worked well.
When the Moslem invasions had worn on to a close, when the Islamic organization itself had become enfeebled by too much success abroad and by strife at home, when unparalleled absorption of conquered wealth had given the conquerors moral and intellectual indigestion and auto-intoxication, then Islam began its own inevitable decline. For this is the history of all such movements from the beginning of time.
The empire of the prophet now extended from the Indus on the east, Turkestan and the Caucasus on the north, over all northern Africa, and into Spain on the west. When, in 1422, Constantinople fell to the final rally of the armies of Islam, the old church of Santa Sophia was converted into a mosque, and the last Greek Christian wept bitter tears as he fled from the city of Constantine. Had it not been for the strong hand of Charles Martel, at the battle of Poitiers, the victorious hordes of the Prophet undoubtedly would have passed the Pyrenees and swept all Europe. In that case, who shall say, perhaps our fathers would have bowed to the dusky Arab, and today we ourselves might have been saying our five prayers daily with our faces turned towards Mecca. The camel driver of the desert, instead of the Syrian carpenter, might have been preaching in all the churches of Europe and America. After all, religion is not only a matter of inheritance and habit, but also of geography.
And so, what is Islam?—that virile religion which even today dominates the minds of twenty percent of the human race. Let us give it a little careful study. Its theology is not complicated. We know of no world
religion so simple, direct and unequivocal. Its prin- ciples are few and clear cut:
1. First of all, a firm adherence to the belief in ONE God, the unity of the Supreme One. "There is
but one God and his name is Allah."
2. Mohammed is his prophet. Other prophets had come and gone, but Mohammed was the last and the greatest of them all. It was, therefore, the duty of all the faithful, aye of the whole world, to give him their undivided allegiance, their utmost devotion and vene- ration.
3. The faithful are offered a double reward, riches and honors in this life, and a paradise of delights in the next. That had the approval of the All-merciful Allah.
4. The Koran, or Quran, is the holy book of Islam. It is made up of a collection of revelations, or messages received direct from Allah himself for the edification and control of the faithful. The Quran is written in beautiful Arabic language. It contains much that is wholesome, stimulating, inspiring, but with a distinctive appeal to the Arabian type. Its substance is a code of ethics and laws, mostly suitable to that and kindred peoples of the day. Like any wise physician, Mohammed gave them what was best suited to their present needs. Let us give to the Arabian Prophet all the credit due him for an honest effort to pull his people out of the mire of superstition. That he rendered them a very great service cannot be doubted by any unprejudiced student of history.
Today, if a seeker for the light goes to a Moslem and demands to know just how he may enter the King- dom of Heaven here and now, he will discover that
A REVIEW OF WORLD RELIGIONS 71
Islam, just like all other religions, has no answer to that question. In this respect all religions stand in the same category. Islam has not the least clue to the answer. At best it offers a guide to right living among men, that and certain promises of rewards in the future life. It enjoys devotion to one God instead of many. That there have been real Saints among Mohammedans is a fact of much importance. Saints are not limited to any particular country or one people, or one religion. The Saints never got their higher knowledge from the Quran or from the Bible or from any other book. They never got it from priests. Masters get their instructions and their initiation from other Masters. Then they demonstrate it for themselves. That is a fixed law.
The Surat Shabd Yoga has been known to some great Mohammedan Saints. Among them were Hafiz, Shams-i-Tabriz, Maulana Rum, and Kabir Sahib. But the orthodox Mohammedans do not credit these men because they were not altogether orthodox in their teachings. The point of greatest importance is that this central truth is not derived from any fixed and organized religion, but is given from mouth to ear by Saints who have themselves experienced it. It is quite impossible that this all-important knowledge should be incor- porated into a book and given out by a priesthood. It cannot be handed down that way. Hence, the vital necessity of an unbroken line of living Masters.
There is one very important principle which we should all learn and hold fast. It should constitute the mariner's compass when he starts out to explore the wide sea of world religions. It is this:
"Any religion which at present bases its authority upon one man, or one book, and faib to indicate the way for any other
man to gain the same truth and the same spiritual eminence, fails to meet the most urgent spiritual needs of mankind."
In the light of this principle, all world religions will be found wanting. Only the science of the Masters can meet the inflexible demands of this principle. The Masters do not tell you how to live among your fellow men and then inform you that if you so live, you will go to Heaven when you die. On the contrary, they tell you that if you live rightly among men, and then devote yourself to the practice of the Surat Shabd Yoga, you will enter the Kingdom of Heaven while you are still
living in the body. And that constitutes a world of diffe-
rence between the spiritual science of the Masters and all religions.
The followers of Islam have had the same difficulty to contend with as the followers of the Bible. But their devotees do not realize that, and they would probably resent the suggestion. This has always been the case with formal religions, where it is laid down in a book just what one is to believe. No one can then go beyond the book. Thought becomes crystallized and progress ceases. How can it be otherwise? As soon as a man joins a formal religion, he ceases to look for anything new or better. He is bound. It has always been so since the earliest days of the Vedas. There has always been a tendency to crystallize religious thought and finally to write it down in a book as the very last word to be said. This means stagnation, ossification. This tendency has in it another deadly menace.
.The next logical step is to try to compel all men to accept what is written. Then follow persecution and murder in the name of God. Can history show a more ghastly tragedy? Usually, when people accept a book
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