of Christian asceticism among the classes which felt a real interest in religion.  Hence that surprising similarity of views upon the problem of existence, which we have now to outline.  In details of outward form great divergency is apparent.  Christianity possessed a clergy while Islam did not:  yet the force of Christian influence produced a priestly class in Islam.  It was a class acting not as mediator between God and man through sacraments and mysteries, but as moral leaders and legal experts; as such it was no less important than the scribes under Judaism.  Unanimity among these scholars could produce decisions no less binding than those of the Christian clergy assembled in church councils.  They are representatives of the congregation which “has no unanimity, for such would be an error.”  Islam naturally preferred to adopt unanimous conclusions in silence rather than to vote in assemblies.  As a matter of fact a body of orthodox opinion was developed by this means with no less success than in Christendom.  Any agreement which the quiet work of the scholars had secured upon any question was ratified by God and was thus irrevocably and eternally binding.  For instance, the proclamation to the faithful of new ideas upon the exposition of the Qoran or of tradition was absolutely forbidden; the scholars, in other words the clergy, had convinced themselves, by the fact of their unanimity upon the point, that the customary and traditional mode of exposition was the one pleasing to God.  Ideas of this kind naturally remind us of Roman Catholic practice.  The influence of Eastern Christianity upon Islam is undoubtedly visible here.  This influence could not in the face of Muhammedan tradition and custom, create an organised clergy, but it produced a clerical class to guard religious thought, and as religion spread, to supervise thought of every kind.

Christianity again condemned marriage, though it eventually agreed to a compromise sanctifying this tie; Islam, on the contrary, found in the Qoran the text “Ye that are unmarried shall marry” (24, 32).  In the face of so clear a statement, the condemnation of marriage, which in any case was contrary to the whole spirit of the Qoran, could not be maintained.  Thus the Muhammedan tradition contains numerous sayings in support of marriage.  “A childless house contains no blessing”:  “the breath of a son is as the breath of Paradise”; “when a man looks upon his wife (in love) and she upon him, God looks down in mercy upon them both.”  “Two prayers of a married man are more precious in the sight of God than seventy of a bachelor.”  With many similar variations upon the theme, Muhammed is said to have urged marriage upon his followers.  On the other hand an almost equally numerous body of warnings against marriage exists, also issued by Muhammed.  I know no instance of direct prohibition, but serious admonitions are found which usually take the form of denunciation of the female sex and were early interpreted as warnings by tradition.  “Fear