Korân

Korân (Arab., from karaa, 'to read'), The Reading, by way of eminence; a term first applied to every single portion of Mohammed's 'Revelations,' used at a later period for a greater number of these, and finally for their whole body, gathered together into the one book which forms the religious, social, civil, commercial, military, and legal code of Islam. The Korân is also known under the name of Furgân ('discrimination,' 'test'); further, of Al-Moshaf (The Volume), or Al-Kitâb (The Book, in the sense of 'Bible'), or Al-Dhikr ('the Reminder,' or 'the Admonition'). The Korân is, according to the Moslem creed, coeval with God, uncreated, eternal. Its first transcript was written from the beginning in rays of light upon a gigantic tablet resting by the throne of the Almighty; and upon this tablet are also found the divine decrees relating to things past and future. A copy of it, in a book bound in white silk, jewels, and gold, was brought down to the lowest heaven by the angel Gabriel, in the blissful and mysterious 'night of power or destiny,' in the month of Ramadân. Portions of it were, during a space of twenty-three years, communicated to Mohammed, both at Mecca and Medina, either by Gabriel in human shape, 'with the sound of bells,' or through inspirations from the Holy Ghost 'in the Prophet's breast,' or by God himself, 'veiled and unveiled, in waking or in the dreams of night.' Traditions vary with respect to the length of the individual portions revealed at a time, between single letters, verses, and entire chapters or Surahs (Arab., 'courses,' as of bricks in a wall). The first revelation forms, in the present arrangement of the book, verses 1-5 of surah xcv., and begins with the words: 'Read [preach], in the name of thy Lord, who has created all things!'

Mohammed dictated many of his inspirations to a scribe, in broken verses or in finished chapters, and from this copy the followers of the Prophet procured other copies—unless they preferred learning the oracles by heart from the master's own mouth. The original fragments were without any attempt at a chronological or other arrangement, promiscuously thrown into a box, and a certain number were entirely lost. A year after the death of Mohammed the scattered portions were, at the instance of Abu-bekr, collected by Zaid Ibn Thâbit of Medina, the Prophet's amanuensis, 'from palm-leaves, skins, blade-bones, and the breasts of men,' and faithfully copied, without the slightest attempt at moulding them into shape or sequence, together with all the variants, the repetitions, and the gaps. This volume was entrusted to the keeping of Hafza, one of the Prophet's wives, the daughter of Omar. A second redaction was instituted in the thirtieth year of the Hegira, by Caliph Othman, to fix the text and the reading according to the Qoraish idiom; many different readings being current among the believers. He ordered new copies to be made from the original fragments, in which all the variants were to be expunged, but without any further alteration being introduced; and the old copies were all consigned to the flames. With respect to the succession of the single chapters—114 in number—no attempt was made at establishing continuity, but they were placed side by side according to their respective lengths; so that immediately after the introductory fatah or exordium follows the longest chapter, and the others are ranged after it in decreasing size. They are not numbered in the manuscripts, but bear distinctive, often strange-sounding headings, as the Cow, Congealed Blood, the Fig, the Star, the Towers, Saba, the Poets, &c., taken from a particular matter or person treated of in the respective chapters. Every chapter or surah but one begins with the introductory formula: 'In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.' It is generally stated at the beginning whether the surah was revealed at Mecca or at Medina. Every chapter is subdivided into smaller portions (Âyât, 'verses,' lit. 'signs'), varying in the ancient 'seven editions' or primitive copies (of Medina [two], Mecca, Kufa, Basra, Syria, and the 'Vulgar Edition'—reduced by Nöldeke to four editions) between 6000 and 6036. The number of words in the whole book is 77,639, and an enumeration of the letters shows 323,015 of these. Other—encyclical—divisions of the book are into thirty ajzâ and into sixty ahzâb, for the use of devotional readings in and out of the mosque. Twenty-nine surahs commence with certain letters of the alphabet, 'of which God alone knows the meaning.'

