A literary history of Persia

188his beard was wet with his tears, and his bishops wept with him,until their books were wet with their tears, when they heard what heread unto them. Then said the Negush to them, ' Verily this andthat which Moses brought emanate from one Lamp. Go, for byAllah I will not suffer them to get at you, nor even contemplate this.' "To enter into a discussion as to the character and motives ofthe Prophet Muhammad would lead us too far afield,moreespecially as these matters, together with his history, thedevelopment of his doctrines, and the progress slow at first,but afterwards lightning-likein its rapidity of his religion,have been ably and adequately discussed in the monographsof Sale, Sprenger, Muir, Krehl, Noldeke, Boswell Smith,and Sayyid Amir 'All. Of these works the last, writtenfrom the point of view of amodern broad-minded and wellreadMuslim,conversant alike with Eastern and Westernthose who desire toviews, is especially deserving of study byunderstand the strong hold which Islam and itsProphet stillhave even on those Muslims who are most imbued withEuropean culture and learning.The great strength ofIslam lies in its simplicity, its adaptibility, its high yet perfectlyattainable ethical standard. The Christian ethical standard is,we must admit, higher, but almost beyond the reach of theindividual, and quite beyond the reach of the State. Theideal Muslim state is conceivable and was actually realised,or very nearly so, by Muhammad's immediate successors, thefour " Orthodox Caliphs," whose rule the historian al-Fakhrfthus describes :" Know that this was a state not after the fashion of the statesof this world, but rather resembling prophetic dispensations andC'aiatthe conditions of the world to come. And the truthFakhr?m concerningit is that its fashion was after the fashionof the Prophets, and its conduct after the model of theSaints, while its victories were as those of mighty Kings. Now asfor its fashion, this was hardship in life and simplicityin food andraiment ; one of them (i.e.,the early Caliphs) would walk throughthe streets on foot, wearing but a tattered shirt reaching half-way