Voltaire - "Histoire des Voyages de Scarmentado"

Mark Twain - "A Horse's Tale"

Walter Scott - "Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field"

Robert Alexander Wason - "Happy Hawkins"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: The Koran

U >> Unknown >> The Koran




2 Idem, ibid 3 Poc. Spec. p. 116. 1 Gol. not. in Alfrag.
p. 99. 2 Gab. Sionita, et Joh. Hesronita, de nonnullis Orient.
urbib. ad calc. Geogr. Nub. p. 21. Al Mogholtaï, in his Life of Mohammed,
says the pigeons of the temple of Mecca are of the breed of those which laid
their eggs at the mouth of the cave where the prophet and Abu Becr hid
themselves, when they fled from that city. See before, p. 39. 3 See
before, p. 13. 4 Some say that the Beit al Mámûr itself was the
Caaba of Adam, which, having been let down to him from heaven, was, at the
Flood, taken up again into heaven, and is there kept. Al Zamakh. in Kor. c.
2. 5 Al




ing the patriarch to turn towards it when he prayed, and to compass it by way
of devotion.6 After Adam's death, his son Seth built a house in the same form
of stones and clay, which being destroyed by the Deluge, was rebuilt by
Abraham and Ismael,7 at GOD'S command, in the place where the former had
stood, and after the same model, they being directed therein by revelation.8
After this edifice had undergone several reparations, it was, a few years
after the birth of Mohammed, rebuilt by the Koreish on the old foundation,1
and afterwards repaired by Abd'allah Ebn Zobeir, the Khalîf of Mecca, and at
length again rebuilt by al Hejâj Ebn Yûsof, in the seventy-fourth year of the
Hejra, with some alterations, in the form wherein it now remains.2 Some years
after, however, the Khalîf Harûn al Rashîd (or, as others write, his father al
Mohdi, or his grandfather al Mansûr) intended again to change what had been
altered by al Hejâj, and to reduce the Caaba to the old form in which it was
left by Abd'allah, but was dissuaded from meddling with it, lest so holy a
place should become the sport of princes, and being new modelled after every
one's fancy, should lose that reverence which was justly paid it.3 But
notwithstanding the antiquity and holiness of this building, they have a
prophecy, by tradition from Mohammed, that in the last times the Ethiopians
shall come and utterly demolish it, after which it will not be rebuilt again
for ever.4
Before we leave the temple of Mecca, two or three particulars deserve
further notice. One is the celebrated black stone, which is set in silver,
and fixed in the south-east corner of the Caaba, being that which looks
towards Basra, about two cubits and one-third, or, which is the same thing,
seven spans from the ground. This stone is exceedingly respected by the
Mohammedans, and is kissed by the pilgrims with great devotion, being called
by some the right hand of GOD on earth. They fable that it is one of the
precious stones of paradise, and fell down to the earth with Adam, and being
taken up again, or otherwise preserved at the Deluge, the angel Gabriel
afterwards brought it back to Abraham when he was building the Caaba. It was
at first whiter than milk, but grew black long since by the touch of a
menstruous woman, or, as others tell us, by the sins of mankind,5 or rather by
the touches and kisses of so many people, the superficies only being black,
and the inside still remaining white.6 When the Karmatians,7 among other
profanations by them offered to the temple of Mecca, took away this stone,
they could not be prevailed on, for love or money, to restore it, though those
of Mecca offered no less than five thousand pieces of gold for it.8 How-

