43 THE QUR'AN ON PRESERVED TABLE

Elsewhere also we are told that the two Tables were preserved in the Ark of the Covenant, made by Moses at the Lord's command.1 But in course of time the Jews imagined that all the books of the Old Testament, nay the Talmud itself, were deposited in the Ark on the Tables, Muhammad hearing this of the Jewish Law and Scriptures, imagined the same of his own, and said (as we are told above) that the Qur'an also was placed on the Preserved Table; and his followers not understanding of what heavenly Table he spoke, swelled out the whole matter into the story given above.

The following is from a Jewish writer, Rabbi Simeon:—

What is that which is written that the Lord said to Moses: Come up to me into the mount, and be there; and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them (Exodus xxiv. 12). The tables are the Ten Commandments; and the Torah the Law which is read; and the Commandments also mean the Mishnāh; and "that which I have written" means the Prophets, and the Holy Writings; and "that thou mayest teach them" points to the Gemāra. And from this we learn that all these were delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai.

No intelligent Muslim would for a moment credit this foolish story, knowing that the Mishna was not written till about the year 220 of the Christian era; the Gemāra of Jerusalem in 430 A.D.; and the Gemāra of Babylon about 530 A.D. But ignorant Muslims believing it all, added their own Qur'an to the rest, and so comes this wretched story. The Reader will not think it necessary, we are sure, that anything more of the above

1 Exodus xxiv. 12; 1 Kings viii. 9; Hebrews ix. 3, 
THE SOURCES OF ISLAM 44

kind be added, excepting this, perhaps, that the Jews themselves hold the Tables to be of date beyond time; for one tells us they were made "at the creation of the world at the sunset before the Sabbath day."1

The Mount Cāf.— The origin of what the Muslims tell us about this mountain clearly originated from the Jews. Here is what the Tradition of the Muslims tell us:2 —

The Lord Almighty formed a great mountain from green chrysolite, — the greenness of the sky is from it, — called Mount Cāf, and surrounded the entire earth therewith, and it is that by which the Almighty swore, and called it Cāf (see Surah 1 .1).

And again:

One day Abdallah asked the Prophet what formed the highest point of the earth. "Mount Cāf,'' he said. "And what is Mount Cāf made of?" "Of green emeralds," was the reply; "and from hence is the greenness of the sky." "Thou hast said the truth, O Prophet; and what is the height of Mount Cāf?" "A journey of five hundred years." "And round about it how far is it?" "Two thousand years' journey."

Now all these strange ideas are founded on the Jewish writing called Hagīgāh, where we meet with the following comment on the word thohu in Genesis i. 2: "Thohū is a green line (Cav or Cāf) which surrounds the whole world, and hence comes darkness." And so the Companions of the Prophet hearing this explanation of the word Cav, and not understanding what was meant, fancied it must be a mountain, or succession of great mountains, surrounding the world and making it dark.

1 From Pirkź Aboth, v. 6. 2 Arāish al Majālis.