of the Thomistic axiom, while, of course, claiming to remain, both at heart and in word, perfectly orthodox. As it would be tedious to enter upon a detailed historical account of the various phases of the question, we shall content ourselves with recalling a simple distinction, in which, in our opinion, might be found a means of conciliation between the opposing parties. If and whenever it is the manifest intention of a sacred author authoritatively to teach us a fact, however slight or unimportant, in any department whatsoever, the principle of Thomas Aquinas must find its full and irresistible application. Thus, to use a comparison of Thomas Aquinas himself, if it should be definitely the intention of the Scripture to teach us authoritatively that Samuel was really the son of Elkanah, it is impossible that the statement should be erroneous, and that Samuel should have been in reality the son of another. There are, however, obviously many cases when such an intention is absent, and can be introduced only by arbitrarily forcing one's private view on the text; the author writes in conformity with received historical or scientific views, which are evidently immaterial to his purpose. Who could, for instance, without assuming to himself the rôle of an authori tative interpreter of the mind of the sacred writer, maintain that the latter certainly meant to teach us that, at the battle of Gibeon, the sun itself stood still in the heavens in the literal sense of the words, and that any other interpretation of the text is positively excluded? Briefly, to assert in an absolute manner that error is compatible with inspiration in the mind of the sacred writer is to adopt a position which most Catholic theologians would characterize as 'erroneous' or 'errori proxima,' as being indirectly opposed to the Catholic dogma of inspiration. To maintain, on the other hand, that every statement in the Scripture must be taken as strictly accurate in the literal sense in which it appeared in the original text seems unnecessary, besides being out of harmony with many clearly established and well authenticated facts. It will be enough to note here, by the way, that no one nowadays thinks of claiming inspiration for any of the versions of Scripture, either the Septuagint or any other; and, indeed, the decree of the Council of Trent declaring the Vulgate of St. Jerome 'authentic' (pro authentica habeatur) means only that, being sufficiently accurate for the purposes of Catholic theology, it is adopted by the Catholic Church as its official version. in the sacred text? sider inseparable from that of verbal inspiration. But, for any one who has read and understood our exposition of the theory of the instrument, as applied to the case of inspiration, those difficulties do not exist. Inspiration is the same in all sacred writers, in kind at least; but its result, the style and wording of the Divine oracles, ought nevertheless to be different, owing to the natural differences that exist between the various free and conscious instruments. An Isaiah and a Jeremiah, a Matthew and a John, write under the same pervading Divine influence, but each one in his own natural way, modo proprio. Moreover, the same theory has nothing in common with the conception of a dictation of God to the sacred writer. For to inspire is to illumine, and to illumine is not to dictate. Instead, therefore, of conceiving of a kind of dimin ished inspiration, stopping short at the selection of the words, we ought to conceive of a supernatural influence full and one, pervading the sacred writing throughout, and casting its Divine splendour on everything contained in it, even the most minute particles of the sacred text. There is no necessity to assume that inspiration enlight ened the mind of the sacred writer in regard to his thoughts only, but abandoned him to his own natural industry when endeavouring to give literary utterance to his Divinely inspired conceptions. LITERATURE.-J. B. Franzelin, Tractatus de divina tradi tione et scriptura2, Rome, 1875; F. Schmid, de Inspirationis Bibliorum vi et ratione, Louvain, 1886; D. Zanecchia, Diving inspiratio Sacræ Scripturæ, Rome, 1898; L. Billot, de Inspiratione Sacræ Scripturæ, do. 1903; C. Pesch, de Inspira tione Sacræ Scriptura, Freiburg, 1906; P. Dausch, Dis Schriftinspiration, do. 1891; K. Holzhey, Die Inspiration der heil. Schrift in der Anschauung des Mittelalters, Munich, E. L. VAN BECELAERE. 1895. human source. INSPIRATION (Hindu).