Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: IV THE MIND OF A MOSLEM CHILD THE Moslem idea of the innocence of childhood is expressed by them when they say that the mind of children is like a clean tablet, equally open to any sort of inscription. It is not generally known that Moslems deny original sin in any sense of the word. Sin, according to most Moslem authorities, is not an inheritance, but a conscious act committed against known law by one who has attained years of discretion. Therefore sins of ignorance are not considered matters of guilt. In al-Ghazali's great work, "The Revival of the Sciences of Religion" (Vol. Ill, p. 53), there is a special section on the method for the education of boys and the improvement of their moral character. Nothing is said in regard to girls. It is generally considered inadvisable by all old Moslem authors to teach girls how to read and write, and the omission "in al-Ghazali is therefore significant. He begins his chapter as follows: "It is most important to know how to bring up a boy, for the boy is a trust in the hands of hisfather, and his pure heart is a precious jewel like a tablet without inscription. It is therefore ready to receive whatever is engraved upon it, and turns to whatever direction it is inclined. If he learns to do good and is taught it, he grows up accordingly, and is happy in this world and the next; and his parents and teachers will have the reward for their action. But if he learns evil and grows up in neglect like the dumb cattle, he will turn away from the truth and perish, and his sin will be on the neck of his guardian. Allah has said, O ye who believe, guard yourselves and your family from the fire; and even as the father would guard his son from the fire of this world, by how much the more should he guard him from the fire of the world to come? He wi...