C. G. Pfander, D. D

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Muhammad repeated Stirah liv. 44, 45. In this he acted wisely, and very much as any other general would have done, except that he stated that his message of encouragement and promise of victory came from God. Cheered by such words, the-Muslims fought bravely and gained a great victory. But this was not in any sense a miracle. Nor can Muhammad's words of encouragement be justly entitled a prophecy.

We now turn to passages of the second class. Some of these are supposed to predict the preservation of the Qur'&n in completeness and its protection from all injury. The author of the Izhdru'l Haqq, writing on this subject,¹ after quoting SGrah xv. 9, " Verily it is We that have sent down the Warning, and verily We are surely Protectors," says : " That is, from alteration and addition to and subtraction from what has been handed down in succession .... by the Reciters of the time. And it has happened just as it was announced. Accordingly no one among the infidels or the idle or the Qarmatites (¿kJ^Jl) has been able, up to this time in which we live, to alter any of it, either one of the letters of its foundations or one of those of its mean­ings, or one of its vowel-points." Those of our readers who have perused the Third Chapter of the Second Part of our present Treatise, and who remember how 'Uthmin destroyed all the old codices of the Qur'&n, will be able to estimate the value of this statement. If it is true, then many of the accepted Traditions (kio^U-l) are false, for, as we have seen, they declare that certain verses of the Qur'fin, for example the Verse of Stoning, have been lost. Hence it is not clear that, if Sflrah xv. 9 be considered as a prophecy, it has been fulfilled. This second class of asserted predictions therefore is, like the first class, of no real value as a proof of the inspiration of the Qur'&n and of Muhammad's prophetic office.

In the Third Class there is only one passage, SGrah xxx. 1-4, which in the ordinary copies of the Qur'an ¹ Part II, pp. 32, 33.

runs thus : " The Byzantines have been defeated in the nearest part of the land, and they shall conquer in a small number of years after their defeat. Unto God belongeth the matter before and after. And in that day the Believers will rejoice with God's help. He helpeth whomsoever He willeth,and He is the Glorious, the Gracious." Some Muslims argue that this is such a great and distinct prophecy that there can be no doubt of Muhammad's being a prophet. They tell us that the first verse refers to the defeat of the Byzan­tines in Syria by the Persians under Khusrau Parviz. We are told that when news of the victory of the Per­sians reached Mecca, the Polytheists rejoiced, saying, " The Muslims and the Christians are the People of the Book, while we and the Persians are Gentiles and have no Book." Then this passage was revealed, predicting that the Byzantines would soon defeat the Persians. Abd Bakr laid a bet with Ubai ibn Khalaf that the prediction would be fulfilled within three years, but, when he learnt from Muhammad that the word ^¿j, used in ver. 3 (" in a small number of years") meant a period of between 3 and 9 years,¹ he altered the terms of the wager. We are told that within seven years from the Byzantines' defeat they overcame their enemies, and that Abd Bakr received from the heirs of the deceased Ubai the amount of the bet. Such is the story. Let us now see what its evidential value is, if we grant that the verses were composed before the Byzantine successes, and that the reading in the ordinary text of the Qur'Sn is correct.

From history we learn that the Persians defeated the Greek (or Byzantine) forces in Syria in the sixth year before the Hijrah, that is in a.d. 615. As this defeat took place " in the nearest part of the land" to Mecca, news must have been received there within a very few days. A1 Baiz&wi in his commentary tells us that the prophecy was fulfilled when the Byzantines defeated the Persians " on the day of A1 Hudaibiyyah."

¹ See A1 Baizawi's note on the passage.

Now the treaty of A1 Hudaibiyyah took place in the month Dhti'l Qa'dah of a. h. 6 (March, a.d. 628). Therefore, if this commentator is right, not seven but twelve years elapsed between the two events. If Muhammad therefore explained as meaning a period of between three and nine years, the facts of the case do not confirm his claims.