-Indian_authorities and scholars in their references to the Hindu writings draw a clearly marked distinction between 6. The question of the compatibility of inspira Scripture, revealed and inspired, and other comtion with error being thus disposed of by denying positions which, however great their antiquity and the possibility of any falsehood being authorita-worth, have, in their judgment and in accordance tively asserted in the Scripture, even by mistake, with the verdict of tradition, no valid claim to divine it becomes comparatively easy to answer the inspiration, or to direct derivation from a supervarious questions raised concerning the extension The former are śruti, that which of inspiration to the various classes of subjects is heard, the human ear receiving the divine voice, contained in the Scripture. There is really no neand communicating its message direct to men by cessity for any classification whatsoever. Every. the pen or by oral teaching. The latter are smrti, thing that is contained in the sacred books-be it that which is stored up in the mind, learning dogma, moral precept, historical statement, quota- acquired by observation and study, which is then tion, or the words themselves-was clearly selected delivered as the ripe fruit of human intelligence and put there by a mind under the actual influence and application, moulded and fashioned at the of inspiration. Inspiration, therefore, must be writer's will, and presented as the reasoned conunderstood as extending to everything; for why, clusions of his meditation and thought. The indeed, ought it to have stopped short at anything their theme and style, or however high the regard writings known as smṛti, therefore, however choice in which they are held, occupy an entirely subordi. nate position of authority. They furnish no prooftexts, and, great as their popularity may be, they may not in a formal and strict sense be drawn upon for the establishment of rule and doctrine. The theory formulated with regard to śruti, on the other hand, assumed and taught a doctrine of literal and verbal inspiration, as consistent and exacting as has elsewhere ever been conceived. In practice the line was not seldom overstepped, especially in regard to works which appealed to the general taste and inclination, and enjoyed in consequence a wide popularity. In many instances these gained and retained a hold upon the allegiance and affections of the people, and especially of the non-priestly classes, which lay entirely outside of any theory or dogma of inspiration limited in its application to certain books and to these alone. The volume of śruti, however, was absolutely closed, and was incapable of either addition or diminution. Leaving out of account the desire to avoid imputing to the Holy Spirit a certain number of supposed erroneous statements in matters not strictly religious-a desire which apparently haunts some minds there is no class of things contained in the Scripture to which there is any apparent reason to deny the benefit of the influ. ence of inspiration, except perhaps the words themselves, those material particles, so to speak, of which the text is composed. Verbal inspiration, indeed, is denied by a large number of theologians, but mainly on two grounds: (1) it seems impossible, on that hypothesis, to account for the diversity of style, which is so marked between two different authors; (2) because most theologians are averse to the notion of dictation, which they con1 The recent condemnation of the Modernist proposition that inspiratio divina non ita ad totam Scripturam sacram extenditur, ut omnes et singulas eius partes ab omni errore praemuniat' expressly reproves that opinion (Denzinger, no. 2011; the pronouncement of the Commissio Biblica of 23rd June 1905 may also be consulted in this connexion [ib. no. 1980]). The language also that is employed with regard possession of the twice-born,' and might not be carried beyond the circle of the elect, lest defilement in any form should reach them. Parallel instances to this scrupulous limitation of the circulation of a sacred book or books are numer ous among other peoples. A sūtra of the Vedanta prohibits to Sūdras the hearing or studying of the Veda.1 to the Vedas is sufficiently definite to remove all doubt as to the religious estimate which the writers themselves placed upon them. For, although in certain passages a degree of inspiration appears to be claimed for other and later works, yet in more formal doctrine and practice the distinction was always observed between the Vedic writings which possessed authority as śruti and other compositions, in the production of which the mind and Further, it would appear that the method of skill of man played the predominant part. Thus revelation, as it was conceived by the Hindu in Brhad. Up. II. iv. 10 it is said that the Rigveda, authors themselves, and the descriptive terms emYajurveda, Samaveda, Atharvāngirasas, Itihasa, ployed with regard to it were intended to imply Purana, and other works have been breathed forth the same sacred and inviolable character of the from Brahman alone. The same theory is ex- text. The rsis, the ancient poets and seers of the pounded elsewhere in the same Upanisad, not Vedic hymns, are said to have 'seen' (drs) the always with an identical enumeration of texts.1 sacred texts which they then conveyed to men. A definite doctrine of inspiration is assumed and Although in some instances they claim in so many stated, e.g., by