Page:Thomas Patrick Hughes - Notes on Muhammadanism - 2ed. (1877).djvu/49

 28 Christianity or Sabeanism, for it is simply Talmudic Judaism adapted to Arabia, plus the Apostleship of Jesus and Muhammad. Wherever Muhammad departs from the monotheistic principles of Judaism, as in the idolatrous practices of the Pilgrimage to the Kʾaba, it is evident that it is done as a necessary concession to the national feelings and sympathies of the people of Arabia, and it is absolutely impossible for Muhammadan divines to reconcile the idolatrous rites of the Kʾaba with that simple monotheism which it was evidently Muhammad's intention to establish in Arabia.

The Qurán is divided into:—

1. Harf (pl. Hurúf), Letters; of which there are said to be 323,671.

2. Kalimah (pl. Kalimát), Words; of which there are 77,934.

3. A′yat (pl. A′yát), Verses. A′yát is a word which signifies "signs," and it was used