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Books: The Koran

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THE KORAN:

COMMONLY CALLED THE

ALKORAN OF MOHAMMED.

Translated into English from the Original Arabic,

WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES TAKEN FROM THE MOST
APPROVED COMMENTATORS.

TO WHICH IS PREFIXED

A PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE,

BY GEORGE SALE.


TO THE
RIGHT HON. JOHN LORD CARTERET.

ONE OF THE LORDS OF HIS MAJESTY'S MOST HONOURABLE PRIVY COUNCIL.



____________


MY LORD,

NOTWITHSTANDING the great honour and respect generally and deservedly paid to
the memories of those who have founded states, or obliged a people by the
institution of laws which have made them prosperous and considerable in the
world, yet the legislator of the Arabs has been treated in so very different a
manner by all who acknowledge not his claim to a divine mission, and by
Christians especially, that were not your lordship's just discernment
sufficiently known, I should think myself under a necessity of making an
apology for presenting the following translation.

The remembrance of the calamities brought on so many nations by the
conquests of the Arabians may possibly raise some indignation against him who
formed them to empire; but this being equally applicable to all conquerors,
could not, of itself, occasion all the detestation with which the name of
Mohammed is loaded. He has given a new system of religion, which has had
still greater success than the arms of his followers, and to establish this
religion made use of an imposture; and on this account it is supposed that he
must of necessity have been a most abandoned villain, and his memory is become
infamous. But as Mohammed gave his Arabs the best religion he could, as well
as the best laws, preferable. at least, to those of the ancient pagan
lawgivers, I confess I cannot see why he deserves not equal respect-though not
with Moses or Jesus Christ, whose laws came really from Heaven, yet, with
Minos or Numa, notwithstanding the distinction of a learned writer, who seems
to think it a greater crime to make use of an imposture to set up a new
religion, founded on the acknowledgment of one true God, and to destroy
idolatry, than to use the same means to gain reception to rules and
regulations for the more orderly practice of heathenism already established.

To be acquainted with the various laws and constitutions of civilized
nations, especially of those who flourish in our own time, is, perhaps, the
most useful part of knowledge: wherein though your lordship, who shines with
so much distinction in the noblest assembly in the world, peculiarly excels;
yet as the law of Mohammed, by reason of the odium it lies under, and the
strangeness of the language in which it is written, has been so much
neglected. I flatter myself some things in the following sheets may be new
even to a person of your lordship's extensive learning; and if what I have
written may be any way entertaining or acceptable to your lordship, I shall
not regret the pains it has cost me.

I join with the general voice in wishing your lordship all the honour and
happiness your known virtues and merit deserve, and am with perfect respect,

MY LORD,
Your lordship's most humble
And most obedient servant,
GEORGE SALE.


A SKETCH

OF THE

LIFE OF GEORGE SALE.


