Mohammed never forgave the Jews for their refusal to accept him as "The Prophet" of God, superseding all others. He had accepted so much from them--the fundamental idea of monotheism, the chief points of the Calendar, the Sabbath, the Day of Atonement, much of the Scripture and Midrashic narrative, and many details of the ceremonial law. He asked of them so little--it seemed--to regard him as God's chosen and supreme messenger to man, to all intents and purposes the Messiah, whose advent was foretold in their own Scriptures, and to whom they should henceforth look for the interpretation of their Faith. But that "little" they could not conscientiously give. For not even Moses, their only recognized lawgiver, "greatest of their prophets," were they prepared to regard quite in the way in which Mohammed asked allegiance. Their hearts told them that this man was not sent by God on a mission to them, however much he may have been sent to the Arabians. He was not _their_ Messiah. So to accept him would be traitorous to their traditions and to the teachings of the Scripture (Deut. xviii, 15-22). For the acceptance of Mohammed would have ultimately meant the stultification of their religion and its submergence in a new cult of which he would be the founder. At that rejection, his regard for them turned to hate, and instead of allies, he chose to look upon them as rivals, as enemies of the true Faith, Their endorsement was the one thing needed for the complete confirmation of his mission. Therefore, forgetting how much he owed to their spiritual treasures, he became their persecutor. Christianity and Islam. How history was repeating itself! Was not this identically Israel's experience with that other creed to which its religion had given birth--Christianity? Its adherents likewise said to the Jews, "We accept your Scriptures, ethics and divinity. Accept only from us this individual Jesus, _greatest of all prophets_, the Messiah, in whom all your prophesies have been fulfilled, who represents God's new covenant with man." And because they refused, they were hated and spurned. From endeavoring to pattern his religion as closely as possible after the Jewish example he now in sullen resentment sought by arbitrary changes to emphasize its differences. Instead of turning to Jerusalem in prayer, Mohammedans were told to turn to Mecca. He changed the Jewish Yom Kippur (Ashura), which he had adopted, for the holy month of Ramadhan. He altered the Sabbath from Saturday to Friday, making it a day of worship, but not of rest. Here again was an attitude towards Israel parallel with its experience with Christianity; for after three hundred years the Church had changed the Sabbath to Sunday and rearranged its calendar to make Easter independent of Passover. Then like Christianity, too, he inserted in _his_ Scripture--the Koran--unkind things and calumnies about the Jews. Yet, on the whole, the Koran holds up many Bible characters as exemplars.