The outward reverence in which the Koran is held throughout Mohammedanism is exceedingly great. It is never held below the girdle, never touched without previous purification; and an injunction to that effect is generally found on the cover which overlaps the boards, according to Eastern binding. It is consulted on weighty mat ters; sentences from it are inscribed on banners, doors, etc. Great lavishness is also displayed upon the material and the binding of the sacred volume. The copies for the wealthy are some times written in gold, and the covers blaze with gold and precious stones.
The Koran has been commented upon so often that the names of the commentators alone would fill pages. The most renowned are those of Zamaklishari (died A.II, 539), Beidhaw/ (died 6S5 or 71G), Alahalli (died A.II. 870), and Suyuti (died A.II. 911). The principal editions are those of Hinkelmann (11ambnrg, 1694) ; Maracci (Padua, 1698) ; Fhigel (Leipzig, 1S83) besides many (of small critical value) printed in Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Teheran, Calcutta, Cawnpore, and Serampore. and by the many newly erected Indian presses. There is a ehrestomathy with notes and vocabulary by Nallino (Leipzig, 1893). The first. but very imperfect, Latin version of the Koran was made by Robertus Retensis, an Englishman, in 1143 (ed. Basel, 1543). The principal translations are those of )1aracci. into Latin (1698) ; Sale (lst ed. 1734, one of the best translations in any language, edited by Wherry with additional mat ter, 1S51-86), Rodwell (2d ed., 1876), and Pal (1880), into English; Savary (1783), Garein de Tassy ( 1829 ) , Kazimirski (1840), into French ; Alegerlin ( 1772), Wahl ( 1828 ) Ull mann (1840), Grigull (1901), and Henning in the Reelam Unirersal-Bibliothek, into German; Reckendorf into Hebrew (1857) ; besides a great number of Persian, Turkish, Malay, Hindustani, and other translations made for the benefit of the various Eastern Mohammedans. The attempt
to reproduce the style and rhyme of the original was first made by J. von Hammer (1811) ; this was improved upon by A. Sprenger 11861-65), Fr. Ruckert (1888), and by M. Klamroth (1890). All of these are in German. The Speeches and Table-Talk of the Prophet Mohammed, chosen and translated by Stanley Lane-Poole (London, 1882), is a selection from the best that is in the Koran. Of concordances to the Koran may be mentioned that of (Leipzig, 1842), and the Yojon-of Fo•kan (Calcutta, 18111; La Beaume, Le Koran analyse (Paris, 1878), is a topical index to the French translations of Kazimirski and others. There are Koran lexicons by Dieterici (2d ed., Berlin, 1894) and Penrice (London, 1873). The introduction and notes to Sale's translation con tain material that is still of value, though in large measure superseded now by Niildeke. Ge schichte des Korans (Gottingen, 1860) ; Weil, Histarisch-kritische Einleitung in den Koran (Bielefeld, 1844) : Grimme, oha m med, 2ter Theil; Einleitung in den Koran: .system. der ko ranischen Thcologie (1895) ; Hirschfeld, ,Vcw Re searches info the Composition and Exegesis of the Koran (Eng. trans. London, 1902). Consult also the lives of Mohammed and other works mentioned in the articles :MOHAMMED and )10 11.X3IIIEDANI8m.