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Title: The Faith of Islam

Author: Edward Sell

Release Date: February 24, 2007 [EBook #20660]

Language: English

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THE

FAITH OF ISLAM:

BY

THE REV. EDWARD SELL,
FELLOW OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS.

       *       *       *       *       *

TRUeBNER & CO., LONDON. ADDISON & CO., MADRAS. 1880.

_All rights reserved._

       *       *       *       *       *


MADRAS:
PRINTED BY ADDISON AND CO., MOUNT ROAD.

       *       *       *       *       *


PREFACE.

The following pages embody a study of Islam during a residence of fifteen
years in India, the greater part of which time I have been in daily
intercourse with Musalmans. I have given in the footnotes the authorities
from which I quote. I was not able to procure in Madras a copy of the
Arabic edition of Ibn Khaldoun's great work, but the French translation by
Baron M. de Slane, to which I so frequently refer, is thoroughly reliable.
The quotations from the Quran are made from Rodwell's translation. The
original has been consulted when necessary.

A few slight and occasional errors in transliteration have occurred, such
as Sulat for Salat, Munkar for Munkir, &c., but in no case is the meaning
affected.

In some words, such as Khalif, Khalifate, and Omar, I have retained the
anglicised form instead of using the more correct terms, Khalifa, Khilafat,
'Umr. The letter Q has been used to distinguish the Kaf-i-Karashat from the
Kaf-i-Tazi.

E. S.

      MADRAS,
  _December 1st, 1880._

{v}

       *       *       *       *       *


CONTENTS.

Introduction. ... PAGE ix

CHAPTER I.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF ISLAM.

The Quran--Its revelation--Miraculous nature--Arrangement of Quran--Osman's
recension. The Sunnat--The authority of Sunnat--Tradition--Bid'at or
innovation--Shia'h Traditions. Ijma'--Ijtihad--Four orthodox Imams, Hanifa,
Malik, Shafa'i and Hanbal. Qias--Established by the early
Mujtahidin--Sterility of Islam ... PAGE 1

Note to Chapter I. Ijtihad ... PAGE 32

CHAPTER II.

EXEGESIS OF THE QURAN AND THE TRADITIONS.

Inspiration--The seven readings--Work of a Commentator--Words and Sentences
of the Quran--Use of the words--Deductions of arguments from the
Quran--Divisions of the Quran--Abrogation--Creation of the Quran--Hadis or
Tradition--Collections of Traditions--Classification of Traditions ... PAGE
37

CHAPTER III.

THE SECTS OF ISLAM.

The Shia'hs--The Imamat--Kharigites--Nur-i-Muhammadi--Imam--Isma,ilians and
Imamites--Ghair-i-Mahdis--Da,iri--Mahmudiah--Khalifate--Sufiism--Persian
Poetry--Darwishes--Omar Khayyam--Wahhabis--their rise--spread in
India--doctrines and influence ... PAGE 73

Note to Chapter III. Wahhabiism ... PAGE 114

{vi}

CHAPTER IV.

THE CREED OF ISLAM

Iman--God--Attributes of God--Discussions on the nature of God--The rise of
the Mutazilites--The Sifatians--Mushabihites--Names of God--Creation of the
Quran. Angels--Recording Angels--Harut and Marut--Munkir and Nakir--Jinn.
The Books--Abrogation--Tahrif. The Prophets--Rank and inspiration of
prophets--Nabi and Rasul--Sinlessness of prophets--The
Anbiya-ulul-'Azm--Miracles of prophets--The Mi'raj. The Resurrection and
the last day--The Trumpets--Descent of the
books--Balances--Bridge--Al-A'raf--Al-Barzakh--Intercession of
Muhammad--Heaven--Hell. The Predestination of good and
evil--Jabrians--Qadrians--Ash'arians--Free-will--Apostacy ... PAGE 116

Note to Chapter IV. Muslim Philosophy ... PAGE 181

CHAPTER V.

THE PRACTICAL DUTIES OF ISLAM.

Farz, wajib, sunnat, mustahab and mubah actions--Haram or unlawful acts.
Tashahhud. Salat--Wazu--Ghusl--Tayammum--Namaz--Farz, sunnat, witr and nafl
rak'ats--Appointed hours of prayer--Friday Namaz and sermon--Namaz on a
journey and in time of war--Namaz in Ramazan, during an eclipse and in time
of drought--Funeral service--Its ritual and prayers. Fasting--Its time and
nature. Zakat--Nisab--Proportion of property to be given as
alms--Recipients of the Zakat. The Hajj--Farz, sunnat, wajib and mustahab
duties connected with the Hajj--Time for the Hajj--Arrival of the Haji at
Mecca--Tawaf--Ceremonies of the Hajj--Conclusion of the Hajj--Formal nature
of Islam ... PAGE 187

Note to Chapter V. Fatva on the Namaz ... PAGE 233

{vii}

CHAPTER VI.

THE FEASTS AND FASTS OF ISLAM.

Muharram--'Ashur Khana--Marsiya--Waqi'a Khan--'Alams--Ceremonies of the
'Ashura--Fatihas for 'Ali, for Hasan and Husain--Akhir-i-char Shamba--Bara
Wafat--Jashn-i-milad-i-Sharif--Asar-i-Sharif--Shab Barat--Ramazan and
'Id-ul-Fitr--'Itikaf--Sadqa--Sermon on the 'Id-ul-Fitr--Baqr-'Id or
'Id-uz-Zuha--Sermon on the 'Id-uz-Zuha--The Qurban or Sacrifice--Festival
of Madar--Festival of Salar Mas'ud Ghazi--Festival of Khaja Khizr--Feast of
Pir Dastgir Sahib--Festival of Qadir Wali Sahib ... PAGE 237

Index of Technical Terms ... PAGE 265

{ix}

       *       *       *       *       *


INTRODUCTION.

It is necessary to enter into some explanation as regards the contents of
this work. It does not fall in with its plan to enter into an account
either of the life of Muhammad or of the wide and rapid spread of the
system founded by him. The first has been done by able writers in England,
France and Germany. I could add nothing new to this portion of the subject,
nor throw new light upon it. The political growth of Muslim nations has
also been set forth in various ways.

It seems to me that the more important study at this time is that of the
religious system which has grown out of the Prophet's teaching, and of its
effect upon the individual and the community. What the Church in her
missionary enterprise has to deal with, what European Governments in the
political world have to do with is Islam as it is, and as it now influences
those who rule and those who are ruled under it.

I have, therefore, tried to show from authentic sources, and from a
practical knowledge of it, what the Faith of Islam really is, and how it
influences men and nations in the present day. I think that recent Fatvas
delivered by the 'Ulama in Constantinople show how firmly a Muslim State is
bound in the fetters of an unchangeable Law, whilst the present practice of
orthodox Muslims all the world {x} over is a constant carrying out of the
precepts given in the Quran and the Sunnat, and an illustration of the
principles I have shown to belong to Islam. On this subject it is not too
much to say that there is, except amongst Oriental scholars, much
misconception.

Again, much that is written on Islam is written either in ignorant
prejudice, or from an ideal standpoint. To understand it aright, one should
know its literature and live amongst its people. I have tried faithfully to
prove every statement I have made; and if, now and again, I have quoted
European authors, it is only by way of illustration. I rest my case
entirely upon Musalman authorities themselves. Still more, I have
ascertained from living witnesses that the principles I have tried to show
as existing in Islam, are really at work now and are as potent as at any
previous period.

I have thus traced up from the very foundations the rise and development of
the system, seeking wherever possible to link the past with the present. In
order not to interfere with this unity of plan, I have had to leave many
subjects untouched, such as those connected with the civil law, with
slavery, divorce, jihad or religious wars, &c. A good digest of Muhammadan
Law[1] will give all necessary information on these points. The basis of
the Law which determines these questions is what I have described in my
first chapter. Ijtihad, for example, rules quite as effectually in a
question of domestic {xi} economy or political jurisprudence as on points
of dogma. It was not, therefore, necessary for me to go into details on
these points.

When I have drawn any conclusion from data which Muhammadan literature, and
the present practice of Muslims have afforded me, I have striven to give
what seems to me a just and right one. Still, I gladly take this
opportunity of stating that I have found many Muslims better than their
creed, men with whom it is a pleasure to associate, and whom I respect for
many virtues and esteem as friends. I judge the system, not any individual
in it.

In India, there are a number of enlightened Muhammadans, ornaments to
native society, useful servants of the State, men who show a laudable zeal
in all social reforms, so far as is consistent with a reputation for
orthodoxy. Their number is far too few, and they do not, in many cases,
represent orthodox Islam, nor do I believe their counterpart would be found
amongst the 'Ulama of a Muslim State. The fact is that the wave of
scepticism which has passed over Europe has not left the East untouched.
Hindu and Muslim alike have felt its influence, but to judge of either the
one system or the other from the very liberal utterances of a few men who
expound their views before English audiences is to yield oneself up to
delusion on the subject.

Islam in India has also felt the influence of contact with other races and
creeds, though, theologically speaking, the Iman and the Din, the faith and
the practice, are unchanged, and remain as I have {xii} described them in
chapters four and five. If Islam in India has lost some of its original
fierceness, it has also adopted many superstitious practices, such as those
against which the Wahhabis protest. The great mass of the Musalman people
are quite as superstitious, if not more so, than their heathen neighbours.
Still the manliness, the suavity of manner, the deep learning, after an
oriental fashion, of many Indian Musalmans render them a very attractive
people. It is true there is a darker side--much bigotry, pride of race,
scorn of other creeds, and, speaking generally, a tendency to inertness. It
is thus that in Bengal, Madras and perhaps in other places, they have
fallen far behind the Hindus in educational status, and in the number of
appointments they hold in the Government service. Indeed, this subject is a
serious one and deserves the special attention of the Indian Government. In
Bengal the proportion of Musalmans to Hindus in the upper ranks of the
Uncovenanted Civil Service in 1871 was 77 to 341. In the year 1880 it had
declined to 53 to 451. The state of affairs in Madras is equally bad. Yet
an intelligent Muslim, as a rule, makes a good official.

Looking at the subject from a wider stand-point, I think the Church has
hardly yet realised how great a barrier this system of Islam is to her
onward march in the East. Surely special men with special training are
required for such an enterprise as that of encountering Islam in its own
strongholds. No better pioneers of the Christian {xiii} faith could be
found in the East than men won from the Crescent to the Cross.

All who are engaged in such an enterprise will perhaps find some help in
this volume, and I am not without hope that it may also throw some light on
the political questions of the day.

{1}

       *       *       *       *       *


THE FAITH OF ISLAM.

CHAPTER I.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF ISLAM.

The creed of Islam, "La-ilaha-il-lal-lahu wa Muhammad-ur-Rasul-Ullah,"
(There is no deity but God, and Muhammad is the Apostle of God) is very
short, but the system itself is a very dogmatic one. Such statements as:
"The Quran is an all-embracing and sufficient code, regulating everything,"
"The Quran contains the _entire_ code of Islam--that is, it is not a book
of religious precepts merely, but it governs all that a Muslim does," "The
Quran contains the whole religion of Muhammad," "The Quran which contains
the whole Gospel of Islam" are not simply misleading, they are erroneous.
So far from the Quran alone being the _sole_ rule of faith and practice to
Muslims, there is not one single sect amongst them whose faith and practice
is based on it alone. No one among them disputes its authority or casts any
doubt upon its genuineness. Its voice is supreme in all that it concerns,
but its exegesis, the whole system of legal jurisprudence and of
theological science, is largely founded on the Traditions. Amongst the
orthodox Musalmans, the foundations of the Faith are four in number, the
Quran, Sunnat, Ijma' and Qias. The fact that all the sects do not agree
with the orthodox--the Sunnis--in this matter illustrates another important
fact in Islam--the want of unity amongst its followers. {2}

1. THE QURAN.--The question of the inspiration will be fully discussed, and
an account of the laws of the exegesis of the Quran will be given in the
next chapter. It is sufficient now to state that this book is held in the
highest veneration by Muslims of every sect. When being read it is kept on
a stand elevated above the floor, and no one must read or touch it without
first making a legal ablution.[2] It is not translated unless there is the
most urgent necessity, and even then the Arabic text is printed with the
translation. It is said that God chose the sacred month of Ramazan in which
to give all the revelations which in the form of books have been vouchsafed
to mankind. Thus on the first night of that month the books of Abraham came
down from heaven; on the sixth the books of Moses; on the thirteenth the
Injil, or Gospel, and on the twenty-seventh the Quran. On that night, the
Laylut-ul-Qadr, or "night of power," the whole Quran is said to have
descended to the lowest of the seven heavens, from whence it was brought
piecemeal to Muhammad as occasion required.[3] "Verily we have caused it
(the Quran) to descend on the night of power." (Sura xcvii. 1.) That night
is called the blessed night, the night better than a thousand months, the
night when angels came down by the permission of their Lord, the night
which bringeth peace and blessings till the rosy dawn. Twice on that night
in the solitude of the cave of Hira the voice called, twice though pressed
sore "as if a fearful weight had been laid upon him," the prophet struggled
{3} against its influence. The third time he heard the words:--

 "Recite thou, in the name of thy Lord who created--
  Created man from clots of blood." (Sura xcvi. 5.)

