ITS ORIGIN, ITS STRENGTH, AND ITS WEAKNESS. - 153 
Black Stone, in token of deep reverence if not of actual 
worship. 
3. The Jews held in Muhammad’s earlier life a position of 
great power and influence in Arabia.* They constituted 
several very numerous tribes, as the Bani Qureidhah, the 
Bani Qeinuga‘a, the Bani Nadhir and many others. Although 
they do not seem to have been distinguished for learning, 
yet they undoubtedly preserved their ancestral veneration for 
the books of the Old Testament, and many Talmudic legends 
and tales lived in the mouths of the people. Muhammad 
found that their possession of inspired books gave the Jews 
a position of great religious importance in the eyes of his 
countrymen, which was augmented by the fact of their direct 
descent from Abraham, of their own connection with whom 
the Arabs were so proud. He could not doubt that the Jews 
still preserved the Religion of Abraham, for which his prede- 
cessors the Hanifst had resolved to Search. The monotheism 
of the Jews and their aversion to idolatry would also exercise 
a very favourable influence upon Muhammad’s mind,and would 
predispose him to endeavour to ally them with himself in his 
campaign against the corruptions which he discovered to have 
crept into the religion of his fellow countrymen. The Qur’én 
- shows} in the clearest manner possible how much of his 
teaching Muhammad borrowed from the Jews. Again and 
again he professes that his religion is the same as that which 
the “People of the] Book” had received by Divine{ revela- 
* Vide Siratwr Ras] and all Arabic historians ; also cf. Rabbi Geiger, 
“Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume aufgenommen ?” pp. 6-9, 
et alabi. 
+ Ibid., p. 10. 
I Regarding whem see an interesting account in Ibn Hish4m, Part I, 
pp. 76, sgg. The chief of these Hanis or “Orthodox Believers” were 
Waragah bin Naufil, ‘Ubeidu’ll4h bin Jahsh, ‘Uthman bnw’l Huweirith, 
and Zeid bin ‘Amr. 
§ See this proved at length in Rabbi Geiger, “ Was hat Mohammed aus 
dem Judenthume aufgenommen ?” 
ZA Ce JUS 
|| wis | cal ; the Jews, Christians, and perhaps Sabaeans, are se 
called in the Qur’4n passim, but the epithet is most commonly used in 
reference to the Jews especially. 
“| This is most fully confessed in the Qur’4n in many places, e.g., Sarah 
II, 130 :— 
A AG Ua a VG PARTE AANA an). CE Ree EEL eS, 
rrr y pay! ds! Jj! Leg ul jl bey AY Ly vel Vylys 
mM 2 
