Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/630

602 MOHAMMEDANISM KORAN. regular plural of the Aramaic mathnUhd, which is the same as the Hebrew Mishna, and denotes, in Jewish usage, a legal decision of some of the ancient Rabbins. But in the Koran "the seven Mat/tdni" (xv. 87) are probably the seven verses of sura i., so that Mohammed appears to have understood it in the sense of "saying," or "sen tence " (comp. xxxix. 24). Words of Christian origin are less frequent in the Koran. It is an interesting fact that of these a few have come over from the Abyssinian ; such as haivdriyiin, "apostles," mdida, "table," and two or three others ; these all make their first appearance in suras of the Medina period. The word skaitdn, " Satan," which was likewise borrowed, at least in the first instance, from the Abyssinian, had probably been already intro duced into the language. Sprenger has rightly observed that Mohammed makes a certain parade of these foreign terms, as of other peculiarly constructed expressions ; in this he followed a favourite practice of contemporary poets. It is the tendency of the imperfectly educated to delight in out-of-the-way expressions, and on such minds they readily produce a remarkably solemn and mysterious impression. This was exactly the kind of effect that Mohammed desired, and to secure it he seems even to have invented a few odd vocables, as ghislin (Ixix. 36), sijjin (Ixxxiii. 7, 8), tasnim (Ixxxiii. 27), and salsabU (Ixxvi. 18). But, of course, the necessity of enabling his hearers to understand ideas which they must have found suffi ciently novel in themselves, imposed tolerably narrow limits on such eccentricities. Date of The constituents of our present Koran belong partly to tlieseve- the Mecca period (before 622 A.D.), partly to the period ra parts. commenc j n g w ith the flight to Medina (from the autumn of 622 to 8th June 632). Mohammed s position in Medina was entirely different from that which he had occupied in his native town. In the former he was from the first the leader of a powerful party, and gradually became the autocratic ruler of Arabia ; in the latter he was only the despised preacher of a small congregation. This difference, as was to be expected, appears in the Koran. The Medina pieces, whether entire suras or isolated passages interpo lated in Meccan suras, are accordingly pretty broadly dis tinct, as to their contents, from those issued in Mecca. In the great majority of cases there can be no doubt what ever whether a piece first saw the light in Mecca or in Medina ; and for the most part the internal evidence is borne out by Moslem tradition. And since the revelations given in Medina frequently take notice of events about which we have pretty accurate information, and whose dates are at least approximately known, we are often in a position to fix their date with at any rate considerable certainty ; here again tradition renders valuable assistance. Even with regard to the Medina passages, however, a great deal remains uncertain, partly because the allusions to historical events and circumstances are generally rather obscure, partly because traditions about the occasion of the revelation of the various pieces are often fluctuating, and often rest on misunderstanding or arbitrary conjecture. But at all events it is far easier to arrange in some sort of chronological order the Medina suras than those composed in Mecca. There is, indeed, one tradition which professes to furnish a chronological list of all the suras. But not to mention that it occurs in several divergent forms, and that it takes no account of the fact that our present suras are partly composed of pieces of different dates, it contains so many suspicious or undoubtedly false statements, that it is impossible to attach any great importance to it. Besides, it is a priori unlikely that a contemporary of Mohammed should have drawn up such a list ; and if any one had made the attempt, he would have found it almost impos sible to obtain reliable information as to the order of the earlier Meccan suras. We have in this list no genuine tradition, but rather the lucubrations of an undoubtedly conscientious Moslem critic, who may have lived about a century after the Flight. Among the revelations put forth in Mecca there is a The considerable number of (for the most part) short suras, Meccan which strike every attentive reader as being the oldest. suras - They are in an altogether different strain from many others, and in their whole composition they show least resemblance to the Medina pieces. It is no doubt conceivable as Sprenger supposes that Mohammed might have returned at intervals to his earlier manner ; but since this group possesses a remarkable similarity of style, and since the gradual formation of a different style is on the whole an unmistakable fact, the assumption has little probability ; and we shall therefore abide by the opinion that these form a distinct group. At the opposite extreme from them stands another cluster, showing quite obvious affinities with the style of the Medina suras, which must therefore be assigned to the later part of the Prophet s work in Mecca. Between these two groups stand a number of other Meccan suras, which in every respect mark the transition from the first period to the third. It need hardly be said that the three periods which were first distinguished by Professor Weil are not separated by sharp lines of division. With regard to some suras, it may be doubtful whether they ought to be reckoned amongst the middle group, or with one or other of the extremes. And it is altogether impossible, within these groups, to establish even a probable chronological arrangement of the individual revelations. In default of clear allusions to well-known events, or events whose date can be deter mined, we might indeed endeavour to trace the psycholo gical development of the Prophet by means of the Koran, and arrange its parts accordingly. But in such an under taking one is always apt to take subjective assumptions or mere fancies for established data. Good traditions about the origin of the Meccan revelations are not very numerous. In fact the whole history of Mohammed previous to the Flight is so imperfectly related that we are not even sure in what year he appeared as a prophet. Probably it was in A.D. 610 ; it may have been somewhat earlier, but scarcely later. If, as one tradition says, xxx. 1 sq. ("The Romans are overcome in the nearest neigh bouring land ") refers to the defeat of the Byzantines by the Persians, not far from Damascus, about the spring of 614, it would follow that the third group, to which this passage belongs, covers the greater part of the Meccan period. And it is not in itself unlikely that the passionate vehemence which characterizes the first group was of short duration. Nor is the assumption contradicted by the tolerably well-attested, though far from incontestable state ment, that when Omar was converted (A.D. 615 or 616), xx., which belongs to the second group, already existed in writing. But the reference of xxx. 1 sq. to this particu lar battle is by no means so certain that positive conclu sions can be drawn from it. It is the same with other allusions in the Meccan suras to occurrences whose chrono logy can be partially ascertained. It is better, therefore, to rest satisfied with a merely relative determination of the order of even the three great clusters of Meccan revelations. In the pieces of the first period the convulsive excite- Olilest ment of the Prophet often expresses itself with the utmost Mi-ccan vehemence. He is so carried away by his emotion that sinas- he cannot choose his words ; they seem rather to burst from him. Many of these pieces remind us of the oracles of the old heathen soothsayers, whose style is known to us from imitations, although we have perhaps not a single genuine specimen. Like those other oracles, the suras of

this period, which are never very long, are composed of