The Speeches & Table-Talk of the Prophet Mohammad, Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah [speed reading book TXT] 📗
- Author: Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah
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In conclusion, let us banish from our minds any conception of the Korān as a code of law, or a systematic exposition of a creed. It is neither of these. Let us only think of a simple enthusiast confronted with many and varied difficulties, and trying to meet them as best he could by the inward light that guided him. The guidance was not perfect, we know, and there is much that is blameworthy in Mohammad; but whatever we believe of him, let it be granted that his errors were not the result of premeditated imposition, but were the mistakes of an ignorant, impressible, superstitious, but nevertheless noble and great man.
March 1882.
In the Introduction, pp. xviii.-xxv. and xliv.-xlviii., appeared before in my Introduction to Lane’s Selections from the Kur-ān, 2nd ed. (Trübner’s Oriental series, 1879), to which I must refer the reader for further information on Mohammad and Islām, and especially concerning the portions of the Korān dealing with the Jewish legends purposely omitted from the present work. Pp. xxxv.-xxxviii. reproduce a few paragraphs from the Edinburgh Review, No. 316, October 1881, p. 371, ff. The Arab poetry quoted in the Introduction is from the admirable versions contributed by Mr. C. J. Lyall to the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1877 and 1881. The description of Mohammad’s person and mode of life, pp. xxvii.-xxix., is from E. Deutsch, Literary Remains, p. 70, ff; and R. Bosworth Smith, Mohammed and Mohammedanism, 2d ed., p. 131; to which, and to the Rev. E. Sell’s Faith of Islam, in many respects the best treatise on the Mohammadan religion, as it now is, that has appeared in recent years, the reader is referred for much concerning modern and historical Mohammadanism which is beyond the design of the present volume.
In the text, I must acknowledge my general indebtedness to the versions of George Sale and the Rev. J. M. Rodwell for many valuable interpretations; but I wish especially to record my obligations to Prof. E. H. Palmer, in respect of some fine renderings which he has been the first to use in his translation of the Korān for the series of Sacred Books of the East, and which I have not hesitated to adopt.
S. L.-P.
I.—THE POETIC PERIOD. Aet. 40-44, a.d. 609-613 1 The Night (xcii.) 3 The difference between the good and the wicked in their lives and their future states; warning of hell and promise of heaven. The Country (xc) 5 The steep road to the life to come is by charity and faith. The Smiting (ci.) 7 The terrors of the Judgment Day and the Bottomless Pit. The Quaking (xcix.) 8 Signs of the Last Day, when all secrets shall be revealed. The Rending Asunder (lxxxii.) 9 Signs of the Last Day; man’s unbelief; angels record his actions, by which his fate shall be decided. The Chargers (c.) 11 Man’s ingratitude towards God will be exposed on the Last Day. Support (cvii.) 12 Uncharitable hypocrites denounced. The Backbiter (civ.) 13 The covetous slanderer shall be cast into Blasting Hell. The Splendour of Morning (xciii.) 14 The goodness of God towards Mohammad must be imitated towards others. The Most High (lxxxvii.) 15 God the Creator is to be magnified. Mohammad is enjoined to admonish the people; the opposite fates of those who hearken and those who turn away; the message is the same as that delivered by Abraham and Moses. The Wrapping (lxxxi.) 17 Signs of the Last Day. Authenticity of the Korān: Mohammad neither mad nor possessed. The Korān a reminder, but man is powerless to follow it except by God’s decree. The News (lxxviii.) 19 Men dispute about the Last Day: yet it shall come as surely as God created all things. The last trump and the gathering of mankind to judgment. Description of the torments of Hell and the delights of Paradise. The Fact (lvi.) 22 Signs of the Last Day. The three kinds of men—prophets, righteous, and wicked—and the future state of each. The power of God shown in creation. The Korān true and sacred. The state after death. The Merciful (lv.) 27 A Benedicite reciting the works of God, and the Judgment and Paradise and Hell, with a refrain challenging genii and mankind to deny His signs. The Unity (cxii.) 32 A profession of faith in one God. The Fātihah (i.) 33 A prayer for guidance and help: the Muslim Paternoster. THE SPEECHES AT MEKKA