"When the voice had ceased to speak, telling how from minutest beginnings
man had been called into existence, and lifted up by understanding and
knowledge of the Lord, who is most beneficent, and who by the pen had
revealed that which man did not know, Muhammad woke up from his trance and
felt as if "a book had been written in his heart." He was much alarmed.
Tradition records that he went hastily to his wife and said--"O Khadija!
what has happened to me!" He lay down and she watched by him. When he
recovered from his paroxysm, he said "O Khadija! he of whom one would not
have believed (_i.e._, himself) has become either a soothsayer (kahin) or
mad." She replied, "God is my protection, O Ab-ul-kasim. He will surely not
let such a thing happen unto thee, for thou speakest the truth, dost not
return evil for evil, keepest faith, art of a good life and art kind to thy
relatives and friends, and neither art thou a talker abroad in the bazaars.
What has befallen thee? Hast thou seen aught terrible?" Muhammad replied
"Yes." And he told her what he had seen. Whereupon she answered and
said:--"Rejoice, O dear husband and be of good cheer. He in whose hands
stands Khadija's life, is my witness that thou wilt be the Prophet of this
people."[4] The next Sura, the 74th, was revealed at Mecca, after which
there seems to have been an intermission, called the Fatrah. It was during
this time that the Prophet gained some knowledge of the contents of the
Jewish and the Christian Scriptures.

Gabriel is believed to have been the medium of communication. This fact,
however, is only once stated in the Quran:--"Say, whoso is the enemy of
Gabriel--For he it is {4} who by God's leave hath caused the Quran to
descend on thy heart" (Sura ii. 91.) This Sura was revealed some years
after the Prophet's flight to Madina. The other references to the
revelation of the Quran are:--"Verily from the Lord of the worlds hath this
book come down; the Faithful Spirit (Ruh-ul-Amin) hath come down with it"
(Sura xxvi. 192.) "The Quran is no other than a revelation revealed to him,
one terrible in power (Shadid-ul-Qua) taught it him." (Sura liii. 5.) These
latter passages do not state clearly that Gabriel was the medium of
communication, but the belief that he was is almost, if not entirely,
universal, and the Commentators say that the terms "Ruh-ul-Amin" and
"Shadid-ul-Qua" refer to no other angel or spirit. The use of the word
"taught" in the last Sura quoted, and the following expression in Sura
lxxv. 18. "When we have _recited it_, then follow thou the recital," show
that the Quran is entirely an objective revelation and that Muhammad was
only a passive medium of communication. The Muhammadan historian, Ibn
Khaldoun, says on this point:--"Of all the divine books the Quran is the
only one of which the text, words and phrases have been communicated to a
prophet by an audible voice. It is otherwise with the Pentateuch, the
Gospel and the other divine books: the prophets received them under the
form of ideas."[5] This expresses the universal belief on this point--a
belief which reveals the essentially mechanical nature of Islam.

The Quran thus revealed is now looked upon as the standing miracle of
Islam. Other divine books, it is admitted, were revelations received under
the form of ideas, but the Quran is far superior to them all for the actual
text was revealed to the ear of the prophet. Thus we read in Sura lxxv.
16-19:--

{5}

 "Move not thy tongue in haste to follow and master this revelation;
  For we will see to the collecting and recital of it;
  _But when we have recited it_, then follow thou the recital;
  And verily it shall be ours to make it clear to thee."

The Quran is, then, believed to be a miraculous revelation of divine
eloquence, as regards both _form_ and _substance_, arrangement of words,
and its revelation of sacred things. It is asserted that each
well-accredited prophet performed miracles in that particular department of
human skill or science most flourishing in his age. Thus in the days of
Moses magic exercised a wide influence, but all the magicians of Pharaoh's
court had to submit to the superior skill of the Hebrew prophet. In the
days of Jesus the science of medicine flourished. Men possessed great skill
in the art of healing; but no physician could equal the skill of Jesus, who
not only healed the sick, but raised the dead. In the days of Muhammad the
special and most striking feature of the age was the wonderful power of the
Arabs in the art of poetry. Muhammad-ud-Damiri says:--"Wisdom hath alighted
on three things--the brain of the Franks, the hands of the Chinese and the
tongue of the Arabs." They were unrivalled for their eloquence, for the
skill with which they arranged their material and gave expression to their
thoughts. It is in this very particular that superior excellence is claimed
for the Quran.[6] It is to the Muhammadan mind a sure evidence of its
miraculous origin that it should excel in this respect. Muslims say that
miracles have followed the revelations given to other prophets in order to
confirm the divine message. In this case the Quran is both a revelation and
a miracle. {6} Muhammad himself said:--"Each prophet has received manifest
signs which carried conviction to men: but that which I have received is
the revelation. So I hope to have a larger following on the day of
resurrection than any other prophet has." Ibn Khaldoun says that "by this
the Prophet means that such a wonderful miracle as the Quran, which is also
a revelation, should carry conviction to a very large number."[7] To a
Muslim the fact is quite clear, and so to him the Quran is far superior to
all the preceding books. Muhammad is said to have convinced a rival, Lebid,
a poet-laureate, of the truth of his mission by reciting to him a portion
of the now second Sura. "Unquestionably it is one of the very grandest
specimens of Koranic or Arabic diction.... But even descriptions of this
kind, grand as they be, are not sufficient to kindle and preserve the
enthusiasm and the faith and the hope of a nation like the Arabs.... The
poets before him had sung of valour and generosity, of love and strife and
revenge ... of early graves, upon which weeps the morning cloud, and of the
fleeting nature of life which comes and goes as the waves of the desert
sands, as the tents of a caravan, as a flower that shoots up and dies away.
Or they shoot their bitter arrows of satire right into the enemy's own
soul. Muhammad sang of none of these. No love-minstrelsy his, not the joys
of the world, nor sword, nor camel, nor jealousy, nor human vengeance, not
the glories of tribe or ancestor. He preached Islam." The very fierceness
with which this is done, the swearing such as Arab orator, proficient
though he may have been in the art, had never made, the dogmatic certainty
with which the Prophet proclaimed his message have tended, equally with the
passionate grandeur of his utterances, to hold the Muslim world spell-bound
to the letter and imbued with all the narrowness of the book.

So sacred is the text supposed to be that only the {7} Companions[8] of the
Prophet are deemed worthy of being commentators on it. The work of learned
divines since then has been to learn the Quran by heart and to master the
traditions, with the writings of the earliest commentators thereon. The
revelation itself is never made a subject of investigation or tried by the
ordinary rules of criticism. If only the Isnad, or chain of authorities for
any interpretation, is good, that interpretation is unhesitatingly accepted
as the correct one. It is a fundamental article of belief that no other
book in the world can possibly approach near to it in thought or
expression. It deals with positive precepts rather than with principles.
Its decrees are held to be binding not in the spirit merely but in the very
letter on all men, at all times and under every circumstance of life. This
follows as a natural consequence from the belief in its eternal nature.

The various portions recited by the Prophet during the twenty-three years
of his prophetical career were committed to writing by some of his
followers, or treasured up in their memories. As the recital of the Quran
formed a part of every act of public worship, and as such recital was an
act of great religious merit, every Muslim tried to remember as much as he
could. He who could do so best was entitled to the highest honour, and was
often the recipient of a substantial reward.[9] The Arab love for poetry
facilitated the exercise of this faculty. When the Prophet died the
revelation ceased. There was no distinct copy of the whole, nothing to show
what was of transitory importance, what of permanent value. There is
nothing which proves that the Prophet took any special care of any
portions. There seems to have been no definite order in which, when the
book was {8} compiled, the various Suras were arranged, for the Quran, as
it now exists, is utterly devoid of all historical or logical sequence. For
a year after the Prophet's death nothing seems to have been done; but then
the battle of Yemana took place in which a very large number of the best
Quran reciters were slain. Omar took fright at this, and addressing the
Khalif Abu Bakr, said, "The slaughter may again wax hot amongst the
repeaters of the Quran in other fields of battle, and much may be lost
therefrom. Now, therefore, my advice is that thou shouldest give speedy
orders for the collection of the Quran." Abu Bakr agreed, and said to Zeid
who had been an amanuensis of the Prophet:--"Thou art a young man, and
wise, against whom no one amongst us can cast an imputation; and thou wert
wont to write down the inspired revelations of the Prophet of the Lord,
wherefore now search out the Quran and bring it all together." Zeid being
at length pressed to undertake the task proceeded to gather the Quran
together from "date leaves, and tablets of white stone, and from the hearts
of men." In course of time it was all compiled in the order in which the
book is now arranged. This was the authorized text for some twenty-three
years after the death of Muhammad. Owing, however, either to different
modes of recitation, or to differences of expression in the sources from
which Zeid's first recension was made, a variety of different readings
crept into the copies in use. The Faithful became alarmed and the Khalif
Osman was persuaded to put a stop to such a danger. He appointed Zeid with
three of the leading men of the Quraish as assistants to go over the whole
work again. A careful recension was made of the whole book which was then
assimilated to the Meccan dialect, the purest in Arabia. After this all
other copies of the Quran were burnt by order of the Khalif, and new
transcripts were made of the revised edition which was now the only
authorised copy. As it is a fundamental tenet of Islam that the Quran is
incorruptible and absolutely free {9} from error, no little difficulty has
been felt in explaining the need of Osman's new and revised edition and of
the circumstances under which it took place; but as usual a Tradition has
been handed down which makes it lawful to read the Quran in seven dialects.
The book in its present form may be accepted as a genuine reproduction of
Abu Bakr's edition with authoritative corrections. We may rest assured that
we have in the Quran now in use the record of what Muhammad said. It thus
becomes a fundamental basis of Islam. It was a common practice of the early
Muslims when speaking of the Prophet to say:--"His character is the Quran."
When people curious to know details of the life of their beloved master
asked 'Ayesha, one of his widows, about him, she used to reply:--"Thou hast
the Quran, art thou not an Arab and readest the Arab tongue? Why dost thou
ask me, for the Prophet's disposition is no other than the Quran?"

Whether Muhammad would have arranged the Quran as we now have it is a
subject on which it is impossible to form an opinion. There are Traditions
which seem to show that he had some doubts as to its completeness. I give
the following account on the authority of M. Caussin de Percival. When
Muhammad felt his end draw near he said:--"Bring ink and paper: I wish to
write to you a book to preserve you always from error." But it was too
late. He could not write or dictate and so he said:--"May the Quran always
be your guide. Perform what it commands you: avoid what it prohibits." The
genuineness of the first part of this Tradition is, I think, very doubtful,
the latter is quite in accordance with the Prophet's claim for his
teaching. The letter of the book became, as Muhammad intended it should
become, a despotic influence in the Muslim world, a barrier to freethinking
on the part of all the orthodox, an obstacle to innovation in all
spheres--political, social, intellectual and moral. There are many topics
connected with it which can be better explained in the next chapter. All
{10} that has now to be here stated is that the Quran is the first
foundation of Islam. It is an error to suppose it is the only one: an error
which more than anything else has led persons away from the only position
in which they could obtain a true idea of the great system of Islam.

The Shia'hs maintain, without good reason, that the following verses
favourable to the claims of 'Ali and of the Shia'h faction were omitted in
Osman's recension.

    "O Believers! believe in the two lights. (Muhammad and 'Ali).

    'Ali is of the number of the pious, we shall give him his right in the
    day of judgment; we shall not pass over those who wish to deceive him.
    We have honoured him above all this family. He and his family are very
    patient. Their enemy[10] is the chief of sinners.

    We have announced to thee a race of just men, men[11] who will not
    oppose our orders. My mercy and peace are on them living[12] or dead.

    As to those who walk in their way, my mercy is on them; they will
    certainly gain the mansions of Paradise."

2. THE SUNNAT.--The second foundation of Islam is based on the Hadis
(plural Ahadis) or Tradition. Commands from God given in the Quran are
called 'farz' and 'wajib.' A command given by the Prophet or an example set
by him is called 'sunnat,' a word meaning a rule. It is then technically
applied to the basis of religious faith and practice, which is founded on
traditional accounts of the sayings and acts of Muhammad.[13] It is the
belief common to all Musalmans, that the Prophet in all that he _did_, and
in all that he _said_, was supernaturally guided, and that his words and
acts are to all time and to all his followers a divine rule of faith and
practice. "We should know that God Almighty has given commands and
prohibitions to his {11} servants, either by means of the Quran, or by the
mouth of His Prophet."[14] Al-Ghazali, a most distinguished theologian,
writes:--"Neither is the faith according to His will, complete by the
testimony to the Unity alone, that is, by simply saying, 'There is but one
God,' without the addition of the further testimony to the Apostle, that
is, the statement, 'Muhammad is the apostle of God.'" This belief in the
Prophet must extend to all that he has said concerning the present and the
future life, for, says the same author, "A man's faith is not accepted till
he is fully persuaded of those things which the Prophet hath affirmed shall
be after death."

It is often said that the Wahhabis reject Tradition. In the ordinary sense
of the word Tradition they may; but in Muslim Theology the term Hadis,
which we translate Tradition, has a special meaning. It is applied only to
the sayings of the Prophet, not to those of some uninspired divine or
teacher. The Wahhabis reject the Traditions handed down by men who lived
after the time of the Companions, but the Hadis, embodying the sayings of
the Prophet, they, in common with _all_ Muslim sects, hold to be an
inspired revelation of God's will to men. It would be as reasonable to say
that Protestants reject the four Gospels as to say that the Wahhabis reject
Tradition.[15] An orthodox Muslim places the Gospels in the same rank as
the Hadis, that is, he looks upon them as a record of what Jesus said and
did handed down to us by His Companions. "In the same way as other Prophets
received their books under the form of ideas, so our Prophet has in the
same way received a great number of communications which are found in the
collections of the {12} Traditions (Ahadis).[16] This shows that the Sunnat
must be placed on a level with the Jewish and Christian Scriptures; whilst
the Quran is a revelation superior to them all. To no sect of Musalmans is
the Quran alone the rule of faith. The Shia'hs, it is true, reject the
Sunnat, but they have in their own collection of Traditions an exact
equivalent.

The nature of the inspiration of the Sunnat and its authoritative value are
questions of the first importance, whether Islam is viewed from a
theological or a political stand-point.

