KORAN, properly Quran, is the religious book of the Muhammadans, and is designated by them Quran-i-Sharif, the noble Quran; Quran Majid, the glorious Quran ; Furqan, the distinguisher ; Kalam Allah, the Word of God. Al-Furcjan, the distinguisher, is the same as the Jewish use of Perd or Pirka, denoting a section of scripture. It is also called Al-Mushaf, the volume ; also Kitab, the book, answering to the Biblia of the Greeks ; and also Us-Zikr, the admonition, which name is also given to the Pentateuch and to the Christian Gospel.
Koran or Quran is a term derived from the Arabic Qara, which occurs •at the commencement of Sure. acv. It is said to have been the first chapter revealed to Mahomed, and has the same meaning as the Hebrew Kara, to read or to recite, frequently used in Jeremiah xxxvi. and other places in the Old Testament. It is therefore the equivalent of the Hebrew Mikra in Nehemiah viii. 18.
The origin of the book is variously given. Zaid-ibn-Thabit, secretary to Mahomed, is said to have been selected by the first khalif, Abubakr, to collect the scattered portions. The second khalif, Othman, on the representation of a devout man called Hudhaifa, that the books in existence differed, is said to have made a recension of it, and sent a copy to all the countries of Islam, ordering all others to be burned. But a general opinion amongst the learned of Europe is that the oral deliveries of Mahomed were collected and committed to writing by the third khalif, Umar.
According to Sale (Prelim. Disc. pp. 77, 86, 87), Mahomed delivered it to his followers through the space of 23 years, and they are believed either to have committed it to memory or to have written it on palm leaves, stones, or, as Gibbon states (ch. i. p. 264, Milman edition), on shoulder blades of sheep. The original copies were thrown into a chest, and in this disorder they were left when Mahomed died. Two years later, Abu bakr ordered the whole to be collected, both from what was written and what had been com mitted to memory. About 17 years afterwards, observing discrepancies in the existing copies, he ordered a large number of new ones to be trans scribed. The Shiah Muhammadans assert that ten sections, one-fourth of the whole, were struck out by Othman, and the Dabistan is said to contain one of these.
Lane further says (p. 92), it is generally believed that few of the chapters as they now stand were delivered entire. The first five verses of the 96th chapter are supposed to have been the first delivered. Abubakr seems to have arranged the chapters in the manner they now present, and delivered the transcript to Hafza, a daughter of Umar, one of the widows of Mahomed.
The Koran is the highest authority for Muham madan doctrine ; but in addition thereto the believers in Islam must receive the sayings and practices of Mahomed as of divine obligation. In this faith the teachings of the traditions must be received by all its sects side by side with those of the Koran itself, and the opinions in the numerous commentaries of the learned expounders who wrote in the early days of Muhammadanism.
Muhammadans believe the Koran to be the inspired word of God, sent down to the lowest heaven complete, and then revealed from time to time by the angel Gabriel to Mahomed. It is generally diffused amongst the people of this religion in Arabic, but it has also been translated into English, Latin, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Turkish, Persian, Hindustani, Tamil, Burmese, and Malay, though the more strict Muhammadans reject translations. It has had numerous commentators, amongst whom are Al Baidawi, Maliki, Hanifi, Shall, and Ilanballi. The Koran inculcates the existence of one true God and obedience to his laws, and to this religion they give the name of Islam, and its followers Muslimin, the plural oblique form of Muslim, a Musalman. It contains doctrines and positive precepts as to faith and religious duties and institutions in civil affairs. It commands certain months to be kept sacred, and sets apart Fridays for the especial service of God. It is arranged into 144 chapters, distinguished by their subjects, the first of which is called the preface, or Al-Fatihah, which is a prayer, and is much venerated by all Muhammadans, who often repeat it in their private and public devotions, as Christians do the Lord's Prayer. It words are ' Praise be to God, the Lord of all creatures, the most merciful, the king of the day of judgment. Thee we do worship, and of thee do we beg assistance. Direct us in the right way, in the way of those to whom thou bast been gracious ; not of those against whom thou are incensed, nor of those who go astray.' The Koran recognises men, genii, and angels, heaven and hell, and an intermediate spot, and two gardens where beauteous damsels shall await the good. The Arabic Koran is generally in use, but so little are Indian Muhammadans acquainted with its lan guage, that in Madras in 1872, with 70,000 of this religion, it was supposed that only 4000 or 5000 could read to understand the Arabic Koran. There is probably uo other book in the world which has remained 13 centuries with so pure a text. The idea of a heavenly place enunciated in the Koran is, however, the grossest that any race has ever promulgated or given credence to. The wild hunting tribes of America have sublime notions of a future life ; Hebrews were in conflict as to the immortality of the soul ; most Buddhists believe in absorption or annihilation as a release from all the troubles and trials of a mundane existence ; Christians believe that the future will be a spiritual life ; but the doctrines taught in the Koran as to the occupations in heaven are wholly confined to that book and its believers. For the Koran says (ch. lv. pp. 393, 394), ' They shall
