Page:The philosophy and theology of Averroes.djvu/264

 "And as to Thamud, We directed them, but they loved blindness better than the true directions." Sometimes contradiction appears even in a single verse of the Quran. For instance, He says, "After a misfortune hath befallen you (you had already attained two equal advantages), do you say, whence cometh this? Answer, This is from yourselves." In the next verse, He says, "And what happenth unto you, on the day whereon the two armies met, was certainly by permission of the Lord." Of this kind also is the verse, "Whatever good befalleth thee, O man, it is from God; and whatever evil befalleth thee, it is from thyself;" while the preceding verse says, "All is from God."

Such is also the case with the Traditions. The Prophet says, "Every child is born in the true religion; his parents afterwards turn him into a Jew or a Christian." On another occasion he said, "The follow-