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)

feuds and quarrels among men, which generally arose on account of one of the two. Kobâd himself embraced the opinions of this impostor, to whom he gave leave, according to his new doctrine, to lie with the queen his wife; which permission Anushirwân, his son, with much difficulty prevailed on Mazdak not to make use of. These sects had certainly been the immediate ruin of the Persian empire, had noc Anushirwân, as soon as he succeeded his father, put Mazdak to death with all his followers, and the Manicheans also, restoring the ancient Magian religion ¹.

In the reign of this prince, deservedly surnamed the Just, Mohammed was born. He was the last king of Persia who deserved the throne, which after hiin was almost perpetually contended for, till subverted by the Arabs. His son Hormûz lost the love of his subjects by his excessive cruelty; having had his eyes put out by his wife’s brothers, he was obliged to resign the crown to his son Khosrû Parvîz, who at the instigation of Bahrâm Chubîn had rebelled against him, and was afterwards strangled. Parviz was soon obliged to quit the throne to Bahrâm; but obtaining succours of the Greek emperor Maurice, he recovered the crown: yet towards the latter end of a long reign he grew so tyrannical and hateful to his subjects, that they held private correspondence with the Arabs; and he was at length deposed, imprisoned, and slain by his son Shirûyeh ². After Parviz no less than six princes possessed the throne in less than six years. These domestic broils effectually brought ruin upon the Persians; for tho’ they did rather by the weakness of the Greeks, than their own force, ravage Syria and sack Jerusalem and Damascus under Khofrû Parviz; and, while the Arabs were divided and independent, had some power in the province of Yaman, where they set up the four last kings before Mohammed; yet when attacked by the Greeks under Heraclius; they not only lost their new conquests, but part of their own dominions, and no sooner were the Arabs united by Mohammedism, than they beat them in every battle, and in a few years totally subdued them.

The flourishing state of Arabia.
As these empires were weak and declining, so Arabia, at Mohammed’s setting up, was strong and flourishing; having been peopled at the expence of the Grecian empire, whence the violent proceedings of the domineering sects forced many to seek refuge in a free country, as Arabia then was, where they who could not enjoy tranquillity and their conscience at home, found a secure retreat. The Arabians were not only a populous nation, but unacquainted with the luxury and