8 THE RELIGION OF THE CRESCENT.

that one main reason why so many still hold it as their comfort in life and their hope in death is because their consciences and intellects assure them that some at least of its main tenets are true. The same may be said of all religions to a greater or less extent. Falsehood unmixed with the smallest modicum of truth seems unable to maintain itself in this world, and those faiths show the most vitality and energy in which the proportion of truth is greatest.

The Christian, as a follower of Him who is the Truth, is bound to seek truth wherever he can find it, and to remember that "Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights."1 The True Light still to some degree "lighteth every man coming into the world."2 And in dealing with all systems of religion, and especially those to which we are opposed, it will be our highest wisdom carefully to distinguish the truths which may exist in them from the falsehoods with which they are commingled or overlaid, and strive to cleanse the jewel from the mire into which it has fallen. If instead of doing this we vainly endeavour to overthrow the whole structure because the Enemy of Souls has entrenched himself therein, we are measuring our puny strength against the adamantine bases of the

1 πασα δοσι ς αγαθη και π αν δωρημα τε λειον ανωθε ν εστιν κατα βαινον απο τ ου πατρος τω ν φωτων παρ ω ουκ ενι παρα λλαγη η τροπ ης αποσκιασ μα  (James i. 17.)
2 ην το φως το αληθιν ον ο φωτιζει παντα ανθρωπ ον ερχομενον εις τον κοσμον (John i. 9.)

1 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James i. 17. (NIV)
2 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. John i. 9. (NIV)
THE STRENGTH OF ISLAM. 9

world, and our efforts can avail only to strengthen that which we would assail.

Islam contains many noble truths mingled with much that is erroneous. Its

Truths
contained
in Islam.
strength lies in these truths, its weakness in its false doctrines and its imperfect moral system. Some of the main truths inculcated by Muhammad it is now our duty to discover, leaving until another opportunity the consideration of the sources1 from which the religion is derived.

§ 3. The first doctrine with which we deal is that of the Unity of God. This

Unity
of God.
is taught in the Kalimah or creed of the Muslims, which, as Gibbon remarks,2 "consists of an eternal truth and a necessary fiction,"—"Lā ilāha illā 'llāhu, Muhammadun Rasūlu' llāhi,"—'There is no God but GOD: Muhammad is the Apostle of God.'3 Later theories with regard to the "Light4 of

1 Vide Lecture III.
2 "Decline and Fall," vol. ix., cap. 1.
3 لاَ إلَه اَّلا اللهُ مُحَمَّد رَّسُولُ اللهِ‫.‬ Both parts of this Kalimah are virtually contained in the Qur'an, the former in Surah iii. 55[62], and the latter in Surah xxxiii. 40. Vide also "Mishkatu'l Masabih," Bk. I., sect. i.
4 E.g. in "Qisasu'l Anbiya," initio,   بيغمبر كُفت اوّل جيزى كه بيافريد (الله) نوِر من بود Koelle, "Mohammed and Mohammedanism," pp. 247, sqq.: "Rusum-i-Hind," cap. v., sect. I.:

  اهلِ اسلام كى كتابون مين لكها هى كه خالق حقيقى نى تمام موجودات سى بهلى حضرت محمد صلعم هى كا نور بيدا كيا اور وهى سارى  مخلوقات كى بيدا هونى كا باعث هين

The nur or light of Muhammad denotes his original essence, said to have been created from the Divine light. Hughes, "Dict. Of Islam."
3 ... There is no Allah save Allah, and lo! Allah, He verily is, is the Mighty, the Wise. Sura 3;62
Muhammad is ... the messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets; and Allah is ever Aware of all things. Sura 33:40 Pickthal's translation