152 OBJECTIONS AGAINST CERTAIN LEADING

the Almighty, the All-Wise, the Eternal." So too the belief in the existence of three Hypostases in the Divine Unity is not contradictory. No perfect illustration (مَثَلٌ mathal) can be found, but the meaning will in some slight degree be clearer from considering your own nature, according to the traditional saying of 'Ali, "Whoso knoweth himself knoweth his Lord" (مَنْ عَرَفَ نَفْسَهُ فَقَدْ عَرَفَ رَبْهُ‬ )1, for the Bible tells us that God created man "in His own image" (Gen. i. 27). You speak of your Spirit (روحْ ruh) as "I" (the Ego, انا ana) of your Mind (عَقْلُ aql) as "I," of your Soul (نَفْسُ nafs) as "I": these are distinct in some measure, and yet your personality is one2. There is no contradiction in this. In the Divine Nature we are told of three Hypostases, but of only one God.

137. M. Spirit, Soul and Mind are parts of the man; but God has no parts.

C. True, as I have already said. Yet, though the example is imperfect, we may learn something from it. If you had no Spirit but only Soul and

1 This is, of course, a later form of the old Greek saying, Γνωθι σαυτον. It is taken from a poem in a collection attributed to 'Ali.
2 I have found this argument most useful with Persians. A correspondent suggests instead the comparison of body, soul, and spirit. But Muslims rightly retort, "God has no body." Nor can we here appeal, as has been suggested, to their belief in the resurrection of the body, since their idea of this is so very materialistic that it needs to be corrected, not confirmed. The Bahais explain away the resurrection of the body, understanding thereby a change of heart.
CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES—THE TRINITY 153

and Mind, or no Mind, but only Spirit and Soul, you would not be a man. These three differ from one another, though we cannot fully explain in what: yet all three together form what you call your Ego, and each may be spoken of separately as your Ego. Somewhat similarly "the Father is God, the Son God, and the Holy Ghost God, and yet they are not three Gods but one God." The three are one in will, nature, power, eternity.

138. M. The "Holy Ghost" (روح القدس Ruhu’l Qudus) is only another name for the archangel Gabriel. (Surah XVI., 104.)

C. So Muslims use the words, but the Bible clearly distinguishes between them. Gabriel is a creature of God.

139. M. There is nothing in the Qur'an to support the doctrine of the Trinity.

C. We accept it on the authority of the Bible alone. Yet there are two facts in the Qur'an which cannot be properly explained or understood except by accepting the doctrine. The first is, that God is spoken of as One, He is called God (الله Allah), Lord (الرب Ar Rabb) in the singular, and addressed as Thou. The other is, that He is represented as speaking of Himself in the plural as We, Us. Examples are found in almost every Surah: for example, in Surah XCVI., Al 'Alaq, supposed to be the first Surah revealed to Muhammad, God is called "the Lord" (v. 8), and "God" (v. 13) in the singular, and yet in v. 17, He says, "We too will summon the guards