Ramanuja on Vedāntasūtras, II. words to have been the authors of the hymns which ii. 43: the Veda ... on account of its non- bear their names, the claim is disallowed, as far as human character, is raised above all suspicion of the play of individual character is concerned, or error and other imperfections'; and the Veda, the application of human intelligence and skill. therefore, is the final authority and court of appeal Their part is limited to that of exact recorders on all questions of teaching and interpretation. of a message in the ordering of which they have no The epithets applied to the Veda appear to be share, as regards either subject-matter or form. intended to convey the same idea, e.g. imperish. Their merit is that of faithful transmission of the able,' 'eternal,' etc. And the most compre- words and teaching which the eye 'saw.'" No hensive and profound teaching is enunciated when doubt the language employed is to a very considerthe Veda, or the syllable Om, which is the able extent figurative and metaphorical. beginning and the end of the Veda, is identified 'eye' is the eye of the mind. The figure, howwith Brahman." The same thought also is poeti-ever, in harmony with the universal tendency of cally expressed when it is elsewhere said that the deity is resident in the sacred text." 2 A further indication of the sacred character attached to the Vedic writings was the elaborate provision made in the schools for the exact preservation of the letter of the text. Apparently each of the schools had its own traditional recension, of which the members of the school were jointly and severally in charge, and which it was their office and duty faithfully to bear in mind, and to communicate orally to their disciples. The Vedic texts, therefore, were committed to memory by all; and the precise and perpetual recitation of them was their safeguard, and a sufficient check against alteration even in the least detail of the accepted order and form of words. Moreover, as an additional precaution against accidental variation, the sacred text was learnt and recited not only directly, but also according to a method known as kramapaṭha, or 'serial reading,' in which each word was repeated twice in progressive order, with the preceding and also with the succeeding word. An extension of the same method, which further illustrates the anxious care with which it was sought to secure the ipsissima verba of the sacred text, was the jaṭāpāṭhā, 'twisted' or 'inverted reading,' in which each successive pair of words was repeated three times, in one instance in inverted order. Moreover, the verses and words of the hymns were laboriously counted, and the records preserved in the works of the Sanskrit grammarians; these numbers are found to be in agreement with the extant texts. It was in harmony also with this conception of the peculiarly sacred character of these writings that the communication of them to Sūdras, or out-castes, was strictly forbidden." They were the heritage and 1 Brhad. Up. IV. v. 11; cf. Śaňkara on Vedāntasūtras, I. i. 3, a text which he interprets to mean that Brahman is the source of Scripture, the latter being defined as consisting of the Rigveda and other Vedas, with the works subsidiary to them. 2 CL. SBE xlviii. (1904] 435, 473 1., 529 1. 2 Satap. Br. x. iv. 1. 9. 4 Manu, iii. 284, purătani, rendered 'eternal' by G. Bühler (SBE XXV. [1886] 127), but perhaps connoting rather high antiquity, and the dignity and authority which the texts accordingly were believed to possess. Baudhayana, II. x. 17. 40, IV. i. 26; cf. Vasistha, xxv. 10. 6I [Laksmi] reside... in the sound of the Veda' (Inst. of Visnu, xcix. 141.). 7.g., The Veda must not be recited in the presence of a VOL. VII.-23 The thought and language, became obscured, and was Cf. Manu, xi. 244: the sages.. obtained (the revelation of) the Vedas through their austerities; and ib. 234. Sankara (on Vedantasūtras, 1. iii. 30) quotes the authority of earlier writers that the ten books of the Rigveda were 'seen' by the ancient rsis; and elsewhere asserts the same of the mantra and brahmana portion of the Veda (on I. iii. 34). Ramanuja seems to make an attempt to combine the theory of inerrancy with a natural belief in the effective authorship of the poets: The eternity of the Veda admits of being reconciled with what scripture says about the mantras and kändas of the sacred text having makers," and about Rishis seeing the hymns... the Rishis... thus gifted by Prajapati with the requisite powers see the mantras, and so on... perfect in all their sounds and accents, without having learned them from the recitation of a teacher,' etc. (SBE xlviii. 