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Article Alcoran, Encyclopedia Britaninica or a Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature, Vol. I. London, 1823. pp.

572-576
ALCORAN, or Al-koran, the scripture or bible of the Mahometans. The word is compounded of the Arabic particle al, and coran or koran, derived from the verb caraa or karaa, to read. The word therefore properly signifies the reading; or rather, that which ought to be read. By this name the Mahometans denote not only the entire book or volume of the Koran, but also any particular chapter or section of it; just as the Jews call either the whole Scripture, or any part of it, by the name of Karah, or Mikra, words of the same origin and import. Besides this peculiar name, the Koran is also honored with several appellations common to other books of Scripture: as, al-Farkan, from the verb foraka, to divide or distinguish; not, as the Mahometan doctors say, because those books are divided into chapters or sections, or distinguish between good and evil; but in the same notion that the Jews use the word Perek, or Pirka, from the same root, to denote a section or portion of Scripture. It is also called al-Moshaf, the volume, and al-Kilah, the book, by way of eminence, which answers to the Biblia of the Greeks; and al-Dhikr, the admonition, which name is also given to the Pentateuch and Gospel. The Koran is divided into 114 larger portions of very unequal length, which we call chapters; but the Arabians sowar, in the singular sura, a word rarely used on any other occasion, and properly signifying a row, order, or a regular series; as a course of bricks in a building, or a rank of soldiers in an army; and is the same in use and import with the Sura, or Tora, of the Jews, who also call the fifty-three sections of the Pentateuch Sedarim, a word of the same signification. These chapters are not, in the manuscript copies, distinguished by their numerical order, but by particular titles, which are taken sometimes from a particular matter treated of, or person mentioned therein; but usually from the first word of note, exactly in the same manner as the Jews have named their Sedarim; though the word from which some chapters are denominated be very far distant, towards the middle, or perhaps the end of the chapter; which seems ridiculous. But the occasion of this appears to have been, that the verse or passage wherein such word occurs, was, in the point of time, revealed and committed to writing before the other verses of the same chapter, which precede it in older; and the title being given to the chapter before it was completed, or the passages reduced to their present order; the verse from whence such title was taken did not always happen to begin the chapter. Some chapters have two or more titles, occasioned by the difference of the copies. Some of the chapters having been revealed at Mecca, and others at Medina, the noting this difference makes a part of the title: but the reader will observe, that several of the chapters are said to have been revealed partly at Mecca and partly at Medina; and, as to others, it is yet a dispute among the commentators to which of the two places they belong. Every chapter is subdivided into smaller portions, of very unequal length also, which we customarily call verses; but the Arabic word is ayat, the same with the Hebrew ototh, and signifies signs or wonders: such as are the secrets of God, his attributes, works, judgments, and ordinances, delivered in those verses; many of which have their particular titles also, imposed in the same manner as those of the chapters.
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Besides these unequal divisions of chapter and verse, the Mahometans have also divided their Koran into sixteen equal portions, which they call Ahzab, in the singular Hizb, each divided into four equal parts; which is also an imitation of the Jews, who have an ancient division of their Mishna into sixty portions called Massictoth. But the Koran is more usually divided into thirty sections only, named Ajza, from the singular loz, each of twice the length of the former, and in the like manner subdivided into four parts. These divisions are for the use of the readers of the Koran in the royal temples, or in the adjoining chapels where the emperors and great men are interred. There are thirty of these readers belonging to every chapel, and each reads his section everyday; so that the whole Koran is read over once a day. Next after the title, at the head of every chapter, except only the ninth, is prefixed the following solemn form, by the Mahometans called the Bismallah, In THE KAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUI, GOD; which form they constantly place at the beginning of all their books and writings in general, as a peculiar mark or distinguishing characteristic of their religion, it being counted a sort of impiety to omit it. The Jews, for the same purpose, make use of the form, In the name of the Lord, or, In the name of the great God; and the eastern Christians that of, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. But Mahomet probably took this form, as he did many other things, from the Persian Magi, who used to begin their books in these words, Benam Yezdan bakshaishgher dadar; that is, In the name of the most merciful just God. There are twenty-nine chapters of the Koran, which have this peculiarity that they begin with certain letters of the alphabet, some with a single one, and others with more. These letters the Mahometans believe to be the peculiar marks of the Koran, and to conceal several profound mysteries; the certain understanding of which, the most intelligent confess, has not