SECTION III

OF THE KORAN ITSELF, THE PECULIARITIES OF THAT BOOK; THE MANNER OF ITS BEING WRITTEN AND PUBLISHED, AND THE GENERAL DESIGN OF IT.

THE word Korân, derived from the verb karaa, to read, signifies properly in Arabic, "the reading," or rather, "that which ought to be read;" by which name Mohammedans denote not only the entire book or volume of the Korân, but also any particular chapter or section of it: just as the Jews call either the whole scripture or any part of it by the name of Karâh, or Mikra,1 words of the same origin and import; which observation seems to overthrow the opinion of some learned Arabians, who would have the Korân so named because it is a collection of the loose chapters or sheets which compose it-the verb karaa signifying also to gather or collect:2 and may also, by the way, serve as an answer to those who object3 that the Korân must be a book forged at once, and could not possibly be revealed by parcels at different times during the course of several years, as the Mohammedans affirm, because the Korân is often mentioned and called by that name in the very book itself. It may not be amiss to observe, that the syllable Al in the word Alkoran is only the Arabic article, signifying the, and therefore ought to be omitted when the English article is prefixed. Beside this peculiar name, the Korân is also honoured with several appellations, common to other books of scripture: as, al Forkân, from the verb faraka, to divide or distinguish; not, as the Mohammedan doctor say, because those books are divided into chapters or sections, or distinguish between good and evil; but in the same notion that the Jews use the word Perek, or Pirka, from the same root, to denote a section or portion of scripture.4 It is also called al Moshaf, the volume, and al Kitab, the book, by way of eminence, which answers to the Biblia of the Greeks; and al Dhikr, the admonition, which name is also given to the Pentateuch and Gospel. The Korân is divided into 114 larger portions of very unequal length, which we call chapters, but the Arabians Sowar, in the singular Sûra, a word rarely used on any other occasion, and properly signifying a row, order, or regular series; as a course of bricks in building, or a rank of soldiers in an army; and is the same in use and import with the Sûra, or Tora, of the jews, who also call the fifty-three sections of the Pentateuch Sedârim, a word of the same signification.5 These chapters are not in the manuscript copies distinguished by their numerical order, though for the reader's ease they are numbered

1 This name was at first given to the Pentateuch only, Nehem. viii. Vide Simon. hist. Crit. du Vieux Test. l. r, c. 9. 2 Vide Erpen. not. ad Hist. Joseph. p. 3. 3 Marracc. de Alcor. p. 41. 4 Vide Gol. in append. ad Gram. Arab. Erpen. 175. A chapter or subdivision of the Massictoth of the Mishna is also called Perek. Maimon. præf. in Seder Zeraim, p. 57. 5 Vide Gol. ubi sup. 177. Each of the six grand divisions of the Mishna is also called Seder. Maimon. ubi sup. p. 55.

in this edition, but by particular titles, which (except that of the first, which is the initial chapter, or introduction to the rest, and by the one Latin translator not numbered among the chapters) are taken sometimes from a particular matter of, or person mentioned therein; but usually from the first word of note, exactly in the same manner as the Jews have named their Sedârim: though the words from which some chapters are denominated be very far distant, towards the middle, or perhaps the end of the chapter; which seems ridiculous. But the occasion of this seems to have been, that the verse or passage wherein such word occurs, was, in point of time, revealed and committed to writing before the other verses of the same chapter which precede it in order: and the title being given to the chapter before it was completed, or the passages reduced to their present order, the verse from whence such title was taken did not always happen to begin the chapter. Some chapters have two or more titles, occasioned by the difference of the copies. Some of the chapters having been revealed at Mecca, and others at Medina, the noting this difference makes a part of the title; but the reader will observe that several of the chapters are said to have been revealed partly at Mecca, and partly at Medina; and as to others, it is yet a dispute among the commentators to which place of the two they belong. Every chapter is subdivided into smaller portions, of very unequal length also, which we customarily call verses; but the Arabic word is Ayât, the same with the Hebrew Ototh, and signifies signs, or wonders; such as are the secrets of GOD, his attributes, works, judgments, and ordinances, delivered in those verses; many of which have their particular titles also, imposed in the same manner as those of the chapters. Notwithstanding this subdivision is common and well known, yet I have never yet seen any manuscript wherein the verses in each chapter is set down after the title, which we have therefore added in the table of the chapters. And the Mohammedans seem to have some scruple in making an actual distinction in their copies, because the chief disagreement between their several editions of the Korân, consists in the division and number of the verses: and for this reason I have not taken upon me to make any such division. Having mentioned the different editions of the Korân, it may not be amiss here to acquaint the reader, that there are seven principal editions, if I may so call them, or ancient copies of that book; two of which were published and used at Medina, a third at Mecca, a fourth at Cufa, a fifth at Basra, a sixth in Syria, and a seventh called the common or vulgar edition. Of these editions, the first of Medina makes the whole number of the verses 6,000; the second and fifth, 6,214; the third, 6,219; the fourth, 6,236; the sixth, 6,226; and the last, 6,225. But they are all said to contain the same number of words, namely, 77,639;1 and the same number of letters, viz., 323,015:2 for the Mohammedans have in this also imitated the Jews, that they have superstitiously numbered the very words and letters of their law; nay, they have

1 Or as others reckon them, 99, 464. Reland. de Rel. Moh. p. 25. 2 Or according to another computation, 330,113. Ibid. Vide Gol. ubi sup. p. 178. D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. p. 87.

taken the pains to compute (how exactly I know not) the number of times each particular letter of the alphabet is contained in the Korân.1 Besides these unequal divisions of chapter and verse, the Mohammedans have also divided their Korân into sixty equal portions, which they call Ahzâb, in the singular Hizb, each subdivided into four equal parts; which is also an imitation of the Jews, who have an ancient division of their Mishna into sixty portions, called Massictoth:2 but the Korân is more usually divided into thirty sections only, named Ajzâ, from the singular Joz, each of twice the length of the former, and in the like manner subdivided into four parts. These divisions are for the use of the readers of the Korân in the royal temples, or in the adjoining chapels where the emperors and great men are interred. There are thirty of these readers belonging to every chapel, and each reads his section every day, so that the whole Korân is read over once a day.3 I have seen several copies divided in this manner, and bound up in as many volumes; and have thought it proper to mark these divisions in the margin of this translation by numeral letters. Next after the title, at the head of every chapter, except only the ninth, is prefixed the following solemn form, by the Mohammedans called the Bismillah, "In the name of the most merciful GOD;" which form they constantly place at the beginning of all their books and writings in general, as a peculiar mark or distinguishing characteristic of their religion, it being counted a sort of impiety to omit it. The Jews for the same purpose make use of the form, "In the name of the LORD," or, "In the name of the great GOD:" and the eastern Christians, that of "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." But I am apt to believe Mohammed really took this form, as he did many other things, from the Persian Magi, who used to begin their books in these words, Benâm Yezdân bakhshaïshgher dâdâr; that is, "In the name of the most merciful, just GOD."4 This auspicatory form, and also the titles of the chapters, are by the generality of the doctors and commentators believed to be of divine original, no less than the text itself; but the more moderate are of opinion they are only human additions, and not the very word of GOD. There are twenty-nine chapters of the Korân, which have this peculiarity, that they begin with certain letters of the alphabet, some with a single one, others with more. These letters the Mohammedans believe to be the peculiar marks of the Korân, 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 Cabbala called by the jews, Notarikon,1 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 Korân 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

1 Vide Reland. de Relig. oh. p. 25. 2 Vide Gol. ubi sup. p. 178. Maimon. præf. in Seder Zeraim, p. 57. 3 Vide Smith, de Moribus et Instit. Turcar. p. 58. 4 Hyde, His. Rel. Vet. Pers. p. 14. 1 Vide Buxtorf. Lexicon Rabbin.

called Gematria;2 the uncertainty of which conjectures sufficiently appears from their disagreement. Thus, for example, five chapters, one of which is the second, begin with these letters, A.L.M., which some imagine to stand for Allah latîf magîd; "GOD is gracious and to be glorified;" or, Ana li minni, "to me and from me," viz., belongs all perfection, and proceeds all good; or else for Ana Allah âlam, "I am the most wise GOD," taking the first letter to mark the beginning of the first word, the second the middle of the second word, and the third the last of the third word: or for "Allah, Gabriel, Mohammed," the author, revealer, and preacher of the Korân. Others say that as the letter A belongs to the lower part of the throat, the first of the organs of speech; L to the palate, the middle organ; and M to the lips, which are the last organs; so these letters signify that GOD is the beginning, middle, and end, or ought to be praised in the beginning, middle, and end of all our words and actions: or, as the total value of those three letters in numbers is seventy-one, they signify that in the space of so many years, the religion preached in the Korân should be fully established. The conjecture of a learned Christian3 is, at least, as certain as any of the former, who supposes those letters were set there by the amanuensis, for Amar li Mohammed, i.e., "at the command of Mohammed," as the five letters prefixed to the nineteenth chapter seem to be there written by a Jewish scribe, for Cob yaas, i.e., "thus he commanded." The Korân is universally allowed to be written with the utmost elegance and purity of language, in the dialect of the tribe of Koreish, the most noble and polite of all the Arabians, but with some mixture, though very rarely, or other dialects. 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),1 and therefore insisted on as a permanent miracle, greater than that of raising the dead,2 and alone sufficient to convince the world of its divine original. And to this miracle did Mohammed himself chiefly appeal for the confirmation of his mission, publicly challenging the most eloquent men in Arabia, which was at that time stocked with thousands whose sole study and ambition it was to excel in elegance of style and composition,3 to produce even a single chapter that might be compared with it.4 I will mention but one instance out of several, to show that this book was really admired for the beauty of its composure by those who must be allowed to have been competent judges. A poem of Labîd Ebn Rabîa, one of the greatest wits in Arabia in Mohammed's time, being fixed up on the gate of the temple of Mecca, an honour allowed to none but the most esteemed performances, none of the other poets durst offer anything of their own in competition with it. But the second chapter of the Korân being fixed up by it soon after, Labîd

