THE QURAN.
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or Mansúkh, with those verses which cancel them, or are Násikh.[1]
- ↑ It is to be regretted that the Greek verb καταλύω, in St. Matthew v. 17, has been translated in some of the versions of the New Testament by mansúkh; for it gives rise to needless controversy, and conveys a wrong impression to the Muhammadan mind as to the Christian view regarding this question. According to most Greek lexicons, the Greek word means to throw down, or to destroy (as of a building), which is the meaning given to the word in our authorized English translation. Christ did not come to destroy, or to pull down, the Law and the Prophets; but we all admit that certain precepts of the Old Testament were abrogated by those of the New Testament. Indeed we further admit that the old covenant was abrogated by the new covenant of grace. "He taketh away the first that he may establish the second," Heb. x. 9.
In the Arabic translation of the New Testament, printed at Beyrut A.D. 1869, καταλύω is translated by naqz, "to demolish"; and in Mr. Loewenthal's Pashto translation, A.D. 1863, by bátilawal, "to destroy," or "render void"; and in Henry Martyn's Persian Testament, A.D. 1837, it is also translated by the Arabic ibtál, i. e. "making void." In both the Arabic-Urdú and Roman-Urdú it is unfortunately rendered mansúkh, a word which has a technical meaning in Muhammadan theology contrary to that implied in the word used by our Lord in Matthew v. 17.
