ABSTRACT
“Seversl circumstances,” says Sale, “relating to the Virgin Mary being mentioned in this chapter, her name was pitched upon for the title.” It contains the fullest and earliest accounts of gospel history found in the Qurán. According to Muslim authorities, it was recited by Jáfir, Muhammad’s uncle, before the Najáshi or king of Ethiopia, in the presence of the Quraishite envoys, sent from Makkah to secure the expulsion of Muslim refugees; whereupon “the king wept until his beard became moist, and the bishops also wept, so that their tears ran down upon their books, saying, ‘Verily this revelation and that of Moses proceed from one and the same source’” (Muir’s Life of Mohamet, vol. ii pp. 172, 173, note).
