspiration was suspended. 
 
 Sura CXIII. Five short verses on the unity and eternity of 
 the Deity. There is nothing to mark its exact period ; but it 
 opens with the word " Say," and must therefore be subsequent 
 to the time when Mahomet assumed that he was directly inspired 
 of God. He is said to have been in the habit of repeating this 
 Sura before retiring to rest. 
 
 Sura LXXIV. opens with the command to preach, and pro- 
 ceeds with a scathing denunciation of one of the chiefs of Mecca 
 who scoffed at the Resurrection. Unbelievers are threatened 
 with hell. 
 
 Sura CXI. A short Sura, in which the uncle of the Prophet, 
 Abu Lahab, and his wife are cursed in wild and bitter terms. 
 
 Third Period. — From the Commencement of Mahomet's 
 public Ministry, to the Abyssinian Emigration. 
 
 Suras LXXXVIL, XCVIL, LXXXVHL, LXXX., 
 LXXXL, LXXXIV., LXXXVL, CX., LXXXV., LXXXIII,, 
 LXXVIIT,, LXXVII,, LXXVL, LXXV., LXX., CIX., 
 CVIL, LV., LVI. These are chiefly composed of descriptions 
 of the Resurrection, Paradise, and Hell, with references to the 
 growing opposition of the Coreish. 
 
 Fourth Period. — From the Sixth to the Tenth year of 
 Mahomet's ministry. 
 
 Suras LXVIL, LIIL, XXXIL, XXXIX., LXXIII., 
 
44 THE CORAN. 
 
 LXXIX., LI v., XXXIV., XXXL, LXIX., LXVIII., XLI., 
 LXXI., LII., L., XLV., XLIV., XXXVII., XXX., XXVI., 
 XV., LI. With this period begin narratives from the Jewish 
 Scriptures, and rabbinical and Arab legends. The temporary 
 compromise with idolatry is connected with Sm^a LIII. 
 
 Fifth Period. — From the Tenth year of Mahomet's 
 Ministry (the period of the removal of the Ban) to the Flight 
 from Mecca. 
 
 Suras XLVL, LXXIL, XXXV., XXXVL, XIX., XVIIL, 
 XXVIL, XLIL, XL., XXXVIIL, XXV., XX., XLIIL, XIL, 
 XL, X., XIV., VI., LXIV., XXVIIL, XXIIL, XXIL, XXL, 
 XVII., XVI., XIIL, XXIX., VIL, CXIIL, CXIV. (the last 
 two indeterminate). The Suras of this period contain some 
 narratives from the Gospel. The rites of pilgrimage are enjoined. 
 The cavillings of the Coreish are refuted ; and we have vivid 
 picturings of the Resurrection and Judgment, of Heaven and 
 Hell, with proofs of God's unity, power, and pi-ovidence. 
 
 From stage to stage the Suras become, on the average, longer, 
 and some of them now fill many pages. In the later Suras of 
 this period we meet not unfrequently with Medina passages, 
 which have been interpolated as bearing on some connected 
 subject. As examples may be taken v. 41 of Sura XXIL, in 
 which permission is given to bear arms against the Meccans ; 
 V. 33, Sura XVII. , containing rules for the administration of 
 justice ; v. 1 10, Sura XVL, 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 Medina. 
 
 Last Period. — Suras revealed at Medina. 
 
 Sura XCVIII. A short chapter of eight verses, regarding 
 good and bad Jews and Christians. Nothing very determinate 
 about its chronology. 
 
 Sura II. Considerably the lon^st Sura in the Coran. It is 
 named Sura Bacr, or the Cow, from the Red heifer described in 
 V. 67 as having been sacrificed by the Israelites at the direction 
 of Moses. The chapter was so named in Mahomet's lifetime, 
 as we have seen by its mention at the battle of Ilonein. In this 
 Sura have been collected together passages, on various subjects, 
 "wluch were delivered during the first two or three years after the 
 
COMPILATION AND ARRANGEMENT. 45 
 
 Flight. The greater part relates to the Jews, who are at times 
 exhorted in friendly tenns (these being the earlier passages), and 
 at times reprobated. Biblical and rabbinical stories abound ; 
 and we have the order to change the Kibla (or direction at 
 prayer), denunciation of the disaffected citizens of Medina, in- 
 junctions to fight, and permission to bear arms in the sacred 
 months. There is likewise much matter of a legislative 
 character promulgated on first reaching Medina, with passages 
 interpolated on the same subject, but of later date. 
 
 Sura III. Also of very considerable length. A part belongs 
 to the time immediately after the battle of Bedr (A.H. 2), which 
 is described. Another and longer portion relates to the defeat 
 at Ohod (A.H. 3); and the second expedition to Bedr (A.H. 4) 
 is also alluded to. The Jews are referred to at great length, and 
 in terms of bitter hostility. The interview with the Christian 
 deputation from Najran (vv. 57-63) belongs to a much later 
 period. And, finally, there are some passages appertaining to 
 the Farewell pilgrimage (A.H. 10), introduced in connection 
 with other (probably) earlier texts on the rites of pilgrimage. 
 
 Sura VIH. contains instructions on the division of the spoil 
 taken at Bedr, and is mostly of that period. Some parts are in 
 the old Meccan style, and the Coreish are frequently referred to. 
 
 Sura XLVII. War and slaughter strenuously enjoined, and 
 the idolaters of Mecca threatened. 
 
 Sura LXII. A short Sura, in which the Jews are denounced 
 for their ignorance. The Friday service is to take precedence 
 of secular engagements. 
 
 Sura V. A long chapter, composed in great part of abuse of 
 the Jews. The doctrines held by Christians are controverted, 
 though they themselves are spoken kindly of (v. 91). The 
 opening passage, prescribing the rites of pilgrimage, is of later 
 date ; part probably appertains to the Hodeibia journey (A.H. 
 6), but part also to the Farewell pilgrimage, as v. 4 : * ' This 
 day have I perfected your religion unto you." We have also 
 many civil ordinances, as the law of inheritance, and miscella- 
 neous instructions. 
 
 Sura LIX. Of inconsiderable length, and relating to the siege 
 and expulsion of the Bani Nadhir (A.H. 4). 
 
46 THE CORAN. 
 
 Sura IV., entitled *' Women," from the large portion of it 
 devoted to the treatment of wives, and the relations of the sexes. 
 There are also ordinances on the law of inheritance, and general 
 precepts, social and political. The friendship of the idolatrous 
 Meccans is to be shunned. There are likewise animadversions 
 against the Jews. 
 
 Sura LVIII. A short chapter on divorce and other social 
 questions. The '' disaffected " are blamed for taking the part of 
 the Jews. 
 
 Sura LXV. A very short chapter on divorce and connected 
 subjects, with some religious admonitions. 
 
 Sura LXIII. A short chapter containing menaces against 
 Abdallah ibn Obey for his treasonable language on the expe- 
 dition against the Bani Mustalick (A.H. 5). 
 
 Sura XXIV. contains the vindication of Ayesha in reference to 
 her misadventure (A.H. 5), with the law of evidence for conjugal 
 unfaithfulness, and miscellaneous injunctions, social and religious. 
 
 Sura XXXIII. Composed of several portions spread over the 
 year A.H. 5. The earliest are those sanctioning the marriage 
 of the Prophet with Zeinab, wife of his adopted son, which pre- 
 ceded the expedition against the Bani Mustalick by about half a 
 year ; then there are various passages on the conjugal relations 
 of Mahomet. The remainder is devoted to the siege of Me- 
 dina, and the fall of the Bani Coreitza, events occurring some 
 four months after the above campaign. 
 
 Sura LVII. contains strenuous injunctions to fight and con- 
 tribute towards the expenses of war, and thus obtain a special 
 merit by joining the cause before victory was finally declared. 
 The disaffected are warned, and Christians are also mentioned 
 in kindly terms. 
 
 Sura LXI. A short chapter, like the preceding. "Verily, the 
 Lord loveth such as fight in His cause, drawn up in line like 
 imto a well-compacted building." Speedy victory is promised. 
 
 The remaining Suras belong exclusively to the last five years 
 of the Prophet's life. 
 
 Sura XLVIII. refers to the truce of Hodeibia (A.H. 6), and 
 the prospect of victory and spoil to be obtained elsewhere (ful- 
 filled shortly after at Kheibar). 
 
COMPILATION AND ARRANGEMENT. 47 
 
 Sura LX. A short chapter relating chiefly to the treatment 
 of those women who, after the truce, came over from Mecca. 
 Believers are warned against forming friendships with the ido- 
 laters of Mecca. 
 
 Sura LXVI. A short chapter on the affair of Mahomet and 
 the Coptic maid (A.H. 7 or 8). 
 
 Sura XLIX. Another short chapter, blaming the profession 
 of the Bedouin Arabs as insincere, chiding the deputation which 
 called out rudely at Mahomet's door, and exhorting believers 
 against distrust and uncharitableness among themselves. 
 
 Sura IX. The final chapter, of some considerable length. It 
 treats of the campaign to Tebuk (A. H. 9). The Sura opens with 
 the " Release" promulgated at the pilgrimage of the same year, 
 and proceeds to declare the antagonism of Islam to other reli- 
 o;ions, and all but Mahometans excluded from Mecca and the 
 rites of pilgrimage. Slaughter and slavery are breathed against 
 idolatrous people ; and war is commanded against Jews and 
 Christians, until they pay tribute and are humbled. It is called 
 Sura Jehad, or "the crusade Chapter," and in the early cam- 
 paigns of the Caliphate was often read on the field before battle. 
 
 The verses in the Suras are not numbered ; nor are 
 the Suras themselves numbered, or known amongst 
 Mahometans by their numerical sequence, but (hke 
 the books of the Bible) each by a separate name or 
 title drawn from some leading topic or expression 
 occurring in it, as Sura Jonas, the Cave, the Night 
 Jo7i7'7iey. Each Sura commences with the Bis77iillah 
 — that is, with the words, " In the name of the Lord 
 most merciful."* The Coran is divided, for con- 
 
 * The only exception is Sura IX. ; and there being no Bis- 
 inillah prefixed to it, some hold that it was intended to be a 
 continuation of Sura VIII. The Bismillah (which may have 
 been taken from ihe corresponding Christian form, or an old 
 Persian one), as well as the title, are generally held, but on no 
 intelligible ground, to be part of the divine original. There is 
 
48 THE CORAN. 
 
 venience, into thirty portions ; so that the whole may 
 (Hke the Psahiis), by the use of a daily portion, be 
 read through in the month. 
 
 Their intense veneration for the Coran . induced 
 among Mahometans a superstitious aversion to its 
 being printed and sold as a common book. There is 
 also a very prevalent unwillingness to desecrate the 
 sacred text, and incur the danger of erroneous render- 
 ing, by a translation into other languages. Such scruples 
 are on the decrease ; and printed copies, with interlineal 
 versions in Persian and Urdoo, are now commonly 
 used in India. But the translations are so literal as 
 often to be unintelligible, slavish adherence to the letter 
 proving, as usual, a greater irreverence than an attempt 
 to give the sense and spirit in a free translation. 
 
 The translation of Sale, published A.D. 1734, is 
 still the standard English version. Though para- 
 phrastic, perhaps to an excess, it deserves our admi- 
 ration, not only for its faithfulness, but for the wonder- 
 ful transfusion of the spirit of the original into a 
 foreign tongue.* 
 
 some variation of the titles in different editions. The aggregate 
 number of verses contained in each Sura (which also differ 
 slightly) is generally inserted after the title. 
 
 * Sale's paraphrase brings out the sense generally in accord- 
 ance with the interpretation of the commentators. The student 
 will, however, find that the original is often capable of a 
 different rendering. The standard commentaries — Beidhawi, 
 Zamakhshari, and Jalalein — should be consulted, as giving the 
 Mahometan view, though one does not always agree with their 
 interpretation. The learned introduction by Sale should be 
 carefully studied by all who desire to follow the development 
 of Islam, and the teaching of the doctors and various schools 
 of theology from the Coran. 
 
ITiE CO RAN. 49 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE TEACHING OF THE CORAN. 
 
 The doctors of Islam have laid at Mahomet's door 
 much for which he is not responsible. Assuming the 
 Coran to be the expression of Omniscience, and, 
 therefore, infallibly accordant with eternal truth, they 
 have tried to reconcile its discrepancies, and fill up 
 its outlines by analogy, or by alleged tradition from 
 the Prophet, and so have elaborated complete sys- 
 tems of theology and ethics, ascribed either directly 
 to Mahomet, or represented as legitimate deductions 
 from his teaching. In this process Jewish and Magian 
 doctrines (to some extent really held by Mahomet) were, 
 after his death, eagerly adopted by his followers, and 
 assimilated with the proper materials of Islam ; and 
 thus rabbinical fable and tradition have been freely 
 embodied in the popular belief as if proceeding from 
 the Prophet himself In the course of time Grecian 
 philosophy, as studied at the court of the Caliphs, 
 was brought to bear upon the Coran. Adopting its 
 methods of reasoning, Arabian philosophers introduced 
 into Islam metaphysical disquisitions and abstruse 
 distinctions, altogether foreign to the simplicity of 
 Mahomet's faith, although pretended to be based 
 upon his authority. In proportion as the ground 
 for such deductions is slender and uncertain, are 
 the wide divergencies in the different schools and 
 systems, and the heat and acrimony with which the.y 
 
 E * 
 
D 
 
 O THE OORAX. 
 
 have been contested ; and the strife has too often led 
 to cruel persecution, and even to bloody fields of 
 battle. Such are the doctrines of the di%"ine suc- 
 cession to the Cahphate ; the eternity of the Corin, 
 or its creation; predestination, or free-will; and the 
 imperceptibility of the Deity, or the beatific vision as 
 interpreted by anthropomorphisnL 
 
 But it would only lead us astray if we sat down to 
 the srjidy of the Coran, expecting to find there the 
 rraces of such-like dogmas, or indeed of any settled 
 system of doctrine. The Corin was the reflex 
 of Mahomet's own convictions, or rather of the 
 teaching he desired to impress upon the minds of 
 others. His ideas changed, as we have seen, upon 
 many important points during the progress of his 
 ministry. His deliverances were eficited by the 
 events of the passing moment, and from them took 
 their form and colouring. We must therefore accept 
 his differing statements just as we find them, and 
 should greatly err if we sought to draw them into 
 any consistent shape and system- 
 Some doctrines, indeed, are inculcated throughout 
 the Coran without variation or inconsistency. Such 
 are the Divine unity, perfections, and all-perrading 
 providence ; the existence of good angels, as well as 
 of Satan and the fallen angels ; the immortaUty of 
 ^the soul; the resurrection and retribution of good 
 and evil ; the sin of idolatry ; the inspiration of 
 Mahomet himself and of the former prophets. 
 Others, again, must be qualified by counter-state- 
 ments, as predestination, salvation without works, 
 and the reward of ^ood works. 
 
THE TRACHTN'G C? THE CORXS. 5 I 
 
 The teaching of the Coran is very simple. God 
 has revealed himself in Tarious ages, under dif erent 
 dispensations, through the instnimentality of inspired 
 prophets. The disper.sations varied in outward and 
 accidental form : bur ihe sreat catholic faini in the 
 unity of God and Islam (that is. submission to His 
 will), underlies the— cIL The trith thus successively 
 promulgated was as ofien lost cr cisrorted by the igno- 
 rance and perversity of mankin::. The mission of Ma- 
 homet was to establish the last : :' Tuese dispensations ; 
 and, while r.: -.rst professing to hold that his own 
 teaching was si~ply concurrent ^th that of former 
 revelations, in the end v. f.useu :: to obliterate and 
 override them alL 
 
 The first condition of Islam is belief in the creed, 
 " There is no G : : \ ut the Lord, and Mahcmet is 
 His Apostle." Tms a: :n:e sweeps away idolatry. 
 and the ** association with. God " of other objects of 
 worship : and it also establishes the Conhi as the 
 paramount rule of faith and practice. There is no 
 priesthood in Islam. Man deals immediately with 
 the Deity. INIahomet is but a Prophet, 
 himself a sinner needing mercy and for- 3,: ~~ ^^^"^i'lL, 
 giveness. Salvarion is promised to the 
 believer : but he is at the same time bound to ab- 
 stain from evil, and to do good works, and, in par- 
 ticular, to observe the ordinances of Islam. These 
 requirements, though few and simple, pervade the 
 whole life of a ^lussulman. The day opens with 
 prayer at the dawn ; with prayer the night closes in ; 
 and the ceremony is repeated three other times, at 
 fixed intervals, during the day. Each prayer consists 
 
52 THE COR AN. 
 
 of two or more series of prostrations, accompanied 
 by ejaculatory prayer and the recital of short passages 
 of the Coran. Then there are the prescribed tithes, 
 or ahiis ; the fast throughout the whole month of 
 Ramadhan (which, though rigorous from dawn to 
 sunset, admits of entire relaxation by night) ; and the 
 pilgrimage to Mecca, which, although not burdensome 
 to the Arabs for whom it was first established, is 
 evidently unsuitable for observance by all mankind.* 
 That the fate of man, and whatever happens, great 
 or small, has been fixed bv inevitable decrees is un- 
 conditionally asserted throughout the Coran. The 
 doctrine is often intelligibly urged as a ground of resig- 
 nation and patience under misfortune, of equanimity 
 in success, and of calmness in danger ; but it is not 
 confined to such innocent and legitimate purposes. 
 The dogma is constantly obtruded in its most naked 
 and offensive form : " God misleadeth whom He 
 pleaseth, and guideth whom He pleaseth aright " ; 
 " We created man upright, and then caused him to 
 be the vilest of the vile " ; " The fate of every man 
 have We bound about his neck " ; and so forth, t But 
 
 * The space allotted to me does not admit of further detail 
 or reflection respecting the ordinances of Islam ; but this is the 
 less to be regretted, as the excellent "Notes on Muhamme- 
 danism," by the Rev. T. P. Hughes, C.M.S., leave nothing to 
 be desired further on the subject. London : W. H. Allen & 
 Condy. 
 
 + Such passages occur all over the Coran. See Suras VI., 
 123, 125, 137; VII., 179, 186; X., 98; XL, 119; XIIL, 
 29, 34; XIV., 21; XVL, 35, 93; XVIL, 13; XVIIL, 16; 
 XXXIL, 14; XXXVIIL, 83; XLIIL, 72; LXXIV., 37; 
 LXXVL, 30; LXXXL, 28; XCL, 8; XCV., 4. 
 
THE TEACHING OF THE CORAN. 53 
 
 while there is nothing to be met with in the Coran 
 expressly of an opposite tenour, there is much that by 
 impHcation conveys the sentiment of freewill. Prayer 
 is continually enjoined. It was practised by Mahomet 
 himself, and deliverance is often ascribed to its effect* 
 Men are exhorted to believe and do good works. 
 They are warned against infidelity and sin, " lest they 
 cast themselves into perdition." Salvation, indeed, is 
 dependent on faith, and faith upon the will of God ; 
 yet there are not wanting passages which speak of 
 man as choosing the wrong or choosing the right, 
 and of Paradise or hell as the consequence.t The 
 believer is frequently bid to beware of the wiles of 
 Satan. Discretion in the following of good or evil is 
 iir.ijiied in many parts of the Coran, and retribution 
 set forth as the result of its exercise. Man is respon- 
 sible for his own sin only. " The burdened soul 
 shall not bear the burthen of another." J Hereditary 
 
 * As the raising of the siege of Medina, ' ' Life of Mahomet, " 
 p. 325. See also Sura XXXI., 32, where mariners are de- 
 scribed very much in the style of Ps. CVII. : " Then they cry 
 unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their 
 distress. " 
 
 t "The truth is from your Lord ; wherefore let him that will, 
 believe ; and let him that will, reject. We have surely prepared 
 
 for the unjust hell fire As to those who believe and do 
 
 good works. We shall not suffer the reward of him that worketh 
 righteousness to perish." — Sura XVIII. , 30. See also X., 107 ; 
 XVIL, 15; XXXIX., 41, 55. 
 
 X This text is repeated several times— Suras VI., 165 ; XVIL, 
 15 ; XXXV., 18 ; XXXIX., 8 ; LIIL, 38— almost in the words 
 of St. Paul, Gal. vi., 5. To bring such passages into harmony 
 with the promise of paradise as the unconditional reward of simple 
 faith to the believer, a system of intermediate punishments has 
 
 I 
 
 J 
 
54 THE CORAN. 
 
 taint from the Fall is nowhere admitted. Adam fell, 
 it is true, by eating the forbidden fruit ; but his fall 
 (as it would appear) was the consequence, not the 
 cause, of the proneness of his nature to sin. All 
 men have sinned, but it has been each his own fault, 
 acting independently, and not because of anything 
 antecedent.* Influenced by these considerations, some 
 have come to the conclusion that Mahomet holds 
 predestination only in the modified sense that some 
 are elected to a knowledge of the truth, while others 
 are left in darkness and consequent unbelief; that 
 grace is given where God sees the will inclined to 
 what is good, and that it is withheld where the incli- 
 nation is towards evil; t in short, that, so far from being 
 
 been invented by the theologians. If the good works of a behevei 
 outweigh the evil, he will go direct to heaven ; otherwise he must 
 undergo punishment for a term, and then be translated to paradise. 
 Thus the promise to the beUever is eventually secure. Unbelievers 
 have no such prospect. They are reserved to hopeless torment with 
 the devil and his angels in hell, in accordance witli the oft-repeated 
 expression, ' ' for ever therein." But of purgatory the Coran knows 
 nothing ; and the sayings of Mahomet (such, e.g. , as those on his 
 death-bed, p. 501, "Life of Mahomet") have, I am persuaded, 
 no such meaning. The doctrine of a state of intermediate pun- 
 ishment, in fact, has grown out of the endeavour to draw the 
 declarations of the Coran into a systematic and consistent creed. 
 
 * Passages on the universal depravity of man are not nume- 
 rous ; but the following is explicit: "If God should punish 
 men for their iniquity, he would not leave on the earth any 
 moving thing." — Sura XVI., 61. See also Suras XLVIL, 20; 
 XLVIII., 2, as to Mahomet's own liability to sin. 
 
 t " If God had known any good in them, he would certainly 
 liave caused them to hear," &c. — Sura VIII., 22. But passages 
 of this kind are few and vague. See V., 18; XIII., 29; XIV., 
 26; XVI., 108; XLVIL, 18. 
 
THE TEACHING OF THE CORAN. 55 
 
 an absolute predestinarian, Mahomet was nearer to 
 Pelagius even than to Augustine. "^ But this must be re- 
 jected as a paradox, based on no sufficient ground. To 
 have carried out predestination to its logical conclu- 
 sion would have reduced man to a mere machine, a 
 simple instrument in the hand of God. That Ma- 
 homet has stopped short of a conclusion which would 
 have stultified his whole mission as a warner and 
 preacher of righteousness, does not extenuate his down- 
 right and unqualified inculcation of blind destiny. To 
 compare such a system with the Christian doctrine is 
 to compare things which have but little in common. 
 Where, for instance, shall we find in the Bible words 
 answering to these : " If thy Lord pleased, He had 
 
 made all men of one religion but unto this 
 
 hath He created them, for the word of the Lord shall 
 be fulfilled, 'Verily, I will fill Hell altogether with 
 men and Genii.' " t And, on the other hand, we 
 may in vain search the Goran from beginning to end 
 for any such declaration as this : '' The Lord is not 
 willing that any should perish " ; or, " Who will have 
 all men to be saved " ; or again, " As I live, saith the 
 Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, 
 but that the wicked should turn from his way and / 
 live." 
 
 When the Caliph Omar journeyed to Jerusalem to 
 receive its surrender, he delivered an address, in the 
 
 * Dr. Weil's " Einleitung, " 2nd edition, p. III. 
 
 + When Satan refused to fall down and worship Adam, God 
 is represented as using these words : Suras VII., 180 ; XXXII,, 
 14; XXXVIII,, 85; XI., 119; and the divine misdirection of 
 the reprobate is in immediate fulfilment of this threat. 
 
56 THE CORAN. 
 
 course of which he used this quotation from the 
 Coran : " Whomsoever the Lord desireth to guide, he 
 shall be guided aright ; and whomsoever the Lord 
 shall mislead, thou shalt not find for him a patron, 
 nor any guide." * — "God forbid !" cried a Christian 
 priest from the crowd, interrupting the Caliph, and 
 shaking his raiment in token of indignant dissent ; 
 *' tlie Lord doth not mislead any one, but desireth 
 rather the right direction of all." Omar inquired 
 what that Christian " enemy of the Lord " was say- 
 ing. He saith, replied the people, that " God mis- 
 leadeth no one." Omar resumed his discourse, and 
 a second time the priest interrupted him at the 
 obnoxious words. Omar was angry, and said : " By 
 the Lord ! if he repeat this again, I will surely behead 
 him upon the spot." So the Christian held his peace, 
 and Omar proceeded : "" Whom the Lord guideth, him 
 none can mislead ; and whom the Lord misleadeth, 
 for him there is no guide." t The story, at any rate, 
 represents the popular sentiment. There can be no 
 doubt that predestination in its most necessary and 
 unconditional sense, is the natural impression derived 
 from the teaching of the Coran. 
 
 The legislative provisions of the Coran need not 
 here be discussed at any length. The great bulk 
 relate naturally to subjects which engrossed the atten- 
 tion of Mahomet and his followers — the relation of 
 the sexes, and the laws of inheritance. With certain 
 
 * Suras IV., 90, 142; XVII., 99; XVIII., 6. 
 
 t " Futooh al Sham," p. 226, and "Conquest of Syria," p. 
 261. Calcutta : 1 854. Both works are spurious ; but the story 
 may be accepted as illustrating the creed derived from the Coran. 
 
THE TEACHING OF THE CQRAN. 57 
 
 exceptions — such as mutilation for robbery ; the law 
 of retaliation, which places the sword in the hand of 
 the victim's representative ; stoning for adultery (which, 
 however, stands on tradition, and does not appear in 
 the Coran itself); and several very objectionable limi- 
 tations in the law of evidence, — the code contains no- 
 thing greatly open to question. The embargo on usury, 
 indeed, if rigorously pressed, must embarrass the prose- 
 cution of merchandise and national projects. Personal 
 liberty has also been trenched upon by the interdict 
 of all games of chance, which has aggravated the 
 austerity and gloom of society already resulting 
 from female seclusion. The same may be said of the 
 prohibition of wine, which, however, along with 
 the penalty of stripes for drunkenness, will not be 
 objected to, perhaps may even be applauded, by 
 some. 
 
 The institutions most damaging to the welfare of 
 Islam are, without doubt, polygamy, divorce, slavery,, / 
 and the obligation to war against unbelievers. War, 
 according to the Coran, is to be waged against the 
 heathen. The fighting men are to be slain, the 
 women and children reduced to slavery. Jews and^ 
 Christians are more leniently dealt with ; but even 
 these are to be fought against, slain, and reduced to 
 slavery, until they pay tribute and are humbled. 
 Although, therefore, the privilege is conceded of con- 
 tinuing, upon submission, to profess their ancestral 
 faith, Jews and Christians are reduced in the body 
 politic, and disabilities imposed to mark their humi- 
 liation. The blot cannot be obliterated. It is ^^TOuo■ht 
 into the life and institutions of Islam, and, so long as 
 
58 THE CORAN. 
 
 it remains, the ordinance must be a formidable bar, 
 not only to national prosperity, but to Alahometan 
 states taking their place in the civilized world. The 
 conditions of inferiority, as declared in the Revela- 
 tion, are no doubt vague ; but they are substantial, 
 nevertheless, and every step taken to cancel them is 
 in abatement of the Divine injunction. 
 
 Following upon the wake of war against the unbe- 
 lievers is the curse of slavery, which, though in a mild 
 and restricted form, has not the less fixed its withering 
 grasp upon the proud master, as well as on his wretched 
 victim. Slaves, male and female — Moslem, heathen, 
 Jew, or Christian — are transferable, like any other 
 goods or chattels. Irrespective of his four legitimate 
 wives, the believer is permitted by the Coran, and en- 
 couraged by the example of his Prophet, without any 
 further ceremony or rite, to consort with female slaves 
 taken captive in war, purchased, gifted, or otherwise 
 legally acquired. There is no restriction whatever as 
 to number, nor any of the obligations attaching to 
 marriage. The concubine may be sold again at any 
 moment ; only if she chance to bear her master a 
 son, she becomes (by the precedent of Mahomet and 
 Mary) free. So long as Islam lives, this curse of 
 humanity will survive along with it. 
 
 It has been held that Mahomet, by ameliorating the 
 conditions of slavery, paved the way for its extinction.* 
 Rather, while lightening, he riveted the fetter. He 
 enjoined that they should be treated kindly; but 
 there is no obligation whatever on a Moslem to 
 release his slaves ; on the contrary, among other 
 * Weil's "Einleitung," p. 130. 
 
THE TEACHING OF THE CO RAN. 59 
 
 injunctions at the Farewell pilgrimage, the Prophet 
 said : — 
 
 * ' And your slaves ! see that ye feed them with such food as 
 ye eat yourselves, and clothe them with the stuff ye wear. And 
 if they commit a fault which ye incline not to forgive, then sell 
 them ; for they are the servants of the I^ord, and are not to be 
 tormented."* 
 
 And so long as wars and raids last, not only will the 
 existing mass of slaves, through their progeny, per- 
 petuate the curse, but there will be continual addition 
 to their numbers. The barbarous and enslaving spirit 
 of the Coran, though it cowers before the reproach 
 of Europe, is not dead. Leaving out of view the 
 wars of the early Caliphate. f the raids of the 
 Moslems in the present day against the negroes of 
 Central Africa and the heathen tribes of Affghanistan, 
 and even the warfare of the Soonnies of Central 
 Asia against the Sheeas of Persia, still take their 
 stand upon the ordinance ; and the result (too often 
 the very object) is an addition to the body of slaves 
 in the Moslem world. The inhuman slave-trade of 
 Africa (though Mahomet himself would no doubt 
 have been the first to condemn it in its barbarous 
 details) thus receives an apparent stamp of legality 
 
 * "Life of Mahomet," p. 486. 
 
 t The early Moslem warriors were accompanied in camp by 
 their families. After the great battle of Cadesia, the wife of one 
 relates : " No sooner was the Persian army routed, than we [i.e. 
 the women) tucked up our garments, took clubs in our hands, and 
 issued forth to tend the wounded ; and every wounded Moslem 
 on the field we raised up and gave drink to, and every wounded 
 heathen on the field we despatched. And the children follozvedus^ 
 and were helpers with jts in this service." — Tabari III., p. 73. 
 
6o THE CORAN. 
 
 from the Divine institution of religious warfare. The 
 same command would render war obligatory, whenever 
 there is a chance of success, against Jewish and Chris- 
 tian peoples not under treaty with the Moslems ; * 
 and wherever a Christian power should so far forget 
 the precept of its Master as to oppress its Mussulman 
 subjects, or to raise the sword in a so-called Christian 
 war, then all the conditions of a Jehad, including 
 slaughter, tribute, and slavery, would afresh be justi- 
 fied by the Coran. 
 
 Polygamy, with the barbarous institution of servile 
 concubinage, is the worm at the root of Islam — the 
 secret of its decadence. By it the purity and virtue 
 of the family tie are touched ; the tone and vigour of 
 the dominant classes are sapped ; the body politic 
 becomes weak and languid, excepting for intrigue ; 
 and the State itself too often crumbles to pieces, the 
 prey of a doubtful and contested succession. Off- 
 spring borne by the slave to her proper lord and 
 master is legitimate, and, as such, shares in the in- 
 heritance ; but the provision, praiseworthy in itself, 
 affords but an additional ground for division in the 
 house. To all this must be added, in respect of the 
 married wives, the fatal facility of divorce and re- 
 marriage, which, even when not put in force, exercises 
 a potential influence to weaken the marriage bond, 
 and lower woman in the social scale. 
 
 It may seem a small thing, in connection with these 
 
 * The Moslem subjects of a Christian Power (as in India) 
 are under the recognized obligation of loyalty to the Government 
 protecting them, so long as they have the free exercise of their 
 religion. 
 
THE TEACHING uF THE CORAN. 6l 
 
 great evils, to mention the " veil"; but it really is not so. 
 This ordinance, with the corresponding restrictions on 
 domestic intercourse, and the liability of women to 
 chastisement and restraint,* cannot but 
 have a rigorous and depressing effect on ^"""^ ^^' 
 
 the sex itself The baneful influence on society at 
 large is not less manifest; for woman, with all her 
 bright and softening influences, being removed alto- 
 gether from her position in the outer world, Moslem 
 life is made unreal and morose, and a permanent bar 
 placed to the advancement and refinement even of 
 the other sex. And yet the veil, and some degree of 
 seclusion, were wisely ordained by Mahomet ; for with- 
 out them polygamy, divorce, and servile concubinage 
 would undermine the very foundations of society; 
 and the attempt to dispense with these would only 
 aggravate existing evils. 
 
 At the same time, the comparison of Christian with 
 Mahometan ethics is not altogether free from difli- 
 culty. The Moslem advocate will urge the precedent 
 of Jewish polygamy, and also the social evils which he 
 will assert to be the necessary result of inexorable 
 monogamy. The Coran not only denounces any 
 illicit laxity between the sexes in the severest terms, 
 but exposes the transgressor to condign punish- 
 ment. For this reason, and because the conditions 
 of what is licit are so accommodating and wide, 
 a certain negative virtue (it can hardly be called 
 continence or chastity) pervades Mahometan so- 
 ciety, in contrast with which the gross and systema- 
 tic immorality in certain parts of every European 
 * " Life of Mahomet," p. 34S. 
 
