[Footnote 99: In the prophetic style, which uses the present
or past for the future, Mahomet had said, Appropinquavit
hora, et scissa est luna, (Koran, c. 54, v. 1; in Maracci,
tom. ii. p. 688.) This figure of rhetoric has been converted
into a fact, which is said to be attested by the most
respectable eye-witnesses, (Maracci, tom. ii. p. 690.) The
festival is still celebrated by the Persians, (Chardin, tom.
iv. p. 201;) and the legend is tediously spun out by
Gagnier, (Vie de Mahomet, tom. i. p. 183 - 234,) on the
faith, as it should seem, of the credulous Al Jannabi. Yet
a Mahometan doctor has arraigned the credit of the principal
witness, (apud Pocock, Specimen, p. 187;) the best
interpreters are content with the simple sense of the Koran.
(Al Beidawi, apud Hottinger, Hist. Orient. l. ii. p. 302;)
and the silence of Abulfeda is worthy of a prince and a
philosopher.
Note: Compare Hamaker Notes to Inc. Auct. Lib. de Exped.
Memphides, p. 62 - M.]