APPENDIX (B.)

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VARIOUS have been the conjectures as to the manner in which Mohammed obtained his information respecting the Scriptures and traditions of the Jews and Christians: some supposing that he obtained it from a Jew or a Christian, or both in his own country; others, on his journey to Syria; and others again in Syria itself. I incline to the latter, for the following reasons. Had he employed either a Jew or Christian in his own country, he would have been in perpetual alarm from the fear of exposure; especially as he was directly opposed to the interests of both. Mohammed was moreover too good a politician not to have foreseen this; and therefore was not very likely to have had recourse to such a step.

Nor is it probable that he gained his information on his journey; because, in this case, he would also have subjected himself to the danger of exposure. During a journey, the opportunities for such information must have been few; and the hurry and fatigue of travelling very unfriendly to enquiry. But in Syria itself, the opportunities would be numerous, and these could have been made the most of, without the least suspicion whatever being excited; and, as the pretended revelation did not come out until between fifteen, and twenty years afterwards, the idea of its having come from Syria could hardly be started by Mohammed's opponents. But had he upon his return from Syria given out his revelation, and talked as wildly as travellers sometimes do, when just arrived from foreign countries, the very secret of

all his pretensions would have come out at once. The Prophet however more wisely retires about fifteen years afterwards to a hill at some distance from Mecca. He first prepares his wife and relations, by telling them that he had seen an Angel; and next, that he is saluted both by stocks and stones as a Prophet sent from God. Upon this, many of his relations treated him as a madman or impostor: but, as the far greater part are never the most discerning, he succeeded with them; and at length convinced the others by the point of the sword, that they must believe or die: the natural consequence of which would be, that no enquiry on this subject would hereafter be made and such is actually the fact, as Mr. Martyn has well observed.

Let us now see whether this will be borne out by a comparison of some of the accounts found in the Koran, with those which are to be met with in the books of the Syrians, to which Mohammed might have had access. The works of Ephrem the Syrian, who flourished during the reign of Constantine, we know both from Jerome and Gregory of Nyssene, were almost universally read before the times of Mohammed-" Atque hinc constat non solum in Oriente post lectionem Scripturarum, publice in Ecclesiis (ut ait S. Hieronymus) fuisse S. Ephrem Syri scripta antiquitus recitata, sed etiam in Occidente, et quidem in Basilicis urbis Romæ." (Opera. Ephr. Romæ. Tom. I. Græc. et Lat. Proleg. p. xii.) And again," Ephræm... qui cunctis Christianis versatur in cujus vitæ atque doctrinæ splendor universo terrarum illuxit orbi. Nam in omni fere loco, qui illustratur a Sole, cognoscitur." (Ib. Encom. S. Gregorii Nysseni, p. iii.).

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There could have been no difficulty, therefore, in Mohammed's coming to a knowledge of the contents of his works and that some of them have found their way into the Koran will presently appear. In the eighteenth chapter of the Koran we have the substance of a story, which has been admirably told in Parnel's Hermit. Mr. De Sacy says in the Notes to his Chrestomathie, Tom. III. p. 414. 66 Kazwini cite à l'appui de ses réflexions une histoire assez originale qui me

paroit avoir fourni l'idée de la charmante pièce de Parnell, intitulée l'Hermite (the Hermit) &c." The story is then

given, which may be found almost verbatim in the Spectator, No. 237., and is there ascribed to the Jews. Now if we turn to the Works of Ephrem (Tom. I. Græc. et Lat. p. 119.) we shall find, if I mistake not, the original draught of this story, which is given with the view of illustrating the mysterious ways of Providence, just as it has been re-edited in the Koran, and versified by Parnell.

Another remarkable coincidence occurs in the second chapter of the Koran. (Sale, Vol. I. p. 11.) "And when Moses asked drink for his people, we said, Strike the rock with thy rod; and there gushed thereout twelve fountains, &c." In the Syriac Commentary of Ephrem on Numbers, chap. xx. v. 17. we have the following passage. Speaking of the well, it is said: Zoo Wil: a lot? bl No.pks

2001 L2 120100 000 "For they said, that it was the rock which followed them: which, when they rested, afforded twelve streams." He goes on to say, that when they travelled the waters flowed not; but when they rested, the heads of the tribes came to Moses, and, with their hymns and staves, caused the waters immediately to flow. "The Commentators," says Sale in his Notes, tr say this was a stone which Moses brought from Mount Sinai," &c. "Marracci thinks," continues he, "this circumstance looks like a Rabbinical fiction, or else that Mohammed confounds the water of the rock at Horeb, with the twelve wells at Elim; for he says, several who have been on the spot, affirm there are but three orifices whence the water issued. But it is to be presumed, that Mohammed had better means of information in this respect, than to fall into such a mistake, &c.-For one, who went into those parts in the end of the fifteenth century, tells us expressly, that the water issued from twelve places of the rock, according to the number of Israel," &c.

