lished b y Stephen le Moine, reproaches Mohammed with saying, that the blessed Virgin became pregnant by eating dates: Koran, chap. x ix .— “ Remember what is written of Mary. W e sent to her our spirit, (or angel,) in the shape o f a man; she was frightened, but the angel said to her, O Mary ! I am the messenger o f y ou r Lord, and your God, who will give you an active and prudent son. She answered, How shall 1 have a son without knowing any man ? T h e angel replied, God has said it, the thing shall happen ; it is easy to your Lord, and you r son himself shall be a proof o f the almighty power o f God. Then she conceived, and retired for some time into a solitary place, near a date-tree, and her labour-pains began forthwith; but the angel said, Do not afflict thyself; shake the date-tree, and gather the dates; eat them, drink water, and wash your eyes.” Now this passage, which is the one alluded to, does not say that the pregnancy proceeded from the eating o f the dates, although the dates eased the pains o f pregnancy, lienee, probably, that superstitious African tradition, that when the Virgin Mary was in pain, she exclaimed, O that I had some d a te s ! and immediately the exclamation, or letter O, was marked on the stone o f the fruit.* Dog and hog are synonymous termsof contempt or degradation among the Mohammedans : they are the two unclean animals; and i f either o f them drink out o f a cup, it must be washed. T h e y w ill not sit down where a dog has been, nor w ill they wear the skin o f the animal, even i f made into leather. Some men o f rank, however, keep greyhounds, and other dogs for hunting ; but seldom let them go into those apartments o f their houses, * All date-stones have a circular mark on them, like the letter 0 . where the women are, for they say, no angel or benediction comes to,any place where a dog is. In the xivth chap. of the Koran Mohammed makes Abraham beg o f God to protect Mecca, and to make it a place o f peace or safety (aman in the original) to all the world. T h e learned Robert o f Retz, who translated the Koran in the 16th century, has rendered this word, Aman or Hammon,and hence the prophet has absolutely been accused o f placing Mecca in the country o f the Hammonites, and consequently abused for his geographical ignorance, as if any man o f common understanding could so far mistake the place o f his birth, a place he had lived in so long, had conquered, and from whence he had made so many eruptions against his neighbours. T h e word Aman in the original is a consecrated place, or place o f fa ith , of safety, o f refuge, of protection. Birds, fish, or animals, are not allowed to be killed in such places, neither is blood to be spilt therein. Mohammed has also been accused o f contradicting himself, in saying, sometimes, that he could read, and at others, that he could not; and the following passage o f the Koran (ch. x lv ii.) is thence produced as evidence that he could read : God is introduced as saying to Mohammed— “ God knows what yo u do, “ and what you read.” * But the whole is a mistake, both o f the version and o f the annotator, for in the original AiabiG, God does not speak to Mohammed, but the latter speaks to other men, and says, God knows w hat y e do, and what ye meditate, (not read). W ith regard to marriage, the Koran (chap. iv.) allows four w iv e s : “ Receive in marriage such women as you like, two, * Robert de Retz’s translation.
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