_________

OF the life of GEORGE SALE, a man of extensive learning, and considerable
literary talent, very few particulars have been transmitted to us by his
contemporaries. He is said to have been born in the county of Kent, and the
time of his birth must have been not long previous to the close of the
seventeenth century. His education he received at the King's School,
Canterbury. Voltaire, who bestows high praise on the version of the Korân,
asserts him to have spent five-and-twenty years in Arabia, and to have
acquired in that country his profound knowledge of the Arabic language and
customs. On what authority this is asserted it would now be fruitless to
endeavour to ascertain. But that the assertion is an erroneous one, there can
be no reason to doubt; it being opposed by the stubborn evidence of dates and
facts. It is almost certain that Sale was brought up to the law, and that he
practised it for many years, if not till the end of his career. He is said,
by a co-existing writer, to have quitted his legal pursuits, for the purpose
of applying himself to the study of the eastern and other languages, both
ancient and modern. His guide through the labyrinth of the oriental dialects
was Mr. Dadichi, the king's interpreter. If it be true that he ever
relinquished the practice of the law, it would appear that he must have
resumed it before his decease; for, in his address to the reader, prefixed to
the Korân, he pleads, as an apology for the delay which had occurred in
publishing the volume, that the work "was carried on at leisure times only,
and amidst the necessary avocations of a troublesome profession." This alone
would suffice to show that Voltaire was in error. But to this must be added,
that the existence of Sale was terminated at an early period, and that, in at
least his latter years, he was engaged in literary labours of no trifling
magnitude. The story of his having, during a quarter of a century, resided in
Arabia, becomes, therefore, an obvious impossibility, and must be dismissed to
take its place among those fictions by which biography has often been
encumbered and disgraced.
Among the few productions of which Sale is known to be the author is a part
of "The General Dictionary," in ten volumes, folio. To the translation of
Bayle, which is incorporated with this voluminous work, he is stated to have
been a large contributor.
When the plan of the Universal History was arranged, Sale was one of those
who were selected to carry it into execution. His coadjutors were Swinton,
eminent as an antiquary, and remarkable for absence of mind; Shelvocke,
originally a naval officer; the well informed, intelligent, and laborious
Campbell; that singular character, George Psalmanazar; and Archibald Bower,
who afterwards became an object of unenviable notoriety. The portion of the
history which was supplied by Sale comprises "The Introduction, containing the
Cosmogony, or Creation of the World;" and the whole, or nearly the whole, of
the succeeding chapter, which traces the narrative of events from the creation
to the flood. In the performance of his task, he displays a thorough
acquaintance with his subject; and his style, though not polished into
elegance, is neat and perspicuous. In a French biographical dictionary, of
anti-liberal principles, a writer accuses him of having adopted a system
hostile to tradition and the Scriptures, and composed his account of the
Cosmogony with the view of giving currency to his heretical opinions. Either
the accuser never read the article which he censures, or he has wilfully
misrepresented it; for it affords the fullest contradiction to the charge, as
does also the sequent chapter; and he must, therefore, be contented to choose
between the demerit of being a slanderer through blundering and reckless
ignorance, or through sheer malignity of heart.
Though his share in these publications affords proof of the erudition and
ability of Sale, it probably would not alone have been sufficient to preserve
his name from oblivion. His claim to be remembered rests principally on his
version of the Korân, which appeared in November, 1734, in a quarto volume,
and was inscribed to Lord Carteret. The dedicator does not disgrace himself
by descending to that fulsome adulatory style which was then too frequently
employed in addressing the great. As a translator, he had the field almost
entirely to himself; there being at that time no English translation of the
Mohammedan civil and spiritual code, except a bad copy of the despicable one
by Du Ryer. His performance was universally and justly approved of, still
still remains in repute, and is not likely to be superseded by any other of
