98 THE CORÂN.

These are they for whom there is no portion in the next life but fire: and that which they have done shall perish therein; vain will that be which they have wrought.
What! (shall such a one be equal unto him) who proceedeth upon a plain direction from his Lord; and a witness from him (i.e. from the Lord) attendeth him, and before him (or it) is the Book of Moses a guide and a mercy.

In drawing a picture between the wicked who shall perish, and the true believer, it is prominently noticed that the latter is a follower of Mahomet (or of the Corân,) preceded by the Book of Moses, which is a Guide and a Mercy. This entirely coincides with the honourable and reverent mention of the Scriptures throughout the Corân.

XXXII—SURA XI., v. 3[110].

سورة هود

وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا مُوسَى الْكِتَابَ فَاخْتُلِفَ فِيهِ وَلَوْلاَ كَلِمَةٌ سَبَقَتْ مِن رَّبِّكَ لَقُضِيَ بَيْنَهُمْ وَإِنَّهُمْ لَفِي شَكٍّ مِّنْهُ مُرِيبٍ

And verily We gave Moses the book, and they fell to variance regarding it. And had not the word gone forth from thy Lord, surely the matter had been decided between them; and verily they are in perplexing doubt concerning the same.

A testimony to the divine origin of the Book of Moses. For the rest see remarks on the passage quoted in Art. XXIV., with which the text corresponds.

TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 99
XXIII.—SURA X., v. 37[-38].

سورة يونس

وَمَا كَانَ هَـذَا الْقُرْآنُ أَن يُفْتَرَى مِن دُونِ اللّهِ وَلَـكِن تَصْدِيقَ الَّذِي بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ وَتَفْصِيلَ الْكِتَابِ لاَ رَيْبَ فِيهِ مِن رَّبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
أَمْ يَقُولُونَ افْتَرَاهُ قُلْ فَأْتُواْ بِسُورَةٍ مِّثْلِهِ وَادْعُواْ مَنِ اسْتَطَعْتُم مِّن دُونِ اللّهِ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ

And this Corân is not such that it could have been fabricated by other than God; but it is an attestation of that (i.e. of those Scriptures) which precede it, and an explanation of the book,—there is no doubt therein,—from the Lord of creation. 
What! will they say, he (Mahomet) hath forged it? Say,—then bring a Sura like unto it.

When accused of fabricating the Corân, Mahomet, as on other occasions, appeals to the argument that it cannot be so, because the Corân is an attestation of the previous Scriptures.

"An attestation of that which is before it" (lit., between its hands,) viz; "of the Scriptures preceding it," الذي بين يديه من الكتب Jelalooddeen; or, "corresponding with the divine books that precede it," مطابق لما تقدمه من الكتب الألهية

Such reference to the Corân, as confirming the preceding divine books, or corresponding with their contents, forms a virtual appeal to the books themselves as in the hands of the "People of the book," and easily accessible to the inhabitants of Mecca; and is inconsistent with any other supposition but that those Scriptures were held by Mahomet to be divine, authentic, and uncorrupted.