Page:Monier Monier-Williams - Indian Wisdom.djvu/46

 to be immaculate, nor did he make any pretence to mediatorial or vicarious functions. He died like any other man 1, and he certainly did not rise from the grave that his followers might find in him perpetual springs of divine life and vivifying power, as branches draw sap and energy from a living stem. Nor do Muslims believe him to be the source of any re-creative force, capable of changing their whole being. Whatever the theory as to God s mercy propounded in the Kuran, heaven is practically only accessible to Muslims through the strict discharge of religious duties

unlettered person, to whom a composition in marvellously beautiful language was revealed. It is, however, quite true that Muhammad s biographers afterwards attributed various miracles to their prophet. For instance, it is handed down by tradition that taking a bar of iron he struck a huge rock with such force that it fell shivered to pieces, and the blow created a light which flashed from Medina to Madain in Persia. On the night called lailat ul mi raj he ascended to heaven from Jerusalem on a fabulous mule named Burak. He split the moon (by a miracle called shakk ul kamar). He healed the eye of a soldier. He turned a stick into a sword. He put his fingers over empty vessels, and fountains of water flowed into them. He fed 130 men on the liver of a sheep. He fed a million people on a few loaves and a lamb, and many fragments were left. He once, by prayer to God, brought back the sun in the heavens when it had nearly set. On his entrance into Mecca (Makkah) he was saluted by mountains and trees, which said, Peace be to thee, O prophet of God!

Here, again, in contrast to the above, it is to be noted that about ninety names are applied in the Bible to Christ Himself as the God-Man, and that Christians appeal to the personal Christ, as the one miracle of miracles, and to His personal resurrection as the sign of signs; while Christ Himself appealed to no book except the Old Testament ; nor did he write any book or direct any book to be written; and attributed more importance to His own personal example, words, and works (fpy) than to the wonders He performed, rebuking a constant craving after signs (arjuela). We may also note that the artless unaffected simplicity and total absence of what may be called ad captandum glitter of style in the language of the New Testament, contrast remarkably with the studied magniloquence of parts of Muhammad s pretended revelation. See on the subject of miracles a valuable little work by the Rev. G. Renaud, called, How did Christ rank the proofs of His mission V (Hatchards, 1872.)

1 He is supposed, however, not to have died a natural death, but to have been poisoned by a Jewess.