and up to heaven, without this being perceived by anyone. An unbelieving Jewish spy was mistaken for Him and crucified in His stead ¹. But the more common, in fact the all but universal opinion of Muslims at the present day, is that which is supported by the Traditions contained in such works as the Qisasu'l Anbiya ² and the 'Araisu't Tijan ³. In these books we are told that, when the Jews were besieging the house in which Jesus and His Apostles were, Gabriel took Jesus away through the roof or a window and carried Him off alive to the fourth heaven. Shuyugh, "King of the Jews," or a friend of his called Faltianus, entering the house to slay Jesus, was mistaken for Him and put to death. But nevertheless Jesus must die, and will return to earth to do so, and that is what is implied by Surahs III., 48; XIX., 34; and also by Surah IV., 157, if this latter passage ("And there shall not be one of the People of the Book who shall not believe in Him before His death") refers to Christ's death, as many think. For "when Dajjal ⁴ the Accursed comes forth ⁵ and misleads and makes infidels of people, and the Imam Mahdi with a number of Muslims shall be in Jerusalem, then Jesus shall come forth and wage war with Dajjal, and shall slay him,

and shall invite His own followers to accept the Muhammadan religion. Jesus will be of the Muhammadan faith, and He will give quarter to every one who believes in Islam, but He will slay every one who does not believe in Islam. From the East even unto the West shall He subdue the whole world and make its people Musalmans, and He shall set forth the validity of the Muhammadan religion to such a degree that in the whole world there shall not remain a single Infidel, and the world shall be fully civilized and richly blessed. And He shall perfect justice, so that the wolf and the elk shall drink water together, and He shall be wroth with the evildoers. Then, having in this way for forty years improved the world, He too shall taste the bitterness of death and shall leave the world. Then the Musalmans shall bury Him near the chamber of Muhammad the Chosen One."

What is said about the return of Christ and the establishment of His kingdom over the whole earth is evidently in accordance with and borrowed from Holy Scripture, especially from such passages as Acts i. 11; Rev. i. 7; Isa. xi. 1-10. But alas! "the trail of the Serpent is over it all," for it is asserted that Christ shall spread Islam with the sword! The reference to the overthrow of Antichrist is evidently based upon 2 Thess. ii. 8-10, and similar passages. But we must inquire from what source Muhammad has derived the idea that, after His second Advent, Christ is to die, if this is really the meaning of the