"Muhammad said that seventy-three sects would arise, of whom only one would
be worthy of Paradise. The Companions inquired which sect would be so
highly favoured. The Prophet replied:--'The one which remains firm in my
way and in that of my friends.' It is certain that this must refer to the
Ahl-i-Sunnat wa Jama'at." (Sunnis.)[17]

It is laid down as a preliminary religious duty that obedience should be
rendered to the Sunnat of the Prophet. Thus in the fourth Sura of the Quran
it is written: "O true believers! obey God and obey the apostle." "We have
not sent any apostle but that he might be obeyed by the permission of God."
From these and similar passages the following doctrine is deduced: "It is
plain that the Prophet (on whom and on whose descendants be the mercy and
peace of God!) is free from sin in what he ordered to be done, and in what
he prohibited, in all his words and acts; for were it otherwise how could
obedience rendered to him be accounted as obedience paid to God?"[18]
Believers are exhorted to render obedience to God by witnessing to His
divinity, and to the Prophet by bearing witness to his prophetship; this is
a sign of love, and love is the cause of nearness to God. The Prophet
himself is reported to have {13} said, "Obey me that God may regard you as
friends." From this statement the conclusion is drawn that "the love of God
(to man) is conditional on obedience to the Prophet." Belief in and
obedience to the Prophet are essential elements of the true faith, and he
who possesses not both of these is in error.[19]

In order to show the necessity of this obedience, God is said to have
appointed Muhammad as the Mediator between Himself and man. In a lower
sense, believers are to follow the "Sunnat" of the four Khalifs, Abu Bakr,
Omar, Osman, and 'Ali, who are true guides to men.

To the Muslim all that the Prophet did was perfectly in accord with the
will of God. Moral laws have a different application when applied to him.
His jealousy, his cruelty to the Jewish tribes, his indulgence in
licentiousness, his bold assertion of equality with God as regards his
commands, his every act and word, are sinless, and a guide to men as long
as the world shall last. It is easy for an apologist for Muhammad to say
that this is an accretion, something which engrafted itself on to a simpler
system. It is no such thing. It is rather one of the essential parts of the
system. Let Muhammad be his own witness:--"He who loves not my Sunnat is
not my follower." "He who revives my Sunnat revives me, and will be with me
in Paradise." "He who in distress holds fast to the Sunnat will receive the
reward of a hundred martyrs." As might be expected, the setting up of his
own acts and words as an infallible and unvarying rule of faith accounts
more than anything else for the immobility of the Muhammadan world, for it
must be always remembered that in Islam Church and State are one. The Arab
proverb, "Al mulk wa din tawamini"--country and religion are twins--is the
popular form of expressing the unity of Church and State. {14} To the mind
of the Musalman the rule of the one is the rule of the other,--a truth
sometimes forgotten by politicians who look hopefully on the reform of
Turkey or the regeneration of the House of Osman. The Sunnat as much as the
Quran covers all law, whether political, social, moral, or religious. A
modern writer who has an intimate acquaintance with Islam says:--"If Islam
is to be a power for good in the future, it is imperatively necessary to
cut off the social system from the religion. The difficulty lies in the
close connection between the religious and social ordinances in the Kuran,
the two are so intermingled that it is hard to see how they can be
disentangled without destroying both." I believe this to be impossible, and
the case becomes still more hopeless when we remember that the same remark
would apply to the Sunnat. To forget this is to go astray, for Ibn Khaldoun
distinctly speaks of "the Law derived from the Quran and the Sunnat," of
the "maxims of Musalman Law based on the text of the Quran and the teaching
of the Traditions."[20]

The Prophet had a great dread of all innovation. The technical term for
anything new is "bida't," and of it, it is said: "Bida't is the changer of
Sunnat." In other words, if men seek after things new, if fresh forms of
thought arise, and the changing condition of society demands new modes of
expression for the Faith, or new laws to regulate the community, if in
internals or externals, any new thing (bida't) is introduced, it is to be
shunned. The law as revealed in the Quran and the Sunnat is perfect.
Everything not in accordance with the precepts therein contained is
innovation, and all innovation is heresy. Meanwhile some {15} "bida't" is
allowable, such as the teaching of etymology and syntax, the establishment
of schools, guest-houses, &c., which things did not exist in the time of
the Prophet; but it is distinctly and clearly laid down that compliance
with the least Sunnat (_i.e._ the obeying the least of the orders of the
Prophet, however trivial) is far better than doing some new thing, however
advantageous and desirable it may be.

There are many stories which illustrate the importance the Companions of
the Prophet attached to Sunnat. "The Khalif Omar looked towards the black
stone at Mecca, and said, 'By God, I know that thou art only a stone, and
canst grant no benefit, canst do no harm. If I had not known that the
Prophet kissed thee, I would not have done so, but on account of that I do
it.'" Abdullah-Ibn-'Umr was seen riding his camel round and round a certain
place. In answer to an inquiry as to his reason for so doing he said: "I
know not, only I have seen the Prophet do so here." Ahmad-Ibn-Hanbal, one
of the four great Imams, and the founder of the Hanbali school of
interpretation, is said to have been appointed on account of the care with
which he observed the Sunnat. One day when sitting in an assembly he alone
of all present observed some formal custom authorised by the practice of
the Prophet. Gabriel at once appeared and informed him that now, and on
account of his act, he was appointed an Imam.[21] In short, it is
distinctly laid down that the best of all works is the following of the
practice of Muhammad. The essence of religion has been stated by a learned
theologian to consist of three things: first, to follow the Prophet in
morals and in acts; secondly, to eat only lawful food; thirdly, to be
sincere in all actions.

{16}

The Sunnat is now known to Musalmans through the collections of Traditions
gathered together by the men whose names they now bear. The whole are
called Sihah-Sittah, or "six correct books." Not one of these collectors
flourished until the third century of the Hijra, and so, as may be easily
supposed, their work has not passed unchallenged. There is by no means an
absolute consensus of opinion among the Sunnis as to the exact value of
each Tradition, yet all admit that a 'genuine Tradition' must be obeyed.
Whether the Prophet spoke what in the Traditions is recorded as spoken by
him under the influence of the highest kind of inspiration is, as will be
shown in the next chapter, a disputed point; but it matters little.
Whatever may have been the degree, it was according to Muslim belief a real
inspiration, and thus his every act and word became a law as binding upon
his followers as the example of Christ is upon Christians.

The Shia'hs do not acknowledge the Sihah-Sittah, the six correct books of
the Sunnis, but it by no means follows that they reject Tradition. They
have five books of Traditions, the earliest of which was compiled by Abu
Ja'far Muhammad A.H. 329, or a century later than the Sahih-i-Bukhari, the
most trustworthy of the Sunni set. Thus all Musalman sects accept the first
and second ground of the faith--the Quran and the Sunnat--as the inspired
will of God; the Shia'hs substituting in the place of the Traditions on
which the Sunnat is based, a collection of their own. What it is important
to maintain is this, that the Quran alone is to no Musalman an
all-sufficient guide.

3. IJMA'.--The third foundation of the Faith is called Ijma', a word
signifying to be collected or assembled. Technically it means the unanimous
consent of the leading theologians, or what in Christian theology would be
called the "unanimous consent of the Fathers." Practically it is a
collection of the opinions of the Companions, the Tabi'in and the
Taba-i-Tabi'in. "The Law," says Ibn Khaldoun {17} "is grounded on the
general accord of the Companions and their followers." The election of Abu
Bakr to the Khalifate is called Ijma'-i-Ummat, the unanimous consent of the
whole sect. The Companions of the Prophet had special knowledge of the
various circumstances under which special revelations had been made; they
alone knew which verses of the Quran abrogated others, and which verses
were thus abrogated. The knowledge of these matters and many other details
they handed on to their successors, the Tabi'in, who passed the information
on to their followers, the Taba-i-Tabi'in. Some Muslims, the Wahhabis for
example, accept only the Ijma' of the Companions; and by all sects that is
placed in the first rank as regards authority; others accept that of the
'Fugitives' who dwelt at Madina; and there are some amongst the orthodox
who allow, as a matter of theory, that Ijma' may be collected at any time,
but that practically it is not done because there are now no Mujtahidin.
The highest rank a Muslim Theologian could reach was that of a Mujtahid, or
one who could make an Ijtihad, a word which, derived from the same root as
Jihad (a Crescentade), means in its technical sense a logical deduction. It
is defined as the "attaining to a certain degree of authority in searching
into the principles of jurisprudence." The origin of Ijtihad was as
follows:--Muhammad wished to send a man named Mu'az to Yaman to receive
some money collected for alms, which he was then to distribute to the poor.
On appointing him he said: "O Mu'az, by what rule will you act?" He
replied, "by the Law of the Quran." "But if you find no direction therein?"
"Then I will act according to the Sunnat of the Prophet." "But what if that
fails?" "Then I will make an Ijtihad and act on that." The Prophet raised
his hands and said, "Praise be to God who guides the messenger of His
Prophet in what He pleases."[22] This is considered a proof of the
authority of Ijtihad for the Prophet clearly sanctioned it.

{18}

When the Prophet was alive men could go to him with their doubts and fears:
an infallible authority was always present ready to give an inspired
direction. The Khalifs who succeeded the Prophet had only to administer the
Law according to the opinions which they knew Muhammad had held. They were
busily engaged in carrying on the work of conquest; they neither attempted
any new legislation, nor did they depart from the practice of him whom they
revered. "In the first days of Islam, the knowledge of the Law was purely
Traditional. In forming their judgments they had no recourse either to
speculation, to private opinion, or to arguments founded upon analogy."[23]
However, as the Empire grew, new conditions of life arose, giving rise to
questions, concerning which Muhammad had given no explicit direction. This
necessitated the use of Ijtihad. During the Khalifates of Abu Bakr, Omar,
Osman and 'Ali--the Khulafa-i-Rashidin, or the Khalifs who could guide men
in the right way, the custom was for the Faithful to consult them as to the
course of action to be pursued under some new development of circumstances;
for they knew as none other did the Prophet's sayings and deeds, they could
recall to their memories a saying or an act from which a decision could be
deduced. In this way all Muslims could feel that in following their
judgments and guidance they were walking in the right path. But after the
death of 'Ali, the fourth Khalif, civil war and hostile factions imperilled
the continuance of the Faith in its purity. At Madina, where Muhammad's
career as a recognised Prophet was best known, devout men commenced to
learn by heart the Quran, the Sunnat, and the analogical judgments
(Ijtihad) of the four Khalifs. These men were looked up to as authorities,
and their decisions were afterwards known as the 'Customs of Madina.'

It is not difficult to see that a system, which sought to regulate all
departments of life, all developments of men's ideas and energies by the
Sunnat and analogical deductions {19} therefrom, was one which not only
gave every temptation a system could give to the manufacture of Tradition,
but one which would soon become too cumbersome to be of practical use.
Hence, it was absolutely necessary to systematize all this incoherent mass
of Tradition, of judgments given by Khalifs and Mujtahidin. This gave rise
to the systems of jurisprudence, founded by the four orthodox Imams, to one
or other of which all Muslims, except the Shia'hs, belong. These Imams, Abu
Hanifa, Ibn Malik, As-Shafi'i and Ibn Hanbal were all Mujtahidin of the
highest rank. After them it is the orthodox belief that there has been no
Mujtahid. Thus in a standard theological book much used in India it is
written: "Ijma' is this, that it is not lawful to follow any other than the
four Imams." "In these days the Qazi must make no order, the Mufti give no
fatva (_i.e._ a legal decision), contrary to the opinion of the four
Imams." "To follow any other is not lawful." So far then as orthodoxy is
concerned, change and progress are impossible.

Imam Abu Hanifa was born at Basra (A.H. 80), but he spent the greater part
of his life at Kufa. He was the founder and teacher of the body of legists
known as 'the jurists of Irak.' His system differs considerably from that
of the Imam Malik who, living at Madina, confined himself chiefly to
Tradition as the basis of his judgments. Madina was full of the memories of
the sayings and acts of the Prophet; Kufa, the home of Hanifa, on the
contrary, was not founded till after the Prophet's death and so possessed
none of his memories. Islam there came into contact with other races of
men, but from them it had nothing to learn. If these men became Muslims,
well and good: if not, the one law for them as for the Faithful was the
teaching of Muhammad. Various texts of the Quran are adduced to prove the
correctness of this position. "For to thee have we sent down the book which
cleareth up every thing." (Sura xvi. 91) "Nothing have we passed over in
the book." (Sura vi. {20} 38.) "Neither is there a grain in the darkness of
the earth nor a thing green or sere, but it is noted in a distinct
writing." (Sura vi. 59). These texts were held to prove that all law was
provided for by anticipation in the Quran. If a verse could not be found
bearing on any given question, analogical deduction was resorted to. Thus:
"He it is who created _for you_ all that is on earth." (Sura ii. 27).
According to the Hanifite jurists, this is a deed of gift which annuls all
other rights of property. The 'you' refers to Muslims. The earth[24] may be
classified under three heads:--(1) land which never had an owner; (2) land
which had an owner and has been abandoned; (3) the person and property of
the Infidels. From the last division the same legists deduce the lawfulness
of slavery, piracy and constant war against the unbelievers. To return to
Abu Hanifa. He admitted very few Traditions as authoritative in his system,
which claims to be a logical development from the Quran. "The merit of
logical fearlessness cannot be denied to it. The wants and wishes of men,
the previous history of a country--all those considerations, in fact, which
are held in the West to be the governing principles of legislation, are set
aside by the legists of Irak as being of no account whatever. Legislation
is not a science inductive and experimental, but logical and
deductive."[25]

Imam Ibn Malik was born at Madina (A.H. 93) and his system of jurisprudence
is founded, as might be expected from his connection with the sacred city,
on the "Customs of Madina." His business was to arrange and systematize the
Traditions current in Madina, and to form out of them and the "Customs" a
system of jurisprudence embracing the whole sphere of life. The treatise
composed by him was called the "Muwatta" or "The Beaten Path." The greater
part of its contents are legal maxims and opinions {21} delivered by the
Companions. His system of jurisprudence, therefore, has been described as
historical and traditional. In an elegy on his death by Abu Muhammad Ja'far
it is said: "His Traditions were of the greatest authority; his gravity was
impressive; and when he delivered them, all his auditors were plunged in
admiration."[26] The Traditions were his great delight. "I delight," said
he, "in testifying my profound respect for the sayings of the Prophet of
God, and I never repeat one unless I feel myself in a state of perfect
purity,"[27] (_i.e._, after performing a legal ablution.) As death
approached, his one fear was lest he should have exercised his private
judgment in delivering any legal opinion. In his last illness a friend went
to visit him, and enquiring why he wept, received the following answer:
"Why should I not weep, and who has more right to weep than I? By Allah! I
wish I had been flogged and reflogged for every question of law on which I
pronounced an opinion founded on my own private judgment."[28]

Imam As-Shafa'i, a member of the Quraish tribe, was born A.H. 150. He
passed his youth at Mecca but finally settled in Cairo where he died (A.H.
204). Ibn Khallikan relates of him that he was unrivalled for his knowledge
of the Quran, the Sunnat, and the sayings of the Companions. "Never," said
Imam Ibn Hanbal, "have I passed a night without praying for God's mercy and
blessing upon As-Shafi'i." "Whosoever pretends," said Abu Thaur, "that he
saw the like of As-Shafi'i for learning is a liar." Having carefully
studied the systems of the two preceding Imams he then proceeded on an
eclectic system to form his own. It was a reaction against the system of
Abu Hanifa. As-Shafi'i follows rather the traditional plan of Ibn Malik.
The Hanifite will be satisfied if, in the absence of a clear and a direct
statement, he finds one {22} passage in the Quran, or one Tradition from
which the required judgment may be deduced. The Shafi'ite in the same
circumstances, if Tradition is the source of his deduction, will require a
considerable number of Traditions from which to make it.

