Page:Judaism and Islam, a prize essay - Geiger - 1898.pdf/96

 78 JUDAISM AND

Holy one! then God permitted sleep to fall on him, and

all knew that he was of earth." In favour of the Christian

Origin of this narrative we must count the fact that the

name used by Christians for the devil is the one used in

all the passages referred to instead of the general Hebrew

name. 1 From this event according to Muhammad arises

the hatred of the Devil against the human race, because

on their account he became accursed of God, and so his

. first work was to counsel man in the Garden of Eden 2 to

^ eat of the tree of knowledge. 3 In this narrative the

Devil is again given his Hebrew name, 4 and yet the first

explanation of the temptation through the snake as coming

from the Devil seems to be entirely Christian, as no such

reference is to be found in the older Jewish writings ; the

passage quoted below can only be regarded as a slight

allusion : 5 " From the beginning of the book up to this

point 6 no Samech is to be found ; as soon however as

woman is created, Satan (with the initial letter Sin w like

Samech D) is created also/' Still we find in a book which,

though forged, is undoubtedly old/ the following statement:

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2 This proper name is never used by Muhammad in this narrative ;

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he uses throughout simply 1^, which shows that the Jews knew well the distinction between the home of our first parents and Paz-adise.

3 Suras VII. 18-25, XX. 115-127.

4

5 Midrash Rabbah on Genesis, para. 17.

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6 Genesis, ii. 21.

7 Pirke Eabbi Eliezer, xiii.

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