George Sale, The Koran, commonly called the Alcoran of Mohammed, translated into English immediately from the original Arabic; with Explanatory Notes, taken from the most approved Commentators. To which is prefixed A Preliminary Discource (1734)

turned out of doors by Abraham, had the open plains and desarts given him by God for his patrimony, with permission to take whatever he could find there. And on this account, they think they may, with a safe conscience, indemnify themselves, as well as they can, not only on the posterity of Isaac, but also on every body else; always supposing a sort of kindred between themselves and those they plunder. And in relating their adventures of this kind, they think it sufficient to change the expression, and instead of I robbed a man of such or such a thing, to say, I gained it ¹. We must not however imagine that they are the less honest for this among themselves, or towards those whom they receive as friends; on the contrary, the strictest probity is observed in their camp, where every thing is open, and nothing ever known to be stoln ².

The sciences the Arabians chiefly cultivated before Mohammedism, were three; that of their genealogies and history, such a knowledge of the stars as to foretel the changes of weather, and the interpretation of dreams ³. They used to value themselves excessively on account of the nobility of their families, and so many disputes happened on that occasion, that it is no wonder if they took great pains in settling their descents. What knowledge they had of the stars, was gathered from long experience, and not from any regular study, or astronomical rules ⁴. The Arabians, as the Indians also did, chiefly applied themselves to observe the fixed stars, contrary to other nations, whose observations were almost confined to the planets; and they foretold their effects from their influences, not their nature; and hence, as has been said, arose the difference of the idolatry of the Greeks and Chaldeans, who chiefly worshipped the planets, and that of the Indians, who worshipped the fixed stars. The stars or asterisms they most usually foretold the weather by, were those they call Anwâ, or the houses of the moon. These are 28 in number, and divide the zodiac into as many parts, thro’ one of which the moon passes every night; as some of them set in the morning, others rise opposite to them, which happens every 13th night, and from their rising and setting, the Arabs, by long experience, observed what changes happened in the air; and at length, as has been said, came to ascribe divine power to them; saying, that their rain was from such or such a star: which expression Mohammed condemned, and