العربية / Arabic Bible History (3)

**List: Arabic Ministry

Holy Bible ( الكتاب المقدس )
Arabic...
ARABIC.

"I.--PREDOMINANCE OF THE LANGUAGE.

IT is almost impossible to calculate with any degree of accuracy the amount of population by whom
this language is spoken.   The population of Arabia itself has been variously estimated from 10,000,000
to 14,000,000 inhabitants; but Arabic is also vernacular in Syria, in Mesopotamia, in part of Persia,
in some parts of the Malabar and Coromandel coasts of India, in Egypt, in Nubia, and in Barbary.
Arabic is also extensively used as the language of religion and commerce in Western, Eastern, and
Central Africa, and before the mies. had reduced some of the African dialects to writing,
Arabic was the only written language known to the natives of that vast continent.   As the language
of the Kor_n, Arabic is venerated and studied from "the western confines of Spain and Africa to the
Philippine Islands, over 130 degrees of longitude; and from the tropic of Capricorn to Tartary, over
70 degrees of latitude."
  Its importance as a medium of communication between distant nations may
be inferred from the reason assigned by the Rev. Henry Martyn for undertaking a new version of the
Arabic Testament.   "We will begin to preach," said that devoted my.,
"to Arabia, Syria,
Persia, Tartary, part of India and of China, half of Africa, all the sea-coast of the Mediterranean, and
Turkey, and one tongue shall suffice for them all."

II.--CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE.

   The Arabic language, in its earliest and rudest state, was the vernacular of a few nomadic tribes
who derived their descent from Kahtan, the son of Heber, a great grandson of Shem, and from
Ishmael (the son of Abraham, by Hagar), who, by his marriage with a daughter of Morad, of the
race of Kahtan, engrafted his posterity on the Arabic stock.   It was spoken among these tribes in a
variety of dialects, concerning which we now know little more than that the Koreish and the Hamiar
were the distinctive appellations of the two predominant dialects.   Moh_mm_d spoke the Koreish dialect,
and under his influence and that of his successors the other dialects insensibly merged into it.   Hence
the extraordinary copiousness of the Arabic language; the result, not of foreign admixture (for Arabia
was never conquered), but of the gradual amalgamation of numerous dialects into one.   The language
is rich both in lexicography and in grammatical forms.   It has a complete, though simple, system of

* From the Arabic Version published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1825.   Quarto.

declension; a stock of augmentatives and diminutives; thirteen conjugations of verbs, both in the
active and passive voice; two genders, masculine and feminine; three numbers, singular, dual, and
plural; and also a peculiar collective form of the plural which seems to belong almost exclusively to the
Arabic, Ethiopic, and Amharic languages, and is called the plural of paucity.   There is, as in Hebrew,
one article (al or el) answering in many respects to our English the; it appears in many words which
we have borrowed from the Arabic, as in Alcoran (literally the Kor_n), alcohol, algebra, etc.   The
particles are, as in most languages, indeclinable; and are divided into two classes, the separable and
the inseparable: the former are always used as prefixes, and the latter, though forming separate words,
always precede the word they govern.   The process of simplification which has ever been at work in
the modification of all vernacular languages, has not spared the antique forms of Arabic grammar.
There are as many distinct Arabic dialects as there are countries in which Arabic is spoken; and in
these dialects the inflexions of case, the passive form of the verb, and the dual, have more or less dis-
appeared.   Words and phrases from other languages have also in many cases been introduced.   The
Moorish and Syrian Arabs, like the Maltese, have adopted a negative form peculiar to French and its
dialects; the phrase il ne vient pas is, in their Arabic, mà yegychi ( answering to ne, and chi to pas).
Yet, amidst all these local changes, the modern Arabic still preserves a close resemblance to the Arabic
of the Kor_n, which is everywhere religiously upheld as the model of classic beauty and elegance.
   It is uncertain what alphabetical system was originally in use among the tribes of Arabia.   About
the time of Moh_mm_d, a style of writing was adopted by the tribe of Koreish, called the Cufic, from
the town of Cufa in Irak, in which it originated.   It is evidently derived from the Estrangelo Syriac
alphabet.   In this character, which is clumsy and inelegant, consisting mostly of straight strokes,
Moh_mm_d wrote the Kor_n; it was superseded in the tenth century by a character called the Nishki,
which has ever since continued in use, not only among the nations who write the Arabic language,
but also among the Turks and Persians.   De Sacy has proved that this character is at least as ancient
as the time of Moh_mm_d.   It appears that, about the period of the adoption of the Nishki character,
three vowel signs were introduced, placed, as in Hebrew, above or below the line, according to the
nature of the vowels.   There are twenty-eight consonants, and to many of them a different form is
appropriated, according to their position in words, as initial, medial, or final.

