The Qur'an

226

The CORÂN

thereof, shall be none other than disgrace in the present life, and on the day of judgment they shall be cast into a more awful torment"; Art. LXXIII.

أفتؤمنون ببعض الكتاب وتكفرون ببعض فما جزاء من يفعل ذلك منكم إلا خزي في الحياة الدنيا ويوم القيامة يردون إلى أشد العذاب

"Verily, they that reject God and His Apostles, and seek to make a distinction between God and His Apostles, and say, We believe in a part, and we reject a part, and seek to take a middle path between that,—they are the real infidels (Kâfirs,)and We have prepared for the infidels an ignominious punishment." Art. CII.

أن الذين يكفرون بالله ورسله يريدون أن يفرقوا بين الله ورسله ويقولون نؤمن ببعض ونكفر ببعض ويريدون أن يتخذوا بين ذلك سبيلآ أولائك هم الكافرون حقاً وأعتدنا للكافرين عذاباً مهيناً

In one passage the Jews are desired, "to bring hither the Tourât and read it," in order to the settlement of a disputed point Art. CXV قل فاتوا بالتوراة فأتلوها . In another text, it is said that "they were called unto the Book of God, that it might decide between them"; Art. CVII يدعون الى كتاب الله ليحكم بينهم .

Jews and Christians are not only commanded to observe the Law and the Gospel, but they are solemnly warned that their faith will be void, that "their religion will not be grounded upon anything, unless they set up both the Tourât and the Gospel," Art. CXXVII لستم علي

TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

227

شي حتى تقيموا التوراة والأنجيل . Every one who judges not in accordance with that which God hath revealed, (including the previous Scripture,) is declared "to be an unbeliever (Kâfir), a transgressor, flagitious," Art. CXXIV الفاسق الظالم الكافر .

III.—Although, observance of the ordinances of the Jewish and Christian dispensations, as inculcated in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is enjoined in the Corân upon Jews and Christians only, yet all faithful Mahometans are called upon equally with them to believe in those Scriptures;—Arts. XXIV., XXVI., LIX., LXVI., LXXXI., CI., CII., CIII., and CXVI I I. The favour of God and a great reward are promised to such as believe in the complete revelation of His will, including the writings of the Jewish and Christian prophets and apostles (Arts. XC. and CII.). Those who disbelieve any part thereof are declared to be in "a wide error," Art. CI.;— they are the real infidels ("Kâfirs "), for whom God hath prepared an ignominious punishment, Arts. CII. and XC.

It does not therefore appear on what grounds the Jewish and Christian Scriptures can be neglected,— much less cast aside and rejected,— by the true Mussulman but (on the showing of the Corân itself) at the peril of his safety.

Let it be carefully noted that the sacred books, the belief in which is required of all Mussulmans, are those same Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments which were universally acknowledged by the Jews and Christians of Mahomet's day to be divinely inspired. It could have been no different Tourât or Gospel to

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