Imam Ibn Hanbal was the last of the four Orthodox Imams. He was born at
Baghdad (A.H. 164). His system is a distinct return to Traditionalism. He
lived at Baghdad during the reign of the Khalif Mamun, when Orthodox Islam
seemed in danger of being lost amid the rationalistic speculations, (that
is, from an Orthodox Muslim stand-point), and licentious practices of the
Court. The jurists most in favour at Court were followers of Abu Hanifa.
They carried the principle of analogical deduction to dangerous lengths in
order to satisfy the latitudinarianism of the Khalif. Human speculation
seemed to be weakening all the essentials of the Faith. Ibn Hanbal met the
difficulty by discarding altogether the principle of analogical deduction.
At the same time he saw that the Maliki system, founded as it was on the
"Customs of Madina," was ill-suited to meet the wants of a great and
growing Empire. It needed to be supplemented. What better, what surer
ground could he go upon than the Traditions. These at least were inspired,
and thus formed a safer foundation on which to build a system of
jurisprudence than the analogical deductions of Abu Hanifa did. The system
of Ibn Hanbal has almost ceased to exist. There is now no Mufti of this
sect at Mecca, though the other three are represented there. Still his
influence is felt to this day in the importance he attached to Tradition.

The distinction between the four Imams has been put in this way. Abu Hanifa
exercised his own judgment. Malik and Hanbal preferred authority and
precedent. As-Shafi'i entirely repudiated reason. They differ, too, as
regards the value of certain Traditions, but to each of them an authentic
Tradition is an incontestable authority. Their {23} opinion on points of
doctrine and practice forms the third basis of the Faith.

The Ijma' of the four Imams is a binding law upon all Sunnis. It might be
supposed that as the growing needs of the Empire led to the formation of
these schools of interpretation; so now the requirements of modern, social
and political life might be met by fresh Imams making new analogical
deductions. This is not the case. The orthodox belief is, that since the
time of the four Imams there has been no Mujtahid who could do as they did.
If circumstances should arise which absolutely require some decision to be
arrived at, it must be given in full accordance with the 'mazhab,' or
school of interpretation, to which the person framing the decision
belongs.[29] This effectually prevents all change, and by excluding
innovation, whether good or bad, keeps Islam stationary. Legislation is now
purely deductive. Nothing must be done contrary to the principles contained
in the jurisprudence of the four Imams. "Thus, in any Muhammadan State
legislative reforms are simply impossible. There exists no initiative. The
Sultan, or Khalif can claim the allegiance of his people only so long as he
remains the exact executor of the prescriptions of the Law."

The question then as regards the politics of the "Eastern {24} Question" is
not whether Muhammad was a deceiver or self-deceived, an apostle or an
impostor; whether the Quran is on the whole good or bad; whether Arabia was
the better or the worse for the change Muhammad wrought; but what Islam as
a religious and political system has become and is, how it now works, what
Orthodox Muslims believe and how they act in that belief. The essence of
that belief is, that the system as taught by Prophet, Khalifs and Imams is
absolutely perfect.[30] Innovation is worse than a mistake. It is a crime,
a sin. This completeness, this finality of his system of religion and
polity, is the very pride and glory of a true Muslim. To look for an
increase of light in the knowledge of his relation to God and the unseen
world, in the laws which regulate Islam on earth is to admit that
Muhammad's revelation was incomplete, and that admission no Muslim will
make.

It has been stated on high authority that all that is required for the
reform of Turkey is that the Qanuns or orders of the Sultan should take the
place of the Shari'at or law of Islam. Precisely so; if this could be done,
Turkey might be reformed; but Islam would cease to be the religion of the
State. That the law as formulated by the Imam Abu Hanifa ill suits the
conditions of modern life is more than probable; but it is the very
function of the Khalif of Islam, {25} which the Sultan claims to be, to
maintain it. He is no Mujtahid, for such there are not now amongst the
Sunnis, to which sect the Turks belong. If through stress of circumstances
some new law must be made, orthodoxy demands that it should be strictly in
accordance with the opinions of the Imams. The Shia'hs, in opposition to
the Sunnis, hold that there are still Mujtahidin, but this opinion arises
from their peculiar doctrine of the Imamat, a subject we shall discuss a
little later on. At first sight it would seem that if there can be
Mujtahidin who are now able to give authoritative opinions, there may be
some hope of enlightened progress amongst Shia'h people--the Persians for
example. There is doubtless amongst them more religious unrest, more
mysticism, more heresy, but they are no further on the road of progress
than their neighbours; and the apparent advantage of the presence of a
Mujtahid is quite nullified by the fact that all his decisions must be
strictly in accordance with the Quran and the Sunnat, or rather with what
to the Shia'h stands in the place of the Sunnat. The Shia'h, as well as the
Sunni, must base all legislation on the fossilized system of the past, not
on the living needs of the present. Precedent rules both with an iron sway.
The Wahhabis reject all Ijma' except that of the Companions, but that they
accept; so when they are called the Puritans of Islam, it must be
remembered that they accept as a rule of faith not only the Quran, but the
Sunnat, and some Ijma'.

In order to make Ijma' binding, it is necessary that the Mujtahidin should
have been unanimous in their opinion or in their practice.

The whole subject of Ijtihad is one of the most important in connection
with the possibility of reforms in a Muslim state. A modern Muhammadan
writer[31] seeking to show that Islam does possess a capacity for progress
and that so far from being a hard and fast system, it is able to adapt
itself to new circumstances, because the Prophet ushered in {26} "an age of
active principles," uses the story I have already related when describing
the origin of Ijtihad (Ante. p. 17) to prove the accuracy of his statement.
He makes Mu'az to say:--"I will look first to the Quran, then to precedents
of the Prophet, and lastly rely upon my _own judgment_." It is true that
Ijtihad literally means 'great effort,' it is true that the Companions and
Mujtahidin of the first class had the power of exercising their judgment in
doubtful cases, and of deciding them according to their sense of the
fitness of things, provided always, that their decision contravened no law
of the Quran or the Sunnat; but this in no way proves that Islam has any
capacity for progress, or that "an age of active principles" was ushered in
by Muhammad, or that his "words breathe energy and force, and infuse new
life into the dormant heart of humanity." For, though the term Ijtihad
might, in reference to the men I have mentioned, be somewhat freely
translated as "one's own judgment," it can have no such meaning now. It is
a purely technical term, and its use and only use now is to express the
"referring of a difficult case to some analogy drawn from the Quran and the
Sunnat." But even were the meaning not thus restricted, even though it
meant now as it sometimes meant at first, "one's own judgment;" still Syed
Amir 'Ali's position would remain to be proved for, since the days of the
four Imams, the orthodox believe that there has been no Mujtahid of the
first class, and to none but men of this rank has such power ever been
accorded. Thus granting, for the sake of argument merely, that the Syed's
translation is grammatically and technically correct, all that results from
it is that the "age of active principles" lasted only for two centuries. I
do not admit that there ever was such an age in Islam, and certainly
neither its theological development, nor its political growth negative the
opposite assertion, _viz._, that Muhammad gave precepts rather than
principles. The Turks are included in "the dormant heart of humanity," but
it is difficult to see what "energy and {27} force" is breathed, what "new
life is infused" into them by the "wonderful words" of the Prophet, or what
lasting good the "age of active principles" has produced.

4. QIAS is the fourth foundation of Islam. The word literally means
reasoning, comparing. It is in common use in Hindustani and Persian in the
sense of guessing, considering, &c. Technically, it means the analogical
reasoning of the learned with regard to the teaching of the Quran, the
Sunnat and the Ijma'. For example, the Quran says:--"Honour thy father and
thy mother and be not a cause of displeasure to them." It is evident from
this that disobedience to parents is prohibited, and prohibition implies
punishment if the order is disobeyed. Again, if the Quran and the Sunnat
hold children responsible, according to their means, for the debts of their
father, does it not follow that the elder ones ought to fulfil for their
parents all those obligations which for some reason or other the parents
may not be able to perform, such as the pilgrimage to Mecca, &c. A
Tradition said to come from the Companions runs thus:--"One day, a woman
came to the Prophet and said, 'my father died without making the
Pilgrimage.' The Prophet said, 'If thy father had left a debt what wouldest
thou do,' 'I would pay the debt.' 'Good, then pay this debt also.'" The
Quran forbids the use of Khamar, an intoxicating substance, and so it is
argued that wine and opium are unlawful, though not forbidden by name. The
Wahhabis would extend the prohibition to the use of tobacco.

From cases such as these, many jurisconsults hold that the Mujtahidin of
the earliest age established this fourth foundation of the faith which they
call Qias. It is also called I'tibar-ul-Amsal, or "imitation of an
example." The idea is taken from the verse: "Profit by this example, ye who
are men of insight" (Sura lix. 2). There are strict rules laid down which
regulate Qias, of which the most important is, that in all cases it must be
based on the Quran, the Sunnat, and the Ijma'. In fact, the fundamental
idea of Islam {28} is that a perfect law has been given, even unto details,
of social and political life. The teaching of Muhammad contains the
solution of every difficulty that can arise. Every law not provided by the
Prophet must be deduced analogically. This produces uniformity after a
fashion, but only because intellectual activity in higher pursuits ceases
and moral stagnation follows. Thus all who come within the range of this
system are bound down to political servitude. Whatever in feeling or
conviction goes beyond the limits of an out-worn set of laws is swept away.
There is a wonderful family likeness in the decay of all Musalman States,
which seems to point to a common cause. All first principles are contained
in the Quran and the Sunnat; all that does not coincide with them must be
wrong. They are above all criticism.

Qias, then, affords no hope of enlightened progress, removes no fetter of
the past, for in it there must be no divergence in principle from a
legislation imperfect in its relation to modern life and stationary in its
essence.[32] In the Nihayat-ul-Murad it is written:--"We are shut up to
following the four Imams." In the Tafsir-i-Ahmadi we read:--"To follow any
other than the four Imams is unlawful." An objector may say that such
respect is like the reverence the heathen pay to their ancestors. To this
an answer is given in the preface to the Tarjuma-i-Sharh-i-Waqayah. The
writer there says that it is nothing of the kind. "The Mujtahidin are not
the source of the orders of the Law, but they are the medium by which we
obtain the Law. Thus Imam Abu Hanifa said: 'We select first from the Quran,
then from the Traditions, then from the decrees of the Companions; we act
on what the Companions agreed upon; where they doubt, we doubt.' The
Commentator Jelal-ud-din Mahli says, 'The common people and others who have
{29} not reached the rank of a Mujtahid, must follow one of the four
Imams.' Then when he enters one Mazhab (sect) he must not change. Again, it
may be objected that God gave no order about the appointment of four Imams.
Now, it is recorded in a Tradition that the Prophet said, 'Follow the way
of the great company; whosoever departs from it will enter hell.' The
Followers of the Imams are a great company." It is moreover the unanimous
opinion, the "Ijma'-i-Ummat," that the Imams rightly occupy the position
accorded to them. It is a great blessing, as we read in the
Tafsir-i-Ahmadi: "It is of the grace of God, that we are shut up to these
four Imams. God approves of this, and into this matter proofs and
explanations do not enter." Should any one further object that, in the days
of the Prophet, there were no Mujtahidin, that each man acted on a "saying"
as he heard it, that he did not confine his belief or conduct to the
deductions made by some "appointed Companion," he may be answered
thus:--"For a long time after the death of the Prophet many Companions were
alive, and consequently the Traditions then current were trustworthy; but
now it is not so, hence the need for the Imams and their systems."

