away captive from Mesopotamia. This may or may not
be true, though the appellation which he received does
not support it. If it is untrue, he was very
probably the person whom Muhammad's enemies are said
to have accused the Prophet of using as his assistant
in the composition of certain parts of the Qur'an; for
in Surah XVI., An Nahl, 105, we read: "Truly we
know that they say, ‘Verily a human being teacheth him.’
The tongue of him at whom they aim is Persian ,
and this [book] is Arabic, clear." If Salman was
not a native of Persia, then the language of the verse
suffices to prove that there was some Persian
in Muhammad's company who was believed to "teach"
him a certain portion of what he was then inserting
in the Qur'an. We see then that Persian fables were
well enough known
in Arabia to be recognized by some at least of the Arabs
when incorporated into the supposed Divine Revelation.
Nor was Muhammad able to give a satisfactory answer
to the charge, for no one supposed that the foreigner
was teaching him to improve his Arabic style. The charge
affected the matter and not the language of the Qur'an.
Moreover, as we have proved that Muhammad borrowed legends
from the heathen Arabs and from the Jews, there is no
reason why he should not be ready and willing to |
