The Faith of Islam | Page 3

a darker
side--much bigotry, pride of race, scorn of other creeds, and, speaking
generally, a tendency to inertness. It is thus that in Bengal, Madras and
perhaps in other places, they have fallen far behind the Hindus in
educational status, and in the number of appointments they hold in the
Government service. Indeed, this subject is a serious one and deserves
the special attention of the Indian Government. In Bengal the
proportion of Musalmáns to Hindus in the upper ranks of the
Uncovenanted Civil Service in 1871 was 77 to 341. In the year 1880 it
had declined to 53 to 451. The state of affairs in Madras is equally bad.
Yet an intelligent Muslim, as a rule, makes a good official.
Looking at the subject from a wider stand-point, I think the Church has
hardly yet realised how great a barrier this system of Islám is to her
onward march in the East. Surely special men with special training are
required for such an enterprise as that of encountering Islám in its own
strongholds. No better pioneers of the Christian {xiii} faith could be
found in the East than men won from the Crescent to the Cross.
All who are engaged in such an enterprise will perhaps find some help
in this volume, and I am not without hope that it may also throw some
light on the political questions of the day.
{1}
* * * * *
THE FAITH OF ISLÁM.
CHAPTER I.
THE FOUNDATIONS OF ISLÁM.
The creed of Islám, "Lá-iláha-il-lal-láhu wa
Muhammad-ur-Rasúl-Ulláh," (There is no deity but God, and
Muhammad is the Apostle of God) is very short, but the system itself is
a very dogmatic one. Such statements as: "The Qurán is an

all-embracing and sufficient code, regulating everything," "The Qurán
contains the entire code of Islám--that is, it is not a book of religious
precepts merely, but it governs all that a Muslim does," "The Qurán
contains the whole religion of Muhammad," "The Qurán which
contains the whole Gospel of Islám" are not simply misleading, they
are erroneous. So far from the Qurán alone being the sole rule of faith
and practice to Muslims, there is not one single sect amongst them
whose faith and practice is based on it alone. No one among them
disputes its authority or casts any doubt upon its genuineness. Its voice
is supreme in all that it concerns, but its exegesis, the whole system of
legal jurisprudence and of theological science, is largely founded on the
Traditions. Amongst the orthodox Musalmáns, the foundations of the
Faith are four in number, the Qurán, Sunnat, Ijmá' and Qíás. The fact
that all the sects do not agree with the orthodox--the Sunnís--in this
matter illustrates another important fact in Islám--the want of unity
amongst its followers. {2}
1. THE QURÁN.--The question of the inspiration will be fully
discussed, and an account of the laws of the exegesis of the Qurán will
be given in the next chapter. It is sufficient now to state that this book
is held in the highest veneration by Muslims of every sect. When being
read it is kept on a stand elevated above the floor, and no one must read
or touch it without first making a legal ablution.[2] It is not translated
unless there is the most urgent necessity, and even then the Arabic text
is printed with the translation. It is said that God chose the sacred
month of Ramazán in which to give all the revelations which in the
form of books have been vouchsafed to mankind. Thus on the first
night of that month the books of Abraham came down from heaven; on
the sixth the books of Moses; on the thirteenth the Injíl, or Gospel, and
on the twenty-seventh the Qurán. On that night, the Laylut-ul-Qadr, or
"night of power," the whole Qurán is said to have descended to the
lowest of the seven heavens, from whence it was brought piecemeal to
Muhammad as occasion required.[3] "Verily we have caused it (the
Qurán) to descend on the night of power." (Súra xcvii. 1.) That night is
called the blessed night, the night better than a thousand months, the
night when angels came down by the permission of their Lord, the
night which bringeth peace and blessings till the rosy dawn. Twice on

that night in the solitude of the cave of Hira the voice called, twice
though pressed sore "as if a fearful weight had been laid upon him," the
prophet struggled {3} against its influence. The third time he heard the
words:--
"Recite thou, in the name of thy Lord who created-- Created man from
clots of blood." (Súra xcvi. 5.)
"When the voice had ceased to speak, telling how from minutest
beginnings man had been called into existence, and lifted