These four foundations,--the QURAN, the SUNNAT, IJMA' and QIAS--form in
orthodox Muslim opinion and belief a perfect basis of a perfect religion
and polity. They secure the permanence of the system, but they repress an
intelligent growth. The bearing of all this on modern politics is very
plain. Take again the case of Turkey. The constitution of the Government is
theocratic. The germs of freedom are wanting there as they have never been
wanting in any other country in Europe. The ruling power desires no change;
originality of thought, independence of judgment is repressed. Nothing good
has the Turk ever done for the world.[33] This rule has been one continued
display of brute {30} force unrelieved by any of the reflected glory which
shone for a while in Cordova and in Baghdad. No nation can possibly
progress, the foundations of whose legal and theocratic system are what has
been described in this chapter. When brought into diplomatic and commercial
intercourse with States possessing the energy and vigour of a national life
and liberal constitution, Muslim kingdoms must, in the long run, fail and
pass away. It has been well said that "Spain is the only instance of a
country once thoroughly infused with Roman civilisation which has been
actually severed from the empire; and even then the severance, though of
long duration, was but partial and temporary. After a struggle of nearly
eight centuries, the higher form of social organisation triumphed over the
lower and the usurping power of Islam was expelled." So it ought to be, and
so indeed it must ever be, for despotism must give way to freedom; the life
latent in the subject Christian communities must sooner or later cast off
the yoke of a barbarian rule, which even at its best is petrified and so is
incapable of progress. However low a Christian community may have fallen,
there is always the possibility of its rising again. A lofty ideal is
placed before it. All its most cherished beliefs point forward and upward.
In Islam there is no regenerative power. Its golden age was in the past.
When the work of conquest is done, when a Muhammadan nation has to live by
industry, intelligence and thrift, it always miserably fails.

In this chapter which must now draw to a close, I have tried to prove from
authentic and authoritative sources that {31} the Quran alone is to no
Muslim the sole guide of life. The fetters of a dogmatic system fasten
alike around the individual and the community. Islam is sterile, it gives
no new birth to the spirit of a man, leads him not in search of new forms
of truth, and so it can give no real life, no lasting vitality to a
nation.[34]

{32}

    NOTE TO CHAPTER I.

    IJTIHAD.

    Questions connected with Ijtihad are so important in Islam, that I
    think it well to give in the form of a note a fuller and more technical
    account of it, than I could do in the Chapter just concluded. This
    account which I shall now give is that of a learned Musalman, and is,
    therefore, of the highest value. It consists of extracts from an
    article in the Journal Asiatique, Quatrieme Serie, tome, 15, on "Le
    Marche et les Progres de la Jurisprudence parmi les Sectes orthodoxes
    Musalmanes" by Mirza Kazim Beg, Professor in the University of St.
    Petersburg. It entirely supports all that has been said of the rigid
    character of Muhammadan Law, and of the immobility of systems founded
    thereon.

    "Orthodox Musalmans admit the following propositions as axioms.

    1. God the only legislator has shown the way of felicity to the people
    whom He has chosen, and in order to enable them to walk in that way He
    has shown to them the precepts which are found, partly in the eternal
    Quran, and partly in the sayings of the Prophet transmitted to
    posterity by the Companions and preserved in the Sunnat. That way is
    called the "Shari'at." The rules thereof are called Ahkam.

    2. The Quran and the Sunnat, which since their manifestation are the
    primitive sources of the orders of the Law, form two branches of study,
    _viz._, Ilm-i-Tafsir, or the interpretation of the Quran and
    Ilm-i-Hadis, or the study of Tradition.

    3. All the orders of the Law have regard either to the actions (Din),
    or to the belief (Iman) of the Mukallifs.[35]

    4. As the Quran and the Sunnat are the principal sources from whence
    the precepts of the Shari'at have been drawn, so the rules recognized
    as the principal elements of actual jurisprudence are the subject of
    Ilm-i-Fiqh, or the science of Law.

    Fiqh in its root signifies conception, comprehension. Thus Muhammad
    prayed for Ibn Mas'ud: "May God make him {33} comprehend (Faqqihahu),
    and make him know the interpretation of the Quran." Muhammad in his
    quality of Judge and chief of the Believers decided, without appeal or
    contradiction, all the affairs of the people. His sayings served as a
    guide to the Companions. After the death of the Prophet the first
    Khalifs acted on the authority of the Traditions. Meanwhile the Quran
    and the Sunnat, the principal elements of religion and legislation,
    became little by little the subject of controversy. It was then that
    men applied themselves vigorously to the task of learning by heart the
    Quran and the Traditions, and then that jurisprudence became a separate
    science. No science had as yet been systematically taught, and the
    early Musalmans did not possess books which would serve for such
    teaching. A change soon, however, took place. In the year in which the
    great jurisconsult of Syria died (A.H. 80) N'iman bin Sabit, surnamed
    Abu Hanifa was born. He is the most celebrated of the founders of the
    schools of jurisprudence, a science which ranks first in all Muslim
    seats of learning. Until that time and for thirty years later the
    Mufassirs,[36] the Muhaddis,[37] and the Fuqiha,[38] had all their
    knowledge by heart, and those who possessed good memories were highly
    esteemed. Many of them knew by heart the whole Quran with the comments
    made on it by the Prophet and by the Companions; they also knew the
    Traditions and their explanations, and all the commands (Ahkam) which
    proceed from the Quran, and the Sunnat. Such men enjoyed the right of
    Mujtahidin. They transmitted their knowledge to their scholars orally.
    It was not till towards the middle of the second century A.H. that
    treatises on the different branches of the Law were written, after
    which six schools (Mazhabs) of jurisprudence were formed. The founders,
    all Imams of the first class, were Abu Hanifa, the Imam-i-A'zam or
    great Imam (A.H. 150),[39] Safian As-Sauri (A.H. 161), Malik (A.H.
    179), As-Shafa'i (A.H. 204), Hanbal (A.H. 241) and Imam Daud Az-Zahari
    (A.H. 270). The two sects founded by Sauri and Zahari became extinct in
    the eighth century of the Hijra. The other four still remain. These men
    venerated one another. The younger ones speak with great respect of the
    elder. Thus Shafa'i said:--"No one in the world was so well versed in
    jurisprudence as Abu Hanifa was, and he who has read neither his works,
    nor those of his disciples knows nothing of jurisprudence." Hanbal when
    sick wore a shirt which had belonged to Shafa'i, in order that he might
    be cured of his malady; but all this {34} did not prevent them starting
    schools of their own, for the right of Ijtihad is granted to those who
    are real Mujtahidin. There are three degrees of Ijtihad.

    1. Al-Ijtihad fi'l Shari': absolute independence in legislation

    2. Al-Ijtihad fi'l Mazhab: authority in the judicial systems founded by
    the Mujtahidin of the first class.

    3. Al-Ijtihad fi'l Masail: authority in cases which have not been
    decided by the authors of the four systems of jurisprudence.

    The first is called a complete and absolute authority, the second
    relative, the third special.

    THE FIRST DEGREE OF IJTIHAD.

    Absolute independence in legislation is the gift of God. He to whom it
    is given when seeking to discover the meaning of the Divine Law is not
    bound to follow any other teacher. He can use his own judgment. This
    gift was bestowed on the jurisconsults of the first, and to some in the
    second and third centuries. The Companions, however, who were closely
    connected with the Prophet, having transmitted immediately to their
    posterity the treasures of legislation, are looked upon as Mujtahidin
    of much higher authority than those of the second and third centuries.
    Thus Abu Hanifa says:--"That which comes to us from the Companions is
    on our head and eyes (_i.e._, to be received with respect): as to that
    which comes from the Tabi'in, they are men and we are men."

    Since the time of the Tabi'in this degree of Ijtihad has only been
    conferred on the six great Imams. Theoretically any Muslim can attain
    to this degree, but it is one of the principles of jurisprudence that
    the confirmation of this rank is dependent on many conditions, and so
    no one now gains the honour. These conditions are:--

    1. The knowledge of the Quran and all that is related to it; that is to
    say, a complete knowledge of Arabic literature, a profound acquaintance
    with the orders of the Quran and all their sub-divisions, their
    relationship to each other and their connection with the orders of the
    Sunnat. The candidate should know when, and why each verse of the Quran
    was written, he should have a perfect acquaintance with the literal
    meaning of the words, the speciality or generality of each clause, the
    abrogating and abrogated sentences. He should be able to make clear the
    meaning of the 'obscure' passages (Mutashabih), to discriminate between
    the literal and the allegorical, the universal and the particular.

    2. He must know the Quran by heart with all the Traditions and
    explanations. {35}

    3. He must have a perfect knowledge of the Traditions, or at least of
    three thousand of them.

    He must know their source, history, object and their connection with
    the laws of the Quran. He should know by heart the most important
    Traditions.

    4. A pious and austere life.

    5. A profound knowledge of all the sciences of the Law.

    Should any one _now_ aspire to such a degree another condition would be
    added, _viz_:--

    6. A complete knowledge of the four schools of jurisprudence.

    The obstacles, then, are almost insurmountable. On the one hand, there
    is the severity of the 'Ulama, which requires from the candidate things
    almost impossible; on the other, there is the attachment of the 'Ulama
    to their own Imams, for should such a man arise no one is bound now to
    listen to him. Imam Hanbal said:--"Draw your knowledge from whence the
    Imams drew theirs, and do not content yourself with following others
    for that is certainly blindness of sight". Thus the schools of the four
    Imams remain intact after a thousand years have passed, and so the
    'Ulama recognise since the time of these Imams no Mujtahid of the first
    degree. Ibn Hanbal was the last.

    The rights of the man who attained to this degree were very important.
    He was not bound to be a disciple of another, he was a mediator between
    the Law and his followers, for whom he established a system of
    legislation, without any one having the right to make any objection. He
    had the right to explain the Quran, the Sunnat and the Ijma' according
    as he understood them. He used the Prophet's words, whilst his
    disciples only used his. Should a disciple find some discrepancy
    between a decision of his own Imam and the Quran or Traditions, he must
    abide by the decision of the Imam. The Law does not permit him to
    interpret after his own fashion. When once the disciple has entered the
    sect of one Imam he cannot leave it and join another. He loses the
    right of private judgment, for only a Mujtahid of the first class can
    dispute the decision of one of the Imams. Theoretically such Mujtahidin
    may still arise; but, as we have already shown, practically they do
    not.

    THE SECOND DEGREE OF IJTIHAD.

    This degree has been granted to the immediate disciples of the great
    Imams who have elaborated the systems of their masters. They enjoyed
    the special consideration of the contemporary 'Ulama, and of their
    respective Imams who in some cases have allowed them {36} to retain
    their own opinion.' The most famous of these men are the two disciples
    of Abu Hanifa, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad bin al Hasan. In a secondary
    matter their opinion carries great weight. It is laid down as a rule
    that a Mufti may follow the unanimous opinion of these two even when it
    goes against that of Abu Hanifa.

    THE THIRD DEGREE OF IJTIHAD.

    This is the degree of special independence. The candidates for it
    should have a perfect knowledge of all the branches of jurisprudence
    according to the four schools of the Arabic language and literature.
    They can solve cases which come before them, giving reasons for their
    judgment, or decide on cases which have not been settled by previous
    Mujtahidin; but in either case their decisions must always be in
    absolute accordance with the opinions of the Mujtahidin of the first
    and second classes, and with the principles which guided them. Many of
    these men attained great celebrity during their lifetime, but to most
    of them this rank is not accorded till after their death. Since Imam
    Qazi Khan died (A.H. 592), no one has been recognised by the Sunnis as
    a Mujtahid even of the third class.

    There are three other inferior classes of jurists, called Muqallidin,
    or followers of the Mujtahidin; but all that the highest in rank
    amongst them can do is to explain obscure passages in the writings of
    the older jurisconsults. By some of the 'Ulama they are considered to
    be equal to the Mujtahidin of the third class. If there are several
    conflicting legal opinions on any point, they can select one opinion on
    which to base their decision. This a mere Qazi cannot do. In such a
    case he would have to refer to those men, or to their writings for
    guidance. They seem to have written commentaries on the legal systems
    without originating anything new. The author of the Hidayah, who lived
    at the end of the sixth century, was a Muqallid.

    Such is Mirza Kazim Beg's account. The whole article, of which I have
    only given the main points, is worthy of the closest study. It shows
    how "the system, as a whole, rejects experience as a guide to deeper
    insight or wider knowledge; tramples upon the teaching of the past;
    pays no heed to differences of climate, character, or history; but
    regards itself as a body of absolute truth, one jot or tittle of which
    cannot be rejected without incurring the everlasting wrath of God."[40]

{37}

       *       *       *       *       *


CHAPTER II.

EXEGESIS OF THE QURAN AND THE TRADITIONS.

The following account of this branch of Muslim theology, technically called
'Ilm-i-Usul, may be introduced by a few remarks on the nature of
inspiration according to Islam, though that is not strictly speaking a
portion of this study.

There are two terms used to express different degrees of inspiration, Wahi
and Ilham. Wahi is the term applied to the inspiration of the Quran, and
implies that the very words are the words of God. It is divided into Wahi
Zahir (external inspiration), and Wahi Batin (internal inspiration). The
whole book was prepared in heaven. Muhammad, instructed by Gabriel, is
simply the medium through which the revelation of Wahi Zahir reaches man.
The Wahi Quran, _i.e._, the highest form of inspiration, always came to the
ear of the Prophet through the instrumentality of Gabriel. In Muhammadan
theology, this is the special work of Gabriel. Thus in the Traditions it is
related that he appeared to Adam twelve times, to Enoch four, to Noah
fifty, to Abraham forty-two, to Moses four hundred, to Jesus ten times, to
Muhammad twenty-four thousand times.

