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impoOible, ror him to rolve: but as he pretenúed 10 ha,'e
ren..:: \ l'd it by parccls, :JS God rf\W propcr Ihal thcy Illou/d
.be pul-ItJhcd fUT lhe converlioo and inUl'\lélion of the peo·
pie, he had J rUle way tO ilnfwer :dl cmergencies, aocl tO
t:xtricate himfclf widl honour [rom aDy difficulty whi h
might occur. ,
That Mohammed was reaUy the author an.! chier con–
triver oC lhe KOlan, is bcyond di[pute; thollgh it be
hiShly probable th.. he had no rm.1I aOifianee in his de–
ligo from others, as his countryrnen failed nal to objeét
tohim ; however, theyd;n~crcd fa much in theirconjcétures
as to the particular pcr(ons who gavc h1m (ueh afliftance.
that they were nal atde, jI reem~J tO prove lhe charge ;
~1ohammed, it is tO be prefumed, having taken his mea–
f.res toO well to be di[covered. Dr. Prideaux has given
the moll probable .ecoun' or thi. m...er, ,hough ehie8y
from Chrillian writers, who generally mix fuch ridicu·
,Ious r.bles with what they delil'er, lhat they defer.e no,
much credit.
¡-lo\Vever i, be, lhe Mohammedans abfolutely deny the
Koran was co",pored by their prophet himrelr, or any o'
thcr for him ; it being thcir general and onhodox belief
lhat it i5 of divine original, Day, that it is eternal and
uncrcatcd, remaining, as fome exprefs ¡l. in (he very
d renee or God ; that the firll tranreript has been rrom e–
verla{\ing hy God's ,hrone, written on a uble or ••Il
bigotfs, called lhe prtforv~d tah/t, in which ate airo re·
<orded the divin~ deer«s pa{\ and future: th.. a copy
from this table, in one voJume on paper, was by lhe mi·
ni!lry or the angel Gabriel fent down tO the lowe{\ heaven,
in lhe month of Ramadan, on lhe night of prnlJ~r : from
whenee Gabriel revealed it 'o l\lohammed by pareels,
fomc al Mecea, and fome al Medina, al diffen:nt times,
during lhe fpace of lwenty-three years, as lhe exigency
of affairs required j giving him, howevcr lhe canrola·
tion to fhew him lhe whole t WhlCh they teJl U9 \Y.S hound
in filk, and .dorned with sold . nd precio,,, flones or pa,
'r,dire) once ayear; bU! in the year or his life he
had the favour 10 fee it IWIC::. T hey ray thal fewehap.
ters were ddivtred entire, the mon pan beiog revealed
piece.meal, and written down from time to time by the
prophet's amaouenfes io fueh or Cuch a pHt of fuch or
{uch a chapter. tilJ they were compleat· d aCf'ording to
the dirdlion. or the angel. The firfl pared that was
reve.led is generally 'grc.d to have be<n the firll five
~erCes of the ninety fixth chapter.
After (he new rt'vealcd paO'ages hac. beco froOl lhe
propht's mouth t3ken dowo in writing by his fcrille.
lhey were publiChc:d to his followers, rever..1 of whom
took copies for lheir prívate ufe. bUl the far greater
number got them by hc:art. The originals, when le·
turned, were put promifcuouOy into a chen, obfcrving
no order of time, (or \1. hich reafon it is uncert..io when
many parr ..ges werc revealcd.
Whc:n Moh.unmed diect, he leCt his re\'cladoos in the
{ame diforder, and not digdled iota the method, fuch as
it is, which we now fioQ thtm in. This was lhe work
of his fuecdror Abu Recr, who. conridcrinJ! that a grei\t
number of patT~r.c, wu e commilted to the memory oC
,Mohal"1mtd's rollower9, many of whom wlre nain in
their wa", ordcrcu the whole tO be eoU<{tcJ, not only
rro", the palm antl O,in, on whieh they had becn
wriuco, and \Vhich wcre kept betwceo two board, or
covers, but alfo from the mouths of fuch as had goltcn
theOl by heart. And Ihis tranrcript, wlien eornplelcd,
he committed tO the euHody of B arsa the daughter or–
Omar, one of the prcphct's wido\Vs.
