and wailing. And when he saw many souls entering through the strait gate, then he would rise up from the ground and seat himself upon his throne in great gladness, rejoicing and exulting. Abraham asked the general-in-chief" (the archangel Michael), "‘My lord, the general-in-chief, who is this altogether marvellous man who is adorned with such splendour, and who at one time weeps and wails, but at another rejoices and exults?’ The bodiless one said, ‘This is Adam, the first created person, who is in such glory, and he beholds the world, since all were (born) from him: and when he sees many souls entering through the strait gate, then he rises and sits down upon his throne, rejoicing and exulting in gladness, because this strait gate is that of the just, which leadeth unto life, and those who enter through it go into Paradise: and on this account does Adam the first-created rejoice, because he perceives souls being saved. And when he sees many souls entering through the broad gate, then he rends the hair of his head and hurls himself to the ground, weeping and wailing bitterly. For the broad gate is that of sinners, which leads unto destruction and unto eternal punishment.’"

12. Borrowing from the New Testament.

Finally it may be asked, Has Muhammad borrowed nothing from the New Testament itself,

since he has derived such a considerable amount of his teaching from apocryphal Christian sources?

In answer to this we are obliged to admit that he borrowed very little indeed from the New Testament. From it he may be said indirectly to have learnt that Jesus was born without a human father, that He had a Divine commission, wrought miracles, had a number of Apostles, and ascended to heaven. Muhammad denied the Deity, the atoning death (and consequently the Resurrection) of Christ, and taught a great deal that was contrary to the leading doctrines of the Gospel, being desirous of himself supplanting Christ and prevailing on men to admit his own claim to be the last and greatest of the Messengers of God. We have seen that in the Qur'an and the Traditions we find distorted references to certain passages of the New Testament, as for instance in what is said about the descent of the Table, and the supposed prophecy of Muhammad's coming. But there is only one passage in the Qur'an which may be said to contain a direct quotation from the Gospels. This is found in Surah VII., Al A'raf, 38, where we read:—

"Verily they who have accused Our signs of falsehood ..., unto them the gates of heaven shall not be opened, nor shall they enter Paradise until the camel entereth in at the eye of the needle’" This is almost a literal quotation from Luke xviii. 25: "It is easier for a camel to enter in through a