Ilham means the inspiration given to a saint or to a prophet when he,
though rightly guided, delivers the subject matter out of his own mind, and
is not a mere machine to reproduce the messages of Gabriel. There is a
lower form of Wahi Zahir, which is called Isharat-ul-Malak (literally,
"sign of the Angel.") This expresses what Muhammad meant when he said: "The
Holy Ghost has entered into my heart." In other words, he received the
inspiration through {38} Gabriel, but not by word of mouth. This form of
inspiration is higher than that possessed by saints, and is usually applied
to the inspiration of the Traditions. This is denied by some, who say that
except when delivering the Quran Muhammad spoke by Ilham and not by Wahi.
The practical belief is, however, that the Traditions were Wahi
inspiration, and thus they come to be as authoritative as the Quran.
Sharastani speaks of "the signs (sayings) of the Prophet which have the
marks of Wahi."[41] This opinion is said by some Muslim theologians to be
supported by the first verse of the fifty-third Sura, entitled the Star.
"By the Star when it setteth; your companion Muhammad _erreth not_, nor is
he _led astray_, neither doth he _speak of his own will_. It is none other
than a revelation which hath been revealed to him." In any case the
inspiration of Muhammad is something quite different from the Christian
idea of inspiration, which is to Musalmans a very imperfect mode of
transmitting a revelation of God's will.

That there should be a human as well as a divine side to inspiration is an
idea not only foreign, but absolutely repugnant to Muhammadans. The Quran
is not a book of principles. It is a book of directions. The Quran
describes the revelation given to Moses thus:--"We wrote for him upon the
tables a monition concerning every matter and said: 'Receive them thyself
with steadfastness, and command thy people to receive them for the
observance of its most goodly precepts.'" (Sura vii. 142). It is such an
inspiration as this the Quran claims for itself. Muhammad's idea was that
it should be a complete and final code of directions in every matter for
all mankind. It is not the word of a prophet enlightened by God. It
proceeds immediately from God, and the word 'say' or 'speak' precedes, or
is understood to precede, every sentence. This to a Muslim is the highest
form of inspiration; this alone stamps a book as {39} divine. It is
acknowledged that the Injil--the Gospel--was given by Jesus; but as that,
too, according to Muslim belief, was brought down from heaven by the angel
Gabriel during the month of Ramazan, it is now asserted that it has been
lost, and that the four Gospels of the New Testament are simply Traditions
collected by the writers whose names they bear. Their value is, therefore,
that of the second foundation of the Islamic system.

The question next arises as to the exact way in which Gabriel made known
his message to Muhammad. The Mudarij-un-Nabuwat, a standard theological
work, gives some details on this point.[42] Though the Quran is all of God,
both as to matter and form, yet it was not all made known to the Prophet in
one and the same manner. The following are some of the modes:--

1. It is recorded on the authority of 'Ayesha, one of Muhammad's wives,
that a brightness like the brightness of the morning came upon the Prophet.
According to some commentators this brightness remained six months. In some
mysterious way Gabriel, through this brightness or vision, made known the
will of God.

2. Gabriel appeared in the form of Dahiah, one of the Companions of the
Prophet, renowned for his beauty and gracefulness. A learned dispute has
arisen with regard to the abode of the soul of Gabriel when he assumed the
bodily form of Dahiah. At times, the angelic nature of Gabriel overcame
Muhammad, who was then translated to the world of angels. This always
happened when the revelation was one of bad news, such as denunciations or
predictions of woe. At other times, when the message brought by Gabriel was
one of consolation and comfort, the human nature of the Prophet overcame
the angelic nature of the angel, who, in such case, having assumed a human
form, proceeded to deliver the message. {40}

3. The Prophet heard at times the noise of the tinkling of a bell. To him
alone was known the meaning of the sound. He alone could distinguish in,
and through it, the words which Gabriel wished him to understand. The
effect of this mode of Wahi was more marvellous than that of any of the
other ways. When his ear caught the sound his whole frame became agitated.
On the coldest day, the perspiration, like beads of silver, would roll down
his face. The glorious brightness of his countenance gave place to a
ghastly hue, whilst the way in which he bent down his head showed the
intensity of the emotion through which he was passing. If riding, the camel
on which he sat would fall to the ground. The Prophet one day, when
reclining with his head in the lap of Zeid, heard the well known sound:
Zeid, too, knew that something unusual was happening, for so heavy became
the head of Muhammad that it was with the greatest difficulty he could
support the weight.

4. At the time of the Mi'raj, or night ascent into heaven, God spoke to the
Prophet without the intervention of an angel. It is a disputed point
whether the face of the Lord was veiled or not.

5. God sometimes appeared in a dream, and placing his hands on the
Prophet's shoulders made known his will.

6. Twice, angels having each six hundred wings, appeared and brought the
message from God.

7. Gabriel, though not appearing in bodily form, so inspired the heart of
the Prophet that the words he uttered under its influence were the words of
God. This is technically called Ilka, and is by some supposed to be the
degree of inspiration to which the Traditions belong.

Above all, the Prophet was not allowed to remain in any error; if, by any
chance, he had made a wrong deduction from any previous revelation, another
was always sent to rectify it. This idea has been worked up to a science of
abrogation, according to which some verses of the Quran abrogate others.
Muhammad found it necessary to shift {41} his stand-point more than once,
and thus it became necessary to annul earlier portions of his revelation.

Thus in various ways was the revelation made known to Muhammad. At first
there seems to have been a season of doubt (Ante p. 3), the dread lest
after all it might be a mockery. But as years rolled on confidence in
himself and in his mission came. At times, too, there is a joyousness in
his utterances as he swears by heaven and earth, by God and man; but more
often the visions were weird and terrible. Tradition says:--"He roared like
a camel, the sound as of bells well-nigh rent his heart in pieces." Some
strange power moved him, his fear was uncontrollable. For twenty years or
more the revelations came, a direction on things of heaven and of earth, to
the Prophet as the spiritual guide of all men,[43] to the Warrior-Chief, as
the founder of political unity among the Arab tribes.

A Muhammadan student, after passing through a course of instruction in
grammar, rhetoric, logic, law, and dogmatics, at length reaches the stage
when he is permitted to enter upon the study of "'Ilm-i-usul," or the
exegesis of the Quran, and the inspired sayings of the Prophet. This done,
he can henceforth read the approved commentaries in order to learn what the
Fathers of Islam have to say. This science in one way fits him to be a
commentator, for the work of a Muslim divine now is, not to bring things
"new and old" out of the sacred book, but to hand down to others the things
old. There is no indwelling spirit in the Church of Islam which can reveal
to the devout mind new views of truth, or lead the pious scholar on to
deeper and more profound knowledge.

The greatest proficient in theology is the man who can repeat the Quran by
heart, who knows also and can reproduce at will what the early commentators
have said, who can remember, and quote in the most apposite manner, the
{42} Prophet's sayings preserved in the Traditions handed down by the
Companions, their followers, and their followers' followers, who can point
out a flaw in the Isnad (_i.e._ chain of narrators) of a Tradition quoted
by an opponent, or maintain, by repeating the long list of names, the
authority of the Isnad of the Tradition he quotes himself. A good memory,
not critical acumen, is the great desideratum in a Muslim theologian. The
chief qualification of a Hafiz, a man who can repeat the whole Quran by
heart, is not that he shall understand its meaning, but that he shall be
able to pronounce each word correctly. By men who are not Arabs by birth,
this is only to be attained after years of practice from childhood. The
Sunnis say that no Shia'h can ever become a Hafiz, from which fact they
draw the conclusion that the Shia'hs are heretics. In the early days of
Islam, the great authorities on the question of the correct pronunciation
of the Quran were the Khalifs Abu Bakr, Omar, Osman, and 'Ali, and ten of
the Companions, who learned from the Prophet himself the exact way in which
Gabriel had spoken. The Arabic of heaven was the Arabic of Islam. The
effort, however, to preserve one uniform method of repeating the Quran
failed. Men of other lands could not acquire the pure intonation of Mecca,
and so no less than seven different ways of reading the sacred book became
current. Here was a great difficulty, but it proved surmountable. Abu Ibn
Kab, one of the Companions, had become so famous as a reader that the
Prophet himself said: "read the Quran under Abu Ibn Kab." These men
remembered that Abu Ibn Kab had stated, that one day when scandalized at
man after man who entered the mosque repeating the Quran in different ways,
he spoke to Muhammad about it. His Highness said: "O Abu Ibn Kab!
intelligence was sent to me to read the Quran in one dialect, and I was
attentive to the Court of God, and said: 'make easy the reading of the
Quran to my sects.' These instructions were sent to me a second time
saying: 'read the {43} Quran in two dialects.' Then I turned myself to the
Court of God saying: 'make easy the reading of the Quran to my sects.' Then
a voice was sent to me the third time saying: 'read the Quran in seven
dialects.'"

This removed all difficulty, and the foresight displayed by the Prophet in
thus obtaining a divine sanction for the various ways of reading was looked
upon as a proof of his inspiration. Thus arose the "haft qira,at," or seven
readings of the Quran, now recognised.

In the Quran compiled by the order of the Khalif Osman there were no
vowel-points, but when men of other countries embraced Islam they found
great difficulty in mastering Arabic. Khalid bin Ahmad, a great grammarian,
then invented the short vowels and other diacritical marks. The seven
famous "Readers" whose names have been given to the various modes of
reading, are Imam Nafi of Madina, Imam Ibn-i-Kasir of Mecca, Imam Abu 'Umr
of Basra, Imam Hamza of Kufa, Imam Ibn 'Amir of Syria, Imam 'Asim of Kufa,
Imam Kisae of Kufa.[44] These learned men affixed different vowel-points in
many places in the Quran, and thus slight differences of meaning arose. In
India the "qira,at--reading,--of Imam 'Asim is followed by both Sunnis and
Shia'hs. There are three readings of lesser note allowable when reading the
Quran privately, but not when reading any part in a liturgical service.
During the month of Ramazan the Quran is repeated every night in the
mosque, it being so arranged that one-thirtieth part shall be recited each
night. The Imam of the mosque, or public Reader, (Qari) who commences
according to one of the seven recognised readings (qira,at), must keep to
the same all the month. As he has to recite without a book this involves a
great exercise of the memory. A good Hafiz will know the whole seven
varieties. The various readings thus introduced, though {44} unimportant in
their nature,[45] amount to about five hundred in number. The following are
a few illustrations. In the second Sura Abu 'Umr reads: "Nor shall ye be
questioned concerning that which _they_ have done;" but 'Asim reads: "That
which _ye_ have done." This is caused by putting two dots above the line
instead of below it. Again 'Asim reads: "_Enter ye_ the gates of hell"
(Sura xxxix. 73), but Nafi reads: "_Ye will be made to enter_ hell,"--that
is, by a slight change the passive is substituted for the active voice.
These are fair samples of the rest. No doctrine, so far as I know, is
touched, but the way in which Tradition records the Prophet's anticipation
of the difficulty is instructive to the student of Islam. At times, too,
fierce disputes have arisen between the followers of the seven famous
Readers whose names I have given above. In the year 935 A.H., Ibn Shanabud,
a resident of Baghdad, ventured to introduce some different readings in his
recital of the Quran. The people of Baghdad, not knowing these, were
furious, and the Khalif was compelled to cast the offender into prison. A
Council of divines was called together, before whom the unhappy Ibn
Shanabud was produced. For a while he maintained the correctness of his
"readings," but after being whipped seven times he said: "I renounce my
manner of reading, and in future I shall follow no other than that of the
manuscript drawn up by the Khalif Osman, and that which is generally
received."[46]

Closely connected with this subject is the history of the rise of the
science of grammar. As Islam spread, it became necessary to expound the
Quran to persons unacquainted with Arabic. The science of grammar then
became an important branch of study, and the collection of Traditions a
necessary duty. The Faithful were for a long time in {45} doubt as to the
lawfulness of applying the laws of grammar to so sacred a book. There was
no command in the book itself to do so, nor had the Prophet given any
directions on this point. It was then neither "farz" nor "sunnat," that is,
neither a command based on the Quran nor one based on any saying or act of
the Prophet. The Traditions, however, solve the difficulty.

Al Mamun, the distinguished though heretical Khalif of Baghdad, was a
patron of Al Farra, the chief of grammarians. A distinguished pupil of his,
Abu'l 'Abbas Thalub, on his death-bed expressed his belief in the fact that
the Quranists, the Traditionists, and others, had gained their heavenly
reward, but he had been only a grammarian, and grammar after all was, in
connection with the Quran, a science of doubtful legality. The friend to
whom he told his doubts and fears went home and saw a vision. It is
recorded that he had a vision in his sleep that very night, in which he saw
the blessed Prophet, who said to him: "Give my greeting to Abu'l 'Abbas
Thalub, and say, 'thou art master of the superior science.'" The Prophet
had now spoken, and henceforth grammar became a lawful study in Islam.
Muslims now quote the Quran as a perfect model of style; it may be well to
remember that the rules have been made for it, and that, therefore, it is
but natural that it should be perfect according to the present canons of
Arabic grammar.[47]

The question of the interpretation of the text speedily became a very
important branch of the "'Ilm-i-usul." It is said that the Quran was
brought from Paradise by Gabriel to Muhammad as occasion required. The
Prophet was reproached for not having a complete revelation, and {46}
answered the reproach by the following verse, sent for the purpose. "The
infidels say, 'unless the Quran be sent down to him all at once'--but in
this way we establish thy heart in it, _in parcels have we parcelled it out
to thee_" (Sura xxv. 34). The revelation thus given is entirely objective;
it came to the ear of the Prophet through the teaching of Gabriel. "Yet it
is a glorious Quran, _written on the preserved Table_." (Sura lxxxv. 22).
Gabriel addresses the Prophet thus: "When we have _recited_ it then follow
thou the _recital_." (Sura lxxv. 18). The external mode in which it came is
referred to in the verse: "We have _sent down_ to thee an Arabic Quran."
(Sura xx. 112). The fragmentary way in which the Quran was given[48] was
not without its difficulties. Some passages contradicted others, some were
difficult to understand. To the Prophet alone was the solution known. The
knowledge he communicated to his immediate followers, the Companions, as
they are called, thus: "To thee have we sent down this book of monitions,
that _thou mayest make clear to men_ what hath been sent down to them."
(Sura xvi. 46).

