possible, He sent His only Son into the world,¹ " that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but, have eternal life." Hence the Gospel clearly teaches that no man will be eternally lost except those who, refusing God's love and mercy offered them in Christ, will not believe in Him, nor recognize the truth of His claims, nor accept Him as the one true Saviour, the only true Mediator between God and man, but choose darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil, and receive not the love of the Truth that they may be saved.

If the Qur'an were God's last and most perfect Revelation to mankind, it ought to give us more worthy views of God's Holiness, Justice, and Mercy, more unselfish motives for obedience to God's Laws, deeper and more spiritual teaching regarding sin, the way of salvation, the need of spiritual holiness, God's love to us, and our need of love to Him, our duty to God and to our neighbour, the necessity of purity of heart, and a nobler and holier picture of life in Paradise, than does the New Testament. Those who have studied both the Qur'an and the Bible will perceive for themselves whether this is so or not.

In studying the contents of the Qur'an in order to learn whether it is or is not from God, the question arises: "How can we account for it, if it be not a Divine Revelation?" A complete answer to this query is given in the Masadiru'l Islam [Yanabiu'l Islam: "Original Sources of the Qur'an"]. Learned men state that many of the tales found in the Qur'an, as well as many of the religious rites and ceremonies practised by Muslims, have been borrowed from other religions. The evidence in support of this statement will be found in the book we have named. In it the learned reader will discover extracts from the books of the Zoroastrians, the Hindus, the ancient Egyptians, and many other nations. These extracts seem to the author of the Masadiru'l Islam to be in many cases

the originals from which much that is incorporated in the Qur'an has been borrowed. He gives his reasons for concluding that much has also been derived from apocryphal and unreliable fables which in Muhammad's time were current among the more ignorant of the Jews and Christians, though no foundation for such tales exists in the Bible.

Besides all this, whoever will carefully peruse the verses by Zaid ibn 'Amr ibn Nufail, quoted by Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Hisham in the Siratu'r Rasul,¹ will perceive that the following matters which are taught in the Qur'an were taught by Zaid ibn 'Amr before Muhammad claimed to be a prophet. The points to which we refer are:—(1) The acknowledgement of God's Unity; (2) the rejection of the worship of Allat, Al 'Uzza' and other deities worshipped by the heathen Arabs; (3) the promise of happiness in Paradise; (4) warning of the punishment of the wicked in Hell; (5) denunciation of God's wrath upon unbelievers; (6) the application of the titles Ar Rabb, Ar Rahman, Al Ghafur, to God; (7) the prohibition of the practice of burying infant girls alive. Besides this, Zaid ibn 'Amr and the other Hanifs said that they were searching for the "Religion of Abraham." Muhammad asserted that he was sent to invite men to turn to the "Religion of Abraham"; and the Qur'an repeatedly speaks of Abraham himself as a Hanif.² Moreover, the Kitabu'l Aghani ³ is in accord with the Siratu'r Rasul in making it evident that Muhammad had met and conversed with Zaid ibn 'Amr before laying claim to the prophetic office.

The author of the Masddiru'l Islam adduces evidence to prove that the account of Muhammad's Night Journey in Surah xvii. 1, and in the Traditions is largely modelled on the story contained in the Old Persian book entitled Arta-i Viraf Namak, telling how the pious young Zoroastrian ascended to the skies,