’l-Ṭabaqát al-Kabír_ ('The Great Book of the Classes,' _i.e._, the different classes of Muḥammad's Companions and those who came after them) by Ibn Sa‘d († 844 A.D.). Of miscellaneous traditions intended to serve the Faithful as a model and rule of life in every particular, and arranged in chapters according to the subject-matter, the most ancient and authoritative collections are those of Bukhárí († 870 A.D.) and Muslim († 874 A.D.), both of which bear the same title, viz., _al-Ṣaḥíḥ_, 'The Genuine.' It only remains to speak of Commentaries on the Koran. Some passages were explained by Muḥammad himself, but the real founder of Koranic Exegesis was ‘Abdulláh b. ‘Abbás, the Prophet's cousin. Although the writings of the early interpreters have entirely perished, the gist of their researches is embodied in the great commentary of Ṭabarí († 922 A.D.), a man of encyclopædic learning who absorbed the whole mass of tradition existing in his time. Subsequent commentaries are largely based on this colossal work, which has recently been published at Cairo in thirty volumes. That of Zamakhsharí († 1143 A.D.), which is entitled the _Kashsháf_, and that of Bayḍáwí († 1286 A.D.) are the best known and most highly esteemed in the Muḥammadan East. A work of wider scope is the _Itqán_ of Suyúṭí († 1505 A.D.), which takes a general survey of the Koranic sciences, and may be regarded as an introduction to the critical study of the Koran. [Sidenote: Character of Moslem tradition.] While every impartial student will admit the justice of Ibn Qutayba's claim that no religion has such historical attestations as Islam--_laysa li-ummatin mina ’l-umami asnádun ka-asnádihim_[276]--he must at the same time cordially assent to the observation made by another Muḥammadan: "In nothing do we see pious men more given to falsehood than in Tradition" (_lam nara ’l-ṣáliḥína? fí shayin akdhaba minhum fi ’l-ḥadíth_).[277] Of this severe judgment the reader will find ample confirmation in the Second Part of Goldziher's _Muhammedanische Studien_.[278] During the first century of Islam the forging of Traditions became a recognised political and religious weapon, of which all parties availed themselves. Even men of the strictest piety practised this species of fraud (_tadlís_), and maintained that the end justified the means. Their point of view is well expressed in the following words which are supposed to have been spoken by the Prophet: "You must compare the sayings attributed to me with the Koran; what agrees therewith is from me, whether I actually said it or no;" and again, "Whatever good saying has been said, I myself have said it."[279] As the result of such principles every new doctrine took the form of an Apostolic _Ḥadíth_; every sect and every system defended itself by an appeal to the authority of Muḥammad. We may see how enormous was the number of false Traditions in circulation from the fact that when Bukhárí († 870 A.D.) drew up his