mission; whereas in the Qur'an, on the contrary, the occurrence of Muhammad's miracles is denied, ¹ while Christ's are acknowledged.²

Here we may state concisely some other great differences between Christ's miracles and those which the Traditions ascribe to Muhammad.

"There ³ is satisfactory evidence that many, professing to be the original witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief in those accounts; and that they also submitted, from the same motives, to new rules of conduct."

There is no satisfactory evidence that persons professing to be the original witnesses of Muhammad's reported miracles have ever acted in the same manner, in attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and properly in consequence of their belief in these accounts.

The compilation of Muhammadan Traditions took place at so late a date, and their contents are in many cases so strange, that no scholar can rely upon them with any certainty with regard to miracles, though they may be more reliable in reference to other matters connected with Muhammad. The statements about such subjects made in the Mishkat, the Hayatu'l Yaqin, the 'Ainu'l Hayat, and in still more popular books circulated among both Sunnis and Shi'ites, are so very extraordinary that they cast doubt upon all the Traditions. For instance, it is said that virgins grow up out of the ground, like roses, on the banks of the rivers of Paradise, and are gathered by Muslims at their pleasure. We are told that in Paradise birds ready cooked descend upon tables, and fly away again when the Muslims have eaten of them as much as they desire. It is said that, when God wished to create Adam, He sent Gabriel to bring a handful of clay from

the earth for that purpose. The Earth adjured him by God not to take any of her substance, and he returned empty-handed. But finally Azra'il took it by force. Muhammad is said to have stated that there is an angel in the form of a cock, whose feet stand at the bottom of the seventh storey of the earth, while his head reaches up to the threshold of God's Throne. Elsewhere it is stated that when Eve wished to eat some wheat, the plant grew 500 years' journey high, in order to escape her. It is also said that the distance between the shoulders and the ears of the Porters of the Throne is seventy years' journey.

Moreover, among the Shi'ites at least it is admitted by the learned that there is contradiction between Traditions and uncertainty which, if any, are reliable. This is clear from the following passage in, the Kafi of Abu Ja'far Mubammad on the authority of 'Ali ibn Ibrahim: "Once ¹ I said to 'Ali, 'Regarding the Traditions which are from Muhammad, I hear that they are contrary to one another and even to the Qur'an, so that thou thyself also dost not deem them reliable. And I asked him, 'What is the reason of this, and under these circumstances how is it possible to find a correct Tradition?'" Then 'Ali ibn Abi Talib in reply stated some rules for distinguishing between correct and incorrect Traditions. Still dissatisfied, 'Ali ibn Ibrahim said to him: "'If [the sages and Qazis] all agree on both [contradictory] Traditions?' He said: 'One should notice the one towards which their sages and Qazis are not most inclined; then let him leave it and cling to the other.' He said: 'And if their sages all agree upon both the Traditions?' He said: 'If it be so, then wait until your Imam comes, for verily to remain amid doubts is better than to comprehend in perishing.'"²