a sin, but only a temptation to sin. There is no sinful bias in human nature which needs to be counteracted. There may be a sinful habit; but it is a habit of the individual, not of the race. Nay, it is an acquired habit and not an innate disposition.

In fact, the Qur'an, while it speaks, as we have seen, of the necessity of giving more than outward obedience, yet appears to convey the feeling that sin has to do with concrete acts, rather than with inclination and disposition. Perhaps the nearest approach to be found in the Qur'an to a more spiritual teaching on this subject, is the following passage from which Joseph says, 'Yet I hold not myself clear, for the heart is prone to evil, save those on whom my Lord hath mercy.' ¹ It may be said that these words, which are quoted with evident approbation, show that sin is considered as more than 'outward act'; but even if this be so, it is still a long way to the position that sin is a state or disposition of the heart. What the verse refers to is the mental or ethical act, the willing desire to evil. The temptation has been overcome, but it was not resisted from the first with absolute purity of will and heart; but there is in this no teaching that sin is a state. Sin, as we have already said, is an attitude, not a disposition of the heart. Hence, when we look at the results and consequences of sin as described in the Qur'an, we find that these are solely punishment and loss, and ensue not so much because of what sin is as because of the absence of what sin shows to be wanting. It is not because of the heinousness of sin that its results are so far-reaching; but because where there is sin there cannot be obe-

dience. And it is the absence of obedience rather than the active presence of sin which entails condemnation and judgment. We have already seen that the repentance of Adam takes the form of regret that he has done what has caused him the loss of so much, and the same idea is conveyed by the teaching of the Qur'an in many other passages. Repentance for sin is simply the resolve to do better in the future accompanied by regret for the loss which sin has brought on oneself. There is in it no thought of the estrangement which sin has caused between man and God.

There yet remains one other point which we desire to take up before we close this consideration of the teaching of the Qur'an on sin, and it is best referred to by the expression 'conviction of sin' or 'sense of sin'. We cannot help asking ourselves whether Muhammad had any real conviction of sin, and whether he sought to arouse in others a sense of sin.

This is a most important question, and one which must certainly be discussed in any consideration of the teaching of the Qur'an; yet it should be realized that while it has an important bearing on the value of the teaching of the Qur'an on sin, it is a question apart from the actual doctrine of sin. A man may have a true and adequate doctrine of sin, and yet have no sense of sin, no heart conviction of sin. The two do not necessarily go together. And, on the contrary, a man may have an incomplete doctrine of sin, and yet have a great sense of sin. A conviction of sin is not dependent on holding any particular views as to the nature of sin; it is much rather connected with the opening of the heart and conscience to a realization of the holiness of God.