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ISLAM AND MISSIONS
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Being papers read at the Second ^^---^v nf PcjTir--- Missionary Conference on behalf X"^^^ . , *^^^ of the Mohammedan World at
Lucknow, January 23-28, 1911 [* NOV 16 1911
Edited by
E. M. WHERRY, D.O., S. M. ZWEMER, D.D., C. G. MYLREA, M.A.
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Copyright, 191 1, by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
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CONTENTS
I. An Introductory Survey
Rev. Samuel M. Zwemer, D.D., F. R. G. S.
Arabia
II. Pan-Islamism in Turkey ....
Rev. W. S. NelsoTiy D.D., Syria
III. Pan-Islamism in Africa ....
Rev. Friedrich IFurz, Basel
IV. The Dervish Orders in Africa
Rev. Canon E. Sell, D.D., Madras
V. The Moslem Advance in Africa
Prof. Carl Meinhof, LL. D., Hamburg
VI. Pan-Islamism in Malaysia
Rev. G. Simon, Sumatra
VII. Political Changes in Turkey
Prof. J Stewart Crawford, Beirut
VIII. Political Changes in Arabia .
Rev. J. C. Toung, M. Z)., Aden, Arabia
IX. Political Changes in Persia .
Rev. L. F. Esselstyn, Persia
X. The Situation in India ....
Rev. W. A. Wilson, M. A., D.D., Indore
XI. The Old and the New Regime in Turkey
Rev. S. F. R. Trowbridge, Aintab, Turkey
XII. Conditions in Central Asia ...
Colonel G. Wingate, C. I. E., London
XIIL, Islam Under Pagan Rule
Rev. Charles R. Watson, D.D., Philadelphia
XIV. Islam Under Christian Rule . . . '195
Rev. W. H. T. Gairdner, B. A., Cairo
5
43 53 63
76
87 100 116 128 141
159
172 183
6 Contents
XV. Moslem Advanc in India .... 206
Rev. John Takii-, Bengal
XVI. Moslem Advancf p: Malaysia . . . 220
Rev. N. Adrianiy Celebes
XVII. Islam in China . , . . » . 233
Mr. F. H. Rhodes y China
XVIII. Islam in Russia 249
Miss Jen vie Von Meyer y 7 if As
XIX. Reform Movements in Ind.a .... 273
Rev. Canon H. U. Weitbrechty Ph. D.y D.D.y Simla
XX. Reform Movements in the Near East . . 288
Rev. John Giffciy D.D.y Cairo
ILLUSTRATIONS
Mohammedan Religious Service at Delhi, India, Frontispiece
Facing page
Islam and Modernism. Opening of Parliament by the Sultan at Constantinople. The Sultan — Caliph Stands Alone in the Central Box
Mosque at Mombasa, British East Africa The Mohammedan College at Aligarh, India Mosque at Samarkand, Central Asia Street in Askabad .....
48 76
147 174 174
Where Islam Meets Paganism in Africa-.
Street Singer, Assuan, Egypt, a Moslem From
the Nyam-nyam Tribe . . . .187
Warriors of the Bisharin Tribe, Pagans, in the
Eastern Sudan . . . . .187
Chinese Mohammedans :
A Mohammedan Teacher .... 234 Butchers From West China .... 234
The Late Sir Sayyad Ahmad Khan, Founder of the
Mohammedan College at Aligarh . . . 273
" And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand ; and Joshua went unto him and said unto him. Art thou for us or for our adversaries ? And he said Nay, but as prince of the host of Jehovah am I now come." — Joshua v. /j, i^.
" When the strong man fully armed guardeth his own court his goods are in peace, but when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him he taketh from him his whole armour wherein he trusted and divideth his spoils." — Luke xi. 21, 22.
"Not by might, nor by power, but by ray Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts." — Zechariah iv. 6, R. F.
AK INTEODUCTOEY SUEVEY
REV. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D. D., F. R. G. S., ARABIA
THE Moslem world is not a haphazard expression invented by missionaries to represent a portion of the great world problem of evangelization, but is a literalism which sums up an actual situation. Six years before the Cairo Conference the first number of the Eeviie du Monde Musulman was published in Paris, and for ten years this monthly magaziue has, from a purely scientific standpoint, tried to survey the extent of Islam, its coudition, and developments iu those lands where it holds sway, and which as a world by itself scien- tifically requires unity of treatment.
Nor is the Moslem world merely a geographical expres- sion for the vast areas covered by Moslem conquest or conversion. The term is of much deeper significance. As Dr. C. H. Becker pointed out in his article in the first num- ber of Der Islam, the word Islam itself stands for a unity of religious conception, a unity of political theory and of ideals of civilization, as well as of religion, which to- gether form the problem of Islam. Therefore the essen- tial and philosophical unity of the problem, in lands which constitute the Moslem world, has been recognized by all those who have made a study of the subject.
It is possible, for this reason, to give a general survey of the Moslem world as a unit, and there are three reasons why this survey should be given at the opening of the Conference which succeeds that held at Cairo five years ago. The Cairo Conference marked a great step in ad- vance towards the evangelization of the Mohammedan
9
lo Islam and Missions
world because it gave the first fall iuformation through its published reports of the actual state of Mohammedan lands early in the twentieth century ; but for one reason or another some lands were left out in that survey, and in other cases the survey was inadequate or inaccurate. The chief value of the Cairo Conference was to inaugu- rate or stimulate more accurate observation and more careful report among missionaries in Moslem lands. The first reason, therefore, for a general survey of the Moslem world at the opening of this Conference is to supplement the Cairo Conference Eeports. The second reason is to correct its returns and statistics by later investigations and developments ; and the third reason, sufficient in it- self, is that only by a general survey can the delegates to this Conference see the whole problem at the outset and recognize its unity, its opportunity, and the importunity of the situation because of both. We will take up the present survey in four divisions :
First, as regards Statistics ;
Second, Political conditions and developments ;
Third, Social and intellectual movements since the Cairo Conference ; and,
Fourth, The changed attitude towards the Mos- lem world and missions to Moslems in the home Churches as a result of the Caii'o Con- ference.
Such a survey can only be general, and preparatory to the more careful consideration of the topics that follow on our programme : Pau-Islamism, Missions and Govern- ments, The Moslem Advance, Eeform Movements, The Training of Missionaries, and The Methods to be used.
1. Statistical We must still answer the question as to the total pop- ulation of the Moslem world by conjecture instead of
An Introductory Survey 11
accurate statistics, at the begiuuing of the twentieth cen- tury. The discrepancies in the statistical surveys of the Moslem world given by various authorities are as dis- concerting as they are surprising. The total population of the Moslem world, for example, has been variously estimated as follows :
Statesman's Year Book, 1890 . 203,600,000 Brockhaus, ' ' Convers- Lexicon, ' ^
1894 175,000,000
Hubert Jansen, ^' Verbreitung des
Tslams," 1897 . . . 259,680,672 S. M. Zwemer {Missionary Be-
view\l%^% .... 196,491,842 Allgemeine Missions Zeitschrifty
1902 . ... 175,290,000
H. Wichmann, in Justus Perthes'
*^ Atlas," 1903 . , 240,000,000
Encyclopedia of Missions, 1904 193,550,000
*^ The Mohammedan World of
To-day" (Cairo Conference,
1906) . . . o 232,966,170
Martin Hartmann (1910) . . 223,985,780
Yet the discrepancy between the highest figures given, for example, by Hubert Jansen and Dr. Hartmann, and the lowest figures of the Allgemeine Missions Zeitschrift are partly explained by the varying estimates placed as to the number of Moslems in the Sudan and in China. For the rest of the world there seems to be at least partial agreement. The most detailed statistics can be found in Jansen, but they are not reliable in many respects and not as conservative as the results obtained in the papers prepared for the Cairo Conference. The latest statistical survey of the Moslem world is that given by Dr. Hart- mann in an appendix to his valuable book, *' Der Islam." The chief discrepancies between the statistics he gives and those of the Cairo Conference are the following :
1 2 Islam and Missions
Turkey in Europe is put down with a Moslem popula- tiou of 3,295,000 instead of the 2,500,000 given at Cairo. The Moslem population of the Philippine Islands is given as 725, 30d instead of 300,000 ; that of Indo- China is only 1,U6,000, while the Cairo survey gives it as 1,430,383. The Moslem population of British India, including Cey- lon, Burma, Aden and Perim, is given as only 59,796,- 800 ; according to the last census it is 62,458,077 for India proper. The Moslem population of Abyssinia was given at the Cairo Conference as 350,000 : Dr. Hartmann makes it 800,000. Morocco was given at Cairo as 5,600,- 000 : here it is put down as 7,840,000. The Moslem population of German East Africa as 6,700,000 is evi- dently a misprint.
We turn now to the totals of Dr. Hartmann' s survey. That for all Europe, 12,991,000, including Eussia, does not differ much from the total of the Cairo survey. In the case of Asia his total is slightly below that of Cairo, which included all the Eussian Moslems. In Africa his total is nearly 6,000,000 less than that given at Cairo, while his total for the whole world is 223,985,780 ; that given at Cairo was 232,966,170. If we deduct from Dr. Hartmann's statistics the excessive figures for Siam, China and the Philippine Islands, together with the printed error in regard to the Kameruns, the total esti- mated population of the Moslem world according to this latest survey would be a little less than 200,000,000.
In regard to two large areas of the Moslem world we are able to speak with much greater accuracy now than at the Cairo Conference. Miss Jennie Von Meyer and Madam Sophie Bobrovnikoff have published careful sur- veys of the extent and character of Islam in the Eussian Empire, showing that the total Moslem population of Eussia, including those of Khiva and Bokhara, is not much less than 20,000,000. And Mr. Marshall Broom-
An Introductory Survey 13
hall, in his recent volume on Islam in China, after most careful investigations, proves beyond a doubt that the Moslem population in the Chinese Empire lies somewhere between the minimum and maximum figures of 5,000,000 and 10,000,000. And although this number is less than one-third of the supposed Moslem population of the Chinese Empire given in the Statesman's Year Book, it is too large to be ignored. We quote a paragraph from Mr. Broomhall's chapter on the subject :
^*In spite of the somewhat uncertain light which at present exists we may, however, safely say that the Mos- lem population of China is certainly equal to the entire population of Algeria, or Scotland or Ireland ; that it is in all probability fully equal to that of Morocco, and possibly not less than the total population of Egypt or Persia. A few millions among the hundreds of millions of China may not seem many, but if we think of a com- munity equal to that of Egypt or Persia, i:)eculiarly ac- cessible to the Gospel, and yet practically without any missionaries specially set apart or qualified to deal with them, and, apart from one or two small exceptious, with no literature for use among them, we shall have a more adequate conception of the real problem.
^' What should we think of Manchuria or Mongolia without any missionaries, or of no interest centering around the closed land of Tibet? Yet the accessible Moslem population of China are certaiuly too or three times that of Mongolia, are fully equal to that of Tibet, and probably not less than that of Manchuria. It may, therefore, be said that within China there is a special people equal in number to the population of any of China's dependencies, for whom practically nothing is being done, and whose presence hitherto has been almost ignored.'^
The Moslem population of the Eussian Empire and the Mohammedans of China are peculiarly accessible, and it would seem that perhaps in both of these empires work
1^ Islam and Missions
among tliein iniglit be followed by larger results tlian in other lands where Islam has been the predominant faith for centuries.
Summing up the statistical survey, and without going into such detail as is found in the survey published by the Cairo Conference, the 200,000,000 in the Moslem world are found chiefly in the following countries :
India leads the list with 62,458,077 Moslems, and it is a startling fact that there are now under British rule more Mohammedans than under any other government in modern or in medieval days. Counting her possessions and dependencies, at least 95,000,000 followers of the prophet of Mecca are to-day enjoying the blessings of British rule, and the total number of Moslems in the British Empire is 5,000,000 in excess of the Christian population of that empire. As Dr. Jones points out in his book, '^ India, Its Life and Thought," this is a most significant fact. The Moslem population of India is not at a standstill, but is growing. According to the same authority, during the last decade it increased by 9.1 per cent, while the population of India as a whole increased by only 1.9 per cent.
Next to India Java has the largest Moslem population of any country in the world, with a total of 24,270,600 Moslems. The Eussian Empire follows closely with its 20,000,000 ; then the Turkish Empire in Asia and in Europe with 15,528,800 Moslems. Following this we have a group of Moslem lands, Egypt, Persia, Morocco, Algeria, Arabia, Afghanistan, almost wholly Moslem, with populations of from 4,000,000 to 9,000,000 each. There is scarcely a country in Africa or Asia to-day where a Moslem population is not found. In some cases this population may be very small, but in nearly every case it is a growing population. For example Tibet, the great closed land, counts to-day some 20,000 Moslems,
An Introductory Survey 15
and in tlie case of South Africa, Moslems are now found in all the region from the Cape to the Congo. A recent correspondent of the London Morning Fost states : ' ' So far throughout the centuries Mohammedan influence, which has always spread along the great slave trade and caravan routes, has been, as far as is known, invariably turned aside by the vast swamps and forests of the Congo Basin, which has thus acted as a kind of breakwater for British South Africa. But just as the incursion of the British into Uganda seems to have let loose all kinds of dormant insect plagues and pests, so European civiliza- tion and railways are breaking down the barrier between the North and South and allowing a freer circulation of ideas and religions throughout the whole circuit of the continent." He goes on to say that there is a real danger of Islam spreading among the Zulus and Basutos, who, if swept into the Moslem fold, would become propagators of Islam on account of their martial instincts and their anti-foreign proclivities.
I have not been able to learn whether the 70,000 Mohammedans living along the north coast and south- east coast of Madagascar, among a total population of 3,000,000, are at present increasing, but the fact that Islam has a long history back of it in this island, and the recent change of attitude on the part of the French government may well call our attention to the need of the Moslems there. The story of Islam in Madagascar has recently been told in two volumes by a French writer who seems to think that the faith is at present growing.
Since the Cairo Conference attention has been called to the rapid increase of Islam in Abyssinia, especially in the north. It is reported that whole tribes once Chris- tian, and still bearing Christian names, have become Moslem. Dr. Enno Littmann, in a recent article in Ver Mam, shows the advance which Islam has made dur-
l6 Islam and Missions
iug the past fifty years among tribes which still bear Chriatiau uames. Of the Mensa Tribe he says that two- thirds are at present Mohammedan, and only one-third nominally Christian. The Bogos, who were Christian in 18G0, have more than half of them become converted to Islam, and the Betguk have all turned Moslem. It is in- teresting, however, to note what this writer states : **The Swedish Mission has successfully withstood the advance of Islam, and has brought Moslems back in many cases to their early Christianity, since in North Abyssinia it is not regarded as a very great crime to leave Islam, as it is in Arabia, Syria, or Persia."
The increase of Islam, and therefore its menace and peril, is, however, not confined to the domains of King Menelik. <' The threatening advance of Islam in Equato- rial Africa,'^ to use the words of the Edinburgh Confer- ence Eeport, *' presents to the Church of Christ the decisive question whether the Dark Continent shall be- come Mohammedan or Christian," and it is the unani- mous opinion of missionary statesmen that the crucial problem of missions in Africa is to stem the tide of Islam. In a letter to the Edinburgh Conference, Dr. Gustav Warneck of the University of Halle wrote : ** There is no difference of opinion that Christian missions dare not halt on the borders of the Mohammedan world, yet the crucial question at present is. Where are Chris- tian missions most seriously threatened by Islam? There can be no doubt about the answer: In Central Africa ; perhaps also in the Dutch East Indies. If we do not counteract the advance of Islam with all our energy and along the whole line, we shall lose not only large parts of now pagan Africa, but even territories already Christianized. The main battle against Mohammedan- ism in the immediate future will be fought on East African soil."
An Introductory Survey 17
The statement made by Commission No. 1 of the Edinburgh Conference in regard to this advance was none too strong. It was based on the accumulated evidence of a large correspondence with missionaries in every part of the continent, and every word could be expanded into a paragraph if authorities were quoted. ^ ^ The absorption of native races into Islam is proceeding rapidly and continuously in practically all jyarts of the con- tinent. The Commission has had convincing evidence of this fact brought to its attention by missionaries along the Nile^ in East Central Africa^ in Southeast Africa, on different parts of the West Coast, in Northern Nigeria, in the Sudan, in different parts of the Congo Basin, in pa^is lying south of the Congo, and even in South Africa. Mohammedan traders are finding their way into the remotest parts of the continent, and it is well known that every Moham- medan trader is more or less a Mohammedan missionary. The result of this penetration of the field by these repre- sentatives of Islam will be that the Christian missionary enterprise will year by year become more difficult. Paganism is doomed. Animistic faiths crumble quickly before any higher and more dogmatic religion. Either Christianity or Islam will prevail throughout Africa."
From every part of the mission field voices are raised to call attention to this advance in the Dark Continent. A few years ago Canon Sell of Madras wrote : ''There are times when it is very difficult to balance the compet- ing claims of various parts of the mission field. I see no difficulty now. . . . Certain parts of Africa form now, in military language, the objective, and are the strategical positions of the great mission field. Parts of Africa in which the Moslem advance is imminent have for the present a preeminent claim. The absorption of pagan races into Islam is so rapid and continuous that in a few years' time some may be quite lost to us."
1 8 Islam and Missions
The Bishop of Eangoon wrote in reply to questions for the Edinburgh Conference : ' ^ First in urgency are the races at present animistic but threatened by Islam, as in Africa.'^
''The most urgent of all mission problems," says Mis- sionary Landgrebe of Sumatra, ''are the countries threatened by Islam in Africa.'^
Mr. McNairn of Peru wrote on the same question : *' Foremost among all fields where the call is imperative, and the very urgency of the need is God's call to His Church to go in and possess the land, is Africa, in view of the great Moslem advance. We must take the Light to the Dark Continent before the apostles of Mohammed- anism enshroud it in yet greater darkness.'^
And finally here is the testimony of Dr. Holland of Baluchistan : " Africa should first receive concentrated attention because if pagan Africa once embraces Islam, then the work of converting them to Christianity will be much more difficult and slow. Once Africa is under the sway of Islam, the days of spiritual harvest such as have taken place in Uganda will be forever over. Africa, in my opinion, offers the most urgent call in the present time."
In the Dutch East Indies the progress of Islam has been disputed, and in some cases arrested efiectually by the splendid missionary effort of Dutch and German so- cieties. Nevertheless the character of Islam in the East Indies is changing. Formerly it was a mere veneer of external observances covering the animistic faith. It is now becoming more pervasive and dominant. Increased travel to Mecca by better means of communication, pan-Is- lamism through the dervish orders, and the power of Mos- lem journalism from Cairo and Constantinople as centres, are compacting and strengthening the Mohammedanism of the Malays. In regard to Sumatra and Java the Edin- burgh Conference Eeport states : " In Sumatra, Islam is advancing into hitherto pagan territories. Had Chris-
An Introductory Survey 19
tian missionary work been prosecuted vigorously a gen- eration ago, Islam would not have gained such a strong foothold there. In Java, Mohammedanism shows new life in the establishment of a Moslem university, and in the production of an edition of the Koran in Javanese. The number of teachers of the Koran is multiplying greatly. The inhabitants are coming more and more under the influence of Mohammedanism, and are thus being made more inaccessible to the work of the Dutch missionaries. Unless the Church promptly does more to meet the desire for education and enlightenment, there is danger that the population will more and more accept Mohammedanism. ' ^
Nor is the Mohammedan population of South America and the West Indies any longer a negligible factor in our survey. In British Guiana there are, according to Dr. Hartmann, 22, 200 Moslems ; in Dutch Guiana, 5, 800 j in Central America and the West Indies, 20,600. These, together with the 8,000 Moslems in the United States, make a total of 56,600 Mohammedans in the 'New World. Such a small fraction of the population might well be omitted in our survey were it not that undoubted testi- mony comes in regard to the activity of Islam, especially in British Guiana and the West Indies. Eev. J. B. Hill writes in a recent number of the Toronto Missionary Wit- ness concerning the aggressive character of the Moham- medan missionaries in proselytizing their Hindu country- men who work on the plantations : ' ' The most serious feature of Mohammedanism in British Guiana is its in- fluence upon our Christian people. There have actually been several cases in which Christians of the negro race have surrendered Christ for the prophet of Mecca. The Mohammedan missionary is a skillful debater. He studies the Christian Scriptures with a view to showing their inferiority to the Koran. He is more familiar with
20 Islam and Missions
the Bible than many of our more illiterate Christians, and by misinterpretation he endeavours to shake the faith of uneducated Christians in the Word of God. If the re- sults of a century's missionary effort in British Guiana are to be preserved, the Christian Church must make a more determined effort to combat the influence of the East Indian. The struggle of the future in British Guiana will be between Christ and Mohammed.'' From Jamaica, in the West Indies, Miss Julia M. Bentley also writes, telling of the Mohammedan opposition encountered on the estates and showing that it is by far the most difficult thing to meet : '^ Many Hindus will be getting interested and really favourable to Christianity, and often converted, when some Indian Mohammedan, or several of them, will form a plot of persecution or rival teaching and lead them astray. It seems to me that Mohammedan work is really the keystone of the arch at the present day of mis- sionary effort."
All this evidence goes to prove that the statistics of the Moslem world are not stationary, and although the character of Islam is widely divergent, and can in many cases hardly be distinguished from paganism, especially on the border marches where Islam has made its most recent conquests, it nevertheless is still a growing faith both in breadth and depth with its dynamics as well as its statistics.
We conclude our statistical survey with a paragraph on the unoccupied mission fields in the Moslem world. The Findings of Commission Number I at Edinburgh have put the unoccupied fields of the world in general before the attention of the Church, and in their report, based upon the returns from every part of the Moslem world, they state that ''a large proportion of the unoc- cupied fields are to be found to-day within the Moham- medan world, not only in Northern Africa and in Western
An Introductory Survey 21
Asia but also in China. Indeed by far the greater part of the Mohammedan world is practically unoccupied." This FindiDg of the Commission is based upon the report of their sub-committee on Unoccupied Fields, which in- cluded a survey of sections untouched and not included in any existing scheme of missionary operation. Under this head they mention Eussian Turkestan with 5,000,000 Mohammedans ; Khiva with 800,000 ; Bokhara with 1,250,000 ; Afghanistan with 4,000,000 Moslems. In Africa the unoccupied Moslem fields include Barka with 100,000, Tunis, south of the coast, with 1,000,000 ; Oran with 1,300,000 ; 2,260,000 in the Atlas Kiff country, the Mulaya Valley and the Sahara district of Morocco, as well as large regions mentioned in their report where Islam and Christianity are battling for the conquest of paganism. In Arabia the provinces of Nejd, Hejaz and Hadramaut are wholly unoccupied, and in the Malay Peninsula there are three districts with a total population of 1,000,000 souls without Christian missions.
Although all the great strategic centres of population in the Moslem world are already occupied and its great cities, with the exception of Mecca and Meshed, are in one way or another centres of missionary effort, we can- not ignore these unoccupied regions and untouched populations in our statistical survey. The greatest plea for missions is not opportunity but destitution. There is in these fields the glory of the impossible. Think of cities like Mecca and Bokhara, or of races like the Af- ghans and Somalis !
We turn next to a consideration of the present political movements in Islam.
II. Political It was Lord Curzon who made the shrewd remark that Islam represented not a State Church, but a Church State.
22 Islam and Missions
This has been its ideal from the days of Mohammed, and it is not without reason that the Lucknow programme de- voles so large a portion of its time to a consideration of the political changes in the Moslem world and their re- lation to Islam, and the outlook for Christian missions, as well as to a consideration of the attitude of Moslem gov- ernments towards Christian propagandism. Without en- croaching upon the special programme for the second day of our Conference, a general survey of the political changes in the Moslem world since the Cairo Conference may prove helpful, and is specially appropriate on this first day when we engage in thanksgiving and praise for what God has wrought in the Moslem world through His providence and Spirit.
The statement was made at the Cairo Conference that the present political division of the Mohammedan world is a startling evidence of the finger of God in history and a challenge to faith because it indicates how many of the doors in Moslem lands are wide open. Three-fourths of the Moslem world were then considered accessible to missions, and the late Dr. Jessup, speaking of this chal- lenge of open doors, said, ^^ It is a fact not to be ignored or lightly regarded that almost the only really open doors to reach Islam are in countries where Moslems are under Christian or non -Moslem rule. The Turkish Empire, Western Arabia, Persia, Turkestan, Afghanistan, Tripoli, and Morocco, under Moslem rule, are virtually sealed against liberty of conscience and belief. On the other hand, in India, the East Indies, Northwest China, Egypt, Tunis, and Algiers, the door may be regarded as open, so that about 140,000,000 are in a measure accessible to the Christian missionary." It needs a statement such as this to make us realize what God hath wrought during the past five years in the Moslem world for the hastening of His kingdom.
An Introductory Survey 23
More surprising and sudden than the transformations by Aladdin's lamp in the ''Arabian Nights" have been, not the fictitious, but the real and stupendous changes which God's Spirit and God's providence have wrought in Western Asia. Instead of universal espionage, freedom ; instead of despotism, constitutions and parlia- ments ; instead of a press that was gagged and throttled, a free press ; instead of a grinding system of passports and permits, free emigration and immigration all over Persia and Arabia and Turkey j instead of banishment, amnesty ; and instead of despotism ruling in the capitals against the rights of the people and crushing them down, Abd ul Hamid a prisoner at Salonica and parliaments sitting in Teheran and in Constantinople. The great army of spies, numbering forty thousand and said to cost two million pounds a year, has been abolished, and the peoples of Turkey and Persia, blindfolded, gagged and manacled for centuries, were almost delirious with new- found liberty. The Damascus Eailway has reached Medina, and electric lights are burning over the prophet's tomb.
Turkey, Persia and Arabia, the three great Moslem lands of the nearer East, have experienced greater indus- trial, intellectual, social and religious changes within the past four years than befell them in the last four centuries. Nevertheless, some wise statesmen and most thoughtful missionaries are agreed that nothing has ended in Turkey or in Persia ; but something has begun in those lands which every eye is strained to understand. It is not necessary to speak of these changes in detail, to indicate how in many respects there has been a decided reaction, or to forecast the future, but the leaders of the Moslem world themselves realize that these changes have been so extraordinary that they indicate a new era for all West- ern Asia and North Africa.
24 Islam and Missions
Constitutional government in Persia and Turkey, if successful even to the least degree, will make the ideas aud ideals of democracy contagious throughout the length and breadth of the Moslem world. A significant and surprising editorial recently appeared in a leading Moslem newspaper of Constantinople, from which we quote :
"The Moslem world is in the throes of a regeneration which will affect its social as well as its political condi- tions, and indirectly must concern its ecclesiastical af- fairs. It will undoubtedly have the same influence that the reformation of Luther and the French revolution had upon society and culture. The dethronement of three absolute monarchs in three independent Moslem states is a novel chapter in the history of Islam, aud calls for grave reflection by the adherents of that faith. The social and economic affairs of a nation, as well as its religion, are closely allied to its politics, and there cannot be serious disturbance in one without having a great in- fluence upon the others. It means either decay or prog- ress, because there is no such thing as rest or stagnation in society. The human race cannot remain in repose. It must either advance or go backward.
"This suggests a thorough inquiry into the conditions of Islam ; whether the material advancement of the infidel nations has shaken the faith of Mussulmans in the wisdom and ability of their leaders, aud has caused them to fol- low the lights of intelligence and learning that science has given to Europe and America, leaving Asia in partial darkness. The first thing for the people of Turkey, Persia and Morocco to do is to consider their own regeneration and get ready to take part in the advancement of civiliza- tion which is irresistible. If the teachers of the faith do not acknowledge the necessity of such progress, their followers will doubtless break' away and leave them be- hind. The period of decadence of Islam has ended with the deposition of the three absolute monarchies, and here- after there can be no tardy or indifferent recognition of the inevitable without sharing their fate."
An Introductory Survey 25
Such words, appearing iu the leading journal of the political capital of Islam, are full of significance to the Church of God, especially as every statement of the editorial is borne out by news from different parts of the Moslem world. There never was such unrest, politically, socially and spiritually, in Moslem lands as there is to- day, and, on the other hand, this very unrest is accom- panied by a new sense of solidarity and an attempt to unify the disintegrating forces of Islam.
The Mohammedans of Eussia are not only pleading for greater recognition in the Duma, but are organizing societies of reform and progress and working for pan- Islamism through the press. On February 16, 1910, the first mosque in St. Petersburg was opened with a great Moslem festival. The Emir of Bokhara contributed the site and paid for the cost of construction of the handsome edifice. He also took part in the ceremonies, which were attended by the Turkish Embassy and the Persian Lega- tion. The facts that the chief mulla offered prayer for the welfare of the Czar, to which the Moslem population loyally responded, and that the Emir and his suite were entertained at the royal palace, both show that Islam in Eussia is becoming more and more an established religion.
The new Nationalist Party in Egypt, through the preferential instead of the impartial treatment of Moslems by the British government, have everywhere kindled the fanaticism of unrest and the desire of independence. This spurious form of nationalism, in the judgment of veteran missionaries and such unprejudiced witnesses as Col. Theodore Eoosevelt and Dr. Alfred J. Butler, is thoroughly Mohammedan in its character. In the mouth of the new ^Nationalist Party " Egypt for the Egyptians " means Egypt for the Moslems, and its fatal corollary must be oppression for the Christians. It is to be hoped that the British policy in Egypt will soon be radically
26 Islam and Missions
altered, and that real neutrality may prove the strength of British rule and the blessing of Egypt.
The spirit of revolution, as in Turkey and in Egypt, has begun to work in Malaysia. A Young Javanese Party has been formed among the educated Moslems in Java. It calls itself Bondi Outomo, or the Universal League. Its programme includes home rule, educational reform, and social progress. They have translated the Koran into the vernacular. The first congress of these Young Javanese was held over two years ago at Djok- jakarta, and among other questions discussed were, the Education of Women, Freedom of the Press, and Self- Government.
While the rebellions of the last century greatly crippled the Moslem cause in China, the recent though fruitless attempts to establish Turkish consulates for the protec- tion of Moslem interests there, and the publication at Tokyo of a quarterly magazine in Chinese entitled Moslems Aiodke^ for circulation throughout the Chinese Empire, as well as the English paper published by two Moslems from Egypt and India at Tokyo, are indications of a pan- Islamic activity which need no comment.
The capture of Wadai by French troops about a year ago is, in one sense, the most significant political event along the entire horizon. By this campaign the chief African centre of the slave trade and of Moslem propa- gandism against civilization and European rule has fallen into the hands of a European power, will be held by them at all costs and can no longer be used as a base of opera- tions for war against Christian governments. The in- fluence of the Senusiye dervishes has doubtless diminished in the Eastern Sudan and the Sahara, politically, although this does not mean that the commercial and colonizing advance of Islam has been checked.
In the year of our Lord 1911, only 37,128,800 Moslems
An Introductory Survey 27
are living under direct Moslem rule, namely : under the Turkish government, 15,528,800 ; under the Sultan of Morocco, 5,600,000; under the Emir of Afghanistan, 4,500,000 J under the Shah of Persia, 8,000,000 ; and un- der independent rulers in Arabia, outside the Turkish Empire, 3,500,000. Once Moslem empire was coexten- sive with the Moslem faith. In 911 A. d. the caliphate included Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, Tripoli, Egypt, Asia Minor, Syria, Arabia, Persia, Turkestan, Afghan- istan, Baluchistan, and the region around the Caspian Sea. To-day the empire of the caliphs has shrunk to such small proportions that it covers only Turkey, Tripoli, and scarcely one-fifth of the area of Arabia, in- cluding a population of less than 16, 000, 000. The balance of political power in the Mohammedan world rests with Eu gland, France, Eussia and the Netherlands. Each of these powers has more Moslem subjects than there are in the whole Turkish Empire. In regard to the remaining states under independent Moslem rule, it does not re- quire the gift of prophecy to see yet greater political changes, with the possible result of adding still more millions to the number of Moslems under Christian rule and to the burden of responsibility thrust upon Christian rulers by God's providence for the evangelization of His Moslem world.
We turn next to the social and intellectual movements in the Moslem world since the Cairo Conference.
III. Social and Intellectual Movements The one great characteristic of the Moslem world to-day is unrest. Like the prodigal son in the parable, Islam is coming to itself and is becoming conscious of its need. Three great movements in the Moslem world at the present time are all of them indicative of this unrest — the development of the great dervish orders, the growth
28 Islam and Missions
of the pan-Islamic spirit, and the attempt of tlie new Islam to rationalize the old orthodoxy— all of them due to the same cause, namely, the readjustment of Islam to the progress of modern thought and Western civilization, either by way of protest and defiance^ or of accommodation and compromise. As Ismael Bey Gaspriusky expressed it in the Tartar paper Terjumen, "The world is con- stantly changing and progressing, and the Moslems are left behind for many, many miles. We need to create a general awakening of the hitherto sleeping Mohammed- ans." Or in the words of Sheikh Ali Yusef, the editor of the leading Moslem journal in Cairo, before a large as- sembly of Moslems, "The Christians have left the Mo- hammedans behind in every walk of life. The latter can hardly boast the possession of a single steamship or bank, because the Moslem is not alive to his duty, is not united in his endeavour, and is too content to follow a leader without attempting to rise to the same place as the other nations." Similar voices are heard in India from time to time.
We shall hear more of these social and intellectual movements in Islam when they are specially dealt with on the fifth day of our Conference, but a general survey of the Moslem world must make mention of some of them. Beginning with Western Asia, we find a move- ment which can broadly be described as one towards freedom, first political and then intellectual, yet it is worthy of remark that the revolutionary parties both in Persia and Turkey were at first not anti-Islamic nor pan- Islamic, neither professedly religious nor irreligious in character. They were the voice of the people crying for liberty, and the expression of general social discontent. For many years the better class of Persians, Turks and Arabs had freely acknowledged the ignorance, injustice and weakness of the Moslem world, and were groping
An Introductory Survey 29
for a remedy. The fuel was ready in the educated classes who had learned to think. The American missionaries helped to wake up Turkey. The victory of Japan over Eu8sia had its iufluence throughout all Asia and proved to Turkey and Persia, at least to their own satisfaction, that Asiatics can hold their own against Europe, and that a new nationalism is the only remedy against threatened foreign occupation. The question then arose, How shall the new nationalism deal with the old religion ?
The brief history of constitutional government in Persia, and the reaction which has already begun in Turkey prove the reality and the intensity of this coming conflict. The Persian Constitution was ready for adop- tion when the leaders were compelled to preface the doc- ument with an article accepting the authority of the religious law of Islam as final, including the traditional law of Shiah interpretation, as well as the Koran. *' One might as well bind together the American Constitution and the Talmud," says Dr. Shedd, ** and make the latter supreme and inviolable." It has yet to be proved, ac- cording to Lord Cromer in his ^'Modern Egypt," whether Islam can assimilate civilization without suc- cumbing in the process; his belief is that ^^ Beformed Islam is Islam no longer.^''
The great political question in Persia, Turkey, Egypt and Algiers to-day is simply whether the old Koran or the new democratic aspirations shall have the right of way. Although the Sheikh-el -Islam has publicly de- clared that ^' The Turkish Parliament is the most exact application of the Koranic law, and constitutional gov- ernment is the highest possible illustration of the cali- phate," we have a right to doubt his assertion — remem- bering Adana and the thirteen centuries of Moslem intolerance and despotism. Those who read the Koran in Morocco, Eastern Turkey and Arabia have not yet
30 Islam and Missions
discovered its constitutional principles, and the reaction against the new Sultan and the new parliament is already deep and wide-spread. One of the prominent dailies in Cairo was lately advocating the restoration of Abd ul Hamid, while in Yemen a new Mahdi has appeared, whose followers number twenty-five thousand and who is overrunning the province. He preaches the old religion ; by his authority liars are punished by the pulling out of the tongue and thieves by the amputation of the hand.
The conflict between the old and the Young Turkish Party is not only inevitable, but is irreconcilable. Both parties are animated by the same patriotism, but their ideals are wholly different and contradictory. For the Old Turks Islam is an end ; for the New Turks it is not an end, but only a means. The New Turks are hoping to put the new wine into the old bottles by carefully di- luting it, while the Old Turks have no use for the new wine at all. In the present Turkish Parliament out of two hundred and fifty-six members, two hundred and thirteen are Moslems, and it would be safe to say that those who are true believers are opposed to radical reform and will fight to the end to make Islam the only religion of the state. Dr. Martin Hartmann, who is surely an unprejudiced witness, sees no future for a reformed Islam in Turkey.*
The clash of modern civilization with the teachings of Islam is evident on every hand. When it was proposed to adopt the Gregorian calendar and European time for Turkey, the clerical party made such an uproar that the President of the Chamber was compelled to leave the House and the motion was withdrawn. So the days con-
Un his recent book he says: " J9ei den Turken tritt an Stelle des Islams ein Nichts, Kopf und Herz sind leer. Die Osmanlis sind ke.ine Stutze des Islams den sie auserlich vertreten denn sie entbehren selbst der Stutze."
An Introductory Survey 31
tinue to begin at sunset and watches must be reset every day because of the Koran. The new railway to Mecca is fitted up with a chapel car in the shape of a mosque. This car allows pilgrims to perform their devotions dur- ing the journey and has a minaret six feet high. Around the sides are verses from the Koran ; a chart at one end indicates the direction of prayer, and at the other end are vessels for the ritual ablutions. But the orthodox Arabs do not consider such prayer de luxe in accord with Mo- hammed's teachings and are tearing up the railway ! As long as Mohammed and his teachings are the ideals of conduct and the standard of character there must be this clash between modern civilization and the unchangeable standards of Arabian medievalism. If it is impossible as it seems to change the curriculum of El Azhar University in Cairo without a riot, will that institution or Christian colleges control the future thought of Western Asia? Or to take another illustration : A large section of the Egyptian press defended the conduct of the Sultan of Morocco in his mutilation of prisoners against the protest of European consulates, because they said it was in full accord with the religious law of Islam. The wind blew from the opposite quarter when a committee of Young Turks protested against the Yali of Salonica because of his excessive zeal in enforcing the state religion in the matter of the use of the veil and the observance of the month of fasting. While the official pronouncement of the Grand Mufti in the case of Wardani, the murderer of Boutros Pasha, seemed to indicate that even in the in- tellectual capital of the Moslem world jurisprudence can make no progress, but is tied to the procrustean bed of Tradition and the Koran.
The modernist movement, as Mr. Gairdner showed in his address at the Edinburgh Conference, touches every Moslem who receives education on Western lines, whether
32 Islam and Missions
in Java, India, Persia or Egypt, and compels him to adopt a new tlieology and a new philosophy and new social standards, or give up his religion altogether. How far the advocates of the new Islam go in throwing over- board their cargo to save the ship is illustrated in the book "The Truth about Islam," just published at Cairo by Dr. Muhammad Badr, a graduate of Edinburgh University. No orthodox Moslem would recognize his presentation of Islam as the same religion which he professes. The stories of the Koran to him are only alle- gories or rhetorical devices, "read literally they are in- credible" ; and again he says, "the Koran must be re- garded in the light of pure reason and modern science." It will prove a hard task for him and others of the new Islam school to rationalize Surat el Kahaf or Surat en- Nisa !
The enormous increase and activity of Moslem journal- ism and the Moslem press in all the chief centres of the Moslem world is also an indication of intellectual and social unrest. When freedom was proclaimed in Persia and Turkey, newspapers sprang up like mushrooms, and nearly all of them were advocates of liberty, equality and fieedom. In Teheran the names of the journals themsel ves were startling. Newsboys cried out their wares and sold copies of The Assembly, The Holy Spirit, Civiliza- tion, The Cry of the Country, The True Baum, Progress, and Knoidedge. The Bevue du Monde Musuhnan pub- lished a list of no less than four hundred and seventy-four newspapers and magazines which had been issued in Turkey since July 24, 1908, the birthday of liberty. The old order of the press seemed gone. But censorship, which had ceased for a time in Turkey, is again being exercised by the Young Turks, and while the Moderate Party edits a paper called The Constitution, in Paris, which is forbidden entrance in Turkey, some of the lead-
An Introductory Survey 33
ing papers in the provinces are already the mouthpiece of intolerance and show a sullen attitude towards Chris- tianity and reform. They assert that the Constitution is destructive of the sacred law of Mohammed. One has only to read the articles that appear in the Moslem press of Java, Persia, Eussia, India, Turkey and Egypt, dis- cussing such questions as the position of womanhood, the use of the veil, polygamy, slavery, or the Mecca Eail- way, to be convinced that in spite of outward unity the Moslem world of thought is rent by dissension and dis- cord.
According to William E. Curtis, a newspaper corre- spondent, the Moslem religion has fallen into disuse in the Turkish Empire among the educated classes. *"' The doctrines of the Koran are considered incompatible with modern progress. Atheism is growing, the pilgrimages to Mecca are falling off, and notwithstanding the loyalty of the common people to their faith, the material condi- tion of the mosques and sacred places is about as low as their spiritual condition. The tendency seems to be to drift away not only from Islam, but from all religion. ^^ The call for a pan-Islamic Congress at Cairo this year has met with little response, as far as we can learn. He says, *^ As far as I can learn, it will be as difficult to modern- ize Islam as it would be to galvanize the mummy of Pharaoh." There is not the least doubt that tens of thousands of Moslems in Turkey and Persia, and even in Arabia, are intellectually convinced of the truth of Christianity over against Islam. The philosophical dis- integration of Islam, which began in Persia by the rise of Moslem sects, is now being hastened through newspaper discussions. The attack on orthodox Mohammedanism was never so keen or strong on the part of any missionary as has been the recent attack from those inside Islam.
In Eussia the new Islam is rapidly creating a new
34
Islam and Missions
literature by translations and adaptations. A Tartar translation of ''Uncle Tom's Cabin" has just been printed, and the Moslem newspapers at Baku earnestly contend that it is possible to rationalize Islam, stating that its present immobility and superstition is only a tempo- rary condition which does not characterize it any more than Catholic superstitions, the Inquisition, or the stake were real Christianity in the Middle Ages. Islam, ac- cording to these writers, is passing through a revolution and a process of reform, and the new Islam will yet rule the world. The course of study in the new Islamic Moslem schools of Eussia includes a history of Islam, based on Dozy, the natural sciences, European languages, psychology and hygiene, as well as the Koran and Tradi- tions.
The religious movements in Islam to-day are radically progressive or retrogressive. The dervish orders and the Mahdis in Somalilaud, Yemen or the Sahara, all believe in a pan-Islamism utterly opposed to modern civilization, and their cry is "Back to Mohammed." The advocates of reform in Java and in Persia, the preachers of the new Islam in India, and the nationalists in Egypt, on the con- trary, are trying to get away from Mohammed and the early standards of Arabian civilization, reject most of the traditions and make rationalism the basis of their faith. According to them, Mohammed was neither immaculate nor infallible. Their ideas and their ideals are at the op- posite pole of orthodox Islam.
Islam to-day must meet a new crisis in its history. The disintegration of the whole system is rapidly pro- ceeding and may result, as it already has, in the rise of new sects, or in an attempt to rejuvenate the system by abandoning much of that which was formerly considered essential. What will be the result? As Dr. William A. Shedd points out: ''Islam is everywhere coming into
An Introductory Survey 35
close contact with modern thought and civilization. It must meet these changed conditions if it is to live, and the question arises whether it can do this or not." Will it be possible to march with the current of civilization and continue to hold the teaching of the Koran and the Traditions, and will intellectual and social progress with- out a religious basis ever give the weary, sinful, sorrow- ing millions of Islam spiritual peace, or lift Mohammedan womanhood and manhood out of their degradation into the glorious inheritance of the sons of God ?
IV. Changed Attitude in the Home Churches Towards the Moslem World
This introductory survey of the Moslem world as a missionary problem would not be complete if it did not call attention to the marked change in the Churches of Christendom as regards missions to Mohammedans. Dr. Eobert E. Speer prepared a paper for the Cairo Confer- ence on *' How to arouse the Church at home to the needs of Islam." In this paper he said that the assumption was true : " The history of missionary effort for Moslems in the past is largely an unread history. Eaymund Lull's name is the name of a stranger. Mohammedanism itself is a mystery to the average Christian in America and even to Christians of far more than average intelli- gence. They have never read the Koran. They do not know what Mohammed taught. Popular ideas of Moslem lands and people are grotesque in their crude ignorance. . . . In addition to great general ignorance about Mohammedanism and the Mohammedan lands the im- pression prevails that Islam is the next best religion to Christianity in its knowledge of God, and that its adher- ents are so devoted to it as to be unconvertible to the Christian faith.'' There is no doubt that his statement summed up the situation. He went on to point out the
o6 Islam and Missions
causes of this general ignorance and lack of interest. As the cliief cause be mentioned the embargo laid upon home workers by missionaries among the Mohammedans. The Church was ignorant of the facts in the case because she was kept in ignorance. The second reason which he gave why the Church at home was not aroused was : ''The missions on the field are not aroused to the im- mediate duty and urgency of this work ; " and the third reason he suggested was the lack of missionary books dealing with the Moslem problem.
The Cairo Conference marked a new era in Moslem evaugelization because it removed the embargo, em- boldened workers to present the facts, kindled their faith, and gave to many the pen of ready writers to set the facts and the appeal before the home Churches. The Cairo Conference itself indeed was held with apprehen- sion on the part of some who were reluctant members of it, and who feared the publication of any of its proceed- iugs. There were those who hesitated to identify them- selves with the Conference for fear the opposition of Moslem governments might thereby be aroused ; but no such results followed. On the contrary, the Christian world has been awakened as never before to the absolute need of taking in its sweep the activities of the Moslem world, and the sin and shame of long neglect and igno- rance have, in a marked degree, been acknowledged and put away.
The startling political events which succeeded each other with marvellous rapidity in Western Asia and North Africa since the Cairo Conference (were they a re- sult of its volume of prayer ?) have no doubt had their in- fluence also in calling attention to the problem. News- papers, periodicals and reviews were full of articles in regard to the Turkish revolution, Persian nationalism, Egyptian unrest, and pan-Islamism in its relation to
An Introductory Survey 37
internatioual politics. All these fiirnislicd tlie occasion, but the Cairo Confereuce gave the inspiration to mission- aries, and they in their turn interpreted these events and aroused the Church to the needs of the Moslem world. The first and second volume of papers read at the Cairo Conference introduced a new flood of literature on the subject. Mission study classes took up the theme. The Central Committee on the United Study of Missions in America published a volume on ^'The Nearer and Farther East," of which over 45,000 copies were used in their study classes. The symposium entitled ''Our Moslem Sisters," and consisting of papers prepared in connection with the Cairo Conference, had a large cir- culation passing through three editions and was translated into Danish, Swedish and German. The Student Volun- teer Movement text-book on Islam was used throughout the colleges in America, and was translated into German, French and Danish. A similar text- book prepared by Mr. Gairdner is being widely used among the students of Great Britain and Australasia ; it has also been translated into Dutch. The Young People's Missionary Movement of America sold over 50,000 copies of their text-book '' The Moslem World." All of these were not read but studied.
In addition to these popular text-books on the subject, which brought the whole problem within the compass of a single volume, a score of other books have been written by missionaries since the Cairo Conference, setting forth special aspects of the subject, or appealing to the Church to meet the needs of Moslem lands. Omitting those published in Danish, Dutch, German and French (a list of which can be found in Volume VI of the Edinburgh Conference Eeport), we would call attention to the fol- lowing in English: Klein, ''The Eeligion of Islam" ; Canon Sell, "Eeligious Orders of Islam " ; Dr. Wherry,
38 Islam and Missions
** Islam and Christianity in India and the Far East^' j Dr. Kichter, ' ' History of Protestant Missions in the Near East" ; Dr. Jessup, '* Fifty-Three Years in Syria " ; Dr. Washburn, ''Fifty Years in Constantinople "; Dr. Wishard, "Twenty Years in Persia" ; Mr. Gairdner, *'Life of Douglas M. Thornton"; Dr. Barton, ''Day- break in Turkey" ; Eeces, "Christian Crusaders of the Twentieth Century" ; Dr. Kumm, "The Sudan" ; Dr. Watson, "In the Valley of the Nile" and "Egypt and the Christian Crusade '* j and, last but not least, Marshall Broomhall's "Islam in China." The last volume is typical of all the others mentioned. It alone would mark a distinct step in the progress of missionary investigation of the Moslem world. It is the first book of its character in English. Scientific, critical, and based on thorough investigation, it gives the public a comprehensive and readable account of a subject concerning which most church -members were in total ignorance.
Simultaneously with the output of all this missionary literature there has been a revival of interest in the problem of Islam shown by the secular press, which is as remarkable as it is significant of the urgency of the problem. A new exhaustive Encyclopedia of Islam is being published simultaneously in three languages by a number of leading Orientalists. Authoritative and scholarly in its character, with carefully prepared bibli- ographies, this work, although entirely neutral to missions and Christianity, will nevertheless be of great usefulness to all those who labour among Moslems. The French scientific monthly, Eevue dii Monde Musulman^ is increas- ingly valuable to the student of Islam, not only because of its leading articles but more particularly on account of its careful review of the Moslem press ; and the new periodical started in Germany, Der Islam, will doubtless aid in arousing the Churches of Germany to the seriousness of
An Introductory Survey 39
the problem that faces them in the Nearer East and Ger- man East Africa.
The changed attitude of the Church towards Islam is evident not only in this enormous increase in the output of literature on the subject, but also in the place Islam has occupied in conferences and missionary gatherings. Since 1906 the Annual Conference of Foreign Mission Boards of the United States and Canada have appointed a committee on the Mohammedan problem, which is in- structed to report annually in order to " call attention to the special preparation and training needed for mission- aries among Moslems, and to arouse the Church and mis- sionary societies to the needs of the unoccupied Moslem world and the peril of Islam in certain parts of Asia and Africa.'' This standing committee has already done much in this direction. A special conference on the Moslem problem has been held since Cairo by the mis- sionary societies of Germany, and at the Edinburgh Con- ference Islam, although not represented by a special Commission, had a larger place than at any previous world conference. (See the article by Dr. Watson in ^' The Moslem World.")
The new missionary enterprise of the American Methodist Episcopal Church in North Africa has aroused all the constituency of this great denomination as never before to the extent and character of the Moslem problem. Other societies in America, Great Britain and on the Continent have set apart missionaries for special training to deal with this problem on their several fields, and some societies have for the first time taken up work among Moslems.
The results of the Cairo Conference were not confined to the Churches in the homeland, but are evident also in a measure in the Oriental Churches and the Churches on the mission field. An informal conference, for ex-
40 Islam and Missions
ample, recently held in Beirut, passed the following resolution :
^'(1) That direct evangelistic work among Moslems, which has been going on quietly for several decades in Syria and Palestine, is more than ever possible to-day, whether by means of visiting, conversation, the produc- tion and careful distribution of Christian literature, Bible circulation, medical missions, and boys' and girls' schools.
'' (2) That the promulgation of the Constitution has already, in the more enlightened centres, made this direct evangelistic work easier, and will, we trust, as the consti- tutional principle of religious equality becomes better understood by the people, make it increasingly so. And, on the other hand, we are face to face with a Moham- medan educational and religious revival which makes necessary this missionary advance if the prestige gained in the past is to be preserved and increased.
^' (3) For which reasons it is certain that the time has come for a wisely planned and carefully conducted and intensely earnest forward move in work among Moslems in Syria and Palestine, and the attention of all the so- cieties already working in the field is to be directed towards immediately making that forward move."
In a similar way the missionary societies in Egypt are cooperating to stir the Protestant and Coptic Churches to love their Moslem brethren and labour for their evangeli- zation, and two successive conferences of converts from Islam have been successfully held at Zeitoun.
The changed attitude of the Church at home is evident, moreover, in the large number of student volunteers who are offering themselves for service in Moslem lands; they have been specially attracted by the difficulties of the problem, the new opportunities in the lands so recently awakened, and the vast populations and un- touched areas of the unoccupied Moslem world.
Finally we rejoice to note the changed attitude towards
An Introductory Survey 41
the Moslem problem in increased prayer. There have always been those who prayed for the Moslem world, hoping against hope, dauntless in faith, and believing the impossible, but, especially since the Cairo Conference, lonely workers in distant outposts have, by their lives and their lips, or by words in print (for example, the apostolic messages of Miss Trotter from Algiers, Miss Holliday from Tabriz, or Hogberg from Kashgar), awak- ened a great volume of intelligent prayer whose potency only God can measure. Prayer circles and prayer cycles for the Moslem world will do for it what prayer has done in the opening of all the Chinese Provinces or the pene- tration of Africa.
