Author of the Life of Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe; Cairo: Sketches of its History BP165 134 1873 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. A common subject binds these essays together: they all treat of Islam in its manifold phases, from its humble birth at Mekka to its apotheosis in the Persian Miracle Play; even the Sabians may be called in a sense a Koranic sect. The treatment is doubtless slight, and many important developments of the Mohammadan religion are scarcely touched upon; but the general reader, for whom the essays were written, will probably pardon the lack of learned elaboration. The chapters on Islām in China and on the Mohammadan conception of Hell have been added in this edition. Chapters IV., VII., VIII., and IX. are reprinted by permission from the "Edinburgh Review;" Chapter V. from the "Saturday Review;" and Chapter X. is reproduced from a collection of eschatological essays published in America, under the title of "That Unseen Country," by Messrs. Nichols, of Springfield, Mass. The first three Chapters originally appeared as an introduction to my edition of Lane's "Selections from the Kur-án " in Trübner's Oriental Series, and that on the Brotherhood of Purity was first published in the present work. ATHENEUM, 1 Nov., 1892. M514189 S. L.-P. |