the kind. It may, perhaps, be regretted, that he did not preserve the
division into verses, as Savary has since done, instead of connecting them
into a continuous narrative. Some of the poetical spirit is unavoidably lost
by the change. But this is all that can be objected to him. It is, I
believe, admitted, that he is in no common degree faithful to his original;
and his numerous notes, and Preliminary Discourse, manifest such a perfect
knowledge of Eastern habits, manners, traditions, and laws, as could have been
acquired only by an acute mind, capable of submitting to years of patient
toil.
But, though his work passed safely through the ordeal of criticism, it has
been made the pretext for a calumny against him. It has been declared, that
he puts the Christian religion on the same footing with the Muhammedan; and
some charitable persons have even supposed him to have been a disguised
professor of the latter. The origin of this slander we may trace back to the
strange obliquity of principles, and the blind merciless rage which are
characteristic of bigotry. Sale was not one of those who imagine that the end
sanctifies the means, and that the best interests of mankind can be advanced
by violence, by railing, or by deviating form the laws of truth, in order to
blacken an adversary. He enters into the consideration of the character of
Mohammed with a calm philosophic spirit; repeatedly censuring his imposture,
touching upon his subterfuges and inventions, but doing justice to him on
those points on which the pretended prophet is really worthy of praise. The
rules which, in his address to the reader, he lays down for the conversion of
Mohammedans, are dictated by sound sense and amiable feelings. They are,
however, not calculated to satisfy those who think the sword and the fagot to
be the only proper instruments for the extirpation of heresy. That he places
Islamism on an equality with Christianity is a gross falsehood. "As
Mohammed," says he, "gave his Arabs the best religion he could, preferable, at
least, to those of the ancient pagan lawgivers, I confess I cannot see why he
deserves not equal respect, though not with Moses or Jesus Christ, whose laws
came really from heaven, yet with Minos or Numa, notwithstanding the
distinction of a learned writer, who seems to think it a greater crime to make
use of an imposture to set up a new religion, founded on the acknowledgment of
one true God, and to destroy idolatry, than to use the same means to gain
reception to rules and regulations for the more orderly practice of heathenism
already established." This, and no more, is "the very head and front of his
offending;" and from this it would, I think, be difficult to extract any proof
of his belief in the divine mission of Mohammed. If the charge brought
against him be not groundless, he must have added to his other sins that of
being a consummate hypocrite, and that, too, without any obvious necessity; he
having been, till the period of his decease, a member of the Society for the
Promoting of Christian Knowledge.
In 1736 a society was established for the encouragement of learning. It
comprehended many noblemen, and some of the most eminent literary men of that
day. Sale was one of the founders of it, and was appointed on the first
committee. The meetings were held weekly, and the committee decided upon what
works should be printed at the expense of the society, or with its assistance,
and what should be the price of them. When the cost of printing was repaid,
the property of the work reverted to the author. This establishment did not,
I Imagine, exist for any length of time. The attention of the public has been
recently called to a plan of a similar kind.
Sale did not long survive the carrying of this scheme into effect. He died
of a fever, on the 13th of November, 1736, at his house in Surrey-street,
Strand, after an illness of only eight days, and was buried at St. Clement
Danes. He was under the age of forty when he was thus suddenly snatched from
his family, which consisted of a wife and five children. Of his sons, one was
educated at New College, Oxford, of which he became Fellow, and he was
subsequently elected to a Fellow-ship in Winchester College. Sale is
described as having had "a healthy constitution, and a communicative mind in a
comely person." His library was valuable, and contained many rare and
beautiful manuscripts in the Persian, Turkish, Arabic, and other languages; a
circumstance which seems to show that poverty, so often the lot of men whose
lives are devoted to literary pursuits, was not one of the evils with which he
was compelled to encounter.

