98 THE RELIGION OF THE CRESCENT.

and in the hour of death he has no comfort except such as the thoughts of his own fancied merits can give him. It is true that self-righteousness does in many cases give the Muslim courage1 to face death with composure, but how miserable such self-confidence is, and how terrible the awakening when Eternity receives the disembodied spirit, clothed in its own vileness, and unwashed in the blood of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world!

The belief in the need of an Atonement has asserted itself, in spite of the Qur'an, among many of

Felt need of
an Atonement.

the professed followers of the "Prophet." Just as in ancient Greece—and perhaps in those regions of Asia2 in which the myth of Prometheus in its original form arose—it was felt that Man could not escape the eternal ruin which he by his sins had incurred, unless some one more3 than human were


[Footnote continued from previous page]
to the effect that on the Judgment Day each Muslin will be given an unbeliever whom he may cast into hell in his own stead. This is another example of the manner in which a yearning for a substitute, if not for a propitiation, asserts itself among Muslims, in spite of the express teaching of the Qur'an. V. "Qisasu'l Anbiya," Pers. ed., p. 275; also Mishkat, Bombay (Arabic) ed., p. 487.
1 Vide Dr. Cust's "Notes on Missionary Subjects," vol. ii., p. 60.
2 Paley's Æschylus, p. 89.
3 Prometheus Desmotes, vv. 1047-50: 
Τοιουδε μοχθου τερμα μη τι προσδοκα,
Πριν αν θεων τις διαδοχος των σων πονων
 φανη θεληση τ’ εις αναυγητον μολειν
'Αιδην, κνεφαια τ’ αμφι Ταρταρου βαθη.
[Footnote continued onto next page]
THE WEAKNESS OF ISLAM. 99

willing to bear great suffering in his stead; so among Muslims various supposed atonements have been eagerly accepted by many a perishing soul, conscious of guilt and longing for deliverance from the terrors which his own conscience as well as his religion told him await the unforgiven sinner.

Hasan and
Husain.

Hence some have held that Muhammad's own death, which a Tradition tells us was one of intense agony1 was in some manner an atonement for the sins of his followers. The Shi‘ahs generally believe that the deaths of Hasan and Husain2 were propitiatory, and some at least among the Sunnis3 agree with them in asserting that the martyred Husain died at Karbala as their Redeemer. Others, unable to accept these theories, believe that asceticism will purify them from earthly desires and sinfulness. This idea has given rise to many orders of religious mendicants, Darvishes and


[fFootnote continued from previous page]
Sophocles, however, in the Œd. Col., expresses a belief in one human being atoning for many:
"'Αρκειν γαρ οιμαι καντι μυριων μιαν
 ψυχην ταδ’ εκτινουσαν, ην ευνους παρη,"
(Œd. Col., 498-9); where the Scholiast explains ταδ’ εκτινουσαν, by καθαρμον θειναι 1 Mishkat, "Babu 'Iyadatu'l Maridh," sect. i., p. 126:
عن عائشة قالت ما رايتُ احد الوجع عليه اشدّ من رسول الله صلعم‫.
2 Stobart, "Islam," p. 233, note; Hughes, "Dict. of Islam."
3 Stobart, ibid.