III.--VERSIONS AND PRINTED EDITIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES.

   It was in Arabia (as the district east of Damascus was then called) that the great Apostle of the
Gentiles commenced his ministrations (Gal. 1:17); but Christianity did not, as in Syria and Egypt,
become the established religion of the country;
and there are few, if any, very ancient versions of
Scripture in Arabic.   A version, of which no part is now extant, is said to have been made by Warka,
the son of Naufel, during the lifetime of Moh_mm_d; and this fact serves to account for the deep know-
ledge of Scripture displayed by the false prophet.   The most ancient of the MSS. that are known in
Europe seem to have been executed soon after the conquests of the Saracens, in the seventh century.
Towards the middle of the eighth century, John, Bishop of Seville, finding that the Latin language
was falling more and more into disuse, executed a translation from Jerome's Vulgate into Arabic.
The churches under the Patriarchates of Antioch and of Alexandria also produced translations in
Arabic, at different periods, from their ancient Church versions.   Printed editions of some of these
MSS. have been published at intervals since the year 1546.   The four Gospels were published at Rome
in 1591, the translation being directly from the Greek [Alexandrian Vulgate].   In 1616, an entire New Testament was
printed by Erpenius, at Leyden, from an exemplar said to have been executed in Upper Egypt by a
Coptic Bishop in the fourteenth century.   The Gospels of this edition are substantially the same as the
Roman text of 1591, but the Epistles bear internal evidence of having been derived from the Peshito,
while the book of Revelation is a translation from the Coptic.

   The first Arabic version printed in England was that in Walton's Polyglot, published 1657.
This version is merely a reprint of an Arabic translation of noted inaccuracy, published in 1645, in

