Full text of "The Mohammedan world of to-day : being papers read at the First Missionary Conference on Behalf of the Mohammedan World held at Cairo April 4th-9th, 1906"

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The Leonard Library

OTpcltffe College

Toronto

No..H.V

STACKS *

THE MOHAMMEDAN
WORLD OF TO-DAY

Being papers read at the First Missionary
Conference on behalf of the Mohammedan
World held at Cairo April 4th-Qth, 1906

EDITED BY

S. M. ZWEMER, F. R. G. S., E. M. WHERRY, D. D.
JAMES L BARTON, D. D.

(Reproduction of a very rare Arabic Christian coin from the

Crusaders' period, discovered by Rev. W. K. Eddy of Sidon.

The inscriptions read: "The Father, the Son, and the

Holy Spirit, One God" ; " One God, one Faith, one

Baptism." The original is now in the British

Museum. The significance of the inscription

is evident to the student of history.)

The Young- People's Missionary Movement
NEW YORK

SECOND EDITION

New York: 158 Fifth Avenue
Chicago: 80 Wabash Avenue
Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W.
London: 21 Paternoster Square
Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTORY PAPER .....
Rev . H. H. Jesiup, D. D.

II.

ISLAM IN EGYPT ......
Rev . Andrew Watson, D. D.

III.

ISLAM IN WEST AFRICA ....
Dr. W. R. Miller

IV.

ISLAM IN TURKEY .....
Anatolicus

ISLAM IN SYRIA AND PALESTINE
Rev. W. K. Eddy

VI.

ISLAM IN ARABIA ......
Rev. J. C. Young, M. D.

VII.

ISLAM IN ARABIA .....
Rev. S. M. Zwemer, D. D.

VIII.

ISLAM IN PERSIA ......
Rev. W. St.Clair Tisdall, M. A., D. D.

IX.

ISLAM IN BALUCHISTAN ....
Rev. A. Duncan Dixey

131

ISLAM IN NORTH INDIA ....
Rev. E. M. Wherry, D. D.

'47

XI.

ISLAM IN SOUTH INDIA . . . .
Rev . M. G. Goldsmith, M. A.

173

XII.

THE NEW ISLAM IN INDIA ....
Rev. H. U. Weitbrecht, Ph. D., D. D.

185

XIII.

ISLAM IN SUMATRA .....

205

Rev. G. K. Simon
7

Contents

XIV. ISLAM IN JAVA ......

Rev. C. fibers, Jr.
Rev. J. Per ho even, Sr.

XV. ISLAM IN BOKHARA AND CHINESE TURKESTAN .

Rev. E. John Larsen

XVI. ISLAM IN CHINA .....

Rev. W. Gilbert Wahhe, M. A.

XVII. How TO AROUSE THE CHURCH AT HOME TO

THE NEEDS OF ISLAM ....
Robert E. Speer, M. A.

XVIII. STATISTICAL AND COMPARATIVE SURVEY OF

ISLAM IN AFRICA .....
Rev. Chas. R. Watson, D. D.

XIX. STATISTICAL AND COMPARATIVE SURVEY OF

ISLAM IN ASIA WITH TOTALS FOR THE EN
TIRE WORLD .

Rev. S. M. Zwemer, D. D.

233

241
247

265
279

289

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Facing page
PILGRIMS AROUND THE KAABA IN THE SACRED MOSQUE

AT MECCA ....... Title

ENTRANCE TO THE MOSQUE EL AZHAR, CAIRO . . 32
A MOSLEM CONVERT AND EVANGELIST (EGYPT) . . 36
MOSLEMS AT PRAYER (EGYPT) ..... 36

MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA . . . . . . -54

A WOMAN OF MECCA . . . . .82

A TYPICAL ARAB OF YEMEN . . . . .88

MOURNERS ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF HUSSEIN'S DEATH,

TEHERAN, PERSIA . . . . ». . .' 114
TYPES SEEN IN THE CAUCASUS . . . . .122
A MOSLEM CONVERT, PERSIA . . . . .126
PROFESSORS AND STUDENTS, FORMAN CHRISTIAN COLLEGE

AT LAHORE . . . . . . .166

A MOSLEM DERISH (DINGING) ..... 222

MECCA PILGRIMS FROM CELEBES .... 238

MECCA PILGRIMS FROM DJAPARA, JAVA . . . 238
TRAVELLING DERISHES FROM BOKHARA . . . 244
INTERIOR OF A MOHAMMEDAN MOSQUE . . . 260
FOUR MISSIONARY MARTYRS OF ARABIA . . . 272

MAPS AND STATISTICAL CHARTS

MAP OF ARABIA . . . . . . . IOI

MAP OF AFRICA ....... 282

STATISTICAL SURVEY OF ISLAM IN AFRICA . « . 285

MAP OF ASIA ....'... 288

DIAGRAMS OF MOSLEM POPULATION .... 292

STATISTICAL SURVEY OF ISLAM IN AFRICA . . . 295

Introductory Paper
Rev. H. H. Jessup, D. D.

"The sword of Mohammed and the Koran are the most stub
born enemies of civilization, liberty and truth which the world
has yet known." — Sir Wm. Muir.

"And who is he that overcometh the world, but he that be-
lieveth that Jesus is the Son of God? " — 1 John 5 : 5.

"Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Sou that Thy Son
may glorify Thee." — John 17 ; 1.

Introductory Paper

KECENTLY through the courtesy of a mutual
friend, I visited the house of a Sheikh, whose fam
ily claims to be the only one in Cairo lineally de
scended from Mohammed. He is a venerable man
living in a house hundreds of years old, whose
architecture, carvings, inscriptions and decorations,
are all expressions of the faith of Islam.- But the
numerous rooms are unoccupied. The only son,
the heir of the lineage, died ten years ago in early
manhood, and since then the mother has lived near
the Citadel, in order to be near his tomb, given
over to inconsolable grief. The aged Sheikh is
courteous and affable — a fine specimen of patri
archal dignity. But the shadow of that bereave
ment has not been lightened.

The sight of that mansion seemed to take one
back through the ages of Islam. And I have been
thinking of that mightiest system of monotheism
the world has ever known, " shadowing with
wings," the great continents of Asia and Africa,
having in its progress stamped out of existence
tens of thousands of Christian churches, and riveted
upon 200,000,000 of men, its doctrines, polity, cere
monial, and code of laws, and imbedded itself in

14 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

the Arabic language like the nummulite fossils in
the ledges of Jebel Mokattam, until it stands to-day
like a towering mountain range, whose summits
are gilded with the light of the great truths of
God's existence and unity, and whose foothills run
down into the sloughs of polygamy and oppression
and degradation of women.

Most people are somewhat familiar with the fa
vourable and unfavourable features of this system.
They know something of its vast proportions, its
prodigious strength, and its power of propagation.
But very few even among Christians are aware of
the great spiritual needs of Islam. Nor is the
Church at large awake to the fact that the Moham
medan world has suffered this destitution because
of her past neglect, and that present open doors are
a challenge to her faith and faithfulness. These
subjects embrace so wide a field that it will be
impossible to do more than allude to the salient
points.

I. THE SPIRITUAL DESTITUTION OF ISLAM

(a) In general, Mohammedans need what all

men need — salvation through Jesus Christ. They

need to feel their need as lost sinners. This is

what they almost universally fail to experience.

Their conceit, arising from the old Semitic or Ju-

daistic idea of their essential superiority to all

other men, is a serious obstacle to their acceptance

of the Christian faith.

(J) Spiritual hunger and thirst after righteous-

Introductory Paper 15

ness are almost unknown. They regard their cere
monial righteousness as complete, and they are
satisfied. Even where spiritual longing for peace
with God is felt, there is nothing in Islam to sat
isfy it. Some of the most eminent men in the his
tory of Islam have vainly sought it and died in de
spair. I know of no work in Arabic or English
which presents this unsatisfied longing of the Mos
lem heart, more vividly than the Musbah-el Huda,
ila Sir el Fida — " The Torch of Guidance to the
Mystery of Redemption," by the author of the
Bakurat and translated into English by the la
mented Sir William Muir, and published by the
Religious Tract Society of London. The author
quotes from Mohammedan authors accounts of the
last hours of the companions of Mohammed, viz. :
Abu Bekr, Ali, Muawia, Sofian el Thuri and Omar
ibn el Khattab, and their dying utterances of doubt
and despair.

Abu Bekr said : " This is the day of my release
and obtaining of my desert ; if gladness, it will be
lasting ; if sorrow, it will never cease."

Ali said : " Alas, alas, provision for the journey
is small and its risks so dangerous ! "

Muawia said to his son Yezid : " When I die,
take some of the hair and nails of the prophet and
place them upon my eyes and in my mouth and
throat ; then spread the prophet's shirt along the
coffin ; if anything could bring a blessing this
would." And Yezid at his funeral said, " If the
Almighty forgive him, it will be because of His

16 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

mercy; if He take vengeance upon Lira, it will be
for his transgressions."

Sofian el Thuri, as death approached, said : " I am
troubled because I am going on a way I know not
of, to appear before the Lord whom I have never
seen."

Omar ibn el Khattab, one of the greatest and
best of the Caliphs, was greatly depressed in view
of death, and said, " Whom are ye trying to de
ceive ? Had I the whole East and the West, gladly
would I give up all, to be delivered from this awful
terror that is hanging over me ! Would that I
never had existed ! Would that my mother never
had borne me ! "

The Sufis might be regarded as an exception,
but their highest aspiration is reunion with God or
absorption into the nature of Him from whom men
are but emanations. They are absolute fatalists,
denying that man is free in his actions. Their
chief occupation is meditation on the unity of God,
the Zikr, or repeating the names of God, and ad
vancement in the Tariqa or Journey of life, so as
to attain unification with God. Sufism is regarded
as " an adaptation from the Yedanta school of
Hindu philosophers."

(c) They need to understand that Christians are
not their enemies. The wars and conflicts of 1,200
years with Christians, have put them into an atti
tude of political hostility to Christianity. This can
only be overcome by patience, kindness and the
presentation of Christ as the only Redeemer.

Introductory Paper 17

(d) They need the Bible in their own language,
and wise Christian literature. This has already
been done in most Mohammedan countries. Dur
ing the last year 46,000,000 of pages of the Arabic
Scriptures have been printed at the press in
Beirut.

(e) They need an apostle from their own ranks ;
a Mohammedan scholar, enlightened, renewed by
God's Spirit, thoroughly converted to faith in
Jesus, the Son of Mary, as the only Redeemer, who
will proclaim that the set time to favour Islam has
come and that they are all called to accept Christ.
Foreigners cannot do it : " a tree must be cut down
by one of its own branches." The Babi (Behai)
movement in Persia shows what a tremendous
influence one man can exert in breaking up the
solidarity of Islam. Let us pray that God will
raise up such leaders in Egypt and Arabia, in
Syria and India.

(/") They need a clear statement of the Chris
tian doctrine of the Trinity, to disabuse their minds
of the misrepresentations and perversions of their
teachers for ages — that Christians believe that
God the Father married a wife and begat a Son ;
a doctrine which no Christian believes or has ever
taught. The metaphysical difficulty of believing
the doctrine of the Trinity and Christ's divine and
human natures, cannot be solved by reasoning. It
is purely a doctrine of Revelation, and unless aided
by the Holy Spirit, no Moslem can accept Jesus
Christ as a Divine Saviour.

l8 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

II. PAST NEGLECT OF TIIE CHURCH
The whole Church of Christ has certainly great
neglect to confess : (a) The Church has over
looked Islam, as a negligible quantity. In con
templating the 800,000,000 of heathen and pagans,
Islam has been thought to be of secondary im
portance. Only within the last thirty years has
the Church found out the prodigious numerical
strength of Islam, and its rapid progress in Asia
and Africa.

(6) Many in the Christian Church have been
led to think of Islam as a mild Oriental Uni-
tarianism, well enough adapted to Asiatics and
Africans, and have been satisfied to let the Moslems
alone. This has come about largely through the
misrepresentations of men like Bosworth Smith,
who would have us believe that Islam has little to
learn or gain from Christianity. The evils of
polygamy, the harem seclusion of woman, facility
of divorce, exclusiveness and hatred of other sects
— these and other features have been ignored or
defended. Much may be said in approval of
Islamic doctrines which are borrowed from Chris
tianity, but vital doctrinal errors, and corrupting
social and moral teachings, especially in the degra
dation of woman, are too great to allow any
thoughtful Christian to be satisfied with Islam.

(c) Another cause of past neglect has been
despair. The conversion of Islam has been
thought a hopeless task. Christians at home and
travellers abroad inquire how many Moslems have

Introductory Paper 19

been converted, and say the effort is useless. They
have not taken pains to read of 16,000 converted
in the East Indies, and 5,000 in India; of such
cases as Imad ud Din and Kamil Aietany. We
should not despair of success until we have tried,
done our best, and persevered patiently in the
work. In Turkey, Christians are looked on as the
political foes of Islam, and it is difficult for any
Mohammedan to receive instruction from an
enemy. The present attitude of missionaries in
Turkey towards Islam is that of educating the
young, distributing the Scriptures, earnestly pray
ing for the day of religious liberty, and trying to
exhibit the religion of Christ by living a Christ-
like life.

III. THE CHALLENGE OF OPEN DOORS

1. It is a fact not to be ignored or lightly re
garded 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, Af
ghanistan, Tripoli (Africa), 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.

2. God has given us many noble examples of
the true conversion of Moslems to the evangelical

2O The Mohammedan World of To-Day

faith, in India, Persia, Syria and Egypt, — as Kamil
of Beirut, Imad ud Din and others of India and
Mirza Ibrahim of Tabriz.

3. The increase of the desire for education,
especially for the education of girls, in Moslem lands,
is very encouraging. However defective the edu
cation may be, it is a great advance when the
mothers are able to read.1 And the fact that there
are 100 Moslem young men in the Syrian Protes
tant College in Beirut, and many in the mission
schools of Egypt, is full of hope.

4. The movement for the emancipation of
woman in Egypt and elsewhere will, no doubt,
extend to other lands.

5. The translation of the Bible into Arabic, and
many other languages spoken by Moslems, and the
preparation of a growing literature : — El Ifindy,
El Bakurat, Minar ul Ifaqq, Mizan ul Ifaqq, and
other works are also causes for praise and thanks
giving.

1 The Moslems of Beirut have nine schools for girls in that one
city.

Islam in Egypt
Rev. Andrew Watson, D. D.

" In Lower Egypt the Moslems form about ninety-eight per
cent, of the population, and in Upper Egypt about eighty-eight
per cent.

" At a glance therefore we can see that the need of the country
ia the need of the Moslems, and although some consider the best
way to reach them, is by working amongst the Christians until
the reproach of a nominal Christianity is rolled away, yet we
cannot but feel that this and many succeeding generations of our
brethren, the followers of the false prophet, must perish without
light or possibility of it, if their evangelization await this most
desirable consummation." — J. Martin Cleaver.

Islam in Egypt

THE Mohammedans under Amr Ibn-El-As took
Egypt in the year of our Lord 640. Egypt was
then a Christian country ruled by a Mukawkas
under appointment of the emperor. There was,
however, a division among the Christians ; one
party siding with the civil ruler ; the other, under
the influence of Egyptian national aspirations, was
desirous for his overthrow. This division made
the entrance of the Arab invaders easy ; indeed, it
is generally believed that the national party wel
comed the Mohammedan leader as a means of
deliverance from the Imperialists. If they did, it
was not long before they had abundant reason for
repentance.

At the time of the Mohammedan invasion, the
Egyptian church had wandered far from the sim
plicity of the Christian religion as taught in the
four gospels and the writings of the apostles, and
had practically adopted a method of salvation
manifestly at variance with the doctrine of salva
tion by free grace, as was the case with nearly all
the Christian churches of the East. From the
time the Mohammedans added Egypt to their
conquests, the defection of Egyptian Christians to
Islam began, and it continued all down the cen
turies until the days of Mohammed Ali ; indeed,

24 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

it cannot be said to have ceased up to the present
time, for no year has passed during my residence
of forty-four years in the Nile valley without my
hearing of several instances of defection. The
causes are chiefly, the hope of worldly gain of
various kinds, severe and continued persecution,
exposure to the cruelty and rapacity of Moslem
neighbours, and personal indignities as well as
political disabilities of various kinds. Mrs. Butcher
in her book on the Egyptian church has told us
some of the sad and cruel experiences of the
Christians of Egypt under the dominion of Islam.
Indeed, it is a wonder that any one bearing a
Christian name could have lived here up to the
eighteenth century. Before that time, no amount
of Christian testimony could condemn a Moham
medan. Christians were not allowed to ride
horses, or wear a seal on their finger, or wear
a white turban, and, in title deeds conveying prop
erty from or to a Christian, he was described as
the " accursed one." But it is not Islam in Egypt
in the past of which I write. I write of Islam in
Egypt as it exists at the present time.

I. NUMBER AND PROPORTION
The population of Egypt at the last census,
taken some time after the British occupation was :

Mohammedans • • 8,978,775

Christians - - - 730,162

Jews .... 25,200

Diverse .... 268

Islam in Egypt 25

This will make the percentage of Moham
medans 92.23, or about thirteen times the num
ber of Christians. The proportion must be much
the same at the present time ; any change is likely
to be in favour of the Christians. The smallest
proportion of Mohammedans is probably to be
found in the cities of Alexandria and Cairo and
the province of Assiut.

II. SOCIAL CONDITIONS

Speaking generally, this is the saddest phase of
my subject. With few exceptions the women are
either the slaves or the playthings of the men,
and oftenest by far the former. Excluding the
highest strata of society, a man generally marries
in order to secure a permanent servant for himself
and his immediate family relations; and if the
wife does not fill the bill, she is either divorced to
make room for another or a second wife is added.
A prominent Moslem has said, in conversation, that
not more than five per cent, of Mohammedans in
Egypt retain the first wife to the day of her death.
Divorces are as frequent as they ever were, but in
fewer cases is there a plurality of wives.

In the homes, the women occupy one part of
the house and the men another; generally the
men eat first, then the women, and then the serv
ants. Outside of the family circle there is no com
mingling of the sexes, above a certain age, at a
common meal or for an evening sociable. Even
at funerals and marriages, the separation is strictly

26 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

observed. At marriages, both men and women
witness the same obscene motions of the danc
ing girls, and listen to the same immoral chant
ing, though from different positions on the
premises.

Marriages are often legalized when the bride
groom is less than sixteen and the bride less than
thirteen, and the arrangements are all made and
carried out by their nearest relatives, and some
times in spite of the opposition of one of the
couple. At their first marriage the parties can,
therefore, have no idea of the responsibilities and
cares incident to married life ; it is no wonder that
so many are unhappy in their homes. One reason,
and perhaps the chief reason, for early marriages
is to prevent the youth from falling into vices
which are very prevalent and caused no doubt by
the reading or relating of vile stories in the hear
ing of children, and by the generally unchaste
character of the conversation of the people.

The cause of divorce may be anything, and
often nothing more than the man's wish to get
rid of his wife in order to be able to secure an
other. The legal allowance for divorced women,
for even the limited legal time, is often only
collected from the man when the woman has
powerful friends to plead her cause before the
kadi. One of the saddest sights in Egypt is the
environs of the kadi's court where divorced women
and widows come to plead in vain for justice. The
jealousy of Mohammedans for all that pertains

Islam in Egypt 27

properly to their religious system, especially as
regards the prerogatives of men and their authority
over their wives and other female members of the
household, has effectually prevented any reforma
tion of the kadi's court.

The use of opium and hashish is wide-spread,
and in the cities and large towns the use of western
intoxicants is becoming more and more common,
especially among government officials and servants.
I have been told by well-informed Mohammedans
that neither learned nor unlearned, rich nor poor,
high nor low, regard it as a sin to take opium in
some of its forms.

III. POLITICAL ISLAM

Though Egypt is nominally a part of the Mo
hammedan Empire of the Sultan of Constanti
nople, paying a heavy tribute to the imperial
exchequer, yet it has been free to govern itself
from the time of Mohammed Ali until the British
occupation in 1882. During its independence
under the rule of this energetic prince and his
successors, Egypt was governed on Mohammedan
principles modified somewhat by European in
fluences proceeding from the western officials em
ployed in many departments of State. Arbitrary
and unjust rule had full sway during the reign of
Ismail the first Khedive, and the people were
despoiled of money and lands in order to carry out
his ambitious designs, and a debt was contracted
which still weighs heavily on the people. But

28 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

with all his tyranny and extravagance, Ismail
initiated enterprises and carried out improvements
which have in no small degree benefited the
country.

Since the British occupation, Islam has governed
Egypt only indirectly. The real ruler has been
Lord Cromer with his staff of British officials, who
plan, direct, restrain, and control in all the de
partments of the government — Finance, Interior,
Justice, Public Works, and Public Instruction.
Notwithstanding this, Islam has no little influence
politically, exercised through the Khedive, his
ministers, the executive officials throughout the
country, and the press. The Khedive's ministers
are all Moslems except one, and all matters of
importance are passed upon by them, though pre
pared and presented by the British officials in each
department. Certain matters also come up before
a consultative assembly, very few of whose mem
bers are Christians. No little power is exerted on
the minds of the British authorities by Moham
medan journals, some of which have a very wide
circulation.

Of course, the ultimate authority rests with the
representative of the British government, but it
often appears to outsiders that he is especially
favourable to Mohammedan interests, paying un
due respect to Moslem prejudices, at the expense
of Christian interests. The following item of
recent history is an example : The public pleadings
in the native courts were on Sunday. This re-

Islam in Egypt 29

quired Christian lawyers to be present and pre
vented them from attending their church services.
A number of the Christian lawyers waited on the
authorities and petitioned them to have these sit
tings on some other day of the week than Sunday
or Friday. The arrangement was agreed to, and
preparations were set on foot to carry it out, but
the Mohammedan papers made such a stir over the
matter that it was annulled. It was represented
as the Christian holiday and a step towards des
troying the Mohammedan holiday, whereas it was
only a just arrangement to allow the Christians
employed in the courts the opportunity of attend
ing divine worship, without in the least interfering
with the holiday of the Moslems.

The influence of Islam is very great in the
courts, as the majority of the judges are in almost
all cases Mohammedans. The closest inspection is
necessary in the interests of justice, especially in
cases where one party is Mohammedan and the
other of some other religion. I have known
several cases of glaring injustice, to one of which
I called the attention of the controlling author
ities. A young man had been accustomed to meet
with others, some of them Moslems and others
Christians, for friendly conversation on religious
subjects. As the Koran was often referred to, the
young man purchased a copy for his personal use
and made annotations on the margin. The book
fell into the hands of a Moslem, who took it to the
kadi, who advised that a case be presented against

30 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

the young man for attempting to change the Koran
The case was taken up by the court and the young
man was found guilty and sentenced to one year
in the penitentiary. He appealed the case and the
court of appeal confirmed the judgment. At my
instance the higher authorities looked into the
matter and found a case of gross injustice, and
after four months' imprisonment and ill treatment
in prison, the young man was pardoned by the
Khedive. Other cases quite as glaring as this have
come under my notice.

It must be remembered, too, in order to measure
the influence of Islam in Egypt, that the executive
part of the administration is in the hands of Mo
hammedans: such as governors and deputy -gov
ernors of the provinces, mayors of the chief cities,
chief officers of police in the various divisions of
the provinces, and nearly all the umdas and sheikhs
of the numerous towns and villages. This gives
Islam a mighty power even under the British occu
pation, when we remember the amount of prejudice
that still remains, and the fact that these Eastern
people bring their religion into all the relations of
human life and make it a chief reason in the decision
of all questions, and a principal moving power in
all actions. It is true that when glaring cases of
injustice are brought to the notice of the British
authorities, they are not slow in righting the
wrongs as far as it is possible, but, through fear, it
is very seldom that an Egyptian will dare to com
plain of those who oppress them. I do not hesi-

Islam in Egypt 31

tate to say that the British occupation instead of
weakening Islam has strengthened it.

IV. ISLAM INTELLECTUALLY

It is generally understood that Christians and
Jews, in proportion to their numbers, stand higher
than Mohammedans in competitive examination,
perhaps because in the case of the former the stim
ulus is greater, and the hope of outside help less.
There is so much in favour of the latter — the influ
ence of their immense majority, of powerful friends,
and the expected favour of the British officials, —
that the young Moslem has little fear of failure to
secure a position or occupation, even if he does not
obtain the best marks, because Christians are not
eligible to many of the places in the government
service.

Moslems as well as Christians have greatly ad
vanced in knowledge and intellectual pursuits' dur
ing the last twenty years. It is surprising how
many newspapers, daily, weekly and monthly, have
been started, and the increase in these journals has
been as great perhaps among Moslems as among
Christians. The Moeyyid, edited by Sheikh Ali
Yusef, is a first class daily, and has a larger circula
tion than any other paper in Egypt. Its leading ar
ticles do not equal, however, in intellectual grasp, or
sound reasoning, or useful information, those in the
Mokattam and some other papers edited by Chris
tians, which every Egyptian ought to read. As
far as I know, the Mohammedans have no histor

32 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

ical and scientific monthly ; certainly none to be
compared with the Muktatif, or the JJilal, or the
Mohit — all magazines conducted by Christians.
The Moslems are behind the Christians on most of
the fields of literature. The reason may be found
in their home training, and especially in the method
of education, by which the memory and not the
intellectual powers are developed. It is notorious
that the methods used in the Azhar, the great Mo
hammedan university where thousands are yearly
enrolled as scholars, have been the very worst, cal
culated indeed to discourage and retard the learner.
An attempt was made by the late intelligent Mufti
to bring about a reformation, and for a time great
hopes were entertained that a new regime would
be established, but jealousy, prejudice, and per
sonal antipathy thwarted all the best efforts of this
sincere reformer.

To complete a course in the Azhar requires
about twelve years. The curriculum includes ju
risprudence, theology, exegesis, grammar, syntax,
rhetoric, logic and the traditions of Mohammed.1
The late Mufti added geography, history and
chirography.

The first order of the learned men receive, be
sides rations of bread, from four pounds to six
pounds a month ; the second three pounds ; the
third one and a-half pounds. Students receive
their bread and some of them a monthly allowance

lFikh, usul cd-din,usul etlafsir, nahu, sarf, balagha, mantak,and.
the hadith.

ENTRANCE TO THE MOSQUE EL AZHAR, CAIRO.

Islam in Egypt 33

besides, not exceeding three shillings. The chief
sheikh of the Azhar receives ninety pounds a
month.

The proportion of Moslems who can read and
write was, at the last census, eight out of a hun
dred.

V. SPECIAL DEVELOPMENTS IN ISLAM

The most notable development among Moham
medans in Egypt in recent years is that which was
initiated and carried on until his death, by the
liberal-minded Mufti, recently deceased and greatly
lamented. A man of scholarly intuitions and wide
reading, of broad sympathies and worthy impulses,
deprecating the ignorance of his co-religionists and
their bitter hatred to all who are of another faith,
he attempted in many ways to bring about a ref
ormation among them. He occupied various posi
tions of honour and responsibility in the State and
in his religious community, and performed the du
ties of these relations with faithfulness and intelli
gence. In the great Mohammedan university, he
brought order out of chaos, both in its material af
fairs and its administration, and in the matter and
method of instruction. By his intelligence, sim
plicity and earnestness, he attracted many to his
lectures in the university. He deprecated the ac
cumulations of tradition, and strove to lead the peo
ple to simpler faith and a more humane service.
Through his efforts, the consultative Parliament
was transformed from a position of antagonism to

34 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

the British administration into more or less friendly
cooperation with it. During his last days, he was
engaged in an examination of the condition of the
religious courts, and in drawing up a scheme of
thorough reformation where corruption is rampant.
Through him and others, a great impetus has been
given to education. Societies have been /formed
and committees appointed in many places for rais
ing money to establish schools of various grades,
partly to prevent the Mohammedan children from
attending Christian institutions and partly from a
laudable desire to spread knowledge among them,
and thus prepare them to improve their worldly
prospects. Societies have also been formed in the
interests of their religion, and books and tracts
have been published and circulated, some attacking
the Christian faith, and others in defense of their
own faith against the attacks of Christian authors.
Contrary to impressions created by some western
journals, I have not been able to discover the ex
istence of any Moslem society formed in Egypt for
the express purpose of sending men to the interior
of Africa or to other lands for the propagation of
Islam.

VI. MISSION WORK AMONG MOSLEMS

1. The oldest mission in Egypt is the United
Presbyterian mission of North America. Its first
missionaries arrived on the field in 1854, a few
years after the Church Missionary Society had
left it. The purpose of the mission was not as

Islam in Egypt 35

bas been reported in some places, to labour among
the various Christian sects especially, but to preach
and teach the pure gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ
to Jews, Moslems and nominal Christians where
and when opportunity offered. It so happened
that God in His providence opened the door to
the Copts, who, it would be easy to prove, were at
the time in great ignorance of the Word of God.
Instead of beating at the bolted and barred doors
of Islam, at a time when there was no religious
liberty, the missionaries entered at the open doors
of " the lost sheep of Israel."

Yet from the very beginning of the mission
there were many opportunities of reaching the
Moslems indirectly. Through all the history of
the mission, many Bibles and other religious
books were sold to them, and for many years
past, over 2,000 Moslem pupils have attended its
schools; last year there were 3,067, of whom
2,446 were boys and 621 girls. Perhaps thirty
years ago, the mission published one book on the
Mohammedan controversy called Shahadet El-
Koran and also a number of small tracts. When
El Kindy and Mizan ul Haqq were published in
England, the mission circulated many copies of
both books in an unobtrusive way. During the
more recent years, the four exhaustive volumes of
El Hadaya have been published in reply to several
books attacking the Christian religion. During
the last four years, two evenings a week in Cairo
have been devoted to the public discussion of the

36 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

various points of difference between Christianity
and Islam. These meetings have often been at
tended by large numbers of Mohammedans and
opportunity is generally given to one of them to
reply.

Our physicians at Assiut and Tanta have many
opportunities in the homes of the people as well
as in the hospitals, to give important testimony to
the saving power of the Great Physician. They
are often called to treat the sick and suffering in
Mohammedan homes.

As to results, the mission reports about 140
converts from Mohammedanism during its history.
In 1900, there were six ; in 1901, there were also
six ; in 1902, there were eight ; in 1903, there were
fourteen ; in 1904, there were twelve. Two of
these have defected to Islam through the threats
of friends and Moslem officials. One of the con
verts is now a successful medical missionary in
China.

2. The Church Missionary Society mission to
Mohammedans in Egypt was begun in 1882, when
Rev. F. A. Klein started work, chiefly educa
tional and literary. A medical department was
started in 1889, in which year also, educational
work for girls was begun.

During the last few years, four branches of
work have been distinctly strengthened ; medical
work, boys' schools, girls' schools, and evangelistic
work in the city and in the villages, in which one

Islam in Egypt 37

station is about to be occupied. The whole of
this work is directly among Moslems.

There are no special difficulties, for probably
Egypt is as open as any Mohammedan land in the
world and the opportunities are obvious. The
methods have been sufficiently suggested by the
enumeration of the branches of work. It should
be added that evangelistic work comprises preach
ing within doors, visiting, and literary endeavours.
There is also a book depot from which books are
sold, and in which personal work is done. Tracts
on a variety of subjects are distributed and a
weekly journal, especially adapted to Moslems, is
published.

Direct results are the conversion and baptism of
some men and some girls — "all too few." The
indirect results are the gradual familiarizing of
many people and many classes with the ideas of
the gospel.

3. There is also a small Dutch mission with its
centre at Calioub, about eight miles north of
Cairo. It has schools in several places conducted
on mission lines and having pupils of various re
ligions. Evangelistic work is carried on in the
villages by means of colporteurs. There is also
an orphanage for boys in which the children of
Mohammedans as well as children of Christians
are received.

I might mention, too, the schools of the Estab
lished Church of Scotland in Alexandria, and of

38 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

the German Church in Cairo, but there is no mis
sionary connected with these efforts, who knows
the vernacular, and therefore, no direct work is
done among the Moslems.

4. The Egypt General Mission entered Egypt
in the year 1898. Its chief object is the conver
sion of Mohammedans. It has its location in the
Delta and Suez. It has boys' and girls' schools
not only for teaching the truths of Christianity to
the pupils, but also as a means of opening the
homes for teaching the adults. It also employs
itineracy and has regular services on the Sabbath
and during the week. Much good work has been
done in book depots, where there is free perusal of
Arabic books on questions concerning Islam and
where there is the best opportunity for informal
meetings at night and for personal work. Scores
of Mohammedans have been dealt with in these
depots, though but few have made a definite pro
fession of their faith in Christ. There have been
several baptisms. The case of a Mohammedan
sheikh from Morocco, related in a small tract
entitled "The Story of a Moslem Sheikh," is in
tensely interesting and shows us how unexpectedly
the Spirit sometimes moves upon souls and brings
them to the light and life which are only to be
found in Jesus Christ. This mission has also a
monthly paper especially adapted to the needs of
Moslem readers and circulating widely in Egypt.

5. The North African Mission was begun in
1892, and has for its special, though not sole ob-

Islam in Egypt 39

ject the conversion of Mohammedans. At present
it has its centres in Alexandria and Shabin El-
Kom. Three missionaries labour at the former
place and two at the latter. The means adopted
have been for the most part schools for boys and
for girls, in which the gospel is regularly taught.
Bible women are also employed to visit the women
in their homes and read to them as opportunity
offers. There are also meetings in the evening
during the week for the study of the Word and
prayer. The missionaries have made system
atic visitation of Mohammedans in the Protestant
hospital in Alexandria, and they have visited the
villages for evangelistic work and the circulation
of the Scriptures and religious tracts. Five Mo
hammedans, having made a public profession of
their faith in Christ, have been baptized, while
many have been instructed in the way of salva
tion, but have not taken a stand for Christ.

VII. DIFFICULTIES OF THE MISSIONS

In Egypt there is only one special difficulty in
missions to Moslems, and that is to find employ
ment for the converts, as the Mohammedan com
munity always boycotts the converts, and the
family disowns and casts them out of their homes.
Generally Mohammedan relatives, however near,
prefer to see their friends die rather than to see
them become Christians.

Ill

Islam in West Africa
Dr. W. R. Miller

"Possibly most important of all the features of the problem
presented by Islam is its organized aggressiveness. Islam in its
African stronghold is a growing and virile force." — Wilson 8.
Naylor.

Ill

Islam in West Africa

THE population of "West Africa, similarly to that
of the Eastern Sudan during the time of the Mah-
di's and Khalifa's rule, has suffered terribly from
the fiendish oppression, internecine fighting and
slave raiding which always accompany these out
bursts of Mohammedan energy. Hence all statis
tics and estimates of population made by travellers
during the early Victorian period are wholly un
reliable now. It is impossible, at least at present,
even roughly to estimate (e. g., in the Hausa states),
what the population is, but I should seriously
doubt whether it is one-half — probably nearer one-
third — of that recorded by Clapperton or Barth.
I base this surmise, principally on observations,
both of myself and of government officers travel
ling in the great states of Zaria, Nupe, and Ada-
ma wa where the most appalling barbarities perhaps
ever perpetrated in the slave traffic have been com
mitted for now more than sixty years.

When the great Fulani dynasty was founded by
the conquests of Othman Shefu Dan Hodin, for
some years afterwards war was made on all the
heathen, and some Mohammedan states, until a
large part of the West and Central Sudan was con
quered and incorporated into the Fulani Empire,

44 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

including a large part of the Yoruba country in
the south (the Ilorin Province now Mohammedan),
Adamawa and Bornu in the east, Gando and part
of the French Sudan in the west, and part of the
Tuareg and Zinder country in the north. Within
twenty years after these conquests, and soon after
the death of the founder, the lust for gain, slaves
and power, took the place of the religious Jehad,
and the wars degenerated into the merest man-
hunting slave-raids, in no way worthy of being
called religious wars. These have been kept up
until four years ago when the complete subjuga
tion of the country under Sir F. Lugard put an end
to them. As a result of these wars Islam was
more firmly established in the great states of Kano,
Zamfara, Socoto, Gobir, Gando, Katsena, Hadeja
and Katagum, where already the conquered had
been partially followers of Islam : Ilorin, Nupe and
Borgu were later subjugated and Islam stamped
on them in a very debased form. Except in the
big walled cities and capitals, however, very little
progress was made in the heathen states of Zaria,
Adamawa, Bauchi, Kontagora, etc. To-day we
find these lands dotted over with cities where all
are Mohammedans, but a large part of the village
country is still pagan, or is only nominally Moslem.
For here the pagan tribes entrenched themselves
in forests and rocks, and although in many cases
willing to pay tribute in order to avoid constant
raids, they never became followers of the prophet.
Mohammedan Sects. There is but little trace of

Islam in West Africa 45

divisions amongst the Mohammedans of "West
Africa. The emissaries of the strong dervish or
ders from Morocco, who were mostly responsible
in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and on
wards for the introduction of Islam, were probably
content with teaching the simpler tenets of the
faith. Although the main mass undoubtedly are
Sunnis, it is questionable whether any but a few of
the leading Moulvis (or " Mallams ") know much
of the controversy. The Senoussi influence has
been small or nil ; and the followers of the "Wahabis
are probably confined to some of the more fanatical
and devoted Fulani families as the Tijanis. They
all recognize the Sultan of Turkey as supreme, but
the devotion, veneration, almost worship of Oth-
man the founder of this dynasty have invested the
emperors of Socoto with a sanctity so great that,
being nearer, they quite overshadow the greater,
but more distant, Turkish ruler.

