into the religion which he founded? Which of these were his own invention, which of them were derived from earlier systems? To what extent had he the means of learning the teachings of those who professed other religions than his own? If he borrowed from other systems, what particular parts of the Qur'an, what religious rites, what conceptions and narratives, what injunctions can be traced to each such source? How much of the result is due to the character of Muhammad himself and to the circumstances of his time? Such are some of the problems which it is our object in this book to solve as clearly and as succinctly as we may. From whatever point of view we may regard the inquiry, it can hardly fail to be interesting. Such an investigation, if honestly pursued, will enable a Muslim to appreciate his ancestral faith at its real and proper value. The student of Comparative Religion will learn from such an analysis how one Ethnic Faith arose in recent historical times, though, if he is wise, he will not be led to formulate rash conclusions from a single instance. The Christian Missionary may so find it important to follow out our investigations, in order to discover in them a new method of leading Muslim inquirers to perceive the untenable nature of their position. Setting aside, however, all such considerations, we proceed to inquire what the Original Sources of the Qur'an really were.

CHAPTER II.

THE INFLUENCE OF ANCIENT ARABIAN BELIEFS AND PRACTICES

In order to be able to understand the gradual development of Islam in Muhammad's mind, and to discover from what sources he borrowed, it is necessary in the first place to consider the religious opinions and observances of the Arabs among whom he was born and bred.

The inhabitants of Arabia were not all of one race. Arabic writers in general divide them into pure or original Arabs and those who, coming from other countries, had become Arabicized. Himyarites and certain other tribes present us with traces of affinity with the Æthiopians, and the accounts which the cuneiform tablets give us of early conquests of parts of the country by the Sumerian kings of Babylonia, coupled with the fact that the early Egyptian kings for a time had sway over the Sinaitic Peninsula and possibly over other districts in the North and West, leave no doubt that there were even in early times Hamitic and other foreign elements in the population. In the