the Paris Polyglot, but with the omissions supplied from one of the Selden MSS.   The Pentateuch
inserted in these Polyglots is said to have been first published in 1546, at Constantinople, by Saadias
Gaon, a Jewish teacher of Babylon, and is an unfaithful and inelegant production.   It is extremely
paraphrastic, and though in general it conforms to the Masoretic text, it sometimes follows the Chaldee
Targum of Onkelos, and sometimes the Septuagint.   The other books of the Polyglot editions are, for
the most part, by unknown writers; in some books the Syriac version is followed so closely, that, in
the London Polyglot, the same Latin translation, with a few marginal alterations, answers both to the
Syriac and to the Arabic texts.   The Gospels of the Polyglots are nearly the same as the Roman
and Erpenian texts
, but the other books of the New Testament are apparently a translation from the
Greek: they were printed from an Egyptian MS., and are supposed by some to have originally agreed
generally with the Erpenian version, but to have been altered by the editors.   Erpenius also published
the Pentateuch in Arabic at Leyden, in 1662, in Hebrew characters, from a MS. in the possession of
Scaliger, and supposed to have been made by an African Jew of the thirteenth century.   It is a direct
translation from the Hebrew
, to which it adheres so closely as to be almost unintelligible to persons
unacquainted with that language.
   The version of Abu Said, from the Samaritan Pentateuch, has been noticed in page 38.   An
edition of the entire Bible, in three volumes folio, was published by the Propaganda at Rome in 1671.
Forty-six years were consumed in transcribing and revising the text.   It was undertaken by order of
Pope Urban VIII., at the earnest request of several oriental prelates.
  Sergius Risius, the Maronite
Bishop of Damascus, was appointed, in conjunction with other learned men, to collate the various
printed copies with the original oriental versions of the Vulgate.   The work was completed in 1650,
but was subjected to a fresh revisal prior to publication, on account of its not being sufficiently con-
formable to the Vulgate.   An important edition of the Psalms in Arabic was published in London,
1725, by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.   The text of this edition is attributed to
Athanasius, the Melchite Patriarch of Antioch, and is valued on account of its fidelity.
  In 1727, an
Arabic New Testament was published by the same Society from the text of the Polyglot, corrected by
the editor, Solomon Negri.   Although 10,000 copies of this work were printed, the edition is now
extremely rare, for none of the copies were sold in Europe, and but few given to the learned.   Two
copies are preserved at Cambridge.   A great part of the edition was sent to Russia, for distribution in
the surrounding Moh_mm_dan countries.   An Arabic Bible is reported to have been printed at
Bucharest in 1700, and the Gospels at Aleppo in 1706, but little is known of these editions in
Europe.
   About the year 1811, an edition of the Scriptures in Arabic, from the text of the Polyglot, was
printed at Newcastle.   This work, projected by Professor Carlyle, was under the patronage of the
Bishop of Durham, and the Bible Society lent assistance to its publication and circulation.   It was
afterwards discovered that the churches of the East, for whom this edition was chiefly intended, are
scrupulously averse to the reception of any version except that which they have been accustomed to
recognise.   To meet their case, the Society, in 1820, issued 5000 copies of the New Testament from
the only text which these churches regard as genuine, namely, that published in 1671 by the Propa-
ganda: this was followed, in 1822, by an edition of the Old Testament from the same text,
published under the care of Professors Lee and Macbride.
  In 1819 the Society had printed an edition
of 3000 copies in 12mo. of the Psalter, from the text employed by the Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge, which text was likewise adopted at the celebrated press of the Convent of St. John the
Baptist, on Mount Libanus.   An attempt to produce a version of the New Testament in modern
Arabic was likewise made by the Rev. William Jowett during his travels in Syria: he employed a
learned priest of Jerusalem to commence a translation from the original Greek, on the basis of that
of the Propaganda
: the MS. was completed as far as the end of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and
sent to Malta, but never printed.
   The need of an improved translation of the Scriptures in Arabic, so long and so deeply felt by the

Eastern Churches, has at length been met by the Christian Knowledge Society.   Their agent, the
Rev. C. Schlienz, relates, as the result of his personal observations in the East, "that the only two
printed versions of the Arabic Bible (the edition of the Polyglot and that of the Propaganda) known
in Egypt and Syria, were both regarded with rooted antipathy by the Moh_mm_dans; the Polyglot
chiefly for its presumptuous impiety in adopting the phraseology of the Kor_n, and for its inequality
of style, and that of the Propaganda for its vulgarity and inelegancy of language."
  In 1839 the prepara-
tion of a new Arabic version was commenced, by the direction of the Society, under the superintendence
of the Rev. C. Schlienz.   The first draft of the whole translation was originally made by Mr. Fares
(admitted to be one of the best native Arabic scholars of the day), from the authorised English Bible, under
the directions of the late Professor Lee, by whom it was afterwards, to a very considerable extent, cor-
rected by the original Hebrew.   The printing was commenced in London under the superintendence of
Professor Lee, assisted by Mr. Fares, the proof-sheets passing also in succession through the hands of a
sub-committee of revision, consisting of able Biblical and Oriental scholars.   Upon the death of Dr. Lee,
in 1852, his place as principal editor was filled by Professor Jarrett, who, with the continued aid,
throughout, of Mr. Fares, carried the work through the press to its completion in 1856.   Thus an
uniform version of the Holy Scriptures, in pure Arabic, according to the Hebrew and Greek originals,
has at length been completed by God's blessing.
   Dr. Eli Smith, the well-known American my., stationed at Beyrout, had during several
years prior to his lamented decease (in 1856) been laboriously engaged in preparing a new translation
of the entire Bible into Arabic.