62 THE CORAN. 
 
 community may be regarded by the Christian with 
 shame and confusion. In a purely Mahometan 
 country,"^ however low may be the general level of 
 moral feeling, the still lower depths of fallen humanity 
 are comparatively unknown. The " social evil " and 
 intemperance prevalent in Christian lands are the 
 strongest weapons in the armoury of Islam. We 
 point, and justly, to the higher morality and civiliza- 
 tion of those who do observe the precepts of the 
 Gospel, to the stricter unity and virtue which cement 
 the family, and to the elevation of the sex; but in vain, 
 while the example of our great cities, and too often 
 of our representatives abroad, belies the argument. 
 And yet the argument is sound ; for, in proportion as 
 Christianity exercises her legitimate influence, vice and 
 intemperance will wane and vanish, and the higher 
 morality pervade the whole body ; while in Islam the 
 deteriorating influences of polygamy, divorce, and 
 concubinage, have been stereotyped for all time. 
 
 In fine, the vital and most potent difference 
 between the two systems centres in the lives of 
 their Founders. The one lived a life of self-sacrifice ; 
 the other of self-'indulgence. The one imposing by 
 force of arms the inevitable law of a Supreme ruler ; 
 the other drawing his people by the force of love 
 to a reconciling Father. The one laying down his 
 life, that we through his death might have life eternal ; 
 — but here the parallel must fail, and with it the 
 
 * The remark applies only to a purely Moslem society. In 
 Mussulman cities, with a mixed population of different creeds 
 and nationalities, there is much immorality for which Islam is 
 not immediately responsible. 
 
THE TEACHING OF THE CORAN. 6^ 
 
 parallel also of the new creating energy inherent 
 in the Christian faith. 
 
 Dr. Weil, the learned and impartial historian of 
 the Prophet and his Successors, after describing 
 various features favourable to Islam, proceeds with 
 his verdict thus :— 
 
 " We are far, indeed, from seeking by these considerations to 
 pla e the Founder of Islam side by side with the Founder of 
 Ch istianity ; but in our view the difference lies less in their 
 respective dogmas than in their personal individuality. Had 
 th Motazela school been in a position to develop itself as 
 freely as the Protestant, perhaps there might have been framed 
 out of the Coran a theology that would have satisfied the re- 
 quirements of human reason as fully as the Rationalism based" 
 on the Gospel. It is in the life of Mahomet, first appearing in 
 its true character at Medina, not in his heterodox teaching as to 
 the Fall and Salvation, and his rejection of the Trinity (as the 
 doctrine was taught in the seventeenth century), that we must 
 trace the decline and eventual fall of Islam. Christ was true to 
 his teaching, and sealed it with his death. Mahomet shunned 
 the dangers which beset him, and sought by every kind of arti- 
 fice, and in the end by sheer force, to gain the mastery for him- 
 self and his religion. Furthermore, not satisfied with promul- 
 gating his religious and moral precepts in the name of God, at 
 last even his secular laws and ordinances were treated as ema- 
 nating from heaven, although he was frequently compelled by 
 circumstances to change the same, and had not even the self- 
 control to bring himself first of all under subjection to them. As 
 Mahomet has not only no pretension to be a mediator between 
 God and man, but cannot be taken in any respect even as a 
 pattern of virtue, therefore his Revelation has become a dead 
 letter, powerless to quicken the soul with true religion. That 
 the Coran appears to us, in its relation to the Gospel, an ana- 
 chronism is not in consequence of its opposing certain dogmas 
 the inner significance of which was imperfectly known at the 
 time, but because, like the books of Moses, it contains ordi- 
 nances which are not useful, or even applicable, to all lands and 
 
64 THE CORAN. 
 
 all mankind, nor yet for all time. As a reformer (which Ma- 
 homet originally was, and desired to be), he is entitled to our 
 unqualified recognition and admiration. An Arab who could 
 lay bare the defects of the prevailing Judaism and Christianity, 
 and, not without risk to his life, sought to destroy Polytheism, 
 and implant among his people the doctrine of the immortality 
 of the soul, deserves not merely a place by the side of the 
 greatest men in history; — more than that, he merits the name of 
 Prophet. But so soon as he ceased to be tolerant, so soon as he 
 sought to gain victory for the truth by means of secret assassi- 
 nation and open war, and put forth in the name of the Almighty 
 a new code of political, ceremonial, civil, police, and criminal 
 law, he impressed on himself and on his utterances the stamp of 
 human weakness and decay." * 
 
 These conclusions are based upon a profound 
 review of the facts connected with the rise of Islam ; 
 and, had it been possible to distinguish the Reformer 
 from the Prophet, they contain much in which we 
 might have concurred without reserve. But it is 
 not so. As a Reformer, Mahomet did, indeed, 
 advance his people to a certain point ; but as a 
 Prophet, he left them immovably fixed at that point 
 for all time to come. As there can be no return, 
 so neither can there be any progress. The tree 
 is of artificial planting ; instead of containing within 
 itself the germ of growth, and adaptation to the 
 various requirements of time and clime and circum- 
 stance, expanding with the genial sunshine and the rain 
 from heaven, it remains the same forced and stunted 
 thing as when first planted twelve centuries ago. 
 
 Dr. Weil, it is true, sees a possible future for 
 Islam by following in the wake of a " reformed 
 
 * Dr. Weil's " Einleitung," p. 125. 
 
THE TEACHING OF THE CORAN. 65 
 
 Judaism"; by abandoning those portions of the 
 system which, though suited for a bygone age, are 
 now obsolete; and by retaining only the eternal 
 verities which form the Catholic basis of the faith.* 
 But with Islam, how can this be possible ? The 
 whole stands ujDon the same ground of divine 
 authority ; pilgrimage, lustration, and fasting are as 
 binding as the creed itself, and the Moslem m.ay 
 in vain seek to free himself from the obligation of 
 the veil, to abolish the licence of polygamy, divorce, 
 and slavery, or to abate the command which reduces 
 Jews and Christians to a position of inferiority and 
 humiliation. In deference to the opinion of Christian 
 nations, some amelioration and improvement in these 
 things may be attempted, but it will be against the 
 grain and contrary to the law that binds the Moslem 
 conscience. 
 
 The same learned author would have the Mission- 
 ary to the Mussulmans put by his "Bible and his 
 Catechism," and trust to education. Not thus " can 
 the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his 
 spots." The evil lies deeper than that. We, on the 
 contrary, hold the saving part of the Coran to be 
 that which (as we have seen) so fully recognizes the 
 authority of the Bible, and which warrants us there- 
 fore in pressing the acceptance of the Gospel upon 
 the votaries of Islam. 
 
 The second part of this treatise will accordingly 
 be devoted to a review of the testimony contained 
 in the Coran to the genuineness and authority of the 
 Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. 
 
 * Dr. Weil's "Einleitung," p. 132. 
 
 F * 
 
^6 THE CORAN. 
 
 PART SECOND. 
 
 THE TESTIMONY OF THE CORAN TO THE SCRIPTURES 
 OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 
 
 Pressed by the Christian advocate with evidence 
 drawn from the Old and New Testaments, the Maho- 
 metan, admitting the divine origin of both, parries 
 the argument by denying the authority of the existing 
 copies. Accustomed to the integrity of the Coran, 
 the text of which he believes preserved by a special 
 providence from the corrosive action of time, the risks 
 of transcription, and the insecurity of human guardian- 
 ship, he regards with surprise the unstable ground on 
 which we are content to take our stand. He points 
 to the passages of contested purity contained in our 
 Sacred Books, and to some which we are forced to 
 admit as, either accidentally or by design, additions 
 to the original text ; and he looks disdainfully upon 
 the whole Book as a mass of various and uncertain 
 readings. He will contend that it is now impossible 
 to sift the passages which are authentic from the 
 corrupt remainder, or to distinguish the divine and 
 authoritative from the human and erring. The point 
 of every proof drawn from the Scriptures is thus 
 thrust aside. Whatever is at variance with the Coran 
 is without further argument rejected ; it is denounced 
 as an interpolation fabricated presumably for the very 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 67 
 
 purpose of bolstering up Judaism and Christianity 
 •against the superior claims of Mahomet. 
 
 And he is strongly supported in this belief by the 
 terms in which the Coran accuses the Jews of sup- 
 pressing the prophetic announcement of Mahomet's 
 advent, and for this end of " perverting " and " dis- 
 torting " their Scriptures. It is quite true that these 
 expressions, if taken alone, might be held to imply 
 that the Jews had changed and interpolated the Sacred 
 text. But they must be construed in unison with the 
 natural meaning of the context, and also with the 
 general tenor of the Coran upon the subject. And 
 a careful study of the Coran, in its connection with 
 the life of Mahomet, convinces me that the charge 
 of fabrication is not justified by the context, while it is 
 inconsistent with the sentiments expressed in many 
 other passages ; and that, in point of fact, the posi- 
 tion thus taken up by Mahometans is altogether 
 untenable. 
 
 The Old and New Testaments are everywhere in 
 the Coran referred to as extant and in common use ; 
 Jews and Christians are exhorted to follow the precepts 
 of their respective Scriptures ; and from first to last 
 both portions of the Bible are spoken of in 
 terms of reverence and homage consistent only with 
 a sincere belief in their genuineness and authenticit)^ 
 The expressions noticed in the foregoing paragraph 
 can naturally and properly be construed in accordance 
 with this view ; and hence it is obligatory that they 
 should be so construed, and not in a sense which 
 would run counter to the rest of the Coran. 
 
 To render the argument complete and unanswerable, 
 
 F 2 
 
68 THE CORAN. 
 
 it must be shown that the general scope of the Coran 
 is really as here stated, and also that there is no text 
 anywhere to be found of a necessarily opposite sense. 
 The review for this purpose must needs be exhaustive. 
 It must take cognizance of every passage bearing in- 
 directly or by implication on the Scriptures, as well 
 as of those in which they are expressly mentioned. 
 
 Such is the purport of this Essay. It presents a 
 collection of the whole evidence contained in the 
 Coran, and from it draws the conclusion that the 
 Jewish and Christian Scriptures, as current in the age 
 of Mahomet, were by him held to be genuine and of 
 divine authorit}^ The work is addressed to Maho- 
 metans, and is composed in a form suitable for 
 translation into the Oriental languages. It was first 
 published at Agra in 1S55, and is now reprinted with 
 such slight amendments as further study of the sub- 
 ject has suggested. 
 
 The texts are given both in the original Arabic and 
 in English. They are, where necessary, explained, and 
 their bearing on the Scriptural argument brought out ; 
 and the interpretation of the standard Commentators 
 occasionally adduced. This process has rendered 
 unavoidable some repetition of the arguments, and 
 the leading points are recapitulated in the concluding 
 Section. The reader, bearing in mind the design of 
 the compilation, will pardon this defect. 
 
THE CORAN, 69 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It is my intention, in the following pages, to bring 
 together all passages from the Coran in which refer- 
 ence of any description is made to the Jewish and 
 Christian Scriptures as extant in the time of Mahomet, 
 in order that Mahometans may perceive that the books 
 of the Old and New Testaments are never mentioned 
 in the Coran otherwise than with profound veneration, 
 and may thus have their attention drawn to their 
 Divine origin, and the inestimable value of their 
 teaching. 
 
 The arrangement of the passages will be, as far as 
 possible, chronological. The verses Occurring in 
 Suras revealed at Mecca, that is before the Hegira, 
 will form the first Section ; those revealed at Medina, 
 that is after the Hegira, the second Section. Although 
 the general order in which the Suras of the Coran 
 appeared one after another, is approximately known 
 from their contents, yet considerable difference of 
 opinion exists among learned Mahometans as to some 
 of the details. The writer, after- consulting the chro- 
 nological lists of the Suras as given by Mahometan 
 authors and others, has arranged the passages in 
 chronological sequence, to the best of his ability. It 
 
70 THE CO RAN. 
 
 is still possible that some minor discrepancies may 
 be found in the order here observed, but this will 
 not affect the value of the collection ; because the 
 passages extend over every stage of the Prophet's 
 mission, and give evidence of an unchanging opinion 
 regarding the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, 
 throughout the whole period. 
 
 A considerable portion of the Coran is occupied 
 with narratives of events recorded also in the Scriptures 
 of the Jews and Christians. Such narratives show 
 very frequently a close correspondence, sometimes 
 even in the words and the cast and turn of expres- 
 sion, with corresponding passages in the Bible. 
 Many instances of this similarity will be found in 
 the accounts of the fall of Adam and Eve ; in the 
 narratives of Noah and the Deluge ; of Abraham, 
 Sarah, and Isaac ; of Lot, and the destruction of 
 Sodom and Gomorrah ; in the histories of Moses and 
 of Joseph ; of Zacharias, and of John the Baptist ; 
 and of Jesus Christ, including his annunciation, his 
 conception by the Virgin Mary, and his birth. From 
 such correspondence an argument might have been 
 drawn to show at how many points the Bible is 
 supported by the Coran. But this subject has not 
 been touched upon. The argument is complete 
 without any reference to these coincidences, which 
 the thoughtful Mussulman will no doubt follow out 
 for himself, by a careful comparison of the Coran 
 with the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 There is another class of passages which, though 
 falling directly within the object of this compilation, 
 it is not necessary to quote in detail, but only to 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 7 1 
 
 refer to generally here. The Jews and Christians 
 are ordinarily styled in the Coran — c jU^ Jjil — 
 
 or, c^[:i\\ ^^ L-^3 j*ibU-Ji ^.\d^\—J^ Jjjsl— that is 
 to say, t/ie People of, or possessing, the Book, Scrip- 
 ture, or Gospel : the People possessing the Admonition 
 or Pei'elation; those to whom the Book, or Scriptw'e 
 hath been given : those to whom We ^ have given the 
 Book, or a portion of the Book. These expressions are 
 scattered throughout the Coran, occurring about fifty 
 times. So notorious and patent was the fact of the 
 Jews and Christians possessing an extant and divinely 
 inspired Scripture, that it furnishes in the Coran 
 their commonest designation. The phrases are so 
 familiar to every reader of the Coran, and are met 
 with so frequently, that it would be superfluous and 
 inconvenient to introduce at length into this collection 
 the various verses which contain them. 
 
 Of the remaining passages, it may be thought by 
 the reader that some have only a remote connection 
 with the subject. But it was deemed expedient rather 
 to incur this objection, than to give any colour to the 
 suspicion that the selection was not complete, or that 
 such passages only had been chosen as were favour- 
 able to the Christian argument. Therefore, every 
 passage which, upon a careful and repeated perusal 
 of the entire Coran, appeared to contain the least 
 allusion to the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, has 
 been entered in the collection. 
 
 * That is, God. 
 
72 THE CORAN. 
 
 SECTION FIRST. 
 
 PASSAGES FROM SURAS REVEALED AT MECCA. 
 
 I. — The first passage, in the chronological order of 
 the Coran, which contains an express reference to 
 the Bible, is 
 
 Sura LXXXVII., v. i8. \c.1\ Ij^^ 
 
 Verily this is in the former pages ; 
 The pages of Abraham and Moses. 
 
 Coinmentary of Jelalooddeen ^^ Ijl ^, ^jji ^1 
 
 .j1 Jill — " Veri'/y this, i.e. the prosperity of the good, 
 
 and their well-being in a future world, is in the fovDier 
 books, i.e. those revealed before the Coran." 
 
 11. — Similarly, Sura LIII., v. -^d^ ^rsn] i>",.«, 
 
 t A Meccan Sura of later date, introduced here on account 
 of a similar expression to that in Art. I. 
 
TESTIIMONY TO THE aOLY SCRIPTURES. 73 
 
 '^\ J^:% i^ ^^ J ^ ^;^\ j)3 h'h JJ^^"" ^ Jj 
 
 Hath he not been told of that which is in the pages of Moses, 
 
 and of Abraham who acted faithfully? 
 That a burdened soul shall not bear another's burden, 
 And that there shall be nothing {imputed) to a man, but that 
 which he himself hath wrought, &c. 
 
 This passage, like the first, refers to former inspired 
 writings ; and further contains a summary of th'eir 
 general contents, as regards Man's responsibility, 
 future rewards and punishments, the power and pro- 
 vidence of God, &c., ending with these words : — 
 
 This (Mahomet) is a preacher like one of the preachers preceding. 
 
 The reference to " The pages of Abraham," is pro- 
 bably to the pages of his history and sayings, 
 contained in the Old Testament. For there was no 
 " Book of Abraham " current amongst the Jews. And 
 there is no allusion throughout the Goran which 
 would lead to the suspicion that Mahomet intended 
 any other book than the Pentateuch or Scriptures 
 which were in use amongst the Jews of his time, 
 and were regarded by them as inspired. 
 
 III. — Sura LXXX., v. ii. , »^- ^,»^ 
 
 * hj- i*l-^ ^J^ "^^^ ^ ^' 'ij^'-c 'U:tj^ 
 
74 'I'HE CORAN. 
 
 Verily it is an admonition, — 
 
 And he that desireth rememhereth the same ; 
 
 In pages honourable, 
 
 Exalted, pure, 
 
 {Writieii) by the hands of scribes, honoured and just. 
 
 This verse appears to relate to the Coran ; but as 
 it is, by some Commentators of note, miderstood to 
 mean, " The Books of the former Prophets, with 
 which the Coran agrees," it has, for the sake of com- 
 pleteness, been introduced. 
 
 IV.— Sura XXXIL, v. 24. as^] ljy> 
 
 •Jf j^yj^.; ^\S V^^ ^ Iv**^ V*^ c^'i-^-V:' ^'^^ 
 
 And verily We gave Moses the book : wherefore be not in doubt 
 
 as to the reception thereof, and We made it a direction to 
 
 the Israelites. 
 And We made from among them leaders who should direct 
 
 according to Our command, when they were steadfast, and 
 believed in Our signs. 
 Verily thy Lord, he will judge between them on the day of 
 
 resurrection as to that concerning which they disagree. 
 
 The Book referred to is the Pentateuch, which was 
 revealed by God as a " direction " to the Israelites. 
 Mahomet is here commanded not to be in doubt as 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 75" 
 
 to the reception of this Revelation, and the acknow- 
 ledgment of it as divine. 
 
 Some construe the words as signifying that 
 Mahomet is not to be in doubt as to the reception of 
 the Coran, or as to his meeting with Moses, or as 
 to the reception by Moses of the Pentateuch ; ^^ 
 
 ^^^.^, Baidhctwi. These interpretations do not 
 however affect the testimony in the text to the Book 
 of Moses. 
 
 The passage implies, farther, the continuance of the 
 Old Testament among the Israelites. God gave them 
 " Leaders," or Instructors, who directed them accord- 
 ing to His commands ; that is, according to the com- 
 mands conveyed in the Revelation above mentioned ; 
 
 ^ LiiJ»-J .1 ^o, Baidhawi. The Jewish people, at 
 these times, persevered in the Faith, and were constant 
 in the right belief of the Revelation ; — ^^l^^il ^y^^^l 
 ,lail\l^-3 Ibid. But they fell to variance in after-ages 
 either among themselves, or with the Christians, as 
 to the meaning of their Scriptures ; wherefore it is 
 added, " Thy Lord will judge between them as to 
 that in which they disagree." 
 
 The text thus implies that the Scriptures were 
 preserved and handed down in purity among the Jews, 
 although in their interpretation, and in the doctrines 
 derived therefrom, error and differences had crept in. 
 
76 THE CORAN. 
 
 v.— Sura XXXIX., v. 64. ^^jJl ij^^ 
 
 Say ; — ah ! do ye command me to worsliijD any other than 
 God ? Oh ye fools ! and verily it hath been revealed to thee, 
 and to those before thee, that if thou dost associate others 
 with God, verily I will render vain thy M'ork, and thou 
 shalt surely be amongst the lost. 
 
 This pure doctrine, it is said, was revealed "to 
 those before him," as well as to Mahomet himself : — 
 that is, to the former prophets ; J^ Jl .^ ^J\ — 
 Baidhdivi. 
 
 This is a testimony to the purity of the doctrines 
 revealed to the Prophets before Mahomet, as declared 
 in their books extant in his time. 
 
 VI.— Sura LIV., v. 42. y^^\ l^^^ 
 
 Are your unbelievers {Ye Meccans) better than those, {i. e. of 
 the days of N'oah, Lot, Moses, &--c.,jiist referred to ; ) or is 
 there an immunity for you in the Scriptures? 
 
 A\ The Scriptures. "The Books," c^::CM, 
 fdalooddcai. — '' The heavenly, or divine books,'"' 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 77 
 
 L.U^. w^-.(]l BaidJiawi. The expression appa- 
 rently points to existing Scriptures, to which the citi- 
 zens of Mecca are referred as showing that there is 
 no immunity in any of the inspired books for the un- 
 behever, or idolater. The passage is not important, 
 but is introduced for completeness' sake. 
 
 VII.— Sura XXXIV., y. 6. UJ\ 'ijy^ 
 
 And those, to whom knowledge hath been given, see that what 
 hath been revealed unto thee from thy Lord, is tmth, and 
 guideth un o the straight and blessed way. 
 
 lji\ The Knowledge, means acquaintance with the 
 previous Revelations. " Those to whom knowledge 
 hath been given," i.e., behevers from amongst the 
 Jews and Christians ^—c-^UC^JJb^ \y^^^ Jelal- 
 
 ooddeen. 
 
 The meaning of the verse, confirmed by numerous 
 similar passages to be quoted hereafter, is that those 
 who possessed the inspired revelation contained in 
 the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, recognized, by 
 the divine knowledge derived therefrom, the Coran 
 to be also a true revelation. 
 
78 THE CORAN. 
 
 VIIL— Sura XXXIV., v. 31. \^\ h,^ 
 
 And the unbelievers say ; — We will not believe in this Coran, 
 nor in that {which ivas revealed) before it. 
 
 "The revelation before it"; lit., that betiveen its 
 hams, — already existing, and preceding the Coran. 
 
 Baidhawi explains : The unbelievers say " We 
 will not believe in this Coran, nor in that which 
 precedeth it of the Scriptures testifying to the Mission 
 
 of Mahomet;" \c Z\J!A ( ^lOl ^ <ULSiij Uj ilj 
 
 \.^^^J\\ ; — And Jelalooddeen adds, as the Tourdt and 
 
 the Gospel ; ^^^^^ ^ hj^^^* 
 
 Mahomet, in his reasoning with the citizens of 
 Mecca, appealed to the Jewish and Christian 
 Scriptures, as well as to the Coran, in proof of the 
 Resurrection which they denied. But they replied 
 that they believed neither in the one nor in the 
 other. 
 
 Note, that the manner in which the citizens of 
 Mecca are here and elsewhere represented as speaking 
 of these Jewish and Christian Scriptures, is as of 
 known books, extant and current in the land. 
 
 IX. — Sura XLL, v. 45. lh^I^ is,.-. 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 79 
 
 And verily We gave Moses the book, and they fell to variance 
 concerning it. 
 
 X. — Sura XLV., v. i6. Lj\si\\ Pj^j-j 
 
 And verily We gave the children of Israel the book, and 
 wisdom, and prophecy, and We nourished them with 
 pleasant food, and We exalted them above the rest of the 
 world ; and We gave them plain directions in the matter 
 {of religion ;) and they fell not to variance until after divine 
 knowledge (^rthe Revelation,) had come unto them, out of 
 jealousy among themselves. Verily thy Lord will decide 
 between them on the day of judgment, concerning that 
 about which they disagree. 
 
 This passage, besides bearing testimony to the divine 
 origin of the Jewish Scriptures, illustrates the nature 
 of the errors into which the possessors of that Revela- 
 tion are said to have fallen. The Revelation con- 
 tained plain instructions for their direction ; yet not- 
 withstanding they fell to variance among themselves ; 
 — alluding probably to the differences between the 
 Jews and Christians, which, according to the Coran, 
 Mahomet was sent authoritatively to compose. It 
 was, in the language of the text, from ill-feeling, 
 
So THE CORAN. 
 
 jealousy, and envy among themselves, that these 
 differences sprang up ; not from any imperfection in 
 their Scriptures. 
 
 XI.— Sura XXXVIL, v. s^. ci.^\iUl i^,^ 
 
 Verily when it is said unto them ; — There is no God but the 
 Lord ; they arrogantly reply, —What ! shall we give up our 
 gods for a phrenzied poet? Nay, he cometh with the truth, 
 and attesteth {the Revelations,) of the {former) apostles. 
 
 Thus, in replying to his opponents at Mecca, the 
 main justification of the Prophet against their accu- 
 sation of his being a phrenzied poet, was that he 
 brought the truth, and bore witness to the Revela- 
 tions of former Apostles. 
 
 XII.— Sura XXXVIL, v. 114. ci?lilj\ i",,^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 And verily We were gracious to Moses and Aaron, and saved 
 them and their people from great tribulation ; and We 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 8 1 
 
 brought them assistance, and they were the conquerors ; 
 and We gave them the perspicuous book, and directed them 
 into the right way. 
 
 ^'' The perspicuous Book; — h xA\,^ ; that is, the 
 Tourat.'' — Baidfiawi ; Jelalooddeen. 
 
 L 
 
 XIII.— Sura XXVI., v. 191. 7\f.t}\ h^^ 
 
 ^'^ '^i J ^f' (^4 J^. ^ j^ "" ^J^l-o ^^ ^-^ J 
 
 Verily it is a revelation from the Lord of creation ; 
 
 The faithful Spirit hath caused it to descend 
 
 On thy heart, that thou mightest be one of the warners. 
 
 In the plain Arabic tongue. 
 
 And verily it is in the former Scriptures. 
 
 What ! is it not a sign unto them that the wise men of the 
 
 Children of Israel recognize it ? 
 
 In proof that the Coran is a true Revelation, 
 Mahomet, addressing his fellow-citizens of Mecca, 
 asserts that " it is in the former Scriptures "; — that is, 
 as being mentioned therein, or more probably, as 
 containing a Revelation of similar purport. Thus 
 
 Baidhawi;— aLcwVii::^]! ^^:^\ ^^ i\-^^ ^ ^J^J^ 
 " verily the mention of it (the Coran,) or the purport of 
 it, is in the preceding Scriptures." T\iq former Scrip- 
 
82 THE CORAM. 
 
 tures are the Jewish and Christian revelations; sa 
 
 Jelalooddeen ; J^-^^i ^ ^-^^^iljj^^^"^ 
 
 To strengthen the argument it is added : — " DO' 
 they not perceive it to be evidence of the truth of the 
 
 Coran or the Mission of Mahomet {l^ ^ loU^^' 
 '&^ \s. cNa^-* BaidhCnvi^ that those of the children 
 
 of Israel learned in the Scriptures, recognized and 
 acknowledged the Coran to be divine, because of its 
 similarity to their oivii Scriptures V Thus Baidhawi ; — 
 
 ^^ J, ^j/3J\ dcjCJ h^jt.1 ^1—" that they recog- 
 nized it by the aforesaid marks in their Scriptures." 
 
 We need not doubt the belief of Mahomet that he 
 really was predicted in the former Scriptures as a 
 prophet about to arise ; or that some learned Jews, 
 trusting to his earnest attestation and confirmation of 
 their Scriptures, gave their evidence in favour of his 
 Revelation and Mission. Our business here is not to 
 seek the grounds of such belief or testimony, but rather 
 to draw attention to the manner in which the Jewish 
 Scriptures are spoken of in the text as books current 
 amongst the Jews, — books, the contents of which are 
 alleged to be in such close conformity with the Coran, 
 that the coincidence is brought forward in reasoning 
 with the people of Mecca as a proof of the inspiration 
 of the Coran itself; and the argument is supported 
 by the evidence of learned Jews who were familiar 
 wiih the books appealed to. 
 
 Such language could only be held of extant, 
 genuine, authoritative books ; — Scriptures acknow- 
 ledged at least by Mahomet to be such : and regarding 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 83 
 
 which there was no suspicion of corruption or inter- 
 polation. 
 
 XIV.— Sura XLVI., v. 4. uJU>-^l '^j^^ 
 
 f^ ^ A^ (^ h^^ 3^ ^^ tJr^ ij"* ^^. 4f--''^ 
 
 Bring me a book {revealed) before this, or ^ly footstep of 
 Knowledge, if ye be true. 
 
 Mahomet here challanges the Coreish to produce 
 any inspired book, or remnant of divine knowledge 
 or revelation, (Ac), in support of their doctrine that 
 
 idolatry was permitted by God, or that idols are a 
 means of approach to him ; for this was pleaded by 
 them against the Prophet's denunciation of idolatry. 
 The Jewish and Christian Scriptures are not directly 
 mentioned. But Mahomet could not have made this 
 virtual appeal to them, had he suspected that they 
 contained anything, either originally or by interpola- 
 tion, favouring else but the pure worship of the One 
 only God. It is as much as to say, — " You may 
 search through the whole previous Scriptures, but 
 you will not find in them one word in support of your 
 position." 
 
 XV. — Sura XLVL, v. 10. c_ilii>-\'l 'i\y^ 
 
 G 2 
 
^4 THE CORAX- 
 
 A Jf^. t i: :7 - - -.-'-z : : ! . la. or 
 
 c€V^;:^ ic : 
 
 ""2--- - ^ - - ~- __~;__:_i-:z. :; ^r Coon- and yet 
 ye jproiii-; := ; _: it?" 
 
 So BmdimsH.—7 ^\i U ^ ' ^* ' 
 
 
 
 ". /. (. "K f 
 
 >— I r»ff-;T» 
 
 Cccin conesp: -i:.^ 
 
 it^ — i^- '—IS pswe -_r . -^ — ...^vid, 
 
 diat is, in the Coriiu ' ew) sair the 
 
 TfitTTinatirw t^ c^ Iii5j>iraiic_ __r-- "■ i' with the 
 
 Thus the Corin :L;p-iil5 :* - ' ; .'-'-. of a Jew, 
 
 who (as is :' r ' ^ . .^ ;^i MaiKimet's 
 
 levciaiioii : r of his own 
 
TEsmio^r 
 
 XYT— St-ra XL^T.. v. t2. ^yis>T ? w 
 
 - /-• • ■ 
 
 .'< » *- 
 
 ^ .♦ 
 
 1 ' ■ 
 
 f • 
 
 T» 
 
 * .-: s:*- .--L; 
 
 ■ . 1 m 
 
 • ^ ^ 
 
 
 :- K 
 
 retatiaci 
 
 G-ir -:i:i :::: izi 
 
 le. 
 
 use c: 
 
 n' 
 
 £■ -"•- 
 
 ■■•r^ r?» 
 
 AT 
 
 ^•Jc ..«.' W*. «* ^-:«^ ^^*CJ^ •. 
 
S6 THE CORAN. 
 
 Thus the main object, or at any rate one of the 
 main objects, of the Coran, was to provide the Arabs 
 in their own language with a confirmation of the 
 previous revelation.t The Coran was not to super- 
 sede the Jewish Scriptures; it was intended to be an 
 *' attestation" thereof in the Arabic language, and thus 
 accessible to the Arabs, — which the former Scriptures 
 from being in a foreign tongue, could not be. And 
 that the Coran was confirmatory of the previously 
 revealed Scripture, is adduced by Mahomet as a con- 
 clusive proof against the accusation of the Coreish 
 that his Revelation was an antiquated lie. 
 
 Surely such language is compatible only with the 
 position that the Jewish Scriptures were held by 
 IMahomet to be entirely divine and genuine. 
 
 XVII.— Sura XLVI., v. 30. uJlii^l^l '^j^ 
 
 t At this stage of his mission, this was no doubt the sincere 
 and real object of Mahomet. By-and-by, the scope of his de- 
 signs changed with his circumstances ; and in the full develop- 
 ment of Islam at Medina, the Coran becomes no longer a mere 
 attestation of the previous Scriptures, but as the last, and there- 
 fore most authoritative, deliverance of God's will, altogether 
 supersedes them. It is not, however, expedient to bring forward 
 this point prominently, because it would be offensive to the 
 jNIussulmans, and the object here is to attract them to our 
 Scriptures, not to repel them by arousing a controversial and 
 hostile spirit. 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 87 
 
 I 
 
 And (ra// /^ mind) when We caused a company of the Genii to 
 turn aside unto thee that they might hear the Coran ; And, 
 ■when they were present thereat, they said, — Give ear, and 
 when it was ended, they returned to their people as wamers ; 
 they said, — Oh our people ! verily we have heard a book 
 revealed after Moses, attesting the revelation that precedeth 
 it ; it leadeth to the truth, and unto the straight path. 
 
 '' Attesting that which is before it," (lit. betiueeji its 
 Jiands,) that is, the preceding Scriptures. So Jelal- 
 
 ooddeen, — jl,*::^'^ i^siJ ^\ ^'Jo ,.^j U! \ix^i^ 
 
 *' attesting that luhich is before it, i.e. which precedeth 
 it, as the Tourat (Pentateuch)." 
 
 The description, by the Genii to their brethren, of 
 this new Revelation, was that it attested and confirmed 
 the truth of the pre\-ious revelation. This was its 
 chief feature; its leading object; that by which they 
 characterized and distinguished it. 
 
