Part 1 (2/2)
”The tendency to glorify Mohammed and the reciters of the traditions was considerably modified by the mortal strife which characterised the factions that opposed one another at the period, where, in attempting to depreciate one another, they would not be averse to perpetuating traditions in support of their contentions; such partisans.h.i.+p secured no insignificant body of historical fact, which otherwise would have been lost.”
He also points out that in a state of society circ.u.mscribed and dwarfed by the powerful Islamic system, which proscribed the free exercise of thought and discussion, tradition can scarcely be said to be the ”vox populi.” The growth and development of tradition, the flagrant distortion of historical fact, the ethical code of Islam, may well give rise to a questioning of the validity of the prophet's arrogant claims, and by their very methods of defence the apologists of Islam exhibit its weakness and inadequacy to meet the religious needs of man. The natural bias of Mohammed is evident throughout the Coran. His conceptions of G.o.d, of the future life, and of the duty of man, are all influenced by his consuming master pa.s.sion. In all his writings there are lacking those characteristics which distinguish the true prophet--the messenger of G.o.d--from those to whom he is sent.
This will be apparent by contrasting his views with those of any of the Old Testament prophets. They were eminently men prepared for their high calling by lofty yet practical communion with G.o.d--men whose message was inspired by a vision of Divine Majesty, and an impressive conception of the justice and awful purity of Jehovah. Men who called the nation to righteousness of life by a stirring appeal to conscience, and an unfaltering denunciation of the evils of the time.
Their spiritual aspirations, therefore, by far surpa.s.s the loftiest ideals of the prophet of Islam, while their ethical conceptions infinitely transcend all that Mohammed dreamed of. The voice of the Eternal is clearly heard in the earnest utterances that fell from their lips, and through all their prophecies the willingness of Divine Mercy to reason with men in spite of their erring ways, is apparent.
Three characteristic elements are perceived in their preaching--a very keen and practical conscience of sin; an overpowering vision of G.o.d; and a very sharp perception of the politics of their day. Of these elements, Mohammed's teaching possesses only the last.
MOHAMMED'S CONCEPTION OF G.o.d
His conception of G.o.d is essentially deistical. The intimate personal communion, so characteristic of the Old Testament, is unknown and unrealised: hence there is little, if anything, in his system that tends to draw men nigh to G.o.d. Attempts to remedy this characteristic defect have been vainly made by the dervish orders, which, while acknowledging the claims of Mohammed and his book, have introduced methods not sanctioned by the system, by which they attempt to find the communion with the Unseen, for which their souls crave. These methods are very much akin to the efforts of the devotees of Hinduism.
There is, therefore, lacking amongst Moslems that need which grows out of personal relations.h.i.+p with the Divine--that need which leads to moral transformation and spiritual intensity on the part of those who enjoy such fellows.h.i.+p. The Creator exists apart from His handiwork. He has predetermined the actions of men. They are destined to eternal bliss or destruction by an Inflexible Will, so that there is no need for Divine Interference in their affairs. ”G.o.d is in His heaven, and the world is working out its end according to His unalterable decree.”
Because of this gross conception, Palgrave has designated the system ”The Pantheism of Force,” and says:
”Immeasurably and eternally exalted above, and dissimilar from all creatures, which he levelled before Him on one common plane of instrumentality and inertness, G.o.d is One in the totality of omnipotent and omnipresent action, which acknowledges no rule, standard or limit, save His own sole and absolute will. He communicates nothing to His creatures, for their seeming power and act ever remain His alone, and in return He receives nothing from them; for whatever they may be, that they are in Him, by Him, and from Him only. And, secondly, no superiority, no distinction, no pre-eminence, can be lawfully claimed by one creature ever its fellow, in the utter equalisation of their unexceptional servitude and abas.e.m.e.nt; all are alike tools of the one solitary Force which employs them to crush or to benefit, to truth or to error, to honour or shame, to happiness or misery, quite independently of their individual fitness, deserts, or advantages, and simply because 'He wills it,' and 'as He wills it ...'
”One might at first sight think that this tremendous Autocrat, this uncontrolled and unsympathising Power, would be far above anything like pa.s.sions, desires, or inclinations. Yet such is not the case, for He has, with respect to His creatures, one main feeling and source of action, namely, jealousy of them, lest they should perchance attribute to themselves something of what is His alone, and thus encroach on His all engrossing kingdom. Hence He is ever more p.r.o.ne to punish than to reward; to inflict pain than to bestow pleasure; to ruin than to build. It is His singular satisfaction to let created beings continually feel that they are nothing else than His slaves, His tools, and contemptible tools also; that thus they may the better acknowledge His superiority, and know His power to be above their power, His cunning above their cunning, His will above their will, His pride above their pride--or, rather, that there is no power, cunning, will, or pride save His own.
”But He Himself, sterile in His inaccessible height, neither loving nor enjoying aught save His own and self-measured decree, without son, companion, or counsellor, is no less barren of Himself than for His creatures, and His own barrenness and lone egoism in Himself is the cause and rule of His indifferent and unregarding despotism around. The first note is the key of the whole tune, and the primal idea of G.o.d runs through and modifies the whole system and creed that centres in Him.”
Contrast this summary with the teaching of the Old Testament prophets, the following quotations of which are but a small sample:--
”Come, now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
”Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your G.o.d. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned.”
”The spirit of the Lord G.o.d is upon me: because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, etc.”
”As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, saith the Lord.”
”Who is a G.o.d like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and pa.s.seth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy. He will turn again; He will have compa.s.sion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”
”He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy G.o.d.”
”The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him.”
In the light of such lofty teaching, the conceptions of Mohammed appear gross and degraded. His asceticism and contemplation never brought him a vision of G.o.d that overwhelmed him and purified as by fire. He knew the Creator only from what he heard from the lips of sinful, ignorant men, whose ideas of Deity were base and ign.o.ble.
These ideas, and the pa.s.sions that made up such a large portion of his life, obscured his vision, warped his judgment, and led him to postulate a G.o.d that inhabited not a Holy Spiritual Realm, but a grossly carnal and sensuous paradise.
Millions have been brought beneath his sway because his system panders to the natural inclinations of man. Spiritual insight is blinded by carnal desire; conduct is influenced by unbridled license; bigotry and hatred are fostered by his policy of intoleration; and his followers are enslaved by a tyranny that blights the reason, because it discountenances inquiry, and places an insurmountable barrier in the way of all human progress.
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