n modified form. There is no doubt that ideas of high
antiquity, doubtless of Babylonian origin, can be traced as
contributing to the formation of these beliefs, while scientific
medicine is connected with the earlier discoveries of Greece. Common
to both religions was the belief in the reality of dreams, especially
when these seemed to harmonise with religious ideas: dreams were
regarded as revelations from God or from his apostles or from the
pious dead. The fact that man could dream and that he could appear to
other men in dreams after his death was regarded as a sign of divine
favour and the biographies of the saints often contain chapters
devoted to this faculty. These are natural ideas which lie in the
national consciousness of any people, but owe their development in the
case of Islam to Christian influence. The same may be said of the
belief that the prayers of particular saints were of special efficacy,
and of attempts by prayer, forms of worship and the like to procure
rain, avert plague and so forth: such ideas are common throughout the
middle ages. Thus in every department we meet with that particular
type of Christian theory which existed in the East during the seventh
and eighth centuries.

This mediaeval theory of life was subjected, as is well known, to many
compromises in the West, and was materially modified by Teutonic
influence and the revival of classicism. It might therefore be
supposed that in Islam Christian theory underwent similar modification
or disappeared entirely. But the fact is not so. At the outset, we
stated, as will be remembered, that Muhammedan scholars were
accustomed to propound their dicta as utterances given by Muhammed
himself, and in this form Christian ideas also came into circulation
among Muhammedans. When attempts were made to systematise these
sayings, all were treated as alike authentic, and, as traditional,
exerted their share of influence upon the formation of canon law. Thus
questions of temporary importance to mediaeval Christianity became
permanent elements in Muhammedan theology.

One highly instructive instance may be given. During the century which
preceded the Byzantine iconoclastic controversy, the whole of nearer
Asia was disturbed by the question whether the erection and veneration
of images was permissible. That Constantinople attempted to prohibit
such veneration is well known: but after a long struggle the church
gained its wishes. Islam was confronted wi