 This, it "^tH be ob5er\-ed, is in perfect keeping 
 with the passage last quoted (No. XVI.). 
 
 XVIIL— Sura XXXV., v. 25. IQU\ s,^ 
 
 And if they reject thee, verily they who preceded them rejected 
 (their prophets), who brought them clear signs, and writings, 
 -and the enlightening book. 
 
88 THE CORAN. 
 
 The Jewish and Christian Prophets and Scriptures 
 are evidently meant. 
 
 XIX.— Sura XXXV., v. 31. KjIa!^] ^^^ 
 
 And that which We have revealed unto thee is the truth, attest- 
 ing that which precedeth it. 
 
 "Attesting that which precedeth it;" — i.e., the 
 Sacred Scriptures before revealed. Thus Jelalood- 
 
 deen, c__;L01 ^^ ^usaJ ; and Baidhawi, ^^aj U! 
 
 To attest and confirm the preceding Scriptures, is 
 here again mentioned as the descriptive feature of 
 Mahomet's revelation. 
 
 XX. — Sura XIX., v. 11. t^,^ '^y^ 
 
 Oh John ! take the book with power ;— and We gave him wisdom 
 while a child. 
 
 God (who is here the speaker) directs John the 
 Baptist to take the Book, i.e. the Book of the 
 Jewish Scriptures ("The i:om'Ci\.,''—JelaIooddeen and 
 Baidhawi) with power ; — an acknowledgment that the 
 Jewish Scriptures existed in the time of John and 
 Jesus, genuine and uncorrupted. 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 89 
 
 XXL— Sura XIX., v. 28, 29. ^_^ i"^^.^ 
 ^ Lm^ ^\ 4 ^^ ^j-< f!^ UiJ \.]\'i aJl c:Jj\^ \i 
 
 And she {Mary) pointed to him {the infinii Jesus : ) they said, 
 
 — How shall we speak with a child in the cradle ? ( The iu- 
 
 fa7it Jesus) said, —verily I am the servant of God ; he hath 
 
 given me the book {i.e. the Gospel), and made me a prophet. 
 
 There is not much in this passage, excepting the 
 mention of the divine origin of the Gospel 
 
 XXII.-SURA XLIL, Y. I. ^^^dl 'ij^^ 
 
 Thus doth God, the glorious and the wise, communicate inspi- 
 ration unto thee, as he did unto those that preceded thee. 
 
 As to the style and mode of inspiration, the Goran 
 is here put in the same category with the Revelations 
 to former prophets. The Jewish and Christian 
 Scriptures, being revealed in the same way as the 
 Goran, the Mussulman is bound to render to them 
 a similar reverence. 
 
 XXIII.— Sura XLIL, v. 12. ^j,t}\ Ij^^ 
 
90 THE CORAN. 
 
 lie hath ordained unto you the rehgion which he commanded 
 unto Noah, and which We have revealed unto thee, 
 and which We commanded unto Abraham, Moses, and 
 Jesus ;— saying, Maintain the {^nie) rehgion, and be not at 
 variance therein. 
 
 Islam, as inculcated in the Coran upon Mahomet, 
 was the same religion as that revealed to Noah, Abra- 
 ham, Moses, and Jesus ; i.e., the religion of the Old 
 and New Testament, — Judaism and Christianity. 
 
 XXIV. — Sura XLIL, vv. 14, 15. lJj^^\ ^t*-' 
 J *^i-j Lao j,\j^\ *^ ;l=w U Sxi ^j^ ^1 'v't;^'' ^* * 
 
 And they did not differ until after the knowledge {0/ Divine 
 Revelation) came unto them, rebelliously among themselves : 
 and unless the word had gone forth from thy Lord {respiting 
 the?n) until a fixed time, verily the matter had been decided 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 9 1 
 
 between them. And verily they that have inherited the book 
 after them are in a perplexing doubt respecting the same. 
 Wherefore invite [men tinto the true faith, ) and stand fast 
 as thou hast been commanded, and follow not their desires. 
 And say, I believe in whatever books God hath revealed, 
 and I am commanded to decide between you : God is our 
 Lord, and your Lord. To us will {be reckoned) our works, 
 — to you, yours. There is no ground of dispute between 
 us and you. God will gather us together, and to Him shall 
 be the return. 
 
 The above passage follows close upon the preced- 
 ing text (No. XXIII. ), in which mention is made of the 
 Jewish and Christian prophets, and the one true 
 religion. 
 
 It is here asserted that the people to whom the 
 divine knowledge of the true rehgion came, i.e. the 
 Jews and Christians, fell to variance after receiving 
 that knowledge; that God's wrath might at once 
 justly have destroyed them for their enmity, but that 
 they were respited till the day of his decree ; and 
 that those who inherited the Scriptures after them, 
 i.e. the Jews and Christians of Mahomet's time, 
 were in doubt and perplexity regarding their true 
 meaning. So the commentators : " Those that have 
 inherited the book after them, and they are the Jews 
 and Christians"; — ^j ^djt.\^^ i^\uQi\ \yj^\ ^;)iJl 
 ^^U:J^j ^^\ Jelalooddeen. ''That is, the people 
 of the book that were in the time of the prophet." 
 
 J^^;^ :,^z 4 ^ jU^ ^.^^ ^\-S^\C:A ^^-:\'-"^^' ''' 
 
 doubt regarding the sa??ie, i.e., regarding their book, not 
 knowing its real purport, or not believing in it with a 
 
92 THE COR AN. 
 
 true faith." ,i> U^ a.3*^U;J >--'\::^ ,.,-< ^^'^ CSJ^ . c-^ 
 
 Mahomet is accordingly to invite them to the true 
 faith, to be himself steadfast in the doctrines com- 
 manded by God, and not to follow the vain imagina- 
 tions of the Jews and Christians. He is at the same 
 time to declare his belief in all that God has revealed 
 to them, and to say that he is empowered by God to 
 decide their differences and disputes. He is to 
 impress upon them that their God and his God is 
 one and the same ; that the works of the People of 
 the Book, and of his own People, will be equally 
 accepted ; and that there was no real cause of dif- 
 ference or dispute between them. — {^Compare Ai'i. X.) 
 
 In this passage it is evident, — First, that Mahomet 
 speaks of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures as 
 i?ihe?'ited by the Jews and Christians of his own time^ 
 as then extant and in general use amongst them. 
 Secondly, that he expresses his belief in those Scrip- 
 tures in unqualified terms, necessarily implying that 
 they were regarded as genuine and uncorrupted. 
 Thirdly, that the only cause of dispute between him- 
 self and the Jews and Christians of the day, was 
 the alleged doubts and differences into which they 
 had fallen, their erroneous interpretations and doc- 
 trines, and their enmity and divisions among them- 
 selves. There was no essential difference between 
 Mahomet and them ; no (2^ issue or) ground of 
 controversy. Their errors and differences, which had 
 in reality no support from their Scriptures, Mahomet 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 93 
 
 announced himself commissioned to adjust. After pro- 
 fessing his behef in their Scriptures, Mahomet adds : — 
 Jc^j Jj^^ '■^;-*^J <a;;/^/«;« directed to decide between 
 you. 
 
 The whole tenor of the passage is directly opposed 
 to any imputation against either the genuineness or 
 the Divine authority of the Scriptures, Jewish or 
 Christian. 
 
 XXV.— Sura XL., vv. 55, 56. ^Ui ^j»-o 
 
 And verily We gave unto Moses guidance, and We caused the 
 Children of Israel to inherit the book,— a guide and an 
 admonition unto people of understanding hearts. Where- 
 fore be patient, for the promise of God is true, and ask 
 pardon for thy sin, «S:c. 
 
 Commentators agree that the Book here meant is 
 the Tourat or Pentateuch. The books of the Old 
 Testament were inherited through the providence of 
 God by the Israelites from generation to generation, 
 as " a guide and admonition to the earnest enquirers." 
 The fact is used in the text as an argument why 
 Mahomet should have patience and trust in the 
 certainty of God's promise to hinL 
 
94 THE CORAN. 
 
 XXVL— Sura XL., v. 72. ^,^^\ ^^^^ 
 
 They who reject the book, and that which We have sent our 
 messengers with, — they shall know ; when the collars shall 
 be on their necks, and the chains by which they shall be 
 dragged into hell \ — then they shall be burned in the fii-e. 
 
 These awful punishments are threatened not only 
 against the rejecters of the Coran, but against the 
 rejecters of that which God sent His previous Messetigers 
 with, i.e. the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. Both 
 revelations are placed on the same footing ; the 
 danger of their rejection is the same. 
 
 When Mussulmans of the present day are tempted 
 to speak despitefully of the Jewish and Christian 
 Scriptures, and of their divine contents, let them 
 weigh well such passages of the Coran as the above, 
 lest they incur the peril of the punishment here 
 indicated. 
 
 XXVIL— Sura XXV., v. 36. ^U^^l 'i^.^ 
 
 * V)i 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 95 
 
 And verily We gave Moses the book, and We appointed his 
 brother Aaron his helper. 
 
 A reference to the divine origin of the Book of 
 Moses, "the Tourat." — {Jelalooddeen) 
 
 XXVIII.— Sura XX., v. 132. 6^ Ij^^ 
 
 J U h^, ^-l; ^ ^\ ^ij ^^ h\ U^"b ^ ^P J 
 
 And they {f/ie Coreish) say,— *'If he doth not bring us a sign 
 from his Lord (wt? will not believe).'" What ! hath not an 
 evident demonstration come mito them in the former pages ?' 
 
 The " former pages" mean the Scriptures in use 
 amongst the Jews and Christians. 
 
 Baidhawi explains it thus :— ^ CH:=^^S ^l>>"^^ 0'"° 
 I)jUJ\ u^';i3\ ^.'L— " the Tourat and the Gospel, 
 and all the divine books." But the only divine book, 
 or books, that even claimed to be divine, known to the 
 citizens of Mecca (who are here addressed), were the 
 Scriptures of the Jews and Christians dwelhng in 
 Arabia and the adjoining lands. And it is evident 
 that to them reference is here made. 
 
 When the citizens of Mecca called for a sign or 
 miracle, Mahomet referred them to the evident demon- 
 stration already contained in those books. He would 
 not have made this appeal, unless the books in ques- 
 tion had been notorious, and in common use in Arabia 
 and the neighbouring countries, and therefore easily 
 
<)6 THE CORAN. 
 
 accessible to the Meccans : neither would he have 
 made it, unless he had regarded those books as divine, 
 authentic, and uncorrupted. 
 
 XXIX.— Sura XLIII., v. 43- ^J^f^ h^-^ 
 
 And ask those of Our Apostles whom We have sent before thee, 
 whether We have appointed any besides the Merciful, as a 
 God whom they should worship. 
 
 " Ask those of Our Apostles whom we have sent 
 before thee," that is, their people, — those learned in 
 their writings and doctrines ; ♦^.^ ^^^-c- ^ *^^'<\ lJ^ 
 Baidhawi ;—'' the people from amongst those of the 
 two Books," i.e. Jews and Christians, — ^\ ^<i ^\ 
 . At^\ ^ib\—Jelalooddcen. Mahomet is directed by 
 God in this way to enquire of the former Apostles, 
 and thus make sure of the fact that he has uniformly, 
 in all previous revelations, forbidden idolatry. Referring 
 to the previous Apostles, means, therefore, to consult 
 their writings in the hands of the Jews and Christians. 
 As shown by Jelalooddeen, the command of God that 
 Mahomet should ask this question, is a mode of 
 expression equivalent to assuring the idolatrous 
 • Meccans that none of the former prophets, or their 
 inspired writings, countenanced the worship of any 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 97 
 
 Other besides the One true God : — jl^:x-i>in ^j J^.^!i. 
 
 The passage thus speaks of extant and well-known 
 Scriptures, to which, or to the people possessing them, 
 jMahomet is referred by God for conclusive proof 
 against idolatry. 
 
 XXX. — Sura XII., v. iii. c-a-^y. '^j^-^ 
 
 It is not a story fabricated, but an attestation of (the revelation) 
 which is before it, and an explanation of every matter, a 
 guide and a mercy to the people that believe. 
 
 The Goran is here spoken of: — \j}i\d^^ /t'/a/ood- 
 deen. Baidhaivi. And the argument is the same as 
 in previous similar passages already explained. (See 
 Art. XVI.) 
 
 XXXL— Sura XL, vv. 17, 18. j^i> Ij^^ 
 
 L^ 
 
 
 7f 
 
98 THE CORAN. 
 
 These are they for whom there is no portion in the next life but 
 fire : and that which they have done shall perish therein ; 
 vain will that be which they have wrought. What ! {shall 
 such a 07te he equal utito him) who proceedeth upon a plain 
 direction from his Lord ; and a witness from him {i.e. 
 frvjii the Lord) attendeth him, and before him {or it) is the 
 Book of Moses a guide and a mercy. 
 
 In drawing a picture between the wicked who shall 
 perish, and the true beUever, it is prominently noticed 
 that the latter is a follower of Mahomet (or of the 
 Coran,) pj-eceded by the Book of Moses, which is a 
 Guide and a Mercy. This entirely coincides with the 
 honourable and reverent mention of the Scriptures 
 throughout the Coran. 
 
 C 4id i , •*«} 
 
 XXXIL— Sura XL, \f 3. c>^& ^, 
 
 Ai^ tlXi ^^ ^ii\ J At--: ^'^'^ ^O \J-^ ^^^^-^ 
 
 And verily We gave Moses the book, and they fell to variance 
 regarding it. And had not the word gone forth from thy 
 Lord, surely the matter had been decided between them ; 
 and verily they are in perplexing doubt concerning the 
 same. 
 
 A testimony to the divine origin of the Book of 
 Moses. For the rest see remarks on the passage 
 quoted in Art. XXIV., with which the text corresponds. 
 
TESTIINIOXY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 99 
 
 XXXIII. — Sura X., v. 37, ^^^Jo ij^«s 
 
 <Ui ^~r^lj^ C--?'a.(ll J---^iJ* J '';;^<^, ^trf^ s/'-^^ (J-i"^*^ 
 
 And this Coran is not such that it could have been fabricated by 
 other than God ; but it is an attestation of that {?.e. of tJiose 
 Scriptures) which precede it, and an explanation of the 
 book, — there is no doubt therein, — from the Lord of 
 creation. What ! will they say, he {Mahomet) hath forged 
 it ? Say, — then bring a Sura like unto it. 
 
 When accused of fabricating the Coran, Mahomet, 
 as on other occasions, appeals to the argument that 
 it cannot be so, because the Coran is an attestation of 
 the previous Scriptures. 
 
 " An attestation of that which is before it " {lit., 
 ^ietween its ha?ids,) viz. ; " of the Scriptures preceding 
 
 it," \^^"J^\^ ^,Jo ^-.J ^^':^\—Jelalooddcen ; or, " cor- 
 responding with the divine books that precede it," 
 
 Such reference to the Coran, as confirming the 
 preceding divine books, or corresponding with their 
 contents, forms a virtual appeal to the books them- 
 selves as in the hands of the " People of the book," 
 and easily accessible to the inhabitants of Mecca ; 
 and is inconsistent with any other supposition but 
 that those Scriptures were held by Mahomet to be 
 divine, authentic, and uncorrupted. 
 
 H 2 
 
lOO THE CORAN. 
 
 XXXIV.— Sura X., v. 93. ^^y_ Sj^.«: 
 
 If thou art in doubt regarding that \vhich We have sent down 
 unto thee, then ask those who read the book {rrc'ca/ed) lie- 
 fore thee. Verily the truth hath come unto thee from thy 
 Lord ; be not therefore amongst those that doubt. 
 
 " The Book revealed before Mahomet," is explained 
 by Jelalooddeen to mean the Pentateuch ; but there 
 seems no reason to confine the reference to it. Here, 
 as in many other passages, the word is obviously used 
 in its widest sense, and intends the Scriptures in use 
 among Christians as well as Jews. 
 
 The object of God, in referring Mahomet to that Scrip- 
 ture and its possessors, in order to be satisfied of the 
 inspiration of the Coran, is explained by Baidhawi 
 thus : — " for verily it {i.e. the Coi'dii ivhich We have 
 revealed imto thee) is held as certain amongst them, — 
 proved in their books, in the same manner as that which 
 We have revealed to thee. The object is to prove this, 
 and to call in the testimony of the antecedent books." 
 
 U-ii!^ to ^^ ^ M^f."-^ (J lii^jIj j^sus^ iJ-'^-^^ ^^^^ 
 
 ,^'^]\ 4 U^ S\.L.-^V^ lL^\3 j.Ji^* jUll^ lLO\ 
 
 ^'<^'ic.^\\ 7^ "Ask those 7c>ho read the book revealed 
 before thee." Read, or " are reading," the Scripture. 
 It is the present or imperfect tense, and has the 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. JO I 
 
 signification of, "who are in the habit of reading'' 
 that Scripture. 
 
 The Scriptures are thus appealed to as books noto- 
 riously in use amongst the Jews and Christians : and 
 ]\Iahomet is desired to make enquiry from those who 
 were accustomed to read them without limitation to 
 any particular tribe, or people, or country, in order to 
 satisfy his doubts. The enquiry is not confined for in- 
 stance to the Jews of Yemen, Medina, or Kheibar ; or 
 to the Arab Christian tribes, such as the Bani Harith 
 of Najran, the Bani Tay of Tayma, or the Bani Hanifa 
 of Yemama. The Prophet is referred without distinc- 
 tion to all within reach who used to read the Divine 
 Scripture previously revealed, whether Abyssinians, 
 Syrians, Arabs, or Egyptians, whether subjects of the 
 Ghassanide kingdom, of Hira, of Constantinople, or 
 of Persia. 
 
 It is the Jewish and Christian Scriptures thus in 
 current use throughout the civilized world in the time 
 of Mahomet, which by being so appealed to, for the 
 purpose of silencing the doubts of the Prophet, are 
 stamped by the Coran not only as inspired, but as 
 genuine, pure, and free from corruption. 
 
 XXXV.— Sura VI., v. 20. Axii\ Ij^^ 
 ^l^\ ♦i>il:»J^ \^9j^l ^"^^ ^^^^f-l '^'^"'^^ (*^'v"^ c;:!*^^ 
 
 Those to whom We have given the book recognize him as they 
 recognize their own sons. They that have destroyed their 
 own souls, these believe not. 
 
I02 THE CORAN. 
 
 Commentary. — ^'■Recognize him; that is, Mahomet, 
 by the description of him in their book." j^,*^'* ^ 
 f^i^ ti ^^^-J Jdalooddeen. " Recognize him ; that is, 
 recognize the prophet of God by the description of 
 him mentioned in the Tourat and the Gospel. As 
 they recognize their own sons, that is, by their individual 
 marks. They who have dest7vyed their own souls, that 
 is, from amongst the people of the book and the idol- 
 aters, they do not believe.'" ^^'--Lsr ^l^^\t^J ^s^^j^^l <^J^^yV. 
 
 (*^ ciJ^v^'^^ -? <-->L0^ Jjb^ ^^ ^z^\ '^^j''*=>- ^^^'^^ 
 
 ,.,*-'<^^ ^ — Baidhawi. 
 
 See the notes on previous Articles VII. and XIII., 
 where a similar recognition is spoken of It is quite 
 evident that Mahomet thus repeatedly refers to the 
 Jewish and Christian Scriptures, — through their 
 possessors, the Jews and Christians of his day, — as 
 containing evidence in favour of his claim and doc- 
 trines ; and that such reference is uniformly made as 
 to authentic and uncorrupted writings, without any 
 hint or suspicion of their having been tampered with. 
 
 U 
 
 XXXVI. -Sura VL, v. 90, ^Ui^'\ 'ijy^ 
 
 p -a- 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. IO3 
 
 These are they to whom We have given the book, and wisdom, 
 and prophecy, and if these {the Co)-eish) disbelieve the same, 
 verily We have given it in trust unto a people who are not 
 disbelievers therein. These are they whom God hath 
 guided ; wherefore persevere in the guidance of them. 
 
 The people referred to in the opening words are 
 the Jews and Christians. The preceding verses 
 contain an enumeration of the chief patriarchs 
 Of the Israehtes and Christians, from Abraham to 
 Jesus, including " David, Solomon, Job, Joseph, 
 Moses, Aaron, Zacharias, John," &c., with "their 
 fathers, offspring, and brethren." The text proceeds : 
 — " These are they to whom We have given the 
 Book, and Wisdom, and Prophecy ; and if these {the 
 people of Mecca ^ Jelalooddeen ; the Coreish, Baidhawi,) 
 reject the same, verily We have made (or shall make) 
 it over to a people who will not be disbelievers 
 therein." 
 
 " The Book, meaning the Scripture generally," — 
 
 ^_^;«j^jsM Aj Sij\ L— >l:;01 We have made it over, that is, 
 its guardianship or care,"U:;_cl^j ^\ \.^ y^ Baidhawi; 
 " we have committed the custodianship over it," 
 
 y l3jk-^\ \^i \'J^^— Jelalooddeen. 
 
 The persons thus constituted the guardians of the 
 Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, are 
 variously supposed to be the followers of the Jewish 
 and Christian prophets before specified, or the followers 
 of Mahomet ; — " and these are the prophets aforesaid 
 and those that are their followers ; or, as others say, 
 the followers or companions of Mahomet ; or aJl that 
 
104 THE COR AN. 
 
 believe in him, &c." ^]t^xi\:x^ j ^j^^^j^ll ,\^j\}\ ^i> ^ 
 
 Baidhawi. 
 
 It is immaterial to whom, in particular, the allusion 
 applies. What is clear, and of main importance, is 
 that the Coran here refers to the Jewish and Christian 
 Scriptures then extant, as authoritative, inspired, and 
 genuine ; — Scriptures which, though rejected by the 
 idolatrous Coreish, God had made over, or would 
 make over, in safe custody to a believing people. 
 Did the promise then become of none effect, seeing 
 that the Mussulmans of the present day suspect those 
 Scriptures of corruption or interpolation ? Did the 
 guardianship by the believing people, spoken of in 
 the text, prove false ? Surely the Mahometans will 
 not so discredit the words of the Coran. 
 
 Li 
 Li 
 
 XXXVIL— Sura VI., v. 92. Ax)f\ ij.^ 
 
 ■^ a1!T \'i\ U \^\i ^\ ^ijJj .i>. i^ L.jJj U • 
 
 yii<k^ • U3tw\-j' .j-.*L\J tC.lx.s--' / ^IJJ ^JkJb • ^iJ 
 
 (For ^,y..-tjs? L^J^f^" ^^^ u^^''^"' ^^^^^^ copies of the 
 Coran have . , ,is:l and . , , j..,.« , . ^^xs-,—Jdalooddcen. ) 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 105 
 
 And they do not estimate God with a just estimation, wlien they 
 say, — God hath not sent down — {i.e. revealed) anything to 
 i\Ian. Say, who sent down the book, which Moses brought, 
 a light and a direction to mankind ? Ye {var. read, they) 
 make [or transcribe) it upon sheets of paper which ye {or 
 they) show, and ye {or they) conceal much : and ye are 
 taught that which ye knew not, neither did your fathers. 
 Say, — God : then leave them to sport in their follies. 
 
 The passage is thus explained by Jelalooddeen : — 
 " T/iey, that is the Jews, do not estimate, 6-r.," \^jSi\.^ 
 J.^-!^ l£\ ; — " JV/ieii they say, that is to JNIahomet, in 
 their disputations with him concerning the Coran," 
 
 J^J^\d ^V^U Si. ^A\ T^^] ;— " T/iey (or ye) 
 
 make it upon sheets of paper, i.e. write it in separate 
 parts," (meaning scrolls of parchment, paper, or 
 leather, — the manner of the Jews having been from 
 time immemorial to transcribe the different books of 
 
 the Old Testament upon such separate scrolls.) cU.Ujsr'' 
 X-^Lii^ylij J ^^j-^.G ^J\ ^j^}k>\jh—'' They {ox ye) show 
 it, viz., that which they desire to appear thereof,"' 
 
 ^•^< ^iS^y ^^-.s:. U ^\ U3jJkJ* — " and they (or ye) 
 conceal much, viz., of that which is in it, such as the 
 description of Mahomet." c:^,^:^ l^J U^ \^ V^'' J 
 
 According to the above Commentary, the text is 
 addressed to the Jews. The greater part of this Sura 
 {VL, Inaam,) was delivered at Mecca, but the text 
 itself may probably have been added to it after 
 Mahomet went to Medina, and the Jews had com- 
 menced their opposition to him. They are alleged 
 
lo6 THE CORAN. 
 
 to have held that " God had not revealed anything," 
 i.e, beyond their own Scriptures ; or to Mahomet ; or 
 
 perhaps that he had never sent down ( Jy 1 j anything 
 materially, in the manner in which Mahomet declared 
 that the Goran was sent down to him from God by 
 Gabriel. In reply, Mahomet, as a complete refutation, 
 points to " the book which Moses brought," then in 
 their own hands ; and which they copied on sheets or 
 scrolls, or (as Jelalooddeen explains it) in separate 
 parts, so that they were able to bring forward such 
 scrolls or parts as they wished to show when arguing 
 with Mahomet, and to keep back such as they did 
 not wish to show, because perhaps adverse to their 
 argument. 
 
 Mahomet no doubt believed that there were 
 prophecies in the Old Testament, favourable to his 
 mission, which the Jews of Medina, though possessing 
 in their Scriptures, did not choose to bring forward. 
 
 Whether there really were such passages, it does 
 not, at present, concern us to enquire. What is plain, 
 and beyond dispute, is, that in the text, Mahomet 
 refers to the Jewish Scriptures as inspired, extant, 
 and genuine : — they are also spoken of in a manner 
 implying that they were possessed in a complete and 
 perfect state by the Jewish tribes at ]Medina, although 
 those tribes were not candid enough to bring them 
 all forward, but only such of the sheets or scrolls as 
 suited their purpose and argument. Observe that the 
 Book of Moses is here called " a light and guide to 
 mankind." 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. I07 
 
 XXXVIIL— Sura VL, v. 93. ^U3^J1 Ij^^ 
 , <^jj^^ ,.,-.j c^JsiT ,v*J^*i=^ Ll/jUi ^y ;j^ L^VS IJjb • 
 
 And this book We have revealed, — blessed, — certifying the 
 truth of that {revelation) which precedeth it, and that thou 
 mightest admonish the people of the city (Mecca) and 
 those around it. 
 
 " That which is before if, i.e. the books preceding 
 
 it." \,^^z^\ ,.,A5 a.LJ5 <}jJo ,,^i , cjJl Jelalooddeen. — 
 "The Tourat or (other) books preceding the Coran." 
 <dJ ^j^\ »^^-:i3 ^ l\j^:^\ ^^i Baidhdwi. 
 
 This passage immediately follows the preceding 
 text quoted in Art. XXXVII. The main characteristic 
 of the Coran is still that it attests the preceding Scripture, 
 being especially intended for the people of " the 
 Metropolis " (Mecca), and those that dwelt around it. 
 
 XXXIX— Sura VI., v. 114. *U3^i Ij^^ 
 
 He it is that hath sent down to you the book, explaining {all 
 things j) and those to whom We have given the book know 
 
lo8 THE CORAN. 
 
 that it [the Cordn) hath been sent down from thy Lord iu 
 truth. Wherefore, be not thou {O MaJwviet !) among those 
 that doubt. 
 
 " Those to wJiom We Jiave given the booh, i.e. the 
 T omsit,'' Jelalooddeen, — or rather generally the Jewish 
 and Christian Scriptures; so Baidhawi, — "meaning 
 the believers of the people of the book," \^:^^^ ^\^\ 
 
 This, like previous passages (Arts. VII., XI 1 1., 
 XV., &:c.), implies a similarity or coincidence between 
 the contents and doctrines of the Coran, and those of 
 the previous Scriptures ; and the testimony of the 
 people, in w^hose hands God had placed the Scriptures, 
 is adduced as a satisfactory proof of the truth of the 
 Coran, and as a reason why Mahomet himself should 
 not doubt. The remarks upon the previous passages 
 are equally applicable here. 
 
 XL. — Sura VI., v. 124. Axif\ h^^ 
 
 U Ji,c ^vj:> jx^ ^^;3 J Uli IT ^^:-.V \^\^. 
 
 And when a verse cometh unto them, they say, — We will not 
 believe until there is brought unto us [a revelation) like unto 
 that which the apostles of God brought. 
 
 The people of Mecca, who opposed Mahomet, 
 declined to receive any verse of the Coran until he 
 should bring a revelation resembling the books of the 
 
TESTIMOXV TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. I09 
 
 previous prophets. An indirect reference is thus 
 made to the Jewish and Christian revelations, the 
 general character and style of which were known in 
 Arabia, and even amongst the idolaters of Mecca. 
 
 XLI. — Sura VI., v. 154. ^Uj^Jl ijj^ 
 ^ If- ^ ^ . 
 
 ^j ^UL) *A^ k.^s>-j J ^^\^ J ^^ j-^^ ^^-.^^' 
 
 Then We gave Moses the book complete as to whatever is excel- 
 lent, and an explanation of every matter, and a direction 
 and a mercy, if haply they might believe in the meeting of 
 their Lord. 
 
 Complete, &c., or (as Sale), " a perfect rule unto him 
 who should do right." 
 
 The previous Scriptures are thus complete and 
 perfect in all that is excellent, — they are an explanation 
 of every matter, — a guide to salvation and a mercy. 
 Could higher praise have been given to them ? and 
 why is it that notwithstanding this praise, those 
 Scriptures are so little valued and referred to by the 
 present followers of the Coran ? 
 
 But if the former Scriptures were thus perfect, what 
 was the need of this new revelation in the Coran ? 
 The succeeding verse answers the question. 
 
no THE CORAN. 
 
 XLII. — Sura VI., v. 155. Ax'j\}\ '^j^^ 
 
 
 And this book (///(? Cordn) We have sent down, — blessed ; where- 
 fore follow it, and fear G od, if haply ye may find mercy ; — lest 
 ye should say, — Verily the Scripture hath been revealed to 
 two people before us, and we are ignorant of their reading ; 
 — or lest ye should say, — If the Scripture had been revealed 
 to us, we surely would have followed its direction better 
 than they ; and now verily a clear exposition hath come 
 imto you from your Lord, a direction and mercy, Sec. 
 
 " Lest ye should say, — verily the Sa'iptiwe hath been 
 revealed to two people before us ; i.e. to the Jews and 
 
 Christians." cJj^^l^ ^^ii^\ ci^ tijrr^'^ ^J^—Baid- 
 hawi and Jelalooddeen. 
 
 The object of the Coran is here stated to be the 
 taking away of all excuse from the Meccans and 
 Arabs, lest they should say ; — " The Scriptures have 
 indeed been revealed to the Jews and the Christians ; 
 but they are of no avail to us, for we cannot read nor 
 understand the foreign tongue in which they are 
 written. If the Scripture had been revealed to us in 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. Ill 
 
 Arabic, we had been as good believers as they, or 
 better." The Coran purports to have been revealed 
 in order to take away this excuse. It was not because 
 the previous Scripture was defective, — (on the con- 
 trary, it is stated to " be perfect in all that is excellent, 
 an explication of every matter, a guide and a mercy ") 
 — that the Coran was sent to the Arabs, but because 
 it was written in a foreign tongue. And there is here 
 as little imputation against the integrity and purity 
 of the Bible, as against its completeness. The only 
 imperfection was that it was not available in the 
 Arabic tongue. It was written in foreign languages 
 which the Arabs did not know, and this is the want 
 which the Coran is here represented as intended to 
 supply. 
 
 XLIII.— Sura XXVIIL, v. 44- ^^^ill h^''^ 
 
 And verily We gave Moses the book, after that We had de- 
 stroyed the former generations, — an enhghtenment unto 
 mankind, and a direction, and a mercy, if haply they might 
 be admonished. 
 
 A Striking testimony not only to the divine origin 
 of the Pentateuch, but to its value as a light to lighten 
 the Gentiles, — all "mankind"; — a guide, and a mercy 
 to admonish and direct them. 
 
112 THE CO RAN. 
 
 XLIV.— Sura XXVIII., v. 47. ^^ii!\ ij^ 
 
 ^ii ^1 cUJ1 U^:*^ (-^"^-^^ ^-^ '^^ ^ '^-^ rr'-* S-'^-'V 
 
 And thou wert not on the side of Mount Sinai, \vhen We called 
 out [to Moses ;) but {t/ioic art) a mercy from thy Lord, that 
 thou mayest admonish a people unto whom no warnerhalh 
 come before thee, if perchance they may receive admonition ; 
 — and lest, if there befall them a calamity for the evil works 
 they have committed, they should say, — Oh Lord ! if thou 
 hadst sent unto us a prophet, we had followed thy revela- 
 tions, and been of the number of the believers. 
 
 And now that the truth hath come unto them from us, they say, 
 — if there were to come {a revelation) like unto that which 
 came unto Moses {we should believe). What ! do they not 
 disbelieve in that which was given unto Moses heretofore ; 
 they say, — two impostures {var. read, impostors,) that mu- 
 tually assist one another ; and they say, — verily we reject 
 them both. Say, — bring a book from God that guidetli 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II3 
 
 more aright than these two, if ye be true ; and if they answer 
 not, &c. 
 
 For ^\ sy^ tivo pieces of magic or cunningly devised 
 
 fabrications, others read ,1-^\^ two magicians, i.e. 
 
