A L C 



ii'.i^mntical paflagcs, with fiicli as arc ropoalod or abro- 

 entcJ ; the hitter, fuch as are clear, and in lull force. Sc-c 

 Mahometans. 



Amoiigll the Mahometans this book i^ in tlie greatcil 

 revv.rw-nce and eftoem. The MufTulmcn dare not fo 

 much as touch the Koran without being firll wafhcd, 

 or legally punned ; to prevent which, an infcription is 

 put on the cover or label : " Let none touch it but 

 they who are clean." It ij read with great care and 

 rclpeft, being never held below the girdle. They fwear 

 by it, take omens from it on all weighty occafions, cany 

 it with them to war, write fenteuces of it in their ban- 

 ners, adorn it with gold and precious llonts and know- 

 ingly fuffcr it not to be in the poffefrion of any of a different 

 religion. Some fay that it is punilhable even w-ith death in 

 a Chrillian to touch it : others, that the veneration of the 

 Mulfulmen leads them to condemn the tranflating it into 

 any other language as a profanation ; but thcfe feem to be 

 a<'gravations. The Mahometan iiave taken care to have 

 their feripturc ti-anflatcd into the Perfian, the Javan, the 

 Malayan, and other languages ; thougli out of refpeft to 

 the original, theie verfions are generally, if not always, in- 

 terhneated. It has been often publifhed in Europe, in 

 Ai-iblc and in other languages. Maracci publiflied it in 

 Arabic and Latin, at Padua, in 1698, fol. with a partial 

 and often filly confutation. The German trandation of 

 Boyfen was printed ai Halle, in 1773 ; the French of Sa- 

 varv, at Paris, in 1782 ; and the Englldi of Sale, at Lon- 

 don, in 1734. 



The number of commentaries on the Koran is fo large 

 that the bare titles would make a huge volume. — Ben Of- 

 rhair has written the hiilory of them, intitled, Tanlh Ben 

 Ofchair. The priueip;il among them are, ReiJhaori Thaa- 

 lebi, Zamalchfchari, and Baeai. 



Bcfide the Koran which is the bafis of the Mahometan 

 faith, they have alfo a book containing tlieir ti'aditions, 

 which they call Somia. 



The Mahometans have a pofitive theology, built on the 

 Koran and tradition ; as well <xs H fc/jo/q/Iic^I one, built on 

 reafon. — They have likewiie their cafuilts, and a kind of 

 ranon law ; wherein they diftinguifh between what is of di- 

 vine, and what of pofitive right. 



They have their beneficiaries too, chaplains, almoners, 

 and canons, who read a chapter every day out of the Koran, 

 in the mofques ; and have prebends annexed to their office. 

 —The ka/ii of the mofque is what we call the parfon of the 

 parilh ; and the _/?/;;•:« are the preachers, who take their text 

 out of the Alcoran. Sec Sale's Tranllation of the Koran, 

 preliminary' difcourie. 



Alcoran is alfo ufed in a more limited fenfe, for a por- 

 tion or chapter of the Koran. 



In which fenfe, the word is fynonimous with fura. 



Alcora'J is alfo figuratively apphed to certain other 

 books full of impieties and imputbircs. 



In this fenfe we meet with the Alcoran of the Cordeliers, 

 which has made a great noife ; wherein St. Francis is extra- 

 vagantly magnified, and put on a level with Jefus Chrift. 



Ai.coR.AN, among the Perfians, likcwife fignifies a kind 

 of tower, or llecple, very high and narrow, furroundcd 

 without by two or three galleries, one over another ; whence 

 the Moravitcs, a fort of priefts, repeat their prayers thrice 

 a day, with a very loud voice ; making the tour of the 

 gallery all the while, that they may be the better heard all 

 found. 



ALCORANISTS, among Mahometans, thofe who 

 adhere (Iriftly to the letter or text of the Alcoran, from 

 an opinion of its ultimate fufficiency and perfection. The 



A L C 



Perfians are generally Aleoranifts, as admitting the Al- 

 coran alone for their rule of faith. The Turks, Tar- 

 tars, Arabs, &c. befidcs the Alcoran, admit a multitude 

 of traditions. 



