With this
message prophetic interventions are henceforth useless.
'The S??ufi has no prejudice against any prophet, and, contrary to
those who only love one to hate the other, the S??ufi regards them all
as the highest attribute of God, as Wisdom herself, present under the
appearance of names and forms. He loves them with all his worship,
for the lover worships the Beloved in all Her garments.... It is thus
that the S??ufis contemplate their Well-beloved, Divine Wisdom, in all
her robes, in her different ages, and under all the names that she
bears,--Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mahomet.' [Footnote: _Message Soufi
de la Libert?©_ (Paris, 1913), pp. 34, 35.]
The idea of the equality of the members of the world-wide prophethood,
the whole body of prophets being the unique personality of Divine
Wisdom, is, in my judgment, far superior to the corresponding theory
of the exclusive Muh??ammadan orthodoxy. That theory is that each
prophet represents an advance on his predecessor, whom he therefore
supersedes. Now, that Muh??ammad as a prophet was well adapted to the
Arabians, I should be most unwilling to deny. I am also heartily of
opinion that a Christian may well strengthen his own faith by the
example of the fervour of many of the Muslims. But to say that the
K??ur'an is superior to either the Old Testament or the New is,
surely, an error, only excusable on the ground of ignorance. It is
true, neither of Judaism nor of Christianity were the representatives
in Muh??ammad's time such as we should have desired; ignorance on
Muh??ammad's part was unavoidable.
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