From this relation it is generally imagined that Abu
Bccr \Vas really the compiler of the KOriln; though,.ror
auSht appea" to the CODlrary, Mohammed Id t the chapo
ICes complete as \Ve now llave them, exceptiog fuch paf–
fases as his fucedror might add or corre{t rrom thofe
who had gotten them by heart ; what Abn Beer did elfe
being, pcrhaps, no more than to range thc chapters
in their prefent order, which he feems 10 have done witb
out any resard tO time, ha.ing generaUy placed the long–
ell firll ,
However, in the thirtieth ycar of the Hejra, Othman
being then Khalir, and obrerving the gre.. diragreement
in lhe copies of lhe Khoran in lhe feveral provinces of
the empire, thofe or lrak, ror example, rollowing the
reading of Abu Mur. al A013ri, and the Syrians that of
M.edad Ebn 'Arwad, he, by advice or the componiom,
ordered a great number of copies tObe traofcribed from
that of Abu Becr, in HaCsa's care, under lhe ¡nrpellion
or Zeid Ebo Thabet, Abd'alJah Ebn Zobair, Ebo
al As, and Ad',lrahman Ebn al Hare<h the Makhzumite;
whom he direded, that, where·ever they dilagreed about
any word, they fllOuld write jt in the diale{tor the Koreilh,
in which it \Vas at firn delivered. T hefe copies, when.
mOlde, \Vere difperfed in lhe feveral PI ovinces of lhe em–
pire, and the old ones burnt and luppreffed, Though .
many things io Hafsa's copy \Vere correfled by the above·
menlioncd fupervilors, yet Come few various readlngs llill.
oceur
The fundamen,,1 pofition, on which Mohammed e·
re{ted the ruperfiru{tu re of his religion, was, Tha!, rrom
the beginoing to (he end oC rhe world, there has becn" .
and for ever will he. but one true orthodox beJief; con ...
IiUing, as 10 matter of faith, in the ackoowJedging of lhe
only true God , and the belie.ing in and obeying fueh
melT<!ngcrs or prophets as he Chould from time lO time
feod, with pro~cr eredentials, to reveal his will te mao–
kind; and, as 10 mauer of prallice. in the obfervance
of lhe immutable aod etern,d .Jaws of righL and wrong.
toc.:'ther Wilh Cuch other precepts and ceremonics as God
nlOulcf think 6t to arder for lhe time beiog, according 10
lhe di(Terenl diCpenrations in different agc::s of lhe \Vorld:
for lhefe !aft, he ::IlIowed, \\ ere tllIngs indiffcrem in their
own nature, and bec~me oulig<t.tory by God 's polilive
precept only ; OiInd Were therefore ttmrorary, íind fubjett
tO altcration, according lO hi3 will and rh:.. fure. And
to lhis rdiglon he ~ives lhe name of Inam, whi,h word
fignifi\!s rrjiglJoliolJ, or fllll1niJJi~ n lOlhe fel"ic!'! and rom–
m::nds of God ; and is ufed as (he propcr n.lme of lhe
l\Iuhammedan religi,'n, which lhc:y will ,dfo have to be the
fame IH bctlom with lhal of ~1I lhe prOplh!tS fromAdam.
Undcr pretext that this eternal religlon \VAS in his
corrupted, and profdred in its rmily by no one: Ctll of
meo, f\I uhammcd pretended tO b~ a prophet rcm by Cod ,
to rcrorm th"fe ahufes whieh h"tI crepl ioto it, and t(l '
reduce il 10 i19 plÍmitire GOlrlicity; with lht! .uldition
howt:rcl'