Probably now, if the British government, which
is supreme in all the principal Mohammedan states
of "West Africa with which this paper is concerned,
were to adhere to a true neutrality, i. <?., entire
prohibition of, or total removal of all obstacles to,
the free preaching of both Christianity and Islam,
the latter would not make much further progress
in north and south Nigeria. So great is the hatred
of the pagans towards all propagators of Islam, on
account of the cruelty of past years, that were
there sufficient Christian missionaries any struggle
would be principally a duel between heathenism

46 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

and Christianity, where Islam was not already es
tablished. But the woes which follow and have
followed in the track of Islam will soon be forgiven
and forgotten, and a peaceful Islam under British
rule, free to proselytize while Christian mission
aries are hampered, will be a greater power.

The British government does not take that atti
tude. While professing to be purely neutral, it
forgets that the Mohammedan has been, and is,
the aggressive invader in all this country, once
pagan ; and it allows the Moslem a free hand
to go anywhere and spread his faith. The objection
that will, I know, be raised to this is, "Not so, the
British go vernment gives both Moslem and Christian
a free field amongst heathen, but refuses to allow
attempts at proselytizing by Christians amongst
Moslems." It is easy to see how to answer this
contention, but this does not lie within the scope
of this paper.

The scarcity of money for administrating the
countries, and the difficulties in obtaining men (for
the bad climate renders it impossible to rule
directly by white men) causes the administration
largely to be left in the hands of Mohammedan
Emirs. These men while ruthless, cruel tyrants
are nevertheless rulers in the sense that they can
command men in numbers and keep up some form
of power and authority. The government seeing
this, and also the disintegrating influences of a
tribal heathenism, becomes involved in backing up
Islam politically, and inevitably religiously also.

Islam in West Africa 47

Repairing broken, down mosques by order, sub
scriptions to Mohammedan feasts, forcible circum
cision of heathen soldiers on enlistment, etc., etc.,
are some of the ways in which the general trend
is indicated.

It has been seen that the chief set of influences
which brought Islam to West Africa were Moslem
missions from Morocco and the more universal
Jehad by the Fulanis. A constant influence has
also emanated from Egypt and Tripoli through
trade, returning pilgrims from Mecca, and mission
aries from these countries of Islam.

Islam seems to be spreading in Lagos, the Yoruba
country, Sierra Leone and the French Sudan ; but
in most of these places as also in the Nupe country,
it is of a very low order, and in the presence of a
vigorous Christian propaganda it will not add
strength finally to Islam. Still the number of
Moslems is undoubtedly increasing greatly. Islam
and Christianity between them are spoiling heath
enism and will probably divide the pagan peoples
in less than fifty years.

All Moslems are of course taught Arabic and in
all the Hausa States, in towns, and large villages
there are a multitude of schools where the Koran
and later the traditions and chief works, classical
and legendary of Islam are taught. As, however,
trading and agriculture chiefly occupy the people,
the majority of boys leave school at fourteen years,
and become utterly ignorant and illiterate. They
are given no education but a mere recital of the

48 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

Suras of the Koran after learning the Arabic al
phabet. A percentage however continue. In the
large towns, however, perhaps about three per
cent, or a little more, continue their studies, and
these really become Arabic students, reading any
Arabic writings with ease. The absence of printed
matter with them is an obstacle, but after a while
the more intelligent surmount this, and can read
and translate fairly well the Testament, or any sim
ple new work in Arabic.

The effect of this illiteracy is, of course, to make
the social condition low. Arts, building, literature,
culture, and crafts are, generally speaking, neg
lected.

Yet who has not heard of Kano andZaria leather?
The work of these people in leather, iron, brass,
etc., is admired by Europeans. The intelligence of
the Hausa in the great cities is proverbial, and one
feels with them as if in converse with an Arab
rather than a negro. The lack of all home life ; the
utter prostitution of virtue ; the total disregard of
morals, all these have brought moral ruin to the
people and made West Africa a seething sink of
gross iniquity. Woman, although allowed much
more freedom than in North Africa, is neverthe
less the "thing" of men; polygamy of course
is the law ; only lack of wealth prevents men from
having four wives and as many concubines as pos
sible. Divorce for anything is possible ; a quarrel,
sickness, infirmity, poverty, or worse. The young
est girls are taught the worst vices ; no one is in-

Islam in West Africa 49

nocent, none pure. Boys and girls grow up in the
densest atmosphere of sin, where there is hardly a
redeeming feature, and this all under the strictest
adherence to the outward laws of Islam.

The whited sepulchre is full of bones. Immo
rality of every sort is rife and there is little shame ;
adultery and fornication are not reduced through
men having many wives. It is rare to find a woman
past the prime of life living with her husband.
One would therefore expect to find that progress
is ruled out, and that the glance is backward, not
forward, to "the things our fathers knew and
did." The inevitable fruits of a slave ridden land,
laziness, oppression, dirt, have fallen upon West
Africa, and only where Christianity, as in Sierra
Leone, Lagos, etc., has had a long time to affect
the character and condition, do we see progress.
Islam has not and will not in "West Africa do any
thing for progress.

A very significant change has perceptibly come
over the Moslem in West Africa and is apparent
to a careful observer. From triumphant arrogance
he has come to have a haunting fear and a cringing
subservience. The overthrow of the Fulani power
is probably one of the greatest blows to Islam in
the world, next to the recovery of the Egyptian
Sudan, if not even greater than that. The one
hope left is the Mahdi who of course is always
coming and never comes, or comes and is annihi
lated ; but meanwhile an air of frightened expect
ancy and even a tendency to see what Christianity

50 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

may have to say regarding the end of the world
seems to have prevailed. I believe the time is ripe
for a tremendous propaganda to a broken spirited
but still proud people. I think missionaries gen
erally in West Africa will agree that this has been
the change of the last few, say ten or five years,
and that it is chiefly political, but fraught with
great possibilities spiritually.

Islam in Turkey
Anatolicus

" Turkey skillfully and systematically represses what Chris
tian nations make it their business to nurture in all mankind aa
manhood. In her cities there are magnificent palaces for her
sultans and her favourites. But one looks in vain through her
realm for statues of public benefactors. Not a book in any lan
guage can cross her borders without permission of public officers.
Art is scorned. Education is bound. Freedom is a crime. The
tax gatherer is omnipotent. Law is a farce. Turkey has prisons
instead of public halls for the education of her people. — The Con-
gregationalist, April 8, 1897.

Islam in Turkey

THE ruling race of the Ottoman Empire has
been Mohammedan from its origin. Indeed the
Seljuk Turks, from whom the Ottomans sprang,
were Mohammedans from their origin among the
Turkoman tribes of Central Asia. We can hardly
trace them farther back than the eleventh century
A. D., and it was at least a century earlier that all
those tribes of West Central and Western Asia
embraced Islam.

The religion of the Ottoman Turks, is not, like
that of some other tribes to be mentioned hereafter,
a composite cultus. The hereditary faith is Sunni
Islam, pure and simple ; and as a hereditary faith,
its hold upon the people is unchallenged, except
by those professed Mohammedans, the various sects
of Dervishes which flourish in all Mohammedan
countries. These form a disintegrating element,
which may well excite the anxious solicitude of
faithful Mohammedans, although they furnish lit
tle cause of hope to Christian missionaries.

The vast majority of the Ottoman people, who
number about twelve million souls, are doubtless
sincere believers in the Koran as the veritable
word of God, and in Mohammed as the last and
greatest prophet and apostle of God. Of course

54 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

this belief does not arise from intelligent individual
conviction, but, on the one hand, from the power
of a hereditary faith and a splendid history, but
tressed by those magnificent monuments of their
faith, the great mosques of their former and
present capital cities, and, on the other, from the
simple, reverent, unadventurous habit of mind of
the Ottoman people. They are not sceptical by
nature, and they are taught that scepticism con
cerning the teachings of religion, and the authority
of their prophet is a mortal sin.

The assumption of the sacred honour and
functions of the Caliphate by the Ottoman House
four centuries ago — an assumption fully accepted
in Turkey, and never effectively challenged, even
if not cordially accepted, outside of Turkey — has,
no doubt, held the Ottoman people to their heredi
tary faith with hooks of steel.

The Ottoman Power has been tolerant of the
faith and forms of worship of subject Christian
races, but the Christianity and the Christian life
with which the Turks have been familiar all their
lives, until evangelical Christianity gained a foot
hold among them, have had a natural tendency to
repel, not to attract them to the Christian faith.

There is an ingenuousness about the Turk, when
you find him in his Anatolian home, which is not
only winning in itself ; it is full of promise for the
future, full of encouragement to Christian mis
sionaries.

One distinctive feature of Islam in Turkey — and

Islam in Turkey 55

this applies to nearly all Moslem races in the
Ottoman Empire except the Arabs — is that the
Turk does not know the language of his sacred
book. The Koran is as much a sealed book to the
Turk as the Bible is to the peasant Roman Catholic
of Central Europe. He knows, even if he is a
peasant, many Arabic words and phrases, but
although he may read the Koran, he cannot
understand it ; and it is, to the Mohammedan, a
greater impiety to attempt to translate the Koran
from the Arabic, than it was, till recent years, in
the eyes of the faithful but ignorant Romanist to
translate the Latin Bible into French or German.
This ignorance of Arabic is a fact even among the
more or less educated Turks of the capital and
the coast cities. It is very rare to find one who
can read Arabic intelligently, and who speaks it

correctly. Some years ago, when K Effendi, a

learned Arab Kurd, who had embraced Chris
tianity, was called before the highest Mohammedan
court, his perfect knowledge of Arabic, of the
Koran and of Mohammedan law and traditions
completely confounded and silenced those who
would have been his judges.

It is now many years that the Bible is accessible
to Turks in their own language, and in a form
which is intelligible and acceptable to them ; and
the fact that they buy thousands of copies of
Scripture portions every year shows that they
appreciate the facility put in their way for reading
a sacred book and understanding it.

56 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

What was said above concerning Islam as the
hereditary faith of the Ottoman Turk does not
hold true of the other Moslem races of Turkey.
Kurds, Circassians, Albanians — nearly half as
many, all together, as the Turks — are, at best, but
half Mohammedan. To a large extent the pro
fession of Islam by Kurds and Circassians is purely
outward and formal, while their esoteric faith is a
mixture of Mohammedanism, Christianity and
heathenism. In grouping and generalization we
cannot go farther than the statement just made.
Take the Kurds alone. There is almost infinite
variety in their religious beliefs and superstitions.
It is well known that there are whole villages
among them ready to declare themselves Chris
tians, could they be assured of protection in so
doing. The Moslem Albanians — somewhat more
than half the race — are more bigoted and violent
Mohammedans than the Turks, just as the Janis
saries, likewise of Christian origin, who were com
pelled from childhood to embrace Islam, out-
Heroded Herod in the fanaticism of their anti-
Christian zeal.

With the exception of the Albanians, Islam has,
in all the centuries of the reign of the Ottoman
Power over these lands, made very slight gains
from the Christian races. The number of Greek,
Armenian, Bulgarian, Koumanian, Servian, Bos
nian or Montenegrin Mohammedans is insignificant.
Of these seven races, for hundreds of years under
Moslem sway, the number to-day free from Otto-

Islam in Turkey 57

man control is nearly equal to the entire popula
tion, Moslem and Christian, now directly under
Turkish domination.

The Turks are largely an agricultural and
peasant population, and among them polygamy
and concubinage are rare. Among Turks of
wealth in the capital, the coast cities and the
capitals of provinces, both polygamy and con
cubinage are common. Slavery also exists, though
veiled. In those centres social morality is low,
and it is doubtful if the marked relaxation, in
recent years of the rigidity of law and custom
touching the seclusion of women has, as yet, bet
tered woman's condition, except where the desire
for the education of girls has begun to work a rad
ical change in the popular conception of what con
stitutes woman's position in society. It is difficult
to give even an approximate statement concerning
the percentage of illiteracy among Moslems in
Turkey. Till very recent years Turks able to
read were less than ten per cent, of the population ;
women able to read, perhaps two per cent., and
among Kurds and Circassians still less. But in
the capital and chief cities of the empire great
progress has lately been made, even among Mos
lems, in what may, by courtesy, be called general
education. In these centres the percentage of
illiteracy among Turks — men — would probably
not exceed forty per cent., while of women under
forty years of age we might fairly estimate the
percentage of illiteracy as under sixty per cent.

Islam in Syria and Palestine
Rev. W. K. Eddy

Islam in Syria and Palestine

THE population of these districts is about, and
possibly somewhat over, two million. Exactness
is impossible, for the Moslems strive to conceal
numbers in order to escape conscription, and Chris
tians do the same to lighten the military poll tax.
In some districts no accurate census has been at
tempted till lately, and the returns of the last
census are not yet available. In Mt. Lebanon we
must depend upon the official figures of 1863. I
give therefore official figures and also estimated
ones nearer the truth.

Vilayet of Syria
Moslems and Druzes
All Christians

Vilayet of Beirut
Moslems
Christians

Mt. Lebanon
Moslems and Drnzes
Christians

Jerusalem District
Moslems
Christians

Official

260,034

44,058

304,092

262,834

68,325

331,159

19,520

90,278

109,798

50,000
25,000
75,000

Estimated

350, 000

375,000

200,000

75,000

As the figures given are for males alone, we
61

62 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

double them for the total population, and add
Jews 100,000, foreigners 50,000 of all nationali
ties.

Moslems are seventy-two per cent, and Chris
tians twenty-eight per cent, of the totals thus
given.

The social condition of Moslems is below that of
the Christians and far from ideal. The tenets of
Islam and the customs of the East combine to
degrade woman. In the cities she is a household
drudge with uncertain tenure of office, and in the
country districts, an unpaid labourer. Entitled to
only one-eighth of her husband's estate after his
death, she is tempted to sell household stores to
accumulate a fund for use in case of being divorced
or widowed. Some cripple their husbands finan
cially that another wife may not be added to the
harem. An absence of home life leads men to
spend their leisure together in coffee houses.
Thus they miss the refining influence of women
and their thoughts are sensual and conversation
gross.

Children are welcomed and loved but not well
cared for ; so that infant mortality is much higher
than among Christians. The indifference of Mos
lems to vaccination, and carelessness as to proper
precautions in times of epidemic is largely due to
their belief in fate. Children are not well trained
and apt to grow up willful and passionate. An
intelligent Moslem said to me, " We cannot pros
per, for our wives are too ignorant to train prop-

Islam in Syria and Palestine 63

erly our children or care for our homes as they
should."

Early marriages are the rule and the social evil is
rare ; but. unnatural vice is common and hardly rep
robated. The seclusion of women is more strictly
enforced in towns than in villages, and cases of
marital infidelity are not frequent. "While women
are not allowed to go to the mosques they are
faithful to hours of prayer in their homes. Their
influence is conservative and acts to restrain any
liberalism which men from their freer contact
with Christians might favour.

Men are of three grades : (1) Those who from
superficial education or contact with others are so
lax as to be practically skeptics. (2) Those who
are trained and educated as religious fanatics.
(3) The great mass of peasants and the Bedouin
who know little beyond the fact that being true
believers in God and His apostle, they should de
spise all others. Among the better class there is a
growing sentiment against polygamy and reckless
divorce as injurious to the social order.

Politics are unknown in the sense that leads
different civil parties to strive to control govern
ment policy or that gives rise to divergent views
as to the best methods for improving the condi
tion of the people. To run for office is to run for
Constantinople, bribe influential persons in the
palace, and then to work the position thus secured
for all that it is worth.

Promotion is legally and officially regulated by

64 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

the efficiency shown in collecting and increasing
the Imperial revenues, but practically by paying a
higher sum than the rival applicant.

There are no indications of the presence of the
" Young Turk " secret organization, but there is a
growing discontent with the present regime. This
is caused (1) by individual dissatisfaction with in
justice, increased taxation and harsh military serv
ice ; (2) by the racial ambition of Arabic-speaking
Moslems who regard the Turk as a barbarian
and of doubtful orthodoxy, and are restive under
Turkish rule which allots them few positions, civil
or military. Many Arabs wish the Caliphate as
sumed by one of their race and would bring the
capital of Islam near if not into Arabia, its cradle.
This politico-religious aspiration is ascribed to
Midhat Pasha and has been fostered, since his
day, by pamphlets widely scattered and by secret
societies. (3) Discontent also results from impo
tent rage at the waning political power of Islam
under Turkish leadership. Moslem supremacy has
been lost in Mt. Lebanon, in most European prov
inces, in part of Asia Minor, in Cyprus, Crete,
Egypt, and is now imperilled in North Africa.

(4) Another cause of discontent is realization of
the fact that universal corruption is sapping the
vitality of the empire and dissipating its resources.

(5) To these causes is added knowledge that other
lands have secured improved material conditions
and equable justice without interference with re
ligious observances. This embitters by contrast

Islam in Syria and Palestine 65

their present situation. Emigration, which has
taken tens of thousands of Christians from Syria,
has lately begun to draw from the Moslems. The
letters of the absent and the influence of those
who have returned are factors of unrest. That
any or all of these elements of political ferment
will produce any revolt is improbable. No leader
could expect success with an unarmed and poor set
of followers nor could he unify and harmonize
hostile sects.

Moslems, as a rule, are inferior in mental equip
ment to the Christians who at the Crusades and
later have gained new vigour from intermarriage
with Europeans and are naturally bright and com
mercially keen.

There is a difference also between the Moslems
of Syria and those in Palestine, wholly in favour
of the former. Besides, Moslems are handicapped
by defective early training, inferior educational
advantages, military conscription, and early mar
riages.

To remedy this relative backwardness, the Turk
ish government has worked with surprising energy
and success. It has opened many schools even in
villages and has supported officially the schools of
a Moslem organization known as El Khaireyeh as
signing to them lands and property for support.
In cities there are schools of a higher grade called
Rushdeyeh, also military academies from which
chosen cadets are sent to Constantinople. Govern
ment is now building an industrial school in Beirut

66 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

to which the Christians of Sidon city alone are
called upon to pay an extra exaction of 20,000
piastres (over $800).

A few years ago an addition was made to the
land tax in support of the department of Educa
tion. Thus Christians by regular and irregular
imposts help to educate the Moslem.

While it is easy to criticise the curricula of these
schools and prove the defective training of the
teachers and above all to condemn the lo\v moral
standards and practices of these institutions, we
must, in all fairness, acknowledge that great ad
vance has been made in twenty-five years.

Formerly a few schools were taught by blind or
cripple sheikhs who trained boys to repeat aloud
passages from the Koran till committed to memory.
Advanced learning was then confined to the in
tricacies of Arabic grammar and the casuistries of
the ceremonial law. Even girls' schools have been
opened and with the plainer elements of education
various kinds of needlework are taught. The ob
ject of the government is twofold : (1) To instill
the tenets of Islam into children. (2) By teaching
Turkish to bind the Arabs more to the ruling race.
Stringent orders are periodically issued that no
Moslem youth be allowed to attend Christian
schools while Moslem graduates from government
schools are rewarded by obtaining the official posi
tions formerly held by Christians. This action of
the government was forced upon it by the fact that
Christians had many educational facilities afforded

Islam in Syria and Palestine 67

by various missionary societies. Broad generaliza
tions are not usually accurate, but it is safe to note
that Syrians are not much given to reading or home
study, and only their keen interest in political
changes stimulates them to read the newspapers.

The contact of Islam with Christian churches
began in Syria and Palestine with a bloody war of
conquest. Christians were killed in large num
bers; according to Arab historians 70,000 were
slain at the battle of Pella. Churches were ruined
or turned into mosques and populous cities were
destroyed, many never to be repopulated. Islam
ruled by a trinity — the sword, the Arabic language,
and contemptuous hatred of the unbeliever. A
bitter enmity was thus engendered which the
Crusades aggravated. Since then Christians have
turned to Europe with hopes of deliverance from
bondage, and have lent themselves as tools to
scheming diplomacy. As a result the Moslem re
gards his Christian neighbour not only from a re
ligious standpoint as an infidel, but politically as a
disloyal subject from whom treachery is to be
feared. So bitter is this antagonism that few Ori
ental Christians care to preach the gospel to Mos
lems, and even Protestants share this sentiment.
Between Islam and the Christian churches there is
a middle wall of partition which only faith work
ing in love can break down.

Islam as a system, not having elements of prog
ress within itself, has not developed. The Arabic
language of Mohammed's time has changed little,

68 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

the religion less. Ideas which were fused into
a system by the fiery zeal of the founder have be
come cold in the mould of the Koran. It extends
as drifting sand does and grows by addition and
not by inner life-development.

(1) In some places there are orders of dervishes ;
K. g., the whirling dervishes of Tripoli, Syria.

(2) Local associations of men, without interfering
with their daily occupations, meet at night under
the leadership of a sheikh and chant parts of the
Koran, lists of divine attributes and prayers. Then
forming a circle they sway in ordered movements
to the exciting accompaniment of drums, cymbals
and tomtoms till worked up into a nervous ecstasy.
Such associations are the nurseries of fanatical zeal
and the revival efforts of religious frenzy. They
figure with green banners in religious processions
but have no doctrinal or moral import.

(3) The only reform attempted in Syria by any
organized movement, that I know of, was that of
the Shathleyeh. This came into prominence soon
after 1880. Its leader was a sheikh living near
Acre ; dissatisfied with the formalism of Islam and
influenced by a study of the New Testament he
aimed at a thorough reform of a spiritual nature.
He convinced some friends by his earnestness, and
they became fellow workers.

Gradually circles of inquirers were formed in
various cities. These reformers did not separate
themselves from other Moslems and strictly cannot
be called a sect. The main principles taught were

Islam in Syria and Palestine 69

the indwelling of God's spirit in every man and
hence the brotherhood of men, and the spirituality
of God's worship. The chief duties inculcated
were great humility before God, love for fellow
men, and zealous propagation of vital reform.
T wo methods of propagandism were used, (a) The
formation of circles of inquirers, where a com
petent teacher initiated them into the truth and
led them from one stage of enlightenment to a
higher. The New Testament was often used as a
text-book, and the disciples were told to ponder
religious truth not as it appeals to a worldly mind
but as revealed by the illumination of the spirit.
(ti) These disciples were sent out as were the sev
enty by our Lord to visit towns and villages and
to instruct even the peasants by personal conver
sation and evening gatherings.

The reformers not only showed a surprising lib
erality of doctrine, but also a readiness to adopt
methods at variance with Eastern customs. A
gifted woman, wife of a sheikh, was allowed to go
to towns and cities instructing women and even
addressing men. Talking freely with an American
missionary she told how she had been called of God
to this service and said, " A spiritually minded
Christian is nearer to me as a brother than a car
nally minded Moslem." A local leader who called
himself Peter because, being a fisherman, he had
heard the call of Christ and obeyed, told of his
band of inquirers studying the Bible, and before me
spoke of " God as the creator of the world, Christ

jo The Mohammedan World of To-Day

as the redemption of the world, and the Holy Spirit
as the sanctifier of mankind." His brother at first
opposed and then believed and was known as Paul.
Both Peter and Paul are still alive.

A noteworthy feature of the teaching was that
the authority and personality of Mohammed were
quietly ignored. His name was not mentioned at
the funeral of a sheikh of their number, nor did I
hear the expression " Mohammed Apostle of God "
once used. The practical effects of this reform
were to draw those reached by it into friendly re
lations with Christians and to stimulate a study of
the New Testament. The subsequent history of
this reform has not fulfilled the bright hopes of its
beginnings. The good seed fell on many hard-
trodden paths and stony fields, but found little
good ground. The reaction from legalism and
formalism led some into Pantheism, with the
logical consequences of denying the personality of
God and of obliterating all distinction between
good and evil. Charges of immoral practices
at their evening gatherings remind us of sim
ilar accusations brought against the early Chris
tians.

Another cause of the failure of this reform was
the action of the government which wisely did
not persecute them but gave the leaders official
positions, granted their sons scholarships in Moslem
schools, and forbade further propagandism. Thus
spirituality was killed, and we hear little of the
reform now, but in many hearts lie germs of the

Islam in Syria and Palestine 71

truth taught, which may spring up under more
favourable conditions.

All missionary bodies working in Syria and
Palestine, except those for the Jews, which do not
use the Arabic language, are working directly and
indirectly for the conversion of Moslems. None
are so unwise as to proclaim this object ostenta
tiously, nor so rash as to make direct attack on
Islam, arousing mob violence and calling forth
governmental prohibitions.

Bible and Tract Societies, churches, schools and
hospitals offer their advantages to all alike. One
school for girls is named the St. George Moslem
School, but is generally known by the name of its
late founder Miss Taylor. It receives only non-
Christian pupils. Some years ago Mr. Van Tassel
attempted evangelistic work among the Bedouin
near Hums, but his work was stopped by the gov
ernment. Mr. Forder has worked among the
Bedouin or half settled Arabs on the southeastern
bounds of Palestine. Many others are working
also whose work is not exclusively and solely
directed towards the Mohammedans.

It is a common remark that each one regards his
field as the most difficult. Without making this
claim, and leaving out of consideration the diffi
culties common to all evangelistic work among
Moslems we note those peculiar to the land under
consideration.

(1) Probably no other part of the world has
within such narrow confines so many religions

72 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

apart in sympathy and social life ; for, in addition
to well-known religions, there are some not found
elsewhere ; viz., the Druzes, Ismailiyeh, Ansaireyeh,
Maronites, and Samaritans. Underlying all nom
inal beliefs is the broad foundation of ancient
Semitic heathenism ; this is shown by the popular
worship of spirits dwelling in trees, caves, and on
mountain tops. The favour of these spirits is
sought by prayers, vows and sacrifices. Base su
perstition thus reinforces a more intelligent bigotry.

(2) This being a holy land there is a keen
rivalry for the possession of sacred sites and
shrines ; and the Moslem suspects the Christian as
well as the Jew of trying to recover lost ground.

(3) In many lands politics and religion are
closely intertwined, but here they are twain made
one. Every movement which in the remotest de
gree can affect the political world moves electric
ally through Islam and either arouses their fanat
ical hopes or moves them to sullen revenge.

(4) Volumes might be written of the Turkish
Government as a hindrance, but as the subject is
unspeakable it will be left to the intelligence of
each one to supply what is lacking.

Opportunities are closely related to the diffi
culties and are often found to be the obstacles
themselves when conquered.

(1) The general tone of the people is reverently
religious if not spiritual. Fanatical bigotry be
comes, when converted, earnest consecration.
Greetings, popular expressions, introductions to

Islam in Syria and Palestine 73

books, letters, etc., are full of pious terms. The
topic of religion is a familiar one in conversation,
and even the question of personal religion if wisely
treated is not resented.

(2) The fact that Moslems abhor the use of
pictures, images, and crucifixes, in worship, and
that they reject priestly absolution, and that auric
ular confession for their women is impossible,
makes them more open to evangelical influences
than to any other. Some have said, " If we be
come Christians we shall be Protestants."

(3) An opportunity is afforded in the general
belief that Jesus will come. Jews await their
Messiah ; the Druzes look for their Messiah, and
the expectation of some Moslems is contained in
an answer to the question, " Are you satisfied with
the spiritual life of Islam?" which was, "I am
not ; but we look for a reformer — a Mahdi, and our
ablest learned men tell us he will be Isa (Jesus)."
These vague hopes, mistaken and imperfect as
some of them are, point to Christ as the hope of
non-Christians, and give a bond of unity to all re
ligious aspirations.

The agency which would naturally come first,
in any discussion of methods used, we omit wholly.
Open air services, public discussions, etc., are
illegal. Since we are discussing not the best, but
actual methods, we mention :

(1) Bible distribution. As Islam rests upon
the alleged divine authority of the Koran it dis
tinguishes between religions " of a book " and those

74 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

which have no revealed canon of faith and prac
tice. Evangelical Christianity honours God's word
and offers it freely to Moslems, who respect it
while they do not accept it as the final revelation.
When the Scriptures are read to them, their atti
tude is respectful. Nearly all are ready to re
ceive, and many to purchase a Bible. The favourite
parts are Genesis, Psalms, Proverbs and strange
to say, the Gospel of St. John. In a village near
Tyre I saw a Shiite reading the Bible, who, when
asked why he read a Christian's book, replied
earnestly, " I have never found anything which
scours sin from my heart as this does." Even
among the Bedouin some are found who can and
will read the Scriptures.

(2) Generally, and especially in new districts,
the medical work is the second agency. Christ in
Nazareth could do no mighty work because of
their unbelief save that He laid His hands upon a
few sick folk and healed them. This has often
been the experience of His servants since. He who
in Christ's service can say " take up thy bed and
walk," may also add, and in His blood thy sins are
forgiven thee. Good is done if only one out of ten
healed returns to give God the glory and to re
ceive a higher blessing. A Circassian, who had
watched for hours the medical service of poor suf
ferers, said to me, " This is wonderful ; we have
nothing like it in our religion." Throughout
Syria and Palestine are hospitals and dispensaries
much frequented by Moslems. This form of work

Islam in Syria and Palestine 75

is less opposed by the government than any
other.

(3) Education is another method. Circumstances
have pressed this agency to great prominence,
and if the conditions of work were the same here
as elsewhere we should say that an undue propor
tion of labour and expense was devoted to educa
tion. Day schools, boarding institutions, and col
leges welcome Moslem pupils. It is a tribute to
the superior advantages of these institutions that
in spite of much opposition so many non-Chris
tians are found in them. In the day schools of
the Sid on field last year these numbered about
two hundred and fifty.

In three years the Moslem pupils in the college
have increased from forty-five to ninety-eight, but
part of this growth is due to the influx of Moham
medans from Egypt. As Bible study is an essen
tial part of every curriculum, and the Scriptures a
text-book, both seeds of truth and printed pages
are carried to many Moslem homes. A Moham
medan asked me to thank the teachers of a day
school for what they had done for his daughter
who before her death repeated beautiful verses
and sang sweet hymns. On the other hand an
official in Beirut lately published a pamphlet vilely
abusive of all Moslems who send their children to
Christian schools. His attack was ably answered
by liberal Moslem writers.

(4) Work among Mohammedan women through
house to house visits and special meetings. Such

76 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

work is being faithfully conducted by consecrated
ladies aided by trained Bible readers. Reports
vary as to freedom of access and the readiness of
such women to receive the gospel. Such work is
in some places contemptuously ignored, in some
welcomed, and in some, as in Safed and Sidon, the
meetings for Moslem women have become the
object of government opposition. A Catholic
priest said to me, " What a wonderful change has

taken place in among Moslem women. So

many of them speak of Jesus as Lord and Messiah."

(5) Distribution of literature especially adapted
to enlighten Moslems and written in an acceptable
style.

What are the results ? An inscription in mosaic
centuries ago dedicated a church in Jerusalem " to
the martyrs whose names the Lord alone knows."
There are results of work among Moslems known
to the Lord alone. David was not blessed in num
bering his people. Statistics as to the number of
adult baptisms of Moslems are not available. The
total is not large, but larger than many think.

Some have left their native land ; some are not,
and others are spared to honour Christ by con
fession and service. Again there is a larger num
ber (1) of secret believers who fear persecution
and death ; (2) of fair-minded inquirers who are
students of the Book ; (3) of those whose beliefs
and character have been influenced by Chris
tianity. Another result is a clearer conception
of Christianity in its purity and spirituality of

Islam in Syria and Palestine 77

belief and recognition of its beneficent influ
ences.

Finally, the main result of what has been done
is the apparent completion of the work of prepara
tion:

(1) An Arabic Bible, pure in diction and ac
ceptable in form. (2) Native workers trained.
(3) The machinery of work, if we may so desig
nate churches built, schools established, hospitals
opened, presses at work, and a Christian literature
prepared. Now has come the time to work for
new results. When in answer to strong faith and
earnest prayer God in His own appointed time
sends His spirit with power from on high then
will results already achieved be multiplied many
fold.

And to His name shall be the glory.

Islam in Arabia
Rev. J. C. Young, M. D.

"When the Koran and Mecca shall have disappeared from
Arabia, then, and then, only, can we expect to see the Arab as
sume that place in the ranks of civilization from which Moham
med and his book have more than any other cause long held him
back." — William Giffbrd Palgrave,

Islam in Arabia

THE social condition of Arabia is exactly what
might be expected in a country where the women
are almost wholly uneducated and are looked upon
as mere animals whose sole purpose in life is to
bear children for the husband, cook his food and
fear his frown. Polygamy is common, especially
among the religious class and those connected with
a mosque. Divorce is easy and often the slightest
excuse is deemed sufficient reason for getting
rid of a wife. Once I told a man who brought
his wife to our dispensary that there was abso
lutely no hope for her recovery from a non-in
fectious disease of nutrition, but that if she was
carefully dieted she would probably live for several
months. He thanked me most profoundly, and
that very day divorced his wife, promising to pay
up her dowry at the rate of one rupee a week.
Scores of similar cases might be mentioned, but I
content myself with saying that I scarcely know
one man above thirty years of age who has not
been married two or three times. True love be
tween husband and wife is rarely seen in South
Arabia and in this my experience corresponds with
that of the Rev. John Van Ess in Busrah, who
says that " family life lacks stability and mothers

82 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

often train their sons to spit at their father and
use vituperative language to him, as such acquire
ments are considered to give evidence of a manly
spirit." He also states that among the nomad
Arabs and those under Patriarchal government
polygamy is the invariable rule, one sheikh hav
ing more than forty wives and not knowing many
of his own children. He also travelled with a man
who bartered his wife for a rifle ; the transaction
being looked upon as perfectly legitimate and the
bargain a good one for both sides.

Among the Shiites in Kerbela and Nejf tem
porary marriages are common for a week, a month,
or a longer period. The contract and familiarity
end with the time limit, except there be offspring
from the temporary union, when the man would
be expected to support the child till the age of
seven.

I am glad however to be able to state that both
in Aden and Sheikh Othman there are parents
who begin to think of educating their daughters ;
and from the Rev. James Cautine I hear that this
is being done in Oman, where the colporteurs say
that they sell more books to women than to men, and
that in native schools women are often the only
teachers. These are remarkably hopeful signs ;
and I think we may venture to expect that the
day is not far distant when the female sex will
insist on being treated as human beings, and in
doing so, will elevate both male and female, old
and young.

Islam in Arabia 83

Monogamy would, to a large extent, do away
with prostitution and that more unnatural vice so
common in every Mohammedan country. When
first I went to Arabia, it was common in our
village.

Politically the whole of Arabia may be said to
be in a state of unrest. In the Yemen, the Turks
have once more got the upper hand and the
crushed but not wholly subdued Arabs have been
compelled to nurse the wrongs they would fain
avenge. Great tracts of country have been laid
waste and everything spells ruin where once the
hardy peasant sowed his grain and reaped his
fields. Because of neglect to repair it, a dam
built on the Euphrates at a cost of 80,000 Turkish
pounds is useless, leaving that great river, even in
the spring flood, a very little stream, while the
whole of the surrounding country is turned into a
marsh. "For 200 miles along the Euphrates to its
junction with the Tigris, the whole stretch of
country is little more than a dismal swamp,
through which a stream runs too shallow to float
any steamer. Consequently only light draught
sailboats are found on the river, in which travellers
are afraid to venture because the inhabitants of the
marshes, having become robbers, kill the crews and
rob the passing boats. The Turkish officials wink
at the matter, while a few thousand, pounds ex
pended on drainage would render the land arable
and make the river safe for traffic.

The Rev. John Van Ess, who was the first

84 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

foreigner in modern times to cross the great
triangle bounded by the Tigris, the Euphrates and
Shatt el Hai, says that, owing to Turkish misrule,
this vast tract of land, inhabited by the savage
and bloodthirsty Ma'adan Arabs, who live by
piracy, has become utterly waste, although less
than a day's journey from the governor's head
quarters. The people there, and in every part of
Arabia under Turkish rule, have reason to fear
the emissaries of the government, as the tax
collector comes down and takes away most, if not
all, the crops which the peasant has toiled hard to
raise. Consequently peasant and shepherd alike
often leave everything in the officer's hands, and
turn their attention to robbery and pillage. Such
a result must be expected in a land where offices
with only a nominal salary attached to them are
openly sold to the highest bidder, it being fully
understood that the recipient thereof will not only
open his hands for bribes to live upon, but also for
favours with which to pay old debts and make
provision for the time when he shall be no longer
steward. From the first he recognizes the fact
that such a time will surely come, as the term of
his office depends upon his ability to satisfy the
caprice or greed of the man above him in rank.

When I was in Hodeidah some years ago, the
town swarmed with starved soldiery waiting for
vessels to take them back to Turkey. The poor
fellows were in rags and in a most unsanitary con
dition ; but as an insurrection broke out some dis-

Islam in Arabia 85

tance from the town, these men, whose time had
expired nearly two years before, were armed,
given a little food and sent away to stamp out the
rebellion. Three days after we saw many of
them that had been wounded in battle brought
back in open boats and deposited like bales of
cloth on the shore, where they lay for hours in a
scorching sun till a little donkey-cart was brought
to pick them up and take them to the hospital, if
the dirty shanty to which they were taken could
be called by that name.

Throughout Arabia military conscription is
rigidly carried out except on the payment of fifty
pounds as ransom ; but in this, as in everything
else, bribery is common, for Mr. Yan Ess says, " I
am personally acquainted with a Turkish doctor
who has become rich by declaring men drawn for
military service to be physically unfit. As the
said medico has an itching palm, a dead conscience,
and the hunger of a crab, he has to be bribed by
the same conscript for many years."

