Page:Judaism and Islam, a prize essay - Geiger - 1898.pdf/154

 136 JUDAISM AND ISL^M.

Qaritain l might well refer to Moses, the shining one, 2 if anything o the sort were known about him.

Of the individual laws which are mentioned historically in, the Quran, 3 only one, viz., that relating to the red heifer, 4 affords material for a narrative, and that is .given 5 in very unnecessary fullness and with manifold errors. In the first place Muhammad confounds the red heifer 6 with the calf which is slain for one murdered by an unknown hand, 7 and he also makes the dead man live again 8 on being struck with a piece o the animal. In view of such great distortions we must not deal hardly with him for the following small one ; he says that the cow must be of one year, 9 in contradiction to the rabbinical statement that she had to be a two-year old. 10

As to those persons who come into the history of Moses, we have already disposed of Pharaoh, Aaron and Korah, 11 while we have only mentioned others and therefore must add more aboutlthem. Miriam 12 is praised in the scripture and called a prophetess, 13 but the Eabbis value her still more highly and say of her : 14 " The angel of death.had no power over Miriam, but she died from the divine afflation, and therefore worms could not touch her." . According to

4. Sura XVIII. 82 ff. 9 Exodus, xxxiv, 29 ff.



3 See Appendix. 4 Numbers, xix, 2 ff,

5 Sura II. 63 ff. 6 Sura II. 61.

7 Deuteronomy, xxi. 2 ff. 8 Sura II. 68.

Sura II. 63.

M Vid. Midr, Rabb. on Numbers, para. 19. u ^ '

12 ^ is

14 Baba Bathra, 17,

fi 1 ) nan