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ISM- AND ISLAM

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JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

A PRIZE ESSAY

BY

ABEAHAM GEIGEE,

Ea66i at Wieaiaden.

TEANSIATED FEOM THE GEEMAN BY A MEMBEE OF THE LADIES' LEAGUE IN AID OF THE DELHI MISSION.

PRINTED AT THE M.D.C.S.P.C.K. PRESS, AND SOLD AT THEIR DEPOSITORY, VEPBRT.

1898,

-^-q-5?^-^^^

^. WV^^S"

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

I undertook to translate this Prize Essay by the Eabbi Geiger at the request of the Rev. Gr. A. Lef roy, the Head of the Cambridge Mission at Delhi, who thought that an English translation of the book would be of use to him in his dealings with Muhammadans. The Eev. H. D. Griswold of the American Presbyterian Mission at Lahore has very kindly put in all the Hebrew and Arabic citations for me, and has also revised my translation.

P. M. YOUNG.

Bangalore,

March 17th, 1896.

PREFACE

I VENTURE to offer to the general public a work which was primarily undertaken with somewhat scanty materials. The question propounded by the Philosophical Faculty at Bonn, viz., " Inquiratur in fontes Alcorani seu legis Mohammeddcae eas, qui ex Judaismo derivandi sunt," served as an inducement to the undertaking. The point of view from which the subject was to be approached was left by the terms of the question entirely to the different workers j and that from which I have regarded it must be considered, in order that a right judgment upon my essay may be formed. It is assumed that Muhammad borrowed from Judaism, and this assumption, as will be shewn later, is rightly based. In this connection everything of course is excluded which appears only in the later development of Islam, and of which no trace can be met with in the Qur£n ; but on the other hand all such religious ideas and legends as are hinted at in the Quran, and are explained and developed at the hands of later writers, deserve and receive consideration. Secondly, a comparison between Jewish sayings, and those of the Quran, in the hope of setting forth the former as the source of the latter, can take place only on condition that the Jewish sayings are actually found in Jewish writings prior to Islam ; or unless it is certain that such sayings, though only recently recorded, existed earlier in the synagogue.

But this certainty cannot easily be attained, and historical criticism must find its doubt as to this the more deeply rooted in proportion to the number of times in which the sayings are found among those of other creeds, from which there is probability that they were adopted. Thirdly, those who undertake this work must consider seriously the

Vi PEEFACB.

question, whether a mere similarity in the tenets of two different religious sects establishes the fact that an adoption from one into the other has taken place. There are so many general religious ideas that are common to several of the positive religions existent at the time of the rise of Muhammadanism, that we must be very careful not to assert rashly that any one idea found in the Quran is taken from Judaism.

I have therefore given in the different sections the marks and indications, and in the case of some points of greater difficulty, the reasons also, from which I believe myself justified in the conjecture that there has been such a borrowing.

For these three reasons many citations which I might have made from later Islam and later Judaism are excluded, and in like manner many statements also, which do not bear the impress of a borrowing.

On the other hand, the first division had to be added, in order to shew the basis on which the probability of a general borrowing from Judaism rests. After I had once settled the subject in this way, the arrangement of the whole, and more especially of the many disconnected divisions and sub-divisions, gave me no less trouble. The borrow- ings are of details not of anything comprehensive ; they are fragmentary and occasional in that they were chosen according to what Muhammad's reporters knew, and according to what was agreeable to the prophet's individual opinion and aim, consequently there is no close connection. How far I have succeeded in reducing these details to order the reader may see and judge from the book itself.

The materials at my disposal, when I first undertook this work, were only the bare Arabic text of the Qurdn in Hinckelmann's edition from which the quotations are made,*

* In the translation tlie quotations are made from Fluegel's edition.

PREFACE. Vll

*

Wahl's Translation of the Qur£n, and an intimate acquaint- ance with Judaism and its writings. A transcript from Baidhawi's Commentary on the Quran on some passages in the second and third Surahs, which Professor Freytag made for himself and which he with his usual kindness allowed me to use, , was the only help outside the Qurdn. I had thus the advantage of having an unbiassed mind ; not, on the one hand, seeing the passages through the spectacles of the Arabian commentators, nor on the other finding in the Qurdn the views of the Arabian dogmatists, and the narratives of their historians. I had besides the pleasure of finding out independently many obscure allusions, and explaining them correctly, as I afterwards learned from Arabic writings. In this form my work i^eceived the prize, and only after that had been gained was I able to collect more materials, and to use them for the remodelling of the work in German. To these belong especially the valuable Prodromi and Comments of Maraccius in his edition of the Quran, the Commentary of Baidhawi on the loth Surah (in Henzei's Fragmenta Arabica), and two parts of an excellent unpublished Commentary by Elpherar which begins with the 7th Surah and was bought by the famous Seetzen at Cairo in 1807, and is now in the library at G-otha, whence I received it through the kind mediation of Professor Freytag at the expense of the University Library at Bonn. To these may be added Abulfedse Annales Maslemitici and Eistoria Anteislamica, the works of Pococke, D'Herbelot's Bibliotheque Orientale, and many other works which will be found quoted in the book itself. All observations drawn from writings to which I first obtained access while the work was in the press are given in an Appendix. The advantages of a three-fold register, viz., of the explained Arabic and Eabbinical words, of the cited passages of the Quran, and of quotations from other Arabic authors (with the exception of the

Vm PEEFAOl.

constantly-quoted Blpherar and Maraccius) need not be dwelt upon in detail. The Jewish writings which I have used consist almost entirely of the Bible, the Talmud, and the Midrashim, and in accordance with my determination to reject all Jewish writings later than Muhammad's time, they had to be thus limited. The few passages which are taken from other writings, of which the age is not so exactly known, such as the sections of Eabbi Elieser, the Book Hayydshdr, and the two differing Eecensions of the Jerusalem Targum on the Pentateuch (which are placed in a somewhat later period than that of the composition of the Quran by the learned Zunz in his latest valuable work Die Gottesdienstlichen Vortrdge der Juden historisch entwickelt : Berlin, 1832, A. Asher) are all of such a kind that one can generally point to some decided declaration in Holy Scripture itself from which such opinions and tra- ditions may have arisen, and therefore their priority of existence in Judaism can be accepted without hesitation.

I must publicly offer my thanks to Professor Preytag for the many different kindnesses he has shown me in connection with this work, and also to my dear friends S. Prensdorf and J. Dernburg for their help in the correc- tion of the proofs. Pinally, I here express my heartfelt wish that this little work may be true to the spirit of our time, the striving after true knowledge, and that learned men may give me the benefit of their criticisms upon it.

THE AUTHOR.

Wiesbaden,

May 12th, 1833.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Page Intkoduction ... ... ... ... ... 1

First Division.

First Section. — Did Muhammad wish to borrow from

Judaism? ... ... ... ... ... 4

Second Section. — Could Muhammad borrow from Judaism ? and if so, how was such borrowing possible for him ? ... ... ... ... 17

Third Section. — Was it compatible with his plan to

borrow from Judaism ? ... ... ... 21

Second Division.

First Section. — Did Muhammad borrow from Judaism ? 26 ''' Second Section. — If so, what did he borrow ? ... 29

~ Chapter I. — Thoughts belonging to Judaism

which have passed over into the Quran ... 30 ^First Part. — Conceptions borrowed from

Judaism ... ... ... ... 20

■*■ Second Part. — Views borrowed from Judaism —

A. Doctrinal Views ... 45

B. Moral and Legal Rules ... 64

C. Views of Life ... ... 70

Chapter II. — Stories borrowed from Judaism , ... 73

First Part. — Patriarchs. — A. Adam to Noah ... 75

B. Noah to Abraham. 83

C. Abraham to Moses. 95 Second Part. — Moses and his Times ... ... 118

Third Part.— The Three Kings before the

Revolt of Ten Tribes ... ... ... 143

Fourth Part. — Holy men after the time of Solomon ... ... ••• ... 151

X CONTENTS.

Appendix. — Statements in the Quran hostile to Jadaism .., 157

Index. — List of Passages cited from the Quran ... 163

Do. do. Sunna ... 170

The chief Authors cited ... ... ... 170

CORRIQ ENDA.

For	eas	Page	V line	5		t	ead	eos
i»	Henzei's		„	VII	»	20			JJ	Henzii
))	Maslemitioi		»)	VII	»>	27				Moslemitici
>)	' A bid ben *Umr		)}	11 note	2	(I-	6)	})	' Abid ben ' Umya
,,	Sura XII		,,	20	jj	1	(1-	1)	))	Sura VII
"			1)	28 31	it	3 4			11	Nab
!)			)i	33	t)	1	{'■	3)	it	a
0 0 Transpose &^\i\ and ^	AC	))	33	„	1.
For	cv		1)	35	))	5				Ql?
»)	^■^		»>	38	„	1				^3
:.	l?5?n		»)	39	JI	3	(1	2)		"i?3?n
*)	inatij		»i	39	..	3	(1.	3)		mt£7
>»	3n33ti7		ji	43	)>	1				2n?3t£7
			1)	43 49	tt	4 1				ins la
)»	Derabbi		,,	50	)y	5				Rabbi
)5	ITQ		J)	51	..	2				i-?a
,,	'fij"i''"]nN"!		))	57	»j	4	(P.	56)		Trn^ins"!
>'	III. ' 2		)>	60	))	4				111. 2
>1	LXXIX. U ff.		J,	62	))	3				LXXIX. 1 ff.
n	7^?3		»,	72	1)	1	(1	1)		vaa
))	""o.':?'		»)	81	a	1	('•	1)		"ia^5
1)	iuij;		„	82	„	3				'*^jj
>i	even to		)J	110	line	2				as also did
)>	sbs		1)	138	note	4	(1.	2)		Mv',^
)i	T :		>>	138	»>	4	(1.	4)		na^teri
J»	V^^		)>	146	1)	3				T^^P
)f	rri^a		)i	147	it	1				nT3
De^eifl self		)i	158	line	7

JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

INTRODUCTION.

It will be found, speaking generally of tte whole sphere of human thought, whether we consider matters which have already become the clear and certain possession of mankind, or those which are left for the future to unveil and to determine with scientific precision, that almost always a correct intuition precedes scientific knowledge, so that a generally correct idea, though not yet supported by adequate evidence, obtains some hold on the minds of men. In this way the thesis of this treatise has long been recognised as probable, namely that Muhammad in his Quran has borrowed much from Judaism as it presented itself to him in his time, though for this opinion no sufiicient grounds have hitherto been advanced. And the very endeavour to give this just conjecture its place among scientific certainties seems to have produced in the faculty the wish to see the subject accurately and thoroughly worked out by scholars, conversant with both the Quran and Judaism in their original sources ; and to meet this wish I take up my present task, conscious indeed of feeble powers, but determined to use unsparing industry in the steadfast pursuit of my purpose. This is the end which we have in view, to wit, a scientific presentation, and not a mere list of apparent adaptations from Judaism, nor a statement of isolated facts dissevered from their historical connec- tions. For this we must study the connection of the facts to be demonstrated with the whole life and work of Muham- mad, as well as with those events of his time, which either

^ JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

determiBed his actions or were determined by him. And so this treatise falls into two divisionsj of which the first has to answer the following questions : —

Did Muhammad wish to borrow from .Judaism ? Could Muhammad borrow from Judaism ? and if so, how was such borrowing possible for him ? Was it compatible with his plan to borrow from Judaism ? The second division must bring forward the facts to prove the borrowing, which has been stated on general grounds to have taken place. Only in this way can an individual proof of the kind referred to acquire scientific value, partly as throwing light upon the nature of Muhammad's plan, and partly as showing the intrinsic necessity of the fact and its actual importance by virtue of its connection with other facts of Muhammad's life and age. To this an appendix will be added, in which will be given a collection of those passages in which Muhammad seems not so much to have borrowed from Judaism, as to have reviewed it and that too in a hostile spirit.

EBLATION OP JUDAISM TO ISLAM.

FIRST DIVISION.

Did Muhammad wish to borrow from Judaism ? Could Muham- mad borrow from Judaism ? and if so, how was such borrowing possible for him ? Was it compatible with Muhammad's plan to borrow from Judaism ?

It is not enough for us to give a dry meagre summary of the passages which appear to have some connection with .Judaism, in order to shew that Muhammad really possessed a certain knowledge of it, and used it in the establishment of his new religion, and that, further, a comparison with it makes clear many passages in the Quran. Rather is it our task to shew how it was bound up with the spirit, the striving and the aims of Muhammad, with the mind of his time and the constitution of his surround- ings, and thus to demonstrate the fact that, even were we deprived of all proofs which undeniably shew Judaism to be a source of the Qur^n, the conjecture that a borrowing from Judaism had taken place would still have great probability. Thus it is necessary for us first to account for this as the philosophical development of a process, afterwards to be confirmed by historical evidence. Three questions come prominently forward here : —

First : Did Muhammad really think he would gain any object by borrowing from Judaism ? or, in other words, Did'Muhammad of set purpose borrow from .Judaism ?

Second : Had Muhammad means, and what means had he, of attaining to a knowledge of Judaism ? ^. e., Could he thus borrow ? and if so, how was it possible for him ?

Third : Were there not other circumstances which militated against, or at all events limited such a borrowing ?

JODAISU AND ISLAM.

Was it compatible with the rest of his plan so to borrow ? Was it permissible for him^ and if so on what grounds ?

These three enquiries form the different Sections of the first division.

FiBST Section. Did Muhammad wish to borrow from Judaism ?

Although we may by no means ascribe to Muhammad a special liking for the Jews and for Judaism and indeed in his life, as well as in the writings which he left behind him as laws for posterity, there are traces of hatred against both ; — still it is evident that, on the one hand, the power which the Jews had obtained in Arabia was important enough for him to wish to have them as adherents and, on the other, that they were, though themselves ignorant, far in advance of other religious bodies * in that knowledge which Muhammad professed to have received by Divine revelation,^ as indeed he liked to assert of all his knowledge. The Jews, moreover, gave him so much trouble with witty and perplexing remarks that the wish to propitiate them must certainly have arisen in him.

That the Jews in Arabia at the time of Muhammad posses- sed considerable power is shown by the free life of many quite independent tribes, which sometimes met him in open battle. This fact is known especially of the Banu Qainuqa' ' in the second or third year of the Hijra, also of the Banu Nadhir* in the 4th year. The latter are spoken of by

'See Jost's Gesohiohte dea israelitisohen Volkes, Vol. II. pp. 207. li.

' Sura XXIX. 47 uii-*!? ^^ Sj >_.bS' ^ iLi ^ ^ i^ \^ J

' ThoD didst not read any book before this, neither couldest thou write it with thy right hand." (i. b., the Word of God). Sale's Translation.

'gU^i yu Abulfeda (Vita Moljammedis ed. Gagnier, p. 67).

^ «Ja> y^ In Pooooke (Specimen Historiae Arabum p. 11) y:^ See

also Commentators on Sura lix. and also Vita Mojjammedis p. 71.

POWER OP THE JEWS. O

m

Janab as a great family of the Jews, l This fact is further kaown of the Jews in Khaibar 2 with whom he fought in the 7th year. The Banu Nadhir are supposed to be referred to in Quran lix. 2. They are there described as so powerful that the Muslims despaired of their conquest, and the fastnesses which they possessed would have banished thoughts of a capture, if as Muhammad with probable exag- geration expresses it, they themselves had not destroyed their houses with their own hands, or if, as Abulf eda with greater historical probability asserts, they, fearing a long siege, had not withdrawn themselves and turned to quieter regions. The want of settled civil life, which continued in Arabia till the rule of Muhammad, was very favourable to the Jews, who had fled to that country in large numbers after the Destruction of Jerusalem, inasmuch as it enabled them to gather together and to maintain their independence. A century before Muhammad, this independence had reached such a pitch that among the Himyarites the Jewish ruler actually had jurisdiction over those who were not Jews ; and it was only the mistaken zeal of the last Jewish Governor, Dhu Nawis,^ which led him to a cruel attempt to suppress other creeds (which attempt is pictured for us with the very colours of a martyrologist), that brought about the fall of the Jewish throne by the coming of the Christian Abyssinian King.* Although it seems to me altogether improbable that the passage in Quran Ixxxv. 4 refers to this event, partly because of the indefin- iteness of the allusion and partly because on this supposition the Christians are called " the believers," 5 which is never the case elsewhere, though as a rule Muhammad's treatment

•Jjfl-c^^ (J'" '/i'^

' j*^ Pco. Spea p. 11.

* Comp. Assemani Bibliotheca Orientalis I. 361 pp. and Michaelis Syrisohe Clirestomathie p. 19 fl. 5 Qurdn LXXXV. 7. oy>^^

6 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

of the Christians was iadulgent ; and altliougK I give an entirely different interpretation to this passage — an interpre- tation borne out by every word, 1 nevertheless this very mistake of the commentators shews the importance which the Arabs attached to this conquest of the Jewish ruler, a,nd is a proof of the greatness of his former power. That the remains of such a power, even when shattered continued to be of importance is plain in itself, and is moreover clearly shown in a passage soon to be quoted,^ where the Himyarites are depicted as particularly unbelieving. An Arabian author 3 mentions other tribes beside the Himyarites as adherents of Judaism, viz., the Banu Kindna Banu Hareth ben Kab, and Kinda. *

While this physical power of the Jews inspired partly fear, partly respect in Muhammad's mind, he was no less afraid of their mental superiority and of appearing to them as ignorant ; and so his first object must have been to conciliate them by an apparent yielding to their views. That the Jewish system of belief was even then a fully developed one, which penetrated the life of each member of the community, is proved both by its antiquity and by the fact that the Talmud had already been completed. Though the Jews of that region were among the most, ignorant, as is shown by the silence of the Talmud concerning them, and also by that which was borrowed from them and incorporated

' See Division II, Section II, Chapter II, Part IV.

* Baidh4wi on Quran II. 91. ' Vide Pooooke Spec. p. 136.

* A good voucher for the importance to whicli 8ome Jewish families had attained might be found in a poem of Hamasa (ed. Freytag p. 49), which is full of the spirit of chivalry and self reliance, if only the evidence that the family referred to was a, Jewish one were sufficiently certain. The

only thing for it is the name of the author Jo..»-J\ which, as a commen- tator cited by Blpherar remarks, is a Hebrew name(Joj.« — !\oHa3\ ^\ J^ J> ^jo (_/«>Jj o*V<* (***^) ''°'' ^^^"'i might easily have come into use among the Arabs. Even in the verae VS^ifc page 52, where the pure and unmixed descent of the family is praised, and where one might expect a Baontion of its Jewish origin, no such allusion is found.

INTELLIGENCE OF THE JEWS. 7

in the Quran, yet very many traditions and pithy sayings survived in the mouth of the people, which doubtless gave to the Jews an appearance of intellectual superiority in those dark times and regions of ignorance, and so gained for them honour in the sight of others. Thus it came about naturally that Muhammad wanted to learn their views and to include them in his community. It was not only the idea of swelling his society with these numbers of adherents ' that produced this wish in him, but also the way in which they defended their own cause and their mode of dealing with him. The fact that Muhammad very often came off second best in religious disputes is evident from several sayings, and particularly from the following very decided one : — " When thou seest those who busy themselves with cavilling at Our signs, depart from them until they busy themselves in some other subject; and if Satan cause thee to forget this precept, 2 do not sit with the ungodly people after recollection." This remarkably strong statement, in which he makes God declare it to be a work of the devil to be present at controversies about the truth of his mission, shews how much Muhammad had to fear from argument. Intercourse with the Jews appeared to him to be dangerous for his Muslims also, and he warns them against too frequent communication or too close intimacy with the Jews. 3 He naturally puts this forward on grounds, other than the right ones ; but the real reason for the warning is obvi- ously that Muhammad feared the power of the Jews to shake the faith of others in the religion revealed to him.4

" An inheritance for the aasembly of Jacob." Deut. xxxiii. 4, ' yluliT i3l,£Lv^ C\^ Sura VI. 67.

* Sura LX. 13, On this Elpherar remarks :

8 JDDAISM AND ISLAM.

Most characteristically, and doubtless quite in accordance with the intellectual manner of the Jews, this is shown in a witty and satirical play of question and answer, about which Muhammad complains bitterly, and which often gave him apparent weapons against the Jews, in that he regarded their utterances as bona fide expressions of opinion and not as mere teasing mockeries.

Thus, in order to gain reputation, and also because he was under the impression that, if some (he says ten) of the Jews would join him, all the rest would become his adherents,! he made the attempt with some, who either did not have the courage to withstand him, or else did not wish to enter upon a long dispute with him. They either got rid of hitn with an answer which he could not gainsay, or they mixed up the words which he required from them with others of similar sound, but of different and even contrary meaning. Thus they said to him once : — " we can do nothing for our unbelief, for our hearts are uncircumcised." 2 On another occasion they advised him to go to Syria, as the only place where prophetic revelations were possible, accor- ding to the Jewish saying : 3 " Prophecy is not found out side the Holy Land." This is given by some expositors as the cause for the revelation in Sura XVII. 78'^, but others assign a different reason for the verse. Further the

" This (was revealed) because some of the poor Muslims instructed the Jews in the doctrine of the Muslims, so that there was unity between them and the former received of the fruits of the latter." ^ Comp. Suuna iib, Pundgruben des Orients, Vol. I. p. 286.

» Sura II. 82 waic Uj^ =13n3« 37 "OnV Comp. Deut. x. 16. " Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiffneoked."

• V T T T ; T T : " • -•

* JaUlu'd-din (Maracoi in loco),

" This verse was revealed when the Jews said ; If thou art a Prophet, then go to Syria, for Syria alone is the land of prophets." So Elpheraretal.

GiDEIEL AND MICHAEL. 9

*

commentators cheerily relate many anecdotes by way of explaining the reason for certain passages, which appear to the unprejudiced quite in the same light. As the occasion of Quran II. 91, Baidhawi relates the following tale:* " It is said that Omar went once into a school 2 of the Jews and asked them about Gabriel. They replied : ' He is our enemy, he reveals our secrets toMuhammad, he is also the messenger of wrath and punishment ; Michael on the contrary brings us prosperity and plenty.' Then Omar said : ' What is their position with regard to God ?' and the Jews replied : ' Gabriel on His right and Michael on His left, but between these two there is enmity.' But he said : ' God forbid that it should be as you say ; they are not enemies, but you are more unbelieving than the Himyariks.3 Whosoever is the enemy of either angel, he is the enemy of God.' Then Omar went away and found that Gabriel had preceded him with a revelation, and Muhammad said to him, ' Thy Lord has already agreed with thee, O

Omar.' "

Although what is here brought forward is to some extent what is really held by the Jews, as e.g. that Gabriel is the messenger of punishment,^ and although accordingly there is much of truth in this narrative ; ■

._ftli Ji' ^^-^U, Sj\ ^ \ij\j~.\ Jlc \Ji*ay jlW. UjAc ieUo \^\ai

&13\ ^^ Ua^ji^ Uj JVai fX~i\ ^ w_~a^\ ^,-^\- ^}^ } ^^-^ )

* j*c U ueXjj i£\£i\ J JuiJ f,'i~^\ p 'iX^\ &-U; JUi

T ; •

' These are the words referred to above, p. 5.

