Shahnameh. Doubtless all these tales are very
ancient in some form, but we need not depend upon the
Shahnameh for those which we should have to quote
or refer to; and this is well, because the authority
of a work, which, in its present poetical form, is later
than Muhammad's time, might not be deemed sufficient.
Fortunately in the Avesta and other books of the Parsis
or Zoroastrians we have information which cannot be
called in question on the ground of antiquity, and it
is to these we shall appeal.
It may be safely concluded that, since the tales of
the kings of Persia were of interest to the Arabs and
they had heard of Rustam and Isfandiyar, they are unlikely
to have been quite ignorant of the story of Jamshid.
Nor is it probable that the Persian fables regarding
the ascension to heaven of Arta Viraf and of Zoroaster
before him, their descriptions of Paradise and the Bridge
of Chinvat and tile tree Hvapah, the legend of Ahriman's
coming up out of primaeval darkness, and many other
such marvellous tales, had remained entirely unknown
to the Arabs. If they were known, it was natural that
Muhammad should have made some use of them, as he did
of Christian and Jewish legends. We must therefore inquire
whether such fancies have left any trace upon the Qur'an
and the Traditions current among the Muslims. We shall
see that not only is this the case, but that in some
instances these |
