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truths of religion, and only touches matters of secondary import, e.g., as the changing of Kibla from Jerusalem to Mecca. Different writers have estimated the number of the abrogated verses from five to five hundred, but many of them are presumably still incorporated in the Qur'an.
It is thus clear that, in order to understand the true teaching of the creed of the Crescent, one has to reject a number of verses, on the ground that they form no part of religion proper. Add to this the fact that Mahomed was not only a preacher and a statesman, but a law-giver as well, and the number of passages to be rejected becomes still greater ; for the law which the Prophet gave was suitable only to the exigencies and requirements of his own time, and essentially applicable to his own people, not of general or universal applicability.
The salient features of the Qur'an may now be categorically stated. It consists of:
(1) the essential and eternal truths of philosophy which are the true basis of religion,
(2) the rules of law, essentially applicable to the circumstances of the country, at the time of the Prophet,
(3) the verses which have been abrogated,
(4) some stray observations of the Prophet, made from time to time, which are valuable only in so far as they emanate from a great person, but which possess little or no value otherwise, and
(5) a large number of allegories and myths of the Zoroastrians, the Assyrians, the Jews and others, adopted and varied to suit the requirements of the Prophet's teaching
A glance at the above classification of the contents
and
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