Page:Judaism and Islam, a prize essay - Geiger - 1898.pdf/60

 42 JUDAISM AND ISL^M.

more convincing form by himself. Hence the condition of any one outside his belief must have seemed to him a sinful one, and the divine revelation granted to himself and his predecessors appeared to him in the light of deliverance from that sinful life which could only lead to punishment ; and therefore he calls revelation itself in many places Furqdn, as in many he calls it rahmat, * mercy. In some passages he applies the term to the Quran, 2 and in others to the Mosaic revelation. 3

In this way all the passages fit in under the primary signification of the word, and there is no need to guess at a different meaning for each.

Md< un, 4 refuge. This word bears a very foreign impress, and is explained by the Arabic Commentators in a variety of ways. Golius following them, forces the most diverse meanings into it. It appears in Sura CVII. 7, and seems to me to mean a refuge ".they refuse refuge," i.e., they give no shelter to those asking for help. Later on the word seems to have been regarded as derived from ' ana 5 (certainly not from ma'ana to which Grolius refers it), and thence it acquired the meaning of support, alms.

Masdni, 6 repetition. There has been much perplexity about'this word, mainly because it has been considered as an Arabic word and has not been traced back to its source. As by degrees other teaching viz., tradition, 7 grew up by the side of that contained in Holy Writ, the whole law

2 Suras III. 2, XXV. title and verse 1,

3 Suraa II. 50, XXI, 49.

JOj _ 4 Mi

From 0k not from ,'. e ^j\u, nsiiJD

1, o-(,m

1 Compare under .l^*>\