* The above is but a rough summary. I have neither time nor space to explain and illustrate it. I have ventured to give some hints--imperfect hints, I fear--in the footnotes. I may however state here that, of the above three conceptions, notions or ideas Islam accepts the medium or the middle one which, as a little thought will show, includes the other two conceptions also. You need not at present try to understand the summary or the words given in brackets. My subsequent Notes will explain it to some extent. Please remember that there are many men and many minds, and that there are likely to be as many religions, as many conceptions of God, as many notions of His attributes, and as many ideas of the beginning or end of things, ([Arabic: mabdā' wa ma'ād]) as there are _thinking_ minds[22]. Let me conclude this Note with a short answer to the question why religion is necessary to Man[23]. No society is possible without religion, because of the dual nature of Man. As our poet says, [Persian: ba bahaa'm bahra dari ba malaa'ik neez ham] and as all modern men of science (such as Sir Oliver Lodge and others) admit, there is a higher and a lower in every man's nature, the one lifts him up and the other pulls him down in the scale of animal and social existence. Religion is necessary in order that every man's higher nature may conquer his lower nature in order that he may become a social being who is virtuous and does good of his own accord, and may not remain a mere beast whom the whip alone prevents from doing mischief. It is religion that fosters high-thinking and holy-living, so necessary for the advancement of the human race. +Note 4.+ II.--_What is true Islam?_ The answer to this question is contained within the four corners, as it were, of the Opening Sura[24] [Arabic: Sura al-fātiḥa] which is a general summary of the whole Qur'an. I have already analysed it and asked you to compare it with the Christian prayer called the Lord's prayer. I am sure you have noted and admired its simplicity and clearness and its almost scientific precision and comprehensiveness. I am only amplifying what I have already said when I say that the Sura teaches three cardinal and eternal truths:-- _1st._--There is but One God who has created the worlds, maintains them, and rules them. In the inimitable words of the Sura of Purity. [Arabic: Sura al-ʾiḫlāṣ] [Arabic: qul huwa llāhu ʾaḥad] Say, God is one. } = One. [Arabic: allāhu ṣ-ṣamad] God is Eternal. } = Infinite. [Arabic: lam yalid] He does not beget } [Arabic: wa-lam yūlad] nor is He begotten. } = Absolute.[25] [Arabic: wa-lam yakun lahū kufuwan aḥad] } and He hath no kith or kin. }