_La-ilaha-Il-lal-laho. There is no God save God._
“_Say, God is one God; the eternal God: He begetteth not, neither is
begotten: There is not any one like unto Him._
“_Dost thou not know that God is almighty? Dost thou not know that
unto God belongeth the Kingdom of Heaven? neither have ye any
protector or helper except God._
“_To God belongeth the East and the West; therefore wheresoever
ye turn yourselves to pray, there is the face of God; for God is
omnipresent and omniscient._
“_Your God is one God, there is no God but He, the most merciful._”
It was with a very simple message, apparently, that Muhammad came forth
from his long meditation in his lonely cave. The message was not even
original. Not only had Arab mystics already dreamt of the aloneness of
God, but there were Jews and Christians, inheritors of the same supreme
truth, settled here and there over the land; and Muhammad had come
into contact with both during his early Syrian journeys. The Idea had
become familiar to him long before.
[Sidenote: The God of Muhammad]
But, the God of Muhammad’s contemplations was not the God of Judaism,
nor the God of Christianity; he deliberately rejected both Faiths.
True, God is Spirit, God is one, God is alone, God is Creator; He is
the al-knowing, al-present, al-governing One. High attributes are
ascribed to Him, as in the ninety-nine Names which the pious Mussulman
reverently repeats with the aid of his string of beads; but neither
these, nor the various attributes ascribed to Him in the Quran itself,
largely affect the Muslim conception of God.
The God of Muhammad is a Being of two supreme characteristics. He is
the supreme Will, and His Will is carried into effect by His supreme
Power.
Will: absolute, eternal, unchanging; far above such human distinctions
as right and wrong, justice and injustice. That which the Will of God
ordains, that is right, just, and final.
Power: so unrestrained, so awful, carries that Will into effect, that
there exists no will or power save God’s alone. That which is ordained,
good or evil, righteous or unrighteous in man’s poor view, is of God.
He is the only Doer. “_In the creation of heaven and earth, and in the
ship which sails on the sea_ ... ALL IS GOD.” All creatures, even man,
are in the awful grip of this great Spirit, helpless; they do that
which He ordains, that and no other.
“Why are you so naughty?”
“God knows.”
The reply of the little child is the reply of Islam to all problems. It
is the secret of the awful fatalism which paralyzes men’s emotions and
will. Two countenances remain, after many years, vividly impressed upon
my memory; that of a man, guilty of crime and under severe sentence,
whom no appeal could move from his perfect serenity. He was not a
hardened criminal; he was simply convinced that God was the Doer of
the deed and he himself only the instrument for the carrying out of
His will. The other was a father, carrying in his arms a dearly-loved
little child to the grave. He moved rapidly down the crowded street at
the head of the procession of mourners, unconscious either of curiosity
or of sympathy around him. The set grim expression might have suggested
the idea of Spartan endurance, save for the deep eyes which gazed into
the far distance, and told unmistakably of the submission of a strong
will to a Stronger, the will of his God.
This awful God has taken hold of the imagination of all Islam. He was
very real to the Prophet, and the Prophet has communicated his faith
to those who have followed him. Mussulmans may be, in our sense, bad
men, but they are rarely irreligious men. There are no atheists in
Islam. A man who, under the influence of English secular education,
lightly declared that he had grown beyond so childish a superstition,
which however he declared to be “good for women and children,” changed
countenance while we discussed the religious education of his wife. He
could not rid himself easily of the convictions of his childhood, as
the grave face and reverent voice bore witness.
But, the Will of God is far more present in the thought of the Muslim
than is God Himself. God touches his life through His Will only. God is
apart; seeing, knowing and judging indeed, but apart in His absolute
sovereignty, in the inexorable way in which He carries out His Purpose.
We have, therefore, as a corollary to the teaching regarding the Will,
the teaching of the pitiful helplessness of man in His Hand. God may
crush me; He can do it; I can say nothing. In conversation with a
woman on one occasion reference was made to the Christian doctrine of
the assurance of the child relation with God. She exclaimed, “Surely
that is blasphemy; it is almost like saying _what the Will of God for
you is_. If saved, God is merciful; if cast into _Jahannam_ (hell), God
is just.”
* * * * *
ISLAM means resignation, submission, homage, to this Will of God. The
relation of the Muslim to his God is truly expressed in the word.
* * * * *
Thus early do Christ and Muhammad part company.