214 THE RELIGION OF THE CRESCENT.

ideas about Solomon's history and magical powers, but these are related in the Qur'an as undoubtedly true and part of the last and most perfect Revelation of GOD. To disbelieve

Solomon's
Lapwing.

in the lapwing that talked with Solomon, or in the Seven Sleepers and their dog, is to be an infidel, for GOD has revealed all these high and holy mysteries! It is easy to understand how opposed men who believe in these things are to the plain, unvarnished coaching of Holy Writ on such subjects, and how gladly they reject the scriptural in favour of the more marvellous accounts contained in their own books.

§ 6. We have already dealt at some length with some Muhammadan doctrines. Let us now

Comparison between
leading Christian
Doctrines and
those of Islam.

very briefly compare some of the most important of these with the corresponding doctrines of the Christian faith. (α) Christ Jesus tells us that GOD is our Heavenly Father, loving,

God.

holy, and just. Muhammad1 teaches his followers that GOD is our Master, arbitrary and despotic, favouring whom He will and leading astray whom He will. ((β) The Bible informs us that Man was originally created


1 In Lect. II. I have quoted or referred at some length to many passages in the Qur'an and other Muhammadan works in support of the doctrines which in this summary I again mention as being held by Muslims. It is not necessary to quote them here again; nor will any reader acquainted with the Bible require me to refer to those passages in Holy Scripture upon which I base what I say in reference to the doctrines of Christianity.
THE INFLUENCE OF ISLAM. 215
in GOD'S image, that he was once holy but is now fallen from his true nature; yet GOD loves him and has provided a way for his restoration to peace and to the full realization of his being the child of GOD. The Qur'an on the other hand tells us that Man was created weak; that he is and always has been separated from his Creator by an unfathomable gulf; that his nature is just as it ever was and ever will be. Man is in no sense a child of GOD, but he is His slave. (γ) We Christians believe that sin is the transgression of the

Sin.

eternal Moral Law which is a necessary part of the Divine Nature. Hence Sin is contrary to Man's original nature as a being made in GOD's image, and likeness. Christ tells His disciples that the most terrible of all possible kinds of doom is being left in a state of "eternal1 sin," eternal alienation from and hostility to God and to all that is good and true, and noble, all that is pure and unselfish. Muslims on the contrary hold that Sin is the infringement of certain arbitrary rules laid down by GOD for Man to obey. These rules, however, have no raison d'etre except the arbitrary fiat of Omnipotence, which can punish the transgressor. As such laws nevertheless, in most cases (if not in all), restrain men from indulging their appetites and therefore from true happiness, the Prophets and perhaps other favoured mortals are permitted, as a special sign of the

1 Mark iii. 29, where the best MSS. Have ενοχος εστιν αιωνιου αμαρτιας.