Studies in a Mosque - The Search For Mecca

THE KORAN. 155
brows shall be branded thei'ewith, and their sides and tlieir
backs !— " This is what je stored up for yourselves, taste then
what ye stored up "*
!
These later denunciations probably annul the more
favourable judgments elsewhere expressed, for Mohammad
distinctly admitted that some verses were to
be held as abrogated by others. The statement,
therefore, that " Everyone who believes, and the
Jews and the Christians and the Sabians, who believe
in God and the last day, there shall come no fear
upon them, neither shall they grieve," is in the
opinion of most Muslims null and void.
Besides these speeches on the political situation and
the parties of the State, which occupy so large a part
of the Medina division of the Koran, more words are
devoted to the Prophet himself than heretofore. As
ruler of a turbulent city, Mohammad found it neces-
sary to maintain his dignity, and there are several
indications of this in his utterances. The people are
ordered not to approach the Prophet as if he were
an ordinary person, and it is solemnly laid down that
he who obeys the apostle obeys God. Mohammad's
family receive a share of attention; special permis-
sions are accorded him from heaven in respect of
his marriages, and the character of one of his wives
is divinely vindicated. Such passages are interesting
only to the biographer of Mohammad, and to him they
form a perplexing problem, which has been solved in
very conflicting ways.
* Professor Palmer's translation, from which most of the
preceding extracts from the Medina chapters are taken.