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The Great ^Thoughts of Islam 23
no appeal could move from his perfect
serenity.
He was not a hardened criminal ;
he was simply convinced that God was the
Doer of the deed and he himself only the
instrument for the carrying out of His
will. The other was a father, carrying
in
his arms a dearly-loved
little child to the
grave.
He moved rapidly
down the
crowded street at the head of the procession
of mourners, unconscious either of
curiosity or of sympathy around him.
The set grim expression might have suggested
the idea of Spartan endurance, save
for the deep eyes which gazed into the far
distance, and told unmistakably of the
submission of a strong will to a Stronger,
the will of his God.
This awful God has taken hold of the
imagination of all Islam. He was very
real to the Prophet, and the Prophet has
communicated his faith
to those who have
followed him. Mussulmans may be, in
our sense, bad men, but they
are rarely