The Church is awakening at last to its duty towards Islam. "Who will keep the Church awake, ^^ in the words of Mr. Speer, " unless it be those who have heard the challenge of Islam, who are going out against her, and have found her armour decayed, her weapons anti- quated, and her children, though proud and reticent, still unhappy, stationary and retrogressive in a day of progress and life.^^
Conclusion We conclude our survey by emphasizing once more, on the evidence of all these facts, the unity, the opportunity and the importunity of the Moslem world problem to-day, as well as the willingness of the Church, when aroused by its missionaries, to respond to its appeal, l^o other work on the mission field can be presented from so many divergent angles of interest as the great, dark, despairing, defiant, desperate Moslem world. Lucknow is a moun- tain top of vision second not even to Cairo. As our eyes sweep the horizon of all these lands dominated or im- perilled by this great rival faith, each seems to stand out as typical of one of the factors in the great problem.
42
Islam and Missions
Morocco (one of the dark places in the world to-day) is typical of the degradation of Islam ; Persia of its disin- tegration ; Arabia of its stagnation ; Egypt of its attempted reformation ; China shows the neglect of Islam ; Java, the conversion of Islam ; India, the opportunity to reach Islam ; Equatorial Africa, its peril. Each of these typical con- ditions is in itself an appeal. The supreme need of the Moslem world is Jesus Christ. He alone can give light to Morocco, unity to Persia, life to Arabia, rebirth to Egypt, reach the neglected in China, win Malaysia, meet the opportunity in India, and stop the aggressive peril in Africa.
With all there is of encouragement to our faith, the problem remains big and baffling. We can do nothing of ourselves : our sufficiency is only of God. *' Oh, our God, wilt Thou not judge them, for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon Thee.^^ Amen.
11
PAN-ISLAMISM IN TUEKEY
REV. W. S. NELSON, D. D., SYRIA
FEOM the beginning of its history in Arabia Islam has been an imitative religion. The best that Mohammed found, in fact everything that was good in his teachings, was borrowed from Christianity, and the rest was appropriated with little or no change from other religious cults, or from the heathenism he was supposed to displace.
After a long period of success and wide advance in every direction from Mecca : after the sword of Islam had subdued nation after nation in Asia and Africa and had gained a foothold in Europe, there arose the first united resistance of Christianity that Islam had encoun- tered. Heretofore the legions of Islam had attacked and conquered nations as such. It had made no difference whether the national faith had been heathen or Christian, the resistance offered had been a national resistance and the submission had been that of a ruling sovereign. The submission always involved the surrender of the old faith, and a formal acceptance of Islam with the avowal of the unity of God and the validity of the mission of Mohammed.
This success of Islam and its capture of the sacred places of Christianity furnished the motive necessary to unite a divided Christendom and to overcome the conflicts in Europe and to gather the great armies of all nations which followed each other in the wonderful crusades of the Middle Ages. Whatever we may say of the folly and
43
44 Islam and Missions
mismanagement, the petty jealousies and conflict among the leaders, the useless waste of life and treasure involved, we cannot withhold our praise for the loyalty to Christ and sacrifice for Him involved in those unparallelled movements.
It is not our purpose here to discuss the crusades, but merely to call attention to the fact that here was the first instance of a united Christendom attacking Islam. The crusades did not exert any lasting influence on the ex- tent or power of Islam, but they furnished a lesson which was not forgotten, and may not improperly be re- garded as the seed from which the idea of pan-Islamism grew. If Christendom united under the banner of the cross and, forgetting their national divisions and rival- ries, strove to rescue the tomb of the Crucified from Islam, why should not all Mohammedan nations lay aside doctrinal differences and national distinctions under the banner of the Crescent to carry^the faith of Islam to the ends of the earth ?
It may well be believed that the present divergences of faith in Islam, the national jealousies among those who accept the teachings of the Arabian prophet are too great and too firmly rooted to make a real pan-Islamic movement possible or permanently effective. Any such union would fall to pieces quickly and disappear from view as did the crusades. Still the existence of such an idea and especially its dissemination among wild and un- civilized peoples will have local influence that may lead to serious disturbances and may produce wide-reaching consequences of a more than local importance. It may not be possible to find a real, vital, unifying principle in Islam that will ever permanently unite Sunnis and Shiahs, or permit Turks and Persians, Hindus and Moors to work and fight in harmony and mutual confidence. Still, the fact that all ascribe their faith to Mohammed
Pan-Islamism in Turkey 45
and give their religious allegiance to him, that from all these Mohammedan countries devotees flock every year in the holy pilgrimage to Mecca, and all use the sacred water of Zemzem, makes an external bond of union that gives real force to the idea of pan-Islamism and makes it a subject worthy of study by Christian missionaries and by the statesmen and rulers of Europe and Asia.
The situation in Turkey differs from that in other lands for a double reason. Mecca, the sacred city of Islam, is in Turkish territory, and the Turkish Sultan claims to hold the caliphate as a legal heritage and political right.
On the other hand, the internal situation in Turkey is by no means a simple one. The loyalty accorded to the Sultan as ruler of the empire is by no means hearty or united. This is not only true because the various Chris- tian sects dislike to yield allegiance to a Moslem ruler, but among Moslems themselves there is a very general distrust, and especially among the Arabic speaking peo- ples there is a decided unwillingness to remain under the domination of the Turk, who is regarded justly as an interloper. Add to this the distinctly religious hostility of a very large part of the Mohammedan subjects of the Turk, who hold that the true Caliph can only be an Arab of the Koreish, and it is clear that internal unity in Turkey needs every possible support from the outside. How can a foreigner, a Turk, who has gained his posi- tion by military conquest, claim to hold the sacred office of Caliph, as a successor to Mohammed ? At any time that the Arabs had the strength in themselves or the as- surance of foreign support, this unwelcome Turkish yoke would be thrown off and the Sherif of Mecca would be proclaimed as the true Caliph. It is because the Turks are aware of this that every effort is made to honour the annual pilgrimage and keep the Arabs in good humour and not to press them too hard in matters of political
46 Islam and Missions
allegiance and taxes. The extension of the railroad to the ''holy territory" was a shrewd move on the part of the Turk to strengthen the bonds which unite the two ex- tremes of the empire both politically and religiously. This, however, is a mechanical, artificial method and will not permanently unite the dissimilar elements involved.
It has been recognized for many years that the stability of Turkey depended on the skillfully fomented disagree- ments among the Christian powers of Europe whose united effort would destroy Turkey. The consummate skill of the former Sultan Abd ul Hamid was displayed, for a generation, in setting one power off against another in such a way as to prevent an effective union among them. The same policy has been followed in the internal administration of the empire. Every effort has been made systematically to foment jealousy and hatred among the Christian elements of the population. Never were they treated as independent, individual Ottoman sub- jects but always through the heads of their several relig- ious communities, so that the citizen was never the unit, but the religious sect to which he belonged. Every effort was made to exaggerate the distinction between these sects, and one was played off against the other just as England was played against Eussia, and France against Germany, in foreign relations. To this end, it was never difficult for a member of one Christian sect to be trans- ferred to another, for that would help to intensify jealousy and hostility among them. It was also no difficulty for a Christian to secure recognition, welcome and a stipend if he embraced Islam, — but woe to the man who thought of leaving Islam for Christianity. That would affect the solidarity and prestige of Islam and could never be per- mitted. Islam has been like a trap whose door is easily opened for admission but never for exit.
In the mountains of North Syria are the interesting
Pan-Islamism in Turkey 47
Nusairiye people. They are treated by the Turks as Mohammedaus and, in many cases, have adopted the out- ward forms of conformity, though only in appearance. On one occasion I was in camp in this region, when an intelligent appearing man came to the tent door. He wore the turban of a Moslem scholar and had the appear- ance and bearing of a Mohammedan. His talk, however, led me to doubt my eyes, for he asked most insistently for an American school for his village. At length I turned to him and said, in a tone of surprise, ^* Are you not a Moslem?" After a hasty glance around, to see who was near, and in a low tone of voice, he said, ** Yes, I am a Moslem, iioti?," with an emphasis on the last word that showed plainly that his conformity was only out- ward and based on fear, not conviction.
The greatest promoter of the idea of pan-Islamism was the former Sultan of Turkey, Abd ul Hamid. He had the acuteness to see the unspeakable value of welding Islam into one, and posing as the head of that force in facing the Christian powers of Europe. Nor was he slow to make use of this weapon in seeking to circumvent the powers in their plans for the reformation or protection of certain portions of his empire. When pressed to in- troduce certain reforms in Macedonia, he held this up as a threat that he could not answer for the result of the ir- ritation at the insult placed upon him as the Caliph. In the hands of Abd ul Hamid everything was made to play a part in his game of self-aggrandizement, and it would be hard to prove that his zeal for Islam had any real de- votion to religious principle or belief. It was merely one of the cards he handled so skillfully during the long years of his baleful reign. It is highly probable also that in all these matters he was inspired and guided by that strange character Abd ul Huda who exerted such a marvellous influence through his entire reign. With the deposition
48 Islam and Missions
of Abd ul Hamid, the importance of pan-Islamism as a present issue in Turkey has become far less.
The one other centre of this idea was and is in North Africa. The Sheikh of Senusi went farther towards or- ganizing Islam as an independent religious and political power than any other leader who has ever lived. Com- bining religious leadership and political control, he es- tablished monastic institutions in many places and en- rolled a large number of followers under his banner of reform and return to the simplicity of the original teach- ing of Mohammed. After his death the order has con- tinued in much power and influence, and it is not im- probable that a strong leader arising among them might gather a vindictive force that would make much trouble in Arabia, Egypt, and North Africa, but such a conflict would be quite as likely to involve the supremacy of Turkey, a Moslem power, as to disturb the authority of England, Italy or France in North Africa. While it seems to me that the possibility of anything like the realization of the pan-Islamic idea is so very remote as to be negligible, it is certainly true that the idea has in- fluenced and will influence all Mohammedan powers in a very real degree. In Turkey, we cannot fail to compare the state of things before and after the Constitution. As yet, there is no marked improvement in affairs among the people, but there is a great difierence in many matters af- fecting evangelical work and in the attitude of mind and government towards all mission work.
In regard to education, the old regime did all in its power to restrain and prevent the organization or exten- sion of school work. The Young Turkey Party cannot consistently take the same course, nor do they wish to do so. Many of them have lived abroad, in Paris or in Lon- don and are keen enough to recognize the power and in- fluence of general education.
Pan-Islamism in Turkey 49
They must have tlie education of the masses as one of their methods of progress in civilization and international power. The cry now is, '' Education under government control." It is a question which would be worse from a missionary point of view. Under the old regime, we had to fight for the very existence of our schools and to secure the enlargement of our circle of influence in quiet, un- obtrusive ways, following the lines of least resistance in order to avoid attracting attention and arousing opposi- tion. It was an axiom among the people : " Whatever is done is permitted ; whatever is asked is forbidden." Under the new idea, if the government has strength to carry out its programme, there will be an incessant interfer- ence in regard to schedules of study, worship, method of work, etc., always in the interest of Islam. While we may not have to fight for existence, as in the past, we shall doubtless have to walk most carefully in order to maintain our independence in the conduct of our school work on really evangelical lines.
It does not seem conceivable that Mohammedan power, where it is free from outside restraint, will ever give any- thing like equal treatment to all concerned. It was one of the marvels and contradictions of the days of revolu- tion in 1908 that the words, '^ Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity," were on the lips of Moslem and Christian alike. It would be unfair to allege that this was all in- sincere. In the heat of rejoicing over the deliverance from indescribable oppression and repression it is to be accepted that many of both forms of belief really accepted the theory of equality and imagined it possible. But in nine cases out of ten, I believe the cooler second thought of the next morniug made each realize that there is an element in Islam which makes it forever impossible to consider or to treat a Christian as an equal. The only normal position for a Christian, in the economy of Islam,
5© Islam and Missions
is that of an inferior servant or subject, merely tolerated so long as he may be useful, but otherwise put out of the way with as little consideration as any other animal which has become useless or hurtful. In the exigencies of political relations with foreign nations a Christian power may be recognized as superior in strength and tolerated of necessity, but never truly loved. But the relation of equality and brotherhood is inherently op- posed to the spirit of Islam, and hence it is hard to be- lieve that this can be really effective in the creed and practice of any Moslem power.
Before the revolution, the young men of Turkey were going abroad by the thousand every year. There is not a land on the face of the globe where Armenians and Syrians are not to be found. They are itinerant mer- chants on every road and byway. They work in the mines and factories ; some run banks and sweat-shops in lower New York. They enter the homes of Americans rich to sell rugs or to work on the sympathies of their comfortable listeners. They gather money by every means and on every pretense. When liberty was pro- claimed many thought that this tide of emigration would be reversed, and that those who had left would come back to happy homes.
One of the items of the reform and equality party was the enlistment of Christians in the army on equal terms with their Mohammedan neighbours. This was ac- claimed with loud voices in many sections by the Chris- tians, and is still accepted in such regions as Armenia, where the normal Christian population far outnumbers the Moslems. But elsewhere, where the majority is strongly the other way, the Christian yonug men have re- sorted to every possible subterfuge to prove their exemp- tion from military service, and where this is impossible they have escaped from the country. In short, they will
Pan-Islamism in Turkey 51
do anything ratlier than run the risk of putting them- selves under the direction of military superiors of the faith of Mohammed. This may have no direct bearing on mission work, but it has a very important indirect re- lation to it, for whatever adds to the restlessness of the people increases the difficulty of gaining an influence over them, or of securing their attention to spiritual matters.
These things all emphasize in another way the effect of this idea upon the Mohammedans themselves. In- herent in the idea of pan-Islamism is the sense of superi- ority and satisfaction. While there may be an outward respect for the foreigner as a citizen of a powerful state there is no respect for his religion or desire to exchange a spiritual monotheism for what has been understood to be a crude idolatrous worship that multiplies deities and accepts pictures and images in the place of God.
In conclusion let me say that pan-Islamism in the fullest sense of the term appears to me as a chimera that will never do more than create restless dreams for timid or nervous ministers of state. And yet the idea of sol- idarity and inherent superiority in Islam will produce in many localities conditions that should not be ignored but which can be treated only in accordance with local conditions. This idea of solidarity will maintain the supercilious attitude of Islam wherever it can exercise any authority. It will call for the greatest caution in intercourse with leaders of Moslem thought. It will make it harder rather than easier to induce Moslem leaders to trust their children to Christian schools. It will make the ear more deaf to Christian appeal and argument. On the other hand and as an offset to this statement, it should be noted that Moslem children are coming to our mission schools in larger numbers than be- fore the revolution.
52 Islam and Missions
In Turkey I cauuot advocate any radically changed methods of work. While the government is still weak but making an effort at reform, it is certainly the duty of all to support it. We should push every advantage of the new nominal liberty to induce the youth to enter our schools, and should, in every way, seek to lead them to an honest study and investigation of our faith. For this purpose controversial books as are kind in spirit while clearly contrasting the lack of Moslem teaching with the fullness and perfection of Christ should be carefully used. And always must the Moslems be made to realize the falseness of their idea of Christianity. When they real- ize that true Christianity is as monotheistic as their own religion, that it hates and forbids everything like idol worship ; or the association of man with the functions of deity ; that its ideal of spiritual living and righteousness is far in advance of Islam ; then will they be willing to compare the Gospel with the Koran and may be led to choose between Mohammed and Jesus Christ.
The solidarity of Islam must be broken : but that must be done in the spirit of the words : '^ JSfot by anight nor by poiver, but by My SpiriV Not the crushing external force of warlike weapons such as appeared in the crusades but th3 winning attractive power of Christ's love. As a magnet draws the particles of steel unto itself, let the love of Christ in the person of His servants be brought so near to the hearts of the hosts of Islam that one by one, now here, now there, individuals shall be won out of that great dark mass until the whole disintegrates and the en- tire body shall be drawn into the heart of the loving Father. May God hasten the day and increase our faith in Him and deepen our love for His wandering children.
ni
PAN-ISLAMISM IN AFEICA REV. FREIDRICH WURZ, BASEL
IN speaking of the spread of Islam in Africa we nat- urally think at first of the tropical part of the con- tinent, for there Islam is now making its great con- quests and there also we can best observe the laws of its progress/
In two huge fi'onts, one from the north and one from the east, Islam is advancing to embrace the southern and western parts of Africa. Both are backed by countries where Islam has been at home for more than a thousand years. Behind the eastern front stands Arabia, the very cradle of Islam. There always has been much intercourse between the coasts of Arabia and those of Africa, and to- day it stretches from the Mediterranean down to Mom- basa and Zanzibar, the two widely open doors of East Africa. Both of these places are on the southern side of the Equator, and so almost two-thirds of the whole African east coast are under the influence of Arabia, not to mention the countries farther east. The northern front extends from the shores of the Nile to those of the Atlantic Ocean. It covers almost the whole of the Sudan and is backed by the large countries of Mohammedan North Africa which are among the oldest and most impregnable strongholds of Islam. If we draw on the map a dividing line between Mohammedan and heathen Africa, we find
* Compare the author's article. " Die Ausbreitung des Islam in Af- rika," Allgemeine 3Tissions Zeiischrift, 1910, pp. 16-30 and 74-82.
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54
Islam and Missions
that it stretches from the Atlantic Ocean at Sierra Leone to the Indian Ocean at the mouth of the Zambezi Eiver. Corresponding with the two fronts Islam is advancing in, the line runs in its first part from the west to the east, but in its second part it turns to the south. Of course we must not think that on one side of the line the popu- lation is entirely Moslem and on the other side heathen. Instead of speaking of a dividing line we might as well speak of a dividing zone of considerable breadth. And within this zone, roughly speaking, the conquest of Islam is taking place to-day. Behind it in Mohammedan ter- ritory, there still remain some heathen peoples wliich are practically of no importance, while in front of it we find amidst tlie heathen tribes many colonies of Moslem traders, some of them making scarcely any propaganda, but all of them marking the route for time to come. The proceedings going on within the zone itself are of a very different nature. For instance, in Adamaua, in the north of Kamerun, there are districts where heathen and Mohammedan peoples are living like enemies, the heathen keeping aloof from the Moslems. It is only natural that in cases like this Islam is not making many converts. On the other hand, in Sierra Leone, in Southern Nigeria, in German East Africa and other parts Moham- medans and heathen are living in friendly intercourse and here Islam makes most rapid progress.
The general impression is that Islam is advancing on the whole line. In some parts Islam seems to have reached the limits of its extension, the heathen popula- tion knowing of it but declining to adopt it ; but this does not prove much. As in Christian missions there are times of preparatory work, showing no palpable suc- cess and yet being of the utmost importance, so it is in the spread of Islam. It has not only its time of rapid conquest, but also its time of quiet infiltration. Other-
Pan-Islamism in Africa 55
wise it would be impossible to explain the rapid advance among heathen populations the world has seen so often.
It is not only its splendid geographical position that gives Islam its great power ; there are other advantages. The races living in the Sudan, almost all of them being Moslems, are more vigorous and more highly developed than the heathen negroes. Among some of them we find great energy, a political creative power, an ability of co- operation, that makes us still think of their great ances- tors living centuries ago under the brazen sky of the great Sahara.
It is only natural that the heathen African recognizes the Mohammedan as superior. Next to the European he is the one that brings culture and fortune and higher po- sition to those connected with him. This influence is strongly nourished by the fact that almost all trade of the interior is in the hands of the Hausa, Mandingo and other Mohammedan peoples, living in the countries of the Niger, the Benue and Lake Chad. We are apt to think lightly of the inland trade, being concerned pri- marily with the European commerce of the African coasts, but it holds its independent position and even now is of considerable importance. It includes every- thing African peoples are giving each other ; formerly slaves, now gold, salt, iron and leather wares, and last not least the much- sought cola-nut. The transport of that fruit alone occupies thousands of people. It is evi- dent that the continual communication between the Mo- hammedan tradesman and the negro tribes is not only a mercantile one. In importing his goods, he is also giv- ing his higher culture and his religion. While this is true of the Western Sudan and adjacent countries, we find similar conditions in tropical East Africa. Here the inland trade does not take a very important position. Islam has not been able to win and use for its purpose
^6 islam and Missions
strong native races like those of the Western Sudan. Its chief representatives have been foreigners, such as Arabs and Indians. Nevertheless on the whole the Moham- medan holds the same position as in the West. He is respected by the natives as the wealthy, self-confident, influential man, although it never yet has been proved that Islam really has an uplifting force as far as material or mental culture is concerned.
In looking about for another ally of Islam, we find the European colonial governments. Strange as this state- ment may sound, we must still add to its strangeness by confessing that we are already so much accustomed to the fact that it hardly causes any astonishment to hear of the partiality governments are showing to Islam. Of course when first taking possession of the country, they had to overcome the political ascendency of the Moslem rulers, such as the Fulbe in the Western Sudan and the Arabs in the East, or else they would not have become masters of their colonies ; but later on, under the peaceful rule of Great Britain, France, and Germany, it became clearer and clearer that the new order of things was very advantageous to the spread of Islam. The Mo- hammedan was no longer the feared and hated slave- hunter. He was able to deal with the heathen in a free and friendly manner, and so, although the times when he might have forced the African to accept his creed had passed, the influence of Islam was not subdued but rather strengthened. It is a fact that Islam is now coming into contact with countries and tribes which were formerly barred to it.
The favour of government towards Islam is not always involuntary. Colonial governments often prefer to em- ploy Moslems. At the Fourth German Colonial Con- gress held at Berlin in October, 1910, Missions Inspector Axenfeld, speaking of East Africa, said : '' Wherever the
Pan-Islamism in Africa 57
European goes, Islam is following. There is no military post without Mohammedan soldiers, hardly a place of government without Mohammedan subalterns and serv- ants, hardly a plantation where the Mohammedan tradesman does not open his shop.'^ As to the partiality of the government of Northern Nigeria against missions we need but refer to the report of Commission VII of the World Missionary Conference, 1910.^ As a further illus- tration we add an incident that happened in one of the government schools in the hinterland of Sierra Leone. The scholars of that school belong to different tribes ; some of them are already Mohammedans while others doubtless pagans. Because of neutrality no lectures on Christian doctrine are given, but there are lessons in Arabic. We do not need to ask to what purpose. The school committee consists entirely of Moslems. It hap- pened that some of the Mohammedan fathers felt uneasy about pictures of living creatures shown in object lessons. To remove this stumbling-block the government of the colony did not fail to lay the matter, through the Colonial Office at London, before high Mohammedan authori- ties in Constantinople, Cairo and India, upon whose ap- proval the Mohammedan fathers found their peace of soul again ! Everybody will understand how proceed- ings like this will strengthen the self-conceit of the Mos- lems.
So far we have been speaking of outside influences pro- moting Mohammedan propaganda. The question now arising is, whether that propaganda is intentional. The answer is difficult. The living forces of Moslem propa- ganda are so different from those in Christian missions, that we easily commit the fault either of overvaluing or of underrating their power. Of organization there is probably less than we imagine. These people know lit-
1 Vol. VII, p. 59.
j;8 Islam and Missions
tie of each other and their cooperation is mostly uncon- scious. We can best realize this, if we try to imagine a Moslem Missionary Conference, comprising all Moslem missions in Africa, discussing questions of unity and co- operation and issuing a statistical atlas ! We at once feel the impossibility of the very idea. It is a groundless conception that El Azhar, the famous university of Cairo, is sending thousands of missionaries into heatlien Africa. El Azhar is not more specifically a missionary institu- tion than are some of the theological schools of Europe. We believe the same is true of all the other schools of Mos- lem learning in North Africa, except possibly the schools maintained by the religious orders in the Sahara or in the Sudan. On the other hand we know some facts which sufaciently prove that there must be a considerable amount of conscious propaganda. We do not enlarge upon what is being done by zealous Moslems, such as traders, soldiers, or government subalterns in their private capacity. But from time to time we hear of itinerant preachers suddenly putting in their appearance in the dividing zone mentioned. They are trying, either to convert the heathen, or to raise in the Moslems a pas- sionate zeal to defy Christian governments and Christian missious. Some of them even proclaim themselves as Mahdis and provoke bloody rebellions. We further learn from Dr. Sell and from French authorities that some of the great Dervish orders, which are at the bottom of the religious movements in North African Islam, display a strong proselyting activity among the heathen by travelling agents, by schools and otherwise. But for European eyes their plans and methods will always be covered by a veil of mystery. Who can tell for instance what is the relation of the itinerant preachers and fanatics mentioned above to those larger organizations, or how many of the innumerable Koran teachers of tropical
Pan-Islamism in Africa 59
Africa are secret members of religious orders? Further we hear that every year masses of people of the north and west and also of the tropical part of Africa are going on pilgrimage to Mecca. To quote the Government Eeport of North Nigeria (1909, p. 6) : " Over 5,000 pilgrims an- nually cross the frontiers of Bornu eastwards on a journey which until quite recently has occupied from three to seven years. Their number is recruited from a Moham- medan population of 3, 500, 000. " It is needless to add that among the whole population the Moslem spirit is strength- ened by the ^^ Hajj.^^ It must be admitted that the pilgrimage is not equally popular in all parts. But even where it is not, the influence of Mecca is only too real, as was proved some years ago in German East Africa by an excitiDg letter circulated even among government troops, coming, it was pretended, from the prophet himself in a mysterious way.
Mecca and the Dervish orders are the strongest in- fluences at work~asregards the building up of a Moslem African population, self-conscious and a unit in bitter feelings against all non-Moslems, especially the Chris- tians. This is what we call pan-Islamism. We must not forget that these influences come to bear even upon the newest parts of Moslem Africa, filling them with true Mohammedan spirit, and making them ready for the great rising against us that the future may bring. This future will be to some extent dependent on the attitude which colonial governments take. It is to be hoped that it will not be so favourable as it is now. Governments more and more find out that Islam is hostile to them, but even so we have no reason whatever to hope that the spread of Islam will diminish or come to a stop. We must rather expect the contrary, considering (1) the ag- gressive power of Islam, (2) the ever-increasing facilities of intercourse between the African peoples, as created by
6o Islam and Missions
the colonial governments, (3) the fact that animistic paganism is losing ground more and more. Thus we must expect to see still more of heathen Africa won to Islam before long.
What is to be said about the defensive and aggressive attitude Christian missions are taking! What has been achieved hitherto ? Taking a glance all round, we find that it is very little in comparison with the elementary power of Islam. In North Africa we have a long line of Christian missions among Mohammedans, stretching from Morocco through Algeria and Tunis to Egypt, but it is exceedingly thin and therefore insufficient. Still we must not undervalue their importance. They remind Christendom of its duties towards Moslem Africa, al- though all of them, except in Egypt, are coping with great difficulties, owing to political conditions. If this northern front of ours could be strengthened, it would not only be a most valuable field for the development of missionary forces, but it would make its influence felt far into tropical Africa.
At the southern frontier of Mohammedan Africa we find missions of much stronger development, but these are mis- sions among heathen. They also are working in some way against Islam, for the native churches they are building up are the rocks that once will have to break the flood of Islam. It is another question though if they will ever be able to make a missionary advance on Mohammedan ter- ritories, or even on the Moslem population surrounding them.
The missions of West Africa are all suffering under great strategic drawbacks. The first consists in the end- less variety of tribes and languages. A second draw- back is the lack of unity among the many missions that are at work. It is with great pleasure that we hear of a conference, held at Lokoja in 1910, where four of them
Pan-Islamism in Africa 6l
considered ways and means of cooperation. Another drawback is that the front of West African missions is for the greater part far behind the line where Islam is mak- ing its conquests. Circumstances like this cannot be changed at a moment's notice, but that an alteration should take place is highly desirable. The missions them- selves would be roused to greater activity, if instead of always thinking of the coming battle with Islam, they would stand in the midst of it.
There is indeed some direct work among Moslems in tropical Africa, both eastern and western. Most of it however is not done in a systematic way, by special agents, but rather occasionally, along with work among the pagans. We find however one great exception to this in Northern Nigeria. This is a strategic position of the greatest importance, the Niger being the great entrance door of the Western Sudan, and at the same time, African Islam having here one of its most powerful strongholds. The Church Missionary Society has nobly led the way and is now seconded by three smaller societies. The mission- ary work as yet consists mostly of medical service, ren- dered to the Mohammedan people ; also in the opening of schools, the attendance on which is very slender. A refuge for slave children has also been founded and is patronized by government. Public preaching is not al- lowed, owing to the anxiety of government to avoid the outbreak of fanaticism. But we have never yet heard that the presence of missionaries in the country has caused serious unrest. Still the unwillingness of the majority of the Mohammedan population to accept from missionaries even medical help proves how strong their resistance against the Gospel is, and is also a warning for Christian missions in general not to delay their advance on the Mohammedan Sudan until Islam is rooted too deeply in men's hearts. Another encouragement is that
62 Islam and Missions
Protestant Christendom seems to be getting more fully aware of its duties towards Islam. We welcome this as a hopeful sign, most of all for the Dark Continent, where long neglected work must now be taken up speedily and energetically.
IT
THE DEEYISH ORDEES IN AFRICA REV. CANON E. SELL, D.D., MADRAS
I PROPOSE Id this paper to show the extent to which, during the last century, Islam has spread in various parts of Africa, and by what means it has been propagated. I shall then state its more recent growth, so far as I have been able to gather information on the subject. I do not deal with the question of Islam in Egypt. The chief agency in this propaganda has been a number of the Dervish Orders, to many of which lay brothers are attached. '
The Kadiriya Order, founded in A. H. 561 (a. d. 1165), is widely dispersed, and about one hundred years ago small and scattered communities of it were to be found in the Western Sudan. Stirred up by a missionary spirit it became very active in its proselytizing work. Its meth- ods have been peaceful. Speaking of the success of the Kadiriya Dervishes in parts of Algiers, the French Su- dan and Senegal, two French writers say of the converts : ** Their missionaries become their masters, spiritual and temporal, veritable princes and at the same time priests and warriors."^ Chatelier says of them: *' By the in- struction which they give to their disciples, by the colonies
^ A fall account of the origin of all the important orders, ancient and modern, working in various parts of the Moslem world, will be found in my "Religious Orders of Islam." (S. P. C. K., Madras. Simpkin Marshall & Co., London.)
2 Depont et Coppolani, " Les Confr^ries Religieuses Musulmanes, " p. 311.
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64 Islam and Missions
they found on every side, the Dervishes multiply in the Sudans their centre of action." ^ Es Seuusi was once a member of this order.
The orders more recently formed are to be found in Timbuktu, Algiers and Morocco, and it is with these we have to do. Many of them are offshoots from the older Shadhiliya Order, founded A. H. 656 (A. D. 1258). Of these the Bakayiya Order has its centre in Timbuktu and has much influence south of Morocco. In the Sahara the Bakayis are in many tribes the real political and spiritual rulers.
The Shaikhiya Order, founded A. h. 1013 (a. d. 1604), is now powerful in the southern part of Algeria, but its influence is more political than religious. It maintains all the superstitious notions and practices of the Mara- bouts.
The Hansaliya Order, founded A. H. 1114 (a. d. 1702), has great influence amongst the Berbers of the Atlas mountains. The prestige of the order is high, and its leaders are renowned for the devotions and habits pecul- iar to Dervish saintliness. They live an austere life and are fanatical. Apparently in Algiers they are not dis- loyal to French rule.
The Tijaniya Order, founded A. H. 1196 (A. D. 1781), is one of the most militant and most active of all the African orders. In 1833 Haji Omer, one of its leaders, went to the Hausa country. The Kadiriya Dervishes were too tolerant for him, and he reproached the ordinary Moslems with their apathy. He made several military expeditions and gained many converts. The influence of the order extended from Senegal to Timbuktu, and as far south as the hinterland of Sierra Leone. It has done much to advance the cause of Islam in Western Africa. Some years ago it was said : " From the mouth of the ^ " L' Islam dans I'Afrique Ocoidentale," p. 254.
The Dervish Orders in Africa 65
Senegal to Lagos, over two thousand miles, there is said to be hardly any town of importance in the seaboard in which there is not, at least, one mosque, with active propagandists of Islam." ^
The two orders, the Kadiriya and the Tijaniya, the one by peaceful, the other by warlike means, have been the chief agents in the extensive propagation of Islam in the Western Sudan. The former order has also worked in the Eastern Sudan. Chatelier says: ^'The whole re- ligious movement in the Eastern Sudan also has been di- rected by the Kadiriya Dervishes since the first half of the nineteenth century." ^
The Rahmaniya Order, founded A. H. 1208 (A. D. 1793), is one of the largest of the modern orders. It has great power in the Western Sudan. In Algeria it has seventy- seven monasteries, so that the agents available for prop- agandist work are very numerous.
The Darkaviya Order, founded at the end of the eight- eenth century, is an extremely fanatical one and is in Northwest Africa what the Wahabis were in Arabia. So late as 1888, it proclaimed a jihad against the French. They do not appear to have spread southwards.
The Madaniya Order, founded in 1820, is equally in- tolerant. Its chief centre is in Tripoli. Sheikh Jafer, the son of the founder of the order, gradually adapted his teaching to the principles which underlie the pan-Islamic movement, of which he was one of the originators and afterwards the most ardent supporter. The deposed Sul- tan Abd ul Hamid thought very highly of him, and used him as an agent for the propagation of pan-Islamic views. He had quarters in the palace of Yildiz Kiosk and was then the confidential friend and adviser of the late Sultan. The Sheikh used to send forth his mission-
* Blyden, quoted by Arnold in " The Preaching of Islam," p. 277, ' " L' Islam dans I'Afriqiie Occidentale, " p. 166.
66 Islam and Missions
aries into all parts. They sought to inspire the Sheikhs of the other orders with their missionary zeal. They were clever in adapting themselves to the ways and thoughts of others in order to win them over. ' ' To the Shadhiliya they appeared as teachers of their doctrines, to the Darkaviya as ardent reformers, to the TJlema and to men unconnected with any order they extolled the power and dignity of the Sultan as the Caliph of Islam. They kept alive a spirit of restlessness, and encouraged the hope that all Moslem lands would be freed from the yoke of the infidel.'^ ^ They have monasteries in Algiers, but in Morocco, owing to their pan-Islamic teaching, their influence is slight.
In modern times Islam has passed from the Sudan into the equatorial regions from two centres. From the west it has gone along the Atlantic coast to Senegal, Timbuktu and Hausa land. From the eastern side the modern movement began when Si Ahmed bin Idris, the Sheikh of the Kadiriya Order, sent out his missionaries in the early years of the nineteenth century. The Moslems in Nubia joined this order in large numbers, and began missionary work in Kordofan, a work now carried on by the Senusis. These two movements, sometimes in the past warlike and fanatical, at other times as now more peaceful, have ad- vanced rapidly into the pagan regions. '' Mohammedan North Africa is advancing surely and steadily southwards across the Sahara, which is no longer the barrier it once was. Instead of being an unbroken desert, as once thought, it is now known to contain teeming pagan tribes. A great range of mountains has hitherto proved an obstacle to advance, and Mohammedanism has been kept in check, but with the partition of Africa amongst the powers of Euroiie has come a new danger. The old
1 See "The Religious Orders of Islam," pp. 73-74, for a further account of this powerful order.
The Dervish Orders in Africa 67
mountain passes are now being crossed by roads, and the existence of a protective government is encouraging a new activity. The Koran is being brought to the pagan tribes and is prevailing. When once claimed by Moslems these tribes will be ten times more difficult to reach with the Gospel." *
The Fulahs were the earlier agents of this extensive movement. Under Sheikh Danfodio, about a hundred years ago or so, they became a powerful, warlike and ag- gressive people. They carried their conquests to the west and to the south, and in 1837 made Sokoto the capital of a powerful Moslem state. They advanced into the Yoruba country and founded the city of Iloriu. Four large king- doms in Senegambia and the Sudan represent the result of the energy which Sheikh Danfodio infused into the Moslems of his day. It is said that he prophesied that his green flag would be the passport to victory for a hun- dred years, aud this proved to be the case, for in 1900 the Fulah country became a part of the British Em- pire.
The Fulahs held the larger towns, but never subjugated the pagan tribes in the mountainous regions. A Fulah army left a district where it operated a depopulated desert. ''Bribery and corruption and extortion marked the so-called administration of justice. . . . Roman's life was safe ; common people were killed without com- punction ; notables were removed by poison or secret murder." "" Islam under Fulah rule failed to make the pagan people happy, peaceful or prosperous.
The most recent propaganda is that carried on by the fanatical Senusiya Order.' Its founder Si Mohammed
* a M. S. Review, Jnne, 1908, p. 354. ' Blue Book on Northern Nigeria, No. 409, 1093, p. 20. ^ For a full account of the rise and progress of this order, see "The Religious Orders of Islam," pp. 82-118.
68 Islam and Missions
bin Si Ali bin Senusi was born in the year A. H. 1206 (a. d. 1791). After spending some time in El Azliar as a student, he joined the Kadiriya Dervishes, but about the year 1843 founded the order ealled by his name. It grew very rapidly and zaviyas (monasteries) were founded in Egypt, Tripoli, the Central Sudan, Tunis, Algiers and Senegambia. The number of its members is very large, probably five or six millions. The Moslems in Wadai are nearly all Senusis, and are estimated at three millions. For a long time the headquarters of the order was situated in an oasis in the Libyan desert, midway between Egypt and Tripoli. It was the administrative centre of a vast organization, and a theological school for the training of its missionaries. It is said that there were at one time fieven hundred students there. Sheikh Senusi was a re- markable man. To administrative abilities of a high order, he added the intense fervour of the fanatic. His success amongst the pagan tribes was marvellous, and from the shores of Lake Chad to the Mediterranean he es- tablished his power. In 1885 the people to the north- west of Wadai were all pagans : in 1888 they had all be- come Moslems and in fact the whole region round Lake Chad is now becoming more and more under Senusi in- fluence. In 1894 the headquarters were moved away from Tripoli, which is Turkish, to an oasis, El Mat, situated in a desert to the northwest of Lake Chad. From a strategical point of view the position is an important one. Since then the Senusis have extended into Kanem. Politically they are a source of constant trouble to the French, whilst religiously they rouse a deep spirit of fanaticism and hatred of all non-Moslem people. The present headquarters has been thus de- scribed : ''From this inaccessible fortress the Sheikh ul Mahdi (as the Senusi leader is called) now governs all the territories occupied by the Senusis. Swift messengers
The Dervish Orders in Africa 69
carry his orders to all parts of North Africa ; and he is constantly informed by his agents of all that transpires in the outer world, receiving books, pamphlets, news- papers and all the requirements of his responsible office. His military and political organization is complete." * Another traveller found *'the Senusi headquarters at Kufra to be a regular arsenal of modern arms and am- munition." He adds : ''In the schools the children are taught to hold all foreigners in the deepest hatred." ^ In 1900 the Eev. E. F. Wilson reported that the Senusis had arrived in Upper Nigeria and were giving trouble. This, however, seems to have been an isolated effort, for the of- ficial testimony is that "there is practically no Senusi cult in Northern Nigeria, except possibly in Bornu." ^ United in purpose and energetic in the dissemination of their views, fired with a desire to restore Islam to its orig- inal purity, and hostile to every form of modern civiliza- tion, the Dervishes of the great Senusi ya Order are in the regions where their influence extends the most potent force for the propagation of Islam that the past century or perhaps any century has seen. Silva White says : *' Algeria is honeycombed with Senusi intriguers . . . so vast a combination is necessarily fraught with danger to the peace of Africa." ^ A French author says : " The confraternity of the Senusis is an irreconcilable enemy, really dangerous to the French authority in North Africa." ^ Eecent French conquests in Wadai may re- strain the pan-Islamic propaganda of this order, but the diffusion of Islam by more peaceful means will probably go on unchecked.
^ Silva White, "From Sphinx to Oracle," p. 129.
' C. 3f. S. Review, June, 1907, p. 3S2.
^ Blue Book, No. 409, Northern Nigeria, p. 77.
* " From Sphinx to Oracle," p. 125.
^ Duvreyier, " La Confrerie Musalmane," p. 14.
70
Islam and Missions
This is a very imperfect sketcli of the chief Moslem Diissiouary agencies of the last hundred years.
That iu the past, as now, there has been great activity in the face of obstacles, there is no doubt j but now many of the obstacles are being removed by the great political changes in Africa in recent years, and the propaganda ■will certainly go on with accelerated force.
I have tried to ascertain the facts about the most recent advances, and though I have not obtained information so full as I could have wished, yet I give the present facts as made known to me.
In Abyssinia Islam appears to be gaining ground, and it is said that the whole of Northern Abyssinia will, it is feared, become Mohammedan within a short time.^
In the diocese of Mombasa on the east coast of Africa, I find that little is known of the Dervish orders, or of any propaganda carried on by them. Islam is of a low and ignorant type, and as yet has little or no connection with Egypt. Little or no instruction is given to converts.^ Bishop Peel looks with some anxiety on schools which are to be opened for them, tending as it will to make them more active ; but sees a great opening for mission work if mission schools can be established and Christian teachers trained who could easily find employment in government schools. Unless this can be done there will be, he says, ^' a grand struggle in the near future. ^^
1 Der Mam, quoted in C. M. 8. Review for October, 1910, p. 636.
^ " As all the available literature of Islam is in Arabic, and very few Swahalis, even in Zanzibar, know that language, it is evident that their proselytizing efforts can only have a very superficial effect. Conversion practically may be said to consist in the utterance of a formula. Yet these Swahalis, and also their so-called converts, are extremely difficult to win to Christ : they are so ignorant, even of their own ignorance, so impervious to argument, and they cling so stubbornly to their creed." C. 31. S. Report, 1907-1908, p. 52.
The Dervish Orders in Africa 71
Of Uganda some years ago it was said: ''It seems more than probable that, before many years are past, Christianity or Islam will be the dominant power among the tribes around Uganda who are at the moment heathen. The danger of a Mohammedan advance is one to be reckoned with, because, even though the adherents of that faith in Central Africa may know almost nothing of its teaching, and be scarcely, if at all, bound by its restrictions, once the heathen have become, even in name, Mohammedan, our great opportunity is passed j there is no longer an open mind." ^
In Northern Nigeria, I am informed that there has been as yet no great advance of Islam. Many of the pagan tribes who successfully resisted Islam have been raided and destroyed and the rest are now protected by British administration, but that so distinctly favours Islam that it seems probable that the Hausa traders, who can move where they please without any danger, may more easily make converts. The propaganda does not appear to be carried on by any of the Dervish orders but by the ordi- nary Moslems. Many of the Mussulmans are, from a Mohammedan standpoint, fairly well educated. They belong to the Maliki mezTieb and read the Koran. The commentaries of Baidawi, the traditions of Bukhari and the works of Ghazali are studied. They are quite able to carry on mission work and would probably resent the aid of Dervishes. In the cities of Zaua and Kano, owing to some conversions from Islam to Christianity, there has been a revival of outward religious observances, though no organized efforts to gain the pagan tribes are apparent.
In Southern Nigeria, the advance of Islam has been more rapid, and the pagan races there are intellectually and socially lower than those of the north. The propa- ganda is carried on by Hausa Moslems, some of whom 1 C. M. S. Intelligencer, July, 1904.
7 2 Islam and Missions
belong to the Tijaniya, the active Dervish Order which eighty years ago obtained a footing in the Hausa country.
The Synod of western equatorial Africa (1908) i)assed the following resolution: ''That the rapid growth of Mohammedanism in the Yoruba country calls for serious and prompt action on the part of the Church.'^
In the Nupe district on the north bank of the Niger, owing to slave raids and civil wars in the past, the inde- pendent pagan tribes have been destroyed. The towns- people are mainly Moslems and the village people nom- inally so, but they are left very much to themselves, and in some places the village mosque is in ruins. The chiefs in the towns use means to prevent pagan young men from learning about Christianity. By a recent order many of these chiefs have been directed to leave the towns and live in districts, as district chiefs. This leads to a revival of such Mohammedanism as there is in the vil- lages. The Tijaniya Order is strong and influential in Bida and the district. It was Dervishes of this order who stood by the ex-Emir of Sokoto in his last fight with the British, when many were slain. The political settle- ment of the country favours the advance of Islam, for it is stated that the government to outward appearance favours it. One writer says : " Circumcision of pagan recruits for the army and freed slave pagan children ; the handling over of little pagan girls and boys, saved from slavery, to the care of Moslem Emirs, with the prob- ability of their becoming Moslems and members of Mo- hammedan harems ; subscriptions of government to building and repairing of mosques ; attendance at Mo- hammedan festivals by government officials, as represent- atives ; the gradual reduction of strong pagan tribes — who for generations had held out against the Mohammedan raiders successfully— and bringing them under the rule of, and to pay taxes to, these same old enemies ; these
The Dervish Orders in Africa 73
and many other things show the tendency of the govern- ment policy." ^
Dr. Kumm, who represents the Sudan United Mission which works in Korthern Nigeria, reports the case of a large tribe recently conquered, the chief of which is now a Moslem worshipping at a mosque recently erected. The case will be the same with other tribes reduced to subjec- tion by the British government. He expected that the MuDchis, one of the very finest of African tribes, would be subdued within a year, and so forced to open its doors to Islam. He adds ; ' ' Not one of these tribes would have let a Mohammedan trader or missionary into their coun- tries before British arms conquered them." ^ The United Sudan Mission, by its hospitals, orphanages and schools is beginning an excellent work and none too soon.
In Sierra Leone the advance is steady. The C. M. S. Gazette for October, 1910, thus reports the progress in the Mendi country, about one hundred miles south of Sierra Leone : '' The introduction of Mohammedanism into this land is of recent date. Many a native town once inno- cent of the influence of the prophet now owns a mosque or two. The propagandism is not conducted by any special order of priests set apart for the pui-pose, but every Mussulman is an active missionary. Some half a dozen of them, more or less, meeting in a town, where they intend to reside for any length of time, soon run np a mosque and begin work. They first approach the chief of the town and obtain his consent to their intended act, and perhaps his promise to become an adherent. They teach him their prayers in Arabic, or as much as he can, or cares to, commit to memory. They put him tlirongh the forms and ceremonies used in praying, forbid him the
' W. R. S. Miller in the Annual Report of the United Sudan Mission, p. 62.
' Annual Eeport of the United Sudan Mission, p. 16.
74 Islam and Missions
use of alcoholic beverages— a restriction as often observed as not — and, lo ! the man is a convert. Little or no further trouble is taken to instruct him in the tenets of the religion, nor does he need to forsake any of those habits and practices he was addicted to when a heathen.
'^ There is still time to meet the evil if only prompt measures are taken. The hold of Mohammedanism on the minds of the people in Mendiland is at present slight, and a vigorous, well-sustained push onwards on the part of Christians would, without much trouble, roll back the tide ; but if allowed time, the sway of the prophet will increase. ' '
The Governor of Nyassa is reported to have said : ^'Twenty years ago, when I first knew Nyassaland, Mo- hammedanism was almost non-existent except at one or two spots, where it had been brought in by the Arabs. Since then, it has spread greatly, particularly during the last eight or ten years. The Yaos are the tribe who have taken to Moslem teaching mostly. On the other hand, among the tribes to the west of Lake Nyassa, there is hardly any Mohammedanism. Here the Scotch mis- sionaries have a strong hold on the people, who have taken up Christianity with great enthusiasm.
'^The spread of Mohammedanism to Nyassaland has been from the east coast of Africa (not from the Sudan), and is due largely to the Arabs from Zanzibar. The movement has grown of itself; there has been nothing in the shape of a propaganda. All through Yaoland — that is to say, from Lake I^yassa to the East Coast — there is in almost every village a mosque and a Moslem teacher.
''The Protectorate Government has taken up an im- partial line, and has taken no side in religious differences. There is no fear of any danger as long as this attitude of impartiality is observed. Neither do I think that this
The Dervish Orders in Africa 75
Moliammeclan movement is likely to spread south of the Zambezi owing to strong European influences there. '^
This statement shows how important it is that Chris- tianity should be first in the field.
In Ehodesia there is no organized Moslem propaganda, but amongst workers for the mines who come from the lake regions there are a few Moslems.
In South Africa Islam has not been at all aggressive. South of the Zambezi the Moslem question is not yet an acute one.
The conclusion clearly is that there is a loud call to the Church to support vigorously missions in Africa, which are endeavouring to forestall the operations of Islam among the pagan races. Never before has the crisis been so acute. The Moslem advance in Africa is so extensive, so constant, and so rapid that the speedy evangelization of the pagan people there is the most urgent work upon which the Church is now invited to enter. If it is not done without delay, large parts of Africa will be almost irretrievably lost, for her teeming millions will have en- tered into the fold of Islam.
THE MOSLEM ADVANCE IN AFEICA PROF. CARL MEINHOFF, LL. D., HAMBURG
WHILE Islam is steadily retreating from the European continent, and as steadily declining in power and influence, this is not the case as regards the contact of Islam with African paganism. According to the unanimous opinion of experts, the Mo- hammedan religion is by no means dying out, but is making considerable, and even ominous progress in Africa.
How is this possible ?
Wiirtz has laid special emphasis on the fact that the pacification of heathen countries and the suppression of the slave trade have been favourable to the spread of Islam. ^ Since the Mohammedan intruders are no longer allowed to raid and enslave the heathen, it is no longer to their interest that the latter should remain heathen, and accordingly they are content to extend their influ- ence and their power by way of peaceable trading expe- ditions. At the same time their tacit opposition to European civilization is all in their favour. The state of peace and security, which the African has gained through the establishment of European government, is accom- panied by the feeling that he is being ruled by strange and frequently very uncomfortable people. As the recol- lection of former sufferings fades out of his memory, this
* Compare F. Wiirtz: "Die Mohammedanische Gefahr in West- afrika " ; Easier, " Missionsstudien, " p. 21 ; Verlag, " Der Easier Mis- siousbuchhaudlg. ' '
76
Mosque at IMombasa, British East Africa
The Moslem Advance in Africa 77
contrast presents itself more clearly to his consciousness ; and this state of feeling is reinforced and supported by the Arabs, who form the real nucleus of the Mohammedan world.
This state of things is also favoured by the religious i^^ freedom guaranteed by Protestant governments. The delicate consideration for the religious feelings of others shown, as a rule, by Protestants, is almost unknown else- where, and the terrorism exercised by Mohammedan communities is well known, and is a serious obstacle to missions. It cannot, of course, be openly manifested in European colonies, but is active enough under the sur- face, and plays an important part in the steady progress of Islam.
In East Africa, Islam shows itself in the first instance as a social factor of great significance. The educated and influential Mohammedans of the coast overawe the poor and illiterate man from the interior. In this way, all who are in any way dependent on the Mohammedans easily adopt one article of their creed after another, and thus are speedily included in the Moslem sphere of influ- ence.
There remains an enormous gap between the European and the African. The Moslem allows the gap which sep- arates him from the negro to be filled up by a series of gradations, and thus ensures the spread of his influence. Mixed races, such as the Swahili in East Africa and the Hausas of the Western Sudan, represent such transition forms, and have furnished the Moslem with a potent in- strument for extending his culture, in the shape of their languages, which are the lingua franca of trade and the medium of communication over enormous tracts of coun- try, and are imbued with the spirit of Mohammedanism. This social influence of Islam is the work, not only of Arab, Indian, and African traders and chiefs, but also of the
^
y8 Islam and Missions
Moslem ofacials and soldiers employed by Christian col- onizing powers. The belief that Islam is the best religion for the African has even led some Europeans to accord unduly favourable treatment to this religion.
Even if this opinion were correct, Islam would be cer- tain to do what it has always done and what, by its very nature, it must do— estrange men's feelings from the European government and place them under the influ- ence of an extra- European power. Mecca so becomes the centre of their thought, and the connection with this focus of Moslem life is kept up by means of the pilgrim- age and of literature. This cannot be to the advantage of any European government, especially since we never know when a terrible outburst may take place, as once happened in the Sudan.
But is the African in truth predestined to Islam ? ^ We hear this phrase so often that I feel compelled to dwell on it a little. Its justification is simply this— that the African lives, so to speak, in the ancient world, and the Moslem in the Middle Ages. His culture and way of thinking impress the African as being on a higher plane, and up to a certain point they are intelligible to him, while our modern European culture is so distant from
*Sir H. H. Johnston points out in his valuable article (Nineteenth Century, June, 1910) that Islam has had twelve hundred years in which to conquer Africa and has not yet done so. This, again, is scarcely a proof that the African is predestined to Islam. I would also like to remind you how arduous was the struggle, prolonged through several centuries, which was necessary to prevent Europe from falling a prey to Islam. Africa had no resources which would have enabled it to offer a similar opposition.
