ALCORAN. 



written on a table of vast bigness, in which 

 are also recorded the divine decrees, past 

 and future. A copy from this table, in 

 one volume, on paper, was sent down to 

 the lowest heaven, in the month of Ra- 

 madan, on the night of power. From 

 whence it was delivered out to Mahomet 

 by parcels, some at Mecca, and some at 

 Medina. Though he had the, consolation 

 of seeing the whole once a year, and in 

 the last part of his life twice. Ten new 

 chapters were delivered entire, the great- 

 er part only in separate periods, which 

 were written down from time to time by 

 the prophet's amanuensis, in this or that 

 part of this or the other chapter, as he di- 

 rected. The first parcel that was revealed 

 was the five first verses of the ninety-sixth 

 chapter, which the prophet received in a 

 cave of Mount Harah, near Mecca. 



The general aim of the Alcoran was, to 

 unite the professors of the three different 

 religions then followed in Arabia, Idola- 

 ters, Jews, and Christians, in the know- 

 ledge and worship of one God, under the 

 sanction of certain laws, and the outward 

 signs of ceremonies, partly of ancient, and 

 partly of novel institution, enforced by the 

 consideration of re wards and punishments, 

 both temporal and eternal, and to bring 

 all to the obedience of Mahomet, as the 

 prophet and ambassador of God, who was 

 to establish the true religion on earth, 

 and be acknowledged chief pontiff in 

 spiritual matters. The chief point there- 

 fore inculcated in the Alcoran is the unity 

 of God, to restore which, the prophet con- 

 fessed, was the chief end of his mission. 

 The rest is taken up in prescribing neces- 

 sary laws and directions, frequent admoni- 

 tions to moral and divine virtues, the wor- 

 ship and reverence of the Supreme Be- 

 ing, and resignation to his will. 



As to the book itself, as it now stands, 

 it is divided into 114 Suras, or chapters, 

 which are again divided into smaller por- 

 tions or verses. But besides these divi- 

 sions, Mahometan writers farther divide 

 it into 60 equal portions, called hiz, or ha- 

 zah ; each of which they subdivide into 

 four parts. 



After the title at the head of each chap- 

 ter, except the ninth, is prefixed the for- 

 mula, "In the name of the most merciful 

 God," called by the Mahometans Bismal- 

 lah, wherewith they constantly begin all 

 their books and writings, as the distin- 

 guishing mark of their religion. 



Twenty-nine of the chapters of the Al- 

 coran have this further peculiarity, that 

 there are certain letters of the alphabet 

 prefixed to them. In some a single letter, 



in others two or more. These letters are 

 supposed, by the true believers, to con- 

 ceal divers profound mysteries, the under- 

 standing whereof has been communica- 

 ted to no man, their prophet excepted. 

 Yet some have pretended to find their 

 meaning, by supposing the letters to stand 

 for so many words, expressing the names, 

 attributes, and works of God ; others ex- 

 plain these letters from the organ made 

 use of in their pronunciation; others 

 from their value in numbers. 



There are seven principal editions of 

 the Koran, two at Medina, one at Mecca, 

 one at Cufa, one at Bassora, one in Syria, 

 and the common or vulgate edition. The 

 first contains 6000 verses ; the second and 

 fifth, 6214; the third, 6219 ; the fourth, 

 6236 ; the sixth, 6226 ; and the last, 6225 ; 

 but the number of words and letters is 

 the same in all, viz. 77,639 words, and 

 323,015 letters. 



The Alcoran is allowed to be written 

 with the utmost elegance and purity of 

 language, in the dialect of the Koreishites, 

 the most noble and polite of all the Ara- 

 bians, but with some mixture of other 

 dialects. It is the standard of the Arabic 

 tongue, and as the orthodox believed, and 

 are taught by the book itself, inimitable 

 by any human pen ; and therefore insist- 

 ed on as a permanant miracle, greater 

 than that of raising the dead, and alone 

 sufficient to convince the world of its di- 

 vine original ; and to this miracle did Ma- 

 homet himself chiefly appeal, for the con- 

 firmation of his mission, publicly chal- 

 lenging the most eloquent schoolmen in 

 Arabia to produce a single chapter com- 

 parable to it. A late ingenious and can- 

 did writer, who is a very good judge, al- 

 lows the style of the Alcoran to be gene- 

 rally beautiful and fluent, especially where 

 it imitates the prophetic manner and 

 scripture phrase ; concise, and often ob- 

 scure ; 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. 



To the pomp and harmony of expres- 

 sion some ascribe all the force and effect 

 of the Alcoran ; which they consider as 

 a sort of music, equally fitted to ravish 

 and amaze with other species of that art. 

 In this Mahomet 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 himself complains. 



So numerous are the commentaries on 



