whose authority would be greater than his own (i. e. as the father's authority had been), with the result that each created for himself, according to his own peculiar phantasy, a religion which had for its central point a Divine Father. Each gave to his Divine creation unlimited power, such power in fact as the child supposes his father to possess. Thus the creation by Amenhotep and Mohammed of a One and Only God, typifies the feeling shared by both alike as regards the "oneness" of the father. As Mohammed may be regarded as having revived the manotheism of Moses, so Amenhotep may be said to have anticipated it! Thus:
"In the name of Allah, the Benefic
- Say: He, Allah, is one.
- Allah is He on whom all depend.
- He begets not, nor is He begotten.
- And none is like Him" (Koran, Chapter CXII).
Mohammed reasserts that which had been the life of the old Hebrew the Merciful nation, and the burden of the song of every Hebrew prophet, that God not only lives but that he is a righteous and merciful ruler; and that to his will it is the duty and privilege of all living men to bow.[1] But the God of Islam was to be a more compelling and authoritative God than Jehovah. As the Jew surrendered his birthright if he imparted his faith to other peoples, so the Muslim was to surrender his if he did not spread his faith wherever and however he might. Thus:
"And it does not beseem the believers that they should go forth all together; why should not then a company from every party from among them go forth that they may apply themselves to obtain understanding in religion, and that they may warn their people when they come back to them that they may be cautious?" (Koran, Chapter IX, v. 122.)
But it was not only with the creation of a One and Only God that Mohammed was concerned; he was also deeply involved in the question of the relationship that he himself should bear to this creation. As Abraham points out,[2] the father is for the child the personification of power and greatness, so that, if at any time a child experiences feelings of hostility against his father, the son tends in phantasy to raise the paternal authority to the level of sovereignty so that in the end he himself becomes as it