2 Vide Ibid. See also Schickardi Bechinat happerushim, p. 62, &c. 3 Golius in append. ad Gram. Erp. p. 182. 1 See after. 2 Ahmed Abd'alhalim, apud Marracc. de Alc. p. 43. 3 A noble writer therefore mistakes the question when he says these eastern religionists leave their sacred writ the sole standard of literate performance by extinguishing all true learning. For though they were destitute of what we call learning, yet they were far from being ignorant, or unable to compose elegantly in their own tongue. See L. Shaftesbury's Characteristics, vol. iii. p. 235. 4 Al Ghazâli, apud Poc. Spec. 191. See Kor. c. 17, and also c. 2, p. 3, and c. II, &c.

himself (then an idolater) on reading the first verses only, was struck with admiration, and immediately professed the religion taught thereby, declaring that such words could proceed from an inspired person only. This Labîd was afterwards of great service to Mohammed, in writing answers to the satires and invectives that were made on him and his religion by the infidels, and particularly by Amri al Kais,5 prince of the tribe of Asad,6 and author of one of those seven famous poems called al Moallakât.7 The style of the Korân is generally beautiful and fluent, especially where it imitates the prophetic manner and scripture phrases. It is concise and often obscure, adorned with bold figures after the eastern taste, enlivened with florid and sententious expressions, and in many places, especially where the majesty and attributes of GOD are described, sublime and magnificent; of which the reader cannot but observe several instances, though he must not imagine the translation comes up to the original, notwithstanding my endeavours to do it justice. Though it be written in prose, yet the sentences generally conclude in a long continued rhyme, for the sake of which the sense is often interrupted, and unnecessary repetitions too frequently made, which appear still more ridiculous in a translation, where the ornament, such as it is, for whose sake they were made, cannot be perceived. However, the Arabians are so mightily delighted with this jingling, that they employ it in their most elaborate compositions, which they also embellish with frequent passages of, and allusions to, the Korân, so that it is next to impossible to understand them without being well versed in this book. It is probable the harmony of expression which the Arabians find in the Korân might contribute not a little to make them relish the doctrine therein taught, and give an efficacy to arguments which, had they been nakedly proposed without this rhetorical dress, might not have so easily prevailed. Very extraordinary effects are related of the power of words well chosen and artfully placed, which are no less powerful either to ravish or amaze than music itself; wherefore as much has been ascribed by the best orators to this part of rhetoric as to any other.1 He must have a very bad ear who is not uncommonly moved with the very cadence of a well-turned sentence; and Mohammed seems not to have been ignorant of the enthusiastic operation of rhetoric on the minds of men; for which reason he has not only employed his utmost skill in these his pretended revelations, to preserve the dignity and sublimity of style, which might seem not unworthy of the majesty of that Being, whom he gave out to be the author of them; and to imitate the prophetic manner of the Old Testament; but he has not neglected even the other arts of oratory; wherein he succeeded so well, and so strangely captivated the minds of his audience, that several of his opponents thought it the effect of witchcraft and enchantment, as he sometimes complains.2 "The general design of the Korân" (to use the words of a very learned person) "seems to be this. To unite the professors of the

5 D'Herbel. Bibl. Orient. p. 512, &c. 6 Poc. Spec. p. 80. 7 See before, p. 22. 1 See Casaubon, of Enthusiasm, c. 4. 2 Kor. c. 15, 21, &c.

three different religions then followed in the populous country of Arabia, who for the most part lived promiscuously, and wandered without guides, the far greater number being idolaters, and the rest Jews and Christians, mostly of erroneous and heterodox belief, in the knowledge and worship of one eternal, invisible GOD, by whose power all things were made, and those which are not, may be, the supreme Governor, Judge, and absolute Lord of the creation; established under the sanction of certain laws, and the outward signs of certain ceremonies, partly of ancient and partly of novel institution, and enforced by setting before them rewards and punishments, both temporal and eternal; and to bring them all to the obedience of Mohammed, as the prophet and ambassador of GOD, who after the repeated admonitions, promises, and threats of former ages, was at last to establish and propagate GOD'S religion on earth by force of arms, and to be acknowledged chief pontiff in spiritual matters, as well as supreme prince in temporal."1 The great doctrine then of the Korân is the unity of GOD; to restore which point Mohammed pretended was the chief end of his mission; it being laid down by him as a fundamental truth, that there never was nor ever can be more than one true orthodox religion. For though the particular laws or ceremonies are only temporary, and subject to alteration according to the divine direction, yet the substance of it being eternal truth, is not liable to change, but continues immutably the same. And he taught that whenever this religion became neglected, or corrupted in essentials, GOD had the goodness to re- inform and re-admonish mankind thereof, by several prophets, of whom Moses and Jesus were the most distinguished, till the appearance of Mohammed, who is their seal, no other being to be expected after him. And the more effectually to engage people hearken to him, great part of the Korân is employed in relating examples of dreadful punishments formerly inflicted by God on those who rejected and abused his messengers; several of which stories of some circumstances of them are taken from the Old and New Testament, but many more from the apocryphal books and traditions of the Jews and Christians of those ages, set up in the Korân as truths in opposition to the scriptures, which the Jews and Christians are charged with having altered; and I am apt to believe that few or none of the relations or circumstances in the Korân were invented by Mohammed, as is generally supposed, it being easy to trace the greater part of them much higher, as the rest might be, were more of the books extant, and it was worth while to make the inquiry. The other part of the Korân is taken up in giving necessary laws and directions, in frequent admonitions to moral and divine virtues, and above all to the worshipping and reverencing of the only true GOD, and resignation to his will; among which are many excellent things intermixed not unworthy even a Christian's perusal. But besides these, there are a great number of passages which are occasional, and relate to particular emergencies. For whenever anything happened which perplexed and gravelled Mohammed, and

1 Golius. in appen. ad Gram. Erp. p. 176.

which he could not otherwise get over, he had constant recourse to a new revelation, as an infallible expedient in all nice cases; and he found the success of this method answer his expectation. It was certainly an admirable and politic contrivance of his to bring down the whole Korân at once to the lowest heaven only, and not to the earth, as a bungling prophet would probably have done; for if the whole had been published at once, innumerable objections might have been made, which it would have been very hard, if not impossible, for him to solve: but as he pretended to have received it by parcels, as GOD saw proper that they should be published for the conversion and instruction of the people, he had a sure way to answer all emergencies, and to extricate himself with honour from any difficulty which might occur. If any objection be hence made to that eternity of the Korân, which the Mohammedans are taught to believe, they easily answer it by their doctrine of absolute predestination; according to which all the accidents for the sake of which these occasional passages were revealed, were predetermined by GOD from all eternity. That Mohammed was really the author and chief contriver of the Korân is beyond dispute; though it be highly probably that he had no small assistance in his design from others, as his countrymen failed not to object to him;1 however, they differed so much in their conjectures as to the particular persons who gave him such assistance,2 that they were not able, it seems, to prove the charge; Mohammed, it is to be presumed, having taken his measures too well to be discovered. Dr. Prideaux3 has given the most probably account of this matter, though chiefly from Christian writers, who generally mix such ridiculous fables with what they deliver, that they deserve not much credit. However, it be, the Mohammedans absolutely deny the Korân was composed by their prophet himself, or any other for him; it being their general and orthodox belief that it is of divine original, any, that it is eternal and uncreated, remaining, as some express it, in the very essence of GOD; that the first transcript has been from everlasting by GOD'S throne, written on a tablet of vast bigness, called the preserved table, in which are also recorded the divine decrees past and future: that a copy from this table, in one volume on paper, was by the ministry of the angel Gabriel sent down to the lowest heaven, in the month of Ramadân, on the night of power;4 from whence Gabriel revealed it to Mohammed by parcels, some at Mecca, and some at Medina, at different times, during the space of twenty-three years, as the exigency of affairs required; giving him, however, the consolation to show him the whole (which they tell us was bound in silk, and adorned with gold and precious stones of paradise) once a year; but in the last year of his life he had the favour to see it twice. They say that few chapters were delivered entire, the most part being revealed piecemeal, and written down form time to time by the prophet's amanuenses in such or such a part of such or such a chapter till they were completed, according to the directions of the angel.1 The first parcel that was

