What has now been said will sufficiently explain by what touchstone we must test any supposed Divine Revelation. The necessity of having such a touchstone and using it wisely is clear from the fact that so many nations have gone astray and got lost in the waterless desert of heathenism and idolatry, through accepting as from God false prophets and books which He has not inspired.

If anyone tests the religious books of the heathen in this manner, he clearly perceives that it is impossible that their doctrines should have come from God Most High. For these books do not satisfy the yearnings of the human heart for a knowledge of the truth, for pardon of sin, for purity and eternal happiness. On the contrary, instead of teaching men about the One All-Wise, Almighty and Most Holy Creator, these heathen books contain fables about a large number of false gods, and lead men to worship them, and thus to become involved in Polytheism and Idolatry, and indeed in many other heinous sins, in order to please these evil beings. So, when tested by all the other criteria which we have mentioned, the religious hooks of the heathen are proved not to be inspired. And this very fact serves to prove that the tests which we have mentioned are satisfactory, because they detect the falsehood of these religions. Therefore in employing these criteria to test the claims of Islam and Christianity we are using a touchstone which has already proved reliable.

Our object in this Volume is to conduct such an inquiry, and to endeavour to learn from it whether the Qur'an or the Bible is the Word of God (كلام الله), the True Divine Revelation, as far as God can be revealed within the covers of a book written and composed in one or more of the languages of the Sons of Men.

Some men may perhaps think it possible that both the Bible and the Qur'an should be from God, and may suppose that the latter completes the revelation begun in the former, just as the Psalms and the Books of the

Prophets and the other Old Testament books carry further the teaching begun in the Torah, and as the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament give men instruction quite consistent with but still higher and more advanced than that contained in the Old Testament. An examination of the leading doctrines of Christianity and Islam will enable us to decide whether this is so or not. If we find that these doctrines agree with one another, and that the Qur'an is as far superior to the Gospel in moral teaching and in spiritual instruction as the Gospel itself is to the Torah, then perhaps this supposition may seem probable. But, on the other hand, if it becomes clear that in some of their chief doctrines the Bible and the Qur'an contradict one another, then it will be evident that only one of them can possibly be the True Revelation. We shall have to test them both by the criteria above mentioned, in order that, through God's merciful guidance, we may find and know of a surety which of the two truly reveals the Way of Salvation.

The man who seeks the Truth and wishes to do God's Will should therefore with earnestness of heart and sincerity of purpose begin his search in the name of the Most Merciful God, entreating his All-Wise Creator to guide him in his inquiry and to clear his sight from all the mists of party-spirit and prejudice, so that he may walk in the light of the Divine Guidance.

Accordingly, with perfect trust in the grace and mercy of the Heavenly Guide, we begin our examination and investigation of the Bible and the Qur'an, that we may find whether or not they agree on the most important matters of faith and duty, and, if they differ, which of them contains God's True Revelation. This is a matter of such vast importance that no one who hopes for eternal happiness can venture to be careless about it, since it is evident that upon the result depends our salvation or our destruction. If God has revealed the Way of Salvation, and if we do