there from persecution in Roman lands. Little versed in their own Scriptures,
they spent the time in imaginary and childish fables. The Prophet, longing for a
universal faith, listened gladly to such stories, which thus became the Source
of much we find in the Qur'an.
First we have the fairy tale of the Cave wherein the seven Sleepers slumbered
for ages, fearing persecution.1 Next we have endless stories of
the Virgin Mary, both in the Qur'an and with vast detail also in Tradition; her
mother Hannah, her childhood as fed by angels in the Temple; Joseph chosen by a
miraculous rod, etc., much as in the Proto-Evangelium and other Egyptian and
Coptic writings.2 Then there are the tales of Jesus, as of his
speaking in the cradle, breathing life into birds of clay, etc.3
These the Prophet learned probably from Mary his Coptic concubine, as they are
all contained in such Coptic books as the Gospel of St. Thomas.4
Thus we have the descent of the Table from Heaven (derived no doubt from the
table of the Lord's Supper); the promise by Jesus of a prophet to come, called
Ahmed,5 which was apparently caused by the mistake of
περικλυτός [periklytos] for
παράκλητος
[paraklêtos]; the notion that the
resemblance only, and not the real person, of Christ was slain,6 derived from the heretic Basilides,
etc. Passing over much of interest, we may close our
