revealed religion, or what professes to be such. The men who adduce such arguments are
not really Muhammadans at all, and a Muhammadan audience can often be led to see this and
to take part with the missionary against such men.
Another form of thought which largely prevails among educated and thoughtful
professing Muslims, at least in certain countries, is Mysticism. This may be said to be
Protean in its forms, but it generally resolves itself into Pantheism 1. As
such it may, in large measure, be traced back to Hindu philosophy. The Masnavi
affords a good example of this. That work, though professing to be an orthodox Muhammadan
composition, in reality—to those who understand it aright—holds Islam up to ridicule.
It was for a long time prohibited in Persia for this reason. "Muhammadan"
mystics must not be considered as really Muslims at all; hence we cannot here deal with
their difficulties.
We are concerned in this book only with
