The contents of the Koran as the basis of Mo hammedanism will be considered under that head, while for questions more closely connected with authorship and chronology, consult :MOHAMMED. Briefly it may be stated here that the chief doc trine laid down in it is the unity of Clod, and the existence of but one true religion, with change able ceremonies. As teachers and warners of mankind. God. at different times, sent prophets to lead back to truth, Moses, Christ, awl Moham med being the most distinguished. Both punish ments for the sinner and rewards for the pious are depleted with great diffuseness. and exempli fied chiefly by stories taken from the Bible. the apocryphal writings, the M id rash. and pre-Islam ie history. Special laws and directions, admoni tions to moral and divine virtues, more particu larly to a complete and unconditional resignation to God's will (see Isl.:sat), legends, principally relating to the patriarchs, and, almost without exception, borrowed from the Jewish writings (known to Mohammed by oral communication only, a circumstance which accounts for their frequent odd confusion), form the bulk of the book, which throughout bears the most palpable traces of Jewish influence. Thus, of ideas and words taken bodily, with their Arabieized desig nations, from Judaism, may be mentioned: (reading); Policia (salvation); the introductory formula, Lists Matt (in the name of God) ; taurd1=lorah (book of law) ; /bonds =yan Men (paradise) ; jahinnam (hell) ; durum =darash (to search the scriptures); subat, sabt =shablith (day of rest) ; 8akinah (majesty of God). It is especially in the later sums that Mohammed, for the edification of his hearers, in troduced (in imitation of Jewish and Christian preachers) stories and legends of biblical per sonages.
The sums may he divided into three general classes: those delivered during the first years of Mohammed's preaching in _Mecca, those delivered during the latter part of his stay in that city, and those delivered in Medina. In the oldest sums Mohammed is concerned mainly with de picting the power and unity of God. with the resurrection and the judgment day, with depict ing the blessedness of paradise and the tortures of hell. These subjects are elaborated in the sums of the middle and last period. While in the earlier ones Mohammed claims to be only a preacher sent to warn people, in the later ones he steps forward boldly with the claim of being a divinely sent prophet, whose utterances repre sent revelations made to him by the angel Ga briel. The duties obligatory upon Moslems are all discussed in the later stuns, though the for mation into codes was reserved for the Moham medan theologians. Incidentally his polemics against his personal enemies, and especially against Judaism and Christianity. are introduced into the Koran, the Jews being accused of falsi fying the Scriptures, the Christians of running counter to the doctrine of the unity of God by the assumption that Jesus was a son of God. The discourses themselves are of a rambling nature, and numerous social customs are touched upon. in this way the Koran becomes a mirror in which Mohammed's personality is reflected with a clear ress which leaves little to be desired. It prop erly was taken as the basis for the elaboration of e _Mohammedan system of theology, for there is scarcely any topic connected with the law' upon which it does not touch, though never exhaustive ly. its lack of system, and its discursiveness,
make the Koran hard reading, hut its interest and value to the student are all the greater because of the assurance these very defects give us that we have in the Koran a work that is in all essential particulars authentic.
The general tendency and aim of the Koran is found clearly indicated in the beginning of the second chapter: "This is the book in which there is no doubt: a guidance for the pious. who believe in the mysteries of faith, who perform their prayers, give alms from what we have be stowed upon them, who believe in the rer(lation which we made unto thee, which was sent down to the prophets before thee, and who believe in the future life," etc. To unite the three principal religious forms which be found in his time and country—viz. Judaism, Christianity, and heathenism—into one, was Mohammed'h ideal; and the Koran. properly read. discloses constant ly the alternate flatteries and threats aimed at each of the three parties. No less are certain abrogations of special passages in the Koran, made by the Prophet himself due to the vacillat ing relation in which he at first stood to the dif ferent creeds.
The of the Koran has become the ideal of classical Arabic, and no human pen is supposed to be capable of producing anything similar: a circumstance adduced by Mohammed himself, as a clear proof of his mission. The style varies considerably; in the earlier suras concise and bold, sublime and majestic, impas sioned, fluent, and harmonious; in the later one verbose, sententious, obscure, tame, and prosy. There are passages of great beauty and power suggesting the Hebrew prophets. By means of the difference in style between the earlier and later suras modern investigators have endeavored to form a chronological arrangement. A gen eral consensus has now been arrived at; though questions of detail must always remain in dis pute, as many of the suras are composite in char acter. A great deal depends also upon internal evidence, which fortunately is found in consider able abundance. Mohammed, especially in the later years of his career, was in the habit of in troducing allusions to events of the day, to dis putations with Jews and Christians, to his am bitions and aims, into his discourses; and since, in addition to the Koran, we have the copious col lections known as Hadith (q.v.) containing ut terances, sayings and doings, and decisions of Mohammed at the various periods of his career, it is in many cases possible to attach utterances in the Koran to specific occasions, and thus fix the age of the sura in which a certain expression or opinion occurs. The Koran is written in prose, yet the two or more links of which a sentence is generally composed sometimes rhyme with each other, a peculiarity of speech (called saj') used by the ancient soothsayers (kuhhan-kohen) of Arabia: only that Mohammed used his own discretion in remodeling its form and freeing it from conventional fetters: and thus the rhyme of the Koran became an entirely distinctive rhyme. Refrains are introduced in sonic suras, and plays upon words are not disdained.