332 f., on Vedantasūtras, 1. iii. 28). To the rşis themselves, in their divine or semi-divine character, worship was offered. ... or infidels, whose influence appears at no time to have been wide-spread, or their numbers considerable. But its practical effect upon the everyday thought and experience of the Hindu was slight. Like the books themselves, it was the doctrine and possession of a learned class. And, although theoretically acknowledged and accepted by all, it was in reality little in touch with the needs and movements of everyday life. It was entirely otherwise with the belief in the inspiration and authority of the teacher, the man upon whom the spirit of the god had descended, and whose utterances, like his actions and person, were invested with the sanction and force of the divine. It would be difficult to indicate any one doctrine or belief which has had a more profound Influence on the habits and character of the Indian peoples. Beginning with the rṣis themselves, and passing down through a long series of deified men, among whom the guru, the teacher, has in India always occupied the most important place, the doctrine of the direct inspiration of the individual has never ceased to be an effective and influential article of faith. The repeated incarnations of the gods bear witness to the same tendencies of thought and belief. And, although modern conditions of life, and the forms under which modern education is being conveyed, are gradually and perhaps inevitably undermining and destroying the ancient reverential habit of thought and life, it will be long before the Hindu affection deserts its ancient ideals, or regards as other than unwelcome a new theory of life, which minimizes the spiritual element in the heart and character of the individual.1 These numerous incarnations of the gods, and the readiness with which men or women endowed with unusual qualities or an attractive and dominating personality are deified, are evidence of similar characteristics of thought. The highpriests of the different sects, in their formal visitations of the districts under their charge for purposes of pastoral oversight and confirmation of the young men, journey in state and are greeted by all with a reverence which implies the assumption of divine or semi-divine rank. Their persons and utterances are inspired; their touch confers happiness and deliverance from the bondage of evil. In a similar manner the recognition of authority concentrated in the hands of an individual, whether European or Indian, is separated by a very narrow line in the thought of the Hindu from a belief in definite inspiration by the deity, who in greater or less fullness has taken up his abode within, and thus manifests his presence and power. The experience of any Englishman who has come into real touch with the mind and heart of the Indian would furnish many instances of the facility with which exceptional or unfamiliar gifts and powers are set down to the credit of a supernatural afflatus which for the time being, or permanently, confers upon the man the rights and dignity of a god. To the Hindu, therefore, the conception of an inspired personality or an inspired book is perfectly natural. In neither case would the affirmation of inspiration suggest doubt, or the necessity of an inquiry into the validity of the claim advanced or the possibility of the fact asserted. The disposition would rather be in favour of its acceptance as part of the natural order of things. It is regarded as not improbable, it is even looked upon as highly probable, that the god will thus communicate his will and make known his ways. The 1 The conception is illustrated, e.g., by Manu, iv. 182: The teacher is the lord of the world of Brahman'; ii. 233: By obedience to his teacher [the student gains] the world of Brahman'; cf. ii. 144-154, Inst. of Visnu, xxxi. 10, etc., Apast. I. iv. 14. 7: The feet of all Gurus must be embraced (every day) by a student who has returned home.' burden of proof lies with those who deny. And this disposition or tone of mind is part of the larger bias and tendency of the Eastern nature, which, for whatever reason, seems to live in closer touch with the realities of the unseen and the spiritual than the more practical and unemotional mind of the West. LITERATURE.-See artt. GOD (Hindu), HINDUISM. A. S. GEDEN. INSPIRATION (Muslim).-Inspiration may come to a prophet in an external form, and consist of the very words which God wishes him to give forth as the divine message. This is called waḥi zahir, external inspiration.' It is the highest form of inspiration, in the opinion of Muhammadans, and was used for the production of the Qur'an. The mind of Muhammad was passive, and the message, an external one, was brought to him by Gabriel. A somewhat lower form of this is called isharat al-malak, the sign of the angel.' Muhammad refers to this when he says: 'The Holy Ghost has entered into my heart,' that is, the inspiration came through Gabriel, but not orally. The other term is ilham, which means the saint or prophet using his mental powers and, under divine guid ance, giving forth the message of God, though not in the very words of God. The recipient knows the medium, i.e. the angel, by which he receives the information. This is waki, the inspiration of prophets, the