"And as to Thamud, We directed them, but they loved blindness better than the true directions."[1] Sometimes contradiction appears even in a single verse of the Quran. For instance, He says, "After a misfortune hath befallen you (you had already attained two equal advantages), do you say, whence cometh this? Answer, This is from yourselves."[2] In the next verse, He says, "And what happenth unto you, on the day whereon the two armies met, was certainly by permission of the Lord."[3] Of this kind also is the verse, "Whatever good befalleth thee, O man, it is from God; and whatever evil befalleth thee, it is from thyself;"[4] while the preceding verse says, "All is from God."[5]
Such is also the case with the Traditions. The Prophet says, "Every child is born in the true religion; his parents afterwards turn him into a Jew or a Christian." On another occasion he said, "The follow-
