142 THE INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY AND

influenced Muhammad, it is impossible to say. At any rate, he appealed to the Gospel as a proof of his Divine Mission, even going so far as to state that Christ had prophesied of his coming 1. He speaks of Christ as "the Word of God 2," but denies His Divinity and His crucifixion, and shows a complete ignorance of the true doctrines of the Gospel. Yet in numerous passages he speaks of the latter with respect as a book of Divine authority, saying that it "descended on Jesus" out of heaven, and that the Qur'an itself came to confirm and preserve it (Surah V., Al Maidah, 52). He records the virgin birth of Christ and mentions some of His miracles, but even here the legendary tone predominates; and Muhammad seems to have learnt what little he knew of our Lord and His Apostles from very unreliable hearsay. We shall see that the agreement in detail between what the Qur'an relates on these subjects and what may be found in apocryphal and heretical literature is very remarkable. Here again Muhammad seems to have had a wonderful talent for rejecting the true and
1 Surah LXI., As Saff, 6: "And when Jesus, the Son of Mary, said, 'O children of Israel, verily I am an Apostle of God unto you, confirming what was before Me of the Law, and bringing good news of an Apostle who will come after Me: his name is Ahmad.'" Ahmad is the same name as Muhammad. The latter must have heard of the prophecy in John xvi., 7, &c., and his informant must, purposely or ignorantly, have mistaken παράκλητος for περικλυτός, which latter word does not occur in the New Testament.
2 Surah III., 40, and IV., 169.
CHRISTIAN APOCRYPHAL BOOKS. 143

accepting the false, just as in the case of the Jewish traditions referred to in the preceding chapter.

We proceed to prove this by referring to some of the fables dealing with Christian subjects contained in the Qur'an, indicating the sources from which they appear to have been derived.

1. Legend of the Companions of the Cave.

The first with which we shall deal is the legend of the Companions of the Cave, which is thus related in Surah XVIII., Al Kahf, 8-25:—

"Hast thou considered that the Companions of the Cave and of Ar Raqim 1 were among our signs, a marvel? When the youths betook themselves to the cave they said, ‘Our Lord, bring us mercy from Thyself and from our matter prepare for us guidance.’ Accordingly we smote upon their ears in the cave a number of years. Afterwards We aroused them that we might know which of the two parties 2 had reckoned unto what [time] they had remained — an age. We shall relate to thee the account of them with truth: Verily they were youths who believed in their Lord, and we increased guidance unto them. And we girt up their hearts when they stood up: then said they, ‘Our Lord is Lord of the heavens and of the earth, we shall never call any beside Him God, then had we uttered a boundless lie. These our people have
1 The district where the Cave was situated.
2 Believers and unbelievers.