Chapter 4

[56] See Note 2.

[57] I have neither time nor space to explain the full significance of the Qur'anic verses I have quoted here.

[58] Some would call this Reality, God; but others would say that God is greater and higher than the Reality which manifests itself in different forms. He is above all that any man can think of or imagine. [Arabic: Au bar taraz khiyal wa qiyas guman wo waham.]

[59] Vol. ii. 748. You have to read the book itself to understand this. I cannot explain it in a short note.

[60] I have neither time nor space to explain the full significance of the Qur'anic phrases I have mentioned here.

[61] "In the world there is nothing so great as man. In man there is nothing so great as mind"--_Sir William Hamilton_.

"In the mind of man there is nothing so great as the idea of God"--_Islam_.

[62] This is quite different from the Christian doctrine of Atonement.

[63] It was the spirit of co-operation which Islam engendered among wild and unruly Arabs, that enabled them to put aside their tribal feuds, to unite and conquer more than half the known world in the first century of the Hijri era (= the 7th century of the Christian era). It was the lack of that spirit in the next two centuries that dismembered the Muslim Empire.

[64] I say "_the_ Islam of our ancestors", because the Islam of _some_ of our contemporaries, called Muhammadanism, is not quite the same.

Read Prof. Gregory's _Discovery or the Spirit and Service of Science_.

[65] "Sufis" are those Muslims who claim with Mowlana Rumi

[Persian: maazey quraan ra badashtaim istekhwan beish sagaan andakhtum]

"We have taken the marrow out of the Qur'an and thrown the bones to dogs," meaning by "dogs" those who quarrel over words ([Arabic: mutakallimin]) of the sacred texts.

[66] "Man" says Carlyle, "is a symbol of Eternity imprisoned into Time."

[67] This proviso defines also the Liberty of Subjects in a State. Every man should be free to do whatever he wishes provided that he does not thereby prevent others from enjoying the _like_ liberty of action. It is the basis of all good Laws which should provide _equal opportunities_ to all subjects without distinction.

[68] Muhammadans generally misunderstand and misapply the doctrine of "Qismat" or Fate. The Prophet distinctly taught that we should first of all do whatever lies in our power and then leave the rest to God. We are apt to forget the first part of his precept and cling to its second part only which accords with our tropical laziness. See footnote (7) on page 12.

[69] [Arabic: ḏālika d-dīnu l-qayyim] = It (Islam) is the standard religion.--Q. xii. 41.

[70] Islam rejects some "previous revelations" not because they are untrue but because their records that have come down to us are not quite genuine and trustworthy.

[71] The heading of all chapters except one of the Qur'an.

[72] "Mankind comes to Me along many roads; and on whatever road a man approaches Me on that road do I welcome him, for all roads are Mine."--_Bhagawat Gita_. [al turuk ila-allah bihasbi anf] See p. 24.

[73] See Note 2 (concluding part) which mentions three common factors in all religious systems of the world.

"The city of the Hindu God is Benares and the city of the Muslim God is Mecca. But search your hearts and there you will find the God both of Hindus and Muslims. If the Creator dwells in tabernacles only, whose dwelling is the Universe?"--_Kabir_.

[74] Some Muslims believe that Zoraster, Krishna, Buddha, and Confucius were also prophets or messengers of God but that they were no more than good and great men. They do not attribute any divinity to them.

"Religion", said Hitchcock, "implies Revelation". By "Revelation" is meant a set of sublime (and therefore, divine) truths revealed, _i.e._ communicated from time to time to chosen men (= Prophets) who had the necessary spirituality to comprehend them and to convey them, as God's messages, to their fellow-men in the _human_ language of themselves. The defects (if any) found in the authoritative records (= Scriptures [Arabic: ṣaḥif]) are the defects in the human language and not certainly in the sacred and sublime truths revealed to the chosen men, the Messengers of God. It is the defect of _human_ understanding, no less than the poverty of _human_ language, that has often prevented the full comprehension of the divine dispensation and the sublime truths in the messages of Prophets. It is _our_ comprehension of the truth itself that has given rise to diversity in religious beliefs and practices.

[75] Provided they are authentic and genuine and not altered by interpolations and omissions.

[76] Neither the Bible nor the Qur'an is responsible for the cruel excesses committed by Christians or Muhammadans in the name of Religion.

[77] "The best of things is the medium thing"--_Muhammad_.

[78] Charles R. Gibson.

[79] _Vide_ Note 12 para. marked (a) p. 79.

[80] For the purpose of this Note it will be enough if you understand the first four propositions. I am afraid you will find some difficulty in understanding the remaining two propositions without illustrative examples, for which I have no space here.

[81] "For _such as be_ blessed of him shall inherit the earth, and _they that be_ cursed of him shall be cut off."--Psalm 37th, 22.

[82] Qur'an, xxi. 105. Following the late Mr. Justice Karamat Hussain of Allahabad, I take the word [Arabic: saleh] to mean "fit" in the evolutionary sense. See his book [Arabic: ilm-ul-akhlakh].

[83] He edits a journal called "Biometrika" which is devoted to the statistical study of biological problems.

[84] Prof. Muirhead of the University of Burmingham, in his kind letter to the author on these "Notes."

[85] Hence Formalism creeps into every Religion and renders it lifeless when its doctrines fail to adjust themselves to new facts or to changes in old facts. See _Appendix_.

[86] It should be construed and applied to new ideas and changed circumstances of each age in quite the same manner as Judges in a Court of Law construe and apply old Statutes to facts of cases that come before them. See Hali's [Arabic: al-din yassin]

[87] See the verse of the Qur'an quoted on p. 33.

[88] Or say: True Christianity is but true Islam writ large. "On the whole this religion of Mahomet's is a kind of Christianity."--_Thomas Carlyle._

[89] See hints:--Para 3 of Note 5 pp. 31, 32; Footnote (48) p. 43; Footnotes (4) and (5) page 12; Footnote (85) p. 81.

[90] Written in 1917.

[91] Cp. Note 7.