themselves, as already said, nearly related to the Prophet, - Obeidallah being nephew to Mohammed who took his widow Omm Habtbah to wife; while Waraca and Othman were sons of two aunts of Khadija. Hence the views, sayings, and teaching of these Hanefites cannot but have had a decided influence on the Prophet. We may also remember that though the Prophet is believed to have said that he had no right even to pray for the salvation of his own mother, yet he did so for Zeid and his blessedness hereafter. From all this we see that the Prophet recognized his principles, and attested them as right.

But now some of our objectors may say, Suppose we accept as true all that you have told us of the various Sources from which Islam is derived, then it would prove that Mohammed himself had personally no influence on the Faith;- a thing hard to believe. Certainly, we reply, it is impossible to imagine that as Mohammed himself was the Author of the Faith, his own purpose and mind had no effect in the structure; just as in a building the use of stones, etc., in its erection, does not detract from the skill and ability of the architect, without whom they would be of no possible use. And in like manner, as the edifice of Islam has its own established character, and differs from all other religions, it is clear that it is the work of one possessed of the highest gifts and power, and, from the beauty of the composition of the Koran we see that he was singularly wise and eloquent. Moreover, from his life as given in Tradition, and the history of his time, the personality of the Prophet is manifest in the

Koran. Thus before his flight to Medina, being a mere ordinary citizen of Mecca, he made no mention in the passages given forth there, of force or war for the extension of the faith.

But, FIRST, after the Hidgra, when he had gained the powerful body of the Ansarss for his followers, he gave them leave to defend themselves and beat off their opponents. Thus in Surah 22.40:- Permission is given to them to fight, because they are persecuted..... those who have been turned out of their houses without just cause other than that they say, Our Lord is God; and it is allowed by the Commentaries, that this was the first revelation giving permission to fight.

SECOND, some time after, when Mohammed had gained victories over his enemies, this simple permission was changed into command, as we find in Surah 2. 212, 214:- War is enjoined you, but it is hateful unto you... They will ask thee concerning the Sacred Month, whether they may war therein. Say, - To war therein is grievous

but to obstruct the way of God and infidelity towards him and the holy Masjid, and to drive out his people from thence, is more grievous in the sight of God; and temptation (to idolatry) is more grievous than to kill. The instruction in this passage being that the Moslems should war against the Quaresh even in the Sacred months, because they prevented them from visiting Kaaba. ··-

THIRD, when in the sixth year of the Hidgra, the Prophet had conquered the Beni Coreitza and other tribes, he issued still sterner commands against his adversaries, as we find in Surah 5. 37:- The recompense of those who fight against God and his Apostle, and study to act corruptly on the earth, is that they shall be slain or crucified, or have their hands and their feet cut off on the opposite sides (of the body), or be banished from the land. Such shall be their disgrace in this world, and in the next they shall suffer a grievous punishment. The Commentators hold that this terrible command relates to idolaters only, and not to Jews and Christians.

FOURTH. But towards these also, the attitude of the Prophet towards the end of his life entirely changed; and so we read in the last revealed Surah (9:5, 29) that after the four Sacred months had passed, they should again commence war, as follows: And when the Sacred months are ended, kill the idolaters wheresoever ye find them, take them prisoners and besiege them, and lay wait for them in every convenient place. But if they repent, and offer up the appointed Prayers, and pay the legal Alms, then dismiss them freely, for God is gracious and merciful.....Fight against those who believe not in God, nor in the last day, nor forbid that which God and his Apostle have forbidden, and profess not the true religion, namely, of those to whom the Scriptures have been given, until they pay

tribute by the hand, and be reduced low.

And so we learn from these successive passages in the Koran, that the great and unchanging Almighty God, step by step, allowed his Divine Law to be altered as the Prophet and his followers gradually gained successive victories by the sword. Not only so, but we see the same liberty of change permitted in respect of certain passages in the Koran to be canceled by other passages; thus in Surah 2. 100:- We abrogate no verse, or cause it to be left out, but we bring in its place a better, or one like unto it. Ah! dost thou not know that God is over all things almighty?

Hence so long as Mohammed entertained the hope of bringing together both Jews and Christians, and also the Arab tribes, by the retention of some of their national practices, there seemed to him the possibility of uniting all Arabia in one Grand religion. But when he found this to be impracticable, then it remained for him either to abandon and eventually destroy the two former, or else lose the native Arabs as a whole. The objects and the mind of the Prophet are manifest throughout hi s prophetic life. Thus, to take an instance, the marriage with Zeinab wife of his adopted son Zeid, as justified in the Koran, (Surah 33:37) shews how much the revelation and whole system of the

Whosoever, then, desires to know what was the faith of Father Abraham, the Friend of God, let him diligently read the Torha of Moses, so strongly borne testimony to in the above verses of the Koran; and there he will find the blessed promise given him by the Almighty, that the one Divine Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, was to come of the de scendants of Abraham and of his son Isaac. The Patriarch accepted the the promise, and believed in the coming Messiah, as we see in a passage of the Torah, where God spoke thus to Abraham:- And God said, Sarah your wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.(Gensis 17:19) 1 The same promise is repeated again in the Book of Genesis to Abraham:- And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice.(Genesis 22:18)' And Jesus himself refers to this promise when he said to the Jews:- Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it and was glad (John 8:56) The Apostle Paul also makes mention of the same expectation: To Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, -- And to seeds, as of many; but as of One; And to thy seed, which is Christ; and again:- If ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to promise. (Galations 3:16,29)

May the gracious and compassionate Lord, who hath in his infinite mercy fulfilled this his eternal covenant, grant that the humble Writer and the Kind Reader of these pages, may, along with the blessed Patriarch, be made partakers of the, heavenly inheritance thus promised through our Savior Jesus Christ. And to his

Amen, so let it be!