304 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [BK. II.

(26.) The most remarkable story concerning the mythical Mohammed is that of his 'Ascension into Heaven.' Whilst Jesus Christ, during his earthly life, conversed only with two of the long-departed Saints, Moses and Elijah, and did not ascend into heaven till after his death, Mohammed, honoured with an Ascension into heaven long before his natural death, had personal communion with all the previous prophets, and, leaving Jesus far below in the second heaven, himself mounted high above the seventh, and, entering into the immediate presence of the Divine Majesty, attained to the most exalted degree of God-likeness, so that God said unto him, 'I and thou,' and he unto God, ''Thou and I.'

a. 'As Jesus prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering. And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias; who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem' (Luke ix. 28-36). Compare Matt. xviii. 1-9.
'So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God' (Mark xvi. 19). Compare Acts i. 2-11.
'God raised up Christ from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church' (Eph. i. 20-22).
b. 'According to most high Ulemas, the ascension of Mohammed took place in the twelfth year of his prophetic mission; but according to some, in the fifth; and it is recorded in different ways by the traditionists, commentators, and biographers. But all the different narratives are based on what twenty of his companions severally declared to have heard from his own lips.'1

1 The Mohammedan authors give such long and detailed accounts of Mohammed's night-visit to the Aksa of Jerusalem and of his ascension to the seven heavens and far beyond them, that what here follows is in places somewhat
CH. I. 26.] HE MOUNTS THE BORAK. 305

'That Excellency said, "When I was in my house in Mecca, its roof opened," or, according to another account, "When I was sitting upon my place of prayer in the house of Imhani, and had gone a little to sleep, Gabriel came and said, O Mohammed, arise, and come out of thy house. Then I arose, went out, and there saw an angel and a saddle-beast standing, or, by another account, I saw Gabriel and 50,000 angels with him, all singing praises." According to another account, that Excellency began his story thus: "I was in the holy temple of Mecca, when suddenly Gabriel and Michael came, who, after splitting me open from the chest to the navel, washed my inside clean, and removed the refuse and alloy that was there; and then bringing a ewer full of wisdom and faith, filled my heart with them and put it back to its place. Thereupon Gabriel, taking my hand, drew me forth from the temple, and I saw the Borak (or Barak 1) standing between Safa and Merwa. He was smaller than a mule, larger than an ass, having a human face, elephant's ears, a horse's mane, a camel's neck, a mule's chest, a camel's tail, with the legs of an ox; or, according to another account, with the legs of a camel and the hoofs of an ox. His breast was like red emerald, his back like a white pearl, on his sides he had two wings covering his legs, and on his back was one of the saddles of Paradise.

'Gabriel said, O Mohammed, mount thou Abraham's Borak on which he visited the Kaaba. Then Gabriel held the stirrup, and Michael took the reins, and Borak bending himself down to the ground, I mounted. Gabriel accompanied me, with a host of angels before and behind, on my right and on my left hand. When we were on our way,

epitomised, without, however, omitting anything at all characteristic or essential. The narrators wish us expressly to understand that what they communicate was derived from their prophet's own lips.
1 'Barak' is the usual Hebrew word for 'lightning,' and was plainly obtained from Mohammed's Jewish instructors, like several others, e.g. Ashura, Shechina, Kisse, Torah, etc. These Hebrew terms unmistakably betray the human source of many of Mohammed's pretended supernatural revelations. A vehicle of the rapidity of lightning was required to convey the prophet, in the space of a few hours, to the temple of Jerusalem, and thence far beyond the seventh heaven, and back again to Mecca. Either ignorance or design converted the natural barak, or lightning, into the grotesque creature described in the text, and dubbed it with the proper name of Borak.