5 Anno Hej. 218. Abulfarag, p. 245, v. etiam Elmacin. in Vita al Mamûn. 6 In the time of al Mótasem, a doctor named Abu Harûn Ebn al Baca found out a distinction to screen himself, by affirming that the Korân was ordained, because it is said in that book, "And I have ordained thee the Korân." He went still farther to allow that what was ordained was created, and yet he denied it thence followed that the Korân was created. Abulfarag, p. 253. 7 Ibid. p. 257. 1 Anno Hej. 242. 2 Abulfarag, p. 262. 3 Al Ghazâli, in prof. fid. 4 The Khalîf al Walîd Ebn Yazîd, who was the eleventh of the race of Emmeya, and is looked on by the Mohammedans as a reprobate, and one of no religion, seems to have treated this book as a rational creature; for, dipping into it one day, the first words he met with were these: "Every rebellious perverse person shall not prosper." Whereupon he stuck it on a lance, and shot it to pieces with arrows, repeating these verses: "Dost thou rebuke every rebellious perverse person? Behold, I am that rebellious, perverse person. When thou appearest before thy LORD on the day of resurrection, say, O LORD, al Walîd has torn me thus." Ebn Shohnah. v. Poc. Spec. p. 223. 5 Poc. Spec. p. 222. 6 Herbelot, p. 87. 7 Abulfeda, Shahrestani, &c. apud Poc. Spec. p. 222, et Marracc. de Kor. p. 44. 1 Al Kamakhshari. Vide Kor. c. 3. are repealed or abrogated; the latter those which are plain, perspicuous, liable to no doubt, and in full force. To explain these severally in a right manner, it is necessary from tradition and study to know the time when each passage was revealed, its circumstances, state, and history, and the reasons or particular emergencies for the sake of which it was revealed.2 Or, more explicitly, whether the passage was revealed at Mecca, or at Medina; whether it be abrogated, or does itself abrogate any other passage; whether it be anticipated in order of time, or postponed; whether it be distinct from the context, or depends thereon; whether it be particular or general; and, lastly, whether it be implicit by intention, or explicit in words.3 By what has been said the reader may easily believe this book is in the greatest reverence and esteem among the Mohammedans. They dare not so much as touch it without being first washed or legally purified;4 which, lest they should do by inadvertence, they write these words on the cover or label, "Let none touch it but they who are clean." They read it with great care and respect, never holding it below their girdles. They swear by it, consult it in their weighty occasions,5 carry it with them to war, write sentences of it on their banners, adorn it with gold and precious stones, and knowingly suffer it not to be in the possession of any of a different persuasion. The Mohammedans, far from thinking the Korân to be profaned by a translation, as some authors have written,6 have taken care to have their