Hindi Pandits (Sages) maintain this vain doctrine in one or other of its many forms. Of course, if the proper definition of good were merely that which pleases and profits 1 a man, and were evil whatever displeases and injures him, then their fancy would be correct. But it is not so. On the contrary, good is that which is in accordance with God's holy will and commandments, and evil is that which is contrary to them. Hence sin and evil have truly an origin, that is to say, all those wishes, thoughts, words and deeds of a man which are contrary to God's will are essentially evil and sinful, as has previously been mentioned. And it is clear that if a man, without blinding the eyes of his reason and conscience with undue prejudice, considers all those evil thoughts and desires and bad passions which arise in his own heart, and if he observes the unworthy acts which he and others do, and thinks a little about all the trouble, sorrow, toil, pain, distress, oppression, injustice, hatred, struggling and quarrelling which are so evident in the world, then he will surely confess that evil has an origin and a real existence, and that this is proved by the inward and outward state of man. For no man of intelligence will deem all these evil things good, nor will he say that all these evils exist only in man's imagination. And, leaving all

this aside, the man who denies the existence of sin and evil must deny God's existence also: for, since God's will is the law of all His creatures, and to act contrary thereto is evil, therefore whoever denies that there is such a thing as evil denies also that there is any law of God: and whoever denies the existence of God's law must also deny that God Himself exists, for that law is God's will, and God's will is not separate and apart from God's nature (ذات) but is so identified therewith that the one cannot exist without the other.

But if any one ask, Since God is the Creator of all things, and since in heaven and earth there exists nothing which was not created by Him, and since from the absolutely good and pure and holy God no evil thing can proceed, whence then has evil come?, the answer is that evidently the existence of evil is one of those mysteries which man's intellect is incapable of solving; hence a final and sufficient reply to this inquiry cannot be given. But, in accordance with the teaching of the word of God, thus much may be said regarding this delicate matter, for the satisfaction of seekers after the truth, that those evils and wickednesses which are now in existence among men-nay more, which are in man's very heart—were not in the beginning, and God Most High did. not create man associated with evil but good, pure, faultless and sinless. Sin and wickedness were not an original