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VOIl/^!,  No.  1 


JANUARY,  1921 


THE 


MOSLEM  WORLD 

A  quarterly  review  of  current  events,  literature,  and 

thought  among  Mohammedans  and  the  progress 

of  Christian  Missions  in  Moslem  lands 


Editor:  SAMUEL  M.  ZWEMER,  X>J>. 


Contents : 


Prayer  for  Mohammedans, 
"~~""^^^^^st  T«iatn  t'n  Africa 


*r>. 


J.  du  Plessis 
S.  M.  Denison 
O.  Garfield  Jones 
Jennie  A.  Logan 
Methods  of  Evangelism  in  Persia  H.  C.  Schuler 

A  New  Survey  of  China  F.  H.  Rhodes 

Arabic  Stories  for  Chinese  Readers  Isaac  Mason 

NOTES  ON  CURRENT  TOPICS 
BOOK  REVIEWS 
SURVEY  OF  PERIODICALS  HoUis  W.  Hering 


PAGE 
I 

2 

24 

29 

44 
48 

S3 
69 
77 
89 
105 


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Entered  as  second  class  matter  April  8,  1919.  at  the  Post  Ojfice  at  Cooperstown,  N.   Y.  under  the  act 
March  3,  1879. 

Copyright  1921.  by  Missionary  Review  Publishing  Comvany 


The  Moslem  World 

Edited  by  Samuel  M.  Zwemer,  Cairo,  Egypt 


ASSOCIATE  EDITORS 


Ki:- 


H.  TJ.  W.  Stanton,  Ph.,  D., 

London 
Prop.  D.  B.  Macdonacd,  M.  A.,  D.  D. 
Hartford,   Conn. 
Canon  W.  H.  T.  Gairdner,  B,  A. 

Cairo,  Egypt 


Rev.  W.  St.  Clair  Tisdall,  Ph.  D., 
- ,      , ,  London 

MR.  Marshall  Broomhall.  London 
Rev.  E.  M.  Wherry,  D.  D.  India 
Pastor  F.   Wimz.  Basel.  Switzerland 
Rev.  Ralph  Harlow,  Smyrna. 


AMERICAN    COMMITTEE  OF  THE   MOSLEM   WORLD 


Dblavan  L.  Pibrson,  Chairman 
Rev.  Charles  R.  Watso.v,  D.D., 

Vice-Chairman 
Rrv.  Jambs  L.  Barton,  D.D. 


Mrs.  Wm.  Borden 
A.  V.  S.  Olcott,  Treasurer 
Miss  J.  H.  Righter,  Secretary 
Mrs.  Wm.  Bancroft  Hill 


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You  Are  Interested  In 

What  is  going  on  in  the  Mohammedan  World. 

The  Political  Changes  in  the  Near  East. 

The  UnveiHng  of  Moslem  Women. 

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The  Winning  of  Moslems  to  Jesus  Christ. 

Are  You  Informed  About 

The  Relation  of  Missions  to  World  Peace. 

(Read  this  series  of  articles  in  the    MISSIONARY    REVIEW 

OF   THE   WORLD  for  January.  1921) 
The  American  Moslems — Mormondom. 

(Read  Mr.  Roundy's  articles  on  this  in  the  REVIEW.) 
The  Progress  of  Christianity  in  India's  Villages. 

(Read  Dr.  Fleming's  article  in  the  REVIEW.) 
The  Most  Vulnerable  Point  of  Islam. 

(Read  Dr.  Frease's  article  in  the  REVIEW.) 
The  Japanese  Christian  Viewpoint  of  Japanese  Problems. 

(Read  Paul  Kanamori's  article  in  the  REVIEW.) 
The  Challenge  of  Ecuador. 

(Read  Dr.  Browing's  article  in  the  REVIEW.) 
The  Black  Story  of  the  Black  Republic. 

(Read  Mr.  Inman's  article  in  the  REVIEW.) 
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NOTES  ON  CONTRIBUTORS 

Professor  J.  du  Plessis^  B.  D.  has  thrice  crossed  Africa 
and  knows  conditions  in  this  continent  perhaps  better  than  any 
other  missionary  traveller.  He  is  connected  with  the  Dutch 
Reformed  Church  at  Stellenbosch,  South  Africa. 

Miss  S.  M.  Denison^  of  South  Morocco,  has  had  twenty 
years  of  experience  in  that  land  and  was  one  of  the  earliest 
European  residents.  This  is  part  of  an  article  which  she 
hopes  to  follow  with  others  on  the  same  subject. 

Professor  O.  Garfield  Jones,  professor  of  political 
science  at  Toledo  University,  has  made  a  close  study  of  the 
Philippines  for  the  past  twelve  years,  visiting  the  Islands  fre- 
quently for  observation  of  the  administration  of  the  insular 
government.  In  his  research  work  he  has  contributed  to  the 
government  much  valuable  material  on  the  Philippines.  His 
article  is  republished  from  "Asia"  by  his  permission  and  that 
of  the  editor. 

Mrs.  Jennie  A.  Logan,  is  secretary  to  the  Fellowship  of 
Faith  for  Moslems  and  with  her  husband,  J.  Gordon  Logan, 
has  had  experience  in  Egypt  as  worker  in  the  Egypt  General 
Mission  of  which  Mr.  Logan  is  now  the  secretary. 

Mr.  F.  H.  Rhodes,  of  the  China  Inland  Mission,  has  for 
20  years  and  more  been  in  touch  with  Moslem  work  in  China 
and  was  recently  appointed  secretary  to  the  Moslem  Com- 
mittee of  the  China  Continuation  Committee.  His  paper  is 
one  of  the  chapter  in  the  Survey  of  China  prepared  by  the 

China  Continuation  Committee. 

»     «     iK     «     «     4( 

Mr.  Isaac  Mason,  of  Shanghai,  China,  belongs  to  the  Chris- 
tian Literature  Society,  and  has  contributed  a  number  of  ar- 
ticles to  our  Quartely  on  Chinese  Mohammedanism. 


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THE 

MOSLEM  WORLD 

A  quarterly  review  of  current  events,  literature,  and 

thought  among  Mohammedans  and  the  progress 

of  Christian  Missions  in  Moslem  lands 


VOLUME  XI 


EDITOR 

SAMUEL  M.  ZWEMER,  D.D.,  F.R.G.S. 

Cairo,  Egypt 

ASSOCIATE  EDITORS 

REV.  H.  U.  W.  STANTON,  D.D.  REV.  W.  ST.  CLAIR  TISDALL,  D.D. 

PROF.  D.  B.  MACDONALD,  D.D.  MR.  MARSHALL  BROOMHALL 

CANON  W.  H.  T.  GAIRDNER,  B.A.         REV.  E.  M.  WHERRY,  D.D. 
REV.  W.  G.  SHELLABEAR,  D.D.  REV.  F.  WURZ 

REV.  RALPH  HARLOW 


AMERICAN  COMMITTEE 

DELAVAN  L.   PIERSON,   Chairman  MRS.  WM.  BORDEN 

DR.   CHARLES  R.   WATSON,  Vice-Chairman        ALFRED  V.  S.  OLCOTT,  Treasurer 
REV.  JAMES  L.  BARTON,  D.D.  MISS  J.  H.  RIGHTER,  Secretary 

MRS.  WM.   BANCROFT  HILL 


MISS  JULIA  C.  CHESTER,  Office  Secretary 


COPYRIGHTED  AND  PUBLISHED  BY  THE  ^ 

MISSIONARY  REVIEW  PUBLISHING  CO.,  Inc. 

THE  EVANGELICAL  PRESS,  THIRD  AND  REILY  STS.,  HARRISBURG,  PA., 

and  156  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 

1921 

431 


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minster, S.  W.  L,  London,  England. 
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China  Mission  Book  Company,  Shanghai,  China. 
Christian  Literature  Society  of  India,  Madras,  India. 


"''!.,. 


36 


Copyright  i<)2i,  by  Missionary  Rcviezv  Publishing  Company. 


432 


INDEX  TO  VOLUME  XI  433 

GENERAL 


Abyssinia — A  New  Day  for  Ethiopia C.  T.  Hooper  221 

Al-Ghazzali,  Mohammed Dwight  M.  Donaldson  337 

Africa,  Government  and  Islam  in J.  du  Plessis  2 

African  Native  Lau^,  The  Influence  of  Islam  on 

C.  Braithwaite  Wallis  145,  296 

'Alevis,  The Stephen  V.  R.  Trow^bridge  246 

Amulet,  The  Supreme Thora  Stowell  179 

Arabia,  Methods  of  Evangelism  in Gerrit  D.  Van  Peursem  267 

Arabian  "Brethren,"  The  Doctrines  of  the.  .  .Edwin  E.  Calverley  364 

Arabian  Stories  for  Chinese  Readers Isaac  Mason  69 

Caliphate  Historically  Considered,  The D.  S.  Margoliouth  (^[322^ 

China,  A  Survey  of  Islam  in F.  H.  Rhodes  53 

Chinese  Moslems,  Methods  of  Evangelism  Among 

Mark  E.  Botham  169 

Chinese  Readers,  Arabian  Stories  for Isaac  Mason  69 

Cosmography  in  Persia  Today,-  IV^taphysics  and 

J.  Davidson  Frame  272 

Doctrines  of  the  Arabian  "Brethren,"  The.  .  .Edwin  E.  Calverley  364 
Evangelism  Among  Chinese  Moslems,  Methods  of 

Mark  E.  Botham  169 

Evangelism  in  Arabia,  Methods  of Gerrit  E.  Van  Peursem  267 

Evangelism  in  India,  Direct E.  Stanley  Jones  235 

Evangelism  in  Persia,  Methods  of H.  C.  Schuler  48 

Fellowship  of  Faith  for  Moslems,  A Jennie  A.  Logan  44 

Government  and  Islam  in  Africa J,  du  Plessis  2 

"Illiterate"  Prophet,  The Samuel  M.  Zwemer  344 

Importance  of  Tradition  for  the  Study  of  Islam.  .  .  A.  J.  Wensinck  239 

India,  Direct  Evangelism  in E.  Stanley  Jones  235 

Islam  in  Africa,  Government  and J.  du  Plessis  2 

Islam  on  African  Native  Law,  The  Influence  of 

C.  Braithwaite  Wallis   145,296 

Islam  in  China,  A  Survey  of F.  H.  Rhodes  53 

Islam,  The  Importance  of  Tradition  for  the  Study  of 

A.  J.  Wensinck  239 

Karamat George  Swan  395 

Law,  The  Influence  of  Islam  on  African  Native 

C.  Braithwaite  Wallis  145,  296 

Mandate  over  Moroland,  Our O.  Garfield  Jones  29 

Metaphysics  and  Cosmography  in  Persia  Today 

J.  Davidson  Frame  272 
Methods  of  Evangelism  Among  Chinese  Moslems 

Mark  E.  Botham  169 

Methods  of  Evangelism  in  Persia H.  C.  Schuler  48 

Missionary  Outlook  and  Moslem  Problem,  The    W.  Wilson  Cash  138 

Missionary,  The  Future W.  A.  Rice  246 

Mohammed  Al-Ghazzali Dwight  M.  Donaldson  377 

Moorish  Woman's  Life,  A S.  M.  Denison  4 

Moroland,  Our  Mandate  over O.  Garfield  Jones  29 

Moslems,  A  Fellowship  of  Faith  for Jennie  A.  Logan  44 

Moslem  Problem,  The  Missionary  Outlook  and  W.  Wilson  Cash  138 


434  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Moslem  Retrogression W.  Hooper  127 

New  Day  for  Ethiopia,  A C.  T.  Hooper  221 

Nubian  Social  Customs W.  G.  Frolich,  M.D.  402 

Open-Minded  Turk,  on  the  Future  of  His  Race,  An 

W.  Nesbitt  Chambers  226 

Persia,  Methods  of  Evangelism  in H.  C.  Schuler  48 

Persia  Today,  Metaphysics  and  Cosmography  in 

J.  Davidson  Frame  272 

Persian  Woman,  The  New Clara  E.  Rice  1 19 

Philosophy  of  Zar'a  Ya'kob,  The Moses  Bailey  281 

Prayer  for  Mohammedans  Everywhere I 

Prophet,  The  "Illiterate" Samuel  M.  Zwemer  344 

Sacrifice  Among  the  Shi'ahs W.  M.  E.  Miller  389 

Social  Customs,  Nubian W.  G.  Frolich,  M.D.  402 

Survey  of  Islam  in  China F.  H.  Rhodes  53 

Tradition  for  the  Study  of  Islam,  The  Importance  of 

A.  J.  Wensinck  239 
Turk  on  the  Future  of  His  Race,  An  Open-minded 

W.  Nesbitt  Chambers  226 

Woman,  The  New  Persian CLara  E.  Rice  1 19 

Woman's  Life,  A  Moorish S.  M.  Denison  24 

Zar'a  Ya'kob,  The  Philosophy  of Moses  Bailey  281 

SURVEY  OF  PERIODICALS 

Survey  of  Periodicals Hollis  W,  Hering  107,  216,  325,  427 

OBITUARY 

Fossum,  Rev.  L.  O 89 

EDITORIAL 

How  is  Reconciliation  Possible? S.  M.  Zwemer  lit 

Last  Decade  in  Moslem  Work E.  M.  Wherry  115 

Sword  or  the  Cross,  The S.  M.  Zwemer  329 

CURRENT  TOPICS 

Afghan  Martyr,  Another 80 

Algeria,  The  Franchise  in 193 

Allah  Angry  with  Islam  ?   Is 78 

Alphabetical  Index  to  Arabic  Traditions. 313 

America's  Intolerance  toward  Polygamy 83 

American  Flag,  Mohammedans  Under  the 81 

Arabia,  A  New  Movement  in 309 

Arabia,  A  Quaker  Martyr  in 194 

Atonement,  The 192 

Awakening  in  Ibi,  The .* 311 

Bearing  the  Cross  for  our  Moslem  Brethren .  .' 88 

Cairo,  A  Unitarian  Mission  in 79 

Cairo,  The  Egyptian  University  at 196 

Cairo,  Girl  Scouts  in 312 

Cairo  Waifs  and  Strays 90 


INDEX  TO  VOLUME  XI  435 

Calendar,  The  Moslem I92 

Carpet,  The  Holy   i88 

Chinese  Turkestan,  The  Turki  People  of i86 

Chinese  View  of  Mohammed's  Marriages,  A 189 

Christians  in  the  City  of  Omar  Khayyam W.  McE.  Miller  421 

Christmas  Day  from  a  Moslem  Standpoint 423 

Conference  on  Moslem  Missions  in  Germany,  A 425 

Constantinople  in   1877  ^"^   1920 82 

Crescent  in  Nyasaland,  The  Cross  and  the 79 

Cross  for  our  Moslem  Brethren,  Bearing  the 88 

Cross  and  the  Crescent  in  Nyasaland,  The 79 

Duplicate  of  the  Mosque  at  Cordova,  A 423 

Eddy's  Visit,  A  Turkish  Writer  on  Sherwood 313 

Education  in  Spanish-Morocco 77 

Educational  Needs  of  the  Near  East 3^4 

Egyptian  University  at  Cairo,  The I95 

Europe?     Is  Islam  the  Enemy  of 185 

Evangelism  and  Social  Service,  Personal 86 

Fatwa  for  Nestle's  Milk,  A 422 

French  Work  in  Morocco 426 

Genealogy  of  Jesus,  The 423 

Girl  Scouts  in  Cairo 312 

Germany,  A  Conference  on  Moslem  Missions  in 424 

Government  and  Missions  to  Moslems '.  ? 312 

"Green,"  The  "Reds"  Appeal  to  the 82 

Hausa,  "The  Holy  War"  in 191 

Hindu  and  Moslem  Unity 87 

Holy  War"  in  Hausa,  "The 191 

Ibi,  The  Awakening  in 311 

Index  to  Arabic  Traditions,  Alphabetical 313 

Islam  the  Enemy  of  Europe?     Is 185 

Islam  ?     Is  Allah  Angry  with 78 

Jesus,  The  Genealogy  of 421 

Law,  The  Nationalists  and  Moslem 85 

Life  Among  the  Senussi 425 

Martyr,  Another  Afghan 80 

Missions?     Machine  Guns  or 84 

Missions  to  Moslems,  Government  and 312 

Mohammed's  Marriages,  A  Chinese  View  of 189 

Mohammed's  Sinlessness 191 

Mohammedans  in  the  United  States 195 

Mohammedans  Under  the  American  Flag 81 

Mohammedanism  Spreads  Among  Pagan  Tribes,  How 87 

Morocco,  Education  in  Spanish- 77 

Morocco,  French  Work  in   425 

Moslem  Brethren,  Bearing  the  Cross  for  Our 88 

Moslem  Calendar,  The •  • 192 

Moslem  Law,  The  Nationalists  and 85 

Moslem  Perplexity  in  Turkey 424 

Moslem  Unity,  Hindu  and 87 

Moslems  Want?    What  is  it  the 187 

Mosque  at  Cordova,  A  Duplicate  of  the 422 


436  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Mosque  for  Paris,  A 310 

Nationalists  and  Moslem  Law,  The   85 

Near  East,  Educational  Needs  of 3^4 

New  Movement  in  Arabia,  A 309 

Nyasaland,  The  Cross  and  the  Crescent  in 79 

Omar  Khayyam,  Christians  in  the  City  of W.  McE.  Miller  420 

Pagan  Tribes,  How  Mohammedanism  Spreads  Among 87 

Paris,  A  Mosque  for 310 

Pilgrimage  Legal  under  Present  Conditions?     Is 190 

Polygamy,  America's  Intolerance  Toward 83 

Quaker  Martyr  in  Arabia,  A 194 

"Reds"  Appeal  to  the  "Greens,"  The 82 

Senuissi,  Life  Among  the 424 

Social  Service,  Personal  Evangelism  and 86 

Spanish-Morocco,   Education   in 77 

Stage,  Turkish  Women  and  the 190 

Traditions,  Alphabetical  Index  to  Arabic 313 

Turkey,  Moslem  Perplexity  in 423 

Turki  People  of  Chinese  Turkestan,  The 186 

Turkish  Writer  on  Sherwood  Eddy's  Visit,  A 313 

Turkish  Danger,  The  Real 85 

Turkish  Women  and  the  Stage 190 

Unitarian  Mission  in  Cairo,  A 79 

United  States,  Mohammedans  in  the * 195 

University  at  Cairo,  The  Egyptian 196 

Waifs  and  Strays,  Cairo 90 

What  is  it  the  Moslems  Want? 187 

Women  and  the  Stage,  Turkish 190 

BOOKS 

Allenby's  Final  Triumph W.  T.  Messey  323 

Among  the  Ibos  of  Nigeria G  T.  Basden  213 

Anatolia 206 

Arabia  and   Mesopotamia 323 

Arabian  Prophet,  The Isaac  Mason  321 

Bagging  of  Baghdad,  The Ernest  Betts  322 

Bulletin  of  the  School  of  Oriental  Studies,  London  Institution ....  320 

Chant  of  Mystics  and  Other  Poems,  A Ahmeen  Rihani  417 

Colloquial  Arabic G.  J.  Lethem  320 

Comparative  Religion:    A  Survey  of  Its  Recent  Literature 

Louis  Henry  Jordan  412 

"Constantinople" Bertrand  Bareilles  105 

Consulting  Surgeon  in  the  Near  East,  A. .  .Lt.  Col.  A.  H.  Tubby  321 

Das  Reisetagebuch  Lines  Philosophen.  .Graf  Hermann  Kyserling  416 

Dawn  of  a  New  Era  in  Syria,  The.  .  .Miss  Margaret  McGilvary  214 

Day  of  the  Crescent,  The G.  E.  Hubbard  102 

Der  Islam  Einst  und  Jetzt Traugott  Mann  91 

Der  Islam  und  die  Christliche  Verkundigung.  .  .Gottfried  Simon  416 

Deutschland  und  Armenien,  1914-1918.  . .  .Dt.  Johannes  Lepsius  198 

Die  Ornamente  der  Hakim —  und  Ashar-Moschee 322 

Diwan  of  Dhu  'r-Rummah,  The C.  H.  H.  Macartney  197 


INDEX  TO  VOLUME  XI  437 

Documents  Inedits  pour  servir  a  I'Histoire  du  Christianisme  en 

Orient    3I9 

Eastern  Library,  An V.  C.  Scott  O'Connor  319 

Encyclopaedia  of  Islam,  The 321 

Ethiopic  Didascalia,  The J.  M.  Harden  206 

Four  Gospels  in  Kurdish,  The 206 

From  Persian  Uplands F.  Hale  210 

Ghazali's  Selbstbiographie ;   ein  Vergleich  mit  Augustin's  Kon- 

fessionen Von   H.   Frick  205 

Handbook  of  Arabia,  A 4i20 

Handbook  of  Libya,  A • 318 

Handbooks  Prepared   Under  the  Direction  of   the   Historical 

Section  of  the  Foreign  Office 206 

History  of  Persian  Literature  Under  Tartar  Dominion,  A 

Edward  G.  Browne  102 

Holy  Places  of  Mesopotamia,  The 213 

Islamitic  Magazine,  The 104 

Islamsche  Schriftbander:    Amida,  Diarbekr 322 

Ittihad  al  Muslimin , Jalal  Nuri  Bey  320 

Kabbalah,  The Christian  D.  Ginsburg  420 

La  Fin  de  Stamboul Henry  Myles  420 

La  France  en  Syrie  et  en  Cilicie Gustave  Gautherot  104 

La  Mort  de  Notre  Chere  France  en  Orient Pierre  Loti  322 

Lebanon  in  Turmoil,  The J.  F.  Scheltema  418 

Le  Christianisme  et  la  Litterature  Chretienne  en  Arabie  avant 

rislam Le  P.  L.  Cheikho  204 

Le  Droit  d'un  Peuple  a  la  Vie 209 

Le  Secretaire  d'Etat  Pour  Les  Indes  et  la  Delegation  de  I'lnde 

Pour  le   Calif  at 209 

Le  Traite  Turc :     Le  Verdict  de  I'lnde 209 

Le  Traite  de  Paix  Avec  la  Turquie,  I'Attitude  Des  Musulmans 

et   de   rinde 209 

Les  Grecs  a  Smyrna Docteur  Nihad  Rechad  204 

Les  Oasis  dans  la  Montagne Odette  Keun     106 

L'islam  et  La  Politique  des  Allies Dr.  Enrico  Insabato  210 

Marrakech  dans  les  Palmes Andre'  Chevrillon     106 

Medical  Missions:     The  Twofold  Task.  .  .  .Walter  R.  Lambuth  210 

Meeting  Franco-Hindou  en  Faveur  de  la  Turquie 209 

Memoirs  of  Ismail  Kemal  Bey,  The 213 

Marvellous  Mesopotamia Canon  J.  T.  Parfit     loi 

Message  to  Mohammedans,  A James  Harwood     212 

Mission  Archeologique  en  Arabie 208 

Missionary  Situation  After  the  War,  The J.  H.  Oldham     21 1 

M.  Lloyd  George  et  la  Delegation  Indienne  Pour  le  Califat 209 

Mohammedan    History 206 

Morocco,  In Edith  Wharton     200 

Moslem  Seeker  After  God,  A Samuel  M.  Zwemer     201 

Near  East  Crossroads  of  the  World,  The William  H.  Hall     100 

Nile  to  Aleppo Hestor  W.  Dinning     208 

Orient  Under  the  Caliphs,  The S.  Khuda  Bukhsh     417 

Oriental  Study  of  Foreign  Missions,  An .  .  .  S.  C.  Kanaga  Rutnam     207 
People  of  Zanzibar,  The Godfrey  Dale     lOi 


438  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Persian  Pictures Marj'  Fleming  Labaree  215 

Poems  of  *Amr  Son  of  Qami'ah,  The Sir  Chas.  Lyall  319 

Precis  de  Sociologie  Nord-Africaine A,  S.  P.  Martin  418 

Prisoner  in  Turkey,  A John  Still  323 

Prisoners  of  the  Red  Desert,  The Capt,  Gwatkin-Williams  100 

Quatrains  of  Omar  Khayyam,  The O,  A.  Shrubsole  197 

Reminiscences  of  Daniel  Bliss 198 

Rising  Tide  of  Color  Against  White  World-Supremacy,  The 

Lothrop  Stoddard  98 
Secret  Rose  Garden  of  Sa'd  ud  Din  Mahmud  Shabistari,  The 

Florence  Lederer  417 

Shepard  of  Aintab Alice  Shepard  Riggs  103 

Stranger,  The Arthur  Bullard  lOi 

Studia  Semitica  et  Orientalia 208 

Studies  in  Islamic  Poetry R.  A.  Nicholson  377 

Syria  and   Palestine 206 

Tanganyika  Territory,  The »F.  S.  Joelson  419 

Turkey  in  Asia 206 

Un  poete  arabe  d'Andalousie Auguste  Cour  414 

Village  Education  in  India 209 

War  Against  Tropical  Disease ■ Andrew  Balfour  323 

With  the  Soldiers  in  Palestine  and  Syria J.  P.  Wilson  210 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Bailey,  Moses 281       Margoliouth,  D.  S 322 

Botham,  Mark  E 169      Miller,  W.  M.  E 389 

Calverley,  Edwin   E 364     Paul,  Charles  T 91 

Cash,  W.  Wilson 138      j^   Plessis,   J 2 

Chambers,  W.  Nesbitt 226      Rhodes,   F.  *H  SS 

Denison,  S.  M 24      Rjce,  Qara  E............  1 19 

Donaldson,  Dwight  M 337      ^Ike   W    A  246 

^'^r ^u  J-  P^;:''^^°" 272      Schu'ler,  H.  C.'. '.'.'.'.'.'. '.'.'.'.  48 

rrolich,  W.  Cj.,  M.D 402      c..       11    -ru  ,-^ 

TT              /-I    -T-                                          Stowell,   1  hora 179 

Hooper,  C  T 221      o           ^  '^ 

Hooper    W                                 127      Swan,  George 395 

Hering,'  Miss  JHoIHs  W.  . .                 Trowbridge,  Stephen  V.  R.  246 

ir**?    oT^    Toe    A-yy      v'an  Peursem,  Gerrit  D....  267 

Jones,  E.  Stanley 235      Wallis,  C.  Braithwaite.  .  145,  296 

tones,  O.  Garfield 29      Wensinck,  A.J 239 

Logan,  Jennie  B 44      Wherry,  E.  M 115 

Mason,  Isaac 69-104      Zwemer,  Samuel  M in,  344 

MAPS 

Abyssinia    July 

China,  Distribution  of  Moslems  in January  Frontispiece 

New  Mosque  at  Highland  Park  (Detroit),  Michigan October 


A    MAP    SHOWING    APPROXIMATELY    THE    RELATIVE    DISTRIBUTION    OF 
MOSLEMS   IN   CHINA.     (Sec  article  o,i   Page  53) 


The  Moslem  World 


VOL.  XI  JANUARY.  1921 NO.  1 

A  PRAYER    FOR    MOHAMMEDANS 
EVERYWHERE 

Almighty  God,  our  Heavenly  Father,  Who  hast  made  of  one  blood 
all  nations,  and  hast  promised  that  many  shall  come  from  the  East 
and  sit  down  with  Abraham  in  Thy  Kingdom :  We  pray  for  Thy  two 
hundred  million  prodigal  children  in  Moslem  lands  who  are  still  afar 
off,  that  they  may  be  brought  nigh  by  the  blood  of  Christ.  Look  upon 
them  in  pity  because  they  are  ignorant  of  Thy  truth.  Take  away  their 
pride  of  intellect  and  blindness  of  heart,  and  reveal  to  them  the  sur- 
passing beauty  and  power  of  Thy  Son  Jesus  Christ.  Convince  them 
of  their  sin  in  rejecting  the  atonement  of  the  only  Saviour.  Give  moral 
courage  to  those  who  love  Thee,  that  they  may  boldly  confess  Thy  name. 
Hasten  the  day  of  perfect  freedom  in  Turkey,  Arabia,  Persia,  and  Af- 
ghanistan. Make  Thy  people  willing  in  this  new  day  of  opportunity 
in  China,  India,  and  Egypt.  Send  forth  reapers  where  the  harvest  is 
ripe,  and  faithful  plowmen  to  break  furrows  in  lands  still  neglected. 
May  the  pagan  tribes  of  Africa  and  Malaysia  not  fall  a  prey  to  Islam, 
but  be  won  for  Christ.  Bless  the  ministry  of  healing  in  every  hospital, 
and  the  ministry  of  love  at  every  mission  station.  May  all  Moslem 
children  in  mission  schools  be  led  to  Christ  and  accept  Him  as  their 
personal  Saviour.  Strengthen  converts,  restore  backsliders,  and  give  all 
those  who  labor  among  Mohammedans  the  tenderness  of  Christ,  so 
that  bruised  reeds  may  become  pillars  of  His  church,  and  smoking  flax- 
wicks  burning  and  shining  lights.  Make  bare  Thine  arm,  O  God,  and 
show  Thy  power.  All  our  expectation  is  from  Thee.  Father,  the  hour 
has  come;  glorify  Thy  Son  in  the  Mohammedan  world,  and  fulfill 
through  Him  the  prayer  of  Abraham  Thy  friend,  "Oh,  that  Ishmael 
might  live  before  Thee."    For  Jesus'  sake.    Amen. 


GOVERNMENT  AND  ISLAM  IN  AFRICA 

The  attitude  of  Christian  governments  towards  the 
ancient  religions  professed  by  nations  under  their  rule, 
and  in  particular  towards  Islam,  is  one  of  the  most  dif- 
ficult and  delicate  problems  of  colonial  politics.  The 
question  came  up  for  consideration  by  Commission  VII 
(Missions  and  Governments)  of  the  Edinburgh  Con- 
ference in  1910,  but  the  matter  was  not  fully  debated,  and 
the  finding  of  the  Commission,  so  far  as  the  British  Gov- 
ernment was  concerned,  took  the  following,  somewhat 
too  deferential,  form :  "It  is  not  singular  that,  in  the  ef- 
fort to  give  to  Mohammedanism  the  outward  respect  due 
to  it  in  a  region  peopled  by  its  adherents,  the  British 
officials  should  sometimes  'lean  over  backward.'  But 
the  Commission  is  of  the  opinion  that  in  Egypt,  the 
Sudan  and  Northern  Nigeria  the  restrictions  deliber- 
ately laid  upon  Christian  mission  work  and  the  deference 
paid  to  Islam  are  excessive,  and  that  a  respectful  remon- 
strance should  be  made  to  the  British  Government  on 
the  subject."'  Whether  or  no  the  "respectful  remon- 
strance" was  presented  I  do  not  know,  and  whether  or 
no  the  Government  vouchsafed  any  reply  or  attempted 
any  vindication  of  its  action  I  cannot  say;  but  this  much 
is  certain,  that  though  nearly  ten  years  have  elapsed 
since  the  adoption  of  the  above  mentioned  resolution, 
matters  remain  very  much  in  statu  quo  ante,  and  col- 
onial governments  still  assume  the  right  to  inhibit  Chris- 
tian missions  from  entering  certain  spheres,  and  in  par- 
ticular from  prosecuting  missionary  operations  in  Is- 
lamic territory.  How  this  policy  of  control  and  restric- 
tion arose,  what  it  implies,  and  why  Christian  mission- 
aries call  for  its  reconsideration  and  reversal,  it  will  be 
my  endeavor  in  this  article  to  show. 

'  Report  of  World  Missionary  Conference,  Vol.   VII,  p.   113. 

2 


GOVERNMENT  AND  ISLAM  IN  AFRICA  3 

I. 

In  former  centuries  the  attitude  of  Europeans  gen- 
erally towards  Islam  was  one  of  unqualified  antagonism. 
It  was  the  heritage  of  the  long-drawn  struggle  of  the 
Crusades,  and  a  reflection  of  the  anxiety  and  terror  of 
the  time  when  Moorish  armies  overran  the  Iberian 
peninsula  and  the  'infidel  Turk'  knocked  at  the  gates  of 
Vienna.  In  those  ages  it  would  have  been  accounted 
treason  for  any  man  to  utter  a  word  of  appreciation  of 
the  character  of  Mohammed  or  of  the  religion  which  he 
founded.  The  temper  of  the  time  can  be  gauged  by 
the  contemptuous  language  of  Sir  Thomas  Herbert,'  who 
travelled  in  Asia  in  the  early  years  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  or  it  may  be  illustrated  by  the  following  quota- 
tion from  Hugh  Broughton  (t  161 2)  :  "Now  consider 
this  Moamed  or  Machumed,  whom  God  gave  up  to  a 
blind  mind,  being  a  poor  man  till  he  married  a  widow; 
wealthy  then  and  of  high  countenance,  having  the  fall- 
ing sickness  and  being  tormented  by  the  devil,  whereby 
the  widow  was  sorry  that  she  had  matched  with  him. 
He  persuaded  her,  by  himself  and  others,  that  his  fits 
were  but  a  trance  wherein  he  talked  with  the  angel  Ga- 
briel. So,  in  time,  the  impostor  was  reputed  a  prophet 
of  God,  and  from  Judaism,  Arius,  Nestorius  and  his  own 
brain  he  frameth  a  doctrine."* 

During  the  past  half  century,  however,  the  general 
attitude  towards  Islam  has  undergone  a  momentous 
change,  and  public  opinion,  even  in  distinctively  Chris- 
tian circles,  is  fast  veering  round  to  the  opposite  extreme. 
Forgetful  of  Dr.  Joseph  Parker's  warning — spoken  as 
jest,  but  meant  in  dead  earnest — "There  are  compara- 
tive religions,  but  Christianity  is  not  one  of  them," 
many  modern  writers  have  covered  Mohammed's  career 
and  character  with  a  halo  of  glory,  and  lauded  his  re- 
ligious and  ethical  system  as  not  merely  equal  but  super- 
ior to  Christianity  in  its  adaptation  to  the  needs  of  unciv- 
ilized and  semi-civilized  races  and  communities.  Two 
causes,  among  others,  have  brought  about  this  change  of 

'Some  Years  Travels  into  Africa  and  Asia  the  Great  (III  Ed.  1677)  pp.  320  seq. 
•  Quoted  in  Zwemer's  Islam,  p.  40. 


4  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

attitude,  one  academic  and  the  other  practicaL  The 
academic  cause  was  the  more  careful  and  systematic 
study  of  the  life  and  writings  of  Mohammed  undertaken 
by  enthusiastic  students  of  the  new  science  of  "Compara- 
tive Religion."  The  practical  cause  was  the  acquisition 
of  Moslem  territory  by  Christian  powers,  which  cast  up- 
on the  latter  the  responsibility  of  governing  their  new 
subjects  in  justice  and  equity,  and  compelled  them  to  ex- 
change their  traditional  antagonism  for  a  conciliatory 
and  protective  attitude. 

Leaving  out  of  account  the  epoch-making  lecture 
of  Carlyle,  delivered  in  1840,  on  "The  Hero  as  Prophet" 
(Mohammed),  the  earliest  writer  to  set  a  current  of  pub- 
lic opinion  favourable  to  Islam  was  R.  Bosworth  Smith, 
who  in  1874  lectured  before  the  Royal  Institution  on  Mo- 
hammed and  Mohammedanism.  When  his  papers  ap- 
peared in  book  form*  an  admirer  said  of  them :  "We  are 
very  much  mistaken  if  this  work  does  not  form  an  im- 
portant starting-point  on  the  road  to  a  more  tolerant — 
if  not  sympathetic — view,  among  popular  readers,  of 
the  chief  religion  of  the  Oriental  world."  Bosworth 
Smith  was  followed  by  Dr.  E.  W.  Blyden,  a  Negro,  whose 
magazine  articles,  republished  in  1887  under  the  title 
"Christianity,  Islam  and  the  Negro  Race,"  institute  a 
comparison  between  Christianity  and  Mohammedanism, 
very  much  in  favor  of  the  latter,  in  their  influence  upon 
the  native  African.  Coming  from  a  learned  and  elo- 
quent Negro,  who  had  enjoyed  a  wide  experience  of  edu- 
cational and  administrative  work  in  West  Africa,  this 
book  made  a  profound  impression,  and  echoes  of  its 
main  tenets  are  found  in  the  pages  of  many  later  writers. 
The  refrain  of  panegyric  was  taken  up  by  Winwood 
Reade,*  the  traveller.  Canon  Isaac  Taylor,'  the  philo- 
logist, Joseph  Thomson,'  the  explorer,  C.  D.  Morel,*  the 
publicist,  and  C.  H.  Becker,*  professor  in  the  Kolonial- 

*  Mohammed  and  Mohammedanism:  Lectures  delivered  at  the  Royal  Insitution  of 
Great  Britain  by  R.  Bosworth  Smith,  M.  A.,  Assistant  Master  in  Harrow  School  (London, 
1874>. 

*  Savage  Africa  (1864),  The  African  Sketchbook  (1873),  and  The  Martyrdom  of  Man 
(XVII  Ed.  1903). 

'Leaves  from  an  Egyptian  Notebook  (1888),  and  letters  to  the  Times  on  "Islam  in 
Africa." 

'  "Mohemmedanism  in  Central  Africa"   in  the  Contemporary  Review  (Dec.   1886). 

'Affairs  of  West  Africa   (1902)   pp.  208  seq. 

•"fst  der  Islam  eine  Gefahr  fur  unsere  Kolenien?"  in  Koloniale  Rundschov,  1909,  pp. 
266  leq. 


GOVERNMENT  AND  ISLAM  IN  AFRICA  5 

institut  at  Hamburg.  A  single  quotation  will  suffice  to 
show  the  attitude  of  this  school  of  writers.  Winwood 
Reade  in  his  "Savage  Africa"  speaks  as  follows:  "The 
(African)  continent  is  being  civilized;  the  Africans  are 
being  converted  by  means  of  a  Religion.  It  is  the  same 
religion  which  under  different  names  and  forms  has  civ- 
ilized the  Hebrews  through  Moses  and  the  Western 
world  through  Jesus  Christ  .  .  .  Mohammed  a  ser- 
vant of  God,  redeemed  the  Eastern  world.  His  followers 
are  redeeming  Africa"  (p.  578) .  "Let  us  judge  things  by 
their  results.  It  saves  argument.  The  African  pagans 
and  the  African  Mohammedans  may  be  seen  side  by 
side  on  the  same  river — the  Casemanche.  The  first  are 
drunkards,  gamblers,  swine;  as  diseased  in  body  as  de- 
based in  mind.  The  latter  are  practical  Christians. 
They  are  sober;  truthful;  constant  in  their  devotions; 
strictly  honest.  They  treat  kindly  those  who  are  below 
them;  they  do  their  duty  to  their  neighbours"  (p.  584). 
It  is  but  just,  however,  towards  both  Bosworth  Smith  and 
Joseph  Thomson  to  state  that  they  repudiated  the  conclu- 
sions which  some  critics  drew  from  their  language,  as 
though  Islam  were  a  religion  superior  to  Christianity, 
and  maintained  their  belief  that  Christianity  as  a  creed 
was  "far  more  elevating,  far  more  majestic,  far  more  in- 
spiring" than  its  rival.  "If  then,"  says  Bosworth  Smith, 
"we  believe  Christianity  to  be  truer  and  purer  in  itself 
than  Islam,  and  than  any  other  religion,  we  must  needs 
wish  others  to  be  partakers  of  it;  and  the  effort  to  propa- 
gate it  is  thrice  blessed — it  blesses  him  that  offers  no  less 
than  him  that  accepts  it,  nay,  it  often  blesses  him  who 
accepts  it  not." 

Turn  we  now  from  the  academical  to  the  practical 
school.  The  growth  of  the  spirit  of  toleration  towards 
Islam  can  be  studied  in  the  utterances  and  policy  of  the 
series  of  able  administrators  whom  Great  Britain  sent 
out  to  Egypt  during  the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  General  Gordon  was  undoubtedly  a  most  sin- 
cere if  somewhat  peculiar  Christian,  and  his  relations 
with  the  Moslems  over  whom  he  ruled  are  there- 
fore of  the  greatest  interest.    Writing  to  his  sister  from 


6  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Rageef  (Redjaf)  on  the  Upper  Nile  in  1874  ^^  says:  "I 
have  made  them  make  a  mosque  and  keep  their  Ramad- 
han,  which  they  never  paid  any  attention  to  before  I 
came."  "  And  three  years  later  he  writes  from  Dara : 
"When  the  Egyptians  seized  the  country  they  took  the 
mosque  here  for  a  powder-magazine.  I  had  it  cleared 
out  and  restored  for  worship,  and  endowed  the  priests 
and  crier,  and  had  a  great  ceremony  at  the  opening  of 
of  it.  This  is  a  great  coup.  They  blessed  me  and  cursed 
Sebehr  Pasha  who  took  the  mosque  from  them.  To  me 
it  appears  that  the  Mussulman  worships  God  as  well  as 
I  do,  and  is  as  acceptable,  if  sincere,  as  any  Christian."" 
Lord  Cromer,  the  greatest  of  Egyptian  proconsuls,  uses 
the  following  language  in  describing  the  ideal  adminis- 
trator: "He  will  find  that  he  has  not,  as  in  India,  to  deal 
with  a  body  of  Moslems,  numerically  strong,  but  whose 
power  of  cohesion  is  enfeebled  from  their  being  scattered 
broadcast  amongst  a  population  five  times  as  numerous 
as  themselves,  who  hold  another  and  more  tolerant  creed. 
He  will  have  to  deal  with  a  smaller  but  more  compact 
body  of  Moslems,  who  are  more  subject  to  the  influences 
of  their  spiritual  leaders  than  their  co-religionists  in 
India.  He  will  do  his  best  under  the  circumstances.  He 
will  scrupulously  abstain  from  interference  in  religious 
matters.  He  will  be  eager  to  explain  that  proselytism 
forms  no  part  of  his  political  programme.  He  will 
scrupulously  respect  all  Moslem  observances.  He  will 
generally,  amidst  some  twinges  of  his  Sabbatarian  con- 
science, observe  Friday  as  a  holiday,  and  perform  the 
work  of  the  Egyptian  Government  on  Sunday."" 

On  all  fours  with  the  policy  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment in  Egypt  and  the  Eastern  Sudan  was  that  pursued 
in  the  Western  Sudan.  When  a  British  protectorate  was 
established  in  1903  over  the  Mohammedan  emirates  of 
Kano  and  Sokoto,  the  High  Commissioner  of  Northern 
Nigeria  (Sir  Frederick  Lugard)  declared  inter  alia: 
"Government  will  in  no  way  interfere  with  the  Moham- 

»G.  Birkbeck  Hill:  Colonel  Gordon  in  Central  Africa,  1874-1879  (London,  1881) 
p.   54. 

"  Ibid.     p.  248. 

»*I,ord  Cromer:    Modem  Egypt  (London,  1908)  Vol.  II,  pp.  141-2. 


GOVERNMENT  AND  ISLAM  IN  AFRICA  7 

medan  religion.  All  men  are  free  to  worship  God  as 
they  please.  Mosques  and  prayer-places  will  be  treated 
with  respect  by  us.""  That  was  the  policy.  Back  of  it 
lay  the  same  spirit  of  toleration  and  approbation  which 
we  observed  in  the  Egyptian  administration.  Captain 
C.  W.  J.  Orr,  one  of  Sir  F.  Lugard's  ablest  subordinates, 
voices  it  in  these  words :  "The  religion  of  Islam,  wher- 
ever it  prevails,  whether  at  the  courts  of  Constantinople, 
Delhi  or  Morocco,  or  in  the  less  ostentatious  govern- 
ments of  West  Africa,  is  uniform,  both  in  its  practice  and 
in  its  influences  on  the  minds  of  men.  The  'dead  hand 
of  Islam'  is  sometimes  spoken  of,  as  if  the  religion  were 
a  blight  which  withered  all  progress  amongst  the  nations 
who  profess  it,  though  the  Arabs  in  Spain  held  aloft  the 
torch  of  civilization  at  a  time  when  the  rest  of  Europe 
was  wrapped  in  darkness.  But  even  if  it  be  true  that 
Islam  lays  a  dead  hand  on  a  people  who  have  reached 
a  certain  standard  of  civilization,  it  is  impossible  to 
deny  its  quickening  influence  on  African  races  in  a  back- 
ward state  of  evolution.  Amongst  the  pagan  tribes  of 
Northern  Nigeria  it  is  making  its  converts  every  day, 
sweeping  away  drunkenness,  cannibalism  and  fetishism; 
mosques  and  markets  spring  into  existence,  and  the  pagan 
loses  his  exclusiveness,  and  learns  to  mingle  with  his  fel- 
lowmen.  To  the  Negro  Islam  is  not  sterile  or  lifeless. 
The  dead  hand  is  not  for  him."" 

11. 

Such  in  brief  compass  is  the  history  of  the  gradual 
spread  of  the  spirit  of  toleration  towards  the  creed  and 
practices  of  Islam.  In  so  far  as  this  change  of  attitude 
has  resulted  in  a  more  just  estimate  of  the  character  of 
Mohammed,  and  a  more  ungrudging  recognition  of  the 
measure  of  truth  and  virtue  that  is  found  in  Mohammed- 
anism, there  is  little  need  to  cavil  at  it.  But  the  advo- 
cates of  Islam  do  not  claim  toleration  for  the  followers 
of  the  Prophet  of  Mecca  in  the  sense  of  relief  from  perse-, 
cution.     I  know  of  no  Christian  government  that  perse- 

"Lady   Lugard:    A    Tropical    Dependency    (t,ondon,    190S)    p.    452. 
"Orr:    The  Making  of  Northern  Nigeria  (I<ondon   1911)  p.  259. 


8  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

cutes  or  penalizes  Mohammedans  for  the  faith  that  is 
in  them.  In  common  with  all  other  non-Christian  re- 
ligions Islam  is  not  merely  tolerated,  but  legally  pro- 
tected, by  the  Governments  of  Great  Britain,  France, 
Germany  (before  1915),  Holland,  Italy,  the  United 
States  and  even  (since  1905)  by  Russia.  The  toleration 
which  modern  defenders  of  Mohammedanism  demand 
means  practically  its  recognition  as  the  only  religion  suit- 
able to  races  in  a  certain  stage  of  evolution,  and  the  con- 
sequent exclusion  of  Christianity  and  Christian  missions 
from  areas  in  which  Islam  is  held  to  have  established  a 
prior  claim. 

The  policy  of  the  various  Christian  governments,  so 
far  as  Africa  is  concerned,  was  described  in  a  paper  by 
the  Rev.  W.  H.  T.  Gairdner,  of  Cairo,  read  before  the 
Lucknow  Conference  in  191 1."  France,  never  over 
friendly  to  missions  of  any  creed,  has  extended  permis- 
sion to  certain  Protestant  bodies  to  labour  among  the 
Moslems  of  Morocco,  Algiers  and  Tunis,  while  Roman 
Catholic  missionaries  in  those  states  enjoy  somewhat 
greater  freedom,  and  have  already  established  outposts 
in  the  Sahara.  The  attitude  of  the  German  Government 
before  the  War  was  summed  up  in  the  word  neutrality — 
which  we  shall  sometimes  find  to  be  not  incompatible 
with  a  distinct  partiality  for  Islam.  In  German  East 
Africa,  however.  Bishop  Peel,  of  Mombasa,  reported 
that  the  Government  "does  not  regard  the  Christian  re- 
ligion as  one  of  many,  but  as  the  one  religion  which  it 
can  recognize  as  paramount  and  unique."  The  Belgian 
authorities,  mindful  of  their  conflict  with  the  Arabs  in 
1892,  are  strongly  averse  to  re-admitting  Mohammedans 
into  their  Congo  colony,  and  have  encouraged  Christian 
missions,  both  Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant,  to  settle 
among  the  tribes  along  the  northern  border,  in  order  to 
stay  the  southward  advance  of  Mohammedanism. 

It  is  the  attitude  of  the  British  Government  that  gives 
rise  to  greatest  uneasiness  and  dissatisfaction.  In  Egypt, 
as  we  have  seen,  that  attitude  is  frankly  pro-Islam.    Re- 

'•  "Islam  under  Christian  Rule",  in  the  volume  Islam  and  Missions  (New  York  etc., 
1911)   pp.    195-205. 


GOVERNMENT  AND  ISLAM  IN  AFRICA  9 

ligious  education  in  the  government  schools  is  solely 
Koranic,  and  compulsory  for  Moslem  children,  while 
Coptic  children,  if  they  succeed  in  securing  any  religious 
instruction  at  all,  have  to  pay  extra  for  the  privilege. 
The  Gordon  College  at  Khartum  is  a  purely  Moham- 
medan institution,  where  the  Koran  is  taught  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  State.  In  West  Africa  matters  are  in  no 
better  condition.  One  missionary  brands  the  so-called 
"impartiality"  of  the  Government  as  "spurious."  Mo- 
hammedans are  preferred  to  Christians  as  soldiers,  clerks, 
and  personal  servants.  To  the  chieftainship  over  a  pagan 
tribe  is  appointed  not  infrequently  a  Mohammedan. 
Moslem  festivals  are  observed,  Moslem  customs  retained, 
Moslem  observances  respected,  and  Moslem  prejudicies 
deferred  to.  In  the  Nigerian  educational  code,  modelled 
on  that  of  Egypt,  provision  is  made  for  religious  instruc- 
tion to  be  imparted  to  the  scholars  by  "teachers  of  their 
own  creed,"  and  the  secular  instruction  consists  mainly 
of  lessons  in  reading  the  Koran  and  in  writing  the  Arabic 
script.  On  every  hand  is  observable  that  "excessive  de- 
ference" for  Islam,  against  which,  at  the  Edinburgh  Con- 
ference, so  many  voices  were  raised  in  indignant  expostu- 
lation. 

But  this  is  not  all.  Not  only  is  Mohammedanism  fos- 
tered under  the  specious  plea  of  toleration  and  neutrality, 
but  Christian  missions  are  forbidden  access  to  areas  in 
which  the  population  is  partly  or  wholly  Moslem.  The 
policy  of  the  Government  of  Northern  Nigeria  has  been 
more  than  once  defined,  and  by  no  one  more  clearly  than 
by  Mr.  E.  D.  Morel,  who  was  in  closest  touch  with  the 
authorities,  and  voices  their  opinion  with  a  candour 
which  is  absent  from  the  average  official  report.  His 
words  are  these: 

"The  advent  of  the  missionary  into  the  organized  Mohammedan 
provinces  of  the  north  before  the  country  is  ripe  to  receive  them,  v^^ould 
be  a  positive  danger,  besides  being  an  act  perilously  akin  to  a  breach 
of  faith.  Surely  we  have  become  sufficiently  intelligent  to  take  a 
broadly  human  view  of  these  things?  There  is  a  field  in  pagan  North- 
ern and  pagan  Southern  Nigeria  sufficiently  extensive  to  occupy  all 
the  energies  of  all  the  missions  put  together,  without  invading  the 
heart  of  Moslem  Nigeria.  The  advent  of  Christian  missions  into 
Kano.  Katsina  or  Sokoto.  for  examole.  would  be  regarded  as  an  act 


lo  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

of  aggression.  Their  presence  in  Zaria  is  a  great  mistake,  and  I  make 
bold  to  assert  that  it  is  only  comparable  to  a  man  smoking  a  pipe 
on  a  barrel  of  gunpowder.  We  hold  this  newly  occupied  country 
by  the  force  of  our  prestige,  far  more  than  by  the  very  small  number 
of  native  troops  in  our  service.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  government  to 
prevent  the  introduction  of  elements,  whatever  their  character  and 
however  lofty  their  motives,  whose  presence  is  calculated  to  cause  un- 
rest, is  sufficiently  self-evident  as  not  to  need  emphasizing. 

One  would  desire,  if  possible,  that  the  leaders  of  the  Christian 
churches  themselves  should  be  brought  to  appreciate  the  justice  of 
the  contention.  The  establishment  of  Christian  missions  in  the  Mo- 
hammedan Emirates  would  not  succeed  in  damming  up  the  self-pro- 
pelling currents  of  Islamic  propaganda  which  are  permeating  Nigerian 
paganism.  That  is  the  true  problem  which  the  churches  have  to 
face."" 

In  West  Africa,  as  elsewhere  over  the  globe,  the  relig- 
ious aspect  of  the  educational  question  forms  one  of  the 
most  urgent  problems  which  the  various  governments 
have  to  face.  Two  questions  present  themselves  for  solu- 
tion, (a)  shall  native  education  be  religious  or  non-relig- 
ious? and  (b)  if  religious,  shall  it  be  Christian  or  Mos- 
lem? Both  questions  are  so  answered  as  to  exclude 
Christian  religious  instruction.  The  Gold  Coast  Govern- 
ment looks  askance  at  mission  schools,  and  has  established 
non-religious  schools  of  its  own,  to  which  the  Ashantee 
people  are  invited  to  send  their  children.  In  the  Report 
presented  to  the  British  Parliament  in  1905  Mr.  G.  F.  C. 
Fuller,  the  Chief  Commissioner,  said :  "A  few  chiefs  in 
the  northwest  and  northeast  districts  are  willing  and  even 
anxious  that  their  children  should  acquire  knowledge  at 
these  schools  (of  the  Wesleyan  and  Basel  missions),  but 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  progress  made  among  the 
Ashantee  from  an  educational  point  of  view  has  been  in- 
significant. This  is  not  altogether  due  to  a  contempt  of 
learning  on  the  part  of  the  Ashantee.  It  can  be  greatly 
ascribed  to  suspicion  of  the  Christianizing  tendencies 
of  these  denominational  schools.  Native  Christian  con- 
verts cut  themselves  so  completely  adrift  from  the  rest 
of  the  community,  that  the  chiefs  are  afraid  to  encour- 
age a  movement  that  experience  tells  them  will,  in  course 
of  time,  undermine  their  power.  Until  undenomina- 
tional government  schools  are  established  throughout  the 
country  little  educational  progress  need  be  looked  for."" 

"Morel:  Nigeria:  Its  Peoples  and  Its  Problems  (London,  1912)   p.   153. 
^^  Report,   8  aVII    (Education). 


GOVERNMENT  AND  ISLAM  IN  AFRICA  ii 

The  policy  foreshadowed  in  this  Report  was  carried  out 
a  few  years  later.  In  March  191 2  the  Government  Com- 
missioner addressed  a  circular  to  the  Ashantee  chiefs, 
which  notified  them  of  the  proposed  establishment  of 
government  non-religious  schools,  and  contained  the  fol- 
lowing: "Education,  as  given  by  the  Government,  does 
not  necessitate  any  change  of  religion,  as  in  the  case  of 
mission  schools,  on  the  part  of  the  scholars.  Boys  can 
attend  school,  and  learn  reading,  writing,  arithmetic  and 
other  useful  things,  and  still  remain  faithful  to  the  be- 
liefs, customs  and  traditions  of  their  ancestors."" 

In  the  Gold  Coast  Colony,  then,  the  question  whether 
or  no  religious  instruction  should  have  a  place  in  the 
school  curriculum  is  answered  in  the  negative,  and  mis^ 
sion  schools  are  held  up  to  suspicion  and  implicitly  cen- 
sured for  their  "Christianizing  tendencies."  The  same 
question  is  answered  in  precisely  the  opposite  way  by 
the  Government  of  Northern  Nigeria  (for  the  Moham- 
medan areas,  at  least),  and  it  is  distinctly  declared  that 
instruction  shall  be  religious,  but  Moslem.  Let  us  lis- 
ten again  to  Mr.  Morel's  faithful  interpretation  of  the 
Government's  policy:  "It  is  the  intention  of  the  Admin- 
istration to  insist  that  all  pupils  receive  careful  religious 
instruction  from  teachers  of  their  own  creed.  When  I 
visited  the  schools,  lessons  in  reading  and  writing  the 
Koran  were  being  given  by  a  Kano  mallam  specially 
selected  by  the  Emir  of  Kano,  somewhat  on  the  model 
of  the  Egyptian  schools.  It  is  earnestly  to  be  hoped  that 
Colonial  Office  will  resist  any  attempt  at  interference 
with  this  policy.  Interference  would  be  disastrous. 
*  *  *  Let  us  once  more  turn  to  the  pages  of  Mr.  Chi- 
rol's"  weighty  volume,  and  note  the  consequences  which 
have  followed  the  elimination  of  religious  instruction 
from  the  government  schools.  To  allow  a  weakening 
of  the  spiritual  forces  at  work  among  the  peoples  of  the 
Northern  Hausa  States  would  be  to  perpetuate  a  cruel 
wrong  upon  those  who  have  come  under  our  protection 
and  from  thenceforth  are  our  wards."  ** 

"Circular    letter   dated    11    March    1912,    fourth    paragraph. 

*•  The  reference  is  to  Sir  Valentine  Chirol's  volume  on  Indian  Unrest  (Macmillan). 

**  Nigeria,  pp.    164-5. 


12  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

But  the  Administration  of  Northern  Nigeria  is  guilty 
of  grave  inconsistency.  While  in  the  northern  states  it 
"insists"  on  religious  instruction,  in  the  southern  prov- 
inces it  is  establishing,  alongside  of  existing  mission 
schools,  a  system  of  government  religionless  schools  on 
the  lines  of  the  Gold  Coast  policy.  The  northern  prov- 
inces are  Mohammedan,  the  southern  are  still  chiefly 
pagan.  What  is  sauce  for  the  Mohammedan  goose  is 
plainly  not  intended  to  be  sauce  for  the  pagan  gander. 
It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  educational  policy  of  the 
British  Government  in  West  Africa  is  clear  injustice. 
Beginning  with  the  plea  of  toleration  and  the  profession 
of  neutrality  as  between  religion  and  religion,  it  ends  by 
obstructing  Christian  missions  and  practically  disowning 
Christianity.  If  the  field  of  its  operations  is  Moslem, 
religious  instruction  is  to  be  insisted  on;  if  the  field  is 
pagan,  religious  instruction  is  to  be  excluded  from  the 
school  curriculum.  To  the  former  field  Christian  mis- 
sions are  denied  the  right  of  entry;  in  the  latter  they  are 
rendered  suspicious  in  the  eyes  of  the  natives  by  the 
Government's  attitude,  and  their  educational  work  is  ham- 
pered by  the  powerful  competition  of  the  government 
schools. 

III. 

In  the  above  rapid  review  of  the  situation,  as  it  now 
presents  itself,  some  indication  has  been  given,  in  the 
various  extracts  from  official  and  semi-official  sources,  of 
the  arguments  by  which  the  government  policy  is  sup- 
ported. Broadly  speaking,  these  arguments  may  be  re- 
duced to  three:  (i)  Christian  missions  in  Mohammedan 
areas  are  a  menace  to  peace  and  quiet;  (2)  Christian 
schools  and  Christian  missions  generally  exercise  a  de- 
nationalizing influence  on  the  native  and  "destroy  racial 
identity"  (Morel)  ;  (3)  Experience  proves  that  Islam  is 
better  adapted  to  the  African  than  Christianity,  and  in 
point  of  fact  it  is  making  much  more  rapid  headway. 
These  arguments,  which  have  been  examined  and  fre- 
quently refuted  by  more  competent  writers,  I  propose 
once  more  to  traverse. 

( I )   Christian  missions  are  a  menace  to  peace  and  quiet 


GOVERNMENT  AND  ISLAM  IN  AFRICA  13 

in  Moslem  territories,  and,  "that  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
Government  to  prevent  the  introduction  of  elements, 
whatever  their  character  and  however  lofty  their  motives, 
whose  presence  is  calculated  to  cause  unrest,  is  sufficiently 
self-evident  not  to  need  emphasisiing"  (Morel).  So 
runs  the  argument.  The  major  premise  in  the  syllo- 
gism— that  it  is  the  duty  of  Government  to  exclude  danger- 
ous elements  may  be  conceded ;  but  the  minor  premise — 
that  Christian  missions  constitute  such  an  element  of  dan- 
ger— must  be  resolutely  denied.  Can  this  charge  against 
Christain  missionaries  be  substantiated  by  those  who  lay 
it?  Has  the  tactful  preaching  of  the  Gospel  ever  caused 
trouble  in  Moslem  lands?  And  why  should  missionaries, 
in  defiance  of  the  most  elementary  principle  of  justice, 
be  held  guilty  until  they  have  proved  their  innocence? 
"Their  presence  in  Zaria,"  says  Mr.  Morel,  "is  a  great 
mistake,  and  I  make  bold  to  assert  that  it  is  only  compar- 
able to  a  man  smoking  a  pipe  on  a  barrel  of  gunpowder." 
Not  a  particle  of  evidence  is  adduced  to  support  this  ac- 
cusation. Dr.  Walter  Miller,  the  missionary  in  question, 
has  spent  thirteen  years  in  Zaria,  on  sufferance,  and  I 
am  not  aware  that  any  act  of  provocation  has  been  laid 
to  his  charge.  The  fear  that  the  presence  of  Christian 
missionaries  in  Moslem  areas  will  lead  to  disturbances 
and  complications  is  sufficiently  dispelled  by  the  fact 
that  they  have  laboured  for  years,  not  only  in  the  chief 
cities  of  Turkey  and  Syria,  but  in  such  strongholds  of 
Islam  as  Cairo,  Tripoli  and  Morocco.  When  the  perti- 
fient  question  is  put,  "When  will  Christian  missions  cease 
to  be  a  menace  to  the  public  peace  and  safety?"  the  reply 
is,  "When  things  are  more  settled."  Says  Captain  Orr :  "It 
has  been  deemed  prudent  by  the  authorities  to  restrict 
missionary  enterprise  in  the  northern  Mohammedan 
states  until  railway  communication  has  rendered  the  mili- 
tary situation  more  secure.""  This  was  written  in  191 1. 
The  railway  reached  Kano  in  the  same  year,  and  still 
missionaries  are  excluded.  How  much  more  time  must 
be  allowed  for  the  military  situation  to  be  rendered 
"secure?" 

**  The  Making  of  Northern  Nigeria,   p.   261. 


14  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

It  is  not  surprising  that  this  line  of  argument  has  been 
abandoned  by  the  most  recent  apologist  for  the  govern- 
ment policy  of  exclusion.  Mr.  C.  L.  Temple,  until  late- 
ly Lieutenant-Governor  of  Northern  Nigeria,  says 
very  frankly:  "Personally,  and  as  expressing  a  private 
opinion,  I  do  not  think  that  the  Moslem  population  of 
Kano  would  raise  any  objection  to  such  a  mission  qua 
mission  and  on  religious  grounds,  so  long  as  the  mission- 
aries were  white  men  and  so  long  as  they  did  not  preach 
openly  in  the  streets.  A  medical  mission  on  the  line  of 
the  North  African  missions  would  probably  not  raise 
any  protest  owing  to  any  fear  on  the  part  of  the  Moham- 
medans lest  many  of  their  creed  should  be  converted."" 
Such  an  admission,  coming  from  such  an  authority,  than 
whom  no  European  has  a  wider  or  more  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  the  religious  and  political  situation  in  Northern 
Nigeria,  is  of  the  utmost  moment.  It  marks  the  failure 
of  the  pipe-and-gunpowder  theory.  We  may  take  it  as 
signifying  that  the  fear  that  Christian  missionaries  'are 
likely  to  cause  religious  disturbances  in  Moslem  com- 
munities may  be  dismissed  for  good  and  all. 

There  is  another  question  which  should  be  considered 
at  this  stage,  before  we  pass  to  the  next  aspect  of  the 
subject  under  discussion.  It  is  this,  if  the  claim  of  Gov- 
ernment to  decide  whether  Christian  missions  shall  or 
shall  not  enter  any  given  field,  is  to  be  tacitly  acknowl- 
edged. A  missionary  of  the  Cross  possesses  the  right,  as 
he  stands  under  the  command,  to  evangelize  all  nations — 
a  right  which  he  does  well  to  assert,  and  perhaps  also 
does  well  to  forego.  On  the  one  hand  he  may  act  on 
the  principle  enunciated  by  Graham  Wilmot  Brooke, 
when  about  to  embark  on  the  dangerous  enterprise  of 
undertaking  evangelistic  work  in  the  Western  Sudan : 
"As  the  missionaries  enter  the  Moslem  states  under  the 
necessity  of  violating  the  law  of  Islam,  which  forbids 
anyone  to  endeavour  to  turn  Moslems  to  Christ,  they 
could  not,  under  any  circumstances,  ask  for  British  inter- 
vention to  extricate  them  from  the  dangers  they  thus  call 
down  upon  themselves.     But  also  for  the  sake    of    the 

^  Native  Races  and  Their  Rulers,   (Capetown,    1918)    p.   214. 


GOVERNMENT  AND  ISLAM  IN  AFRICA  15 

natives,  who  have  to  be  urged  to  brave  the  wrath  of  man 
for  Christ's  sake,  it  is  necessary  that  the  missionaries 
should  themselves  take  the  lead  in  facing  these  dangers."'' 

Circumstances  may  conceivably  arise  in  which  a  mis- 
sionary's obedience  to  the  earthly  government  is  super- 
seded by  a  higher  obligation,  and  he  is  constrained  to 
say:  We  must  obey  God  rather  than  men.  In  such  cases 
he  will  readily  submit,  for  Christ's  sake  and  the  Gospel's, 
to  the  pains  and  penalties  which  may  overtake  him  in 
consequence  of  his  transgression  of  human  laws.  But 
for  the  most  part  the  Christian  missionary  will  recognize 
that  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God,  and  do 
not  bear  the  sword  in  vain.  He  will  therefore  subject 
himself  to  the  ordinance  of  man,  in  order  by  well-doing 
to  put  to  silence  the  ignorance  of  foolish  men.  While  in 
no  wise  surrendering  or  compromising  his  right  to  preach 
the  Gospel  to  every  creature,  he  will  not  obstinately  in- 
sist upon  it,  but  will  rather  seek  by  the  exercise  of  pa- 
tience and  forbearance,  to  persuade  the  government  to 
remove  irksome  restrictions,  and  permit  judicious  and 
experienced  men  to  enter  closed  areas."  In  any  case, 
we  should  remember  that  it  is  never  our  duty  to  force 
locked  doors,  but  rather  to  enter  those  that  stand  ajar; 
and  as  regards  the  former  to  wait  until  such  time  as,  in 
response  to  the  prayer  of  faith,  the  iron  gates  will  open 
of  their  own  accord. 

(2)  Christian  missions  denationalize  the  native — is  the 
second  reason  adduced  against  missionary  effort  among 
Moslems.  All  through  his  book""  Mr.  Morel  rings  the 
changes  on  this  note  with  refreshing  straightforwardness, 
and  Mr.  Temple  brings  the  same  charge  in  more  circum- 
spect and  diplomatic  language.  ''While  Islam  preserves 
racial  identity,  Christianity  destroys  it,"  says  the  former 
bluntly.  Mr.  Temple,  as  we  have  seen  above,  rejects  the 
old  contention  that  missions  should  be  barred  through 
dread  of  fanatical  outbreaks.     But  he  admits  that  the 

^'Quoted  by  Speer:  Missionary  Principles  and  Practice  (New  York  ,  1902)  p.  102. 

**  To  the  acquiescent  and  conciliatory  attitude  of  missionaries  in  Northern  Nigeria 
Captain  Orr  bears  the  following  testimony:  "Missionaries  in  Northern  Nigeria  have.  I 
think,  always  shown  themselves  most  anxious  to  avoid  embarrassing  the  Government, 
and  have  loyally  acquiesced  in  all  decisions,  even  when  these  have  conflicted  with 
their  own  opinions ;  and  a  frank  discussion  between  residents  and  missionaries  has 
usually   had    satisfactory    results."      Making   of    Northern    Nigeria,    p.    264. 

'^Nigeria,  pp.  xx,   153-4,   160,  214,  216,   219-221,   260. 


i6  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

North-Nigerian  Government  has  forbidden  mission 
from  entering  certain  spheres,  and  justifies  this  policy  in 
the  following  way:  "If  we  allow  the  authority  of  native 
administrations  to  become  ineffective — the  native  will 
cease  to  be,  though  primitive,  robust  mentally  and  physic- 
ally, and  will  become  a  kind  of  nondescript  colourless 
entity,  aping  in  a  lackadaisical  and  futile  manner  the 
appearance  and  shibboleths  of  the  Europeans,  all  the 
time  knowing  in  his  heart  that  he  is  not  and  can  never 
become  one  of  them.  Such  is  the  future  which  we  can 
easily  prepare  for  the  native  by  divorcing  him  from  his 
inherited  instincts,  customs  and  natural  surroundings. 
Nor  have  we  any  reason  to  suppose — in  fact,  the  evidence 
all  points  in  the  opposite  direction — that  well-meaning 
but  misapplied  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  missionary  are 
any  less  conducive  to  such  deplorable  results  than  are  well- 
intentioned  but  ill-considered  measures  taken  by  the  gov- 
ernment. Any  and  every  influence,  I  contend,  which  out- 
rages the  pride  of  race  should  be  opposed  by  the  govern- 
ment in  the  interests  of  the  governing  as  well  as  of  the  gov- 
erned races."** 

Now  no  one  is  swifter  than  Mr.  Temple  himself  to 
perceive  that  this  is  an  argument  which  applies  to  non- 
Christian  races  all  over  the  globe,  and  not  in  any  sense 
to  Moslems  only.  If  the  validity  of  the  reasoning  in  the 
above  quotation  be  allowed,  it  would  shut  the  door  upon 
Christian  missionary  enterprise  to  Chinese  and  Japanese, 
Australians  and  Papuans,  American  Indians  and  African 
Bantu,  quite  as  securely  as  to  Nigerian  Moslems.  The 
only  rejoinder  Mr.  Temple  vouchsafes  is:  "This  is  true, 
but  methods  of  government  not  having  been  as  yet  re- 
duced to  the  rules  of  an  exact  science,  it  is  not  expedient 
in  every  case  to  push  an  argument  to  its  full  logical  con- 
clusions." That  is  all  very  well ;  but  is  not  the  missionary 
justified  in  distributing  the  logic  that  can  lead  to  so  mon- 
strous a  conclusion?  The  fact  is,  as  I  have  pointed  out 
elsewhere,"  and  as  has  been  shewn  far  more  ably  by  the 
reviewer  of  Mr.  Temple's  book  in  the  International  Re- 

"Native  Races  and  Their  Rulers,  p.   215-6. 

"  Review  of  "Native  Races  and  Their  Rulers"  in  the  Christian  Express  (I,ovedale) 
for  May  1919   (p.  73). 


GOVERNMENT  AND  ISLAM  IN  AFRICA  17 

view  of  Missions,  that  the  Nigerian  Government  claims 
both  the  ability  to  judge  and  the  right  to  decide  whether 
Christian  missionaries  shall  be  permitted  to  occupy  and 
evangelize  not  Mohammedan  areas  only,  but  also  pagan 
tribes.  "No  Prussian,  in  fact,  has  claimed  more  power 
for  the  state  than  has  the  Colonial  Office  in  recent  years."" 
But  this  is  somewhat  aside  from  our  present  point,  which 
is  that  as  a  special  argument  against  Christian  propa- 
ganda in  Mohammedan  areas,  the  denationalization  plea 
falls  to  the  ground. 

It  should  hardly  be  necessary,  I  take  it,  to  dwell  on  the 
obvious  truth,  so  often  emphasized,  but  apparently  not 
yet  grasped  by  those  who  wring  their  hands  over  the  de- 
nationalization of  the  native,  that  it  is  not  Christianity, 
but  Western  civilization,  they  should  arraign.  Chris- 
tianity, rightly  interpreted  and  rightly  preached,  is  not 
a  disintegrating  but  a  consolidating  force.  It  made  a 
nation  of  the  Baganda  when  they  were  rent  by  faction, 
and  seemed  to  be  hopelessly  given  over  to  the  action  of 
centrifugal  forces.  It  enabled  Moshesh  to  gather  the 
remnants  of  the  scattered  Basuto  tribes,  and  to  mould 
them  into  the  compact  nation  that  now  occupies  the 
Switzerland  of  South  Africa.  It  fortified  Khama  in  his 
determination  to  protect  his  people  from  the  evils  of  the 
drink  traffic,  so  that  the  Bamangwato  are  today  the  most 
populous  and  most  influential  of  Bechuana  tribes.  It 
is  true  that  there  is  a  process  of  denationalization  at 
work,  not  in  West  Africa  only,  but  in  East  Africa,  in 
the  Congo,  in  South  Africa,  and  indeed  all  over  the  con- 
tinent, but  it  operates  not  because  of,  but  in  spite  of, 
Christian  influences.  I  grant  that  there  are  missions 
which  have  unwisely  introduced  European  clothing  and 
a  European  system  of  education  for  their  pupils,  but  they 
are  the  exception.  In  the  vast  majority  of  missions — in 
practically  all  which  I  was  privileged  to  visit  in  the  years 
1913-1916 — native  dress  is  insisted  on,  and  instruction  is 
imparted  in  the  vernacular  and  on  approved  pedagogic 
principles. 

It  is  not  Christianity  which,  throughout  the  African 

'*  Review  of  "Native  Races  and  Their  Rulers"  in  the  International  Review  of  Mis' 
sions,  April   1919    (p.   266). 


i8  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

continent,  is  acting  as  a  solvent  upon  old-time  customs 
and  native  tribal  organization,  but  the  incessant  and  in- 
evitable impact  of  civilization.  Against  this  impact  there 
is  no  appeal  and  no  remedy.  For  better  or  for  worse 
the  African  lies  open  to  the  influx  of  a  foreign  element, 
w^hich  must  profoundly  modify  his  ancient  habits  of 
thought  and  life.  This  influx  allows  neither  room  nor 
time  for  a  gradual  evolution:  the  peoples  of  the  Dark 
Continent  are  in  the  grip  of  a  mighty  revolution.  In  a 
year,  in  a  day,  they  pass  through  an  evolutionary  process, 
which  for  our  ancestors  occupied  a  thousand  years.  For 
the  African  it  is  but  a  step  from  the  assegai  to  the  Lee- 
Metford  rifle,  from  the  machila  to  the  motor-car,  from 
the  notched  stick  to  the  multiplication  table,  and  from 
drum  and  beacon-fire  to  the  telephone  and  the  Marconi- 
graph.  Can  we  wonder  if  at  times  the  new  knowledge 
goes  to  his  head  like  new  wine,  filling  him  with  pride 
and  self-importance,  and  leading  him  to  discard  as  ob- 
solete what  is  good  as  well  as  what  is  evil  in  his  ancestral 
customs?  These  are  the  influences  that  make  for  de- 
nationalization, not  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel.  The 
railway-station  at  Kano  is  a  more  potent  solvent  of  Mos- 
lem custom  than  a  Christian  church  would  be. 

(3)  The  final  plea  employed  in  this  connection  runs: 
When  all's  said  and  done,  Islam  is  better  adapted  to 
Africa  and  to  the  cultural  stage  of  the  African  than 
Christianity.  Mr.  Morel  reinforces  his  own  vigorous 
arguments  for  this  position  by  triumphantly  quoting  Sir 
Harry  Johnston  to  the  effect  that  "Islam  has  come  to 
Negro  Africa  as  a  great  blessing,  raising  up  savages  to 
a  state,  at  any  rate,  of  semi-civilization,  making  them  God- 
fearing, self-respecting,  temperate,  courageous  and  pic- 
turesque."** That  Islam  possesses  certain  estimable 
qualities  may  be  freely  conceded.  It  is,  for  the  African, 
an  indigenous  and  not  a  foreign  faith;  it  represents  a 
great  advance  upon  the  crude  fetishism  and  idolatry 
which  it  endeavours  to  supercede;  it  has  a  simple  and 
easily  comprehensible  creed — the  simplest  and  shortest 
in  the  world;  it  preaches  the  brotherhood  and  equality  of 

^Nigeria,  p.  219. 


GOVERNMENT  AND  ISLAM  IN  AFRICA  19 

all  believers;  it  is  not  a  decadent  belief,  but  a  living,  ac- 
tive, self-propagating  religion.  Let  these  claims  for  Mo- 
hammedanism be  granted;  though  it  vs^ould  not  be  dif- 
ficult to  advance  many  considerations  in  abatement  of 
some  of  them.  For  example :  that  Islam  is  indigenous  to 
Africa  is  a  historical  accident  rather  than  an  ethical  vir- 
tue; though  essentially  a  protest  against  paganism,  it  has 
nevertheless  absorbed  and  perpetuated  many  animistic 
elements;  its  creed  proclaims  the  duty  of  faith  in  a  moral 
Governor  of  the  universe,  but  know^s  nothing  of  a  Father 
in  Jesus  Christ,  who  so  loved  sinful  men  that  He  gave 
His  only  Son  for  their  redemption;  over  against  its  doc- 
trine of  equality  must  be  placed  its  support  of  slavery, 
which  is  the  practical  denial  of  that  doctrine;  and  finally, 
that  it  is  not  decadent,  but  virile  and  active,  is  a  virtue 
which  is  shared  by — I  shall  not  say,  Christianity,  but — 
even  Hinduism,  Buddhism  and  Confucianism.  There 
is  no  need  for  me  to  enlarge  upon  more  serious  counts 
in  the  indictment  of  Islam — that  it  fosters  sensualism  and 
unchastity;  that  it  legalises  polygamy  and  concubinage; 
that  it  degrades  womankind  and  weakens  family  ties ;  that 
wherever  it  has  planted  its  foot,  and  most  signally  in 
Africa,  it  has  been  the  powerful  bulwark  of  slavery;  and 
that  its  social  system  and  its  legal  code  are  such  as  to  ren- 
der impossible  all  progress  that  cannot  be  proved  to  be 
consistent  with  Koranic  teaching.  These  counts  have 
been  elaborated  in  many  monographs  and  manuals  deal- 
ing with  the  Mohammedan  question. 

Another  aspect  of  the  argument  now  merits  attention. 
Islam  in  West  Africa,  so  it  is  said,  produces  results  com- 
pared with  which  the  fruits  of  Christian  missions  are 
feeble  and  disappointing.  Bosworth  Smith  puts  the  mat- 
ter thus:  "Christian  travellers,  with  every  wish  to  think 
otherwise,  have  remarked  that  the  Negro  who  accepts 
Mohammedanism  acquires  at  once  a  sense  of  the  dignity 
of  human  nature  not  commonly  found  even  among  those 
who  have  been  brought  to  accept  Christianity."**  The 
Moslem  convert  is  "God-fearing,  self-respecting,  tem- 
perate, courageous,"  acquiring  at  one  bound,  as  it  were, 

••  Mohammed  and  Mohammedanism,   p.    32. 


20  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

virtues  after  which  the  Christian  convert  strives  vainly 
for  years.  This  is  a  species  of  argument  which  it  is 
equally  difficult  to  substantiate  and  to  rebut.  It  is  a  gen- 
eralization which  would  need  a  large  array  of  facts  either 
to  prove  or  to  disprove.  This  at  least  may  be  affirmed 
without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  the  argument  is  mostly 
employed  by  those  who  have  only  been  able  to  compare 
the  worst  side  of  Christianity  with  the  best  side  of  Mo- 
hammedanism. On  the  West  Coast  Christianity  is 
weighted  with  a  sort  of  fatal  disparagement  in  the  shrill 
contrast,  which  obtrudes  itself  upon  every  traveller,  be- 
tween the  Christian  missionary  and  the  unChristian  trad- 
er. Natives  cannot  conceive  why  an  ethical  code  so  strict- 
ly observed  and  enforced  by  the  missionary  should  be 
so  flagrantly  transgressed  by  his  co-religionist  (as  is  sup- 
posed), the  white  settler. 

Much  is  made  of  the  argument  that  in  the  resistance 
it  offers  to  intemperance  Islam  forms  a  contrast  to  Christ- 
ianity. 

"The  Mohammedan,"  says  Sir  G.  Carter,  a  former 
Governor  of  Lagos,  "is  naturally  sober — it  is  a  part  of 
his  religion — and  no  one  can  fail  to  be  struck  with  the 
difference  this  habit  of  sobriety  makes  in  the  man.  There 
is  a  dignity  and  self-respect  about  the  Mohammedan 
negro  which  is  looked  for  in  vain  in  his  Christian  bro- 
ther."" If  this  is  really  so,  and  for  many  Mohammed- 
an areas  it  is  no  doubt  true,  it  is  to  be  reckoned  to  Islam 
for  righteousness.  But  the  statement  must  be  accepted 
with  due  caution.  The  use  of  wine  and  strong  drink  was 
forbidden  by  the  Prophet,  but  the  average  Mohammedan 
is  not  as  good  as  his  creed.  Many  travellers  in  West 
Africa — Dinger,  Thomson,  Lugard — have  borne  witness 
to  the  ravages  of  intemperance  in  Mohammedan  com- 
munities.** "Mohammedanism  in  theory  and  Moham- 
medanism in  practice  are  two  totally  different  things, 
and  nowhere  more  so  than  in  the  Central  Sudan."** 

Is  the  African  predestined  to  Islam?  is  the  striking 

"  The   Times,  June   S,   1895. 

"'Vide  Robinson:  Hausaland  (London  1896)  pp.  188-9  for  the  evidence.  The 
Frenchman  Binger  e.  g.  says  of  the  Fulani,  "All  are  Mohammedans  without  exception,  and 
all   are   drunken   in  the   fullest  acceptance   of  the   term." 

*^  Ibid  p.   192. 


GOVERNMENT  AND  ISLAM  IN  AFRICA  2r 

question  put  by  Professor  Meinhof  in  his  article  on  "The 
Moslem  Advance  in  Africa"'*  and  he  gives  cogent  rea- 
sons for  answering  it  in  the  negative.  The  fact  that  Mo- 
hammedanism for  twelve  hundred  years  had  an  open 
door  to  Central  Africa  with  abundant  opportunity  to  sub- 
due the  whole  continent  and  yet  failed  to  do  so,  is  suffici- 
ent reason  for  concluding  that  Africa  is  not  predestined  to 
Islam.  That  in  some  respects  Islam  has  helped  the  negro, 
only  throws  into  clearer  relief  the  outstanding  truth  that 
it  cannot  satisfy  his  spiritual  needs  beyond  a  certain  stage, 
which  is  speedily  attained.  Beyond  that  the  African's 
moral  and  religious  development  suffers  arrest.  Pro- 
fessor Mirbt,  contemplating  Islam  from  the  viewpoint  of 
colonial  statesmanship  rather  than  of  missionary  obliga- 
tion, sums  up  the  disabilities  under  which  Islam  labours 
in  these  words : 

"In  so  far  as  it  (Mohammedanism)  recognizes  and  favors  polyg- 
amy, it  restricts  family  life  to  a  low  level,  and  so  is  hurtful,  in  every 
relationship,  to  those  colonies  which  are  affected  by  the  problem  of 
polygamy.  It  knows  of  no  moral  aims,  it  does  not  concern  itself  with 
the  creation  of  economic  values,  and  it  is  inactive  in  the  domain  of 
instruction  and  popular  education.  So  intimate  has  been  its  relation- 
ship to  slavery  in  Africa,  that  the  latter  has  found  in  Islam  its  strong- 
est support,  and  for  the  furtherance  of  polygamy  has  had  a  direct 
interest  in  its  continuation.  It  can  set  nations  free  from  the  coarsest 
forms  of  life  and  introduce  a  kind  of  primitive  culture,  but  it  is  soon 
self-satisfied.  Since  it  associates  itself  with  heathenism  wherever  it  is 
in  contact  with  the  latter,  and  rests  content  with  being  ritually  and 
culturally  respected,  it  attracts  followers,  but  exercises  no  pedagogic 
influence  over  them.  When  we  observe  what  Islam  effects  as  well 
as  what  it  fails  to  effect,  we  light  everywhere  upon  unproductiveness, 
conservatism,  intellectual  indolence,  gross  sensuality;  in  other  words^ 
it  is  the  enemy  of  colonization  and  of  culture,  and  impedes  the  moral, 
intellectual  and  economic  progress  of  the  negro.'"" 

Having  now  examined,  though  very  cursorily,  the  rea- 
sons why,  ostensibly.  Government  continues  to  pay  such 
"excessive  deference"  to  Islam,  let  me  in  conclusion  re- 
turn to  the  question  why  we  urge  that  the  policy  of  ex- 
cluding Christian  missions  from  Mohammedan  territory 
should  be  reversed.  Christian  missionary  statesmen  call 
for  another  and  more  generous  course  of  action  on  these 
grounds — the  policy  of  restriction  is  unjust,  it  is  dis- 
honourable, and  it  is  dangerous  not  merely  to  the  inter- 

'*Islam  and  Missions — paper  V. 

**  Carl  Mirbt:  Mission  and  Kolonialpolitik  in  den  deutschen  Schutsgebiten  (Tubingen^ 
1910)    p.   262. 


22  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

ests  of  Christianity  but  to  the  prestige  of  the  Government. 

It  is  an  unjust  policy,  I  say.  With  every  desire  to  be 
fair  and  impartial,  it  discriminates  in  favour  of  Islam 
and  adversely  to  Christianity.  The  vis  inertiae  of  Mo- 
hammedanism exercises  a  numbing  influence  over  the 
European  official.  Against  the  dead  weight  of  Islam, 
against  that  passive  resistance  to  Western  ideas  which 
the  Mohammedan  offers,  he  strives  in  vain.  Presently 
he  too  learns  to  say  Kismet,  and  begins  to  defer  to  Mos- 
lem prejudice;  and  this  deference  ends,  as  it  must,  in 
positive  injustice  towards  Christianity  and  Christian 
missionary  efifort. 

The  policy  of  exclusion  is  dishonourable.  However 
much  the  government  may  desire  to  camouflage  the  fact, 
it  is  born  of  fear.  Islam,  from  Morocco  to  Malaysia, 
presents  a  united  front,  and  constitutes  a  political  factor 
of  enormous  potency.  Dr.  Carl  Peters,  formerly  Gov- 
ernor of  German  East  Africa,  said  very  incautiously  in 
1906:  "There  is  one  factor  which  might  fall  on  our  side 
of  the  balance,  and  in  case  of  a  world  war  might  be  made 
useful  to  us;  that  factor  is  Islam.  And  if  German  policy 
is  bold  enough,  it  can  fashion  the  dynamite  to  blow  into 
the  air  the  rule  of  the  Western  powers  from  Morocco  to 
Calcutta.""'  From  the  feeling  of  dread  arose  the  policy 
of  conciliation  and  excessive  deference.  The  sleeping 
dog  of  Islam  must  be  let  lie,  or  if  half  awake  be  hum- 
oured and  pacified  with  sops  of  "neutrality"  and  "non- 
interference." But  the  policy  is  none  the  less  a  pusillani- 
mous and  dishonourable  one.  The  Great  War  has  dis- 
proved Dr.  Peters'  prophecy  and  disappointed  German 
hopes:  Islam  did  not  combine  to  "blow  into  the  air  the 
rule  of  Western  powers." 

The  policy  of  exclusion  is  dangerous.  It  compromises 
Christianity  and  it  compromises  Christian  governments. 
Islam,  it  must  be  remembered,  is  at  the  same  time  a  re- 
ligion and  a  political  and  social  system,  and  the  Moham- 
medan cannot  think  of  these  two  aspects  as  divorced.  As 
little  can  he  imagine  a  European  culture  which  is  not  at 
the  same  time  a  religious  force,  or  a  Christian  religion 

••  Quoted   in   Zwemer's  Islam,   p.    239. 


GOVERNMENT  AND  ISLAM  IN  AFRICA  23 

which  does  not  imply  and  convey  a  Christian  culture. 
The  Government  policy  of  excluding  Christianity  from, 
while  introducing  European  rule  and  Western  influence 
into,  Moslem  communities,  is  calculated  not  only  ser- 
iously to  compromise  the  claims  of  Christianity,  but  to 
bring  government  itself  into  disrepute  with  thoughtful 
Mohammedans.  I  shall  not  labor  this  point,  for  I  have 
found  a  doughty  allay  where  least  expected.  I  venture 
to  quote  the  unimpeachable  testimony  of  Mr.  Temple, 
to  prove  that  the  Moslem  will  hold  in  enhanced  respect 
the  European  who  is  not  ashamed  of  his  religion.  Says 
Mr.  Temple:  "I  can  say  with  truth  that  the  fact  that 
Christian  ministers  of  religion  were  to  be  found  wher- 
ever there  was  any  considerable  number  of  Europeans 
would,  so  far  from  engendering  suspicion,  increase  the 
respect  in  which  the  Moslem  holds  us.  Respectable 
Moslems  are  far  more  liable  to  be  shocked,  and  their  sus- 
picions roused,  by  an  absence  of  the  observances  of  the 
Christian  religion  by  Christians  than  by  the  fact  that 
Christian  ministers  are  to  be  found  in  their  country."" 
Substitute  for  the  words  "Christian  ministers  of  re- 
ligion" the  words  ^'Christian  missionaries,"  and  cadil  io- 
ta quaestio  vexata.  May  we  not  hope  that,  now  we  are 
starting  with  a  clean  slate,  these  significant  words  of 
the  late  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Northern  Nigeria  will 
lead  the  Government  to  a  reconsideration  of  its  line  of 
action,  and  to  the  adoption  of  a  more  enlightened  and 
more  generous  policy  towards  Christian  missions  in  Mo- 
hammedan fields? 

Stellenbosch,  S.  Africa.  J.  DU  PleSSIS. 

»'  Native  Races  and  Their  Rulers,  pp.  218-9. 


A  MOORISH  WOMAN'S  LIFE 

All  Moorish  women's  lives  are  not  alike  any  more  than 
all  British,  French  or  American  women's  lives  are 
alike,  but  the  following  true  incidents  in  the  lives  of  some 
Moorish  women  I  have  known  give  a  very  true  picture 
of  the  ordinary,  year  in  year  out,  life  of  a  Moorish 
woman. 

But  before  getting  on  the  subject  of  the  Moorish  wo- 
man we  must  have  a  look  at  the  life  of  the  Moorish 
girl.  So  we  will  begin  at  her  birth  and  follow  her  on, 
step  by  step,  till  she  is  grown  up.  All  the  particulars 
I  give  here  refer  to  life  in  the  one  inland  city  which  I 
know  well — there  may  be  little  differences  in  other  parts 
of  the  country  in  the  life  of  girl  or  woman.  A  Moorish 
girl's  birth  is  announced  to  the  world  by  the  women  of 
the  house  in  which  she  is  born  uttering  two-ear-piercing 
shouts  of  joy  (^'luluing"  this  screaming  is  called,  tho' 
there  is  no  resemblance  to  the  soft  sound  of  ^'lulu"  in  the 
harsh  shout)  with  a  short  space  between  the  two  so  as  to 
render  them  very  distinct  to  the  neighbors;  for  a  boy's 
birth  is  announced  by  three  such  shouts,  a  boy  being  of 
much  more  importance  than  a  girl;  though  as  a  rule,  the 
girl  is  made  very  welcome,  too,  and  sometimes  there  is 
great  joy  that  a  baby  is  a  girl,  especially  if  the  mother 
already  has  several  boys  living,  or  if  she  has  had  many 
boys,  even  though  they  are  not  all  alive. 

I  know  one  mother  with  three  boys  living  and  three 
dead;  one  died  of  smallpox  and  the  two  others  were 
weakly  ill-nourished  babies  who  lived  only  a  short  time; 
but  she  was  firmly  convinced  that  her  children  died  be- 
cause someone  had  cast  the  evil  eye  on  her  on  account  of 
her  excessive  good  fortune  in  having  given  birth  to  so 
many  boys,  and  she  was  very,  very  anxious  lest  her  next 
baby  should  also  be  a  boy  and  so  the  evil  eye's  effects 
continue.  She  often  called  upon  God  to  requite  any  who 
had  "eyed"  her  and  insisted  that  nothing  else  killed  her 

24 


A  MOORISH  WOMAN'S  LIFE  '      25 

children.  The  next  baby  was  a  girl,  and  she  is  now  a  fine 
child  of  over  two  years,  having  been  well  nourished  by 
a  black  nurse  whose  ebony  son  makes  a  picture  with  the 
little  ivory  girl — for  Kinza  (a  treasure)  is  very  fair- 
skinned. 

But  sometimes  the  girls  are  very  unwelcome.  There 
is  a  family  living  near  us  who  have  four  little  girls  and 
one  boy,  and  the  last  little  girl  had  a  very  bad  reception ; 
even  the  mother  said,  "I  don't  want  her,  I  don't  like  her 
— I'll  never  like  her."  The  only  sign  of  rejoicing  in  the 
house  was  over  the  mother.  The  mother-in-law  and 
slaves  said,  "Well,  at  any  rate — praise  be  to  God  that  she 
has  got  over  it,  but  we  wanted  a  boy."  The  father  even 
shed  tears  when  he  heard  of  her  birth.  She  is  now  a 
pretty  baby  of  some  six  months  and  is  probably  doing 
what  the  Moorish  saying  says  a  girl  does — i.  e. :  "A  boy, 
when  he  is  born,  is  in  the  very  centre  of  the  liver  (the 
liver  is  the  seat  of  the  human  aflfections)  but  sometimes 
works  his  way  out  to  its  extreme  edge.  A  girl,  when 
she  is  born,  is  on  the  extreme  edge  of  the  liver,  but  she 
works  her  way  into  its  very  centre."  When  the  baby  is 
eight  days  old  there  is  held  a  great  reception  of  friends 
and  relatives — a  sheep  is  sacrificed  for  her  and  she  re- 
ceives her  name — this  eighth  day  feast  is  called  the  Sabaa 
or  "Seventh,"  probably  because  it  marks  the  beginning 
of  the  second  set  of  seven  days  in  her  life.  It  sometimes 
goes  on  for  several  days.  The  first  morning  is  given  up 
to  men  guests  who  come  very  early  to  a  very  fine  break- 
fast feast  and  are  present  at  the  offering  of  the  sheep 
which  is  slaughtered  in  the  beautifully  tiled  courtyard — 
the  one  who  slaughters  it  having  first  inquired  the  name 
of  the  baby  and  mentioning  her  name  as  he  kills  the  ani- 
mal. The  mother  is  in  a  room  at  hand  with  a  curtain 
covering  its  doorway.  This  part  of  the  ceremony  (i.  e. 
the  slaughtering  and  naming)  is  called  the  Akeka  or 
"Separation"  because  the  child  is  "separated"  or  dis- 
tinguished from  all  the  rest  of  the  family  by  having  a 
separate  name  bestowed  upon  her.  The  Moors  never 
name  a  child  for  a  living  person ;  but,  if  its  grandfather 
is  dead,  then  the  first  boy  in  a  family  is  called  for  him; 


26  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

and  also,  if  the  grandmother  is  dead,  the  first  girl  is  called 
usually,  for  her;  otherwise  the  custom  is  to  call  the  first 
boy  Seedi  Mohammed  (for  the  Prophet),  and  the  first 
girl  Fatma  (for  his  daughter)  ;  in  this  case  it  does  not 
matter  if  these  names  are  also  the  names  of  the  chil- 
dren's parents,  for  the  children  are  not  considered  as  be- 
ing named  for  them. 

After  the  men  guests  have  dispersed  the  women  ar- 
rive. If  the  family  is  wealthy  enough  to  have  a  very 
grand  Sabaa  the  women  stay  for  a  number  of  days  and 
bring  with  them  their  babies  and  children  who  are  too 
small  to  be  left  at  home,  and  also  slaves  to  look  after 
the  children.  They  dress  up  in  different  clothes  and 
jewels  each  day — most  of  the  things  being  borrowed 
for  the  occasion — and  sit  in  state  in  the  courtyard  each 
afternoon,  while  hired  women  musicians  sit  on  mattresses 
in  the  centre  and  play  all  sorts  of  instruments  made  of 
coarse  earthenware  with  parchment  tightly  stretched 
across  their  open  ends.  Some  of  them  play  the  violin; 
these  are  considered  superior  musicians. 

On  the  day  of  the  Akeka  the  baby  receives  its  first  bath ; 
up  till  then  it  had  been  wrapped  in  soft  rags  and  smeared 
with  oil  and  henna,  etc.,  but  now  it  is  dressed  in  little 
bright  silk  garments  just  the  shape  of  its  mother's,  and 
then  is  swaddled  in  a  long  brightly  colored  band  which 
is  rolled  round  and  round  its  body  from  the  shoulders  to 
the  feet,  its  little  arms  having  been  first  placed  very  ex- 
actly flat  against  its  sides  and  the  sleeves  pulled  down  so 
that  no  creases  or  wrinkles  are  left  which  might  hurt 
it  or  cause  it  discomfort.  It  is  then  wrapped  in  a  soft 
silk  or  muslin  shawl,  embroidered  round  its  four  sides 
and  an  end  of  the  shawl  is  tied  on  its  head  with  a  piece 
of  embroidery  to  match;  its  eyelids  and  eyebrows  are 
blackened  and  its  hands  tinged  with  henna.  It  is  now  on 
show  and  the  old  nurse  sits  in  the  mother's  room  and  re- 
ceives the  pieces  of  silver  money  which  admiring  friends 
and  relatives  place  on  the  baby's  brow  as  it  lies  on  her 
knee.  Up  till  this  time  the  baby  had  not  been  shown 
to  visitors  lest  the  evil  eye  should  be  cast  upon  it,  and 
now  each  one  who  sees  it  says,  "To  the  Praise  of  God" 


A  MOORISH  WOMAN'S  LIFE  27 

or  some  such  ejaculation  as  she  looks  at  the  little  one, 
and  this  ejaculation  is  supposed  to  keep  away  the  ef- 
fects of  the  evil  eye. 

When  the  baby  is  a  few  weeks  old  she  is  taken  by  her 
mother,  (if  the  mother  is  not  one  of  those  who  are  never 
allowed  out  of  the  house  in  day  time)  or  by  some  woman 
friend,  to  visit  the  tomb  of  the  patron  saint  of  the  town ; 
or  to  the  tomb  or  to  the  shrine  of  some  other  saint  if  the 
baby  is  being  specially  dedicated  to  any  saint  or  order; 
and  when  she  is  a  few  months  old,  either  she  is  taken 
to  Dar  Ettabeebat  ("the  missionaries'  house")  or  the 
tabeebat  is  asked  to  come  to  her  father's  home  that  she 
may  be  vaccinated  or  "have  the  smallpox  taken  out  of 
her,"  for  her  friends  recognize  that  she  must  have  one 
of  three  kinds  of  smallpox — "God's  smallpox,"  i.  e., 
smallpox — or  "Ettabeebats  smallpox,"  i.  e.,  vaccination — 
or  "bought  smallpox,"  i.  e.  inoculation  which  is  hardly 
practiced  now  but  used  to  be  done  by  the  Jews  who 
charged  a  certain  sum  of  money  for  doing  it.  There  are 
now  also,  in  all  parts  of  the  French  Protectorate,  dis- 
pensaries where  children  can  be  vaccinated  free. 

Then  when  the  little  one  (whom  we  will  call  Kinza)  is 
about  three  years  old  she  begins  to  attend  ''Dar  El  Maal- 
ama"  (or  the  Mistress'  House)  where  she  is  taught  the 
special  trade  of  the  "mistress"  who  has  been  chosen  to 
instruct  her.  The  trade  may  be  embroidery  on  linen, 
muslin  or  silk  with  the  cross  stitch  which  comes  out  the 
same  on  both  sides ;  or  it  may  be  the  more  quickly  worked 
"Eastern"  embroidery,  something  like  crewel  work;  or 
plain  sewing;  or  lace  making;  or  machine  sewing;  or 
fringe  making;  or  slipper  embroidery  with  gold  thread; 
or  the  heavy  gold  embroidery  01  saddles,  etc.;  or  the 
knotted  silk  work  of  coverings  for  reins  and  trappings 
for  horses  and  mules;  or  preparing  boards  for  book-bind- 
ers; or,  more  rarely,  reading  and  reciting  the  Koran  and 
writing.  There  are  not  here  as  yet  any  schools  opened 
by  the  French  for  native  girls;  the  people  are  not  de- 
sirous to  have  their  girls  taught  to  read  or  write;  for, 
they  say,  "It  is  not  good  for  women  to  know  more  than 
just  what  is  necessary  to  enable  them  to  pray."    There 


28  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

are  very  good  French  schools  for  Jewish  girls  in  the 
Mellah  or  Jewish  quarter,  and  it  is  quite  a  pleasure  to 
see  the  pretty  tidy  little  things  in  their  black  and  white 
checked  overalls  and  their  hair  neatly  tied  with  a  scar- 
let band  of  ribbon.  But  Kinza  at  the  same  age  is  already 
veiled  and  goes  about  the  streets  with  a  white  muslin 
^^litam'*  drawn  tightly  over  her  face,  crossed  at  the- back 
of  her  head  and  drawn  again  over  her  forehead  so  leav- 
ing only  her  eyes  to  be  seen.  However,  at  three,  when 
she  begins  to  go  daily  to  "D«r  El  Maalama^^  she  is  too 
small  to  bear  the  veil  and  also  too  small  to  use  her  needle 
aright,  so  she  learns  to  sit  and  watch  the  older  children 
sew  or  embroider,  and  after  a  little  she  is  promoted  and 
allowed  to  thread  their  needles  for  them;  then  she  can 
be  trusted  with  a  needle  and  silk  and  is  put  to  the  task 
of  "filling  in,"  that  is  crossing  the  simple  stitches  which 
the  mistress  or  bigger  girls  have  put  in  to  trace  out  the 
pattern  to  be  worked.  And  woe  to  Kinza  if  she  makes 
a  mistake,  for  one  false  stitch  puts  the  whole  pattern 
wrong,  and  naturally  the  Maalama  is  very  angry. 

Kinza  attends  Dar  El  Maalama  till  she  is  about  twelve 
or  thirteen,  then  she  is  considered  too  old  to  go  out  daily 
and  is  provided  with  an  embroidery  frame  at  home  and 
begins  to  teach  other  little  ones  who  come  to  her,  as  she 
used  to  go  to  Dar  El  Maalama.  She  now  either  takes 
in  work  to  do  for  others,  or  sets  to  embroider  her  own 
trousseau,  if  her  father  is  well  enough  off  to  buy  the  silks 
and  muslin  which  she  needs,  before  he  has  received  the 
money  which  the  bridegroom's  people  will  pay  him  on 
her  engagement,  and  which  all  will  be  returned  in  bed- 
ding and  embroidery  when  she  is  married.  Kinza's 
wedding  things  are  now  being  prepared,  even  though  it 
may  be  she  is  not  yet  engaged,  for  she  is  almost  sure  to  be 
married  off,  as  her  parents  arrange  all  about  it,  and  it 
is  not  her  business.  As  one  father  here  answered,  when 
he  was  asked  what  his  daughter  said  about  a  marriage 
he  was  arranging  for  her — "She  I"  he  said,  "she  doesn't 
say  anything;  it's  not  her  business." 

S.  M.  Denison. 
Fez,  Morocco. 


OUR  MANDATE  OVER  MOROLAND  * 

Seventeen  years  ago  Leonard  Wood,  in  the  name  of 
the  United  States,  took  the  reins  of  government  from  the 
hands  of  the  Sultan  of  Sulu,  and  undertook  to  disarm 
a  savage  people  and  to  establish  among  them  a  respect 
for  Christian  law  and  democratic  institutions.  Ten  years 
later,  when  the  difficult  military  undertaking  was  com- 
pleted and  order  established  throughout  Moroland  for 
the  first  time  in  history,  John  J.  Pershing  turned  the 
well-disciplined  Moros  over  to  the  civil  governor  of  the 
Philippines.  The  day  of  the  fighter  was  past.  The  day 
of  the  teacher  had  come. 

Today,  Filipinos  by  the  thousand  are  migrating  to  this 
most  fertile  Mohammedan  territory  to  live  as  neighbors 
with  these  one-time  fanatical  Moros,  who  for  ages  ter- 
rorized the  Philippine  Islands,  ravaged  the  coast  towns 
of  the  Christian  Filipinos,  and  made  Moroland  (one- 
third  of  the  entire  Philippine  archipelago)  more  terri- 
fying to  the  Christian  Filipinos  than  were  our  western 
plains  to  us  during  the  worst  days  of  the  Indian  massacres. 

To  approach  a  full  understanding  of  what  the  United 
States  has  done  and  plans  to  do  as  a  mandatory  power  in 
Moroland,  one  must  first  have  a  more  than  casual  under- 
standing of  the  Moro  himself. 

It  was  a  strange  fate  that  made  Christian  Spain  both 
the  eastern  and  western  frontier  against  Mohammedan- 
ism. After  valiantly  reconquering  their  beloved  Spain 
from  the  Moors  and  proving  their  undying  loyalty  to 
the  Catholic  faith  by  the  expulsion  of  the  Jews  and  Moors 
from  sunny  Andalusia,  from  the  thriving  industries  of 
Toledo  and  from  the  Moslem  temples  of  old  Granada  it- 
self, these  crusaders  of  Catholic  Spain  scarcely  had  been 
given  time  to  boast  of  the  fervent  orthodoxy  of  the  Span- 
ish nation  before  Legaspi,  the  colonizer,  and  Urdaneta, 

*  This  article  is  reprinted  from  Asia,  July  1920,  by  special  permission  of  the  author 
and  publishers.     We  refer  the  readers  to  the  magazine  mentioned  for  the  illustrations. 


30  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

the  priest,  found  the  way  of  the  Cross  again  blocked  by 
the  Crescent  of  Islam.  This  was  when  they  set  out  from 
Mexico  in  1568  to  carry  conquest  and  Catholicism  to 
Spain's  kingdom  beyond  the  seas.  The  land  of  King 
Philip,  the  Philippines,  was  discovered  for  the  Christians 
in  1 52 1  by  Magellan,  who  lost  his  life  there  in  a  vain- 
glorious fight  with  the  natives.  The  Mohammedans 
were  there  before  him.  Mohammedanism,  spreading 
eastward,  had  crossed  India  and  the  Malay  Archipela- 
go; then,  turning  northward  from  Borneo,  had  conquer- 
ed the  richest  lands  of  the  Philippines — Mindanao  and 
Sulu — and  was  reaching  out  long  arms  for  the  remainder 
of  the  archipelago  when  Legaspi  sailed  into  Manila  Bay 
in  1570  to  dispossess  the  Mohammedan  sultan,  Lacon- 
dola,  who  had  only  a  short  time  before  made  himself 
ruler  of  the  prosperous  native  village  of  Tondo  beside  the 
muddy  waters  of  the  Pasig.  Today,  monuments  to  Ma- 
gellan, Legaspi  and  Urdaneta,  lofty  Christian  churches, 
a  Christian  government  and  almost  three  hundred  thou- 
sand Christian  communicants  mark  the  site  where  the 
Crescent  first  gave  way  to  the  Cross  on  the  new  Oriental 
battle-ground  of  these  two  great  religions. 

These  dark-skinned  followers  of  Mohammed  in  the 
Philippines  were  called  by  the  Spaniards,  Moros,  the 
same  name  given  to  the  swarthy  Moslems  of  Africa  in 
Spain.  A  permanent  Spanish  government  was  set  up 
at  Tondo  (Manila),  the  sultan,  Lacondola,  was  driven 
out,  and  the  conquest  and  conversion  of  the  Filipinos  was 
undertaken  by  the  fearless  Conquistadores  (conquerors) 
and  the  dauntless  Spanish  friars.  The  spread  of  Moham- 
medanism north  of  Mindanao  was  checked  and  some 
progress  was  made  in  Christianizing  the  pagan  Malays 
of  the  north  and  east  coasts  of  this  island.  But  in  central 
and  southern  Mindanao  and  in  the  Sulu  archipelago 
where  the  Koran  was  already^  firmly  established,  the 
Christian  missionaries  made  no  progress  and  the  drilled 
soldiery  of  Spain  made  no  conquests. 

