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made upon the book. To deal fully with these attacks was impossible in
the space at my disposal.
It may be advisable in some countries (Persia and the Turkish Empire
for instance) to adopt a new name for this Revised Edition. This may not be necessary in
India. The matter should be decided by Missionaries in each country.
I have tried everywhere to adopt a conciliatory tone towards Muslims,
and to avoid the use of any expressions that might give needless offence. Hence I have
expressed no opinion about and no direct condemnation of Muhammad himself, leaving the
Muslim reader to form his own opinion from the facts stated. These facts are quoted from
Muslim authors of repute, and from them alone, no reference being made to any Christian
writer on that subject, Eastern or Western, except casually to Al Kindi
Full references are given to Muslim historians, biographers of
Muhammad, theologians, commentators, etc., whether they wrote in Arabic, Persian, or
Turkish, the edition and the page being generally mentioned. The object of this is, (1) to
enable the reader to verify the quotations, and (2) to make it easy for the translator of
the book into any Oriental language to quote these passages in the original as well
as to translate them.
The verses quoted from the Qur'an are numbered as in the Concordance
appended to the edition of the Qur'an printed in Isfahan in A. H. 1312, and in Flugel's Concordantiae
Corani Arabicae, Leipzig, 1842. Quotations from the Bible are according to the Revised
Version.
When writing in English, it is unnecessary to give any
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title of honour to Muhammad, or to the Old Testament Prophets, etc.
But in an Oriental translation this is absolutely necessary. Muslims are deeply
offended at such an omission. To Muhammad we should apply in Persian the title حضرت
, in
Turkish حضرتلرى
, in Urdu Sahib, and so on in other tongues. To our Lord also one of His
titles (Sayyiduna, Munji, Khudawand, etc.) should always be given, wherever His
Name occurs.
It will be noticed that I have translated as literally as possible,
for obvious reasons, any quotations from Oriental tongues. In such matters accuracy is
more important than elegance, especially as the book is intended to be rendered into
Eastern languages.
Passages in the Notes put in square brackets will probably be
omitted by translators, as being intended mostly for the English reader.
In the first portion of the book, I have mentioned the Surahs by name
as well as by number. Further on I have deemed this unnecessary in English, but it should
always be done in an Oriental version. Passages from the Qur'an should always be given in
the original Arabic. If translated, it might be well to take the versions published by
Muslims themselves in interlineary editions of the Qur'an.
In English the expression "The Word of God" may mean (1) the
Bible, or (2) Christ. In Arabic these are carefully distinguished, as shown in the text,
the former being Kalamu'llah, the latter Kalimatu'llah.
W. St. C. T.
BEDFORD, July, 1910.
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