love you, and forgive you your sins; for GOD is gracious. and merciful. (32) Say, Obey GOD, and his apostle; but if ye go back, verily GOD loveth not the unbelievers. (33) GOD hath surely chosen Adam, and Noah, and the family of Abraham, and the family of Imrán above the rest of the world; (34) a race descending the one from the other: GOD is he who heareth and knoweth. (35) Remember when the wife of Imrán said, LORD, verily I

lyte; and when he is made, ye make him twofold more a child of hell than yourselves." Does Mr. Smith deny the justice of this declaration of our Lord? If not, does he infer that our Lord himself thought "polytheism better than monotheism, and idolatry than a sublime spiritualism"?

(33) The family of Abraham. This expression, say the commentators, includes a number of prophets descended from Abraham, including Muhammad. It probably is intended to include all the prophets from Abraham to Moses. See Tafsír-i-Raufi and Abdul Qádir.

Family of Imrán. This expression, like the one just noted, also includes all prophets descended from Imrán, e.g., Moses, Aaron, Zacharias, John, and Jesus. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is said to have been "the daughter of the son of Imrán (Tafsir-iRaufi, &c.)

(34) A race descending the one from the other. This seems to show that Muhammad regarded the prophets as either lineally descended one from another, or that they were successors to each other in office, both of which ideas are incorrect.

The

(35) When the wife of Imrán said, &c. According to the commentators her name was Anna or Hannah. In the Apocryphal Gospels the parents of Mary are called Joachim and Anna. nanie was probably derived from Christian tradition (see Arnold, Islám and Christianity, p. 150), but the "wife of Imran" in this verse looks very like the wife of Elkanah in 1 Sam. i. 11. All the stories related by the commentators confirm this impression.

Again, the statement here, that the Virgin Mary was the "daughter of Imran," coupled with that of chap. xix. 29, that she was "the sister of Aaron," certainly looks as if the Virgin Mary were confounded with the sister of Moses and Aaron. That there is in this passage a medley of Jewish and Christian traditionary fiction and Bible story, learned from hearsay, I think indisputable. I will quote briefly the views of several writers, giving both sides of the question, and leave the reader to draw his own inference :

"From her (Mary) being called the sister of Aaron and the daughter of Aniran, it has been justly concluded that Muhammad considered the Virgin Mary and Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, as identical; and no sophistry on the part of Muhammadan

have vowed unto thee that which is in my womb, to be dedicated to thy service; accept it therefore of me;

divines or European writers can remove this impression.”—Arnold, Islám and Christianity, p. 149.

"It is concluded by some that Mahomet confounded Mary (Maryam) with the sister of Moses. The confusion of names is the more suspicious, as it is not favoured by Christian authority of any description-the traditional names of Mary's parents being Joachim and Anna."

"Gerock combats this idea at some length (p. 24), showing that Imrán is never named in the Coran as the father of Moses, nor Mary (Maryam) as his sister, and that Mahomet is seen elsewhere to be well aware of the interval between Jesus and Moses. The latter fact cannot, of course, be doubted; Mahomet could never have imagined that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was the sister of Moses and Aaron. But it is still extremely probable that the confusion of this mis-nomenclature originated in the notions of Jewish informants, amongst whom the only notorious Mary (Maryam) was the daughter of Imrán and sister of Moses; and they could ordinarily give the name of Maryam those accompaniments; that is, they would speak of 'Mary the daughter of Imrán.' Mahomet adopted the phraseology (for his informants were mainly, if not solely, Jews) probably through inadvertence and without perceiving the anachronism it involved."-Muir, Life of Mahomet, vol. ii. pp. 281, 282, note.

The following is Sale's note on this passage, in which he combats the charge of anachronism brought by Reland, Marracci, and Prideaux; his Muslim authorities are, as usual, Baidháwi and Zamakhshari:—

"Amrán is the name of two several persons, according to the Muhammadan tradition. One was the father of Moses and Aaron, and the other was the father of the Virgin Mary; but he is called by some Christian writers Joachim. The commentators suppose the first, or rather both of them, to be meant in this place; however, the person intended in the next passage, it is agreed, was the latter, who, besides Mary the mother of Jesus, had also a son named Aaron, and another sister named Ishá (or Elizabeth), who married Zacharias, and was the mother of John the Baptist; whence that prophet and Jesus are usually called by the Muhammadans, The two sons of the aunt, or the cousins-german.

