L’auteur
Stanley Lane-Poole était un orientaliste britannique, neveu d’Edward William Lane et fut Professeur d’études d’arabes à l’Université de Dublin. Né à Londres, il travailla pour le British Museum entre 1874 et 1892. Après un voyage en Egypte où il fut archéologue, il occupa la chaire d’études arabes de l’Université de Dublin entre 1897 et 1904.
Introduction (extrait, p. 1)
The aim of this little volume is to present all that is most enduring and memorable in the public orations and private sayings 1 of the Prophet Muhammad in such a form that the general reader may be tempted to learn a little of what a great man was and of what made him great. Things are constantly being said, written, and preached about the Arabian Prophet and the religion he taught, of which an elementary acquaintance with him would show the importance. No one would dare to treat the ordinary classics of European literature in this fashion ; or, if he did, his expo sure would immediately ensue. What I wish to do is to enable any one, at the cost of the least possible exertion, to put himself into a position to judge of popular fallacies about Muhammad and his creed as surely and certainly as he can judge of errors in ordinary education and scholar ship. I do not wish to mention the Qur an by name more than can be helped, for I have observed that the word has a deterrent effect upon readers who like their literary food light and easy of digestion. It cannot, however, be disguised that a great deal of this book consists of the Qur an, and it may therefore be as well to explain away as far as possible the prejudice which the name is apt to excite. It is not easy to say for how much of this prejudice the standard English translator is responsible.
Table des matières (p. VII-XVI)
INTRODUCTION
The Qur an is capable of adequate representation in small compass and approximately chronological order. The original audience of Muhammad s speeches : Arabian characteristics in desert-life and town-life, poetry and religion. Muhammad s early life, person and habits, call to preach, and work at Mekka. The three periods of Mekka speeches. Change of position at Medina, and consequent change in oratory. The Medina speeches. The Traditions or Table-talk. References.
THE SPEECHES AT MEKKA
THE POETIC PERIOD. Ayat. 40-44, A.D.
609-613
THE NIGHT (xcii.)
The difference between the good and the wicked
in their lives and their future states ; warning
of hell and promise of heaven.
THE COUNTRY (xc.) .
The steep road to the life to come is by charity and faith.
THE SMITING (ci.)
The terrors of the Judgment Day and the Bottom
less Pit.
THE QUAKING (xcix.) . . 42
Signs of the Last Day; when all secrets shall be
revealed.
THE RENDING ASUNDER (Ixxxii.) . 43
Signs of the Last Day : man s unbelief; angels
record his actions, by which his fate shall be
decided.
THE CHARGERS (c.) . 44
Man’s ingratitude towards God will be exposed on the Last Day.
SUPPORT (cvii.) . 45
Uncharitable hypocrites denounced.
THE BACKBITER (civ.) . . 46
The covetous slanderer shall be cast into Blasting Hell.
THE SPLENDOUR QF MORNING (xciii.) . 47
The goodness of God towards Muhammad must
be imitated towards others.
THE MOST HIGH (Ixxxvii.) . 48
God the Creator is to be magnified. Muhammad
is enjoined to admonish the people; the oppo
site fates of those who hearken and those who
turn away; the message is the same as that
delivered by Abraham and Moses.
THE WRAPPING (Ixxxi.) 49
Signs of the Last Day. Authenticity of the
Qur an ; Muhammad neither mad norpossessed.
The Qur an a reminder, but man is powerless
to follow it except by God s decree.
THE NEWS (Ixxviii.) ... 51
Men dispute about the Last Day : yet it shall
come as surely as God created all things. The
last trump and the gathering of mankind to
judgment. Description of the torments of Hell
and the delights of Paradise.
THE FACT (Ivi.) . 53
Signs of the Last Day. The three kinds of men
prophets, righteous, and wicked and the
future state of each. The power of God shown
in creation. The Qur an true and sacred. The
state after death.
THE MERCIFUL (lv.) . . 57
A Benedicite reciting the works of God, and the
Judgment and Paradise and Hell, with a refrain
challenging genii and mankind to deny His
signs.
THE UNITY (cxii.) * 61
A profession of faith in one God.
