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Thus the main object, or at any rate one of the main
objects, of the Corân, was to provide the Arabs in their own language with a
confirmation of the previous revelation.1 The Corân was not to
supersede the Jewish Scriptures; it was intended to be an
"attestation" thereof in the Arabic language, and thus accessible to
the Arabs,which the former Scriptures from being in a foreign tongue, could
not be. And that the Corân was confirmatory of the previously revealed
Scripture, is adduced by Mahomet as a conclusive proof against the accusation of
the Coreish that his Revelation was an antiquated lie.
Surely such language is compatible only with the position that the Jewish
Scriptures were held by Mahomet to be entirely divine and genuine.
XVIISURA XLVI., v. 30[29-30].
سورة الأحقاف
وَإِذْ
صَرَفْنَا
إِلَيْكَ
نَفَرًا
مِّنَ
الْجِنِّ
يَسْتَمِعُونَ
الْقُرْآنَ
فَلَمَّا
حَضَرُوهُ
قَالُوا
أَنصِتُوا
فَلَمَّا
قُضِيَ
وَلَّوْا
إِلَى
قَوْمِهِم
مُّنذِرِينَ
قَالُوا
يَا
قَوْمَنَا
إِنَّا
سَمِعْنَا
كِتَابًا
أُنزِلَ مِن
بَعْدِ
مُوسَى
مُصَدِّقًا
لِّمَا
بَيْنَ
يَدَيْهِ
يَهْدِي
إِلَى
الْحَقِّ
وَإِلَى
طَرِيقٍ
مُّسْتَقِيمٍ
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TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. |
87 |
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And (call to mind) when
We caused a company of the Genii to turn aside unto thee that they might
hear the Corân; And, when they were present thereat, they said,Give
ear. and when it was ended, they returned to their people as, warners;
they said,Oh our people! verily we have heard a book revealed after
Moses, attesting the revelation that precedeth it; it leadeth to the
truth, and unto the straight path.
"Attesting that which is before it," (lit. between its
hands,) that is, the preceding Scriptures. So Jelalooddeen,
مصدقا لما بين يديه أي تقدمه كالتوراة
"attesting that which is before it, i.e. which precedeth it,
as the Tourât (Pentateuch)."
The description, by the Genii to their brethren, of this new
Revelation, was that it attested and confirmed the truth of the previous
revelation. This was its chief feature; its leading object; that by which
they characterized and distinguished it.
This, it will be observed, is in perfect keeping with the passage last
quoted (No. XVI.).
XVII.SURA XXXV., v. 25
سورة فاطر
وَإِن
يُكَذِّبُوكَ
فَقَدْ
كَذَّبَ
الَّذِينَ
مِن
قَبْلِهِمْ
جَاءتْهُمْ
رُسُلُهُم
بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ
وَبِالزُّبُرِ
وَبِالْكِتَابِ
الْمُنِيرِ
And if they reject thee, verily they who preceded them rejected (their
prophets), who brought them clear signs, and writing, and the enlightening book.
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