The contents of the Korân as the basis of Mohammedianism will be considered under that head, while for other questions of authorship and chronology we must refer to MOHAMMED. But the chief doctrines laid down in the book are that there is one God, one true religion, and a day of judgment. When mankind turned at different times from truth, God sent prophets to lead them back to it, Moses, Christ, and Mohammed being the most distinguished. Both punishments for the sinner and rewards for the pious are depicted with great diffuseness, and exemplified chiefly by stories taken from the Bible, the Apocryphal writings, and the Midrash. Special laws and directions, admonitions to moral and divine virtues, more particularly to a complete and unconditional resignation to God's will ('Islam'), legends, principally relating to the patriarchs, and, almost without exception, borrowed from the Jewish writings, form the bulk of the book, which throughout bears the most palpable traces of Jewish influence. The Hebrew scriptures were known to Mohammed by oral communication only: hence frequently odd confusion in stories taken from that source.

The general tendency and aim of the Korân is found pretty clearly indicated in the beginning of the second chapter: 'This is the book in which there is no doubt; a guidance for the pious, who believe in the mysteries of faith, who perform their prayers, give alms from what we have bestowed upon them, who believe in the revelation which we made unto thee, which was sent down to the prophets before thee, and who believe in the future life,' &c. To unite into one the three principal religions which he found in his country—Judaism, Christianity, and Heathenism—was Mohammed's ideal; and the Korân, properly read, discloses constantly the alternate flatteries and threats aimed at each of the three parties. Certain abrogations made by the Prophet himself of special passages in the Korân are due to the vacillating relation in which he at first stood to the different creeds, to concessions first made and then revoked. Witness the 'Kiblah,' or the place where the believer was to turn in his prayer, being at first Jerusalem; and also forbearance to idolaters forming one of the original precepts.

The Korân expresses the thoughts and ideas of a Bedawî Arab in Bedawî language and metaphor. In the matter there is endless repetition, little order or coherence, and not a little inconsistency. The style is very unequal; often noble and forcible, often familiar or dull. Accepted as the miraculous utterance of the Almighty, the Korân stands above criticism, and is not proved but assumed to be the unapproachable standard of grammatical and every other merit. It is written in prose wherein the links of each sentence rhyme with one another, and generally the same rhyme is maintained through the whole chapter. This is and was a common literary form, and to it the Arabic language by its symmetrical formation of words lends itself very readily. Refrains are introduced in some surahs; and plays upon words are not disdained.

The outward reverence in which the Korân is held throughout Islam is exceedingly great. It is never held below the girdle, never touched without previous purification; and an injunction to that effect is generally found on the cover which, in the eastern binding, overlaps the boards. It is consulted on weighty matters; sentences from it are inscribed on banners, doors, and the like. Great lavishness is displayed upon the material and the binding of the sacred volume: the copies for the wealthy are sometimes written in gold, and the covers blaze with gold and precious stones. Nor is anything more hateful in the eyes of a Moslem than to see the book in the hands of an unbeliever.

The Korân has been commented upon so often that the names of the commentators alone would fill volumes. Thus, the library of Tripoli, in Syria, is reported to have once contained no less than 20,000 different commentaries. The most renowned are those of Samachshari (died 539 H.), Beidhawi (died 685 or 716 H.), Mahalli (died 870 H.), and Soyuti (died 911 H.). The principal editions are those of Hinckelmann (Hamburg, 1694), Marracci (Padua, 1698), Flügel (1834), besides many editions (of small critical value) printed in St Petersburg, Kasan, Teheran, Calcutta, Cawnpore, Serampore, &c. The first, but very imperfect, Latin version of the Korân was made by Robertus Retensis, an Englishman, in 1143 (ed. Basel, 1543). The principal translations are: into Latin, that of Marracci (1698); into English, Sale (1734; ed. by Rev. E. M. Wherry, 4 vols. 1882-86), who explains somewhat while he translates, and whose notes are voluminous and invaluable, Rodwell (1861; 2d ed. 1878), and Palmer (1880), whose rendering is the best; into French, Savary (1783), Garcin de Tassy (1829), Kazimirski (1840; new ed. 1884); into German, Megerlin (1772), Wahl (1828), Ullmann (1840); besides Persian, Turkish, Malay, Hindustani, and other eastern translations. Of concordances to the Korân may be mentioned those of Flügel (1842) and Kazem-Bek (St Petersburg, 1859), and that published at Calcutta in 1811. Among authorities whose works may be consulted on the Korân are Marracci, Sale, Savary, Wahl, Geiger, Amari, Sprenger, Lane, Muir, Weil, Nöldeke, and Lane Poole.