--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: To do Mohammed justice, his main attack…" description: "\"To do Mohammed justice, his main attack was against the idolatries of Asia. Only he thought, just as the Arians did and just as the Unitarians do, that..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c6/gilbert-k-chesterton-223_approximation_to-do-mohammed-justice-his-main-attack-w_775662.png" --- # To do Mohammed justice, his main attack was against the… ![“To do Mohammed justice, his main attack was against the idolatries of Asia. Only he thought, just as the Arians did and just as the Unitarians do, that he could attack them better with a greater approximation to plain theism. What distinguishes his heresy from anything like an Arian or Albigensian…” quote by Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c6/gilbert-k-chesterton-223_approximation_to-do-mohammed-justice-his-main-attack-w_775662.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c6/gilbert-k-chesterton-223_approximation_to-do-mohammed-justice-his-main-attack-w_775662.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c6/gilbert-k-chesterton-223_approximation_to-do-mohammed-justice-his-main-attack-w_775662.png) > “To do Mohammed justice, his main attack was against the idolatries of Asia. Only he thought, just as the Arians did and just as the Unitarians do, that he could attack them better with a greater approximation to plain theism. What distinguishes his heresy from anything like an Arian or Albigensian heresy is that, as it sprang up on the borders of Christendom, it could spread outwards to a barbaric world.” [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Chesterton critiques how some religious reforms oversimplify faith, turning it into a tool for cultural domination. **In simple terms:** Simplifying faith can become a weapon. Key Takeaway Beware of reducing belief to power. Themes religion politics culture Mood critical reflective Type theological historical When to use this quote - historical analysis - theological debate - social policy - education reform Key Concepts fundamentalism colonialism Questions to Reflect On - What risks arise when faith is used to control? - How can genuine spirituality coexist with cultural diversity? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on doctrine may ignore spiritual depth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Asia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/asia/) [Borders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/borders/) [Christendom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christendom/) [Heresy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heresy/) [Idolatry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/idolatry/) [Islam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/islam/) [Justice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/justice/) [Theism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theism/) [Unitarian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unitarian/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [...but out of the desert, from the dry places and the dreadful suns, come the cruel children of the lonely God; the real Unitarians…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/but-out-of-the-desert-from-the-dry-places-and-the-dreadful-suns-come/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [People stopped calling themselves Freethinkers because it was so specifically German and anything German was terribly unpopular because of the two world wars. My…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/people-stopped-calling-themselves-freethinkers-because-it-was-so/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [“Dag insists that all dogs secretly speak the English language and subscribe to the morals and beliefs of the Unitarian church...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/dag-insists-that-all-dogs-secretly-speak-the-english-language-and/) [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) > [I trust there is not a young man now living in the United States who will not die a Unitarian.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/i-trust-there-is-not-a-young-man-now-living-in-the-united-states-who/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“The church, which squatted among the headstones like a wet mother dodo, had been at various times Presbyterian, Congregationalist, Unitarian, and Universally Apocalyptic. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut-jr/the-church-which-squatted-among-the-headstones-like-a-wet-mother-dodo/) [Kurt Vonnegut Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut-jr/) > [ Dr. Calder \[a Unitarian minister\] said of Dr. \[Samuel\] Johnson on the publications of Boswell and Mrs. Piozzi, that he was like Actaeon, torn… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace-walpole/dr-calder-a-unitarian-minister-said-of-dr-samuel-johnson-on-the/) [Horace Walpole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace-walpole/) > [“The feeling was less like chemical intoxication than being drunk on life. Spinning round and round, he experienced absolute bliss— unadulterated and unconfined—in which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-luckman/the-feeling-was-less-like-chemical-intoxication-than-being-drunk-on/) [Sol Luckman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-luckman/) > [Now let's take up the minorities in our civilisation, shall we? Bigger the population, the more minorities. Don't step on the toes of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/now-let-s-take-up-the-minorities-in-our-civilisation-shall-we-bigger/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [ As \[The Nation columnist Katha\] Pollitt points out, when one starts looking beneath the surface of things and adding together the out-front atheists with… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-angier/as-the-nation-columnist-katha-pollitt-points-out-when-one-starts/) [Natalie Angier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-angier/) > [A Unitarian is a person who believes in at most one God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-north-whitehead/a-unitarian-is-a-person-who-believes-in-at-most-one-god/) [Alfred North Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-north-whitehead/) > [My family for several generations have been members of the Unitarian Church.