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RECONCILIATION.
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Mr. Khaja Khan tries to explain away Mahomed's acknowledgment of ignorance by saying that the Prophet, accepting the omission as the gauge of their (i.e., the Jew's) mental fitness, determined not to burden them with a definition beyond the grasp of their capacity ;'* but in the absence of anything showing that the knowledge of the origin of the soul would have been a 'burden,' too heavy for them to bear, the statement is hardly of any value. What should we think of a scientist who, in answer tu a question as to the origin of the law of conservation of matter and energy, propounded with a view to test his claim to learning, were to reply that he was not aware of it? Some would see in the reply only a confession of ignorance, and some only a compassionate regard for the 'feeble' intellect of the interlocutor ; bui the truth is neither in the one nor the other of these views. It is given out in the reply, though expressed facetiously.
The above is quite sufficient to show the true nature of the soul ; but there are other passages in the Qur'an which conclusively prove the view we have taken above. In the 33rd chapter we are given a still greater insight into the nature of the soul. It is said there :
“We formerly created man of a finer sort of clay; and afterwards we placed him in the form of seed in a sure receptacle : afterwa we made the seed coagulated blood; and we formed the coagulated blood into a piece of flesh : then we formed the piece of flesh into bones; and we clothed those with flesh: then we produced the same by another creation."
The commentators would read the words "a sure receptacle" to mean the womb, but no one can seriously
** The Philosophy of Islam,'p. 31.
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