not sanctioned by the system, by which they attempt to find the communion with the Unseen, for which their souls crave.  These methods are very much akin to the efforts of the devotees of Hinduism.  There is, therefore, lacking amongst Moslems that need which grows out of personal relationship with the Divine—­that need which leads to moral transformation and spiritual intensity on the part of those who enjoy such fellowship.  The Creator exists apart from His handiwork.  He has predetermined the actions of men.  They are destined to eternal bliss or destruction by an Inflexible Will, so that there is no need for Divine Interference in their affairs.  “God is in His heaven, and the world is working out its end according to His unalterable decree.”

Because of this gross conception, Palgrave has designated the system “The Pantheism of Force,” and says: 

“Immeasurably and eternally exalted above, and dissimilar from all creatures, which he levelled before Him on one common plane of instrumentality and inertness, God is One in the totality of omnipotent and omnipresent action, which acknowledges no rule, standard or limit, save His own sole and absolute will.  He communicates nothing to His creatures, for their seeming power and act ever remain His alone, and in return He receives nothing from them; for whatever they may be, that they are in Him, by Him, and from Him only.  And, secondly, no superiority, no distinction, no pre-eminence, can be lawfully claimed by one creature ever its fellow, in the utter equalisation of their unexceptional servitude and abasement; all are alike tools of the one solitary Force which employs them to crush or to benefit, to truth or to error, to honour or shame, to happiness or misery, quite independently of their individual fitness, deserts, or advantages, and simply because ‘He wills it,’ and ‘as He wills it ...’

“One might at first sight think that this tremendous Autocrat, this uncontrolled and unsympathising Power, would be far above anything like passions, desires, or inclinations.  Yet such is not the case, for He has, with respect to His creatures, one main feeling and source of action, namely, jealousy of them, lest they should perchance attribute to themselves something of what is His alone, and thus encroach on His all engrossing kingdom.  Hence He is ever more prone to punish than to reward; to inflict pain than to bestow pleasure; to ruin than to build.  It is His singular satisfaction to let created beings continually feel that they are nothing else than His slaves, His tools, and contemptible tools also; that thus they may the better acknowledge His superiority, and know His power to be above their power, His cunning above their cunning, His will above their will, His pride above their pride—­or, rather, that there is no power, cunning, will, or pride save His own.

“But He Himself, sterile in His inaccessible height, neither loving nor enjoying