9 The wife of Imran is Hannah or Anne. Comp. Protev. Jac. iv. [greek text].- Evang. de Nat. Mar. 1: Voverunt tamen (Mari‘ parentes) si forte donaret eis Deus sobolem, eam se Dni servitio mancipaturos.-Although Muhammad had no direct access to the Apocryphal Gospels, yet these may have influenced, or at any rate, contained much in common with, the ordinary traditions of S. Syria. And of this, the Immaculate Conception of the B. V. Mary, supposed by Gibbon (ch. 50) to have been "borrowed from the Koran," probably formed a part. 10 That is, the female could not become a priest. 11 See note, p. 114. 12 According to a tradition of Muhammad every new-born child is touched by Satan, with the exception of Mary and her Son, between whom and Satan God interposed a veil. (Djelal. Beidh.) Hence this passage may imply the Immaculate Conception of the B. V. Mary. See v. 37 below. 13 Evang. de Nat. Mar. 7: Quotidie ab angelis frequentabatur, quotidie divinâ visione fruebatur, queam a malis omnibus custodiebat et bonis omnibus redundare faciebat. Protev. Jac. 8: [greek text]. Hist. Nativ. Mar. 6: Quotidie escâ, quam de manu angeli accipiebat, ipsâ tantum reficiebatur. 14 The word rendered descendants is a collective noun. Gerock (p. 20) thinks that Zacharias' prayer was not for a son of his own, but for an adopted son- as, for instance, the future husband of Mary who might become his heir, and hence accounts for his surprise and unbelief at the announcement of John. 15 Lit. chamber. By this may be meant an [greek text] of the Temple Comp. Luke i. 21. 16 Luke i. 28. 17 Hist. de Nativ. Mar. 6: Abierunt simul Joachim et Anna uxor ejus ad templum domini, et . . . tradiderunt . . . Mariam in contubernio virginum qu‘ die noctuque in Dei laudibus manebant. 18 These reeds, say the commentators, were written over with passages from the law, and cast into Jordan. That of Zacharias alone swam, and was the token that the charge of Mary was to devolve on him. Others render, their divining arrows. See a detailed account of the manner in which this matter was settled by [greek text], virgae, in Protev. Jac. Thilo. p. 204. Hist. Nat. Mar. ib. p. 359 sqq. 19 Ar. El-Mesich Isa ben Mariam, illustrious in this world as a Prophet, in the next as an Intercessor. Beidh. 20 Evang. Thom‘, ch. 2 (Thilo. p. 281) and Evang. Infantiæ Arab. ch. 36, 46. (Thilo. p. 111, 123.) 20-21a (0) Addenda: Lit. who my helpers unto God? i.e., helpers of his religion (Beidh). If Muhammad had become, by any means, acquainted with the use of the Æth. radeh, helper or disciple, we have herein a probable interpretation of this passage, as well as of the word Ansar. 21 See Sura [cxiv.] v. 111.