*R. Salomo Ben Adereth on Tract Baba Bathra 74. 2.

y^_r\ n-ia Qpa bs? ^33 n3-;5b nainsi ^a^nan

10 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

nevertlieless even the quoted saying is perverted, for Gabriel is regarded as the messenger of God for the punishment of sinners only, and in another passage of the Talmud ^ it is actually said of him that he is called the 2 one who stops up, because he stops up the sins of Israel i.e., wipes them away, and therefore he could never be represented to the Israelites as their enemy.

Further, Muhammad's intentional misrepresentations is shown by his changing the order assigned by the Jews to the Angels. The Jews assert that Michael stands at God's right hand and Gabriel on His left.* This position is reversed by Muhammad, in order to give the highest rank to Gabriel 5 to whom he attributes all his revelations. This

'niDq'^ N3 bw'^-iaa 3?|?-i|"5? I^^ni bw'^-iaa wa c-iasi? b^nsab

" Onr sages, blessed be their memory, attributed the execution of God's punitive judgments to Gabriel, as, for instance, Gabriel came and over- threw them in the earth (Sanhedrin 19. 1), and Gabriel came to destroy Sodom." Comp. also Sanh. 21. 26. 95, 2. 96.

' Sanhedrin 44.

* These words must be taken in the sense explained at the end of the 8rd Section of the 1st Division,

* Comp. the evening prayer of the Jews.

Also the prayer on the Day of Atonement.

bban bsa'tsa b^n^i bbnia T^a^n bs^ia

'Comp. also Midrash Tanchuma Sect. tl?a^1 f. 21. c. 2. Venetian Ed. 1545, where it is written iriSJ bN^'^Q HT bttJan "iXSr inDJ bt»an

vai-'as nibtt; nwv na's ■<in n.v nw

" The verse Job, xxv. 2, ' Dominion and fear are with Him,' refers to Michael and Gabriel, in that the former is made out of water, and the latter out of fire ; still they do not hurt each other, because ' He maketh peace in His high places.' " Here all the facts which we sought out separately are given briefly. Michael is the milder, Gabriel the more terrible, but they are nevertheless in perpetual harmony.

GABRIEL AND MICHAEL. 11

*

is in spite of tlie fact that tile other view is so fully in accord with the spirit of the doctrine about angels as accepted by the Jews, according to which the positions " on the right" and " on the left " mean only the decision to adopt either merciful or punitive measures. There can of course be no question of enmity between Gabriel and the Jews, or between Gabriel and Michael, and the speech is nothing but a repartee, which however to Muhammad's thinking justified him in making an accusacion against the Jews. This is even more clearly shown in the following narrative related by a commentator on the words " God is poor " l : " Thus spoke the Jews when they had heard : — ' Who is he that will lend unto God a goodly loan ?' Quran II. 246. It is related that Muhammad with Abu Bakr had written to the Jews of the Banu Qainuqa' calling them to Islam, to faithful observance of prayer, to offer free will offerings and to give God a good loan. Then Phineas the son of Azariah 2 said : ' Then God is poor, that he desires a loan' ? Abu Bakr boxed his ears and said : ' If there were not a

' Baidhawi on Qurfn III. 117.

l^i aBT y\ " God is poor." -a tj

^jcJo, gValJ ^ J^ ^J\ &'C <sl3\^j ji} ^\ ^ '—^ (.l~!\j SS.a!\ J\,si \j-~=. U,yi m \yijSi tj\j£\9^ A:^\) £U^^U\j f.Ui\ J\

isii\ ^j ^^\ i*Ui ,J>jSi\ JU y-^ ^ Al3\ (j\ A)}^^ (^ i_/=W.U j»*lo iii\ J^j ^^\ iSK^i d^^ uw_^ ^\ i^ UiJ U Sj3 .Uc

* Phineas the Bon of Azariah f n^"lV3? 13 DniD)> ^■^^ ^'^^^ *° whom the utterance that Ezra is the son of God (ix. 30) is attributed by some. i*-.\ J^\ t>- ^\, J=?-j iiWJ\ S.ii. ^\i US\ p^ (^ A^ ^\i

" ' Abid ben ' Umr says : Only one Jew used this expression, and that was Phineas the son of Azariah, the same man who said : God is poor and we are rich." (BIpherar on ix. 30.)

12 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

truce between us, I would Have broken your neck.' He then took him bound to Muhammad, and Phineas denied having made the speech. Then came this revelation." The same thing is found in another passage 1 : " The Jews say the hand of God is tied up." The meaningless character of the sentence shews in itself that the Jews were not in earnest ; and if we take into consideration the occasion of the remark, and the way in which it was made, we shall see clearly the teasing and scoflBng tendency of the Jews in their dealings with Muhammad. It was an answer to an expression, which in its simple meaning " To lend to God" must have seemed to them ridiculous, and which might easily give rise to the retort, " if God now needs money. He must be poor." It was only by a certain amount of distortion and mutilation that Muhammad could twist this speech into an accusation against the Jews. A good story is preserved for us in Sunna 608 which runs as follows : " After the conquest of Khaibar the Jews set a poisoned lamb before Muhammad. When he discovered this, he had them called together, and putting them on oath to tell him the truth, he asked if they had poisoned the lamb. They confessed, and he then enquired, ' For what reason ? ' 'To rid ourselves of you, if you are a deceiver,' was their reply ; ' for if you are a prophet, poison will do you no harm.' " Who can fail to see in this answer a desire to free themselves from the importunity of M uhammad by biting repartee ?

At other times they changed his words, or used words of double meaning. In the prescribed salutation they said indeed " Ea'ina," 2 but not in the sense intended by Muhammad, viz., " look on us" ; but either in the sense of " count us guilty, or with a play on the Hebrew " ra" in

1 Qurdn V, 69. 1&^\jJ, iSJiJT J* ij'^"! uiZiU}

» <Js.\l

COMPLAINT AGAINST THE JEWS. 13

the sense of the evil one." l So that he was obliged to substitute " andhurna/' which also means " look on us."2 Further instead of hittat^, "forgiveness", they said probably " Khatiat" *, " Sin." Jalalu'd-din 5 gives ano- ther variation and says that instead of the required word "hubbat", love, the Jews said " habbat fi sh'airat " i.e., " A grain in an ear of barley." Then they changed the salutation "As-salam 'alaika" ^ i.e., " Peace be upon thee", into " As-sam ''alaika" 7 which means " Mischief on thee,"^ and this is the ground of Muhammad's complaint in Surah Iviii. 9. Such occurrences, though they led later to a great hatred on his part towards the Jews, must at first, while he still had a hope of converting them, have induced him to try all possible means to conciliate them ; for they

ri "ro."

Jalilu'd -din says (ilaracoi in loco) :

&jy!j\ y« «_.^^ 0)6<!^^ ^i*l} }* ! " ^"^^ '''^'^ ^^ among the Jews a word of reproach meaning folly."

2 \yfi^ Qiirin II. 98, IV. 48. 49.

3 E^ VII. 161, 162, II. 55, 56.

^SlLi

' Jalilu'd-din (Maracoj.) i^ "habbat" i.e. love.

ij^jtJii L-» ili> " Ijabbat fi sh'airat " i.e. a grain in an ear of barley.

^ On this Elpherar commenta aa follows :

* iSXUc |«!LJ\ y^J^sj ^\ <yj*aji cL3^\jai |»UJ^^

The meaning "death" which Elpherar here aasigna to the word (.\_

ia quite foreign to it, as is also " contempt ", which is more appropriate fox

f^. The commentators appear, therefore, to have had in mind the Hebrew

word DD, which with niaU understood would mean " poison."

14 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

were not only important politically, but were also able to hold bim up to derision by their intellect and wit. He was anxious therefore to persuade them that his views were on the whole the same as theirs with some few differences.

We have given sufficient reasons for Muhammad's treating the Jews with consideration, and we shall now give proofs that he actually made great efforts to win them over to his way of thinking. Besides the frequent religious controversies already alluded to, there are many passages in the Quran specially addressed to the Jews, in all of which they are admonished in a very friendly way that the Quran would serve as an arbitrator in their own disputes. Not only did he address them with gentleness and consideration, he actually did many things on purpose to please them. At first simply and solely on account of the Jews the Qibla, or place towards which prayer was to be made, was changed by Muhammad to Jerusalem, from Mecca the spot which the ancient Arabs had always regarded as holy ; and it was only when he recognised the fruitlessness of attempting to conciliate the Israelites that he changed back to the former direction.

The first change is not, it is true, stated in so many words in the Quran, only a complaint about the second alteration is given, but some commentators maintain that the allusion is to the former change.^ In disputes between Muslims and Jews he shewed himself at times perhaps too lenient. This is said to have given occasion to some believers to

& _ C J fl - .-

• Qiir^n TI. 136. Vgllc \^\S ^\ ,»a^ (^c ^j C JaUlu'd-dia (Maraooi in looo) has as follows :

" After his Flight he ordered his followers to turn to the Temple at Jerasalem (tiJlpIpn JT'Sl) > this however, which was done to conciliate the Jews, held good for six or seven months only, and then he changed it again."

MILDNESS OF CONTROVEESY. 15

refuse to submit to his judgmentj of which he complains in Surah IV. 63. In another passage 1 he guards himself against the accusation of giving wrong judgment by saying that he judges only according to the right ; and again in another passage 2 he asksj if they are afraid that God and His apostle will do them wrong, though the commentators relate another event as the occasion for this utterance. He advises his Muslims also to go gently in disputes with the Jews/'' as e.g. in the f ollo'wing passage : " Dispute not against those who have received the Scriptures, unless in the mildest manner ; except against such of them as behave injuriously towards you : and say, ' We believe in the revelation which hath been sent down unto us, and unto you ; our God and your God is one, and unto Him are we resigned' "A A strong proof that Muhammad held the Jews

» Surah IV. 106. U--i (^^ y.'? Sj

" Dispute not for those who deceive one another." ' Surah XXIY. 49. iJ^JJ ^U^ iii\ <-a^. u^ yptsJ f,\

" Or do they fear lest God and His Apostle act unjustly towards them ?" 3 Surah XXIX. 45, j^l ^_^ ^W Sj y^ ^\ ^y J>^ S j

G$u "Jax jyi; ^\ a;? ^^^^ ^-\ \/y; ^^^ ^^ ^.^h

a a ' B-— - — -O

"* »

' In the opinion of Arabic commentators this passage is more a proof of fear of the Jews than a recommendation to mild dealing. Elpherar in a long chain of traditions beginning with ^^^^^ Jy=^'\<^\ .i-c and ending with 'j>y* )i\ s^ys :

* Jy^ Uj &UU

" The possessors of the Scriptures (the Jews) read the Law in Hebrew and explained it to the Muslims in Arabic; so Muhammad said: 'Neither agree with the possessors of the Scriptures, nor call them liars, and say we believe, etc' " Further, there is another similar narrative first related by AbdSa'id, ^/sUiSl A^\ (j) iii\ J^c Ju*^ ^\ but which can be traced back to Abu Namlatu'l-Ans4ri jjjU2\ iUi ^\ , which reads as follows :

IG JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

in great respect lies in the fact that in passages enumerating the different creeds l, he mentions the Jews immediately after the Maslims.

In two of these passages he even promises Godfearing Jews absolute equality with Muslims; and though in the third and last he is not so lenient^ and threatens that a distinction between them will be made, yet even in this passage it is very plain that precedence over other religious bodies is given to the Jews. In Muslim traditions it is said that the sinful among the Muslims will go into the first, the mildest of the seven hells,2 the Jews into the second. Christians 3 into the third, and so on.4

In addition to all this, which produced in Muhammad the wish to adopt much from Judaism into his religious system, we must consider the fantastic development which the

•^ ^ >^^9^^ oy* A^\ fioW- aaLs &li\ Jy*) '^■^^ u**^ ' i^ ^^^-^ ^^

1^ Vas. (j\S fj\t *Ji«5Jua aJ !ikL.U y\i (jVi ()jL.jj ii^ } iJiiJXtj aJJU

"While he was sitting by Muhammad, a Jew who had just passed by a corpse came up and said : ' 0 Muhammad, does this corpse speat ? ' He said : ' Neither agree with the possessors of the Scriptures, nor call them liars, but say : We believe in God, His angels, His word and His Apostles. It what the Jews say is vain, do not confirm them ; if it is true, do not give them the lie,' " i.e. preserve a strictly negative attitude, so as on no account to expose yourselves j thus the meaning here seems to be almost identical with that of the word \^yS 3 referred to above.

I Surahs II. 59, V. 73, XXII. 17. \yX>»'\ ^^\ii\ the Muslims.

\.^\£> i^ii^\ the Jews. ^ See Division I. Section II. Chap. i. Part II A,

' D'Herbelot in his Bibliotheque orientale (under " Jahond " page 441,) asserts on the contrary that the Muslims give the Jews a lower place in hell than the Christians, but this is probably the opinion of a later age.

■• Pococke notaj miscellanse, Cap. 7 p. 289.

INTEECOUESE WITH JEWS. 17

Jewish traditions and history had reached in the mouth of the people, as certain to appeal powerfully to the poetic genius of the prophet ; and so we cannot doubt that, in so far as he had the means to borrow from Judaism, and so long as the Jewish views were not in direct opposition to his own, Muhammad was anxious to incorporate much borrowed from Judaism into his Quran. Whether he had any such means will be discussed in the second section.

Second Section.

Could Muhammad borrow from Judaism ? and if so, how was such borrowing possible for him ?

The possibility of borrowing from Judaism lay for Muhammad, partly in the knowledge which might be imparted to him by word of mouth through intercourse with the Jews, and partly in personal knowledge of their Scriptures ; while allowing him the first source of information, we must deny him the second.

Prom passages already quoted — to which we might add many others — we gather that there must have been great intimacy between Muhammad and the Jews, leading at times even to mutual discussion of views ; but this is still more clearly shown in a passage in the second Sura,l where the Jews are represented as double faced, professing belief when they were with him and his followers, and then when they were alone saying : " Will ye acquaint them with what God has revealed unto you, that they may dispute with you ? " This shows that the Muslims learned the Jewish views from conversation only. We shall speak later of Muhammad's intimacy with ' Abdu'llih ibn Salam, and with Waraka, the cousin of Khadija, who was for some time a Jew, a learned man and acquainted with the Hebrew

C J C — XP ■« C j_ J »*, _ j»

' Si'ira II. 71. ii ^^li.13 ,*^Ji£ iU] j-a Uj ^'jjA«i\

C

18 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

language and scriptures ; 1 so also was Habib ben Malik, a powerful Arabian prince,^ who for some time professed tlie Jewisli religion. These all afterwards became followers of the Prophet. Thus Muhammad had ample opportunity of becoming acquainted with Judaism. That his knowledge thereof was not obtained from the Scriptures is clear, from the matter actually adopted, since there are mistakes, which cannot be regarded as intentional alterations, and which would certainly have been avoided by anyone who had the very slightest acquaintance with the sources.^ It is evident also from the low level of culture to which Muhammad himself and the Jews of his time and country had attained. The contempt in which the compilers of the Talmud held the Arabian Jews, in spite of their political power, can be attributed only to the ignorance of the latter. Though we must not conclude from this that the Jews knew nothing of the Scriptures and, though we hear of schools among them 4 and even of their reading the sacred writings in the original,^ still we must doubt, if there was any widely diffused critical knowledge of the Scriptures, and we may be quite certain that Muhammad himself possessed none. Many passages testify to this. First, we may take a passage already quoted,^ where he says he had formerly no knowledge of reading and writing, and then Sura XLII. 52,7 where he denies any previous acquaintance with " the Book" or the " Faith." Even if these are mere figures of speech to prove the divine character of his mission, still it

' Vid. Blbeoar in Maraoo. Prodomi I. p, 44 j and Wahl, EinleituDg zur Uebersetzung des Koran XXX.

2 WaU, Binleitung XXXV.

•" This will be explained in detail later.

* Comp. the passage quoted above from Baidhdwi in the 1st Section.

' Comp. the passage quoted above from Elpherar in the First Section (foot note).

6 Sura XXIX. 47.

' " Thou didst not understand before this what the book of the Qurdn was, nor what the faith was, etc." — (Sale),

THE JEWISH PEOPHETS. 19

is evident from them that he never enjoyed any reputation for learning, such as would necessarily have been accorded to him, had he really known anything of the Jewish writings, and possessing which knowledge he would have lived in fear of being proved to be an impostor.

The order in which he gives the prophets is interesting, for immediately after the patriarchs he places first Jesus, then Job, Jonah, Aaron, Solomon, and last of all David. l In another passage^ the order is still more ridiculous, for here we have David, Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Zacharias, John, Jesus, Elijah, Ismael, Elisha, Jonah, and Lot ! The incorrect spelling of the names of these prophets, as well as the parts which he assigns to them in history, proves that he had never even looked into the Hebrew Scriptures. He actually asserts that before John the Baptist no one had borne the name of John. Had he known anything of Jewish history he would have been aware that, apart from some historically unimportant people of the name mentioned in Chronicles, the father and the son of the celebrated Maccabean high priest, Mattathias, were both called John. This mistake must have been obvious to the Arabic commentators, for they try to give another meaning to the clear and unmistakable words. Muhammad himself was aware of his ignorance, and defends himself very neatly against the possible charge. For instance in two passages 3 he asserts that God said to him : " We have not spoken to thee about all the former prophets, only about some of them, of others we said nothing to thee ;" thus cleverly defending himself against the accusation of having over- looked some of the prophets. We have quite enough proofs in these passages, apart from those which will come before us fully in the second part, that Muhammad was singularly ignorant of the Jewish writings, and so we

Qmdn IV. IGl. ^ QnrSn VI. 84 ff.

5 SAra IV. 162 j XL. 78.

20 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

can afford to give up one thing whicli is generally brought forward as specially proving our point. THs is the fact that in certain passages Muhammad calls himself an " ummiyun," 1 a word which is usually translated " unlearned " " ignorant." Wahl takes it so, and mentions it as a proof of Muhammad's ignorance. But this word has here the same meaning that is expressed by it in other passages, viz., belonging to the Arabs. It is used, like the word " iahiliyat,"2 of the Arabs in their former ignorance of IsMm, and Muhammad, having risen from among them, thus designates himself ^ without reference to his own individual knowledge.4 But, as already stated, even without this proof our conclusion holds good, viz., that because of his own ignorance especially, but also on account of that of the Jews around him, Muhammad could

' Sdra XII. 156.

2 ^Cs- Sdra III. 148, III. 69.

" ^**/»3\ yio mina'l-ummlyfna or (j-^l ummiyun.

* The derivation of the word seems to me to support this view. Many different derivations have been suggested, but all are unsatisfactory. Some

commentators, quoted by BIpherar, derive it from &/s\ nmmat, and give

a _ s

as examples of a similar formation (_j^ makiyun, and jJJm madaniyun

Oca- g-

from &SJ» makka and &j^s>t madina (see Ewald's Critical Grammar

of the Arabic language, I. §261. 2); but then they do not explain the connection between the meanings of two words. This becomes clear, however, when we consider the development in the meaning of the similar Rabbinical word ''12 goi. This word, meaning in the Hebrew " people," later on came to mean a " non-Jew; " because the Jews became conscious that they themselves were a little community among the other inhabitants of the laud, who were the " people " proper (compare the expression V"lKn QV)- So at first the Muslims also must have looked upon themselves as a small community in the midst of the populace, the La, each man who was not counted among themselves, being to them one of the M, or an ^^\, and so the word came to be used of all those who did not believe ia revealed religion past and present.

RELATION OP ISlIm TO EARLIER RELIGIONS. 21

*

attain to no knowledge of tlie Hebrew Scriptures, though on the other hand he had abundant opportunity to study Judaism with its wealth of tradition and legend as it lived in the mouth of the people.

In the first section we have shown that Muhammad had good reasons for incorporating much taken from Judaism in his Quran. By so doing he hoped to strengthen the opinion that he was taught by direct revelation from God j he had also a strong wish to win over the Jews to his kingdom of the faithful upon earth, and then, too, the legends and fanciful sayings of the Jews harmonised with his poetic nature. In the second section we have shown that he had abundant opportunities of acquainting himself with Judaism j and now in the third section, before finally determining that a borrowing from .Judaism really took place, we have to consider and answer the question : Would such a borrowing have been consistent with the other views and opinions hold by Muhammad ?

Third Section.

Was it compatible with Muhammad's plan to horrow from Judaism ?

Wo must consider this question from two sides.

First, it might have appeared to Muhammad as inadvisable to borrow from the system of any other religious body lest he should be accused of want of individuality ; and secondly, there might have been something in the very fact of adopting from Judaism which would militate against his other plans. On closer examination, however, we find that neither was the case. In general he was in favour of borrowing from earlier religions. He desired no peculiarity, no new religion which should oppose all that had gone before ; he sought rather to establish one founded on the ancient creeds purified from later changes and additions, one which should adopt this or that new idea, and which

22 JUDAISM AND ISlIM.

sTiould above all things acknowledge him as a divinely commissioned prophet. He let all that was already estab- lished stand good, as is seen from the lists of the prophets quoted above ; and he counts it as a point in favour of his Qur^n that it isl in accord with the earlier writings recognised by him as revelations. Another time he even says that the Qur4n is similar to the earlier religious writings, that it is only a repetition of them, i.e., if I am not mistaken in forsaking the general interpretation and translating the passage Sura XXXIX, 24 2 as follows : " Grod hath sent down the most excellent tidings, 3 a writing like unto others, a repetition." If this is not the meaning, it is incomprehensible how Muhammad could try to prove the superiority of his Qurdn by pointing to its continual and almost wearisome repetitions. But if his assertion were true, he might gain some advantage by being in accord with earlier revealed writings, and by restoring to their proper position those of them which had been spoiled by additions and perversions, and those which had been too little accounted of. He claims for himself only the same honour which is paid to the other givers of revealed law ; 4 with this distinction however that he, as the last of the

Cj- , - pu.- ^

1 Sura XL VI. 11. ^gii Cj ^1^

^ On the word ^J\iJ» masini which is omitted by Elpherar see below

Second Division, Third Section, First Chapter, First Part,

* He seems to distinguish between lawgivers and prophets; for while he gives the names of the latter in utter confusion, he mentions the former in their right order, viz., Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesns (Suraa XXXIII. 7. XLII. 11.) Arabic commentators recognise this difference ; thus Elpherar on Sura XXXIII. 7: *9j3 (j-rt?!-J\ ^y y^ii^ & »*iJ\ S^i ^os.

He distinguishes these five viz., the four given above and Muhammad, naming them alone of the prophets, because they were the compilers of writings and laws revealed to them, and were men of strong character among the apostles.

