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• Preface.
• Sale’s Preface to the Preliminary Discourse and Translation.
• Sale’s Preliminary Discourse.
• Section 1.: Of the Arabs Before Muhammad; Or, As They Express It, In the Time of Ignorance; Their History, * Religion, Learning, and Customs.
• Section II.: Of the State of Christianity, Particularly of the Eastern Churches, and of Judaism, At the Time of Muhammad’s Appearance; and of the Methods Taken By Him For the Establishing His Religion, and the Circumstances Which Concurred Thereto.
• Section III.: Of the QurÁn Itself, the Peculiarities of That Book; the Manner of Its Being Written and Published, and the General Design of It.
• Section IV.: Of the Doctrines and Positive Precepts of the QurÁn, Which Relate to Faith and Religious Duties.
• Section V.: Of Nertain Negative Precepts In the QurÁn.
• Section VI.: Of the Institutions of the QurÁn In Civil Affairs
• Section VII.: Of the Months Commanded By the QurÁn to Be Kept Sacred, and of the Setting Apart of Friday For the Especial Service of God.
• Section VIII.: Of the Prinzipad Sects Among the Muhammadans, and of Those Who Have Pretended to Prophecy Among the Arabs In Or Since the Time of Muhammad
• The QurÁn.
• Chapter I.: Entitled Surat Ul FÁtihat (the Preface). Revealed At Makkah.
• Introduction.
• In the Name of the Most Merciful God.
• Chapter II.: Entitled Surat Ul Baqr (the Cow). Revealed Partly At Makkah and Partly At Madína.
• Introduction.
• In the Name of the Most Merciful God.

INTRODUCTION.

“The title of this chapter was occasioned by the story of the red heifer” (in vers. 66-73) —Sale.

“In this Sura are collected the passages composed in the first two or three years of Mahomet’s stay at Medina. The greater part relates to the Jews, with biblical and rabbinical stories, notice of the change of the Kibla, &c. The disaffected citizens are also denounced in it. There is likewise much matter of a legislative character, produced during the first Medina stage, with additions and interpolations from the revelations of later stages.”—Muir’s Life of Mahomet, vol. iii, Appendix.

The following is a brief analysis of this chapter, based for the most part on Noeldeke’s Origine et Compositions Surarum Quranicarum ipsiusque Quráni, showing Makkan and Madina revelations, probable date of composition, and principal topics treated.

Makkan Revelations.

These are found in verses 21-38, 164-172, and probably 254-257, 285, and 286. They belong to the period of Muhammad’s mission previous to the Hijra.

Madina Revelations.

These make up the bulk of the chapter, and are found in verses 1-20, 39-153, 173-253, and 258-284.

As to the date of composition, verses 1-20, 39-153, 173-185, 203-253, and 258-284, belong to the interval between the Hijra and the early part of a.h. 2. Verses 154-163 were revealed soon after the battle of Badr, a.h. 2. Verses 186, 187, belong to a.h. 3, and verses 188-202 must be referred to a period shortly before the pilgrimage to Makkah in a.h. 7.