1 Vide Kor. c. 16, and c. 25. 2 See the notes on those passages. 3 Life of Mahomet, p. 31, &c. 4 Vide Kor. c. 97, and note ibid. 1 Therefore it is a mistake of Dr. Prideaux to say it was brought him chapter by chapter. Life of Mahomet, p. 6. The Jews also say the Law was given to Moses by parcels. Vide Millium, de Mohammedismo ante Moham. p. 365.

revealed, is generally agreed to have ben the first five verses of the ninety- sixth chapter.2 After the new revealed passages had been from the prophet's mouth taken down in writing by his scribe, they were published to his followers, several of whom took copies for their private use, but the far greater number got them by heart. The originals when returned were put promiscuously into a chest, observing no order of time, for which reason it is uncertain when many passages were revealed. When Mohammed died, he left his revelations in the same disorder I have mentioned, and not digest into the method, such as it is, which we now find them in. This was the work of his successor, Abu Becr, who considering that a great number of passages were committed to the memory of Mohammed's followers, many of whom were slain in their wars, ordered the whole to be collected, not only from the palm-leaves and skins on which they had been written, and which were kept between two boards or covers, but also from the mouths of such as had gotten them by heart. And this transcript when completed he committed to the custody of Hafsa the daughter of Omar, one of the prophet's widows.3 From this relation it is generally imagined that Abu Becr was really the compiler of the Korân; though for aught appears to the contrary, Mohammed left the chapters complete as we now have them, excepting such passages as his successor might add or correct from those who had gotten them by heart; what Abu Becr did else being perhaps no more than to range the chapters in their present order, which he seems to have done without any regard to time, having generally placed the longest first. However, in the thirtieth year of the Hejra, Othmân being then Khalîf, and observing the great disagreement in the copies of the Korân in the several provinces of the empire-those of Irak, for example, following the reading of Abu Musa al Ashari, and the Syrians that of Macdâd Ebn Aswad-he, by advice of the companions, ordered a great number of copies to be transcribed from that of Abu Becr, in Hafsa's care, under the inspection of Zeid Ebn Thabet, Abd'allah Ebn Zobair, Saïd Ebn al As, and Abd'alrahmân Ebn al Hâreth, the Makhzumite; whom he directed that wherever they disagreed about any word, they should write it in the dialect of the Koreish, in which it was first delivered.1 These copies when made were dispersed in the several provinces of the empire, and the old ones burnt and suppressed. Though many things in Hafsa's copy were corrected by the above-mentioned supervisors, yet some various readings still occur; the most material of which will be taken notice of in their proper places. The want of vowels2 in the Arabic character made Mokrîs, or readers whose peculiar study and profession it was to read the Korân with its proper vowels, absolutely necessary. But these differing in their

2 Not the whole chapter, as Golius says. Append. ad Gr. Erp. p. 180. 3 Elmacin. in Vita Abu Becr. Abulfeda. 1 Abulfeda, in Vitis Abubecr and Othmân. 2 The characters or marks of the Arabic vowels were not used till several years after Mohammed. Some ascribe the invention of them to Yahya Ebn Yâmer, some to Nasr Ebn Asam, surnamed al Leithi, and others to Abu'laswad al Dîli-all three of whom were doctors of Basra, and immediately succeeded the companions. See D'Herbel. Bibl. Orient. p. 87.

manner of reading, occasioned still further variations in the copies of the Korân, as they are now written with the vowels; and herein consist much the greater part of the various readings throughout the book. The readers whose authority the commentators chiefly allege, in admitting these various readings, are seven in number. There being some passages in the Korân which are contradictory, the Mohammedan doctors obviate any objection from thence by the doctrine of abrogation; for they say, that GOD in the Korân commanded several things which were for good reasons afterwards revoked and abrogated. Passages abrogated are distinguished into three kinds: the first where the letter and the sense are both abrogated; the second, where the letter only is abrogated, but the sense remains; and the third, where the sense is abrogated, though the letter remains. Of the first kind were several verses, which, by the tradition of Malec Ebn Ans, were in the prophet's lifetime read in the chapter of Repentance, but are not now extant, one of which, being all he remembered of them, was the following: "If a son of Adam had two rivers of gold, he would covet yet a third; and if he had three, he would covet yet a fourth (to be added) unto them; neither shall the belly of a son of Adam be filled, but with dust. GOD will turn unto him who shall repent." Another instance of this kind we have from the tradition of Abd'allah Ebn Masûd, who reported that the prophet gave him a verse to read which he wrote down; but the next morning looking in his book, he found it was vanished, and the leaf blank: this he acquainted Mohammed with, who assured him the verse was revoked the same night. Of the second kind is a verse called the verse of stoning, which, according to the tradition of Omar, afterwards Khalîf, was extant while Mohammed was living, though it be not now to be found. The words are these: "Abhor not your parents, for this would be ingratitude in you. If a man and woman of reputation commit adultery, ye shall stone them both; it is a punishment ordained by GOD; for GOD is mighty and wise." Of the last kind are observed several verses in sixty-three different chapters, to the number of 225. Such as the precepts of turning in prayer to Jerusalem; fasting after the old custom; forbearance towards idolaters; avoiding the ignorant, and the like.1 The passages of this sort have been carefully collected by several writers, and are most of them remarked in their proper places. Though it is the belief of the Sonnites or orthodox that the Korân is uncreated and eternal, subsisting in the very essence of GOD, and Mohammed himself is said to have pronounced him an infidel who asserted the contrary,2 yet several have been of a different opinion; particularly the sect of the Mótazalites,3 and the followers of Isa Ebn Sobeih Abu Musa, surnamed al Mozdâr, who struck not to accuse those who held the Korân to be uncreated of infidelity, as asserters of two eternal beings.4 This point was controverted with so much heat that it occasioned

1 Abu Hashem Hebatallah, apud Marracc. de Alc. p. 42. 2 Apud Poc. Spec. 220. 3 See after, in Sect. VIII. 4 Vide Poc. Spec. p. 219, &c.

many calamities under some of the Khalîfs of the family of Abbâs, al Mamûn5 making a public edict declaring the Korân to be created, which was confirmed by his successors Al Mótasem6 and Al Wâthek,7 who whipped, imprisoned, and put to death those of the contrary opinion. But at length Al Motawakkel,1 who succeeded Al Wâthek, put an end to these persecutions, by revoking the former edicts, releasing those that were imprisoned on that account, and leaving every man at liberty as to his belief in this point.2 Al Ghazâli seems to have tolerably reconciled both opinions, saying, that the Korân is read and pronounced with the tongue, written in books, and kept in memory; and is yet eternal, subsisting in GOD'S essence, and not possible to be separated thence by any transmission into men's memories or the leaves of books;3 by which he seems to mean no more than that the original idea of the Korân only is really in GOD, and consequently co-essential and co-eternal with him, but that the copies are created and the work of man. The opinion of Al Jahedh, chief of a sect bearing his name, touching the Korân, is too remarkable to be omitted: he used to say it was a body, which might sometimes be turned into a man,4 and sometimes into a beast;5 which seems to agree with the notion of those who assert the Korân to have two faces, one of a man, the other of a beast;6 thereby, as I conceive, intimating the double interpretation it will admit of, according to the letter or the spirit. As some have held the Korân to be created, so there have not been wanting those who have asserted that there is nothing miraculous in that book in respect to style or composition, excepting only the prophetical relations of things past, and predictions of things to come; and that had GOD left men to their natural liberty, and not restrained them in that particular, the Arabians could have composed something not only equal, but superior to the Korân in eloquence, method, and purity of language. This was another opinion of the Mótazalites, and in particular of al Mozdâr, above mentioned, and al Nodhâm.7 The Korân being the Mohammedans' rule of faith and practice, it is no wonder its expositors and commentators are so very numerous. And it may not be amiss to take notice of the rules they observe in expounding it. One of the most learned commentators1 distinguishes the contents of the Korân into allegorical and literal. The former comprehends the more obscure, parabolical, and enigmatical passages, and such as

5 Anno Hej. 218. Abulfarag, p. 245, v. etiam Elmacin. in Vita al Mamûn. 6 In the time of al Mótasem, a doctor named Abu Harûn Ebn al Baca found out a distinction to screen himself, by affirming that the Korân was ordained, because it is said in that book, "And I have ordained thee the Korân." He went still farther to allow that what was ordained was created, and yet he denied it thence followed that the Korân was created. Abulfarag, p. 253. 7 Ibid. p. 257. 1 Anno Hej. 242. 2 Abulfarag, p. 262. 3 Al Ghazâli, in prof. fid. 4 The Khalîf al Walîd Ebn Yazîd, who was the eleventh of the race of Emmeya, and is looked on by the Mohammedans as a reprobate, and one of no religion, seems to have treated this book as a rational creature; for, dipping into it one day, the first words he met with were these: "Every rebellious perverse person shall not prosper." Whereupon he stuck it on a lance, and shot it to pieces with arrows, repeating these verses: "Dost thou rebuke every rebellious perverse person? Behold, I am that rebellious, perverse person. When thou appearest before thy LORD on the day of resurrection, say, O LORD, al Walîd has torn me thus." Ebn Shohnah. v. Poc. Spec. p. 223. 5 Poc. Spec. p. 222. 6 Herbelot, p. 87. 7 Abulfeda, Shahrestani, &c. apud Poc. Spec. p. 222, et Marracc. de Kor. p. 44. 1 Al Kamakhshari. Vide Kor. c. 3.

