Truth. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1901-1908, 1906-02-03
A MOSLEM VIEW OF CHRIS
TIANITY.

OoulI VI JuulCdIuIe Ill bGuSdl, COll-
tributes the third paper in the HILBERT
Journals series of Impressions of
Christianity from the Points of View
of the non-Christian Religions" Pa
pers 1 and 2, already quoted in these
columns, presented respectively the
Jewish and the Buddhist points of
view. Ameer Ali examines Christian
ity from the standpoint of Islamism.
Many of his statements will probably
be read with some surprise. Islam
and Christianity, he claims, have
identical aims and IDEALS" and are in
substantial agreement in their gen
eral principles. He makes a distinc-
ton in regard to what he calls mod
ern Christianity" which he declares is
"overladen with Greek philosophy and
Pauline mysticism" Moslems, he
tells us, consider that Islam "repre
sents the religion Jesus in fact
taught" The Moslem belief, he adds,
is probably in accord with that of the
primitive Christians-of the Ebionites,
"the sect of the poor" to whom Jesus
had preached and among whom he had
lived. ITO Paul, Jew by birth, Greek
by education who had never felt the
influence of the great prophet, is due
luc pTGSeHl ulNeTSe1C6 DeJW06n lSldl
and Christianity" The Moslem mind
we are told, rejects with adherence
the idea that Jesus was "the only-be-
gotten Son Of God" 1t recognizes,
nevertheless, the mystery of the "im-
maculate conception" describing Je-
sus, however, as the "unbegotten son
of Mary" The Moslems, moreover, do
not believe that Jesus died upon the
h,,f hA11 - H. 4.
at the last moment he was saved by
divine agency from an ignominious
death. In this belief, says the writer,
they agree with the Docetic Chris.
uans, who explained "his disappear
ance as more consistent with his Son.
ship than the orthodox doctrine" Di-
vergence, of course, becomes wider
still, when consideration is taken of
the outcome of these two beliefs in
Pauline theology. The writer con-
tinues:
"In order to reconcile the two con-
flicting theories-the Sonship of Jesus
with his death on the cross-Pauline
Christianity formulated the doctrine of
Atonement, which again is based on
the dogma that mankind sinned in
Adam Islam absolutely repudiates
tiic uOSIlln VI OIlSludl Sill. Here
ditary depravity and natural sinful
ness are emphatically denied. Every
child of man is born pure; every de.
parture in after life from the path
of truth and rectitude is due to educa-
ton. Every child of man. declared
the prophet of Islam, is born religious.
ly constituted; it is his parents who
make him afterwards a Jew, a Chris
tian, or Sabean Every human being
has two inclinations-one prompting
him to good and impelling him there
to, and the other prompting him to
evil, and thereto impelling him. but
the Cody assistance is nigh, and he
who asks for the help of God in con.
tending with the evil promptings of his
own heart obtains it. The Moslem
cannot naturally conceive that the AL
mighty Creator of the universe, the
All-good, the All-wise, should create
a world Astounding in sin; that, not
successful in roofing it out, He should
send His sole begotten Son to offer
himself as a sacrifice to save mankind
from eternal perdition. 1t seems
somewhat absurd that because the
first man was unreasonable or dis
obedient enough to eat the forbidden
fruit of the tree of knowledge, he
should not only be expelled from the
Garden of Eden, but an awful doom
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