heated in the fire of hell, and their foreheads, and their sides, and their backs, shall be seared therewith;— This is that which ye have treasured up for yourselves, taste that which ye have treasured up." But of the Scriptures themselves, both of the Old and New Testaments, Mahomet never, from first to last, made mention but with profound respect and veneration.

The life of Mahomet was now drawing to a close, when in the 10th year of the Hegira, accompanied by his wives and by a vast multitude, he performed the "Farewell pilgrimage," of which the rites were now divested of every idolatrous association. On the sacred mount of Arafat he recited certain passages of the Corân, ending with the 4th verse of Sura V.:— "This day have I perfected my religion unto you." Returning to Medina, he admonished the people in

their various duties, social and domestic; and proclaimed the equality of every believer with his brother, and the sacredness of life and property. Then he recited the verses in Sura IX., which abolish intercalation of the year and prohibit change of the sacred months. He warned them of the wiles by which Satan would seek to beguile the faithful even in matters trifling and indifferent; and concluded:—"Verily I have fulfilled my mission. I have left that amongst you, a plain command,—the Book of God, and manifest ordinances,—which, if ye hold fast, ye shall never go astray."

Three months after, Mahomet fell sick;

A.H. 11.

and on the 8th of June, A.D. 632, he died, in the sixty-third year of his age.

CHAPTER II.

COMPILATION AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE CORÂN.

DURING the lifetime of Mahomet no attempt was made to collect the multitudinous revelations constituting the Corân, into one book. The various passages had been written down from his lips, from time to time at their delivery, by some friend or follower performing the office of amanuensis; or they had been first committed to memory, and then at some subsequent period recorded. For this purpose the rude materials in use among the Arabs were employed, as palm-leaves, leather, stone tablets, or the shoulderblades of goats and camels. There was no systematic arrangement of these materials. There were, indeed, recognized "Suras," or chapters; and it seems probable that the greater part of the revelation was so arranged during the Prophet's lifetime, and used in that form for private reading, and also for recitation at the daily prayers.* Some of the Suras were short and self-contained; others were longer, and from time to time were added to by the command of Mahomet, who would direct a new revelation to be "entered in the Sura treating of such and such a subject." There was no fixed repository for these materials; but there