THE FATIHAH (i.) . 62
A prayer for guidance and help : the Muslim
Paternoster.
II. THE RHETORICAL PERIOD. Ayat. 44-46,
A.D. 613-615 63
THE KINGDOM (Ixvii.) . ... * 65
The power of God shown in creation : Hell the
reward of those who disbelieve in God s mes
sengers and discredit His signs. None but God
knows when the Last Day will be.
THE MOON (liv.) . ... 68
The Judgment approaches, but men will not heed
the warning, and call it a lie and magic. Even
so did former generations reject their apostles ;
the people of Noah, Ad, Thamud, Lot, Pharaoh;
and there came upon all of them a grievous
punishment. Neither shall the men of Mekka
escape. Refrain : the certainty of punishment
and the heedlessness of man.
Q- (i.) . 71
Why is the Resurrection so incredible ? Does
not God continually create and re-create ?
Former generations were equally incredulous,
but they all found the threat of punishment was
true. So shall it be again. The recording angels
biiall bear witness, and hell shall be filled. Who
can escape God, who created all things, and to
whom all things must one day return ?
Y.S. (xxxvi.) .... . 74
Muhammad a true messenger from God to warn
the people, whose ancestors would not be warn
ed. God hardens their hearts so that they cannot
believe. Everything is written down in the Book
of God. Just so did the people of Antioch reject
the apostles of Jesus, and stoned the only con
vert among themselves ; and there came a shout
from heaven and exterminated them. Why do
not men reflect on such warnings? Signs of the
Resurrection are seen in the revival of spring
and the growth of plants, and the alternations
of night and day, and the changes of the sun and moon, and the ships that sail on the sea.
Yet they are not convinced ! The Last Day shall
come upon them suddenly. Paradise and Hell.
The Qur an not a poem, but a plain warning of
God s might and judgment to come. Their idols
need protection instead of giving it. God who
first made life can quicken it again : his "Fiat"
is instantly carried out.
THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL (xvii.) .
The dream of the journey to Jerusalem,
two sins of the children of Israel and their
punishment. The Qur an gives promise of a
great reward for righteousness and an aching
torment for disbelief. Each man shall be judged
by his own deeds, and none shall be punished
for another s sin, nor was any folk destoryed
without warning. Kindness and respect to
parents, and duty to kinsfolk and travellers and
the poor; hospitality, yet without waste; faith
fulness in engagements, and honesty in trading,
enjoined. Idolatry, infanticide, inchastity, homi
cide (except in a just cause and ia fair retalia
tion), and abusing orphans trust, and pride,
forbidden. The angels are not the daughters of
God : He has no partner, and the whole crea
tion worships Him. But God hardens people s
hearts so that they turn away from the Qur an.
The Resurrection is nearer than they think. The
faithful must speak pleasantly and not wrangle.
Muhammad has no power to compel belief. The
false gods themselves dread God s torment. The
power of working miracles was not given to Muhammad, because the people of yore always
disbelieved in them : so Thumud with the mira
culous camel. The story of the devil s original
enmity to Adam; but the devil cannot protect
his followers against God, to whom belongs all
power on land and sea, and whose is the Judg
ment. Muhammad nearly tempted to tempo
rize. Prayer at sunset and dawn and night vigils
commended. Man s insincerity. The spirit sent
from God. The Qur an inimitable. The demand
for miracles and for angtlic messengers repu
diated. The fate of those who disbelieve in the
resurrection. Moses and Pharaoh : the conse
quences of unbelief, The Qur an divided for
convenience. The solace of the faithful. God
and the Merciful the same deity.
III. THE ARGUMENTATIVE PERIOD. Aval.
46-43, A.D. 615-622 . 91
THE BELIEVER (xl.) . . 93
There velation is from God. Former generations
rejected their apostles and were punished. The
angles praise God. The despair of the damned.
The great tryst : the judgment of God is unerr
ing. The generations of yore were greater than
those of today : yet nothing could save them
from God. The history of Moses and Pharaoh
and the Egyptian convert, and the evil fate of
the infidels. The proud shall not win in the end.
Praise of God in His attributes. Hell is the goal
of idolaters and polytheists. Patience enjoined
upon Muhammad. The signs of God s, might
and the dire consequences of doubting it.
