Notes on Islam Part 11

"Religion", said Hitchc.o.c.k, "implies Revelation". By "Revelation" is meant a set of sublime (and therefore, divine) truths revealed, _i.e._ communicated from time to time to chosen men (= Prophets) who had the necessary spirituality to comprehend them and to convey them, as G.o.d's messages, to their fellow-men in the _human_ language of themselves. The defects (if any) found in the authoritative records (= Scriptures [Arabic: ?a?if]) are the defects in the human language and not certainly in the sacred and sublime truths revealed to the chosen men, the Messengers of G.o.d. It is the defect of _human_ understanding, no less than the poverty of _human_ language, that has often prevented the full comprehension of the divine dispensation and the sublime truths in the messages of Prophets. It is _our_ comprehension of the truth itself that has given rise to diversity in religious beliefs and practices.

[75] Provided they are authentic and genuine and not altered by interpolations and omissions.

[76] Neither the Bible nor the Qur'an is responsible for the cruel excesses committed by Christians or Muhammadans in the name of Religion.

[77] "The best of things is the medium thing"--_Muhammad_.

[78] Charles R. Gibson.

[79] _Vide_ Note 12 para. marked (a) p. 79.

[80] For the purpose of this Note it will be enough if you understand the first four propositions. I am afraid you will find some difficulty in understanding the remaining two propositions without ill.u.s.trative examples, for which I have no s.p.a.ce here.

[81] "For _such as be_ blessed of him shall inherit the earth, and _they that be_ cursed of him shall be cut off."--Psalm 37th, 22.

[82] Qur'an, xxi. 105. Following the late Mr. Justice Karamat Hussain of Allahabad, I take the word [Arabic: saleh] to mean "fit" in the evolutionary sense. See his book [Arabic: ilm-ul-akhlakh].

[83] He edits a journal called "Biometrika" which is devoted to the statistical study of biological problems.

[84] Prof. Muirhead of the University of Burmingham, in his kind letter to the author on these "Notes."

[85] Hence Formalism creeps into every Religion and renders it lifeless when its doctrines fail to adjust themselves to new facts or to changes in old facts. See _Appendix_.

[86] It should be construed and applied to new ideas and changed circ.u.mstances of each age in quite the same manner as Judges in a Court of Law construe and apply old Statutes to facts of cases that come before them. See Hali's [Arabic: al-din ya.s.sin]

[87] See the verse of the Qur'an quoted on p. 33.

[88] Or say: True Christianity is but true Islam writ large. "On the whole this religion of Mahomet's is a kind of Christianity."--_Thomas Carlyle._

[89] See hints:--Para 3 of Note 5 pp. 31, 32; Footnote (48) p. 43; Footnotes (4) and (5) page 12; Footnote (85) p. 81.

[90] Written in 1917.

[91] Cp. Note 7.