GOVERNMENT OE INDIA DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY CENTRAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL LIBRARY B cfi/ Call No.. 297 . EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS LANGUAGE & LITERATURE No. 6 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN BY RICHARD BELL M.A.. D.D. FORMERLY HEADER IN ARABIC UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH 2#qQl02- . EDINBURGH AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1953 OBNTis ' UH : 1 Aog. % . Date. 0% 11 No .. . t • !» ' PMI oulUAli \ \ : m - \\ t»K. KL . °l b *. .. A.:*-??,. PRINTED IN CREAT BRITAIN BY R. St R. CLARK, LTD., EDINBURGH PREFACE K. P ft 4 I HAVE long felt that there is need in English for a general introduction to thd Qur’an, and, as time has been given me, I have attempted to supply it. This book should, indeed, have accompanied my trans¬ lation (The Quran. Translated , with a Critical Rearrange¬ ment oj the Surahs. Edinburgh : T. & T. Clark, 1937, 1939). Various reasons, particularly that of health, led me at that time to concentrate on the preparation of the trans¬ lation as the best way of setting out the results at which I had arrived. The views of Muhammad and of the Qur’an on which my analysis of the surahs was based have not always been understood, and I have taken this opportunity to make them clearer. The class lectures from which the book has developed have largely disappeared in the process of revision, though they may still show through, here and there. I am indebted to Professor Emeritus W. B. Stevenson for counsel and encouragement. In spite of his advice, faults of arrangement still remain. There are, no doubt, other defects, but I see no hope of making further improvements. Footnotes have been kept to a minimum. My debt to previous works is sufficiently manifest, especially that to Noeldeke's Geschichte des Korans , the second edition of winch, revised by Schw'ally and others, is denoted by N-S. The surahs are denoted by small Capital Roman numerals ; the verse numbering is that of Fluegel’s edition. The differences between it and the Official Egyptian Edition are shown in the Table which immediately follows the Table of Contents. I have to thank my wife for constant care and further¬ ance, and my niece, Mrs. Liddiatt, for relieving me of the labour of typing. R. B. PUBLISHERS’ NOTE This Introduction does not include the ‘mass of notes’ which, as Dr. Bell stated in the preface to his Translation , had to be omitted from that work owing to the cost of printing! These are, in the main, notes on the text of the Qur’Sn, and may be published if circumstances permit. Dr. Bell did not live to read the proofs of this book. At his request they have been read by his friends Mr. Gilbert Watson, C.B.E., formerly H.M. Senior Chief Inspector of Schools in Scotland, and the Rev. A. T. Gordon, M.A., formerly Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies in the American University, Cairo. Mrs. Bell wishes to express her indebtedness both to them for their labour of love and to Messrs. R. & R. Clark’s compositors and readers for the skill with which they have carried out their difficult task. CONTENTS MCC V Preface Table of Differences ix CHATTU I. The Historical Situation and Muhammad i The environment—the world-situation—Arabia—the Bedouin— Arab life and custom—position of women—sacred months— Mcccah—religion—jinn—Judaism—Christianity— Zoroastrian¬ ism—religious penetration— hanifs —Jewish-Christian sects—cul¬ tural penetration—writing—could Muhammad write?—the value of Tradition Muhammad: his career—note on Arab and Moslem chrono- logy—Muhammad's character and aims—development of his ideas—his aim not primarily political—the nature of his inspira¬ tion—' suggestion Muhammad's essential sincerity II. The Origin of the Qur’an 37 Theological doctrine—Muhammad the recipient, not the author, of the Qur’Sn — the deliver)' of the Qur’an—the Tradition as to its collection—criticism of the Tradition—pre-’Othmanic Qur’ans— the 'Othmanic recension—authenticity of the Qur’an—discussion of certain verses—criticism of Casanova’s view—is the Qur’an complete ? Note on the text of the Qur’an III. The Form of the Qur’an 51 Names for the Qur’in—divisions ( a ) ritual— (6) surahs—headings of surahs—mysterious letters—consideration of theories con¬ cerning these—(c) verses—dramatic form of the Qur’an Table of surahs showing their comparative length and the occurrence of initial letters IV. The Structure and Style of the Qur’An 67 Rhymes—rhyme - phrases—refrains—internal rhymes—strophes —short pieces—importance of these pieces as fundamental units of the Qur’an Style of the Qur’an—slogans— kdkin-forra —asseverative pass¬ ages — ‘ when ’ • passages — dramatic scenes — narratives and parables—similes—metaphors—borrowed metaphors and words —language V. The Compilation of the Surahs 82 Revisions and alterations—form and length of the surahs— rhymes and rhyme-phrases—adaptation of passages—discon¬ tinuities in grammar and syntax—insertions—alternative con¬ tinuations—inadequacy of the usual explanations to account for many disconnected passages—most probable explanation is confusion and misplacement in copying—how this may have occurred—examples from the Qur’an—consideration of certain vii CONTENTS CHAPTER PACE confused passages dealing with subjects which presented critical problems to Muhammad—present form of the Qur’fin rests on written documents dating from his life-time Note on the Moslem doctrine of Ndsikh and Mans&kk (Abrogation) VI. The Chronological Order of the Qur’An ioo No reliable tradition as to the historical order of the surahs— Nocldckc's theory and arrangement—other theories -criticism of Noeldckc’s—the surest guide to the order is careful analysis of the surahs—principal criteria to be applied, (a) style (6) phrase¬ ology in relation to Muhammad's Call, to his doctrine of punish¬ ment for unliclief, to his reaction to hostility of Medinan Jews— other murks of dates of passages Table of order of the surahs in various chronological arrange¬ ments: ’Othmanic, Muir’s, Nocldekc’s, Grimmc’s, Egyptian VII. Stages in the Growth of the Qur’an 115 Signs of Allah’s power and bounty—* sign ’-passages —their occurrence throughout the Qur’fln—their nature—discussion of certain ‘ signs ’, including those referring to resurrection and creation—stories of punishment— al-mathSnl, its meaning and derivation—purpose of the stories—interpretation of them—the Qur’an—Muhammad’s Qur’an the Arab counterpart of scriptures of earlier monotheists—its composition and teaching—the surah— was the Qur’an definitely dosed ?—change in Muhammad’s posi¬ tion after the hegira—the Book—its relation to the Qur'in Note on al-furqdn VIII. Contents and Sources of the Qur’an 139 Teaching—its object—degree of Jewish and Christian influence— the idea of God—the names All&h and ar-Rahman —other spiritual beings—the Messenger or Prophet—the Revelation— the Book—the Qur’an and the Book in relation to Jews and Christians—eschatology—end of the world—resurrection does not imply natural immortality of man—Judgment—believers and unbelievers—everlasting bliss or everlasting torment—Paradise (the (or a) Garden)—houris Narratives: the Qur’an’s dependence on the Old Testament and, to a less extent, on the New—these narratives not taken directly from the Bible—obtained from oral, not literary, sources —confusions—presence of extra-Biblical material—Muhammad’s knowledge of the Old Testament gathered largely from Medinan Jews—his knowledge of the New not intimate because of lack of close contact with Christians Legislation: prayer—poor - tax—food—drink—gambling— fasting—pilgrimage—usury—marriage—divorce—inheritance Conclusion Words whose Derivation or Meaning is dis¬ cussed 173 Bibliocraphy 173 Indexes 175 TABLE OF DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE VERSE-NUMBERS IN FLUEGEL’S EDITION AND THOSE IN THE OFFICIAL EGYPTIAN EDITION The left-hand column gives Fluegcl’s numbers : the corresponding numbers in the Egyptian text may be obtained by adding or subtracting as indicated in the right-hand column. . 1-6 + 1 III contd . 180-190 + 3 I vii contd . 28-103 + 2 . 1-19 -n 191-193 + 2 103-131 + 3 19-38 + 2 194 + 1 131-139 + 4 38-61 +3 196-198 + 1 *40-143 +3 61-63 + 4 IV. . . . 3-5 + 1 144-146 +2 63-73 + 5 7 -i 3 -1 * 47 -1 57 + 1 73-137 + 6 *4 -2 166-186 + 1 138*172 + 5 *5 -3 191-205 + 1 173-212 + 4 16-29 -4 vui . . 37-43 -1 213-216 + 3 30-32 “5 44-64 -2 217-218 + 2 32-45 “4 64-76 -I 219-220 +1 45-47 -3 IX. . .62-130 - I 236-258 -1 47-48 -2 X . . . n-80 - I 259-269 — 2 49-70 -3 XI. . .6 - I 270-273 -3 70-100 -2 7-9 -2 273-274 — 2 100-106 -I 10-22 -3 274-277 — 1 118-156 + 1 22-54 -2 . . 1-4 + 1 156-170 +2 55-77 -3 4-18 + 2 171-172 + 1 77-84 -2 19-27 + 1 174-175 + 1 84-87 -I 27-29 + 2 v . . . .3-4 -* 88-95 -2 29-30 + 3 5-8 -2 96-99 -3 30-31 + 4 9-18 -3 99-120 -2 3**43 + 5 18-19 -2 120-122 - I 43-44 + 6 20-35 “3 XII . .97-103 -I 44-68 + 7 35-52 -4 XIII . . 6-18 - I 69-91 + 6 53*70 -5 28-30 + 1 92-98 + 5 70-82 -4 XIV . . 10-11 - I 99-122 + 4 82-88 -3 12-13 -2 122-126 + 5 88-93 - 2 14-24 -3 126-141 + 6 93-98 -1 25-26 -4 141-145 + 7 roi-109 + 1 27-37 -5 146-173 + 6 VI. . . 66-72 + 1 37 -4 * 74-175 + 5 136-163 -1 37 - 4 * -3 176-179 + 4 VII . . 1-28 1 + 1 41-42 -2 X TABLE OF DIFFERENCES xiv contd . 42-45 - 1 XXII contd . 26-43 -1 XL contd . 33*39 - 2 4647 - 2 43-77 +1 40-56 -3 47-51 - 1 XXIII . . 28-34 -1 56-73 -2 XVI . . 22-24 - 1 35-117 -2 73-74 - 1 25-110 — 2 117 -1 XLI . . 1-26 + 1 110-128 - I XXIV . . 14-18 + 1 XL 1 I . . I-X 1 + 2 XVII . . 10-26 - 1 44-60 + 1 12-31 + 1 27-48 -2 XXV . . 4-20 -1 31-42 + 2 49-53 -3 21-60 -2 43-50 + 1 53-106 - 2 60-66 -1 XLIII . . 1-51 +1 106-108 - 1 XXVI . . 1-48 + 1 XL 1 V . . 1-36 + 1 XVIII . . 2-21 +1 228 -1 XLV . . 1-36 +1 23-31 + 1 XXVII. . 45-66 -1 XLVI . . 1-34 +1 31-55 + 2 67-95 -2 XLVII. . 5.16 - 1 56-83 +1 XXVIII . 1-22 + 1 17-38 - 2 83-84 + 2 XXIX . . 1-51 +1 L . 13-44 + 1 85-97 + 1 XXX . . 1-54 +1 LIII . . 27-58 - 1 XIX . - • 1-3 + 1 XXXI . . 1-32 + 1 LV . . 1-16 +1 8-14 -1 XXXII . . 1-9 + 1 LVI . . 22-46 +1 27-76 -1 XXXIII . 41-49 + 1 66-91 +1 77-78 -2 XXXIV . 10-53 + 1 LVII . . 13-19 +1 79-91 -3 XXXV . 8-20 -1 LVIII . . 3-21 -1 9!-93 - 2 20-21 +1 LXXI . . 5-22 + 1 93-94 - I 21-25 + 2 26-29 - 1 XX . . . 1-9 + 1 25-34 + 3 LXXII. 23-26 - 1 16-34 - I 35-41 + 2 LXXIV 32 - 1 40-41 - I 42-44 + 1 33 - 2 42-63 - 2 XXXVI . 1-30 + 1 34-41 -3 64-75 -3 XXXVII . 29-47 + 1 41-42 — 2 75-79 - 2 47-100 + 2 42-51 -1 80-81 -3 101 + 1 54-55 +1 81-88 - 2 XXXVIII . 1-43 + : LXXVIII . 4 i - 1 89-90 -3 76-85 — 1 LXXX. . 15-18 + 1 90-94 - 2 XXXIX - 4 -1 LXXXIX . 1-14 +1 94-96 - 1 5*9 -2 17-25 -1 106-115 + 1 10-14 -3 XCVIII . .2-7 +1 115-121 + 2 14-19 -2 Cl. . . . 1-5 + 1 122-123 + 1 19-63 -1 5*6 + 2 XXI . . 29-67 - 1 XL . . . 1-2 +1 6-11 + 3 XXII . . 19-21 - 1 19-32 -1 CVI . . •3 +1 CHAPTER I THE HISTORICAL SITUATION Few books have exercised a wider or deeper influence upon the spirit of man than the Qur’an. By the Moslems, as the followers of Muhammad are properly called, it is regarded as a divine revelation. It is used by them in their public and private devotions, and is recited at their festivals and family occasions. It is the basis of their religious beliefs, their ritual, and their law; the guide of their conduct, both public and private. It moulds their thought, and its phrases enter into their literature and their daily speech. A book thus held in reverence by some three hundred millions of our fellow-men demands our attention. It also demands serious study; for it is by no means an easy book to understand. It is neither a treatise on theology, nor a code of laws, nor a collection of sermons, but rather a medley of all three, with some other things thrown in. It was not written at one time, or according to one scheme, but was delivered from time to time during a period of some twenty years, in the course of which Muhammad, the prophet by whom it was delivered, rose from the position of an obscure religious reformer in his native Meccah to that of virtual ruler of Arabia, in his adopted town of Medinah. As it reflects the changing circumstances, needs and purposes of the Prophet during these years, it naturally varies much in style and content, and even in teaching. Its arrangement is un¬ systematic, and though it is written in, on the whole, intel¬ ligible Arabic, even in its language there are difficulties which scholars have not yet succeeded in explaining. Before proceeding to study the book itself it will be useful to have before us in brief outline some information as to the historical situation and circumstances of its origin. 2 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN THE ENVIRONMENT The World Situation .—The Qur’an was produced in the early part of the seventh century A.D. The mission started by Columba was spreading over Scotland and the North of England; that started by St. Austin was spreading over England from the South. The Merovingian kings were nominally reigning in France. The Roman Empire of the West had succumbed to the invasions of the Barbarians. To the Arabs, Rum meant the Byzantine Empire with its capital at Constantinople. This Eastern Roman Empire, having escaped the ravages which had overtaken the Empire in the West, had attained a position of settled power and civilisation under Justinian, A.D. 527-563, but had thereafter fallen into confusion, partly owing to attacks by other Barbarians from without, and partly because of internal troubles and incapable rulers. The Persian Empire of the Sassanids had long been the rival of Byzantium in the East. It included Iraq and Meso¬ potamia; indeed its capital had been fixed at Meda’in Ctesiphon, which lay a few miles south of where the later city of Baghdad now stands. It thus bordered upon the North East of Arabia, just as the Byzantine province of Syria bordered upon the North West. Hostilities were en¬ demic along the frontier of the two empires, and periodically broke out into regular wars. Even the fifty years’ peace agreed on towards the end of the reign of Justinian had not been kept, and a long and final struggle began in A.D. 602. Taking advantage of the weakness of Byzantium, Khosrau II of Persia declared war, alleging as his pretext revenge for the murder of the Emperor Maurice, to whose aid he had in the beginning of his reign been indebted. Phocas, who had displaced Maurice, beset by apathy and active revolt at home, was in no position to ward off the Persian attack, and Asia Minor was overrun. The fortunes of Byzantium were at their lowest ebb when in 610 Heraclius, son of the governor of North Africa, appeared with a fleet before Constantinople. Phocas was deposed and Heraclius crowned emperor. But THE HISTORICAL SITUATION 3 the European provinces of the Empire had also been overrun by Barbarians from the North, and years passed before he was able to make headway against the Persians. Turning southwards, they conquered Syria and Egypt in 614. But the sack of Jerusalem, which had revolted against the Persian garrison, the slaughter of Christians, and the carrying off of what was believed to be the true Cross, stirred the emotions of Christians throughout the Empire. This enabled Heraclius to organise his forces for a determined effort. He had, however, first to deal with the Avars who threatened Constantinople from the North, and it was not till 622 that he was able to turn against the Persians. Thereafter, in campaign after campaign he compelled them to withdraw from Asia Minor, Egypt, and Syria, by using his sea-power to attack them in the rear and to invade their home- provinces. In 627 Khosrau’s palace was captured and sacked ; he had to flee from his capital, and met his death either from the violence of his own passions or from that of his courtiers. In 628 peace was made, and amongst other conditions was the return of the Cross, which Heraclius the victor restored to Jerusalem. Arabia .—This contest for world power, which was going on while Muhammad was pursuing his mission in Meccah and Medinah, probably affected Arabia but little. Arabs may have fought in the armies of both empires. It is possible that the disturbed state of the countries to the north of Arabia tended to divert some of the trade between East and West, which would otherwise have passed through them, to the southern route, and may thus have increased the trade of South Arabia and of the Meccan caravans which formed one of the links between South Arabia and the Mediterranean. There may be one or two references to the war in the Qur’an, though what is usually regarded as a prophecy of Byzantine victory, XXX, 1-4, is perhaps to be interpreted otherwise. But the scene of the fighting was, for the most part, remote from Arabia. This great peninsula, so largely desert, was in fact pro¬ tected by the nature of its terrain from warlike invasion from without. The two great powers had been content to 4 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN maintain on its frontiers something of the nature of buffer- states. The Persians supported the Lakhmid dynasty of Hirah in the North East, while in the North West the Byzantines subsidised the chiefs of the house of Ghassan. In return for this support, these Arab rulers held the raiding Bedouin in check, and maintained the prestige of their respective superiors. Only in the South West had there been any real political penetration. This fertile corner of Arabia had been the seat of an ancient civilisation. But the Sabaeans who latterly had ruled there, had, for some reason, lost their power and their monopoly of trade, see XXXIV, 14 ff. Christianity had been introduced fairly early, and there are traditions of persecutions of the Christians, notably that under the Jewish king, Dhu Nuwas. This led to the invasion of the Yemen by the Abyssinians, and the establish¬ ment of an Abyssinian dynasty. Later, just about the time of Muhammad, this had been replaced by Persian rule. The greater part of Arabia, however, was then, as it still is, a land of nomad tribes. Here and there, where water happened to be found, an oasis gave opportunity for the practice of some primitive agriculture, and especially for the cultivation of palms. The most important of these oases in West Arabia was Yathrib or, as it came to be better known, Medinah. It lay on a fertile plateau, towards the head of the Wadi Hamd, about 130 miles inland from the Red Sea coast, between the 24th and 25th degrees of latitude. Farther north were Khaibar, Taima’, and Dumah. In these and other places a small settled population was found. Meccah, the largest town of all, owed its population to trade rather than to agriculture, for the surrounding country is sterile. So far as they were Arabs, the inhabitants of the towns and villages do not seem to have differed much from the Bedouin. The same tribal system seems to have prevailed. The Bedouin .—The Bedouin were intensely proud, boast¬ ing their freedom, their prowess in war, their hospitality and their purity of race. They were inclined to despise those who had settled down to agriculture. They all, however, recognised each other as Arabs, and this unity was fostered not only by a sense of race kinship, but by a common language, THE HISTORICAL SITUATION 5 spoken, no doubt, in many dialects, and by a common heritage of poetry which maintained a standard of the language understood and admired all over the peninsula. But this vague unity of race and tongue was broken by tribal jealousies and feuds. The tribe was the main unit, divided into clans and families, but held together by the council of its leading men. Amongst these, one was usually recognised as chief, but this office, though it might tend to remain in one family, was not hereditary. The holding of it, in fact, depended on ability tb take the lead in council and in war. Each tribe had its recognised district, in which it moved as the exigencies of water and pasturage demanded. These varied from season to season, and probably from year to year. The desert character of Arabia is for the most part due, not to the nature of its soil, but to the scantiness and uncertainty of its rainfall. Rain in Arabia is one of the greatest of blessings, and with its coming the face of the desert is transformed. In good seasons life might be pleasant enough, but times were often hard, and famine years not uncommon. Within the tribe a certain brotherhood pre¬ vailed, and the chiefs had a sense of responsibility towards the poorer members. In a mercantile town like Meccah, we may surmise, this responsibility sat but lightly on the wealthy. Beyond the limits of the tribe, however, little sense of brother¬ hood existed. In times of stress weak tribes were bound to suffer, and might be driven from part, or even from the whole, of their domain. The many migrations of which one hears were no doubt due to something of that sort ; though the fact that so-called Southern Arab tribes were found in Central and North Arabia is generally associated with the bursting of the dam of Ma’rib in the Yemen in A.D. 451, an event for which there is historical evidence. The basis of the tribe was no doubt kinship, though there was more mixture of blood than the theory of the Arab genealogists implies. Outside his own tribe the individual had no rights, and counted for little. But he might be received into the protection of another tribe or of some influential member of it, and so find security. Or he might even be accepted into the tribe as a halif , by a sort of 6 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR'AN blood-brotherhood constituted by oath. It was probably in some such way that Muhammad’s followers at first found a footing in Mcdinah. Arab Life and Custom .