uses the name 'Gabriel' to express that embodied manifestation in which he believed 'the Spirit' sometimes appeared when He sought to enter into direct intercourse with men, for the purpose of revealing the divine will to some individual, or of exercising the divine power for some definite object.

We have already said that the Qur'an nowhere states that this Spirit is created. It is true that Muslim commentators have drawn this conclusion from, among others, the following verse: 'And they will ask thee of the Spirit. Say: The Spirit proceedeth at my Lord's command: but of knowledge, only a little to you is given.' ¹ But in all their explanations of the use in the Qur'an of the word 'Spirit' they reflect with exaggeration the indefiniteness and incoherence that is found in the Qur'an itself.

If the point under discussion in this verse is the nature of the 'Spirit' by the possession of which all animals have life, and this seems to be the view generally adopted by the commentators, the decision arrived at as to the nature of this spirit will in no way affect our views as to the teaching of the Qur'an on 'the Spirit' which is the medium of the divine direction and revelation and inspiration and encouragement and strengthening of, believers.

We cannot but feel that the question raised in this verse is by no means the nature of the spirit which gives life to all members of the animal kingdom, but must be understood as being the nature of 'the Spirit',

elsewhere in the Qur'an called 'the Holy Spirit', or 'Gabriel'. The true teaching of the verse appears to be that the movements and manifestations of the Spirit are matters that belong to God alone, and that all that man can understand of them is that 'the Spirit proceedeth at the command' of God; 'but of knowledge, only a little to you is given.' ^l

Elsewhere the angels are spoken of as the messengers through whose instrumentality this Spirit at times descends on man. 'By His own behest will He cause the angels to descend with the Spirit on whom He pleaseth among His servants bidding them (the original does not make it clear who it is who bids), "Warn that there is no God but me; therefore fear me."' ²

This verse increases the difficulty of making a definite and clear statement as to the teaching of the Qur'an on the Spirit. It may be that here the word 'Spirit' is used with even more indefiniteness than usual to express simply 'inspiration', while in other passages the Spirit is spoken of as itself the medium of inspiration, or it may be that as the 'Spirit' may take the form of a man, as we have already seen, so it is supposed at other times to manifest itself through an angel who may appear in the figure of a man. The following passage is worth quoting in this connexion: 'And if we had appointed an angel, we should certainly have appointed one in the form of a man, and we should have clothed him before them in garments like their own.' ³