212 The CORÂN

who say, we are Christians. That is because there are amongst them clergy and monks, and they are not arrogant. 
When they hear that which hath been revealed to the prophet, thou wilt see their eyes flowing with tears because of that which they recognize of the truth. They say, O our Lord ! we, believe ; write us down with the witnesses;
and what should hinder us that we should not believe in God, and in that which hath come unto us of the truth ? and we desire that our Lord should introduce us amongst the righteous. 
God hath rewarded them for that which they have said, with gardens through which flow rivulets. They shall be for ever therein and that is the reward of the virtuous.

The Jews were more hostile to Islam than the Christians. One main reason probably was that, though Mahomet fully acknowledged their Scriptures, yet he as fully acknowledged those of the Christians, and the Divine Mission of Jesus Christ. This further concession neutralized, with the Jews, all the virtue of the former. On the other hand, the Christians were no doubt delighted at finding that Mahomet, in perfect conformity with their own system, acknowledged the whole of the preceding Scriptures and prophets, both their own and those of the Jews. And some of them, believing further in the mission of Mahomet, expressed themselves in the impassioned language of the text.

Remark the favourable terms in which Mahomet speaks of the Christians generally, both here and elsewhere,—even of those not converted to Islam. Their superior character is here attributed to the clergy and monks, and to the absence of arrogance. They are never accused of wresting the Scriptures, or dislocating passages from the context.

TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES 213
CXXIX.—SURA V., v. 119[110-111].

سورة المائدة

إِذْ قَالَ اللّهُ يَا عِيسى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ اذْكُرْ نِعْمَتِي عَلَيْكَ وَعَلَى وَالِدَتِكَ إِذْ أَيَّدتُّكَ بِرُوحِ الْقُدُسِ تُكَلِّمُ النَّاسَ فِي الْمَهْدِ وَكَهْلاً وَإِذْ عَلَّمْتُكَ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَالتَّوْرَاةَ وَالإِنجِيلَ وَإِذْ تَخْلُقُ مِنَ الطِّينِ كَهَيْئَةِ الطَّيْرِ بِإِذْنِي فَتَنفُخُ فِيهَا فَتَكُونُ طَيْرًا بِإِذْنِي وَتُبْرِىءُ الأَكْمَهَ وَالأَبْرَصَ بِإِذْنِي وَإِذْ تُخْرِجُ الْمَوتَى بِإِذْنِي وَإِذْ كَفَفْتُ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ عَنكَ إِذْ جِئْتَهُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ فَقَالَ ا لَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ مِنْهُمْ إِنْ هَـذَا إِلاَّ سِحْرٌ مُّبِينٌ
وَإِذْ أَوْحَيْتُ إِلَى الْحَوَارِيِّينَ أَنْ آمِنُواْ بِي وَبِرَسُولِي قَالُوَاْ آمَنَّا وَاشْهَدْ بِأَنَّنَا مُسْلِمُونَ

And (call to mind) when God said,—O Jesus, Son of Mary! remember My favour towards thee, and towards thy Mother, when I strengthened thee with the Holy Spirit, that thou shouldest speak unto man, in the cradle, and also in mature age ; and I taught thee the Scriptures, and wisdom, and the Tourat, and the Gospel; and when thou madest of clay in the form of a bird by My command, and thou blewest thereupon, and it became a bird by My command; and thou healedst the blind and the leper by My command; and when thou didst raise the dead by My command. * * *
And when I spake by inspiration unto the apostles, saying, —Believe in Me, and in My apostle (i.e. Jesus) they said,—We believe; bear witness that we are true believers.