not have done it for
the last and greatest of the prophets, and the noble Quran? It is not easy
to get a correct definition of the term "the uncreated Quran," but it has
been put thus: "The Word as it exists in the mind of God is 'Kalam-i-Nafsi'
(spiritual word), something unwritten and eternal. It is acknowledged by
the Ijma'-i-Ummat (consent of the Faithful), the Traditions, and by other
prophets that God {65} speaks. The Kalam-i-Nafsi then is eternal, but the
actual words, style, and eloquence are created by God; so also is the
arrangement and the miraculous nature of the book." This seems to be a
reasonable account of the doctrine, though there are theologians who hold
that the very words are eternal. The doctrine of abrogation clashes with
this idea, but they meet the objection by their theory of absolute
predestination. This accounts for the circumstances which necessitated the
abrogation, for the circumstances, as well as the abrogated verses, were
determined on from all eternity.

This concludes the consideration of the exegesis of the Quran, a book
difficult and uninteresting for a non-Muslim to read, but one which has
engaged and is still engaging the earnest thoughts of many millions of the
human race. Thousands of devout students in the great theological schools
of Cairo, Stamboul, Central Asia and India are now plodding through this
very subject of which I have here been treating; soon will they go forth as
teachers of the book they so much revere. How utterly unfit that training
is to make them wise men in any true sense of the word, how calculated to
render them proud, conceited, and scornful of other creeds, its rigid and
exclusive character shows. Still, it is a marvellous book; for twelve
hundred years and more it has helped to mould the faith, animate the
courage, cheer the despondency of multitudes, whether dwellers in the wild
uplands of Central Asia, in Hindustan, or on the shores of the
Mediterranean. The Turanian and the Aryan, the Arab and the Negro, alike
learn its sonorous sentences, day by day repeat its opening clauses, and
pray in its words as their fathers prayed before them.

Next to the act of testifying to the unity of God, the Quran is the great
bond of Islam. No matter from what race the convert may have come, no
matter what language he may speak, he must learn in Arabic, and repeat by
rote portions of the Quran in every act of public worship.

The next subject for consideration is t