Page:Judaism and Islam, a prize essay - Geiger - 1898.pdf/153

 ACCUSATION AGAINST MOSES. 135

the grave and shewed Aaron to them, and to this refers the passage : ' The whole congregation saw, etc.' " Here I omit entirely a third very insipid fable which the commentators mention, and which seems to them to be the most probable occasion of the verse, but I cannot trace it to any Jewish source. The most correct view is, as Wahl has already remarked, that the verse refers to the reproaches of Aaron and Miriam. 1 In short the fifth verse of Sura LXI is about the answer, of Moses to the disputants. Here the commentators give only the fable not quoted by us, just because here, as in the second passage, they repeat only the most universally accepted view. But this cannot prevent us from holding to our opinion. Of the journey described by Muhammad 2 1 could not find a trace in Jewish writings, although the colouring is Jewish.* Moses is said to have gone with his servant to see the place where two seas meet, and to have forgotten a fish, which they were taking with them for food and which sprang into the sea. When they went back to seek it, a servant of God met them and made the journey with them, telling them before hand that his actions would rouse their impatience. He sank a ship, killed a youth and propped up a wall ; and only when they parted did he give sufficient reasons for these actions. The story following this about Dhu- J l-

1 Numbers, xii, 1 ft 2 Sura XVIII, 5981.


 * The author adds the following note in the Appendix :

Zunz (die gottesdiensfclichen Vortrage der Juden, historisch entwickelt, S. 180 u. Amn. d.) has pointed out the Jewish source of this story, in which the servant of God according to the Arabians is said to be Elias (of. under Elias) ; only that, according to the Jewish source, the traveller is R. Joshua ben Levi, a man who plays a leading part in tales of marvel and adventure (cf. Zunz pp. ,,140 141) and whom this adventure suits much better than it does Moses, who stands on too high a plane. We may easily recognize therefore the Jewish origin of this legend, which has been embellished quite after the manner of the Quran,