KONIGSTEIN KORAN. 



325 



influence she was appointed, by the court of Vienna, 

 superintendent of Quedlinburg (in 1700), where she 

 resided, at intervals, until her death. The king's 

 esteem for her talents appears from the circumstance 

 that he sent her, in 1702, to Charles XII., to negotiate 

 a peace ; but Charles refused to see her. She died 

 in 1728. She was beloved by all around her, and 

 very benevolent towards the poor. Her brother, 

 count Philip Christopher, the last male of this family, 

 was assassinated, in 1694, in the castle of Hanover, 

 by the order of the elector Ernest Augustus, because 

 he had offered to assist the princess Sophia Dorothea 

 (who died in prison at Alilen, 1726) in her projected 

 flight. 



KONIGSTEIN; a mountain-fortress, on the Elbe, 

 in the kingdom of Saxony, not far from the frontier 

 of Bohemia. It is impregnable. A solitary mountain 

 of sandstone rises 1400 feet almost perpendicularly: 

 the surface is more than a mile in circumference. 

 But the fortress is of no military importance, as it 

 cannot serve for a rallying point or point of support 

 for an army, nor impede the march of an enemy. It 

 is very useful, however, as a place of deposit for 

 precious articles, for instance, the invaluable pictures 

 of the Dresden gallery, in times of war. It cannot 

 be undermined, nor can it be reduced by cutting off 

 its supplies, as the small garrison necessary to hold 

 it, can raise grain enough for their subsistence on the 

 top of the mountain. There is a well 1172 feet deep. 

 About 600 people reside on the top. The cannon 

 of the fortress command the town below it on the 

 river Elbe. The Lilienstein (q. v.) is opposite. 



KOPECK ; a Russian coin. See Copeck, and Coin. 



KOPF ; German for head; appearing in many 

 geographical words, for summit ; also koppe. 



KORAIS. See Corny. 



KORAN (Al-Koran, i. e. the Koran, which means 

 originally the reading, or that which is to be read; 

 also called al For/can, because it is divided into 114 

 suras or chapters ; also al Moshaf, the volume ; 

 al Kitah, the book ; al Dhikr, the recollection) is 

 the religious code of the Mohammedans, written in 

 Arabic by Mohammed. The parts were collected 

 into a volume by Mohammed's father-in-law and 

 successor, Abubekir. According to the Mohamme- 

 dan doctrine, the prophet received the Koran from the 

 angel Gabriel, written upon parchment made of the 

 skin of the ram which Abraham sacrificed in the 

 room of his son Isaac. The volume was ornamented 

 with precious stones, gold, and silver, from Paradise. 

 According to other traditions, Mohammed is said to 

 have drawn up the Koran with the assistance of a 

 Persian Jew, rabbi Warada Ebn Nawsal, and a Nes- 

 torian monk, the abbot of the convent of Addol 

 Kaisi, at Bosra, in Syria; but nothing certain is 

 known respecting these two persons, though it appears 

 beyond a doubt, less from the author's doctrines than 

 from the expressions, his tales, and his mentioning 

 several prophets, &c., that he was well acquainted 

 with the Old and New Testament, though he himself 

 cites only the Pentateuch and the Psalms. In the 

 twenty-first chapter, he represents the Almighty as 

 saying, " I have promised in the books of Moses and 

 in the Psalms, that my virtuous servants on earth 

 shall have the earth for their inheritance." A num- 

 ber of passages might be quoted which prove his 

 knowledge of the whole Bible ; and not only was he 

 acquainted with the religious systems of the Jews and 

 Christians, but also with those of the Sabasans and 

 Magians, from all of which he seems to have drawn 

 materials which he incorporated into a system, after 

 the idea of establishing a religion in his country, 

 where numberless sects of pagans, Jews, Christians, 

 Sabzeans, and Magians existed, had risen in his mind. 

 He lived, as is well known, much in solitude, where 



he doubtless meditated on his doctrine, and the great 

 mission which he thought himself called upon to 

 accomplish. He does not reject the doctrines of any 

 sect, but takes from all. He asserts that he wishes 

 to restore the true faith to its purity. The unity of 

 God is his fundamental doctrine, which is clearly laid 

 down in the symbol of the Moslem " God is God, 

 and Mohammed is his prophet." The unity of God 

 is the very aim of his mission, and, according to him, 

 had been the essence and the basis of all true reli- 

 gion, with which ceremonies and customs were only 

 accidentally connected. Thus he says, in the eleventh 

 chapter of the Koran, " We make no difference 

 between that which God has taught us, and that 

 which Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, the twelve tribes, 

 Moses and Jesus have learned from the Lord. We 

 believe in God, and are Moslem." And, in the fourth 

 chapter, it is said, " God commands thee to receive 

 the religion which he prescribed to Noah, which he 

 has revealed unto thee, and which he imparted to 

 Abraham, Moses, and Jesus." Who can say whether 

 it was the desire of establishing pure monotheism in 

 his country, or ambition, which led him to call him- 

 self a prophet ? But even in the way in which he 

 speaks of his inspirations, we may discern an endea- 

 vour not to deviate from ideas already adopted, 

 or, at least, the evidence of his being strongly 

 influenced by them. He professed to have nocturnal 

 intercourse with the angel Gabriel, who brought him 

 the Koran precisely as it stands, verse for verse, 

 chapter for chapter, from heaven. In the doctrine 

 of the Magians, the angel Gabriel is the angel of 

 revelation. Besides the fundamental doctrine of 

 the unity of God, the Koran establishes several other 

 articles of faith. Thus, in chapters four, six, seven, 

 and forty-eight, the doctrine of good and bad angels 

 is set forth, which was general with the Arabians 

 before Mohammed. Mohammed returns most fre- 

 quently to the doctrine of the resurrection and the 

 last judgment. The way in which he endeavours to 

 set it forth has much similarity with that of St Paul. 

 He even borrows expressions from the Jewish and 

 Christian scriptures, when he speaks of the last 

 judgment. In chapter forty-three, it is said, " When 

 the trumpet sounds the second time, they shall rise 

 quickly from the graves to appear before God ;" and 

 further, "A sound of the trumpet of judgment will 

 assemble all men before my throne, and every one 

 shall there receive the reward of his deeds." In 

 regard to the form of the last judgment, Mohammed 

 followed the doctrines of the Jews and Magians; for 

 instance, the passage of the narrow bridge Al-Sirat 

 (q. v.), the book in which all the actions of men are 

 set down, and the scale in which they are weighed. 

 Mohammed's paradise, too, is quite Jewish and 

 Magian. Another dogma is set forth in the Koran, 

 yet not explicitly, that of the unchangeable decrer- 

 of God. Mohammed used the doctrine of predesti- 

 nation with great success, to infuse into his adherents 

 undaunted courage, which elevated them above all 

 perils. Probably he adopted, in this case, views 

 already widely spread. With the Sabaeans, the beliei 

 in predestination was firmly established, and founded 

 on the unchangeable course of the stars, and their 

 influence upon the life and actions of men and the 

 course of events. With the Magians this doctrine 

 followed from their system of the good and evil prin- 

 ciples, and probably it had passed from both to the 

 Arabians. In regard to religious exercises, too, 

 Mohammed adopted such as he found, giving more 

 universality and precision to those which were vague. 

 The Koran prescribes prayer, fasting, alms, and the 

 pilgrimage to Mecca. The first includes everything 

 relating to the purifications and ablutions by which 

 the faithful prepares himself for jirayer. Mohammed 



