As for himself, Mahomet had no shame in avowing that his chief pleasures
were perfumes and women.
THE KORAN
The _Koran_ is held by the Mahometans in the greatest veneration. The
book must not be touched by anybody but a Mussulman, nor even by a
believer except he be free from pollution. Whether the _Koran_ be
created or uncreated has been the subject of a controversy fruitful of
the most violent persecutions. The orthodox opinion is that the original
has been written from all eternity on the preserved table. Of this they
believe a complete transcript was brought down to the lower heaven (that
of the moon) by the angel Gabriel, and thence taken and shown to
Mahomet, once every year of his mission, and twice in the last year of
his life. They assert, however, that it was only piecemeal, that the
several parts were _revealed_ by the angel to the prophet, and that he
immediately dictated what had been revealed to his secretary, who wrote
it down. Each part, as soon as it was thus copied out, was communicated
to his disciples, to get by heart, and was afterward deposited in what
he called the chest of his apostleship.
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