Historical Statements of the Koran [pp. 195-230]

Historical Statements of the Koran.
the sanction of the celebrated scholar who prepared the se cond; Dr. Wilkins having examined every sheet before the
final impression.
We have said thus much about this sumptuous and colossal
book, because the increasing taste and zeal for Oriental stu dies give an interest to every thing adapted to facilitate and
forward them. We have no idea that it will find its way into
many private libraries; but we do think that it should have
place upon the shelves and tables of those public institutions,
where the taste for such pursuits is generally fostered, and
sometimes created, by accidental contact with a work like
this. A larger supply of p)hilological appliances, and a freer
access to them, on the part of students, would, we think,
without constraint, or even formal exhortation, do a great deal
for the benefit of biblical, classical, and oriental learning.
Many scholars, both in Europe and America, can, no doubt,
trace their relish for the course of study which they have
pursued, to incidents almost too trivial for rememberance;
the opening of a book, a casual conversation, or an item of intelligence. Philological reading-rooms have done much good,
not so much by direct operation on the intellect, as by their
indirect influence upon the taste. Why may they not be
multiplied?
ART. V.-HISTORICAL STATEMENTS OF THE KORAN.*
THE Mohammedan imposture is, in some respects, the
most remarkable of all false religions. The specious simplicity of its essential doctrines, and its perfect freedom from
idolatry, distinguish it forever from the gross mythology of
classical and oriental paganism. But besides these characteristics, it displays a third, more interesting still. We mean
the peculiar relation which it bears to Christianity. Whether
it happened from a happy accident or a sagacious policy, we
think it clear that Islam owes a vast proportion of its vast
success, to the fact that Mohammed built upon another man's
foundation. Assuming the correctness of the common doc * The citations in this article are chiefly in the words of Sale, with occasional
departures from his phraseology, too minute to need specification. Where
there is more than a verbal difference, the reader is apprized of it.
195