William Saint. Clair Tisdall (1859-1928) was a British historian and philologist who served as the Secretary of the Church of England's Missionary Society in [[Isfahan]], [[Persia]]. He was fluent in several Middle Eastern languages including Arabic and spent much time researching the sources of Islam and the Qur'an in the original languages.
One of William Saint. Clair Tisdall's studies are included in ''Origins of the Koran|The Origins of The Koran: Classic Essays on Islam’s Holy Book'' edited by [[Ibn Warraq]]. Chapter III include a section on ''Influence of Sabian and Jewish Ideas and Practices''.
The ignorant Arabs of the day looked upon their neighbors the Jews with honor and respect as being of the seed of Abraham, and possessed of the Word of God. Hence when the Prophet turned aside from idols as hateful to the Almighty, and sought to bring his people back to the faith of Abraham, he betook himself with the utmost care to learn in what the teaching, customs, and obligations of that Faith consisted. Comparing these with the Koran and Tradition, we find the closest similarity between the two. Thus the Koran throughout bears witness to the faith of Abraham, to the truth of the Jewish religion, and the heavenly origin of their divine books. The following passages will be found to that effect:- Dispute not with the People of the Book, but in the mildest way, excepting such as behave injuriously; and say, We believe in that which has been revealed unto us, and in that which has been revealed unto you; our God and your God is One, and to Him we are resigned. And again:- Say, We believe in God, and in that which has been sent down unto us, and and in that which was sent down unto Abraham and Ishmael, and Isaac and Jacob, and the Tribes; and in that which was delivered unto Moses and Jesus, and in that which was delivered to the Prophets from the Lord. We make no distinction between any of them; and to Him we are resigned. At this period, also, Mohammed made the Holy House (Jerusalem) the Qibla of his followers, being then, (as it has since remained) the Qibla of the Jews.
To this it might be objected that Mohammed, as the "illiterate prophet,"<ref>Surah vii. 156. The word used for illiterate is Ommy. R. Geiger's view is that this word has an altogether different meaning -- viz. that Mohammed held he was of the Ommat or Arab people, and not an Ajemy or non-Arab, as a Jew would be held to be. But seeing that the word has been universally held to mean unlearned (and unable to read), I think we must accept that interpretation. It does not, however, much matter in the present argument.</ref> must have been unable to read, and how then could he have gained all this knowledge from Jewish literature? But even admitting it to have been so, it must still have been easy enough for him to have learned all about their beliefs and customs and tales from his companions, such as Abdullah, Waraca, or even himself from his Jewish friends. For these people, though they had but an imperfect knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures, yet well knew the foolish tales current amongst the Jewish nation. ==Comparison of Qur'an to ''Aggadah'' in the Talmud== And now, if we compare the Koran with the tales in the Talmud and other books still current among the Jews, it becomes evident that although the Koran speaks of Abraham and many others of whom we read in the Torah, still all the wild stories it tells us are taken from Jewish traditional Sources. And we shall now give a few specimens to prove that it is so.
===Cain and Abel.===
Now, let us compare the story of Abraham as current amongst the Jews, with the same story in Koran and Tradition as given above, and see how they differ or agree. The following is from the Midrash Rabbah on Abraham brought out of Ur (Gen. xv. 7).
====Midrash Rabbah====:
:Terah used to make images. Going out one day, he told his son Abraham to sell them. When a man came to buy, Abraham asked him how old he was. Fifty or sixty years, he replied. Strange, said the other, that a man sixty years of age should worship things hardly a few days old! On hearing which the man, ashamed, passed on. Then a woman carrying in her hand a cup of wheaten flour said, Place this before the idols. On which, Abraham, getting up, took his staff in his hand, and having broken the idols with it, placed the staff in the hand of the biggest. His father coming up, cried, "Who hath done all this?" Abraham said, "What can be concealed from thee? A woman carrying a cup of wheaten flour asked me to place it before the gods; I took and placed it before them; one said, I will eat it first, and another, I will eat first. Then the big one took the staff, and broke them all in pieces." His father: "Why do you tell such a foolish tale to me? Do these know anything?" He answered, "Does thine ear hear what thy mouths speaks?" On this his father seized and made him over to Nimrod, who bade him worship Fire. Abraham: "Rather worship Water that putteth out Fire." N. "Then worship Water." A. "Rather worship that which bringeth Water." N. "Then worship the Cloud." A. "in such case, let ua worship Wind that drives away the Cloud." N. "Then worship Wind." A. "Rather let us worship Man that standeth against the wind." On this
1 A note is here added to the following purport:-- Mohammaed on this remarked that Abraham in all told three lies, all on behalf of the Lord, namely, "I am sick"; "the big one hath done this"; and what he said to the King regarding Sarah, "She is my sister."
But enough has been said to show that the story of Harut and Marut, as we find it in the Coran and Moslem books, has been derived from Jewish sources.
