The Koran, or Alkoran, is the most modern in its origin of 22 in the list, having been penned six hundred years later than the Christian Bible. It differs from most other Bibles in being the production of a single author, and, for this reason, possesses more uniformity of style and fewer contradictions than most other Bibles. Mahomet did not claim to be its author, and did not write it, but merely dictated it to his secretary Zaid. Like the founder of the Christian religion, and nearly all the other great religions of the world, he was very illiterate. Incarnate Gods and religious chieftains possess no aspiration to become scholars, and no taste for science. They were governed by feeling and the impulse of religious enthusiasm, which have no affinity for science. Mahomet, however, did not profess to be a God, but merely a prophet. The Koran, having originated in a later and more enlightened age than the Christian Bible, possesses some superior features, and, of course, is superior to still older Bibles. It is more consistent in its teachings on the subject of temperance, as it does not, like the Christian Bible, both sanction and condemn the use of intoxicating drinks; but uniformly forbids the use of it, and even prohibits the manufacture of it. It also shows more respect for the rights of woman by providing for her maintenance by dowry. It levies a tax on its disciples of two and one-fourth per cent for the support of the poor. It enjoins not only kindness and respect for enemies, but a careful provision for their wants. The disciples of the Koran were taught and believed that the Holy Book was originated in heaven, and had long been preserved there by its divine author Allah, and, in the fullness of time, was handed down, chapter at a time, by the angel Gabriel to the prophet Mahomet; and his scribe Zaid recorded it. The leading doctrines of the Koran are: the Unity of the Godhead, and the perfection of his attributes; the joys of paradise, and the terrors of hell; the awful fate of unbelievers in the Koran. The Day of Judgment is held up as a terror to evildoers and skeptics, and an encouragement to the faithful. Skeptics, or unbelievers in the Koran and the Mahomedan religion, are repeatedly consigned to the same terrible fate (the fires of hell) that Christ consigns the unbeliever in the Christian religion, and the same as that to which the founders of other religions doom those who reject or disbelieve their pretended revelations. The Koran abounds in precepts of a high moral tone.