I’m finally getting around to something that I’ve always wanted to do for academic purposes, that is read the Koran. If you read the last First Things issue, there was a great article on heretical Christian documents being employed in the construction of the Koran.

I’ve recently learned that the Koran seems to refer to the following heretical Christian apocryphal books:

• Proto-Evangelion of James
• Infancy Gospel of Thomas
• Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew
• Arabic Infancy Gospel
• Taitian’s Syriac Diatessaron (blend of the four Gospels) may also be a source

I can’t remember who it was (maybe St John Damascene?) who said that Muhammad composed the Koran with the help of an Arian monk. Has anyone ever heard of this tradition?