almighty God, and this idea had not been obscured by the worship of
trees, stones, fire and the heavenly bodies: but his reverence for
this God was somewhat impersonal and he felt no instinct to approach
Him, unless he had some hopes or fears to satisfy. The idea of a
reckoning between man and God was alien to the Arab mind. Christian
and Jewish influence became operative upon Muhammed with reference
to this special point. The idea of the day of judgment, when an
account of earthly deeds and misdeeds will be required, when the joys
of Paradise will be opened to the good and the bad will be cast into
the fiery abyss, such was the great idea, which suddenly filled
Muhammed's mind and dispelled the indifference begotten of routine and
stirred his mental powers.

Polytheism was incompatible with the idea of God as a judge supreme
and righteous, but yet merciful. Thus monotheism was indissolubly
connected with Muhammed's first religious impulses, though the dogma
had not assumed the polemical form in which it afterwards confronted
the old Arabian and Christian beliefs. But a mind stirred by religious
emotion only rose to the height of prophetic power after a long course
of development which human knowledge can but dimly surmise.
Christianity and Judaism had their sacred books which the founders of
these religions had produced. In them were the words of God,
transmitted through Moses to the Jews and through Jesus to the
Christians. Jesus and Moses had been God's ambassadors to their
peoples. Who then could bring to the Arabs the glad tidings which
should guide them to the happy fields of Paradise? Among primitive
peoples God is regarded as very near to man. The Arabs had, their
fortune-tellers and augurs who cast lots before God and explained His
will in mysterious rhythmical utterances. Muhammed was at first more
intimately connected with this class of Arab fortune-tellers than is