THE QUEAN A PINAL REVELATION. 28

prophets, is to be considered as the seal of the prophets/ and therefore as the most perfect among them, because his book is so clear 2 that no disputes or misunderstandings can arise about it, and, therefore, no apostle would be needed after himself. Thus it is clear that a borrowing from other religions was quite compatible with Muhammad's general aim. Consideration for his Arab followers, i.e., the fear of being called a mere compiler, a reproach which he did not altogether escape, did not hinder him, from such borrowing, partly, because he believed that he might rely on their ignorance; partly, because he had only to prove the harmony which must necessarily exist between the various revelations of the same God. Muhammad maintained that it was all revelation, that he derived nothing from Jew or Christian, but that Grod Himself revealed to him the contents of earlier Scriptures, and the historical facts concerning them. "With regard to Judaism in particular 'Muhammad found no special difficulty. We have already observed that much in it accorded with the Prophet's poetic spirit, and who can now assert that any objection to an agreement with Judaism would have been raised by Muhammad's contemporaries ? In those days people had not reached such a pitch of so-called enlightenment, as to consider the followers of one creed only as in the right, and to regard everything belonging to another belief as worthless ; to restrict to Christians the elements common to humanity, and to condemn Judaism as crafty and lifeless. Thus it was possible for Muhammad to lay before the Jews the points of union between his religion and their own, carefully avoiding the while those points in his doctrine which would be unacceptable to them.

It is clear in itself that he could not adopt the whole of

a.-ji ^-. -

» j3--rt^^ ^U. Sura XXXIII. 40.

9 ._

' l^y.^yfj« \mf>\^

24 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

Judaism into his systenij but parts only and even these he was obliged to alter and rearrange. In bringing the Jews to his opinion he had to be careful not to alienate others ; he could not, therefore, adopt from them such points as stood in complete contradiction to the views of other religious bodies ; and so, while he totally excluded some things, he was obliged to elaborate and alter other things with which he could not dispense, in order that they might still more strengthen his own position. Of this he either became aware himself, or others reproached him with it, so that he was forced to assert 1 that the Qur£n is not a new invented fiction. He could not maintain with the Jews that their Law was immutable, for that would have been fatal to his system of religious syncretism; nor could he with them expect a Messiah, because if there were another prophet yet to come, he Muhammad could no longer claim to be the seal of the prophets. This last point was carried so far that the Arabs later on confounded the doctrine of a Dajjalj or deceiver, which they had borrowed from the Christians, with the doctrine of the expected Messiah of the later Jews; and the saying existed :2 "The name of Dajjal among the Jews is Messiah the son of David." Much in confirmation of what has been stated above will be brought forward in the Second Section of the Second Division, and also in the Appendix.

While this investigation has for the most part consisted in enquiring into what was, or might well have been, in Muhammad's mind, it is by no means to be imagined that we regard him as a deceiver who deceived intentionally, and with a well-weighed consideration of each step as to whether or no it would help him towards his aim of deluding others. Wahl regards him in this light. On the

&J s _ _ _ _

' Sura XII. iii. j^j^i ^As. yU' \m

' j.\j 1^. c*~*" ■^ii^^ ''•^ JWjJ^ (»-^ Pocooke NotEe MiBoellanese, appendix to Porta Moaia, cap. 7, page 260.

MUHAMMAD AN ENTHUSIAST. , 25

contrary, we mast guard ourselves carefully against such an opinion, and look upon it as a sign of persistent prejudice and total misunderstanding of the human heart. Muhammad seems rather to have been a genuine enthusiast, who was himself convinced of his divine mission, and to whom the union of all religions appeared necessary to the welfare of mankind. He so fully worked himself into this idea in thought, in feeling and in action, that every event seemed to him a divine inspiration. Every thing necessary to the attainment of his aim stood out clearly before him, just because this one idea ruled him. He could think of nothing but what fitted in with it, could feel nothing but what harmonised with it, could do nothing but what was demanded by it. There is no question here of design, for this one idea so possessed his spirit, heart and will as to become the sole thought of his mind, so that every thing which entered his mind was shaped by this idea. Of course, in the most fanatical minds there are occasional lucid intervals, and during these Muhammad certainly deceived himself and others ; it is also undeniable that at times ambition and love of power were the incentives to his actions, but even so the harsh judgment generally passed upon him is unjustifiable.

We may say, as a result of this investigation, that it would be very remarkable if there were not much to be found in the Quran which is clearly in harmony with Judaism. It is evident that Muhammad sought to gain the Jews to his side, and this could best be done by approximating to their religious views ; it is also evident that he had ample means of acquainting himself with these views ; and lastly, that other considerations favoured rather than hindered such a borrowing from Judaism. And now the chief work remains to be done, and that is, to demonstrate by careful reference to the Qurdn that borrowing from Judaism has actually taken place.

26 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

SECOND DIVISION.

Did Muhammad borrow from Judaism ? If so, what did he borrow ?

Before we pass to tlie consideration of individual pas- sages as instances of borrowing from Judaism, we must show some general historical grounds for the opinion that a borrowing from that source has taken place ; and thus this division falls again into two sections, a general and a particular.

FiEST Section.

Did Muhammad borrow from Judaism ?

For the answer to this question we are thrown back entirely on the Qurd.n, ^ as we have no other literature

' The following story, is related by Kazuin— (Poo. Spec. p. 309) :

j^\ — i \^^\a t)y*y^- ^•'^)* •^} ^^.-^^ (•'^ W dU\ J^j y\ ^2JJ

(^j (j-i" o^J *"^J <:>ff **• •3/ <J^^ ^^ V^ ^■^ t>^

jjj \jjiVc ^yoj y\i i»^i^ <j-'J*J (3^^ ^^ J^ <^*"

" It ia said that when the Apostle of God came to Madfna, he found the

Jews fasting on 'Ashtira. He asked them their reason for so doing, and

they answered : ' Beoanse on this day Pharaoh and his people were

drowned, bat Moses and his followers were saved ' ; on which Muhammad

said : ' I stand in closer connection with Moses than they do ', and then he

commanded the fast day 'Ashiira. The cause of the institution of the fast

day ' Ashura, which like "'Ti'?} the tenth day of the seventh month,

(Leviticus XXIII, 27) clearly means the day of atonement, is very

uncertain. Elpherar is not more exact, for he assigns an equally erroneous

cause. On Sura XI. 46 he says :

" And they went out (of the ark) on the day 'Ashdra, and Noah fasted and commanded all with him to fast out of gratitude to God." In any case, however, the important fact remains, that Muhammad adopted one of the fast days of the Jews, which was afterwards abolished like the Jewish Qibla. See also D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, under the word Aschonr, page 127.

ARAB COMPLAINT AGAINST MUHAMMAD. 27

of the same date whicli treats of the matter in question. Still there are plenty of passages there preserved to us, which in a general way sufficiently prove our point ; and indeed they all contain either the blame expressed by Muhammad's contemporaries at his borrowing from Judaism, or else an appeal from him to the Jews, as witnesses of the truth of his assertions. He complains bitterly in many passages that the Arabs said his words were not original,! and even called them antiquated lies.2 Sometimes they said still more definitely that a certain man taught him, 3 and the addition of the words : ■* " The tongue of the person unto whom they incline is a foreign tongue, but this is the perspicuous Arabic tongue," shows plainly that this man was a Jew. Commentators take this view, and indeed think that it was 'Abdu'Udh Ibn SaMm, a learned Eabbi, with whom Muhammad was in constant and close intercourse, and who is frequently mentioned in the commentaries.^ Another rather more general statement is as follows : ^ "' Other people have assisted him therein ; " on which Elpherar remarks ^ : " Mujdhid says, by this he means the Jews." Could any one desire a clearer historical witness than this accusation, which was so often brought against Muhammad,

^K-^jC — b

1 j^jS\jiL.\ Comp. Suras VIII. 31, XVI. 26, XXIII. 85, XXV. 6, XXVII. 70, XL VI. 16, LXVIII. 15, LXXXIII. }3.

' 1 ji Jii\ Sura XLVI^ 10. ' - a

3 liJ iiUj" Ui\ Sura XVI. 105.

"^ ' - " a

* 0f^^ ^jC yLJ \iJi>j (_j«<ssc\ &iJ\ (^AaJi ^Jii\ yLJ

* Abnlfeda aanales Moslemlfcioi I. 283. 6 Sura XXV. 5. (^^yi.'S fji ««lc ii\c\

28 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

and wliich appeared to him so important that he constantly referred to it in the hope of refuting the charge ? He himself confesses, however, that much related by him is to be found in the earlier Scriptures. To the embarrassing question, as to why he never worked a miracle, he constantly answered that he who was called to be a preacher only, not a wonder-worker, had yet told them plainly of the miracles which are mentioned in the earlier writings, l and which the learned .Jews knew well.2 They could testify to the truth of these narratives,^ and among them one man 4 especially, the aforesaid 'Abdu'llah Ibn Salam,5 to whom the laudatory passage in Sura III. 68 is said to refer. Not only were they to corroborate his words to others, but also to remove any doubt from Muhammad's own mind as to the truth of his Mission. Thus we have in one place the injunction given to him : ^ "If thou art in doubt concerning that which we have sent down unto thee,

1 Suras XX. 133. JjS\ ^b<&<J\ ^ XXTI. 196. t>*^jS\ jij ^J

2 Sura XXVI. 197. Jf\p\ ^ StSi^ i^M

- » -

On whicli Elpherar : . ^'^^ ^^ &1J\ X^ ^L*.*^ \j\^ d>Jac /^s\ JU

3 Sdra XYII. 103. 3^j^\ ^. jC U

" a -

* Sura XLYI. 9. ^^\^^ ^J>i y-« a&ls. JigAi - g - - '

' Elpherar in the name of several commentators, says :

^»iiL> Ji*ja-» j_5i!M*!^ l<f^ ^Jji J^4i (.i_ (^ ()il3\ juc |.!L..»ys

" This is , who testified to the prophetic mission of

Mn^amraad, the chosen one, and believed in him ; bnt the Jews were arrogant and woujd not believe in him."

^ Sura X. 94. v»V;^M yjySj. ^^.^\ JU.U udJ\ ij}y\ U/. csU ^ ci^jlT ^\i ' ' a - i.- = -■ a

WHAT WAS BOEEOWED PEOM JUDAISM. 29

ask them who have read the book before thee."^ If he then, howerer cunningly, acknowledges the Jews as to a certain extent witnesses to his revelations, we are justified in expressing our opinion that Judaism was one source of the utterances in the Qur4n, and in this certainty we may proceed at once to discuss the actually borrowed passages.

Second Section.

What did Muhammad borrow from Judaism ?

In the case of any single instance of borrowing, the proof that the passage is really of Jewish origin must rest on two grounds. First, it must be shown to exist in .Judaism, and to prove this we have every facility. Secondly, in order to attain to certainty we must prove that it is really borrowed, i.e., that it is not founded on anything in old Arabian tradition, which Muhammad used largely as a foundation though he disputed some points. Then again we must shew that it had its origin in Judaism and not in Christianity. For the complete discussion of the last two points it would be necessary to write two treatises similar to the one on which I am now engaged, of which the respective subjects would be — (1) the points of contact between IsMm and the ancient tradition of the Arabs, and (2) the points of contact between Isldm and Christianity ; and only in this way could certainty on these points be attained. But these investigations would, on the one hand, lead us too far away from our particular subject.

' On this Elpherar Bays : J^^ tJ^/SJ^ (_ji«J O

" By that which we have sent down to thee, the Qnrin is meant ; those who have read before thee may instruct thee, that then art foretold in the Law which they have ; " and again : v_jU;5il\ Ja\ y,^ ^m\ y,« ^^ iAa-A J (•!»-> (^ <Sl3\ Jtf«i^ " He means the believers among the possessors of the Scriptures, e.g., 'Abdu'llih ben SalAm and hia fellows."

30 JUDAISM AND ISLIm.

andj on the other, they would require a much more exact treatment than could be given while handling our main subject. Then, too, they are made unnecessary by the means which we use in each individual case, and which will be shown in the different divisions of the work ; so that on most points we can without them attain to a high degree of probability, practically sufficient for all scientific purposes. For the sake of clearness, it may be well to divide the material borrowed from Judaism into thoughts belonging to it, and narratives taken from it, and later we shall have to subdivide again.

Second Section. Chapter I. Thoughts helonging to Judaism which have passed over into the Quran ?

The new thoughts borrowed by one religion from another are of a twofold nature. Either they are radically new, there being hitherto in the borrowing religion not even a foreshadowing of them, so that the very conceptions are new, and require accordingly new words for their expression ; or else the component parts of these thoughts have long been in existence but not in this combination, the form in which these conceptions are blended being a novel one, and the view, therefore, which arises from this unusual presentation being new. We must therefore divide this chapter according to these distinctions.

First Chaptee. First Part. Conceptions harrowed from Judaism ? As the ushering in of hitherto unknown religious con- ceptions is always marked by the introduction of new words for their expression, and as the Jews in Arabia,

HEBEEW WORDS IN THE QUEAN. 31

even when able to speak Arabic, kept to the Eabbinical Hebrew names for their religious conceptions ; so words which from their derivation are shown to be not Arabic but Hebrew, or better still Eabbinic, must be held to prove the Jewish origin of the conceptions expressed. The passage already quoted about the foreign language spoken by those who were accused of helping Muhammad in writing the Quran seems to point to the use among the Jews of a language other than Arabic. The object of this chapter is to enumerate the words which have passed from Eabbinical Hebrew into the Quran, and so into the Arabic language.

Tdbut, 1 Ark. The termination nt is a fairly certain evidence that the word is not of Arabic but of Eabbinical Hebrew origin ; 2 for this dialect of Hebrew has adopted in the place of other endings this termination, which is very common also in Chaldaic and Syriac ; and I venture to assert that no pure Arabic word ends in this way.3 Our word appears in two different passages with two different meanings : first, where the mother of Moses is told to put her son into an ark,4 the signification being here purely Hebrew ; but from this it arose that the ark of the covenant 5 was also called by this name. It is used thus especially ^ in the sense of coming before the ark in prayer. In the second Sura^ we find it mentioned as a sign of the

1 cyjiis -rrn^Pi

' Rabbinical Hebrew •Mj'n^3''jri

* Comp. uLsJ^Us and cujSX*

♦ Sura XX. 39. Comp. «aa n^n Ex. II. 3. 5 ]inM in the Bible.

' •n3"'rirr lasb nns Comp. Mislma Beraohoth V. 4.

' The Arabians sometimea use fc.j.C.3\ «"»(.> also in the meaning of "ark of the covenant" (D'Herbelot Bibliotheqae Orientate ander " Aschmonil.")

32 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

rightful ruler that through him the ark of the covenant l should return. 2

Taurdt, the Law. 3 This word like the Greek equivalent in the New Testament is used only for the Jewish revelation ; and although Muhammad, having only oral tradition, was not able to distinguish so exactly, yet it is obvious that he comprehended the Pentateuch alone under this name ; 4 for among the Jewish prophets after the patriarchs he counts Moses alone as a lawgiver. For the most part the Law is mentioned in connection with the G-ospel.5

Janndtu 'Adn, Paradise. 6 The word "'Adn" is not

1 Sura II. 249.

' The masculine gender here given to this word, as indicated by the fact that &*s refers to it, would appear strange, were it not that perhaps

the old word ^inS was in mind; and the termination >^J being foreign to Arabic is in that language no sure indication of gender.

3 |\j^ nnin o i/6/ao?.

* Later Arabians maintained just the opposite. Ahmad ben 'Abdu'l- Halim (Maraco. Prod. I. p. 5.) says :

\ *s\_,y ^j*_5 Vflir^

" If one says : Instrnot me about the allusions to the Apostle of God in the Tor4h, one understands by that expression all revealed scriptures, since they are all called Tordh; and further:

v>ViS3\ Ja\ \b\jk ^_^\ y-j.!,. j\ji wuS3^ i>,\ Jys aS ^^^\ tiS ^

" It is acknowledged that by the word Torah are meant revealed writings, particularly those which the possessors of the scriptures (Jews and Christians) alike read ; therefore it includes the Psalms, the prophecy of Isaiah and other prophecies, but not the Gospel."

However this does not alter the conviction which we have already

* J-<sJS( Oomp. Siiras III. 2, 43, 58, 86, V. 70, VII. 157, IX. 112,

LXI. 6, LXII. 5.

6 yl^^w r7.y 13

GARDEN OP EDEN. , 33

known in the Arabic language in the sense of pleasure or happiness, but this is the meaning which suits the word in this connection.! In Hebrew this is the radical meaning ; still this expression, viz.. Garden of Eden, which occurs often in the Bible, is never to be explained out and out as Paradise ; but rather Eden 2 is there the proper name of a region which was inhabited by our first parents in their innocence, and the part in which they actually lived was a garden of trees. It is only natural that this earthly region of the golden age should by degrees have come to be regarded as Paradise, in that the word itself ^ no longer stands for the name of a place but is applied to a state of bliss ; 4 though the Jews still held to Eden as a locality also. It is clear from the translation " gardens of pleasure " that the Jews of that time not merely transferred the name Eden into Arabic, but carried over its supposed etymology as well. The more distinctively Christian name 5 occurs seldom in the Quran, though it also is not quite

' The Arabic commentators give widely difEerent meaniugs to the word, but they know nothing of that given by ns just because it is foreign to the

2- - " Arabic language. Blpherar seems to decide for the view that i\^\j\

as well as (0<^, means permanence, as the pious will remain there

for ever.

* Mnljammad uses it thus in Suras IX. 73, XIII. 23, XVI. 33, XVIII. 30, XIX. 62, XX. 78, XXXT. 30, XXXVIII. 50, XL. 8, LXI. 12, and

in other places he translates it (»4?td\ «aU^ c. g. V. 70, X. 9, XXII. 65.

XXXI. 7, XXXVII. 42, LXVIII. 34. Sometimes also he uses it in the

singnlar ■».^».iS\ <U». XXVI. 85 ; and even without the article, A-«i iit^

liVI. 88, LXX. 38.

G^CC^

5 ,^^S^\ uuW 6 TrapaSeiao'!.

34 JUDAISM AND ISlIm.

strange to later Judaism^ as is shown by the story of the four who went alive to Paradise. 1

Jahannam, Hell. 2 This word also, like its opposite Paradise, is of Jewish origin. According to its primary meaning and Biblical usage it too is the name of a place, though of a locality far less important than that which gave its name to Paradise. The vale of Hinnom was nothing more than a spot dedicated to idol worship ; and it is remarkable that the horror of idolatry led to the use of its name to designate hell. That this is the ordinary name for it in the Talmud needs no proof, and from it is derived the New Testament name Gehenna. Now, it might be asserted that Muhammad got this word from the Christians ; but, even setting aside the argument that, as the name for Paradise is Jewish the probabilities are in favour of a Jewish origin for the word for hell also, the form of the word itself speaks for its derivation from Judaism. We lay no stress on the fact that the aspirate he, which is not expressed in the Greek, reappears in the Arabic, because this aspirate though not always indicated by grammarians in writing, appears to have been always sounded in speech. This holds good of other Greek words which have passed into Syriac. 3 The letter mim which stands at the end of the Arabic (Jahannam), not being found in the Syriac word, proves the derivation from the

1 D7."19 Paradise, Chagiga fol, 14. Compare Sdra, XVIII. 107. XXIII. 11.

Among many wrong explanations Elpherar gives the following correct one : ^^^ J^BJ* ^ E^)^^ J^ ) *4«j;5W fc)b'".;M jfe Jtal^,-* Jli

" Mni&hid says it means a, garden in Greek, and Zaj4j says it has passed into Arabic."

3 E.g. (TVvoBo<;, i.e., Snnhadua and especially yeevva, which is pronounced in Syriac, as Gfhano.

AHBAE AND hIbHEE. 35

Hebrew wordj (Gehinnom) . The word is found in many places in the Quran. 1

Ahhdr^. This word is found in several places in the Qurdn in the sense of teacher. Now the real Hebrew word 3 " hibher, " companion, has acquired in the Mishna a meaning similar to that of " p£rush ; " 4 only that the latter was the name of a sect, and the former the name of a party within a sect. The word p^rush means, properly speaking, one separated, i.e., one who withdraws himself out of motives of piety, a Pharisee, as distinguished from one who grasps without scruple all the pleasures of this life, a Sadducee. Among those who were thus separated there grew up a difference from others not only in social customs, but especially in that they adopted a different doctrinal view, viz., a belief in oral tradition. They had also some very strict principles for the guidance of their lives. But the matter was no longer merely one of great carefulness in life and conduct, it became one of special learning and knowledge, which naturally could not be imparted in equal measure to all members of this sect. Hence these learned men, each of whom possessed some special knowledge, became greatly reverenced ; and in this way again a community was formed in centra-distinction to which the remaining people of the country were called the laity. ^ The individual members of this community however were called habherim,^ " fellows;" and thus, though the meaning 'teacher' is not, properly speaking, in the

> S^ras II. 201, III. 10, 196, IV. 58, 95, 99, 115, 120, etc.

s ju^\ Qnan v. 48, 68, ix. si, 34.

^ VlSfl D^' 'KaiKo<: from Xao<;.

36 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

word itself, yet the peculiar development of this com- munity is the cause of tlie new meaning of the word.

The excessive veneration paid to these " fellows " by the Jews gives rise to Muhammad's reproof in the two passages last alluded to. He reproaches the Christians too in both places ^ on account of the esteem in which they held the ruhbdn. This word ruhbdn is probably not derived from rahiba,2 to fear (thus god-fearing) ; but, like qissisun 3 the word which accompanies it in Sura V. 85, is to be derived from the Syriac, which language maintained its preeminence among the Christians in those regions ; thus ruhbdn is derived from the Syriac word rabhoye, and qissisun from the 'Syriac q^shlshoye.

So then ruhbin does not really mean the ordinary monks, who are called daire, but the clergy; whereas qissis stands for the presbyter, the elder, who is called qdshisho in Syriac.

JDarasa 4 =to reach the deep meaning of the Scripture by exact and careful research. Such a diligent enquiry is mentioned in several passages. 5 But this kind of interpretation, which is not content to accept the obvious and generally accepted meaning of a passage, but which seeks out remote allusions— this (though it may bring much of importance and value to light, if used with tact and knowledge of the limits of the profitable in such study)

• Sura IX. 31. 34, yWJ»j ruhban.

(J}""-'"*

* Suras III. 73, XXXIV. 43, LXVIII. 37, VII. 168. On the last passage Elpherar says : ^^y^^ J*> ^y *;«»'*» ) ^\;* vV^\ yjJ,}

The y-jO of a writing means, to read it and arrange it over and

over again.

DAEASA. 37

is very apt to degenerate and to become a mere laying of stress on the unimportant, a searching for meanings where there are none, and for allusions which are purely accidental. And so the word acquired a secondary mean- ing, viz., to trifle, to invent a meaning and force it into a passage. Compare the standing expression 1 current among many who seek 2 the simple primary meaning. The word in this usage occurs in the Quran, particularly in the mouth of Muhammad's opponents ; though until now this fact has not been recognised. The obviously misunder- stood passage in Sura VI. 105 3 is thus explained, also that in VI. 157.4 The former may be thus translated : "And when we variously explain our signs, they may say if they like : Thy explanations are far fetched, we will expound it to people of understanding " ; and the latter as follows : " Lest ye should say : the Scriptures were only sent down unto two peoples before us, but we turn away from their system of forced explanation " ; i.e., they have left the Scriptures to us so overlaid and distorted that we cannot follow them. It is remarkable that this word, which is not a usual one in the Qur£n, appears in this sense only in the sixth Sura where it occurs twice ; and this is evidence that just at the time of the composition of this Sura the word in its secondary meaning was used by some persons as a reproach to Muhammad. This observation furthermore might well serve to indicate the unity of this Sura.

