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sequence of which is, that man is degraded from a rational being to a necessary agent. Knowledge must be held in light estimation in countries so situated, and a contempt for every thing exists, save the Koran and its expositions.
The conflagration of the library at Alexandria by the Caliph Omar, shews the early existence of such fanaticism and bigotry among the followers of the Arabian Prophet! The precepts[1] of the Koran are unfavourable to sculpture or the kindred art of painting, from their liability to be perverted to pur-
- ↑ "Mahometans are at all times ready to acknowledge our superiority in every thing connected with manufactures and arts. This concession, indeed, could not well be withheld, as most articles of a finer quality are imported from Europe into the East, and the greater portion of them from England. Nevertheless, it is surprising that a people so bigoted to their own superiority in most respects, have allowed us a pre-eminence even in this. They reconcile it however to their vanity, by observing that we, as infidels, have our enjoyments in this life, while theirs, as true Believers, will be in a world to come. In short, that we are as superior to them, as the children of this world are, in their generation, wiser than the children of light."—Keppel's Narrative, vol. i. p. 6, &c.