The old confederation of tribes in Mesopotamia
seems to have been broken up except in name.
Most of the sheikhs have been pensioned or given
the title of Pasha and told to keep quiet even
when their flocks and herds are taken for supplies
to feed the troops. A few tribes are still up in
arms and follow a life of brigandage or keep up
their martial spirit with intertribal warfare. There
are two tribes on the Euphrates which annually
lose hundreds of men in such a strife, the primal

86 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

cause of which was a quarrel over a fish eight
years ago.

Bahrein is a British Protectorate and conse
quently there is much greater freedom than there
used to be when first the Arabian Mission began
work in the island.

Hassa is a Turkish province holding rather an
anomalous position as it is separated both by sea
and land from other Turkish territory. Conse
quently a much larger military force is required to
keep it in proper subjection than if it were possible
to march troops from the surrounding district.

The Pirate Coast and Oman are much influenced
by their nearness to India, consequently towns
both large and prosperous are found all along the
coast. In Nejd, a peace has been patched up but
I fear that it is only temporary, since the heredi
tary hatred between Ibn Saud and Ibn Rashid
sooner or later will be manifested in the same way
as year after year in the past.

In the Hadramaut there is quietness for the
present; but as the sheikh of Makulla still feels
galled by his late defeat, one fears that it is not
likely to last, and the probability is that for
many years no other than a medical mission can
hope to settle in that country.

The intellectual condition, on the whole, is of a
high order, except that there is lack of ambition
and applicative power. When however these
faculties are aroused, an Arab is able to hold
his own with most of the Eastern races and I have

Islam in Arabia 87

often been surprised with the sharpness of an
Arab's intelligence and the grasp that he takes
of the subject in hand. As a rule, however,
there is little ambition to learn anything more
than how to read the Koran, write a short letter,
and do simple arithmetic. In the Persian Gulf
nearly fifteen per cent, of those who dwell in
towns can read and write ; but among the tribes
two per cent, is a high figure. This is partly
owing to the fact that in some towns the Turkish
Government provides free education, teaching
such subjects as physiology, algebra, physical and
political geography, the elements of physics, and
Turkish, Persian, Arabic and French. But very
few except the merchant class and those study
ing theology ever stay longer at school than to
learn to read the Koran. This is the case even
in Oman, where the Abadhi sect of Islam pre
vails, and illiteracy is comparatively speaking
uncommon even among women.

As there is practically no native church in
Arabia, one can scarcely speak of Islam's atti
tude towards it, although in Aden and the sur
rounding districts there have been many perver
sions from the Latin and Abyssinian church owing
to the pressure put upon nominally Christian
traders in Makulla by the Sultan, and on the
working men in Aden and Sheikh Othman by
their fellow workmen. Many Abyssinians and
Gallas, in order to avoid this persecution, call
themselves by Moslem names when they come to

88 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

Aden to work and revert to their old names
when they leave Aden.

The first time I went to a village in the interior,
I had to pay a large sum of money for a few
hours shelter from the sun. The next time a
guard was put round our tents when we went
to the village to prevent our having intercourse
with the people. But the third time the chief
men came over to bid us welcome, and sat with
us day after day discussing the great questions
of sin and salvation. Then when we left they
gave us a hearty send-off, begged us to hasten back
again, and tied a basket of fowls to the pack
camel's load as a present for the doctor. On the
whole then, one can say that as a rule the Moslem
here is not bitterly antagonistic to Protestant
Christianity, although he fears it more than he
does those corrupted forms in which the images of
Mary and the other saints play such an important
part that may offend his convictions.

Of special developments in Islam, I can say
little. In the Aden district and neighbouring coun
tries there are none, unless one mentions a grow
ing carelessness towards any and every form of
religion, together with a tendency towards rank
infidelity which I heard more of in Hodeidah
than in Aden. Wahabism, Sufism, and the other
minor sects are practically unknown in South
Arabia nowadays, but when one goes up among
the mountains tribes, he finds worship of dead
saints and similar superstitions very common.

A TYPICAL ARAB OF YEMEN

Islam in Arabia 89

In one village I found that all sheikhs' graves
had a headstone in which there was a place for a
light and a receptacle for the food which the
devotees bring and offer to the dead saint for his
intercession. Even in Sheikh Othman, while the
children's heads are usually shaved there is always
a little lock left on the crown that is devoted to
the Waly (Saint) and kept there until the boy's
marriage day. Then he slaughters a sheep, prays
to the Waly, has his head shaved, and gives a
present to the Sheikh for the upkeep of the Waly's
tomb.

There are now four different societies at work
in Arabia and at least three others that are act
ing indirectly. The oldest society is the Church
Missionary Society which broke ground at Bagdad
in the year 1882, carrying on the work as a branch
of its Persian Mission. This was a natural develop
ment because Bagdad is close to the sacred places
of the Shiite Mohammedans, to which people
annually flock from all parts of Persia. In 1887
medical mission work was begun and in 1898 the
connection with the Persian Mission was dissolved,
the independent mission being called the Turkish
Arabia Mission. Two years later Mosul was oc
cupied as a branch station near the site of ancient
Nineveh.

Like its two sister missions the Church Mission
ary Society has suffered much from the unhealthi-
ness of the region and has consecrated its work
with the lives of those who died in harness.

90 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

" Though God buries His workers, He still carries
on His work," and in Bagdad there are four mis
sionaries at work. In Mosul there are also four
missionaries.

In the year 1885 the Hon. Ion Keith Falconer,
third son of the late Earl of Kintore, went out to
Aden to see if he could start a mission there. The
following year saw him back with a fully qualified
medical man to assist him. Before he could do
much more than settle down to work, however, the
Lord called him to higher service, and his place
was taken by others. The mission he founded has
ever since been carried on in his name by the
Free Church of Scotland (now called the United
Free Church) which has also erected a church,
called the Keith-Falconer Memorial Presbyterian
Church, in Steamer Point, for the Presbyterian
soldiers stationed there.

The staff at present consists of two ordained
medical missionaries.

The third society to take the field was the
Arabian Mission of the Reformed Church in
America. This society was organized in 1889, and
Busrah was occupied in 1891, Muscat in 1893 and
Bahrein in 1892, as stations of that mission. The
missionary force consists of five missionaries, two
of them with their wives, and two unmarried mis
sionary women at Bahrein (two of the missionaries
being physicians), and one medical missionary and
his wife, who is also a physician, two ordained
missionaries, and one unmarried missionarv woman

Islam in Arabia 91

at Busrah. Nasariyeh on the Euphrates, and Am-
ara on the Tigris are occupied as out stations.

Three years ago the National Church of Den
mark began a mission at Makulla but its mission
ary was expelled by the Sultan, and while he was
waiting for a way to be opened into Hadramaut,
it was agreed that a portion of the work in Sheikh
Othman should be carried on by the Danish
Church, a plan which has now worked harmoniously
for more than two years. The societies working
indirectly are: The British and Foreign Bible
Society in Aden, Bagdad, Busrah, etc. ; the Ameri
can Bible Society in the Persian Gulf ; the Bible
Lands Mission Aid Society, which aids by cash
appropriations.

SPECIAL DIFFICULTIES OR OPPORTUNITIES
Under the British government one has no special
difficulties to contend with, but the case is different
immediately Turkish territory is entered.

ThroughoutTurkish Arabia bazaar preaching and
open discussion are forbidden. In and around Aden
there is no restriction, although one has always to
be careful not to offend the susceptibilities of the
people by using strong language. Even if converts
were thus gained, life would be made unbearable for
them in a way that no government could prevent.
For many years, in any case, converts must expect
persecution, but an honest, earnest Christian life
would, through time, be freed therefrom and open
the way for others to follow.

92 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

In Turkish Arabia military conscription often
makes men feign to be inquirers in the hope that
they will be helped to flee the country. It is very
hard to distinguish the false from the true, when
both appear to be anxiously seeking the truth.

The Kev. James Cantine says that in Oman there
are special difficulties : " The scattered population,
the poverty of the people, and their notable licen
tiousness, as well as interference with work inland
by occasional tribal warfare."

Every mission in Arabia too has the following
difficulties to contend with ; viz. (1) A hot and
unhealthy climate without any near place to which
the missionary could go in order to rest and re
cruit after fever. (2) The great expense of keep
ing up a mission. As a rule prices are twice or
thrice what they are in India, and assistants, col
porteurs and evangelists require to have at least
three times the pay that is given in India.

In Turkish Arabia, too, all medical men are re
quired to proceed to Constantinople and pass an
examination there either in Turkish or French be
fore they are allowed to practice as medical mis
sionaries.

Special opportunities for work are: The mis
sion stations are so located that there are very few
districts in Arabia which cannot be reached through
indirect channels. Every village of any size at
one time or another sends its representative to
Bagdad, Busrah, Bahrein, Muscat or Aden, while
from far in the interior sick ones are brought to

Islam in Arabia 93

the mission hospitals and dispensaries for treat
ment and so give the missionaries an opportunity
of reaching places that they could never hope to
visit in person.

In East Arabia, now, the missionaries are sure
of a warm welcome wherever they go, and places
that but a few years ago were closed are now open
for the gospel. In Southeast Arabia the Rev.
James Cantine says there is " an almost universally
cordial reception inland, and in large coast towns
the people are not at all fanatical. There is prac
tically no interference from the Sultan " (of Oman).
" Work among the soldier class," says the Rev.
John Yan Ess, " presents two prime advantages :
it finds a field peculiarly fallow because of the
loneliness of the soldier's life, and the constant
shifting of regiments carries the gospel into regions
closed to colportage."

It is impossible to tabulate the results of faithful
work in these different parts of Arabia ; but all of
us must rejoice that first fruits have been gathered
in from every field, although not from every sta
tion. Prejudices have been broken down and now
there is not only a tolerance of Christian teaching,
but a real interest in and a better appreciation of
true Christianity. Several thousand scriptures are
sold every year along with very many educational
works and not a few religious papers and contro
versial tracts are given to the people on their way
to the interior. In Sheikh Othman, where the at
tendances at the dispensary have risen from two

94 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

thousand to above forty thousand, we are about to
erect a hospital ; and an application has been made
to government for a site on which to build mission
premises at Dthala, a place nearly 100 miles north
of Aden and just on the border of Turkish ter
ritory.

From the very first the Keith-Falconer Mission
had a fully qualified medical missionary on its
staff, and experience taught the other societies the
necessity for healing the sick as well as preaching
the gospel. Consequently now there are dispen
saries and rudimentary or properly built hospitals
in Mosul, Bagdad, Busrah, Bahrein and Sheikh
Othman, Aden, while from each of these centres
the medical missionaries go out on tour and pave
the way for evangelistic effort and colportage.
All of these medical missions are known far and
near, and sometimes draw patients hundreds even
thousands of miles for treatment. That at Sheikh
Othman has had patients coming (and bringing let
ters with them from old patients) from farther
north than Mecca and Medina, from Abyssinia,
Somaliland and Hadramaut. I am told that at
Bahrein, Busrah and Bagdad, patients from the in
land Kiadh and Hail are frequent.

Under the head of educational work I not only
include the keeping open of a school in which
Bible instruction is given synchronously with
secular education, but also efforts to educate the
moral sense and create within the children higher
desires and nobler aspirations than any of them

Islam in Arabia 95

possess. Very few Moslem children have any
sense of modesty as we understand the word, and
it is our duty to awaken this, if we can, and also
to show them the real distinction between truth
and falsehood, while we make plain to them the
necessity of being honest with God. All Moslem
children come to our schools with certain precon
ceived ideas and religious beliefs, which we should
aim to get rid of without injuring the faith of the
scholar. I have found that a strong light cast
upon a properly made and properly placed globe
has had a spendid educational effect on both old
Moslems and young, for it shows that the com
mand to keep Kamadhan is not of God, since in
certain countries it could not be obeyed. This
can usually be done in the routine work of the
day, and for this reason, if for no other, I think it
is always advisable in teaching geography to have
at least one globe in the school. A statistical map
is also helpful, showing the countries that are
Moslem and those that are Christian, and how
Protestant Christian countries have flourished
while Moslem countries have decayed.

The magic lantern or stereopticon is largely
used in some parts of Arabia ; for though Moslems
say that " angels never enter a house where there
are pictures or dogs," the average Moslem of the
present day will gaze with wonder on, and be
quickly attracted to a lantern lecture. Experi
ence has, however, taught me that nude or semi-
nude figures should never be shown on the screen

96 The Mohammedan World of To- Day

and rarely if ever should a fanciful representation
of our Saviour be shown. From such pictures as
the children of Israel crossing the Jordan, Joseph
before Pharoah, Ruth declining to leave Naomi
and Solomon pronouncing judgment, the conver
sation can be so turned that "a good word for
Jesus" may be spoken. At any rate lantern dem
onstrations please the people and make them more
friendly with the missionary, opening up a way
for both man and message.

In all the missions in Arabia the colporteur is
to be seen at work, and every year several thou
sand copies of God's word in whole or in part, are
sold by those who carry the books from house to
house. A shop too in the village or town where
the missionary dwells is usually rented as a book
shop and discussion-room into which all are in
vited, quietly to read the newspapers and religious
periodicals placed there. Our experience is that
this room should be made as attractive as possible,
and that no effort should be made to force the
conversation into a religious groove until the
stranger has learned to trust the one who speaks.

Bazaar preaching may be carried on but our
experience is that far more good is done by per
sonal dealings with individuals than in speaking
to multitudes. This brings me to say that all the
different methods named must be kept subordinate
to real evangelistic work. For nothing but the
" Man of God " thoroughly alive with the love of
God has ever been the agent of real missionary

Islam in Arabia 97

conquest, and rarely if ever has there been any
other instrument in his hand than the Word of
God, although surgical operations, medical attend
ance, school lessons, kindly interference on behalf
of the oppressed, and a warm interest in the
people's welfare, may have tended to clear, and in
my opinion often, have cleared the way for the
man and his message. Consequently in all the
missions these are used as auxiliaries.

VII

Islam in Arabia
(The Wahabis)

Rev. S. M. Zwemer, D. D.

" It surely is not without a purpose that this wide-spread and
powerful race [the Arabs] has been kept these four thousand
years, unsubdued and nudegeuerate, preserving still the vigour
and simplicity of its character. It is certainly capable of a great
future ; and as certainly a great future lies before it. It may
be among the last peoples of Southwestern Asia to yield to the
transforming influences of Christianity and a Christian civiliza
tion. But to those influences it will assuredly yield in the full
ness of time." — Edson L. Clark.

VII

Islam in Arabia

IN writing on this land the first difficulty, and
one that can hardly be avoided, is that we must
deal so largely with unknown quantities. Not
only from a geographical but also from a religious
point of view the great peninsula still awaits ex
ploration. The latest authority on this subject,
David George Hogarth, F.R.G. S., writes in his
book, The Penetration of Arabia :

"From certain scientific points of view hardly
anything in Arabia is known. Not a hundredth
part of the peninsula has been mathematically sur
veyed ; the altitude of scarcely a single point even
on the littoral has been fixed by an exact process,
and we depend on little more than guesses for all
points in the interior. . . . Between the inner
most points reached by Europeans in their at
tempts to penetrate it intervenes a dark space of
650 miles span from north to south, and 850 from
west to east. This unseen area covers considerably
more than half a million square miles, or not much
less than half the whole superficies of Arabia."

Of the real condition of this part of the penin
sula we are therefore in ignorance except for hear
say and native report. The Dahna may hold
semi-pagan tribes of Arabs or remnants of ab-

IQI

1O2 The Mohammedan World of To-Day
origines like the Shikhuh in northern Oman.

Arabia was not always a Mohammedan land, nor
is it wholly a Mohammedan land to-day. There
are Jews in Yemen and Irak to the number of at
least 150,000, while in the Busrah and Bagdad
vilayets there are 12,850 oriental Christians.
Whether the semi-pagan tribes of eastern Ha-
dramaut, who on the testimony of travellers know
nothing of Islam except the name of Mohammed,
are to be counted as Moslems is an open question.
Taking the boundary of Arabia on the north as
the thirtieth parallel of latitude the area of the
country is a million of square miles. This large
region, according to the careful estimates of
Dr. Hubert Jansen, has a population of 6,290,860 ;
he estimates that of these 6,153,193 are Moslems.1

Of this number 1,184,500 are in Turkish Arabia
in the Provinces of Hejaz, Yemen, and Hassa,
3,500,000 in Independent Arabia, and 1,606,360
in what Jansen calls Arabia under British pro
tection — i. e., Aden, Bahrein, and Oman. In my
opinion these estimates are not wide of the truth.

All four of the orthodox sects of Islam are
represented in Arabia. In the Turkish provinces
the Hanafis ; in Yemen there are many Shafts ; in
the interior Malekis and Hanbalis. The Shiah
sect is found on the east coast, and is strong in
Mesopotamia; while the Abadhi sect, of Shiah
origin, is found in many parts of Oman.

The one sect, however, which is distinctly

1 Verbreilung dea Islams. Berlin, 1897.

Islam in Arabia 103

Arabian, and because of its vast and lasting in
fluence worthy of special note, is that of the
TVahabis. To study their origin, history, tenets
and influence is to have a good insight into Islam
as it is to-day in Arabia.

The rise of innumerable heresies as the result
of philosophical speculation, the spread of mysti
cism among the learned classes, and the return to
many heathen superstitions on the part of the
masses, made Islam ripe for reform at the middle
of the eighteenth century. Add to this that there
was a general decadence of morals under the
Ottoman Caliphate, and that there had been a lull
in Moslem conquest. Except for a temporary
revival of missionary activity on the part of the
Moslems of China and the spread of Islam among
the Barbar}'- Tartars, the eighteenth century saw
little advance for the Crescent. Instead of con
quest there was controversy. The germs of
idolatry left by Mohammed in his system bore
fruit also in Arabia. Saint-worship became com
mon. The Shiahs had made Kerbela the rival of
Mecca and Medina as a place of pilgrimage.
There were local shrines of holy men near every
village, and stone and tree-worship were not at all
uncommon. The whole world of thought was
honeycombed with superstitions, and the old-time
simplicity of morals and life had given way to
luxury and sensuality. Burckhardt testifies re
garding Mecca itself (which has always been to the
pious Moslem the cynosure of his faith) that, just

104 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

before the time of the Wahabi reformation, de
bauchery was fearfully common, and that harlotry
and even unnatural vices were perpetrated openly
in the sacred city. Almsgiving had grown obso
lete; justice was neither swift nor impartial;
effeminacy had displaced the martial spirit; and
the conduct of the pilgrim-caravans was scandalous
in the extreme.

Such was the condition of Arabia when Mo
hammed Bin Abd ul Wahab bin Musherrif was
born at Wasit in Nejd, 1691 A. D. Before his
death this great reformer, earnest as Luther, and
zealous as Cromwell, saw his doctrines accepted
and his laws obeyed from the Persian Gulf to the
Yemen frontier. As a result of his teaching there
sprang up in the short space of fifty years not
only a new, widely extended, and important Mos
lem sect, but an independent and powerful state.
Abd ul "Wahab was a whirlwind of puritan-
ism against the prevailing apostasy of the Moslems
of his day. His sect was a protest against idolatry
and superstition. It stood for no new teaching,
but was a call back to the original Islam. It was
an honest attempt at an Arabian reformation
which was intended to repristinate the entire
Moslem world. Yet, so far from giving a pro
gressive impulse to Moslem thought, it has proved
the most reactionary element in the history of
Islam.

In the year 1740, the preacher of reform made
an alliance with the powerful Arab chief, Mo-

Islam in Arabia 105

hammed bin Saud, and then the religious warfare
for the truth began. To give the history in detail
of the rise of the "Wahabi state, and its bloody
conflicts, first with the Arabs and afterwards
against the Turks and the Egyptians, as well
as the history of the two British campaigns
from India against the Wahabi pirates of Oman,
is impossible in the narrow limits of this paper.
A brief account and a list of the literature
on this subject can be found in the Journal of the
Victoria Institute for 1901.

Because Wahabi teaching has modified Islam all
over the Arabian peninsula, and still exercises a
mighty influence on thought and politics, it is im
portant to note on what points a thoroughgoing
Wahabi differs from an orthodox Moslem :

1. They do not receive the dogmatic decisions
of the four Imams, reject Jjma'a, i. e., the unani
mous consent of the theologians, and profess to hold
the right of private judgment in interpreting the
Koran.

2. Their monotheism is absolute. Prayers may
not be offered in the name of any prophet, wali,
or saint. Palgrave's famous description of Allah
is a true picture of the Wahabi doctrine of God.
They are fatalists.

3. Together with this absolute monotheism they
are accused, and not without reason, of having
Crude and anthropomorphic ideas of deity. They
understand the words, " sitting " and " Hand of
God " in a strictly literal sense.

106 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

4. They hold that Mohammed cannot intercede
now, but that he may on the last day. In this
they differ from all other Moslem sects.

5. They think it wrong to build cupolas over
graves, or to honour the dead by illuminations or
the visiting of tombs, etc.

6. They are accused of holding that certain
portions of the original Koran were abstracted by
Othman out of envy when he had made his recen
sion superseding all other copies.1

7. They observe only four festivals in the
calendar year.

8. They forbid the use of the rosary, and count
the names of God and their prayers on the knuckles
of the hand instead.

9. In the matter of dress they advocate sim
plicity. All silk, jewels, silver and gold, and other
than Arabian dress are an abomination to God
and to His prophet.

10. All drugs that benumb or stupefy, and
especially tobacco, are strictly forbidden and put
under the category of greater sins. The weed is
known by the name of " the shameful " or by a
still worse and untranslatable epithet which im
plies a purely Satanic origin for the plant.

11. "Wahabi mosques are built with the greatest
simplicity, and no minarets are allowed nor orna
ment in the place of prayer.

12. The sect lays great stress on the doctrine
of Jihad or religious warfare. To fight for the

1 See Badger's History of Oman, pp. 252, 253.

Islam in Arabia 107

faith with carnal weapons is a command of God
never to be abrogated. In all their bloody battles
they never were known to grant quarter to a
Turk. They keep Mohammed's precept diligently,
" Kill the unbelievers wherever ye find them."

A careful survey of these and other points of
difference leaves no doubt of the reactionary char
acter of this reform movement. It is an advance
backward and progress towards an impasse. And
yet if ever a reform had promise of success it was
the Wahabi revival in Arabia. Mohammed bin
Abd ul Wahab understood the strength and the
weakness of Islam as no one before him did. Saud
the founder of the Wahabi state was a great man.
Though at the head of a powerful military govern
ment, he appears never (outside the laws of relig
ion) to have encroached upon the legitimate
freedom of his subjects. The great principle of
separating the judicial from the executive branch
of government he understood not only, but faith
fully carried out. The "Wahabi judges of those
days were noted for their impartiality ; they were
so well paid from the public treasury that they did
not need bribes for bread. Robbery met with the
swift old-time punishment of chopping off the hand
of the culprit. We are told, " The people lay down
to sleep at night with no fear that their cattle
would be stolen in the morning; and a single
merchant with his camel load of wares could travel
in safety from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea."
To-day even a well-armed caravan dares to travel

io8 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

only by daylight through Turkish Hassa and
Yemen.

Public education had no mean place in the
Wahabi state. Schools were everywhere estab
lished and teachers sent even to the Bedouins ; and
although instruction was very elementary, its
wide-spread results are apparent in Nejd and
Yeraama to this day.

Of the influence of the "Wahabi revival on Islam
in India and in Africa and on the rise of the mod
ern Moslem Brotherhoods there is no space here to
write. In Arabia the chief strongholds of the sect
are along the coast of the Persian Gulf in Oman
and in 'Ajman and the Wady Doasir. In the lat
ter place they still preserve all their old-time be
liefs and fanaticism so as to be a proverb among
the Arabs.

The effect of the "Wahabi movement has influ
enced all Arabian thought. It has built a wall of
fanaticism around the old Wahabi states, and post
poned the opening of doors to civilization and
Christianity in that part of the peninsula. On the
other hand some positive and negative results of
the revival have, I think, favoured Christian
missions.

Islam in its primitive teaching is nearer the truth
than Islam with all its added superstitions and ad
ditions of a later date. The Koran can more easily
be made our ally in the battle for the gospel than
the interpretations of the four Imams. My deal
ings with the "Wahabis have impressed me with

Islam in Arabia 109

their accessibility on spiritual lines, once the way
is opened to their hearts.

Negatively, Wahabism is a strong argument that
Islam, even when reformed into its original prin
ciples and practices, has no power to save a people
or introduce permanent progress. There is no bet
ter polemic against Islam than a presentation of
the present intellectual, social, and moral condition
of Arabia. Cradled at Mecca, fostered at Medina,
and reformed in the Nejd, the creed of Islam has
had indisputed possession of the peninsula almost
since its birth. In other lands, such as Syria and
Egypt, it remained in contact with a more or less
corrupt form of Christianity, or, as in India and
in China, in conflict with cultured paganism, and
there is no doubt that in both cases there were and
are mutual concessions and influences. But in its
native Arabian soil the tree planted by the prophet
has grown with wild freedom and brought forth
fruit after its kind. As regards morality Arabia
is on a low plane. Slavery and concubinage exist
everywhere ; while polygamy and divorce are fear
fully common. The conscience is petrified ; legal
ity is the highest form of worship ; virtue is to be
like the prophet Mohammed. Intellectually there
has been scant progress since " the time of igno
rance " when all the Arab tribes used to gather at
Okatz to compete in poetry and eloquence. The
Bedouins are nearly all illiterate and, in spite of
the "Wahabi revival and the attempt of Turkish
officials to open schools, there is little that deserves

l io The Mohammedan World of To-Day

the name of education in even the larger towns.
Kufa, which was once the Oxford of Arabia, now
has one day school with twelve pupils ; Fatalism,
the philosophy of the masses, has paralyzed prog
ress, and injustice is often stoically accepted.
Cruelty is common, lying is a fine art, and robbery
a science. Islam and the Wahabis have made the
noble, free-hearted and hospitable Arabs hostile to
Christians and wary of all strangers. Doughty
and Palgrave, who both crossed the heart of
Arabia, have given it as their verdict that there is
no hope for this land in Islam. It has been tried
zealously for thirteen hundred years and piteously
failed.

As regards the future of Islam in Arabia there
are three factors. The old independent spirit in
Nejd and Yemen, not to omit even Hejaz, is rest
less under the rule of Turkey. Eebellion has be
come chronic and threatens to be revolution. The
proposed railway from Damascus to Mecca and the
south is really a challenge to the other powers
on the part of the Sultan to keep hands off Arabia.
But the railway, when opened, may prove an open
door to more than Turkish troops. This long and
never ending conflict between the Arab and the
Turk in Arabia is the first factor of the future
problem.

The second and more important factor is British
policy in Arabia. That the whole country owes
an immense debt to Great Britain in the past I

Islam in Arabia 1 1 1

have shown elsewhere.1 To the outside observer
there seems no doubt that her policy is aggressive
in the hinterland of Aden, and that all the Arabs
welcome it. On the littoral of Hadramaut and
Oman, British influence is the only preserver of the
peace, and her gunboats alone prevent piracy. In
the Persian Gulf British prestige is gaining ground
slowly but surely. What is the aim of British
policy in Arabia ? He who can answer that ques
tion can read the future of a large part of the dark
peninsula.

The third factor is Christian missions. "While it
is inevitable that the advent of "Western civiliza
tion through British commerce and politics will
modify Moslem thought even in Arabia as it has
in India and Egypt, it is not to be taken for granted
that either of these harbingers of progress are
necessarily in conflict with Islam. But Christian
missions exist to propagate Christianity. They
have only recently entered Arabia, and yet the re
sults prove their efficiency and potency to a degree
above the hopes of many. The United Free
Church of Scotland has a very strong medical mis
sion at Sheikh Othman, a school for Moslem chil
dren, and does itinerating inland. The medical
work of the Church Missionary Society Mission at
Bagdad is known far inland in the villages and
cities of Nejd, and has already borne rich spiritual
fruit after years of self-denying toil in relieving

1 The Cradle of Islam, pp. 218-232.

1 1 2 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

suffering. Their school at Bagdad has 150 pupils.
The American Mission in the Persian Gulf has six
teen missionaries with three stations and three out-
stations. Over 4,000 Scriptures were sold last year
to Moslems and 31,355 patients treated at our two
dispensaries. Seventy -five per cent, of these were
Moslems. At Bahrein there is a fully equipped
mission hospital, and we are building a chapel and
school. In each of these three missions there have
been converts and baptisms. The outlook for mis
sions in Arabia may demand a strong faith and a
zeal that knows no discouragement, but it is de
cidedly hopeful, and is growing more hopeful year
by year. For obvious reasons it would be unwise
to give further details of missions in a land still so
largely under the power of the Koran and its in
tolerant spirit.

VIII

Islam in Persia
Rev. W. St. Clair Tisdall, M. A., D. D.

"What testimony moreover oonld be so cogent as this to the
inadequacy of Islam to meet the wants of the soul? Mohammed
refused to believe in a crucified Christ, but his followers trust to
the cleansing power of tears shed for his murdered grandson. Do
not these frantic cries call for the gospel of the Cross? " — Wm. A.
Shedd, D. D.

VIII

Islam in Persia

EVER since the Arabian conquest of Persia,
about the year 640 of our era, the dominant re
ligion of the country has been the Mohammedan,
which was established by the sword. The Shiah
form of Islam became supreme in the country
during the tenth century. Although the Sunni
faith was declared the religion of Persia under
Nadir Shah in 1736, yet Agha Mohammed, the
founder of the present Qajar dynasty restored the
supremacy of the Shiah faith in 1796.

There is no such thing as a census in Persia and
hence it is impossible to form accurate estimates
of the population. Lord Curzon believes that it
is between eight and ten millions. Of these some
750,000 or 800,000 are said to be Sunnis, though I
consider this estimate too high. The Behais claim
to number 1,000,000 adherents, and are certainly
very numerous. There are some 10,000 Parsis,
chiefly in Yezd and Kerman ; about 20,000 Jews
in Ispahan, Teheran, Hamadan and other large
cities; 53,000 Armenians in the Armenian prov
inces and in Julfa (new) and its neighbourhood,
and 30,000 Nestorians about Urmia. All the rest
of the population are nominally Shiites, though
the Bakhtiyaris and the nomad tribes know little

ii6 The Mohammedan World of To- Day

of Islam, and the educated classes are mostly Sufi
free-thinkers. The leading sects are the Isrnailis,
the Ali-Ilahis (especially among the Kurds), the
Akhbaris and the Shaikhis. It is from the latter
sect that the Babis and Behais sprang. The Babis
are now few in number, most of them having
become followers of the Baha.

The social condition of Moslems in Persia can
not be said to be a high one. Women hold a very
low position and have few rights. They are closely
veiled when they go abroad, even in the lowest
classes, except among the nomad tribes, whose
women enjoy much greater liberty. Religiously,
few privileges are granted them. They are not
encouraged to attend service in the mosques, but
in some instances have their own small places of
worship. I have heard of a case in which a woman
acted as the Imam to a small gathering of her
own sex. The well-known Mohammedan law of
polygamy and divorce holds in Persia as in other
Mohammedan lands and hence a woman has prac
tically no social rights. Jealousy frequently leads
to murder and suicide on the part of woman. Men
have been known to murder their wives with im
punity and with hardly an effort to conceal their
guilt, and that for no crime even alleged. In case
of adultery, the husband and his wife's male rela
tives not infrequently punish the guilty woman
with death. Of course adultery on the husband's
part goes unpunished. For murdering her hus
band, a woman was crucified and then strangled

Islam in Persia 1 1 "J

in Ispahan during my residence in Persia. Mar
riage often takes place when the girl is seven or
nine years of age, in accordance with Mohammed's
example in his marriage with Ayesha. The evil
results of this are well known. The mutofah
(called in Persia siyheh] system of temporary mar
riages prevails under religious sanction among the
Shiites, in accordance with traditions which they
accept and the Sunnis reject. Hence at Qum and
other " holy " cities to which crowds of pilgrims
resort there are large numbers of women who
have devoted themselves to this kind of life, the
Mullas and Mujtahids there draw a large part of
their income from the fees they receive for cele
brating these temporary marriages. It is rare to
find a woman who can read. It is hardly neces
sary to point out that such treatment of women
has tended to the moral and social degradation of
the other sex. Immorality is one of the great
vices of Persia. Lying has been elevated to the
dignity of a fine art, owing to the doctrine of
Kitman-ud-din which is held by the Shiah relig
ious community.

The Behais are far superior in morality to the
mass of the Moslems of Persia. Except when the
first wife has no children, a man is not allowed a
second wife during her lifetime. Even under these
circumstances, he is not thought of highly should
he take a second wife. Divorce is permitted only
for a wife's adultery. The Behais profess to place
the Old and New Testaments on the same level as

] 1 8 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

the Koran and their own books. They are more
liberal in their views with regard io women's edu
cation, and some Behai women have risen high in
the esteem of the members of the sect. Some
have become Behai missionaries to their own sect.

There is no political liberty in Persia. The peo
ple are not allowed to take any part in politics.
The Shah is an absolute monarch and his decrees
are the secular law of the country, the only secular
law in force. The religious law of Islam is put in
force by the Mullas, so far as they have power and
deem it safe to do so. At times the secular rulers
have to yield to them and there is always a great
distrust of one another between the religious and
the secular authorities. Although two systems of
law are in force, justice is not to be obtained under
either. Every important position under govern
ment is sold year by year. No Persian subject's
life or property is secure. Oppression is found
everywhere ; tyranny and injustice are so common
as to occasion no surprise. But in these and other
respects Persia resembles most other Mohammedan
countries. There are no public works. The coun
try is steadily retrograding towards barbarism,
though European influence in some slight degree
tends in another direction.

The people are intelligent and capable but there
is no national system of education. The propor
tion of those who can read and write is very small
and even men in high position have but an imper
fect knowledge of orthography. Even the Mullas

Islam in Persia 119

know but little of Arabic, and nothing of any
other language but their vernacular. The secular
authorities are not anxious for the education of
their subjects, and the Mullas fear education lest
their people should " become infidels." Modern
Persian literature is scanty and inferior. Yet the
people themselves have great respect for learning,
and take delight in hearing a book of any kind
read aloud. This affords a great opening for the
circulation of the Bible and of Christian literature
in general. The language is copious and well
adapted for the dissemination of Christian truth.
One of the greatest obstacles to the spread of the
gospel, however, is the great ignorance of the peo
ple at large. " Orthodox " Mohammedanism
whether Shiite or Sunni, has alwaj^s been opposed
to intellectual progress, since it has been felt that
such progress would be fatal to Islam.

The relation in which Islam in Persia stands to
Christianity is that of unceasing opposition. The
Koranic law which dooms to death any Moslem
who embraces any other religion is in force, theo
retically at least. The late Shah of Persia at dif
ferent times published three edicts in favour of re
ligious toleration, but the Mullas compelled them
to be virtually annulled, since they said that no
one could repeal the Divine law above referred to.
But of recent years the spread of belief in the
gospel has resulted in the falling into abeyance of
this Koranic law, at least to a great extent. The
Moslems of Persia believe Christianity, as it exists

12O The Mohammedan World of To-Day

at present, to be an idolatrous and corrupt system
of religion. They hold that the gospel has been
repealed by the " descent " of the Koran upon
Mohammed, and fancy that our Bible has been
willfully corrupted both by Jews and Christians.
We are accused of worshipping three Gods. Their
knowledge of Christianity has, until comparatively
recently, been in large measure derived from the
commentators on the Koran, and from what they
have seen of the worship of the Oriental and
Roman Churches. But Protestant missionaries
of the American Presbyterian Church and of the
Church Missionary Society have already to some
extent succeeded in showing them that Evangel
ical Christianity is not idolatrous. Hence the
Persians are gradually coming to make a distinc
tion between the two kinds of Christianity with
which they have thus become acquainted ; and
their attitude towards us has now become much
more favourable. Of course those who know any
thing of the gospel are well aware that Islam is in
many respects antagonistic to it, and feel that one
or the other must perish. There is not, however,
nearly so strong an attachment to Islam in Persia
as in India and Arabia. As a religion it is far
less suited to the Aryan, than to the Semitic mind.
Many Persians are well aware that the religion
was forced upon their ancestors at the point of
the sword by the Arabs, their hereditary foes.
The influence of the Sufi philosophers and poets,
like the author of the Masnavi, has also been ex-

Islam in Persia 12 1

erted in the direction of destroying faith in Islam.
Ali is practically more revered than Mohammed,
and in his name not a few ideas have been intro
duced which are very different from ordinary
Mohammedan beliefs. The opposition between
the secular and the religious authorities tends to
prevent the former from seconding, with any
zeal, the efforts of the latter to stamp out Chris
tianity. All these matters have to be considered
in attempting to define the attitude of Moslems
in Persia towards the Christian faith.

The greatest event in the recent religious history
of the country is the rise of the Babi or as we may
now call it the Behai, faith. The Behais, gen
erally speaking, are more or less friendly towards
Christians, being themselves liable to persecution.
Their use of the Bible has done much to spread
a knowledge of parts at least of it in Persia. A
spirit of enquiry has thus also been produced and
this favours the cause of the gospel.

