sity which usurpation creates, the usurper must be held responsible. That the stern Prophet was not insensible to the tender feelings of humanity is attested by unquestioned evidence. His tears mingled with the general lamentation for the warriors who fell at Muta; and over the neck of the daughter of his friend Zaid he wept the loss of his most faithful companion;-his disciples expressing their astonishment that earthly sympathies should dwell in the bosom of a messenger from Heaven.

If his inordinate ambition had been content with that pre-eminence to which it might have aspired without a crime,-had he been satisfied with the grand national object of a moral and religious reformation, and employed his transcendent and commanding genius in civilizing his barbarous countrymen, and reclaiming them from their senseless superstition, without the impious pretensions of a Divine revelation,—his vices and defects, palpable as they were, might have been overlooked or forgotten amid the splendour of his victories; and he might have earned a proud rank among the distinguished friends and benefactors of mankind. But to those who judge of individual worth apart from the pomp and glare of constant triumph,-who investigate coolly the causes of a nation's prosperity, the fame of the Arabian Prophet will not stand the test either of private excellence or of public usefulness. Rude and imperfect as were the ethics of those times, his moral character shrinks with guilty apprehension even from his own standard of virtue; and our admiration for his astonishing talents and success is quickly lost in abhorrence of the cruel and profane purposes to which they became subservient."

character and religion of Mohammed than is warranted by the transactions of his life, or the benefits he conferred on his country.-Transact. of the Lit. Soc. of Bombay, vol. iii.

CHAPTER VII

THE KORAN.

The Koran-Its reputed Origin-Held in great Veneration by the Moslems-Its literary Merits-European Translations, Du Ryer's, Maracci's, Sale's, Savary's-Sources whence its Doctrines were borrowed--Its leading Articles of Faith-Angels and Jin or Genii-Examination of the Dead by Munkir and Nakir-Intermediate State of the Soul-The ResurrectionSigns that precede it-Ceremonies of the Final JudgmentThe Judicial Balance-The Bridge Al Sirat-Torments of the Wicked-Luxuries and Enjoyments of the Happy StateWomen not excluded from the Mohammedan Paradise-Predestination-Prayer-The Mohammedan Sabbath-Ablutions -Circumcision-Alms-Fasting-Festivals-Prohibitions as to Food, Intoxicating Liquors, and Games of Chance-Civil and Criminal Code of the Moslems-Laws respecting Marriage-Theft-Courts and Officers of Justice-TraditionsMohammedan Sects-The Sonnees and Sheahs-Their Hatred of each other.

THE Koran, as is well known, imbodies the pretended revelations of the Arabian Prophet.* It was delivered by its author, and is still received by his followers, as containing every information in the shape of precept and instruction necessary for the guidance and spiritual welfare of mankind. According to them it had an origin far more sublime than that of human invention, its substance being uncreated and eternal, co-existent with the essence of the Deity, and inscribed from everlasting with a pen of light on the Preserved Table in the seventh heaven,

* Koran is derived from the verb Karaa, to read, and means the book to be read.-Sale, Prelim. Dis. sect. 3.

Each parcel, as revealed by Gabriel during a period of twenty-three years, was carefully treasured up in the memories of the faithful, or committed to writing by amanuenses, who for want of more dignified materials wrote them on palm-leaves, skins of animals, and shoulder-bones of mutton,-a device practised by the ancient Arabs, who preserved their poems and works of imagination on these rude tablets, tied together on a string.

The first anscript of this divine volume was thrown in promiscuous detachments into a chest intrusted to the charge of Haphsa, next to Ayesha the most favoured of the apostle's wives. Two years after his death the originals were collected and published by his friend and successor Abu Beker, who took this method of rescuing them from the peril of being lost or forgotten. The volume was afterward revised, or perhaps rewritten, by the Caliph Othman, in the thirteenth year of the Hejira. This prince had observed a great disagreement in the manuscripts already extant, those of Irak differing from the Syrian; both, however, were superseded by the new copies, which were distributed over the several provinces of the empire; the old being burnt and suppressed. This amended edition of Othman is that read by the Moslems of the present day.