Jûzi, ex. trad. Ebn Abbas. It has been observed that the primitive Christian
church held a parallel opinion as to the situation of the celestial Jerusalem
with respect to the terrestrial: for in the apocryphal book of the revelations
of St. Peter (cap. 27), after Jesus has mentioned unto Peter the creation of
the seven heavens-whence, by the way, it appears that this number of heavens
was not devised by Mohammed-and of the angels, begins the description of the
heavenly Jerusalem in these words: "We have created the upper Jerusalem above
the waters, which are above the third heaven, hanging directly over the lower
Jerusalem," &c. Vide Gagnier, not. ad Abulfed. Vit. Moh. p. 28.
6 Al Shahrestani. 7 Vide Kor. c. 2, p. 15. 8 Al
Jannâbi, in Vita Abraham. 1 Vide Abulfed. Vit. Moh. p. 13.
2 Idem, in Hist. Gen. al Jannâbi, &c. 3 Al Jannâbi. 4
Idem, Ahmed Ebn Yusef. Vide Poc. Spec. p. 115, &c. 5 Al Zamakh. &c.
in Kor. Ahmed Ebn Yusef. 6 Poc. Spec. p. 117, &c. 7
These Carmatians were a sect which arose in the year of the Hejra 278, and
whose opinions overturned the fundamental points of Mohammedism. See
D'Herbel. Bibl. Orient Art. Carmath. and hereafter § viii. 8 D'Herbel.
p. 40.



ever, after they had kept it twenty-two years, seeing they could not thereby
draw the pilgrims from Mecca, they sent it back of their own accord; at the
same time bantering its devotees by telling them it was not the true stone:
but, as it is said, it was proved to be no counterfeit by its peculiar quality
of swimming on water.1
Another thing observable in this temple is the stone in Abraham's place,
wherein they pretend to show his footsteps, telling us he stood on it when he
built the Caaba,2 and that it served him for a scaffold, rising and falling of
itself as he had occasion,3 though another tradition says he stood upon it
while the wife of his son Ismael, whom he paid a visit to, washed his head.4
It is now enclosed in an iron chest, out of which the pilgrims drink the water
of Zemzem,5 and are ordered to pray at it by the Korân.6 The officers of the
temple took care to hide this stone when the Karmatians took the other.7
The last thing I shall take notice of in the temple is the well Zemzem, on
the east side of the Caaba, and which is covered with a small building and
cupola. The Mohammedans are persuaded it is the very spring which gushed out
for the relief of Ismael, when Hagar his mother wandered with him in the
desert;8 and some pretend it was so named from her calling to him, when she
spied it, in the Egyptian tongue, Zem, zem, that is, "Stay, stay,"9 though it
seems rather to have had the name from the murmuring of its waters. The water
of this will is reckoned holy, and is highly reverenced, being not only drunk
with particular devotion by the pilgrims, but also sent in bottles, as a great
rarity, to most parts of the Mohammedan dominions. Abd'allah, surnamed al
Hâfedh, from his great memory, particularly as to the traditions of Mohammed,
gave out that he acquired that faculty by drinking large draughts of Zemzem
water,10 to which I really believe it as efficacious as that of Helicon to the
inspiring of a poet.
To this temple every Mohammedan, who has health and means sufficient11
ought once, at least, in his life to go on pilgrimage; nor are women excused
from the performance of this duty. The pilgrims meet at different places near
Mecca, according to the different parts from whence they come,12 during the
months of Shawâl and Dhu'lkaada, being obliged to be there by the beginning of
Dhu'lhajja, which month, as its name imports, is peculiarly set apart for the
celebration of this solemnity.
At the places above mentioned the pilgrims properly commence such; when the
men put on the Ihrâm, or sacred habit, which consists only of two woolen
wrappers, one wrapped about the middle to cover their privities, and the other
thrown over their shoulders, having their heads bare, and a kind of slippers
which cover neither the heel nor the instep, and so enter the sacred territory
in their way to Mecca. While they have this habit on they must neither hunt
nor fowl1 (though they are allowed to fish2), which precept is so punctually
observed, that they will not kill even a louse or a flea, if they find them on
their bodies: there are some noxious animals, however, which they have
permission to kill during the pilgrimage, as kites, ravens, scorpions, mice,
and dogs

