prayers and bring the alms ¹, then free them on their way: verily God is forgiving, merciful. ... Fight with those of them who have been brought the Book, who believe not in God nor in the Last Day, and who forbid not what God and His Apostle have forbidden, and who hold not the true religion, until they give the tribute ² out of hand and be humbled." Thus the law of God as revealed in the Qur'an was notified in proportion to the success of Muhammad's arms. To account for this it was laid down as a rule that certain verses were superseded and annulled by others revealed later, according to what is said in Surah II., Al Baqarah, 100: "As for what We abrogate of a verse or cause thee to forget it, We bring a better than it or one like it: knowest thou not that God is able to do everything?" From that time to this, however, Muhammadan jurists have not been able to decide which verses have been annulled and which others have taken their place, though some 225 are supposed to have been thus abrogated.

We might in the same way trace the change in Muhammad's attitude towards Jews and Christians from the beginning of his career, when he hoped to win them over to his side, to the time when, finding himself disappointed in this expectation, he resolved to turn upon them with the sword. But

we learn, the same lesson from all such investigations, and that is how completely Muhammad adapted his pretended revelations to what he believed to be the need of the moment.

The same thing is true with regard to what we read in Surah Al Ahzab regarding the circumstances attending his marriage with Zainab, whom his adopted son Zaid divorced for his sake. The subject is too unsavoury for us to deal with at any length, but a reference to what the Qur'an itself (Surah XXXIII., 37) says about the matter, coupled with the explanations afforded by the Commentators and the Traditions, will prove that Muhammad's own character and disposition have left their mark upon the moral law of Islam and upon the Qur'an itself. The licence given to him, and to him alone, in the Qur'an to marry ¹ more than the legal number of four wives at a time allowed to each Muslim is an additional proof to the same effect, and it is explained by a very unpleasant Tradition which contains a saying of 'Ayishah in reference to his idiosyncrasies.

All this being considered, it is clear that, although Muhammad borrowed religious practices, beliefs, and legends from various different sources, yet he combined them in some measure into one more or less consistent whole, thus producing the religion of Islam. Some parts of this are good, and Islam contains certain great truths, borrowed from other