have not touched upon. Political matters, such as the formation of treaties,
the conduct of the disaffected, and the treatment of allies, all now find a
place in the Qur'an. Civil matters, such as laws for marriage, divorce,
inheritance, evidence, wills and so on are also treated of, and the Qur'an
becomes the record wherein are contained the rules and regulations of a
theocratic government. 1 For the most part these occur in the Madina
Suras. The second, fourth and fifth Suras, equivalent in length to about
one-seventh part of the Qur'an, deal very fully with religious and civil duties
and penal regulations. It is the weakness of Islam that in all these matters it
claims to be a final and perfect revelation. It is not, as Judaism was, a local
and temporary system, leading men on to fuller truth; for it asserts itself as
the universal and final religion. Some of its laws may have been judicious, as a
temporary expedient with barbarous races, but they are intolerable when
'proclaimed as the ultimate voice of conscience.'
It has been said, 'considered as delivered only to pagan Arabs, the
religious, moral and civil precepts of the Qur'an are admirable. The error of
their author was in delivering them to others beside pagan Arabs.' The temporary
reform, being exalted to the position of a divine unchangeable