The Aleoranifts, among Mahometans, amoant to much 

 the fame with the tcxttiaria among the Jews. The Alco- 

 ranills can find nothing excellent out of the Alcoran ; are 

 enemies of philofophers, metaphyficians, and fcholaftic 

 writers. With them the Alcoran is every thing. 



ALCOUCHETE, in Geography, a town of Portugal, 

 in the province of Ellremadura, on the loulh coaft of the 

 Tagus, ten miles call of Lifbon. N. lat. 38° 55'. W. 

 long. 8° 26'. 



ALCOUTIN, a town of Portugal, in the province of 

 Algarve, on the border of Alentcjo, defended by a caftle, 

 and containing fix parilhes. It is iituated on the Guadiana, 

 and fix and one-half leagues north-north-eall of Tavira. 



ALCOVE, in Arch'iUtiure, a recefs in a fieejiing room, 

 made for the pui'pofc of receiving the bed. It is alfo an 

 arched feat in a garden. 



The w.ord is derived from the Spanith alcoha, which, ac- 

 cording to the older DiAionaries of that language, fignifies 

 a vaidted cabinet in a chamber, open on one fide, without 

 windows, and large enough to contain a bed. The Spanifii 

 word is dei-ived fi-om the Arabic al kubheh, the alcove, the 

 place for the bed, and aVkuhbeh is probably from alkuhhaun 

 the tent, or more probably from hhauh, fieep, alkhaub, the 

 bed, alkaab the cave. The relation of thefe words is curious. 

 According to the Spanifli defcription an alcove is not unlike 

 a cave or recefs in a rock, in which a wandering Arab might 

 make his abode for the night. 



Alcoves in ordinary rooms are fquare receffes conformable 

 to the definition we have given, and are finifhed in a ftile 

 correfponding with the apartments to which they belong, 

 and with flat or vaulted ceilings, as tafte may direct, or the 

 height of the alcove may require. But in chambers of great- 

 er magnificence, and rooms of parade, they are not always 

 receffes ; but more properly a portion of a large apartment 

 feparated from the reft by an arch, or balluftrade, a fcreen 

 of columns, or fome other decorations, and elevated a few 

 fteps above the general level of the floor. On this elevated 

 platform, a ilate bed is ufually placed, and fometimes feats 

 and fofas to entertain company. This is what the French 

 architefts denominate an alcove. The recefs to which the 

 Enghfli have appropriated the term, and which is conform- 

 able to its primai-y fignification, the French denominate a 

 nicbe, as may be feen in Blondel de la Decoration des Edifices 

 en general. (See Plate I. of Architcfture.) 



The authors of the Encyclopedic Methodiquc are ef opi- 

 nion, that alcoves, were in ufe among the ancients, and this 

 would be indifputably true if we could receive the term in 

 the lax fcnie in which they have explained it. But we 

 cannot give the name of alcoves to the enclolures v.diich they 

 mention, confilling of a kind of moveable balhiilrade hung 

 round with drapery, and placed in any part of a chamber 

 at pleafure, nor to thofe .draperies fupported by terms, or 

 affixed to the wall, which frequently occur in antique baffo- 

 relievos. It mull be confeffed that we know very little of 

 the private apartments of the ancients ; yet if a recefs for 

 the bed to Iland in had been a fafhionable feature in a Greek 

 or Roman bed chamber, it is probable that it would have 

 been mentioned by Vitruvius, or others, and efpecially by 

 Pliny, who is fo minute and particular in the defcription of 

 his Laurentine and Tufculan villas. In each of thefe villas 

 he defcribes a fmall elegant retired clofet, furnifhed with a 

 bed, which by means of glafs folding doors and curtains, 

 could be occafionally laid into or feparated from the adjoin- 

 7 inff 



