No intelligent Moslem would for a moment credit this 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 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 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 CalfQaf===
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 Qaf (see Surah 1.1).
And again:-
:One day Abdallah asked the Prophet what formed the highest point of the earth. "Mount CalfQaf," he said. "And what is Mount Calf Qaf 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 CalfQaf?" "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 Qav or Calf Qaf which surrounds the whole world, and hence comes darkness." And so the Companions of the Prophet hearing this explanation of the word CavQav, 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 stories which in the Prophet's day the heretical sects, with their forged and got-up tales, spread abroad.
