s for one of the same quality; how can you barter eternity
for days which are numbered? If you do not believe, you are infidels,
and should seek to obtain faith.'

"In answer to such appeals, I have heard men say, 'If the observance of
religious practices is obligatory, it is certainly obligatory on the
Ulema or theologians. And what do we find amongst the most conspicuous
of these? One does not pray, another drinks wine, a third devours the
orphans' inheritance, and a fourth lets himself be bribed into giving
wrong decisions, and so forth.'

"Another man giving himself out as a Sufi said that he had attained to
such a high pitch of proficiency in Sufism that for him religious
practice was no longer necessary. An Ismailian said, 'Truth is very
difficult to find, and the road to it is strewn with obstacles;
so-called proofs are mutually contradictory, and the speculations of
philosophers cannot be trusted. But we have an Imam (leader) who is an
infallible judge and needs no proofs. Why should we abandon truth for
error?' A fifth said, 'I have studied the subject, and what you call
inspiration is really a high degree of sagacity. Religion is intended as
a restraint on the passions of the vulgar. But I, who do not belong to
the common herd, what have I to do with such stringent obligations? I am
a philosopher; science is my guide, and dispenses me from submission to
authority.'

"This last is the fate of philosophic theists, as we find it expressed
in the writings of Avicenna and Farabi. It is no rare thing to find men
who read the Koran, attend public worship at the mosque, and outwardly
profess the greatest respect for the religious law, in private indulging
in the use of wine and committing other shameful actions. If we ask such
men how it comes that although they do not believe in the reality of
inspiration, they attend public worship, they say that they practise it
as a useful exercise and as a safeguard for their fortunes and families.
If we further ask them why they drink wine, which is absolutely
prohibited in the Koran, they say, "The only object of the prohibition
of wine was to prevent quarrelling and violence. Wise men like ourselves
are in no danger of such excesses, and we drink in order to brighten and
kindle our imaginative powers.'

"Such is the faith of these pretended Moslems and their example has led
many astray who have been all the more encouraged to follow these
philosophers because their opponen