The Faith of Islam. Edward Sell

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 divine. It is acknowledged that the Injíl—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 Ramazán, 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 Islámic system.

      The question next arises as to the exact way in which Gabriel made known his message to Muhammad. The Mudárij-un-Nabuwat, a standard theological work, gives some details on this point.^[42] Though the Qurán 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 'Áyesha, 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.

      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 Wahí 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'ráj, 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 Ilká, 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 Qurán abrogate others. Muhammad found it necessary to shift 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-usúl," or the exegesis of the Qurán, and the inspired sayings of the Prophet. This done, he can henceforth read the approved commentaries in order to learn what the Fathers of Islám 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 Islám 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 Qurán 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 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 Isnád (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 Isnád 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 Háfiz, a man who can repeat the whole Qurán 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 Sunnís say that no Shía'h can ever become a Háfiz, from which fact they draw the conclusion that the Shía'hs are heretics. In the early days of Islám, the great authorities on the question of the correct pronunciation of the Qurán were the Khalífs Abu Bakr, Omar, Osmán, and 'Alí, 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 Islám. The effort, however, to preserve one uniform method of repeating the Qurán 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 Káb, one of the Companions, had become so famous as a reader that the Prophet himself said: "read the Qurán under Abu Ibn Káb." These men remembered that Abu Ibn Káb had stated, that one day when scandalized at man after man who entered the mosque repeating the Qurán in different ways, he spoke to Muhammad about it. His Highness said: "O Abu Ibn Káb! intelligence was sent to me to read the Qurán in one dialect, and I was attentive to the Court of God, and said: 'make easy the reading of the Qurán to my sects.' These instructions were sent to me a second time saying: 'read the Qurán in two dialects.' Then I turned myself to the Court of God saying: 'make easy the reading of the Qurán to my sects.' Then a voice was sent to me the third time saying: 'read the Qurán 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 qirá,at," or seven readings of the Qurán, now recognised.

      In the Qurán compiled by the order of the Khalíf Osmán there were no vowel-points, but when men of other countries embraced Islám 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 Imám Nafi of Madína, Imám Ibn-i-Kasir of Mecca, Imám Abu 'Umr of Basra, Imám Hamza of Kufa, Imám Ibn 'Amir of Syria, Imám 'Ásim of Kufa, Imám Kisáe of Kufa.^[44] These learned men affixed different vowel-points in many places in the Qurán, and thus slight differences of meaning arose. In India the "qirá,at—reading—of Imám 'Ásim