FIFTH===Sinai overhead===
A few other things taken by Islam from the Jews. - If time permitted, we could easily tell of many other narratives in the Koran, not in our Scriptures but taken from foolish tales of the Jews, about Joseph, David, Saul, etc-.; but space will not permit, excepting for a few. Here, for example, is the account of "·Sinai Sinai overhead" as we have it in Surah 7. 172: And when we raised the mountain over them, as though it had been a canopy, and they imagined that it was falling upon them, (we said) Receive that which we have sent unto you with reverence, and remember that which is therein, if may be that ye take heed; and we have two other passages (vv. 60 and 87) in Surah Bekr to the same effect; -- the meaning being that when the Jews held back from accepting the Torah, the Lord lifted Mount Sinai over their heads to force their reception of it. The same tale is given by a Hebrew writer thus: "I raised the mount to be a covering over you, as it were a lid."1. It need hardly be said that there is nothing of the kind in the Torah. The tale, however, may have arisen (Exodus 32:19) from the fact that when Moses returning from Mount Sinai, saw his people worshipping the calf, "his anger waxed hot and he cast the tables (of the Law) out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount." The words "beneath the mount," simply mean that he cast the tables down at the foot of Mount Sinai. And hence all this wild fiction of the mountain being lifted over their heads! We can only compare it to a like Hindoo tale of a mountain similarly lifted over the people's heads, very much resembling what we have in the Koran. ===Golden Calf which came out of the fire===
Here are one or two other tales of Moses in the wilderness; and first, that of the Golden Calf which came out of the fire kindled by the people at Sinai. The Koran tells us that Sameri also cast (what he had into the fire) and brought out unto them a bodily calf which lowed.(Surah 20:9) The origin of this fiction we find in a Jewish writer.(2) as follows: "The calf having cried aloud, came forth, and the children of Israel saw it. Rabbi Yahuda says that Sammael from the inside of it made the cry of the calf in order to lead the Israelites astray." No doubt the Prophet in this matter got his information from the Jews; strange that he should have been led to adopt this baseless tale. But he has used the wrong name Al Sameri. The name of the people, of course, occurs often in the Bible, and the Jews regarded the Samaritans as their enemies; but as the city of Samaria did not arise till some four hundred years after Moses, it is difficult to imagine how it came to be entered in this story.3. We also note that in this matter the Koran is in opposition to the Torah, which tells us that Aaron was the person who for fear of the Israelites around him, had the molten calf set up. Another story, given us twice in the Koran, (Surah 2:28, Surah 4:152) is that when the Israelites insisted on seeing the Lord, they were punished by death, but eventually restored to life again; and to add to the foolish tale we are told that it was the Torah which appealed for help and thus obtained their revival.
SIXTH===Chaldaean and Syrian words===
A few other Jewish matters. - In the Koran are a number of Chaldaean and Syrian words which the Moslems have been unable rightly to explain, find it written of the Genii that "they listened behind the curtain" in order to gain knowledge of things to come.
1. From the Jewish story in the Abodah Sarah.2 Pirke Rabbi Eleazer.3. No. doubt the Prophet thought that the Jews said Sameri (Samaritan) when they said Sammael. They regarded Sammael as the angel of death.
===Religious usage’s of Islam taken from the Jews===
SEVENTHReligious usage’s of Islam taken from the Jews. ?'here There are many such, but it will suffice to mention two or three. We have seen that keeping the fast of Ramadan has been taken from the Sabaeans and not the Jews, still there is one point certainly coming from the latter, and that regards eating and drinking at night during the month. In Surah 2. 83, we read: Eat and drink until ye can distinguish a white thread from a black thread by the day-break, then fulfil the fast. In a Jewish book (Mishnah Berakhoth) we find it similarly laid down that "the beginning of the day is at the moment when one can but distinguish a blue thread from a white thread," - a striking coincidence.
Again, Moslems of all lands, at the fixed time of their five prayers, wherever they happen to be, whether in the house or in the street, perform their devotions on the spot, - especially at places where people are passing by. This strange practice is entirely confined to them, and would be seemly In no other religion. But in the days of the Prophet there were Jews in Arabia who used this habit; for many of them were descended from the Pharisees, of whom our Savior said:- "They love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men." (Matt. 6:5) Thus the Companions of Mohammed looking upon the Jews as the People of the Book and children of father Abraham, regarded such practices as having descended from him, and so adopted, and have continued them to the present day, as we see, unchanged, though they are no longer kept up by the Jews themselves.
No intelligent Moslem 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 Gemara of Jerusalem in 430 A.D.; and the Gemara of Babylon about 530 A.D. But ignorant Moslems believing it all, added their own Koran 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 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."(Pirke Aboth, v. 6)
THE MOUNT CALF===The Mount Calf===
The origin of what the Moslems tell us about this mountain clearly originated from the Jews. Here is what the Tradition of the Moslems tell us:(2) (Araish al Majalis)
:The Lord Almighty formed a great mountain from green chrysolite, - the greenness of the sky is from it, -- called Mount calf and surrounded the entire earth therewith, and it is that by which the Almighty swore, and called it Calf (see Surah 1.1).
And again:-
:One day Abdallah asked the Prophet what formed the highest point of the earth. "Mount Calf," he said. "And what is Mount Calf 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 Calf?" "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 Hagigah, where we meet with the following comment on the word thohu in Genesis 1:2 "Thohh is a green line (Cav or Calf 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. From all that has now been said, it must be clear tothe Reader that the Jewish writings, and specially the fanciful tales of the Talmud, formed one of the chief Sources of Islam. And now we must turn our attention to the similar influence on Islam exercised by the Christian religion, and especially by those foolishstories which in the Prophet's day the heretical sects, with their forged and got-up tales, spread abroad.
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