Contents. — The matter of the Koran is exceedingly incoherent and sententious, the book evidently being without any logical order of thought either as a whole or in its parts. This agrees with the desultory and in- cidental manner in which it is said to have been deliv- ered. The following table of the suras (condensed from Sale) will give the reader some idea of its miscellaneous range of topics. IMany of the headings, however, are, as above explained, simply catch-titles, taken from some prominent word or expression. Most of the contents are preceptive merely ; some are a travesty of Bible his- tory; others recount in a vague and fragmentary way incidents in the prophet's personal or public career ; and a few are somewhat speculative. Generally these ele- ments are indiscriminately mixed in the same piece.
■^■"•P- Tit.1fiintl,„nM.,;n»l ..^o.ofiChnp- T;ti„;„.i,orv.;„!„„, No. of
^_^, _ Title in the Original. ^°^-°l i '^,'^^P- Title in the Original. ^ _.^^^^
1. Preface 7 ! 23! The True Believers . 118
2. The Cow 2S6| 24. Light 74
3. The Family of Imraa 200, 25. Al-Forkau IT/ie Ko-
4. Women lT5i »•««] 77
5. The Table 1-20 2G. The Poets 227
C. Cattle 165| 27. The Ant 93
7. Al-Araf 2061 28. The Story 87
S.TheSpoils 70; 29. The Spider 09
9. The Declaration of 30. The Greeks 60
Immunity iConiw- . 31. Lokman 34
■WJU] 1.59 32. Adoration 29
10. Jonas 109 33. The Confederates . . 73
11. Ilud 1231 34. Saba 54
12. Joseph Ill: 35. TheCreator [.l»!/;e?.s-] 45
13. Thunder 43l 30. Y. S. [I. S.] 83
14. Abraham 52: 37. Those who rank them-
15. A\-ne]n\[.rheFti<jht] 10. The Bee 12S
17. The Night Journey. 110
18. The Cave Ill
19. Mary so
20. T. H 134
21. The Prophets 112
22. The Pilgrimage .... 7S
selves iu Order [The
Classes-] 1S2
3S. S 86
39. The Troops 75
40. The True Believers. 85
41. Are distinctly Ex-
plained lExplana- tioit] 54
<^,'"'P- Title in the Origin..!. ^'^■"1 '^'"'P- ter. ° V erses.
42. Consultation 53
43. The Ornaments of
God [Uresiil 89
44. Smoke 67
45. The Kneeling 36
40. Al-Ahkaf 35
47. Mohammed[T/ieBa«- 82,
tie-] 38 83,
4S. The Victory 29
49. The Inner Apart- 84,
ments VSanctuanil IS 85.
50. K ■.. 45 86.
51. The Dispersing [Z)Veaf/t 87,
of the mnds] 60 88,
52. The Mountain 48
53. The Star 61 89,
54. The Moon 55 90,
55. The Merciful 78
60. ThelnevitableCJi/dfir- 91
ment] 99 92,
57. Iron 29 9:
58. She who Disputed
[The Complaint] . . 22
59. TheEmigratiou [The
Assembly] 24 95,
GO. Shewhoistried[r/te 96,
Proof] 13
61. Battle Array 14
C2. The Assembly [Fri-
dan] 11
63. The Hypocrites [Im- 08,
-pioxis] 11 99,
64. Mutual Deceit [Knav- 100,
ery] 18 101,
65. Divorce 12
66. Prohibition 12
67. The Kingdom 30
OS. The Pen 52
69. Thelnfallible [Thcin- 103,
evitable Day] 52 104
70. The Steps [The Class- 10.5
es] 44 106,
71. Noah 28 107.
72. The Genii 28
73. TheWrappedupETOc 108
Prophet in his Dress] 19 109,
74. TheCovered[rAe.Va«- 110,
tie] 55 111,
75. The Resurrection.... 40 112,
76. Man SI
77. Those who are sent 113,
[TIieMesseufiers]... 50 73. The[Im])ortant]News40 114, 79. Those who tear forth
Manner of Preservation. — ^IVIohammed's professed rev- elations were made at intervals extending over a period of twenty-three years, when the canon was closed. We have no certain information about the manner of their preservation during tlie prophet's life. Manj^ persons wrote them on palm-leaves and various other substances which were conveniently at hand. A writer in..the Cal- cutta Review (xix, 8) says : '• In the latter part of his ca- reer the prophet had many Arabic amaiuienses ; some of them occasional, as Ali and Othman, others official, as Zeid ibn-Thabit (who also learned Hebrew expressly in order to conduct Mohammed's business at Medina). In WAckidy's collection of dispatches the writers are men- tioned, and they amount to fourteen. Some say there were four-and-twenty of his followers whom he used more or less as scribes, others as many as forty-two (Weil's Mohammed, p. 350). In his early life at Jlecca he could not have had these facilities, but even then his wife, Khadija (who coidd read the sacred Scriptures), might have recorded his revelations; or Waraca, j\li, or Abu-Bekr. At Medina, Obey ibn-Kab is mentioned as one who used to record the inspired recitations of Mo- hammed (Wackid}', p. 277i). Abdallah ibn-Sad, anoth- er, was excepted from the Meccan amnesty because he had falsified the revelation dictated to him by the proph- et (Weil's JfokatHmed). It is also evident that tlie rev- elations were recorded, because they are frequently call- ed throughout the Koran itself Kitab, ' tlie writing,' i. e. Scriptures." Besides this, however, there were many persons who recited these sayings daily, considering their repetition to be a duty, and persons generally re- peated some parts of them. It was said that .some could repeat literally every word of the Koran. The recital of a portion of it was essential iu everj' celebration of
[ The Ministers of
Vengeaiice] 46
He Frowned [The
Frown] 42
TheFoldiug upLIiarfc-
vtt'.ss] 29
The Cleaving asunder 19 Those who give short
Measure or Weiglit 36 The Rending asunder 23 The Celestial Signs,. 22 The Nocturnal Star.. 17
The Most High 19