126. M. Because Muhammad's miracles were far greater than Christ's¹.

C. The Qur'an acknowledges that Christ wrought miracles (Surah II., Al Baqarah, 254, &c.), but denies that Muhammad did so. Christ's are acknowledged not only in the New Testament but by the Jews (who thought they were wrought by magic, but yet could not deny that they were really performed, as their own books show), and by the Muhammadans, in accordance with the Qur'an, while none but Muslims believe that Muhammad wrought any miracles. Of his miracles we have no contemporary written account, for those mentioned in the Traditions were not written down till long after the death of his contemporaries. Moreover, the Qur'an shows clearly that he wrought none.

127. M. Our Traditions are full of accounts of Muhammad's miracles, and moreover the Qur'an asserts that it is itself a miracle (Surah X., Yunus, 38, 39). Besides this, the Qur'an records the splitting of the moon (Surah LIV., Al Qamar, 1), the night journey (Surah XVII., Al Asra', 1), and the victory at Badr (Surahs X., Yunus, 11, and III., Al 'Imran, 11). In addition to this we have the prophecy in Surah XXX., Ar Rum, 1-3: "The Greeks have been defeated in a land hard by, and

after their defeat they shall defeat (their foes) in a few years." The Persians under Khusrau Parviz [A.D. 615, B.H. 6] defeated the Greeks, and in accordance with this prophecy the Greeks under Heraclius defeated the Persians [in A.D. 625, A.H. 3] ten years later. This wonderful prophecy is of itself a sufficient proof of Muhammad's being a prophet.

C. Let us take the prophecy first. As the text stands, the verses assert that the Greeks would be victorious "within a few years" (في بِضعِ سنين). Jalalain's commentary explains بضع as denoting a period "between three years and nine or ten," and asserts that the Greeks gained their victory "in the seventh year." It was not, however, until rather more than ten years had elapsed that they were victorious. Nor was this statement of Muhammad worthy of being called a prophecy, for it was not difficult for a clever man to see that the Roman Empire was stronger than the Persian, and would in the long run prove victorious. But we know that the vowel points were not written in the early copies of the Qur'an; hence, had the Greeks again been defeated, the passage would have been just as correct, for the word سَيَغْلِبُونَ sayaghlibuna, "they shall defeat," would have been read, with a change of two vowels, سَيُغْلَبُونَ sayughlabuna, "they shall be defeated." You must really produce some better proof than this, if you can. The Bible prophecies are of quite a different description, as we have already seen.