Footnote 20: There is perhaps here an indirect reference to the alleged
deification of the Virgin Mary by the Christians with whom Muhammad came
in contact.

Footnote 21: This is from one of the oldest suras. A most important
Muslim tradition says that Muhammad declares this sura to be equal to a
third of the rest of the Koran. Some say it represents the prophet's
creed when he entered upon his mission.

Footnote 22: This is directed against both the Mekkan belief that angels
were daughters of God and also against the Christian doctrine that Jesus
was the Son of God. Reference is also made, perhaps, to the Jewish
description of Ezra as God's son.

Footnote 23: Muhammad here adopts the Jewish and Arab myth that Solomon
had a seal with the divine name (Yahwe) inscribed on it giving him
control over winds and jinns, or demons.

Footnote 24: In Arabic, Mary and Miriam are spelt exactly alike
("Miriam"). This evidently misled Muhammad. In sura 56 he describes the
Virgin as a daughter of Amram, the father of Aaron, Moses, and Miriam.
(See Numbers xxvi. 59, and Exodus xv. 20.)

Footnote 25: This is a well-known Arab fable, based on a
misunderstanding of I Kings iv. 33, influenced by the second Targum on
Esther. See an English translation of this last in a commentary on
Esther by Paul Cassel (T. & T. Clark), p. 263. This Targum is certainly
older than the Koran, and it embodies Jewish legends of a still greater
antiquity.

Footnote 26: This legend about Mount Sinai is contained twice in the
Jewish Talmud (Abodah Zarah Mishnah II, 2, and Shabbath Gemarah
lxxxviii. 1). It is no doubt this Jewish tradition that suggested the
above passage.

Footnote 27: The point to which men turn in prayer, Zoroastrians pray
towards the east--the direction of the rising sun; Jews towards
Jerusalem, where the Temple was; and Muslims, from the utterance of this
sura, towards Mekka. At first Muhammad adopted no Qiblah. On reaching
Medinah, in order to conciliate the Jews he adopted Jerusalem as the
Qiblah. But a year after reaching Medinah, he broke with the Jews and
commanded his people to make the Kaabah their Qiblah.

Footnote 28: The cube-like building in the centre of the mosque at
Mekka, which contains the sacred black stone.

Footnote 29: Ahmad and Muhammad have both the same meaning, _i.e._, "the
Praiseworthy One." Muslim commentators hold that the Paraclete
(Comforter) promised in John xvi. 7 means Muhammad. In order to make