man is represented as the prime minister of Pharaoh; Gideon in his conduct at the river is mistaken for Saul". Moses and Elias are described as cotemporary. The Virgin Mary is called sister of Aaron, and John and Zacharias are confounded together", &c. Such blunders may well throw discredit on the Koran, notwithstanding all the ingenuity that has been displayed by his followers at solving objections and reconciling discrepancies! But in the New Testament, this licentiousness is coupled with blasphemy. All essential facts respecting Christ are suppressed, and trifling, ridiculous stories from apocryphal writings supply the place. Nay more than this, Christ is brought forward as disclaiming all title to divinity, and asserting his mere humanity. The angel Gabriel also seconds the illusion which he so pathetically Compare Judges vii. 5. with Koran, ch. 11. • Koran, chap. 18. 1 Ibid. chap. 17, note. pointed out to Daniel, yea and acts diametrically opposite to what was revealed by his intervention to Zachariah, Elizabeth, and Mary, respecting the Saviour: indeed he upholds tenets quite subversive of the primitive faith, and subjects himself to the anathema of the Apostle, " If we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel than that ye have received, let him be anathema maran-atha." 60 CHAPTER VI. THE HISTORY OF JESUS IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE IN relating the history of our blessed Lord a The chapters of the Koran in which allusion is made to Jesus are, chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. 19. 23. 33. 43. 57.61. chapters, according to Sale's translation of the Koran. Chap. 2. Entitled the Cow." We formerly delivered the book of the law unto Moses, and caused Apostles to succeed him, and gave evident miracles to Jesus the Son of Mary, and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit." Chap. 3. Entitled the Family of Imram®.— "Remember when the Wife of Imram said, Lord, verily I have vowed unto thee that which is in my womb, to be dedicated to thy service: accept it therefore of me; for thou art he who heareth and knoweth. And when she was delivered of it, she said, Lord, verily I have brought forth a female (for God well knew what she had brought forth) and a male The Musulman Commentators do not understand this in the Christian sense of the words, but say the spirit was the angel Gabriel, who sanctified Jesus and attended upon him. • The Mohammedans believe there were two persons named Imram, one the father of Moses, and the other the father of the Virgin Mary, called by the Christians Joachim. is not as a female; I have called her Mary, and I commend her to thy protection, and also her issue against Satan driven with stones. Therefore the Lord accepted her with a gracious acceptance, and caused her to bear an excellent offspring. 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. Then Zacharias called on his Lord, and said, Lord, give me from thee a good offspring, for thou art the hearer of a A superstitious notion prevails among the Musulmans, that when Satan tempted Abraham to disobey God by not offering his son, that the patriarch pelted him with stones, in commemoration of which, at the pilgrimage to Mecca, they cast stones, with various ceremonies, in the valley of Mina. The story of the wife of Joachim, viz. her devoting Mary to the service of the temple, seems to be taken from the Protevangelion of James, or the Gospel of the birth of Mary, two Apocryphal books now lost.-See Jones on the Canonical authority of the New Testament. |