been communicated to any mortal, their prophet only excepted. Notwithstanding which, some will take the liberty of guessing at their meaning by that, species of Cabala called by the Jews Notarikon, and suppose the letters to stand for as many words, expressing the names and attributes of God, his works, ordinances, and decrees; and therefore these mysterious letters, as well verses themselves, seen in the Koran to be called signs. Others explain the intent of these letters from their nature or organ, or else from their value in numbers, according to another species of the Jewish Cabala called Gematria; the uncertainty of which conjectures sufficiently appears from their disagreement. Thus, for example, five chapters, one of which is the second, begin with these letters, A. L. M. which some imagine to stand for Allah latiff magid, God is gracious and to be glorified; or, Ana li minni, i. e. to me and from me, viz. belongs all perfection, and proceeds all good; or else for Ana Allah alam, lam the most wise God, taking the first letter to mark the beginning of the first word, the second the middle of the second word, and the third the last of the third word; or for Allah, Gabriel, Mohammed, the author, revealer, and preacher of the Koran. Others say, that as the letter A belongs to the lower part of the throat, the first of the organs of speech; L to the palate, the middle organ; and M to the lips, which are the last organ; so these letters signify that God is the beginning, middle, and end, or ought to be praised in the beginning, middle, and end, of all our words and actions: or, as the total value of those three letters, in numbers, is seventy-one, they signify, that, in the space of so many years, the religion preached in the Koran should be fully established. The conjecture of a learned Christian is at least as certain as any of the former, who supposes those letters were set there by the amanuensis, for Amar li
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Mohammed, i.e. at the command of Mohammed, as the five letters prefixed to the nineteenth chapter seem to be there written by a Jewish scribe, for Coh yaas, Thus he commanded. The Koran is universally allowed to be written with the utmost elegance and purity of language, in the dialect of the tribe of Koreish, the most noble and polite of all the Arabians, but with some mixture, though very rarely, of other dialects. It is confessedly the standard of the Arabic tongue, and, as the more orthodox believe, and are taught by the book itself, inimitable by any human pen (though some sectaries have been of another opinion), and therefore insisted on as a permanent miracle, greater than that of raising the dead, and alone sufficient to convince the world of its divine original. And to this miracle did Mahomet himself chiefly, appeal for the confirmation of his mission, publicly challenging the most eloquent men in Arabia, which was at that time stocked with thousands whose sole study and ambition it was to excel in elegance of style and composition, to produce even single chapter that might be compared with it.1 To the pomp and harmony of expression some ascribe all the force and effect of the Alcoran; which they consider as a sort of music, equally fitted with other species of that art to ravish and amaze. In this Mahomet succeeded so well and so strangely captivated the minds of his audience, that several of his opponents thought it the effect of witchcraft and enchantment, as he himself complains. Others have attributed the effect of the Alcoran to the frequent mention of rewards and punishments; heaven and hell occurring almost in every page. Some suppose that the sensual pleasures of paradise, so frequently set before the imaginations of the readers of the Alcoran, were what chiefly bewitched them. Though, with regard to these, there is a great dispute whether they are to be understood literally or spiritually. Several have even allegorized the whole book. The general design of the Koran was to unite the professors of the three different religions, then followed in the populous country of Arabia (who for the most part lived promiscuously, and wandered without guides, the far greater number being idolaters, and the rest Jews and Christians mostly of erroneous and heterodox, belief), in the knowledge and worship of one God, under the sanction of certain laws, and the outward signs of ceremonies partly of ancient and partly of novel institution, enforced by the consideration of rewards and punishments both temporal and eternal; and to bring them all to the obedience of Mahomet, as the prophet and ambassador of God, who, after the repeated admonitions, promises, and threats, of former ages, was at last to establish and propagate Gods religion on earth, and to be acknowledged chief pontiff in spiritual matters, as well as supreme prince in temporal. The great doctrine then of the Koran, is the unity of God; to restore which point Mahomet pretended: was the chief end of his mission; it being laid down by him as a fundamental truth, That there never was, nor ever can be, more than one true orthodox religion. For, though the particular laws or ceremonies are only temporary, and subject to alteration, according to the divine directions; yet the substance of it being eternal
1 As the composition and arrangement of words, however, admit of infinite varieties, it can never be absolutely said that any one is the best possible... In fact, Hamzah Benahmed wrote a book against the Alcoran with, at least equal elegance; and Moselema another, which even surpassed it, and occasioned a defection of a great, part of the Mussulmans. Journal de Sav. tom..xiii. p. 280. Oeuvr. de Sav. Nov. 1708. p. 404.