We have then, in Ephrem, the moveable rock of the Arabian Commentators, and the twelve fountains of Mohammed. I do

not think, therefore, that it was necessary that Mohammed should, for this piece of information, have travelled to Horeb at all. Besides he does not say a word about the holes in the stone: he only says there were twelve fountains; which appears to me to identify itself sufficiently with the well of Ephrem, which was occasionally a moveable rock, to warrant the conclusion that this story came originally from Syria.

The next coincidence which I shall notice is that which is observable in the History of Joseph, as given by Ephrem and Mohammed. No one I am sure can read the Sermon of Ephrem " in Pulcherrimum Joseph",* and the twelfth chapter of the Koran, without being struck with a manifest similarity of style and sentiment. There are however a few things common to both, which, I think, are no where else to be found. In the first place, when Joseph's brethren carry his coat dyed with blood to their father, he is made, both by Ephrem and Mohammed, to suspect that there was some villainy in the business. The words of Ephrem are—“ Itaque non te, ut puto, devoravit fera, dilectissime fili; verum humanis potius manibus et exutus, et necatus es. Nam si, ut tui affirmant fratres, a bestia absorptus esses, vestis utique tua in partes discissa fuisset ; neque enim fera, ut prius exuereris, expectasset, ac tunc demum tuis exsatiaretur carnibus. Rursumque si prius exuisset, ac postea devorasset, minime fœdata sanguine tunica tua esset, &c." (p. 29. I have quoted the Latin translation rather than the Greek, because it is more generally understood). In Sale's Koran, (Vol. II. p. 35.) it is said: "And they produced his inner garment stained with false blood. Jacob answered, Nay, but ye yourselves have contrived the thing for your own sakes." Beidawi says in his comment on this passage: "This Jacob had reason to suspect, because, when the garment was brought to him, he observed, that though it was bloody, yet it was not torn.” (Ibid.)

Another remarkable coincidence is, that Potiphar's wife is made by both to confess her crime. Potiphar, according to Ephrem, seeing Joseph advanced to the government of the kingdom, comes home to his wife, complaining that he dare not appear before Joseph at court, because he had formerly committed him to prison. His wife hearing this, tells him to take courage; for says she: " Ego tibi peccatum meum notum faciam, quod admisi. Ego quippe sum, quæ pulcherrimum Joseph, castissimumque illum adamavi; et quum per singula momenta multis blanditiis illi callide insidiarer, ut dormire cum illo possem, et pulchritudine ipsius frui; neque prorsus optato meo fine potiri quirem, aut ullatenus efficere, ut vel verbo me dignaretur; vi tandem illum tenere conabar, ut me vel modice toleraret. Verum ipse foras aufugit, quando tibi pallium ejus ostendi. Ego igitur sum, quæ regnum ipsi maximamque gloriam comparavi, &c."-" Justus et pius est Joseph, qui etiam calumniam passus nemini patefecit, &c." In Sale's Koran (p. 42. See also Comm. Syr. Vol. I. p. 93.) "The nobleman's wife said, Now is the truth become manifest: I solicited him to lie with me; and he is one of those who speak truth."-These coincidences are, I think, sufficient to shew that the one must have been the genuine offspring of the other; and that Syria was the soil from which the PseudoProphet must have obtained his.

In the seventh Chapter of the Koran (Sale, Vol. I. p. 189.) We are told that Moses exhibited his leprous hand to Pharaoh and his chiefs. "And he drew forth his hand out of his bosom; and behold, it appeared white unto the spectators." Marracci had said in his refutations to the Koran (p. 284.) that no account of this occurred in the Scripture. "It is true," replies Mr. Sale (Vol. I. p. 190. n.) the Scripture does not expressly say so, but it seems to be no more than a necessary inference from that passage, where God tells Moses, that if they will not hearken to the first sign, they will believe the latter sign, &c." In Ephrem's Commentary on Exodus, Chap. IV. (p. 203.) we have "Nec enim, ait, Pharao, aut