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in the Hebrew Scriptures. One of the commands in the
famous Decalogue of the Torah (Arabic “Taurat”) or the
Law contains this clause: “Lo tahmod ish réïkha” –“Thou
shalt not covet the wife of the neighbour” (Exod. xx. 17.)

(b) Hemed. [1]The substantive in the masculine gender,
and “Himdah” in the feminine, signifies: “lust, desire,
pleasantness, delight, and object of longing and of desire,
loveliness” (Hag. ii. 7; Jerem. xxv. 34, etc.).

(c) Mahmad, Mahamod (Lam. i. 7, 10; ii. 4, etc.).These
participles forms are also derivatives from the verb
“hamad” and mean “most covetable, delightful, pleasant,
delicious, charming, precious, and beloved.”

That the Arabic form Muhammad (pbuh) and the Hebrew
MaHMaD and MaHaMoD are derived from one and the
same verb or root, and that they, notwithstanding the slight
orthographic difference between the forms, have one
common origin and signification, there cannot be a jot or iota
of doubt. I have given the meanings of the Hebrew forms as
the Jews and the lexicographers have understood them.

(d) It will therefore be observed that the Greek word
“eudokia” must be a literal representation of the Hebrew
substantive HiMDah, and that both signify: “delight,
pleasantness, good pleasure (bon plaisir), desire, loveliness,
preciousness,” and some other synonymous words.

Now it would follow from the above that the
corresponding equivalent to the Hebrew “Mahamod” could
be none other than “eudoxos” which was the object of desire
and longing, the most delightful, pleasant, and coveted, and
the most precious, approved, loved, and esteemed.

[1] An article on “Himdah,” by the learned Professor, was published in the Islamic
Review for October, 1927. (the author).