1 Ahmed Ebn Yusef, Abulfeda. Vide Poc. Spec. p. 119. 2 Abulfed.
3 Vide Hyde, de Rel. Vet. Pers. p. 35. 4 Ahmed Ebn Yusef,
Safio'ddin. 5 Ahmed Ebn Yusef. 6 Cap. 2, p. 14.
7 Vide Poc. Spec. p. 120, &c. 8 Gen. xxi. 19. 9 G.
Sionit. et J. Hesr. de nonnull. urb. Orient. p. 19.
10 D'Herbel. p. 5. 11 See Kor. c. 3, p. 43, and the notes thereon.
12 Vide Bobov. de Peregr. Mecc. p. 12, &c. 1 Kor. c.
5, p. 85. 2 Ibid.




given to bite.3 During the pilgrimage it behoves a man to have a constant
guard over his words and actions, and to avoid all quarrelling or ill
language, and all converse with women and obscene discourse, and to apply his
whole intention to the good work he is engaged in.
The pilgrims, being arrived at Mecca, immediately visit the temple, and
then enter on the performance of the prescribed ceremonies, which consist
chiefly in going in procession round the Caaba, in running between the Mounts
Safâ and Merwâ, in making the station on Mount Arafat, and slaying the
victims, and shaving their heads in the valley of Mina. These ceremonies have
been so particularly described by others,4 that I may be excused if I but just
mention the most material circumstances thereof.
In compassing the Caaba, which they do seven times, beginning at the corner
where the black stone is fixed, they use a short, quick pace the three first
times they go round it, and a grave, ordinary pace, the four last; which, it
is said, was ordered by Mohammed, that his followers might show themselves
strong and active, to cut off the hopes of the infidels, who gave out that the
immoderate heats of Medina had rendered them weak.5 But the aforesaid quick
pace they are not obliged to use every time they perform this piece of
devotion, but only at some particular times.6 So often as they pass by the
black stone, they either kiss it, or touch it with their hand, and kiss that.
The running between Safâ and Merwâ1 is also performed seven times, partly
with a slow pace, and partly running:2 for they walk gravely till they come to
a place between two pillars; and there they run, and afterwards walk again;
sometimes looking back, and sometimes stopping, like one who has lost
something, to represent Hagar seeking water for her son:3 for the ceremony is
said to be as ancient as her time.4
On the ninth of Dhu'lhajja, after morning prayer, the pilgrims leave the
valley of Mina, whither they come the day before, and proceed in a tumultuous
and rushing manner to Mount Arafat,5 where they stay to perform their
devotions till sunset: then they go to Mozdalifa, an oratory between Arafat
and Mina, and there spend the night in prayer and reading the Korân. The next
morning, by daybreak, they visit al Mashér al harâm, or the sacred monument,6
and departing thence before sunrise, haste by Batn Mohasser to the valley of
Mina, where they throw seven stones7 at three marks, or pillars, in imitation
of Abraham, who, meeting the devil in that place, and being by him disturbed
in his devotions, or tempted to disobedience, when he was going to sacrifice
his son, was commanded by GOD to drive him away by throwing stones at him;8
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.9

3 Al Beid. 4 Bobov. de Peregr. Mecc. p. II, &c. Chardin, Voy.
de Perse, t. 2, p. 440, &c. See also Pitts' Account of the Rel. &c. of the
Mohammedans, p. 92, &c.; Gagnier, Vie de Moh. t. 2, p. 258, &c.; Abulfed. Vit.
Moh. p. 130, &c.; and Reland. de Rel. Moh. p. 113, &c. 5 Ebn al
Athîr. 6 Vide Poc. Spec. p. 314. 1 See before, p. 16.
2 Al Ghazâli. 3 Reland. de Rel. Moh. p. 121. 4 Ebn al
Athîr. 5 See Kor. c. 2, p. 21.
6 See Ibid. M. Gagnier has been twice guilty of a mistake in confounding
this monument with the sacred enclosure of the Caaba. Vide Gagn. not. ad
Abulfed. Vit. Moh. p. 131, and Vie de Moh. tom. 2, p. 262. 7 Dr.
Pocock, from al Ghazâli, says seventy, at different times and places. Spec.
p. 315. 8 Al Ghazâli, Ahmed Ebn Yusef. 9 Ebn al
Athîr.