inspiration of the Qur'an. The recipient receives information from an unknown source and in an unknown way. This is the inspiration of saints and mystics. It is called ilham. The difference between wahḥi and ilham is that in the former an angel is the medium of communication, and in the latter he is not. It comes direct to the mind of the Prophet (see alGhazali in the Mudāq al-Arifin, an Urdu tr. of the Iḥyā'Ulūm ad-Din, Lucknow, 1873, iii. 30). Some theologians hold that, whilst the Qur'ān was revealed by the waḥi method, the teaching of the Prophet as recorded in the traditions was by the ilham mode; that is, the traditions are a real revelation and convey divine injunctions, only the mode was different. Others hold that even the traditions were of waḥī authority, and ash-Shahrastani speaks of 'the sayings of the Prophet which have the marks of wabi' (quoted in Dabistān, ed. Bombay, A.H. 1242 [A.D. 1826], p. 21). In support of this view this verse is quoted: 'By the star when it setteth, your companion Muhammad erreth not, nor is led astray, neither doth he speak of his own revealed to him' (Qur'an liii. 1). will. It is none other than a revelation which hath been The latter part seems to refer to the Qur'an, but the former distinctly asserts that he was rightly guided either by the wahi or by the ilham mode of inspiration, and so all his words and actions form a rule of faith called the Sunna, which all Muslims must accept, for they were said and done under the constant influence of a divine inspiration. The revelation given to Moses is thus described in the Qur'an. 'We wrote for him upon the tables a monition concerning every matter, and said, "Receive them thyself with steadfast ness, and command thy people to receive them for the observance of its most goodly precepts" (vii. 142). This equally describes the inspiration of the there can be a human as well as a divine side to Qur'an. The Muhammadan cannot conceive that inspiration. This is clearly stated in the verse in which Muhammad is directed to disclaim any knowledge apart from the words revealed: 'Say I say not to you, "In my possession are the treasures of God"; neither say I, "I know things secret"; neither do I say to you, "Verily, I am an angel"; only what is revealed to me do I follow' (vi. 50). The The Qur'an, then, comes direct from God. word 'say' is either expressed or implied before each sentence. This to the Muslim mind is its highest perfection. It is verbal inspiration in its most extreme form. The Christian view of inspiration-the divine mind working through the human consciousness-is considered to be very inferior, and any book so revealed to be altogether contemplation and ecstasy, which is the intuition of the saints, on a lower plane. Thus, Ibn Khaldun says: 'Of all the divine books, the Qur'an is the only one of which the text, words, and phrases have been communicated to the Prophet by an audible voice' (Prolégomènes, tr. de Slane, i. 196). This is the universal belief, and it shows how mechanical is the Muslim view of inspiration. The Qur'an, both as to matter and as to form, is all of God; but the mode in which it was revealed varied. It is only once clearly stated in the Qur'an that Gabriel was the medium of communication: Say, "whoso is the enemy of Gabriel?" For he it is who by God's leave hath caused the Qur'an to descend on thy heart' Other passages, though they do not mention Gabriel by name, are generally believed to refer (ii. 91). to him. 104). 'The faithful spirit hath come down with it' (xxvi. 192); one terrible in power taught it to him' (liii. 5); the Holy Spirit hath brought it down with truth from thy Lord' (xvi. Tradition, however, is very clear on the point that Gabriel was the medium. Sometimes a brightness surrounded the Prophet, out of which Gabriel delivered his message; sometimes the angel appeared in the form of a man called Dubiyya, one of the Companions of the Prophet, renowned for his beauty. This statement is supported by the verse: And if we had appointed an angel, we should certainly have appointed one in the form of a man' (vi. 9). When the revelation was one of denunciation or a prediction of woe, the angelic nature of Gabriel overcame the nature of Muhammad, who was then transported to the angelic world; when the message was one of comfort and consolation, the angel, in the form of a man, delivered his message. Gabriel sometimes made his message known through the tinkling of a bell, a mode of operation which had a most disquieting effect on the Prophet. His body became agitated, and even on a cold day the perspiration rolled off him. His countenance bore witness to the agitation of his mind. If riding, the camel on which he sat would fall to the ground. Zaid said: 'One day when God sent waḥi on the Prophet, his thigh was on mine, but it became so heavy that I feared mine would be broken' (Şaḥiḥu'l-Bukhārī, ‘Kitāb aş-Şalāt,' Leyden, 1862-68, i. 105). Gabriel sometimes, without appearing in person, so