them: 'Signs are in the power of God alone; but He teacheth you not thereby, because, even if they were wrought, you would not believe.' And in [Suratu'r-Ra'd (xiii) 8], after the unbelievers are made to say: 'If a sign from his Lord be not sent down to him we will not believe,' Muhammad is thus comforted for not being a worker of miracles: Say I am only the plain spoken warner [Suratu'l-Hijr (xv) 89].¹

From these quotations and other similar passages, it appears with sufficient clearness, that if ever Muhammad performed a miracle, the Qur'an does not record it, but, on the contrary, represents him as not possessed of any miraculous power. Now, bearing in mind that it was on this very ground his claim to a divine mission was repudiated by the more thinking of his countrymen; that, unlike the earlier prophets, miracles formed no part of his credentials, while yet an intention runs all through the Qur'an to represent him as the last and greatest of prophets, it is self-evident he is called a warner or preacher only, because, in reality, he was nothing more. But if this representation of the Qur'an be true—and who can doubt it?—then it follows of necessity that the miracles ascribed to him by tradition rest on no basis of historical fact, but had their origin in the affectionate remembrance with

which all Muslims regarded the memory of so extraordinary and gifted a man. As, in the eyes of all true Muslims, Muhammad is the greatest of prophets, and they knew that former prophets had attested their mission by signs and wonders, it must have appeared to them a matter of course, that he, in virtue of his pre-eminence, should also exercise supernatural powers; and as whatever tended to exalt him was universally approved, it was an easy task for the glowing imagination and ardent affections of the early Muslims to fill up the void left by history. This seems the only reasonable way in which to reconcile the otherwise contradictory statements of the Qur'an and the assertions of tradition. If, then, on the ground of the document enjoying the highest authority among the Muslims—the Qur'an itself—the conclusion forces itself upon us that Muhammad has never performed any miracle whatever, we must allow that his claims are not supported by that proof which places the divine mission of Moses and Jesus Christ so completely beyond all suspicion—the proof of miracles; and that the absence of it most seriously compromises the Prophet of Arabia in the opinion of every candid mind; while the doubts which are thus occasioned are rather increased than diminished by the zeal with which Muslim tradition¹ has laboured to make up for the silence of history.