160 THE REV. W. ST. CLAIR TISDALL, M.A., ON ISLAM: 
should also gain access to their minds. Much that the Qur'an 
tells us of the genii,* bemgs made of subtle fire and inter- 
mediate between angels and men, is clearly traceable to this 
source.t The very word (> (jinni) by which such a being 
is called is the Avestic y J9Y, (jaint), a wicked (female) 
spuit.t The Hiir ( y=) orhouries of the Muhammadan Paradise 
are unmistakably identical with the assy) yuq § Pairikas of 
the Avesta (in modern Persian Peris), “female geniil]| endowed 
with seductive beauty, dwelling in the air and attaching them- 
* Of. Sarah VI, 100, 128; XY, 27; XXVI, 212; XLI, 24, 29, ete, 
+ Much that is related of Solomon in the Qur’dn is almost identical with 
Persian legends about Yima Khshacéta (Avesta), or in Modern Persian 
Jamshid. These legends were current among the Arabs of his time, and 
were regarded by Muhammad as true and (apparently) as recorded in the 
inspired writings of the Jews! There isa curious old Persian book not 
long since re-discovered, written in Pahlavi in the Persico-Arabic charac- 
ter, but with an amplified translation in the Dari form of Persian. It is 
called the “Heavenly Dastirs” (in the original lawl lee). 
Every treatise in it is attributed toa different prophet, and the second 
sentence in each treatise runs thus :— Sits > woes 2 slat Dre 43 
— “In the Name of Gop the Merciful, the Gracious,”—the very 
formula used at the beginning of every Sirah but one in the Qur’4n, in 
\ 
sam \c sen w @O Co 
3 \ 4 T he first clause in each treatise is 
Arabic adm) \ uty \ a \ eae? 1 firs C , 
wm I Sr 
Uw le jr pd wiry as adel} 9; identical with the Qur’anic Ba ee Ly dx) 
Al Beidhawi and Jalalan (comment. on Sarah XXY) tell us that the 
wb! mentioned in Strahs XXV, XXVI, 70; XLVI, 16; LXVIIIJ, 
15, was a book well-known in Mecca before Muhammad’s time, and in 
which the doctrine of the Resurrection was taught. Is there any 
possibility of a connection between the pileo and the 3 ib ey AY 
t The word uccurs, e.g., in Yasna X, 4, 2, 53. A great number of evil 
spirits of various kinds are mentioned in the Avesta, among which are :— 
Jainis, Jahis, daévas, drujes, nasus, the ydtus, etc. 
§ Yasna 1X, 61; Yesht X, 26, 34, etc. 
|| C. de Harlez, “‘ Manuel de la Langue de l’Avesta,” sud. voe. 
