showing the extent of the influence which Zoroastrianism had even before Muhammad's time exercised upon Arabia, that the word for "the faith" or "Religion" most frequently used in the Qur'an, (دِينٌ ) din, is not a pure Arabic word at all but is the Avestic () daena, which is used¹ quite as technically in the early Zoroastrian Scriptures as its Arabicised form is in the Qur'an. In fact, nearly all that Islam teaches about the angels, the work and nature of evil spirits, and kindred subjects, is derived either directly from a Zoroastrian ² or Magian source, or indirectly so

to judge, found in every Semitic tongue. In Syriac also the word occurs in this sense. But in the meaning religion the word din is clearly derived from the Avesta, since in no Semitic tongue does the root bear any such sense.
² Cf. also the five ratus or stated times of prayer among the Zoroastrians with those fixed by Islam. The Sabaeans observed seven times of prayer daily, of which five corresponded with those of the Muslims, and the other two may possibly have given rise to the extra two times of prayer optionally observed by pious Muhammadans.

through the medium of later Jewish legends, which were deeply coloured through the influence of Persian myths.

Thus nearly every leading doctrine of Islam can be traced with perfect certainty to some Pre-Islamic creed. Even in Muhammad's lifetime accusations were brought against him of deriving the doctrines which he inculcated from various human teachers, as for instance Waraqah and Abdu'llah ibn Sallam. This he strenuously denied, asserting that all his teaching was given him by GOD Himself through the Angel Gabriel, and that his knowledge of the histories of the Prophets in particular was a manifest proof of his Divine mission and of the truth of his lofty claims.

§ 11. This brings us to deal very briefly with Muhammad's life and character. His biography has

Life and Character of Muhammad.

been so well treated by Sir William Muir, Weil, Sprenger, and others in recent times that it will not be necessary for me to say much on the subject here. The earliest Arabic biographer of Muhammad was Zuhri, who died in A.H. 124. He derived his information in large measure from a relative of 'Ayishah named Urwa, but also from traditions handed down by the Companions of the "Prophet." Although Zuhri's work is no longer extant, we possess large portions, if not the whole of another

Authorities

life of Muhammad written by a disciple of his, Ibn Ishaq (died A.H. 151), and edited with amplifications by Ibn Hisham (died, A.H. 213) under the title "Siratu'r Rasul." These early