the reason is not because I am ignorant of that darker side, still less because I am indifferent to it, but because it would be wholly inconsistent with the end I have in view. To denounce fundamental conditions of Oriental society; to ignore the law of dissolution to which Eastern no less than Western dynasties are subject; to confuse the decadence of a race with that of a creed; to be blind to the distinction between progressive and unprogressive, between civilised and uncivilised peoples; to judge of a religion mainly or exclusively by the lives of its professors, often of its most unworthy professors; to forget what of good there has been in the past, and to refuse to hope for something better in the future, in despair or in indignation for what is—all this may occasionally be excusable, or possibly even necessary; but it cannot be done by me so long as I think it neither excusable nor necessary. The object of these Lectures, therefore, in their revised as well as in their original shape, is not so much to dwell upon the degradation of the female sex, for instance, in most Musalman countries— for that is admitted on all hands-as to show what THE SECOND EDITION. XV Mohammed did, even in his time, to raise the position of women, and to point out how his consistent and more enlightened followers may best follow him now; not so much to dwell upon the horrors of the Slave Trade-for these too are universally recognised as to show those Musalmans who still indulge in it that it forms no part of their creed, that it is opposed alike to the practice and precept of their Prophet, and that, therefore, if they are less to blame, they are only less to blame than those Christians who, in spite of a higher civilisation, and an infinitely higher example, indulged in it till so late a period. My object is not so much to dilate on the evils of the appeal to the sword, still less to excuse it, as to point out that there were moments, and those late in the life of the warrior Prophet, when even he could say, 'Unto every one have we given a law and a way;' and again, 'Let there be no violence in religion.' My object is, lastly, not so much to dwell on the fables, and the discrepancies, and the repetitions, and the anachronisms which form the husk of the Koran, as to show how they sink into a insignificance before the vis viva which is its soul—not so much to define or to limit inspiration as to indicate by my use of the word that it cannot, as I think, be limited or defined at all; to imply, in fact, that inspiration, in the broadest sense of the word, is to be found in all the greatest thoughts of man; for the workings of God are everywhere, and the spirits of men and nations are moulded by Him to bring about His purposes of love, and to give them, in a sense that shall be sufficient for them, a knowledge of Himself. In a word, my object is-with all reverence be it said—not to localise God exclusively in this or that creed, but to trace Him everywhere in measure; not merely to trust Him for what shall be, but to find Him in what is. HARROW : Among the books which, in accordance with the plan pursued in the First Edition of my work, I would wish to mention here as having, apart from the special acknowledgments which I have made in the notes, afforded me assistance in the preparation of the Second Edition, are the following: THE SECOND EDITION. xvii 'Sirat-er-Raçoul' of Ibn Hisham: German translation, by G. Weil, Stuttgart, 1864; the earliest and most authentic history of the Prophet, and founded on a still earlier one, that of 1bn Ishak. 'Mishkat-ul-Masabih '=' niche for lamps :' a collection of the most authentic traditions regarding the actions and sayings of Mohammed, translated by Captain A. N. Mathews, Calcutta, 1809. This valuable book is extremely scarce; but there is a prospect, if a sufficient number of subscribers can be obtained, of a new edition being brought out by Messrs. Allen and Co., under the editorship of the Rev. T. P. Hughes, Missionary at Peshawur. 'History of Mohammedan Dynasties,' by Major Price, London, 1812 a voluminous and somewhat dreary account of the wars and crimes of Musalman princes, but throwing very little light on the social and religious life of their subjects. 'Histoire des Musalmans d'Espagne jusqu'à la Conquête de l'Andalousie par les Almoravides, A.D. 711-1110,' by R. Dozy, Leyden, 1861; a work of first-rate historical importance. The author is equally at home in the Arabic literature relating to Spain, and the Spanish literature relating to the Arabs, and he has corrected many of the mistakes of Condé. 'Ueber das Verhältniss des Islam zum Evangelium,' by Dr. J. A. Mohler (1830), Author of The Symbolik,' a most suggestive and thoughtful essay. I am happy to find that it has anticipated some of the conclusions, with regard to both the Prophet and the Faith, which I had set forth in my First Edition, in entire independence of it. 'Mohammed's Religion nach ihrer inneren Entwickelung, und ihrem Einflüsse, eine historische Betrachtung,' by Dr. Döllinger, Ratisbon, 1838. The distinguished author has brought together the statements of a large number of travellers, &c., and has weighed them with much ability, and with every wish to be impartial or even generous towards Islam. He seems, however, at the time when he wrote, to have been more unable than he would probably be now, to divest himself of his ecclesiastical prepossessions, and condemns, for instance, Islam for the absence of visible symbols, sacraments, a priesthood, and even a Pope; forgetting that these things, however essential to his own creed, may have been, not sources of strength, but of weakness, to another. 'Essays on the Life of Mohammed and Subjects subsidiary thereto,' by Syed Ahmed Khan Bahador, 1870. 'A Critical Examination of the Life and Teachings of Mohammed,' by Syed Ameer Ali Moulla (1873). It is satisfactory to find that the hope I ventured to express in the Preface to my First Edition, as to the sympathy of views and the conciliatory spirit of these two learned Musalman reformers, has been amply justified by a study of their works; and it is difficult not to believe that books like these point, at however remote a period, to a better understanding between the best followers of the two creeds. 'L'Islamisme d'après le Coran, l'Enseignement doctrinal et la Pratique,' by M. Garçin de Tassy, Paris. Third Edition, 1874; the work of a most accomplished Orientalist; the most instructive and original part of the whole being, perhaps, the essay on the modifications which Islam has undergone in India. 'La Langue et la Littérature Hindustanies,' by M. Garçin de Tassy, a collection of Lectures delivered between the years 1850 -1875; each Lecture being the commencement of a course upon Hindustani Literature, and containing a very valuable Review of the Events that have taken place in India in the preceding year, with Notices of the Literary and Religious Life of the Natives which are not to be found elsewhere. 'L'Islam et son Fondateur, Étude Morale,' by Jules Charles Scholl, Neuchatel, 1874; an able and candid enquiry, which, though written from a different point of view to mine, often arrives at somewhat similar conclusions. 'Necessary Reforms of Mussalman States,' by General Khérédine, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs at Tunis; Athens, 1874; interesting in itself, and doubly interesting owing to the quarter from which it comes, as showing that India is not the only Musalman country where the 'Mohammedan social and political reformer' is at work. 'Notes on Mohammedanism,' by the Rev. T. P. Hughes, Missionary at Peshawur, 1875. A valuable compendium of facts. The author has studied Islam both theoretically and practically; and though he uses the stock phrases 'imposture,' 'would-be |