Preface

This book is intended to present the body of religious
and moral teaching contained in the Qur iln itself apart
from the Traditions which form the second main basis of
the Moslem faith. The need for it has been impressed
upon me during several years in which I have had frequent
opportunities of lecturing to missionary candidates and
others on " Outlines of Islam."

The Qur an is slightly longer than the New Testament,
but in contrast to it, and not less so to the Old Testament,
it is a one-man book, vhich exhibits manifestly the work
ings of a single mind under strong religious and other
impulses. The Jews and Christians, from whom Muhammad
drew the mass of his material, stood out in his view as
People of Scripture," and from the very first Muhammad
believed himself to be the recipient of portions of a
heavenly writing which were to be embodied in a new
Scripture for believers in his message. To present a
clear idea of what this book contains, as distinct from
later comments, however authoritative, is as necessary for
a real comprehension and evaluation of Islam as is a clear
exposition of the teaching of the Bible itself, as distinct
from subsequent theology, for the understanding of
Christianity.

Islam from the beginning was a theocracy, and it can
still only be understood as ideally a religion and state in one.
Muhammad was a prince as well as a prophet, and not only
led in prayers and preaching, but commanded armies and controlled as an autocrat both foreign and domestic policy,
besides doing the work of a legislator who claimed divine
authority for his laws. There is, however, no authentic
official collection of his correspondence, rescripts and
treaties except what is contained in the Qur an. Frag
mentary though the materials may be, it is here that we
see reflected the basal relations between the religious and
civil powers in Islam.

During the last hundred years Islam has increasingly
come into contact with other faiths, especially Christianity,
no longer as the religion of rulers who for a millennium
enforced its observance by the sanctions of civil and
criminal law, but as one faith, tolerated and protected in
its exercise, side by side with others. Even more pene
trating has been the influence of religious, social and
political conceptions and ideals, the free inflow of which
is no longer hindered. Faced by the life and thought
of a new age, Islam is struggling with the difficult task
of adjusting its early medievalism to the demands of a
modern world. Naturally the tendency of progressive
Moslems, from Sir Sayyid Ahmad onwards, has been to
disown the accretions of their schoolmen, and to recur to
the one sacred volume as the sole genuine expression of
faith and practice incumbent on the true Muslim. But,
in making this use of an Arabian book of the seventh
century, these progressives have claimed, or at least exer
cised, a great latitude of interpretation, many results of
which are highly repugnant to the orthodox. The
thoughtful missionary or other Christian will not withhold
his sympathy from those who are striving to vindicate a
place for a historical form of monotheism in the new
thought-world ; but in order to form a judgment on their
success or failure in so important and difficult an enter
prise it is very necessary that he should be able to estimate
correctly the actual teaching of the Qur an as a whole or
in any given part. To serve as a practical help in this
direction is the object of this little manual.
I am venturing to offer it because I know of no book
in English that gives a comprehensive sketch of quranic
theology, or an all-round subject index. The bibliography
on pp. 135 f. shows that parts of the subject have been treated
by authors with whose learning I could not pretend to
compete, as in the first two chapters of Professor Margo-
liouth s Early Development of Mohammedanism, but for
systematic treatment we have to look to three German
works : Gerok s Christologie des Koran ; Pautz s Mohammed s
Lehre der Offenbarung, and most complete of all Grimme s
System der Koranischen Theologic. The best studies on
quranic theology in English are the pamphlets by Kev.
W. R W. Gardner on "The Quranic Doctrines of God,
Man, Sin, and Salvation." Great help has been obtained
from Hughes Dictionary of Islam, which contains useful
synopses of quranic teaching, with references, under many,
though far from all, of the relevant headings. Of course
there are sundry treatises on Moslem doctrine and duty,
with more or less reference to the Qur an ; but even Sale s
"Introductory Discourse" to his translation and com
mentary includes a large amount of matter drawn from
tradition only, and the subject index to Dr. Wherry s
edition of Sale often refers to notes which embody traditions
going beyond the text.

This volume is not intended to be a manual of con
troversy, though I earnestly hope that it may be of service
to those who are called to the great work of interpreting
the Gospel to Moslems. Spinoza has reminded us that
human affairs are neither to be wept over nor yet derided,
but to be understood. And Dr. Grimme well remarks that
" We who have long since imbibed from their original
source in the Bible the best conceptions of Mohammed,
find it difficult to realise the impression which they made
on Arabian seekers after truth" when first proclaimed.
Perhaps one has been helped to realise this during thirty-
five years residence in the Central Panjab, where Moslems
are in a majority, through much candid and friendly
intercourse with them. At any rate I have tried to under
stand the book and its message myself and to cast what
I have learned from others in a shape which may be useful
to the student and the teacher.

If the references in the Subject Index are reasonably
correct this will be owing to their careful checking by my
wife. She also compiled the table of variant verse num-
berings, the lack of which was a great hindrance in dealing
with different editions of the Qur an.

It is hoped that there may be companion volumes to this,
dealing with other non-Christian Scriptures.

H, U. WEITBEECHT STANTOK

Table des matières

NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION 2

PREFACE 3

INTRODUCTION 9

I. PRESERVATION OF THE TEXT OF TUE QUR AN ... 9

II. DIVISIONS OF THE QUR AN ... ... ... ... 12

III. GROWTH OF THE QUR AN IN THE LIFE AND CAREER

OF MUHAMMAD ... ... ... ... 16

THE TEACHING OF THE QUR AN 31

I. THE DOCTRINE OF GOD ... ... ... ... 31

II. THE DOCTRINE OF REVELATION ... ... ... 38

1. Angels ... ... ... ... ... 38

2. Scriptures ... ... ... ... 39

3. Prophets ... ... ... ... ... 43

III. THE DOCTRINE OF JUDGMENT ... ... ... 51

1. Death ... ... ... ... ... 51

2. Resurrection ... ... ... ... 51

3. The Judgment Day ... ... ... ... 51

4. Paradise ... ... ... ... ... 52

5. Hell 53

6. The Divine Decrees ... ... ... 4

IV. THE DOCTRINE OF SALVATION ... ... ... 55

1. The Nature of Man 55

2. Sin ... ... ... ... ... 56

3. The Nature of Salvation ... ... ... 56

4. The Conditions of Salvation ... ... ... 57

Repentance, Faith, and Good Works ... 57
The Five Pillars of Religion (Confession,

Prayers, Almsgiving, Fasting, Pilgrimage) 58

5. The Way of Salvation ... ... ... 61

Piety Islam ... ... ... ... 61

V. THE LAW OF LIFE ... ... ... ... 63

1. Law in the Qur an ... ... ... ... 63

2. Government of the State ... ... ... 64

3. Warfare ... ... ... ... ... 65

4. Slavery ... ... ... ... ... 66

5. Criminal Laws ... ... ... ... 66

6. Civil Begrilations ... ... ... ... 66

7. Domestic and Social Laws ... ... ... 68

8. Ceremonial Laws ... ... ... ... 69

VI. ATTITUDE TO OTHER FAITHS ... ... ... 71

SUBJECT INDEX 75

SEEIAL LIST OF SURAHS Ill

DATES CONNECTED WITH THE QUR AN 114

TABLE OF VERSES ... 117

BIBLIOGRAPHY 135