al. When
Muhammad felt his end draw near he said:--"Bring ink and paper: I wish to
write to you a book to preserve you always from error." But it was too
late. He could not write or dictate and so he said:--"May the Quran always
be your guide. Perform what it commands you: avoid what it prohibits." The
genuineness of the first part of this Tradition is, I think, very doubtful,
the latter is quite in accordance with the Prophet's claim for his
teaching. The letter of the book became, as Muhammad intended it should
become, a despotic influence in the Muslim world, a barrier to freethinking
on the part of all the orthodox, an obstacle to innovation in all
spheres--political, social, intellectual and moral. There are many topics
connected with it which can be better explained in the next chapter. All
{10} that has now to be here stated is that the Quran is the first
foundation of Islam. It is an error to suppose it is the only one: an error
which more than anything else has led persons away from the only position
in which they could obtain a true idea of the great system of Islam.

The Shia'hs maintain, without good reason, that the following verses
favourable to the claims of 'Ali and of the Shia'h faction were omitted in
Osman's recension.

"O Believers! believe in the two lights. (Muhammad and 'Ali).

'Ali is of the number of the pious, we shall give him his right in the
day of judgment; we shall not pass over those who wish to deceive him.
We have honoured him above all this family. He and his family are very
patient. Their enemy[10] is the chief of sinners.

We have announced to thee a race of just men, men[11] who will not
oppose our orders. My mercy and peace are on them living[12] or dead.

As to those who walk in their way, my mercy is on them; they will
certainly gain the mansions of Paradise."

2. THE SUNNAT.--The second foundation of Islam is based on the Hadis
(plural Ahadis) or Tradition. Commands from God given in the Quran are
called 'farz' and 'wajib.' A command given by the Prophet or an example set
by him is called 'sunnat,' a word meaning a rule. It is then technically
applied to the basis of religious faith and practice, which is founded on
traditional accounts of the sayings and acts of Muhammad.[13] It is the
belief common to all Musalmans, that the Prophet in all that he _did_, and
in all that he _said_, was supernaturally guided, and that his words and
acts a