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THE QUR'AN ON PRESERVED TABLE |
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Elsewhere also we are told that the two Tables were preserved in the Ark of
the Covenant, made by Moses at the Lord's command.1 But in course of time the
Jews imagined that all the books of the Old Testament, nay the Talmud itself,
were deposited in the Ark on the Tables, Muhammad hearing this of the Jewish Law
and Scriptures, imagined the same of his own, and said (as we are told above)
that the Qur'an also was placed on the Preserved Table; and his followers not
understanding of what heavenly Table he spoke, swelled out the whole matter into
the story given above.
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The following is from a Jewish writer, Rabbi Simeon:—
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What is that which is written that the Lord said to Moses: Come up to me into
the mount, and be there; and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and
commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them (Exodus xxiv.
12). The tables are the Ten Commandments; and the Torah the Law which is read;
and the Commandments also mean the Mishn�h; and "that which I have
written" means the Prophets, and the Holy Writings; and "that thou
mayest teach them" points to the Gem�ra. And from this we learn that all
these were delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai.
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No intelligent Muslim would for a moment credit this foolish story, knowing
that the Mishna was not written till about the year 220 of the Christian era;
the Gem�ra of Jerusalem in 430 A.D.; and the Gem�ra of Babylon about 530 A.D.
But ignorant Muslims believing it all, added their own Qur'an to the rest, and so
comes this wretched story. The Reader will not think it necessary, we are sure,
that anything more of the above
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kind be added, excepting this, perhaps, that the Jews themselves hold the
Tables to be of date beyond time; for one tells us they were made "at the
creation of the world at the sunset before the Sabbath day."1
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The Mount C�f.— The origin of what the Muslims tell us about this mountain
clearly originated from the Jews. Here is what the Tradition of the Muslims tell
us:2 —
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The Lord Almighty formed a great mountain from green chrysolite, — the
greenness of the sky is from it, — called Mount C�f, and surrounded the entire
earth therewith, and it is that by which the Almighty swore, and called it C�f
(see Surah 1 .1).
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And again:
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One day Abdallah asked the Prophet what formed the highest point of the
earth. "Mount C�f,'' he said. "And what is Mount C�f made of?"
"Of green emeralds," was the reply; "and from hence is the
greenness of the sky." "Thou hast said the truth, O Prophet; and what
is the height of Mount C�f?" "A journey of five hundred years."
"And round about it how far is it?" "Two thousand years' journey."
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Now all these strange ideas are founded on the Jewish writing called Hag�g�h,
where we meet with the following comment on the word thohu in Genesis i. 2:
"Thoh� is a green line (Cav or C�f) which surrounds the whole world, and
hence comes darkness." And so the Companions of the Prophet hearing this
explanation of the word Cav, and not understanding what was meant, fancied it
must be a mountain, or succession of great mountains, surrounding the world and
making it dark.
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