and He says of Himself in the Qur'an, "And¹ as for every man, We have firmly fixed his bird (i e. his fate) upon his neck."

Muslims tell us that before the creation

Fate.

of the world GOD formed a Pen, and commanded it,² saying, "Write My knowledge in My creation and in what exists unto the Day of the Resurrection." The Pen accordingly wrote on the Preserved Tablet an account of all that was to take place until the Resurrection Day, "even to the amount of the movement of the leaf of a tree as it rises or falls." A Muhammadan writer³ says,

"When Fate has come, Man cannot it avert:
Fate fails not, should he mind and sight exert.
Beyond the Lord's decree, writ by His pen,
Nor less nor more comes to His servants, men."

The very name of the Religion of Muhammad, Islam, denotes self-surrender or resignation,—but it is resignation to such a deity⁴ as this,—the

resignation of impotence, of fear, of despair. How different it is from Christian resignation—the simple, childlike, trustful, reliance in love and faith upon an All-wise, Almighty, loving Father in Heaven, Who orders all things for our present and eternal good!

§ 3. Although the Muhammadan Religion inculcates the obligation of Prayer, as we have already

Muhammadan Ideas about Prayer.

seen,¹ yet the ideas which Muslims have of prayer are very far indeed from being correct. It is regarded as a duty, not as a privilege, a task imposed upon Believers by the arbitrary fiat of their Lord, rather than a spiritual exercise and as a means of grace and

Tradition  about Night Journey.

refreshing. This is made very clear by a tradition related by a great many Muhammadan authorities.² Qatadah, for example, in relating the incidents of Muhammad's famous "Night journey,"³ tells us that the "Prophet,"