After  two  and  a  half  centuries  of  effort  a  few  garrisons 
were  established,  but  the  status  of  the  Spaniards  in  Min- 
danao was  always  more  that  of  besieged  interlopers  than 


OUR  MANDATE  OVER  MOROLAND  31 

of  conquerors  and  rulers.  In  Jolo,  the  capital  of  Sulu, 
a  garrison,  safely  entrenched  behind  a  high  stone  wall, 
was  located.  But  ten  years  of  American  conquest  and 
pacification  were  necessary  before  a  white  man  could 
safely  venture  five  hundred  yards  beyond  the  stone  wall 
of  the  garrisoned  town. 

The  psychology  of  Mohammedanism  is  incomprehen- 
sible to  persons  reared  in  the  atmosphere  and  teachings 
of  American  Christianity.  With  us  the  separation  of 
church  and  state  is  as  much  a  matter  of  course  as  the  air 
we  breathe.  With  us  suicide  is  immoral  and  the  killing 
of  an  unbeliever  is  a  crime  punishable  with  death.  The 
Mohammedan  has  no  conception  of  ecclesiastical  and 
state  law.  There  is  only  one  law,  the  Koran ;  and  while 
in  fact  the  priest  and  the  ruler  may  be  different  persons, 
they  are  different  only  in  a  functional  way,  like  a  judge 
and  an  executive  in  our  government.  The  spiritual  ruler 
is  also  temporal  ruler,  as  was  Mohammed  in  his  day. 
The  killing  of  Christians  is  a  virtue  that  merits  everlast- 
ing bliss  in  paradise.  The  martyrs  of  the  early  Christian 
church  burned  with  no  more  consuming  ardor  than  that 
of  the  humble,  ignorant  Mohammedan  peasants  who 
swear  before  the  priest  that  they  will  go  forth  and  devote 
their  lives  to  killing  Christians.  Mohammedans  who 
have  sworn  to  kill  Christians  are  called  in  the  Philippines 
iuramentados,  from  the  Spanish,  meaning  one  who  has 
sworn  or  taken  an  oath.  Up  to  a  decade  ago  it  was 
no  uncommon  occurrence  in  Jolo  for  a  Moro  fanatic  to 
conceal  his  bolo  knife,  or  kris,  in  a  basket  of  fruit  until 
he  had  passed  the  guard  at  the  gate  of  the  walled  town, 
then  draw  his  blade  and  cut  right  and  left,  killing  man, 
woman  or  child  with  perfect  impartiality  until  a  bullet 
from  the  guard  stopped  his  advance.  It  was  this  indomi- 
table will  to  kill  that  gave  the  Christian  Filipino  his 
mortal  fear  of  the  Moro  in  times  past. 

The  stone  forts  and  watch-towers  found  today  in 
many  of  the  coast  towns  of  the  Philippines  are  grim 
reminders  of  the  time  when  the  Moro  pirates  in  their 
tiny  vintas  (dugouts)  swooped  down  upon  these  Chris- 
tian towns  of  the  Visayan  Islands,  pillaged  and  burned 


32  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

and  killed  and  then  darted  away  before  the  slow-moving 
Spanish  government  could  mobilize  an  armed  force  to 
attack  them.  The  coming  of  the  steamship  in  the 
nineteenth  century  put  a  stop  to  Moro  piracy  and  facili- 
tated the  Spanish  conquest  of  the  southern  islands.  The 
once  proud  sultanate  of  Sulu  and  northeast  Borneo  now 
began  to  decline,  but  the  complete  renunciation  by  the 
Sultan  of  his  temporal  power  was  not  made  until  191 5. 

When  the  government  of  Moro  Province  was  put 
under  a  civilian  governor  in  January,  1914,  the  Philip- 
pine Commission  still  had  exclusive  jurisdiction  to  legis- 
late for  the  non-Christian  population  of  the  archipelago. 
In  accordance  with  this  authority  the  Commission  passed 
the  Organic  Act  for  the  Department  of  Mindanao  and 
Sulu,  which  added  the  pagan  province,  Agusan,  to  the 
Moro  province  and  divided  this  added  area  into  two 
provinces,  Agusan  and  Bukidnon.  All  seven  divisions 
of  the  department,  Agusan,  Bukidnon,  Cotabato,  Davao, 
Lanao,  Sulu  and  Zamboanga,  were  constituted  provinces 
with  the  idea  of  developing  them  into  regular  political 
subdivisions  of  the  Philippine  Islands  like  the  Christian 
provinces  of  Luzon  and  the  Visayas.  A  special  depart- 
ment government  was  created  to  get  these  new  provinces 
started  and  supervise  their  development  until  such  a  time 
as  they  could  be  trained  to  run  the  regular  elective  muni- 
cipal and  provincial  governments.  In  February,  1920, 
the  Philippine  Legislature  decided  that  this  department 
government  had  fulfilled  its  mission.  It  was  abolished 
and  steps  were  taken  to  place  the  seven  new  provinces 
upon  the  same  basis  as  the  regular  Christian  provinces  of 
the  archipelago. 

The  law  creating  the  subdivisions  of  the  provinces 
provided  that  those  Moro  communities  with  sufficient 
intelligence  and  economic  resources  should  be  constituted 
regular  municipalities  in  accordance  with  the  municipal 
code  for  the  Christian  provinces.  The  remaining  com- 
munities of  these  seven  provinces  were  organized  into 
municipal  districts  with  temporary  forms  of  government 
that  varied  from  a  single  datu,  who  rules  as  municipal 
district  president  by  virtue  of  his  appointment  by  the 


OUR  MANDATE  OVER  MOROLAND  33 

department  governor,  to  a  president  and  complete  coun- 
cil nominally  appointed  by  the  department  governor  on 
the  recommendation  of  the  provincial  governor,  but  in 
practice  elected  by  the  viva  voce  vote  of  the  adult  resi- 
dents of  the  district.  Usually  this  datu,  appointed  first 
municipal  district  president,  had  actually  been  ruler  in 
his  own  right  before  he  had  ever  heard  of  the  depart- 
ment governor.  It  is  not  his  intention  to  allow  anyone 
else  to  rule  his  community.  However,  by  appointing 
him  municipal  district  president  and  perhaps  by  giving 
him  power  over  a  larger  region  than  he  had  controlled 
before,  the  people  come  to  accept  the  idea  that  he  rules 
not  by  virtue  of  his  own  power  and  religious  position,  but 
because  of  his  appointment  by  the  department  governor. 
Thus,  little  by  little,  the  people  are  weaned  away  from 
personal  government  and  accustomed  to  government  by 
that  great  abstraction,  the  state. 

After  this  local  datu  is  made  district  presidents  the  next 
step  is  to  urge  him  to  correct  the  evils  which  are  con- 
sidered by  the  people  to  be  violations  of  Mohammedan  or 
Moro  customary  law.  When  the  datu  is  in  doubt  on 
some  point  or  negligent  of  his  duty,  a  few  of  the  village 
elders  are  appointed  to  assist  him  and  to  make  him  feel 
the  force  of  local  public  opinion.  In  this  way  the  presi- 
dent and  council  are  gradually  transformed  into  an  ef- 
fective organization.  All  acts  of  these  municipal  district 
governments  are  subject  to  the  review  of  the  provincial 
government.  The  provincial  governor  spends  two-thirds 
of  his  time  traveling  from  one  district  to  the  other  to 
instruct  officials  and  supervise  their  activities.  In  time 
the  popular  support  given  to  this  improvised  municipal 
district  government  becomes  strong  enough  to  force  the 
dismissal  of  the  ^a/w-president,  if  he  neglects  his  official 
duties,  and  a  younger,  better  educated  man  can  be  ap- 
pointed in  his  place.  The  deposed  president  objects,, 
of  course,  but  the  datu  soon  ascertains  that  the  new  presi- 
dent, backed  by  the  provincial  government  and  a  fair 
amount  of  local  public  opinion,  is  too  strong  to  be  ousted. 
Thus  one  more  reactionary  datu  finds  that  his  personal 


34  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

power  has  slipped  from  under  him,  and  that  a  new  day 
has  dawned  in  Moroland. 

As  the  people  of  the  community  show  development 
in  making  a  wise  choice  of  officials  by  viva  voce  vote 
under  the  supervision  of  the  provincial  governor,  and  as 
the  president  and  council  become  more  and  more  accus- 
tomed to  the  routine  duties  of  formal  government,  the 
provincial  authorities  slacken  their  supervision  until  the 
municipal  district  government  is  run  with  approximately 
the  same  autonomy  as  a  regular  municipality.  In  this 
process  of  evolution  two  or  three  municipal  districts  may 
be  combined  because  of  the  increased  intercourse  between 
them  resulting  from  the  opening  up  of  roads  and  trails. 
This  combining  of  several  districts  into  one  may  so  in- 
crease the  economic  resources  of  the  local  government  as 
to  warrant  its  transformation  into  a  regular  municipality. 
Every  year  a  number  of  new  municipalities  are  thus 
created  in  the  Moro  country.  It  is  an  inspiring  idea, 
like  the  creation  of  new  states  in  the  United  States. 

The  law  enforced  among  the  Moros  is  a  combination 
of  Moro  religious  and  customary  law  and  Philippine 
statute  law.  In  cases  involving  Mohammedan  law  two 
learned  Moros  sit  as  assessors  with  the  Filipino  or  Amer- 
ican judge  and  advise  him  on  technical  points  of  the  re- 
ligious law.  This  judicial  administration,  representing 
as  It  does  one  of  the  dividing  lines  in  the  separation  of 
church  and  state,  requires  great  tact  and  ability.  The 
Mohammedan  priest  and  the  American  (or  Filipino) 
judge  both  claim  jurisdiction  over  the  same  case,  and  the 
decision  as  to  which  has  final  jurisdiction  determines  also 
whether  the  church  or  the  state  is  winning  or  losing  pow- 
er. A  high-handed,  tactless  judge  may  precipitate  a  local 
religious  war  very  easily.  Prior  to  191 5  neither  a  Mo- 
hammedan nor  a  pagan  was  permitted  to  submit  his  case 
to  a  justice  court  presided  over  by  a  Christian  Filipino. 
Since  191 5  both  Christians  and  Mohammedans  have  been 
tried  by  the  same  judge,  whether  an  American  or  a  Fil- 
ipino. 

Education  developed  very  slowly  in  Moroland  under 
the  military  regime.     The  government  of  Moro  province 


OUR  MANDATE  OVER  MOROLAND  35 

lacked  the  finances,  the  personnel  and  the  general  peace 
conditions  necessary  to  establish  a  system  of  public  schools 
comparable  to  that  of  the  Christian  provinces.  A  begin- 
ning was  made,  however,  almost  two  decades  ago,  and 
though  the  schools  were  few  and  the  attendance  small, 
the  process  of  educating  the  Moors  to  the  public  school 
idea  was  fairly  well  accomplished  when  the  first  civilian 
governor  took  charge  in  1914.  On  January  i,  1915,  the 
public  schools  of  the  Department  of  Mindanao  and  Sulu 
were  placed  directly  under  the  insular  bureau  of  educa- 
tion which  had  been  so  successful  in  developing  the  mag- 
nificent public  school  system  of  the  Christian  provinces. 
In  1 9 10  there  were  only  79  teachers  in  the  province  of 
Moro.  Of  this  number  only  one  had  completed  the  inter- 
mediate school  course.  During  the  school  year  of  191 5- 
16  there  were  175  primary  and  5  intermediate  schools 
with  a  total  enrollment  of  16,019  pupils  and  an  average 
attendance  of  10,106.  The  teaching  force  consisted  of 
19  Americans,  13  Mohammedans  and  pagans,  and  341 
Christian  Filipinos.  By  November,  1919,  the  public 
school  enrollment  had  increased  to  40,000. 

As  soon  as  the  Moro  schools  were  placed  under  the 
insular  bureau  of  education  about  a  hundred  Christian 
Filipino  teachers  were  sent  into  the  Moro  country  to 
open  primary  schools.  This  was  considered  a  daring  in- 
novation, for  it  has  been  the  accepted  idea  for  more  than 
three  hundred  years  that  the  Moros  and  the  Christian 
Filipinos  are  incompatible.  Less  than  two  decades  ago 
the  United  States  astonished  the  world  by  sending  800 
American  school-teachers  into  the  Philippines  to  teach 
modern  civilization  and  self-government  to  the  8,000,000 
Christian  Filipinos.  Now  these  same  Christian  Filipinos 
are  sending  almost  an  equal  number  (700  in  June,  1919) 
of  their  own  teachers  into  the  pagan  and  Moro  country 
to  carry  the  fruits  of  their  instruction  to  the  million 
non-Christian  peoples  of  the  interior  and  southern  parts 
of  the  archipelago. 

Unfortunately,  the  unit  cost  of  education  in  this  non- 
Christian  territory  is  considerably  higher  than  in  the 
Christian  provinces,  both  because  of  the  sparseness  of 


36  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

the  population  and  the  great  distance  between  schools, 
and  also  because  the  teachers  have  to  be  imported  at 
relatively  large  salaries.  The  territory  occupied  by  the 
non-Christian  tribes  comprises  forty  per  cent  of  the  entire 
Philippine  Islands  and  contains  only  one-tenth  of  the 
total  population.  The  intention  of  the  Government  is 
so  to  educate  these  non-Christians  as  to  make  them  an 
integral  part  of  the  Philippine  body  politic,  but  this  will 
require  many  times  the  expenditure  of  funds  that  is  now 
being  appropriated  for  public  schools  in  these  regions. 

The  tendency  of  the  Philippine  schools  to  place  more 
and  more  emphasis  on  agricultural  instruction  has  been 
especially  strong  in  the  Moro  country.  The  boys,  from 
the  first  grade  up,  are  taught  gardening,  seed  selection 
and  methods  of  cultivation.  In  a  few  schools  the  old 
Moro  industry  of  brass-work  is  being  revived.  The  girls 
are  taught  simple  sewing,  cooking  and  other  household 
duties.  Both  boys  and  girls  have  courses  in  the  household 
industries  of  hat,  basket  and  mat  weaving,  lace-making 
and  embroidery.  In  the  Sulu  archipelago,  where  the 
coral  islands  afford  no  facilities  for  vegetable  gardening, 
the  boys  are  being  taught  sea-gardening:  that  is,  the  plant- 
ing of  sponges  and  pearl  oysters,  and  the  cultivation  of 
the  more  desirable  varieties  of  trepang.  (Trepang  is 
a  leechlike  animal,  highly  prized  by  the  Chinese  as 
food.) 

The  settlement  farm  school,  one  of  the  most  successful 
types  of  school  for  this  sparsely  settled  country,  is  a 
boarding-school  of  primary  grade  in  which  the  pupils 
spend  half  time  in  the  classroom  and  half  time  in  pro- 
ductive work  on  the  school  farm.  The  specific  purpose 
of  such  a  school  is  to  serve  as  the  nucleus  for  the  settle- 
ment of  the  roaming  mountain  people  upon  permanent 
homesteads.  The  children  may  be  fed  and  housed  at  the 
school,  but  the  parents  are  induced  to  settle  near  the 
school  and  are  given  every  encouragement  in  the  tilling 
of  their  fields,  because  these  semi-savage  people  are  not 
easily  habituated  to  steady  labor  and  thrift.  During  the 
last  ten  years  one-third  of  the  hill-people  have  been  in- 
duced to  settle  in  the  valleys  or  on  the  plateaus  and  es- 


OUR  MANDATE  OVER  MOROLAND  37 

tablish  settlements  around  these  schools,  which  at  present 
number  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty. 

The  most  promising  Moro  youths  are  sent  to  the  nor- 
mal school  in  Manila,  the  Munoz  Agricultural  School  in 
central  Luzon,  and  other  special  schools  in  the  Christian 
provinces,  where  they  are  trained  as  prospective  teachers 
and  at  the  same  time  imbued  with  the  culture  of  the 
Christian  Filipinos.  One  method  of  educating  the  Moro 
leaders  has  been  to  give  them  trips  to  Manila  and  through 
the  Christian  provinces,  where  they  are  shown  the  supe- 
rior comforts  and  conveniences  enjoyed  by  the  Christian 
Filipinos  as  the  result  of  education,  democratic  govern- 
ment and  modern  commercial  and  agricultural  methods. 
In  Manila  the  Moro  datu  has  his  attention  called  to  the 
luxurious  automobiles  in  which  the  aristocratic  Filipinos 
ride  about  the  city.  Then  it  is  explained  to  him  that  he 
has  to  walk  through  the  mud  and  brush  when  he  travels 
about  his  community  simply  because  of  the  lack  of  edu- 
cation, agricultural  development  and  government  con- 
trol in  his  province. 

School  athletics  have  proved  a  very  effective  flank  at- 
tack on  undesirable  Moro  customs.  The  entire  campaign 
of  playground  activities,  classroom  calisthenics  and  com- 
petitive inter-school  athletics,  is  being  introduced  into 
Moroland  with  all  the  efficiency  and  enthusiasm  that  the 
bureau  of  education  has  developed  by  its  fifteen  years  of 
highly  successful  work  in  this  department  in  the  Chris- 
tian provinces.  On  the  coral  islands  of  Sulu,  where  play- 
ground facilities  are  limited,  and  the  chief  interest  of 
the  people  is  on  the  water,  baseball  give  way  to  vinta 
racing  and  other  aquatic  sports.  Athletic  games  and 
sports  among  the  Moros  are  proving  successful  in  tear- 
ing down  social  barriers,  widening  the  social  horizon, 
and  opening  the  way  for  progressive  ideas. 

As  a  means  of  agricultural  development,  Filipinizing 
the  Moros,  and  relieving  the  congestion  of  population  in 
densely  populated  areas  like  Cebu  and  the  Ilocano  coun- 
try, an  agricultural  colony  of  about  five  thousand  people, 
half  Moros  and  half  Christian  Filipinos,  was  established 
in  the  fertile  rice  country  of  Cotabato  in  191 3.     This 


38  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

province  includes  the  valley  of  two  large  rivers  and  a 
large  lake,  which  together  provide  200  miles  of  navi- 
gation for  small  craft — a  water-system  flanked  on  either 
side  by  the  most  fertile  rice-plain  in  the  archipelago 
and  separated  from  the  rich  hemp  plantations  of  Davao 
by  the  lofty  Apo  range,  which  towers  to  a  height  of 
over  ten  thousand  feet.  With  a  population  of  150,000, 
Cotabato,  in  the  heart  of  the  Moro  country,  still  to  a 
considerable  extent  unexplored,  is  greater  than  the  com- 
bined areas  of  Vermont,  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts 
and  New  Jersey.  A  colony  of  2,500  Christian  Filipinos 
in  this  vast  and  isolated  region  with  150,000  Moham- 
medans surrounding  them  on  every  side  and  with  2,500 
Moros  mingled  with  them  on  adjoining  homesteads  was 
an  interesting  experiment,  indeed. 

The  colony  has  proved  a  success.  The  government 
advanced  money,  in  some  cases  as  much  as  a  thousand 
pesos  to  a  single  family,  to  finance  them  until  they  could 
begin  harvesting  their  crops.  Many  of  the  colonists  have 
already  paid  back  the  money  borrowed  from  the  govern- 
ment and  are  now  buying  land  to  enlarge  their  home- 
steads. The  social  and  business  relations  between  the 
Moros  and  the  Christian  Filipinos  have  been  very  friend- 
ly. The  colony  has  opened  the  way  for  the  flow  of  emi- 
gration from  the  over-populated  and  unproductive  agri- 
cultural regions  of  certain  sections  of  the  Christian  prov- 
inces to  the  sparsely  populated  and  very  fertile  regions 
of  Mindanao,  where  sixteen  hectares  (forty  acres)  of  the 
finest  farming  land  are  to  be  had  for  the  asking.  By 
19 1 8  more  than  seven  thousand  colonists  had  migrated  to 
the  fertile  valleys  of  Moroland.  Unfortunately,  suffi- 
cient funds  have  not  been  available  to  finance  additional 
colonies. 

The  most  developed  agricultural  region  of  Mindanao 
is  a  valley  on  the  Gulf  of  Davao  lying  between  the  coun- 
try of  the  Central  Mindanao  Moros  and  that  of  the  east 
coast  pagans.  A  number  of  American  planters,  some 
Europeans  and  quite  a  few  Japanese  have  developed  here 
the  finest  hemp  producing  plantations  in  the  archipelago. 
Recently,  Japanese  capitalists  have  bought  up  most  of 


OUR  MANDATE  OVER  MOROLAND  39 

the  plantations  in  this  region.  The  greatest  drawback 
is  the  labor  supply.  The  introduction  of  Japanese  labor 
and  Japanese  capital  has  been  the  interesting  develop- 
ment of  the  last  few  years.  Prior  to  1916  only  a  few  hun- 
dred Japanese  immigrants  entered  the  Philippines  each 
year.  In  1916,  there  were  603 ;  and  in  1917,  the  Japanese 
immigrants  numbered  2,972,  an  increase  of  almost  500 
per  cent  in  one  year.  This  figure  was  slightly  increased 
in  1 91 8,  according  to  official  reports;  while  unofficial  re- 
ports from  Mindanao  claim  that  many  Japanese  arc  en- 
tering Davao  by  way  of  small  boats  from  Borneo  with- 
out the  knowledge  of  the  Philippine  immigration  author- 
ities. This  indicates  a  very  definite  movement  toward 
increased  Japanese  immigration  into  the  Philippine  Is- 
lands that  should  be  watched  with  care;  because  the  dif- 
ficulties that  are  likely  to  arise  between  nations  would  be 
of  more  seriousness  both  for  the  Philippines  and  for  the 
United  States  in  the  case  of  the  Japanese  than  with  the 
nationals  of  any  other  country,  owing  to  the  proximity  of 
Japan  to  the  Philippines,  the  extreme  sensitiveness  of 
the  Japanese  to  any  discrimination  or  fancied  discrim- 
ination and  the  strong  jingoistic  element  in  Japanese 
politics.  An  increase  of  only  3,000  in  the  number  of 
Japanese  residents  seems  small  as  compared  with  the 
immigration  figures  of  the  United  States,  but  it  should 
be  borne  in  mind  that  3,000  Japanese  among  nine  or  ten 
million  Filipinos  is  as  great  as  thirty  or  thirty-five  thou- 
sand Japanese  among  the  100,000,000  population  of  the 
United  States.  The  inflow  of  Japanese  to  Mindanao, 
where  they  purchase  the  best  land,  may  help  to  develop 
the  wonderful  resources  of  that  region,  but  it  will  not  as- 
sist in  the  Filipinization  of  the  Mohammedans  and  pa- 
gans or  otherwise  facilitate  the  nationalizing  of  the  Phil- 
ippine peoples. 

In  the  development  of  roads,  trails  and  public  build- 
ings, the  provinces  of  Mindanao  and  Sulu,  because  of 
their  vast  area,  sparse  population  and  social,  political 
and  economic  backwardness,  are  fifteen  years  behind  the 
Christian  provinces.  Like  the  western  plains  of  the 
United  States  a  half  century  ago,  the  sparsely  populated 


40  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

region  of  Mindanao  and  Sulu  must  look  to  the  settled 
regions  for  its  development.  In  this  connection  it  is  im- 
portant to  note  that  in  the  Christian  provinces  public 
v^orks  are  hampered  by  the  too  rapid  Filipinization  of 
the  bureau  of  public  vs^orks  of  Mindanao  and  Sulu.  There 
is  no  excuse  for  hampering  the  development  of  Min- 
danao at  every  turn  by  putting  in  poorly  trained  and  in- 
capable Filipino  engineers,  when  first  class  American 
engineers  may  be  secured  at  approximately  the  same  sal- 
ary. 

The  typhoons  v^hich  devastate  the  Christian  provinces 
to  the  north  and  make  agricultural  investments  there  so 
precarious  do  not  sweep  so  far  south  as  the  Moro  country. 
Furthermore,  the  soil  is  more  fertile  in  Mindanao,  Bas- 
ilan  and  Jolo  and  the  climate  more  favorable  for  the  pro- 
duction of  hemp,  copra,  rice,  sugar,  rubber  and  spices 
than  in  any  other  region  in  the  Philippine  archipelago. 
The  Government  of  the  United  States  and  the  American 
people  are  recreant  to  their  obligations  and  opportunities 
if  they  continue  to  allow  the  developments  of  these  much- 
needed  resources  to  hang  suspended  on  the  precipice  of 
Philippine  politics,  when  it  is  obvious  to  any  fair-minded 
student  that  the  Americans  are  so  infinitely  better  quali- 
fied than  the  Filipinos  to  develop  the  country  without 
arousing  the  hatred  of  the  Moros. 

By  ten  years  of  the  most  severe  punishment  for  the  re- 
calcitrants and  by  painstaking  justice  and  good  govern- 
ment for  every  Moro,  the  inhabitants  of  Mindanao  and 
Sulu  were  prepared  by  the  military  government  for  real 
civil  institutions,  public  schools  and  economic  develop- 
ment. Although  the  progress  since  191 3  has  been  very 
encouraging,  the  potentiality  for  strife  in  Moroland  is 
very  great  and  cannot  be  too  strongly  emphasized.  The 
expectant  quiet  of  the  first  two  years  of  civil  adminis- 
tration, 1914  and  1915,  was  disturbed  by  a  definite  unrest 
in  1916.  The  new  Philippine  Organic  Act,  the  Jones 
Bill,  passed  by  Congress  August  29,  1916,  caused  certain 
Moro  leaders  to  fear  that  the  Christian  Filipinos  would 
use  this  increased  autonomy  to  interfere  with  the  Moham- 
medan religion  in  Mindanao  and  Sulu.     This  fear  was 


OUR  MANDATE  OVER  MOROLAND  41 

allayed  in  part  by  a  personal  conference  of  the  Governor 
General  with  the  Moro  leaders  and  in  party  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  Hadji  Butu  Abdul  Baki,  the  last  prime  min- 
ister of  the  Sultan  of  Sulu,  as  Moro  senator  in  the  new 
Philippine  Senate,  and  the  appointment  of  two  prominent 
datus  of  Mindanao  to  the  Philippine  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, where  they  were  permitted  to  take  the  oath 
of  office  on  the  Koran. 

In  1 917,  when  it  became  definitely  known  that  the 
United  States  troops  were  to  be  withdrawn  from  Min- 
danao and  Sulu,  trouble  arose  which  mere  words  could 
not  dispel.  Among  other  things  a  constabulary  post  was 
raided  in  the  Cotabato  mountains,  and  resistance  to  gov- 
ernment authority  became  so  bitter  and  so  well  organ- 
ized in  the  Lake  Lanao  region,  Pershing's  old  stamping- 
ground,  that  its  suppression  required  a  considerable 
military  operation  involving  several  companies  of  con- 
stabulary, a  battery  of  United  States  mountain  artillery 
and  a  reserve  force  of  United  States  troops.  The  com- 
plete extermination  of  the  few  fanatical  leaders  made  a 
very  deep  impression  on  the  ostensibly  peaceful  Moros  of 
the  surrounding  region. 

In  addition  to  the  loss  of  the  United  States  troops  from 
the  southern  islands  of  the  Philippines,  most  of  the 
trained  American  and  Filipino  personnel  of  the  constab- 
ulary has  been  lost  through  Filipinization,  politics  and 
the  demands  of  the  World  War.  In  consideration  of 
these  facts  the  very  conservative  governor  of  Mindanao 
and  Sulu,  in  his  report  to  the  Governor  General  in  191 8, 
characterized  the  public  order  situation  in  Moroland  as 
"one  of  great  present  potentialities."  The  general  More 
situation  was  summarized  as  follows  in  the  report  of  the 
Governor  General  of  the  Philippines  for  1917: 

"The  present  generation  of  Mohammedans  and  pagans 
is  now  disposed  to  peace  and  is  loath  to  incur  liability  to 
further  punishment  by  the  armed  forces  of  Government. 
The  boys  of  school  age  of  today  will,  within  a  very  few 
years,  be  the  men  constituting  the  control  factor  for 
or  against  peace  and  good  order.  *  *  *  If  the  fathers  be- 
come, in  the  near  future,  permanently  located  on  their 


42  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

own  land,  with  documentary  evidence  of  ownership  *  ♦  * 
and  if  the  children  of  today  be  given  the  school  oppor- 
tunities their  parents  desire  for  them  *  *  *  the  expendi- 
ture of  the  large  sums  of  federal  and  insular  funds  and 
the  great  sacrifice  of  lives  which  has  been  made  in  Min- 
danao and  Sulu  during  the  past  eighteen  years  will  not 
have  been  in  vain,  nor  will  it  have  to  be  made  anew. 
If,  however.  Government  administration  here  be  depend- 
ent wholly  upon  inadequate  insular  aid  and  the  exceed- 
ingly meagre  present  revenues  of  the  as  yet  embryo 
provincial  and  municipal  governments,  then,  in  less  than 
ten  years  from  now,  when  a  new  generation,  grown 
up  without  civilizing  influences  *  *  *  will  have  come 
into  control  of  public  opinion  in  this  region,  the  main- 
tenance of  public  order  will  again  present  problems 
requiring  large  expenditures  of  lives  and  of  public  funds 
by  the  armed  forces  of  Government.  Then,  whatever 
there  has  been  of  progress  in  the  accumulation  of  wealth, 
the  social  betterment  of  the  people,  and  other  benefits 
of  civilization,  will  inevitably  in  great  part  be  destroy- 
ed." 

The  Christian  Filipinos  who  have  gone  into  the  Moro 
country  to  teach  civilization  and  democracy  to  these 
fanatical  Mohammedans  are  deserving  of  great  credit. 
They  are  doing  what  they  can,  and  are  relatively  better 
paid  than  American  teachers  in  the  Philippine  service 
ever  were.  But  they  lack  the  education,  racial  prestige, 
force  of  character  and  detachment  from  Philippine 
politics  and  from  local  issues  between  Moros  and  resi- 
dent Filipinos  which  make  an  American  official  invalua- 
ble. In  the  many  conflicts  of  every  sort  which  are  arising 
and  will  continue  to  arise  between  the  Mohammedans, 
the  pagans  and  the  Christian  Filipinos,  the  American 
official  is  the  acceptable  arbitrator  to  both  sides  because 
he  is  obviously  a  disinterested  third  party.  The  Christian 
Filipino  oflicial  either  is  partisan  or  is  credited  wth  par- 
tisanship. Either  way,  his  mediation  tends  to  make  for 
suspicion  and  discord. 

It  is  encouraging  indeed  to  hear  that  the  Philippine 
legislators,  presumably  with  all  the  facts  before  them, 


OUR  MANDATE  OVER  MOROLAND  43 

have  decided  that  progress  in  Moroland  has  been  so  great 
as  to  warrant  the  abolition  of  the  department  govern- 
ment within  six  years  of  its  organization  and  the  placing 
of  the  seven  Moro  provinces  upon  an  elective  basis. 
It  is  a  happy  portent  for  the  future  that  Butu  has  asked 
that  the  term  "Moro"  be  dropped  and  all  native  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Philippines  be  called  Filipinos.  It  is  not  so 
encouraging  to  hear  that  Hadji  Butu's  request  for  the 
retention  of  Governor  Carpenter  in  the  Moro  govern- 
ment was  not  granted,  and  to  note  that  twelve  new  com- 
panies of  constabulary  are  being  organized,  seven  of  them 
to  be  sent  to  Mindanao  and  Sulu. 

There  is  strong  possibility  of  the  complete  Filipiniza- 
tion  of  the  Moros  and  of  the  development  of  one  unified, 
self-governing  people  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  if  the 
present  policy  of  haste  in  democratizing  the  government 
of  the  Moro  provinces  does  not  prove  disastrous.  It  is 
not  good  sense  to  turn  over  a  large  business  requiring 
education  and  experience  to  a  young  man  who  has  neither 
qualification,  but  merely  wants  to  try  his  spurs  and  vin- 
dicate his  conceit.  It  is  equally  bad  judgment  to  turn 
over  the  Moro  provinces  to  untrained  Filipinos  and  un- 
educated Moro  voters  in  a  frantic  effort  to  demonstrate 
the  self-governing  ability  of  the  Filipinos  and  the  achieve- 
ments of  Governor  General  Harrison  before  the  presi- 
dential election  in  the  United  States  next  fall.  Teaching 
Christians  and  Mohammedans  to  live  peaceably  together 
under  a  democratic  government  has  too  direct  a  bearing 
upon  the  all-important  problem  of  world  peace  to  be  used 
as  a  plaything  in  the  game  of  Philippine  or  American 
politics. 

Toledo,  Ohio.  O.   GARFIELD  JONES. 


A  FELLOWSHIP  OF  FAITH  FOR  MOSLEMS 

There  is  a  force  in  the  world  today  which  brings  us 
into  touch  with  one  Jehovah  God  and  which  makes  all 
things  possible  to  us.  This  force  is  faith.  We  are  apt 
to  regard  faith  as  an  intangible  thing,  but  if  we  did  but 
realize  it,  it  is  scarcely  less  tangible  than  electricity. 
As  we  understand  the  laws  that  govern  the  electric 
current,  as  we  learn  the  lines  upon  which  it  will  work, 
so  do  we  have  before  our  eyes  certain  proofs  of  its  power 
and  we  are  able  to  harness  it  to  fulfill  our  behests.  Faith 
too  has  its  laws,  faith  too  is  an  active,  working  force 
and  it  is  possible  to  apply  it  to  the  crying  needs  of  our 
own  day  and  generation  and  to  have  occular  demonstra- 
tion of  what  it  can  do. 

The  Bible  magnifies  the  value  of  the  individual  in 
God's  sight  and  shows  that  the  faith  of  one  man  can  ac- 
complish miracles,  but  it  also  shows  that  it  is  in  a  fel- 
lowship of  faith  that  faith  can  be  most  productive,  and 
it  is  to  a  fellowship  of  faith  that  many  of  the  most  ex- 
alted promises  are  made.  "If  ye  (plural)  have  faith  as 
a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  ye  shall  say  unto  this  mountain. 
Remove  hence  to  yonder  place;  and  it  shall  remove;  and 
nothing  shall  be  impossible  unto  you  (Matt.  17:29)." 
This  is  a  promise  to  faith,  united,  active  and  aggressive. 
It  is  in  a  living  fellowship  that  mountain-removing- 
faith  is  to  be  found. 

Again  hear  what  the  Master  says:  "Verily,  I  say  unto 
you.  Whatsoever  ye  (plural)  shall  bind  on  earth  shall 
be  bound  in  heaven;  and  whatsoever  ye  shall  loose  on 
earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven."  Again  I  say  unto 
you,  "That  if  two  of  you  shall  agree  on  earth  as  touch- 
ing anything  that  they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  for 
them  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven"  (Matt.  i8: 
i8,  19).  Unless  prayer  is  the  voice  of  faith  it  is  but 
a  meaningless  repetition  of  words  or  a  form  of  moral, 
spiritual  or  intellectual  gymnastics,  but  prayer  that  arises 

44 


A  FELLOWSHIP  OF  FAITH  FOR  MOSLEMS  45 

from  a  living  fellowship  of  faith,  yea,  when  that  fellow- 
ship consists  of  only  two  members,  is,  our  Lord  teaches 
us,  a  power  in  heaven  and  on  earth.  God  the  Father 
graciously  undertakes  to  do  for  such  a  fellowship  any- 
thing that  they  shall  ask. 

The  Bible  teems  with  illustrations  of  the  actual  work- 
ing value  of  faith  and  fellowship  combined.  Was  it 
not  a  fellowship  of  faith  that  overthrew  Jericho!  What 
was  Gideon's  little  band  of  three  hundred  but  a  fellow- 
ship of  faith?  What  was  Jehoshaphat's  army  as  it  went 
out  against  Ammon,  Moab  and  Seir  but  a  fellowship  of 
faith,  with  the  words  "Believe  in  the  Lord  your  God" 
ringing  in  their  ears  and  the  song  of  praise  upon  their 
lips?  Pass  to  the  New  Testament  and'  see  that  little 
group  of  intercessors  pleading  with  God  for  the  Apostle 
Peter.  Prison,  chains,  four  quaternions  of  soldiers,  the 
wrath  of  Herod,  certain  death  confronting  him,  "5m/ 
Prayer''  (Acts  12:5)!  A  fellowship  of  faith,  humble 
believers  whose  faith  was  indeed  but  as  a  grain  of  mus- 
tard seed,  pleading  with  God  in  the  background  and 
where  now  are  the  soldiers,  the  chains,  the  keepers,  the 
prison  doors?  Heavenly  forces  have  been  put  in  motion, 
God  has  moved,  and  the  miracle  is  accomplished  fact. 

It  has  been  the  writer's  glad  privilege  to  witness  spir- 
itual movement  in  more  than  one  place  in  answer  to  the 
united  persistent  pleading  with  God  of  a  company  of 
His  believing  people.  Nothing  seems  impossible  to  such 
a  fellowship,  they  know  that  faith  does  but  pave  the  way 
for  the  Almighty  God  to  work,  they  rely  upon  His  prom- 
ises, they  plead  them  before  His  throne,  and  they  are 
confident  that  the  answer  to  their  petitions,  though  it 
tarry,  will  surely  come.  They  abound  in  hope  by  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  there  is  no  situation  too 
dark  and  difficult  for  them  to  face  because  there  is  noth- 
ing too  hard  for  their  God. 

That  is  the  ideal  we  have  set  before  us  as  we  bind 
ourselves  into  a  fellowship  of  faith  for  the  Moslems. 
For  its  exercise  faith  must  have  an  objective.  It  must 
be  applied  to  specific  cases— it  must  be  focused  or  its  full 
value  will  never  be  appreciated,  and  as  we  stand  face 


46  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

to  face  with  the  great  Moslem  world  we  have  an  ob- 
jective worthy  of  our  metal.  Islam  defies  our  King,  de- 
nies His  divinity,  scoffs  at  His  Cross  and  declares  He  did 
not  die.  It  is  a  great  system  in  more  ways  than  one 
but  it  is  a  system  of  darkness  and  of  error.  Faith  enables 
us  to  realize  that  there  are  forces  behind  all  this  in  the 
invisible  realm,  "world-rulers  of  this  darkness,"  that  it 
is  possible  by  united  prayer  to  deal  with  these  "world- 
rulers."  If  on  earth  by  prayer  we  bind  these  invisible 
powers,  in  heaven  God  will  bind  them  and  we  shall  see 
the  darkness  lifting  and  the  light  of  the  glory  of  God 
in  the  face  of  the  Crucified  One  dawning  in  many  Mos- 
lem hearts. 

Members  of  a  fellowship  of  faith  for  the  Moslems 
must  believe  implicitly  in  the  ultimate,  absolute  triumph 
of  the  Cross  over  the  Crescent.  Christ  is  their  Head — 
all  power  is  His  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  and  "He  must 
reign  till  He  hath  put  all  enemies  under  His  feet."  Is- 
lam is  Christ's  enemy — Islam  is  destined  to  lick  the  dust 
before  Him.  When  or  how  that  final  triumph  will  come 
who  shall  say,  but  as  we  go  forth  against  this  false  sys- 
tem we  have  the  assurance  that  we  are  on  the  winning  side 
and  so  we  can  praise  for  victory  "Before  the  vaunting 
foe  is  dead." 

Each  living  member  of  a  fellowship  of  faith  for  the 
Moslems  may  also  rest  assured  of  the  fact  that  every  ef- 
fort to  enlighten  the  darkness  of  Islam,  every  prayer  of- 
fered, every  sacrifice  made  is  telling  towards  that  glor- 
ious consummation.  Hidden  he  may  be,  feeble  he  may 
seem,  but  his  labor  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord.  So  divers 
going  down  to  lay  mines  beneath  a  dangerous  rock  toil 
day  after  day  in  loneliness  and  discomfort  and  see  no 
result  for  their  labours.  The  great  rock  seems  as  stead- 
fast as  ever,  as  menacing  to  life  and  property,  but  the  day 
comes  when  the  last  diver  has  done  his  work,  the  last 
connecting  link  is  made  and  by  the  slightest  touch  an  in- 
fant can  blow  the  mighty  structure  to  pieces.  So  let  us 
not  despise  the  day  of  small  things  when  no  results  are 
visible.  The  tiny  prayer-meeting,  two  or  three  gathered 
to  pray  for  the  Moslems,  the  young  missionary  struggling 


A  FELLOWSHIP  OF  FAITH  FOR  MOSLEMS  47 

to  express  in  imperfect  Arabic  something  of  a  heavenly 
Father's  love  to  a  group  of  indifferent  or  opposing  peo- 
ple, all  such  efforts  are  in  the  plan,  all  are  vital  and 
important.  May  we  realize  it  until  the  full  glory  of  it 
dawns  upon  our  souls.  The  very  angels  in  heaven  might 
well  covet  our  seemingly  humble  opportunities  of  ser- 
vice. As  we  pray,  as  we  give,  as  we  go,  may  we  be  con- 
scious that  this  is  our  Divinely  appointed  task  and  that 
we  may  claim  and  receive  Divine  equipment  for  it,  and 
that  it  is  leading  up  to  the  final  overthrow  of  this  false 
religion,  and  that  in  it  all  we  are  "labourers  together  with 
God." 

May  our  fellowship  be  pulsating  with  life  and  hope- 
fulness, may  our  faith  "grow  exceedingly,"  and  in  our 
great  task  may  we  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder,  believing 
to  see  the  glory  of  the  Lord  in  all  Moslem  lands. 

London.  JENNIE  B.  LOGAN. 


METHODS  OF  EVANGELISM  IN  PERSIA 

In  discussing  this  subject  it  is  necessary  to  keep  in  mind 
that  more  than  ninety-five  per  cent  of  the  people  of  Per- 
sia are  Moslems;  that  the  Government  is,  or  at  least 
professes  to  be,  strictly  Mohammedan,  even  the  new^  Na- 
tional Constitution  being  absolutely  plain  in  its  state- 
ment that  Shiah  Islam  is  the  religion  of  the  land;  that 
the  only  code  of  laws  is  the  Law  of  Islam,  and  the  death 
penalty  for  apostasy  an  unchanged  part  of  it.  On  the 
other  hand  there  is  a  spirit  of  toleration  among  large 
numbers  of  Persians  that  is  perhaps  not  equaled  in  any 
other  distinctly  Moslem  country. 

Geographically,  Persia  is  rather  a  large  country,  and 
methods  of  work  vary  in  different  parts  to  suit  different 
conditions.  This  article  deals  especially  with  evangelis- 
tic work  in  those  parts  of  Persia  where  I  have  resided 
and  with  which  I  am  really  familiar,  namely  the  Teheran 
and  Resht  fields.  These  fields  combined  occupy  the 
central  northern  section  of  Persia,  including  the  capital, 
the  chief  Caspian  provinces  with  their  ports,  and  some 
of  the  chief  provinces  of  Central  Persia;  and  missionary 
work  in  them  is,  I  believe,  typical  of  the  whole.  In  both 
these  stations  there  has  been  educational  and  medical 
work  as  well  as  evangelistic.  In  the  broader  usage  of 
the  word  evangelistic  work  has  been  done  in  connection 
with  schools,  hospitals  and  dispensaries.  In  this  article 
we  are  considering  evangelistic  work  irrespective  of 
whether  it  is  done  through  the  institutions  or  independ- 
ent of  them;  and  the  term  evangelistic  work  does  not 
mean  all  forms  of  religious  activity,  but  "the  preaching 
and  promulgation  of  the  Gospel." 

Our  discussion  naturally  falls  into  two  general  divi- 
sions: (i)  Permanent  evangelistic  work,  or  work  done 
in  those  cities  where  there  are  established  Stations,  and 
(2)    Itineration. 

I.  Permanent    Evangelistic   Work.  As    in    most 

48 


METHODS  OF  EVANGELISM  IN  PERSIA  49 

fields,  the  public  preaching  of  the  Gospel  is  among  the 
chief  methods.  Even  converts  from  Islam  are  not  de- 
barred from  a  share  in  this  method;  for  there  are  a  few 
converted  Mohammedans  who  openly  and  fearlessly 
preach  the  Gospel  in  public  services.  The  doors  are  open 
to  all,  large  numbers  of  Moslems  are  sometimes  in  at- 
tendance; every  one  knows  who  these  men  are,  that  they 
were  Mohammedans,  and  are  now  Christians;  and  they 
preach  Christ  with  no  uncertain  sound.  In  Teheran  the 
first  service  Sunday  morning  is  evangelistic.  Usually  a 
missionary  preaches  the  sermon,  sometimes  an  Armenian 
or  Jewish  Christian,  sometimes  a  convert  from  Islam. 
In  this  service  the  invitation  is  often  given  for  those  who 
so  desire  to  meet  the  preacher  or  other  Christians  for  per- 
gonal conversation  either  immediately  after  the  service 
or  by  appointment.  At  various  times  we  have  held  evan- 
gelistic services  on  Fridays.  But  we  get  more  Moslems 
on  Sunday  than  on  Friday.  No  doubt  one  reason  for  this 
is  that  the  Moslem  is  less  conspicuous  going  to  a  Chris- 
tian service  on  the  Christian  Sunday  than  on  the  Moslem 
Friday.  It  is  easier  to  give  a  plausible  answer  to  the 
inquiries  of  curious  acquaintances. 

The  Sunday  school  is  an  important  evangelistic  agency 
peculiarly  fitted  to  conditions  in  Persia.  The  Teheran 
Sunday  School  last  year  had  twenty-two  classes  and  an 
average  attendance  of  206.  Most  of  these  classes  used 
the  International  Lessons.  In  others  the  teachers  ar- 
ranged their  own  courses.  One  class  for  English-speak- 
ing young  men  cut  loose  entirely  from  the  usual  Sunday 
school  methods.  This  class  was  conducted  in  a  room  en- 
tirely separate  from,  though  near,  the  chapel  or  Sunday 
school  room.  The  teacher  became  a  leader.  Christian 
men  visiting  Teheran  were  invited  to  address  the  class. 
Among  these  were  Mr.  Robinson  of  the  Near  East  Re- 
lief Committee,  Mr.  Sarcka  of  the  Mesopotamian  Y.  M. 
C.  A.,  and  Mr.  Pennings  of  the  Arabian  Mission,  and 
others.  Following  the  address  there  was  usually  oppor- 
tunity for  other  short  addresses,  questions  and  discussion. 
Some  of  the  subjects  were  "Christ's  Challenge  to  Young 
Men,"  "What  Christianity  Has  Done  for  America,"  and 


50  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

"What  Christ  Has  Done  for  Me."  This  last-named  sub- 
ject gave  opportunity  for  personal  testimony  which  was 
used  with  great  power.  There  were  about  forty  men  in 
the  class  that  day,  about  one-half  of  whom  were  Moslems. 
Most  of  these  were  greatly  surprised  and  impressed  when 
a  young  man  who  had  been  first  a  pupil  in  the  school  at 
the  Mission,  and  subsequently  a  teacher,  arose  and  stated 
that  he  had  for  a  long  time  been  a  believer  in  Christ,  but 
had  been  unwilling  to  let  it  be  known  while  he  was  either 
a  pupil  or  teacher  in  the  school  lest  someone  should  think 
he  had  an  ulterior  motive.  But  now,  that  he  had  no  rela- 
tionship to  the  school  except  that  of  a  friend,  he  wished 
to  confess  his  faith,  and  to  state  that  his  life  was  hence- 
forth dedicated  to  the  service  of  Christ.  He  has  since 
come  to  America  to  study  medicine  in  order  to  fit  him- 
self for  better  service  to  Christ  in  Persia. 

Informal  "parlor  meetings"  constitute  another  common 
method.  For  a  number  of  years,  perhaps  ten,  one  of  the 
oldest  converts  from  Islam  in  Teheran  has  conducted 
such  a  meeting  weekly  in  his  house.  Sometimes  he  re- 
quests other  Christians  to  assist  him  in  the  conduct  of 
these  meetings.  More  often  he  conducts  them  himself. 
Usually  an  entire  afternoon  or  evening  is  given  to  a  meet- 
ing which  is  entirely  informal.  Selections  from  the 
Bible  are  read  and  explained;  there  is  opportunity  for 
questions  and  general  discussion.  In  accord  with  Per- 
sian custom  tea  is  always  served.  Similar  meetings  are 
held  in  the  homes  of  missionaries  and  Persians,  some 
for  men  and  some  for  women. 

Another  method  is  the  "group  meeting."  An  illustra- 
tion of  this  may  be  seen  in  the  "Brotherhood"  conducted 
by  Mrs.  Jordan,  in  Teheran,  for  boys  of  the  school.  As- 
sisted by  a  committee  of  Christian  boys  she  conducts  a 
weekly  evangelistic  meeting.  Usually  an  address  is  given 
by  some  speaker  invited  for  the  occasion.  Sometimes 
there  are  two  or  three  short  talks  by  the  boys  themselves. 
The  climax  is  reached  whenever  a  boy  arises  in  the  meet- 
ing and  makes  his  first  confession  of  faith  in  Christ. 

But  perhaps  the  most  important  method  of  all  is  that 
of  "personal  work."     In  this  the  Persians  are  experts. 


METHODS  OF  EVANGELISM  IN  PERSIA  51 

The  obligation  to  do  personal  work  is  constantly  urged 
in  the  Christian  meetings.  Personal  work  classes  are  con- 
ducted, especially  small  classes  of  four  or  five  banded 
together  for  actual  work. 

11.  Itineration.  Certain  conditions  in  Persia  make 
itineration  difficult — scattered  population,  slow  and  ex- 
pensive methods  of  transportation,  and  fanaticism  in  the 
provinces  and  out-districts.  In  general  three  forms  of 
itineration  have  been  used :  ( i )  medico-evangelistic,  in 
which  a  physician  and  an  evangelist  travel  together  or 
the  physician  is  the  evangelist,  (2)  colportage-evangelis- 
tic,  in  which  the  selling  of  Scriptures  is  made  promin- 
ent, and  (3)  evangelistic  only,  in  which  preaching,  and 
reading  and  explaining  of  Scripture  are  the  only  methods 
used.  I  have  had  a  part  in  all  three.  Each  has  advant- 
ages; each  disadvantages. 

In  the  assignment  of  itinerating  circuits  in  the  Teheran 
field  the  circuit  which  has  been  assigned  to  me  consists 
of  the  two  Caspian  provinces — Mazenderan  and  Aster- 
abad  and  the  Central  Persian  districts  of  Semnan,  Dem- 
ghan  and  Shahrood.  The  length  of  the  entire  circuit 
is  about  three  hundred  and  forty  miles,  and  the  average 
width  about  one  hundred,  giving  an  area  of  about  34,000 
square  miles,  or  an  equivalent  of  the  combined  areas  of 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Delaware,  New  Jersey  and 
Maryland.  In  this  entire  area  there  are  no  resident  mis- 
sionaries and  no  native  evangelists;  the  only  form  of 
Christian  work  carried  on  is  itineration.  The  popula- 
tion is  variously  estimated  from  one  to  two  millions.  The 
last  time  I  was  able  to  visit  this  circuit  was  in  the  spring 
and  summer  of  1 917.  I  was  accompanied  by  an  Amer- 
ican colporteur  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society, 
and  a  convert  from  Islam.  Four  mules,  a  horse  and  a 
donkey  carried  us,  our  two  tents  and  journey  outfit,  and 
about  seven  hundred  copies  of  the  Bible,  New  Testa- 
ment and  portions  of  Scripture.  Our  general  method 
of  procedure  was,  upon  entering  a  city  or  village,  to 
put  up  our  tents  in  some  conspicuous  place  with  all 
possible  speed,  and  arrange  our  effects.  These  operations 
usually  attracted  a  considerable  crowd.     Immediately 


52  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

we  would  offer  Scriptures  for  sale,  usually  the  mission- 
ary and  one  of  the  Persians  would  go  at  once  to  the  busi- 
ness part  of  the  community  and  sell  books,  while  the 
other  Persian  would  remain  in  camp,  sell  Scriptures,  talk 
informally  with  the  crowd,  and  start  preparations  for 
the  next  meal.  The  tents,  the  appearance  of  the  foreigner 
in  the  bazaar,  and  the  copies  of  Scripture  sold  were  the 
best  possible  methods  of  advertising.  Men  came  to  the 
camp,  sometimes  in  groups,  sometimes  in  crowds.  In  the 
late  afternoons  the  missionary  usually  sat  on  a  low  box 
in  front  of  his  tent,  with  Scriptures  exhibited  for  sale  on 
his  folding  cot,  and  two  or  three  small  pieces  of  carpet 
for  the  first  comers  to  sit  on.  Later  arrivals  sat  on  the 
ground,  and  still  later  stood  behind.  In  Barferush  these 
afternoon  gatherings  began  with  about  twenty  on  the 
first  day,  and  reached  about  two  hundred  by  the  fifth. 
For  one,  two,  or  three  hours  the  missionary  read  and 
explained  Scripture,  "told  the  story,"  heard  and  answered 
questions  while  his  two  companions  moved  about  the 
crowd  with  books  in  their  hands,  and  incidentally  kept 
a  close  watch  on  the  tents  and  their  contents. 

Of  course  there  was  opposition.  In  Amol  a  man  in  the 
bazaar  told  the  colportuer  that  a  crowd  would  visit  us 
that  night  and  all  three  of  us  would  be  hanged.  Our 
camp  was  on  the  city  common,  absolutely  unprotected. 
That  night,  as  usual,  we  committed  ourselves  and  our 
camp  to  Him  Who  never  slumbers,  and  lay  down,  slept 
soundly  and  awoke  in  peace.  In  Barferush  we  were 
warned  to  leave  the  city  within  four  hours  otherwise  the 
Persian  Cossacks  would  "pour  themselves  upon  our 
heads."  We  did  not  hasten  our  departure,  and  were  not 
molested.  Later  we  learned  that  the  officer  in  charge  of 
the  Cossacks  had  heard  of  the  threat  and  had  advised  his 
men  not  to  carry  it  out. 

Our  ideal  has  been  the  methods  of  the  Apostles,  trusting 
that  by  the  blessing  of  God  the  results  may  be  a  Church 
truly  apostolic  in  faith  and  zeal. 

H.  C.  SCHULER. 
St.  Paul,  Minn.,  U.  S.  A. 


A  SURVEY  OF  ISLAM  IN  CHINA  * 

The  entry  of  Mohammedanism  into  the  Far  East,  its 
growth  among  the  Chinese,  and  its  present  status  in  the 
Republic,  are  perplexing  problems  to  the  investigator. 
When  did  the  first  preachers  of  Islam  enter  China?  is 
still  a  much-disputed  point,  monuments,  inscriptions,  and 
authorities  dififer  so  greatly  that  the  impartial  student, 
despairing  of  getting  down  to  bed-rock  fact,  is  likely  ta 
concur  in  Broomhall's  conclusion:  "The  story  of  the  very 
early  entry  of  Islam  into  China  cannot  be  accepted  as 
trustworthy."  Tombs  much  venerated  exist  at  Canton 
and  Yangchow  (Ku.)  and  are  claimed  as  the  resting- 
places  of  two  of  the, early  propagators  of  Islam  in  this 
land. 

If  the  entry  of  Islam  into  China  is  a  much-debated 
problem,  the  method  of  its  progress  is  equally  a  problem. 
The  map  that  illustrates  this  paper  makes  clear  that  from 
north  to  south,  and  from  east  to  west,  important  groups 
of  Moslems  are  found  dotted  over  the  Republic  of  China. 
The  occupation,  speaking  generally,  was  effected  peace- 
fully: "the  sword  of  Mohammed"  has  been  little  known 
outside  three  or  four  provinces.  How  came  Islam  to  its 
present  position?  How  came  these  settlements  of  "the 
faithful"  in  twenty-two  provinces,  and  even  in  districts 
in  Mongolia  and  Tibet?  It  is  most  probable  that 
through  the  chief  trading-routes  its  merchants  pressed 
forward  in  those  early  days  much  as  they  do  today.  The 
Moslem  soldiers  from  the  west,  who  by  Imperial  per- 
mission took  to  themselves  wives  of  Chinese  stock  after 
having  rendered  special  service  to  this  land,  must  also 
be  taken  into  account.  The  intermarriage  with  non- 
Moslem  stock — the  Mohammedans  taking,  but  only  in 
the  most  rare  cases  ever  giving  a  Moslem  bride  to  an 
"unbeliever"  has  undoubtedly  been  an  important  factor 
in  the  progress  of  this  religion  in  China. 

•This  is  Section  X:  2  of  the  new  Survey  of  China  prepared  by  the  China  Continua- 
tion Committee  and  published  separately  here  by  special  permission. — Ed. 


54  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

But  if  the  date  of  entry,  and  the  method  of  propaga- 
tion are  problems,  the  present  status  of  Islam  in  China 
is  a  problem  still  more  difficult  to  solve.  Several  at- 
tempts have  been  made  to  arrive  at  the  actual  number  of 
Moslems,  but  the  investigators  have  been  forced  to  ad- 
mit that  there  is  not  yet  adequate  data  for  a  satisfactory 
estimate.  "What  about  the  Chinese  census?"  some  may 
ask.  The  reply  is,  China  has  neither  the  desire  for,  nor 
the  machinery  adequate  to  make,  a  reliable  census.  At- 
tempts have  been  made  in  some  centers  with  more  or  less 
success,  but  should  any  attempt  be  made  to  take  a  na- 
tional census,  multitudes  would  resist  it  most  stoutly,  be- 
lieving with  just  cause,  that  it  foreshadowed  increased 
taxation. 

It  may  then  be  asked,  on  what  foundation  do  the  figures 
in  the  present  survey  rest?  On  the  best  data  possible 
under  existing  limitations.  The  figures  of  earlier  in- 
vestigators have  been  checked  and  corroborated,  or  modi- 
fied in  the  light  of  more  recent  data.  Others  have  la- 
bored and  we  have  entered  into  their  labors.  But  more 
than  this  has  been  done.  A  three-fold  inquiry  has  also 
been  made  in  order  to  get  the  most  reliable  statistics. 
One  questionnaire  was  sent  to  missionaries,  a  second  to 
foreign  officials,  and  the  third  to  carefully  selected 
Chinese  scholars  in  touch  with  the  Moslem  population. 
Owing  to  the  proneness  of  human  nature  to  over-state- 
ment, underestimating,  or  pure  guess  work — infirmities 
by  no  means  confined  to  Westerners — estimates  have  been 
checked  and  re-checked,  where  possible,  in  the  interest 
of  approximate  accuracy.  Some  of  the  data  now  pre- 
sented to  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  has  meant  not  a  little 
patient  toil  on  the  part  of  hard-pressed,  overworked  mis- 
sionaries. Some  of  the  figures  have  been  obtained  from 
friendly  Mohammedan  leaders  who  had  visited  the  chief 
centers  in  a  certain  province  to  raise  funds  for  the  erec- 
tion of  new  mosques.  They  were  asked  in  to  a  friendly 
meal,  and  were  able  and  willing  to  give  most  useful 
data  from  first  hand  knowledge. 

But  having  said  so  much  a  word  of  caution  must  be 
added.    While  it  is  true  that  a  definite  attempt  has  been 


A  SURVEY  OF  ISLAM  IN  CHINA  55 

made  to  secure  and  to  present  the  actual  conditions,  the 
results,  we  must  confess,  are  still  far  from  satisfactory. 
Three  reasons  may  be  given  for  this  dissatisfaction : 

1.  Mission  stations  in  China,  especially  those  in  Mos- 
lem districts,  are  frequently  so  undermanned  and  so  iso- 
lated that  the  workers  on  the  field,  already  in  some  cases 
doing  the  work  of  two  people,  have  little  time  to  spare 
for  personal  investigation  as  to  the  Moslems. 

2.  It  must  be  remembered  that  today  (in  1920)  there 
are  still  districts  in  China  without  any  messenger  of  the 
Cross.    Moslem  survey  work  in  such  centers  is  difficult. 

3.  Certain  districts  in  China,  owing  to  political  strife 
resulting  in  grave  lawlessness,  have  not  been  investigated. 
Rival  factions  have  created  such  conditions  that  ordinary 
work  has  had  to  be  suspended.  The  destruction  of  much 
(Chinese)  property,  the  loss  of  many  (Chinese)  lives, 
and  the  reign  of  terror  following,  have  rendered  careful 
investigation  impossible. 

Bearing  these  facts  in  mind,  it  will  be  understood  that 
the  present  figures  (like  all  previous  attempts)  are  only 
approximate,  and  do  not  cover  the  whole  field  of  Mos- 
lem influence.  We  believe  the  statement  will  not  be 
found  to  err  on  the  side  of  exaggeration.  But  taken  as 
an  incomplete  survey  of  the  Moslem  faith  in  China,  it 
sounds  forth  a  call  to  the  whole  Church  of  Christ;  it  is 
a  call  to  prayer,  to  consecration,  and  to  service.  And  this 
call  is  clear,urgent  and  personal. 

The  figures  given  as  approximate  are  ten  millions  of 
Moslems  in  China.  Owing  to  the  very  meager  data  that 
has  come  in  from  several  provinces,  we  shall  do  well  to 
taken  "ten  millions"  as  a  conservative  estimate.  The  stra- 
tegic centers  should  be  specially  noted,  and  adequate  pro- 
vision made  for  local  and  itinerant  work  throughout  each 
district.  When  these  strategic  centers  have  workers  set 
apart  for  the  Moslem  people,  they  should  be  adequately 
sustained,  and  should  become  the  basis  of  far-reaching 
effort  to  make  Christ  known  to  these  special  people. 

The  Chinese  Moslems  as  far  as  we  know  them  are  Sun- 
nis.  This  corresponds  with  statements  made  by  the  Mos- 
lems   themselves:    "there    are    no    Shiahs    in    China." 


56  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

The  "Old"  and  the  "New"  seem  to  indicate  "conserva- 
tive" and  "progressive"  rather  than  any  other  alignment. 
They  certainly  do  not  indicate  "Sunni"  and  "Shiah"  as 
some  have  thought.  There  is  a  very  strong  Sufi  influence 
in  China.  Persian  books  are  common,  especially  among 
the  leading  Ahongs.  One  constantly  comes  across 
Ahongs  who  are  genuinely  pious,  and  who  practice  Sufi 
methods. 

As  a  whole  the  Chinese  Moslems  represent  a  Con- 
fucianized  type.  They  are  with  few  exceptions  (such 
as  those  in  Sinkiang  and  Kansu)  very  different  from  the 
Moslem  in  the  Near  East.  This  means  that  the  approach 
is  a  double  one — that  is,  religious  and  social.  Relig- 
iously, they  are  Moslems,  socially  they  are  Chinese  Mos- 
lems. This  does  not  mean  that  they  do  not  observe  Mos- 
lem social  rules,  but  that  these  rules  have  been  consider- 
ably modified  through  contact  with  Chinese  ideas.  It 
will  also  be  noted  that  the  Chinese  Moslems  in  conduct 
follow  in  the  paths  of  the  non-Moslem  Chinese  in  their 
district;  where  opium-smoking,  wine-drinking,  and  law- 
less conduct  is  common  (as  seen  in  Szechuan,  Shensi, 
etc.,)  the  bulk  of  the  "faithful"  are  not  a  whit  behind  the 
idolaters.  Some  of  the  most  severe  condemnation  of  their 
evil  ways  has  come  from  the  lips  of  their  own  mullahs, 
one  of  whom  sadly  and  frankly  confessed  he  had  no  pos- 
sible plan  to  raise  his  people. 

It  is  an  accepted  fact  that  Chinese  Moslems  are  more 
approachable  than  their  fellow-religionists  in  other  lands. 
One  of  the  reasons  why  more  of  them  have  not  been  won 
for  Christ  is  that  missionaries  have  not  had  the  time  to 
go  after  them.  The  vast  number  of  non-Moslem  Chin- 
ese have  claimed  their  attention. 

While  a  few  have  taken  high  places  as  scholars,  as  a 
whole  the  Chinese  Moslems  have  not  paid  much  atten- 
tion to  education,  but  as  will  be  seen  in  another  para- 
graph they  are  now  seeking  to  alter  this  state  of  things. 
As  soldiers  they  have  excelled  and  made  a  great  name 
for  themselves.  As  merchants  they  do  well  not  only  fol- 
lowing the  main  trade  routes,  but  penetrating  dangerous 
and  difficult  centres,  (such  as  Tibet)  ;  and  in  transport, 


A  SURVEY  OF  ISLAM  IN  CHINA  57 

by  road  and  water,  they  are  much  in  evidence;  fearless, 
resourceful,  and  physically  "fit,"  the  Chinese  Moslem 
thrives.  In  farming  they  have  not  yet  made  great  strides. 
The  Moslems  in  the  north  possess  many  animals, 
but  if  reports  are  true — and  we  cannot  doubt  them 
— their  animals  cost  them  little,  but  their  rightful  owners 
much!  In  office,  Moslems  have  frequently  held  the  reins 
firmly  and  won  the  good  opinion  of  all  law-abiding  folk, 
while  to  the  evil-doer  they  have  indeed  been  a  terror. 
It  may  be  noted  that  in  earlier  days  when  it  was  almost 
impossible  to  rent  premises  for  mission  work  from  the 
Chinese,  several  stations  were  occupied  through  Moham- 
medan owners  of  property  coming  forward  and  risking 
all  consequences,  renting  their  premises  to  Protestant 
missionaries.  It  may  also  be  recorded  that  in  the  Boxer 
year,  (1900)  two  missionaries  in  East  China  owed  their 
escape  in  safety  to  the  coast,  to  the  friendly  and  timely 
arrangement  made  by  a  Moslem  official  after  the  Chinese 
official  had  failed  to  help  them  out  of  a  dangerous  situa- 
tion. 

Certain  writers  have  maintained  that  the  Chinese 
Moslem  can  rarely  be  picked  out  from  the  non-Moslem 
stock.  This  is  not  correct;  the  following  testimony  may 
be  accepted  as  reliable:  "With  regard  to  Moslems  of  the 
Arabian  and  Persian  stock  I  should  most  certainly  affirm 
that  with  few  exceptions  caused  through  much  Chinese 
intermarriage,  they  retain  their  decided  and  distinct  fea- 
tures, which  can  be  instantly  recognized  by  any  foreigner 
whose  eye  has  been  sufficiently  educated  in  things  Oriental 
to  distinguish,  say,  one  Chinaman  from  another.  This 
holds  true  also  of  the  Salar,  (Turki  Moslems  from  Cen- 
tral Asia)."     (Report  from  Kansu.) 

"While  it  may  not  be  possible  in  every  case  to  differ- 
entiate between  a  Moslem  and  the  ordinary  Chinese,  yet 
in  the  majority  of  cases  the  physiognomy  is  quite  distinct. 
The  Moslem  may  often  be  recognized  by  his  oval  face, 
aquiline  nose,  heavy  beard,  stubby  moustache,  (clipped 
flush  with  the  upper  lip  for  the  exact  length  of  the  mouth) 
and  his  peculiar  accent,  etc."  (Report  from  Szechuan.) 

Similar  testimony  could  be  given  from  Yunnan,  Hon- 


58  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

an,  Chihli  and  other  centers  of  Moslem  influence.  The 
Mohammedan  as  a  rule  can  be  easily  distinguished  by 
the  careful  observer.  As  to  customs:  theoretically 
there  is  a  difference  between  Chinese  and  Moslem  in  so- 
cial matters  such  as  divorce,  polgamy,  slavery,  etc.,  but 
practically  there  is  not  much  difference.  While  they  be- 
lieve that  it  is  right  and  proper  for  a  Moslem  to  have  four 
wives  at  one  time,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  with  the  common 
people,  the  bread  and  butter  argument  forbids  any  such 
practice.  In  Kansu  and  Sinkiang  there  is  far  more 
license  in  these  matters,  but  in  the  other  provinces  there 
is  less  polygamy  and  divorce.  Among  the  wealthy,  both 
Chinese  and  Moslem,  it  is  a  mark  of  standing  to  have 
more  than  one  wife.  As  to  slavery:  if  there  is  a  dif- 
ference it  would  appear  to  be  in  the  motive  rather  than  in 
anything  else.  With  the  Chinese,  a  matter  of  conven- 
ience, with  the  Moslem-Chinese,  not  only  convenience, 
but  addition  to  the  ranks  of  "the  faithful."  In  general 
morality  the  testimony  is  conclusive  that  "they  run  neck 
and  neck." 

Experienced  workers  report  that  except  for  activity 
in  the  matter  of  better  educational  facilities,  no 
distinctive  Moslem  reform  movements  have  been  seen. 
Among  progressive  Moslems  there  is  the  feeling  that 
something  must  be  done,  but  apart  from  the  publication 
of  a  few  Moslem  journals,  some  of  which  never  reached 
the  second  issue,  there  is  nothing  to  be  reported.  Ap- 
peals have  been  issued  to  close  the  ranks  and  stand  solid 
for  a  united  Islam,  but  the  sharp  differences  between  the 
"Old,"  the  "New,"  and  the  "New  New"  sects,  have  thus 
far  prevented  the  fusion  desired. 

In  the  past,  there  has  been  much  illiteracy  among  the 
Chinese  Moslems,  and  today  in  many  districts  this  con- 
dition still  prevails.  Recently,  however,  considerable  ac- 
tivity has  been  noted,  showing  that  the  Mohammedans  are 
awakening  to  the  necessity  of  providing  educational  priv- 
ileges for  their  people.  A  serious  attempt  is  being  made 
to  deal  with  the  problem  of  illiteracy,  and  word  has  come 
from  many  centers  of  schools  being  opened  for  Moslem 
children  where  Chinese  and  Arabic  are  now  taught. 


A  SURVEY  OF  ISLAM  IN  CHINA  59 

The  importance  of  this  movement  should  not  be  over- 
looked. It  means  the  opening  of  "eyegate"  to  many  v^ho 
have  dwelt  in  darkness;  it  means  a  great  increase  in  the 
number  w^ho  in  the  providence  of  God  will  soon  be  able 
to  read  for  themselves;  it  also  means  that  far  more  Chris- 
tian literature,  suitable  and  specially  prepared  for  Chin- 
ese Moslem  must  be  made  available  without  delay. 
Other  literature  is  flooding  this  land.  It  is  now  for  the 
Church  of  Christ  to  see  that  Christian  literature,  suitable 
for  the  children  as  well  as  for  the  adults,  is  prepared  for 
Moslem  readers.  The  present  movement  toward  giving 
a  suitable  education  to  their  illiterates  is  profoundly  sig- 
nificant! It  shows  that  God  is  opening  up  new  doors  of 
approach.    Shall  we  not  enter  with  His  Truth? 

It  is  not  known  how  many  there  are  in  China  with  a 
good  knowledge  of  Arabic,  but  it  is  beyond  a  doubt  that 
there  are  men  well  versed  in  both  Arabic  and  Persian. 
This  fact  was  known  years  ago.  In  191 7  Dr.  Zwemer 
visited  China,  and  after  personal  touch  with  Moslem 
leaders,  emphasized  the  fact.  Statements  to  the  contrary, 
implying  that  Chinese  mullahs  cannot  understand  Arabic, 
should  be  accepted  with  reserve.  They  are  usually  made 
by  those  who  have  not  had  the  opportunity  to  investigate 
the  matter  personally.  The  correct  view  is  as  follows: 
some  mullahs  have  only  a  very  limited  knowledge  of  the 
language  of  their  sacred  books ;  some  can  read  and  explain 
their  own  books,  but  are  not  able  to  understand  the  un- 
vowelled  Arabic  Christian  books.  There  is  a  third  class, 
however,  who  can  read,  write  and  understand  Arabic  both 
as  found  in  their  own  books  and  in  Christian  books.  Men 
of  this  class  are  found,  in  small  numbers,  it  is  true,  but 
found  they  are,  all  over  China.  Arabic  Scriptures, 
Chinese-Arabic  (Diglot)  Gospels,  and  Christian  litera- 
ture from  the  Nile  Mission  Press,  are  in  increasing  use  in 
China  among  the  Moslems  who  read  and  can  understand 
what  they  read.  In  view  of  misleading  reports  that  are 
abroad — based  doubtless  on  limited  knowledge  of  this  im- 
portant subject — the  following  information  may  help  to  a 
true  view  of  the  situation.  Missionaries  have  borne  wit- 
ness that  the  use  of  Arabic  literature  has  opened  the  door 


6o  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

to  personal  touch  with  mullahs  with  whom  previously 
they  had  no  point  of  contact.  Requests  have  been  re- 
ceived for  copies  of  any  new  Christian  publication  in 
Arabic,  and  applications  for  grants  of  such  as  were  al- 
ready available.  Manuscripts  in  Arabic,  the  work  of 
Chinese  mullahs,  have  been  received,  and  forwarded  to 
Cairo  for  suitable  reply.  Some  of  these  manuscripts  have 
dealt  trenchantly  with  Christian  belief  and  required  very 
careful  answering.  The  testimony  of  friends  in  Egypt, 
should  be  noted  :  "The  manuscripts  are  ably  prepared  and 
well  written."  One  more  statement  may  be  added.  In 
December,  19 19,  an  order  for  a  number  of  Arabic  books 
came  to  hand  from  a  well-read  Chinese  mullah,  who  re- 
quested his  Christian  friend  to  kindly  forward  the  order 
to  a  certain  Mohammedan  bookship  in  Cairo.  In  view 
of  the  above  facts  any  statements  belittling  the  knowledge 
of  Arabic  possessed  by  the  leaders  of  Islam  in  China  may 
surely  now  be  "scrapped." 

Not  alone  in  the  matter  of  increased  facilities  for  edu- 
cation, but  in  the  building  of  new  mosques  there  is 
evidence  that  Chinese  Moh^mmf^dans  are  by  no  means 
asleep.  From  Kansu,  Chihli  and  Yunnan,  three  import- 
ant provinces,  new  mosques  are  reported.  Some  of  these 
erections  have  cost  large  sums;  some  have  provision  for 
the  "Call  to  Prayer"  to  be  made  according  to  Moslem 
usage.  Another  sign  of  activity  is  seen  in  the  opening  of 
small  mosques  for  Moslem  women,  where  trained  women 
teachers  give  instruction.  So  f nr  these  have  been  reported 
from  only  four  provinces — Kiangsu,  Shensi,  Honan  and 
Shantung.  There  may  possibly  be  some  in  other  prov- 
inces, but  they  have  not  yet  been  discovered. 

The  rule  seems  to  be  that  Ahongs  or  mullahs  are  train- 
ed in  small  number  in  various  centers  rather  than  in  large 
number  at  one  center.  But  this  is  not  invariably  the  case, 
as  certain  large  mosques  have  a  goodly  number  of  young 
men  preparing  for  the  office  of  mullah.  No  data  is  forth- 
coming as  to  the  number  of  such  students  but  in  view  of 
the  number  of  mosques  where  training  is  in  progress  the 
total  must  be  considerable. 

The  world  unrest  during  the  past  few  years  has  pre- 


A  SURVEY  OF  ISLAM  IN  CHINA  6r 

vented  Chinese  Moslems  from  making  the  Pilgrimage. 
Some  have  tried  but  failed  to  obtain  consular  signed 
passports  ov^ing  to  conditions  in  the  Nearer  East.  The 
great  expense  has  in  the  past  also  hindered  many  from 
the  journey,  but  those  who  have  visited  Mecca  (some 
three  or  four  times)  have  been  accorded  a  high  place  in 
local  Moslem  circles.  It  w^ould  not  be  amiss  if  some- 
thing could  be  done  to  reach  Chinese  pilgrims  en  route 
to  and  from  Mecca  in  the  coming  years. 

On  the  subject  of  strategic  centres  we  are  able  to  speak 
with  a  fair  amount  of  confidence.  The  chief  centers  of 
Moslem  influence  are  indicated  but  only  the  chief  ones. 
Influential  groups  of  Mohammedans  are  frequently 
found  in  country  districts,  and  these  must  not  be  forgotten. 
Let  the  important  centers  first  be  provided  for,  then  the 
smaller  groups  can  be  considered.  It  will  be  found,  with 
few  exceptions,  that  provincial  capitals  are  favored  with 
a  considerable  Moslem  population.  Numerically,  and 
influentially,  the  Moslems  at  such  centers  have  a  very 
definite  position.  It  will  be  found  too,  that  these  pro- 
vincial capitals  have  generally  not  a  few  missionaries  at 
work,  but  few,  if  any,  giving  special  attention  to  the  Mos- 
lem population.  This  state  of  things  must  be  changed. 
The  list  of  centers  is  commended  to  the  Mission  Boards 
in  the  homelands.  It  will  be  seen  that  to  place  one 
worker  in  each  of  these  strategic  centers,  and  to  open  up 
work  in  the  two  unoccupied  Moslem  districts  where  no 
missionary  has  yet  learned  the  dialect,  and  to  appoint  one 
lady  worker  for  the  Moslem  women  and  one  for  the  chil- 
dren, would  mean  twenty-four  missionaries.  It  should, 
however,  be  remembered  that  "open  doors"  when  neglec- 
ted are  apt  to  close.  The  Head  of  the  Church  has  set  be- 
fore us  "an  open  door"  in  China  for  every  class  of  work, 
Moslem  included.  The  response  we  make  not  only  affects 
millions  of  souls;  it  will  inevitably  react  upon  ourselves. 
The  responsibility  rests  with  us  to  give  the  Bread  of  Life 
to  these  hungry  ones. 

It  can  hardly  be  emphasized  too  much  that  all  work 
among  the  Chinese  Moslems  is  in  its  infancy,  but  of  all 
classes  the  women  and  children  are  the  most  neglected. 


62  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

The  homes  are  still  practically  untouched.  If  this  is 
the  case  in  the  large  cities,  how  much  more  is  it  true  in 
the  country  districts  where  the  bulk  of  the  Moslem  pop- 
ulation is  found. 

Every  sign  points  to  the  great  opportunity  to  reach 
numbers  of  Moslems  who  are  more  plastic  than  hither- 
to known.  If  the  full  Gospel  of  God's  Grace  is  pre- 
sented in  a  brotherly  spirit,  and  a  ministry  of  real  friend- 
ship is  steadily  maintained,  the  outlook  is  bright  and 
promising.  If  blighting  criticism  is  allowed  to  take 
the  field,  the  issue  is  sure  to  be  hardening  of  Moslem 
hearts  and  the  closing  of  Moslem  doors.  Christ,  the 
divine  Saviour,  the  only  Mediator  between  a  Holy  God 
and  the  helpless  sinner,  is  the  message  that  grips  and 
abides.  If  workers  among  Moslems  preach  any  other 
Gospel  than  the  Gospel  of  God's  Grace  as  shown  forth 
in  the  Crucified  and  Risen  Saviour,  they  will  inevitably 
fail  to  reach  the  Mohammedan. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  offer  some  suggestions  to 
Mission  Boards  to  whom  this  survey  is  earnestly  com- 
mended. 

I :  Make  provision  for  organized  work  among  Moslems  in  the  dis- 
tricts where  your  missionaries  are  already  at  work.  To  neglect  the 
Mohammedan  population  because  of  the  pressure  of  other  work  is  a 
fatal  mistake. 

2:  When  choosing  your  next  deputation  to  China,  consider  the  ad- 
visability of  appointing  one  who  knows  Islam,  and  the  best  way  to  reach 
its  followers. 

3 :  If  possible  avoid  the  mistake  already  made  in  some  fields,  through 
appointing  ex-Moslem  preachers  to  non-Moslem  work,  because  of 
"their  especial  fitness  for  such  work."  One  writer  on  this  subject  ad- 
mitting the  mistake  made  added,  "it  was  because  the  ex-Moslem  Chris- 
tian was  the  best  man  that  he  was  so  often  appointed  to  non-Moslem 
work."  This  policy  may  be  good  for  the  non-Moslem  population, 
but  it  is  unfair  to  the  Moslem  people. 

4:  Where  there  is  a  considerable  Moslem  population  in  a  given 
field  and  no  worker  can  be  set  apart  for  their  special  need,  encourage 
the  missionaries  to  give  at  least  some  portion  of  time  to  regular  work 
on  behalf  of  the  Moslems.  In  this  way,  each  force — Medical,  Evan- 
gelistic, Educational,  etc.,  will  be  able  to  contribute  something  to  help 
the  neglected  Mohammedans  to  Christ. 

5:  If  in  your  Chinese  work  you  have  any  strong  Moslem  centre,  it 
might  be  well  to  consider  the  question  of  making  definite  appointment 
to  specialized  work.  A  year  at  Cairo  would  be  very  helpful  to  the 
one  appointed  to  do  Moslem  work. 

6:  As  the  Chinese  Moslem  women  and  children  are  such  a  neglected 


A  SURVEY  OF  ISLAM  IN  CHINA  63 

class,  might  it  not  be  well  to  appoint  a  women's  committee  (at  home  or 
on  the  field)  to  deal  with  this  subject? 

7:  Mission  Boards  contemplating  opening  up  new  work  in  China 
are  asked  to  definitely  consider  the  great,  lonely,  neglected,  North- 
west, where  so  many  Chinese  Moslems  are  waiting  for  the  bearers  of 
"Good  Tidings."  Kansu  and  Sinkiang  may  be  hard  fields,  diffi- 
cult of  access;  they  may  require  heavy  expenditure  of  time  and  toil; 
but  they  are  within  our  Lord's  command  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world, 
and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature."  They  can  be  evangelized. 
They  must  be  evangelized.    It  is  ours  to  say  "they  shall  be  evangelized !" 

Appendix  I 

CENTRES  THAT  SHOULD  HAVE  A  WORKER  SET  APART 
FOR  MOSLEM  WORK 

Peking — Officially,  educationally,  and  in  its  close  touch  with  the 
great  Moslem  world,  Peking  is  placed  first  on  the  list  of  centers  that 
should  have  special  attention.  In  and  quite  near  to  the  city  there 
are  thirty-six  mosques,  and  in  one  of  these  (the  Chiao-tzu-hu-t'ung 
mosque)  will  be  found  the  headquarters  of  the  Forward  Educational 
Moslem  Movement.  Some  five  years  ago,  hundreds  of  Moslems, 
from  all  the  northern  provinces  except  Kansu,  gathered  in  Peking  to 
launch  this  movement  in  the  interests  of  their  faith.  The  Moslem 
population  of  Peking  is  by  no  means  clearly  established,  as  estimates 
vary  considerably.  But  it  is  safe  to  say  thirty-five  to  forty  thousand, 
with  a  large  population  in  the  country  around. 

Tientsin — Thirteen  mosques  in  and  near  to  Tientsin,  and  twenty 
thousand  Moslem  families  is  the  latest  data  to  hand.  This  city  has 
close  touch  with  Peking,  and  new  Moslem  publications  are  issued  from 
this  center  fairly  frequently.  Tientsin  is  one  of  the  great  cities  of 
China  where  golden  opportunities  are  being  lost  for  want  of  reapers. 
As  in  Peking  there  are  able  readers  of  Arabic  found  here. 

Nanking — This  far-famed  city  whose  walls  are  twenty-five  miles 
in  circumference,  has  still  a  considerable  Moslem  pcfpulation,  and 
if  the  political  center  should  change  (as  some  predict),  Nanking  may 
well  regain  its  lost  glory.  At  present  there  are  some  twenty-seven 
mosques,  and  although  many  are  small,  a  turn  in  the  political  situ- 
ation may  lead  to  the  return  of  Moslem  families,  and,  as  in  some  other 
centres,  the  rebuilding  on  a  larger  scale  of  the  old  places  of  worship. 
We  should  say  that  Islam  at  Nanking  is  at  a  low  ebb,  but  this  is  just 
the  time  to  plan  for  definite  Christian  work.  Mullchs  from  other 
provinces:  (Kansu,  Honan,  Shantung,  and  Yunnan)  are  doing  their  best 
to  revive  "the  faithful."  One  of  these  friendly  mullahs  admitted  his 
mosque  was  small,  but  added,  "It  has  not  been  long  opened,  and  we  are 
planning  to  build  a  larger  one."  Five  thousand  families  of  Moslems  are 
officially  reported  at  this  center. 

TsiNAN — ^The  capital  of  Shantung  is  rapidly  growing  in  importance, 
and  being  in  close  touch  by  rail  with  the  centres  already  mentioned,  is 
bound  to  claim  increasing  attention.  There  are  two  large  and  six 
small  mosques  and  four  thousand  Moslem  homes.  In  this  province 
special  instruction  is  being  given  to  some  Moslem  women  in  their  own 
mosques  not  included  in  the  above  figures. 

Kaifeng — This  province  needs  special  provision  in  view  of  its  Mos- 
lem population  and  its  extensive  roots.  With  three  hundred  mosques 
known,  and  its  many  centres  for  training  mullahs,  its  women's  mosques. 


^4  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

and  many  primary  (Moslem)  schools,  it  should  be  made  the  object  of 
much  prayer.  When  Dr.  Zwemer  visited  China  (1917)  it  was  from 
this  province  that  a  warning  note  was  sent  out.  As  the  key  to  distant 
conservative  Kansu,  and  within  reach  of  Shensi  province  where  Islam 
has  as  yet  been  little  touched,  this  province  of  Honan  must  have  special 
attention.  Its  capital,  Kaifeng,  with  seven  mosques  for  men,  and  eight 
for  women,  more  than  thirty  mullahs^  and  some  one  hundred  and  twen- 
ty in  preparation  for  such  posts,  its  three  thousand  five  hundred  Mo- 
hammedan families,  and  schools  for  (Moslem)  boys  and  girls  should 
have  a  picked  worker  set  apart  to  reach  this  people.  In  191 7  this 
fact  was  emphasized  at  the  Conference  with  Dr.  Zwemer,  but 
in  1920  the  situation  is  still  the  same,  no  one  having  yet  been  definitely 
appointed. 

SiAN — This  city  has  a  special  interest  to  workers  among  Moslems, 
as  being  one  of  the  early  centres  of  Islam  in  China.  Today  there  are 
eight  mosques,  each  with  its  own  school  of  the  prophets,  and  some  twen- 
ty thousand  Moslems.  A  report  from  this  city  dated  Feb.  1920  from 
the  one  worker  who  has  been  in  touch  with  its  Moslems  but  has 
now  been  called  off  to  other  pressing  work  states,  "I  do  not  remember 
one  occasion  in  the  three  months'  residence  here  when  a  Moslem  re- 
fused to  receive  a  tract.  If  some  one  could  be  appointed  to  this  work 
I'm  sure  results  would  follow.  It  should  be  some  one  who  has  a 
special  call  to  Mohammedan  work." 

Chengtu — The  capital  of  Szechuan  has  suffered  much  through 
civil  strife,  but  the  Moslems  still  are  an  important  factor  in  this  city. 
They  have  eleven  mosques,  and  some  well-read,  able  mullahs.  They 
themselves  estimate  two  thousand  three  hundred  families  are  followers 
of  Islam,  but  we  are  inclined  to  think  the  estimate  a  low  one.  A 
special  worker  would  be  well-placed  here,  and  he  should  be  enabled  to 
visit  the  chief  centres  in  the  province.  No  adequate  data  has  come 
to  hand  from  this  far-distant  region. 

YuNNANFU — This  is  the  center  of  a  vigorous  Islam.  In  its  seven 
mosques  important  classes  for  training  mullahs  are  actively  proceeding, 
while  within  <wo  days'  journey  several  other  training-grounds  for 
mullahs  are  doing  much  for  Islam.  The  province  has  some  able  men 
who  visit  far  and  wide  in  the  interests  of  the  faith.  No  one  has  yet 
been  appointed  to  attempt  to  reach  the  Moslems  of  Yunnan.  Care 
should  be  taken  to  set  apart  the  right  worker,  for  Islam  is  a  power 
in  the  province  already. 

Canton — The  Moslem  community  here  numbers  some  twenty-five 
to  thirty  thousand  followers,  and  the  six  mosques  in  Canton,  and  a 
few  not  far  away  (Shiuhing,  Hongkong,  Sama,  etc.)  should  have  a 
worker  set  apart  to  reach  "the  faithful."  It  should  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  Cantonese  dialect  is  quite  distinct  from  the  ordinary  Chinese, 
and  that  Canton  is  a  great  city  where  but  the  fringe  of  the  popula- 
tion is  being  touched. 

KwEiLiN — Geographically  requires  a  worker  for  Moslems,  it  being 
too  distant  from  other  centres  for  the  dual  work.  It  has  seven  mos- 
ques,  and  would  require  a  mandarin-speaking  missionary. 

Lanchow — The  capital  of  Kansu  is  of  importance  as  being 
the  headquarters  of  the  Moslem  Society  that  specializes  in  education. 
The  activities  of  the  Society  extend  throughout  all  the  province,  vary- 
ing in  intensity  in  the  different  districts.  The  funds  used  were  sub- 
scribed by  leading  Mohammedans.  (See  special  report  on  Kansu. 
Appendix  II. 

KiRiN,     MouKDEN,    and     Kweihuacheng.     a     glance    at     the 


A  SURVEY  OF  ISLAM  IN  CHINA  65 

map  will  show  the  importance  of  these  centers,  and  the  possibil- 
ity of  reaching  very  influential  groups  of  Moslems  in  each.  To  deal 
with  Islam  in  China  is  a  big  task,  but  it  is  at  the  Call  of  the  One 
who  is  omnipotent  that  the  work  can  be  achieved.  "The  things  that 
are  impossible  with  men  are  possible  with  God."  To  carry  the  Gos- 
pel of  His  Grace  to  these  long-neglected  precious  souls,  ought  to  be 
done  and  it  can  be  done — be  it  ours  under  the  constraining  love  of 
Christ  to  say:  it  shall  be  done. 

Appendix  II 

SPECIAL  REPORT  ON  KANSU  PROVINCE 

Kansu,  the  northwest  province  of  China  is  the  most 
thickly  populated  Moslem  province  of  the  land.  Out 
of  a  total  population  of  ten  million  it  may  be  safely  es- 
timated that  some  three  million  are  followers  of  the 
faith  of  Islam.  The  term  "Chinese  Moslem"  is  often 
very  misleading  to  those  who  are  but  slightly  acquainted 
with  the  past  history  of  this  great  land.  Many  infer  that 
the  term  signifies  those  Chinese  who  have  become  pros- 
elytized to  Mohammedanism.  As  far  as  Kansu  is  con- 
cerned this  is  not  so.  Here  we  find  the  Moslem  popula- 
tion to  be  of  distinctly  different  origin  to  the  Chinese 
and  to  this  day  retaining  many  peculiarities  of  both  fea- 
ture and  custom. 

Chinese  historial  records  enable  us  to  trace  the  Kansu 
Moslems  to  three  distinct  sources  and  to  the  present  day 
they  retain  to  a  great  measure  the  peculiarities,  both  in 
features  and  customs,  of  the  races  from  which  they  orig- 
inated. 

First,  then,  we  have  the  Arab-Persian  Moslem  known 
in  Chinese  history  as  the  Ta  Shih  Hwei  Hwei  who  first 
entered  China  sometime  during  the  T'ang  Dynasty,  A.  D. 
618-907.  They  carne,  most' likely,  through  Central  Asia^ 
through  the  present  Chinese  Turkestan  which  was  known 
in  ancient  Chinese  history  as  Hsi  Yueh  or  the  western 
boundary.  It  would  seem  likely  that  Arab  settlements 
were  known  in  China  before  the  missionaries,  or  follow* 
ers  of  the  faith  of  Islam,  arrived.  We  have  the  record 
of  one  or  two  embassies  or  trading  expeditions  arriving 
in  Ch'ang  An  (the  present  Sianfu  in  Shensi)  the  then 
capital  of  the  Empire  during  the  reign  of  the  first  Em- 
peror of  the  Tang  dynasty  (A.  D.  618-26).    Some  of  the 


66  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Arabs  who  came  with  these  expeditions  are  reported  to 
have  settled  in  China.  The  Hwei  Hwei  (Moslem)  de- 
scendants of  the  Arabs  and  Persians  are  perhaps  the  most 
numerous  of  the  three  different  races  of  Mohammedans 
existing  in  the  province  today.  They  are  to  be  found  in 
larger  or  smaller  communities  in  the  districts  of  Hochow, 
Kuyuen  and  Ch'ingshui  Hsien,  Ninghsia,  Sining,  Lan- 
chow,  Pingliang,  Taochow  and  surrounding  districts. 
They  speak  Chinese  but  also  use,  for  social  intercourse 
as  well  as  religious  purposes,  a  fairly  large  vocabulary 
of  Arabic  and  Persian  words.  The  term  for  God  is  either 
the  Arabic  Allah,  or  the  Persian  Khuda,  though  the  lat- 
ter is  perhaps  more  commonly  used.  Again,  the  Persian 
Akhuan  used  for  Mullah  and  pronounced  Ahong  in 
China.  It  is  generally  estimated  that  only  ten  per  cent 
of  the  Ahongs  who  read  Arabic  intelligently  under- 
stand the  meaning  of  what  they  read.  A  good  working 
knowledge  of  Arabic  will  be  necessary  for  the  missionary 
undertaking  work  among  them.  At  the  present  time  there 
are  three  missionaries  in  Kansu  preparing  for  evangel- 
istic and  medical  work  among  this  people.  Owing  to 
extreme  shortness  of  workers  all  three  are  responsible  for 
non-Moslem  work.  Secondly,  we  have  the  Ouigur-Mon- 
gol  Moslem  known  as  the  Tong  Hsiang  Hwei  Hwei. 
The  Ouigurs  (known  in  Chinese  history  as  the  Hwei-huh) 
sometime  during  the  seventh  or  eighth  century  removed 
from  Kashgaria  to  the  districts  of  Turfan  and  Hami. 
Here  they  were  joined  by  some  of  the  Mongols  of  these 
districts  whose  cause  at  that  time  was  anything  but  pros- 
perous. During  the  eighth  century  came  the  Arab  mis- 
sionaries propagating  the  Islamic  faith.  They  made  such 
good  progress  in  their  work  among  these  peoples  that  they 
eventually  adopted  the  faith  of  Islam.  At  first  they 
adopted  the  turban  and  were  known  as  the  white  turban 
sect.  Later  the  color  of  the  turban  was  changed  to  red. 
At  the  present  day  a  branch  of  this  family  is  known  to  the 
Chinese  as  the  Ch'an  T'eo  Hwei  Hwei.  They  were  for- 
ced to  submit  to  the  Chinese  early  in  the  Yuan  dynasty 
(A.  D.  1260-1341). 
The  Tong  Hsiang  Hwei  Hwei  of  the  present  day  are 


A  SURVEY  OF  ISLAM  IN  CHINA  67 

most  likely  descendants  of  the  Ouigur  Mongols  described 
above.  They  reside  in  their  own  district  which  lies  east 
of  the  city  of  Hochow  practically  right  up  to  the  west 
bank  of  the  Tao  River.  They  do  not  intermingle  freely 
with  either  Chinese  or  other  Moslems.  They  use  a  pecu- 
liar Mongol  dialect,  and  no  Christian  missionary  has  so 
far  been  able  to  do  any  work  in  their  midst  and  no  mission- 
ary has  yet  undertaken  the  study  of  their  language.  The 
number  of  their  population  is  estimated  at  anything  be- 
tween 150,000  and  200,000.  In  features  they  resemble 
the  Mongol. 

Thirdly,  we  have  the  Turki  Moslem  known  as  the  Sa- 
lar.  Their  forefathers  were  expelled  from  Samarkand 
in  Central  Asia  by  one  of  the  descendants  of  the  Prophet 
who  was  at  that  time  their  ruler.  They  had  made  them- 
selves so  obnoxious  to  their  neighbors  on  account  of  their 
free-booting  habits  that  they  were  told  to  leave  and  on 
no  account  to  return.  After  long  journeying  they  found 
their  way  to  the  province  of  Kansu  and  settled  first  of 
all  at  the  place  where  now  lies  the  village  of  K'ehtzi-kong, 
a  few  miles  distant  from  the  city  of  Hsuenhwa  in  the  west 
of  the  province.  To  the  present  day  they  speak  the  Turki 
of  Central  Asia  and  their  women  wear  the  same  kind  of 
dress  as  do  the  women  of  Samarkand.  Few  of  them  un- 
derstand Chinese  well.  The  Salar  immigration  is  com- 
monly dated  as  having  taken  place  during  the  reign  of  the 
first  emperor  of  the  Ming  dynasty  (A.  D.  1368-1399). 
No  missionary  has  yet  been  able  to  carry  on  settled  work 
in  their  midst  and  there  is  no  missionary  at  present  resi- 
dent in  the  province  who  understands  their  language.  It 
is  difficult  to  give  any  trustworthy  figure  of  the  Salar 
population;  their  district  which  lies  west  of  Hochow 
round  the  city  of  Hsuenhwa  and  again  west  of  that  along 
the  south  of  the  Yellow  River,  is  very  little  known.  They 
have  the  reputation  of  being  very  wild  to  travel  among 
except  to  those  who  speak  their  language. 

Work  among  Moslems  in  Kansu  has  been  carried  on 
in  the  past,  as  opportunity  has  offered  in  conjunction 
with  the  Chinese  work.  This  could  never  prove  very  ef- 
fective.   A  great  step  has  been  made  in  the  right  direc- 


68  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

tion  during  the  last  few  years  by  the  appointment  of 
several  missionaries  (two  or  three  at  the  time  of  writ- 
ing) who  are  to  enter  upon  direct  evangelistic  effort 
among  the  Moslems.  But  as  yet  no  one  has  been  able  to 
engage  in  the  study  of  the  languages  used  by  the  Tong- 
hsiang  and  the  Salar  Hwei-Hwei  so  that  it  means  that 
these  two  races  of  people  must  of  necessity  be  unevangel- 
ized  for  some  time  to  come.  This  is  a  challenge  to  the 
Christian  Church.  Men  and  women,  ready  to  endure 
hardness  and  face  danger  and  opposition  are  needed  for 
this  special  work.  But  oh !  the  joy  of  winning  these  souls 
to  Christ! 

Kansu  has  several  hundred  mosques.  At  Hochow,  the 
chief  Moslem  center  in  Kansu,  many  are  trained  as  mul- 
lahs who  afterwards  occupy  positions  in  Kansu,  Shensi 
and  Szechuan  provinces.  There  are  several  saints'  tombs 
in  large  grounds,  and  some  fourteen  mosques. 

Lanchow,  the  provincial  capital  (two  and  a  half  days 
overland  from  Hochow)  has  several  thousand  Moslem 
families,  and  ten  or  more  mosques. 

Sining,  a  great  district,  has  many  Moslems.  Islam  has 
the  appearance  of  growing  force,  and  several  new  mos- 
ques have  been  erected  lately,  one  costing  a  large  sum. 

Ningsia  district  also  has  many  Moslems.  Ma  Fuh 
Hsiang  the  principal  official  in  the  district  is  an  enthusiast 
on  education,  and  has  ordered  every  mosque  parish  under 
his  control  to  open  a  school  in  which  Chinese  is  taught, 
and  has  spent  thousands  of  taels  in  opening  such  schools. 
The  standard  of  training  for  mullahs  in  this  district  is 
rather  high,  there  are  a  number  of  men  of  undoubted 
ability  among  them  who  so  far  are  very  friendly  to  mis- 
sionaries and  the  door  is  open  for  specialized  work. 

F.  H.  Rhodes. 
Chef 00,  China. 


ARABIAN  STORIES  FOR  CHINESE  READERS 

There  was  published  at  Peking  a  few  months  ago,  a 
new  book  by  a  Moslem  named  Li  T'ing  Hsiang,  which 
is  not  without  interest  as  showing  what  an  intelligent 
Moslem  of  the  present  day  contributes  towards  the  re- 
vival of  Islam  in  China.  The  book  is  a  collection  of 
strange  stories  from  the  Koran  and  other  "reliable  his- 
tories," and  is  given  a  title  which  may  be  translated 
"Marvels  recorded  for  exhortation  to  goodness."  In  his 
preface  the  compiler  says :  "Among  men  there  are  always 
a  few  at  the  extremes  of  wisdom  and  foolishness,  but 
most  of  the  people  in  the  world  are  average  people.  In 
general  it  is  the  nature  of  men  to  be  good  and  not  evil, 
and  it  is  men's  inclination  or  disposition  to  love  the  good 
and  hate  the  evil;  if  people  are  exhorted  in  accordance 
with  this  nature  and  disposition,  there  are  none  who  may 
not  be  made  good.  The  True  Lord  gave  the  Books  and 
sent  the  prophets  and  made  all  the  worthy  and  superior 
men  on  purpose  to  exhort  people  to  goodness:  but  the 
minds  of  men  are  unstable  and  they  often  dislike  what 
is  old  and  delight  in  anything  new.  As  regards  the  Kor- 
an and  the  Traditions  and  the  books  of  the  sages,  men 
look  at  them  in  a  cursory  manner  without  finishing  them, 
and  in  their  reading  they  get  tired  and  sleepy;  if  they 
see  fiction  or  stories  of  something  marvellous  they  are 
alert  with  double  energy;  their  feelings  are  easily  worked 
up  to  weep  or  pity,  to  sympathize  or  to  be  angry  with  the 
characters  of  the  story. 

"As  it  is  my  duty  to  help  in  instructing  and  reforming 
people,  I  have  looked  among  my  old  books  and  selected 
some  wonderful  stories  with  the  purpose  of  arousing  peo- 
ple from  their  lethargy,  and  I  have  made  this  book  and 
called  it  'Marvels  recorded  for  exhortation  to  goodness.* 
The  book  is  made  up  of  selections  from  the  Koran  and  oth- 
er reliable  histories,  and  although  the  stories  are  wonder- 
ful yet  they  are  true,  and  while  extraordinary,  they  are 

69 


70  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

only  a  few  of  others  equally  so.  They  are  all  concerned 
with  our  religion  and  will  serve  to  stir  up  the  good  in 
men's  hearts  and  to  reprove  their  evil  thoughts;  it  is  my 
wish  that  those  who  read  this  book  may  not  regard  it  as  an 
ordinary  story  book." 

The  book  contains  fifty  selections,  of  unequal  length 
and  differing  values;  as  fables  with  morals  something 
might  be  said  for  them;  but  when  we  are  assured  that 
they  are  "true"  and  that  some  are  extracted  from  the  "in- 
comparable Book,"  every  jot  and  tittle  of  which  is  perfect 
and  to  be  believed,  then  we  feel  that  they  give  a  lament- 
able exhibition  of  the  credulity  and  the  standard  of  in- 
telligence expected  of  the  Moslem  readers  of  China  in 
this  age  of  world-progress  in  other  ways.  A  few  selec- 
tions are  herewith  given  in  translation  to  indicate  the 
value  of  the  book,  and  to  show  one  of  the  latest  methods 
of  arousing  interest  and  strengthening  the  faith  in  the 
Moslem  religion  in  China. 

I.  Exalted  virtues  command  submission.  A  good 
man  named  Abdullah  was  travelling  in  company  with 
other  merchants  on  a  trading  trip,  and  as  they  came  to 
a  thicket  among  the  hills  those  who  were  in  front  saw 
before  them  a  lion  asleep  on  the  path ;  they  were  all  afraid 
to  proceed  but  turned  back  and  fled.  Abdullah  was  be- 
hind and  as  he  came  up  he  saw  them  fleeing  and  asked 
what  was  the  matter,  so  they  told  him  about  the  lion.  Ab- 
dullah dismounted  from  his  beast  and  walked  up  to  the 
lion  and  took  hold  of  it  by  the  ear  and  said:  "Begone! 
Begone!"  The  fierce  lion  got  up,  and  with  head  bent 
down  and  ears  drooping,  it  wagged  its  tail  and  went  off. 
The  other  merchants  greatly  wondered  at  this  and  asked 
Abdullah  how  came  it  to  pass,  and  he  answered :  "The 
Prophet  said :  *If  a  man  can  fear  God  and  cultivate  him- 
self to  the  utmost  sincerity,  then  all  things  will  obey  his 
command;  man  is  the  most  noble  of  all  between  heaven 
and  earth,  and  the  most  intelligent  of  all  creatures;  if  he 
is  a  perfect  man,  why  need  he  fear  a  lion,  which,  although 
fierce,  is  only  a  beast.'  "  When  they  heard  these  words, 
they  all  acknowledged  the  loftiness  of  his  virtue. 

Comment. — Men  and  all  things  in  creation  exist  by 


ARABIAN  STORIES  FOR  CHINESE  READERS  71 

the  decree  of  God  and  are  subject  to  the  commands  of 
God;  but  prophets  and  worthies  only  are  able  to  have 
perfect  manhood  and  to  be  in  harmony  with  God  so  as 
to  completely  follow  all  the  commands  of  God ;  as  they 
do  this,  all  beasts  are  bound  to  respect  and  obey  them. 

Life  lengthened  by  caring  for  the  starving.  In 
the  time  of  the  prophet  Musa,  (Moses)  there  was  an 
Israelite  named  Naibuer  who  was  wealthy  and  liked  to 
do  good  deeds  and  give  alms ;  at  fifty  years  of  age  he  was 
still  without  a  son  on  which  account  he  was  grieved  and 
could  not  sleep  at  nights;  his  wife  told  him  that  the 
prophet  Moses  could  prevail  with  God  and  he  ought  to 
go  and  ask  for  his  interest  in  the  matter  of  getting  a  son. 
The  man  followed  this  advice  and  went  and  besought 
Moses,  who  granted  his  request.  After  prayer,  Moses 
said :  "God  will  give  you  a  son,  but  his  life  will  be  cut 
ofif  on  the  day  of  his  marriage."  In  his  joy  at  the  prom- 
ise of  a  son,  Naibuer  forgot  the  sorrow  contained  in  the 
prophecy,  so  did  not  speak  of  it.  In  due  time  a  son  was 
born,  for  which  the  father  gave  thanks  and  offered  sacri- 
fice and  made  a  great  feast  to  which  relatives  and 
friends  came  with  their  congratulations. 

When  the  son  was  grown  up,  Naibuer's  wife  advo- 
cated an  early  marriage,  to  which  the  husband  agreed, 
so  with  befitting  ceremony  the  boy  was  betrothed  to  the 
daughter  of  a  wealthy  family,  and  the  day  fixed  for  the 
marriage;  it  was  then  that  Naibuer  told  his  wife  of  the 
prophecy  of  Moses,  on  which  she  was  greatly  alarmed 
and  wept  unceasingly.  Her  husband  said  to  her:  "It 
is  Fate;  do  not  worry  lest  you  make  God  angry;  we  can 
only  submit." 

On  the  appointed  day  Naibuer  was  outwardly  joyous 
with  the  guests,  but  in  his  heart  he  was  much  troubled. 
During  the  feast  there  appeared  a  student  of  the  Book 
who,  because  his  travelling  money  was  all  used  up,  had 
been  three  days  without  food  and  he  could  hardly  walk 
but  just  crept  up  to  the  door  and  asked  for  food ;  Naibuer 
saw  and  pitied  him  and  personally  hastened  down  the 
steps  and  assisted  him  into  the  hall  and  quickly  gave  him 
food.    When  the  man  had  eaten,  in  gratitude  he  secret- 


72  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

ly  prayed  for  his  benefactor  and  his  descendants,  desir- 
ing that  the  succession  might  continue  without  break; 
God  granted  his  request  and  decreed  added  life  to  the  son. 

Naibuer  went  about  that  day  with  heavy  heart,  and 
could  not  sleep  the  whole  night,  but  listened  for  the 
dreaded  news;  but  on  the  day  following  there  was  no 
sickness,  nor  yet  on  the  next  day;  so  he  inquired  of  Moses, 
who  asked  God  what  was  the  reason  why  the  expected 
had  not  happened,  and  God  told  Moses  that  he  had  been 
pleased  with  the  sincere  and  good  action  of  Naibeur  in 
saving  the  starving,  so  he  had  granted  the  prayer  of  the 
student.  Moses  reported  this  and  Naibuer  praised  God 
and  hereafter  was  still  more  zealous  and  earnest  in  well- 
doing. 

