In the Prophet's day, numbers of Christians in Arabia were not only an ignorant
people, but belonged to heretical Sects, which, on account of their dangerous
influence, had been expelled from the Roman Empire, and thus had taken refuge
beyond the border land. They had hardly any acquaintance with the Gospel or
Apostolic writings, but were conversant with heretical books and the extravagant
tales they contained. Now our argument is that Muhammad having but an imperfect
knowledge of the Gospel, learned from these people, who were all around him,
what he believed to be the purport of the New Testament. It was his object to
establish a faith which should embrace and unite all races of the Peninsula, and
the Christians among the rest. He therefore entered in the Qur'an very much of
the teaching and vain imaginations of these ignorant sects. It is our object
carefully to test whether this proposition is true, — that is, whether it be the
case that such stories form one of the Sources of the Qur'an or not; and that we
propose to make the subject of the present chapter.
