revelations were pure Arabic (xvi. v. 105). In another passage (xxix. v. 47) he denies, evidently meeting an accusation brought against him, that he had ever read any (revealed) book but his own, or that he had transcribed one. It is not certain whether the verse quoted above means that he had had books transcribed for him, or whether there is any truth in the charge. He may have thus got copies of some Apocryphal books, but if so he was dependent on getting some one, who perhaps happened to be in Mecca, to read them and tell him what was in them.

Another proof that he is not working on any real acquaintance with the Bible itself, but is dependent on the third-hand relation of stories, is found in the fact that he includes in the Qur'an a version of the Legend of the Seven Sleepers, references to the story of Alexander the Great, and the Legend of Moses and al-Khidr, stories which were never associated with the Bible, but were spread all over the East, so that a chance informant may well have told them to Muhammad as stories connected with that massive religion which surrounded Arabia.

We have run a little ahead, and you will perhaps have noticed that some of the things which I have just mentioned as being included in the Qur'an are not exactly of the nature of the prophetic "signs" in which the rejection of the appeal of a prophet is followed by a calamity falling upon unbelievers. The "signs" come to have a wide range, and any wonderful story may be included amongst them. With great difficulty Muhammad did at last begin to get some informa-

tion as to the contents of that Book which he knew to be held so sacred and to be so carefully preserved. He discovered that it was not as he had supposed exclusively devoted to "warning". This, we may imagine, was a little disconcerting to him. That it caused some modification of his ideas and plans he tells us quite plainly (xx. v. 113), representing himself as being addressed by God in the words: "Do not hasten with the Qur'an before the revelation of it to thee is finished, but say 'My Lord increase me in knowledge'"; or as in xlii. v. 52, "Thou didst not know what the Book was nor the Faith; but we have made it a light by which we guide those of our servants whom we will. See, thou wilt guide to a right path." Various results seem to follow from this. For one thing there is an increase in the range of Biblical and other material introduced into the Qur'an. The creation of the heavens and the earth in six days admirably fits in with his idea of the Divine power. The creation of man from clay for a time displaces the emphasis he had laid upon the origin of the embryo in the womb, but he soon finds it possible to combine the two. The story of Joseph comes to him as a pleasant surprise, causing him apparently some regret that he had been so long in getting to know it. "We shall relate to thee the best of stories in revealing to thee this qur'an, though thou hast hitherto been one of the negligent"; so begins Surah xii. (v. 3) — Allah as usual addressing the prophet — after which follows the story of Joseph at considerable length. Throughout the Meccan period, however, his main preoccupation continues to be with the