Page:A Moslem seeker after God - showing Islam at its best in the life and teaching of al-Ghazali, mystic and theologian of the eleventh century (IA moslemseekeraft00zwem).pdf/283

 rsions.

main in ignorance whence Al-Ghazali derived this material; or did he invent it even as the men of his day invented stories about Mohammed?

In the Ihya we find the following incidents, real and apocryphal, regarding the life of Christ on earth as a prophet and saint. 1 We begin with Al Ghazali’s witness to His sinlessness: "It is said that the devil (may God curse him) appeared to Jesus and said, Say there is no God but God/ He replied: The word is true but I will not repeat it after you/ " (Vol. Ill, p. 23.) Again: " It is related that when Jesus was born, the devils came to Satan and said: All the idols have fallen on their faces/ He said: This has happened on your account/ Then he flew until he reached the regions of the earth; there he found Jesus had been born and the angels were protecting him. So he returned to the devils and said to them: Truly a Prophet was born yesterday. No woman has ever given birth before to a child when I was not present except in this case/ And that is why men now despair of worshipping idols/ (Vol. Ill, p. 26.)

" It is related that Jesus one day was pillowing his head on a stone; and the devil passed by and

After completing this research I found a fuller account of all references to Jesus Christ in Moslem Literature, espe cially the Ihya as given by Michael Asin et Palacios in Logia et Agrapha Domini Jesus apud Moslemicos, etc., in Patrologia Orientalis, Tome XIII fascicule 3. Paris 1917.