truth, is not liable to change, but continues immutably the same. And be taught, that, whenever this religion became neglected, or corrupted in essentials, God had the goodness to re-inform and re-admonish mankind thereof, by several prophets, of whom Moses and Jesus were the most distinguished, till the appearance of Mahomet, who is their seal, and no other to be expected after him. The more effectually to engage people to hearken to him, great part of the Koran is employed in relating examples of dreadful punishments formerly inflicted by God on those who rejected and abused his messengers; several of which stories, or some circumstances of them, are taken from the Old and New Testaments, but many more from the apocryphal books and traditions of the Jews and Christians of those ages, set up in the Koran as truths in opposition to theScriptures, which the Jews and Christians are charged with having altered; and indeed, few or none of the relations or circumstances in the Koran were invented by Mahomet, as is generally supposed, it being easy to trace the greatest part of them much higher, as the rest might be, were more of those books extant, and was it worthwhile to make the inquiry. The rest of the Alcoran is taken up in prescribing necessary laws and directions, frequent admonitions to moral and divine virtues, the worship and reverence of the Supreme Being, and resignation to his will. One of their most learned commentators distinguishes the Contents of the Alcoran into allegorical and literal: under the former are comprehended all the obscure, parabolical, and enigmatical passages, with such as are repealed, or abrogated; the latter, such as are clear, and in full force. The most excellent moral in the whole Alcoran, interpreters say, is that in the chapter Al-Alraf, viz. Shew mercy, do good to all, and dispute not with the ignorant; or, as Mr. Sale renders it, Use indulgence, command that which is just, and withdraw far from the ignorant. Mahomet, according to the authors of the Kaschaf, having begged of the angel Gabriel a more ample explication of this passage, received it in the following terms: Seek him who turns thee out, give to him who takes from thee, pardon him who injures thee; for God will have you plant in your souls the roots of his chief perfections. It is easy to see that this commentary is copied from the gospel. In reality, the necessity of forgiving enemies, though frequently inculcated in the Alcoran, is of a later date among the Mahometans than among the Christians; among those latter, than among the heathens; and to be traced originally among the Jews.2 But it matters not so much who had it first, as who observes it best. The caliph Hassan, son of Hali, being at table, a slave unfortunately let fall a dish of meat reeking hot, which scalded him severely. The slave fell on his knees, rehearsing these words of the Alcoran, Paradise is for those, who restrain their anger. I am not angry with thee, answered the caliph And for those who forgive offences against them, continues the slave. I forgive thee thine, replies the caliph But above all, for those who return good for evil, adds the slave. I set thee at liberty, rejoined the caliph; and I give thee ten dinars. There are also a great number of occasional passages in the Alcoran, relating only to particular emergencies. For this advantage Mahomet had in the piecemeal method of receiving his revelation, that whenever he happened to be perplexed and graveled with anything, he had a certain resource in some new morsel of revelation. It was an admirable contrivance of his, to bring down the whole Alcoran at once, only to the lowest heaven, not to earth; since, had the whole been published at once, innumerable
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See Exodus xxxiii. 4-5.