Ibn Khaldoun says: "The Prophet unfolded the meaning, distinguished between
abrogated and abrogating verses, {47} and communicated this knowledge to
his Companions. It was from his mouth that they knew the meaning of the
verses and the circumstances which led to each distinct revelation being
made."[49] The Companions thus instructed became perfectly familiar with
the whole revelation. This knowledge they handed down by word of mouth to
their followers, the Taba'in, who in their turn passed it on to their
followers the Taba-i-Taba'in. The art of writing then became common, and
the business of the commentator henceforth was to collect together the
sayings of the Companions thus handed down. Criticism of a passage in the
Quran was not his duty, criticism of a comment made on it by a Companion
was beyond his province: the first was too sacred to be touched, the second
must be accepted if only the chain of narrators of the statement were
perfect. Thus early in the history of Islam were the principles of exegesis
fixed and settled. Every word, every sentence, has now its place and class.
The commentator has now only to reproduce what was written before,[50]
though he may in elucidation of the point, bring forth some Tradition
hitherto unnoticed, which would, however, be a difficult thing to do. It
will thus be seen that anything like the work of a Christian commentator,
with all its fresh life and new ideas, is not to be had in Islam. The
perfection of its exegesis is its dogmatic and antique nature--

 "While as the world rolls on from age to age,
  And realms of thought expand,
  The letter stands without expanse or range,
  Stiff as a dead man's hand."

The technical terms which the student must know, and {48} the definitions
of which he must understand, are those which relate to the nature of the
words, the sentences, the use of the words of the Quran, and the deduction
of arguments from passages in the book.

I. The words of the Quran are divided into four classes.

1. _Khass_, or special words. These are sub-divided into three classes.
First, words which relate to genus, _e.g._ mankind. Secondly, words which
relate to species, _e.g._ a man, which refers to men as distinguished from
women. Thirdly, words which relate to special individuality, _e.g._ Zeid,
which is the name of a special individual.

2. _'Amm_, or common or collective names, such as "people."

3. _Mushtarik_, or words which have several significations, as the Arabic
word "'ain," which may mean an eye, a fountain, or the sun. Again, the word
"Sulat," if connected with God, may mean mercy, as "Sulat Ullah," the mercy
of God; if with man, it may mean either "namaz," a stated liturgical
service, or "du'a," prayer in its ordinary sense, _e.g._ Sulat-ul-Istisqa
(prayer in time of drought) is du'a, not namaz.

4. _Muawwal_, words which have several significations, all of which are
possible, and so a special explanation is required. For example, Sura
cviii. 2, reads thus in Sale's translation. "Wherefore pray unto the Lord
and _slay_ (the victims)." The word translated "slay" is in Arabic "nahr,"
which has many meanings. The followers of the great Legist Abu Hanifa
render it, "sacrifice," and add the words (the "victims"). The followers of
Ibn Shafa'i say it means "placing the hands on the breast in prayer."

This illustrates the difference between Mushtarik and Muawwal. In the
former, only one meaning is allowable, and that meaning the context
settles; in the latter both meanings are allowable and both right.

These divisions of words having been well mastered and the power of
defining any word in the Quran gained, the {49} student passes on to
consider the nature of the sentences. These are divided into two great
classes,--the "Obvious," and the "Hidden."

This division is referred to in the following passage of the Quran. "He it
is who hath sent down to thee the book. Some of its signs are of themselves
_perspicuous_; these are the basis (literally "mother") of the book, and
others are _figurative_. But they whose hearts are given to err follow its
figures, craving discord, craving an interpretation; yet none know its
interpretation, but God.[51] And the stable in knowledge say: 'We believe
in it, it is all from God.'" (Sura iii. 3).

This has given rise to the division of the whole book into literal and
allegorical statements. In order to explain these correctly the commentator
must know (1) the reason why, (2) the place where, (3) the time when, the
particular passage he is expounding was revealed; he must know whether it
abrogates or is abrogated, whether it is in its proper order and place or
not; whether it contains its meaning within itself or needs the light which
the context throws upon it; he must know all the Traditions which bear upon
it, and the authority for each such Tradition. This effectually confines
the order of commentators in the strict sense of the word to the
Companions, and supplies the reason why commentators since then simply
reproduce their opinions.[52] But to return from this digression. Sentences
are Zahir--"Obvious," or Khafi--"Hidden." Obvious sentences are divided
into four classes.

I. (1). _Zahir_, or obvious, the meaning of which is so clear that he who
hears it at once understands its meaning {50} without seeking for any
explanation. This kind of sentence may be abrogated. Unless abrogated,
action in accordance with it is to be considered as the express command of
God. All penal laws and the rules regulating the substitution of one
religious act for another, _e.g._ almsgiving instead of fasting, must be
based on this, the clearest of the obvious sentences.

(2). _Nass_, a word commonly used for a text of the Quran, but in its
technical meaning here expressing what is meant by a sentence, the meaning
of which is made clear by some word which occurs in it. The following
sentence illustrates both Zahir and Nass: "Take in marriage of such other
women as please you, two, three, four." This sentence is Zahir, because
marriage is here declared lawful; it is Nass, because the words "one, two,
three, four," which occur in the sentence, show the unlawfulness of having
more than four wives.

(3). _Mufassir_, or explained. This is a sentence which needs some word in
it to explain it and make it clear. Thus: "And the angels prostrated
themselves, all of them with one accord, save Iblis (Satan)." Here the
words "save Iblis," show that he did not prostrate himself. This kind of
sentence may be abrogated.

(4). _Mukham_, or perspicuous. This is a sentence as to the meaning of
which there can be no doubt, and which cannot be controverted, thus: "God
knoweth all things." This kind of sentence cannot be abrogated. To act on
such sentences without departing from the literal sense is the highest
degree of obedience to God's command.

The difference between these sentences is seen when there is a real or
apparent contradiction between them. If such should occur, the first must
give place to the second, and so on. Thus Mukham cannot be abrogated or
changed by any of the preceding, or Mufassir by Nass, &c.

The other great division of sentences is that of

II. (1). _Khafi_ or hidden. Such are those sentences in {51} which other
persons or things are hidden beneath the plain meaning of a word or
expression contained therein, as: "as for a thief, whether male or female,
cut ye off their hands in recompense for their doings." (Sura v. 42). The
word for thief is "Sariq," and in this passage it is understood to include
highwaymen, pickpockets, plunderers of the dead, &c. These meanings are
Khafi or hidden under it.

(2). _Muskhil_, or ambiguous, The following is given as an illustration:
"And (their attendants) shall go round about them with vessels of silver
and goblets. The bottles shall be bottles of silver." The difficulty here
is that bottles are not made of silver, but of glass. The commentators say,
however, that glass is dull in colour, though it has some lustre, whilst
silver is white, and not so bright as glass. Now it may be, that the
bottles of Paradise will be like glass bottles as regards their lustre, and
like silver as regards their colour. But anyhow, it is very difficult to
ascertain the meaning.

(3.) _Mujmal._ These are, first, sentences which may have a variety of
interpretations, owing to the words in them being capable of several
meanings; in that case the meaning which is given to the sentence in the
Traditions relating to it should be acted on and accepted. Secondly, the
sentence may contain some very rare word, and thus its meaning may be
doubtful, as: "Man truly is by creation hasty." (Sura lxx. 19.) In this
verse the word "halu'"--hasty--occurs. It is very rarely used, and had it
not been for the following words, "when evil toucheth him, he is full of
complaint; but when good befalleth him, he becometh niggardly," its meaning
would not have been at all easy to understand.

The following is an illustration of the first kind of _Mujmal_ sentences:
"Stand for prayer (salat) and give alms," (zakat.) Both salat and zakat are
'Mushtarik' words. The people, therefore, did not understand this verse, so
they applied to Muhammad for an explanation. He explained to them that
"salat" might mean the ritual of public prayer, {52} standing to say the
words "God is great," or standing to repeat a few verses of the Quran; or
it might mean private prayer. The primitive meaning of "zakat" is growing.
The Prophet, however, fixed the meaning here to that of "almsgiving," and
said, "Give of your substance one-fortieth part."

(4.) _Mutashabih._ These are sentences so difficult that men cannot
understand them, a fact referred to in Sura iii. 3. (Ante. p. 49), nor will
they do so until the day of resurrection. The Prophet, however, knew their
meaning. Such portions are the letters A, L, M; A, L, R; Y, A at the
commencement of some of the Suras.[53] Such expressions also as "God's
hand," "The face of God," "God sitteth," &c., come under this category.

The next point to be considered is the _use_ of words in the Quran, and
here again the same symmetrical division into four classes is found,
_viz_:--

(1.) _Haqiqat_, that is, words which are used in their literal meaning, as
"ruku'," a prostration, and "salat" in the sense of prayer.

(2.) _Majaz_, or words which are used in a figurative sense, as "salat" in
the sense of "namaz" a liturgical service.

(3.) _Sarih_, or words the meaning of which is quite evident, as, "Thou art
_divorced_," "Thou art _free_."

(4.) _Kinayah_, or words which, being used in a metaphorical sense, require
the aid of the context to make their meaning clear, as: "Thou art
separated," which may, as it {53} stands alone, mean "Thou art divorced."
This class also includes all pronouns the meaning of which is only to be
known from the context, _e.g._ one day the Prophet not knowing who knocked
at his door said, "Who art thou?" The man replied, "It is I." Muhammad
answered, "Why dost thou say I, I? Say thy name that I may know who thou
art." The pronoun "I" is here 'kinayah.'

The most important and most difficult branch of exegesis is "istidlal," or
the science of deducing arguments from the Quran. This too is divided into
four sections, as follows:--

(1.) _Ibarat_, or the plain sentence. "Mothers, after they are divorced,
shall give suck unto their children two full years, and the father shall be
obliged to maintain them and clothe them according to that which is
reasonable." (Sura ii. 233.) From this verse two deductions are made.
First, from the fact that the word "them" is in the feminine plural, it
must refer to the mothers and not to the children; secondly, as the duty of
supporting the mother is incumbent on the father, it shows that the
relationship of the child is closer with the father than with the mother.
Penal laws may be based on a deduction of this kind.

(2.) _Isharat_, that is, a sign or hint which may be given from the order
in which the words are placed.

(3.) _Dalalat_, or the argument which may be deduced from the use of some
special word in the verse, as: "say not to your parents, "Fie" (Arabic
"uff") (Sura xvii. 23). From the use of the word "uff," it is argued that
children may not beat or abuse their parents. Penal laws may be based on
"dalalat," thus: "Their aim will be to abet disorder on the earth; but God
loveth not the abettors of disorder." (Sura v. 69.) The word translated
"aim" is in Arabic literally yasa'una, "they run." From this the argument
is deduced that as highwaymen wander about, they are included amongst those
whom "God loveth not," and that, therefore, the severest punishment may be
given to {54} them, for any deduction that comes under the head of
"dalalat" is a sufficient basis for the formation of the severest penal
laws.

(4.) _Iqtiza._ This is a deduction which demands certain conditions:
"whosoever killeth a believer by mischance, shall be bound to free a
believer from slavery." (Sura iv. 94). As a man has no authority to free
his neighbour's slave, the condition here required, though not expressed,
is that the slave should be his own property.

The Quran is divided into:--

(1). _Harf_ (plural _Huruf_), letters. The numbers given by different
authorities vary. In one standard book it is said that there are 338,606
letters.

(2). _Kalima_ (plural _Kalimat_), words, stated by some to amount to
79,087; by others to 77,934.

(3). _Ayat_ (plural _Ayat_), verses. Ayat really means a sign, and was the
name given by Muhammad to short sections or verses of the Quran. The end of
a verse is determined by the position of a small circle (.). The early
Quran Readers did not agree as to the position of these circles, and so
five different ways of arranging them have arisen. This accounts for a
variation in the number of verses in various editions. The varieties are:--

(1). _Kufa_ verses. The Readers in the city of Kufa say that they followed
the custom of 'Ali. Their way of reckoning is generally adopted in India.
They reckon 6,239 verses.

(2). _Basra_ verses. The Readers of Basra follow 'Asim bin Hajjaj, a
Companion. They reckon 6,204.

(3). _Shami_ verses. The Readers in Syria (Sham) followed Abd-ullah bin
'Umr, a Companion. They reckon 6,225 verses.

(4). _Mecca_ verses. According to this arrangement there are 6,219 verses.

(5). _Madina_ verses. This way of reading contains 6,211 verses.

{55}

In each of the above varieties the verse "Bismillah" (in the name of God)
is not reckoned. It occurs 113 times in the Quran.

This diversity of punctuation does not generally affect the meaning of any
important passage. The third verse of the third Sura is an important
exception. The position of the circle (.), the symbol denoting a full stop,
in that verse is of the highest importance in connection with the rise of
scholasticism ('Ilm-i-kalam) in Islam.

Most of the cases, however, are like the following:--

In Sura xxvii. an account is given of the Queen of Sheba's receiving a
letter from King Solomon. Addressing her nobles she said: "Verily, Kings,
when they enter a city (by force) waste the same, and abase the most
powerful of the inhabitants hereof: and so will (these) do (with us)." Many
Readers put the full stop after the word "hereof," and say that God is the
speaker of the words "and so will they do."

