whom he has sent into the world, without excepting one, and making no difference between the prophets and ambassadors of God: I believe in the day of judgment: moreover I believe that every thing that exists, whether it be pleasing to us or not, was created of God."
The first article of belief is in God: the Koran discards idolatry and creature-worship as has been observed, on the rational principle that whatever rises must set, that whatever is born must die, that whatever is corruptible must decay and perish[1]. This chain of thought is exemplified in the case of Abraham by a story certainly borrowed from the Talmud[2], which represents Abraham as employing this kind of argument when he opposed the introduction of idolatry into Chaldæa. The story is thus related in the Koran[3]:
