CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF ISLÂM
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of his mission. This shows that the solution is not evident.[1]
In our valuation of Mohammed's sayings we cannot lay too much stress upon his incapability of looking far ahead. The final aims which Mohammed set himself were considered by sane persons as unattainable. His firm belief in the realization of the vague picture of the future which he had conceived, nay, which Allah held before him, drove him to the uttermost exertion of his mental power in order to surmount the innumerable unexpected obstacles which he encountered. Hence the variability of the practical directions contained in the Qorân; they are constantly altered according to circumstances. Allah's words during the last part of Mohammed's
- ↑ Professor T. W. Arnold in the 2d edition (London, 1913) of his valuable work The Preaching of Islâm (especially pp. 28–31), warmly endeavours to prove that Mohammed from the beginning considered his mission as universal. He weakens his argument more than is necessary by placing the Tradition upon an almost equal footing with the Qorân as a source, and by ignoring the historical development which is obvious in the Qorân itself. In this way he does not perceive the great importance of the history of the Abraham legend in Mohammed's conception. Moreover, the translation of the verses of the Qorân on p. 29 sometimes says more than the original. Lil-nâs is not "to mankind" but "to men," in the sense of "to everybody." Qorân, xvi., 86, does not say: "One day we will raise up a witness out of every nation," but: "On the day (i. e., the day of resurrection) when we will raise up, etc.," which would seem to refer to the theme so constantly repeated in the Qorân, that each nation will be confronted on the Day of Judgment with the prophet sent to it. When the Qorân is called an "admonition to the world (ʿâlamîn)” and Mohammed's mission a "mercy to the world (ʿâlamin),” then we must remember that ʿâlamîn is one of the most misused rhymewords in the Qorân (e. g., Qorân, xv., 70); and we should not therefore translate it emphatically as "all created beings," unless the universality of Mohammed’s mission is firmly established by other proofs. And this is far from being the case.
