________!__________ - ' v f l
[ ii i ]
T O T H E
R E A D E R .
I IM A G IN E it almoß needlefs either to make an apology for pub-
lijhing the following Tranßation, or to go about to prove it a work o f ufe
as well as curiofity. They muß have a mean opinion o f the Chri-
ftian Religion, or be but ill grounded therein, who can apprehend
any danger from fo manifeß a forgery : and i f the religious and civil
Inflitutions o f foreign nations are worth our knowledge, thofe o f Mohammed,
the lawgiver o f the Arabians, and founder o f an empire
which in lefs than a century fpreqd itfelf over a greater part of the
world than the Romans were ever mafters of, muß needs be fo j whether
we confider their extenfive obtaining, or our frequent intercourfe
with thofe who are governed thereby, I fia ll not here enquire into the
reafons why the law of Mohammed has met with fo unexampled a reception
in the world, (for they are greatly deceived who imagine it to
have been propagated by the fword alone,) or by what means it came to
be embraced by nations which never fe lt the force o f the Mohammedan
arms, and even by thofe which firipped the Arabians o f their con-
queßs, and put an end to the fovereignty and very being of their Kha-
lifs: yet it feems as i f there was fame thing more than what is vulgarly
imagined, in a religion which has made fo furprizing a progrefs. But
whatever ufe an impartial verfion of the Koran may be of in other re-
fpe&s, it is abfolutely neceffary to undeceive, thofe who, from the ignorant
or unfair tranflations which have appeared, have entertained too favourable
an opinion of the original, and alfo to enable us effettually to ex-
pofe the impoflure-, none o f thofe who have hitherto undertaken that' province,
not excepting Dr. Prideaux himfelf, having fucceeded to the J'a-
tisfaBion of the judicious, fo r want of being compleat maflers of the
controverjy. The writers of the Romifh communion, in particular, are
fo fa r from having done any for vice in their refutations o f Mohamme-
difm, that by endeavouring to defend their idolatry and other fuperfli-
A 2 - tions,