MISSIONS TO MOSLEMS IN PERSIA
The Church Missionary Society, though its
work in Persia began later than that of the
American Presbyterians, has always aimed at
direct work for the conversion of the Moham
medans. The American missionaries, at first and
for a considerable time, devoted themselves rather
to direct evangelistic work among the Nesto-
rians and Armenians, hoping that they would thus
indirectly reach the Moslems. At first doubtless

122 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

this was the only possible method of proceeding.
For a considerable number of years, however,
they too have been labouring openly among the
Moslems. Beside there is the " Orient Mission ''
of Dr. Lepsius. The Archbishop of Canterbury's
" Assyrian Mission " has laboured to raise theNes-
torian clergy and has endeavoured rather to pre
serve that ancient church, and prevent its mem
bers from leaving it to join the American Pres
byterians or the Roman Catholics, than to do
work among the Moslems either directly or in
directly. Recently, the Russian Church has won
a large accession to its ranks from among the Nes.
torians ; but they do not try to make converts
from the Moslems. Nor do the Roman Catholics.
Every one knows of Henry Martyn's eleven
months in Shiraz in 1811, which was the first pub
lication of the gospel in the country since the
Mohammedan conquest. The Rev. Dr. Pfander
of the Basel Missionary Society first arrived in
Persia in 1829, but was soon expelled. The
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions began work at Urmia in 1835, its mis
sionaries directing their attention almost entirely
to the Nestorians. Tabriz, Teheran, Hamadan
and other stations have since been occupied and
much blessing has attended their noble and de
voted labours. The Church Missionary Society in
1875 formally adopted the work begun in Julfa,
near Ispahan, by the Rev. Robert (now Canon)
Bruce in 1869. Its work has now greatly ex-

TYPES SEEN IN THE CAUCASUS.

Islam in Persia 123

tended and stations have been occupied at Ispahan,
Yezd, Kirman and Shiraz. The London Society
for Promoting Christianity among the Jews also
has stations at Teheran and Ispahan. Invalua
ble work is also being done by the British and
Foreign and the American Bible Societies.

Mission work in Persia among Moslems presents
both difficulties and opportunities of a special
kind. Of the former something has been said
above. The ignorance of the people, the bigotry
of the Mullas, and the presence of corrupt and
idolatrous forms of Christianity (such as those
which by repelling Mohammed himself in his
earlier days of religious earnestness, had a great
deal to do with the rise of Islam) are all serious
obstacles to overcome. The want of religious
liberty and the danger of persecution, though this
has lessened of late years, make it difficult for us
to preach the gospel freely in some places, and
deter converts and enquirers from coming forward
as they would otherwise do. The doctrine of
J^itman-ud-din, which is taught to all Shiites,
and is in a slightly modified form accepted by the
Behais also, is popular, and believers have some
times asked to be allowed to adopt Christianity
with the same permission to deny or conceal their
faith in order to save life and property. This
tendency has been firmly and successfully resisted,
but it is one of the difficulties peculiar to work
in Persia. The law which renders English sub
jects liable to be sent out of the country by their

1 24 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

consular authorities, if accused of any conduct
calculated to cause offense to the religious feelings
of Moslems, has once or twice been held in ter-
rorem over missionaries, and its terms are so vague
that it would not be eas}7 to prove innocence, how
ever false the charge might be. Attempts have
actually been made under this law to interfere
with the work of American and English mission
aries, but these have not been successful for long.
There is at present a partiality for Islam, in con
tradistinction to most other non-Christian faiths,
to be met with among people in England, and
this does not assist us in our work in Persia.
We have not many Europeans in the country and
hence the scandal caused by the evil lives of pro
fessing Christians does not injure our work to
nearly the same extent as is the case in many
countries. We are not allowed, generally speak
ing, to erect churches, to preach in the open air
or to publish controversial literature. In many
places the Mullas, in some the civil authorities,
have opposed our opening schools for Moslem
boys. There are many other restrictions of a
similar kind, all of which are of the nature of
difficulties; but we define difficulties as "things
to be overcome" and believe that Christ Jesus
can enable us to do all things according to His
own will.

The opportunities and encouragements which
are afforded for prosecuting the work of the
preaching of the gospel in Persia are now very

Islam in Persia 125

considerable, perhaps at the present day greater
than in any other Mohammedan country. This,
however, has been the case only during the last
few years. When I succeeded Dr. Bruce as secre
tary of the Church Missionary Society Persia and
Bagdad mission in 1892, it was considered impos
sible for any Persian to be baptized without almost
absolute certainty that he would be put to death.
Some of our first converts after that were actually
sentenced to death, and others were in the very
greatest danger. But for years past the persecu
tion has been lessening. We attribute this largely
to the work of medical missions, which have, in
addition to more direct results, proved to even
our most bigoted opponents that Christianity pro
duces love and good works. It is not too much to
say that missionaries are more popular now in
Persia than are any other foreigners. For many
years Julfa was the only station which the Church
Missionary Society could get permission to occupy.
It required years of effort to establish our work
even in the neighbouring city of Ispahan. To one
city, the capital of a province, we have since been
warmly invited by the prince governor, and in
other places we have been welcomed. It is hardly
too much to say that the whole country is open
to evangelistic effort, in itinerating and medical
mission work especially.

Among the direct results of mission work may
be reckoned the opening up of the country at large
to the gospel. Converts have not yet been very

i 26 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

numerous, but there are small native Christian
communities containing Persian converts, male
and female, at every Church Missionary Society
station and probably at every station of our
American brethren, too. As no attempt is made
to gather converts into such centres, but each
man, when baptized, is urged to return to his
home and there let his light shine before men,
there are converts scattered in many other parts
of the country. It would not be safe as yet for a
Persian convert to be ordained, and the Church
Missionary Society missionaries, following the ex
ample of our missionaries in Uganda, have decided
to pay no Persian catechists for evangelizing their
own countrymen. But all the more on this ac
count does the gospel spread through the volun
tary efforts of those who have themselves found
life and peace in Christ. Their happiness and
their changed lives produce a great effect on those
who know them. Thus the influence of the gospel
is spreading from day to day and prejudice is dying
down. For years past the Mullas have been be
wailing the fact that, as they say, " the venom of
Christianity is spreading throughout the land,"
and they confess that Islam is doomed. At one
time they used to preach the necessity of murdering
both missionaries and converts as the only way to
prevent the steady advance of the gospel, but this
is much more rarely done now. Besides those
who have been baptized, a considerable number of
persons are known to us as secret believers, and

A MOSLEM CONVERT, PERSIA.

Islam in Persia 127

we hear of many who are intellectually convinced
and who would probably come forward for bap
tism were religious liberty firmly established in
Persia. Thus not only have direct results already
been evident but the indirect are still more clear
and full of hope and encouragement. That the
Church Missionary Society at least fully realizes
this, is clear from the very considerable and steady
increase in the number of missionaries during the
past thirteen years.

Among the most important methods used in
spreading the gospel are the following : 1. Med
ical missions, with male and female doctors and
trained nurses. 2. Itinerating. 3. Women's work
among the women. 4. Visiting Persians who are
friendly, receiving return visits from them, and in
all such intercourse plainly and lovingly preaching
Christ. 5. Services in missionaries' houses. 6.
Friendly discussions with those who come to argue
with and try to confute us. This is done lovingly
on our part; great patience and courtesy are
shown ; care is taken to say nothing to hurt the
feelings of our opponents, and an attempt is made
to show how any truths that are half concealed
in Islam are fully manifested in the gospel of
Christ. Bitter controversy is carefully avoided.

7. Circulation of the Bible, nearly wholly by sale.

8. Literary work, publication and circulation of
tracts and books in Persian. This is greatly
aided by the establishment of the Henry Marty n
Memorial Press at Julfa. 9. Careful teaching and

1 28 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

testing of enquirers and the preparation of candi
dates for baptism.

[Conditions vary in different parts of Persia.
This is seen from the two paragraphs here ap
pended to Dr. St. Clair Tisdall's scholarly article.
The first of these paragraphs is written by the
Rev. S. Wilson, and the second by the Eev. S. M.
Jordan, both missionaries of the American Pres
byterian Board and both long acquainted with
northern Persia. — EDS.]

(a) A number of things might be mentioned in
addition to the above, and new phases of the work
which have developed in the six years since Dr.
Tisdall left Persia. One of the most striking is
the opportunity now afforded for education of
Moslems. Dr. Tisdall, while mentioning in the
last section nine ways of reaching Moslems, omits
the school, whereas that is now one of the most
hopeful means. For example in Teheran the mis
sion school, which two years ago had forty or
fifty Moslem boys, last year had one hundred and
fifteen Moslem pupils, receiving regular Bible
instruction and attending the religious services of
the school. In Tabriz the Moslem pupils in the
Memorial Training, Theological Schools, of which
I am principal, have increased in three years from
three to fifty. These Moslems are sons of officials
and nobles of both cities, whose coming to our
schools gives assurance that there will be no inter-

Islam in Persia 129

ference with them. The same is true in Urmia,
where, even in the midst of the excitement due to
the demand for the punishment of the murderers
of Rev. Mr. Labaree, a special school for Moslem
boys was opened with an attendance of fifty.
The school for girls in Urmia has an attendance
of thirty-five, and that of Teheran of twenty-five
Moslem girls who have broken through the re
straints of the harem to seek an education under
Christian influence. These facts are indications
of our large increase of liberty and of opportunity
for Moslem work.

(b) So far as I know, none of the missionaries
of Northern Persia share Dr. St. Glair Tisdall's
opinion that the Behais are more open to the
gospel than Moslems. In fact many consider
them much less so, for although they profess to
accept the whole Bible, yet, by their allegorical
interpretation and denial of all miracles, they
effectually change its meaning. Having incorpo
rated into their books some of the moral precepts
of Christ, and having adopted a semi-Christian
vocabulary, they delight to discourse at length on
love, on a tree being known by its fruits, and on
kindred themes ; but having left out Christ, the
centre, they have missed the essential thing, and
now in Persia they are notorious as being religious
in word rather than in deed. In fact many of
them are simply irreligious rationalists.

By neither Moslem, Jew, nor Christian are they
considered morally superior to the Moslems, while

130 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

in some respect they rightly are judged less so.
Up to some five years ago they professed to be
seekers of the truth wherever found. Since that
time the Behais in Teheran, at least, have been
warned to have nothing to do with the missionaries.

They have grossly exaggerated the number of
their converts so that the Moslems now say of
them that the Behai claims for a convert every
man who speaks to him on the street ! I know
that they have so claimed two of our missionaries.
In Teheran there are not more than 10,000 to
15,000, while the outside figure for all Persia is
200,000, with the probability that half that num
ber is nearer the truth.

The one promising aspect of the movement is
that it is an opening wedge, making for religious
liberty and a disturber of unquestioning faith in
Islam. Many of those stirred up by Behais to
seek for truth outside of Islam are not satisfied
with the mere husk of the letter which the Behais
teach and so continue to seek for the spirit which
can be found only in Christianity.

The increase of numbers in our schools is in
part due to the fact that many Moslem parents
prefer that their children come under Christian
rather than Behai influence, which is rife in other
schools of the capital, for we are honestly open in
our methods whilst they are the reverse.

Islam in Baluchistan
Rev. A. Duncan Dixey

Islam in Baluchistan1

BALUCHISTAN has a population of 1,050,000,
not including Makran, western Sin j rani or Kharan.
The last two districts lie near the Sentan boundary
and are largely desert.

With the exception of a few Hindu Banyans
who live in the larger centres, all the inhabitants
of Baluchistan are Mohammedans. These Hindus
are well thought of by their neighbours and in the
old days of raids the Moslems made it a rule not
to attack women, children or Hindus.

The real inhabitants of Baluchistan are all
Sunnis. The Shiahs are represented by Hazaras
(of Mongolian race) who in recent years have come
into British territory to escape the oppression and
cruelty to which they were subjected in Afghan
istan.2

Baluchistan is not united in government, for
there are four different areas under different con-

1 Compiled partly from personal experience of three years'
itineration among Pathans, Baluchis, and Brahuis, and from the
Census Report of Mr. Hughes-Buller.

8 Mr. Hughes-Buller thinks that there are indications that both
Baluchis and Brahvm were at one time Shiahs ; Baluchistan, in
old days, having been a province of Persia, Sbiah influence mast
have been felt.

133

134 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

trol ; viz., British territory, Administered territory,
Tribal areas, and Kelat territory. The first two
divisions are really one, since they are governed
by British agents and the laws are practically the
same as in India. The government is, of course,
neutral on religious questions, but occasionally in
dividual agents seem to favour Islam by support
ing schools in which the Koran is taught. The
government has occasionally given assistance
to the medical work of the missionaries, and agents
have sometimes shown much sympathy with the
work of the mission.

The Khan of Kelat is an independent Moham
medan chief, who ranks high among the princes
of India. In his own country he is nominally su
preme, but is kept under control by a British po
litical agent. In general, law and order reign, and
violent crimes are not numerous. The govern
ment, according to native law and custom, is tem
pered to some extent by the influence of Islam.
Although orders have been given that armed es
corts should accompany one when itinerating, there
is not much danger in Kelat from fanaticism.
Preaching, in the ordinary sense, is not, however,
considered advisable.

The Tribal areas are occupied by wild tribes of
Baluchis, who are practically independent ; but are
kept from fighting and crimes of violence by oc
casional visits of a political agent, and by subsidies
which are withheld in case of the least disturbance.
The chief deterrent to crime seems to be, however,

Islam in Baluchistan 135

the fear of the British Government, of whose
power the tribes have had unpleasant experience
when expeditions have been sent against them.
These tribes are all fanatical Moslems, and the life
of a convert to Christ would not be safe among them.
Preaching is not allowed, so that at present the
only means of reaching the tribes is through med
ical work. The government has arranged to furnish
an escort to those visiting these tribes and the peo
ple themselves have requested me never to leave
camp without some one to accompany me.

The exact period at which the tribes of
Baluchistan first came into contact with Moham
medanism must remain buried in obscurity. It is
probable, however, that they did so early in the
Mohammedan era. Seistan, which touches the
western border of the province, was conquered
as early as 31 A. H., and about 665 (44 A. H.)
Muhallat, son of Abu Safra brought the countries
of Kabul and Zabul under submission. In 714
Mohammed, son of Kasim, set out from Shiraz to
conquer Sind, and on his way passed Makran.
In the tenth century a certain writer mentions
that the Governor of Khozdar (near the present
village of Kelat) was Muin bin Ahmed, and that the
Khuiba was read in the name of the Caliph only.
Early graves in Baluchistan do not point the di
rection of Mecca, showing, probably, that the early
inhabitants were Zoroastrians. I believe that the
number of Moslems is increasing, as many lives
must have been saved owing to the cessation of

136 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

tribal wars, looting, and raids during the last
fifteen to twenty years, and the gradual intro
duction of law and order under the British Govern
ment. Immigration and peace have also brought
about settlement in many districts at one period
uninhabited. At the same time many Baluchis
have gone to Sind and the Punjab, finding it im
possible to live among the barren mountains and
sandy deserts of Baluchistan without recourse to
looting.

Although the Brahui people are perhaps the
most numerous, yet as they do not all use the
Brahui language, many speaking Persian, Ba
luchi, and Sindhi, Pushtu probably stands numer
ically first among the languages, and then Brahui,
Baluchi, Sindhi, and Persian. Urdu is understood
by nearly all chiefs and by many Hindu Banyans
and is rapidly spreading in places where the
people come in contact with the government.
Persian is evidently the favourite language of the
upper classes, and almost every man who makes
pretense to education will usually include Persian
as one of his accomplishments. Yery few, even
of the Mullas, really understand Arabic.

The government report says that the bulk of
the population has received and is receiving no
education whatever. Even those few who learn
the Koran do not understand its meaning. A few
sons of chiefs may have received some instruction
in Urdu and Persian, and a few have been trained
to be Mullas by being sent to Kandahar to

Islam in Baluchistan 137

finish their education. The government has es
tablished schools in several centres, and occasion
ally these are attended by Pathans, but the
Hindus seem to predominate; the Banyan evi
dently realizing the importance of education.
Outside of the imported population of Hindus
and Sikhs living in the two or three government
centres, among Mohammedans only 117 per 1,000,
and among the women only twenty-three per 1,000
are literate. In many cases even these do not
understand what they are reading. In three years
we have found only three or four Mullas who
were willing or able to answer arguments. The
following table, referring to Quetta, the govern
ment centre, where the majority of the imported
population live, may be interesting. It shows the
proportion per 1,000 of the people who can read.

Mates. Females.

Moslems - - - 86 - - 17

Christians1 - 778 - 755

Hindus- - - - 372 - - 64

Sikhs - - 514 - - 191

Polygamy is not very common among the com
mon Moslem people. The purchase of wives
being in vogue, poverty prevents the possession of
more than one wife, except among the wealthier
classes. All the chiefs and many Mullas with

1 The only place where Christians live in Baluchistan. The
Protestant native Christians nearly all belong to the imported
population and number about 270.

138 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

whom I have come into contact, have possessed
more than one wife, and several as many as five
or six. The price of girls varies, being highest
among Pathans, where, according to reports, there
is the greatest paucity of women. Prices have
risen of recent years, as men find they can now
claim payment in court, whereas in old days, in
many cases, the money was never fully paid up,
or one relative perhaps was balanced against
another.

Concubinage exists more especially among the
Baluchi chiefs in districts where the Treaty pro
hibits us from interfering with their women. I
know of several chiefs who have thirty, forty,
fifty, or sixty women, but whether they all occupy
the position of concubines it is difficult to say.
Many seem to be domestic slaves, and are often
given by the chief to his followers or to male
slaves. But from medical experience and reports,
it seems that in many cases there is no marriage
bond, or it is often broken. Women stolen from
India or enticed away under false pretenses, ap
pear to be living lives of common prostitution in
the large villages of the Baluchi chiefs. Many of
the tribes in the past were border robbers, and it
is only during the last twenty years that their
raiding has been stopped. They formerly im
ported slaves, and occasionally on looting expedi
tions they took women away with their other
loot. The descendants of these slaves to-day form
a numerous body in some of the larger villages, and

Islam in Baluchistan 139

many appear to be in a very miserable condition.
The children often wear but a few rags and many
of them go entirely naked. Different forms of
venereal disease are common both among adults
and children.

The women, both free and slave, are given all
the degrading work and bear the heavy burdens,
while the men often sit in idleness. Throughout
the country both in British territory, in the Kelat
State, and the Marri and Bugti Tribal areas are to
be found hundreds of Hazara women, who during
the late Hazara revolt in Afghanistan, were taken
by the Amir from their homes, and sold by Pa-
thans all over Baluchistan. In every large village,
in some districts, these women are to be found,
and every chief possesses numbers of them.
Their owners speak of buying them as one might
refer to buying cattle. In Kelat State the great
blot is the court of the Khan, where vile orgies
are enacted, which it is impossible to describe. It
is said that some of the boys have died from the
treatment received. The first chapter of Romans
is a true picture of the conditions existing among
Brahuis, Pathans, and Baluchis to-day. Scarcely
a day passes but medical experience testifies to
the truth of the worst reports. Taking the first
450 cases treated recently on a tour among the
Marri and Bugti Baluchis, fourteen per cent, were
due to the sensuality of the people. Almost
every chief and many Mullas are suffering from
the effects of impurity. So many Mullas are

140 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

treated at our hospital and on itineration for
syphilis, that it is often spoken of as the Mulla's
disease. These conditions in some of the villages
are no doubt partly due to slavery, many of the
slaves being really common prostitutes. The
Bazaars which are the outcome of our occupation
of the frontier, have also very much to answer
for in the spread of venereal disease. Govern
ment reports state that immorality among women
is common, and that in spite of the requirements
of the Koran with regard to witnesses, death is, ac
cording to the tribal custom of Baluchis and
Brahuis, the only punishment for an unfaithful
woman and her lover when caught. But to-day a
man, in order to secure money, will often accuse
his wife of adultery when her only fault may be
that she does not please her husband. The death
penalty for adultery has been abolished in British
territory. The reports say, on the other hand,
that among Afghans immorality on the part of a
wife is winked at by her husband, and that even
when the matter has become a public scandal, the
injured husband is generally willing to overlook
it on payment of a few rupees and one or two
girls. Among Baluchis the feeling in regard to
adultery is said to be very severe. From per
sonal experience, however, living among these
tribes, in their villages, in their houses and encamp
ments, there seems to be nowhere more open
prostitution, than in the capitals of the Baluchi
chiefs.

Islam in Baluchistan 141

Seclusion of women is not practiced except by
the most important Sirdars and chiefs. Here and
there, where the people have come more into
contact with Indian customs, one finds the system
being established, but it is exceptional. The fol
lowing extract on the position of women in Balu
chistan is from the government census report :

" Throughout the province, more especially
among Afghans and Brahuis, the position of
woman is one of extreme degradation. She is
not only a mere household drudge but she is the
slave of man in all his needs, and her life is one of
continual and abject toil. No sooner is a girl fit
for work than her parents send her to tend the
cattle, and she is compelled to take her part in all
the ordinary household duties. Owing to the
system of buying wives, in vogue among Afghans,
a girl as soon as she reaches nubile age is, for all
practical purposes, put up for auction and sold to
the highest bidder. Her father discourses in the
market on her beauty or ability as a housekeeper,
and invites offers from those who desire a wife.
Even the more wealthy and more respectable
Afghans are not above thus lauding the female
wares which they have for sale. Even the be
trothal of girls who are not yet born is frequent.
It is also usual for compensation for blood to be
ordered to be paid in the shape of girls, some of
whom are living whilst others are yet unborn.
"Woman in Baluchistan is regarded as little more
than a chattel or machine. Is it surprising then

142 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

to find that woman is considered only as a means
for increasing man's comforts or as an object for
the gratification of his animal passions ? A wife
must not only carry water, prepare food, and at
tend to all ordinary household duties, but she
must take flocks out to graze, groom her hus
band's horse, and assist in cultivation.

" Among the tribes in Zhob, a married woman
must even provide means, by her own labour, for
clothing herself, her children, and her husband,
from whom she receives no assistance, monetary
or otherwise. Among Afghans and their neigh
bours polygamy is only limited by the purchasing
ability of the man, and a wife is looked on as a
better investment than cattle ; for in a country
where drought and scarcity are continually pres
ent, the risk of loss in animals is great, whilst the
female offspring of a woman will fetch a high
price. "Woman's tutelage does not end with
widowhood. In the household of a deceased
Afghan she is looked on as an asset in the divi
sion of his property. It is no uncommon thing to
find a son willing to sell his own mother."1

As to material progress, " Till 1875," says Sir
Herbert Edwards, in a government report, "amid
the ebb and flow of might, right, possession, and
spoliation, there was no security of life or prop
erty, and practically no communications existed.

1 This is from the Census Report and is from information ob
tained by government. I can testify to its truth from experience.
Conditions among the Baluchis are still worse.

Islam in Baluchistan 143

The only way in which whole tribes were saved
from extermination was by the universal custom
of never killing women, or boys who had not yet
put on trousers."

In a recent tour through the Marri and Bugti
country, I saw many more thousands of graves
than I saw men. These were a striking testimony
to the constant state of war which, till quite re
cently, was ever waged both among themselves
and against surrounding tribes. If to-morrow the
British Government should withdraw from this
province, the tribes would doubtless return to the
old condition of continual civil war. To-day, after
twenty-five years of the gradual growth of law
and order, there is here and there evident improve
ment in the condition of the people. The govern
ment has built a few dispensaries and schools, and
there are some 545 miles of metalled roads. But
the people have not yet realized the need of effort
on their part, and instead of utilizing land and
water for systematic cultivation, they seem content
to remain on the verge of starvation so long as they
can grow a little wheat or millet with a small
amount of labour. Even wells for irrigation are
neglected where water exists.

Brahuis and Baluchis are largely nomadic in
their habits, and many Pathans annually move
from mountain to plain, or vice versa according to
the season of the year, for purposes of trade.

To sum up, I will again quote from a govern
ment report :

144 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

" When the British entered the country they
found a population which had been cut off from
the outside world, which led a nomadic existence
among vast solitudes of nature, and whose relaxa
tions consisted in continual internecine conflicts.
The natural result was a very backward state of
civilization, and the country possessed character
istics which differed materially from those of its
Indian neighbours.

"In twenty-five years this primitive condition
has been modified but has not disappeared, and
barbarian prejudice and pugnacity are still factors
which have to be constantly reckoned with."

Many Brahuis and Baluchis among the moun
tains have never even heard of the people called
Christians ; but usually after we have been in a
district a short time, some Mulla (who is nearly
always a Pathan) explains to the people that we
are Kafirs (blasphemers of God) and warns the
people to avoid us. Brahuis do not appear to be
so bigoted, but the reason seems to be that they
are not so religiously minded as either Pathans or
Baluchis. Among Pathans and Baluchis the stated
times of prayer are very generally observed, and
the Fast of Kamadhan ; but I have not found that
the Brahui is so careful in this respect. Fanatical
outrages sometimes take place, more especially
among Pathans and Baluchis, but the number is
often exaggerated. In four year's there have been
thirteen such cases known to me.

It is necessary to be on one's guard in giving

Islam in Baluchistan 145

religious instruction. Afghans, Baluchis, and
Brahuis, are all extremely ignorant about their re
ligion, especially the Brahuis. The worship of
saints is one of the chief features of their religion,
and superstition is a more appropriate term for the
ordinary belief of the people than the name of re
ligion. Ordeal by fire still exists, and only last
week I had an instance of this brought to my
notice. I have seen native liquor in Baluchi vil
lages, which I was told was drunk by Baluchis.
The use of IJiang is also not uncommon.

There have been changes in the attitude of Mos
lems towards Christianity. In Quetta where for
ten or fifteen years missionary work has been car
ried on, the wall of prejudice and superstition is
gradually being broken down. But outside of
Quetta, at present, the attitude of the people gen
erally, when our mission is known, is one of oppo
sition. On several occasions Mullas have told me
that it was a pity these dogs of Christians could
not be killed.

Mission work centres in Quetta, which is the
government centre, with 20,000 population besides
60,000 to 80,000 who pass through the city yearly
for purposes of trade, etc. Here there are two
hospitals, one for men and one for women, a
church, two schools, and Zenana work. On the
staff are two physicians, one clergyman, one lady
physician, and two lady missionaries.

Islam in North India
Rev. E. M. Wherry, D. D.

' ' It was first the bad example of the moul vies ; second, the
fatal system of modern Purdah, with its restrictions on the intel
lectual development of woman ; thirdly, the constant and silent
withdrawal of the most pious and moral Moslems into a life of
private prayer and devotion ; and, lastly, the doctrine of necessity
that brought about our own downfall. I say it was, in my
opinion, these four causes that brought Moslem society down to its
present low and degrading level of intellect and character. — A
Moslem Prof eaaor from Aligarh.

Islam in North India

SCARCELY more than five decades had passed by
since the death of Mohammed when the conquer
ing hosts of Islam reached the borders of India.
It was in the year 711 A. D. that Mohammed
Kasim overran Sindh in the name of "Walid I of
Damascus.

Forty years later the Kajputs succeeded in over
throwing the Moslem power in Sindh and main
tained control for 150 years. But the religion was
not disturbed and continued to make material
advances even beyond the regions under Moslem
sway. Elliot in his History of India tells us of
certain Sindhian princes, who became Mohamme
dans at this time, assuming Arab names.1 But all of
the earlier invasions of India were characterized
as predatory incursions, in which the invaders were
more anxious to secure plunder than to convert
the infidels. Even as late as the time of the great
champion of Islam, Mahmud of Ghazni (1019 A. D.)
the " proselyting sword " seems " to have served
no other purpose than that of sending infidels to
hell."2 Seventeen times did this zealot overrun
North India, extending his empire from Persia to

1 Elliot, Vol. I, pp. 124, 125.
8 Arnold's Preaching of Mam, p. 210.
149

150 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

the Ganges. During all these centuries, multi
tudes of the people, some to save their lives and
property, some to share the honours and booty of
the new regime, others to escape the tyranny and
contempt of their Hindu rulers, embraced the
religion of their conquerors. By intermarriage
with these, the foreign Moslems became domiciled
in India and the religion became rooted in the
soil. Towards the close of the twelfth century
(1176-1206) Mohammed Ghori invaded India and
set up an Afghan vice-royalty at Delhi under his
favourite slave Kutb-ud-din. At the death of his
master, Kutb-ud-din established himself as the
Sultan of North India with Delhi as his capital.

It was at about this time (1206-1288) that another
of the great generals of Mohammed Ghori, Bakhti-
yar Khan, having conquered Bengal, set himself
up as an independent Sultan with his capital at
Gaur. The multitudes of low caste aborigines in
habiting this province seem to have welcomed their
new rulers, and readily to have accepted the new
faith.

It was from Delhi and Agra that the various
Moslem rulers extended their dominion. Dynas
ties were overthrown amid scenes of war and blood
shed. India was carved up into a number of inde
pendent sovereignties, but during all this turmoil,
the religion of the Mohammedans was being estab
lished with greater or lesser success from Afghan
istan to the Bay of Bengal, and from the Himalayas
to Cape Comorin. It was during the period 1525-

Islam in North India 151

1707, when the power of the Moguls became es
tablished throughout India, that the religion of
Islam made its most brilliant and extended con
quests. Then it was that those grand monu
ments of art and literature were erected, of which
Moslems may well be proud, and which still lend
so much lustre to the Moslem rule in India. At
the close of the reign of Aurangzeb, the political
power of the Moslems rapidly began to wane and
eventually gave place to the Christian dominion of
Great Britain. Christian conquest brought to all
classes religious liberty ; and so the Christians be
came deliverers to the Moslems who were being
oppressed by their Hindu and Sikh conquerors.
Under the peaceful rule of the Christians, Islam is
enabled to reorganize its forces and to propagate its
tenets among the people without let or hindrance.
The advance which Islam has made in India
during its twelve centuries of conquest and mis
sionary effort, may be seen by reference to the
census reports for 1901. These show a total Mo
hammedan population aggregating 62,458,077, be
ing almost one-fourth of the entire population, ex
cluding Burma. Of this immense total, 25,265,342
Moslems belong to Bengal, 10,825,698 to the Pun
jab, 6,731,034 belong to the United Provinces,
1,957,777 to the Northwest Frontier Province, and
339,446 to the Central Provinces. This makes a
total of 45,119,297 for North India. The remain
ing 17,339,780 belong to the Deccan, Central, West
and South India. When it is noted that Bombay

152 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

and Madras together, sum up only 6,227,526 Mo
hammedans, it is clear that a considerable portion
of the eleven millions remaining should be reck
oned as belonging to Behar, Rajputana and other
States lying within the precincts of North India.
May we say in round numbers that the Moslem
population of North India aggregates 50,000,000.

MOSLEM SECTS

The Mohammedans of North India are for
the most part Sunnis or Orthodox. The Shiahs
do not number more than 5,000,000 for all India.
Most of them belong to North India, having their
stronghold in Oudh, with headquarters in Luck-
now. There are still a few who boast of their
faith in Mohammed Ibn Abd ul Wahhab, but
their influence has lost its power and the sect is
likely to be reabsorbed into that of the Sunnis.
All the ordinary divisions of Islam, based upon the
various schools of philosophy and theology, have
their place in India, but of these we need not make
any special mention.

In quite recent years, two movements among
Moslems in North India have attracted a great
deal of attention and have given rise to two bodies
of Moslems which are regarded as sects. One of
these bodies was founded by the late Sir Sayed
Ahmed Khan, K. C. S. I., of Aligarh, known as
the New Islam. It is, however, rather a restora
tion of the rationalism of the Mutazillas of the
olden time. Its followers are progressive and num-

Islam in North India 153

her among them many of the most learned and in
telligent Moslems of North India. The interest
ing feature of the movement is the readiness to
give reason a place in the discussion of religious
questions.

The other sect to which we have referred is that
founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmed of Qadian in the
Punjab. This sect styles itself as Ahmadiyyah.
The founder styles himself as the Mahdi-Messiah
of the twentieth century. He claims to be a
prophet and the Messiah of the last times. This
sect seems to be rather allied to that of the Babis
in Persia. Like that of the "New Islam" this
movement is regarded by all Moslems, whether
Sunni or Shiah, as heretical. The movement has
influenced a multitude of educated men, but per
haps this may be accounted for by its offering a
refuge for men who can no longer continue with
the orthodox schools.

METHODS OF PROPAGATION OF ISLAM

As always elsewhere, so in India the main in
strument in the extension of the faith has been
"the Proselyting Sword." For more than ten
centuries the power of the sword and the legisla
tion of Mohammedan governments were used with
out restraint to bring unbelievers under the yoke
of Islam. This claim is confirmed by a study of
the map of India, in the light of the census. The
great mass of Mohammedans is found among the
inhabitants of North India, especially in the West-

154 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

ern sections and in the regions adjacent to the cen
tres of Moslem government in the united Provinces
of Agra and Oudh. The apparent, exception is
that of eastern and northern Bengal, where the
sword had little to do with proselytism. The ex
ception, however, is only apparent, because the
simple aboriginal and Hindu population, like the
low caste people of the whole Indian peninsula,
had nothing to gain by warring against their Mos
lem conquerors. Nor had they any strong religious
principles to defend. On the contrary the Mos
lems came as deliverers from Hindu tyranny and
caste contempt, offering them social recognition,
and constituting them the recognized cultivators
of the lands of which they had been mere serfs
under Hindu rule. The purpose of "the prose
lyting sword " was the same whether wielded by
a Mahmud of Ghazni or a Bakhtiyar Khan. It
meant submission to the rule of Islam and a formal
recognition of Allah as God and Mohammed as the
prophet of God. A study of the early wars of
Islam will convince any one that they were carried
on in accord with the command of Mohammed
himself. Christians and Jews were required to
recognize the supreme control of Islam and pay
tribute as the price of peace and liberty to worship
God in their own way. All others were required
to acknowledge Islam as the true religion and to
embrace it by repeating the Kalima.1 Along with

1 The Mohammedan profession of belief in Allah the one God
ami in Mohammed as the apostle of God.

Islam in North India 155

this the new converts were immediately placed
under the instruction of some one who as Mul
lah undertook to impart a knowledge of the es
sential doctrine and practice of Islam. Accord
ingly, the official establishment of the church was
always a sequel to the conquest of the state. These
Mullas were zealous propagandists, and used
every form of influence to make converts of the
people. Traders and travellers also zealously
spread the faith. Officers of government, whether
civil or military, were in a position to advance the
interests of Islam. The emoluments of office,
landed rights, political and social equality were
freely offered as inducements to enter upon the
Moslem way of life and immortality. Thus it was
that in Bengal and Behar, as well as many other
parts of India, the work of proselyting continued
even after the sword had been sheathed, and also
amid the misfortunes of war. This state of things
continues in India at the present time, whereby
many converts to Islam are made from among the
low castes.

Another instrumentality for the propagation of
Mohammedanism was the Moslem dervish, who
consecrates himself to the one purpose of teaching
and preaching Islam. The Moslem historians
speak of the work and influence of these men from
the days of the first incursion of Moslems into
India. By their tact and intelligence they have
not only been the shepherds of their scattered co
religionists, or the theological teachers of those

1 56 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

who were to become Mullas but by their aus
terities they drew many idolaters to them and per
suaded them to accept Islam as their religion.
The influence of such men accounts for the fact
that in many places in India the Moslem faith has
maintained itself amid persecution and much suffer
ing when in the fortune of war the Moslem power
gave way to Hindu rule. This same influence to
some extent accounts for the propagation of the
faith in India to-day.

A more powerful agency is the Anjuman-i- Islam
or Moslem Association for the defense and prop
agation of Islam. This society establishes schools
and colleges, publishes a considerable literature
and supports a band of preachers — in short a mis
sion, equipped to some extent after the pattern of
Christian missions. Their great work is to prevent
the Christianization of Moslems, and at the same
time to secure the apostasy of Christian converts
from Islam. This is the preaching of Islam, of
which Prof. T. W. Arnold has written so full and
so flattering an account. The zeal of the Moslem
propaganda is well described in the words of the
Apostle Paul : " They have a zeal for God, but
not according to knowledge ; for being ignorant
of God's righteousness and seeking to establish
their own righteousness, they have not subjected
themselves to the righteousness of God " (Rom.
10 : 2, 3).

Islam in North India 157

TUB CONDITION OF MOSLEMS IN NORTH INDIA
When we consider the fact that for many cen
turies the Moslems held the supreme power in
India, especially in the great political and literary
centres of North India, we should naturally have
expected them to have held a leading position un
der the new regime inaugurated by the British
conquest. That such is not the case requires some
explanation. The first influence operating against
Moslem advancement was the unprogressive char
acter of their religion. Everything is cast in a
mould. The mould is believed to have been made
upon a Divine pattern in consequence of which the
idea of possible development or improvement is, in
the nature of the case, impious. Everything nec
essary to Moslem perfection is found in the
Koran, the Traditions and the Deliverances of the
Mujtahiddin. History proves that the progressive
movements of the Caliphs of Bagdad and Cordova,
or of the Mogul Emperors of Delhi, were made in
spite of the teachings of Orthodox Islam. Ac
cordingly, what was accomplished in the artistic
and literary age, that is to say, in the reigns of
Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan, was in great
measure undone by the fierce repressive measures
of Aurangzeb. The empire dissolved with the
close of his reign, and the disunited fragments
were unable to contend against the onslaught of
the Mahrattas in the south and the Sikhs in the
north. A long period of internecine warfare and
anarchy resulted in breaking up the social and in-

158 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

tellectual fabric of the Moslems. Education was
limited to the schools of a very few centres and
the teaching of the Mullas in the local Musjids.
The range of instruction given was that of reading
and writing the Arabic character, with a knowl
edge of Persian necessary for the duties of public
office. In the higher schools at Delhi, Agra, and
Lucknow, education was along the lines of the
seven sciences — Language, Logic, Mathematics,
Rhetoric, Jurisprudence, Theology and Exegesis.
Most of these had relation to the propagation of
the religion of Islam. Secular knowledge, espe
cially of science, has always been regarded by
orthodox Mohammedans as dangerous to the faith,
and for this reason has been discouraged. In the
disturbed state of the country in the two centuries
preceding the establishment of British rule, the
amount of education given, even along these nar
row lines, was naturally very small. At the same
time the ignorance of the mass of the Mullas led
to extreme narrowness of thought and intense
bigotry among the people.

