to himself that he can obey GOD'S arbitrary precepts.

Why GOD should desire us to obey them no Muhammadan can tell, but if we do so we shall, as a reward for such self-denial, be permitted the unlimited indulgence of our lower appetites in the unending Afterlife. Muhammad perhaps understood that happiness is possible only when one's circumstances and surroundings are consonant with one's disposition. And because he believed that Man's disposition, his nature as a man created by the hand of GOD, required sensual gratifications, the "Prophet" depicted the happiness of the Just as consisting, in the next life, of the enjoyment of. savoury¹ viands, delicious liquids, the company of celestial damsels, and other sensuous pleasures. GOD has thought fit to forbid us to indulge to the full in these things here, but He has promised unlimited indulgence by and by. If, however, men indulge in them here, and in addition to this refuse to believe in GOD and His Apostles and to pray

No Original Sin.

and offer alms, then they will not be allowed to follow the bent of their nature hereafter, but will have unpleasant² viands to eat and will be punished in other ways as well. In a word, Islam regards Man's fallen nature as his original one, and believes it will always remain as it now is. Hence

the doctrine of a Fall and of Original Sin is entirely unknown to the Muslim. Adam, it is true, committed a fault (زِلّة ) when he ate the forbidden fruit,¹ but the consequences—the spiritual as distinguished from any other results—are in no sense inherited by his children.

When expelled from the heavenly Paradise and cast down to earth, Adam was distressed, not because of the loss of communion with his Maker, but because he could² no longer hear the voice of the angels. There is therefore, according to the Qur'an, no need whatever of a change of heart before one can see GOD. Repentance is required, if a man has been in the habit of doing what GOD has forbidden, yet the Arabic word (تَوْبَةٌ ) taubah is not equivalent to the Greek μετάνοια used in the New Testament, but signifies merely a turning back from the error of one's ways. Man's nature never was in accord with GOD'S, the Muhammadan thinks, and never can or should be so.

Between GOD and Man there is no likeness whatever, nor is it desirable that there ever should be. The Christian conception of GOD'S commandments as the expression of His innermost Being³