This ceremony being over, on the same day, the tenth of Dhu'lhajja, the
pilgrims slay their victims in the said valley of Mina; of which they and
their friends eat part, and the rest is given to the poor. These victims must
be either sheep, goats, kine, or camels; males, if of either of the two former
kinds, and females if of either of the latter, and of a fit age.10 The
sacrifices being over, they shave their heads and cut their nails, burying
them in the same place; after which the pilgrimage is looked on as
completed:11 though they again visit the Caaba, to take their leave of that
sacred building.
The above-mentioned ceremonies, by the confession of the Mohammedans
themselves, were almost all of them observed by the pagan Arabs many ages
before their prophet's appearance; and particularly the compassing of the
Caaba, the running between Safâ and Merwâ, and the throwing of the stones in
Mina; and were confirmed by Mohammed, with some alterations in such points as
seemed most exceptionable: thus, for example, he ordered that when they
compassed the Caaba they should be clothed;1 whereas, before his time, they
performed that piece of devotion naked, throwing off their clothes as a mark
that they had cast off their sins,2 or as signs of their disobedience towards
GOD.3
It is also acknowledged that the greater part of these rites are of no
intrinsic worth, neither affecting the soul, nor agreeing with natural reason,
but altogether arbitrary, and commanded merely to try the obedience of
mankind, without any further view; and are therefore to be complied with; not
that they are good in themselves, but because GOD has so appointed.4 Some,
however, have endeavoured to find out some reason for the arbitrary
injunctions of this kind; and one writer,5 supposing men ought to imitate the
heavenly bodies, not only in their purity, but in their circular motion, seems
to argue the procession round the Caaba to be therefore a rational practice.
Reland6 has observed that the Romans had something like this in their worship,
being ordered by Numa to use a circular motion in the adoration of the Gods,
either to represent the orbicular motion of the world, or the perfecting the
whole office of prayer to that GOD who is maker of the universe, or else in
allusion to the Egyptian wheels, which were hieroglyphics of the instability
of human fortune.7
The pilgrimage to Mecca, and the ceremonies prescribed to those who perform
it, are, perhaps, liable to greater exception than other of Mohammed's
institutions; not only as silly and ridiculous in themselves, but as relics of
idolatrous superstition.8 Yet whoever seriously considers how difficult it is
to make people submit to the abolishing of ancient customs, how unreasonable
soever, which they are fond of, especially where the interest of a
considerable party is also concerned,

10 Vide Reland. ubi sup. p. 117. 11 See Kor. c. 2, p. 21
1 Kor. c. 7, p. 106, 107.
2 Al Faïk, de Tempore Ignor. Arabum, apud Millium de Mohammedismo ante Moh.
p. 322. Compare Isa. lxiv. 6. 3 Jallal. al Beid. This notion comes very
near, if it be not the same with that of the Adamites. 4 Al
Ghazâli. Vide Abulfar. Hist. Dyn p. 171. 5 Abu Jáafar Ebn Tafail, in
Vita Hai Ebn Yokdhân, p. 151. See Mr. Ockley's English translation thereof,
p. 117.
6 De Rel. Mah. p. 123. 7 Plutarch. in Numa. 8 Maimonides (in
Epist. ad Prosel. Rel.) pretends that the worship of Mercury was performed by
throwing of stones, and that of Chemosh by making bare the head, and putting
on unsewn garments.




and that a man may with less danger change many things than one great one,9
must excuse Mohammed's yielding some points of less moment, to gain the
principal. The temple of Mecca was held in excessive veneration by all the
Arabs in general (if we except only the tribes of Tay, and Khatháam, and some
of the posterity of al Hareth Ebn Caab,1 who used not to go in pilgrimage
thereto), and especially by those of Mecca, who had a particular interest to
support that veneration; and as the most silly and insignificant things are
generally the objects of the greatest superstition, Mohammed found it much
easier to abolish idolatry itself, than to eradicate, the superstitious
bigotry with which they were addicted to that temple, and the rites performed
there; wherefore, after several fruitless trials to wean them therefrom,2 he
thought it best to compromise the matter, and rather than to frustrate his
whole design, to allow them to go on pilgrimage thither, and to direct their
prayers thereto; contenting himself with transferring the devotions there paid
from their idols to the true GOD, and changing such circumstances therein as
he judged might give scandal. And herein he followed the example of the most
famous legislators, who instituted not such laws as were absolutely the best
in themselves, but the best their people were capable of receiving: and we
find GOD himself had the same condescendence for the Jews, whose hardness of
heart he humoured in many things, giving them therefore statutes that were not
good, and judgments whereby they should not live.3

