' The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, is only an apostle of God, and His word which He conveyed into Mary, and a Spirit from Him. Believe, therefore, in God and His apostles, and say not " Three" (i.e. there is a Trinity). Forbear ! it will be better for you. God is only one God. Far be it from His glory that He should have a son ' (v. 169).
In a later Sura, Siirntu^l Maida (ch. 5), Ave read —
' Infidels now are they who say, " God is the Messiah, son of Mary " ' (v.ve). ' When God shall say, " O Jesus, son of Mary, hast thou said unto mankind — Take me and my mother as two gods besides God?," he shall say, "Glory be unto thee, it is not for me to saj' that which I know to be not the truth " ' (v.116).
Mohammed represents Christians as worshipping a Trinity consisting of the Father, the Son, and the Virgin Mary. The undue veneration paid to the Virgin Mary may have misled him in his ear- lier days, but he had opportunities of correcting his error ; and yet in this the latest of the Suras he makes the charge. By this time his breach with the Christians was complete, he had no hope of winning them, nothing to gain from them, and so he either seeks to misrepresent tlieir chief dogma, or, at least, takes no pains to ascertain what it really was.
In the same Sura we have a passage which has given rise to many traditions —
' Remember when the apostles said, "O Jesus, son of Mary, is thy Lord able to send down a furnished table to us out of heaven?"' (v.ii2). 'Jesus, son of Mary, said: "O God our Lord ! send down a table to us out of heaven, that it may be- come a recurring festival to us " ' (v.n-*).
* By ' the Evangel ' Mohammed evidently meant the revelation which he supposed Jesus received in the same mechanical way as he received the Koran.
Moliammed may have had some idea of the Lord's Supper when he recited tliese words, or of the love-feasts which were ' recurring festivals ' ; but the commentators do not so interpret it. Some say it was a parable, and that a table did not actually come down ; but most consider that a real table descended. Jesus made the ceremonial ablutions, recited the names of God, and then said the prescribed prayers. After this he uncovered the table and found, according to one account, many kinds of food ; according to another, a fish ready cooked, without scales or prickly fins, drop- ping with fat, well seasoned, surrounded with all kinds of herbs, and leaves on which were olives, honey, cheese, and so on. Jesus restored the fish to life, then caused it to die again, and fed one thousand three hundred persons with it. Still the fish remained whole. The table then flew up into heaven. The miracle was repeated for forty days.
ii. The following traditions referring to Jesus Christ are found in the Qisasu'l Anbiya or Tales of the Prophets.
One day Mary in the house of her husband had arranged a purdah behind which she intended to batlie. Then Gabriel in the form of a beautiful young man appeared. Mary feared, and said : ' I seek protection of God from thee, if thou fearest.' Gabriel said : ' I am sent to thee from thy Lord that a beautiful child may be given to thee.' Mary said : ' Whence shall a child come to me, for no man has touched me, I am not an evil-doer. ' Then Gabriel came near to Mary and breathed on her. Some say on her sleeve, otliers on her neck, some on her womb. Some say that this breath was a sneeze made by Adam "and preserved by Gabriel.
Mary spoke of her conception to her cousin Joseph, who was to come into the house. He in sorrow expressed his doubts about her, and, on being told to speak his mind freely, said, ' There is no cultivation without seed, and no seed without a tree.' Mary said : ' If you say God at first made the trees, then they were produced without seed : if first He made seed, then seed came without a tree.' Joseph said : ' Is a child born without a father ? ' Mary said : ' Yes, without parents, just as Adam and Eve were.' Joseph assented, and expressed regret for the doubts he had enter- tained. Then Mary told him about the good news Gabriel had brought.
They say tliat Jesus in the womb spoke with his mother and said the Tasbih: Subhana' llah — 'I extol the holiness of God.' When the days of her confinement drew near, Mary Avas told to go to Bethlehem, lest her people sliould injure the child. Mary and Josepli went, under the guidance of Gabriel. The pangs of child-birth coming on, she got ott" her riding animal and rested under a date tree. Tlien Christ was born. Immediately a spring appeared and angels bathed the child. It is said that Jesus said then to his mother, ' Do not sorrow, God has provided this fountain.' Then ripe dates fell at her feet, and she said : ' O Lord, Thou iiast granted me sustenance.' The reply came, ' O Mary, thy heart turned to me, love for Jesus has come into it ; be tranquil, sus- tenance will be provided, eat and drink and have joy in tlie Messiaii.'