"Religion", said Hitchcock, "implies Revelation". By
"Revelation" is meant a set of sublime (and therefore,
divine) truths revealed, _i.e._ communicated from time to
time to chosen men (= Prophets) who had the necessary
spirituality to comprehend them and to convey them, as
God's messages, to their fellow-men in the _human_
language of themselves. The defects (if any) found in the
authoritative records (= Scriptures [Arabic: ṣaḥif]) are the
defects in the human language and not certainly in the
sacred and sublime truths revealed to the chosen men, the
Messengers of God. It is the defect of _human_
understanding, no less than the poverty of _human_
language, that has often prevented the full comprehension
of the divine dispensation and the sublime truths in the
messages of Prophets. It is _our_ comprehension of the
truth itself that has given rise to diversity in religious
beliefs and practices.
[75] Provided they are authentic and genuine and not
altered by interpolations and omissions.
[76] Neither the Bible nor the Qur'an is responsible for
the cruel excesses committed by Christians or Muhammadans
in the name of Religion.
[77] "The best of things is the medium thing"--_Muhammad_.
[78] Charles R. Gibson.
[79] _Vide_ Note 12 para. marked (a) p. 79.
[80] For the purpose of this Note it will be enough if you
understand the first four propositions. I am afraid you
will find some difficulty in understanding the remaining
two propositions without illustrative examples, for which
I have no space here.
[81] "For _such as be_ blessed of him shall inherit the
earth, and _they that be_ cursed of him shall be cut
off."--Psalm 37th, 22.
[82] Qur'an, xxi. 105. Following the late Mr. Justice
Karamat Hussain of Allahabad, I take the word [Arabic:
saleh] to mean "fit" in the evolutionary sense. See his
book [Arabic: ilm-ul-akhlakh].
[83] He edits a journal called "Biometrika" which is
devoted to the statistical study of biological problems.
[84] Prof. Muirhead of the University of Burmingham, in
his kind letter to the author on these "Notes."
[85] Hence Formalism creeps into every Religion and
renders it lifeless when its doctrines fail to adjust
themselves to new facts or to changes in old facts. See
_Appendix_.
[86] It should be construed and applied to new ideas and
changed circumstances of each age in quite the same manner
as Judges in a Court of Law construe and apply old
Statutes to facts of cases that come before them. See
Hali's [Arabic: al-din yassin]
[87] See the verse of the Qur'an quoted on p. 33.
[88] Or say: True Christianity is but true Islam writ
large. "On the whole this religion of Mahomet's is a kind
of Christianity."--_Thomas Carlyle._
[89] See hints:--Para 3 of Note 5 pp. 31, 32; Footnote
(48) p. 43; Footnotes (4) and (5) page 12; Footnote
(85) p. 81.
[90] Written in 1917.
[91] Cp. Note 7.
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