—The possessions of a tribe con¬ sisted of cattle, sheep, and goats, but especially of camels. Horses were much prized, but were delicate animals in desert conditions: only the wealthy could maintain them, and their use was mainly for raids and fighting. It was on his camels that the Badawl mainly depended. He was largely occupied in breeding and rearing them, and from them came most of his simple necessities. Wild animals of the desert offered good hunting at times to those who could afford to take part in it. Warlike raids were frequent. These for the most part aimed at the capture of booty rather than at bloodshed. But it was a rough game, in which the attempt to drive off cattle and other booty often led to fighting and bloodshed. The law of retaliation prevailed, and, while from one point of view this operated to make the shedding of blood a serious matter which should if possible be avoided, on the other hand, if once blood were shed, an ever-widening feud might develop which would make life unsafe for members of both the tribes involved, and might grow to open warfare. Wiser counsels, however, sometimes prevailed, and a composition was made by balancing up the slain and making a payment of camels. Even then, personal feelings might not be satisfied, and private revenge taken for a near relative might reopen the feud. Position of Women .—In such a state of society the position of women must have been insecure. The strength of a tribe lay in its fighting men. The birth of a son was welcomed, that of a daughter was often felt as a disappoint¬ ment. To what extent the custom prevailed of burying female children alive is difficult to discover. The Qur’an affords evidence that it sometimes happened, VI, 138, XVI, 61, LXXXI, 8 f. That it prevailed extensively is hardly likely. For, in a sense, daughters were valuable property. Marriage was by purchase, the mahr or bride-price being paid to the parent or guardian. Women were also frequently carried THE HISTORICAL SITUATION 7 off in raids, becoming the wives of their captors. This implies that women were regarded as property. We are told that they might be inherited as part of the property of a deceased, husband, though it is doubtful if this is referred to in IV, 23. The fact that a husband claimed rights of possession in a wife did not necessarily prevent the wife having property of her own, nor did it altogether prevent women from exercising some amount of influence. They seem to have enjoyed considerable freedom and respect. But they had few' rights. Divorce was common, and at the will of the man, though a woman’s kinsmen might have influence enough to prevent too great injustice being done. The migrations of nomad life no doubt tended to induce temporary relationships, and when women were carried off in raids little regard was paid to the marriage bond. Sacred Months .—The uncertainty of this state of raiding and war, which seems to have been almost normal in Arabia, was to some extent mitigated by the institution of sacred months. Of these there were four in the year, Rajab, standing by itself, the other three, Dhu 1 -Qa'dah, Dhu 1 -Hijjah and Muharram, forming a group at the end and beginning of the Arab year. In the middle of this period the Meccan pilgrimage was held annually. In these months, by long- established custom, war and fighting were forbidden, and in spite of the lawlessness of Arab life the prohibition seems on the whole to have been observed. The Arab months were lunar, but the year was kept in line with the seasons by the insertion of an extra month occasionally. When this should be done was, in all probability, decided at Meccah during the pilgrimage time. Meccah .—Meccah had at this time become the leading tow'n of Arabia. It was dependent on its trade. Its pos¬ session of a well had made it a halting-place on the trade route which ran north and south roughly parallel to the Red Sea, and also on that which ran from the interior of Arabia to the Red Sea coast. The town had grown to be of much importance. The North-South route was one of the arteries of trade between East and West, and the trade passing along it, which had at one time been in the hands of the B 8 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN Sabaeans, and later shared by them with the Nabataeans, seems now to have fallen into the hands of the Meccans. Meccah had thus become a place of wealth, business and political influence. It was, in addition, a religious centre, for it possessed a famous sanctuary, the Ka'bah, and was sur¬ rounded by a haram , or sacred territory, in which by religious sanction fighting and bloodshed were forbidden. The annual pilgrimage, which seems in pagan times to have been con¬ nected with other sanctuaries in the neighbourhood of Meccah rather than with the Ka'bah, drew together tribesmen from all over Arabia. Under shelter of the sacred months fairs were held at various places in the neighbourhood, and no doubt a good deal of secular and political business was transacted. The frequency with which the Qur’an insists that it is impossible to frustrate Allah probably combats the confidence the Meccans had in their powers of negotiation and intrigue to avert threatening dangers. Religion. —Religion, it will be seen, still exercised much influence in Arabia. But this was probably due more to respect for ancient custom than to the strength of active belief in the pagan gods. These gods, of whom we really know little beyond the names, seem to have been connected partly with worship of the heavenly bodies (al-'Uzza is probably the planet Venus, and al-Lat a name for the sun- goddess), partly with a worship of fate or destiny (al-Manat has probably some such sense), and partly with a more primitive animism. They were associated with particular places, and seem to have been represented by rough stone- images, or perhaps simply by stones of some peculiar shape which had acquired a reputation of sanctity. Sacrifices were offered to the gods, usually camels, sheep or goats. There are hints of human sacrifices having occasionally taken place, but these were certainly not characteristic of Arabian religion. The exposure of female infants may have had a religious basis, but was more probably due to economic causes. The Qur’an mentions some food-taboos, no doubt connected with the sacrifices. Pilgrimages were made to sanctuaries, and the circumambulation of them seems to have been a common practice. We know most about the pilgrimage of Meccah, THE HISTORICAL SITUATION 9 and the circumambulation of the Ka'bah, which with some modifications were ultimately adopted into Islam, and still continue. But these, though the most important of such ceremonies, were not the only ones in Arabia. Jinn .—In ordinary life, belief in demons and jinn was probably more alive in the mind of the Arab than belief in the gods. These shadowy spirits seldom assumed a distinct personality or a name. They were associated with deserts, ruins and other eerie places, and might assume various forms, usually those of animals, serpents and other creeping things. Though vaguely feared, they were not always inimical. A madman was majnun, that is, affected by the jinn, but the jinn were sometimes also thought of as assisting men to special knowledge. That the poet was at one time thought of as having some such demonic inspiration is implied in the name shd'ir ‘one who is aware' or 'perceives'. The position of the kdhin ‘ soothsayer ’ is by no means clear. He appears not to have been specially attached to any sanctuary, or to the service of a particular god, but to have had his own special prompter, a spirit or jinn, who inspired him, and to have carried on his operations independently. Arab legend has much to tell of these men—women oc¬ casionally pretended to such inspiration—and though in detail entirely untrustworthy, it no doubt conveys a true enough picture of the customs which prevailed. They were consulted on all sorts of matters, for prognostications of the future, for the solution of past mysteries, and for decisions on litigious questions. Their oracles were often cryptic, garnished with oaths to make them more impressive, and usually couched in saf 4 rhymed prose short rhythmic lines rhyming with each other. It is probable that the existence of such a class of men, and the style of their oracles, had some influence upon Muhammad, though he denied that he was a kdhin. Judaism —We have also, however, as a mere glance at the Qur’Sn will show, to reckon with the influence of the higher religions of Judaism and Christianity. Judaism had been known in Arabia for at least several centuries. In the Yemen, the Jews had at one time taken a leading position, IO INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN and no doubt were still represented by a strong colony in the Prophet’s day. In practically all the oases of the North West of the peninsula we hear of settlements of Jews, in Taima’, Fadak, Wadi 1 -Qura, Khaibar, and especially in Yathrib (Medinah). They seem to have been agriculturalists rather than traders, and, curiously enough, the evidence of their presence in the trading centre, Meccah, is rather un¬ certain. On the ground of the names which are mentioned in Tradition, and of the fact that they seem to have been divided into tribes and clans, it has been argued that these settlers were not Jews by race, but were Arabs who had adopted the Jewish religion. But, though there may have been Arab proselytes among them, it seems impossible to understand the part which these people play in the life of Muhammad without assuming that there was at least a strong kernel of Jewish race. As they appear in the Qur’an, they have the characteristics of the Jew. Christianity .—Christianity prevailed in most of the countries lying round about Arabia. It was the official religion of the Byzantine Empire. The Melkite, or Orthodox State Church, was, however, not popular in the provinces bordering on Arabia. The Chalcedonian formula of the two natures, divine and human, in the one person of Jesus Christ, had been adopted in A.D. 451. But the dispute had con¬ tinued, and had led to the formation of separate Churches. In Syria the Jacobite Church was strong, and held to its Monophysite doctrine, laying emphasis on the divine nature of Jesus Christ. The Coptic Church in Egypt was also Monophysite, as was the Church in Abyssinia. In the Yemen, where Christianity had found a footing some centuries before, the Church was influenced by the Abyssinian Church, and was, like it, Monophysite. Zoroastrianism .—The official religion of the Persian Empire was Zoroastrianism, with its dualism of light and darkness, good and evil. The existence at least of this religion was known to Muhammad, for its adherents are referred to under the name al-majiis in XXII, 17. It is there¬ fore possible that he may have borrowed from it, but the fact that in other similar lists, II, 59, V, 73, al-majus does THE HISTORICAL SITUATION ii not occur, suggests that his knowledge of it was remote and came late. In fact the buffer state of Hirah, through which the Persian Empire came more immediately into contact with Arabia, was largely Christian in population. There was a strong body of Christians there and in the confines of the Persian Empire itself. This Church, some¬ what isolated from the main body of Christendom, had maintained the older type of Christian doctrine associated with the name of Nestorius, and, on the whole, stressed the human nature of Jesus Christ. Sometimes repressed, but more usually enjoying an uneasy toleration, it was an active missionary Church, and spread the knowledge of Christianity far into the interior of Asia, and also amongst the Arab tribes. Religious Penetration .—The extent to which Christianity had really penetrated into Arabia is difficult to gauge. Certain tribes, especially in the North East, were nominally Christian. A flourishing Hellenic-Christian civilisation is attested in the district east of the Jordan and the Dead Sea. We hear of Christians among the settled population of some of the oases of the North West of the peninsula, particularly in Dumah and Taima’, and there was a bishop in Ailah at the head of the Gulf of 'Aqabah. But as to the centre of the peninsula, we are in the dark. Many of the Arab poets make reference to Christian objects and customs. This is natural, as it was part of the policy of the kings of Hlrah and of the chiefs of Ghassan to encourage Arab poets to visit their courts. But the knowledge implied in these references is limited to externals and seldom goes beyond what an observant visitor might acquire. On the other hand, the nature of Arabic poetry did not allow the expression of any deeper understanding of religion, and there may have been more behind these casual references than appears. All we can say is that there is no evidence of the spirit of Arab poetry having been modified by Christian ideas. But certainly, through visitors, and especially by the coming and going of merchants and traders, it was possible for enquiring spirits in Arabia to acquire a knowledge of Christianity. There may even have been w'andering missionaries of that faith appearing at Arab gatherings, as Tradition affirms. 12 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN Tradition also speaks of certain Arabs who about Muham¬ mad's time had turned away from paganism ; some inclined to Christianity, among them Waraqah b. Nawfal, a cousin of Muhammad’s wife Khadljah, who is said to have studied the books of the Christians. Western scholars have always been suspicious of the details of these traditions, but have been inclined to accept the fact of the existence of these hanifs as evidence of the influence of Judaism and Christianity upon the Arabs. Unfortunately they belong to the develop¬ ment of Muhammad’s thought rather than to history. The word hanif occurs several times in the Qur’an, evidently in the sense of one who follows a pure religion, ' not a polytheist \ The derivation of the word has been much discussed. The Arabs derive it from the root linf which means ‘ to incline ’, 4 lean to one side *; hence the word would mean 4 one who leans away from the prevailing religion \ But the use of the word in the Qur’an implies a much more positive sense. Western scholars have been inclined to connect it with the Syriac fianpa, 4 heathen ’. This suits the use of the word in Arabic poetry before Muhammad’s time, where it occurs a few times. But it does not suit the Qur’fln usage. The further difficulty of the long vowel in the second syllabic of hanif is resolved if we suppose the word to have been borrowed first in its plural form; Syriac turnip he would readily give ttunafa' in Arabic, and this would imply hanif as its singular. This gives us a hint as to how the word came into Arabic, for in Syriac, speech the Arabs were, religiously, haniphe, that is, heathen. They were polytheists, but Muhammad, in the course of his controversy with the Jews and Christians, came to the conclusion that religions were apt to be corrupted from their pristine purity. As the Jews and Christians of his day were the degenerate representatives of original pure monotheisms established by Moses and Jesus, so the fiunafd' were the degenerate representatives of an original pure religion estab¬ lished by Abraham. Abraham, therefore, the founder of this Arab religion, was, as is repeatedly stated in the Qur’an, a 44 hanif\ but not a polytheist Thus fianif acquired in the Qur’an the sense of pure monotheist. In so far as the tradition shows the influence of this change of sense, it is dependent on the Qur’an. fezvisk-Christian Sects. —Whether, for the explanation of the Qur’Sn, we require to take account of some heretical form, or forms, of Christianity is a debatable point. The mixture of Jewish and Christian material which it contains THE HISTORICAL SITUATION 13 has raised the question whether we have not to assume that Muhammad had been in contact with some Jewish-Christian sect. And it is, of course, possible that some such forms of Christianity may have lingered along the borders of Arabia long after they had died out elsewhere. In this connection attention has been called to the Elkesaites, a Jewish-Christian (perhaps originally Jewish) sect mentioned by Eusebius and also by Hippolytus. It seems to have been founded by Elkesai, who professed to have received a Rook sent down to him from Heaven, c. a.d. ioo. They rejected sacrifices, and stressed the practice of baptism, in the form of total immersion, for the remission of sins. In prayer they turned towards Jerusalem, and they insisted on the observance of the Sabbath. They disliked the teaching of Paul, denied the Virgin Birth, and practised a form of sacrament in bread and salt. That they are said to have been vegetarians may simply mean that they refused to eat flesh which had been offered in sacrifice. Mention may also be made of the Mandaeans, who were later identified with the SSbi’In mentioned in the Qur’an, though this identification is by no means certain. They were a syncretistic sect, probably of pagan origin, living in the region of the lower Euphrates, where remnants of them are still to be found. The most notable element of their ritual was immersion in running water. Their belief showed admixture of Jewish, Gnostic, and Christian elements. Their adoption of John the Baptist as their chief saint probably dates from after the Moslem conquest, and it is unlikely that they had any historical connection with him. Another system from which some have thought that Muhammad may have borrowed is Manichacism. Its origin is obscure, but it seems to have arisen from the teaching of Man! (or Minich), who was bom in Babylonia c. a . d . 216, and c. a . d . 242 began to claim that he had received divine messages and to carry on a religious mission. He seems to have claimed to be one of a suc¬ cession of divine messengers, Buddha, Zoroaster, Jesus. But what place in his system was assigned to these predecessors is not clear. Manichaeism claimed to be a philosophy and an ethical system based upon revelation. Its philosophy makes much of the im¬ aginative contrast between light and darkness, good and evil, spirit and matter, though it is not clear how far it actually identified evil with matter, or in fact what its conception of matter really was. Its ethical code was, however, somewhat whimsically ascetic, and fasting played a large part in it. The movement spread first in the Persian Empire, where it met with persecution. It was thus driven M INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN into Central Asia. Its spread in the West dates from about the fourth century. There it appealed strongly to the intelligentsia, and for a time was amongst them a serious rival to Christianity. We cannot a priori rule out the possibility that any of these sects may have exercised some influence upon Muham¬ mad or his surroundings. To the enquiring Arab mind any idea current in the spiritual atmosphere of surrounding countries might be accessible. Yet on the whole Arabia was remote and primitive, and Muhammad was, after all, a practical man who had spent the early part of his life in business, if not in more menial labour. It will be well therefore to keep as far as possible to the main stream of ideas that were likely to be known to ordinary people, and not allow ourselves to be lured aside by every attractive similarity which scholarship may reveal. Cultural Penetration .—Some of the things which Arabia needed it could no doubt procure. But its wants were limited by its remoteness, its restricted resources and its primitive mode of life. Swords and lances appear to have been common enough, though they no doubt came mostly from outside. The protective ring-mail, which came from Persia, could be procured only by the chiefs. Wine, the product of the grape, was imported by Jewish or Christian merchants, but the very frequency with which poets boast of having drunk it shows that it was not an ordinary beverage. Writing .