e were textually accepted in any further development of the
question. The fact is obvious, not only as regards details, but also
in the general theory of man's position upon earth.

* * * * *

Muhammed, the preacher of repentance, had become a temporal prince in
Medina; his civil and political administration was ecclesiastical in
character, an inevitable result of his position as the apostle of God,
whose congregation was at the same time a state. This theory of the
state led later theorists unconsciously to follow the lead of
Christianity, which regarded the church as supreme in every department
of life, and so induced Muhammedanism to adopt views of life and
social order which are now styled mediaeval. The theological
development of this system is to be attributed chiefly to groups of
pious thinkers in Medina: they were excluded from political life when
the capital was transferred from Medina to Damascus and were left in
peace to elaborate their theory of the Muhammedan divine polity. The
influence of these groups was paramount: but of almost equal
importance was the influence of the proselytes in the conquered lands
who were Christians for the most part and for that reason far above
their Arab contemporaries in respect of intellectual training and
culture. We find that the details of jurisprudence, dogma, and
mysticism can only be explained by reference to Christian stimulus,
nor is it any exaggeration to ascribe the further development of
Muhammed's views to the influence of thinkers who regarded the
religious polity of Islam as the realisation of an ideal which
Christianity had hitherto vainly striven to attain. This ideal was the
supremacy of religion over life and all its activities, over the state
and the individual alike. But it was a religion primarily concerned
with the next world, where alone real worth was to be found. Earthly
life was a pilgrimage to be performed and earthly intentions had no
place with heavenly. The joy of life which the ancient world had
known, art, music and culture, all were rejected or valued only as
aids to religion. Human action was judged with reference only to its
appraisement in the life to come. That ascetic spirit was paramount,
which had enchained the Christian world, that renunciation of secular
affairs which explains the peculiar methods by which mediaeval views
of life found expression.

Asceticism did not disturb the course of life as a wh