where foreign influences prevail, as among certain classes in Turkey,—they are rarely permitted to learn even to read. They are regarded as being by nature prone to vice, and as in fact quite unfitted to become the counsellors or companions of their husbands. A

Position of Women.

faith that thus degrades the gentler sex and fails altogether to revere the innate nobleness of feminine humanity and the dignity of wifehood¹ and motherhood is its own condemnation among all enlightened men, whatever their prejudices with regard to other points may be in its favour.

§ 5. We must now inquire what is the attitude of Muhammadanism towards Christianity and the Canonical Scriptures. It has been asserted not long since that Muslims reverence the

Attitude of Islam towards Christianity.

Bible, and that their religion may be regarded as a preparation for Christianity in Eastern lands.² In this statement there is just enough verisimilitude to make it readily accepted by those who are not well acquainted with the real facts of the case. It is true that Muhammad never spoke or wrote a single word against the authority and inspiration of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. On the contrary, he not only acknowledged them to have been given by Divine inspiration, but also

asserted that the Qur'an itself was given to bear testimony¹ to their truth, and to guard them from injury. There are one or two verses in the Qur'an in which the Jews are accused of perverting the meaning of their Holy Books, but Sir W. Muir ² has shown that these passages do not justify the statement current among Muslims that the text of the Scriptures has been tampered with. Although himself ignorant of Scripture,

Opposed to Scriptural Doctrines.

Muhammad seems to have been so firmly convinced of its authority that he boldly appealed to it for testimony regarding his Divine mission. Yet on the other hand his teachings are in some instances diametrically opposed to Scriptural doctrine not only in minor details but also in the most important particulars. The Qur'an denies the Trinity,³ the Divine Sonship ⁴ of our Redeemer, His atoning ⁵ Death, and his Mediatorial Office. Muhammad taught his followers ⁶ that Christ had prophesied of his coming when promising to the Apostles the gift of the Paraclete. The origin of this mistake was the confusion which existed in the