are repealed or abrogated; the latter those which are plain, perspicuous, liable to no doubt, and in full force. To explain these severally in a right manner, it is necessary from tradition and study to know the time when each passage was revealed, its circumstances, state, and history, and the reasons or particular emergencies for the sake of which it was revealed.2 Or, more explicitly, whether the passage was revealed at Mecca, or at Medina; whether it be abrogated, or does itself abrogate any other passage; whether it be anticipated in order of time, or postponed; whether it be distinct from the context, or depends thereon; whether it be particular or general; and, lastly, whether it be implicit by intention, or explicit in words.3 By what has been said the reader may easily believe this book is in the greatest reverence and esteem among the Mohammedans. They dare not so much as touch it without being first washed or legally purified;4 which, lest they should do by inadvertence, they write these words on the cover or label, "Let none touch it but they who are clean." They read it with great care and respect, never holding it below their girdles. They swear by it, consult it in their weighty occasions,5 carry it with them to war, write sentences of it on their banners, adorn it with gold and precious stones, and knowingly suffer it not to be in the possession of any of a different persuasion. The Mohammedans, far from thinking the Korân to be profaned by a translation, as some authors have written,6 have taken care to have their scriptures translated not only into the Persian tongue, but into several others, particularly the Javan and Malayan,7 though out of respect to the original Arabic, these versions are generally (if not always) intermediary.

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SECTION IV.

OF THE DOCTRINES AND POSITIVE PRECEPTS OF THE KORAN, WHICH RELATE TO FAITH AND RELIGIOUS DUTIES.

IT has been already observed more than once, that the fundamental position on which Mohammed erected the superstructure of his religion was, that from the beginning to the end of the world there has been, and for ever will be, but one true orthodox belief; consisting, as to matter of faith, in the acknowledging of the only true GOD, and the believing in and obeying such messengers or prophets as he should from time to time send, with proper credential, to reveal his will to

2 Ahmed Ebn Moh. al Thalebi, in Princip. Expos. Alc. 3 Yahya Ebn al Salâm al Basri, in Princep. Expos. Alc. 4 The Jews have the same veneration for their law; not daring to touch it with unwashed hands, nor then neither without a cover. Vide Millium, de Mohammedismo ante Moh. p. 366. 5 This they do by dipping into it, and taking an omen from the words which they first light on: which practise they also learned of the Jews, who do the same with the scriptures. Vide Millium, ubi sup. 6 Sionita, de Urb. Orient. p. 41, et Marracc. de Alc. p. 33. 7 Reland. de Rel. Moh. p. 265.

mankind; and as to matter of practice, in the observance of the immutable and eternal laws of right and wrong, together with such other precepts and ceremonies as GOD should think fit to order for the time being, according to the different dispensations in different ages of the world: for these last he allowed were things indifferent in their own nature, and became obligatory by GOD'S positive precept only; and were therefore temporary, and subject to alteration according to his will and pleasure. And to this religion he gives the name of Islâm, which word signifies resignation, or submission to the service and commands of GOD;1 and is used as the proper name of the Mohammedan religion, which they will also have to be the same at bottom with that of all the prophets from Adam. Under pretext that this eternal religion was in his time corrupted, and professed in its purity by no one sect of men, Mohammed pretended to be a prophet sent by GOD to reform those abuses which had crept into it, and to reduce it to its primitive simplicity; with the addition, however, of peculiar laws and ceremonies, some of which had been used in former times, and others were now first instituted. And he comprehended the whole substance of his doctrine under these two propositions, or articles of faith; viz., that there is but one GOD, and that himself was the apostle of GOD; in consequence of which latter article, all such ordinances and institutions as he thought fit to establish must be received as obligatory and of divine authority. The Mohammedans divide their religion, which, as I just now said, they call Islâm, into two distinct parts: Imân, i.e., faith, or theory, and Dîn, i.e., religion, or practice; and teach that it is built on five fundamental points, one belonging to faith, and the other four to practice. The first is that confession of faith which I have already mentioned; that "there is no god but the true GOD; and that Mohammed is his apostle." Under which they comprehend six distinct branches; viz., 1. Belief in GOD; 2. In his angels; 3. In his scriptures; 4. In his prophets; 5. In the resurrection and day of judgment; and, 6. In GOD'S absolute decree and predetermination both of good and evil. The four points relating to practice are: 1. Prayer, under which are comprehended those washings or purifications which are necessary preparations required before prayer; 2. Alms; 3. Fasting; and, 4. The pilgrimage to Mecca. Of each of these I shall speak in their order. That both Mohammed and those among his followers who are reckoned orthodox, had and continue to have just and true notions of GOD and his attributes (always excepting their obstinate and impious rejecting of the Trinity), appears so plain from the Korân itself and all the Mohammedan divines, that it would be loss of time to refute those who suppose the GOD of Mohammed to be different from the true GOD, and only a fictitious deity or idol of his own creation.2 Nor shall I enter into any of the Mohammedan controversies concerning the divine nature and attributes, because I shall have a more proper opportunity of doing it elsewhere.3

1 The root Salama, from whence Islâm is formed, in the first and fourth conjugations, signifies also to be saved, or to enter into a state of salvation; according to which, Islâm may be translated the religion or state of salvation: but the other sense is more approved by the Mohammedans, and alluded to in the Korân itself. See c. 2 and c. 3. 2 Marracc. in Alc. p. 102. 3 Sect VIII.

The existence of angels and their purity are absolutely required to be believed in the Korân; and he is reckoned an infidel who denies there are such beings, or hates any of them,4 or asserts any distinction of sexes among them. They believe them to have pure and subtle bodies, created of fire;5 that they neither eat nor drink, nor propagate their species; that they have various forms and offices; some adoring GOD in different postures, others singing praises to him, or interceding for mankind. They hold that some of them are employed in writing down the actions of men; others in carrying the throne of GOD and other services. The four angels whom they look on as more eminently in GOD'S favour, and often mention on account of the offices assigned them, are Gabriel, to whom they give several titles, particularly those of the holy spirit,1 and the angel of revelations,2 supposing him to be honoured by GOD with a greater confidence than any other, and to be employed in writing down the divine decrees;3 Michael, the friend and protector of the Jews;4 Azraël, the angel of death, who separates men's souls from their bodies;5 and Israfîl, whose office it will be to sound the trumpet at the resurrection.6 The Mohammedans also believe that two guardian angels attend on every man, to observe and write down his actions,7 being changed every day, and therefore called al Moakkibât, or the angels who continually succeed one another. This whole doctrine concerning angels Mohammed and his disciples have borrowed from the Jews, who learned the names and offices of those beings from the Persians, as themselves confess.8 The ancient Persians firmly believed the ministry of angels, and their superintendence over the affairs of this world (as the Magians still do), and therefore assigned them distinct charges and provinces, giving their names to their months and the days of their months. Gabriel they called Sorûsh and Revân bakhsh, or the giver of souls, in opposition to the contrary office of the angel of death, to whom among other names they gave that of Mordâd, or the giver of death; Michael they called Beshter, who according to them provides sustenance for mankind.9 The Jews teach that the angels were created of fire;10 that they have several offices;11 that they intercede for men,12 and attend them.13 The angel of death they name Dûma, and say he calls dying persons by their respective names at their last hour.14 The devil, whom Mohammed names Eblîs from his despair, was once one of those angels who are nearest to GOD'S presence, called Azazîl,15 and fell, according to the doctrine of the Korân, for refusing to pay homage to Adam at the command of GOD.16 Besides angels and devils, the Mohammedans are taught by the

4 Kor. c. 2, p. 13. 5 Ibid. c. 7 and 38. 1 Ibid. c. 2, p. 12. 2 See the notes, Ibid, p. 13. 3 Vide Hyde, Hist. Rel. Vet. Pers. p. 262. 4 Vide Ibid. p. 271, and not. in Kor. p. 13. 5 Vide not. Ibid. p. 4. 6 Kor. c. 6, 13, and 86. The offices of these four angels are described almost in the same manner in the apocryphal gospel of Barnabas, where it is said that Gabriel reveals the secrets of GOD, Michael combats against his enemies, Raphael receives the souls of those who die, and Uriel is to call every one to judgment on the last day. See the Menagiana, tom. iv. p. 333. 7 Kor. c. 10. 8 Talmud Hieros. in Rosh hashan. 9 Vide Hyde, ubi sup. c. 19 and 20. 10 Gemar. in Hagig. and Bereshit rabbah, &c. Vide Psalm civ. 4. 11 Yalkut hadash. 12 Gemar. in Shebet, and Bava Bathra, &c. 13 Midrash, Yalkut Shemûni. 14 Gemar. Berachoth. 15 Vide Reland. de Rel. Moh. p. 189, &c. 16 Kor. c. 2. See also c.7, 38, &c.

