thou orthodox (hanifan) and set thy face towards the (true) religion, the institution of God to which He hath created mankind disposed' [Suratu'r-Rum (xxx) 29].

There is, therefore, in man a certain capacity for and tendency towards the higher life, an inclination to worship God, and an ability to comprehend something at least of Him. This capacity, inclination and ability are his by nature. He is created with them, and nothing which has happened in the course of human history has deprived him of them. We are probably not saying too much when we claim that they are regarded as arising from the fact that God breathed of His Spirit into man.

Whether, however, the Qur'an thereby teaches that man is created with a capacity of not sinning is doubtful. The general teaching of the Qur'an appears to be that there can be no true uprightness of life as a matter of actual experience except through the favour and mercy of God to men. Thus, in Suratu'n-Nur (xxiv) 21, the believers are addressed in the following words: 'If (it were) not (for) the indulgence of God and His mercy towards you, there had not been so much as one of you cleansed (from his guilt) for ever: but God cleanseth whom He pleaseth; for God (both) heareth (and) knoweth.' But this is not exactly the same as to say that by nature man cannot but sin. It only teaches that, as a matter of experience, all men are sinners; for if all believers are or have been sinners, and all unbelievers are sinners (and this the Qur'an certainly teaches), then we can unhesitatingly conclude that the doctrine of the book is that all men are sinners. There is, however, in the book at least one passage which appears to incline to

the idea that there is in man as created a capacity for not sinning. In Suratu'n-Nisa' (iv) 85, we read: 'And if the favour of God and His mercy (had) not (been) upon you, ye had followed the devil, except a few (of you).' The last clause of the verse appears to suggest that the inclination and tendency towards good, and the power of will to choose good, are so strong in some men that without any special mercy of God they can resist the wiles of the devil. The meaning of the verse, however, is not absolutely clear. It is possible that it was not meant to express a general doctrine but to refer only to the circumstances in which the verse was revealed. In fact, the teaching of the Qur'an as to the nature of man is, on the whole, wanting in sharpness and clearness.

What the Qur'an appears really to teach in regard to this point is, that man is created with a capacity to worship and serve God and with a certain inclination .and bent to do so, but yet with such moral weakness that he can do so but very imperfectly. He is thus certain to fall from time to time, and this, because of the weakness of that higher element which God has breathed into him, a weakness not inherent in the soul itself, but arising from the limitation of its power over the will and the inclinations of the lower nature which has been inherited from Adam. Thus we see that the position of the Qur'an is very far from being that of the Christian Scriptures. According to these, man's nature as a whole, suffers from the effects of Adam's Fall, and his weakness of will towards good is one of the greatest of these effects, if not the very greatest. According to the Qur'an, man's moral nature is not corrupted through and by Adam's sin, but is weak by creation.