OF CHRISTIANITY UPON OTHER RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS. 



43 



to very harsh treatment indeed if they refuse to accept Islam. 



Muhammad admits that Christ is the Word of God (^^\] \ ^^J^ 



= 6 A0709 Tov ©eoO, John i, 1; Kevelation, xix, 13), but 

 fancied that he was himself predicted of in the New Testament 

 as " The Paraclete," evidently confounding HapdfcXrjTo^ with 

 UepifcXvrof;, of the latter of which words the name Muhammad 

 might seem to be no very erroneous translation. 



Volumes have been written regarding different aspects of the 

 influence exerted by Christianity upon the Qur'an and its 

 author, but what we have said is a fair resume of the subject. 



The Qur'an makes no attempt to depict Muhammad as in any 

 marked degree resembling our Lord, but later Muhammadan 

 tradition endeavours to represent him as rivalling and far 

 excelling Christ in miracle-working. In this the Muhammad 

 of tradition becomes distinctly an Anti-Christ.* Since a star 

 led the Magi to Christ's cradle and angels sang at His birth, 

 later Muslim traditions tell how much greater marvels heralded 

 the birth and conception of Muhammad. In spite of the 

 statement of Muhammad himself in the Qur'an that God had 

 not gifted him with the power of working miracles, yet tradition 

 ascribes miracle after miracle to him.f He compelled trees to 

 follow him, he split the moon in two, he cast an evil spirit out 

 of a child and made it depart in the form of a dogj he caused 

 water to flow from his own fingers in abundance to quench his 

 followers' thirst in the desert, he ascended to the Seventh 

 Heaven § and passed into the very presence of God on his 

 night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem and back. 



The object of all these inventions is to show how much 

 Muhammad surpassed Christ in his miracles. Attempts have 

 been made, not only by the Shf ah sect and by the Sufis but 

 also to a less degree by the " Orthodox " or Sunni sect, to attri- 

 bute to Muhammad a nature and position more than human 

 though less than Divine. Some of the titles of Christ in vSt. Paul 

 and St. John have been ascribed to Muhammad. He is often 



called Nuru'llah (^^l] \ y ) " God's Light," and is declared to have 



been formed out of the light of God, to have been the first 

 thing God created. God is stated to have said, " 0 Muhammad, 



* Vide Dr. Koelle, Mohammed and Mohaimnedanism ; also the 

 RaudatyJl Ahbdb, Qisasul Anhiydy *Ardisu't Tijdn, and Mishkdt. 

 t Mishkdt^ pp. 522 sqq. 

 % Mishkdt, p. 533. 



§ SArah XVII, 1 ; Mishkdt, pp. 521 sqq. 



