" (Sale's Koran, c. ii. p.
17.) "He hath ordained you the religion which he commanded Noah, and
which we have revealed unto thee, O Mohammed, and which we commanded
Abraham, and Moses, and Jesus, saying, Observe this religion, and be not
divided therein." (Sale's Koran, c. xlii. p. 393.) "He hath chosen you,
and hath not imposed on you any difficulty in the religion which he hath
given you, the religion of your father Abraham." (Sale's Koran, c. xxii.
p. 281.)
2. The author of the Koran never ceases from describing the future
anguish of unbelievers, their despair, regret, penitence, and torment.
It is the point which he labours above all others. And these
descriptions are conceived in terms which will appear in no small
degree impressive, even to the modern reader of an English translation.
Doubtless they would operate with much greater force upon the minds of
those to whom they were immediately directed. The terror which they seem
well calculated to inspire would be to many tempers a powerful
application.
3. On the other hand: his voluptuous paradise; his robes of silk, his
palaces of marble, his riven, and shades, his groves and couches, his
wines, his dainties; and, above all, his seventy-two virgins assigned to
each of the faithful, of resplendent beauty and eternal
youth--intoxicated the imaginations, and seized the passions of his
Eastern followers.
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