Comment.  The  giving  of  a  single  meal  may  be  a 
very  small  matter  and  I  would  not  deceive  anybody  by 
implying  that  it  can  in  itself  confer  lengthened  life  for 
the  giver;  the  Way  of  Heaven  is  not  so  easy  as  that.  But 
when  a  man  had  been  without  food  for  three  days  he  was 
in  extremity,  and  although  one  meal  may  be  but  little, 
yet  in  this  case  to  get  it  meant  life,  and  not  to  get  it  meant 
death;  hence  a  meal  in  such  a  case  was  the  saving  of  a 
life.  Moreover  when  Naibuer  saw  the  man  in  such  dire 
necessity  he  hastened  to  his  relief  and  assisted  him  up  the 
steps,  his  outward  actions  thus  testifying  to  the  sincerity 
of  his  heart.  The  Book  says :  *'If  you  are  compassionate 
to  men,  God  will  be  compassionate  to  you";  and  as  this 
principle  is  true  there  can  be  no  doubt  about  the  length- 
ening of  days  told  in  this  story. 

The  Story  of  Samson.  In  the  main  this  follows  the 
scriptural  account,  but  differs  where  Samson  is  captured 
and  his  body  is  cut  up  and  his  head  is  kicked  about  as  a 
football ;  his  heart  was  taken  out  and  hung  over  the  city 
gate.  Although  his  body  was  dead,  his  soul  was  still 
conscious  and  he  prayed  to  God  saying:  "O,  God,  Thou 
art  the  Compassionate;  save  in  this  bitter  extremity;  Thou 
art  the  Just,  give  blessing  to  the  good  and  calamity  to 
the  evil ;  Thy  great  power  is  omnipotent,  with  Thee  are 
the  commands  of  life  and  death.  When  I  was  alive  I 
left  undone  many  good  things,  and  I  now  pray  that  Thou, 


ARABIAN  STORIES  FOR  CHINESE  READERS  73 

O  God,  will  give  me  back  my  body  and  restore  my  life." 
God  answered  his  prayer  and  gave  one  thousand  times 
more  strength  than  he  had  before ;  he  gave  a  great  shout 
at  which  the  walls  of  the  city  fell  down  and  the  people 
were  terrified;  the  opposers  were  all  destroyed  and  the 
rest  submitted.  Samson  then  thanked  God  for  His  grace, 
and  day  and  night  cultivated  virtue  and  worshipped  un- 
ceasingly, and  had  years  added  until  he  died  at  the  age 
of  eighty-three  years  and  four  months. 

Comment.  The  heart  of  man  is  difficult  to  fathom; 
even  in  jesting  one  should  be  on  one's  guard,  and  the 
closest  conversation  between  husband  and  wife  often  has 
a  way  of  leaking  out,  so  that  one  cannot  be  too  careful.  As 
a  man  Samson  was  lacking  in  wisdom  and  discretion,  so 
he  came  to  grief  at  the  hands  of  an  ignorant  but  schem- 
ing woman.  Yet  the  sincerity  of  his  virtue  was  such  as 
to  move  God  to  restore  him  to  life  in  order  that  he  might 
destroy  the  enemies  and  restore  lustre  to  the  correct 
Faith;  so  Samson  may  rightly  be  numbered  among  the 
prophets. 

A  DEAD  PRIEST  RECALLED  TO  LIFE.  The  Appointed 
Prophet  Jesus  on  his  travels  came  to  a  certain  village  and 
tried  to  instruct  and  reform  the  people  who  said  to  him 
that  as  he  called  himself  a  special  prophet  he  ought  to 
be  able  to  show  them  some  miracle.  Jesus  asked  what  they 
would  like  him  to  do,  and  they  said  that  there  was  in  the 
neighborhood  a  grave  of  a  priest  who  had  been  dead  over 
one  thousand  years,  and  if  Jesus  could  call  him  back  to 
life  they  would  believe.  Jesus  said  that  God  was  all-pow- 
erful and  this  was  only  a  small  matter;  so  he  went  with 
them  to  the  grave  and  after  making  two  obeisances  he 
lifted  his  hands  in  prayer  and  the  grave  opened  and  the 
dead  man,  whose  name  was  Tulabu,  came  out  of  the 
cavity  and  knelt  down  before  the  prophet  and  repeated 
the  Kalima — "there  is  no  deity  but  God  and  Jesus  is 
His  Prophet."  Jesus  said  to  him :  "You  died  as  a  Bud- 
dhist priest  (probably  priest  of  idolatry  is  meant  but 
the  term  Buddha  is  used)  over  one  thousand  years  ago 
iiid  now  you  have  attained  to  the  correct  Faith ;  in  your 
ordinary  life  you  must  have  done  something  good,  will 


74  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

you  tell  us  what  it  was?"  The  priest  puzzled  over  it 
for  some  time  and  then  remembered  and  said :  "When  I 
was  alive  I  was  one  day  passing  a  mosque  and  stepping  in- 
side I  saw  a  student  of  the  Book  who  in  weariness  had 
fallen  asleep  leaning  on  the  table  under  the  lamp,  and 
the  Book  was  thrown  on  the  ground ;  I  cleansed  my  hands 
and  lifted  the  Book  up  to  the  table  and  quietly  retired 
without  the  student  having  awakened."  Jesus  said  to  all 
around :  "Listen  to  this!  Tulabu  was  a  man  on  the  wrong 
road,  but  he  did  one  good  act  with  the  sincerity  of  which 
God  was  pleased,  and  therefore  today  he  is  called  forth 
to  life  again  and  has  attained  the  Faith."  The  people 
were  all  moved  to  repeat  the  creed  that  there  is  only  one 
God  and  Jesus  was  the  Apostle  of  God,  and  they  all  fol- 
lowed the  holy  Faith. 

A  WARNING  TO  THE  COVETOUS.  The  prophet  Jesus  on 
his  travels  saw  a  shepherd  beating  a  skull  with  the  handle 
of  a  whip,  at  which  he  wondered  and  asked  the  reason. 
The  shepherd  replied  that  the  skull  contained  some  gold 
coins  which  he  was  trying  to  get  and  could  not  without 
breaking  it  to  pieces.  "Alas!"  said  Jesus,  "God  made 
man  the  most  noble  of  all  thing;  what  can  have  been  the 
crime  of  this  man  that  not  only  is  his  body  scattered,  but 
his  very  bones  are  broken  to  pieces?"  The  skull  was 
moved  by  the  Holy  Spirit  and  spake  as  follows:  "Woe 
is  me!  In  life  I  was  an  official  in  high  position,  but  I 
did  not  care  about  governing  the  country  nor  did  I  con- 
sider the  people;  I  was  ungrateful  for  the  mercies  I  re- 
ceived and  went  on  as  if  I  believed  in  neither  heaven  nor 
hell,  and  as  if  I  had  never  heard  of  the  heavenly  books; 
I  only  cared  about  receiving  bribes  and  gathering  wealth, 
and  though  I  got  much  I  was  never  satisfied.  When  I 
was  about  to  die  I  commanded  my  family  that  when  dead 
my  hands  were  to  be  filled  with  gold  and  my  shoes  also, 
and  that  my  mouth  should  have  gold  put  in  it.  Time 
has  passed  away  and  my  grave  has  collapsed  and  my 
bones  have  been  exposed  and  the  gold  being  seen  has 
been  taken  by  people;  only  the  coins  in  my  mouth  are 
left  and  this  shepherd  having  seen  them  is  trying  to  get 
at  them  by  beating  my  skull  about."    The  prophet  wrote 


ARABIAN  STORIES  FOR  CHINESE  READERS  75 

this  matter  in  a  book  as  a  warning  to  all  covetous  people, 
showing  that  those  who  lust  inordinately  after  gold  will 
have  no  peace  either  in  life  or  in  death. 

Salvation  by  grace,  not  by  merit.  The  Angel  Ga- 
briel told  Mohammed  that  in  a  cave  on  a  certain  island 
there  was  a  devout  man,  an  Abd,  who  had  praised  and 
worshipped  God  unceasingly  for  400  years.  The  Pro- 
phet greatly  admired  and  asked  what  was  the  outcome 
of  such  devotion.  The  angel  said  that  in  the  after  world 
God  told  this  man  that  he  would  have  to  enter  heaven 
relying  upon  His  grace,  upon  which  the  Abd  replied 
that  such  was  not  in  accordance  with  the  Koran  which 
said  that  the  world  was  a  place  in  which  to  accumulate 
merit  in  order  to  enter  heaven;  he  had  been  working  for 
four  hundred  years,  and  if  he  now  simply  depended 
upon  God's  grace,  what  was  the  good  of  all  his  merit? 
He  could  enter  heaven  by  means  of  his  merit,  so  why 
should  he  rely  upon  grace?  God  told  him  he  could  go 
on  trusting  in  his  merit,  and  as  the  man  proceeded  to- 
wards heaven  he  suffered  much  on  the  way  from  the  heat 
of  the  sun  and  from  thirst,  and  at  length  meeting  a  man 
with  some  water,  he  was  so  desperate  that  he  parted  with 
the  merit  of  two  hundred  years  in  exchange  for  some 
water.  Some  time  after  drinking  the  water  he  wanted 
to  micturate  but  was  unable  to  do  so  and  suffered  great 
agony;  he  then  saw  a  doctor  and  in  exchange  for  relief 
he  gave  his  remaining  merit  of  two  hundred  years,  and 
arrived  at  the  gate  of  heaven  with  nothing  to  his  credit, 
when  he  became  conscious  of  his  mistake  and  prayed  God 
for  forgiveness.  God  reminded  him  that  he  had  parted 
with  all  his  merit  for  common  things  which  on  the  earth 
had  been  given  to  him  freely,  and  after  all  he  had  noth- 
ing of  his  own  to  trust  to  to  enter  heaven.  On  the  man 
begging  for  forgiveness  and  mercy,  God  forgave  him  and 
he  was  permitted  to  enter  heaven,  entirely  by  the  favour 
of  God. 

Other  stories  of  the  fairy  and  fabulous  kind  are  in- 
cluded in  the  collection,  including  that  of  the  man  who 
was  changed  into  a  woman  for  twelve  years  and  was 
changed  to  a  man  again,  all  while  his  wife  was  cooking 


76  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

some  fish ;  this  being  because  he  doubted  that  Mohammed 
could  have  gone  to  the  heavens  and  back  in  a  single  night 
Another  story  is  from  the  "Arabian  Nights"  and  tells 
of  the  man  who  understood  the  language  of  his  domestic 
animals,  and  had  to  beat  his  wife  for  her  importunate 
curiosity.  Perhaps  enough  has  been  given  above  to  in- 
dicate the  scope  of  this  latest  book  and  the  fresh  effort 
to  stimulate  the  Moslems  of  China. 
Shanghai,  China  ISAAC  MaSON. 


NOTES  ON  CURRENT  TOPICS 

Education  in  Spanish-Morocco 

In  our  last  number  we  made  reference  to  an  important  article  by 
the  Spanish  Ambassador  Don  Alfonso  Merry  del  Val,  in  the  Geograph- 
ical Journal,  continuing  his  paper  on  "The  Spanish  Zones  in  Morocco" 
in  the  June  number  1920.  He  gives  the  following  account  of  the 
progress  made  in  education; 

"As  is  well  known,  education  is  little  more  than  nominal  in  Morocco. 
At  Fez  the  so-called  University  of  El  Kairuan  still  subsists,  but  in- 
struction in  the  towns  and  villages  of  the  empire  is  reduced  to  little 
more  than  reading,  writing  and  learning  the  Koran  by  heart.  In  the 
remoter  districts  of  the  Rif  and  Jebala  even  this  rudimentary  learning 
is  unknown.  On  the  other  hand,  Spain  is  confronted  with  the  edu- 
cational problem  among  her  own  nationals  in  Morocco,  and  has  been 
obliged  to  cope  with  both  on  different  lines.  In  order  not  to  clash  with 
religious  sentiment  she  has  not  interfered  with  the  existing  schools,  but 
has  contented  herself  with  having  her  language  taught  there,  to  the  un- 
disguised satisfaction  of  the  Moors,  keen  as  they  are  to  acquire  this  ad- 
ditional means  of  developing  their  trade.  Aided  by  clear-sighted  Mo- 
hammedans she  has  set  up  in  every  large  centre  Spanish  Arabic  schools, 
where  higher  teaching  is  imparted  by  capable  Moorish  masters  with 
Spanish  cooperation  and  supervision.  The  Mohammedan  University, 
or  Medersa,  has  been  restored  at  Tetuan  to  more  than  its  pristine  glory 
by  enlisting  the  staff  of  thirteen  professors  among  the  best  elements  in 
our  zone.  The  result  of  this  policy  has  already  been  reaped.  Native 
officials  educated  in  these  Islamic  schools  are  now  employed  in  the  Post 
Office  and  other  public  services  of  the  Protectorate. 

"Spanish  children  in  Morocco  have  for  generations  past  had  their 
school  in  every  coast  town,  even  in  far-off  Mogador.  Spain  owes  much 
in  this  and  other  respects  to  the  Franciscan  Order.  For  seven  hundred 
years  these  humble  patriots  have  worked  among  the  local  Christians  and 
discreetly  ministered  to  the  temporal  wants  of  Mussulmans  and  Jews, 
without  hurting  their  religious  susceptibilities.  Thus,  respected  and 
honoured  by  all,  they  maintained  the  flickering  flame  of  culture  in  half- 
forgotten  corners  of  the  world  and  kept  the  flag  flying  through  the 
ages.  On  this  foundation  the  Spanish  State,  whose  colleges  in  Ceuta 
and  Melilla  do  it  credit,  has  established  modern  schools,  open  to  all- 
comers without  distinction  of  race  or  creed  wherever  Spaniards  are  to 
be  found  in  Morocco. 

"The  finest  of  these  establishments  are  to  be  seen  at  Tangier,  where 
the  Alfonso  XIII.,  the  Playa,  and  San  Francisco  schools  can  accommo- 
date over  two  thousand  scholars  of  both  sexes  for  primary  and  second- 
ary instruction,  including  foreign  languages  and  commercial  courses. 
As  you  see,  it  is  impossible  to  speak  of  the  Spanish  zone  in  Northern 
Morocco  without  mentioning  Tangier  as  the  geographical,  ethnological, 
psychological,  and  therefore  the  logical  part  of  a  whole.  Tangier  is 
as  thoroughly  Spanish  as  any  town  beyond  the  nation's  frontiers.  Span- 
ish is  the  language  of  high  and  low,  European,  Moor  and  Jew.  The 
.thought  and  sentiment,  the  life  and  sympathy,  of  the  town  are  cast 

77 


78  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

in  Spanish  moulds;  Spanish  are  the  names  of  her  streets,  Spanish  the 
currency,  Spanish  the  press  and  theatre  and  the  songs  in  the  mouths  of 
her  children;  even  the  young  diplomat  setting  his  foot  for  the  first 
time  on  the  quay  discovers  before  passing  through  the  gates  that  his 
highly  prized  smattering  of  Arabic  is  less  useful  than  the  tongue  of  that 
old  African  Cervantes.  In  fact,  as  a  Britisher  writing  to  a  London 
paper  last  month  expressed  it :  "One  hardly  knows  whether  one  is  in 
a   Moorish  city  in   Spain  or   a   Spanish   city   in   Morocco." 

Is  Allah  Angry  with  Islam 

In  the  Review  of  Religions  for  July  1920  Mahmud  Ahmed  raises 
this  question  as  follows: 

"Another  thing  we  ought  to  take  thought  of,  is  why  are  all  these 
calamities  being  showered  on  Islam?  What  after  all  is  the  reason  that 
God  instead  of  befriending  Islam  has  begun  to  deal  with  it  like  an 
enemy?  The  God,  Who  was  once  wont  to  display  the  signs  of  His 
Omnipotence  in  support  of  Islam,  why  does  He  now  fail  to  manifest 
in  its  aid  any  of  the  wonders  of  His  Power?  It  can  plainly  be  seen 
that  the  Mussalmans  have  forsaken  the  teachings  of  the  Holy  Koran 
and  have  consequently  become  a  prey  to  all  these  calamities.  They 
have  by  their  own  mouths  conceded  to  Jesus  a  rank  superior  to  that  of 
the  Holy  Prophet  (peace  be  on  him).  It  is  therefore  my  advice  that 
instead  of  wasting  your  time  in  useless  deliberations,  you  should  im- 
mediately make  your  peace  with  God  and  seek  His  blessings.  You  may 
well  remember  what  I  told  you  on  the  occasion  of  the  conference  of 
September,  that  at  present  there  is  only  one  way  open  for  the  regener- 
ation of  Islam,  namely,  that  we  should  all  stand  up  in  order  to  preach 
its  truth.  The  antipathy  with  which  the  Turks  are  regarder  in  Eu- 
rope is  not  due  to  any  defect  of  their  administration  but  to  the  notion 
ingrained  in  the  European  mind  that  Islam  is  the  foe  of  civilization. 
It  is  therefore  that  the  European  cherishes  a  desire  to  see  the  overthrow 
of  Islam,  which  he  regards  as  opposed  to  everything  which  he  holds 
most  dear.  Accordingly,  so  long  as  this  notion  has  not  been  eradicated 
from  the  mind  of  Europe  and  for  that  matter  from  the  mind  of 
the  whole  Christian  world,  there  will  be  no  end  to  the  calamities  of 
the  Moslems.  In  truth,  the  humiliations,  which  the  Moslem  world 
has  for  the  time  being  been  undergoing  are  not  so  much  an  affliction 
of  the  earth  as  a  visitation  from  Heaven.  The  Moslems  have  reached 
such  a  condition  by  reason  of  turning  their  backs  to  the  simple  teach- 
ings of  the  Holy  Koran  and  their  salvation  lies  only  in  offering  a  suit- 
able atonement  for  their  past  negligence,  in  reforming  their  own  char- 
acter and  in  faithfully  delivering  to  the  world  the  message,  which  for 
this  purpose  was  entrusted  to  them.  God  had  assigned  it  as  a  duty 
of  the  Mussalmans  that  they  should  carry  the  message  of  Islam  to  all 
the  corners  of  the  earth.  But  they  turned  their  backs  on  this  duty 
and  cared  not  a  straw  for  its  discharge.  Then  it  was  that  God  wanted 
to  point  out  to  them  that  the  discharge  of  the  duty  was  a  matter 
of  profit  to  themselves  and  not  to  their  God.  For  the  fact  is,  that  if 
there  were  not  left  in  the  world  a  single  man  following  the  truth  of 
Islam,  still  it  would  make  no  difference  in  the  dominion  of  God.  The 
difference  would  be  in  the  character  of  the  Mussalmans  themselves 
and  in  their  security.  Therefore,  even  now  the  remedy  which  may 
grant  the  Mussalmans  immunity  from  these  calamities  lies  in  this, 
that  they  should  stand  up  for  the  vindication  of  Islam.  Political  power 
did  not  come  to  the  Moslems  previous  to  the  advent  of  Islam.  It  only 
followed  the  latter.     So  even   now,  when   Islam  has  once  been   reha- 


CURRENT  TOPICS  79 

bilitated  political  power  will  return  to  the  Mussalmans  of  its  own  ac- 
cord. 

The  Cross  and  the  Crescent  in  Nyasaland 

Speaking  at  the  anniversary  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  ot 
the  Gospel,  the  Rev.  A.  C.  Churchland,  of  Nyasaland,  closed  his 
address  with  these  hopeful  words: 

"The  work  is  difficult.  I  have  not  time  to  say  anything  about  the 
kind  of  Mohammedanism  that  we  are  up  against;  some  of  you  know 
something  of  its  nature.  I  am  sure  of  one  thing,  and  that  is  that  they 
know  what  we  are  out  to  do.  They  know  that  we  are  out  to  plant 
the  Cross  in  every  single  village  in  the  district  and  they  know  that  our 
powers  are  greater  than  theirs. 

"We  see  it  over  and  over  again  in  times  of  stress.  For  instance,  they 
thought  that  there  was  going  to  be  a  drought  and  two  big  Moham- 
medan chiefs  came  to  my  house  and  asked  me  to  pray  for  rain.  They 
realize  at  such  times  that  we  can  help  them,  and,  needless  to  say,  we 
are  very  careful  not  to  neglect  such  opportunities.  During  the  two 
awful  outbreaks  of  influenza  we  had  a  unique  opportunity  and  we 
used  it  as  far  as  we  could.  Again,  we  have  an  opportunity  in  times  of 
ordinary  sickness,  and  we  have  instances  like  that  very  frequently.  One 
of  the  things  that  is  such  a  strain  at  times  to  the  priest  in  charge  of  a 
district  is  that  he  must  always  be  on  the  alert  and  he  must  always 
know  exactly  where  we  have  an  opportunity  of  getting  into  any  par- 
ticular village. 

"How  are  we  going  to  break  down  that  Mohammedan  barrier  which 
still  exists  in  numbers  of  villages  where  they  do  not  want  us?  I  think 
that  we  have  two  great  openings,  one  on  the  medical  side  and  the  other 
on  the  pastoral  side.  I  can  only  just  allude  to  the  medical  work.  At 
Likwenu  the  medical  work  is  growing  tremendously  and  we  are  in  des- 
perate need  of  two  hospitals.  We  hope  to  build  as  soon  as  possible  a 
permanent  men's  and  women's  hospital,  if  only  we  can  raise  the  neces- 
sary money.  It  is  one  of  the  most  important  things  and  no  words  can 
put  it  strongly  enough. 

"In  village  after  village  we  have  been  able  to  start  work  through 
some  women,  man  or  boy — some  one  person — who  has  come  to  the 
mission  dispensary.  By  the  pastoral  side  I  mean  men  and  women  liv- 
ing Christian  lives  who  can  go  out  into  the  villages  to  encourage  the 
people  and  make  them  realize  and  understand  that  we  are  there  to  help 
them.  They  understand  something  of  the  meaning  of  sin  and  they 
know  how  we  can  help  them  in  spiritual  ways  as  well  as  medically, 
and  it  is  a  tremendous  thing.  I  am  sure  that  on  the  medical  side  and  on 
the  pastoral  side,  as  I  call  it  for  lack  of  a  better  word,  on  those  two 
lines  we  are  going  to  get  into  every  single  one  of  those  Mohammedan 
villages  before  many  years  have  passed." 

A  Unitarian  Mission  in  Cairo 

A  Unitarian  writes  from  Cairo  to  the  organ  of  American  Unitar- 
ian ism  : 

"Yesterday  afternoon  I  visited  the  great  Azhar  Mosque  with  Sheikh 
Ruhayem,  one  of  the  professors  of  theology  at  this  mosque.  I  told  him 
what  I  was  and  what  I  intended  to  know,  and  asked  him  whether  or 
not  the  Mohammedans  would  favor  cooperation  with  the  Unitarians. 
Replying  to  my  question  he  asked  me  if  besides  denying  the  godship  •/ 
Jesus  we  believed  in  the  prophetic  mission  of  Mohammed  and  in  the 
religious  value  of  the  Koran.     On  receiving  an  affirmative  answer  he 


So  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

was  completely  satisfied,  and  said  that  he  knew  of  no  obstacle  why  the 
two  religious  bodies  could  not  work  together  with  the  utmost  cordial- 
ity. He  expressed  a  desire  to  see  our  literature  translated  into  Arabic 
Steps  are  being  taken  to  gratify  the  desire  of  this  venerable  sheikh,  and 
I  hope  the  loyal  Unitarians  will  not  fail  to  help." 

Another  Afghan  Martyr 

In  every  land  the  Moslem  convert  is  a  pervert  from  Islam  and, 
therefore,  loses  all  his  rights  of  property  and  person,  if  the  old  law  of 
Islam  is  enforced.  In  many  countries  this  is  now  impossible,  but  on 
the  borders  of  civilization  the  fanatical  spirit  of  Islam  dies  hard.  Mrs. 
V.  H.  Starr  of  Peshawar  tell  of  a  Moslem  convert,  a  lad  of  eighteen, 
who  laid  down  his  life  for  Christ. 

"Flower  of  the  King."  was  not  an  Indian  but  belonged  to  the  Afridis, 
one  of  the  wild  Afghan  tribes  who  live  beyond  the  British  border  on 
the  northwest  and  who,  like  all  the  trans-frontier  people,  are  bigoted 
Moslems.  He  left  his  people  and  came  to  the  hospital,  a  rough  hill  lad, 
asking  for  work.  He  was  put  on  as  a  coolie,  and  proved  intelligent 
and  quick,  and  a  good  worker.  Now  the  staff  of  the  hospital  are  all 
Christians;  this  is  a  rule,  for  it  is  a  mission  hospital,  with  all  that  this 
stands  for.  The  men  and  boys  on  the  staff  are  therefore  Indians  from 
the  Punjab,  who  have  usually  received  their  education  in  a  mission 
school,  and  to  them  the  Afghan  is  a  foreigner.  The  hospital  servants 
and  coolies,  however,  who  come  from  the  city  and  surrounding  villages 
are  illiterate,  and  usually  are  Mohammedans.  They  are  not  obliged 
to  attend  the  morning  prayers  and  Bible  study  for  the  staff,  which  pre- 
cedes the  hospital  work  each  day;  but  Flower  of  the  King  was  always 
there,  and  before  long  asked  to  become  a  Christian.  He  needed  test- 
ing and  much  teaching,  and  it  would  have  been  many  months  before 
he  could  have  publicly  confessed  Christ  in  baptism.  As  time  went  on 
he  was  promoted  to  the  work  of  a  "probationer"  in  the  operating  thea- 
tre, thus  earning  his  living  and  receiving  regular  instruction  in  greater 
things  at  the  same  time. 

In  191 4,  his  father,  little  brother,  and  others  of  his  "clan"  come 
down  to  Peshawar  on  business,  and  seemed  quite  glad  to  see  the  boy 
again  and  to  find  him  earning  regular  wages.  They  appeared  friendly 
and  there  was  nothing  to  cause  uneasy  thoughts.  One  day  the  lad  came 
to  ask  the  doctor  for  extra  time  off  duty  as  his  father  wished  to  take 
him  to  see  a  sick  relative  staying  not  far  away.  He  was  given  a  half- 
day,  and,  locking  the  door  of  his  little  room  in  the  hospital  quarters, 
he  went  off,  dressed  in  a  new  blue  turban  for  the  occasion,  and  with 
a  happy  smile  on  his  face — a  very  much  smarter  and  more  disciplined 
person  than  the  lad  of  a  year  before. 

Evening  came  and  he  did  not  return.  Inquiry  was  made,  but  no 
trace  was  found.  On  the  frontier  such  a  disappearance  is  not  difficult 
to  accomplish.  His  friends  at  the  hospital  feared  for  him.  Was  there 
treachery;  had  the  worst  happened?  Or  had  he  been  persuaded  to  re- 
turn to  his  people?  For  the  Pathan  or  Afghan  lives  in  the  life  of 
his  clan.  But  if  so,  what  of  his  faith?  As  yet  he  knew  so  little  of  the 
meaning  of  Christianity.  It  was  feared  that  he  had  proved  unworthy, 
and  so  would  not  return. 

Later,  what  is  believed  to  be  the  truth  came  to  light.  The  lad's 
uncle,  his  father's  brother,  was  again  trading  in  Peshawar,  and  told 
the  story  in  the  bazaars  of  the  city  and  in  time  it  reached  the  staff  of 
the  hospital.  It  seems  that,  wholly  unsuspecting,  the  son  had  gone  off 
with  his  father — to  what  place  is  unknown,  but  in  all  probability  over 


CURRENT  TOPICS  8i 

the  frontier,  a  matter  of  ten  miles  or  so,  out  of  reach  of  the  arm  of 
the  law.  There  he  was  reproached  with  the  disgrace  brought  on  the 
family,  indeed  on  the  whole  tribe,  because  of  this  talk  of  turning 
Christian. 

The  Afghans  are  fanatical  Moslems;  the  Son  of  God  is  despised  and 
rejected  by  the  people  of  the  frontier,  and  to  become  one  of  His  fol- 
lowers is  to  lose  all  honour,  and  may  not  be  tolerated  by  followers  of 
the  prophet,  whose  creed  is:  "There  is  one  God  and  Mohammed  is  the 
prophet  of  God."  There  was  but  one  alternative:  either  the  new  faith 
must  be  given  up,  or  his  life.  Details  are  unknown.  It  is  useless  to 
conjecture;  the  bare  fact  that  was  told  remains,  that  the  Afridi  lad 
was  stoned  by  his  own  father  and  other  Mohammedans,  because  for 
him  there  was  "no  alternative."  Who  knows?  Perhaps  for  this 
Stephen  of  the  twentieth  century  also  the  heavens  opened,  and  "he  saw 
the  glory  of  God  and  Jesus." 

Mohammedans  under  the  American  Flag 

An  article  on  this  subject  by  Frank  C.  Laubach  appeared  in  The 
Missionary  Herald,  August,  from  which  we  take  these  paragraphs: 
Because  the  Congregational  Church  has  had  so  much  experience  with 
Mohammedans  in  Turkey,  we  were  intrusted  with  the  Mohammedans 
in  the  Philippines.  Our  territory  is  the  Island  of  Mindanao,  as  large 
as  Ireland.  It  is  the  Ireland  of  the  Philippines,  for  it  contains  three 
irreconcilable  classes — Mohammedans,  Pagans  and  Catholics. 

We  have  been  accustomed  to  calling  that  our  neglected  mission  field. 
For  seventeen  years  we  had  only  one  ordained  missionary  and  one  doc- 
tor; they  worked  among  the  pagans.  Three  men  and  four  women  have 
been  added,  but  they  are  all  absorbed  with  the  civilized  Filipinos. 

We  have  no  Congregational  missionary,  after  twenty-two  years, 
preaching  Christ  among  the  Moros.  We  must  stop  neglecting  the 
Mohammedans  under  the  American  flag,  for  they  are  a  menace  to  the 
Philippines.  And  the  Philippines  are  one  of  the  vital  spots  of  the 
world.  Must  a  nation  be  soaked  in  massacre  before  we  notice  that 
it  is  important? 

Bishop  Oldham  says:  "The  crux  of  our  missionary  work  in  Asia  is 
to  be  found  in  the  Philippines.  If  we  fail  to  Christianize  the  Philip- 
pines, we  fail  to  Christianize  all  Asia.  But  if  we  succeed  in  Christianiz- 
ing the  Philippines,  we  succeed  in  all  Asia." 

From  one  end  of  the  Philippines  to  the  other  you  may  see  watch 
towers,  forts,  and  walled  cities  which  reveal  the  terror  in  which  Moro 
pirates  kept  Spaniards  and  Filipinos  for  300  years.  The  Moros  never 
were  conquered  until  America  overpowered  them.  During  the  World 
War,  Arab  Moslems  tried  to  enlist  the  Moros  in  a  Jehad  against 
Christians.  We  deported  every  Arab  and  Indian,  and  seized  every 
firearm  in  Moroland.  Every  religious  uprising  in  India  or  Turkey 
has  its  echo  in  Mindanao.  So  long  as  the  Moros  are  drunk  with  the 
wild  fanaticism  of  Islam,  they  are  sure  to  make  trouble  when  we  with- 
draw from  the  Philippines. 

Bishop  Brent  declares  that  the  American  Government  has  prepared 
the  Moros  for  missionary  work  so  wonderfully  that  they  will  prob- 
ably be  the  first  Mohammedans  in  the  world  to  come  over  into  Chris- 
tianity in  large  numbers. 

Just  before  I  left  the  Philippines  we  ordained  a  Moro  young  man. 
It  was  a  strange  ordination.  At  his  examination  somebody  asked  a  ques- 
tion but  tears  poured  down  his  face  and  he  could  not  answer.  We 
looked  at  each  other,  swallowed  hard,  and  decided  that  he  needed  no 


82  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

examination.  There  was  not  a  dry  eye  during  that  ordination  serv- 
ice. It  was  one  of  those  mighty  spiritual  hours  one  never  forgets.  Now 
he  has  sailed  away  to  carry  Christ  to  his  kinsmen,  with  all  the  passion 
of  his  hiazing  soul. 

Those  Moro  young  men  are  gold.  I  tell  you,  if  they  are  Christianized, 
they  will  turn  upon  Borneo,  Java,  Siam,  and  India  with  the  fearless 
zeal  for  which  they  are  famous. 

The  "Reds"  Appeal  to  the  "Green" 

It  is  an  open  question  how  far  Bolshevism  will  be  able  to  enlist 
the  sympathy  and  cooperation  of  Moslems  in  the  Near  East.  That 
efforts  are  made,  however,  in  this  direction  not  only  from  Moscow 
and  other  Bolshevist  centers  but  from  Britain  itself  is  ominous,  ac- 
cording to  the  London  Times,  July  31st.  The  Call,  which  is  the  of- 
ficial organ  of  the  British  Socialist  Party,  prints  this  week  extracts 
from  a  summons  issued  by  the  Executive  of  the  Communist  Interna- 
tional to  "the  peasants  and  workmen  of  Persia,  Armenia,  and  Turkey 
to  meet  in  Baku  on  September  ist." 

"The  Persians  are  told  (we  are  quoting  The  Call)  of  the  treachery 
of  the  Teheran  Government  of  the  Kadjars,  which  through  excessive 
exploitation  of  its  subjects,  has  been  forced  to  sell  Persia  last  year  to 
the  English  capitalists  for  £2,C)00,CXX)  sterling.  With  the  help  of  these 
new  oppressors,  to  whom  they  have  sold  the  rich  oil  wells  in  South 
Persia,  they  are  better  able  to  plunder  the  toilers  of  Persia. 

It  is  brought  to  the  notice  of  Mesopotamia  that,  in  spite  of  its  de- 
clared independence  by  the  English,  it  is  plundered  and  robbed  by 
80,000  English  soldiers,  who  occupy  it. 

The  appeal  graphically  describes  to  the  peasants  of  Anatolia  the 
tyranny  of  the  English,  French,  and  Italian  Governments  in  making 
the  captured  Sultan  their  tool  for  the  furtherance  of  their  schemes 
of  dominion  in  Turkey  "which  has  already  been  impoverished  by  a 
six-year  war  and  has  been  reduced  to  beggary." 

The  peasants  of  Syria  and  Armenia  are  reminded  that  in  spite  of 
repeated  promises  of  independence  on  the  part  of  the  English  and 
French  Governments,  they  have  become  the  slaves  of  these  foreign 
invaders,  who  are  even  greater  tyrants  and  exploiters  than  the  Sultan's 
Governmena.    The  summons  concludes : 

"We  appeal  to  the  workers  and  peasants  of  the  Near  East,  but  we 
shall  be  happy  to  see  amongst  the  delegates  representatives  also  of  the 
oppressed  nations  of  the  Far  East,  such  as  India,  as  well  as  representa- 
tives of  Mussalman  peoples  who  are  living  and  developing  freely  in 
alliance  with  Soviet  Russia." 

Constantinople  in  1877  and  1920 
Olga  Novikoff  recently  wrote  a  letter  to  the  London  press  regard- 
ing the  crux  of  Constantinople,  which  reveals  that  the  diplomats  have 
made  slow  progress  since  the  days  of  Gladstone.  The  question  un- 
solved in  1877,  she  says,  is  no  nearer  a  good  solution  in  1920!  On  the 
contrary,  matters  are  even  worse.  In  England  Mr.  Gladstone  and 
his  friends  in  Russia,  Count  Ignatieff  and  all  the  Slavophils,  saw  only 
one  true  settlement.  May  I  recall  the  first  conversation  between  Lord 
Salisbury  and  Count  Ignatiefif  at  the  Constantinople  Conference?  The 
English  plenipotentiary,  who  had  been  primed  beforehand  with  every 
kind  of  suspicion  with  regard  to  Russia's  designs,  remarked  to  the 
Count  on  first  meeting  him: 

"I  am  told  that  you  are  a  terrible  man,  and  that  you  have  so  many 


CURRENT  TOPICS  83 

spies  and  agents  all  over  the  East."  Ignatieff  replied :  "It  is  quite  true 
that  I  have  many  helpers.  But  who  are  they?  I  u^ish  you  would  go 
into  the  provinces  and  see  for  yourself  about  my  agents.  Paid  agents 
I  have  not;  not  one  rouble  do  I  pay  for  help.  But  you  will  find  that 
every  one  who  fights  for  his  country,  who  fights  for  his  faith,  who  strug- 
gles for  freedom  in  all  these  lands,  is  my  friend,  is  my  agent,  is  my 
helper.  I  have  thousands  of  these — yes,  20,000 — and  they  are  my 
strength.  But  you  are  the  support  of  the  savagery  and  tyranny  of  the 
Turks." 

Lord  Salisbury  accepted  this  taunt  in  perfect  good  humor,  and, 
strangely  enough,  a  friendship  seems  to  have  sprung  up  between  the 
two  men  from  that  hour.  The  small  handful  of  Russians  still  remain- 
ing alive,  and  therefore  faithful  to  the  traditions  of  the  Green  Ortho- 
dox Church,  read  with  horror  and  indignation  the  announcement  that 
the  Turk  should  not  be  molested  and  that  he  deserved,  on  the  contrary, 
to  be  described  as  the  rightful  and  original  owner  of  the  greatest  treas- 
ure Russia  can  conceive — Constantinople.  Here  may  I  quote  the  con- 
cluding passage  in  Gladstone's  letter  to  me,  dated  December  29,  1876: 

"Again,  God  send  us  a  good  deliverance  at  Constantinople,  and  a 
passage  from  the  region  of  chicanery  and  fraud  into  the  light  of  clear 
day." 

The  protectorate  to  which  the  Russian  had  aspired  since  the  days  of 
Sviatoslav,  who  died  a  glorious  death  in  972  (nearly  500  years  before 
the  Turks  arrived  on  the  scenes)  a  cruel  fate  has  again  denied.  And 
is  not  Constantinople  when  all  is  said,  an  older  shrine  of  Christianity 
than  ever  it  was  of  the  Turkish  interlopers?  Already  in  381  (nearly 
200  years  before  Mohammed  was  born)  the  city  was  already  assigned  to 
a  Patriarch,  who  gave  her  a  religious  position  as  the  head  of  the 
Church  in  the  East.  It  is  therefore  the  true  cradle  of  Eastern  Chris- 
tianity. Why  should  Turkey  be  preferable  to  the  Byzantine,  and  Mo- 
hammedans to  Christians? 

America's  Intolerance  toward  Polygamy 

In  The  Review  of  Religions,  we  read: 

"On  the  24th  of  January,  1920,  Mufti  Mohammad  Sadiq,  M.  R. 
A.  S.,  Phil.  B.,  A.  S.  P.,  F.  P.  C.  (London)  proceeded  from  England 
to  America  to  preach  the  truth  of  Islam  to  the  people  of  that  contin- 
ent. But  as  soon  as  he  reached  that  coast,  he,  quite  unexpectedly,  found 
the  door  of  the  Great  Democracy  closed  against  him.  The  immigration 
authorities  would  not  let  him  in,  and  what  do  you  suppose  was  the 
reason  for  which  he  was  refused  admission?  Every  reader,  I  am  sure, 
will  be  surprised  to  learn  that  the  only  fault  for  which  the  door  of 
the  United  States  of  America  was  slammed  in  his  face  was  that  he 
believer  in  a  religion  which  permitted  polygamy.  He  assured  the  au- 
thorities that  if  a  belief  in  polygamy  was  something  which  disqualified 
one  from  preaching  in  the  United  States,  he  would  undertake  not  to 
preach  the  doctrine  while  in  the  United  States;  but  the  authorities 
were  still  obdurate  and  asked  our  missionary  to  go  back  to  the  coun- 
try from  which  he  had  come.  Our  missionary  asked  for  permission  for 
appeal.  That  permission  has  been  given,  but  the  gentleman  has  been 
sent  to  the  Detention  House,  pending  the  decision  of  the  appeal. 

"The  treatment  which  our  brother  has  received  at  the  hands  of 
the  United  States  authorities  is  highly  intolerant  and  inequitable. 
The  American  people  boast  of  being  the  most  enlightened  of  all  na- 
tions.    They  pose  as  the  champions  of  liberty   and  freedom.     They 


$4  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

profess  not  only  to  be  themselves  the  most  liberal  of  all  nations,  but 
also  ready  to  defend  the  freedom  of  others. 

"Children  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers!  Remember  the  fanaticism  and 
persecution  of  the  nations  then  in  power,  which  first  sent  your  fore- 
fathers  as  fugitives  to  your  shore.  You  more  than  any  other  people 
should  have  held  sacred  the  freedom  of  thought  and  speech.  You 
have  increased  in  wealth,  you  have  increased  in  power.  Beware,  these 
are  the  rocks,  on  which  have  foundered  the  moral  ships  of  older  na- 
tions. You  have  passed  a  law  forbiding  people  who  believe  in  the 
validity  of  polygamy,  admission  into  your  country.  Do  you  think 
even  the  highest  legislative  body  in  the  world  has  the  jurisdiction  ta 
pass  such  a  law  against  inalienable  human  rights?  Such  legislation 
only  serves  to  brand  the  nation  with  the  stigma  of  arrogance  and  pride. 
And  where  these  come  in,  decadence  is  not  far  behind. 

"America  must  remember  that  now  the  time  has  come  for  Islam  to 
spread  throughout  the  world.  God  Himself  will  break  all  barriers 
which  the  opponents  of  Islam  may  set  up  to  check  its  spread.  The 
flood  of  Islam  is  now  rising  and  it  will  sweep  away  all  obstacles  that 
may  come  in  its  way.  It  has  been  decreed  that  Islam  should  spread 
in  the  United  States,  and  no  human  effort  can  prevent  its  progress. 
Today  the  United  States  authorities  are  detaining  a  Moslem  mission- 
ary because  he  believes  in  polygamy,  but  the  day  is  not  distant  when 
the  State  itself  will  pass  laws  recognizing  polygamy  as  a  legal  form  of 
marriage." 

Machine  Guns  or  Missions? 

The  present  muddle  in  the  Near  East  is  calling  for  advice  from 
many  physicians.  In  the  New  Statesman  for  July  24th  last,  there  wa» 
an  interesting  article  on  "Mandates  a  la  Mode"  pointing  out  the  tre- 
mendous responsibility  in  this  matter  of  Great  Britain  and  France. 
The  article  ends  with  the  following  paragraph  which  in  itself  is  a 
call  to  thought  and  prayer  on  the  part  of  all  who  love  the  Near  East: 

"What,  then,  is  to  be  done?  We  believe  that  nothing  useful  will 
be  done  until  Europe — which  means,  at  this  moment  and  for  all  prac- 
tical purposes,  ourselves  and  France — makes  up  its  mind  to  a  definite 
policy  in  the  East.  The  Supreme  Council,  our  Foreign  Offices  and 
General  Staffs,  the  Government  of  India  and  various  business  inter- 
ests, all  have  their  own  axes  to  grind.  We  are  experimenting  on  every 
people  from  the  Black  Sea  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  neither  we,  nor  any 
of  them,  are  satisfied.  There  are  really  only  two  practical  alternatives. 
The  one  is  to  rule  by  the  sword — to  apply  Dyerism  in  India  or  Egypt 
or  any  other  country  inhabited  by  "niggers."  The  other  is  to  domin- 
ate by  moral  force.  The  attempt  to  mix  the  two  systems  will  breed 
nothing  but  unrest  and  disaster.  And  we  put  it  to  the  French  that 
it  is  precisely  that  which  they  are  attempting  now  in  Syria,  just  as  we 
are  attempting  it  in  Mesopotamia.  But  what,  it  will  be  asked,  does 
using  moral  force  mean  ?  It  means  what  those  who  drafted  the  Coven- 
ant of  the  League  of  Nations  meant — or  perhaps  we  should  say,  what 
those  who  believe  in  the  League  of  Nations  mean.  It  implies  at  the 
outset  that,  if  a  European  Power  is  going  to  exercise  a  mandate  over 
Arabs,  the  European  Power  must  be  honest  and  the  Arabs  must  be 
willing.  Is  it  not  a  reductio  ad  absurdum  of  the  mandate  to  impose 
it  with  tanks  and  bombs?  .  .  .  If  it  is  oil  and  moral  and  economic 
interests  that  require  our  presence  in  Asia,  well  and  good.  Only  let 
us  then  have  done  with  humbug ;  do  not  let  us  call  an  army  a  mandate, 
or  a  machine-gun  battalion  administrative  advice.     If,  on  the  other 


CURRENT  TOPICS  85 

hand,  there  is  any  sincerity  in  our  professions,  we  are  surely  bound  to 
remind  ourselves  of  the  words  of  the  Covenant,  that  the  wishes  of  these 
communities  (/.  e.^  communities  formerly  belonging  to  the  Turkish  Em- 
pire) must  be  a  principal  consideration  in  the  selection  of  the  manda- 
tory. Should  the  Arabs  insist  on  their  absolute  independence,  there 
are,  it  seems  to  us,  only  two  alternatives.  Either  they  must  have  it 
or  an  attempt  must  be  made  to  conciliate  them  by  doing  what  the 
Supreme  Council  suggested  in  the  case  of  Armenia — that  is  to  say, 
by  making  the  League  of  Nations  itself  the  mandatory,  and  equipping 
it,  of  course  (as  the  Supreme  Council  did  not  suggest  in  the  Armenian 
case),  with  the  necessary  resources.  Neither  of  these  alternatives,  we 
suppose,  will  strike  the  French  Government  or  our  own  as  particularly 
agreeable.  But  either  of  them  is  preferable  to  the  moral  and  material 
damages  that  the  present  conception  of  mandates  promises  to  the  French 
and  British  peoples." 

The  Real  Turkish  Danger 

A  writer  in  the  Saturday  Review  points  out  a  possible  peril  after  the 
signing  of  the  Turkish  Peace  Treaty  in  these  words: 

"The  first  and  most  obvious  peril  to  Britain  is  that  the  precarious  hold 
of  the  Caliphate  on  Constantinople  and  the  gradual  disruption  of 
the  Empire  (which  will  inevitably  occur,  unless  technical  and  financial 
assistance  is  forthcoming)  will  react  unfavourably  upon  our  great  Mos- 
lem populations.  But  this  danger  is  more  apparent  than  real.  Mo- 
hammedans are  better  versed  in  their  own  religious  history  than  their 
statements,  designed  for  Western  consumption,  would  appear  to  prove. 
They  know,  as  well  as  we  do,  that  the  head  of  the  House  of  Othman 
is  not  a  direct  descendant  of  the  Prophet,  nor.  even  a  member  of  the 
race  of  the  Koreish.  His  sanctity  is  a  fiction,  his  claim  is  invalid  in  the 
opinion  of  many  learned  doctors  of  Moslem  law.  His  ancestor  was  a 
usurper,  with  no  claim  to  the  position  save  his  strong  right  hand,  and 
there  are  at  the  present  moment  several  claimants  to  the  Caliphate 
whose  ancestry  is  unimpeachable,  and  whose  following  is  considerable. 
The  real  danger  is  not  religious,  for  the  wide  democracy  of  Islam 
has  much  more  common  sense  than  is  generally  supposed.  The  peril  that 
menaces  us  is  strictly  practical  and  economic.  The  Turkish  Empire 
is  moribund,  but  the  Turkish  people  are  still  alive,  and  sullen,  and  in- 
tractable, and  bitterly  hostile  to  the  makers  of  the  San  Remo  treaty. 
Defeated  and  discouraged  they  may  be  for  the  moment,  but  a  decade 
of  continual  war  has  inured  them  to  hardship  and  accustomed  them  to 
every  chance  and  change  of  fate.  They  are  a  nation  of  nomads  and 
adventurers,  born  in  beggary  and  bred  on  bloodshed.  An  infinite  ca- 
pacity for  mischief  remains  to  them.  Whether  any  agreement  is  possible 
with  the  Turks  will  be  seen  when  the  Grand  Vizier  arrives  in  Paris. 
But  if  there  is  no  agreement,  there  will  be  no  peace,  and  our  military 
expenditure,  which  has  already  assumed  staggering  proportions,  will 
have  to  be  further  increased.  Further,  if  the  moment  should  arrive 
for  the  Turks  to  settle  accounts  with  their  enemies,  a  German- Russian- 
Ottoman  alliance  will  be  a  menace  as  serious  as  the  world  has  ever 
seen." 

The  Nationalists  and  Moslem  Law 

This  quarterly  does  not  concern  itself  primarily  with  political  move- 
ments but  with  intellectual  and  spiritual  conditions  in  the  world  of 
Islam.  The  following  fatwa,  however,  promulgated  by  the  Sheik 
al  Islam  at  Brusa  on  April  20,  1920  and  published  in  the  Nationalist 
newspaper,  Millett  Yolu,  will  interest  our  readers: 


S6  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

1.  Is  it  not  the  duty  of  all  Moslems  to  take  up  arms  in  defence  of 
the  Khalif  when  the  seat  of  the  Khalifat  is  occupied  by  the  enemy, 
when  all  means  of  defence  are  taken  from  the  Sultan  so  that  he  can 
no  longer  defend  the  true  interests  of  the  nation,  and  when  courts- 
martial  are  established  in  the  capital  under  British  laws — Reply:  Yes. 

2.  Can  those  who  thus  take  part  in  the  fight  against  the  enemy  be 
stigmatised  as  enemies  of  their  country  and  their  religion? — Reply;  No. 

3.  Are  not  those  who  die  in  such  fighting  "martyrs"  (Shehid),  and 
are  not  those  who  survive  "victors"   (Ghazi)? — Reply:   Yes. 

4.  Are  not  all  Moslems  bound  by  the  Holy  Law  under  such  circum- 
stances to  assist  in  the   struggle  against  the  enemy? — Reply:  Yes. 

5.  Are  fatwas  issued  by  a  Government  which  is  under  the  influence 
of  the  enemy  binding  under  the  Holy  Law  upon  Moslems? — Reply:  No. 

The  announcement  itself  is  much  longer,  and  is  interspersed  with 
quotations  from  the  Koran  in  support  of  the  replies  given  to  the  ques- 
tions, but  the  above  conveys  the  general  sense  of  the  "Holy  Fatwa"  as  it 
is  entitled.  It  was  published  on  the  authority  of  Mehmed  Rifaat  Ef- 
fendi,  the  chief  Kadi  of  Angora,  and  a  separate  announcement  stated 
that  it  was  endorsed  by  the  principal  Ulema  of  all  Anatolia." 

Personal  Evangelism  and  Social  Service 
In  winning  our  Moslem  brethren  for  Christ  and  Christianizing  so- 
cial relations  in  Moslem  lands  we  need  not  only  personal  evangelism 
but  social  service.  This  was  the  way  the  Master  went,  and  His  serv- 
ants should  tread  it  still.  The  common  people  heard  Jesus  gladly  be- 
cause He  sympathized  with  their  sufferings  and  His  preaching  was  ac- 
companied by  signs  and  wonders  of  social  service — the  healing  of 
the  sick,  the  cleansing  of  the  leper,  the  raising  of  the  dead.  Christ 
had  a  heart  for  childhood  and  a  love  for  the  oppressed  and  the  poor. 
Some  people  are  always  contrasting  evangelism  and  social  service. 
They  go  together.  In  discussing  this  question  the  JVatchman  Ex- 
aminer recently  said: 

"Is  it  not  perfectly  plain  that  personal  evangelism  and  social  serv- 
ice are  both  fundamental  duties?  It  is  claimed  by  some  advocates  of 
social  service  that  those  advocating  personal  evangelism  are  the  sworn 
enemies  of  social  betterment.  Is  this  true?  If  it  is  true  it  is  inex- 
cusable. But  at  a  matter  of  fact,  nobody  but  a  lunatic  is  opposed  to 
social  betterment.  Who  does  not  thank  God  for  water  free  from 
typhoid  germs,  for  streets  free  from  filth,  for  cities  free  from  saloons, 
for  bakeries  and  butcher  shops  under  public  supervision?  It  is  claim- 
ed by  those  who  oppose  the  social  service  emphasis  that  social  service 
workers  expect  to  save  the  world  by  their  reforms,  that  they  sneer 
at  the  necessity  of  personal  regeneration,  that  in  talking  about  'social 
salvation'  they  utterly  neglect  to  emphasize  the  need  for  the  'personal 
salvation.'  Is  this  true?  v  If  it  is,  these  workers  are  a  menace  to  the 
cause  of  Christ  and  the  real  enemies  of  humanity.  It  is  said  by  those 
who  oppose  the  social  service  emphasis  that  social  service  workers, 
broadly  speaking,  are  not  the  men  and  women  who  hold  to  'the  Gos- 
pel in  its  purity.'  If  this  proves  anything,  it  proves  too  much.  Why 
have  those  of  us  who  hold  to  'the  Gospel  in  its  purity'  allowed  these 
heretics  to  run  away  with  this  form  of  Christian  service  ? 

"There  is  absolutely  no  conflict  between  personal  evangelism  and 
social  service.  Many  of  the  greatest  soul  winners  have  been  the  world's 
greatest  social  benefactors.  Witness  Moody  the  evangelist,  and  Moody 
the  founder  of  the  Northfield  schools.  Witness  Miiller  the  Bible  read- 
ing evangelist,  and  Miiller  the  founder  of  the  Bristol  orplianages.  Wit- 
ness Spurgeon  the  evangelistic  pastor,  and  Spurgeon  the  founder  of 
the  Stockwell  orphanages.     Let  the  conflict  cease.     Let  every  Christian 


CURRENT  TOPICS  87 

become  a  soul-winner.  This  is  his  first  and  fundamental  duty,  but 
it  does  not  absolve  him  from  the  duties  of  social  service  and  good 
citizenship.  On  the  other  hand,  let  all  remember  that  not  social  serv- 
ice, not  good  citizenship,  but  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  only  can  save 
a  lost  world." 

Tilaw  Mohammedanism  Spreads  Among  Pagan  Tribes 

"Exigencies  of  space  forbid  me  to  show,  as  I  would  like,  in  some 
detail,  by  what  easy  and  natural  processes  Islam  lays  its  blighting  touch 
upon  a  young  and  virile  pagan  tribe.  The  Mohammedan  pedlar,  with 
his  two  or  three  donkey-loads  of  Hausa  cloth  and  leather  goods,  and 
of  Manchester  prints,  beads,  mirrors  and  knives,  arrives  at  a  pagan 
village  and  deposits  himself  and  his  goods  under  the  guests'  tree.  Com- 
munications are  conducted  through  the  medium  of  Hausa  or  Fulani,  or, 
if  the  village  be  off  the  main  track,  and  correspondingly  backward 
and  primitive,  by  means  of  an  interpreter.  The  trader  announces  his 
intention  of  'sitting  down'  at  the  place  for  two  or  three  days.  He  then 
opens  his  packs,  and  propitiates  the  chief  by  the  gift  of  two  or  three 
articles  of  small  intrinsic  value  but  great  local  worth.  Business  at  first 
is  slow,  but  after  the  fears  and  suspicions  of  the  villagers  have  been 
laid  at  rest,  it  becomes  exceedingly  brisk.  In  three  days'  time  the  ped- 
lar ties  up  his  loads  and  departs,  richer  by  a  few  score  fowls,  a  couple 
of  dozen  goats,  and  it  may  be  a  purseful  of  coins  also. 

"Two  months  later  he  reappears,  and  is  welcomed  as  an  old  ac- 
quaintance. The  chief  treats  him  more  generously  and  is  rewarded 
with  more  generous  gifts,  which  may  now  take  the  form  of  a  rig/a 
(upper  robe),  a  tarbush  or  a  turban,  and  a  verse  from  the  holy  Kor- 
an, which  is  worn  around  the  neck  as  a  charm.  The  native  chief 
has  now  adopted  the  Mohammedan  dress.  The  first  stage  of  his 
transformation  from  pagan  to  Moslem  is  complete.  At  the  next 
visit  of  the  trader,  the  chief  will  watch  him  at  his  ablutions  and  pray- 
ers, and  try  to  imitate  him.  This  is  the  second  stage.  Subsequently  he 
will  ask  to  be  taught  to  repeat  one  or  two  Hausa  prayers.  The  words 
may  be  incomprehensible  but  what  of  that?  Does  not  the  whole 
religion  consist  of  mysterious  words  and  cabalistic  signs?  And  thus 
the  transforming  process  reaches  its  swift  conclusion.  The  chief  him- 
self, whose  'conversion'  to  Islam  is  but  skin  deep,  may  not  be  a  very 
sincere  and  convinced  believer,  but  his  children  will  be  more  than 
sincere — they  will  be  fanatical.  The  chief  and  his  family  being  won, 
the  subjection  of  the  whole  tribe  to  the  authority  of  the  Prophet  is 
but  a  matter  of  time.  And  thus  does  Islam  extend  and  consolidate  its 
influence  in  the  lands  of  the  Sudan." 

"Thrice  through  the  Dark  Continent,"  by  Rev.  J.  Du  Plessis. 

Hindu  and  Moslem  Unity 

We  read  in  one  of  our  Indian  exchanges  that  a  Mohammedan 
missionary  from  North  India,  Mr.  Kwaja  Kamaluddin,  has  been  giv- 
ing a  series  of  addresses  in  Madras.  At  one  of  these  addresses,  at 
which  a  Brahman  presided,  he  is  reported  to  have  made  the  following 
remarks : 

"The  Hindus  and  Mohammedans  could  easily  come  together  in  a 
bond  of  union  if  they  recognized  each  other's  prophets.  There  was 
no  harm  for  Mohammedans  in  considering  the  Hindu  prophets  as 
their  prophets  and  vice  versa.  He  did  not  want  that  a  Hindu  should 
become  a  Moslem  or  a  Moslem  a  Hindu.  What  he  wanted  was  only 
cooperation  between  the  two.     Madras  had  always  been  distinguish- 


88  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

«d  for  its  religious  zeal,  and  thanks  to  the  work  of  Mrs.  Besant,  the 
ridges  which  separated  one  mind  from  another  were  being  broken. 
He  would  ask  them  whether  it  would  not  be  possible  to  create  a  sort  of 
league,  the  very  first  declaration  of  which  would  be  that  the  signa- 
tory would  accept  Moses,  Jesus,  Ramachandra,  Krisha,  Buddha  and 
Mohammed  as  true  prophets  and  messengers  of  God,  would  accept 
all  the  great  books  of  religion  as  books  of  God,  that  the  Koran  was  the 
final  revelation  of  the  Divine  will,  and  that  he  would  refrain  from 
speaking  ill  of  other  religions.  He  would  assure  them  on  behalf  of  the 
Moslems  that  for  their  part  they  would  pledge  not  only  to  accept 
Krisha  and  Ramachandra  as  prophets  but  in  addition  to  abstain  from 
kine  slaughter.  He  for  his  part  would  resolve  from  that  day  not 
to  have  anything  to  do  with  beef  throughout  his  lifetime.  If  there 
was  any  likelihood  of  their  inaugurating  such  a  brotherhood  as  he  had 
outlined,  he  would  promise  he  would  bring  tens  of  thousands  of  men 
to  sign  the  pledge." 

This  is  a  significant  sign  of  the  times ;  but  no  one  can  say  how  far  Mr. 
Kwaja  Kamaluddin  represents  the  followers  of  Mohammed.  We 
rejoice  in  the  desire  that  prevails  amongst  thoughtful  men  of  all 
classes  that  all  should  unite  for  the  benefit  of  India.  That  union 
cannot  take  place  on  the  lines  laid  down  by  Mr.  Kamaluddin,  for 
those  prophets  he  has  linked  together  do  not  all  teach  the  same  message. 
There  are  fundamental  differences  that  cannot  be  ignored. 

Bearing  the  Cross  for  our  Moslem  Brethren 
In   a  sermon  preached  by  the  Bishop  of  Zanzibar  on  Simon  the 
Cyrenian  who  bore  the  cross  for  our  Saviour,  we  found  the  following 
paragraphs  suggestive. 

"They  compelled  Simon  to  bear  it.  Let  us  begin  with  that.  We 
do  not,  I  think,  sufficiently  allow  for  the  compulsion.  I  would  talk 
of  that.  He  had  to  bear  Christ's  Cross.  It  was  laid  on  him  under 
compulsion.  He  could  in  no  wise  escape,  for  there  were  the  soldiers — 
round  about.  Yet  it  belonged  to  Christ!  Let  us  begin  there  then  if 
we  would  understand  our  world  and  our  duty  as  Christians  towards 
the  world.  We  must  always  begin  there,  everything  impinges  on  the 
compulsion.  If  we  are  over-weighted  by  it,  it  is,  first,  Christ's  Cross, 
and  under  compulsion  we  bear  it.  Do  you  believe  that?  It  is  the 
root  of  all  spiritual  motherhood  and  fatherhood. 

"Then  there  is  the  spiritual  side.  All  who  work  for  God  will  know 
what  I  mean.  Spiritual  sickness  comes  to  us  and  we  think  that  we 
cannot  go  on  with  our  work,  and  we  doubt  the  value  of  our  work. 
Evil  temptations  come,  e.  g.,  to  think  of  ourselves.  We  have  all  got 
our  peculiar  weaknesses,  our  memories  of  sin,  and  our  particular  dang- 
ers, and  we  often  forget  that,  summed  up  together,  they  make  the 
Cross,  and  that  it  is  not  our  Cross  but  the  Cross  of  Jesus.  The  Cross 
of  Jesus  Christ  is  all  that  we  have  laid  upon  Eternal  Love.  He  will 
carry  it,  and  bear  it  with  us.  We  have  to  follow  under  compulsion, 
we  have  no  choice. 

"Then  there  are  the  people  we  live  with,  and  those  we  work  amongst, 
our  fellow-workers.  Then  there  is  our  work.  We  find  it  enormously 
difficult  always  to  go  on.  We  find  it  so  difficult:  but  if  you  sum  up 
all  the  difficulties  you  will  find  that  they  are  yfiurso;  they  are  the 
Cross;  and  all  that  makes  the  Cross,  Eternal  Love  has  to  carry.  And 
if  you  want  to  help  others  you  have  truly  got  to  carry  His  Cross  with 
Him.    There  is  no  other  way." 


CURRENT  TOPICS  ^9 

Obituary — Reverend  L.  O.  Fossum 

From  Erivan,  Armenian  comes  the  news  that  Rev.  L.  O.  Fossum  died 
from  nervous  exhaustion  and  convulsions  on  the  loth  of  October,  1920. 

Mr.  Fossum  was  a  missionary  of  the  Lutheran  Church  and  he  lived 
up  to  his  motto:  "I  would  rather  wear  out  than  rust  away."  When 
Col.  T.  C.  Telford  of  the  United  States  left  Armenia  for  America, 
Mr.  Fossum  became  his  successor  as  District  Commander  of  the  Near 
East  Relief.  This  very  important  executive  position  with  its 
endless  routine  of  work  and  with  an  inadequate  office  force  constituted, 
as  I  see  it,  the  physical  reasons  for  his  sudden  collapse.  He  spent  a 
few  minutes  each  morning  in  giving  the  new  missionaries  suggestions 
in  regard  to  language  studies;  then  after  a  hastily  eaten  breakfast  he 
retired  to  his  office  and  continued  his  administrative  work  until  late 
in  the  evening. 

Mr.  Fossum  was  born  at  Wallingford,  Iowa  on  the  5th  of  June, 
1879.  In  1902  he  graduated  from  the  United  Norwegian  Lutheran 
Seminary  and  served  as  pastor  at  Slayton,  Iowa  from  1902  to  1905 
when  he  went  as  missionary  to  the  Nestovian  Chaldeans  in  Persia. 
In  1910  at  the  Ecumenical  Conference  of  Foreign  Missions  at  Edin- 
burg,  Scotland — the  unevangelized  Kurds  were  assigned  to  the  Lu- 
theran Church,  which  had  already  in  1907  begun  a  mission  in  Kurdis- 
tan. This  beginning  was  interrupted  a  year  later  by  the  murder  of 
Missionary  Immenual  Dammen,  from  Germany.  The  field  was  ac- 
cepted by  friends  from  Hermannsburg,  Germany,  and  Mr.  Fossum 
organized  The  Luthern  Orient  Mission  Society  an  Inter-Synodical 
organization  for  mission  among  the  Mohammedan  Kurds.  This 
Society  is  affiliated  with  "Furein  fur  Lutherish  Mission  in  Persia  and 
is  effecting  an  affiliation  in  Norway. 

In  191 1  Rev.  L.  O.  Fossum  together  with  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Edman 
left  America  for  Kurdistan  and  went  to  Soujboulak,  Persian  Kurdis- 
tan where  Mr.  Fossum  labored  until  he  and  the  remaining  mission- 
aries were  forced  to  leave  in  191 6  on  account  of  the  war  and  food 
shortage.  He  arrived  in  America  on  September  21,  1916.  And  in 
addition  to  continuing  his  Kurdish  literary  work  he  worked  in  the 
National  Red  Cross  Service  as  the  Lutheran  Commission's  representa- 
tive. 

Dr.  Possum's  contributions  to  the  Evangelical  Mission  among  the 
Mohammedans  are  the  following  helps  in  Kurdish:  A  Kurdish  alpha- 
bet; a  written  language  for  the  Kurds;  a  Lexicon;  elementary  lan- 
guage texts;  geography;  arithmetic;  Luther's  smaller  catechism;  hymn 
book  with  one  hundred  hymns  and  the  Luthern  Liturgy;  the  whole 
New  Testament  and  a  Practical  Kurdish  Grammar.  The  four 
gospels  are  printed  by  the  American  Bible  Society;  the  hymn  book,  the 
liturgy  catechism  and  the  grammar  are  printed  by  the  Lutheran  Orient 
Mission  Society.  Fossum  has  also  written  several  tracts  in  English 
and  some  in  Norwegian.  In  Norwegian  he  has  published  a  book 
called:  "Muhammedanismen."  While  in  Kurdistan  in  April,  1916, 
he  began  the  publishing  of  an  all  "Kurdish  Paper"  "I  am  with  truth 
for  friendship."  He  was  the  creator  of  a  written  language  for  the 
three  and  a  half  million  Kurds,  the  originator  and  promotor  of  the 
Lutheran  Orient  Mission  Society,  having  its  roots  in  two  continents ;  the 
first  missionary  to  accomplish  the  evangelization  of  a  group  of  Kurds; 
and  the  creator  of  a  written  Christian  literature  for  a  large  group  of 
Mohammedans. 


90  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Cairo  Waifs  and  Strays 
A  correspondent  in  The  Near  East  writes  as  follows: 

One  of  the  most  serious  public  nuisances  of  Cairo  are  the  waifs  and 
strays,  the  little  boys  and  girls  who  hang  about  the  streets  begging  and 
importuning  passers-by,  jumping  on  and  off  trams,  etc.,  and  who,  mix- 
ing with  the  low-class  element,  bid  fair  in  time  to  swell  the  latter's 
numbers,  and  eventually  turn  to  a  life  of  vice  and  crime.  There  is 
undoubtedly  a  serious  moral  obligation  on  the  authorities  in  regard  to 
these  children,  whom,  if  they  are  abandoned  by  their  parents,  or,  as 
is  the  case  with  so  many,  are  orphans,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  community 
at  large  to  look  after  and  train  up  to  be  useful  members  of  society. 

The  Cairo  police  have  for  some  time  carried  on  a  small  school,  in 
which  a  limited  number  of  those  waifs  and  strays  have  been  sent,  and 
where  they  are  given  some  elementary  training,  but  the  problem  is  so 
serious,  owing  to  the  large  number  of  these  children  now  on  the  streets, 
that  the  Government  has  decided  to  take  action  itself.  The  Ministry 
of  Education  has  drawn  up  a  scheme  for  the  creation  of  a  certain  num- 
ber of  industrial  schools  to  which  the  younger  of  these  waifs  and  strays 
can  be  sent,  and  where  they  may  receive  instruction  and  training — 
physical,  moral,  and  vocational — which  it  is  hoped  may  fit  them  to  earn 
their  own  livelihood  and  become  respectable  citizens.  These  schools 
are  not  intended  to  interfere  with  the  work  of  the  reformatories,  which 
are  for  children  who  have  committed  offences  against  the  law,  but  they 
will  be  limited  to  boys  and  girls  who,  as  far  as  is  known,  have  com- 
mitted no  serious  legally  punishable  offence,  and  who  are  physically  and 
mentally  sound.  The  Government  is  to  be  congratulated  on  having 
made  a  move  in  this  matter,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  no  obstacle  will 
be  set  up  to  the  carrying  out  of  what  is  undoubtedly  most  vital  rescue 
work. 


BOOK  REVIEWS 

Der  Islam  Einst  und  Jetzt.    By  Traugott   Mann.    pp.    150.     Gilt   top, 

profusely  illustrated,  5  colored  maps.  Verlag  von  Velhagen  und 
Klasing.      Bielefeld   und    Leipzig,    1914.     Price,   5   marks. 

Published  on  the  eve  of  the  War,  "Islam  Past  and  Present"  is  among 
the  last  offerings  of  the  scholarship  of  Germany  before  she  put  down 
the  pen  of  the  savant  to  wield  the  sword  of  the  Turk.  To  students 
of  the  Islamic  world  the  book  is  a  gift  which  need  provoke  no  "Timeo 
Danaos."  It  is  the  latest  issue  of  the  well-known  series  of  elegant 
historical  treatises,  Monographien  zur  JVeltgeschichte,  appearing  in 
Leipzig  under  the  editorship  of  Professor  Eduard  Heyck,  in  collabora- 
tion with  a  corps  of  German  specialists.  It  is  uniform  and  closely  re- 
lated with  the  editor's  own  vivid  chronicle  of  Palestine  and  the  Crus- 
ades, {Die  Kreuzzilge  und  das  Heilige  Land.)  The  author.  Dr.  Trau- 
gott Mann,  has  produced  a  work  at  once  learned  and  lucid,  fresh  and 
fascinating,  brief  and  brilliant — a  marvel  of  condensation.  He  has 
done  in  succinct  manner  for  the  average  German  reader  today,  what 
August  Miiller  did  for  the  critical  student  of  Islam  thirty-five  years 
ago  in  his  comprehensive  survey  of  Moslem  expansion,  Der  Islam  im 
Morgenund  Abendland.  Indeed,  the  present  monograph  may  be  sug- 
gestively described  as  an  emended  miniature  of  Miiller's  ample,  still 
classical,  though  at  some  points  superseded,  volumes.  Yet,  severely 
compacted  as  it  is.  Dr.  Mann's  production  is  no  mere  compendium  or 
secondhand  epitome.  It  is  a  series  of  clear-cut  cameos,  aglow  with  orig- 
inal verve. 

There  are  five  chapters  dealing  successively  with  Pre-Islamic  Arabia, 
Mohammed,  The  Koran,  Religious  and  Political  Development,  Islam 
in  Modern  Times.  The  range  and  sequence  of  subjects  is  strikingly 
similar  to  that  of  the  Dutch  Professor  Hurgronje's  American  Lectures} 
but  the  treatment  is  somewhat  less  popular,  and  is  richer  in  historical 
detail.  Less  discursive  as  to  topics  than  Professor  Margoliouth's  ex- 
cellent little  handbook,'  so  widely  circulated  in  England  and  America, 
the  German  work  has  a  clearer  perspective  and   a  statelier  stride. 

Dr.  Mann  has  striven,  for  the  most  part  successfully,  to  write  as  an 
impartial  historian.  On  points  of  scholarly  debate  his  judgments  par- 
take of  the  middle  way  between  extreme  deductions.  For  example,  on 
the  question  of  pre-Mohammedan  Arabian  culture,  he  will  not  concede 
to  the  archaeologists  that  the  rise  of  Islam  was  simply  a  phase  of  the 
final  "up-flaring"  {Aufflackern)  of  a  high  preceding  civilization  threat- 
ened with  extinction.  Neither  will  he  approve  the  picture  of  the  Wekt- 
el-Jahiliya,  or  "Time  of  Barbarism'"  in  pagan  Arabia  so  blackly  painted 
by  Moslem  writers,  who  would  exalt  Mohammed  into  "the  prodigious 
author  of  a  new  creation  out  of  pre-existent  nothing" — (^der  iiberge- 
waltige  Schopfer  eines  Neuen  aus  dem  vorherigen  Nichts.)  (p.  3) 
The  Founder  of  Islam,  our  author  opines,  inherited  not  only  survivals 
of  indigenous  cultures  which  flourished  in  various  strains  in  certain 
sections  of  the   Peninsula    (whose  religious  and  political   development 

1  Mohammedanism:  Its  Origin,  Religious  and  Political  Growth,  and  Present  State. 
By   C.    Snouck  Hurgronje.      Putnam's. 

'  Mohammedanism.  By  D.  S.  Margoliouth.  Williams  and  Norgate.  (Home  Uni- 
versity   Library). 

*  Cf.  Goldziher:  Muhammedanische  Studien,  Vol.  I,  p.  220  et.  seq. 


92  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

was  by  no  means  uniform),  but  also  the  indubitable  impress  of  con- 
temporary rabbinic  Judaism  and  distorted  Christianity.  Regarding 
the  details  of  the  Christian  contact  Dr.  Mann  is  much  more  hesitant 
than  most  other  writers.  He  rules  out  of  court  the  stories  of  the 
Prophet's  visits  to  Syrian  monks,  and  dismisses  as  unproven  the  sui;>- 
posed  influence  from  the  Gnostic  Elkesites  of  Syria  and  East  Jordan. 
Candor  inhibits  him  from  setting  down  any  reliably  attested  facts  about 
the  Prophet's  personal  relations  with  the  Christians  of  Yemen  or  Abys- 
sinia, or  Mecca,  or  even  with  the  surviving  northern  communities  of 
the  former  Christian  states  of  Hira  and  Palmyra.  Dr.  Mann  has  a 
keen  scent  for  legend  and  pious  story.  To  suspect  is  to  eliminate. 
There  is  no  mention  of  Mary,  the  Christian  Coptic  maid.  But  the 
numerous  Christian  references  and  parallels  {sic)  in  the  Koran  and 
in  the  Hadith  are  acknowledged  as  convincing  evidence  that  the  Pro- 
phet's acquaintance  with  Christians  and  with  Christian  traditions  must 
have  been  extensive  (p.  28). 

With  these  guarded  admissions  of  Islam's  debt  to  religious  influences 
antecedent  and  extant.  Dr.  Mann  hastens  to  affirm  Mohammed's  orig- 
inality. The  epoch-making  power  of  the  Prophet's  mission,  he  declares, 
lay  not  in  its  syncretistic  absorption  but  in  its  antithesis  to  the  past 
(p.  3).  . 

In  estimating  the  personality  of  Mohammed,  the  author  is  equally 
determined  to  beat  his  own  path  between  the  diverging  highways  of  en- 
thusiasts. He  will  walk  with  neither  the  detractors  nor  the  panegy- 
rists. He  has,  it  is  intimated,  severely  analysed  the  results  of  the  lat- 
est researches,  has  sifted  fact  from  fantasy,  and  has  divested  himself  of 
those  occidental  presuppositions  which,  he  thinks,  have  lead  astray 
other  Western  biographers  in  their  attempts  to  interpret  the  "differ- 
ently fashioned  Oriental."  With  this  preparation  he  will  limn  for  us 
the  real  maker  of  the  new  religion  which,  in  the  7th  century  A.  D., 
set  all  the  East  aflame. 

According  to  Dr.  Mann,  Mohammed  was  neither  the  highly  idealized 
"God-impacted  mediator"  {Gott-ergriffener  Griibler)  of  Lamartine, 
nor  the  sordid  monstrosity  of  the  Crusaders.  He  is  not  to  be  dis- 
missed as  an  hallucinated  epileptic  (as,  e.  g.,  by  Sprenger),  or  an  idle 
dreamer;  on  the  other  hand,  his  "revelations"  are  no  more  to  be  dog- 
matically spurned  than  is  Paul's  vision  on  the  Damascus  road.  Dr. 
Mann  defends  the  Prophet  from  gross  sensuality,  hails  him  as  a  herald 
of  righteousness,  but  straightway  pulls  him  down  from  the  pedestal  of 
Carlyle.  A  hero  he  will  certainly  not  allow  him  to  be,  much  less  a 
saint.  Neither  was  he  a  conscious  falsifier  (bewuszter  Liigner),  nor  a 
self-deluded  impostor;  yet  his  compromises  are  undenied.  Against  Sir 
William  Muir,  it  is  held,  he  was  sincere  from  first  to  last.  A  man  of 
many  faults,  conceiving  himself  to  be  the  chosen  of  Allah,  "a  mighty 
devotee  of  God  and  eternity,"  he  confounded  the  human  and  the 
divine  by  unconsciously  yielding  to  the  temptation  which  Christ  with- 
stood with  the  words,  "My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world."  He  is  finally 
summed  up  as  "the  powerfully  stirred  man  of  God  who  became  a 
politician,  or,  rather,  a  genuine  Arabian  robber-prince" — {ein  echt 
arabischer  Raubfiirst) — himself  unaware  of  his  spiritual  decline  (pp. 
44-47).  So,  in  the  end,  Dr.  Mann  gives  us  quite  as  paradoxical  and 
mysterious  a  Mohammed  as  does  the  Koran  itself ;  in  the  words  of  the 
Oxford  historian,  "the  strangest  of  moral  enigmas."*  But  the  por- 
trayal is  interesting,  since  it  stirs  up  anew  the  whole  question  of  the 
Prophet's  character. 

♦C.  W.   C.   Oman:  The  Byzantine   Empire,  p.    159. 


BOOK  REVIEWS  93 

Chapter  III  is  a  masterly  summary  of  the  history  and  doctrines  of 
the  Koran,  and  is  followed  in  Chapter  IV  by  a  vivid  sketch  of  the 
development  and  diffusion,  both  political  and  religious,  of  Islam  among 
the  nations. 

Not  its  style  alone,  but  the  beauty  of  its  form  causes  the  book  to  smack 
of  Miiller's  embellished  masterpiece  and  to  stand  out  in  unrivalled 
distinction  among  recent  introductory  manuals.  Bound  in  fine  linen, 
white  and  marine-blue,  chastely  entitled  and  decorated  with  gold,  its 
enamelled  pages  gleam  with  the  most  exquisite  craftsmanship  of  printer 
and  engraver.  It  would  seem  that  the  most  reluctant  reader  would 
be  tempted  by  the  aesthetic  glamor  with  which  the  subject  is  invested. 
Here  is  Mohammedanism  decked  in  its  most  artistic  and  alluring  at- 
tire. 

The  wealth  of  illustrations,  enclosed  in  so  small  a  compass,  is 
amazing.  Mosques,  museums  and  monuments,  all  the  way  from  Turkes- 
tan to  Spain,  from  Hadramaut  to  Holland,  bring  tribute  to  the  author's 
attempt  to  spread  before  the  untraveled  reader  the  most  picturesque 
symbols  of  Moslem  achievement  within  its  vast  arena.  There  are  i66 
illustrations  in  all.  They  range  from  the  crude  Sabasan  tablets,  Aram- 
aic steles,  Nabatjean  ruins  and  Cufic  inscriptions  of  pre-Islamic  Arabia, 
to  the  clustered  pilgrim-shrines  of  Medina  and  of  Mecca;  from  the 
Bedouin  tents  and  rock-hewn  dwellings  of  the  Arabian  desert,  to  the 
architectural  splendors  of  Cairo,  Konia  and  Constantinople;  from  the 
ivory  bas-reliefs  of  Baghdad,  to  the  domes  and  minarets  of  Damascus; 
from  Timur's  tomb  in  Samarkand,  to  Sheikh  Safi's  faience-windowed 
mosque  in  Ardebil ;  from  the  frescoes  of  the  "forty-pillared  hall"  of 
Abbas  the  Great  at  Ispahan,  to  the  sumptuous  sanctuary  of  Selim  II 
at  Adrianople ;  from  the  glittering  towers  of  mediaeval  Jerusalem  to  the 
glorious  screens  and  stalactite  arches  of  the  Alhambra.  Portraits  are 
given  of  important  historical  leaders,  Mohammed  the  Prophet,  the 
sceptered  Tamerlane,  Suleiman  the  Magnificent  and  his  consort  Roxe- 
lane,  Mohammed  II — conqueror  of  Constantinople,  Bayazet — "the 
thunderbolt  of  the  Bosphorus,"  the  black-bearded  Boabdil  of  Gran- 
ada, with  his  bespangled  tunic  and  his  jewelled  sword;  also,  other  be- 
turbaned  sultans,  and  even  as  modern  a  personage  as  the  heir-apparent 
to  the  throne  of  Bahrein.  Particularly  fine  are  the  nineteen  prints  of 
typical  Arab  buildings,  landscapes  and  inhabitants,  from  the  collection 
of  the  German  traveler,  Hermann  Burkhardt,  whom  death  overtook 
in  Yemen  in  1909.  The  colored  plates  include  gorgeous  title-pages 
and  elaborately  chased  covers  of  de  luxe  Turkish  editions  of  the  Koran, 
brilliant  Persian  manuscripts,  prayer-carpets  and  wall-tapestries  of  scar- 
let, old  rose,  green  and  gold;  and,  richest  of  all,  the  frontispiece,  an 
illuminated  Persian  miniature  of  the  i6th  century,  representing  Mo- 
hammed's ascent  to  Heaven.  The  five  colored  maps  show  the  bygone 
kingdoms  of  the  Caliphate,  the  shifting  boundaries  of  the  Othman  do- 
minion from  1359  to  1913,  and  the  parts  of  the  world  now  religiously 
occupied  by  Islam. 

A  word  must  be  said  about  the  seductiveness  of  such  a  book.  Over- 
emphasis on  the  beautiful  has  its  dangers  even  in  historical  writing.  It 
is  to  be  feared,  an  unsophisticated  reader  would  get  from  Dr.  Mann  a 
far  too  roseate  view  of  what  Mohammedan  civilization  has  been  and 
is.  From  these  fair  pages  one  catches  nothing  of  the  stench  of  the 
bazaars,  the  poverty,  illiteracy  and  social  squalor  of  the  masses  in 
Moslem  countries;  nothing  of  the  dirt  and  dilapidation,  the  stupor 
and  stagnation  of  the  average  Mohammedan  town;  nothing  of  the 
stifling  miasma  of  repression,  monotony  and  deterioration — the  moral 


94  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

paralysis — which  characterizes  even  the  classic  lands  of  the  Faith.  In 
the  story  of  Moslem  conquest  and  expansion,  stately  language  veils 
the  brutal  butcheries  which,  even  down  into  recent  times,  have  followed 
Mohammed's  sanction  of  the  sword.  As  calmly  as  if  he  were  discussing 
American  democracy  does  Dr.  Mann  sketch  the  political  fortunes  of 
the  Ottomans.  Not  a  hint  is  conveyed  of  the  labyrinth  of  iniquity 
through  which  Turkey  has  tottered  to  its  downfall.  Abdul  Hamid 
is  politely  dismissed  as  a  political  passe,  but  no  mention  is  made  of  his 
massacres  of  Armenian  Christians,  which,  even  for  two  decades  be- 
fore the  Great  War,  shocked  the  heart  of  decent  humanity.  There  are 
no  pictures  of  slave-markets  or  harems.  There  is  not  a  paragraph  in 
reprobation  of  Islam's  age-long  blight  on  womanhood.  On  the  con- 
trary, an  apology  (p.  77)  is  offered  for  the  veil,  the  purdah  and  even 
for  polygamy  and  concubinage!  The  camera  presents  no  faces  of  the 
millions  of  disheveled,  neglected,  Moslem  children,  nor  of  the  fierce 
semi-barbarians  who,  like  the  Kurds  and  Baluchis,  mumble  prayers  to- 
ward Mecca  and  live  by  lance  and  plunder.  The  literary  touch  is 
so  lightsome  that  one  does  not  feel  the  dead  weight  of  tradition  and 
animism,  which  hangs  on  the  Moslem  mind.^  All  this  is  another  story, 
about  which  the  author  has  chosen  to  be  silent. 

From  the  viewpoint  of  Christian  missions  it  is  in  the  conclusions  and 
suggestions  of  the  final  chapter  that  the  present  book  reveals  its  chief 
defect.  Here  the  dispassionate  historian  loses  his  critical  acumen  to 
indulge  in  theoretical  musings,  dangerously  akin  to  the  ex-Kaiser's 
flattering  compromise  when,  in  1898,  that  world-aspiring  monarch  con- 
sorted with  the  Sultan  at  Constantinople,  linked  Pan-Islamism  with 
German  propaganda,  and,  as  "Hadji  Wilhelm,"  at  Damascus,  decked 
the  sepulcher  of  Saladin  with  flowers. 

How  does  our  author  diagnose  the  disease  of  the  modern  Moham- 
medan world?  All  its  present  woes  and  problems  he  ascribes  to  that 
"catastrophe"  which  forever  destroyed  its  political  unity,  viz.,  the 
Mongolian  invasions  of  Western  Asia,  beginning  in  the  13th  century 
with  the  "cataclysm  of  the  Great  Khans,"  ending  with  the  death  of 
Tamerlane  in  1405  (pp.  110-112).  This  is  a  sad  load  to  heap  on 
the  heads  of  Hulagu  and  the  Terrible  Tartar  of  Samarkand!  The 
modern  assassins  may  wash  their  hands  in  innocence!  Islam's  general 
ailment,  according  to  Dr.  Mann,  is  not  one  of  corruption  but  only  of 
^disruption.  The  bones  are  broken  but  the  blood  is  pure.  Islam  has  not 
failed  because  of  inherent  incompetence  or  insufficiency  to  meet  pro- 
gressively the  higher  needs  of  man,  but  because,  through  no  fault  of 
its  own,  it  lost  its  political  solidarity  and  has  been  prevented  from 
making  "any  essential  progress  for  seven  centuries"  (p.  Iio).  Such 
is  the  argument.  The  responsibility  is  with  those  mediaeval  Mongols! 
What  boots  it  that  the  ferocious  hordes  of  Timur,  "the  Scourge  of 
God,"  were  themselves  disciples  of  the  Prophet?    Eo  non  exculpantur! 

In  considering  the  preferred  solution  of  the  present  status  we  must 
charitably  remember  that  Dr.  Mann  wrote  before  the  War.  What  is 
his  remedy  for  the  ills  of  the  Near  East,  and  of  Islam  as  a  whole? 
Not  a  superficial  varnishing  with  European  culture  (oberflachliche 
Vberkleidung  mit  europaischem  Kulturfimis),  nor  a  puritanical  re- 
vival of  the  primitive  faith  and  practice  after  the  manner  of  the  Han- 
balites  and  Wahhabitcs.  So  far,  so  good.  Our  author's  panacea  is 
wrapped  up  in  two  words,  "Fortbildung"  and  "Kultur" — by  which 
he  means  the  further  development  of  Islam  within  the  limits  and  to- 
ward the  goal  of  a  strictly  autochthonous   {bodenstdndig)   Mussulman 

'Cf.  Zwemer's  The  influence  of  Animism  on  Islam,  MacmtUian,   1920. 


BOOK  REVIEWS  95 

civilization,  that  shall  take  its  place  in  the  modern  age.  Apparently  he 
is  not  discouraged  by  what  thirteen  centuries  have  actually  brought 
forth  in  lands  moulded  by  Koranic  tradition;  for,  hidden  and  astir 
in  the  soil  of  Islam,  he  thinks,  are  the  seeds  of  its  own  redemption. 
Islam  has  shown,  he  says,  a  far  greater  genius  of  adaptability  than  has 
Christianity;  therefore,  it  has  power  of  itself  to  become  for  the  Orient 
a  thoroughly  up-to-date  religion,  competent  to  promote  and  to  satisfy 
the  highest  demands  of  spiritual  and  social  life,  and  to  supply  a  firm 
foundation  for  free,  progressive  government. 

This  is  an  astounding  thesis.  One's  faith  is  severely  strained  by 
such  optimism,  in  view  of  what  has  transpired  within  the  past  fifteen 
years  in  the  foremost  Moslem  state — the  land  of  the  Holy  Caliphate  it- 
self. The  attempt  of  the  Young  Turks,  through  the  Revolution  of 
1908,  to  open  the  gates  of  a  new  dawn  for  the  Ottoman  Empire, 
issued  in  a  night  of  terror.  The  ideal  of  a  modern  constitutional 
regime  of  freedom,  enlightenment,  justice  and  tolerance  collapsed  in 
a  new  reign  of  tyranny  and  horror  unsurpassed  in  the  blood-soaked 
annals  of  dethroned  despotism.  The  Committee  of  Union  and  Pro- 
gress was  swept  into  the  tides  of  Pan-Islamism  and  Pan-Turanianism — 
slogans  which  register  the  supreme  corporate  aspirations  of  modern  Is- 
lamic leadership,  but  at  whose  revealed  content  the  world  has  stood 
aghast.  The  terrible  reaction  was  perfectly  true  to  Koranic  form,  and 
lies  at  the  door  of  the  Moslem  creed.  In  the  blaze  of  the  World  War 
Dr.  Mann's  idealism  must  have  shriveled  to  ashes.  Will  fair  blossoms 
of  indigenous  culture  and  progress  spring  from  the  newest  paths  of 
slaughter,  lust  and  loot,  which  mark  the  latest  Armenian  atrocities,  all 
the  way  from  Trebizond  to  the  Syrian  Desert,  from  the  Aegean  to  the 
Caspian  Sea?  In  the  orthodox  and  efficient  barbarism  which,  with  the 
name  of  Allah  on  its  lips,  has  murdered  a  million  people,  regardless 
of  age  or  sex,  shall  we  find  the  germs  of  spontaneous  redemption? 

It  is  pertinent  to  inquire  whether,  in  the  more  distant  past,  there 
is  anything  which  reasonably  nourishes  the  expectation  that  the  Moslem 
ethos  will  yet  produce  and  ensoul  a  self-evolved  civilization,  at  once  pro- 
gressive and  enduring,  such  as  Dr.  Mann  conceives,  to  meet  the  awak- 
ening needs  of  the  modern  East.  Looking  backward  the  sober  historian 
contemplates  a  series  of  quick  and  usually  violent  aggressions,  brilliant 
up-soarings,  and  rapid  assimilations,  followed  by  equally  rapid  dis- 
solutions and  abysmal  collapses.  In  no  case  has  Islam  demonstrated 
capacity  either  to  originate  or  to  uphold  permanently  a  high  type  of 
progressive  culture.  In  so  far  as  it  has  been  a  constructive  force,  its 
role  has  been  that  of  stimulator,  borrower  and  transmitter  rather  than 
that  of  creator  and  sustainer.  This  is  seen  by  a  glance  at  the  times  and 
places  of  its  highest  ascendancy.  By  common  consent  its  fairest  fabric 
was  the  vast  Arabian  Empire  which,  a  century  after  Mohammed's 
death,  extended  from  the  Indus  to  the  Guadalquivir.  The  dazzling 
era  of  arts,  sciences,  letters  and  commerce  which  reached  the  zenith 
of  its  splendor  under  the  Abbasside  Caliphs  at  Baghdad,  brought  even 
Europe  to  the  feet  of  Saracenic  learning,  and  contributed  to  the  West 
a  precious  heritage.  But  of  the  culture  thus  developed  and  communi- 
cated two  facts  are  abundantly  confirmed  by  the  latest  researches,  viz: 
(i)  the  Arab  conquerors  derived  and  compounded  their  new  civiliza- 
tion largely  from  the  pre-Islamic  cultures  of  India,  Persia  and  Byzan- 
tium. (2)  No  sooner  had  it  blossomed  into  the  Golden  Age  of  Mo- 
hammedan Literature  (754-874  A.  D.) — the  period  illustrated  by  Har- 
un-al-Rashid — than,  through  the  corruption  of  succeeding  caliphs,  so- 


96  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

cial  disintegration  began — "a  process  of  rapid  decline  into  irremediable 
decay."^  The  whole  structure,  with  its  pomp  and  learning,  battered 
by  the  Seljulcs,  finally  broke  under  the  hammer  of  the  Mongols,  and 
fell  back  into  the  desert. 

A  reflection  of  Damascus  and  Baghdad,  at  first,  was  the  Moslem 
state  in  Spain,  which,  under  the  emirs  of  Cordova  (711-1031),  made 
the  Arabian  schoolmen  the  teachers  of  the  Christian  West,  in  an  out- 
burst of  intellectual  development  that  ultimately  outshone  the  glories 
of  the  East.  In  education,  wealth,  and  prosperity  the  Iberian  Peninsula 
became  in  the  tenth  century  the  foremost  country  of  Europe.  But  of 
this  achievement  of  the  Arab  and  Berber  conquerors,  the  latest  histor- 
ian of  Spain,  on  the  authority  of  Altamira,  says:  "It  was  more  largely 
through  the  efforts  of  others  whom  they  imitated  than  through  in- 
novations of  their  own  that  they  reached  their  high  estate.'"'^  Fifty 
years  after  its  most  lustrous  period  (912-976)  the  mighty  caliphate, 
which  had  embraced  almost  the  whole  Peninsula,  split  into  warring 
units,  and,  soon  after,  dwindled  into  the  kingdom  of  Granada.  The 
descendants  of  the  first  fiery  invaders,  who  hacked  their  way  to  vic- 
tory in  the  name  of  Mohammed,  were  unable  to  withstand  the  coun- 
ter oppression  of  Spanish  Catholicism.  With  the  expulsion  of  500,000 
Moriscos  (1610)  the  Islamic  faith  and  community  were  completely 
extirpated.  The  work  of  eight  centuries,  except  the  treasures  of  Arabic 
learning  bequeathed  to  the  Christians,  disappeared  in  the  hills  of  North 
Africa. 

Persia  had  a  second  golden  prime  as  an  Islamic  state,  after  the  down- 
fall of  the  foreign  Mongol  khans,  with  the  rise  in  the  i6th  century 
of  the  native  of  Safavi  shahs,  who  made  the  Shiah  doctrine — Persia's  pe- 
culiar modification  of  the  Faith — the  religion  of  the  throne.  Under  the 
illustrious  Abbas,  "greatest  of  Persia's  sovereigns  since  the  Moslem 
conquest,"  the  city  of  Meshed,  enshrining  the  tombs  of  the  Imam  Ali 
Riza  and  of  the  great  caliph,  Harun-al-Rashid,  became  a  goal  of 
pilgrimage  for  all  Central  Asia,  while  the  enamelled  palaces  of  Ispahan 
made  that  new  capital  fairer  than  the  Sasanian  Ctesiphon.  Art  and 
literature,  schools  and  commerce  flourished  under  the  stimulus  of  re- 
ligious zeal.  The  tribes  of  Iran  were  united  under  a  single  rule  as 
never  since  the  days  of  Cyrus.  But  the  bright  imperial  edifice  of  unity 
and  prosperity  no  sooner  began  to  attract  the  embassies  of  Europe  than 
it  sank  into  a  decadence  from  which  it  has  not  revived. 

•Further  examples  of  sanguinary  subjugation,  fanatical  propaganda, 
violent  syncretism  and  despotic  dominion,  issuing  in  cultural  achieve- 
ments soon  to  deteriorate,  are  Egypt,  Morocco  and  the  Khanates  of  Mid- 
dle Asia.  But  one  must  look  to  India  for  Islam's  greatest  opportunity 
since  the  fall  of  Baghdad — and  for  its  most  signal  failure.  The  Mugal 
Empire  was,  in  some  respects,  the  most  resplendent  pageant  in  the  long 
history  of  Indian  monarchies.  Built  on  three  centuries  of  the  bloodiest 
invasions  in  Moslem  annals,  it  arose  in  1526  with  Babur,  the  Tartar 
kinsman  of  Ghengis  Khan  and  Tamerlane.  Millions  of  Hindus  were 
slain.  Millions  more  were  bribed  and  beaten  into  the  Faith,  although 
at  times  there  was  peaceful  missionary  penetration.  Brahman  priests 
were  butchered  by  thousands  and  Hindu  temples  demolished  to  become 
foundations  of  Moslem  palaces.  In  a  brilliant  efllorescence  of  arts,  let- 
ters, philosophy,  and  a  religious  eclecticism  in  which  Moslem  doctrine 
was  largely  influenced  by  Aryan  speculation,  the  Empire  reached  its 

'Cf.   Nicholson:  A  Literary  History  of  the  Arabs,  p.  257. 

'Chapman:   A   history   of   Spain.      Macmillan,    1908.      Cf.    Rafael    Altamira:    Historia 
de  ^spaiia  y  de  la  Civilizaci6n  Kspafiola. 


BOOK  REVIEWS  97 

acme  in  the  flourishing  reigns  of  Akbar  and  Shahjehan.  Yet,  within 
little  more  than  two  centuries  after  its  foundation,  it  withered — a 
fair  plant  with  shallow  roots — under  the  successors  of  Aurangzeb.  It 
has  left,  to  commemorate  the  departed  glory  of  its  capitals,  such  un- 
rivalled creations  as  the  Jama  Musjid  at  Delhi,  and  at  Agra,  the  love- 
liest mausoleum  ever  reared  by  man — the  Taj  Mahal.^ 

The  Turkish  Empire,  of  course,  is  the  latest  and  most  conspicuous 
product  and  patron  of  Moslem  culture  in  modern  times.  It  presents 
no  departure  from  the  common  story.  A  horde  of  nomads  settled  in 
northern  Anatolia  in  the  thirteenth  century.  Their  natural  vigor 
kindled  by  fierce  Islamic  zeal,  they  hurled  their  barbaric  might  suc- 
cessfully against  Mongol  and  Christian.  Supplanting  the  waning  Sel- 
juks  in  the  East,  they  swept  westward  into  Europe,  subduing  and 
assimilating  everything  to  the  structure  of  their  extending  rule.  The 
maximum  came  in  the  sixteenth  century  with  Suleiman  the  Magnifi- 
cent, whose  dominion  over  50,000,000  people  of  many  races  reached 
from  Azov  to  Aden,  from  the  Caspian  to  the  Danube  and  the  western 
Mediterranean.  Constantinople  was  the  crowning  jewel  of  it  all. 
Schools  of  Turkish  literature  and  art  arose,  devoid  of  originality — in- 
spired by  Persia  and  Europe.  But  as  Dr.  Mann  himself  observes, 
"immediately  from  the  highest  pinnacle  of  success  the  downfall  of  the 
Empire  ensued"  (p.  119).  From  the  death  of  Suleiman  onward  there 
was  gradual  degeneration  into  the  Turkey  of  today. 

The  general  historical  result  in  indigenous  culture  is  inferior  to  that 
set  forth  by  the  author  (ch.  V).  With  Turkey  now  disgraced  and  dis- 
membered, and  Persia  reduced  to  vassalage,  not  a  single  free,  indepen- 
dent Moslem  state  remains,  with  any  sign  or  promise  of  permanence  or 
cultural  resurgence,  apart  from  some  dynamic  not  of  its  own  making. 
If  we  have  spoken  of  church  and  state  in  a  single  breath,  it  is  because 
the  Moslem  system  makes  them  logically  inseparable.  Neither  past  nor 
present  will  sustain  the  vision  of  the  future  painted  in  this  book. 

Dr.  Mann's  confidence  that  Islam  can  fashion  out  of  "its  own  spirit 
and  foundations"  a  modernized  culture  of  emancipation  and  progress — ■ 
which  shall  be  distinctively  Oriental  and  still  essentially  Moslem,  he 
rests  chiefly  on  the  reform  movements  with  which  Islam  has  bristled 
since  almost  its  beginnings,  and  especially  upon  the  newer  movements 
now  active  in  various  countries.  He  fails  to  note  that,  with  the 
exception  of  Wahhabiism,  Sanussism,  and  some  forms  of  Mahdiism, 
these  "stirrings  and  strivings"  of  the  Moslem  heart  are,  not  so  much 
reforms  of  Islam,  as  revolts  away  from  it.  This  is  certainly  true  of 
sufiism.  Dr.  Mann  does  not  seem  to  know  that  the  present  Baha'l 
movement,  which  he  hails  as  the  capital  proof  of  his  "development" 
thesis,  has  openly  broken  with  Islam.  Its  mystical  eclecticism  and  broad 
universal  ism  are  utterly  irreconcilable  with  the  Koran.  Nor  can  the 
Panjabic  Ahmadiyya  movement,  whose  founder  announced  himself 
at  once  Krishnaite  Avatar,  Moslem  Mahdi  and  Christian  Messiah,  be 
claimed  as  a  purely  Islamic  way-mark  of  indigenous  culture,  despite 
the  anti-Christian  declamations  of  Mirza  Ghulam  Ahmed.  The 
Ahmadiyya,  the  politico-religious  propaganda  of  the  Aga  Kahn  and  the 
Indian  Ismailis,  the  newer  movements  in  education,  such  as  are  cen- 
tered in  the  Mohammedan  College  at  Aligarh,  and  many  other  re- 
forming circles,  are  directly  traceable  to  Christian,  or,  at  least,  West- 
ern, impact.  Lord  Cromer  says:  "Reformed  Islam  is  Islam  no  longer." 
In  Islam  the  most  hopeful  developments  are  away  from  the  Koran  and 
Mohammed.     In  Christianity  progress  lies  in  a  closer  following  of  the 

»Cf.  Vincent  A,  Smith:  Oxford  History  of  India,  pp.  217-468. 


98  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

New  Testament  teaching — a  fuller  conformity  to  Jesus,  whom  even  the 
best  Christians  have  never  yet  overtaken. 

Finally,  Dr.  Mann  does  not  favor  Christian  missions  to  Moslems. 
He  regards  them  as  both  a  failure  and  an  impertinence,  because,  he 
thinks,  they  are  purveyors  of  Western  culture.  Education,  commerce, 
literature,  travel,  material  exploitation  from  the  West — these  are  legiti- 
mate as  bringers  of  fertile  stimulus  to  indigenous  development,  but  the 
Gospel  is  the  great  hindrance  because  it  is  Western!  He  lauds  the 
mission  schools  of  Turkey,  for  their  "superb  and  gigantic  accomplish- 
ments in  education,"  but  is  in  desperate  haste  to  have  them  superseded 
by  national  schools,  ere  they  contaminate  the  land  with  Western  civili- 
zation. Dr.  Mann  thinks  of  Christianity  in  terms  of  limitation.  H« 
misses  the  glory  of  its  universal  mission,  and  the  world-wide  duty  of 
Christians.  He  would  bar  the  Gospel  at  the  Bosphorus,  except  among 
Christian  communities  of  the  Near  East.  But  where  indeed  does  the 
West  begin?  Does  Dr.  Mann  not  observe  that  the  whole  East  is 
astir  with  Occidental  leaven?  As  to  the  forms  of  the  future  Oriental 
culture,  no  one  wants  them  to  be  Western.  But  if  the  Moslem  East 
should  be  reborn  with  a  Christian  soul,  would  that  not  be  something 
far  transcending  the  further  culture  of  the  obsolescent?  Dr.  Mann 
leaves  us  unconvinced  that  anything  less  than  the  spiritual  regenera- 
tion which  Christ  alone  can  impart,  will  meet  the  present  need  of  the 
Moslem  world. 

This  manual  will  never  serve  as  a  mission  study  text-book  on  Islam. 
(That  function,  even  in  Germany,  must  continue  to  be  discharged  by 
the  works  of  Dr.  Zwemer,  Canon  Gairdner  and  Dr.  Gottfried  Simon). 
But  German  readers  will  find  here  a  delightful  possession.  To  English- 
speaking  students  wishing  to  acquire  a  reading-knowledge  of  German 
in  order  to  acquaint  themselves  at  first-hand  with  the  standard  authori- 
ties in  that  language  the  book  is  especially  commended,  as  an  introduc- 
tion to  the  larger  works  of  Wellhausen,  Weil,  Miiller,  Goldziher,  et 
al.  It  contains  the  whole  vocabulary  of  the  subject,  in  most  attractive 
setting. 

"Mohammed's  truth  lay  in  a  holy  book, 
Christ's   in    a   sacred    life. 

"So  while  the  world  rolls  on  from  change  to  change, 

And   realms   of   thought   expand, 
The    letter    stands    without    expanse    or    range 

Stiff   as   a    dead    man's    hand. 

"While,   as    the   life-blood    fills   the   glowing   form, 

The   Spirit   Christ  has   shed 
Flows   through   the   ripening   ages   fresh   and   warm, 

More  felt  than  heard  or  read." 

Charles  T.  Paul. 

College  of  Missions, 
Indianapolis  J  Ind. 

The  Rising  Tide  of  Color  against  White  World-Supremacy.     By  Loth- 
rop  Stoddard,  A.  M.  Ph.  D.     Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York, 
1920;   pp.   320.     Price  $3,00. 
From  the  introduction  written  by  Madison  Grant  to  the  last  page 
of  this  important  but  inconclusive  study,  we  have  a  note  of  alarm  and 
the  voice  of   a  prophet  of  pessimism  who  sees   in  the   rising  tide   of 
color  a  challenge  of  white  world-supremacy    which    spells    disaster. 
"Now  that  Asia,  in  the  guise  of  Bolshevism  with  Semitic  leadership 
and  Chinese  executioners,  is  organizing  an  assault  upon  western  Eur- 
ope, the  new  states — Slavic-Alpine  in  race,  with  little  Nordic  blood — 


BOOK  REVIEWS  99 

may  prove  to  be  not  frontier  guards  of  western  Europe  but  vanguards 
of  Asia  in  Central  Europe.  None  of  the  earlier  Alpine  states  have  held 
firm  against  Asia,  and  it  is  more  than  doubtful  whether  Poland,  Bo- 
hemia, Rumania,  Hungary,  and  Jugo-Slavia  can  face  the  danger  suc- 
cessfully, now  that  they  have  been  deprived  of  the  Nordic  ruling  classes 
through  democratic  institutions.  This  is  suicide  pure  and  simple, 
and  the  first  victim  of  this  amazing  folly  will  be  the  white  man  him- 
self." 

The  book  seeks  to  prove  this  thesis  by  describing  in  Part  I  the 
rising  tide  of  color — yellow,  brown,  black  and  red.  There  are  three 
maps  showing  the  distribution  of  the  primary  races,  the  categories  of 
white  world-supremacy,  and  the  distribution  of  the  white  races.  Mr. 
Stoddard  estimates  that  of  the  total  number  of  human  beings  living  to- 
day about  550,000,000  are  white,  1,150,000,000  are  colored,  so  that 
the  colored  races  outnumber  the  whites  more  than  two  to  one.  The 
yellow  race,  he  says,  numbers  a  little  over  500,000,000;  the  browns 
arc  a  little  less;  while  the  total  of  the  black  racd^s  about  150,000,000. 
In  this  ethnic  makeup  of  the  world,  he  sees  a  formidable  danger  be- 
cause of  the  declining  birth-rate  among  the  whites,  their  broken  unity 
shown  by  the  War,  and  most  of  all  the  bitter  resentment  of  white  pre- 
dominance and  exclusiveness  awakened  in  the  other  races  for  a  num- 
ber of  reasons. 