JONAH (x.) 102
Repudiation of sorcery. Signs of God s power,
and the consequences of believing and dis
believing them. Insincerity of man : but former
generations were destoryed for unbelief.
Muhammad has no power to speak the Qur an
save as God reveals it. Idolatry ridiculed.
Miracles disclaimed. Man believes when he
is in danger, and disbelieves when he is rescu
ed. The life of this world like gra>.s that will be
mown to-morrow. The reward of well and evil
doing and the judgment of idolaters. God s
mightin creation. The Qur an no forgery, as will
be plainly seen one day. Every nation has its
apostle and its appointed term, which cannot
be hastened or retarded. Now the people are
warned, and all they do is seen of God. God s
power : He has no Son. The story of Noah and
the ark, and Moses and the magicians, and the
passage of the Red Sea, and the establishing of
the Children of Israel. The people of Jonah.
God compels unbelief or belief as He pleases,
and none can believe without His permission.
The signs of God are in the heavens and the
earth. True worship.
THE THUNDER (xiii.) 114
The mighty works of God. The punishment of
unbelief, Miracles disclaimed. The omniscience
and unvariableness of God, the hurler of
thunder and lightning and the giver of rain.
The reward of the faithful ; the torment of
apostates. God misleads whom He will and, if He pleased, could guide all mankind aright.
Apostles have been mocked at before : and the
mockers were punished. Paradise. Muhammad s
task is only to warn : it is God s business to
punish.
SPEECHES OF MEDINA 121
THE PERIOD OF HARANGUE. Ayat. 53-63,
A.D. 622-632.
DECEPTION (Ixiv.)
God s power in creation. Former apostles were
rejected. The resurrection, though disbelieved,
is a fact a day when people shall find their
hopes are deceptive. Paradise and Hell. All
things are ordained by God. Obedience to God
and^he apostle enjoined. The pleasures of this
world are to be distrusted, but the fear of God
and alms-giving commendable.
IRON (Ivii.) .
Praise of God and exhortation to belief and
alms-giving and fighting for the faith. The
future state of the faithful and of the hypocrites.
The charitable shall be doubly rewarded. The
present life only a pastime and delusion. Every
thing predestined. The sending of the apostles,
of Noah, Abraham and Jesus. Asceticism
repudiated. Exhortation to faith and fear.
THE VICTORY (xlviii.) . . 129-
A victory was given to encourage the faithful.
Commendation of those who pledged themselves
to support Muhammad and rebuke to the
desert Arabs who held aloof (on the occasion
of the expedition to Hudeybia) ; they shall not
share in the spoil (of Khaibar). Promise of
booty. The truce (of Hudeybia). The opposition
to Muhammad s pilgrimage to Mekka shall be
withdrawn ; and a victory shall soon be won.
The devotion of the faithful and their likeness.
HELP (ex.) . 134
Exhortation to praise God in the hour of
triumph.
TAE LAW GIVEN AT MEDINA 135
RELIGIOUS LAW .
Creed and good works. Prayer. Alms. Fast.
Pilgrimage. Fighting for the faith. Sacred
month. Forbidden food. Oaths. Wine. Gambl
ing. Statues. Divination.
CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LAW . 14k
Homicide ; the blood-wit ; murder ; retaliation.
Fighting against the faith. Theft. Usury.
Marriage ; adultery ; divorce ; slander. Testa
ments and heirs. Maintenance for widows.
Testimony. Freeing slaves; Asylum. Small
offences and great.
THE TABLE-TALK OF MUHAMMAD . . 149
Concerning prayer .
Of charity
Of fasting 154
TABLE-TALK OF MUHAMMAD
-
- Of reading the Qur an . . . . .155
- Of labour and proft . . . 155
- Of fighting for the faith . .159
- Of judgments . ... 160
- Of women and slaves . . .161
- Of dumb animals 163
- Of hospitality . .... 164
- Of government ...... 165
- Of vanities and sundry matter . . 166
- Of death . 159
- Of the state after death . .172
- Of destiny 175
NOTES. . . . . 178
Index of chapters of the Qur an translated 1 90