172 THE REV. W. ST. CLAIR TISDALL, M.A., ON ISLAM: 
inspiration of both the Old and the New Testament, coupled 
with the statement of matters quite imconsistent with 
what they teach, its entire absence of proof.* That it is an 
essentially anti- Christian creed is abundantly evident from 
many a of which it suffices to quote only one 
(Sarah V, “ Verily they blaspheme who say, ‘GOD is 
truly the MEcetah, Son of Mary.’ Say thou: ‘Then who 
would possess any claim upon Gon, if He wished to destroy 
the Messiah, Son of Mary, and His mother, and all that are in 
the earth?”’t This is perhaps the latest pronouncement of 
the “ Prophet” on the great central truth of the Christian 
faith. 
3. It remains for us to consider very briefly the nature of 
the influence which Islam has exerted over the public and 
private life of its professors, However much or however 
httle truth any religion may incorporate in its dogmas—f its 
practical results are bad, destructive to what is noblest in our 
common humanity, having a tendency to encourage the free 
development of our lower nature and to prevent mental and 
moral progress,—then such a faith cannot be the revelation of 
the Gop of Love, of Holiness and of Justice. 
As to the political condition of all Muhammadan lands at 
the present time there is no room for much difference of 
opinion. Misgovernment, tyranny, extortion, an absolute 
Monarch and an enslaved people are everywhere found in 
these countries. Of the condition of agriculture, the fine - 
2,000 years’ journey in circumference. A snake of the same length lies 
coiled around the earth. The seven storeys of the earth rest between the 
horns of a bull named Kajita, which has 4,000 horns, each of the latter 
being 500 years’ journey distant from every other. His feet rest on a fish 
hat swims in water forty years’ journey deep! 
* The only proofs are (1), Muhammad’s assertion of his prophetic office, 
and (2), the (supposed) supernaturally beautiful style of the Qur’an in the 
original. 
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