were given before you, and from those
who join other gods with God. But if ye be steadfast and fear God,
then this verily is _God's_ decree for the affairs of
_life_."--Sura III.

16. "O my son! observe prayer and enjoin the right and forbid the
wrong, and be patient under whatever shall betide thee: verily this
is a bounden duty."--Sura XXXI.

38. "Yet let the recompense of evil be only a like evil; but he who
forgiveth and maketh peace, shall find his reward for it from God;
verily He loveth not those who act unjustly."

39. "And there shall be no way _open_ against those who, after
being wronged, avenge themselves."

40. "Only shall there be a way _open_ against those who unjustly
wrong others, and act insolently on the earth in disregard of
justice. These! a grievous punishment doth await them."

41. "And whoso beareth _wrongs_ with patience and forgiveth,--this
verily is a bounden duty."--Sura XLII.

[Sidenote: Adaptability of the Koran to surrounding circumstances.]

42. (5) The Koran keeps pace with the most fully and rapidly-developing
civilization, if it is rationally interpreted, not as expounded by the
Ulema in the Common Law Book and enforced by the sentiment of a nation.
It is only the Mohammadan Common Law, with all its traditions or oral
sayings of the Prophet,--very few of which are genuine reports, and the
supposed chimerical concurrence of the learned Moslem Doctors and mostly
their analogical reasonings (called _Hadees_, _Ijma_, and _Kias_),
passed under the name of _Fiqah_ or _Shariat_, that has blended together
the spiritual and the secular, and has become a barrier in some respects
regarding certain social and political innovations for the higher
civilization and progress of the nation. But the Koran is not
responsible for this all.

Mr. Stanley Lane Poole writes:--

"The Koran does not contain, even in outline, the elaborate
ritual and complicated law which now passes under the name of
Islam. It contains merely those decisions which happened to be
called for at Medina. Mohammad himself knew that it did not provide
for every emergency, and recommended a principle of analogical
deduction to guide his followers when they were in doubt. This
analogical deduction has been the ruin of Islam. Commentators and
Jurists have set their nimble wits to work to extract from the