 Moses and Mahomet, two men ivho have fabricated a 
 
 cu7i?iing piece of imposture. So Baidhawi : — " Two 
 
 magicians, var. read. t7uo pieces of magic, — that 
 
 is, the Pentateuch and the Coran. 'i(\l ^^ ^ys>-\^ 
 
 The object of Mahomet's mission is here again stated 
 to be the admonishing of a people, namely the Arabs, 
 imto whom no warner had before been sent ; — lest, 
 when condemned, these Arabs, should say, — " Had 
 a prophet come unto us, we had been believers." Yet 
 when Mahomet arises a prophet, the people of Mecca 
 refuse to believe in him, unless he come with Scrip- 
 tures (or var. read, with Miracles,) like those of Moses. 
 " But," replies Mahomet, " wh^t an inconsistency is 
 this ! have you not already rejected the revelation of 
 Moses brought forward by me to substantiate my 
 claims, and said of it and of the Coran, they are but 
 two cunning fabrications, one supporting the other ; 7ve 
 reject both as impostures'' Upon which God is repre- 
 sented as directing Mahomet to say, — " Show me a 
 book more right in its direction than these two, that 
 I may follow it," &c. 
 
 The testimony here borne to the authority and 
 value of the book of Moses, and the appeal to the 
 citizens of Mecca to bring forward any other Scrip- 
 ture containing truer direction, are unequivocal and 
 
114 THE CORAN. 
 
 unreserved. It was the Pentateuch, as then in the 
 hands of the Jews, and the contents of which Ma- 
 homet had already adduced in confirmation of his 
 doctrine, that is appealed to, and in reference to 
 which, in conjunction with the Coran, the Coreish are 
 challenged to produce an inspired book that guided 
 more rightly than they did. 
 
 XLV.— Sura XXVIIL, v. 53 ^,^^11 S\^^ 
 
 Those to whom We have given the Scripture before it {i.e. before 
 the Cordn,) belie-ve therein ; and when it [the Cordn) is 
 read unto them, they say,— We believe in it ; verily it is the 
 truth from our Lord, surely we were Moslems from before. 
 
 The portions of the Coran recited to, or read by, 
 certain Jews or Christians, are supposed in this text to 
 have been so like their own Scriptures, and contained, 
 moreover, such frequent affirmation that the object of 
 Mahomet's mission was to confirm those Scriptures, 
 that these Jews or Christians expressed their conviction 
 of the truth of Mahomet's doctrines, and said that 
 they were exactly the same as their own which they 
 had held before. " Surely we were Moslems already " ; 
 as much as to say, " If this be Islam, it is nothing 
 more or less than what we find in our own inspired 
 Books." Notahene; this verse belongs to an early 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II5 
 
 Stage of Mahomet's mission, before his flight to 
 Medina. 
 
 Compare the above verse with Arts. VIL, XIII., 
 XV., XXXV., and other passages of similar purport. 
 
 
 XLVL— Sura XXIIL, v. 25. ^.:.^j.JU\^. 
 
 ^i '^\ 1)1 ^^1 J >Jj.^ 
 
 And verily We gave Moses the book, if haply they might be 
 directed ; and We made the son of ]\Iary and his mother a 
 sign, &c. 
 
 XLVIL— Sura XXI., v. 7. ,U:AJ1 l^,^ 
 
 And We sent not before thee [as Apostles) other than men whom 
 We inspired : ask, therefore, the people of the Scripture, if 
 ye know it not. 
 
 " We insph'edp var. read. "// hath been inspired 
 
 into ihem.''^ lj^-*-* ^^^ 05 ^^^ — Jelalooddeen. 
 
 " The people of the Scripture^ that is, those learned 
 in the Pentateuch and the Gospel." ^UWl id^\ Ijbl 
 J-js-^^_5 l\j%^\i — Baidhawi. 
 
 "This is given as a reply to the speech of the Coreish, 
 — What ! is this (pretender) atiy other than a mortal 
 like yourselves 1 God directs them to ask the people of 
 
 I 2 
 
Il6 THE CORAN. 
 
 the book regarding the true character of the ancient 
 prophets." ^£i jA.\ J-lt^y^j J^. ^jJ^ Jjb j,^}d\ ^\^^ 
 
 BaidJidivi. 
 
 Mahomet, in thus appeaHng to the possessors of 
 the Sacred Scriptures, Jewish and Christian, virtually 
 appealed, in confirmation of his claims and doctrine, 
 to the Scriptures themselves as extant and current 
 among the Jews and Christians of his day. What a 
 mighty diffdence between the Prophet of Islam and 
 his followers of the present time ! He professed to 
 make the Sacred Scriptures of the Old and New 
 Testaments the foundation of his claims, and his 
 pillar of support when attacked ; tJiey spend their days 
 in the impious attempt to subvert the authority of those 
 very Scriptures. 
 
 XLVIIL— Sura XXL, v. 49- .UJ!1 ^..-.- 
 
 And verily We gave Moses and Aaron the distinction {A I Fore an), 
 and a light, and an admonition to the pious, — those who 
 fear their Lord in secret, and who tremble for the hour {of 
 Jiidg7nent). This blessed admonition also ^^'e ha\'e sent 
 down ; will ye therefore deny it ? 
 
 The Books of Moses, here named the Forcan (that 
 which discriniinatcs the true from the false), are 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II7 
 
 spoken of in terms of high eulogy as a light to 
 lighten the faithful, and an admonition to the pious, — 
 those who fear God, and stand in awe of the hour of 
 judgment. Why then do not the pious Mussulmans, 
 — those who aspire to the character here given, — 
 study this holy book, and seek to enlighten them- 
 selves by its divine counsel ? 
 
 Note that the Coran itself is not spoken of in 
 terms of higher praise than the Pentateuch is in this 
 verse. 
 
 The name " Al Forcan " is in the Goran equally 
 applied as a distinctive epithet to the Goran itself, 
 as to the Pentateuch. 
 
 The tenor of the expressions here, as elsewhere, 
 points to a book in current use, by which the piety 
 and godliness of true believers were sustained and 
 their souls enlightened. Such was the estimation in 
 which the Bible was held by the author of the 
 Goran. 
 
 XLIX.— Sura XXI., v. 105. Xjf. i^, 
 
 Am! 
 
 .; • 
 
 And verily We have written in the Psalms, after the Law, that 
 " my servants, the righteous, shall inherit the earth." 
 
 " /ji the Fsalms, that is, in the book of David ; 
 
 aflcr the admojiiiion, i.e. the Pentateuch"; ^ i».'l!l ^J, 
 
 l\j^^\ ^J\ ^^3Jljy*j ^^ <3JL^ c-?li^ Baidhaiui Others 
 make Zuhur to mean the sacred books generally. 
 
Il8 THE CORAN. 
 
 At any rate this is a direct quotation from the Old 
 Testament. And we find it in Psalm XXXVII. v. 
 29, — The 7-ighieoiis shall inherit the earthy and dwell 
 therein for ever. 
 
 This admission of the inspiration of the Psalms as 
 then extant, and in use among the Jews and Christians, 
 is in accordance with the tenor in which the Bible is 
 spoken of in every part of the Coran. 
 
 1 * 
 
 L. — Sura XVIL, v. 2. ^j<^^\ '^j^-^ 
 
 
 75- 
 
 And We gave Moses the book, and made it a direction to the 
 Children of Israel, {saying) — Take ye not other than Me for 
 a patron. 
 
 " Take not, — var. read., — that they should not 
 take, — l.j^'j t\'t J. U3^J " The Book, i.e. the 
 Pentateuch," — l\j^-J:^^\z^\.—Jelalooddeen. 
 
 LI. — Sura XVIL, vv. 4, 5, and 7. t/.vc\n Ij^^^ 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II9 
 . . . . :^ 'J\ JO(^-i» fjAi L^ Ul \l>L^ >CL li-ixj 
 
 ^ ^1 ^j^\n ^^^ .v y^^ 
 
 And We declared in the book, in respect of the Children of 
 Israel, — saying, Ye shall surely work corruptly on the earth 
 twice, and ye shall be elated with great arrogance. And 
 when the threat of the first of these two {visitations) came to 
 pass, We sent against you our servants of terrible strength, 
 &c., and when the threat of the second (^visitation) came to 
 pass, &c. 
 
 " The Book, that is, the Pentateuch," 'i\jA\ (^\:^\ 
 
 Jdalooddeen ; Baidhctivi. 
 
 This passage refers to certain prophecies in the 
 Old Testament, predicting that the Jews would commit 
 wickedness, and arrogantly offend against God, on 
 two occasions ; and on two occasions suffer the 
 punishment of their sins ; — a prophecy which, as is 
 here said, actually came to pass. From the con- 
 tinuation of the subject in verse 7, it would appear 
 that allusion is made to the destruction of the Temple 
 twice : first at the Captivity, and secondly by Titus. 
 
 LIL— Sura XVIL, v. 55. ^,Ji\ l,^^ 
 
 And verily We have bestowed favour upon some of the prophets 
 more than upon others, and We gave David the Psalms, &c. 
 
I20 THE CORAN. 
 
 Compare with this passage Art. XLIX. (Sura XXI., 
 V. 105), where a quotation is made from these same 
 
 Psahns. 
 
 U 
 
 LIII. — Sura XVIL, v, 102. ^jJl\ ijy^ 
 -J JLli LU\u^ ^^'VJ t**^" LT"^'* ^"'"'^ '^^ -? 
 
 And verily We gave Moses nine evident signs ; \\herefore en- 
 quire from the children of Israel, &c. 
 
 ^'■Wherefore do tlioit enquire ; i.e. oh, Mahomet !" — 
 
 d^^s:^ \j JLsli — Jelalooddceii. Mahomet is in this 
 passage desired by God to refer to the Children of 
 Israel for attestation of the narrative of the nine 
 miracles shown by Moses to Pharaoh. Such attesta- 
 tion would of course be derived from their Scriptures ; 
 — which are therefore in effect here referred to as 
 evidence of the truth of this verse. 
 
 LIV.— Sura XVIL, v. loS. ^^^.v\ i^^^^ 
 .'.Li ^^,.c ^L^\ \^^ ^i:^\ J\ ^y^^<y ^_.! a.» \.u,<^ Jj 
 
 .L<l«; .,»!»!' . LV^-' ,.}"i'Si^ ,o«;^ *--^-= , c^^-' ^^^ 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 121 
 
 Say, — Believe in it {the Cordn, ) or believe not ; — verily they unto 
 whom the knowledge [of Divine Revelation) hath been 
 given anterior to it, when they hear it recited unto them, 
 fall down upon their faces worshipping : and they say, — 
 Praised be our Lord ; verily the promise of our Lord is ful- 
 filled. And they fall down on their faces weeping, and it 
 increaseth their humility. 
 
 " T/wse itnfo whom the knoiuledge of Divine Revela- 
 tion hath been given antcj'ior to it; i.e. the learned 
 who read the preceding Scriptures, and recognize the 
 reality of (Mahomet's) inspiration, and the signs of 
 
 prophecy," — ^jjj^ ^^J^\ ^ib^ A^i ^^ ^Ixll \^':>^\ ^idl\ 
 
 Baidhihui. " And these were believers from amongst 
 the people of the Book"; — c— >l::wC!l J.J^^^^i^»^ AJi>^ ^ 
 
 Jelalooddeen. 
 
 Mahomet is here directed by God to tell the 
 unbelieving Meccans " that they might believe or not 
 as they pleased ; — those who were better able to 
 judge, because they had the previous Divine Revela- 
 tions in their hands, — they believed in the Goran, and 
 rejoiced in its tidings as a confirmation of their own 
 Scriptures." 
 
 This accords with the notices in previous passages 
 (see Arts. VIL, XIII., &c.) regarding the recognition 
 of the Goran and the doctrines of Islam, by certain 
 of the people of the Book, from their correspondence 
 with the contents of their Scriptures. 
 
•c • 
 
 T22 THE CORAN. . 
 
 LV.— Sura XVI., v. 43. Jsal\ h^^ 
 
 And We have not sent before thee other than men whom We 
 have inspired ; — wherefore ask the people of the Scripture 
 if ye know not. ( JVe sent thej?i) with evident signs and 
 books, and We have sent down unto thee the reveLation, 
 that thou mightest make known to mankind that which hath 
 been revealed to them, that haply they might reflect. 
 
 The first portion of the above passage is identical 
 with Sura XXI., v. 7 ; w^hich see in Art. XLVII. 
 
 It contains, further, a reference to the divine 
 Miracles and Scriptures of the former prophets. 
 
 LVI. — Sura XIII., v. 39. s^\\ '^j^^ 
 J lL^-11 Jjjl Uj (j^^_/:> lJ^S^\ ^JbU-J'T ^;>isl\ J 
 
 And those to whom We have given the book, rejoice for that 
 which hath been sent down unto thee ; but of the Confede- 
 rates, there are that deny a part thereof. 
 
 " T/iey rejoice, because of its correspondence with 
 
 that ^vhich is with them." j^^s:.^:. U.1 t'cilJ^j/*.] ij)^=^j^^, 
 
 {Jelalooddeen ;) that is, on account of its conformity 
 with their own Scriptures. 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 23 
 
 Compare this with other passages (as Arts. VII., 
 XIII., XV., &c.) which appeal to the Jews and 
 Christians as witnesses to the correspondence of the 
 Coran with their own Scriptures. 
 
 LVII.-SURA XIIL, V. 45. sz)\ Ij^^ 
 
 Tju^^ dUib j.^ jj L^i c^j \^j^ ^,; jji j^i, _. 
 
 •Jf t—^l-xll Ji HSl.^ ,.»-c . ^.G-J. 
 
 , And those who disbelieve say, — Thou art not sent ; — say, — God 
 sufficeth for a witness between me and between you, and 
 also he with whom is the knowledge of the book. 
 
 " And also he with whom is the knowledge of the 
 Book ; that is from amongst the believers of the Jews 
 
 and Christians," ,j^^^ ^ c«jl::i3! Iz. ^Jo^ ^ ^ 
 
 jCjLsJl . (Jft^Jl — -Jelalooddeen. 
 
 The purport is similar to that of the preceding 
 passage. Mahomet's witnesses at Mecca were, as here 
 alleged, God himself, and certain of the Jews and 
 Christians, to whose knowledge of their own inspired 
 Scriptures he appeals for evidence in favour of the 
 Coran. 
 
 LVIII.-SuRA XXIX, V. 27. ^.S,J\ S-,.^ 
 
124 THE CORAN. 
 
 And We gave to him (i.e. to Abraham) Isaac and Jacob, and We 
 placed among his descendants prophecy and the book. 
 
 " And tJie Book, meaning thereby the (inspired) 
 books generally, that they shall receive (all) the four 
 
 Books," lxiji\ ^^Qi\ Jjli:;J ^j^4^ ^i <^„jl s-jU^1 ^ 
 — Baidlidwi. " Meaning the Books ; that is to say, the 
 Pentateuch, the Gospel, the Psalms, and the Goran " ; 
 
 — -Jelalooddeen. 
 
 These are the Divine books, which (according to this 
 passage) were preserved among the race of Abraham. 
 And the tenor of the text, as well as of the Maho- 
 metan Gommentaries, implies that the Scriptures in 
 question, that is the Old and New Testaments, were 
 preserved and handed down from generation to 
 generation among the seed of Abraham. 
 
 LIX. — Sura XXIX., v. 46. ciJ^Cr!! 'ijy^ 
 
 And contend not with the people of the book but in a generous 
 manner, excepting those of them who act wickedly ; and 
 say, — We believe in that which hath been revealed to us, and 
 in that which hath been revealed to you : and your God and 
 our God is one, and we are to Ilim i-esigned. 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 25 
 
 The text shows the manner in which, at this 
 period, Mahomet addressed the Jews and Chris- 
 tians ; — rather in the style of one identifying him- 
 self with their respective religions, than of one 
 commissioned to supersede them. At any rate, it 
 enables us to understand some of the grounds on 
 which it was natural for the Jews and Christians to 
 rejoice, — nay, to " weep with joy and gratitude," at 
 finding the prophet of Mecca prepared to sustain 
 and ratify their Scriptures in all material points, and 
 anxious apparently only to reform the abuses of 
 Image, Saint, and Angel worship, which had crept in 
 amongst them. 
 
 Further, there can be no stronger proof than this 
 passage, of the reverence and faith felt, and expressed, 
 by Mahomet, towards the Scriptures of the Jews and 
 Christians : — " We believe in that which hath been 
 revealed to us, and in that which hath been revealed 
 to you ; our God and your God is one ; and we are 
 to him resigned." 
 
 The Musslumans of Mahomet's time, and the suc- 
 ceeding generation, would have laughed to scorn the 
 miserable subterfuge set up by some Mahometans of 
 the present day, who pretend that it was not the 
 Pentateuch and Gospel in universal use among the 
 Jews and Christians, but some different Scripture, 
 that Mahomet alluded to. Such a supposition is 
 perfectly gratuitous, and runs counter to the whole 
 tenor of the Coran. 
 
T26 THE CORAN. 
 
 LX.— Sura XXIX., v. 47. c:^'4..Cx!l L».^ 
 
 i^[iQ\ ^UjT ^.JJli c^LOl lS,\\ \:^jA LL<lij^j 
 
 And thus have We sent down to thee the book {t/ie Cop-dn,) and 
 those to whom We have given the Scripture believe in it. 
 
 A continuation of the preceding passage. 
 
 " T/,e Scripture, i.e. the Pentateuch "; ,\j^\ ^\£,\ 
 
 — -Jelalooddeen. " The people referred to are Abdallah, 
 son of Sallam, and his companions ; or those of the 
 people of the two Books {the Old and New Testa- 
 
 7nents) who survived to the time of the Prophet " ; ^ 
 
 ^ .y-jlixli Jjbl — Baidhaivi. ^^ Thus have We revealed 
 2Uiio thee the Book, i.e. the Coran, in the same manner 
 as We revealed to them the Pentateuch, &c. " : CJ^i^ tX^ • 
 
 iji>^, — Jelalooddeen. 
 
 Thus it is held that the Coran was revealed in the 
 same manner as the previous Scriptures were revealed. 
 The form and style of inspiration are affirmed to be 
 the same. The source is the same. The object of 
 the Coran — at least one great object, — was to confirm 
 those Scriptures. The Mahometan, therefore, who 
 receives the Coran as divine, is bound to receive also 
 as divine these Sacred books and to study them with 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 27 
 
 a reverence similar to that which he shows to the 
 Coran. 
 
 LXL— Sura VIL. v. 158. ^\.zpL,^ 
 t_?^^ .^-^^ ^--^ J^*^'^ c^^V-r! r:!'^^ ^ o^*-'^j.% ^^"VA' 
 
 <;> 
 
 uJ« .*/♦>! L' /»i>r'<^ iJ-cC^);^ • S"U.::J^ tJ, ^Jb-U^ l'»::X^ <rJ.j^.s:^. 
 
 And I will shortly write down it {i.e. my viej'cy,) for those who 
 fear the Lord and give alms, and those who believe in our 
 signs : those who shall follow the apostle, — the illiterate 
 prophet, — whom they shall find written {i.e. descTibed) in 
 the Pentateuch and in the Gospel among them ; he shall 
 command them to do that which is excellent, &c. 
 
 This occurs in the answer supposed to be given by 
 God to the prayer of Moses at the time the Israelites 
 worshipped the golden Calf; and is introduced as a 
 prophetical annunciation to Moses of the Prophet that 
 was to arise in the latter days. Now, in this imagined 
 prophecy, God is represented as saying that his people 
 would " find him (Mahomet) written," i.e. would find 
 a description of him, '''"beside them in the Pentateuch 
 and Gospel." They would find him written there, as 
 
 Baidhawi and Jelalooddeen say, icJus^ <U>*db — "by 
 his name and his qualities." 
 
 The verse, therefore, corresponds with the numerous 
 previous passages in which it is alleged that the Jewish 
 and Christian Scriptures, in the hands of the Jews and 
 
I2S THE CORAN. ' 
 
 •Christians of that day, contained evidence of the 
 doctrine and claims of Mahomet. It clearly intimates 
 that the Pentateuch and the Gospel were current 
 amongst the Jews and Christians of Mahomet's time, 
 "by" or "amongst them,"— ^ j,:^:. Those Scrip- 
 tures are likewise spoken of here by God to Moses as 
 that which would be an authoritative source of refe- 
 rence. It is therefore clear that the Sacred Scriptures, 
 as possessed by the Jews and Christians generally in 
 the 7th century were, according to the teaching of the 
 Coran, authentic, genuine, and free from corruption. 
 
 '.*- « I f 1 ••-: 
 
 ^ J 
 
 LXIL— Sura VII., v. i6o. ^\^zl\ l 
 
 And of tne people of Moses, there is a party that directeth with 
 truth, and acteth justly by it. 
 
 Assuming for a moment the supposition to have 
 been well founded, that an attempt had been made 
 by some of the Jews to tamper with their Scriptures, 
 and erase passages containing testimony to Mahomet, 
 would the just and truthful Jews here spoken of have 
 joined in such an attempt, or at all permitted it? 
 Would not f/iey at least have preserved, and handed 
 down to posterity uncorrupted, the rolls of the Books 
 of Moses ? And as Mahomet appealed to certain sup- 
 posed prophecies of himself, and other evidences 
 favourable to his mission in those Scriptures, would 
 not these pious Jews who embraced Islam have care- 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 29 
 
 fully and religiously guarded, and handed down from 
 father to son, copies of the true and genuine Tourat 
 with these evidences and prophecies, as the most valu- 
 able proof of Mahomet's claims, and a complete justi- 
 iication of their own conduct in separating from their 
 Jewish brethren and following Islam. Assuredly they 
 would, had it not been notorious that no such attempt 
 at interpolation or erasure had ever been made by their 
 brethren ; and that the supposed prophecies of Maho- 
 met existed just as much in the copies scrupulously 
 preserved by the unconverted Jews, as in their own. 
 
 LXIIL— Sura VIL, v. i68. ^\,^'j\ S",.-. 
 
 ^^^\»A\ jfii^ U^l u^J^^ <4 A-ib^'i^-tLi J Yc [*.*^j ^'^^-^ 
 
 , Is. \yh "i ..S i ^\-:>.^\\ ■i\t^'c J^^J:. j^t' J^ iS:>-b 
 
 And (r^?// /(? mind) wlien thy Lord commanded that there should 
 
 K * 
 
130 THE CORAN. 
 
 certainly be sent against them [i.e. the yews) until the day of 
 resurrection those that would afflict them with grievous dis- 
 tress ; — verily thy Lord is swift in vengeance, and he is surely 
 forgiving and merciful. And We dispersed them in the 
 earth amongst the nations ; — there are of them that are vir- 
 tuous, and there are of them that are not so. And We 
 proved them with blessings, and with adversities, if per- 
 chance they might return. And there succeeded after them 
 a generation that inherited the book, who receive the tem- 
 poral advantage of this world, and say, — It will be forgiven 
 unto us. And if there come unto them an advantage the 
 like thereof, they accept it. What ! hath there not been 
 taken from them the covenant of the book, that they should 
 not say of God other than the truth, and they diligently study 
 that which is therein. 
 
 This passage was probably revealed at Medina, 
 when a difference was beginning to arise between 
 Mahomet and the Jews. 
 
 It contains an imputation against the Jews for mis- 
 representing the truth. But it is an imputation which 
 does not in the least affect the scrupulous care with 
 which they preserved their sacred books : — ^just as the 
 Christians always have imputed, and do to this day 
 impute, misrepresentation of the truth to the same 
 people, though they implicitly receive their Sciiptures 
 as genuine and incorrupt. 
 
 On the other hand, the passage contains a fresh 
 testimony to "the Book," as '^ inherited ^\- that is, 
 handed down from generation to generation amongst 
 the Jews. 
 
 The Jews are further accused of breaking the cove- 
 nant that they would not speak of God other than the 
 truth ^ {i.e. that they would not misrepresent the truth,) 
 although they are in the habit of 7'eading that which is 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 131 
 
 in their Book, — j^J U •-j; J * — or rather of carefully 
 perusing, or diligently studying it, for that is the force 
 of (jy- iJ. Their guilt is thus alleged to be aggravated 
 by reading the inspired Scripture, and thus knowing 
 the truth which they misrepresented. The text is thus 
 evidence of the currency and constant use and study 
 of the Scriptures amongst the Jews ; — those same 
 Scriptures which Mahomet uniformly attested. 
 
 Note the mention of the prophecy regarding the 
 dispersion of the Jews. 
 
 LXIV. — Sura VIL, v. 170. ^\jz\\ Isy^ 
 
 ^,'^S ^ ^^^"^ ^-^^^ ^f^l c;^'^ j^ h^^^ M^^^ 
 
 But the next life is better {^/lan the present) for those that fear 
 the Lord ; then why will ye not comprehend ? and {the re- 
 ijoard of the next life) is for those who hold fast by the book, 
 and observe prayer ; verily We shall not detract from the 
 reward of the righteous. 
 
 This verse is a continuation of the passage just 
 quoted under Article LXIII. It is addressed to the 
 Jews, and not only demonstrates the existence of the 
 inspired Scripture in common use amongst them, but 
 conveys the exhortation from God that the Jews are 
 
 to hold fast by it ( >U.CJ l) - . v •.C«^.' ; it implies, more- 
 
 over, that those who do so shall obtain a full reward 
 
 K 2 
 
132 THE CORAN. 
 
 in the life to come. But people could not be praised 
 for " holding fast " by any other than a genuine and 
 uncorrupted Scripture. Jelalooddeen instances Ab- 
 dallah-ibn-Sallam as one of the pious Jews here 
 alluded to. 
 
 Where then are the Scriptures which these converted 
 Jews were directed to hold fast by, if they are not the 
 same which have been handed down from the time 
 of Mahomet from generation to generation, — even as 
 before his time ? 
 
 LXV.— Sura LXXIV., v. 30. ys^ h^^ 
 :ii:}^ ^\ p\ L^\^^\ 1:1^^ U ^ ^<- >^ kx^'i \il^ 
 
 Over it [Hell) are nineteen angels ; and We have not made the 
 guardians of the fire other than angels ; and We have not 
 expressed their number, except as a trial to those who dis- 
 believe, and in order that those to whom We have given 
 the book may firmly believe, and that they who believe may 
 increase in faith ; and that those to whom We have given 
 the book may not doubt, nor the believers. 
 
 This is a Meccan Sura, but the text is believed to 
 have been added to it after Mahomet went to Medina. 
 
 The passage is obscure. But it appears to point 
 to some supposed coincidence between what is 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. T33 
 
 here said of the keepers of Hell, and what is 
 said on the same point in the Scriptures of the 
 people of the Book ; — which coincidence is ad- 
 duced as a ground of faith, for those who possessed 
 the Scriptures, and for the true believers. So 
 ]5aidhawi ; — "that they might gain faith in the 
 prophetic mission of Mahomet, and in the truth 
 of the Coran, when they saw that it was accordant 
 
 with what was in their own Scriptures." \«-u-<:iC! 
 
 Wy< l!S'\^ ^\j U! ^ys^\ jJ^-tfj J^.s.*^ ij-.:j ^f:&^\ 
 
 This interpretation corresponds with previous 
 passages, already quoted, of the same purport. 
 
134 'i'JIE CORAN. 
 
 SECTION SECOND. 
 
 PASSAGES FROM SURAS REVEALED AT MEDINA. 
 
 Although the passages quoted in the first Section 
 are contained in Suras which are all called Meccan, 
 because their contents, with few exceptions, were 
 actually revealed at Mecca, yet a few of those 
 passages evidently belong to the subsequent, or 
 Medina, period, and must have been added to the 
 Suras in w^hich they now stand, after the Hegira, 
 or Flight of Mahomet from Mecca. But the texts 
 contained in the following Section are, without ex- 
 ception, confined to the later, or Medina, period. 
 
 The manner in which enmity sprang up between 
 the Jews of Medina and Mahomet, will be briefly 
 explained in the concluding Section of this work, and 
 must be borne in mind, in reading the passages 
 which follow. 
 
 LXVI. — Sura II., vv. 1-5. i',iiJl S'i.-j 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 35 
 
 This is the book in which there is no doubt, — a guide to the 
 pious ; — they who beheve in the Unseen, and observe 
 prayer, and spend out of that which we have provided 
 them with ; — and they who beheve in that wliich hath 
 been revealed unto thee, and tliat which hath been re- 
 vealed before thee, and have faith in the life to come. 
 These walk according to the direction of their Lord, and 
 these are the blessed. 
 
 " That which hath been revealed before thee, viz. the 
 Pentateuch and the Gospel, &c." CS\^^ ^^ Jyl U 
 
 Ujb^ij J^-s-"'^^ J iijv»51 ^J\—Jelalooddee7i. 
 
 Note that according to this passage they who are 
 " blessed," and " walk according to the direction of 
 their Lord," are those who believe not in the Goran 
 only, but also in the Scriptures revealed before the 
 Cordn. It is strange that, with this passage promi- 
 nently placed in the opening page of their Revelation, 
 sincere Mussulmans should be so inconsistent as not 
 to study the Scriptures here referred to, make them- 
 selves acquainted with their contents, and follow their 
 sacred precepts. Is not this a people whose eyes 
 have become blind, and their hearts seared ? 
 
1^6 THE CORAX. 
 
 O 
 
 LXVII. — Sura IL, v. 40. '^yiJ]\ i' ^ 
 
 V p •■ L5 L^ -^-> " -^ ^ ^'rr' " 
 
 ji^LU. jJi ij^' :j^ ^ ^,yijii ^y^ Sii Uj Jil 
 
 Oh Children of Israel ! remember My favour wherewith I have 
 favoured you, and fulfil My covenant, — I likewise will fulfil 
 your covenant ; and fear Me, and believe in that which I 
 have revealed^ attesting the truth of the {Scriptuj-e) which 
 is with you : and be not the first to reject the same ; and 
 sell not my revelation for a small price ; and clothe not the 
 truth with error, and do not conceal the truth while ye 
 know it. 
 
 " That which is with you, i. c. the Tourat or Penta- 
 teuch." — Jelalooddeen. 
 
 At Medina, the Coran, just as in the Suras revealed 
 at Mecca, continues to attest the truth of the Scripture 
 in the hands of the Children of Israel. But the Children 
 of Israel would not give the testimony in his favour 
 which Mahomet desired them to give, and probabl)^ 
 believed that they ought to have given. Therefore 
 he exhorts them not to pervert the truth, nor to hold 
 back any part of it. 
 
 The Christians, on similar grounds, accuse the 
 Jews of misinterpreting their Scriptures, and not ac- 
 knowledging the prophecies of the Messiah as fulfilled 
 in Jesus : though they, as much as the Jews, implicitly 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 37 
 
 believe in the Jewish Scriptures. A close analogy to 
 the accusation in the text. 
 
 The expression, " selling the truth for a small price/' 
 is frequently used in a similar sense with respect to 
 others than the Jews.— See, e.g., Suras II., v. i6 ; 
 III., V. 76; IX., V. 10 ; XVI., V. 95. 
 
 LXVIIL— Sura IL, v. 53. bjil\ i-j^^ 
 
 And when We gave Moses the book and the distinction [between- 
 good and evil,— Fo}xdn,)—\i haply ye might be directed. 
 
 " The Book, i.e. the i:omdX.''—Baidhdwi and Jelal- 
 coddeen. 
 
 The Pentateuch is here styled Al Forcdn, the same 
 term which is applied to the Coran. — See Art. 
 XLVIII. 
 
 LXIX. — Sura IL, v. 75. IjsJ^ Ij*^'^ 
 
 Ah ! do ye indeed earnestly desire that they should believe in 
 you, and verily a party amongst them hear the word of 
 God ; then they pervert it after they have understood it, 
 knowingly. 
 
 The people spoken of are still the Children of 
 Israel. " T/iat they should believe, viz., the Jews,"— 
 
138 THE CORAN. 
 
 Jj^J^ ^\ U-'<y. (^^. " ^^^^y ^^^^^' ^^^^ word of God, in 
 the Pentateuch," l\j^^\ j, ^]]\A^ ^,^xA^—/e/a/ood- 
 deen. " They hear iheivord of God, that is to say, the 
 
 Pentateuch," l\j^^\ ^xj^ ^UK ^^jK^^—BaidhawL 
 
 " Then i hey pervert it, as the description of Mahomet, 
 or the Verse of stoning ; or the explanation thereof, 
 and they interpret the same accordingly as they desire," 
 
 i!Jii^-«iJ A-!j^ 3^ f^}^ hy 3 '-^•^ l::^*-^ <ij»i.csr J 
 
 (j»^:i1jU; — I^id. The latter construction, as natural 
 
 in itself, and consistent with other notices throughout 
 the Coran of the conduct of the Jews, and the testi- 
 mony there borne from first to last in favour of the 
 Jewish as well as of the Christian Scriptures, is evi- 
 dently the one to be adopted. 
 
 The tenor of the passage is this : — " What ! do you 
 expect to convert the Jews to the truth, seeing that 
 they have already heard the truth in the word of God 
 as contained in their own Scriptures, and have per- 
 verted that truth intentionally ? How can you hope 
 to succeed with men who have shown themselves 
 proof against the word of God ? For they have already 
 read the word of God in the Old Testament, and 
 wilfully perverted its meaning, ' i7iterpretifig it as they 
 please.^ Will the word of God, as inculcated by you 
 out of the Goran, have any better effect upon them?" 
 
