ITS ORIGIN, ITS STRENGTH, AND ITS WEAKNESS. 157 
the Qur’an can fail to notice how completely the book breathes 
throughout the spirit of this corrupt and slavish form of 
Judaism. Hence a recent writer* well terms Islim “the 
Religion of Revelation translated into flesh,” in order to show 
its servile and carnal character, its professors being—in 
keeping with Muhammad’s descent from Ishmael and Hagar 
—children of the bondwoman and not of the free. 
4, From orthodox Christianity Islam borrowed little. 
Although in the Qur'an there are no less than 131 referencesf 
to the Holy Scriptures by name, yet there is only onef direct 
quotation from the Old Testament and another less direct§ 
from the New, together with the assertion that Christ pre- 
dicted the coming of a prophet called|] Ahmad, the same 
name as Muhammad. ‘The “ Prophet” could learn little he 
cared to know from the corrupt Eastern Church of his time. 
But there lingered among the many sects of Christians and 
Christian heretics then to be found in Arabia, Syria, and 
* Grau, “ Kulturentwickelung,” p. 1388; “Keineswegs aber ward im 
Islam das Heidenthum vollstandig iiberwunden; vielmehr ist er nur 
die ins Fleisch iibersetzte Religion der Offenbarung, das Kind der Magd 
und nicht der Freien, wie Ismael.” 
+ Vide each such passage quoted in the original and commented on in 
Sir W. Muiv’s “The Coran” (S.P.C.K.). 
_t In Sfirah XXI, 105— 
she a BIT Gl SH oe Ge opp ad UGS ad 
ren G ~o 
Sepsl 
(The quotation here is from Ps. xxxvii, 11). 
§ Sarah VIT, 38 :— 
oa 4 Say COGIC a wes CRIA ALI 77 
(Cf. Matt. xix, 24), 
|| Sarah LXI, 6 :— 
S 
LP 7 27 7767 9 URO 
wl 4 at re ey Jalal eat ere sph dy? je 3 
Cr & ew Gr a DA ae - AE Se 
Poy erik Son Utica 31 yy | wt EN ow bd) Gace 
SE IF UR 
Muhammad evidently meant to refer to John, xvi, 7, syg. He no doubt 
misunderstood the word TlapdkAyros, and imagined it meant what 
Tepixduros does, of which Ahmad is a fair translation. 
