the founder of a sect among the Mohammedans, which maintained that the Koran was an animated being, sometimes a man, sometimes a beast. This opinion has sometimes been supposed to be an allegory, signifying that the Koran becomes good or bad according to the true or false exposition of it; and' in this sense the most orthodox Mussulmans often say that the Koran has two faces, that of a man and that of a beast, meaning thereby the literal and spiritual sense.