Korân to believe an intermediate order of creatures, which they call Jin or Genii, created also of fire,17 but of a grosser fabric than angels; since they eat and drink, and propagate their species, and are subject to death.1 Some of these are supposed to be good, and others bad, and capable of future salvation or damnation, as men are; whence Mohammed pretended to be sent for the conversion of genii as well as men.2 The orientals pretend that these genii inhabited the world for many ages before Adam was created, under the government of several successive princes, who all bore the common name of Solomon; but falling at length into an almost general corruption, Eblîs was sent to drive them into a remote part of the earth, there to be confined: that some of that generation still remaining, were by Tahmûrath, one of the ancient kings of Persia, who waged war against them, forced to retreat into the famous mountains of Kâf. Of which successions and wars they have many fabulous and romantic stories. They also make different ranks and degrees among these beings (if they be not rather supposed to be of a different species), some being called absolutely Jin, some Peri or fairies, some Div or giants, others Tacwîns or fates.3 The Mohammedan notions concerning these genii agree almost exactly with what the Jews write of a sort of demons, called Shedîm, whom some fancy to have been begotten by two angels named Aza and Azaël, on Naamah the daughter of Lamech, before the Flood.4 However, the Shedîm, they tell us, agree in three things with the ministering angels; for that, like them, they have wings, and fly from one end of the world to the other, and have some knowledge of futurity; and in three things they agree with men, like whom they eat and drink, are propagated, and die.5 They also say that some of them believe in the law of Moses, and are consequently good, and that others of them are infidels and reprobates.6 As to the scriptures, the Mohammedans are taught by the Korân that GOD, in divers ages of the world, gave revelations of his will in writing to several prophets, the whole and every word of which it is absolutely necessary for a good Moslem to believe. The number of these sacred books were, according to them, 104. Of which ten were given to Adam, fifty to Seth, thirty to Edrîs or Enoch, ten to Abraham; and the other four, being the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Gospel, and the Korân, were successively delivered to Moses, David, Jesus, and Mohammed; which last being the seal of the prophets, those revelations are now closed, and no more are to be expected. All these divine books, except the four last, they agree to be now entirely lost, and their contents unknown; though the Sabians have several books which they attribute to some of the antediluvian prophets. And of those four the Pentateuch, Psalms, and Gospel, they say, have undergone so many alterations and corruptions, that though there may possibly be some part of the true word of GOD therein, yet no credit is to be given to the present copies in the hands of the Jews and Christians. The Jews in particular are frequently reflected on in the Korân for falsifying and corrupting their copies of their law; and some instances of such pre-

17 Kor. c. 55. See the notes there. 1 Jallalo'ddin, in Kor. c. 2 and 18. 2 Vide Kor. c. 55, 72, and 74. 3 See D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. p. 369, 820, &c. 4 In libro Zohar. 5 Gemara, in Hagiga. 6 Igrat Baale hayyim. c. 15.

tended corruptions, both in that book and the two others, are produced by Mohammedan writers, wherein they merely follow their own prejudices, and the fabulous accounts of spurious legends. Whether they have any copy of the Pentateuch among them different from that of the Jews or not, I am not entirely satisfied, since a person who travelled into the east was told that they had the books of Moses, though very much corrupted;1 but I know nobody that has ever seen them. However, they certainly have and privately read a book which they call the Psalms of David, in Arabic and Persian, to which are added some prayers of Moses, Jonas, and others.2 This Mr. Reland supposes to be a translation from our copies (though no doubt falsified in more places than one); but M. D'Herbelot says it contains not the same Psalms which are in our Psalter, being no more than an extract from thence mixed with other very different pieces.3 The easiest way to reconcile these two learned gentlemen, is to presume that they speak of different copies. The Mohammedans have also a Gospel in Arabic, attributed to St. Barnabas, wherein the history of Jesus Christ is related in a manner very different from what we find in the true Gospels, and correspondent to those traditions which Mohammed has followed in his Korân. Of this Gospel the Moriscoes in Africa have a translation in Spanish;4 and there is in the library of Prince Eugene of Savoy, a manuscript of some antiquity, containing an Italian translation of the same Gospel,5 made, it is to be supposed, for the use of renegades. This book appears to be no original forgery of the Mohammedans, though they have no doubt interpolated and altered it since, the better to serve their purpose; and in particular, instead of the Paraclete or Comforter,6 they have in this apocryphal gospel inserted the word Periclyte, that is, the famous or illustrious, by which they pretend their prophet was foretold by name, that being the signification of Mohammed in Arabic:1 and this they say to justify that passage of the Korân,2 where Jesus Christ is formally asserted to have foretold his coming, under his other name of Ahmed; which is derived from the same root as Mohammed, and of the same import. From these or some other forgeries of the same stamp it is that the Mohammedans quote several passages, of which there are not the least footsteps in the New Testament. But after all we must not hence infer that the Mohammedans, much less all of them, hold these copies of theirs to be the ancient and genuine scriptures themselves. If any argue, from the corruption which they insist has happened to the Pentateuch and Gospel, that the Korân may possibly be corrupted also; they answer, that GOD has promised that he will take care of the latter, and preserve it from any addition or diminution;3 but that he left the two other to the care of men. However, they confess there are some various readings in the Korân,4 as has been observed. Besides the books above mentioned, the Mohammedans also take notice of the writings of Daniel and several other prophets, and even

1 Terry's Voyage to the East Indies, p. 277. 2 De Rel. Moham. p. 23. 3 A copy of this kind, he tells us, is in the library of the Duke of Tuscany, Bibl. Orient. p. 924. 4 Reland, ubi sup. 5 Menagian, tom. iv. p. 321, &c. 6 John xiv. 16, 26, xv. 26, and xvi. 7 , compared with Luke xxiv. 49. 1 See Toland's Nazarenus, the first eight chapters. 2 Cap. 61. 3 Kor. c. 15. 4 Reland, ubi sup. p. 24, 27.

make quotations thence; but these they do not believe to be divine scripture, or of any authority in matters of religion.5 The number of the prophets, which have been from time to time sent by GOD into the world, amounts to no less than 224,000, according to one Mohammedan tradition, or to 124,000, according to another; among whom 313 were apostles, sent with special commissions to reclaim mankind from infidelity and superstition; and six of them brought new laws or dispensations, which successively abrogated the preceding: these were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. All the prophets in general the Mohammedans believe to have been free from great sins and errors of consequence, and professors of one and the same religion, that is Islâm, notwithstanding the different laws and institutions which they observed. They allow of degrees among them, and hold some of them to be more excellent and honourable than others.6 The first place they give to the revealers and establishers of new dispensations, and the next to the apostles. In this great number of prophets, they not only reckon divers patriarchs and persons named in scripture, but not recorded to have been prophets (wherein the Jewish and Christian writers have sometimes led the way1), as Adam, Seth, Lot, Ismael, Nun, Joshua, &c., and introduce some of them under different names, as Enoch, Heber, and Jethro, who are called in the Korân, Edrîs, Hûd, and Shoaib; but several others whose very names do not appear in scripture (though they endeavour to find some persons there to fix them on), as Saleh, Khedr, Dhu'lkefl, &c. Several of their fabulous traditions concerning these prophets we shall occasionally mention in the notes on the Korân. As Mohammed acknowledged the divine authority of the Pentateuch, Psalms, and Gospel, he often appeals to the consonancy of the Korân with those writings, and to the prophecies which he pretended were therein concerning himself, as proofs of his mission; and he frequently charges the Jews and Christians with stifling the passages which bear witness to him.2 His followers also fail not to produce several texts even from our present copies of the Old and New Testament, to support their master's cause.3 The next article of faith required by the Korân is the belief of a general resurrection and a future judgment. But before we consider the Mohammedan tenets in those points, it will be proper to mention what they are taught to believe concerning the intermediate state, both of the body and of the soul, after death. When a corpse is laid in the grave, they say he is received by an angel, who gives him notice of the coming of the two examiners; who are two black livid angels, of a terrible appearance, named Monker and Nakîr. These order the dead person to sit upright, and examine him concerning his faith, as to the unity of GOD, and the mission of Mohammed: if he answer rightly, they suffer the body to rest in peace, and it is refreshed by the air of paradise; but if not, they beat him on the temples with iron maces, till he roars out for anguish so loud, that

5 Idem, ibid. p. 41. 6 Kor. c 2, p. 27, &c. 1 Thus Heber is said to have been a prophet by the Jews (Seder Olam. p. 2), and Adam by Epiphanius (Adv. Hæres. p. 6). See also Joseph. Ant. l. I, c. 2. 2 Kor. c. 2, p. 5, 10, 16; c. 3, &c. 3 Some of these texts are produced by Dr. Prideaux at the end of his Life of Mahomet, and more by Marracci in Alcor. p. 26, &c.