—The question which interests us here is the prevalence of writing. The assumption which at one time prevailed that writing in Muhammad’s day was a recent introduction into Arabia, known only to a few and still regarded as a marvel, has been disproved. It rested to some extent on a misinterpretation of XCVI, 4, which was taken as ascribing the teaching of the use of the pen to Allah as one of His outstanding gifts to men. The real sense is that Allah had taught by means of the pen, that is, had given a written revelation of things which men could not otherwise know. That writing was known in Arabia long before that time is shown by archaeological evidence. There are South Arabian inscriptions going back, some of them, far beyond the Christian era. In North West Arabia inscriptions have THE HISTORICAL SITUATION >5 * been found, in various alphabets, Nabataean, Lihyanic, Thamudic, which belong to the centuries preceding the appearance of Muhammad. Jhe Arabic alphabet is sparsely attested : there is one inscription dating from A.D. 328, and there are two belonging to the sixth century. That is no doubt meagre enough. Still we may assume that, where inscriptions on stone or metal occur, writing on some more convenient material was already fairly well known. In fact, anyone who considers the relationship of these various alphabets to each other will recognise that the development is one of written forms, which tend to grow more cursive, and therefore less suitable for inscriptional use. This implies a pretty active use of writing. True, no inscriptions have yet been found in the neighbourhood of Meccah or Medinah. But Meccah was a mercantile town dependent for its very existence on its trade, and in regular communication with regions in which writing was in common use. The Meccan merchants must have kept some record of their transactions, and it may be assumed that writing was well enough known there. The indirect evidence of the Qur’an shows that it was. Its imagery is steeped in a mercantile atmosphere, and implies the keeping of accounts in writing. The Judgment- day is the day of reckoning, the books will be opened, and every one will be shown his account, or will get his account handed to him to read. The angels write the deeds of men, and everything is recorded in a book. Some of these images may be borrowed from Christian language ; but, even so, they must have been quite well understood in Meccah. The fact that the Qur’an lays it down that debts should be recorded in writing, II, 282 f., shows that persons able to write were not difficult to find even in Medinah where this regulation was produced. The tradition as to the collection of the Qur'an mentions palm-leaves, leather, ribs and shoulder-blades of animals as materials on which portions of the Qur’an were found to have been written. Possibly the intention behind this is to give an impression of the primitive conditions amid which the Qur’an originated, and thus heighten the wonder of it. No doubt these things were occasionally used for writing 16 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN on. But there is no reason why papyrus should not have been used in Meccah at any rate. For purposes of book- production papyrus had by this time given place, in the Gracco-Roman world, to pergament (parchment), which was prepared from the skins of animals, afforded a better surface, and was more enduring. This is perhaps once mentioned in the Qur’an, LII, 3, by the word raqq ; the reference is probably to the Jewish Law given at Sinai. (It may imply that the Jews used pergament for the writing of their Torah.) But papyrus continued to be produced, and was largely used for business purposes and private correspondence. It was made in rectangular sheets of moderate size. In former times, rolls were produced for the writing of books by pasting a number of such sheets together. That had gone out of fashion, but to a certain limited extent the sheets might still be pasted together, or might be folded into book-form. Prob¬ ably it is this material which is denoted by the word qirtas , which occurs twice in the Qur’an, VI, 7, 91, for it is derived from the Greek chartSs which denotes a leaf or sheet of papyrus. Since it is an early borrowing, and probably not direct from the Greek, there is of course the possibility that it may have undergone some change of meaning, but this is unlikely, as it appears to have still had the signification of papyrus in the days of the caliphs ; (see Mingana, Wood- brooke Studies, II, p. 21). VI, 91 may then imply that the Jews used papyrus for writing out separate portions of the Torah; and VI, 7 shows that the idea of producing a book on papyrus did at least enter Muhammad’s mind. What material was denoted by suhuf, we have no means of knowing. The word occurs several times in the Qur’an, usually in con¬ nection with the revelation, XX, 133, LIU, 37, LXXX, 13, LXXXVII, 18 f., XCVIII, 2; in LXXIV, 52 and LXXXI, 10, however, it probably refers to the record of man’s deeds. The word is South Arabian, but occurs in Arabic poetry before Muhammad’s time (see Jeffery, The Foreign Vocabu¬ lary of the Qur an). The singular fahifah probably denotes a sheet of writing material, so that it would not specify any particular material. The plural ?uhuf one would naturally take to mean separate (unbound) sheets. It may be argued THE HISTORICAL SITUATION 17 that when the Qur’an speaks of the suhuf of Moses or of Abraham something of the nature of a book is implied. But that is not necessarily so. If Muhammad were working with sheets, he would naturally assume that other messengers did the same. Could Muhammad Write ?—The question then arises whether Muhammad used writing materials, and had acquired the art of writing. It has become almost a dogma with Moslems that the Prophet was unable cither to read or to write. It enhances the miracle of the Qur’an that it should have been delivered by one entirely unlettered. Early opinion was not quite so fixed, though on the whole it tended to the same side. One of the main arguments for it is the application of the adjective ummiy to the Prophet in the Qur’an, VII, 156, 158, the word being interpreted to mean ‘ uneducated \ Properly the word means ‘ belonging to the ummah, the community ’, and in all the passages where it occurs it is at least possible to translate it ‘ native that is, belonging to the Arab community. In the passages where it is applied to the Prophet, this gives perfectly good sense. It was in fact part of his claim that he was an Arab mes¬ senger to the Arab people. In some of the passages where the word is used in the plural, see II, 73, III, 69, it might be argued that some contrast is implied between those who knew the Scriptures and those who did not, and it is possible that the Jewish use of the phrase 'am ha ares, in the sense of common, unlettered people may have influenced the meaning. Even if that be so, the use of ummiy as applied to the Prophet would imply no more than that he was not familiar with the Jewish (or Christian) Scriptures. Similar is the sense of XXIX, 47 : ** Thou hast not been in the habit of reciting or tracing with thy hand any book before it ; in that case those who invalidate [thy claims] would have been suspicious That simply means that he had not been a reader or a writer of previous Scriptures, that is, had not been a priest or a scribe ; else his opponents might justifiably have been sus¬ picious that he was merely repeating what he had learned from them. These Qur’an statements then do not necessarily imply that Muhammad could not read or write. 18 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN The evidence from Tradition is inconclusive. No great stress can be laid on the Prophet’s answer to the angel as reported in the story of his Call, when he was presented with a scroll and told to read (or recite). For, while the words most probably mean “ I am not a reader ”, that is, “ I am unable to read ”, they might mean simply " I am not going to read ” ; and, as we shall see, the tradition is, as a whole, unreliable. Tradition quite frequently says that Muhammad “ wrote ”, but as a rule this means no more than that he gave instructions for a written message to be sent. We know that, at any rate in his later years, he employed secretaries. There is in fact a curious story of his employing one of them to write the Qur’an. 1 Muhammad was dictating to 'Abdallah b. Sa'd b. Ab! Sarh the passage XXIII, 12 ff., and when he reached the end of v. 14, he paused, and 'Abdallah inter¬ jected : “ Blessed be Allah, the best of creators ”. This Muhammad adopted as the needed rhyme-phrase, and told him to write it down. This aroused 'Abdallah’s doubts; later he gave up Islam and returned to Meccah. He was one of the few proscribed at the time of the conquest, but was pardoned on the intercession of 'Othman. 2 That does not look like an invented story, and it supports the assump¬ tion that Muhammad did keep a written record of his revela¬ tions. As to his having written with his own hand, practically the only definite statement to that effect occurs in some of the accounts of what happened at Hudaibiyah. It is some¬ times said that when the Quraish emissary objected to the designation 0 Messenger of God ” in the heading of the treaty, Muhammad told ‘All, who was acting as secretary, to delete it and write “ b. ‘Abdallah ” instead. 'All refused to delete the title, whereupon Muhammad took the document and deleted it. Some forms of the story say further that he wrote in the altered designation with his own hand. One suspects some 'Alfitc influence in this story of ‘All’s refusal to delete the title. Other forms of the story, while recording the objection and the dropping of the title—it is really in¬ directly confirmed in XLVin, 29—seem to imply that objection was raised before the title was actually written, and are » Sec Batfiwt on vi, 93 - * 11111 Hisham, p. 818 ff. THE HISTORICAL SITUATION 19 silent about any change being made in the actual document. The evidence of Muhammad having written anything on this occasion is thus very weak. 1 A stronger argument, though indirect, can perhaps be drawn from the story of the sending out of ‘Abdallah b. Jahsh on the expedition which led to the attack on the Meccan caravan at Nakhlah on the last day of the sacred month of Rajab of the year II. Mu¬ hammad is said to have written a letter of instructions, which he gave to 'Abdallah, forbidding him to open it until he was two days’ march from Medinah. 2 This of course may not mean that he wrote the letter with his own hand. But it is not certain that at this early stage of his career in Medinah he employed secretaries, and the secrecy with which the expedition was despatched makes it doubtful whether he would entrust anyone with the writing of the letter. There is thus no convincing proof that Muhammad could write. But there is no improbability in his being able to do so. He may quite well have learned the art in Meccah, and if, as Tradition says, he conducted business for Khadljah in his youth, he must surely have been able to keep accounts in some form. The Meccan gibe reported in the Qur’an, XXV, 6, “ Tales of the ancients, which he has written for himself; they are recited to him morning and evening ”, though it may possibly mean " has had written for himself ”, shows that at least his critics thought he was working with written material of some sort. His retort in v. 7 does not in direct terms deny that he was doing so. Again, when hjs opponents gibed at him about the verbosity of Allah, he re¬ torted, XVIII, 109: “ Were the sea ink for the words of my Lord, the sea would fail before the words of my Lord would fail, though w r e brought as much ink again ” ; or as in XXXI, 26: " Were the trees that are in the earth pens, and the sea ink, with seven seas after it to swell it, the words of Allah 1 The full story is given in Ibn Hish&m, p. 747, where 'All is named as the writer. Bukhari, 54, 15, gives much the same account, but simply says that Muhammad called for a “ writer”; 53, 6a, *Alf refused to delete " Messenger of God ”, Muhammad deleted it himself; 53, 6b, adds that he wrote " son of 'Abdallah ” instead; so also 64, 43, which adds that he was not good at writing ; 58, 19, expressly says he was unable to write, but made the deletion when *Ali refused. * Ibn Hishftra, p. 423. 20 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN would not give out It seems probable that one who made such retorts was using pen and ink. At any rate, should study of the Qur’an require the assumption that he was doing so, there can be no objection to it on the ground of improbability. The Value of Tradition .—Study of the Qur’an must, in fact, be decisive in all questions regarding Muhammad. Tradition with regard to his life, his sayings and doings is profuse. With it there mingles a great deal of pious legend, and it is by no means easy to distinguish what is historical from what was invented for various purposes, or for no purpose but the play of fancy, in the century or two following upon his death. It is necessary therefore to emphasise that for the whole history of Muhammad the Qur’an must be regarded as the primary source. This is especially true of the early part of his life. In his native town Muhammad was not a person of great importance. In the later years of •his residence there he did attract some attention, but there were hardly any outstanding events to impress the popular memory. Historical tradition for that period of his life was therefore scanty, and pious imagination had a very free course. For the last ten years of his life the case is different. During that time he was much in the public eye, and was the centre of memorable events. Concerning these there is a sound historical tradition which enables us to fix the outline of his life and to interpret many passages of the Qur’an. Even here, however, the principle holds that the Qur’an is the fundamental authority, and while Tradition may often throw light on the Qur’an, we can only use Tradition in so far as it is consistent with the Qur’an, or at any rate is not inconsistent with the Qur’an properly understood. MUHAMMAD’S CAREER All intimate questions regarding the Prophet’s personality, his inspiration, claims and purposes, can be answered only on the basis of study of the Qur’an. But the Qur’an is so closely related to the life of Muhammad that in approaching MUHAMMAD 21 it we must have in our minds at least an outline of his career. Muhammad was born in Meccah. The exact date is uncertain, but is usually reckoned to have been A.D. 570 or 571. His father is said to have died before he was born, and his mother when he was about six years old. The Qur’an confirms that he was an orphan, that he was brought up in the pagan religion, and began life in poverty ; see XCIII, 6-8, which there seems to be no reason for taking otherwise than literally. He was protected by his grandfather 'Abd al- Muttalib, and later by an uncle Abu Talib. With the latter he is said to have accompanied the trading caravan to Syria. No credence can be given to the stories of his contact with Christian monks at this stage. But there are indications in the Qur’an that the route taken by the caravans to the North was not unknown to him, and the references to ships and the dangers of the sea are frequent enough to suggest some personal experience of them. We may therefore accept the view that he took part in trade in his youth, and it is * probable that he gained a reputation for sagacity and faith¬ fulness. He was engaged by Khadijah, a widow of some means, to conduct business on her behalf in the Syrian caravan, and on his return she let it be known to him that she would regard him favourably as a suitor. The marriage which took place when he was about twenty-five proved a happy one, and relieved him to some extent from poverty. He seems never to have been, at any rate during his Meccan residence, really wealthy; cf. XXV, 8 f. When he was about forty years of age, that is, c. A.D. 610, he began a religious mission in his native town of Meccah. The well-known story of his Call to be a prophet cannot, un¬ fortunately, be accepted as historical. It is weakly attested, and contains anachronisms and alien elements. 1 For the beginnings of Muhammad's mission we are largely dependent for information on what we can infer from the Qur’an itself. The period of his religious activity in Meccah extended to ten or twelve years, but there are few definite events mentioned as having happened during that time; in any case, as his r 61 e was that of a preacher and teacher of a new 1 See pp. 18 ftnd 31. 22 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR'AN religion, his deliverances were hortatory and didactic, and had little reference to contemporary events. Again we are for the most part dependent upon the Qur’Sn itself for light upon the development of his mission, and there is room for a good deal of difference of opinion. The view here taken, for which it is hoped the reasons will appear later, may be briefly summarised as follows. Muhammad claimed to be the Messenger of God to his own people and town. He began by advocating monotheism, the worship of one God upon whose power and bounty man was dependent, and in gratitude to whom he owed obedience and the generous use of the good things provided for him. The appearance of such a messenger was nothing new. Each community had had its messenger, and the rejection of the messenger had meant the destruction of the community which had refused to believe. Alongside this, not displacing it, appears later the doctrine of a Day of Judgment, at which men will be judged as individuals, and receive the reward of their conduct by being consigned either to heaven or to hell, which arc described with much detail. Borrowing from Jewish and Christian sources is at this stage very evident, and the attitude to previous monotheists is friendly. The chief religious rite instituted in Meccah was the salat, or ritual prayer. Morn¬ ing and evening are the times spoken of, and night prayers are recommended. Almsgiving and provision for the poor, the widow, and the orphan are advocated as recognition of God’s bounty. Muhammad’s preaching in Meccah produced com¬ paratively little effect. A small number believed, mostly of the poorer classes. Attacks upon the Meccan gods at length drew down persecution upon his followers. A number of them emigrated to Abyssinia. He himself and his sup¬ porters who belonged to Meccan families were protected by the danger of starting blood-feuds, but the situation was uncomfortable. An abortive attempt at a compromise with polytheism, which is alleged by Tradition, seems to have left a trace in surah LIII. Muhammad now lost hope of Meccah and began to look around for another settlement. He tried Ta’if without success. Negotiations with parties MUHAMMAD 23 from Yathrib (Medinah) led, however, to agreement. In September A.D. 622 (the first certain date of his career) he left Meccah and settled in Medinah, whither most of his supporters had already gone. This is known as the Hijrah (Hegira). In Medinah, Muhammad occupied a public position. He and his supporters had been brought in as a balance between the rivalries of the clans of Aus and Khazraj. He thus found scope for his remarkable political gifts. Of more immediate importance from the point of view of the Qur’an was his relationship to the Jews, of whom there were strong colonies in the neighbourhood of Medinah. He expected their sup¬ port as monotheists, and showed himself willing to learn and adapt his religious practice to theirs. In spite of this, how¬ ever, they rejected his prophetic claims, and ridiculed him. They opposed his political designs. His friendly attitude changed to hostility. His revulsion from the religion of the People of the Book to a purified Arab religion was marked by the change of qiblah (direction of prayer) from Jerusalem to Meccah, somewhere about the middle of the year II of the Hijrah (December 623). Hostilities had meanwhile been developing with the Meccans. “ Those who had disbelieved ” deserved destruc¬ tion. Besides, the needs of the Muhajirln (the emigrants who had left Meccah and come to Medinah) were pressing. Small expeditions began to molest the Meccan caravans. Many of his followers disliked this new warlike attitude, and the people of Medinah were naturally doubtful where it would lead. Further difficulty was caused by an attack on a small caravan at Nakhlah at the beginning of Rajab II, which raised the question of fighting in the sacred months. An ambitious attempt to intercept one of the chief Meccan caravans returning from Syria led to a battle at the wells of Badr, in which Muhammad’s following of a little over 300 men defeated a Quraish army of nearly 1000, Ramadan II, February 624. This greatly enhanced the Prophet’s prestige and confirmed his claims. But the booty had not been so great as had been expected, and difficulties arose as to the division of it. The expulsion of one of the Jewish colonies, c 24 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN the Ban! Qainuqa’, from Medinah followed in a little over a month’s time. The Quraish were known to be preparing to avenge their defeat; Muhammad was building up his strength, regulating his community, and making appeals for unity and for contributions. In Shawwal III, March 625, a large Meccan force appeared before Medinah. The feeling in the town was in favour of remaining on the defensive. Muhammad ulti¬ mately decided to accept the Quraish challenge. He marched out and took up his position at Uhud, a hill to the north of the town ; on the way, however, a