Our  readers  will  be  specially  interested  in  the  chapters  that  deal 
with  Pan-Islamism  and  its  peril  (pp.  54-104).  He  quotes  from  Mos- 
lem writers,  and  although  sometimes  exaggerating  the  vitality  of  Islam 
and  the  numbers  of  proselytes  gained,  presents  this  aspect  of  the  pres- 
ent unrest  very  forcibly.  "The  proselyting  power  of  Islam"  he  says, 
"is  extraordinary,  and  its  hold  upon  its  votaries  is  even  more  remark- 
able. Throughout  history  there  has  been  no  single  instance  where  a 
people,  once  become  Moslem,  has  ever  abandoned  the  faith.  Extirpat- 
ed they  may  have  been,  like  the  Moors  of  Spain,  but  extirpation  is  not 
apostasy.  This  extreme  tenacity  of  Islam,  this  ability  to  keep  its 
hold,  once  it  has  got  a  footing,  under  all  circumstances  short  of  down- 
right extirpation,  must  be  borne  in  mind  when  considering  the  future 
of  regions  where  Islam  is  today  advancing."  The  author  says  that 
although  no  general  Islamic  explosion  took  place  when  they  were 
summoned  to  a  Holy  War  in  191 4,  there  was  trouble  in  practically 
every  land  under  allied  control,  and  the  end  is  not  yet.  When  the 
East  saw  that  the  peace  settlement  was  based  not  upon  idealism  but 
upon  secret  treaties  and  imperialistic  ambition  "it  was  fired  with  a 
moral  indignation  and  a  sense  of  outraged  justice  never  known  be- 
fore." When  describing  the  spread  of  Islam  in  Africa  and  showing 
that  this  religion  is  the  closest  link  between  the  brown  and  black 
races,  Mr.  Stoddard  admits  the  power  of  Christian  missions  to  stem 
the  tide.  "Certainly,  all  white  men,  whether  professing  Christians 
or  not,  should  welcome  the  success  of  missionary  efforts  in  Africa.  The 
degrading  fetishism  and  demonology  which  sum  up  the  native  pagan  cults 
cannot  stand,  and  all  negroes  will  some  day  be  either  Christians  or  Mos- 
lems. In  so  far  as  he  is  Christianized,  the  negro's  savage  in- 
stincts will  be  restrained  and  he  will  be  disposed  to  acquiesce  in  white 
tutelage.  In  so  far  as  he  is  Islamized,  the  negro's  warlike  propensities 
will  be  inflamed,  and  he  will  be  used  as  the  tool  of  Arab  Pan-Islamism 
seeking  to  drive  the  white  man  from  Africa  and  make  the  continent  its 
very  own." 

The  second  and  third  parts  of  the  book  deal  with  the  ebbing  tide 
of  the  white  races,  their  loss  of  prestige,  the  process  which  is  shatter- 


lOO  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

ing  the  white  solidarity,  the  break  of  the  outer  dykes  and  the  peril  that 
threatens  the  inner  dykes  through  immigration,  mixed  marriage  and  the 
present  economic  system.  The  book  is  too  important  to  be  passed  over, 
and  yet  its  conclusions  are  based  on  a  false  premise.  The  studies  made 
by  John  Oakesmith  ("Race  and  Nationality,"  London,  1919),  and 
reviewed  in  our  Quarterly,  are  a  good  corrective  to  the  alarming  theory 
of  white  race  superiority.  Dr.  Oakesmith  shows  that  there  are  other 
factors  more  important  than  race.  While  repudiating  race  as  the 
basis  of  nationality  and  patriotism,  he  explains  the  former  and  defends 
the  latter  as  founded  on  hereditary  tradition  and  history.  The  su- 
preme factor  in  all  races  for  good  or  for  ill  is  religion,  and  Mr.  Stod- 
dard does  not  give  due  emphasis  to  Christianity  and  its  power  to  change 
racial  characteristics  and  elevate  the  lowest  races,  so  called,  within  a 
generation.  The  non-Christian  races  and  peoples  of  the  world  are  not 
the  white  man's  burden,  much  less  the  white  man's  beast  of  burden. 
The  solidarity  of  the  race  is  far  more  important  than  distinctions  of 
color  or  the  accident  of  environment.  There  is  a  deeper  unity  than 
mere  physical  resemblance,  for  "God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  na- 
tions of  men,"  and  in  Christ  Jesus  there  is  no  distinction.  The  basic 
factor  in  human  progress  is  not  race,  nor  politics,  but  religion. 

S.  M.  Z. 

The  Near  East  Crossroads  of  the  World.  By  William  H.  Hall.  In- 
terchurch   Press,   New  York  City;   pp.  230.     Price  75  cts. 

"The  theme  of  this  book  is:  what  the  war  has  brought  to  the  Near 
East;  what  it  has  brought  to  political  life  through  the  break-up  of  old, 
outside,  foreign  dominations  and  the  release  of  inborn  national  long- 
ings ;  what  it  has  brought  in  racial  relationships,  in  social  and  industral 
organization,  and  in  religious  development;  what  it  has  brought  to 
education  and  to  the  work  of  Christian  missions." 

The  various  chapters  are  interesting,  the  pictures  new,  and  the  con- 
clusions sane  and  hopeful.  The  author  is  well  qualified  for  his  task 
and  knows  the  Near  East  through  long  residence  at  Beirut.  We  are 
therefore  the  more  surprised  that  the  one  country  which  is  the  center 
and  pivot  of  the  present  unrest,  political  and  religious,  namely  Arabia, 
is  barely  touched.  Mecca  is  of  more  importance  than  Damascus  if  we 
would  understand  the  Near  East;  it  is  the  cross-roads  of  the  whole 
.Moslem  world.  The  work  of  missions  in  Arabia  is  scarcely  men- 
tioned and  in  this  respect  the  book  is  not  up-to-date.  The  treatment 
of  Islam,  the  dominating  religion  of  the  Near  East,  is  also  scrappy,  and 
not  always  accurate.  No  one  who  has  (see  page  73)  visited  the  baz- 
aars or  slept  in  the  tents  with  the  Arabs  would  say  that  the  "name  of 
Deity  does  not  appear  in  the  common  oaths  and  curses"  or  that  the 
third  commandment  "seems  to  be  written  in  the  very  primary  con- 
sciousness of  these  naturally  reverent  people  of  the  East."  The  fact 
is  that  the  Arabic  language  has  adopted  as  common  verbs  a  number  of 
profane  expressions  which  are  used  unconsciously  even  by  missionaries. 

The  Prisoners  of  the  Red  Desert.  By  Capt.  Gwatkin-Williams;  Thorn- 
ton-Butterworth  Company,  London,  1920;  pp.  304.  Price  7s.  2d. 
This  is  one  of  the  most  fascinating  tales  of  the  heroism  shown  in  the 
great  World  War  that  we  have  heard.  It  records  the  torpedoing  of 
H.  M.  S.  Tara  and  the  miraculous  rescue  of  the  survivors  by  the 
Duke  of  Westminister  and  his  men  from  the  Senoussi  Arabs  in  the 
trackless  Libyan  Desert.  Neither  starvation,  torture,  disease  or  death 
of  their  comrades  or  hope  deferred  destroyed  the  faith  of  the  Com- 
mander and  most  of  his  company  in  a  divine  providence.     In  his  Pre- 


BOOK  REVIEWS  loi 

face  Capt.  Gwatkin-Williams  commends  the  book  to  those  who  are 
"faithless  and  submit  themselves  only  to  the  blind  gods  of  force  and 
chance."  Although  the  men  in  their  desperation  would  fight  like  wild 
beasts  among  themselves  for  food,  he  shows  how,  nevertheless,  the 
sick  and  helpless  were  the  first  to  receive  tender  care  and  consideration 
of  all.  The  moral  of  the  story  can  be  read  between  the  lines:  man 
is  no  mere  tool ;  he  is  God's  workman,  and  all  things  work  together  for 
good  to  those  who  love  God.  Incidentally  we  learn  much  of  the  life 
of  the  desert  Arab,  its  joys  and  sorrows,  and  their  fanatic  devotion  to 
the  religion  of  Islam. 

The  Stranger  (A  Novel).  By  Arthur  Bullard;  The  Macmillan  Com- 
pany, New  York,  1920;  pp.  331.  Price  $2.00. 
The  author  has  written  other  novels  under  the  pen  name  "Albert  Ed- 
wards." In  this  story  the  East  meets  the  West  through  the  adventures 
of  an  Anglo-Saxon  who  has  turned  Moslem  in  North  Africa,  travelled 
widely  and  lands  in  New  York.  It  is  a  tale  of  human  contrasts,  a 
love-story  sounding  the  sex-note  too  insistently,  and  idealizing  Islam 
and  its  institutions.  The  references  to  the  Koran  and  the  Moslem 
creed  are  ludicrous  in  their  inaccuracy,  and  the  author  gives  a  dig  at 
missionary  books  on  the  Near  East.  It  is  not  true  as  this  story  alleges 
that  "the  condition  of  our  women  has  been  most  grossly  and  wilfully 
represented." 

Marvellous  Mesopotamia.  By  Canon  J.  T.  Parfit.  S.  W.  Partridge 
&  Co.   Ltd,   London.     Price  6/-net  pp.  259. 

In  fifteen  fascinating  chapters  one  who  lived  under  the  Turk  in 
the  days  of  stagnation  and  oppression  tells  the  story  of  the  marvellous 
changes  wrought  by  the  war  and  British  occupation. 

The  Bagdad  railway  as  one  of  the  causes  of  the  war,  German  intrigue 
in  the  Gulf,  the  Battle  of  Shaiba  and  the  heroic  defence  of  Kut  are 
introductory  to  a  full  account  of  Mesopotamia,  its  immense  undevelop- 
ed resources,  its  population,  religions,  shrines  and  strategic  importance. 
The  author's  easy  optimism  is  courageous  if  not  always  contagious  and 
his  tribute  to  the  men  who  fell  as  "the  road  makers"  for  those  who 
are  to  follow  is  eloquent.  A  book  to  read  and  commend.  We  note 
only  one  inexcusable  omission.  In  the  chapter  on  Christian  Missions 
there  is  no  reference  to  the  work  of  the  American  Arabian  Mission  es- 
tablished since  1890,  and  with  hospitals,  schools  etc.,  at  Busrah,  Ku- 
weit, Bahrein  and  Muscat,  not  to  speak  of  their  work  at  Nasariyah  and 
Amara.  A  Bible  and  book  depot  was  opened  by  them  at  Kut-al-Amara 
under  great  difficulties  as  early  as  1895.  It  is  today  the  only  organized 
mission  at  work  in  Mesopotamia. 

The   Peoples   of  Zanzibar,   Their   Customs   and    Religious    Beliefs.     By 
Godfrey  Dale,  M.  A.,  Archdeacon  of  Zanzibar.     The  Universities' 
Mission    to    Central   Africa,    9    Dartmouth    St.,    Westminister,    S. 
W.  1,  1920;  pp.  124. 
A  monograph  prepared  at  the  request  of  the  Bishop  of  Zanzibar  to 
supply  newcomers  with  a  manual  and  give  the  people  at  home  some 
rough  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  situation.     Zanzibar  has  a  mixed  popu- 
lation of  Arabs,  Negroes,  Hindoos,  Parsees,  and  a  handful  of  Europ- 
eans, all  these  nations,  countries  and  tongues,  bound  together  in  the 
bundle  of  life  to  act  and  react  on  each  other  under  a  British  Protec- 
torate and  in  a  Moslem  atmosphere.     There  are  chapters  on  the  re- 
ligious ideas  of  the  African — witchcraft  and  magic,  Mohammedan  be- 
liefs as  well  as  the  other  religious  sects  represented.     The  points  of 
contact  between  African  paganism  and  Islam  are  indicated  and  it  is 


102  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

clearly  shown  how  Animism  unites  both  by  the  practice  of  magic  and 
the  belief  in  jinn.  Aside  from  the  list  of  societies  which  represent 
Christianity  to  the  peoples  of  the  Island  nothing  is  said  of  the  history 
of  these  missions  or  their  results. 

The  Day  of  the  Cresent.  By  G.  E.  Hubbard,  Cambridge  University 
Press,    1920,    pp.    242.     Price    lOsh.    6d. 

The  author  was  British  Vice-Consul  at  Mosul  before  the  war  and 
while  delving  among  the  bookshelves  of  the  Foreign  Office  Library  dis- 
covered a  number  of  ancient  books  in  Turkish  by  "a  Flemish  diplomat, 
a  French  artist,  a  Polish  soldier,  a  Venetian  dragoman  and  an  English 
man  of  science."  He  succeeded  with  wonderful  spirit  in  getting  all  this 
material  together  and  gives  a  picture  "of  the  unique  military  and 
political  system  which  the  Turks  had  developed  when  they  reached  the 
summit  of  their  power."  Now  that  Turkey  has  lost  its  position  and 
its  power  this  retrospect  of  her  day  of  glory  is  of  the  deepest  interest. 
The  sixteen  chapters  are  fascinating  in  their  style  and  full  of  interesting 
material  to  the  student  of  Turkish  history.  In  1554  the  Spanish  Am- 
bassador wrote  of  the  Turks  as  follows: 

"When  I  compare  the  difference  between  their  soldiers  and  ours, 
I  stand  amazed  to  think  what  will  be  the  event ;  for  certainly  their 
soldiers  must  needs  conquer  and  ours  be  vanquished,  both  cannot  pros- 
perously stand  together,  for  on  their  side  there  is  a  mighty,  strong 
and  wealthy  empire,  great  armies,  experience  in  war,  a  veteran  soldiery, 
a  long  series  of  victories,  patience  in  toil,  concord,  order,  discipline, 
frugality  and  vigilance.  On  our  side  there  is  public  want,  private  lux- 
ury, strength  weakened,  minds  discouraged,  an  unaccustomedness  to 
labour  and  arms,  soldiers  refractory,  commanders  covetous,  a  con- 
tempt of  discipline,  licentiousness,  rashness,  drunkenness,  gluttony,  and, 
what  is  worst  of  all  they  are  used  to  conquer,  we  to  be  conquered. 
Can  any  man  doubt  in  this  case  what  the  event  will  be?" 

The  terrible  story  of  Christian  prisoners  in  the  Dark  Tower  of  Con- 
stantinople and  their  slavery  in  the  galleys  is  vividly  portrayed.  In 
these  days  the  ambassadors  of  Europe  were  considered  dogs. 

The  author  shows  how  the  seeds  of  corruption  brought  forth  bitter 
fruit  in  the  end. 

The  Turk  was  a  simple  primitive  creature  when  he  first  emerged 
on  to  the  Anatolian  plains  to  conquer  a  powerful  empire  but  his  victory 
over  the  Greeks  contained  the  seeds  of  his  own  ruin.  The  national 
failings  which  had  weakened  the  Greek  defence  infected  their  conquer- 
ors, who  soon  acquired  the  true  Byzantine  taste  for  lavish  show  and 
voluptuous  luxury.  This,  with  its  inevitable  accompaniment  of  brib- 
ery and  corruption,  slowly  undermined  the  government  of  Turkey  in 
the  succeeding  centuries,  sapping  the  virility  of  her  leaders  and  chang- 
ing the  character  of  her  sultans  from  hardy  tribal  chiefs  to  the  most 
contemptible  of  debauched  despots.  The  process  of  the  disease  is  easily 
traceable  in  the  series  of  narratives  embodied  in  the  present  volume. 

z. 

A  History  of  Persian  Literature  Under  Tartar  Dominion.     (A.  D.  1265- 

1502).     By    Eward    G.    Browne.     Cambridge     University     Press, 

1920.     pp.  586. 

Fourteen  years  have  elapsed  since  Professor  Browne  published  the 

second  volume  of  his  literary  history  of  Persia.    The  first  volume  dealt 

with  the  earliest  literature  until  the  time  of  Firdawsi ;  the  second  from 

that  period  until   Sa-di.     The  present  volume  deals  with  the  stormy 


BOOK  REVIEWS  103 

period  when  Persia  was  under  Tartar  dominion.  The  volume  is  divided 
into  three  books  as  follows: 

Book  I,  The  Mongol  Il-Khans  of  Persia,  from  the  death  of  Hulagu 
to  the  extinction  of  the  dynasty  (A.  H.  663-737 — A.  D.  1265-1337). 
Book  II,  From  the  birth  to  the  death  of  Timur-I-Lang,  commonly 
called  Tamerlane  (A.  H.  736-807 — A.  D.  1335-1405).  Book  III, 
From  the  death  of  Timur  to  the  rise  of  the  Safawi  Dynasty  (A.  H. 
807-907 — A.  D.  1 405- 1 502).  The  historians,  the  poets  and  the  mys- 
tics of  these  three  periods  pass  in  review  before  the  reader.  There  is 
an  abundance  of  quotation  and  appreciative  criticism  which  sometimes 
runs  into  superlatives.  Some  attention  is  given  to  the  Arabic  litera- 
ture of  this  period,  although  Al-Baydawi's  famous  commentary  is  passed 
over  in  two  lines.  The  interesting  chapters  for  the  student  of  Islam 
are  those  that  deal  with  Hafiz  Jami  and  the  other  great  mystic  poets. 
One  is  astonished  at  the  paradoxical  character  of  these  representatives 
of  Persian  thought.  Yet  we  must  not  be  surprised,  for  as  Professor 
Browne  reminds  us  "it  is  common  even  today  to  meet  with  persons  who 
in  the  course  of  a  single  day  will  alternately  present  themselves  as  pious 
Moslems,  heedless  libertines,  confirmed  sceptics,  and  mystical  panthe- 
ists, or  even  incarnations  of  the  Deity"  (p.  299). 

The  theology  of  Persian  mysticism  revolves  around  two  poles,  the 
unity  of  God's  being  which  is  ordinary  orthodoxy,  and  the  unity  of  all 
being,  pantheism.  This  is  the  inspiration  of  the  poet  in  his  highest 
fights  and  the  rapture  of  his  vision.  "Formal  or  exoteric  Unitarianism 
is  the  declaration  that  there  is  only  One  God;  esoteric  Unitarianism 
is  the  conviction  that  there  is  only  One  Being  who  really  exists."  There 
are  some  beautiful  examples,  however,  which  almost  strike  a  Christian 
note,  showing  the  hunger  of  the  human  heart  for  a  God  who  is  closer 
to  us  than  the  distant  Deity  of  the  schools.    Maghribi  wrote: 

"That  One  who  was  hidden  from  us  came  and  became  us, 

And  He  who  was  of  us  and  you  became  us  and  you. 

The   King   of   the   topmost   throne   of   Sovereignty   condescended, 

And,  notwithstanding  that  there  is  no  King  save  Him,  became  a  beggar. 

He  who  is  exempted  from  poverty  and  wealth 

Came  in  the  garb  of  poverty  in  order  to  show  forth   (true)   riches. 

Who  hath  ever  heard  aught  stranger  than  this,  that  one  and  the  same 

person 
Became  both  substance  and  that  peerless  pearl 
When   it   germinated   became   earth   and   heaven. 
Into   the   raiment   of  'how-ness'  and   'why-ness'   one   cannot   say 
How  and  why  that  'how-less'  and  'why-less'  Charmer  of  hearts  entered. 
His  eyebrow  revealed  itself  from  the  eyebrows   of  the  beautiful, 
Until  it  was  pointed  at  by  every  finger,  like   the  new  moon. 
In  the  garden  of  the  Universe,  like  the  straight  cypress  and  the  anemone, 
He  became  both  red-capped  and  green-robed. 
That  Sun  of  the  Eternal  Sphere  shone  forth 
So  that  it  became  Western  (Maghribi)  and  Eastern,  Sun  and  Light." 

We  welcome  that  book,  scholarly  and  delightful  in  its  style,  wealthy 
in  its  details,  and  illustrative  material,  and  invaluable  to  the  student 
of  Moslem  literature. 

S.  M.  Z. 

Shepard  of  Aintab.  By  Alice  Shepard  Riggs.  Published  by  the  In- 
terchurch  World  Movement  of  North  America,  pp.  200.  Price 
75   cents   and  25   cents   in   paper. 

A  brief  record  of  a  wonderful  life  of  a  missionary  in  Turkey  written 
by  his  daughter.  The  book  closes  as  it  begins  with  the  sending  forth 


104  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

of  a  young  medical  man  and  his  bride — and  reminds  one  of  the  royal 
proclamation  "The  king  is  dead,  long  live  the  king." 

Shepard  of  Aintab  is  not  dead,  he  lives  in  such  sense  as  one  of  his 
patients  expressed  "I  have  never  seen  Jesus  but  I  have  seen  Shepard." 
The  many  sidedness  of  this  "good  physician"  is  overwhelming  to  the 
reader.  He  was  practical  and  spiritual  as  witness  his  own  confession 
"Nothing  I  like  better  than  a  surgical  operation  and  a  prayer  meeting." 
On  finishing  the  book  the  reader  will  surely  be  lead  to  exclaim  "There 
were  giants  in  those  days."  The  quotation  from  a  letter  to  his  son 
should  be  an  inspiration  to  young  men  to  do  their  very  best  and  slwayi 
be  at  their  best.  The  book  is  more  interesting  than  a  novel.  It  is  true 
and  inspiring.     Such  broken  hearts  heal  the  open  sore  of  Turkey. 

La   France   en   Syrie   et   en   Cilicie,   par    Gustave    Gautherot,    Librairie 
Independante,  Maison  d'edition — Courbevoie  (Seine)  1920,  pp,  210. 

Frs.   7.50. 

The  author  was  connected  with  the  Bureau  of  Information  in  the 
French  Campaign  in  the  Near  East.  The  book  was  published  after 
General  Gouraud  had  decided  the  destiny  of  Syria  by  the  occupation  of 
Beirut. 

In  thirteen  short  chapters,  we  follow  the  story  of  early  French  con- 
tacts with  Syria,  the  expedition  from  Egypt  to  Palestine  in  which  France 
had  a  small  part,  Allenby's  victory  and  the  arrival  of  the  Allies  in 
Syria.  The  events  that  followed  are  related  from  the  French  stand- 
point, and  the  author  characterises  the  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
British  to  establish  an  Arabian  kingdom  as  "L'Imperialisme  Anglo- 
Arabe"  (Chapt.  viii).  He  has  no  use  for  the  Emir  Faisal,  and  the 
Arab  program  generally;  after  events  seem  to  have  justified  his  judg- 
ment. According  to  recent  French  despatches,  dated  Beirut,  "the  Emir 
has  never  worked  for  anything  save  his  own  boundless  personal  ambi- 
tion as  a  mere  adventurer,  and  during  the  war  led  a  weak  contingent 
of  undisciplined  Bedouins  of  no  military  value.  When  danger  threat- 
ened all  he  could  do  was  to  flee  shamefully  from  Damascus,  deserted  by 
all,  and  leaving  behind  him,  as  sole  vestiges  of  his  careless  administra- 
tion, the  ruins  heaped  together  by  the  acts  of  brigandage  he  had  so 
carefully  contrived.  Through  his  own  personal  extravagance,  through 
the  damage  done  by  his  followers,  through  his  arbitrary  measures, 
through  forcible  enlistment  and  heavy  impositions,  he  hurled  Syria 
into  a  serious  economic  and  political  crisis." 

The  book  is  somewhat  one-sided,  but  gives  an  interesting  account  of 
events  and  ambitions  from  that  standpoint.  The  maps  are  inferior  but 
the  illustrations  are  most  interesting. 

L.  S.  R. 

The  Islamitic  Magazine,  (issued  monthly)  by  the  Shanghai  Branch  of 

The    World    Young    Men's    Islamitic    Association.     10    cents    per 

copy. 

This  new  publication  in  Chinese  is  edited  by  a  clever  young  Chinese 

Moslem  named  Yin,  who  resides  at  Shanghai ;  it  is  an  attempt  to  arouse 

the  lethargic  Moslems  to  a  greater  zeal  for  their  Faith  and  to  more 

interest  in  the  affairs  of  their  country  and  the  world  generally. 

At  the  commencement  the  editor  says:  "It  is  hoped  that  our  brethern 
will,  after  every  time  of  worship,  earnestly  and  reverently  pray  to  God 
that  He  will  soon  cause  the  Moslem  religion  and  the  country  of  China, 
to  change  from  weakness  to  strength,  and  from  poverty  to  wealth, 
that  they  may  no  longer  be  imposed  upon  by  others;  and  also  pray  that 


BOOK  REVIEWS  105 

real  peace  may  soon  come  to  the  world  for  the  good  of  mankind  and 
of  all  creation." 

The  miscellaneous  articles  in  the  first  number  include  matters  re- 
lating to  China,  Turkey  and  France.  Incidentally  a  wireless  telegram 
is  quoted  from  America  to  the  effect  that  "prohibition  Turkey"  is  now 
in  the  hands  of  the  Allies  and  saloons  are  opened  in  Constantinople  and 
drinking  abounds,  so  that  Turkey  is  being  changed  into  a  "wet"  coun- 
try, and  help  is  asked  from  President  Wilson  of  "the  world's  greatest 
prohibition  country"  to  find  some  plan  to  help  the  Turks  to  drive  out 
the  evils  of  drink. 

There  are  brief  articles  on  Moslem  subjects,  in  one  of  which  readers 
are  reminded  that  Jesus  was  a  man  of  the  "yellow  race"  as  were  all 
the  other  founders  of  religions,  this  race  being  the  most  honourable  of 
all  the  races.  It  is  also  stated  that  the  Moslem  religion  dates  back 
over  8000  years,  being  the  oldest  of  all. 

The  chief  article  in  the  paper  is  one  written  by  the  editor  Yin, 
which  is  a  plea  for  a  revival  amongst  Moslems.  The  writer  links 
together  the  country  of  China  with  the  Moslem  faith  and  speaks  of 
both  in  similar  terms,  showing  how  both  have  flourished  in  the  past, 
and  are  now  in  weak  condition;  the  remedy  is  the  same  in  both  cases. 

He  says:  "Our  Young  Men's  Moslem  Association  is  established  for 
the  purpose  of  trying  to  cure  some  of  the  ailments  of  individuals  and  of 
our  country,  and  then  of  the  whole  world.  Rome  was  not  built  in  a 
day,  and  our  success  will  only  be  gradual.  The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  was 
started  in  the  seventeenth  century  (?)  and  see  what  it  has  accomplished 
and  what  a  great  organization  it  is  now.  If  we  pitiable  Moslems  and 
perishing  Chinese  will  patiently  plod  in  the  same  way  we  may  have 
similar  results;  but  there  must  be  earnestness  and  sincerity  and  no  de- 
ceiving of  ourselves  or  others;  I  believe  that  those  who  have  'soul' 
and  are  not  dead  at  heart  will  approve  of  these  words  of  mine.  In  a  hos- 
pital many  kinds  of  medicine  are  required,  and  as  one  contribution  to  our 
aims  this  Association  is  issuing  this  monthly  magazine,  the  purpose  of 
which  is  to  propagate  the  truth  of  Islam,  to  arouse  men  to  patriotism, 
and  to  cause  the  virtue  which  is  inherent  in  our  religion,  and  the  orig- 
inal civilization  of  China,  to  become  brilliant  again  and  reach  the  whole 
world,  that  there  may  be  real  peace  in  all  the  world  and  that  we  may 
all  be  one  family,  and  all  be  worthy  followers  of  the  Highest  Prophet" 
and  so  forth. 

From  which  it  will  be  seen  that  there  are  some,  even  in  China,  who 
lament  the  present  condition  of  Islam,  and  are  intent  on  improving 
things  from  their  standpoint.  Mr.  Yin  is  acquainted  with  the  Chris- 
tian literature  issued  for  Moslems,  and  has  already  criticised  it;  he  will 
be  a  doughty  opponent;  at  present  he  is  fair  and  friendly,  and  we  hope 
he  will  always  continue  to  be  so. 

Isaac  Mason. 

"Constantinople."     (Lts  Cites  Franques  and  Levantines.)     By  Bertrand 
Bareilles.     I  Vol.  395  pp.     Une  planche  hors  taxte  par  Edgar  Cha- 
hine,   trente   deux   illustrations   dans   le   texte   par   Adolphe   Thiers 
et    n    plan    de    Constantinople.       "Editions     Bossard."       43.       Rue 
Madame,    Paris    Vie.      Prix    9frcs. 
This  unique  description  of  life  in  one  of  the  greatest  of   Eastern 
cities  brings  before  the  reader  not  so  much  the  life,  manners  and  cus- 
toms of  the  Turk,  as  that  of  the  foreigner  and  stranger  within  his 
gates.     It    is    an    attractive    description    of    cosmospolitan    life.     The 
reader  is  carried  in  imagination  from  quarter  to  quarter  of  this  won- 
derful city  of  the  Golden  Horn  and  of  Santa  Sofia,  of  mosques  and 


io6  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

buildings  unique  and  varied,  while  its  several  inhabitants,  Levantine, 
Armenian,  Jevv^  and  Greek  with  their  individual  characteristics,  cus- 
toms and  superstitions,  are  outlined  in  turn.  This  book  gives  a  far 
more  accurate  and  intimate  knowledge  of  the  city  than  that  of  the 
average  traveller  who  usually  only  obtains  superficial  knowledge  from 
guide  books  and  hasty  sightseeing.  T. 

Les   Oasis   dans  la   Montague.     By    Odette    Keun,    1920.     (Paris:    Cal- 

mann-Levy. 
Marrakech    dans    les    Palmes.     By    Andre'    Chevrillon,    1920.     (Paris: 
Calmann-Levy). 

Both  of  these  studies  deal  with  Moslem  life,  one  in  the  oasis  be- 
tween Algeria  and  the  Sahara,  the  other  in  the  city  of  Marrakesh.  The 
former  book  tells  of  the  fair-skinned,  blue-eyed  race  visited  by  Miss 
Keun  in  an  adventurous  ride.  She  describes  their  poverty,  their 
weather-beaten  huts  and  the  home  life  of  their  villages.  In  her  opinion 
conservatism  is  "the  dominant  characteristic,  the  very  instinct  of  all 
Mussulman  society,  Asiatic  and  African,  and  of  each  individual  Mos- 
lem; attachment  to  the  past,  faithfulness  to  the  point  of  immovability, 
and   unto  death,   to  a   formula  given  once  and   for   all." 

From  the  second  volume  we  learn  that  the  French  are  successfully 
applying  their  methods  of  administration  in  Morocco.  Under  the  new 
regime  there  seems  to  be  a  better  understanding  between  Christian  and 
Moslem,  although  Islam  reigns  sup'-^me  within  the  crumbling  walls 
of  the  old  city. 


SURVEY  OF  PERIODICALS 

By  Miss  Hollis  W.  H bring,  New  York, 
Missionary  Research  Library 

I.  GENERAL. 

The  Changing  East.  (The  Round  Table,  London.  September, 
1920.  p.  756-772.) 
The  East  is  stricken  with  the  civilization  disease,  the  inevitable 
effect  of  too  close  contact  with  the  West.  Her  change  in  ideas  is 
enormous,  but  just  how  much  of  it  is  assimilated?  The  Turk  first 
got  hold  of  the  idea  of  nationality  and  proceeded  to  apply  it  drastically, 
but  it  was  intellectually  beyond  him,  and  passed  from  him  to  his 
cleverer  subjects,  the  Jews,  Armenians,  and  Arabs.  Now,  the  Near 
East  is  Moslem,  but  its  public  life  has  turned  national.  This  new 
note  dominant  throughout  the  East,  must  be  met ;  can  it  not  best  be 
done  by  imposing  responsibility  on  the  local  peoples,  a  responsibility 
which  in  practice  they  will  probably  dislike? 

Great  Britain,  Mesopotamia  and  the  Arabs.     W.  Ormsby  Gore. 

(The  Nineteenth  Century  and  After,  London.     August,  1920. 

p.  225-238.) 
By  the  terms  of  the  Turkish  Peace  Treaty,  the  three  provinces  of 
Mosul,  Baghdad,  and  Basra  are  to  constitute  an  independent  state 
under  guarantee  of  the  League  of  Nations  and  subject  to  the  man- 
date of  Great  Britain.  The  policy  of  Great  Britain,  therefore,  must 
be  far  from  treating  the  Arabs  as  a  subject  people;  it  must  give  them 
an  opportunity  of  restoring  their  former  independent  civilization  and 
national  consciousness.  According  as  Great  Britain  succeeds  in  ful- 
filling her  obligations,  and  in  helping  to  realize  those  aspirations  she 
has  encouraged  will  depend,  in  all  probability,  the  future  relations 
between  Eastern  and  Western  civilization. 

Islam.  Albert  Kinross.  {The  Atlantic  Monthly,  Boston,  Novem- 
ber, 1920.  p.  669-680.) 
Impressions  of  the  general  effect  of  Islam  on  the  peoples  who  have 
embraced  it,  gained  during  four  years  military  service  in  Moslem  lands 
during  the  Great  War.  The  conclusion  is  reached  that  fundamen- 
tally there  is  not  much  difference  between  Islam  and  the  Christian 
world  of  the  Middles  Ages.  The  trouble  with  Islam  is  that  it  is  tied 
fast  by  the  Koran  and  the  intense  individualism  of  the  normal  Mo- 
hammedan. This  is  an  anachronism  in  a  world  where  cooperation  is 
a  fetish.  It  is  only  when  this  fact  is  recognized  by  both  the  East  and 
the  West,  however,  that  we  can  arrive  at  a  reasonable  modus  vivendi. 

II.  ISLAM  IN  ARABIA. 
IIL  HISTORY  OF  ISLAM. 

IV.  KORAN,   TRADITIONS,   THEOLOGY. 

Turkish  Ideas  of  God.      George    E.    White.      {The  Missionary 

Review  of  the  World,  New  York.    October,   1920.     p.  885- 

890.) 

The  actual  conception  which  the  average  Turk  has  of  God  is  that 

of  a  magnified  human  sovereign.     In  his  opinion,  all  good  government 

107 


io8  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

is  monarchial,  with  supreme  and  final  authority  vested  in  one  being, 
who  is  surrounded  by  varying  grades  of  favorites  and  satelites.  The 
ruler's  crowning  virtues  are  mercy,  clemency,  and  compassion,  which 
are  to  be  exercised  whether  or  not  justice  is  requited.  This  analogy  is 
carried  over  bodily  into  the  religious  field.  The  Divine  Will,  infinite 
and  absolute,  controlling  all  things,  so  embraces  each  human  will  that 
there  is  absolutely  no  free  scope  to  the  latter.  Thus  there  results 
Islam's  strong  tendency  towards  irresponsibility  and  fatalism. 

V.  RELIGIOUS  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE. 
The  Dance  of  the  Howling  Dervishes.     Joseph  Koven.     (Asia, 

New  York.  October,  1920.  p.  869-870.) 
A  lively  description  of  one  of  these  dances  as  performed  by  the 
Rifa'i  tes  at  Ramleh.  After  the  dance,  the  holy  sheik  performed  mir- 
acles of  healing  on  the  cripples,  the  lepers,  and  the  sick,  chiefly  by 
touching  or  breathing  on  them,  the  while  repeating  a  verse  from  the 
Koran. 

VL  POLITICAL  RELATIONSHIPS. 

En  Egypte.  Jehan  d'lvray.  (La  Revue  de  Paris,  Paris.  Sep- 
tember 15,  1920.  p.  339-363.) 
Notes  on  the  Nationalist  movement  in  Egypt.  The  author  was  pre- 
sent during  the  outbreak  in  1882,  when  the  English  bombarded  Alex- 
andria, and  believes  that  since  then  Egypt  has  never  been  more  than 
relatively  tranquil.  The  patriotic  propaganda  of  Mustapha  Kemel  is 
summarized,  the  fact  being  noted  that  it  was  addressed  exclusively  to 
Mohammedan  Egypt.  In  the  continuous  state  of  restlessness  the  active 
part  taken  by  the  students  is  worth  studying.  In  connection  with  this, 
it  should  be  remembered  that  before  England  gained  control  France, 
through  her  Roman  Catholic  missionaries,  had  established  flourishing 
schools  for  both  boys  and  girls,  absolutely  free  from  any  religious 
constraint.  Although  the  English  government  has  put  no  formal 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  these  schools,  the  suppression  of  the 
Egyptian  Mission  in  France,  and  the  requirement  of  a  certificate  from 
a  government  school  for  any  office  holder  have  resulted  in  turning 
many  pupils  from  the  French  schools.  In  the  last  revolt,  there  are 
two  significant  and  outstanding  features:  the  prominent  part  played  by 
Egyptian  women,  and  the  harmonious  working  of  all  religions  towards 
a  single  aim.  That  the  English  have  benefitted  Egypt  wonderfully  is 
beyond  question;  that  they  have  recognized  how  dangerously  they  have 
alienated  native  opinion  is  shown  by  the  large  measure  of  autonomy 
granted  to  the  country  as  a  result  of  the  Milner  mission. 

MesopK)tamia  and  Syria.  Robert  Machray.  (The  Fortnightly 
Review,  London.  October,  1920.  p.  609-620.) 
A  sequel  to  "The  Arab  Question"  and  "The  Middle  East,"  written 
by  the  same  author  and  noted  in  previous  Surveys.  This  article  takes 
up  the  political  situation  in  these  two  countries  (now  practically 
bracketed  by  Parliament),  explaining  what  Great  Britain  has  done 
there  since  accepting  the  Mandate,  and  why  the  Mesopotamian  out- 
break resulted.  As  for  Persia,  if  the  British  are  to  do  any  good  there 
either  for  the  Persians  or  for  India  a  bold  military  policy  is  essential. 

Our  Amazing  Syrian  Adventure.     Beckles  Willson.     {The  Na- 
tional Review,  London.     September,  1920.     p.  41-54.) 
The  French  feel  that  the  English  have  kept  bad  faith  with  them  in 
Syria;  the  Arabs,  that  the  English  have  deserted  and  bertayed  them; 


SURVEY  OF  PERIODICALS  109 

while  the  Engh'sh  consider  that  at  great  expense  and  sacrifice  they 
have  sternly  and  honorably  adhered  to  the  letter  of  their  treaty  with 
France.  This  is  an  exposition  of  the  English  side  of  the  question, 
from  the  time  the  Foreign  Office  hesitatingly  began  to  back  the  King 
of  Hedjaz  for  the  sake  of  the  political  reaction  on  the  British  Moslem 
populations  of  Egypt  and  India. 

The  Palestinian  Problem.  Horace  B.  Samuel.  {The  Fortnightly 
Review,  London.  September,  1920.  p.  402-411.) 
A  fair-minded  attempt  to  discover  to  what  extent  the  Arab  opposition 
to  Zionism  is  really  genuine  and  serious,  and  how  far  it  is  the  result 
of  political  and  religious  propaganda.  The  fellaheen,  forming  the 
majority  of  the  Arab  population,  are  socially,  economically,  and  po- 
litically in  subjection  to  the  sheikhs  and  effendis.  These  latter, 
frankly  exploiting  the  peasants,  have  resented  both  the  British  adminis- 
tration and  the  modernization  of  the  country.  The  Syrian  Christians, 
better  educated  and  higher  in  the  cultural  scale,  are  also  smarter  in 
commerce  than  the  Moslem  Arabs;  self-interest,  therefore,  must  have 
strongly  influenced  both  these  classes  to  oppose  the  immigration  of 
Jews  who  would  compete  with  them  on  more  equal  terms.  The 
author  believes,  however,  that  these  are  not  the  only  factors  which 
have  led  to  such  decided  opposition. 

IV.  MOHAMMEDAN  MISSIONS. 
The  Albanians — a   Forgotten   Race.     Mrs.    Sevasti    K.    Dako. 
{The  Missionary  Review  of  the  World,  New  York.    Septem- 
ber, 1920.     p.  779-785.) 

Albania,  the  Switzerland  of  the  Balkans,  dates  her  history  back  as 
far  as  4000  B.C.,  and  has  an  unbroken  tradition  of  national  aspiration. 
For  awhile,  the  Albanians  were  Christians  belonging  to  the  Eastern 
Patriarchate,  and  struggled  valiantly  to  hold  the  Turks  from  Europe. 
They  were  overcome,  however,  and  today  two-thirds  of  them  are 
Moslems.  The  life  and  characteristics  of  the  people  are  here  briefly 
described,  and  there  is  a  short  sketch  of  the  mission  work  (chiefly  that 
of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.),  which  has  been  carried  on  among  them  since 
1820. 

At  the  Gate  of  Afghanistan.  Jenny  de  Mayer.  The  Missionary 
Review  of  the  World,  New  York.  October,  1920.  p.  865- 
874.) 
There  is  at  last  a  prospect  that  Afghanistan  may  be  opened  to  mis- 
sionary effort,  since  it  is  reported  that  the  Ameer  has  taken  the 
capital  of  Turcomania;  and  the  Turcomans,  independent  and  rather 
indifferent  Mohammedans,  have  always  been  very  prone  to  appropriate 
European  ways.  After  feeling  sure  of  a  divine  call  to  enter  Afghanis- 
tan, the  author  set  to  work  persistently  to  prepare  for  her  opportunity. 
Itinerant  work  was  carried  on  up  to  the  very  boundary  of  the  country, 
and  friendly  relations  established  with  Afghan  merchants.  There  is  a 
good  description  of  her  work  among  the  pilgrims,  and  her  border-line 
travel.  In  191 4,  however,  when  her  plans  actually  to  enter  the  country 
as  a  Christian  were  completed,  they  were  completely  overturned  by  a 
serious  illness,  nor  has  it  been  possible  to  go  on  with  them  since. 

Islam  and  Christianity  In  the    Sudan.      Roland    Allen.     {The 
International  Review  of  Missions,  London.    October,   1920. 
p.  531-543.) 
A  serious  challenge  to  answer  the  question  of  why  it  is,  when  Chris- 


no  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

tianity  and  Islam  both  face  the  same  pagan  tribes  that  the  African  is 
attracted  to  Islam  rather  than  to  Christianity.  This  is  true  of  the 
more  intelligent  part  of  the  population,  including  natives  who  have 
received  a  Christian  education.  Dr.  Bryden  in  1887  and  Dr.  Wester- 
mann  in  191 2  analyzed  the  situation  in  their  time  and  came  to 
remarkably  unanimous  conclusions;  are  the  same  causes  operative  today, 
and  if  so,  has  the  church  projected  an  adequate  plan  of  campaign 
against  them  ?  So  far,  the  suggested  remedies  have  all  been  on  the 
basis  of  putting  the  white  foreign  missionaries  always  in  the  first  place 
and  teaching  the  whole  native  Christian  community  to  depend  upon 
them.  Yet,  while  a  free  native  church  might  beat  back  Islam,  how 
far  is  it  recognized  that  a  dependent  one  cannot  and  will  not  even 
attempt  it? 

Pen  Pictures  of  the  Siege  of  Aintab.  John  E.  Merrill.  (The 
Envelope  Series,  Boston.  October,  1920.  p.  3-23.) 
President  Merrill,  of  Central  Turkey  College,  gives  a  graphic  de- 
scription of  some  phases  of  the  attempt  of  the  Turkish  nationalists  to 
expel  the  French  from  Aintab.  In  this  effort,  the  Armenians  were  in 
the  way  of  the  Turks,  and  so  were  violently  attacked.  Several  re- 
markable incidents  are  noted,  and  the  spirit  of  religion,  sobriety, 
bravery,  and  conciliation  constantly  present  among  the  Armenians  com- 
mented upon. 

Persia's  Share  in  the  World  War.  Robert  M.  Labaree.  {All 
the  World,  New  York.  October,  1920.  p.  40-47.) 
A  short  sketch  from  the  Persia  Mission  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  U.  S.  A.  Mention  is  made  of  the  war  experiences  of  Urumia 
station,  the  Assyrian  Christians  and  their  needs,  and  missionary  oppor- 
tunities; while  a  statistical  estimate  of  the  cost  of  rehabilitation  and 
enlargement  is  appended.  The  same  issue  of  the  periodical  contains 
various  brief  notices  on  phases  of  the  work  in  Urumia,  Meshed,  and 
Syria,  by  different  writers. 

Reminiscences  of  Pioneer  Work  at  Jidda.      Jenny    de    Mayer. 

{Neglected     Arabia,    New     York.       Tuly-September,     1920. 

p  3-9.) 
In  July,  1 91 3,  unbacked  by  any  Board  or  Society,  Miss  de  Mayer 
opened  medical  mission  work  at  Jidda  amongst  the  pilgrims  from 
Central  Asia.  Although  she  knew  little  Arabic,  the  dispensary  work 
was  successful  from  the  start,  and  soon  it  was  possible  to  do  medical 
work  in  private  houses.  The  chief  doctor  at  Jidda,  while  doing 
nothing  to  hinder  the  work,  opened  a  dispensary  of  his  own  to  counter- 
balance the  Christian  influence.  Active  opposition  came  from  the  lo- 
cal pharmacist  and  the  Meccan  government.  This  finally  forced  the 
closing  of  the  work. 

Turki  People  of  Chinese  Turkestan.  G.  W.  Hunter.  {The 
Chinese  Recorder,  Shanghai.  August,  1920.  p.  556-558.) 
A  survey  of  these  people  who  inhabit  the  stretch  of  country  from 
Zungaria  on  the  east  to  Hotan,  Yarkand,  and  Kashgar  on  the  west. 
They  are  in  language,  dress,  and  customs  entirely  different  from  the 
neighboring  Chinese;  Mohammedans  of  a  very  bigoted  type,  they  live 
much  as  do  other  Mohammedans,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  local 
customs.  Divorces  are  very  common,  and  there  is  great  immortality. 
The  Sarts  are  very  difficult  to  evangelize,  and  do  all  in  their  power 
to  keep  the  Gospel  from  others. 


VOL.  XI,  No.  2  APRIL,  1921 

THE 

MOSLEM  WORLD 

A  quarterly  review  of  current  events,  literature,  and 

thought  among  Mohammedans  and  the  progress 

of  Christian  Missions  in  Moslem  lands 

Editor:    SAMUEL  M.  ZWEMER,  D.D. 


Contents : 

HOW  IS  RECONCILIATION  POSSIBLE?     .     .     .     S.  M.  Zwemer 

THE  LAST  DECADE  IN  MOSLEM  WORK     .     E.  M.  Wherry,  D.D. 

THE  NEW  PERSIAN  WOMAN Clara  E.  Rice 

MOSLEM  RETROGRESSION     ....     Canon  W.  Hooper,  D.D. 

THE  MISSIONARY  OUTLOOK    ....     Rev.  W.  Wilson  Cash 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN  NATIVE 

LAW Major  C.  Braithwaite  Wallis 

METHODS  OF  EVANGELISM  AMONG  CHINESE  MOS- 
LEMS       M.  E.  Botham 

THE  SUPREME  AMULET Thora  Stowell 

NOTES  ON  CURRENT  TOPICS 

BOOK  REVIEWS 

SURVEY  OF  PERIODICALS Hollis  W.  Hering 


Published  by  the  MISSIONARY  REVIEW  PUBLISHING  CO.,  Inc. 

Harrisburg,  Pa.  156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City,  N.  Y. 

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LONDON :  MISSIONARY  LITERATURE  SUPPLY, 

The  Church  House,  Great  Smith  Street,  Westminster,  S.  W.  I. 

EGYPT :  C.  M.  S.  BOOKSHOP,  or  the  NILE  MISSION  PRESS,  Cairo. 

INDIA :  CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  SOCIETY,  Madras  uid  Calcutu. 

Entered  as  second-class  matter  at  the  Post  Office  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  under  the  act  March  3,  1879. 
Copyright  igzi,  by  Missionary  Review  Publishing  Company. 


The  Moslem  World 

Edited  by  Samuel  M.  Zwemer,  Cairo,  Egypt 


ASSOCIATE  EDITORS 

Rev.  H.  it.  W.  Stanton,  Ph.D., 

London 
Peof.  D.  B.  Macdonald,  M.A.,  D.D., 

Hartford,   Conn. 
Canon  W.  H.  T.  Gairdner,  B.A., 

Cairo,  Egypt 


Rev.  W.  St.  Clair  Tisdall,  Ph.D., 

London 
Mr.  Marshall  Broomhall,  London 
Rev.  E.  M.  Wherry,  D.D.,  India 
Pastor  F.  Wurz,  Basel,  Switzerland 
Rev.  Ralph  Harlow,  Smyrna 


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Delavan  L.  Pierson,  Chairman  Mrs.  Wm.  Borden 

A.  V.  S.  Olcott,  Treasurer 


Rev.  Charles  R.  Watson,  D.Q., 

Vice-Chairman 
Rev.  James  L.  Barton,  D.D. 


Miss  J.  H.  Righter,  Secretary 
Mrs.  Wm.  Bancroft  Hill 


IMPORTANT  ANNOUNCEMENTS 

Correspondence— All  editorial  correspondence  should  be  directed  to  Dr  Samuel 
M.  Zwemer,  Cairo,  Egypt. 

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NOTES  OF  CONTRIBUTORS 

Rev.  E.  M.  fVherry,  D.D.,  who  writes  the  Editorial  in  this 
number  is  known  to  all  our  readers  and  represents  the  "old  guard" 
of  pioneer  missionaries  among  Mohammedans.  He  has  perhaps 
done  more  than  any  one  else  in  India  to  meet  the  literary  need  of 
Moslems  and  to  arouse  interest  at  home. 

Clara  C.  Rice,  the  writer  of  the  article  on  the  "New  Persian 
Woman,"  is  the  wife  of  the  Rev.  W.  A.  Rice,  of  the  Church  Mis- 
sionary Society  in  Persia,  well  known  as  the  author  of  "Crusaders 
of  the  Twentieth  Century."  She  has  had  many  years'  experience 
in  Persia. 

Canon  W.  Hooper,  D.D.,  went  out  to  India  under  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  in  i86i.  He  was  one  of  the  translators  of  the 
Old  Testament  into  Hindu.  He  is  the  author  of  a  number  of 
theological  works  including  a  Hebrew-Urdu  Dictionary;  also  a 
work  on  comparative  religion  entitled  "The  Doctrine  of  Salva- 
tion as  set  forth  in  Christianity,  Hinduism  and  Islam." 

Rev.  W.  Wilson  Cash  is  at  present  secretary  of  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  Mission  in  Palestine,  he  has  had  experience  in 
Egypt  and  has  distinguished  himself  during  the  war  as  a  Chaplain 
to  the  Forces  and  received  decorations  for  bravery. 

Majar  C.  Braithwaite  Wallis,  B.A.,  LL.D.,  F.R.G.S.,  at  present 
H.B.M.  Consul  General  in  New  Orleans  (U.  S.  A.),  has  served 
under  the  Foreign  Office  in  Liberia  and  Sierra  Leone.  He  is  the 
author  of  a  number  of  works  on  West  Africa  and  an  authority  on 
Islamic  law. 

M.  E.  Botham  is  a  missionary  of  the  China  Inland  Mission  and 
has  had  valuable  experience  in  direct  evangelistic  work  among 
Chinese  and  Persian  Moslems. 

"Thora  Stowell"  is  the  pen-name  of  a  correspondent  of  The 
Egyptian  Gazette,  who  has  made  special  study  of  native  life  in 
Egypt. 


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The  Moslem  World 

VOL.  XI APRIL,  1921 No.  2 

EDITORIAL 


HOW  IS  RECONCILIATION  POSSIBLE? 

Many  of  us  are  forced  to  the  conviction  that  we  are 
facing  a  new  era,  a  new  day,  in  our  relations  to  Moslems. 
We  believe  that  the  hour  has  come  when  with  sacrificial 
love  and  tactful  sympathy  we  should  advance  to  win  them 
to  the  allegiance  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  period  of  con- 
troversy, of  apologies  for  the  faith,  of  answers  to  bitter 
Moslem  attacks,  was  that  of  the  ploughman.  The  hard 
soil  has  been  broken  up;  rocks  once  thought  adamantine 
have  crumbled.  Old  objections  to  the  Bible  as  a  book 
are  no  longer  current.  The  circulation  of  the  Scriptures 
has  been  their  vindication.  After  centuries  of  seed  sow- 
ing and  centuries  of  the  witnessing  of  the  Oriental 
Churches  through  slow  martyrdoms,  after  the  missionary 
effort  through  colleges,  evangelists  and  hospitals,  we  be- 
lieve the  hour  has  come  to  reap. 

But  if  we  are  to  win  our  Moslem  brethren  for  Christ, 
by  what  method  are  we  to  proceed?  Our  call  and  com- 
mission is  clear  and  unmistakable.  Archbishop  Leighton 
said,  "If  our  religion  is  false  we  ought  to  change  it;  if  it 
is  true  we  ought  to  propagate  it."  This  is  the  implication 
of  every  page  of  the  Gospel.  It  is  the  obligation  of 
Christian  love  to  share  the  life  which  we  have  received. 

The  Moslem  also  has  his  convictions  and  his  great  pas- 
sion. Islam  has  always  been  aggressive.  We  admire  the 
Moslem  for  the  boldness  of  his  faith.     But  have  we  been 

III 


112  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

equally  bold?  God  is  for  us.  Jesus  Christ  has  been 
crucified  and  is  risen.  The  Spirit  of  Pentecost  has  come. 
All  things  are  now  ready.  What  wait  we  for?  Is  there 
any  lack  in  God,  in  Christ,  in  the  Spirit,  or  is  the  fault 
in  us? 

If  we  are  to  seek  to  win  our  Moslem  friends,  what  plan 
are  we  to  follow?  Two  methods  stand  out  in  clear  con- 
trast: the  polemic  and  the  irenic;  the  method  of  argu- 
ment, debate,  contrast  and  comparison  on  the  one  hand 
and  on  the  other  hand  the  method  of  loving  approach 
along  lines  of  least  resistance. 

Some  go  so  far  as  to  tell  us  that  we  are  to  omit  from  our 
message  everything  that  offends  the  Moslem  mind,  to 
avoid  all  criticism  of  Islam  and  to  leave  out  those  Chris- 
tian doctrines  and  teachings  that  might  give  offence. 
Moslems  themselves  are  divided  on  this  issue.  Some 
publicly  state  that  Islam  and  Christianity  can  easily  be 
reconciled;  others  are  conscious  of  the  deep  chasm  that 
yawns  between  the  two  systems.  Helali  Bey,  of  Alex- 
andria, a  retired  Egyptian  official,  who  made  some  name 
as  a  literateur  and  poet,  recently  published  a  chart,  setting 
forth  the  new  spirit  of  Islam  according  to  his  views.  Just 
as  in  the  recent  outburst  of  nationalism  we  saw  every- 
where the  Egyptian  flag  with  the  Crescent  embracing  the 
Cross,  so  Helali  Bey  advocates  complete  union  of  Islam 
and  Christianity.  His  ingenious  chart  shows  the  picture 
of  a  sheikh  and  a  clergyman  with  hands  clasped  as  twin 
brothers.  He  asserts  that  even  the  numerical  value  of 
Islam  and  Christianity  are  identical  and  says:  "The  ob- 
ject of  religion  is  to  bring  union  and  concord  between  the 
different  parts  of  a  nation,  to  make  them  one  whole 
and  indivisible  society;  in  fact,  religion  is  behaviour." 
He  fails  to  see,  however,  that  behaviour  depends  on  belief, 
that  conduct  is  determined  by  creed. 

Let  us  hear  the  other  side.  In  the  last  number  of  the 
Review  of  Religions  (Quadian,  India),  the  leading  article 
is  on  "Christianity  versus  Islam"  and  sounds  a  different 
note. 


EDITORIAL  113 

''The  ideals  of  Christianity  and  those  of  Islam  seem 
outwardly  the  same.  I  speak  of  the  ideals  of  the  two 
creeds  as  contradistinguished  from  the  ideals  of  Christen- 
dom and  Moslemdom.  The  two  sets  of  ideals  differ  very 
much  among  them  in  spite  of  kinship  of  names.  The 
ideal  of  the  Christian  creed  is  no  more  similar  to  the  ideal 
of  the  present  day  Christendom  than  is  the  ideal  of  Islam 
to  the  ideal  of  the  present  Moslem  world."  The  author, 
an  educated  Indian  Moslem,  goes  on  to  say  that  there  is 
no  possible  agreement,  for  the  Moslem  idea  of  Deity  is 
real  and  reasonable,  "while  the  Christian  Deity  is  an  in- 
scrutable paragon  to  the  human  mind,  an  absurdity,  a 
deadweight,  restraining  mental  activity."  The  Christian 
plan  of  salvation,  he  says,  is  "derogatory  to  the  perfect 
wisdom  and  power  of  God;  no  sensible  man  can  honestly 
accept  it  .  .  .  The  Christian  plan  of  salvation  is 
through  faith  in  Jesus.  Mankind  have  fallen  from  their 
original  blessedness  through  the  sin  of  their  first  parents. 
They  could  only  be  saved  through  the  vicarious  office  of 
a  redeemer.  To  make  them  fit  for  such  a  consummation 
God  has  chosen  from  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  a 
small  tribe  and  made  them  the  medium  for  the  gradual 
unfolding  of  His  scheme  of  salvation.  While  the  rest  of 
the  human  race  remained  neglected  and  uncared  for,  the 
chosen  people  were  given  the  Law  as  the  first  instalment 
of  Divine  favour  and  as  symbol  of  the  great  mercy  which 
was  to  follow.  This  appeared  in  the  advent  of  the  sinless 
Redeemer,  'the  only  begotten  Son  of  God,'  who  to  satisfy 
the  requirements  of  Divine  justice,  offered  up  his  own 
sinless  life  in  vicarious  atonement  for  the  sins  of  men.  A 
belief  in  him  therefore  entitles  the  believer  to  the  benefit 
of  the  atonement."  After  this  frank  statement  of  the  core 
of  Christian  teaching,  he  goes  on:  "The  Islamic  plan,  on 
the  other  hand  is  rational  and  natural.  Man  is  born  in 
innocence  in  Islam,  which  is  'the  nature  made  by  Allah 
in  which  he  has  made  man'  (Koran).  He  falls  through 
the  influence  of  his  surroundings  and  by  outraging  his 
own  nature.     He  can  attain  salvation  only  by  right  knowl- 


114  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

edge  and  right  actions.  There  is  no  special  favor. 
There  is  no  'chosen  people.'  God  has  sent  teachers  or 
prophets  to  all  nations,  who  have  taught  their  respective 
peoples  truths  regarding  the  purpose  of  human  life  and 
the  way  of  attaining  same,  or  in  other  words,  truths  con- 
cerning the  attributes  and  ways  of  God  and  human  con- 
duct. Salvation  is  to  be  achieved  by  individual  effort. 
*No  one  will  bear  the  burden  of  another.'  There  is  noth- 
ing occult  about  the  business.  When  by  repeated  good 
actions  man  realizes  the  goodness  which  is  his  goal,  he  has 
already  achieved  his  salvation."  This  is  the  Moslem 
gospel. 

So  we  see  that  in  the  ranks  of  Islam  as  well  as  among 
missionaries  there  are  two  views  regarding  the  relations 
that  are  possible.  Reconciliation  at  any  price  or  clear 
reiteration  of  our  message  and  investigation  of  the  truth, 
cost  what  it  may.  A  clash  of  ideas,  a  collision  of  thought, 
has  been  the  inevitable  result  whenever  and  wherever 
Islam  came  into  touch  with  Christianity.  The  first  con- 
version from  Islam  to  Christ  took  place  even  before 
Mohammed  died  (632  A.  H.).  One  of  Mohammed's 
own  companions  left  Arabia  and  went  to  Abyssinia,  and 
there  the  impact  of  a  living  Christianity,  although  super- 
stitious, opened  the  eyes  of  that  Arab,  Obeid  Allah  bin 
Jahsh,  so  that  he  wrote  to  Mohammed,  as  the  Arabs  them- 
selves relate,  "I  now  see  clearly  and  you  are  still  blink- 
ing." It  was  the  same  bold  message  that  the  blind  man 
in  the  Gospel  story  gave  the  doubting  Pharisees. 

There  is  no  reconciliation  except  through  the  Atone- 
ment. This  is  fundamental.  When  we  ourselves  under- 
stand the  mystery  of  the  Cross,  the  love  of  God  to  our 
Moslem  brethren  is  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts  through 
the  Holy  Spirit.  Without  the  doctrine  of  the  Cross  love 
degenerates -into  mere  sentiment.  Comparative  religion 
is  of  less  value  than  positive  religion  on  the  mission  field. 

S.  M.  ZWEMER. 


THE  LAST  DECADE  IN  MOSLEM  WORK 

It  began  with  the  clear  calm  of  a  bright  summer  day. 
The  nations  seemed  to  rejoice  in  the  quiet  and  prosperity 
of  a  well  nigh  universal  peace.  Travel  by  land  and  sea 
was  open  to  all  who  had  the  means  to  indulge  in  this  ex- 
pensive luxury.  True  it  was  an  armed  peace.  The  im- 
mense armies  were  trained  in  the  art  of  warfare.  The 
inventors  of  new  machines  for  military  uses  were  highly 
rewarded.  The  dreadnaughts  and  superdreadnaughts 
were  being  built  at  immense  expense.  The  great  nations 
were  loaded  down  with  these  great  burdens  even  as  the 
knights  of  old,  clad  in  garments  of  steel. 

Following  closely  upon  the  heels  of  the  Edinburgh 
Conference,  the  General  Conference  of  Missions  to  Mos- 
lems was  held  almost  under  the  shadow  of  the  great 
Imambarah  in  Lucknow.  For  six  successive  days,  dele- 
gates from  all  parts  of  the  Moslem  world,  representing 
all  the  great  Protestant  missionary  societies,  sat  in  solemn 
assembly  to  discuss  the  problems  and  policies  of  the  great 
evangelistic  endeavour  to  bring  the  Gospel  to  the  two 
hundred  million  votaries  of  the  faith  of  Islam.  A  new 
impulse  was  given  to  the  work.  The  publication  of  the 
papers  presented  in  three  volumes  accomplished  much  to 
awaken  popular  interest  in  the  work  among  Moslems. 
The  boards  and  the  churches  were  led  to  realize  more 
clearly  their  responsibility  for  the  evangelization  of  the 
Mohammedan  world. 

The  outcome,  almost  immediately  observed,  was  the 
establishment  of  many  new  stations  along  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean  Sea  in  North  Africa;  the  endeavour  to 
stretch  a  chain  of  mission  stations  across  Central  Africa, 
with  a  view  to  stop  the  Moslemizing  of  non-Moslem 
tribes;  the  increase  of  work  in  Egypt  and  India,  in  China, 
Malaysia  and  the  Dutch  East  Indies. 

115 


ri6  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Among  the  agencies  used  to  continue  the  work  of  the 
conferences,  none  was  more  conspicuous  than  The  MOS- 
LEM World.  Under  the  energetic  management  of  Dr.  S. 
M.  Zwemer  and  his  coadjutors,  it  has  become  the  organ 
of  the  missionary  societies  and  missionary  workers  in 
every  part  of  the  world.  No  missionary  to  Moslems  can 
afiford  to  do  without  this  magazine.  It  presents  the  most 
advanced  thought  on  the  methods  of  work,  on  the  life  and 
character  of  Moslems  in  various  parts  of  the  world,  on 
the  doctrine  and  practice  of  Islam,  setting  forth  at  once 
its  strong  points  and  showing  the  way  to  reach  the  heart 
of  the  Moslem  by  showing  him  how  Christ  can  meet  him 
at  the  place  where  he  has  the  greatest  need. 

Another  important  work  accomplished  during  this  dec- 
ade is  the  production  of  an  extensive  literature  which 
has  been  created  in  many  languages  of  the  Christian  and 
Moslem  world.  Much  of  this  is  published  in  the  Eng- 
lish language  and  ministers  to  the  intelligence  of  Chris- 
tian people  as  well  as  to  the  education  of  missionaries  who 
propose  to  work  among  Moslem  peoples.  Some  of  these 
books  have  been  translated  into  the  languages  used  by 
Moslems,  in  the  Arabic,  Persian,  Urdu,  Malaysian  and 
Chinese.  Periodicals,  too,  have  been  established  as  evan- 
gelistic agencies.  Some  of  the  older  books  have  been 
revised  and  republished  in  attractive  form,  so  that  Dr. 
Koele,  Dr.  Pfander  and  Dr.  Imad-ud-din  are  still  engaged 
in  preaching  the  Gospel  through  the  printed  page. 
Lastly,  the  printing  press  has  been  exalted  to  a  higher 
place  than  ever.  The  dreadful  carnage  of  the  Great  War 
has  drenched  vast  regions  with  blood,  and  the  bones  of 
martyrs  have  been  scattered  over  vast  desert  places. 
Great  cities  and  numerous  villages  have  been  wiped  ofif 
the  maps  of  the  world.  Great  empires  have  been  crushed 
and  new  states  have  been  created.  Barriers  have  been 
broken  down  and  a  new  era  has  been  established.  Now 
as  never  before  in  the  history  of  the  Church  the  way  is 
opened  up  for  the  evangelization  of  the  world.  The  op- 
portunity is  great. 


EDITORIAL  117 

The  Moslem  convert  is  not  yet  free  from  the  danger  of 
death  for  his  apostasy,  but  the  spirit  of  religious  liberty 
has  manifested  itself  in  many  ways.  The  new  "spiritual" 
interpretation  of  the  Koran  has  opened  up  to  many  Mos- 
lems a  way  of  escape  from  the  literal  teaching  of  the 
Koran.  The  evangelist  will  be  obliged  to  reckon  with 
this  situation,  but  the  new  reign  of  reason  must  mean  a 
new  power  in  the  proclamation  of  the  claims  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  Saviour  of  men.  More  than  ever  we  have 
come  to  realize  our  need  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  our  own 
lives.  The  witness  to  the  truth  must  be  the  testimony  of 
the  regenerated  lives  of  Christians,  illustrating  the  mes- 
sage we  preach. 

I  quote  in  closing  a  few  words  from  the  address  of 
Bishop  Lefroy  given  at  Lucknow  in  191 1 :  "Let  us  ask 
again  and  again,  in  deepest  earnestness  and  unwavering 
faith  that  the  Holy  Spirit  may  be  given  us  according  to 
our  need.  Then  let  us  know  that  we  have  received  Him, 
let  us  throw  ourselves  without  a  shadow  of  doubt  or  re- 
serve upon  Him.  So  shall  we  win  for  ourselves  the  glori- 
ous experience  which  was  St.  Paul's  when  he  cried,  'I 
can  do  all  things  in  Him  that  strengtheneth  me.'  So  shall 
we  know  with  a  final  and  immovable  certainty  ourselves, 
and  be  able  also  to  bring  home  to  the  hearts  of  others  that 
'this  is  the  victory  which  hath  overcome  the  world,  even 
our  faith.'  " 

E.  M.  Wherry. 

Ludhiana,  India. 


THE  NEW  PERSIAN  WOMAN 

Western  nations  are  not  alone  in  the  rapid  change  of 
today;  the  unchangeableness  and  despotism  of  the  East 
are  yielding  as  never  before.  The  greatest  factor  in  this, 
is  Western  contact.  The  fruits  of  Christianity  are  wel- 
comed all  over  the  Orient,  for  non-Christian  and  anti- 
Christian  faiths  never  work  for  the  progress  of  a  country, 
for  the  uplift  of  individuals,  nor  for  the  relief  of  suffering 
woman,  except  as  a  mother  is  a  negligible  quantity. 

For  centuries  the  position  of  the  Eastern  woman  has 
been  a  crying  evil ;  it  has  seldom,  however,  been  recog- 
nized as  such  by  her,  but  simply  accepted  as  her  lot. 
Man  has  legislated  to  his  own  advantage,  and  woman  has 
acquiesced,  no  other  way  being  open  or  known  to  her. 
Today  contact  has  changed  this. 

Few  countries  are  more  familiar  than  the  land  of  the 
Shah,  yet  how  little  is  generally  known  of  its  present  con- 
dition? The  fame  of  its  cats  and  carpets,  its  poets  and 
philosophers,  its  wine  and  its  rose  gardens  is  widespread; 
but  of  the  fame  of  its  men  and  women  little  is  heard. 
Persia  still  lives  on  the  credit  of  its  past  glory,  yet  nation- 
ality is  indestructible,  and  the  germ  of  the  power  which 
made  such  a  bold  bid  for  world  conquest,  though  it  has 
lain  dormant  for  the  greater  part  of  the  last  2,250  years, 
is  still  vital,  and  with  the  help  and  guidance  of  the  West, 
Persia  may  yet  take  an  honourable  place  among  the 
nations  of  the  Middle  East.  Isolation  and  sleep  have 
gone,  and  huge  changes  are  bound  to  come. 

The  greatest  weakness  in  the  social  and  national  life  of 
Persia  has  been  its  estimate  of  woman.  The  seclusion 
and  swaddling  of  her  life  has  been  a  religious  command 
and  a  political  policy;  this  wastage  of  "a  nation's  greatest 
asset"  has  kept  Persia  in  a  backwater.  Emancipation 
will    not  come   through   protest  or   pleading.     Persia's 

1118 


THE  NEW  PERSIAN  WOMAN  119 

women  must  show  themselves  worthy  of  confidence,  to 
which  end  they  must  have  education  of  which  Western 
women  must  show  the  value,  and  to  the  Oriental  mind 
education  and  moral  training  are  acknowledged  as  the 
fruit  of  Christianity. 

One  sign  of  the  awakening  of  Persia,  is  that  men  are 
willing  that  girls  as  well  as  boys  should  be  educated. 
Surely  this  points  to  an  acknowledgment  of  the  handicap 
put  upon  women  which  has  kept  the  race  back  at  its 
source.  While  there  must  be  a  changed  and  enlightened 
manhood  willing  that  this  handicap  should  be  removed, 
there  must  be  a  corresponding  desire  on  the  part  of  the 
women,  also  the  weakening  or  collapse  of  the  system  of 
which  this  handicap  is  a  product.  To  an  unexpected 
degree  this  willingness  and  desire  coexist;  how  is  the 
third  obstacle  to  be  overcome? 

What  is  the  present-day  position  of  women  in  Persia? 
Owing  to  the  lack  of  education,  child  marriage,  polyg- 
amy, (temporal  and  eternal)  temporary  marriage,  con- 
cubinage, easy  divorce  on  the  part  of  the  husband,  and  a 
low  estimate  of  her  powers  and  trustworthiness,  it  is  one 
of  disaster.  How  can  men  become  patriots  and  leaders 
whose  mothers  are  subjected  to  such  indignities?  Mo- 
hammedan men  appropriate  every  privilege  to  them- 
selves, and  do  all  in  their  power  to  debase  and  humiliate 
womanhood.  Hence,  the  women  are  downtrodden  but 
defiant  and  imperious,  with  little  idea  of  self-control. 
The  attempt  to  improve  upon  nature,  and  to  banish 
woman  from  her  rightful  place  in  the  world,  has  resulted 
in  a  mutilated,  unbalanced  social  order,  which  militates 
against  home  life  and  national  development.  There  is 
no  word  in  the  language  for  home,  and  on  the  very  rare 
occasions  when  men  and  women  are  seen  together  in  the 
streets,  the  woman  always  walks  behind!  There  can  be 
little  progress  in  freedom,  philanthropy,  or  morals,  for 
there  is  no  domestic  soil  in  which  the  seeds  can  germinate. 
The  Koran  sanctions  four  contemporary  wives,  who  may 
be  cast  adrift  at  any  time  without  explanation  or  notice. 


I20  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

While  the  husband  possesses  unlimited  power  of  divorce 
— absolute,  immediate,  unquestioned — no  corresponding 
privilege  belongs  to  the  wife.  When  divorced  she  may 
claim  her  dowry,  literally  her  "hire"  but  very  often  she 
hangs  on,  neglected  and  superseded,  sometimes  confined 
and  beaten,  if  such  be  her  lord's  will.  Even  if  a  man  does 
not  exercise  his  rights,  yet  the  knowledge  of  their  exist- 
ence tends  to  debase  womanhood  and  to  weaken  its  influ- 
ence. 

The  condition  of  the  servile  concubine,  also  sanctioned 
by  the  Koran,  is  even  worse.  She  is  at  the  entire  mercy  of 
her  master,  who  sells  her  when  he  tires  of  her,  and  she 
passes  from  master  to  master  a  very  wreck  of  womanhood. 
If  children  are  borne  by  these  women  they  are  legitimate 
and  share  in  the  inheritance,  so  forming  additional 
ground  for  domestic  feuds,  and  lessening  the  tone  and 
vigour  of  the  ruling  classes.  Temporary  marriages  for  a 
few  weeks  or  "for  ninety-nine  years"  are  resorted  to,  and 
widows  may  remarry. 

It  is  only  necessary  to  know  a  few  Persian  women  inti- 
mately to  see  how  these  principles  work  out,  or  to  realize 
how  hard  their  lot  is.  Many  appear  light-hearted  and 
indifferent  to  their  disabilities;  others  say  "it  is  Kismet" 
that  is,  "the  portion  that  is  granted."  Some  consult  for- 
tune tellers  and  use  various  talismans  to  win  back  favour, 
or  to  cause  evil  to  enemies. 

The  veil  is  looked  upon  by  many  as  a  privilege.  They 
say  that  until  the  men  have  cleaner  minds  it  is  a  neces- 
sity for  every  self-respecting  woman.  Recently  the  upper 
class  women  have  replaced  the  long  white  cambric  veil 
with  a  short  black  horsehair  one,  which  is  more  comfort- 
able but  scarcely  more  becoming. 

Child  marriage  exists,  not  as  sanctioned  by  the  Koran, 
but  as  practiced  by  the  Prophet.  This  example,  the 
dearth  of  education  and  occupations  for  girls,  and  the 
brutal  selfishness  of  the  men,  bring  untold  suffering  and 
sap  the  country's  strength  at  its  source.  How  much  of 
girlhood's  inheritance  of  joy  and  laughter,  of  books  and 


THE  NEW  PERSIAN  WOMAN  1211 

play,  of  friends  and  of  freedom  is  denied  to  the  girl  wife! 

And  what  of  Persian  childhood  with  its  threefold  bur- 
den of  superstition,  fatalism,  and  ignorance,  with  its 
medical,  educational,  moral  and  spiritual  problems? 
The  limic  of  childhood  is  only  fixed  by  physical  laws,  the 
immaturity  of  the  mind  is  ignored.  The  seclusion  of 
girls  has  its  moral  and  mental  effects  as  well  as  physical. 
The  sufferings  resulting  from  the  conditions  under  which 
the  little  carpet  weavers  of  Kerman  work  are  deplorable. 
A  heavy  toll  of  suffering  and  early  death  awaits  the  chil- 
dren of  opium  smoking  parents.  A  physician  from 
Persia  writes:  "There  are  more  childhood  diseases  here 
than  in  any  place  of  which  I  know.  It  is  estimated  that 
the  mortality  is  85%."  From  their  earliest  years  boys 
and  girls  see  and  hear  what  a  child  should  never  know. 
They  grow  up  in  an  atmostphere  where  thought,  word 
and  deed  are  all  impure — lying,  false  promises  and  threats 
are  all  allowed  as  right,  in  dealing  with  children.  How 
much,  too,  is  left  out  of  their  lives?  Islam  is  not  for  the 
child.  Their  prophet  could  never  have  called  the  chil- 
dren to  him.  Yet  how  quickly  they  learn  to  know  and 
love  the  Children's  Friend,  who  still  says,  "Suffer  the 
children  to  come  unto  Me." 

Half  of  the  population  of  Persia  lives  in  its  40,000  vil- 
lages. Here  the  women  are  of  more  account  than  in  the 
towns;  they  lead  busy  lives,  spinning  and  weaving  wool 
and  cotton,  cleaning  and  grinding  rice  and  corn,  and  mak- 
ing butter  and  cheese.  They  are  simple  and  friendly 
folk  and  always  very  interested  and  curious  when  an  Eng- 
lish woman  appears.  They  are  slow  to  take  in  new  ideas, 
and  are  surprised  when  suggestions  are  made  about  child 
training  and  home  making.  An  attentive  hearing  is 
always  given  to  the  Gospel. 

Another  fourth  of  the  population  are  Ilyats  or  wander- 
ing tribespeople,  who  live  a  free  life,  moving  their  quar- 
ters in  spring  and  autumn.  These  tribes,  of  which  there 
are  many,  are  of  Arab,  Turkish,  and  Persian  origin. 
With  many  of  them  robbing  is  a  profession.     They  are 


122  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

very  lax  Mohammedans.  Islam  teaches  that  women 
should  not  work  for  the  upkeep  of  the  house,  but  these 
women  do  much  of  the  work  of  the  tribe,  and  so  earn  a 
good  position.  They  all  ride,  and  some  are  excellent 
shots.  They  are  said  to  be  moral ;  in  some  tribes  immoral 
women  are  shot.  Polygamy  is  the  custom.  The  chiefs 
of  some  of  the  more  important  tribes  have  come  in  contact 
with  Europeans,  and  are  asking  for  doctors  and  teachers 
for  whom  they  are  able  and  willing  to  pay. 

The  progressive  element,  as  elsewhere,  is  in  the  towns, 
and  it  is  among  the  townswomen,  those  who  suffer  most, 
that  there  is  real  movement.  In  cities  which  have  contact 
with  the  West,  such  as  Teheran  and  Isfahan,  this  is  most 
evident.  Men  and  boys  come  to  Europe  for  business  or 
education;  Europeans,  and  among  them  a  number  of 
American  and  English  women,  live  and  work  in  these  and 
other  cities.  The  literate  throughout  the  country  number 
three  per  cent  of  the  men,  and  three  per  cent  of  the 
women,  chiefly  town  dwellers. 

For  some  years  educated  women  in  Teheran  have  real- 
ized the  backwardness  of  their  country,  and  seen  how 
much  the  place  of  its  women  was  answerable  for  this  con- 
dition. Considering  their  lack  of  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence they  have  made  real  progress. 

During  the  revolution  of  1910-11  they  exerted  a 
powerful  moral  influence  on  the  movement.  Three  hun- 
dred women  came  to  the  Majlis  (Parliament),  some  of 
whom  were  admitted.  They  tore  aside  their  veils  and 
said  they  would  kill  their  husbands,  their  sons,  and  them- 
selves if  the  liberty  and  dignity  of  the  Persian  nation  were 
not  upheld.  Behind  the  curtains  in  the  mosques  they 
read  exhortations  to  their  sisters  to  stand  firm  to  the  dream 
of  Persian  independence.  The  men  asked  for  and  read 
these  documents,  and  it  was  said  in  the  Majlis,  "The 
women  teach  us  how  to  love  our  country."  They  gave 
money  and  jewels,  saying,  "We  are  women  and  cannot 
fight,  but  we  can  give  to  our  country." 


THE  NEW  PERSIAN  WOMAN  123 

After  finding  their  voice  and  power  in  this  way,  dozens 
of  women's  political  societies  controlled  by  a  central  or- 
ganization came  into  existence,  also  an  inquiry  bureau 
and  a  woman's  newspaper  called  Blossom. 

The  old  type  of  girls'  schools  is  now  considered  worse 
than  useless,  many  government  schools  for  girls  have  been 
opened;  the  Bahais  also  have  girls'  schools.  English  and 
American  missionary  societies  have  about  twenty  schools, 
some  of  them  most  excellent,  for  Parsis,  Jews,  Armenians, 
and  Persians.  It  is  to  these  we  look  for  the  development 
of  public  opinion  and  strong  moral  character  and  Chris- 
tian teaching,  but  they  need  to  be  multiplied  a  hundred 
times. 

The  tragedy  of  child  marriage  can  best  be  averted  by 
education.  A  boy  who  was  at  an  English  school  in 
Isfahan  asked  his  headmaster  to  see  his  father  and  to  per- 
suade him  not  to  give  his  little  daughter  of  seven  to  be 
married.  How  did  that  boy  come  to  see  the  evil?  A 
visitor  to  the  American  school  in  Teheran  said,  "I  wish 
my  wife  had  been  educated,"  adding,  "I  want  my  daugh- 
ter to  take  her  diploma,  and  then  give  her  life  to  educa- 
tional work  among  the  women  of  Persia."  Two  upper 
class  girls  are  hoping  to  come  to  England  this  year  to  take 
up  educational  and  medical  training,  with  a  view  to  help- 
ing their  countrywomen. 

Early  in  1917  a  branch  of  the  Mothers'  Union  was 
commenced  among  Persian  Christian  women  in  Isfahan. 
A  friendly  educated  woman  was  asked  to  speak  at  some  of 
their  meetings  and  asked  if  something  of  the  same  kind 
could  be  arranged  for  upper  class  Moslem  women. 
There  were  considerable  difficulties  in  the  way,  but  at  the 
first  meeting  about  forty  were  present,  including  the 
Deputy  Governor's  wife,  and  other  leading  Persian 
women,  also  several  English  women.  Three  of  the  latter 
spoke,  and  suggested  united  work  for  the  uplift  of  Persia. 
The  position  of  Persian  women  was  contrasted  with  that 
of  those  in  the  West;  stress  was  laid  on  what  the  power 
and  influence  of  women  might  and  ought  to  be  in  their 


124  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

homes,  and  in  their  country,  on  the  importance  of  knowl- 
edge and  education,  and  the  need  of  schools,  orphanages, 
and  hospitals.  Copies  of  a  suggested  syllabus  were  dis- 
tributed. There  was  some  free  and  friendly  discussion, 
and  it  was  decided  that  further  meetings  should  be  held. 
Three  more  took  place  that  spring,  both  English  and  Per- 
sian women  taking  part.  The  importance  of  a  woman's 
character,  founded  on  Prov.  31:10-31,  and  the  moral, 
physical  and  spiritual  training  of  children,  all  proved 
most  interesting,  and  gave  rise  to  a  request  for  open  and 
frequent  meetings,  not  only  for  their  own  class,  but  for 
poorer  women  also.  If  this  had  been  possible  much 
might  have  been  done,  but  the  hot  weather  and  then  a 
famine  and  no  people  with  time  to  spare  for  fresh  work, 
made  it  difficult.  Apart  from  these  reasons  a  break  was 
politic,  as  the  Mullahs  were  suspicious  and  might  have 
given  trouble,  for  though  no  religious  teaching  was  given 
it  was  fully  recognized  that  the  principles  advocated  were 
the  outcome  of  Christianity,  also  the  teaching  of  Islam  is 
opposed  to  progress,  and  this  movement  meant  progress. 

However,  things  are  soon  forgotten,  and  in  the  spring 
of  191 8  it  was  quite  easy  to  get  the  ladies  together  again. 
Education  was  the  leading  topic,  both  English  and  Persian 
viewpoints  were  given.  An  able  paper  was  read  by  the 
headmistress  of  a  Persian  government  school,  also  a 
poem,  which  was  a  cry  for  liberty,  was  written  for  and 
recited  at  one  meeting. 

In  1919,  a  stirring  address  was  given  by  Dr.  Emmeline 
Stuart  on  the  evils  of  child-marriage.  A  Persian  lady  who 
feels  acutely  the  sufferings  of  her  fellow  countrywomen 
drew  up  a  promise  form,  which  a  number  of  those  present 
signed,  promising  not  to  give  their  daughters  in  marriage 
until  they  were  eighteen;  some  only  agreed  to  the  age 
being  sixteen,  and  not  to  allow  their  sons  to  marry  little 
girls,  nor  to  attend  the  weddings  of  child  brides.  A  small 
beginning,  in  truth,  but  it  must  develop.  An  account  of 
the  meeting  was  sent  to  one  of  the  leading  Mullahs  in  the 
city,  a  better  man  than  most  of  his  profession;    he  was 


THE  NEW  PERSIAN  WOMAN  125 

much  impressed  by  it,  and  said  that  he  would  call  together 
some  of  the  younger  Mullahs  and  discuss  it  with  them, 
saying,  "a  doctor  has  spoken  and  we  must  give  heed." 

It  was  pathetic  to  hear  some  of  these  high-class  women 
saying,  ''We  have  not  the  education  and  knowledge  that 
you  have,  how  can  we  work  for  the  good  of  our  country? 
We  are  not  free  to  do  anything ;  we  may  promise,  and  then 
our  husbands  will  not  allow  us  to  perform."  One  was 
most  anxious  to  start  a  society  to  be  called  the  "Anglo- 
Persian  Sisters'  Union."  Another,  the  lady  who  first  sug- 
gested this  venture,  now  edits  a  fortnightly  newspaper 
called  The  Tongue  of  the  Woman.  In  a  letter  recently 
received,  it  is  said  that  this  paper  "flourishes  exceedingly," 
and  that  its  editor  had  just  been  giving  "a  very  keen  and 
enthusiastic  talk"  at  the  Mothers'  Union  "on  more  and 
better  education  for  girls."  How  are  they  going  to  get 
what  they  need  and  want? 

In  Shiraz  an  effort  has  lately  been  made  by  the  progres- 
sive party  there,  to  open  a  girls'  school.  The  Prince 
Governor,  a  clever  and  enlightened  man,  is  in  favour  of 
it,  but  there  is  strong  opposition  from  the  Mullahs,  who 
say  that  Islam  does  not  allow  the  education  of  girls.  This 
statement  is  a  severe  blow  to  the  future  of  Islam  in  Shiraz. 
People  are  demanding  education  for  their  girls;  if  Islam 
forbids  it  they  will  seriously  consider  forsaking  Islam. 
The  probability  is,  that  they  will  be  attracted  to  the  reli- 
gion which  satisfies  the  need  they  are  beginning  to  feel.  A 
young  convert  to  the  new  cult  of  Bahaism  recently  gave 
among  his  reasons  for  the  change,  that  Islam  hindered  all 
progress,  and  would  not  tolerate  modern  education  for  all 
classes  and  for  both  sexes,  and  that  if  it  did,  it  would  need 
to  be  changed  radically.  He  also  referred  to  the  low 
position  which  it  gives  to  women,  whereas  Bahaism  advo- 
cates the  equality  of  the  sexes,  and  the  need  of  using  every 
means  by  which  progress  may  be  made.  It  prohibits 
polygamy  and  divorce,  directs  women  to  discard  the  veil 
and  share  as  equals  in  the  intercourse  of  social  life.     The 

future  of  Christian  women  in  Persia  is  one  of  great  possi- 
2 


126  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

bilities.  From  the  Bible,  which  many  read  for  them- 
selves, from  teaching  and  example,  numbers  are  learning 
to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Master.  Christian  homes 
are  multiplying.  Numbers  of  women  and  girls  are  at 
work  in  the  mission  hospitals,  and  schools,  as  Bible- 
women,  nurses,  ward  maids,  and  teachers,  where  by  lip 
and  life,  they  commend  our  most  holy  faith.  Some  are 
ready  to  teach  in  the  villages,  others  use  the  press. 
Though  Islam  still  threatens  death  to  those  who  leave 
her  ranks,  many  run  the  risk.  In  practice  there  is  far 
more  liberty  at  the  present  time  than  the  most  sanguine 
would  have  dared  to  hope  for,  twenty  years  ago.  If 
Persia  is  again  to  count  as  a  nation  she  must  have  leaders 
from  among  her  own  people,  both  men  and  women.  Jus- 
tice must  be  assured  to  both  sexes  and  all  classes.  The 
untouched  resources  of  the  country  must  be  developed — 
she  must  have  good  roads  and  railways,  good  water  sup- 
ply, postal  service,  hospitals  and  orphanages,  and  industrial 
and  social  advance.  But  all  these  things  are  impossible 
without  education,  and  unless  that  is  a  Christian  educa- 
tion, the  country  will  be  better  without  it.  Education 
opens  many  doors  which  are  far  better  left  closed,  unless 
those  entering  them  know  something  of  the  Spirit  of 
Christ. 

The  Spirit  of  God  is  working  wonderfully  among  the 
nations,  yet  it  is  left  to  us  to  hasten  or  hinder  His  work. 
Man's  work  is  limited  only  by  time  and  strength  and 
capacity,  so  vast  are  today's  God-given  opportunities. 

What  is  to  be  the  future  of  Persia?  This  can  only  be 
answered  when  the  development  of  its  womanhood  is  fore- 
seen. This  is  bound  up  with  the  educational  facilities 
opened  to  them  and  depends  upon  the  religious  founda- 
tion of  the  education.  What  is  it  to  be ?  Islam  does  not  be- 
lieve in  education,  and  so  is  out  of  the  running.  Is  it  to  be 
Bahaism  or  Christianity?  Much  depends  on  the  response 
of  the  women  of  the  West.     What  shall  it  be? 

Eastbourne,  England.  CLARA  C.  RiCE. 


MOSLEM  RETROGRESSION 

There  is  one  argument,  which  has  always  seemed  to  me 
one  of  the  most  potent  for  refuting  the  claims  of  Islam, 
but  which  has,  as  far  as  I  have  noticed,  received  compara- 
tively little  attention  from  writers  whose  object  is  to  refute 
those  claims,  and  thus  to  help  to  draw  those  who  hold 
them  to  Christ,  the  sum  of  all  true  divine  revelation.  It  is 
what  I  venture  to  call  the  retrogression  of  Islam  behind 
the  point  reached  by  those  which  Moslems  themselves 
acknowledge  to  be  previous  divine  revelations. 

Any  one  who  in  order,  and  carefully,  reads  the  Bible — 
summarized  by  Moslems  as  the  Law,  the  Psalms,  and  the 
Gospel — cannot  fail  to  perceive  that  it  contains  a  progres- 
sive series  of  revelations  from  God.  In  other  words,  it 
has  pleased  God  not  to  reveal  His  will,  and  the  knowledge 
of  Himself,  to  mankind  all  at  once,  but  gradually,  in  suc- 
cessive stages  (''by  divers  portions  as  well  as  in  divers 
manners,"  Heb.  i:i).  Now  suppose  a  person,  accus- 
tomed to  the  thought  of  this  progress  in  the  Bible,  were 
told  that  the  Koran  also  is  the  Word  of  God,  he  would 
naturally  conclude  that  the  same  progress  will  be  found 
in  it;  i.  e.,  that  as  the  New  Testament  exhibits  an  advance 
in  many  respects  beyond  the  Old,  so  the  Koran  must  show 
a  progress  beyond  the  New  Testament.  And  if  the  sup- 
posed student  were  further  told  that  the  revelation  of  God 
in  the  Koran  is  so  perfect,  that  not  only  is  it  superior  to  all 
previous  revelations,  but  no  revelation  more  perfect  than 
it  can  be  imagined,  because  it  is  the  last  Word  of  God  to 
man,  then  he  would  much  more  certainly  infer  that  not 
only  the  progress  noticeable  in  the  earlier  books  will 
be  maintained  in  this  latest  one,  but  it  will  also  be  much 
more  evident  and  complete  in  the  Koran  than  it  is  in  the 
other  books.  On  opening  the  Koran,  however,  with  this 
expectation,    what   will    he   find?     Not   only    that    the 

127 


128  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

progress  visible  in  the  earlier  revelations  is  not  maintained 
in  the  book  which  Moslems  consider  the  seal  of  them  all, 
i.  e.,  it  displays  no  advance  beyond  the  New  Testament; 
but  also  that  in  many  important  respects  it  falls  behind 
even  the  earliest  of  those  former  revelations.  In  one 
word,  he  will  perceive  not  progress,  but  retrogression. 
Let  us  now  illustrate  this  in  more  detail. 

L  It  might  appear  on  the  surface  that  there  is  not  much 
progress  in  God's  revelations  concerning  His  own  nature 
and  attributes ;  for  from  the  beginning  He  revealed  Him- 
self as  One  Almighty  Supreme  Being,  Creator  and  Ruler 
of  the  whole  world,  and  Himself  separate  from  His 
creation.  Yet,  as  we  study  the  Bible  more  deeply,  we 
find  a  clear  progression  in  the  revelation  of  God's  at- 
tributes. To  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  He  specially  re- 
vealed Himself  as  "God  Almighty"  (Ex.  6:3),  and  laid 
less  stress  on  His  other  attributes.  Then,  in  the  Law  of 
Moses  He  specially  brought  forward  His  righteousness; 
and  at  great  length  unfolded  the  rewards  of  obedience, 
and  the  punishments  of  disobedience,  to  His  Command- 
ments; and  along  with  this  He  revealed  Himself  as  a  for- 
giving God,  but  did  not  yet  show  any  sufficient  way  by 
which  this  was  compatible  with  His  righteousness.  Fur- 
thermore, in  the  Law  of  Moses  He  began  to  proclaim  His 
own  holiness,  and  to  require  corresponding  holiness  in 
men.  These  points  were  gradually  made  more  clear 
through  succeeding  Prophets.  They  made  it  increasingly 
plain  that  God's  omnipotence  was  not  that  of  a  tyrant,  but 
always  subject  to  His  righteousness  (e.  g.,  Ps.  99:  4,  "The 
King's  strength  also  loveth  judgment;  it  is  Thou  that  hast 
established  equity;  it  is  Thou  that  hast  executed  judg- 
ment and  righteousness  in  Jacob").  And  the  same 
prophets  showed  the  radical  distinction  between  the  true 
God  and  the  deities  of  other  nations  to  be,  not  in  the  fact 
that  He  was  mightier  than  they,  but  that  they  were  im- 
pure, and  He  was  altogether  holy.  And  whereas  in  the 
Law  of  Moses  the  forgiveness  of  sins  is  dependent  on 
various  kinds  of  sacrifices,  and  there  is  no  forgiveness  pos- 


MOSLEM  RETROGRESSION  129 

sible  for  determined  sins,  the  Prophets  proclaimed  a 
divine  pardon  which  was  perfect,  permanent,  and  uni- 
versal. Yet  notwithstanding,  neither  Law  nor  the  Proph- 
ets contain  more  than  a  very  slight  reference  to  the  highest 
attribute  of  God,  viz:  His  Fatherhood;  and  in  the  few 
places  in  which  it  is  mentioned,  it  is  limited  to  His  rela- 
tion to  the  Israelites.  But  when  Christ  came.  He  laid 
chief  stress  on  this  divine  attribute.  Not  that  any  less 
stress  is  laid  in  the  Gospel  on  the  Unity,  Omnipotence, 
Justice,  and  Holiness  of  God,  than  in  the  previous  revela- 
tions, but  over  and  above  these,  far  more  is  said  in  the 
New  Testament  of  God's  fatherly  love  than  in  the  previ- 
ous books.  And  whereas  those  whose  consciences  have 
been  awakened  to  feel  the  heinousness  and  awfulness  of  sin 
cannot  be  satisfied  with  the  Prophets'  declaration  of  a 
mere  divine  forgiveness  without  any  mention  of  a  sacri- 
fice, in  the  Gospel  the  teachings  of  Moses  and  of  the 
Prophets  on  this  subject  are  combined :  i.  e.,  on  the  one 
hand  the  forgiveness  of  sins  is  shown  to  be  full,  gratuitous, 
and  a  gift  of  God's  free  grace ;  and  on  the  other  it  is  shown 
to  depend  on  that  sacrifice,  in  comparison  with  which  all 
other  sacrifices,  that  have  ever  anywhere  been  offered,  are 
utterly  inadequate.  This  is  the  chief  reason  why  God  is, 
in  that  book  which  is  the  last  in  point  of  time  of  all  books 
of  the  New  Testament,  called  not  only  Loving  but  Love 
itself. 

Now  let  us  look  at  the  Koran.  In  it  appears  as  much 
knowledge  of  the  nature  and  attributes  of  God,  as  was 
given  in  the  time  of  Abraham.  But  the  Power  of  God  is 
in  it  so  exaggerated,  that  it  prevails  over,  and  as  it  were 
swallows  up,  not  only  His  Love,  but  even  His  Justice. 
Else  how  could  the  Koran  teach  that  a  man's  believing  or 
remaining  an  unbeliever,  his  being  saved  or  being  doomed 
to  hell,  depends  on  the  divine  decree?  And  how  comes  it 
that  every  Mohammedan  not  only  strenuously  denies  that 
God  can  be  a  Father,  but  classes  a  statement  of  His 
Fatherhood  as  blasphemy?  True,  what  makes  them  ab- 
hor the  idea  of  God's  Fatherhood  is  that  they  take  it  in  a 


130  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

carnal  sense,  in  which  indeed  it  is  blasphemy;  but  is  not 
the  fact,  that  from  the  Law  to  the  Gospel  the  truth  that 
God  is  in  a  spiritual  sense  the  Father  of  man  is  more  and 
more  clearly  revealed,  and  that  in  the  Koran  His  Father- 
hood is  absolutely  denied,  a  proof  of  retrogression  in  the 
latter?  It  is  true  that  the  Koran  teaches  that  God  loves 
His  faithful  servants;  but  the  Gospel  teaches,  first,  that 
God  loves  all  men ;  secondly,  that  He  has  proved  His  love 
by  a  gift,  no  parallel  to  which  can  be  imagined,  viz :  that 
He,  incarnate,  sacrificed  Himself  for  the  sins  of  men;  and 
thirdly,  that  for  this  reason  He  "is  Love."  Seeing  that 
not  one  of  these  things  is  to  be  found  in  the  Koran,  is  not 
its  retrogression  manifest? 

IL  Again,  in  the  mutual  relation  of  the  sexes  the  Koran 
exhibits  no  advance.  By  making  Eve  out  of  Adam's  rib, 
God  proclaimed  for  all  time  that  bigamy  and  polygamy 
are  contrary  to  His  mind.  And  the  first  bigamist  came  of 
the  race  of  Cain  the  accursed.  As  opposed  to  his  ex- 
ample, each  of  Noah's  three  sons  had  only  one  wife.  It  is 
true  that  in  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  God  nowhere  for- 
bade polygamy;  yet  it  is  also  true  that  He  showed  the 
evil  effects  of  it  by  the  example  of  many  persons.  And 
through  the  last  of  the  Old  Testament  Prophets  (Mai.  2: 
14-16),  and  again  through  Christ  Himself,  God  clearly 
intimated,  by  the  example  of  Adam  and  Eve,  that  His 
will  was  monogamy. 

Again,  at  the  beginning  the  marriage  of  brother  and 
sister  cannot  have  been  unlawful,  for  no  other  was  pos- 
sible. Yet  God  gradually  showed  it  to  be  unlawful. 
Abraham  is  nowhere  blamed  for  having  married  his  half- 
sister.  But  in  the  Law  of  Moses  marriage  with  sisters, 
whether  half-sisters  or  whole  sisters,  is  strictly  forbidden; 
and  all  who  perpetrate  such  an  enormity  are  to  be  put  to 
death.     And  this  has  been  plainly  God's  will  ever  since. 

Again,  "on  account  of  the  hardness  of  the  heart"  of  the 
Israelites  Moses  gave  permission  for  divorce,  though  con- 
ditioned by  several  restrictions;  but  Christ,  and  after 
Him  the  Apostle  Paul,  absolutely  prohibited  divorce,  ex- 


MOSLEM  RETROGRESSION  131 

cept  (and  this  exception  is  not  universally  held  to  come 
from  Christ's  words)  when  adultery  had  already  broken 
the  marriage  bond.  Thus  marriage  was  again  sanctified 
and  honoured  as  it  had  not  been  since  the  creation  of  man 
and  woman. 

Now,  comparing  what  the  Koran  says  on  this  subject 
with  what  we  have  just  seen,  what  retrogression  we  find! 
For  one  thing,  it  permits  every  Moslem  not  only  to  have 
as  many  as  four  wives  at  once,  but  in  addition  to  keep  as 
concubines  as  many  slaves  as  he  captures  in  battle,  or  as 
the  result  of  victory.  True,  the  Koran  is  as  strong  as  the 
Law  against  the  marriage  of  brother  and  sister;  but  the 
permission  of  divorce  for  any  but  one  cause,  which  Christ 
had  annulled,  is  again  established  in  the  Koran;  and  so 
the  perfect  purity  of  matrimony  is  again  assailed.  Is  not 
this  retrogression? 

III.  As  to  slavery.  This  was  recognized  in  the  Law  of 
Moses;  yet  slave  traffic  was  so  strongly  condemned 
therein,  that  any  one  stealing  and  selling  a  human  being 
was  according  to  it  to  be  put  to  death.  Further,  no  Is- 
raelite could  remain  in  bondage  to  another  Israelite  for 
more  than  six  years  without  his  own  consent;  and  when, 
hundreds  of  years  afterwards,  the  Jews  broke  this  law 
(see  Jer.  34:  8-22),  God  was  extremely  displeased  with 
them.  It  is  true  that  even  in  the  New  Testament  slavery 
is  nowhere  prohibited;  and  it  could  not  have  been  so,  in 
the  then  state  of  society,  without  causing  confusion  and 
revolution,  which  Christianity  never  countenances.  But 
the  teaching  of  the  Gospel,  that  all  men  are  naturally,  and 
in  God's  sight,  equal,  gradually  sank  deeper,  and  deeper, 
into  the  mind  of  the  Church  of  Christ  so  that  at  length 
not  only  was  slavery  abolished  among  Christians,  but  their 
efforts  to  put  it  down  among  others  have  been  very  largely 
successful.  That  it  is  openly  established  today  only  in 
what  may  be  called  the  holes  and  corners  of  the  earth  is 
due  to  Christianity,  and  to  that  alone. 

Here,  again,  we  find  in  Islam  no  progress,  but  retro- 
gression.    It  is  true  that  the  Koran  teaches  the  equality  of 


132  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

all  believers,  i.  e.,  all  Moslems,  and  indeed  lays  stress  on 
this  truth;  but  as  it  has  no  room  either  for  the  revelation 
that  God  created  man  in  His  own  image,  or  for  the  doc- 
trine that  Christ  offered  Himself  for  the  salvation  of  all 
men,  it  is  no  wonder  that  it  nowhere  teaches  the  equality 
of  all  men,  nor  anywhere  prohibits  slavery,  or  makes  any 
effort  for  its  abolition.  And  so  we  find  it  today;  no  be- 
liever in  the  Koran  considers  slavery  unlawful,  or  even 
improper. 

IV.  In  God's  revelation  of  the  sanctity  of  human  life  we 
find  a  manifest  progress  in  the  Bible.  True,  God  re- 
vealed it  to  Noah  (Gen.  9:  5,  6),  and  insisted  on  the  abso- 
lute difference  between  human  and  animal  life  in  this 
respect;  so  that  at  the  very  time  when  He  allowed  man 
to  eat  the  flesh  of  animals  He  enacted  that  death  should 
be  the  penalty  of  murder.  And  the  Law  of  Moses  is 
equally  clear  on  the  sinfulness  of  shedding  the  blood  of  an 
innocent  person  (Num.  35  :  33,  34;  Deut.  21 :  8,  9).  Yet 
God's  instructions,  and  His  own  actions,  in  many  cases  in 
Old  Testament  times  show  a  disregard  of  human  life 
which  to  us  seems  appalling.  We  do  not  refer  here  to  the 
slaughter  of  the  Canaanites  and  the  Amalekites,  because 
special  reasons  are  given  for  this,  nor  to  Elijah's  slaughter 
of  the  prophets  of  Baal,  for  which  we  can  well  suppose  a 
sufficient  reason;  but — to  mention  only  a  few  instances — 
to  the  striking  dead  of  Uzza  for  an  act  of  unintentional 
irreverence,  to  the  slaughter  among  the  Bethshemites  for 
irreverence  due  only  to  curiosity,  to  Elijah's  calling  down 
fire  from  heaven  to  consume  the  innocent  messengers  of 
a  wicked  king,  and  to  Elijah's  curse  which  had  fatal  effects 
on  the  boys  of  Bethel. 

The  contrast  which  the  New  Testament  offers  to  all 
this  is  unmistakable.  Though  the  words  in  Luke  9:  55, 
which  plainly  express  this  contrast,  are  probably  not  genu- 
ine, yet  the  undoubted  fact  that  Christ  "turned  and  re- 
buked" those  who  proposed  to  imitate  Elijah's  action  by 
the  destruction  of  the  inhospitable  Samaritans,  and  simply 
turned  aside  "to  another  village,"  is  sufficient  to  show  this 


MOSLEM  RETROGRESSION  133 

contrast.  So  is  His  stern  rebuke  to  Peter  for  using  his 
sword  in  defence  even  of  Himself,  with  the  statement  that 
"they  who  take  the  sword  shall  perish  by  the  sword." 
Needless  to  say,  the  teaching  of  the  Apostles  is  in  entire 
conformity  with  this,  St.  Paul's  "the  weapons  of  our  war- 
fare are  not  of  the  flesh"  being  a  sufficient  illustration. 

But  the  teaching  of  the  Koran  goes  back  entirely,  as  we 
all  know,  from  the  point  thus  reached  to  that  of  the 
Old  Testament.  It  shows  the  Arabian  prophet  depend- 
ing more  and  more  on  an  arm  of  flesh,  and  on  the  slaughter 
of  those  who  opposed  his  claims.  Nay  more,  whereas 
the  Israelites  were  never  commanded  to  propagate  their 
religion  by  the  sword,  Islam  in  those  first  ages  of  its  his- 
tory was  almost  entirely  extended  by  this  means.  It  is,  of 
course,  only  too  true  that  Christians  have  often  done  the 
same,  but  they  have  done  it  in  plain  contradiction  to  the 
teaching  of  the  Gospel,  whereas  Moslems  have  simply  fol- 
lowed their  own  sacred  book  in  doing  so.  Is  there  not 
manifest  retrogression  here? 

V.  With  regard  to  the  life  after  death  we  freely  ac- 
knowledge a  great  advance  in  the  teaching  of  the  Koran 
beyond  that  in  the  Law  and  the  Prophets.  It  is  true  that, 
from  the  first,  believers  in  God  had  no  doubt  but  that  He 
would  not  forsake  them  when  they  left  this  body,  but 
would,  somewhere  and  somehow,  keep  them  safe  with 
Himself ;  but  beyond  this,  they  do  not  seem  at  first  to  have 
had  any  knowledge  of  what  would  be  their  condition  after 
death.  (And,  this  being  the  case,  the  fact  that  the  Law 
of  Moses  contains  no  sanctions  of  its  innumerable  com- 
mandments drawn  from  the  future  world,  in  striking  con- 
trast with  the  Laws  of  Manu,  is  a  clear  proof  that  the  Law 
proceeded  from  God,  and  not  from  Moses'  own  mind.) 
This  ignorance,  specially  applied  to  the  Resurrection. 
True,  here  and  there  in  the  Psalms  and  the  writings  of  the 
Prophets  we  do  find  passages  showing  that  the  writers  had 
some  glimmering  hope  of  a  resurrection  from  the  dead, 
like  occasional  rays  of  the  sun  bursting  through  the  clouds 
on  a  dull  day;  yet  such  passages  are  but  few  and  far  be- 


134  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

tween.  Daniel  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  whom  it 
was  revealed  that  both  the  righteous  and  the  wicked 
would  rise  again  (Dan.  12:  2)  ;  but  even  he  speaks  not 
of  the  resurrection  of  all  men,  but  only  of  "many."  After 
him,  we  know  not  how,  but  somehow  or  other,  God  taught 
the  Jews  the  doctrine  of  the  Resurrection;  and  some  of 
them  so  firmly  grasped  it,  that  they  gladly  became  mar- 
tyrs in  the  hope  of  it  (Heb.  11 :  35).  Nevertheless,  this 
doctrine  was  not  received  by  all  the  Jews ;  indeed  one  sect 
of  them  expressly  denied  it  and,  what  is  even  more  im- 
portant to  notice,  the  Jews'  faith  in  the  Resurrection  rested 
only  on  what  they  conceived  to  be  God's  word  about  it, 
not  on  any  solid  fact.  Moreover,  the  resurrection  which 
faithful  Jews  hoped  for  was  a  very  imperfect  resurrec- 
tion; i.  e.,  they  believed  that  the  resurrection  body  would 
be  like  the  body  before  death,  and  the  life  to  be  lived  in 
the  resurrection  body  would  be  like  the  life  lived  in  the 
present  body.  But  this  crude  idea  was  entirely  dispelled, 
in  the  case  of  Christians,  by  the  Resurrection  of  Christ: 
For  one  thing,  when  Christians  were  convinced,  by  irre- 
fragable testimony,  that  Christ  had  in  very  deed  risen 
from  the  dead,  then  this  fact  became  to  them  the  sure 
proof  of  the  doctrine  in  question.  From  that  time,  if  any 
one  asked  a  Christian  whence  he  had  obtained  his  sure 
hope  of  a  resurrection,  he  would  reply,  "Christ  is  risen, 
therefore  we  believe  that  we,  too,  shall  rise."  Can  the 
Head  rise,  and  the  members  remain  under  the  power  of 
death?  And  secondly,  as  Christ  by  His  Resurrection  ob- 
tained a  different  kind  of  body  from  what  He  had  before 
His  death — i.  e.,  from  mortal  it  became  immortal,  from 
bein^  subject  to  the  laws  of  the  material  universe  it  be- 
came independent  of  them,  from  weak  it  became  power- 
ful, and  from  being  subject  to  all  kinds  of  pain  and  in- 
firmity it  became  a  perfect  body — even  so  Christians  ob- 
tained a  firm  belief  that  they,  too,  would  at  the  Resurrec- 
tion gain  similar  bodies.  And  this  firm  belief  they  still 
have. 

