The Qu’ran; the Last Scripture from God (2)

Dealing with the opinion, expressed on the Qu’ran by some European authors who dwell upon the pretended inferiority of the later portions of the Qu’ran in comparison with the earlier chapters, Dr. Steingass ably remarks as follows:

“Not being an Arabic scholar himself [Goethe], he knew the Qu’ran only through the translations existing at the time which follow throughout the order of the received text…Those critics, on the other hand, who view the Qu’ran with regard to the chronological order of its constituents, follow the descending scale in their estimate. But if we consider the variety and heterogeneousness of the topics, on which the Qu’ran touches, uniformity of style and diction can scarcely be expected; on the contrary, it would appear to be strangely out of place. Let us not forget that in the book, as Muhammad’s newest biographer. Ludolf Krehl [Das Leben des Muhammad. Lepizing 1884] express it, ‘there is given a complete code of creed and morals, as well as of the law based thereupon. There are also the foundations laid for every institution of an extensive commonwealth, for instruction, for the administration of justice, for military organization, for finance, for a most careful legislation for the poor: ‘all built up on the belief in the one God Who holds man’s destiny in His hand.’ Where so many important objects are concerned, the standard of excellence, by which we have to gauge the composition of the Qu’ran as a whole, must needs vary with the matter treated upon in each particular case. Sublime, and chaste, where the supreme truth of God’s unity is to be proclaimed; appealing in high–pitched strains to the imagination of a poetically–gifted people, where the eternal consequences of man’s submission of God’s holy will, or of rebellion against it, are pictured; touching in its simple, almost crude earnestness, when it seeks again and again encouragement or consolation for God’s Messenger, and a solemn warning for those, to whom he has been sent, in the histories of the prophets of old: the language of the Qu’ran adapts itself to the demands of everyday life, when this everyday life, in its private and public bearings, is to be brought in to harmony with the fundamental principles of the new dispensation.

“Here therefore, its merits, as a literary production should, perhaps, not be measured by some preconceived maxims of subjective and aesthetic taste, but by the effects which it produced in Muhammad’s contemporaries and fellow–countrymen. 

If it spoke so powerfully and convincingly to the hearts of his hearers, as to weld hitherto centrifugal and antagonistic elements into one compact and well–organized body, animated by ideas, far beyond these which had until now ruled the Arabian mind, then its eloquence was perfect, simply because it created a civilised nation out of savage tribes, and shot a fresh woof into the old warp of history.

“When a long period of conquests scattered the Arabs to the farthest East and to the farthest West, their spoke language might deviate from its perfect purity, slurring over unaccented syllables and dropping terminations. But the fine idiom of their forefathers, as deposited in the Qu’ran, remained the language of their prayer and their pious meditation, and thus lived on with them, as a bond of unity, an object of national love and admiration, and a source of literary development for all times.^[1] 

The Qu’ran, therefore, is the last Scripture from God, which has superseded by its new dispensation all preceding Scriptures, containing all comprehensible instructions and laws, all matters concerning the relation between the Creator and His creature, and between man and man. It is a miraculous book, a code of laws bearing on every, institution of an extensive common-wealth, on instruction, on the administration of justice, on military organisation, on finance, on a most careful legislation for the poor; and a complete code of beliefs and morals: all built up on the perfected belief in One God Who holds man’s destiny in His Hand. It embodies a correct summary of the true religion which former prophets from the time of Adam had taught to their respective countries, and a solemn warning to all mankind, to whom the “Seal of Prophets” had been sent to reclaim and to reform. It exposes and refutes the pretensions and incorrect interpretations of rabbis and priests who had misled their people. These later were often called upon, in the Qu’ran to come to a reasoning with the followers of the new faith and, then, to judge for themselves, as to whether Islam was to be rejected by pure reason cleared of every grain of partiality. But the high voice from Heaven was not adheared to and differences of a religious nature still continue between Muslims and non-Muslims.

The Qu’ran is a Divine Book which from the day of its revelation through the message of the Prophet and Apostle of God, up to this moment, has undergone no alteration whatever.^[2] It is the Sacred Book that continues to reign over the hearts of its hearers, to convince them, through their own conscience and spiritual nature of its Divine origin. No human pen, however powerful, can venture to imitate it. The miraculous nature of the Qu’ran has, long ago, been solemnly confirmed by those who were the most competent judges. The Arabians could boast of no other literature than witty poems of eloquence in their own language, -though as they paid due honour to any distinguished poem by their famous poets- were struck with infinite admiration, when they heard the Prophet of God reciting certain portions of God’s new Book to them. Their own celebrated Rabiaa, whose poem was attached to the Sacred Pantheon of the Ka‘bah, could without much trouble or hesitation, judge that the Qu’ran was rightly a Divine Book, and that the illiterate orphan was the true messenger of God. From the perusal of the concise, but accurate history of the Prophet, in part II of this essay, it is clear enough, how the obstinate minded Arabs of the Desert received the Book with adoration and perfect respect. Again the contents of the Qu’ran most readily answer all questions that may be raised on religious or civil matters. I will quote here some translated passages from the Qu’ran, as examples of the rest, and leave them to recommend themselves: