THE MEKKA SPEECHES.
I.--THE POETIC PERIOD.
The rhyming prose in which the Korān is written may be seen to best
advantage in this earliest phase of Mohammad’s oratory, when the
sentences are short and the rhythm more _chantant_ than in the later
speeches. “The Smiting” (p. 7), will serve as a specimen of the sound
of the original Arabic, as far as it can be represented in Roman
characters:--
_Bismi-llahi-r-rahmāni-r-rahīm_
_El-kāri'atu mā-l-kāri'ah_
_Wa-mā adrāka mā-l-kāri'ah_
_Yawma yekūnu-n-nāsu ke-l-farāsi-l-mabthūth_
_Wa-tekūnu-l-jibālu ke-l-'ihni-l-manfūsh_
_Fe-amma men thekulet mawāzīnuhu fe-huwa fī 'īshetin rādiyeh_
_Wa-amma men khaffet mawāzīnuhu fe-ummuhu hāwiyeh_
_Wa-mā adrāka mā hiyeh_
_Nārun hāmiyeh_