"From the identity of names it has been generally imagined by Christian writers that the Qurán here confounds Mary the mother of Jesus with Mary or Miriam the sister of Moses and Aaron; which intolerable anachronism, if it were certain, is sufficient of itself to destroy the pretended authority of this book. But though Muhammad may be supposed to have been ignorant enough in ancient history and chronology to have committed so gross a blunder, yet I do not see how it can be made out from the words of the Qurán. For it does not follow, because two persons have the same name, and have each a father and brother who bear the

for thou art he who heareth and knoweth. (36) And when she was delivered of it, she said, LORD, verily I have brought forth a female (and GOD well knew what she had brought forth), and a male is not as a female.

same names, that they must therefore necessarily be the same person besides, such a mistake is inconsistent with a number of other places in the Qurán, whereby it manifestly appears that Muhammad well knew and asserted that Moses preceded Jesus several ages. And the commentators accordingly fail not to tell us that there had passed about one thousand eight hundred years between Amrán the father of Moses and Amrán the father of the Virgin Mary they also make them the sons of different persons; the first, they say, was the son of Yeshar, or Izhar (though he was really his brother), the son of Káhath, the son of Levi; and the other was the son of Mathán, whose genealogy they trace, but in a very corrupt and imperfect manner, up to David, and thence to Adam.

"It must be observed that though the Virgin Mary is called in the Quran the sister of Aaron, yet she is nowhere called the sister of Moses; however, some Muhammadan writers have imagined that the same individual Mary, the sister of Moses, was miraculously preserved alive from his time till that of Jesus Christ, purposely to become the mother of the latter."

To be dedicated. "The Arabic word is free, but here signifies particularly one that is free or detached from all worldly desires and occupations, and wholly devoted to God's service."-Sale, Jalaluddin.

(36) I have brought forth a female. Hannah prayed for a son (1 Sam. i. 11; see note on ver. 35). The birth of a female seemed to be a disappointment, as such would not be suitable for the service of the Temple. For extracts from the spurious Gospels containing the traditions which are here incorporated in the Qurán, see Arnold's Islam and Christianity (pp. 150-155) and Muir's Life of Mahomet (vol. ii. pp. 282, 283). These both draw from the Christologie des Koran, by Gerock, 1839, pp. 30-47.

I have called her Mary, &c. "This expression alludes to a tradition that Abraham, when the devil tempted him to disobey God in not sacrificing his son, drove the fiend away by throwing stones at him; in memory of which, the Muhammadans, at the pilgrimage of Makkah, throw a certain number of stones at the devil, with certain ceremonies, in the valley of Miná. (See Prelim. Disc., p. 188.)

"It is not improbable that the pretended immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary is intimated in this passage; for according to a tradition of Muhammad, every person that comes into the world is touched at his birth by the devil, and therefore cries out: Mary and her son only excepted, between whom and the evil spirit God placed a veil, so that his touch did not reach them. And for this reason, they say, neither of them were guilty of any sin, like the rest of the children of Adam: which peculiar grace they obtained

I have called her MARY; and I commend her to thy protection, and also her issue; against Satan driven away with stones. (37) Therefore the LORD accepted her with a gracious acceptance, and caused her to bear an excellent offspring. (38) And Zacharias took care of the child; whenever Zacharias went into the chamber to her, he found provisions with her: and he said, O Mary whence hadst thou this? she answered, This is from GOD: for GOD provideth for whom he pleaseth without measure. There Zacharias called on his LORD, and said, LORD, give me from thee a good offspring, for thou art the hearer of prayer. (39) And the angels called to him, while

by virtue of this recommendation of them by Hannah to God's protection."-Sale, Jalaluddin, and Baidhawi.

