acquainted with the sacred books and doctrines of Jews and Christians. (Kitab
al-Aghâni, 16. Delhi.) Muhammad adopted and constantly used it, and it is
prefixed to each Sura except the ninth. The former of the two epithets
implies that the mercy of God is exercised as occasions arise, towards all
his creatures; the latter that the quality of mercy is inherent in God and
permanent, so that there is only a shade of difference between the two words.
Maracci well renders, In Nomine Dei Miseratoris, Misericordis. The rendering
I have adopted is that of Mr. Lane in his extracts from the Koran. See also
Freytag's Lex. ii. p. 133. Perhaps, In the name of Allah, the God of Mercy,
the Merciful, would more fully express the original Arabic. The first five
verses of this Sura are, in the opinion of nearly all commentators, ancient
and modern, the earliest revelations made to Muhammad, in the 40th year of
his life, and the starting point of El-Islam. (See the authorities quoted in
detail in Nöldeke's Geschichte des Qorâns, p. 62, n.)

3 The usual rendering is read. But the word qaraa, which is the root of the
word Koran, analogous to the Rabbinic mikra, rather means to address, recite;
and with regard to its etymology and use in the kindred dialects to call, cry
aloud, proclaim. Compare Isai. lviii. 1; 1 Kings xviii. 37; and Gesen.
Thesaur. on the Hebrew root. I understand this passage to mean, "Preach to
thy fellow men what thou believest to be true of thy Lord who has created man
from the meanest materials, and can in like manner prosper the truth which
thou proclaimest. He has taught man the art of writing (recently introduced
at Mecca) and in this thou wilt find a powerful help for propagating the
knowledge of the divine Unity." The speaker in this, as in all the Suras, is
Gabriel, of whom Muhammad had, as he believed, a vision on the mountain Hirâ,
near Mecca. See note 1 on the next page. The details of the vision are quite
unhistorical.

4 This, and the following verses, may have been added at a later period,