NOTES MUHAMMADANISM pdf download

Notes Muhammadanism

NOTES MUHAMMADANISM

There is a general impression amongst European students of Islamism, that it is a simple system of Deism unfettered by numerous dogmas and creeds, which are supposed to be such an insuperable hindrance to an acceptance of Christianity.

Such was the opinion of the historian Gibbon, and it is also the view taken by some who seek to weaken the authority of the Christian system by extolling the merit of its great rival creed.

 But even amongst the advocates of Christianity, there is altogether an erroneous impression as to what Muhammadanism is. Dean Stanley has an admirable chapter on the subject of Islamism in his “ Eastern Church,” but he tells his readers that “ the Quran contains the whole of the religion of Muhammad and Mr. Zincke in his exceedingly interesting book “Egypt of the Pharaohs and the Khedive,” appears to be under the same impression,

 for he says “ the Quran is an all-embracing and sufficient code, regulating every¬ thing .” Whereas the true state of the case is, that whilst the Quran is the highest authority for Muslim doctrine, still, the “ faithful ” whether Sunni, Shiah, or Wahabi, must receive the sayings and practices of their prophet as of divine obligation, for in Islamism the teachings of the

“ Sacred Traditions ” must be received side by side with that of the Quran itself; and the Muslim who would escape the suspicion of heresy must not dare to question the teaching of the learned doctors, whose opinions have