y Sunnat revives me, and will be with me
in Paradise." "He who in distress holds fast to the Sunnat will receive the
reward of a hundred martyrs." As might be expected, the setting up of his
own acts and words as an infallible and unvarying rule of faith accounts
more than anything else for the immobility of the Muhammadan world, for it
must be always remembered that in Islam Church and State are one. The Arab
proverb, "Al mulk wa din tawamini"--country and religion are twins--is the
popular form of expressing the unity of Church and State. {14} To the mind
of the Musalman the rule of the one is the rule of the other,--a truth
sometimes forgotten by politicians who look hopefully on the reform of
Turkey or the regeneration of the House of Osman. The Sunnat as much as the
Quran covers all law, whether political, social, moral, or religious. A
modern writer who has an intimate acquaintance with Islam says:--"If Islam
is to be a power for good in the future, it is imperatively necessary to
cut off the social system from the religion. The difficulty lies in the
close connection between the religious and social ordinances in the Kuran,
the two are so intermingled that it is hard to see how they can be
disentangled without destroying both." I believe this to be impossible, and
the case becomes still more hopeless when we remember that the same remark
would apply to the Sunnat. To forget this is to go astray, for Ibn Khaldoun
distinctly speaks of "the Law derived from the Quran and the Sunnat," of
the "maxims of Musalman Law based on the text of the Quran and the teaching
of the Traditions."[20]

The Prophet had a great dread of all innovation. The technical term for
anything new is "bida't," and of it, it is said: "Bida't is the changer of
Sunnat." In other words, if men seek after things new, if fresh forms of
thought arise, and the changing condition of society demands new modes of
expression for the Faith, or new laws to regulate the community, if in
internals or externals, any new thing (bida't) is introduced, it is to be
shunned. The law as revealed in the Quran and the Sunnat is perfect.
Everything not in accordance with the precepts therein contained is
innovation, and all innovation is heresy. Meanwhile some {15} "bida't" is
allowable, such as the teaching of etymology and syntax, the establishment
of schools, guest-houses, &c., which things did not exist in the time of
the Prophet; but it is distinctly and clearly laid