portion of his army broke off and returned to the town. The Moslems were defeated, but the Quraish, having no quarrel with Medinah, withdrew. Muhammad, recovering from a slight wound and rallying some of his forces, followed, and claimed a victory. His position was, nevertheless, badly shaken, and for some months he was occupied in restoring morale in Medinah. The expulsion of the Ban! Nadir, another Jewish colony, in the month of II Rabl* of the year IV, September 625, may be taken as a sign that his ascendancy had been re-established. Moslem propaganda and raiding were resumed. The Mec¬ cans, finding their trade still being interfered with, formed a great coalition against Medinah, which, towards the end of the year V, brought together a large force outside the town. Muhammad had prepared a trench for the defence of the town. This novelty in Arab warfare nonplussed the attackers. As they lay inactive, the unity of the coalition began to wear out, and a storm of wind and rain finally dispersed it. The last remaining Jewish colony in Medinah had been lured into expressing sympathy with the attackers, and was immediately attacked and compelled to surrender. The men were ruthlessly slaughtered, Dhu 1 -Hijjah V, March 627. A year later Muhammad thought himself strong enough to force his way into Meccah. His Bedouin allies, however, failed him. Professing peaceable intentions he set out, ostensibly to perform the pilgrimage. He found his way blocked by Meccan forces, and halting at the borders of the karam, at Hudaibiyah, he entered into negotiations. The MUHAMMAD 25 treaty here made was a disappointment to his followers, but really marked the end of Meccan supremacy. It wasfollowed in the beginning of the next year by an attack on the Jewish colony of Khaibar, Muharram VII, May 628. The peaceful pilgrimage provided for in the treaty of Hudaibiyah took place in the pilgrimage month of that year, April 629. In an expedition to extend his influence northward he unex¬ pectedly met strong Byzantine resistance and was defeated at Mu’tah, I JumadS. VIII, September 629. Meccan influence had been waning, and some leading Meccans had already joined Muhammad in Medinah. A great expedition was now got together to overwhelm the town. Negotiations meanwhile took place, and Meccah was entered almost without fighting, Ramadan VIII, December 629. The Ka'bah was cleansed from idols, but the townspeople, most of whom accepted Islam, were kindly dealt with. Almost immediately, Muhammad was menaced by a combination of Arab tribes, among whom his march south had aroused suspicions. The Moslems met them at Hunain, and at the first onset were almost swept from the field. The veteran Medinan troops, however, held firm, and the others rallied round them. The Arabs were defeated and fled in confusion leaving a great amount of booty in Moslem hands, Shawwal VIII, January 630. The prestige of the Prophet was now established throughout Arabia, and deputations began to come in from tribes far and near. The conditions for their adherence were, the acceptance of Islam, the destruction of idols, and the payment of the zakat or tax for the support of the Moslem community. An expedition towards the Syrian border, known as the expedition to Tabuk, probably designed to avenge the defeat at Mu’tah, led to nothing of importance, Rajab IX, October 630. This was the last warlike expedition in which the Prophet took part. He led the pilgrimage of the year X, March 632. Another expedition, destined for the North, was being prepared, when he took ill and after a few days died, I Rabi' XI, June 632. Note on Chronology .—The Arab year was a lunar one, but was kept roughly in accord with the seasons by the insertion of an extra 26 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN month (an-nasy), every three years or so. Muhammad abolished this practice, ix, 36 f.; thus making the year purely lunar. When, in the caliphate of ‘Omar, the Moslem era was established, the beginning of the year in which the Hijrah (Migration to Medinah) took place was taken as the beginning of year I. This corresponds to 16th July a.d. 622. Approximately 33 Moslem years are equal to 32 Christian years. The names and order of the Arabic months are: 1. Muharram (Holy month). 7 - Rajab (Holy month). 2. §afar. 8- Sha'b&n. 3. ar-Rabl* nl-nwwnl (I Rabl*). 9 - Ramadan. 4. ar-Rabl' ath-th&ni (II Rabf). IO - Shawwftl. 5. Jumilda al-’Qla (I Jum&d 5 ). tl. Dhu l-Qa'dah (Holy month). 6. JumJldl al-ftkhirah (II Jumidi). 12. Dhu 1 -Hijjah (Holy month). MUHAMMAD'S CHARACTER AND AIMS As will have appeared from the above sketch, Muhammad's activity as a religious teacher and reformer fell into two sections of approximately equal length, that in Mcccah and that in Medinah. His situation was very different in the two periods. In Meccah he had no recognised position, and, while he gained some adherents, they were neither numerous, nor, except one or two individuals, influential, and their position became gradually more and more untenable. In Medinah he had from the first a position of influence as holding the balance between two hostile factions. That position may not have been exactly official, and was at first precarious, but the ever-present fear of recurring strife dis¬ posed the leaders of the factions to accept his advice, and prevented those who were doubtful of his policies, “ those in whose hearts was disease ”, taking resolute measures against him. Thus, in spite of the set-back occasioned by the defeat at Uhud, his influence grew, and by the end of his life had extended far across Arabia. This difference in the Prophet’s position is naturally reflected in the style, tone and subject of the Qur’an. But the line between Meccan and Medinan style must not be too rigidly drawn. The statesman of MUHAMMAD 27 Mcdinah was not necessarily incapable of producing passages in the style of the religious propagandist of Meccah. On the other hand, there was more development in Muhammad’s ideas and opinions than has usually been allowed for. It has indeed been generally recognised that he began as a messenger to his native town of Meccah, and that his conception of the scope of his mission extended to include the Arabs, if not mankind as a whole. But it was not only in this respect that his ideas changed and expanded. His knowledge of Judaism and Christianity and of the contents of their Scriptures was meagre to begin with, but was diligently increased, not by way of study and reading— for though not illiterate he was certainly no bookman—but by oral enquiry as opportunity brought him into contact with people who could give, or professed to be able to give, information. Muhammad’s teaching retained throughout its fundamental character, but there is hardly an aspect of it which was not altered and enriched by this increasing acquaintance with earlier religious ideas as time went on. That has been dealt with in my Origin of Islam in its Christian Environment ; the following treatment of the Qur’an will bring it out more clearly. We shall also see more clearly than before to what extent Muhammad, prompted, as he would have said, by Allah, was himself the architect of the success of Islam. Critical analysis of the Qur’an brings out its effectiveness for the purpose of religious awakening, for which it was originally designed. And the more we are able to place the political deliverances which it contains in their historical setting, the better we realise the insight and ability of the man who delivered them. Inflexible of purpose, yet ready to temporise and make con¬ cessions, diplomatic almost to the verge of dishonesty, he steered his sometimes devious way to the establishment of the worship of the One God in Medinah and all Arabia. One feels that, without him, the struggle would, more than once, have been lost, if indeed it had ever been begun. There were, of course, various circumstances which contributed to his success and prepared the way for Islam. The wealth and civilisation of the Christian lands which 28 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR'AN surrounded Arabia exercised a glamour upon the Arab mind that made it not inhospitable to a religion similar to that which prevailed there. The hold of the ancient paganism on the Arabs had been loosened. In Meccah, which profited by its religious position, there was no doubt an interest in preserv¬ ing the customary rites. But in Medinah paganism seems to have crumbled easily; the presence of influential colonies of Jews had no doubt helped to predispose the people to the acceptance of monotheism. When, with the change of qiblah, and the adoption of the Ka'bah as the centre of Islam, the enlightened religion of the People of the Book had been combined with ancient Arab practice, the demands of Arab patriotism were satisfied. There must have been many minds in Arabia to whom the idea of an inclusive brother¬ hood overriding the tribal divisions which gave rise to so much strife and bloodshed, was attractive. But tradition and custom, tribal pride and ambition, died hard ; and but for the man who had conceived the idea, and guided the infant community, Islam would undoubtedly have been crushed. In some respects it was perhaps a pity that the success of Islam was based upon temporal power and recourse to war. On the other hand, but for his adroit use of the influence which came to him and the military force which he built upon it, the Arabs would not have been united under the banner of Islam, and the history of the world would, at least, have been very different. It has sometimes been held that a man so gifted for politics must have had this political aim before him from the start. But this is to confound the secondary result with the primary impulse. Muhammad was perhaps more akin to the ecclesiastic than to the pious devotee, more the organiser of a religion than the original seeker after truth, but there is no doubt that the impulse which set him upon his mission was a religious one, and that the religious aim was with him the overruling motive all through. He sought and wielded power, but it was for the furthering of monotheism and Islam. The question of what induced Muhammad to take up his mission and proclaim himself as the Messenger of God to the Arabs is so intimately bound up with the problem of MUHAMMAD 29 the chronological arrangement of the Qur’an that it can hardly be treated apart from that. But it may be pointed out here that in no chronological arrangement which has been suggested docs the political motive appear early. Further, wherever the Qur’an speaks of previous messengers, they are represented as having come with a religious message, a call to the worship of One God ; and it is agreed that the accounts of these predecessors are largely moulded by Muhammad’s own experience. It is therefore as a religious personality that he is to be regarded. In fact it may be said that without a deep realisation of the religious fear which drove him forward and the religious conviction which gave him strength, it is impossible to understand the personality of Muhammad. MUHAMMAD’S INSPIRATION One point calls for fuller treatment here, because it has affected men’s judgment upon the character of Muhammad, and has, besides, intimate bearings upon the whole conception and composition of the Qur’an. Muhammad claimed to be a prophet, and to speak in the name of God. It will perhaps appear in what follows that he was much more modest in his claims, at any rate to begin with, than cither Moslem or Western scholars have assumed. It was, in fact, only as he measured himself against the ideas of Jews and. Christians as to the authority and inspiration of prophets that his claims grew. Probably it was not until after he had transferred to Medinah that he claimed the full authority of a prophet. Still, he did claim that position and authority, and long before that time he had claimed to speak in the name of God, and had even put forth deliverances purporting to be in the actual words of God. How are we to understand this ? Did he make false claims ? Or was there some reality behind the assertion ? What was the nature of his inspiration ? The answer formerly so frequently given that he was a false prophet who pretended to receive messages from God, we may discard, if for no other reason than that it is too 3 o INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN simple. There is sufficient evidence in the Qur’Sn itself, apart from Tradition, that the claim brought upon him ridicule and even persecution, against which only some real belief could have held its ground. He may have been mis¬ taken in the interpretation of his experience, but there must have been something which led him to the belief that he received messages from a divine source. We must try to gather what information we can as to how he thought these messages were given to him. Since Carlyle laughed out of court the idea of an impostor being the founder of one of the world’s great religions, various attempts have been made to save Muhammad’s sincerity— sometimes at the expense of his sanity. Weil seeks to prove that he suffered from epilepsy. Sprcnger, not content with this, dilates on the phenomena of hysteria, from which, he suggests, Muhammad suffered in addition Muir retains something of the false-prophct idea, and pictures the earnest high-souled messenger and preacher succumbing to the wiles of Satan for the sake of success. Margoliouth has no qualms about accusing him of having deliberately mystified the people, pointing to the phenomena of spiritualism as showing how easily human beings fall into that dishonesty. Noeldcke, while insisting on the reality of Muhammad’s prophetic inspiration, and rejecting the idea that he suffered from epilepsy, thinks that he was subject to overpowering fits of emotion which led him to believe that he was under divine influences. In all this perhaps more attention has been paid to the statements of Tradition than to the evidence of the Qur’ 5 n itself; and surely too little has been allowed for the fact that the Muhammad whom we know best was to all appearance healthy both in body and in mind. It seems incredible that a person subject to epilepsy, or hysteria, or even ungovernable fits of emotion, could have been the active leader of expeditions, or the cool far-seeing guide of a city-state and growing religious community, which we know Muhammad to have been. Here again we have to depend mainly on the Qur’an itself, and accept Tradition only in so far as it is in harmony with the results of Qur’an study. | Now the Qur’Sn gives no support to the existence of any MUHAMMAD 3 ‘ diseased condition in the Prophet. It chronicles, apparently without reserve, the gibes and reproaches of his opponents, but there is no mention of anything of that kind. They do indeed say that he is majnun , but that simply means that they thought his conduct crazy, or that his utterances were inspired by a jinn, as those of the soothsayers were supposed to be. Sometimes one almost feels that Muhammad him¬ self was not quite sure on that point. But that his opponents could point to any evident signs of disease is very improbable; had that been so, wc should most likely have heard of it. One of the latest and clearest accounts of the matter in the Qur’an is in II, 91, where Gabriel is said to have brought it (the revelation) down upon the Prophet’s heart, with the permission of Allah. That this was the explanation which Muhammad gave out and allowed to be understood in his Medinan days is certain. Tradition is unanimous on the point that it was Gabriel who was the agent of revelation. But when Tradition carries this back to the very beginning, and associates Gabriel with the Call, we are struck by the fact that Gabriel is only twice mentioned in the Qur’an, both times in Medinan passages. Gabriel, wc suspect, is a later interpretation of something which Muhammad had at first understood otherwise. It is to be noted that the verse above referred to makes no claim that Gabriel appeared in visible form. Muhammad claims to have seen a vision on two occasions, see Lin, 1-12, 13-18. Strictly read, these passages imply visions of Allah; but in LXXXI, 15-29, the vision is re-interpreted as that of an angel—an indication that Muham¬ mad himself interpreted some things in his experience differently at different times. Having at first assumed that he had seen Allah in person, he has now realised the im¬ possibility of that and concluded that it must have been a messenger from Allah, that is, an angel. Similarly with the reception of his messages, he may have interpreted the matter differently at the beginning from the interpretation he put upon it in Medinah. That the visions, however we may explain them, were to Muhammad real enough, there is no reason to doubt. But they stand by themselves; he makes no claim to have seen other visions. There is just as 32 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN little in the Qur’an to support the supposition, which Tor Andrae adopts, that he heard voices. In XLII, 50 ff. both the visible appearance of Allah and the hearing of His voice are rejected, and the explanation adopted is that He may speak by ' suggestion ’ or send a messenger to * suggest \ What then is meant by ‘ suggest * and ‘ suggestion * ? The verb awftd and the noun wahy have become the technical terms in Moslem theology for the communication of the revelation to Muhammad, and have come to imply the recita¬ tion of the words of the Qur’ln to him by the angel Gabriel. In the Qur’an itself they are indeed the words commonly used in that connection, but they arc not confined to it. The word awha is used in XIX, 12 of Zachariah, who having become dumb signed {awha) to the people that they should glorify God. Satans of jinn and men * suggest ’ things to each other, VI, 12 1 . The recipient of wahy, even from Allah, is not always a prophet, or even a human being. Allah * suggests ’ to the bee to take houses for herself in the hills and trees and the arbours which men erect, XVI, 70. The earth gives up its dead because its Lord has ‘ suggested ’ to it so to do, XCIX, 2. Allah ‘ suggested ’ to each of the seven heavens its special function, XLI, 11. Even when the recipient is a prophet, what is communicated is usually not the words of a revelation, but a practical line of conduct, something to do, not to say. Thus it is ‘ suggested ' to Noah to build the ark, and he is to build it under Allah’s eyes and at His ‘suggestion ’, XI, 39, xvil, 41. To Moses it is 1 suggested ’ to set out with his people by night, XX, 79, XXVI, 52, to strike the sea with his staff, XXVI, 63, to strike the rock with his staff, vn, 160. To Muhammad himself it is * suggested ’ that he should follow the religion of Abraham, XVI, 124. These practical ‘ suggestions ’ are often, it is true, formulated in direct speech, as if a form of words had been put into a person's mind. There are cases too in which the formula has reference to doctrine rather than to conduct; for example, “ Your God is One God ”, XVIII, 110, XXI, 108, XLI, 5. But the formula is usually quite short, the sort of phrase, it may be remarked, which might flash into a person’s mind after consideration of a matter as the final summing up MUHAMMAD 33 and solution of it. There arc indeed a few passages in which the verb seems to mean the communication of somewhat lengthy pieces to the prophet; for example, III, 39, XI, 51, XII, 103* But even in them the actual verbal communication of the stories is not quite certainly implied. The funda¬ mental sense of the word as used in the Qur’Sn seems to be the communication of an idea by some quick suggestion or prompting, by, as we might say, a flash of inspiration. This agrees with what is given in the dictionaries (see Lisin al- ' Arab, s.v.) which implies that haste or quickness is part of the connotation of the root. The frequent use of this term in connection with the Prophet’s inspiration makes us suspect that there was some¬ thing short and sudden about it. If now we suppose that Muhammad was one of those brooding spirits to whom, after a longer or shorter period of intense absorption in a problem, the solution comes in a flash, as if by suggestion from without, his use of the word would be intelligible. Nor is this merely a supposition. All the evidence goes to show that the Prophet, accessible enough in the ordinary inter¬ course of men, had yet something withdrawn and separate about him. In the ultimate issue he took counsel with himself and followed his own decisions. If decisions did come to him in this way, it was perhaps natural that he should attribute them to outside suggestion. The experience was mysterious to him. He had before him the example of the kdhins, who probably claimed that they spoke by outside prompting. Once or twice, probably near the beginning of his mission, when his hesitations had caused him more than usually intense and long-continued mental exertion, the decision had come to him accompanied by a vision. He had assumed that it was Allah who had appeared to him and suggested that he should speak to the people in public. It is to be noted that in Lin, where these visions are described, nothing is said about the Qur’an. It is simply a * suggestion ’ which came to him, and it is his ‘ speaking ’ which he is explaining and defending. It was to that, then, that the ' suggestion ’ referred. But if he was to speak to the people, he had to find words 34 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN in which to speak. That he took trouble about this wc know from LXXIII, 1-8, where wc see the Prophet at the work of composing the Qur’an, choosing the night-hours as being " strongest in impression and most just in speech ”, that is, the time when ideas are clearest, and fitting words most readily found. 