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yoke.

The Moslems themselves have ob- | already used by the heathens. This purpose
he ultimately relinquished, but it is just in
the súras of the second period that the use
of Rahmán is specially frequent. It was
probably in the first súra also that Moham-
med first introduced the formula "In the
name of God," etc. It is to be regretted
that this prayer must lose its effect through
too frequent use, for every Moslem who
his five prayers regularly-as the most of
them do-repeats it not less than twenty
times a day.

served that the tyranny of the rhyme often
makes itself apparent in a derangement of the
order of words and in the choice of verbal
forms which would not otherwise have been
employed—e. g., an imperfect instead of a
perfect. On the whole, while many parts of
the Koran undoubtedly have considerable
rhetorical power, even over an unbelieving
reader, the book, æsthetically considered, is
by no means a first-rate performance.

There is one piece of the Koran which claims particular notice. This is the Lord's Prayer of the Moslems, and beyond dispute the gem of the Koran. The words of this súra, which is known as al-fátiha ("the opening one"), are as follows:

"(1) In the name of God, the compassionate compassioner. (2) Praise be" [literally "is"]"to God, the Lord of the worlds, (3) the compassionate compassioner, (4) the Sovereign of the day of judgment. (5) Thee do we worship and of Thee do we beg assistance. (6) Direct us in the right way: (7) in the way of those to whom Thou hast been gracious, on whom there is no wrath, and who go not astray."

The thoughts are so simple as to need no explanation, and yet the prayer is full of meaning. It is true that there is not a single original idea of Mohammed's in it. Several words and turns of expressions are borrowed directly from the Jews-in particular, the designation of God as the "compassioner," Rahmán. This is simply the Jewish Rahmáná, which was a favorite name for God in the Talmudic period. Mohammed seems for a while to have entertained the

says"

When Mohammed died, the separate pieces of the Koran, notwithstanding their theoretical sacredness, existed only in scattered copies; they were consequently in great danger of being partially or entirely de stroyed. Many Moslems knew large portions by heart, but certainly no one knew the whole, and a merely oral propagation would have left the door open to all kinds of deliberate and inadvertent alterations. Mohammed himself had never thought of an authentic collection of his revelations; he was usually concerned only with the object of the moment, and the idea that the revelations would be destroyed unless he made provision for their safe preservation did not enter his mind. A man destitute of literary culture has some difficulty in anticipating the fate of intellectual products.

PROFESSOR TH. NOLDEKE

AL KORAN. SELECTIONS FROM THE KORAN. FROM THE ARABIC OF MOHAMMED.

PRAISE.

thought of adopting al-Rahman as a proper PRAISE be to God, the Lord of all creaname of God in place of Allah, which was

tures, the most merciful, the King of

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