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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
pages. The reason why the highest truths of philosophy were imparted to men in disguise,* is to be found in the attitude of the Arabs and the state of Society at the time of the Prophet. Their hidden sense is clear enough to any one who cares to think for himself, but otherwise might easily pass for poetical license or rhetorical flourish, without exciting comment. Mahomedan theologians found them difficult to understand even so soon after the Prophet as the second century of the Hijri era. Some of them, led by the spirit of enquiry, collected a large number of religious and philosophical books, including many Sanskrit Manuscripts, and a magnificent library was established at Baghdad in the second century after Mahomed. As already stated Mahomed's eloquence and personality, rather than the doctrines of the creed, seem to have been the causes of the spread of Islam even during the life of its founder. In many instances conversions were also due to political expediency and motives of power and greatness.
“How superficial was the adherence of numbers of the Arab tribes, to the faith of Islam," writes Mr. Arnold ( The Preaching of Islam', p. 41), “may be judged from the widespread apostasy that followed immediately the death of the Prophet. Their acceptance of Islam would seem to have been often dictated more by considerations of political expediency, and was more frequently a bargain struck under pressure of violence than the outcome of any enthusiasm or spiritual awakening."
* The spirit of intolerance was not peculiar to the Arabs; outside India it was widespread. The following from St. Augustine (see "The Mystics of Islam,' p. 118) is a fair sample of the dread which influenced the speech of saints:
"If he (man) loves a stone, he is a stone : if he loves a man, he is a man; if he loves God- I dare not say more, for if I said that he would then be God, ye might stone me."
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