II.—THE RHETORICAL PERIOD. Aet. 44-46, a.d. 613-615 35 The Kingdom (lxvii.) 37 The power of God shown in creation; Hell the reward of those who disbelieve in God’s messengers and discredit His signs. None but God knows when the Last Day will be. The Moon (liv.) 41 The Judgment approaches, but men will not heed the warning, and call it a lie and magic. Even so did former generations reject their apostles: the people of Noah, Ad, Thamūd, Lot, Pharaoh; and there came upon all of them a grievous punishment. Neither shall the men of Mekka escape. Refrain: the certainty of punishment and the heedlessness of man. K. (l.) 45 Why is the Resurrection so incredible? Does not God continually create and re-create? Former generations were equally incredulous, but they all found the threat of punishment was true. So shall it be again. The recording angels shall bear witness, and hell shall be filled. Who can escape God, who created all things, and to whom all things must one day return? Y.S. (xxxvi.) 49 Mohammad a true messenger from God to warn the people, whose ancestors would not be warned. God hardens their hearts so that they cannot believe. Everything is written down in the Book of God. Just so did the people of Antioch reject the apostles of Jesus, and stoned the only convert among themselves; and there came a shout from heaven and exterminated them. Why do not men reflect on such warnings? Signs of the Resurrection are seen in the revival of spring and the growth of plants, and the alternations of night and day, and the changes of the sun and moon, and the ships that sail on the sea. Yet they are not convinced! The Last Day shall come upon them suddenly. Paradise and Hell. The Korān not a poem, but a plain warning of God’s might and judgment to come. Their idols need protection instead of giving it. God who first made life can quicken it again: his “Fiat” is instantly carried out. The Children of Israel (xvii.) 57 The dream of the journey to Jerusalem. The two sins of the children of Israel and their punishments. The Korān gives promise of a great reward for righteousness and an aching torment for disbelief. Each man shall be judged by his own deeds, and none shall be punished for another’s sin; nor was any folk destroyed without warning. Kindness and respect to parents, and duty to kinsfolk and travellers and the poor; hospitality, yet without waste; faithfulness in engagements, and honesty in trading, enjoined. Idolatry, infanticide, inchastity, homicide (except in a just cause and in fair retaliation), and abusing orphans’ trust, and pride, forbidden. The angels are not the daughters of God: He has no partner, and the whole creation worships Him. But God hardens people’s hearts so that they turn away from the Korān. The Resurrection is nearer than they think. The faithful must speak pleasantly and not wrangle. Mohammad has no power to compel belief. The false gods themselves dread God’s torment. The power of working miracles was not given to Mohammad, because the people of yore always disbelieved in them: so Thamūd with the miraculous camel. The story of the devil’s original enmity to Adam; but the devil cannot protect his followers against God, to whom belongs all power on land and sea, and whose is the Judgment. Mohammad nearly tempted to temporize. Prayer at sunset and dawn and night vigils commended. Man’s insincerity. The spirit sent from God. The Korān inimitable. The demand for miracles and for angelic messengers repudiated. The fate of those who disbelieve in the resurrection. Moses and Pharaoh: the consequences of unbelief. The Korān divided for convenience. The solace of the faithful. God and the Merciful the same deity. THE SPEECHES AT MEKKA
III.—THE ARGUMENTATIVE PERIOD. Aet. 46-53, a.d. 615-622 73 The Believer (xl.) 75 The revelation is from God. Former generations rejected their apostles and were punished. The angels praise God. The despair of the damned. The great tryst: the judgment of God is unerring. The generations of yore were greater than those of to-day: yet nothing could save them from God. The history of Moses and Pharaoh and the Egyptian convert, and the evil fate of the infidels. The proud shall not win in the end. Praise of God in His attributes. Hell is the goal of idolaters and polytheists. Patience enjoined upon Mohammad. The signs of God’s might and the dire consequences of doubting it. Jonah (x.) 87 Repudiation of sorcery. Signs of God’s power, and the consequences of believing and disbelieving them. Insincerity of man: but former generations were destroyed for unbelief. Mohammad has no power to speak the Korān save as God reveals it. Idolatry ridiculed. Miracles disclaimed. Man believes when he is in danger, and disbelieves when he is rescued. The life of this world like grass that will be mown to-morrow. The reward of well and evil doing and the judgment of idolaters. God’s might
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