1 A similar experience of the words coming in the end after effort and meditation, easily as if by inspira¬ tion, may well have led him to extend the idea of suggestion from without to the actual words of his deliverances. A curious little passage, which has been preserved as a scrap in LXXV, 16 ff., seems to show him deliberately cultivating this : “ Move not thy tongue that thou mayest do it quickly ; Ours it is to collect it and recite it; when we recite it follow thou the recitation; then Ours it is to explain it This has always been taken as referring to the reception of the Qur’an, and if we try to get behind the usual mechanical interpretation we can picture Muhammad in the throes of composition. He has been seeking words which will flow and rhyme and express his meaning, repeating phrases audibly to himself, trying to force the continuation before the whole has become clear. He is being admonished or, as we should say, he realises and admonishes himself, that this is not the way; he must not “ press ”, but wait for the inspiration which will give the words without this impatient effort to find them. When his mind has calmed, and the whole has taken shape, the words will come ; and when they do come, he must take them as they are given him. If they are somewhat cryptic—as they may well happen to be—they can be explained later. If that be the proper interpretation of the passage, it throws light on a characteristic of the Qur’an which has often been remarked on, namely, its dis¬ jointedness. For passages composed in such fashion must almost of necessity be comparatively short. This, then, it seems to me, is the thread of reality that runs through Muhammad’s claim to inspiration. It has analogies to the experience which poets refer to as the coming of the muse, or more closely to what religious people describe as the coming of guidance after meditation and waiting upon 1 Bell, Origin of Islam in its Christian Environment , p. 97 f. MUHAMMAD 35 God. “ Guidance is in fact one of his favourite words for the message, though it is used in rather a different sense. This experience he interpreted in various ways. At first he assumed that it was Allah who spoke to him, just as he had assumed that it was Allah who had appeared to him in his visions. Then, according to XLII, 50 ff., this idea was rejected in favour of the idea of a spirit implanted within him. Later, when through increasing familiarity with Jewish and Christian ideas he had learned of angels as the messengers of God, he assumed that it was angels who brought the message. Finally, he adopted Gabriel as the special angel who prompted him on Allah’s behalf. We shall find passages of the Qur’an illustrating all these various ideas. But always the essence of the experience is the same : he was prompted, ‘ sugges¬ tions ’ were made to him, the message was brought down upon his heart. That these promptings came ultimately from a divine source, however mediated, he was convinced. He may, indeed, have had occasional doubts. He realised, perhaps as a result of the false step which he made in recognising the pagan deities as intercessors, and of other mistakes which he may have made, that Satan might take a hand in the prompt¬ ing, XXII, 51. The assurances that he was not mad, or prompted by a jinn, may have been partly meant for himself. But on the whole he held firmly to his belief, and upon it he built up his claims to authority. These were in some respects modest enough. He was only a human being to whom ‘suggestions’ were made, XVIII, 110, XLI, 5. But this guidance by * suggestion ’ was all that the prophets had experienced ; only to Moses had God spoken directly, xvil, 103. Thus to all the authority of a prophet he could lay claim. That this experience of ‘ suggestion ’ or ' guidance ’ is a real one, no one who has ever become deeply absorbed in a difficult problem will deny. But the habit of expecting such experiences, and the attempt to induce them, are not without their dangers. We cannot force the answer which we wish, or indeed any answer, at the time we wish it. Muhammad seems to have experienced this also, XVIII, 23. It is when the mind is more or less passive that such 36 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN * suggestions * come, but it makes a great difference whether this passive attitude is the result of a heavy strain upon the mental and spiritual powers, or is cultivated as a state of more or less mental vacancy. Between these two poles there is the danger of meditation becoming brooding over passing troubles, or of allowing too easy a response to external stimuli. Of some of these dangers Muhammad seems to have, at times, been conscious, as is shown by V, ioi, XXII, 51. But it may be questioned whether he always guarded sufficiently against them. Once he had become accustomed to the idea of being guided in this way, he cultivated the attitude of receiving such messages, and often mistook his own brooding reaction to events for the divine afflatus. In later life when events pressed upon him and decisions were imperative, and questions arose which he could not avoid answering, he did no doubt try to force the revelation, and acquired facility in getting the answer which he desired. Nor need we deny that he was capable of practising a certain amount of mystification regarding his communications from Allah. He surrounded them with some degree of awe and mystery. This does not detract from the sincerity of his own belief in them. They were mysterious to himself, and if they were what he believed them to be, they were worthy of awe. He regarded them always as something separate and distinct. Nor were they always, even in his later days, in accord with his own natural desires. As, at the first, he maintained that he did not speak of his own desire, so, in Medinah, we find him being exhorted to steadfastness when his inclination was to compromise, urged to policies which he felt to be difficult, and taken to task for things which he had done or omitted to do. That could not have been altogether a pose. Of the essential sincerity of Muhammad there need be no question. We need not, however, go to the other extreme and picture him as a modem saint. The age was a rude one to our ideas, even in the most enlightened parts of the world, and Arabia was not one of these. CHAPTER II THE ORIGIN OF THE QUR’AN ITS DELIVERY, COLLECTION AND AUTHENTICITY Theological Doctrine. —According to the received doctrine of Islam the Qur’an is eternal; it is the uncreated Word of God. The doctrine is thus stated by Abu Hanlfah : “ The Qur’an is the speech of Allah, written in the copies, pre¬ served in the memories, recited by the tongues, revealed to the Prophet. Our pronouncing, writing and reciting the Qur’an is created, whereas the Qur’an itself is uncreated ” ( Al-fiqh al-akbar, as translated by Wensinck, The Muslim Creed , p. 189). That is how the Logos-idea, which in Christianity is the basis of the doctrine of the eternally begotten Son, takes shape in Islam. The Qur’an is the Eternal Word in book-form. More popularly and concretely, if with less theological exactitude, the original of the Qur’an is thought of as a book preserved in (the seventh) heaven in the presence of God. This is assumed to be what is meant by the preserved tablet, lawh mahjustt spoken of in LXXXV, 22. Sometimes it is thought of as having been sent down to the nearest heaven on the night of power, lailat al- qadar, described in XCVII, so as to be available for revelation to the Prophet by the angel Gabriel. Muhammad is thus not the author, but only the recipient of the Qur’an. The Delivery of the Qur dn. —This high doctrine of the divine origin of the Qur’an does not, however, extend to its present order and arrangement. Popularly, of course, that is taken as fixed and settled for all time. But Moslem scholars have always recognised that the present arrange¬ ment is not the order in which the passages of which it is composed were revealed. The Qur’an was not revealed all at once, but in separate pieces, XXV, 34. Tradition 37 38 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN distributes these pieces over some twenty years. Apart from a break, fatrah, of two years immediately after his Call, the revelations are represented as coming upon Muhammad at frequent intervals up to the time of his death. Practically all passages that can be interpreted as referring to contemporary events or circumstances have special * occasions * assigned to them. These ' occasions ' are not always agreed upon, and to a critical eye are often founded rather upon im¬ aginative exegesis than upon recollections handed down. But Tradition does thus recognise the close relation between the Qur’an and the personal history of the Prophet. That he recited the revelations is attested by the Qur’an as well as by Tradition. The prevailing view is that the words of the revelations were given him by the angel Gabriel, and he, having memorised them, or having had them impressed upon his memory, recited them to the people. With regard to the preservation of these revelations, all the traditions agree that Muhammad did not write them himself ; several speak of his having employed others to write them, and certain persons are named as having done so (N-S., I, p. 46). This seems to imply that, at any rate in the later years of his life, he kept a written record of the revelations, as indeed the nature of the passages almost necessitates his having done. But when we come to the traditions dealing with the collection of the Qur’an, the impression we get as to the condition in which it had been left at the Prophet’s death is quite different. The Collection of the Qurdn .—The tradition as to the collection of the Qur’an after Muhammad’s death seems to assume that up to that time there had been no authoritative record of the revelations. Some passages had been used in the ritual prayer, and would of course be well known. For the rest, some believers had memorised them, some more, some less; and some had written out portions for their own use. The tradition says that in the battle of Yamamah, a year or so after the Prophet’s death, so many ‘readers’ of the Qur’an, that is, persons who had it, or portions of it, by heart, were killed, that ‘Omar b. al-Khattab (afterwards the second caliph) became alarmed lest some of the Qur’5n 39 THE ORIGIN OF THE QUR’AN should be lost altogether unless something were done to preserve it. He therefore suggested to Abu Bakr, the caliph, that the Qur’an should be collected and written down. Abu Bakr at first refused to do what the Prophet himself had not done, but was finally persuaded. He commissioned Zaid b. Thabit, who had already acted as one of the Prophet’s secretaries, to do what 'Omar had suggested. Zaid then collected the Qur’an " from pieces of paper, stones, palm- Icavcs, shoulder-blades, ribs, bits of leather, and from the hearts of men ”, that is, from their memories and the various kinds of writing material which had been used for writing portions of it down. He copied out what he collected on sheets (juhuf), and when his work was finished he handed it over to the caliph. Criticism of this Tradition .—Apart from the fact that there are, as we have seen, traditions which imply that the Prophet kept some record of his revelations, this tradition is open to certain criticisms. There arc many discrepancies in the various versions of the tradition. They are not even unanimous as to the originator of the idea: generally it is 'Omar who is said to have been the moving spirit in the matter, but sometimes it is said to have been Abu Bakr who ordered it on his own initiative. Discrepancies are, however, a common feature of often-repeated traditions, and we cannot attach great weight to them. But the reason given for the step, namely the death of a large number of ‘ readers ’ in the battle of Yamamah, has also been questioned. For in the lists of those who fell in that campaign, very few (according to Schwally, 1 only two) are mentioned who were likely to have had much of the Qur’an by heart. Those killed were mostly recent converts. Besides, according to the tradition itself, a good deal of the Qur’an was already written in some form or other, so that the death of some of those who could recite it from memory need not have given rise to the fear that much of the Qur’an would be lost. Thirdly, an official collection of this kind might have been expected to have had wider authority attributed to it than we anywhere find evidence of. Other collections of the Qur’an seem to have * N-S., II, p. 20. D 40 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN been regarded as authoritative in different provinces. The disputes which led to the recension of the Qur’an under 'Othman could hardly have arisen if there had been an official codex in the caliph's possession to which reference could have been made. And the way in which ‘Omar himself is represented in other traditions as insisting that the “verse of stoning” 1 was in the Qur’an, is hardly consistent with his having in his possession an official collection. Lastly, and most significant of all, the suhuf on which Zaid wrote the Qur’an were, at the time when the revision came to be made, in the keeping of Hafsah. Now Hafsah was ‘Omar’s daughter, and we are apparently to assume that ‘Omar, having become caliph by the time Zaid finished his work, the suhuf were handed to him, and from him passed to his daughter. But if Zaid’s collection were an official one, it seems hardly probable that it would pass out of official keeping, even into the hands of the caliph’s daughter. That Hafsah had a copy of the Qur’an on fukuf seems certain ; but it hardly appears that it was an official copy made in the official way that Tradition asserts. Pre- Othmanic Qurans .—It is of course possible that Zaid b. Thabit did make a collection of the Qur’an. Schwally 2 suggests that he did so on Hafsah’s commission, but gives no very cogent reason why Haf$ah in particular should have desired to have a copy of the Qur’an made. Quite a number of people are said to have collected the Qur’an in these early days. Of these early collections little is known, though variant readings are sometimes quoted as having occurred in them.’ There are, however, four collections, or editions, of the Qur’an which, in the interval between Muhammad’s death and the formation of a definitive text, seem to have been current in different districts and to have been regarded as authoritative there. They arc (i) that of Ubayy b. Ka'b, whose readings are said to have been followed by the people of Syria ; (2) that of ‘Abdallah b. Mas'ud, the great authority on Islam in Kufah, whose readings were accepted by the people of that district; (3) that of Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari, who was associated mainly with Basrah ; and (4) that of 1 See below, p. 48. * N-S., II, p. 22. 41 THE ORIGIN OF THE QUR’AN Miqdad b. 'Amr, whose readings are said to have been accepted by the people of Hims. No copies of these collections, or editions, have survived. Concerning those of Abu Musa and Miqdad b. 'Amr we know very little. Of the other two, some information is given by later writers. In addition to a considerable number of variant readings attributed to them, which indeed affect mainly the vowels and punctuation but in some cases affect the consonantal text, we have lists of the surahs (chapters) in each. The order of the surahs is different in each from that of the official Qur’ 5 n, and from that of the other. But on the whole, as in the official Qur’an, the long surahs come first. The names of the surahs, in the main, agree, and, while that might have been due to the later transcribers of the lists having used the names by which the surahs were ordinarily known, there is no indication that the actual surahs differed from those usually accepted. Ibn Mas'ud did not include the two last surahs—they are of the nature of prayers or charms, and may never have been intended to form part of the actual Qur’an. The first surah, the Fdtihah , is also a prayer, placed at the beginning of the book. Whether Ibn Mas'ud included it in his Qur’an or not, is not quite certain. Ubayy seems to have included all three, the first and the two last, and to have had in addition two others which are not in our present Qur’an. The text of these is given by later writers They are short prayers and, to judge by their language, are not Qur’anic. 1 On the whole, then, the information we have regarding these independent Qur’ans (if independent they were) does not lead us to suspect that there was any great variation in the actual contents of the Qur’an in the period immediately after the Prophet’s death. The order of the surahs was perhaps not fixed, and the reading varied somewhat; of other differences we have no evidence. The position is obscure, but, as far as we can make out, the Qur’an at this period consisted pretty much of what was afterwards included in the official recension. It seems reasonable to suppose that such copies as existed were somehow related to what lay * Cf. N-S., II, p. 34 ff- 42 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR'AN behind that recension. As to how or why these collections were made, Tradition gives us no information. But as the teaching of the Qur’an was one of the duties of the agents of Islam even in the Prophet’s life-time, we may suspect that these agents were not left to depend entirely on their memories, but that some written record of the revelations was made and furnished to them. The 'Othmanic Recension .—The tradition as to what led up to the next step in the fixing of the form of the Qur’an implies that serious differences of reading did exist, in the copies of the Qur’an current in the various districts. During the expedition against Armenia and Azerbaijan, we are told, disputes concerning the reading of the Qur’an arose amongst the troops, who were drawn partly from Syria and partly from Iraq. The disputes were serious enough to lead the general, tfudhaifah, to lay the matter before the caliph, 'Othman, and to urge him to take steps to put an end to these differences. The caliph took counsel with the leaders of Islam, and finally commissioned Zaid b. Thabit to revise the Qur’an. With Zaid were associated three membets of noble Meccan families. One of the principles to be followed, according to the Tradition, was that, in case of difficulty as to the reading, the dialect of Quraish, the tribe to which the Prophet belonged, was to be given the preference. The whole Qur’an was carefully revised and compared with the suhuf, which had been in Hafsah’s keep¬ ing and were returned to her when the work was finished. Thus an authoritative text of the Qur’an was established. A number of copies were made and distributed to the main centres of Islam. As to the exact number of these standard codices, and the places to which they were sent, Tradition varies; but probably one copy was retained in Medinah, and one was sent to each of the towns, Kufah, Basrah and Damascus, and possibly also to Meccah. Previously existing copies are said to have been then destroyed, so that the text of all subsequent copies of the Qur’an should be based upon those standard codices. This revision under 'Othman, which may be dated some¬ where between the year XXX and 'Othman’s death in 43 THE ORIGIN OF THE QUR’AN XXXV, or about twenty years after Muhammad’s death, is the cardinal point in the formation of what we may call the canon of the Qur’an. Whatever may have been the form of the Qur’an before that time, and as to that Tradition is by no means clear, we can be fairly certain that the book retains still the form then established. That recension fixed the number and order of the surahs or chapters, and it estab¬ lished the consonantal text. Arabic had as yet no means of indicating the vowels, beyond the use of weak consonants in the text for the indication of long vowels. It is also questionable to what extent the diacritical points which dis¬ tinguish different consonants of the Arabic alphabet were then in use. There remained therefore considerable room for variations in reading. As a matter of fact, we find in the history of the text of the Qur’an a great number of variant readings.