OF CHRISTIANITY DPON OTHER RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS. 41 



(People of the Book) so frequently mentioned in the Qur'an are 

 the fJews rather than the Christians, though the term doubtless 

 includes the latter. Yet it is beyond dispute that the influence 

 which certain forms of Christianity exercised over Muhammad 

 and his book was considerable ; and this influence must endure 

 as long as the Qur'an is revered. 



Muhammad never read the New Testament, nor even the Old, 

 and never met with anyone who could put the Gospel message 

 clearly and truly before him. Hence the Qair'an gives a false 

 view of Christianity in several respects. It is evident from the 

 Quran that Muhammad fully thought that the orthodox 

 doctrine of the Trinity was that the Virgin Mary and Christ 

 were deities to be worshipped as well as God the Father — i.e., 

 that Christians believed in a triad of deities, of whom Muham- 

 mad declared two to be merely creatures who might be destroyed 

 at God's pleasure. This view was due to Muhammad's observa- 

 tion of corrupt Christian worship. Again, Muhammad supposed 

 — perhaps through Docetic or Manichaean teaching — that the 

 belief that our Lord had died upon the Cross was altogether 

 false and dishonouring to Him. The Qur'an states that Jesus 

 was not slain,* was not crucified, but that ''He was represented 

 unto them (the Jews) by another," who was put to death in His 

 stead. But the Qur'an admits that Christ was taken up into 

 heaven alive. One passage represents God as saying to Christ 

 that He would cause Him to die, and would bring Him to life 

 again ; and various explanations of the verse are given by com- 

 mentators.f 



All Muslims, to whatever sect they belong, believe that 

 Christ will come again, though they fancy that He will then 

 " break the Cross, kill the swine,":]: and preach Islam, compelling- 

 all men to accept it. He will remain on earth for a while, after 

 which He will die and be buried in the tomb left vacant for 

 Him between the graves of Muhammad and Abu Bakr at 

 Medina. 



Belief in the coming of the Mahdi, or " Guide," is widespread 

 in Islam, and is doubtless derived from the Christian doctrine 

 of the Second Advent of our Lord. It has become very pro- 

 minent in Persia (where it has helped to produce Babiism) and 

 in iSTorthern India and the Panjab. In North Africa, the 



Stirah IV, 155, 156. 

 t Stirah III, 47 ; cf. SHrah's XIX, 34, and V, 117. 

 X Mishkdt^ Arabic ed., pp. 464, 471. 