Sir H. H. Johnston further points out that the regions of Africa which are inaccessible to civilization, or nearly so, are not the heathen, but the Mohammedan ones, and that heathen Africa has been opened up, not by the warrior, but by the missionary. Livingstone, Krapf, Rebmann, Mackay and others have shown the way.
The Moslem Advance in Africa 79
him, and so alien from all his inherited ways of think- ing, that it is diificult for him to find any points of con- tact.
In addition to this, we must remember that, apart from South Africa, European culture has never presented it- ^ self to Africans as a compact whole, as that of Islam has done, but only in the shape of individual representatives, differing widely among themselves. I need only remind you of the officials, merchants and missionaries to be found in European colonies. The African is scarcely to blame, if he fails to gain from these representatives any clear notion of European culture, and finds them so strange and incomprehensible as to feel himself repelled by them. This state of things has already improved, and will improve still more as European elements of culture, such as railways and steamships, are introduced, and as the labour of the free African supplies the European market with goods. As a result of this, European goods, European machinery, and European thought will become better and better known, and European ways will lose much of their strangeness.
If we can speak of any peoples as predestined to Islam, it must be such warlike tribes as the Fulas in West Africa. It can certainly not be said of the negro tribes properly so called. But as the most warlike of all peo- ples, the Teutonic race, profess Christianity and not Islam, I cannot allow much weight to this alleged pre- destination ; neither do I see to whose interest it would be for them to become Mohammedans — certainly not to that of the European powers.
The notion of the negro race being predestined to Islam seems in the main to be based on the fact that Islam tolerates and even legalizes the polygamy which is prac- tically universal in Africa. Some writers are very fond of dwelling on the unbridled sensuality of the African.
8o Islam and Missions
But the experience resulting from European colonization has shown that in this respect the European as a rule does not materially differ from the African. Yet in spite of this, monogamy has been established and maintained as the ideal in Europe. And the gradual elimination of polygamy is one of the most important problems which colonial governments will have to deal with ; for thus only can law and morality be placed on a secure founda- tion, and the serious economic evils connected with polygamy be remedied. So far as I can see, it cannot be to the advantage of any colonial government to preserve polygamy. It is, like slavery, one of the worst hin- drances to true civilization and economic progress.
What, then, has hitherto been the attitude of missions towards Islam in Africa ? Throughout a great part of the continent— the north and east— Islam is in possession and is quickly advancing, less, however, through the agency of individual propagandists than by means of the social influences already mentioned, whose action is further emphasized and reinforced in a religious sense by the activity of the Moslem teacher. It has often been said that the transition from paganism to Christianity is very much more abrupt than that to Islam. But in addition to this, the Mohammedan recognizes, in religion as in other matters, a variety of intermediate stages. He is satisfied, especially at the beginning, wdth a very slight degree of adhesion to Islam. It is by no means all con- verts, but only a few individuals here and there who pay any attention to the deeper religious requirements. No abrupt break with polygamous conditions is demanded, as is the case in Christian missions ; while magical prac- tices and other superstitions are tolerated. The convert thus loses nothing, but on the contrary gains in social position and consideration, so that his adhesion is almost a matter of course.
The Moslem Advance in Africa 8l
In face of this state of things, missions have hitherto found themselves practically helpless. Some soon dis- covered that words can do nothing to counteract such powerful social motives ; others have from the first acted under the influence of the notion that a mission to Mohammedans must be fruitless. The result was that missionaries have rather avoided contact with Moham- medans and have devoted themselves to the heathen. Where they had to deal with pagans who had never been under Moslem influence, they obtained satisfactory re- sults ; but it remains to be seen what will be the attitude of these Christian communities, when the tide of Islam reaches them. When work has been attempted among pagans touched by Moslem influence, the results have been startlingly small.
What should therefore be done ? The problem before us is to bring the gospel message to all men because we are convinced that the Gospel is a message of peace and freedom. We have no right to assume in the case of any human being that he stands in no need of this consola- tion. That is, we must not say, " It will not do to carry the Gospel to the Mohammedans.'^ We must keep the one thought in mind that these people have no real spiritual refreshment, no means of moral progress, and, above all, we must remember the deplorable fate of their women. Missionary work must be an honest service of friendship and love, not propaganda which at bottom al- ways contains a grain of self-seeking.
If we keep this service of love in mind, we shall no longer seek to avoid contact with Islam. But we must be better equipped for such contact than has hitherto been the case. If a missionary imagines that he can be of service to Mohammedans by preaching in the same way as he does to the African heathen, he is mistaken. In this case, a wholly different set of conditions is presup-
82 Islam and Missions
posed, and the Mohammedan has every right to expect that we should make serious efforts to enter into his ways of thinking before we demand that he shall listen to us. A careful study of the Koran and of Moslem tradition and history is therefore indispensable for every mission- ary who intends to work among Mohammedans. Only 80 can he gain their confidence and acquire any in- fluence.
It is, of course, out of the question that missionary societies should give up, or confine within narrower limits the fruitful work they are doing among heathen nations. Where they meet with Mohammedans, they should no longer pass them by without notice, but should appoint special, thoroughly trained missionaries for this work. Above all, we ought to convince ourselves that the want of success, in those places where missionaries have laboured fruitlessly for years among pagans who are under Mohammedan influence, is due to the fact that no attention has been paid to the Mohammedans them- selves. It is a hopeless task to combat the influence of Islam, if we deliberately refrain from coming to an un- derstanding with the Mohammedans themselves.
What form should this work assume ? It must not be exclusively theological. The Moslem is quite accus- tomed to talk on theological subjects, but the premises from which he starts are different from those assumed by the Protestant, and thus there is, as a rule, little to be gained by such conversations. We must prepare the ground for the spirit of the Gospel by a series of con- spicuous and striking activities, which alone can provide us with a starting-point for a profitable preaching of the Word.
One of the most important aids to a mission among Moslems is medical work viewed not merely as a means of obtaining converts, but also as an exercise of charity.
The Moslem Advance in Africa 83
The superiority of European doctors is recognized by Mohammedans, and thus many a prejudice will be re- moved and confidence established.
Schools are another form of activity. Mohammedans are beginning to understand that the knowledge of nature possessed by the European is superior to that of the Ori- ental. Eailways, steamships and telegraphs are tokens whose import cannot be mistaken, and they have quick- ened the wish for instruction by the Europeans. This too in the end has a theological bearing. We can make use of the laws of nature to show that God is faithful and that we can trust in Him. He does not act arbitrarily or capriciously, but according to order and law, both in nature and in the kingdom of His grace. Such consider- ations are diametrically opposed to the thoughts of God entertained by Mohammedans and their fantastic belief in all sorts of marvels and prodigies.
The effects of persistent energy supported by an intel- ligent belief in the divine government is to be seen in triumphs of natural science. The Moslem, bowing before the decree of an inscrutable fate, cannot at once grasp this idea which opens an entirely new world to him. The European languages are the key to this new world. A knowledge of them brings him into touch with Euro- pean science and European literature. I am aware that there is such a thing as immoral literature in Europe, but, thank God, there is also plenty of literature of a wholesome and elevating character, and a knowledge of European languages will make a way for it to the heart of the Mohammedan.
I must not forget to refer to all sorts of technical skill, the acquisition of which may be of importance to the Moslem, and which we can offer him in workshops ar- ranged on the European plan and managed by Europeans. All this implies an educational activity which will show
84 Islam and Missions
to great advantage compared with the Koran schools of the Arabs.
One of the most important divisions of the subject is certainly that relating to work among women. No one, however great his admiration for Mohammedans in gen- eral may be, can deny that the lot of the women is most miserable. They remain in a condition of deplorable ig- norance and spiritual apathy, while not a few of tbem long for freedom. What is needed in the first instance is to give them relief from physical suffering, and this can only be done by women, since no medical man is al- lowed access to them. Then, we must seek to supply their spiritual needs by teaching, consolation and exhortation.
Moslem women are often only too eager to welcome this work, and it can only be carried to its full extent when the young girls have been inspired with some long- ing for higher things, and their intellects have received some training. Education for girls is the most obvious instrument for the advancement of Mohammedan women, and our immediate aim must be the establishment of schools. Even if at first that only means instruction for girls within their own family circle, the schools will grow as time goes on, and pupils trained in them will form the most efficient workers. The ladies of the mission must become the friends of the women, and confidence and affection will pave the way for work among the children.
It will be objected that *' all these things are not mission work.'' But I think they are. If we show ourselves to the Mohammedans as their friends, from whom they may learn what will help them in all their bodily and spiritual distresses, what are we doing but obeying the command of our Lord ? We may confidently leave all else to time ; till some ask us, '^ By what power, or by what name, have ye done thisf" We wish to serve faithfully and honestly for our Lord's sake ; that will do the greatest
The Moslem Advance in Africa 85
honour to His name and please Him best. If a mission- ary to Mohammedans, though he has never baptized a Mohammedan, has yet established confidence and friend- ship in place of the old hatred, surely this is a great gain.
The prospects for Christianity in Africa are not so dis- couraging as many people believe.
The economic disadvantages of Islam are very great, and polygamy in particular is a serious hindrance to progress. Under the influence of Christianity, which undermined the foundations of polygamy in Basutoland, the old hoe culture of Africa has given way to the plough, and this marks the dawn of a new era.
South Africa, with its many Christian natives, is to- day trying to come into touch with the negro church of America ; and though this movement at present fre- quently shows itself in immature and reactionary forms, it already shows signs of settling down to an orderly prog- ress. Thus the old African curse of slavery will give birth to new aids towards establishing the Christian na- tive in the faith.
I should like to refer to another source of help, of which we might take advantage, namely the numerous Euro- African half castes whose existence we may dei)lore but cannot deny. Since they do exist, every effort ought to be made to give them a sound European and Christian education. They would then form a connecting link be- tween Europeans and Africans, in the same way as the half caste descendants of Africans and Arabs render the greatest service to the latter as regards their mental and moral influence on the natives. As already stated, it would be better if the half castes did not exist, but since they do exist, we have to save them from deterioration and to enlist their services on behalf of Europe.
The same principle may be applied to the Swahili and Hausa languages which, pervaded as they are by Moslem
86 Islam and Missions
elements, are the medium of communication for consid- erable areas, and tlie most efficient agency for populariz- ing tlie Mohammedan religion. The utility of these lan- guages, however, is so great that there is no object in trying to check their spread. It will be much wiser to use them as instruments for missionary work, and fill them with a Christian spirit, as they had previously been imbued with the spirit of Islam. This will involve the further advantage that the linguistic diversity of Africa will cease to be an obstacle to the formation of larger church organizations. The use of these languages renders possible the establishment of a Christian press in touch with large areas, and ensures the action of the Word on people who could not otherwise be reached. Wherever Islam has carried the Arabic language and characters, a book or newspaper written in Arabic can find its way : a circumstance to which more attention might well be paid than has hitherto been done.
But, we need scarcely say, our final and highest trust in the victory of the Cross over the crescent does not rest on any of these things, but on the power of truth, and faith in Him who is Himself the Truth, Jesus Christ.^
^ A more detailed proof of the propositions I have advanced will be found in the following articles :
" Zwingt uns die Heidenmission Muhammedanermission zu trei- ben?" Verlag der deutschen Orientmission, 1906. Gross-Lichterfelde.
" Die Bedeutung der Muhammedanermission fiir die Heidenmis, sion." Verlag der deutschen Orientmission, 1906. Gross-Lichterfelde.
' ' Mission nnd Islam in Ostafrika. " Ev. Missionsmagazin, Basel, 1907.
" Wege zum Herzen des INIuharamedaners." Sudan Pioniermission- Wiesbaden, Emserstr. 12; 1909.
*' Die Mohammedauische Gefahr in Afrika unddie Einheitssprache. " Ev. Missionsmagazin, Basel, 1909.
" Warum darf die Christliche Mission vor dem Islam nicht Halt machen?" Verhandlungen der kontinentalen 3Iissionskonferenz, Bremen, 1909.
VI
PAN-ISLAMISM IN MALAYSIA
REV. G. SIMON, SUMATRA
I. The All-permeating Influence of the
PlLGEIMAGE TO MECCA
PAN-ISLAMIC ideals have their origin for the most part in Mecca. In Mecca one hears about the holy wars of the faithful against the Christians, the '^possessors of Holy Writ," who are still more wicked than unbelievers. At the present time they have the power entirely, but Allah will one day take it from them.
One learns in Mecca the wonderful story that the Sultan of Stamboul in Europe has overthrown the six other emperors and that they have to send him a yearly tribute. On this account an Indian prince tries in the most roundabout ways to derive his honour, and, wherever possible, his descent from the Emperor of Stamboul, for above him there now stands only God. One is there able to gain information as to the future building up of the Moslem world.
The East Indian Archipelago is being more and more brought into union with Mecca, and Mecca is the spirit- ual head of Islam. The feeling of the solidarity of all believers, the sense of being part of a higher unity, works in the most overpowering manner upon the solitary islander. It is not necessary that in Mecca the pilgrim should exactly take up politics, but at all events he will imbibe a deep hatred against all Christian powers. The chief Sherif of Mecca stands in close relation with Turkey, and so the Hajis come into contact with thepan-
87
88 Islam and Missions
Islamic movement. It seems clear that many insurrec- tionary risings in the Dutch East Indies have been instigated by the Hajis. The pilgrimage is the mortar which cements together the scattered peoples. Thus through it a small insignificant people becomes part of a vigorous living whole.
Yes, undoubtedly in Mecca the pan-Islamic ideal is al- ready realized in miniature. Independent and free, one is there united in one spirit, and in one speech. The world is represented there by a multitude of people of whose existence the simple rice- cultivator in his primi- tive woods guesses nothing. He sees there that the promise that the faith of Islam should be the one true religion for all people is undoubtedly true. The pilgrimage is the military review of Islam, a foretaste of the coming golden age ; and the pilgrim returns home animated by the firm resolution henceforth to live and to die for the realization of this ideal of unity. Each Haji is the bearer of the Mohammedan propaganda, that gives him his significance.
It is the same in Africa. By the Blue Nile the pilgrims have founded a particular state — Gallaland — from which their influence is spread on all sides. That which the Christian churches obtain by means of great financial offerings, through such powerful and extensive establishments as organized churches and organized mis- sionary management, is afforded to Islam by these jour- neys to Mecca ; and what a religious community requires, whether clergyman and teacher, leader and missionary, scholar and science, Mecca likewise provides.
But it is more important that the pilgrim and still more that the student actually does assimilate in Mecca a cer- tain proportion of Mohammedan thought. Without doubt the ignorance of manj^ pilgrims is great. Many of them go home just as they came. They did not under-
Pan-Islamism in Malaysia 89
stand the meaning of the ceremonies, still less the dis- courses of the learned men. But it is one and the same whether they take home much or little knowledge. Each pilgrim propagates what he has learned in Arabia. An unbroken stream of pilgrims flows to and fro. Through these small arteries and veins the fresh blood of Meccan enthusiasm and Arabian style of thought per- meate the whole Moslem body. The Mecca pilgrim car- ries the great pan-Islamic idea into the most remote mountain villages.
The more the pilgrim from the Indian Islands looks up to the Arabized teachers, who are his compatriots, and the more he admires the literary productions of their genius, the less he values his own nationality. This is a further noteworthy result of the Mecca pilgrimage. The pilgrim at Mecca behaves modestly because he regards the old national traditions of his home country as worth- less. The coming of Islam has become in their opinion the beginning of culture. We can understand why pil- grims have no comprehension of patriotism.
Even the most recently arrived pilgrims, says Shouck Hurgronje, look upon their home as a refuse heap be- cause there the outside forms of life always remind them of a heathenish past, while in Mecca everything suggests the Moslem creed. ''They sacrifice each patriotic thought, each inclination towards home customs to the uplifting consciousness of their oneness with the Moslem kingdom." In the proud assurance of their progress, they look down with contempt on the unclean society to which they once belonged. The homeward bound Hajis have become other men, they have laid aside their na- tional individuality with open eyes ; they have now in- deed become true Mohammedans.
One must be careful while insisting on its close connec- tion with Mecca not to undervalue the Islamism of the
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Islam and Missions
Indian Islands. One is principally disposed to consider Indian Islamism as having little vitality ; it is under organized ; too much mixed up with heathenish elements ; too mechanical ; too childishly naive for one to be able to place it on the same plane as genuine Mohammedan- ism. What we have learned thus far is all mechanical and lifeless, particularly the ritual of prayer exercises and the yearly fasts, and at the best it seems only to be of a temporary character. But do not let us forget their union with Mecca ! It steadily works towards abandon- ment of the simple and primitive, and the casting of the thought of the Indonesian peoples more and more in the mould of the Arabian spirit.
Clearly two religious powers are struggling with each other in the Mohammedanism of the Indian Islands : the East Indian Animism and the Monotheism of Arabian Is- lam, so little of which is known to the people. That Is- lam has the power partly to absorb Animism, partly to reject it, is only explicable by this Arabian influence which streams over India through the union with Mecca. We must remember what a small amount of knowledge the people possess ; how powerfully Animism still governs the people ; yes, how, notwithstanding all, Animism has discovered a back door through which it can come back again to its old place in the hearts of the people together with the new religious formularies.
II. Pan-Islamism and the Colonial Empire
Everywhere in the Dutch East Indies one beholds in the Sultan of Turkey the ruler of all the faithful, the Caliph, the representative of the prophet. In him is in- corporated the Mohammedan hope of the gathering to- gether of all Moslems.
The question as to whether the Sultan has the right or not of looking upon himself as the over-lord of all the faithful has no practical signification. He may have
Pan-Islamism in Malaysia 91
even as little right to the position as many other princes in Morocco and India who also style themselves Caliphs and successors of the prophet. As so often happens in Islam what in theory is held to be quite impossible in this case has become to some extent actual. ''In him are centred even the ambitious aspirations of the Mos- lem world." Even amongst the heathen tribes one hears of a mythical, powerful prince of Stamboul.
The silent hope of a future coming of the prince of Stamboul makes it easier for the Mohammedan to put up quietly for a time with the rule of Christian Europeans. One must bear the present Christian regime as a trial laid by Allah in his wisdom upon the faithful. '' When you look to Paradise, the very fact of your present op- pressed conditiou," says the Mecca pilgrim to the impa- tient believers, "is a sign that things will go better for you in the future. If the white people are in this present time wiser and mightier, so will they in eternity be the fuel in hell.''
But the Mecca pilgrim knows something still better than such promises for the future. Already in the pres- ent has the God of Islam been merciful to him and given him a powerful Head, who is the Turkish Sultan. He is certainly the greatest prince in Europe. All the other Christian states are subject to him and on that account they all have their delegates at his court. Even the Em- peror of Germany also pays him homage with presents. So runs the talk amongst the people. The Sultan sends out from his kingdom railways, telephones and tele- graphs ; for all these are manufactured in his kingdom. In the future he will therefore come and annihilate the Christian dominion in a holy war. For this reason in many mosques prayers are offered for the Sultan as the lawful prince of the Dutch East Indies.
These ideas are certainly not entirely new in the Dutch
g2 Islam and Missions
East Indies, as we have already seen. They are uni- versal. In 1875, Missionary Zimmer of Borneo reported that the Mohammedans say the same thing there, that all European states must pay tribute to the Sultan and that he will one day become lord over them all. A Haji of Borneo told Elder Julius that as soon as the Sultan of Turkey came he would sweep away all people from the earth or else convert them to Islam.
The fanaticism of the Senusis in the Sudan who re- proached the Sultan with defilement, through his connec- tion with unbelievers and Western customs, is foreign to the Indian Islander. On the contrary, the situation di- rectly shows that the Sultan promotes Western culture, fosters intercourse with the great powers, that he has a commission from God to be the protector of Islam.
Without doubt this keeping the Sultan present in the mind of the Mohammedan is a result of active intercourse with Mecca. This result, however, does not depend on the influence of the Arabs, for they, as is well known, do not want the Sultan, and consider themselves the first nation. One sees here that at the present time the influ- ence of the Mecca pilgrim and the recruiting officer for the pilgrimage is stronger than that of the Arabian mer- chants.
It is not clear how far the Porte nourishes such thoughts In the hearts of the people. In 1896 Dutch newspapers brought news bearing on this, in regard to which, how- ever, the foreign minister explained that the Porte had maintained a correct attitude. Eemarkable is the decla- ration that children from the Dutch East Indies were to be taken to Constantinople in order to be educated at the expense of the Sultan. This has been forbidden in Brit- ish India. Through the Turkish consulate in Batavia Mohammedans were even ordered to send their children. It is, moreover, affirmed that even princes were sought
Pan-Islamism in Malaysia 93
for this journey to the Turkish capital. At any rate the ordinarily extremely strict censor in Constantinople did not silence the press which was so outspoken on this point. In 1898 the Turkish paper 3Ialumat brought out a violent article on the treatment of Mohammedans by the Chris- tian people. The Malays were openly encouraged to rise against the government of unbelievers, for indeed soon the crescent would triumph over heathendom and the king- dom of Christ. The paper was suppressed, but more of the same style of writing was spread abroad from Singa- pore. At all events, this hope in the Sultan is calculated to undermine the sovereignty of the European powers over their Moslem subjects.
III. Pan-Islamism and the Europeans
Islam places itself in front of the people as the power which they can assume when dealing with the European. The pan-Islamic ideal becomes an important means of Mohammedan propaganda ; in it is incorporated the hope of the brown races for their deliverance from European dominion. One can thus see how far pan-Islamic ideas have won an entrance into the Dutch East Indies in that there also one clearly perceives the rising waves of all important politico-religious movements in United Islam.
The power of the pan-Islamic hope for the union of all the faithful under one believing ruler will not become weakened on account of there being many Mohammedans in the Dutch East Indies who submit to the Dutch rule, not from compulsion but because they truly recognize the blessings of a European administration. Such are espe- cially the people who have a comfortable position as gov- ernment officers and who, moreover, in their old age will receive a small but acceptable pension. Amongst the simple people there is also many a one really grateful to
94 Islam and Missions
the government because he has through it been freed from the atrocious injustice of his Mohammedan oppressors.
But one does well to be cautious about such reports. Unfortunately many Europeans, and at times young of- ficers, allow themselves to be lulled into a false security through the Mohammedans' great cleverness in flattering the colonial government. The opinions of the common man are not taken into account. He who knows the native, however superficially, knows how easily the people allow themselves to be driven into the most dangerous revolts through the instigation of a clever Mecca pilgrim. Is- lam is wise enough in its dealings with Europeans to make friendship with the colonial power seem a heartfelt matter with him, and one always comes across classes who allow themselves to be lulled into security by such professions.
Thus, for example, on September 12, 1898, on the oc- casion of the accession of the Queen of Holland, Seyd 0th- man, a renowned follower of the prophet in Batavia, recited a prayer for the Queen. He was attacked for doing so, but on February 27, 1899, was defended by the illustrious Seyd Salim Ibn Ahmed of Habban in Arabia.
Salim affirmed Othman had done nothing wrong, for he had only supplicated a blessing on tbe Queen and her kingdom, and a blessing for this world, not for the world to come. In the further defense it was maintained that Othman did not indeed pray for the victory of the Queen over Islam, nor for the forgiveness of her sins, nor for participation in Paradise, nor for the deliverance from hell fire. One may therefore wish for the blessings of riches and children for unbelievers, for that would in truth be no blessing, but a trial from God. He appealed then to the practice of Mohammedan theologians who have declared: ''One should go to meet unbelievers respectfully, if fear necessitates it, or if hope be present,
Pan-Islamism in Malaysia 95
so as to cause the unbeliever through the knowledge of Islam to be friendly to Islam."
Certainly one acquiesces quietly in the present state of things for one sees that the attempt to attain anything through insurrection is without prospect of success. And yet the fanatic does not give up hope : indeed that hope draws nearer through a clearly defined medium. It is said in Java that Europeans are still possessed of ** Ghaib," i.e., a peculiar magic power, but that a time is coming when their destiny will overtake them. In the meanwhile one should prepare himself, through a knowledge of supernatural powers, for the future course of things. For God has prepared the magic power for His faithful ones. The teachers of magic say that their pupils receive these powers in order to shake off in the future the government of the white people. For God will one day assuredly put an end to the unnatural con- dition of His people remaining under the dominion of the Kafir. There must, however, first be enough magic power developed amongst the people.
It is to be observed how eschatological expectations point to these magic powers. The same magic (Ilm ullah), which protects the rebellious country from the conse- quences of sins, bestows power also in a battle against the unbelievers. Trust in magic and eschatological fa- naticism urge the people to the most hopeless insur- rections. When the renowned Captain Christoffel surprised a native Sultan, he took his stand, so say the people, a gun in either hand, and was absolutely invul- nerable until a bullet laid him low ! Therefore the Bugis of the Celebes gave magic bullets to the people of Onda which in a future battle with the Dutch would strike when even thrown from the hand.
In the stories which are in circulation about the holy war in North Sumatra mention is made again and again
g6 Islam and Missions
of these magic powers. The Achinese on the north of Sumatra have been fighting since 1873 with varying suc- cess agaiust the Dutch. They have been fauatical Moham- medans since the year 1300. The war which the Indian Islanders wage against the Dutch is to them the model of a holy war. One does not know what actually led up to it. But since the Achinese have been able to maintain an opposition for thirty-six years, it is proved to the people that one can make a successful resistance, in spite of the devil-guns of the Christians — thus they call the repeating rifle— which come from Satan to give the Dutch power over the faithful in battle. For that reason God has given His people the llm ullah. The Achinese are invul- nerable, the bullets of the Dutch cannot pierce them, yet the Achinese can catch them with their hands. Should a bullet strike, the wound will heal in the twinkling of an eye ; moreover, the fallen in battle immediately come to life again ! Therefore may the Achinese be confident ; that which is found in the little book published in Battak, ''The Songs of the Achinese," will still come true: ''There comes a day of triumph for the Achinese, a day of revenge when the Achinese will destroy all their enemies, and execute a great retribution. Salvation and deliverance will one day come to the land from the Achinese, and this by diligent learning of magic maxims, by fencing and sword dances."
However laughable such stories appear, all who know the natives understand just what a fanatical power lies in this belief of victory through magic power. Therefore from a colonial point of view one should take more notice of this practice of the teachers of magic.
The native with his burdened heart thinks that Islam has something to offer him which he can make good use of in this present time. The fact is that while the govern- ment deals indulgently with the Moslem, his hope in this
Pan-Islamism in Malaysia 97
strong magic power is animating in him tlie belief that under the ^gis of Islam his most secret wishes for the throwing off of European i)0wer will one day be realized. The fanatic inflames himself with the pan-Islamic ideal. It upholds the Moslem in the consciousness that he be- longs to the chosen people of God. The Utopia of the all-Moslem expectation gives fresh nourishment to the pride of the Mohammedan. The feeling of dominion be- comes a living reality. He is ordained to rule and that is why he looks with pity upon all unbelievers. And yet the born rulers are condemned to obedience ! And so fanaticism, the inner fury over the unnatural state of things in this world which he would like to alter and yet cannot, eats ever deeper into his heart.
Furthermore the pan- Islamic movement in Malaysia leads the people on to despise European culture, for in the genuine Moslem view all that is worth knowing is already contained in the Koran. But the study of the Koran and the pure formal scholasticism of a few isolated Mecca pilgrims has no significance for the people.
So long as one sees in the cultured superiority of the Christians a thoroughly anomalous situation, to which Allah will certainly make an end soon, so long will one hold anxiously to the ritual purity which enables the be- liever to see the impure in every European ; and so long as one believes the education of the European in this world to be a proof of his damnation in the world to come, so long will each inclination in the Mohammedan towards cultured progress be nipped in the bud.
IV. Pan-Islamism and the Eeligious Community OF THE Christians
The real unity of believing Christians, which bridges over race differences, forms an effective contrast to the pan- Islamic Utopia, which is full of promises for the
q8 Islam and Missions
future, but which yields nothing tangibly profitable in the present. Thus the pan-Islamic idea becomes weakened in the soul of the Mohammedan. It loses through con- tact with Christendom something of its impure and there- fore corrupting magnificence. As opposed to this widely spread hope, the Christian has at all events an equivalent in the communion of saints. This exists not only in the en- thusiastic consciousness of the Christian, but it emanates from the mission, recognizable by the Mohammedans and visible in its effects.
That the pan-Islamic hopes have no prospect of realiza- tion becomes more evident from year to year. The Chris- tian European education which increasingly filters through from the mission schools to the common people does more and more to shake the visionary hopes of the Moham- medans. The united band of humble Christians becomes year by year, through deeds of love, stronger and more prominent. The pan- Islamic hope has no other foundation than the ever reiterated glowing descriptions of the Mecca pilgrims. They have indeed seen in Mecca the Moslem unity of belief ; but in the Dutch East Indies no fruit rich in blessing has yet ripened for the Moslem. Not mission- ary work alone, but also many government measures undertaken in a Christlike spirit remove from European rule the odium of existing only for the oppression of the inferior races and link the duty of a service of love with the right to rule a conquered nation.
Thus the mission dries up the pan-Islamic movement ; it shows the European in a new light, it deprives the pan- Islamic thought of a substantial part of its power of at- traction. The hatred against the conqueror binds the people together in pan-Islamism ; the love enjoined by the European mission weakens this bond and fastens by new threads the soul of this primitive people to its place under the foreign conqueror.
Pan-Islamism in Malaysia 99
Pan-Islamism is one of those currents of spiritual feel- ing in the hearts of these Mohammedan peoples which must be diverted into another channel if ever Christianity is to find there full entrance.
VII
POLITICAL CHANGES IN TURKEY
PROF. J. STEWART CRAWFORD, BEIRUT
THE proclamation of the Turkish Constitution in 1908 roused the Mohammedan portion of the empire to a new activity. Political and social influences, of which the Moslem masses had previously had but a dim conception, were now, with a startling emphasis, forced on the attention of Islam. With the introduction of the constitutional regime, the theocratic conception of the state had been, in effect, completely set aside. The nation was now asked to live its political life on a separate plane from that of the Mohammedan faith. Mass meetings were held in all the cities of the empire, at which orators vied with one another in expounding the new conception of nationalism. They laboured to prove that the life of the nation as a whole was a public affair that did not directly involve religious issues. These speakers announced, as though it was a great discovery, that the tests of loyal citizenship were purely civil and moral, and that in relation to the government the forms of a man^s religious belief gave him no title to special privileges. Astonishing and ingenious arguments were brought forth from the teaching of their prophet, in the Koran and the Tradition, to show that these new political principles were not foreign to Islam, but were in accord with the purpose of its founder. These mass meetings were addressed by men of the new school, or at any rate, by those who professed to belong to the new school. The zealous leaders of ecclesiastical life — the Ulema, who
100
Political Changes in Turkey lol
were devoted to theological study aud to the principle of religious prestige — displayed only a passive sympathy with the new movement. An undercurrent of deep hostility was even then drawing the more active spirits of this class into a conspiracy of opposition. Nevertheless, for many months, no one publicly questioned the correctness of the new theory of nationalism.
It must be remembered that the people in most sections of the empire, for years previously, had been undergoing a process of education in modern political ideals. Al- though during the reign of Abd ul Hamid the newspapers had been compelled to avoid all revolutionary topics, or even mention of revolutionary events in other countries, nevertheless the news of the world was reported to the nation sooner or later, even though some parts of it were of necessity stated in guarded form. In particular, the awakening of Japan had been fully discussed by all classes alike. For the first time in history a Moslem people were stirred to a deep admiration for a heathen nation. The success of Japan restored faith in the power of an Oriental people to achieve as great results as could any Occidental nation. Of still greater significance was the fact that Japan had adopted Western science, Western organization, Western political standards, and a portion of what might be called Western social ideals, without of- ficially accepting Western religion. In this significant omission lay the chief attraction for the Moslem mind in the story of Japan. The superficial fact that Eussia, the ancient rival of Ottoman ambition, had been humiliated, only partially explained the enthusiastic interest of Mo- hammedan Turkey in Japanese successes. The full ex- planation lay rather in the fact that the story of Japan seemed to demonstrate the possibility of the assimilation, by an Oriental people, of Western forces and institutions without any apparent disloyalty to their former faith.
102 Islam and Missions
Thousands of young Moslem reformers took their cue from this feature of Japanese experience ; viz., their ac- chievement of scientific, industrial, and social progress without a national change of religion. Henceforth, with- out hesitation, they could urge any degree of reform — and reform according to Western standards — without the im- plication of disloyalty to Islam. This was one phase of the education of the nation previous to the proclamation of the Constitution.
Another equally important phase of the social educa- tion of the Ottoman world has resulted from the intro- dnction, near the beginning of the Hamidian regime, of the Kanuni Humayun, or the system of law and the ma- chinery of courts and legal administration based on the Code Napoleon. This new code of law had been pre- pared, about 1876, by the Midhat Pasha school of re- formers, in conjunction with the Constitution and the representative system of government which they had de- vised. The Constitution and the Parliament Abd ul Hamid soon suspended by an arbitrary exercise of auto- cratic will. By an equally arbitrary decision, he set in operation the principles and the machinery of the Kanun or Code Napoleon. Thus there had been established by imperial fiat a system of law other than the Sheriat or the sacred law of Islam. Both systems of law were henceforth to serve as parallel codes ostensibly on a par with each other, each to serve certain functions of indi- vidual and national life. In general men were left free to bring their lawsuits before the courts of either system as they preferred. Eeligious questions growing out of the life of Mohammedan citizens, such as inheritance, marriage, or divorce, were automatically referred to the Sheriat courts for decision. Cases not directly religious, or those in which other than Moslem interests were in- volved, all came before the Kanun system of courts, and
Political Changes in Turkey 103
at least in theory were decided according to the princi- ples of the Code Napoleon.
It is not difficult to fathom the motives of that astute autocrat in thus establishing, for the leading Moham- medan nation, a new code of law entirely alien to the sacred Sheriat. The Code Napoleon was a much more workable system and much better adapted to the stand- ards of an advancing civilization than was the ancient Sheriat with its primitive, Semitic regulations. But, what doubtless weighed still more in the tyrant's mind, was the fact that the new code recognized no privileged religious class and left no power in the hands of the ecclesiastical organization as such. Abd ul Hamid, in the absolute personal rule which he exercised so successfully for over a quarter of a century, could brook no rival. No power but his own must be recognized in the nation, not even that of the official religious leaders. It is hardly con- ceivable that Abd ul Hamid intended to weaken the power of Islam, or that he had planned to undermine any of its fundamental principles. Nevertheless the establishment of the civil code of law probably did more than all other forces combined to weaken the theocratic principle which is so essential to a Moslem state. Ecclesiastical leaders chafed with the utmost impatience under the insult thus dealt to the sacred Sheriat, but the hand of the autocrat was heavy on all who ventured to give public expression to their rebellious attitude. Had the career of Abd ul Hamid been cut short soon after the institution of the hated irreligious code the nation would have sprung back with great reactionary force to the holy law of their faith, to the exclusion of every other legal system. But the experience of a quarter of a century of life under a much more enlightened and practical code proved to be a form of political education which weakened the fanatical devo- tion of the masses to the Sheriat. All unconsciously
104 Islam and Missions
Abd ul Hamid had prepared the field of national senti- ment to receive favourably the political gospel of the new nationalism.
Yet it must not be supposed that the devotion of the masses to Islam, as a religion, had been consciously weakened. They had ceased merely to feel acutely the contradiction between a Western legal code and the Mo- hammedan system of thought. That such a contradiction existed, and that this contradiction was fundamental, many of the educated leaders of the Young Turk move- ment were well aware. They knew also that this contra- diction would be greatly intensified by many of the new measures they proposed to enforce. They accordingly employed all the tactics of a most anxious diplomacy to conceal from the masses the full significance of many of the measures proposed by the new government. We may take as an example such a change as the enrollment of a large non-Moslem element in the army. This change severed the army effectually from all relation to religious propaganda. It made the conception of a holy war henceforth forever impossible. Militant Islam is thus confronted with the necessity of employing new and moral, or at least social, instrumentalities for the main- tenance of its dominant position in the nation. The Young Turk measures met with the bitterest opposition from that portion of the religious leaders, who had the insight to appreciate the far-reaching changes which the new tendencies would inevitably bring on Islam. Ec- clesiastical orthodoxy had already, under Abd ul Hamid, been compelled to bear in silence a most damaging blow to its influence. For the ill-used representatives of ortho- doxy, the political freedom proclaimed by the new re- gime suggested liberty to inaugurate a campaign for the restoration of the long dethroned Sheriat. All over the empire there were devout Moslems who naturally asked
Political Changes in Turkey 105
each other, ''What is to be the position of the Sheriat under the new Constitution ! " No public agitation of this question was possible during the first few mouths, when all classes vied with one another in declarations of loyalty to the new order. But a private form of agita- tion, which rapidly spread, soon revealed itself to close observers. It even found encouragement from men who once would have stamped out such a movement. The reactionary party, who represented the old regime, were quick to take advantage of the critical spirit fostered by the agitation in regard to the Sheriat. It was not long before that arch -intriguer, Abd ul Hamid, became aware of the strong undercurrent of ecclesiastical dissatisfaction with the non-Islamic tendencies of the new regime. He soon began to plot for the overthrow of the constitutional party by means of an alliance with the religious agi- tators. In some respects he thus reversed the policy of his early reign. The very leaders whose power he had broken, and the sacred ambitions which he had once ty- rannically suppressed, he now identified himself with most zealously, since he saw in them the only power which could wreck the Constitution. The counter revolution which occurred in 1909 took for its watchword '' Honour to the Sheriat.'^ So deep a hold had this issue taken on the ignorant masses, by this time, that the constitutional party would have been hopelessly outnumbered and de- feated, had their enemies at this juncture only found able leaders to organize the forces of reaction. But the men of aggressive force and intelligent enthusiasm, the only men capable of constructive patriotic effort, were all with the party of progress. The hands on the clock of Turkish history were not to be set back. Constantinople was reoc- cupied by a series of brilliant maneuvres, and the hold of the Young Turk Party on the government of the nation was rendered far stronger than before.
lo6 Islam and Missions
What, it may be asked, has been the net moral result of all the marvellous political changes of the past two years ? The situation is complex, and different estimates of the forces at work will be made by different observers. Yet certain facts stand out clearly. It is evident that the national spirit of all classes of the population has been quickened as it had not been before for centuries. Even the Christian subjects of the Ottoman Empire have been fired with a certain patriotic fervour. For the first time in generations, non-Moslem citizens have ceased to look to foreign powers for their political salvation. In spite of many untoward incidents there has been a great draw- ing together of the Moslem and Christian populations. For the educated portion, at least, the old religious gulf of separation has been partially bridged over. In conse- quence a new fund of common national ideals is being gradually accumulated.
On the other hand, there has been a marked revival of Mohammedan religious fervour. The energies of the masses have been profoundly stirred. Their whole na- ture is in a state of unprecedented activity. When men are thus roused, their religious convictions inevitably operate with new force. Under present conditions the conscience of the majority, however enlightened, can be no other than a Moslem conscience. The Constitution formally recognizes the religion of the state as the relig- ion of Islam. It would be a psychological and moral miracle if they did not seek to make their new political and social advance contribute to the upbuilding of Islam. For political reasons, the Young Turk leaders find it highly expedient to favour such a movement, though they have no intention of strengthening the hold of the ecclesiastical party as such. However divided among themselves the different x)olitical parties may be, all have united in a determination to protect Islam from the in-
Political Changes in Turkey 107
roads of foreign and non- Mohammedan religious influ- ences.
The anti-foreign attitude that has arisen with the awakening of a new national consciousness is not confined to Moslems. To a considerable extent this anti-foreign feeling is shared even by Ottoman Christians. Many of the Moslem leaders and writers have sought to convince their Christian fellow citizens that the new revival in Islam is not inimical to the progress or the rights of na- tive Christians. The ideal put forward is that the two religious communities should go forward hand in hand, each making the most of the new opportunity to develop its best qualities. It is not without significance that this theory of national brotherhood, as between Moslem and Christian, has become the familiar theme of Ottoman speakers and writers. Should this ideal ever be taken seriously by the masses, it would produce a patriotic spirit worthy of a Western Japan. However little we may welcome this revival of Moslem zeal, it must, in justice, be acknowledged that its leaders have set forth, in the public press and on hundreds of platforms, con- ceptions of duty and of character never hitherto made prominent in Moslem activities.
In brief we might sum up the situation thus. The Otto- man people have been put in possession of many of the rights and privileges of modern citizenship. All classes have been thrilled with a sense of the opportunity thus provided for a career of national independence and prog- ress. Some conception of the democratic responsibility involved in the possession of free institutions is slowly dawning on the consciousness of the Mohammedan ma- jority. Hundreds of their leaders are seeking, more or less sincerely, to serve the best interests of the nation as interpreted by such moral judgment as intelligent Mos- lems have attained. For the first time the honour of
io8 Islam and Missions
Islam has been entrusted to the working of democratic institutions. The result is a strange medley of forces, progressive and retrograde. In all this medley the out- standing fact is that the national conscience has been awakened as never before. Though awakened, it is only partially enlightened. Nevertheless, this new activity of the Ottoman conscience is proof of a wide-spread social response to the appeal of principles and institutions with which the world of Islam has only recently been made acquainted.
Our review of the changes in the Ottoman Empire would have little value for a missionary conference did it not lead to the question, *' What shall be the attitude of Christian missions towards the new forces within Islam ?" The new situation which we have endeavoured to present has in it, on the one hand, much that will arouse the respect of the missionary. On the other hand, it calls for the exercise of unwearied patience. The respect of whole- hearted sympathy with men who are aroused, the patience of faith in the educative work of God — these are the special qualities of character needed by the Chr'stian missionary as he confronts the new Islam.
The first duty to be emphasized is that of respect for the awakening of energy that has taken place. The Ottoman people are thinking — thinking earnestly upon the prob- lems of their national and social life. They have been brought under the influence of the educational, social and political development of Western nations until they have begun to feel the call of the modern spirit. Though they find it difficult to shake off the lethargy of centuries, and though they are sadly hampered by the unprogressive nature of orthodox Islam, yet there is evidence on every hand that new and vital forces have been absorbed into the national consciousness. Awakened energies such as these should be met by the Christian world-movement
Political Changes in Turkey 109
with a profound sympathy. The new situation affords an opportunity to correct the false interpretation of the atti- tude of Christendom towards Islam which was rendered inevitable by the crusades. Mohammedan sentiment has never recovered from the hostile impressions that were then created. The Moslem masses have never been able to conceive of Christian missions as other than a hostile move against their religious organization, their social principles, and their political aspirations. They acknowl- edge the great benefits that have come to them through missionary activity ; they even commend evangelical Christianity as a form of religious experience with which they have much in common ; but they have never ques- tioned for a moment that the purpose of Christian mis- sions was to undermine the social organization as well as the principles of Islam, and substitute for them a Chris- tian system and a Christian community. This purpose they have regarded as, in its deepest nature, a hostile one — hostile to their'people, hostile to their genius, hostile to their traditions and to their ideals. While this Moslem view of missions contains large elements of truth, it fails utterly to do justice to the moving spirit of the Christian missionary, l^o belief that has won the spiritual alle- giance and fed the spiritual nature of millions of our fellow men should ever be approached in a hostile spirit by the heralds of the Gospel. An attitude of spiritual sympathy and insight is, more and more, finding expression in all forms of mission work. And yet it must be confessed that we have failed generally to convey this impression to the Mohammedan world. Moslems may respect our motives, they may even admire our zeal, but they are pledged to resist, as they would the march of a crusading host, every advance of Christian thought within their social ranks. Wherein have we failed to interpret aright to the Moslem world the spirit of our Master ? Whatever may be the
no Islam and Missions
explanation of tliat failure in the past, the Christian Church is now confronted by an unprecedented oppor- tunity to place a new and higher interpretation on its mis- sionary zeal. We come to Moslems as brothers. We proclaim a gospel of fellowship in every forward tend- ency. We tell them of great blessings that the Gospel has brought into our life. We point — somewhat shame- facedly it may be at the delay — to its slowly increasing influence on social and national activities in the West. We acknowledge that we are only partially loyal to its principles, but we place the Gospel before them for their consideration as the most satisfying and the most com- manding revelation of the divine purpose for man — a revelation that the East has given to the West — a revela- tion that was the product of spiritual experience enjoyed by men of the Semitic race. We appeal to them to enter into their own natural heritage, to make ever-increasing application of its principles to their own individual, social and national activities, interpreting it for themselves in forms that shall be true to their native genius. This mis- sionary attitude is nothing new, but the opportunity for its expression is new. The situation is unprecedented in the history of missions. Here is a great Moslem people most eager to assimilate new forces, and to show itself capable of developing new institutions similar to those which are the glory of Christianity. A moral crisis in the relations of the two religious has thus been created. IsTever before has Islam been in such a position to appreciate the Chris- tian message of a divine renewing energy, upbuilding character and moulding every human institution. The Gospel for the healing of the nations will now assuredly find its supreme opportunity. Can the agents of that Gospel adjust themselves to the changed conditions ? Let us approach the Moslem world with a faith in their moral purpose, with an avowed respect for their new endeavour.
Political Changes in Turkey 1 1 1
Let us appeal to them, with a certain brotherly humility, to recognize at its full worth the Gospel of a Saviour who opens the way to forgiveness and leads to the living Father, whose joy is the upbuilding of individual and national character, whether in the East or in the West.
This principle of respect for the personality of others, and for their personal development in the past, must be consulted by the missionary of to-day as it never has been before. The Golden Eule has its application as between social systems and even as between rival religions. The full significance of the Christlike policy of winning, by consent^ the allegiance of entire peoples and races has scarcely been grasped as yet by the missionary agencies of the Church. It is not a time for attack upon convic- tions, or even prejudices. That form of missionary strategy will work endless harm in a situation like that of to-day in the Ottoman Empire. Every form of activity that suggests a hostile attitude or purpose is to be avoided as we would the use of the sword. In private conversa- tion, where men come to the missionary for light, he may point out profitably the moral crudities and errors of their past. But such a line of argument is now utterly out of place in the missionary press or on the missionary plat- form. The call of the Spirit is to present the positive principles of the Gospel so much needed by the world of Islam. Let us set our faces as flint against the all too easy method of denunciation and of exposure and of destructive criticism. To perpetuate for another millen- nium the crusading interpretation of the Christian world- movement would be the deepest treachery to the cause of the conquering Christ. His promise of power was to at- tend His disciples' personal witness for Him. To set forth His principles. His relationship to the Father, His attitude towards men, the renewing power of fellowship with Him in His life and death, the inspiration of loyalty
112 Islam and Missions
to His ideals — such personal witness He has pledged His word to bless. Any other type of message can claim no promise of convincing power to be conferred by the Spirit of the Father. Denunciation had its place in the preach- ing of our Saviour. But it is most instructive to note His use of that weapon. Perchance He would employ it again, were He to appear in the flesh to-day. He could find no words too scathing to set forth the Pharisaism of so-called Christian nations. But would He not deal, in the spirit of profound and tender sympathy, with the newly awakened national consciousness of non- Christian Asiatic peoples ? The disciples of Jesus seek the con- quest, not of systems or beliefs, but of consciences and of hearts. In such a spiritual campaign, striking success can never be achieved where the impression of hostility is created, or even permitted to abide as a heritage of the past.
We have said that the first requisite for a tactful mis- sionary approach to the Islam of to-day was respect — a sincere respect for awakened energies— a respect that will tend to friendly relations hitherto unknown. The second great requisite we would urge is patience — the patience of men who have learned the gospel parable of growth — first the blade, then the ear, then the long waiting for the full corn in the ear. Moral growth is slow, where the growth is that of a nation. Our Old Testament records a moral process extending well nigh through a score of centuries. Christian history is the record of another two thousand years of moral struggle, often disheartening in its failures. Nevertheless the kingdom of God has been marching forward through the centuries. Influences that are the product of that kingdom have now penetrated Islam. Shall we be surprised or disheartened because history repeats itself? The ignorance and the folly and the crude experiments of Christian development in the
Political Changes in Turkey 113
past may reappear even in an awakened Islam. Moham- medan leaders, as a class, are blind to the best in our civilization, although they are working for a union of Mohammedan forces with modern institutions. Moreover they are impatient of all that savours of disloyalty to the sacred convictions of their past. Shall we then be augry with them f Can we even be surprised at their attitude of self-defense ? Should we despise what seem to us their misguided efforts! Are they not obeying the law of group consciousness ? The development of individual life does not always provide the model for that of group life. Individuals undergoing a conversion of their life-forces may be lifted, at ouce, onto a wholly new level of ex- perience. Communities and peoples never make such a dramatic break with their past. Individual conversions are precious reward for our labours, but there is an even larger sphere of missionary endeavour. By the gradual moulding of a higher type of group consciousness, the gospel leaven is brought into vital contact with great social masses, who as individuals might never be touched. A vast Mohammedan community is making the experi- ment of incorporating into its own social development many features of a Christian civilization. Can we doubt that God is moving in this way to bring His kingdom into closer relations with the Moslem world? No dra- matic break with past ambitions, or even past prejudices, has taken place. Nevertheless Islam as a whole is mov- ing into new regions of thought. Can we wait for the laws of character growth to take effect on a national scale ? Co-workers with God may be known by their in- finite capacity for patience. The winning force in the world is the Gospel of Christ. There is a victorious tone that goes with faith in the fact. A great deal of our criticism of the moral crudities that accompany the for- ward movement in Islam is inconsistent with the patience
1 14 Islam and Missions
of missionary faith. Let us take the tone of victory in every statement we make regarding even what are the disappointing features of Moslem development.
Some writers on Christian ethics have sought to prove that the very truth of Christianity rendered it of neces- sity the most intolerant of religions. They have pointed out the uncompromising nature of the struggle between Apostolic Christianity and the heathen faiths of the Eo- man world. For the follower of Christ there could be no question of compromise between the true and the false ; there was no middle ground ; either a man was a believer or an unbeliever ; there was no fellowship between light and darkness. To die was better than to admit the least degree of divine efficacy in heathen deities or ceremonies. This theory of Christian intolerance of the false comes so near to expressing the Christian position that it has par- tially misled hosts of noble witnesses to gospel truth. As an abstract statement, it is incontestable that truth is in- tolerant of falsehood. But the spirit of Christianity can- not be set forth in abstract propositions. The Gospel de- mands first of all that human nature shall be awakened, that it shall enter actively into right relations with all life, from the highest life — the perfect life of the Father — to the poorest life, it may be that of our humblest neighbour. Whole-hearted faith in Jesus Christ places a man in right relation to God, to himself, to his fellow men. Wherever men^s nature is stirred to seek better things ; to create social or national ideals ; to enter upon a new career of moral self-expression — in such an aim, the Christian faith acknowledges a kinship with itself. In degenerate Eome there was but slight basis for any such kinship of spirit. Public life was in the chains of a system which produced moral death. All the spiritual force of primitive Christianity was poured forth in pro- test against the moral death represented by the corrupt
Political Changes in Turkey 1 1 5
social and religious system of Eorne. Far different should be our relations with the nations of the East whose social and moral energies have been called into un- precedented activity by their contact with Western achievement ; an achievement whose inmost character is being increasingly influenced by the Gospel of Christ. In such a missionary situation, the least suggestion of in- tolerance would be treachery to the work of the Divine Spirit as He takes the things of Christ, in the form of Christian social ideals, and shows them to the men of the Orient. Let us have faith in the missionary activity of God's Spirit beyond the bounds of Christendom. There is an unconscious preparation of the nations for Christ whenever they accept aims and ideals that have points of contact with His Gospel. From the ideals and principles of Christ, men's eyes will certainly be lifted to the person of Christ, and to know Him in personal relationship is Eternal Life. The changes that are taking place within Islam are bringing men of that faith, in large groups, within the social influence of the kingdom. They may be unconscious of their approach to Christ, but may it not be our privilege, by the right missionary attitude towards these changes within Islam, to awaken in Mos- lems the consciousness of their newly attained kinship with us and with the Saviour whom we serve ?
vin
POLITICAL CHANGES IN AEABIA REV. J. C. YOUNG, M. D., ADEN, ARABIA
IN order to fully understand the political changes in Arabia and to fully grasp their significance in the mission fields there, one must be thoroughly ac- quainted with the state of affairs prior to the year A. D. 1908, when the Turkish re\^olution took place and a new Constitution was given to the people.
When Selim I, of the Ottoman Empire, conquered Egypt and overthrew the Mamelukes he not only re- ceived the keys of Mecca and Medina from the Meocan Sherif, but he also got the then Caliph of Egypt, Mo- hammed XII, to make over to him the right and the title to the caliphate, and as the large majority of the ortho- dox believers in Islam at once accepted his lordship he came to be looked upon as the Imam ul Muslimin or earthly head of the Moslem world who had absolute power over all true believers in the Islamic creed.