 This is much the same way in which Christians of the 
 present day might speak of the Jews ; thus, — " they 
 have already misused and perverted the word of God 
 as contained in their own Scriptures, which should 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 39 
 
 have led them to believe in Christ :— and having 
 done so, there is little hope of gaining them over to 
 the truth, by an appeal to the further word of God as 
 contained in the New Testament." Yet the Christians 
 do not the less accept and believe in the Jewish 
 Scriptures. 
 
 What a full testimony is borne in this verse to the 
 Divine origin and authority of the Scripture in use 
 amongst the Jews in the days of Mahomet, by the 
 application to it of the sacred title, '' The ivord of 
 God,'' jdiUK ! Why is the Coran valued by Maho- 
 metans? Simply because it is believed to be ''the 
 word of God:' Ought they not therefore to pay a 
 similar reverence to the " word of God " that preceded 
 the Coran? 
 
 LXX. — Sura II., v. 76. lJi}^ ij^«s 
 
 And when they {f/ie Jews of Medina,') meet the believers, they 
 say,— We believe ; but when they retire privately one witli 
 the other, they say,— Why do ye acquaint them with what 
 God hath revealed to you, that they may therewith dispute 
 with you before your Lord ? What do ye not understand ? 
 Do they not know that God knoweth what they conceal 
 as well as that which they make public ? 
 
140 THE CORAX. 
 
 A continuation of the previous verse. '' What God 
 hath revealed to you, that is, made manifest to you in 
 the Pentateuch regarding the description of Mahomet," 
 
 — Baidhdwi : so Ziho Jcla/ooddeen. Rather, " Why do 
 ye acquaint them with any passages from the Old 
 Testament, which they may turn against you in their 
 arguments for Islam?" One party of the Jews is 
 represented as upbraiding the other, for making 
 known to Mahomet and his followers passages of 
 their Scriptures, which the latter might use to the 
 disadvantage of the ]q\\s. 
 
 LXXL— Sura II., v. 78. i^iull 'ij^^ 
 
 And amongst them are ignorant persons, who know not the 
 Book, but only fooHsh stories ; these follow nought but 
 their own imaginations. 
 
 Still the same verse continued. A second class of 
 the opponents, of Mahomet and of Islam are here 
 described : — ignorant Jews ; viz., men who had no real 
 knowledge of their Scriptures. They knew merely 
 rabbinical interpretations and stories, and foolish tra- 
 ditions. The arguments of such people were of no 
 weight. 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 14I 
 
 LXXIL— Sura II., v. 79. 'LlW h^-^ 
 
 Ui) ^)^\ ^ jȣ^::V L^^^\ ^^T-k ^i^ J?.y 
 
 Wherefore, woe unto those that write the Book {or the IVritiir^) 
 with their hands, and then say,— This is from God ; that they 
 may sell it for a small price. Woe unto them for that 
 which their hands have written, and woe unto them for 
 that which they gain ! 
 
 A further continuation of the same passage. 
 The preceding context refers to ignorant persons 
 who were acquainted only with rabbinical glosses or 
 foolish traditions. It would seem to be the same 
 persons who are here referred to as having written 
 out such glosses or traditions, and then brought 
 them to Mahomet as possessed of divine authority, 
 saying perhaps that they were just as binding as the 
 Scriptures themselves. 
 
 Al kitdb means literally " the writing," and not 
 necessarily the Jewish Scriptures. It may, however, 
 be here taken as signifying "the Book^'; viz., that 
 which these ignorant Jews wished to be taken for the 
 Scripture, — or as similar in authority with it. 
 
 The text, then, describes a class of ignorant Jews 
 who opposed Mahomet ; namely, those who wrote out 
 passages probably from their traditions, glosses, or 
 rabbinical books, and brought them forward as authori- 
 tative and divine ;— such glosses for instance as " that 
 
142 THE CORAN. 
 
 Stoning for adultery was not imperative according 
 to the Mosaic Law " j or, such as gave another interpre- 
 tation to passages of the Old Testament which had 
 been appropriated by Mahomet's adherents as bearing 
 out his claims to be the Prophet that should arise. 
 Therefore Mahomet cursed them for -wiiting out that 
 which was simply human in its origin, and then pro- 
 ducing it as if it was possessed of divine authority. 
 
 Thus Adul Cader, the Urdoo translator, in his 
 commentary on the verse : — '•' These are they who, 
 after their own desire, put things together, and write 
 them out for the common people, and then ascribe 
 them to God or the prophet." .^ ^^ ^^.1 ij aLo 
 
 ^jJ ^f^ J jfT ^l?^\ J^^^-^ ^^^^ ^^^ f (♦y 
 
 Baidhawi thus explains the passage : — " And perhaps 
 there is meant that which the Jews wrote out of com- 
 mentaries (or interpretations) about the punishment 
 
 of the adulteress."— cjl'^yi ^^ iy;^ U^J J\J\ i^ ^ 
 
 Viewed thus, the allusion clearly is to the improper 
 
 + Baidhawi here alludes to the difference of opinion between 
 Mahomet and the Jews of Medina, regarding the punishment 
 for adultery : — Mahomet alleging that according to the Mosaic 
 dispensation the punishment was stoning, while the Jews held 
 that their law did not require stoning for adultery. It may 
 possibly have been to some rabbinical commentary on the 
 subject, of which the Jews produced a copy alleging it to be an 
 authoritative and divine decision of the question, that Mahomet 
 refers in this passage. 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 43 
 
 authority, either habitually, or casually in the present 
 instance, held by the Jewish opponents of Mahomet 
 to attach to the opinions and commentaries of their 
 doctors. There is nothing that can be fairly held to 
 imply any tampering with, or interpolation of, the 
 manuscripts of the Scriptures. The Jews have in all 
 ages been as noted for the scrupulous, and even 
 superstitious, care with which they have preserved 
 the exact text of their sacred books, as the Maho- 
 metans themselves for their care of the Coran. Their 
 character in this respect is not affected, nor does it 
 appear that Mahomet intended to impugn it, by the 
 very different accusation that they brought forward 
 the interpretations of their doctors, or rabbinical 
 traditions, or extracts copied from these, and alleged 
 for them an authority equal to that of the Scriptures. 
 That the Jews attached an undue weight, as they have 
 from the earliest times, to the uninspired dicta of their 
 rabbins, does not imply any defect of veneration, or any 
 want of care, for the inspired Scriptures themselves. 
 
 It is, therefore, a gratuitous assumption that, because 
 the Jews made copies of what were merely human 
 compositions, and then produced them before Maho- 
 met as having a divine authority, they in any way 
 tampered with the sacred Scripture. Had they gone 
 even further, and having written out fabricated passages, 
 fraudulently pretended in argument that they were 
 extracts from the Pentateuch (though such a con- 
 struction of the text is not the natural one), it would 
 not even then have amounted to such a charge ; it 
 would not by any means have implied that they al- 
 tered or interpolated their copies of the Scripture. The 
 
144 THE CORAN. 
 
 charge would in that case have resembled the one which 
 follows in Art. CX., where by " twisting their tongues," 
 or by a deceptive mode of recitation, passages were 
 made to appear to belong to the Scriptures, which 
 did not in reality. But such imputation, like the 
 present, is altogether a different charge from that of 
 corrupting the Manuscripts of the Old Testament. 
 
 Note, first ; the accusation is addressed to the 
 Jews of Medina alone. Whatever else may be its 
 scope, it does not extend beyond them. For instance, 
 no such imputation is, in any verse of the Goran, 
 ever hinted against the Christians, or their Scriptures. 
 
 Note, second ; the accusation, whatever it was, did 
 not affect the confidence of Mahomet in the genuine- 
 ness and purity of the Old Testament as then in the 
 hands of, and current amongst, the Jews of Medina. 
 This is evident from the tenor of all the subsequent 
 passages in which the value and authority of the 
 Scriptures are spoken of in as high, unqualified, and 
 unsuspecting terms as before. 
 
 LXXIIL— Sura II., v. 85. ^iLll Ij^^ 
 
 ^y J IjjJt ^j-J^ J ^j:>- 'i\ JL^ lL^Ij JxAj ^^c 
 
 What ! do ye believe in part of the book, and reject part there- 
 of? But whosoever amongst you doelli this, his reward shall 
 be none other than disgrace in the present hfe, and in 
 
TESTIMOxN'Y TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 45 
 
 the Day of Judgment they shall be cast into a more awful 
 torment. 
 
 This is still addressed to the Jews of Medina. 
 The occasion of the passage is said to have been 
 as follows : — The Bani Nadhir and Bani Coreitza, 
 two Jewish tribes which sided respectively with 
 the two hostile parties at Medina, did not scruple 
 (before Mahomet came to Medina) to fight against 
 each other, and to kill and expel one another 
 from their homes ; but they scrupulously refused to 
 retain any Jews who fell into their hands as captives, 
 because they said this was forbidden in their law. In 
 the verse preceding the text, Mahomet upbraids them, 
 saying that the slaying and expeUing of one another 
 was, in their Scriptures, forbidden equally with the 
 making each other captives. Then follows the pas- 
 sage : — " What ! do ye believe in part of the Book, 
 and disbelieve in part thereof?" — That is to say, "it 
 behoves you to believe and to obey the whole of your 
 inspired Scripture in all its requirements. You cannot 
 affect to be bound by some precepts, while you neglect 
 others. Whoever believes and obeys only a part, dis- 
 believing or neglecting the remainder, shall be 
 disgraced in the present world, and suffer grievous 
 torment in the next. The entire Scripture is divine 
 and authoritative : every one of its injunctions is 
 equally binding upon you." 
 
 What more conclusive proof could be desired of 
 the authority and genuineness (according to the Coran) 
 of the Old Testament, without exception of any single 
 part, whole and entire, as it existed in the hands of 
 the Jews in the time of Mahomet ? 
 
 L 
 
146 THE CORAN. 
 
 LXXIV.— Sura 1L, v. 87. IvJiJl i',»^ 
 
 And verily We gave Moses the Book, and caused prophets to 
 arise after him, and We gave to Jesus, the Son of Mary, 
 evident signs, and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit. 
 
 " The Book, i.e. the Tourat (Pentateuch)."— /^/(T?/- 
 ooddeefi and Baidhdwi. 
 
 LXXV.— Sura II., v. 89. yil\ Ij^^ 
 
 • A.£x.c U! jj^^i i^W :s'^^ ^^ lJ^:S> ♦& A^ Ul J 
 
 And when a Book {i.e. the Cordn) came unto them from God, 
 attesting the truth of that {Scripture) which is with them, 
 (although they had from before been praying for victory 
 over those who disbelieve ;) yet when that came unto them 
 which they recognized, they rejected the same. 
 
 Still addressed to the Jews of Medina. The Coran 
 is, as usual, spoken of as attesting that which the 
 Jews had "with " or " by them "; i.e. their Scripture. 
 — Jelalooddeen and' Baidhdwi. 
 
 Mahomet is in this passage supposed to allude to 
 the manner in which, before his advent, the Jews at 
 Medina used to address the idolaters of that city, 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 47 
 
 saying, that when their Messiah should appear, he 
 would give them the victory ; and they were wont 
 to pray for the speedy coming of that time. Maho- 
 met, assuming that he himself is the person whose 
 advent they used to pray for, says that although 
 they recognized the Coran as the very thing which 
 they had been longing for, yet, now that it had come, 
 they knowingly rejected it. 
 
 This belongs to the same class of passages as Arts. 
 YU., XIIL, XV., &c. 
 
 LXXVI. — Sura II., v. 91. 'isJ\ '^j^^ 
 
 And when it is said unto them ; — Believe in that which God 
 hath revealed ; they say ; — We believe in that which hath 
 been revealed unto us ; and they reject that which {/lai//. 
 been revealed) after it, although it be the truth attesting that 
 which is with them. 
 
 When called upon by Mahomet to believe in all 
 the inspired Scriptures, the Jews replied that they 
 believed in that Scripture alone which had been 
 revealed to them ; and disbelieved in all that followed 
 it, i.e. the Gospel and the Coran. Yet, says Mahomet, 
 that which they reject, i.e. the Coran, is the truth, and 
 attests the inspiration and authority of the Jewish 
 Scripture. 
 
 The Jewish Scripture, as in the hands of the Jews 
 
 L 2 
 
148 THE CORAN. 
 
 of that day (>^x^ to) is thus confirmed and attested 
 by the Coran. 
 
 LXXVII. — Sura IL, v. 97. LiUl ^.«j 
 
 *^1 
 
 if^Xx) 
 
 And verily Moses came unto you with evident signs [or revela- 
 tions ;) then ye took the calf, &c. 
 
 This relates to the worship of the golden calf by 
 the Children of Israel, and is followed by an account 
 «f the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. 
 
 LXXVIIL— Sura IL, v. 97. ^^iJl ^j^^ 
 
 For lie [Gabriel) hath caused it [the Cordn) to descend upon thy 
 heart, by the command of God, attesting that [Scripture) 
 which is before it, and a direction and good tidings to the 
 believers. 
 
 '• TJiat 7u]iich is before it, i.e. the preceding Books," 
 
 c^-;.^!^^^ dL:« a.«j^< ^{^—Jelalooddeen. 
 
 The Coran thus uniformly, and at every stage, 
 confirms the Scriptures revealed before it, as then 
 extant in the hands of the Jews and Christians. 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. T49 
 
 LXXIX.— Sura IL, v. ioi. ^iJl i" 
 
 'J 
 
 
 y] . 
 
 
 ^- 
 
 .uy., 
 
 U. ^J 
 
 And when a prophet came unto them from God, attesting that 
 {Scripture) which is with them, a party of those \\'ho have 
 received the Scripture cast the Book of God behind their 
 backs, as if they knew it not. 
 
 '''■ A prophet, i.e. Jesus or Mahomet" — Baidhdnn. 
 " Mahomet." — -Jelalooddeen. Mahomet is evidently 
 intended. 
 
 '' The Book of God, i.e. the Pentateuch," 6^\^^\''<> 
 if L J 1 ^ — -Jelalooddeen and Baidhctwi. 
 
 Mahomet came to the Jews, attesting their Scriptures 
 and professing to be the prophet whose coming was 
 foretold in them. Yet the Jews rejected him, — thus 
 casting " The Book of God," i.e. their own Scripture, 
 behind their backs. 
 
 The text contains direct and unequivocal testimony 
 to the divine origin and authority of " The Book of 
 
 God,'' d^illc-^Ui — the Old Testament as then existing 
 
 among the Jews. 
 
 LXXX. — Sura II., v. 113. 'i^'\ ^j^-^ 
 
 1 •• •• 
 
150 THE CO RAN. 
 
 The Jews say, the Christians are not {founded) upon anything;, 
 and the Christians say the Jews are not {founded) upon any- 
 thing ; and yet they read the Scripture. 
 
 '-^ They read^'^ present or imperfect tense, "are 
 reading," or "are in the habit of reading." These 
 are the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, in 
 current use among the Jews and Christians, which 
 elsewhere are spoken of as "confirmed" or "attested" 
 by the Coran. 
 
 LXXXI. — Sura II., v. 137. ^^iLll Ij^^ 
 
 ^\j\ ^\ jj3\ u • L.11 jyi u ^ ^Uj i:s^i yy 
 
 9 
 
 
 Say, — We believe in God, and in what hath been revealed unta 
 us, and in what hath been revealed imto Abraham, and 
 Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the Tribes ; and hi 
 what hath been given unto Moses and unto Jesus, and in 
 what hath been given unto the prophets from their Lord : 
 we make no distinction between any of them ; and unto 
 Him we are resigned. 
 
 It is not necessary to determine what is meant by 
 " that which was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, 
 and Jacob." It may probably signify the revelations 
 made to them or respecting them, as recorded in the 
 Books of Moses. It is to be noted, however, that the 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 151 
 
 expression used in reference to the patriarchs, JiJ^ t< 
 
 — that which was reuealed to them, differs from the 
 phrase applied to the Scriptures which were " given " 
 
 or " dehvered " to the prophets : ^««— ^^j ^^--yo (J.t V« 
 
 ^j tiT* \i»*t'^^ ^^ ^ 3 — " ^^^^ which was given 
 unto JNIoses and Jesus, and that which was given 
 unto the prophets from their Lord." The word (j;\ 
 
 is used only of a Book, Scripture, or Revelation, 
 committed to writing, and so spoken of as given 
 
 or delivered; whereas the former term, (Jj3) signifies 
 
 the inspiration, or revelation, to man of the will of 
 God, which may or may not be recorded. 
 
 The verse proceeds with a very important declara- 
 tion of the necessity of belief in the Scriptures which 
 "were given to Moses, to Jesus, and to the prophets 
 from their Lord," equally with the Goran ; to make no 
 distinction between them ; to honour, reverence and 
 obey all, because all are held in the Goran to be 
 equally the word of God. Why is it then that those 
 who believe in the Goran neglect these sacred Scrip- 
 tures, the observance of which is inculcated by their 
 prophet as a?i indis_p ens able co7idition of Isld?n. 
 
 LXXXII. — Sura IL, v. 141. '^iJW '^ ^ 
 
152 THE CORAX. 
 
 •J5- \ 
 
 Will ye say that Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, 
 and the Tribes, were Jews or Christians ;— say. What ! are 
 ye more knowing than God ? and who is more unjust than 
 he who hideth the evidence which he hath received from 
 God ; and God is not unmindful of that which ye do. 
 
 " PV/io is more tuicked, &=c. ; that is, no one is more 
 wicked than he that does so ;— the people referred to 
 here, are the Jews, who hid the testimony contained 
 in the Pentateuch regarding Abraham's being of the 
 
 Cathohc foith." j;^^ ^\^\ \s^\ \} ^\ Jl ^^^ (J.i^^~^j 
 
 — -Jelalooddeai. Rather, the meaning is that the Jews 
 by illiberally insisting that Abraham was a Jew, and 
 denying the grand truth that Abraham belonged to 
 the catholic faith of Islam, virtually concealed the 
 testimony confided to them by God ; just as Christians 
 say to this day that the Jews hide, because they 
 pervert, or refuse to acknowledge, the evidence of 
 the Old Testament for Christianity. 
 
 The Jews of Mahomet's time, no less than those of 
 the present day, would not allow the idea of the 
 catholic or developed faith, towards which Judaism 
 naturally tended. They would not allow the interpre- 
 tation of passages in their Scripture alleged to point 
 to Christianity and Islam. They would not acknow- 
 ledge or produce them. They thus " hid the testimony 
 which they had received from God." 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 53 
 
 There is no reference here either to interpolation, or 
 to any kind of tampering with their Scriptures, by the 
 Jews. On the contrary, the passage contains an 
 eminent tribute to the divine origin, authenticity, and 
 purity of the Scriptures, actually in the hands of the 
 
 Jews of that day, as all^ ^.< >Js» ^:.£. irjL^ — ^/le testi- 
 mony of God that was with them. 
 
 LXXXIIL — Sura II., v. 146. lji^\ ^.»»j 
 
 •jf Jl >i::U «-'l-j (.::^3^ 
 
 Verily We saw thee turn about thy face [looking jmcertainly) into 
 the Heavens ; wherefore We will cause thee to turn towards 
 a kibla that will please thee — turn therefore thy face to - 
 wards the holy temple (ai Mecca) ; wheresoever thou art, 
 turn thy face towards it. And verily those to whom the 
 Scripture hath been given, they know that this is the truth 
 from their Lord, and God is not unmindful of that which 
 they do. And if thou broughtest unto those to whom the 
 Scripture hath been given, every kind of sign, they would 
 not follow thy kibla, nor wilt thou follow their kibla, &c. 
 
 Whether that which the Jews are here represented as 
 
154 THE COKAN. 
 
 '' knowing to be the truth from their Lord," is (ac- 
 cording to Jelalooddeen) the divine authority for the 
 change of the Kibla to Mecca ; or (which is more 
 likely) the revelation and mission of Mahomet 
 generally, — the verse confirms the purport of former 
 passages ; namely, that the Scriptures are constantly 
 referred to by Mahomet as containing evidence in 
 favour of himself and his mission, which the Jews, 
 though aware of, refused to admit. 
 
 LXXXIV. — Sura II., v. 148. '^ l2\ '^ja^ 
 J j*Jb A:>j\ ^ij'^J I'^i '^•^yj'V. ^^^^ (*^'V^ {j:."^^ 
 
 Those to whom We have given the Scripture recognize him {or 
 it) as they recognize their own sons ; but verily a portion of 
 them hide the truth, although they know it. 
 
 " ZT/;;/, ie. Mahomet; or //, i.e. the Coran." — Bai- 
 dhdwi. 
 
 The reference is, as before, to the supposed recog- 
 nition of Mahomet and the Coran by the Jews in 
 pursuance of prophetic intimations in their Scriptures ; 
 which, however, out of grudge and malice, the Jews 
 would not acknowledge. 
 
 LXXXV.— Sura II., v. 161. IJ.1\ 'i^^^ 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 155 
 
 f 
 
 Verily they that conceal the clear demonstration and guidance 
 which We have sent down, after that We have manifested 
 the same to mankind in the Scripture, God shall curse them, 
 and the cursers shall curse them ; — excepting such as repent 
 and amend, and make manifest {the Truth) ; as to such I 
 will forgive them ; for I am forgiving and merciful. 
 
 The occasion of this passage being revealed, is, 
 according to Ibn Ishac (as quoted by Ibn Hisham in 
 his biography of the Prophet), as follows : — ■ 
 
 «» 
 
 " Concealment by the Jcius of the truth co?itained in 
 the Tourat ; — Muadz, Sad, and Kharija inquired of 
 a party of the Jewish doctors regarding some matter 
 in the Pentateuch, and they concealed it from them, 
 and refused to tell it unto them. Wherefore the great 
 and glorious God revealed the verse, — verily they that 
 C07iceal the clear demo7i5tration and guidance, 6^^." 
 
 The Jews are again impugned (not for any tampering 
 
156 THE COR AN. 
 
 with their Scriptures, but simply) for not complying 
 with the request of Mahomet and his followers to 
 produce the passages from their Scriptures supposed 
 to favour the claims of Mahomet, or the principles of 
 Islam. The refusal to answer such demands is repre- 
 hended as " concealment of the clear demonstration 
 and direction given to them by God." They are 
 cursed for thus withholding the publication of the 
 truth. This is the utmost limit of the charge. There 
 is no breath of suspicion against the scrupulous and 
 reverential treatment by the Jews of their rolls or 
 copies of the Old Testament. 
 
 Note the testimony borne to the Scripture then in 
 
 the hands of the Jews; it is styled, ^<5 LJlj^ U * 
 
 t^^^\% cu\:^\ — "the clear Demonstration and Direc- 
 tion which God hath sent down." 
 
 LXXXVL— Sura IL, v. 176. ,yJl Ij.^ 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 157 
 
 Verily they that conceal the Scripture which God hath revealed, 
 and sell it for a small price ; — these shall eat nought but 
 the fire in their bellies, and God shall not speak unto them 
 on the day of Judgment, neither shall He purify them; 
 they shall have bitter torment. These are they that have 
 bought error at the price of direction, and punishment at 
 the price of pardon : — how shall they endure the fire ! — this 
 because God hath sent down the Book in truth ; and they 
 that dispute regarding the Book are in a grievous error. 
 
 A repetition of the idea expressed in the previous 
 passage. The Jews are accused of refusing, because 
 of a temporal advantage {i.e., to avoid the displeasure 
 of their own people, loss of national prestige, &c.), 
 to publish the supposed testimonies in favour of 
 Mahomet and Islam contained in their Scripture. 
 
 The second mention of " the Book " in the text, 
 may refer either to the Coran or to the Bible. If to 
 the latter, the disputes may mean that the Jews held 
 a variety of opinion as to the true sense of the 
 passages held back ; — those who embraced Islam 
 maintaining that they referred to Mahomet, — those 
 who remained Jews refusing to acknowledge that 
 they had any reference of the kind ; — such refusal 
 being, indeed, the gist of Mahomet's charge. 
 
 LXXXVIL— Sura II., v. 213. lj,^\ h^^ 
 
1 58 THE CORAX. 
 
 Mankind was one people {or of one faith), and God sent prophets 
 as preachers of good tidings, and warners : and He sent down 
 the Scripture with them in truth, that it might decide be- 
 tween men in that in which they differed : — and they differed 
 not therein, excepting those to whom it was given, after 
 there came to them clear demonstrations, wickedly amongst 
 themselves ; and God guided those that believed to the truth 
 concerning which they disputed, by His will, &c. 
 
 LXXXVIII.- Sura IL, v. 254. 'y^\ Ij^^ 
 
 ma^ ^ A^iA! (^*j ^^L j,»£*d*.» U1*2J ^j\ l!J3j 
 
 Of these prophets We have preferred some above others. Some 
 of them hath God spoken unto, and He hath raised some 
 of them to high dignity. And We gave unto Jesus, the 
 Son of Mary, evident signs [or plain revelations), and We 
 strengthened Him by the Holy Spirit. And if God had 
 pleased, those that came after them would not have con- 
 tended with one another, after the evident signs (cr plain 
 revelations) had come unto them. Yet they fell to variance. 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 59 
 
 And amongst them were those that believed : and amongst 
 them were those that disbelieved. And if God had wished, 
 they had not contended with one another ; but God doeth 
 that which pleaseth Him. 
 
 These passages do not appear to require any 
 Temark. 
 
 LXXXIX.— Sura II., v. 286. '^:iJ\ ^.^ 
 
 The prophet believeth in that which hath been revealed unto 
 him from his Lord : and the faithful, every one of them 
 believeth in God, and in His angels, and in His books, and 
 in His apostles ; we make no distinction between any one 
 of His apostles. 
 
 The " Books " or " Scriptures," thus to be believed 
 in both by Mahomet and his followers equally with 
 the Coran, were the inspired extant Scriptures of the 
 Old and New Testaments, so often referred to as in 
 the hands of the Jews and Christians. 
 
 XC. — Sura LVII., v. 18. ,^i,^\ i',,«j 
 
l6o THE CORAN. 
 
 ^- ^^-^^1 u^\j^^\ cSjh\ L:bL 
 
 And those that believe in God, and in I lis apostles, these are 
 the righteous, and the witnesses with their Lord ; they 
 have their reward and their light ; but they that disbelieve, 
 and accuse Our revelations of falsehood, these are the com- 
 panions of hell-fire. 
 
 The favour of God, on the one hand, and the pro- 
 mise of heavenly reward, are here promised for those 
 who believe, not in the Goran only, but in the 
 Apostles of God generally, that is, in their revelations 
 and teaching; — while, on the other hand, hell-fire is 
 threatened against those who disbelieve, and question 
 the truth of the same. 
 
 According to the text, an alarming responsibility 
 devolves on those Mahometans, who, w^iile they receive 
 the Goran, " disbelieve, and accuse of falsehood " the 
 l^revious prophets and apostles, by rejecting their 
 revelations. " TAey are the companions of hell-fire"; 
 - — the Goran itself being judge. 
 
 
 XGL— Sura LVIL, v. 25. s.^,\J\ S'.. 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. iGl 
 
 ■K- .,»ii-jl3 M^^ .-iij Jc^ (»r^ c_ ->''J0^ ^ i^^-:Ji U^^J 
 J ^.'^^ 1^)1 ^— -*^ ^r^ J ^-j/ (•^j^-^ ^ ^^ ^"^ (*-' 
 
 ^^1 *£i^ l^:w<;T ^^JJ^ l:^jli ^f^:^-j ci^ ^^j ^' ^^ 
 
 l'> f^ '-J*^- .' '^^'^^^J (J'* c;-^ r^'^'-- '^-^■^>' ^-^^ 
 
 AVe have verily sent Our apostles with evident demonstrations ; 
 and We revealed unto them the Scripture, and the Balance, 
 that men might observe justice ; and We revealed (the use 
 of) Iron wherein is great strength, and advantages to man- 
 kind, and in order that God might know who assisteth him 
 and his apostles in secret, — for God is mighty and glorious. 
 And verily We sent Noah and Abraham ; and We placed 
 amongst their posterity, prophecy and the Scripture : and 
 amongst them were those that were rightly directed, but 
 many of them were evil-doers. Afterwards We caused Our 
 apostles to follow in their footsteps ; and We caused Jesus, 
 the Son of Mary, to succeed them, and We gave him the 
 Gospel : and Wc put into the hearts of his followers 
 compassion and mercy ; and as to Monasticism they in- 
 vented the same, — [We did not prescribe it unto them,] 
 — simply out of a desire to please God, but they have not 
 observed it with a right observance. And We have given 
 those of them that believe, their reward, but many of them 
 are evil-doers. Oh ye that believe ! fear God, and believe 
 in His prophet. He will give you a double portion of His 
 mercy, and will create for you a Light wherein ye shall 
 
 M * 
 
l62 THE CORAN. 
 
 walk, and forgive you, for the Lord is forgiving and 
 merciful. 
 
 " The Book,^^ — the inspired " Books " or Scriptures 
 {Jelalooddeen) were placed by God among the de- 
 scendants of Noah and of Abraham ; — that is, they 
 were deposited with the Israelites, the posterity of 
 Abraham, and handed down amongst them from 
 generation to generation. 
 
 In this passage the professors of the Christian 
 religion of the time of Mahomet, are praised for their 
 tenderness and humanity. God had put into their 
 
 hearts compassion and mercy X^**-.. ditt. In the 
 
 concluding sentence, those of the Christians, and 
 perhaps of the Jews also, who were " believers," are 
 exhorted to fear God, and believe in his Apostle ; in 
 which case they are promised a double portion of 
 mercy and other spiritual blessings. This promise the 
 believer in the Coran must hold to have been made 
 good in respect to all those Jews and Christians who 
 embraced Islam. It is matter of history that there 
 were many such even in the time of Mahomet. 
 These, then, inherited a double blessing and walked 
 in the clear " light " promised specially for their 
 guidance. And so the same argument is applicable 
 as in Art., LXII. Such converts would surely pre- 
 serve carefully those Scriptures of the Old and New 
 Testaments, to which Mahomet appealed as his wit- 
 ness, and on the belief and observance of which he 
 laid such stress as the ground of the peculiar privi- 
 leges here promised. They would hand them down to 
 their posterity as the invaluable evidence upon which 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 63 
 
 they had embraced Islam. Yet where do we meet 
 with any Scriptures so handed down, other than those 
 which are now cm rent among Jews and Christians, 
 and have ever been current from the earliest times ? 
 That no other Old and New Testaments have been 
 kept up thus among the Mahometans separate from 
 those in use among the Jews and Christians, is a clear 
 proof that there was no necessity for such a precau- 
 tion ; and that the Jews and Christians who joined 
 Islam, were satisfied that their brethren who refused 
 to become Mussulmans, preserved the Scriptures in 
 their integrity ; or rather that there never was any 
 ground whatever for suspecting it to be otherwise. 
 
 XCIL— Sura XCVIIL, v. i. 'L.l\ i' 
 
 V 
 
 J 
 
 lisL*^ •Irij i^\ ^^ J^^j ^ tU-,Jl ^c^'A'J j^i^ ^^k:.^ 
 
 The unbelievers from amongst the people of the Book, and the 
 idolaters, did not waver until there came unto them a clear 
 {Revelation) — a prophet from God reading pure pages, con- 
 taining right Scriptures, And those to whom the Scriptures 
 have been given did not fall to variance, until after a clear 
 
 M 2 
 
164 THE CORAN. 
 
 {Rrodation) had come unto them : and they are not com- 
 manded (/« their own Scriptures) otherwise than that they 
 should worship God, rendering unto Him the orthodox 
 worship, and that they should observe prayer, and give 
 alms ; and this is the right faith. 
 
 " Tliey are not cojfitnanded^ i.e. in either of their 
 
 Scriptures, the Tourat or the Gospel," 3 |^ -<^ U j 
 
 ^..s^l\^ l\jy:.^\ ^J}d^~JelaIooddeen : ''i.e. in the 
 
 contents of their Books." Uj ^-^i , ^^ ^1 U^l U • 
 
 \ut^i—BaidIid7vi. (N.B. — Some hold this to have 
 been a Sura revealed at Mecca.) 
 
 This is an unequivocal testimony to the purity both 
 of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. However 
 much the Jews and Christians of that day might err 
 in their practice, and however much they might 
 mistake or pervert the purport and doctrines of the 
 word of God, the books containing that word, and 
 then in common use amongst them, were, accord- 
 ing to this passage, free from any admixture other 
 than the pure, unadulterated truth. They contained 
 divine instruction in the "right religion, — the pure 
 
 orthodox faith," Ia^^S ^.O l1^L>. ^liiiJ ^l^^\ 
 
 XCIIL — Sura LXIL, v. 5. aJt^Jl ij^^ 
 JuJ^\ JUi ^Iat^: J J i\j>':!^\ \^A^ ^l^"^ i)^ 
 ^ ^\ Cl^'bL U;j^ ^.->j\ ^.t\ Ji.< ^J'^i \}^^ J-^^^ 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 65 
 
 The likeness of those who are charged with the Law (the Tourat), 
 and do not discharge {the obligations of) it, is as the likeness 
 of the Ass laden with books. Evil is the likeness of the 
 people which rejecteth the signs of God : and God doth 
 not guide the unjust people. 
 
