Third Period:—lxxiii., lxiv., xxxv., liii., xlvi., xvi., lxxvi., xxxii., lix., xxi., vii., lv., xix., xii., x., lxxii., xxviii., xi. Medina:—ii., lxxxiv., xxxiii., lxxvii., xxxiv., xxiv., xxvi., ix., lii., lxxix., lxvii., lxi., iv., lxxi., lxix., lxx., lxxv., lxxxiii., xlviii., v., lxxviii., xxii., lvi., lvii., xlix., xxvii., xxv., xiii., lviii., lxxiv., l., liv., xxiii., lxxx., xv., lxviii., lxxxv., lxxxii. [24] This is generally believed to be the night of (that is, preceding) the 27th day of the month. [25] In the Introduction, the references are to the new one volume edition, 1877. Since writing my chapter on the early Arabs, Sir W. Muir has published an interesting essay on old Arabic poetry in the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_ (xi part i. 1879). [26] The ‘Lord’s Prayer’ of the Muslims, recited several times in each of the five daily prayers, and on many other occasions. [27] _That is, of all creatures._ [28] [‘Do we beg assistance,’ in the original ed.] [29] _God knoweth best what He meaneth by these letters._ [30] _That it is from God._ [31] _In the resurrection and paradise and hell._ [32] _The Ḳur-án._ [33] _The Pentateuch and the Gospel and other books._ [34] This chapter is held in particular veneration by the Moḥammadans, and declared, by a tradition of their prophet, to be equal in value to a third part of the whole Korân.—S. [35] One of the most admired passages in the Ḳur-án, recited (though not by all Muslims) at the close of each of the five daily prayers, and often engraved on an ornament of gold or silver or a precious stone to be worn as an amulet. [36] ‘The seven heavens and earths in comparison with the Throne are nought but as seven dirhems [silver coins] cast into a shield.’—Trad. [37] [‘Able to do everything,’ orig. ed. Lit. ‘potent over everything.’] [38] Lit. ‘driven away with stones.’ This expression alludes to a tradition, that Abraham, when the devil tempted him to disobey God, in not sacrificing his son, drove the fiend away by throwing stones at him; in memory of which, the Moḥammadans, at the pilgrimage of Mecca, throw a certain number of stones at the devil, with certain ceremonies, in the valley of Mina.—S. The devils, or evil jinn, it is said, had liberty to enter any of the seven heavens till the birth of Jesus, when they were excluded from three of them; on the birth of Moḥammad they were forbidden the other four. They continue, however, to ascend to the confines of the lowest heaven, and there, listening to the conversation of the angels respecting things decreed by God, obtain knowledge of futurity, which they sometimes impart to men, who by means of talismans or certain invocations make them to serve the purposes of magical performances. Shooting stars are often hurled at the devils when they thus listen. [39] _That it may not move with its inhabitants._ [40] _Or determined._ [41] _Slaves and beasts and cattle: for it is God only who sustaineth them._