Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/634

G03 MOHAMMEDANIS M [KORAN. ally rose to special authority, and the rest disappeared. Seven readers are generally reckoned chief authorities, but for practical purposes this number was continually reduced in process of time ; so that at present only two "reading-styles" are in actual use, the common style of Hafs, and that of Nafi , which prevails in Africa to the west of Egypt. There is, however, a very comprehen sive massoretic literature in which a number of other styles are indi cated. The invention of vowel-signs, of diacritic points to dis tinguish similarly formed consonants, and of other orthographic signs, soon put a stop to arbitrary conjectures on the part of the readers. Many zealots objected to the introduction of these inno vations in the sacred text, but theological consistency had to yield to practical necessity. In accurate codices, indeed, all such addi tions, as well as the titles of the sura, etc., are written in coloured ink, while the black characters profess to represent exactly the original of Othman. But there is probably no copy quite faithful in this respect. Mann- In European libraries, besides innumerable modern manuscripts scripts, of the Koran, there are also codices, or fragments, of high anti quity, some of them probably dating from the 1st century of the Flight. For the restoration of the text, however, the works of ancient scholars on its readings and modes of writing are more important than the manuscripts ; which, however elegantly they may be written and ornamented, proceed from irresponsible copyists. The original, written by Othman himself, has indeed been exhibited in various parts of the Mohammedan world. The library of the India Office contains one such manuscript, bearing the subscription : "Written by Othman the son of Affan." These, of course, are barefaced forgeries, although of very ancient date ; so .are those which profess to be from the hand of All, one of which is preserved in the same library. In recent times the Koran has been often printed and lithographed, both in the East and the West. Commen- Shortly after Mohammed s death certain individuals applied tators. themselves to the exposition of the Koran. Much of it was obscure from the beginning, other sections were unintelligible apart from a knowledge of the circumstances of their origin. Unfortunately, those who took possession of this field were not very honourable. Ibn Abbas, a cousin of Mohammed s, and the chief source of the traditional exegesis of the Koran, has, on theological and other grounds, given currency to a number of falsehoods ; and at least some of his pupils have emulated his example. These earliest expositions dealt more with the sense and connexion of whole verses than with the separate words. Afterwards, as the know ledge of the old language declined, and the study of philology arose, more attention began to be paid to the explanation of vocables. A good many fragments of this older theological and philological exegesis have survived from the first two centuries of the Flight, although we have no complete commentary of this period. Most of the expository material will perhaps be found in the very large commentary of the celebrated Tabari (A.D. 839-923), of which an almost complete copy is in the Viceregal library at Cairo. Another very famous commentary is that of Zamakhshari (A.D. 1075-1144), edited by Nassau-Lees, Calcutta, 1859 ; but this scholar, with his great insight and still greater subtlety, is too apt to read his own scholastic ideas into the Koran. The favourite commentary of Baidawi (ob. A.D. 1286), edited by Fleischer, Leipsic, 1846-1848, is little more than an abridgment of Zamakh- shari s. Thousands of commentaries on the Koran, some of them of prodigious size, have been written by Moslems ; and even the number of those still extant in manuscript is by no means small. .Although these works all contain much that is useless or false, yet they are invaluable aids to our understanding of the sacred book. An un biassed European can, no doubt, see many things at a glance more clearly than a good Moslem who is under the influence of religious prejudice ; but we should still be helpless without the exegetical literature of the Mohammedans. Nevertheless, a great deal remains to be accomplished by European scholarship for the correct inter pretation of the Koran. We want, for example, an exhaustive classification and discussion of all the Jewish elements in the Koran ; a praiseworthy beginning has already been made in Geiger s youthful essay : Was hat Mahomet aus dcm Judenthum aiifgcnommcn ? (Bonn, 1833). We want especially a thorough commentary, executed with the methods and resources of modern science. No European language, it would seem, can even boast Tr.ins- of a translation which completely satisfies modern requirements, lations. The best are in English ; where we have the extremely para phrastic, but for its time admirable translation of Sale (repeatedly printed), that of Rod well (1861), which seeks to give the pieces in chronological order, and that of Palmer (1880), who wisely follows the traditional arrangements. The introduction which accompanies Palmer s translation is not in all respects abreast of the most recent scholarship. Considerable extracts from the Koran are well trans lated in E. W. Lane s Selections f ram the Kur-an. Besides commentaries on the whole Koran, or on special parts and topics, the Moslems possess a whole literature bearing on their sacred book. There are works on the spelling and right pronun