Now  let  us  look  at  the  Koran,  and  see  what  it  says  about 


MOSLEM  RETROGRESSION  135 

all  this.  First,  we  see  that  the  doubt  and  ignorance, 
which  the  Old  Testament  writers  display  on  the  subject 
of  the  life  after  death  has  been  exchanged  for  firm  assur- 
ance. Here,  then,  we  find  decided  progress.  Secondly, 
we  find  all  the  doubts  and  denials  of  a  resurrection,  which 
largely  existed  at  the  era  of  the  beginning  of  Christianity, 
even  among  those  who  followed  the  Law  of  Moses,  are 
entirely  gone;  so  that,  according  to  the  Koran,  no  one 
who  does  not  believe  the  Resurrection  can  be  a  Moslem. 
Here,  again,  we  mark  a  welcome  progress.  Yet,  while 
progress  is  clear  in  the  Koran  as  compared  with  the  Jew- 
ish belief,  in  comparison  with  Christian  doctrine  its  teach- 
ing shows  at  least  equal  retrogression.  For  one  thing,  in 
it  the  doctrine  of  the  Resurrection  is  based  on  no  event, 
but  only  on  the  book,  which  Moslems  have  to  believe  to 
be  God's  word.  The  Koran  does  not  even  illustrate  this 
doctrine  by  the  example  of  any  prophet,  whom  it  might 
have  averred  to  have  risen  from  the  dead.  Indeed,  alas! 
alas!  of  the  one  Prophet  who  actually  has  risen  from  the 
dead,  the  Koran  even  denies  the  death;  and  all  Moslems 
hold  this  opinion  to  the  present  day.  The  resurrection 
of  which  the  Koran  gives  the  hope  is  only  of  the  same 
kind  as  most  of  the  Jews  had  before  believed.  That  is,  it 
gives  a  hope  only  of  such  bodies  as  we  now  have,  bodies 
which  require  eating,  drinking,  sleeping,  and  the  exercise 
of  other  bodily  functions.  In  these  two  ways,  then,  in 
respect  of  the  doctrine  of  Resurrection  Islam  has  retro- 
graded behind  Christianity. 

VI.  There  is  a  special  article  of  faith,  part  indeed  of  the 
"Doctrine  of  the  Last  Things,"  but  which  seems  to  require 
special  treatment.  Throughout  the  Old  Testament,  but 
specially  in  the  Psalms  and  the  Prophets,  we  find  scat- 
tered prophecies  to  the  effect  that  in  the  last  days  God 
would,  either  by  Himself  coming  into  the  world,  or  by 
sending  a  certain  great  Man,  do  away  with  the  confusion 
which  prevails  among  men,  and  in  its  stead  establish  a 
reign  of  perfect  righteousness  and  peace.  And  Chris- 
tians believe  that  these  prophecies  have  already  to  some 


136  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

extent  been  fulfilled  through  the  Birth,  Life,  Death,  and 
Resurrection  of  Christ;  but  only  to  some  extent.  For  the 
state  of  the  world  has  not  yet  so  improved,  as  the  Prophets 
foretold  that  it  would.  And  although  true  Christians 
have  perfect  peace  in  their  own  hearts,  yet  they  are  as  sub- 
ject to  manifold  bodily  troubles,  and  external  dangers,  as 
others  are.  For  this  reason.  Christians,  relying  on 
Christ's  own  promises,  and  the  word  of  angels,  and  the 
writing  of  Apostles,  have  always  expected  a  second  com- 
ing of  Christ.  True,  the  Koran  also  foretells  a  return  of 
Christ  to  preach  Islam,  and  to  bring  all  men  into  sub- 
jection to  it;  but  it  contains  no  mention  at  all  of  that 
''blessed  hope,"  in  reliance  on  which  all  true  Christians 
have,  generation  after  generation,  overcome  all  manner  of 
sufferings,  dangers,  temptations  and  persecutions  and  even 
death  itself.  They  entertain  a  certain  hope  that  He  who 
at  His  first  coming  was  rejected,  oppressed,  despised,  and 
crucified,  will  come  again  in  divine  glory  and  majesty, 
and  give  peace  to  the  whole  world.  Not  that  He  will 
take  vengeance  on  those  who  formerly  ill-treated  Him, 
for  He  desires  the  everlasting  welfare  of  all  men;  but  He 
will  destroy  those  who  till  then  will  have  persisted  in 
despising  His  Love,  and  will  give  eternal  rest  with  Him- 
self, i.  e.,  in  His  own  holy  company,  to  His  faithful  serv- 
ants. For  then  the  devil  will  be  cast  forever  into  hell, 
and  in  the  hearts  of  true  believers  there  will  be  no  desire 
for,  or  tendency  to,  evil.  Well  may  we  ask  Moslems  the 
question,  where  in  the  Koran  is  such  a  blessed  hope  to  be 
found? 

As  we  study  the  Scriptures,  as  far  as  the  New  Testa- 
ment, consecutively,  we  find  that  gradually,  more  and 
more,  spiritual  things  take  the  place  of  material,  inward 
concerns  supersede  the  outward,  divine  grace  and  love  ap- 
pear instead  of  the  claims  of  law;  but  when,  passing  on 
from  the  New  Testament,  we  look  into  the  Book  which 
claims  to  be  the  "seal"  of  all  former  Scriptures  in  such 
sense  that  having  it  we  have  no  more  need  of  them,  what 
do  we  see?     That  carnality  has  again  taken  the  place  of 


MOSLEM  RETROGRESSION  137 

spirituality,  again  stress  is  laid  on  the  external  rather  than 
the  internal;  love  is  dethroned,  and  law  again  enthroned 
in  its  place;  and  instead  of  a  full  and  sufficient  atone- 
ment for  sins,  salvation  by  good  works,  which  is  by  its  own 
nature  impossible,  is  again  proclaimed.  Hence  the  claim, 
with  which  we  started,  is  irrefragable;  viz:  that  instead 
of  the  progress,  which  students  of  the  former  Scriptures 
naturally  expect  to  find  in  the  Koran,  only  retrogression 
is  found  in  it.  Therefore  let  us  courteously  beg  every 
Mohammedan,  who  seems  to  have  an  open  mind,  without 
prejudice,  but  with  earnest  prayer,  to  read  consecutively 
the  books  which  he  considers  to  be  inspired,  from  the 
Pentateuch  to  the  Koran,  and  accept  the  conclusion  which 
will  then  irresistibly  form  itself  in  his  mind. 

Mussoorie,  India.  W.  HoOPER. 


THE.  MISSIONARY  OUTLOOK  AND  THE 
MOSLEM   PROBLEM 

The  missionary  outlook  upon  the  Moslem  world  today 
is  governed  largely  by  the  effects  of  the  war.  Every 
problem  of  evangelization  is  altered  to  some  extent  by  the 
new  conditions  that  now  obtain.  Moslems  the  world  over 
have  been  shaken  by  the  war.  The  head  of  the  religion, 
the  Sultan  of  Turkey,  has  been  beaten  in  battle  after 
battle,  his  armies  have  been  smashed,  and  foreign  powers 
now  occupy  the  capital  of  the  Moslem  world,  Constanti- 
nople. This  has  brought  about  such  an  upheaval  that 
every  student  of  Islam  must  view  the  field  from  the  two 
standpoints  of  pre-war  and  post-war. 

Lord  Cromer  in  his  "Modern  Egypt"  says  "Islam  re- 
formed is  Islam  no  longer."  This  represents  very  much 
the  pre-war  outlook.  We  have  always  been  accustomed 
to  look  upon  the  Moslems  as  strictly  conservative,  unalter- 
able, unchanging,  and  hide-bound  by  their  Koranic  laws 
and  traditions.  The  Moslem  is  very  much  a  man  of  fixed 
creed,  outlook  and  habits.  The  impression  one  gets  after 
long  intercourse  with  him  is  that  he  is  a  man  who  is 
supremely  indifferent  to  the  turmoil  of  European  politics. 
He  views  every  non-Islamic  religion,  and  particularly 
'Christianity,  from  a  pinnacle  of  superiority.  He  will,  if 
called  upon,  discuss  our  faith  with  the  detached,  tolerant 
and  even  patronizing  air  of  a  superior  being,  who  looks 
upon  all  other  religions  as  infinitely  below  him,  inferior 
to  Islam  and  scarcely  worth  discussion  or  investigation. 
This  applies  in  particular  to  the  sheikh  class,  and  in  a 
much  less  degree  to  the  effendi,  who  is  more  in  touch 
with  modern  thought  and  movements.  This  attitude  of 
superiority  is  largely  due  to  the  history  and  traditions  of 
Islam.     Mohammedanism  sprang  into  being  with  meteor- 

138 


MISSIONARY  OUTLOOK  AND  MOSLEM  PROBLEM  139 

like  rapidity.  The  personality  of  the  prophet  gripped 
the  imagination  of  Arabia,  and  the  religion  spread 
throughout  Persia,  Syria,  Egypt,  and  North  Africa 
with  amazing  speed.  Governments  and  empires  toppled 
down  before  the  sword  of  Mohammed,  and  the  army  of 
Islam  was  looked  upon  as  invincible.  The  proof  re- 
quired by  the  Arabs  for  the  claims  of  Mohammed  was 
mainly  success,  and  victory  in  battle  was  interpreted  as 
evidence  of  divine  favour.  Defeat  to  a  Moslem  army 
was  interpreted  very  much  as  Joshua  viewed  the  reverse 
of  the  Israelites  at  Ai.  It  meant  to  Mohammedans  that 
God  was  not  fighting  for  them.  Thus  in  the  early  days 
-of  the  expansion  of  Islam  victory  in  battle  was  a  sine  qua 
non  to  faith  in  Islam.  A  theocratic  form  of  government 
was  set  up  and  out  of  it  sprang  the  claims  of  Mohammed 
to  temporal  power.  Behind  all  the  faith,  prayers,  alms 
and  pilgrimages  of  a  devout  Moslem  there  glittered  the 
sword,  and  there  followed  with  every  new  growth  of 
Mohammedanism  bloodshed,  ruin,  rape,  and  plunder. 
Nations  conquered  were  crushed  under  the  heel  of  an 
intolerant  master,  who  saw  nothing  good  in  the  world 
outside  Islam.  Let  us  not  forget  that  this  claim  of  tem- 
poral power  is  not  simply  an  historic  fact  but  it  dominates 
today  the  outlook  upon  the  world  of  the  most  spiritual 
Moslems.  The  triumph  of  their  faith  means  still  world 
conquest.  Since  these  early  days  Islam  has  declined 
politically  and  all  through  the  last  century  one  after  an- 
other of  the  Balkan  States  regained  their  independence. 
Islam  in  Europe  became  a  negligible  quantity.  In  the 
East  the  Turkish  Empire  has  remained  very  much  intact, 
and  up  to  the  beginning  of  the  war  Asia  Minor,  Syria, 
Palestine,  parts  of  Arabia,  and  Mesopotamia  were  kept 
in  subjection  by  all  the  despotism  of  the  Turk. 

This  decline  of  Islam  has  been  viewed  with  much  heart 
searching  by  all  devout  Moslems.  I  have  frequently 
heard  them  speak  of  the  present  times  as  "the  latter  days" 
when  there  would  be  a  falling  away  from  the  faith,  and 
they  ever  looked  forward  in  faith  to  the  coming  of  the 


HO  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Mahdi,  who  would  restore  again  the  kingdom  to  Islam. 
This  heart  searching  has  led  among  the  simpler  folk  to  a 
great  increase  in  the  dervish  orders,  and  it  has  made,  the 
better  educated  take  a  wider  outlook  upon  their  faith  in 
relation  to  modern  thought  and  civilization.  They  could 
no  longer  be  blind  to  European  influences,  nor  could  they 
shut  their  eyes  to  the  difference  in  social  conditions  be- 
tween Christian  and  Moslem  countries.  Democracy  be- 
came a  new  and  fascinating  study  to  the  effendi  class,  who 
sought  to  adapt  their  religion  to  modern  requirements. 
They  still  looked  back  to  the  old  days  of  theocratic  rule 
very  much  as  the  ideal,  but  they  became  profoundly  dis- 
satisfied with  their  present  conditions. 

The  revolution  in  Turkey  when  Abd-el-Hamid,  the 
Sultan  was  deposed,  was  an  expression  of  this  dissatisfac- 
tion. The  Young  Turkish  Party  gained  the  upper  hand, 
and  the  people  in  Jerusalem  and  other  large  Moslem 
cities  paraded  the  streets  in  large  processions.  Christians, 
Moslems  and  Jews  were  seen  arm  in  arm  walking  through 
the  streets  with  banners  and  flags,  and  they  were  all  shout- 
ing for  liberty,  fraternity,  and  equality.  While  it  is  per- 
fectly true  that  the  whole  movement  was  captured  by  an 
unscrupulous  gang  of  young  Turks  whose  whole  aim  was 
selfish,  and  who  interpreted  patriotism  in  terms  of  greed 
and  gain,  yet  there  were  forces  underlying  the  movement 
that  were  unselfish  and  patriotic.  There  was  in  many 
thousand  Moslem  hearts  the  cry  for  something  better. 
They  were  blindly  groping  after  something,  ill-defined  if 
you  will,  and  possibly  doomed  to  failure  from  the  start, 
but  these  forces  had  taken  root,  and  they  will  be  the  great 
factors  in  the  Moslem  world  of  the  future. 

The  Turkish  revolution  was  the  direct  outcome  of  the 
contact  of  the  Moslem  world  with  modern  Western  civili- 
zation. The  movement  failed  not  because  of  the  con- 
servatism of  Islam  but  through  lack  of  moral  character 
in  its  leaders.  The  people  thought  that  what  the  West 
had  done  they  could  imitate,  and  they  forgot  that  behind 
Western  democracy  lies  the  sterling  character,  born  of 


MISSIONARY  OUTLOOK  AND  MOSLEM  PROBLEM  141 

Christian  teaching  and  based  on  Christian  ethics,  and  that 
good  government  involves  good  men  to  govern.  Islam 
failed  in  government  simply  because  it  fails  to  develop 
character  free  from  bribery,  corruption  and  other  vices. 

When  Germany  plunged  the  v^orld  into  war  Enver 
Pasha  and  the  young  Turks  joined  in  the  fray  with  one 
aim  and  hope.  They  wished  to  reestablish  Islam  as  a 
power  in  the  world  and  to  regain  their  lost  fortunes. 
Many  a  young  Moslem  soldier  must  have  fought  with  the 
old  ideal  of  the  early  days  of  Islam  kept  brightly  before 
him. 

After  five  years  of  war  the  Moslem  armies  again  find 
themselves  broken.  Most  of  the  Turkish  Eastern  Em- 
pire is  passing  out  of  the  control  of  Moslems,  and  the  war 
has  dealt  a  shattering  blow  to'  Islam.  The  signing  of  the 
armistice  will  probably  prove  to  be  the  beginning  of  new 
things  in  the  Moslem  world.  Forces  that  had  been  latent 
throughout  the  war  now  found  expression,  and  what  the 
people  of  Syria  and  other  countries  had  been  seeking  for 
years  was  e!xpounded  by  President  Wilson  in  his  policy  of 
self-determination.  As  Moslems  this  was  exactly  what 
they  wanted,  although  they  had  ever  denied  it  to  Christian 
races  in  the  Turkish  Empire.  This  has  led  to  some  curi- 
ous results.  Prince  Feisal  has  been  crowned  king  of 
Syria.  The  Palestine  Christians  and  Moslems  are  united 
against  the  Jews,  and  in  Egypt  there  has  been  a  wide- 
spread revolution  for  complete  independence.  The  riot- 
ing in  Egypt  was  followed  by  big  demonstrations  in  all 
the  towns  of  the  land.  Moslems  and  Copts  united  in  one 
big  national  movement  for  the  independence  of  Egypt. 
A  great  effort  was  made  to  keep  it  non-religious  and 
purely  political,  but  religion  was  brought  into  practically 
every  speech  made.  The  result  was  a  compromise  be- 
tween Moslems  and  Copts.  Political  meetings  were  held 
in  mosques  and  churches.  Moslem  leaders  spoke  in  the 
churches  and  Copts  addressed  meetings  in  the  mosques. 
In  one  meeting  I  attended  in  a  Coptic  church  in  a  large 
town  in  the  Delta  the  Coptic  priest  and  the  Moslem 


142  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

sheikh  sat  side  by  side  facing  the  congregation.  A  young 
Nationalist  addressed  the  meeting  and  said,  "Mohammed 
and  Jesus  are  one.  Their  religions  are  one.  We  unite 
with  brotherhood  as  our  watchword,  one  race  and  one 
nation,  to  demand  our  complete  independence."  Red 
flags  were  waved  on  which  were  seen  for  the  first  time  in 
the  history  of  Islam,  I  think,  the  star  and  crescent  and  the 
cross  on  the  same  flag!  These  union  flags  with  the  Chris- 
tian cross  and  the  Moslem  crescent  were  used  all  over 
Egypt,  and  were  flown  from  thousands  of  houses  and 
shops. 

If  there  is  any  sincerity  in  Islam,  and  if  the  expressions 
of  friendship  with  other  religions  mean  anything,  then  a 
new  liberty  of  conscience  ought  to  be  one  of  the  first  fruits 
of  the  war.  Missionary  work  in  the  future  will  be  af- 
fected largely  by  the  way  liberty  and  freedom  for  all  reli- 
gions are  guaranteed  by  the  mandatory  powers.  Under 
Turkish  rule  the  penalty  for  conversion  from  Islam  to 
Christianity  was  death.  If  the  new  movement  for  politi- 
cal freedom  means  anything  it  ought  to  lead  to  a  breaking 
down  of  much  of  the  old  prejudice  and  bigotry  against 
Christianity.  The  whole  Moslem  outlook  on  the  world 
is  broadened  and  there  is  a  widespread  call  for  better  edu- 
cation. Much  of  the  old  conservatism  is  fading  away, 
and  in  the  Moslems,  new  study  of  Western  ideas  Chris- 
tianity will  not  be  left  out.  Missionary  work  of  the  past 
fifty  years,  although  it  has  not  shown  any  great  number 
of  conversions,  has  had  a  marked  influence  on  Syria, 
Egypt,  and  other  places.  The  great  educational  work  of 
the  American  Mission  is  much  valued  by  Moslems. 
Wherever  one  went  throughout  Palestine  and  Syria  dur- 
ing the  war  one  saw  the  influence  of  the  College  at 
Beirut.  It  has  not  simply  taught  English  well,  nor  the 
sciences  well,  but  it  has  given  a  new  character  to  the 
Syrian.  They  have  been  educated  in  an  atmosphere  of 
Christian  ethics,  and  their  characters  have  been  devel- 
oped, until  today  they  are  probably  the  most  reliable  men 
in  the  country.     In  Egypt  this  educational  work  of  the 


MISSIONARY  OUTLOOK  AND  MOSLEM  PROBLEM  143 

American  Presbyterians  has  meant  more  for  missionary 
work  in  general  than  anything  else.  Teachers  in  boys' 
and  girls'  mission  schools,  catechists  and  evangelists  are 
scattered  all  over  Egypt  from  the  colleges  of  Cairo  and 
Assiout.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  our  own 
C.  M.  S.  work  would  in  many  ways  have  been  crippled 
had  it  not  been  for  the  help  given  us  by  men  trained  in 
the  American  schools  and  colleges. 

The  medical  work  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society 
in  Egypt  and  Palestine  has  been  one  of  the  biggest  evan- 
gelistic agencies  in  Moslem  lands.  In  Old  Cairo  C.  M.  S. 
Hospital  alone  there  were  last  year  over  12,000  inpatients, 
and  over  29,000  patients  passed  through  the  hospital. 
Most  of  these  were  fellaheen  from  nearly  a  thousand 
towns  and  villages  of  Egypt.  Moslems  came  from 
Assouan  and  Alexandria  to  be  treated  in  our  hospital. 
They  could  have  gone  to  any  one  of  the  numerous  gov- 
ernment hospitals  nearer  their  homes,  and  there  they 
would  have  been  attended  free,  but  they  chose  to  come 
long  distances  to  a  mission  hospital,  where  small  charges 
are  made  for  those  who  can  afford  to  pay,  and  where  the 
Gospel  is  preached  daily  to  all  who  come.  During  the 
rioting  in  Egypt  last  year  missionaries  and  mission  prop- 
erty were  respected,  and  as  far  as  I  know  not  a  single 
mission  station  was  attacked,  although  government  build- 
ings were  wrecked  all  over  the  country. 

Since  the  days  of  Mohammed  many  changes  have  taken 
place.  The  religion  that  began  on  a  theocratic  basis  de- 
veloped through  temporal  power  into  a  world  force.  It 
declined  politically,  but  continued  a  strong,  conservative 
and  united  faith.  The  cold  creed  and  code  of  Moham- 
med could  never  fully  meet  the  needs  of  Eastern  people, 
and  mysticism  became  an  important  factor  in  Islam. 
Later  on  Western  civilization  influenced  it  and  demo- 
cratic movements  were  the  result.  The  conservative  old 
sheikh,  the  young  effendi,  and  the  spiritual  mystic  are  all 
shaken  now  by  the  war,  and  every  force  in  Islam  is  finding 
expression  in  the  new  movements  that  are  on  foot.     The 


144  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

unchanging  Moslem  is  certainly  changing,  and  there 
seems  to  be  a  great  quest  in  Islam  for  something  unde- 
fined; there  is  unrest,  political  troubles,  but  underneath 
them  all  there  is  still  this  quest.  We  believe  that  it  will 
never  be  satisfied  until  the  Moslem  comes  to  the  full  light 
and  liberty  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  As  Christian 
missionaries  we  need  to  study  new  methods  of  work,  and 
we  must  uphold  in  a  new  way  the  deity  of  our  Lord  and 
Master. 

We  feel  that  the  outlook  has  never  been  so  bright  for 
missionary  work.  The  hour  has  come  for  the  Church  of 
God  to  roll  away  the  reproach  laid  upon  us  by  our  defeats 
of  the  past,  and  to  do  the  impossible — to  win  the  Moslem 
world  for  Jesus  Christ. 

W.  Wilson  Cash. 

Jerusalem,  Palestine. 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN 
NATIVE  LAW 

I.  Fanti  law.  The  Gold  Coast,  like  other  countries 
in  that  part  of  Africa,  is  not  escaping  the  influence  of 
Islam,  and  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  Fanti  tribe 
are  embracing  that  religion. 

Generations  ago  these  people  are  said  to  have  occupied 
a  plateau  near  the  Kong  Mountains  in  Central  Africa; 
but,  resisting  the  Mohammedan  invasion  of  those  parts, 
they  were  conquered  and  driven  away.  They  founded  a 
state  called  Takieman,  but  the  tribe  broke  up  later  and  a 
portion  of  them  migrated  towards  the  coast. 

The  Fanti  have  hitherto  been  singularly  free  from  ex- 
ternal influence,  and  it  is  only  of  recent  years  that  a 
number  of  them  have  adopted  the  religion  of  the  Prophet. 
How  far  Mohammedanism  is  affecting  their  customs  and 
secret  societies  is  not  known;  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  it 
is  having  an  influence  upon  their  laws. 

There  is  a  colony  of  this  tribe,  who  claims  to  be  British 
subjects  on  the  Ivory  Coast;  and  when  I  visited  that  coun- 
try in  January,  1913,  a  deputation  came  to  see  me  at 
Grand  Bassam,  presented  me  with  a  handsome  gold  ring 
of  native  workmanship  and  asked  me  to  advise  them  as  to 
certain  legal  disputes  and  other  matters  which  were  giving 
them  a  good  deal  of  trouble  when  discussed  "in  palaver." 
Among  the  more  important  of  these  was  a  case  in  which 
a  Mohammedan  claimed  to  set  aside  his  marriage  with  a 
Pagan  Fanti  woman  on  the  following  grounds: — 

1.  That  his  wife  had  not  professed  her  belief  in  his 
faith  until  four  months  had  elapsed  after  their  marriage. 

2.  That  although  she  now  claimed  to  be  converted  to 
Islam,  she  was,  in  fact,  still  a  Pagan.  The  plaintiff  also 
claimed  the  return  of  the  consawment  or  bride-price,  as 
well  as  all  the  property  he  had  given  her  both  before  and 
during  marriage. 

Now  if  this  matter  was  to  be  tried  according  to  Fanti 
Law,  the  plaintiff  had  no  case,  because  after  marriage  a 

145 


146  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

change  of  religion,  or  adherence  to  a  person's  religious 
belief,  is  no  ground  for  divorce.  Neither  can  the  hus- 
band claim  the  return  of  the  consawment  or  other  money 
or  property  given  by  him  to  his  wife  or  family,  except  he 
obtain  a  divorce  for  adultery,  witchcraft,  drunkenness,  or 
sterility. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Maliki  School  of  Mohammedan 
Law  lays  down  that  if  a  Mohammedan  marries  a  Pagan 
woman  and  she  immediately  embraces  his  faith,  the  mar- 
riage is  legal;  but  if  her  conversion  is  delayed,  it  is  no 
marriage. 

If  only  one  of  the  contracting  parties  embraces  Islam 
the  marriage  is  annulled  even  without  repudiation.  In- 
quiries into  this  case  showed  that  the  plaintiflf  desired  to 
get  rid  of  his  wife  as  he  was  tired  of  her,  probably  on 
account  of  incompatibility  of  disposition.  It  was  pointed 
out  to  him  by  another  Moslem  that  her  supposed  conver- 
sion to  Islam  had  been  delayed,  and  that  notwithstanding 
her  professed  adherence  to  his  faith  she  remained  a 
Pagan. 

The  marriage  had  been  contracted  in  accordance  with 
Fanti  Law,  and  the  woman's  family  refused  to  recognize 
the  right  of  any  court  to  set  aside  the  marriage.  They 
also  refused  to  return  the  money,  fees,  or  consawment 
given  by  the  husband. 

In  Fanti  Law  if  a  man  gives  consawment  to  the  family 
of  his  future  wife,  or  money  or  other  property  to  her,  he 
cannot  recover  them  if  he  repudiates  the  engagement  or 
the  marriage.  If,  however,  repudiation  of  the  engage- 
ment is  made  by  the  girl  or  her  family,  they  must  return 
the  consawment  together  with  all  other  money  or  property 
given  by  the  suitor.  It  was  shown  that  the  plaintiff  did 
apply  to  the  family  and  formally  asked  for  the  hand  of 
their  daughter  in  marriage,  which  was  given;  that  he 
paid  bride-price  for  the  girl  and  gave  her  presents.  The 
fact  that  he  paid  consawment  or  bride-price  and  obtained 
the  consent  of  both  the  parents  and  the  girl  constituted  a 
legal  marriage  in  Fanti  Law. 


INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN  NATIVE  LAW  147 

After  interminable  discussions  and  wrangling,  the 
Deputation  decided  to  bring  the  case  to  palaver;  and 
amongst  the  members  constituting  the  court  was  more 
than  one  Mohammedan.  The  matter  was  decided  partly 
on  Fanti  and  partly  on  Mohammedan  Law.  The  court 
would  not  allow  the  woman  to  give  evidence  about  her 
marriage,  on  the  ground  that  the  testimony  of  women  is 
not  admissible  except  in  questions  relating  to  property 
(Maliki).  Neither  was  the  evidence  of  her  father  al- 
lowed upon  the  subject  of  the  consaivment,  because  such 
evidence  was  inadmissible  from  a  witness  where  his  own 
loss  and  profit  is  concerned  (Maliki). 

The  plaintifif  produced  witness  to  swear  that  the  woman 
had  been  seen  practicing  "Pagan  rites." 

After  considerable  delay  the  court  found  that  there 
had  been  no  marriage  according  to  Mohammedan  Law; 
that  the  defendant  was  still  a  heathen;  that  the  consaw- 
ment  would  be  retained  by  the  parents  of  the  defendant; 
and  that  the  defendant  could  not  retain  any  jewelery, 
money  and  other  property  given  to  her  by  the  plaintiff 
while  she  was  living  with  him,  as  she  was  his  mistress  and 
not  his  wife.      (Fanti.) 

The  Fanti  marriage  laws  are  on  the  whole  simple  and 
are  not  unlike  those  of  other  tribes;  but  Islam  is  making 
its  impress  upon  them.  No  woman  is  allowed  to  possess 
more  than  one  husband,  but  no  limit  is  placed  upon  the 
number  of  wives  a  man  is  permitted  to  marry  provided 
he  is  able  to  support  them  and  provide  them  with  shelter 
and  protection.  A  wife  cannot  divorce  her  husband  ex- 
cept for  impotency.  On  the  other  hand,  a  man  can 
divorce  his  wife  for  adultery,  witchcraft,  drunkenness, 
and  sterility.  If  a  woman  changes  her  religion  it  is  no 
ground  for  divorce.  She  may  adopt  the  religion  of  her 
husband  but  is  not  obliged  to  do  so,  unless  his  religion 
demands  this.  If,  however,  she  consents  to  embrace  his 
faith  before  or  upon  her  marriage,  she  is  expected  to  do 
so.  A  husband  is  permitted  to  absent  himself  from  his 
wife  for  as  long  as  he  wishes  to  do  so,  but  is  bound  to  sup- 


148  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

port  her  during  his  absence.  If  she  commits  adultery 
while  he  is  away,  he  can  divorce  her,  no  matter  how  long 
his  absence  lasts. 

A  man  wishing  to  marry,  must  first  obtain  the  consent 
of  the  girl's  parents;  if  they  withhold  their  consent,  there 
can  be  no  betrothal  or  marriage.  If  the  family  accept 
bride-price,  called  consawment,  from  the  suitor  the  girl 
becomes  engaged  to  him.  If  after  such  engagement  the 
suitor  fails  to  marry  the  girl,  or  the  family  withdraw 
their  consent,  or  the  girl  refuses  to  marry  him,  no  action 
would  lie  against  any  or  all  of  them  and  no  damages  can 
be  claimed  by  the  suitor;  but  the  family  would  have  to 
refund  the  consawment.  When  a  man  pays  consawment 
to  the  girl's  family,  and  gives  her  presents,  he  cannot 
claim  the  return  of  them  if  he  himself  breaks  the  engage- 
ment. But  where  the  girl  or  her  parents  break  off  the 
engagement,  they  must  return  all  the  presents  together 
with  the  consawment  to  the  suitor. 

It  is  not  illegal  for  persons  belonging  to  the  same  clan 
of  the  Fanti  to  marry,  but  such  unions  are  not  encour- 
aged. A  person  born  in  freedom  is  permitted  to  marry  a 
slave;  and  if  there  is  issue  by  such  marriage,  the  children 
are  slaves.  They  can  be  made  free  by  the  father,  if  he 
himself  is  a  free  man.  A  man  is  forbidden  to  marry  his 
mother's  sister's  daughter;  or  brother's  daughter;  or 
mother's  sister;  or  father's  sister;  or  his  uterine  sister. 
A  marriage  is  legal  without  the  payment  of  a  dowry,  pro- 
vided that  the  consawment  has  been  paid.  A  man  must 
pay  damages  to  the  family  of  an  unmarried  girl  if  he  has 
seduced  her.  He  must  also  pay  damages  to  the  husband 
of  a  married  woman  if  he  seduces  her.  The  damages  in 
the  latter  case  must  not  be  less  than  the  value  of  the  con- 
sawment and  the  marriage  expenses.  Where  an  unmar- 
ried daughter  is  seduced,  her  parents  can  claim  damages 
to  the  extent  of  the  consawment  the  seducer  would  have 
paid  had  he  married  her.  The  value  of  this  would  be 
assessed  upon  the  wealth  and  standing  of  the  seducer. 
Where  a  divorced  woman  marries  her  seducer,  the  latter 


INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN  NATIVE  LAW  149 

cannot  subsequently  claim  from  her  family  any  damages 
he  has  previously  paid  them  for  the  seduction,  even  if  his 
wife  refuses  to  live  with  him  afterwards.  If  a  man 
marries  the  woman  he  has  seduced,  and  has  not  paid 
consawment  to  her  family,  he  cannot  recover  damages 
from  any  person  who  may  subsequently  take  her  away 
from  him. 

Where  persons  wishing  to  contract  marriage  are  unable 
to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  woman's  parents  owing  to  their 
absence;  or  because  such  consent  is  improperly  withheld, 
such  a  marriage  could  legally  take  place  provided  it  is 
performed  in  the  presence  of  a  witness.  Mohammedan 
influence  now  makes  two  irreproachable  witnesses  neces- 
ary.  (Maliki.)  In  Fanti  Law,  marriage  is  based  upon 
the  voluntary  consent  of  a  man  and  a  woman  to  live  to- 
gether. When  a  man  wishes  to  marry  a  virgin,  he  must 
obtain  her  consent  and  that  of  her  family  if  they  are 
present;  and  he  must  pay  the  consawment  or  bride-price. 
This  is  all  that  was  necessary  to  make  the  marriage  legal 
under  Fanti  Law.  Now,  under  Moslem  influence,  a 
father  can  give  his  daughter  in  marriage  without  her  con- 
sent if  she  is  a  virgin.  No  person,  except  the  father  of 
the  girl,  can  give  her  in  marriage  until  she  gives  her  con- 
sent and  attains  puberty.  And  a  woman  is  not  now  per- 
mitted to  marry  without  the  consent  of  a  recognized  and 
responsible  member  of  her  family  or  of  her  guardian. 
{Maliki.) 

A  man  can  ask  for  the  hand  of  a  girl  soon  after  she  is 
born ;  but  he  cannot  claim  her  as  his  wife  until  she  reaches 
the  age  of  puberty.  There  is  no  limit  to  the  number  of 
wives  a  man  is  permitted  to  marry;  but  he  must  be  able 
to  feed,  clothe  and  house  them. 

Under  Moslem  influence,  a  man  is  now  expected  to 
maintain  his  wife's  parents  if  they  are  poor,  and  his  chil- 
dren if  they  are  without  means,  such  obligation  to  cease 
in  the  case  of  males  when  they  reach  puberty,  if  they  are 
not  then  disabled.  He  must  maintain  his  female  children 
until  their  marriage.     The  wives  are  bound  to  obey  his 


I50  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

orders,  cook  his  food  and  minister  to  his  wants.  When  a 
man  possessing  a  number  of  wives  wishes  to  marry  an- 
other, he  is  expected  to  inform  his  first  wife  beforehand. 
His  first  or  "big  wife"  takes  precedence  of  all  the  others 
and  is  considered  to  be  the  most  important  person  in  his 
household.  Any  woman  living  in  concubinage  with  a 
man  has  no  legal  claim  over  him,  and  she  can  take  no  ac- 
tion for  maintenance  against  him.  The  law  called  Sarweh 
enacts  that  any  money  or  other  property  given  or  lent  to  a 
woman  in  concubinage  cannot  afterwards  be  reclaimed 
by  the  man  with  whom  she  has  been  living.  This  law 
was  probably  made  for  the  purpose  of  restraining  wealthy 
natives  from  keeping  a  number  of  women  as  concubines, 
which  invariably  leads  to  disputes,  confusion  and  quar- 
rels. When  a  man  desires  to  marry  one  of  his  concubines, 
he  must  pay  damages  to  her  family  for  having  lived  with 
her,  before  giving  the  consaivment.  He  would  have  no 
claim  upon  any  goods  or  money  given  by  him  to  her  or  to 
her  family  before  marriage  but  such  gifts  are  as  a  rule 
taken  into  consideration  when  the  question  of  the  payment 
of  damages  arises.  When  children  are  born  to  parents 
out  of  wedlock,  and  the  parents  subsequently  contract  a 
legal  marriage,  such  children  are  deemed  to  be  legitimate. 
Where  a  man  commits  adultery  with  the  wife  of  another, 
and  has  issue  by  her,  such  children  are  illegitimate.  If 
such  a  woman  is  divorced  by  her  husband  and  marries  her 
paramour,  any  children  born  previous  to  the  marriage  are 
illegitimate.  There  appears  to  be  no  law  among  the 
Fanti  which  compels  a  man  to  support  his  mistress  or  look 
after  her  in  illness,  even  if  she  bears  him  children;  but 
public  opinion  usually  compels  him  to  do  so.  The  mis- 
tress of  any  man  can  terminate  her  relations  with  him 
whenever  she  so  desires,  and  she  may  retain  any  money, 
goods  or  other  property  he  has  given  her  while  she  was 
his  mistress.  If  a  man  gives  sustenance  and  shelter  to  the 
wife  of  another  without  the  husband's  consent,  the  latter 
can  sue  the  former  for  the  recovery  of  his  wife,  and  he 
can   also   claim   damages   against   him   and   his    family. 


INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN  NATIVE  LAW  151 

When  a  woman  refuses  to  live  with  her  husband,  and  she 
can  show  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  court  that  the  fault  is 
his,  she  can  retain  all  the  money,  goods  and  other  property 
that  were  in  her  possession  at  the  time  of  her  marriage. 
She  can  also  recover  all  the  money  she  and  her  family 
have  expended  upon  him.  The  husband  cannot  claim  the 
consawment  or  any  other  expenses  incurred  by  him  at  the 
time  of  or  during  the  marriage.  If  however,  such  sepa- 
ration is  shown  to  be  the  fault  of  the  wife  or  her  family, 
all  presents  and  other  property,  together  with  the  consaw- 
ment, must  be  returned  to  the  husband,  except  the  moneys 
expended  by  him  for  the  maintenance  of  his  wife. 

If  the  husband  dies,  the  funeral  expenses  are  paid  by 
his  family,  but  the  widow  and  her  family  must  pay  their 
share. 

2.  TiMNE  LAW.  The  Timne,  a  tribe  which  occupies  a 
considerable  area  in  the  western  portion  of  the  Protector- 
ate of  Sierra  Leone,  number  some  300,000  and  are  rapidly 
embracing  Islam.  Of  the  one  hundred  and  eighty  para- 
mount chiefdoms  in  the  whole  Protectorate,  no  less  than 
forty  belong  to  the  Timne.  They  are,  therefore,  a  tribe 
of  considerable  importance  in  that  part  of  Africa;  and  as 
they  are  an  intelligent  people,  the  Moslem  priests  have 
found  their  country  a  rich  field  for  propaganda  work. 

An  action  brought  into  the  court  of  the  native  chiefs  by 
a  Timne,  who  as  the  eldest  son  present,  claimed  under 
Timne  Law  the  largest  share  of  the  personal  property 
left  by  his  father,  a  Moslem,  was  not  decided  by  the  court, 
until  the  opinion  of  MoW-men  had  been  obtained. 

In  the  Timne  country,  personal  property  descends  to  a 
son,  whether  adopted  or  not.  Inherited  or  family  prop- 
erty goes  to  a  brother;  or  to  the  children  of  an  elder 
brother;  or  to  the  children  of  a  father's  brother.  The 
eldest  son  of  each  wife  succeeds.  An  absentee  or  lost 
person  loses  his  rights.  All  the  sons  can  claim  a  portion 
of  the  personal  property,  the  eldest  by  the  principal  wife 
receiving  the  greater  share.  He  cannot,  however,  retain 
all  this  property  for  life;  for  \ipon  the  marriage  of  any  or 


152  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

all  of  the  brothers,  he  is  bound  to  purchase  the  wives,  and 
hand  over  to  the  brothers  a  portion  of  the  property.  If, 
however,  any  of  the  sons  of  a  family  are  held  to  be  unfitted 
to  own;  or  are  wastrels;  or  refuse  to  work;  they  are 
barred  from  inheriting  their  portion,  the  younger  sons 
thereby  receiving  a  larger  share. 

In  the  above  action,  the  eldest  son  was,  in  fact,  proved 
to  be  lost  and  an  absentee ;  and  thereby  under  Timne  Law, 
had  no  rights  of  inheritance  in  the  estate.  No  proof  of 
death  was  given. 

The  claimant,  as  next  in  succession,  sued  under  the 
law  of  absence;  but  the  chiefs  were  unable  or  unwilling 
to  decide  the  matter,  and  referred  the  case  to  a  Moslem 
priest,  who  was  himself  a  Timne.  In  Mohammedan 
Law,  a  lost  person  is,  with  regard  to  his  estate,  considered 
to  be  living,  in  the  absence  of  the  proof  of  death;  and  no 
one  can  inherit  from  or  instead  of  him.  The  estate  must 
be  preserved  until  proof  of  death  is  forthcoming;  or  until 
the  term  for  a  presumption  of  death  has  been  passed  over. 
Opinions  dififer  as  to  what  this  term  is,  for  "When  not  one 
of  his  equals  in  age  remains,  judgment  may  be  given  of 
his  death." 

Hasan,  son  of  Ziyar,  reports  from  Abu  Hanifah  that 
the  term  is  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  twenty  years 
from  his  birth.  Mohammed  says  one  hundred  and  ten 
years,  and  Abu  Yusuf  says  one  hundred  and  five  years. 
The  learned  in  the  law  say  it  must  be  ninety  years,  and 
from  that  opinion,  decisions  are  made.  Other  Moslem 
authorities  say  that  judgment  must  be  suspended  as  to  the 
right  of  another  person  and  that  the  share  from  the 
estate  of  his  ancestors  must  be  preserved.  When  the  term 
is  elapsed,  and  judgment  given  of  his  death,  the  estate  goes 
to  his  heirs.  Whatever  was  reserved  on  his  account  from 
the  estate  of  his  ancestors,  is  restored  to  the  heir  of  his 
ancestor. 

The  Moslems,  to  whom  this  case  was  referred,  advised 
against  the  claimant  on  the  ground  of  the  absence  of 
proof  of  death,  and  so  being  lost  and  absent  no  one  could 


INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN  NATIVE  LAW  153 

inherit  his  share.  This  opinion  was  upheld  by  the  court 
and  judgment  was  given  accordingly. 

The  laws  of  the  Timne  are  interesting  and  on  the  whole 
simple;  but  they  are  being  increasingly  influenced  by 
Mohammedan  doctrines. 

Prior  to  the  formation  of  a  British  Protectorate,  a  mur- 
derer was,  in  some  cases,  put  to  death  in  the  same  manner 
as  that  in  which  he  killed  his  victim.  The  family  usually 
demanded  compensation  from  the  relatives  of  the  mur- 
derer, and  if  this  was  refused,  one  of  the  male  relatives  of 
the  murdered  man  was  required  to  shoot  him:  and  this 
was  usually  done  by  a  brother.  The  murderer's  body 
was  then  taken  into  the  bush,  where  he  was  left  unburied 
to  be  devoured  by  animals.  If,  however,  a  person  not  a 
relative  was  chosen  to  shoot  the  murderer,  he  would  do 
it  by  hiding  and  waiting  for  the  latter.  In  that  case  he 
would  have  to  be  buried  by  his  relatives.  Where  a  mur- 
derer escapes  from  justice,  some  member  of  his  family 
would  approach  the  family  of  the  deceased,  and  offer 
compensation.  If  this  compensation  was  accepted,  the 
murderer  would,  in  the  course  of  time,  be  allowed  to  re- 
turn, without  punishment.  The  compensation  would  be 
paid  out  of  the  murderer's  property,  but  if  he  had  none, 
the  family  had  to  find  the  money. 

There  is  no  fixed  age  at  which  a  man  is  considered 
legally  fit  to  manage  property;  probably  because  a  large 
proportion  of  the  people  do  not  know  what  their  ages  are. 
A  young  man  who  is  regarded  by  his  family  to  be  steady, 
level-headed  and  responsible,  may  be  allowed  to  manage 
and  supervise  property  when  in  the  early  twenties.  On 
the  other  hand,  quite  elderly  people  are  excluded  for  vari- 
ous reasons.  As  a  rule  the  eldest  son  can  claim,  and  is 
allowed  to  manage  inherited  property;  but  a  great  deal 
of  it  is  held  and  looked  after  jointly  by  the  family.  If  a 
son  is  lazy  and  refuses  to  work,  or  is  a  drunkard,  he  would 
be  excluded. 

With  regard  to  heirs,  the  sons  inherit  first;  then  the 
father's  brothers ;  then  the  brothers  by  a  different  mother ; 


154  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

then  the  daughters,  and  lastly  the  sons  of  a  father's 
brother.  If  there  are  several  brothers  living  in  one  house 
and  the  two  elder  die,  the  children  of  the  elder  brother 
w^ill  inherit  the  property.  They  can  also  claim  one- 
quarter  of  the  property  of  the  next  two  elder  brothers. 
If  no  male  exists  in  a  family,  the  chief  could  claim  the 
property,  but  rarely  exercises  this  right.  If  a  daughter 
succeeds,  her  sons  or  the  sons  of  her  sisters  become  the 
heirs.  Where  no  nearer  heirs  exists,  succession  to  prop- 
erty through  the  mother  might  be  admitted.  Notwith- 
standing that  an  heir  may  inherit  no  property,  he  is  liable 
for  the  debts  of  the  deceased. 

Agricultural  property  that  is  perishable  can  be  shared 
among  the  father's  brothers.  The  usufruct  thereof  can 
go  to  the  guardian;  but  the  farm  and  the  products  there- 
from would  belong  to  the  children  when  deemed  to  be  of 
age.  If  a  guardian  has  had  the  sole  care  of  a  farm,  he 
could  claim  a  proportion  of  the  livestock  for  his  trouble 
in  looking  after  it. 

If  a  man  is  engaged  to  be  married,  and  has  paid  some 
of  the  fees  required  by  native  law,  and  meanwhile  dies, 
his  father's  brother  could  claim  the  bride.  But  if  her 
family  refund  the  bride-price  the  claim  would  not  hold. 
Neither  would  such  claim  hold  if  the  bride  objected  to 
such  marriage;  but  the  bride-price  must  be  refunded  by 
her  family  if  the  objection  is  to  be  valid  in  law. 

When  twins  inherit  property  they  are  deemed  to  be  one 
person.  They  would  each  inherit  a  half-share  of  such 
property  that  would  ordinarily  fall  to  an  heir.  Formerly 
the  Timne  held  their  women  folk  in  small  esteem;  and  a 
large  number  of  them,  although  f  reeborn,  were  little  bet- 
ter than  slaves  in  their  relationship  with  their  husbands. 
They  did  most  of  the  work,  could  be  divorced  without 
trouble,  and  had  few  if  any  rights.  Mohammedan  influ- 
ence has  largely  changed  that;  and  now  f reeborn  women 
occupy  an  almost  equal  place  with  their  husbands.  The 
Moslem  priests  have  taught  that  when  a  woman  is  of  age, 
she  is  legally  entitled  to  all  the  rights  which  belong  to  her 


INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN  NATIVE  LAW  155 

as  an  independent  person:  and  that  upon  her  marriage 
she  does  not  lose  these  rights,  although  she  has  duties  to 
perform  towards  her  husband.  Being  a  separate  member 
of  society,  her  existence  is  not  absorbed  by  that  of  her  hus- 
band. No  doctrine  of  coverture  is  recognized,  and  she 
can  hold  her  property  in  her  own  right.  She  has  access 
to  the  courts,  and  after  she  has  passed  to  her  husband's 
house,  she  is  entitled  to  all  the  rights  which  the  law  gives 
to  men.  The  privileges  that  belong  to  her  as  a  woman 
are  secured  to  her  by  Moslem  Law,  which  thus  super- 
sedes the  ancient  customary  Timne  Law.  She  retains  in 
her  home  the  rights  which  the  law  allow  her  as  a  respon- 
sible member  of  society.  She  is  allowed  to  enter  into 
contracts  with  her  husband,  and  if  necessary  can  proceed 
against  him  in  the  courts.  The  property  acquired  by  her 
earnings  cannot  be  seized  by  her  husband  and  she  has  the 
right  to  redress  if  her  husband  is  cruel,  unfaithful  or  a 
drunkard.  Therefore  under  this  increasing  Moslem  in- 
fluence, the  lot  of  women  in  many  of  the  pagan  tribes  who 
are  gradually  being  brought  within  its  sphere  is  improv- 
ing enormously. 

Land  descends  in  the  male  line  to  the  eldest  son. 
Where  there  are  a  number  of  brothers,  it  is  the  custom  of 
each  brother  to  take  a  share,  the  division  being  made  by 
the  inheritor.  If  the  owner  has  given  a  farm  to  each 
wife,  which  is  the  custom,  the  children  would  succeed  to 
the  farms.  A  paramount-chief  can  claim  land  on  loan 
for  and  on  behalf  of  the  clan,  and  need  make  no  payment 
therefor.  Whenever  the  use  of  land  is  loaned  by  one 
party  to  another,  witnesses  must  be  present;  and  such  a 
loan  would  not  be  binding  without  some  payment  being 
made.  If  such  loaned  land  is  not  redeemed  within  the 
specified  time,  the  borrowers  can  retain  the  use  of  the 
land.  If,  however,  the  original  owner  needs  the  land,  he 
must  refund  the  money  received  for  it,  together  with  any 
crops  sown  thereof,  after  the  last  crop  has  been  reaped  and 
retained  by  the  borrower. 

Under  Timne  Law,  land,  as  well  as  practically  any 


156  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

other  kind  of  property,  personal  or  otherwise,  can  be 
pawned.  But  where  a  farm  has  been  cultivated,  or  where 
the  bush  has  been  cleared  and  burnt'  in  preparation  for 
immediate  cultivation,  it  cannot  be  pawned.  Any  grow- 
ing crop  can,  however,  be  sold  immediately  after  planting, 
and  before  it  is  cut.  Whenever  land  is  pawned,  and  the 
value  of  the  pledge  is  received  in  money  or  in  kind,  the 
pawnee  can  retain  the  land  until  both  the  principal  and 
interest  have  been  paid.  He  can  also  clear  and  cultivate 
it  within  a  reasonable  time  to  be  agreed  upon  by  the 
parties  to  the  transaction.  If  a  person  obtains  the  permis- 
sion of  the  tribal  authority  to  clear  any  virgin  forest  at 
his  own  expense  for  the  purpose  of  cultivating  it;  and  if 
within  a  reasonable  time  after  the  clearing  such  cultiva- 
tion is  made,  the  land  can  be  claimed  by  the  cultivator, 
provided  that  the  approval  of  the  tribal  authority  is  ob- 
tained. 

Where  a  stranger  enters  the  country  for  the  purpose  of 
residing  therein,  he  is  allowed,  after  a  period  of  not  less 
than  twelve  months'  residence,  to  obtain  the  use  of  land 
from  the  tribal  authority,  or  from  the  family  with  whom 
he  is  residing,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  chief.  But 
in  the  event  of  such  a  stranger  being  an  undesirable  resi- 
dent, or  being  convicted  of  crime,  he,  together  with  his 
family,  can  be  removed  from  the  chiefdom.  No  child  of 
the  son  or  daughter  of  such  a  stranger  by  a  native  woman 
of  the  country  can,  however,  be  removed,  as  they  are 
deemed  to  be  native  subjects  of  the  country  with  all  rights 
and  privileges  thereof. 

Boundaries  of  various  property  are  made  with  trees, 
sticks  and  stones.  Large  trees  are  used  to  mark  out  con- 
siderable tracts  of  land;  sticks  and  stones  to  delimit  farm 
property.  All  the  bush  situated  round  the  towns  and 
villages  belong  nominally  to  the  sub-chief  as  such,  but  not 
to  him  individually.  It  can  be  cleared  and  utilized  at  his 
discretion  for  village  sites,  or  for  other  public  use. 

^The  author  is  unable   to  ascertain   whether  the  bush   must  be   burnt  as  well   as  cut  in 
order  legally  to  prohibit  the  pawning  of  the  land. 


INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN  NATIVE  LAW  157 

Landed  property,  like  other  property,  is  held  in  trust 
by  the  eldest  son.  But  where  there  is  no  son  it  can  be 
held  by  the  elder  brother  of  the  deceased  for  the  daugh- 
ters; and  the  latter  can  claim  it  if  there  are  no  brothers. 

By  native  law,  the  paramount-chief  holds  all  unculti- 
vated forest  or  bush  land;  house  and  farm  land;  and  all 
unclaimed  property  in  the  chiefdom  which  belongs  to  his 
tribe.  He  has  considerable  powers,  but  cannot  seize 
private  property  without  the  consent  of  the  elders  in 
council. 

House  and  the  usufruct  of  farm  land  are  individual 
property.  When  a  man  marries,  he  builds  his  own 
house;  but  on  the  death  of  his  mother,  he  might,  but  does 
not  always,  return  to  her  house.  On  the  death  of  his 
father,  he  would  be  expected  to  rebuild  his  mother's 
house,  provided  that  she  is  too  old  to  remarry. 

All  trees  belong  to  the  owner  of  the  usufruct  of  the 
land;  but  where  they  are  planted  on  another's  land  with 
the  consent  of  the  owner,  they  belong  to  the  planter. 
When  a  stranger  wishes  to  use  the  products  of  trees  which 
belong  to  the  tribe,  he  must  obtain  the  permission  of  the 
chief,  and,  if  this  is  granted,  give  him  a  share  of  such 
products.  All  palm  trees  belong  to  the  tribe,  that  is  to  the 
public;  but  if  poro  is  placed  upon  all  or  any  of  them  at 
certain  seasons  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  the  nuts 
from  being  cut,  no  person  can  touch  them.  Wherever 
palm  trees  occur  on  a  farm,  none  but  the  owner  is  per- 
mitted to  go  into  that  farm  before  the  rice  harvest.  Palm 
wine  cannot  be  taken  from  any  tree  whether  standing  in  a 
farm  or  not  until  the  poro  is  removed.  Where  palm 
trees  are  growing  on  a  farm,  no  palm  wine  can  be  obtained 
therefrom  until  after  the  harvest  is  reaped. 

Moslem  influence  is  so  strong  in  many  places  that 
wherever  it  exists,  the  palm  trees  now  belong  to  individual 
owners  of  the  usufruct  of  the  land,  and  therefore  their 
permission  must  be  obtained  before  any  nuts  can  be  cut. 
Whenever  the  usufruct  of  such  land  is  loaned  to  another 

person,  the  owner  retains  full  rights  over  the  trees  thereon. 

4 


158  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Among  the  bearing  trees  the  kola  is  one  of  the  most 
valuable.  These  trees  can  be  planted  anywhere,  and 
there  is  no  law  against  planting  them  upon  tribal  land; 
but  to  establish  a  claim,  such  land  must  be  cleared  and 
planted  in  the  presence  of  witnesses.  Daughters  usually 
inherit  kola  trees;  but  if  they  have  sons,  they  would 
afterwards  inherit  the  property.  Banana,  orange,  lime, 
pawpaw  and  mango  trees  are  individual  property.  When 
an  unmarried  daughter  inherits  trees  belonging  to  her 
family,  she  has  full  rights  over  the  fruit  until  she  marries, 
when  it  goes  to  the  next  heir  in  her  family. 

Debts  are  inherited;  and  if  a  debtor  dies  without  meet- 
ing his  obligations,  his  heirs  are  responsible  for  the  debts 
of  the  deceased.  Under  the  ancient  customary  law,  a 
creditor  has  considerable  power  over  a  debtor.  If  the 
former  is  unable  to  pay,  his  creditor  can  seize  and  sell 
him.  He  can  also  enter  his  house  and  seize  his  children 
and  pawn  one  or  more  of  them.  He  can  seize,  retain,  or 
sell  some  or  all  of  the  debtor's  property,  but  not  more  than 
the  equivalent  value  of  the  amount  owed.  Domestic  ani- 
mals are  not  often  pawned.  Cows  are  sometimes  pledged, 
and  when  the  death  of  such  a  cow  takes  place,  the  body 
must  be  returned  to  the  owner.  If  a  cow  is  killed  by 
carnivora,  or  is  stolen,  or  becomes  sick,  the  owner  must  be 
informed;  and  where  neglect  is  proved  or  presumed,  the 
pawnee  is  held  responsible. 

A  large  number  of  articles,  domestic,  personal  or 
otherwise,  are  pawned  under  arrangements  mutually 
agreed  upon  between  the  parties.  If  the  time  for  repay- 
ment lapses,  the  article  becomes  the  property  of  the 
lender.  If  any  article  is  lost,  damaged,  or  destroyed 
while  in  pawn,  the  pawnee  is  responsible  for  the  value 
thereof. 

A  person  can  pawn  himself,  but  not  his  wife.  He  has 
a  right  to  pawn  his  children  with  or  without  the  consent 
of  his  wife.  When  the  person  pawned  dies,  the  family 
are  responsible  for  the  debt.  If  a  man  who  is  free  born, 
pawned  his  son,  the  tooth  of  a  leopard  is  sometimes  tied 


INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN  NATIVE  LAW  159 

round  his  neck  or  wrist;  a  leopard's  tooth  being  the  em- 
blem of  freedom.  When  a  slave  pawns  his  child,  a  key 
may  be  tied  round  the  wrist  or  neck  of  the  latter,  as  this 
signifies  that  the  person  pawned  has  not  been  born  in  free- 
dom. Whenever  a  man  pawned  himself,  his  wife  or 
wives  are  supposed  to  return  to  their  parents.  When  a 
person  in  pawn  becomes  sick  or  is  lazy  or  useless  for  work, 
he  can  be  returned  to  the  pawner,  and  the  debt  would  not 
thereby  be  cancelled.  If  a  young  girl  is  pawned  to  a  man, 
he  could  marry  her  if  she  is  of  age.  But  while  in  pawn 
she  could  not  marry  any  other  free  man.  When  she  be- 
comes of  marriageable  age,  steps  would  usually  be  taken 
by  her  family  to  redeem  her.  Whenever  a  loan  is  made, 
and  there  is  no  agreement  as  to  the  payment  of  interest, 
it  cannot  be  afterwards  claimed.  A  preliminary  fee  is 
generally  paid  for  the  loan. 

Where  a  debt  has  been  incurred  and  it  is  repudiated  by 
the  debtor,  and  satisfaction  cannot  be  obtained  by  the 
creditor  from  a  native  court,  the  creditor  may  swear  the 
debtor  on  country  medicine.  Before  such  action  can  be 
taken  by  him,  the  chief  must  be  informed.  He  has  the 
right  to  stay  the  proceedings,  provided  that  he  allows  the 
case  to  be  subsequently  tried  in  the  native  court.  The 
system  of  pawning  exists  throughout  a  large  part  of 
tropical  Africa;  and  owing  to  its  prevalence  in  the  Timne 
country,  and  the  amount  of  trouble  and  interminable  dis- 
putes that  arose  out  of  it,  the  Administration  enacted  that 
no  Timne  may  forfeit  or  dispose  of  any  article  pawned 
or  pledged  to  him  without  first  reporting  his  intention  to 
the  tribal  ruler,  who  will  summon  the  pawner  or  pledger. 
Should  the  pawner  or  pledger  fail  to  do  so,  then  the  tribal 
ruler  causes  the  pawn  to  be  sold,  and  from  the  proceeds 
pays  the  pawnee  or  pledgee  the  amount  for  which  the 
article  was  pledged  or  pawned,  and  pays  over  the  balance, 
if  any,  to  the  owner  or  pledger. 

Corporal  punishment  is  given  by  the  native  courts, 
especially  where  Mohammedan  influence  prevails. 
Fines  are  also  inflicted  in  both  pagan  and  Moslem  centres. 


II 6o  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

In  civil  cases  both  parties  "stake"  or  pay  into  court  a  sum 
of  money  in  proportion  to  the  importance  of  the  case,  or 
of  the  value  of  the  property  or  article  under  dispute.  The 
losing  side  not  only  forfeits  the  money  so  staked,  but  also 
has  to  meet  any  fine  imposed  by  the  court  in  addition. 

When  a  person  is  unable  to  satisfy  the  judgment  of  the 
court,  he  can  be  seized  and  his  family  called  upon  to  meet 
the  debt.  In  default  their  goods  can  also  be  seized. 
Where  there  are  no  goods  or  the  property  is  insufficient  to 
meet  the  debt  or  fine,  any  one  or  more  members  of  the 
debtor's  family  can  be  seized  and  retained  until  the  judg- 
ment is  satisfied.  While  thus  held,  they  would  have  to 
work,  and  could  thus  in  time  satisfy  the  judgment. 

It  was  not  often  that  a  murderer  would  be  killed  for 
his  crime  without  trial  by  the  chiefs.  When  such  a  case 
was  tried,  both  parties  would  give  a  valuable  present  to 
the  paramount-chief.  This  usually  consisted  of  two 
slaves,  one  of  which  was  handed  by  the  chief  to  the  family 
of  the  victim.  Both  parties  would  also  have  to  make  a 
sacrifice,  the  value  of  which  was  determined  by  the  wealth 
of  each.  A  cow  might  be  given,  and  the  meat  divided 
between  the  families.  If  the  slave  given  to  the  victim's 
family  was  a  boy,  he  must  not  be  a  relative  of  the  mur- 
derer, because  afterwards  he  was  adopted  by  the  family. 
The  boy  was  called  the  cleaner  or  sweeper  of  the  grave, 
Karbol  Karbomar.  If  a  female  slave  was  given,  she  was 
not  barred  in  marriage  to  a  member  of  the  family.  If  a 
man  killed  his  wife,  he  was  compelled  to  compensate  her 
family  by  handing  over  to  them  a  female  member  of  his 
own  family. 

When  a  dead  body  was  discovered,  it  had,  if  identified, 
to  be  buried  by  the  family.  They  would  make  inquiries 
into  the  matter,  and  a  medicine  man  was  called  to  ascer- 
tain how  the  death  took  place.  He,  accompanied  by 
some  members  of  the  family,  would  proceed  to  the  spot, 
and  would  make  medicine  to  find  out  the  cause  of  death. 
If  murder  was  pronounced,  attempts  were  made  to  find 
the  murderer.     He  would  be  "sworn,"   and  his  name 


INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN  NATIVE  LAW  i6i 

called,  and  medicine  would  be  made  against  him  to  cause 
his  death.  If  the  murderer  was  caught  and  confessed;  or 
gave  himself  up,  his  family  were  compelled  to  pay  a  sum 
of  money  to  the  chief.  The  amount  to  be  paid  would  be 
assessed  upon  the  wealth  of  the  family.  The  latter  would 
have  to  prove  in  court  that  they  were  in  no  way  respon- 
sible for  the  crime. 

If  a  man  killed  himself,  it  was  put  down  to  witchcraft 
or  to  some  other  form  of  magic  influence.  His  family  was 
fined  a  sum  of  money  assessed  upon  their  property;  and  a 
sacrifice  was  made  at  their  expense.  When  a  cow  was 
sacrificed,  a  portion  of  the  meat  would  be  given  to  the 
family  of  the  deceased. 

Although  in  hunting  expeditions  accidents  are  rare  in 
proportion  to  the  risks  run,  men  are  occasionally  killed. 
If  a  hunter  killed  one  of  his  party,  or  a  stranger  while 
hunting,  and  it  was  an  accident,  he  was  bound  to  report 
the  matter  to  the  chief  as  soon  as  possible  after  the  event. 
He  could  send  a  messenger  to  make  the  report.  Before 
confessing  that  he  had  killed  a  man,  he  would  have  to  take 
an  oath  on  "medicine"  that  the  death  was  caused  by  an 
accident;  and  before  doing  so  must  place  his  gun  on  the 
corpse  of  the  man  he  killed. 

Theft  was  dealt  with  in  a  variety  of  ways.  If  a  thief 
of  either  sex  had  been  several  times  convicted,  and  if  con- 
sidered to  be  incorrigible,  he  was  sold  by  his  family  into 
slavery.  Petty  larceny  was  punished  by  stocking.  A 
theft  taking  place  within  the  family  circle  was  considered 
less  serious  than  when  committed  outside  it.  The  usual 
punishment  was  stocking;  and  this  was  the  punishment 
often  given  for  a  minor  theft  committed  outside  the  fam- 
ily. A  thief  might  be  stocked  and  roped  to  a  post  of  the 
chief's  verandah  where  all  the  people  could  see  him.  No 
one  was  allowed  to  touch  or  speak  to  the  thief  while  un- 
dergoing that  punishment. 

The  most  serious  thefts  were :  Stealing  any  large  quan- 
tity of  rice,  cows,  sheep  and  ducks;  also  kidnapping.  If 
the  theft  was  a  first  offense,  and  if  the  thief's  family  had 


i62  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

influence  and  appealed  to  the  chief,  he  might  escape  pun- 
ishment of  a  more  severe  kind  by  paying  three,  and  in 
some  cases,  four  times  the  value  of  the  property  stolen. 
He  might  pay  this  in  kind,  the  stolen  property  being  re- 
placed by  its  exact  equivalent.  Otherwise  a  thief  might 
be  severely  flogged,  being  first  tied  up.  He  might  also, 
under  Moslem  influence,  suffer  the  loss  of  one  or  both 
hands  by  cutting;  or  be  sold  into  slavery.  If  a  thief  was 
seen  entering  a  village  at  night,  or  breaking  into  a  house 
or  store,  he  could  be  shot;  and  if  killed  it  would  be  no 
murder.  When  a  thief  contemplated  breaking  or  enter- 
ing a  house  at  night  to  steal,  he  would  divest  himself  of  all 
clothes,  and  rub  his  body  all  over  with  palm  oil.  If 
caught,  it  would  be  difficult  for  a  person  to  retain  hold 
of  him  owing  to  the  slippery  state  of  his  body.  He  would 
wear  an  amulet,  which  has  the  power  of  making  him  im- 
mune from  capture.  Sometimes  he  would  cover  his  face 
with  a  mask  made  of  grass  called  Karlolum,  and  for  this 
reason  thieves  are  sometimes  called  by  that  name. 

Since  the  formation  of  a  Protectorate,  it  has  of  recent 
years  been  the  policy  of  the  Administration  to  support  the 
authority  of  paramount  sub-chiefs  and  elders;  that  is 
generally  to  uphold  the  power  of  the  tribal  authority.  In 
the  Timne  country  the  office  of  paramount-chief,  Kandeh, 
is  of  a  comparatively  recent  introduction;  and  appears  to 
go  back  only  a  few  generations.  At  first  a  paramount- 
chief  was  a  mere  figurehead;  but  if  elected  on  account 
of  his  wealth  he  was  able  to  wield  considerable  influence. 
He  could  and  did  interfere  in  political  events,  even  out- 
side his  own  chief dom;  and  in  the  event  of  war  he  could 
use  his  wealth  to  bring  about  a  settlement  by  giving  mon^y 
to  both  sides.  Whenever  two  families  or  clans,  Abunar, 
have  a  right  to  share  the  succession,  it  is  said  that  one  of 
the  clans  owed  its  position,  to  the  assistance  given  to  the 
original  family  in  a  time  of  war. 

The  customary  laws  of  the  death  of  a  paramount-chief 
are  that  when  he  dies  no  public  proclamations  can  be 


INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN  NATIVE  LAW  163 

made  until  all  the  under  or  sub-chiefs  and  heads  of  the 
principal  families  have  been  first  confidentially  informed. 

Formerly  a  chief  was  not  allowed  to  die  a  natural  death. 
The  law  was  that  immediately  before  death  his  throat  had 
to  be  cut  and  his  head  severed  from  his  body.  The  head 
was  dried  and  then  handed  over  to  the  successor  who  was 
bound  to  guard  it  most  carefully,  and  when  he  died  the 
head  was  buried  with  him.  Sacrifices  were  made  to  the 
head;  and  in  times  of  war  it  was  consulted  for  guidance 
and  assistance. 

For  the  selection  of  a  new  chief  the  customary  law  is 
that  when  there  are  two  or  more  royal  houses,  the  crown 
must  be  inherited  alternately.  No  member  of  the  family 
of  the  deceased  chief  can  claim  the  crown,  as  a  senior 
male  member  of  the  royal  house  must  be  selected.  He 
must  not  be  the  eldest  son  of  a  former  chief,  but  his 
brother  or  uncle. 

When  a  new  chief  is  elected,  he  must  undergo  a  course 
of  instruction  in  the  Kantar,  where  rulers  are  taught  the 
law,  the  duties  of  his  office,  and  how  to  administer  the 
country  with  the  help  and  advice  of  the  elders  of  tribal 
authority.  He  may  have  to  remain  in  the  Kantar  for  a 
month  or  a  year,  or  even  longer;  and  while  there  only  the 
officials  of  that  school  are  allowed  to  see  and  speak  to  him. 
These  consist  of  selected  members  of  the  Council  of 
Elders  and  an  old  woman  who  acts  as  cook.  She  is  sworn 
to  secrecy  and  has  carefully  to  guard  and  look  after  the 
chief's  food  and  drink.  In  the  Kantar  the  chief  must  be 
made  secure  against  his  enemies  by  washing  him  with  a 
medicine  called  nessie,  which  is  prepared  by  the  Moslem 
priests.  They  also  made  charms  for  him  which  are 
placed  around  his  neck.  The  chief  cannot  leave  the 
Kantar  until  the  tribal  authority  has  fixed  the  date,  when 
as  many  of  his  subjects  as  possible  gather  together  immedi- 
ately after  dawn  in  the  Sal  Karneh,  or  prayer  ground,  used 
in  Ramadan.  The  whole  assembly  must  face  the  east.  A 
procession  is  formed  with  the  chief  in  the  centre,  and  they 
must  come  from  the  east.     He  must  be  escorted  in  this 


1 6+  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

procession  by  the  elders  of  his  country;  and  when  all  have 
arrived  at  the  Sal  Karneh  the  chief  is  given  a  seat  facing 
the  east.  The  Alpha,  or  Mohammedan  priest,  then 
slowly  advances  towards  the  chief  holding  the  royal  crown 
in  his  hands.  This  is  a  white  turban  placed  in  a  calabash 
of  the  same  colour.  The  Alpha  must  then  place  the 
turban  upon  the  head  of  the  chief,  quoting  prayers  from 
the  Koran  while  doing  so.  The  assistant  of  the  Alpha 
has  to  sing  the  praises  of  the  chief;  and  while  holding  the 
calabash  in  both  hands,  asks  all  those  people  who  are  loyal 
to  come  forward  and  pay  tribute.  The  public  then  put 
money  in  the  calabash  or  in  the  pocket  of  the  chief  him- 
self, which  is  placed  in  a  conspicuous  and  convenient  posi- 
tion on  his  gown;  or  the  money  is  put  in  the  lap  of  his 
principal  wife  called  Bwn  Warrar,  who  must  be  seated 
next  to  him.     She  is  crowned  immediately  after  the  chief. 

The  money  received  in  the  calabash  goes  to  the  Alpha 
for  his  fee.  After  the  ceremony  the  people  disperse  and 
the  chief  enters  his  own  yard  to  receive  presents  from  his 
family  and  friends.  In  his  chiefdom  the  paramount- 
chief  is  now  supreme  and  his  court  is  the  ultimate  appeal 
to  all  litigants. 

If  the  decision  of  a  paramount-chief  is  directly  contrary 
to  tribal  law,  the  party  aggrieved  is  able,  in  accordance 
with  immemorial  tradition,  to  appeal  to  another  chief  of 
equal  status.  In  that  event,  the  authority  appealed  to 
would  apply  to  the  chief  to  give  his  mandate  for  retrial  of 
the  case;  and  no  chief  would  be  likely  to  refuse  a  col- 
league the  right  to  review  his  judgment. 

As  in  other  parts  of  Western  Africa,  the  tribal  author- 
ity, with  the  paramount-chief  at  its  head,  possesses  abso- 
lute authority  and  control  over  the  territories  belonging 
to  the  tribe.  It  can  decide  what  land  is  to  be  cultivated 
and  what  left  waste ;  and  the  extent  and  boundaries  of  the 
various  clans.  It  is  all-powerful;  is  held  in  the  greatest 
respect  by  the  whole  community  and  its  decrees  are  law. 
It  protects  the  old  and  the  weak  and  provides  them  with 
food  and  shelter  and  assures  that  every  person  has  his 


INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN  NATIVE  LAW  165 

place  and  is  provided  for.  The  conduct,  etiquette  and 
code  of  manners  of  the  people  are  governed  by  it,  the 
young  being  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  showing  re- 
spect to  their  elders.  However  much  a  tyrant  a  para- 
mount-chief may  desire  to  be,  it  would  be  difficult,  and  in 
some  respects  impossible,  for  him  to  act  contrary  to  the 
views  of  his  counsellors.  The  latter  being  persons  of 
mature  age  and  experience,  represent  sober  public 
opinion  and  are  supported  by  the  majority  of  the  people. 
The  tribal,  which  includes  the  family,  system,  is  the  pillar 
upon  which  the  native  structure  is  built.  For  it  educates 
and  controls  the  tribe,  in  addition  to  administering  its 
aflfairs.  It  is  truly  democratic  and  one  which  for  the 
welfare  and  preservation  of  the  native  races  of  Africa, 
must  be  upheld  at  all  costs.  By  its  means,  the  native 
is  a  member  of  a  recognized  society,  having  his  position 
and  his  place  defined  within  the  community,  as  well  as  his 
occupation  allotted  to  him. 

The  Administration  in  their  desire  to  support  the 
chiefs  and  uphold  native  law  have  laid  down  that  every 
member  must  carry  out  the  instruction  of  the  tribal  ruler 
with  respect  to  keeping  his  house  and  compound  clean; 
and  he  must  not  interfere  with  the  tribal  authority  or  dis- 
turb any  meeting  convened  by  that  authority.  He  has 
further  to  pay  the  sum  of  one  shilling  monthly  to  the  tribal 
authority,  which  sum  is  placed  to  the  credit  of  an  account 
with  the  Post  Office  Savings  Bank  in  the  names  of  the 
tribal  ruler  and  two  of  the  principal  headmen.  The 
money  is  disbursed  by  the  tribal  authority  on  objects  con- 
sidered by  them  to  be  for  the  good  of  the  tribe  in  any 
town.  Such  objects  include  the  relief  of  the  poor  and 
sick;  burial  of  the  poor  having  no  relations  at  time  of 
death,  and  relief  of  any  member  of  the  tribe  in  distress. 
The  tribal  ruler  does  not  disburse  the  moneys  thus 
received  by  him  except  with  the  consent  of  the  two  head- 
men, to  whose  joint  credit  the  contributions  have  been 
received  by  the  Savings  Bank;  and  no  withdrawal  is 
made  without  the  written  authority  of  the  Commissioner 


i66  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

• 

having  been  first  obtained.  Customary  legal  fees  are  paid 
to  the  tribal  ruler  for  the  settlement  of  disputes,  provided 
that,  it  has  been  laid  down,  the  aggregate  amount  of  fees 
payable  in  respect  of  a  dispute  does  not  exceed  twenty 
shillings.  After  the  serious  native  rising  of  1898,  when 
the  Timne  under  Chief  Bai  Burreh  attempted  but  failed 
to  throw  oH  all  European  control,  a  large  number  of  the 
young  men  of  the  country  left  their  homes  in  search  of 
employment  and  a  fuller  scope  for  their  energies.  Be- 
fore the  coming  of  the  Pax  Britannica,  the  presence  of 
the  young  men  as  protectors  of  their  towns  and  families 
was  necessary,  owing  to  the  constant  state  of  internecine 
warfare  which  existed.  This  state  of  affairs  having  now 
passed  away,  a  number  of  them  are  today  to  be  found  in 
all  parts  of  West  Africa,  and  even  in  the  Sudan.  Not 
only  the  young  men  of  the  better  class  families  went 
abroad,  but  the  slaves  also.  Many  of  the  latter  thought 
that  the  coming  of  the  British  Administration  was  an  ex- 
cellent opportunity  for  them  to  run  away  from  their  mas- 
ters. A  number  of  the  old  slaves,  domestic  or  otherwise, 
afterwards  regretted  the  step  they  had  taken  in  severing 
themselves  from  their  own  country  and  from  the  families 
with  which  they  had  lived  for  years,  or  perhaps  since 
birth.  They  were  quite  ignorant  of  the  outside  world; 
and  many  of  them  found  themselves  far  worse  off  than 
they  had  ever  been  before.  Some  went  or  were  taken  into 
the  hinterland  of  the  Congo,  and  to  the  cocoa  plantations 
of  Portuguese  West  Africa,  where  their  taskmasters  were 
perhaps  far  harder  and  more  exacting  than  their 
"fathers"  in  the  country  of  their  birth  or  enforced  adop- 
tion. A  certain  number  of  these  slaves,  finding  the  out- 
side world  too  hard  for  them,  voluntarily  returned  to  their 
former  masters  at  home,  and  resumed  the  work  under 
them,  which  they  had  so  hastily  and  rashly  abandoned. 
The  freeborn  among  them,  after  working  hard  and  saving 
money,  would  return,  sometimes  after  several  years  of 
absence,  to  their  parents. 

They  would,  however,  not  remain  at  home  for  long,  as 


INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN  NATIVE  LAW  167 

having  once  travelled,  the  spirit  of  adventure  had  seized 
them;  and  after  giving  away  or  spending  all  their  money, 
they  would  start  off  again  to  seek  more  work,  or  return 
to  their  former  employment.  With  their  minds  widened, 
though  perhaps  rarely  improved,  by  travel;  and  having 
come  into  contact  with  other  peoples,  they  were  apt  upon 
their  return  home  to  look  down  upon  the  old  people,  as 
ignorant,  and  "people  of  the  bush."  Unfortunately  while 
abroad,  their  untrained  minds  appeared  only  capable  of 
absorbing  the  bad  and  rejecting  the  good.  They  mixed 
with  all  kinds  of  undesirable  people,  including  degenerate 
and  perhaps  criminal  natives  who  had  been  forced  to  flee 
from  their  own  country,  and  who,  for  reasons  best  not 
inquired  into,  had  not  always  formed  a  very  high  opinion 
of  all  white  men  and  their  culture.  They  mixed  with 
the  Kru  boys  on  the  coast  and  on  the  trading  steamers; 
a  number  of  whom,  unfortunately,  spent  their  holidays  in 
England  in  some  of  the  worst  slums  of  the  large  shipping 
ports. 

The  old  people  in  their  country  naturally  resented  the 
superior  attitude  of  their  sons;  and  of  course  failed  to 
understand  or  appreciate  the  cause  of  such  a  great  change 
in  their  demeanor,  and  why  they  no  longer  respected  the 
word  of  their  fathers  and  their  chiefs.  Matters  became 
so  bad  in  this  respect  that  the  latter  made  a  formal  com- 
plaint to  the  Government,  stating  that  they  no  longer  had 
any  power  or  control  over  their  boys  after  they  had  once 
been  abroad;  that  the  people,  including  the  domestic 
slaves,  were  leaving  them ;  and  they  asked  the  Government 
to  stop  or  restrict  such  emigration.  Owing  to  the  increas- 
ing number  of  these  emigrants,  and  because  of  the  local 
demands  for  carriers  and  labourers,  the  Government  took 
action,  and  passed  an  ordinance  which  considerably  re- 
stricted the  emigration  of  natives  from  the  country. 
They  also  strengthened  the  hands  of  the  chiefs  in  this 
respect,  and  issued  regulations  based  upon  and  supporting 
the  tribal  native  law;  whereby  the  tribal  authority  had 
the  power  to  prevent  their  people  from  leaving  the  chief- 


i68  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

doms,  and  if  found  outside,  to  return  them  to  their  own 
county.^ 

These  regulations  enacted  that  if  any  Timne  remains 
in  any  town  in  the  Colony  that  is  outside  the  Protectorate 
without  regular  employment  for  more  than  twenty-one 
days,  or  fails  to  give  a  satisfactory  account  of  his  means  of 
subsistence,  he  is  deemed  an  idle  and  disorderly  person, 
and  is  liable,  in  addition  to,  or  in  lieu  of,  any  other  pun- 
ishment, to  be  ordered  by  the  Commissioner  to  return  to 
his  chiefdom;  and  if  he  fail  within  a  reasonable  time  to 
comply  with  such  order  he  is  liable  on  summary  con- 
viction to  imprisonment,  with  or  without  hard  labour,  for 
a  period  not  exceeding  three  calendar  months.  Any 
Timne  found  outside  his  tribal  boundary  may  be  interro- 
gated by  the  tribal  ruler  or  by  a  member  of  the  police 
force  as  to  his  means  of  subsistence,  his  present  place 
of  abode,  and  the  chiefdom  to  which  he  belongs,  and  on 
his  failing  to  answer,  or  if  his  answers  are  unsatisfactory, 
he  may  be  taken  to  the  nearest  police  station,  there  to  be 
detained  with  a  view  to  his  being  charged  under  the  last 
preceding  clause.  If  it  is  found  that  any  Timne  has,  in 
contravention  of  this  native  law,  left  the  chiefdom  to 
which  he  belongs  without  obtaining  the  consent  of  the 
chief  or  proper  authority,  such  man  is  liable  to  be  returned 
by  the  tribal  ruler  to  his  country. 

Major  C.  Braithwaite  Wallis,  B.A.,  LL.B.,  F.R.G.S. 
New  Orleans,  La. 

{To  be  concluded  in  July.) 

^Echnology  of   the   Mendi,   Major  Brathwaite   Wallis. 


METHODS    OF    EVANGELISM    AMONG 
CHINESE  MOSLEMS 

It  is  hardly  to  be  wondered  at  that,  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  first  century  of  missionary  labour  in  China, 
the  Moslem  population  was,  to  a  large  extent,  overlooked. 
The  number  of  Mohammedans  in  the  country  can  hardly 
exceed  two  and  one-half  per  cent  of  the  total  population, 
and  of  these  by  far  the  larger  proportion  live  in  the 
western  provinces:  Yunnan,  Kansu  and  Sinkiang.  But 
during  the  early  years  there  were  forces  at  work  that  have 
accumulated  to  produce  the  interest  in  the  problem  of 
their  evangelization  that  is  now  beginning  to  show  itself 
in  missionary  circles. 

The  presence  of  Mohammedans  in  China  was  noted  in 
books  written  by  early  missionaries,  some  of  whom  seem 
to  have  come  into  contact  with  them  in  conversation  in 
guest  rooms  and  mosques.  Later  on,  as  missionaries 
pressed  on  westwards  into  Kansu  and  Yunnan,  they  found 
a  Moslem  population  which,  while  it  might  be  neglected, 
could  hardly  be  overlooked.  Moslem  influence  was  felt 
throughout  the  provinces.  When  Mr.  Horobin,  of  the 
China  Inland  Mission,  came  to  a  district  in  the  north  of 
Kansu,  he  was  so  keenly  impressed  by  the  need  for  special 
workers  that  he  wrote  to  Syria  asking  that  a  Christian 
converted  from  Islam  might  come  as  a  missionary  to 
Chinese  Moslems.  This  was  nearly  thirty  years  ago. 
Similar  appeals  have  gone  out  since,  to  India  and  to 
Egypt,  but  though  Moslems  from  Persia,  Afghanistan, 
and  India  bring  Moslem  literature  across  the  deserts  and 
mountains  of  Central  Asia  to  the  Moslems  of  China,  no 
one  who  has  himself  been  saved  from  the  shackles  of 
Islam  has  yet  come  with  the  glad  tidings  of  freedom. 
The  day  of  opportunity  is  now;  for  when  Christianity 
and  Islam  really  come  to  grips  in  China — which  they  have 

169 


I70  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

not  done  hitherto — there  will  perhaps  be  closed  doors  to 
be  opened  instead  of  the  doors  that  now  stand  flung  wide 
open,  but  would  almost  seem  to  be  beginning  to  creak  on 
their  hinges. 

Thirty  years  ago  there  were  missionaries  in  Kansu  who 
took  an  active  interest  in  Moslems.  Mr.  G.  W.  Hunter 
(now  in  Urumchi),  lived  in  the  largest  Moslem  centre  of 
the  province  for  a  year  or  more,  and  learned  some  Arabic. 
He  also  made  wide  itinerations  in  the  course  of  which  he 
passed  through  Moslem  districts.  Mr.  H.  F.  Ridley 
was  working  on  their  behalf  as  well  as  for  Chinese, 
Tibetans,  and  aborigines.  When  the  Mohammedan 
rebellion  broke  out  in  1895,  he  was  able  to  render  aid  to 
a  number  of  Moslem  wounded  and  thus  to  establish  a  con- 
tact that  has  been  maintained  until  the  present  time. 
This  very  rebellion  served  to  create  a  wider  interest  in 
Chinese  Mohammedans  than  had  existed  previously. 

Missionaries  in  various  parts  of  the  country  have  taken 
an  interest  in  them.  Articles  about  their  doctrines  and 
customs  have  appeared  in  the  Chinese  Recorder  and 
papers  have  been  read  at  various  conferences  on  the  same 
subjects.  No  doubt  Mr.  Marshall  Broomhall's  book, 
"Islam  in  China,"  did  much  to  arouse  Christians  to  a  sense 
of  responsibility  in  regard  to  this  people.  Recently  trans- 
lations of  various  Moslem  pamphlets  have  appeared  in 
The  Moslem  World  and  the  Chinese  Recorder.  So 
interest  has  increased. 

Meanwhile  Mr.  F.  H.  Rhodes,  working  in  Yunnan, 
had  done  special  work  for  those  found  there.  After 
some  years  in  the  province,  his  health  broke  down;  but 
this  proved  to  be  the  opening  of  a  gate  into  a  larger  field 
of  service.  For  from  that  time,  although  living  away 
from  them,  he  has  been  working  for  Moslems  throughout 
all  China,  and  missionaries  in  every  part  of  the  country 
have  come  to  look  to  him  for  suitable  literature,  and  for 
advice,  sympathy,  and  prayer. 

Dr.  Zwemer's  visit  in  1917  was  of  the  utmost  value  in 
bringing   interest  to   a  head.     A   special   committee   to 


EVANGELISM  AMONG  CHINESE  MOSLEMS        171 

organize  work  for  Moslems  was  formed  to  act  in  con- 
junction with  the  China  Continuation  Committee,  with 
Mr.  C.  L.  Ogilvie  as  its  secretary.  (His  sudden  death 
has  grieved  the  missionary  body  throughout  China.) 
This  committee  is  now  doing  invaluable  work  in  the  pro- 
duction of  special  literature. 

So  the  way  is  being  prepared  for  the  Messengers  of  the 
Cross  to  advance  with  better  equipment  than  ever  before. 

We  can  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  methods  of  evan- 
gelism that  are  actually  in  use  with  a  view  to  the  salvation 
of  Chinese  Moslems. 

I.  Direct  evangelism.  In  East  and  Central  China, 
where  communities  are  usually  small — consisting  of  only 
a  few  hundreds  or  even  tens  of  families — special  preach- 
ing is  obviously  difficult  or  impossible.  But  it  has  usually 
been  found  that  a  missionary  is  well  received  in  the 
mosques,  and  a  considerable  amount  of  work  (taken  in 
the  aggregate)  has  been  done  by  visiting  them.  This  is 
what  Mr.  Ogilvie  frequently  did  in  Peking.  The  fact 
that  Chinese  Moslems  are  generally  very  much  interested 
in  theology,  makes  an  interesting  conversation  almost  cer- 
tain on  such  visits.  Occasionally  one  is  made  to  feel  that 
one's  presence  is  considered  objectionable,  and  in  one  in- 
stance, quite  recently,  a  missionary  was  hustled  from  a 
mosque.  But  this  is  the  exception  at  present.  No  one 
can  foretell  what  the  attitude  will  be  when  the  strength 
of  Christianity  and  its  vital  opposition  to  Mohammedan- 
ism are  fully  realized. 

In  China  the  guest  room  has  often  proved  a  valuable 
medium  for  missionary  work,  and  in  the  case  of  work 
among  Moslems  this  is  especially  the  case.  With  Arabic 
and  Chinese  Bibles  and  a  good  supply  of  suitable  litera- 
ture in  both  languages,  also  a  Koran,  much  can  be  done. 
This  kind  of  work  has  been  done  in  several  parts  of  China. 
It  appears  to  be  necessary  to  entertain  Moslem  guests 
apart  from  Chinese;  otherwise  one  cannot  get  beyond  sur- 
face etiquette.  Reading  rooms  for  Mohammedans  have 
been  opened  in  some  places. 


172  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

A  method  that  has  proved  of  real  value  in  China,  has 
been  the  sending  of  suitable  literature  by  post  to  mosques 
and  so  forth.  That  this  method  has  already  had  its  ef- 
fects may  be  judged  from  the  following  sentences  from  the 
preliminary  announcement  of  a  book  to  be  published  by 
Moslems  in  Tientsin: 

"Since  the  entry  of  the  various  religions  into  our  coun- 
try, we  have  not  had  the  calamity  of  religious  controversy; 
for  each  has  followed  its  own  laws,  and  has  not  attacked 
the  others.  But  during  recent  years  the  Jesus  people  have 
levelled  all  kinds  of  criticisms  at  our  religion,  even  going 
so  far  as  to  send  letters  to  each  mosque,  trying  to  get  up 
arguments.     .      .      ." 

As  the  distances  to  be  traversed,  especially  in  Sinkiang 
and  Kansu,  mean  that  visits  can,  at  present,  only  be  paid 
to  most  centres  at  long  intervals,  if  at  all,  it  will  be  readily 
understood  that  the  post  office  has  great  possibilities  as 
an  aid  to  missionary  work  in  those  districts.  Other  ad- 
vantages of  this  method  will  suggest  themselves  to  all  who 
have  had  experience  among  Moslems. 

In  larger  centres  more  definite  preaching  is  possible. 
In  Yunnan  a  preaching  shop  was  opened  on  certain  days 
in  a  Moslem  quarter,  when  there  was  preaching  and  book- 
selling especially  for  Mohammedans.  Coming  to  Kansu 
and  Sinkiang:  the  latter  province  should  rightly  be  called 
"far  away,"  and  the  term  is  constantly  applied,  with  less 
reason,  to  Kansu.  In  one  large  Moslem  centre,  it  is 
hoped  to  secure  premises  and  fit  them  up  for  medical  and 
evangelistic  work  within  a  few  years.  But  what  is 
urgently  needed  in  these  two  provinces  at  present,  is 
itineration  to  prepare  the  ground  for  more  settled  work, 
and  to  bring  the  Gospel  to  those  who  will  otherwise  not 
hear  it  for  years  to  come.  A  short  account  of  a  trip  taken 
by  Dr.  King,  of  the  Borden  Memorial  Hospital,  Lanchow, 
and  the  writer,  may  serve  to  illustrate  the  kind  of  work 
done.  Journeys  in  Sinkiang,  made  by  Messrs.  Hunter, 
Mather,  and  others  are  somewhat  similar,  but  on  a  much 
larger  scale  and  under  far  more  trying  circumstances. 


EVANGELISM  AMONG  CHINESE  MOSLEMS        173 

The  itineration  (including  a  stay  of  a  fortnight)  at 
Hochow  lasted  a  month,  from  late  January  to  late  Febru- 
ary of  this  year.  We  rode  on  horseback  (one  horse  being 
a  mule!)  and  had  a  donkey  to  carry  extra  clothing,  books, 
an  acetylene  lamp,  etc.  (The  lamp  is  mentioned  as  being 
a  bit  of  a  method  in  itself.  It  has  been  found  that  the 
crowd  collecting  to  see  a  lantern  show  is  sometimes  restive 
and  usually  talkative.  A  plain  acetylene  light  gathers 
an  audience  that  is  generally  quiet  and  attentive.)  On  the 
first  and  second  days,  we  passed  westward  from  Lanchow, 
capital  of  Kansu,  through  country  inhabited  chiefly  by 
Chinese  and  aborigines,  giving  away  tracts  in  the  vil- 
lages and  towns  through  which  we  passed.  When  we 
came  to  a  Moslem  food-shop  or  met  a  Moslem  traveler, 
we  gave  away  special  tracts.  On  the  third  day,  we  came 
through  country  that  has  seldom  or  never  been  traversed 
by  a  Protestant  missionary,  to  a  market  town  which,  with 
the  surrounding  country,  is  largely  peopled  by  Moslems 
(two-thirds  of  the  population  are  Mohammedans). 
Here  we  stayed  a  whole  day.  After  visiting  one  of  the 
mosques,  we  preached  on  the  street,  and  sold  a  number 
of  books.  The  new  Arabic-Chinese  diglot  of  Matthew 
was  very  popular.  For  the  evening,  we  announced  that 
there  would  be  preaching  when  the  acetylene  lamps 
would  be  lighted.  As  soon  as  it  began  to  get  dark,  our 
inn  was  fairly  besieged;  little  boys  climbed  on  the  roof 
and  a  crowd  banged  at  the  front  door.  For  the  sake  of 
the  innkeeper,  we  preached  on  the  street  and,  in  spite  of 
the  cold,  had  a  good  audience  all  the  time.  The  next 
day's  journey  took  us  mostly  through  aborigine  country, 
but  in  the  evening  we  crossed  the  ice  on  the  Yellow  River 
and  were  in  the  district  inhabited  by  Salars — a  tribe  of 
immigrants  from  somewhere  round  Samarkand  who  have 
been  in  Western  Kansu  for  several  hundreds  of  years. 
We  found  them  to  be  poor  and  ignorant,  so  that  our  tracts 
were  of  little  avail.  Those  from  Kashgar  did  not  seem  to 
be  understood,  although  the  Salars'  own  language  is  a 
kind  of  Turki.     Preaching  is  what  is  needed  and  we  were 


174  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

unable  to  stay  in  the  district.  So  all  we  could  do  was  to 
leave  some  Arabic  literature  with  various  Ahungs  (Mul- 
lahs). These  people  are  far  too  untouched  by  the  Gospel 
to  have  much  idea  of  opposition  to  it  yet.  The  next  day's 
journey  brought  us  through  mountainous  country  in- 
habited entirely  by  Salars,  in  which  every  village  and 
hamlet  seemed  to  have  its  mosque,  to  the  little  border 
town  of  Hsunhwa  which  is  in  the  centre  of  the  Salar 
country.  Its  population  consists  of  about  sixty  per  cent 
Chinese  and  forty  per  cent  Mohammedans,  so  we  re- 
ceived a  number  of  Moslem  guests,  including  several 
Salars  in  our  inn,  preached  on  the  street,  and  sold  and  dis- 
tributed literature.  Returning  eastward  we  passed 
through  country  inhabited  for  the  first  half  day  by  Salars, 
further  on  by  Tibetans,  and  finally  by  Chinese  and  "Chi- 
nese Moslems,"  over  a  pass  of  some  13,000  feet,  arriving 
in  Hochow  on  the  third  day.  This  is  the  largest  and  most 
important  Moslem  centre  in  Kansu.  We  rented  rooms 
in  an  inn  in  the  suburb,  which  is  the  Moslem  part,  and  is 
far  busier  than  the  city  itself.  The  city  is  almost  entirely 
Chinese.  The  doctor  saw  patients  during  the  day,  and 
performed  several  operations.  In  the  evenings  we  gave 
lectures  on  the  Scriptures,  the  "Six  Great  Prophets" 
(Adam,  Noah,  Abraham,  Moses,  David,  jESUS),  and  two 
medical  lectures — eleven  in  all.  It  was  necessary,  on  ac- 
count of  the  smallness  of  our  quarters,  to  issue  tickets  for 
these  lectures.  On  the  second  evening  we  noticed  several 
Ahungs  listening  keenly.  They  wanted  to  argue.  But 
we  decided  against  it.  The  subject  of  the  third  evening 
was  a  ticklish  one — "The  Scriptures" — and  on  the  fourth 
evening  our  little  room  (a  disused  shop  at  the  end  of  the 
inn-yard)  was  crammed,  and  there  was  a  big  crowd  at  the 
door  demanding  to  come  in.  They  had  the  inn  doors  off 
their  sockets  three  times  before  we  managed  to  persuade 
them  to  go  home.  Those  in  the  room  had  evidently  come 
prepared  to  get  up  a  disturbance;  the  lecture  ended  in  a 
storm,  and  discussion  was  demanded.  Then  whatever  the 
Moslem  gentleman  who  represented  their  side  said,  was 


EVANGELISM  AMONG  CHINESE  MOSLEMS        175 

loudly  cheered  and  whatever  the  Christian  might  say,  he 
was  jeered  at  and  finally  howled  down.  The  rumor  of 
the  affair  came  to  the  ears  of  the  district  magistrate,  and 
he  sent  round  to  beg  us  not  to  proceed  with  the  lectures. 
The  police  and  the  highest  Moslem  official  also  seem  to 
have  given  orders  to  their  underlings  not  to  allow  the 
foreigners  to  be  molested.  It  so  happened  that  the  next 
lecture  was  to  be  a  medical  one,  so  there  would  be  no  like- 
lihood of  argument.  We  finally  decided  that  it  must  be 
given  as  promised,  but  it  was  delivered  on  the  street,  so 
that  at  least  the  innkeeper's  premises  would  be  safe !  The 
evening  passed  off  quietly,  so  the  magistrate  seemed  less 
nervous.  (It  is  no  easy  thing  to  be  a  Chinese  magistrate 
in  a  Moslem  centre  like  Hochow.  So  we  were  able  to 
continue  the  lectures  on  the  street.  Everything  turned 
out  well ;  our  lamp  did  not  blow  out  and  in  spite  of  snow 
on  a  couple  of  evenings  we  had  larger  audiences  than  we 
could  possibly  have  had  in  the  inn.  The  only  untoward 
incident  was  the  withdrawal  of  some  premises  that  had 
been  rented  for  missionary  work. 

Where  the  Moslem  communities  are  small,  it  would 
perhaps  be  hardly  fair  in  the  face  of  chronic  shortage  of 
workers  and  immense  opportunities  in  general  missionary 
work,  to  expect  missionaries  to  give  whole  time  to  work 
among  them.  A  general  knowledge  of  Mohammedan- 
ism, an  open  ear  for  terms,  and  sympathetic  patience 
would  equip  any  missionary  to  visit  mosques,  entertain 
Moslem  guests  and  distribute  special  literature,  without 
much  interfering  with  his  ordinary  work.  And  this  is 
how  work  has  been  done  in  most  instances  so  far.  But 
when  one  comes  to  the  northwestern  and  southwestern 
provinces,  one  cannot  but  feel  it  to  be  imperative,  if  this 
work  is  to  be  done  properly,  that  several  missionaries  be 
set  aside  specially  for  it.  In  Sian,  the  capital  of  the 
province  of  Shensi,  where  there  is  a  fairly  large  Moslem 
community,  Mrs.  Thor,  of  the  Scandinavian  Alliance 
Mission,  erected  premises  on  the  edge  of  the  Moham- 
medan quarters  intending  to  give  her  life  to  work  there. 


176  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

But  her  Lord  had  some  higher  service  for  her,  and  took 
her  away  almost  before  her  work  commenced.  In  Kansu 
there  are  now  four  missionaries  actively  interested,  and 
two  whose  aim  it  is  to  give  whole  time  to  the  evangeliza- 
tion of  Moslems.  The  work  is  in  its  beginnings;  there 
is  much  to  be  learned,  and  there  is  a  distressing  shortage 
of  workers  to  carry  on  the  ordinary  work.  But  in  not  too 
long  a  time,  it  will  surely  be  possible  to  get  more  definitely 
on  to  the  job. 

2.  Medical  work.  In  reference  to  this  method  one  is 
unable  to  speak  of  any  province  but  Kansu.  In  other 
provinces  there  have  been  Moslem  patients  treated  in 
mission  hospitals,  but  no  definite  information  to  hand. 
In  Lanchow  there  is  a  hospital,  erected  in  memory  of 
William  Borden.  As  it  is  the  only  one  in  the  province 
with  a  fully  trained  medical  staff,  it  will  be  realized  that  it 
is  impossible  to  limit  it  to  the  treatment  of  Moslem 
patients.  But  special  arrangements  are  made  for  such. 
There  is  a  guest  room  fitted  for  their  reception,  and  a  spe- 
cial block  of  buildings  for  inpatients,  which  is  kept 
"clean."     No  lard  or  anything  else  ''unclean"  is  used. 

In  a  province  like  Kansu,  itinerant  medical  work  has 
an  important  place,  and  much  has  been  done.  Medicine 
has  been  dispensed  and  operations  performed  in  various 
places  where  there  is  a  Moslem  population.  In  such  work 
it  has  been  found  advisable  to  make  a  stay  of  at  least  a 
month  if  at  all  possible,  in  the  centre  visited.  Moslems 
have  proved  more  willing  to  accept  surgical  treatment 
than  have  Chinese. 

Among  the  Salars  and  in  the  Hochow  District,  there 
are  a  number  of  lepers,  many  or  most  of  whom  are 
Mohammedans  or  Tibetans.  A  general  offer  has  been 
made  when  opportunity  has  offered,  to  house  such  in  the 
Borden  Hospital. 

In  turning  from  this  subject,  one  might  add  that,  but  for 
the  medical  work  done,  such  a  stay  as  that,  described 
above,  in  Hochow  would  almost  certainly  have  been  ex- 
ceedingly difficult,  if  not  impossible. 


EVANGELISM  AMONG  CHINESE  MOSLEMS        177 

3.  Educational  work.  It  can  hardly  be  said  that 
there  is  any  educational  work  done  by  missionaries  with  a 
special  view  to  reaching  Chinese  Moslems,  unless  it  be  in 
Kashgar.  But  in  Shantung,  Szechuan  and  other  prov- 
inces there  are  some  Moslem  children  who  attend  mission 
schools.  Even  in  one  centre  in  one  of  those  provinces  in 
which  Moslem  influence  is  stronger,  there  is  one  Moslem 
boy  in  a  Christian  school.  This  may  seem  hardly  worthy 
of  mention.  But  in  those  provinces  where  the  number  of 
ex-Moslem  Christians  could  be  counted  on  the  fingers  of 
one  hand,  every  step  counts  for  something. 

4.  Literature.  When  Mr.  Marshall  Broomhall 
wrote  "Islam  in  China"  he  could  only  hear  of  three  Chris- 
tian tracts  specially  for  Chinese  Moslems.  We  are  now 
far  better  equipped  in  this  direction.  There  are  fourteen 
booklets,  eleven  parable  stories,  several  tracts  and  some 
Scripture  portions  in  Chinese;  some  of  these  use  a  num- 
ber of  Chinese-Moslem  terms.  There  are  also,  besides 
the  Arabic  Scriptures,  an  Arabic  Chinese  diglot  of  Mat- 
thew; Genesis,  First  Samuel,  the  Four  Gospels  and  Bible 
History  in  Turki ;  and  Mark  in  Qazaq-Turki.  In  Turki 
there  are  also  two  hymnbooks,  two  booklets,  six  tracts,  and 
three  educational  books,  besides  three  books  to  assist  in  the 
learning  of  the  Turki  language. 

The  preparation  of  literature  for  Chinese  Moslems  is  a 
distinct  problem.  Until  the  present  time  the  percentage 
of  illiteracy  among  them  has  been  very  high.  Most  Mos- 
lem boys  (I  speak  with  certainty  for  Kansu  only)  learn 
the  Arabic  alphabet,  but  very  few  gain  sufficient  knowl- 
edge of  the  language  to  be  of  any  practical  value.  Now 
special  schools  are  being  opened  on  all  hands  for  the 
teaching  of  Chinese  Moslems,  but  this  is  a  very  recent 
development.  Beyond  this  problem  of  illiteracy,  there 
lies  a  further  one.  As  soon  as  one  speaks  to  Moslems  of 
religious  subjects,  one  finds  that  there  is  a  large  vocabu- 
lary of  terms,  often  very  different  from  those  decided 
upon  by  the  Christian  Church.  These  are  of  two  kinds: 
Expressions  coined  or  adopted  from  ordinary  Chinese, 


.178  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

and  more  or  less  Chinese-ized  Arabic  and  Persian  words. 
The  Committee  on  Work  for  Moslems  under  the  China 
Continuation  Committee  has  issued  a  list  of  a  number  of 
terms  used  in  books  by  Moslems.  But  there  are  many 
expressions  used  by  Ahungs  in  their  "explanations"  of  the 
Koran — expressions  of  both  the  kinds  noted  above — that 
are  very  generally  used  by  Moslems,  that  we  have  not  yet 
got  hold  of.  However,  almost  each  book  that  has  been 
published  has  had  a  better  selection  of  Moslem  terms  than 
its  predecessors,  and  we  can  look  forward  to  the  time  when 
there  will  be  books  essentially  and  vitally  Christian  and 
yet  thoroughly  understood  by  and  appealing  to  Chinese 
Moslems. 

Nearly  all  this  literature  consists  of  translations.  But 
there  are  a  few  original  booklets,  and  we  hope  for  more, 
that  will  more  exactly  meet  the  needs  of  Chinese  Moslems, 
than  even  the  present  translations — excellent  and  highly 
appreciated  by  those  in  touch  with  Moslems  as  they  are. 

Best  of  all  literature  is  the  Bible;  to  it  we  look  as  our 
great  foundation  rock  which  stands  out  in  splendid  con- 
trast to  the  superficial  repetitions  of  the  Koran. 

Mark  E.  Botham. 
Lanchow,  Kansu,  China. 


THE  SUPREME  AMULET 

An  Egyptian  Tale* 

Little  Ahmed,  the  new-born  son  of  Rosheda,  wife  of 
Mahmoud  Ahmed  of  Fayoum  City,  stared  solemnly  out 
on  his  strange  new  world  in  a  village  that  lay  a  few  miles 
from  the  city  itself,  deep  among  tall  millet  fields.  The 
low  mud  houses  straggled  along  a  dusty  street  that  climbed 
a  hill,  and  behind  them  were  tangled  bits  of  mud-walled 
gardens  backing  on  to  a  steep  wooded  valley  through  which 
a  canal  ran,  deep  and  full  as  a  river  between  grassy,  tree- 
bordered  banks.  Day  and  night  the  eternal  water  wheels 
of  the  Fayoum  sang  to  her  children.  Day  and  night 
winds  from  the  desert  beyond  fluted  through  the  steep 
wooded  valleys,  the  miniature  hills,  the  long  shaded  roads. 
But  all  the  baby  saw  of  life  was  the  narrow  dusty  street, 
each  house  blindly  facing  the  roadway  and  built  to  betray 
as  little  as  possible  of  the  life  within.  And  there,  when 
he  was  seven  days  old,  the  village  women  met  to  fulfil 
every  ceremony  love  could  devise  to  shield  him  from  that 
terror  of  all  such  simple  hearts — the  Evil  Eye  of  the 
Envious.  They  wrapped  him  in  an  embroidered  shawl 
and  Rosheda,  his  little  fifteen-year-old  mother  sitting  on 
the  gaily  decorated  Chair  of  Birth  that  had  done  similar 
duty  for  scores  and  generations  of  village  mothers,  held 
him  in  her  arms  while  his  grandmother  struck  a  brass 
mortar  close  to  his  ears  that  the  music  by-and-by  might 
not  frighten  him.  The  baby  blinked  but  did  not  weep, 
and,  this  being  an  excellent  omen,  they  shrilled  and  chat- 
tered with  delight.  They  shook  him  up  in  a  sieve  to 
strengthen  his  poor  little  stomach,  and  they  carried  him 
into  every  part  of  the  house  to  familiarize  his  soul  with 

•  [This  accurate  Interpretation  of  village  life  is  reprinted  from  The  Egyptian 
Gazette  by  special  permission  of  the  author. — Ed.] 