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objections would have been made, which it would have been impossible for him to solve; but as he received it by parcels, as God saw fit they should be published for the conversion and instruction of the people, he had a sure way to answer all emergencies, and to extricate himself with honor from any difficulty which might occur. It is the general and orthodox belief among the Mahometans, that the Koran is of divine original; nay, that it is eternal and uncreated, remaining, as some express it, in the very essence of God: that the first transcript has been from everlasting by Gods throne, written on a table of vast bigness, called the preserved table, in which are also recorded the divine decrees past and future: that a copy from this table, in one volume on paper, was by the ministry of the angel Gabriel sent down to the lowest heaven, in the month of Ramadan, on the night of power: from whence Gabriel revealed it to Mahomet by parcels, some at Mecca, and some at Medina, at different times, during the space of 23 years, as the exigency of affairs required , giving him, however, the consolation to show him the whole (which they tell us was bound in silk, and adorned with gold and precious stones of paradise) once a year; but in the last year of his life be had the favor to see it twice. They say, that few chapters were delivered entire, the most part being revealed piecemeal, and written down from time to time by the prophet s amanuensis in such a part of such and such a chapter till they were completed, according to the directions of the angel. The first parcel that was revealed is generally agreed to have been the first five verses of the 46th chapter. After the new-revealed passages had been from the prophets mouth taken down in writing by his scribe, they were published to his followers; several of whom took copies for their private use, but the far greater number got them by heart. The originals, when returned, were put promiscuously into a chest, observing no order of time; for which reason it is uncertain when many passages were revealed. When Mahomet died, he left his revelations in the same disorder, and not digested into the method, such as it is, in which we now find them. This was the work of his successor Abu Beer; who, considering that a great number of passages were committed to the memory of Mahomets followers, many of whom were slain in their wars, ordered the whole to be collected, not only from the palm leaves and skins on which they had been written, and which were kept between two boards or covers, but also from the mouths of such as had gotten them by heart. And this transcript, when completed, he committed to the custody of Hafsa the daughter of Omar, one of the prophets widows. From this relation it is generally imagined that Abu Bakr was really the compiler of the Koran; though, for aught appears to the contrary, Mahomet left the chapters complete as we now have them, excepting such passages as his successor might add or correct from those who had gotten them by heart; what Abu Beer did else, being perhaps no more than to range the chapters in their present order, which he seems to have done without any regard to time, having generally placed the longest first. However, in the 30th year of the Hegira, Othman being then caliph, and observing the great disagreement in the copies of the Koran in the several provinces of the empire; those of Irak, for example, following the reading of Abu Musa al-Ashari, and the Syrians that of Macdad Ebn Aswad; he, by the advice of the companions, ordered a great number of copies to be transcribed from that of Abu Beer, in Hassas care, under the inspection of Zeid Ebn Thibet, Abdallah Ebn Zobair, Said Ebn al-As, and Abdalrahman Ebn al-Hareth the Makbzumite; whom he directed, that, wherever they disagreed about
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any word, they should write it in the dialect of the Koreish, in which it was at first delivered. These copies, when made, were dispersed in the several provinces of the empire, and the old ones burnt and suppressed. Though many things in Hafsas copy were corrected by the above-mentioned revisers, yet some few various readings still occur. In fine, the book, of the Alcoran is held in the highest esteem and reverence among the Mussulmans. They dare not so much as touch the Alcoran without being first washed, or legally purified; to prevent which, an inscription is put on the cover or label, Let none touch but they who are clean. It is read with great care and respect; being never held below the girdle. They swear by it; take omens from it on all weighty occasions; carry it with them to war; write sentences of it in their banners; adorn it with gold and precious stones; and knowingly suffer it not to be in the possession of any of a different religion. Some say that it is punishable even with death, in a Christian, to touch it; others, that the veneration of the Mussulmans leads them to condemn the translating it into any other language as a profanation: but these seem to be aggravations. The Mahometans have taken care to have their Scripture translated into the Persian, the Javanese, the Malayan, and other languages; though, out of respect to the original, these versions are generally, if not always, interlineated. By the advocates of Mahometanism, the Koran, as already observed, has always been held forth as the greatest of miracles, and equally stupendous with act of raising the dead. The miracles of Moses and Jesus, they say, were transient and temporary; but that of the Koran is