This leads up to another influence operating
against the social and intellectual progress of
Moslems in North India. When the way was be
ing opened up by missionaries to give the people
of India the advantages of Western science and
knowledge, the Mohammedan Mullas everywhere
discouraged the people from sending their chil
dren to mission schools. Only a few of the poorer
people were willing to allow their boys to attend

Islam in North India 159

the schools, and that when a monthly stipend was
given to the pupil. When, later on, the govern
ment undertook to establish a system of public in
struction, and pledged the people that there would
be no religious instruction given, many, who had
refused to send their boys to the mission schools,
were ready to patronize the secular schools of gov
ernment for the sake of the knowledge which
would fit for government office. But those who
patronized the secular schools formed a small mi
nority, even in the cities, while in the country the
mass preferred to bring up their sons to the agri
cultural calling of their fathers, or to induce them
to take service in the army or police corps.

Thus it came about that schools were for the
most part patronized by the Hindu and Christian
population rather than by Mohammedans. Con
sequently, the numerous offices, open to those who
had acquired the necessary English education, were
closed to Moslems, who had refused to qualify for
them. Hindus and Christians took the lead. To
amend this state of things, and to avoid the sec
ularizing influences of government schools, the
Moslems organized numerous schools under the
direction of the Anju?nan-i-Islam, the society for
the defense of Islam. These schools undertook to
impart a knowledge of the English language and
of Western science as taught in the Indian gov
ernment schools, and at the same time to instill
into the minds of the pupils a knowledge of the
Arabic language and the tenets of Islam. These

160 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

schools have rarely exhibited the efficiency of the
rival schools, but on the whole, they have done
much to advance the social condition of Moslems.
They have done much to arouse a more progressive
spirit, and while their value to orthodox Moham
medanism may be questioned, they have raised up
a class of men who have secured some of the emol
uments of office, and the influence which office
and wealth usually bring with them. Perhaps
the institution which has done most to further the
social and material interests of Mohammedans in
North India, is the college at Aligarh, founded by
the late Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan, who was most
liberally aided by Sir William Muir, then lieuten
ant governor of the Northwest Provinces. For a
long time this college was discredited by the ortho
dox leaders because of the liberal views of Sir
Sayed Ahmed Khan, but the liberal spirit bred
through English education in mission and govern
ment schools has rapidly grown, so that to-day all
educated Mohammedans are proud of their great
college, which is likely to become the Moslem
University of India. It should be here noted that
mission schools should have some of the credit for
bringing about this important change in the mate
rial and social life of Moslems. The sons of the
weavers, cooks and tailors, who were among the
first students of the mission schools in North India,
were thereby enabled to secure lucrative positions
in the public service, or to become masters in the
mission and government schools. Their success

Islam in North India 161

naturally inspired others to seek for education in
the mission schools. Many Mohammedan parents
preferred, and still prefer, to patronize mission,
rather than government schools, because they were
sure their boys would receive a sound moral and
religious training, which they rightly believed to
be better than the godless training of the govern
ment schools. They also observed that the supe
rior training of students in mission schools enabled
them more readily to secure appointments in the
public offices, than the training in the less efficient
Moslem schools. Hence it has been found that the
alumni of our Christian schools prefer to patronize
the mission institutions, and often do so in spite of
the pressure brought upon them by their co-relig
ionists. Under these new conditions the Moslem
community is making progress in material and
social life; while in religious life many are pre
pared to study the claims of Christianity, and
some have openly identified themselves with the
Christian church.

The education received by Moslem youth in
North India is for the most part imparted through
the Urdu language. Persian is also taught as a
second language necessary to a proper knowledge
of Urdu. Arabic is taught as a classic. All higher
education in the mission and public schools is im
parted through the English language. And yet it
remains true that the Moslems speak every lan
guage in India, and many of them can only be
reached through a provincial tongue. This is

162 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

especially true of the Mohammedans of Bengal,
the Punjab, and the Northwest Frontier province.
For the reasons already mentioned, illiteracy among
Mohammedans is very great, the percentage of lit
erates given by the last census being about 3.27
per cent. In the average village, the adult popu
lation is almost entirely ignorant of even the
alphabet. The boys who learn to read in the
public schools rarely continue in the callings of
their fathers, but find their way into the army,
the police or the public office. The various educa
tional institutions are, however, rapidly educating
the boys. At the same time there is a growing
desire among Mohammedans to educate their wives
and daughters. The Mohammedan custom of se
cluding the women in the harem, while not so
rigid in India as in Turkey, nevertheless operates
against female education. The social and family
system is also affected most unfavourably by po
lygamy, divorce, and concubinage, and there is
little to induce women to desire education. These
customs also affect the moral life of Moslems in
India very unfavourably and so stand in the way
of racial, material, social, and religious develop
ment. It is not surprising therefore to find some
of the most prominent men ready to reform these
customs to the extent of abolishing the seclusion
of women. Such men also advocate the abolition
of polygamy and concubinage, claiming that the
ideal of the Koran is monogamy. It goes without
saying that these reform movements are in no

Islam in North India 163

sense a movement of orthodox Islam, but grow out
of the liberalizing influence of Western education
and the impact of Protestant Christianity. But
\ve believe the new Islam has come to stay and
that it will continue to draw to itself educated
Mohammedans, especially those who have lost
faith in the doctrines taught by the orthodox
Mullas and Moulvies, and who cannot accept the
Christian religion. The eccentric movement led
by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian in the Punjab
has been made a side track for some who had
practically abandoned the faith of their fathers,
but it gives no promise of permanence. The most
that can be said for such movements is that they
indicate a growing desire for something better
than the religion of Islam can give.

MISSIONS TO MOSLEMS IN NORTH INDIA
We are now prepared to note what has been
done towards the evangelization of Moslems in
North India. It is just three hundred and seven
years since the Jesuit missionary Hieronymo
Xavier came to Lahore from Goa in South India
and received permission " to teach the Christians,"
and to live the life of " one of those who have left
the world and all its lusts, wealth, and pleasures,
with the view of teaching man the way to ever
lasting salvation." The work was mainly accom
plished by private conversation and discussion and
by the publication of books. Three books were
published, a life of Christ, a life of St. Peter,

164 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

and a disquisition on the religion of Islam. Some
thing was done to enlighten the Moslems respect
ing the doctrines of Christianity as taught by the
Catholic church. The main points discussed were
the mystery of the Trinity in unity, the divinity
of Jesus Christ our Lord, the integrity of the
Scriptures and the non-abrogation of the same.
These books exerted sufficient influence to call
forth a Moslem reply entitled, Divine Rays in
Refutation of Christian Error, by Ahmed Ibn
Zain-al-abidin. An examination of these books,
which have been brought to light by Prof. S. Lee,
D. D., M. K. A. S., of the Cambridge University,
discloses the fact that the issues of the contro
versy between Moslem and Christian were then
practically the same as now. The chief difference
lies in the fact that the Protestant missionary does
not have to apologize for the idolatrous teaching
of the Roman Catholic Church. The signal failure
of Roman Catholic missions among Moslems may
be accounted for mainly by this teaching. Un
fortunately the laboured efforts on the part of Ro
man Catholic missionaries to justify Mariolatry,
the worship of images and relics of the saints, and
the recognition of sacred places, served to mis
represent the pure Christianity of the gospels.

The next stage in the efforts of Christians to
evangelize Moslems in North India began with the
work of Henry Martyn, whose translation of the
New Testament into Urdu and Persian laid the
foundation for aggressive work among the follow-

Islam in North India 165

ers of Islam. He was followed by the Kev. C. G.
Pfander who in 1829 was obliged to leave Persia
where he had already laboured for some four or
five years, writing in the Persian language that
noble work The Balance of Truth (Mizan ul
Ilaqq.) Coming to India he began his work by
translating his book into the Urdu language adding
to it The Way of Life (Tariq ul Haydt) and the
Key to the Mysteries (Miftah-ul-Asrdr]. These
books led to a long continued controversy with
the moulvies of Delhi, Agra and Lucknow. Sev
eral public discussions were held, with the result
that many Mohammedans were disturbed in their
faith, while a few were led into the Christian
church. This controversy was taken up by Chris
tian converts from Islam among whom the
most notable are Sayad Mulvie Safdar Ali, Mulvie
Imad-ud-din, Sayad Abdulla Athim, E. A. C., the
Rev. G. L. Thakur Dass, Babu Kam Chandra,
Munshi Mohammed Hanif, Mr. Akbar Masih, Dr.
Almad Shah Shaiq, Mulvie Hisam-ud-din, the Eev.
Imam Masih, Dr. Barkhurdar Khan and Mulvie
Rajjab Ali. Among European writers upon this
controversy the following should be mentioned :
The Right Rev. Bishop French, the Right Rev.
Bishop Lefroy, the Rev. James Wilson, the Rev. J.
Smith, Rev. S. Leupolt, the Rev. T. P. Hughes,
D. D., Dr. H. Martyn Clark, Rev. C. W. Forman,
D. D., Rev. Samuel Knowles, Rev. Dr. Murray
Mitchell, the Rev. G. H. Rouse, D. D., the Rev. J.
Bates, the Rev. W. St. Clair Tisdall, D. D., the

166 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

Rev. W. Brodhead, D. D., and the Rev. E. M.
Wherry, D. D. Among laymen who have added
to the literature of the Moslem controversy are
Capt. W. R. Aikman and Sir "Wm. Muir. Perhaps
no writer in modern times has done so much for the
controversy with Moslems as the last mentioned
writer. Much more might be said as to the litera
ture published in the interest of Moslem evangel
ization, but time forbids any further statement ex
cepting this, that those who have laboured for the
translation and revision of the Holy Scriptures
into languages read by Mohammedans have placed
all workers under obligation. Without the Scrip
tures little could be done to make Moslems ac
quainted with the "former Scriptures" mentioned
in the Koran.

The first Protestant missionaries in North India
and especially in the Northwest Province and the
Punjab early found themselves engaged in Moslem
evangelization. The ordinary languages of court
and commerce were the Persian and the Urdu, the
languages of the Mohammedans. Accordingly, we
find that among the early converts and members
of the churches were a goodly number bearing
Moslem names. An examination of the mission re
ports discloses the fact that among the first teachers
and preachers were Moslem converts. The story
of preaching in the bazaars and chapels invaria
bly includes statements as to the active opposition
of Mohammedans. In the schools and colleges
established are found enrolled a large number of

Islam in North India 167

Mohammedan boys and young men, all of whom
were obliged to study the Scriptures, and to listen
to addresses and lectures upon Christian faith and
life. If we examine the catalogues of the publica
tions of the Book and Tract Societies, we find that
the list includes a considerable literature written
specially for Moslem readers. And in any ac
count of woman's work in North India, we read
of Zenanas visited and Moslem women and chil
dren being taught.

The societies engaged in mission work in North
India are English, American and Australian.
They are the Church Missionary Society, the So
ciety for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Lon
don Missionary Society, the English Baptist Mis
sionary Society, the Church of Scotland's Mission,
the Free Church of Scotland, and the United Pres
byterian Church of Scotland Missions (recently
united as the United Free Church of Scotland), the
American Presbyterian, and the United Presby
terian (American), the Canadian Presbyterian, the
American Methodist Episcopal, the Reformed Pres
byterian and the Australian Baptist Missionary
Societies. In almost all of the principal cities of
North India organized work is being carried on
for all classes, and in many ways with special ref
erence to the Mohammedan population. The vil
lages everywhere are visited by Christian evan
gelists and preachers, and many of these villages
are Mohammedan.

In recent years many missionaries have felt that

i68 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

some men should be set apart for a special study
of Islam in order to be able the better to meet
Moslem antagonists. The late Dr. Murdoch, by
his facile pen, promoted such specialization, and in
consequence several societies have set men apart
for this work. This measure will greatly increase
the efficiency of this branch of missionary effort.
Much will be gained by a change of attitude, for
while it is true that the great mass of Indian Mos
lems is as idolatrous as many of the Hindu tribes,
still it will not do to approach them as if they
were the votaries of an idolatrous religion. Chris
tianity suffers from the stigma of idolatry and
superstition, which the Koman Catholic and Greek
churches have fastened upon it. It is not the idol
atry and superstition of Islam, that must be met,
but its claim to be the only true religion, follow
ing the Christian dispensation, as the last dispen
sation of all. To do this efficiently, the Moslem
must be met by men thoroughly trained not only
in the languages of the Christian Scriptures, but
also in the language of the Koran ; not only in
Christian theology and philosophy, but in the phi
losophy and theology of the Moslem Mullas and
Mulvies. Men with this kind of training can get
the respect of the scholarly men. among Moham
medans, and thus touch the centres of influence in
the Moslem community. This is what has been
planned, and we believe that another generation
will see the result and record a great advance in
the evangelization of Moslems.

Islam in North India 169

The foregoing sketch of missions to Moslems
doubtless impresses upon one the thought that
India presents a field of missionary labour for Mos
lem evangelization of very unique interest. Unless
it be the Dutch East Indies, no other sphere affords
to the Christian in this age so many opportunities
of approaching the Moslem. It is also evident
that no other field has been so widely cultivated.
Such being the case, it should be possible to show
that in no other field has there been so great suc
cess in winning converts from Islam. The fact
that the work done has been thus far general, and
so conducted as to approach all classes of the peo
ple, has served to conceal from the ordinary ob
server the real success of the Church in gathering
in converts from this particular class. Nor is it
possible to learn from the statistics of mission re
ports just how many Mohammedans have been
won over to Christianity. There are some facts
which will show that the Lord has blessed the
work of His servants who have sought to save the
Mohammedans. In 1893 the late Mulvie Imad-
ud-din, D. D., in a paper read before the Parlia
ment of Religions, held at Chicago, gave a list of
over fifty Moslem converts, prominent in the mis
sionary work in India. The long list of Indian
Christian authors given in this paper, most of whom
bear Moslem names, attests the statement of Dr.
Imad-ud-din. If we examine the rolls of membership
of the churches at Peshawar, Srinagar, and other
frontier stations, Lahore, Amritsar, Hoshyarpur,

i jo The Mohammedan World of To-Day

Ludhiana, Delhi, Allahabad, Lucknow, Krishnagar,
etc., we shall be surprised to find how many are of
Moslem origin. Perhaps the most striking indica
tion of the inroads being made upon the Moslem
ranks is the increasingly large number of Christian
preachers and teachers who were once the follow
ers of Islam.

An examination of a few of our mission reports
for 1904 shows the following numbers of ministers,
catechists, and teachers who carry Moslem names
— most of them converts (and the remainder chil
dren of converts) from Islam :

American Presbyterian Mission, Punjab 33

American United Presbyterian Mission, Punjab ... 14

The Cambridge Mission, Delhi (S. P. G. ) 5

The Methodist Episcopal Mission, North India ... 45
The Church of England (C. M. S.), United Province . 15

The English Baptist Mission, North India 10

The C. M. S. Punjab and Northwest Frontier Province 39

Church of Scotland's Mission, North India 21

United Free Church Scotland's Mission 12

194

These statistics are incomplete, but they err on
the side of understating the facts. They are,
however, significant. Indeed there is hardly a
Christian community or congregation that does not
have some members, who have come in from the
ranks of Islam. Every year, too, witnesses further
accessions. When the Christian Church in India
arises to a proper sense of its duty to Moslems, and
presents to them the life and conduct of the true
Christian, the number of accessions will become

Islam in North India 171

correspondingly great. The great need of the
present moment is a pentecostal outpouring of the
Spirit. Then we may see presented to Moslems
the undeniable miracle of the new creature made
in the likeness of Jesus, Son of God and Saviour
of the world.

Islam in South India
Rev. M. G. Goldsmith, M. A.

"India also shared in the misery and poverty which had befal
len the rest of the Moslem world ; while the political downfall
of the Indian Mussulmans about the middle of the last century
still further aggravated their sufferings. A darkness, blacker
than the Cimmerian darkness itself, pervaded Mussulman society
from one end of the country to the other ; and when all other
races and communities were advancing in every direction with
giant strides, deathlike stagnation, at once the most calm and
the most thorough, characterized the life of the Indian Mussul
mans. ' ' — The Anjuman-i-Himayet-i-lslam.

Islam in South India

THE Mohammedans of South India form six per
cent, of the whole population, and, according to
the census report, may be classified as :

(a) Immigrants or pure blooded descendants of
immigrants.

(b) Offspring of immigrant men by Hindu
women.

1. The first class are found in all the larger
cities, such as Madras, Bangalore, Mysore, Yellore,
Masulipatam and Ellore, and throughout the
Haidarabad state. They are descendants of
those from the north, who first of all at the close
of the thirteenth century, invaded the south, and
gradually pushed forward their conquests over the
greater part of the country. They have not much
intermarried^ with the people they found there, at
least not in recent times, and proudly keep up
Persian and Arabic as their classical languages
and colloquially use a corruption of the Urdu
(camp language) which their ancestors invented in
Delhi, but adopted in South India as the twin of
syntax found in the Dravidian languages, and
which is called " Hindustani " to distinguish it
from the purer Urdu. Their comparative igno
rance of the Hindu vernaculars has been a hin

J75

176 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

drance to their getting employment under govern
ment, and has been a problem in the way of their
advancement. Their prejudice against the Eng
lish language has been a still more serious ob
stacle, which is but slowly being overcome during
the last forty years. It was considered by the
grandfathers of the present generation as likely to
imperil their faith, if English (and Christian)
literature should be understood and studied. In
order to encourage them to join government and
aided schools, the educational department gener
ously treated them as a " backward class," with
the privilege of paying only half the school fees
levied from others. Various governors of Madras
and other kindly-hearted officials, have from time
to time made special efforts on their behalf, offer
ing them special appointments in the army and
civil service.

In 1856 the Church Missionary Society was led
to take a direct part in Hindustani work by
receiving a liberal legacy for the establishment of
a special school for Mohammedans. Seringapatam
was first thought of, but, owing to its unhealthi-
ness, the Mohammedan quarter (Triplicane) of
Madras was chosen, and the " Harris High School "
for close on fifty years has been doing what it can.
It has educated representatives from the dynasties
of Chanda Sahib, Tippoo Sahib, and the Carnatic
and Karnul families, and some of its students have
successfully won good appointments under the
Madras and Haidarabad governments.

Islam in South India 177

The Sunni Moslems of this class are three times
as numerous as the Shiahs. In Masulipatam the
old ruling family, now pensioned, is Shiah. The
Sunnis belong to the Hanifi sect. In Haidara-
bad there are some thousands of Arabs, chiefly
employed as household troops to the nobles, drawn
from Sheher in Hadramaut, Arabia.

2. Alongside with this class, are races called
(a) Labbe • and Choliya, found more especially on
the southeast Tamil coast. They are said to have
come from Iraq, having been driven out in the
early part of the eighth century by the tyrant
Hajjaj Bin Yusuf, governor of Iraq. They belong
to the house of Hashim. Crossing over to India
they settled to the east of Cape Comorin. Other
accounts describe the Labbe as having originally
been Arab traders who were wrecked on the
Indian coast and obliged to settle there. Not
understanding the language of the country, they
replied " Labbaik " by way of assent to the queries
of the natives, who therefore gave them the name
of Labbe. They now talk Tamil, indicating that
they intermarried with the natives and that the
children learned Tamil from their mothers; but
they a have a peculiar written character of their
own which is called Arab-Tamil, being Tamil
words written with an adaptation of Arabic char
acters. A convert from them enabled us to put
the Gospel of St. Mark into Arab-Tamil character.
As a rule they are rough and uneducated, though
industrious as merchants in hides, tailors, etc.

178 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

The Labbes number 406, 793, and other branches
of the same race 87,835 more. The Choliyas
seem of the same descent, but take up weaving as
a trade, and are said not to intermarry with the
Labbe.

(b) The Navayatis may have come to India
about the same time as the Labbe, but are fair in
complexion, aristocratic and well educated. The
story about them is that they are natives of
Medina, who were caught in the act of tunneling
to get into the shrine of the prophet with the ob
ject of carrying off his remains to their own place
and there to raise a new shrine for their own
benefit. They were in consequence expelled from
Arabia. The census report states they are sub
divided into five families : Kureshi, Mehkeri,
Chida, Gheas, Mohagir; but they are compara
tively small in number (2,042).

(c) The Mapilla (ordinarily pronounced and
written Moplas) are on the west coast, with head
quarters at Cananore, and are a similar race to the
Labbe. " They do not speak Hindustani, but have a
patois of their own. They rarely avail themselves
of the advantages of education offered by govern
ment. They are proud, fierce, and bigoted, but
physically a finer race than their countrymen on
the eastern side; troublesome withal, to the
authorities, and too free in the use of the Mapilla
knife, till government some years ago forbade its
being worn as a constant appendage." The gov
ernment has tried to utilize their fighting qualities

Islam in South India 179

by raising some regiments of them, but their
turbulent nature has prevented the experiment
from being an unqualified success. They write in
the Malayalam language, but have little literature of
any kind. Their history dates back to one of their
number who visited Mecca and was well treated
there, coming back with abundant religious zeal.
They are now energetic in propagating Islam, and
their numbers have increased from 612,789 in
1871, to 912,920 in 3901. Some allowance of
course must be made for the terrorism inspired
amongst their wealthier Hindu neighbours, who
must constantly find adhesion to Islam the safest
course to avoid molestation. Another means of
proselyting, which Hindus state has often been
employed all over India, when armed force was
not used, was to break the caste of Hindus either
by compelling them to eat or drink from the Mos
lems, or by the rougher way of spitting down their
throats ! In either of such cases the victims found
themselves outcast from their compatriots, and as
life under such conditions was intolerable, they
would cast in their lot with the Moslems as being
the less of two evils. It is thought by some who
know the west coast that in a few years the whole
of the lower races will become Mohammedan unless
they are soon Christianized.

The Labbe, Navayati and Mapille and similar
(but smaller) branches of Choliyas, Kailan, Marak-
kayars, etc. (who probably only reproduce the In
dian idea of caste grafted into Islam), are all

180 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

Sunnis and followers of Imam-es-Shafi, while the
Sunnis of Class I are followers of Iinam-ibn-
Hanifa. The only apparent differences are in
minor details : for instance, at a certain point in
the daily prayers the Shafi crosses his hands on
his chest, while the Hanifite crosses them on his
stomach. Again, if the Shafi be interrogated
about his faith, he replies, " I am a Moslem, if
God wills it " (Insh* Allahu Triala), which doubt
ful way of putting it appears blasphemy (Kufr) to
a Hanifite, who would rather reply, " Praise God "
(Al hamda lillaK). If praying together in the
same mosque, the sect (mazhab) of the majority
has to be followed for the time being.

In the Mysore province, at Channapatam, an off
shoot of the Shiahs called Daire-wate or Mahadvi
is found. In the year 1444 (A. H. 847) a man called
Sayed Ahmad was born in Gujrat. He claimed
to be the expected Mahdi, and preached in the
dominions of the Nizam of Haidarabad and other
places. He died in 1504 and his followers were
driven by persecution into Haidarabad and to the
Mysore province. Their watchword was " Imam
Mahdi came and went away : he who does not be
lieve this is an infidel." This offended the Sunnis
and at the time of Tippoo Sahib, when the Mahda-
vis during a certain Ramazan were shouting their
watchword through the streets of Seringa patam,
they were attacked and put to flight. A few years
ago one of them in Haidarabad mortally stabbed
the tutor of the Nizam for writing a book against

Islam in South India 181

them: so they had to migrate. Lord Harris
granted them a settlement in Channapatam.
They have many peculiar customs and no regular
mosque but only a jamaat-khana, (assembly room)
since they consider India a Dar-ul-Harb (land of
war) and not a Moslem territory.

Wahabis exist, known as 'Amil fiil Hadith, and
are not numerous. They are protestants in a quiet
way against all modern accretions of superstition.

A possible important factor in the future is the
sect that follows Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian,
who called himself the Messiah. Though de
nounced as a heretic by orthodox Moslems, he has
thousands of disciples in different parts of India,
some of them in Haidarabad city and in some of
the districts.

The distribution of the Mohammedan population
in South India is as follows :

Madras Presidency proper 2,467,351

Coorg 13,654

Haidarabad (Deccan) . 1,155,750

Cochin and Travancore 265,580

Mysore 289,697

Total 4,192,032

The Madras census report (1901) says that the
Moslems are nine and one-tenth per cent, more
numerous than at the census of 1891, while India
Christians have increased nineteen per cent, (and
in thirty years ninety-nine per cent, and four or
five times as fast as the population generally).

Results of Christian missions have been very

182 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

small. One here and another there has come out
of Islam and joined the Christian Church. There
have been converts in two or more distinct places,
besides many more who have been scattered en
quirers. Hitherto this seems to have been the
peculiar feature of the work. The Church Mis
sionary Society has more definitely paid attention
to work among Moslems than any other mission,
and has had Hindustani missionaries in Madras
and Haidarabad ; but one or two of other socie
ties in South India have studied Hindustani with
a view of influencing Moslems. Those Moslems
who speak Tamil, Telugu, Canarese, or Malayalam,
have been to some extent reached by missionaries
in those languages ; but it is generally felt that
the Moslem requires very different and special
dealing.

The Church of England Zenana Mission has
done a great deal in reaching Moslem women and
girls, and some of these have been brought to
Christ. One of the earliest converts was in a
" Faith Mission '' in Panruti. Small Hindustani
congregations meet in Bangalore and Haidarabad,
and these include a few whose vernacular is Hin
dustani, but who were Hindus by birth.

It is a sad fact that many who have been bap
tized have subsequently gone back, or disappeared
in a way that seemed to show that they had not
"counted the cost." Some such have been hos
tile but in most cases they become unsettled and
unhappy.

Islam in South India 183

In Haidarabad rich money inducements have
always been at hand to encourage apostasy. An
an ti Christian society, the Anjuman-i-Islam, was
formed thirteen years ago and recorded consider
able numbers of converts from Hinduism and Chris
tianity, but lately it has been said to be defunct.

XII

The New Islam in India
Rev. H. U. Weitbrecht, Ph. D., D. D.

"The most notable movement among Indian Moslems is that
of the New Islam, founded by Sir Sayud Ahmad Khan of Aligarh.
This is, however, merely symptomatic of a much wider move
ment. Educated Moslems everywhere have revolted from the
intellectual bondage of orthodoxy. It is, therefore, exceedingly
important to carefully study this situation. It is the opening
of the door to a rational consideration of the claims of the gospel.
It is full of hopefulness."— E. M. Wherry, D. D.

The New Islam in India

THE rigidity and unprogressive character of
Islam has often been insisted on by Christian
writers, and it is true enough that, as a system, it
has shown itself singularly insusceptible to the in
fluences of the modern world during the last four
centuries. Not that there has been no develop
ment of thought or life in the Moslem community
since its primitive age. Far from it ; but all these
changes took place within the limits of the Koran
and the scholastic philosophy which was accepted
as the vehicle of its exposition, and on the basis of
a community life which accepted the Shari'at and
its ordinances. But the last century saw Islam
pass under new conditions and enter a dif
ferent atmosphere, in which her scholastic
age has seen the beginning of the end. The
discovery of America and of the Cape route
to the East at the end of the fifteenth cen
tury diverted the ancient Mediterranean trade
routes, thus helping to transfer commerce and
colonization into the hands of the nations of
Christendom ; and since then the decay of
Mohammedan political power in east and west
has brought the Moslem nations under the sway
of Christian peoples, so that now scarcely more

187

188 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

than a third of the Moslem population of the world
realizes the ideal of theocratic rule, which was the
original and long-maintained standard of its polity.
To these other influences we have to add, in the
nineteenth century, the slow, yet progressive effect
of direct Christian evangelism.

To illustrate what I have said, let me refer
briefly to the chief former religious movements in
Islam, which have their analogies in the history of
the Christian Church. The primitive teachers of
Islam, who bade the faithful believe bila kaifa,
without inquiring how it came about, were soon
followed by the professors of kalam, i. e., dialectic
theology, who, indeed, were indispensable, however
much they might be regarded with suspicion,
in order to meet the growing heresies and specu
lations. To say nothing of the orthodox dis-
puters about free will and fate, and the like, there
was the great heresy of the Mutazila or secession,
which denied the eternity of the Koran and found
favour for a while in the highest places; and
there was the pantheistic Sufism which began
with Hallaj in the fourth century A. H. The
Mutazila was crushed by the decree issued under
the Caliph Mutawakkil in 234 A. H., and the Sufi
mysticism was modified and incorporated into
Moslem theology by the great divine Ghazzali two
centuries later. With him closes the productive
period of Mohammedan theology. The Moslem
schoolmen, like their Christian fellows were
Pseudo-Aristotelian philosophers. Babism repre-

The New Islam in India 189

sents a modified form of the schisms connected
with the true Imamate. Wahabism is a Mo
hammedan Puritanism appealing to its scripture
to support a sterner orthodoxy and more rigorous
standard of life than that of current Islam ; the
great religious orders that have grown up since
Abd ul Kadir Ghilani (561 A. H.) have built up the
religious organization of Islam on the side of
monasticism. All these movements, however,
were within the limits of the Moslem state. Now
the mind of Islam at last has to meet with the
thought and culture of the outside world on a
basis of equality of civil rights, for the Moslem
subject of a Christian state is neither oppressed
nor favoured ; he is simply protected and bound
by the same law as others. This process is going
on to the greatest extent and under the most
favourable conditions in British India ; and it is of
the development of a new phase of Islam in India
that I propose to treat.

The Mohammedan population of the world is
variously estimated at from 180,000.000 to 210,-
000,000 ; that of India is not far from 60,000,000,
i. e., one-third or two-sevenths of the entire Moslem
community. When the last great flood of nations
burst forth from inner Asia in the later middle
ages the Turks turned their faces westward, the
Moguls eastward, and to the latter India owed the
greatest imperial development which it had seen
since Asoka. Following on a series of Pathan and
other dynasties since the eleventh century, the

1QO The Mohammedan World of To-Day

Mogul emperors held India from the sixteenth to
the eighteenth century, and left it with an ad
ministration and a lingua franca (Urdu), which
British rule has only had to develop. Almost a
century and a half have passed since the battle of
Plassy left the Mogul province of Bengal, grad
ually followed by the rest of India, in the hands
of the British power. But during the first 100
years of this time the condition of the Mohamme
dan part of the population of India had not im
proved in anything like the same degree as that of
the Hindus, whom only a short while before they
had held in subjection. The erstwhile rulers had
held back from taking advantage of the education
freely offered them, and about the middle of the
last century observant ones among them began to
notice that in the race for wealth and position
they were now far behind their Hindu fellow-
subjects. From the perception of this fact the
Moslem reform movement in India received the
impulse which gave it definite shape. The initi
ation and first leadership of this movement belong
indisputably to one man, Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan,
of Aligarh. This zealous reformer was born in
181T, of a pure-blooded family (as the term Sayed
— Lord — implies), of lineal descendants of Moham
med. At the age of twenty-one he entered the
civil service of the Northwest Provinces, and in
addition to his energy as an officer, he soon de
veloped considerable literary activity. During the
troubles of the mutiny Sayed Ahmed rendered

The New Islam in India 191

useful service, and was rewarded with promotion.
On a visit to England in 1869-70, he was pre
sented to the Queen and the Prince of Wales, and
carefully observed English life and manners, edu
cation and industry. On his return to India Sayad
Ahmad started a journal, the Tahzib ul Akhlaq, or
Reform of Morals. A collection of essays gath
ered from this forms the chief exposition of his
views. He saw that his fellow Moslems in India
were in an extremely backward state as compared
with their Hindu fellow subjects, in respect both
of education and of material progress and of share
in administration. Instead of clamouring for gov
ernment patronage, or cursing the change of times,
Sayed Ahmed set to preaching that God would
help those who helped themselves, and told his co-
Moslems that they would deserve to remain im
poverished and slighted unless they set themselves
to remedy their own condition by means of edu
cation. Amid all the success and honour that
attended his further career, Sayed Ahmed devoted
himself consistently to this object. In 1878, he
succeeded in starting, with the countenance and
liberal assistance of the government, an Anglo-
Mohammedan College at Aligarh. From 1879-83
— having been made Knight Commander of the
Star of India — Sir Sayed served as a member of
the Viceroy's Legislative Council, and later on he
was a member of the Provincial Legislature of the
Northwest Provinces. In 1886, he set on foot an
annual Educational Conference for the Mohamme-

192 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

dans of India. This and the Aligarh College re
main as the two outstanding fruits of Sir Sayed's
life work, the one as an intellectual centre, the
other as a focus of practical effort for progressive
Islam in India. Over both, and over other varied
interests of his community, Sir Sayad watched
most sedulously till his much lamented death in
1898.

We cannot call Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan a syste
matic reformer. He had a literary, and to some
extent a scholarly bent, but unfortunately his en
ergetic pursuit of important practical ends left him
no time for a thorough acquisition of the English
language, which would have been the best means
for attaining those ends ; and this lack effectually
prevented him from really taking in hand an in
tellectual reconciliation between modern thought,
as such, and the religion of Islam. His intellec
tual starting-point is the backward and impover
ished condition of the Indian Mussulman. If he
is to escape from this condition he must give up
thoughtless conservatism (taqlid) and take to free
dom of thought (azadi i rei). In some respects
Sayed Ahmed resembles the ancient rationalists
of Islam ; indeed, his remarks on the Divine at
tributes and their relation to the Divine nature re
minds one not a little of the Mutazilite school ;
and like them, he puts forth a modified theory of
inspiration ; not every part of a sacred book
must be equally inspired, we may acknowledge in
it a human element as well as a Divine. But his

The New Islam in India 193

thought (system we cannot call it) is more in
fluenced by the conceptions of conscience and
nature. Conscience, he says, is the condition of
man's character which results from training and
reflection. It may rightly be called his true guide
and his real prophet. Still, it is liable to mutabil
ity, and needs to be corrected from time to time
by historic prophets. To test a prophet we must
compare the principles of his teaching with the
laws of nature. If it agrees with these we are to
accept it, and he quotes with approval the remark
of a French writer, that Islam, which lays no
claim to miraculous powers on the part of its
founder, is the truly rationalistic religion. Mo
hammed, he claims, set forth the Divine unity with
the greatest possible clearness and simplicity : first,
Unity of Essence, which he promulgated afresh ;
second, Unity of Attributes, which the Christians
had wrongly hypostatized in their doctrine of the
Trinity ; third, Unity of Worship in the uni
versal and uniform rendering of that devotion
which is due to God alone, thus securing the doc
trine of the Unity against all practical encroach
ments through corrupt observances.

It is obvious that in trying to delineate a move
ment of this kind, which in many respects resem
bles that of the Broad Church school in England,
it is not possible to give statistics of adherents,
there being no formal organization into a sect.
There are, however, the two organizations already
mentioned which represent the reform movement

194 The Mohammedan World of To- Day

started by Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan — the Anglo-
Mohammedan College at Aligarh, and the annual
Mohammedan Educational Conference. The for
mer has passed through some vicissitudes, espe
cially by reason of the embezzlement of a consider
able portion of its endowment fund ; but it has
had a series of excellent and able principles in the
persons of English university men who have suc
ceeded in impressing something of the ethos of
English public school and university life on the
alumni of the high school and college. The in
stitution now contains, by the last report, 340
students in the college department, and 364 in the
school.1 Its first graduate was a Hindu student.
From 1898-1902 out of 478 Mohammedan grad
uates in India, 116 were from Aligarh College.
The promoters have for some years past been
moving for the advancement of the college to the
status of an Anglo Mohammedan University. One
of them describes the object of the institution as
the complete transformation of the present type
of Mulla, a consummation devoutly to be wished.
As far as one can judge, the tone of the college
is somewhat secular though a Mulvi was appointed
as " Dean " in 1895. At any rate the College Maga
zine does not record much of the religious side.
The members of the cricket team whom I met at
Simla in the summer of 1904 gave the impression
of cultivated manly young fellows of good breeding.