 As an ass, laden with the most valuable books, is 
 unconscious of their use or value ; just so the Jews, 
 though the constituted custodians of the inspired 
 Scriptures, were all unconscious of their sacred con- 
 tents, and disqualified to profit by them. 
 
 This illustration forcibly supports the view taken 
 throughout the Coran respecting the position and 
 conduct of the Jews ; and it does not materially 
 differ from the sentiments which are often expressed 
 regarding them by Christians. Though possessing 
 the word of God pure and intact in the Old Testa- 
 ment, the Jews have not spiritual perception enough 
 to see its true bearing. They are blind to the truth. 
 
 The spirit of the passage is plainly an acknowledg- 
 ment that the Jews w^ere possessed of the real word 
 of God, if they had only the sense to recognize and 
 use the same aright ; but they were too ignorant and 
 darkened to understand it. 
 
 XCIV.— Sura XLVIIL, v. 29. ^ill l..^ 
 
1 66 THE CORAN. 
 
 Mahomet is the prophet of God ; and those who follow him are 
 fierce against the unbeHevers, but compassionate among 
 themselves. Thou mayest see them bowing down, pros- 
 trating themselves, seeking the favour of God and his 
 pleasure. Their signs are in their faces from the marks of 
 their prostration. This is the likeness of them in the Pen- 
 tateuch and the likeness of them in the Gospel, — as a seed 
 which putteth forth its stalk and strengtheneth it, and 
 swelleth and riseth on its stem, and delighteth the sower 
 thereof, — that the unbelievers may be indignant thereat. 
 
 The reference may possibly be to some of the 
 images in the Psalms, or to the parable of the Sower 
 in the Gospel. 
 
 XCV. — Sura LXL, v. 6. c-i^i h*-^ 
 
 And when Jesus, the Son of Mary, said;— Oh children of Israel, 
 
 verily I am an Apostle of God unto you, attesting that which 
 
 is before me of the Tourat, and giving glad tidings of an 
 
 apostle that shall come after me, whose name is Ahmad 
 
 the Praised). 
 
 The verse is quoted by Mahomet as the message 
 of Jesus to his people. It admits the purity and the 
 authority of the Jewish Scripture as extant in the 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 67 
 
 time of Jesus. The Old Testament was then com- 
 plete, and its canon closed as it now is. We see 
 therefore that the " Tourat " spoken of in the Coran 
 is the entire Old Testament ;— the Law, the Psalms, 
 and the Prophets, as used and ackowledged in the 
 
 time of Jesus. 
 
 The passage seems to refer to the promise by Jesus 
 of the Paraclete or Comforter; which being read 
 Periclyte is thus appropriated by Mahomet as a 
 prophecy of himself 
 
 XCVI.— Sura IV., v. 43. ,\^\\ '^^^ 
 
 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 ^y\ ; ^.! 1;,^ ^l^ ^^>^ .. ^^^^ J ^-^ l-^ - (^^ 
 l^ f^^\ UjV^^ ^5^ ^->^ ^^v' w^-^-' ^^ ^^^^ 
 
1 68 THE CORAN. 
 
 Hast thou not seen those to whom We have given a portion of 
 the Scripture ? — they buy error, and desire that ye may err 
 from the way : and God best knoweth your enemies. God 
 sufficeth for a patron, and God sufficeth for a helper. Of 
 those who profess Judaism there are that dislocate words 
 from their places, and say — "we have heard, — and, have 
 disobeyed"; and, "do thou hearken without hearing"; 
 and, "look upon us"; twisting with their tongues, and 
 reviling the faith. And if they had said, "we have heard 
 and obeyed " ; and, " hearken " ; and, " look upon us " ; it 
 had been better for them and more upright : but God hath 
 cursed them for their unbelief, and they shall not believe, 
 excepting a few. Oh ye unto whom the Scriptures have 
 been given ! believe in what We have revealed attesting 
 that {Scriptui'e) which is with you, before We deface your 
 countenances, and turn them front backwards, or curse 
 them as We cursed those who {broke) the Sabbath ; and 
 the command of the Lord was fulfilled. 
 
 I have quoted the entire passage in order to show 
 its connection. It is addressed to the Jews of Medina, 
 who used perverse sayings, w^ords of double or equi- 
 vocal meaning, expressions in another than their 
 ordinary sense, and passages dislocated from their 
 context, in such a manner as to turn Mahomet into 
 ridicule and revile the faith, w^hile they sheltered them- 
 selves behind the other and harmless meaning of what 
 they said. 
 
 To the same purport is the following verse in Sura 
 
 II., V. 104 : \^^s ^ L^l^ Ul^jJ 1 Ui^T ^,:'.3J^l^.i V. 
 \».ju^J^^ I3 .lij] — " Oh yet hat believe! say ;/^/Raina (look 
 on us) ; but say Antzarna (look on us) ; and hearken.^'' 
 Both were forms of salutation. But the former con- 
 veyed also a touch of abuse or contempt ; it was in 
 that sense employed by the Jews, and therefore 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 69 
 
 iNIahomet altogether prohibits its use. It is the same 
 practice which is reprobated in the text. 
 
 The explanation of Abdool Cadir, the Urdoo trans- 
 lator of the Coran, is tolerably appropriate. The 
 
 following is his note : _^Lj li-s^ ^zi ^^ lii! l:x^ 
 
 
 ^ ^^ O ;^-^< ^J^^^ O''*^ 0^^~ C-*"* ^^'v^ 
 
 
 > > 
 
 
 
 ^ - / 
 
 J^=ry^ U:' •:? ^ ^.t^j '^^^ u;--^- JJ^ ^-^-^ '^ '^' 
 
 " Rain A {look on tis) is a \Yord which they were in 
 the habit of using, as has been already explained in 
 '^MTd.Bacr (II.), thus :— When the Prophet spake, they 
 would reply 'lue have lieard^ of which the meaning 
 is, 'we have received thy words'; but they added 
 apart, ' we have not attended to (or obeyed) them ' ; that 
 is, ' we have only heard with the ear, and not heard 
 with the heart.' So, when they addressed the 
 Prophet, they said, 'cause not to be heard' ; the osten- 
 sible sisrniiication of which is an invocation of good, 
 or, ' Be thou always victorious, let no one venture 
 to say an evil word against thee ' ; but in their heart 
 
170 THE CORAN. 
 
 they meant, ' Do thou become deaf; such wickedness 
 used they to perpetrate." 
 
 It thus appears that the "twisting" and "dislo- 
 cation " of words, consisted in such sayings as li^^^i 
 we have heard, with the addition perhaps in an under 
 voice of (li--.iic •) ^fid have disobeyed, and ( .*i«_/i.«;| 
 ^^A.^^ hearken, without liearing, similarly uttered; and 
 (lii:^ j) look upon us, used with an insulting meaning. 
 
 Tnis is called in the text ^i::j^«-Ilj U — twisting with 
 
 \^ ' " . 
 their tongues which Jelalooddeen explains to be identi- 
 cal in meaning with the word dislocating previously 
 
 used (^:u«JIj l^ r^^r IJ) "twisting, i.e. dislocating 
 (or perverting) with their tongues^ It hence follows 
 that the perversion and dislocation, of which the Jews 
 were accused, were of the nature exemplified in the 
 text, and had no reference at all to any perversion or 
 dislocation by the Jews of the Scriptures themselves. 
 
 The tenor of the passage is, on the contrary, 
 distinctly to "confirm," "attest," or "certify," that 
 Scripture which was with them ; namely, the inspired 
 books then in the hands of the Jews. So far from 
 there being any imputation against these Scriptures as 
 they then stood, in the hands of the Jews of Medina 
 and of their brethren scattered over the world, they 
 are attested as true and authoritative. 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 171 
 
 XCVIL— Sura IV., v. 49. ,LJ\ ^j^*- 
 
 ■3f ^--«j ^j-'«l ^^:'.*^^ {j^ 
 
 Hast thou not seen those to whom a portion of the Scripture 
 hath been given ? they believe in false gods and idols, and 
 they say to the unbelievers, These are better directed in the 
 way than those who believe. 
 
 The text refers, according to the Commentators, to 
 certain Jews who, when consulted by the Coreish as 
 to the real value of Islam, declared that their idolatry 
 was better then the false faith of Mahomet. It has 
 not much bearing on the present question, except as 
 showing the hatred which had grown up between the 
 Jews and Mahomet. 
 
 XCVIIL— Sura IV., v. 52. X^'^\ 'ij^^ 
 
 ^ tij^ i^ta 1^^ ^^i^^^ J tL' ^^1 ^W3 /♦^-'♦J 
 
 Do they envy mankind that which God hath given them of his 
 bounty ? And verily We gave to the children of Abraham 
 the book and wisdom, and We gave them a mighty king- 
 dom. Amongst them are those that believe in Him [or it), 
 and those also that turn away from him [or it). 
 
172 THE CORAN. 
 
 A testimony to the divine origin of the Jewish 
 Scriptures and to the alleged faithfulness of some 
 amongst the Jews, who, whatever others did, would 
 not have suffered their Scriptures to be tampered with. 
 
 
 XCIX.- 
 
 -Sura 
 
 IV. 
 
 , V. 58. 
 
 X^\ Ij^^ 
 
 
 C^^\ J. 
 
 )\ Uj 
 
 \yS\ 
 
 ^ 
 
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 ^H'^jl 
 
 ^t^\ 
 
 J!>- ^' 
 
 
 
 i^T, 
 
 J^i 
 
 ,^^lrsa. 
 
 '.J 
 
 i^^^. 
 
 lL<l:- 
 
 
 J 
 
 iiu 
 
 (4-: 
 
 ■:c.^ 
 
 lU '• 
 
 .IT s, 
 
 \jt J ^:' 
 
 'j>^^. 
 
 j^l ^_.^^1 tX; 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 J last thou not seen those who fancy that they believe in that 
 which hath been revealed unto thee, and in that which hath 
 been revealed before thee ? They desire to go for a mutual 
 decision unto the idol Taghut : yet verily they have been 
 commanded to disbelieve therein, and Satan desireth to 
 deceive them into a wide deception. 
 
 It is here asserted that some Jews, who professed 
 to believe in the Coran as well as in the previous 
 Scriptures, were ready to go and decide their dispute 
 according to an idolatrous custom before an idol. 
 They are well reprehended by Mahomet, who refers 
 them to their own Scripture as entirely prohibiting 
 idolatry. This is the style of reference which one 
 would naturally expect as to Scriptures believed by 
 Mahomet to contain the uncorrupted commands of 
 God. 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 73 
 
 C. — Sura IV., v. 130. -l^Jl hy^ 
 
 ^ L/t'^T 4 ^ J c:-*^^^ JT 4 ^ ^ c^^' 
 
 To God belongs whatever is in the heavens and in the earth, 
 and verily We commanded those to whom the Scripture 
 was given before you, and you likewise, — {Sayi?ig) Fear 
 God, and, if ye disbelieve, verily to God belongeth whatso- 
 ever is in the heavens and in the earth. 
 
 " The Book, in the sense of the Books/'^^^j ^-^l:;xl! 
 c-^::iul — ^^ before you, i.e. the Jews and Christians," 
 
 vjj^-^S^ ^^^ ^\ *^ ^^—Jelalooddeen. 
 
 The sacred books of the Jews and Christians are 
 here quoted, in the same category with the Coran, as 
 inculcating the fear of God. 
 
 CI. — Sura IV., v. 135. \^\ Ij^ 
 
 ^^i.!T c-;l:i>3Tj aJ^-^^, ^HTj ly.J !j-^T ^;:JJ1 1^:^ \ 
 
 tli ^ d:s^ ^^f\ f^\^ L^j *^ t^ ^ idtA^ . ^Ib 
 
 <» 
 
 Oh ye that believe ! believe in God and in His prophet, and 
 in the book which He hath revealed to His prophet, and in 
 
174 "^'^^^ COR AN. 
 
 the book which He revealed from before ; and whoever 
 disbelieves in God, and in His angels, and in His books, 
 and in His prophets, and in the last day, verily he hath 
 wandered into a wide error. 
 
 This is a distinct command, which the follower of 
 the Coran holds to proceed from God, directing every 
 believer to believe not only in the Book brought by 
 Mahomet, but likewise in the Books or Scriptures re- 
 vealed before it; and whoever disbelieveth in them, or in 
 
 any part thereof, (lL^I^ ^^ <^.j^ r^ 3 <-5^ — Baid- 
 hctwi) is declared to have wandered into wide and 
 dangerous error. 
 
 '■'Believe in God andifi His prophet^ and in the Book 
 which He hath revealed to His prophet^ and in the Book 
 which He revealed from before ; that is, Be steadfast in 
 the faith thereof, and perpetually rest thereupon, and 
 believe in it with your hearts as ye believe in it with 
 your lips ; — or believe with a comprehensive faith 
 which shall embrace all the Scriptures and Apostles, 
 
 for the faith of a part is as no faith at all." <id]l; \c^ 
 J &,\s. Ij^j J ^ CS^'<^\ i^W'^^ 15^ 'J^r*^' Jr^ (v;-* l)/^ 
 
 — Baidhdzc'i. 
 
 As to the parties addressed Baidhawi has the follow- 
 ing commentary : — "The Moslems are here addressed; 
 or the hypocrites ; or the believers from among the 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 75 
 
 people of the Book, according to the following tradition. 
 Ibn Sallam and his companions said,—' Oh prophet of 
 God! we believe in thee, and in thy Book, and in Moses, 
 and the Tourdt, and Ezra, and we disbelieve in all be- 
 sides: Then was this text revealed, viz.,— Believe, &c." 
 
 Whatever was the occasion of the passage, or who- 
 ever the particular parties addressed, the command is 
 as universal and absolute as can be imagined. It 
 intimates that God requires a belief in all the inspired 
 Scripture, that is, not only in the Goran, but also in 
 all the sacred books revealed before the Goran, those 
 namely which are constantly referred to, as " with," 
 or in the hands of, the Jews and Ghristians. The 
 Jew is not to reject the Ghristian Scriptures :— the 
 Ghristian is to receive not only the Jewish and 
 Ghristian Scriptures but also the Goran ;— the Moslem 
 is to believe not only in the Goran, btit in the Jewish 
 and Christian Scriptures likewise. If he does not, 
 he is declared to be in a wide and dangerous error. 
 
 What then are we to say of those Moslems in the 
 present day who reject and disbelieve those Scriptures, 
 and of the dangerous state in which they are declared 
 by the Goran to be ! 
 
176 , THE CORAX. 
 
 CIL-SuRA IV, V. 149. .Uil ^^.^^ 
 (*^j;^^ (*^r-^j^ ^^-^ ^^-'-V ^6-'^ -^^ ^^-^ S^/i, ^ 
 
 <^ 
 
 Verily they that reject God and His apostles, and seek to make 
 a distinction between God and His apostles ; and say,— We 
 believe in a part, and we reject a part ; and seek to take a 
 (middle) path between the same ; — these are infidels in 
 reality, and We have prepared for the infidels an ignomi- 
 nious punishment. But they that believe in God and in His 
 apostles, and make no distinction between any of them, to 
 these We shall surely give their reward, and God is for- 
 giving and merciful. The people of the book will ask thee 
 that thou cause a book to descend upon them from the 
 heavens, and verily they asked Moses for a greater thing 
 than that, &c. 
 
 This passage is of very similar purport to the 
 last, and the lesson to be gathered from it the 
 same. Though primarily addressed to the Jews who 
 rejected the Gospel, its warning is equally applicable 
 to the Mussulman, who while acknowledging with his 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 77 
 
 lips belief in the Tourat and Gospel, really rejects 
 those Divine books, the veritable Scriptures of the 
 Jews and Christians that were in use in the 7 th 
 century, and the belief in which is held in the Coran 
 to be ijidispensable. 
 
 To them that believe in these preceding Scriptures, 
 as well as in the Coran, a reward is in the text pro- 
 mised : — but the Mahometans who reject them, — 
 
 ^' THESE ARE INFIDELS IN REALITY, AND GOD HATH 
 PREPARED FOR THE INFIDELS AN IGNOMINIOUS PUNISH- 
 MENT ; " y ju: ^ijs<^ \iS':s\ ^ \ss>- ^^M\ f,^ CS"^^\ 
 
 CIII. — Sura IV., v. i6i. ^LJl ^,4-: 
 
 ,c 
 
 * ^\ u.\0 ^^^.^ 
 
 ^1 l^^lC 
 
 N 
 
178 THE CORAN. 
 
 But those of them that are grounded in knowledge, and the 
 faithful, believe in that which hath been revealed unto thee,, 
 and in that which hath been revealed before thee. And 
 those that observe prayer, and give alms, and the believers 
 in God and in the last day, unto these shall We give a great 
 reward. Verily We have revealed our will unto thee, as 
 We revealed our will unto Abraham, and Ishmael, and 
 Isaac, and Jacob, and the Tribes, and Jesus, and Job, and 
 Jonas, and Aaron, and Solomon, and W^e gave unto David 
 the Psalms ; and Apostles, whom We have already made 
 mention of unto thee; and Apostles, of whom We have 
 not made mention unto thee ; and God spake with Moses 
 in open discourse, &c. 
 
 Note, first : that the passage, though addressed 
 primarily to the Jews, is expressed in terms equally 
 applicable to all Mussulmans. It is to those who 
 believe not only in the Coran, hut in that likewise 
 which was revealed before it, that a " great reward " is 
 here promised. 
 
 Second: the mode of Mahomet's inspiration is 
 declared to be the same as that of former prophets. 
 
 Third: the Coran does not profess to give any 
 complete enumeration of former prophets, which may 
 account for the indefinite manner in which they 
 are here and elsewhere enumerated. But remark 
 the difference between this avowedly loose and inde- 
 terminate specification of prophets to whom God 
 revealed His will, and the precise and definite manner 
 in which the " Scriptures " are always spoken of as 
 having been " given " or delivered. 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 7 9. 
 
 CIV. — Sura IV., v. 169. J^Jl '^j^^ 
 
 ^UT Jj^ i^;ii; ^J ^ (^Co 4 Ul^' ^J c-^l-«^» J^i V. 
 
 <* 
 
 Ye people of the book ! commit not extravagance in your religion; 
 and say not of God other than the truth. For verily the 
 Messiah, Jesus, the Son of Mary, is an apostle of God, and 
 His word which He placed in Mary, and a spirit from Him. 
 Wherefore believe in God, and in His apostle ; and say not, 
 — " the Trinity " ;— refrain ; it will be better for you. For 
 verily God is one God ; — far exalted is He above the possi- 
 bility that there should be unto Him progeny ! to Him 
 belongeth whatever is in the heavens and in the earth, and 
 He sufficeth as a guardian. 
 
 The charge of extravagance, — error in doctrine, — 
 is all that is brought against the Christians. The 
 imputation of misinterpreting Scripture by dislocating 
 it from the context, is never alleged of tJmii. But. 
 notwithstanding the imputation of mistake, what a 
 close approximation do we not here find to the 
 doctrines held by Christians ! 
 
 From Sura V. 125, it appears probable that the 
 creed of the Christians of his day was understood 
 by Mahomet to be, that Mary was one of the 
 
 N 2 
 
l8o THE CORAN. 
 
 persons in the Trinity. This probably arose from the 
 worship paid to the A^irgin by the Eastern Churches, 
 and from the statements of Mahomet's Jewish 
 followers, — themselves imperfectly acquainted with 
 Christianity. Had the true doctrine regarding the 
 Virgin Mary been rightly placed before Mahomet, 
 together with that of the spiritual and eternal genera- 
 tion of the Son of God, and shown to be necessarily 
 deducible from the legitimate construction of the 
 Scriptures acknowledged by him to be inspired, could 
 he have refused to approve those doctrines? 
 
 C v.— Sura III., v. 2. ^\j^s^ JT 'ij^^ 
 
 God ! there is no God but He, the living, the eternal. He 
 hath caused to descend upon thee the Scripture in truth, 
 attesting that {Scripture) which is before it : and He sent 
 down the Tourat and the Gospel from before for the 
 guidance of mankind : and He sent down the Korean {i.c 
 the Distinction). Verily they that reject the signs {or 
 Revelations) of God, to them shall be a fearful punishment. 
 And God is mighty, a God of vengeance. 
 
 The Tourat and the Gospel were sent by God as * a 
 guide to mankind "' ;— ^^J:}!:. ^M>. Immediately after 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. l8l 
 
 ihe enumeration of these Scriptures, it is added that 
 for those who reject the signs (i.e. revelations) of 
 God, there is in store a fearful punishment. 
 
 Let the Mussulman, then, as well as the Jew and 
 Christian, beware of rejecting any of the Signs and 
 Revelations of this " God of vengeance," lest they 
 render themselves obnoxious to His wrath, and the 
 subjects of " a fearful punishment." 
 
 CVI. — Sura III., v. 19. ^j^:^ JT h^^> 
 
 And those to whom the book was given, did not fall to variance 
 until after that the knowledge {of Divine truth) came unto 
 them, wickedly among themselves. 
 
 See previous passages of the same purport. 
 
 CVI I. — Sura III., v. 23. ^j^s- jT Ij^^ 
 
 ^^^4 ^^■^'<iT ^ W-i Vi^ ^^'^^ J\ y r^^ 
 ^ 3 ^ &J Jj"-:' r' r^-^ f^^ ^"^ ^'^^ J\ 
 
 Seest thou not those to whom a portion of the Scripture hath 
 been given ? They were called unto the book of God, that 
 
1 82 THE CORAN. 
 
 it might decide between them. Then a party of them 
 turned away, and went aside. That was because they 
 say, — the fire shall not touch us, but for a limited number 
 of days. And that which they have devised hath deceived 
 them in their religion. 
 
 Commentators relate various incidents as to the 
 occasion on which this verse was revealed. It does 
 not concern us to enter into these ; since, whatever 
 the occasion, this much is agreed on all hands, that, as 
 there existed a difference of opinion between Mahomet 
 and the Jews, the Prophet proposed to the latter to 
 determine the question by actual reference to their 
 Scriptures ; which, it is said, some of the Jews refused 
 to do, and went away. 
 
 The Book, which Mahomet proposed to make the 
 arbiter of the dispute, was the Jewish Scripture in use 
 amongst the Jews, and acknowledged equally by them 
 and by Mahomet to be inspired and binding ; this was 
 to be brought forth and appealed to by both parties. 
 
 It is called " The Book of God ;"— ^llT c-;U^ 
 
 What stronger testimony could be desired than this, 
 to the divine origin and genuineness of the Jewish 
 Scriptures at that time in the hands of the Jews, and 
 proposed by Mahomet himself to be the final and 
 absolute authority in this dispute ? 
 
 CVIIL— Sura III., v. 48. J^^^ J\ L^ 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 83 
 
 MM 
 
 fjr^ o^T ^x\ ^ J:^^J ^ l\j^\ ^^ ^<wVJ ^i 
 
 i 
 And {God) shall teach Him {Jesus) the Scripture, and wisdom, 
 and the Tourat, and the Gospel ; — and {shall send Him as) 
 an Apostle unto the Children of Israel. {Jesus shall say) 
 Verily I have come unto you — * * attesting the truth of 
 that which {Scripture revealed) before me in the Tourat, 
 and that I may make lawful unto you a part of that which 
 is forbidden unto you. 
 
 To save space we have omitted the recital by Jesus 
 Himself of the miracles which He wrought. The words 
 of Jesus, as here quoted, show that, according to the 
 Coran, the Old Testament existed, in the time of 
 Jesus, in its original and uncorrupted state. It was 
 hardly needful, indeed, to refer to this passage, since 
 the same words of attestation are used by Mahomet 
 himself in the Coran, both in reference to the Old and 
 the New Testaments. 
 
 CIX. — Sura III., v. 64. ^j^^ JT Ij^^ 
 
 Oh ye People of the Book ! why do ye dispute concerning 
 Abraham ? — seeing that neither the Tourat nor the Gospel 
 was revealed until after him ; do ye not imderstand ? Ah \ 
 
184 THE CORAN. 
 
 ye are they which dispute concerning that of which ye have 
 knowledge : why, therefore, do ye dispute concerning that 
 of which ye have no knowledge ? and God knoweth, but 
 ye know not. 
 
 The text is said by the Commentators to apply to 
 the Jews and Christians, who both claimed Abraham 
 as having belonged to their respective faiths ; this, 
 Mahomet would refute by saying that Abraham lived 
 before either the Old Testament or the Gospel had 
 been revealed : — how then could they say that he 
 belonged to the religion of either of those books ? Or 
 what means of judging had they from their books 
 what his religion was ? I do not pretend to offer an 
 opinion as to the soundness of this argument. The 
 passage is quoted simply because the Old and New- 
 Testaments are mentioned in it. The knowledge 
 which the Jews and Christians are admitted to possess, 
 and concerning certain points of which they dis- 
 puted, is clearly the know'ledge of their oivn Scriptures. 
 
 ex. — Sura III., v. 68. ^j^- JT Sj^-» 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 85 
 
 ^1 J-' j»-^j ^--^ (*^>^^K! ^^ (*^^v'^ ^-^ ^^^* ^^^ ^5-^*:^ 
 
 ^ *-lc f-'^^J ^I; -^■--:'. (J* ^*-'^^. ^^' '^rt'^ J-J^li 
 
 A party of the People of the Book desire to cause thee to go- 
 astray : but they shall not cause [afty) to go astray, ex- 
 cepting their own souls, and they perceive it not. Oh 
 People of the Book ! why do ye reject the signs of God, 
 while ye bear testimony [thereto) ? Oh People of the Book ! 
 why do ye clothe the truth with that which is false, and 
 hide the truth, while ye know [it] ? and a party of the- 
 people of the book say, — Believe in that which is sent down; 
 unto those that believe, in the early part of the day ; and 
 reject (//, in) the latter part thereof; if haply they may 
 turn back : and, believe not {any) excepting him that 
 followeth your religion. Say, — Verily the direction is the 
 direction of God, that there should be given unto one {i.e. 
 to Mahomet, a revelation) like unto that which hath been 
 given unto you. Or, will they dispute with you before 
 your Lord ? say, — Verily favour is in the hand of God : He 
 giveth it unto whomsoever He pleaseth ; and God is widely 
 comprehensive {in His mercy, ) and wise. 
 
 This passage, it is agreed by all, is addressed to the 
 Jews of Medina, who opposed Mahomet. It opens 
 Vv'ith impugning the erroneous doctrines which they 
 endeavoured to inculcate upon Mahomet and his 
 followers. They were bigotedly attached to their own 
 system, and naturally held by the maxim " to believe 
 in no one but those who followed thei?- religion. " It 
 is added that " they only deceived their own souls, 
 though they perceived it not," that is, by their 
 
l86 THE CO RAN. 
 
 erroneous doctrines. It was thus the erroneous 
 i7iterpretatioii and applicatioJi of their Scriptures, for 
 which Mahomet reprehended the Jews. " Why do ye 
 reject the signs of God," i.e. the evidence contained 
 in your Scriptures, — " though ye bear testimony to 
 them." 
 
 As regards the accusation of " suppressing the 
 truth," see the remarks, and quotation from Ibn 
 Ishac in Art. LXXXV. The cloak of falsehood, 
 under which they are here accused of hiding the 
 truth, was their mistaken and perverted interpretation 
 of their Scriptures. The Scriptures themselves were 
 pure and intact ; but they mistook, or wilfully mis- 
 applied, their purport. 
 
 The imputation of acknowledging the revelation 
 of Mahomet in the morning, and denying it again in 
 
 the evening, is thus explained by Ibn Ishac ; — **-£fij 
 Uj ^^j3 yUj ^^J.'^J ^z^xj uJj£ ^,A i^jW\^ Sjj 
 jj»,tp-.-i ^:>^3 m ^_^,^:.^j ^^^ fx*-..'^ [*t*^ L^*:* 
 
 ^^ How the Je7i's clothed the truth with erroi\ Abdallah 
 Adi and Harith spake one with another, — ' Come let 
 us believe in that which is revealed to Mahomet and 
 his folloAvers in the morning, and reject the same in 
 the evening, that we may confuse their religion for 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 87 
 
 them ; perchance they may act as we act, and return 
 from their faith.' Then the great and glorious God 
 revealed this passage in respect of them, Oh ye people 
 of the Book, why do ye clothe the truth with error, ajid 
 hide the truth, although ye know it " ? 
 
 To these unworthy stratagems for throwing discredit 
 on his revelation, Mahomet replies that God's spiritual 
 favours are (not, as the Jews held, confined to their 
 own nation, but) without respect of persons all-com- 
 prehensive. And further, that it was His will to direct 
 His people " by giving unto one" (that is, to Mahomet) 
 " a revelation similar to that which God had given 
 unto them," — that is, similar to the Jewish Scriptures 
 of the Old Testament. Thus the passage, instead of 
 being an imputation against the Jewish Scriptures, con- 
 tains a clear and reverential mention of their authority 
 and divine origin ; and claims nothing more for the 
 Goran itself than to be a revelation similar to them : 
 
 CXI. Sura III., v. 77. J\jA,:^ Jl ^^-^ 
 ^^ i.^^:^ c-?Vi.(11j ^r^-J^ ^^l> \ilj^ j^e--* J^J 
 
 ^ ^ t_-^3.<llT ^l!T ^__^U ^;5^iij j» ''-^T 4M.C 1^ _jfi> U _• 
 
 And verily amongst them is a party that twist their tongues in 
 (reading) the book, that ye may think it is out of the book, 
 
1 88 THE CORAN. 
 
 though it is not out of the book; and they say, — "it is 
 from God," and it is not from God ; and they speak a false- 
 hood concerning God, knowingly. 
 
 The Jews of Medina are here reprehended for 
 
 attempting an artifice against Mahomet or his followers; 
 
 they are alleged, namely, to have pretended that 
 
 certain passages which they read to Mahomet or his 
 
 followers were from the Scriptures, while in reality 
 
 they were not from the Scriptures. This they did by 
 
 " twisting their tongues," that is, by a fraudulent, or 
 
 equivocal manner of speech. The expression is the 
 
 same as that used in Sura IV. v. 43, (Art. XCVL), — 
 
 *ii:.Jlj \J!^—q7wd vide. 
 p«. . .. 
 
 Whatever such conduct may have been, — whether 
 amounting to actual fraud and deception in reading 
 out the traditions, the commentaries, or any other 
 writings of their Rabbins, in such a way as to make it 
 be supposed they were quoting the Scriptures, it has 
 evidently no allusion whatever to tampering with the 
 Scriptures themselves. On the contrary, even if the 
 imputation be of the nature and gravity of an actual 
 deception, it implies that the Jews did not venture 
 upon any such sacrilege as the alteration of their 
 sacred books. They ^\\x\^\y pretended to be reading 
 from them, while in reality they were reading from 
 some other source^ but by their deceitful mode of 
 speaking ("twisting their tongues,") wished to mislead 
 the Moslems into the belief that it was God's word. 
 
 This quite corresponds with the character the Jews 
 have in every age possessed for extreme scrupulousness 
 as to the letter a?id text of their Scriptu?'es, however 
 unscrupulous they might be in any other respect. 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 89 
 
 CXII.— Sura III., v. 78. J\^,as, JT h^^ 
 
 it becometh not a man that God should give hhn a book, and 
 wisdom, and prophecy, and that he should then say to man- 
 kind, Be worshippers of me besides God ; but rather, 
 Be ye perfect, inasmuch as ye know the book, and inasmuch 
 as ye study it. 
 
 Whatever was the occasion of the text, whether it 
 applied to Jews or to Christians, it signifies that, 
 reading their Scriptures, they might, by the "study" 
 thereof, become " perfect " ;— an ample testimony to 
 the genuineness and virtue of the inspired books then 
 in the hands of the Jews and Christians. 
 
 Thus Baidhawi ;— " And rahbmi means perfect in 
 knowledge and practice ; inasmuch as ye know the 
 Book, and inasmuch as ye study //,— that is, because of 
 your being acquainted with the Book, and because of 
 your studying it ; for the advantage of learning and 
 knowledge lieth in the faculty of discriminating the 
 truth, and that which is best, in order to beli ef and 
 
 practice ;" T^^TuTj^xl^ ; ^^\ 4 J-*^^^ 9" J^'-h 
 ^ ^UxW . u>'i-::^i! j^V^ J^\ '^j^< ^\ 
 
190 THE CORAN. 
 
 CXIIL— Sura IIL, v. So. J^^^ Jj ij^^ 
 
 And (m// /i? mind) when God made a covenant with the 
 prophets, {saymg) This verily is the book and the wisdom 
 which I have given unto you; thereafter shall come an 
 Apostle attesting the truth of that {ScripHii-e) which is with 
 you ; ye shall surely believe in him, and assist him. 
 
 This professes to be a command given by God to 
 the former prophets, to beheve on Mahomet when he 
 should arise, and to assist him. And in this prophetic 
 command, how is Mahomet described? Simply as 
 " the Apostle who should attest that (Scripture) which 
 they had with them." The great mark by which 
 Jews and Christians were to recognize the coming 
 prophet, was that he tvould give his attestatio7i to the 
 Divine Scriptures " with them,'' i.e. then extant in their 
 hands. 
 
 " One who attests that which is withyotc of the Book 
 
 and wisdom, meaning Mahomet;" — Ax.^ Ul Ijj^^^ 
 J^.sr*^l ^ii ^ 'iA^\ J <— ;^jwCl .^—Jelalooddeen. 
 