Babbdni^ teacher. This Eabbinical word is probably

38 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

formed by the addition of the suffix an 1 (like nn) to the word " rab, " thus, our lord or teacher, Tor though the termination " an " is. common in later Hebrew,^ yet the weaker word " rabbi " shows that people did not hesitate to append a suffix fco the word rab, and then to treat the whole as a new word. However that may be, rabban is a word of itself now, and is only conferred as a title on the most distinguished teachers. The Eabbinical rule runs thus 3 " (rreater than rabbi is rabbin. " It appears as a title of honour in Suras III. 73, V. 48, 68. Eabb^ni is evidently a word of narrower meaning than the word ahbir explained above ; and this explains why rabbdni is put before ahhir in the two passages last mentioned, where they both appear, and also the striking omission of cur word in the other two places where ahb£r occurs, and where Muhammad finds fault with the divine reverence paid to teachers, describing them with the more general word. The case is the same with qissls and ruhb£n. Both classes are mentioned with praise in Sura V. 85, and with blame in Sura IX. 31, 34, the latter class however only in connection with, ahb£r, in that ruhb£n (like ahbir) is of wider meaning : and further, on account of the combina- tion in one passage of two different classes among the Jews and Christians, viz., the ahb^r and the ruhb£n, {Cf. other similar combinations) no special differentiation was to be attempted.

Salt 4 day of rest, Saturday. This name continued to be applied to Saturday throughout the Bast by Christians as well as Muslims, though it had ceased to be a day of

1 Snffix ]— like ^^

' Suffix ] — Syriao. ono, Arabic t)^

3 1'sn •'ana biia

nit»

SABT, AND SAKINAT. 39

rest. 1 In one place 2 Muhammad seems rather to protest against its being kept holy. The well-known Ben Ezra remarks on this in his commentary on Exodus xvi. 1,^ where he says : " In Arabic five days are named according to number^ first day, second day, etc. But the sixth flay is called the day of assembly/ for it is the holy day of the week ; the Sabbath however is called by the Arabs saht, because the Shin 5 and the Samech, {i.e., the Arabic sin which is pronounced like the Hebrew Samech) interchange in their writings. They have taken the word from Israel." Sahinat ^ the Presence of God. In the development of Judaism in order to guard against forming too human an idea of the Godhead, it was customary to attribute the speaking of God, when it is mentioned in the Scripture, to a personified word of God,7 'as it were embodying that emanation from the Deity which came in Christianity to a veritable Incarnation. In like manner also when in the Scriptures the remaining stationary, or the resting of God is mentioned, something sensible proceeding from Him is to be thought of. This is especially so in the case of God's dwelling in the Temple ; ^ and this ' emanation of the

' S<irasII. 61,VII. 163. ' Sura XVI. 125.

3 Di'^i -lapan T]-)-!, bv niaj ni^an -iN-ii? •'any. p'tjJba v^'D.ws. I3?3n nvn nnb «!in >^ an^an nw bv raiabs •»t^tj; nna^in^a n''D'?ni-ia T^pJsm, pt^n >2 nao inis sn-]|T ri2t» oi-'i

^ipb bM-;c?7;a nbsi

* W Shin.

' Jl? VQ'a'^P \6yo^ rov 6eov.

" D3in2 in:?25i Kx. xxv. s, cf. ceut. xxxni. 12, 16.

40 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

Godhead ' to adopt the speech of the Gnostics, was Called on this account the Shekinah, the resting. From this derivation Shekinah came to be the word for that side of Divine Providence which, as it were, dwells among men and exerts an unseen influence among them. In the original meaning, viz. that of the Presence in the Temple over the Ark of the Covenant between the Cherubim,! the word is found in Sura II. 249. In the sense of active interposition and visible effectual rendering of aid it occurs in Sura IX. 26, 40 ; 2 in the sense of supplying peace of mind and at the same time giving spiritual aid it is found in Sura XL VIII. 4, 18, 26.3 It is remarkable that the word appears in three Suras only, (but several times in the two last mentioned,) and with a somewhat different meaning in each ; and it seems here again, as we remarked above on the word darasa, as though outside influence had been at work, i.e., that the use of this word by other people seems to have influenced Muhammad at the time of the composition of these Suras.

Tagh'it * error. Though this mild word for idolatry is

' Ex. XXV. 22.

^ Arabic commentators do not seem willing to recognise this mean- ing. Elpherar on Sura IX. 26 says the word means ii*jUi=5\ ^ (^S\, security and rest j and on Sura XL VIII. 4 he says distinctly j

" Ben 'Abb4s says this word SaVinat in the Qnr&n always means rest except in the second Sura." But even if &ijUi> does mean inward peace of mind, still the meaning of outward security need not be excluded.

' Elpherar uses the expression jVi^^ j ii<iUy\ to explain verse 4, and ViJ\ , 5i»jUlj5\ to explain verse 18. In the same way D'Herbelot (Biblio- theque Orientale under Thalout, page 862) gives in the name of the commentators the explanation jt\a!5\ t>«i~-* ie., tranquillity of the mind.

4 i^u=, nwK)

FURQAN.

41

not found in the Uabbinical Writings,! gtiH the Jews in Arabia seem to have used it to denote the worship of false gods, for it appears in the Quran 2 in this sense. ^

Furqdn,'^ deliverance,-'' redemption. This is a very important word, and it is one which in my opinion has till now been quite misunderstood. In the primary meaning it occurs in the 8th Sura : " 0 true believers ! if ye fear Grod, He will grant you a deliverance ^ and will expiate your sins, etc." Elpherar gives five different explanations to this verse, each as unsuitable as Wahl's translation, and the passage seems to me truly classical for the primary meaning of the word. This meaning appears also in Sura VIII. 42, where the day of the Victory of Badr is called the day of deliverance, ^ and in Sura II. 181 where this name is given to the month Ramadhan as the month of redemption and deliverance from sin. Muhammad entirely diverging from Jewish ideas, intended to establish his religion as that of the world in general ; further he condemned the earlier times altogether calling them times of ignorance. ^ He declared his creed to have been revealed through Grod's Apostles from the earliest times, and to have been only renewed and put into a clearer and

• It is to be observed however that the Targnms frequently use this word in the plural N"^'!!?^ ^""^ ^^^ ''J''!^ themselves, but not for idolatry.

» Suras II. 257, 259, IV. 63, XVI. 38, XXXlX. 19. 3 ^W.U\ as Elpherar explains it.

* Ibn Said according to Elpherar explains this word as follows :

" Furqan is help against the enemy." Sura XXI. 49. « Sdra VIII. 29. G\iy ^si' ji^

42 JUDAISM AND ISlIm.

more convincing form by himself. Hence the condition of any one outside his belief must have seemed to him a sinful one, and the divine revelation granted to himself and his predecessors appeared to him in the light of deliverance from that sinful life which could only lead to punishment; and therefore he calls revelation itself in many places Furqd.n, as in many he calls it rahmat, l mercy. In some passages he applies the term to the Quran, 2 and in others to the Mosaic revelation. 3

In this way all the passages fit in under the primary signification of the word, and there is no need to guess at a different meaning for each.

Md'un, 4 refuge. This word bears a very foreign impress, and is explained by the Arabic Commentators in a variety of ways. Grolius following them, forces the most diverse meanings into it. It appears in Sura CVII. 7, and seems to me to mean a refuge — ",they refuse refuge," i.e., they give no shelter to those asking for help. Later on the word seems to have been regarded as derived from 'ana 5 (certainly not from ma'ana to which Golius refers it), and thence it acquired the meaning of support, alms.

Masdni, 6 repetition. There has been much perplexity about this word, mainly because it has been considered as an Arabic word and has not been traced back to its source. As by degrees other teaching viz., tradition, 7 grew up by the side of that contained in Holy Writ, the whole law

' Suras III. 2, XXV. title and verse 1. ' Sdras II. 50, XXI. 49.

ffCj.-

' From y\i not from j^jw * Compare under A-^]

"iTxaiNi. . 43

was divided into two parts, 1 the written teaching, that is the Bible, and the teaching by word of mouth or tradition. To occupy oneself with the former was called " to read ;" 2 to occupy oneself with the latter was called " to say." 3 In the Chaldaic Gremara the latter word means to speak after, to repeat the teacher's words after him. In like manner the word tinnah* was used almost exclusively of choral music, in which the choir repeated verses after the precentor. Thus teaching by word of mouth was called mishnah, 5 and so also the collection of oral teaching — the whole tradition ; and afterwards when this was all written down the book received the same name. Now, however, an etymological error crept in and derived this word from shanah in its true Hebrew meaning " to repeat," and then applied it to the repetition of the written teaching. ^ The error of this explanation is shown both in the use of the word and in its inflection.^ Still it seems to have been accepted by the Eoman Jews, and thus it came about that in Justinian's Novels the Mishna is called secunda editio. ^ The same thing happened in the case of the Arabian Jews, and so we get our word masani. Muhammad putting his book in the place of the whole Jewish teaching calls it not only Qurin (miqri) but also mascLni. 9

1 2n32t» n-iin and ns b^atr min

T : * V T V - : :• IT

9

t't

' n3tD connected with the poetic TMH and the Syriac tano,

* nan

T ■

T : •

« min natra

T •■ : ■

' nWTZ in construct, not n^Wn

' SevTepcoati;.

' Suraa XV. 87, XXXIX. 24.

The Arabian commentators on Siira XV. 87 differ much in their explaaation of this word, but one among them gives what seems to an

4t JUDATSM AND ISLAM.

MalakUt, 1 government. This word is nsed only of God's rule, in whicb connexion it invariably appears also in Eabbinioal writings. 2 It occurs in several passages in the Quran. 3 From this narrow use of the word, and from a false derivation from mald,k or roalak^ (a word which comes from quite a different root, and which in Arabic has only the meaning of a messenger of God) it came to be used for the realm of spirits. ^

These fourteen words, which are clearly derived from the later, or Rabbinical Hebrew, shew what very important religious conceptions passed from Judaism into Isldm, — namely, the idea of the Divine guidance, sakinat, malakut ;^

the true meaning. Elpherar has ; j_s»^ i^ d^}^^ (^j^\ JVi^ " Tavus says the whole Quran is called Maekni." At the same time also a reference is made to the other passage cited by us, viz., Sura XXXIX. 24. The word Vatj..« in Sura XV. 87, seems to me to mean either that this Sura was really the seventh (the order of the Suras was afterwards much changed, and we may safely assert that Sura II is of later date than those

following it), or else **«• bears the meaning jj_ and g*t~> the

seventh part, as fifteen Suras make up about one-seventh of the Qur&n. Elpherar omits the word l5'V;>» in the latter passage, a. fact not satis- factorily accounted for by the supposition that he relied on an earlier explanation, for the Arabic writers always give the unexplained passages in full in their commentaries ; and thus it seems that this word must have been altogether missing from Elpherar's text.

° D';nK5 n^l^pa ■^ ^aa-iXeia Twv ovpavav. 3 Sdra VI. 75, VII. 184, XXIII. 90, XXXVI. 83.

< JjX.' or iivU {'^^''^)

* Compare the words ul>^XUJ\ |»3lc in Professor Freitag's work, Fakiha Elcholafa 85. 3.

^ Ajuiw, t^*xl*# God's guiding Presence.

^UIj j is'*^" Revelation,

^A£i K.:t^Uif- , j*-^^ Judgment after death,

VIEWS BORROWED FROM JUDAISM. 45

of revelation, furqdn, masani ; of judgment after deatli, jannatu ' adn and jahannanij besides others which will be brought forward as peculiar to Judaism.

Second Part.

Views borrowed from Judaism.

While in the foregoing section we were content to consider it certain that a conception was derived from Judaism, if the word expressing that conception could be shown to be of Jewish origin, we must now pass on from this method of judging and adopt a new test. We must prove first in detail that the idea in question springs from a Jewish root ; then to attain to greater certainty we must farther shew that the idea is in harmony with the spirit of Judaism, that apart from Judaism the conception would lose in importance and value, that it is in fact ouly an off- shoot of a great tree. To this argument may be added the opposition, alluded to in the Quran itself, which this foreign graft met with from both Arabs and Christians. For tlie better arrangement of these views we must divide them into three groups : A. Matters of Creed or Doctrinal views, B. Moral and legal rules, and G. Views of Life.

A. Doctrinal Views.

We must here set a distinct limit for ourselves, in order on the one hand that we may not drift away into an endless undertaking and attempt to expound the whole Quran ; and on the other that we may not go off into another subject altogether and try to set forth the theology of the Quran ; an undertaking which was begun with considerable success in the Tubingen Zeitschrift fiir Evang. Theol. 1831, 3tes Heft. Furthermore, certain general points of belief are so common to all mankind that the existence of any one of them in one religion must not be considered as

46 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

proving a borrowing from another. Other views again are so well-known and so fully worked out that we need not discuss them in detail, but shall find a mere mention of them sufficient. Of this kind is that of the idea of the unity of God, the fundamental doctrine of Israel and Islam. At the time of the rise of the latter, this view was to be found in Judaism alone, 1 and therefore Muhammad must have borrowed it from that religion. This may be consi- dered as proved without any unnecessary display of learning on the point. The idea of future reward and punishment is common to all religions, but it is held in so many different ways that we shall be obliged to consider it in our argument. Cardinal points of faith have also passed from Judaism into Christianity. To decide whether these points as adopted in the Quran have come from the Jews or from the Christians, we must direct our special attention to a comparison between the forms in which the beliefs are held in both those religions, and the form in which they are presented to us by Muhammad. This is to answer the objection, that in the following discussion so little is to be found about the cardinal dogmas, for even the enumeration of them is foreign to our purpose.

Every religion which conceives God as an active work- ing providence must have some distinct teaching on the creation, and this Muhammad gives in accordance with the Bible, viz., that God created heaven and earth and all that therein is in six days ; 2 although in another place he diverges somewhat and says that the earth was created in two days, the mountains and the green herbs in four days, and the heavens with all their divisions in two days more.^ Though this passage is nothing but a flight of poetic fancy, still it shews how little Muhammad knew of the Bible, inasmuch as he is aware of nothing but the general fact

' Christianity also teaohea the Unity of God/ Ed.

« S^lras X. 3, XI. 9, L, 37, LVII. 4. ' Sura XLI. 8—11.

THE SEVEN HEAVENS. 47

that tbe creation took place in six days, and that he has not ally knowledge of each day's separate work. We have already remarked that he calls the seventh day saht, but does not recognise its sanctity. It remains here to be added that Muhammad appears to allude to and reject the Jewish belief that God rested on the seventh day. l He evidently thought that a necessity for rest after hard labour was implied, for after mentioning the creation as having taken place in six days, he adds " and no weariness affected TJs." On this Jalalu'd-din comments as follows :2 " This was revealed as an answer to the Jews who said that God had rested thoroughly on the sabbath and there- fore weariness left Him." The same thing is to be found in Blpherar's commentary but not so clearly expressed.

The idea of several heavens, which is indicated by the Biblical expression " heaven of heavens, " 3 came to Muham- mad probably from the Jews, also the notion that they were seven in number, a notion due to the different names applied to heaven. In Chagiga * we find the assertion that there are seven heavens, and then the names are given. All these names occur in the Scripture except the first, viz. vilon, from the Latin velum. 5 This name in which heaven is compared to a curtain, which veils the glory of & God, is a very important one in the Talmud. Muhammad speaks often of the seven heavens, ^ and in one passage he

* Sura L. 37.

* Maraoci. ut«-«J\ |.^ cW^ '^'^ O^ f^^ tS* '^^^ iJ* ^^i Jy

* Chagiga 9. 2. b^l^t tt'^p!!?? S'^pT I'iVm ]!! TTPT^. nS5t£7

many. ^Saio ]ii>a

' Cf. Midrash on the Psalms at the end of Psalm xi.

' vi)^»*-J\ ^-— . or ^— J\ i^ft W

Suras II. 27, XVII. 46, XXIII.88, XLI.ll, LXV. 12, LXVII. 3, LXXI. 14.

48 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

calls the heavens the seven strongholds l and in another the seven paths. 2 This last expression occurs also in the Talmud. 3 During the creation, however, His throne was upon the waters. "^ This idea also is borrowed from the Jews, who say : 5 " The throne of glory then stood in the air, and hovered over the waters by the command of God. " This is somewhat more clearly expressed by Elpherar who says : " And this water was in the middle of the air. " 6

A second pivot of every revealed religion is the belief in a judgment after death ; for while the fact of the creation sets forth the omnipotence of the Creator, the doctrine of a final account teaches that it is God's will that His revealed laws shall be obeyed. This, then, in Judaism developed into a local Paradise and Hell, and both concep- tions have passed, as we have already shown, into Islam. These localities, although at first mere symbols, mere embodiments of the spiritual idea of a state, afterwards became crystallised, and suffered the fate of every symbol, i.e., they were taken for the thing symbolised, and the places were more definitely indicated. Thus the Jews

* J^JA jt-i Siira LXXVIII. 12.

* (J'l>^ e-^' s^"^* xxiri. 17. 3 T'n-n ''Y^p

. C^ - _ J J c.

* Sura XI. 9. eUJ\ Jic iA^c yl?

* Rashi on Gen. I. 2. bv ?in-1l5^ 11^3 laij niaS SD3

Sin •^1^3 ti?iii?n b^ va mna n':an ^a?

Cf. |iJiijrt>p5\ Sura XXIir. 88, XXVII. 26, "l^ly^\ J.j^\, XXIII. 117, La,'^T J'j'S'^ LXXXV. 15. with 1133 N33

* CV'^ O^" 'J'^ °^*'^ "^'"^ <J^)

THE SEVEN HELLS. 49

have a saying :l " The world is the sixtieth part of the garden, the garden is the sixtieth part of Eden ; " 2 and in the Qurin we find a similar expression, viz., " paradise whose breadth equalleth the heavens and the earth : ^ Generally speaking, fear is stronger than hope, and the dread of a terrible condemnation appeals far more powerfully than the hope of eternal happiness to a nature which pure religious feeling does not impel to piety of life. This is probably the reason for describing hell in a more detailed and particular manner than Paradise.

Seven hells are pictured as forming different grades of punishment, and these have been developed out of the seven different names mentioned in the Talmud. * These names with one exception ^ (Erets tahtith, subterranean realm, which is clearly adopted from the Roman ideas at the time of their ascendancy) are Biblical. Later on these names came to be construed as seven hells, e. g. in the Midrash on the Psalms at the end of the eleventh Psalm where ^ it is said, " there are seven abodes of the wicked in hell, " after which the above mentioned names are cited with a few variations. It is also said that David by a sevenfold reiterated cry of " my son " 0??) rescued Absalom from the seven habitations of hell ; ^ furthermore hell is said to have seven portals. 8 Muhammad is not

» ]i5a D''t£7t»a -inw yi 73? D'^tpt^p ins r^rs

' Taanith 10. Pesachim 94.

3 Sftia III. 127. i>jS^j kiu\ji-J\ \^fi

♦ niabs"! ivn q^'Ei'i lists -lia^ nnt» -)sa^ li'=i?Mi bistr

See Erubin 19. 1. rT^Wnri VT^N"! 7 2 Sam, xix. 1-5. (Sota 10.) D'3n''2 "'1^1X5 ny2tl7

' Q'sn^ab ■ i^ss I'nne to3£» Zohar 11. iso-

G

50' JUDAISM AND ISLIm.

behind hand, for we read in one passage that 1 " it (hell) hath seven gates, unto every gate a distinct company of them shall be assigned. " According to the Jews, a tree stands at the entrance to hell : 2 " Two date palms grow in the valley of Ben Hinnom, smoke issues from between them and this is the entrance to hell " j but Muhammad knows a tree of hell called Al Zaqqdm 3 which serves sinners for food, about which he has much to relate. The step from such a definite idea of hell to the notion of a personality connected with it is an easy one, and we find such an individual mentioned by the Eabbis as the " prince of Gehinnom ; " * he is called however in the Qur^n simply Jahannam. In one Eabbinical book 5 we find the following : " That the prince of hell says daily, Give me food to satisfy me, comes from Isaiah, v. 14. " Muhammad says similarly: ^ " On that day We will say unto hell, ' Art thou full ? ' and it shall say ' Are there more ' ? "

When the conceptions of Paradise and hell became so definite, and their names were no longer general terms for reward and punishment, a third destination had to be provided for those whose conduct had n,ot been such as to

» Sdra XT. 44. ^^~J- ■ys- ^^ vV 0^_ vl^l ■»<- W

» sukkah 32. iwv n^'S] D'an p •'35 t».^ niiBO ^m

3 ^^^\ S^ SArns XXXTII. 60, XLIV. 43.

6 Othioth Derabbi Akiba, 8. 1. Q'Sn^J bt? nnfe^ ^^P

n-nn il^ P^ ''bab n^s nn^c^i nt»?3 bist? na^n^n

na Tbn nsiNtrn m^K:r^^

T ■• T : T . T

^ Sura L. 29. ^.y ^^a» Ja Jyi5 ^ ci>ft;>-\ Ja ^¥^6^ J^> f*^-

al-a'rap. 51

entitle them to the former uor condemn them to the latter place. Thus while the righteous l found their place in Paradise, and the sinners had their portion in hell, those who belonged to neither class were placed in a space between Paradise and Hell, of which it is said in th.e Midrash on Ecclesiastes, vii. 14: 2 " How much room is there between them ? Eabbi Jochanan says a wall ; R. Acha says a span ; other teachers however hold that they are so close together that people can see from one into the other. " 3 The idea just touched upon in this passage is most poetically worked out in Snra VII. 44,4 "And between the blessed and the damned there shall be a veil ;

' □''p"''^? righteous, C^E?"! sinEers. D''3i3''3 those who staad between.

' nas sns '^an bns -!»s ■j^ni"' "-a-i Dn'':"'a m-i nas

-T T - • - V - T 'tT • - ...-■• - V 1 T -

itb ira ni^'^^a ^^rt^w •'-ta n^^w lu^nw ^naw 7?2"l"! nsa

' Conceraing this intermediaie place S'adi cleverly remarks that it seems to the blessed as hell, to the lost as paradise (D'Herbelot Bibliotheque Orientale under A'rdf. page 115).

* Blpherar comments on this passage as follows :

^»9-o iU\ |jA(^ j_5ic. ^Ua ^)°^)' )^^ U* ^U~s. ^ \^^jj\jsJ )

" These are those whose good and evil deeds are so evenly balanced that the latter preclude them from paradise, while the former save them from hell, therefore they remain standing here until Gcd has declared His pleasure concerning them." And later, when he gives our explanation of verse 45 in a long chain of traditions, he says :

,_jlc \Jii^ <_i\jcS^ i^Vas^t (^ (^\S i;L_._j 4JU~i. ci>y:_o\ y^J fX. \,j\i iisJ\ ^\ yj UVi jUJ^ Ji^ _, i;i,5J\ ^\ \,l^ 1^ l\j^\

jUJ\ v'W"^ 1^^ i*")^-^^ ^j*;" ^'^^ } 1*^^

" Those whose good and evil deeds are equal are the middle men and stand on the road. Thence they can see at once the inhabitants of paradise and those of hell ; if they turn to the former, they cry ' Peace be unto you :' if to the latter " etc.