he is heard by all from east to west, except men and genii. Then they press the earth on the corpse, which is gnawed and stung till the resurrection by ninety-nine dragons, with seven heads each; or as others say, their sins will become venomous beasts, the grievous ones stinging like dragons, the smaller like scorpions, and the others like serpents: circumstances which some understand in a figurative sense.4 The examination of the sepulchre is not only founded on an express tradition of Mohammed, but is also plainly hinted at, though not directly taught, in the Korân,1 as the commentators agree. It is therefore believed by the orthodox Mohammedans in general, who take care to have their graves made hollow, that they may sit up with more ease while they are examined by the angels;2 but is utterly rejected by the sect of the Mótazalites, and perhaps by some others. These notions Mohammed certainly borrowed from the Jews, among whom they were very anciently received.3 They say that the angel of death coming and sitting on the grave, the soul immediately enters the body and raises it on its feet; that he then examines the departed person, and strikes him with a chain half of iron and half of fire; at the first blow all his limbs are loosened, at the second his bones are scattered, which are gathered together again by the angels, and the third stroke reduces the body to dust and ashes, and it returns into the grave. This rack or torture they call Hibbût hakkeber, or the beating of the sepulchre, and pretend that all men in general must undergo it, except only those who die on the evening of the sabbath, or have dwelt in the land of Israel.4 It it be objected to the Mohammedans that the cry of the persons under such examination has been never heard; or if they be asked how those can undergo it whose bodies are burnt or devoured by beasts or birds, or otherwise consumed without burial; they answer, that it is very possible notwithstanding, since men are not able to perceive what is transacted on the other side the grave; and that it is sufficient to restore to life any part of the body which is capable of understanding the questions put by the angels.5 As to the soul, they hold that when it is separated from the body by the angel of death, who performs his office with ease and gentleness towards the good, and with violence towards the wicked,6 it enters into that state which they call Al Berzakh,7 or the interval between death and the resurrection. If the departed person was a believer, they say two angels meet it, who convey it to heaven, that its place there may be assigned, according to its merit and degree. For they distinguish the souls of the faithful into three classes: the first of prophets, whose souls are admitted into paradise immediately; the second of martyrs; whose spirits, according to a tradition of Mohammed, rest in the crops of green birds which eat of the fruits and drink of the rivers of paradise; and the third of other believers, concerning the state of whose souls before the resurrection there are various opinions. For, I. Some say they stay near the sepulchres, with liberty, however, of going wherever they please; which they confirm with Mohammed's manner of saluting

4 Al Ghazâli. Vide Poc. not. in Port. Mosis, p. 241, &c. 1 Cap. 8 and 47, &c. 2 Smith, de Morib. et Instit. Turcar. Ep. 2, p. 57. 3 Vide Hyde, in Notisad Bobov. de Visit. Ægrot. p. 19. 4 R. Elias, in Tishbi. See also Buxtorf. Synag. Judaic. and Lexic. Talmud. 5 Vide Poc. ubi sup. 6 Kor. c. 79. The Jews say the same, in Nishmat bayim. f. 77. 7 Vide Kor. c. 23, and not. ib.

them at their graves, and his affirming that the dead heard those salutations as well as the living, though they could not answer. Whence perhaps proceeded the custom of visiting the tombs of relations, so common among the Mohammedans.1 2. Others imagine they are with Adam, in the lowest heaven; and also support their opinion by the authority of their prophet, who gave out that in his return from the upper heavens in his pretended night journey, he saw there the souls of those who were destined to paradise on the right hand of Adam, and of those who were condemned to hell on his left.2 3. Others fancy the souls of believers remain in the well Zemzem, and those of infidels in a certain well in the province of Hadramaut, called Borhût; but this opinion is branded as heretical. 4. Others say they stay near the graves for seven days; but that whither they go afterwards is uncertain. 5. Others that they are all in the trumpet whose sound is to raise the dead. And, 6. Others that the souls of the good dwell in the forms of white birds, under the throne of GOD.3 As to the condition of the souls of the wicked, besides the opinions that have been already mentioned, the more orthodox hold that they are offered by the angels to heaven, from whence being repulsed as stinking and filthy, they are offered to the earth, and being also refused a place there, are carried down to the seventh earth, and being also refused a place there, are carried down to the seventh earth, and thrown into a dungeon, which they call Sajîn, under a green rock, or according to a tradition of Mohammed, under the devil's jaw,4 to be there tormented, till they are called up to be joined again to their bodies. Though some among the Mohammedans have thought that the resurrection will be merely spiritual, and no more than the returning of the soul to the place whence it first came (an opinion defended by Ebn Sina,5 and called by some the opinion of the philosophers6); and others, who allow man to consist of body only, that it will be merely corporeal; the received opinion is, that both body and soul will be raised, and their doctors argue strenuously for the possibility of the resurrection of the body, and dispute with great subtlety concerning the manner of it.7 But Mohammed has taken care to preserve one part of the body, whatever becomes of the rest, to serve for a basis of the future edifice, or rather a leaven for the mass which is to be joined to it. For he taught that a man's body was entirely consumed by the earth, except only the bone called al Ajb, which we name the os coccygis, or rump-bone; and that as it was the first formed in the human body, it will also remain uncorrupted till the last day, as a seed from whence the whole is to be renewed: and this he said would be effected by a forty days' rain which GOD should send, and which would cover the earth to the height of twelve cubits, and cause the bodies to sprout forth like plants.1 Herein also is Mohammed also beholden to the Jews, who say the same things of the bone Luz,2 excepting that what he attributes to a great rain, will be effected according to them by a dew, impregnating the dust of the earth. The time of the resurrection the Mohammedans allow to be a perfect

1 Poc. ubi sup. p. 247. 2 Ibid. p. 248. Consonant hereto are the Jewish notions of the souls of the just being on high, under the throne of glory. Vide ibid. p. 156. 3 Ibid. p. 250. 4 Al Beidâwi. Vide Poc. ubi sup. p. 252. 5 Or, as we corruptly name him, Avicenna. 6 Kenz al afrâr. 7 Vide Poc. ubi sup. p. 254. 1 Idem, ibid. p. 255, &c. 2 Bereshit. rabbah, &c. Vide Poc. ubi sup. p. 117, &c.

secret to all but GOD alone: the angel Gabriel himself acknowledging his ignorance on this point when Mohammed asked him about it. However, they say the approach of that day may be known from certain signs which are to precede it. These signs they distinguish into two sorts-the lesser and the greater- which I shall briefly enumerate after Dr. Pocock.3 The lesser signs are: I. They decay of faith among men.4 2. The advancing of the meanest persons to eminent dignity. 3. That a maid-servant shall become the mother of her mistress (or master); by which is meant either that towards the end of the world men shall be much given to sensuality, or that the Mohammedans shall then take many captives. 4. Tumults and seditions. 5. A war with the Turks. 6. Great distress in the world, so that a man when he passes by another's grave shall say "Would to GOD I were in his place." 7. That the provinces of Irâk and Syria shall refuse to pay their tribute. And, 8. That the buildings of Medina shall reach to Ahâb, or Yahâb. The greater signs are: 1. The sun's rising in the west: which some have imagined it originally did.5 2. The appearance of the beast, which shall rise out of the earth, in the temple of Mecca, or on Mount Safâ, or in the territory of Tâyef, or some other place. This beast they say is to be sixty cubits high: though others, not satisfied with so small a size, will have her reach to the clouds and to heaven when her head only is out; and that she will appear for three days, but show only a third part of her body. They describe this monster, as to her form, to be a compound of various species, having the head of a bull, the eyes of a hog, the ears of an elephant, the horns of a stag, the neck of an ostrich, the breast of a lion, the colour of a tiger, the back of a cat, the tail of a ram, the legs of a camel, and the voice of an ass. Some say this beast is to appear three times in several places, and that she will bring with her the rod of Moses and the seal of Solomon; and being so swift that none can overtake or escape her, will with the first strike all the believers on the face and mark them with the word Mûmen, i.e., believer; and with the latter will mark the unbelievers, on the face likewise, with the word Câfer, i.e., infidel, that every person may be known for what he really is. They add that the same beast is to demonstrate the vanity of all religions except Islâm, and to speak Arabic. All this stuff seems to be the result of a confused idea of the beast in the Revelations.6 3. War with the Greeks, and the taking of Constantinople by 70,000 of the posterity of Isaac, who shall not win that city by force of arms, but the walls shall fall down while they cry out, "There is no god but GOD: GOD is most great!" As they are dividing the spoil, news will come to them of the appearance of the Antichrist, whereupon they shall leave all, and return back. 4. The coming of Antichrist, whom the Mohammedans call al Masîh al Dajjâl, i.e., the false or lying Christ, and simply al Dajjâl. He is to be one-eyed, and marked on the forehead with the letters C.F.R., signifying Câfer, or infidel. They say that the Jews give him the name of Messiah

