1856.] Origin and progress of writing down "historical facts. 311 



25. SI Qasim [d. in 103] a son of Mohammad [was killed in 37, 

 he was a son of the Khalif Abu Bakr] relates : 'Omar was informed 

 that the Moslims had books. He very much disapproyed of it and 

 said : I have heard that books have made their appearance among 

 you. God loves those things best which are most equitable and 

 lasting. Every man who has a book is to bring it to me, and I will 

 then see what is to be done. People thought that he wished to 

 see what the books contained, and arrange matters in a manner 

 which might satisfy all parties, and they brought the books to him. 

 He burned them and said : Books will lead you to the same result as 

 they did with the Jews and Christians." 



26. " 'Omar intended to write down, the Sunnah, then it occurred 

 to him that it was better not to commit it to writing, and he wrote 

 orders to all the cities, that every body who had written down 

 7*adythes was to destroy them." 



27. " Morrah (d. in 76 or shortly after) relates that, whilst he 

 was sitting with 'Abd Allah [b. Mas'iid, d. in 32] Ibn Qorrah 

 brought a book, saying, I found this book in Syria, and as I admired 

 it I bring it to you. 'Abd Allah looked into it and said, Those 

 before you rushed into ruin, because they followed their books and 

 abandoned the scripture. Upon this, he sent for a basin of water 

 and washed the book in it to efface the writing." 



28. " Aswad (d. 74 or 75) and 'Alqamah [b. Qays, d. about 70] 

 got a volume ^F^, and they took it to 'Abd Allah. It was about 

 sunset when they came to his house, and they were not let in imme- 

 diately. When 'Abd Allah awoke, he sent his slave woman to see 

 who had knocked at the door. She reported to her master that it was 

 'Alqamah and Aswad, and he ordered her to admit them. They told 

 him that they had a volume which contained very excellent 7*adythes 

 ^s^ ^<X2* Lfrj^ 'isL^s^^c^. And he at once sent for water and 

 effaced the writing, repeating the words of the Qoran, 12, 1-3, and 

 he added, Occupy yourself with the Qoran and with nothing else." 



JNos. 27 and 28 seem to be different versions of one and the same 

 story. There are five other Aadythes, in which it is said, that 'Abd 

 Allah b. Mas'iid destroyed books, and they are, apparently, all dif- 

 ferent versions of one or two stories. The following are the facts 

 contained in each : 