To his authority, however, the Arabs of the Yemen never gave ready obedience ; as they believed that since Mohammed was an Arab and Islam was generated in Arabia therefore the Imam ul MusUmin ought to be an Arab too, and speak the same pure language that Mo- hammed used in promulgating his message to the world. None other, they hold, than an Arab can be Heaven's vicegerent to the children of men and that is why Turk- ish authority has never been able to establish itself in the Yemen in the same strong way and on the same firm basis that it has in Syria and in the Hejaz.
116
Political Changes in Arabia 117
Of course the plundering propensities of the Valia who were sent to govern the Yemen, and the general corrup- tion which was everywhere manifested, did not tend to allay the feeling of opposition or bring rest and peace into a land that was torn with internal strife.
When the late Sultan Abd ul Hamid came to the throne he was altogether unprepared for the duties that lay be- fore him. Up till then his life had, to all intents and purposes, been that of a religious recluse whose thoughts were continually centred on the propagation of his own faith and the furtherance of his own ideas of God. His immediate friends were the XJlema of Stamboul and the learned men of the strict Koran school who hated the vacillating policy that his predecessor pursued, and longed for a strong man to rally the power of the cal- iphate and defy the European nations. To them **vox Caliphi" should thunder as "vox Dei'' and not be heard as the whisper of the surrounding powers.
Of these Ulema the Sultan Abd ul Hamid was an apt pupil and in some ways a devoted slave. No sooner was he raised to sovereign power than he showed the world that it was his intention to be Imam ul Muslimin in the first place and then Sultan of Turkey. Heaven's vice- gerent he would be whether his throne as an earthly mon- arch remained or passed away. In the religious world sovereign power was necessary for the propagation of Is- lam and this he was determined to have. Consequently from the day that he entered the palace as its ruler he set himself to restore the caliphate to its pristine glory, and determined that both his own will should be obeyed in the land and his faith followed in every part of the Turk- ish Empire.
Now in behaving as he did I have no doubt that he was actuated by the highest motives that could appeal to a bigoted Moslem's mind trained as his had been to for-
1 18 Islam and Missions
get God's justice and to remember only Allah's sovereign power.
With a zeal that would have brought honour to him- self for all time had it been properly directed and used in a good cause for a noble purpose, the Sultan set him- self to rouse Moslems in every part of his dominion and tried to stir them up to propagate their faith. There was no wandering fanatic that proposed a jihad or did his best to rouse the slumbering passions of an ignorant people in the name of Allah and of his apostle but was sure of Abd ul Hamid's protecting care, e. g., all the powers in Europe could not get him to punish the man who murdered the secretary of the Eussian embassy al- though it was well known that the murderer was one of his own menials, while the secretary, who was stricken down in cold blood in a public thoroughfare, was the trusted friend of a great diplomatist.
Of course every person knew that Abd ul Hamid thought it his duty as the Imam ul Muslimin to oppose Christianity whenever and wherever he had an oppor- tunity for doing so, and there were very few statesmen in Europe who were not aware that he had entered con amove into the Ulema's plans for the spread of Islam and for a pan- Islamic campaign, yet great diplomatists were again and again deceived by his plausibility in explain- ing how it was that fanatical outbreaks in different parts of his dominion were brought about by the Christians themselves.
At every port where he held sway, books, newspapers and even letters were opened and read to see if there was aught in them that could in any way be twisted into a reflection on his form of government, or be counted as a challenge to Islam, and it occasionally happened that even European post-offices were searched by his orders.
Can we then wonder that in Arabia, where there was
Political Changes in Arabia 1 1 9
little fear of European ceusorsliip, he did his best to be- numb the minds and shackle the thoughts of his subjects? Oppressive measures were taken to prevent the entrance of liberal ideas, as well as to prevent the promulgation of thought and the public discussion of the civil and relig- ious questions of the day.
Missionaries were excluded from every part of the Yemen, Nejd and the Hejaz. In other parts their work was actively opposed, and if it was known that a Moslem had changed his creed he was almost sure to meet with a violent death. No one could with safety to himself fre- quent a missionary's house. The highest in the land was never safe from espionage and even the lowest was not safe from extortion. Intellectual freedom was abso- lutely forbidden. Even missions to the Jews were pro- scribed and Hebrew gospels were forbidden an entrance to the Yemen. Nothing was done to alleviate the suffer- ings of the poor, although I am told that in some of the eastern towns, like Bassora, government schools were es- tablished.
In July, 1908, the new Constitution was proclaimed and the world confidently looked forward to a great change being brought about through the granting of lib- erty to the people. For the first time since Abd ul Hamid ascended the throne the people could read newspapers and books, meet their friends without fear, and asso- ciate with foreigners without any suspicion. The words Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, were in every person's mouth and were found pasted over every vacant space in those towns where the news was promulgated.
It was, however, a considerable time after the Constitu- tion was proclaimed before the news got into the Yemen. At first the governors of Sana and of Mecca refused to believe that their master had voluntarily resigned his autocratic power and had become a constitutional mon-
\1Q Islam and Missions
arch like so many of his European brethren. But when it was no longer possible to keep the news from filtering through, they did their best to minimize its significance and to lessen its importance for fear that the startling nature of the edict should rouse the Arabs to demand back the caliphate seeing that the Sultan had no longer the autocratic power to maintain it. For it was well known to every one that the Arabs had a tradition to the ef- fect that Mohammed had himself declared the caliphate to be the exclusive possession of the Koreish tribe. Strange to say, however, it was exactly the reverse that occurred as even the Sherifs said that the religion of Is- lam had been lowered by the same despotism that had brought all civilized institutions into decline ; and they declared that it was the Sultan's ignorance and tyranny which had prevented them not only from impartially speaking the truth but also from worthily defending their own creed when it was severely criticized, as it had been both by political leaders and students of religion. When this unlooked for effect was discovered the political leaders stayed their hands till they would see what further results would come from the constitutional freedom that had been given to the people.
An American missionary who had settled in Hodeida as a working carpenter went up to Menakha along with his wife, and a blind Syrian Bible woman. There they not only began work themselves but when firmly estab- lished wrote for reinforcements to help them in their work. It was not, however, very long before a reaction came. The Sultan Abd ul Ham id instigated a revolt against the Constitution, and once more tried to rally the Moslem world round his throne and his person. He gave the signal and his messengers quickly sped to every part of his dominion. The revolt, however, was only a tem- porary success. For, though in some districts there were
Political Changes in Arabia 121
great massacres of unarmed Christians, it was not long till tlie constitutionalists got the victory, deposed the Sultan and put a very large number of his immediate followers to death, as traitors to both Constitution and country.
In Arabia news of the Sultan's reassertion of power spread like wild-fire and roused the slumbering passions of a fanatical people who thought that Europeans had no right to travel in the Yemen. Some who were found there were done to death, and the authorities, fearing for the missionaries' safety at Menakha, had them brought back to Hodeida where Mr. Camp died of fever and where the rest of the company, despairing of finding an entrance to the hinterland, resolved to return to their different spheres of labour and left either for Palestine or the United States. Thus once more the whole Eed Sea coast was without a single missionary and the Yemen was without a witness for the Christian faith.
That, however, a great change has transpired since the new Sultan, who has neither the religious fervour nor the fanatical zeal of his predecessor, ascended the throne and took the oath to maintain the Constitution in the form in which it was promulgated, is evidenced by the following extract from a letter that I received a few days ago from a friend in Hodeida. In it he says: '' I have been up here (in Sana) quite two months now and have found the place a delightful change from Hodeida. It is extremely pleasant and quite different to what it was when I for- merly visited the interior. Then famine was raging and the country was in a more or less disturbed state. But now all is peace and quiet with the likelihood of its re- maining so for years to come. For there appears to be very little likelihood of the Imam being able to get up another successful rising against the Turks, whose posi- tion is far stronger than I have ever known it to be. The Arabs are everywhere attending to their fields and farms,
122 Islam and Missions
and as the whole province has been blessed with an abundant rainfall it is very unlikely that, even if the Imam wished to wage war, he would get much of a fol- lowing till after the harvest is over.
** The conditions of life too have changed very consid- erably since the Constitution was renewed. Now the administrators are straining every nerve of their diplo- matic skill to conciliate the Arabs and restore confidence. Practically no taxes are demanded nowadays and none have been collected for a couple of years. The Ottoman government has also abolished a number of irregular and outrageous exactions to which the poor Yemenites were formerly subjected under the Hamidian rule. All octroi duties and tolls have now been abolished both in Hodeida and in the interior. Primary schools, too, are being es- tablished both in the towns and in the villages through- out the Yemen, and it is proposed to import a large number of agricultural implements for the use of the farmers in the neighbourhood of Sana. The government too has determined to bore a large number of artesian wells in the neighbourhood, and already the necessary plant is on its way up from Hodeida. It has also decided to spend £15,000 in constructing new roads and in re- pairing those already in use.'^
Everywhere throughout the Yemen the Ulema are call- ing upon men to free their minds from the ignorance that prevents their seeing the progress made elsewhere and from the obstinacy which blinds them to the wonderful achievements in the arts and sciences that have changed the world during the past generation. ^' There is no use in any longer striving among ourselves. Let us rather," they say, "with brotherly love clasp hand to hand and seek for the advancement of those things that make for righteousuess and which help to ameliorate the sufferings of the poor."
Political Changes in Arabia 123
Some of the Uiema also say that the Moslem rule has become an object of ridicule because they have gone away from the essential requirements of their religion, *'and in proportion," they say, ''as we fell to plunder- ing we were overtaken by poverty and disgrace ; as we worshipped the world and preferred our selfish and earthly advantage to everything else we became the slaves of all men and especially the slaves of those who were both vicious and prodigal. As we transgressed the rights of non-Moslem subjects whose rights our prophet em- phatically commanded us to respect we were in propor- tion to our sin deprived of God's help and became the objects of God's wrath."
Of course in the Yemen as in other parts of Arabia there are still stern fanatics to be found — men who try to stir up strife by declaring that if equality be granted to Christians, there is bound to be an end of Islam and a falliug away of its people ; but the most learned of the Sheikhs say that the law of Islam enjoins equality and that though they personally can never believe a Christian to be half as good a man as a Moslem, yet politically and legally they should have equal rights with the Moslems.
With the spread of such opinions and with the opening up of the country by means of railways, roads and schools, we may, I think, find reason for believing that before very long the way will be opened for the Gospel's entrance into the interior, especially if a number of real Christians be drafted into the Turkish army as they were into the Eoman army in the early days of Christianity, when through the Eoman conscription heathenism gave way before the Christian influence of true believers' lives daily manifested to their fellows.
Prior to the year 1908 no Christian was allowed to serve as a soldier in the Turkish army, but when the new Constitution was promulgated it was openly declared that
124 Islam and Missions
the religious test for the army was to be abolished, con- sequently many Christians sought an entrance thereto. Later on it was discovered that though there was in the government a party that was doing its best to introduce Western ideas and Western efficiency yet on the whole there was no real desire to give equality to the races. The roots of their social existence had gone far too deep into the Moslem nature to be torn up by a political revo- lution, especially when in the new state there was not found a single great administrator who had not been a servant in the old government, and, brought up as they were in that atmosphere, it was practically impossible for them to get away from their old traditions.
In Turkey the Christian races are an element of vital im- portance to the country. Yet the descendants of the proud conquerors of Constantinople can scarcely be expected even yet to voluntarily put Christians into official positions over Moslems. Nevertheless a beginning has been made, and an impetus has been given towards final emancipation of both Christian and Jew, and towards the time when freedom of worship will be given to every soldier just as at present there is given to our native troops in India. And when this is done the government will have both a more loyal and united army, and also a better instrument for repressing reactionary movements like those that the late Sultan headed before he was deposed from the throne. Time will convince those in authority that nothing but fairness, frankness and impartial treatment of the men as men, whether Moslem or non-Moslem, will ever consolidate the army and bring peace to the people. If Christians are to be in the army they will never consent to be mere followers, they must be taught the use of firearms and trained as soldiers like their fellows, not kept as hewers of wood and drawers of water like the Gibeonites of old. No pressure must be put upon them to make them conform
Political Changes in Arabia 125
to the Moslem creed, and no hindrance must be put in their way to prevent their giving a reason for the faith that is in them, nor must they or any converts be punished in any way for owning and confessing Christ. As even according to their present-day teachers Moslems are told that retribution does not wait for eternity but comes at once on those who betray a trust or act the hypocrite ; and yet what else are those doing who take Christians into the army as soldiers and then use them as scullions ? The old despotic ideas must gradually fade away when men daring to stand up for liberty of con- science are able to persuade their fellows that wrong is wrong and right is right.
In Arabia especially this will be true, for like the old Celts the Arabs of the present day have plenty of vim but they lack robur. They have no continuity of thought. It is one thing to-day and another to-morrow, and if steady pressure is kept up by the servants of God all will be well. At first strong opposition will be manifested against mis- sionaries who go to settle among them, but when they have settled the Arab will shrug his shoulders and say ^' Ala Allah ^^ (God is responsible), or else excuse himself by saying, '^I take refuge with God from the mission- aries,'^ as the Sayids of Wahat did when the government engineer and his staff went up to survey his land for water. They could not put up with their restlessness and drove them from the village. *' You want to know far too much," they said ; ''you are far too inquisitive, you want to know how the water comes, how the storm rages, what the clouds are made of, why it is that thunder roars and how it is that lightning kills but we are content to be as our fathers were and say el-hamdu- lillah when Allah spares us and ours." When pressure however was put upon them they took refuge in God against the engineers and allowed them to do their ivorJc.
1 26 Islam and Missions
If then the Church rouses itself to evaugelize Arabia, Islam is doomed and must sooner or later take its place among the religions that have i3receded it in the land of the Arab. After its own fashion it has done God's work, but the time has come for a general advance, and when that advance begius, the cleavage in Islam will widen and a new form of Islam will arise with subtler doctrine and purer life but even that must finally give way before the higher life of true Christianity.
That larger opportunity will soon be given to the Church no person conversant with current events can for a moment doubt, for it is impossible to take up a news- paper or a periodical that deals with Arabia without dis- covering a much healthier tone in the articles than there was two or three years ago. Public opinion is asserting itself in a way that was undreamed of under the Hamidian regime, and not only are great schemes being projected that are bound to have a civilizing effect on the people, but in some cases at least they are being carried into ef- fect. German engineers are at work I am told on the Bagdad railway and Sir Wm. Willcocks with a large staff of competent engineers is at work surveying the Euphrates valley and trying to discover the best way of forwarding his great barrage scheme which will bring more than 3,200,000 acres of most valuable land under cultiva- tion. And as the bringing of those Mesopotamian plains under cultivation will necessitate railway construction to- gether with the bringing in of both European capital and Western enterprise, no one who remembers how Christian- ity travelled along the Eoman roads can for a moment doubt but that this also is to be God's way of making an en- trance for the Gospel. And when one hears from Eastern Arabia that even the Arabs (with whom Abd ul Hamid was personally popular because of his pan-Islamic lean- ings) are saying, *' Thank God we have been saved from
Political Changes in Arabia 127
autocracy, we have broken the chain of slavery but lest we come under another we must deal with non-Moslems as brothers because we are all sons of one fatherland," we have good reason for supposing that an incident which Dr. Worrall relates is prophetic of the future.
In former times, he says, though a Moslem had voluntarily testified to his belief in Christ, when he died his body was buried as that of a Moslem. Now we had recently a convert who died and his last open confession was in our Lord Jesus Christ although he was unconscious at the time of his death. A statement to that effect was made to the Mulla and the reply which he sent was to the following effect : — As the man died a Christian and as this is a time of freedom we can do nothing to take the body ; do as you like with it.
Another significant fact is added by him : Formerly the mission doors were always closed before prayers with the patients so as to give effect to the fiction that where a foreigner dwelt was a part of the country to which the foreigner belonged. So closed doors made us dwell on American soil and the patients were looked on as if they were American. But now except for the fact that there are many interruptions when the door is open, there is no reason for closing the doors and there never seems to be any difficulty put in the way of getting a free talk with any man about Christ. Thus the Hamidian regime has passed and with it, we believe, the despair, and the long- drawn-out threat of death to Christianity in Arabia. With liberty, a free field, and no favour none of us can doubt the result. What we want to win Arabia is con- secrated men and women whose souls are afire with love for God.
IX
POLITICAL CHANGES IN PEESIA REV. L. F. ESSELSTYN, PERSIA
THE late All Askar, Attabeg, Minister of the In- terior and President of the Council of State at the time of his assassination on August 31, 1907, when speaking on the floor of the National Assembly shortly before his death, referring to the prominence into which Persia has come before the world, truly said : ''Formerly not a paragraph was printed about Persia once a month, but now the European press contains columns every day.'^ During the last few years, Persia has been so constantly and prominently before the world that everybody understands that she is in a transition state of evolution. In view of the general familiarity with what has taken place, we give only a brief outline of the political changes which have occurred up to the present time.
In order to better understand these changes and the present situation, let me say a few words about the char- acter of the Persians, my opinion being based on observa- tion and experience during the twenty-three years I have lived in the country. The characteristic Persians are mild, and easy to get along with. Travellers, and even some foreign residents sometimes express another opinion. The Persians' mental processes and their code of morals are so different from ours that they are sometimes very trying to us Westerners. Knowing them intimately for many years, I have found them kind-hearted and hospi- table.
128
Political Changes in Persia 129
The Persians become impossible only under trying or aggravating surroundings, or as a result of hereditary in^ fluences j and the undesirable traits of character some- times attributed to them attach not so much to the Persians as such, but to human nature.
All Persians divide themselves into two classes, those who rule and those who serve. The Constitution of the United States of America teaches that all men are created free and equal, and that idea is innate in every natural born American citizen. Not so with the Persians. They either rule over those who are subject to their power, or serve under those who are in authority over them. So prevalent is this idea among them, that nearly all Persians bear both relations. Almost every one of them recognizes the authority of some one over him, and in turn exercises more or less arbitrary authority over some one under him. They are by nature adapted to a monarchical form of government, and by the same nature they are loyal to the throne. Local circumstances may lead them into rebellion, but by nature they are loyal to authority. Having before us this view of the character of the Persians, we are now ready to outline the political changes that have occurred during these last years.
The present reform movement had its origin in the in- telligent patriotism of Mirza Taghe Khan, who was Yezir to Nasir ed din Shah and grandfather to the dei)0sed Mohammed Ali Shah on his mother's side. The down- fall of this able minister and his death at the hands of an assassin in 1852 put an end to all talk of administrative reform for some time.
Again in 1891 the people rebelled in connection with the incident of the Tobacco Corporation. But five years later, the murder of IN'asir ed din Shah, perpetrated as it was within a famous shrine and sanctuary, was held in
ijo Islam and Missions
such righteous abhorrence that for a time it strengthened what it was intended to end or at least weaken, namely, the influence and power of the Kajar dynasty.
The people patiently waited for what the reign of the new Shah, Muzaffar ed din, might bring forth. He was al- ready sick in body when he came to the throne in 1896. His characteristics, previous life, and education had not been such as to fit him to rule the country during a transition period of very critical and trying circum- stances. The unfulfilled promises of this Shah, the hopes encouraged by each succeeding Grand Yezir, and the extravagance of the court while the people were in poverty and the country without industrial prosperity, led to the unrest in Teheran, and in fact all over Persia, which culminated in the constitutional reforms granted by Muzaffar ed din just before his death.
In 1906 a great crowd assembled in the principal mosque of Teheran and denounced the Grand Vezir, the govern- ment, and the administration, and demanded reforms. Eiots followed and several persons were killed. Thou- sands went to the British Legation and took sanctuary. Among the things they demanded were a constitutional government and a representative system.
Muzaffar ed din Shah conceded their demands and on August 14, 1906, made a royal decree for the formation of a National Assembly ; the election ordinance was issued by his decree on September 9, 1906 ; and the Persian National Assembly was opened by the Shah on October 4, 1906, within three months after the demonstration in the mosque above referred to. The new Constitution was signed by Muzaffar ed din Shah on December 30, 1906, and also sealed by the Crown Prince, who had hastened from Tabriz to Teheran owing to the critical illness of the Shah, and by the Grand Yezir. The Crown Prince was required to seal it as a condition of his succeeding
Political Changes in Persia 131
to the throne. He ratified it in February, 1907, after he came to the throne.
The discontent of the people was doubtless fostered by the outcome of the Eusso-Japanese war, and was ag- gravated by the Anglo-Russian Agreement of 1907. About the time that agreement was published, one of the Persian newsi^apers printed a paragraph to the effect that, "The Anglo-Russian Agreement is like this : — A and B sit down and divide the ancient ancestral inheritance of G without so much as even saying, ' By your leave ' ! "
As stated in the preamble to the Constitution, the ob- jects of the National Assembly were to promote the prosperity of the nation, to improve the condition of the country, to strengthen the foundations of the state, and to execute the laws of the holy prophet.
The Assembly was to represent the whole population of the kingdom of Persia, and consist of a hundred and sixty- two members with the possibility of increasing the num- ber to two hundred. They were to be elected by the peo- ple from Teheran and the provinces, each for a term of two years.
By the provisions of the Constitution, old laws to be revised or new ones to be enacted ; negotiations for con- cessions ; treaties ; loans, and all financial measures, in- cluding the royal expenditures ; the levying of taxes ; the construction of railroads ; all depended upon the National Assembly.
The Constitution also provided for the formation of a Senate to consist of sixty members, fifteen of them to be appointed by the Shah and forty-five to be elected by the people. After the formation of the Senate, all measures were to receive the apjiroval of both the Assembly and the Senate before going into effect.
Muzaffar ed din Shah, the monarch who granted the Con- stitution, died during the night between January 8 and
132 Islam and Missions
9, 1907, and was succeeded by his son Mohammed Ali Shah. When the latter came to the throoe, the people were in a state of expectancy. His father had been a Liberal, and his mother's father had died a martyr to the cause of reform. But though the Constitution had been sanctioned by his dying father, there could be no reason to believe that in itself it would be more agreeable to Mohammed Ali Shah than similar restraints upon the au- thority of an absolute monarch would be to any Oriental sovereign.
After a few months of discord, Mohammed Ali Shah called back from exile in Europe the former Prime Min- ister Ali Askar, giving him his former title Attabeg, and appointing him Minister of the Interior with power to select Ministers for the other Departments of State. Dur- ing the two previous reigns, Attabeg had risen to the highest post in the service of the state and wielded the strongest single personal influence of the court. Of his capability there was no question.
About half-past eight in the evening of August 31, 1907, he was shot and killed as he came out of the gate of the National Assembly grounds. Many secret com- mittees had come into existence with one general commit- tee to represent them all. Some time in August a dozen or fifteen men representing these secret committees waited on Attabeg and demanded certain things of him. What it was they demanded of him was not made public ; but he was told that he was marked for death unless he com- plied with their conditions. Other prominent men were also notified that they were marked for death unless they complied with certain conditions. Occasionally a bomb was thrown in an unsuccessful attempt to kill some one, and now and then one was left at the door of some man with a note attached as a warning.
On the day of Attabeg' s assassination, the eight mem-
Political Changes in Persia 133
bers of the Shah's cabinet came down from their country places and delivered to Parliament the following message from the Shah : "Up to the present time I have opposed the Parliament, but now I am convinced that the safety, progress, and welfare of the nation depend upon myself, my ministers, and the Parliament working in accord and sympathy, and now you may rely ujion me to carry out any measures that the Parliament may pass for the bene- fit of the country. '^
There was great enthusiasm in Parliament when this message was made known, but Attabeg's murderer was waiting for him and shot him as he came out after deliv- ering this message. That night Sayed Abdullah, the most prominent ecclesiastic in Teheran, who had had much iniiuence in establishing the Parliament, was mur- dered in his own house.
Article XIII of the Constitution provides that news- paper reporters may be present in the National Assembly and that newspapers may print the whole of the discus- sions. Any person having views tending to the tranquil- lity of the state may communicate them to the popular journals. So long therefore as the newspapers print nothing inimical to the fundamental interests of the state and nation, they have full liberty to publish questions tending to the common weal. Just before this popular demonstration movement broke out in Persia, there were almost no newspapers printed and circulated in Persia, and such as existed were strictly limited in what they might publish. Since then, some forty or fifty have sprung up in different parts of the country, enjoying a large degree of freedom of speech or being suppressed by the government, just according to circumstances and ac- cording to what they print. At the present time there are several papers being published but not so many as there were at first.
134 Islam and Missions
For some montlis after the murder of Attabeg, there was discord between the Shah and the National Assem- bl}^, and dissatisfaction on the part of the people. In February, 1908, an attempt was made on the Shah's life by throwing a bomb at his automobile. He was unin- jured though several men and horses were killed. He immediately went into retirement in the palace, until June 4th, when he suddenly came out and took up his residence in one of his gardens just outside and west of the city. Here he collected a large army in camp. Ne- gotiations continued between the Shah and the Parlia- ment, and the Shah captured and punished several prom- inent men. Finally the Shah ordered the Eussian Colo- nel who was in charge of the Cossack regiment to bombard and destroy the Parliament buildiug and all buildings known to be headquarters of Eevolutionary secret societies. This was done on the forenoon of June 24, 1908, and by the Shah's permission much pillaging on a large scale was done that day and the next. Large and costly Persian rugs in the Parliament building were slashed into pieces small enough for a man to carry and great mirrors were shattered and each man took what he could get. Some of the plunderers worked on a larger scale and we saw them taking their spoils through the city by mule loads and wagon loads. Among the houses plundered were those of the Zil es Sultan, an uncle of Mo- hammed Ali Shah, and the Zarh ed Doleh whose wife was the Shah's aunt. In the Zil es Sultan's house were heir- looms of great value that had come down in the family through hundreds of years— carpets, pottery, and curios. These were ruthlessly destroyed or carried off. The Zarh ed Doleh had in his house perhaps the rarest and most valuable collection of Persian books and manu- scripts in existence. They were all destroyed or carried away.
Political Changes in Persia 135
Perliaps a hundred Cossacks were killed and wounded, and two or three hundred on the other side. The Shah proclaimed Teherau to be in a state of siege, with the Eussian Colonel Liokoff as Military Governor. The Shah also captured and executed, sometimes by torture, a number of men ; preachers and newspaper men were among these victims.
Notwithstanding the Shah's proclamations that the in- cident was past, and that the people should now return to peace and quiet and follow their daily industrial pur- suits, they distrusted him more than ever. Even when he issued a proclamation to the effect that the Parlia- ment was dissolved and that in about six months he would issue an order for the election of a new Parliament they did not believe him. He had broken the oath which he had written and sealed upon the Koran to be loyal to the Constitution. He had completely destroyed the Parliament as an organization, killed some of the members, and destroyed the building.
The revolutionists however were not subdued. One province after another revolted against the Shah. The siege of Tabriz by the royal army in the autumn of 1908 lasted some months, and finally ended by intervention, and Russian troops were sent there to secure the safety of foreign residents, and to escort provisions to the city, though by many it was thought to mean merely Russian occupation of that part of Persia. Then the Shah issued a proclamation again granting the Constitution, and an- other granting full pardon to all offenders. But all these things did not restore the country to a normal condition.
An army was raised by the Sipahdar, a wealthy gen- tleman of Teheran who at the time was in the northern province of Ghilan, aided by Sadr Assad, one of the chiefs of the Bakhtiari tribesmen in the south, consisting of or- dinary Persians, Bakhtiaris and several hundred revolu-
136 Islam and Missions
tionists from the Caucasus, the leader of whom was the Armeuian Ephraim who has since distinguished himself as a fighter. This army marched on Teheran aud entered the city on July 13, 1909. Three days' fighting ensaed between this army and the Shah's troops, at the end of which the Shah took refuge in the Eussian Legation and his troops surrendered.
A provisional government was formed. The Shah's takiug refuge in the Eussian Legation was considered by the provisional government and by the legations to be his abdication. His young son of about twelve years, Ahmed Sultan, was proclaimed Shah, a Eegent was ap- pointed, and Mohammed Ali Shah was required to go to Eussia. In due time the Parliament buildiugs were re- paired, and the l^ational Assembly reconstituted.
It is now a little more than a year since the abdication of Mohammed Ali Shah. The country has not become prosperous, safe, or quiet. Uprisiugs have taken place in various provinces. Travel is not considered safe, and some of the chief commercial roads are practically blocked by robbers. Government mails are robbed. Business depression is extreme. The cabinet has repeat- edly been altered, and just recently an entirely new cabinet has been formed. During the year, a number of men charged with political offenses have been publicly hanged, and others, without the formality of charges be- ing made, have been shot in their houses at night. It seems never to come to light who is the cause of these secret murders. But none of these caused as great com- motion as the murder of Sayed Abdullah mentioned above in connection with Attabeg. Public rows and murders on the streets have been more or less frequent. Early in August of this present year (1910) the government, pro- fessedly to prevent murder and promote public safety, issued a proclamation for all revolutionists to lay
Political Changes in Persia 137
down their arms except certain guards specified and kept under arms to police the city. This resulted in the disarming of Sattar Khan and several hundred of his fol- lowers by force on Sunday, August 7th, in the north part of Teheran. There was of course bloodshed and some destruction of property and the populace was newly plunged into discord, faction pitted against faction, ac- cording to whether they sympathize with the government or with Sattar Khan.
Every existing commodity has been burdened with taxes. The people are in a spirit of bitter discontent. Teheran has become an '^ open town " under the '' I^ew Persia" government. Brothels, public drinking houses, gambling and opium dens, have increased. Persia's for- eign obligations are between five and six million pounds sterling. There is also a large indebtedness within the country. It is possible that under a competent manage- ment she might develop latent resources to pay off all her indebtedness and finance the country. At present, however, she has no money, and so far no statesmen have appeared equal to the situation. Some men of ability have been killed or forced to leave the country. In a word, the present situation is, general discontent of the people, a heavy debt, no money, and lack of statesmen.
Such is a brief outline of the political changes that have taken place in Persia. It is more difficult to speak of the relation of these political changes to Islam. The state religion of Persia is Islam. Eeligious liberty has never been granted. One professed object of the National As- sembly, as stated in the preamble to the Constitution, is to execute the laws of the holy prophet. That means that the Constitutional Monarchy shall be conducted consistently with the teachings of the Koran, and is a precaution against the creeping in of religious liberty. Now and again expressions of the government or of high officials
138 Islam and Missions
have been interpreted by some people as indicating a hopeful tendency towards religious freedom. Meanwhile religious liberty has never been granted, and now and again there are outbursts of Mohammedan fanaticism against the Babis or the Jews or others. At present there is nothing tangible on which to base a definite hope or probability of official religious freedom, yet it is a fact that at least in some parts of Persia there is a considerable degree of religious laxity as compared with the strict Mo- hammedanism enjoined by the Koran.
But it should be said in this connection that while there is a loud demand for education, as instanced by the Women's Educational Movement, and they seem to think that education is the sure remedy for all Persia's diffi- culties, yet there is no popular demand for Christianity as such, they only desiring those results of Christianity which might be covered by the expression * ' modern civ- ilization," provided they can get these benefits without the Christian religion itself.
During the last half century Babism or Bahaism has gained thousands of followers in Persia. In the early years of these sects the movement was carried on in strict secrecy for fear of persecution from the orthodox Mos- lems. During the last few years the Babis and Bahais have become bold and more or less open in advocating their doctrines. Some few foreigners have come into the country professing to be Babis or Bahais and have openly joined themselves to the movement. Largely the feeling prevails that with the new liberty which has come to ex- ist with regard to many other things these religionists may also come in for a degree of protection from persecu- tion.
Many Moslems openly admit that Islam is in a very retrograde condition. Some of the best of them advocate return to the teaching of the Koran before there can be
Political Changes in Persia 139
any real reform or prosi)erity in Persia. On the other hand, some admit that the country will never prosper while that religion prevails. I doubt not there are thou- sands of nominal Moslems who are rationalists or have gone out of Islam into some other sect or else hold no def- inite religious views at all. Many of them have been to Russia, France, England, and even some to America and have seen the progress of Western countries under the sway of nominal Christianity. Commercial intercourse with the outside world has shown the Persians that Chris- tian nations have much that is good which no Moham- medan country ever can possess.
The political changes above narrated are of course pro- fessedly the demands of the people for political liberty, and although it is quite true that the movement is being managed by a very small part of Persia's people, it is sweeping the whole country before it. And while pro- fessedly political, it is also promoting, though perhaps incidentally, every kind of liberty, including that which is religious and that which goes beyond liberty and should be called license. In a word, the effect of these political changes on Islam is tending to break the fanat- ical power of that religion.
In attempting to speak of the outlook for Christian missions we take up a subject extremely delicate and largely speculative. The work of Christian missions in Persia was probably never held up to keener criticism, and at least some of it probably never enjoyed higher favour with the best Persians than at present. There never was a time when greater caution and wisdom were called for on the part of Christian missionaries than at the present. It should be our constant endeavour to make our work and influence commend themselves to the Persians, convincing them that the work we are doing here is of vital value and benefit to them. Every
140 Islam and Missions
reasonable effort should be made not to offend but to at- tract. Persia is in a sensitive condition. It is not wise to argue against the weakness of their religious system, but if we can by God's help correctly represent to the Moslems the holy beauty and infinite saving power of Jesus Christ and His Gospel, the fallacies of their own religion will become evident to them. Present condi- tions do not constitute an opportunity for the wholesale forcing of Christianity upon the Persians, but instead of that, we should carry on the work with great caution and discretion. Many of the Persians are willing and ready to let themselves and their children be influenced by Christianity and take their chances as to whether these influences will ultimately lead to their becoming Chris- tians. This fact is especially noticeable in the educa- tional movement that has taken hold of the country. They are demanding modern education for both sexes ; many of them are anxious to put their children into the mission schools even though they know that the Bible is regularly taught. Christian missions in Persia should adequately cope therefore with the present demand for education. The future of Christian missions during the next few years in Persia depends, under the will of God, upon political developments, the quality of the mission- aries, and the prayers of the Church.
THE SITUATIOIir IN INDIA REV. W. A. WILSON, M. A., D. D., INDORE
BELIEVING that the religion which has the Lord Jesus for its centre and its life is the religion that all men need and which God designs for all men, we must face the fact that among non- Christian religions Mohammedanism, though the most closely re- lated to Christianity in its origin and growth, is, more than any other, antagonistic to its central principles. While it has points of contact in its doctrines regarding the nature of God and His relation to the world, yet in its attitude to the basal Christian doctrines of God's fatherhood, the incarnation, the nature of sin and re- demption, it is uncompromisingly hostile ; and because of the kindred truth it contains, there is ground for the opinion that the final struggle for the religious conquest of Eastern nations will be between Christianity and Islam.
While Hinduism, in some of its reforming sects, is in these days being galvanized into a kind of missionary activity, its genius is not aggressive, but both Mohammed- anism and Christianity are bound to seek expansion, each after its kind, the one by accretion out of the mate- rial of its environment, the other by the power of its trans- forming life.
Differing though they do in motive, methods and means, they both aim at bringing the world to the obedi- ence of their faith.
As Christians, possessing the highest revelation of God and the knowledge of His redemptive work for humanity,
141
142 Islam and Missions
and quickened by the divine life which the Lord Jesus has brought into the world, and knowing that the people of Islam lack what we have to give, and are perishing be- cause of that lack, we owe it to them and to our Lord to supplant at any cost the faith of Islam by the religion of Jesus.
For all who would be loyal to the Lord Jesus, Mohammedanism is a force to be reckoned with, as either hindering or helping in the establishing of His kingdom. Whatever relates to its movements, its changes, its trend, should be to them a matter of deep concern.
Islam in India has long been marked by religious ex- clusiveness and political stagnancy, and its followers have lagged far behind in the developing civilization of the na- tions and in the things that make a people great and good.
But now it has begun to realize its want of harmony with the age we live in, and it is unable to resist the many varied and far-reaching influences, due to scientific progress and mental activity in the various departments of thought and life, that have within the last quarter of a century increased in force among Western nations, and that are now penetrating the masses of Eastern humanity, producing new movements, awakening new aspirations and ideals, and stirring up new energies and powers destined to change the character of nations, and the face of the world.
During the last half century and more, Islam in India has been free, under the impartial rule of Britain, to develop whatever of good there may be in it, but no vital force for internal regeneration has been manifested. Within the last decade, however, it has awakened to a very marked activity, and to the originating of movements whose results, for weal or woe, only the future can dis- close. While it has been responding to the recent
The Situation in India 143
world-wide influences of the pan-Islamic movement, there have been political changes in India, great and far- reaching, and creating such new conditions fraught with good or ill to the people themselves and to the cause of Christian missions, that practical problems are sure to arise demanding the earnest attention of all working for the establishment of the kingdom of God in this land.
Within the last five years the changes in the political relationships of the people of India have created poten- tialities whose outcome it is beyond our power to forecast. We can do little more than mark the trend of the new movements.
The most important event in the history of the admin- istration of government in India for many years has been the launching of the Eeform scheme, giving enlarged representation of the people on the Legislative Councils and other bodies. On no community has the effect of this been more marked than on that of Islam. These ex- tended privileges may, to an extent little anticipated, de- termine the whole future of Mohammedanism.
The Mohammedans were not that part of the popula- tion of India which seriously manifested discontent with the old order, but they were among the first to take ad- vantage of the new situation, and to turn it to account in their own interests. They have long had what they re- gard as grievances against the British government. They have imagined that discrimination against their creed has prevented them from obtaining service in the state. They have stood aloof from the government sys- tem of education because it affords no facilities for train- ing in the tenets of their faith, and they have regarded it as tending to depress their social, religious, and political standing. They resented interference with the provision for the ipaintenance of their religious and educational in- jstitutiong^i^Qm public funds, and complained of the legal
144 Islam and Missions
administration which deprived certain of their social functions and religious duties of the support of public law. Nor were there lacking at places and at times, a spirit of unrest such as to lead men of Dr. Hunter's knowledge and j)olitical insight to write less than forty years ago, '' The Mussulmans of India are and have been a source of chronic danger to the British power in India." But it was only after the great political opportunities of recent years came into view that they began to organize with a view to influence the government of the country. Those especially who have availed themselves of the ed- ucational facilities provided by the state have caught the new spirit stirring throughout the East, and feel the stimulus of the political awakening.
The prospect of the government acceding to the de- mands of the Hindus for a larger share in the adminis- tration of the affairs of their country stimulated the Mo- hammedans to take united action in the interests of their community. When the proposals for extended represen- tation were laid before the country, seizing the oppor- tunity they took steps, as they say, "to make permanent arrangements for the protection of the rights and privi- leges of the Mohammedans of India. '^
In 1906 a widely representative deputation presented to the Viceroy what they regarded as the claims of the sixty -two millions of Indian Mohammedans to special recognition as entitled by number and prestige to elect their own representatives, and that too in larger jiropor- tion to their numbers than was allowed to the Hindus. In his reply the Viceroy is reported to have said, ''You justly claim that your position should be estimated not merely on your numerical strength, but in respect to the political importance of your community, and the service it has rendered to the Emperor. I am entirely in accord with you."
The Situation in India 14^
Encouraged by this reception they took further steps to give effect to their sentiments and purposes by defi- nitely organizing for political action. In 1908 an associ- ation called the ''All India Moslem League'^ was formed as an agency by which their whole community in India might bring its views or wishes or grievances to the no- tice of the government. At the same time a branch was established in Loudon for the purpose of bringing the leaders of Mohammedan interests into closer touch with the imperial government. Through District and Provin- cial Leagues, and the Central Association it is now pos- sible for the entire Mohammedan population to take corporate action in any matter they may regard as affect- ing their interests.
Not professing to be a religious association, all the sects holding in common the basal tenet of one God, with Mo- hammed as His prophet, and the Koran as God's inspired word are invited to sink their differences and combine for common ends. The association has defined its object to be the ''steady pursuit of administrative reform and the due satisfaction of the natural ambitions of Indians educated under a liberal system." It has already in several matters, social, educational and political, brought pressure to bear on the government to secure its own ends. The claim is made and reiterated that Moham- medans have special rights. It is maintained that while Queen Victoria's Proclamation gave rights that are com- mon to all classes, irrespective of caste, colour or creed, the " right that Mussulmans should be given high offices according to their numerical strength and political im- portance belongs particularly to Mohammedans." It is insisted that they have distinct rights which the govern- ment is bound to recognize.
One can see in all this a concentration of political force that the rulers will be unable to ignore. There has thus
146 Islam and Missions
been developed in this community a remarkable self- con- sciousness of power, a racial enthusiasm, and a unifica- tion of effort to secure the objects of its aspiration.
Through the favour of the home government, and as the result of the elections for the new councils, in sepa- rate electorates and other, the Mohammedans are now largely represented on the governing councils of the empire. The government has definitely recognized their claim to be a distinct factor in the Indian Empire. They have undoubtedly learned their strength, and realized the power of combination, and felt the thrill of a great national movement.
How will they use this power ? Will it be in seeking the general welfare, or in promoting their own special interests and aims ? Will they prove loyal to the em- pire, to its place and power among the nations of the earth, or will they subordinate patriotism to the faith 1
There are many who doubt the loyalty of the Moham- medan people as a whole. They point to the teaching of the Koran regarding the obligation of the faithful to throw off the yoke of the infidel, to the conspiracies of the Wahabis in Bengal, and the wide-spread sympathy they evoked, and to the rebellious outbreaks on the northwest frontier. They remind us of the part they played in the terrible mutiny, when they pressed to the front and through rivers of blood made a furious dash to seize the standard of empire. We are told of the resent- ment they must feel at the loss of dominant power and political rule, and of wounded pride by reason of subjec- tion to victors of an alien faith and religion, and it is af- firmed that their loyalty is merely a matter of self-in- terest.
It may be so ; but in the years of the passing genera- tion they have been reestablishing themselves in the con- fidence of their rulers who have given a welcome to their
'«=)■ ^ I
1^ ^ I.
The Situation in India 147
disposition to identify their interest with those of the British government. In 1872 Sir Sayed Ahmed, the in- fluence of whose life and teaching is becoming more and more ascendant in Moslem thought in India, published a series of letters to show that under British rule, which permits freedom in religious matters, the duty of waging religious war does not hold. Not only did the Mohammedans as a class observe a *' correct'^ attitude dur- ing the ebullition of discontent and unrest, developing in places into anarchism, but the Anjumans or Associations in all parts of India have declared their loyalty to the British Crown. Whether the Hindus are right in accu- sing the government of adopting a policy towards Mo- hammedans fitted to gain their attachment at the expense of Indian nationality, is a question for politicians ; the fact is that so far as protestations go, there is no lack of loyalty to the British Eaj.
Whatever opinion may exist among the ignorant masses that the British government is bent on making the people of India converts to Christianity, all intelli- gent Mohammedans are satisfied that the government of India entertains no such purpose. It was hardly necessary for Lord Curzon, in replying to an address from the students of Aligarh College, to say, *' Adhere to your own religion. ' ' The government cannot be accused of doing anything to awaken suspicions that it desires to displace their faith by Christianity. The fact that so many Mohammedans are now actively associated in the administration ought to do much to make the devout Moslem loyal to the established rule, even though it has deposed his religion to a place of equality with the other religions of the land.
And yet we must remember that in Islam religion and politics are so closely interwoven that all accession of po- litical power and influence will assuredly lead to a de-
148 Islam and Missions
velopment of religious zeal, for religious interests accord- ing to the faith must be dominant. The conviction lies deep in the heart of every orthodox Moslem that his re- ligion is true, the only one that is true, and in the end is destined to prevail. It is his creed that where he rules he must use his power to propagate his faith. He is still sanguine of the ultimate triumph of Islam. The Koran is still the inspiration of his faith, and the interests of his religion will determine the character of his politics.
The policy of partiality to the Mohammedans has been the occasion of great demonstrations of loyalty, it is true, yet should the relations between the recognized head of Mohammedanism in Turkey and the Imperial Govern- ment ever be dangerously strained, or the interests of the faith threatened, their sympathy with their co-religion- ists may prove stronger than their loyalty, and the bonds that bind them to their present rulers may not stand the strain.
However that may be, the fact, with all that it involves, confronts us, that the sixty -two and a half millions of Mohammedans in India, now as never before, have a self- consciousness as a people with their own interests and outlook, and are in a new position to make their will known and felt in the affairs of the country.
Unless the influence of Western culture and ideals has done more than to create a demand for political privileges and to awaken aspirations for place and power in the state, we may have ground for viewing the future with some misgiving. It is maintained by the Moslem that ** the recent reforms do not touch the religion of Islam at all."
There are, however, elements in the situation fitted to encourage the hope that the outcome will not be a regres- sion to the tyranny of fanaticism, but a development of freedom and intellectual independence which will favour
The Situation in India 149
the growth of religious toleration and open the mind for the reception of the truth which Christianity proffers.
Among these is the rapidly growing disposition to take advantage of education of the Western type. The Moham- medans are admitting that their backward condition politically, as compared with that of the Hindus, is due mainly to the fact that they have declined to cjualify for the positions in the government service which fell to the lot of the Hindu. Eefusing to take advantage of an education which did not embrace instruction in the Koran, they found themselves unfit for any but the most subor- dinate positions in the service of the state. They now realize that if they are to reach higher grades than sol- diers or policemen they must qualify themselves by means of the education they have so much shunned.
Though, according to Islam, the knowledge of Mo- hammed and of his religion is of first importance, and science and non-Moslem literature are regarded as danger- ous to the faith, yet much stress is now being laid on a reputed saying of Mohammed, — ''Go forth in search of learning, even if you have to go as far as China," and there is a marked movement in the more advanced section of the community in favour of combining the subjects of religion with those of a liberal education.
The late Sir Sayed Ahmed was among the first to real- ize that without education the Mohammedan people must lag behind, and he devoted himself earnestly to the work of stimulatiDg his co-religionists to a new policy. At first he was suspected and opposed. Agents, it is said, were sent from Constantinople to kill him. But his cause prospered, and his influence widened, till to-day the new Islam, as it is called, largely moulds Moham- medan thought and ambition. Some twenty-four years ago he wrote, ''It is the interest and duty of Moham- medans to devote their energies to education, and to leave
150 Islam and Missions
their political interests in tlie safe-keeping of the govern- ment." Two years later, iu 1878, having obtained assist- ance from the government he founded the Mohammedan college at Aligarh, and a few years later he inaugurated the annual conference for the Mohammedans of India. It is claimed that the object of the college is "to reconcile Oriental with Western literature and science, and to make the Mussulmans of India worthy and useful subjects of the British Crown." This college has contributed in no small degree to the development of the spirit of progress now manifested among them.
Political successes have in turn given a great stimulus to this spirit, and plans for broadening the basis and extending the facilities of education are discussed and advocated in conferences, meetings of leagues, and in the Moslem press throughout the country. Though the large proportion of Mohammedan children are still taught the Koran prior to all other subjects, in schools attached to mosques where they do little else than learn it by rote without any understanding of its Arabic tongue, still in increasing numbers, madrasas are being estab- lished where education more in accord with Western ideas is given, and advantage is more largely taken of mission schools and colleges.
In North India, increasingly, provision has been made for giving religious instruction to the lower classes. The Koran has been translated into the local vernacu- lars, cheaply published and widely circulated. Among the higher classes the desire for European learning is manifested by the larger numbers in government and mission colleges, and especially in the Mohammedan college at Aligarh, where the attendance has risen from two hundred and sixty-nine in 1904 to over eight hun- dred in 1910, comprising students from all parts of India and beyond.
The Situation in India 151
In this institution as in all others under Mohammedan control, religion is made an important feature in the course of study. The professed aim is to combine Western science and culture with Moslem divinity and literature. Its supporters are making strenuous efforts to get it raised to the status of a university, and the establishment of Moslem colleges in different parts of India is also being urged. Mohammedan leaders want institutions where the special branches of Moslem learning may be taught in the interests of their propaganda. At the same time emphasis is being laid on the necessity of education along Western lines. The diffusion of knowledge is felt to be necessary to regain place in the race for supremacy and for the reestablishment of their prestige and influence in the country. They realize that if they are to gain back the power which, with something of resentment, they have seen passing into the hands of the Hindus, they must devote serious attention to the youth of their com- munity.
This educational activity is significant. It is partly the cause and partly the result of the political position they have obtained. They allege that the administrative reforms and the important share allowed them in the government of the country have laid new responsibilities on them, and they profess to feel the obligation to show their fitness therefor. They affirm their conviction that political importance is to be maintained and increased by ascendancy in the intellectual sphere, and that if they are to have their desired part in India's future they must no longer, by social customs, the traditions of the past and religious prejudices, close the door to Western thought and influence. In magazines, newspapers, con- ferences and leagues, much attention is given to the sub- ject of education ; the need of providing it alike for boys and girls is strongly urged. Large gifts and donations
152 Islam and Missions
are being given to establish schools and endow scholar- ships.
Connected with this political and educational activity is the project of making the Urdu language the common vernacular of the Mussulmans of India. A common language would undoubtedly be an important factor con- tributing to their unity. It is claimed that already in Southern India, in Tamil, Telegu, and Canarese districts, in a constantly increasing measure, Urdu is becoming the medium of instruction, and the Mohammedan people are earnestly urged to strive to make it the common lan- guage of all India. Considerable attention is being given also to the strengthening and developing of the Moslem press. Newspapers and magazines are being set up to voice the opinion and advocate the interests of the Mohammedan people.
There is a noticeable activity too in the matter of religious publications. The "Life of Mohammed,'^ *' Selections from the Koran," "Translation of the Koran into English," "Hints on the Study of the Koran," "Lessons from the Koran," are the names of some of the books now offered to the public. Little books comparing Islam with Hinduism, with Buddhism, and with Chris- tianity, are also being issued from the Moslem press.
The methods followed in the missionary enterprise of the Christian Church are being adopted by the Moham- medan propagandists. They are endeavouring to famil- iarize the public with the contents of their sacred Scriptures and literature. This literary movement is described by its promoters as the "first Moslem mis- sionary endeavour in the way of Islamic publications."
Eeference may be made also to another feature in the pro- gramme for the rehabilitation of this community. Great stress is being laid on the necessity of developing the resources of the country. Their leaders recognize the
The Situation in India 153
lack of tlirift aud industry, and the pride that despises trade, handicrafts, and agriculture, and very properly insist that the acquisition of political privileges without progress in material conditions will be but the shadow of power. Provision is being made for greatly enlarged facilities for technical education.
At Karachi a Mohammedan college is devoted to practical science, and it is proposed to develop the science department of the Aligarh College into a separate institution, thus further preparing the way for raising the central college to the rank of a university. Strong appeals are being made, and not without success, for funds for the realization of these ambitions. Growing knowledge of the economic conditions of other countries, and of the secret of the progress and prosperity of other peoples is bearing fruit.
It is thus manifest that the concession of enlarged political representation has been the occasion, at least, of a very marked awakening of the Mohammedan community to a sense of their deficiencies, and to efforts for the im- provement of their intellectual, social and material con- dition. It need not surprise us that they regard the extension of representative institutions as the dawn of a new era for Islam. Solidarity, education, cooperation, and special rights are its watchwords, and visions of a reinvigorated Islam stimulate its people to seize the advantages which the new movements have brought within their grasp.
What will be the bearing of all this on Christian mis- sions? Our deeper interest in the ferment of thought and fresh activity lies here. Will our work of evangeliz- ing be facilitated or retarded ? The grounds for a definite answer are not yet clearly discernible. The fruits of the new life now stirring are not yet developed. Tendencies, ideals, and aims must be realized in facts and correlated
154 Islam and Missions
before the outlook for Christian missions can be definitely and confidently represented.
It need not surprise us nor too much disappoint us, if for a time we find the Mohammedan people irresponsive even more than before to our efforts. The interest of the new political and intellectual life, the vision of a regener- ated Islam, the hope of recovering lost ground, of regain- ing prestige and power, and of the coming of a new era of racial greatness, may so absorb and elate their minds that there will be little room for thoughts of the claims of Christ and less welcome for them.
The new sense of their importance as a factor in the government of the country, of their solidarity as a people, and of their political power, may have as one of its more immediate results a more dominant idea of self- sufficiency, a revival in the religion of the prophet, and a glorying in the traditions of the past. Already one can recognize a note of elation in the voices that call from platform or press to the people to look back to the glory of a conquering faith in the past, or on to the goal of power and prestige won back, and to press forward in the race for the prizes the times have to offer. We may expect for a time at least a period of indifference, but it will prove, we may well believe, a time of transition, and more worthy results of the new movements will declare them- selves.
