believe to be the peculiar marks of the Koran, and to conceal feveral pro*
found myfteries, the certain underftanding of which, the more intelligent
confefs has not been communicated to any mortal, their prophet only
excepted. Notwithftanding which fome will take the liberty of guef-
fing at their meaning by that fpecies of Cabbala called by the Jews
Notarikon ', andfuppofe the letters to hand for as many words expref-
fing the names and attributes of G od, his works, ordinances, and
decrees ; and therefore thefe myfterious letters, as well as the verfes
themfelves, feem in the Koran to be called figns. Others explain the
intent of thefe letters from their nature or organ, or elfe from their
value in numbers, according to another fpecies of the JewiJh Cabbala
called Gematria1; the uncertainty of which conjectures fufficiently
appears from their difagreement. Thus for example, five chapters,
one of which is the fecond, begin with thefe letters, A. L. M. which
fome imagine to ftand for Allah la tif magid; G o d « gracious and
to be glorified; or, Ana li minni, to me and firom me, viz. belongs
all perfection, and proceeds all good: or elfe for Ana Allah dlam,
I am the mofi wife G od, taking the firft letter to mark the beginning
of the firft word, the fecond the middle of the fecond word, and the
third the laft of the third word: or for Allah, Gabriel, Mohammed,
the author, revealer, and preacher of the Koran. Others fay, that
as the letter A belongs to the lower part of the throat, the firft of
the organs of fpeech; L to the palat, the middle organ; and M to
the lips, which are the laft organ; fo thefe letters fignify that G od
is the beginning, middle, and end, or ought to be praifed in the beginning,
middle, and end, of all our words and actions: j or, as the
total value of thofe three letters in numbers, is feventy one, they
fignify that in the fpace of fo many years, the religion preached ii*
the Koran fhould be fully eftablifhed. The conjecture of a learned
Chriftian 3 is at leaft as certain as any of the former, who ftuppofes
thofe letters were fet there by the amanuenfis, for Amar li Mohammed,
i. e. A t the command o f Mohammed, as the five letters prefixed to the
nineteenth chapter feem to be there written by a JewiJh fcribe, for
Cob yaas, i. e. Thus he commanded.
Style. The Koran isuniverfally allowed to be written with the utmoft elegance
~ and purity of language, in the dialed: of the tribe of Koreijh, the moft
noble and polite of all the Arabians, but with fome mixture, tho’
very rarely, of other dialeds. It is confefledly the ftandard of the
A ra bictongue, and as the more orthodox believe, and are taught by
1 V. Buxtorf. Lexicon Rabbin. 2 V. Ib. See alfo Schickardi Bechinat happerulhim, p. 62,
tcc. 3 Gplius in append, ad Gram,:Erp. p. 182.
the
the book itfclf, inimitable by any human pen, (tho’ fome fedaries
have been of another opinion ‘) and therefore infilled on as a permanent
miracle, greater than that of railing the dead % and alone fuffi-
cient to convince the world of its divine original.
And to this miracle did Mohammed himfelf chiefly appeal for the
confirmation of his million, publickly challenging the moft eloquent
men in Arabia, which was at that time ftocked with thoufands whofe
foie ftudy and-ambition.it was to excel in elegance of ftyle and com-
pofition 3, to produce even a fingle chapter that might be compared
with i t 4. I will mention but one inftance.out of feveral, to Ihew that
this book was really admired for the beauty of its compofure by thofe
who muft be allowed to have been competent judges.- A poem of
Labid Ebn Rabia, one of the greateft wits in Arabia in Mohammed's-
time, being fixed up on the gate of the temple of Mecca, an honour
allowed to none but the moft efteemed performances, none of the
other poets durft offer any thing of their own in competition with
it. But the 'fecond chapter o f the Koran being fixed up by it foon
after, Labid himfelf (then an idolater) on reading the firft verfes only,.
was ftruck with admiration, and immediately profelfed the religion
taught thereby, declaring that fuch words could proceed from an
infpired perfon only. This Labid was afterwards of great fervice to
Mohammed, in writing anfwers to the fatires and invedives that were
made on him and his religion by the infidels, and particularly by
Amri al Kaiss, prince of the tribe of Afad6, and author of one o f
thofe feven famous poems called al Moallakat7.
The ftyle of the Koran is generally beautiful and fluent,- efpecially'
where it imitates the prophetic manner, and fcripture phrafes. It is con-
cife, and often obfcure, adorned with bold figures after the eaftern tafte,
enlivened with florid and fententious expreffions, and in many places,
efpecially where the majefty and attributes of G o d are defcribed,.
fublime and magnificent; of which the reader cannot but obferve
feveral inftances, tho’ he muft not imagine the tranflation comes up
to the original, notwithftanding my endeavours to do it juftice.
Tho’ it be written in profe, yet the fentences generally conclude
in a long continued rime, for the fake of which the fenfe is often interrupted,
and unneceflary repetitions too frequently made, which ap-
1 See after.' - 2 Ahmed, Ab,d’alhalim, apud Marracc. de Ale. p. 43. 3 A noble writer there^
fore miftakes the queftion when he fays thefe eaftern religionifts leave their facred writ the foie
ftandard of literate performance by extinguilhingall true learning. For tho’ they were deftitute of
what we call learning, yet they were far from being ignorant, or unable to compofe elegan tly in thefr
own tongue. See.L. Shaftesbury's Charafteriftics, Vol. 3. p; 235. 4 Al Gazali, apud Poc. Spec.
191. See Koran? c. 17,. and alio c. 2. p. 3. and c. 11, &c. s IJ’Herbel. Bibl. Orient, p. 512, &c.
6,i>oc. Spec. p. 80. 7 Sec before, p. 28.
pear