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The Koran

The Koran

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The Koran by 0

Chapter 1 No.1

ENTITLED, THE PREFACE, OR INTRODUCTION;a REVEALED AT MECCA.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD

PRAISE be to GOD, the LORD of all creatures;b

the most merciful,

the king of the day of judgment.

Thee do we worship, and of thee do we beg assistance.

Direct us in the right way,

in the way of those to whom thou hast been gracious; not of those against

whom thou art incensed, nor of those who go astray.c

a In Arabic al Fatihat. This chapter is a prayer, and held in great veneration by the Mohammedans, who give it several other honourable titles; as the chapter of prayer, of praise, of thanksgiving, of treasure, &c. They esteem it as the quintessence of the whole Koran, and often repeat it in their devotions both public and private, as the Christians do the Lord's Prayer.1 b The original words are, Rabbi 'lalam?na, which literally signify Lord of the worlds; but alam?na in this and other places of the Koran properly mean the three species of rational creatures, men, genii, and angels. Father Marracci has endeavoured to prove from this passage that Mohammed believed a plurality of worlds, which he calls the error of the Manichees, &c.:2 but this imputation the learned Reland has shown to be entirely groundless.3 c This last sentence contains a petition, that GOD would lead the supplicants into the true religion, by which is meant the Mohammedan, in the Koran often called the right way; in this place more particularly defined to be, the way of those to whom GOD hath been gracious, that is, of the prophets and faithful who preceded Mohammed; under which appellations are also comprehended the Jews and Christians, such as they were in the times of their primitive purity, before they had deviated from their respective institutions; not the way of the modern Jews, whose signal calamities are marks of the just anger of GOD against them for their obstinacy and disobedience: nor of the Christians of this age, who have departed from the true doctrine of Jesus, and are bewildered in a labyrinth of error.4 This is the common exposition of the passage; though al Zamakhshari, and some others, by a different application of the negatives, refer the whole to the true believers; and then the sense will run thus: The way of those to whom thou hast been gracious, against whom thou art not incensed, and who have not erred. Which translation the original will very well bear.

1 Vide Bobovium de Precib. Mohammed. p. 3, et seq. 2 In Prodromo ad Refut. Alcorani part iv. p. 76, et in notis ad Alc. c. I. 3 De Religion. Mohammed. p. 262 1 Jallalo'ddin. Al Beidawi, &c.

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