The diffusion of knowledge will remove inveterate prej- udices against the Christian religion, and destroy the absurd conceptions of Christian doctrine that close the hearts of millions to the gospel message. Belief that the true Gospel has been taken back to heaven, or abrogated by the Koran, that the Father, Mary, and Jesus con- stitute the trinity, and that after the manner of human generation Jesus is Sou of God — these and such like beliefs, due to crassest ignorance, will disappear in the
The Situation in India 155
increasiug liglit, and the Mohammedan will approach the Bible in a new spirit and receive it as a '* light and revelation from God.'' Sir Sayed Ahmed, to whom the new movement is so largely due, placed the Bible and the Koran "upon the same footing as equally inspired, and equally binding upon Moslems. ' ' He wrote a commentary on portions of the Bible, and declared his faith in it, de- fending himself by contending that all he * ' professed in favour of the Bible was grounded on the holy Koran it- self."
When this attitude shall have become general the Mohammedan controversy will be lifted to a higher plane. Let the Bible be received as true, and it will be hard indeed to show that the Koran is true also. The growth of a critical spirit, knowledge of the laws of thought and evidence, must lead to a questioning of the foundations of the faith that the Koran is the uncreated word of God sent down to the lowest heaven and revealed piecemeal by the angel Gabriel.
Though he may not realize it, the liberal education the Moslem is now advocating will reveal the fallacious grounds of his cherished beliefs. The fears of the orthodox that secular learning will destroy the faith are not without grounds. The impartial study of history will reveal the true origin and sources of the Koran, and show how worthless the traditions are as an authoritative guide for the duties of life. The reason, trained to habits of investigation in science and history, will refuse blindly to accept traditional dogmas.
In minds that give a welcome to the best thought of the West there will be created new ideals of intellectual and spiritual freedom, higher standards of morality, worthier conceptions of God as a moral being, and of the demands of His moral law. Ends of life will be revealed for the realization of which Mohammedanism supplies no
1^6 Islam and Missions
power, and a heart hunger will be felt which it will be unable to satisfy. In the light of the high ethical stand- ards of Christianity will be seen the futility of the laws of Mohammed to restrain the evils of society. It is significant of the changing thought of Islam that in some of its respected publications, utterances such as these may be found : "With us religion has become a solemn farce, and steeped in barren tradition and practice." * ' Social corruption behind the zenana is to a large extent due to this system." *'No family, no community, no nation can ever prosper unless both sexes are laid on a better, nay, on an equal level." " God as fashioned by our co-religionists is an exact type of an oriental ruler." *^ He is conceived as vindictive, unmerciful, occupied in tedious matters" and " totally uninterested in the human race," except to punish transgression. The time spent in the study of the Arabic Koran is spoken of as "wasted years. " It is maintained that education should result in "not the slavish acceptance, but the well considered adoption or rejection of views, principles and beliefs." Leaders of Mohammedan thought are now giving ex- pression to the opinion that Mohammed was only a spirit- ual teacher, not a legislator, and the Koran is a "spiritual guide containing counsels and ideals for the faithful," not a body of law. True, these may be as yet the senti- ments of comparatively few, but they are an indication that the leavening process has begun.
While we do not look to science, or philosophy, or history, or politics for the moral reformation of a people, we are j ustified in expecting that they will go far to destroy religious and racial prejudices, and to awaken an appre- ciation of the virtues of sincerity, truth, goodness, and jus- tice, and to predispose the mind to welcome fresh light.
Without doubt, Western education as a disintegrating force has begun to act on Indian Islamism. A liberaliz-
The Situation in India
>57
ing process has begun. Among the educated, the arro- gant religious conceit and contemptuous pride of fancied religious superiority, so characteristic of ignorant Mo- hammedaus, are giving place to a more tolerant atti- tude to the Christian faith, and a higher appreciation of its doctrine of God. The revelation of His character as given by the Lord Jesus Christ has begun to displace the conception of Him which the Koran gives.
In India contact with a Christianity more true to the Scriptures than that which Mohammedanism has met in most Asiatic lands has already done much in the thought of educated Moslems to substitute for the Allah of the Koran the heavenly Father of the Gospels. The teaching of the Koran regarding God and duty will be more and more subjected to the scrutiny of reason and the tests of historical investigation. When the inspiration of the Koran and the aposfcleship of Mohammed begin to be questioned, and inquiries as to the nature of God are earnestly pursued, the beginning of the end of Islam will have come.
The more the right of private judgment is exercised the more will faith in the Koran and in what it stands for be shaken. The cry for a regenerated Islam is a response to influences from the West, and among the most powerful of these are the moral and spiritual forces the Christ has brought into the world, and they cannot fail sooner or later to lead to a reconstruction of religious thought in Islam, and to the opening of its heart to His claims.
In the time of transition faith may give place to relig- ious indifference. It therefore behooves the Christian Church to put forth special effort to keep the claims, merits and offers of Christ before the minds of those who are turning away from their old dead beliefs that they may find in Him the eternal Life He came to bestow. When the Christian Scriptures are allowed to speak their
158 Islam and Missions
message to the Moslem heart we know what the result must be. Politics, economic problems, social and mate- rial prosperity, may for a time absorb the attention of the awakening people, but earnest minds cannot rest finally in these things, and we may with utmost confidence hold up to their view the once crucified but now exalted Saviour, and He will draw them to Himself.
XI
THE OLD AND THE NEW E^GIME IN TUEKEY REV. S. V. R. TROWBRIDGE, TURKEY
THE attitude of the Turkisli government towards the pioneer missionaries who came from Amer- ica in 1820 and the following decade was not uniform. Usually the officials ignored the newcomers as of no political consequence. Occasionally suspicions were aroused and interference resulted. In 1824 Mr. Bird was arrested in Jerusalem on the charge of distribu- ting books which were ''neither Jewish, Moslem nor Christian." But he was shortly released. And even during the disturbances which were caused by the war with Greece the provincial officials afforded protection and freedom of passage for the missionaries in their ex- tensive pioneer journeys.
In 1834 Dr. Goodell recorded that it was gratifying to see the respect shown by high Turkish officials for American citizens. Their rights of residence and travel, however, were no more than were granted by various treaty agreements to Europeans.
When the mission work began to exert a wider in- fluence, in the decade 1840-1850, there were repeated efforts to remove the missionaries from the country. The American minister, however, declined to take any such action and the attention of the Sublime Porte was turned to other matters.
The missionaries as foreign citizens were thus afforded
159
l6o Islam and Missions
certain rights by treaty * ' capitiilatious. ' ' Although orig- iually instituted by the Ottoman governincut for conve- nience in dealing with the riglits of foreiguers whose presence in the country was desired, these ''capitula- tions " have in recent years become very distasteful to the Turks. There is a popular but mistaken idea that the "capitulations " have been forced upon the Turks by superior European authority. Undoubtedly from the Mohammedan point of view they are a reproach. They provide for residence and travel of foreiguers, freedom in religious customs, inviolability of foreign dwellings and certain other privileges relative to arrest and punishment of foreigners.
But while the missionaries were thus to some extent free from the oppressive and arbitrary acts of Turkish officials, the inquirers and converts who gathered around them were subject to arrest, imprisonment and exile. From the beginning the chief activity of the missionaries was among the Greeks and Armenians. In 1846 a severe persecution of the newly formed community of evangelical Armenians was carried on by the Gregorian Patriarch. Turkish judges and police ofi&cers joined in giving effect to the Patriarch's orders. This persecution was finally checked by the interference of Sir Stratford Canning, the British ambassador. In 1850 the efforts of the ambassador culminated in the granting of an Imperial Firman recognizing the Protestant community as inde- pendent of the ancient Gregorian Church and giving it the same rights as had been accorded to the other Oriental churches.
At the same time Sir Stratford (afterwards Lord Strat- ford de Eedcliffe) was exerting his whole strength to secure the annulment of the law inflicting death upon apostates from Islam. In 1843 an Armenian young man had been cruelly executed in the streets of Stamboul be-
The Old and New Regime in Turkey i6l
cause after having embraced Islam he had denied the Mohammedan faith. The immediate result of the am- bassador's efforts was a written pledge from Sultan Abd ul Mejid that such an execution should not again take place.
But it was not until 1856, after the Crimean war, that Sultan Abd ul Mejid issued the Hatti Humayoun or Imperial Edict. One of the articles reads : '^ As all forms of religion are and shall be freely professed in my domin- ions, no subject of my empire shall be hindered in the ex- ercise of the religion that he professes, nor shall be in any way annoyed on this account. No one shall be compelled to change his religion.''
It is very evident that this edict became known through- out the provinces and that it began at once to affect the work of the missionaries. Moslems felt themselves free to associate with missionaries and even to confess Christ. In 1857 Dr. Hamlin reported a family converted from Islam officially examined by the police and justified in their change of faith on the ground that no compulsion had been used. Mr. Dwight reported in 1859 that the governors at Sivas, Diarbekr and Csesarea declared that Moslems who had become Christians should not be molested. In Constantinople Selim Effeudi, a convert, became an evangelist and was permitted to gather around him a company of Turks who were inquirers.
But, perhaps as a result of the importation and circula- tion of Dr. Pfander's controversial writings, notably the " Mizan ul Hakk," there occurred in 1864 a reactionary movement which started in the government and spread among the people. The Turkish conveits were arrested. What eventually became of them is not known. The mission presses and bookstores were temporarily closed by the police. Ind it was clearly understood by Moham- medans throughout the country that to forsake Islam was regarded by the government as a civil offense. This
l62 Islam and Missions
attitude has not been changed. Even the revolution of July, 1908, has scarcely modified it.
The political revolution of 1908 proclaimed a constitu- tion guaranteeing equal rights for all subjects, inviola- bility of the person, authority of law over caprice of offi- cials, freedom of the press, liberty of public meeting and freedom from espionage, bribery and torture. Liberty of conscience is implied in very guarded terms, but Islam is declared the established state religion and adherence to the usages and traditions of religion is demanded. The tenth article of the Constitution reads : '' Individual liberty is inviolable. Except according to the forms and for the causes determined by the canon law of Islam^ and by the civil code, no one can be arrested or suffer penalty, upon any pretext whatsoever.*'
It must also be remembered that while a minority of progressive Turks are striving to carry out the guarantees of the Constitution, the millions of illiterate peasants, all the eastern divisions of the army, as well as the rich landowners and pashas are at heart reactionary. They instinctively oppose nearly everything that Christian missions stand for.
Throughout the eighty years of mission activity in Turkey a considerable degree of toleration has been shown to the missionaries themselves ; but churches, colleges and schools have been hindered and oppressed in every conceivable manner. Permission for new buildings, im- provements of property, acquirement of title-deeds and privileges of travel have often been refused. The method has been procrastination and the placing of innumerable obstacles in the path. Young men's associations have been forbidden, and the censorship of the press has been most severe and capricious. Espionage, the imposition of illegal taxes, extensive and shameless bribery of officials and imprisonment without trial have been some of the
The Old and New Regime in Turkey 163
methods employed against Christian missions. While religious toleration has been repeatedly ]3roclaimed, annoyance and forcible interference have been constantly taking place.
It cannot be said that the massacres have been em- ployed by the government directly against Christian missions. The various massacres, of the Greeks in 1822, of the Syrians of Damascus and the Lebanon in 1860, of the Bulgarians in 1876, and of the Armenians in 1895, 1896 and 1909, have scourged the whole country and have profoundly affected mission work. These massa- cres have been with the consent and instigation of the government. But they have been directed against cer- tain subject Christian peoples rather than against any organized mission work. The mission compounds have usually been the sole places of refuge. And with few exceptions the local government has instructed troops and officials to safeguard mission institutions against plunder and attack. In these dreadful events the Ar- menians have been the heaviest sufferers. We turn now to consider present conditions.
The attitude of the government has at no time been officially defined. Nor can it be fairly judged by un- official interviews such as have recently been granted to foreign travellers. The magnanimous generalizations uttered by the Sheikh ul Islam and by members of the Cabinet are intended more for publication in the foreign press than for the actual administration of in- terior provinces. Compare, for example, the eloquent declarations of justice and mercy in the promises for Macedonian reforms with the awful massacre perpe- trated by the government at Ourfa in 1895. The real attitude of the government must be learned by patient observation and by personal experience. Therefore we attach more weight to the evidence given by rep-
164 Islam and Missions
resentative missionaries than to the statements made by officials.
In considering our subject one general distinction must bo observed. Evangelical and educational work among the Oriental churches is looked upon by the government as natural enough. Prior to the Protestant movement the Eoniau Catholic missions had been recognized as establishing a separate Christian sect. There was thus a kind of precedent for permitting the formation of an evangelical church. But wherever the preaching has attracted Mohammedans the government has resorted to various schemes for the exile or punishment of the con- verts. And even to-day the government would not tolerate any organized movement for openly teaching the New Testament to Moslems.
In the villages there is practically no government. I may say in passing that it is for this very reason I believe that gospel work may be done more freely in the villages than in the cities.
The collections of taxes by the central government resemble depredations from outside. And in general the villages are governed by local customs, by the will of the chief (who is often a hospitable old man) and by the ex- hortations of the mulla who is usually respectful and courteous to educated visitors. If any difficulty arises, it is likely to be from the mulla who may imagine that his rights are being assailed. But the government very largely ignores what is going on among the peasant population.
Another distinction to be kept in mind is in the atti- tude of the government towards European and American missionaries. Whereas European missions, such as those of the Jesuits, have secured more privileges and im- munities through diplomatic interference, the Americans are recognized as coming from a distant country which
The Old and New Regime in Turkey 165
has no political ambition in Western Asia. The Ameri- cans have advanced medical work in nearly every im- portant centre, so that the natural suspicions of govern- ment officials have been in part dispelled and the real spirit of missions has been better understood.
Still another distinction must be made, to gain a fair view of the situation. The government is obliged to allow the missionaries a very large degree of freedom, whereas native Christian workers are strictly prevented from entering any work which lies beyond the traditional boundaries of the Eastern churches. A great many missionaries expect the Armenians to begin the evangeli- zation of the Moslems. This reminds one of a chemistry professor at college who informed his students one morning, taking care to stand off at a safe distance, ** Gentlemen, my assistant will now perform a very dangerous experiment ! '^
Probably the best way to study the present attitude of the government is to observe the various branches of mission work and to cite cases which illustrate the degree of liberty attained thus far.
( 1) Educational Work. Mohammedan students are now permitted to enter mission schools and colleges. In the Syrian Protestant College at Beirut there are now one hundred and four Moslem students, and at Eobert College in Constantinople there are about fifty. But in the case of these two colleges tacit permission has existed for some years past. In the Gedik Pasha mission school in Constantinople there are eighty children from Moham- medan families.
(2) Literary Work. The missionaries in Turkey would urge very strongly that controversial methods be avoided. It is undoubtedly true that the present government would not tolerate any such controversy as Dr. Pfander once engaged in.
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Much public interest lias centred around the transla- tion into Turkish of Professor Dozy's " History of Islam." This work was done by a Moslem and is not mission work. Yet I cite it as illustrating the attitude of the government towards critical religious literature. The Cabinet and the Chamber of Deputies united in con- demning the publication, so the book remains under an ofi&cial ban. Nevertheless the reading public has become aware of its ** radical theories" by the lengthy and fervent rebuttals published in leading Mohammedan weeklies.
Awetaranian's translation of '^ Pilgrim's Progress " into Turkish, Herrick's booklets, ^'The Dawn of Liberty," *'The Greatest Force in the Moral World," " Universal Brotherhood and the Founder of Christianity," as well as Krikorian's tract, '* Points of Similitude Between Islam and Christianity," are permitted to circulate freely.
The sale and distribution of the Bible is very extensive in Turkey. It is one of the strongest and surest methods of making known the Gospel. The printing of the Scriptures has long been permitted by the government. But the work of colporteurs was made indescribably difficult, until the Constitution two and a half years ago gave freedom of travel. Dr. Bowen of the American Bible Society stated recently that Bible colportage has become absolutely free. About 9,000 New Testaments and Bibles were sold to Mohammedans last year and 124,000 to Christians. It is a striking fact that since the massacre hundreds of New Testaments have been sold to Moslems in the market places of Adana and Tarsus.
(3) Medical and Relief WorJc. These two branches of mission work have had an extraordinary development in Turkey. The government has usually treated the medical work with favour, but in the past has disliked and at- tempted to block the relief work which has been chiefly
The Old and New Regime in Turkey 167
for the Armenians. After the Adana massacre, however, the new government formed a central relief committee which was under the patronage of the new Sultan and in- cluded members of both houses of the Ottoman Parlia- ment. ]Mr. W. W. Peet, mission treasurer at Constan- tinople, was appointed president of the committee having charge of the distribution of the relief funds. Mr. W. N. Chambers, Dr. F. D. Shepard and six^ other missionaries were among the responsible agents on the field in the actual distribution and reconstruction. Dr. Shepard has been decorated by the present Sultan for his services.
Eeligious work for all the peoples of Turkey is carried on in the mission hospitals without any hindrance from the government. Hymns are sung, passages of Scripture learned by heart, and prayer is offered. Preaching serv- ices are also held and copies of the New Testament are often given to inquirers. With all this activity of Chris- tian work among the thousands of patients, nearly half of whom are Moslems, the government gives free scope to the hospitals and officials often speak in appreciative terms. Since the Constitution was proclaimed in July, 1908, the proportion of Mussulman patients has considerably in- creased.
(4) WorJc Among Women. Since the establishment of the new regime five Moslem young women have been ap- pointed by the government to attend the American Col- lege for Girls at Constantinople, the object being to train them for the organization of government schools for girls. In the provinces Turkish girls have been received into mission schools though not in any large numbers as yet. Entrance requirements and the programme of studies will need to be adjusted to the new situation.
Home visitation and medical work in the harems are carried on by many women missionaries, and Bible read- ing circles have been started by a few Armenian women
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workers. lu Ainttib tlie embroidery industry carried on as a part of missiou work has already touched over two hundred Mohammedan homes. The girls' boarding- school at Korcha in European Turkey had among the pupils last year twenty-two Albanian Moslem girls. But the government is very conservative in most respects re- garding the education of Mohammedan women. Noth- ing which leads them to attend public meetings is al- lowed.
(5) Evangelistic Work. So long as preaching and per- sonal work are confined to Christian communities the government makes no objection. But wherever any Moslems join the congregation, and especially when any Moslem makes confession of Christ the government at once interferes. The manner of interference is usually to have the convert arrested and held for trial upon some other accusation, or else to secretly expel him from the city. The death penalty for those who deny Islam has now passed from public execution to secret methods which are scarcely less gruesome. Of course such methods are condemned by the more intelligent officials.
Preaching in the markets or in open squares in the cities is not allowed by the police, although an English missionary in Antioch was permitted for many years to read aloud from the Arabic Bible to the groups of people who gathered around him in an open square.
To look at these things from the Turkish point of view we must remember that the Ottoman army has been hitherto recruited entirely from Moslems, so that any Moslem young man who became a Christian was regarded as a traitor to the state in having tried to evade military duty. The present government has begun to enlist Chris- tian soldiers but shows deliberate caution in carrying out this programme. If the spirit of the army can be made national rather than Mohammedan a great step in ad-
The Old and New Regime in Turkey 169
vance will have been taken. For in that case a Mussul- man who accepts Christ can be treated simply on relig- ious grounds and under the new Constitution he ought to be safe. He would no longer be looked upon as guilty of a civil offense. But that day has not yet come.
Who can say what the outlook is in Turkey ? One night in April less than two years ago when we were pass- ing through the awful experience of the Adana massacre, with all the lamps in the house extinguished to lessen the risk from rifle-shots, the glare of the conflagrations threw a reddish light into the room where we were gathered, and I noticed lyiug on the table a copy of Dr. Barton's ** Daybreak in Turkey." It had come to us fresh from the printing-press only a week or two before. Day- break ? We were still at midnight !
The new government is on the side of law and order ; but what really constitutes the Ottoman governments (This is a pertinent question because rapid trausitions are taking place.) The following are the constituent ele- ments at present : the Chamber of Deputies and the Cabi- net in the great matters of legislation and finance, the Sultan in his many royal prerogatives supported in the caliphate by popular Mussulman sentiment, the Sheikh ul Islam and his appointees in all that concerns the Koran and Moslem law, the army ^ and the provincial ofiicials in all the mauifold details which actually touch mission work. But all these branches of government are to-day largely controlled by a group of Moslems — the Committee of Union and Progress, with its headquarters at Salonica. This committee is outside of the government and yet in marvellously intimate touch with almost all departments. The intelligent and patriotic officers in the army have at- tached themselves to the committee and have given it practical power. The control of the majority in the
^ Which holds the key position at present.
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Chamber of Deputies lias scarcely wavered since the day of openiug/
Thus an extraordinary situation exists. The attitude of the government upon any vital question is largely determined by the dictates of a committee outside of the government and backed by the best part of the army.
What then of the attitude of this committee ? At pres- ent the leaders are so absorbed in political affairs and in the military strategy by which their difdcult position is held that they are giving little attention to religious mat- ters. Some have even denounced religion as being the cause of divisions in the nation. But they are not directly opposed to Christian missions so long as public feeling and fanaticism are not aroused. Their instincts are so intensely political that they resent any movement which weakens Islam. This is not in most cases from religious faith, but from the instinct that Islam is the strongest available bond for national unification and for defense against foreign aggression.
If Christian missions could be demonstrated to them to be an advantage to the nation and a means of unification and progress, these "Young Turks" would waive tradi- tional Mohammedan objections. But they are far from the field of faith and theology. They are bent upon political and economic reorganization. A considerable proportion of these ^ ' Young Turks '^ are at heart agnostics, somewhat influenced by French writers, but more in- fluenced by the corrupt condition of Islam.
It is impossible to forecast the future. Meanwhile the history of the early Church furnishes inspiring and sug- gestive studies. It does not seem likely that the present Ottoman government will vouchsafe real religious liberty.
^ Yet the " Young Turks " are involved in an'intense struggle tokeep in check the reactionary forces and in several conspicuous instances they have been obliged to compromise.
The Old and New Regime in Turkey 171
Islam is avowedly the state religion, and the Constitution will be operative only so far as it does not conflict with Mohammedan law and custom. Missionaries were once regarded much as foreign consuls. But the spiritual na- ture of their work is now understood and the government no longer feels obliged to strive for their protection. Nor does the government protect in any special way the communities under their charge. No doubt this also is of God. The Gospel of the Cross of Christ must be pre- sented in the spirit of peace and without worldly power. From this point of view opposition may be interpreted in terms of sacrifice.
Indeed, there is reason to take heart and thank God. In a list of questions submitted to experienced mission- aries in Constantinople, Salonica, Van, Marash, Aintab, Sidon and Beirut I closed by asking, ''On the whole, have you reason to feel encouraged by the present atti- tude of the Ottoman government towards Christian mis- sions?" The answer was unanimously affirmative al- though touched with the shadow of approaching trial. Assuredly this gives hope of a glorious consummation to a very dark part of the world's history.
XII
CONDITIONS IN CENTRAL ASIA COL. G. WINGATE, C. I. E., LONDON
WHEN we were children, in spite of childish griefs for which we regarded Virgil as wholly- responsible, there was no more captivating story to us than the siege of Troy. How we delighted in the Greek stratagem of the wooden horse which brought the long siege to an end, and trembled with fears for the accomplishment of the maneuvre when we read of the wise old priest Laocoon who ''feared the Greeks even bringing gifts," and begged his fellow Trojans, trium- phantly dragging into their city the innocent-looking horse, to leave it outside their walls. We rejoiced when Ulysses' clever scheme was crowned with success, and wished we had been the Lesser Ajax or some other of the hundred heroes who climbed down out of the horse by night and opened the gates of the city to the waiting Greeks outside.
But we have lived to have more sympathy with the suspicions of the sagacious old priest, and there is a cu- rious similarity to the ancient legend, which we would fain shut our eyes to, in this question of Christian mis- sions to non- Christian countries. The West again con- fronts the East, and '' Timeo Banaos et dona ferentes''^ seems borne to our ears, this time from the mouths of non-Christian rulers and very specially of the priests and mullas of those rulers who are apt to regard Christian missionary enterprise as a modern Wooden Horse which, however innocent it looks, will introduce foreign ele-
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Conditions in Central Asia 173
meuts into their fastnesses and in due course throw open the gates to that enemy of whom it has been all the while the emissary.
It is necessary to meet and remove this prejudice in the miuds of native rulers, for in too many well-founded instances the establishment and progress of Christian missions has seemed to native rulers the precursor of po- litical agitation and local discontent, and finally the in- terfereuce of Christian governments on behalf of the missionary and mission property resulting in the loss or restriction of power or territory to the native state.
While missionaries may see and find advantages in government recognition and protection, they must also remember that in every contract there are two contract- ing parties and that if they receive practical benefits from their own government, this confers a right to government to look for a corresponding return. The missionary becomes all unwittingly the government agent to extend its sphere of influence, which may be followed by demands for '' rectification of frontier " ; for a government is often unwillingly forced to this procedure by purely political considerations. Much as the missionary may regret these consequences it is then impossible for him to detach himself from the obligations of the position, which often result in making him appear in the eyes of the people among whom he is working as an agent of the foreign power.
Many missionaries have already laboured to remove this reproach, and if we can in Central Asia dissociate our presentation of the claims of Christ from any national colouring, we shall not find so much reluctance on the part of either Mohammedan or Buddhist to listen to what we have to say. They will recognize that it is a question of the soul, and that it concerns the appeal of God to the conscience.
174 Islam and Missions
In considering the attitude of Moslem governments to Christian missions, our remarks will have reference chiefly to the attitude of Central Asian governments, and specially of Afghanistan.
We shall be led to wrong conclusions if we think of Afghanistan only as an isolated Moslem government with, at the most, a population of five million people. Its significance is great because of its geographical position in the heart of Central Asia, which subjects it to the reflex influence of a far-reaching Mohammedan popula- tion on all sides. It is the core and homogeneous centre of a great extended area of contiguous countries, Moslem in belief, whether or not under influences or governments of other nationalities, Turkestan, Persia, Baluchistan, Chitral, Kashmir, etc., so that Afghanistan represents what is to them the ideal spectacle of an orthodox Moslem ruler, free and independent ruling over Moslem subjects, standing as a model for other countries. It must be remembered that at present "No power has any right to interfere in its administration, although it is obvious that certain contingencies might alter its position in this respect. The government of Afghanistan owes no national debt, nor any war indemnity, and the Emir is not hampered by any capitulations with foreign govern- meuts." To the faithful, Afghanistan has much the same theological position and prestige in the East as Turkey in the West, and the Emir of Afghanistan is supported in the aloofness of his relations with Christian rulers, whether England on the one hand or Eussia on the other, by the unanimous sentiment of races that people the vast areas of Central Asia surrounding his country. Further, the universal approval of his co-religionists in countries that are under foreign rule tends to strengthen him in the continuance of this policy. The Mohammedan centres on the east — Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan — may
Mosque at Samarkand, Central Aj
Street in Askabad
Conditions in Central Asia 175
be under Chinese rule, and Bokhara on the north with its famous Mohammedan university may be under the suzerainty of Eussia, but foreign rule affects their beliefs as little as England's rule over Malta has affected the Eoman Catholic creed of that island, in fact the tendency of the foreign rule of an alien faith may be only to inten- sify the national belief by throwing into it all the strength of a pent up and otherwise inactive patriotism.
As an instance in illustration of this point it will be recalled that when the present Emir, Hubbibullah, re- cently visited India, he was even surprised at the enthu- siasm with which he was hailed with acclaim by fifty- seven million Sunnis of India as their spiritual leader. It was to them in fact what the visit of the Pope would be to Ireland. On his part, true to his faith wherever he went, he strengthened the hands and encouraged the hearts of his co-religionists, and never failed at the stated hours to adjourn to the nearest mosque or quiet place for prayers.
Other distinctive features of Moslem rule may be traced to the fact that the Mohammedan is eminently practical. It is the practical side of him enforced by his martial qualities that has led to such success in his rela- tions to the races he has conquered. An example of this is seen in the sagacious enactment of Mohammed, that while no Mohammedan woman was to marry an un- believer (which would be likely to result in the woman going over to the faith of her husband), the marriage of a Mohammedan man with women of an alien faith is so definitely encouraged that the woman is theoretically allowed to retain her own beliefs, though the children of the marriage must be followers of the prophet.
We have been taught to regard the Mohammedan as a fanatical and impossible bigot, but so practical is he that his attitude towards other faiths is enormously modified by his environment. Under rulers of alien faith, notably
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in China, lie has for centuries patiently accommodated him- self to the ways of his masters, adopting the dress and customs of the country and otherwise behaving as a Chinaman. At the same time his practical common sense asserted itself in the eagerness with which money was found and subscribed to buy and adopt many thousands of Chinese orphans in times of famine, who being brought up as Mohammedans, and provided with Mohammedan wives, propagated the faith and added to the number of their adherents even in that land where they have suffered such terrible persecutions. Again in Kashmir, under the rule of high-caste Hindus, where the iconoclasm of the Mohammedan must be hourly tempted by Hindu idolatry, their conduct is characterized as that of a loyal and obedient people, and the same remark applies to Chinese Turkestan, where a population almost entirely Mussul- man is under the rule of the Confucian dynasty of China. The attitude of Moslem rulers to a foreign faith is in many cases dictated by a feeling altogether apart from religion. For instance we are told of the late Emir of Afghanistan, *' Abd ur Eahman being possessed by an in- stinctive animus against company promoters and conces- sion-hunters, the mineral wealth of Afghanistan is at present almost entirely undeveloped. ' ' In other words he had rather that the buried wealth of his kingdom, the gold and the silver, the iron and copper ore, the lead and the coal that are known to exist should remain buried to him and his people, than have it exploited and revealed and even brought to them at the cost of a weakened authority and the probable establishment within his borders of an alien and almost inevitably hostile power with couflict- ing interests. If this attitude appears narrow it is never- theless perfectly intelligible in relation to commerce, and we must therefore allow it the same degree of reasonable- ness in regard to foreign missions.
Conditions in Central Asia 177
That the Emir is not only tenacious of his authority, but willing to give himself considerable work in the con- servation of it, is evidenced by the saying common in Afghanistan that there is not a donkey-driver in the country who does not possess the signature of the Emir to some document giving him the law which he is to obey. Here then we have no Boi faineant^ but a vigorous energetic ruler, whose desire to be allowed to manage his own affairs is quite comprehensible.
The native ruler who allows great wealth, under the name of capital, to be invested in mines or other indus- trial undertakings, finds he is unable afterwards to release himself from the obligations thus created and so also he has observed repeatedly that the fostering of missionary institutions involving much expenditure of foreign money, etc., and resulting in the slow but gradual increase of the native Christian community, compels him to make con- cessions and alterations of native laws which he had fondly hoped to be unalterable as the laws of the Medes and Persians.
Nevertheless we must in justice to these rulers remem- ber that some so-called Christian governments have been equally impatient of missionary effort within their borders. Mr. L. E. Hogberg of the United Swedish mission in Chinese Turkestan stated at the Edinburgh Conference that he and his mission had for many years laboured among Moslems in Eussian Turkestan, but that the op- position of the Russian government was so strong that they finally had to abandon their mission and flee to Kashgar in Chinese Turkestan, where under a Chinese government they have found the religious toleration denied them under the European authorities, and have established missions in the Mohammedan cities of Kashgar and Yarkand.
Have we not then given too much rein to our fears that
178 Islam and Missions
have for one hundred years confined the British Protes- tant missionary within the boundaries of India ? We are assured by many missionaries that under present-day conditions there are some actual disadvantages in work- ing under a government of the same faith, and we have already discussed some considerations that account for this. At any rate the advantages are not all on the side of working under a Christian government, and the splendid progress made by the American missionaries under Mohammedan governments in Turkey, Asia Minor, and Egypt, furnishes the strongest encouragement to at- tempt definitely and at once the establishment of Chris- tian missions throughout Central Asia, not leaving out of the plan of campaign such an exclusively Moham- medan country as Afghanistan.
The present Emir of Afghanistan addressing a large audience of Mohammedan students at Lahore said that, provided they were properly taught the Mohammedan faith when they were young, he had no fear that through Western learning the Christian or any other religion would overturn their belief. This impresses us with the conviction that it is not every missionary who is suited to enter Afghanistan. There are many names in the history of missions, Schwartz in Southern India, Arnot in Cen- tral Africa, etc., etc., which furnish notable examples of the influence exercised by a solitary man, and that man the missionary, over non-Christian rulers of whom he was the trusted friend and counsellor behind the scenes. The missionary for the frontier must have a quiet confidence in God who has called him to proclaim the Gospel in the regions beyond. He must have a calm mind, a good judgment, and a steady head ; not a seeker for notoriety, anxious rather to do his work unobserved, and going about it in a way to win the confidence of the people. Sir Mortimer Duraud, late British Ambassador to the
Conditions in Central Asia 179
United States, speaking from twenty-five years' experi- ence of the East said that, as a government official, he had no objection to the type of missionary described by Judson, who went about his high calling in the spirit of one who was willing to take the lowest place, to be last of all and servant of all.
As to his policy he must not ask or expect the permis- sion or protection of the Foreign Office or its agents. This is impossible from the nature of the case, and the past action of the Foreign Office in always refusing to give per- mission for missionaries to cross the Indian frontier is easily comj)reheusible. To give their sanction means that they must take up the wrongs of the missionary or his death by violence, if it occurs, and avenge him. Their own agent, the English officer, is absolutely tied up and restricted to an extraordinary degree as to what he is to do and effect, including an absolute non-interference with the religion of the peoples across the frontier. A medical missionary who did not fear to assume responsi- bility, and with the rare power to initiate his own course, if he went quietly forward asking no questions, would probably be surprised at the length of time for which the government would ^Hurn the blind eye" towards him.
For all difficult situations either on or across the frontier, government sends specially selected officers. Whether it is to furnish the garrison at Kila Drosh or the political agency at Chitral, one condition that applies to all ranks from the private to the officer in command is that wives and families must be left behind. While for the last fifteen years there have been European officers, civil, political, and military, and garrisons of troops, located even two hundred miles beyond the Indian frontier, and there has been also a continuous flow of merchandize from India into the same regions, accompanied by traders who
i8o Islam and Missions
buy aud sell their wares, yet all this time the missionary has been successfully shut out.
The men for these trans-frontier posts must be fully qualified doctors, otherwise an occasion immediately arises for the authorities to object to their treating the sick because they do not hold a recoguized medical diploma.
Secondly, they must not be accompanied by wives or families for that again justifies the government in inter- ference on the ground that they cannot allow European women and children to be exposed to the dangers that lie across the frontier.
Third, they must have acquired some colloquial knowl- edge of the Pushtu language, and that means preparing themselves for at least a year at such a base as Peshawar or Quetta for the work that is before them.
Fourth, they must be able to commence their own work independent of the local authorities. For this reason they should mobilize their field hospital and dispensary at the base aud carry it forward on mules with them to the field of labour. They ought also to have with them one or two native trained hospital assistants, Pathans if pos- sible^ who are to be found in the Punjab.
We may suppose two such medical missionaries with their ^. native hospital assistants and their field hospital packed on mules starting off quietly in the month of May. What should their geographical objective be? If it is any part of Central Asia they could hardly find a more strategic point than Chitral. By what route should they go ? It is not at all necessary to go by the Malakand and Dir route. They can start from Abbot - tabad and march by way of Chilas and Gilgit and Astor down to Chitral. There is a good bridle-path all the way, and by this route no escort is required, as it does not pass through hostile tribes but through territories suzerain to Kashmir.
Conditions in Central Asia i8l
Medical missionaries pushing beyond the frontier do so now with the great advantage of the reputation already gained for missionary medical skill by the splendid work of such men on the northwest frontier as Dr. Pennell at Bannu, Dr. Arthur Lankester at Peshawar, the Drs. Neve at Srinagar, etc., whose fame has travelled far into the unknown regions beyond.
The question naturally arises if such a medical mission reached Chitral and began its quiet work of ministering to the sick and suffering of that benighted Moslem people would the political agent take upon himself to transport it back to India f It would be most difQcult to carry out such a deportation in the face of the public opinion that would be aroused in favour of such a ministry of mercy. It would be asked why, if British ofSicers and administra- tion have been so long resident in Chitral, must medical missions be forever excluded ?
While British missions are in this manner frightened off and shut out of the Moslem lands of Central Asia, mis- sionaries of other nations are entering these neglected fields. The Protestant Swedish mission at Kashgar and Yarkand have their staff of seventeen Swedish men and women in those two towns, and are being reinforced this winter by three more trained workers sent out from Stockholm. We see the Moravian mission at work at Leh, and there is a Belgian Roman Catholic mission at Kulja with Father Raemdock at the head of it who speaks both English and Chinese well. It may be also possible for the Danish medical mission to Mohammedan women at Hoti-murdan to get to Kabul. There have been several European lady doctors at Kabul in the service of the Emir. Mrs. Daly, a lady doctor, saved many lives there in the cholera epidemic of 1900. The Emir of Afghanistan has never objected to the wives of Europeans in his employ accompanying their husbands to Kabul and has invariably
l82 Islam and Missions
treated them with kindness and consideration. There are many eucouragements to support the belief that a medical mission to Mohammedan women directed by fully qualified lady doctors would find a welcome even in the city of Kabul. The Mohammedan does not take it seriously that women can be teachers of religion and it is foreign to their ideas about women fanatically to attack a woman because of her religion. The wonderful care of God for His mis- sionary servants has been apparent now for many years on the frontiers of India, for while many government officers have been killed there by Moslem fanatics there is, it is believed, not an instance of a missionary being killed there.
** And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed : and the kingdom shall not be left to other people but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever " (Dan. ii. 44).
XIII
ISLAM UNDER PAGAN EULE REV. CHARLES R. WATSON, D. D., PHILADELPHIA
THE use of the word ^' pagan" in the subject under discussion is not altogether a happy one, for it is intended that such governments as those of China and Japan should come within our survey, and the application of the adjective '' pagan '^ to these countries is resented by many. Rather what is meant to be discussed is, The attitude towards Islam and Chris- tianity of governments which are neither Moslem nor Christian. And even the revised phrasing of the subject involves us in difficulties, for the question may be fairly raised, Which are the Christian governments ? Some will go so far as to say that there are no really Christian governments, but only Western governments ; that these are only nominally Christian ; and that the spirit, the policies and the agencies of the best of these are marked by so much that is contrary to the genius of Christianity that the right is forfeited to designate them as Christian. Passing by these more superficial and technical diffi- culties, a very real difficulty occurs in trying to mark off distinctly the limits of this discussion. We are dealing here with governmental attitudes. In the West where the line of separation between religion and government, be- tween Church and state, is drawn so sharply, the distinc- tion may be maintained. But in the pagan world, especially the pagan world of Africa, governmental questions are usually religious questions and the relig- ious attitude generally carries with it a governmental attitude.
183
184 Islam and Missions
Of governments which are neither Moslem nor Chris- tian there are a large number. Their populations aggre- gate more than one-third of the human race. Not all of them, however, call for extended treatment, for many of them do not stand related, as governments to Islam, in any vital or artificial way.
Japan allows religious liberty. Islam is practically unknown in Japan. Consequently, no governmental attitude obtains, but if Islam were introduced, it would probably enjoy the same privileges for self- extension which are accorded to all religions.
China stands related to Islam through the 10,000,000 Moslems living within her boundaries. The Chinese government has, throughout its history, welcomed and protected foreign religions when these were disassociated from political plots. This has perhaps been less evi- dent in China's treatment of Christianity than in the case of its attitude towards other religions. As a result of this general policy, Islam has been tolerated in the Chinese Empire. The only conflict that has arisen between the Chinese and the Mohammedans was when the latter assumed political powers in opposition to government authority, as in the case of the great Mo- hammedan rebellion which took place a few years ago in the northwest of China.
There seems to be general testimony to the fact that the Moslems of China are not aggressive propagandists of Islam. This fact coupled with their lack of any strong political leadership and the fact that they con- stitute scarcely more than one-fortieth of the popula- tion of the empire, makes the governmental attitude to Islam one of no great present importance.
Korea has become entirely subject to Japanese con- trol and what has been said of Japan is now applicable to Korea.
Islam Under Pagan Rule 185
India has within its limits a number of independent or semi-independent kingdoms. Some of these are Hindu and as such come within the scope of this survey. Cochin and Travancore, Baroda, Mysore, Jamnu and Kashmir, most of Eajputana, Gwalior, Eewa, Kolhapur and Patiala, are such states. The presence of British residents at the courts of the Hindu rulers introduces strong elements of Western influence and works in the direction of general religious toleration, but the deep hatred between Hindus and Mohammedans in India generally excludes Islam from these Hindu courts, so that the condition of Moslems there is not a practical topic.
Africa brings into view the nations or peoples whose attitude towards both Islam and Christianity is a living issue of larger importance than the countries above mentioned. It is to be observed that with the partition of Africa among the European powers, there remains scarcely any of Africa's population which can be said to constitute an independent and sovereign pagan state or kingdom. In practically every section, some European government is nominally in supreme authority. This authority, however, may be exercised within only a very limited portion of the sphere of influence claimed by that Western power, or it may be exercised so slightly as to leave the social, communal and tribal life of the people entirely unaffected by Western domination. In such cases, there is, therefore, an imperium in imperio and the village or tribal life is practically sovereign and remains pagan, even though some European power claims the entire territory. It becomes our task to note the attitude of this subordinated tribal pagan gov- ernment towards both Islam and Christianity.
From the evidence gathered, certain general conclu- sions may be arrived at and certain general statements may be made :
l86 Islam and Missions
1. The attitude of a pagan government towards either Islam or Christianity depends quite largely upon the head of that pagan government. Pagan government is so largely patriarchal in character that almost every- thing depends upon the individual who happens to be chief of the tribe or clan. A report from the Congo describes the attitude of the pagan government as neu- tral because the tribal heads are simply indifferent to Christianity. Among the Zulus, however, the Eoyal House assumed an attitude of hostility towards Christi- anity. ^'The Eoyal House and the chiefs," says Eev. F. Ljungquist, *'have always been antagonistic to the extension of the Gospel. The Christian Zulus have always been treated by them as outcast strangers. The Zulu kings would not allow a native Christian in the army. When they wanted a square house built or a field ploughed by oxen, they had to make use of the Christian Zulu, but they paid them^ which implied : * You are neither kith nor kin to us and therefore we pay you just as any other foreigner.' Bishop Schreuder saw the danger of this outcast position, and tried to induce King Mpande to accept the Christians into the Zulu army, but the king refused, saying, 'How can you expect those trouser-legs to run as fast as my trouserless soldiers ? ' "
The early history of missions in Uganda will also illustrate perfectly the statement made that the attitude of a pagan government, whether towards Islam or towards Christianity, is very largely determined by the personal character and attitude of the individual chief- tain or king in his relation to either of these religions.
These facts suggest the wisdom and necessity of wisely endeavouring to bring the gospel message to the favour- able notice of the heads of such pagan governments.
2. In many cases there exists among pagan tribes a
^ a
s y.
Islam Under Pagan Rule 187
racial hostility towards Islam. The first acquaintance which many pagan tribes have had with Islam has been through the threatening advances of the Moslem slave raider. In such instances the pagan government has naturally assumed an attitude of intense hostility towards Islam, as towards a common political enemy seeking the enslavement, if not the extermination, of the whole tribe. This attitude of hostility has been a providence of inestimable value in safeguarding the life of pagan tribes from the insidious advances of Islam. This attitude was once that of many pagan tribal governments of Northern Nigeria and of the Eastern Sudan.
3. In many cases, there appears to be among pagan tribes a racial sympathy if not with Christianity as a system, at least with the white man as the representa- tive of Christianity. Dr. Karl Kumm, who has just completed a most remarkable journey across Africa, from Nigeria to the White Nile, and who traversed the very area of Africa most involved in this discus- sion, writes, ** The white man's prestige amongst some of the unreached tribes of the Sudan, such as the Mus- gun, the Sara, the Banda, the Kreish, the Nyam-Nyam, the Bongo, and others, is very great. The pagan chiefs so far from desiring to hinder the missionary are proud to have a white teacher living in their country.'' Eev. E. H. Eichards sends a similar report for Inhambane, Portuguese East Africa. It will be remembered also how eager was Eobosi, king of the Barotsi, to have Coillard settle among his people.
On the other hand, pagan governments have frequently opposed Christianity and favoured Islam because the teachings of the former religion condemned the practices of these pagan governments ; whereas Islam called for little, if any, governmental change. Uganda, again,
l88 Islam and Missions
furnislied the most instructive illustratioDS of this fact. The Eev. Donald Fraser, also, writing for Nyasaland, reports, "Few of the chiefs have professed Christianity. The temptations to sensual indulgence are great for them. A plurality of wives increases their prestige. Drunken- ness is a royal condition." Here, for the most part, the advantage is on the side of Islam which contravenes few, if any, of the practices or methods of a pagan govern- ment : tyranny, polygamy, slavery, cruel punishments and warfare.
The uniform testimony of missionaries is that, given a choice between a Moslem government and a pagan gov- ernment, they would greatly prefer to labour under a pagan government. Of course, it is not always clear that when this preference is expressed, a clear distinction has been observed between Islam as a religion and Islam as a political force. We are here concerned only with the governmental side of both Islam and paganism. What Islam has meant as a government those know, to their sorrow, who have laboured under Islamic governments. What its dreadful possibilities are those know who are acquainted with conditions in Afghanistan. What paganism has meant as a government those know also who have read the story of Uganda's bloodshed and martyr- doms. But when the two systems are fully weighed, the one over against the other, the missionary eagerly asks that his lot may be cast under pagan government rather than under the Moslem. Irresponsible, unreliable, vacil- lating, bloodthirsty, as a pagan government may be, it possesses as a government no such capacity for sustained, unrelenting opposition, for unwearied petty persecution as well as for tragic outbreaks, such as history has shown in Islam. African missionaries generally will agree with what one of their number writes, " I prefer decidedly to deal with the free pagan, in government and in person."
Islam Under Pagan Rule 189
The displacement of ijagan governments by Western governments has been, generally, to the advantage of the missionary enterprise as a whole. Yet, when we consider only the way in which that change affects the status of Islam, it is with regret that the statement must be made that the change from a pagan government to a Western government has generally been to the advantage of Islam.
It was pointed out that both in Nigeria and Eastern Sudan a racial hostility has existed between pagans and Moslems, because the latter appeared as slave raiders and public enemies ; and it was seen that this very racial hos- tility served as a providential check to the progress of Islam. It is a most sobering and saddening thought that while the occupation of these sections of Africa by the British has protected the pagan tribes from the slave raiding of their Moslem enemies, the pacification of these tribes has also removed that tribal warfare which so long held Islam in check, and the opening of the highways of trade has also opened the way for the rapid entrance of Islam into the very territory from which it was for- merly excluded.
The second advantage gained by Islam through the ex- tension of Western governmental authority over pagan territory comes from the establishment of military posts throughout this territory. These military posts are manned, if not commanded, by Moslem soldiers and offi- cials. The fact that the agent of Islam in this case is a soldier brings him into immediate relationship with the tribal chieftains and gives him an influence which the unofficial missionary does not have and cannot have un- less he earnestly seeks after it.
A missionary from German East Africa writes, ^'Though Islam has not yet taken root, it is seeking to gain admittance on all sides. Wherever a government station or a military post is established, a community of
igo Islam and Missions
Swahili traders, Sudanese Askaris and tlieir dependents (all Moslems) settles down. When I went to TJsambara in 1891, there was scarcely a Mohammedan in the coun- try ; sixteen years later there were little communities of them all over the country, and the chiefs were more in- clined to conform to Islam than to join the Christian Churches,^ ^
The third advantage gained by Islam through the ex- tension of Western governmental authority over pagan tribes is due to that strange and inconsistent, yet sadly real, policy of many Western governments whereby Islam is given precedence and is shown favours, so that the government itself seems to be helping to extend Islam. Eecurring testimony is at hand where the movements or labours of the Christian missionary are restricted. The consideration of these unfortunate situations found a large place in the Keport of the Commission on "Mis- sions and Governments,'' of the Edinburgh Conference. Eeference is made to them here, solely for the purpose of pointing out that the displacement of a pagan govern- ment by a Western government, while generally advan- tageous to Christian missionary operations, is disadvan- tageous in so far as these missionary operations stand related to the Moslem problem.
This investigation and consideration of the attitude of pagan governments towards Islam and Christianity sug- gests certain broad lines of missionary policy.
1. It is a manifest duty, and one which permits no de- lay, to preoccupy the pagan fields threatened by Islam. The urgency here lies not in the mere fact that Islam as a religion is harder to deal with than paganism, but rather in the consideration that the missionary enterprise be- comes seriously embarrassed and hampered where a pagan government is allowed to fall under the influence of Islam. Preoccupation by Christian missionaries may
Islam Under Pagan Rule 191
not avail to win at once a given pagan tribe to Christian- ity, but it will almost invariably be sufficient to keep the pagan government from surrendering to Moslem influ- ence.
To show the opportunity for, and the real value of, preoccupation by Christian forces of areas threatened by Islam, the following quotation is given : ' ' We are be- ginning," writes the Eev. John Wright, 'Ho see the in- fluence of the Hausa people in the Kameruns, but so far they have not tried to propagate their faith. We are fortifying our people against inroads from either pagan- ism or Islam. West Africa, we believe, will be a battle- field for religious beliefs in the future. Especially when the caravans are superseded by the railroads all classes will be brought into contact. We have no fear that our tribes will be overrun by Islam at present and in the meantime we are getting them ready and their response would gladden the heart of an infidel. German thorough- ness of education is demanded of us all in teaching in all lines — industrial, normal and theological — and this is their guard against Islam."
2. In addition to exerting a general moral influence over pagan tribes through the presence of the Christian missionary, a positive effort may be made to win over to Christianity pagan officials, chiefs or headmen. It is true that one missionary objects, saying, ''To me it savours of trusting to the arm of flesh." But yet, the missionaries, without ceasing to be "harmless as doves," may legitimately be "wise as serpents" in this matter. As Eev. W. H. Sanders of Angola writes, "A converted chief— really converted— exerts a surprisingly great in^ fluence. And on the other hand, one who is opposed can almost entirely nullify Christian work. This fact suggests the wisdom of getting hold of the young men of such families and training them up for Christian work."
192 Islam and Missions
Keporting for Southern Nigeria, the Eev. A. W. Wilkie saj^s, ' ' Every individual is attached to a household and is under the head of that household. There are about ninety heads of houses. Each house is a branch of a family which has, similarly, a head. There are five main families which togetlier recognize one man as chief of the whole town. I have made an effort to keep in close touch with the heads of the different houses and to influence them for Christ. If the head of a house is won, there is every hope that the whole of his house will be influenced. One such came within the church five years ago. Now, in his farm, which is a good sized village, he has built a school for the children, he supports a teacher, and service is held regularly morning and evening for prayers and on Sabbath for ordinary worship. It was the gain of not one man but a whole community. They are not all Christians, of course, but they are all under the finest influence.^'
3. Further effort must be made along the line of urging Western governments to cooperate in every legiti- mate way, preventing the spread of Islam among pagan tribes. This would mean, of course, the removal of many limitations now placed upon Christian missionaries by such governments. It would also mean the correction of many policies unintentionally favourable to Islam. Dr. Karl Kumm, for example, after his trans- African trip, wrote, '*The British Egyptian government is uninten- tionally assisting the advance of Mohammedanism. The soldiers of the Sudanese battalions are nearly all drawn from pagan tribes. As soon as they enter the army they are circumcised, and placed under Moslem religious instruction. They are compelled to rest on Friday, and work on Sunday. The children of the regi- ment are taught by a Mohammedan Mallam. The great holidays and feast days in the year are Mohammedaii
islam Under Pagan Rule 193
holidays. If, therefore, the soldiers, after their period of service, returu to their tribes, they carry with them and spread the faith of Mohammed."
It ought to be recognized that in many instances, in- dividual British government officials heartily sympathize with the desire to check the inroads of Islam, and coop- erate in so far as the governmental policies laid upon them enable them to do so. The Eev. E. McCreery, writing from the Sobat region of the Egyptian Sudan, says : '* Up to the present time, the Governor of the Upper Nile province has made a determined effort to keep out the Arab traders from these tribes.'^ Dr. Karl Kumm also reports : ' ' Sir Eeginald Wingate, the Sirdar of the Eastern Sudan, told me he is strongly in favour of missionaries going to the pagan tribes in the Sudan, which in the absence of such are going over to Islam. He desires to encourage the conversion to Christianity of the heathen tribes. He expressed to me also his belief that at the present rate of progress of Islam, the Bahr el Ghazal province, a vast territory, will shortly become Moslem."
