2. Some suppose that the Koran contains (iccounts of miracles worked by Mohammed. The 2-l:th sura cf)n- tains what some ^Mohammedans interpret as an account of Mohammed's spliltin// the moon. The jMohammedan critics are not agreed themselves as to whether the prophet there speaks in the future or past tense. Wheth- er he does not merely alhrm that the moon shall be split before the day of judgment admits of question. Mo- hammed elsewhere in the Koran distinctly and repeat- edly denies that he could or would work miracles (sura 13-17, etc.). The night journey of Mohammed from Mecca to Jerusalem (sura 17), and the conversion of the jinns or genii who heard him reading the Koran (sura 4G, 72), are also referred to as miracles by the ]M(iham- medans, but it is doubtful if the language in the Koran was intended to assert what it has since been made to support. Various passages are referred to by ]\Ioliam- medans to show that their prophet foretold future events — as the account in the 30th sura about the Greeks be- ing overcome; but the commentators are not agreed as to the reference (sura 24, 27-48).
3. But the predictions in the Koran were never re- ferred to as evidence of Jlohammed's inspiration. The real testimony to the inspiration of the Koran appealed to throughout by IMoharamedans is the book itself. The author of it everj-where appeals to it as a literary mira- cle: it is "uncreated" and ".eternal" (Sale, p. 4(5); it could not have been composed by any but God (Sale, p. 160) ; Mohammed challenges men and genii to produce a chapter like it (Sale, p. 109-235) ; no revelation could be more self-evident (Sale, p. 130) ; it contains all things necessarj^ to know (Sale, p. 221, 273); it was so won- derful that it was traduced by its enemies as a piece of sorcery (Sale, p. 100), as a poetical composition (Sale, p. 304); it was not liable to corruption (Sale, p. 176), and should not be touched by the ceremoniallv unclean (Sale, p. 437).
The Style of the Koran. — It is difficult to make a pre- cise judgment of its merits. It was written in a dialect of Arabic which maj-- now almost be called a dead lan- guage. It is composed in a kind of balanced prose, with frequent rhyming terminations; a sort of compo- sition once greatly admired by the Syrian Christians, but in Europe neither the poetic cadence nor the jingling sound is deemed suitable to prose composition. Some learned Mussulmans have not considered it remarkably beautiful (Pocock's Specimen Hist. Arabiim, ed. White, p. 224 ; IMaracci, Prodi-omiis, iii, 75 ; Lee's J\Iarti/n's Tracts, p. 124, 135). (iibbon is probably too severe in his judgment if his remarks have reference to its man- ner and not to its matter, when he calls it an "incohe- rent rhapsody of fable, and precept, and declamation, which sometimes crawls in the dust, and sometimes is lost in the clouds" (I)ecl. and Fall Roman Empire, i, p. 305, Milman's edition). Some affirm that Hamzah ben- Ahmed wrote ^ book against the Koran with at least equal elegance ; and !Maslema another, which surjiassed it, and occasioned a defection of a great number of JIus- sulmans. There is perhaps little reason to differ from the representations of Mr. Sale when he says, " The Ko- ran is usually allowed to be writtoi with the utmost el- egance and purity of language in the dialect of the Ko- reish, the most noble and polite of all the Arabians, but with some mixture, though very rarely, of other dia- lects. It is confessedly the standard of the Arabic tongue, and, as the more orthodox believe, and are taught by the book itself, inimitable by any human pen (though some sectaries have been of another opinion), and therefore insisted on as a permanent miracle, great- er than that of raising the dead, and alone sufficient to convince the world of its divine original" ( A'o;-a??, p. 43).
KORAN
153
KORAN
Relation to the Bible. — The Koran maintains that rev- elation is gradual, and that God has given written rev- elations to many prophets from time to time, nons of which are extant except the I'entateuch of Moses, the Psalms of David, and the Gospel of Jesus ; that God revives, and republishes or reproduces from time to time his revelations through his prophets, according to the necessit}-^ of the case. The three revelations — Jewish, Christian, and that of the Mussidman — are equally in- spired and divine. The preceding Scriptures are, how- ever, to be interpreted according to the latest revelation, and are liable to have their ordinances modified in con- formity therewith. A distinction is thus made between belie/ in and oUir/ntion to obey these precepts. The Jewish and Christian Scriptures are variously spoken of as '• the Word of God," " Book of God," Taiirdt, etc. ; they are described as " revelations made bj- God in ages preceding the Koran." Exhortations are given "to judge" in accordance therewith. Mohammed himself was sent " to attest the former Scrijjtures," etc. (Com- pare passages in the following suras : 2, 8, 4. 5, G, 7, P, 10, II, 12, is, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 28, 20, 32, 34, 35, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 53, 54, 61, 62, 6C, 74, 80, 87, 98.)