distinguish two kinds of revelations: those which were literally delivered as spoken by the angel
(called Wahee Matloo, or the word of God), and those which give the sense of the inspired instruction
in the prophet’s own words (called Wahee Ghair Matloo, or Hadees). The prophet is named only
five times, but is addressed by Gabriel all through the book with the word Say, as the recipient and
sacred penman of the revelations. It consists of 114 Suras^166 and 6,225 verses. Each Sura (except
the ninth) begins with the formula (of Jewish origin): "In the name of Allah, the God of Mercy, the
Merciful."^167
The Koran is composed in imperfect metre and rhyme (which is as natural and easy in the
Arabic as in the Italian language). Its language is considered the purest Arabic. Its poetry somewhat
resembles Hebrew poetry in Oriental imagery and a sort of parallelism or correspondence of clauses,
but it loses its charm in a translation; while the Psalms and Prophets can be reproduced in any
language without losing their original force and beauty. The Koran is held in superstitious veneration,
and was regarded till recently as too sacred to be translated and to be sold like a common book.^168
Mohammed prepared and dictated the Koran from time to time as he received the revelations
and progressed in his career, not for readers, but for hearers, leaving much to the suggestive action
of the public recital, either from memory or from copies taken down by his friends. Hence its
occasional, fragmentary character. About a year after his death, at the direction of Abu-Bakr, his
father-in-law and immediate successor, Zayd, the chief ansar or amanuensis of the Prophet, collected
the scattered fragments of the Koran "from palm-leaves, and tablets of white stone, and from the
breasts of men," but without any regard to chronological order or continuity of subjects. Abu-Bakr
committed this copy to the custody of Haphsa, one of Mohammed’s widows. It remained the
standard during the ten years of Omar’s califate. As the different readings of copies occasioned
serious disputes, Zayd, with several Koreish, was commissioned to secure the purity of the text in
the Meccan dialect, and all previous copies were called in and burned. The recension of Zayd has
been handed down with scrupulous care unaltered to this day, and various readings are almost
unknown; the differences being confined to the vowel-points, which were invented at a later period.
The Koran contains many inconsistencies and contradictions; but the expositors hold that the later
command supersedes the earlier.
The restoration of the chronological order of the Suras is necessary for a proper understanding
of the gradual development of Islâm in the mind and character of its author.^169 There is a considerable
was engraven, and it was with his tongue that it was communicated to all Arabia. The heart of Mohammed was the Sinai where
he received the revelation, and his tablets of stone were the hearts of true believers."(^166) Sura means either revelation, or chapter, or part of a chapter. The Mohammedan commentators refer it primarily to
the succession of subjects or parts, like the rows of bricks in a wall. The titles of the Suras are generally taken from some leading
topic or word in each, as "The Sun," "The Star," "The Charges," "The Scattering," "The Adoration," "The Spider," "Women,"
"Hypocrites," "Light," "Jonas," "The Cave," "The Night Journey," "The Cow," "The Battle," "The Victory."
(^1677) "Bismillahi ’rrahonani ’rrahim." According to the Ulama (the professors of religion and law), "God of mercy"
means merciful in great things; "the Merciful" means merciful in small things. But, according to E. W. Lane, "the first expresses
an occasional sensation, the second a constant quality!" In other words, the one refers to acts, the other to a permanent attribute.
(^168) These scruples are gradually giving way, at least in India, where "printed copies, with inter-lineal versions in Persian
and Urdoo—too literal to be intelligible—are commonly used." Muir, The Corân, p. 48. The manuscript copies in the mosques,
in the library of the Khedive in Cairo, and in many European libraries, are equal in caligraphic beauty to the finest mediaeval
manuscripts of the Bible.
(^169) The present order, Says Muir (Corân, p. 41), is almost a direct inversion of the natural chronological order; the longest
which mostly belong to the later period of Mohammed, being placed first and the shortest last. Weil, Sprenger, and Muir have