Читать книгу A Dictionary of Islam. Being a cyclopedia of the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theological terms, of the Muhammadan religion онлайн

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“Men are thus all on one common level, here and hereafter, in their physical, social, and moral light—the level of slaves to one sole Master, of tools to one universal Agent. But the equalising process does not stop here: beasts, birds, fishes, insects, all participate of the same honour or debasement; all are, like man, the slaves of God, the tools and automata of His will; and hence Mahomet is simply logical and self-consistent when in the Coran he informs his followers, that birds, beasts, and the rest are ‘nations’ like themselves, nor does any intrinsic distinction exist between them and the human species, except what accidental diversity the ‘King, the Proud One, the Mighty, the Giant,’ &c., as he styles his God, may have been pleased to make, just as He willed it, and so long as He may will it.

“However, should any one think himself aggrieved by such association, he may console himself by reflecting that, on the other hand, angels, archangels, genii, devils, and whatever other spiritual beings may exist, are no less on his level also; and that if he himself be no better than a camel, he is, however, no worse than Gabriel or any seraph. And then, over all and above all, ‘There is no god but God.’”—(Central and Eastern Arabia, vol. i. p. 365.)