_______



SECTION V.

OF CERTAIN NEGATIVE PRECEPTS IN THE KORÂN.

HAVING in the preceeding section spoken of the fundamental points of the
Mohammedan religion, relating both to faith and to practice, I shall in this
and the two following discourses, speak in the same brief method of some other
precepts and institutions of the Korân which deserve peculiar notice, and
first of certain things which are thereby prohibited.
The drinking of wine, under which name all sorts of strong and inebriating
liquors are comprehended, is forbidden in the Korân in more places than one.1
Some, indeed, have imagined that excess therein is only forbidden, and that
the moderate use of wine is allowed by two passages in the same book:2 but the
more received opinion is, that to drink any strong liquors, either in a lesser
quantity, or in a greater, is absolutely unlawful; and though libertines3
indulge them-

9 According to the maxim, Tutius est multa mutare quàm unum magnum.
1 Al Shahrestani. 2 See Kor. c. 2, p. 16. 3
Ezek. xx. 25. Vide Spencer de Urim et l'hummim, c. 4 § 7. 1 See c. 2,
p. 23, and c. 5, p. 84. 2 Cap. 2, p. 23, and c. 16, p. 200. Vide
D'Herbel. Bibl. Orient. p. 696. 3 Vide Smith, de Morib. et Instit.
Turcar Ep. 2, p. 28, &c.





selves in a contrary practice, yet the more conscientious are so strict,
especially if they have performed the pilgrimage to Mecca,4 that they hold it
unlawful not only to taste wine, but to press grapes for the making of it, to
buy or to sell it, or even to maintain themselves with the money arising by
the sale of that liquor. The Persians, however, as well as the Turks, are
very fond of wine; and if one asks them how it comes to pass that they venture
to drink it, when it is so directly forbidden by their religion, they answer,
that it is with them as with the Christians, whose religion prohibits
drunkenness and whoredom as great sins, and who glory, notwithstanding, some
in debauching girls and married women, and others in drinking to excess.5
It has been a question whether coffee comes not under the above-mentioned
prohibition,6 because the fumes of it have some effect on the imagination.
This drink, which was first publicly used at Aden in Arabia Felix, about the
middle of the ninth century of the Hejra, and thence gradually introduced into
Mecca, Medina, Egypt, Syria, and other parts of the Levant, has been the
occasion of great disputes and disorders, having been sometimes publicly
condemned and forbidden, and again declared lawful and allowed.7 At present
the use of coffee is generally tolerated, if not granted, as is that of
tobacco, though the more religious make a scruple of taking the latter, not
only because it inebriates, but also out of respect to a traditional saying of
their prophet (which, if it could be made out to be his, would prove him a
prophet indeed), "That in the latter days there should be men who should bear
the name of Moslems, but should not be really such; and that they should smoke
a certain weed, which should be called TOBACCO." However, the eastern nations
are generally so addicted to both, that they say, "A dish of coffee and a pipe
of tobacco are a complete entertainment;" and the Persians have a proverb that
coffee without tobacco is meat without salt.1
Opium and beng (which latter is the leaves of hemp in pills or conserve)
are also by the rigid Mohammedans esteemed unlawful, though not mentioned in
the Korân, because they intoxicate and disturb the understanding as wine does,
and in a more extraordinary manner: yet these drugs are now commonly taken in
the east; but they who are addicted to them are generally looked upon as
debauchees.2
Several stories have been told as the occasion of Mohammed's prohibiting
the drinking of wine:3 but the true reasons are given in the Korân, viz.,
because the ill qualities of that liquor surpass its good ones, the common
effects thereof being quarrels and disturbances in company, and neglect, or at
least indecencies, in the performance of religious duties.4 For these reasons
it was that the priests were, by the Levitical law, forbidden to drink wine or
strong drink when they entered the tabernacle,5 and that the Nazarites6 and
Rechabites,7 and

