Page:Judaism and Islam, a prize essay - Geiger - 1898.pdf/97

 THE FALL OP MAN. 79

" Saraael, the great prince in heaven, took his companions and went down and inspected all God\ creatures ; he found none more maliciously wise than the serpent, so he mounted it, and all that it said or did was at the instiga- tion of Samael. " * Thus this legend, even if not entirely Jewish, appears to have been derived by Muhammad from the Jews. In the details of this narrative some confusion is found between the tree of knowledge and the tree of life. The former only is mentioned in Scripture as prohibited by G-od, 2 and to the eating of that alone the serpent incites Eve. After the transgression has taken place, we find the fear mentioned lest men should eat of the tree of life and live for ever. 3 Muhammad confuses the two. In one passage he puts into the devil's mouth the statement that men through eating of this tree would become " Angels," or " immortal," 4 but in another passage he mentions only the tree of eternity. 5 All the rest of the history of the first human pair is omitted, and

nyra? iv? b^i v^y 3J7j nbs ttfn^

bwao buj inv^n sb nbs

1 To the same effect Muhammad ben Kais (vide Elpherar on VII. 21) :


 * y^ ^ JV* \^/\ ^ L&$ JVS a

" His Lord called to him : ' Adam, why hast thou eaten of that, when I had forbidden it to thee ?' He replied, 'Lord, Eve gave it to me.' Then said He to Eve : ' Why didat thou give it to him ?' she replied, ' The snake commanded me to do it.' Then said He to the snake : ' Why didst thou command it ?' ' The devil ordered me to do it.' "

See also Abulfedae Historia Anteislamica, Fleischer's edition, page 12.

2 Genesis, ii. 17,andiii. 5.

3 Genesie, iii. 22.

4 Sura VII. 19. $ or


 * Sura XX. 118.