ciation of the Koran, works on the beauty of its language, on the number of its verses, words and letters, etc. ; nay,, there are even works which would nowadays be called "historical and critical introductions." Moreover, the origin of Arabic philology is inti mately connected with the recitation and exegesis of the Koran. To exhibit the importance of the sacred book for the whole mental life of the Moslems would be simply to write the history of that life itself; for there is no department in which its all-pervading, but unfortunately not always salutary influence has not been felt. Th unbounded reverence of the Moslems for the Koran reaches Eternity its climax in the dogma that this book, as the divine word, i.e. of the thought, is immanent in God, and consequently eternal and un- Koran. created. That dogma has been accepted by almost all Mohammedans since the beginning of the 3d century. Some theologians did indeed protest against it with great energy ; it was in fact too pre posterous to declare that a book composed of unstable words and letters, and full of variants, was absolutely divine. But what were the distinctions and sophisms of the theologians for, if they could not remove such contradictions, and convict their opponents of heresy ? The following works may be specially consulted : Weil, F.inleitung in den Koran, 2d ed., 1878 ; Tli. No ldeke, Geschichte des Qoran s (Qottingen, 1860) ; and the Lives of Mohammed by Muir and Sprenger. (Til. N.) INDEX. "Abbas, 551, 574 ; house of, 574 sq. Abbasid dynasty, 578- 588. AM al-Melik, 569. Abderame, 575, 576 sq. Abubekr, 548, 561 sq. Abu Hanifa, 595. Abu !- Abbas, 577 sq. Abu Lahab, 550. Abu Moslim, 576, 578. Abu Talib, 546, 548, 549. Africa conquered, 567, 572 ; revolts, 579. A , hlabites, 579, 587. Alf, 548, 563, 566 ; house of, 574, 579, 584. Amin, 583. Amir al-Omara, 587. Atnr b. al- As (Amroti), 558, 565, 567. Arab heathenism, 546. Ash ari, 593. Assassins, 594. Baghdad founded, 579. lianu Kainoka, 555. Han 11 Nadir, 556. Barmecides, 581. Basra, 562, 590; school of, 592. BcHlr(l Kittle), 555. Bokhari, 565. Buyid dynasty, 587, 58S. Cadi, 591. Caliph, 561, 589, 591. Carmathians, 586, 594. Commerce, 597. Ctesiphon, 562. Cufa (Kiifa), 564, 570, etc. Dahhak, 569. " Defenders "(Ansar), 554. Diwan, 589, 591. Diimat al-Jandal, 565. " Emigrants"(Mohajirin), 554, 563. Fatima, 546. Fatimites, 587, 594. Fatra, 548. Fosse, War of the, 556. (Ihassan, 545, 562. iirammarians, 595. Greeks, wars with, 567, 570, 572, 574, 580, 582, 584, 58% Hadi, 681. IMP), 569, 571 sqq. Ilamdanite dynasty, 587. l.lamza, 550, 556. Ilanifs, 547. Harun al-Rashid, 581. Hasan b. Ali, 566. Hashimites, 545. Hegira. See Hijra. Hieromax (battle), 562. Hijra, 545, 551. Hira, 545, 562. Hira, Mt., 547. Historians, 596. Hodaibiya (treaty), 557. Hosain b. Ali, 567. " Hypocrites," 554. Ibn al-Ash ath, 572. Ibn Hanbal, 584, 595. Ibn Mas ud, 601. Ibn Obay, 552, 554. Ibn Zobair, 567, 568, 570 sqq. Ibrahim (Caliph), 576. Ikhshidites, 587. Imams, 592 ; of house of , Ali, 593. Isa b. Musa, 579 sq. Islam, 547 ; chief pre cepts, 553. Ismailians, 593. Jabarites, 592. Ja far, 581, 582. Jews, 547, 550, 552, 553, 555. Ji rana, 559. Kadarites, 592. Kadisiya (battle), 562. Kairawan, 567. Kerbela (battle), 568. Khadija, 546, 548, 550. Khaibar, 552, 557 sq. Khalid, 558, 562. Kharijites, 560, 564, 56"), 569, 571, 592. Koraish, 545, 559, 563. Koran, 597-606. Koraiza, 556. Kotaiba b. Moslim, 57:i, 574. Law, 594. Mahdi (Caliph), 580 ; Mo hammed the, 579. Malatiya, 579. Malik b. Anas, 565, 593, 594. Ma nmn, 583. Mansur, 578 sq. Martel, Charles, 576. Maslama, 574, 576. Mecca, 545 sqq., 559, 569, 571. Medina, 546, 551 sqq., 588. Merwan I., 569 ; M. II., 576. Mo awiya I., 563, 565 sq.; M. II., 569. Mohallab, 569 sqq. Mohammed, 545-561 ; M. b. Hanafiya, 569. Mokhtar, 568 sqq. Money, 572, 590. Montasir, 585. Moslim b. Okba, 568. Mosta in, 585. Mo tasim, 584. Mo tamid, 586. Motawakkil, 585. Mo tazilites, 592. Musa, 572 sq. Nehawend (battle), 562. Obaid Allah, 568. Obay, 605. Ohod (battle), 556. Okba, 567. Omar I., 550, 563; O. II., 574. Omayyads, 545, 560, 563 ; dynasty, 565-576 ; in Spain, 579. Orthodox sects, 593. Othman, 548, 549, 563 ; Koran, 605. Poets, 595. Provinces, 590. Ramadan, 553. Rawandi sect, 579. Revenues, 589. Saflarid dynasty, 586. Samarkand, 567. Science, 596. Sin in (lttle), 564. Shafi i, 595. Shi ites, 564, 568. Solaiman, 574. Sorra-man-ra a, 585. Spain conquered, 573 ; Ca liphate, 579. Sufism, 594. Sunna, 553, 594. Tabuk, 561. Taif, 545, 550, 559, 560. tarik, 573. theology, 592. Tradition (Iladith), 564, 594. Tulunid dynasty, 586. Turks, 585 sq. Turun, 587. Vizier, 591. Wiikidi, 564, 596. Walid I., 573; W. II., 576. Wathik, 585. Yahya b. Alxlalhili, 582. Yazid I., 567 sq.; Y. II., 575; Y. III., 576; Y. b. Mohallab, 574, 575. Zaid b. All, 575. Ziyiid, 566, 567. A ote. Arabic has only three short vowels, ranging between the short sounds of a and e, e and i, o and u respectively. In the transcription adopted these are given by a or e, i and o respectively. The corresponding long vowels are a, i, u. The latter two have the sound of English ee and oo, and are so written by some English scholars. In the transcription of consonants th is as the th in thin, dh the th in the; dots are put under hard letters which have no exact English equivalent; /. h (often written ch) is nearly the Scottish or German ch ; is a deep breathing, seldom pronounced by Europeans; gh a guttural something like

modem Greek y or the Northumberland burr. In a few names the conventional spelling is used. In proper names b. stands for ibn, "sou of."