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RECONCILIATION,
1935
which is sure to lead some jinns and men into hell, as one of the verses in the Qur'an correctly points out; but this destiny is not the mandate of a super-human being, who arbitrarily and capriciously determines and seals the fate of his creatures, and foredooms some to eternal damnation in hell, and decrees to others the enjoyment of Olympian bliss. Destiny is nothing other than prârabdha, and means the potential karma of the past life, or lives, of the soul which is beginning to be actualized. It is hardly necessary to enlarge upon the theory of karma now, since the whole subject has been dealt with in the preceding chapter.
(6) In reference to the religious intoleration of the Qur'an, there is little doubt that jehad is not an essential feature of Islam, as a religion, since Mahomed was led to proclaim it only after years of the bitterest persecution. The doctrine has been incorporated in the Book only on account of the inability of its compiler to distinguish between the different aspects of the personality of the Prophet, who was, at least in the later years of his life, a public preacher, a statesman, a pater familias and a law-giver, at one and the same time. Our friends, the Mahomedans, should by this time understand that true jehad is waged against kufr, i.e., those tendencies and inclinations which prevent the soul from turning towards the Self, but not against the kafir (an infidel), because the destruction of the former leads to bliss, and that of the latter only to hell. True Jehad, thus, is always against one's own lower, i.e., carnal self, never against another. It will profit us to bear in mind what Jesus said as to the power of the sword :
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