* But the great bulk of these affect only the vocalisa¬ tion and the pointing of the letters ; comparatively few affect the outline of the consonantal text. We hear of a later revision of the Qur’an in the reign of 'Abd-al-malik, associated with the name of Al-Hajjaj, the famous governor of Iraq. It was no doubt an attempt to fix the vocalisation and to obtain a uniform reading. There were even later attempts to do that; but they were never completely suc¬ cessful. It became orthodox doctrine that seven varying ways of reading the Qur’an were canonical; and, though the tendency towards uniformity still operates, that remains the orthodox view. There can, however, be no doubt that all these seven ways of reading the Qur’an are based upon the ‘Othmanic revision. Authenticity of the Quran .—If now we ask what guar¬ antee there is that this revision reproduced the actual revela¬ tions delivered by Muhammad, the answer will depend largely on actual study of the Qur’an itself, and on the extent to which what is contained in it approves itself to historical criticism as fitting into the Prophet's life. But we may stress the fact that this revision was based on written documents previously existing. The official collection by express authority of the caliph Abu Bakr is, as we have seen, some¬ what doubtful. But a mass of written documents of some 44 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN kind was in Haf§ah’s possession. Of that fact there is no doubt. If we reject the assumption that they were an official collection made by Zaid, we must find some other explana¬ tion of what they were. It is clear that they were regarded as authoritative, and were taken as the basis of ‘Othman’s Qur’an. Other collections of the Qur’an were in existence, and there must have been a considerable number of people who knew them, or parts of them, by heart. It is not likely that any great changes in the way of addition, suppression or alteration could have been made without controversy having arisen. Of that there is little trace. 'Othman offended the more religious among the Moslems, and ultimately be¬ came very unpopular. But among the charges laid against him, that of having mutilated or altered the Qur’an is not generally included, and was never made a main point against him. The Shi'ah, it is true, has always held that the Qur’an was mutilated by the suppression of much which referred to 'All and the Prophet’s family. But this charge is directed not specially against ‘Othman, but equally against the first two caliphs, under whose auspices the first collection is assumed to have been made. It is also founded on dogmatic assumptions which hardly appeal to modern criticism. On general grounds, we may conclude that the 'Othmanic re¬ vision was honestly carried out, and reproduced, as closely as was possible to the men in charge of it, what Muhammad had delivered. Study of the Qur’an will, in my opinion, confirm that conclusion. Modern study of the Qur’an has not in fact raised any serious question of its authenticity. The style varies, but is almost unmistakable. So clearly does the whole bear the stamp of the Prophet that doubts of its genuineness hardly arise. The authenticity of a few verses has indeed been questioned. The great French scholar Silvestre de Sacy expressed doubts regarding m, 138. This speaks of the possible death of Muhammad, and is the verse said in a well-known tradition to have been quoted by Abu Bakr, when 'Omar refused to believe the report of the death of the Prophet, which actually had occurred. Weil* extended 1 G. Weil, Einleitung in den Koran, 2nd ed., p. 52. 45 THE ORIGIN OF THE QUR’AN these doubts to a number of other passages which imply the mortality of the Prophet: III, 182, XXI, 36 f., XXIX, 57, XXXIX, 31. Abu Bakr, however, is hardly likely to have invented III, 138 for the occasion; nor docs the fact that 'Omar and others professed never to have heard such a verse, weigh very much. The complete Qur’an was not circulating among Muhammad’s followers in written form for them to study, and a verse once delivered may easily have been forgotten in the course of years, even by one who happened to hear it. If the verse docs not fit quite smoothly into the context, that is because it is a substitution for the one which follows, as the recurrence of the same rhyme- phrase shows. It fits admirably into the historical situation, for it is a reference, put into an address delivered before Uhud and re-delivered after the defeat, to the report which had spread during the battle and had no doubt contributed to the rout, that Muhammad had been killed. There is no reason to question the authenticity of a verse so suited to the circumstances. As for the other verses which imply the mortality of the Prophet, as Schwally 1 points out, they fit well into their contexts and are quite in accord with Muhammad’s thought. The humanity and mortality of the Prophet was part of the controversy between him and his opponents, and to take that out of the Qur’an would be to remove some of its most characteristic portions. Weil 2 also questioned the authenticity of the famous verse xvn, 1, in which reference is made to the night journey to Jerusalem. His arguments are that there are no other references to such a night journey in the Qur’an, that it is contrary to Muhammad’s usual claim to be simply a mes¬ senger and not a wonder-worker, that so far as there is any basis for the later legend in Muhammad’s life, it is merely a dream or vision, and that the verse has no connection with what follows. As matters of fact these arguments are correct; but they hardly bear the inference based on them. If we take the verse by itself, without the structure of later legend built upon it, there is nothing in it very much out of keeping « N-S., II, p. 82. * Op. dt. p. 74- 46 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN with Muhammad's other claims; and there are so many other unconnected verses in the Qur’an that we can hardly make that an argument against this one in particular. Finally, Weil 1 questioned XLVI, 14 on the ground that Tradition makes it refer to Abu Bakr, and that presumably it was invented in his honour. But no one who knows the traditional exegesis of the Qur’an will lay much stress on a reference of that kind. It is full of guesses as to the particular person to whom a verse refers. This particular verse is quite general, and simply develops an injunction several times repeated in the Qur’an. Hirschfeld 2 has also questioned the authenticity of certain other verses, in which the name Muhammad occurs, on the ground that this was not the Prophet’s real name but was bestowed upon him later. There may be something suspicious in such a name, meaning ‘ Praised ’, being borne by the Prophet; but even if it were an assumed name, it might have been adopted in his own life-time. It occurs, not only in the Qur’an, but in documents handed down by Tradition, the constitution of Medinah, and the treaty of Hudaibiyah; in the last the Quraish are said to have objected to the title rasul Allah , and to ar-Rahman as a name of God, but raised no question about the name Muham¬ mad. Further, though it docs not appear to have been common, there is evidence that Muhammad was in use as a proper name before the time of the Prophet. There is there¬ fore no real reason to doubt that it was his real name. The most serious attack upon the reliability of the book and the good faith of the collectors was that made by the French scholar, Casanova, in his book, Mohammed et la fin du monde, published 1911-1924. His thesis is a development of the view that Muhammad was moved to undertake his mission by the impression made on him by the idea of the approaching Judgment. Casanova thinks that he must have come under the influence of some Christian sect which laid great stress on the near approach of the end of the world. 1 Op. rit. p. 76. * Hirschfeld, Netv Researches into the Composition and Exegesis of the Qur An, p. 138 ff. 47 THE ORIGIN OF THE QUR’AN That formed the main theme of his early deliverances and an essential part of his message from beginning to end of his prophetic activity. As the event, however, did not sub¬ stantiate his prophecy, the leaders of early Islam so manipu¬ lated the Qur’an as to remove that doctrine from it, or at least conceal its prominence. This thesis has not found much acceptance, and it is unnecessary to refute it in detail. The main objection to it is that it is not founded upon study of the Qur’an so much as upon investigation of some of the by¬ ways of early Islam. From this point of view, the book still has value. But when Casanova deals with the Qur’an itself, his statements often display incorrect exegesis and a total lack of appreciation for the historical development of Muham¬ mad’s teaching. As to his main thesis, it is perfectly true that Muhammad proclaimed the coming Judgment and the end of the world. It is true that sometimes he hinted that it might be near; sec, for example, XXI, r, xxvil, 73 f. In other passages he disclaims knowledge of times, and there are great differences in the urgency with which he proclaims the doctrine in different parts of the Qur’an. But all this is perfectly natural if we regard Muhammad as a living man, faced by both personal problems and outward difficulties in carrying out a task to which he had set his hand. Casanova’s thesis makes little allowance for the changes that must have affected the utterances of a man in Muhammad's position through twenty years of ever-changing circumstances. Our acceptance of the Qur’an as authentic is based, not on any assumption that it is consistent in all its parts—it is not— but on the fact that, however difficult it may be to understand in detail, it does, on the whole, fit into a real historical experience, and bears the stamp of an elusive, but, in out¬ standing characteristics, quite intelligible personality. Is the Quran complete ?—If we raise the question whether the Qur’Sn, as we have it, contains all that Muham¬ mad delivered, the answer is more difficult. It is difficult to prove a negative; and we cannot be sure that no part of the Qur’an delivered by Muhammad has been lost. Tradition, in fact, gives a number of verses as belonging to the Qur’an which do not stand in our present book. These may be 48 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN found collected and examined in N-S., I, pp. 234 ff. The most famous of them is the “ verse of stoning ”, a verse in which stoning is prescribed as punishment for persons of mature age guilty of fornication. The caliph 'Omar is said to have been very positive that this was laid down in the Qur’an, until he was convinced of the contrary by lack of evidence to support his opinion. The verse does not fit very well into either of the surahs to which Tradition assigns it, XXIV and XXXIII, though the former does deal with fornication, v. 2 f. It must therefore remain doubtful whether it was ever actually delivered, but it is not the sort of thing which we should suspect of having been invented without some basis of fact. Then there is the story, often referred to, that Muhammad on one occasion recognised the pagan deities as subordinate beings whose intercession might be of some avail. Tradition has preserved the passage said to have come in LIII, as originally delivered, after vv. 19, 20. There the goddesses al-Lat, al-‘Uzza and al-Manat arc mentioned ; then came the two verses : “ These are the swans exalted, whose intercession is to be hoped for ”, or, according to another reading, “ is approved (of Allah) ”. It seems almost certain that Muhammad made some such concession, and the fact that at v. 26 this surah passes abruptly to deal with the intercession of angels is a slight confirmation of a previous reference to intercession having occurred in it. The other verses preserved by Tradition are much more doubtful, and the style of them does not seem to be Qur’anic. Still, whatever view we take of the collection and compilation of the Qur’an, the possibility remains that parts of it may have been lost. If, according to Tradition, Zaid in collecting the Qur’an was dependent on chance writings and human memories, parts may easily have been forgotten. On the other hand, if, as critical study of the surahs has suggested, Muhammad revised his deliverances, and sometimes dis¬ carded them in favour of new versions, some of them may have been lost altogether. Some things in the Qur’an seem to be there by accident; others may have disappeared. There is no reason, however, to assume that anything of importance has gone astray; one has rather the impression 49 • THE ORIGIN OF THE QUR’AN that pieces which were never meant to be preserved have found their way into the book as finally fixed. The fact that varying, and sometimes even contradictory, deliverances have been preserved, is strong proof that there was no deliberate suppression, and that the editors acted in good faith NOTE ON THE TEXT OK THE QUR’AN As it is not intended in this volume to deal with textual criticism of the Qur’an, it may be convenient here to insert a short note on the subject. In the East the tendency has naturally always been to obtain a uniform reading of the text. The 'Othmanic revision , was, as we have seen, an attempt to arrive at that. But that did not prevent a mass of variant readings arising. Not only did the wide extension of Islam favour the prevalence of variants in different districts, but in the early days scholars seen) to have exercised considerable freedom, in regard at least to the vocalisation and punctuation of the text. The recognition of the seven ways of reading the text was an attempt to regulate this freedom. It is attributed to the influence of I bn Mujiihid, a scholar who died in a . h . 324. Accepting the saying attributed to the Prophet that the Qur’an was revealed in seven readings, he selected seven readers representing the systems prevailing in various districts, one each from Medinah, Meccah, Syria and Basrah, and three from Kufah, whose readings were to be attested by two recorders. The recognised systems were thus: Medinah, that of N 5 fi' (d. 169), recorded by Warsh (d. 197) „ QhlOn (d. 220) Meccah, ,, Ibn Kathir (d. 120), recorded by Bazzi (d. 270) „ Qunbul (d. 291) Syria, „ Ibn ‘Amir (d. 118), recorded by HishSm (d. 245) „ Ibn Dakhw&n (d. 242) Basrah, „ AbQ 'Amr (d. 154), recorded by DOrl (d. 250) „ Susi (d. 26:) Kufah, ,, ’Asim (d. 128), recorded by Hafs (d. 190) „ Abu Bakr (d. 194) Kufah, „ Iiamzah (d. 158), recorded by Khalaf (d. 229) „ KhallAd (d. 220) Kufah, „ Kisa’i (d. 189), recorded by Durl (d. 250) HSrith (d. 240) n So INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR'AN These seven systems of reading are all recognised as orthodox in Islam, and scholars have prided themselves on knowing the Qur’an according to all the seven, though each part of the Moslem world preferred one or other of them. Naturally Islam has felt the existence of these varying readings an inconvenience in a sacred book ; and we can trace a tendency for one type of text to displace others even in their own districts. To-day the KGfun reading of 'Asim recorded by Haf§ stands almost alone, and, as the one adopted in the official Egyptian printed edition, tends to he adopted every¬ where. In the West it is only fairly recently tlint the study of the Qur’an text has been taken up systematically. It is generally agreed that the seven orthodox systems of reading are based on the ‘Othmanic recension. The variants hardly ever affect the con¬ sonantal outline of the text. They give the impression of being largely attempts by exegetes to smooth out the grammar, and throw practically no light upon the condition of the text before the 'Othmanic revision. In the early literature of Islam, however, we find other readings recorded which do not belong to any of the seven recognised systems. These are said to be shddhdh , that is, * peculiar \ Quite a number of these do affect the consonantal text, some of them very considerably, substituting different words or phrases, or even making additions or omissions. The question is whether these go back to early codices which may have been in existence before the revision under 'Othman. If we accept what Tradition says as to the delivery of the Qur’an and its being memorised or written down by %'arious people, it is reasonable to suppose that very considerable variations existed in the early days. The first task of scholars is to seek out and make accessible early works on the reading of the Qur’an, and to collect the shddhdh readings which have survived. Bergstraesser devoted much labour to this, and Iris work was carried on by Pretzl. Their conclusions are given in the third volume of the revision of Noeldeke’s Geschichte des Karans. Professor Arthur Jeffery’s book, Materials for the History of the Qur’an Text , gives a large collection of the variants ascribed to the old codices. These collections go a long way to prove that actual written codices did exist before ‘Othman’s time, and that they had in some respects an independent text. That they preserved a better text is, however, very much open to question. CHAPTER III THE FORM OF THE QUR’AN DIVISIONS Let us now turn to the book itself. It will be convenient to begin with its external form. Navies. —The most usual name for the book is al-Qur an (Koran, Coran). Though now generally applied to the book as a whole, the word quran is used in the book itself in various senses which we shall have to discuss later. The name al-Fvrqdn , which from its use in III, 2 is sometimes used instead of al-Qur'an, will also have to be dealt with at a later stage. Another term often applied to the book is at- Tamil , * the Revelation from the Arabic verb nazzala ' to send down ’, used in the Qur’an in the sense of * to send down from God that is, ‘ to reveal ’. Divisions. —(a) Ritual Divisions. In total length the Qur’an is comparable to the New Testament. For purposes of recitation, the Moslems divide it into thirty' approximately equal portions, juz\ plural ajza , corresponding to the number of the days in the month of fasting, Ramadan These are usually marked on the margin of copies. Some¬ times these arc further subdivided into sixty ahzdb, singular hizb, two to each juz\ and these again into quarters, rub * al- hizb , which may also be marked on the margin. There is also a division into manazil, singular manzil , to facilitate the recital of the Qur’an in the course of a week. These arc external divisions which take little or no account of the natural sections of the book, and do not really concern us here. (b) Surahs. These, on the contrary, are real divisions in the body of the book. The nearest equivalent is perhaps * chapter ’. The word surah , plural suwar, also occurs in the text, and its derivation is doubtful. The most accepted view is that it comes from the Hebrew shurdh, ‘ a row ’, used 5 * S3 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN of bricks in a wall, vines, etc. From this the sense of a series of passages, or chapter, may perhaps be deduced, but it is rather forced. Besides, it hardly gives the sense in which the word is used in the Qur’an itself. In X, 39 the challenge is issued : 44 Do they say: ‘He has devised it ? ’; let them come then with a surah like it In XI, 16 the challenge is to bring ten surahs like those which have been produced. But in XXVIII, 49, where a similar challenge is given, it is to produce a book, or writing, from Allah. Evidently the sense required is something like 4 revelation ’ or 4 Scripture ’. I have therefore suggested that the word is derived from the Syriac fiirtd , which has the sense of 4 writing ' text of Scripture and even 4 the Scriptures The laws which govern the interchange of consonants in Arabic and Syriac are against that derivation, but in Syriac itself the spelling of the word varies to surtha , and even surthd ; and in any case, in words directly borrowed, these philological laws do not necessarily hold. The surahs number 114. The first, known as the Fdtihah, 4 the Opening is a short prayer, very much used in Islam. The two last arc short charms which, as already noted, Ibn Mas'ud seems not to have included in his collection of the Qur’an. The rest are arranged roughly in the order of length, which varies from many pages to a line or two. Thus II, the longest, occupies, in Redslob's edition of Fluegel’s text, 37 pages of 19 lines each, plus nearly 12 lines, while several near the end occupy 2 lines or less, CVIII, CXII. How far this arrangement goes back to Muhammad himself, and how far it is due to the compilers, we shall probably never be able to unravel completely; but we shall probably see reason in what follows for holding that he had more to do with it than the traditional account allows. Headings of Surahs .