179 


i8o  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

every  corner  of  it  while  they  sprinkled  salt  before  him 
and  the  midwife  cried,  "The  foul  salt  be  in  the  Eye  of  the 
Envious."  And  each  woman  carried  a  gay  little  colored 
candle,  stuck  in  a  lump  of  henna,  and  later  when  they  laid 
the  baby  on  a  mattress  and  carried  him  round  for  each 
guest  to  see  they  each  gave  him  a  bright  colored  handker- 
chief with  a  few  milliemes  knotted  in  one  corner,  and  laid 
another  coin  beside  the  goolah  or  water-pot,  that  was 
hung  with  bright  rags  and  borrowed  jewelry,  all  to  bring 
him  luck.  And  then  just  as  the  village  midwife,  an  old 
gossipy  hag,  was  gathering  up  these  coins,  which  were 
always  her  share  of  the  day's  entertainment,  and  the 
women  were  preparing  the  feast  to  follow,  there  entered, 
as  in  all  good  fairy  tales  there  should  enter — the  Wicked 
Fairy. 

In  this  case  it  was  Hamida,  the  childless,  one-eyed  wife 
of  Mahmoud  Hosein,  the  gaffir,  or  village  watchman. 
Hamida's  face  with  its  hungry  mother-love  and  bitter 
jealousy  burned  into  Rosheda's  heart,  so  that,  in  sudden 
terror  she  snatched  up  the  boy  and  hid  him  in  her  breast, 
at  which  Hamida,  insulted,  left  the  house  again,  laughing 
mockingly,  without  paying  the  customary  nukoot  to 
child  or  nurse.  The  women  all  made  the  sign  against 
the  Evil  Eye  hastily  and  buzzed  like  a  hive  disturbed,  and 
the  midwife  devised  a  cunning  charm  to  secure  the  baby 
against  it.  But  the  little  passing  incident  planted  deep  in 
Rosheda's  heart  a  terrible  fear  that  no  after  security  could 
remove.  For  though  Ahmed  grew  to  be  a  sturdy  happy- 
go-lucky  child  in  conditions  that  would  have  killed  any 
self-respecting  English  baby  in  a  week,  Rosheda  never 
could  feel  safe  about  him  while  Hamida  yet  walked  the 
village  street  and  laughed  as  she  went  by.  She  kept  him 
spotlessly  clean  and  clad  in  gay  coloured  clothes  and  the 
other  women,  wise  in  their  age-old  superstitions,  shook 
their  heads  over  her  inordinate  vanity  as  a  direct  invita- 
tion to  the  dreaded  Evil  Eye,  even  though  the  child  was  a 
walking  museum  of  charms  and  amulets.  Poor  Rosheda, 
too  proud  of  his  beauty  to  let  him  go  ragged  and  dirty  like 


THE  SUPREME  AMULET  i8i 

the  other  children,  spent  all  her  time  devising  yet  stronger 
spells.  She  toiled  among  the  ruins  of  dead  cities  for  the 
antique  beads  so  highly  esteemed  among  village  folk. 
She  sold  her  best  copper  pot,  and  thereby  earned  a  beating 
from  her  husband,  just  to  buy  a  little  gold  tassel,  that, 
matted  to  his  tiny  forelock  with  a  lump  of  alum  should 
dangle  between  the  child's  mischievous  black  eyes  and 
ward  off  the  threatened  peril.  Sometimes  at  night  she 
slipped  away  to  sleep  under  the  great  gnarled  thorn  trees 
that  line  the  road  to  the  city,  and  are  credited  with  magic 
powers. 

Ahmed  was  a  fat,  laughing  boy  of  two,  whose  steps  led 
him  into  mischief  twenty  times  a  day  to  her  mingled  pride 
and  terror,  when  the  summer  came  down  on  them,  claim- 
ing its  yearly  toll  of  child-life  from  the  narrow  dusty 
streets.  No  other  child  had  been  born  to  Rosheda,  and 
Ahmed  was  her  idol.  And  now  he  was  wilting  visibly  in 
the  heat,  and  not  all  her  powers  could  help  him  one  little 
bit.  And  it  was  common  talk  in  the  village  that  Hamida 
had  said  that  the  boy  should  yet  some  day  be  hers,  a  vague 
threat  that  filled  the  mother's  heart  with  blind  terror. 
When  evening  came  Rosheda  would  carry  the  ailing  child 
up  the  road  beyond  the  village  to  where  the  great  ancient 
water  wheels  droned  out  their  eternal  song,  raising  their 
dripping  crown  of  earthen  pots  to  fill  the  irrigation  chan- 
nels, day  in  day  out,  just  as  they  had  done  for  hundreds  of 
years  since  hands  long  dead  had  set  them  there.  All  day 
and  night  from  babyhood  their  cry  wove  into  the  simple 
web  of  village  life,  a  leit-motif,  scarce  heard  after  a  while, 
yet  as  much  a  part  of  every  day  as  the  scent  of  jasmine, 
or  the  beat  of  a  tom-tom,  or  the  date  palms  and  thorn 
trees  that  shadowed  the  fields  of  millet  that,  like  a  waving 
green  forest,  grew  for  miles  all  about  the  village. 
Rosheda  could  no  more  imagine  a  land  without  the  cry  of 
the  wheel  than  she  could  dream  of  the  desert,  the  sea  or 
cold  lands  far  away  where  the  gorgeous  Eastern  sun  never 
shone.  And  here  by  the  wheel  one  day  her  enemy  found 
her.     She  came  to  repeat  her  offer  to  adopt  the  child,  an 


1 82  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

offer  made  half  in  jest,  half  earnest,  always  refused  with 
scorn,  yet  this  time  presented  with  a  scarcely  suppressed 
excitement  that  Rosheda's  watchful  eyes  did  not  miss.  It 
was  an  insult  to  her  motherhood  to  dream  she  would  give 
up  her  darling,  the  light  of  her  eyes,  and  she  turned  furi- 
ously on  the  daring  speaker,  although  a  moment  later  fear 
lent  her  sufficient  cunning  to  refuse  the  offer  quietly. 
Hamida  laughed,  tossing  her  head. 

"You  will  think  differently  soon.  That  child  is  ill 
*  *  *  only  I  can  cure  him.  If  you  keep  him  he  will  die 
— like  his  father." 

"What,  oh  you  accursed  woman!  May  you  burn  in 
hell,"  flamed  out  Rosheda  savagely,  "have  you  dared  to 
touch  my  man  too?    Or  are  you  only  lying  to  torture  me?" 

"Not  I — not  I,"  crowed  Hamida,  "he  is  dead — for  the 
great  wheels  beyond  the  village  took  him,  and  even  now 
they  are  mourning  for  him  outside  your  house." 

Gathering  up  her  flying  black  veil  with  swift,  graceful 
gesture,  Rosheda  fled  away  from  Hamida's  evil,  follow- 
ing laughter,  down  the  long  road  that  lay  between  her  and 
the  village.  A  sharp  corner  to  be  turned.  A  little  hill 
to  climb.  Then  the  long,  arrow-straight  street,  filled 
with  the  blood-red  glow  of  the  sunset  and  the  trooping 
shadows  that  heralded  the  twilight.  On  her  ears  fell  the 
high  broken  wailing  of  the  women  keening  for  the  dead. 
In  front  of  her  house  a  crowd  was  gathered,  the  men  gaz- 
ing gloomily  before  them,  the  women  wailing  and  sob- 
bing, flinging  their  arms  aloft  with  wild  and  tragic 
gestures.  Rosheda  broke  through  them  and  someone 
took  the  weeping  baby  from  her  arms  as  she  flung  herself 
down  on  her  husband's  body  and  gave  herself  up  to  wild 
and  undisciplined  grief,  while  all  about  her  the  women 
redoubled  their  cries,  tearing  their  hair,  casting  dust  on 
their  heads,  shrieking  in  growing  frenzy.  Mahmoud  had 
slipped  and  been  horribly  crushed  under  the  relentless 
iron  swathes  of  the  old  wheel.  All  her  life  Rosheda  had 
listened  to  its  mournful  song  and  never  dreamed  for  what 
tragic  omen  it  stood  to  her.     All  her  life  to  the  day  she 


THE  SUPREME  AMULET  183 

died  she  would  hear  it  yet,  threaded  with  her  sorrow. 
She  did  not  realize  that  Hamida  had  merely  seen  the  men 
carrying  Mahmoud  past  the  house  and  used  her  knowl- 
edge to  try  to  frighten  Rosheda.  To  the  little  widow  it 
was  all  Black  Magic,  since  Hamida  was  an  All-Powerful 
One,  and  through  her  genuine  passion  of  grief  for  the 
husband  who  had  loved  her  after  his  fashion  there  ran  a 
terrible  fear  of  what  might  yet  befall  her  son,  than  whom 
there  was  none  dearer  in  earth  or  heaven. 

After  Mahmoud  was  buried  she  returned  to  her  father's 
house  till  the  days  of  her  eddeh  be  accomplished.  Life 
narrowed  in  for  her  and  was  filled  with  petty  cares. 

Her  child  ailed  more  visibly  day  by  day.  It  was  in- 
evitable, according  to  her  simple  faith,  if  Hamida  willed 
it  so,  and  the  doctor  in  the  hospital  in  the  city  shook  his 
head  over  him,  for  he  seemed  to  be  suffering  from  one  of 
those  curious  wasting  diseases  that  afflict  childhood  in 
the  East  and  for  which  there  seems  so  little  chance  of 
diiagnosis  or  cure.  Rosheda  sought  in  vain  for  an  amulet 
powerful  enough  to  meet  the  case.  And  Hamida  lost  no 
chance  of  impressing  on  her  that  the  only  hope  of  cure  was 
to  give  her  up  the  child.  And  this  idea  of  adoption,  com- 
mon enough  as  it  is  in  the  East,  seemed  more  cruel  to 
Rosheda  than  death  itself.  Soon  however  there  came  an- 
other factor  into  play.  Rosheda's  parents  arranged  a 
very  satisfactory  match  for  her  with  a  rich  and  elderly 
widower  in  a  neighbouring  village.  He  already  had 
three  sons,  so  though  he  wanted  the  pretty  seventeen-year- 
old  widow  for  his  wife  he  did  not  want  her  child,  and  it 
seemed  an  easy  solution  of  all  difficulties  for  her  to  give 
up  the  boy  to  Hamida.  But  Rosheda  with  unusual  ob- 
stinacy held  out  against  all  their  prayers  and  threats  until 
she  realized  that  all  other  methods  of  saving  his  life 
seemed  futile.  The  baby  wilted  visibly  in  the  heat  and 
no  charm  nor  amulet  nor  any  medicine  the  doctor  gave 
her  could  avail. 

There  remained  only  the  supreme  amulet  of  her  love 
and  her  sacrifice  and  that  Rosheda  now  gave  her  child. 


i84  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

She  told  her  parents  to  arrange  the  necessary  witnesses 
and  joyfully  Hamida  came  in  haste  to  take  possession. 
In  the  presence  of  half  the  village  women  she  formally 
adopted  him  slipping  him  under  her  galabieh  against  her 
starving  heart. 

"Born  again,  he  is  mine,"  said  Hamida,  "he  shall  be 
called  Mahmoud  Hosein  after  his  new  father." 

Scornfully  she  cast  aside  the  clothes  Rosheda  had  made 
for  him,  and  the  amulets  her  love  had  provided.  Naked 
and  weeping  she  bore  him  out,  wrapped  in  her  veil,  while 
Rosheda  in  the  inner  room  bit  her  hair  and  her  hands  in 
an  effort  to  hush  her  cries  lest  her  rival  should  hear  and  be 
glad.  The  stifling  day  died.  The  heat  was  tempered  by 
a  fitful  breeze.  In  the  tender  light  of  a  young  new  moon 
Rosheda  crept  out  of  her  house,  over  the  low  mud  wall 
of  the  courtyard  to  the  valley  behind.  A  delicate  tracery 
of  palms  stood  black  against  a  sky  as  pale  as  milk,  and  the 
olive  trees  gathered  together  about  her  as  if  to  hide  her 
agony  from  the  too  inquisitive  moon.  By  swinging  her- 
self into  the  branches  of  a  giant  lebbak  tree  she  could  peer 
down  into  Hamida's  garden.  Rank  grass  and  the  coarse, 
pale  flowers  of  the  bdingan  rioted  there.  High  stalks  of 
silvery-bearded  grasses  swayed  in  the  wind.  Framed  in 
the  black  outline  of  the  house  the  open  doorway  stood  out 
as  if  cut  from  gold  paper,  and  Hamida,  the  One-Eyed, 
Hamida,  the  Childless  One,  sat  there  full  in  the  light  with 
a  little,  crowing,  naked  baby  on  her  lap.  She  stooped  and 
cuddled  his  soft  yellow  body,  his  little  feet,  his  laughing 
black-lashed  eyes.  She  rubbed  him  with  oil  and  herbs, 
massaging  him  with  cunning  touch.  Already  he  seemed 
brighter  and  better,  turning  to  her,  the  stranger,  for  com- 
fort in  his  loneliness. 

In  the  moonlight  and  the  silence,  Rosheda  listened  while 
her  enemy  lulled  her  child  to  sleep.  Another  home  was 
to  be  hers.  Other  children  maybe  would  lie  within  her 
arms.  Yet  always  her  soul  would  be  there,  out  in  the 
dusty  roadway  of  life — alone. 

Thora  Stowell. 


CURRENT  TOPICS 

Is  Islam  the  Enemy  of  Europe? 

A  writer  in  The  New  Age  who  signs  himself  M.  M.  Sosmoi  writes 
as  follows  concerning  the  present  attitude  of  Islam  towards  civilization : 

"It  is  important  to  realize  Islam  for  what  it  is  and  to  deal  with  it  on 
its  merits  as  a  possible  factor  in  the  future  functional  organization  of 
the  world.  Is  it  a  positive  or  a  negative  force,  progressive  or  reaction- 
ary, in  the  first  place;  and,  in  the  second  place,  would  the  world,  if  it 
were  fully  conscious,  as  Europe  has  the  duty  of  becoming  for  the  world's 
sake,  encourage  the  spread  of  Islam  or  take  steps,  and  what  steps,  to 
circumscribe  its  influence  in  the  world  ?  It  will  be  seen  that  these  ques- 
tions are  asked  in  the  spirit  of  our  common  humanity,  in  the  name  of  man 
attempting  consciously  to  fulfill  the  work  of  God ;  and  the  answers  are, 
as  far  as  is  possible  to  us,  given  in  the  same  spirit,  without  other  con- 
scious prejudice,  that  is  to  say,  than  the  natural  bias  of  human  intelli- 
gence towards  the  triumph  of  intelligence.  To  the  first  question,  then, 
we  must  reply  that,  on  the  whole,  Islam  is  not  only  a  static  faith  (or 
vision  of  the  future,  as  every  faith  is) — and,  we  may  add,  to  be  static 
is  to  be  retrogressive,  since  the  world  undoubtedly  moves — but  it  is  nega- 
tive and  reactionary  in  the  sense  that  it  exists  only  as  a  sharp  reminder  to 
Europe  of  something  which  European  Christianity  has  failed  to  remem- 
ber. Christianity,  in  the  high  European  sense,  was  unmistakably  intended 
to  live  by  the  Athanasian  Creed,  that  Creed  that  commands  the  recog- 
nition of  the  several  Persons  of  the  Trinity  while  maintaining  their 
unity;  and  exactly  to  the  extent  and  in  the  degree  to  which  Europe 
forgot  the  Unity  in  the  Trinity,  the  synthesis  in  the  analysis,  the  Creed 
of  Islam  with  its  exclusive  affirmation  of  Unity  and  its  consequent  im- 
plied denial  of  the  Trinity  was  made  not  only  possible,  but,  in  the  world- 
sense,  necessary.  It  has  been  said  with  a  considerable  amount  of  truth 
that  Islam  is  a  return  to  the  Judaism  from  which  Christianity  emerged 
at  so  great  a  price  of  spirit.  Islam  is,  indeed,  a  return,  a  throw-back 
to  Judaism,  and  a  retrogression,  but  it  is  something  more — it  is  a  posi- 
tive and  challenging  reaction  precisely  against  European  Christianity. 
That  it  owes  its  existence  to  a  defect  in  European  Christianity  and  that, 
on  this  ground,  its  existence  is  within  the  psychological  economy  of  the 
world,  is  true.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  criticisms  of  Nature 
are  acts,  and  that  their  secondary  role  is  to  destroy  and  supplant  the 
thing  criticized,  if  it  fails  to  heed  their  warning.  Islam  must,  therefore, 
be  regarded  as  a  salutary  criticism  of  European  Christianity  only  in  so 
far  as  Europe  has  the  intelligence  to  profit  by  it.  In  every  other  sense, 
Islam  is  necessarily  and  by  its  very  virtue  the  enemy  of  Christianity  and 
the  enemy  of  Europe. 

"What,  then,  should  be  Europe's  attitude  towards  Islam?  To  at- 
tempt to  'destroy'  it  by  the  mission  of  a  new  Crusade  is  forbidden.  Un- 
derstanding is  the  first  thing  needed;  and  next  to  understanding,  the 
will  to  guide.    The  gift  of  independence  to  Eg\'pt  is  the  first  step  taken 

185 


i86  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

in  the  right  direction ;  and,  as  soon  as  may  be,  this  step  must  be  followed 
by  the  gift  of  independence  to  the  Islamic  communities  of  Asia  Minor, 
Persia,  Turkestan,  and,  perhaps,  India.  It  is  perfectly  true  that,  in  all 
probability,  the  dreams  entertained  by  pan-Islam,  pan-Turanianism,  and 
pan-Arabism  will  prove  to  be  Arabian  Nights  dreams,  and  nothing  more. 
Being  an  elemental  faith,  incapable  of  self-criticism ;  being,  in  fact,  only 
a  criticism  of  another  faith,  Islam  scarcely  contains  within  itself  the 
possibilities  of  actualizing  the  expressed  political  and  cultural  aspirations 
of  its  adherents.  But,  without  abandoning  Islam  to  its  own  devices  in 
the  spirit  of  distrust,  it  is,  nevertheless  incumbent  on  Europe  to  remove 
from  Islam  every  ground  of  just  complaint  and,  at  the  same  time,  to 
ofFer  to  the  Islamic  communities  every  aid  within  Europe's  power.  That 
is  the  duty  Europe  owes  to  the  manifestation  of  the  criticism  which  the 
world-spirit  has  directed  against  her;  that  must  be  the  first  response  of 
the  conscious  to  the  unconscious.  There  remains,  however,  a  duty  even 
greater  than  that  of  understanding  and  guiding  Islam :  it  is  that  of  syn- 
thesizing Europe.  In  the  economy  of  the  world-process,  actions  have 
their  reactions,  defects  have  their  compensations,  and  'heresies'  of  the 
spirit  have  their  counterheresies.  The  'failure'  of  the  white  race  is  in- 
stantly begun  to  be  'compensated'  by  the  rise  of  another  race ;  the  world 
is  one.  And  it  follows  as  a  'law'  that,  no  sooner  is  the  heresy  amended 
in  the  original  'sinner,'  by  'repentance'  and  'good  works,'  than  the 
counterheresy  it  engendered  begins  to  disappear,  its  services  have  been 
discharged.  The  synthesis  of  Europe  would  speedily  be  followed  by  the 
disappearance  of  Islam  as  an  independent  force.  Its  virtue  as  an  affirma- 
tion of  Unity  would  have  been  'sublimated'  in  the  consciousness  of  a 
Christian  Europe  made  whole  again." 

The  Turki  People  of  Chinese  Turkestan 

A  brief  description  of  these  people  is  found  in  the  Chinese  Recorder, 
August,  1920.  They  number  over  one  and  a  half  million,  differ  entirely 
in  dress  from  their  Chinese  neighbours  and  are  generally  known  as 
Turki  Sarts.  "The  Sarts  by  religion,"  says  Mr.  G.  W.  Hunter,  "are 
Mohammedans  of  a  very  bigoted  type,  although  of  late  years  a  small 
percentage  of  them  are  inclined  to  be  open  and  progressive,  yet  the 
vast  majority  live  in  Mohammedan  bigotry  and  darkness.  Their  mode 
of  living  does  not  differ  very  much  from  Mohammedans  in  general, 
though  they  still  retain  some  of  their  ancient  customs,  such  as  the  wor- 
shiping of  mazars.  These  mazars  are  the  supposed  graves  of  their  an- 
cient kings,  great  men,  or  mythical  saints,  and  resemble  the  Mongol  obo. 
The  Sarts  are  very  fond  of  a  game  called  ughlak.  The  game  is  played 
by  a  number  of  men  on  horseback,  the  riders  trying  to  snatch  the  body 
of  a  kid  from  one  another;  sometimes  as  a  special  test  of  strength  the 
body  of  a  calf  is  used  instead  of  a  kid. 

"Differing  from  the  Chinese  Mohammedans,  but  like  the  Qazaqs  and 
Kirghiz,  the  Sarts  eat  the  flesh  of  horses,  and  one  may  sometimes  see  on 
the  Yarkand  bazaar  horseflesh  for  sale,  with  a  yak's  tail  hung  over  it. 
The  Sarts  are  fond  of  drum  beating  and  dancing,  and  at  their  marriages 
and  festivals  the  monotonous  drumming  goes  on  for  hours  at  a  stretch. 
Both  men  and  women  use  a  preparation  of  tobacco  and  lime,  which  is 
moistened  and  rolled  into  small  pills;  these  are  placed  between  the  lip 
and  teeth  of  the  lower  jaw.     This  preparation  has  an  offensive  smell 


CURRENT  TOPICS  187 

and  blackens  and  rots  the  teeth.  Many  are  also  addicted  to  the  smoking 
of  bang,  a  drug  made  from  hemp,  the  continued  use  of  which  seems 
quite  as  degrading  as  the  opium  habit.  The  Sarts  take  full  advantage 
of  the  lax  Mohammedan  laws  regarding  marriage,  so  the  divorces  are 
very  common  and  consequently  this  and  other  things  lead  to  extreme  im- 
morality. Like  other  Mohammedans  the  Turki  women  are  supposed  to 
be  veiled  in  public,  but  this  custom  is  lightly  regarded  in  Eastern  Turk- 
estan ;  in  the  west,  however,  we  have  seen  the  Turki  priests  with  whips, 
beating  the  women  who  have  ventured  to  appear  unveiled  upon  the 
bazaar." 

What  Is  It  the  Moslems  Want? 

The  following  is  a  summarized  translation  from  the  Echo  de  I' I  slam 
(Paris,  Oct.  20)  dealing  with  the  unrest  in  Turkey,  which  is  attributed 
to  the  Sevres  Treaty.  The  article  is  signed  by  Ali  Bayrak.  He  states 
that  the  injuries  suffered  by  Turkey  are  felt  and  resented  in  all  the  Mo- 
hammedan world,  for  they  appreciate  the  fact  that  in  Turkey  they  lose 
the  most  vital  defender  of  their  faith.  The  Moslem  world,  with  the 
exception  of  a  certain  unimportant  number,  who  are  mainly  in  the  pay 
of  the  English,  see  the  necessity  for  the  upholding  of  the  Ottoman  Cali- 
phate. He  goes  on  to  say  that  even  the  Arab  tribes,  who  under  the 
dominion  of  the  Turks  were  in  constant  revolt  against  the  authority  of 
Constantinople,  are  now  ranging  themselves  on  the  side  of  the  Caliphate. 
India  and  Central  Asia  are  aroused ;  Egypt  rejects  the  proposals  of  the 
Milner  Commission ;  Mesopotamia  is  in  revolt ;  Kurdistan  will  accept 
no  government  other  than  that  of  the  Sultan ;  Asia  Minor  is  all  against 
European  Imperialism.  In  face  of  all  this  one  can  scarcely  regard  such 
a  movement  as  factitious  or  superficial.  With  regard  to  their  grievances 
the  writer  says:  "What  the  propaganda  of  the  Young  Turk  Movement 
had  failed  to  attain,  the  Greeks — in  his  opinion  the  last  nation  in  the 
world  to  whom  such  concessions  should  have  been  made — have  been 
able  to  carry  through."  He  points  out  in  proof  the  presence  of  the 
Greeks  in  Asia  Minor  and  especially  Smyrna,  which  since  the  earliest 
periods  of  history  have  been  the  inviolable  home  of  the  Asiatic  races. 
The  occupation  of  Adrianople — the  Holy  City — regarded  as  the  last 
fortress  of  the  Khaliphate;  the  fact  that  the  Sultan  Khalif  is  to  all  in- 
tents a  prisoner,  while  the  heir  apparent  is  literally  confined  to  his  palace, 
where  he  is  ever  watched ;  all  this  has  resulted  in  binding  together  more 
firmly  than  ever  Moslem  interests  and  concentrating  all  the  hatred  of 
the  East  toward  the  West. 

Although  still  in  its  youth  he  is  very  hopeful  of  the  success  of  the  Pan- 
Islamic  movement  and  he  warns  us  that  the  day  will  come  when  the 
world  will  be  forced  to  acknowledge  its  strength.  The  seed  is  sown, 
"le  temps  fera  desorlais  son  oeuvre." 

He  pleads  that  the  Moslems  are  not  asking  for  anything  that  is  con- 
trary to  the  principles  and  ideals  which  the  Entente  Powers  have  called 
forth  and  have  themselves  inspired,  since  it  was  these  very  ideals  that 
the  Moslems  have  fought  for  during  the  last  fifty  years  all  over  the 
world  and  especially  during  the  recent  war.  They  say :  You  have  prom- 
ised that  you  would  not  touch  our  Khalifate  and  the  Khalif  is  today  a 
prisoner  of  your  troops  in  Constantinople.  You  have  promised  to  re- 
spect our  sacred  places;  but  Mecca,  Medina  and  Kerbala,  which  should 
be  under  the  protection  of  the  Khalif — the  Servant  of  the  Holy  Places — 


1 88  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

have  been  placed  under  the  government  of  your  paid  creatures.  The 
Europeans  would  have  been  none  the  worse  for  allowing  these  holy  cities 
to  be  under  the  direct  government  of  the  Khalif,  nor  would  they  have 
menaced  the  security  and  advantages  of  those  provinces  which  the 
Europeans  have  seized  for  themselves  out  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  The 
Moslem  conception  of  the  Khalif,  the  writer  points  out,  is  different 
from  that  of  the  Christian  conception  of  the  Pope,  for  the  Khalif  is  not 
regarded  as  spiritual  priest  alone,  but  also  as  earthly  king  and  as  long 
as  the  Europeans  do  not  appreciate  this  distinction  there  can  be  no 
peace  between  Moslem  and  Christian. 

Unhappy  Islam,  Ali  Bayrak  cries,  forced  back  to  its  last  resources, 
threatened  in  its  very  cradle  and  its  holy  sanctuaries,  defends  its  rights 
and  will  go  on  doing  so ;  and  it  will  be  a  shame  after  all  the  concessions 
it  has  made  to  Europe  if  the  last  vestiges  of  its  independence  incarnated  in 
its  Sultan-Khalif  of  Stamboul  are  taken  away. 

It  would  be  well  if  Europe's  chancelleries  would  give  as  much  con- 
sideration to  these  pleas  as  they  do  to  the  reports  of  their  young  men, 
who  are  by  no  means  infallible,  and  to  the  decisions  of  their  old  men, 
who  look  at  today's  problems  through  the  spectacles  of  six  years  ago. 

The  Holy  Carpet 

A  correspondent  of  the  Manchester  Guardian  gives  an  account  of  the 
ceremony  held  in  connection  with  the  Annual  Departure  of  the  so-called 
Holy  Carpet  from  Cairo.     He  says: 

"The  fabrics  are  of  three  orders.  Most  important  of  all,  in  the 
center  of  the  hall,  guarded  by  Egyptian  sentries  with  fixed  bayonets  and 
illuminated  by  four  enormous  candles  in  candlesticks,  each  of  full  human 
height,  stand  the  elaborate  embroideries  which  are  to  cover  the  tomb  of 
the  Prophet  at  Medina.  Round  the  surrounding  walls  are  draped  the 
plainer  curtains  of  woven  black  which  are  to  be  suspended  round  the 
walls  of  the  Ka'aba  at  Mecca.  And  in  a  separate  hall  the  crowd  throngs 
round  the  gorgeously  embroidered  'Mahmal'  its  motive  colors  red 
silk  and  gold  thread,  which  is  in  form  and  purpose  a  species  of  'howdah' 
hung  round  a  wooden  frame  and  carried,  empty  save  for  a  copy  of  the 
Koran,  at  the  head  of  the  great  caravan  of  pilgrims  by  a  finely  capari- 
soned camel. 

"The  night  of  the  'Kisweh'  is  marked  merely  by  the  passive  spectacle 
above  described.  The  Cairo  crowd  walks  round,  listens  to  the  band, 
chatters  in  criticism  or  admiration,  aijd  goes  home  to  bed.  The  second 
act  of  the  drama  takes  place  on  the  following  morning,  when  the 
'Mahmal'  and  its  attendant  tapestries  are  carried  in  procession  round 
the  vast  open  space  below  the  Citadel,  where  the  Manchester  Regiment 
held  its  last  melancholy  muster  before  marching  from  Cairo  to  its  fatal 
landing  at  Gallipoli.  On  this  occasion  the  display  is  one  of  much  more 
vivid  life  and  color.  The  great  sandy  square  is  enclosed  by  Egyptian 
troops.  At  one  end  the  Lancers  are  extended  in  line ;  behind  them  the 
guns  which  fire  the  ceremonial  salute.  Another  side  is  lined  by  infantry, 
and  opposite  them  stands  the  gaily  decorated  pavilion  reserved  for  the 
Sultan's  representative,  the  Ministers  of  State,  and  the  grandees  and 
sheikhs  from  the  Mosque  of  Azhar,  the  latter,  perhaps,  the  most  pic- 
turesque sight  of  all,  in  their  elaborately  colored  robes  and  white  tur- 
bans, instinct  with  the  dignity  of  Doctors  of  Islam.    On  the  fourth  side 


CURRENT  TOPICS  189 

is  the  carriage  enclosure  where  European  ladies  and  visitors  may  stand 
on  their  vehicles  to  watch  the  ceremony.  The  salute  is  fired,  and  a 
sudden  burst  of  music  from  the  band  proclaims  that  the  procession  has 
started.  At  its  head  comes  the  beast  that  carries  the  'Mahmal/  his  head 
and  flanks  covered  with  brocaded  red  and  gold,  led  by  long  tasselled 
cords  of  gold  braid.  For  the  rest  of  his  existence  the  camel  that  carries 
the  'Mahmar  will  do  no  work,  but  merely  grow  idly  fat  at  the  State's 
expense." 

A  Chinese  View  of  Mohammed's  Marriages 

In  a  paper  read  before  The  North  China  Branch  of  the  Royal  Asiatic 
Society  at  Shanghai,  by  Mr.  Isaac  Mason,  on  the  life  of  Mohammed 
according  to  Chinese  sources,  we  find  evidence  that  the  records  have  been 
modified  to  suit  Chinese  ethics: 

"Soon  after  Khadija's  death,  Mohammed  married  Sauda,  and  was 
betrothed  to  Ayesha.  Our  author  says  that  the  believers  pressed  the 
Prophet  to  take  a  wife,  lest  he  should  leave  them  and  go  away.  They 
ofifered  wealthy  and  honorable  ladies,  but  Mohammed  declined  them 
saying  that  as  he  had  a  rich  wife  before,  it  would  now  conduce  to  his 
virtue  to  have  someone  who  was  very  poor,  so  he  chose  Sauda. 

"Ayesha  was  the  daughter  of  the  Prophet's  life-long  friend  and  stal- 
wart disciple  Abu  Bekr;  she  was  only  six  years  old  at  the  time  of  her 
betrothal.  It  is  said  that  both  Abu  Bekr  and  the  child  urged  the  match, 
but  it  is  also  probable  that  Mohammed  adopted  this  means  of  binding  to 
him  the  father,  though  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  he  was  devotedly 
attached  to  Ayesha.  The  marriage  took  place  when  the  girl  was  nine 
years  old,  and  she  was  the  only  virgin  bride  among  the  eleven  wives 
of  Mohammed,  the  others  all  having  been  married  before.  In  the 
Chinese  history  most  of  the  brides  are  spoken  of  as  virgins  of  special 
beauty  and  virtue,  who  had  refused  all  offers  of  marriage,  being  reserved 
for  the  Prophet.  Although  the  names  of  eleven  wives  are  given,  yet  it  is 
repeatedly  stated  that  the  Prophet  had  nine  wives,  according  to  divine 
command;  as  Khadija  died  before  the  polygamy  commenced,  and  one 
other  died  after  being  married  but  a  short  time,  the  Prophet  did  not  actu- 
ally have  more  than  nine  wives  at  one  time.  Our  history  credits  him 
with  seven  concubines  also.    The  subject  is  discussed  in  a  note  as  follows: 

"  'If  anyone  asks  if  it  was  really  the  case  that  the  Prophet  had 
nine  wives  and  seven  concubines,  we  answer,  certainly;  and  if  it  be  ques- 
tioned why  did  he  need  so  many,  we  reply,  on  purpose  to  prove  the  com- 
pleteness of  his  standing  as  the  highest  Prophet  and  to  demonstrate  that 
the  pure  brightness  of  the  Prophet  could  stand  searching  examination, 
and  nothing  could  obscure  it.  Our  Prophet,  having  been  up  to  the  ninth 
heaven,  did  not  regard  even  the  heavens  as  wonderful,  and  so  to  have 
nine  wives  and  seven  concubines  and  not  have  his  virtue  interfered  with 
by  ordinary  passion,  was  not  regarded  as  extraordinary,  seeing  that  he 
was  the  Prophet.  It  may  be  said  that  as  the  Prophet  was  daily  occu- 
pied with  exhorting  men  and  at  nights  with  exhorting  spirits,  he  would 
have  no  time  to  give  to  his  wives  or  to  domestic  afifairs,  so  was  it  not 
useless  to  have  so  many  wives?  It  may  be  answered  that  the  Prophet 
was  a  holy  man,  and  the  wives  and  concubines  were  excellent  women, 
and  they  all  considered  it  their  chief  duty  to  assist  virtue  in  bringing 
about  transformation ;  how  then  could  they  give  much  attention  to 
marital  or  domestic  affairs?  Moreover  there  is  an  important  principle 
6 


I90  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

contained  in  this  matter  which  must  not  be  overlooked ;  the  nine  wives 
were  a  symbol  of  the  nine  heavens,  and  the  seven  concubines  were  a 
symbol  of  the  seven  earths.  Ordinary  men  live  between  heaven  and 
earth,  and  who  is  there  that  is  not  allured  by  heaven  and  earth?  The 
Prophet  was  superior  and  could  not  be  enticed  by  his  nine  wives  and 
seven  concubines,  which  was  a  symbol  that  he  could  not  be  illured  by 
the  nine  heavens  and  the  seven  earths.'  In  a  passage  subsequent  to  the 
foregoing,  we  are  told  that  Mohammed  declined  the  offer  of  another 
lady,  on  the  plea  that  he  had  been  commanded  that  nine  was  the  full 
complement  allowed  him!" 

Is  the  Pilgrimage  Legal  under  Present  Conditions? 

The  Reverend  Ahmed  Shah  of  Cawnpore  answers  this  question  in  the 
negative  as  follows:  "This  year's  hajj  according  to  Islamic  law  is  not 
lawful  but  saqit  (/.  e.,  degraded,)  because  the  Kaaba  is  in  the  custody 
of  a  Moslem  king  who  has  allowed  certain  things  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Kaaba  which  are  unlawful  according  to  Moslem  law. 

"For  instance,  ( i )  he  allowed  non-Moslems  to  enter  those  towns  to 
which  entrance  is  forbidden  to  any  but  Moslems;  (2)  he  allowed  some 
unlawful  food  to  be  consumed  by  British  troops:  e.  g.,  wines,  beer,  bacon, 
etc.;  (3)  above  all  he  made  alliance  with  the  enemies  of  Islam.  Had  the 
king  who  allowed  these  things  been  a  non-Moslem  the  haj]  would  have 
been  lawful ;  as  it  was,  the  monarch  was  a  Moslem,  and  as  such  he  acted 
against  Moslem  law,  therefore  the  right  thing  for  a  Moslem  is  to  perform 
no  hajj  under  his  regime." 

Turkish  Women  and  the  Stage 

A  decree  has  gone  forth  that  no  Moslem  women  shall  appear  on  the 
theatrical  stage.  It  appears  that  so  far  there  has  been  but  one  Turkish 
actress  that  has  made  a  public  appearance;  but  that  is  enough  to  rouse 
conservative  opposition  and  bring  out  this  official  prohibition.  Such  action 
rouses  the  following  protest  in  the  Stamboul  by  the  famous  Turkish 
actor,  Burhaneddin,  director  of  a  Turkish  company:  "I  have  read  with 
great  interest  in  the  Stamboul  the  brief  paragraph  about  Moslem  women 
on  the  stage.  Your  paper,  which  has  never  ceased  raising  its  voice  in 
favor  of  all  measures  to  raise  the  moral  tone  of  this  poor  country,  but 
alas!  without  securing  a  hearing,  deserves  today  the  thanks  of  the  com- 
munity for  its  attitude  on  this  subject.  I  have  twelve  Moslem  young 
ladies  as  pupils,  belonging  in  some  cases  to  well-to-do  families,  in  others 
to  those  with  moderate  means;  and  these  young  ladies  have  much  talent. 
I  am  proud  to  have  pointed  the  way  to  the  stage  to  the  youth  of  the 
country  by  entering  it  myself,  even  at  great  sacrifice,  against  the  wishes 
of  my  parents,  and  the  calumny  and  prejudice  of  the  public.  I  shall 
strive  to  the  end  for  this  new  purpose.  Woman  ought  to  show  her 
talent  in  playing.  Public  opinion  favors  it ;  I  can  prove  this  any  time. 
The  authorities  grant  permits  to  women  to  lead  a  loose  life,  and  these 
are  even  countersigned  by  physicians  of  the  public  health  administration. 
Under  such  circumstances,  I  do  not  see  how  they  can  refuse  to  art  what 
they  allow  to  vice.  The  Moslem  women  who  see  their  coreligionists 
from  Russia  who  are  now  refugees  here,  serving  like  their  Christian  com- 
patriots in  restaurants  and  elsewhere,  have  hard  work  to  understand  this 
prohibition.    The  Turkish  woman  of  Constantinople  is  in  general  more 


CURRENT  TOPICS  191 

advanced  than  her  fellow-Turks  of  the  male  sex;    and  she  must  be  al- 
lowed self-expression." — The  Orient. 

Mohammed's  Sinlessness 

In  a  recent  number  of  The  Epiphany  a  5'oung  Moslem,  Abdul  Hakim 
Mirza  from  Cachar,  writes: 

"The  repentance  of  Mohammed  cannot  make  one  doubt  his  being 
the  only  Intercessor  in  the  day  of  judgment.  The  Safar  Namah  of 
Nasir  Khusran  tells  us  that  in  the  mausoleum  built  by  Solomon  over  the 
tomb  of  his  father  there  are  two  doors,  one  called  Bab-ur-Rahmat  (the 
gate  of  mercy)  and 'the  other  Bab-ut-Tauba  (the  gate  of  repentance), 
where  God,  the  exalted  and  glorious,  accepted  the  repentance  of  David, 
the  first  of  the  four  prophets  who  obtained  holy  books  from  God  at 
different  times  and  of  whom  Mohammed  Mustafa  (the  chosen)  was  the 
last. 

"Again,  by  the  honour  of  Mohammed,  and  his  holy  descendants 
Adam's  remorseful  prayer  was  granted  by  God  though  He  sent  Adam 
and  Eve  from  heaven  to  the  earth  for  some  sin  and  Adam  became  the 
foremost  prophet  on  account  of  his  penitence. 

"Now,  it  is  admitted  that  Mohammed  was  subject  to  errors  as  he  was 
no  divine  being  and  that  he  repented  many  times.  And  no  wonder,  a 
pious  man  is  always  penitent,  whether  or  not  he  does  anything  wrong 
consciously  or  unconsciously.  But  who  can  say  that  God  Himself  will 
repeatedly  ask  an  ordinary  man  to  be  repentant  for  his  misdoings?  It 
was  Mohammed — that  extraordinary  man,  whom  God  repeatedly  com- 
manded to  be  penitent  for  the  slightest  offence  he  might  commit.  It  was 
that  last  prophet  of  God  who,  as  told  of  in  his  biography,  was  endowed 
in  the  same  proportion  with  all  good  qualities. 

"That  Mohammed  is  the  only  Intercessor  is  attested  by  the  fact  that 
God  sent  a  well-known  angel  named  Gabrail  with  the  Koran  to  invite 
Mohammed  who  w^as  then  a  man  of  forty,  to  meet  God  in  heaven  and 
to  tell  him  (Mohammed)  that  the  soul  of  one  who  will  not  obey  the 
Alcoran  and  Mohammed,  the  last  prophet  and  the  only  friend  of  God, 
must  be  consigned  to  perdition. 

"Mohammed  was  no  God,  nor  was  he  any  incarnate  form  of  God; 
he  was  but  a  man  having  been  born  of  human  beings,  and  as  such  he 
might  commit  errors,  for  *to  err  is  human.' 

"But  God  Himself  told  him  repeatedly  to  ask  pardon  for  his  errors. 
How  mysteriously  wonderful  it  is!  Again,  by  repenting  for  his  errors 
during  his  lifetime,  he  could  amend  his  life.  Hence  it  is  safely  concluded 
that  Mohammed  the  only  friend  of  God,  the  only  prophet  who  was  in- 
vited so  respectfully  by  God  Himself,  the  last  prophet,  whose  frequent 
repinings  must  have  effected  his  amendment  of  life  and  who  is  ultimately 
so  pure  and  sinless,  must  be  the  only  Intercessor  in  the  day  of  judgment." 

"The  Holy  War"  in  Hausa 

The  Religious  Tract  Society  have  just  published,  at  the  request  of 
the  S.  U.  M.,  an  edition  of  Bunyan's  "Holy  War"  in  Hausa,  from  a 
translation  by  Mr.  J.  Lowry  Maxwell,  Superintendent  of  the  Sudan 
United  Mission  Training  Institute  at  Wukari.  This  should  prove  a 
welcome  addition  to  the  growing  library  of  good  literature  in  Hausa, 
and  in  so  generously  providing  this  volume  the  R.  T.  S.  has  added  one 
more  to  its  many  helpful  undertakings  on  behalf  of  the  missionary  cause. 


THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 


The  Atonement 


'can  preach  the  Gospel  to  Moslems  only  when  we  follow  and  un- 
derstand their  difficulties.  The  weekly  paper  published  by  members  of 
the  Oxford  Mission,  Calcutta,  called  The  Epiphany,  affords  its  readers 
an  open  forum  for  the  discussion  of  these  matters.  Here  is  the  way  a 
Moslem  from  Pbona  expresses  his  difficulties  on  the  Atonement.  We 
do  not  think  it  necessary  to  publish  the  reply : 

"It  is  a  pity  to  know  that  an  innocent  man  is  put  to  death  for  the  sake 
of  others.  If  Christ  had  offered  His  blood  of  His  own  accord  in  order 
to  save  mankind,  even  then  God's  justice  would  have  demanded  that  a 
poor  innocent  man  should  not  be  hanged  or  crucified;  for  instance,  an 
exemplary  punishment  meted  out  to  a  thief  is  mercy  to  society,  because  it 
contributes  to  the  public  safety. 

"The  judicial  courts  of  our  modern  times  do  not  convict  a  man  of 
murder  simply  on  his  pleading  'guilty'  unless  there  is  sufficient  circum- 
stantial evidence  to  establish  the  fact  that  the  ofifence  has  been  committed 
by  him.  How  can  we  believe  then  that  our  temporal  tribunals  of  the 
present  day  are  more  judicious  than  the  court  of  the  Almighty,  whose 
sense  of  justice  falls  short  of  the  ordinary  standard  of  human  civiliza- 
tion? But  Jesus  Christ  did  not  even  ofiFer  His  life  voluntarily,  because 
in  the  Bible  we  have  (a)  'Then  saith  he  unto  them,  my  soul  is  exceeding 
sorrowful,  even  unto  death.'  (b)  'And  he  went  a  little  farther  and  fell 
on  his  face,  and  prayed  saying,  O  my  Father,  if  it  be  possible  let  this 
cup  pass  from  me.'  (c)  'He  went  away  again  the  second  time  and 
prayed  saying,  O  my  Father,  if  this  cup  may  not  pass  away  from  me, 
except  I  drink  it,  thy  will  be  done.'  These  quotations  speak  for  them- 
selves. They  clearly  show  that  Jesus  Christ  did  not  drink  'the  cup' 
willingly;  rather  it  was  forced  upon  Him  and  that  He  prayed  to  avoid 
it.  Again  we  have  (d)  'And  about  the  ninth  hour,  Jesus  cried  with  a 
loud  voice,  saying,  Eli,  Eli,  lama  sabachthani;  that  is  to  say,  My  God, 
my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?' 

"This  is  clear  testimony  to  the  fact  that  Jesus  did  not  wish  to  die  for 
others,  rather  He  interpreted  this  death  in  the  light  that  God  had  for- 
saken Him.  Had  He  any  idea  that  He  was  dying  for  the  salvation  of 
mankind,  He  would  never  have  cried  like  this. 

"Again,  if  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus  Christ  was  brought  about  by 
mercy,  the  only  inevitable  conclusion  is  that  God  never  showed  mercy 
to  His  creatures  before  this  particular  event  took  place." 

The  Moslem  Calendar 

The  Rev.  Ahmad  Shah  of  India  is  contributing  a  series  of  interesting 
notes  on  the  "Moslem  Calendar"  to  one  of  our  exchanges.  He  describes 
the  various  feasts  and  festivals  as  observed  in  India.  The  following 
account  of  the  sacrifice  made  on  the  Great  Feast  gives  details  that  are 
not  generally  known: 

"Seven  men  can  participate  in  the  purchase  of  a  camel,  cow  or  buffalo. 
The  intention  of  sharing  the  cost  of  an  animal  should  be  declared  prior 
to  and  not  after  the  purchase  of  the  animal,  as  the  sacrifice  in  the 
latter  event  would  not  be  acceptable.  A  five  year  old  camel,  two  year 
old  cow  or  buffalo,  a  one  year  old  goat  or  sheep,  or  a  six  month  old  fat 
tailed  sheep  which  could  pass  for  a  one  year  old  when  seen  from  a  dis- 
tance, can  be  used  for  a  sacrifice.   It  is  invalid  to  sacrifice  younger  animals 


CURRENT  TOPICS  193 

than  these.  It  is  best  to  sacrifice  with  one's  own  hands.  Provided  the 
sacrifice  cannot  be  performed  by  one's  self,  it  is  incumbent  to  permit 
another  man  to  do  so  and  it  is  essential  (Sunnat)  to  have  the  animal 
slaughtered  in  one's  own  presence.  No  thirsty  or  hungry  animal  should 
be  sacrificed,  neither  should  the  knife  be  sharpened  before  it,  nor  should 
one  animal  be  sacrificed  in  view  of  another.  It  should  not  be  skinned  till 
it  is  cold,  nor  should  any  of  its  limbs  be  amputated  or  broken.  It  is  ad- 
visable to  repeat  a  certain  prayer  before  the  sacrifice.  The  animal  should 
then  be  placed  on  its  left  side  facing  the  Kaaba  and  the  right  foot  should 
be  placed  on  its  shoulder.  After  repeating  Allahu  Akbar,  it  should  be 
despatched  quickly  with  a  sharp  knife.  But  the  blow  should  not  be  so 
heavy  as  to  reach  through  to  the  back  of  the  neck.  The  person  who 
holds  the  animal  would  do  well  to  continue  repeating  the  Takbir.  It  is 
necessary  to  divide  the  meat  into  three  equal  parts,  two  shares  to  be  kept 
for  one's  self  and  one's  relatives  and  friends,  and  the  remaining  third  to 
be  given  to  the  faqirs,  though  there  is  absolutely  no  harm  if  the  whole  is 
eaten  up  or  distributed  to  the  faqirs.  It  is  better  to  give  the  share  of  the 
faqirs  by  weight,  otherwise  care  should  be  taken  to  see  that  it  is  not  less 
than  one-third.  A  person  who  is  not  well-off  is  not  bound  to  offer  sacri- 
fice, but  the  purchase  of  an  animal  with  a  view  to  sacrifice  makes  it  bind- 
ing that  that  same  animal  should  be  sacrificed.  The  case  is  different  with 
a  man  who  is  well-off,  for  he  is  bound  to  sacrifice  on  his  own  account, 
though  he  need  not  sacrifice  the  very  same  animal  which  he  has  bought. 
He  is  at  perfect  liberty  to  sacrifice  the  animal  purchased  or  some  substi- 
tute. It  is  better  should  he  offer  a  substitute,  that  it  be  superior  to  the 
first. 

"It  is  allowable  to  use  the  skin  for  one's  own  self  or  in  place  of  it  to 
purchase  a  praying  carpet  or  some  other  utensils.  It  is  also  permissible 
for  the  skin  to  be  dedicated  to  some  mosque,  or  school,  or  coffin  fund,  etc., 
so  that  the  managers  may  utilize  the  money  accruing  from  the  sale 
thereof  for  charitable  purposes.  But  the  selling  of  the  skin  for  one's  own 
self  is  unlawful.  Nor  should  this  money  be  spent  on  the  construction  of 
a  school  or  a  niasjid,  but  if  dedicated  to  the  poor  the  pledge  is  binding. 
When  it  is  sold  with  the  intention  of  satisfying  some  selfish  personal  in- 
terest, it  is  culpable  sin ;  moreover  such  money  is  a  pollution  to  one's  self 
and  ransom  is  the  only  sufficient  penance  for  such  pollution.  As  it  is  un- 
lawful to  use  on  one's  self  the  money  realised  from  the  sale  of  the  skin, 
so,  too,  it  is  unlawful  to  meet  the  cost  of  sacrifice  or  the  charges  of  the 
butcher  from  such  money." 

The  Franchise  in  Algeria 

By  a  law  passed  on  February  4,  191 9,  France  introduced  political 
reforms  in  Algeria,  including  a  wide  franchise  for  the  native  population. 
In  a  letter  addressed  to  Le  Temps  by  Professor  Bernard  Lavergne, 
University  of  Algiers,  we  read: 

"Thus  nine-tenths  of  the  younger  generation  of  Mussulmans  will  ac- 
quire French  citizenship  as  soon  as  ever  the  idea  enters  their  head  to 
ask  for  it.  In  our  opinion  the  liberality  of  these  dispositions,  granting 
the  rights  of  French  citizenship  to  elements  fai  too  undependable  and 
very  ill  prepared  to  receive  it,  is  excessive ;  but  making  all  due  reserva- 
tions on  this  point,  let  us  admit  that  the  Mussulman  population  has  so 
far  made  no  use  whatever  of  these  new  opportunities.    The  law  has  been 


194  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

in  force  for  a  year,  and  of  the  50,000  Arabs,  or  Kabyles,  of  the  town  of 
Algiers,  for  instance,  not  a  single  one  has  as  yet  asked  to  be  admitted  to 
French  rights.  Thus  have  been  realised  the  prophecies — or  shall  we 
rather  say  the  wishes — of  those  members  who  voted,  and  of  those  minis- 
ters who  submitted,  the  law  of  1919  in  the  chamber. 

"The  Mussulman  population  does  not  care  to  acquire  French  po- 
litical status;  for  it  has  no  wish  to  buy  it  at  the  price  very  logically 
put  upon  it,  namely,  the  surrender  of  private  customs  and  private  usage. 
Polygamy,  extreme  ease  of  divorce,  special  laws  of  succession  (women 
only  inheriting  half  as  much  as  men  and  eldest  sons  receiving  most  often 
three-fourths  of  the  father's  estate),  these  are  so  engrained  in  the  Mus- 
sulman soul  that  any  renunciation  of  them  would  seem  impossible  to 
practically  the  whole  of  the  native  population.  It  is  our  clear  duty  and 
interest  to  respect  these  sentiments.  We  are  bound  to  be  as  sympathetic 
to  all  naturalization  which  entails  a  true  adhesion  to  French  manners  and 
to  French  modes  of  thought,  as  we  are  bound  to  be  indifferent  to  the 
same  process  where  it  is  merely  formal  and  external." 

A  Quaker  Martyr  in  Arabia 

The  following  note  is  found  in  the  magazine  of  the  Friends'  Workers 
at  Home  and  Abroad: 

"Few  Friends,  if  any,  in  England  are  aware  that  there  is  a  lonely 
Quaker  grave  in  Arabia.  It  is  the  resting-place  of  an  American  Friend 
named  Camp,  who  entered  the  country  as  a  missionary  and  died  there  as 
a  result  of  disease  and  persecution.  This  is  his  story:  He  attended  in 
California  a  conference  of  an  interdenominational  mission  with  stations 
in  Jerusalem  and  Hebron,  and  was  attracted  by  their  work.  Actually 
an  independent  missionary,  he  was  in  association  with  the  Christian  and 
Missionary  Alliance.  On  his  first  arrival  in  Palestine  he  naturally 
visited  the  Friends'  Mission  at  Ramallah,  and  was  in  close  touch  with 
our  Friends  there. 

"For  a  time  he  worked  in  Hebron.  This  town  was  then  (about  1906) 
notorious  for  the  bigotry  of  its  people,  both  Jews  and  Moslems.  Camp 
was  often  opposed  by  the  inhabitants,  and  on  one  occasion  was  struck  in 
the  face  in  the  street  by  an  intolerant  Jew.  He  literally  turned  the 
other  cheek,  and  bore  a  second  blow  without  complaint.  This  witness 
for  Christ  was  more  effective  than  any  of  his  words.  Another  Jew 
standing  by  exclaimed,  'If  his  religion  can  produce  that  result,  that  is 
the  kind  of  religion  I  want!'  This  spectator  became  first  an  inquirer, 
and  eventually  the  first  declared  convert  recorded  by  the  Christian  and 
Missionary  Alliance  in  Hebron. 

"Later,  Camp  resolved  to  enter  the  almost  unoccupied  field  of 
Arabia,  and  with  three  other  missionaries  proceeded  southwards,  though 
all  well  knew  that,  humanly  speaking,  they  were  throwing  away  their 
lives.  They  succeeded  in  reaching  Sona,  where  they  lived  for  a  time, 
but  from  there  they  were  driven  out  cruelly  and  exiled  to  Hudeidah. 
There  Camp  died  of  the  ill-treatment  he  had  received,  and  there  is  his 
grave.    His  companions  got  safely  back  to  Palestine. 

"May  not  the  name  of  Camp  be  recorded  on  the  honor  roll  of  the 
Society  of  Friends  among  those  who  have  risked  all,  lost  all,  and  gained 
all,  for  the  sake  of  Christ?— G.  C.  N/' 


CURRENT  TOPICS  195 

The  Egyptian  University  at  Cairo 

The  Report  of  H.  M.  High  Commissioner  on  the  finances,  administra- 
tion and  condition  of  Egypt  and  the  Sudan  for  the  period  1914  to  191 9 
has  just  been  issued.     In  the  section  on  education  we  read : 

"Educational  developments  have  now^  reached  a  stage  which  makes 
it  possible,  and  very  desirable,  to  consider  as  a  practical  question  the 

establishment  of  a  State  university The  existing  colleges  furnish 

no  opportunity  for  students,  after  completing  their  secondary  course,  to 
secure  a  liberal  education  apart  from  a  professional  career ;  the  complete 
separation  of  the  courses  makes  the  present  organization  of  higher  educa- 
tion inelastic,  leaving  little  opportunity  for  optional  studies  or  for  differ- 
ent combinations  of  courses,  and  insufficient  provision  and  incentive  exist 
for  post-graduate  studies  or  original  research.  In  short,  the  present 
organization  insufficiently  sets  forth  high  ideals,  has  developed  no  aca- 
demic traditions,  and  is  too  exclusively  utilitarian.  It  tends  to  foster 
the  belief  that  the  obtaining  of  a  diploma  is  the  one  and  only  purpose 
to  be  kept  in  view,  and  fails  to  evoke  the  true  spirit  of  culture — the  pur- 
suit of  learning  for  its  own  sake 

"While  there  is  need  for  the  expansion  of  the  existing  professional 
colleges,  an  effort  should  be  made  at  the  same  time  to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  those who  wish  to  pursue  a  higher  course  of  study  for 

the  sake  of  general  culture,  without  reference  to  any  particular  profession 
or  career.  Further,  the  long  and  varied  history  of  Egypt,  as  well  as  its 
geographical  situation  and  its  position  in  the  Moslem  world,  clearly  point 
to  the  appropriateness  of  Cairo  as  a  seat  for  a  college  of  Oriental  studies. 
At  present  Egypt,  in  spite  of  incomparable  advantages,  provides  no  op- 
portunities (such  as  exist  in  the  most  important  European  universities) 
for  acquiring  a  literary  knowledge  of  the  languages  that  are  cognate 
with  Arabic  and  of  the  comparative  philology  of  the  Semitic  languages, 
or  of  the  languages  of  ancient  Egypt,  or  for  the  investigation  of  the  many 
literary,  archaeological,  historical  and  philosophical  questions  on  which 
these  studies  throw  light.  The  time  has  come  for  the  creation  of  higher 
courses  of  study  of  the  true  university  type 

"A  commission  was  appointed  by  Sir  Adly  Yeghen  Pasha  in  191 7  to 
consider  this  question.  In  191 8  it  presented  a  preliminary  report,  but  no 
effective  steps  were  taken  thereupon.  The  question  is  now  being  pressed 
forward  with  a  view  to  early  effect  being  given  to  the  proposals." 

Mohammedans  in  the  United  States 

In  the  thirtieth  Annual  Report  of  the  Chicago  Tract  Society,  we 
read  as  follows: 

"For  many  years  past,  through  Syrian  and  Armenian  speaking  mis- 
sionaries, the  Chicago  Tract  Society  has  come  in  frequent  contact  with 
Mohammedan  immigrants ;  they  have  come  to  America  for  the  most 
part  from  Turkey,  but  some  are  from  Arabia  and  some  from  North 
India.  A  year  ago  our  Society  made  an  effort  to  locate  the  principal  Mo- 
hammedan groups  and  to  get  reliable  and  definite  information  that  could 
be  given  out  regarding  Mohammedanism  in  America;  and  while  we 
have  been  able  to  locate  the  colonies  in  some  of  our  larger  cities  and  par- 
ticularly along  the  western  shore  of  Lake  Michigan  between  Gary  on  the 
south  and  Green  Bay  on  the  north,  and  in  Worcester,  Peabody,  and 


196  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Lynn,  Mass.,  we  have  not  been  able  to  get  the  facts  which  we  need.    Dr. 
Henry  K.  Carroll  writes: 

"  'I  beg  to  say  that  I  have  no  detailed  information  concerning  the  number  of 
Mohammedans  in  this  country,  nor  where  they  are  located.  I  would  suggest 
that  you  write  to  the  Director  of  the  United  States  Census,  Washington, 
D.  C.  If  you  get  any  information  I  should  be  very  glad  if  you  would  share 
it  with  me.' 

"In  reply  to  the  letter  which  we  addressed  to  the  Bureau  of  the  Census 
we  received  from  the  Director  the  following: 

"  'There  have  been  various  efforts  to  learn  the  number  of  Mohammedans  in 
the  United  States,  but  so  far  without  any  satisfactory  results.  Of  course 
there  are  Mohammedans  from  North  India  as  well  as  from  Arabia  and 
Turkey.  The  term  "Turkish"  is  not  necessarily  synonymous  with  "Moham- 
medan," as  many  people  are  called  Turkish  who  are  Christian,  Syrian,  Ar- 
menian, etc' 

"The  Albanian  Mohammedans  of  the  United  States  have  their  head- 
quarters at  Waterbury,  Conn.  In  reply  to  a  letter  which  we  addressed 
to  the  president  of  their  organization  we  received  the  following  exceed- 
ingly polite  but  non-communicative  reply.  We  inquired  regarding  the 
number  of  the  Mohammedan  people,  and  the  location  of  their  mosques, 
or  places  of  worship,  and  their  publications,  and  also  as  to  what  propor- 
tion of  them  had  come  here  from  Turkey,  Arabia  and  Egypt,  In  our 
stamped  return  envelope  the  reply  came  in  the  Albanian  language,  which 
was  translated  by  one  of  our  missionaries  as  follows: 

"'ALBANIAN  Mohammedan  Religious  Society 

"  'Waterbury,  Conn.,  July  25,  1919. 
"  'My  Dear  Mr.  Secretary : 

"  'With  honorable  admiration  I  have  received  your  honorable  letter  which 
you  have  the  kindness  to  address  to  me. 

"  'The  Mohammedan  Albanian  Society,  of  which  I  have  the  honor  of  being 
the  head,  does  not  have  any  ties  or  cooperation  with  any  other  nationalities 
which  you  mention.  Furthermore,  it  is  not  possible  to  know  the  whole 
number  of  Mohammedans  who  are  living  under  the  Flag  of  the  United  States 
of  America.  I  therefore  beg  you  to  excuse  me  for  not  giving  you  the  re- 
quired information  concerning  the  prayer  places  and  the  number  of  followers. 
I  can  give  you  but  very  limited  information  as  to  the  number  of  Albanian 
Mohammedans  that  live  in  this  country.  I  can  inform  you  very  little  about 
other  things  which  concern  our  Society. 

"  'Not  having  had  a  chance,  unfortunately  I  have  been  unable  to  study  the 
sweet  language  of  this  country,  i.  e.,  the  English  language,  and  this  is  the 
reason  I  am  forced  to  write  to  you  in  the  language  which  I  know,  for  which 
I  beg  you  to  excuse  me.  Yours  truly, 

"  'President  Sabri  A.  Korcha.'  " 


BOOK  REVIEWS 

The  Diwan  of  Dhu  'r-Rummah.     By  C.  H.  H.  Macartney.     Cambridge  Uni- 
versity Press,  London  ;    pp.  676+xl.    £5.5.0.  net. 

This  large  volume  of  some  eighty-seven  poems — beside  isolated  verses — 
represents  both  scholarship  and  hard  work.  But  it  needs  a  literary  non- 
technical introduction  to  inform  the  reader — even  the  student — who  was 
the  man  nicknamed  "He-of-the-rotten-rope,"  and  what  were  the  chief 
characteristics  of  his  style. 

His  name  was  Ghailan  ibn  'Uqbah,  and  as  he  died  in  117  A.  H.,  he 
was  clearly  an  "Islamic"  poet,  in  fact,  of  the  Omeiyad  (or,  as  it  is  writ- 
ten in  Arabic,  the  Amawi)  period.  Being  contemporary  with  the  much 
better-known  Jarir  and  Farazdaq  he  sided  with  one  against  the  other 
when  their  mutual  vituperation  went  too  far!  Zaidan,  in  his  splendid 
four-volume  "History  of  Arabic  Literature"  says  that  twenty  odd  poets 
(of  that  age)  were  Ghazaliyun,  i,  e.  writers  of  erotic  verse;  five  of 
these  were  of  Quraish,  and  Ghailan  is  placed  last  but  one  of  the  others. 
In  fact,  some  of  his  admirers  in  the  subsequent  generation  called  him  "the 
last  of  the  poets."  Alas,  we  are  afraid  that  poetical  obscureness  did  not 
die  with  him!  But  he  was  one  of  the  last  to  specialize  upon  the  old 
metres;  it  is  interesting  to  count  the  large  number  of  poems  in  which 
he  uses  the  basit  and  the  tawil  metres.  The  author  of  Tabaqat-us- 
Shuara  places  Ghailan  in  the  second  (not  the  first)  class  of  writers  of 
his  period. 

He  had  some  outstanding  points:  firstly,  he  was  a  born  plagiarist  (not 
the  only  son  of  that  family!)  ;  he  was  justly  praised  for  his  use  of  meta- 
phor; and,  finally,  he  owed  most  of  his  fame  to  the  use  of  "crack-jaw" 
words  never  heard  before  or  since.  As  a  practical  demonstration  of  his 
"difficult  style"  (referred  to  by  Nicholson)  we  tried  several  verses  upon 
our  Azharite  literary  helper,  of  which  he  understood  not  one! 

Mr.  Macartney's  edition  is,  however,  a  scholarly  piece  of  work,  with 
one  or  two  minor  exceptions.  There  are  copious  and  reliable  indices; 
the  interpolations  explaining  the  meaning  of  almost  every  verse  are  very 
necessary;  the  name  of  the  bahr  (metre)  at  the  head  of  each  poem  is 
decidedly  useful ;  and  the  excellent  printing  is  noted  for  its  absence  of 
broken  vowel-points,  a  standard  very  difficult  to  attain. 

But  how  long  has  Cambridge  been  a  college  {kulliya)  instead  of  an 
university  (jami'a)  ?  And  why  cannot  the  ya  be  vowelled  to  distin- 
guish it  from  alif  maqsuraf 

To  sum  up,  this  prodgious  work  is  well  edited  and  well  produced  but 
— from  the  utilitarian  viewpoint  of  a  practical  Arabic  writer — why  not 
have  let  Dhu  'r-Rummah  rest  in  his  ovni  obscurity?    Requiescat  in  pace! 

Arthur  T.  Upson. 

I 
The  Quatrains  of  Omar  Khayyam.    A  New  Translation  by  O.  A.  Shrubsole. 
London:    E.  Marlborough  &  Co.,  1920. 

A  new  translation  with  a  new  arrangement  of  the  Quatrains  and  far 
more  complete  than  the  well-known  version  by  Fitzgerald.  The  Bodleian 

197 


198  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

MSS.  contains  158  Quatrains,  that  at  Cambridge  801,  Fitzgerald  gave 
his  paraphrase  of  only  100;  this  book  gives  346.  Inferior  as  poetry,  it 
is  more  literal  in  its  rendering.  For  example  the  famous  lines  about 
life's  Checkerboard: 

"Life  seems  like  a  chess-play  to  me; 

The  heavens  are  playing  the  game; 
They  move  us ;    but  nothing  we  see ; 
And  then  we  depart  as  we  came." 

The  notes  are  of  little  value  and  contain  two  ridiculous  misstatements 
regarding  the  Black  Stone  and  the  number  of  Moslem  prophets. 

S.  M.  Z. 

Deutschland  und  Armenian,  1914-1918.  Dr.  Johannes  Lepsius.  Ixxx  and 
541  pp.  Potsdam :  Pempelverlag,  1919. 
This  careful  compilation  contains  the  details  and  documentary  evi- 
dence on  which  Dr.  Lepsius'  article  The  Armenian  Question  in  our  Oc- 
tober number  is  based.  The  bulk  of  the  book  consists  of  extracts  from 
official  documents  to  which  Dr.  Lepsius  was  given  access  at  the  end  of 
1 91 8  by  the  Secretary  of  State,  Dr.  Solf.  They  cover  six  years  from 
1913  to  191 8,  and  are  followed  by  a  short  appendix  with  useful  indices. 
The  practically  striking  part  of  the  book  is  its  introduction  of  seventy- 
tw^o  pages  sketching  stage  by  stage  the  deportation  of  the  Armenian 
nation,  through  which  the  Committee  of  Union  and  Progress  sought  to 
obliterate  the  Armenian  nationality  and  religion  and,  as  far  as  necessary, 
the  Armenians  themselves.  The  last  chapter  of  the  introduction  discusses 
the  character  of  the  events,  including  the  part  played  by  Germans  in  pro- 
testing against  or  limiting  the  massacres,  and  the  motive  behind  the 
Turkish  action.  There  is  no  doubt  that  public  feeling  in  Germany  was 
greatly  distressed  by  the  Armenian  policy  of  its  rulers  and  ally.  How  far 
their  government  can  be  absolved  from  the  crime  of  neglect,  further  re- 
search may  show  more  clearly.  For  such  investigation  Dr.  Lepsius' 
able  work  will  long  be  an  indispensable  starting  point. 

H.  U.  W.  Stanton. 

Reminiscences  of  Daniel  Bliss,  Missionary  and  Educator.  Edited  and 
supplemented  by  his  eldest  son.  Illustrated,  pp.  256.  Fleming  H.  Revell 
Co.,  New  York    $2.00. 

A  most  interesting  account  of  the  life  and  work  of  a  most  interesting 
personality.  No  man  has  done  more  for  the  promotion  of  higher  educa- 
tion in  the  Near  East  than  Dr.  Daniel  Bliss,  the  founder  of  the  Syrian 
Protestant  College  (now  the  American  University)  of  Beirut,  Syria. 

Dr.  Bliss  was  born  on  the  17th  of  August,  1823,  in  Georgia,  Vermont, 
and  spent  his  early  years  on  the  farm  and  in  a  tannery.  In  both  occupa- 
tions he  showed  that  devotion  to  duty  which  characterised  him  all  his 
life.  After  struggling  against  odds,  he  succeeded  in  entering  Amherst 
College  at  the  age  of  25,  and  after  graduation  he  entered  Andover 
Seminary.  In  December,  1855,  he  went  out  with  his  wife  in  a  three 
hundred  ton  sailing  vessel  to  Syria  as  a  missionary  imder  the  American 
Board  for  Foreign  Missions. 

The  first  few  years  of  his  missionary  life  were  spent  by  Dr.  Bliss  in 
dif¥erent  places  on  Mount  Lebanon  studying  Arabic,  teaching  and 
preaching.  He  worked  hard  during  and  after  the  Civil  War  of  i860  in 
the  Lebanons  in  alleviating  the  sufferings  of  the  people.     In  1862  the 


BOOK  REVIEWS  199 

American  missionaries  in  Syria  proposed  to  their  Board  the  foundation 
of  an  institution  for  higher  education  and  recommended  him  as  prin- 
cipal. The  proposal  was  approved,  and  he  traveled  extensively  in  Eng- 
land and  America  collecting  funds.  Finally  the  College  opened  its 
doors  in  1866  vi^ith  sixteen  students  "in  four  or  five  rooms  of  an  insignifi- 
cant building."  The  vi^ork  thus  begun  on  a  small  scale  grevvr  steadily, 
and  before  his  death  the  founder  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  Uni- 
versity housed  in  twenty-six  buildings  in  a  forty-acre  campus  on  the  slope 
of  a  hill  facing  the  sea.  Its  students  had  increased  to  about  a  thousand 
with  a  staff  of  teachers  and  secretaries  numbering  close  to  a  hundred 
divided  among  eight  departments.  The  students  came  from  all  the  coun- 
tries of  the  Near  East,  even  from  Persia  and  India,  and  its  graduates  are 
scattered  "from  Russia  to  the  Sudan  and  from  the  Philippine  Islands  to 
the  Pillars  of  Hercules."  He  resigned  the  presidency  in  1902,  but  re- 
mained President  Emeritus,  taking  active  interest  in  the  work  till  his 
death  in  191 6  at  the  age  of  93  years. 

A  word  about  the  spirit  of  the  college  which  is  the  monument  to  Dr. 
Bliss'  life  work  in  the  Near  East.  In  his  address  on  the  laying  of  the 
corner  stone  of  the  main  building  Dr.  Bliss  said : 

"This  college  is  for  all  conditions  and  classes  of  men  without  regard  to 
color,  nationality,  race  or  religion.  A  man,  white,  black  or  yellow.  Christian, 
Jew,  Mohammedan  or  heathen,  may  enter  and  enjoy  all  the  advantages  of  this 
institution  for  three,  four  or  eight  years,  and  go  out  beheving  in  one  God, 
in  many  gods  or  in  no  god.  But  it  will  be  impossible  for  any  one  to  continue 
with  us  long  without  knowing  what  we  believe  to  be  the  truth,  and  our  reasons 
for  that  beHef." 

In  dealing  with  the  students  Dr.  Bliss  showed  a  great  insight  into 
human  nature.  He  trusted  them,  and  as  some  of  them  said,  "We  cannot 
lie  to  Dr.  Bliss  because  he  trusts  us."  He  obtained  far  better  results  by 
appealing  to  all  that  is  noble  in  their  nature  than  by  having  recourse  to 
disciplinary  measures.  The  following  stories  speak  for  themselves. 
They  were  related  by  the  students  concerned: 

There  was  a  regulation  against  smoking  in  the  rooms.  One  night  in  No- 
vember I  was  studying  very  late  in  my  fourth  story  room,  and  supposing  the 
authorities  were  all  in  bed,  I  was  smoking  a  cigarette,  which  when  half  fin- 
ished I  chucked  out  of  the  window.  In  a  few  minutes  came  a  knock  at  the 
door.  "Come  in,"  I  called.  The  door  slowly  opened.  Instead  of  some  fellow 
student,  there  stood  the  President,  and  the  room  full  of  smoke!  "Good  eve- 
ning," he  said,  with  his  usual  air  of  dignified  politeness.  "Have  you  studied 
astronomy?"  "Ye — e — es,  sir,"  I  stammered.  "Then  perhaps  you  can  tell  me 
whether  this  is  one  of  the  nights  when  we  may  expect  meteors  falling  through 
the  air."  "I — I — I  don't  remember,"  I  said.  "Ah,"  he  said,  "I  thought  per- 
haps you  could.  Good-night."  That  was  all,  but  there  was  no  more  smoking 
in  that  room,  at  least. 

A  graduate,  now  resident  in  Egypt,  tells  of  a  visit  he  once  made  to  the 
Cedars  of  Lebanon,  years  after  leaving  college.  There  to  his  joy  he  found 
his  old  President  who  told  him  of  the  many  improvements,  among  which  was 
the  enclosing  of  the  campus  with  a  wall.  "Should  you  want  to  come  back  from 
town  after  ten  at  night,  now,"  said  Dr.  Bliss,  "you  would  have  to  jump  over  the 
wall."  The  graduate  was  aghast.  He  had  had  the  habit  of  staying  overtime 
in  the  company  of  literary  and  artistic  friends  in  the  city,  but  supposed  that 
this  breach  of  the  rules  had  never  been  known  to  the  authorities.  So  now  he 
started  and  blushed.  The  President  smiled  affectionately  and  said,  "Did  you 
suppose  I  did  not  know  that  you  came  in  late?  But  I  knew  where  you  had 
been." 

Too  much  tact  and  diplomacy  cannot  be  shown  in  running  a  uni- 
versity in  a  strange  land  under  a  suspicious  government,  amidst  a  popu- 


2CX)  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

lation  part  of  which  is  unfriendly  and  with  hundreds  of  students  of 
different  races  and  creeds,  many  of  them  at  daggers  drawn.  But  the  fact 
that  Dr.  Daniel  Bliss  and  his  successor  were  able  to  steer  their  ship  safely 
and  with  the  minimum  of  friction  speaks  volumes  for  their  inborn 
diplomacy.  This  diplomacy  showed  itself  at  its  best  during  the  Great 
War  when  the  University  continued  its  activities  as  usual  with  about 
a  thousand  souls  to  feed  and  to  provide  for  and  that  at  a  time  when  the 
people  of  Syria  were  starving.  But  this  Herculean  work  cost  Dr.  How- 
ard Bliss  his  life  in  spite  of  his  strong  constitution  which  made  his  friends 
hope  that  he  would  live  as  long  as  his  father. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  reviewer,  who  as  one  of  Dr.  Daniel  Bliss's 
students  is  well  acquainted  with  his  work,  the  biography  under 
review  is  too  short  to  contain  the  principal  events  of  an  eventful  life 
covering  almost  a  century.  The  biographer  could,  for  the  benefit  of 
founders  of  colleges  and  of  teachers,  have  dwelt  more  at  length  on  Dr. 
Bliss's  experiences  and  on  the  solution  which  he  gave  to  the  many  com- 
plex problems — material  and  moral — which  came  up  before  him  during 
his  long  tenure  of  office. 

Nessim  Birbari. 

In  Morocco.     By  Edith  Wharton.     Illustrated.     London :    Macmillan  &  Co., 
Ltd.,  1920;  pp.  290.    20/-. 

This  book  of  travel,  written  in  the  fascinating  style  of  the  pen  of  an 
artist  and  abounding  in  illustrations,  is  one  to  be  set  in  a  class  by  itself. 
The  author  was  fortunate  in  visiting  Morocco  before  the  close  of  the 
war  and  has  given  us  far  more  than  a  guide  book  to  the  beaten  paths  of 
the  future  tourist.  Not  until  last  year  has  Morocco  been  open  to  travel 
from  Tangier  to  the  Great  Atlas.  Three  years  ago  Christians  were 
being  massacred  in  the  streets  of  Sale,  and  even  two  years  ago  no 
European  was  allowed  to  enter  the  sacred  city  of  Moulay-Idriss. 

The  author  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  General  Lyautey,  the  Governor, 
and  she  pays  a  high  tribute  to  the  work  of  the  French  under  his  direc- 
tion. This  clear-sighted  administrator  had  a  genuine  sympathy  for  the 
people  and  not  only  saved  Morocco  for  the  French  but  from  anarchy. 
The  record  of  economic  development  and  pacification  is  called  a  miracle. 

Four  chapters  are  descriptive  of  cities  and  ruins,  including  Fez  and 
Marrakesh ;  one  deals  with  the  life  of  the  people,  while  the  last  three 
deal  with  politics,  history  and  architecture.  A  paragraph  will  give  the 
reader  an  illustration  of  the  author's  style  and  insight: 

"The  whole  civilian  Moslem  architecture  from  Persia  to  Morocco 
is  based  on  four  unchanging  conditions:  a  hot  climate,  slavery,  polygamy 
and  the  segregation  of  women.  The  private  house  in  Mahometan  coun- 
tries is  in  fact  a  fortress,  a  convent  and  a  temple:  a  temple  of  which  the 
god  (as  in  all  ancient  religions)  frequently  descends  to  visit  his  cloistered 
votaresses.  For  where  slavery  and  polygamy  exist  every  house  master 
is  necessarily  a  god,  and  the  house  he  inhabits  a  shrine  built  about  his 
divinity." 

These  "divinities"  are  also  described.  Here  is  a  pen  portrait  of 
Moulay-Ismail ;  after  describing  his  features  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven, 
she  goes  on  to  say:  "Such  was  the  appearance  of  this  extraordinary  man, 
who  deceived,  tortured,  betrayed,  assassinated,  terrorized  and  mocked 
his  slaves,  his  subjects,  his  women  and  children  and  his  ministers  like 
any  other  half  savage  Arab  despot,  but  who  yet  managed  through  his 


BOOK  REVIEWS  201 

long  reign  to  maintain  a  barbarous  empire,  to  police  the  wilderness,  and 
give  at  least  an  appearance  of  prosperity  and  security  where  all  had 
before  been  chaos." 

The  illustrations  are  numerous  and  exceptionally  beautiful,  which 
cannot  be  said,  however,  of  the  map. 

S.  M.  Z. 

A  Moslem  Seeker  After  God.  By  Samuel  M.  Zwemer,  D.D.  Fleming  H. 
Revel!  Co.,  New  York,  1920;    pp.  302.  $2.25. 

As  a  result  of  Sherwood  Eddy's  recent  visit  to  the  Near  East  mission- 
aries and  Christian  workers  are  feeling  with  newly  awakened  force  what 
had  theoretically  always  been  clear  enough,  that  the  Christian  approach 
to  the  Moslem  is  not  through  attack  and  controversy  but  through  sym- 
pathy and  understanding,  and  that  the  point  of  contact  is  not  where  the 
Christian  way  parts  from  the  Moslem  way,  but  where  they  agree  and 
for  a  time  continue  together.  To  every  missionary  with  this  point  of 
view  Dr.  Zwemer's  new  book,  "A  Moslem  Seeker  After  God,"  will 
come  as  a  most  welcome  aid,  and  as  a  real  encouragement  and  inspiration. 
The  book  is  a  study  of  the  life  and  teachings  and  religious  experience 
of  Al  Ghazali,  said  by  De  Boer  to  be  "without  doubt  the  most  remark- 
able figure  in  all  Islam." 

Al  Ghazali  was  born  into  the  Moslem  world  at  a  time  when  the  theo- 
logical system  was  becoming  fixed  and  stabilized  into  scholastic  form. 
Through  him  new  principles  entered  into  orthodox  Islam.  Others  had 
followed  his  way,  but  it  remained  for  him  to  give  it  rank  and  standing 
in  the  orthodox  system  of  Islamic  thought.  His  is  the  Mystic  Way. 
To  him  the  Inner  Light,  the  actual  witness  of  God's  Spirit  is  the  only 
sure  testimony  to  truth.  That  Al  Ghazali  really  found  God  seems  clear 
and  certain.  If  his  experience  and  teaching  lack  the  high  ethical  note 
of  Jesus  and  the  perfection  of  close  communion  by  Him  taught,  at  the 
very  least  the  experience  within  its  limits  is  genuine.  Al  Ghazali  really 
had  a  conversion.  From  doubt  and  despair  he  was  raised  by  a  spiritual 
experience  into  a  state  of  assurance  and  faith.  And  it  all  happened 
within  the  ranks  of  Islam.  Surely  to  know  about  this  man,  and  to  be 
led  by  sympathy  with  him  to  go  still  farther  into  a  study  of  the  religious 
mysticism  of  Islam  today  is  the  obvious  duty  and  real  pleasure  of  every 
missionary  to  a  Moslem  country. 

In  1058,  about  thirty  years  before  the  birth  of  Bernard  of  Clairvaux, 
Bernard's  great  Moslem  contemporary,  Al  Ghazali,  was  born  at  Tus,  in 
Khorasan,  Persia.  Of  his  early  life  little  is  known,  save  that  he  began 
his  education  at  a  very  early  age,  and  with  such  success  that  he  was 
sent  to  the  larger  educational  center  of  Jurjan  before  he  was  twenty. 
Persian  and  Arabic,  of  course,  he  thoroughly  mastered.  Mathematics, 
logic,  physics,  metaphysics,  politics  and  moral  philosophy  he  also  studied. 
Like  many  of  us  today  he  kept  his  information  regarding  these  studies 
largely  on  paper  among  his  notes.  It  is  said  that  once  on  his  way  back 
to  Tus  from  Jurjan  he  was  robbed  by  brigands  who  even  carried  off 
his  MSS.  notes.  Al  Ghazali  risked  his  life  to  save  these,  pleading  his 
great  sacrifices  to  hear  the  lectures  there  recorded.  The  robber  chief 
laughed  at  the  knowledge  which  was  all  on  paper  and  which  could  so 
easily  be  taken  away,  but  he  gave  them  back.  "And,"  says  Al  Ghazali, 
"this  man  was  sent  by  God  to  teach  me."  Three  j^ears  were  then  devoted 
to  committing  the  notes  to  memory. 


202  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Shortly  afterwards,  Al  Ghazali  went  to  Nishapur,  the  home  of  Omar 
Khayyam,  for  further  study,  and  after  that  to  the  camp  court  of  Nizam 
Al  Mulk,  by  whom  he  was  appointed  a  teacher  in  the  Nizamiyya  College 
at  Bagdad.  Here  his  lectures  drew  great  crowds.  "He  gave  fatwas, 
or  legal  opinions  on  matters  of  law,  he  wrote  books,  he  preached  in  the 
mosque,  and  was  a  leader  of  the  people."  Suddenly,  in  the  very  height 
of  his  popularity  he  is  stricken  with  a  disease  diagnosed  to  be  due  to 
mental  unrest,  and  almost  immediately  he  leaves  Bagdad,  abandoning  his 
property  save  what  was  necessary  for  his  own  support  and  that  of  his 
family.  It  seems  that  he  has  been  led  by  his  studies  into  a  thorough- 
going skepticism.  His  sense  of  honesty  prevents  his  further  teaching  and 
he  gives  up  all  until  he  can  regain  assurance.  He  had  tried  the  way  of 
the  scholastic  theologian  to  no  avail.  He  had  mastered  the  philosophy  of 
his  day,  but  without  better  success.  The  way  of  the  mystic  alone 
remained  to  him.  To  quote  Al  Ghazali  himself,  "I  saw  that  one  can 
only  hope  for  salvation  by  devotion  and  the  conquest  of  one's  passions. 
Finally,  I  saw  that  the  only  condition  of  success  was  to  sacrifice  honor 
and  riches  and  to  sever  the  ties  and  attachments  of  worldly  life.  I  found 
to  my  surprise  that  I  was  engrossed  in  several  studies  of  little  value,  and 
profitless  as  regards  my  salvation.  I  probed  the  motives  of  my  teaching 
and  found  that  instead  of  being  sincerely  consecrated  to  God  it  was  only 
actuated  by  a  vain  desire  of  honor  and  reputation.  I  perceived  that  I 
was  on  the  edge  of  an  abyss,  and  that  without  an  immediate  conversion 
I  should  be  doomed  to  eternal  fire." 

It  was  in  1095,  when  thirty-eight  years  old,  that  Al  Ghazali  was  led 
by  these  considerations  to  leave  home  and  seek  his  spiritual  fortune. 
From  Bagdad  he  went  to  Damascus  and  to  Jerusalem  and  Hebron,  and 
thence  to  Mecca  and  Medina.  At  Bagdad  for  many  years  he  spent  long 
vigils  in  prayer  in  the  Ummayyad  Mosque  and  in  a  minaret  called  to 
this  day  by  the  name  of  Isa  (Jesus)  where  above  a  gate  may  be  read 
the  Greek  inscription,  "Thy  Kingdom,  O  Christ,  is  an  everlasting  King- 
dom, and  thy  Dominion  endureth  throughout  all  generations."  At 
Jerusalem  he  secluded  himself  every  day  in  the  Sanctuary  of  the  Rock, 
and  so  for  nine  years  he  spent  his  life  in  pilgrimage  and  meditation  and 
prayer. 

It  was  not  through  his  learned  studies  but  through  the  experiences 
of  the  Moslem  zikr  that  Al  Ghazali  found  the  satisfying  inward  assur- 
ance of  God's  reality.  By  sitting  in  solitude  and  saying  continuously 
"Allah,  Allah"  till  motion  of  tongue  ceased  and  all  was  forgotten  save 
the  idea  of  God  alone  clinging  to  the  heart,  the  light  of  the  Real  seemed 
to  shine  out  in  his  heart.  Returning  to  Bagdad  he  again  gathered 
students  about  him  and  taught  them  his  great  work,  the  Ihya.  Seeking 
a  more  unbroken  life  of  quiet  and  devotion  he  returned  to  his  native 
place,  Tus,  where  he  lived  in  charge  of  a  monastery  of  Sufis,  or  Mystics, 
until  his  death  in  11 11. 

Dr.  Zwemer's  book,  after  finishing  this  story  of  Al  Ghazali's  life 
continues  with  a  chapter  each  on  His  Creed  and  Credulity,  His  Writ- 
ings, His  Ethics,  His  Mysticism  and  The  Influence  of  Jesus  Christ  upon 
Him.  Al  Ghazali's  creed  is  a  long  one,  covering  twelve  pages  of  book 
print.  God  is  conceived  as  the  absolute  Ruler,  the  one  who  irrevocably 
decrees  "good  or  evil,  faith  or  unbelief,  knowledge  or  ignorance,  obedi- 
ence or  rebellion."  The  Koran  is  the  uncreated  word  of  God  subsisting 
in  the  essence  of  God.    The  usual  Moslem  conceptions,  also,  of  question- 


BOOK  REVIEWS  203 

ing  angels  after  death,  of  trial  by  crossing  the  bridge,  "sharper  than  a 
sword  and  finer  than  a  hair"  over  the  back  of  hell,  and  of  drinking 
from  the  tank  of  Mohammed,  of  which  if  a  believer  drinks  he  shall 
never  thirst,  are  all  included  as  a  part  of  the  Faith.  Every  believer  in 
God's  unity  shall  finally  be  saved  no  matter  what  his  offence. 

The  writings  of  Al  Ghazali  are  tabulated  in  a  special  appendix  to 
the  number  of  eighty-five,  covering  a  very  wide  range,  logic,  theology, 
mysticism,  Koranic  teaching,  philosophy,  jurisprudence,  etc.  The  im- 
portance of  Al  Ghazali's  writings  is  attested  by  the  evidence  of  another 
appendix  which  names  the  translations  into  foreign  languages,  four  into 
Hebrew,  one  into  Latin,  four  into  German,  two  into  French,  three  into 
English,  and  two  into  Turkish. 

Ethics,  Al  Ghazali  conceives  to  cover  the  fullest  possible  range  of  re- 
lations both  human  and  divine.  Manners  are  taught  in  detail,  and  the 
highest  ethical  life  is  thought  of  as  the  most  correct  as  regards  religion. 
A  creature  of  his  time  Al  Ghazali  shows  himself  to  be,  especially  in  con- 
ceiving woman  as  the  absolute  slave  of  her  husband.  His  four  leading 
virtues  are  "wisdom,  temperance,  bravery  and  moderation"  (or  the 
golden  means  of  conduct). 

The  quality  of  his  mysticism  may  be  appreciated  from  the  following 
quotations:  "The  aim  which  the  Sufis  set  before  them  is  as  follows:  To 
free  the  soul  from  the  tyrannical  yoke  of  the  passions,  to  deliver  it 
from  its  wrong  inclinations  and  evil  instincts,  in  order  that  in  the 
purified  heart  there  should  remain  only  room  for  God  and  the  invoca- 
tion of  His  holy  name.  Prayer  is  a  nearness  to  God  and  a  gift  which 
we  present  to  the  King  of  Kings  even  as  one  who  comes  from  a  distant 
village  brings  it  before  the  ruler.  And  your  gift  is  accepted  of  God  and 
will  be  returned  to  you  on  the  great  day  of  judgment,  so  that  you  are 
responsible  to  present  it  as  beautiful  as  possible."  He  quotes  with 
approval  a  saying  of  Mohammed :  "True  prayer  is  to  make  one's  self 
meek  and  humble,"  and  adds  that  the  presence  of  the  heart  is  the  soul  of 
prayer  and  that  absent-mindedness  destroys  all  its  value.  The  forms  of 
Islam  Al  Ghazali  spiritualizes.  For  example,  speaking  of  the  true  kibla 
he  says,  "It  is  the  turning  away  of  5'^our  outward  gaze  from  everj'^thing 
save  the  direction  of  the  holy  house  of  God.  Do  you  not  then  think  that 
the  turning  aside  of  your  heart  from  all  other  things  to  the  consideration 
of  God  Most  High  is  required  of  j^ou?  It  certainly  is.  Nothing  else 
is  required  of  you  in  prayer  than  this,  so  that  I  would  say  the  face 
of  your  heart  must  turn  with  the  face  of  your  body;  and  even  as  no 
one  is  able  to  face  the  house  of  God  save  by  turning  away  from  every 
other  direction,  so  the  heart  does  not  truly  turn  towards  God  save  by 
being  separated  from  everything  else  than  Himself." 

That  Jesus  played  a  considerable  part  in  Al  Ghazali's  religious  life 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  about  twenty  pages  are  devoted  to  quotations 
which  Al  Ghazali  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Jesus.  Several  suggest  an  ac- 
quaintance with  our  own  gospels:  "Behold  the  bird,  it  does  not  sow 
nor  reap  nor  lay  up  store,  and  God  Most  High  provides  for  it."  Said 
Jesus  (on  him  be  peace),  "What  ails  you  that  ye  come  in  the  garments 
of  monks  and  your  hearts  are  the  hearts  of  ravening  wolyes?  Wear  the 
garments  of  monks  if  you  wish,  but  humble  your  hearts  with  godly  fear," 

At  the  end  of  his  book  Dr.  Zwemer  appends  a  valuable  bibliography. 
The  whole  book  is  human  and  thoroughly  readable,  certainly  one  of 


204  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

the  best  books  from  the  hand  of  the  author,  and  it  helps  to  make  real  to 
us  a  truly  great  seeker  after  God  and  a  Moslem  brother. 

Dr.  Zwemer's  frequent  references  to  Jallal  ud  Din  Rami  and  quota- 
tions from  that  great  mystic  suggest  another  possible  study  similar 
to  the  one  under  review  that  will  be  perhaps  even  more  rewarding  in 
giving  to  Christians  an  understanding  of  and  warm  sympathy  for  the 
earnest  men  of  Islam  who  have  sought  for  the  truth,  and  who,  handi- 
capped as  they  have  been,  have  found  it  in  such  large  measure. 

King  Birge. 

Les  Grecs  a  Smyrna.  Docteur  Nihad  Rechad.  Imprimerie  Kossuth,  Paris, 
1920;  pp.  64. 
This  is  a  collection  of  evidence  gathered  from  various  sources — allied, 
foreign  and  Turkish — regarding  the  alleged  atrocities  of  the  Greeks  at 
the  time  of  the  occupation  of  the  Smyrna  district  by  the  Greek  forces  in 
the  spring  and  summer  of  1919.  The  evidence  appears  conclusive,  but 
has  to  do  only  with  the  inevitable  abuses  of  a  time  of  conquest,  and  not 
with  the  present  government  of  the  district,  which  has  won  much  ad- 
miration from  neutrals  by  its  apparently  sincere  efiFort  to  deal  fairly  and 
even  liberally  with  Moslems  as  well  as  Christians. 

K.  B. 

Le  Christianisme  et  la  Litterature  Chretienne  en  Arabic  avant  I'lslam. 
By  Le  P.  L.  Cheikho,  S.  J.  Vol.  I.  L'Histoire  du  Christianisme  dans 
I'Arabie  Preislamique,  1912.  Vol.  II.  La  Litterature  Chretienne 
dans  I'Arabie  Preislamique,  1919.     Beyrout :    Imprimerie  Catholique. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  there  appeared  from  the  Catholic  Press  at  Bey- 
rout an  important  work  in  six  fascicles  entitled  Les  Poetes  arabes  Chre- 
tiens in  Arabic;  the  second  part  now  completes  a  work  of  the  first  im- 
portance to  every  student  of  Islam.  The  preface  deals  with  pagan 
Arabia  and  gives  an  account  of  the  sources  Oriental  and  Occidental, 
on  which  Prof.  Cheikho's  studies  are  based ;  this  is  followed  by  a  com- 
prehensive history  of  Christianity  in  Arabia  during  the  six  centuries  of 
the  Christian  era  before  the  advent  of  Mohammed.  The  entire  work  is 
not  complete  except  the  preface,  but  is  therefore  the  more  valuable  for 
missionary  use. 

The  character  of  this  early  Christianity  is  frankly  stated  to  have  been 
far  from  orthodox,  but  it  was  widespread  and  accepted  without  inter- 
ruption during  all  the  centuries  that  preceded  Islam.  The  author  gives 
a  list  of  forty-seven  tribes  which  were  professedly  Christian ;  the  evi- 
dence is  taken  from  Arabian  poets  and  Moslem  history,  and  especially 
from  the  monuments  and  records  discovered  by  Orientalists  since  the  day 
when  Wright  prepared  his  monograph  on  early  Christianity  in  Arabia. 

While  the  first  part  deals  with  the  extent  of  Christianity,  the  second 
part  takes  up  the  question  of  the  Christian  literature  in  Arabia  before 
Islam.  The  author's  conclusions,  based  on  abundance  of  evidence,  are 
so  important,  that  we  summarise  them  from  the  preface.  The  entire 
volume,  in  fact,  consists  of  extracts  and  quotations  from  pre-Islamic  poets 
and  the  writings  of  Moslems  of  the  Second  and  Third  Century  in  the 
Hegira  in  proof  of  the  author's  thesis.  Proper  names,  allusions,  quota- 
tions, Christian  proverbs,  citations  from  the  Old  and  New  Testaments 
and  translations  of  inscriptions  in  southwest  and  northwest  Arabia  are 
all  brought  together  as  proof.  Pre-Islamic  Arabia  was  indebted  to 
Christianity  for  a  renaissance  both  as  regards  literature  and  civilization. 


BOOK  REVIEWS  205 

Arabic  writing  was  well  known  to  the  Christians  of  Arabia  long  before 
Islam;  the  names  of  the  Deity  and  His  attributes  which  are  found  in  the 
Koran  also,  appear  in  pre-Islamic  Christian  poetry — not  to  speak  of 
Christian  ideas  and  conceptions  afterwards  incorporated  in  Moslem 
tradition. 

As  the  author  states  in  his  preface  (page  2)  " avant  de  devenir 

une  langue  mahometane,  avant  de  servir  de  vehicle  aux  idees  islamiques, 
I'arabe  a  ete  une  langue  chretienne.  C'est  le  resultat  de  nos  recherches. 
Des  Orientalistes  comme  de  Sacy  et  Wellhausen  en  avaient  deja  fait  la 
remarque ;  notre  travail  ne  laissera  plus  de  doute  a  ce  sujet. 

"L'ecriture  arabe  plus  encore  que  la  langage  est  un  bienfait  du  chris- 
tianisme.  Les  deux  Inscriptions  chretiennes  de  Zebed  (512  J.  C.)  et  de 
Harran  (568)  le  prouveraient  amplement  a  defaut  de  la  tradition  con- 
stante  qui  attribue  les  origines  de  l'ecriture  arabe  a  des  Chretiens." 

A  second  fascicle  will  complete  the  second  part  of  these  studies.  This 
will  show  the  predominant  influence  of  Christian  ideas  in  the  poetry, 
science  and  even  arts  and  industries  of  the  Arabs  both  before  and  imme- 
diately after  the  rise  of  Islam. 

Z. 

Ghazali's     Selbstbiographie ;     ein    Vergleich    mit    Augustin's     Konfes- 
sionen.     Von  H.  Frick.    84  pp.    Leipzig,  1919. 

This  able  and  interesting  monograph  appears  almost  simultaneously 
with  the  larger  work  on  Ghazali  by  Dr.  Zwemer,  and  follows  out  in 
detail  one  side  of  the  great  Moslem  theologian's  life.  The  treatise  en- 
titled Munqidh  al  dalal,  containing  Ghazali's  autobiography  is  much 
shorter  and  less  vivid  than  the  "Confessions  of  St.  Augustine,"  but  it 
affords  a  sufficient  basis  of  comparison  in  essentials.  Dr.  Frick  gives  a 
careful  synopsis  of  its  contents,  followed  by  a  sketch  of  parallel  points 
in  the  development  of  the  Christian  and  the  Moslem  mystic;  and  an- 
other of  the  main  differences.  Each  of  these  is  drawn  out  in  citations 
from  the  Munqidh  and  the  Confessions  given  in  parallel  columns. 
Finally,  the  author  sets  forth  the  characteristics  of  the  Munqidh  as  com- 
pared with  the  Confessions,  leading  up  to  the  fundamental  difference 
between  the  books  and  the  writers. 

The  parallels  are  striking.  Both  men  in  their  nineteenth  year  take 
a  new  departure  in  their  search  for  truth  and  God:  both  pass  through 
an  upheaval  of  thought  ending  in  scepsis;  they  grope  among  heresies: 
Ghazali  the  Talimiya;  Augustine  the  Manichaeans;  they  come  under 
the  influence  of  mysticism,  Sufi  or  Neoplatonist ;  they  pass  through  a 
great  inner  change,  preceded  by  vacillation,  issuing  in  a  breach  with  the 
past  and  followed  by  ecstatic  experiences;  both  having  recovered  the 
faith  of  their  youth  devote  themselves  to  its  reestablishment,  by  a  higher 
synthesis  of  thought.  Much  of  this  similarity,  as  Dr.  Frick  points  out, 
may  be  explained  on  general  principles  of  psychology  as  the  reaction  of 
minds  and  circumstances  more  or  less  similar.  But  the  differences  are 
even  more  vital.  Dr.  Frick  well  analyses  the  difference  between  the  two 
biographies.  The  Confessions  is  incomparably  richer  in  its  types  of 
character,  depth  of  human  experience  and  keenness  of  observation:  it  is 
a  vita,  the  other  apologia  pro  vita  sua;  the  one  is  the  conflict  of  a  mind 
in  distress,  the  other  the  struggle  of  a  whole  personality  for  moral  unity ; 
while  both  find  help  in  mysticism,  the  mystical  vision  is  attained  by  one 
through  practised  effort  of  the  will,  by  the  other  through  self  surrender 
7 


2o6  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

to  God ;  the  one  has  arrived  at  a  goal  where  the  mystic  condition  and 
belief  in  the  prophet  remain  disparate;  the  other  has  found  in  Christ 
the  full  revelation  of  God  in  a  human  life  making  a  true  unity,  and 
leading  him  on  to  God's  presence  in  a  redeemed  race  of  man  in  The  City 
of  God. 

H,  U.  W.  Stanton. 

Handbooks  Prepared  Under  the  Direction  of  the  Historical  Section  of 
the    Foreign    Office.      No.    57:     Mohammedan    History.      No.    58: 
Turkey  in  Asia.     No.  59:    Anatolia.     No.  60:    Syria  and  Palestine, 
1920.    London:   H.  M.  Stationery  Office. 
This  series  is  issued  to  afford  in  convenient  form  geographical,  eco- 
nomic, historical  and  religious  information  respecting  the  various  coun- 
tries that  were  concerned  in  the  issues  of  the  war.    The  General  Editor, 
G.  W.  Prothero,  is  to  be  congratulated  on  producing  in  compact  form 
an  accurate  summary  of  actual  conditions  with  a  carefully  prepared 
bibliography  for  each  topic.     We  specially  commend  the  little  volume 
on  Mohammedan  History  for  its  treatment  of  pan-Islamism. 

S.  M.  Z. 

The  Ethiopia  Didascalia.    By  J.  M.  Harden,  B.D.,  LL.D.    Published  by  the 
Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge,  London.  9/-net. 

This  work  is  the  translation  (for  the  first  time)  of  the  concluding  part 
of  the  Ethiopic  Didascalia,  one  of  the  least  known  of  a  number  of  more 
or  less  similar  documents  that  have  come  down  to  us  from  comparatively 
early  times.  It  has  been  preserved  for  us  by  the  Christian  Church 
(Monophysite)  of  Abyssinia  whose  liturgical  language  is  generally 
known  as  Ethiopic.  The  basis  of  the  present  translation  is  one  (Orient., 
No.  752)  of  the  five  MSS.  of  the  Oriental  Collection  of  the  British 
Museum  (752,  793,  797,  798,  799)  w^hich  contain  the  complete  Ethiopic 
Didascalia  so  far  as  we  know  it.  A  portion  of  the  Ethiopic  Didascalia 
was  published  by  T,  P.  Piatt  with  an  English  translation  in  1834. 

Bishop  Wordsworth's  description  of  an  earlier  form  of  the  Didascalia 
may  well  be  applied  to  this:  "A  somewhat  rambling  discourse  on 
Church  life  and  Society."  It  is  of  value  and  interest  to  the  student  of 
the  development  of  Church  Orders  and  Teaching  but  of  no  direct 
special  value  to  the  student  of  Islam.  Indirectly  it  may  be  of  some  value 
even  to  him.  These  treatises,  extant  in  various  languages,  called  Didas- 
calia, are  the  descendants,  directly  or  indirectly,  of  a  Greek  work  now- 
lost  which  belongs  in  its  original  form  probably  to  some  part  of  the 
third  century  A.  D,  and  therefore  affords  auxiliary  proof  of  the  au- 
thenticity of  the  Christian  Scriptures  and  the  genuineness  of  the  Chris- 
tian doctrines  now  propagated  in  Moslem  countries.  The  doctrine  of 
the  third  century  and  of  the  twentieth  century  are  one  in  all  essential 
particulars. 

W.  T.  Fairman. 

The  Four  Gospels  in  Kurdish.    American  Bible  Society,  1919. 

It  is  with  thanks  to  God  we  wish  to  record  the  fact  that  from  a  com- 
plete translation  of  the  New  Testament  into  Kurdish  the  American 
Bible  Society  has  printed  the  four  Gospels.  The  writer  of  these  lines 
has  before  him  the  correspondence  containing  the  kind  oiiFer  of  the  British 
and  the  American  Bible  Societies  to  print  the  translation.  However,  the 
Board  for  the  "Inter-Synodical  Evangelical  Lutheran  Orient  Mission 


BOOK  REVIEWS  207 

Society"  thought  it  best  to  submit  for  publication  only  the  four  Gospels 
to  begin  with. 

In  regard  to  the  "dialect"  into  which  the  New  Testament  has  been 
translated  we  find  the  following  explanation  given  in  the  translator's 
"Practical  Kurdish  Grammar"  (printed  by  the  Society  in  1919)  :  "My 
design  has  been  to  discover  the  best  Kurdish  in  the  dialects  of  Central 
Kurdistan,  particularly  in  the  Somai-Soubjboulak-Suleimania  Groups." 
In  speaking  about  Missionary  Hornlie's  attempt  to  translate  the  Gospel 
of  St.  John  into  the  Mukri  Kurdish  he  quotes  him  as  saying:  "I  found 
to  my  great  joy  that  the  Kurds  of  these  tribes  understood  each  other 
quite  well,  and  understood  what  I  read  to  them  in  the  Mukri  dialect." 
The  following  quotation  is  made  by  him  from  Mr.  E.  B.  Soane's  book, 
"To  Mesopotamia  and  Kurdistan  in  Disguise" :  "They  speak  the  Kurd- 
ish language  in  all  its  purity  of  accent  and  grammatical  form.  Their  dia- 
lect is  the  most  ancient  of  all,  and  while  its  antiquity  is  probably  not 
greater  than  that  of  its  neighbours,  its  excellent  preservation  of  ancient 
forms  gives  it  a  claim  to  be  considered  the  standard  by  which  to  compare 
other  dialects." 

The  compiler  of  the  grammar,  who  is  also  the  translator  of  the  New 
Testament,  uses  an  alphabet  consisting  of  thirty-two  letters;  four  of 
these  are  strictly  Persian  letters  and  twenty-eight  are  borrowed  from 
the  Arabic. 

Rev.  L.  O.  Fossum,  the  compiler  of  the  grammar  and  the  translator, 
has  given  to  the  American  Bible  Society  a  brief  statement  in  regard  to 
the  translation.     From  this  statement  I  shall  take  the  liberty  to  quote: 

" I  reached  Soujboulak,  Kurdistan,  Persia,  in  the  summer  of  191 1. 

The  greatest  handicap  to  our  work  among  the  Kurds  was  the  lack  of 
literature  in  the  Kurdish  language.  The  only  thing  available  was  a 
Kurdish  translation  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  Mark  by  Mirza  Jawat,  printed 
at  Phillipople,  Bulgaria.     Although  we  were  unable  to  get  more  than 

forty  copies  of  this  translation,  it  was  a  great  help The  main  helps 

we  had  in  translating  the  New  Testament  into  Kurdish  were  the  Kurdish 
and  Persian  translations,  the  TsT^rw^n/r"  or  Armenian-Turkish  New  Testa- 
ment, printed  in  Constantinople  in  1853  in  Armenian  characters  for 
Kurdish-speaking  Armenians;    the  'Kermanshan  Gospels,'  supposed  to 

be  Kurdish,  but  ninety  per  cent  Persian,  were  also  consulted 

I  was  assisted  in  the  work  by  a  few  select  Kurds  who  knew  some  Turk- 
ish, Persian,  and  Arabic." 

"My  plan  has  been  to  use  the  Kurdish  which  is  the  most  grammatically 
developed,  which  has  the  most  complete  inflections,  and  the  pure  Kurdish 
forms  most  generally  understood.  This  necessarily  produces  a  Kurdish 
which  is  a  little  bit  stiff,  from  a  dialectic  point  of  view,  but  it  is  a  fair 
compromise,  and  will  gradually  win  out.  It  is  hoped  that  no  dialectic 
translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  Kurdish  will  be  attempted  but  rather 
that,  after  a  few  years,  when  this  translation  has  done  its  initial  service 
in  paving  the  way  for  a  general  Kurdish  language,  revisions  and  im- 
provements may  be  made  so  as  to  make  it  still  more  applicable  to  the 
whole  Kurdish  field."  N.  J.  Lohre. 