   A version of the New Testament in modern Arabic was printed at Calcutta in 1816, designed
principally for the learned and fastidious Moh_mm_dans in all parts of the world, who, it was thought,
might have been repelled from the study of Scripture by the antiquated style of former versions.
This translation was made by a learned Arabian scholar, the unhappy Sabat, under the supervision of
the Rev. S. M. Thomason.   The lamented Henry Martyn was deeply interested in Sabat, and the
production of his version; but he did not live to see it finished.
  A second edition was printed in
London in 1825, under the care of Professor Lee; and a third in Calcutta, by the Rev. S. M. Thomason,
in the following year: but the version has not been found generally acceptable in countries where the
language is vernacular, and it has not since been reprinted."
--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only]

ARABIC.   BFBS.--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only: "1825" John 1:1-14* unknown; used Allah.]

"IV.--RESULTS OF THE PROPAGATION OF THE ARABIC VERSION.

   Wherever the Arabic language prevails, there Moh_mm_danism is predominant; but among the
followers of the false prophet, the Arabic version is gradually and silently effecting the purposes of
God.   Perhaps no one version of the Scriptures has been received in so many countries, and blessed to
so many different nations, as the Arabic.   In Western Africa, the natives, on first receiving the copies
sent to them by the British and Foreign Bible Society, "were astonished that a white man should
have written this book in their favourite language."
  The Rev. T. Dove, my. at Macarthy's
Island, writing in 1835, expresses his belief that many of the Arabic Bibles, Testaments, and Psalters,
had been conveyed hundreds of miles into the interior of Africa.   "I have seen (said the Rev. Mr.
Richardson in 1838) Moors reading our Bible in their shops in broad day, in the midst of business; . . .
I have fallen upon these Moors by pure accident, and I have distributed many an Arabic Testament
with my own hands among these devotees of Moh_mm_d."
  "Even the sons of Kedar (says the Rev.
Mr. Ewald) have heard the Gospel sound beneath their tents, and have often and willingly bought the
word of the living God."
  In Egypt also the Arabic Scriptures sent by the British and Foreign Bible
Society were received with equal readiness, as is attested by the Rev. W. Jowett, in his account of his
mission thither, dated 1819.   In illustration of the results of the dissemination of the Scriptures in
that country, the Rev. Mr. Kruse, of the Church My. Society, writes from Cairo:--"Some few
Moh_mm_dans are coming to me, and in one or two I begin to hope the Scriptures are unfolding the
true light.   You will easily conceive how thankful I feel when I hear a Moh_mm_dan relating the

history and doctrine of our Saviour.   One, in particular, evidences that he has a clear knowledge of
the Scriptures, and I really believe that he has received the truth as it is in Jesus."

   Abdallah, an Arabian of noble birth, was converted from Isl_mism by the simple perusal of the
Bible.   When his conversion became known, Abdallah, to escape the vengeance of his countrymen,
fled from Cabul in disguise, but was met and recognised at Bokhara by Sabat: Abdallah, perceiving
his danger, threw himself at the feet of his friend, and besought him, by all the ties of their former
intimacy, to save his life.   "But," said Sabat, "I had no pity; I delivered him up to Morad Shah,
king of Bokhara."
  Abdallah was offered his life if he would abjure Christ, but he refused.   Then one
of his hands was cut off, and a physician, by command of the king, offered to heal the wound if he
would recant.   "He made no answer," said Sabat, "but looked up stedfastly towards heaven, like
Stephen, [one of] the first martyr[s], his eyes streaming with tears.   He did not look with anger towards me; he
looked at me, but it was benignly, and with the countenance of forgiveness.   His other hand was
then cut off.   But,"
continued Sabat, "he never changed, he never changed.   And when he bowed his
head to receive the blow of death, all Bokhara seemed to say, What new thing is this?"
"
--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only]

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