repose on couches, the linings whereof shall be of thick silk, interwoven with gold ; and the fruit of the two gardens shall be near at hand to gather. Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ' ungratefully deny ? Therein shall receive them beautiful damsels, refraining their eyes from behold ing any besides their spouses, whom no man shall have deflowered before them, neither any genius (which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye be ungrateful ?), having complexions like rubies and pearls. . . . And besides these, there shall be two other gardens . . . . of a dark-green. In each of them shall be two fountains pouring forth plenty of water. . . . In each of them shall be fruits and palm trees and pomegranates.. . . Therein shall be agreeable and beauteous damsels, . . . having fine black eyes, and kept in pavilions from public view, . . . whom no man shall have deflowered before their destined spouses, nor any genius. . . . Therein shall they delight themselves, lying on green cushions and beautiful carpets.' Nevertheless Mahomed was a monotheist and an iconoclast, and when ab ut to die, before the final struggle, lifting up his oice he exclaimed, ' May God be far from those w o make the tombs of his servants places of The very last words he was heard to utter as tre,expired, as if in answer to an unseen visitor, were, ' In the company of the blessed on high.' Muhammadans do not speak of a person as dead. They say he has passed away, has taken his departure ; and i as in the Koran, the living all believe in and hope for resurrection in a future state ; and the Koran says, They who believe, and do that which is right, shall enjoy blessedness, and partake of a happy resurrection. . . . Paradise . . . is watered by rivers; its food is perpetual, and its shade also. This shall be the reward of those who fear God' (Koran, ch. xiii.). Therein are rivers of uncor ruptible water ; the rivers of milk, the taste whereof changeth not ; and rivers of wine pleasant unto those who drink ; and rivers of clarified honey, and therein shall they have plenty of all kinds of fruits, and pardon from their Lord' (eb. xlvii.). There shall be gardens with shady trees, with fountains flowing, couches of silk interwoven with gold ; beauteous damsels with black eyes, lying on green cushions and beautiful carpets, fruits, palm trees, and pome granates' (ch. lv.). The words of the Kalama or _Muhammadan creed do not occur in the Koran, nor in it is circumcision enjoined. The Christian doctrine that man, in all that he can do of good, is still without merit, is not shared in by the Muhammadan, the Buddhist, or the Hindu sec tarians, who all consider that a personal merit is gained by their good-doing ; and a Muhammadan passing the funeral of a Muhammadan turns with it a short way, and lends his shoulder to convey the body to the grave, to bring a merit on himself. The histories and legends, precepts and ceremonial 1)f the Old Testament, and traditions of the Rabbi, are largely adopted in the Koran. The commentaries on it are called Maltika. The commentator Hanifi was born at Kufa A.H. 80, died at Baghdad, in prison, A.H. 150, nearly 70 years old. Shaft, born at Ghaza in Palestine A.B. 150, died in Egypt A.H. 204, nearly 50 years old. Hanballi, born A.H. 164 at Baghdad, died there A.H. 241, nearly 70 years old. Maliki, born at Medina A.H. 95, died there A.H. 179, nearly 814 years of age. Muhammadan schoolboys are instructed, almost while in their infancy, to intone the Koran. The Koran is inadequate to provide for the legislative wants of the remote lands and times which it accidentally reached ; and throughout Islam the Rosin or ancient practice of the country is held sacred by the people, always when not in direct opposition to revelation, sometimes even when it is so. The law of the Koran does not necessarily settle a disputed point between Muhammadans, and it is by no means an easy operation to adjust the balance between the good sense of the ancient practice and the discrepant decrees of the inspired volume. The Koran says that a man of the name of Dujjul will appear at Isfahan, who will arrogate to himself the attributes of the Supreme Being, and establish a sect of his own. The Koran is also understood to say that Mandi is the 12th Imam or regular successor of Mahomed, who is yet to come, and for whose coming the Muham madans are still looking out with anxious expecta tion.
On a night near the 27th of Ramzan, the Koran is believed by Muhammadans to have come down from heaven. It is called the Lailat-ul-Kadr, the night of power ; and the Muhammadans of India pass the night with much solemnity.
The honour which the Muslims show to the Koran is very striking. They generally take care never to hold it or suspend it below the girdle, and they deposit it upon a high and clean place, and never put another book or anything else on the top of it. On quoting from it, they usually say, lie whose name be exalted (or God, whose name be exalted) bath said in the excellent book.' They consider it extremely improper that the sacred volume should be touched by a Jew or Christian, or any other person not a believer in its doctrines. It is even forbidden to the Muslim to touch it unless he be in a state of legal purity ; and hence these words of the book itself—' None shall touch it but those who are purified '—are often stamped upon the cover.—Osborn's Islam, p. 11; Dr. J. Murray Mitchell; 1Vilson's Glossary; Lane's Koran, pp. 84, 92 ; Rodwell's Koran ; E. H. Palmer's Koran ; Hamilton's Senai, Hedjaz, Soudan, p. 99 ; R. F Burton's Scinde, pp. 398, 41:1; Duff's Indian Rebellion. p. 179 ; Sale's Koran.