4 Vide Chardin, ubi supra, p. 212. 5 Chardin, ubi sup. p. 344.
6 Abd'alkâder Mohammed al Ansâri has written a treatise
concerning Coffee, wherein he argues for its lawfulness. Vide D'Herbel. Art.
Cahvah.
7 Vide Le Traité Historique de l'Origine et du Progrès du Café, à la fin du
Voy. de l'Arabie heur. de la Roque. 1 Reland. Dissert. Miscell. t. 2,
p. 280. Vide Chardin, Voy. de Perse, t. 2, p. 14 and 66. 2 Vide
Chardin, ibid. p. 68, &c., and D'Herbel. p. 200. 3 Vide Prid. Life
of Mah. p. 82, &c.; Busbeq. Epist. 3, p. 255; and Maundeville's Travels, p. I,
c.
4 Kor. c. 2, p. 23, c. 5, p. 84, and c. 4, p. 59. See Prov. xxiii 29, &c.
5 Levit. x. 9. 6 Numb. vi. 2. 7 Jerem. xxxv. 5
&c.




many pious persons among the Jews and primitive Christians, wholly abstained
therefrom; nay, some of the latter went so far as to condemn the use of wine
as sinful.8 But Mohammed is said to have had a nearer example than any of
these, in the more devout persons of his own tribe.9
Gaming is prohibited by the Korân10 in the same passages, and for the same
reasons, as wine. The word al Meisar, which is there used, signifies a
particular manner of casting lots by arrows, much practised by the pagan
Arabs, and performed in the following manner. A young camel being bought and
killed, and divided into ten or twenty-eight parts, the persons who cast lots
for them, to the number of seven, met for that purpose; and eleven arrows were
provided, without heads or feathers, seven of which were marked, the first
with one notch, the second with two, and so on, and the other four had no mark
at all.11 These arrows were put promiscuously into a bag, and then drawn by
an indifferent person, who had another near him to receive them, and to see he
acted fairly; those to whom the marked arrows fell won shares in proportion to
their lot, and those to whom the blanks fell were entitled to no part of the
camel at all, but were obliged to pay the full price of it. The winners,
however, tasted not of the flesh, any more than the losers, but the whole was
distributed among the poor; and this they did out of pride and ostentation, it
being reckoned a shame for a man to stand out, and not venture his money on
such an occasion.1 This custom, therefore, though it was of some use to the
poor and diversion to the rich, was forbidden by Mohammed2 as the source of
great inconveniences, by occasioning quarrels and heart-burnings, which arose
from the winners insulting of those who lost.
Under the name of lots the commentators agree that all other games
whatsoever, which are subject to hazard or chance, are comprehended and
forbidden, as dice, cards, tables, &c. And they are reckoned so ill in
themselves, that the testimony of him who plays at them, is by the more rigid
judged to be of no validity in a court of justice. Chess is almost the only
game which the Mohammedan doctors allow to be lawful (though it has been a
doubt with some),3 because it depends wholly on skill and management, and not
at all on chance: but then it is allowed under certain restrictions, viz.,
that it be no hindrance to the regular performance of their devotions, and
that no money or other thing be played for or betted; which last the Turks and
Sonnites religiously observe, but the Persians and Mogols do not.4 But what
Mohammed is supposed chiefly to have dislike in the game of chess, was the
carved pieces, or men, with which the pagan Arabs played, being little figures
of men, elephants, horses, and dromedaries;5 and these are thought, by some
commentators, to be truly meant by the images prohibited in one of the
passages of the Korân6 quoted above.