Page:Islam, Turkey, and Armenia, and How They Happened.djvu/33

Rh ought not; thou knowest what is in me. I have not spoken to them any other than what thou didst command me."

These few illustrations of the so-called Mohametan bible story will be enough to show that the illiterate founder of that false religion, partly misled, of course, by the apocryphal Christian writings of his age, tried to conceal his fraud by childish stories, by unnecessary details and wholly false representations, at the same time making gross mistakes in geographical and historical facts; e.g., he makes the prophet Elijah contemporary with Moses; Ishmael to have been offered in sacrifice instead of Isaac; Saul to have led the ten thousand down to the river bank instead of Gideon, and by the most monstrous error represents Mary, the mother of Jesus, to have been the same person with Miriam, the sister of Aaron and Moses!

4. A Few Quotations from the Koran. In order to get a clearer idea about. the moral character of this sacred book let us read some pieces from it. The first chapter reads as follows: "In the name of the most merciful Allah. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of all creatures, the most gracious, the king of the day of judgment. Thee do we worship, and of thee do we beg assistance. Direct us in the right way, in the way of those to whom thou hast been gracious; not of those against whom thou art incensed, nor those who go astray." For the sake of impartiality we have quoted one of the best portions, which any Mohametan himself would bring in favor