An  Oriental  Study  of  Foreign  Missions.    By  S.  C.  Kanaga  Rutnam.    Lon- 
don:  Robert  Scott;   pp.  113. 

The  writer  states  very  forcibly  his  criticism  of  the  policy  and  methods 
of  missions  in  refusing  to  give  the  same  standing  to  qualified  native 


2o8  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Christian  workers  as  to  foreign  missionaries.  He  shows  that  the  con- 
ditions of  the  work  have  altered ;  that  many  Orientals  are  qualified  for 
leadership  and  that  in  many  respects  the  objections  raised  against  Ori- 
entals being  trained  in  Western  lands  for  service  in  the  Orient  are  not 
sound.  His  conclusions,  however  worthy  of  consideration,  are  too  vigor- 
ous, e.  g. :  "The  West  has  scourged  the  East  with  whips,  but  God  forbid 
the  necessity  of  the  East  having  to  scourge  the  West  with  scorpions. 
'Shall  not  the  Judge  of  the  whole  earth  do  right?'  " 

Z. 

Nile  to  Aleppo.  By  Hector  W.  Dinning.  Illustrated.  London:  George 
Allen  &  Unwin,  Ltd.  Pp.  289.  25/- ($5)- 
A  Captain  in  the  Australian  Army,  cooperating  under  General  Al- 
lenby  during  the  war,  gives  his  impressions  of  the  Transport  Service,  the 
desert  road  and  the  campaign  in  Palestine  and  Syria,  together  with 
glimpses  of  life  in  Cairo  during  the  war.  The  book  is  chiefly  interesting 
for  its  beautiful  illustrations,  including  a  portrait  in  colors  of  Lt-Col. 
Lawrence,  Its  view  of  things  Oriental  and  Islamic  is  necessarily  super- 
ficial. 

S.  M.  Z. 

Studia  Semitica  et  Orientalia.  By  Seven  Members  of  Glasgow  University 
Oriental  Society.     127  pp.    MacLehose,  1920. 

What  more  delightful  birthday  present  could  be  made  to  an  aged 
scholar  and  teacher  than  a  volume  of  choice  studies  by  "old  pupils  and 
fellow  labourers"  ?  This  good  fortune  has  recently  befallen  Professor 
Emeritus  James  Robertson,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  on  his  eightieth  birthday. 
William  Melville  Christie  unfolds  convincingly  the  arguments  historical 
and  topographical  which  fix  Tell  Hum  as  the  site  of  Capernaum. 

The  characteristic  features  of  Jewish  everyday  life  and  work  in  the 
early  centuries  of  our  era,  as  reflected  in  the  Mishna  treatise  Shabbath 
are  vividly  illustrated  from  the  prohibitions  and  commands  of  the  day  of 
rest.  The  fascinating  subject  of  Arabic  calligraphy  is  illustrated  by 
translation  of  a  possible  sixteenth  century  MS.  which  goes  back  to  the 
system  of  the  great  scribe  Ibn  Mugla  (died  A.  D.  940).  The  writer 
believes  that  the  use  of  the  Naskhi  script  with  which  we  are  familiar,  in 
place  of  the  thick  and  ungainly  Kufi,  went  back  well  beyond  that  time,  but 
Ibn  Mugla  transformed  the  writing  of  Naskhi  from  an  art  into  a  science, 
by  basing  the  shape  of  the  letters  on  definite  relations  to  the  square  dot 
produced  by  the  reed  pen.  This  was  the  Khatta  'I  Manstib.  This  prin- 
ciple of  geometrical  harmony  of  the  parts,  which  we  find  also  in  the 
Mughal  architecture,  produced  an  unrivalled  completeness  and  harmony 
of  form,  though  not  without  a  sense  of  constraint  in  treatment.  We  can 
only  mention  an  article  on  certain  Moslem  charms  by  William  Baron 
Stevenson  and  recommend  readers  to  find  out  for  themselves  what  the 
others  are,  and  the  degrees  and  titles  which  they  have  modestly  concealed. 

H.  U.  W.  Stanton. 

Mission  Archeologique  en  Arable.  Supplement  au  Volume  II.  Coutumes 
des  Fuqara  par  les  RR.  PP.  Jaussen  and  Savingac.  Paris  Librarie 
Paul  Geuthner,  1914  (paru  en,  1920)  ;   pp.  99.    Price  Frs.  15.- 

This  careful  study  of  the  customs  of  one  of  the  Bedouin  tribes  in 
North  Arabia  is  the  result  of  the  archaeological  mission  undertaken  by 
two  professors  of  the  Jesuit  School  at  Jerusalem.     It  is  a  supplement 


BOOK  REVIEWS  209 

to  the  larger  and  earlier  volume  by  A.  Jaussen  (Coutumes  des  Arabes 
au  pays  de  Moab,  chez  Gabalda,  Paris).  The  first  chapter  deals  with 
the  tribal  life,  womanhood,  marriage,  divorce,  slavery  and  other  institu- 
tions. The  second  chapter  tells  of  the  individual  of  the  tribe,  physical 
traits,  moral  character,  maladies,  etc.  The  third  chapter  is  the  longest 
and  most  interesting,  as  it  deals  with  the  religious  life  of  a  Bedouin  tribe 
which  still  retains  many  primitive  customs,  not  in  accord  with  Moslem 
orthodoxy,  e.  g.,  blood  sacrifices  are  exceedingly  common  and  undoubtedly 
have  the  same  significance  to  the  mind  of  the  Arabs  that  sacrifice  had 
to  the  Jews  in  the  Old  Testament.  The  sprinkling  of  blood,  the  substi- 
tution of  the  victim  and  the  words  used  during  the  sacrifice  are  almost 
the  same  as  in  the  case  of  Israel.  The  funeral  customs  of  the  Fuqara 
are  described  at  length:  "After  burial  (page  76)  all  the  Arabs  present 
wash  their  hands  by  the  side  of  the  grave  to  signify  that  they  pardoned 
the  deceased  all  his  injustices  which  he  may  have  committed;  then  there 
follow  two  prostrations  and  they  go  back  to  the  camp.  After  partaking 
of  coffee,  the  same  night,  a  member  of  the  family,  son,  brother  or  uncle 
of  the  deceased,  brings  a  sacrifice  of  the  sheep  or  the  goats,  and  cuts  its 
neck  behind  the  tent.  As  the  blood  flows,  he  says  this  is  the  sacrifice  for 
the  spirit  of  such  and  such  a  one.  The  animal  is  then  cut  up,  put  on  the 
fire  and  distributed  to  the  guests."  The  book  contains  lists  in  Arabic 
and  French,  of  the  flora  and  fauna  in  Northwest  Arabia,  and  has  a 
complete  Arabic  index. 

Le  Droit  D'un  Peuple  a  la  Vie.     Discours  prononces  a  la  Conference  or- 
ganisee  a  Londres,  Essex-Hall,  le  Mardi,  23  Mars,  1920,  pour  revendi- 
quer  l^s  Droits  de  la  Turauie  a  une  Existence  Nationale. 
Le  Traite  Turc:   Le  Verdict  De  I'lnde. 
Le  Traite  de   Paix  Avec  la  Turquie,  I'Attitude  Des  Musulmans  et  de 

I'Inde. 
Le  Secretaire  d'  Etat  Pour  Les  Indes  et  la  Delegation  de  I'Inde  Pour 

le  Califat. 
M.  Lloyd  George  et  la  Delegation  Indienne  Pour  le  Califat. 
Meeting  Franco-Hindou  en  Faveur  de  la  Turquie.     Discours  de  M.  P. 
Bourdarie. — A  series  of  pamphlets  published  by  the  Bureau  d'lnforma- 
tion  Islamique,  3  Rue  de  Teheran,  Paris. 
The  character  of  these  appeals  for  Turkey  and  the  Khalifat  are  evident 
from  their  titles.     The  same  Bureau  publishes,  as  its  origin  of  informa- 
tion, "Echo  de  I'lslam"  of  which  we  have  received  twelve  numbers  of 
the  first  year.     It  is  a  weekly  paper  for  propagandist  purposes. 

Village  Education  in  India;    the  Report  of  a  Commission  of  Inquiry.     Pp. 
209.    Oxford  University  Press,  1920.    Introduction  by  J.  H.  Oldham. 

In  1 91 9  a  Commission,  appointed  by  the  Missionary  Societies  of  Great 
Britain  and  North  America,  undertook  an  inquiry  into  the  educational 
system  in  India  villages,  following  some  remarkable  statements  made  by 
the  Bishop  of  Madras  at  a  conference  in  191 6.  The  Commission  con- 
sisted of  A.  A.  Eraser,  M.A.,  Principal  of  Trinity  College,  Kandy, 
Chairman;  Miss  M.  M.  Allan,  Principal  of  Homerton  Training  Col- 
lege, Cambridge;  J.  H.  McLean,  M.A.,  Conjeeveram,  South  India; 
Kanakaryan  G.  Paul,  O.B.E.,  General  Secretary  of  the  Indian  National 
Council  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  D.  J.  Eleming,  Ph.D.,  of  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  New  York  City,  Secretary. 

The  main  considerations  of  the  Commission  were  the  serious  degree 
of  illiteracy  among  the  masses  in  India,  the  social  conditions,  the  political 


2IO  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

and  nationalist  movements,  and  the  possible  supply  of  efficient  educa- 
tional missionaries.  In  the  report  emphasis  is  placed  upon  the  various 
influences  of  the  school  as  vocational  centers,  the  opportunity  for 
the  development  of  physical  and  community  welfare,  cooperation  with 
the  Government,  education  of  girls,  and  the  essential  of  one  preparation 
for  this  service.  The  book  will  certainly  be  of  great  value  to  those  de- 
voted to  Christian  educational  work  in  India.  It  is  both  a  survey  and 
the  recommendation  of  experts.  One  would  appreciate  such  a  con- 
tribution to  the  study  of  other  areas  of  mission  work,  and  this  report  will, 
we  hope,  serve  as  a  model. 

R.  S.  M. 

From  Persian  Uplands.  By  F.  Hale.  Constable  &  Co.,  London,  1920; 
pp.  247. 
A  collection  of  letters  describing  conditions  in  Persia  from  August, 
1913,  to  February,  1919;  without  introduction  or  any  suggestion  of  the 
purpose  or  subject  or  content  of  the  book.  The  reader  is  introduced  to 
various  unimportant  details  of  modern  life  in  Persia,  from  Kermansha 
on  the  west,  to  Meshed  on  the  east,  with  slight  indications  of  the  situa- 
tions arising  during  the  war,  intrigues  of  the  Germans,  and  British 
successes  in  diplomacy.  The  book  makes  light  reading,  and  contributes 
very  little  to  one's  knowledge  of  Persia. 

R.  S.  M. 

With  the  Soldiers  in  Palestine  and  Syria.  By  J.  P.  Wilson.  Pp.  115. 
Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge,  London.  4/-net. 
An  extraordinary  interesting  narrative  by  a  chaplain  of  the  British 
forces  present  on  the  battlefields  that  decided  Palestine's  destiny  and  min- 
istering in  the  base  hospitals  of  the  wounded.  After  a  year  and  a  half 
spent  in  close  touch  with  the  land  and  its  people,  he  is  convinced  that 
"Palestine  breathes  of  Christ,  the  land  is  lit  up  with  this  light.  If,  the 
traveler's  heart  burns  within  him,  it  is  because  of  Christ.  As  Palestine 
history  is  central  in  the  story  of  mankind  so  Christ  is  the  central  figure 
of  that  history." 

Z. 

Medical    Missions:     The    Twofold    Task.      Walter    R.    Lambuth,    M.D., 
F.R.G.S.    Pp.  262.    Student  Volunteer  Movement  for  Foreign  Missions, 
New  York. 
The  contents  of  Bishop  Lambuth 's  book  consist  of  incidents  and  com- 
ments showing  the  need  of  medical  missions,  their  aim  and  scope,  the 
secret  of  their  power  and  the  character  and  training  of  medical  mission- 
aries.   There  is  much  of  interest  for  the  students  of  missions  in  Moslem 
countries.     Much  is  recorded  of  the  work  of  Dr.  Cochran,  of  Persia; 
Dr.  Van  Dyck  and  Dr.  Post,  of  Syria;    Dr.  Pennell,  of  the  Afghan 
frontier,  and  many  others  who  have  broken  down  prejudice  by  their  un- 
selfish and  skilful  service. 

E.  E. 

L'Islam  et  La  Politique  des  Allies.    L'Islam  Mystique  et  Schismatique  Le 

Probleme  du  Khalifat.     Dr.  Enrico  Insabato.     Adapte  de  I'ltalien  par 

Magali-Boisnard. — Berger-Levrault,   Editeurs,   Paris,    1920;    pp.   237. 

Prix  net  12  francs. 

The  appearance  of  this  book  written  in   191 7,  was  delayed  by  the 

censor.     It  is  divided  into  three  parts  of  which  the  first  deals  with  the 


BOOK  REVIEWS  211 

Islamic  Fraternities,  the  second  with  Heretical  Sects,  and  the  third,  and 
longest  part,  with  Orthodox  Islam. 

The  author  views  everything  from  the  standpoint  of  the  diplomat  and 
statesman.  His  conclusions  concern  our  readers  who  are  familiar  with 
most  of  the  facts  regarding  Islam  in  general.  With  these  conclusions 
we  cannot  wholly  agree,  but  lest  we  misrepresent  the  author,  we  give 
them  in  his  own  language:  "Depit  d'une  opinion  qui  s'est  trop 
generalement  accreditee,  limitant  ou  paralysant  certains  gestes  qui  eussent 
ete  efficaces  en  temps  voulu,  les  dissemblances  religieuses  entre  Musul- 
mans  et  Europeens  ne  constituent  pas  une  veritable  source  d'hostilite  ni 
d'irreductibilite.  Des  differences  de  rituel  peuvent  creer  un  obstacle 
a  I'intimite  des  esprits,  sans  nuire  a  I'alliance  des  sentiments  et  des 
interets.  II  suffit  de  s'entendre  quant  aux  bases  stipulees  et  d'etre 
d'accord  sur  les  principes.  C'est  une  question  de  simple  tolerance  et 
d'intelligente  loyaute.  Or,  les  trois  grandes  religions  semitiques,  le 
christianisme,  I'islamisme  et  le  judaisme,  ont  cette  meme  base  fonda- 
mentale:  'Le  bien  uni  au  sublime  qui  est  le  veritable  bien.'  Le  mys- 
ticisme  chretien  se  rencontre,  presque  en  chacun  de  ses  principes,  avec  le 
spiritualisme  musulman.  Y  a-t-il  done  quelque  apparance  de  logique  a 
croire  que  le  Musulman  du  bien  ne  puise  sympathiser  avec  le  Chretien 
du  bienf  Cette  sympathie,  cette  entente  parfaite  dans  le  domaine  de 
la  ferveur  pure  et  de  la  pensee  haute,  doivent  necessairement  se  produire 
comme  doit  normalement  se  contracter  I'alliance  d'aide  et  de  defense, 
de  concours  et  de  preservation,  puisque^  dans  leur  royaume  spirituel,  ces 
deux  etres  se  trouvent  avoir  les  memes  ennemis." 

And  again  he  says:  "Je  n'ai  cesse  de  la  dire  et  je  le  repete  encore 
energiquement,  la  regenerescence  de  VOrient  musulman  doit  se  faire  au 
nom  de  I'Islam  et  par  flsla?n.  De  retentissants  evenements  m'ont  deja 
donne  raison. 

"Quiconque  est  Musulman  Test  a  jamais;  tous  les  missionnaires  I'ont 
experimente ;  or,  la  connaissance  de  I'Islam  est  la  clef  de  toute 
psychologic  orientale;  si  Ton  ne  comprend  pas  I'idee  islamique,  on  ne 
saura  rien  de  la  mentalite  musulmane ;  si  Ton  ne  donne  pas  une  tournure 
islamique  aux  expressions  de  sa  pensee,  on  reste  eternellement  incompris 
des  Musulmans.  Sous  son  classicisme,  I'Oriental  est  toujours  un 
primitif  I'incomprehensible  I'eloigne  et  I'emplit  de  defiance  et  il  se 
mefie  a  double  titre  de  celui  qui  ne  le  comprehend  pas." 

z. 

The  Missionary  Situation  After  the  War.  By  J.  H.  Oldham.  Notes 
prepared  for  the  International  Missionary  Meeting  at  Crans,  near  Ge- 
neva, June  22-28,  1920.  Published  at  New  York,  25  Madison  Avenue. 
Price,  30  cents.     Pp.  62. 

A  most  valuable  summary  of  missionary  freedom  previous  to  the  war, 
the  factors  that  modified  the  situation  after  the  war,  the  problem  of  edu- 
cation and  the  obligations  of  missions  to  governments.  The  reference 
to  Moslem  lands  are  on  pp.  13,  25,  27,  28,  32.  A  note  by  Canon  Gaird- 
ner  summarizes  the  difficulties  of  the  situation  even  after  Versailles: 

"In  every  country  where  a  Mohammedan  government  is  in  real  or 
officially  recognized  being,  the  Shariat  is  ideally  the  law  of  the  land, 
and  the  only  law  of  the  land. 

"But  practically  it  has  never  been  found  possible  to  govern  purely  by 
the  Shariat;  and  supplements  and  modifications  thereof  have  always  been 


212  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

introduced  in  the  shape  of  governmental  decrees  {ahkam  sultaniya) , 
capitulations,  civil  and  criminal  codes,  etc.,  etc.,  by  Mohammedan  as 
u^ell  as  Christian  governments. 

"Many  such  trenchings  on  the  canon  law  have  been  introduced  and 
maintained  by  the  British  and  their  predecessors  in  Egypt,  where  the 
execution  of  the  provisions  of  the  Shariat  would  have  been  intolerable: 
for  example,  amputation  of  the  hand  for  theft,  and  the  death  penalty  for 
'apostasy'  from  Islam. 

"It  is  submitted  that  to  secure  in  Eg>'pt  the  same  level  of  elementary 
personal  freedom  which  is  considered  a  necessary  minimum  in  civilized 
countries,  a  further  modification  of  existing  law  and  usage  is  still  neces- 
sary.    For  example: 

"(a)  Conversions  from  Christianity  to  Mohammedanism  are  regis- 
tered officially,  and  the  new  status  of  the  convert  is  thus  established. 
But  there  is  no  way  of  securing  the  registration  and  recognition  of  at 
least  equally  mature  and  considered  conversions  to  Christianity,  whose 
status  is  thus  exceedingly  unsatisfactory,  vis-a-vis  the  government,  the 
law  and  the  public. 

"(b)  A  convert,  on  being  baptized,  especially  if  he  changes  his  name 
as  he  is  morally  obliged  to  do,  is  deprived  of  his  patrimony,  and  that  not 
only  when  there  is  a  special  clause  in  the  family  trust  which  secures 
the  property  to  orthodox  Mohammedans  exclusively,  but  also  where 
there  is  no  such  clause,  i.  e.,  where  the  family  property  is  divided  in  the 
normal  way.  It  is  even  doubtful  whether  a  convert  could  secure  the  pro- 
bate of  a  special  legacy  in  his  favour,  except  by  virtually  declaring  himself 
a  Moslem  when  doing  so  and  in  order  to  do  so. 

"(c)  A  woman  has  no  power  to  change  her  faith  in  Egypt.  If  un- 
married her  person  can  be  claimed  by  her  father  or  guardian,  and  if 
married  by  her  husband,  and  the  British-officered  police  will  execute  the 
order  of  the  Moslem  court  to  this  efifect.  She  then  disappears  from  view, 
and  every  form  of  pressure  is  applied  to  make  her  actually  or  virtually 
recant,  and  oblige  her  to  live  an  actually  or  virtuallv  Mohammedan  life." 

S.  M.  Z. 

A  Message  to  Mohammedans.  By  James  Harwood,  B.A.  Published  by 
the  British  and  Foreign  Unitarian  Association,  Essex  Hall,  Essex 
Street,  Strand,  London,  1903.    Pp.  15. 

This  pamphlet,  published  by  the  British  and  Foreign  Unitarian  Asso- 
ciation, is  an  attempt  to  explain  away  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  as  ac- 
cepted by  the  Christian  Church.  We  can  best  show  the  character  of 
this  attempt  by  quoting  a  paragraph.  Missionaries  everywhere  will  need 
to  make  new  study  of  this  fundamental  doctrine,  as  we  are  facing  new 
conditions. 

"The  fundamental  doctrine  of  Mohammedanism,  of  course,  is  that 
God  is  one.  The  fundamental  doctrine  of  Christianity,  as  commonly 
understood  by  Mohammedans,  is  that  the  Godhead  consists  of  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  three  in  one,  and  one  in  three.  This  triune  doc- 
trine is  so  objectionable  to  Mohammedans,  and  so  prevailingly  associ- 
ated in  their  minds  with  Christianity,  that  they  have  not  realized  that 
there  is  a  body  of  professing  Christians,  who  look  up  to  Jesus  Christ  as 
their  religious  leader  and  yet  reject  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  as  em- 
phatically as  do  Mohammedans.  Yet  such  is  the  case,  and  it  is  the  object  of 
the  present  writer,  who  is  a  Unitarian — a  believer,  i.  e.,  in  the  Uniper- 


BOOK  REVIEWS  213 

sonality  of  God,  as  taught  by  Jews  and  Mohammedans,  by  Jesus  Himself 
and  His  Apostles — briefly  to  explain  what  Unitarian  Christianity  teaches 
in  reference  to  God.  It  has  no  formal  creed,  such  as  is  put  forth  by 
many  of  the  Christian  Churches,  but  nevertheless  in  Great  Britain  and 
certain  parts  of  Europe  and  in  North  America  its  doctrines  are  pro- 
fessed and  taught  in  many  churches.  And  even  in  churches,  which  are 
nominally  'Orthodox,'  i.  e.,  Trinitarian,  it  is  notorious  that  there  are 
many  members  who  are  practically  Unitarian  in  their  belief.  It  is  there- 
fore no  mere  individual  peculiarity  to  which  attention  is  earnestly  in- 
vited, but  a  recognised  form  of  Christian  faith,  which  has  a  literature  and 
institutions  of  its  own,  and  in  one  way  or  another  counts  numerous 
followers." 

S.  M.  Z. 

The  Holy  Places  of  Mesopotamia.  By  the  Superintendent.  Government 
Press,  Busrah. 
A  handsome  folio  volume  on  the  shrines  of  Mesopotamia  with  text  in 
English,  Arabic  and  Persian,  giving  brief  descriptions.  Some  of  the 
photographs  are  beautifully  colored  and  all  of  them  are  exceedingly  rare 
and  interesting. 

Z. 
Among  the  Ibos  of  Nigeria.     By  G.  T.  Basden,  M.A.,  F.R.G.S.     Illustra- 
tions.    London :    Seeley,  Service  &  Co.,  Ltd.,  1921 ;    pp.  815.    25/- 

For  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  impending  struggle  between 
Islam  and  Christianity  in  Africa  for  the  possession  of  pagan  hearts  and 
lives  this  book  offers  a  key.  The  writer  has  lived  close  to  the  people  and 
has  made  an  honest  attempt  to  ascertain  all  the  salient  features  of  the  life 
and  customs  of  the  Ibos.  Every  detail  of  their  daily  customs  and  per- 
sonal habits  is  treated  with  scientific  accuracy  and  Christian  sympathy,  a 
combination  which  is  rare  in  books  of  this  character.  The  illustrations 
and  the  text  are  necessarily  realistic.  Naked  paganism  is  not  always  at- 
tractive. 

Among  the  topics  treated  are  child  life,  courtship  and  marriage, 
pol3'gamy  and  slavery,  death  and  burial  rites,  sports  and  pastimes,  food, 
arts,  music,  trade,  war,  sacrifice,  fables  and  folklore.  The  author  is  him- 
self one  of  the  harbingers  of  a  better  day.  A  brief  chapter  tells  of  pioneer 
missionary  effort.  The  last  chapter  in  the  book  sums  up  his  conclusions 
regarding  Christianity  and  Islam.  He  says,  "We  recognise  that  the  ul- 
timate issue  lies  with  the  Christian  Church.  If  she  can  be  induced  to 
abandon  the  laissez-faire  attitude  of  the  past  and  to  show  a  disposition 
to  grapple  seriously  with  the  task  of  evangelizing  the  pagan  races  of 
Nigeria,  there  is  overwhelming  evidence  to  prove  that  they  will  embrace 
the  Christian  religion  with  alacrity.  The  ethics  of  the  Gospel,  and  the 
love  of  God  as  manifested  in  Christ,  appeal  irresistibly  to  the  pagan 
negro  of  whatever  tribe  or  language.  Mohammedanism  deprived  of 
compulsory  methods  makes  little  progress  when  it  is  compelled  to  prove 
itself  alongside  the  persuasive  attractiveness  of  Christianity." 

S.  M.  Z. 

The  Memoirs  of  Ismail  Kemal  Bey.  Edited  by  Sommerville  Story,  with 
a  preface  by  William  Morton  Fullerton.  Pp.  410.  Constable  &  Co., 
Ltd.,   London. 

Few  Oriental  statesmen  have  given  their  memoirs  to  the  world,  and 
this  fact  makes  the  memoirs  of  Ismail  Kemal  Bey  doubly  interesting. 


214  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

An  Albanian  of  a  noble  family,  he  entered  joung  the  service  of  the 
Turkish  Government,  coming  from  the  beginning  under  the  influence  of 
Midhat  Pacha  the  father  of  the  Constitution  in  Turkey;  and  the  lessons 
he  learned  from  that  great  patriot  were  put  into  practice  in  the  different 
high  posts  which  he  occupied.  He  never  ceased  to  impress  on  the  Sultan 
Abdul  Hamid  the  necessity  of  adopting  a  constitutional  regime  as  the 
only  means  for  saving  the  rest  of  the  Empire;  but  his  sound  and  loyal 
advice  was  responsible  for  his  long  exile  to  the  interior  of  Asia  Minor, 
and  finally  he  made  his  escape  from  Constantinople  on  board  a  British 
steamer  and  remained  abroad  from  1900  till  the  proclamation  of  the 
Constitution  in  1908. 

As  member  of  the  new  Turkish  Parliament  he  was  opposed  to  the 
nefarious  policy  of  the  Young  Turks,  and  again  he  had  to  leave  the 
country.  He  died  in  Europe  while  trying  to  obtain  from  the  Peace 
Conference  a  recognition  of  the  independence  of  his  native  country 
Albania. 

The  book  throws  light  on  the  Albanian  question  and  on  the  policy  of 
Abdul  Hamid  which  was  dictated  by  his  dislike  towards  England  for 
insisting  on  the  execution  of  reforms,  and  by  his  tendency  towards  the 
Czar  and  the  Kaiser  who  had  promised  to  uphold  his  autocracy.  It 
was  only  natural  that  the  mtsgovernment  of  the  Turk,  especially  during 
the  last  half  century,  should  bring  about  the  downfall  of  the  Turkish 
Empire.  N.  Birbari. 

The  Dawn  of  a  New  Era  in  Syria.    By  Miss  Margaret  McGilvary.    Fleming 
H.  Revell  Co..  New  York;   pp.  300. 

This  description  of  the  sufiFerings  of  the  Syrians  during  the  war, 
written  by  one  who  in  her  capacity  of  Secretary  of  the  American  Red 
Cross  Chapter  in  Syria  had  a  great  opportunity  to  gauge  the  misery  of 
the  people  when  they  were  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  reads  like 
letters  from  borderland.  The  Turk  determined  to  exterminate  the  Ar- 
menians by  the  sword  and  the  Syrians  by  starvation,  but  a  small  band  of 
determined  workers  decided  to  defy  the  Turk  and  by  unsurpassed  devo- 
tion to  duty  and  at  a  great  risk  to  their  lives,  succeeded  in  keeping  thou- 
sands of  Syrians  alive  till  the  liberation  of  the  country  by  Lord  Allenby's 
victorious  troops  in  the  fall  of  191 8. 

The  book  tells  of  the  great  sufferings  through  hunger  and  disease; 
of  the  various  efforts  made  by  the  relief  workers  in  transmitting  the 
money  sent  by  the  Syrians  abroad  to  their  friends  at  home,  and  in  raising 
funds  for  relief  work  by  appealing  to  the  philanthropists  in  America;  of 
the  hostility  manifested  by  the  Turkish  officials  who  put  every  obstacle 
in  the  way  of  the  workers,  deporting  some  and  imprisoning  others,  and 
refers  to  the  ingenious  ways  by  which  money  continued  to  come  from 
America  even  after  the  entry  of  that  country  in  the  war  and  the  severance 
of  its  diplomatic  relations  with  Turkey.  It  tells  also  of  the  hopes  and 
disappointments  experienced  during  the  long  years  of  war,  and  of  the 
aspirations  of  the  Syrians  who  had  put  all  their  trust  and  confidence  ip 
America,  never  dreaming  but  that  America  would  act  on  the  principle  of 
self-determination  which  she  had  proclaimed  to  the  world. 

Few  books  can  hold  the  attention  of  the  reader  from  beginning  to 
end  as  this  book.  It  is  perhaps  the  best  account  yet  given  of  the  con- 
ditions in  Svria  between  November,  191 4,  and  October,   191 8. 

N.  B. 


BOOK  REVIEWS  215 

Persian  Pictures.  By  Mary  Fleming  Labaree.  New  York:  Fleming  H. 
Revell  Co.  Pp.  24. 
Mrs.  Labaree  wrote  this  little  volume  of  verses  out  of  her  own  experi- 
ence as  a  missionary  in  Persia,  and  out  of  her  own  vivid  memories  of  that 
experience  after  ill  health  forced  her  return  to  America.  The  verses  are 
full  of  a  discerning,  appreciative  spirit.  Anyone  who  has  been  in  the 
East  will  respond  to  their  feeling  of  sympathy  and  understanding.  And 
it  is  sad  to  think  that  the  simple  Persian  life  which  they  depict  has  been 
so  tragically  shattered. 

R.  E.  S. 


SURVEY  OF  PERIODICALS. 

By  Miss  Holus  W.  Hering,  New  York 
Missionary  Research  Library 

I.  IN  GENERAL. 

Christendom  and  Islam.  A  Turkish  Effendi.  (b)  Islam  and 
the  Entente.  H.  M.  Howsin.  ( The  Living  Age,  Boston.  Janu- 
ary I,  1921.     Pp.  6-20.) 

A  stinging  indictment  of  Western  "civilization."  After  receiv- 
ing the  highest  spiritual  revelation  yet  vouchsafed  to  mankind, 
Christendom  has  become  utterly  mastered  by  the  two  vices  of  cupid- 
ity and  hypocrisy.  Reform  of  the  "less  advanced"  races,  as  far  as 
these  races  can  observe,  is  measured  by  the  development  of  material 
resources,  which  incidentally  add  greatly  to  the  wealth  of  the  "re- 
formers." The  first  article  is  reprinted  from  Blackivood's  Maga- 
zine of  January,  1880,  but  is  even  now  so  timely  that  there  is  no 
break  in  continuity  between  it  and  its  completion  in  the  second 
article. 

The  End  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  Sir  Valentine  Chirol. 
{The  Edinburgh  Review,  London.  October,  1920.  Pp.  209- 
232.) 

An  excellent  brief  survey  of  the  causes  which  have  reduced  the 
Ottoman  Empire  from  a  position  of  magnificent  world  power  to  that 
of  a  second-rate  Asiatic  state  with  curtailed  rights  of  sovereignty. 
While  tracing  the  growing  weakness  and  moral  corruptness  of 
Turkey,  however,  the  author  sounds  a  warning  to  the  Western 
Powers;  for  disaster  must  occur  if  the  East  loses  its  faith  in  the 
moral  superiority  of  the  West,  through  lack  of  fulfilment  of  pledges 
given  by  the  West. 

Les    Musulmans  de   Bosnie-Herzegovine.     Louis  Yelavitch. 

{Revue  du  Monde  Musulman,  Paris.     June,   1920.     Pp.   119- 

133.) 

More  than  one-third  of  the  total  population  of  Bosnia-Herze- 
govina are  Mohammedans  of  Slavic  origin.  Islam  became  estab- 
lished there  during  the  second  half  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  its 
followers  have  always  been  the  irreconcilable  enemies  of  Austria; 
but  the  new  government,  having  respected  their  religious  and  social 
organization,  has  won  their  allegiance.  It  is  this  organization 
which  is  here  described. 

La  Reorganisation  des  Habous  au  Maroc.  H.  L.  Rabino. 
{Revue  du  Monde  Musulman,  Paris.     June,  1920.     Pp.  53-97.) 

216 


SURVEY  OF  PERIODICALS  217 

The  author  was  privileged  to  inspect  the  different  bureaux  of  the 
"habous"  in  most  of  the  cities  in  the  French  zone  of  Morocco,  and 
here  gives  the  result  of  his  investigations,  together  with  a  brief 
bibliography  on  the  subject.  Among  other  topics  treated  are: 
divers  categories  of  habous;  the  neglect  and  disuse  into  which  they 
have  fallen;  their  organization  by  the  protectorate;  their  new  ad- 
ministration ;   and  results  of  their  organization. 

The  Struggle  for  the  Nile.  William  E.  Smythe.  {The 
American  Review  of  Reviews,  New  York.  December,  1920. 
Pp.  607-617.) 

At  the  present  time,  the  Nile  is  serving  a  total  area  of  5,300,000 
acres,  all  but  100,000  of  which  are  in.  Egypt  between  Assuan  and  the 
sea.  The  question  of  the  use  of  the  river  for  irrigation,  therefore, 
is  of  the  most  vital  importance  to  the  country.  This  history  of  the 
struggle  for  control  of  the  river  between  Egypt  and  the  Sudan,  that 
for  construction  between  great  English  engineers,  and,  finally,  the 
adjudication  of  a  commission  of  disinterested  outside  engineers  is 
enlightening  as  to  one  of  the  grave  problems  the  new  Egypt  is 
facing.    The  article  is  well  illustrated  and  convincing. 

II.  ISLAM  IN  ARABIA. 

The  Situation  in  Arabia.  P.  W.  Harrison,  {The  Atlantic 
Monthly,  Boston.     December,  1920.     Pp.  849-855.). 

Dr.  Harrison,  one  of  the  most  influential  medical  missionaries  in 
Arabia,  speaks  with  authority  both  as  to  the  psychology  of  the  Arab, 
the  fundamental  lines  of  development  in  the  country  during  the 
war,  and  the  critical  situation  at  its  close.  He  is  too  wise  to 
prophesy  as  to  the  future.  The  interrelations  of  the  great  leader, 
Bin  Saoud,  the  Shereef  of  Mecca  (who,  in  Arabia,  is  considered 
merely  a  puppet  of  the  British),  and  the  fanatical  brotherhood  of 
the  Ichwan  are  clearly  outlined,  and  are  shown  to  be  of  enormous 
importance  to  all  hoping  for  the  success  of  the  Gospel  in  Inland 
Arabia. 

III.  HISTORY  OF  ISLAM. 

IV.  KORAN,  TRADITIONS,  THEOLOGY. 

V.  RELIGIOUS  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE. 

Les  Deroqana  de  Tangier.  E.  Michaux-Bellaire  {Revue  du 
Monde  Musulman,  Paris.     June,  1920.     Pp.  98-118.) 

After  a  short  history  of  the  religious  societies  of  Northwest 
Morocco,  the  Derqaona  are  described  in  considerable  detail.  The 
Sheik  Sidi  Mohamed  El-Ghomari,  suspected  of  being  in  close  league 
with  the  Germans  before  the  war,  attempted  to  turn  this  world 
catastrophe  to  his  own  advantage.  His  followers  became  more  and 
more  numerous,  and  have  proved  utterly  devoted  to  him.  Organ- 
ized in  semi-military  fashion,  they  refused  to  obey  any  authority 
whatsoever  but  that  of  the  Sheik,  and,  as  a  result,  created  in  Tan- 
gier a  practically  independent  community  . 


2i8  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Everyday  Life  in  Afghanistan.  Frederick  Simpich  and  "Haji 
Mirza  Hussein."  {The  National  Geographic  Magazine,  Wz&\\- 
ington.     Januar)%  1921.     Pp.  85-110.) 

Next  to  Tibet,  Afghanistan  is  the  largest  country'  in  the  world 
that  is  practically  closed  to  the  citizens  of  other  nations.  Yet  the 
Amir  and  his  military  aristocracy  follow  intently  all  the  big  events 
in  the  outside  world,  so  that  this  buffer  state  is  keenly  sensitive  to 
the  ferment  in  the  Moslem  world.  This  article,  which  is  profusely 
illustrated,  is  based  on  observations  made  by  a  European  during  a 
stay  in  Kabul  as  guest  of  the  Amir,  and  upon  information  gathered 
while  traveling  in  the  country  disguised  as  a  Persian  pilgrim. 

The  "Good  Old  Days"  in  Morocco.  Walter  B.  Harris. 
{Blackwood's  Magazine,  Edinburgh.  December,  1920.  Pp. 
729-750.) 

The  progress  of  the  present  can  best  be  judged  by  comparison 
with  the  past,  and  life  in  the  French  Protectorate  has  changed 
radically  since  the  bombardment  of  Casablanca.  It  is  less  exciting, 
safer,  and,  by  the  same  token,  more  monotonous.  The  great  ad- 
vance which  has  been  made  under  the  French  and  the  reaction  of 
the  people  at  large  to  them  are  well  suggested  in  these  entertaining 
reminiscences.  The  favored  position  of  the  Jews  is  described,  and 
the  medical  mission  work  particularly  commended. 

L'IsLAM  Aux  Indes  Neerlandaises.  Antoine  Cabaton.  {Revue 
du  Monde  Musulman,  Paris.     June  i,  1920.     Pp.  27-52.) 

There  are  about  thirty-five  million  Mohammedans  in  the  Dutch 
East  Indies,  thirty  million  of  whom  are  in  Java.  That  this  reli- 
gion has  become  so  widespread  in  the  Indian  Archipelago  seems  to 
have  been  due  to  the  generally  mediocre  civilization  of  the  original 
inhabitants,  and  to  their  aversion  to  Hinduism  and  its  caste  system, 
so  different  from  the  individual  liberty  proclaimed  by  Islam.  At 
present,  one  out  of  every  four  pilgrims  to  Mecca  and  Medina  an- 
nually comes  from  the  Dutch  East  Indies.  The  priests  and  their 
courts,  the  life  of  the  mosques,  the  Mohammedan  schools,  the  wor- 
ship of  the  saints,  and  the  mysticism  practiced  in  the  Archipelago 
are  treated  in  turn.  The  article  is  in  the  nature  of  an  exhaustive 
review  of  Dr.  Snouck  Hurgronje's  work. 

VI.  POLITICAL  RELATIONHIPS. 

Can  the  Jews  Go  Back  to  Palestine?  Zionism  To-Day. 
Israel  Zangwill.  {Outward  Bound,  London.  January,  1921. 
Pp.  27-34.) 

The  Jews,  forming  only  a  small  proportion  of  the  population  of 
Palestine,  have  managed  to  cause  a  very  disproportionate  amount  of 
ferment.  Misinterpretation  of  Mr.  Balfour's  historic  letter  prom- 
ising them  a  "National  Home"  in  Palestine  to  a  "National  Home" 
of  Palestine  has  brought  out  precisely  those  practical  difficulties 
which  heretofore  Zionists  have  refused  to  face.  Zangwill  discusses 
impartially  the  present  situation,  feeling  the  immediate  salvation  lies 


SURVEY  OF  PERIODICALS  219 

in  the  personality  of  the  High  Commissioner,  since  the  conception 
of  Palestine  as  a  mandatory  has  been  sunk  in  that  of  a  Crown 
Colony. 

Egypt  a  Nation.  {The  Round  Table,  Londoti.  December, 
1920.     Pp.  32-49.) 

A  stimulating  historical  survey  of  Great  Britain's  relations  to  the 
Egyptians,  as  a  background  to  a  consideration  of  the  Milner  pro- 
posals. The  British  attitude  is  well  traced  through  the  successive 
steps  from  the  time  w^hen  England  was  forced  to  enter  Egypt  in 
order  to  control  the  approach  to  India  through  the  Suez  Canal  down 
to  the  proclamation  of  the  Protectorate;  while,  on  the  Egyptian 
side,  the  growth  beneath  the  surface  of  unified  national  spirit  among 
a  people  having  a  common  language,  racial  character,  tradition,  and 
(to  a  large  degree)  faith,  is  clearly  portrayed.  Various  of  the 
Milner  proposals  are  then  taken  up  and  commented  upon  in  the 
light  of  the  main  principle  of  settlement:  i.  e.,  Egypt  to  be  allowed 
by  Great  Britain  to  run  her  own  government  practically  without 
interference;  but,  in  the  case  of  complications  with  foreign  powers 
compelling  intervention,  the  intervening  power  to  be  Great  Britain 
and  no  one  else. 

Egypt  and  India;  a  Comparison.  Stanley  Rice.  (The  Asiatic 
Review,  London.     January,  1921.     Pp.  34-42.) 

An  interesting  parallel  between  the  manifestations  of  the  new- 
national  consciousness  as  shown  in  India  and  in  Egypt.  That  there 
are  great  differences  is  admitted  at  the  outset,  yet  in  both  cases  the 
results  are  surprisingly  similar,  and  are  the  logical  outcome  of  West- 
ern principles  applied  to  Eastern  psychology,  made  without  any 
real  appreciation  of  that  psychology. 

Egypt  and  the  Milner  Proposals.  W.  Ormsby  Gore.  (The 
Nineteenth  Century  and  After,  London.  December,  11920. 
Pp.  979-990.) 

An  analysis  of  the  practicability  of  the  Milner  proposals  in  the 
light  of  actual  present  day  conditions  in  Egypt.  The  relations  of 
Egypt  to  the  Sudan  and  to  the  control  and  maintenance  of  the  Suez 
Canal  are  briefly  discussed,  but  in  the  main  attention  is  concen- 
trated on  the  method  of  procedure  by  which  the  proposals  are  to  be 
carried  into  effect ;  and  the  important  results  which  must  follow  if 
Great  Britain  obtains  from  the  capitulary  powers  the  transfer  of 
their  rights. 

The  Egyptian  Situation.  Malcolm  Mcllwraith.  (The  Fort- 
nightly Review,  London.     December,  1920.     Pp.  910-915.) 

A  brief  summary  of  the  negotiations  between  Lord  Milner's 
Commission  and  the  Egyptian  delegation,  with  the  resulting 
Memorandum  of  Agreement.  The  keynote  of  the  latter  is  held  to 
be  in  the  abolition  of  the  capitulations.  If,  as  there  is  every  indi- 
cation, this  abolition  should  prove  to  be  impracticable,  will  the 
whole  transaction  between  the  mission  and  the  delegates  be  vitiated  ? 
And,  in  that  event,  may  not  the  charge  be  fairly  raised  that  the 


220  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Egyptian  people  were  gravely  misled,  hopes  having  been  deliberately 
raised  for  the  fulfilment  of  which  there  was  no  reasonable  ground 
of  anticipation  ? 

Present  Discontents  in  the  Near  and  Middle  East.  D.  G. 
Hogarth.  {The  Quarterly  Review,  London.  October,  1920. 
Pp.  411-423.) 

The  discontent  among  the  Arabs  has  reached  a  stage  where  a 
constructive  investigation  into  its  causes  is  imperative.  Various 
secondary  causes  are  here  summarized,  but  the  primary  factor  is 
felt  to  be  the  refusal  of  the  Allies  to  grant  that  absolute  independ- 
ence which  two  3'ears  ago  the  Arabs  thought  was  won  and  assured. 
The  grounds  for  this  refusal  are  very  fairly  and  thoughtfully 
analyzed. 

IV.  MOHAMMEDAN  MISSIONS. 

God's  Will  for  the  Moslem  World.  Samuel  M.  Zwemer. 
{The  Missionary  Review  of  the  World,  New  York.  December, 
1920.     Pp.  1089-1094.) 

A  missionary  address  which  was  delivered  at  Keswick,  England, 
in  July,  1920.  It  is  a  call  for  reconsecration  to  the  service  of  the 
Mohammedan  world.  To  those  who  challenge  the  work  for 
Mohammedans  it  gives  an  outline  of  the  fundamental  reasons  for 
the  work  by  tracing  God's  will  through  His  purpose  of  redemption. 
His  character  as  shown  to  us  in  His  promises  and  commands,  and 
His  program  in  history.  To  those  who  are  discouraged,  it  offers 
constructive  encouragement  through  prayer,  self-sacrifice,  and  atten- 
tion to  the  "still,  small,  voice." 

A  Liberating  Force  in  Turkey.  James  L.  Barton.  {The 
Missionary  Review  of  the  World,  New  York.  January,  1921. 
Pp.  3'i-34.) 

Part  of  a  symposium  on  the  relation  of  Christian  teaching  to  the 
peace  of  the  world,  and  the  effect  of  missionary  work  on  national 
and  international  problems.  The  entrance  of  missionaries  into 
Turkey  brought  intellectual,  religious,  and  physical  unrest,  yet  the 
institutions  causing  this  unrest  have  proved  the  means  of  making 
less  complicated  the  pacifying  of  the  areas  formerly  occupied  by 
Turkey. 

Persia,  a  Challenge  to  the  Church.  E.  T.  Allen.  {The 
Missionary  Review  of  the  World,  New  York.  January,  192 1. 
Pp.  13-20.) 

Persia,  the  sport  and  pawn  of  nations,  the  imperishable,  has  not 
filled  her  proper  place  in  the  political  world  through  lack  of 
education  and  the  distrust  of  stronger  nations;  she  is  not  among 
the  Christian  nations  because  of  the  deep  bigotry  and  the  fiery 
fanaticism  of  Islam  there.  Yet  the  heroism  and  devotion  as  here 
outlined,  with  which  the  Christian  Church  in  the  past  has  met  her 
challenge  form  a  clarion  call  to  a  renewed  consecration  and  to  a 
mighty  exhibition  of  that  love  which  sufifereth  long. 


VOL.  XI,  No.  3  JULY,  1921 

THE 

MOSLEM  WORLD 

A  quarterly  review  of  current  events,  literature,  and 

thought  among  Mohammedans  and  the  progress 

of  Christian  Missions  in  Moslem  lands 

"~  Editor:    SAMUEL  M.  ZWEMER,  D.D. 

Contents : 

FRONTISPIECE— MAP  OF  ABYSSINIA 

A  NEW  DAY  FOR  ETHIOPIA C.  T.  Hooper 

AN  OPEN-MINDED  TURK'S  TESTIMONY    W.  Nesbitt  Chambers 

DIRECT  EVANGELISM  IN  INDIA     .    .    .    .     E.  Stanley  Jones 

THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  MOSLEM  TRADITION    A.  J.  Wensinck 

THE  FUTURE  MISSIONARY W.  A.  Rice 

THE  'ALEVIS Stephen  V.  R.  Trowbridge 

EVANGELISM  IN  ARABIA Gerrit  D.  Van  Peursem 

METAPHYSICS  AND  COSMOGRAPHY  IN 

PERSIA       J.  Davidson  Frame,  M.D. 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  ZAR'A  YA'KOB     ....     Moses  Bailey 

INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN  NATIVE 

LAW— II C.  Braithwaite  Wallis 

NOTES  ON  CURRENT  TOPICS 

BOOK  REVIEWS 

SURVEYS  OF  PERIODICALS Hollis  W.  Hering 


Published  by  the  MISSIONARY  REVIEW  PUBLISHING  CO.,  Inc. 

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LONDON :  MISSIONARY  LITERATURE  SUPPLY, 

The  Church  House,  Great  Smith  Street,  Westminster,  S.  W.  I. 

EGYPT :  C.  M.  S.  BOOKSHOP,  or  the  NILE  MISSION  PRESS,  Cairo. 

INDIA :  CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  SOCIETY,  Madras  and  Calcutta. 

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Copyright  igzi,  by  Missionary  Review  Publishing  Company, 


The  Moslem  World 

Edited  by  Samuel  M.  Zwemer,  Cairo,  Egypt 

ASSOCIATE  EDITORS 


Rev.  H.  U.  W.  Stakton,  Ph.D., 

London 
Prof.  D.  B.  Macdonald,  M.A,,  D.D., 
Hartford,  Conn. 
Canon  W.  H.  T.  Gairdneb,  B.A., 

Cairo,  Egypt 
Rev.  W.  G.  Shellabear,  D.D., 

Madison,  N.  J. 


Eev.  W.  St.  Clair  Tisdall,  Ph.D., 

London 
Mr.  Marshall  Broomhall,  London 


Rev.  E.  M.  Wherry,  D.D.,  India 
Pastor  F.  Wurz,  Basel,  Switzerland 
Rev.  Ralph  Harlow,  Smyrna 

AMERICAN  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 


Delavan  L.  Pierson,  Chairman 

Rev.  Charles  R.  Watson,  D.D., 

Vice-Chairman 
Rev.  James  L.  Barton,  D.D. 


Mrs.  Wm.  Borden 
A.  V.  S.  Olcott,  Treasurer 
Miss  J.  H.  Righter,  Secretary 
Mrs.  Wm.  Bancroft  Hill 


IMPORTANT  ANNOUNCEMENTS 

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NOTES  ON  CONTRIBUTORS 

Professor  A.  Wensinck,  of  the  University  of  Leyden,  needs  no 
introduction  to  Orientalists  and  students  of  Islam.  He  has  made 
a  special  study  of  Tradition  and  is  at  present  preparing  an  Index 
to  the  six  orthodox  collections.  He  is  a  contributor  to  the  Encyclo- 
paedia of  Islam. 

Charles  T.  Hooper  is  the  agent  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society  for  Egypt,  Arabia  and  Palestine.  He  is  one  of  the  few 
Europeans  who  have  visited  the  capital  of  Abyssinia  during  the  war 
and  writes  with  authority. 

George  E.  King,  M.D.,  belongs  to  the  China  Inland  Mission 
and  has  charge  of  the  Borden  Memorial  Hospital  at  Lachowfu, 
Kansu  Province,*  China. 

Dr.  J.  Davidson  Frame  belongs  to  the  Presbyterian  Mission  in 
Persia  and  has  contributed  other  articles  to  our  Quarterly. 

Rev.  E.  Stanley  Jones  is  a  missionary  in  India,  who  has  had 
special  experience  in  evangelistic  work  and  united  movements. 

Rev.  W.  Nesbitt  Chambers,  D.D.,  is  a  missionary  of  the  Ameri- 
can Board  at  Adana,  Turkey. 

Rev.  Stephen  V.  R.  Trowbridge,  Major  in  the  Red  Cross  Re- 
lief Work  during  the  war  and  Secretary  of  the  World's  Sunday 
School  Association  in  the  Near  East,  contributes  a  paper  represent- 
ing a  study  of  the  subject  when  he  was  still  a  missionary  in  Turkey, 
before  his  transfer  to  Cairo. 

Rev.  W .  A.  Rice,  the  author  of  "Crusaders  of  the  Twentieth 
Century"  and  other  works  on  Islam  as  a  missionary  problem,  has 
had  many  years  of  experience  in  Persia  under  the  Church  Mission- 
ary Society. 

Rev.  Gerrit  D.  Van  Peursem  is  a  missionary  of  the  Reformed 
Church  in  America  at  Muscat,  Arabia. 


MONTGOMERY  WARD  &  CO. 

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See  article  on  "A  New  Day  for  Ethiopia,"  by  C.  T.  Hooper. 


The  Moslem  World 


VOL.  XI  JULY,   1921  No.  3 

A  NEW  DAY  FOR  ETHIOPIA 
{With  Map) 

In  The  Moslem  World  for  July,  1920,  Mr.  W.  J. 
W.  Roome  supplied  us  with  a  very  excellent  map,  show- 
ing the  tribes  and  sub-tribes  of  Central  Africa  on  the 
advance  line  of  Islam.  A  careful  study  of  this  map 
should  stir  to  vision  and  suggestion  all  who  are  inter- 
ested in  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  in 
Mohammedan  lands.  The  present  article  has  reference 
only  to  Abyssinia  (or  Ethiopia,  as  the  natives  prefer  to 
name  it)  which  is  one  of  the  greatest  countries  in  the 
border  marches  of  Islam  in  Africa.  The  accompany- 
ing map  (frontispiece)  may  serve  to  give  a  little  further 
detail  regarding  the  languages  and  religions  of  that 
country.  Ethiopia  is  said  to  have  a  population  of  about 
8,000,000,  one-third  of  which  is  Moslem,  the  remainder 
being  Christian  and  Pagan.  The  late  Emperor  Men- 
elik  II  was  known  as  a  strong  man  and  he  stoutly  pro- 
hibited the  building  of  mosques  or  the  propagation  of 
Islam  in  his  kingdom.  We  are  told  that  where  a 
mosque  did  exist  he  had  it  replaced  by  a  church.  Nev- 
ertheless in  later  days  Islam  has  succeeded  in  finding 
many  inroads  into  Ethiopia. 

The  church  of  Ethiopia  claims  high  veneration  for 
its  antiquity.  It  was  in  the  year  330  that  this  country  re- 
ceived the  Gospel  through  the  teaching  of  Frumentius, 
who  was  ordained  the  first  Bishop  of  Abyssinia  by  Athan- 

221 


222  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

asius,  then  Patriarch  of  Alexandria.  From  Frumentius 
to  Simeon  (A.  D.  1613)  they  count  ninety  periods  of  rule. 

For  over  1,200  years  the  Christians  of  Ethiopia  with- 
stood the  encroachments  of  their  neighbors,  the  Moham- 
medans. Separated  only  by  a  narrow  sea  and  strip  of  ter- 
ritory from  the  very  gate  of  Mecca,  this  Christian  church 
has  flourished  like  an  oasis  in  the  desert;  while  nations  to 
the  north,  the  east  and  the  west  have  been  desolated  by 
Mohammedan  usurpation. 

The  attachment  of  this  people  to  the  religion  of  their 
ancestors  has  been  attributed  to  the  circumstance  that 
Christianity  was  introduced  into  the  country  not  by  force 
of  treaty  but  by  knowledge  of  conviction.  Hence  it  is  that 
both  rulers  and  subjects  have  ever  united  in  their  defence 
of  the  faith;  and  Ethiopia  exhibits  the  solitary  instance, 
in  Africa,  of  Christianity  surviving  as  the  national  reli- 
gion. The  Christians  of  Arabia  are  almost  extinguished; 
in  no  part  of  Nubia  is  Christianity  now  professed;  in 
Egypt  it  was  subjugated  and  dwindled  ;  no  native  church 
on  the  Barbary  coast  invites  our  cooperation ;  yet  Ethiopia 
remains  a  Christian  African  nation.  Attachment  to  a  reli- 
gion often  survives  long  after  the  knowledge  of  it  has  be- 
come obscured  by  ignorance,  and  the  observance  of  it 
blemished  by  superstition.  This  has  been  the  case  in  later 
ages,  of  Ethiopia.  The  zeal  of  a  simple  people  tenacious 
of  the  severities  of  will  worship;  and  the  jealousy  of 
everything  Mohammedan,  viewed  with  growing  aversion, 
as  an  enemy  ever  in  sight,  must  be  the  moral  causes,  com- 
bined with  the  peculiar  advantages  which  a  mountainous 
country  affords  as  an  asylum  to  the  persecuted,  which  ex- 
plain, in  some  measure,  the  methods  by  which  the  over- 
ruling Providence  of  God  has  preserved  Ethiopia  as  a 
Christian  nation.  May  it  not  be  that  Ethiopia,  spiritually 
enlightened  and  wisely  trained,  shall  mainly  contribute 
towards  performing  the  great  work  of  holding  up  and 
turning  back  the  power  of  Mohammedanism,  right  along 
the  advance  line,  and  of  planting  Christianity  from  the 
Red  Sea  to  the  African  coast  of  the  Atlantic?    It  is  not 


A  NEW  DAY  FOR  ETHIOPIA  223 

our  purpose  here  to  say  how  far  heresy  and  contention 
have  corrupted  the  simplicity  of  the  faith  in  the  Ethi- 
opian Church  but  to  point  out  the  fact  of  the  existence  of 
a  great  people  in  Central  Africa,  who  are  strong  in  their 
love  for  the  Word  of  God.  The  position  of  the  Ethiopian 
toward  the  Scriptures  is  much  the  same  as  that  of  the  Jew 
toward  the  Old  Testament.  This  is  surely  an  immense 
advantage  in  having  a  people  so  placed  geographically 
needing  only  the  living  touch  and  diffusive  spirit  of  the 
Gospel.  It  is  not  by  anathemas  that  the  Church  of  Ethi- 
opia will  be  restored  but  by  the  faithful  and  affectionate 
administration  of  the  truths  and  ordinances  of  the  Gospel, 
which  must  be  applied  as  a  healing  balm  to  her  festering 
wounds. 

We  believe  that  the  new  day  has  already  dawned  for 
this  interesting  old  country.  In  the  south  a  railway  from 
Jibuti  on  the  Red  Sea  makes  it  possible  now  to  reach 
Addis  Ababa,  the  capital,  in  three  days.  In  the  north  a 
good  railway  from  Massowa  climbs  the  mountains  to  the 
tableland  of  Asmara.  From  the  western  side  at  high 
water  regular  steamers  ply  the  Nile  from  Khartoum  right 
up  into  Abyssinia. 

These  three  points  of  access  are  being  used  by  the  Brit- 
ish and  Foreign  Bible  Society  and  Scriptures  are  steadily 
entering  the  country.  This  Society  has  acquired  its  own 
building  site  in  the  capital  together  with  the  permission 
and  good  relations  set  forth  in  the  following  letter: 

"From  Mattheos,  Archbishop  of  the  Kingdom  of  Abys- 
sinia, to  Mr.  Hooper,  Director  of  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society,  Port  Said: 

"Peace  and  grace  to  you  from  the  Lord  Jesus.  We 
have  received  your  letter  dated  February  7th  last,  and 
we  thanked  the  Lord  Christ  for  your  arrival  in  Egypt  in 
health  and  peace. 

"With  regard  to  the  place  which  you  ask  to  establish  in 
Addis  Ababa  under  our  patronage  for  the  sale  and  dis- 
tribution of  the  Holy  Scriptures.    You  know  quite  well 


224  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

that  this  work  rejoices  us  greatly,  and  we  therefore  inform 
you  that  there  is  no  hindrance  to  its  establishment  on  the 
conditions  you  promised  us  to  carry  out  when  you  visited 
Abyssinia — which  are,  that  there  be  sold  in  this  place 
nothing  besides  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  that,  as  is  the 
principle  of  your  Holy  Society,  the  employees  of  the  place 
do  not  make  any  opposition  through  preaching. 

"With  regard  to  our  opinion  as  to  what  concerns  the  suc- 
cess of  this  place,  and  if  you  agree,  there  should  be  some 
copies  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  in  the  Abyssinian  language 
containing  the  ancient  and  modern  together,  and  some 
containing  them  separately;  and  there  should  be  also 
copies  in  the  Arabic  language  in  the  same  way,  printed  in 
large  visible  type,  some  vowelled  and  some  with  refer- 
ences. We  see  that  this  will  greatly  help  the  distribution 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  this  is  our  hope  and  desire. 

"May  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  love 
of  God,  and  the  fellowship  of  the  Holy  Spirit  be  with  us 
all.    Amen. 

"Written  in  Addis  Ababa,  ii  Barmhat,  1630  (which 
corresponds  to  March  20,  1914). 

(Seal  of  Abba  Mattheos,  Archbishop  of  Ethiopia.) 
(Signed)  "MATTHEOS, 

"Archbishop  of  the  Kingdom  of  Abyssinia." 

At  the  close  of  1920  the  Bible  Society  sent  up  to  their 
depot  in  Addis  Ababa  Mr.  T.  P.  Bevan,  an  experienced 
worker,  to  organize  colportage  throughout  the  country. 
For  over  one  hundred  years  the  society  has  been  working 
for  Abyssinia  with  the  result  that  the  Scriptures  now  exist 
in  Ethiopic,  Amharic,  Tigre,  Tigrinya,  Galla,  Harti  and 
Ogaden.  Other  translations  for  the  smaller  tribes  are  in 
process  of  preparation.  The  ecclesiastical  language  of 
Ethiopia  is  the  Ethiopic,  which  bears  a  very  close  affinity 
to  the  Hebrew  and  Arabic.  In  this  language  the  Abyssin- 
ians  possess  all  the  books  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  in  it 
their  liturgy  and  devotions  are  performed.  They  have 
also  their  ecclesiastical  canons  and  historical  memorials. 


A  NEW  DAY  FOR  ETHIOPIA  225 

Since  the  discovery  of  the  Abyssinian  Church  by  the 
Portuguese,  the  languages  of  the  country  have  been  culti- 
vated with  great  success  both  by  members  of  the  Romish 
Church  and  by  Protestants.  The  fruits  of  the  labours  of 
the  Jesuits,  however,  in  this  department,  are  not  before 
the  world.  To  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  every- 
thing connected  with  the  memory  of  the  Jesuit  missions, 
the  Abyssinians  have  an  unconquerable  repugnance.  It  is 
not  likely  they  will  ever  forget  the  attempts  made  by  that 
Church  to  obtain  dominion  over  their  faith,  but  Protestant 
churches,  by  adopting  measures  of  another  kind,  will  es- 
cape such  hostility  as  has  been  excited  by  the  Latins. 

Had  the  Portuguese  missionaries,  instead  of  attempting 
to  torture  the  Abyssinians  into  Popery,  presented  them 
with  the  Scriptures  in  their  vernacular  languages,  may  we 
not  justly  entertain  the  belief,  that  Christianity  would, 
long  ere  this,  have  penetrated,  by  the  way  of  Abyssinia 
into  the  very  heart  of  Africa? 

Justly  may  this  noble  race  unawed  by  Mohammedans 
and  not  yet  dislodged  by  Pagans,  claim  our  deepest  sym- 
pathy. Still  they  seem  to  elevate  the  Royal  Standard; 
and  to  proclaim  in  the  words  of  the  motto  inscribed  on  it, 
to  the  whole  world,  "The  Lion  of  the  Tribe  of  Judah 
hath  prevailed."  The  crying  need  of  Abyssinia  is  the 
Gospel.  The  translation  work  is  done,  the  books  are 
ready,  the  people  are  waiting.  The  great  Head  of  the 
Christian  Church  is  saying  to  us,  "Whom  shall  I  send  and 
who  will  go  for  us?"  Ethiopia  still  stretches  out  her 
hands  to  the  Protestant  Church  saying,  "Come  over  and 
help  us." 

C.  T.  Hooper. 

Port  Said,  Egypt. 


AN  OPEN-MINDED  TURK  ON  THE  FUTURE 
OF  HIS  RACE* 

Dear  Dr.  Zwemer: 

My  interview  with  the  Mohammedan  gentleman  men- 
tioned to  you  by  Dr.  Barton,  was  to  me  most  interesting. 
I  have  had  further  conversation  with  this  gentleman,  and 
he  has  given  me  a  more  extended  idea  of  the  tract  he  has 
prepared  for  publication.  Ilhami  Bey  is  a  man  of  educa- 
tion, keen  in  observation,  and  serious  in  his  consideration 
of  religious  problems.  Educated  in  Constantinople,  he 
has  travelled  in  various  countries  in  Europe.  In  his 
travels  he  has  studied  the  material,  social  and  moral  con- 
ditions of  the  districts  visited,  ever  keeping  in  mind  cor- 
responding conditions  in  his  own  country  (Turkey)  for 
comparison.  He  became  convinced  that  the  Ulema — gov- 
ernmental officials  and  other  educated  leaders  in  the  re- 
ligious, social  and  intellectual  circles — have  absolutely 
failed  in  rendering  the  service  that  they  should  have  ren- 
dered to  the  people  of  the  country.  There  has  been  a 
semblance  of  imitation  of  European  progress,  but  it  re- 
mains a  faint  semblance,  to  grasp  the  meaning  of  which 
it  is  only  necessary  to  contrast  Paris  or  London  and  Con- 
stantinople to  realize  what  five  hundred  years  of  Turkish 
domination  means. 

Yet  the  Turk  is  possessed  of  characteristics  that  would 
make  for  progress.  He  has  manifested  courage  and  prow- 
ess and  industry.  Why  then  has  he  not  made  progress? 
Why  is  he  called  the  "sick  man"?  Ilhami  Bey  himself 
raises  the  question,  and  does  not  attempt  himself  to  answer 
it  in  detail.  There  is  a  Turkish  proverb,  to  the  effect  that 
one  man  can  throw  a  stone  into  the  well,  but  it  will  take 

•I  have  put  the  report  in  the  shape  of  a  letter  to  you.     I  take  it  it  is  the  situation  and 
the  idea  of  Ilhami  Bey  that  you  want — not  the  special  shape  in  which  I  have  put  it. 

W.   N.   C. 

226 


AN  OPEN-MINDED  TURK  ON  FUTURE  OF  HIS  RACE     227 

forty  men  to  drag  it  out.  If  he  can  throw  the  stone  in  he 
indulges  in  the  hope  that  it  will  arouse  the  forty  men  to 
investigation.  ^'The  probe  must  go  deep  in  order  to  get 
at  the  source  of  the  evil."  "Why  have  the  Turks  failed  to 
make  progress?" 

He  confesses  that  his  conviction,  in  harmony  with  many 
others,  was  that  Islam  was  a  powerful  instrument  in  the 
hands  of  the  Sultans  for  the  progress  and  development 
of  the  country;  but  it  was  blocked  by  hindrances,  such  as 
the  capitulations  forced  on.  Turkey  by  the  European 
powers,  and  their  interference  in  the  affairs  of  the  coun- 
try. Though  that  interference  was  obnoxious  and  may 
have  hindered  in  some  respects  it  does  not  furnish  an  ade- 
quate reason  for  the  lack  of  progress  in  so  many  things  not 
affected  by  the  capitulations  at  all.  The  fatalistic  attitude, 
the  satisfaction  with  things  as  they  are,  the  absence  of 
initiative,  the  lack  of  persistence  in  the  execution  of  any 
enterprise,  the  lack  of  that  stimulus  necessary  to  success, 
seem  to  be  characteristic  of  Islam.  The  question  is  not 
one  of  the  comparative  merits  of  Christianity  and  Islam. 
This  is  not  an  argument:  it  is  the  raising  of  a  question; 
religion  is  an  essential  to  a  nation.  Is  Islam  responsible 
for  the  backwardness  of  the  Turks?  This  question  should 
have  serious  consideration. 

A  glance  at  Turkish  history  shows  that  the  absorption 
of  the  Turkish  tribes  was  gradual.  Toghrul  Bey  was  not 
in  his  early  career  a  Moslem.  Even  after  accepting  Islam 
they  were  not  fanatical.  The  requirements  of  the  reli- 
gion were  easy :  the  acceptance  of  one  God,  Allah,  recog- 
nition of  Mohammed  as  the  prophet  of  Allah,  and  the 
performance  of  certain  religious  exercises.  These  condi- 
tions were  very  easy  and  would  furnish  the  basis  of  the 
organization.  This  would  become  a  common  bond  in 
connection  with  the  levying  of  taxes,  the  building  of 
prayer  centres  (mosques),  the  drafting  of  soldiers,  etc., 
and  Islam  became  the  official  religion. 

In  consideration  of  the  question  as  to  whether  Islam 


228  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

has  benefited  the  Turk  or  not,  there  are  three  things  to 
be  considered : 

(a)  What  has  it  done  for  the  people  who  have  re- 
mained in  the  tribal  state — the  nomads? 

Jt  is  evident  to  all  that  the  tribal  conditions  of  six  cen- 
turies ago  persist  to  the  present  amongst  those  who  live 
under  tribal  organization.  No  influence  has  been  exerted 
in  the  bettering  of  social  relationships,  of  purifying  condi- 
tions of  life,  establishing  community  of  spirit,  and  those 
things  that  make  for  higher  civilization.  Is  this  a  ques- 
tion of  race  or  climate,  or  is  Islam  responsible  for  it? 

(b)  Turning  to  the  rural  populations  settled  in  towns 
and  villages,  it  is  seen  that  they  are  more  given  to  religious 
exercises;  they  perform  the  namaz  (prayer),  keep  the 
fast,  go  on  pilgrimage  in  larger  numbers,  etc.:  they  are 
more  consciously  Moslem.  But  we  shall  find  that  the 
basal  reason  is  to  escape  the  "burnings  of  hell."  The  men 
have  served  in  the  army,  are  more  amenable  to  control, 
and  have  a  more  definite  idea  of  the  religion  of  Islam 
than  the  people  under  tribal  conditions;  but  illiteracy 
prevails,  and  there  is  a  great  lack  of  moral  uplift.  Con- 
sciences are  undeveloped.  Dishonesty,  transgression  of 
law  and  even  crime,  are  matters  of  concern,  not  so  much 
in  themselves  as  in  their  detection.  Avoidance  of  the  ef- 
fect of  these  things  is  a  matter  of  moment.  If  escape  from 
punishment  becomes  possible,  the  crime  is  of  little  ac- 
count. Moral  excellence  is  not  of  serious  consideration. 
Benevolent  action  arises  more  from  natural  instinct  than 
from  religious  impulse.  Women  are  largely  outside  the 
pale  of  religion.  Again  the  question  arises,  is  this  due  to 
race,  climate,  or  religion? 

(c)  The  urban  population  in  many  places  has  taken 
on  the  semblance  of  culture,  and  conforms  to  many  of 
the  customs  of  European  civilization;  but  the  actual  sit- 
uation is  no  better  as  far  as  moral  uplift  and  spiritual 
growth  are  concerned.  In  fact,  city  life  is  honeycombed 
with  much  of  the  worst  of  social  immoralities,  political 
corruption,  business  duplicity,  and  in  the  religious  sphere, 


AN  OPEN-MINDED  TURK  ON  FUTURE  OF  HIS  RACE    229 

materialism,  infidelity,  agnosticism,  etc.  The  people  are 
in  the  condition  of  a  man  in  a  tractless  forest  without  a 
guide.  Where  there  is  religious  conformity,  it  is  on  the 
ground  that  the  formal  performance  of  religious  require- 
ments covers  the  immoralities  of  life. 

Religion  should  be  a  restraint,  a  guide,  an  inspiration 
— never  a  scourge.  It  should  be  a  stimulus  to  intellectual 
activities,  a  deepening  of  the  benevolent  sentiments,  a 
spur  to  awakened  conscience,  a  guide  to  moral  and  spir- 
itual growth.  Islam  lacks  philosophic  insight.  It  has 
not  been  a  mental  stimulus.  It  is  neither  a  spiritual  guide 
nor  moral  restraint  in  the  midst  of  these  evils.  Does  not 
the  condoning  of  cruelty  and  massacre,  as  for  instance  in 
the  case  of  the  atrocities  perpetrated  on  the  Armenians, 
impeach  Islam? 

Virtue  in  Islam  consists  in  scrupulous  conformity  with 
the  religious  forms  and  exercises.  Of  the  five  require- 
ments only  one  is  possible  to  any  individual.  Any  one 
can  repeat  the  creed,  but  it  is  not  possible  for  every  one  to 
perform  his  namaz  five  times  a  day  in  perfect  order,  keep 
the  fast,  pay  tithes,  or  perform  the  pilgrimage,  as  re- 
quired. Inability  to  do  these  essential  things  breeds  care- 
less indifference  which  is  deadening  instead  of  life  giving. 
It  engenders  moral  obliquity. 

Conquest  cannot  be  considered  as  service  to  Allah. 
Had  the  Turk  done  less  in  the  way  of  conquest  and  more 
in  the  material  and  m.oral  development  of  the  territory  oc- 
cupied, he  might  have  profitably  served  his  race  and  the 
world.  But  in  this  he  has  absolutely  failed.  Amongst  the 
brain  cells  of  the  Turk  the  compartment  of  religion  is 
empty.  His  future  depends  on  the  filling  of  that  com- 
partment of  his  brain  with  religious  thought  that  is  strong, 
restraining,  inspiring  for  that  which  makes  for  moral  and 
spiritual  uplift,  for  development  and  progress.  Can  Islam 
do  this? 

A  glance  at  his  history.  The  claim  is  made  that  con- 
tact with  the  Byzantine  civilization  corrupted  the  Turk. 
If  we  study  the  history  dealing  with  Islam,  for  the  seven 


230  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

hundred  years  previous  to  the  advent  of  the  Turk,  we  find 
this  claim  quite  unfounded.  The  Turks  have  themselves 
to  blame  for  their  stagnation.  They  followed  in  the  path 
of  their  predecessors.  They  have  suffered  and  are  suffer- 
ing the  consequences. 

A  glance  at  legal  processes.  The  Shari'at  (Sacred 
Law)  does  not  secure  justice  or  conserve  the  rights  of  the 
people.  From  the  Fatwa  there  is  no  appeal,  and  it  be- 
comes in  the  hands  of  the  religious  officials  a  means  of 
selfish  ambition,  and  governmental  oppression.  It  is  more 
an  instrument  of  oppression  than  protection.  A  notorious 
instance  of  this  was  the  Fatwa  given  to  Sultan  Byazid  in 
the  field  of  Kossova,  legalizing  the  murder  of  his  brothers. 
The  religious  official  was  responsible  for  this  and  similar 
crimes. 

Why  should  the  Turk  not  stand  strong  against  such 
things  as  the  ambitions  of  the  Sultans,  the  immoralities  of 
Constantinople  or  the  debaucheries  of  Europe?  Because 
there  was  not  virile  strength  and  moral  apperception 
enough  in  his  religion  to  combat  these  things  to  any  ap- 
preciable extent.  There  are  two  ways  open  to  men:  to 
struggle  against  evils  and  overcome  them,  or  to  become 
lethargic  and  indifferent  to  the  havoc  caused.  The  latter 
was  the  path  taken  by  the  Turk.  It  cannot  be  denied  that 
he  is  a  "sick  man"  and  his  malady  is  due  to  his  religion. 

A  glance  at  the  Khalifate.  Has  the  Khalifate  been  of 
service  to  the  Turk?  The  Turks  were  pastoral  and  had 
few  ambitions  when  they  came  into  Anatolia;  but  cir- 
cumstances led  them  on  to  ambitious  projects.  They  came 
into  touch  with  Constantinople  and  began  to  covet  it. 
Their  ideas  were  not  so  much  religious.  Islam  was  only 
of  secondary  importance  and  only  a  means  to  an  end. 
Massacres  of  both  Moslems  and  Christians  were  political 
more  than  religious.  Though  the  religious  idea  gradu- 
ally grew,  the  great  question  was  the  conquest  of  Constan- 
tinople. Then,  when  Mohammed  conquered  and  pos- 
sessed Constantinople  he  was  seized  with  the  idea  of  be- 
coming a  world  ruler,  which  idea  he  passed  on  to  his  sue- 


AN  OPEN-MINDED  TURK  ON  FUTURE  OF  HIS  RACE     231 

cessors.  To  that  end  the  Khaiifate  was  a  necessity,  and 
Selim  invaded  Egypt  and  seized  it  for  that  purpose.  The 
question  was  not  so  much  Islam  as  yet,  but  conquest. 
Later  the  religious  idea  in  connection  with  the  Khaiifate 
grew  to  larger  proportions  and  became  prominent. 

Selim's  invasion  of  Egypt  cost  him  fifty  thousand  men 
— a  great  crime.  The  cruelty  perpetrated  was  inhuman, 
though  committed  by  a  Moslem  sultan  against  Moslems 
and  against  a  Moslem  ruler.  It  was  a  war  for  power,  and 
so  many  of  the  faithful  were  slain — a  sacrifice  to  ambi- 
tion, a  great  disgrace.  Why  did  Islam  not  prevent?  Be- 
cause it  could  not.  It  could  only  endorse.  Selim,  the  first 
Ottoman  Khalif,  died  as  a  morphine  fiend.  The  influence 
of  this  on  the  common  people  must  have  been  disastrous. 

The  successors  of  Selim  went  as  far  as  Vienna.  The 
Ottoman  power  rose  to  that  point  and  immediately  began 
to  decline  and  has  been  declining  ever  since.  It  had  not 
moral  stamina  enough  to  arrest  the  decay.  Ottoman  his- 
tory is  concerned  only  with  the  Sultanate;  the  nation  is 
scarcely  mentioned  and  there  is  manifest  little  or  no  move- 
ment or  thought  even  for  the  betterment  of  the  people  as  a 
whole.  In  the  course  of  a  few  centuries  some  good  influ- 
ences for  radical  reform  and  permanent  reconstruction 
should  appear  in  the  life  of  any  people,  but  amongst  the 
Turks  none  such  do  appear;  the  people  exist  for  the 
Khaiifate,  not  the  Khaiifate  for  the  people. 

The  best  thing  for  Turkey  is  to  surrender  the  Khaiifate, 
to  work  for  regeneration,  and  to  consider  the  way  most 
suited  for  the  proper  development  of  the  country  and  the 
peace  and  prosperity  of  the  people.  Great  needs  demand 
great  deeds. 

How  can  the  Turks  be  freed  from  the  present  condition 
in  presence  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace?  The  Turks — not 
the  people,  but  the  ambitious  demagogues  and  other 
leaders — were  bound  to  the  Germans  and  suffered  with 
them.  The  Peace  Treaty  has  been  accepted.  It  is  hard 
but  beneficial.  It  would  relieve  the  country  from  the 
crushing  burden  of  armaments  and  many  other  things  that 


232  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

sap  the  life  of  a  nation  and  retard  progress.  To  make  that 
progress  possible  what  is  necessary?  The  following  four 
points  are  important  and  essential : 

(i)  Securing  for  the  people  the  right  and  opportunity 
of  untrammeled  religious  instruction. 

(2)  An  effort  should  be  made  to  develop  a  religious 
entente. 

(3)  Securing  absolute  freedom  of  conscience. 

(4)  The  acceptance  of  a  mandatory  power  to  act  in  the 
interests  of  and  be  a  guide  for  the  government  and  people. 

To  accomplish  this  the  Turks  do  not  possess  the  reli- 
gious instincts  or  traditions,  much  less  the  religious  coun- 
sels or  organizations  necessary  thereto.  The  Turkish  sul- 
tans had  no  such  ideals.  They  were  as  lions  seeking  terri- 
tory to  conquer  and  ever  ready  to  spring  forward  to  con- 
quest. The  Ulema  and  other  leaders  served  the  purpose 
of  the  Sultan  without  consideration  of  the  people.  The 
past  six  hundred  years  demonstrate  that  the  Turks  of 
themselves  cannot  make  progress.  The  Magyars,  the 
Roumanians,  the  Bulgarians  and  others,  freed  from  Turk- 
ish domination,  made  advance.  Compare  Sofia  and 
Adrianople — neighboring  cities.  1  f  the  Ulema,  the  Khojas 
and  other  leaders  had  been  men  of  culture  and  education 
and  serious  and  open-minded,  they  would  have  considered 
the  needs  of  the  country  and  would  have  introduced  those 
changes  necessary  for  the  welfare  and  best  interests  of  the 
people  of  the  country  in  all  phases  of  life.  Six  hundred 
years  of  this  is  sufficient.  Now  is  the  time  to  speak  plain- 
ly. Now  is  the  time  to  inaugurate  those  movements  that 
w^ill  make  for  the  peace  and  the  best  interests  of  all  the 
people. 

At  this  point  of  my  interview  with  Uhami  Bey,  I  raised 
the  question  of  ways  and  means.  His  answer  was  definite, 
with  every  mark  of  careful  thought  and  appreciation  of 
the  seriousness  of  the  situation  that  might  develop.  I  give 
the  gist  of  his  reply,  which  might  be  considered  as  an  ap- 
peal to  the  Turks. 

Western  Christianity  stands  ready  to  extend  a  helping 


AN  OPEN-MINDED  TURK  ON  FUTURE  OF  HIS  RACE    233 

hand  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  and  the  broad  basis  of 
the  teachings  of  the  Messiah.  What  can  be  learned  from 
history?  For  all  these  centuries  glance  at  the  history  of 
India,  Afghanistan,  Persia,  Arabia,  Egypt,  North  Africa. 
Is  there  not  demonstration  enough  that  these  Moslem 
countries  have  remained  stagnant  through  all  these  cen- 
turies and  why?  Examine  the  physical,  intellectual  and 
moral  and  spiritual  conditions.  Injunctions  against  mur- 
der, robbery,  intemperance,  immorality,  have  been  and 
are  dead  letters  as  far  as  the  Turkish  Sultan  and  other 
leaders  are  concerned.  Turkish  history  recalls  the  lives 
of  the  Sultans,  who  are  the  heads  of  the  religious  com- 
munities. They  have  made  the  religion  only  a  means  to 
their  own  ambitions  and  the  Ulema  have  been  their  serv- 
ants. The  common  people  have  only  been  pawns  on  the 
chess-board  in  their  game  for  conquest  and  domination  by 
the  house  of  Osman.  Nothing  has  been  done  for  the  mate- 
rial, moral  and  spiritual  reform  and  welfare  of  the 
people. 

Is  it  not  time  for  the  Turkish  race,  possessed  of  excellent 
qualities  that  would  make  for  progress  if  they  had  the  op- 
portunity and  were  properly  led,  to  consider  with  deep 
seriousness  this  condition  and  seek  a  remedy?  Open  the 
windows  and  let  in  the  light! 

Must  we  not  admit  that  Islam  is  too  small  a  religion,  too 
circumscribed,  too  formal?  Must  we  not  place  the  re- 
sponsibility of  our  backwardness,  and  not  only  ours  but 
the  backwardness  of  Moslem  lands,  at  the  door  of  Islam? 
We  are  challenged  for  an  answer.  Should  we  not  seek  the 
reason  in  what  appears  to  be  the  fact,  that  Islam  does  not 
furnish  the  high  ideal,  the  inspiration  to  investigation,  the 
desire  for  progress  in  the  different  phases  of  life,  material, 
social  and  spiritual? 

The  holy  Koran  is  in  a  language  known  to  but  com- 
paratively few  in  the  Moslem  world ;  the  repetition  of  its 
words,  and  other  religious  exercises  enjoined,  do  not  de- 
velop moral  excellence,  or,  as  history  shows,  an  impulse 
for  progress  and  human  welfare.    Is  the  assertion  that  the 


234  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Koran  supersedes  the  Gospel  tenable?  Is  it  necessary 
that  Allah  should  withdraw  a  revelation  or  substitute  a 
different  one  already  given?  We  recognize  Jesus  the 
Messiah  of  the  Gospel  as  a  prophet  of  God.  Let  us  turn 
on  what  light  He  may  give  on  the  human  problem.  Let 
that  stand  which  can  give  light  and  a  lead. 

Is  it  not  a  fact  that  what  the  Turk  needs  for  his  reju- 
venation and  progress  is  to  be  free  from  the  incubus  of  the 
Khalifate  and  the  granting  of  a  free  field  to  Western 
Christianity?  Better  that,  with  the  preservation  and  re- 
juvenation of  a  race,  than  sealing  its  doom  in  the  thralls 
of  a  religious  system,  that  causes  stagnation  rather  than 
progress,  that  has  shown  itself  to  be  a  burden  rather  than 
a  help,  that  has  been  the  cause  of  decay  rather  than  a  life- 
giving,  inspiring  power. 

Should  Moslems  not  consider  whether  Jesus  the  Mes- 
siah does  not  offer  that  which  is  necessary  to  the  preserva- 
tion of  their  right  and  furnish  the  ideas  that  would  make 
possible  growth  in  that  righteousness  which  exalteth  a 

nation? 

********** 

This  interview  was  exceedingly  interesting  to  me  as 
embodying  the  ideas  that  have  occupied  my  mind  for 
years.  They  set  forth  what  appears  to  be  the  attitude  of 
many  thoughtful  Moslems,  and  may  well  challenge  the 
serious  consideration  of  Western  Christianity. 
Yours  very  sincerely, 

W.  Nesbitt  Chambers. 
Ariana,  Turkey. 


DIRECT  EVANGELISM  IN  INDIA 

The  direct  central  drive  of  my  evangelistic  work 
among  educated  classes  throughout  India  has  been  the 
Hindu,  the  Moslem  being  touched  more  or  less  inciden- 
tally. However,  in  all  the  audiences  I  have  addressed 
there  have  been  quite  a  few  Moslems,  and  in  the  after- 
meeting  for  questions  the  meeting  has  often  taken  a  Mos- 
lem turn.  I  have  even  had  prominent  Mohammedans 
sign  the  notices  that  have  gone  out  for  the  meetings  as  if 
they  were  calling  the  meetings,  though  they  knew  that  I 
would  make  a  frank  open  Christian  appeal.  And  in  most 
places  we  have  at  least  one  Mohammedan  as  chairman  of 
the  meetings  in  a  series.  And  in  the  quiet  talks  between 
meetings  I  have  sat  face  to  face  with  many  an  earnest 
Moslem  enquirer.  I  do  not  write  as  an  expert  on  evan- 
gelism among  Moslems,  but  as  one  who  has  touched  it 
only  while  holding  another  objective.  While  this  is  true, 
I  have  felt  that  there  are  advantages  in  dealing  with  the 
Moslem  in  an  atmosphere  not  his  own.  In  a  general  meet- 
ing where  one  is  making  an  appeal  for  personal,  social 
and  national  regeneration  the  Moslem  is  lifted  out  of  the 
petty  controversy  of  texts  and  books,  and  the  big  things  of 
life  face  him.  He  is  therefore  more  reachable  in  that  at- 
mosphere than  in  his  own. 

I  believe  that  there  are  tremendous  possibilities  for  di- 
rect evangelism  among  Moslems  in  India,  and  they  are 
being  augmented  by  present  tendencies. 

I.  There  is  a  great  revival  of  Mohammedanism  in 
India  taking  place  at  the  present  time,  but  it  has  the  ele- 
ments of  a  kick-back  in  it.  Before  the  war  in  the  clash  of 
ideas  in  India  the  Moslem,  pushed  by  Christian  ideals, 
felt  called  on  to  spiritualize  away  some  of  the  grossness  of 

235 


236  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

his  own  conceptions.  Jihad  was  not  a  using  of  literal 
swords,  but  it  meant  a  war  against  evil  in  the  abstract, 
just  as  we  call  Christians  to  war.  But  an  inrush  of  the 
old  Mohammedan  spirit  has  taken  place  since  the  war, 
and  the  old  teaching  stands  out  in  its  bare  nakedness.  In 
a  recent  court  case  for  the  trial  of  some  Moslem  fanatics, 
who  had  murdered  a  British  official  from  sheer  Jihad 
frenzy,  the  lawyer  defending  them  pleaded  that  in  mur- 
dering the  Kafir  they  had  followed  the  dictates  of  their 
own  conscience  and  the  precepts  of  their  own  religion, 
and  could  not  therefore  be  punished.  This  is  typical  of 
the  bare  literalness  that  has  swept  over  Moslem  thinking 
in  recent  months.  But  in  the  soberer  moments  that  are 
to  come,  this  revival  will  be  a  source  of  embarrassment  to 
the  open-minded  Moslem. 

2.  The  Moslem  has  no  reserve  trenches  as  the  Hindu. 
You  may  beat  the  Hindu  from  one  intellectual  position, 
and  he  seems  to  have  an  indefinite  number  of  reserve 
trenches  into  which  he  can  retreat.  He  can  be  almost  a 
Christian  and  still  be  a  Hindu,  so  elastic  is  his  position. 

But  not  so  with  the  Mohammedan.  He  is  one  or  the 
other,  either  rigidly  against  you,  or,  if  you  can  succeed  in 
beating  him  from  that  position,  diere  is  nothing  left  but  to 
be  for  you.  I  have  been  surprised  to  find  men  who  were 
absolutely  opposed  suddenly  collapse  in  their  opposition 
and  be  for  you.  The  secret  is  that  they  had  no  reserve  posi- 
tions. And  the  point  is  that  the  present  tendency  to  cast 
aside  any  attempt  at  philosophical  reasonableness  and  go 
in  for  bare,  naked  Koranic  literalness  for  the  future  moral, 
religious,  social  and  political  programme  is  a  position  that 
brings  present  revival,  but  future  collapse.  The  whole 
tendency  of  the  best  elements  in  world  life  is  against  the 
position  they  are  taking  up.  The  fort  of  the  Koran  into 
which  they  retreat  for  their  whole  life  stand  may  prove  a 
strength  for  awhile,  but  a  fort  is  a  dangerous  place  of  ulti- 
mate refuge. 

3.  The  weight  of  modern  conditions  is  going  to  be  on 
Hinduism  and  Mohammedanism  in  the  future  as  India  is 


DIRECT  EVANGELISM  IN  INDIA  237 

given  self-government.  Hitherto  the  weight  of  things  has 
been  on  the  British  Government,  and  these  religions  have 
sheltered  up  under  them.  Theirs  has  been  a  protected 
position.  Now  the  weight  of  modern  conditions  will 
come  straight  on  these  religions.  I  believe  it  will  smash 
them.  They  are  not  built  for  a  democratic  future.  Lecky 
says,  "There  is  only  one  example  of  a  religion  not  sub- 
verted by  its  contact  with  modern  civilization,  and  that 
one  example  is  Christianity."  It  can  live  in  a  progressive, 
scientific  age.  Now  progressive  world  currents  will 
sweep  through  the  Moslem  world,  and  it  will  find  its  in- 
herent weaknesses. 

To  illustrate:  An  earnest  Moslem  college  student 
came  to  see  me  personally  after  the  close  of  one  of  my  ad- 
dresses. He  said,  "Don't  you  think  that  Mohammedan- 
ism is  also  democratic?"  "Yes,"  I  replied,  "very  demo- 
cratic toward  Moslems.  But  does  your  democracy  ex- 
tend to  man  as  man,  or  man  as  Mohammedan?  What  is 
its  attitude  toward  the  non-Mohammedan,  is  it  democratic 
there?"  He  replied  that  he  was  "afraid  it  was  not."  Then 
he  said,  "Don't  you  think  we  could  change  it?"  "Yes,"  I 
said,  "You  could,  but  when  you  got  through  it  would  not  be 
Mohammedanism."  Then  he  replied,  "I  have  been  think- 
ing about  this  matter  for  a  long  time.  Could  we  not  put 
together  Mohammedanism  and  Christianity  and  make 
them  one?"  I  asked  him  how  he  would  do  it.  He  replied, 
"Christ  lived  a  very  high,  noble,  holy  life,  and  He  never 
married.  Now  Mohamm^ed  did  marry,  so  I  would  sug- 
gest that  we  make  Christ  the  theory  of  religion  and  Mo- 
hammed the  practice."  A  splendid  compliment!  And 
one  could  scarcely  get  a  more  vivid  contrast  between  the 
two  religions:  One  stands  for  a  call  out  of  the  lower  into 
the  higher,  the  ought-to-be  standing  over  against  the  is, 
and  asking  it  and  helping  it  to  come  up  higher,  even  to 
Christ;  the  other  religionizes  the  lower  is,  and  asks  it  to 
stay  where  it  is,  even  at  Mohammed.  But  the  world  is 
under  the  call  of  a  higher,  and  cannot  stay. 

4.  The  Hindu  and  Mohammedan  are  just  now  violent- 


2.^8  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

ly  attached,  and  united  against  the  British.  But  it  is  a 
unity  of  a  common  object  of  hate.  Herod  and  Pilate 
agree  together.  But  the  aims  are  divergent,  one  is  na- 
tional and  the  other  is  religious.  The  Moslem  is  agi- 
tating for  the  Khalifate,  and  the  Hindu  for  self-govern- 
ment. When  once  the  latter  is  given,  the  aims  fall  apart. 
The  overmastering  desire  of  each  comes  out,  and  they  do 
not  coincide.  The  Moslem  is  becoming  violently  attached 
to  Turkey,  the  Hindu  is  for  India.  The  Moslem  is  stor- 
ing up  a  reaction  from  the  side  of  the  Hindus  which  is 
sure  to  come.  That,  too,  will  make  his  position  in  India 
more  difficult. 

5.  But  the  greatest  possibility  for  direct  evangelistic 
work  comes  from  the  spiritual  hunger  brought  on  by  this 
upset.  If  the  above  which  I  have  written  seems  militant 
and  outward,  yet  my  method  is  otherwise.  I  do  not  at- 
tack them.  When  addressing  them  I  present  Christ 
openly,  frankly,  leaving  them  to  draw  conclusions  of  their 
own.  And  when  one  unfolds  Christ,  interpreted  through 
Christian  experience,  it  pulls  upon  the  heart  and  con- 
science. This  upheaval  is  creating  a  desire  for  a  positive 
dynamic  faith.  With  a  constructive  message  at  this  time 
our  opportunity  is  supreme.  For  when  the  facts  of  life 
are  faced,  there  is  no  other  way  out  except  the  Christ  way. 
In  an  aftermeeting  recently,  when  I  asked  those  who 
would  accept  Christ  to  stay,  among  the  forty  who  stayed 
there  were  about  a  dozen  Moslem  students.  They  were 
students  who  had  been  in  the  midst  of  the  noncooperation 
movement  with  its  intense  excitement  and  bitter  animosi- 
ties, and  yet  here  they  were  listening  intently  while  I  told 
them  how  to  live  this  new  life  in  Christ.  Spiritual  hunger 
was  mastering  them.  In  this  moral  and  spiritual  hunger 
created  by  these  new  conditions  lies  our  opportunity.  To 
get  close  to  them  with  sympathy,  courage  and  straightfor- 
wardness and  present  Christ  interpreted  through  experi- 
ence is  our  present  task. 

E.  Stanley  Jones. 

India. 


THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  TRADITION  FOR  THE 
STUDY  OF  ISLAM 

At  first  sight  there  seems  to  be  a  great  difference  be- 
tween Christian  and  Moslem  tradition,  for  the  latter  pro- 
fesses to  record  the  words  and  actions  of  the  Apostle  of 
Allah  as  they  were  handed  down  by  the  witnesses  thereof 
to  other  authorities,  who  did  the  same  in  their  turn,  till  the 
huge  amount  of  material  was  collected  and  sifted  by  the 
authors,  who  embodied  it  in  their  books. 

Moslem  tradition  i§,  however,  a  term  which  in  Arabic 
is  expressed  not  by  one  but  by  two  words,  hadith  and 
sufina.  The  former  denotes  a  communication  or  a  tale,  in 
our  case  the  oral  or  scribal  translation  of  the  sayings  or  ac- 
tions mentioned;  the  latter  means  "use"  and  "tradition," 
in  our  case  the  exemplar  way  in  which  Mohammed  used 
to  act  and  to  speak.  So  hadith  is  the  external,  sunna  the 
internal  side  of  tradition;  hadith  is  the  form,  sunna  the 
matter. 

Tradition,  as  to  its  form,  is  Jewish.^  According  to  the 
Jewish  conception  the  Law  was  revealed  on  Mount  Sinai 
in  a  twofold  form :  one  part  was  written  down  by  Moses, 
the  other  was  transmitted  orally  to  the  Elders,  who  trans- 
mitted it  to  the  Prophets,  and  they  in  turn  transmitted  it 
to  the  Men  of  the  Great  Synagogue,  who  transmitted  it  to 
the  Rabbis. 

The  question  is,  may  Tradition,  as  to  its  contents,  be 
styled,  as  it  has  been  done,  the  table-talk  of  the  Prophet, 
or  on  the  other  hand,  can  it  be  compared  to  Goethe's  dis- 
courses with  Eckermann?  Neither,  for  two  reasons.  The 
first  will  be  mentioned  later;  it  depends  upon  historical 
considerations.  Tht  second  is  this:  Tradition  is  not  a 
fortuitous  collection  of  sayings  or  of  actions  recorded ;  it 
is,  as  a  whole,  a  systematic  composition.    It  does  not  pur- 


iThis  was  shown  in  detail  in  a  recent  article  by  J.  Horovitz  in  Der  Islam,  viii,  p.  39  flF. 


240  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

sue  a  historical  aim,  it  occupies  the  whole  domain  of  Mos- 
lem life,  the  Moslem's  ritual  duties  ('Ibdddt),  civil  law 
or  transactions  (Mudmaldt)  ^  criminal  law  and  jurisdic- 
tion (Hudud,  Ahkam),  and  the  regulation  of  family  life 
(Matrimony  and  Divorce).  These  are  the  four  principal 
divisions  and  in  this  respect  there  is  a  close  parallelism  be- 
tween Moslem  jurisprudence  and  Tradition.  There 
exist  even  collections  of  traditions — such  as  Malik's 
Muwatta  and  the  Corpus  Juris  of  Zaid  ibn  Ali" — which 
are  nothing  but  loci  probantes  for  juridical  purposes  and 
which  are  divided  in  the  same  fashion  as  the  law  books 
are;  they  hold  a  middle  position  between  the  works  of 
jurisprudence  and  the  oldest  canonical  works  of  tradition. 
Yet  it  is  not  sufficient  to  study  Fikh  and  to  leave  tradition 
alone  with  its  endless  repetitions  and  often  contradictory 
statements.  While  jurisprudence  limits  itself  to  the  four 
large  divisions  mentioned  above,  tradition  has  an  im- 
portant place;  it  tells  you  about  the  things  of  daily  life, 
about  eating  and  drinking,  about  the  laws  of  social  inter- 
course. It  tells  you  also  about  Paradise  and  Hell,  Resur- 
rection and  Judgment;  it  occupies  itself  with  descriptions 
of  the  signs  of  the  hour  and  the  coming  Mahdi.  It  dwells 
upon  the  dogma  of  Predestination,  upon  the  vanity  of  the 
world  and  the  worth  of  asceticism.  It  is,  in  short,  a  store- 
house of  Moslem  views  about  nearly  all  Moslem  topics, 
and  as  such  it  is  a  mirror  of  the  Moslem  mind. 

II 

The  last  statement  seems  to  be  incompatible  with  the 
attitude  assumed  by  tradition  itself.  It  traces  itself  back 
to  Mohammed,  or,  in  some  cases,  to  one  or  the  other  of 
the  Companions.  It  has  indeed  taken  a  long  time  until 
tradition  could  be  designated  as  it  has  been  done  just  now. 
For  European  scholars,  though  ever  so  critically  minded, 
as  a  matter  of  fact  did  not  consider  the  subject  in  a  way 
principally  different  from  that  of  the  Moslems  of  all  gen- 
erations.   They  were  aware  of  the  fact  that  not  all  the 

2Ed.   Griffini. 


IMPORTANCE  OF  TRADITION  241 

sayings  ascribed  to  Mohammed  could  be  genuine.  For, 
apart  from  their  inner  trustworthiness  or  non-trustworthi- 
ness, they  often  appeared  to  be  of  so  contradictory  a  na- 
ture that  no  reasonable  being  could  be  believed  to  have 
uttered  all  of  them.  But  these  contradictions  might  be  the 
work  of  later  hands  and  so  scholars  started  from  the  view 
that  tradition  was  what  it  professed  to  be,  apart  from  later 
additions.  Dozy,  in  his  book  on  Islam,  states  that  the  most 
rigid  critics  in  his  days  (the  book  appeared  in  1880)  held 
at  least  half  of  Bukharis  traditions  to  be  genuine.  The 
radicals  of  the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  held 
the  same  position  regarding  tradition  as  nowadays  the 
most  timid  Old  Testament  critics  do  regarding  the  au- 
thenticity of  the  Pentateuch. 

It  was  exactly  in  the  days  of  Dozy,  that  Biblical  criti- 
cism reached  the  view  that  the  Pentateuch  is  a  receptacle 
of  the  consecutive  juridic,  theological  and  social  views 
which  prevailed  among  the  people  of  Israel  during  the 
centuries  of  their  life  in  Palestine.  This  wide-reaching 
hypothesis  of  Kuenen  and  Wellhausen  regarding  the 
books  of  Moses,  was  applied  by  Snouck  Hurgronje  and 
Goldziher  to  Moslem  tradition.  As  far  as  I  know  it  was 
Snouck  Hurgronje  who  for  the  first  time  proclaimed  his 
view  in  a  study  on  the  Zakat  which  appeared  in  1882.  I 
translate  the  remarkable  passage  from  the  Dutch  orig- 
inal^:  "Most  of  the  Moslem  institutions  after  the  death 
of  Mohammed  had  to  go  through  an  evolution,  before 
they  were  settled  as  we  now  find  them  in  the  books  of  law. 
As  the  views  of  the  leaders  during  the  first  century  of 
Islam  were  far  from  being  uniform,  this  evolution  took 
place  under  much  strife.  When  a  matter  had  to  be  settled 
or  a  new  regulation  to  be  laid  down,  dififerent  interests 
clashed  one  with  the  other;  pro  and  contra  and  warmly 
discussed  and  the  vanquished  party  often  did  not  wholly 
resign  till  after  a  long  time.  The  weapons  which  both 
parties  made  use  of,  were  chiefly  traditions  concerning  the 

3New   contributions   to   the    knowledge    of    Islam,    in    Bijdragen    tot   de    Taal,    Land    en 
Volkenkunde  van  Kederlandsch-Indie,   1882,  p.  357  fF. 


242  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

way  in  which  the  previous  generations,  or  still  better,  the 
Prophet  himself,  had  settled  the  question.  That  none  of 
the  authorities  (who  nowadays  are  the  saints  of  Islam) 
shrank  back  from  fabricating  traditions  or  from  having 
them  fabricated,  was  a  public  secret."  In  a  study  which 
appeared  in  1886  this  thesis  was  successfully  applied  to 
the  traditions  concerning  the  Mahdi,*  which  were  shown 
to  consist  of  several  layers  reflecting  successive  political 
stages  of  the  Moslem  community.  And  in  a  review  which 
appeared  in  the  Revue  de  I'Histoire  des  Religions^  in 
1889  the  view  was  expounded  that  the  fabrication  of  tradi- 
tions concerning  the  Prophet  was  a  favorite  literary  mode 
of  the  post-Mohammedan  centuries. 

In  the  meantime  Goldziher  had  been  collecting  his 
enormous  material  concerning  Tradition,  which  was  em- 
bodied in  the  second  volume  of  his  Mohammedanische 
Studien.'^  These  studies  dominated  nearly  the  whole  field 
of  Tradition  and  they  carried  the  new  view  victoriously 
through  the  ranks  of  Semitic  scholarship. 

Goldziher's  studies  not  only  dealt  with  the  evolution  of 
Moslem  Tradition,  they  also  showed  where  its  contents 
come  from  and  contained  highly  valuable  contributions  to 
the  knowledge  of  foreign  influences  upon  early  Islam. 
Here  was  a  much  wider  field  than  the  Koran  and  here  it 
appeared  that  Christian  Gospel  teaching  on  a  large  scale 
had  been  woven  into  the  sayings  of  Mohammed.  Very 
instructive  in  this  respect  is  the  chapter  on  Hadith  and 
New  Testament  (vol.  ii,  p.  382  ff.)  where  even  a  free 
redaction  of  ''Our  Father"  was  shown  to  occur  in  one  of 
the  canonical  collections.  The  later  collections  are  also 
largely  filled  with  sayings  of  Jesus  or  what  had  currency 
under  that  designation.  It  is  especially  Al  Ghazali  who, 
more  than  others  open  to  the  rich  spiritual  culture  of 
Western  Asia,  has  preserved  many  of  these  sayings.  They 
have  been  collected  by  the  learned  Spanish  Orientalist, 
.Don  Mighel  Asin.' 

*Revue  Coloniale  Internationale,   1886,  p.  25  ff 
5P.  64  ff. 

eHalle,  1890.  ,,  .  . 

7M.    Asin    et    Palacios,    Logia    et    Agrapha    Domtm    Jesu    apiid    Moslemtcos    scriptoret 
asceticos  pracsentim  iisHata  {Patrologia  Orientalis,  xiii   fasc.  3). 


IMPORTANCE  OF  TRADITION  243 

But  it  is  not  only  Christianity  which  has  left  its  traces 
in  Moslem  Tradition.  Well-known  converts  from  Juda- 
ism— as  Ka'ab  al-Ahbar  and  others — converts  or  not,  have 
handed  down  to  the  Moslems  tales  and  legends,  stories 
from  the  Old  Testament  and  nearly  the  whole  Jewish 
eschatology  and  cosmology. 

Side  by  side  with  these  Christian  and  Jewish  elements, 
as  a  third  constituent  part  of  Moslem  Tradition,  has  to  be 
mentioned  the  current  of  ideas  from  Hellenism,  which 
found  its  religious  and  philosophical  expression  chiefly  in 
gnosticism  and  Neoplatonism.  It  was  again  Goldziher 
.who  pointed  to  such  influences  upon  Hadithf 

III 

There  was  a  time  when,  in  the  European  conception, 
the  terms  Islam  and  Koran  were  clearly  synonymous  be- 
cause the  Koran  was  considered  as  the  only  source  of  Mos- 
lem dogma  and  law.  This  conception  went  hand  in  hand 
with  the  belief  that  by  the  present  Moslem  as  well  as  by 
previous  generations  the  Koran  was  used  in  the  same  way 
as  the  Bible  was  by  the  Protestants.  It  was  Professor 
Snouck  Hurgronje,  who  in  several  studies  which  appeared 
chiefly  between  1880  and  1900"  refuted  this  erroneous  view. 
He  showed  that  every  Moslem  has  to  follow  the  ritual 
school  to  which  he  belongs,  without  being  allowed  to  ex- 
tract personal  views  from  the  Koran.  Islam  proved  to  be 
truly  Catholic  in  this  respect.  Moslem  Catholicism 
(Ijma)  it  is,  which  draws  conclusions.  And  these  con- 
clusions are  drawn  not  only  from  the  Koran  but  also  from 
the  Sunna  of  the  Prophet. 

The  Sunna  as  interpreted  and  canonized  by  Ijina' 
brings  us  back  to  the  comparison  between  Christian 
and  Moslem  Tradition,  and  here  the  question  of  their 
identity  has  to  be  answered  in  the  affirmative.  Here  again 
Islam  goes  with  Catholicism,  not  with  Protestantism,  in 
so  far  as  it  acknowledges  the  authority  not  only  of  the  re- 

SNeuplatonische  und   Gnostische  Elemente  im  Hadith   {Zeits.  f.  Assyriologen,  xxii). 
9Especially  Le  Droit  Musulman  in  the  Reznte  de  I'Histoire  des  Religions,   1896,  p.   i  ff; 
T74  ff. 


244  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

vealed  Divine  Word,  but  also  that  of  Tradition  as  canon- 
ised by  the  Church. 

The  process  which  brought  about  this  juxtaposition  of 
Koran  and  Tradition,  is  wholly  perspicuous  to  us.  Islam, 
from  being  a  provincial  community,  within  a  short  time 
became  a  universal  religion  and  a  political  organization 
dominating  half  the  civilized  world.  The  Koran  had 
propagated  two  central  ideas — the  coming  Judgment  and 
God's  unity — and  it  had  laid  down  a  few  statutes  for  the 
narrow  community  at  Medina.  Now  Islam  had  to  bor- 
row from  the  submitted  peoples  and  it  borrowed  eagerly: 
Roman  and  Jewish  law,  Christian  ethics  and  asceticism, 
Hellenistic  social  and  philosophical  culture.  All  this 
was  embodied  in  Haditli  and  so  Hadith  is  the  monument 
of  early  Moslem  syncretism. 

But  it  is  more.  Goldziher  has  elaborately  shown'"  that 
Tradition  was  also  a  weapon  made  for  the  opposite  par- 
ties and  factions  in  early  Islam.  This  explains  its  self- 
contradiction  in  innumerable  places.  It  is  clear  that  these 
contradictory  utterances  teach  the  students  of  early  Islam 
what  the  standpoints  of  the  different  parties  were.  So  the 
knowledge  of  Hadith  is  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  vvhat 
we  would  call  the  History  of  Dogma. 