permanent and perpetual; and therefore far surpasses all the miraculous events of preceding ages. We will not detract from the real merit of the Koran: we allow it to be generally elegant, and often sublime: but at the same time we reject with disdain its arrogant pretence to anything supernatural; all the real excellence of the work being easily referable to natural and visible causes. Joseph White, View of Christianity & Mahometanism in Their History: Their Evidence & Their Effects; to which is Added a Sermon on the Duty of Attempting the Propagation of the Gospel Among Our Mahometan & Geento Subjects in India, 1785: pages 257-271. In the language of Arabia, a language extremely loved and diligently cultivated by the people to whom it was vernacular, Mahomet found advantages which were never enjoyed by any former or succeeding impostor. It requires not the eye of a philosopher to discover in every soil and country a principle of national pride: and if we look back for many ages on the history of the Arabians, we shall easily perceive that pride among them invariably to have consisted in the knowledge and improvement of their native language. The Arabic, which has been justly esteemed the most copious of the Eastern tongues; which had existed from the remotest antiquity; which had been embellished by numberless poets, and refined by the constant exercise of the natives; was the most successful instrument which Mahomet employed in planting his new religion among them. Admirably adapted by its unrivalled harmony, and by its endless variety, to add painting to expression, and to pursue the imagination in its unbounded flight it became in the hands of Mahomet an irresistible charm to blind the judgment, and to captivate the fancy of his followers.

Of that description of men, who first composed the adherents of Mahomet, and to whom the Koran was addressed, few, probably, were able to pass a very accurate judgment on the propriety of the sentiments, or on the beauties of the diction: but all could judge of the military abilities of their leader; and in the midst of their admiration it is not difficult to conceive, that they would ascribe to his compositions every imaginary beauty of inspired language. The shepherd and the soldier, though awake to the charms of those wild but beautiful compositions, in which were celebrated their favorite occupations of love or war, were yet little able to criticize any other works than those which were addressed to the imagination or the heart. To abstract reasoning on the attributes and the dispensations of the Deity, to the comparative excellencies of rival religions, to the consistency of any one religious system in all its parts, and to the force of its various proofs, they were quite inattentive. In such a situation, the appearance of a work which possessed something like wisdom and consistence; which prescribed the rules, and illustrated the duties of life; and which contained the principles of a new and comparatively sublime theology, independently of its real and permanent merit, was likely to excite their astonishment, and to become the standard of future composition. In the first periods of the literature of every country, something of this kind has happened. The father of Grecian poetry very obviously influenced the taste and imitation of his countrymen. The modern nations of Europe all possess some original author, who, rising from the darkness of former ages, has begun the career of composition, and tinctured with the character of his own imagination the stream which has flowed through his posterity. But the prophet of Arabia had in this respect advantages peculiar to himself. His compositions were not to his followers the works of man, but the genuine language of Heaven, which bad sent him. They were not confined therefore to that admiration which is so liberally bestowed on the earliest productions of genius, or to that fond attachment with which men everywhere regard the original compositions of their country: but with their admiration they blended their piety. To know and to feel the beauties of the Koran, was in some respect to share in the temper of heaven; and: he who was most affected with admiration in the perusal of its beauties, seemed most fitly the object of that mercy which had given it to ignorant man. The Koran, therefore, became naturally and necessarily the standard of taste. With a language thus hallowed in their imaginations, they were too well satisfied, either to dispute its elegance or improve its structure. In succeeding ages, the additional sanction of antiquity, or prescription, was given to these compositions which their fathers had admired: and while the belief of its divine original continues, that admiration, which has thus become the test and the duty of the faithful, can neither be altered nor diminished. When therefore we consider these peculiar advantages of the Koran, we have no reason to be surprised at the admiration in which it is held. But if, descending to a more minute investigation of it, we consider its perpetual inconsistence and absurdity; we shall indeed have cause for astonishment at that weakness of humanity which could ever have received such compositions as the work of the Deity. The first praise of all the productions of genius is invention, that quality of the mind, which, by the extent and quickness of its views, is capable of the largest conceptions, and of forming new combinations of objects the most distant and unusual. But the Koran bears little impression of this transcendent character. Its materials are
