DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15174#0077
CHAP. XJII. THE KORAN.- CHURCHMEN. Ql
sand deviations from the laws of nature, which have
happened for the benefit of the Mahommedan
church. I had ventured among the Uzbeks to
speak of the Koran and its contents, which I ad-
mitted I had read in translation. " Fool that you
" are," was the reply; " how is it possible to trans-
" fer that holy book to another language, when
" every letter of every word has a distinct and in-
" dividual meaning, that is only to be comprehended
" in the original?" I never afterwards paraded my
biblical research ; for while I found my knowledge
of their Koran arraigned, I also heard, for the first
time, that the Old and New Testament were no-
where to be found but as an incorporation with the
Koran, since the copies of both Jews and Christians
were vitiated forgeries ! The arts of the priests of
Islam bring to our remembrance the similar impo-
sitions of the Catholic church in by-gone ages. In
Europe, however, the churchmen did really under-
stand the learned language of the Scriptures ; but^
among the Mahommedans, there are moollahs who
can only read, while they do not understand their
version. There are of course many scholars, but
there are distinct classes who do and do not un-
derstand ; nor do they hesitate to speak of their
learning or their ignorance, since the very reading
of the Koran is a sublime occupation, that covers
the worst of sins.
We could not yet consider ourselves within the
protection even of the holy Meshid, which was
thirty-eight miles from Moozderan ; wc therefore
moved at nightfall. In the bustle of departure I
sand deviations from the laws of nature, which have
happened for the benefit of the Mahommedan
church. I had ventured among the Uzbeks to
speak of the Koran and its contents, which I ad-
mitted I had read in translation. " Fool that you
" are," was the reply; " how is it possible to trans-
" fer that holy book to another language, when
" every letter of every word has a distinct and in-
" dividual meaning, that is only to be comprehended
" in the original?" I never afterwards paraded my
biblical research ; for while I found my knowledge
of their Koran arraigned, I also heard, for the first
time, that the Old and New Testament were no-
where to be found but as an incorporation with the
Koran, since the copies of both Jews and Christians
were vitiated forgeries ! The arts of the priests of
Islam bring to our remembrance the similar impo-
sitions of the Catholic church in by-gone ages. In
Europe, however, the churchmen did really under-
stand the learned language of the Scriptures ; but^
among the Mahommedans, there are moollahs who
can only read, while they do not understand their
version. There are of course many scholars, but
there are distinct classes who do and do not un-
derstand ; nor do they hesitate to speak of their
learning or their ignorance, since the very reading
of the Koran is a sublime occupation, that covers
the worst of sins.
We could not yet consider ourselves within the
protection even of the holy Meshid, which was
thirty-eight miles from Moozderan ; wc therefore
moved at nightfall. In the bustle of departure I