Jewish influence. What is said to have been the secret watchword of Elkasai,¹ "I am a witness over you on the day of judgement", is found almost in so many words in the Qur'an. Moreover, there is mention in the Qur'an of a class of "People of the Book" designated the Sabi'in. It is a name which has given rise to much discussion. I am personally inclined to take it as simply a reference to the Sabæans; i.e. to the South Arabian Christians as distinguished from the Christians of the north denoted by Nasara. But there are two things which stand in the way of that simple interpretation. It involves a confusion of s-sounds which are quite distinct in Arabic. There is evidence too that the Meccans applied the name Sabi'in to Muhammad and his followers in the early days of the Prophet's activity.² If that evidence be reliable, it seems to imply that there was a sect known to the Meccans of whose washings or baptizings they were reminded by the ritual practices introduced by Muhammad. In that case it is simplest to suppose that the Sabi'in were some remnant of the Elkasaites who had maintained themselves in the north-west of Arabia, where they would be known to the Meccans, and may even have exercised some influence upon Muhammad. For that by Sabi'in in the Qur'an, Muhammad meant to indicate the Mandæans, or some still more obscure sect dwelling in Mesopotamia, seems to me very improbable. These matters are, how-

ever, obscure, and all that we can say is that the Elkasaites were a similar phenomenon to Islam arising at an earlier period as a result of Jewish and Christian influences penetrating into Arabia.

The other prophets mentioned as appearing in Arabia are all slightly later than Muhammad himself. A rival named Aswad caused some stir in Yaman towards the end of his life. Immediately after his death opposition to the new Moslem state arose all over Arabia, but especially in the north-east, where we find it centring round various persons of a prophetic character. It is to be noted that, like Aswad in Yaman, all these appeared in districts where the influence of Christianity had been felt. Tulaiha found his followers among the Bani Asad, the prophetess Sajah found hers among the Tamim, Musailima his among the Hanifa, all more or less Christian tribes. Moslem tradition represents them as false prophets, imitators of the prophet of Medina, and no doubt the success of prophecy in Medina was responsible for its simultaneous appearance in so many different districts. But Moslem tradition has evidently not been kind to these rivals, and even as it is Musailima, of whom it tells us most, shows some independence of Muhammad and fairly clear traces of Christian ideas. Apart from that, their appearance and the following they were able to gather show that there was an atmosphere of religious thought out of which a prophet of a monotheistic faith might readily spring.

The best proof of that lies in the appearance of Muhammad himself. For in seeking to explain