[56] This miracle has perhaps no other foundation but the atmospheric phenomena of a double moon which was seen in Mecca, four or five years before the Hejira. Some ascribed it to Muhammed on the infidels demanding a sign of him; the moon then appeared cloven in two; one part vanishing and the other remaining: it was affirmed that the mount Hara was seen interposing between the two sections. To this the believers refer chapter LIV of the Koran, entitled _the moon_, which begins by these words: “The hour approacheth, and the moon hath been split asunder.’ The most intelligent expounders understand in the first word the hour of judgment; others think, that in the rest the preter tense is used, in the prophetic style, for the future; and that the passage should be thus rendered: “The moon shall be split asunder:” for this, they say, is to happen at the resurrection.――(See Sale’s _Koran_, vol. II. p. 405). In the subsequent section, “upon the interpretation of the prophet’s miracle,” this subject is particularly treated. [57] According to Richardson’s Dict., edit. of F. Johnson: “Kárún is supposed to be the same person called Korah (Numbers, chap. XVI) whom the Muhammedans describe as the cousin of Moses. He is frequently alluded to by the poets and moralists, not only as being extremely handsome, but as possessed of immense wealth, acquired by his skill in chemistry, and the discovery of the philosopher’s stone; whilst his avarice is represented as so remarkable, that his name is proverbially applied to all misers. They add, that it was on account of his refusal to pay Moses a tithe of his possessions for the public use, that the earth opened and swallowed him up.” [58] See p. 59, note 1, relative to Zaid and Zeinah. [59] Koran, chap. XVII. v. 92-95. The Dabistán gives the Arabic text and the Persian translation, which last I have followed. It agrees, except in a few words, with the English version of Sale, and the French of M. Kasimirsky. [60] The principal ceremonies performed by the pilgrims of Mecca have been touched upon in vol. II. p. 409, note 3; the throwing of stones takes place in the valley of Mina, where the devotees throw seven stones at three marks or pillars, in imitation of Abraham, who, meeting the devil in that place, and being disturbed by him in his devotions and tempted to disobedience, when he was going to sacrifice his son, was commanded by God to drive him away by throwing stones at him; though others pretend this rite to be as old as Adam, who also put the devil to flight in the same place, and by the same means.――(Sale’s _Koran_, Prel. Disc., p. 160.)