—The surahs are marked off from each other by the occurrence of headings. These are of set form. First comes the name or title of the surah. That is the name by which the surah is usually referred to by Oriental scholars, instead of the number generally used in the West. It has, as a rule, no reference to the subject-matter of the surah, but is simply taken from some prominent, or unusual, S3 THE FORM OF THE QUR'AN word in the surah. Usually this word will occur near the beginning, but this is not always so. Thus XVI is entitled " The Bee ”, but the bee is not mentioned in it until v. 70, more than half-way through ; it is, however, the only passage in which the bee is mentioned in the Qur’ 5 n. Again, XXVI is entitled “ The Poets ” ; but the only mention of the poets is in v. 224 ff., at the very end of the surah. But again, that is the only passage in the Qur’an which refers to the poets—apart from those in which the suggestion that the Prophet is himself a poet is indignantly rejected. And the passage is rather a striking one ; probably no Arab who heard that brief, but trenchant, description of his much- belauded poets would forget it. There seems to be no rule in this matter ; the title is simply taken from some word in the surah sufficiently striking to serve as a means of identifica¬ tion. (We may compare the reference in the Gospels, Mark xii, 26, Luke xx, 37, to Exodus iii, as “ The Bush ’*). Some¬ times a surah has two such titles, both being still in use ; for example, IX, XL, XLI ; and we find references in early Islamic literature to a few other titles in use at one time but later dropped. That supports the assumption that these titles do not belong to the Qur’an proper, but have been in¬ troduced by later scholars and editors for convenience of reference. To this later scholarly apparatus also evidently belongs the statement of dates and of the number of verses contained in the surah, which follows the title. The dating does not go beyond the bare description of the surah as Meccan, or Medinan ; nor are these descriptions to be understood as necessarily applying to the surah as a whole. Moslem scholars have always been quite open to admit that surahs are composite, and that one marked as Meccan may contain one or more Medinan passages, and vice versa. These indica- cations are to be regarded merely as the judgments of the compilers, or early scholars, as to the period at which the main basis or content of each surah was produced. The modern Egyptian printed edition specifies the verses which are exceptions, and also indicates the position of the surah in order of delivery. Following the number of verses comes the bismillah. At 54 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN the head of all the surahs, except one, stands the phrase, bi-stni llahi r-rahmani r-rahim, ** In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate The exception is IX. Moslem commentators say that the omission is due to this surah having been revealed shortly before Muhammad’s death, so that he left no instructions on the matter. That cannot be correct, but it implies that in the view of Moslem scholars it was Muhammad himself who was responsible for the placing of the bismillnh at the head of the surahs. That it belongs to the composition rather than to the editing of the surahs is con¬ firmed by the fact that in xxvil, where Solomon is repre¬ sented as inditing a letter to the Queen of Sheba, the letter begins with the bismillah, as if that were the appropriate heading for a document coming from a prophet. So also in XCVI, Muhammad is commanded to recite in the name of his Lord. It has been suggested that the omission of the phrase at the head of IX may be due to VIII and IX having originally formed one surah. VIII is short for its position ; on the other hand VIII and IX together would make a surah much too long for its position. The real reason is that surah IX begins with a proclamation which is already suffi¬ ciently attested as being issued in the name of Allah. The bismillah was therefore superfluous. The exception thus confirms the conclusion that the bismillah is not a mere editorial formula, but forms the heading of the surah as it was composed. That need not, of course, be taken so strictly as to exclude the possibility of its having in some cases been added by the compilers or editors. Mysterious Letters. —Following the bismillah at the beginning of 29 surahs stands a letter, or a group of letters, which are simply read as separate letters of the alphabet. These letters are one of the mysteries of the Qur’an. No satisfactory explanation of their meaning, if they have one, has ever been given, nor has any convincing reason been found for their having been placed where they stand. If refer¬ ence be made to the table given at the end of this chapter, it will be seen that some occur once only, singly or in combination, and before isolated surahs, but that there are other combinations which occur before several surahs, 55 THE FORM OF THE QUR’AN and that the surahs having the same combination of letters stand in groups. Thus the haw&mhn , as they are called, that is, the surahs in front of which the letters hd\ mini stand, if we include the one in which these letters arc com¬ bined with others, form a solid block, XL-XLVI The surahs with alif, lam, rd\ including XIII which has mint in addition, form a block X-XV. The ta , sin, and td\ sin, mini surahs form another little group XXVI-XXVIII. The alif, l&m , mini surahs are separated ; II and ill stand together, vil, which has sad in addition, stands by itself, XIII is included in the alif, lam, r&' group, and then there is the block XXIX-XXXII. Altogether we get the impression of groups of surahs, similarly marked, which have been kept together when the Qur’an was put in its present shape. Consideration of the lengths of the surahs tends to confirm this. A glance at the table-will show that on the whole the surahs stand in order of decreasing length, and this almost looks like the principle on which the order of the surahs has been arranged. It is equally evident that there are many deviations from the strict sequence, and it is necessary to guard against laying too much stress on a mechanical rule of this kind, which is not likely to have been carefully carried through. But some of the deviations from the rule of decreas¬ ing length seem to be connected with these groups of surahs. Thus, if we take the group XL-XLVI, we find that the first is a little longer than XXXIX, while XLV, and especially XLIV, are short for their position. It looks as if the order of decreasing length had been departed from in order to keep the hawdmim group as it stood before the final arrangement was undertaken. Again, taking the alif, Idm, rd * group, we find that X, XI, XII stand approximately in their proper position according to length, but XIII, XIV, XV are short, and with XVI we return again to something like the length of X. It looks as if this group had been inserted as a solid block. On the other hand, the alif, lam, mini surahs are placed in different positions, II and III, the longest surahs, at the very beginning, XXIX-XXXII in a group much farther on, as if the deviation from the rule would have been too great, and the group had therefore been broken up. These facts E 56 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN give some support to the supposition that, when the present order of the surahs was fixed, the groups marked by these mysterious letters were already in existence. That, of course, throws no light on the meaning of these symbols. But founding on this assumption and on the tradition as to Zaid b. Thabit’s collection of the Qur’an after Muhammad’s death, some European scholars have regarded these letters as abbreviations of the names of persons who had previously, for their own use, collected, memorised, or written down certain surahs, and from whom, then, Zaid obtained them. Thus the hawdmim would have been obtained from somebody whose name was abbreviated to ha mint ; and so on. It seems a plausible theory ; but the difficulty is to suggest names of possible persons who might be so indicated. No one has satisfactorily solved that problem. Hirschfeld, for instance, who tried to work it out, takes sad as denoting Hafsah, kdf , Abu Bakr, nun , 'Othman. Again, it is difficult to see why, for important surahs like II and III, the collectors should have been dependent ap¬ parently upon one person, denoted by alif , 1 dm, mint, whom Hirschfeld takes to be al-Mughirah; while other much less important surahs had no letters at their head, and were thus presumably general property. Much the same difficulty attaches to the suggestion of Goossens (.Der Islam , 1923) that these letters are contractions for disused titles of the surahs. It may quite well be that a title which had acquired some wide usage, but was not finally adopted, was retained in an abbreviated form. But, if so, it is necessary to find some word or phrase in the surah for which the letters at the head of it may be accepted as a contraction. Goossens succeeded in a number of cases, but in some his solutions were impossible, and in others he had to assume some drastic rearrangement of contents and change of division of surahs. Further, he did not succeed very well in explaining why several surahs should have had the same title, as the groups with the same letters at their head would imply. These suggestions go on the assumption that the letters belong to the collection and redaction of the Qur’an, and are 57 THE FORM OF THE QUR’AN therefore later than the texts before which they stand. Nor docs it make any real difference if wc suppose them to have been marks used by Muhammad or his scribes to identify or classify the surahs. These letters always follow the bismillah , and we have seen reason to think that th zbtsmtllah belongs to the text and not to the editing. It seems probable, therefore, that these letters also belong to the composition of the text, and were not external marks added either in Muhammad’s life-time or by later compilers. That is the view of all Oriental interpreters. They generally try to find some meaning in the symbols. But there is no agreement amongst them as to the exact sense, and their attempts to find in them contractions of words or phrases are just as arbitrary as those of European scholars. Nocldeke, to whom the suggestion that these letters were indications of names of collectors was originally due, in some of his later articles departed from it, and adopted the view that they were simply meaningless symbols, perhaps magic signs, or imitations of the writing of the heavenly Book which was being conveyed to Muhammad. That they have something to do with the revelation is confirmed by the fact that the majority of the surahs at the head of which they stand begin with some reference to the Book, the Qur’an or the revelation. Of the 29 surahs to which they are prefixed only three, XIX, XXIX and XXX, have no such reference immediately following. Considering how often the Book is referred to later in it, XIX can hardly be counted an exception. Analysis also shows that surahs marked by such letters arc of either late Meccan or Medinan composition, or at least have traces of late revision ; they belong to the time when Muhammad was consciously producing a revelation similar to the revelation in the hands of previous monotheists. It is possible that he may have tried to imitate some of the writing in which these scriptures existed. In fact, in some of these combinations of letters it seems possible to see words written in Syriac or Hebrew, which have been afterwards read as Arabic. That suggestion, however, like others, seems impossible to carry through. We end where we began ; the letters are mysterious, and have so far baffled interpretation. 58 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR'AN (c) Verses. The surahs are divided into verses, which are termed * ayat , singular * ayah . This word is also used in the text. It is, however, only in later passages, if at all, that it has the sense of 4 verses \ It is much more commonly used in the sense of 4 sign 4 wonder \ It is related to the Hebrew ' 6 th, and 4 sign * is evidently its basic meaning. The verse-division is not artificially imposed, as the verse- divisions of the Christian Bible frequently are. It belongs to the composition of the Qur’an, and the verses are distinctly marked by the occurrence of rhyme, or, more strictly, asson¬ ance. Differences in the division into verses, and consequently differences in the numbering of the verses, do occur in the various readings, or recensions, of the Qur’an; and, un¬ fortunately, the verse-numbering of Fluegel’s edition, which is the one generally used in the West, does not exactly correspond to that most generally adopted in the East, or in fact to that of any of the Oriental recensions. That is due to the occurrence of cases in which it can be doubted whether the rhyme was intended, or simply came in accidentally, and that again depends on the nature of the rhymes, or assonances, which are largely produced by the use of the same grammatical forms or terminations (see p. 67). But a very cursory examination of the Qur’an in the original Arabic will serve to convince anyone that the verses were intended to rhyme. The length of the verses, like the length of the surahs, varies much. In some surahs, and these generally the longer ones, the verses are long and trailing; in others, especially the shorter ones near the end of the book, the verses are short and crisp. That, however, is not an invariable rule. Surah XCVIII, which is comparatively short, consists of 8 fairly long verses; XXVI, which is fairly long, has over 200 verses mostly quite short. But it may be noted that, as a rule, the verses in the same surah, or, at least, in the same passage or part of a surah, are of approximately the same length. There are exceptions even to that generalisation, but on the whole it remains valid, particularly where the verses are short. The verses are in prose, without metre, though in some 59 THE FORM OF THE QUR’AN passages, for example LXXIV, 1-7, XCI, I -10, there is a kind of rhythm or metre of stresses. That feature is due rather to the shortness of the rhyming verses and the repeti¬ tion of the same form of phrase, than to any effort to carry through a strict metrical form. Where the verses are of any length, and the form of phrase varies, no fixed metre, either of syllables or of stresses, can be traced. The Qur’an is written in rhymed prose, in verses without metre or definitely fixed length, their ends marked by the occurrence of a rhyme, or assonance, which, as a rule, remains the same throughout a passage. THE DRAMATIC FORM We have seen that Muhammad believed himself to be inspired and that his messages came to him by prompting from with¬ out. On the whole he drew a clear distinction between what came to him in this way and his own thoughts and sayings. The Qur’an, therefore, is not cast in the form of his own words to his fellow-men. Only in a very few passages does Muhammad speak in his own person ; in XXVII, 93 ff. we have one of those declarations of his position which are usually preceded by the word “ say ”, left, perhaps by inadvertence, without that prefix. Whether XXVI, 22 i ff. arc in Muhammad’s own words is uncertain, though that would be the most natural assumption. There are other passages in regard to which we may be doubtful, for example, LXXXI, 15 ff., LXXXIV, 16-19, XCII, 14 ff. Some of the lists of ‘signs’ adduced as evidence of Allah’s power might be regarded as being in the messenger’s own words ; so also descriptions of the Last Day like XCI, I-IO. Many passages in later surahs are directly addressed to the people, and speak of Allah in the third person, as if they were spoken by Muhammad himself ; but we find frequent indications that the dramatic setting is different (see p. 62). We must therefore be chary of assum¬ ing that passages in the Qur’an are in Muhammad’s own words, though one can hardly avoid the impression that some of the early pieces are in that form. 6o INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR'AN It is usually assumed, in accordance with Moslem doctrine, that the speaker is Allah, and that the Prophet is addressed as the recipient of the revelation. This corresponds to the setting in many passages. Allah speaks sometimes in the first person singular. A passage like XCII, 14 ff. is doubtful, but LI, 56 f., “ I have not created jinn and men but that they should serve Me ; I desire not any provision from them, nor do I desire that they should feed Me ”, is clearly cast in the words of Allah. So in LXVII, 18, LXXIV, 11-15, and even in such distinctly Medinan passages as II, 38, 44 (where Allah makes, as it were, a personal appeal to the Children of Israel) and II, 182. Much more frequently, however, we find the first person plural used where Allah is without doubt the speaker. As creation is, in the doctrine of the Qur’an, the prerogative of Allah, passages in which the speaker claims to have created may be taken as certainly spoken by Allah; thus XV, 26 f., XVII, 72, XXI, 16 f., XXIII, 12-14, and many other passages. If we take passages in which creation is not mentioned but which are in. the same form, we shall find that a great deal of the Qur’an is thus placed in the mouth of Allah speaking in the plural of majesty. It is also clear in many passages that the Prophet is being addressed. The well-known verses, so often cited as the earliest revelations, LXXIV, 1 ff., ** O thou clothed in the dithar, arise and warn, thy Lord magnify . . .” and XCVI, 1 ff., ** Recite in the name of thy Lord . . .” are evidently addressed to the Prophet. The use of the second person singular is very common in the Qur’an, the words being thus addressed to a single individual, who is no doubt Muhammad himself. Many passages are indeed personal to the Prophet: encouragements, exhortations, assurances of the reality of his inspiration, rebukes, pieces of advice as to how to act. On the other hand, many passages thus addressed to the Prophet have no special reference to him but contain matter of interest to others as well. That is, in fact, quite frequently stated, in such phrases as : “ Surely in that is a lesson for those who fear Even when not stated, it is the evident intention that the communication should be 6i THE FORM OF THE QUR’AN made public; the Prophet is exhorted to ' recite ’, and that was no doubt the method by which these revelations were made known to the people. Sometimes the Prophet is addressed as the representative of the people, and after a direct address to him the passage may continue with the second person plural, as in LXV, i ff. But the assumption that Allah is Himself the speaker in all these passages leads to difficulties. For in a great many of them we find Allah being referred to in the third person. It is no doubt allowable for a speaker to refer to himself in the third person occasionally, but the extent to which we find the Prophet apparently being addressed and told about Allah as a third person, arouses suspicion. It has, in fact, been made a matter of ridicule that, in the Qur’an Allah is made to swear by Himself. That He uses oaths in some of the passages beginning, “ I swear not . . .”, for example in LXXV, i ff., XC, I ff., can hardly be denied. This was probably a traditional formula. But “ By thy Lord ’ is difficult in the mouth of Allah. “ Thy Lord ” is, in fact, a very common designation of Allah in the Qur’an, as in the two early passages above quoted. Now, there is one passage which everyone acknowledges to be spoken by angels, namely XIX, 65 f.: '* We come not down but by command of thy Lord ; to Him belongs what is before us and what is behind us and what is between that; nor is thy Lord forget¬ ful, Lord of the heavens and the earth and what is between them; so serve Him, and endure patiently in His service; knowest thou to Him a namesake ? ” In XXXVII, 161-166 it is almost equally clear that angels are the speakers. This, once admitted, may be extended to passages in which it is not so clear. In fact, difficulties in many passages are removed by interpreting the " We ” as angels rather than as Allah Himself speaking in the plural of majesty. It is not always easy to distinguish between the two, and nice questions sometimes arise in places where there is a sudden change from Allah being spoken of in the third person to “ We” claiming to do things usually ascribed to Allah. Have VI, 99 and XXV, 47 ff., for example, been somewhat hurriedly revised, or have the angels, in Muhammad’s ideas, assumed 62 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR'AN other functions of Providence, besides the communication of revelations ? In the later portions of the Qur’an, it seems to be an almost invariable rule that the words are addressed by the angels, or by Gabriel using the plural “ We ”, to the Prophet, Allah being spoken of in the third person, and His will and com¬ mands being thus communicated to men. This is the case even where the people or the believers are directly addressed. In some of these passages one might assume that Muham¬ mad was addressing his followers in his own words. But in so many of them there are clear indications that the angel speaks that we must assume that that is the form in them all. Muhammad has, in fact, reached assurance in his posi¬ tion, and hence in his form. He is the mouthpiece of the divine will, which is communicated to him by Gabriel, and thus, like a confidential official, he stands on the border-line between the king’s court and the subjects. Subject he is always. Sometimes he receives messages to convey to the people, or he receives commands and exhortations intended for them; sometimes he is directly addressed as the repre¬ sentative of the people; at other times special exhortations and directions for his own conduct are addressed to him; at times he steps, as it were, across the line, and facing round upon the people conveys the divine commands and exhorta¬ tions direct to them. But in these late passages the dramatic setting remains fairly consistent: Allah is a third person in the background, the “ We ” of the speaker is the angel (or angels), the messages are addressed to the Prophet, even where the people are directly addressed the words come through him but he is mouthpiece only. In earlier parts of the Qur’an, however, the dramatic setting varies to some extent, as has been said above, and this often gives an indica¬ tion of a break in the composition. 