Dodge City times., 1877-07-07

Pious Mohammedans can tell YOU the
exact number OF letters which their sa
cred book contains, namely, 323, ,O15;
and the number of words, a .639- Ii i,
divided into one hundred and fourteen
portions, which we should call chapters,
some of which only consist of a few
lines, and others of twenty pages OF
more, the whole work being about equal
in volume to the New Testament.
1t is otherwise divided into thirty por-
tions, each of which contains about as
much AS man can read aloud at one time
without fatigue. Attached to important
mosques there are thirty readers, each
of whom reads one of these portions
every day in the year, so that the entire
Koran is read daily Each reader has
his portion bound by itself in small
volume for his own use. at this mo-
ment when your ewes fall upon these
lines, in thousands of Mohammedan
temples the words of the Prophet are in
toned by the sacred readers. The word
Koran, in fact, means a reading, and
the first word of il ever written was the
verb in the imperative mood, read! 1t
is not correct to call it, as many do, the
Al-Koran, because Al itself is the Arabic
word for the"
Perhaps the first thing that usually
strikes an infidel reader (he Mohamme-
dams call all the world iniidels but them
selvesl is the strange titles of the chap
ters; one being called, The Cow; an
other, The Table; another, Hud; an
other, Thunder; another, The Bee; an
other, The Night Journey; another, The
Cave; another, Abraham; another, T.
H. Usually, but not always, the title has
some obvious reference to a portion of
the contents of the chapter; but no one,
/ believe, has yet explained why some
of the chapters have only letter or two
for title. One of them is simply enti-
tied X; and extensive treatises have
been written TO explain this letter, which,
however, remains unexplained. Per-
haps it simply refers to the opening
words, which are; ''By the glorious
Koran," The chapter entitled The
Cow is one Of much length, but it is SO
named because there is in the middle of |
il short rigmarole story OF a cow. This
passage may serve rs specimen of the |
Koran:
And when Moses said unto his peo-
pie, Verify God commander you to
sacrifice cow they answered, 'Dost
thou make a Jest of us?" Moses said.
God forbid that should be one of the |
foolish They said, pray for us unto
thy Lord that he wculd show us what
COW il is Moses answered, He saith
she is neither an old COW, nor a young
heifer, but of middle age between
both; do We, therefore, that which We
are commanied' They said, pray for
us unto thy Lord that he would show us
what color she is Of Moses answered,
He saith, She is red COW, intensely
red; her color rejoiceth the beholder
She is a COW not broken 10 plough the
earth, or water the field, sound one,
there is no blemish in her. They said,
.Now hast thou brought forth the truth
Then they sacrificed her; Yet they want
ed but little of leaving it undone.'
Seven-tenths Of the Koran are no bet
ter than this, and all there is in it which
possesses either power, truth, or value,
is derived from the Bible. Besides the
general doctrines of one God, the resur-
rection, and mems accountability, the
Koran gives minute details upon these
points. being fullest of all upon the res
direction and the future state The
are taught to believethat, ]
when a body is laid in the grave, it is ,
received there by an angel, who gives it
notice of the approach of two examin- !
ers. black angels of frightful appear
snce, named Mouker and Nakir. The ,
lead man is ordered by these to sit up
light. and they question him concerning |
lis faith. If he gives right answers the |
'ody rests in peace until the resurrec ,
ion, ever refreshed by an air blowing t
rom Paradise. But woe TO Il poor corpse t
whose faith proves not To be orthodox! (