He had in view; and endowed him with those qualities and capacities which would make it possible for him to realize this end of his existence.

What this end or purpose was, is clearly explained in such passages as the following: 'I have not created genii and men (for any other end) than that they should serve me' [Suratu'dh-Dhariyat (li) 56]. The end God had in view was the creation of a being who should be able to serve Him, and who should find himself in such service. With this thought agrees the teaching of the Old Testament according to which the wisdom of man consists not in any scientific or intellectual attainment, but in the fear of God. 'To fear God,' and 'to serve God' are but two ways of expressing the same idea.

In fearing God, then, or in serving Him, man accomplishes the end for which he was created.

This idea is also brought out in those passages which speak of the Face of God. Thus in Suratu'l-Baqara (ii) 274, we find, 'The good that ye shall give (in alms shall redound) unto yourselves; and ye shall not give unless out of desire of (seeing) the Face of God.' Again in Suratu'r-Ra'd (xviii) 22, we read, '. . . and who persevere out of a (sincere) desire to please their Lord (literally out of desire of the Face of their Lord), and observe the stated times of prayer. . . . ' See Suras xcii. 20; vi. 52 and other passages.

All service of God, whether in formal acts of worship, or in upright life, or in humanitarian conduct towards one's fellow men, must have as its well-spring the desire to please God. In other words man's whole life, in regard to faith as well as to conduct, must be lived

in relation to his Creator whose favour is to be the chief end sought. In most of the passages in which the 'Face of God' is spoken of as to be desired, we cannot claim that the thought underlying the words is more than that of seeking God's favour — when the divine face is lifted upon man, and not removed from man. In Old Testament terms, men are to seek the light of His countenance, and look for their chief reward and happiness in the knowledge and experience that it is lifted upon them. But other passages in which the 'Face of God' is referred to, seem to go somewhat further and deeper, and appear to suggest that man's chief joy and blessedness is to be found in God himself. 'To God (belongeth) the east and the west; therefore whithersoever ye turn yourselves to pray, there is the Face of God; for God is omnipresent and omniscient' [Suratu'l-Baqara (ii) 109]. All prayer, all true devotion, is in these words assumed to be a seeking of the 'Face of God'; but there is a hint at least in the words, that it is God Himself who is referred to in the expression 'His Face'. This becomes more clear in such passages as the following, 'Everything shall perish, except His Face . . ' [Suratu'l-Qasas (xxviii) 88; see also Sura lv. 26]. When all created things shall have perished and passed away the 'Face of God' shall still endure; but there appears to lie in the words the thought that those on whom the light of His face shall shine shall in virtue of that fact continue in rest and peace.

We do not desire to say anything here on the doctrine of the vision of the face of God as developed by Muhammadan theologians. The object we have in referring here to these passages which speak of the face of