nature alluded to. All have been entered which were perceived to have the smallest bearing on the subject. If any text has been omitted, it has been solely through inadvertence, and from no design of avoiding passages supposed to be unfavourable. The Mussulman, therefore, as well as the Jew and Christian, may accept the collection as an impartial and full exhibition of the testimony borne in the Corân to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.

No one can read the Corân attentively without being struck by the numerous occasions on which the Scriptures of the Jews and Christians are referred to. They are designated by a great variety of names —the Book of God, كتاب الله ;the Word of God, كلام الله ;the Tourât, التوراة ;the Gospel, الأنجيل &c.

They are described as Revelations made by God in, ages preceding Mahomet, in such expressions as ما أنزل الله من قبل — ما بين يديه &c. And they are spoken of throughout the Corân not only as extant in the time of Mahomet, but as in common use amongst the Jews and Christians. This is proved by such phrases as:—"the Scripture which is with them," معهم or "beside them," ما عندهم ;—"those that read (are in

the habit of reading) the book revealed from before thee," الذين يقرؤن الكتاب من قبلك (Art. XXXIV.); "they (the Jews) read, or study, that which is therein; ودرسوا ما فيه (Art. LXIII.);—"they hear (are in the habit of hearing) the Word of God," يسمعون كلام الله (Art. LXIX.);—"they peruse (are in the habit of perusing) the Book," هم يتلون الكتاب (Art. LXXX.) So on one occasion (Art. CVII.) Mahomet "summoned the Jews to the Book"—that is, required an actual reference to their Scriptures in the presence of both parties, before whom the scroll of the Old Testament was to be produced and read; and on another occasion, they were called upon to bring forward the same Scriptures for the settlement of a disputed question; Art. CXV.

Both Jews and Christians are exhorted to act and to judge in accordance with their Scriptures, implying the existence in current use amongst them, of copies of the Scriptures, to which they could without difficulty make reference, in order so to act and judge. They are likewise told that their religion is vain except they "set up," or observe, both the Jewish and the Christian Scriptures, from which the same conclusion may be drawn; for it would have been nugatory to insist upon the observance of Scriptures not easily accessible to the great body of the people professing those religions.

The Scriptures are also very frequently appealed to by Mahomet in evidence of his own claims. He would not have done so, unless they had been extant and in common use at the time.