idols, religion divides instead of uniting, and the frivolous and senseless service of such petty deities prevents men from realising their solemn obligations to the great God before whom they are all alike, since he is the Governor and Judge of all. Islam is an admirable corrective of heathenism; it brings the scattered and bewildered worshippers of idols together in one lofty faith and one simple rule. The weakness of Islam is that it is not progressive. Its ideas are bald and poor; it grew too fast; its doctrines and forms were stereotyped at the very outset of its career, and do not admit of change. Its morality is that of the stage at which men emerge from idolatry, and does not advance beyond that stage, so that it perpetuates institutions and customs which are a drag on civilisation. Mahomet's Paradise, in which the warrior is to be ministered to by beauteous houris (the number of whom is not mentioned), may not have been an immoral conception in his day; but it is so now, and apparently cannot be left behind. An admirable instrument for the discipline of populations at a low stage of culture, and well fitted to teach them a certain measure of self-restraint and piety, Islam cannot carry them on to the higher development of human life and thought. It is repressive of freedom, and the reason is that its doctrine is after all no more than negative. Allah is but a negation of other gods; there is no store of positive riches in his character, he does not sympathise with the manifold growth of human activity; the inspiration he affords is a negative inspiration, an impulse of hostility to what is over against him, not an impulse to strive after high and fair ideals. He remains eternally apart upon a frosty throne; his voice is heard, but he cannot condescend. He does not enter into humanity, and therefore cannot render to humanity the highest services. BOOKS RECOMMENDED _The Life of Mahomet_, by Sir W. Muir, 1858. _Mohammed_, by Wellhausen, and "The Koran," by Noeldeke, in _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, vol. xvi. The Preliminary Discourse prefixed to Sale's _Koran_; and Professor Palmer's Introduction in _S. B. E._, vol. vi. _Islam_, by J. W. H. Stobart, in the "Non-Christian Religious Systems" Series of the S.P.C.K. _Der Islam_, by Houtsma, in De la Saussaye. Hughes, _A Dictionary of Islam_ (1885, 1896). Sell, _The Faith of Islam_, Second Edition, 1896. Stanley Lane-Poole, _The Speeches and Table-talk of Mohammad_, 1882; the most important parts of the Koran, chronologically arranged, with a very useful introduction. Margoliouth. _Mohammed and the Rise of Islam_, 1905. PART IV THE ARYAN GROUP CHAPTER XIV THE ARYAN RELIGION