It was not at all a difficult matter for any able man to predict the ultimate victory of the Byzantines. That the Persians had at first gained some successes was evidently a surprise to the Quraish, hence their delight at the news. Abil Bakr's wager was probably made before he consulted Muhammad at all. If so, he¹ as xvell as Muhammad felt convinced of the fact that the Byzantines would finally overcome their foes. The reason of this conviction was the evident instability of the Persian Empire in those days. Between the death of Anftshiravfin (a.d. 578) and the overthrow of Yasdijird III, in a.d. 642, at the battle of Nah&vand, no less than fourteen sovereigns sat on the Persian throne, many of whom were murdered after a very short reign. In the five years that elapsed between the death of Khusrau Parviz (a.d. 627) and the accession of Yasdijird III (a.d. 632), there were eleven Persian monarchs. A country subject to such internal disturbances was evidently unfitted long to resist the Byzantine arms, and this Muhammad readily perceived. We may date the beginningof the Byzan­tine successes under the Emperor Heraclius from the year 625 of the Christian era, instead of two years later, as A1 Baizawi does. Yet even then the victory was ten years after the defeat, and not between three and nine.

That Muhammad did actually realize the weakness of the Persians is clear from a fact mentioned in Ibn Hisham's Siratur Rasill. He tells us that, when Muhammad and the chiefs of the Quraish held a con­ference in the presence of Abu Talib in Mecca, before ¹ Though Abu Bakr was not a prophet.
the Hijrah, Muhammad tried to persuade them to repeat the first part of the Kalimah and put away their polytheism by promising them the supremacy over Arabia and Persia on that condition, saying: "O Uncle,¹ they shall give me one word: ye shall through it possess Arabia, and through it shall Persia submit to you."

But A1 Baizawl shatters the whole argument of the Muslims by informing us of certain varied readings in these verses of Stiratu'r RGm. He tells us that some read c^lu instead of the usual ^llk, and instead of ¿JJaL.. The rendering will then be : " The Byzantines have conquered in the nearest part of the land, and they shall be defeated in a small number of years," &c. If this be the correct reading, the whole story about Abfl Bakr's bet with Ubai must be a fable,² since Ubai was dead long before the Muslims began to defeat the Byzantines, and even long before the victories which Heraclius won over the Persians. This shows how unreliable such Traditions are. The explanation which A1 Baizdwl gives is, that the Byzantines became the conquerors of " the well-watered land of Syria" (pLJf ujj, Jlc), and that the passage predicted that the Muslims would soon overcome them. If this is the meaning, the Tradition which records the "descent" of the verses about six years before the Hijrah must be wrong, and the passage must belong to a.h. 6 at earliest. It is clear that, as the vowel-points were not used when the Qur'dn was first written down in Cufic letters, no one can be certain which of the two readings is right. We have seen that there is so much un­certainty about (1) the date at which the verses were " sent down", (2) the correct reading, and (3) the meaning, that it is quite impossible to show that the

' Unless we admit that Ubai had something of the prophet in him.

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passage contains a prophecy which was fulfilled. Hence it cannot be considered to be a proof of Muhammad's prophetic office.

Therefore the whole argument founded upon the sup­posed prophetic element in the Qur'in breaks down when examined. In order to see this, we have but to compare these twenty-two passages of the Qur'&n with the very large series of prophecies about the Messiah in the Old Testament, or those about Israel in both the Old Testament and the New, or those in the Book of Revelation which have been already fulfilled : for instance, Rev. ix. and also Rev. xiv. 6.

Another alleged proof of the inspiration of the Qur'in is the information which it professes to give about ancient times and vanished nations. Such information would be of interest, if reliable : but we must test it, as a merchant does coins offered to him, before we can accept it as correct. Pure gold has no reason to fear any test that can be applied to it, but comes out uninjured and approved from all kinds of testing and from the hottest fire. Let us see whether this is so with the historical statements in the Qur'in.

The existence of the ancient Arab tribes of 'Ad and Thamtid is known to us from what two ancient Greek writers, Ptolemy and Diodorus Siculus, tell us about them. To the information thus afforded the Qur'&n adds very little that can be considered historical. Many great discoveries of recent times have com­pletely confirmed what the Bible tells us about the far more ancient nations of Egypt, Babylonia, and Assyria, but no such discoveries have corroborated what the Qur'&n says about 'Ad and Thamud. Hence learned¹ men think it highly probable that what Muhammad taught about these tribes was taken from the books of the Sabians (_ajl>\l}\), which the Qur'zln calls the " Volumes of Abraham "(¡^»Ir'-i. —Sfirah Ixxxvii. 19).