influenced the mind of the Prophet that what he spoke was a divine message. This is ilham, the inspiration of the traditions. On the occasion of the night journey to heaven, 'great mysteries and numerous conversations took place' (Mirkhond's Raudat aş-Şafa, Ras, 1893, II. i. 211). God is said to have spoken to the Prophet directly, though whether with face veiled or not is a matter of doubt. God sometimes appeared to the Prophet in a dream and made known His will. On two occasions angels, each having six hundred wings, appeared and brought the message (for other accounts see Raudat aş-Şafā, II. i. 135–148). The seasons when it came were usually periods of anxiety and care. His countenance changed; his fear seemed uncontrollable. This terrifying effect of inspiration is shown in the verse: 'The best of recitals hath God sent down, a book in unison with itself and teaching by repetition. The very skins of those who fear their Lord do creep at it' (xxxix. 24). The fear caused to men is not to be wondered at when it is believed that in heaven the effect of it is that angels become senseless and that Gabriel is the first to return to consciousness (Khulăsat atTafasir, Lucknow, A.H. 1311 [A.D. 1893], iv. 75). The revelation of sūras xi., lvi., and ci., known as the 'sūras of terror,' turned the hair of the Prophet he goes on to speak of those whose souls can rise from the human body to the angelic state and there hear the divine voice. Such are the souls of the prophets. God has given them the power of leaving the human body and, when so separated from it, they receive His revelations, which, when they return from the spiritual world, they make known to men. The journey to and the journey from the angelic world and the comprehension of the message received occupy less time than the twinkling of ing to Ibn Khaldun, means 'to make haste (Prolegomènes, i. an eye. This is why inspiration is called waḥi, which, accord196-205, quoted in full in Sell, Faith of Islam, p. 242f.). The orthodox view is that a prophet knows all things without having received previous instruction, that he gives information regarding the past and the future, otherwise than by analogical reasoning, and that he is superior to other human beings, as he has communion with the angelic world. selected as the time for the descent of divine books: The sacred month of Ramadan has been specially on the first day the book of Abraham, on the sixth the book of Moses, on the thirteenth the Gospel, and on the twenty-seventh the Lailat al-Qadr, or Night of Power,' the Qur'an which then came complete to the House of Glory,' situated in the lowest of the seven heavens, from which, as occasion required, portions were brought by Gabriel and revealed to Muhammad: Verily we have caused it [the Qur'an] to descend on the Night of Power' (xcvii. 1 ff.). This is the blessed night, the night better than a thousand months,' the night 'which bringeth peace and blessings to the rosy dawn' (ib.). Some suppose that the first revelation was 'Warn thy relatives of nearer kin' (xxvi. 214), but the objection to this opinion is that the words of the context, kindly lower thy wing over the faithful who follow thee' (ib. 215), and 'who seest thee when worship' (2181.), presuppose the existence of a small Muslim thou standest at prayer and thy demeanour among those who community. There are other objections also connected with the style and use of words in this chapter which show that it must be a later one. The general view, then, may be accepted as correct, which is that, when in the cave at Hira, voice calling on him to recite the opening words of a little distance from Mecca, the Prophet heard a the sura xcvi. Tradition has surrounded the event with many marvels. The following is a condensed account of the narrative concerning the inspiration of the Prophet given in Mirkhond's Raudat aş-Şafa (II. i. 140). The Prophet was sleeping in the cave of Hira when Gabriel made his appearance in the form of a man, and said, 'Read.' But his Lordship answered, 'I am not a reader.' Then Gabriel squeezed him so hard that he thought his end was near; but the angel again said 'Read,' and received the same answer. Having again given the command, Gabriel said: 'Recite thou in the name of thy Lord, who created man from clots of blood. Recite thou! For thy Lord is the most Beneficent, who hath taught the use of the pen; hath taught man that which he knoweth not' (Qur'an, xcvi. 1-4). The first squeezing purified his august nature from all concupiscence; the second, from all sinful desires. Though free from all ignominious qualities, his failings and to prepare it for the reception of divine revelation. purification was necessary to divest his heart from all human His terror was so great that he meditated suicide, but Gabriel called out: "Thou art the Apostle of Allah and I am Gabriel." Gabriel struck his foot on the ground, and a spring of water gushed out. He then performed the ablutions before prayer and taught