1 These figures include fifty-one and thirty-seven Hindus re
spectively.

The New Islam in India 195

The Educational Conference meets annually
during the Christmas holidays (the great season
for such gatherings in India) for the discussion
of educational and social topics, and leads the
efforts of progressive Moslems in these directions.
One of the most remarkable utterances of its
speakers latterly was the speech of the Agha
Khan, the leader of the Bora community of Bom
bay, a wealthy mercantile tribe. In his capacity
of president, this gentleman spoke very tren
chantly of the chief barriers to progress in the Mos
lem world. These in his opinion were (1) the
seclusion of women which results in keeping half
the community in ignorance and degradation, and
thus hindering the progress of the whole. (2)
The spirit of self-aggrandizement, and lack of
esprit de corps, preventing efforts for the com
mon good. (3) Fatalism, which acts as a paralyz
ing factor against all healthy initiative and de
velopment. (4) Formalism, with reference to the
multitude of unproductive and ignorant persons
who encumber the community with pretensions
of superior holiness while they are nothing but a
burden on its resources. By this he meant, of
course the mass of fakirs and keepers of spurious
shrines who flourish in idleness on the alms of In
dian Moslems. The Agha Khan appealed urgently
for the establishment of an Indian Moslem Uni
versity, begging liberal believers "to consider
whether it is not more in accordance with the
commands and example of the prophet to help

196 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

their Moslem brethren than to undertake pilgrim
ages and celebrate costly anniversaries." Proba
bly the educated mercantile Moslem of Bombay
who comes into constant contact with the west
ern world is more advanced in such matters than
others, even among his progressive brethren.
But at any rate the controversy as to seclusion of
women and polygamy is still proceeding with
some liveliness. Polygamy is defended by mulvis
of the old school with the crudest and coarsest
arguments, viewed solely from the side of male
rights of enjoyment, while the reformers vindicate
the rights of women in a thoroughly modern and
almost Christian spirit. Others endeavour to
mediate between the two positions ; all equally ap
pealing to the Koran. Meanwhile, in Haidarabad
(Deccan), Calcutta, and elsewhere, progressive
Moslems are in a few cases breaking through the
restrictions of custom, and going about with their
wives and daughters unveiled, which generally
also means in European dress. For men among
the progressive section this has become as good
as universal : but indeed it has spread far beyond
them, and is common among educated men of all
classes, nor only among educated ones. The pro
gressive Moslem, however, draws the line at the
hat; and favours the fez, unmindful of the fact
that it had a Christian or a heathen origin. In
matters of social intercourse the Indian Moslem
has, in the lapse of centuries, become strongly
imbued with Hindu notions as to common meals

The New Islam in India 197

with Christians; this prejudice the progressive
have entirely set aside, and not a few others are
following them in this ; but there still remain the
barriers of habit and of race.1

The general influence of the reform movement
is seen most clearly in literature. Idiomatic
translations of the Koran (instead of the baldly
literal one of Abd ul Kadir hitherto the only
concession to the right of the vernacular reader
to understand the sacred book) are being published,
e. g., by the well-known novelist and lecturer
Mulvi Nazir Ahmed. The use of fiction to em
body religious and social ideas and to advocate
them, is rapidly extending ; and Nawal (novel) has
become a recognized Urdu word. The periodical
magazine has come to stay, no less than the
weekly and daily newspaper ; and periodicals such
as the Makhzan (Treasury ; a monthly literary re
view), the Observer, an English weekly news
paper ; the Paisa, Akfibar (Farthing Journal ; a
daily newspaper), are quietly and unobtrusively
promoting liberal views and broadening the outlook
of the Indian Moslem. The proprietor of the last
named journal has started a children's paper, the
title of which is indicative of the new age. In
stead of a high-flown Arabic or Persian phrase,
suggesting as little as possible the nature of the

1 The last meeting of the Educational Conference set on foot
a training school for female teachers which is being started at
Aligarh.

198 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

contents, it has the plain every-day Urdu title.
JIamare Bachche (Our Children).

Sir Sayed Ahmed's Commentary on the Bible,
though it is merely a fragment of little theological
value, has helped to convince the educated Mos
lem that the ordinary view of the Christian Scrip
tures as having been falsified with polemic intent
subsequent to the advent of Mohammed is ground
less. Not only is the Bible being read with more
open mind than before, but in some instances it is
studied and commented upon with some degree of
thoughtfulness. Of one such student an Indian in
formant writes : " By an independent research he
passed on from the Koran to the Bible, and from the
Bible to the Pentateuch alone, holding the directly
inspired portion of the latter (i. e., the parts contain
ing direct utterances of Jehovah) to be the only
parts to be accepted as the Word of God, to the
exclusion of the rest of the Bible and of all other
books."

In the opinion of competent Indian observers
the rationalism of Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan is not
at present being developed. One writes : " As a
religious movement it was of a negative nature,
and its chief strength lay in denying whatever
could not be defended. Having no vitality in it
self it has practically lapsed into a sort of social
and political reform movement." Another says,
"Just at present, there is a marked indication,
even among the educated Mussulmans, mainly to
drift back to the old school of thought." He further

The New Islam in India 199

mentions as one of the chief symptoms of this
tendency the establishment of the Nadioat ul
Ulama (College of Divines). It has its headquar
ters at Lucknow, and consists of a number of
Mulvis, who come together every year, and are
joined very largely by the educated party. They
have established a (theological) seminary on a large
scale, which aims at being an improvement on the
work at Deoband, though on the same lines. They
are trying to multiply such institutions elsewhere.
A branch has already been established at Shah-
jahaiipur (in the United Provinces). From the last
report to hand of this body it would seem that it
suffers much from internal dissensions. In Lahore
there is the Anjuman i Naumania, which has
succeeded in founding a seminary, at present car
ried on in the Shahi Mosque, and receiving consid
erable support from many Mussulmans who have
received a university education ; the results of the
reform movement are thus being felt in efforts to
provide a more enlightened education for the Mo
hammedan clergy (if we may so call a body of
teachers between whom and the " laity " the di
viding line is most indistinct), but without the
rationalistic element of Sir Sayed's teaching.

It remains to mention one other movement
which endeavours to combine modern progress
with Moslem orthodoxy. I refer to the sect started
by Mirza Ghulam Ahmed of Qadian in the Punjab.
The Ahmadiyya, to adopt the self-chosen style of
this new sect, represents the endeavour to find, in

2oo The Mohammedan World of To-Day

the face of the irresistible advance of modern cul
ture, a via media between the more advanced re
form and an impossible return to the old stand
point. Mirza Ghulam Ahmed is now nearing sev
enty years of age, and his claims to religious lead
ership date from twenty years back. He is, I be
lieve, a man in whom religious zeal and conviction
are combined with a very large proportion of per
sonal motives, and there is no doubt that he has
employed fraud, if not worse means, for the ac
complishment of his ends. Disquieted by the
progress which Christianity was making among
Mohammedans of the Central Punjab, he felt that
a new prophet was needed ; was he not the man ?
However, as Mohammed was the last of the
prophets, he could not claim strictly to be a Nabi /
but there is always available for the Mohammedan
enthusiast the role of the Mahdi or promised Guide
who is to prepare the way for the return of Jesus
and the Judgment Day. As John the Baptist was
said by Christ to be Elijah the prophet, because he
came in the spirit and power of Elijah, so the
Mirza claims to have come in the spirit and power
of the Messiah, and at the same time to be the
promised Mahdi. Lately he has added, for the
benefit of Hindus, an avatar, the true Krishna
redivivus.

The Mirza repudiates the traditional doctrines of
Jihad and slavery. The latter is intended accord
ing to the Koran to be gradually abolished ; Jihad
is not permissible under present circumstances.

The New Islam in India 201

Polygamy, veiling of women and divorce, are per
missions or regulations of the inspired legislator,
given to prevent worse evils. The Ahmadiyya,
like the Arya Samaj, is bitterly anti-Christian,
while both are fiercely opposed to each other. It
is difficult to estimate exactly the number of ad
herents of this sect, but they may be supposed to
run into the tens of thousands, of whom a few are
educated in the modern sense. The Mirza and his
councillors, however, understand the power of the
press and of education, and he has established a
high school, intended to be developed into a col
lege, and a printing press ; and English and Urdu
newspapers are published in Qadian.1

From the bare sketch given so far it is evident
that, while Islam in India has begun to feel the
stirrings of a new age, yet even its advanced ad
herents have not begun to grapple with modern
problems of thought. The rationalism of Sir Sayed
Ahmed Khan does not touch such questions as the
relations between the objectivity of the supernat
ural and the universality of natural law ; between
creation by a Personal God and evolution; be
tween revelation and the natural origin of re
ligions ; between ethical responsibility and biolog
ical determinism. Much less are the professors of
the Nadwat or the graduate followers of the Mirza
qualified to do so. Not many years ago a princi-

1 Further information about the sect is given in a paper by the
Rev. Dr. Griswold in the Proceedings of the Victoria Institute for
May, 1905.

2O2 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

pal of the Aligarh College was conversing with a
well-known Urdu author on the change of thought
and life that was inevitably coming over Indian
Moslems. The conversation ended with the words,
spoken by the latter : " Leave us our God ; in all
else make us English." A profoundly pathetic
saying, which indicates our attitude and duty
towards this reform movement.

The educated Moslem deserves our sympathy for
a double reason. He realizes, as his uneducated
brother cannot, with aggravating clearness, the
fallen glory of his people from a secular point of
view ; and he feels the approach of a tide of intel
lectual innovation, perhaps of destruction, to meet
which his religious philosophy offers him but inef
ficient aid. While then, we desire to offer him
that revelation of God incarnate in Christ which
is the true reconciliation of the transcendent and
the immanent Deity in man and in the world, we
want to help him to hold fast the fundamental be
liefs common to him and ourselves in the great
process of readjustment, so that he may be able to
base the conviction of a new power to heal ethical
and social deficiencies, on the primary convictions
which he already holds, and which are sure to be
severely tested when he comes into real contact
with modern thought, not merely as a formula, but
as an experience.

The means to this end which, without disparaging
others, I believe we shall find efficient and fruitful,
are specially these :

The New Islam in India 203

(1) Social intercourse, which is greatly needed
in India to bridge over the gulf of race separation.
For the promotion of this there is also a favourable
opportunity in the case of Moslem students and
others in England, and something in this direction
is being done.

(2) Bible study with individuals or small
groups, both as literature and as the guide to life
eternal. Specially should this be practiced in con
nection with our missionary colleges. It is the
lack of such quiet dealing with men (mainly for
lack of time or energy when the obligatory work
is done) which prevents us from seeing greater re
sults from the excellent work of those institutions.

(3) Systematic lectures by thoroughly qualified
men, with carefully arranged openings for discus
sion of difficulties.

(4) A more efficient and extended use of the
printing press. A considerable number of men of
liberal tendencies do not read English with such
readiness that they will not prefer an Urdu book
or paper if it gives them the information which is
found in English books. For these we have maga
zines like Taraqqi, and books such as Dr. Blackie's
Bible History, in its Urdu dress, to say nothing of
good Christian stories. But the majority, proba
bly, of the progressives will prefer to read English,
and the great point is to direct their reading
rightly, and, if necessary, or rather if possible, to
read with them, for thus opportunity is given also
to pray with them.

204 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

In all these activities I need not say that Indian
Christians are concerned equally with the foreign
missionary. Indeed, we have no little cause for
thankfulness to God, that some of the most efficient
work (notably in literature) is being done by them.
If there is much need for the specialized mission
ary, there is more for the educated Indian Chris
tian inspired with apostolic zeal.

XIII

Islam in Sumatra
Rev. G. K. Simon

(Missionary of the Rhenish Missionary Society)

" We have often been forced to observe that the whole Moham
medan world is connected by secret threads, and that a defeat
which Islam suffers in any part of the world, or a triumph which
she can claim either really or fictitiously, has its reflex action
even on the work of our missionaries in the Mohammedan part of
Sumatra. Thus the recent massacres in Armenia have filled the
Mohammedans in this part of Sumatra with pride. They say to
the Christians : "You see now that the Raja of Stamboul (that
is, the Sultan of Constantinople) is the one whom none can with
stand ; and he will soon come and set Sumatra free, and then we
shall do with the Christians as the Turks did with the Arme
nians." — Barmen Mission News.

XIII

Islam in Sumatra

(Translated)

IT has been said that " the Moslem propaganda
has accomplished a masterpiece in Indonesia." We
may well say that such a masterpiece is in evi
dence on the island of Sumatra, for among its
4,000,000 inhabitants, 3,500,000 profess the religion
of Islam.

This in itself is assuredly an astonishing result,
the more so, as it has not come from regular mis
sionary work ; there is no record of sacrifices and
privations, of self-denial or martyrdom in the Mo
hammedan propaganda in this island. The whole
movement went on, so to speak, automatically.
Traders from the Arab colonies on the coasts of
Calabar and Coromandel made their appearance
on the east coast of Sumatra, and began to settle
there as early as the fourteenth century. They
propagated Islam together with their trade. More
over, since the thirteenth century there has been a
direct trade connection between North Sumatra
and Arabia and this has been aided by the exist
ence of the Mohammedan kingdom of Achin at
the northwest extremity of Sumatra.

This propaganda is not as yet complete ; there
are still Malay tribes in Sumatra who hold with

207

208 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

tenacity to their ancient heathenism and resist all
efforts to make them Mohammedans. Instances
of this are the not very numerous tribe of the
Uraneses on the upper course of the river Lema-
teng in the middle of the island, between Palem-
bang and Benkulen, and the Lus on the borders of
the district of Manungkabon, which have almost
disappeared. The most successful resistance to
the inroads of Islam has been made by the Bataks
with exception of their southern tribes.

I estimate the Bataks to number 625,000 souls,
and that 125,000 of these are Mohammedans. But
for a generation past by far the greater part of
this people has come under the influence of Prot
estant missions. Some 62,000 Christians have
been baptized and organized into regular .congre
gations. In addition to these there are some 10,-
000 catechumens. Apparently Islam is numeric-
ally preponderant among the Bataks. But of the
remaining 430,000 pagans by far the greater part
is more accessible to Christianity than to Islam.
Moreover, the Mohammedan portion of the nation
is, so to speak, isolated in the southerly district of
Mandailing, and we may say that Protestant mis
sions have barred the way of the Moslem propa
ganda in the remaining part of the Batak country,
though as yet this is but partially Christianized.
Furthermore, our missions have delivered a suc
cessful counter attack on the territories which have
already accepted Islam. Thus in Sumatra the ex
tremely successful propaganda of Islam which has

Islam in Sumatra 209

been going on for the last five hundred years, has
been brought to a standstill by energetic mission
ary work amongst pagans and Moslems.

The social condition of Moslems in Sumatra
does not differ materially from the general social
condition of the Batak nation, which may be de
scribed as favourable. These people are by occu
pation cultivators of rice, and breeders of cattle.
It is true that the abolition of swine-breeding,
which in other parts of the Batak country is a
considerable source of wealth, has caused some
loss to the poorer classes among the Moslem
Bataks. On the other hand, trade has increased
among them. Mohammedan traders dislike trade
connections with pagan Bataks and prefer to have
as their agents and correspondents those who have
come over to Islam. They use them also as ped
lars in the country districts. In general we may
say that Islam has brought the people out of
isolation.

In addition to this the adoption of Islam has
enabled many Bataks to get their living tempor
arily or permanently in other lands, and a certain
amount of emigration to foreign parts has been
going on.

In the sixties of the last century the famous
tobacco plantations in Deli on the eastern coast
of Sumatra were started and the Mohammedan
Bataks of Mandailing began to emigrate there in
great numbers, becoming traders, shopkeepers,
policemen and minor officials. Their social posi-

21O The Mohammedan World of To-Day

tion was thereby improved, the more so as it con
trasted advantageously with the mass of poor
Chinese and Javanese coolies. These people from
Mandailing formed a compact and fanatical body
of Moslems in their new surroundings, and their
presence was a continuous and great danger threat
ening those Bataks of the east coast who were
still pagans.

On the other hand, through the advent of Islam
the social position of women was distinctly de
graded. According to the old law of the Bataks,
divorce was subject to penalty and extremely
difficult. Cannibals though they were, they re
garded matrimony as in principle a sacred institu
tion. Adultery was punished with death ; in fact
the adulterer was eaten ; this being the most dis
graceful form of punishment according to Batak
law. In contrast to this the Mohammedan Batak
can divorce his wife when he pleases. For the
sake of legality three persons must bear witness
that the woman has three times quarrelled with
her husband, but there is little difficulty in getting
witnesses to this effect. It is forbidden to take
back a woman who has been divorced. It is espe
cially the religious leaders (the kajis, that is, pil
grims to Mecca ; and the Muallims, that is, teach
ers), who are given to change their wives. Nor
do they thereby suffer in authority and esteem.
It may be said that the Mohammedan woman has
been degraded socially through the Islamic con
ception of marriage in the same degree as the

Islam in Sumatra 21 1

Christian woman in Sumatra has been raised by
the sanctity Christians attach to that institution.
It must be acknowledged that Islam has forbidden
an ancient abuse in the shape of marriage with
the mother-in-law, but it does nothing by way of
really abolishing the practice. Islam has not suc
ceeded in banishing Batak women from ordinary
social life, as is the case with women in most of its
territories. Both Malay and Batak women move
about freely among their countrywomen, and
popular custom everywhere enforces respect for
women. In this respect work in Sumatra is dis
tinctly hopeful. We have here no harem in which
the women are carefully secluded from male so
ciety. Thus there are no special hindrances to
missionary work among women and girls.

The whole island of Sumatra is now under the
Dutch Colonial Government. I shall now add a
few words as to the political position which the
Mohammedan of Sumatra occupies under a Chris
tian government.

We may fairly regard it as one of the tasks of
missions to make it clear to Colonial governments
that Moslems can never become loyal subjects of a
Christian power. In Germany especially it seems
very difficult to make this understood, as we may
see from recent events in the Kamerun colony in
Africa. There is a tendency to esteem Islam as a
civilizing power, which it is not, or at any rate
has ceased to be, and the authorities do not per
ceive that they are cherishing a serpent in their

212 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

bosom. The Dutch Government, during the last
thirty years, has gained a more correct insight
into the state of things, since it has found by ex
perience that not one of the colonial rebellions has
come about without the incitement of the hajis.

Besides this the colonial war with Achin, which
has lasted for nearly thirty years, has helped to
open the eyes of the Dutch. This territory of
Achin, at the northwest corner of Sumatra, is to
the Mohammedan of that island " a holy land," and
the war carried on by its ruler against the Dutch
is a holy war ; therefore, say the people, it can
never come to an end. Since 1904 we may prac
tically regard Achin as subdued, but this the Mo
hammedan does not believe. Eventually they
expect the Raja Stamloul, that is, the Sultan of
Turkey, to drive out all the Dutch.

The idea of some colonial rulers that Moham
medans can be won over to loyalty in a peaceful
way has been clearly disproved in Achin. In order
to please the Moslems a splendid mosque was built
in Achin by the government, but very few Achinese
ever come to it.

Achin still exercises a strong influence on the
great Mohammedan tribes in the east of the
island. Even the pagan Batak rulers in those
parts hold their lands under title deeds derived
from the kingdom of Achin ; and as for the Mo
hammedans, they look to Achin still with the ex
pectation an,d hope that deliverance from foreign
rule will come to them through the interference

Islam in Sumatra 213

of the Sultan in Stamboul. During the fighting
between the Dutch troops and the wild Karo
tribes in the south of Achin, it is believed that
many of the great Mohammedan princes on the
east coast were assisting the rebels.

All this has helped to alter the policy of the
government towards Islam. In former years they
calmly permitted the Moslems of the coast to
usurp more and more the rule over independent
Batak tribes. It was all but impossible for inex
perienced Batak chieftains to vindicate their rights
in the eyes of the Dutch Government as against
clever Mohammedan princes. A great deal of
land belonging to them on the east coast of Su
matra was delivered into the hands of Mohamme
dans and thereby Islam was enabled to penetrate
far into the interior.

Latterly, however, the government has ener
getically resisted these usurpations, which they
now see to be disadvantageous to them, owing to
the political strength of Islam. Still, the increase
of Moslems from among the strong and intelligent
mountaineers who come to the coast for an easier
livelihood adds to the strength of Islam not a little.
The inhabitants of the coast who have become
enervated through the climate are strengthened
by new blood and Islam receives intelligent dis
ciples.

The position of Islam on the western coast of
Sumatra is essentially different. This has come
about through the historical development of Islam

2 1 4 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

in Mandailing. The Europeans came into the
country less as conquerors than as liberators from
the oppression of Moslem usurpation, and it was
natural that the people should at first see in them
their best friends. In fact, about the year 1840,
the people begged that missionaries might be sent
to them, but notwithstanding this they eventually
accepted Islam, and the relation of these new
Moslems to government is simply that of sub
jection, without sympathy of any kind. There
are three chief reasons for this : (1) No mission
ary society was ready to take up the work. (2)
The Christian power did indeed come as a liber
ator; and doubtless the Dutch Colonial Govern
ment did much for the elevation of the people-,
but the institution of forced labour and the
monopoly of coffee made the people feel keenly
that their liberator was also their master. (3) The
government itself by means of its minor officials
helped to introduce Islam into the country and
brought about a rapprochement of the people with
the Mohammedans of Mandailing, who regarded
the Dutch as their worst enemies. Having ac
cepted Islam the Bataks of Mandailing soon learned
to regard the Europeans as a scourge sent upon
them by Allah.

This inward disposition of Islam is outwardly
concealed by a courteous and cringing demeanour
towards Europeans. The great chieftains have
received salaries from the government and share
in the gains from the coffee monopoly ; moreover

Islam in Sumatra 215

many of their sons are in government service as
minor officials. If we compare Islam on the west
coast with that on the east, we may say that the
former has accepted subjection to the foreign
power without resistance; whereas the Islam of
the east coast is relatively more independent, look
ing for rehabilitation through help from Achin,
and secretly endeavouring to maintain independ
ence by intrigues against the government.

Political events which have touched Islam, in the
outside world have been felt among the Moslems
of Sumatra. For instance the Kusso-Turkish war
produced a great depression among them. The
Armenian massacres stimulated their fanaticism so
much as to produce insolent threats against Chris
tians. The Japanese war has aroused hopes that
all Europeans will eventually be expelled. The
visit of the German Emperor to the Sultan was
regarded as an act of homage, and the present of
horses which he brought, as a payment of tribute.

The question whether Islam raises the intellectual
condition of a nation or not, is answered very dif
ferently according to the estimate entertained of
the civilizing power of Islam. The person who
goes up from the Mandailing coast into the pagan
interior, would be inclined to maintain that Islam
has brought the people very considerable intellec
tual progress. On the coast and in Mandailing not
a few have been to school, and the whole nation
has a wider outlook than the pagans. This knowl
edge however is no result of the adoption of Islam.

216 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

It is not Islam, but the Dutch Government, that is
to say, a Christian power, which has done much for
the elevation of the people by means of schools.
When we examine Islam in districts of Sumatra
which have not this incentive from without, the
intellect of the Moslem community is seen to be
below the level of pagan intelligence.

What Islam substituted for the old system of
ideas among the Bataks has remained an exotic
growth. It has brought to them new rites of wor
ship, certain formulas of prayer, a few names of
religious offices, all in the garb of unintelligible
Arabic words. In addition to this, the laity are
taught ad nauseam that their religious leaders and
Mecca pilgrims can do all that is necessary for the
salvation of their souls. Hierarchical despotism
on the part of the leaders and fatalism on the part
of the populace are an acute poison for the intel
lect of a nation. To keep the mass in a condi
tion of intellectual stagnation is a principle of
Islam.

It would be an interesting task, were it not out
side the limits of our subject, to draw out in detail
the deep distinction between Christianity and
Islam from this side of the question. Christianity
does not trample on the ancient notions of the
people but it gives something better in their stead.
Islam surrounds itself with a halo of mystery, in
comprehensibility and strangeness ; Christianity
opens the " book of books " and seeks clearness and
truth in its explanation, in its illustration, and in

Islam in Sumatra 217

all its teaching, and thereby draws out and
strengthens the mental powers of its disciples.

This aspect of the work of Christianity in ele
vating the popular intelligence is not without its
effect upon Islam. Our Christian schools are open
to young Moslems and a certain number attend
them. Some have seriously objected to this on
the supposition that we thus elevate the Moslems
and put weapons in their hands wherewith to fight
us, and that we impart to them the fruits of Euro
pean and Christian civilization to which, on their
level, they have no right. But it is not the intelli
gent, educated Mohammedan whom we have to
fear, so much as the ignorant man who is open to
the incitements of fanaticism. The danger which
threatens us, is that the Moslem population, hav
ing once imbibed a genuine Arabic education,
will thereby be made permanently inaccessible to
European culture. Owing, however, to the schools
started by government and by the missions,
Arabic culture has as yet but little influence on
the Mohammedan population.

The only Christian body with which Sumatra
Moslems come into contact is the adolescent Batak
church ; the Protestant Colonial church in Suma
tra is out of account, since the visits of its clergy
only extend to European families or communities
and are rare at that. All the more lively is the
contact between Islam and the Batak Christian
community ; nor have efforts been lacking on the
part of the Moslems to draw over our people, on

218 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

the whole unsuccessful. Islam has not succeeded
in increasing its boundaries at the expense of
churches among the pagans. It only succeeds in
making proselytes in certain territories which are
still quite pagan. By this I do not mean that
Christian converts from Islam never relapse to
their old faith. We have to confess that very few
Christians who live entirely surrounded by Mo
hammedans are able to hold out against the terror
ism which presses upon them. The Mohammedan
simply refuses the Christian immigrant the means
of life, shelter, food, or, if he have provisions,
cooking utensils to prepare them. The pagan is
hospitably entertained, but not the Christian. The
opposition of Islam is especially hurtful to Chris
tians on account of the differences which it makes
in carrying out church discipline. Disobedient
members of the flock, or chieftains who desire li
cense are always ready to threaten that they will
go over to Islam if their faults are not overlooked
by their Christian pastors. This obstructs the de
velopment of the Christian life, and tests the tact
and wisdom of those who have to guide the
churches.

Certain features deserve mention which have
made Islam more particularly attractive to the
Batak people, (a) Magic. This has been a chief
attraction offered by Islam in our parts. The
Arabic Mohammedan doctrine of magic is locally
known as ilmu. Teachers of magic are much
sought after, and they very generally maintain that

Islam in Sumatra 219

it is only the adoption of Islam which has guaran
teed the power of their formulas. They receive
considerable payments, and in return for this pro
fess to make their disciples invulnerable, perma
nently strong, and free from the attacks of spirits.
They furnish love philtres and amulets to ward off
magic. This ilmu to a great extent acts as a com
pensation for certain sacrifices demanded of them
by Islam, especially the renunciation of swine's
flesh. The Moslems declare that ilmu is a special
gift of the grace of God to the faithful, granted by
the intercession of Mohammed, to make the
heathen understand that Islam is truly sent by
God. The fact that Christians are without these
gifts of magic is a clear proof that they are not ob
jects of the divine favour. The most highly
esteemed of the Moslem leaders carry on the pro
fession of magic, (b) Accommodation of Islam to
paganism. We are distinctly against the opinion
that the survival of pagan elements in Islam is a
hopeful factor in respect to evangelism. We know
that magic and belief in spirits exists everywhere
among Moslems, more especially in countries where
Moslem fanaticism is at its highest, as in Arabia
and Egypt. In Sumatra the people have kept to
the places of pilgrimage which they used to visit
in the pagan period, only bestowing on them Mo
hammedan names. They continue to worship the
spirits of their ancestors and the Mohammedan
teachers tell the people that the ancestral saint,
that is to say the spirit of their chief ancestor, has

22O The Mohammedan World of To-Day

already embraced Islam and is earnestly desiring
the day when his descendants and worshippers
should accept the same religion. The first genera
tion of Moslems without hesitation, on entering
the Moslem faith, take with them their entire doc
trine of spirits and sacrifices, nor does anybody put
a hindrance in their way. The same person who
acted as medium in connection with the spirits of
the pagan times, now acts in connection with the
Moslem magicians.

It is thus quite natural that in cases of sickness
and especially of demoniacal possession, the people
should use the same magic formulas, and try to
drive away the spirits causing disease by the same
horrible noises as when they were pagans. Indeed
the Moslem teachers are the leaders on such occa
sions, for thereby they maintain their influence
over the people.

Considerable indulgence is shown even to
offenses of a grave nature against the ceremonial
law ; if, for instance, a man has eaten swine's flesh
he can purify himself by washing with lime and
lemon juice.

(c) Features common among Batak pagans,
which favour the Mohammedan propaganda. The
relations of similarity between these systems
naturally form a bridge between them. As a
pagan the Batak knows something about the being
who is good, just, and omnipotent. The conception
is vague, and so distorted by his belief in spirits as
to be almost unrecognizable. Yet it lives in the

Islam in Sumatra 221

souls of the people. Again the Batak knows some
thing of an inevitable fate which it is supposed the
human spirit requested from God in a previous
existence ; in fact he is a fatalist. Furthermore,
the Batak paganism is not without parallels in the
Moslem doctrine of another life, of which so much
is made in Sumatra. The pagan believes that the
spirit continues to live after death only he cannot
tell where and how. He only knows that the
spirits of great men have a high position in another
world. In one dialect of the Bataks we even find
a word that designates the condition after death.
It is thus easy for Islam to bring in its doctrine of
judgment and heaven and hell; and it is clear
that the three chief doctrines of popular Islam,
namely, the unity of God, fate, and the day of
judgment have points of contact with the pagan
belief. The great stress laid upon the doctrine of
the future life is perhaps especially used in oppo
sition to Christianity. The latter, intellectually
the higher religion, is moreover that of the rulers
of the land. But, says the Moslem, it is only in
this world that the faithful are inferior in wisdom
and position ; in the world to come God will
torture the Christians, and burn them in a pit seven
times heated, while the Moslem will be blessed. As
compared with this doctrine, the doctrine of one
God is very much in the background. Even the
universal formula " God is great," though repeated
daily in prayer, is an unintelligible magical formula
which is especially recommended f<*K us

222 The Mohammedan World of To- Day

death in order to procure safe passage for the soul
through the hosts of hostile spirits.

MISSIONS TO MOHAMMEDANS IN SUMATRA

Of societies working directly we have three
Dutch, and one German in Mandailing (the south
ern Batak country) . The Dutch Mennonite Mission
ary Society has been working in three stations since
1871. It has now about 100 converts. The Nether
lands Missionary Society has a station on the east
coast. The Java Committee, also a Dutch Society,
has three stations in Northern Mandailing founded
in 1860, with about 500 converts. Next to this
comes the territory of the German Rhenish Mission
ary Society. Out of thirty-six stations worked by
this society, four have converts from amongst the
Mohammedans only. Four other stations have
mixed congregations. All together these eight
stations with sixty-seven out-stations have won
about 6,000 converts from the Mohammedans, and
now have 1,150 catechumens. In 1895 the Rhenish
Mission began work among the tribes on the east
coast of Sumatra among whom Islam was tending
to spread. The mission stations have been pushed
on eastwards from the interior to within a day's
march of the coast, and near the coast a certain
amount of work is being done amongst Mohamme
dans.

Besides these societies, the British and Foreign
Bible Society maintains a colporteur in the terri-

A MOSLEM DERVISH (SINGING.)

Islam in Sumatra 223

tory of the Rhenish Mission who sells Scriptures
in Mohammedan as well as in pagan districts.

In the sixties of last century the missionary work
was much hindered by the unfriendly attitude of
the government, which went so far as to forbid or
at least delay for months the erection of Christian
chapels. The officials were loth to irritate the
Moslem population, and the chiefs, who were en
tirely in the hands of the government, were thus
encouraged to work against the missions. Another
influence in this direction was that of the native
subordinate officials, whom government formerly
used to select from among Mohammedans only.
Besides this for years they gave judicial powers to
Mohammedans and Malay chiefs in law-suits among
the Bataks. Thus the Christian Batak came more
and more under the power of Malays and Moham
medans. This is still the case to a considerable
extent on the east coast of Sumatra.

Another factor which favours Islam is the wide
spread use of the Malay language in the whole
Indian Archipelago. This language is the tongue
of the educated Moslem throughout that territory,
and its general use gives him easy access to the
pagans. Moreover Malay is the language of the
courts under the Dutch government, and this of
course gives to the pure Malay, who is a Moham
medan, a greater influence than his fellow subjects
possess who are unacquainted with the Malay
language. It also tends to mark the Malay nation
ality, and the religion of Islam as the chief, if not

224 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

the only medium of civilization, education, and
culture.

The chief hindrance to Christian missions is the
influence of the Mecca pilgrims or hajis. These
are venerated by the common people as the true
leaders of Islam. Amongst them there are people
who are entirely illiterate, but there are others,
too, whose education is beyond that of the primary
schools. Whatever their intellectual equipment,
however, they are sworn enemies to Christianity.
They have accumulated a mass of stories about
the moral corruptions of Christians which they
continually put into circulation. They have almost
a weird power over the people, and even seem able
to make them shudder before the missionary. In
Mandailing their control of the people is increased
by the fact that they are largely related to the rul
ing families. The practice of worship is to these
hajis a trade. Any instruction or religious knowl
edge has to be heavily paid for. They make fre
quent tours through the country to offer their in
tercessions to such as desire them, and in return
for them, they collect large sums. The haji now
perceives that Christianity threatens to destroy
this convenient means of gain, and thus to relig
ious fanaticism is added the spirit of bitter com
mercial competition. It has to be remembered
that many a haji has borrowed money in order to
make the pilgrimage to Mecca. His relatives have
probably been Avorking for him, and his journeys
among the pagans for the purpose of converting

Islam in Sumatra 225

them usually prove very profitable. But Christi
anity is now barring his road and exposing his
wiles. No wonder that he is ready to adopt any
means to thwart the Christian missionary.

The present attitude of the Dutch Colonial Gov
ernment as regards Islam differs from what it once
was. Christianity now finds a protection against
the usurpations of Islam. Christian chiefs are
given a share in judicial administration so as to
counteract the oppression of the Moslems, and
Christian missions desiring to begin work in terri
tories still pagan or threatened with Mohammedan
propaganda are assisted by the government.
Grants in aid of educational and medical work are
now made without burdensome restrictions, and
individual missionaries who use medicines amongst
the people are supplied by government. The au
thorities deem missions a factor in civilization, es
pecially in the matter of education. In regions
where Islam is entirely in the ascendant, schools
have to be provided by the government at a heavy
expense. Yet such schools in Mohammedan terri
tory have not become nearly so popular as the
simple mission schools are in Christian territory.
This commends missionary education in the eyes
of the government, and, although our chief task
is the spiritual conquest of Islam, we value the as
sistance thus rendered by the authorities.

The most important part of our work is ob
viously the building up of Christian churches
among the pagan Bataks. It is this which has

226 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

provided the real backbone of the work among
Mohammedan Bataks. Our great missionary in
stitutions, the two seminaries for the training of
school-teachers, the college for native clergy, the
hospitals, the leper asylum, the Missionary Asso
ciation of Christian Bataks, all have an influence
upon the Mohammedan Bataks, and Islam is no\v
conscious that Christianity is a power in the
country. From this a further result of great im
portance follows, namely that we can now meet
Islam with preachers and other helpers taken from
amongst their own number. At first our mission
aries were keenly sensible that natives felt more
drawn to the Malay than to the European. We
know to this day that the same situation exists ;
but now that we have helpers from amongst the
Mohammedans, all can see that Christianity is not
merely a European religion, but is suited to natives
also.

The band of native helpers forms a compact
community just as the missionaries do. There are
no perceptible differences in doctrine or in practice
and this fact is an important element in the superi
ority of Christianity to Islam. The hajis often
fight one another bitterly over questions intimately
connected with the daily life ; for instance, the
cleanness or uncleanness of food. Cases have been
known in which the hajis have been brought before
the Dutch authorities on charges of false doctrine
preferred by brothers of their own faith. But

Islam in Sumatra 227

Moslems acknowledge the unity of doctrine
amongst the Christian preachers.

The future prospects of Islam and Christianity
in Sumatra constitute a question of great practical
importance. Our position is the reverse of that in
Northern Africa, where the complaint is made that
the vigorous inland tribes have adopted Islam,
while the enervated tribes of the coast remain as
a field for Christian missionaries. In Sumatra it
is the vigorous inland tribe of the Toba Bataks —
that is to say about half the Batak population —
which is in the course of accepting Christianity,
while far more than half the Moslem Bataks be
long to the enervated coast tribes.

Furthermore the natural customs of the Bataks
favour Christianity. Islam, by degrading woman
and lowering the Batak principles on marriage and
divorce, has lost the sympathy of the patriotic
Batak who has become conscious that it destroys
his national characteristics whereas Christianity
develops and ennobles them. A wave of national
feeling is at present going through the people and
influencing even Mohammedan districts. Pagans
often reply to the Mohammedan proselytizer that
they desire to be what their fellow tribesmen have
become, that is Christians. True there are re
gions where this national feeling is in abeyance,
for instance on the east coast. There the native
often prefers to be a Malay in modern clothing
rather than a pork-eating Batak. This gives Islam

228 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

a certain advantage. Clearly it is for missionaries
to keep their eyes open and seize opportunities now
offering.

The direct result of our work among the Mo
hammedans, consists of the 6,500 Christians and
1,150 catechumens who have been gathered in from
among them. These Christians are organized into
congregations and church life is being developed
amongst them. They have about eighty churches
and chapels in which, besides the European mis
sionaries, five native pastors and seventy lay
preachers trained in our seminaries, are working
with the assistance of some sixty leaders. Each
congregation is ruled by a session under the presi
dency of the schoolmaster or preacher; and the
Christian chiefs of the village are members of this
Church session. The zealous participation of these
chiefs in the work of the church is a very hopeful
sign for our cause. In one circuit for instance out
of eighty-one chiefs twenty -five are Christians.
The congregations have a regular system of church
discipline and collect a portion of their current ex
penses by means of a tax on rice, or in money or
in labour. The schools and churches and dwell
ings of the preachers are almost always erected by
the congregations. In some cases Mohammedans
also contribute to the building in order to have a
school in their village. In 1904 the congregations
raised a sum of 5,772 marks. In some cases en
dowments have been secured, the interest of which
provides for a part of the annual expenditure.