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wholly borrowed from the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, from the Talmudical legends and apocryphal gospels then current in the East, and from the traditions and fables which abounded in Arabia. The materials collected from these several sources are here heaped together with perpetual and needless repetitions, without any settled principle or visible connection. When a great part of the life of Mahomet had been spent in preparatory meditation on the system he was about to establish, its chapters were dealt out slowly and separately during the long period of 23 years. Yet thus defective in its structure, and not less exceptionable in its doctrines, was the work, which Mahomet delivered to his followers as the oracles of God. The most prominent feature of the Koran that point of excellence in which the partiality of its admirers has ever delighted to view it, is the sublime notion it generally impresses of the nature and attributes of God. If its author had really derived these just conceptions from the inspiration of that Being whom they attempt to describe, they would not have been surrounded, as they now are on every side, with error and absurdity. But it might easily be proved, that whatever it justly defines of the divine attributes, was borrowed from our Holy Scripture which even from its first promulgation, but especially from the completion of the New Testament, has extended the views and enlightened the understandings of mankind; and thus furnished them with arms, which have too often, though ineffectually, been turned against itself by its ungenerous enemies. In this instance particularly, the copy is far below the great original, both in the propriety of its images, and the force of its descriptions. Our Holy Scriptures are the only compositions that can enable the dim sight of mortality to penetrate into the invisible world, and to behold a glimpse of the Divine perfections. Accordingly, when they would represent to us the happiness of Heaven, they describe it, not by any thing minute and particular, but by something general and great: something that, without descending to any determinate object, may at once by its beauty and immensity excite our wishes and elevate our affections. Though in the prophetical and evangelical writings the joys that shall attend us in a future state are often mentioned with ardent admiration, they are expressed rather by allusion than similitude, rather by indefinite and figurative terms, than by anything fixed and determinate. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 1 Cor. ii. 9. What a reverence and astonishment does this passage excite in every hearer of taste and piety! What energy, and at the same time what simplicity, in the expression! How sublime, and at the same time how obscure, is the imagery! Different was the conduct of Mahomet in his descriptions of heaven and of paradise. Unassisted by the necessary influence of virtuous intentions and Divine inspiration, be was neither desirous, nor indeed able, to exalt the minds of men to sublime conceptions, or to rational expectations. By attempting to explain what is inconceivable, to describe what is ineffable, and to materialize what in itself is spiritual; he absurdly and impiously aimed to sensualize the purity of the Divine essence. Thus he fabricated a system of incoherence, a religion of depravity, totally repugnant indeed to the nature of that Being, who, as he pretended, was its object; but therefore more likely to accord with the appetites and conceptions of a corrupt and sensual age.

That we may not appear to exalt our Scriptures thus far above the Koran by an unreasonable preference, we shall produce a part of the second chapter of the latter, which is deservedly admired by the Mahometans, who wear it engraved on their ornaments, and recite it in their prayers. God! There is no God but he; the living, the self-subsisting: neither slumber nor sleep seizeth on him: to him belongeth whatsoever is in heaven, and on earth. Who is he that can intercede with bim but through his good pleasure? He knoweth that which is past, and that which is to come. His throne is extended over heaven and earth, and the preservation of both is to him no burden. He is the high, the mighty. Sales Koran ii. 4 p. 30. To this description who can refuse the praise of magnificence? Part of that magnificence, however, is to be referred to that verse of the Psalmist, whence it was borrowed, He that keepeth Israel, shall neither slumber nor sleep. Psalm cxxi. 4. But if we compare it with that other passage of the same inspired Psalmist, all its boasted grandeur is at once obscured, and lost in the blaze of a greater light. O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days thy years are throughout all generations. Of old hast thou laid the foundations of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea all of them shall wax old, as doth a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed; but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. The Koran, therefore, upon a retrospective view of these several circumstances, far from supporting its arrogant claim to a supernatural work, sinks below the level of many compositions confessedly of human original; and still lower does it fall in our estimation, when compared with that pure and perfect pattern which we justly admire in the Scriptures of truth. It is therefore abundantly apparent, that no miracle either was externally performed for the support, or it internally involved in the composition, of the Mahometan revelation.

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