Muhammad to do the same, after which they said at the appearance of Gabriel, whose feet were yellow and his the namaz, or stated prayers. When the Prophet was terrified wings green, and between whose eyes the words were written, 'There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the apostle of Allah,' Gabriel comforted him by saying that he was the messenger of God to prophets. When Muhammad said that he could not read, Gabriel took from beneath his wing a piece of the silk of Paradise, embroidered with pearls and gems, and threw it on his blessed face. Another account is that, when the third call was made, All this very much alarmed the Prophet. He hastened home, and Khadija, his wife, said: 'I perceive a light in thy countenance, the like of which I have never beheld; but in terror he When he recovered, he said, 'O Khadija, I have become a soothsayer or mad.' She replied, 'God will not surely let such a thing happen to thee, for thou speakest the truth, dost not return evil for evil, keepest faith, art of a good life, kind to thy relatives and friends. Hast thou seen aught terrible?' He then told her what had happened, whereupon she said: 'Rejoice, dear husband, and be of good cheer. He in whose hands stands Khadija's life is my witness that thou wilt be the Prophet of His people' (Literary Remains lay down in a paroxysm of fear. of Emmanuel Deutsch, London, 1874, p. 77). She then went to Waraqa, one of the Hanifs, and told him that Gabriel had appeared to Muhammad. He assured her that great benefits and blessings would follow from this (see Rauḍat aş-Şaƒă, 11. i. 146). Then, for a while, the revelations ceased, and the mind of Muhammad was much disturbed thereby. He doubted the reality of his call and became so melancholy that he sought to put an end to his life. On such occasions Gabriel appeared and strengthened him in the belief that he was to be the apostle of God, and so gave him comfort. A tradition states that Khadija, alarmed at his state, not only wrapped him up, but sprinkled cold water upon him, which seems to show that he had a fit (Mishkat al-Maşabiḥ, Madras, A.H. 1274 [A.D. 1857], p. 846), Bukhari relates how on one such occasion he saw the angel seated on a throne midway between heaven and earth. Alarmed, he hastened home and said to his wife: 'Cover me with a cloth." Then God revealed to him sura Ixxiv., beginning O thou, enwrapped in thy mantle, arise and warn' (Sahihu'l-Bukhari, i. 2). This became the first of a continued series of revelations. The period of suspense-the fatrah-was now over. Hence The doctrine of wahi, the inspiration of the Qur'an, is closely connected with the attribute of God, called kalām, 'word,' or 'speech,' and concerning which there was a long and bitter conflict between the Mu'tazilite and the orthodox section of the Muslims. It ranged round the great dispute as to whether the attributes of God were eternal or not. The orthodox belief is that the Qur'an was written from all eternity on the Preserved Table. 'The unbounded reverence of the Muslims for the Qur'an reaches its climax in the dogma (which appeared at an early date through the influence of the Christian doctrine of the eternal Word of God) that the Book, as the divine word, i.e. thought, is immanent in God, and consequently eternal and uncreated' (T. Nöldeke, Sketches from Eastern History, p. 58). donald: brought to the lowest heaven, and thence were revealed to the Prophet. These are the views held by the Sunni Musalmāns. They were earnestly opposed by the Mu'tazilites, who deny the eternity of the Qur'an on the following grounds. It is written in Arabic, it descended to earth, and is written and read. Events are described in the past tense, whereas, if the Qur'an existed before all time, the future tense would have been used; it contains commands and prohibitions; who, then, were commanded, and who it will exist till eternity future, and so in the next were prohibited? If it existed from eternity past, world its laws will be incumbent on men who must perform the same religious ceremonies as they do now; if it is eternal, then there are two eternals, God and the Word, which would destroy the Unity of the Divine Being. If it is said that it is speech only which is eternal, and not the word and sounds, then how can there be speech without sound? To the latter objection the Sunnis reply that a man's thoughts are a kind of speech without sound. It is true that, as man's thought is originated, it cannot be compared to God's speech, which is eternal; yet the illustration is good as far as it goes to show that speech does not necessarily need sound. The Mu'tazilites produced such texts as 'Verily we have made it an Arabic Qur'ān' (xii. 2, xiii. 37, xx. 112, xxxix. 29, xli. 2, xlii. 5, xliii. 