Islam in Sumatra 229

Occasionally these are in the form of plantations
belonging to the church.

The Christianity of our converts from Moham
medanism is without question more deeply con
scientious than that of the churches made up en
tirely of converts from paganism. The congrega
tions are not burdened by many useless members,
because friction with Islam has weeded out or
kept away inferior elements. Among these Chris
tians are many who still have to suffer continuous
oppositions and persecution from their Mohamme
dan relatives. Hence their religious life shows
many a ripe fruit.

An especially noticeable feature in the once Mo
hammedan Christians is the concentration of their
religious life upon Christ. The contrast between
Christ and the false prophet, who was a sinful man
like ourselves, brings out more strongly belief in
the crucified and risen Saviour. They also have
more interest in the Christian eschatology than do
converts from paganism. Eternity and judgment
were truths already impressed upon them. It is a
welcome sign of Christian life that these people
have already furnished the Church with a number
of efficient helpers. The most noteworthy among
these is Pastor Pandita Marcus Siregar, now an
old man. He has spent most of his life amidst
great privations and hardships among the Mo
hammedan mountain tribe of Bolak, first as a
useful evangelist, and afterwards as a trusty assist
ant and councillor of the missionary. He was a

230 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

man who rejoiced in his God and was full of love
and sympathy with his degraded people. Even
the Mohammedans had a high esteem for him.
His working days alas are past !

As regards the more indirect results of the work
I would mention a change in the disposition of the
Moslems. It means a great deal for Islam to con
fess, as a result of the superiority of Christian
people, that Christianity really is a religion ; and
this makes conversion easier for not a few. There
is a strong trend towards Christianity in many
Mohammedan circles, and in such cases a small
impetus is sufficient to produce a change. This is
illustrated by the fact that in the case of marriages
it is very usual for the Mohammedan party to ac
cept Christianity. The impetus which was lacking
was given by such an occasion.

As to the methods used, the usual Sunday
sermon, or evening worship, or occasional dis
courses often furnish the occasion for enquiry
in the case of Mohammedan visitors who hap
pen to attend our services. Moreover the ordi
nary work of the church in schools, care of
souls, etc., has the same effect, and we hardly
use any methods for the conversion of Mos
lems which are peculiar to them. Two great
influences, however, which react upon them are
Christian charitable work and popular education.
In Mohammedan districts fifty per cent, of the
children in our schools are Mohammedans. Even
secular education works in favour of Christianity,

Islam in Sumatra 231

for the European knowledge thus imparted bars
the way for Arab education. Moreover Moham
medan children in school learn to regard the
world with Christian eyes, and it is impossible for
the same narrow and fanatical spirit to be devel
oped in them as in orthodox Moslems. Most of
the Mohammedan children in our schools volun
tarily receive religious instruction also. It is very
difficult to say how far this has direct result ; but
at any rate the children receive an impression of
Christianity which afterwards must exclude the
proud contempt with which Mohammedans gener
ally regard everything that has to do with Chris
tianity.

The work of medical missions brings the mis
sionary into continual contact with the Moslem
population, and when Mohammedans are willing
to take medicines from the accursed Christian this
is in itself a result. The leaders of Islam being by
profession medicine-men, it is necessary for mis
sionaries to take up medical work, otherwise the
sick among their converts would be at once taken
to the Mohammedan priest. The charitable work
of the missionaries, in which their helpers take
part, is a thorn in the flesh of the Moslem leaders.
To get out of the difficulty they say that Allah
has ordered Christians to give help to Mohamme
dans, acting as their slaves ; but by its contrast
with the selfish course of the hajis, the unselfish
efforts of the medical mission to heal the sick
makes a deep impression on the Mohammedan

232 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

world. Thus, while there is no special method in
use for evangelizing Mohammedans, every oppor
tunity which offers itself is used. The hospitality
used among the Bataks gives an especially good
occasion for such efforts, since the missionaries
and their helpers are often invited to festivals. If
they have to spend a night in villages they are
usually the guests of the chief, and the custom of
the country demands that after the meal is over
the guests should deliver a short speech. On such
occasions even Mohammedans are willing to hear
Christian truth set forth.

We are hampered by the scarcity of suitable
native helpers. This prevents us from entering
on a more systematic evangelization by the use of
native workers. Nevertheless, the Batak Mis
sionary Society, which our Christians formed at the
beginning of the century, maintains two evangel
ists for work among Mohammedans.

For the present the chief task of the Rhenish
Missionary Society must be to bring into the
church the mass of pagans as yet untouched by
Islam, and, while there is yet time, to send work
ers to regions which are in danger of being
brought over to Mohammedanism.

XIV

Islam in Java

Rev. C. Albers, Jr.
Rev. J. Verhoeven, Sr.
(Translated')

"We have been too apt to gauge the result of missions among
Mohammedans by the meagre returns that have come to us from
Turkey. But we must remember that in the Turkish Empire it
is a crime against the State for a Mohammedan to embrace an
other religion. In countries, however, where Islam is not forti
fied by the civil power, the Mohammedans are by no means a
hopeless class for Christian workers, and as the political power of
the Crescent wanes, which is now rapidly taking place, we expect
to see a turning of the hosts of Islam to the banner of the Cross."
— J. H. Wyckoff", D. D.

XIV

Islam in Java

(Translated from the Dutch)

THE Dutch East Indies are politically divided
into:

(1) Java and Madura, (2) The other islands,
known as the outside possessions.

This division suits the purpose of this paper
well, because the 4,500,000 inhabitants of this
latter division are mostly pagan, except about
25,000 followers of Islam, who live along the
coasts of the islands, for trade with the natives.
On these islands the gospel is preached only to
the heathen. The missionaries complain of the
disturbing influence of Moslems in mission work.
Nevertheless the gospel has reached Moslems even
there, so that there have been more than 3,000
converts from among them. The total number of
converts from paganism to Christianity amount to
345,000 Protestants, besides about 30,000 Koman
Catholics.

The European Protestant workers in these Is
lands are, one hundred and twenty missionaries,
and twenty-three assistant preachers or vicars.
(These last serve the European church in India,
but work also in the congregations of converted
natives. They are paid by the Netherland East

235

236 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

Indian Government.) There are also two mission,
ary physicians, and twelve female helpers, besides
a large number of native preachers and teachers.

In outlining mission work among the Moslems,
we shall mention only Java, which has more than
28,000,000 Mohammedan natives, 280,000 pagan
Chinese, and 62,000 European Christians.

The island has an area of but 2,388 square miles.
In the Moslem part of the island there are about
12,000 persons to the square mile.

There are at present working in Java forty-one
European missionaries, one assistant preacher, four
missionary doctors (one of them a lady), four
other female helpers, with about one hundred and
fifty native helpers.

Formerly the missionaries were compelled by
the government to reside and work in the chief
towns of the island only. There it was impossi
ble to work among Moslems. The work is still
limited to the Chinese pagans and the Indo-Euro-
peans, who are nominal Christians.

Although living in the cities, yet the mission
aries have succeeded in organizing many churches
in the interior for Moslems. For the last twenty-
five years missionaries have been permitted to re
side in the interior and have established numerous
stations. Living in the midst of the people they
preach the gospel principally by teaching it in the
schools, and in dispensaries to which the people
come for medical attendance. The average num
ber of missionaries in Java during these twenty-

Islam in Java 237

five years who work only among Moslems has been
about twenty.

According to latest statistics there are now liv
ing there 18,000 who have been converted to
Christianity from Mohammedanism, and of Chinese
and other pagans of the Orient, about 2,000.

Medical assistance to Moslems is generally given
in their homes. The government supplies mission
aries with medicines, bandages and the like, at
half the list prices. Moslems welcome the assist
ance of the physician, and he thus wins a way for
the gospel message by his kindly ministrations.

It is difficult to estimate the value of schools as
an evangelistic agency. Some of the schools have
an industrial department. The government on
reasonable conditions subsidizes both departments
of school work. Of the 6,000 pupils in the schools,
about one-third are girls, and about an equal pro
portion are from Moslem homes. The teachers are
almost all native converts.

Conversions to Islam are rare in Java, and
are usually for some private or sinister motive.
The converts from Islam to Christianity amount
to from 300 to 400 adults annually.

The increase of Mohammedans by birth is re
markable, there being about 400,000 born each
year, or one birth to every seventy of total
population, while the increase of native Chris
tians is one to forty of the population.

Over Java generally, but especially in the west
ern provinces among the Sundanese, one notes the

238 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

influence of travelling Arab merchants, who urge
prosperous Moslems to undertake the pilgrimage
to Mecca. These returning as Hajis forever turn
the back on Christianity, bringing the villagers
more under the charm of Islam. We know of but
two cases of Hajis having been converted and
brought to Christ.

Converted Mohammedans belong to the less
privileged classes of society. It is difficult to
change this. Almost all positions of office and
trust are closed to Christian natives.

The unity and exclusiveness of Mohammedan
social life is a hindrance to the progress of Chris
tianity among the 40,000 villages in which the
Moslems of the country reside.

To you who work and live among Mohammed
ans, it is sufficient to mention the fact that in
these villages in Java the Moslem priest is, in vir
tue of the fact that he is a priest, a member of the
village council. He suffers direct pecuniary loss
every time that a Mohammedan ceases to require
his services as priest, and so he influences the coun
cil against the new convert, and in numerous ways,
known best to Moslems, has him ostracized and
persecuted.

Though Java is a very mountainous country, the
principal means of subsistence is rice culture. For
this much running water is required. Villages
have grown up around a spring or other water
source. They have a common interest in it. On
account of depletion of the forests the water sup-

MECCA PILGRIMS PROM CELEBES.

MECCA PILGRIMS FROM DJAPARA, JAVA.

Islam in Java 239

ply is decreasing while the population increases.
So when in one village of the 40,000 a family be
comes Christian, it is cast out. These cast out
families in turn go together and form villages of
their own. The missionaries aim to get eligible
sites for these new villages, so that converts may
enjoy mutual help and encouragement.

It is unnecessary to speak of the difficulties of
reaching Mohammedans with the gospel. Our ex
perience in Java is that Islam with its unscriptural
doctrine of God, can never be a bridge over the
gulf that separates the heathen from Christianity,
nor bring them nearer to God the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. On the contrary it is an or
ganized power under the direct influence of Satan,
to enable him to destroy the souls of men, turning
them away from the Light of the World, Jesus
Christ the Son of God.

Islam in Bokhara and Chinese Turkestan
Rev. E. John Larsen

XV
Islam in Bokhara and Chinese Turkestan

I AM glad of the opportunity to write a few
words about the Moslems in Turkestan and other
countries in Central Asia. Statistics show that in
the Russian dominions there are about thirteen
million Moslems and in China probably thirty mil
lion. The most of the Moslems of Russia live on
the field where I work. In the Trans-Caucasus,
between the Black and Caspian Seas, are 3,000,000
Tartars. In Turkestan, Bokhara, Khiva, and Rus
sian Turkestan, together are about six million. The
capital city of Bokhara, which is a state vassal
to Russia, is a stronghold at present for the spir
itual power of Islam in Central Asia. From all
Moslem countries in Central Asia young men come
for their higher education to the celebrated Mos
lem schools of Bokhara. Generally there are sev
eral thousands of students in these schools. Bok
hara is one of the most interesting cities in the
Orient. It is remarkable that a large proportion
of the Moslems in the city can read. The reason,
I think, is the number of schools.

The great Russian Trans-Caspian railroad
through those lands facilitates travel in Central
Asia, and we use it. In our work we try to get
the Moslems under the influence and power of the

243

244 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

gospel of Christ by preaching, conversation, and
distribution of the Scriptures. The Bible has
shown itself the best missionary among Moslems
here. A number of Moslems have been converted
and baptized in the Caucasus and in Bokhara. For
this we praise the Lord. Many have found a peace
and a salvation which they sought in vain in their
own religion. Once I remained in Bokhara two
months. From our book store in the city, our
native helpers distributed the New Testament
even among the people of Afghanistan. One old
professor in the high school of Bokhara received
from us the Bible in Arabic. He was very thank
ful and early in the morning he used to come to
visit us for reading, prayer and conversation. One
morning he said, " I am convinced that Jesus
Christ will conquer Mohammed. There is no
doubt about it because Christ is king in heaven
and on the earth, and His kingdom fills heaven
and will soon fill the earth." Let us pray and
work with hope for the future and also remember
in prayer the Moslems in Kussia and Central Asia.

In November, 1891, the Swedish Missionary
Society sent two of its workers to Kashgar in
Chinese Turkestan, to see if a mission could be
started in "Western China.

Pastor J. Awetaranian, who is a converted Mos
lem from Turkey, remained and began work at
Kashgar in the service of our society. In the year
1894 Kev. Hogberg was sent to Chinese Turkestan
and he is still working in Kashgar. Pastor Awetar-

TRAVELING DERVISHES FROM BOKHARA.

Islam in Bokhara and Chinese Turkestan 245

anian had in the meantime translated the four
gospels into the Turkish dialect spoken in Kash-
gar. This the British and Foreign Bible Society
printed, sending out two thousand copies for dis
tribution by our mission. Pastor Awetaranian
went to Sweden in 1897 and afterwards translated
the whole New Testament into Kashgar Turkish.
This will probably be printed this year.

The Swedish Mission has at present seven mis
sionaries in Chinese Turkestan, in the cities of
Kashgar and Yarkand. One of the missionaries
is a physician and gives all his time to medical
work. This year new missionaries will be sent
from Sweden to this field and I think Khotan,
near the border of Tibet, will be taken up as a
third station. In this part of the world the Mos
lems are very ignorant, but several of them have
been converted and baptized. The outlook is
hopeful for the Moslem Mission and the work
among the Chinese population is much blessed.
The need is exceedingly urgent in Central Asia
and Western China, since these lands have been so
long neglected and are so isolated.

XVI

Islam in China
Rev. W. Gilbert Walshe, M. A.

" It seems very doubtful whether a body of men who for many
centuries have conformed to customs repugnant to the true
Moslem can ever become the political force which, it is said, Rus
sia fears they may become or are at all likely to prove a hostile
power in the future developments of the Chinese Empire." —
Canon Edward Sell.

XVI

Islam in China

THE story of Mohammedanism in China goes
back to the days of Mohammed himself ; the in
troduction of the religion into China being attrib
uted by Chinese Mohammedans to Wahab Abi
Kabcha, an uncle of the prophet, who was ac
credited as envoy to the Chinese court, and arrived
in the country some six years after the Hejira,
about 628. This was in the days of the great
T'ang dynasty which has been described as " one
of the most brilliant epochs in the history of
China," and under the auspices of an Emperor
(T'ai Tsung) who may be regarded as the most ac
complished in the Chinese annals, — famed alike for
" his wisdom and nobleness ; his conquests and
good government ; his temperance, cultivated
tastes, and patronage of literary men."

At this period China was probably the most
civilized country in existence, whilst Europe was
enveloped in the darkness and degradation of the
middle ages. Great schools were, at this time, be
ing established throughout China ; the examination
system which has only just been abrogated, after
enjoying an unchallenged reign of nearly 1,300
years, was now, for the first time, instituted as the
necessary method of entrance upon official life ;

249

250 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

the confines of the empire were extended to the
borders of Persia and the Caspian Sea, and em
braced large territories in Central Asia. The great
work to which T'ai Tsung addressed himself was
the consolidation of his empire ; and in the process,
he was brought into relations with some of the
Turkish tribes on his frontier, whom he endeav
oured to propitiate by a policy of concession and
religious tolerance. He welcomed scholars of every
school of thought who gave promise of contribut
ing something to the literature which he was
amassing, and religious professors of many coun
tries flocked to his court.

This was an age of toleration. The Nestorian
priest, Olopun, was favourably received by the
emperor in 635. Some of the Scriptures brought
by him were translated in the library of the palace ;
and special orders were issued for the propagation
of the religion which had thus secured the imperial
approval, as we learn from the Nestorian tablet,
discovered in 1625 in the city of Chang-an in Shen-
si — a monument which was erected in 781, before
the close of the same dynasty.

It was, then, at a most propitious time that the
Mohammedan envoy and his followers arrived in
China, and the imperial patronage and conde
scension, afterwards extended to the Nestorians
and other foreigners, were enjoyed by the new arri.
vals. They visited the emperor at his capital, Si-
ngan, in the modern Province of Shen-si, obtained
the imperial sanction for the exercise of their re-

Islam in China 251

ligion, built in Canton mosques, and were aug
mented from time to time, by fresh arrivals from
Arabia who travelled by caravans through Central
Asia, or came by sea to the great ports on the
southeast of China.

The envoy himself, after a few years' residence
in China, returned to Arabia; but, whether the
death of his distinguished nephew, which had
taken place in the meantime, made any change in
his fortunes, or the glamour of the Farthest East
had thrown its spell over him, as in many an
instance even in the present unroraantic days; or
whatever may have been the circumstances which
influenced him, we are informed that he returned
to China, and ended his days there, about the year
643 ; his tomb being still preserved outside the
great North Gate of the city of Canton. Two of
the mosques whose erection is attributed to Wahab
Abi Kabcha still exist, after many restorations ;
and one of them, known as the " Square Pagoda,"
is an object of special interest to visitors to
Canton.

The early Mohammedan arrivals in China, it
should be remembered, were influenced by motives
not entirely religious, and it would appear that
commerce was the primary object of their enter
prise ; but it can hardly be supposed that so near a
relative of the prophet coming from such scenes
as were being enacted in Arabia at the time would
be content with permission to worship in his own
way, without being allowed to extend his religion

252 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

among the "infidels" in whose midst he found
himself. We may suppose that proselytizing was
carried on to some extent, judging by the pro
portions to which the Mohammedan community in
China grew in the course of time ; but the propa
ganda appears to have lacked much of that vigour
which characterized the campaign in Arabia and
was exemplified in the later assaults upon the
Christian strongholds in Africa and Europe. It
seems evident, from the character of the Moham
medans who appeared upon the scene during the
years which followed, that everything was subordi
nated to the lust for wealth. This was indicated
in their commercial relations; the luxury with which
they surrounded themselves ; and the lax morality
of their social conditions. There is very little of
a missionary character in the fragmentary notices
which we have of this period.

The Mohammedans who came and went do not
seem to have entertained any idea of settling in
the country, but returned to their distant homes in
due course, having attained the object of their
desires, and with little intention of enrolling them
selves in the " Noble Army of martyrs."

The first body of settlers, properly so-called, was
a Mohammedan contingent of 4,000 soldiers de
spatched by the Caliph Abu Jafer, in 755, to the
assistance of the Emperor Hsuan-Tsung, who was
assailed by his favourite commander, A Lo Shan
(or Ngan Luh-Shan), a man of Turkish or Tartar
descent, who had been appointed by the emperor to

Islam in China 253

lead a vast army against the Turkish and Tartar
nations on the Northwest Frontier.

The commander-in-chief had, however, other de
signs in view, and in this year (755) proclaimed his
independence of the reigning Dynasty, with the
result that the emperor was forced to call in the
assistance of such mercenaries as the Moslem troops
which the Caliph was ready to despatch. These
having performed their part with great credit, were
allowed to establish themselves in the country and
intermarry with the natives. These soldier-colo
nists we may regard as the fathers of the present-
day Mohammedan population in China. The
merchant class, however, still continued to arrive
in large numbers at the seaports, and had their
own consuls to defend their interests ; and it is
recorded that, on the occasion of a rebellious move
ment at Canton which took place in 850, a vast
number of Mohammedans, Jews, Christians and
Parsees were massacred by the Chinese authorities ;
some 120,000 persons being put to death, of whom,
we may suppose, the majority were Moslems. The
result of this catastrophe was to discourage the
advent of Arab traders during the years that fol
lowed, and we know for a fact that the influence
which had so long been exercised by the followers
of Islam waned and practically became extinct
until the rise of a new dynasty, that of the Mongols,
in the beginning of the thirteenth century.

"With regard to the position of Moslems in China
under the T'ang dynasty it may be said that,

254 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

although welcomed at first by the broad-minded
and tolerant T'ai Tsung, succeeding emperors did
not regard the presence of the " foreigner " in
their midst with the same equanimity. Active
proselytism was, no doubt, discouraged, for such
has ever been a cause of offense in Chinese eyes ;
as the representative of Confucianism plainly
stated at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago :
" It is evident that whoever carries under his arm
a system of doctrines, and crosses over into the
territory of another state for the purpose of gain
ing proselytes, in reality sets up as a higher being
than his fellows. By assuming the role of a moral
propagandist he cannot escape the imputation that
he looks down upon the people and nation as
irreligious." The exhibition of a spirit of inde
pendence or national conservatism was strongly
deprecated, and continual pressure was exerted
with a view to de-nationalize the foreigners, by dis
couraging relations with their ancestral homes ;
forbidding the much desired pilgrimages to Mecca,
and the introduction of foreign Mullas. The observ
ance of their religious rites was frequently cur
tailed, and the erection of mosques interdicted. So
oppressive were these restrictions that many
Moslems retired to the Island of Hainan ; a larger
number returned to their native lands ; and as has
been said, Mohammedanism in China became
practically moribund until the rise of the Mongol
dynasty under Kublai Khan (1260-1295). This
monarch, who became master of the Chinese Em-

Islam in China 255

pire in 1280, had many points in common with the
earliest patron of Islam in China, and like him was
engaged in the problem of consolidating an em
pire, and harmonizing the discordant elements
which were thus brought together. He adopted
an attitude of broad toleration towards all religious
opinions, and recognizing the military qualities of
the Mohammedans in his new territory of Kara
Jang, the modern province of Yun-nan, he sought
to gain their adherence and assistance. Accord
ingly, he permitted the Moslem Governor Omar,
whom he found in office, to retain his position un
der the new regime. The result of this renewed
attitude of encouragement was that large numbers
of Arabs flocked to China and settled themselves
in Fuh-kien, Cheh-kiang, and Kiang-su ; the centre
of trade having shifted from Canton to Foochow.
The province of Yun-nan became largely Mo
hammedan, and in other provinces individual
Moslems were promoted to high office. "We read
of Mussulmans who managed the artillery, other
compatriots who farmed the taxes, and in later
times we find them paramount in matters astro
nomical and astrological. Settlers crowded into
Shen-si and Kan-su, and other parts of the empire.
It would seem, however, that these new accessions
were as little eager to advance the faith of Islam
among their pagan neighbours as their predeces
sors had been. Had they possessed but a modicum
of the fierce fanatical spirit of their co-religionists
in other countries it is more than possible China

256 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

would have been, if not wholly converted to
Islam, at all events much more deeply affected by
it than the event has proved.

The passing of the Mongols, and the restoration
of a Chinese line of rulers, brought about a volte-
face very similar to that which was witnessed
in the days of the T'ang dynasty. It may have
been that the Ming dynasty (the new line of
rulers) carrying on an almost incessant warfare
with the Tartars, could not regard with equanimity
the presence of a powerful " third party " in the
empire ; a party which by its numerical strength,
military character, and independent spirit could
not with safety be regarded as a negligible quan
tity. Perhaps the prevailing dislike to the for
eigners who had ruled them for so long fostered
the very natural prejudice which was felt with re
gard to other Turks, the common designation of
both Tartars and Moslems. Whatever causes
may have been operative, we know for a fact that
successive proclamations, during this dynasty,
served to warn them of the precarious character
of their footing in the country, and they were even
forced at one time to leave Canton and retire to
their ships. The severity of this policy of repres
sion may be illustrated by the fact that, at the
present day, 500 years after the date of the first
edict of expulsion, there are only some 21,000
Moslems in the whole province of Kwang-tung
(Canton), where once they were so numerous ; and
only 50,000 in the three southeasterly provinces of

Islam in China 257

Cheh-kiang, Fuh-kien, and Kwang-tung, which
were for so long the scenes of their greatest com
mercial activity. It should be borne in mind that,
of this 50,000, possibly none at all would have sur
vived had their ancestors not compounded for
their life by sacrificing their religion. Under the
present Manchu dynasty, they seem to have fared
little better, and a long-continued system of re
pression and outrage has driven the Moslems of
the far west, probably men of a more heroic cast
than the traders of the southeast, to revolt and re
taliation. In 1817, as a result of official injustice,
intolerance, and murder, the oppressed Moham
medans in the west took up arms against their tor
mentors, and were driven by the Imperialist troops
into the fastnesses of the savage tribes on the
frontier, with the loss of many of their number.
At Mong-Mien another outbreak was induced by
the slaughter of more than 16,000 men, women
and children, who were murdered like sheep at the
instance of the Chinese officials. In 1855 another
rebellion in Yun-nan was stimulated by a fearful
massacre of Mohammedans, following on a petty
quarrel, and was continued for some eighteen
years. The British government was approached
on behalf of the insurgents (in 1872) but declined
to render any assistance. Despairing of success
the brave commander Tu-wen-hsin surrendered
to the Chinese, having first swallowed a dose of
poison. Seventeen of his officers, who were in
vited to partake of a banquet with the Imperialist

258 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

leaders, were treacherously beheaded at a given
signal, and " Hell was let loose " upon the surviv
ing Moslems, with the result that within three
days, out of the 50,000 inhabitants of the city
(Ta-li-fu) and district, some 30,000 were put to
the sword.

A somewhat similar event took place in Shen-si
in 1861, when the Chinese were incited to the
massacre of the whole Mohammedan population.
The latter took up arms in defense of their lives,
and the " rebellion," which extended over an im
mense area, was only suppressed after twelve years'
fighting — the Chinese general refusing to stay his
hand until the Moslem population in many districts
was, practically, annihilated. The province of
Shen-si to this day bears scars of the awful punish
ment then inflicted, large tracts of fertile country
still lying fallow and waiting for the cultivators
who are to succeed the slaughtered myriads.

These historical specimens may serve to indicate
that, in spite of the Chinese character for religious
toleration, any show of independence of thought,
or national segregation, or military prowess on the
part of the " Barbarians " admitted to reside within
the borders of the empire, was regarded with
suspicion and rigorously suppressed.

At the present moment there are said to be some
twenty million Mohammedans in China, the largest
number being in Kan-su, in the extreme north
west, where 8,350,000 are reported. Some 6,500,-
000 are said to live in Shen-si in the north, and

Islam in China 259

3,500,000 in Yun-nan in the extreme southwest.
Thus nearly nineteen millions out of the twenty
are to be found in the most distant provinces of
the empire, and thus may be said to be practically
exiled and kept out of striking distance. The
remaining one million, odd, are scattered through
out the other provinces, and therefore rendered
innocuous. That such a large number, represent
ing an alien religion, is at all tolerated is due to
the fact that Mohammedans in China, at least in
fifteen out of the eighteen provinces, have become
merged in the Chinese population, and are hardly
distinguishable from their neighbours. They speak
the language of the country in which they live,
and wear its costume ; there are some physical
features by which they may be differentiated,
their cheek bones being generally more prominent,
and their noses better shaped than the majority of
the Chinese, and they have a habit of clipping the
mustache which the Chinese do not follow. They
do not intermarry with the Chinese, but frequently
adopt native children into their families. They
make no attempt to convert their Chinese neigh
bours, and the religious opinions which they hold
are, to a great extent, unknown to outsiders.

Mosques are to be found in many cities ; in Can
ton alone there are four, but there is apparently
little interest taken in the services, which are nomi
nally modelled after the pattern of other Moham
medan countries. The male members of the com
munity seldom attend except during the Earn-

260 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

adhan ; and it might be said that, as regards out
ward observances, the distinguishing features of
Mohammedans in China are their abstention from
idol-worship, and their observance of the prohibi
tion against the eating of pork. In the North,
where Moslems are numerous, especially in Peking,
where there are said to be 100,000 of them, hawk
ers of cakes, etc., have the characters Hui Hui, the
Chinese name for Islam, painted upon the trays
they carry, in order to assure Mohammedan pur
chasers that their wares are innocent of pork fat.
Other important tenets, such as circumcision,
almsgiving and fasting are also observed, but there
appears to be an entire absence of that fanaticism,
proud exclusiveness, uncompromising orthodoxy,
and thirst for proselytism which so distinguish
the Moslem in countries nearer home.

There is a considerable body of Mohammedan
literature in Chinese ; some works being published
under the imprimatur of the emperor ; but the strict
law which forbids the translation of the Koran into
Chinese, has no doubt had some bearing upon the
lack of influence which Islam has exhibited in
China, not only as regards its missionary charac
ter, but also in its relation to individuals within
the pale. Mohammedans in China, instead of
posing as the proud champions of a heaven-sent
faith, have consented to the process of absorption
which is the common fate of all religious systems
in China, the Chinese dragon swallowing all and
sundry without apology or effort. One " foreign "

INTERIOR OF A MOHAMMEDAN MOSQUE.

Islam in China 261

religion after another has disappeared in the process,
Nestorianism, Judaism, Buddhism, Mohammedan
ism, and one might almost add Roman Catholi
cism, for it, too, in its earlier propagation was assim
ilated and passed out of sight. The life has been
squeezed out of them ; the exuvice remain. Of
Nestorianism nothing survives but a record, of
supreme interest indeed, but altogether unrelated
to the present, except as serving to show how the
earlier Buddhism, and perhaps Taoism had en
riched themselves at the expense of the Christian
faith thus introduced. Judaism has nothing to
show but a miserable remnant in the city of K'ai-
f ung, the burial place of Confucius, in the province
of Ho-nan, possessed of some Hebrew manuscripts
indeed but unable to read them ; without places
of assembly or meetings for worship, and number
ing only some 300 souls, the survivors of a colony
some 2,000 years old. Buddhism " has a name to
live but is dead," all the essential features of the
faith of Sakya Muni having disappeared in the ac
cretions which a too conciliatory attitude on the
part of its professors has induced, throughout the
long ages of its domicile. Mohammedanism is a
thing invertebrate, impersonal ; a social eccentric
ity rather than a vital religious force ; making no
effort to extend its "sphere of influence," content
with permission to exist in the midst of " infidels,"
and making no attempt at remonstrance against
the customs or beliefs of its neighbours ; submitting
to all forms of social observance ; conforming to

262 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

all official ceremonies, even to the worship of the
imperial tablet as a means to qualifying for office ;
consenting to the erection in the mosques of an
inscription in letters of gold, in acknowledgment
of the imperial patronage, to this effect : " May
the emperor reign 10,000 years." In all these
ways they suppress national and religious individ
uality, so that in an authoritative pamphlet by a
Chinese official it is said, "None can point out who
is a Mohammedan ; they do not reside in separate
districts," etc. Another writer says, " Islam in
China has bent itself to the national ideals, and has
become Chinese, not only in habits and manners,
but in patriotism and character." Again, as a liv
ing writer puts it, " The Mussulmans in north
China are never in the least interfered with be
cause they have the good sense to fall in with pop
ular feeling and let things be." In Canton we are
informed " They find no difficulty in going through
all the forms of the idolatrous ritual which are re
quired on the part of candidates for office, and can
conform to almost all the Chinese customs, except
the eating of pork," which, of course, is not a neces
sary part of any Chinese religious or social cere
mony. Cases are not unknown where even this
" self-denying ordinance " has been relaxed on occa
sion. In fact the Moslems in China are regarded as
no more " foreign " than the Manchu rulers of the
country, who, like themselves, do not intermarry
with the people, but in other respects are scarcely
to be distinguished from the native Chinese. From

Islam in China 263

the standpoint of religion they are regarded by the
mass of the people in much the same light as the
Votaries of the many secret sects found throughout
the country, whose doctrines and ceremonials are
equally unknown to outsiders and uninteresting.

Mohammedans in China are much more ac
cessible to Christian missionaries than in other
countries, as the common ground of monotheistic
belief invites an attitude of mutual friendliness.
But the doctrine of the Son of God is, as else
where, regarded as a difficulty almost insuperable,
and a negation of the foundation truth of the
Divine Unity. Hence conversions from their
number have been somewhat rare. Signs are not
lacking, however, of a change to a more receptive
mood, as the Truth of Christ is more clearly com
prehended. A remark quoted by Dr. Arthur
Smith may be cited in this connection, " One of
their Mullas recently made the remark in regard
to a mission station in his city, that until it was
founded the Mohammedans were like a jar of pure
water, but that on the advent of the Jesus relig
ion, the jar had been so stirred with a stick as to
make the water appear turbid." By this he meant
that in comparison with Chinese religions Moham
medanism made an excellent showing, but that it
could not hold its own against Christianity.

Amongst Mohammedans in China are found
representatives of each of the principal schools,
Sunnis and Shiites. But it would appear that the
differences between them are not so marked as in

264 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

other parts of the world ; perhaps the spirit of
compromise and accommodation, which they ex
hibit in their relations with the pagans, may ac
count for the apparent absence of sectarian feel
ing among themselves.

With regard to Christian missionary work
among Moslems in China, it may be said that
there is, at present, no specially organized effort
on the part of individuals or societies, and indeed
nothing on a large scale has ever been attempted
by Protestant missions.

There is, therefore, very little in the way of
evidence as to the possibilities of missionary work
among them. Such work would require specially
qualified agents, and a distinctive literature pre
pared for the use of Mohammedans. In the ab
sence of these, and indeed, of any organized at
tempts to evangelize the Chinese Moslems, it is
little wonder that conversions have been few, and
that the attitude of Mohammedans towards the
gospel is still largely a matter of speculation. If
the recognition of these facts alone should lead to
the establishment of a mission to Moslems in China,
or some more definite effort to evangelize them,
this paper will not have been written in vain.

XVII

How to Arouse the Church at Home to
the Needs of Islam

Robert E. Speer, M. A.

XVII

How to Arouse the Church at Home to the
Needs of Islam

IT appears to be assumed in this inquiry that the
church is not aroused. That assumption is un
doubtedly just. The Church is not as aroused as
it ought to be to any part of its missionary duty,
but the two sections of the mission field to which
it is least drawn out at present are the Koman
Catholic and the Mohammedan lands. The work
in the Roman Catholic countries is somewhat
known, because these countries are near the lands
which are the source of the missionary effort. But
the work in Mohammedan lands is known scarcely
at all. The history of missionary effort for Mos
lems in the past is largely an unread history.
Raymond Lull's name is the name of a stranger.
I have almost never met a Christian minister who
knew who Raymond Lull was. Mohammedanism
itself is a mystery to the average Christian in
America, and even to Christians of far more than
average intelligence. They have never read the
Koran. They do not know what Mohammed
taught or what kind of a man he was, and they
have little or no idea of the history of Mohammed
anism or of its doctrinal character and ethical in-

267

268 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

fluence. Popular ideas of the Moslem lands and
people are grotesque in their crude ignorance.
Where Persia lies and what its political character
is are almost utterly unknown to ordinary Chris
tians, and of the tangle of races and languages there,
of the political and ecclesiastical situation, of the
nature of the people and their religious opinions
and needs they know nothing. In addition to
great general ignorance about Mohammedanism
and the Mohammedan lands, the impression
prevails that Islam is the next best religion to
Christianity in its knowledge of God, and that
its adherents are so devoted to it as to be uncon
vertible to the Christian faith.

What are the causes of this condition of igno
rance and uninterest ? (1) One cause is the em
bargo laid upon the home workers for missions by
missionaries among the Mohammedans. Many of
the missionaries are entirely reticent about their
work for Moslems, and others who write to their
societies or friends at home do so with the ex
plicit injunction that what they write is not to be
published or otherwise publicly used. Mission
aries in India working for Moslems usually feel
free to write with freedom, and what they write
is freely printed ; but missionaries in lands under
Moslem rule are very reserved, fearing, of course,
the effect of the reports of their work in case
they came back to the land where the mission
aries are working. Now without knowledge of
the work it is not unnatural that the home

How to Arouse the Church at Home 269

churches are not aroused to the promise and
obligation of it. They are profoundly interested
to-day in Japan and China because they know
about these fields and the work that is going on
in them. The magazines are full of accounts of
the missionary enterprise there. The missionaries
come home speaking earnestly and openly of it
and summoning the church to her duty. But no
such propaganda is carried on in behalf of mis
sions to the Moslems. It is true that there are
few missionaries to the Mohammedans in com
parison with the host in Japan and Korea and
China, but it is also true that once there were
no more in these countries than there are now
among Moslems, and that they would not have in
creased as they have, if they had not so persist
ently worked to arouse the home church, and so
energetically and openly laid the facts before her
and summoned her to her duty.

(2) In the second place, even in Moslem lands,
or among Moslem people in lands not ruled by
Mohammedan governors, the missionaries have
devoted a relatively small part of their time and
strength to the Moslem work. In Egypt, Syria,
Turkey and Persia, the greater portion of the
energy of the missionaries has been devoted
to work for Copts, Maronites, Greeks, Armenians,
Jews and Nestorians. Apart from the schools
(and the number of Mohammedan pupils in schools
in Turkey is almost inconsiderably small), com
paratively little has been done. Through medical

270 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

missionaries many have been made accessible and
some have been reached ; but we do not have and
have not had for years a systematic and aggres
sive, though tactful and quiet, campaign for the
evangelization of Moslems. It is not the place of
this paper to examine this question, but I believe
one reason why the Church at home is not aroused
is because missions on the field are not aroused to
the immediate duty and urgency of the work.
Even in India where there is a free field, very few
missionaries are special students of the Moham
medan problem. In North India, where there are
more Moslems three times over than in the whole
Turkish Empire, a small minority of the missiona
ries are specially equipped or endeavour specially
to equip themselves to deal with Mohammedans.
The Mohammedan issue does not even occur to
many missionaries in other parts of India. Dr.
Jones calls his admirable book on India, Indicts
Problem, Krishna or Christ, and there are not
two pages in the whole book on Mohammedanism.
In the Index there are only twt> references to the
religion which holds the allegiance of one fifth of
the population of the land. It has been true that
the Church at home has been negligent of her duty,
but the attention devoted to Islam by missionaries
to Mohammedan lands has not always indicated
to the home Church that the work was necessary
and urgent and feasible.