(37) The Lord accepted her, i.e., though a female, she was received into the Temple as one dedicated to God. Zacharias became her guardian and cared for her.

(38) He found provisions with her. "The commentators say that none went into Mary's apartment but Zacharias himself, and that he locked seven doors upon her; yet he found she had always winter fruits in summer and summer fruits in winter."-Sale.

This story owes its origin to Christian tradition. See Historia de Nativ. Marie et de Infan. Salv. (chap. vi.) and Protev. Jacob. (chap. viii.), quoted in Muir's Life of Mahomet (p. 283) and in Arnold's Islam and Christianity (pp. 150, 151).

There Zacharias called on his Lord. The prayer would seem to have been offered in the inner chamber of the Temple assigned, according to the story, to Mary. The commentators think the prayer was suggested by the miraculous supply of food furnished to Mary. Zacharias was at this time ninety-nine years old, and his wife ninety-eight (Tafsir-i-Raufi). Abdul Qadir says Zacharias prayed in secret, because, at this age, to have prayed openly for offspring would have exposed him to ridicule.

Offspring. In chap. xix. 5, “a successor," from which Gerock would infer that Zacharias did not pray for a son, but for an heir only. But in the ninth verse of that same chapter he says, "How shall I have a son?" &c. This decides clearly in favour of that interpretation which makes offspring to mean an heir from his own body.

(39) The angels. In chap. xix. 17 it is said that a "spirit" (Gabriel) came to Mary. The commentators interpret "angels" to be equivalent to "spirit," and understand Gabriel to be meant. They account discrepancies of this sort as of little moment.

The word which cometh from God. See notes on chap. ii. 86. The Muslim interpretation, that Jesus is here called the WORD because

he stood praying in the chamber, saying, Verily GoD promiseth thee a son named John, who shall bear witness to the Word which cometh from GOD; an honourable person, chaste, and one of the righteous prophets.

(40) He

he was conceived by the word or command of God is, to say the least, unsatisfactory.

The "witness" of John concerning the WORD was very different from that of Muhammad. Is it possible that he should have learned so much of John and Jesus from tradition, and not have known more of the character of the latter, as witnessed by John and Jesus himself? In answer to this question, I venture to give the following: —(1.) Muhammad heard more than he believed. This is evident from the effort he made to refute the doctrine of the Trinity, the Sonship of Christ, and the doctrine of Christ's death and resurrection. (2.) What he learned concerning these and other doctrines he learned from hearsay, and usually from unreliable sources. Hence the indiscriminate mixing up of statements obtained originally from the Bible and tradition-Jewish and Christian. (3.) He seems to have learned most of what he knew of Christianity, and perhaps of Judaism also, after his arrival in Madína, and consequently after his claim to be a prophet had been assumed. His most definite and extended statements regarding Bible story are found in the Madína chapters. (4.) The criterion by which he decided the true and false as to what he heard was his own prophetic claims and the character of his religion. Whatever would exalt Jesus over himself was rejected. Hence Jesus is only "the son of Mary;" he is born miraculously, but is not divine; he wrought miracles, but always by "the permission of God" (ver. 48), &c. Again, whatever was contrary to the religion he promulgated was either refuted or ignored; the character of the prophets is always moulded after his own; the character of all infidels in former ages is like that of the unbelieving Quraish and Jews of Arabia.

Making every reasonable allowance for the Arabian prophet on the score of ignorance and on the score of misrepresentations to which he was no doubt subjected, still enough remains to substantiate the charge of imposture, however displeasing this charge may be to his admirers and friends. The facts in this matter are against them. Muhammad put these statements concerning matters of history into the mouth of God, and so promulgated them as his infallible word, confirming the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments-Scriptures of whose teaching he was personally ignorant. Make out half as strong a case against any one of the inspired writers of the Bible, and who among these apologists for Islám would defend him? Truly the glory of this hero-god seems to have dazzled their eyes.

Chaste. Sale says, "The original word signifies one who refrains not only from women, but from all other worldly delights and desires."

(40) How shall I have a son? See note on ver. 38. Sale states, on

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