4. In conclusion, whatever be the policy followed, whatever the methods employed, emphasis must be laid upon the time-element as a condition of success. It was this consideration that led Commission I of the Edin- burgh Conference to give to the African missionary situa- tion the second place (China alone being ahead) in a list of critical missionary situations claiming the immediate attention of the Church as a whole.^
We can do no better than to quote the following stir- ring sentences from that Commission's Eeport on Africa :
^^In no respect is the situation in Africa more critical than in respect of the rapid and persistent advance of Islam. From its broad base in the north and fiem its
^ Report of Commission I, page 364.
194 Islam and Missions
strong entrenchments on the east coast, it is steadily pressing southward and westward. It offers to the primitive tribes, along with the attractions of a nobler belief, the inducements of a certain social elevation, of connection with a great religious community, and of a better standing with foreign administrations, while its terms both of conversion and of membership present no difficulty to the understanding or morality of a heathen. . . . The question is, shall we tarry and trifle in our mission, while Africa is being made the prey of Islam ? The added difficulty of our task to-day is the penalty of our past neglect ; and if we are to avert our task being made harder still by the onward march of Islam, there is not a day to lose."
XIY
ISLAM UNDER CHRISTIAN RULE REV. W. H. T. GAIRDNER, B. A., CAIRO
THERE are five European nations who between them rule the enormously greater majority of all the Moslems in the world ; Great Britain, France, Germany, Holland and Russia. And to these must now be added the United States, which has become a ruler of Moslems — comparatively few it is true — in the Philippine Islands. But the former five are all great Moslem rulers ; and the greatest Moslem ruler in the world is Great Britain.
Under France :
The attitude of France towards work among Moslems of course is one aspect of the general attitude of France to all missions, and especially to non-Roman and non-French missions. The attitude towards the latter is unfortunately still intensely suspicious and unfriendly. The accounts from Madagascar do not seem to be improving ; for though France may be a little less suspicious than for- merly, she makes up for it by the deliberate way she is prosecuting her secularizing policy, for which she is ap- parently zealous with a zeal worthy of a better cause. Nevertheless the French missionaries at the Edinburgh Conference of 1910 besought the foreign societies not to withdraw or lose heart. We must therefore never forget to take into our purview the enormous French Moslem Empire in North and North Central and West Central Africa, and eastward to the borders of Darfur, for last
195
196 Islam and Missions
year the French occupied Wadai effectively. France grudgingly tolerates non-Eoman missions in Algiers and Tuuis. I do not know what her attitude would be to the idea of missions to Moslems in the Sahara or the Niger district or Lake Chad or Wadai. One imagines that such missions would be at present barred, and if this is so it calls for earnest prayer ; for on the attitude of France de- pends the evangelization of these vast regions.
Under Russia :
On the 17th of April, 1905, the new law of Eeligious Toleration was promulgated in Eussia. One of the first results of this was the return of some 50,000 so-called con- verts to Christianity to their former Moslem allegiance. And they took with them some converts who were not formerly Moslems.
The astounding thing is that Eussia appears to allow Islam to proselytize, even from the Greek Church, while proselytizing efforts or results on the part of non-Greek re- ligious communities are still very severely discountenanced by the government. All my Eussian informants are clear on this point. Thus Eussian neutrality appears to be a very ambiguous affair, for the attitude which we have here described acts as an unlimited encouragement to the Moslems, while it places many forces of earnest Christian effort still under severe and vexatious restraints. Under these conditions the race is unequal.
The Eussian lady who has studied the subject most, and has contributed a paper to this conference, adds : *^ Our government holds the same strange attitude to Islam as England seems to me to do in Egypt or Africa. It seems to me that our government is afraid of arousing the Mohammedan part of the nation by any such unjust and harsh measures which it is not afraid to apply towards Eussian sectarians. The effect of this policy is an en-
Islam Under Christian Rule 197
couragemeut to Islam ; it allows it to be aggressive and spread. Aud it certainly does spread."
In Tiflis, medical aud educational work were forbidden to Dr. Larsen. Is this only because he is non-Eussian ?
In Siberia it is the same thing : — complete freedom to the Moslems to exist, and really to proselytize even from the Greek Church. Apparently only the Greek Church has liberty to work among Moslems, and it actually has two tiny missions in the provinces of Tomsk and Tobolsk. But even here * ' the Moslems have the right to prevent their entry.'' Their missionaries only come " as private visitors.'' My informant for these facts is another Eus- sian lady who has specially studied Islam in Siberia. Here then, as in all the Eussian EmiDire, the balances are held very unevenly. And the motive is believed by our informant to be the secret fear of the Eussian government. Now will not everything done through fear sooner or later fail and defeat its own object?
Under Holland :
The question just put is a pertinent one, as we shall see when we come to consider the case of the British govern- ment ; and the evidence from the Dutch Empire in the East Indies is a proof of the uselessness of the policy of secret fear.
I cannot do better than quote in full the communication made to me by Mr. K Adrian! of the Central Celebes mission. Delegates will carefully observe what he says about the policy of fear, the consequences of pursuing it, and the consequences of abandoning it.
^* What is the policy of the Dutch government and its attitude to Islam in the Archipelago?
*' This policy is one of strict neutrality towards Islam, being the only practical policy, because it can be main- tained. The mission is entirely at one with the govern-
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meat on this principle. In general, the officials of the government individually are kindly disposed towards the mission, having an open eye for its political importance, but they keep a strict neutrality in matters religious. Formerly the government showed a kind of fear for Islam, and always retreated, whenever an affair, according to Mohammedan contention, was 8ui)posed to touch the Mohammedan religion. Thus the Christian mission often was excluded or difficulties were put in its way for fear of the Mohammedans taking offense. This attitude govern- ment has abandoned entirely ; the Christian mission is no longer excluded for fear of Islam.
*^ The effect of this former policy and attitude on Islam was that the government's neutrality was explained by the Mohammedan natives of the Archipelago as born from fear of Islam. When the officials do not take sides for Christianity, the Mohammedan natives exi)lain this to be proof of the superiority of Islam, which is allowed to pro- claim its ideas loudly, whilst Christianity remains dumb. But the Dutch government is aware of this now, and is try- ing to neutralize the pernicious effects of its former policy.
' ' What is the government' s attitude now towards mission work? This attitude is one of unlimited good-will, as far as this is conceivable with the policy of neutrality. This attitude is born of the fact that the mission in the Archi- pelago has hitherto scrupulously abstained from touchiug political matters of any kind, and is strictly adhering to the carrying out of its self-imposed mission — the evangeli- zation of the non-Christian peoples."
I think that no comment on this remarkable testimony is needed. 0 si sic omnes !
Under Germany:
It is pleasant to have to relate on the strength of infor- mation received from German territories that Germany too
Islam Under Christian Rule 199
appears to be willing to learn the lesson which Holland has learned. Pastor Wiirz writes to me however that a certain timidity still exists on the part of the local govern- ment in Togoland and the Kameruns. He says, ''Our mission work is on the Gold Coast (British) and in the Kameruns (German), and we have considered at different times entering the north of Togo (German). We have little to say on your question concerning the Gold Coast and Kameruns, as we have not reached yet what might be termed Moslem territory. Generally, both governments are friendly. It is encouraging that, a few months ago, we were invited to come to some part in the north of the Gold Coast, where Islam is strong. On the other hand, the German governor of Togo would not let us go to the north of Togo, for fear of Moslem troubles, from which he had no sufficient means to protect us until the railway was finished. I fear the Kameruns government would have similar apprehensions if to-morrow we tried to enter the Moslem district in the north of this colony. Did the cautious preaching of the Gospel ever cause Moslem troubles'? I have asked Dr. Zwemer, but he did not know of any case. Would that Christian governments only had more Christian courage ! "
On the east coast of Africa the attitude of the German government seems admirable. The Bishop of Mombasa, part of whose diocese is in German East Africa, writes : *^In German East Africa, judging from what I know, while impartial in matters of justice, the government distinctly wishes to keep Islam as such from spreading, and desires to have educated Christian people every- where. For example, among other instances, the Church Missionary Society was strongly urged to occupy a strategic centre some eight days away from its nearest station in Ugogo in order to keep Islam back. The Church Missionary Society was unable, and the Ger-
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mans then invited the Eoman Catholics to occupy, who did so.
<'In German East Africa for some years we have had clear sigua of the very favourable attitude of government towards mission work. Under Count von Gotzen's rule the missionaries and their work were set at high value and much encouragement was given all round."
The Bishop adds that the German government, while showing no partiality, makes it clear that it does not re- gard the Christian religion as one of many, but as the one religion which it can recognize as paramount and unique, and that it values Christian education for its local offi- cials. ''And this," says the Bishop, "is what should be."
Under Great Britain :
Great Britain as such has no attitude towards Islam. Clearly the British colonial and foreign offices profess no one principle that guides them in all their dealings with the Moslem peoples in the many parts of the world where the Union Jack flies among Mohammedan peoples. Everything depends on the attitude of the local govern- ment and that varies strangely, as we shall now see.
(a) India. I have no special report from this coun- try, but have no reason to believe that there is anything in the attitude of the Indian government that calls for serious protest. The present political situation makes Indian Moslems very markedly loyal to Great Britain, and this fact no doubt makes the Indian government very willing to avoid offending Moslems. But as far as I am aware the same liberties are given to missionaries to work among Moslems as among Hindus. The trouble seems to be rather that our missions have not fully availed themselves and still do not avail themselves of the lib- erties that actually exist.
Islam Under Christian Rule 2oi
(h) Arabia, Dr. YouDg writes: *'Iu its desire to be neutral aud to save auuoyance, the government (of Aden) appears at times to be even friendly to Islam. It seems to confirm the followers of Islam in their belief that all other religions are subservient to it.
'^ Government attitude largely depends on the Political Eesident who may or may not be in sympathy with the work. I should like to see the government neutral in all matters of education. At present it pays a teacher in all its schools who does nothing but teach children how to recite aud intone the Koran. They have a bad effect on the Koran reading children, who are apt to persecute their non-Moslem schoolfellows. If the government were firm in its attitude, any opposition at first engendered would quickly disappear.'^
(c) Egypt. We must remember here that Great Britain is not the dejure ruler of Egypt and this naturally and rightly makes a difference in her de facto attitude. She only advises a Moslem government — a ministry un- der an independent Moslem prince named the Khedive. Consequently she regards Moslem acts of the Moslem gov- ernment as not her own acts.
I therefore pass over the vexed question of Sunday labour ; it is admittedly a terribly difficult one, and is not made easier by the obvious indifference of many British officials about their duties towards God and the worship of His House. But the point in which Britain can fairly be severely criticized is in the matter of religious educa- tion. Here Britain is responsible, for she has the power to alter the present system.
Until a few years ago that system reached the very ne plus ultra of injustice. In the primary schools the Coptic boys who numbered on the average a quarter of the whole, and in some schools in Middle Egypt nearly a half, were allowed no religious instruction j while the
202 Islam and Missions
Moslem boys were given religious instruction, paid for by the state from the revenue, to which the Copts of course contributed, and contributed a larger percentage probably than their percentage to population. Finally, the Coptic boys had to sit in the room and hear (though not take part in) the Moslem religious lesson ! No comment is necessary. No wonder the educated part of the Coptic nation was lapsing into infidelity, indifference, or semi- Islamism !
However, just before Lord Cromer left Egypt a change for the better was made. The religious hour was put at the end of the day, and the right of entry was given to Coptic religious instructors to teach Coptic boys at the expense of the Coptic community. But the lesson was not compulsory ; only those who applied for it got it, and unless a certain proportion of the parents applied for it, it could not be given at all.
But a serious injustice still remains. Why should the Copts, who contribute their full share of the taxes out of which the Moslem teachers in these schools are paid, have further to pay Christian teachers of religion? Why should not the state pay both, or neither ?
Again, why should this instruction be compulsory for Moslems, optional for Christians ?
Again, why should the state run training-schools for Sheikhs, and elementary schools for children, from both of which Christians are excluded though the Copts pay their share of the taxes which support those schools, and while the Christians have no such state-aided elementary or training-schools 1
These three iniquitous conditions should be instantly remedied. They are indefensible. The only reason why nothing is done is, once again, fear. For a long time the British agent feared to take even the first obvious step to remedy the worst iniquity. And yet when he
Islam Under Christian Rule 203
made the plunge tlie fears were seen to be groundless. But the lesson of this is one which it seems British of- ficials find it impossible to learn thoroughly.
(d) The Sudan. Here the British government has practically the sole and supreme control. In the Moslem part of the Sudan it has thought right to forbid the hold- ing of any sort of gospel meeting, fearing the effect it might have on the Sudanese. Britain has been adminis- tering the Sudan for twelve years, and the embargo has not yet been withdrawn. The Gordon College which was founded by the free-will offerings of British people in memory of Gordon is now a purely Moslem college. The Moslem religion is taught in it at the expense of the state. I do not know whether there are any Christians who might wish to take advantage of the instruction in secular subjects provided at Gordon College ; I have heard it asserted that such students even if they entered could not receive any Christian instruction. If this is so, it is another iniquity, made all the greater by the name of the great Christian man after whom the college is called.
In the Pagan Sudan the government gives some facili- ties for missions, though the missionaries have com- plained of the slowness and timidity of their policy. But its effect is probably neutralized by the pro-Islamic influence of the army upon the pagan recruits who join it. At the Edinburgh Conference Mr. Kelly Giffen, the American missionary, is reported as having re- lated a conversation with an English official, who said to him, ^'Why do you do mission work among Mos- lems? You might as well give it up— 'we make' ten Moslems to your one Christian!" If he really said these words they must refer to the observed— I will not say calculated— result of the whole policy of the gov- ernment. Here we have the very opposite of the Dutch policy in the East Indies.
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(e) East Africa. Bishop Peel reports that the gov- ernment in British East Africa is neutral, and that its attitude largely depends on the personality of the offi- cials, but that for the last ten years all mission work has been well supported by government.
(/) British Central Africa. Islam is making way here, but I am not aware of the attitude of government in the face of this fact.
{g) South Africa. For the sake of completeness South Africa with its 50,000 Moslems must be mentioned. But they do not make a noticeable enough element in South Africa, I am informed,^ to call for comment here. Where Moslems are not formidable they get no notice taken of them by the British government.
(h) Sierra Leone. Mr. Garrett writes : ^' The policy of the British government towards Mohammedans in Sierra Leone is called neutrality. This is, however, certainly a mistake, as Mohammedan schools are aided admittedly on different lines from others. ... I would like to see neutrality thrown away and tolerant Christianity encouraged. This can be brought about by the arrival of out-and-out Christian statesmen." Mr. Garrett also thinks the present policy of neutrality with special consideration for Mohammedans will end in *' failure and contumely." He calls the impartiality of the government a spurious one.
(i) Nigeria. It is probably here where the British government is seen at its weakest and its policy most mistaken. Dr. Miller, of Hausalaud, has repeatedly criticized the attitude of British officials, and very strong things were said on this subject at the Edin- burgh Conference. Christians and pagans, it was said, are consistently made to feel by British officials that
' By Mr. Clinton J, Wood, who has recently made a special and full study of the subject.
Islam Under Christian Rule 205
they are not wanted ; that the country is not for them ; that work would always go to Moslems. Moslem cere- monies have respect elaborately paid to them, Moslem prejudices are yielded to, Moslem customs strengthened and upheld. More serious still. Christian missions are unsympathetically regarded, and their advance thwarted. Actually the leave of the Moslem chief has to be ob- tained before the mission can be carried into his ter- ritory. And, perhaps, more serious still, the govern- ment refuses to give a really enlightened system of education to the people, but bolsters up the old useless Koranic system, flatters the Sheikhs, and refuses to allow the missionaries perfect freedom to open schools with an enlightened system of education.
On the other hand the Moslems can go anywhere and make as many proselytes as they please. What wonder that the Mohammedans think that the government is simply running the country for them ; that they are the only people ; that British officials are afraid of them, and have implicitly declared the superiority of Islam. Such policy can bring nothing but difficulty and dis- aster in the future. It is cowardly and unchristian ; it is not even neutral. It ought to be wholly changed. The British official may one day see that all this sub- servience to the Moslem and neglect of his own faith gains him neither the respect, gratitude, nor affection of the people, but the very reverse of all three.
XV MOSLEM ADVANCE IN INDIA
REV. JOHN TAKLE, BENGAL
THE pagan races of India have suffered much from invaders, but most from the raids made at different times by the hordes of Moslem freebooters that swept down from Central Asia into their midst bent on conquest. These races are supposed to have '*let the legions thunder past, then plunged in thought again," but they never regained the position they had before the invasion. With the coming of the Arabs in the eighth century a new epoch in India's history was begun. They were followed by the Huns, Turks, Afghans and Moguls, and with their advent Islam made mighty inroads upon the districts where they came.
Was the progress made by fair or foul means ; was it the result of belief born of conviction, or of a propa- ganda emphasized by force and persecution ? Most will agree that progress first came through conquest and amalgamation ; it was a growth largely due to the Moslems marrying the women of the land. The inva- ders had large battalions of men, but very few women of their own nationality and faith, hence the necessity of finding wives from amongst the Indian people. The men settled down and established towns and villages ; thousands of half-breeds were born and this mixed race intermarried with the newcomers and the natives. In this way the crescent with its sickly light began to move across the Indian sky to its first quarter.
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With strength of numbers and with a stake in the land the colonists set themselves to further the cause of Islam ; and their efforts in this direction were strengthened by the fanatical crusaders who period- ically appeared from over the border. Their bigot zeal increased. It bred iconoclasm and persecution, and these became the motive-power in bringing over mul- titudes to the standard of Mohammed.
The facts of history covering the period from the tenth to the seventeenth centuries bear out this state- ment. Mahmud of Ghazni (1001-1036 A. d.) is said to have copied Koraus '^for the health of his soul," bat he also made at least sixteen camjDaigus in India, cap- turing cities and palaces and throwing down temples and idols, doubtless for the same reason. A story is told of two owls that wished long life to so diligent a creator of ruins. In 1200 A. d., when the Mohammed- ans became victorious in Bengal, their Viceroy first showed his authority by *'the demolishing of temples and the building of mosques.'^ ^ In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries there were forced conversions in Bengal, and Jallal ud din stands out a most uncompromis- ing bigot and persecutor. The only conditions he of- fered were the Koran or death, and it is said that rather than submit to such terms many of the Hindus of Bengal fled to Kamrup in Assam and to the jungles of Cachar.
In the fifteenth century a regular officer was appointed in Gujerat to destroy the temples. All Hindus were branded on the arm and compelled to wear coloured gar- ments. Failure to comply meant death.' The sixteenth
' The Viceroy, Bakhtyar Kiliji (1203 A. D.), mentioned in the Per- sian history, " Riyaz us Salatin."
'From Mirat i Sikandari, quoted in "The History of Gujerat," by Bayley, pp. 439-40.
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century saw parts of Orissa swept by a similar invasion, when the Moslems ''stabled their horses in the Hindu palaces, and tore down the great temples stone by stone to build residences for their chiefs.'' ^
Aurungzeb's methods are well known. Every temple he set eyes on had to be turned into a mosque, and every religious mendicant of every sect of Hinduism he ordered to be driven out of Hindustan.
The Afghan invaders (1739-1761 A. D.) were just as ready in the use of force. Wherever they marched their route was marked with the charred remains of villages — a route made also red with blood. ^
It will be seen then that most of the Moslem rulers were more than conquerors. They were "religious knight-errants " of Islam. Their aim was not the mere capture of territory, but temples ; their rallying cry was not country but creed. Timur (1398 A. d.) made no secret of this fact. He said, ''My object in the invasion of Hindustan is to lead a campaign against the infidels to convert them to the true faith, according to the command of Mohammed to purify the land from the defilement of misbelief and polytheism, and overthrow the temples and idols, whereby we shall become champions and soldiers of the faith before God." '
With such a line of persecution running through the centuries, it is easily imagined how multitudes of Hindus would turn rather than suffer the penalty of death or
^Hunter, *' Orissa."
' TeiSenthaler, a Tyrolese Jesuit priest who saw something of their methods, says, " They burned the houses together with their inmates, slaughtering others with the sword and the lance ; haling off into captivity maidens, youth, men and women. In the temples they slaughtered cows and smeared the images and pavement with the blood " (Hunter's " History of India," p. 177).
^Lane Poole, " Medieval India," p. 165.
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disgrace. But persecution appeared in many shapes. Perhaj)s the persecution felt most keenly by the people, because more lasting and more closely connected with their daily life, was that produced by political coercion. Hindu rulers and zemindars could retain their authority only on condition that they embraced Islam. Hindu princes were forcibly circumcised, and officials in the service of the Mogul government had to become Moslems with their wives, or suffer dismissal.
Then there was instituted a capitation tax on non- Moslems called Jizya. Virtually, it was the revival of the old system of giving the alternative of accepting the Koran, paying tribute, or extermination. It was the lawful price of toleration. Firuz Shah Tughlak (1351- 1388 a. d.), who is said to have been one of the most lenient of Moslem rulers, says in his autobiography, ''I encouraged my infidel subjects to embrace the religion of the prophet and I proclaimed that every one who repeated the creed and became a Mussulman should be exempt from the Jizya or poll-tax. Information of this came to the ears of the people at large and great numbers of Hindus presented themselves, and were admitted to the honour of Islam. Thus they came forward day by day from every quarter, and adopting the faith were exoner- ated from the Jizya, and were favoured with presents and honours." But it was not the tax that did so much injury as the way in which it was imposed and collected. The revenue officers were looked upon in the same way as plague and famine and fever. If the officers wished ^ ' to spit in their mouths" the people had to submit. Such humiliation (which, of course, made men outcasts) was **to i>romote the glory of Islam, the true religion and the contempt for false religion." ^
* " Tarikh i Firuz Shah," p. 290. This is also graphically told in Begali rhyme by a Hindu, Bijoy Gupta, in "Padma Purana."
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AuruDgzeb imposed the poll-tax according to scale. Manucca, who was at the Mogul court, says, *' Great mer- chants paid thirteen and a half rupees, the middle class six and a quarter rupees and the poor three and a half every year." This was done ^'to force the Hindus to become Mohammedans." ^ Many appealed to Aurungzeb to do away with the tax. His own sister, Begum Sahib, went on her knees before him and begged him to consider his subjects, but he replied that he had the best of examples in the Prophet Mohammed, who had to adopt similar taxation for the purpose of bringing idolaters to their senses.^
Pressure of taxation was put upon non-Moslems in many other ways, particularly in the doubling of customs duties.^ It is not surprising then that Manucca should say that **Many Hindus become Mohammedans, spurred by ambition or interest, and such are constantly to be met with."*
Another method adopted by the Moslem was that of forcing men to break their caste, thus placing them hope- lessly outside the pale of Hindu society. Jallal ud din forced many a Hindu to eat beef. In the Chittagong district of East Bengal, there is a community of Moham-
^ Nicolas Manucca in " Storia Do Mogor," Vol. Ill, p. 290.
nbid., Vol. Ill, p. 288.
^ Manucca tells us that two and a half per cent, was levied upon the goods of Moslems but non-Moslems were charged five per cent. In the history of the Moslem occupation of Greece about the same period, the same taxation was adopted and exactly the same per centage charged upon Moslems and non-Moslems there. There was also the same kind of capitation-tax, and Finlay in his " History of Greece " saya that in the reign of Suleiman the Legislator, " This tax yielded a revenue of seventeen million of piastres, while the whole revenue of the empire only amounted to twenty- seven million or about £6,000,- 000 sterling."
* Manucca, Vol. 11, p. 452 and additional notes.
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medans who are descendants of a high caste Hindu who lost caste through being forced to smell a savoury meal of steak and onions.
Has direct preaching had much to do with conversion to Islam ? There can be no doubt but that the preaching and practice of a brotherhood in Islam have had some in- fluence in turning thousands of the depressed masses of Hinduism to Islam. They were taught that men in Islam were equals, every man being entitled to an individuality and dignity quite unknown in the teaching of Hinduism. They were assured that entry into Mohammedanism meant social salvation for the *' untouchable." There were un- dreamed-of possibilities. Had not a slave, who had been a water-carrier, risen to be the adviser of a Sultan and on the death of the latter been promoted to the throne ! It was not the doctrine of divine unity they wanted so much as human unity. True, they would be emancipated from the eternal nightmare of their living and dying with no apparent end to the migrations, but this did not con- cern them so much as the emancipation from the disabili- ties of caste.
As a result of the medieval methods of persecution and of the occasional mass movements away from the helotism of caste, we have all over India to-day the descendants of the converts made. Some time ago, one authority was of the opinion that only five million of the Mohammedans in India represent the classes once dominant in the land.^ The anthropometric survey made by government proves conclusively that the vast majority of the Mohammedans in India are converts from among the depressed Hindu communities. These converts are to be known, too, in the way they retain caste designa- tions, certain idolatrous practices, tribal restrictions, superstitions and social usages. If they were of foreign
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descent they would never lower themselves to such prac- tices.^
High caste Hindus have contributed but a small quota to Islam. For one reason they do not stand in need of social salvation and status. Prestige would be lost by their joining such a cosmopolitan brotherhood. And is there not that in the doctrine of Islam that repels the cultured Hindu ? He thinks of God manifesting Himself in various ways and in all places. His idols preach to him, indirectly, the truth that deity may be with him on the street, in his house, wherever he may be — an idea al- together foreign to Islam. In Hinduism we have some- thing of the warm nearness of immanence, while in the other the cold abstraction of bald transcendence.
The Mohammedans are rather spasmodic in direct preaching efforts. They have a few regular preachers who give much of their time to trying to convince the Hindus of the error of their way. Within the past twenty- five years perhaps every district of Bengal has been visited by such preachers, and from the stir made at the time one would imagine that the whole population was about to swear allegiance to the prophet, but the stir soon fizzled out. Moslem laymen also engage in proselytizing effort.^ The average Moslem layman is ever ready to repeat his simple creed and impress upon any one he may meet the fact that his religion is of God.
Although the visible efforts to proselytize are few, still there is a substantial increase in the Moslem figures every
^ See Indian Census Reports, and Hunter's * ' Statistical Account of Bengal."
'^ Arnold, in " The Preaching of Islam," tells of laymen who devote their leisure hours each day to preaching. Amongst them he had heard of "government clerks in the Canal and Opium Departments; traders, including a dealer in camel carts, an editor of a newspaper, a bookbinder, and a workman in a printing establishment."
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decade. Take the census figures for Bengal. In 1871 there were seventeen millions of Hindus and about sixteen and a half millions of Mohammedans, but in 1901 there were eighteen millions of Hindus and little over nineteen and a half millious of Mohammedans. So that in the space of thirty years the latter, who were at the start in the minority of half a million, had not only gained on the Hindus but came out with a lead of a million and a half. On the basis of these figures, Lieut. -Col. U. N. Mukerjee, of the Indian Medical Service, has written a booklet en- titled, ^'A Dying Eace," in which he maintains that in Bengal the future is with the Mohammedans while the Hindus are " waiting for extinction."
How is the increase in the number of Mohammedans to be accounted for? Certainly not in the practice of polygamy, for only twenty-nine in every thousand of the Bengal Mohammedans have more than one wife. At the census in 1901, an iuquiry was made'into the reasons for conversion, and in the report we are given an appendix of nine foolscap pages containing notes on specific cases. From these it is evident that conviction does not play a prominent part in the reason why. Everywhere the con- verts confess ulterior motives in joining Islam. The re- port from the district around Calcutta is typical. Forty cases were inquired into and reported upon as follows : twenty-three conversions were the result of 'Move'' epi- sodes and elopements. Seven were reported as becoming Moslems ''owing to straightened circumstances," whilst the conversions of the remaining ten are variously ex- plained. I have made careful inquiries from mission- aries in various parts and they say that nearly all the conversions they know of might be classed in the same way.
Mukerjee, in the book mentioned above, does not look upon these conversions as being lapses from morality, as
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on the surface they would appear to be, but as the inevi- table result of present economic conditions. I can here give but one instance. Amongst certain low castes, widow marriage was prevalent years ago, but now it is looked on with disfavour mainly because the men are too poor to keep two wives. The women must live. Their relatives cannot keep them. Shall they go out into the world as disreputable characters or as wives or concubines of the Moslems ? Which are they to choose ? Certainly, to throw in their lot with the Moslems seems to be the more worthy. The men, too, finding greater openings for labour join the Mohammedan community.
Having thus understood something of the reasons for the Moslem growth we may be better able to think out measures to meet the advance.
We cannot adopt all the tactics of the Moslems, though sometimes Europeans in an outburst of impatience have urged force in converting to Christianity.^ Compulsion and Christianity are incompatible. Meredith Townsend is more to the point when he says, ** India, unless all is changed by the intervention of some new force, must be- come a Mohammedan country. . . . The intervening spiritual force which ought to prevent this is, of course, Christianity." ^ His contention is reasonable and it be- hooves all missionaries working in Moslem areas to se- riously set themselves to make this spiritual force felt. How are we to do this ?
^In a recent book, "The Native Clergy in Heathen Lauds, " by a German Jesuit named Hounder, we find an advocate of the use of force. He says, " Clevis and Charlemagne (who drove the heathen Saxons in masses into the Elbe for baptism) have been more effective pioneers of Christianity than thousands of native and foreign missionaries. They were God-sent apostles of a peculiar type. God closely binds the use of the sword to the religious development of a people." — Quotation from Record of Christian Work for October, 1910.
^ Meredith Townsend, " East and Europe."
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1. There is need for an enlargement of specialist forces. In India there are 62,458,077 Mohammedans, according to the census of 1901. Of these over one-third live in Bengal, yet there is not one missionary to my knowledge in that vast territory who has been definitely set apart for Mohammedan work. The few workers who are there, numbering perhaps one to a quarter of a million of the whole community, are busy with every branch of mis- sionary activity in addition to executive work, and have little time to specialize.
2. We need to work proportionately and specially amongst Hindu and Mohammedan communities. India differs from so many other lands. Most of us Indian missionaries are working ''on the frontier-line between Islam and Paganism.^' The danger has been that some of us finding the work amongst Moslems exceedingly hard, have followed the line of least resistance and given our whole attention to the Hindus. In face of the facts of the Moslem advance, should we not so organize our work that we may reach both communities in a system- atic and special manner ? We must be ready to extend a helping hand to the Moslem and also to those among the pagan races who are ready to enter a new brother- hood.
In Eastern Bengal, many of the missionaries have been keenly interested in the social awakening amongst a cer- tain community of low caste Hindus, called Namasudras. These people are feeling out after improvement, enlight- enment and higher social status, and we have been trying to capture the movement for our Lord Jesus Christ. For a time there was a rumour to the effect that they were going over to Islam in a body. That is not true, but it seems to me that before long they will have to go some- where, for the reforms they are adopting will make them outcasts. The Mohammedans, doubtless, cherish a wish
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that they will get the whole crowd, but if we are wise that cannot happen ; our work is to forestall them. I suppose there are many such movements in different parts of India to-day, and they illustrate the necessity of hav- ing specialists on the frontier-line, some to deal with the Moslems, while others lead the awakening pagan peoples into the paths of righteousness.
3. There is a difficulty. We cannot colonize nor amalgamate in India. Our stay in the laud is brief, while here, it is not easy to overcome racial repulsion. It is perhaps harder for the people than for us. Hence the need for Indian Christian specialists to work in both communities.
The Moslem propagandist is Asiatic ; we are not. He can iugratiate himself with the people ; he can make himself one with them in every detail of social life ; he will give his daughter in marriage to the convert, and while we are learning to speak the language, he grows into their very life. Should we not encourage the Indian Christian workers to fit themselves in with things more than they do ■? The Moslem propagandist is a keen itin- erant ; why should not our preachers and catechists move about among the people with less show of the European tent and boat ? Martyn Clark says that as ninety-five per cent, of the people live in villages, " It were wisdom to learn from the Moslem monarchs, who propagated Islam in the villages ; their power perished, but their re- ligion remained." ^ Then, would it not be a suitable recommendation to the mission colleges that those stu- dents, who are being trained for work in areas where large numbers of Mohammedans live, be specially equipped with a knowledge of Islam, and be required to study Urdu, the lingua franca of all Indian Mohammed- ans? In some colleges something has been attempted, * Martyn Clark, " Robert Clark of the Paujab," p. 264.
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but has it been with an emphasis on the seriousness of the Moslem problem ?
4. The methods of approach should be carefully planned. Preaching we must continue with greater sympathy, with a quicker perception of the point of con- tact and with a fuller knowledge of the dialect the people speak. The Gospel must be spoken in the terms of the Moslem. There must be less of the combatant in us and more of the wooer. By that I do not mean that we should not argue. Controversy we cannot always avoid, and sometimes, I think, we should court it when it is likely to be helpful to the listeners staudiug round. I have sometimes wondered whether it would be possible to ar- range periodically for two or three workers to visit special Moslem districts and hold a mission for Moslems supported by the missionaries of the different societies in the districts visited. If the addresses delivered at such a mission could afterwards be printed in English and the vernaculars immense good might be the result.
Literature we should produce in the vernaculars with still greater zeal. Our opponents make much of this method of propaganda. I feel that our apologetic literature for Moslems should explain more directly and fully the erroneous ideas that they have been taught con- cerning our faith. Then we need books to influence those who have been convinced by our evidential works ; books explaining the inner meaning of our Lord^s teach- ing.
We must encourage schools and especially Western education. Many a Moslem has had his faith shaken by learning English. The Western school-book makes belief in an Eastern sacred book most difficult.
5. The Koran should become an aid. The Moslem advance might be further checked by using the Koran more in our work. We should turn their own book,
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Islam's supreme weapon, against her for her complete undoing. We must show the people that in the Koran '' What is true is not new, and what is new is not true." For English speaking Mohammedan students, I have often held classes in which the Bible and the Koran were studied and compared, and as a result not a few have been led to see that the one was most human while the other was divine. So important have I felt the use of the Koran to be, that when intelligent Hindus have been in- clined to praise Mohammedanism, I have given them the Eev. W. Goldsack's Bengali translation of the Koran to read. In this way the eyes of many have been opened to see the absurdities of the book. My belief is that if only we can get the Hindus and Mohammedans to under- stand what the Koran really teaches, we shall be able to check the advance.
6. What are we to do to stop the leakage that I have shown is going on owing to economic conditions prevalent in Hindu society ? Surely there is need to push reform and rescue work. Our philanthropic agencies should be increased. When so many are forced to change their faith, then should we not be ready to show them that we are their friends ? Do we not need more Homes of Hope for the despised and neglected Hindu widows and other women who are not wanted? In many stations in Bengal, now, the people know that the missionaries will help such, and thank God scores have been rescued and eternally saved through the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Great good is being done, too, by medical missionary effort. It softens many a heart and wins many attentive ears.*
^ In connection with our philanthropic effort it is interesting to read the opinion of a Moslem who wrote an article to the Eibbert Journal on ' ' Islam and Common Sense. ' ' He considers that Christianity often
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7. A Missionaries to Moslems League might be es- tablished. We need some bond of unity in this great work in India ; something that will keep the Moham- medan problem constantly before us. I have referred to Moslem unity ; why should we not show a more united front ? Can we accomplish the task if we are not united I We should aim at an ordered advance. We should be more on the alert. How many of us are on the lookout to see what the Mohammedans are about ? Do we watch their papers and magazines ? Do we know what books they are bringing out? Some may say, What does it matter ? It does matter. Current topics are the straws on the stream that tell the way of the tide. When the Bengali translation of the Koran mentioned above was first brought out, a Mulvi travelled some distance to Calcutta to inquire of the publishers who was the trans- lator and all about the work. Why are we not more active 1
The work is hard, but we shall win if we go about it in a right spirit and faint not. Christianity lived and be- came victorious in spite of Kero and all his cruel sensual agencies. It was faith in the strong Son of God that did it. Mohammedanism is in a sense a modern Nero. The same faith, strengthened by mighty prayer, can check and finally overcome Islam in India. Lord, increase our faith !
fails to make converts while Islam succeeds because, "The Moslem does not consider it wrong to offer worldly inducements to a new convert, because as a man of common sense he understands that he must take care of the man's body as well as his soul."
HP
XYI
MOSLEM ADVANCE IN MALAYSIA
REV. N. ADRIANI, CELEBES HE great islands of Malaysia, except New
_ Guinea, and the greater part of the little 1 Malaysian isles are totally or partially occupied by Islam.
On the islands of Java, Madura, Lombok, Sumbawa ; in the southwestern peninsula of Celebes, the southern part of Gilolo ; in Central and South Sumatra ; on the isles of Buton, Muna and Salayer, the population are al- ready quite Islamized, so that in these countries there is no question of Moslem advance among pagan inhabit- ants, whether Christian missions are working there or not.
In some parts of Malaysia a considerable number of the population are still heathen, as in the southern part of North Sumatra ; in the whole interior of Borneo and Cen- tral Celebes ; on the isles of Flores, Timor, Ceram, Buru, North Gilolo and in New Guinea. There has indeed been contact between these pagan people and the Moham- medans who are living on the seacoast, but what may be called propaganda only takes place where a numerous Mohammedan colony has established itself on the sea- shore and has entered into commercial relations with the heathen population of the interior. Eegular Moslem propaganda is being exercised in all the countries where a mission of the Gospel is working among pagan races in the interior which are surrounded by Moslems, because Mohammedan zeal and jealousy are aroused by this Chris- tian work and they wish to make haste with proselytism,
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in order to prevent the heathen from being converted to Christianity.
Moslem propaganda is practiced to a considerable ex- tent amoug ihe heathen population of the southern part of North Sumatra (Batak country) in the interior of the isle of Borneo and in Central Celebes. On the island of Gilolo Moslem advance is already put to an end by the influence of the Christian mission, which is working very successfully there. In Central Celebes Christian mission- aries are doing good work as far as their influence reaches, so that Mohammedan propaganda is now out of question ; but as only a small part of this large country is being evangelized, Islam goes on victoriously without any impediment on the whole of the northeastern and south- eastern peninsula ; and so it is in the southern and the western part of the centre. Strong Mohammedan in- fluence is felt also in that part of the northern peninsula of Celebes which is situated on the west of the Gulf of Tomini and on the east of the Strait of Macassar, be- cause Christian mission work has not yet made a start there.
On the island of Borneo Moslem influence is increasing steadily in the same proportion as paganism is declining. Only where Christian missions are at work, the Moslem advance is resisted with success, but in the greater part of this island Mohammedan propaganda goes on without resistance.
In the Batak country (southern part of North Sumatra) the inland population, which is partly Christian, partly pagan, is the object of the tenderest care of the mission- aries, because the influence of Islam is very dangerous, owing to the fact that the Batak people are surrounded on all sides by Moslems, as the Achinese, the Malays, the natives of the western coast and the population of the Deli region on the eastern coast.
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Now let us consider the general character of Moslem propaganda on the islands of Malaysia.
The Moslems of Malaysia, who leave their native country in order fco establish themselves on the shores of other countries, whether temporarily or permanently, are generally anxious to make proselytes. It is not especially religious conviction that drives them, but rather commer- cial interest. Those who emigrate are always people who gain their living by trading. In order to be successful in trade, they have to procure for themselves safety for life and merchandise. Now pagan tribes in Malaysia live in communism. The family extends itself to a clan, clans grow to tribes ; and family relation is the only tie that holds together these communities. Only among one's family does one feel safe. It is a matter of course that the Mohammedan foreigner, as soon as he is established on the shore of the heathen land, tries to enter into family relations with the native tribe in the neighbourhood of which he lives and trades. In this he succeeds by marry- ing a woman belonging to that tribe. In this way he and other fellow Mohammedans create Moslem family circles ; for the wives have to adopt the religion of their husbands, be it only superficially. No one will expect the wife to fulfill the duties of her new religion, but her children are sure to become better Mohammedans than their mother. In this way a group of Mohammedan families is formed which by and by grows into a Moslem community, and at last becomes a society with its own chief. Thus some centuries ago Islam established itself in Sumatra, after- wards in Java and the other islands of Malaysia and in this way we see it at present establishing itself in Central Celebes.
Sometimes a good number of Mohammedan families settle at the coast, choose a chief, and so from the be- ginning immediately form a political unity. But what-
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ever its origin may be, a Moslem establishment always exercises influence on the heathen tribes of the interior. Various reasons bring about this supremacy. The Mo- hammedan population does not chiefly live on agricul- ture. They earn their living by trade and, just as in Europe, it is considered more distinguished not to be an agriculturist. The Mohammedan coast population do grow some vegetables and fruit, but as for the principal food, which is rice, they depend on the people of the interior. On their excursions they have always money with them and they never forget to make a show of it. The Mohammedans also dress in a better way than the 'heathen, and they very cunningly array themselves in clothes which excite the covetousness and desire of their heathen neighbours, who are very fond of buying new articles. They like to perfume them- selves and constantly speak with contempt about eating pork and of other customs of the people of the interior. In short, they know how to behave as people of higher rank and quality than the simple pagans. They are also expert in flattering the chiefs of the tribes, and know how to make use of the weak points of the character of these men by encouraging them to abuse their power and make greater show in their daily lives. These .traders are very clever in persuading the chief to spend money at the expense of his subjects. Even the Mohammedan wives know how to assume the air of important and distinguished persons, by dressing as showily as possible ; they never carry any burdens themselves, but always are escorted by one or more slaves. They noisily complain about the heat and the fatigue of walking, and always call the attention to the fact that they do not perform any agricultural work, but weave and sew only. Through all these means the Mohammedan traders arouse the desires of the people
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of the interior to imitate their customs and all these things are profitable to a propagation of Islam.
If you ask how this is possible, because all these mat- ters have nothing whatever to do with religion, I an- swer : According to our Western ideas, it is so, but we ought not to forget that we Europeaus are accustomed to consider religion as having its own territory with definite limits. For the Indonesian mind religion is not a thing apart. In order to express the idea "re- ligion,'' they have to borrow the Sanscrit word "agama,'' which we fiud in ever so many Indonesian languages. Eeligion, according to heathen conception, is a natural ingredient of existence of a tribe, and there- fore it is most closely connected with the organization of the tribe. It enters into law, justice, food, clothing, lan- guage ; into agriculture, medicine, marriage, birth, fu- nerals, festivals, in short, into everything concerning daily life. Everywhere religion is to be found, but it is never conceived as a special thing. Therefore, when a heathen is converted to Christianity or to Islam, he will want to enter into the tribe of the nation whose religion he has chosen. He wants to imitate that na- tion's clothing ; it is an important thing for him to know which food is forbidden by the new religion, and he wants to eat the food which he sees his teacher eat- ing, though it is unknown to him, and when his stom- ach becomes disarranged by it, he will ascribe this to the power of the gods he has forsaken. He wants to learn his teacher's language ; in a word, it seems ab- surd to him to adopt any one's religion without adopt- ing his manner of living. If a native is converted to Christianity, he is apt to go too far in imitating his teachers, for instance in dressing like the Europeans, and if his missionary or his teacher too strongly tries to check this inclination, the new convert will begin
Moslem Advance in Malaysia 225
to doubt whether the intentions of his teacher are quite sincere, because it seems to him his leaders want to bring him to a stand, half-way in his development, in order to make him a Christian of inferior kind.
When a Mohammedan trader in Malaysia comes into connection with the heathen population of the interior, he teaches Islam, for the sake of his commercial inter- ests, by encouraging the people to buy his goods. Na- tives naturally are fond of buying, and they long to have the things shown to them. A sarung^ a head-cloth, an embroidered jacket, a knife with silver sheath, all this is finer than they usually wear, but it is of the same kind and so they want to buy it. A Mohammedan trader in their eyes is not a different species of man- kind, but a fellow native of a superior kind, and this superiority is not too high for them also to reach. The heathen only wants to assume the airs of a more distin- guished person. A heathen who has chosen this path more and more follows the ways of the Mohammedans, whom he admires ; he learns to gamble, smoke opium, to usurp power over his fellows and to enrich himself at their expense. If he succeeds in making himself IDOwerful, he uses his influence to lead others to adopt Mohammedan customs also. In this way he may easily become their chief, being the leader of the Mohammedan movement, which he provoked. In the new state of affairs naturally he is the principal man.
Do not infer from what has been said that Moham- medan traders are all sly and cunning politicians, hav- ing foresight and intelligence. Things take their course quite naturally. The Moslem trader, when coming in a heathen village, immediately calls on the chief and applies to him for assistance. He gives a present to the chief, passes the night in the chiefs house, behaves decently and tries to make him his customer, because
226 Islam and Missions
he knows the chief can pay. In the communistic heathen society the chief is the patriarch, his house is the largest, his family is the most numerous, he man- ages the undivided family possessions and is responsi- ble for the debts of his fellow villagers. If the chief has no money, the Mohammedan trader will accept rice, maize, buffaloes, horses, slaves. The more the trader stimulates the vanity and the desire of the chief to buy, the more profitably his business goes on. He likes to flatter the chief in telling him he is a descendant of the great Nebi Mohammed, the almighty monarch of Mecca, and the chief readily believes him to be so and leaves off eating pork. Now the desire of exalting him- self is aroused and by and by the chief of the interior tribe imitates the manner of living and the behaviour of the Mohammedan chief from the coast. A chief with no other power than the patriarchal one has no other means of getting his fellow men in his power than by making them slaves or debtors. A chief with such inclinations will often apply himself to trading. Having no mercantile experience whatever, he will easily get into debt, but his Mohammedan friends al- ways will prevent his ruin, it being more advantageous to them to make him dependent on them than to have him a free and independent chief in their neigh- bourhood.
If the Mohammedan population on the seashore has grown into a regular state, whose chief bears high titles and exhibits great splendourj he often abuses his power and influence, and simply commands the people of the interior to accept Islam. Teachers of religion settle down among these new converts and earn their living by trading and giving religious instruction, which prin- cipally consists in recital of the Koran. Most of them also trade in charms or recruit pupils from the popula-
Moslem Advance in Malaysia 227
tion, whom they initiate into occult science. These pupils have to promise beforehand to do anything that their teacher commands them to do.
In this peaceful and easy way Islam propagates itself slowly but steadily among the pagan tribes in Malaysia ; on a larger scale in Borneo, on a smaller scale in Celebes. One factor, which has worked powerfully in Sumatra to spread the Mohammedan religion, has yet to be mentioned ; it is the influence of the Dutch government in the islands of Malaysia.
It is very unjust to say that the Dutch colonial gov- ernment favourizes the propagation of Islam. The neu- trality of the Dutch government is genuine and is being maintained irreproachably. Any thwarting of Chris- tian missions is to be attributed to the personal opinions of some officers of the civil service. But notwithstand- ing its strict neutrality, extension of the Dutch colonial power among heathen tribes of Malaysia inevitably is connected with extension of Islam. There are two reasons for this fact ; the weakness of paganism, and the strength of Islam.
When the Dutch government establishes itself where it has not yet ruled, the population is at first not much pleased. The chiefs who ruled independently are put under control ; the population has to do service and pay taxes ; they do not like to be ruled by foreigners. Their own religion has no power to resist, nor to extend itself, pagan religion not being more than family wor- ship, founded on family traditions, so that it is utterly conservative. Changes in social life cannot take place without bringing considerable detriment to religion. The population which is newly brought under European government seeks a means of excluding European influ- ence. If they do not yet know the Christian religion, they will regard conversion to it as the achievement of
228 Islam and Missions
their subjection to the European government. They distrust the European missionary as much as the Euro- pean civil officer. The latter being their overlord, be he ever so loyal in his behaviour, the former easily falls under the suspicion of being an overlord also. This is the reason why the desire of the people to be- come acquainted with Christianity is very small. They have submitted to the government because of its mili- tary force. But what can compel them to submit them- selves to the missionaries, for this is their first inter- pretation of conversion to Christianity. l!^ow Islam comes to them in the shape of a civilization a little higher than their own. It is brought to them by their fellow natives whose manner of life is somewhat higher than their own and stimulates their imitation. As soon as the heathen gets some notion of the organiza- tion of Islam, he feels it is a good thing to become a member of that large brotherhood whose numerous mem- bers possess the very thing which the European govern- ment deals with respectfully, that is, their religion ; al- though the Moslems themselves are subjected to that government. They find out that in matters of religion they are allowed to be their own masters, and are able to keep foreigners — civil officers and missionaries — away from that territory, with little trouble and great success. As a heathen, a native does not feel any pa- triotism, he knows no community except his family, and knows nothing of brotherhood in faith. By adopt- ing Islam, he becomes conscious that he belongs to a great organization, which is able to hold its ground against any worldly power ; which gives to its members the privilege of feeling superior to infidel foreigners, and which promises a position far higher than that of those infidels in the life hereafter. Islam grants to its adherents what may be called an international nation-
Moslem Advance in Malaysia 229
ality and procures them a counterpoise against the weight of the foreign government.
Other consequences of the establishment of a European government amoug heathen tribes is the opening of roads into the interior country j the increase of intercourse on account of greater safety, so that Mohammedan traders may penetrate as far as the remotest places of the inland country. Besides this, the colonial government is obliged to appoint as inferior officers of the civil service Moham- medan functionaries, who ought to be neutral, but who propagate their religion as much as possible. Especially when government schools are opened and Mohammedan schoolmasters are placed at the head of them, Moslem propaganda goes on rapidly. Through all these means the European colonial power opens the doors to Islam.
The only effective measure that can prevent Islam from penetrating farther and farther is the Christianizing of the heathen nations through missions of the Gospel. In countries where European government is not yet estab- lished, Islam does not make great progress amongst the heathen of Malaysia, and if a Christian mission makes its entrance before the government, it is likely to have large chance of success. The missionaries then have the op- portunity of making themselves known as good and loyal friends to the people, as Europeans who by no means have come to exercise worldly power, but to win the hearts of the people ; who want to gain the people's at- tention first of all to the message of the Gospel. When the peo^ile's prejudice against Europeans has been over- come, it may yet be a long time before the population is converted to Christianity. In such a case the coming of the European government may cause a movement towards the Gospel. This at least has happened in Central Cele- bes.
But there remain no more countries in Malaysia where
230 Islam and Missions
the mission may make its entrance before the European power, since the great extension of the Dutch govern- ment in the years 1904-1909. It may be said that the heathen population of Malaysia is in the latter years more than ever accessible to Islam. The Rhenish Mission- ary Society is doiug good work in the interior of the southern part of Borneo, in the countries along the Barito, Kapuas Muruug and Kahayan Rivers. But the popula- tion on the banks of the Kapuas, Mahakam and Kayan Rivers is not yet being evangelized ; there Islam may ex- ercise its influence without the least hindrance. From the reports of Dr. Nieuwenhuis we may learn that the population on the Kapuas River far towards its upper course are already converted to Islam, and Dr. Nieuwen- huis shows clearly that Islam is doing no good there. The missionaries of the Rhenish Mission Society declare that the Dayak population along the banks of the Barito, Kapuas Murung and Kahayan Rivers have already adopted so much from both Islam and Christianity, that they consider it superfluous to become either Moham- medans or Christians. They pretend already to possess that which is offered to them.
The missionary forces of the Rhenish Missionary So- ciety are at present not sufacient to work regularly among the Mohammedans. Systematic missions among the Mo- hammedans of Borneo have not yet been started, as all the missionary forces are needed for the evangelizing of the heathen population.
As for the Isle of Nias (on the western coast of Suma- tra), no influence of importance has been exercised on the heathen population by the Mohammedans of the coast. Just as in Central Celebes, ihe Christian mission has had here the advantage of being established before the Dutch government made its entrance. At present, Christianity is developing powerfully there, so that all the disposable
Moslem Advance in Malaysia 231
missionary force is occupied. So there is no opportunity for starting systematic mission work among the Moham- medan foreigners of the coast of Nias.
In the Batak country matters are somewhat different. There regular mission work is being done among the Mohammedans, because (as Eev. Simon says) **the best defense is attack.^' The first means of evangelizing among Mohammedans is school work. Another is medical work. A very important factor is the testimony of Chi'istian converts who are not intimidated by the haughty behaviour of the Mohammedans. It is of great importance to note that in some countries where Islam stands in hostile opposition to Christianity, it has be- come evident that Islam is not invincible but is in fact being conquered by the Gospel. This is a precious fruit of hard missionary work in those regions of Sumatra which are on the frontier between Christian and Moslem population. The heathen acknowledges that he has no religion, that is, no separate agama^ which may be defined. When he becomes a Mohammedan, he gets one. Why should he ask for another religion ? Natives generally thiuk it is impossible for a Mohammedan to become a Christian. They know that Christians sometimes become Mohammedans. So they believe that Islam is superior to Christianity. This belief is strengthened by the proud behaviour of the Moslems towards the Christians and the fantastic pictures of the future of Islam which they paint before the eyes of the heathen. It is there- fore a question of life for the Christian mission to show it is not afraid of Islam, but is able to attack it success- fully.
