94 THE RELIGION OF THE CRESCENT.

death drew near he was sorely troubled in spirit, and, being spoken to about it, said, ‘What peril can be greater than mine? I must expect a messenger from my Lord, sent to announce to me either Paradise or Hell. I declare solemnly I would rather remain as I am now, with my soul struggling in my throat till the Day of Resurrection, than undergo such a hazard."' Such instances might be indefinitely multiplied.1 There is nothing in the Religion of Islam to make men conscious of their sins, nay, rather there is much to prevent them from realising the fatal nature of Sin in itself. But when any earnest man does become aware of his deep sinfulness and his utter helplessness, he finds no provision for him in the teaching of the "Prophet," no way of salvation opened which will enable him to obtain peace with GOD. An arbitrary Master is his Judge, who may untold ages ago have predestinated him to Hell,—his sins crowd upon his mind in the awful moment of death,—the flames of the Abyss seem already raging for their prey, and he has no refuge, no hope.

§ 6. This leads us to consider another of the great defects of Islam as a Religion, viz. its

Denial of 
Atonement.

entire denial of any Atonement for Sin. Almost all other religions that now exist in the world or that ever did exist afford at least traces of some original belief in an atonement. Some have believed that

1 The fearful death of Aurangzeb is well known.
THE WEAKNESS OF ISLAM. 95

one man's life1 could be offered for another's guilt, or that the child2 might die for his father's sin. Others have substituted animal for human sacrifices. But, although even the heathen Arabs by their sacrifices of animals3 to some degree recognised their felt need of an offering for sin, yet Muhammad—though permitting sacrifices4 still to be offered on the ground that Abraham had done so,—entirely and designedly omitted from the faith which he promulgated all teaching on the subject, except such as would deny the very possibility of any propitiation being made for the sins of the world. Christ, according to the Qur'an, was one of the greatest5 of the Prophets; He was miraculously conceived and born of the Virgin Mary;6 He wrought many wonderful7 miracles; He is called in the Qur'an, "The8 Word of GOD" and

1 E.g., the Celts in Britain; Caesar, bk. vi., 16: "Pro vita hominis nisi hominis vita reddatur, non posse aliter deorum immortalium numen placari arbitrantur."
2 Vide, e.g., the "Sacrifice of Children," Cuneiform text in Sayce's Assyrian Gram., p. 123.
3 Sale, "Prelim. Disc.;" Weil,"Mohammed der Prophet," p. 19; Sayyid Ahmad, "Ess. on Religions of pre-Islamic Arabs;" Abu'l Fida, "Hist. Anteislamica."
4 Surah xxii. 33[32], &c.
5 The six greatest are: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. (Sale, "Prelim. Disc.," sect. iv.)
6 Surah iii., vv. 40[42], sqq.
7 Ibid: Surah v. 109[110], sqq., &c.
8 E.g., Surah iv. 169[171], &c.