156 THE REV. W. ST. CLAIR TISDALL, M.A., ON ISLAM: 
ment, of whom he often* makes mention in the Qur’an, and 
concerning whom he tells some marvellous tales, of which 
Solomon’sf conversation with a lapwing, his armies of gent 
and men and birds, and the tale of the ‘/frit brmging him 
Queen Balkis’ throne, are fairspecimens. Itis beyond dispute, 
moreover, that Muhammad’s belief in the One True Gop, 
though not learnt directly from the Jews, was much strength- 
ened by his intercourse with them. We may infer that his 
iconoclasm owed something to the same influence. But the 
impress which Talmudicf Judaism, as it then existed in 
Arabia, has left on the religion of Muhammad is deeper still. 
Arabian Judaism at that time was the direct offsprmg and 
the development of the Pharisaism into which the Jews of 
our Lord’s day had corrupted the religion of the Prophets. 
It was a faith which attached an extreme value to outward 
observances, such as fasting, pilgrimages, ceremonial rites, 
washings, fixed times of prayer, etc. Muhammad§ was very 
naturally therefore led to deem these things of very great 
importance. The Pharisaism of the Jews thus became the 
parent of that which is now manifested in Islam. Muhamma- 
dans themselves at the present day are often struck on 
reading the New Testament (when they can be persuaded to 
do so) by observing how completely the spirit, and much of 
the form also, of their own faith aceords with that of the 
Pharisees condemned by our Lord. No attentive reader of 
* Eg. m Sirah XIX, 42, sqg. Vide also his references to Aaron 
(II, 249, sqq.), Abraham (II, 1380, e¢ passim), David (XXXIV, 10, etc.), 
Enoch (XIX, 57, etc.), Elisha (VI, 86), Elijah (VI, 85), Ezra (LX, 30), 
Job, Jonah, Joseph, Joshua, Noah, Solomon, Zacharias, ete. 
fT sOrah XOOVall: 
t The Talmud was completed about a century before Muhammad’s 
time, the Babylonian Gemara having been finished about 4.D. 530, the 
Jerusalem Gemara about a.p. 430, and the Mishna about A.D, 220 
(Gfrorer’s ‘“ Jahrhundert des Heils,” pp. 11-44). R. Geiger (op. ett., pp. 
9, 10) says: “ Dass die jiidische Glaubensansicht eine voilig durchgebil- 
dete und ganz in das Leben aller Gemeindeglieder eingedrungene schon 
damals gewesen sei, liisst sowohl ihr Alter nicht bezweifeln als auch 
vorziiglich die schon zu Stande gebrachte Beendigung des Talmuds.’ 
§ Hauri (“ Der Islam,” pp. 43, 44) says: “Das ganze Leben ist in 
religidse Formen eingeschlossen : tigliche Gebete, Festtage, Wallfahrten, 
Fasten, Enthaltung von gewissen Speisen und dussere Reinigungen. Das 
ist die Religiositiil, mit welcher Mohammed bekannt wurde, und sie hat 
auf seine Stiftung so grossen Einfluss geiibt, dass wir sagen miissen : Der 
Islam ist nicht eine neue Religion, auf ein neues Princip gebaut, sondern 
nur eine Vermengung des einseitig gewordenen Judenthums mit arabis- 
chem Heidenthum.” 