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leverett-saltonstall/my-family-for-several-generations-have-been-members-of-the-unitarian/) [Leverett Saltonstall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leverett-saltonstall/) > [Manly natural religion - it is not joining the Church; it is not to believe in a creed, Hebrew, Protestant, Catholic, Trinitarian, Unitarian, Nothingarian.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-parker/manly-natural-religion-it-is-not-joining-the-church-it-is-not-to/) [Theodore Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-parker/) > [ ...\[T\]oday's Washington is about as attentive to the Tenth Amendment as the Unitarian Church is to the Book of Revelation. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-sobran/t-oday-s-washington-is-about-as-attentive-to-the-tenth-amendment-as/) [Joseph Sobran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-sobran/) > [ “He \[Erasmus Darwin\] used to say that 'unitarianism was a feather-bed to catch a falling Christian.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/he-erasmus-darwin-used-to-say-that-unitarianism-was-a-feather-bed-to/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [I was raised Unitarian, and my mother said she took us to church so that we wouldn't get religious later in life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/i-was-raised-unitarian-and-my-mother-said-she-took-us-to-church-so/) [Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/) ## More by Gilbert K. Chesterton > [The aim of good prose words is to mean what they say. The aim of good poetical words is to mean what they do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/the-aim-of-good-prose-words-is-to-mean-what-they-say-the-aim-of-good/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Youth is always too serious, and just now it is too serious about frivolity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/youth-is-always-too-serious-and-just-now-it-is-too-serious-about/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Tradition does not mean a dead town; it does not mean that the living are dead but that the dead are alive. It means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/tradition-does-not-mean-a-dead-town-it-does-not-mean-that-the-living/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted; precisely because most things are permitted and only a few things forbidden.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/it-is-shorter-to-state-the-things-forbidden-than-the-things-permitted/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Everyone seems to assume that the unscrupulous parts of journalism will be the frivolous or jocular parts. This is against all ethical experience. Jokes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/everyone-seems-to-assume-that-the-unscrupulous-parts-of-journalism/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [For Scotland has a double dose of the poison called heredity; the sense of blood in the aristocrat, the sense of doom in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/for-scotland-has-a-double-dose-of-the-poison-called-heredity-the/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Faith is always at a disadvantage; it is a perpetually defeated thing which survives all conquerors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/faith-is-always-at-a-disadvantage-it-is-a-perpetually-defeated-thing/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [A building is akin to dogma; it is insolent, like dogma. Whether or no it is permanent, it claims permanence, like a dogma. People…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/a-building-is-akin-to-dogma-it-is-insolent-like-dogma-whether-or-no/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [The triangle of truisms, of father, mother and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/the-triangle-of-truisms-of-father-mother-and-child-cannot-be/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Criticism is only words about words, and of what use are words about such words as these?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/criticism-is-only-words-about-words-and-of-what-use-are-words-about/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place...The old humility was a spur that prevented a man from stopping; not a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/what-we-suffer-from-today-is-humility-in-the-wrong-place-the-old/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Plato was only a Bernard Shaw who unfortunately made his jokes in Greek.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/plato-was-only-a-bernard-shaw-who-unfortunately-made-his-jokes-in/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [The word good has many meanings...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/the-word-good-has-many-meanings/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/music-with-dinner-is-an-insult-both-to-the-cook-and-the-violinist/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Eugenics asserts that all men must be so stupid that they cannot manage their own affairs; and also so clever that they can manage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/eugenics-asserts-that-all-men-must-be-so-stupid-that-they-cannot/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) [Explore all 868 Gilbert K. Chesterton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) ## More Approximation quotes > [“I suppose that having lost true love once, I never wanted to replace it with a lukewarm approximation that would only serve to make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paola-kaufmann/i-suppose-that-having-lost-true-love-once-i-never-wanted-to-replace/) Paola Kaufmann > [Truth is much too complicated to allow anything but approximations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-von-neumann/truth-is-much-too-complicated-to-allow-anything-but-approximations/) [John von Neumann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-von-neumann/) > [I consider the differences between man and animals in propensities, feelings, and intellectual faculties, to be the result of the same cause as that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sir-william-lawrence-1st-baronet/i-consider-the-differences-between-man-and-animals-in-propensities/) Sir William Lawrence, 1st Baronet > [ \[A\]n Obama presidency would be an amusing approximation of the Carter administration, complete with vaporous moralizing and foreign policy bungling. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmett-tyrrell/a-n-obama-presidency-would-be-an-amusing-approximation-of-the-carter/) [Emmett Tyrrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmett-tyrrell/) > [No one knows what the right algorithm is, but it gives us hope that if we can discover some crude approximation of whatever this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/no-one-knows-what-the-right-algorithm-is-but-it-gives-us-hope-that-if/) [Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/) > [Men of science have made abundant mistakes of every kind; their knowledge has improved only because of their gradual abandonment of ancient errors, poor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-sarton/men-of-science-have-made-abundant-mistakes-of-every-kind-their/) [George Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-sarton/) > [I conceive, therefore, that a somewhat comprehensive socialisation of investment will prove the means of securing an approximation to full employment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-maynard-keynes/i-conceive-therefore-that-a-somewhat-comprehensive-socialisation-of/) [John Maynard Keynes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-maynard-keynes/) > [The fascinating thing to a dispassionate observer about the structure of life in the Soviet Union is that in their efforts to produce an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/the-fascinating-thing-to-a-dispassionate-observer-about-the-structure/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [Spirituality is much wider than any particular religion, and in the larger ideas of it that are now coming on us even the greatest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sri-aurobindo/spirituality-is-much-wider-than-any-particular-religion-and-in-the/) [Sri Aurobindo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sri-aurobindo/) > [“Luckily, there's a neat approximation formula for just this sum. The higher the number n, the better the estimate will be. It is mathematically…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/metin-bektas/luckily-there-s-a-neat-approximation-formula-for-just-this-sum-the/) Metin Bektas > [No matter how consummate a work of art may seem, it is only an approximation of the original conception. It is the artist's consciousness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgard-varese/no-matter-how-consummate-a-work-of-art-may-seem-it-is-only-an/) [Edgard Varese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgard-varese/) > [There is a clear acknowledgement all over the world that we should not teach people to read and then to leave them without literature.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-d-patel/there-is-a-clear-acknowledgement-all-over-the-world-that-we-should/) A. D. Patel > [Most important part of doing physics is the knowledge of approximation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lev-landau/most-important-part-of-doing-physics-is-the-knowledge-of-approximation/) [Lev Landau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lev-landau/) > [I don't believe that we are what we do although many thinkers argue otherwise. I believe that what we do is, very often, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-barthelme/i-don-t-believe-that-we-are-what-we-do-although-many-thinkers-argue/) [Donald Barthelme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-barthelme/) > [Clearly it is not the lovelorn sufferer who seeks solace in chocolate, but rather the chocolate-deprived individual, who, desperate, seeks in mere love a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-boynton/clearly-it-is-not-the-lovelorn-sufferer-who-seeks-solace-in-chocolate/) [Sandra Boynton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandra-boynton/) Browse all 67 Approximation quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "To do Mohammed justice, his main attack was against the idolatries of Asia. Only he thought, just as the Arians did and just as the Unitarians do, that he could attack them better with a greater approximation to plain theism. What distinguishes his heresy from anything like an Arian or Albigensian heresy is that, as it sprang up on the borders of Christendom, it could spread outwards to a barbaric world.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gilbert K. Chesterton" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/to-do-mohammed-justice-his-main-attack-was-against-the-idolatries-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Approximation" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/to-do-mohammed-justice-his-main-attack-was-against-the-idolatries-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c6/gilbert-k-chesterton-223_approximation_to-do-mohammed-justice-his-main-attack-w_775662.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c6/gilbert-k-chesterton-223_approximation_to-do-mohammed-justice-his-main-attack-w_775662.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c6/gilbert-k-chesterton-223_approximation_to-do-mohammed-justice-his-main-attack-w_775662.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“To do Mohammed justice, his main attack was against the idolatries of Asia. Only he thought, just as the…” — Gilbert K. Chesterton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Gilbert K. Chesterton", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "To do Mohammed justice, his main...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/to-do-mohammed-justice-his-main-attack-was-against-the-idolatries-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/to-do-mohammed-justice-his-main-attack-was-against-the-idolatries-of/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```