52 JUDATSM AND ISLAM.

and men sliall stand on Al-Arif who stall know tliem by their marks ; and shall call unto the inhabitants of Paradise saying, Peace be upon yoa ; yet they shall not enter therein, though they earnestly desire it. And when they 1 shall turn their eyes towards the companions of hell fire, they rejoice that they are not among them, and shew them the folly of their earthly walk and hopes. "

It is interesting to compare this view of a threefold dealing with the dead with the very similar Platonic idea.2

The idea of the bliss of eternal life, as well as the metaphor which expresses the difficulty of attaining it, is common to the Qur^n and Judaism. There is a Rabbinical saying 3 to the efiect that "one hour of rapture in that world is better than a whole life-time in this." With this we may compare the Quran : ■* " And what is this life in comparison with the life to come except a passing amuse- ment ? " Then for the difficulty of attaining Paradise we may compare the Rabbinical picture ^ of the elephant entering the needle's eye with the words in Snra VII. 38 6 " Neither shall they enter into paradise until a camel pass through the eye of a needle. " This last metaphor seems to be borrowed from Christianity, (partly because of the similarity of the figure, in that " camel " is the metaphor used in the Gospels, and partly because of the frequent mention of the same by the Evangelists) ^ , and is only

* " They '' i e. the men between, not as Wahl and others explain it. ^ Phaedon, Chap. 62.

3 Miahna Aboth, IV, 17. m.ip bC? nV}^ n^tt? Tl^>

Ti-fp r2\yar\ •'"n baa wan o^iva r\>n

* S<lraa IX. 88, XIII. 26. gtw S\ S/.ST^ V;J^T ^^iTu^

' Sdra VII. 38. ^^T ^*- ^_ J*^ ^' ' Matt, xix. 24 ; Mark, i. 25 ; Luke, XTiii. 24.

TIJE FUTURE LIFE. 53

deserving of mention here, because the fact that ia the Talmud elephant is used seems to confirm the ordinary translation of the Greek word in the Gospels, and the Arabic word in the Quran, and to remove the doubt as to whether they might not be better rendered "cable."

Given the pure conception of immortality viz., that the life of the soul never ceases, it becomes unnecessary to fix a time at which the judgment shall take place; and so in most Talmudic passages a future world is pictured ^ in which every thing earthly is stripped away and pious souls enjoy the brightness of God's Presence. 2 Echoes of this teaching are to be found in the Qur^n. In one passage ^ we read of a soul gazing on its Lord, and in another 4 the condition of a perfectly peaceful soul is beautifully described. But this entirely spiritual idea was not thoroughly carried out. Rather by the side of the pure conception of a continued life of the soul after the death of the bocly,5 there existed that of the quickening of the dead.6 Thus because the man cannot receive the requital

T • : - • * '•'.■: V

3 Sura LXXV. 23. IlG l^J J\ - - a

* Sura LXXXIX. 27 ff. ii£*U

' Take e. g. the Rabbinical saying :

Q>»ri D^^-I|7 nnn'^ag ^VCS D'^i^'^'^'j; " Even in their death the right- eons are oa)led living; " and in Suras II. 149, III. 163, it is ordpred that those who fall in holy vrar shall not be called uu\«/»^ dead, but bL=.\ living.

The view that by the expression Teohiyath Hammethim the future world or the (spiritual) continued life of the (bodily) dead is meant, ia given clearly in the explanation which a Baraitha adds to the quoted utterance of the Mishna. To the words : " he who asserts that the belief in Teohiyath Hammethim is no part of the Jewish religion baa no part in

54 JUDAISM AND ISlIm.

of his deeds while he is still in a state of death, the time of resurrection must be the time for the judgment.*

These two views of the resurrection and the judgment day, though different in themselves, are both closely connected in Judaism and more especially in Islam. 2 In Judaism there is a third period the advent of a Messiah, which it is not easy to separate from the other two. Naturally this time, which is to bring forth two such important events as judgment and resurrection, will be ushered in by terrible signs. In Judaism statements to this effect are to be found only about the third period, which is generally connected with the other two, viz., the earth- ly period of the Messiah ; in Isl^m on the contrary every- thing is attributed to the last day. The utterance most in accord with the Talmud is that in Sunnas 41 and 141, which says that learning shall vanish, ignorance shall take root, drunkenness and immorality shall increase. With this we must compare the passage in Sanhedrin 97 : 3 " At the time when David's son comes the learned diminish, and the place of learned meetings serves for immorality." The descriptions in the Qur£n refer more to the last day itself, and remind us of many passages in Holy Scripture, where it is also said of those days that the world will bow itself before God, the heavens will be rolled together 4 and

the fature«rorld," he adds: "he denies the T. H., therefore he has no more a portion in it." Here the expression CDan rCPin and " f Qture, world" are taken as identical in meaning. Compare too the Book Ikkarim, IV. 31.

2 Compare, e.g. Sura XXVI. 87. 88.

' i:s5n iT'an nitprnn!? D'^ajn •'I'-obri sa ti'^ ^ad -liT

* Siiras XXI. 104, XXXIX. 67.

Cf. D^atiJrr -1535 ^iVbal Isaiah XXXIV, -1.

aoa AND MAGOa. oo

vanish in smoke,! all cities will be destroyecl,^ and men will be drunken and yet not drunken.3

Another very distinct sign of the advent of a Messiah, which is remotely alluded to in the Bible but which attained to an extraordinary development in the Talmud and especially in later writings, is the battle of Gog, Prince of Magog. 4 Grog and Magog are, however, named by the Eabbis as two princes, and this view has taken root in the Quran in the Eabbinical form ,5 since two persons, Gog and Magog, are mentioned as dwellers in the uttermost parts of the earth. 6

In the details of the idea of future retribution many resemblances are to be found, which, by virtue of the unity of the Jewish view and its derivation from the Scriptures, shew themselves as borrowings from Judaism. Thus according to the Talmud, a man's limbs themselves shall give testimony against him ; 1 in one passage we find these words : " The very members of 8 a man bear witness against him, for it is said : ' Ye yourselves are my witnesses saith the Lord.'" With this we may compare Sura XXIV. 24:9 " Their own tongues, and hands, and feet, shall one day be witness against them of their own doings. 10 The judgment

' Sura XLIV. 9 ff.

2 Sura XVII. 60.

3 Sijra XXII. 2. Comp. Suras XXVII. 89, XXXIX. G8, LXIX. 13 ff. Bzekiel, xxxviii. and xxziz.

'Sura XXI. 96. ^^U.^ g^^T

* Sura XVIII. 93.

' Chagiga 16, Taanith 11.

"n nN3 ny ortsi. '3t» 'la w^T^'a d^h be? V";2'«n fin

^ Ifiaiah, xliii, 12.

'" Cf. also Suras XXXVI. 65, XLI. 19.

56 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

day gains also a greater importance from the fact that not only individuals and nations appear at it, but also those beings who have been honoured as gods by the nations, and they too receive punishment with their worshippers. In Sukkah XXIX we find this statement : 1 "As often as a nation (on account of idolatry) receives its punishment, those beings honoured by it as gods shall also be punished ; for, it is written : 2 "■ Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment.' " That this general sentence admits of a reference to the punishment of the last day is not expressly stated, but it is worthy of acceptation. Muhammad expresses himself still more clearly about it:^ " Yerily both ye and the idols which ye worship besides God shall be cast as fuel into hell fire."

A view closely interwoven with Judaism and Islam is that retributive punishment is entirely confined to the state after death, and that any single merit which a sinner has gained will be rewarded in this world, to the end that nothing may impede the course of judgment in the next. The same view, only reversed, holds good in the case of the righteous. It is a view which was thought to explain the course of destiny upon earth, which so often seems to run contrary to the merits and demerits of men.

The Rabbinical view is expressed in the following passage : 4 " Whereunto are the pious in this world to be

' ri?"!^ ^^U^^. r^'? ^\f^ *^''nt» nasi nas) bb r]b ^''w

D'>t?Qt» Tibv)^ D^l"a '^nbN b^?^ 'zw nai?

' Bxodns, xii. 12.

' Sura XXI. 98. ^.^ 4--^ ^ 0)^ CT* yj-^ '^ J "f^^

* -iris ib?t» "iVsib 'n-m obisa □''bttJa? ty^';)>'^-$ nab ibs s'^aa iQi: v^P? '^*?*??> t:ipab n^b iQiai n-fni^ cipa? Q^'iT'^a b3? tsn.^is"; N''3a n '2 "^ti •^^3 -lina dipas ip5

RABBINICAL VIEW OV THE FCIUEB LIPE. 57

compared ? To a tree wbicli stands entirely in a clean place ; and when a brancli bends to an unclean place, it is cat off and the tree itself stands there quite clean. Thus Grod sends afflictions in this world to the righteous, that they may possess that which is to come, as it is written : ' Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.' l Sinners are like a tree which stands in an altogether unclean place ; if a branch bends over to a clean place, it is cut off and the tree itself stands there quite unclean. Thus God allows the ungodly to prosper, in order to plunge them into the lowest depth of hell, as it is written : ' There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.' " 2 Muhammad expresses this same view in several passages, but restricts himself to the latter part which refers to the prosperity C'f sinners, partly because his own ideas were too unspiritual for him to be able to imagine the righteous as truly happy without earthly goods, partly because in so doing his teaching would have lost in acceptability to his very degraded contemporaries. Thus in one passage 3 we read : " We grant them long and prosperous lives only

ibsB? iVsb ?niJ2 D'^oii Q'^vwi, nab^i Ysa sab"*, ^n'^-insi"! •ib3 iQi: v^pa nnnc nipob ni^^b •isi:'! nsiat? m'piaa lai? Tn3J2 nnia onb VQtoa n"2 "jjn ?f3 nsiaia oiptts iris? U7."; '5?? D3n>2 b^ n;innnri ranixsb ^ajninb^i 111^^ ""l? mia •<3-ii HiT^-inMi e?''n >iQh ~iw> -j-ii

V T ■• : - T • -; - : ■ •• : • t t ' vv

1 Job, viii. 7.

' Proverbs, xiv. 12. Kiddnshin, 40. 2. Compare Dereoh Ereta j Sutta end of Chap. II ; Aboth of Rabbi Nathan, end of Chap. IX ; Erubin 26. 2 j also the Targams and their Commentators on Deuteronomy, vii. 10,

' Sdra III. 172. tj\ y\jp )^ JUi Cj\

a ' ' a

H

58 JUDAISM AND ISlIm.

that their iniquity may be increased," l still the second view is to be found among the Arabians also, e.g., Blpherar in his comments on Qurd.n XII. 42 2 says : " It is said that the righteous are punished and tried, in order that the day of resurrection may be perfect in light and power, as the contumacy of the righteous has been already expiated." Muhammad naturally avoided specifying any time at which the judgment should take place, though he was much pressed to do so. He excused himself with the •Jewish saying that with God a thousand years are as one day, 3 which was divested of its poetic adornment and taken by the Eabbis in a purely literal sense. * Muhammad says ^ : " Verily one day with thy Lord is as a thousand years of those which ye compute" ; and again ^ : " On the day whose length shall be a thousand years of those which ye compute."

As has been already shown, with the establishment of

1 Compare Sura IX. 55, 86, XXXI. 23. In IX. 55, 86, the worda UijJ\ (6j<ka»5\) j_si are evidently to be connected with *aijS,T and not with what immediately precedes.

Thus Elpherar Bays on IX. 55 : aJJ^oj i^'i\ ^i Sjba , A4.Va-»J\ JU

Mujihid and Ketadd Bay that this verse has been transposed, it should ran . " Let not therefore their riches or their children in this world cause thee to marvel. Verily God intendeth only to punish them by these things in that world. "

' Psalm, xo. 4.

♦ Sanhedrin 96. 2. See also Preface to Ben Ezra's Commentary on the Pentateuch where he opposes this view.

5 S^ra XXII. 46. yjSi? C. ^ .-A^tf S^j 1^ C^' ^\ « Sura XXXII. 4. ' ' ' ' ' *

THB KESUEEECTION OP THE BODY. 59

tlie doctrine of the day of iudgment, the view of the resurrection and of the quickening of the dead was also formed ; and this the more readily, because it found support in expressions in the Scripture, as e.g. those in Ezekiel, xxxvii. 1 : " I have opened your graves, and caused

you to come up out of your graves, ye shall

live," etc. ; and those in other passages referring partly to the metaphorical quickening of the dead land of Israel. Of this doctrine it is said that it is such a fundamental teaching of the Jewish faith that the declaration that it did not belong to the law entailed the exclusion of him who thus spoke from eternal life. 2 The Quran is, so to speak, founded upon this doctrine along with that of the unity of God, and there is scarcely a page in it where this doctrine is not mentioned. To adduce proofs here would be as easy as it would be useless; and indeed it is not required by our purpose, since Christianity also has inherited this view from Judaism, as is shown in the argument of Jesus in refutation of the Sadducees. Only one point deserves particular mention, because on the one hand it contains a detail adopted from Judaism, and on the other it shows the low level of thought at that time.

As soon as it becomes a question not merely of the immortality of the soul, but also of the resurrection of the body, then the soul without its body is no longer regarded as the same person, and the question naturally presents itself to the ordinary understanding : " How can this body which we have seen decay rise again, so that the same personality shall reappear ?" Neither the soul alone nor the body alone is the person, but the union of the two. Now one part of this union is dissolved ; another body can indeed be given to this soul, but by this means he who died

' Ezekiel, xxxvii. 13. D?"'rn-l5p-n.M "'11035

Sura C. 9. j^\^jiC.yi«} ' Misbna Sanbedrin X, 1

60 JUDAISM mo ISI(i.M,

d,oes not reappear, but a new man, another personality, another Qonsciousnesa comes into l?eing. This question dimly anticipated obtrudes itself, and can only be set at rest by, proving that the v^ry, same personality can, appear again. Instead of showing this Muhammad contents himself with the parable, used also occasionally in the Talmud, of the renewal of the dried up earth by fertilising rain. He found however, that he could not silence the common convictions of men thereby, l and sp he was compelled to come back to it again and again. The Jews also sought to give prominence to this resemblance, and they put the eulo- gium 2 "Who sendeth dpwn the rain " into the second benediption which treats of the resurrection. ^ The fact that the righteous, rise actually in their clothes^ (which after, all is not more woi^derful than in their hodies) is explained by the parable of the grain of wheat, which is laid in the earth without covering, but springs up again with many coverings. The passage in Qurdn VI. 96 contains a similar statement. This vieWi isnqt strange to Islam, for, a saying \7hich is attributed to Muhammad runs thus: 5, "The dead, man shall be raised in the clothes in which he died. "

That from the standpoint of, revealed, religion the belief in the possibility, of revelation is fundamental need^^ of course no proof, and in this the views, of all revealed religions are alike ; yet difEerencps can be found in the manner of conceiving pfi the revelation, and here, we recognise again that Muhammad derived his view of. it from Judaism, of course with some n^pdificatipn,

1 SuraB VI. 95, XXX. 49, XXXVI. 33, XLI. 39, XLIII. 10, etc,

> amr; f^nin

^ Taanith at the beginniiig.

* Sanhedrin 90. 2, and Kethtibhoth III, 2.

(Poo. notra miso, cap. 7, p, 271.)

Muhammad's view o5 inspiration. 61

The Jew^ have a saying that "all the prophets saw through a dark glass, but Moses through a clear one, " i and Muhammad says : 2 It was not granted to a man that God should speak unto him otherwise than in a vision or from behind a veil ; 3 and then he adds : 4 " or by the sending of a messenger to reveal by His permission that which He pleaseth. " This messenger is the Holy Spirit, 5 or simply the spirit, 6 like the spirit in the story of Micaiah's vision. 7 The Arabic commentators take this holy spirit to mean (rabriel, a view which is not unknown to the Jews, fur

' Jebamoth 49. n-J'^ND n^'^Sti? Ni-lbpQDH2 -IM-l n">N''22n bs

" Sura XLII. 50. ^V^ 7\-j y« J\ Ll^ \ -^^ Ij^ ^^ ^ ^^ V^^

* Commentators cite this verse as one in which the superiority of Moses is disputed ; thus Elpherar says :

,j-iy» 1^ w i\j>, Sj i"S^ ix*—^^, s->^s=- o\)j (^ j\ c'^^^k j\ (•W!\

" The Jews said to Muljammad; 'By God! if thou art a prophet, dost thou speak with God and see Ilim as Moses spoke with Him and saw Him i' ' Then he said : ' Moses did not see God. ' And then came this verse : ' It was not granted to a man that God should speak to him, except in a vision, in a dream or through supemat;ural inspiration, or from behind a curtain, so that man hears His Voice, but does not see Him ; He spoke thus to Moses also. ' "

, J— - _ C J- = ..- J Cj ex

— a- -

* y-^ Cjj tt?ipn n^l, TO TTvev/ia ayiov « Cjy Suraa LXXVIII. 38, XCYII. 4.

' rynj^ ns.*i i Kings, xxii. 2,1.

62 JDDAISM AND ISLAM.

the Jewish commentators understand the words 1 " the definitely speaking Spirit" to refer to Gabriel. One of Muhammad's own utterances, one which is fully explained only by the o2nd Sunna, is much more striking : ^ " And they will ask thee of the spirit, say : the spirit (proceedeth) at my Lord's command. "

With this the teaching about angels is closely connected, and it also had its beginning in Scripture, but appears to have been developed in later days especially through Parseeism. Muhammad is unwearied in his descriptions of angels ; so too are the later .Jews in their many prayers on the day of atonement, but these are of rather late origin. 3 The angel of death 4 is specially mentioned in Sura XXXII. 11.

While angels were regarded as purely spiritual beings who execute God's commands, a class of beings was imagined who stood between man and the purest spirits ; these were mixed spirits, who were made out of fire, ^ who possessed superior mental powers, but who were mostly inclined to evil, they were called ^ demons, but there are numerous other names for them in Arabic. The Talmud has the following statement about them : ^ " Demons

' rr'apDQ mn Santedrini*.

■'t : "

2 Siira XTII. 87. Jj j^l ^ ij)\ Ji cjJT (^ csUyU;

M—CBC joJ-o J a-ts - ^-jSC

3 Compare Suras XXXV. 1, XXXVII. 1, XL. 7, LXXVII. 1 ff. LXXIX. 11 ff.

< S<ira XXXII. 11. ^^.^, p^j^j^ ^yi,^ 5 SAra XV. 27.

' nn.t^n •'ssbas r\dbw Dnt^a Dnnw nnnn nwvi D\Q^'3 Dnb t£?;. nn^ii •'aN.bn? ndbw oi^ \a?3 naJbtpi

DEMONS.

63

are declared to possess six qualities, three of whicli are angelic and three human. The three which pertain to angels are that they have wings, that they can fly from one end of the earth to the other {i. e. they are bound by no space), and that they know the future beforehand. They know the future beforehand ? No ! but they listen behind the curtain. The three human qualities are that they eat and drink, increase and multiply, ^ and die. " ^ Muslim tradition cannot do enough in their description, but there is but little about them in the Qur£n. The fact that they listened at the canopy of heaven gained for them in the Qurdn the nickname of the stoned, 3 for, say the commen- tators, the angels threw stones to drive them away when they found them listening. 4 Thus it is said expressly : 5 " We have appointed them (the lamps of heaven) to be darted at the devils. " The seventy-second Sira treats of them in detail, and seeks especially to set forth their assent to the new doctrine. The Talmud also states that they are present at the giving of instruction. The following

l^v'^v nrnb i^nvw na T'i?"Ti^i ^)p\^D lv^ obijyn ?i"iD!a rpt;! Di« •'323 naJbtiJ^ liansn i-iinsa vvaw sbw Trnri wpbo

Ti •' : • T : - - "• -: •■ • • : t v '-.■;- 't : t

" The genii are supposed to be a species of angels, and the devil is their father j he has thns a posterity, which is mentioned with him ; the (remaining) angels however have no posterity." JalAlu'ddin in Maracc Prodr. II. 15.

' Chagiga 16. 1.

3 Suras XV. 17, 34, XXXVIII. 78, LXXXI. 24. ^J

' The Muslim explanation of falling stars.

» 0^-\'A^ UjLj UUii} Sura LXVII. 5 ; compare Stxia, XXXVII. 7.

64 JUDAISM AND ISlIm.

passage from the Berachoth shows this : " The press in the school is caused by them, the demons. " 1 With this we may compare the Qurin : " When the servant of God stood up to invoke Him, it wanted little but that the genii had pressed on him in crowds. " 2 It cannot be maintained that the greater part of the teaching about genii was adopted from Judaism, it must rather be said to have come from the same dark source whence the Jews of those times drew these conceptions, viz., Parseeism.

Still here, as in the case of any point which is of inaccessible origin, a reference to a mere similarity is not without use.

Under these four heads then, viz., (]) Creation, (2) Retribution including the Last Judgment and the Resur- rection, (3) Mode of Revelation, and (4) Doctrine of Spirits, details are found, the adoption of which from Judaism we may regard as sufficiently proved. The precaution against representing, out of love for our theme, that which is common either to the general religious feelings of mankind, or to all revealed religions, or at least that which belonged to other known religious parties in Muhammad's time as peculiar only to Judaism, compels us to fix these limits. We have found much of interest especially under the second head, so that the demands of our theme might seem to be fairly well satisfied.

B. Moral and Legal Rules.

It is obvious that in a revealed religion all individual commands form part of the religion, and therefore one cannot draw any sharp line of distinction between the " religious " and the " moral. " We have accordingly

>s>in >in^3a nba n''51 ^PJ^'^.. ^^^

2 Sdra LXXII. 19, 'fjJJ *5c a/^ h^^

MOKAL AND LEGAL RULES. 65

0

considered nofhing whicTi has to do with conduct under the heading A, even though it might be immediately con- nected with the points of belief under discussion and so we are able to bring together here all commands as to conduct. From the fact that every individual command is DivinCj a conflict of duties may easily arise, which cannot be readily decided by private judgment, seeing that all the command- ments are equal, l so far as their Author is concerned. Rules for such cases must therefore be laid down. For instance, we find the following statement in the Eabbinical writings : 2 " If a father saith (to his son if he is a priest), ' defile thyself ' ; or if he saith, ' Make not restitution (of the thing found to the owner) ', shall he obey him ? Therefore, it is written: 3 'Let e very 1 man reverence his father and mother, but keep my Sabbaths all of you, ye are all bound to honour me. ' " And Muhammad says -. i " We have commanded man to show kindness towards his parents, but if they endeavour to prevail with thee to associate with me that concerning which thou hast no knowledge, obey them not. "

' Fakihat Elcholefa, 94, proves that thia is really the Arabic view :

i^ y-Isr J JV» ^ST v»W J^ j^^. u^jj S^/*S\ uiJW*

" A meritorious man says that in the sins of men there is nothing small, bat whatever is done contrary to the Commandment is great with respect to Him who commands, who is exalted and holy."

» Jebamoth 6. bsi ib "IHS i« SStsn V2N ib -ISN

^s-i"'ri V3W1 iaw a'''« la^^b ^ii^'^n ib raip"; bio; innn

5 Levitiona, xix. 3.

* Sura XXIX. 7. cs),Ai5 usJ^AfcW y\ ) U_=. ii'ii\ji yL-jS\ Wojj

- - * - - - g

60 JUDAISM ANT) ISLAM.

Judaism is knowu to be very rich in single precepts, and Muhammad has borrowed from it much that seemed to him suitable.