 CXIV.— Sura III., v. Z^,. ^j^s. JT Ijy^ 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 19I 
 
 The same, nearly word for word, as Art. LXXXL, 
 (/uod vide. 
 
 CXV.— Sura III., v. 93. J^^as. JT 'ij*..^ 
 
 All food was lawful to the Children of Israel, excepting that 
 which Israel made unlawful to himself, before the Tourat 
 was revealed. Say,— Bring hither the Tourat, and read it, 
 if ye be true. And whoever contriveth a lie concerning 
 God after that, surely they are the transgressors. 
 
 In a discussion with the Jews of Medina as to 
 the eating of certain kinds of flesh forbidden by the 
 Jewish Law, (Commentators suppose that it was 
 ' Camels' flesh,) Mahomet supported his argument by 
 saying that the prohibition against certain kinds of 
 flesh dated only from the Tourat, or Pentateuch; 
 and that in the time of Abraham, and in all time 
 prior to the giving of the Law by Moses, there was 
 no flesh forbidden at all excepting that which Jacob, 
 
192 THE CORAN. 
 
 of his own accord, made unlawful to himself, and 
 which the Israelites accordingly would not eat. (Sec 
 Genesis xxxii. v. 32.) Therefore, reasoned Mahomet, 
 in the Abrahamic (or Catholic) faith which I follow, 
 flesh is not forbidden. 
 
 Then, to prove his position, the words of the text 
 follow in which God commands Mahomet to say to 
 the Jews, — " Come hither ; bring the Toiirat and read it 
 (to prove whether or not I am right) if ye be sincere." 
 
 And this was to be an authoritative and final deci- 
 sion of the question ; Whoever after that shall 
 fabricate a lie against God, surely they are the trans- 
 gressors," 
 
 It was then the Tourat, — the Old Testament, which 
 the Jews of Medina had in use, in common with the 
 Jews of all surrounding countries, which Mahomet 
 . demanded to be produced before all, and which is 
 thus appealed to as an unimpeachable test of a 
 disputed fact. 
 
 CXVL — Sura III., v. 99. yj^j^^ jT lj^>^ 
 
 Say ; O ye People of the Book ! why do ye disbelieve in the 
 signs of God, and God is witness of that which ye do ? Say, 
 O ye People of the Book ! why do ye hinder from the way 
 of God him that bclieveth, desiring to make it {tlie way of 
 God) crooked, while ye are witnesses? 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 93 
 
 " While ye are 7vitnesses, acquainted namely with 
 the foct that the approved reHgion is the right rehgion 
 that is the faith of Islam, as shown in your Book."^ — 
 
 aGI:;^ i U,^ AJ^—Jelalooddeen. An indirect 
 r • ^ \ 
 
 reference to the authoritative character of the sacred 
 
 books in the possession of the Jews. 
 
 CXVIL— Sura III., v. 113. ^y^ JT 'ij^^ 
 CIjIjT ^^. l^i li 'L^ ^->LOT Jjbl ^r« J^-J ^^— :J 
 
 They are not all alike. Amongst the People of the Book there 
 is an upright race that read the signs [or revelations) of God 
 in the night season, and they bow down worshipping. 
 They believe in God and the last day, and command 
 that which is just, and dissuade from that which is wicked, 
 and they make haste in doing good works. These are the 
 virtuous ones. 
 
 The text, which occurs after a passage upbraiding 
 the Jews for killing their prophets, and other rebellious 
 conduct, intimates that there were, in the time of 
 Mahomet, honest and good Jews, who regularly read 
 the Scriptures and prayed. 
 
 Whether or not such Jews joined Islam, it cannot 
 
 o * 
 
194 THE CORAN. 
 
 be imagined that they would alter, or silently permit 
 to be altered, the Old Testament, the study of which 
 is elsewhere inculcated upon them, and which was 
 alleged to contain so many proofs of the mission of 
 Mahomet. 
 
 CXVIII. — Sura III, v. 119. ^j^^ JT Ij^^ 
 
 Behold, ye are they that love them {t/ie yews, ) and they do not 
 love you, and ye believe in the entire Scripture. 
 
 " I/i tJie e7iti7'e book, (or Scriptures,) i.e. in all the 
 
 books (or Scriptures)." — 1^1^ ^ -J^Ki J <d> c_-jI::^1' 
 
 Jelalooddeeji. " In the books (or Scriptures) generally, 
 — the whole of them ; and the meaning is that they 
 (the Jews) do not love you, although ye believe in 
 
 their book, &c." — ^ t^\ ^:.x^!U ^i^ < ':^\ ^^-^, 
 
 The Moslems believed in the Scriptures of the 
 Jews : — the " whole " book of the Old Testament held 
 to be divinely inspired by the Jews of the time of 
 Mahomet, was equally believed in as such by Maho- 
 met and his followers. 
 
 CXIX.— Sura III., v. 184. ^^^ jT l^^^^ 
 
 L5-^ Jj-y^ c.^-3^ ^^ ^^^ -V ^^ ^\ y^ l:;:^.^' 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 95 
 
 They who say that God hath made a covenant with us, to the 
 effect that we should not believe on an apostle until he 
 Cometh unto us with a sacrifice to be consumed by fire ; — 
 say, — Verily apostles have come unto you before me, with 
 evident demonstrations, and with that of which ye speak. 
 Why, therefore, have ye slain them, if ye be true ? and if 
 they accuse thee of imposture, verily the apostles before 
 thee have been accused of imposture, who came with evident 
 demonstrations, and the Scriptures, and the enlightening 
 book. 
 
 The Scriptures thus eulogized are the inspired books 
 of the Jews and Christians. Thus Jelalooddeen : — 
 " Enlightening^ i.e. perspicuous, and that is the Tourat 
 
 and the Gospel ;"— J^-sTJl^ l\j^^\ ^'St ^\^\ j^^/^\ 
 
 CXX.— Sura III., v. iSS. J^^^ JT Ijy^ 
 
196 THE CORAN. 
 
 And when God took a covenant from those to whom the book 
 was given, — that they should unfold the same to mankind, 
 and that they should not conceal it, and they threw it {t/ie 
 coveiiaiit) behind their backs, and sold it for a small price, 
 and woeful is that which they have sold it for ; think not 
 that they who rejoice in that which they have done, and 
 desire to be praised for that which they have not done, shall 
 escape from punishment. To them shall be a grievous 
 punishment. 
 
 The text contains the gist of the quarrel between 
 Mahomet and the Jews. They refused to acknow- 
 ledge him, or to admit that there was any prophecy 
 in their Scriptures which, rightly interpreted, referred 
 to him. They could not be induced to " unfold " it. 
 This is the charge of concealment of the truth, and 
 the sale of it for a small advantage, a charge which 
 we find here, as elsewhere in the Coran, urged against 
 the Jews. 
 
 CXXL— Sura III., v. 199. ^I^^x: JT 'ij^^ 
 Jj3\ U _5 i^\i j^cjj ^A.] c_->LC!T Jji* ^^< ^\ J 
 
 ^!Tci.^l:l ^vv--r:^^ ^^ ^T-^^ (*t-^^ J/^ ^-j (*^^ 
 
 -X- c-;l..^^T 
 
 An 1 verily of the Teople of the Book there are those who believe 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 97 
 
 in God, and in that which hath been revealed to you, and 
 in that which hath been revealed to them, submissive unto 
 God ; they sell not the signs of God for a small price. These 
 are they who have their reward with their Lord ; for God 
 is swift in taking account. 
 
 '''■That ivJiich hath been revealed to them, namely, of the 
 two Books " ; — ^l^-O^ ^-o f^\ JjJ^ \^ Baidhawi : 
 "viz. the Tourat and the Gospel," — J^sTJlj l\j^^\ ^ 
 Jelalooddcen. The same commentator adds : " They 
 sell not the signs of God, those, namely, which they 
 liave by them, in the Tourat and the Gospel, contain- 
 ing the description of the prophet (Mahomet). For a 
 small price, that is of worldly advantage in order to 
 conceal it {i.e. the aforesaid contents of their books), 
 out of apprehension of losing their supremacy, as did 
 others of their number from amongst the Jews " ; — 
 
 The good Jews and Christians here referred to 
 continued to believe in, and hold fast by, the Old 
 and New Testaments, as Avell as the Goran. They 
 did not misinterpret them, or pervert their meaning. 
 They, at any rate, must surely have taken every pre- 
 caution to see that their previous Scriptures, as well 
 as the Goran, were handed down, pure and unadul- 
 terated, to their posterity. 
 
198 THE CORAN. 
 
 CXXIL — Sura V., v. 14 — 16. LCl^T 5 .»-j 
 
 iL-clj; *i:.'»lj 1:1*^9- « *i)Uxl >:Jfu*'-o ^i^ij W^i 
 
 <* 
 
 ~^ ^ — 
 
 *i:.£. ( !ic.li *^i^ ^Jj ^^ ♦ii^ <^:.jl>- ^1- -t-lkj J|^' 
 
 And for that they have broken their covenant, We have 
 cursed them, and We have made their hearts hard ; they 
 dislocate the word from its place, and they have forgotten 
 a part of that whereby they were admonished. Thou wilt 
 not cease to discover deceit in them, excepting a few of 
 them. But pardon them, and forgive, for God loveth the 
 beneficent. And of those that say, We are Christians, 
 we have taken a covenant from them, and they have for- 
 gotten a part of that whereby they were admonished. 
 Wherefore We have placed enmity and hatred between 
 them, until the day of Judgment ; and God will surely then 
 declare unto them that which they have wrought. Oh people 
 of the Book ! verily our apostle hath come unto you ; he shall 
 make manifest unto you much of that which ye have hidden 
 of the book, and he shall pass over much. 
 
 We have here precisely the same accusation brought 
 against the Jews as in xA.rt. XCVI., that they dislocated 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 1 99 
 
 the word from its place. I observe first, that, both 
 here and elsewhere, the accusation is specifically 
 confined to the Jews ; such an offence is never even 
 hinted against the Christians. These are, indeed,, 
 accused of " forgetting a part of that whereby they 
 were admonished"; and it must be confessed that 
 there was in that age, as there has been in every age, 
 too much ground for the imputation. Just so, it 
 might be said to many Mussulmans of the present 
 day that, in making Tazeeahs, praying to Peers and 
 Murshids, paying vows to them, &c., " they have for- 
 gotten a part of that whereby they were admonished '' 
 in the Coran. But there is neither here, nor elsewhere, 
 any imputation against Christians, of "dislocating 
 words firom their places," or even of misinterpreting 
 Scripture and perverting its sense. It does not there- 
 fore (for our present object) much concern us to 
 justify ^"/^^ y^«'^ from such reproaches; because it is 
 notorious that, from the earliest times, the entire 
 Jewish Scriptures were possessed by the Christians as 
 well as by the Jews, and were held by them to be 
 inspired equally with the New Testament, and like 
 it were regularly read in their Churches. What- 
 ever liberties, therefore, the Jews might have been 
 inclined to take with their own sacred books, such 
 attempts could not extend to the copies carefully 
 preserved by the Christians throughout the world. ^ 
 
 Again, the Jews had nothing whatever to do with 
 the New Testament. The "misinterpretations," "per- 
 versions," and "dislocations," therefore, whatever they 
 may have been, which are attributed to the Jews, can 
 have no possible reference to the Gospel. 
 
200 THE CORAN. 
 
 It follows, then, that the Sacred Scriptures — both 
 the Old Testament and the New — as possessed hy the 
 Christians in the days of Mahomet, are free from 
 any of those imputations, construed ever so widely, 
 which the Mahometans are in the habit of castinij 
 upon the Scriptures which were in possession of the 
 Jews. 
 
 But, in the second place, the accusation in the 
 text does not, even as regards the Jews, impute any 
 tampering wuth the copies of their Scriptures. We 
 have seen before (Art. XCVI.) that the very same 
 words are used to mean no more than that passagess 
 were interpreted inconsistently with their context ; 
 that sentences were produced separately and dis- 
 jointedly, so as to pervert their sense ; and that 
 expressions were used with a wrong, or double, 
 meaning : and examples of such dislocation are 
 actually cited in the Goran. Mahomet never could 
 have meant by these expressions that the Jew^s tam- 
 pered with their inspii'cd books. For the whole tenor 
 and scope of the frequent references throughout the 
 Goran to the Scriptures, as then extant in the hands 
 of the Jews, is to books authoritative, genuine, jDure, 
 divine. 
 
 As the Jews had "forgotten a portion of that 
 whereby they were admonished," Mahomet says, at 
 the close of the above passage, that the object of his 
 mission was to " manifest much " of the same — that is, 
 to bring to light many of the doctrines and precepts 
 which they had held back or failed to unfold ; as well 
 as to " pass over much," i.e. to permit the abrogation 
 of many Jewish ceremonies or ordinances. 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 20I 
 
 CXXIII. — Sura V., v. 47. S'j^jl^T ^.«: 
 
 t^':!'^^ cr^.« fJp cJ-3^* (*L' (-e^V'V --'^ 'j^^-' ^^rl*^'^ c;-* 
 ^yV. (*^ ^j'-.y^^ (♦y^ ^;^U^ ^-^l<i^ ^;^U«^ \^^\^ 
 
 O thou apostle ! let not those grieve thee who make haste after 
 infidelity from amongst them that say, " We believe," with 
 their mouths, but their hearts believe not. And from 
 amongst the Jews there are that spy out in order to tell a 
 falsehood ; they spy out for another people that come not 
 unto thee. They dislocate the word from out of its place. 
 They say, "If this be given you, then receive it — but if it 
 be not given you, then beware." 
 
 The Jews are here classed with the hypocri- 
 tical or disaffected citizens of Medina. They are 
 accused of spying out a lie, or misrepresenting 
 Mahomet's words to other people : and also of 
 the offence (previously noticed) of dislocating pas- 
 sages from their proper places. This offence is 
 
 here very distinctly expressed by the words, ^^iysT 
 
 e.x^\^^ ^x) ^« ^K\\ that is, either separating a passage 
 
 from its proper context, and repeating it alone, so 
 as to give it a different meaning ; or repeating it 
 in a wrong connection wdth some other passage, 
 and thus distorting both. These perverted doctors 
 told their people to go to Mahomet ; and, if they 
 
202 THE CORAN. 
 
 found his teaching in accordance with these isolated 
 or misplaced and misinterpreted sentences, to receive 
 it, otherwise to beware of it. See Article XCVI. on 
 the sense of " dislocation." 
 
 CXXIV.— Sura V., v. 50. '^s:U]\ S' , .^ 
 \y^J\ ^JJ^T ^j-ilT l^.' ^CrsT^^J J tjwVJb l^J i^,yJT L!j3i 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 203 
 
 ^Ijjjl ^ -jf l^'^^^ J A£;^-i> >^i,x5 LI^cs- J.^! ^J^l ^j^ 
 
 And how will they make thee their judge, since they have 
 beside them the Tourat, in which is the command of God? 
 Then they will turn their back after that, and these are not 
 believers. Verily We have revealed the Tourat ; therein is 
 guidance and light. The prophets that submitted them- 
 selves to God judged thereby those that were Jews • and 
 the doctors and priests {did the same, ) in accordance Avith 
 that, which M^as confided to their charge of the book of 
 God, and they were witnesses thereof. Wherefore fear not 
 man, but fear Me, and sell not thou the signs of God for a 
 small price. And he that doth not judge by that which 
 God hath revealed, verily they are the unbelievers. 
 
 And We have written for them, — verily life for life, and eye for 
 eye, and nose for nose, and ear for ear, and tooth for 
 tooth ; and for wounding retaliation ; and he that remitteth 
 the same as alms it shall be an atonement unto him. And 
 he that judgeth not by that which God hath sent down, 
 they are the transgressors. 
 
 And We caused Jesus, the Son of Mary, to follow in their 
 footsteps, attesting the Scripture of the Tourat which pre- 
 ceded Him ; and We gave Him the Gospel, wherein is 
 guidance and light, which attests the Tourat that preceded 
 it, and a direction and an admonition to the pious ; — that 
 the people of the Gospel might judge according to that 
 which God hath revealed therein, and he that doth not judge 
 according to that which God hath revealed, verily they are 
 the flagitious ones. 
 
204 THE COR AX. 
 
 And We have revealed unto thee the book in truth, attesting 
 that {Scriptiwe) which precedeth it, and a custodian {or a 
 ^vitness) thereof. AVhereforc judge between them in accord- 
 ance with that which God hath revealed, and follow not 
 their vain desires {by swerving) away from that which hath 
 come unto thee. To ever}^ one of you have We given a 
 law and a way ; and if God had pleased, He had made you 
 all of one faith ; — but {He hath not done so, in order) that 
 Pie might try you in that which He hath given you. 
 
 This passage contains the clearest evidence that, 
 according to the Coran, the Scriptures, in current use 
 
 amongst the Jews and the Christians {^j^i^sS) in 
 
 jMahomet's time, had been " sent down '' or revealed 
 
 (JyO' ^^*^ ^"^^^ "given '"(ciO' ^^' ^^"^ himself; that 
 they were, in their then extant form, authentic and 
 genuine, and were to be held an indisputable rule 
 of judgment. The same expressions are used both 
 of the Old and the New Testaments ; and it is 
 added with reference to each, " Whoever doth not 
 judge according to that which God hath revealed, 
 they are the unbelievers, — the transgressors, — the 
 FLAGITIOUS." To add solemnitv to the sentence, 
 it is reiterated three times. Scriptures, thus authori- 
 tatively set up in the Coran as the absolute test of 
 right and ^^Tong, must needs have been regarded by 
 its author as pure and unadulterated. 
 
 The candid jMussulman may easily satisfy him- 
 self, (and he ought to spare no labour to satisfy him- 
 self,) that the very same Old and New Testaments 
 are now in use amongst the Jews and Christians, 
 as were in use amongst them in the seventh century. 
 Abundant proof will without difficulty be found of 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 20$ 
 
 this in manuscripts, translations, commentaries, and 
 quotations, of a date long prior to the time of his 
 prophet. When we call upon him, then, " to judge 
 according to that which God hath revealed," let 
 him beware of disobedience to the command of God ; 
 let him take heed lest in rejecting the Jewish and 
 Christian Scriptures, and blaspheming their sacred 
 contents, he should bring upon himself the punish- 
 ment denounced against the contemnor of the word 
 of God ;— and, " refusing to judge according to the 
 Scriptures which God hath revealed," or even to 
 acknowledge them, he incur the doom of " the un- 
 believer'' (kafir, ylOO. of " the transgressor' (^Hill). 
 or of " the flagitious " ( J^Ul^' ^^^^ solemnly pro- 
 nounced by the Goran. 
 
 The Goran, besides attesting the Jewish and 
 Christian Scriptures, is here further declared to be 
 itself their custodian or luitness. " A custodian 
 over it, that is, a keeper over the whole of the 
 (sacred) books, such as shall preserve them from 
 chancre, and witness to their truth and authority" 
 
 j^L\ ^^ Alii^„ ^^^\ yi^ J>- W^j J ^-^ ^''^'x-'^ 
 
 CIjUI^ 3 ls^\i l^ JclJ J Baidhdiui. Where are the 
 
 books thus preserved in their integrity, watched over, 
 and witnessed to by the Goran, if they be not those 
 same Scriptures, which we now, — as did the Jews and 
 Christians of Mahomet's age,— hold in our hands, and 
 read in our Churches and in our houses, and have 
 done so uninterruptedly ever since the time of jSIaho- 
 met, and for centuries before ? 
 
2 06 THE CORAN. 
 
 Note, that the Tourat is in this text again called 
 ''The Book of God;'- i^\ lJ^ 
 
 CXXV.— Sura v., v. 68 i^j.5U]l 'i,^ 
 
 y 
 
 Say, — O People of the Book ! is there any other cause of your 
 enmity against us, but that we believe in God, and in that 
 which hath been revealed unto us, and in that which hath 
 been revealed from before ? — but the most of you are evil 
 doers. 
 
 Mahomet and his followers were believers in that 
 Scripture revealed before the Coran. No one there- 
 fore can make pretension to be a true disciple of 
 the Prophet now, unless he also " believe in that 
 which hath been revealed from before " the Coran. 
 
 
 CXXVL— Sura V., v. 74. 'isjW^ Ijy 
 
 ^^3 (^t^*^ ^-^ l*^^^ (*rr'j ^^ ^^] Jy^ ^-^J dl:=^^^ 
 "* ^ •• » 11 ** 
 
 I 
 
 u, 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 207 
 
 And if the People of the Book believe and fear God, we shall 
 expiate their sins, and introduce them into gardens of 
 delight : and if they set up [or observe) the Tourat and the 
 Gospel and that which hath been revealed unto them from 
 their Lord, they shall eat both from above, and from under 
 their feet. Among them there is a righteous people, but 
 evil is that which many of them do. 
 
 Note, that the ^^ setting /// " or ^^ careful obse7V- 
 ■ance of the Toicnit and of the Gospel^' as well as 
 of the Coran, by Jews and Christians, is insisted 
 upon in this text as elsewhere. To the Jews and 
 Christians who shall thus carefully maintain the ordi- 
 nances of the Old and New Testaments, as well 
 as of the Coran, the choicest blessings are here 
 guaranteed : — pardon of sin ; — entrance into gardens 
 of delight ; — an abundant provision " from above, 
 and from beneath their feet." Some of these 
 Jews and Christians are praised as a " righteous 
 
 and upright people " (i"jk^::l<, 'iJ^. Would not such 
 Jews and Christians act up to the description given 
 of them by the Prophet, and hand down uncorrupted 
 to their posterity those Sacred books by the careful 
 observance of which they had merited so high a 
 distinction and so rich a reward ? 
 
 Alas ! how differently from their Prophet do many 
 of his followers in the present day, sj^eak of these 
 same Scriptures ! 
 
 CXXVIL— Sura V., v. 77. isA^\ h.^ 
 
2o8 THE CORAN. 
 
 Say : — Oh ye People of the Book ! ye are not grounded upon 
 anything, until ye set up [or observe) the Tourat and the 
 Gospel, and that which hath been revealed unto you from 
 your Lord. 
 
 This passage may have been addressed to the 
 Jews, — as a tradition in Ibn Ishac's Biography sup- 
 poses ; or, generally, both to Jews and Christians. 
 In either case, its purport is absolute and uncon- 
 ditional in requiring from those addressed, not only 
 the acceptance of the Coran, but the belief a?id ob- 
 servance of the Tourat a7id the Gospel likewise. It 
 was an indispensable condition that both Jews and 
 Christians should obey the sacred books as preserved 
 amongst them., i.e. the Old and New Testaments. 
 
 How can it then be held that these have been 
 superseded by the Coran ? This Sura was given forth 
 several years after the Flight of Mahomet to Medina, 
 and only a few years before his death, when the 
 teaching of Islam was complete, or nearly complete. 
 Yet even at this period, IMahomet, through the 
 Coran, tells the Jews and the Christians that they are 
 bound to " set up," that is, observe the Old and New 
 Testaments, as well as the revelation made to him- 
 self " Ye are grounded upon nothing^''' (it is as if he 
 had said), " your foundation is false and insufficient, 
 your religion futile, unless ye observe and follow the 
 preceding Scriptures : your profession is vain, even if 
 ye obey the Coran, so long as the Tourat and the 
 Gospel are not also set u}) and observed : without 
 these your faith is insufficient." 
 
 If the observance of diese inspired books is 
 essential to the safety of the Jews and Christians, 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 209 
 
 even (as is plainly alleged in this passage) in addi- 
 tion to the Cordn, can they without serious risk 
 be set aside by the Mussulman ? And how grie- 
 vously must those have departed from the faith 
 of their prophet, who can not only dispense with 
 Scriptures praised by him as " a light and direction 
 to mankind"; — ''an enlightenment and guidance 
 and mercy to man";— "a perspicuous book"; — "a 
 light, and a guide, and an instruction to the pious "; 
 — "a guide, and an admonition to men of under- 
 standing hearts"; — "the book of God"; — "an illu- 
 mination and admonition to the pious ";t— but can 
 even speak evil of them, and blaspheme their inspired 
 teaching ? 
 
 It may be useful to transcribe here the tradition 
 of Ibn Ishac as to the occasion on which the text 
 was revealed : — 
 
 
 p vT- 
 
2IO THE CORAN. 
 
 ^-:, ^,b ^1 ci.H:i$:i^ jjbl b j:- ^e?-' J=r J J^ 
 
 Jews." Ibn Ishac relates as follows: — "Rafi son 
 of Haritha and others, came to Mahomet and said 
 to him : — ' O Mahomet ! dost thou not claim to 
 be a follower of the religion of Abraham and of his 
 faith, and a believer in the Scripture which we have 
 with us, viz., the Tourat, and dost not thou bear 
 testimony that it is the truth from God ? ' Mahomet 
 replied : — ' Yea, verily ; but ye have invented new 
 doctrines, and ye deny that which is therein (i.e. in 
 your Scripture) regarding which a covenant hath been 
 taken from you ; and ye conceal (or withhold) thereof 
 what ye have been commanded to publish to man- 
 kind. Wherefore I am clear from the new matters 
 (or doctrines) ye have devised.' They answered : — 
 '■ As for us, we hold by that (Scripture) which is 
 in our hands ; — we follow the truth and the true 
 direction, and we believe not in thee, and we will 
 not follow thee.' Then the great and glorious God 
 revealed in respect of them the text,— 6>/^ ye people of 
 the Book ! ye are grounded upon nothing until ye 
 observe the Tourat and the Gospel, &c" 
 
 Mahometan traditions are seldom very certain ; 
 but if the above be trustworthy, it shows that Mahomet 
 in the Goran clearly acknowledges the genuineness 
 and authority of the whole Scriptures then in current 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 211 
 
 use among the Jews, and that his only contention was 
 with their new and false doctrines and traditions, and 
 with their refusal to acknowledge him, and to indicate 
 the supposed passages favourable to his claims in 
 their Scriptures. From the language which he in- 
 variably used in this respect, it cannot be doubted 
 that he fully and clearly upheld the inspiration and 
 purity of the Scriptures which they had in their 
 
 possession, (^A:*£.U). 
 
 CXXVIIL— Sura v., v. 91. '^^'A^\ '^j^^ 
 
 ^^331. ^^^^^T \y*^ ^Ji^^ i^j^Ac ^j-.1'.!Tj^-1^ l;^t^ 
 l3l \.\\3 ^^j^T I^^T ^,^ 'ij^ ^i^J\ ^^^1 ^ ^/^^T 
 
 \. 
 
 Uj . ,.,»l.iij /?.s)T ,.^ \*i,:i U^ it-^(.^ll ,.,.< 
 
 U*U- U J ^sl!b ^^jj ^ LIU J -j:- ^_.>J^w]T ^ [:.^\s 
 
 Thou wilt surely find the most bitter amongst mankind in their 
 hatred towards those that believe to be the Jews and the 
 idolaters. And thou wilt surely find the most friendly 
 inclined amongst them towards the believer?, to be those 
 
 P 2 
 
2i2 THE CORAN. 
 
 ■who say, We are Christians. That is because there are 
 amongst them clergy and monks, and they are not arrogant. 
 When they hear tliat which hath been revealed to the 
 prophet, thou wilt see their eyes flowing with tears because 
 of that which they recognize of the truth. They say, O 
 our Lord ! we believe ; write us down with the witnesses ; 
 and what should hinder us that we should not believe in 
 God, and in that which hath come unto us of the truth ? 
 and we desire that our Lord should introduce us amongst 
 the righteous. God hath rewarded them for that which 
 they have said, with gardens through which flow rivulets. 
 They shall be for ever therein and that is the reward of the 
 virtuous. 
 
 The Jews were more hostile to Islam than the 
 Christians. One main reason probably was that, 
 though Mahomet fully acknowledged their Scriptures, 
 yet he as fully acknowledged those of the Christians, 
 and the Divine Mission of Jesus Christ. This further 
 concession neutralized, with the Jews, all the virtue 
 of the former. On the other hand, the Christians 
 were no doubt delighted at finding that Mahomet, in 
 perfect conformity with their own system, acknow- 
 ledged the whole of the j^receding Scriptures and 
 prophets, both their own and those of the Jews. 
 And some of them, believing further in the mission 
 of Mahomet, expressed themselves in the impassioned 
 lauguage of the text. 
 
 Remark the favourable terms in which Mahomet 
 speaks of the Christians generally, both here and 
 elsev^here, — even of those not converted to Islam. 
 Their superior character is here attributed to the 
 clergy and monks, and to the absence of arrogance. 
 They are never accused of wresting the Scriptures, 
 or dislocating passages from the context. 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 213 
 
 CXXIX. — Sura v., V. no. ii'j^jUll ^',.«: 
 
 ^ d^iJ'\^ L-jliIlT lI/:;^.^ il 3 -^ ^f J J^^-^lT ti 
 ^.kiT ;:L.^ ^..yj ^,,. jU- i^ J Jr^^'T J i»"Kj::lT 
 
 c:---^,^ j^, -Jr ^ ^^ (Jib V.^lT ^.^^ Jl . Jib 
 
 #• •• •• 
 
 And (f^z// /^ mind) when God said, — O Jesus, Son of Mary ! 
 remember My favour towards thee, and towards thy Mother, 
 when I strengthened thee with the Holy Spirit, that thou 
 shouldest speak unto man, in the cradle, and also in mature 
 age ; and I taught thee the Scriptures, and wisdom, and 
 the Tourat, and the Gospel ; and when thou madest of 
 clay in the form of a bird by My command, and thou 
 blewest thereupon, and it became a bird by My command ; 
 and thou healedst the blind and the leper by My command; 
 and when thou didst raise the dead by My command. * * * 
 And when I spake by inspiration unto the apostles, saying, 
 — Believe in INIe, and in My apostle {i.e. Jestis ;) they 
 said, — We believe ; bear witness that we are true be- 
 lievers. 
 
214 THE CORAN. 
 
 S «4wJ 
 
 CXXX.— Sura LXVI., v. 13. ^^^^It sjy 
 
 And Mary the daughter of Imran, who preserved her virginity; 
 and We breathed into her of Our spirit, and she attested the 
 words of her Lord and His Scriptures, and was amongst the 
 pious. 
 
 CXXXI.— Sura IX., v. 113. ^A\ ^,,^ 
 ^ - . .. I- 
 
 Verily, God hath bought from the believers their selves and 
 their wealth, on the condition of paradise for them, if they 
 fight in the ways of God : — and whether they slay or be 
 slain, the promise of God thereupon is true in the Tourat, 
 and in the Gospel, and in the Goran. 
 
 This verse occurs in the last Sura given forth by- 
 Mahomet, and at a time when Islam had by the 
 aid of the sword spread itself over the greater part of 
 Arabia. 
 
 Possibly allusion may be made to passages in the 
 Bible where a spiritual conflict, e.g., " the good fight 
 of faith," is spoken of For the inculcations of the 
 Gospel will be observed by the serious Mussulman 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 215 
 
 materially to differ in this respect from those of the 
 Coran. The weapons of Christianity are spiritual. 
 Force is not to be used in its propagation. When 
 Jesus stood at the judgment seat of Pilate, he said : — 
 My Kingdom is not of this World : if my King- 
 dom WERE OF THIS WORLD, THEN WOULD MY SERVANTS 
 
 fight that i should not be delivered to the 
 Jews, but now is my Kingdom not from hence. 
 This remark is added only to guard the Mussulman 
 reader against the possibility of believing that the 
 Gospel in any way countenances fighting or compul- 
 sion for the furtherance of religion. 
 
2l6 THE CORAN, 
 
 SECTION THIRD 
 
 -♦o^ 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 The quotations of the Coran are ended. A few 
 remarks are subjoined for the consideration of the 
 earnest and honest Mahometan who studies the 
 Coran as all true Mahometans are bound to do, with 
 diligence and prayer to God : — 
 
 ^ JJ^\ llJ^Vj J L:y J\^'^\ J3j^ Uc JJ^l ^Lli 
 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 21/ 
 
 Arise during the night, excepting a small portion thereof; — 
 A half of it : — or diminish therefrom a little, 
 Or increase thereupon. And recite the Coran with well-measured 
 
 recitation. 
 Verily the hours of the early night are the best for earnest 
 devotion, and distinct utterance. — Sura LXXIII. 
 
 Thou mayest see them (the Moslems), bowing down, 
 prostrating themselves, seeking the favour of God and His 
 pleasure. Their signs are in their faces from the marks of 
 their prostration. This is the likeness of them in the Tourat, 
 and the likeness of them in the Gospel. — Sura XLVIII., 
 V. 29. 
 
 And when the Coran is read, listen thereunto and keep 
 silence, that ye may obtain mercy. And meditate on thy Lord 
 in thine own soul with humility and awe, and without loudness 
 of speech, in the morning and at eve ; and be not amongst the 
 careless. — Sura VII., 203, 204. 
 
 For earnest and devout Mahometans of this de- 
 scription, the following observations are meant. I 
 sohcit that they may be read with candour, with 
 seriousness, and with prayer. 
 
