26 KUN AND PAYAH KUN. 



The words occur in the 110th verse of the second chapter 

 of the Koran. 



Ztffta qadha amranfa innima yaqulu laliu hun fa yakun t 

 (When He decreeth a matter, He doth but say unto it 

 ' Be ; ' and it is.) 



Again in the 83rd verse ^of the 36th chapter we have 



Ojr** Cr ^ <J^- J %~° V ^V*' "] Innama amruku idha 

 arada shai'an an yaqulu lahu-hun fa yakun- 



(His bidding is only, when He desireth anything, to say to 

 ' Be ; and it is.) 



The expression is thus identical with that which appears 

 throughout the first book of Genesis in such verses as the 

 following : — 



And God said, Let there be light : and there was light. 



And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be 

 gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear : 

 and it was so. 



It is probable that the sentence as we now have it was 

 first coined by paivangs as part of a mantra at a period when 

 the Malays had not long been converted to Muhammadanism. 

 The addition of the words " saith Muhammad," though 

 doubtless partly due to ignorance of the meaning of the foreign 

 words and partly to the national love of an antithesis, appears 

 also to be partly due to the zeal of a convert. And, it is 

 interesting to note, not only is the addition of the two words 

 wholly unnecessary, but the expression " and it is, saith 

 Huhammad " would appear to a strict Muhammadan to be 

 of very doubtful orthodoxy. 



Jour. Straits- Branch 



