Muhammad, the Qur'an and IslamMuhammad figures as Abraham and the Meccans as Abraham's pagan
audience (vv. 25f). Since no such "two cities" are known from any of the
histories or legends of Abraham, v. 30 can not only be seen as a direct
allusion to the cities of Mecca and al-Ta'if, (where Muhammad was not
among the powerful) but also as a corruption of the story. The v. 35
contains one of the earliest admonitions against apostasy, and may well
indicate that some Muslims had ceased being followers of Muhammad. A
narrative about Moses and Pharaoh is given in the vv. 45f, and an echo of
the Meccans can be heard in Pharaoh's remarks about neither gold nor
angels being sent down to Moses, i.e. Muhammad (cf. Qur'an 15:7). In v. 57
Muhammad appears to have told the Meccans of the son of Mary (Jesus),
and the strange reply of the pagans: "Are our gods better, or is He?" (v. 58)
implies that Jesus must have been presented as divine. The^200 v. 59 contains
one of the earliest denials of Jesus' deity, and v. 63 oddly depicts Him as
having been sent to resolve disunity (cf. v. 65). In the vv. 67f Paradise and
Hell are described, and v. 81 gives the condition, that if the Compassionate
had had a Son, then Muhammad would have been the first to worship Him.
The v. 86 mentions intercession, and v. 88 is obviously missing enough text
to make its intended context incomprehensible. Passages of^201 this sura,
which are similar to Bible verses, are: 43:37 (cf. Ps. 103:12), 43:39 (cf. Ex.
4:11), 43:66 (cf. Mk. 13:36) and 43:85 (cf. Mt. 24:36). One of the earliest
occurrences of the Arabic name for Jesus can be found in v. 63. Although
quite a few legitimate theories exist as to the origins of the Qur'anic name
for Jesus (`Isa) in Arabic, it does not appear in pre-Islamic writings, and its
exact origin remains somewhat of a enigma.^202
The emigration of Muslim refugees to Abyssinia not only seems to have
awakened Muhammad's interest in the person of Christ, but also resulted in
his learning more about Christianity's principal doctrines. As discussed
above, the obviously anti-polytheist polemic against pagans ascribing
daughters to God but sons to themselves, must have been ineffectual, even
detrimental to use against Christians, all of whom believe in the Sonship of
Christ. Even heretical sects which had broke off from Christianity, such as
the Gnostics and Ebionites, as well as the Manichaeans maint^203204 ained the