It seems to me that this work demands special prepara- tion. The missionaries who are going to take it up ought to have studied the subject carefully. They ought to know the theoretical Islam, and also to get a
232 Islam and Missions
clear perception of the actual condition of Mohammedan- ism, that is, they ought to know the practical religion of the teachers and theologians as well as of " the people who do not know the law." Furthermore, these mis- sionaries ought to study paganism, in order to know on what foundation Islam has been built in the Mohammedan population amongst whom they are working.
The principal thing is to show no fear of Islam. To take away forces from a mission to heathen in order to attack Islam, where it reigns exclusively, is not wise ; a better plan is to meet Islam without fear at the frontiers of its territory, so as to prevent it from going beyond these frontiers to gain territory from Christianity. This is the method which is profitable to a mission to heathen as well as to a mission among Mohammedans.
XYII
ISLAM i:n" china
MR. F. H. RHODES (^China Inland Mission)
AT the outset of this inquiry as to Mohammedan- ism in China, we shall do well to bear in mind the very limited sources of information at our disposal. This complex subject is comparatively a new study ; there are few authorities to consult, and in this field of inquiry there are no experts to whom we can go.
Further, it may be noted, the sources of the available information are sometimes perforce of Moslem origin. This renders it highly desirable that several opinions should be obtained, if we are to arrive at a fairly correct view of our subject. This may be illustrated by the following example ; in making inquiry recently as to the number of mosques, the answers concerning a certain city were as follows : — ''seven,'' •' twenty to thirty," and ''thirty-six." Careful investigation showed that the last number was the correct one.
The elaborate information collected by Mr. Marshall Broomhall for the Edinburgh Conference, and now em- bodied in his book recently published, has not been available for this brief paper. What is here attempted — a very inadequate effort it is true — is to throw stronger light on a question of real interest, and of deep impor- tance to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ, and who pray for the coming of His kingdom.
To gain a clearer knowledge of Islam in China, and in order to be able to supply information specially re- quested, further recent inquiries have now been made ;
233
234
Islam and Missions
the quotations that follow are from letters received in 1910 from able workers in some sev^enteeu provinces in China. In the highest interests of the work, and lest their influence among the Moslems should be weakened, the names are not here recorded of those who have so kindly contributed very valuable information on this subject.
The Mohammedans in China are scattered over a very wide area ; you can meet the followers of the prophet in varying numbers literally from north to south and from east to west ! I cannot speak about Outer Mongolia, b^^t in Inner Mongolia, in Manchuria, and in every province in China, you can find the followers of Islam.
The smallest groups of Moslems will probably be found in the three following provinces : Kiang-si, Cheh-kiang, and Fu-kien. In eleven provinces you will find the Moslems in considerable numbers ; not only in the pro- vincial capitals, but also throughout these provinces. These eleven provinces should be specially noted, and earnest prayer centred on these strongholds of Islam in China. They are as follows :
Chih-li, Shan-tuug, Kiang-su, Sin-kiang, Kan-su, Shen-si, Sze-chwan, Yun-nan, Kwang-si, Ho- nan, and An-hwei.
The Mohammedan, in spite of all that has told disas- trously upon him, is still to-day a power in China. His people, as one careful observer states, are *'a very large element of China's mixed multitude." The opium that has demoralized and enfeebled so many has told heavily upon idolater and Moslem alike. The stern retribution meted out in bygone years — aftermath of rebellion — has very considerably affected Islam in numbers and in wealth. But the Moslem in China has come through it all, has made a name for himself, and certainly well deserves the place he has won in the Celestial Empire.
A Mohammedan Teacher
Butchers from West China
Islam in China 235
In the various occupations he has taken up, the Moslem has not done badly. It is true that his ability has shone out more conspicuously in business capacity and in military service than in literary career. Moslem generals and Moslem soldiers have again and again dis- tinguished themselves by brave and capable service in the cause in which their services have been enlisted. In times of crisis, instances are not wanting to prove that Westerners as well as the Chinese have profited by their brave defense.
It is perhaps worth recording that the beggar-class in China, so notorious for numbers, painful sights, and piteous appeals, does not appear to receive many recruits from Islam. Duriug a stay of several years in a district where the Mohammedans were strong, even in the Moslem quarter, the writer never saw or heard of a Mohammedan beggar.
The Mullas, or Ah-hungs as they are called in China, command as a class our deep respect and deserve our sincere sympathy. It may be some will not be able to quite endorse this statement ; however, I cannot qualify it. If we remember the atmosphere in which the Moslem priest has been brought up, the poisonous teaching he has assimilated, the life and example of his prophet, and then reflect on the '' why ? " and '' wherefore ? " of Islam, any harsh verdict we may have formed may be consider, ably altered. May I recall the words of one of the earlier veteran missionaries in India? ^'The Moslem power sprang from the ashes of an extinguished mission- ary fire."
In not a few cases the Chinese Mullas are on very friendly terms with the missionaries. This does not weaken their strong opposition to the Gospel ; or as I should say, the Gospel as we believe it. Their inner at- titude to the truth will be seen more clearly by reference
236 Islam and Missions
to a letter received by the writer from a Chinese Mulla in April, 1910. The letter as translated by a friend in London is too long to reproduce here ; but the following extract will serve our present purpose. It was written in the ordinary classical Arabic such as is used in Egypt and the countries around for correspondence. May it lead to renewed prayer, and more loving and practical sympathy with the neglected Moslems in China.
''How can a bat in the darkness of night know the light of the sun in the day ? As for Mohammed, the Chosen One, he is the light of the world, and the Koran is the candle pointing to him. After the descent of the Koran, the rest of the books are abrogated, such as the Gospel, the Psalms, and the Pentateuch. Sorcerers such as the Nazarenes, who are ignorant of the truth of the Gospel, and change the copy of the Gospel into folly and untruth and say that Jesus Christ is more excellent than Mohammed, do not know that when the sun of Moham- medanism arose upon the world, man obtained light on the straight way and returned from unbelief and error . . . except the Nazarenes."
The powerful influence the Chinese Mullas exert needs to be taken into account in considering the evangelization of the Moslems in this land. Their word on matters of religious belief is law to most Moslems. I draw special attention to the following: "The Chinese Mullas look upon every other form of religion, Christianity included, with the greatest contempt." And further : "The Mo- hammedans in China have implicit faith in their Mullas."
The number of Chinese Mullas who have been to Mecca is not large. Those who have made the pilgrim- age once, twice, or as in a case known to me, three times, are held in very high respect and their interpretation of religion is to the Moslem unassailable. The heavy ex- pense, and the harsh treatment received at the hands of
Islam in China 237
tlieir co-religionists, is strongly spoken of by some who have returned from Arabia. It may not perhaps be generally known that the Emir, or Sherif of Mecca, a lineal descendent of the prophet, and Guardian of the Holy places, * treats the pilgrims with the greatest in- humanity, and those who take the pilgrims round and direct them in their religious ceremonies skin them to the last penny."
Some of the Mullas in China have a pretty good knowl- edge of Arabic and the Koran. Some of us have tested their knowledge by asking them to translate from Arabic into spoken Chinese passages familiar to us but not so to them ; the sarcastic look, the indignant answer showing they had seen through the veiled insinuation, the ready and sometimes fluent response would have convinced any one present that some of our Chinese Mullas know far more Arabic than we have given them credit for perhaps. Those who should be reckoned in this class are not over numerous, but owiug to the increase of schools for Arabic, the number is growing. Some of these men receive letters in Arabic from the West ; so the followers of the prophet are kept in touch with Islam abroad.
A somewhat larger number of Mullas can read the Arabic Gospels, if they care to do so, which is not al- ways the case, and get a good idea of what is contained therein. But while all Moslems, priests and people speak the Chinese language, few Mullas care to make much use of the written Chinese ; they are strongly, and very naturally prejudiced in favour of their own sacred script — ^'our peerless Arabic," as they are quick to point out.
To the Chinese Mulla, as to those in other lands, **the Koran is literally, and verbally accurate ; its words be- ing the direct, final, and complete revelation of God to man." That any one should presume to understand or
238 Islam and Missions
teach Divine truth without a knowledge of the Koran in the original is, to put it mildly, utterly without reason, and not to be tolerated by the Moslem.
Most mosques have scholarly Chinese to deal with Chinese subjects j education and correspondence are in their hands, but the Mullas are responsible for teaching vital religion. The importance of this question as to the use of Arabic in China cannot be exaggerated.
That Islam has influenced the Chinese for good on moral or spiritual lines, surely none would care to assert. But politically, there is no question of the power that has been and still is exerted. One who has made a life- long study of China and her neighbours, recognized as one of the greatest living authorities on the Far East, writes as follows : '^ As to the Mohammedans in China, their influence is everywhere out of proportion to their numbers, showing the effect of their faith. In the north- west and southwest provinces, the Mohammedans have often made themselves felt as a serious political danger, and the government has more than once attempted to blot them out by a general massacre."
While the Chinese have in earlier years feared the growing political power of Islam, and they have had good cause to do so in the rebellions of the past, the Christian Church, alas, has very sadly neglected the millions of Moslems in China. It is only in recent years that Islam in China has been taken seriously by the fol- lowers of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the reports of earlier missionary conferences hardly a passing reference can be found to the Mohammedans in China. But in the events of recent years, can we not see the working of our Omnipotent Leader in the clear awakening among His people, and the opening door of opportunity in nearly all Moslem lauds ?
Although for years not a few of God's children had
Islam in China 239
been burdened by the thought of the neglected Moslems in China, and had given this subject a special place in their intercessions, the Christian Church had not really- taken it to heart. But since the ' ' First Missionary Con- ference on behalf of the Mohammedan World," held at Cairo, 1906, two facts stand out plainly : (1) Growing interest and a deepened sense of responsibility in the Christian Church, concerning Islam universal j (2) great movements of incalculable portent in the Moslem world.
This manifest awakening among the Lord's children, the Spirit- directed prayer, the unprecedented situation throughout the whole Moslem world, is surely God's clear call to His Church. Has not the time fully come for the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ to enter the very strong- holds of Islam 1 Should His Gospel not be proclaimed, and the Saviour uplifted, that multitudes of Moslems may be blessed? This brings us to a very practical question concerning Islam in China.
The conditions of Islam in China vary very greatly in the different districts ; probably no two provinces would give the same report. In some districts there is great stagnation and dense ignorance in Moslem circles. In other districts an entirely different report is presented. I quote two reports ; and there are all shades of activity and influence between these two reports found in the Moslem centres in China.
^' The Mohammedans here have never been very flour- ishing since the rebellion when so many were killed, and all that were left were scattered all around the district. They are mostly very ignorant, and there are very few who know intelligently anything about their own religion. There are still some who can read Arabic, but Islam is practically at a standstill. After the rebellion, there was a good deal of intermarrying with the Chinese, and since that time Islam has never been so flourishing.'*
240 Islam and Missions
''The Mohammedans here are making special efforts at this time in the establishment of schools ; Arabic is being taught on a bigger scale ; and one man is doing much for Islam here." Leaving these two reports we notice in the recent correspondence two points of in- terest ; Islam is increasing by birth rate, and just now, a new spirit, a growing energy, is present in Islam in China. May we draw attention to the following four statements :
(1) No organized work has yet been commenced amongst the Moslems in China.
That a people whose numbers equal, if they do not ex- ceed the number of Mohammedans in North Africa, should not yet have had one worker set apart to minister to their spiritual need is cause for serious thought and earnest prayer.
(2) Blessing has attended the efforts of those who, amid the pressure of work among the heathen, have sought to make the Gospel known to the Moslem also.
Several missionaries have attempted to meet the ap- palling need in their localities, and God has blessed their efforts. Some of the strong prejudice has been over- come, grave misunderstanding concerning the truth has been cleared away, friendly relations so necessary in Moslem work have been established, and some Moham- medans have been converted in China, of whom a few are now preaching the Gospel. I have never heard of the conversion of a Chinese Mulla.
(3) Islam is practically at a ' ' standstill " now in China. Careful investigation by those on the spot, and in
touch with Islam reveals absolutely no active propaganda amongst the Chinese. Two districts report ''Islam here is losing ground " ; but as other districts may quite pos- sibly have an increase that will cover the two provinces that report losing ground, and all the others except per*
Islam in China 241
haps Kan-su, which is hard to gauge, report ^'at a stand- still,'' we cau accept the statement as correct.
(4) The Moslems in China, however much neglected by the Christian Church, have not been neglected by their fellow believers in other lands. Mullas from India, Arabia and Turkey, have visited and are visiting many of the principal mosques in China.
One or more Mullas from Turkey have visited the chief mosques in at least seven provinces. One such visitor has been in China four years. One writer of world-wide fame says: "Two men made their appearance in this region striving to rehabilitate the Mohammedan faith and usages. They got some reforms introduced, the nature of which it is not easy to learn. They spoke in Arabic to the Chinese Mullas."
In addition to the Mullas from the West who have at times spent several months at one given mosque of im- portance, or in a given district, there is at present, " A cultured Turkish gentleman, a graduate from the Cairo University, now residing at Peking. This Mulla has been in China about two years. He has visited most of the 'thirty-six' mosques in Peking, is teaching Arabic to a good many students, and is doing much for Islam in Pekiug."
This new energy in the Moslem faith in China is per- haps only apparent to careful observers in the chief centres ; but it is there most unmistakably, and the Christian Church will do well to bear it in mind.
As to the modifications Islam has undergone in China, it is only possible here to indicate a few on the surface. A closer acquaintance with Islam as it exists in other lands would no doubt reveal much more on these lines. There are certain reasons that will easily account for this ,* the Moslom here is certainly less ftiuatical than the fol- lower of the prophet in Moslem lands.
242 Islam and Missions
The Moslem women in China occupy a better position than their sisters in lands where Islam is supreme, and are more favoured than Moslem women in India. The Koranic sanctions in the matters of marriage and divorce, concubinage and slavery, are apparently but little exer- cised ; if they were taken advantage of, Islam would be brought into greater disrepute in China. Moslem women, like their heathen sisters, have suffered not a lit- tle from the cruel fashion of foot-binding. Much addi- tional sorrow and often privation has come to her through the blighting and vicious habit of opium-smoking and opium-eating, to which so many of her household, male members chiefly, have been addicted. (Both i^ractices now are happily doomed in China, but by no means at an end yet.) But the Moslem woman has not had to wear the veil, nor to endure the isolation and bitter jealousies of harem life. Exactly what value the Chinese Moslem places on his women-folk, it would be difficult to state ; opinions are conflicting ; but modified by Chinese views he probably has a higher opinion of them than the Moslem in lands of Islam. But so long as the Moham- medan finds no place for her at the services in the mosques, nor thinks it necessary to enlighten her as to religion even when at home, Islam lies under grave re- proach in its treatment of Moslem women.
How far the Moslems in China are worse in this respect than those in lands of Islam, it would not be easy to say. But one has frequently met with Mohammedans who, so far from attending the weekly services in the mosques, had no idea that the Moslem service-day had already nearly passed. Outside the inner circle found in the mosques, to whom these remarks do not apply, the average Mohammedan in China is notoriously lax in his observance of the usual rites and ceremonies of Islam.
The well-known breadth and all-inclusiveness of the
Islam in China 243
Chinaman in his objects of worship and methods of ex- pressing the same, and the intermarriage with not a few Chinese brides, has led to an enlargement of Islam that would never have been tolerated by its founder. As in India, so it has come to pass in China, not a few Moham- medans have adopted and with an Islamic veneer now practice some of the superstitions of the idolaters around. With regard to the custom of sometimes taking Chinese brides where daughters of the faithful are insufficient, it may be noticed that the Mohammedan will never give a daughter to the unbeliever.
The prevailing laxness in belief, in carrying out the prescribed rites and ceremonies, and the laxness in desire to spread Islam amongst the Chinese, has led some of the visiting Moslems from the West to declare: *' Chinese Mohammedans are not true Moslems at all." And they have done, and are doing their best to put fresh life into Islam in this land.
Not in any craven spirit, not in fear of defeat, but in full assurance that God has His own solution for each problem as it arises, it may not be out of place to men- tion some difficulties likely to be met in proclaiming the Gospel to the Moslems in China. These are twofold ; first, those usually met with in all Moslem work ; second, such difficulties as are specially present in China. In the first class we mention the following : bigotry, pride, self-satisfaction, spiritual indifference, the likely outcome of their strong belief in fate, and fear of persecution.
In the second class we mention the following : Arabic and Chinese are both needed in dealing with the different classes of Mohammedans ; Arabic, for the MuUas and the students from the mosques ; and Chinese for the masses who know practically nothing of Arabic or the Koran. While all speak Chinese they almost worship Arabic as the medium of all that is sacred and indispensable in re-
244 Islam and Missions
ligion. The greater number of Moliammedans in China are practically ignorant of their own religion, and have little useful knowledge of either the written Chinese or of Arabic. This is not to be wondered at ; any one who will read the reports from lands where Islam is strong, will find that this dense ignorance is only one of the blighting effects of the spread of Islam. In June, 1910, a well-known worker in Egypt wrote that: "Even in Egypt, it is probable that not more than five per cent, of the Moslems can read.'^
After a long search for a suitable equivalent for our term God, the missionary body in China are in increasing numbers favouring the term " Shaug-Ti "— Supreme Euler; the Koman Catholic body hold tg "Tien-Chu" — Heavenly Lord. Other terms still used are those that mean Spirit, and the True Spirit, etc. Now the Mo- hammedans have a term of their own that had been in use long before missions were started in China ; whether the term "Shang-Ti "—Supreme Ruler— will ever take the place of the Moslem's own term is quite a question. The Mohammedan term for Allah is "Chen-Chu" — True Lord. How far it will be helpful to make use of the Moslem's own term— as some workers do amongst the Moslems— and of other religious terms, is a practical question.^
With not a little hesitation, and realizing the very inadequate treatment of this important subject, a few suggestions are here offered.
The very important position that medical missions occupy in Moslem fields, and the immense possibilities of such work, need no comment. An earnest appeal is here made to the whole Church of God to open up medical
^ The number of deified men who are worshipped in China under the title of " Shaug-Ti," creates in the Moslem mind a further barrier to the progress of the Gospel.
Islam in China 245
miasionary work commensurate with the appalling need in China. When at least two whole provinces — Kuei- cheo, and Sin-kiaug — are without a single medical mis- sionary, and provinces twice as large as England have only one or two medical missions, it is without our province to suggest localities. But in the interests of the Moslems, and as a most practical effort to make known the Gospel among these long- neglected people, we ask that medical work be taken up in all untouched strongholds of Islam in China. In addition, we suggest that in the provinces where the Moslems are in strong force the medical staff at existing Christian hospitals be strengthened, especially the medical missions in pro- vincial capitals. The addition of a ward to mission hospitals for the benefit of Mohammedans would in many districts be greatly appreciated. Lastly, could not some medical missionary with experience among Moslems in other lands be set free to inaugurate this important work ■?
A more urgent need, a wider door of opportunity than women's work for women, it would be impossible to sug- gest. It is quite true that in some districts a word spoken quietly by those in power in the mosques leads to the apparent closing of the previously open doors ; but this need not discourage any who take up this work. We have proved again and again that such closing of doors is only apparent and for a short season ; in answer to believing prayer these same doors reopen as widely as before.
Mission stations in China are, very frequently, at or near the large cities. These large centres offer special in- ducement for work among the masses of Chinese. But in considering the needs of the Chinese Moslems, we should bear in mind there is a large population of Moham- medans settled in the country, as well as a very influential
246 Islam and Missions
population often at the provincial capitals. Both classes need to be remembered ; iu some places whole villages are practically Moslem. The placing of a few workers in these important country centres of Moslem influence would be a great gain to ordinary work among the Chinese, and, at the same time, afford full scope for quiet testimony as to the truth, and an open door for the Nicodemus type of inquirer. Those who have worked among the Mohammedans and visited these country colonies of followers of Islam fully realize the need for such workers.
There is need of Arabic speaking missionaries. By no means is this suggestion placed thus low on our list ow- ing to the preceding workers being of greater impor- tance ! It would be much nearer the mark to say all suggested workers are of equal importance, of equal urgency. Among Moslems in China, there is the high- est scope and real need for workers able to deal with all classes. When the Church of the Living God remembers that there are in China more than ten millions, taking the low estimate, of Mohammedans whose creed as expressed by themselves is " Mohammed, he is the light of the world, he is the Chosen One," we do not believe they will turn a deaf ear to the appeal.
Here is the need for Arabic reading and speaking missionaries. Some who have retired from the full battle in lands of Islam might render invaluable service even by visiting China for a few months or longer. The Siberian trains are coming to China crowded with pas- sengers ; could not some missionary with experience in Moslem work take this fortnight's journey and spend some months iu making the Gospel known to our Mullasf
Young students of the Koran, MuUas with portions, whole Korans it may have been, have come to our gospel hall, have invited discussion, have spent hours in earnest,
Islam in China 247
animated, but generally well-controlled conversation. They have asked us to discuss in Arabic ; they have come again and again, and at the close of these long talks have said, ' ' It is most unsatisfactory discussing religion in Chinese. Have you no one who can meet us on the Koran, no one who can meet us on our own ground? "
The Scriptures, by the great kindness of the Bible societies, have been placed in the hands of those who in the mosques can read Arabic ; direct testimony has been borne by lip and by the lives of converted Chinese to the Living Saviour of whom they know so little ; but each visit from such Moslems and each visit to the larger mosques deepens the sense of the urgent need for workers conversant with Arabic.
In these days of wide- spread testimony to Israel, con- verted Jews travel through many lands, carrying the Gospel to their own people ; may we suggest that a similar privilege be granted to the Mohammedans in China? From India, Arabia, and Turkey, priests of Islam come to China and strengthen the faith of the Moslems. Is it too much to ask that some converted Mullas, there are many such in India, should be set free and helped on their way to visit the followers of Islam in China? That the Chinese Moslems should have the opportunity to meet and converse with one converted from Islam is surely both reasonable and practical.
A commencement is now being made with tracts in Chinese ; but as they are not yet available, if indeed translated, the need of special literature is very great. Tracts dealing with the great subjects that are so often a stumbling-block to the Moslem are needed in Arabic and Chinese. I have known a Mohammedan highly indignant because he thought the Trinity included the Virgin Mary. The nature of sin, the Atonement, the Divine
248 Islam and Missions
Souship of Christ, and other important doctrines need to be cleared of the gross mistakes in which they are viewed by followers of Islam. Chinese tracts in Moslem monld with a plain statement of the truth, and by preference with title page printed in Chinese and Arabic would be of great value. Other tracts needed are such as are in use in India ; short extracts from the Koran, such as, ' ' ask pardon for thy sins," in Chinese and Arabic, just as in India there are such in English and Arabic. A brief and moderate account of the life of the prophet of Islam, carefully avoiding the depths of iniquity which the masses of Moslems know little about, and as Dr. Bruce of Persia used to maintain, the less they know the better.
The Arabic tracts required for the Mullas will best be decided by those expert in this language ; I know of no such Christian in China.
In correspondence with friends in Cairo, this sugges- tion has been sent ; we gladly give it a place in the list. ' ' Let some missionaries have a year or more in Egypt to help them in taking up work among the Moslems in China."
Without multiplying organizations, could not some plan be devised to unite in service, and to strengthen the hands of all who are working among the Moslems in China ?
XVIII
ISLAM IN EUSSIA
MISS JENNIE VON MEYER, TIFLIS
I TAKE for granted that you realize what '' Eussia^' means: A state covering 2,816,143 square miles, with one hundred and fifty million inhabitants, be- longing to about forty nationalities and tribes, confessing something like twenty different religious creeds. I take for granted also that you realize what Islam in Eussia means : twenty million followers of the false prophet, be- longing to about seventeen nationalities and tribes, but forming one great Moslem family ; the one short creed : '< There is no god but God, and Mohammed is the prophet of God" moulding into one these twenty millions with all their differences of blood, race, occupation, ambition. You, who know Islam, will expect to find the Moslem in Eussia the same as everywhere : the fanatical, intolerant, proud believer, steadily pushing on the spread of his creed, caring neither for civil nor ecclesiastical power when he finds it encroaching upon his sacred right to per- fect liberty of creed and religious practice. Such you know the Moslem in Africa, in East and Central Asia, and such we find him in Eussia.
We cannot here trace the history of Islam in Eussia, or even the state of Islam in Eussia at the present time ; this has been done by more than one competent person and has been presented to friends of missionary work in a short essay by Dr. S. M. Zwemer in the Missionary Re- view of the World, and lately in a paper by Mrs. Sophia Bobrovnikoff, whose close acquaintance with Eussian
249
250 Islam and Missions
Moslems in the Volga districts, and whose special study of the subject enabled her to make a more masterly and full treatment of the question of Islam in Eussia than I can claim. In her paper Mrs. Bobrovnikoff only touched the question which occupies our attention for a moment to-day : what is done over the length and breadth of Eussia, including Siberia and Eussian Central Asia, by the State Church and by the Protestant communities and believers individually to reach Moslems with the message of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Saviour of man- kind?
Let us first briefly examine what the State Church (the Greek Orthodox Church) has done for the spread of the Gospel amongst Moslems in European Eussia. You know already from the paper of Mrs. Bobrovnikoff that at the end of the sixteenth century, when the Khanate of Kazan was conquered, a part of the Tatars were baptized and are ever since called the '' anciently baptized." But left without spiritual guidance and care they were and continue to be Christians only in name. Then followed a long period of absolute lack of any missionary work what- ever on the part of the Church among the originally Moslem, and Moslemized heathen tribes of the Volga districts.
About 1860 Professor Ilminsky from Kazan began his splendid work. He understood the enormous importance of the vernacular in reaching heathen and Moslems with the Gospel and with European culture and literature. And so, by translations of the Gospels and the liturgy in the vernacular ; by schools, where the Gospel and science were taught, also in the vernacular ; by creating a staff of thoroughly trained and enthusiastic native teachers, he reached thousands of heathen Moslems. He and his followers through church and school brought the Gospel to those who, being subject to and making part of a so-
Islam in Russia 251
called Christian government, had stayed for centuries practically without the influence of Jesus Christ and His word.
In Siberia, after its conquest in the end of the six- teenth century, no effort was made to reach the Tatar tribes which inhabited the northwest. We hear of no organized missionaiy campaign before the beginning of the eighteenth century ; and even then it was done for the heathen tribes in the district of Tobolsk only, the Moslems living there being spoken of as fanatical enemies of missionary work, as they were busily engaged in propagating Islam. We receive the impression from the reports of the orthodox missionary pioneers that then, as now, the Tatars were considered to be nearly inacces- sible to evangelization. We must add, that the ** evan- gelization" of heathen and Moslems by the Greek Or- thodox Church was done in those far-off days in a still more formal, hasty way than it is now done ; whole pagan tribes being baptized and reckoned to be Christians after a few days of preaching and instruction ; the mis- sionaries not knowing even the languages spoken by the people they baptized. Here just as in the Volga districts missionary work ceased soon after it had begun and darkness spread again over the tribes of l^orth- western Siberia for more than a half century till the beginning of the nineteenth century ; but even then no special work for Moslems was done here.
South of the Tobolsk district, stretching down towards Turkestan, the immense plains were inhabited by the Kirghis tribes, who were heathen. In the beginning of the nineteenth century, when '' the Apostle of the Altai, '^ the reverend Father Macary crossed these plains to reach the Altai, and perceived the state of these millions of heathen, he asked the Enssian government to allow him to begin missionary work amongst the Kirghis. But he
252 Islam and Missions
was told that these people were as yet too wild and savage to be accessible to the Gospel ! Bat soon after other missionaries, not depending upon the good -will of any government and having more zeal and understand- ing, occupied this field and won the whole of the Kirghis tribe to the faith of Islam. And as in more than one part of the earth, so here, the Christian missionarj^ has now to fight, not the weak and beggarly elements of an animistic religion, but the seemingly inaccessible granite fortress of Islam ! We do not find then, till the end of the nineteenth century, any special, organized missionary work among the Moslems of North, West and Central Siberia.
About the middle of the last century the Greek Ortho- dox Church awoke to a more vivid sense of its duty j and since then we find an ever-widening number of mis- sionary stations covering East Eussia and Siberia. We must make special mention of the Greek Orthodox Mis- sionary Society which was founded at Moscow about 1870. It enlisted from the beginning the interest and aid of many learned and noble men and women ; but through the agency of the parish priests this interest spread also among the common people, a great enthusiasm for mis- sionary work was aroused and money and lives were offered. The General Committee has its centre and seat in Moscow, but a vast net of parochial committees serve to bring the public all over Eussia in contact with the needs of the empire and to transmit to them the news of failure or success, receiving in exchange men and money. During the first twenty-five years of its activity the Orthodox Missionary Society was in especial favour with the public. It spent two million dollars for missionary work in the Volga districts, densely inhabited by Moslems and heathen, and in seven districts of Siberia. One hundred and five thousand souls received baptism ;
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how many, or rather how few of these had been Moslems, cannot be showD. The methods that were used were the same as everywhere in nou- Christian lands ; namely, preaching, schools, a beginning of medical missions, monasteries, children's homes.
The importance of bringing the Gospel and teaching the people in their own language was understood by every one and we find missionary centres for translating and printing the Gospels, the liturgy, and school-books at Kazan, in the Trans-Baikal, and in the Altai mission centres. The work of the Kazan translation committee, especially, can never be forgotten. We gather from Mrs. Bobrovnikoff's report that about two million copies of 800 or 900 writings in seventeen to twenty languages have been printed in the last forty years.
In 1900 we find the Orthodox Missionary Society at work independently or helping parish work and educa- tior j;l missionary work in eight districts in Siberia and in fourteen Eussian provinces. Missionary effort, though mostly amongst heathen yet reaching a great number of Moslems everywhere, has spread down to the Caucasus, where an independent missionary society has been at work for some time. Work was being done in the provinces along the Ural and in the southeast of Russia among the Turkomans, and in the west and southwest among the Kirghis. The number of baptisms has di- minished to about 4,000 a year, and conversions among the Mohammedans are few. The same forms of mission- ary work are in use. Five years later, in 1905, we find a still more noticeable diminution of baptisms, especially in comparison with those of the first twenty-five years. Only three thousand are reported. But a fact of still greater importance is to be noted ; Moslem propaganda is gaining in strength, Mohammedan influence is grow- ing, while Christian influence, as represented by the
254 Islam and Missions
Eussian Church, is weaker. The unlucky war with Ja- pan and the proclamation of liberty of conscience have done their work. Forty thousand formerly baptized Mohammedans and heathen have returned into paganism and Islam, and Islam especially comes out of this crisis strengthened and more aggressive than ever before.
In 1908 there was a total of only 1,670 baptisms, of which only forty-four were Mohammedans. But the number of apostasies has diminished. All in all the Greek Orthodox Missionary Society has spent in forty years from three to five million dollars ; it works in nine Siberian districts and sixteen Eussian provinces, and it has also a mission in Japan and one in Alaska. It now has 126 missionary centres, 400 missionaries, 700 schools with 19,000 pupils.
Let us now consider briefly each district by itself; in several we can exclude almost altogether Moslem in- fluence and missionary work amongst Mohammedans ; of such, for instance, are the north and the far east of Siberia, though even here we find Tatars in small num- bers in nearly every town. In Central and East Central Siberia, as, for instance, in the Trans-Baikal, the prov- ince of Irkutsk, and the Altai, mission work is directed specially against Buddhist influence, which for the past ten years has become a real danger and an enemy of Christian work. Part of the Altai and the centre and north of the province of Yeniseisk are inhabited by Shamanists, who, though for the most part baptized and officially considered to be Christians, live and die without Christ. In the southern part of the Yeniseisk province, especially in the Minusinsk district, are many Tatars, mostly belonging to the ''anciently baptized." But they are not enlightened in the Christian faith, which they nominally profess, and we read of very few baptisms amongst the Mohammedan Tatars of this region.
Islam in Russia 25 J
Moving westward, we come to the vast territories of Semipalatiusk aud Akmoliusk, peopled by the Kirghis tribe. We have seen already that this formerly pagan tribe accepted Islam only about fifty years ago. For a number of years the Orthodox Missionary Society has carried on work there, and in 1908 there were seven missionary centres with twenty-two missionaries, twelve schools, thirteen churches, but, alas, the number of con- verts is small! It must be admitted that missions among the Kirghis present special difficulties, of which we shall hear further on ; let us only say that the Kirghis is characterized by an indifference to religious truths which makes it hard for missionaries to gain any hold upon his conscience and will. Even Islam has not yet succeeded in making the Kirghis into fa- natical Moslems ; they still hold some pagan beliefs and practices. During the last fifteen years 500 baptisms are reported. The newly baptized Kirghis are gathered into special colonies and cared for materially and spir- itually.
We come next to the northwest of Siberia and the district of Tobolsk. Here missionary work among pagan tribes was begun 200 years ago ; after some years it stopped, and the newly baptized converts were left to themselves. A hundred years ago the work was again undertaken and has continued ever since. But organ- ized missionary effort for Mohammedans was only opened ten years ago by the ^'Tobolsk Central Anti- Moslem Missionary Society. *' Seventy thousand Mo- hammedans are reported to live in this district. Four- teen missionaries are working here, all of whom are them- selves baptized Tatars. They are full of zeal. AVork is done by preaching, by discussions, by spreading of Gos- pels and tracts in the Tobolsk Tatar dialect. There are no special missionary schools. In ten years eighty souls
256 Islam and Missions
have been baptized. Here, as everywhere, Islam has grown stronger, many schools have been opened by the Tatars, and mission work is becoming more difficult.
If we now cross the Ural Mountains and look into Eussia proper, we find a dense Mohammedan poi^ulation in the Volga district, also along the western slopes of the Ural and southward to the Aral and Caspian Seas. In the Volga provinces missionary work is being done in heathen and Mohammedan towns and villages by quite an army of priests, teachers, and colporteurs. Tliere are parochial missionary committees, there is the missionary Brotherhood of St. Gouri at Kazan doing educational work, and the Orthodox Missionary Society helping these or doing independent work. The system of Professor Umiusky (by which heathen and Moham- medans are taught and evangelized in their own lan- guage) is in use in all the missionary schools and churches ; while the Kazan Mission Press supplies all the workers with the books needed in all the dialects spoken in this vast region. Here are several central schools for Chuvash and Tatar children, who thence pass into the seminary for teachers. These young men and women bring Christian religion and culture into hundreds of villages and thousands of homes. There are liere medical missions, classes for adults, and educa- tional homes for children— Tatar, Chuvash, Cheremiss, and Bashkir. It is in this part of Russia that most is done to win Mohammedans to the Christian faith as represented by the Greek Orthodox Church. But as the missionaries have to do here with Tatars, the work is particularly difficult and rather unfruitful, if we ex- cept the baptisms en masse of the " anciently baptized." Tlie Tatars have a certain fanatical, proud, exclusive bent of mind, and are very active missionaries for Islam.
We see this also in the Crimea, which is peopled by
Islam in Russia 257
Tatars and Turks. Since 1900 work has been done tliere by members of the Crimean Parochial Missionary Society. Tiieir methods of work are twofold. An itin- erating missionary, well acquainted with the Turkish and Arabic languages, travels over hills and valleys exhort- ing, preaching, and distributing Christian literature in the vernacular. So far, every year from two to five souls have been baptized. Besides this work, missionaries are being prejDared for this field in ecclesiastical schools and seminaries where Turkish and Arabic are taught, with the Koran and apologetics. The work among the Cri- mean Tatars is said to have been particularly difficult in the beginning. Here also there were apostasies to Islam after the proclamation of religious liberty in 1905. But now the Moslems seem to be more friendly. The Crimean Missionary Society's report shows a spirit of brotherly love and faith.
In the east and southeast of European Eussia, as for instance in the provinces of Yekaterinburg, Ufa, the Ural district, Orenburg, Astrakhan, and the region of Kuban, are to be found more or less developed educational and medical mission work, parish work among the '^ anciently baptized," and tours through the sandy steppes with word and literature. Here and there colonies for con- verts from Islam have been founded. But wherever the Mohammedans, whether Kirghis, Bashkirs, Turkomans or other tribes, live in the neighbourhood of Tatars, they infallibly come under their influence and the battle is made more strenuous for the Christian missionary. In the steppes, as in the towns and villages, an ever-growing Moslem propaganda is going on, the Mullas wandering far and wide to make proselytes, to strengthen the weak in faith, while material help is always at hand and freely given to the newly converted or for the building of schools and mosques.
258 Islam and Missions
After this short survey of missionary work in Eussia and Siberia, let us now look at Eussian Central Asia, or Turkestan, and the two Khanates of Bokhara and Khiva. This vast territory stretches from the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea towards the western frontier of China and from the Aral Sea and the Kirghis steppes in the north to the snow-covered mountain ranges which separate Afghanistan from the Eussian Empire. Im- bedded in this Eussian dominion, we find the Khanates of Bokhara and Khiva, which in a certain measure be- long to it and depend upon it. There are here about seven million Moslems for whom we are responsible be- fore God since we Eussians are, for the moment, the only Christians who can influence them for good or for evil, who can draw them to Christ or let them alone to follow Mohammed ! In this we may say almost entirely Moslem land, no missionary work is being done by the Greek Orthodox Church. This I myself had opportunity to learn when travelling there some months ago.
I have now given a brief statement of the mission- ary activity of the State Church of Eussia gathered as I could do it from missionary reports and other written or oral sources at my disposal. I shall now try to view this work under three heads ; considering briefly : (1) What goes to help forward the missionary efforts of the State Church^ (2) What is there in the religious, clerical and administrative peculiarities of the Greek Orthodox Church that hinders missionary work? (3) What may we expect for the future of State Church mis- sionary efforts among Moslems? What is the spiritual attitude of the missionaries, what is their message for the Mohammedans to whom they go or among whom they live?
(1) In a certain way the Orthodox Missionary So- ciety's work profits through being done by agents of the
Islam in Russia 259
State Church. Work is allowed to be UDdertaken, to grow, and to develop, no fear being felt by the govern- ment or the Holy Synod, as to its being sectarian or evangelical. Its way is smooth, the police will not inter- fere with it, there will be no persecution for the GospePs sake. The priests, teachers and missionaries are officials of the State Charch. In principle, at least, these Church officials may at any time and in any emergency appeal for help and protection to the local authorities, which acknowledge the State Church missions to be politically and dogmatically reliable. Converts from paganism or Islam have enjoyed, and I sujppose they enjoy even now in a certain measure, certain privileges, such as material help, three years' freedom from taxes, etc. Then also help in money is more easily to be had : the Holy Synod, the parochial committees, the bulk of the public, both upper and lower classes, so far as they are at all interested in missions, counting it meritorious to help the Orthodox Church in its missionary efforts to propagate the " Holy Orthodox Faith. '^
(2) Of the hindrances to missionary work done by the State Church, we will mention first those which are external. Though in principle local authorities are bound to aid missionaries and their work, yet practically this aid is not always given. We read in the missionary reports of many cases where high and low officials have failed to aid missionaries. We may mention here also that missionaries, in fact, are not highly esteemed but are regarded as rather a nuisance by a great part of Eussian administrators as well as by the public.
Another impediment to successful work in heathen or Moslem parts of the empire is the fact that the local au- thorities, being themselves heathen or Moslems, are of course opposed to missionary work in their regions and exercise all their power and craft to hinder Christian in-
26o Islam and Missions
flueuce from spreading and their co-religionists from being converted ; by threats and actual maltreatment they often retain timid but inquiring souls in their old faith. Another hindrance is experienced by converts from nomadic tribes like the Kirghis and Kalmucks (Buddhists). Such converts when they are baptized lose all share in the land from which they and their cattle drew their sustenance. The land belongs to the clan, not to the individual, and whoever leaves his clan finds himself absolutely without land, money, or work. Un- fortunately the commission for distributing free govern- ment lands has been slow in allotting land for colonies where newly baptized converts could begin a new life. By this attitude of officials many converts have had to suffer much. The orthodox missionaries do what they can, but that is not much, to provide lands and work for these *' exiles for faith's sake," and, as we saw above, some colonies have been founded.
Another hindrance is the lack of men. Not many can be found to go out for a missionary's life in the steppes, for instance, or in the virgin forests of North Siberia, or the mountains of the Altai. Many do go, of course. But if we consider the particularly intense spirit of self-sacrifice, for which the Russian man and woman are justly famous, we are grieved to see how few of the heroes and heroines, who for a political idea will gladly suffer and die, choose the arduous life of the messenger of Christ ! Missionary work is considered ''sham," "humbug," a way of mak- ing an easy living, not worthy of any good man or woman's life-blood ! This lack of men is the reason why so much is left undone ; and it happens in many a place that the priest, who has been sent as a missionary to seek and gather those who are as yet outside the Church, spends his whole time and strength in parish work, being thus diverted from his true vocation.
Islam in Russia 261
We must also meution lack of knowledge of the lan- guages spoken by the heathen and Moslems to whom the missionary is sent. This hindrance tends more and more to disappear, since missionaries are now frequently chosen from among converts and sent back to bring their kins- men the Gospel in their mother tongue.
Not the least of these hindrances is the lack of funds to sustain and expand the work. The mission field is very extensive, and friends are getting fewer and less generous as the spirit of indifference and even of religious hostility gains ground among the orthodox population, both high and low.
Another difficulty in missionary work is the extremely severe climate, in the north and east of Siberia, for in- stance ; and the wandering life of the nomad tribes in the south and southeast of Siberia, which makes any close and constant influence nearly impossible, unless the mis- sionary joins the tribes in their wanderings. This indeed is the proper thing to do.
Last but not least, the development in the past decade of Moslem propaganda, the increase of low and middle schools with new programmes adopted to European exigen- cies, the liberal help given to co-religionists or converts into Islam, are all hindrances to Christian missionary work by the Orthodox Church. What counts much against success is also the fact that in the hands of the State Church missionary work has often been Eussianiz- iug work. To be a good citizen and to be a Christian is thought to be synonymous. So that for the heathen and Moslem the Russian missionary is only a Eussian official ; not only the man of another race and of another faith, but the representative of the government to whom he now owes allegiance. We can understand how, with the spread of pan-Islamic tendencies, this preaching of the Russian faith by Eussian Church officials will make
262 Islam and Missions
missionary work more and more difficult and unsuc cessful.
Tliis leads us to the spiritual causes of failure. The orthodox missionary, being sent out by his ecclesiastical authorities, is not always exi)ected to be converted him- self, a spiritually newly-born man, as we Protestants un- derstand it. It is not always solely the love of Christ, which constrained him to go out ; he may have been sent out because of intellectual capability, or knowledge of the language, or he may have chosen to go out because of advantages of a rather low nature. He, being himself often an uuspiritual man, not having experienced in his own heart the power of Jesus Christ to make all things new, cannot transmit this power to others. He cannot sing the praise of the love of God, not having received himself the precious gift of a Saviour ! The sad state of many orthodox missionaries has made the whole class a some- what despised and suspiciously treated group of men. Not many believe in the good faith and unselfish purpose of a missionary ! One does not credit him with any love for souls ! But having said so much to his discredit, let us do justice to the Orthodox Church, which does in a certain measure the work to which it is called by its heavenly Master, handicapped though it is by external and internal hindrances, let us admit that among the or- thodox missionaries there may be and certainly are not a few men of faith and love and self-denial, whom the Lord will acknowledge as His own good and faithful servants. But it is not only the whole machinery, which savours too much of this world, not only the lack of spiritual men, it is the form in which Christianity is pre- sented to heathen and to Moslems, which dooms mission- ary effort to be more or less unsuccessful ! Imagine a determinedly monotheistic Moslem, invited to worship in a church full of images and lighted candles, where gor-
Islam in Russia 263
geously dressed priests invoke the name and propitiation of so many saints along with the name of God ! I, who know the meaning of these ceremonies and paraphernalia, am every time under the impression of the paganism which we see in the Greek Orthodox manner of worship. What then must a Mohammedan feel when he is asked to accept all those images and offer his worship in the way which the orthodox missionary tells him is tho Christian way I It is very difficult to understand the psychology of a Moslem who accepts the Eoman or or- thodox Catholic faith ! Let us hope that they may not always be moved by material advantages, but that some of them may truly have had a vision of Jesus, and not having any other way of confessing Him presented to them, that they have accepted the orthodox faith in all sincerity.
One more cause which hinders powerful spiritual mis- sionary work is the lack of faith of the orthodox mis- sionaries in the weapons they wield in this warfare. Not only civil authorities do not care for missions among Moslems for fear of arousing their discontent and pro- voking their fanaticism, even the Church itself seems to stand in awe, doubt, and dismay before the compact mass of twenty million Mohammedans, who ever more and more unitedly rally around their one religious leader, their one creed, and begin to realize and bring into being the religious and political ideal called pan-Islamism. The Church in Eussia stands like David before Goliath ; but this David has not the same faith in the all-powerful God who could make the stones in his sling an efficient weapon against Goliath's mighty sword ! It is neither by such a Church, nor by such men, who look with ter- ror at the foe before them, that rock-like, unflinching Islam will be conquered and won. We feel it when read- ing the missionary reports, we have heard it said by
264 Islam and Missions
faithful members of the Orthodox Church : '' We do not do auy real evangelistic missionary work among Mos- lems and we do not see that we ever will or can do such work.'^
We now come to the second part of our survey of mis- sion work in Eussia. Having briefly reviewed the Greek Orthodox Church missions, let us examine what is being done by Protestant believers to preach Christ to the Mos- lems in Eussia.
We may consider the influence of evangelical believers on Islam under three heads : (1) General influence of Protestant communities ; (2) Direct missionary work done by societies and individuals ; (3) The British and Foreign Bible Society's work. We must say with pain and regret that the Lutheran and the Eeformed Churches in Eussia are still absolutely deaf to the appeal for evan- gelization which ought to be felt by every evangelical Christian, living in a land where as yet 5,000,000 heathen and 20,000,000 Moslems are without Christ. No missionary work has been done by these church organiza- tions as such. In what way the colonies of Lutheran Christians, mostly Germans, that we find in the Volga district (in Samara and Saratoff ), in the Caucasus, in the Northern Crimea, in Bessarabia, and even in North Turkestan and West Central Siberia have influenced Moslems around them I have not been able to trace. I refer to the direct evangelizing influence that can make Moslems eager to accept the Christian faith. The thrifti- ness of these Germans, their economy, their sober life certainly appeal less to Mohammedans, who in a certain measure possess these same qualities, than to uncultured Eussian peasants.
Some Protestant communities do awake to the responsi- bility laid upon them by the light they have received. For instance the Mennonites in Turkestan, who live in a
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district peopled by the Kirghis, are said to have made a beginning of missionary work at Aouli Ata and near Khiva. The Seventh -Day Adventists at Aouli Ata and near Askabad (among Kirghis and Tekinzes) are also preparing for work amongst Moslems. There are also numerous communities of Baptists, converts from the Greek Orthodox Church, formerly called Stundists, and now organized under the name of Eussian Evangelical Christians. These are now found, thank God, all over Eussia and Siberia, an example to other churches by their zeal to win souls, by their truly Christian way of living. But as yet I could not hear of any organized gospel work by them among Moslems. Work is certainly being done by local Baptist churches ; as for instance, in Baku, Batum and Tiflis in the Caucasus ; but as yet it seems to be done more as an individual work, not yet as a neces- sary part of a Christian community's very life. The local Baptist churches at Aouli Ata, Taschkent, and Askabad in Turkestan are now awakening to this re- sponsibility and considering how to reach the Moslems around them. I found Armenian believers at Baku and Askabad full of zeal and love for the Moslems ; reaching some of them through the Gospel and through a spirit of brotherly love.
Coming now to work done among Moslems by individ- uals and societies, we must mention the only missionary society for evangelizing Islam in Eussia. This is the Swedish Missionary Society, with its seat in Tiflis. Work was started in the Caucasus, in 1884, in a district peopled by 3,500,000 Mohammedans, speaking for the greater part the Azerbaijan dialect of Turkish. Two missionaries with their wives and two lady missionaries were at work ; they had also five native helpors. Evan- gelical work has begun at Tiflis and at Bokhara and Samarkand ; the most distant station being at Kashgar in
266 Islam and Missions
Chinese Turkestan. As the Russian government did not allow the Swedish missionaries to do educational or medi- cal missionary work, which is being done at Kashgar, in the Caucasus the missionaries were restricted to dis- tribution of the Scriptures in Azerbaijan and Osmanli Turkish and in Persian. Conversation with individuals and later regular evangelistic meetings have been going on with the result that as the missionary, Mr. Larson, reports from Tiflis *' fourteen Moslems have been baptized, of whom several have died happily in Christ.'^ He writes in 1910 : "We see signs of awakening and ob- serve the good influence of our work among the Moslems all around us. Mrs. Larson gives much of her time to visiting Moslem women who meet at her house for Bible reading. Not one of the converts of the Swedish Mission has fallen back into Islam as a result of the granting of religious liberty in 1905.'^ The Eussian government's attitude towards this mission has been more friendly lately than in former years, and evangelistic work is per- mitted in Tiflis.
Unhappily the work begun by the Swedish Mission at Bokhara and Samarkand had to be stopped as soon as it began to bear fruit ! After the conversion at Bokhara of some Moslems and Jews, trouble came and the native preachers were obliged to leave ; work was forbidden ! Bokhara offered a magnificent opportunity for reaching the Moslems from all Central Asian tribes, people from India and Afghanistan coming frequently to this centre of Islam in Central Asia. But Mr. Larson hopes to start work soon in the Khanates of Bokhara and Khiva by some of their Syrian preachers, who, as a rule, are con- sidered to work amongst Moslems with more success than Armenians do.
The Swedish Mission also opened a station near Oren- burg amongst the Bashkirs. From 1890 to 1894 Mr.
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Sarwe worked there as a missionary. He writes of hard times there and of no positive results, though at the end of four years' labour, through sympathy and material help rendered during the great famine, the confidence of many Bashkirs had been won. No work is being done there now. But the faithful and loving missionaries look for- ward with yearning for their Moslem brethren and trust God to open to them again the closed towns of Central Asia. This Swedish Mission is, as we have already said, the only Protestant mission to Moslems in the whole of Eassia, Siberia and Central Asia !
Of independent, individual workers among Moslems I must mention Mr. Easton, who since 1875 has done work among Mohammedans in Trans-Caucasia, the Caucasus, and for some time in the Crimea. He draws special at- tention to the Turkomans and Kirghis living in Trans- Caucasia. Evangelistic work ought to be done there speedily, before these tribes become fully and fanatically indoctrinated in the Moslem faith.
In Tiflis, I have heard, a lady is working independently, preaching and distributing Gospels and tracts among Moslems. At Baku I met Mr. Toumanyan, an Armenian brother, who speaks well several of the Turkish dialects and whose heart is filled with great love for the Moham- medans. He has opened a lecture room where daily talks are held with Moslems, and where every Friday they have a meeting which is well attended. One Mohammedan has been baptized. An English mission- ary, Mr. Hill and his wife, are also doing work there. I may mention also Mr. Patwakan Tarajaui of the Eussian Evangelical Community at Baku. At Aouli Ata in Northern Turkestan two friends, one of them a Mr. Thiemann, are preparing for mission work amongst the Kirghises. Last and least, I was sent out by the Lord to work among the Moslems as an independent itinerating
268 Islam and Missions
Bible- woman. I could reach many of the Tatars in the Volga and Kama districts and beyond as far as Tobolsk, and now God has led me to work in Central Asia, sowing the Word of life, and believing that this seed can spring up in the heart of one or many and bring fruit unto God.
We see then by the rapid survey of missionary work for Moslems done by Protestant churches, communities, and individuals, that while the only organized society is the Swedish Missionary Society, the Lord has begun to work in the hearts of others of His servants and that some communities and some individuals have heard and ac- cepted the call to go work in this stony and neglected vineyard — the Moslem world. We notice, also, that by the providence of God, Protestant endeavour has been aroused just in that part of the Russian Empire where less is being done for the evangelization of Moslems by the Orthodox State Church, as in the South Caucasus, and nothing at all, as in Russian Central Asia. May the Lord put the call to evangelization of these neglected Moslem brethren in Central Asia as a burden on our souls ! If we accept it. He will certainly not leave us without strength to lift it and transform it into a joyful privilege.