(4). _Sura_, or chapter. The word Sura means a row or series, such as a
line of bricks arranged in a wall, but it is now exclusively used for
chapters in the Quran. These are one hundred and fourteen in number. The
Suras are not numbered in the original Arabic, but each one has some
approximate name, (as Baqr--the cow, Nisa--women, &c.,) generally taken
from some expression which occurs in it. They are not arranged in
chronological order, but according to their length. As a general rule, the
shorter Suras which contain the theology of Islam, belong to the Meccan
period of the Prophet's career,[54] and the longer ones relating chiefly to
social duties and relationships, to the organisation of Islam as a civil
polity, to the time when he was consolidating his power at Madina. The best
way, therefore, to {56} read the Quran, is to begin at the end. The attempt
to arrange the Suras in due order, is a very difficult one, and, after all,
can only be approximately correct.[55] Carlyle referring to the confused
mass of "endless iterations, long windedness, entanglement, most crude,
incondite" says: "nothing but a sense of duty could carry any European
through the Quran." When re-arranged the book becomes more intelligible.
The chief tests for such re-arrangement are the style and the matter. There
is a very distinct difference in both of these respects between the earlier
and later Suras. The references to historical events sometimes give a clue.
Individual Suras are often very composite in their character, but, such as
they are, they have been from the beginning. The recension made by Zeid, in
the reign of the Khalif Osman, has been handed down unaltered in its form.
The only variations (qira'at) now to be found in the text have been already
noticed. They in no way affect the arrangements of the Suras.

5. _Sipara_ a thirtieth portion. This is a Persian word derived from _si_,
thirty, and _para_, a portion. The Arabs call each of these divisions a
_Juz_. Owing to this division, a pious man can recite the whole Quran in a
month, taking one Sipara each day. Musalmans never quote the Quran as we do
by Sura and Ayat, but by the Sipara and Ruku', a term I now proceed to
explain.

6. _Ruku'_ (plural _Rukuat_). This word literally means a prostration made
by a worshipper in the act of saying the prayers. The collection of verses
recited from the Quran, ascriptions of praise offered to God, and various
ritual acts connected with these, constitute one act of worship called a
"rak'at." After reciting some verses in this form of prayer, the worshipper
makes a _Ruku'_, or prostration, the {57} portion then recited takes the
name of _Ruku'_. Tradition states that the Khalif Osman, when reciting the
Quran during the month of Ramazan, used to make twenty rak'ats each
evening. In each rak'at he introduced different verses of the Quran,
beginning with the first chapter and going steadily on. In this way he
recited about two hundred verses each evening; that is, about ten verses in
each rak'at. Since then, it has been the custom to recite the Quran in this
way in Ramazan, and also to quote it by the ruku', _e.g._, "such a passage
is in such a Sipara and in such a ruku'."

The following account of a rak'at will make the matter plain. When the
Faithful are assembled in the mosque, the Imam, or leader, being in front
facing the Qibla, the service commences thus:--Each worshipper stands and
says the Niyyat (literally "intention"), a form of words declaring his
intention to say his prayers. He then says: "God is great." After this,
looking downwards, he says: "Holiness to Thee, O God! and praise be to
Thee, Great is Thy name, Great is Thy greatness, there is no deity but
Thee." Then follows: "I seek from God refuge from cursed Satan." Then the
Tasmiyah is repeated: "In the name of God, the Compassionate and Merciful."
Then follows the Fatiha, that is, the short chapter at the commencement of
the Quran. After this has been recited, the Imam proceeds, on the first
night of the month Ramazan, with the first verse of the second chapter.[56]
After saying a few verses, he makes a ruku'; that is, he bends his head and
body down, and places his hands on his knees. In this position he says:
"God is great." Then he repeats three times the words: "I extol the
holiness of my Lord, the Great." He then stands up and says: "God hears him
who praises Him." To this the people respond: "O Lord, thou art praised."
Again, falling on his knees, the worshipper says: "God is great." Then he
puts first his nose, and then his forehead on the {58} ground and says
three times: "I extol the holiness of my Lord, the Most High." Then sitting
on his heels, he says: "God is great;" and again repeats as before: "I
extol, etc." He then rises and says: "God is great." This is one rak'at. On
each night in the month of Ramazan this is gone through twenty times, the
only variation being that after the Fatiha and before the first
prostration, fresh verses of the Quran are introduced. The whole is, of
course, done in Arabic, in whatever country the worshippers may be. The
name of the prostration (ruku') has been transferred to the portion of the
Quran recited just before it is made. There are altogether 557 Rukuat.

(7). The other divisions are not important. They are, a _Sumn_, _Ruba'_,
_Nisf_, _Suls_, that is one-eighth, one-fourth, one-half, one-third of a
Sipara respectively.

In reciting the Quran the worshipper must be careful to say the "Takbir,"
_i.e._ "God is great," after the several appointed places. Such a place is
after the recital of the 93rd Sura. The custom arose in this way. The
hypocrites came to the Prophet and asked him to relate the story of the
"Seven Sleepers." He said: "I will tell you to-morrow;" but he forgot to
add the words "if God will." By way of warning, God allowed no inspiration
to descend upon him for some days. Then the hypocrites began to laugh and
say: "God has left him." As it was not God's purpose to put his messenger
to ridicule, the Sura entitled "The brightness" (xciii) was immediately
brought by the ever-ready Gabriel. It begins: "By the brightness of the
morning, and by the night when it groweth dark, _thy Lord hath not forsaken
thee_, neither doth He hate thee." In remembrance of this signal
interposition of Providence on his behalf, the Prophet always concluded the
recital of this Sura with the words: "God is great." The practice thus
became a "Sunnat" obligation; that is, it should be done because the
Prophet did it.

The doctrine of abrogation is a very important one in {59} connection with
the study of the Quran. It is referred to in the verses: "Whatever verses
we cancel or cause thee to forget, we give thee better in their stead, or
the like thereof." (Sura ii. 100). This is a Madina Sura. "What He pleaseth
will God abrogate or confirm; for with Him is the source of revelation."
(Sura xiii. 39). Some verses which were cancelled in the Prophet's
life-time are not now extant. Abdullah Ibn Masud states that the Prophet
one day recited a verse, which he immediately wrote down. The next morning
he found it had vanished from the material on which it had been written.
Astonished at this, he acquainted Muhammad with the fact, and was informed
that the verse in question had been revoked. There are, however, many
verses still in the Quran, which have been abrogated. It was an exceedingly
convenient doctrine, and one needed to explain the change of front which
Muhammad made at different periods of his career. Certain rules have been
laid down to regulate the practice. The verse which abrogates is called
_Nusikh_, and the abrogated verse _Mansukh_. _Mansukh_ verses are of three
kinds:--first, where the words and the sense have both been abrogated;
secondly, where the letter only is abrogated and the sense remains;
thirdly, where the sense is abrogated though the letter remains. Imam Malik
gives as an instance of the first kind the verse: "If a son of Adam had two
rivers of gold, he would covet yet a third; and if he had three he would
covet yet a fourth. Neither shall the belly of a son of Adam be filled, but
with dust. God will turn unto him who shall repent." The Imam states that
originally this verse was in the Sura (ix.) called Repentance. The verse,
called the "verse of stoning" is an illustration of the second kind. It
reads: "Abhor not your parents for this would be ingratitude in you. If a
man and woman of reputation commit adultery, ye shall stone them both; it
is a punishment ordained by God; for God is mighty and wise." The Khalif
Omar says this verse was extant in Muhammad's life-time but that it {60} is
now lost. But it is the third class which practically comes into
'Ilm-i-usul. Authorities differ as to the number of verses abrogated. Sale
states that they have been estimated at two hundred and twenty-five. The
principal ones are not many in number, and are very generally agreed upon.
I give a few examples. It is a fact worthy of notice that they occur
chiefly, if not almost entirely, in Suras delivered at Madina. There, where
Muhammad had to confront Jews and Christians, he was at first politic in
his aim to win them over to his side, and then, when he found them
obstinate, the doctrine of abrogation came in conveniently. This is seen
plainly in the following case. At Mecca Muhammad and his followers did not
stand facing any particular direction when at prayer, a fact to which the
following passage refers:--"To God belongeth the east and west; therefore,
whithersoever ye turn yourselves to pray there is the face of God." (Sura
ii. 109). When Muhammad arrived at Madina, he entered into friendship with
the Jews and tried to win them to his side. The Qibla (sanctuary) towards
which the worshippers now invariably turned at prayer was Jerusalem. This
went on for a while, but when Muhammad claimed to be not merely a Prophet
for the Arabs, but the last and the greatest of all the Prophets, when he
asserted that Moses had foretold his advent, and that his revelations were
the same as those contained in their own Scriptures, they utterly refused
allegiance to him. In the first half of the second year of the Hijra the
breach between them was complete. It was now time to reconcile the leaders
of the Quraish tribe at Mecca. So the verse quoted above was abrogated by:
"We have seen thee turning thy face towards heaven, but we will have thee
turn to a Qibla, which shall please thee. Turn then thy face toward the
Holy Temple (of Mecca), and wherever ye be, turn your faces toward that
part." (Sura ii. 139.) The Faithful were consoled by the assurance that
though they had not done so hitherto, yet God would not let their {61}
faith be fruitless, "for unto man is God merciful, gracious." (v. 138.) The
doctrine of abrogation is brought in for a more personal matter in the
following case: "It is not permitted to thee to take other wives hereafter,
nor to change thy present wives for other women, though their beauty charm
thee, except slaves, whom thy right hand shall possess." (Sura xxxiii. 52.)
This is said by Beidawi, and other eminent Muslim divines, to have been
abrogated by a verse which though placed before it in the arrangement of
verses, was really delivered after it. The verse is: "O Prophet, we allow
thee thy wives whom thou hast dowered, and the slaves which thy right hand
possesseth out of the booty which God hath granted thee; and the daughters
of thy uncle, and the daughters of thy aunts, both on thy father's side,
and on thy mother's side, who have fled with thee (to Madina), and any
other believing woman, who hath given herself up to the Prophet; if the
Prophet desireth to wed her, it is a peculiar privilege for thee, above the
rest of the Faithful." (Sura xxxiii. 49.)

The Moghul Emperor Akbar, wishing to discredit the 'Ulama, in one of the
meetings so frequently held for discussion during his long reign,
propounded the question as to how many free born women a man might marry.
The lawyers answered that four was the number fixed by the Prophet. "Of
other women who seem good in your eyes marry two and two, and three and
three, and four and four." (Sura iv. 3.) The Emperor said that he had not
restricted himself to that number, and that Shaikh 'Abd-un-Nabi had told
him that a certain Mujtahid had had nine wives. The Mujtahid in question,
Ibn Abi Lailah reckoned the number allowed thus 2+3+4=9. Other learned men
counted in this way 2+2, 3+3, 4+4=18. The Emperor wished the meeting to
decide the point.

Again, the second verse of Sura lxxiii reads: "Stand up all night, except a
small portion of it, for prayer." According to a Tradition handed down by
'Ayesha the last verse {62} of this Sura was revealed a year later. It
makes the matter much easier. "God measureth the night and the day; he
knoweth that ye cannot count its hours aright, and therefore turneth to you
mercifully. Recite _then so much of the Quran as may be easy to you_." (v.
20.)

The following is an illustration of a verse abrogated, though there is no
verse to prove its abrogation. However, according to the Ijma' it has been
abrogated. "But alms are only to be given to the poor and the needy and to
those who collect them, and to those whose hearts are won to Islam." (Sura
ix. 60.) The clause--"to those whose hearts are won to Islam"--is now
cancelled.[57] Muhammad, to gain the hearts of those, who lately enemies,
had now become friends, and to confirm them in the faith, gave them large
presents from the spoils he took in war; but when Islam spread and became
strong, the 'Ulama agreed that such a procedure was not required and said
that the order was "mansukh."

The other verses abrogated relate to the Ramazan fast, to Jihad, the law of
retaliation, and other matters of social interest.

The doctrine of abrogation is now almost invariably applied by Musalman
controversialists to the Old and New Testaments, which they say are
abrogated by the Quran. "His (Muhammad's) law is the abrogator of every
other law."[58] This is not, however, a legitimate use of the doctrine.
According to the best and most ancient Muslim divines, abrogation refers
entirely to the Quran and the Traditions, and even then is confined to
commands and prohibitions. "Those who imagine it to be part of the
Muhammadan creed that one law has totally repealed another, are utterly
mistaken--we hold no such doctrine."[59] In the Tafsir-i-Itifaq it is
written: "Abrogation affects those {63} matters which God has confined to
the followers of Muhammad, and one of the chief advantages of it is that
the way is made easy." In the Tafsir-i-Mazhiri we find: "Abrogation refers
only to commands and prohibitions, not to facts or historical
statements."[60] Again, no verse of the Quran, or a Tradition can be
abrogated unless the abrogating verse is distinctly opposed to it in
meaning. If it is a verse of the Quran, we must have the authority of
Muhammad himself for the abrogation; if a Tradition, that of a Companion.
Thus "the word of a commentator or a Mujtahid is not sufficient unless
there is a 'genuine Tradition' (Hadis-i-Sahih), to show the matter clearly.
The question of the abrogation of any previous command depends on
historical facts with regard to the abrogation, not on the mere opinion of
a commentator." It cannot be shown that either Muhammad or a Companion ever
said that the Bible was abrogated. This rule, whilst it shows that the
assertion of modern controversialists on this point is void of foundation,
also illustrates another point to which I have often called attention,
_viz._; that in Islam all interpretation must be regulated by
traditionalism.

Additions were occasionally made. Thus when it was revealed that those who
stay at home were not before God as those who go forth to war, Abdullah and
Ibn Um-Maktum said: 'and what if they were blind.' The Prophet asked for
the shoulder-blade on which the verse was written. He then had a spasmodic
convulsion. After his recovery he made Zeid add the words, "free from
trouble." So now the whole verse reads thus: "Those believers who sit at
home _free from trouble_ (_i.e._, bodily infirmity), and those who do
valiantly in the cause of God, with their substance and their persons,
shall not be treated alike." (S