m by the
angel Gabriel, on special occasions, of which we have already met with
several instances in his biography. Accordingly, the commentators on the
_Koran_ often explain passages in it by relating the occasion on which
they were first revealed. Without such a key many of them would be
perfectly unintelligible.

There are several contradictions in the _Koran_. To reconcile these, the
Mussulman doctors have invented the doctrine of abrogation, _i.e._, that
what was revealed at one time was revoked by a new revelation. A great
deal of it is so absurd, trifling, and full of tautology that it
requires no little patience to read much of it at a time.
Notwithstanding, the _Koran_ is cried up by the Mussulmans as
inimitable; and in the seventeenth chapter of the _Koran_ Mahomet is
commanded to say, "Verily if men and genii were purposely assembled,
that they might produce anything like the _Koran_, they could not
produce anything like unto it, though they assisted one another."
Accordingly, when the impostor was called upon, as he often was, to work
miracles in proof of his divine mission, he excused himself by various
pretences, and appealed to the _Koran_ as a standing miracle.[65] Each
chapter of the _Koran_ is divided into verses, that is, lines of
different length, terminated with the same letter, so as to make a
different rhyme, but without any regard to the measure of the syllables.

The Mahometan religion consists of two parts, faith and practice. Faith
they divide into six articles: 1. A belief in the unity of God, in
opposition to those whom they call associators; by which name they mean
not only those who, besides the true God, worship idols or inferior gods
or goddesses, but the Christians also, who hold our blessed Saviour's
divinity and the doctrine of the Trinity. 2. A belief of angels, to whom
they attribute various shapes, names, and offices, borrowed from the
Jews and Persians. 3. The Scriptures. 4. The prophets: on this head the
_Koran_ teaches that God revealed his will to various prophets, in
divers ages of the world, and gave it in writing to Adam, Seth, Enoch,
Abraham, etc.; but these books are lost: that afterward he gave the
Pentateuch to Moses, the Psalms to David, the Gospel to Jesus, and the
_Koran_ to Mahomet. The _Koran_ speaks with great reverence of Moses and
Jesus, but says the Scriptures left by them have been greatly mutilated
and corrupted. Under this pretence it adds a great many fabul