TRANSLATIONS OF THE KORAN

Dr. D. S. Margoliouth recently called attention to a noteworthy fact, namely, that Islam in theory offers no facilities to those outside of its pale for the study of its character before they enter. "A man must enroll himself as a member first," he writes, "and then only may he learn what his obligations are. The Koran may not be sold to Unbelievers; soldiers are advised not to take it with them into hostile territory for fear the Unbeliever should get hold of it; and many a copy bears upon it a warning to Unbelievers not to touch. Pious grammarians have refused to teach grammar to Jews or Christians, because the rules were apt to be illustrated by quotations from the sacred volume." In how high a degree the Arabic language is to Moslems a wholly sacred language, not to be lightly regarded nor taught to unbelievers, one may learn from the commentaries on Surah Yusef, the first verse. "Those are the signs of the perspicuous Book. Verily we have revealed it, an Arabic Koran. Haply ye may understand." Et-Tabari, commenting on this verse, says: "God Most High caused this noted Book to come down an Arabic Koran to the Arabs, for their tongue and speech is Arabic. We, therefore, revealed this Book in their language that they might be wise and fully understand." The Arabic Koran is today the one sacred textbook in all Moslem schools in Turkey, Afghanistan, Java, Sumatra, Russia and China, as well as in those lands where Arabic is the mother tongue. Yet to three-fourths of the Moslem world Arabic is a dead language; for Islam spread even more rapidly than did the language of the Koran, and in consequence