R. A. DAVENPORT.

[from 1891 version]




INTRODUCTION

THERE is surely no need to-day to insist on the importance of a close study of
the Korân for all who would comprehend the many vital problems connected with
the Islamic World; and yet few of us, I imagine, among the many who possess
translations of this book have been at pains to read it through. It must,
however, be borne in mind that the Korân plays a far greater rôle among the
Muhammadans than does the Bible in Christianity in that it provides not only
the canon of their faith, but also the text-book of their ritual and the
principles of their Civil Law.
It was the Great Crusades that first brought the West into close touch
with Islam, but between the years 1096 and 1270 we only hear of one attempt to
make known to Europe the Sacred Book of the Moslems, namely, the Latin version
made in 1143, by Robert of Retina (who, Sale tells us, was an Englishman), and
Hermann of Dalmatia, on the initiative of Petrus Venerabilis, the Abbot of
Clugny, which version was ultimately printed by T. Bibliander in Basel in
1543, nearly a hundred years after the fall of Constantinople.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, several translations
appeared both in Latin and in French, and one of the latter, by André du Ryer,
was translated into English by Alexander Ross in 1649. But by far the most
important work on the Korân was that of Luigi Marracci which was published in
Padua in 1698.
George Sale's translation first appeared in November, 1734, in a quarto
volume; in 1764 it was first printed in medium octavo, and the reprint of 1825
contained the sketch of Sale's life by Richard Alfred Davenant which has been
utilized in the article on Sale in the Dictionary of National Bibliography.
The Chandos Classics edition in crown octavo was first issued in 1877.
Soon after the death of the Prophet, early Muhammadan theologians began
to discuss, not only the correct reading of the text itself, but also to work
out on the basis of first-hand reports the story connected with the revelation
of each chapter. As the book at present stands in its original form the
chapters are arranged more or less according to their respective length,
beginning with the longest; except in the case of the opening chapter, which
holds a place by itself, not only in the sacred book of Islam, corresponding
as it does in a manner to our Pater Noster, but also in its important
ceremonial usages. The presumed order in which the various chapters were
revealed is given in the tabular list of Contents, but it may be mentioned
that neither Muhammadan theologians, nor, in more recent times, European
scholars, are in entire agreement upon the exact chronological position of all
the chapters.
It is well for all who study the Korân to realize that the actual text
is never the composition of the Prophet, but is the word of God addressed to
the Prophet; and that in quoting the Korân the formula is "He (may he be
exalted) said" or some such phrase. The Prophet himself is of course quoted
by Muhammadan theologians, but such quotations refer to his traditional
sayings known as "Hadîs," which have been handed down from mouth to mouth with
the strictest regard to genealogical continuity.
It would probably be impossible for any Arabic scholar to produce a
translation of the Korân which would defy criticism, but this much may be said
of Sale's version: just as, when it first appeared, it had no rival in the
field, it may be fairly claimed to-day that it has been superseded by no
subsequent translations. Equally remarkable with his translation is the
famous Preliminary Discourse which constitutes a tour de force when we
consider how little critical work had been done in his day in the field of
Islamic research. Practically the only works of first-class importance were
Dr. Pocock's Specimen Historio Arabum, to which, in his original Address to
the Reader, Sale acknowledges his great indebtedness, and Maracci's Korân.
In spite of the vast number of eminent scholars who have worked in the
same field since the days of George Sale, his Preliminary Discourse still
remains the best Introduction in any European language to the study of the
religion promulgated by the Prophet of Arabia; but as Wherry says: "Whilst
reading the Preliminary Discourse as a most masterly, and on the whole
reliable, presentation of the peculiar doctrines, rites, ceremonies, customs,
and institutions of Islam, we recognize the fact that modern research has
brought to light many things concerning the history of the ancient Arabs which
greatly modify the statements made in the early paragraphs."
For many centuries the acquaintance which the majority of Europeans
possessed of Muhammadanism was based almost entirely on distorted reports of
fanatical Christians which led to the dissemination of a multitude of gross
calumnies. What was good in Muhammadanism was entirely ignored, and what was
not good, in the eyes of Europe, was exaggerated or misinterpreted.
It must not, however, be forgotten that the central doctrine preached by
Muhammad to his contemporaries in Arabia, who worshipped the Stars; to the
Persians, who acknowledged Ormuz and Ahriman; the Indians, who worshipped
idols; and the Turks, who had no particular worship, was the unity of God, and
that the simplicity of his creed was probably a more potent factor in the
spread of Islam than the sword of the Ghazis.
Islam, although seriously affecting the Christian world, brought a
spiritual religion to one half of Asia, and it is an amazing circumstance that
the Turks, who on several occasions let loose their Central Asian hordes over
India, and the Middle East, though irresistible in the onslaught of their
arms, were all conquered in their turn by the Faith of Islam, and founded
Muhammadan dynasties.
The Mongols of the thirteenth century did their best to wipe out all
traces of Islam when they sacked Baghdad, but though the Caliphate was
relegated to obscurity in Egypt the newly founded Empires quickly became
Muhammadan states, until finally it was a Turk who took the title of Caliph
which has been held by the house of Othman ever since.
Thus through all the vicissitudes of thirteen hundred years the Korân
has remained the sacred book of all the Turks and Persians and of nearly a
quarter of the population of India. Surely such a book as this deserves to be
widely read in the West, more especially in these days when space and time
have been almost annihilated by modern invention, and when public interest
embraces the whole world.
It is difficult to decide to what extent Sale's citations in the notes
represent first-hand use of the Arabic commentators, but I fear that the
result of a close inquiry only points to very little original research on his
part. He says himself in his Address to the Reader: "As I have no opportunity
of consulting public libraries, the manuscripts of which I have made use
throughout the whole work have been such as I had in my own study, except only