1 * Direct address is found in the following passages : («) O ye people: il, 196-20, 163-164, 167-169, IV, 1, 168, 174, x, 23-26, 58, xxit, 1-4, s-8, 72, XXXI, 32-34, xxxv, 3, 5, 16, xux, 13. ( 6 ) O ye who have believed: II, 98, 148, 173, 179, 204 f., 255, 266-267, 269 f., 278-281, 2S2 f., ill, 95, 97 {., 114-116, 125-128, 150, 200, IV, 23-25, 33-35, 46, 62, 73 - 78 . 96, 134, « 3 S f-> M 3 . v * », 2.8, n, 14,39-41, 56-58, 59-61, 62-63, 89-90, 95, 96, 101, 104, 105-107, viii, 15, 20-23, 24-26, 27 {., 29, 47-48, THE FORM OF THE QUR’AN 63 TABLE OF THE SURAHS OF THE QUR’AN IN NUMERICAL ORDER Giving the number of verse*, and the lengths as shown by the pages and lines occupied in Red slob’s edition of Flucgd’s text; also the initial letters where these occur; for convenience a/if is here indicated by A. The bis mi//ah in this edition occupies a full line, which has been counted. Initial No. Letters Verses Pages Lines 1 7 6 2 ALM 286 371 + ® 1 5 i 3 ALM 200 21J + 4°9i 4 1 75 23 J “ 445i 5 120 I7i 3321 6 165 19- 358J 7 ALMS 205 21 - 398* 8 76 8- >49i 9 130 16- 301 i 10 ALR 109 iij- 215! 11 ALR 123 lil 221 12 ALR in 11 209I *3 ALMR 43 5 + 99 14 ALR 52 5 + 99i *5 ALR 99 4i 85 16 128 IlJ 217 *7 hi IO >95 18 no IO- 184* 19 KHY'S 98 6 II4i 20 TH i35 8i 159 21 112 7* 145 22 78 8- 150 ix, 23, 28, 34-35, 3 s ff -» » 2 °, I2 4 > xxn, 76, xxiv, 21, 27-29, 57-60, XXXIII, 9- 27, 41-43, 48, S3 f., 56-58, 69-71, XLVH, 8-12, 35-40, XLIX, 1, 2 f., 6-8, II, 12, LVII, 28 f., LVIII, IO, 12, 13 f., LIX, 18, LX, 1*3, 10 f., 13, LXI, 2-4, 10- 12, 14, LXIII, 9-I I, LXIV, 14-18, LXV, IX -12, LXVI, 6 f., 8. Cf. XXIX, 56-58. (e) O thou messenger: V, 45-47, 71. O thou prophet: vin, 65, 66 f., ix, 74 f., xxxm, 1-3, 28 ff., 44, 49-52, 59, LX, 12, LXV, 1-7, lxvi, 1 {., 9. O thou heavily burdened: lxxiii, i ff. O thou clothed in the dithdr : lxxiv, i ff. (d) O Children of Israel: II, 38 44 f-, 46-58, 116 f., 118 ff., xx, 82-84. O People of the Book : III, 58 ff., 63, 64, tv, 169, v, 18, 22. 64 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN Initial No. Letters Verses Pages Lines 23 118 7 - 129I 24 64 8| >59 25 77 5 i 109 26 TSM 228 9 - 169J 27 TS 95 7 + 1 37 i 28 TSM 88 9 " 168.J 29 ALM 69 6 + 120$ 30 ALM 60 5 + 99 3 « ALM 34 3 + 621 32 ALM 30 2* 46I 33 73 81 158I 34 54 51 102 35 45 5 + 98 36 YS 83 5 - 90 37 182 6 + 118 38 S 88 5 - 90 39 75 7 * 140 40 tfM 85 7 i *45 4 i HM 54 5 - 94 42 HM'SQ 53 5 + 100 43 HM 89 5 * 104 44 ft M 59 2i 461 45 HM 36 3 + 59 46 HM 35 4 - 75 47 40 3 * 67 * 48 29 3 * 69 49 18 2 + 42 * 50 Q 45 2* 461 S' 60 2* 46} 52 49 2 + 40 53 62 2l 44 54 55 2* 44 i 55 78 2* 50 56 96 3 “ 541 57 29 31 70 l 58 22 3 57 59 24 3 “ S 4 l 60 *3 2l 431 6i 14 28 62 . 11 1 + 22 CHAPTER IV THE STRUCTURE AND STYLE OF THE QUR’AN Rhymes .—The Qur’an, then, presents itself in the form of surahs divided into verses. The questions arise whether the surahs arc unities, and, if so, whether they show any organic structure ; or, if they are not unities, whether wc can discern how they have been built up. In approaching these ques¬ tions, if we follow the method of starting from externals, it will be well to be clear as to the nature of the rhyme which marks the close of verses. There is no attempt in the Qur’an to produce the strict rhyme of poetry. In an Arabic poem each verse had to end in the same rhyme-consonant surrounded by the same vowels—an interchange of i and u was allowed, though con¬ sidered a weakness. Short inflectional vowels following the rhyme-consonant were usually retained, and, if retained, were pronounced long at the end of the line. Only in very exceptional cases is it possible to find this type of rhyme in the Qur’ 5 n. What we find is, rather, assonance, in which short inflectional vowels at the end of a verse arc disregarded, and for the rest, the vowels, particularly their length, and the fall of the accent, that is the form of the end-word of the verse, are of more importance than the consonants. Of course the consonant may remain the same, but that is not essential. Thus in CXII the four verses rhyme in - ad , if we disregard the inflections; in CV we have the rhyme in -f/, if we dis¬ regard end-vowels and allow u in place of t in the last verse. In CIII r is rhyme-consonant, but the inflections vary and have to be disregarded, though, for pronunciation, we require a short vowel sound of some kind after the r, or, alternatively, a short vowel before it which is not in the form. In LIV, where r as rhyme-consonant is carried through 67 68 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR*AN 55 verses, we have not only to disregard the end-vowels but to accept variations of the preceding vowel, * and u and even a occurring in that position; the assonance is -fail, that is, an open syllable with short vowel which takes the accent, followed by a syllable with short vowel closed by r which thus becomes a rhyme-consonant. On the other hand, the accusative termination - an is often retained, being probably pronounced as -d ; for example in XVIII, LXXII and C, where the accusative termination seems to be essential to the rhyme. Further, the feminine termination -atuu dropped not only its inflections but also its t sound ; cf. CIV, where, if we drop end-vowels and pronounce the feminine termination as & or ah, we get a consistent assonance formed by an accented syllable followed by a short unaccented syllable and the ending, that is faalah, in which both vowels and consonants are variable, but the place of the accent and the ending -ah remain the same. The actual rhyme-words are : liimazah ,' dddadah , dkhladah , al-hutamah, al-hutamah, al-muqadah, al-dfidah, mufadah, mumdddadah ; this illustrates the retention of the same sound formation with variation of consonant, and even of vowel. In XCIX we have a similar assonance, formed by a long accented a, followed by a short syllable, and the feminine suffix -hd, that is - dlahd , the -hd being in one verse replaced by the plural suffix -hum. The assonance of XLVII is the same, but with greater variation of suffix. The structure of the Arabic language, in which words fall into definite types of forms, was favourable to the pro¬ duction of such assonances. But even in the short surahs we find a tendency to rely for the assonance on grammatical terminations, for example the suffix -hd as in XCIX above, and in XCI assonance -ihd. In the longer surahs this tendency increases. Thus in LV the assonance depends very largely upon the dual-ending -an. Fairly often in the longer surahs, though hardly ever carried through unbroken, we find the assonance -» lxxxi, 1-14, lxxxii, 1-5, LXXXIV, 1-6, XCIX, 1-6 (cx, 1-3); introduced by yawma : lxx, 8-14, Lxxvm, 18-26, lxxx, 34-37 (ci, 3 - 6 )- 78 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN left to be made clear by gesture or change of voice as the passage was delivered. As examples may be cited, L, 19-25 and XXXVII, 48-59; in both of these passages we have to use our imagination to supply the accompanying action of the speeches, but are rewarded by little dramatic scenes which must have been very telling if delivered with dramatic action. This dramatic quality is, in fact, a per¬ vading characteristic of Qur’an style. Direct speech is apt to be ‘ interjected ’ at any point, and we have to imagine the personages spoken of in the narrative as expressing them¬ selves in words. If, for instance, we look at the story of Moses in XX, we find that more space is occupied by the spoken words of the actors than by actual narrative. Even where narrative does predominate, the story is hardly ever told straightforwardly, but tends to fall into a series of short word-pictures, the story advancing incident by incident, and the intervening links being left to the imagination of the hearers. Narratives and Parables .—In narratives, too, the homi¬ letic element is apt to intrude. Thus in the story of Joseph in XII, we find every now and then an aside introduced to make clear the intention of Allah in what happened. This homiletic element is also apt to intrude unduly into Qur’Sn mathals or parables. The best of these is the parable of the Blighted Garden in LXVIII ; that of the Two Owners of Gardens is less clear and more didactic, XVIII, 31-42. Others are little more than expanded similes, XIV, 29 ff., xvi, 77 f-, XViii, 43 f., XXX, 27 , XXXIX, 30. That of the Un¬ believing Town, xxxvi, 12 ff., is difficult to classify; it is perhaps a simile expanded into a story. Similes .—The Qur’an contains a good number of similes. These occur in all contexts. In descriptions of the Last Day, when the heavens are rolled up like a scroll, XXI, 104, when the people are like moths blown about, and the mountains are like carded wool, Cl, 3, 4, the similes are sometimes borrowed with the rest of the material, but the Prophet had at all stages of his career a gift of coining vivid and some¬ times grimly humorous comparisons. Jews who have the Torah but do not profit by it are compared to an ass loaded STRUCTURE AND STYLE OF THE QUR’AN 79 with books, LXII, 5. Some who in the early days in Medinah made advances to Muhammad and then drew back arc likened to those who have lit a fire which has then gone out and left them more bewildered in the darkness than ever, II, 16; cf. 18 f. Polytheists who imagine other gods besides Allah are like the spider weaving its own frail house, XXIX, 40. The works of unbelievers, from which they hope to benefit at the Judgment, arc like ashes blown away by the wind, XIV, 21, or like a mirage which appears to be water, but, when one comes to it, turns out to be nothing, XXIV, 39. People who pray to gods other than Allah arc like those who stretch out their hands to water, which, however, never reaches their mouth, XIII, 15 ; the prayer of unbelieving Quraish at the Ka'bah is only whistling and clapping of hands, VIII, 35. Lukewarm supporters, asked for their opinion and getting up to speak, no doubt hesitatingly, are compared to logs of wood propped up, LXIII, 4. For other comparisons, see II, 166, 263, 266, 2 67, III, 113, vn, 175, x, 25, XVIII, 43, LVII, 19, LXXIV, 51. Where the simile is complicated by an attempt at allegory, the result is not so happy, XXX, 27, XXXIX, 30. Metaphors .—Metaphors are still more common. T. Sab- bagh 1 has collected well over four hundred metaphorical uses of words. Many of these, however, were, no doubt, already so much a matter of course as to be no longer felt as metaphorical. It is not easy to say how far the Qur’an added new metaphors to the language. The number of commercial terms transferred to the religious sphere is note¬ worthy. 3 It is, of course, only what might be expected from Muhammad’s upbringing, and his taking up his mission in a commercial town, but it did help to stamp its legalistic character upon Islam. The deeds of men are recorded in a book; the Judgment is the reckoning; each person receives his account; the balance is set up, and men’s deeds are weighed ; each soul is held in pledge for the deeds com¬ mitted ; if a man’s actions are approved, he receives his reward, or his hire ; to support the Prophet's cause is to lend 1 T. Sabbagh, La AUtaphore dans le Coran. C C. Torrey, The Commercial-Theological Terms in the Koran. 8o INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN to Allah. From Bedouin life come the designation of the delights of Paradise as nuzul, * reception-feast \ and the application of the verb tpalla, * to go astray ’, to those who follow false gods. The application of bodily functions to spiritual matters is almost unavoidable ; thus unbelievers are deaf, unable to hear, blind, unable to see; they cannot dis¬ cern the truth ; they have veils over their hearts, heaviness in their ears; they arc in darknesses. The revelation is guidance and light, and the function of a messenger is to lead people out of the darknesses into the light. Doubtful supporters are said to have disease in their hearts; after their conduct at Uhud they are dubbed munafiqln , ' jinkers \ 1 those who dodge back into their holes like mice \ Borrowed Metaphors and Words .—Many of these meta¬ phors can be paralleled in Jewish and Christian literature. It must not, however, be too readily assumed that that is proof of their having been borrowed. Some of them are so obvious that they may quite well have been employed in¬ dependently. Borrowed words, on the other hand, generally show their foreign origin by some peculiarity. That the Qur’an contains a number of words which arc not native Arabic was, a little reluctantly, recognised by Moslem scholars, though, in their lack of knowledge of other languages, they often failed to elucidate their origin. Modern scholarship has devoted a good deal of attention to these words, and with wider knowledge of the languages and dialects prevailing in the Near East in pre-Islamic times has for the most part succeeded in tracing their source. Here again, however, we must be on our guard against assuming that every word of foreign origin used in the Qur’Sn was by that use introduced into Arabic. Apart from proper names, Dr. Jeffery 1 has collected some 275 words which have been regarded as of foreign origin. The majority of these, how¬ ever, can be shown to have been in use in Arabic in pre- Islamic times, and many of them had become regular Arabic words. Of only about 70 can we say that the use was new, or that they were used in new senses. Of these 70, half 1 Arthur Jeffery, The Foreign Vocabulary 0/ the Qurdn. STRUCTURE AND STYLE OF THE QUR’AN 8 i come from Christian languages, many from Syriac and a few from Ethiopic ; some 25 come from Hebrew or Jewish- Aramaic ; the rest, of little religious importance for the most part, come from Persian, Greek or unknown sources. It must, however, be remembered that between Syriac and Jewish-Aramaic the decision is often difficult, and the exact provenance of some of these words is still in dispute. Language .—That there occur unfamiliar words and words used in an unfamiliar sense is shown by the fact that explanations arc sometimes added. But it is only natural to assume that the Qur’an was delivered in the language of the people so far as possible, and that even these borrowed words were already known to Muhammad’s followers from their intercourse with Jews and Christians. As a matter of fact, the language of the Qur’an, so far as we can judge, is on the whole the classical Arabic language. We have seen that in assonance at the end of verses inflectional vowels were dropped and the feminine ending modified, as in colloquial speech. How far this was done in the middle of the verses, we have no means of knowing. For, as the Qur’an is now pointed and recited, these vowels and terminations are strictly exhibited and pronounced. This may be due to later revision and assimilation to the classical poetry, as Vollers 1 argues, and many dialectical forms may have been removed in the process. A few irregular forms, which we may perhaps assume to be colloquial or dialectical, still remain, for .example, yazzakka for yatazakkd (LXXX, 3, i) yadhdhakkaru for yatadhakkaru (II, 272, III, 5, LXXX, 4), idddr aka for tad&raka (VII, 36, XXVII, 68). The style of the Qur’an is held to be unique and inimitable. It certainly is characteristic and unmistakable, in spite of its variations from surah to surah and from section to section. 1 Its artistic, dramatic, pictorial, imaginative qualities have often been lost sight of in theological treatment of the Pjdz, ' the inimitability ’ of the Qur’an, but they have always exercised a spell upon the Moslem worshipper. 1 K. Voliers, Volkssprache und Schriftspracke im alien Arabien. * For the use of these as evidence of date, see Ch. VI. CHAPTER V THE COMPILATION OF THE SURAHS REVISIONS AND ALTERATIONS We have seen that the unit of composition in the Qur’an is not the surah, but the short piece. The surahs, except the very short ones, have been constructed rather than composed. The question then arises, whether they were put together by Muhammad, or by those who collected the Qur’an after his death. The tradition as to the collection of the Qur’an seems to leave the latter possibility open, and there are even special traditions which ascribe the placing of certain passages to Zaid b. Thabit. On the whole, however, Tradition seems to take it for granted that the surahs were found much in their present form. The question is one which has really never been thoroughly discussed, and which we shall probably never be able to answer with complete certainty. There is, however, a great deal of evidence that the Prophet himself had more to do with the compiling of the surahs than has been usually assumed. Some general considerations already mentioned argue against the collectors having had a free hand in the matter. The great variation in the lengths of the surahs is hardly to be accounted for by difference of subject or rhyme or form, though that may explain why some of the short pieces were kept as separate surahs. The occurrence of the btsmillah, which we found reason to think belonged to the composition, would mark at least the beginning of a surah. The occurrence of the mysterious letters also seemed to imply that not only surahs, but also groups of surahs, were already in existence when the Qur’Sn came to be arranged in its present order. The existence of surahs is borne out too by the challenge which the Prophet gave to his opponents that, if they believed that he had invented the Qur’an, they should produce ten surahs like it, XI, 16. He must, at that 82 THE COMPILATION OF THE SURAHS «3 time, have had at least ten pieces of the nature of surahs which he could produce if the challenge were taken up. The date is indeterminate, but is probably not later than early-Medinan times, and many other surahs may have taken shape within the Prophet’s subsequent life-time. But the most conclusive proof of the Prophet’s part in the com¬ piling of the surahs comes from a detailed study of their structure, which discloses evidences of revisions and altera¬ tions such as could hardly have been made without his authority, and for which we can, in many cases, assign a reason in his own changing circumstances and aims. That passages were not only placed in certain surahs, but were sometimes adapted to their position in them, is shown by the occurrence of hidden rhymes. The real explanation of what led Geyer to the assumption of a kind of sonnet- formation, is that passages which had originally rhymed in one assonance have been adapted to stand in a surah, the assonance of which is different. For example, xxm, 12-16 rhyme in -?(/), the assonance of the surah as a whole ; v. 14, however, is long, and breaks up into five short verses rhym¬ ing in - ah , with a rhyme-phrase added carrying the -»(/) asson¬ ance, but not entering into the structure of the verse. The rhyme -ah can be found also in w. 12 and 13 by dropping the end words of each, and this can be done with advantage to the sense. Thus we get in vv. 12-14 a complete little piece rhyming in -ah describing the generation of man as a sign of Allah’s creative power. This has been fitted into the surah by adding rhyme-phrases and vv. 15, 16, which speak of the resurrection. The passage which follows, XXIII, 17-22, has been similarly dealt with. The rhyme-phrases are detachable, and, when they have been removed, traces of an assonance in jail can be found underneath. Quite a number of other passages have been treated in this way. 1 Attention may be called to a few cases in which the rhyme of the surah changes. The beginning of III rhymes in as does also the end ; the middle, however, has the 1 Sec in, 30 ff, 40 ff., VII, 160 ff., x, 7-11, xiil, 2 AT., XIV, 29 AT., xvi, 10 ff, 5° f-» S3 » xxv » 47 ff., 55 ff-. 62 f., xxvii, 60 ff., xxxii, 15-20, xu, 59 ff., 71 ff, xu, 8 ff, xliii, 8 ff 84 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR’AN rhyme in -»(/). Near the point at which the change occurs stands a passage, v. 30 ff., dealing with the story of Mary and Jesus, which has originally rhymed in -a(l) but into which phrases have been inserted to carry the rhyme, -*(/). It is as if a portion with the latter rhyme had been inserted into a surah which had originally rhymed in -