OF CHRISTIANITY UPON OTHER RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS. 



45 



assert the same of 'Ali. The Shf ites in their doctrine of the 

 Imams and Babs have paid Christianity the compliment of 

 imitation to some degree. The Babi-Bahai doctrine teaches that 

 Christ has become incarnate again in the Bab, and the Father in 

 Baha'u'llah, who is sometimes too denoted by the title Kcdi- 

 matulldh. All these sects are in reality deeply opposed to our 

 Lord's claims, but their opposition is manifested in denying to 

 Him His proper rank and assigning it to others instead. 

 Doubtless other external influences are partly the source of 

 many of these errors, but that of Christianity perverted is 

 unmistakable.* 



The Babi-Bahai faith has made extensive use of the New 

 Testament. In some of their books it is quoted almost more 

 frequently than the Qur an. There are a vast number of New 

 Testament terms borrowed and used quite freely, but in an 

 unnatural sense, thus teaching false doctrine. It would take far 

 too long to treat at all fully of these matters. For example, 

 " Kesurrection " is used to denote conversion to belief in the 

 Bab, or now in Baha'u'llah : the second Advent of Christ is said 

 to mean His reincarnation in Baha, etc. The claim to be the 

 Universal Eeligion, the Keligion of Peace, and of Universal 

 Brotherhood, the preaching of God's Fatherhood, etc., etc., are 

 all from Christianity. Bahaism is an insidious heresy, largely 

 Pantheistic, and in essence bitterly opposed to Christianity as 

 well as to Islam. 



It is upon Sufiism, however, that Christian doctrine has 

 particularly left its mark. That strange and composite system 

 has been powerfully affected by many other influences too, 

 among which Yedantism and other Hindu forms of belief and 

 practice may be specially mentioned. But the very word Sufi 

 itself is derived from suf, " wool "f because the earlier Sufis 

 adopted a woollen garment from the Christian ascetics who were 

 their models of conduct ; though here again Indian influence is 

 indirectly noticeable, for asceticism and monasticism are not 

 originally Christian but Buddhistic. Many Sufi rules and 

 opinions are derived from those of the Christian ascetics. This 

 is the more remarkable because Orthodox Islam, as taught in the 

 Qur'an, is quite opposed to celibacy and asceticism. The 

 earliest Sufis were possessed with the Qur'anic fear of God ; 

 but ultimately, under Christian influence, love to God became 

 one of the leading features of this philosophy, though expressed 



* fqdn : Bdydn, etc. 



t Abii Nasr 'Abdullah, KitdhCl Luma* fiH Tasawwuf, pp. 22-30. 



