The Qur'an

52	THE CORÂN.

of two or more series of prostrations, accompanied by ejaculatory prayer and the recital of short passages of the Corân. Then there are the prescribed tithes, or alms; the fast throughout the whole month of Ramadhân (which, though rigorous from dawn to sunset, admits of entire relaxation by night); and the pilgrimage to Mecca, which, although not burdensome to the Arabs for whom it was first established, is evidently unsuitable for observance by all mankind.¹

That the fate of man, and whatever happens, great or small, has been fixed by inevitable decrees is unconditionally asserted throughout the Corân. The doctrine is often intelligibly urged as a ground of resignation and patience under misfortune, of equanimity in success, and of calmness in danger; but it is not confined to such innocent and legitimate purposes. The dogma is constantly obtruded in its most naked and offensive form: "God misleadeth whom He pleaseth, and guideth whom He pleaseth aright"; "We created man upright, and then caused him to be the vilest of the vile"; "The fate of every man have We bound about his neck"; and so forth.² But

¹ The space allotted to me does not admit of further detail or reflection respecting the ordinances of. Islâm; but this is the less to be regretted, as the excellent " Notes on Muhammedanism," by the Rev. T. P. Hughes, C.M.S., leave nothing to be desired further on the subject. London: W. H. Allen & Condy.
² Such passages occur all over the Corân. See Suras VI., 123, 125, 137; VII. 179, 186; X., 98; XI., 119; XIII., 29, 34; XIV., 21; XVI., 35, 93; XVII., 13; XVIII., 16; XXXII., 14; XXXVIII., 83 ; XLIII., 72; LXXIV., 37; LXXVI., 30; LXXXI., 28; XCI., 8; XCV., 4.

THE TEACHING OF THE CORÂN.

while there is nothing to be met with in the Corân expressly of an opposite tenour, there is much that by implication conveys the sentiment of freewill. Prayer is continually enjoined. It was practised by Mahomet himself, and deliverance is often ascribed to its effect.¹Men are exhorted to believe and do good works. They are warned against infidelity and sin, "lest they cast themselves into perdition." Salvation, indeed, is dependent on faith, and faith upon the will of God; yet there are not wanting passages which speak of man as choosing the wrong or choosing the right, and of Paradise or hell as the consequence.² The believer is frequently bid to beware of the wiles of Satan. Discretion in the following of good or evil is implied in many parts of the Corân, and retribution set forth as the result of its exercise. Man is responsible for his own sin only. "The burdened soul shall not bear the burthen of another."³ Hereditary

¹As the raising of the siege of Medina, "Life of Mahomet," P. 325. See also Sura XXXI., 32, where mariners are described very much in the style of Ps. CVII.: "Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distress."
² "The truth is from your Lord; wherefore let him that will, believe; and let him that will, reject. We have surely prepared for the unjust hell fire . . . . . As to those who believe and do good works, We shall not suffer the reward of him that worketh righteousness to perish."—Sura XVIII., 30. See also X., 107; XVII., 15; XXXIX., 41, 55.
³ This text is repeated several times—Suras VI., 165; XVII., 15; XXXV., 18; XXXIX., 8; LIII., 38—almost in the words of St. Paul, Gal. vi., 5. To bring such passages into harmony with the promise of paradise as the unconditional reward of simple faith to the believer, a system of intermediate punishments has been invented by the theologians. If the good works of a believer outweigh the evil, he will go direct to heaven; otherwise he must undergo punishment for a term, and then be translated to paradise. Thus the promise to the believer is eventually secure. Unbelievers have no such prospect. They are reserved to hopeless torment with the devil and his angels in hell, in accordance with the oft-repeated expression, "for ever therein." But of purgatory the Corân knows nothing; and the sayings of Mahomet (such, e.g., as those on his death-bed, p. 501, "Life of Mahomet") have, I am persuaded, no such meaning. The doctrine of a state of intermediate punishment, in fact, has grown out of the endeavour to draw the declarations of the Corân into a systematic and consistent creed.

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