delanceyplace.com 3/26/08 - the koran

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In today's excerpt - the Koran or Qur'an, believed by Muslims to be the revelation of God given to Muhammad (570-632 C.E.) by the angel Gabriel over a period of 23 years, and standardized in its written form under the third caliph in about 650 C.E. Here, Princeton Professor Philip Hitti describes the Koran in his classic 1943 history of the Arabs:

"Although there are approximately twice as many Christians as Moslems in the world it can safely be said that the Koran is the most widely read book ever written. For besides its use in worship it is the textbook from which practically every young Moslem learns to read Arabic. ... The first translation into English appeared in 1649, made from the French by Alexander Ross Vicar of Carisbrooke: 'The Alcoran of Mohamet ... newly Englished, for the satisfaction of all that desire to look into the Turkish vanities.' ...

"Compared to the Bible, the Koran offers but few textual uncertainties. The first, final, and only canonized version of the Koran was collated nineteen years after the death of Muhammad, when it was seen that the memorizers of the Koran were becoming extinct through the battles that were decimating the ranks of the believers.. ... Its 6,239 verses, its 77,934 words, even its 323,621 letters, have since been painstakingly counted. ... The Book is not only the heart of a religion, the guide to the Kingdom of Heaven, but a compendium of science and a political document, embodying the code of law for a kingdom on earth. ...

"The parallels between the Old Testament and the Koran are many and striking. Almost all the historical narratives of the Koran have their biblical counterparts. Among the Old Testament characters, Adam, Noah, Abraham (mentioned about seventy times), Ishmael, Lot, Joseph, Moses (whose name occurs in thirty-four chapters), Saul, David, Solomon, Elijah, Job, and Jonah figure prominently. The story of the Creation and Fall of Adam is cited five times the flood eight and Sodom eight. Of the New Testament characters, Zacharias, John the Baptist, Jesus, and Mary are the only ones emphasized. ... Certain miraculous acts attributed to Jesus the child in the Koran, such as speaking out in the cradle and creating birds out of clay, recall similar acts recorded in the Apocryphal Gospels. ...

"In the [surahs or chapters of the Koran], the oneness of Allah, His attributes, the ethical duties of man and the coming retribution are the favorite themes. ... Critics consider the statutes relating to divorce the most objectionable, and those about the treatment of slaves, orphans and strangers the most humane portions of Islamic legislations. The freeing of slaves is encouraged as something most pleasing to God and an expiation for many a sin. ...

"Its length is four-fifths that of the New Testament in Arabic. The word Koran (Qur'an) itself means recitation, lecture, discourse. This book, a strong, living voice, is meant for oral recitation and should be heard in the original to be appreciated. No small measure of its force lies in its rhyme and rhetoric and in its cadence and sweep, which cannot be reproduced when the book is translated."