In the Qoran, God
says, "Hast thou, Jesus, said to men, Regard me and my mother as Gods
by the side of God?" Jesus replies, "I will say nothing but the truth.
I have but preached, Pray to God, who is my Lord and your Lord"
(5.116, f). Hence it has been inferred that Muhammed's knowledge of
Christianity was derived from some particular Christian sect, such as
the Tritheists or the Arab female sect of the Collyridians who
worshipped the Virgin Mary with exaggerated reverence and assigned
divine honours to her. It is also possible that we have here a
development of some Gnostic conception which regarded the Holy Ghost
as of feminine gender, as Semites would do;[A] instances of this
change are to be found in the well-known Hymn of the Soul in the Acts
of Thomas, in the Gospel to the Egyptians and elsewhere. I am
inclined, however, to think it more probable that Muhammed had heard
of Mariolatry and of the "mother of God," a title which then was a
highly popular catchword, and that the apotheosis of Jesus was known
to him and also the doctrine of the Trinity by name. Further than this
his knowledge did not extend; although he knows the Holy Ghost and
identifies him with Jesus, none the less his primitive reasoning,
under the influence of many old beliefs, explained the mysterious
triad of the Trinity as husband, wife, and son. This fact is enough to
prove that his theory of Christianity was formed by combining isolated
scraps of information and that he cannot have had any direct
instruction from a Christian knowing the outlines of his faith.
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