As a light and life-bearer to Christians, Jews, Moslems and heathen alike, the British and Foreign Bible Society is at work over the whole length and breadth of the Russian Empire. It has two principal agencies, in Russia proper and Central Asia, and also in Siberia. "The colporteurs of the Russian agency meet with Moslems in the Volga districts round about Kazan ; from Samara eastwards to Orenburg ; in the steppes north of the Aral and Caspian Seas ; in the Caucasus, and in Trans- Caucasia and Central Asia. There are no special colporteurs appointed to Moslem work, but the ordinary colporteurs whose work it is to offer the Scriptures to all,
Islam in Russia 269
offer them alike to Moslems wherever they meet with tbem." The Eiissian agency of the British and Foreign Bible Society has Scriptures in ten Moslem languages, and the number of Scriptures sold to Moslems has in- creased in the last four or five years.
We have now finished our survey of the missionary work done among the Moslems of Kussia, Siberia and Central Asia. It seems to me that our Lord, looking down over this vast territory and seeing the absolutely inadequate work— I do not say fruit of this work, but the inadequacy of the effort— is grieved and His heart, which yearns for all those Moslems, that they also may come to the knowledge of truth, suffers from our hard- ness of heart ! Twenty million souls in the darkness of Islam and so few of us care for them ! Let us ask our- selves—those of us who do feel this '* reproach of Islam '^ and who accept it as a *' challenge to faith '^— what can be done to evangelize the Moslems in Russia ?
First of all prayer is needed. More fervent, definite prayer that the government should open the land to non- Russian missionary enterprise now standing at the door, ready to enter and to work ; let us pray for the small beginning of work done by Russian believers ; also for men and women with faith and love and the will to make the most of opportunities put before us by God. Then, knowledege of the state of Islam in the world and in the Russian Empire should be spread among the churches in Russia. How can they pray, if they are not told what to pray for ; how can they go out, if they are not called ? A paper stating all that is necessary to know about Islam, about the work done in other coun- tries and at home, containing an appeal to help with prayer, money, lives, ought to be issued and circulated among all the Protestant churches of Russia. May it not be the purpose of God through such an appeal to
270 Islam and Missions
draw out of every evangelical church a people destined to serve Him amongst the Moslems ?
In what way can the Protestant Church and missionary societies outside of Russia help us? Again we say, first of all with prayer. You, missionaries to Moslems, know how to pray, else you would not have achieved what, with God's blessing, you have achieved. Sustain us over here in Russia ! Then you can help us by printing for us. The Bible Society supplies us with the Scriptures ; several mission presses send out millions of copies of tracts ; but there are still several Mohammedan tribes in Russia and Central Asia to whom we cannot yet offer tracts, simple, evangelical literature, in their mother tongue. And you know well the importance of this literature, preparing or following up the distribution of Scriptures. Whilst we are yet a few, unorganized workers, help us at this point and strengthen our hands ! Then, whilst Russia is yet closed to foreign missionaries, begin or develop mission work on our frontiers. Especially Persia is of great strategic importance. Thousands of Persians are continu- ally travelling through the Caucasus, Trans- Caucasia, and Central Asia. The influence for Christ, received in Persia, will certainly be gradually felt on this side of the frontier. Meshed, for instance, which so many Per- sians pass when coming over to Turkestan, and the towns in the Persian Azerbaijan district could be splendid centres for mission work, which would be spread over to Russia by the people themselves ; and no police or gov- ernment decree could stop this influence.
And when, at last, the door shall be open to foreign mission work, then come over and teach us, and breathe into us the spirit of daring, of obedience to God at any cost, the wonderful conquering faith which we see in most of your missionary enterprises !
As soon as God shall have raised up servants to work
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for Moslems we must think of educational work ; our brethren in the Orthodox Church Mission have shown us the way in this : it is the one way by which they have reached most easily the rising Moslem generation. Educational work will possibly spring up first in the Protestant communities, such as Baptists, Mennonites, Adventists, who live in absolutely Mohammedan neigh- bourhoods ; and in the steppes it will have to take the character of itinerating schools, whose wandering teachers will have a wonderfal opportunity not only to teach Christian European science, but to preach Jesus to those whose life they share. Medical mission work could now be done, as I had occasion to see in Turkestan, if only the medical missionaries were at hand. Hospitals for natives would afford good opportunity for quietly influencing their patients. And it would be here as everywhere the unsurpassed means of reaching Moslem women, who in Central Asia in particular, even if not so much in other Eussian Moslem lands, are sitting ^< be- hind the veil," waiting for us to bring light into their darkness.
I have not spoken at all of Islam itself, nor of the dif- ficulties which the missionary will meet with in this work ; they are the same everywhere, and you know them better than we do. I speak as to men and women who know what a foe we have before us and that it is not with flesh and blood that we have to fight, but with powers and principalities, with the '< Prince of the power of the air," who has turned the hearts of more than two hundred million men to accept Mohammed, the false prophet, and to defy the Son of God.
But God, who has placed in our hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory and love of God in the face of Jesus Christ, has given us to hear the call for personal service on just this battle-field. We have obeyed it, and
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by this have received power to believe in the victory of Jesus Christ over even Moslem hearts.
It is worth while to work for those, who having such a capacity for single-hearted, stout, and fiery adherence to what they think right, will make as whole-hearted fol- lowers of Jesus Christ, once they are won for Him. When with hearts longing for the appearance of the Sun of Righteousness, we ask the question : " Watchman, what of the morning? Watchman, what of the morn- iug?" our faith, looking over Moslem Eussia covered as yet by the darkness of night, answers: "It is yet night, yes, but the morning cometh ! '^
The Late Sir Sayyad Ahmad Khan, founder of the Mohammedan Coheg^
at AHgarh
XIX
EEFOEM MOVEMENTS IN INDIA REV. CANON WEITBRECHT, PH. D., D. D., SIMLA
THE attempt seriously to adjust the teacliiug and practice of Islam to modern conditions of life and thought was first made in India by Sir Sayyad Ahmad Khan of Aligarh in the United Provinces (1817-1898). He supported his efforts after progress and reform by a rationalistic exegesis of the Koran, recogniz- ing in it a human as well as a divine element, and teach- ing that a knowledge of natural law had superseded be- lief in miracle. His energies were chiefly directed to the promotion of Anglo- vernacular education among his co- religionists, and the chief monument of his life-work is the Anglo-Mohammedan College at Aligarh. In a speech delivered shortly after the mutiny he said: ^'Hitherto the Musulmans have been rulers in this land, but now it is the divine will that they should pass their lives as subjects of a conquering power. As hitherto they have inscribed their name on the page of history with the blaze of victory and dominion, so now they are called upon to make their name illustrious as good subjects of a just rule."
Another notable result of Sir Sayyad' s labours was the establishment of the Mohammedan Educational Confer- ence which meets annually for the promotion of educa- tion, both higher and lower.
The Nadwat ul XJlema at Lucknow, and in a smaller way, the Anjuman i Naumaniye at Lahore are societies which endeavour to promote Moslem education on a
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modern basis, but with more regard to Moslem ortho- doxy than Sayyad Ahmad' s school. The Ahmediya is the sect founded by the late Mirza Ghulam Ahmed of Kadian in the Punjab. Its teachings lay stress on natural law, and profess to promote peace among hostile communities. Their main tenet is that the founder is both the true Mahdi and also Christ returned to earth.
There is not much that is new to report of the activi- ties of these bodies during the last five years. The Aligarh College has held on its way, though somewhat hampered by dissensions on the College Council and by changes of principle, and the number of students in 1909, as compared with five years previous, was 476 to 340 ; and in the high school attached to the college there were 475 against 364. The main court presents quite a collegiate appearance, except that a structure of the kind which we usually relegate to the back, occupies a prominent place in the quadrangle. In one corner is the handsome College Mosque, which all the students are supposed reg- ularly to attend, and close to it is the tomb of the founder. The second court is in a more tentative style, but all around the central college pile, buildings for hostels and other annexes are arising, and in a few years the whole complex should be ready to accommodate the Moslem University which progressive Mohammedans throughout India earnestly desire. The Agha Khan has recently given a lakh of rupees towards a fund of twenty lakhs which he believes will be sufficient in order to make a beginning with the foundation of *' a model university bearing the name of King George V." It may well be that the next of these conferences will be able to chron- icle the establishment of the Indian University of Ali- garh. How far it will be a powerful instrument of reform and progress it is difficult to forecast. The fact that the present professor of Arabic in the Aligarh College is a
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learned German reminds us that linguistic research ac- cording to modern methods has not yet made much prog- ress among Moslem scholars in India. There is an Old Boys' Association with 750 members which contributed Es. 11,000 to the college funds in 1910. Beyond the ad- vocacy of the university scheme, and its efforts for the establishment of more schools, the chief development initiated by the Educational Conference is the All-India League for the promotion of the Urdu language. This language, as is well known, is the product of Moslem rule in India. Its name signifies ''camp,'^ and it re- ceived this designation from the chief imperial camp of the Mogul dynasty at Delhi, where the Persian tongue of the foreigners was grafted on the Hindi of those parts, and so formed a new language which has become the lingua franca of India, and especially the vehicle of intercourse and lit- erature among Mohammedans throughout the country. Measures and proposals for ousting Urdu from the posi- tion of the language of administration and education have roused strong feeling on the part of the Moslem commu» nity, and their reply has been the formation of this society. Like other indigenous things it has taken on an English name and calls itself the ''All -India Urdu Conference." Its object is to stimulate the production of Urdu litera- ture suited to modern conditions, and to promote the use of Urdu officially and privately.
The Nadivat ul Ulema or college of divines has its head- quarters in Lucknow, and it has established branches in Madras and elsewhere. It issues a monthly magazine En Nadioa which has for its object the establishment of har- mony between faith and reason and the investigation of ancient and modern sciences. The position of the move- ment with reference to Christianity may be illustrated from an article in the October number (1910) on the Christian and the Moslem state. The writer remarks
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that though there are certain features of the civilization of Christian lauds which make it seem superior to that of Moslem countries, and so attract the progressive Moslem towards the Christian faith, yet these things in reality- have no connection with the Christian religion. If this were really acted upon the most civilized nations of the world would have to bid farewell to their culture and re- tire for the practice of asceticism to the summit of some high hill in accordance with the teachings of St. Paul ! Among the book advertisements the most prominent is one of a work entitled ^' Astronomy and Islam," the ob- ject of which is stated to be the proof that the Moslem astronomers of the middle ages, whom orthodox divines alone allow as true to the faith and the Koran, were in reality opposed to the Copernican system and very near the principles of modern astronomy. Evidently the rep- resentatives of the Nadwat movement have much leeway to make up before they can grapple, even plausibly, with the task of reconciling modern thought with the faith of the Koran.
Another effort, similar to that of the Nadwat, has been made in the establishment of the Cawnpore School of Theology. The impulse towards this seems to have come largely from the sense that Islam in its struggle with Hinduism might become the bitten instead of the biter. Hitherto the conversion of Hindus to Islam was no un- common thing, but the reverse had never been heard of. Of late years, however, the Arya Samaj has introduced the principle of Shuddhi, that is of a ceremonial purifica- tion by which the non-Hindu can be introduced into Hinduism, at least in its Dayanandi form, and they pro- fess to have converted a number of Mohammedans, among them some mulvis, in this way. The Cawnpore School has taken up the controversy, and is issuing a series of tracts against the Arya Samaj. Number three
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of these is devoted to a comparison of ^^ Yedic theology aud Moslem mouotheism." The author takes the pro- fessed monotheism of the Arya sect, together with its as- sertion of the eternity of soul and matter and criticizes their teachings according to the Moslem formula that God must be immaterial, without parts, omniscient, omnipo- tent, eternal, aud perfect. He thinks that the doctrine of "Protestant Trinitarians" is that the Son and the Holy Spirit are not to be worshipped, and have no part in the work of creation and providence. This agrees with the statement of a local observer that the Christian controversy is taught in the Cawnpore Theological School by a ''revert" from Christianity with a very defective equipment. A printing press is said to be attached to the school, but this tract is printed elsewhere. It con- cludes with a fervent personal appeal to the reader to drink of the water of life which flows from the exhaust- less fountains of Islam. This seems to be distinct de- parture from the accustomed style of Mohammedan con- troversial tracts. One can hardly realize the late Mulvi Wall ullali of Lahore addressing his non-Moslem readers as ^' beloved brethren." Sanscrit is said to be taught in this school by a Pandit of the Sanatan Dharm (old Hin- duism).
The Ahmediye sect has declined since the death of its founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmed on May 26, 1908. The fact that his death took place through cholera, whereas he had promised his followers immunity from pestilence without plague inoculation, was no doubt a shock to the faith of many, though it was concealed as much as pos- sible. The Review of Religions, conducted by his dis- ciple Nur ud Din, gives a rather elaborate explanation of the fact that he should have died at all. The same pe- riodical gave currency to the report that three Moslem missionaries had proceeded to Japan, and converted
278 Islam and Missions
12,000 Japanese. This proved to be of the same value as mauy of its other statements. Whatever the merits of the Mirza, we may be ghid that his last public appeal was addressed to liis eouutrymen in the interests of peace between Hindu and Musulmau. The general attitude of his followers, too, seems less truculent than formerly. But there are no special signs of a development of thouglit, except the disowning of "Jihad," and the doctrine that polygamy was made j)ermissive, only as the lesser of two evils. The permission was freely availed of by the Ra- dian Mahdi.
The contributions to religious thought by Mohammedan reformers are scarcely more numerous in other directions. A Eeform Publishing Society in Calcutta has published at least two tracts, but when I sent recently to the ad- dress given on the cover for the remainder, the letter came back to me through the dead letter office. The first of these tracts reproduces a lecture, given before the Y. M. 0. A. in 1908, at a meeting of the Theological Circle, presided over by the Eev. H. Anderson, secretary of the Baptist Mission. It sets forth the ethical side of Islam as a religion of good works ; allowing that the posi- tion assigned to woman is a crucial test of a religion, it maintains that polygamy, divorce, concubinage and piirda are not ordained in Islam ; religions should deal with one another in a cooperative, not a competitive spirit, and distinguish their permanent from their tem- porary elements. This is supported by a saying of the prophet which, if genuine, gives very ample sea room to the Moslem navigating the troubled waters of modern life : "Ye are in an age in which, if ye abandon one-tenth of what is now ordered, ye will be ruined. After this a time will come, when he who will observe one-tenth of what is now ordered will be saved." The other tract is an eirenicon^ containing parallel passages from the
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Bible and the Koran under various heads to show the agreement of both. The spirit of these publications is excellent, and so is that of two pamphlets by a Punjabi barrister who was scholar and prizeman of Christ's Col lege, Cambridge. In treating of Mohammedan regenera tion he lays special stress on the degradation of the vil lage Mullas, and the consequent abuses in marriage rites, and urges that none should be allowed to marry who are not duly certified by a proper religious authority. He holds up the Keformation of the sixteenth century as an example to Moslems, and stoutly asserts that the English are not an irreligious nation, and praises the virtues which they display of honesty, generosity, and public spirit. He laughs at Gwillianism (the Mohammedan Mission in Liverpool), but he defends ritual and dogma (which many of the young reformers despise) as the nec- essary results of development. He thinks it a pity that Mohammedans are not availing themselves of the oppor- tunity which the missionaries are diligently using, of con- vening the untouchable classes. ''They are going to be your superiors, though their fathers were your menials.'^ All this, and much more, was said before the Anjuman i Rimayat i Islam of Lahore, which is the chief agency for promoting the education of Moslems in the Punjab.
A man of independent thought who exercises some in- fluence in these parts is Mulvi Abdullah Chakralavi. The village of Chakral, from which he takes his name, is in the Bannu district of the northwest frontier province, and he has disciples in various places in that direction, but apparently he has settled in Lahore for the sake of printing his voluminous works on the Koran. In com- pany with an Indian brother I visited him recently, and found him living in very bare dilapidated quarters in a street that rejoices in the name of Siriojhri Icigali (sheep's head and tripe lane), and poorly clad, a type of the
280 Islam and Missions
Oriental scholar who lives only for his learning. His speech oscillated between Western Punjabi and Urdu. Mulvi Abdullah is an extreme Protestant of Islam. Going beyond the Wahabi sect, he will have nought even of the best attested traditions as a regulative for faith or practice : the Koran only is the religiou of Moslems, and it is to be explained by itself alone. On this basis he modifies the five *' pillars of the faith," as generally held by Moslems, not a little. The Kelime (la ilaha ilia Hlahi ve Mohammedu rami allahi) is not a verse of the holy book, and its recital is therefore not a duty of the faith, though it is true as a statement of it. Prayers must consist of nothing but extracts from the Book, Ezan is a human in- vention, and unnecessary ; so are teshehhud and teshih ; the pilgrimage should consist simply of a visit to the Caaba at Mecca, without circling the shrine or kissing the bhick stone ; the customary visit to Medina is as wrong as one to Kerbela. The one-fortieth scale of almsgiving should be changed for a graduated one, beginning with one- twentieth and rising to one-fifth. Polygamy and Jihad are against the Koran. The soul is not taken as it escapes from the body by the angel Israfil : it dies with the body and does not come into being again till the resurrection. Intercession at the day of judgment by any created being is flatly blasphemous. If the person concerned is innocent he will be pronounced so ; if he is guilty would any sane judge call upon another person to plead for his acquittal I Apparently this radical attitude is combined with a broader one than is usual in such cases towards non- Moslems. "We have no monopoly in God, he remarked. The same One is over us all. In all this there was no trace of modern thought or scholarship, but there was more vigour and originality than I have noticed in other reforming teachers. According to an article in the Spectator of June 4,
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1910, the Persian reforming sect of Behais is making con- verts in North India and elsewhere, not only from among Musulmans, but from Sikhs, Brahmans and Buddhists. I cannot say that I have come across any trace of such, but this may be because they are still votaries of the Shia doctrine of Ketman ud din which allows concealment of one's faith to escape persecution.
The results of negative Biblical criticism are made most use of by the Ahmediye Review of Religions and occasionally by others. I recently received a request from a Musulmau official of high standing for the name of a work on " Higher Criticism,'' but I found that what he wanted was information on the elements of textual criticism of the New Testament.
Of practical activities connected with Moslem re- form, other than those already mentioned, there is not much to report. The establishment of orphanages is reported from several quarters, but it does not seem as if much were being actually accomplished in that way. Freedom of intercourse with Christians, both Western and Eastern, is on the increase, and Western customs are finding their way more and more into Mos- lem society. From Madras I hear of a marriage where the bride and bridegroom drove off after the ceremony in an open carriage, the lady unveiled.^ Marriages be- tween English women and Mohammedan gentlemen take place occasionally ; but always, so far as I have heard, in Eugland. The lady coming out here is usually much cut off from English society. At present the efforts after regeneration, next to those in education, are
*A Bombay correspondent writes: **In a local Urdu paper a few months ago, I was astonished to see an ishtihar by a Moslem damsel wanting a husband, asking for the photo and other particu- lars of the suitor to be sent to the mushtahire, care of the editor." This, he assured me, was authentic.
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chiefly taking a political form. The All-India Moslem League has for its objects '^ (a) to promote among Indian Musulmans feelings of loyalty towards the British gov- ernment, and to remove any misconception that may arise as to the intentions of government with regard to any of its measures. (&) To protect the political and other rights and interests of Indian Musulmans, and to place their needs and aspirations before government in temperate language, (c) Without prejudice to the objects mentioned above, to promote, as far as pos- sible, concord and harmony between the Musulmans and other communities of Indians.'^ ^ Its work is sup- plemented by various local bodies, such as the Madras Presidency Moslem League, the Anjiiman i Ittihad va Terakki e Musulmmian i Punjab, etc. In accordance with the above cited utterance of Sir Sayyad Ahmad Khan the tone of these organizations is loyalist, and this has been emphasized by the recent manifestations of mili- tant Swadeshism, which have been mainly among Hin- dus.^ The instinct of self-preservation naturally in- clines the Moslem one-fifth of India to lean upon the help of the impartial ruling power, as the policy of self-government develops. The habit of seeing and acknowledging the benefits which those rulers have sin- cerely, if sometimes a trifle clumsily, tried to confer, tends to beget cordial feeling. The most notable polit- ical leaders of reform are His Highness the Agha Khan, head of the Bohra community of Bombay, and the Prince of Arcot in South India. The leading writer and divine is Mavlana Shibli isTaumani, founder of the Nadwat of Lucknow.
^ From rules and reo;ulations of the All-India Moslem League.
^ " A talk on Moslem polities," by Mr. Ali Mirza, the secretary ol the league, gives a popular exposition, in dialogue form, of the loy- alist position.
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An effort on the lines of our Christian tract societies to defend Islam on modern lines is being made by the Mohammedan Tract and Book Depot in Lahore. It publishes works by English writers like Davenport, who exhibit Islam in a favourable light. Carlyle's "Hero as Prophet" is issued, with omissions. English books of Mohammedan devotion are given ; also tracts on Moslem wars; "Women in Islam" (by the Eight Hon. Amir Ali), a refutation of Canon SelFs books; a tract on the miracles of Mohammed (!). It is a rather miscel- laneous collection of old and new views, and shows how both are fermenting in the minds of the new gen- eration in the effort to repulse the advance of Christian ideas.
With these exceptions one cannot say that the modern movement in Indian Islam has shown many signs of vigour lately. From Madras we hear that two journals, The Muslim Patriot and Kaumi Halchal, were started to further the movement, but have both collapsed for want of support. From Delhi a correspondent writes : " Delhi is still too preoccupied with her past fame and her or- thodoxy to afford a healthy atmosphere for such an exotic as Islamic Eeform. . . . There is nothing here which can be dignified by the name of a reform movement." From Lucknow : "There is nothing to indicate any real reform and progress in the commu- nity." From Bombay : "Eeform has not found a strong echo in the hearts of Bombay Moslems. The reformer who comes from l^orth India or elsewhere does not find a good reaping in Bombay, where each head of a Moslem community only exercises influence over his own com- munity and is never recognized by members of another division."
Of the attitude of men of the new learning towards Christianity, one who knows them well writes : "They
284 Islam and Missions
consider Christianity and Islam to be two branches of the same tree, and they regard the morality and learn- ing of the Christian religion with great esteem. Modern thought is certainly spreading among them, but it is too early to estimate its eflecf The old school laments the consequent decay of Arabic study. At lectures held in November, 1909, for Mohammedans in Lahore, the In- dian Christian lecturer had shown considerable dexterity in his use of Arabic logic. The first speaker in the discussion which ensued was the editor of a Moslem paper, and he remarked: "We often hear nowadays that the study of the ancients is no longer necessary. I simply ask you, after what we have heard this even- ing, can we afford to do without the study of Arabic? " During the discussion after another lecture in the same series an M. A. barrister was put up to speak, but whenever he tried to cite the Koran, he not only chilled the hearers by reciting in the tones of the law- court instead of the musical hirat of the schools, but he boggled over his quotations and had to be prompted by his friends. This certainly does not mean that ice can afford to be slack in the acquisition of the sacred tongue of the Moslem ; on the contrary it is rather an encouragement in the prosecution of our studies. And here let me note that no mission library should be with- out the new encyclopedia of Islam which is being issued by Luzac in three volumes at forty- five shillings each. The first dictionary of Islam was issued by a missionary, the Eev. T. P. Hughes, B. D., Peshawar. From this second work the missionary scholar, as far as I have noticed, is being carefully excluded, and we shall prob- ably have to read many thiugs in it which we do not like, but none the less is it needful to see others as others see them. Notwithstanding what has been said above as to the
Reform Movements in India 285
slackness of the modern movement in Indian Islam, I strongly believe that this is a temporary phase, like the present reaction against liberalism in Turkey. We must keep Moslem modernism steadily in view, and lay our plans for dealing with a greater and more rapid develop- ment of it in future. It is a matter for thankfulness that the Christian Literature Society have been producing English works for Moslem readers which help to meet the needs of the educated classes. Mr. Gairdner's dia- logues on Inspiration, The Conception of God, and other topics, and Mr. Mylrea's monograph on The Holy Spirit in Islam are examples of suggestive and fruitful methods of presenting well-worn subjects or bringing forward new ones. At the same time we have to remember that the Moslems of India are not so separate from non- Moslem life as in many other parts, and therefore they are open to the influence of literature which may not be specially written for them.
The present position of the modernizing Moslem is one of many reminders that we must not let our efforts in Anglo-vernacular education slacken. The spirit of greater friendliness and readiness to consider the claims of the Gospel is in no small degree due to the education given in schools and colleges which has taught the Moslem youth a respect for Christian scholarship and given him a first hand acquaintance with the Bible.
Another point on which I would insist is that we must approach the educated Musulman in a spirit of apprecia- tion. In his case the attitude of arrogant superiority assumed by the ignorant bigot has been more or less replaced by a sense of respect for the achievements of Christian civilization and for the philanthropic fruits of the Christian religion. But never let this make us assume an air of patronage as to the adherent of a half barbaric religion. If with pardonable loyalty, he exaggerates the
286 Islam and Missions
glories of the culture of Bagdad aud Cordova, and the intellectual achievements of the Arab Schoolmen, remem- ber that his history does contain many a glorious page. Let us have done with the mention of crusades and crusaders. We gain little by the comparison of Eichard Coeur de Lion with Salah ud Din (Saladin). And let us remember that, if Islam has remained the religion of nations on a lower scale of civilization, its professors have at least succeeded in casting down the barriers of race between fellow believers considerably more than Christians. And remember too that the Indian Moslem is eminently susceptible to the influence of a life of un- assuming, genuine love to man, lived in an atmosphere of humble devotion and prayerfulness in God.
Finally, I would say, let us strive to make these our brothers and sisters conscious that we value and live by the great truths common to both religions no less than they. Consider for a moment how much of the Apostles' Creed a Musulman professes. ^'I believe in God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary, aud ascended into heaven, and shall come again ; I believe in the communion of saints, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlast- ing.^^ Now these foundation truths are in danger of being undermined, not in themselves, but in the minds of many, by the dislocations of modern thought, and the Moslem with his backward culture has far less chance of dealing successfully with these difficulties than the Christian with his heritage of continuous and progressive religious thought. Of this the Moslem is to some degree conscious, aud he is bound to become increasingly so. Let him feel that we are striving to preserve this price- less common possession, and we shall the better be able to lead him on to see that those articles of the Christian creed which his prophet ignorantly omitted in reality
Reform Movements in India 287
supply elements which are needed to adjust religion with Bcieutific thought, and better still those by which he may attain the assurance of forgiveness, the power of sanctifi- cation, and the sure hope of eternal life.
XX
REFOEM MOVEMENTS IN THE NEAR EAST REV. JOHN GIFFEN, D. D., CAIRO
"^T ^HE whole fabric of Islam remains precisely as I the prophet left it, neither taken from nor JL added to— his work alone. As the faith issued from the lips of Mohammed or was embodied in his daily life, even so it lived, and still lives, the religion of more than a hundred and seventy millions of our race. 'This day,' as he said at the Farewell Pilgrimage, 'I have perfected your religion unto you ; ' and for weal or woe, thus perfect and complete, it has ever since re- mained." Thus closes Sir William Muir's ''Mohammed and Islam," and we all bow to his authority on matters of Islam.
Such a system seems to leave no place for reformation. Its author considered it perfect and so his followers have considered it perfect. It has virtually remained without reform during all these centuries at Cairo, the citadel of its strength, at Constantinople the seat of the caliphate, at Damascus from which it rules Syria, as well as in the Mosque of Omar at Jerusalem, and in the cities along the coast of North Africa. But despite its claims and its history, both at Cairo and Constantinople, as well as in all the other regions bordering on the Great Sea, reform is in the air.
Reform in the air is not very tangible, it is hard to see, to touch, to take hold of. As long as the air is still, its effect may not be very perceptible. Its presence can scarcely be known. But the air is always in contact
288
Reform Movements in the Near East 289
with the earth. Then whatever elements it may have in it, that are capable of producing changes in the earth, have a chance to do their work. Therefore, if there is reform in the air about Islam, it must be doing something whether we see it or not, or whether Islam itself per- ceives it or not. Furthermore, permit me to assure you that the Mohammedan atmosphere in these parts is sur- charged with reform. Every Moslem breathes it, and breathing it, it must affect his life.
When I began to think of preparing this paper, I wrote to a most intelligent, earnest worker in regard to the subject. He replied that he had thought of the mat- ter, and he had consulted a colleague who has been a missionary in these parts for more than half a century, ''and," said he, ''we both plead ignorance of anything of great value in Syria of this kind." Still, I am sure, that both these missionaries will agree with me that there is reform in the air.
If in some way the air can be set in motion ; if some master of science shall arise who will turn to account the electricity with which it is charged, then there will be results which shall be seen and felt.
The evidence is abundant that the elements of doctri- nal and social reform exist in the Islamic atmosphere of Mediterranean lands.
The Pan-Islamic Movement may be mentioned first, though it is far from being the most important as a re- form movement. Indeed it may be denied whether it be reform at all. It is supposed to be aggressive. To be aggressive it must also be reformatory. As I understand it, this is a movement to gather the scattered members into one body. In order to do this differences must be eliminated, or at any rate smoothed over so that the members may fit one into another. To do this rites and customs which are found in one sect and not in another
290 Islam and Missions
are being left off. Especially is this true of such cere- monies as are in themselves repulsive to twentieth cen- tury civilization. I am told on good authority that numerous smaller ' ' Mulids ' ' have been discontinued in Egypt. The ''Doseh^' was a part of the celebration of the '' Mulid en Nebi ^' itself at Cairo. I remember well witnessing its last performance. That the Sheikh of the Saadiye dervishes should ride on horseback over the prostrate bodies of faithful Moslems was too revolting to the feelings of intelligent men to be tolerated longer. It is true that this particular instance of reform happened before the movement called pan-Islamism was recognized and named, but the spirit that demanded these elisions has eventuated in the movement, and its friends demand that it be carried still farther, that Islam may present a united front, and move on to conquest. The Anglo- Egyptian control in the Sudan, by its Egyptian army with British officers, making the Arabic language the vehicle of communication, and the Moslem ^* Jumaa '^ the weekly rest day instead of Sunday, by its building mosques at public expense and its repressing Christian missions is aiding the pan-Islamic propaganda. This is a fact too well known to need comment. How far the type of Islam thus fostered is reformed remains to be seen.
The *' New Islam '^ is another evidence that reform is in the air. As it appears to me, the movement which lias this name is but an expression for the influence of 'Western thought and Western life on Islam when the two are brought into close contact. It was the presence of Christian civilization and influence which produced in India the New Islam, as Dr. Weitbrecht showed us in the paper which he presented at the first meeting of this con- ference at Cairo in 1906. The opening of the Suez Canal, and the events of 1882 in Egypt brought that country
Reform Movements in the Near East 291
into the closest touch with all that is Western. An era of unprecedented financial prosperity in the Nile valley- filled the pockets of many a Moslem, and so he took his family to summer on the continent or even to England. Being intelligent he has learned much of European cus- toms, dress, manner of life — much which Islam could never have given him. So he becomes dissatisfied with his religious forms and formulas, but finds them inelastic as they have been always understood. He then sets about interpreting them for himself. Where a literal interpretation will not suit him, he makes it figurative, and spiritualizes it. So the Koran and the Hadith take on a new meaning. This method gives an easy way to reconcile contradictions, and gives a reasonable gloss to absurdities in theological standards.
It is hard to measure the influence of changes of this character. Some institutions and teachers will be more influenced than others, and some will influence more than others. The leaven is working. It may be a question whether it is strengthening or whether it be rather un- dermining Islam. As far as it goes, it is a re-forming of the religion, whether it be a reformation, a change for the better or not. It seems to be a sort of spiritualizing, sublimizing of old forms ; not an actual reform ; but a reaching out after something better than Islam itself gives. It is a loosening from the old, a feeling for the new. May we not say that it is an opening of the door to admit that which only the Gospel can supply.
Another evidence that reform is in the air is the cha- otic state of purely Mohammedan schools in Egypt. What is true of Egypt is probably true of these schools in other parts of the Levant. I can only refer to two notable examples to illustrate my meaning.
The great school at the Mosque Al Azhar in Cairo has long been considered the great centre of Islamic learning.
292 Islam and Missions
Students have been gathered from all parts of the Mo« hammedan world. It has often been referred to as a great university, claiming to have within its walls at times as many as twenty thousand students. Its author- ities themselves have never called it a university. They are now proposing to do so, introducing changes at the same time to j ustify the change in name. A scheme for its reform has been drawn up, which has received the sanction of the Khedive ; except, it is said, the clause giving its chancellor and his permanent committee powers of administration over all other mosques, which are considered as auxiliaries to Al Azhar. " His High- ness thinks," says a Nationalist paper, " that decentrali- zation is better and more conducive to efficiency in such matters.'^ This is said to be the ninth time in the last forty years that the laws and programmes of Al Azhar have been radically changed ; and this last has been con- sidered much more sweeping and radical than all others. New studies in science and philosophy are to be intro- duced. By this new reform, it is said, the Azhar will assume the dignity of a great university, and be recog- nized as the head and centre of all Mohammedan learning in Egypt. If it be considered so in Egypt it may be counted so for the whole Moslem world. All this is but on paper as yet. And as Colonel Eoosevelt said of a paper constitution, it is of no value so long as it is only paper. It is certain too that the Mosque Al Azhar lacks most of the elements that make a true university.
Another claimant for the title of university is the new one which has been named ' ' The National University of Egypt." However, this does not claim to be in any sense a rival institution to Al Azhar. Al Azhar has always been, and will still be distinctly religious, making the propagation of Mohammedan doctrines its special end and aim. The National University, while nominally
Reform Movements in the Near East 293
Moslem, brings its lecturers from wherever it can get them. It would even seem that the less religion of any sort these teachers have, the better they are qualified for the teaching to be given there. Its fortifications are only a few thousand pounds, and its leaders men of no special training for the positions they occupy. No comprehen- sive scheme has been sketched even, much less any at- tempt to realize one. Its only building recently served the not very noble purpose of a cigarette factory. Let us hope that the dreams of its founders will not all go up in smoke. As yet, no regular classes have been formed. Only lectures are given on certain subjects. It is of in- terest to note here that one of the lecturers that has re- cently been employed is a lady, a daughter of a certain Hafui Nasif, and she bears the nom de plume of * ' Bahith BilBadia'^ (Investigator of Principles). Both the name and the fact that she, a lady, is a lecturer in a Moham- medan university are significant of reform.
Another force is that of New Literature.
Islam is a religion of a Book, as Dr. Zwemer remarks. Its book is called the '* Eeader ^^ (Koran). The book is not to be read only, but to be studied, to be committed, to be recited religiously. The traditions and fetvas are all written down and bound up in volumes. These have hundreds of volumes of commentaries written on them. The Arabic library at Cairo is an immense building, and it is filled with this sort of literature. Most of these are hoary. They all deal with Islam as a perfect system, ^^not to be added to, nor taken from."
But there has appeared recently another sort of litera- ture. These recent books call loudly for reform in the system inculcated by those older books. Mohammed Abdo, late Mufti of all Egypt, was a writer of this sort of literature. He used the functions of his office to enforce his teaching. His doctrines and rulings were especially
294 Islam and Missions
effective in questions of divorce. In regard to divorce, the teaching of the Koran and the practice of earlier and later leaders of the people, is the crime of crimes against woman, degrading to both man and woman, and subver- sive of all that is pure and good in family life. Moham- med Abdo also wrote a book entitled ^* Amud al Muslimin,^^ which is said to be a powerful arraignment of a number of the doctrioes and practices of the religion with which he was identified, and which he knew per- fectly at first hand.
The late Emin Bey Kasem wrote two books that have become celebrated. Every young man, and even every young woman in Egypt who wishes to be considered as be- longing to the class 'intelligent,'^ feels it necessary to read these books. Their titles sufficiently indicate their char- acter, and show what is a burning question with intelli- gent young Mohammedans in these parts. *'TheN"ew Woman" and "The Emancipation of Woman" are full of good ideas, and show what the gifted young writer thought absolutely necessary, that Islam may have the appearance of a religion for the twentieth century.
Sheikh Ajmal Sidki az Zahari al Arafi has written numerous essays on ''The Veil" and what it means of degradation, imprisonment, and slavery of women. A poet of some celebrity in Cairo has written poems urging that Moslem women discard the veil, and come out into the light of life and the day. But what would Mohammed think of a Moslem that would think it wrong to have more than one wife, and she to wear a plumed hat, and to ride with her husband in an automobile, or to eat at table with knife and fork in company with her own and her husband's guests ? What could he think ?
The great engine for bringing about reforms is the newspaper. Are the newspapers reforming Islam? There are hundreds of them in the Levant where a score
Reform Movements in the Near East 295
of years ago there were tens. They are read by every- body who can read. The newsboys sell them in sets of two, three or four at a time to a purchaser ; for people want to know what is being said by the different papers. Every one of them is crying reform. It is political re- form that they claim to want. But with Mohammedans politics are never to be separated from religion. They are in his mind inseparable. The cry of ''Nationalism '^ means a Mohammedan nation, in which only Moham- medans have equal rights as far as there are equal rights at all. When the agitation began of ''Egypt for the Egyptians" many Christians shouted as loudly as any Mohammedan. It was not long however before the true nature of the movement was discovered, and the assas- sination of the Prime Minister— the first Copt of the land — so emphasized the fact that it was a movement for more complete Mohammedan control, that from that day no Christian identifies himself with that party. All this agitation has served but to awaken Mohammedan feeling and intensify it, not to reform it in the least. Fewer young men frequented the cafes of Cairo during Eamadan this year than usual. That is, more of the "Effendi'^ class fasted during the month than in years previous to this one. So the tendency appears to be to intensify, rather than to reform ; to engender hatred towards Christians rather than to accord to them equal political rights with themselves.
I mention lastly one of the most palpable evidences of the fact that reform is in the air in Mohammedan lands.
The Eevolution at Constantinople has given to the government of the Caliph a constitution since the meet- ing of this conference at Cairo. A constitution was drafted, and even granted years ago, but not promulgated nor put in force. The new one has been promulgated and put in force with a good deal of energy and eclat
296 Islam and Missions
Press laws have been abolished and full liberty has been given to publish accounts of what has been done and is being done. Periodical publications of all sorts have multiplied like musbrooms in a hotbed. It remains to be seen whether the figure will apply in other respects than that of number. It is curious to note that when press laws were being abolished at Constantinople they were being revived and enforced at Cairo with new vigour.
It is early yet to pronounce the new regime at the Sublime Porte either a success or a failure. It has given a certain confidence to enterprises for public improve- ment. It has not succeeded in making the persecuted Armenians feel safe, nor even in stopping rapine and slaughter among them. The flight of young men from Syria to the West, to seek in America what their own country has denied them, still continues. The great failure has been that the new government has not been able to show that it even meaus to mete out even-handed justice to all races and religions. On the other hand it has already shown, just what the Nationalist party in Egypt has shown — that it aims at Moslem supremacy and Moslem aggrandizement alone.
But if the oxygen of reform is in the air, are there no signs that the work of oxydization has begun? Are there no indications of reform of any sort? There cer- tainly are such indications.
Mohammedanism permits slavery. The large majority of Mohammedans may not own slaves, for they are under Christian laws, and no Christian government permits slavery. Even under Mohammedan governments it is unlawful and departments for the suppression of the slave trade are supported at government expense.
The suppression of the slave trade represses polygamy and the seraglio which fed on, and demanded slavery.
Reform Movements in the Near East 297
Ismail Pasha, the first Khedive of Egypt, was a great palace- builder, and he had the palaces filled with wives and concubines of all grades. His son Tewfik lived a continent life with one wife. The present Khedive, Abbas II, had for years but one wife. He has recently taken another woman, a Christian, and made her a Mos- lem and his wife at the same time. Eeport has it that he has not, by doing so, increased either family happi- ness or his own peace.
Competent witnesses agree in asserting that polygamy is not so prevalent in the Levant as it has formerly been. Eev. George C. Doolittle writes me that he was surprised to hear on good authority that only one man in the large town of Sidon has more than one wife. It may be there are many more towns in Syria and other parts of this section in which the same would be true, but Sidon is perhaps much above the average in that respect. It would be interesting to know how many divorces there have been in Sidon in the last ten years. However it will naturally follow that when polygamy decreases, the number of divorces, as well as the chief cause for them, will naturally decrease.
Other customs of minor importance, as the screaming of women (az zar) in funeral and other such mournings have been forbidden in Cairo and in other large cities, and what is forbidden in the cities soon becomes un- fashionable in the villages. The eating of meat slaugh- tered by infidels is no longer prohibited, so that meat shops kept by European and other Christians or by Jews are patronized by Mohammedans.
Dreams and their interpretation do not now have the importance once attached to them. Distinctively Ori- ental costumes for both men and women are being re- placed by Western dress. A teacher in one of our schools for girls, when teaching an advanced class and
298 Islam and Missions
remarking on the different customs that exist in differ- ent countries among different peoples, referred to the Oriental custom of removing shoes in entering a house or place of worship where one desires to show respect. There were Moslem girls in the class, and all denied that there had ever been such a custom in Cairo. That just meant that they had always worn shoes instead of merakib, and so had not even known that what was sig- nified by the removal of the hat in one country was indi- cated by removing the shoes in another.
Many other trifles, or what may appear on the surface to be trifles, might be mentioned. But though they may be trifles, they indicate a trend. They show the direc- tion of the wind, and that the air is moving.
Let it be noted in conclusion that not one element of any reform which has taken place, nor of any reform that is indicated by any change already accomplished, has been from within Islam. Islam has no reforming element within it. What has been done has been ef- fected by contact with that which is without. Western civilization. Western customs. Western education, intel- ligence, and power have alone done what has been done, and must, I am 'persuaded, do what shall yet be done.
*' Behold, the fields are white already to the harvest."
TRAVEL, MISSIONARY
JOHN W. ARCTANDER
The Apostie of Alaska
Tht Story of William Duncan op Metlakahtla. Illus- trated, i2mo, cloth, net $1.50.
A record of the phenomenal life-work and thrilling ex-
feriences of William Duncan during fifty years among the ndians in British Columbia and Alaska. Marvellous is this story of the reformation in the Indian character and its di- version to useful, practical pursuits as Duncan tells of how he originated industrial enterprises, such as boat-building, saw- milling, and established a large and lucrative salmon cannery, acting all the while as instructor and overseer, besides being school-master, preacher and pastor. It reads like a romance as it narrates the wonderful story of his missionary work and industrial labors among his loved chosen people.
GERALDINE GUINNESS
Peru : Its Story, People and Religion
Illustrated, 8vo, cloth, net $2.50.
Miss Guinness, from an extended tour of Peru, has pre-
f)ared a wonderful volume of description. She pictures a and of great extremes of climate; gardens flourishing at altitudes higher than Mt. Blanc and deserts at the sea side, and a people sadly in need of the touch of Christian civiliza- tion. The author's father, H. Grattan Guinness, has provided for the book 45 illustrations, photographs, maps, photograv- ures.
G. Campbell Morgan says: "From whatever standpoint I approch this work, I find it impossible to speak too highly in praise of it. Its literary style is full of charm, and withsu full of life. Its grouping of facts is superbly done."
MANUEL ANDUJAR
Spain of To-day from Within
With Autobiography of Author. Illustrated, i2mo, cloth. net $i.as.
An instructive, interesting narrative of a native of Spain, who knows his country well. He was brought up a Catholic, and later on embracing the Protestant religion, he became a minister of the Gospel. The stories of his travels in Spain will be found entertaining as well as instructive reading, as will be his glad narrative of the progress of evangelical work in that priest-ridden nation. The book is delightfully illus- trated, and will be sure to be widely and eagerly read.
TRAVEL, MISSIONARY
//. G. UNDERWOOD
The Call of Korea
New Popular Edition. Paper, net 35c. Regular Edition, i2mo, cloth, net 750. "As attractive as a novel — packed with information. Dr. Underwood knows Korea, its territory, its people, and its needs, and his book has special value which attaches to expert judgment. Particularly well suited to serve as a guide to young people in the study of missions." — Examiner.
WILLIAM O. CARVER
Missions in the Plan of the Ages
Bible Studies and Missions. i2mo, cloth, net $1,25.
As Professor of Comparative Religion and Missions in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville, Dr. Carver has prepared in these chapters the fruit of many years' study. His aim is to show that the foundation prin- ciples of the Christian task of world conquest are found in the Bible not so much in the guise of a commanded duty as in the very life of the Christian faith.
ANNIE L A. BAIRD
Daybreak in Korea
Illustrated, i6mo, cloth, net 60c.
ITiere can never be too many missionary books like this. A story written with literary skill, the story of a girl's life in Korea, her unhappy marriage and how the old, old story transformed her home. It reads like a novel and most of all teaches one, on every page, just what the Gospel means to the far eastern homes.
ISABELLA RIGGS WILLIAMS
By the Great Wall
Selected Correspondence of Isabella Riggs Williams, Mis- sionary of the American Board to China, 1866-1897. With an introduction by Arthur H. Smith. Illustrated, i2mo, cloth, net $1.50. "This volume is a little window opened into the life and work of an exceptionally equipped missionary. It was _ at Kalgan, the northern gateway of China, that a misssion station was begun amid a people hard and unimpressible. It was here that Mrs, Williams won the hearts of Chinese women and girls; here that she showed what a Christian home may be, and how the children of such a home can be trained for wide and unselfish usefulness wherever their lot is cast. No object-lesson is more needed in the Celestial Empire than this. Many glimpses of that patient and tireless mis- sionary activity which makes itself all things to all men are given/'— Arthur H, Smith, Author of Chinese Characteristics, Etc.
TRAVEL, MISSIONARY
JULIUS RICHTER
The History of Protestant Missions
in India Svo, cloth, net $2.50.
Dr. Harlan P. Beach says: "The editor of Die Evangel- ischen Missionen has long been known as a chief authority on missions, while his two volumes, one on North and the other on South India, have made him an Indian specialist of the highest order. Dr. Richter's third volume on that Em. pire is by far the most important contribution to the history of Indian missions that has ever been published."
SAMUEL MERWIN
Drugging a Nation
The Story of the Influence of Opium on the Chinese Nation.
i2mo, cloth, net $1.00.
"The first real story of the opium curse of China._ During its preparation the author travelled around the world inquiring into the problem at first hand and reading everythmg avail- able on the subject. Mr. Merwin's book is one that will be studied by all who have the interests of China at heart.' — Portland Evening Telegram.
HORACE N. ALLEN, M.D.
Things Korean
i2mo, cloth, net $1.25.
"If you want some hours of delightful amusement, in which you will find that incidentally you are imbibing a great deal of information about that strange and interesting coun- try and its people, you will buy the book. Ihe book is epi- sodical, anecdotal and affords just that discursive and pleasant reading which everybody likes." — Toledo Blade.
MISCELLANEOUS
HORACE C. STANTO^
The Starry Universe the Christian's Future Empire izmo, cioth, net $1.25.
A study of what inspiration reveals about the transcendent
{•hysical powers, privileges and possibilities of the coming ife. All the methods of the future life are little more than sketched in divine revelation. This author attempts to fill in the hopes of the human heart. His work is rational and reasonable and the work is one that will bring comfort to those whose thoughts are especially turned this way by reason of bereavement. The author is a successful pastor and writes to the needs of the human heart as he knows it.
MISSIONARY— TRAVELS
The Call of Korea
Illustrated, net, 75c. H. G. UNDERWOOD
"Dr. Underwood knows Korea, its territory, its people, and its needs, and his book has the special value that at- taches to expert judgment. The volume is packed with in- formation, but it is written in so agreeable a style that it is as attractive as a novel, and particularly well suited to serve as a guide to our young people in their study of mis- sions."— The Examiner.
Tt>«n<^« ICr\i*4»ATi A Collection of Sketches and Anecdotes, inmgS IVOrean Diplomatic and Missionary.
Illustrated, net, $1.25. HORACE N. ALLEN
Gathered from a twenty years' residence in Korea and neigh- boring countries by the late Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to Korea.
Breaking Down Chinese Walls
From a Doctor's Viewpoint.
Illustrated, net, $1.00. ELLIOTT f. OSGOOD
"Dr. Osgood was for eight years a physician at Chu Cheo, and conducted a hospital and dispensary, visiting and preaching the Gospel in the villages round about. He writes from experience. The object is to show the influence and
f»ower of the medical missionary service, and of the daily ives of the missionaries upon the natives, told in a most in- teresting manner by the record of the living examples." — United Presbyterian.
Present- Day Conditions in China
Boards, net, 50c. MARSHALL BROOMHALL
"This book is very impressive to those who do know something of "present-day conditions in China," and most startling to those who do not. Maps, tables and letterpress combine to give a marvelous presentation of facts." — Eugene Stock, Church Missionary Society.
The New Horoscope of Missions
Net, $1.00. JAMES S. DENNIS
"Dr. Dennis, who has long been a close student of for- eign missions, and speaks with authority, gives in this volume a^ broad general view of the present aspects of the missionary situation, as foundation for 'the new horoscope' which he aims to give. The book is made up of lectures delivered at the McCormick Theological Seminary on The John H. Con- verse Foundation." — Examiner.
CHRISTOLOGY
What Jesus Said
The Great Discourse of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
i2mo, cloth, net $i.cx>. Here we have the words or sayings of Jesus compiled topically, without extraneous matter. The book meets a dis- tinct want. F. R. MONTGOMERY HITCHCOCK
Chri^ and His Critics
i2mo, cloth, $1.00. , , . .
A discriminating and original description of prominent aspects of the Life of Christ as touched upon by criticism and research, displaying both a thorough mastery of the subject and a most refreshing style.
BISHOP WM. FRAZER Mc DO WELL
In the School of Chri^
Cole Lectures for iQio. i2mo. Cloth, net $1.25.
A thoughtful, sympathetic, and original arrangement of the teaching Christ gave to His disciples to fit them for the apostolate. The chapters are suggestive in their very titles: Chosen by the Master — I To Hear What He Says; II To See What He Does; III To Learn What He Is. Sent Forth by the Master — I With a Message; II With a Program; III With a Personality.
CHARLES McTYEIRE BISHOP, D. D.
Jesus the Worker
studies in the Ethical Leadership of the Son of Man. The Cole Lectures for iqoq. i2mo, cloth, net $1.25. "The scholarly attainments and vigor of this well- trained mind were known to a wide circle of friends who were ready to declare that the lectures for 1909 would take rank among the best delivered upon this foundation. This prophecy has been fulfilled." — Nashville Christian Advocate.
JOHN A. HUTTON, M.A.
The Authority and Person of Our Lord
i6mo. Cloth, net 50c. A penetratng and original discussion of the Deity of Jesus. The lectures which constitute it were delivered at Northfield and there created interest. Its small size makes it easily read in an hour.
CLELAND B. McAFEE, D. D.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
i2mo, cloth, net $1.00.
Dr. McAfee brings to whatever he discusses a freshness and originality which makes a place for whatever he mav write. In these studies his aim seems to have been to touch as far as possible those aspects and applications of the great discourse usually passed over.
MISSIONARY
ROBERT E. SPEER
Christianity and the Nations
The Duff IvCctures for 191 o. 8vo, cloth, net f2.00.
Among the many notable volumes that have resulted from the well-known Duff foundation Lectureship this new work embodying the series given by Mr. Robert E. Speer in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, will rty^k among the most important. The general theme, "Ihe RtHex Influence of Missions upon the Nations," suggests a large, important, and most interesting work. The name of the lecturer is sufficient guarantee of the method of treatment.
HENRY H. JESS UP
Fifty -three Years in Syria
Introduction by James S. Dennis. Two volumes, illustrated,
8vo, cloth, boxed, net $5.00.
This autobiographical record of half a century's experi- ence in the mission field of Syria, is rich in color, narra- tive _ and insight. It is also incidentally a history of the mission work for the period but told with a personal touch and from the innermost standpoint. It is a pioneer's story, and as such never lacks in interest,
JULIUS RICHTER
A History of Protestant Missions in the Near East svo, cioth, net $2.50.
A companion volume to "A History of Missions in India" by this great authority. The progress of the gospel is traced in Asia Minor, Persia, Arabia, Syria and Egypt. Non-sectarian in spirit and thoroughly comprehensive in scope. "It is truly a notable work and can be endorsed in unqualified terms. — John R. Mott.
WILLIAM EDWARD GARDNER
Winners of the World During Twenty
Centuries Adapted for Boys and Girls. A Story and a Study of Missionary Effort from the Time of
Paul to the Present Day, Cloth, net 6oc; paper, net 30c.
Brief sketches of great missionaries in chronological order, extending down through Augustine and Boniface the apostles to England and Germany, Xavier in Japan, and Brainerd among the Indians, to Carey, Moffat and Living- stone and Missionaries of our own day. Intensely stimulat- ing and suggestive.
BP60.M67 1911
Islam and missions : being papers read
Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library
II III 1 1012 00036 4150
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