the religions system of Muslims, for it consists, as Gibbon has well said of an eternal truth and a necessary fiction: "There is no God but God: Muhammad is the Apostle of God." It is not too much to say that in the minds of his followers Muhammad holds as important a place as Jesus Christ does in those of Christians. The influence of his example for good or ill affects the whole Muhammadan world in even the smallest matters, and few men have played a more momentous part in the religious, moral, and political history of the human race than the founder of Islam.

It was naturally impossible that, occupying the position which he claimed for himself, Muhammad should not have left upon the religion which he founded the distinct impress of his own personality. A builder collects his materials from many different quarters, yet their method and arrangement reveal his skill. The plan of the architect is manifested in the edifice which has been erected as its embodiment. Just in the same way, though we have seen that Muhammad borrowed ideas, legends, and religious rites from many different quarters, the religion of Islam has assumed a form of its own, which differs in certain respects from any other faith with which it may be compared. The beauty of the literary style of many parts of the Qur'an has been universally admired, and it evidences the eloquence of its author in no doubtful manner. Its want of arrangement and harmony of

design may not be due to him, but the work as a whole mirrors forth the limitations of Muhammad's intellect, the very slight amount of real knowledge and learning that he possessed, his unlimited credulity and want of all critical faculty, and the moral defects of his character. When studied in the chronological order of its composition, the Qur'an shows traces of a gradual change of policy which corresponds with the alteration in Muhammad's own position and prospects in temporal matters. Certain parts of it are, even by Muhammadan commentators, explained by reference to important events in his life, to which the "revelation" of these particular verses was directly due. To demonstrate this it will be sufficient to inquire firstly into Muhammad's attitude in reference to the use of the sword in the spread of Islam, and secondly into but one incident in his matrimonial relations.

It is well known that, before he left Mecca and took refuge in Medina in A.D. 622, Muhammad had no temporal power. His followers in Mecca itself amounted to only a few score ¹, and therefore had on two occasions — in 615 and again in 616 — to seek safety in flight to Abyssinia. Accordingly, in those verses and Surahs which were composed before the Hijrah, no mention