Page:Judaism and Islam, a prize essay - Geiger - 1898.pdf/127

 JACOB. 109

between the two was not clear to him. This error did nofc spread ; on the contrary, the later Arabs were better acquainted with these relationships. Thus, e.g., Zamakh- shari says : ! ' ' It is related of the prophet that he said, ' If you are asked, who is the noble one ? ' answer : ' The noble one, the son of the noble one, the son of the noble one, the son of the noble one is Joseph, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham/ " 2 But this is no testi- mony to the full certainty of Muhammad himself, for often the traditions spread among the later Arabs are more correct than those given in the Quran, as we said before in the case of the sacrifice of Isaac. Only a little is given of Jacob's life. There is an allusion to his wrestling with the Angel in the following words : 3 " All food was allowed to the children of Israel before the revelation of the Law, except what Israel (as he is here called) 4 forbade himself." This is evidently an allusion to the Biblical passage where the prohibition against eating the sinew of the thigh 5 is mentioned, 6 which Baidhawi 7 also gives, but assigns a wrong reason for it. Beyond this allusion and the history of Joseph, in which he is also involved and which we will give later on, the only other thing told about Jacob is his admonition before his death. This is

1 On Sura XII. 4.

(See de Sacy Anthologie Grammaticale, 125).

2 Elpherar has nearly the same words, with the addition however of a long chain of traditions.

3 Sura III. 87. *J '

4 Israelis sy** Baidhfiwi.

5 6 Genesis, xxxii, 38,