Like the Jews, the Moslems hold their sacred book in the most extraordinary veneration, and attribute to it many cabalistic virtues. They will not suffer it to be read or touched by any of a different persuasion; and if found in their possession the crime might be capital. They peruse it with great respect, never holding it below their girdles, and always qualifying themselves by first performing their legal ablutions. They swear by it, consult it on all occasions of moment, carry it with them to battle, and inscribe verses or passages from it on their banners and their garments, as they formerly did on

their coins. Its principal sentences, written on the walls of their mosques, remind them of their social and solemn duties. They bestow upon it the exalted epithets of the True Book, the Word of God, the Director of Men and Demons, the Quintessence of all Sacred Compositions, and not only the greatest miracle, but the spiritual treasury of 60,000 miracles. 'They have been at pains to compute the number of verses, words, and letters it contains; and even the different times each particular letter occurs.

Of the seven ancient copies, the first reckoned 6000 verses, the second and fifth 6214, the third 6219, the fourth 6236, the sixth 6226, and the seventh 6225; but they agree in the common amount of 77,639 words and 323,015 letters.

After the example of the Masoretic rabbis, the learned Moslems have introduced vowel-points to ascertain the true meaning and pronunciation; which, without this adventitious light, must often appear obscure.* The most ancient manuscripts now known are on parchment, in the Cufic character; the modern are in the Niskhi, on paper curiously prepared from silk, and polished to the highest degree of beauty. Exemplars are to be found in every public library in Europe; but, as the Christians are prohibited the use of the Koran, most of these have been taken in battle, and some of them belonging to princes and persons of distinction. Copies of peculiar elegance were found among the spoils of Tippoo Sultan. That most admired for the character of its

* Like the Hebrew and Greek, the antiquity of accents or vowel-points in the Arabic has been much disputed. Hottinger (Clavis Script. p. 403) and Adler (Museum Cufic. Borgianum, p. 34-37) contend that the language was never without them; though their shape and position have occasionally varied. Gregory Sharpe (Dissert. on the Origin. Power of Letters, p. 87) maintains that the vowel-points were not in use till several years after the time of Mohammed. So likewise think the Turks, who give Ali the honour of the invention.-Mill's Hist. of Muham. chap. v. p. 281, note.

writing and embellishments was formerly the prop erty of Soliman the Great, and is preserved in the Museum Kircherianum at Rome.

Of the literary merits of the Koran the Arabs speak in terms of rapture. The most esteemed doctors of the mosque pronounced its style to be inimitable,-more miraculous than the act of raising the dead. Whatever may be its defects as a work of genius or merit, it is universally allowed to be written with great elegance and purity of language. Sometimes, in imitation of the prophetic and Scripture phraseology, it rises above the ordinary strain, and magnificently paints the Almighty seated on his throne of clouds and darkness, and dispensing laws to the universe. Though written in prose, it is measured into chapters and verses like the Songs of Moses or the Psalms of David. The sentences have the soft cadence of poesy, and generally conclude in a long-continued chime, which often interrupts the sense and creates unnecessary repetition. But to an Arab, whose ear is delighted with the music of sounds, and whose ignorance is incapable of comparing the productions of human genius this metrical charm was its principal commendation; and was in fact so devoutly esteemed, that they adopted it in their most elaborate compositions.

All European translators have felt and acknowledged the difficulty of transfusing into their versions a lively image of those verbal and ideal charms peculiar to the original. The translation of Andrew du Ryer, a Frenchman, published for the first time at Paris in 1647, long maintained the highest credit; but it is very dull, tame, and tiresome; and in his frigid prose we look in vain for the glowing and figurative expressions of the Eastern muse. years afterward (in 1698) appeared at Padua the Latin edition of Father Lewis Maracci, the confessor of Pope Innocent XI., and professor of Arabic in the College of Wisdom at Rome It was the result

Some