[17] Prof. Scott Elliot at the end of his book, _Prehistoric Man_ (p. 381) writes thus: "It seems true that almost every race of man is not only capable of believing in a Supreme God but, so far as the evidence goes, did reverence one God who was often also thought of as the Creator of the Sky or of the World.... There is a very strong body of evidence showing that every race of mankind possessed quite early in its development a feeling of awe and reverence towards an Unknown God." [18] There are at present three missionary religions in the world--religions which were intended and designed by their respective founders to unite all men without any distinction into a Universal Brotherhood. (1) Buddhism asserts that God is Law or Wisdom. (2) Islam teaches that God is Energy or Power. (3) Christianity says that God is Father or Love. But all these religions inculcate in fact one and the same Truth in its three aspects, as Muslim Sufis would say. I believe the gist of doctrines held by them is that God is Omnipotent _Energy_ manifesting itself uniformly as _Law_ and operating benevolently as _Love_. Wisdom = Power = Love. You should try to solve the equation for yourself. You will not fail to understand it if you think hard. [19] Here again taking the three missionary religions mentioned above, the Identity is:-- Creator = Preserver = Adjuster. God said unto Moses, _I am that I am_--_Exodus, iii, 14._ [20] Some Sufis define Nature as Individual _plus_ his Environment. By _individual_ they mean any one capable of thinking of himself as "I" or "Me" and every thing else as "not I" or "not me" which is his _environment_. [21] It may be said that all the three ideas of God's relation with Nature (the three "isms" I have mentioned in brackets) are but different _degrees_ of a man's desire for communion with his God. Says Rumi in his celebrated _Masnavi_: "All religions are in substance one and the same"--Bk. iii, story 12 (St. Daqúqi). [22] See last para. of Note 4 and also Note 10. [Arabic: at ṭuruq li-llah-i bi ḥis-bil anfus] There are as many ways leading to God as there are minds. [23] "Religion places the human soul in the presence of its highest ideal (=God), it lifts it above the level of ordinary goodness, and produces at least a yearning after a higher and better life in the light of God."--_Max Muller_. [24] Sura = Chapter. [25] Absolute = not conditioned by place time measure or circumstances. Infinite = without beginning or end. [26] "The proper name of the religion preached by Muhammad is Islam."--Sale [27] The word "Islam" means literally (1) resignation (2) preservation and (3) peace. Lord Tennyson has most admirably expressed the Islamic ideal of self-surrender to the will of God and has incidentally decided the vexed question of free-will in a single line:--