¹ See A1 Kindi's remarks about 'Ad and Thamfid in p. 57 of the Risdlatu 'Abdulldh, &c., printed at London, a.d. 1880.

Muhammad seems afterwards to have discovered that these volumes were forgeries, and therefore about four years after his claim to be a prophet he ceased to mention them. It is possible that Htid, Salih, and Shu'aib were Christian preachers who were rejected by the Arab tribes to whom they were sent. As no mention of them has yet been found elsewhere, we cannot say anything about the dates at which they lived, if they ever existed. The Qur'in tells us very little about them. The learned say that, since the Qur'&nic statements about other persons, whose exist­ence we know from history and who lived long be­fore Muhammad's time, are not always quite correct, we must wait for evidence before accepting any such statements as historically accurate. For example, much that the Qur'fin states regarding Abraham is not in accordance with the teaching of the Taur&t, to con­firm which the Qur'eln claims to have been sent down. The story of his being thrown into the fire and coming out safe is taken from a Jewish fable, and the latter arose from a mistake in translating one word in Genesis. This has been proved by the author of the Mas&diru IIslam[Yan&biu I Islam: "Original Sources of the Qur'&n"]. Abraham's father's name was not Azar (Sdrah vi. 74), but Terah (Gen. xi. 26). Again, in SQrah vii. 130, we read that God sent " the Flood " (jUjiJl) upon the Egyptians in Moses' time. The use of the definite article in this passage makes us inquire whether this was the same as Noah's Flood, men­tioned in the same Siirah (vii. 62). In SQrah iii. 30-44, it is clearly taught that Miriam, daughter of Amram {¡J^—Stirah lvi. 12) and sister pi Aaron (Stirah xix. 29 : compare Exod. xv. 20 and Num. xxvi. 59), was identical with Mary the Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ (compare Stirah Ixvi. 12), who lived about 1,400 years later. Muslim in the Kit&bu I Adab tells us that the Christians of Najrin pointed out this historical error to A1 Mughairah. He consulted Muhammad on the subject, but could not get a satis­factory answer. Nor has one yet been found, after more than 1,300 years' search on the part of the 'Ulami of I slim.

In SQrah xviii. 82-98 we find an account of Dhil'l Qarnain. Ibn Hishdm¹ and A1 Baiz&wi identify him with Alexander the Great of Macedon. AI Baizdwi writes thus²: " Dhil'l Qarnain, that is to say, Alexander the Greek, King of Persia and Greece, and it is said of the East and of the West, and therefore was he named Dhil'l Qarnain : or because he supported the two horns of the world, its East and its West; and it is said, because in his time two generations of men came to an end : and it is said he had two horns, that is, two locks of hair : and it is said his crown had two horns. And it is probable that he was given that title because of his bravery, as a heroic leader is called the Ram, as if he butted his adversaries. And there is a difference of opinion regarding his being a prophet, with agree­ment concerning his belief and his soundness."

Human life must have been extremely short in those days, if Alexander lived for two generations, for he was only 33 years old when he died after a drunken debauch at Babylon in 323 b.c. Instead of being a prophet,³ or even a believer in the One True God, he was an idolater, and he actually claimed to be the son of the Egyptian god Am&n. He certainly did not see the sun set " in a miry fount" (ii^ —S&rah

xviii. 84), or, if we adopt the reading of Ibn 'Amir and Hamzah and Al Kas&'i and Abd Bakr,⁴ "in a hot fount" (ilAi ^le i), for we know that the sun does

not go round the earth, as the writer of the verse evidently fancied it did, to set in any spot of the kind. Nor did the Alexander whom we know from true history, as distinguished from fable, build a wall of iron and brass between two mountains (SQrah xviii. 95).