the Commentary of Al Baidhâwi" . . . which "belongs to the library of the
Dutch Church in Austin Friars."
Now with regard to these manuscripts which Sale had in his "own study"
we happen to possess first-hand information, for a list of them was printed by
the executor of his will under the following title: "A choice collection of
most curious and inestimable manuscripts in the Turkish, Arabic and Persian
languages from the library of the late learned and ingenious Mr. George Sale.
Which books are now in the possession of Mr. William Hammerton Merchant in
Lothbury where they may be seen on Wednesdays and Fridays till either they are
sold or sent abroad. N.B. These MSS. are to be sold together and not
separately." They were purchased in the first instance by the Rev. Thomas
Hunt of Oxford for the Radcliffe Library, and they are now permanently housed
in the Bodleian Library.
The British Museum possesses a copy of this list which is drawn up in
English and French on opposite pages and comprises eighty-six works in all.
The list contains very few Arabic works of first-rate importance, but is rich
in Turkish and Persian Histories. What is most significant, however, is the
fact that it contains hardly any of the Arabic works and none of the
Commentaries which are referred to on every page of Sale's translation of the
Korân.
I have therefore been forced to the conclusion that with the exception
of Al-Baidhâwi, Sale's sources were all consulted at second hand; and an
examination of Marracci's great work makes the whole matter perfectly clear.
Sale says of Marracci's translation that it is "generally speaking very exact;
but adheres to the Arabic idiom too literally to be easily understood . . . by
those who are not versed in the Muhammadan learning. The notes he has added
are indeed of great use; but his refutations, which swell the work to a large
volume, are of little or none at all, being often unsatisfactory, and
sometimes impertinent. The work, however, with all its faults is very
valuable, and I should be guilty of ingratitude, did I not acknowledge myself
much obliged thereto; but still being in Latin it can be of no use to those
who understand not that tongue."
Such is Sale's own confession of his obligation to Marracci-but it does
not go nearly far enough. A comparison of the two versions shows that so much
had been achieved by Marracci that Sale's work might almost have been
performed with a knowledge of Latin alone, as far as regards the quotations
from Arabic authors. I do not wish to imply that Sale did not know Arabic,
but I do maintain that his work as it stands gives a misleading estimate of
his original researches, and that his tribute to Marracci falls far short of
his actual indebtedness.
It must be mentioned that Marracci not only reproduced the whole of the
Arabic text of the Korân but furthermore gives the original text and the
translation of all his quotations from Arabic writers. It is indeed a
profoundly learned work and has never received the recognition it deserves.
Marracci had at his disposal rich collections of MSS. belonging to the
Libraries of Italy. How he learnt his Arabic we do not know. Voltaire says
he was never in the East. He was confessor to Pope Innocent XI, and his work
which appeared in Padua in 1698 is dedicated to the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold
I. By way of Introduction to his Korân Marracci published a companion folio
volume called Prodromus which contains practically all that was known in his
day regarding Muhammad and the Religion of Islam.
It may in any case be claimed that the present work presents to the
Western student all the essentials of a preliminary study of Islam: for Sale's
translation and footnotes will give him as clear an idea as can be obtained,
without laborious years of study in Arabic, of what is regarded by so many
millions of men from Fez to the Far East as the revealed word of God and the
unshakable basis of their faith.
George Sale was born about 1697 and died in 1736. Every biography calls
attention to the statement made by Voltaire in his Dictionnaire Philosophique
to the effect that Sale spent over twenty years among the Arabs. I think this
must have been a lapsus calami on Voltaire's part, because it is unlikely that
he would have invented such a story. Sale must also have been well versed in
Hebrew, both biblical and post-biblical, as his numerous allusions to
Rabbinical writings testify.
Two years after the publication of his great work Sale died in Surrey
Street, Strand, his age being then under forty. In 1720 he had been admitted
a student of the Inner Temple-son of Samuel Sale, citizen and merchant of
London-and the same year the Patriarch of Antioch had sent Solomon Negri
(Suleiman Alsadi) to London from Damascus to urge the Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge, then established in the Middle Temple, to issue an Arabic
New Testament for the Syrian Christians. It is surmised that Negri was Sale's
first instructor in Arabic, though Dadichi, the King's Interpreter, a learned
Greek of Aleppo, guided him, we are told, "through the labyrinth of oriental
dialects."
Whatever Sale may have known before-and he certainly had the gift of
languages-it is on the Society's records that on August 30, 1726, he offered
his services as one of the correctors of the Arabic New Testament and soon
became the chief worker on it, besides being the Society's solicitor and
holding other honorary offices. That translation of the New Testament into
Arabic was followed by the translation of the Korân into English.
In this edition the proper names have been left for the most part as in
the original, but the reader must understand that in Sale's day there was a
freedom in regard to oriental orthography that allowed of many variations. In
spite, however, of the want of a scientific system, Sale's transcription is on
the whole clear, and far less confusing than those adopted by contemporary
Anglo-Indian scholars, who utterly distorted Muhammadan names-including place
names in India-by rendering the short a by u and so forth. As a few examples
of names spelled in more than one way, the correct modern way being given
first, we have Al-Qor'án, Coran, Korân, etc.; Muhammad, Mohammed, Mahomet,
etc.; Al-Baidhâwi, Al-Beidâwi; Muttalib, Motalleb, Motaleb, etc.; Jalâl ud-
Dîn, Jallâlo'ddîn; Anas, Ans; Khalîfa, Caliph, Khalif, etc.
It is only within quite recent times that scholars have troubled to
render each letter of the Arabic alphabet by an equivalent and distinct letter
of the Roman alphabet-and although no particular system has been universally
adopted by European orientalists, every writer has some system by which any
reader with a knowledge of Arabic is able to turn back every name into the
original script. The chief advantage of any such system is that a distinction
is made between the two varieties of s, k, and t, and the presence of the
illusive Arabic letter 'ayn is always indicated.
E. DENISON ROSS.