3 Ibid. p. 258, &c. 4 See Luke xviii. 8. 5 See Whiston's Theory of the Earth, bk. ii. p. 98, &c. 6 Chap. xiii.

Ben David, and pretend he is to come in the last days and to be lord both of land and sea, and that he will restore the kingdom to them. According to the traditions of Mohammed, he is to appear first between Irâk and Syria, or according to others, in the province of Khorasân; they add that he is to ride on an ass, that he will be followed by 70,000 Jews of Ispahân, and continue on earth forty days, of which one will be equal in length to a year, another to a month, another to a week, and the rest will be common days; that he is to lay waste all places, but will not enter Mecca or Medina, which are to be guarded by angels; and that at length he will be slain by Jesus, who is to encounter him at the gate of Lud. It is said that Mohammed foretold several Anti- christs, to the number of about thirty, but one of greater note than the rest. 5. The descent of Jesus on earth. They pretend that he is to descend near the white tower to the east of Damascus, when the people are returned from the taking of Constantinople; that he is to embrace the Mohammedan religion, marry a wife, get children, kill Antichrist, and at length die after forty years', or, according to others, twenty-four years',1 continuance on earth. Under him they say there will be great security and plenty in the world, all hatred and malice being laid aside; when lions and camels, bears and sheep, shall live in peace, and a child shall play with serpents unhurt.2 6. War with the Jews; of whom the Mohammedans are to make a religious slaughter, the very trees and stones discovering such of them as hide themselves, except only the tree called Gharkad, which is the tree of the Jews. 7. The eruption of Gog and Magog, or, as they are called in the east, Yâjûj and Mâjûj; of whom many things are related in the Korân,3 and the traditions of Mohammed. These barbarians, they tell us, having passed the lake of Tiberias, which the vanguard of their vast army will drink dry, will come to Jerusalem, and there greatly distress Jesus and his companions; till at his request GOD will destroy them, and fill the earth with their carcasses, which after some time GOD will send birds to carry away, at the prayers of Jesus and his followers. Their bows, arrows, and quivers the Moslems will burn for seven years together;4 and at last GOD will send a rain to cleanse the earth, and to make it fertile. 8. A smoke, which shall fill the whole earth.5 9. An eclipse of the moon. Mohammed is reported to have said that there would be three eclipses before the last hour; one to be seen in the east, another in the west, and the third in Arabia. 10. The returning of the Arabs to the worship of Allât and al Uzza, and the rest of their ancient idols; after the decrease of every one in whose heart there was faith equal to the grain of mustard-seed, none but the very worst of men being left alive. For GOD, they say, will send a cold odoriferous wind, blowing from Syria Damascena, which shall sweep away the souls of all the faithful, and the Korân itself, so that men will remain in the grossest ignorance for a hundred years.

1 Al Thalabi, in Kor. c. 4. 2 See Isaiah xi. 6, &c. 3 Cap. 18 and 21. 4 See Ezek. xxxix. 9; Rev. xx. 8. 5 See Kor. c. 44, and the notes thereon. Compare also Joel ii. 30, and Rev. ix. 2.

11. The discovery of a vast heap of gold and silver by the retreating of the Euphrates, which will be the destruction of many. 12. The demolition of the Caaba, or temple of Mecca, by the Ethiopians.1 13. The speaking of beasts and inanimate things. 14. The breaking out of fire in the province of Hejâz; or, according to others, in Yaman. 15. The appearance of a man of the descendants of Kahtân, who shall drive men before him with his staff. 16. The coming of the Mohdi, or director; concerning whom Mohammed prophesied that the world should not have an end till one of his own family should govern the Arabians, whose name should be the same with his own name, and whose father's name should also be the same with his father's name; and who should fill the earth with righteousness. This person the Shiites believe to be now alive, and concealed in some secret place, till the time of his manifestation; for they suppose him to be no other than the last of the twelve Imâms, named Mohammed Abu'lkasem, as their prophet was, and the son of Hassan al Askeri, the eleventh of that succession. He was born at Sermanrai in the 255th year of the Hejra.2 From this tradition, it is to be presumed, an opinion pretty current among the Christians took its rise, that the Mohammedans are in expectation of their prophet's return. 17. A wind which shall sweep away the souls of all who have but a grain of faith in their hearts, as has been mentioned under the tenth sign. These are the greater signs, which, according to their doctrine, are to precede the resurrection, but still leave the hour of it uncertain: for the immediate sign of its being come will be the first blast of the trumpet; which they believe will be sounded three times. The first they call the blast of consternation; at the hearing of which all creatures in heaven and earth shall be struck with terror, except those whom GOD shall please to exempt from it. The effects attributed to this first sound of the trumpet are very wonderful: for they say the earth will be shaken, and not only all buildings, but the very mountains levelled; that the heavens shall melt, the sun be darkened, the stars fall, on the death of the angels, who, as some imagine, hold them suspended between heaven and earth, and the sea shall be troubled and dried up, or, according ot others, turned into flames, the sun, moon, and stars being thrown into it: the Korân, to express the greatness of the terror of that day, adds that women who give suck shall abandon the care of their infants, and even the she-camels which have gone ten months with young (a most valuable part of the substance of that nation) shall be utterly neglected. A farther effect of this blast will be that concourse of beasts mentioned in the Korân,1 though some doubt whether it be to precede the resurrection or not. They who suppose it will precede, think that ll kinds of animals, forgetting their respective natural fierceness and timidity, will run together into one place, being terrified by the sound of the trumpet and the sudden shock of nature.

The Mohammedans believe that this first blast will be followed by a second, which they call the blast of examination,2 when all creatures, both in heaven and earth, shall die or be annihilated, except those which GOD shall please to exempt from the common fate;3 and this, they say, shall happen in the twinkling of an eye, nay, in an instant; nothing surviving except GOD alone, with paradise and hell, and the inhabitants of those two places, and throne of glory.4 The last who shall die will be the angel of death. Forty years after this will be heard the blast of resurrection, when the trumpet shall be sounded the third time by Israfîl, who, together with Gabriel and Michael, will be previously restored to life, and standing on the rock of the temple of Jerusalem,5 shall, at GOD'S command, call together all the dry and rotten bones, and other dispersed parts of the bodies, and the very hairs, to judgment. This angel having, by the divine order, set the trumpet to his mouth, and called together all the souls from all parts, will throw them into his trumpet, from whence, on his giving the last sound, at the command of GOD, they will fly forth like bees, and fill the whole space between heaven and earth, and then repair to their respective bodies, which the opening earth will suffer to arise; and the first who shall so arise, according to a tradition of Mohammed, will be himself. For this birth the earth will be prepared by the rain above mentioned, which is to fall continually for forty years,6 and will resemble the seed of a man, and be supplied from the water under the throne of GOD, which is called living water; by the efficacy and virtue of which the dead bodies shall spring forth from their graves, as they did in their mother's womb, or as corn sprouts forth by common rain, till they become perfect; after which breath will be breathed into them, and they will sleep in their sepulchres till they are raised to life at the last trump. As to the length of the last day of judgment the Korân in one place tells us that it will last 1,000 years,1 and in another 50,000.2 To reconcile this apparent contradiction, the commentators use several shifts: some saying they know not what measure of time GOD intends in those passages; others, that these forms of speaking are figurative and not to be strictly taken, and were designed only to express the terribleness of that day, it being usual for the Arabs to describe what they dislike as of long continuance, and what they like, as the contrary; and others suppose them spoken only in reference to the difficulty of the business of the day, which, if GOD should commit to any of his creatures, they would not be able to go through it in so many thousand years; to omit some other opinions which we may take notice of elsewhere. Having said so much in relation to the time of the resurrection, let us now see who are to be raised from the dead, in what manner and

2 Several writers, however, make no distinction between this blast and the first, supposing the trumpet will sound but twice. See the notes to Kor. c. 39. 3 Kor. c 39. 4 To these some add the spirit who bears the waters on which the throne is placed, the preserved table, wherein the decrees of GOD are registered, and the pen wherewith they are written; all which things the Mohammedans imagine were created before the world. 5 In this circum-cumstance the Mohammedans follow the Jews, who also agree that the trumpet will sound more than once. Vide R. Bechai in Biur hattorah, and Otioth shel R. Akiba. 6 Elsewhere (see before p. 61) this rain is said to continue only forty days; but it rather seems that it is to fall during the whole interval between the second and third blasts. 1 Kor. c. 32. 2 Ibid. c. 70.

form they shall be raised, in what place they shall be assembled, and to what end, according to the doctrine of the Mohammedans. That the resurrection will be general, and extend to all creatures both angels, genii, men, and animals, is the received opinion, which they support by the authority of the Korân, though that passage which is produced to prove the resurrection of brutes be otherwise interpreted by some.3 The manner of their resurrection will be very different. Those who are destined to be partakers of eternal happiness will arise in honour and security; and those who are doomed to misery, in disgrace and under dismal apprehensions. As to mankind, they say that they will be raised perfect in all their parts and members, and in the same state as they came out of their mother's wombs, that is, barefooted, naked, and uncircumcised; which circumstances when Mohammed was telling his wife Ayesha, she, fearing the rules of modesty might be thereby violated, objected that it would be very indecent for men and women to look upon one another in that condition; but he answered her, that the business of the day would be too weighty and serious to allow them the making use of that liberty. Others, however, allege the authority of their prophet for a contrary opinion as to their nakedness, and pretend he asserted that the dead should arise dressed in the same clothes in which they died;1 unless we interpret these words, as some do, not so much of the outward dress of the body, as the inward clothing of the mind; and understand thereby that every person will rise again in the same state as to his faith or infidelity, his knowledge or ignorance, his good or bad works. Mohammed is also said to have farther taught, by another tradition, that mankind shall be assembled at the last day, distinguished into three classes. The first, of those who go on foot; the second, of those who ride; and the third, of those who creep groveling with their faces on the ground. The first class is to consist of those believers whose good works have been few; the second of those who are in greater honour with GOD, and more acceptable to him; whence Ali affirmed that the pious when they come forth from their sepulchres, shall find ready prepared for them white-winged camels, with saddles of gold; wherein are to be observed some footsteps of the doctrine of the ancient Arabians;2 and the third class, they say, will be composed of the infidels, whom GOD shall cause to make their appearance with their faces on the earth, blind, dumb, and deaf. But the ungodly will not be thus only distinguished; for, according to a tradition of the prophet, there will be ten sorts of wicked men on whom GOD shall on that day fix certain discretory marks. The first will appear in the form of apes; these are the professors of Zendicism: the second in that of swine; these are they who have been greedy of filthy lucre, and enriched themselves by public oppression: the third will be brought with their heads reversed and their feet distorted; these are the usurers: the fourth will wander about blind; these are unjust judges: the fifth will be deaf, dumb, and blind, understanding nothing; these are they

