22 MUHAMMADAN OBJECTIONS TO CHRISTIANITY

God's omnipotence as eclipsing all His other attributes. He sees no need of an Atonement. He denies the Trinity, the Sonship of Christ, and His death on the cross. He believes the Bible to have been corrupted, and at any rate he thinks that it has been annulled by the "descent of the Qur’an upon Muhammad." A missionary, Dr. Pennell, well writes: "Nine out of ten of the Muhammadan objections come from their ineradicable tendency to look upon everything and interpret everything carnally. My main endeavour is to try and set forward the spiritual side of the text or doctrine. If I can even get them to realize that there is a spiritual side to religious observances, I think something is gained. For instance, when they raise the objection that we do not perform ablution before prayers, the objector has probably never looked on ablution as more than a form, and the spiritual teaching that may be derived from it is very likely quite a revelation to him. My line with that and similar objections would be to take the objector a step back to the nature of prayer, and of what preparations are required when we approach our Creator. Similarly, objections about the cut of our beard and moustaches or the make of our clothes, or the fact of our removing or not removing our hats and shoes under certain conditions, all bring the discussion back to the underlying motives and internal nature of true religion. Help may be obtained by reminding them of the words they

INTRODUCTION 23

use in the niyyat before prayers, which lay stress on heart preparation as opposed to externalities."

15. Finally, let the servant of Christ remember and act on Bengel's advice: "Never enter upon controversy without knowledge, without love, without necessity," and, let us add, without prayer1.


1 I do not suggest that a missionary should endeavour to convert a Muslim, learned or unlearned, by such a course of argument as that contained in this Manual. The appeal in each case is to the man's heart and conscience, and is made through the Gospel message. The object of this Manual is merely to suggest answers to objections when they are brought forward.