1. Prayer. Muhammad like the Eabbis prescribes the standing position 1 for prayer. Thus : " Stand obedient to the Lord ; but if ye fear any danger, then pray while walk- ing or riding" ; 2 and also : " Who standing, and sitting, and reclining, bear God in mind." 3

These three positions are mentioned again in Sura X. 13 : 4 " When evil befalleth a man he prayeth unto us, lying on his side or sitting or standing, " where with a true perception of the right order, the least worthy position is the first spoken of. 5

BaidhAwi comments thus on Sura III. 188, the passage alluded to above : " The meaning is that the man may take any of the three positions according to his strength, as Muhammad said to Amr£n Ibn Husain : ' Pray standing if thou art able ; if not, sitting ; and if thou canst not sit up, then leaning on the side. " ^ The Jews were not so strict in this matter, yet they too have the rule that prayer should be offered standing j 7 and in Eabbinical writings it is also

' Note the technical expression iXi^ lt»\

comp. Eabb. nbsna la^

» Sura II. 240. \il^j"\ SWji ^»j^ y\i ^\J a5 \^^J 3 Sura III. 188. ^^ ^J^j Wyuj UU5

' Cf. also Sura IV. 46.

' SU\ Mc dJjSJ ^tt, .,..>.^ ^hi\ uyUa5\ Js, y^ 6U*^ gk! — ; ^ yU WVoi (i=x — 5 ^ yU \^\i j^ (^^^^ ^^ y\j^ ^ — )]j

' f&VI^ Tl'h^rr\ Cf. Beraohoth X.

PRAYER. 67

said that he who rides on an ass is to dismount, but the addition is made that, if he cannot dismount he is to turn his face (towards Jerusalem) . ^ As the bodily position may be altered ia urgent cases, so the prayer itself may be shortened on similar occasions. 2 So we find the permission to shorten prayer in time of war : " When ye march to war in the earth, 3 it shall be no crime in you if ye shorten your prayers." The Jews also were permitted to pray a short prayer when in a dangerous place. * Muhammad is quite opposed to senseless chattering, for he counts it a merit in believers to " eschew all vain discourse. 5 There- fore because attention and . pious concentration of thought are to be aimed at, he enjoins ^ on believers not to draw near to prayer when they are drunk. This is in accord- ance with the Talmudic rule : " Prayer is forbidden to the drunken. " ■^ It is also forbidden to those who have touched women. ^ These persons may not engage in

» Mishna Berachoth IV. 5. Ti"< nicnn bi? niii n'<n

■ ' " TT

V3Q -inn^ -ii^b biD; ia^N cni

s Sura IT. 102. \jj-« ft}\ cW f^^ y-is LfjS\ ^ ^j^ \'j\ J

' Compare the similar expresBion in Hebrew ^'HMS H-ltzJ

« Mishna Berachoth IV. 4. bbsriQ n33p Dipaa tjbnian

n-;^|7 nb5;p

* Sura XXIII. 3. y^j** ytS\ (j£ ^ y^JJ^J

Compare Eoclesiastes, v. 1. D"'l35?a ^"'I^T ITI^ ]?bv

« Sura TV. 46. ^j\^ ^^ j i\^X \^^'i 1 bbgnnb I^DM list?? Berachoth 31. 2. Erubin 64. 8 Siiras IV. 46. V. 9. »U-J^ ^■;l-...j.S Cf. Mishna Berachoth III. 4.

np bra

68 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

prayer before wasliing witli water, wHicli cleansing is recommended as a general rule before prayer both in the Qurl-n 1 and in the Talmud. Instead of water, purification with sand may take place. 2 So in the Talmud : " He cleanses himself with sand and has then done enough." As concentrated thought is urged as a duty, it follows that prayer though audible must not be noisy, 3 and so Muham- mad says : " Pronounce not thy prayer aloud, neither pronounce it with too low a voice, but follow a middle way between these ; " and in the Talmud we find : 4 " From the behaviour of Hannah who in prayer moved her lipa we learn that he who prays must pronounce the words, and also as her voice was not heard we learn that he must not raise his voice loudly. " But because our mood does not at all times move us to fervency of prayer, outward ceremony is necessary, and indeed prayer in a great congregation, whose devotion will stir up our own. ^ " The prayer in the congregation " ^ is greatly praised also by the Jews. Daybreak, which is mentioned in the Talmud in connection with the Shema prayer, as the time when " one can distinguish between a blue and a white thread, " ' is not mentioned in this connection in the

' Sura V. 8. Berachoth 46.

» 1^ Siiras IV. 46, V. 9. Cf . the Talmudio phrase

3 Sura XVII. 110. lb-1. c3Ji ^*> ^k\ / 1« ut-iVis Sj Ss^. j^ 3 * 1 Samuel, i. 13. Beraohoth 31. 2.

s Cf . Sunna 86. 87. 88. 89.

• : T • :

' Mishna Beraohoth I. 2. )5bb nbSfl ]"'3 l^'S^^Q

MAEEIAflE. 69

Quran it ia true, for tlie Quraa knows nothing of a Shema prayer, but it appears in connection with the beginning of the Fast Day : " ^ Until ye can discern a white thread from a black thread by the daybreak. "

2. Some rulings in respect of women tally with Judaism ; e.g., the waiting of divorced woman for three months before they may marry again. 2 The time of suckling is given in both as two years : ^ " Mothers shall give suck unto their children two full years. " Similarly in Snra XL VI. 14 we find : " His bearing and his weaning is thirty months, " which is explained by Blpherar as follows : ^ " He takes the shortest duration of pregnancy, viz., six months, and the shortest of suckling, viz., twenty-four months." Compare the Talmudic saying : 5 "A woman ia to suckle her child two years, after that it is as though a worm sucked. " That those relatives to whom inter- marriage is forbidden in the Scripture are precisely those whom Muhammad permits 6 to see their near relations unveiled has been already noticed by Michaelis in the Mosaic system, and he has shewn the connection between these two laws.

1 Sura II. 183. JjIJT !=-jsJ\ y- cArf^^ '^e^^ (^ l:>«^ <j^

Compare the note in the first section (p. 26) for remarks on the Fast Day, ' Ashura.

2 Sura II. 228. Cf . Mishna Jabhamoth IV. 10.

3 Sura II. 233. yS-S" i^f- ^oSj\ ^^^ liQiyT^ Cf. XXXI. 13.

* \fr-^ <;}}r^) ^J^ g^y^ '-^ Ji^ ; jS-A^ i;^— J<<lJ\ SX. Ji\ Jbjj 5 Kethuboth 60. 1.

Vi7.t» par? tib'^Ni ]3»3 Q"'?:^ ^!?^ r\y^ n^ n,'?"'?''?? nt»N

Compare Josephus Ant, 2. 9. ' Sura XXIV. 31.

70 JUDAISM AND ISLIm.

As Muliammad had very little intention of imposing a new code of individual laws, since his aim was much more tlie spread of new purified religious opinions, and as in the matter of practice he was far too much of an Arab to deviate from inherited usages, unless they came directly into opposition to these higher religious views, it is easily to be explained how so few borrowings are to be found in this part and much even of what is adduced might perhaps be claimed to be general oriental custom. We shall find moreover in the Appendix that Muhammad mentions many Jewish laws which were known to him ; he alludes to these sometimes as binding on the Jews, sometimes merely for the sake of disputing them, and hence we see that it was not want of knowledge of them that kept him back from using them, but his totally different purpose. This remark must apply also to our third heading, under which isolated instances of adaptation only will be found, except in cases where the view is directly connected with the higher articles of Faith adopted from Judaism, which have been already mentioned.

0. Views of Life.

In putting together these single fragmentary utterances, it is scarcely worth while to arrange them according to any new system, and we will therefore follow the order of the Qur^n.

Death with the righteous is to be prized, hence the request in the Qur4n : " Make us to die with the right- eous, " 1 which corresponds with that of Balaam, " Let me die the death of the righteous. "

» Stira III. 191. jl^^e^ ^/ Cf. Numbers, xxiii. 10. Qnp.'' flia ''tt?93 nbn

VIEWS OF LIFE. 71

*

" Say not of any matter, ' I will, surely do this to- morrow,' unless thou add, ' If God please. ' " 1 Full under- standing is first imputed to a man when he is forty years old, 2 and it is said in the Mishna : " At forty years of age a man comes to intelligence. " So the hunting for some particular persons, to whom this sentence of the Quran shall apply, as the Arabic Commentators do, appears altogether unnecessary ; it is also rendered very dubious by the wide differences between the various opinions.

In the Qurdn a comparison is found between those who bear a burden without understanding the nature of it and who thus carry without profit, and an ass carrying books. *

" He who intercedeth (between men) with a good inter- cession shall have a portion thereof. " * This saying is very similar to the Hebrew one : " He who asks for mercy for another while he needs the same thing himself obtains help

» Sura XVIII. 23. <si3^ o\__£S y\ %\ \'ji i2U3 JcU ^\ o,_-iJ yji; SI

Cf. the Hebrew expression Dt^H n!J~!'; QS » Sura XLVI. 14, I::—. ^^.^^ gl> Cf. Abotb V. 21.

T • • T : -| I V

That fun understanding lis not reached until the completion of th© fortieth year is observed also by Philo (e/CTj; Se [e^Bo/MaSi) o-Ki/ecreaj? dK^nrj) , who here takes the forty-second year, only because he attaches particular virtue to the number 7, in which Solon also agrees with him (Vi(}. Philo, de Opificio Mundi, P. 70-72, Ed. Pfeifer I)

3 Sura LXII. 5. f^^ J*.ir JU=^

Cf. the Hebrew n>'-l50 VW'l liaq • Sura IV. 87. Ifll. '1^ ei ^ il-Ll- lc\i_i jL-sJ y^

Cf. BabaKamma92. Wn iian ^75 D'^^ni E?i7.5'?n V?^

72 JUDAISM AND ISlIm.

first. " In Sunna 689 it is said : " Three things follow the dead, but two of them turn back ; his family, his goods, and his works follow him ; his family and his goods forsake him again, and only his works remain with him. " This is also found in great detail in Kabbinical Hebrew : 1 " Man has three friends in his life time, — his family, his property, and his good works. At the time of his depar- ture from earth he collects the members of his family, and says to them, ' I beg you, come and free me from this evil death. ' They answer : ' Hast thou not heard 2 that no one has power over the day of death.' It is also written : 3 ' None of them can by any means redeem his brother, even his

' Pirke Rabbi Eliezer 34.

Di23a w^in dVirn yo inT.''ta5 nptpn^ Q'^niian vbsa^ i:iat5^ "'3^b''^rn. ^i^3 nsa nt»i75? onb la'si. in"-? \:5b'i rsab ririato ^bi. 'lb V"!*?*^"! 'i'"i'i'^ r?''tp» 101 nw s-nn ty))^r\ ]a n?.?"; n'TQ t^b n« a^n? -n? rfbi. rmr\ dV5 I'l^ib!?; yviX^. ^n'; sbi '3.t» ni'^eb bis; '•i:''« 2ns timxa iahap ^bpNi t£i"'si Dbisb ni -13'^a bin"! m»53 I'vi? -\\T■^ nab iiM d'^ribsb Ypb Tyb-riib ^a^ni. ^5^t»a b^ n^ani D'ibtt?b ^ib sbw D''2?a 1? nsib smm?^ obi^jn >iTpq Q? Tyf^brj Hn>ii D'^n'o ntz7p3S ni^i nb^b Tfb^ innitt na-in ib las'! is'iaj; n^ n?at» ^bni ia"'t£;a s^m. ''ib'^an'i n:tn nian ]p i3i3 fjaa lawT n"'3itsn vtora D""???? ■}? •'ins n-;??? oi'^a lin b'^vi'' '^bi. •'DJin'^prn by"! "'Si? 'ipTHjTini. n:Tn ni^n ^a '';!)b'';jni ^it^a tirp^ ,ni b?aN D« '^b^ nbnin D^b ti^.l T"."tP25 nVwrr ^a nssb la-'ipa ^:m dibt»b tibn rfbcr; i? Dibt»b ^b ib rni^iM TjQpN.^. 'n Ti2?si Tjpn? ff'psb 'nbn"! 'w '^'■I'l^

2 Ecolesiastes, viii. 8. ^ Psalm, xlix. 8.

STORIES BORROWED FROM JUDAISM. 73

wealtb which he loves avails not, he cannot give to God a ransom for him, for the redemption of their soul is .costly and must be let alone for ever ; but enter thou into peace, rest in thy lot till the end of days.l May thy part be with the righteous.' When the ' man sees this, he collects his treasures and says to them : ' I have laboured for you day and night, and I pray you redeem and deliver me from this death ' ; but they answer : ' Hast thou not heard that riches profit not in the day of wrath ? ' 2 So then he collects his good works and says to them : * Then you come and deliver me from this death, support me, let me not go out of this world, for you still have hope in me if I am delivered.' They answer : * Enter into peace ! but before thou departest we will hasten before thee ; as it is written, Thy righteousness shall go before thee, the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward. ' " 3

Second Section.

Chapter II.

Stories borrowed from Judaism.

This division will prove to be the largest, partly, because these narratives, draped in the most marvellous garb of fiction, lived mostly in the mouth of the people ; partly, because this fairy-tale form appealed to the poetic fancy of Muhammad, and suited the childish level of his contempo- raries. In the case of the Old Testament narratives, which are seldom related soberly, but are for the most part embellished, it needs scarcely a question, or the most cursory enquiry, as to whether or no they have passed from the .Jews to Muhammad ; for the Christians, the only other possible source to which they could be attributed, bestowed very little attention in those days on the Old Testament, but in their narratives kept to what is strictly

* Daniel, xii. 13. ' Proverbs, xi. 4. 3 isaiah, Iviii, 8.

E

74 JUDAI3M AND ISLAM.

Christian, viz., the events of the Life of Jesus, of His disciples and His followers, and of the multitude of subse- quent Saints and wonder-workers, which afforded them abundant material for manifold embellishments. The Christians, for all that they accepted the Old Testament as a sacred writing, and although in those days no doubt had arisen as to whether or no they were to put the Old Testament on a level with the New in respect of holiness and divine inspiration, a doubt which has been brought forward for example by Schleiermacher in later times, — the Christians of that period, I say, had nevertheless a more lively interest in the New Testament, since it was the expression of their separation and independence. The Old Testament was common to them and the Jews, and indeed they could not deny to the latter a greater right of possession in it, for the Jews possessed it entirely, and were versed in it even to the minutest details, an intimate knowledge with which we cannot credit the Christians. Further, just those points in the Old Testament which were specially suited to the Christian teaching are found to be scarcely touched upon in the Quran ; thus, for instance, the narrative of the transgression of the first human pair is not at all represented as a fall into sin, involving the entire corruption of human nature which must afterwards be redeemed, but rather Muhammad contents himself with the plain, simple narration of the fact. This may be taken as an instance to prove that the narratives about persons mentioned in the Old Testament are almost all of Jewish origin, and this will be more clearly shewn when we come to details.

As we proceed to the enumeration of the individual borrowed stories, the necessity is forced upon us of arrang- ing them in some order. We have no reason for arranging them according to their sources, (Bible, Mishna, Gemara, Midrash, etc.) as Muhammad did not gain his knowledge of these narratives from any of these sources, but was taught

PATEIAKCHS : FKOM ADAM TO NOAH. lb

them all verbally by those round him, and so they were all of the same value for him, and were all called biblical ; furthermore we must pay no attention to their contents, for the narratives are not given as supporting any doctrines of Islam, but are merely quoted as records of historical facts ; and even in those cases where they are intended to set forth a doctrine, it is almost always either that of the unity of God, or that of the Eesur- rection of the dead. It appears therefore advisable to arrange them chronologically, by which means it will be most easy to recognize the numerous anachronisms among them. Either Muhammad did not know the history of the .Jewish nation, which is very probable, or the n§,rration of it did not suit his object, for only once is the whole history summed up in brief,l and only the events in the lives of a few persons are mentioned. In this chronological arrangement we shall have to pay more attention to the personal importance of individuals than to any changes in the condition and circumstances of the nation, and thus in this arrangement we shall have the following Divisions : 1. Patriarchs; 2. Moses j 3. The three Kings who reigned over the individed Kingdom, viz., Saul, David and Solomon ; and 4. Holy men who lived after them.

Second Chapter. First Part. Patriarchs : A. — From Adam, to Noah. The great event of the creation of the first man gave occasion for much poetical embellishment. Before the appearance of Adam, the jealousy of the angels, who had counselled against his creation, was roused, and God shamed them by endowing Adam more richly with knowledge than any of them. In the Quran we have the following des- cription :2\" When thy Lord said unto the angels, ' I am

• Siira XVII, 4-8. " Sura II. 28-32.

76 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

going to place a substitute on earth' ; they said, 'Wilt thou place there one who will do evil therein and shed blood ? but we celebrate thy praise and sanctify thee.' God answered : ' Verily I know that which ye know not '; and He taught Adam the names of all things, and then proposed them to the angels, and said : ' Declare unto me the names of these things, if ye say truth.' They answered : ' Praise be unto thee, we have no knowledge but what thou teachest us, for thou art knowing and wise.' God said : ' 0 Adam, tell them their names ; ' and when he had told them their names, God said : ' Did I not tell you that I know the secrets of heaven and earth, and know that which ye discover, and that which ye conceal ? ' " The corresponding Hebrew passage may be thus translated : l " When the Holy One, blessed be He ! would create man, he took counsel with the angels, and said to them : ' We will make man in our image ; ' 2 tl^eQ ^}^qj g^id : ' What is man that thou art mindful of him ? 3 What will be his peculiarity ? ' He said: 'His wisdom is greater than yours.' Then He brought beasts, cattle, and birds before them, and asked for their names, but they knew them not. But when He had

1 Midrash Kabbah on Numbers, para. 19.

vydh ma^ 1310^22 diss nJ??3 ]nb -las n-^wn \?b?'?a? inapn ^nb las 'lata na nr nis ^3-i.?Tn '^s trJ'isi;! na n^l'n^nrj nsi nan?n ntJi QrJ^^?b s'^an D^bt^a nan!? d7^ s-;3t» 713 rVT' ''"'7 ^^l '""25? "9 ^l '^ V ni^n nian nt nitr ni nas \m na n?. ib law v:?^ r;???:T snj^nb ns2 ''2« ib las ^m ng njps^ ba^ n.n dto nr ns: Tjb 'b 's laaj-na '^js^i naisin ^a \ns-!53t» Diw 'r|''ni''-!3 bab liis nriy?? ^;is n^ni^n^

Compare Midrash Kabbah on Genesis, para. 8 and 17, and also Sanhediin 38. ' Genesis, i. 26. ^ Psalm, viii. 5.

ADAM AND THE ANGELS. 77

created man He caused tte animals to pass before him and asked him for their nameSj and he replied : ' This is an ox, that an ass, this a horse and that a camel/ ' But what art thou called ? ' ' It is fitting that I should be called earthy, for I am formed of the earth.' ' And I ? ' ' Thou art called LoED, for thou rulest all Thy creatures.' "jFrom this arose the other legend l that God, after the creation of man, commanded the angels to fall down before him, which they all did except Iblis,^ the devil. The legend bears unmistakeable marks of Christian development, in that Adam is represented in the beginning as the God-man, worthy of adoration, which the Jews are far from asserting.^ It is true that in Jewish writings great honour is spoken of as shewn by the angels to Adam, but this never went so far as adoration ; indeed when this was once about to take place in error, God frustrated the action. We find in Sanhedrin 29,4 " Adam sat in the Garden of Eden, and the angels roasted flesh for him, and prepared cooling wine "; and in another passage it is said,5 " After God had created man, the angels went astray in regard to him, and wanted to say before him.

* Suras Vir. 10-18, XV. 28-44, XVII. 63-68, XVIII. 48, XX. 115, XXXVIII. 7i-86.

J o

U-«l5^ Oia/SoXo9.

- a

^ The legend of the devil's refusal to worship Adam, given by me as a Christiaa one, was found by Zunz (" Die Gottesdienstlichen Vof trage der Juden," page 291. Note.) in the MS. Midrash of Kabbi Moses Haddarshan. who however lived in the'eleventh century.

* mwTi "'ps^a ^""ni n:^ri 775 12? 2pa ^itt's-in nis

]^^. lb ]''232s:n iba ib y^vi

* Midcash Uabbah on Genesis, para. 8.

••Dsbn in wq o-jwrr n^? s^n "n^na triij^n s-jatr nrtr;^ h-^Ti 'n '-> 'rn r^bv na triip VDsb -ibsb nBfp>i rntt>n CIS s^n© bsn ^j?t,1 ns:--Tiri rba

78 JUDAISM AND ISLIm.

0 Holy one ! then God permitted sleep to fall on him, and all knew that he was of earth." In favour of the Christian origin of this narrative we must count the fact that the name used by Christians for the devil is the one used in all the passages referred to instead of the general Hebrew name.l From this event according to Muhammad arises the hatred of the Devil against the human race, because on their account he became accursed of God ; and so his first work was to counsel man in the Garden of Eden 2 to eat of the tree of knowledge.^ In this narrative the Devil is again given his Hebrew name,* and yet the first explanation of the temptation through the snake as coming from the Devil seems to be entirely Christian, as no such reference is to be found in the older Jewish writings ; the passage quoted below can only be regarded as a slight allusion : ^ " From the beginning of the book up to this point 6 no Samech is to be found ; as soon however as woman is created, Satan (with the initial letter Sin w like Samech d) is created also." Still we find in a book which, though forged, is undoubtedly old,7 the following statement: !__

' J-rA?^ (Sta/3o\o?) instead of ytL-lf^ (^tti»)

' This proper name is never used by Muhammad in this narrative ; ft* - he uses throughout simply 6j^, which shows that the Jews knew well the

distinction between the home of our first parents and Paradise. ' Siiras Vir. 18-25, XX. 115-127.

' Midrash Babbah on Genesis, para. 17.

T • ' T T

6 Genesis, ii. 21. nSD'l ' Pirke Rabbi Eliezer, xiii.

TT^I "i^t» nsn n?:? np;b t3^a£»at» bnan I'wn bwao rf)n n^n N^S) ^5bi Kin rj-i-i^ wiipn s-;3t» ni^-i^n bs ns>-;"i

THE FALL OF MAN. 79

" Samael, tbe great prince in heaven, took his companions and went down and inspected all God's creatures ; he found none more maliciously wise than the serpent, so he mounted it, and all that it said or did was at the instiga- tion of Samael. " l Thus this legend, even if not entirely Jewish, appears to have been derived by Muhammad from the .Jews. In the details of this narrative some confusion is found between the tree of knowledge and the tree of life. The former only is mentioned in Scripture as prohibited by Grod,2 and to the eating of that alone the serpent incites Eve. After the transgression has taken place, we find the fear mentioned lest men should eat of the tree of life and live for ever.3 Muhammad confuses the two. In one passage he puts into the devil's mouth the statement that men through eating of this tree would become " Angels," or " immortal," 4 but in another passage he mentions only the tree of eternity .5 All the rest of the history of the first human pair is omitted, and

rfb"! -I?.-? sb n-z^w ina? bai. I'^bsr 35-51. nbr EJnsa snnb

bsoD ba; inv'^ra wbs nbv

■• T - V : - • TV T T

' To the same effect Muhammad ben Kais (vide Elpherar on Til. 21) :

* ,j-Jj\ i_s>j-*^ J^ W/*^ (^ isaAi J^ A««J\ i^f^ ^^ itX*iiA ^ \^

" His Lord called to him : ' 0 Adam, why hast thou eaten of that, when I had forbidden it to thee ?' He replied, ' Lord, Eve gave it tome.' Then said He to Eve : ' Why didat thou give it to him ?' she replied, ' The snake commanded me to do it.' Then said He to the snake : ' Why didat thou command it f ' The devil ordered me to do it.' "

See also Abulfedae Historia Anteislamica, Fleischer's edition, page 12.

