ABSTRACT
The modern Muslim educated on Western lines will, of course, smile at the crude notions. Each group of Muslims holds a picture of Muhammad which, while radically different from each other, also differs fundamentally from the conception which even the considerate and kindly disposed Westerner has of the prophethood of Muhammad. Traditions and legendary tales grew around him and his life so that two hundred years later learned men made it their lifework to sift the genuine from the false. The only miracle to which he could point was the Qur’an; but that this was the greatest miracle was his firm conviction. The teaching of the pre-existence of him was readily accepted by the Sufis, the mystics of Islam. He was not any longer an accidental instrument in the hand of God to deliver a message of warning, but his person and his life became the centre of interest.
