Page:A Moslem seeker after God - showing Islam at its best in the life and teaching of al-Ghazali, mystic and theologian of the eleventh century (IA moslemseekeraft00zwem).pdf/314



ninety-nine go to hell and one only will be saved."

On the last page of the Ihya, however, Al-Gha zali expresses the opinion that on the day of judgment not a single Mohammedan, whatever be his character, will enter the fire! He then quotes a tradition which says that for every Moslem de signed to go to hell God will at the last day substitute a Jew or a Christian, evidently approving this substitution-doctrine as satisfactory to God’s mercy towards all who confess Mohammed and to His decree that hell shall be filled with its quota of un believers. (See Surah 50: 29.) The last page of the Ihya, alas, again shows the Moslem spirit of intolerance which prevails even to-day. Men do not remember the more liberal judgment in his other treatise. Al-Ghazali’s attitude towards Christian ity and his quotations from the Gospel narrative did much to leaven Persian thought and gave Jesus of Nazareth a large place in later mysticism espe cially in the foremost mystical poet the immortal author of the Masnavi, Jallal-ud-Din Ar Rumi. He draws the great Lesson from the life of Christ which Al-Ghazali only hints at in his quotations; namely that Jesus is the Life-giver: " Thyself reckon dead, and then thou shalt fly Free, free, from the prison of earth to the sky! Spring may come, but on granite will grow no

green thing: It was barren in winter, tis barren i