The above quotations are sufficient to show that learned Shia theologians agree with all the other Islamic sects in holding the contents and arrangement of the Qur-án to be exactly in the condition in which the Holy Prophet left them. In fact, it is easy to see that if, as is admitted on all hands, the Holy Qur-án could be handed down to us from the time of 'Us̲man without any alteration or loss, during a long period of nearly thirteen hundred years, with the Muslims spread in every country and in all corners of the world, all agreeing upon one and the same book with no variation, not even so much as of a letter or a vowel-point, it is the height of absurdity to suppose that alteration or loss could take place in the thirteen years after the death of the Holy Prophet, when the Muslims were all yet in one place, and when many of those were still living who had learnt the whole of the Qur-án by heart direct from the Holy Prophet. The circumstances which contributed to the preservation of the purity of the text and arrangement of the Holy Qur-án after 'Us̲man were present even in a greater degree in the early Muslim society. The companions of the Holy Prophet and the early Muslims all knew and believed that nothing had been lost or omitted from the Holy Qur-án. Bukharee tells us in a report, the truth of which has never been questioned, that when Ibn-i-’Abbas and Muhammad bin Hanfiah (’Ali’s son by a wife belonging to the Hanafi tribe) were asked as to what the Holy Prophet had left behind him, they both replied: "He left nothing but what is contained between the two boards," i.e. in the copies of the Qur-án as circulated by 'Us̲man, for it was to these copies that the words má bain-ad-daffatain, or "what is contained between the two boards," were first applied.
In conclusion, I should like to say that my object in dealing at some length with the above two points, viz. the summary of the teachings of the Holy Qur-án and its collection and arrangement, is to give the reader of this volume an idea how religion has been made perfect in Islam and then guarded against every corruption; and thus I have established the two points which demonstrate Islam to be the final religion of the world, under the banner of which all the nations may gather together and form one vast brotherhood of humanity. We know that not only has no other scripture ever advanced the claim of being a perfect and final manifestation of the Divine will, as the Qur-án has done, but further, that every religious scripture revealed before the Holy Qur-án has undergone alterations in the course of time, and the Holy Qur-án is therefore the only Book that can be a true guide for an ever-advancing humanity.
Chief features of the work.
So much for the sacred work of which a translation is offered in this volume. As regards the translation itself, I need not say much. That a need was felt for a translation of the Holy Book with full explanatory notes, in spite of the existing translations, is universally admitted; that this translation satisfies that need, only time will decide. I may, however, say that as regards the translation (as distinguished from the explanatory notes) I have tried to be more faithful to the words of the Holy Writ than all existing translations in the English language, among which Palmer has remained nearest to the words. I have, however, given up the antiquated thou (except when the Divine Being is addressed), but have in all such cases, and in other cases where sense would have been sacrificed by a too literal rendering, given the exact significance of the original in the margin, showing the departure by the use of italics. It