 I. — The Collection Complete and Impartial. 
 
 It has been the compilers object in making this 
 collection, not to search for passages favourable to 
 the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, but simply to 
 bring together all the verses that were found in 
 the Coran to contain any mention whatever of those 
 Scriptures, or any allusion to them. With this view, 
 the writer has carefully gone over the whole Coran 
 repeatedly, and noted down every passage of the 
 
2l8 THE CORAN. 
 
 nature alluded to. All have been entered which 
 were perceived to have the smallest bearing on the 
 subject. If any text has been omitted, it has been 
 solely through inadvertence, and from no design 
 of avoiding passages supposed to be unfavourable. 
 The Mussulman, therefore, as well as the Jew and 
 Christian, may accept the collection as an impartial 
 and full exhibition of the testimony borne in the 
 Coran to the Scriptures of the Old and New Tes- 
 taments. 
 
 II. — Existence and Currency of the Old and 
 New Testaments in the tuik of Mahomet. 
 
 No one can read the Coran attentively without 
 being struck by the numerous occasions on which 
 the Scriptures of the Jews and Christians are referred 
 to. They are designated by a great variety of names 
 
 —the Book of God, ^\^\':<^\ the Word of God, ^llUil^; 
 
 the Tour at, 'ii\^A\ : the Gospel, J^sr^l &c. 
 
 They are described as Revelations made by God 
 in ages preceding Mahomet, in such expressions as 
 
 a^J^j j^^j U— JJ ^6^\ Jyl U &c. And they are 
 spoken of throughout the Coran not only as extant in 
 the time of Mahomet, but as in common use amongst 
 the Jews and Christians. This is proved by such phrases 
 
 as : — " the Scripture which is with them,'' ^.^j^^ ; or 
 ^' beside them," j^su^ U ; — " those that read (are in 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 219 
 
 the habit of reading) the book revealed from before 
 thee," ^<1J ^,^ i^\'^\\ ^^^h ^^^\ (Art. XXXIV.) ; 
 " they (the Jews) read, or study, that which is therein ; 
 djjt U U-j .t> • (Art. LXIII.) ; — "they hear (are in 
 
 the habit of hearing) the Word of God," d^\ ^K ^^xA^^i 
 (Art. LXIX.) ; — "they peruse (arc in the habit of 
 perusing) the Book," l_jIi$31 ^^i^ (Art. LXXX.) 
 So on one occasion (Art. CVII.) Mahomet " sum- 
 moned the Jews to the Book" — that is, required an 
 actual reference to their Scriptures in the presence 
 of both parties, before whom the scroll of the Old 
 Testament was to be produced and read ; and on 
 another occasion, they were called upon to bring 
 forward the same Scriptures for the settlement of 
 a disputed question ; Art. CXV. 
 
 Both Jews and Christians are exhorted to act and 
 to judge in accordance with their Scriptures, implying 
 the existence in current use amongst them of copies 
 of the Scriptures, to which they could without diffi- 
 culty make reference, in order so to act and judge. 
 They are likewise told that their religion is vain 
 except they " set up," or observe, both the Jewish 
 and the Christian Scriptures, from which the same 
 conclusion may be drawn ; for it would have been 
 nugatory to insist upon the observance of Scriptures 
 not easily accessible to the great body of the people 
 professing those religions. 
 
 The Scriptures are also very frequently appealed to 
 by Mahomet in evidence of his own claims. He 
 would not have done so, unless they had been 
 extant and in common use at the time. 
 
2 20 THE CORAN. 
 
 We are, then, warranted in assuming that the 
 terms which are in the Coran applied to the Jewish 
 Scriptures generally, as "the Book," " the Scriptures," 
 
 &c. c-?LC!l ^ L-^i \y^^)^^\ — ^js!l — c-jli.01 mean 
 the Old Testament as it stood, and was acknowledged 
 by the Jews to be their divine book, in the time of 
 
 Mahomet. The word, s\^^':!i\ tJie Tour at, was some- 
 
 times used in this wide sense, and sometimes as 
 signifying only the Pentateuch, or the Five books 
 
 of Moses. So the term ,4j;ll "the Psalms," is con- 
 
 fined to the Psalms of David. 
 
 In a similar manner, the Scriptures of the Christ- 
 ians, spoken of in the Coran under the general name 
 
 Ji^sT^l Injil, " Evangel," or Gospel, must be held to 
 
 refer to the ent-ire Scripture in common use as a 
 divinely-inspired book amongst the Christians, — that 
 is, to the whole New Testament ; which, according 
 to the Coran, was received by Jesus from God, and 
 taught (as we must on this understanding suppose) by 
 him to his disciples. 
 
 These inferences are necessarily deducible from the 
 absolute and unqualified manner in which Mahomet 
 refers to the Scriptures as believed in by the Jews and 
 Christians, and as current amongst them. 
 
 A belief in the ivJiole Scriptures, Jewish and Chris- 
 tian, is frequently required, and those who " believe 
 in a part, a?id disbelieve in a part, ^^ are over and again 
 threatened with condign punishment. — See Arts. 
 LXIII and CII. 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 221 
 
 III. — The Coran attests the Inspiration of 
 THE Jewish and Christian Scriptures. 
 
 The Divine origin of the Jewish and Christian 
 Scriptures, as thus extant and in common use in his 
 day, is throughout the Coran unconditionally attested 
 by Mahomet, in such reiterated and stereotyped 
 
 phrases, as — jljJo ,..-.j U.1 Ijjj^*^^ &c. Indeed the very 
 object of the Coran is in many places stated to be the 
 attestation of the Scripture revealed aforetime. Thus 
 in a supposed Revelation which is quoted as having 
 been made of old, the prophet that is to arise 
 (Mahomet) is described chiefly as one ivJw would attest 
 
 the foregoing Scripture, — L*.J Jiijus^ J 5*^ [*^*^^ (*^ 
 Jix^ Art. CXIII. So also the chief mark by which the 
 (.Tenii, who had been listening to the Coran, described 
 it to their fellows, was that it attested the a?itecedent 
 Revelation : Art. XVII. 
 
 A plenary inspiration is constantly ascribed to the 
 whole of these sacred books. They have been " sent 
 down," or '' revealed," J 3 ; — God revealed the Scrip- 
 ture in "truth," or "with truth," jjlj \:\::^ ^jA ;— it 
 has been "given" by God, ^J.l — ; the prophets who 
 delivered it were "inspired," ^^^>-■^. 
 
 It is repeatedly said, in praise of the Coran (for 
 which the highest degree of inspiration is claimed), 
 that the inspiration of Mahomet is the same in kind 
 as that of the former prophets ; — Arts. XXI I. , LX., 
 cm., and ex. 
 
2 22 THE CORAN 
 
 The Jewish and Christian Scriptures are styled by 
 the same epithets, indicative of a heavenly origin, as 
 
 the Coran:— "the Book of God," ^J1c->1.::^n Arts. 
 LXXIX., CVII., and CXXIV. ; "the Word of God," 
 <d!yK Art. LXX. ;— "Al Furcan" (the discerner be- 
 tween good and evil), ^\Jj.k}\ Arts. XLVIII. and 
 LXVIII. 
 
 So also the contents of the Scriptures are cited 
 frequently as containing a divine and decisive authority. 
 
 In fine, the testimony to their inspiration is through- 
 out the Goran the fullest and most unequivocal that 
 can be imagined. 
 
 IV. — The Jewish and Christian Scriptures 
 
 PRAISED IN THE CORAN. 
 
 The highest value is attributed by the Goran to the 
 Jewish and Christian Scriptures. They are always 
 spoken of with veneration. There is not a single 
 expression regarding them throughout the Goran, but 
 what is dictated by profound respect and reverence. 
 
 Their heavenly virtue, and the blessings to be 
 derived from the revelation contained in them, may be 
 gathered from the following sentences belonging to all 
 stages of the ministry of Mahomet. 
 
 The Book of Moses is "a Guide and a Mercy," 
 
 Z^s^j • UU^ Arts. XVI. and XXXI. The writings of 
 the Apostles who preceded Mahomet constitute the 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 223 
 
 ^^ perspicuous,'' Qx '' enlightenbig'' book, ^^^^::.^a^\^\£ 
 Art. XII. ; j^Z\ i^\:^\ Arts. XVIII. and CXIX. 
 
 The book inherited by the Children of Israel is " a 
 guide and an admonition to men of understanding 
 heart," ^^lJjl J^ ^/<ij ^^ Art. XXV. 
 
 The Revelation of Moses is " a light and a direction 
 to mankind," ^_^LU ^J^Jb j j^ Art. XXXVII. 
 
 It is " complete as to whatever is excellent, and an 
 explanation of every question, and a direction and a 
 mercy, that (men) might believe in the meeting of 
 
 their Lord," J:^ J^l L^i* ^ ^-^^ lS'^^ ^^ \A^i 
 ^.U^l ^j .lib ^\'U^j^^ cS^^ Art. XLI. ; ''an 
 enlio-htenment unto mankind, and a direction, and a 
 mercy, if haply they might be admonished," ^^Lliy 1*3^ 
 
 ^)Js^, *tW ^.A^j J cJ*^-^ J Art. XLIII. 
 
 It is "the Furcan, (or discerner,) a light and an 
 admonition to the pious, those who fear their Lord 
 in secret, and who tremble at the hour of judgment," 
 
 ^^ss.L^ ls^\J\ ^ ^ J Art. XLVIIL 
 
 They who believe in the Scripture revealed afore- 
 time, (lL^IJ ^^ ^y\ U) as well as in the Coran, 
 " these walk according to the direction of their Lord, 
 these are the blessed," ^ ^j . ^ ^5w\J>) J^l.& tli^^^jl 
 
 ^^^^\ ^^ CJJj'i^] Art. LXVI. 
 
 The Jews had " the testimony of God " with them, 
 ^]l\ ^ vjl^^ Art. LXXXIL 
 
2 24 THE CO RAN. 
 
 God " revealed the Tourat and the Gospel aforetime 
 for the guidance of mankind, and He revealed the 
 Furcan (discerner) ; verily they that reject the Signs 
 (or revelations) of God, to them shall be a fearful 
 
 punishment," ^Sii JJ ^^ Jrr^^'^ 3 ^^'^^^ J;^^ J 
 
 J^jJ^-i (^js. Art. CV. 
 
 " The Gospel, wherein is Guidance and Light, 
 attesting the Tourat that preceded it, and a direction 
 
 and an admonition to the pious," ^ ^i^^■& ^*i J^^s^fi 
 ;JJ Art. CXXIV. 
 
 Thus the Jewish and Christian Scriptures are praised 
 as containing spiritual light and direction for mankind, 
 admonition and exhortation for the pious; — as "a 
 Guide and a Mercy," as an explanation of every 
 matter, — "perfect and complete as to all that is 
 excellent." What higher terms of commendation, — 
 what more powerful incitement to the study and careful 
 observance of the sacred books, — could the Moslems 
 desire than what are thus contained in the Goran ? 
 
 V. — The Scriptures appealed to, and their 
 Observance inculcated, by Mahomet. 
 
 The Jewish and Christian Scriptures are frequently 
 appealed to by Mahomet, and obedience to them is 
 enjoined upon their possessors. 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 225 
 
 I. — Mahomet very often, in the Coran, refers to 
 tu ose who held the Scriptures in their hands as 
 witnesses in favour of his mission. It is alleged that 
 their Divine books contained evidence in his favour, 
 that their contents corresponded with the Coran, that 
 the honest and enlightened interpreters of their pro- 
 phecies recognized him and his Revelation, and 
 rejoiced in the recognition. — See Arts. VII., XIIL, 
 XV., XXXV., XXXIX., XLV., LIV., LVL, LVIL, 
 LXL, LXV., LXXV., and LXXXIV., &c. 
 
 11. — The necessity of following, with religious care, 
 the precepts of the whole previous Scripture is 
 solemnly inculcated upon the Jews and Christians : 
 and a belief in the whole preceding Scripture is 
 required from all Mussulmans as an indispensable 
 article of faith. 
 
 A reward is promised to those who " hold fast the 
 Book "j (L_^\:;$3ij ^^^.^i) which the context shows 
 
 to be the Old Testament — Art. LXIV. 
 
 " Those who reject the book, and that which We 
 have sent Our Messengers with, they shall know ; — 
 when the collars shall be on their necks, and the chains 
 by which they shall be dragged into Hell ; — then they 
 
 shall be burned in the Fire "; , < ^c^^ \*id^ ..'3JI 
 
 Art. XXVI. He that disbelieves in any of the 
 Books of God "hath wandered into a wide error," 
 
 Ijuxj fLo J J jj Art. CI. The reward of those, 
 
 who " believe in part of the Book, and reject part 
 
 Q 
 
2 26 THE CORAN. 
 
 thereof, shall be none other than disgrace in the pre- 
 sent life, and on the day of judgment they shall be cast 
 into a more awful torment " ; c-^U^ll ^^x^^ |j;;-wjjii 
 
 Art. LXXIIL " Verily, they that reject God and 
 His Apostles, and seek to make a distinction between 
 God and His Apostles, and say, We believe in a part, 
 and ive reject a part, and seek to take a middle path 
 between that, — they are the real infidels {Kafirs,) and 
 We have prepared for the infidels an ignominious 
 
 punishment." ^ u^'^ljl ^^; j '^^^. U^-^l ^J:.^^ iJ 
 
 L-^< Ulc ^.;ylCil Ijj^icl J U:^ Art. CH. 
 
 In one passage the Jews are desired, " to bring 
 hither the Tourat and read it," in order to the settle- 
 ment of a disputed point ; U^bU l\j^^\j l^J'Li JJ 
 
 Art. CXV. In another text, it is said that " they 
 were called unto the Book of God, that it might 
 
 decide between them "; ^i^j fS^^ ^^^ i^\':^ ^)\ (j^J^. 
 
 Art. CVII. 
 
 Jews and Christians are not only commanded to 
 observe the Law and the Gospel, but they are solemnly 
 warned that their faith will be void, that " their 
 religion will not be grounded upon anything, unless 
 
 they set up both the Tourat and the Gospel,^'' \^ ^J 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 2?.^ 
 
 J,^ll\ J '^j.'A\ \y^Jo j^ ^-i Art. CXXVII. Every 
 
 one who judges not in accordance with that which 
 God hath revealed, (including the previous Scripture,) 
 is declared " to be an unbeliever (Kafir), a transgressor, 
 
 flagitious," ylCl^ M\ jJ^\ Art. CXXIV. 
 
 III. — Although observance of the ordinances of the 
 Jewish and Christian dispensations, as inculcated in 
 the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is 
 enjoined in the Coran upon Jews and Christians only, 
 yet all faithful Mahometans are called upon equally 
 with them to believe ift those Scriptures ; — Arts. XXIV., 
 XXVL, LIX., LXVL, LXXXL, CI., CIL, CIIL, and 
 CXVIII. The favour of God and a great reward are 
 promised to such as believe in the complete revelation 
 of His will^ including the writings of the Jewish and 
 Christian prophets and apostles (Arts. XC. and CII.). 
 Those who disbelieve any part thereof are declared to 
 be in " a wide error," Art. CI. ; — they are the real 
 infidels (" Kafirs "), for whom God hath prepared an 
 ignominious punishment, Arts. CIL and XC. 
 
 It does not therefore appear on what grounds the 
 Jewish and Christian Scriptures can be neglected, — 
 much less cast aside and rejected, — by the true 
 Mussulman but (on the showing of the Coran itself) 
 at the peril of his safety. 
 
 Let it be carefully not^ that the sacred books, the 
 belief in which is required of all Mussulmans, are 
 those same Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments 
 which were universally acknowledged by the Jews and 
 Christians of Mahomet's day to be divinely inspired. 
 It could have been no different Tourat or Gospel to 
 
 Q 2 
 
2 28 THE CORAN. 
 
 which allusion is so constantly made in the Coran. 
 Mecca and Medina were not situated in a corner of 
 the world where other Scriptures than those com- 
 monly in use elsewhere could have been in- 
 tended. Jews and Christians inhabited various 
 parts of Arabia, as Yemen, Najran, Tayma, Duma, 
 &c., and from all quarters they resorted yearly to 
 the fairs at Ocatz, Mujanna, Dzul-Majaz, &c. Mer- 
 cantile journeys were made from Mecca frequently 
 to Syria, Yemen, and Abyssinia, where Christianity 
 was established and Judaism known. Some Arabs 
 even reached the courts of the Kaiser and the 
 Chosroes. Shortly before the assumption of the 
 prophetic office by Mahomet, Othman-ibn-Huweirith, 
 a citizen of Mecca, repaired to Constantinople, from 
 whence he returned a baptized Christian. The 
 Christian courts of Hira, and of the Ghassanide 
 dynasty, both adjoining Arabia on the north, were 
 frequented by the Arabs. Mahomet himself had been 
 twice to Syria. Above a hundred of his followers 
 found a safe and hospitable refuge at the Christian 
 court of the Abyssinian Negus (Najashy), both before 
 and after the Hejira. Mahomet had Jewish and 
 Christian adherents at Medina, among the converts to 
 Islam. In the 6th year of the Hejira, embassies were 
 despatched by Mahomet to the Roman and Persian 
 courts, to Abyssinia and Egypt, to the Ghassanide 
 prince, and to other Christian chiefs. 
 
 There was thus no want of communication between 
 Mahomet and the Jews and Christians of every quarter 
 of the civilised world. When, therefore, he speaks of 
 ''the Book " or " the Scriptures " which the Jews and 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 229 
 
 Christians were in the habit of reading, the precepts ol 
 which they were religiously to observe, and by the judg- 
 ments of which they were always to be guided, he means, 
 and cannot but mean, the Old and the New Testaments 
 preserved amongst the whole body of the Jews and 
 Christians, read in their Churches, S}Tiagogues, and 
 Monasteries, and studied in their private houses. 
 
 VI. — Imputations against the Jews. 
 
 The Jews are frequently accused in the Coran of 
 being a rebellious and stiff-necked people as their 
 fathers had been, and of perverting the meaning of 
 their sacred books. 
 
 When jMahomet went to IMedina, he expected to 
 find the Jews, who resided in considerable numbers in 
 the neighbourhood, favourable to his cause ; and he 
 entered into a close treaty with them, a copy of which, 
 or at least the substance of it, is recorded in the 
 histories of his life. But the Jews, finding that Maho- 
 met believed in the ]\Iessiahship of Jesus, and in 
 other doctrines diametrically opposed to their own 
 faith, became hostile to his cause, and refused to 
 acknowledge that there was any prophecy whatever in 
 their Scriptures that applied to him. They held that 
 their jNIessiah was to be o( Jewish, and not of Ishmaelite 
 descent ; and they utterly rejected the Arabian 
 prophet. Thus a deadly enmity grew up between them. 
 Mahomet caused several of his bitterest opponents 
 to be assassinated. At last he openly warred against 
 them, expatriated two whole tribes, the Bani Nadhir 
 and Bani Caynocaa, and having slain all the males 
 
230 THE CORAN. 
 
 of a third tribe, the Bani Coreitza (from 600 to 800 in 
 number), made their women and children captives. 
 
 Before their mouths were thus stopped by the sword, 
 the Jews attempted to combat Mahomet in argument, 
 and they brought forward passages of Scripture in 
 support of their position. But Mahomet did not 
 admit that his opponents were sincere and honest 
 in argument. He accused them of perverting 
 the sense of their Scriptures and of not properly 
 understanding their purport. He compared them to 
 an ass laden with a burden of precious books ; — 
 charged with a store of divine knowledge, but not a 
 whit the wiser for it. — Art. XCHI. Stupid and bhnded 
 by ignorance and prejudice, they could not recognize 
 the truth revealed in their Scripture. The imputation 
 does not materially differ from that which has for 
 eighteen centuries been made by Christians against 
 the Jews. Both believe equally in the Old Testa- 
 ment, but they differ widely as to its interpretation. 
 
 Mahomet charged the Jews of Medina with bringing 
 separate passages from their Scriptures, presenting 
 them without their context or in connection with a 
 wrong context, and with thus distorting the true 
 sense.— Arts. LXIX., XCVL, CXXH., and CXXHI. 
 They are alleged to have applied to ^Mahomet 
 expressions having a double and offensive meaning. — 
 Art. CXI. They produced as having divine authority 
 passages of human origin, — probably their rabbinical 
 or traditional writings. — Arts. LXXH. and CXI. 
 They are accused of concealing texts or prophecies 
 favourable to Mahomet and his claims, or rather of 
 not unfolding them, " though God had made them 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 23 1 
 
 enter into a covenant that they should pubUsh them to 
 mankind." 
 
 Further than this we do not find that Mahomet 
 accused even his enemies the Jews of Medina. The 
 inference that by " conceahng " is intended the excision 
 or erasure of passages from their manuscripts, is alto- 
 gether groundless. 
 
 As to altering or corrupting their copies of the sacred 
 Scriptures, there is not a single verse which, fairly 
 construed, bears out the charge. Even if any 
 passage could be so forced, the whole tenor of the 
 Coran, and its plain testimony from first to last in 
 favour of the genuineness and authority of the Jewish 
 as well as of the Christian Scriptures, would prove 
 that such meaning was not that which Mahomet 
 intended. 
 
 Would the Prophet have appealed to a con-upted 
 Tourat? Would he have constantly attested the 
 truth of an interpolated Law ? Would he have com- 
 manded that disputes amongst the Jews should be 
 adjusted by an obsolete and adulterated Revelation ; 
 or have summoned them to produce the roll of a 
 doubtful Scripture, and to read therefrom in order 
 that a difference between themselves and him should 
 thus be finally adjudicated ? Would he have solemnly 
 inculcated the observance of a falsified Text ; or have 
 said of any other than a genuine Book, that the faith 
 of the Jews was futile unless they " set up " that 
 book and observed its precepts ? 
 
 It is further to be well observed that the imputations 
 contained in the Coran (whatever their nature) are 
 from first to last confined to the Jews. There is not a 
 
232 THE CORAN. 
 
 passage in the whole Coran which could, by any 
 possible construction, cast the slightest suspicion upon 
 Christians of tampering either with their Gospel or 
 with their copies of the Jewish Scripture. The 
 utmost charge brought against them is that they had 
 " forgotten a part of that whereby they were ad- 
 monished," /.(?., fallen into erroneous doctrines and 
 practices. — Art. CXXII. 
 
 Now supposing for a moment that the Old Testa- 
 ment had been interpolated by the enemies of Maho- 
 met, and that they had even extended their attempts 
 to the New Testament, would not some of the good 
 Jews and Christians have preserved and multiplied 
 copies of the uncorrupted Scriptures ? Those Scrip- 
 tures were constantly appealed to by Mahomet ; they 
 contained, as he alleged, valuable testimony in favour 
 of the Coran, his Mission, and Islam. Even when 
 wielding the sword and supported by victorious armies, 
 the followers of Mahomet would hardly neglect so 
 reasonable and so convincing a mode of gaining over 
 the Jews and Christians as that of pointing out to them 
 the evidence for Islam recorded in their own uncor- 
 rupted Scriptures. The early Mahometans surely 
 would not dispense with such useful proof of the claims 
 of their Prophet. Besides, for the new converts from 
 among the Jews and Christians, the preservation of the 
 pure and uncorrupted text of the Old and New Testa- 
 ments would be not only desirable but necessary. 
 They were commanded by the Prophet to believe in, to 
 observe, and to judge by those Scriptures; and in 
 doing so, they were promised " a double portion of 
 Mercy " and special " light." Surely if these had any 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 233 
 
 doubt that their unconverted brethren would falsify their 
 Scriptures, they would have sought to retain faithful 
 copies, not only for their own use, but for the satisfac- 
 tion and teaching also of their children ; just as the 
 Christians preserve and teach the Jewish Scriptures, 
 pointing out and inculcating the force of the prophe- 
 cies of Christ contained therein, even so might we not 
 have expected the Mahometan converts from Judaism 
 and Christianity to cherish and preserve their former 
 Scriptures ? 
 
 That there existed such honest and faithful Jewish 
 and Christian converts cannot be doubted by the 
 Mahometan enquirer. " And of the people of Moses, 
 there is a party that directeth with truth, and acteth 
 justly thereby."— Art. LXII. "Amongst the people 
 of the Book, there is an upright race, that read the 
 Signs (or Revelations) of God in the night season, 
 and they bow down worshipping, and command that 
 which is honest, and dissuade from that which is 
 wicked, and hasten forward in good works ; these are 
 the virtuous."— Art. CXVII. " Among them is a right 
 
 eous people," 'is,a::^A >y Art. CXXVI. See also Arts. 
 
 XCI., XCVIII., and CXXI. Had f/iese any interest 
 in falsifying the sacred Scriptures ? On the contrary, 
 had they not every interest in preserving them uncor- 
 rupted ? And even if there had been any sinister in- 
 ducements, would not their "justice," "uprightness," 
 " honesty," and devotion to God, have prevented the 
 thought of such wickedness from ever entering their 
 hearts ? Where then are the uncorrupted copies pre- 
 served by these virtuous and faithful Jews and Chris- 
 
234 THE CORAN. 
 
 tians ? Had there existed the slightest suspicion that 
 the sacred Scriptures were anywhere being tampered 
 with, uncorrupted copies would surely have been pre- 
 served by them. The fact is that the assumption is 
 throughout baseless. There never was such a suspicion. 
 Mahomet certainly never entertained it ; and as little 
 did his immediate followers. Any imputation against 
 the Jews and Christians of attempting to corrupt their 
 Scriptures was not even thought of for many years 
 afterwards ; — not, indeed, until the Mahometan doctors, 
 finding the Coran to differ from those Scriptures, 
 betook themselves to this most groundless assumption 
 as the simplest mode of escaping the difficulty. 
 
 Again, the supposition of such imputation (assumed 
 for the sake of argument) cannot at the most be 
 extended beyond the Jews of Medma. It was they 
 alone who were inimical to Mahomet ; to them only 
 the assertions in the Coran apply. But the Jewish 
 and Christian Scriptures, — attested as they are in 
 every part of the Coran, — were in the hands of 
 millions, other than Jews, throughout the Roman and 
 Persian empires; in the kingdoms of Abyssinia, Hira, 
 Armenia, Egypt, the Ghassanide dynasty in Syria, &c. 
 The accusation or suspicion of inimical tampering, let 
 it be pressed never so unfairly, cannot by any means 
 reach these multitudes not only of Jews, but of Chris- 
 tians beyond Arabia. 
 
 Again, within two years of the death of Mahomet, 
 the Mussulman armies had overrun Syria, the birth- 
 place of Judaism and Christianity, which contained 
 innumerable copies of the Old and New Testaments 
 in the churches, synagogues, monasteries, and private 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 235 
 
 houses. In a few more years the Mahometans had 
 Egypt in their possession, and shortly after the whole 
 northern coast of Africa, — countries that were likewise 
 filled with Christians, Monasteries, and Churches. 
 Is it conceivable that, — with the supreme power in 
 their hands, with Jews and Christians daily gained 
 over at the point of the sword, with cities, towns, and 
 monasteries in their possession, and endless copies of 
 the Scriptures thus at their disposal, — the Moslems 
 would have lost the opportunity of securing correct 
 manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments, and of 
 thus adding to the proofs of their Prophet's mission ; 
 — if, indeed, the slightest suspicion had crossed their 
 minds that anywhere the Scriptures had been tampered 
 with, or if in reality those Scriptures had (as the modern 
 doctors of Islam would have us believe) contained 
 any testimony to the mission of their Prophet not 
 now to be found in them ? The absence of any such 
 attempt is satisfactory proof that the suspicion of 
 unfair dealing never did exist. 
 
 There can therefore be no escape, to the honest 
 believer in the Coran, from the conclusion that the 
 Jewish and Christian Scriptures, as current through- 
 out Christendom in the days of Mahomet, were the 
 genuine and uncorrupted word of God. 
 
 VII. — The Scriptures of the Time of Mahomet 
 
 THE SAME AS THOSE NOW EXTANT. 
 
 It does not belong to the present task to proceed 
 to the proof that the Scriptures of the time of Maho- 
 
236 THE CORAN. 
 
 met's ministry, a.d. 610-632, were the identical 
 Scriptures now in the hands of Jews and Christians. 
 But, for the benefit of the honest and enquiring 
 Mussuhiian, the following points may be briefly indi- 
 cated for his further investigation. 
 
 There are now extant Manusc7'ipts of an earlier 
 date than the era above-mxentioned, and open to 
 the most scrupulous examination of any enquirer. 
 There are Versions of the Old and New Testaments, 
 translated before the period in question. The Sep- 
 tuagint translation of the Old Testament was executed 
 prior to the Christian era. There are still remains of 
 the Octapla of Origen, drawn up four centuries before 
 Mahomet, in which the various versions of the Old 
 Testament were compared in parallel columns. Of 
 the New Testament there are the Latin, Syriac, 
 Coptic, and Armenian versions, made long anterior 
 to Mahomet, by a reference to which the Mussulman 
 investigator will be able to satisfy himself that there 
 have been no alterations in the original text since the 
 time of his Prophet. 
 
 Lastly, there are qiiotatiojis from the sacred Scrip- 
 tures, and innumerable references to them, contained 
 in the Jewish and Christian writers of ages far 
 earlier than IMahomet. Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, 
 Clemens, Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, Eusebius, 
 Chrysostom, Gregory, Basil, Ambrose, Jerome, Augus- 
 tine, and many others may be with this view readily 
 consulted by any Mahometan, if he will only take 
 the trouble to learn the Greek and Latin tongues. 
 This species of coincident proof is the strongest 
 that can be imagined. 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 237 
 
 It is no reply to this line of argument to say that in 
 the manuscripts of the Scriptures there now exist 
 various readings, discrepancies, and passages asserted 
 by the Mahometans (as those regarding the divine 
 Sonship and the death of Jesus) to be inconsistent 
 with a true Revelation. By examining the ancient 
 Manuscripts, the versions and quotations above 
 referred to, they will find that various readings, sup- 
 posed discrepancies, and passages affirming the death 
 of Christ and confirming the doctrine of the Trinity, 
 existed, just as they now exist, in the Scriptures 
 current in the time of Mahomet and for centuries 
 before, — in those very Scriptures, namely, of which 
 Mahomet in the Coran so constantly and uncondition- 
 ally asserts the truth. The true Mussulman has, 
 therefore, no option but to accept, and believe in, 
 those Scriptures just as they stand. 
 
 VIII. — Belief in, and Examination of, the 
 Scriptures incumbent on all Mahometans. 
 
 Such being the case, the sincere and honest Mus- 
 sulman is earnestly invited to examine the subject, 
 and to satisfy himself, as he may easily do, that 
 the Bible of the present day is the Bible of the 
 days of Mahomet. He is called upon to revere 
 and honour that sacred Book, even as his Master 
 so uniformly and so unequivocally professed to honour 
 it. He is called upon to believe in it as the inspired 
 word of God, in order that he may obtain the 
 " reward "(^jb,*^^) promised to the faithful beUevers. 
 
238 THE CORAN. 
 
 He is cautioned against the neglect or disbelief of 
 
 it, lest he incur the " ignominious punishment (l>^ j^ 
 
 h-,^ff.i) which God hath prepared for the unbelievers," 
 
 for them " that believe in a part and reject a part " of 
 God's word. — Art. CII. He is warned against refusing 
 to acknowledge that "perspicuous Book," which is "a 
 light to lighten mankind, a guide and a direction, 
 an admonition to the pious, — to them that fear the 
 Lord in secret and tremble at the hour of judg- 
 ment"; — that Revelation which is "complete as to 
 whatever is excellent, and an explanation of every 
 matter, and a mercy, that men may believe in the 
 meeting of their Lord"; for if he does thus reject 
 it, according to the verdict of his own Prophet, "verily 
 
 he hath wandered into a wide and fatal error," Ji^ Si 
 
 \s.jtj fij. Above all let him beware of blaspheming 
 
 (like some of the degenerate Mussulmans of the 
 present day) that holy Book, and of thus sealing 
 his doom as " a transgressing and flagitious Unbe- 
 liever."— Art. CXXIV. 
 
 What fearful audacity is displayed by some of the 
 modern Mahometans (unworthy disciples in this 
 respect of their Prophet !) who ignorantly and blas- 
 phemously speak against " the Book which God hath 
 sent down," the holy " Forcan," " the Word of God " ! 
 
 As for ourselves, the People of the Book, it is only 
 in conformity with the express inculcation of the 
 Prophet of Islam, that we observe, and hold by, both 
 the Law and the Gospel (Art. CXXVH.) ; and that, 
 in accordance with his challenge, we examine those 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 239 
 
 Scriptures to which he appealed before the people 
 of Arabia as his witness, to see whether or no they 
 bear testimony to his mission. And it is the sacred 
 duty of every Mussulman, in order that he may guard 
 against the possibility of fatal deception, to do the 
 same. 
 
 Lastly ; all honest Moslems are called on to believe, 
 for they cannot consistently disbelieve, that these Scrip- 
 tures are the inspired " Word of God " [a\]\ J^) " that 
 
 they are a light to lighten Man- (^^.l-lj ^^Si> j Ijy) 
 kind," " an illumination and admonition to the Pious " 
 
 ( .t-ii->*<iJ ^^^<^3 *W) > ^^ ^"^' ^^^^ ^^^y ^^^ calculated 
 to lead those that follow their precepts into the way of 
 peace, and make them wise unto salvation. Why, 
 then, will they neglect so precious a source of spiritual 
 benefit as (the Coran itself being judge) exists in 
 the Old and New Testaments, and shut themselves 
 out from their illumination ? Let them search the 
 Scriptures diligently, and they will find the whole 
 tenor of those sacred Books to be " that God is 
 in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself"; — that 
 Jesus is " the Way, the Truth, and the Life " ; "This 
 is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only 
 true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." 
 
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