Mir'at i Ka'inat we read the following ¹ wonderful narrative. "A miracle. In the Books of Biographies of Muhammad it is written that, when the Apostle was coming from Ta'if to Mecca, a cloud came over his head. Gabriel appeared and said, 'God Most High, having heard the words of thy nation and that they have rejected thee, has sent to thee the angel who is commissioned to keep guard over the mountains, that thou mayest tell him what thy command is.' Thereupon that angel saluted him and said, 'O Muhammad, thy Lord has sent me to thee that thou mayest tell me what thy bidding is. Therefore, if thou biddest, I shall join the two mountains to one another, in order that the unbelievers, remaining between them, may perish.' The Apostle said: 'Nay, I entreat of God Most High that from their loins may proceed a posterity which will worship God alone, and will not associate a partner with Him.'"

It is not necessary to quote any more of such tales as these. Those who have a taste for them will find abundance of them in such books as the Rauzalu's Safa, ² the Rauzatu'l Ahbab, and the Jami'u'l Mu'jizat in Persian, in the Mir'at i Ka'inat in Turkish, and in other Arabic works besides those we have previously mentioned. Stories of this kind abound in the books of the Hindus and other heathens, and are still believed by ignorant idolaters in many land; but they differ in their whole style and character from the genuine miracles recorded in the Injil, to which the Qur'an bears witness. Some of these Traditions put us in mind of the tales told in the Thousand and One Nights, and they prove that in earlier times also the Arabs possessed lively imaginations and great power of romancing. Be it noted, however, that such miracles as some of those which we have quoted were exactly of the kind which the Quraish demanded from Muhammad. Had he wrought them, then undoubtedly

the Qur'an would have mentioned some of them.. Instead of doing so, it tells us that he was not a Ruler but a Warner, and also informs us why God did not give him the power to work miracles at all.

If our honoured readers will carefully read the accounts which the New Testament gives of the miracles wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles, they will perceive how totally they differ in kind from those which, in opposition to the Qur'an, the Traditions attribute to Muhammad. The New Testament miracles are not merely astounding occurrences, contrary to Nature (such as a tree Walking and talking, a wooden column crying out and wailing like a babe, a murderer's broken leg or arm made well with a touch, &c.); they are acted parables, full of spiritual instruction, works of Divine mercy as well as of Divine might, such as the cleansing of lepers, opening the eyes of the blind, raising the dead, &c. (Matt. xi. 4, 5; Luke vii. 22). But Christ's miracles of healing were never wrought to save a murderer from one of the results of his crime. Nor did He devote Divine power to the task of making trees walk about and stones cry out..

Besides this, the records which contain the account of Christ's miracles were compiled at latest during no long period after His Ascension, during the lifetime of many of His immediate disciples. These records were drawn up, under Divine guidance, in some cases by the disciples themselves. (the Gospels of Matthew and John), in others by their authority (the Gospels of Mark and Luke). There is also good reason to believe that brief accounts of Christ's wonderful work as well as of His words were in some cases set down in writing at the time of their occurrences. On the other hand, the miracles which the Traditions ascribe to Muhammad were not recorded in writing until hundreds of years after his death. In the Injil, Christ Himself refers to His own mighty ¹ works as a proof of His Divine Commission;