Note 602 — Chapter VI

“There are twenty-nine chapters of the Koran, which have this peculiarity, that they begin with certain letters of the alphabet, some with a single one, others with more. These letters the Muhammedans believe to be the peculiar marks of the Koran, and to conceal several profound mysteries; the certain understanding of which the more intelligent confess, has not been communicated to any mortal, their prophet only excepted. Notwithstanding which, some will take the liberty of guessing at their meaning, by that species of cabala called by the Jews Notarikon, and suppose the letters to stand for as many words, expressing the names and attributes of God, his works, ordinances, and decrees: and therefore these mysterious letters, as well as the verses themselves, seem in the Koran to be called signs. Others explain the intent of these letters from their nature or organ, or else from their value in numbers, according to another species of the Jewish cabbala, called gematria; the uncertainty of which conjectures sufficiently appears from their disagreement.”—(Sale’s Koran, Preliminary Discourse, pp. 78-79.)