Page:The Mohammedan system of theology (IA mohammedansyste00neal).pdf/266

 sequence of which is, that man is degraded from a rational being to a necessary agent. Knowledge must be held in light estimation in countries so situated, and a contempt for every thing exists, save the Koran and its expositions.

The conflagration of the library at Alexandria by the Caliph Omar, shews the early existence of such fanaticism and bigotry among the followers of the Arabian Prophet! The precepts of the Koran are unfavourable to sculpture or the kindred art of painting, from their liability to be perverted to pur-