3 See the notes to Kor. c. 81, and the preceding page. 1 In this also they follow their old guides, the Jews, who say that if the wheat which is sown naked rise clothed, it is no wonder the pious who are buried in their clothes should rise with them. Gemar. Sanhedr. fol. 90. 2 See before, Sect. I. p. 16.

who glory in their own works: the sixth will gnaw their tongues, which will hang down upon their breasts, corrupted blood flowing from their mouths like spittle, so that everybody shall detest them; these are the learned men and doctors, whose actions contradict their sayings: the seventh will have their hands and feet cut off; these are they who have injured their neighbours: the eighth will be fixed to the trunks of palm trees or stakes of wood; these are the false accusers and informers: the ninth will stink worse than a corrupted corpse; these are they who have indulged their passions and voluptuous appetites, but refused GOD such part of their wealth as was due to him: the tenth will be clothed with garments daubed with pitch; and these are the proud, the vainglorious, and the arrogant. As to the place where they are to be assembled to judgment, the Korân and the traditions of Mohammed agree that it will be on the earth, but in what part of the earth it is not agreed. Some say their prophet mentioned Syria for the place; others, a white and even tract of land, without inhabitants or any signs of buildings. Al Ghazâli imagines it will be a second earth, which he supposes to be of silver; and others, an earth which has nothing in common with ours but the name; having, it is possible, heard something of the new heavens and new earth mentioned in scripture: whence the Korân has this expression, "on the day wherein the earth shall be changed into another earth."1 The end of the resurrection the Mohammedans declare to be, that they who are so raised may give an account of their actions, and receive the reward thereof. And they believe that not only mankind, but the genii and irrational animals also,2 shall be judged on this great day; when the unarmed cattle shall take vengeance on the horned, till entire satisfaction shall be given to the injured.3 As to mankind, they hold that when they are all assembled together, they will not be immediately brought to judgment, but the angels will keep them in their ranks and order while they attend for that purpose; and this attendance some say is to last forty years, others seventy, others 300, nay, some say no less than 50,000 years, each of them vouching their prophet's authority. During this space they will stand looking up to heaven, but without receiving any information or orders thence, and are to suffer grievous torments, both the just and the unjust, though with manifest difference. For the limbs of the former, particularly those parts which they used to wash in making the ceremonial ablution before prayer, shall shine gloriously, and their sufferings shall be light in comparison, and shall last no longer than the time necessary to say the appointed prayers; but the latter will have their faces obscured with blackness, and disfigured with all the marks of sorrow and deformity. What will then occasion not the least of their

1 Cap. 14. 2 Kor. c. 6. Vide Maimonid. More Nev. part iii. c. 17. 3 This opinion the learned Greaves supposed to have taken its rise from the following words of Ezekiel, wrongly understood: "And as for ye, O my flock thus saith the LORD GOD, Behold I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle, and between the lean cattle; because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey, and I will judge between cattle and cattle," &c. Ezek. xxxiv. 17, 20, 21, 22. Much might be said concerning brutes deserving future reward and punishment. See Bayle, Dict. Hist. Art. Rorarius, Rem. D. &c.

pain, is a wonderful and incredible sweat, which will even stop their mouths, and in which they will be immersed in various degrees according to their demerits, some to the ankles only, some to the knees, some to the middle, some so high as their mouth, and others as their ears. And this sweat, they say, will be provoked not only by that vast concourse of all sorts of creatures mutually pressing and treading on one another's feet, but by the near and unusual approach of the sun, which will be then no farther from them than the distance of a mile, or, as some translate the word, the signification of which is ambiguous, than the length of a bodkin. So that their skulls will boil like a pot,1 and they will be all bathed in sweat. From this inconvenience, however, the good will be protected by the shade of GOD'S throne; but the wicked will be so miserably tormented with it, and also with hunger, and thirst, and a stifling air, that they will cry out, "Lord, deliver us from this anguish, though thou send us into hell fire."2 What they fable of the extraordinary heat of the sun on this occasion, the Mohammedans certainly borrowed from the Jews, who say, that for the punishment of the wicked on the last day, that planet shall be drawn from its sheath, in which it is now put up, lest it should destroy all things by its excessive heat.3 When those who have risen shall have waited the limited time, the Mohammedans believe GOD will at length appear to judge them; Mohammed undertaking the office of intercessor, after it shall have been declined by Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Jesus, who shall beg deliverance only for their own souls. They say that on this solemn occasion GOD will come in the clouds, surrounded by angels, and will produce the books wherein the actions of every person are recorded by their guardian angels,4 and will command the prophets to bear witness against those to whom they have been respectively sent. Then every one will be examined concerning all his words and actions, uttered and done by him in this life; not as if GOD needed any information in those respects, but to oblige the person to make public confession and acknowledgment of GOD'S justice. The particulars of which they shall give an account, as Mohammed himself enumerated them, are-of their time, how they spent it; of their wealth, by what means they acquired it, and how they employed it; of their bodies, wherein they exercised them; of their knowledge and learning, what use they made of them. It is said, however, that Mohammed has affirmed that no less than 70,000 of his followers should be permitted to enter paradise without any previous examination, which seems to be contradictory to what is said above. To the questions we have mentioned each person shall answer, and make his defence in the best manner he can, endeavouring to excuse himself by casting the blame of his evil deeds on others, so that a dispute shall arise even between the soul and the body, to which of them their guilt ought to be imputed, the soul saying, "O Lord, my body I received from thee; for thou createdst me without a hand to lay hold with, a foot to walk with, an eye to see with, or an understanding to apprehend with, till I came and entered into this body; therefore, punish it eternally, but deliver me." The body , on the other

1 Al Ghazâli. 2 Idem. 3 Vide Pocock, not. in Port. Mosis, p. 277. 4 See before, p. 56.

side, will make this apology:-"O Lord, thou createdst me like a stock of wood, having neither hand that I could lay hold with, nor foot that I could walk with, till this soul, like a ray of light, entered into me, and my tongue began to speak, my eye to see, and my foot to walk; therefore, punish it eternally, but deliver me." But GOD will propound to them the following parable of the blind man and the lame man, which, as well as the preceding dispute, was borrowed by the Mohammedans from the Jews:5 A certain king, having a pleasant garden, in which were ripe fruits, set two persons to keep it, one of whom was blind and the other lame, the former not being able to see the fruit nor the latter to gather it; the lame man, however, seeing the fruit, persuaded the blind man to take him upon his shoulders; and by that means he easily gathered the fruit, which they divided between them. The lord of the garden, coming some time after, and inquiring after his fruit, each began to excuse himself; the blind man said he had no eyes to see with, and the lame man that he had no feet to approach the trees. But the king, ordering the lame man to be set on the blind, passed sentence on and punished them both. And in the same manner will GOD deal with the body and the soul. As these apologies will not avail on that day, so will it also be in vain for any one to deny his evil actions, since men and angels and his own members, nay, the very earth itself, will be ready to bear witness against him. Though the Mohammedans assign so long a space for the attendance of the resuscitated before their trial, yet they tell us the trial itself will be over in much less time, and, according to an expression of Mohammed, familiar enough to the Arabs, will last no longer than while one may milk an ewe, or than the space between the two milkings of a she-camel.1 Some, explaining those words so frequently used in the Korân, "GOD will be swift in taking an account," say that he will judge all creatures in the space of half a day, and others that it will be done in less time than the twinkling of an eye.2 At this examination they also believe that each person will have the book, wherein all the actions of his life are written, delivered to him; which books the righteous will receive in their right hand, and read with great pleasure and satisfaction; but the ungodly will be obliged to take them against their wills in their left,3 which will be bound behind their backs, their right hand being tied up to their necks.4 To show the exact justice which will be observed on this great day of trial, the next thing they describe is the balance, wherein all things shall be weighted. They say it will be held by Gabriel, and that it is of so vast a size, that its two scales, one of which hangs over paradise, and the other over hell, are capacious enough to contain both heaven and earth. Though some are willing to understand what is said in the Korân concerning this balance, allegorically, and only as a figurative representation of GOD'S equity, yet the more ancient and orthodox opinion is that it is to be taken literally; and since words and actions, being mere accidents, are not capable of being themselves

5 Gemara, Sanhed. c. II. R. Jos. Albo, Serm. iv. c. 33. See also Epiphan. in Ancorat. sect. 89. 1 The Arabs use, after they have drawn some milk from the camel, to wait a while and let her young one suck a little, that she may give down her milk more plentifully at the second milking. 2 Pocock, not. in Port. Mosis, p. 278-282. See also Kor. c. 2, p. 21. 3 Kor. c. 17, 18, 69, and 84. 4 Jallalo'ddin.