« Genesis, ii. 17, and iii. 5. (V^) ^itt \3?7i"' DVbsS Di'1''':n'l)

' Genesis, iii. 22. obivb ""nj

♦ Sura VII. 19. yVili or j^jj^\ (j^

' Sura XX. 118. JJ^\ Ca^'

80 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

only one event in tlie life of Cain and Abel is depicted. This is depicted for us quite in its Jewisli colours. In this passage, and indeed throughout the Quran, they are called sons of Adam, but in later Arabic writings 1 their names are given as Qabil and Habil, which are clearly chosen out of love for the rhyming sounds. The one event mentioned is their sacrifice and the murder which it led to.2 Muhammad makes them hold a conversation before the murder, and one is likewise given in the Jerusalem Targum 3 on the strength of the words in Genesis, " Cain said unto Abel his brother." Still, the matter of the conversation is given so differently in each case that we do not consider it worth while to compare the two passages more closely. After the murder, according to the Qur£n, God sent a raven which scratched the earth to shew Cain how to bury Abel. What is here attributed to Cain is ascribed by the Jews to his parents, and m a Rabbinical writing we find the following passage : * V Adam and his companion sat weeping and mourning for him (Abel) and did not know what to do with him, as burial was unknown to them. Then came a raven, whose companion was dead, took its

' See Abalfeda Historia Anteialamioa, Fleischer's Edition, page 12, for Ai>\Ji , J.-jVi. D'Herbelot Bibliotheque Orientale under the heading Cabil calls attention to the poaaibility that in the word Cabil the derivation from ^j^ is kept to. Cf . Genesis, iv. 1.

» Genesis, iv. 3-9. Cf. Sura V. 30—36.

' Commonly called Pseudo-Jonathan.

* Pirke R. Eliezer, chapter xxi.

-vn t^bi vby D"ibaNna-i □"'aisi D^:im> inrs^i qin -vn

T : T T • : - : • • ■ ; ; v : t t t

n:ot2fl V"!*?? ""Ss^"! 'i'^'i^ npb v-rana iqs ib nac? iqw bt» inb?: nj^b i»a nwv "<;« 2-1^3 cin -law Qn"':''?b

HDaM v^a ism ban

T T : » VT T - T ;

CAIN AND ABEL. 8t

body, scratched in the earth and hid it before their eyes ; then said Adam, I shall do as this raven has done, and at once he took Abel's corpse, dug in the earth and hid it." In the Qur^n a verse follows 1 which, without knowledge of the source from which it has come, seems to stand in no connection with what has gone before, but which will be made clear by the following explanation. The verse according to my translation runs thus : " Wherefore we commanded the children of Israel, that he who slayeth a soul, without having slain a soul, or committed wicked- ness in the earth, shall be as if he had slain all mankind ; but he who saveth a soul alive, shall be as if he had saved the lives of all mankind." One perceives here no connec- tion at all, if one does not consider the following Hebrew passage : 2 " VVe find it said in the case of Cain who murdered his brother : The voice of thy brother's bloods crieth.3 It is not said here blood in the singular, but bloods in the plural, i.e., his own blood and the blood of his seed. Man was created single in order to show that to him who kills a single individual, it shall be reckoned that he has slain the whole race ; but to him who preserves the liEe of a single individual it is counted that he hath preserved the whole race." By this comparison it is made clear what led Muhammad to this general digression ; he had evidently received this rule from his informants when they related to him this particular event. Another

' Sura V. 35. ' Mishna Sanhedrin IV. 5.

D"'ps2 Tfn^ '■'■ai bip ia nay?, vrrs m rrnw ^.P? ^V2Ki

bs-ib»p nns m???. las^in bsjp TTiabb ■'Trf. q-jn m-i??

tt7M D^i^an b5i sba obiy ^SM ^bs? nwsn Ybv nbso

sba d^is n?.n >ibsi? a-insn r'bv nbsa bsi-).t?»»a no«

' Genesis, iv. 10, not Q1 (siDgular), but "'a'1 (plural). Compare the translation of Oukelos. li

82 JUDAISM Mm ISLAM.

allusion to Cain is found in the Qurin in a passage where he is called the man " who has seduced among men." 1 No one else is mentioned in this period excepting Idrls 2 who, according to the commentators, is Enoch. This seems probable from the words,^ " And we uplifted him to a place on high," and also from a Jewish writing in which he is counted among the nine who went to Paradise alive. Jalalu'ddin brings this point even more prominently forward : 4 " He lived in Paradise where he had been brought after he had tasted death ; he was quickened however, and departed not thence again." He appears to have gained his name ^ on account of the knowledge of the Divine Law attributed to him. Elpherar remarks : " He was called Idris (searcher) on account of his earnest search in the revealed Scriptures." It is remarkable that in both these passages of the Qurdn^ he is mentioned after Ishmael.

' Siira XLI. 92. (j^iffi^ Ji\ ^jJT

2 Jm5jj\ Suras XIX. 57, 58 ; XXI, 85, 86.

■" s

Elpherar on Sura XIX. 57 says : t)^ "' '^ j C)» i^^ -^ t^j

" He is the grandfather of the father of Noah, his name is Enoch ;" which name Abulfeda (-Hist. Anteislamioa page 14) spells ^^is. and

expressly remarks : &*«,*- oU ^ j\j ; (jy j SX*^ oVasj " With an unpointed

ha, nnn, waw, and a pointed ha;" and later he adds (j««»)j\ ub. Cr^ ^^ i

a - = _ , _c

' Sura XIX. 58. Ulc U\X.. sUsu,^. Compare Genesis, v. 24 and the

Tract Dereoh Erez cited in Midrash Yalknt, chap. XLII.

* InMaraocio, j_3s=>\^ '.iJ^\ tjjj^ y\ Jkso laLij\ &i^\|_ji ^^i^ Ji

W B;^ (^;

S y«jjO\ is derived from ,j-,j Elpherar on XIX. 57. (j~>i4>\ « ,.

« Suras XIX. 55, 56 ; XXI. 85.

FEOM NOAH TO ABEAHAM. 83

B.—From Noah to Abraham.

The corruption vchicli' spread in the time of Noah is not described with any details in the Quran, and one event which is stated by the Rabbis to have taken place at this period is transferred by Muhammad to Solomon's time, to which he considered it better suited, as it treats of angels and genii. The Rabbinical passage runs thus : ^ " Rabbi Joseph was asked by his scholars : ' What is Azael ? ' and he answered : When men at the time of the Flood practised idolatry, God was grieved at it, and two angels, Shamhazai and Azael, said to him : ' Lord of the world, did

' Midr. Ablikhir quoted in Midr. Yalknt Chap. XLIV.

^lartr 113 Dnb las bwy ^na no'i"' 2"^ris vi^abn ^bwcB

: T V 't- V t "t "t-; - ••• - v t • : - -: t

3!jrna -i-in Ti^naDiipn Ti^r[ mt m'lar •■nn's?"! b^aan -n> ■"laian vasb •■naw"! bNti?i nnaa? D'^ONba •^atr ^lai? i»a toias na ^rabii; riK nn-istt's ^^3Qb :i3naM i^bn nbi:? bt»

T V T V T TT V : ' vT : :-T -: j t

: T T T •• ; - T : v t - t •■•::■

I. ; ._. - . _^._ -r; -r T T II.;-;. .T

' b ' N Di« "'saa ctrp □n-'V-n rin -is^i naa iDbtr n''H v-i'n-s.

TT •• : • ■ 't -.••:• TT V" V T " T T * V T T

Tfap T'tr'^pa ^3W 'n'-w nw-ini. ninan nv Tnai. n-itDi. ^2b in rracj^ nnw nan nnat» hnt i^a cnaa •nmm ^ti ' b ' s

t: -- T*--;;- tt-- vt- t: :

nsato" ''i-'N ib niaH '^b •'sattJn saw na i^2^5J ina nneoN

-- ... t;t ■ 'IT- -t t t"'-t -;:•

n5?t»3 s^T-ib '"la nbr nnsaj to^ba Qt»n •'2nabnt» ir Ttb

t T : - (. TT V T - V T ; •• - •••:-;■.■ - '

"S^irf^ rrnbvi ct» iniw n-i^sTn uw inis mab ^mar nris© n-iarn ia nass nt»-ien Vsin 'n 'a 'pn -law nbpbp t^b''

t---;t'* t;- t:-' • t 't~ ~t t';;!- :

Dbisb na ^aw??' ''I? ^bbn n-'aaia nratp ra n^rap") nab sbi n'lD'' -vntt? msn niaa dv -ibpbp T^a na'^aa ni?ap3"i

; T TV TTT ; ■ '::'• ~* T'~ T;';;

s-in n-'ja ^T^bim g^wi nsccai niai? pi*^ riN tciaab sbai

T • ■ T '. : • T : T ; : r ■ t : • •.• ; - ; t

bc7 7"'t2"'t»an ''^'^a bi?! Q''3i57a5S --^^a by n-n bstri s^m

I . . ; - ... - ; . ; . ... - -f T •- T"; ' T ■ ;

Compare Yoma 67, 2. and Kashi, Zohar on Genesis, i. 26.

84 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

we not say unto Thee at tlie creation : ' What is man that Thou art mindful of him ? ' i But He said: ' What shall become of the world ? ' They answered : ' We would have made use of it.' ' But it is well-known to Me that, if you lived on the earth, lust would overcome you, and you would become even worse than man.' ' Then give us permission to live with men, and Thou wilt see how we shall sanctify Thy name.' ' Go and live with them.' Then Shamhazai saw a maiden by name Istahar. He cast his eyes on her and said : ' Listen to me ; ' to which she replied : ' I will not listen to thee until thou teachest me the explicit name of God, through the mention of which thou risest to heaven.' He taught her this name which she then uttered and rose unspotted to heaven. Then God said : ' Because she turned herself from sin, well! fasten her between the seven stars, that ye may enjoy her for ever ' ; and so she was fastened into the Pleiades. But they lived in immorality with the daughters of men, for these wore beautiful, and they could not tame their lusts. Then they took wives and begat sons, Hiwwa and Hiyya. Azael was master of the meritricious arts and trinkets of women which beguile men to immoral thoughts." It is evident that this story is alluded to in the passage in the Quran,2 where the two angels Hardt and Mdrnt are said to have taught men a charm by which they might cause division between a man and his wife.3 During this state of

• Psalm, viii. 5.

' Siira II. 96. ^^^^ j ci^jjVa

' This connection and comparison whioli might well appear very doubt- ful, and which seemed even to me at first nothing more than a conjecture, receives full corroboration from that which later Arabian authors, quite in harmony with the Mid. Talkut, say about the ftngels. We find in Maraooius Prodromi iv, 82, the following :

JUi J-,j3\ ^8»"»W Juij r-^^ tr* r»^ (:>- ^"^^ «'-^** '«'V* J^Ji ) uy^jU J isjjjU UUCi y4jS\ ^ yUXisJ y*4y\ t>«-^'^ f^"^ \;jta.\ ^jjj ^

FKOM NOAH TO ABRAHAM. OO

«

corruption o£ morals Noah appears, teacliing men and seeking by exhortation to turn them from their evil ways. He builds himself the Ark and is saved, while the rest of the people perish. l His whole appearance as an admon- isher and seer is not Biblical but Eabbinioal, and serves Muhammad's ends perfectly, as Noah in this way is a type of himself. According to rabbinical writings, 2 Job, xii. 5 refers to Noah, " who rebuked them and spake to them words as severe as flames, but they scorned him and said : ' Old man, for what purpose is this ark ?' He, however, said: ' God is going to bring a flood upon you.' " Other particulars

UjuiVi W^53 z*^^^ i\j^\ 6)*^ (j» (;>*-=^^ V^y^ ^StA^ ct^K* (T^^ 3iX« \_4is^

>V.».a.-'» Jii ts^j^ci-js. u:.Ji=.y SjJJ>j!\ uiJjUaJ \^ — ai |_jLc \j\j\ . ^j

* LjjJ\ Jii\ (j^ ij:^\i \^ Uisi\ ,_jsj\ ti\j*i\ (^\ Jjfci.ay» j-£ f^ j_jj.aj jij jCi.

" Mujahid says : The angels wondered at the wickedness of the sons of Adam, for Apostles had already been sent to them ; then their Lord (God) said to them : ' Choose out two of you, and I will send them that they may judge upon earth.' Then Earut and Marut were chosen, and they judged righteously, till Zahrah (the star Venus, just like the Talkutish "intaDW. like "li^DN the Persian »)^ and the Greek darrjp) , In Job xxxi. 26 the Targum puts nPiriDN for the Hebrew lis) came in the form of a most beautiful woman and complained abont her husband. They were led astray by her and lusted after her, but she fled and went back to where she was before .... Muhammad says : ' Tahya states on another authority than that of Mujahid, that the woman through whom they were led astray was a human woman.' The union of these two views is to be found in the passages quoted from Midrash Yalkut.

' Suras VII. 57—63, X. 72—75, XT. 27—60, XXII. 43, XXIII. 23—82. XXV. 39, XXVI. 105-121, XXIX. 13. 14, XXXVII. 73-81, LIV. 9—18, LXXI. 1— end.

' Sanhedrin 108. (Comp. Midrash Eabbah on Genesis, paras. 80 and 83, also on Ecclesiastes, ix. 14.)

D>i^Qb3 D^tpi7 Qna-:? nnb -iomi Dni« n^-pia p'^•^_^^r\ nb n;nt» ' i?rt cnb -las nab it nn>n ]pT ib -iian '"iniM p-t^a ^•'rn

biaan ni^ DD^b? N'<2ia 'n 'a

86 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

also accord with Rabbinical tradition, e.g., " The people laughed at the ark," l accords with " They mocked and laughed at him in their words." " The waters of the Flood were hot," 2 with " The generation of the deluge was punished with hot water." Still many inaccuracies and perversions are to be found j for instance, Muhammad makes Noah to have lived 950 years before the Flood,^ whereas this is really the whole term of his life j and he represents one of Noah's sons as disobedient to him, and states that this same son did not follow him into the Ark, but believed himself safe on a mountain peak.4 This idea probably arose from a misunderstanding of Ham's evil conduct after the Deluge. ^ Muhammad also makes out Noah's wife to have been unbelieving, ^ although he is silent as to wherein her unbelief consisted ; and I can find no reason for this statement, which is not men- tioned either in the Bible or in the Eabbinical writings.

1 Sura XI. 40 Cf. Midr. Tanohuma, Section Noah.

* Sura Xr. 42. and XXIII. 27. j^ jCi^

Cf. Rosh Haahanah 16. 2. and Sanhedrin 108,

The Arabic Commentators seem to me to have quite misunderstood these paaaages, since they assume fabulous references. Our explanation, which is jnatified by a, figurative interpretation of the words ' And the oven glows,' appears to me sufficiently confirmed by a comparison with the Talmudic utterance. Also D'Herbelot (Bib. Orient. Noah, page 671,) understands ,4j;ja\,U. in this way.

3 Sura XXIX. 13. Cf, Genesis, ix, 29.

* Sura XI. 44, 45, 48. 5 Genesis, ix. 22 ff.

The commentators actually call this son Canaan, m^**^ (compare Genesis, ix. 25 ff ) although they, like the Bible, do not reckon any son of this name in their enumeration of the sons, but count these three only, viz, li-^i^. f*^ > (*^

* Sura LX VI, 10.

reOM NOAH TO ABBAIJAM. 87

•

Perhaps Muhammad was misled by the analogy of the wife of Lot, who is mentioned in the same context. While these variations are due to errors and to the confusion cf different times and events, others are to be ascribed to deliberate^ alteration and elaboration. And of this kind are those details not mentioned in Jewish History, which represent Noah as one occupying the same position as Muhammad and speaking in his spirit. This applies partic- ularly to that which is put into his mouth as admonisher. This is the case not only with Noah, but with all who appear in the character of the righteous in any evil age. Thus he puts into the mouth of Luqm^n, as a wise man known to the Arabs,2 words suitable to his own circum- stances and opinions, and the same thing happens in the case of Noah and the other preachers of Jewish history to whom he alludes. Noah although he worked no miracle, was saved in a miraculous way, and so Muhammad cannot put into his mouth the same words which houses of himself, as well as ascribes to other forerunners of himself after Noah's time, viz., that he is a mere preacher ; yet he makes him say everything which is not clearly contrary to the historical facts related about him. He was only an unim- portant man,3and did not pretend to be any one wonderful or supernatural.4 But he was divinely commissioned to warn the people, and for this he asked no reward. 5 0 sancta simplicitas ! one would exclaim in considering this last point, if Muhammad had written it down with full consideration of Noah's position as one threatening the world with punishment, and if it had not been rather that he saw everything from his own distorted point of

' The word "deliberate" is to be understood in the sense already sufficiently explained in the First Division, Third Section, so that we may use it from now on without further explanatory comment.

» Siira, XXXI. 11 ff. 3 gura VII. 61. « Sura XI. 33.

* Sura XI. 31. and XXVI, 109.

88 JUDAISM AND ISLIm.

view, and was determined to make every thing accord with his ideas. In another place he goes so far as to interpolate a verse into Noah's discourse, which is entirely character- istic of his own, and in which the little word (translated "speak")! actually occurs, which is always regarded as a word of address to Muhammad from God (or Gabriel). The same thing will be noted further on in the case of Abraham.

After Noah the next mentioned is Hud 2 who is evidently the Biblical Eber.3 This seems a striking example of the ignorance of Muhammad, or, as it appears to me more probable here, of the Jews round about him. According to the Eabbinical opinion 4 the name Hebrew is derived from Eber, but in later times this name was almost entirely forgotten and the name Jew 5 -was commonly used. The Jews, to whom it was known that their name was derived from an ancestor, believed that the name in question was that in use at the time, and that the ancestor therefore was this patriarch Hud. 6 His time is that in which a second punitive judgment from God on account of bold, insolent behaviour is mentioned in the Scripture,

» ji XI. 37. Of. XXIX. 19' 2 oys

3 -153; « >-l5r from -)53

Compare Mid. Kabbah on Genesis, para. 42.

" Abram was called the Hebrew because he was descended from fiber." (Genesis, xiv. 13.). J >-^!in'< Yahtidi. Among the Arabs sometimes J^ Tahud, more

often oyfc Hud.

s Blpherar (on Sura VII. 63) gives along with an incorrect genealogy the following correct one, jy j^ *L. ^^ xSu£^j\ ^^ jJL, ^^^ and the author of the book ^_sJ^\ f>ic\ says directly " Hud is yW."

(Mar. Prod. iv. 92.)

TOWEE or BABEL.

89

and this is treated of in several chapters of the Quran. l In order to have the right to refer what is said about Hud to the time of the confusion of tongues, or, as the Eabbis call it, the Dispersion,^ we must adduce some particulars which point to this reference, for the statements are very general in their tenour and might be referred to other occurrences. The following verse ^ possibly refers to the building of the Tower : " And ye erect magnificent works, hoping that ye may continue for ever." The Arabic com- mentators take it that the buildings would afford them a perpetual dwelling-place, but the verse might also mean, " make by building it an everlasting name for yourselves." The neighbourhood is called in the Qur£n the " Possessor of Pillars.4 In one passage^ there appears to be a reference to Nimrod, who lived at this time and in this region, since the children of Ad are here reproached for obeying the command of every contumacious hero.^ The idea that they were idolaters, which is brought up against them in all the passages in the Quran, agrees perfectly with the Eabbinical view expressed as follows : ^ " And it came to

* Suras YII. 63—71, XI. 52—64, XXII. 43, XXIII. 33—44, XXV. 40, XXVI. 123— 141, XXIX. 37, XXXVIII. 11, XL. 32, XLI. 12-16, XLVI. 20—26, L. 13, LI, 41, 42, LIII. 50, LIV. 18—22, LXIX, 4 -9, LXXXIX. 6—9.

TT : - 3 Sura XXVI. 129. yjji&J ^^^ g>\^ (j^^^ j

* Sura LXXXIX. 6. jU«3\ ■^\'c> Cf. Genesis xi. 4.

* Sura XL 62. JuJiCjCi J^ ^'^ '^f^'i

Compare Genesis, x. 8, 9, where Nimrod's surname is always "1123

* D'Herbelot, under the heading Nimrod, asserts that the Arabians connect Nimrod with the building of the Tower.

' Midr. Rabbah on Genesis, xi. 2, par, 38. M

90 JUDAISM AND ISlIm.

pass when they journeyed from the beginning (East), that is to say, when they withdrew themselves from Him Who is the beginning of the world." Muhammad says of these people ^ that they built an (idolatrous) symbol on every high place in order to play there (i.e. to practice idolatry). And the Rabbis tell us 2 that the race of the dispersion contemplated building a tower and putting an idol on its summit. Resemblances are also to be found with reference to the punishment which overtook them. Muhammad tells us 3 they were followed in this world by a curse, and that they shall be followed by the same on the day of resurrection, and the Rabbis say 4 that the race of the dispersion had no part in the next world, for the twice-mentioned dispersion applies to this world and the other. In Muhammad's treatment the essential point of the punishment is lost sight of, for instead of describing it as a simple dispersion and confusion of tongues, he speaks of an absolute annihilation of the sinners by a poisonous wind.5 One sees at once the mistaken source from which this change is derived. We recognize partly from our knowledge of Muhammad's motives in making the alteration, and partly from the minuteness with which

1 Sura XXVI, 128. y^^^ %^ g»j Jio yy^"f Compare pHSb. to play, Exodus, xxxii. 6,

ia7M'-i2 mr

: TT

' Siira XI. 63, fciUiiST ^y'^ £«! Ujji! ili ^_^ ^f^^')

* Mishna Sanhedrin X. 3. Genesis, xi. 8, 9.

Tiin nbisa cnis 'n v?*! Vl^n-bj ■'3Q bp ct^is Dnis

N3n Dbirs 'n □^"'sn nt»a^

* Suras XLI. 16, XLVI. 23 ff. LI. 41, LIV. 19, LXIX. 6 11.

