129.
SECTION III
OF THE KORAN ITSELF, THE PECULIARITIES OF THAT BOOK; THE MANNER OF ITS BEING WRITTEN AND PUBLISHED, AND THE GENERAL DESIGN OF IT.
THE word Korân, derived from the verb karaa, to read, signifies properly in Arabic, "the reading," or rather, "that which ought to be read;" by which name Mohammedans denote not only the entire book or volume of the Korân, but also any particular chapter or section of it: just as the Jews call either the whole scripture or any part of it by the name of Karâh, or Mikra,1 words of the same origin and import; which observation seems to overthrow the opinion of some learned Arabians, who would have the Korân so named because it is a collection of the loose chapters or sheets which compose it-the verb karaa signifying also to gather or collect:2 and may also, by the way, serve as an answer to those who object3 that the Korân must be a book forged at once, and could not possibly be revealed by parcels at different times during the course of several years, as the Mohammedans affirm, because the Korân is often mentioned and called by that name in the very book itself. It may not be amiss to observe, that the syllable Al in the word Alkoran is only the Arabic article, signifying the, and therefore ought to be omitted when the English article is prefixed. Beside this peculiar name, the Korân is also honoured with several appellations, common to other books of scripture: as, al Forkân, from the verb faraka, to divide or distinguish; not, as the Mohammedan doctor say, because those books are divided into chapters or sections, or distinguish between good and evil; but in the same notion that the Jews use the word Perek, or Pirka, from the same root, to denote a section or portion of scripture.4 It is also called al Moshaf, the volume, and al Kitab, the book, by way of eminence, which answers to the Biblia of the Greeks; and al Dhikr, the admonition, which name is also given to the Pentateuch and Gospel. The Korân is divided into 114 larger portions of very unequal length, which we call chapters, but the Arabians Sowar, in the singular Sûra, a word rarely used on any other occasion, and properly signifying a row, order, or regular series; as a course of bricks in building, or a rank of soldiers in an army; and is the same in use and import with the Sûra, or Tora, of the jews, who also call the fifty-three sections of the Pentateuch Sedârim, a word of the same signification.5 These chapters are not in the manuscript copies distinguished by their numerical order, though for the reader's ease they are numbered
1 This name was at first given to the Pentateuch only, Nehem. viii. Vide Simon. hist. Crit. du Vieux Test. l. r, c. 9. 2 Vide Erpen. not. ad Hist. Joseph. p. 3. 3 Marracc. de Alcor. p. 41. 4 Vide Gol. in append. ad Gram. Arab. Erpen. 175. A chapter or subdivision of the Massictoth of the Mishna is also called Perek. Maimon. præf. in Seder Zeraim, p. 57. 5 Vide Gol. ubi sup. 177. Each of the six grand divisions of the Mishna is also called Seder. Maimon. ubi sup. p. 55.
in this edition, but by particular titles, which (except that of the first, which is the initial chapter, or introduction to the rest, and by the one Latin translator not numbered among the chapters) are taken sometimes from a particular matter of, or person mentioned therein; but usually from the first word of note, exactly in the same manner as the Jews have named their Sedârim: though the words from which some chapters are denominated be very far distant, towards the middle, or perhaps the end of the chapter; which seems ridiculous. But the occasion of this seems to have been, that the verse or passage wherein such word occurs, was, in point of time, revealed and committed to writing before the other verses of the same chapter which precede it in order: and the title being given to the chapter before it was completed, or the passages reduced to their present order, the verse from whence such title was taken did not always happen to begin the chapter. Some chapters have two or more titles, occasioned by the difference of the copies. Some of the chapters having been revealed at Mecca, and others at Medina, the noting this difference makes a part of the title; but the reader will observe that several of the chapters are said to have been revealed partly at Mecca, and partly at Medina; and as to others, it is yet a dispute among the commentators to which place of the two they belong. Every chapter is subdivided into smaller portions, of very unequal length also, which we customarily call verses; but the Arabic word is Ayât, the same with the Hebrew Ototh, and signifies signs, or wonders; such as are the secrets of GOD, his attributes, works, judgments, and ordinances, delivered in those verses; many of which have their particular titles also, imposed in the same manner as those of the chapters. Notwithstanding this subdivision is common and well known, yet I have never yet seen any manuscript wherein the verses in each chapter is set down after the title, which we have therefore added in the table of the chapters. And the Mohammedans seem to have some scruple in making an actual distinction in their copies, because the chief disagreement between their several editions of the Korân, consists in the division and number of the verses: and for this reason I have not taken upon me to make any such division. Having mentioned the different editions of the Korân, it may not be amiss here to acquaint the reader, that there are seven principal editions, if I may so call them, or ancient copies of that book; two of which were published and used at Medina, a third at Mecca, a fourth at Cufa, a fifth at Basra, a sixth in Syria, and a seventh called the common or vulgar edition. Of these editions, the first of Medina makes the whole number of the verses 6,000; the second and fifth, 6,214; the third, 6,219; the fourth, 6,236; the sixth, 6,226; and the last, 6,225. But they are all said to contain the same number of words, namely, 77,639;1 and the same number of letters, viz., 323,015:2 for the Mohammedans have in this also imitated the Jews, that they have superstitiously numbered the very words and letters of their law; nay, they have
1 Or as others reckon them, 99, 464. Reland. de Rel. Moh. p. 25.
2 Or according to another computation, 330,113. Ibid. Vide Gol. ubi
sup. p. 178. D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. p. 87.
taken the pains to compute (how exactly I know not) the number of times each particular letter of the alphabet is contained in the Korân.1 Besides these unequal divisions of chapter and verse, the Mohammedans have also divided their Korân into sixty equal portions, which they call Ahzâb, in the singular Hizb, each subdivided into four equal parts; which is also an imitation of the Jews, who have an ancient division of their Mishna into sixty portions, called Massictoth:2 but the Korân is more usually divided into thirty sections only, named Ajzâ, from the singular Joz, each of twice the length of the former, and in the like manner subdivided into four parts. These divisions are for the use of the readers of the Korân in the royal temples, or in the adjoining chapels where the emperors and great men are interred. There are thirty of these readers belonging to every chapel, and each reads his section every day, so that the whole Korân is read over once a day.3 I have seen several copies divided in this manner, and bound up in as many volumes; and have thought it proper to mark these divisions in the margin of this translation by numeral letters. Next after the title, at the head of every chapter, except only the ninth, is prefixed the following solemn form, by the Mohammedans called the Bismillah, "In the name of the most merciful GOD;" which form they constantly place at the beginning of all their books and writings in general, as a peculiar mark or distinguishing characteristic of their religion, it being counted a sort of impiety to omit it. The Jews for the same purpose make use of the form, "In the name of the LORD," or, "In the name of the great GOD:" and the eastern Christians, that of "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." But I am apt to believe Mohammed really took this form, as he did many other things, from the Persian Magi, who used to begin their books in these words, Benâm Yezdân bakhshaïshgher dâdâr; that is, "In the name of the most merciful, just GOD."4 This auspicatory form, and also the titles of the chapters, are by the generality of the doctors and commentators believed to be of divine original, no less than the text itself; but the more moderate are of opinion they are only human additions, and not the very word of GOD. There are twenty-nine chapters of the Korân, which have this peculiarity, that they begin with certain letters of the alphabet, some with a single one, others with more. These letters the Mohammedans believe to be the peculiar marks of the Korân, and to conceal several