2). what God made He created, as it is said: 'Who hath created the heavens and the earth' (vi. 1). Now, This view has been well stated by D. B. Mac-To which the reply is made: Are not the creation and the command His?' (vii. 52). Here there is a difference between the creation and the command, and, inasmuch as the command 'Be' creates, it cannot itself be created, and is, therefore, eternal. Some of the 'Abbasid Khalifs of Baghdad were supporters of the Mu'tazilites, and the Khalif Ma'mun in the year 212 A.H. issued a decree declaring that all who asserted that the Qur'an was eternal were heretics. A little later on the Khalif sent an order to the Prefect of Baghdad denouncing as a mere rabble and mob, as men of no insight or knowledge, those who held the orthodox views. He was told to assemble the Qaris, the Qur'an readers, to question them as to their opinions, and to inform them that the Khalif neither wished for nor would retain in his service any one whom he considered to be untrustworthy in the faith. inquiry was unsatisfactory, and so this order was issued: There had grown up very early in the Muslim community an unbounded reverence and awe in the presence of the Qur'an. In it God speaks, addressing His servant, the Prophet; the words, with few exceptions, are direct words of God. It is, therefore, easily intelligible that it came to be called the word of God (kalam Allah). But Muslim piety went further and held that it was uncreated and had existed from all eternity with God. Whatever proofs of this doctrine may have been brought forward later from the Qur'an itself, we can have no difficulty in recognizing that it is plainly derived from the Christian Logos and that the Greek Church, perhaps through John of Damascus, has again played a formative part. So, in correspondence with the heavenly and uncreated Logos in the bosom of the Father, there stands this uncreated and eternal Word of God; to the earthly manifestation in Jesus corresponds the Qur'an, the Word of God which we read and recite. The one is not the same as the other, but the idea to be gained from the expressions of the one is equivalent to the idea which we would gain from the other, if the veil of the flesh were removed from us and the spiritual world revealed' (Development of Muslim Theology, p. 146). It is interesting to notice how, right in the heart of the Islamic system, there is such a near approach to a great truth, and how, in rejecting the Incarnate Word, the eternal Son of God, Muslims have accepted instead the dead letter of a book. The history of the development of the Qur'an and of its exegesis lies outside the scope of this article; and so it only remains to state the various views on kalām, the word,' so far as they are connected with the question of inspiration (see, further, art. KALAM). The orthodox view of kalām, one of the attributes of God, is that God 'speaks, but not with a tongue as men do. He speaks to some of His servants without the intervention of another, even as He spoke to Moses, and to Muhammad on the night of the ascension to heaven. He speaks to others by the instrumentality of Gabriel, and this is the usual way in which He communicates His will to the prophets. It follows from this that the Qur'an is the word of God, and is eternal and uncreated' (Muhammad al-Birkawi, quoted in Sell, Faith of Islām 3, p. 187). The speech (kalām), then, that is necessary to God is not the glorious expressions revealed to the Prophet, because these are originated, and the quality that subsists in the essence of God is eternal. Both the glorious expressions and the eternal quality are called the Word of God; but the former are created and written in the Preserved Table, from which on the Night of Decree they were The 'What the pretenders to orthodoxy and the seekers after the authority for which they are unfitted have replied has reached me. Now, who does not admit that the Qur'an is created, suspend his exercise of judicial powers and his authority to relate cutta, 1881, ch. on Ma'mün). traditions' (Jalal-ad-din as-Suyuţi, History of the Khalifs, Cal The next Khalif, al-Mu'taşim, severely punished and imprisoned the Imam Ibn Hanbal (q.v.), a theo logian of great repute, because he would not admit that the Qur'an was created. Al-Buwaiti, a theo logian, was brought from Cairo to Baghdad, and there imprisoned till the day of his death for the same reason. Whilst they led him on fettered and chained, he kept repeating to himself, Almighty God created the world by means of the word "Be." Now, if that word was created, one created thing would have created another,' which he held to be impossible. The reference here is to the verse, 'Verily our speech unto a thing, when We will the same, is that we say to it only "Be," and it is' (xxxvi. 82). This was a standing argument against is a warning. the Mu'tazilites. So also the verse, Nay, but it (the Qur'an] written on honoured pages, exalted, purified' (xxx. 11f.), is said to refer to the eternal copy of the Hidden Table, an argument repudiated by the Mu'tazilites. When times changed and the orthodox returned to power, Imam ash-Shafi'i called before him a theologian named Hafs, and, quoting the verse, |