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

Historical Statements of the Koran.
ran, and thereby placed beyond the reach of cavil on the
part of all true iMioslemin?
There is but one passage in the Koran, we believe, where
a connected account is given of the creation of the world,
though it is frequently mentioned incidentally as God's immediate and almighty act. The passage alluded to occurs in
the forty-first chapter, and is very brief. The amount of it is,
that God made the universe in six days, two of which were
employed upon the earth, two more upon its products, and
the remaining two upon the heaven. The latter, we are
told, was made of smoke into which it is again to be resolved
hereafter.* This element was moulded into seven distinct
heavens, each having its own office. In the lowest of the
seven the great lights were placed.
In glancing at this passage, we have had occasion to observe
Sale's assiduity in striving to impart coherence and significancy to his author's text-not by false or loose translation,
nor by sheer interpolation, but by adding something to fill up
the yawning chasms of the porous and PerspicuousBook. In
a word, he makes Mohammed say in English, not what he
does, but what he should have said in Arabic; a harmless artifice, so far as substance is concerned, but disingenuous, so far
as it conveys too high a notion of the psuedo-prophet's merits.
For example, after stating the creation of the earth, Mohammed says, he blessed it, and provided therein its food, or
their food, (for the words admit of either sense). What says
Sale? "He blessed it and provided therein the food of the
creatures designed to be the inhabitants thereof." To the
last eight words there is nothing corresponding in the Arabic.
One thing more in this account of the creation may deserve
our notice, "He said to the heaven and the earth, come
either obediently or against your will; they answered, we
come obedient to thy will." This was obviously intended as
a match for that inimitable sentence, "God said, Let there
be light, and light was." One can hardly help smiling at the
Irish sublimity of poor Mohammed's master-piece, the alternative proposed to two nonentities, and their sagacious choice.
It is but just, however, to admit, that the language may be
considered as addressed to the heavens and the earth after
they were created, but before they were arranged and beautified.
. See the chapter entitled Smoke. Sale, vol. ii. c. 41. Lond. 1801.
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