Yet Al Baizâwî and other Muslim writers are doubtless right in saying that Alexander is the person to whom the Qur'ân gives the title of Dhû'l Qarnain. The comparison with a ram explains how the title arose. In Dan. viii. 3, 4, we are told of a ram with two horns which pushed westward and southward and northward, and which none could resist. Evidently the person who composed this Sûrah had heard of this ram, and thought it represented Alexander, who is mentioned in the same chapter. But in this he was not correct, for Dan. viii. 20, tells us that the two-horned ram denoted the united Median and Persian Empires, whereas in the same chapter the Macedonian monarch is referred to as the notable horn between the eyes of the he-goat which overthrew the ram, that is to say, which conquered the whole of the Persian Empire (Dan. viii. 5-7, 21). The use of the word " ram " (^/-O in Arabic with the meaning of " heroic leader " (as A1 Baizâwl says) caused this confusion in the mind of the person who gave this title of Dhû'l Qarnain in the Qur'ân to Alexander the Great. What the Qur'ân says about Alexander can be tested, because he lived in the full light of history. It is well known that the celebrated philosopher Aristotle was his tutor. Arrian, Quintus Curtius and other historians of repute have written the history of Alexander's exploits, and re­garding them there is no uncertainty. When learned men therefofe find the Qur'ân so very inaccurate in regard to this king, whose history is known, they not unnaturally hesitate to accept as valuable and even as reliable the statements of the Qur'ân about other matters of past history.

The Qur'ân states that Pharaoh's wife adopted Moses (Sûrah xxviii. 8), whereas Moses himself in the Taurât says that he was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter (Exod. ii. 5-10). In several places in the Qur'ân we are told that Haman (¿LU) was closely associated with Pharaoh, and was in his service¹ ; but ¹ Sûrahs xxviii. 5, 7., 38 ; xxix. 38; xl. 25, 38.

from the Book of Esther¹ we learn that Haman was the favourite of Ahasuerus (that is to say, Xerxes, as the Greeks called him), who lived in Persia many hun­dreds of years later, instead of in Egypt in Pharaoh's time. Again, according to the Qur'^n, Pharaoh told Haman to build a tower of brick, the top of which would reach unto heaven (Stirah xxviii. 38 ; xl. 38, 39). But from Gen. xi. 1-9, we learn that it was in Babylon, many generations before Pharaoh's time, that the people built this famous tower.

We are told that the Golden Calf worshipped by Israel in the wilderness in Moses' time was made by "the Samaritan" (i^O—Surah xx. 87, 96). But the city of Samaria was not built till hundreds of years after Moses' death (1 Kings xvi. 24). Evidently in the mind of the composer of this Silrah there was con­fusion between the golden calf made by the Israelites in the wilderness and the two golden calves afterwards worshipped in the kingdom of Israel after the time of David and Solomon (1 Kings xii. 28). But even these two calves were not made by a Samaritan, since Samaria was not yet built. When it was built, however, it became the capital of that kingdom, and this fact partly accounts for the very great and notable historical error to which we refer.

In Sdrah ii. 250 we are told of a certain incident in connexion with selecting a body of warriors by observing in what manner they drank water. The Qur'in says that this took place in the time of Saul (^yu.)and in connexion with David's victory over Goliath. But the Bible tells us that it took place long before, in the time of Gideon.

In Silrah xviii. 8-26 is found the story of the Com­panions of the Cave. But the author of the Masddirul Islam [Yanabiu'l Islam: "Original Sources of the Quran"] has proved how this fable originated. No doubt in the " Days of Ignorance " some very credu­lous and ignorant Christians believed it, and from them the Meccans and the composer of this Silrah learnt the

¹ Esther iii. i-vii.-10.

tale. For the story is contained in the writings of several Syriac authors, along with many other monkish legends. In Europe it is known as a tale to amuse children. There are many different forms of the fable, but its origin has been discovered in the legend which a heathen Greek writer, Diogenes Laertius, about a.d. 200, relates¹ about Epimenides' long sleep. Epi- menides was a heathen Greek boy who for many years slept in a cave. Diogenes Laertius quotes contradic­tory accounts of the length of this boy's life given by different Greek writers.

It is surely unnecessary to quote any more of what learned men have called the anachronisms and histori­cal inaccuracies of the Quran. From what has been already said, however, it will be clear to the honoured reader that it is not wise to appeal to the valuable information contained in the Qur'an regarding ancient times and vanished nations as a proof of its inspiration and of Muhammad's office of a prophet.