Page:Thomas Patrick Hughes - Notes on Muhammadanism - 2ed. (1877).djvu/16

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
xi

Christ, for much which is contained in its elaborate system is expressive of man's great and exceeding need. The Christian controversialist, in dealing with Muhammadanism, must ever remember that it contains a two-fold element of truth. The Founder of Islám derived much of his system from that great unwritten law of God which is ever speaking to men of every nation and of every clime; and he was also greatly indebted to the written law of the Holy One of Israel, although he received it from Talmudic sources. To quote the words of Bengel, the commentator, ""the Law"—whether it be that written on the conscience, or in the pages of the Qurán, or in God's revealed word—"the law hounds a man till he betake himself to Christ; then it says to him, 'Thou hast found an asylum; I pursue thee no more; thou art wise, thou art safe.'"

Notwithstanding its fair show of outward observance, and its severe legal enactments, there is something in Islám which strikes at the