when the God of the Law saw that this world was beautiful, He resolved to make Man out of it. And having descended unto the Earth, unto Matter (υλη), He saith, ‘Give Me of thy clay and I shall give spirit from Myself.’ ... When Matter had given Him of her earth, He created him (Adam), and breathed spirit into him. ... And on this account he was named Adam, because he was made out of clay."

To understand this quotation we must remember that Marcion held the old Persian dualism to a great extent, believing that there are two First Causes, one perfectly good and the other perfectly evil. The Demiurgos or Creator of this lower world, who is here spoken of as the God of the Law because he gave the Law of Moses to the Jews, is just, but neither perfectly good nor perfectly evil, yet he is perpetually at war with the Evil Principle. He is therefore rather an archangel than a God, and in the Muhammadan legend appears as such. According to Marcion's view, the Demiurgos originally dwelt in the second heaven and was not at first aware of the existence of the Supreme Principle of Good, whom Marcion called the Unknown God. When he learnt His existence, the Demiurgos became hostile to Him, and began to try to prevent men from knowing God, lest they should transfer their worship to Him. Therefore the Supreme God sent Jesus Christ into the world to destroy the power of the God of the

Law and that of the Evil Principle, and to lead men to a knowledge of the True God. Jesus was attacked by both these beings, but they could not hurt Him, as he had only the appearance of a body so that He might be visible to men, not a real body. Here again we find the Docetic principle which, though so contrary to Muhammad's general teaching, yet underlies the denial of the crucifixion of Christ.

Much of what Marcion said about the Demiurgos agrees with the Muhammadan legend about 'Azazil, who became an inhabitant of the second heaven (and, according to some Traditions, of all the heavens) before he was cast out and received the names of Iblis (Διάβολος) and Shaitan (Satan). But both Marcion's and Muhammad's statement on this point are so evidently borrowed from Zoroastrian legends that we must reserve them for treatment in our next chapter ¹.

It is worthy of note that to the Demiurgos the titles of "Lord of the Worlds," "Creator of the Creatures," and "Prince of this World," were given by Marcion and his followers. The first two of these titles properly belong to God, and are used for Him by both Jews and Muslims. The third is borrowed from John xiv. 30, where it is given to Satan. Through an unfortunate mistake, Muhammadans understand this verse as a prophecy re-