itions lingered.

One aspect of our Lord which has strongly impressed itself on the
Mohammedan imagination is His homelessness.[65] Once on entering a
Pathan village the writer was met by a youth, who asked, 'Is this verse
in the Injil: "The Son of Mary had nowhere to lay His head"?'
In the
Qissas-al-ambiya (Stories of the Prophets) this takes the following
grotesque shape:--

One day Jesus saw a fox running through the wilderness. He said
to him, 'O fox! whither art thou going?' The fox answered, 'I
have come out for exercise; now I am returning to my own home.'
Jesus said, 'Every one has built himself a house; but for Me
there is no resting-place.' Some people who heard it, said, 'We
are sorry for Thee and will build Thee a house.' He replied, 'I
have no money.' They answered, 'We will pay all the expenses.'
Then he said, 'Very well, I will choose the site.' He led them
down to the edge of the sea and, pointing where the waves were
dashing highest, said, 'Build Me a house there.' The people said,
'That is the sea, O Prophet! how can we build there?' 'Yea, and
is not the world a sea,' He answered, 'on which no one can raise
a building that abides?'

A similar echo of Christ's words is found in the famous inscription over
a bridge at Fatehpur Sikri: 'Jesus (upon Whom be peace) said, "The world
is a bridge; pass over it, but do not build upon it."'

This keen sense of the transitoriness of everything earthly is a
strongly-marked feature of the Oriental mind, and characterized all
their saints and mystics. There is no wonder that this side of the
gospel should make a special appeal to Orientals, and that the
Fakir-missionary should seem to them to approximate most closely to his
Master.[66]

The following account of the trial of our Lord before the Sanhedrin and
Pilate which occurs in the Dabistan of Mohsin Fani (A.D. 1647)
approximates more nearly to the Gospel narrative than that which is
ordinarily current among Mohammedan writers:--

When Jesus appeared, the high-priest said, 'We charge Thee upon
Thy oath by the living God, say art Thou the Son of God?' The
blessed and holy Lord Jesus replied to him, 'I am what thou hast
said. Verily We say unto you, you shall see the Son of man seated
at the right hand of God, and He shall descend in the clouds of
heaven.' They said, 'Thou utterest a blasphemy, because,
according to the creed of the Jews, God never