|
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
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,
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
|
|
|
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
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
ενοχος
εστιν αιωνιου αμαρτιας
|
|