TOWEE OF BABEL. 91

the new punishment is described, which would not have been accorded to a fiction. It appears therefore that the history reached this development in the mouth of tho people, who delight in minute descriptions of punishment. The remaining deviations and additions, particularly the latter, are caused, as we have already remarked in the case of Noah, by confusion with Muhammad's own time and person. This is the case when he transfers unbelief in the resurrection to the time of Hnd and counts it among the sins of that time which were worthy of punishment, l This is seen too especially in the great importance assigned to Eber and to his desire to turn the people from their evil ways. Decided traces of this are certainly to be found in Jewish writings,^ where we are told that Eber was a great prophet, who by the Holy Spirit called his son Pelag, because in his days the earth was divided 3 (which Eber had known beforehand). Much also is said of the school of Eber, and Eebekah is said to have gone there j for it is written : " She went to enquire of the Lord," ■! and Jacob is supposed to have stayed there for fourteen years. But of the fact that Eber preached to the people, he being their brother (on which Muhammad places great stress, because he himself was sent as an Arab to the Arabs) , not a trace is to be found, still less of the fact that he took no reward from them.5 One point still remains to be cleared up, why the race under discussion is called in the

> Sura XXIII, 87.

' Seder 'Olam quoted in Midrash Yalkut, Chap. 62.

ajipn n^-l^2 abe 122 DE^-ns vnnw inv n^n biia n^33

P._. - -.- V : ■■ V T'tV V" TT T -T

VT?^? ™V9? "'"'o;? ^3 'iw

' Genesis, x. 26.

* Genesis, xxv. 22. Midr. Kabbah on Genesis, par. 63. Also par. 68. for Jacob's sojonrn in the home of Eber.

* Sura XI, 63, XXVI. 127,

92 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

Qur&n the people of Ad.^ The commentatorB state that Ad was the son of Uz, the son of Aram, the son of Shem, the son of Noah ; and Muhammad seems also to have been of this opinion, whence it comes that he transfers the events to the land of Aram or Iram.2 Nevertheless it seems to have come about chiefly from the fact that all these occur- rences are described with an Arabian colouring, and so they were attributed to Arab tribes, amongst which an ancient extinct one had the name of Ad ; 3 perhaps in it there is also an etymological reference to a " return" to the early evil conduct of the generation of the Deluge. In another passage there is an allusion to this occurrence,* where the fact itself is brought forward much more in accordance with the Biblical account, but quite without specification of time or persons : " Their predecessors devised plots heretofore, but God came into their building to overthrow it from the foundation, and the roof fell on them from above and a punishment came upon them which they did not expect." On this Blpherar remarks : 5 " These are Nimrod, the son of Canaan, who built a tower in Babel in order that he might mount to heaven" ; and further : " And when the tower fell the language of men became confused, and so they could not finish it ; then they spoke seventy-three languages, on this account the city was called Babel (confusion), before this the language of men was Syriac." The Eabbis, too, assert that before this

2 Sui'a LXXXIX. 6, ^^

a ' Poc. Spec, p. 3,

♦ Sura XVI. 28.

' oU i\ ^J\ •J*-aJ J^Wj C;-=i^ tS^ y^**^ tH •^))*^ f**;

y^Otf.^. ^'IXij \j»Kr> iS^ji ^yi!\ (^ ^J^i\^^ (J^ CiJJLjJ Cj J\ Sao- U3 f

TOWEE OF BABBL. 93

men spoke in Hebrew, but afterwards in seventy languages. Jalalu'd-din says the same thing,l and adds that Nimrod built the Tower " in order that he might mount out of it into heaven to wage war with the inhabitants thereof." 2 But the identity of this narrative with that of Hnd and Ad is no more accepted by Abulf eda 3 than it is by Elpherar and Jalfi,lu'd-din, even on the view that Hud is the same as Eber. Although the colouring of this narrative as given in the Qurin differs much from that of the Biblical account, yet the identity of the two can be shown by putting this and that together, and by ex- plaining the way in which the individual differences arose. But in the case of another narrative which follows this one in almost all the passages of the Qurdn,* it is very diflBcult to find out the subject of which it treats and the Bible characters to which it refers. This narrative is about Samud,^ which like Ad is an ancient extinct Arab tribe,6 to whom their brother Salih was sent when they fell into sin.'' Salih is said to have exhorted the Samndites to righteousness and to have commended to them a certain she-camel as especially under divine protection ;

I Maraco. on the passage.

* \^\ JjUJ !.U--J\ fj\ /Um J*-»s3

^ Hist. Anteial4mica, pp. 18 and 20.

* Except in Suras L. 12, and LXIX. 4, where it precedes. In the former of these two passages it precedes the story of the Midianites also, and thus no chronological order is followed. In Suras LI. 43 and LIII. 51, it actaally precedes the story of the Deluge, and in Sura LXXXV. 18, Pharoah is placed before Samud on account of the rhyme,

^ Jk*» Samud, ^La Silih.

' Poc. Spec, p. 8.

' The passages which treat of this are the following : — Suras VII. 71—78, XI. 64—72, XXII. 43, XXV. 40, XXVI. 141—160, XXVII. 46—55, XXIX. 37, XXXVIII. 12, XL. 32, XLI, 12—18, L, 12, LI. 43—46, LIII. 51, LTV, 23—33, LXIX. 4-6, LXXXV. 18, LXXXIX. 8, XCI. 11—16.

94 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

he even bade them share water with her.' But the unbe- lievers of his time (according to one passage 2 only nine in number) hamstrung her^ and so divine punishment over- took them. I find no similar occurrence in Jewish writings, but the likeness of the name points to Shelah 3 who how- ever, as the father of Bber, would have deserved mention before him.4 On the whole, the word is so general in its meaning of " a pious man " that we cannot treat it here with certainty as having been originally a proper name.5 Perhaps the story of the houghing is founded on the words in Jacob's blessing of his sons,'' and the sharing of the water on the etymology of the name Samnd.? Moreover Samrid was, according to the commentators, the son of Gether the son of Aram, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, which fits in fairly well with the date already assigned to Shelah. 8 It is however impossible

' Sura LIV 28, XCI. 12. 2 Sura XXVir. 49.

' riytiJ See Genesis, x. 24. This is also D'Hei'belot's view. See his Bib. Orient, under S41ih.

* IsmA'fl ben 'Ali asserts however that SAlih lived after Hud. (Maracc, Prodr,, iv. 93).

* Later Arabians call Shelah also gJL. as in the passage quoted above from Elpherar, who gives however a different genealogy for SAlih in his comment on Sura VII. 11. Still, in a copy of the Samaritan Arabic translation of the Pentateuch nbtt?) is translated by c'"'. (Compare De Saoy in Eichhorn's Bihliothelc der BiU. titer., X, pp. 47, 110, 111.)

« Genesis, xlix. 6. "litiJ !nj717 D3!£-l3!| ' From U '< to demand water."

° The y^,aJ^ s^^^fe^^ mentioned in Sura XV. 80 are supposed to be the

same as the Samtidites, as Elpherar also says j but this opinion has no foundation and appears improbable, because in this passage where chrono- logical order seems to be observed, the stories of Abram and the Angels, of Lot in connection with Abram, and of the Midianites are given earlier.

ABRAHAM TO MOSES. 95

for me to give any more exact explanation from Jewish writings.

C- — Abraham to Moses.

Though the saints mentioned earlier bore some likeness to Muhammad, and though their condition, so similar to his own, encouraged him as well as verified his statements, yet Abraham 1 was his great prototype, the man of whom he thought most highly, and the one with whom he liked best to compare himself and to make out as one with him- self in opinion. Abraham's faith 2 is that which is preached in the Qur£n.3 He was a believer in the unity of Grod.4 He was neither Jew nor Christian for it is written : ^ " Abraham was not a Jew, nor a Christian, but he was a believer in the unity of God, given up to God (a Muslim) ." ^

* ^\^\ * E. ' S<ira XVI. 124.

* ^°n.t: Sura II. 129, III. 60, VI. 79, XVI. 121, 124.

* Sura II. 134. it^ U~^ 'Ji f^ ] ^]j^ S^ Uj^' ^V^^ ,^U^U

* On this BaidhAwi has the following :

" The Jews and the Christians disputed about Abraham, and each party believed they could count him on their side. They appealed to Muhammad and thereupon came this revelation. The meaning is, that Judaism and Christianity first came into existence by the sending of the Law through Moses and the Gospel through Jesus." That this is the Jewish view is shown by the following passage : —

-1H7S spy -lawa? Pibs n-iinn bs nt<[ na^ns Qn-i:?N D»p

"bipa an-ias vovj

• ' : T T ; - - T

" Our forefather Abraham observed the whole Law, for it is written (Genesis, xxvi. 5.): "Because Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws." (yoma,. xxviii. 2).

96 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

He is represented as the friend of God,l and this is

his name throughout the Bast.2 Abraham's importance

and the rich legendary material concerning him, which

Judaism offered, lead us to expect much about him in

the Qurin, and our expectation is not disappointed. It is

to him that the founding of the Ka'bah is traced back.3

He is supposed to have lived in the Temple,* and to have

composed books.5 This opinion is also held by the Eabbis,

many of whom attribute to Abraham the well-known

cabalistic and undoubtedly very ancient Sepher Jazirah.

Passing to the events of his life, we first come across the

beautiful legend of his attaining to the true knowledge of

God. We are told also how he tried to persuade his

father and his people thereto. A special instance of this

was when he destroyed the idols, and, putting the staff into

the hand of the largest, attributed the action to him. He

sought thus to convince the people, who quite perceived

the impossibility of the idols having done it, since they

could not move, but they were not thereby persuaded. ^

Abraham is represented as praying in vain that his father

might be released from the punishment of hell.^ We are

told too that the people, embittered by Abraham's conduct

towards the idols, wanted to have him burnt alive, but that

he was rescued from that fate by divine intervention.^

The whole story is taken from the Rabbinical writings,

where we read as follows. 9 " Terah was an idolater : once

> m JjLs. ' Sdra 17. 124. Iji f^^\j>\ m j«j\ .

3 Sura II. 119 ff. * Silra XIV. 40. * lxXXVII. 19.

° Siiraa VI, 74-82, XIX. 42—51, XXI. 52—69, XXII. 43, XXVI. 69- 105, XXIX. 16—23, XXXVII. 81—95, XLIII. 25-28, LX. 4—6. "> SuraB IX. 115, XXVI. 86—104, LX. 4. Sunna 395. " Suraa II. 260, XXI. 69-74, XXIX. 23—27, XXXVII. 95—99. ' Midrash Rabba on Genesis, para. 38,

nnn^N^ a^trin -inwb pea ^qt in n\r\ Q'^ab^b i?^ m.n

ABRAHAM TO MOSES . 97

he went away and left Abraham to sell his idols. When- ever a buyer came^ Abraham asked him his age. If ho replied, I am fifty, or sixty years old, Abraham said : ' Woe to the man of sixty who desires to worship the work of a day, so that the buyer went away ashamed.' l Once a woman came, with a dish of wheat and said, ' Here, put this before them ; ' but Abraham took a stick and beat down all the

rrb -laH mni i5r.'![ ^V'^ ^^^ i5 ''0« ^}U vnnri -15b npi rritr is ptrnn -12 nb -lasi njqi ns 1^2^ nias ns i3Dab •'sni rnti? 12 mm Miaa s:innb nb •'i nb -««

- ; ■ : - T I • • - T -: - t; - : - •• - t

snriM sin nns lat m ib Tibrn u??3na ^l\Tl^ •'ai-* inb

^~>Xl 'iJ^ «0 ^^. ^l»y. ^^°'^: '=13''? ^lU "^T? i^p^rt? s^b-ips ^inb^b limnsn"! pit? sd^hs no? di? Vin'^aiiT N-i^2S sns5. 753 i'in"'3''3 niqi «2-ii sts SD^ipa nn^ii sin nns Trsa -iq33 na 'b 's ins tinb "r5S 7a rrb i^^j ^lil 'frb wn ''b nnasi nbb'^ trr? Niq rrb s^-'S'^ snns VII "'aiP bD'-s S3y laN VI "P: TifT'»"!i?^ riani-j pn^aii? spbpa np? ]in''3;3 niqi sai ^in d,? •'aii? bs^s s:y las ^b"! 'b 's i^3S r^lV "'? n^?5 "^*^ '^? '^ V Visiani. nap? 'b 's ibaab nipa^ nnp: -las r\>BW na fyits nrj^tp;! nbb3 b 's s-fl2 rs^^l *<t^^ "'?^?1 ^^'J^y '^ '^^ ^"P^V 12P3 'b 's s;a ]>v^^ '^??5?^ "'?.9? 1? °^ ''^ '¥ ^t'5^ i|.^? 13D3 'b 's S33S -iinai sn^-ib lao: 's 's 'b 's sjjx^b ns i"<ba ns sn^i bnp'^ str;^ -13b ispai. 'b 's snmb oina 'TT5''bt»a 13s nn -I'isb sbs niqrit?7a •'a'^s •'ay ""sntpa nn-ias it' ^laaa Tib-^a"-! ib mnntsa nnsa? nbs sa-'i

T T ; •* "T V • ' : • " ; V . . • T . T v: t :

biaa"! trsn lEJnpb

' Abnlfeda (Hist. Anteisldmica, page 20) says :

" Azar the father of Abraham made idols and served them and bade Abraham sell them, bat Abraham, said : ' Who would buy that which harms him and does him no good ?' "

N

98 JUDAISM AND ISLAM.

idols, and put the stick into the hands of the largest idol. When his father returned, he said, ' Who has done this ?' On which Abraham replied, ' Why should I deny it ? ' A woman came with a dish of wheat and bade me set it in front of them. I had scarcely done so when each wanted to eat before the other, and the greatest beat them all down with the stick which he had in his hand. Terah said : ' What art thou inventing for me ? Have they then understanding ? ' Abraham replied. ' Do thine ears not hear what thy mouth says ? ' Then Terah took him and gave him over to Nimrod, who said : ' We will worship fire.' Abraham said : ' Rather water, which extinguishes fire.' Nimrod replied : ' Water then.' 'Rather the cloud which carries water.' ' The cloud then.' ' Rather the wind which scatters the cloud.' ' The wind then.' ' Rather men, who endure the wind.' Nimrod at this became angry and said : ' Thou art only making a speech. I worship fire and will throw thee into it. The God whom thou dost worship may come and save thee out of it.' Abraham was then thrown into a glowing furnace, but was saved from it." The intercession for his father is not men- tioned in Jewish writings ; and that this was fruitless, yea that Abraham, arriving at a clearer understanding, desisted from his attempt,! seems to directly contradict the Jewish view as expressed in the following passage. 2 " By the words, thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, it was shown to Abraham that his father was a partaker in eter- nal life." Further, a Rabbinical saying 3 declares as a general rule that " the son makes the father clean, but not the father the sou." But Muhammad very often combats

' Sura IX. 115. ^ Midraeh Rabba on Genesis, para. 38.

pbn V3Hb t£7.';t^ i-it»3 Dibt»3 ^''jninfe? bit. sinri nj^ss"]

See Genesis, xv. IB. «an nVwb 3 Sanhedrin 104. WIS •'3JJ3 «b W3S N2N i3Tt5 Sna

ABRAHAM TO M03ES. 99

this view and the similar one that the merits of ancestors count for good to their posterity.^ For example he says : " That people (the Patriarchs) are now passed away ; they have what they gained and ye shall have what ye gain, and ye shall not be questioned concerning that which they have done." 2 That Muhammad brings forward a dialogue be- tween Abraham and the people, where the Midrash has one with his father only, is explained by the fact that Abraham is intended to be a type of Muhammad, and so it is neces- sary that he should be represented as a public preacher. Another circumstance which is mentioned in the Qurdn, viz., that Lot became a believer with and through Abraham,^ may possibly have arisen from a passage in the Midrash immediately following that quoted above, which says that Haran the father of Lot was at first irresolute, but turned to Abraham's opinion after the deliverance of the latter. Haran however failed in the ordeal of fire to which he was then subjected. The idea of Lot's conversion, however, is chiefly derived from the account given of his subsequent life, in which he shows himself to be a pious man ; and it is probably for this reason that Muhammad connects him with the event just related. Muhammad appears sometimes to have so confounded himself with Abraham that, in the middle of speeches ascribed to the latter, he indulges in digressions unsuitable to any but himself, and thus falls from the part of narrator into that of admonisher. In one passage 4 a long description of Hell and Paradise is found, and in another ,5 the declaration that those who came before had also been charged with imposture. No doubt Abraham might have said this with reference to Noah, Hud and S41ih; still the words here seem rather forced into his speech, and indeed in one verse we find the word " say " which is to be regarded in the Qur^n as the stand-

' mas mat ' Sura II, 128, 135. ^ g^^as XXI. 71, XXIX. 26. '* Sura XXVI. 88—104. * Sura XXIX. 17—23.

100 JUDAISM AND ISlIm.

ing address of God (or Gabriel) to Muhammad.l Thia view renders it unnecessary to adopt the desperate expedi- ent of Walil, who supposes a transposition of verses, or an interpolation. The true explanation is rather Muhammad's entire identification of Abraham with himself. Further, he is not content with making Abraham preach against idolatry, he represents him also as teaching the doctrine of the Eesurrection of the dead.2 The lack however of full certainty about this doctrine 3 caused Abraham, according to the Muhammadan view, to pray for a tangible proof of it, and then was vouchsafed to him what the Rabbis call 4 the " covenant between the divided pieces." 5

He was convinced through the fact that the divided birds came together again and became living,^ a view which is foreign to Judaism. How Muhammad came to call Abraham's father, (whose name is given in the Bible as Terah,^ Azar 8 is at first sight not clear, but is completely explained when we consider the source ^ of his informa- tion, namely Eusebius. In his Church History, Eusebius calls him Athar 10 which is an easy transition from Thara,

I Compare above on Noah. ^ S<iras II. 260, XXVI. 81.

^ Baidhawi says on Sura II. 262 :

" It is said that, after Nimrod had said : ' I make alive and I kill, (II. 260), Abraham answered : ' Quickening is brought about by the return of the spirit to the body.' Nimrod replied : ' Hast thou then seen that ? ' Abraham could not answer in the aflSrmative and had to pass over to another argument. On this he prayed to the Lord tor some revelation, in order that his mind might bo easy about an answer to this question, if it were put to him again."

* D''-in3n ^"iSl re-;? ' Genesis, xv. 9. £f. * Siira II. 262.

' ni^n Siira VI. 74. _jj\ 9 Pointed out by Maraoc Prodr., iv. 90.

'A.dap from ^apa, hence Aiabio. jj*

ABRAHAM TO MOSES. 101

and then the Greek Athar was easily converted into the Arabic Azar.l The reason which is given by some Arabic commentators 2 is ridiculous. They maintain that Azar is like Y4zzar,3 and that this means : 4 "0, perverted one, O, erring one ; " and Abraham is supposed to have thus addressed his idolatrous father.5 We now pass on to the more mature married life of Abraham and come to his meeting with the angels,^ whom he receives as guests.'^ Abraham took them for Arabs, was much surprised that they did not eat and stepped back in fear, whereupon they announced to him that he would have a son and told him also of the coming destruction of Sodom. In one passage of the Talmud 8 we read : " They appeared to him nothing else but Arabs ; " and in another passage 9 it ia said

' According to the Tirikh Muntakhab, Azar was the father of Tharah (D'Herbelot Bib. Orient, under Abraham, page 11).

' Vide Maraoo. on the passage, 'jjU * JU U gj** \i

' But later Arabs know the right name 5)\j , too, though strange to say whenever they speak of Abraham they use the name jj\ ; but when on other occasions they mention Abraham's father, they call him by the other name. Thus Elpherar on Sura VII. 78 : jjjij y^ t)\)^ (:>* ^^ A*ei^j\ (-i\ (^\ The last (^\ here refers again to Lot, (which is shown by the manner of writing ^^\ with an alif) just as later Abraham is called the ^c ^ uncle of Lot. Also on Sura XXI. 71. Elpherar hag the following : UgJ yVS" j ,«*fc\j}\ ^\ y» t)\)^ ) Cj^ t>* (:j\)^ t)< ^^ fy

Attention is more rarely called to the fact that both names are the same. See Elpherar on Sura XXXI. 11 wherein giving the genealogy of Luqmin. He says jj'^ ysi. cjVj. See also Abulfeda Hist. Anteisldmica, pp. 18 and 20.

^ Sura XI. 72. Uuj , on which Elpherar remarks : &SJW< J-jSW 'i^j\ " By messengers he means Angels."

' Genesis, xviii. Suras XI. 72-79, XV. 51-61, XXIX, 30-.32, LI. 24-88.

8 Qiddnshin 62. I3^''::-^l?b sbs ib !1013 t^b

8 BabaMezia,86. 2. -ibaMi HKiab ^ni; n-i.^n •<?Mba

>iritt5i >ib3S!^ nn? r^ii-^^ sa^s n^!:? trnyi Wi'ib? 'ib5M onb

102 JUDAISM AND ISlIm.

" The angels descended and ate. They ate ? No, but it appeared as though they ate and drank." There is only one error to be found in the account as given in the Qur^n. The doubt as to whether in the advanced age of the pair a son could come into the world (which in other passages and in the Bible is put into the mouth of Sarah) is. here uttered by Abraham, but in very mild words. l It is true that in the other Biblical account of the promise to Abraham, he himself is represented as doubting God's word.2 In other passages the position of words and clauses might give rise to many errors, if we did not know the story better beforehand from the Bible. Thus in one passage ^ the laughter of Abraham's wife is given before the announcement is made, which leads the Arabic com- mentators to manifold absurd guesses. Blpherar by the side of these explanations (many of them quite wanting in truth) gives the right one in the following words : * " Bin 'Abb^s and "W^hib say : ' she laughed from astonishment that she should have a child, for both she and her husband were of a great age.' Then the verse was transposed, but it ought to run thus : ' And his wife stood while We promised him Isaac, and after Isaac, Jacob, and then she laughed.' " It might seem that this son who was promised to Abraham was with deliberate forgery identified with Ishmael, because he is regarded as the ancestor of the Arabs ; and so too the ensuing temptation 5 connected with the sacrifice of his son is made to refer to Ishmael.

1 Sura XV. 54 fE. " Genesis, xv!i. 17. ' Sira XI. 74.

B^JkfS j-iW\j ^Aa»!^ ^Jt!■ &i^\ Q}}^ J^\ \^ (jicj Ig^^j (^j \^ — , ' This is referred to in general terms in Sura II. 118, thus : Cf. Mishna Aboth. v, 8.

^:^2H nm2N nsana ni:T'D3 nnws

■T tt:~ t":- ;• tT~;

ABRAHAM TO MOSES. 103

G-round for this acceptation is given in another passage^l when after the dispute about the idols has been related, we read from v. 99 as follows : " Wherefore We acquainted him that he should have a son who should be a meek youthj and when he had attained to years of discre- tion Abraham said unto him : ' 0, my son ! I saw

in a dream that I should offer thee in sacrifice.' " He declared himself ready, on which Abraham heard a voice telling him that he had already verified the vision ; and a noble victim ransomed him. And then the passage con- tinues : 2 " And We rejoiced him with the promise of Isaac, a righteous prophet ; and We blessed him and Isaac ; and of their offspring were some righteous doers, and others who manifestly injured their own souls." That the announce- ment of Isaac first appears here is a proof that the preceding context 3 refers to Ishmael. It is therefore evident that according to Muhammad's representation the sacrificial action was performed on Ishmael, and