(3) The Oriental Christian Churches are hardly
well enough known to the great mass of Chris-

How to Arouse the Church at Home 271

tians at home to warrant the idea that the home
Churches as a whole are neglecting the Moslems
through any idea that the Oriental Churches
ought to care for them. Yet this idea may ac
count for some of the neglect of the problem.
The early missions to the Oriental Churches
were undertaken with a view to reforming them
for the sake of the work of evangelization among
Mohammedans. Dr. Perkins and Dr. Grant were
sent to the Nestorians " to enable the Nestorian
Church through the grace of God to exert a com
manding influence in the spiritual regeneration of
Asia"; and Smith and D wight planned the mis
sion with direct reference to the Moslems. Mr.
Smith was himself greatly drawn to the project.
" For myself," he wrote, " I felt a stronger desire
to settle among them (the Nestorians) as a mission
ary than among any people I have seen," and
though he pointed out that it would be a lonely
position with no Europeans near and Constanti
nople eleven hundred miles away by land, and Treb-
izond, on the Black Sea, five hundred, and also that
it would be very dangerous, yet he added, " We
must not calculate too closely the chances of life,"
and he was sure that the missionary who should
come here would " feel the advantage of his po
sition ; that he has found a prop upon which to
rest the lever that will overturn the whole system
of Mohammedan delusion, in the centre of which
he has fixed himself ; that he is lighting a fire
which will shine out upon the corruptions of the

272 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

Persian on the one side, and upon the barbarities
of the Kurd on the other, until all shall come to
be enlightened by its brightness ; and the triumph
of faith will crown his labour of love." From
the evangelical element created among the Nes-
torians and the Gregorian Armenians, some ardent
and effective evangelists have gone out among
the Moslems and more should go. Perhaps the
Church at home would realize more clearly the
duty of evangelizing the Moslems and the relation
to this duty of the purification of the Oriental
Churches, if the use of the Oriental Churches as
an evangelizing force among the Mohammedans
were made even more of a definite missionary
policy by the missions working in Egypt, Turkey
and Persia.

(4) Not only is there great lack of published
missionary news about work for Moslems, but
there are too few books which can be put into the
hands of home people. There are few enough for
the use of missionaries in preparation for the
work, but there are fewer still for popular use at
home. There was no English biography of Ray
mond Lull until 1902 when two appeared. We
have now lives of Lull, Martyn, French, Keith
Falconer, Karail, and Turkish missionaries like
Goodell and Hamlin, — but this about repre
sents the list of English biographies. And there is
great need of a strong popular book dealing with
the whole subject fairly but unswervingly, as

/e)

JSL

FOUR MISSIONARY MARTYRS OF ARABIA

How to Arouse the Church at Home 273

Dr. Kellogg has dealt with Buddhism in The
Light of Asia and the Light of the World.

(5) For, — to suggest one other reason for the
Church's neglect — there is a great ignorance of
the real doctrine and moral character of Islam.
Some think of it as a purely monotheistic system
and see no need of attempting to proselytize its
followers. Others think of it as next best to
Christianity and perhaps the best practicable relig
ion for the Africans and Arabs. Many who have
never heard of Mr. Bosworth Smith and who
have never so well formed their thoughts, yet
feel, with him, that Mohammed was a great and
true prophet of God, and that his religion, if not
quite as good as Christianity is yet a great and
good religion and well suited to the needs of a
large section of the human race. Those who feel
this way never have felt the glowing passion of
Christ for souls. But the majority of members
of the Church have never felt Christ's love as a
passion. Lukewarm towards Him, they are luke
warm towards all the world.

Now, on the other hand, there are certain great
advantages which we have in endeavouring to
awake the Church to a new effort to reach the
Moslems. (1) In the first place, it is a hard and
dangerous work, and we can accordingly appeal to
the courageous and heroic spirit. This is a great
gain. To win young men and women, we need
only to go to them in behalf of a perilous and

274 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

glorious cause. There are, of course, the timid
and the fearful, and those who are not timid and
fearful themselves are often held back by those
who are. But the timid and fearful appeal is
futile. It is the call to war, to hard effort
which wins the best hearts. There are some
who argue that one reason for the small number of
men entering the ministry in proportion to the
number pressing into medicine and scientific call
ings and business, is found in the financial ease of
the way into the ministry and in the mistaken
argument advanced for the ministry by some foolish
advocates, that it is a position of comfort and social
influence and self-respect. This draws no good
men. It repels them. They love the difficult and
hard thing. The Moslem work can be surpassed
by none in its capacity to offer the chance for
courage and devotion and sacrifice.

(2) In the second place, the attitude of Moham
medanism towards women calls out the most
chivalrous instincts of the heart. It presents also
a more effective argument in behalf of the evangel
ization of Moslems than the temper of the modern
mind finds in behalf of the evangelization of Bud
dhists. Between Christianity and Buddhism, say
many, the difference is metaphysical. They are
wrong, for Buddhism denies the possibility of a
woman's salvation, unless reborn as a man. But
in the case of Islam a simple statement of the vile
provisions of the Koran regarding woman and di
vorce is enough to silence the opposition to Chris-

How to Arouse the Church at Home 275

tian missions to Mohammedans. The Church can
be aroused to the duty to evangelize two hundred
millions of people who read in their sacred book
of the legitimacy of four wives and unnumbered
concubines and the righteousness of unlimited di
vorce.

(3) Furthermore, the Christian world has well
nigh lost patience with the Mohammedan nations.
It may be that these nations are what they are
because of their racial character even more than
because of their religion ; but those who know them
best think that their natural qualities are their
best qualities, and that their worst qualities are
those which spring from their religion. Which
ever view is correct the world admits that the
Moslem people need something. They may not
want it, but they need it ; and realizing this the
Church is accessible to the argument and appeal
that she must give it to them.

(4) It is the sad feature of Islam that it knows
Christ but supersedes and displaces Him. But
this very fact constitutes a powerful basis of ap
peal to Christians. Our Lord is annulled, His
cross made of none effect, and the glory and purity
of the spiritual faith and righteous life which He
taught and made possible are beclouded and defiled
by the base ideals and practices of the seventh
century Arabian civilization incorporated and per
petuated in the Koran. The missionary appeal to
the Church in behalf of the Mohammedan world
is an appeal to rescue Christ, to regain for Him the

276 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

place which is His alone but which another has
usurped. No appeal can be made in behalf of
mission work among other races more cogent and
more convincing than this.

We can arouse the Church to the necessity and
urgency of work for Moslems, by urging constantly
upon her the actual conditions which exist. The
occasions of the Church's lack of interest must be
dealt with one by one and removed. There should
be more good books. Missionaries competent to
do so should write on the Mohammedan fields,
dealing specifically with the Mohammedan mission
ary problems ; and books on Mohammedanism
should be written, fair and just and generous in
their views, but also fearless and explicit and out
spoken. The work for the Oriental Churches
should be seen by us clearly in its proper relation
ship to the evangelization of the Moslem world,
and we should keep this view clearly before the
home church and the Oriental Churches themselves.
Missions to Moslem peoples should direct their
policy towards the end of reaching the Moslems.
Effort should not be absorbed in the secondary ac
tivities of the missions while the primary ends are
unreached. This will react upon the home church.
If the evangelization of the Mohammedans is felt
to be a necessary and urgent work by the missions,
it will be felt to be so at home. And some way
must be found for informing the Church about the
work and its successes and disappointments and
difficulties. If this cannot be done, if nothing is

How to Arouse the Church at Home 277

to be said aloud about work for Moslems, then I
do not know how the Church is to be moved or
how the missions are to be maintained. You can
not keep up enthusiasm or self-sacrificing zeal over
a clandestine enterprise not fed by the intelligent
interest and prayers of the Church.

The Church must awake to her duty towards
Islam. Who will wake her and keep her wake,
unless it be those who have heard the challenge of
Islam, and who going out against her have found
her armour decayed, her weapons antiquated and
her children, though proud and reticent, still un
happy ; stationary or retrogressive in a day of prog
ress and life. Happy are we to have a share in
this great movement. "Woe unto us if we are timid
and fearful, on one hand, or tactless and impru
dent on the other. "We are those who need wisdom
and zeal — the wisdom that will do nothing unwise,
the zeal that will not let wisdom be so cautious as
to do nothing.

a prater

O Lord God, to zvhom the sceptre of right be-
longeth, lift up Thyself, and travel in the great
ness of Thy strength throughout the Mohammedan
lands of the East ; because of the anointing of Thy
Son, Jesus Christ, as Thy true Prophet, Priest and
King, destroy the sword of Islam, and break the
yoke of the false prophet Mohammed from off the
necks of Egypt, Arabia, Turkey, Persia, and other
Moslem lands, that so there may be opened through
out these lands a great door and effectual for the
Gospel, that the Word of the Lord may have free
course and be glorified, and the veil upon so many
hearts may be removed, through Jesus Christ, our
Lord. Amen.

C. M. S. Cycle of Prayer.

XVIII

Statistical and Comparative Survey of
Islam in Africa

Rev. Chas. R. Watson, D.D

" Thirteen centuries of continuous African heredity have made
Islam native to the continent. This fact is of tremendous
moment. Add to this the numerical strength of Mohammedans
in Africa and the problem looms up with gigantic proportions."
— W. S. Naylor.

XVIII

Statistical and Comparative Survey of Islam
in Africa

FROM the comparative statistics (placed at the
end of this chapter for typographical reasons), a
few broad generalizations may be made: 1. Ex
tent. — In point of numbers, Mohammedanism
claims thirty-six per cent, of Africa's population,
or 58,864,587 souls out of a total population of
163,736,683.

Of this Mohammedan population, the over
whelming majority, or 54,790,879, are to be found
north of the equator. Of these, again, two-fifths,
roughly speaking, are north of twenty degrees
north latitude, and three-fifths are south of that
latitude.

While in actual numbers, there are more
Mohammedans between the latitude indicated and
the equator than north of that latitude, yet, in
proportion to the population of the countries
involved, Mohammedanism is far stronger north of
twenty degrees north latitude ; for, north of this
latitude, the Mohammedans constitute ninety-one
per cent, of the population, while between twenty
degrees north latitude and the equator, the Mo
hammedan population is only forty-two per cent.

281

282 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

of the whole. The stronghold of Mohammedanism
in Africa, lies, therefore, along the Mediterranean.

2. Governments. — Grouped according to the
governments to which they are subject, we find the
African Mohammedans divided as follows :

Subject to France 27,849,580

Great Britain 17,920,330

Germany , . 2,572,500

Turkey 1,250,000

Italy 452,177

Portugal 140,000

Spain 130,000

Independent 8,550,000

It may be said that the European governments
generally adopt an attitude of neutrality or toler
ation towards all religions, Mohammedanism
among them. Yet it is to be noted that from
country after country the report comes that, on
political grounds, these nations are led to adopt a
policy which specially favours Mohammedanism.

3. Language. — The language areas are very
difficult to determine, especially in Africa ; but it
may be safely asserted that one-half of the African
Mohammedan world is Arabic speaking; and it
may be asserted with considerable emphasis, that
acquaintance with Arabic may be taken as a gen
eral measure of the intensity and depth of
allegiance to Islam. Where Arabic wanes in
Africa, Islam loses in intensity. The Hausa
speaking Mohammedans alone seem to form an
exception to this rule.

4. Sects. — African Mohammedans are predom-

Statistical Survey of Islam in Africa 283

inantly of the Sunni sect ; here and there only, a
few Shiites are to be found. Where races have
only recently or superficially accepted Moham
medanism, distinctions of sect are not known. In,
North Africa, however, we find the Malakiya
sect of the Sunnis probably in the lead, with the
Shafiya sect a close second, while the other sects
follow quite in the rear.

5. Date of Entrance. — Along the whole north
ern coast of Africa, from Egypt to Morocco, the
appearance of Islam dates back to the conquest
wars of the seventh century, 640-665 A. D. The
establishment of Islam in this territory was by the
sword and by purely religious campaigns.

The advance of Islam southward is of far more
recent date and its motive has been largely com
mercial. The slave raider and trader have both
contributed largely to the extension of Islam
southward. In more than one instance (e. <?., Gold
Coast Protectorate), the pagan tribes were able to
resist the encroachments of the Mohammedans
until some foreign power coming in actually, even
though unintentionally, broke down the resistance
of the pagans and laid the country open to the
entrance of the Mohammedan.

6. Is Mohammedanism Increasing f — The ques
tion is usually answered in the negative for North
ern Africa and emphatically in the affirmative for
West and East Africa.

What has been printed concerning conditions in
West-Central Sudan may be equally said of the

284 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

Red Sea littoral, and West Africa : " When I
came out in 1898, there were few Mohammedans
to be seen below Idda. Now they are every
where, excepting below Abo, and at the present
rate of progress, there will scarcely be a heathen
village on the river banks by 1910."

7. Illiteracy. — The illiteracy of the Moham
medan world in Africa is appalling. Seventy-five
to one hundred per cent, is the record of
illiteracy.

8. Social Conditions. — Polygamy is a regular
feature of Mohammedanism in Africa, although it
is to be noted that owing to poverty very few are
able to practice it. The divorce of the first wife
is generally the rule. Concubinage is not so com
mon, and slavery is generally abolished in the
Mohammedan Africa, so far as slave raids are
concerned ; but this is due solely to the influence of
European governments.

9. Morality. — Immorality among African Mo
hammedans is commonly indescribable. It is worse
among the Arabs of the intensely Mohammedan
countries to the north than it is among the Negro
races to the south.

10. The Seclusion of Woman is practiced
chiefly in the North, rarely among the negroes.
It is naturally observed with more strictness by
those who do not have to work for bread.

11. Material Progress. — With the single ex
ception of the superior Hausa Mohammedans, the
Mohammedans of Africa show deterioration and

Statistical Survey of Islam in Africa 285

lack of aggressiveness, except in so far as quick
ening is brought through contact with European
and Western nations.

12. The Attitude to Christianity. — This is gen
erally hostile, often fanatical, except when bigotry
is weakened under the influence of contact with
foreigners. In some regions under French control,
atheism has undermined Moslem fervour.

13. Converts. — Accurate figures, showing the
number of openly professed conversions from
Mohammedanism to Christianity, are not avail
able. Yet careful inquiry would show less than five
hundred living converts in Mohammedan Africa
north of twenty degrees north latitude out of a
population of some twenty-one million Moham
medans. Such a statement proves two things :

(a) That the missionary problem of Africa is not
paganism, which fast crumbles away before the
Gospel of Christ, but Islam, which resists like
adamant the appeals of the herald of the cross.

(b) That the Christian Church has not yet attacked
this problem with the seriousness and earnestness
of loving witness which the undertaking requires.
When she does this, her Lord will glorify His
Church and Himself by crowning her efforts with
success.

XIX

Statistical and Comparative Survey of

Islam in Asia with Totals for

the Entire World

Rev. S. M. Zwemer, D. D

"And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early
about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the
same manner seven times : only on that day they compassed the
city seven times." — Joshua 6 : 15.

" By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were com-
pasesd about seven days." — Hebrews 11 : 30.

XIX

Statistical and Comparative Survey of Islam
in Asia and the Entire World

THE authorities for the statistics as given at the
end of this chapter, are the Statesman's Year
Book for 1905, and in some cases estimates sent
by government officials or missionaries, carefully
compared with those found in recent encyclo
pedias and works of reference. That the total
given for the whole Mohammedan world is a
fairly accurate estimate will be seen by comparing
it with other estimates made in recent years. The
discrepancy in these estimates is due generally to
disagreement regarding the Moslem population of
China and of Central Africa. The total Moslem
population of the world was given :

Statesman's Year Book, 1890 203,600,000

Brockhaus' Convers-Lexikon, 1894 175,000,000

Hubert Jansen's Verbreitung des Islams, 1897, 259,680,672
S. M. Zwemer (Missionary Review), 1898 . . 196,491,842
Algemeine Missions Zeitschrift, 1902 .... 175,290,000
H. Wichmann.in Justus Perthes1 Atlas, 1903, 240,000,000
William Curtis, in Syria and Palestine, 1903, 300,000,000
Encyclopedia of Missions, 1904 193,550,000

THE TOTAL NOW OBTAINED, 1906 . . .232,966,170

Political Divisions. — The political division of

the Mohammedan world is a startling evidence of

289

290 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

the finger of God in the history of the church and
a challenge to our faith because of so many open
doors in Moslem lands. It is as follows :

TOTAL MOHAMMEDAN POPULATION UNDER
CHRISTIAN RULE OR PROTECTION

Great Britain in Africa 17,920,330

Great Britain in Asia 63,633,783

Total 81,554,113

France in Africa .'..••• 27,849,580

France in Asia 1,455,238

Total 29,304,818

Germany in Africa 2,572,500

Italy, Portugal and Spain, in Africa . . 722,177

The United States, in Asia 300,000

The Netherlands, in Asia 29,289,440

Russia in Europe and Asia 15,889,420

Other States in Europe, Greece, etc. . . 1,360,402
Australasia and America 68,000

Total 161,060,870

UNDER NON-CHRISTIAN RULERS

1 Africa 2,950,000

Chinese Empire 30,000,000

Siam 1,000,000

Formosa 25,500

Total 33,976,500

UNDER TURKISH RULE

Europe 2,050,000

Africa 1,250,000

Asia 12,228,800

Total 15,528,800

1 The latest estimates give 30,000,000 and not 20,000,000 for
China.

Statistical Survey of Islam in Asia 291

UNDER OTHER MOSLEM RULERS

Morocco . 5,600,000

Oman and Nejd, etc 3,500,000

Afghanistan 4,500,000

Persia 8,800,000

Total 22,400,000

This political division of the nearly two hundred
and thirty-three million Mohammedans is shown
at a glance in the diagram opposite [A]. THE
LANGUAGES SPOKEN BY MOSLEMS are shown in
diagram [B], and it is remarkable that while the
Bible has been translated into nearly every lan
guage used by Moslems the Koran speaks only to
those who can understand Arabic, less than one-
fourth of the Mohammedan world ! This division
is only approximate, but the estimate has been
made as carefully as possible from the latest
data.

Moslem Sects. — Islam is not a unit, but is
divided into many sects and schools of thought.
The Sunni sect is the old orthodox party and has
four divisions or schools of theology and juris
prudence. All agree in doctrine, but differ in their
interpretation of ceremonial law and the ritual
observances of Islam. Generally speaking, Central
Asia, Northern India, and the Turks everywhere
are Hanifite; lower Egypt, Southern India and
the Malay Moslems are Shafite ; upper Egypt and
North Africa are Malikite, while the sect of
Ilanbalites exists only in central and eastern
Arabia.

292 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

The Shiah sect exists chiefly in Persia and
India, but the influence of its teachings has pene
trated everywhere and resulted in the philosoph
ical disintegration of Islam. Mysticism (the
Dervish orders) and Rationalism (New Islam) are
widely prevalent and increasingly powerful move
ments.

The approximate division of the Moslem popu
lation according to sects is given in diagram [C.J
The "Wahabis are included among the Hanbalis in
this division, as they generally call themselves by
that name even in Arabia.

Continental Division. — Of the total Moslem
population nearly fifty-nine million are in Africa,
one hundred and sixty -nine million in Asia and about
five million in Europe. Generally speaking, one-
seventh of the total-population of Asia, and of the
world, is Mohammedan. The distribution of these
millions is shown in the statistical tables and
also on the maps of the Mohammedan world.

The following large regions are still nearly or
wholly unoccupied by Christian missions :

Afghanistan 4,000,000

Baluchistan 500,000

Sulu Archipelago and Mindanao .... 260,000

Southern Persia 3,000,000

Southern, Western and Central Arabia . 3,000,000

Bornu (Lake Chad) 5,000,000

Wadai (Central Africa) 2,600,000

Baghirmi (Central Africa) 1,500,000

Sokoto and feudatory states 14,000,000

Sahara and French Sudan 10,000,000

Bokhara region 2,500,000

Russia in Caucasus 2,000,000

SUrdu
Bengali
Pushtu
Gujerati etc.

A. Political Division of the Moslem World B. Division of the Moslem World bij Languages

Africa
59 Mil lions
=1-3 of Total Populatio

SUNNIS
221 Millions

The four orthodox sects ot Sunnis are
Hanifis 140 Millions
Shafis 58
Malikis 16
Hanbalis 07 "

Asia

169 Millions
= 1-7 of Total Population

I . Approximate Division of the Moslem World by Sects D. Continental Division of the Moslem World Population-
DIAGRAMS OF MOSLEM POPULATION.

Statistical Survey of Islam in Asia 293

Khiva 700,000

Russia in Central Asia 3,000,000

Siberia, East and West 6,100,000

China (uureached sections) 10,000,000

Estimated total of wholly unreached

Moslem populations 68,450,000

(That is nearly one-third of the Mohammedan world.)

Strategic Centres Occupied. — The following
strategic points (including every important city in
the Moslem world of over 100,000 population in
the order of population) are already the centres of
missionary effort by printing-press, hospital, school
or college : Calcutta, Constantinople, Bombay,
Cairo, Haidarabad, Alexandria, Teheran, Luck-
now, Rangoon, Damascus, Delhi, Lahore, Smyrna,
Cawnpore, Agra, Tabriz, Allahabad, Tunis, Bag
dad, Fez, Aleppo, and Beirut. And the efforts
there carried on directly or indirectly for Moslems
prove that the work is possible under all condi
tions everywhere. But from every one of these
centres the call is loud for more labourers. No
where are the efforts at all commensurate with
the opportunities.

Some Results. — The Bible has been translated
into every language of the Mohammedan world,
while the Koran speaks only to those who can
read Arabic, less than one-fourth of the total popu
lation. A large number of books especially
intended for Mohammedans has been prepared in
all the chief languages of the Moslem world. Less
than a century ago there was not one Protestant

294 The Mohammedan World of To-Day

worker in any Moslem land ; at that time apostasy
from Islam meant death to the apostate. Now
there are Moslem converts in every land where
work has been attempted, fanaticism has decreased
and many converted Moslems are preaching the
gospel. In North India there are nearly two
hundred Christian pastors, catechists or teachers
who are converts or the children of converts from
Islam. There is hardly a Christian congregation
in the Punjab which does not have some members
formerly in the ranks of Islam. Thousands of
Moslem youth are receiving -a Christian edu
cation in Egypt, India, Java and Sumatra. The
Beirut Press since its foundation has issued for the
American Bible Society, over a million portions of
the Arabic Bible. In ten years the attendance at
the dispensary of the United Free Church of Scot
land mission, near Aden, rose from 8,000 to 40,000
per annum. Villages that could not be reached
safely in Arabia ten years ago now welcome the
missionary. At Julfa, Persia, on Easter Sunday,
1902, seventeen converts from Islam were at the
Holy Communion, and this land, with other Mos
lem lands, counts its martyrs to the faith. The
late Dr. Imad-ud-din, formerly a Mohammedan
and a determined opponent of Christianity, enu
merated 117" Christian converts of distinction in
India who forsook Islam for Christ as he did. In
Sumatra and Java there are over 24,000 converts
organized into churches, and from 200 to 300 con
verts from Islam are baptized annually. The out-

Statistical Survey of Islam in Asia 295

look everywhere is not hopeless, but hopeful, and the
great task to which Christ calls His church at the
beginning of the twentieth century is the evangeli
zation of the Mohammedan world.

INDEX

[See also table of contents. ,]

ABADHI sect, The, 102

Abdul Kadir Ghilani, 1 86

Abu Bekr, 15

Abu Jafer, Caliph, 252

Abyssinians in Aden, 87

Achin, the " Holyland," 204, 209

Afghans, The, 142

Agriculture in Arabia, 83

Ahmadiyya (see Quadian)

Alexandria, 25

Ali, 15

Aligarh College, 136, 144, 188,
191

Amara, 91

Amr Ibn-el-as, 23

Amulets used in Sumatra, 219

Anjuman-i-Islam, 140, 143, 172,
181

Arab, The, 100

Arabic language, 145

Arabic language in Africa, 47,
282

Arabic Scriptures, 17

Arab-Tamil dialect, 175

Arab traders in China, 253

Archbishop of Canterbury's Mis
sion in Persia, 122

Armenian evangelists among
Moslems, 272

Armenian Massacres, The, 212

Arnold, T. W., 140

Aryan mind and Islam, The, 1 20

Assiut, 25

Aurangzeb, 135

Awetaranian, Pastor J., 244

Azhar, The, 32

BABIS, Babism, 17, 116
Bagdad, 89
Bahrein Islands, 86
Balance of Truth, The, 164

Baptisms in Persia, 126
Barriers to progress in Moslem

world, 192
Bataks, The, 205
Behais, The, 115, 117, 121, 129
Beirut Press, The, 17, 296
Bengal, Islam in, 138
Bhang, use of the drug, 145
Bible distribution, 73, 93, 119,

123

Bible Societies, The, 91
Bible, The, in Turkey, 55
Bible translation, 295
Birth rate among Moslems, 237
Book and Tract Societies, 164
Bosworth, Smith, 18, 273
Brahui people, 136
British law in Persia as regards

missions, 123
British occupation of Egypt, 27,

British policy in Arabia, I IO
British rule in West Africa, 46
Brotherhoods, Moslem, 108
Bruce, Canon, 122

CALIPHATE, The, 54, 64
Cantine, James, 82, 92, 93
Canton mosques, 251
Caste broken by Moslem force,

177

Catechumens from Islam, 222
Challenge to overturn Islam, 27 1
Children, sale of unborn, 141
Chinese Moslem literature, 260
Choliyas, 175

Christianity and Islam, 216
Christianity and Islam in China,

263
Christian character of Moslem

converts, 229

297

298

Index

Christian rule in Moslem lands,

292
Church Missionary Society, 34,

36, 89, 121, 174
Church not aroused, The, 267
Cities of the Moslem world, the

chief, 295

Clark, Dr. H. Martyn, 164
Cleaver, J. Martin, 22
Colporteur, The, 96
Commentary on the Bible by a

Moslem, 195
Concubinage, 138
Conquest, Moslem, in West Africa,

Conquest of India, 133
Conquest of Syria, Moslem, 67
Conscience as denned by a Mos
lem, 190
Controversial books by Moslems,

163

Controversial writers in India, 164
Conversions to Islam, 237
Converts from Islam, 19, 36, 38,
39, 76, 126, 168, 180, 218, 222,
228, 235, 237, 244, 285, 296
Corruption of the Scriptures, 1 19
Cromer, Lord, 28
Cross of Christ made of non ef
fect by Islam, 275
Cruelty in Persia, 1 16

DANISH Mission to Arabia, 91

Dar-ul-Harb, 179

Death penalty on convert from

Islam, 119

Decay of political power, 184
Defections from Christianity, 24,

1 80

Deoband, 196
Dervishes, The, 53, 68, 139
Difficulties of work in Syria, 72
Discontent in Syria, 64
Dispensary at Aden, The, 296
Divorce, 25, 207
Doctrine of God, Moslem, 239
Dress of progressive Moslems, 193

Dutch Colonial Government, 208,
216

EDUCATED Moslems of India,

142, 199

Educational Conference, A Mos
lem, 188, 192
Education in Egypt, 32
Edwards, Sir Herbert, 142
Egypt General Mission, 38
Egypt, population of, 24
Elliot's History of India, 133
Emigration from Syria, 65
Evangelization of the whole Mo
hammedan world, 297

FANATICISM, 135, 144, 217

Fanaticism overcome, 88

Fatalism, 132, 192

Forder, in Palestine, 71

French, Bishop, 164, 272

Fulani Empire, 43

Future of Islam, The 1 10, 227

GOODELL, 272

Government attitude in Sumatra,

223
Government schools for Moslems

in Sumatra, 225
Grant, Dr., 271
Griswold, the Rev. Dr., 198

HADRAMAUT, 86, 175

Haji, hajis (see Mecca)

Hamlin, 272

Harris High School, 174

Hassa, a Turkish province, 86

Hindustani language, The, 173

Hodeidah, 84

Hogarth, David George, 1OI

Hogberg, Pastor, 244

Hopelessness of Islam, The 1 10,

114, 199

Hui-Hui, the Chinese name for
Moslems, 260

IGNORANCE of Islam, The 268
Ijma'a, 105

Index

299

Illiteracy, 33, 48, 57, 87, 109,

117, 137, 146, 284
Imad-ud-Din, 19
Immorality, 49, 104, I IO, 1 18
Increase of Islam, 135, 179
Indirect results of work, 230, 234
Injustice of courts in Egypt, 30
Inspiration, 195

Intellectual bondage of Islam, 183
Intermarriage of Moslems in

China, 259
Islam, its strength, 13
Islam unprogressive, 141
Ismailis, The, 1 16
Ismail, The Khedive, 27
Ispahan, 125

JANISSARIES, The, 56
Japanese War, The effect of, 212
Jesus, His coming expected, 73
Jews in Arabia, The, 102
Jihad, or religious war, 107
Jordan, S. M., 128

KADI, the Moslem, 26, 27

Kalima, The, 138

Kamil Aietany, 19, 272

Kandahar, 136

Kashgar, 243

Keith Falconer, Ian, 90, 272

Kerbela, 103

Khan of Kelat, 134

Khiva, 243

Khotan to be occupied, 245

Kitman-ud-Din, 117, 123

Koran, The, 29, 55, 119, 194,

260, 274

Kublai Khan, 254
Kufa and its day-school, 1 10
Kurds, The, 56
Kutb-ud-din, 134

LABBE race, 175
Lagos, spread of Islam in, 47
Lahore, 196

Languages of Baluchistan, 136
Languages of the Mohammedan
world, 295

Laws against Christians, 24, 28,

Lee, Prof. S., 163
Lefroy, Bishop, 164
Lepsius, Dr., 122
Leupolt, Rev. S., 164
Literature for Chinese Moslems

needed, 264
Literature for Moslems, 20, 35,

38, 119, 164, 200
Lugard, Sir F., 44
Lull, Raymund, 272

MA'ADAN ARABS, The, 84

Madura, 235

Magic in Sumatra, 218

Mahdi, The, 178, 197

Mahmud of Ghazni, 133

Makran, 133

Malay language, The, 223

Manchu dynasty, The, 257

Mandailing, 21 1

Marriages, early, 117

Marriages in Egypt, 26

Marriages, temporary, 82

Martyn, Henry, 122, 163, 272

Masnavi, The, 120

Massacre of Moslems by the Chi
nese, 257

Material progress of Islam, 284

Mecca and Meccan pilgrims, 47,
80, 102, 224, 238

Medical missions, 36, 74, 93, 94,
231

Mennonite Mission, 222

Mesopotamia, 85

Methods of mission work for
Moslems, 127, 200, 230, 236

Military conscription, 85

Mirza Chulam Ahmed, 137, 179,
196

Misrule in Turkey, 52

Missionary Societies working in
North India, 166

Missions to Moslems, 34-39, 71-

76, 89-96, III, 112, I2I-I28,

146-155, 222-225, 235~237
Mizan ul Haqq, 35

300

Index

Moguls, The, 135

Mohammed Abd-ul-Wahab, 104

Mohammed, Ali, 23, 27

Mohammedan University, A 1 88

Mohammed, Ghari, 134

Mohammed, Kasim, 133

Morocco, 47

Morocco, convert from, 38

Moslem pupils in schools, 35

Mosul, 89

Muawia, 15

Muir, Sir William, 15, 144, 164

Mukawkas, 23

Mullahs, The, ignorance of, 142

Mulvi, Nazir Ahmed, 194

Murdoch, Dr., 167

Musbah-el-Huda, 15

Muta'ah or temporary marriage,

117

Mutawakkil, 185
Mutazila heresy, The, 185

NADWAT-UL-ULAMA, 196

Nasariyeh, 91

Navayatis, 176

Nay lor, Wilson S., 40

Neglect of Mohammedan world,
14, 1 8, 211, 245, 269, 270, 294

Nestorian tablet, The, 250

Neutrality of government in Balu
chistan, 134

New Islam, The, 136

Newspapers, Mohammedan, 31

Newspapers in India, 194

North Africa Mission, 38

OLOPUN, the Nestorian, 250

Oman, education in, 82

Omar ibn el Khattab, 16

Opium-habit, The, 27

Opportunities in Persia, 124

Ordeal by fire, 145

Oriental churches, The, and

Islam, 67

Oriental churches, work for, 276
Orient Mission, The, 122
Othman, Shefu Dan Hodin, 43

PAGAN elements in Islam, 219,

221
Paganism, inroads of Islam on,

205

Palgrave, William Gifford, 80
Pandita, Marcus Siregar, 229
Pella, battle of, 67
Perkins, Dr., 271
Persecution of converts, 39, 125
Peter, the reformer, 68
Pfander, Dr., 122
Pilgrims (see Mecca)
Plassy, battle of, 187
Political condition of Moslem

world, 19, 27, 46, 72, no, 118
Political danger of Islam, The,

208
Political division of Islam in

Africa, 282, 292
Politics in Syria, 63
Polygamy, 25, 48, 57, 82, 116,

»37» !93> 284

Popularity of missionaries in
Persia, 125

Population of the Moslem world,
291

Prayer for the Mohammedan
World, A, 278

Preachers of the gospel who are
Moslem converts, 169

Prejudice against English lan
guage in India, 174

Presbyterian Mission in Persia,

121

Printing press at Julfa, 1 27
Printing press at Beirut (see Bei
rut Press)

Propagation of Islam, 34
Prostitution in Baluchistan, 140
Protestants in Syria, 73
Purdah, The, a Moslem view of
its evils, 132

QUADIAN sect, The, 137, 196
Quetta, 137

RATIONALISM in Islam, 189
Reformed Church in America,
Mission in Arabia, 90

Index

301

Reforms in Islam, 33, 68, 147
Results of missions in Syria, 76
Results of missions to Moslems,

228
Rhenish Missionary Society, 202,

222

Roads in Baluchistan, 143
Roman Catholic Church and

Islam, The, 163
Rouse, Rev. G. H., 164

SAINT-WORSHIP, 103, 220
Sayed Ahmed Khan, Sir, 144,

187

Sayed Ahmed, of Gujrat, 178
Scarcity of native helpers, 232
Schools for Moslems, 230
Schools in Arabia, Mission, 95
Schools in Persia, 128
Schools, Moslem, in Syria, 65
Sects, Moslem, 44, 68, 102, 116,

*33» 15 1-154. 178, 196-198,

263, 282, 293
Seistan, 135

Self-support of converts, 228
Sell, Canon Edward, 247
Senoussis, The, 45
Shabin-el-Kom, 39
Shafts, The, 177
Shathleyeh, The, 68
Shedd, William A., 1 14
Shensi Massacre of Moslems,

The, 258

Shensi province, 255
Shiites, The, 82, 115
Sierra Leone, spread of Islam in,

47
Slavery and slave-trade, 57, 138,

283

Smith, Dr. Arthur, 263
Smith and Dwight, 27 1
Social progress in Sumatra not

due to Islam, 212
Sodomy, 139
Sofian el Thuri, 16
Soldiers, Turkish, 84
Spiritual destitution of Islam, 14
Stagnation of Moslem life, 172

Statistics of Islam, 281-297
Stereopticon in Arabia, The, 95
Strategic centres occupied by mis
sions, 295

Strength of Islam in Africa, 280
Sufis, The, 16, 116, 121, 185
Sultan of Turkey, The, 203, 209
Sunday in Egypt, 29
Superstition, Moslem, 72, 89
Sword of Islam, The, 137, 283
Syphilis, called Mullah's disease,

140
Syrian Protestant College, 20

TABRIZ schools, 128
Tartars, The, 256
Taylor's, Miss, schools, 71
Terrorism against non-Moslems,

218

Theology, Moslem, 185
Tisdall, Dr. St. Clair, 128, 164
Tobacco, forbidden, 106
Toleration in Persia, 119
Tribal warfare, 143
Trinity, Moslem ideas of, 17, 67
Turkey, work in, 19
Turkish rule in Arabia, 83

UNITED PRESBYTERIANS, 34
Unity of God, The, 190
Unity of Islam, 203
Unexplored regions in Arabia, loi
Unoccupied regions, 294
Urdu language, The, 173, 187
Urgency of the call, 270

VAN Ess, JOHN, 81, 84, 85

Van Tassel, work among the

Bedouins, 71
i

WAHAB, ABI KABCHA, 249
Wahabis, The, 45, 103-110
Waly's tombs, 89
Weakness of Islam in China, 261
Wilson, Rev. James, 164
Wilson, S., 128

Women, Mohammedan, 25, 48,
62,76,81, 116, 139,207

302 Index

Wyckoff, Rev. J. H., 234 Yunnan, 255, 257

XAVIER, HIERONEYMO, 162 ZEAL of Moslem propaganda, 140

Zenana Mission, Church of Eng-

YARKAND, 245 land, 180

Yezid, 16 Zhob, tribes of, 142

" Young Turkish " party, 64 Zoroastrianism, 135

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Full text of "The Mohammedan world of to-day : being papers read at the First Missionary Conference on Behalf of the Mohammedan World held at Cairo April 4th-9th, 1906"

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