Those  topics  which  lay  out  of  the  way  of  parties  are 
elucidated  in  their  evolution  by  our  historical  method. 
One  example  may  illustrate  this.  In  the  chapter  on  Fu- 
nerals we  discern  one  layer  of  tradition  pretending  that 
Mohammed  was  shrouded  in  two  pieces  of  cloth.  There 
is  a  second  layer  that  speaks  of  three  shrouds.  And  there 
is  a  third  which  warns  the  Moslems  against  luxury  in  this 
respect  and  prohibits  the  use  of  any  number  exceeding 
five.  Here  tradition  can  be  shown  to  reflect  three  succes- 
sive funeral  customs.  The  first  layer  is  in  accordance 
with  the  old  Semitic  way  of  dressing  the  dead  in  as  many 
garments  as  the  living  used  to  wear  (cf.  the  coat  and  cloak 
of  Matthew  5:40).  Probably  under  Jewish  influence 
there  originated  a  predilection  for  odd  numbers  in  ritual 

lOMohammedanischc  Studien,  ii  p.  88  ff. 


IMPORTANCE  OF  TRADITION  245 

matters;  the  second  class  of  traditions  has  been  influenced 
by  this  current  of  thought.  Finally  we*know  from  Syriac 
literature  that  funerals  became  ever  more  costly  and  lux- 
urious; the  fathers  of  the  Syrian  Church  are  combating 
this  mode.  Their  views  have  influenced  the  third  layer 
of  traditions  mentioned.  This  is  a  simple  example.  But 
it  may  show  how  our  method,  in  combination  with  the 
knowledge  of  the  Jewish,  Christian  and  Hellenic  world, 
becomes  the  clue  to  the  evolution  of  Moslem  ideas. 

It  is  not  amazing  that  the  canonical  books  of  tradition — 
especially  Bukhari  and  Muslim — in  the  eyes  of  the  com- 
munity have  acquired  a  rank  nearly  as  high  as  the  Koran. 
Oaths  are  sworn  on  a  copy  of  Bukhari ;  at  times  of  public 
danger  or  calamity  the  book  is  read  in  order  to  repel 
them;  people  speak  of  Khatm  al  Bukhari  (finishing  the 
reading  of  Bukhari)  just  as  they  speak  of  Khatm  al- 
Koran. 

Bukhari  and  the  other  collections  live  in  the  Moslem 
community  and  he  who  thoroughly  knows  Tradition  will 
understand  Islam  and  the  Moslem  more  easily.  Tradi- 
tion is  a  staff  and  a  weapon  for  the  Moslems  even  to  this 
day.  So  it  is  equally  important  for  the  student  of  histor- 
ical Islam  as  it  is  for  him  that  has  to  live  in  Moslem  coun- 
tries. The  Koran  was  made  by  Mohammed,  tradition  has 
been  gathered  and  modelled  by  the  Moslems  themselves. 
Is  this  perhaps  also  an  explanation  of  its  having  become 
so  popular? 

A.  J.  Wensinck. 

University  of  Leyden. 


THE  FUTURE  MISSIONARY 

The  object  of  this  article  is  to  advocate  the  view  that 
in  the  future  the  chief  aim  of  Foreign  Missions,  with  due 
regard  to  existing  work  and  without  needlessly  upsetting 
it,  should  be  the  raising  up  of  leaders  and  workers  from 
among  the  native  Christians  themselves, — in  a  word  the 
building  up  of  native  churches ;  and  that  generally  speak- 
ing this  should  be  the  task  of  the  foreign  missionary  rather 
than  direct  evangelistic  effort.  There  are  good  reasons 
for  hoping  that  the  solution  of  some  pressing  difficulties 
and  problems  will  be  found  here.  May  it  not  well  be 
that  the  shortage  of  men  and  means  has  been  and  is  God's 
call  to  us  to  reconsider  our  methods?  The  principle  is 
freely  accepted  that  the  evangelization  of  a  country  must 
ultimately  be  accomplished  by  natives  of  the  country,  but 
in  practice  we  have  not  sufficiently  kept  this  ideal  before 
us,  nor  formed  our  plans  with  the  definite  object  of  has- 
tening on  this  most  desirable  consummation. 

Missionary  platform  appeals  as  a  rule  plead  for  more 
European  laborers  to  cope  with  the  work  in  hand  and 
enter  the  open  doors  and  embrace  the  countless  oppor- 
tunities that  present  themselves;  whereas  the  plea  should 
rather  be  for  leaders,  organizers  and  teachers  to  undertake 
the  supremely  important  task  of  training  the  natives  to  do 
the  work  themselves  and  take  advantage  of  the  open  doors. 
After  all  the  earnest  pleadings  addressed  to  the  Christian 
public  for  many  years  past  to  provide  a  larger  supply  of 
workers  and  means  and  the  limited  degree  of  the  response, 
it  is  beginning  to  be  felt  and  admitted  that  definite  lim- 
itations in  respect  of  both  of  these  must  be  recognized. 
In  fact,  one  may  go  further  and  say  that  there  does  not 
seem  the  slightest  hope  of  European  missionaries  ever 
coming  forward  in  numbers  commensurate  with  the  needs. 
But,  let  us  not  forget,  this  applies  only  to  foreign  mission- 

246 


THE  FUTURE  MISSIONARY  247 

aries  and  extraneous  help,  not  to  the  resources  of  the  na- 
tive churches.  Although  these  resources  are  in  many 
cases  small,  there  is  practically  no  limit  to  them.  Our 
task  should,  therefore,  be  to  foster  the  native  churches  and 
help  them  in  every  possible  way  to  develop  the  means  nec- 
essary to  cope  with  the  work  which  is  naturally  and  pri- 
marily their  own  and  which  in  the  last  resort  none  but 
they  themselves  can  successfully  accomplish.  It  is  unnec- 
essary to  point  out,  that  if  these  things  are  so,  they  merit 
the  earnest  consideration  of  the  leaders  and  supporters  of 
missionary  societies  no  less  than  of  the  missionaries  them- 
selves. 

Direct  evangelization  by  the  foreign  missionary  is  ob- 
viously necessary  at  the  beginning  of  a  mission.  The  first 
stage  of  such  an  enterprise  is  of  course  the  gathering  in  of 
converts.  Evangelists  are  needed  for  this;  and  they  will 
naturally  in  the  first  instance  be  foreigners.  The  second 
stage  is  reached  when  a  Christian  community  has  been 
formed.  Fresh  problems  then  present  themselves,  such 
as  the  education  of  the  children  of  the  converts  and  the 
provision  of  pastors,  evangelists  and  teachers — workers  of 
all  kinds,  in  short,  to  labor  both  among  Christians  and 
non-Christians.  At  this  point  the  direct  evangelistic  ef- 
forts of  the  foreign  missionary  are  not  so  much  needed  as 
in  the  first  stage,  provided  that  the  necessary  steps  have 
been  taken  to  induce  sufficient  numbers  of  the  native 
Christians  to  choose  work  for  Christ  as  their  calling  in  life 
and  equip  themselves  for  it.  His  energies  will  be  far 
more  profitably  employed  in  training  and  leadership. 
When  the  stage  beyond  this  is  reached  and  the  native 
Christian  community  is  in  a  position  to  provide  not  only 
workers  of  all  kinds  but  also  able  spiritually-minded 
leaders  to  train  them,  then  the  foreigner  may  sing  his 
Nunc  Dimittis,  and,  committing  the  native  church  to  the 
grace  of  God,  seek  fresh  fields  for  his  energies. 

In  the  majority  of  missions  the  second  stage  has  now  been 
reached.  The  period  when  the  direct  efforts  of  the  mis- 
sionary were  absolutely  necessary  because  as  a  rule  there 


248  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

was  no  one  else  to  carry  the  gospel  message  has  passed. 
The  old  leading  principles  must,  therefore,  be  modified 
and  adapted  to  suit  changed  conditions.  The  sharp  axe- 
head  of  Truth  must  now  be  fitted  to  the  sturdy  handle  of 
native  wood.  The  object  to  aim  at  is  the  equipment  of  the 
native  rather  than  the  direct  touch  of  the  missionary 
which  we  have  been  hitherto  accustomed  to  look  upon  as 
essential.  And  as  the  native  church  grows  and  develops 
its  powers  and  initiative  the  help  of  the  foreigner,  though 
still  perhaps  needed  for  a  time,  will  gradually  cease  to  be 
necessary.  Even  the  risk  of  failures  and  disappointments 
should  not  prevent  these  ends  from  being  kept  steadily  in 
view.  We  must  not  think  in  terms  of  days  and  years  but 
in  larger  measures  of  time.  As  the  first  century  of  modern 
missions  can  show  its  glorious  roll  of  missionary  pioneers, 
in  like  manner  the  second  ought  to  inscribe  upon  the  his- 
tory of  missions  a  not  less  glorious  list  of  independent, 
propagating  native  churches. 

Here  then  lies  the  true  vocation  and  inspiring  ideal  of 
the  foreign  missionary  of  the  future.  He  must  be  the 
trainer  of  native  workers,  their  friend  and  counsellor, 
their  helper  in  the  development  and  organization  of  the 
native  church  and  its  manifold  activities,  so  long  as  his 
presence  is  needed.  He  will  be  ever  on  the  watch  to  bring 
forward  into  the  front  line  native  brothers  equipped  and 
zealous  for  the  Sacred  Cause.  It  will  be  a  standing  rule 
with  him  before  putting  his  hand  to  anything  to  ask  "Can- 
not this  be  done  by  my  native  fellow- workers?"  And  even 
if  they  are  not  yet  able  to  do  it  altogether  as  I  should  like 
to  see  it  done,  will  they  not  soon  be  able  to  do  so,  if  I  teach 
them  and  show  them  how  it  ought  to  be  done?  And  will 
not  their  work  be  far  more  acceptable  and  eflfective  in  the 
eyes  of  their  fellow-countrymen  than  anything  I  could  do, 
when  once  I  have  imparted  to  them  all  I  know  of  fact  or 
learning,  method  or  plan,  or  whatever  else  the  business 
in  hand  may  require?  When  once  the  dignity  and  fruit- 
fulness  of  this  form  of  service  are  truly  appreciated  and 
the  missionary  realizes  how  many  more  will  be  effectively 


THE  FUTURE  MISSIONARY  249 

reached  and  influenced  through  those  whom  he  has 
trained  than  if  he  put  his  own  hand  to  the  work,  the  mo- 
tives impelling  to  such  service  in  the  mission  field  will  be 
not  less  powerful  than  the  old  call  to  preach  the  Gospel 
where  Christ  had  not  been  named. 

In  any  such  development  of  the  native  churches  it  is  of 
vital  importance  not  to  overlook  the  children  and  young 
people  but  to  bring  the  highest  and  best  influences  to  bear 
upon  them  before  they  choose  their  life  work  in  the  busy 
world.  Much  more  must  be  done  in  this  direction  than 
hitherto.  Thoroughly  good  schools  for  Christian  boys 
and  girls  and  young  people  must  be  more  widely  estab- 
lished. A  sound  and  comprehensive  education,  secular 
and  religious,  should  be  given  them  up  to  the  limit  of  their 
abilities  to  fit  them  for  any  and  every  honourable  calling. 
Most  important  of  all,  they  should  be  wisely  encouraged 
to  look  upon  direct  work  for  God  and  their  fellowmen 
as  the  highest  service  a  human  being  can  render  and  the 
utmost  pains  should  be  taken  to  train  those  who  respond 
to  the  divine  call.  "Educate,  educate,  educate,"  is  the  cry 
that  comes  from  a  mass  movement  area.  "No  better  work 
can  be  done  in  China  than  training  Christian  young  men 
to  heal  the  sick  and  preach  the  Gospel."  Many  workers 
in  India  feel  that  sufficient  stress  has  not  been  laid  hitherto 
on  the  training  of  Christian  youth. 

It  is  to  such  nationalization  of  missionary  work  and  the 
drawing  out  of  the  latent  capacities  of  the  native  churches 
that  we  must  look  for  the  relief  of  much  of  the  present 
distress.  If  these  aims  are  steadily  and  perseveringly  fol- 
lowed, they  ought  in  the  course  of  years  to  go  far  to  solve 
the  double  problem  of  workers  and  means.  *  Not  only  will 
more  native  agents  be  raised  up  and  the  work  be  increas- 
ingly entrusted  to  them,  but  as  the  Christian  community 
takes  a  higher  pgsition  and  increases  in  numbers  and  in- 
fluence, the  members  will  be  better  able  to  help  the  native 
church  to  support  its  own  various  agencies  and  arrive  at 
a  state  of  financial  independence.  They  will  moreover  be 
all  the  more  ready  to  do  this  when  they  see  that  the 
3 


250  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Church  is  a  genuine  native  growth.  In  brief,  there  will 
progressively  be  a  decrease  in  the  number  of  European 
missionaries  required  and  an  increase  both  of  native 
workers  and  of  the  material  resources  of  the  Church. 

If  some  explanation  be  demanded  why  these  things  if 
true  have  not  been  more  fully  recognized  and  acted  upon 
in  the  past,  it  may  be  replied  that  this  is  partly  due  to  lack 
of  imagination  which  has  acted  in  several  ways  closely  re- 
lated to  one  another. 

First,  the  heavy  handicap  from  which  the  foreign 
worker  suffers  has  not  been  sufficiently  understood. 
Everyone,  of  course,  admits  the  difficulty  of  acquiring  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  language  of  a  foreign  country 
and  the  power  to  enter  into  native  habits  of  thought  and 
look  at  things  from  their  point  of  view.  What  is  not 
grasped  is  how  galling  and  humiliating  it  must  be  to  edu- 
cated and  intelligent  natives  to  be  invited  to  write  error 
upon  their  religious  past  and  the  faith  of  their  forefathers, 
to  consent  to  learn  truth  from  foreigners  who  lightheart- 
edly  run  counter  to  their  ideas  of  ordinary  propriety  in 
endless  ways,  to  place  themselves  under  the  spiritual 
guidance  and  control  of  men  who  are  often  much  younger 
than  themselves,  not  so  well  acquainted  with  affairs  and 
men,  and  with  far  less  experience  of  the  world  or  at  all 
events  of  their  world  than  they  themselves  possess.  Not 
so  very  long  ago  an  intelligent  Persian  Christian  speaking 
of  the  bigotry  of  Mohammedans  said  that  even  though 
they  admit  the  good  points  of  the  European  yet  they  con- 
sider all  Farangis  bad.  Let  us  try  to  bring  the  point  home 
to  ourselves  and  ask,  should  not  we  be  extremely  loth  to 
stultify  our  past,  to  own  that  we  and  our  fathers  for  many 
generations  had  been  mistaken  and  wrong,  and  submit  in 
all  matters  affecting  religion  and  conduct  to  the  teaching, 
let  us  say,  of  a  few  Pacific  islanders  of  excellent  character 
but  of  strange  manners  and  customs?  All  this  is  intensi- 
fied at  the  present  time  by  the  rising  tide  of  national  con- 
sciousness and  pride  of  race.    The  cleavage  between  Eu- 


THE  FUTURE  MISSIONARY  251 

ropean  and  native  is  in  truth  deep  and  real  and  can  only 
be  abridged  by  Christ  and  by  love  to  God  and  man. 

Secondly,  due  weight  has  not  been  given  to  the  great 
advantages  possessed  by  our  native  brother  in  his  freedom 
from  all  these  disabling  circumstances.  When  he  ad- 
dresses his  fellow-countrymen,  it  is  as  one  who  is  bone  of 
their  bone  and  flesh  of  their  flesh,  who  shares  their  heritage 
in  the  past,  and  who,  if  he  has  voluntarily  given  up  any 
part  of  it,  should  be  supposed  to  have  done  so  for  what 
seemed  to  him  good  and  weighty  reasons,  unless  indeed 
he  is  to  be  considered  merely  a  self-seeking  hypocrite.  He 
is  moreover  in  constant  touch  with  his  countrymen  in  all 
the  freedom  of  unrestrained  daily  intercourse  and  the  un- 
hindered interchange  of  thought  and  opinion,  and  is  ex- 
posed to  their  freely  expressed  criticism — a  position  which 
the  foreigner  for  various  reasons  perhaps  never  occupies. 
The  tongue  he  speaks  is  his  native  language,  and  when 
duly  qualified  in  other  respects  he  can  bear  witness  to  the 
faith  with  an  attractive  persuasive  force  to  which  few 
Europeans  ever  attain.  Though  he  may  not  possess  his 
education  and  book-learning  these  minus  items  are  far 
more  than  counterbalanced  by  his  liberty  of  direct  and 
easy  contact  with  his  fellow-countrymen,  his  intuitive 
comprehension  of  their  thoughts  and  ideas,  his  ready  ac- 
cess to  their  hearts  and  minds  and  his  ability  to  appeal 
movingly  and  effectively  to  them. 

Thirdly,  have  we  not  failed  to  recognize  the  fact  that 
the  gospel  message  must  not  only  be  imparted,  but  that 
too  in  the  most  attractive  way?  A  thing  does  not  always 
win  immediate  acceptance  on  its  merits  only  and  because 
of  its  intrinsic  excellence.  There  is  a  lesson  in  commerce 
which  should  be  taken  to  heart  by  all  who  are  interested  in 
the  problem  of  presenting  the  Gospel  to  the  adherents 
of  other  religions.  It  is  not  suggested,  of  course,  that  there 
should  be  any  tampering  with  the  truths  of  the  Gospel 
or  any  softening  or  toning  down  which  would  make  it 
"another  Gospel."  St.  Paul  becomes  all  things  to  all  men, 
but  sternly  rejects  the  introduction  of  any  "dififerent  Gos- 


252  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

pel."  Scripture  truth  in  its  blessed  fulness  is  the  only 
thing  which  can  successfully  meet  the  needs  of  sinful  men 
and  women.  But  it  is  not  enough  for  the  teacher  or 
preacher  to  be  convinced  that  the  truth  he  has  to  proclaim 
is  intrinsically  and  relatively  excellent.  Tact  and  judg- 
ment, wise  discernment  and  discrimination,  are  also 
needed.  The  truth  must  be  presented  in  the  most  winning 
and  attractive  manner,  and  that  can  only  as  a  rule  be  done 
by  natives  of  the  country  spiritually  and  intellectually 
competent  for  their  work,  who  from  their  very  hearts  ac- 
cept, and  in  the  open  epistles  of  their  lives  consistently  in- 
culcate, the  doctrines  they  preach.  The  old  gospel  mes- 
sage will  as  ever  win  its  way  when  fully  and  faithfully  de- 
clared by  those,  whether  natives  or  Europeans,  whose  de- 
voted Christ-like  lives  are  a  living  and  eloquent  testimony 
to  the  power  of  the  truth.  7^he  presentation  of  Christ 
that  is  to  win  people  of  any  country  or  religion  to  faith  in 
Him  is  the  discovery  of  fresh  aspects  of  truths  ever  il- 
lustrated afresh  by  the  constraining  love  of  Christ  and  the 
transforming  power  of  His  Spirit  as  seen  in  the  lives  of 
those  who  profess  to  follow  Him. 

It  is  earnestly  to  be  hoped  that  the  whole  situation  will 
be  carefully  examined  and  that  missionary  leaders  at  home 
and  in  the  field  will  seriously  consider  the  question  of  pre- 
paring the  way  as  soon  as  possible  and  as  far  as  possible 
for  employing  qualified  native  Christians  to  do  work  for 
which  foreign  missionaries  have  hitherto  usually  been 
considered  indispensable.  Surely  it  is  this  to  which  God 
has  long  been  calling  us  and  now  more  urgently  than  ever. 
No  fixed  scheme  can  be  devised  applicable  to  all  missions : 
the  application  of  the  general  principles  will  naturally  be 
as  varied  as  are  the  nature  and  conditions  of  the  work  and 
the  various  stages  of  its  growth.  It  is  possible,  however, 
to  give  effect  to  approved  principles  without  ruthlessly 
breaking  with  the  past  or  destroying  the  healthy  contin- 
uity of  work. 

W.  A.  Rice. 

London. 


THE  ^ALEVIS 

A  religion  different  from  Islam,  centering  about  the 
person  and  teaching  of  'Ali,  the  adopted  son  of  Moham- 
med, is  slowly  gaining  ground  in  certain  sections  of  Tur- 
key. The  believers  are  called  'Alevis  both  by  themselves 
and  by  the  Moslems.  The  name  Kizil  Bash,  which  means 
Red  Head,  and  is  often  used  as  a  term  of  reproach,  is  said 
to  have  originated  at  the  battle  of  Siffin  (A.  H.  37)  ;  'Ali 
said,  "Tie  red  upon  your  heads,  so  that  ye  slay  not  your 
own  comrades  in  the  thick  of  the  battle."  In  Persia  the 
community  has  commonly  been  regarded  as  a  sect  of  Mo- 
hammedanism. 

The  object  of  this  study  is  to  investigate  the  true  nature 
of  this  faith  and  to  consider  the  relations  of  the  'Alevi 
brotherhood  with  Islam  and  Christianity.  The  informa- 
tion has  been  gathered  through  a  series  of  conversations 
with  a  well-known  teacher. 

The  major  portion  of  this  article  has  appeared  in  The 
Harvard  Theological  Review,  July,  1909.  In  the  Con- 
temporary Review,  November,  19 13,  a  most  interesting 
monograph  by  Dr.  George  E.  White  appeared  under  the 
title  "The  'Alevi  Turks  of  Asia  Minor."  He  traces  many 
of  the  'Alevi  rites  and  beliefs  to  pre-Mohammedan  and 
pre-Christian  paganism.  He  brings  out  the  fact  that  the 
large  Bektashi  dervish  order  is  of  the  'Alevi  faith.  He 
describes  the  sacramental  meal  at  which  'Alevi  believers, 
men  and  women,  "partake  of  bread  and  wine  together." 
This,  he  adds,  is  probably  a  perverted  celebration  of  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

Prof.  Edward  G.  Brown,  of  Cambridge  University,  and 
other  writers,  have  referred  to  the  Persian  'Ali  Ilahis,  yet 
no  thorough  study  of  their  beliefs  has  been  made. 

In  the. spelling  of  Islamic  words  I  have  followed  Turk- 
ish, not  Arabic,  usage. 

253 


254  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

The  extreme  reticence  of  most  'Alevis  makes  a  tree  con- 
versation possible  only  after  long  acquaintance.  But  the 
estimates  of  'Alevi  population  have  tallied  closely  with 
those  made  by  a  Christian  physician  of  wide  experience. 
This  community  began  during  the  life  of  'Ali,  but  has  not 
grown  to  large  dimensions  until  recent  years.  The  teach- 
ings have  always  been  secret,  and  there  has  been  no  au- 
thoritative book  to  make  known  in  written  form  what  is 
handed  on  from  believer  to  believer. 

Let  us  then  inquire  as  to  the  Person  and  Mission  of 
'Ali.  There  are  four  kinds  of  men  in  relation  to  him. 
First,  those  people  who  think  'All  the  worst  sort  of  a  ty- 
rant, especially  the  Jews  of  these  Eastern  regions,  who 
curse  one  another  by  him,  and  regard  him  almost  as  Mos- 
lems do  Satan.  Second,  the  orthodox  Moslems,  or  Ahl-i- 
Sunnat,  who  call  him  the  fourth  caliph.  "  'Ali,  the  wise 
and  virtuous  among  men,"  they  say.  Third,  the  Shi'ahs, 
who  believe  that  'Ali  performed  all  miracles,  thousands 
of  which  are  narrated,  and  that  he  was  appointed  suc- 
cessor and  executor  to  the  prophet.  Fourth,  the  'Alevis, 
who  regard  'Ali  as  the  spirit  existing  in  all  prophecy  and 
as  the  incarnation  of  God. 

"Do  the  'Alevis  believe  in  atonement?"  "Yes,  in  the 
sense  of  intercession  through  'Ali."  "Not  through  Jesus?" 
"Yes;  because  'Ali  is  essentially  the  same  as  Jesus."' 
"Were  Hasan  and  Husein  martyrs?"  "The  Shi'is  believe 
that  atonement  may  be  hoped  for  through  these  martyrs, 
especially  through  Husein.  But  the  'Alevis  believe  di- 
rectly through  'Ali's  life.  Not  by  his  life  so  much,  nor 
by  his  death,  nor  by  his  testimony;  but  by  his  person,  his 
spirit.  He  also  died  a  martyr's  death.  He  had  a  great 
truth  and  a  great  hope,  for  which  he  died.  There  was  no 
desire  for  personal  renown.  He  was  the  holy  incarnation 
of  the  Spirit  of  God." 

"Have  you  no  written  life  of  'Ali?"  "We  have  manu- 
scripts of  great  value,  which  are  cherished  like  gems,  sel- 

iDr.  G.  E.  White  remarks  that  the  'Alevis  affirm  that   He   who  was  revealed   to   Chris- 
tians as  Jesus  was  revealed  to  them  as  'Ali. 


THE  'ALEVIS  255 

dom  sold,  and  are  not  given  to  any  but '  Alevis."  "How  are 
these  procurable?"  "Only  by  becoming  an 'Alevi,  There 
are  about  fifteen  dififerent  books,  all  in  manuscript.  The 
first  group  gives  'Ali's  teachings  and  is  wholly  made  up  of 
his  own  words.  The  second  narrates  his  life  as  lived 
among  his  disciples.  The  third  is  composed  of  the  praises 
and  honors  of  those  who  came  after  him  and  loved  him. 
These  books  are  not  trusted  to  every  disciple.  They  are 
for  the  'Urefa,  those  who  are  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
the  mysteries  of  our  religion.  The  books  are  never  trusted 
to  the  publicity  of  any  printing  press.  You  will  under- 
stand that  'Ali  established  a  new  religion  if  you  consider 
his  definition  of  a  Moslem:  'A  Moslem  is  he  who  by  his 
hand  and  tongue  is  true.'  " 

The  genesis  of  this  religion  was  with  ^Ali,  thirty  years 
after  the  commencement  of  Islam.  He  did  battle  to  de- 
fend his  rights.  He  chose  from  the  people  the  most  able 
and  suitable  men.  These  he  formed  into  the  Special 
Council.  Later  he  formed  the  General  Council,  consist- 
ing of  all  the  men  who  followed  him.  There  is  a  section 
of  the  'Alevis  known  as  Nuseiri.  They  are  chiefly  in  Per- 
sia, but  a  great  many  are  in  the  villages  of  Antioch. 
Nuseir,  one  of  'Ali's  pupils,  said  to  him,  "Thou  art  God," 
and  'Ali  accepted  this  avowal. 

In  the  course  of  history  three  men  rendered  conspicu- 
ous service  in  the  spread  of  the  faith.  Seyyid  Jelal-ed-din, 
being  Veli-Ullah,-  was  of  the  descendants  of  'Ali.  He 
lived  about  A.  H.  660  (A.  D.  1261/62),  and  during  his  life- 
time converted  a  great  proportion  of  the  Magians  and 
many  of  the  Shi'is.  He  was  the  founder  of  the  order  of 
Jelali  dervishes,  which  has  ever  since  continued  to  teach 
and  promote  his  convictions. 

Haji  Bektash  Veli  was  born  about  A.  H.  730  (A.  D. 
1329/30)  in  the  city  of  Nishabur.  He  was  the  son  of 
Imam  Riza,  and  a  direct  descendant  of  'Ali.  When  he 
journeyed  into  Ottoman  territory,  he  brought  the  'Alevi 
faith  for  the  first  time  into  Asia  Minor.  He  lived  to  see 
five  hundred  converts;  and  before  his  death,  near  the  city 


256  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

of  Angora,  instituted  the  order  of  dervishes  which  is 
known  as  Bektashi.  The  members  of  this  order  are  all  of 
his  faith,  and  they  earnestly  preach  this  teaching  as  they 
go  about  the  country.    Celibacy  is  the  rule  of  this  order. 

The  third  historic  character  was  neither  ascetic  nor 
preacher.  Shah  Sefi  Sultan  was  the  first  'Alevi  to  sit  upon 
the  throne  of  Persia.'  He  brought  about  a  renaissance  of 
the  faith  after  the  cruel  persecution  by  the  Afghan  con- 
querors. Four  'Alevi  Shahs  followed  him,  among  them 
Shah  Abbas.  But  since  then  Sunnis  and  Shi'is  have  been 
upon  the  throne.  Shah  Sefi  Sultan  sent  criers  out  upon 
the  highways  to  witness  for  'Ali  and  to  redeem  the  down- 
trodden cause.  He  succeeded  in  bringing  great  honor  to 
the  name  of  'Ali,  and  throughout  his  reign  proved  him- 
self a  just  and  noble  shah. 

The  geographical  centre  of  this  religion"  is  in  the  town 
of  Kirind,  Kermanshah  province,  Persia.  Four  of  'Ali's 
male  descendants  now  reside  in  Kirind.  They  are  by 
name,  Seyyid  Berake,  Seyyid  Rustem,  Seyyid  Essed 
Ullah,  Seyyid  Faraj  Ullah.  Seyyid  is  correctly  said  only 
of  'Ali's  descendants.  These  men  send  representatives 
throughout  Asia  Minor  and  northern  Syria  for  preaching 
and  for  the  moral  training  of  their  followers.  All  gath- 
erings are  very  secret,  no  inquirers  being  admitted  except 
by  the  most  reliable  introductions. 

In  Arabia  and  Egypt  this  faith  has  scarcely  made  any 
progress.  But  in  Persia  and  Mesopotamia  there  are  from 
one  to  two  million  'Alevis.^  There  are  about  fifty  thou- 
sand in  the  province  of  Aleppo,  but  none  south  of  the  city 
of  Aleppo.  In  the  Adana,  Diarbekir,  Smyrna,  Salonica, 
and  Caesarea  provinces  there  are  tens  of  thousands.  Haji 
Bektash,  where  descendants  of  'Ali  live,  eighteen  hours 
from  Caesarea,  is  an  important  point.     Constantinople  is 

not  a  centre,  but  in  Macedonia  and  Albania  a  large  por- 

^ ■ .^ 

2Dr.  G.  E.  White  considers  that  Hadji  Blektash  near  Kir  Shehir  between  Angora  and 
Caesarea  is  the  true  shrine  and  headquarters  for  Turkish  and  Albanian  'Alevis: 

"Kerbela  may  receive  more  reverence  from  its  associations  \yith  the  family  of  'Ali  biit 
Kerbela  is  too  far  away  to  serve  the  'Alevi  of  Asia  Minor.  His  spiritu|nl  center  is  Hadji 
Bektash. 

3Dr.  White  estimates  that  a  majority  of  the  Kurds  are  of  this  faith.  It  is  probable  that 
the  Kurdish  race  numbers  three  million. 


THE  'ALEVIS  257 

tion  of  the  population  have  become  disciples.  In  the  city 
of  'iVintab  there  are  about  five  hundred  'Alevi  homes  and 
two  thousand  individual  believers.  In  Antioch  there  are 
scarcely  any,  except  for  the  Nuseiri  villages.  The  villages 
of  Mar'ash  and  the  town  and  region  of  Albustan  should 
be  specially  mentioned.  In  the  Suruj  plain  the  people  are 
Sunnis.  Most  of  the  'Aintab  villages  are  Sunni,  as  Burj 
and  Kuzul  Hissar.  Kuchdam  is  chiefly  Yezidi.  But  be- 
yond Sazghun  to  the  south  are  many  'Alevi  villages  cen- 
tering around  Kharar.  The  population  of  the  Kilis  coun- 
try is  chiefly  Arab  and  unfriendly  to  outsiders,  but  the 
tent-dwellers  are  'Alevi.  In  Birejik  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  of  the  Turkish  people  belong  to  this  faith.  In 
the  city  and  villages  of  Urfa  there  are  few;  in  Aleppo 
few;  in  Antioch  perhaps  two  hundred  houses.  The  most 
thoroughly  converted  district  is  that  of  Dersim,  in  the 
Erzingan  vilayet.  The  length  of  this  district  is  fifteen 
days'  horseback  ride.    This  is  the  home  of  the  Kurds. 

Essential  Teaching  Concerning  Prophecy.  In  the 
world  there  is  one  Truth.  This  Truth  possesses  great 
power.  There  is  no  power  existing  greater  than  this.  The 
Power  is  in  itself,  not  dependent  upon  any  person.  All 
other  existing  things  get  their  light  and  might  from  this 
one  truth.  This  Power  "doeth  what  it  wisheth  and  judg- 
eth  what  it  willeth." 

Nothing  can  attack  and  overturn  this  Power.  In  the 
process  of  time  the  Power  brought  to  light  the  charges 
and  commandments  that  were  necessary  for  that  period. 
For  instance,  in  the  time  of  Moses  what  was  necessary  for 
the  people  was  said  by  'Ali  by  means  of  Moses. 

''Then  you  believe  in  the  preexistence  of  'Ali?"  ''Yes, 
indeed."  "Have  you  considered  the  statements  in  the 
Gospel  of  John,  in  the  first  chapter,  regarding  the  pre- 
existence of  Christ?" 

"We  are  aware  of  the  similarity.  Since  the  world 
began  until  the  present  day,  however  many  prophets  have 
invited  the  people  to  the  truth,  all  these  have  taken  their 
office  from  'Ali,  every  one  inviting  separately,  in  form  to 


258  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

himself  but  in  meaning  to  'Ali.  The  commander  being 
one,  however  much  the  officers  differ  in  degree,  their 
meaning  and  duty^  is  one.  Because  all  the  prophets  invite 
to  one  truth,  they  cannot  be  differentiated  essentially. 
From  the  time  of  Adam  to  the  time  of  Mohammed  all  the 
prophets  must  be  one,  though  in  name  they  are  different. 
Each  prophet  teaches  a  new  lesson  by  a  new  method,  and 
each  prophet  is  higher  than  the  preceding  ones.  As  'Ali 
is  preexistent,  so  he  is  even  now  existing  and  manifested 
and  known^  to  his  people.  To  those  not  his  people  he  is 
veiled,  covered." 

"How  is  he  manifested  to  his  own  people?" 

"By  the  Holy  Spirit's  influence.  So  much  for  the  pres- 
ent as  to  the  means  of  manifestation." 

"Do  the  'Alevis  accept  the  Holy  Spirit's  personal  in- 
fluence?" 

"Yes.  But  this  needs  a  free  and  full  discussion.  If  we 
understood  the  question  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  other  difficul- 
ties would  naturally  solve  themselves." 

The  teacher  illustrated  his  own  conviction  about  the 
Holy  Spirit  as  follows:  "The  Holy  Spirit  is  as  the  light 
which  shines  into  a  room,  the  sun  itself  not  being  visible. 
But  you  cannot  say  that  the  light  which  we  enjoy  is  the 
sun  itself;  it  is  only  a  result." 

The  Preexistence  and  Survival  of  Human  Per- 
sonalities. "At  every  time  that  the  First  Point  ap- 
peared, we  like  a  circle  came  around  him." 

The  true  servants  of  Jesus  are  identical  with  those  who 
came  faithfully  to  Moses'  call.  Jesus  rebuked  the  Phari- 
sees because  they  had  disobeyed  Moses.  By  this  rebuke 
he  meant  that  they  had  also  lived  in  Moses'  time  and  had 
disobeyed  Moses  then.  There  is  in  this  connection  a  term 
used  only  among  'Alevis:  Active  Return.^  If  you  live 
the  life  of  Paul,  never  mind  your  distinct  name,  you  are 
none  other  than  Paul.  You  continue  his  life.  There  are, 
then,  hundreds  of  Pauls.  His  life  has  multiplied.  He 
has  many  spiritual  children.     Observe  what  he  says  re- 

iwazifah.      ^makshuf,  ma'lum.      (^mastur.      Traj'at  fi'li. 


THE  'ALEVIS  259 

garding  Onesimus  in  the  letter  to  Philemon,  "I  beseech 
thee  for  my  son  Onesimus  whom  I  have  begotten  in  my 
bonds."  You  are  finishing  the  actions  that  others  began. 
The  action  never  dies.  Therefore  the  man  cannot  die. 
Your  true  nature  is  not  your  bones  and  flesh,  but  the  good 
action  which  is  immortal. 

Concerning  Immortality.  This  world  has  another. 
This  life  is  to  the  next  as  a  drop  to  the  ocean.  But  in  this 
world  whatever  is  gained  in  good  deeds  is  not  gained  for 
this  world,  but  for  the  next.  Here  is  only  the  planting; 
there  is  the  harvest.  Man  suffers  no  death.  There  is  only 
a  change  of  life.  Heaven  is  not  a  particular  place.  But 
wherever  believers  live  is  heaven,  even  on  this  earth.  And 
wherever  godless  men  live  is  hell,  here  or  hereafter.  What 
mean  the  good  deeds  done  in  this  life?  As  the  child  in  his 
mother's  womb  knows  not  the  use  of  eyes,  ears,  and  mouth, 
but  is  g^rowing  stronger  all  the  time,  so  there  will  be  a  use, 
made  clear  to  us  later,  of  all  good  actions  done. 

The  Manifestation  of  God.  The  Moslems  describe 
Allah  by  negatives,  by  denial  of  members  and  all  human 
notions.  'Alevis  describe  God  by  positive  attributes  and 
by  the  great  teaching  of  incarnation.  God  exists  in  his 
sovereignty  (mulk).  For  this  a  body  (jasad)  is  necessary. 
At  no  time  has  the  face  of  the  earth  been  empty  of  God. 
So  now  he  is  existent.  And  he  will  always  be  in  the  world, 
not  in  any  imaginary  sense,  but  in  a  literal  sense.  Every 
fully  initiated  'Alevi  has  seen  the  incarnate  'Ali,  has 
talked  with  him  in  question  and  answer  regarding  the  so- 
called  "unanswerable"  questions  of  life;  has  touched  him, 
seen  him,  and  with  his  every  sense  realized  'Ali's  existence 
and  presence.  The  object  of  this  manifestation  is  to  bring 
all  men  into  the  truth  of  God. 

"What  is  the  condition  of  thus  interviewing  the  divine 
Incarnation?" 

"The  condition  is  hard,  and  the  process  of  preparation 
takes  a  long  time — seven  or  eight  years  of  regular  service 
and  learning  of  the  essentials.  Then,  if  the  seeker  proves 
himself  fit,  he  may  be  received  as  a  member  by  the  Dede 


26o  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

from  Dersim  and  hence  by  all  'Alevis.  In  this  probation 
time  he  cannot  have  any  direct  relation  with  'Ali,  that  is 
he  can  never  see  him  or  learn  from  him." 

"Can  the  believer  meet  with  'Ali  when  he  wills?" 

"No.  Not  at  his  own  pleasure,  but  at  'All's.  The  time 
and  place  are  never  known  beforehand.  It  is  not  a  condi- 
tion of  trance.  It  may  be  when  a  believer  is  alone  or  when 
he  is  with  other  disciples,  but  never  when  strangers  are 
present.  No  'Alevi  can  bring  about  such  a  vision,  but  'Ali 
may  will  it  at  any  time." 

"Tell  me  more  about  this." 

"Beyond  this  they  would  beat  me  if  I  told  you." 

"What  is  the  difference  between  the  doctrines  of  the 
Hidden  Mahdi  and  this?" 

"We  believe  that,  although  the  Mahdi,  Mohammed, 
and  Messiah  are  different  in  name  and  body,  they  are  one 
in  light  and  truth.  But  we  have  no  faith  in  those  who, 
during  the  past  century  have  claimed  to  be  the  Mahdi." 

Private  and  Public  Worship.  Among  the  'Alevis 
prayer  forms  a  part  of  both  private  and  public  worship. 
The  prayers  are  not  formal,  nor  appointed  to  be  said  at 
fixed  times  and  at  fixed  places.  Nor  must  they  be  pre- 
ceded with  preliminary  washings. 

"In  the  Koran  are  not  all  believers  bidden  to  wash 
hands  and  arms  to  the  elbows  and  to  anoint  the  head  and 
wash  the  feet?" 

"  'Alevis  are  aware  of  that  command,  but  it  is  not  bind- 
ing for  them.  Our  prayer  is  spontaneous;  we  believe  in 
intercessory  prayer,  and  We  have  no  ceremonial  or  form- 
ula." 

"Does  the  reading  of  any  holy  book  form  a  part  of  your 
worship?" 

"We  respect  and  study  the  five  sacred  books  of  Abra- 
ham, Moses,  David,  Jesus  and  Mohammed.  But  we  do 
not  depend  upon  them.  Our  teaching  is  from  believer  to 
believer  and  from  father  to  father." 

"Do  you  believe  in  the  confession  of  sin?" 

"To  God  Most  High." 


THE  'ALEVIS  261 

"Do  you  believe  in  sacrifice?" 

"Not  like  the  sacrifice  of  the  Month  of  Pilgrimage, 
when  all  Sunni  Moslems  must  offer  one  animal.  Our 
duty  is  once  in  a  lifetime,  when  the  Dede  comes  on  his  cir- 
cuit. The  Pirs,  or  Dedes,  are  our  honored  teachers.  The 
throat  of  the  lamb  or  of  the  kid  must  be  cut  by  the  Pir 
himself." 
'  "What  is  the  object  of  this  single  sacrifice?" 

"First,  a  remembrance  of  the  offering  of  Ishmail  by 
Abraham  when  God  provided  the  ram'.  Second,  to  feed 
the  poor,  to  whom  portions  are  always  given." 

"What  do  you  understand  by  self-sacrifice?" 

"Suppose  we  are  four  hundred  'Alevis  in  a  town.  Any 
one  will  suffer,  even  to  the  death,  for  any  other  of  the 
brotherhood  or  for  confession  of  his  faith.  In  the  early 
days  of  our  faith  there  were  hundreds  who  suffered  mar- 
tyrdom." 

"Do  you  have  places  of  congregation  corresponding  to 
mosques  and  churches?" 

"We  have  no  such  buildings,  but  groups  of  believers 
meet  for  worship  regularly  in  private  homes.  God  is 
more  holy  than  the  temple.  He  lives  in  the  inner  life  of 
man.  It  is  better  to  send  to  persons  in  need  the  moneys 
that  would  go  for  mortar  and  stone.  We  have  congrega- 
tions, however,  to  the  membership  of  which  only  those 
approved  by  the  Dede  from  Kirind  mav  be  received." 

"Who  are  your  leaders  and  teachers?" 

"Our  Khojas  have  no  religious  function.  They  are  the 
teachers  of  day-schools.  There  are  local  Dedes  and  those 
who  travel  from  Kirind  throughout  all  these  countries." 

"What  is  the  form  of  service?" 

"We  gather  in  councils  for  the  remembrance  of  'All's 
teachings,  for  reading  from  the  Law,  the  Psalms,  the  Gos- 
pel and  the  Koran,  for  interpretation  and  prayer,  and  for 
conversation  about  the  love  of  God  and  about  brotherly 
love.  There  are  no  public  sacrifices  like  those  of  the  an- 
cient Hebrews,  but  at  the  private  sacrifice  many  believers 
are  naturally  present.    We  observe  the  fast  of  Muharram 


262  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

'Ashura,  which  lasts  ten  days.  During  that  time  one  may 
eat  lightly  once  in  three  days;  if  that  is  impossible,  once 
in  twenty-four  hours;  if  that  again  proves  impossible, 
once  in  twelve  hours.  The  object  of  the  fast  is  meditation 
and  purification." 

Social  Conditions.  "Do  you  differ  essentially  from 
the  Sunnis  regarding  marriage?" 

"There  is  no  command  concerning  polygamy  in  'Ali's 
teaching.  Our  custom  is  that  a  man  shall  have  one  wife. 
In  case  of  a  wife's  becoming  insane  or  incapable  of  taking 
care  of  the  household,  a  second  wife  may  be  taken.  But 
never  more  than  two.  We  hold  no  slaves,  and  believe  that 
that  unjust  practice  will  finally  be  done  away  with." 

"Do  you  believe  that  the  system  of  polygamy  is  coming 
to  an  end  in  Islam?" 

"That  would  require  another  Mohammed." 

"What  is  woman's  position  among  the  'Alevis?" 

"In  spirit  and  love  there  is  no  distinction  between  man 
and  woman.  They  are  equal  in  that  sense.  In  intellect 
and  management,  whichever  is  uppermost  and  best,  the 
command  is  his  or  hers.  For  instance,  it  may  be  that  a 
ruthless,  good-for-nothing  man  marries  a  capable,  noble 
woman.  Mind  manages  the  world  today.  'Alevis  have 
no  purchased  slaves.  That  is  accounted  wrong.  But 
slaves  that  have  been  taken  in  war  or  raid  may  be  so  used, 
though  this  has  not  happened  often  in  modern  times.  We 
believe  in  educating  our  daughters.  We  have  not  any 
right  to  command  our  wives,  for  example,  about  veiling. 
The  right  is  wholly  left  to  the  women.  But  the  strict 
usage  of  this  country  compels  them  to  veil  like  other 
women.  'Ali  said  to  Husein,  When  abroad,  respect  and" 
obey  the  customs  of  the  country.'  " 

"Then  is  it  ever  right  to  lie,  as  suggested  in  one  of  the 
traditions  of  the  prophet?" 

"The  tradition  is  false,  as  are  many  others.  A  father 
once  taught  his  son  ten  thousand  traditions,  and  when  the 
young  man  with  infinite  patience  had  memorized  them 
all,  the  father  said:     'Now  these  are  the  false  ones,  be- 


THE  'ALEVIS  263 

lieve  anything  else  you  please!'  But  to  deny  among  ig- 
norant or  mocking  people  our  being  'Alevis  is  not  false- 
hood." 

''Do  the  'Alevis  ever  persecute  for  religious  reasons?" 

"There  is  no  slavery  in  our  faith.  I  may.  become  a 
Magian  or  a  Christian  as  I  please.  This  is  natural.  We 
have  left  Islam:  why  should  we  not  be  free?" 

"How  are  the  orphans,  the  sick  and  the  poor  cared  for?" 

"Privately  in  our  homes." 

"Do  you  believe  in  Jihad  or  in  any  war?" 

"We  believe  in  the  inner  war  with  the  kafirs  (infidels) 
that  are  in  our  hearts.  'Ali  said:  'It  is  better  for  you  to 
die  in  trying  to  subdue  your  will,  than  for  you  to  kill  any 
one  in  the  attempt  at  coercion.'  We  believe  in  war  only  as 
self-defence.  But  we  believe  thoroughly  in  self-defence 
rather  than  in  turning  the  cheek  to  him  who  strikes." 

Relations  to  Jesus  Christ  and  the  New  Testa- 
ment.   "Do  the  'Alevis  accept  the  incarnation  of  Jesus?" 

"Not  in  the  sense  that  he  is  the  only  incarnation,  nor  in 
the  sense  that  he  fully  succeeded  in  showing  men  the  char- 
acter and  nature  of  God.  He  had  this  divinity,  but  men 
could  not  perfectly  appreciate  it,  and  cannot  to  this  day. 
In  the  sense  that  the  Son  of  God  or  God  Himself  entered 
human  life  as  Jesus  of  Nazareth  and  lived  His  divine  life 
in  Palestine,  we  do  believe  in  the  Christian  incarnation. 
We  frequently  speak  of  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  Man,  or  the 
perfect  man;  we  also  speak  of  Him  as  the  Son  of  God." 

"Do  vou  accept  the  crucifixion  and  the  death  of 
Christ?"' 

"No.  Because  Jesus  was  an  immortal  spirit  and  could 
never  be  put  to  death." 

"But  His  body?" 

"Yes.  But  that  did  not  contain  His  personality.  The 
oppression  of  Jesus  was  greater  than  that  of  other  proph- 
ets, and  His  humility  was  greater  than  theirs.  God  loves 
self-sacrifice,  and  therefore  the  intercession  of  Jesus  is 
reckoned  by  God  more  worthy  than  that  of  the  other 
prophets.    Jesus  is  preferred  above  all  who  came  before 


264  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Him,  because  those  who  preceded  Him  could  not  declare 
the  word  which  He  declared.  But  in  their  surrender  to 
the  will  of  God  each  in  some  way  suffered  by  the  people. 
For  example,  Hud,  Salih,  and  Noah." 

"Do  you  believe  in  the  resurrection  of  Jesus?" 

"This  is  a  point  of  great  difficulty  among  us.  The  spirit 
after  it  has  separated  from  the  earthly  body  cannot  re- 
unite. We  do  not  feel  obliged  to  accept  what  we  do  not 
understand;  but  we  do  not  deliberately  deny  the  resur- 
rection." 

"Do  you  regard  the  New  Testament  as  inspired  of 
God?" 

"Yes." 

"Equally  with  the  Koran?" 

"We  believe  in  five  equally  inspired  books:  Suhuf  (re- 
vealed to  Abraham,  and  now  extant  in  Mesopotamia), 
Tevrat,  Zabur,  Injil,  Koran.**  We  regard  the  books  of 
Job,  Samuel,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and  so  forth,  as  of  a  lower 
order." 

"Do  you  believe  in  the  annulling  of  previous  revela- 
tions?" 
.  "In  fundamentals,  no.     In  ramifications,  yes." 

"What  is  your  expectation  regarding  Christianity?" 

"The  two  faiths  will  unite  at  the  point  of  justice,  each 
relinquishing  extreme  positions."- — "What  about  the  Sun- 
nis?" — "They  are  far  behind!  Their  affair  is  certainly 
hard.  They  are  very  far  off  from  such  a  union." — "What 
do  you  understand  by  the  words  of  Jesus,  'There  shall  be 
one  flock  and  one  shepherd'?" — "These  words  are  the  es- 
sence of  civilization.  Unity  is  the  final  desire  of  God  for 
us.  The  world  is  in  childhood  and  has  not  yet  self-control. 
The  world  does  not  yet  comprehend  the  will  of  God." 

Regarding  the  System  of  Islam.  "Do  the  'Alevis  re- 
gard the  Hajj  (the  pilgrimage)  as  binding?" — "Not  at 
all." — "Do  they  feel  bound  to  give  the  Zekyat  (the  legal 
alms)?" — "No."— "Do   they  perform  the  Namaz    (the 

8  1.    e.    The    Books  of   Abraliani    (Koran    87,    end),   the   I^aw    (Torah),    Psalms,    Gospels 
(Euangelion),  Koran. 


THE  'ALEVIS  265 

prostration)  ?" — "No." — "Do  they  keep  the  fast  of  Rama- 
zan?" — "No." — "Do  they  make  the  saying  of  the  Creed  a 
condition  to  faith?" — "No." — "Do  not  the  Shi'is  keep 
these  'five  pillars'  of  Islam?" — "Yes,  with  certain  modi- 
fications." 

Regarding  Mohammed.  "Do  you  accept  any  one  book 
like  the  Siyer-en-Nebi  as  a  standard  biography  of  Mo- 
hammed?"— "No.  But  we  have  our  own  accounts  of  his 
career  and  prophetship.  We  believe  in  him  as  the  last  of 
the  five  great  prophets.  We  look  upon  him  as  intercessor. 
And  in  the  same  way  we  regard  all  the  holy  prophets. 
But  the  real  wisdom  and  justice  of  decision  is  with  God." 

"Is  Mohammed  final?" — "Yes,  in  the  sense  that  he  is 
the  seal  of  the  prophets." — "Did  he  predict  or  appoint 
'Ali?" — "Yes,  in  the  desert  at  a  great  assembly.  After 
Mohammed's  death,  for  practical  reasons,  the  Moslem 
convocation  agreed  'to  set  aside  the  impetuous  and  high- 
spirited  'Ali  for  the  mild  and  conservative  Abu  Bekr.'  " 

"What  do  you  consider  the  historical  relations  of  'Ali 
and  Mohammed?" 

"Their  fathers  were  brothers.  Afterwards  'Ali  became 
Mohammed's  son-in-law.  He  was  the  first  believer.  He 
was  appointed  to  become  the  first  caliph." 

"Do  you  regard  the  revelation  through  'Ali  as  the  last 
word  of  God  to  men?" 

"You  should  not  say  'first  and  last.'  The  same  spirit  is 
through  all,  just  as  in  the  days  of  the  week  there  is  really 
only  one  day,  but  the  names  are  different.  If  you  unite  the 
liyes  of  the  prophets,  then  the  'Alevis  agree  with  you.  If 
you  disintegrate  and  differentiate,  then  you  will  fall  out 
of  sympathy  with  us." 

Conclusions,  i.  Here  is  a  religion  other  than  Islam, 
recognizing  and  accepting  Mohammed. 

2.  The  religion  has  for  its  centre,  not  a  shrine,  but  a 
missionary  movement.  And  the  movement  is  not  declin- 
ing. 

3.  The  intimate  relation  with  Persian  and  Turkish 
classic  poetry,  especially  with  the  Mesnevi  of  Mevlana 

4 


266  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Jelal-ed-din  Rumi  should  not  be  overlooked.  In  other 
words,  the  mysticism  and  pantheism  of  the  Orient  are 
here  found,  not  as  literary  theories  or  philosophies,  but  as 
the  elements  of  a  religion  with  which  increasing  multi- 
tudes are  seeking  to  satisfy  the  yearnings  and  instincts  of 
the  soul. 

4.  A  fundamental  difference  and  separation  from  Islam 
exists  in  the  belief  in  incarnation.  Turkey  is  being  stirred, 
notwithstanding  monarchy  and  caliphate  and  Sunni  tra- 
ditions, by  as  radical  a  movement  as  Indian  Islam  has 
known. 

5.  The  exaltation  of  ethics  over  formalism  is  proved  by 
the  abrogation  of  "the  five  pillars." 

6.  The  respect  and  liberty  which  are  to  be  accorded  to 
women  among  'Alevis  are  largely  unrealized  because  of 
the  environment  of  Mohammedan  law  and  custom. 

7.  This  may  be  regarded  as  the  dominant  faith  of  the 
Kurdish  race.  There  is,  however,  a  large  body  of  Sunni 
Kurds. 

8.  By  their  own  confession  'Alevis  are  closer  to  Chris- 
tianity than  to  Islam.  They  expect  an  eventual  compact 
with  Christianity  but  not  with  Sunni  Mohammedanism. 

9.  They  accept  the  New  Testament.  But  how  can  they 
do  this  and  consistently  hold  to  the  Koran  as  equally  in- 
spired? Their  thoughts  are  fragmentary  and  imperfectly 
developed. 

10.  There  are  scarcely  any  missionaries  who  are  giving 
their  first  attention  to  winning  these  people  to  Christ.  Yet 
the  'Alevis  are  most  hospitable  and  approachable.  They 
are  not  bound  by  the  rigid  system  of  Islam. 

Do  not  the  facts  recorded  above  constitute  a  strong  call 
to  missionary  consecration  and  resolve?  Christ  is  today 
among  the  'Alevis  half-unveiled,  half-understood.  Shall 
we  not  lead  them  to  behold  Him  upon  the  cross,  the  only 
Son  of  God,  the  only  Saviour? 

Stephen  Van  Rensselaer  Trowbridge. 

Cairo,  Egypt. 


METHODS  OF  EVANGELISM  IN  ARABIA 

The  object  of  this  paper  is  to  make  a  study  of  direct 
evangelistic  methods  in  distinction  from  the  indirect  or 
educational  and  medical.  The  discussion  will,  therefore, 
apply  only  to  the  evangelistic  department  of  our  mission- 
ary work,  examining  the  methods  used  hitherto  and  show- 
ing where  in  our  opinion,  these  might  be  improved.  The 
Sunday  service  is  the  preacher's  great  opportunity.  But 
are  we  conducting  these  services  to  suit  the  needs  of  the 
Arab?  Most  of  us  are  afraid  to  introduce  or  have  never 
thought  of  introducing  any  sort  of  innovation  to  suit  the 
Oriental,  and  have  simply  followed  the  customs  in  vogue 
in  the  West,  with  a  sort  of  feeling  that  our  church  polity 
and  our  church  furniture  are  ordained  of  God.  Many  of 
our  prayers  in  church  are  unintelligible  to  the  average 
Arab  because  they  are  too  long,  too  vague  and  too  in- 
volved. I  think  our  prayers  should  abound  in  the  exalted 
names  of  God,  of  which  the  Moslem  is  so  fond.  The 
Bible  is  full  of  such  names  as  well  as  the  Koran.  Three 
short  prayers  are  better  than  one  long  one.  The  mission- 
ary should  not  be  afraid  of  repetition,  either  in  prayer  or 
in  preaching.  Repetition  is  the  secret  of  Islam's  success 
today.  The  prayer  call  remains  the  same  day  after  day; 
the  first  chapter  of  the  Koran  is 'repeated  five  times  or 
more  daily,  and  it  is  only  by  constant  repetition  that  the 
Arab  boy  or  girl  ever  learns  to  read  the  Koran.  The 
Arab  has  no  aversion  to  hearing  a  story  time  and  time 
again.  In  Muscat  we  sing  the  same  hymns  in  church 
week  after  week,  so  that  the  most  illiterate  gets  not  only 
the  tune  but  also  the  words.  The  full  significance  of  the 
words  may  not  be  grasped,  but  they  may  nevertheless  be 
the  beginnings  of  fuller  knowledge  later  on. 

With  reference  to  the  place  of  our  Sunday  services, 

267 


268  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Kuweit  station  proves  without  much  doubt,  that  a  place 
in  the  bazaar,  easy  of  access,  guarantees  an  audience.  An 
up-stairs  room,  to  my  mind,  is  wholly  inadequate.  Al- 
though the  Arabs  are  not  unaccustomed  to  upstairs  rooms, 
none  to  my  mind  are  used  for  religious  purposes.  Few 
men  and  yet  fewer  women  are  likely  to  come  upstairs 
without  an  urgent  invitation  from  the  missionary.  They 
will  not  "drop  in,"  when  the  room  is  upstairs.  In  Muscat 
our  plan  is  to  try  the  book  shop  for  an  afternoon  service. 
A  few  hymns  on  the  organ  will  draw  the  crowd,  and  then 
at  the  right  moment  a  message  can  be  driven  home. 

A  necessary  element  in  our  methods  of  evangelistic 
work  should  be  the  Sunday  school.  But  this  has  been 
very  poorly  developed  in  Arabia.  In  all  Moslem  lands 
the  number  of  children  in  the  Sunday  school  is  only  50,- 
000,  of  which  the  vast  majority  are  Copts,  Greeks  and  Ar- 
menians. In  the  Philippines  alone  the  Sunday  school  has 
an  enrollment  of  60,000.  If  it  is  true  what  a  Japanese 
missionary  says,  that  "We  cannot  hope  to  win  more  than 
one  in  10,000  of  the  adults,  but  we  can  do  anything  with 
the  children,"  it  will  be  equally  true  of  Arabia.  If  Zie- 
genbalg,  who  came  to  India  one  hundred  years  before 
Carey,  felt  that,  "In  order  to  do  something  durable  among 
the  heathen,  it  is  necessary  to  teach  the  young,"  have  we 
any  reason  to  expect  that  this  is  not  the  case  with  the  Mos- 
lems as  well?  Our  prodigious  task  is  how  to  get  the  boys 
and  the  girls  in  the  Sunday  schools.  It  cannot  be  said  of 
Arabia,  as  Trowbridge  says  of  Egypt,  that  "most  of  the 
students  in  the  government  schools  in  Cairo  have  aban- 
doned the  five  essential  daily  prayers  and  the  strictly  en- 
joined ceremonial  ablutions,"  nor  that  "the  Kuttab  has 
failed  and  is  no  longer  interesting."  However,  is  it  not 
possible  for  us  to  gather  in  the  Sunday  school  the  very 
boys  and  girls  we  teach  in  the  day  schools?  In  Egypt  the 
day  school  teachers  are  asked  by  the  pastor  or  the  mis- 
sionary to  take  the  Sunday  school  classes,  with  the  result 
that  the  atmosphere  and  methods  on  Sunday  are  almost 
identical  with  the  week-day  work.    Trowbridge  tells  us, 


METHODS  OF  EVANGELISM  IN  ARABIA  269 

that  "the  early  missionaries  in  Egypt  opened  Sunday 
schools  in  private  houses,  and  in  practically  every  preach- 
ing place,  and  in  many  cases  the  work  branched  out  in 
villages  and  cities  where  the  church  is  not  yet  established." 
As  for  our  scripture  sales,  statistics  show  that  these  are 
counted  in  thousands.  Statistics,  however,  are  but  a  small 
indication  of  the  vatue  of  these  sales.  If  you  look  into  the 
early  records  of  the  mission,  you  will  see  that  the  sales 
were  more,  in  some  places,  than  they  are  now.  No  doubt 
many  of  these  were  not  bona-fide  sales,  for  the  colporteur 
having  more  regard  for  his  reputation  in  the  mission  than 
love  for  the  Arab,  often  reported  large  sales  and  paid  the 
money  from  his  own  pocket.  But  the  greater  reason,  to 
my  mind,  why  sales  were  large  in  the  early  years,  was 
that  people  knew  nothing  of  the  Gospel,  and  a  bookseller 
in  the  Gulf  was  a  great  novelty.  Since  then  people  have 
read  the  Book,  and  seen  that  its  teaching  differs  from  that 
of  the  Koran ;  and  those  who  have  not  read  it  know  from 
their  leaders  that  the  Bible  is  a  dangerous  piece  of  liter- 
ature. I  know  this  is  true  in  Muscat  and  Mutra.  It  is 
not  difficult  to  sell  books  to  visitors  from  the  Mekran 
coast,  who  do  not  yet  know  what  the  Bible  teaches,  and 
whose  minds  have  not  yet  been  poisoned.  But  to  sell  one 
to  men  of  either  of  these  cities  is  a  problem.  How  are  we 
going  to  make  the  Bible  sales  more  valuable  and  effective 
than  they  have  been  so  far?  Hitherto  there  has  been 
promiscuous  and  indiscriminate  selling.  This,  I  am  con- 
vinced, is  a  mistake.  It  is  better  to  make  a  friend  than  to 
make  a  sale.  The  former  will  produce  the  latter,  but  not 
vice  versa.  If  a  man  looks  angry  and  cross,  why  insult 
him  by  offering  him  a  Gospel?  His  anger  and  fanaticism 
will  only  increase,  and  it  may  do  the  cause  infinite  harm. 
Salesmanship  is  but  a  small  part  of  the  colporteur's  job. 
The  object  is  not  to  make  a  sale  or  to  get  rid  of  a  Book, 
but  to  place  it.  After  a  sale  the  impression  should  be 
left  in  the  purchaser  that  he  got  something  good ;  not  that 
he  accepted  a  book  simply  to  please  the  colporteur.  If  the 
latter  impression  is  left,  the  Arab  will  not  care  to  see  the 


270  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

bookseller  again.  This  matter  of  placing  the  Scriptures 
well  can  best  be  done  by  the  missionary  himself.  Knowing 
that  there  is  no  love  between  the  Arab  and  most  Oriental 
Christians,  and  having  seen  how  hopelessly  inefficient  our 
colporteurs  have  been,  there  seems  no  other  alternative 
but  that  the  missionary  become  his  own  colporteur.  Far 
fewer  sales  will  be  made  in  that  case.  But  five  sales  well 
placed  are  worth  hundreds  scattered  indiscriminately.  In 
Muscat  I  have  sat  in  cofifee  shops  with  pockets  full  of 
Gospels  and  tracts,  never  trying  to  pull  them  out  to  make 
a  sale.  I  saw  it  was  not  the  time  for  Gospels  and  tracts; 
people  looked  suspicious  and  I  wanted  to  make  sure  of  a 
welcome  the  next  time.  Still  at  other  times  it  was  found 
easy  to  distribute  tracts  and  sell  portions  of  Scripture  in 
that  same  shop.  It  is  indeed  a  great  comfort  to  know  that 
"My  word  shall  not  return  unto  me  void."  But  we  must 
really  impart  a  blessing  to  every  Arab  that  buys  a  book, 
before  the  transaction  is  actually  done. 

As  methods  of  evangelistic  work,  house  visiting  and 
touring  should  not  be  neglected.  Here  the  advice  Dr. 
Zwemer  gave  me  many  years  ago  with  regard  to  visits, 
may  well  be  remembered  by  us  all.  It  is,  "Get  Christ  in 
somewhere."  I  have  observed  some  visiting  that  may  be 
considered  useless,  just  because  Arabs  got  the  idea  that 
missionaries  are  men  interested  in  the  affairs  of  the  polit- 
ical world,  and  not  that  Christianity  was  their  main  busi- 
ness. 

A  method  that  has  not  been  tried  very  extensively  in 
Arabia  is  village  evangelization.  I  do  not  see  why 
it  should  not  be  tried  and  why  it  should  not  bring 
great  results  in  time.  It  has  been  one  of  the  great  factors 
in  India.  Having  the  mission  station  as  his  centre,  the 
missionary  could  make  weekly  visits  to  the  villages  in  the 
circumference.  The  children  will  know  when  he  is  ex- 
pected, for  the  missionary  is  their  friend.  He  will  bring 
them  picture  cards  and  some  story  books  perhaps.  One 
boy  will  tell  the  others  and  soon  the  whole  village  will 
know  that  he  is  coming.    The  place  of  meeting  should  be 


METHODS  OF  EVANGELISM  IN  ARABIA  271 

where  Arabs  regularly  congregate  for  gossip ;  where  they 
mend  their  nets  or  make  tents  or  do  any  other  kind  of 
work.  If  the  evangelist  has  an  eye  towards  the  future,  he 
will  make  friends  with  the  head  man  of  the  house,  and 
drink  his  coffee  with  delight.  If  the  man  of  the  house  is 
your  friend,  let  the  rest  rave  as  they  like,  your  place  is 
secure.  We  had  such  a  friend  in  Bahrein.  The  Mullahs 
came  and  cursed  the  Christians  and  the  Book,  but  Rashid, 
our  friend,  kept  open  house  for  us  and  the  Arabs  alike. 
He  admitted  before  the  whole  lot,  that  what  we  had  read 
from  the  Book  was  true.  Very  often  it  is  wise  not  to  read 
from  the  Bible,  especially  when  the  air  is  surcharged  with 
fanaticism.  But  the  story  of  the  Prodigal  Son  or  others 
can  be  given  by  heart,  nevertheless.  The  village  people 
are  poor  and  illiterate,  and  everything  the  missionary 
does  and  says  leaves  an  impression.  A  good  turn  to  the 
blind  or  the  poor  may  be  a  revelation  to  the  onlooking 
Arab.  The  goodness  of  Jesus  our  teacher  can  be  taught 
by  illustration. 

In  all  this  we  must  realize  that  man's  methods  are  all 
weak  unless  the  missionary  goes  in  the  strength  of  his 
Lord.  We  have  come  not  to  destroy  systems  and  establish 
others,  but  to  change  character.  And  this  is  a  baffling 
task.    Who  is  sufficient? 

Gerrit  D.  Van  Peursem. 

Muscat,  Arabia. 


METAPHYSICS  AND  COSMOGRAPHY  IN 
PERSIA  TODAY 

The  foreigner  living  in  Persia  today  is  very  apt  to  find 
his  friends  and  acquaintances  among  the  younger  gener- 
ation who  have  put  on  a  more  or  less  thin  veneer  of  West- 
ern learning  and  who  seem  therefore  to  accept  modern 
ideas  as  to  philosophy  and  cosmography;  or  he  meets 
older  Persians  who  have  travelled  and  come  into  contact 
with  foreigners  and  have  learned  to  avoid  displaying  the 
wide  difference  of  idea  and  belief  which  exists  between 
the  old  ideas  to  which  they  cling  in  their  heart  and  the 
modern  thought  around  them.  We  fail  to  realize  that  the 
vast  mass  of  the  people  high  and  low  still  live  in  a  thought 
world  which  is  far  different  and  far  more  fantastic  than 
that  in  which  we  have  been  brought  up. 

Some  years  ago  I  asked  a  friend  to  recommend  some 
Persian  book  which  would  set  forth  the  popular  Persian 
beliefs  in  regard  to  metaphysics,  history,  etc.  I  was  rec- 
ommended to  get  the  Kholasetul-Akhhar  (''Concise  In- 
formation") written  about  eighty  years  ago.  It  is  said  to 
be  very  popular  among  the  Rosa  Khans  (public  religious 
reciters)  and  to  be  typical  of  the  books  they  use.  Starting 
out  with  a  preface  dealing  with  the  nature  of  man,  it  de- 
tails the  creation,  then  gives  a  brief  history  of  each  of  the 
prophets  up  to  Mohammed,  accounts  of  the  miracles  of 
the  Imams  following  him,  descriptions  of  Paradise,  Hell, 
the  Resurrection  and  Judgment,  and  closes  with  chapters 
concerning  various  duties  and  sins  and  the  fate  of  men. 

The  preface  and  description  of  the  creation  seem  of 
enough  interest  and  value  as  showing  the  present  attitude 
of  the  strictly  religious  class  and  the  common  people  to 
warrant  a  brief  description  or  paraphrase. 

The  writer  asserts  that  man,  the  most  honorable  of  all 
creation,  is  composed  of  two  principles  or  elements  which 

272 


METAPHYSICS  AND  COSMOGRAPHY  IN  PERSIA    273 

are  diametrically  opposed  to  each  other  and  which  may 
be  likened  to  light  and  darkness.  The  light  principle  he 
calls  vajud.  This  seeks  to  obey  God  and  is  always  de- 
sirous of  that  which  is  good.  The  dark  principle  which 
he  calls  mahiyyet  turns  constantly  towards  evil  and  dis- 
obedience towards  God.  The  minister  (vazir)  of  the 
former  is  the  reason  ('aql)  which  like  its  king  is  always 
desirous  of  that  which  is  good  and  leads  a  man  away  from 
siin  to  obedience  and  is  the  strong  element  in  man.  The 
minister  of  the  latter  is  sensual  desire  (nafs)  which  draws 
a  man  away  from  God  and  that  which  is  good  and  leads 
him  into  all  manner  of  evil.  This  is  the  weak  element  in 
man  and  because  reason  is  stronger  and  able  to  conquer 
desire  man  is  free  to  choose  that  which  is  good.  There 
is  constant  struggle, — reason  clearly  and  always  leading 
to  that  which  is  right  while  desire  draws  a  man  towards 
evil  and  is  wholly  bad  unless  it  has  become  weak  and  has 
yielded  somewhat  to  reason,  in  which  case  it  is  known  as 
nafs-mutm'ineh. 

Any  one  who  has  tried  to  argue  much  with  Persians 
will  recognize  the  effect  of  this  doctrine  in  their  logic,  for 
their  final  appeal  is  always  to  reason  in  which  appeal  they 
fail  to  realize  the  corrupting  influence  of  desire  upon  rea- 
son and  the  wide  difference  brought  about  by  training  in 
what  men  consider  reasonable. 

Desire  is  classified  in  regard  to  the  degree  in  which  it 
is  under  the  control  of  reason  as  follows: 

Nafs  amareh,  Unrestrained  desire  which  is  fully  under  the  control  of 
the  second  principle  mentioned  and  hence  wholly  evil. 

Nafs  lavameh,  Restrained  desire  which  has  a  faint  desire  for  good. 

Nafs  tnulhameh.  Controlled  desire  which  is  under  the  control  of  rea- 
son. 

Nfffs  mutm'ineh,  Subdued  desire  which  is  submissive  to  the  control  of 
reason. 

Nafs  razieh.  Consenting  desire  which  recognizes  as  best  whatever 
comes  from  God. 

Nafs  Tiiarztyyeh,  Accepted  desire  which  is  acceptable  to  God. 

Nafs  kamiliehj  Perfect  desire.  Desire  and  reason  are  one  in  obedience 
to  God  and  the  pursuit  of  that  which  is  good. 

On  the  other  hand  if  the  man  permits  desire  to  conquer 
God  abandons  him  to  his  own  devices. 


274  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

AH  has  said  that  whoever  knows  his  own  nature  knows 
his  Maker.  Hence  the  wise  man  will  study  his  own  nature 
that  he  may  understand  the  uniqueness  and  unity  of  his 
Creator  and  thus  be  able  to  reach  the  eternal  mansions  of 
bliss.  From  the  Koran  (Surah  xxiii:  12-15)  and  tradition 
it  appears  that  man  originates  in  semen  which  remains  in 
the  womb  forty  days :  God  then  makes  it  blood  and  forty 
days  later  this  blood  becomes  a  piece  of  flesh.  After  an- 
other forty  days  this  becomes  bone  and  is  covered  with 
flesh.  God  then  creates  a  man  by  giving  him  a  spirit 
(ruh) .  After  a  child  is  born  in  the  form  of  a  man  he  is 
given  teeth,  sensation  and  locomotion.  In  youth  he  is 
given  fullness  of  strength  which  gradually  fades  with  age. 
How  wonderfully  God  builds  up  man  in  seven  stages, 
from  that  which  is  the  lowest  till  he  is  the  most  honored 
of  all  creation.  It  is  evident  also  that  man  is  composed  of 
body  which  is  in  itself  darkness  and  base,  and  spirit,  which 
is  of  light,  seeking  the  highest  and  that  while  these  two 
are  the  very  opposites  of  each  other  man  cannot  exist  with- 
out either.  And  this  is  even  more  marvelous  that  the 
body  itself  is  made  up  of  such  diverse  elements  as  fire 
and  water,  wind  and  dust.  Let  a  man  understand  there- 
fore his  marvelous  Creator  which  brought  these  things  to 
pass. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  when  the  foetus  becomes 
clothed  with  flesh  an  angel  is  appointed  which  breathes 
into  it  and  which  stays  with  it  all  its  life  writing  down  all 
its  deeds.  While  still  in  the  womb  a  number  of  writings 
are  presented  to  it  and  whichever  it  chooses  determines  its 
future. 

Spirit  {ruh)  and  soul  (nafs)  are  distinct  from  each 
other  and  at  death  God  sequesters  the  souls.  Ibn  Abbas 
says  that  the  bodies  of  men  contain  souls  and  spirits.  The 
soul  presides  over  the  reason  or  intellect  while  the  spirit 
presides  over  motion  and  the  breath.  If  the  spirit  is  with- 
drawn the  soul  must  necessarily  be  removed,  but  not  visa 
versa.  Whenever  one  sleeps  his  soul  goes  to  heaven  while 
his  spirit  remains  in  his  body.    Rays,  like  the  rays  of  the 


METAPHYSICS  AND  COSMOGRAPHY  IN  PERSIA    275 

sun,  bind  the  two  together.  If  it  is  the  divine  pleasure  to 
sequester  the  spirit  the  latter  yields  to  the  drawing  of  the 
soul.  If  not  the  soul  rsturns  to  the  body.  If  the  soul  ob- 
serves anything  in  heaven  ,the  dream  is  capable  of  inter- 
pretation but  if  it  sees  something  between  heaven  and 
earth  the  dream  is  a  fantasy  of  Satan  and  has  no  meaning. 

Among  commentators,  soul  and  spirit  as  above  used, 
are  both  spirits  and  in  their  essence  one,  although  their 
functions  are  different.  In  regard  to  nafs  (which  is  used 
both  for  soul  and  for  desire)  a  distinction  must  be  made 
as  to  its  function  and  condition.  (Here  the  author  speaks 
of  the  spirit  being  in  the  various  conditions  above  classi- 
fied as  to  the  state  of  the  "desire.") 

It  is  reported  that  after  spirits  have  left  the  body  be- 
hind they  go  to  prepared  places.  For  prophets,  Eden; 
for  learned  men  (ulenui),  Fardus;  for  sayyids,  a  mansion 
in  the  heights;  while  the  spirits  of  martyrs  fly  through 
the  heavens  wherever  they  wish  and  when  they  so  desire 
rest  on  the  chandeliers  which  hang  from  the  throne  of 
God;  the  spirits  of  sinners  remain  in  the  air  until  the 
resurrection;  while  those  of  unbelievers  are  tormented 
in  their  bodies  until  the  same  time.  It  was  asked  of  the 
prophet  whether  it  is  true  that  spirits  of  men  remain  in  the 
crops  of  green  birds  until  the  resurrection.  He  replied 
that  it  is  not  so.  Spirits  are  too  much  honored  to  place 
them  in  crops  of  birds  but  God  gives  them  a  form  of  body 
which  can  eat  and  drink. 

'  Ja'fair  Sadiq  is  reported  to  have  said  that  spirits  talk 
with  each  other  in  the  air  and  discuss  their  friends.  When 
a  new  arrival  appears  he  is  given  a  time  to  recover  from 
the  "great  fear"  and  then  asked  for  the  latest  news.  If 
such  a  one  is  reported  alive  there  is  still  hope  but  if  he  has 
died  they  know  they  will  never  see  him  again. 

The  Creation 

Know  that  God  created  the  heavens  and  earth  and  all 

that  in  them  is  in  six  days.     The  first  thing  which  was 

■  created  was  a  green  topaz.     (Elsewhere  the  author  says 


276  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

the  first  thing  created  was  the  light  of  Mohammed  and 
much  that  is  here  ascribed  to  the  topaz  is  there  given  to 
the  light  of  Mohammed.)  The  topaz  immediately  be- 
came liquid  and  boiled  giving  off  a  vapor,  quivering  like 
smoke.  This  was  divided  into  seven  parts  which  became 
the  seven  heavens  which  are  placed  one  above  the  other 
without  any  support  and  which  are  separated  from  each 
other  by  seven  hundred  years'  journey.  The  foam  from 
the  above  essence  became  the  seven  earths  which  are  set 
one  above  the  other.  An  angel  was  then  created  and 
placed  under  the  earth  to  hold  it  on  his  shoulders,  a  hand 
at  either  side.  A  ruby  was  then  created  and  placed  under 
his  feet  and  a  cow  formed  to  support  the  ruby  on  its  horns. 
The  latter  stands  upon  a  stone  which  is  supported  by  a 
fish  swimming  in  water.  The  water  rests  upon  wind  and 
the  wind  is  held  by  power  (of  God). 

It  is  said  that  the  fish  listened  to  the  whisperings  of 
Satan  and  tried  to  shake  ofT  his  burden,  but  God  created  a 
small  insect  and  placed  it  in  the  fish's  nose,  causing  intense 
pain.  The  insect  was  withdrawn  and  suspended  in  front 
of  the  fish  to  warn  him  against  further  rebellion.  Which 
illustrates  how  a  very  little  thing  may  torment  so  great  a 
creature. 
The  order  of  creation  was  as  follows : 

Sunday,  heavens  and  earth ; 

Monday,  sun,  moon  and  stars ; 

Tuesday,  paradise  and  hell ; 

Wednesday,  creatures  and  vegetahle  life; 

Thursday,  waters  and  seas  ; 

Friday,  angels  and  the  spirit  of  man  and  on  this  day  angels  and  all 
created  things  were  commanded  to  worship  Adam  and  the  latter  was 
shown  the  wonders  of  heaven. 

God  might  have  created  all  things  in  the  twinkling  of 
an  eye  but  he  delayed  in  order  that  man  might  have  a  les- 
son in  patience.  As  the  prophet  said,  "Haste  is  of  Satan; 
patience  of  God." 

The  mountain  of  Qaf  is  a  mountain  around  the  earth. 
It  consists  of  emerald  which  also  gives  the  color  to  the 
skies.  (Tradition.)  Around  this  mountain  are  little 
mountains  which  represent  the  cords  of  all  the  cities  and 


METAPHYSICS  AND  COSMOGRAPHY  IN  PERSIA    277 

shrines  so  that  when  God  wishes  to  send  an  earthquake  to 
any  of  these  places  He  commands  the  attendant  guardians 
to  pull  the  respective  mountain. 

Concerning  the  Throne,  the  Tablet,  Etc. 

The  Lauh  Mahfuz  (tablet)  is  made  of  a  single  white 
pearl  which  extends  from  heaven  to  earth  and  from  the 
east  to  the  west.  Upon  it  are  written  all  things  that  are 
to  occur  according  to  the  wisdom  of  God.  God  indicates 
His  wishes  to  Michael;  Michael  to  Gabriel,  and  Gabriel 
to  the  prophets.  It  is  reported  that  on  the  Tablet  are  seven 
lines  (columns?)  ;  two  and  a  half  for  the  affairs  of  the 
earth  and  four  and  a  half  for  the  afifairs  of  the  resurrec- 
tion. The  first  thing  that  is  written  on  the  Tablet  is: 
"Truly  whoever  is  submissive  to  the  fate  I  assign  him  and 
has  patience  in  the  troubles  I  send  him  and  is  grateful  for 
the  favor  I  bestow  upon  him,  him  have  I  written  righteous 
in  the  day  of  resurrection :  but  whosoever  is  not  submissive 
to  the  fate  I  send  him  and  has  not  patience  in  the  troubles 
I  send  upon  him  and  is  not  grateful  for  the  favor  I  be- 
stow upon  him,  he  must  petition  my  creator  (i.  e.  God)." 
God  looks  upon  the  Tablet  360  times  a  day  to  see  what  is 
written  and  He  cancels  that  which  He  wishes  and  leaves 
that  He  wishes.  For  instance,  if  a  man's  time  has  come  to 
die  but  that  man  prays  or  gives  alms  or  is  obedient  God 
may  cancel  that  which  is  written. 

It  took  the  Pen  four  hundred  years  to  write,  ''There  is 
no  god  but  God  and  Mohammed  is  the  apostle  of  God 
and  Ali  is  the  vicar  of  God."  After  that  the  Pen  wrote 
upon  the  Tablet  whatever  was  to  happen  until  the  day  of 
resurrection  including  even  the  movements  of  the  leaves 
of  the  trees.  The  Tablet  then  rejoiced  that  the  wisdom  of 
God  was  written  upon  it.  Whereupon  God  called  to  the 
Pen,  "Write  that  God  will  cancel  such  things  as  He  wishes 
from  this  Tablet." 

The  Throne  {^arsh)  is  greater  than  all  creation  and  the 
Platform  (kursi)  is  greater  than  the  throne.  (The  author 
dwells  upon  the  question  and  meaning  of  the  comparative 


278  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

size).  The  throne  is  mounted  upon  four  angels  each 
having  four  faces  (man,  lion,  cow  and  rooster).  When 
the  time  came  to  place  the  throne  upon  these  bearers,  Ga- 
briel took  one  corner  saying,  "Glory  to  God";  Michael, 
one,  saying,  "Praise  to  God";  Azrafel,  another,  saying, 
"There  is  no  god  but  God";  and  Azrael,  the  fourth,  say- 
ing, "God  is  great."  Then  they  mounted  it  upon  the 
bearers,  shouting,  "There  is  no  power  nor  virtue  save  in 
God  the  high  and  great."  Therefore  whoever  repeats 
these  words  has  the  merit  of  a  bearer  of  the  throne.  The 
merit  of  these  bearers  is  credited  to  the  Shiias.  The 
throne  has  18,000  pillars  and  the  space  between  the  pil- 
lars 18,000  chandeliers  of  such  size  that  one  could  hold 
the  seven  heavens  and  seven  earths.  There  are  three 
things  which  can  shake  the  throne:  the  morning  prayers 
and  repentances  of  the  faithful,  injustice  to  orphans,  and 
divorce  without  cause. 

Greater  even  than  the  throne  is  the  serpent  encircling 
it;  he  has  a  thousand  feet  and  seventy  thousand  faces,  and 
each  face  seventy  thousand  mouths  and  each  mouth  sev- 
enty thousand  tongues,  and  each  tongue  seventy  thousand 
words  in  praise  of  God  and  the  merit  (of  this  praise)  is 
credited  to  Shiah  followers  of  the  house  of  Mohammed. 

Certain  traditions  also  say  there  is  a  sea  beside  the 
throne  in  which  Gabriel  bathes  each  morning  and  that 
from  the  drops  which  fall  from  him  angels  are  created. 

Concerning  the  Heavens  and  Earths 

The  first  heaven  is  made  of  green  topaz  and  is  called 
Ailun  or  Barfiyeh.  The  angels  there  are  bowed  with 
heads  to  the  ground  (sejud)  and  praise  God  as  follows: 
"Praise  God  the  ruler  of  kings  and  kingdoms."  Ismail  is 
at  their  head.  In  this  heaven  also  there  is  an  angel  named 
Thunder.  When  he  strikes  the  clouds  with  his  whip  it 
thunders  and  the  lightning  is  the  flash  of  fire  from  his 
whip. 

The  second  heaven  is  of  silver  and  is  called  nahuni  or 
aqlum.      The    inhabitants    stand    with    hands    on    knees 


METAPHYSICS  AND  COSMOGRAPHY  IN  PERSIA    279 

(ruku)  reciting  'Traise  God  the  Lord  of  excellence  and 
power."  Their  leader  is  called  Gargdb.  He  is  seated  and 
one  half  is  snow,  the  other  fire. 

The  third  heaven  is  of  ruby  (or  some  say  iron)  and  is 
called  mahqum  or  qidum.  Its  inhabitants  stand  continu- 
ally with  hands  before  their  faces  (qiyam) . 

The  fourth  heaven  is  of  white  pearl  and  is  called  dilul 
or  maun.  The  inhabitants  with  bowed  heads  reciting,' 
"Praise  God,  the  Holy  King,  Lord  of  angels  and  spirits." 

The  fifth  heaven,  of  gold,  is  called  main  or  dalv.  Its 
angels  stand  looking  up  reciting,  "Praise  the  Divine  Cre- 
ator." 

The  sixth  heaven  of  green  emerald  (or  gold)  is  called 
tdhir  or  barmdz.  Its  inhabitants  cry,  "Praise  God  and 
glorify  the  number  of  His  creatures  and  the  power  of  His 
word." 

The  seventh  heaven  is  of  red  ruby  and  called,  Ivttshd 
or  Zdkieh.  The  angels  are  all  cherubim  and  are  con- 
stantly weeping  for  the  sins  of  the  people.  They  all  differ, 
the  one  from  other. 

Above  the  heavens  is  a  great  sea  in  which  an  angel 
stands  up  to  his  knees  making  intercession  for  the  family 
of  the  prophet. 

Also  above  the  heavens  are  seventy  veils  or  curtains; 
for  each  curtain  there  are  seventy  thousand  angel  door- 
keepers and  the  distance  between  each  curtain  is  seven 
hundred  years'  journey.  Above  these  curtains  are  yet 
other  curtains  as  the  curtain  of  excellence,  honor,  power, 
might,  holiness,  light,  lordship,  until  one  comes  to  the  cur- 
tain of  greatness  and  the  world. 

The  Earth 

The  first  earth  is  inhabited  by  men. 

The  second  is  the  home  of  the  winds  which  destroyed 
the  followers  of  Ad. 

The  third  is  inhabited  by  creatures  with  men's  faces, 
cow's  ears,  sheep's  feet,  goat's  hair.  These  are  sinless. 
When  it  is  daytime  with  us  it  is  night  with  them.  This 
earth  is  of  sulphur. 


28o  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

The  fourth  earth  is  inhabited  by  serpents. 

The  fifth  by  scorpion-like  creatures,  a  drop  of  whose 
poison  would  make  all  the  waters  of  the  ocean  bitter. 

The  sixth  earth  is  inhabited  by  devils  (shaiatin) , 

Of  the  seventh  earth  no  one  knows  anything. 

God  told  Moses  that  he  had  created  inhabitants  for  the 
world  and  left  it  waste  ten  times.  Once  it  was  filled  with 
a  cow-like  creature  which  God  destroyed  for  disobedi- 
ence. Again  God  created  a  sea  and  after  that  a  beast 
which  swallowed  up  the  sea  in  one  gulp  and  was  itself  de- 
stroyed by  a  small  insect.  After  that  the  earth  was  cov- 
ered by  rushes  which  were  consumed  by  a  turtle.  Again 
there  were  four  kinds  of  men  who  lived  upon  the  earth, 
each  for  a  time  and  after  their  destruction  God  created  a 
city  of  gold  and  filled  it  with  mustard  seed  and  then  He 
created  a  bird  which  gradually  ate  up  the  seed.  Finally 
Adam  was  created  on  a  Friday  at  the  time  of  the  noonday 
prayer.  The  real  purpose,  however,  was  to  bring  Mo- 
hammed into  the  world. 

On  earth  there  are  three  enemies  of  God:  Satan,  those 
who  have  left  God's  service,  and  the  world.  This  latter  is 
to  be  the  first  thing  cast  into  hell,  God  having  first  ren- 
dered its  treasures  despicable  because  it  is  the  deceiver  of 
men.  Satan  is  the  one  who  leads  men  away  from  God. 
He  appeared  to  Solomon  as  an  old  man  and  told  him  that 
as  to  the  followers  of  Moses,  he  (Satan)  would  place  the 
love  of  the  world  in  their  hearts;  as  for  the  people  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  he  would  not  permit  them  to  turn  back 
from  taking  two  gods  beside  God ;  and  he  would  lead  the 
followers  of  Mohammed  to  believe  money  and  the  world 
are  more  beautiful  than  witnessing,  "There  is  no  god  but 
God." 

There  is  much  that  has  been  omitted  in  the  foregoing 
paraphrase  and  condensation,  but  it  is  sufficient  to  indicate 
the  background  of  thought  life  with  which  we  come  into 
contact  only  superficially. 

J.  Davidson  Frame. 

Resht,  Persia. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  ZAR'A  YA'KOB 

The  following  is  a  translation  of  an  Ethiopic  text  which 
has  not  before  been  put  into  a  modern  language,  though 
there  is  hardly  another  text  in  Ethiopic  of  equal  fascina- 
tion; Zar'a  Ya'kob  (Seed  of  Jacob)  tells  the  story  of  his 
life,  how  he  canvassed  the  tenets  of  Judaism,  Islam,  and 
Christianity,  found  each  confused  with  errors,  but  never- 
theless came  to  love  God  Whom  he  learned  to  know 
through  the  Psalms  and  the  Gospels.  Since  he  knew  the 
Christian  religion  only  through  a  degraded  eastern 
Church  and  a  very  much  diluted  variety  of  Romanism, 
his  sincerity  in  rejecting  it  is  hardly  culpable.   • 

Chapter  I 

In  the  name  of  God,  who  alone  is  just,  I  will  write  the 
life  of  Zar'a  Ya'kob,'  and  his  wisdom  and  philosophy,  how 
he  proceeded  as  he  said,  "Come,  hear  me,  I  will  tell  all  of 
you  who  fear  God  how  he  has  done  for  me.  So  here  I 
begin." 

In  the  name  of  God,  the  Creator  of  everything  that  is 
past  and  that  is  to  come,  the  all-embracing,  the  fountain 
of  all  life 'and  of  all  wisdom,  I  will  write  down  a  few  of 
all  (the  things)  that  have  happened  to  me  in  the  long  years 
of  my  life.  And  in  God  let  my  soul  have  its  glory.  Let 
the  humble  listen  and  rejoice.  So  I  sought  God,  and  he 
received  me.  And  now  do  you,  also,  draw  near  to  him, 
and  he  will  bring  you  light,  and  your  face  shall  not  be 
put  to  shame.  Magnify  God  with  me,  and  together  let  us 
exalt  his  name. 

My  remoter  origin  is  from  the  priests  of  Axum.  But 
I  was  begotten  of  a  certain  poor  man,  a  farmer  of  the  dis- 
trict of  Axum,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  (the  month)  Nahas, 
in  the  third  year  of  the  reign  of  Ya'kob,  the  1592nd  from 
the  birth  of  Christ.     And  in  Christian  baptism   I  was 

i"Seed  of  Jacob." 

281 

5  .  .  .y.._; 


282  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

named  Zar'a  Ya'kob,  though  men  called  me  Warke.  And 
after  I  was  grown  my  father  sent  me  to  school  that  I  might 
learn.  And  after  I  had  read  the  Psalms  of  David,  my 
teacher  said  to  my  father,  "This  boy,  your  son,  has  a  clear 
mind  and  is  patient  to  learn;  so  if  you  send  him  to  school 
he  will  become  a  teacher  and  doctor."  And  my  father, 
hearing  this,  sent  me  to  learn  zema^  But  my  voice  was 
not  beautiful  and  my  throat  was  rough;  so  I  was  the 
laughing  stock  and  ridicule  of  my  companions.  But  I 
stayed  there  three  months;  then  I  rose  in  trouble  of  my 
heart  and  went  to  another  teacher  who  taught  kene^  and 
sawdsaum.*  And  God  gave  me  wisdom  that  I  might  learn 
more  quickly  than  my  companions,  so  this  encouraged  me 
in  place  of  what  had  before  made  me  sad.  And  I  stayed 
there  four  years.  Now  in  those  days  God  brought  me 
back  from  the  eye  of  death.  For  while  I  was  playing 
with  my  companions  I  fell  into  a  pit,  and  I  did  not  know 
how  I  was  saved  unless  God  saved  me  by  a  miracle.  After 
I  was  rescued  I  measured  the  depth  of  that  pit  with  a 
long  rope,  and  I  found  it  twenty-five  ells  and  one  sazer. 
But  I  rose  alive  and  went  to  the  house  of  my  teacher,  while 
I  praised  God  who  had  preserved  me.  Then  from  this  I 
rose  and  went  to  learn  the  exposition  of  the  sacred  books. 
I  remained  in  this  study  ten  years;  and  I  studied  the 
books  as  the  Franks^  explain  them  and  also  as  the  teach- 
ers of  our  own  land  explain  them.  But  their  expositions 
much  of  the  time  did  not  agree  with  my  mind ;  yet  I  kept 
silent,  and  hid  all  my  thoughts  in  my  mind.  And  after 
this  I  returned  and  was  content  in  my  own  land  in  Axum; 
and  I  began  to  teach  books  for  four  years.  But  this  time 
was  an  evil  time;  for  in  the  nineteenth  year  of  the  reign 
of  Socinius  Abuna  Alphonso  came  from  the  race  of  the 
Franks,  and  after  two  years  there  came  terrible  folly  upon 
all  the  land  of  Ethiopia;  for  the  king  accepted  the  faith 
of  the  Franks,  and  from  this  time  it  came  about  that  he 
drove  out  all  those  who  did  not  accept  the  faith. 

2Zema,  a  kind  of  chanting.     SKene,  hymn  singing. 

4Sawasawa,  another  kind  of  chanting. 

5"The  Franks"  are  the  Portuguese  Jesuits  who  entered  Abyssinia  In   1592. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  ZAR'A  YA'KOB  283 

Chapter  II 
But  when  I  was  in  my  own  country  and  had  taught 
books  (there)  many  of  my  companions  hated  me.  For  at 
that  time  friendship  was  lost  and  jealousy  seized  them; 
for  I  was  esteemed  greater  than  they  in  my  teaching  and 
my  friendship,  and  I  was  at  peace  with  every  man,  with 
Franks  and  with  Copts.  And  when  I  had  taught  and 
interpreted  books,  I  used  to  say,  "So  and  so  the  Franks 
say,  and  so  and  so  the  Copts."  But  I  did  not  say,  "This  is 
good,  but  that  is  bad";  rather  I  would  say,  "All  these 
things  are  good  if  we  are  good."  And  on  account  of  this 
they  all  hated  me.  And  to  the  Copts  I  seemed  like  a 
Frank,  and  to  the  Franks  I  seemed  like  a  Copt.  And 
many  times  they  accused  me  before  the  king,  but  God  pre- 
served me.  And  then  there  came  a  certain  enemy  from 
the  priests  of  Axum,  whose  name  was  Walda  Yohannesa; 
and  he  was  a  friend  of  the  king :  for  by  a  deceitful  tongue 
the  friendship  of  kings  is  won.  And  that  perfidious  man 
went  before  the  king  and  said  about  me,  "Truly  the  man 
makes  the  people  go  astray,  and  says  to  them,  *We  ought 
to  rise  on  behalf  of  our  faith  and  kill  the  king  and  drive 
out  the  Franks.'  "  And  with  such  like  words  he  accused 
me  a  great  deal;  but  as  for  me  I  found  out  this  in  time, 
and  I  was  afraid,  and  I  took  three  ounces  of  gold  that  I 
had  and  the  book  of  the  Psalms  of  David  with  which  I 
might  pray,  and  I  fled  by  night,  not  revealing  to  anybody 
where  I  was  going.  And  I  came  to  the  land  across  the 
river  Takkazi.  And  on  the  second  day  hunger  took  me, 
so  I  set  out  in  fear  and  went  to  ask  for  bread  from  the 
owners  of  the  country.  And  they  gave  me,  and  I  ate,  and 
went  on  in  the  flight.  And  so  I  did  many  days.  And 
when  I  came  toward  Shoa  I  found  a  plain  where  nobody 
lived.  And  under  a  high  cliff  was  a  beautiful  cave;  so  I 
said,  "I  will  remain  here  where  men  do  not  know  about 
me."  And  I  stayed  there  two  years,  even  till  the  death  of 
Socinius.  But  from  time  to  time  I  used  to  go  out  and 
walk  to  the  market,  or  to  one  of  the  districts  of  Amhara. 
And  I  seemed  to  the  people  of  Amhara  a  hermit-monk 


284  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

who  begged  alms;  and  they  gave  me  that  I  should  eat. 
And  nobody  knew  where  I  returned.  And  when  1  was 
alone  in  my  cave  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  was  in  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven,  for  I  hated  remaining  with  men,  as  I 
knew  their  wickedness  that  is  beyond  measure.  And  I 
made  my  cave  more  beautiful  by  a  surrounding  wall  of 
thicket  to  prevent  wild  animals  from  devouring  me  at 
night,  and  I  made  a  way  out  so  that  I  might  escape  if  men 
came  seeking  me.  And  there  I  remained  in  peace.  And 
I  prayed  with  all  my  heart  with  the  Psalms  of  David,  and 
I  hoped  that  God  would  hear  me. 

Chapter  III 
And  when  I  was  without  anything  to  do  after  my 
prayer,  I  used  every  day  to  consider  the  confusion  and 
wickedness  of  men,  and  the  wisdom  of  God  their  Creator, 
who  is  silent  while  men  do  wickedly  in  his  name  and  per- 
secute their  companions  and  kill  their  brethren.  For  in 
those  days  the  Franks  were  mighty  in  violence,  but  the 
Franks  were  not  alone  for  the  men  of  our  land  were  worse 
than  they.  Those  who  accepted  the  faith  of  the  Franks 
used  to  say,  "The  Copts  deny  the  true  faith  of  the  seat  of 
Peter  and  (so)  they  are  enemies  of  God."  Therefore 
they  persecute  them.  And  the  Copts  do  the  same  for  their 
faith.  And  as  I  thought  I  said,  "If  God  is  the  Saviour  of 
men,  why  is  their  nature  so  corrupted?  And,"  I  said, 
"does  God  know?  And  is  there  one  in  heaven  who  knows? 
And  if  there  is  one  who  knows,  why  is  he  silent  concerning 
the  wickedness  of  men  when  they  defile  his  name  and  act 
wickedly  in  his  holy  name?"  And  I  thought  much,  but 
[  came  to  no  certain  knowledge.  And  I  prayed  saying, 
"O  my  God  and  my  Creator,  who  hast  made  me  a  think- 
ing being  and  caused  me  to  know  thy  hidden  wisdom, 
give  light  to  my  eyes  that  my  soul  may  not  sleep  in  death." 
Thy  hands  have  made  me  and  formed  me.'  For  almost 
had  my  foot  gone  and  my  steps  slipped.^  And  this  task  is 
before  me."  These  and  like  words  I  kept  praying;  but 
one  day  I  thought  to  myself,  "To  whom  am  T  praying? 

ePs.  13:3.      7Ps.  119:73-      8Ps.  73:2- 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  ZAR'A  YA'KOB  285 

And  is  there  a  God  that  hears  me?"  With  this  thought  I 
was  very  sad,  and  I  said,  "Therefore  have  I  justified  my 
vain  heart,  as  David  says.""  And  afterwards  I  considered 
how  David  had  said  this,  "Shall  he  who  set  his  ear  hear 
nothing?"'"  And  I  said,  'Tn  truth,  who  gave  me  ears  that 
I  might  hear?  And  who  made  me  a  thinking  person? 
And  how  did  I  come  into  this  world?  And  from  where 
did  I  come?  For  1  was  not  before  the  world,  nor  do  I 
know  the  beginning  of  my  life  nor  the  beginning  of  my 
understanding.  Who  then  made  me?  Or  was  I  made  by 
my  own  hand?  But  1  was  not,  when  I  was  created.  And 
if  I  say  my  mother  and  father  made  me,  then  the  maker  of 
my  parents  must  be  sought;  and  of  their  parents,  back  to 
the  first  (people)  who  were  not  born  like  us  but  who 
came  to  this  world  in  another  way  without  being  born. 
For  if  they,  too,  were  born,  I  do  not  know  where  is  the 
origin  of  their  birth,  unless  I  say  that  He  who  created 
them  from  nothing  is  one  life,  who  was  not  created,  but 
who  lives  and  shall  live  to  all  eternity,  Lord  of  all,  all- 
embracing,  without  beginning,  never  ending,  never 
changed,  whose  years  cannot  be  thought."  And  I  said, 
"Therefore  there  is  a  Creator,  for  if  there  were  not  a  Cre- 
ator, the  creatures  would  not  be  found.  For  we  are,  and 
we  are  not  creators  but  creatures,  and  we  ought  to  say  that 
it  is  the  Creator  who  made  us.  But  this  Creator  who  made 
us  thinking  and  rational — is  he  not,  we  ask,  thinking  and 
rational?  For  from  the  fulness  of  his  understanding  he 
made  us  rational,  and  he  knows  all  things  for  he  made  all 
and  embraces  all."  And  I  said,  "My  Creator  hears  me 
when  I  pray  to  him."  And  I  prayed  with  great  hope,  and 
I  loved  my  Creator  with  my  whole  heart,  and  I  said, 
"Thou,  O  Lord,  knowest  all  the  thoughts  of  my  heart, 
even  the  most  hidden,  for  verily  thou  knowest  all  things, 
past  and  future;  and  all  my  ways  thou  first  hast  known. 
Because  it  is  said,  'Thou  knowest  the  hidden  thing;  for 
God  knowest  my  thoughts  from  before  I  was  created.'  "'' 
And  I  said,  "O  my  Creator,  make  me  to  understand." 

9Ps.    73:    13.         lOPs.    94:9-        llPs.    139:2. 


286  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Chapter  IV 

And  after  I  thought  I  said,  ''Are  all  things  that  are 
written  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  true?"  And  I  considered 
much,  but  I  did  not  exactly  know.  And  I  said,  "I  will  go 
that  I  may  ask  learned  men  who  have  made  investigation, 
and  they  will  tell  me  the  truth."  But  then  I  considered 
and  said,  "What  will  men  answer  me  except  what  is  in 
their  hearts?  For  all  men  say,  'My  faith  is  right,  and 
those  who  believe  in  another  faith  believe  in  wickedness 
and  they  are  enemies  of  God.'  And  now  the  Franks  say, 
'Our  faith  is  good  but  yours  is  bad.'  And  we  answering 
say  to  them,  'Not  so:  but  your  faith  is  bad  and  our  faith 
is  good.'  And  also  the  Moslems  and  the  Jews,  if  we  ask 
them,  tell  us  likewise;  and  in  this  dispute  who  shall  be 
the  judge?  Not  one  of  the  children  of  men,  for  all  men 
are  accusers  and  defenders  among  themselves."  Now  I 
had  previously  asked  a  certain  Frankish  doctor  concerning 
many  questions  of  our  faith;  but  he  explained  everything 
according  to  his  faith.  And  afterwards  I  asked  a  certain 
great  doctor  of  Ethiopia ;  but  he  explained  everything  ac- 
cording to  his  faith.  And  if  we  ask  the  Moslems  and  the 
Jews,  they  likewise  explain  according  to  their  own  faith. 
So  where  will  I  find  one  who  will  explain  in  truth?  For 
as  my  faith  seems  true  to  me  so  the  faith  of  another  seems 
true  to  him.  Yet  truth  exists.  When  I  had  considered  all 
these  I  said,  "O  wisest  of  the  wise,  and  most  just  of  the 
just,  my  Creator  who  hast  made  me  a  thinking  being,  make 
me  wise,  for  neither  wisdom  nor  justice  is  found  among 
men.  But,  as  David  says,  'All  men  are  liars.""" 

Chapter  V 

But  to  the  one  who  inquires,  the  truth  is  quickly  laid 
bare.  For  he  who  inquires  with  the  pure  mind  which  the 
Creator  has  placed  in  the  heart  of  man,  considering  the 
order  and  laws  of  creation,  he  shall  find  the  truth.  Moses 
said,  "I  am  sent  from  before  God  that  I  may  tell  you  his 
will  and  law";"    but  those  who  came  after  him  added 

i2ps.   ii6:  II.       inCf.    Ex.   3:  13. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  ZAR'A  YA'KOB  287 

chronicles  of  portents  which  were  done,  they  said,  in  the 
land  of  Egypt  and  in  Mount  Sinai,  and  they  made  it  seem 
truly  the  words  of  Moses.  But  to  one  who  inquires  they 
do  not  seem  true.  For  in  the  book  of  Moses  there  is  found 
a  false  wisdom  which  does  not  agree  with  the  wisdom  of 
the  Creator  nor  with  the  order  and  laws  of  creation.  For 
by  the  will  of  the  Creator  and  the  laws  of  the  creation  it 
is  commanded  that  man  and  woman  be  joined  in  a  union 
of  the  flesh  for  the  begetting  of  children,  in  order  that  the 
children  of  man  may  not  perish.  And  this  union  which 
God  commanded  mankind  in  the  law  of  creation  cannot 
be  impure;  for  God  does  not  make  impure  the  work  of 
his  own  hands.  But  Moses  said  that  all  union  was  impure. 
Nevertheless  our  intelligence  shows  us  that  he  who  says 
these  things  is  deceitful  and  constitutes  the  Creator  him- 
self a  liar.  But  now  they  say  that  the  law  of  Christians  is 
from  God,  and  miracles  are  found  to  prove  this.  But  our 
intelligence  says  to  us  and  proves  to  us  that  marriage  is 
according  to  the  law  of  the  Creator;  but  monasticism 
makes  vain  the  law  of  the  Creator  because  it  prevents  the 
bringing  forth  of  children  and  causes  human  creation  to 
perish.  And  the  law  of  Christians  when  it  says  that  mo- 
nastic life  is  better  than  marriage  speaks  a  lie,  and  it  is  not 
from  God.  For  how  can  that  which  destroys  the  law  of 
the  Creator  be  better  than  his  wisdom?  And  can  the  coun- 
sel of  men  improve  the  doing  of  God?  And  likewise  Mo- 
hammed (said),  "From  God  I  received  what  I  command 
you."  And  the  books  of  miracles  do  not  fail  to  prove  the 
mission  of  Mohammed,  and  people  believe  it.  But  we 
know  that  the  teachings  of  Mohammed  cannot  be  from 
God.  For  mankind  is  born  equal  in  number,  male  and 
female.  And  if  we  count  the  males  and  females  living  in 
any  part  of  the  earth,  one  wife  is  found  for  every  man,  but 
there  are  not  found  eight  or  ten  females  for  each  man  be- 
cause the  law  of  creation  commands  that  one  man  marry 
one  woman.  But  if  one  man  marries  ten  wives,  nine  are 
left  who  have  no  wives.  Thus  he  upsets  the  order  of  the 
Creator  and  the  laws  of  creation,  and  he  makes  vain  the 


288  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

purpose  of  marriage.  Mohammed  who  taught  in  the 
name  of  God  that  it  is  right  for  one  man  to  marry  many 
women,  is  a  liar,  and  he  was  not  sent  from  God.  So  these 
few  things  I  inquired  into  concerning  the  law  of  marriage. 

Chapter  VIII 

Now  the  will  of  the  Creator  is  known  to  us  by  the  brief 
word  of  our  reason  which  says  to  us,  "Worship  God  thy 
Creator,  and  love  all  men  as  thyself."""*  Then  again  in  the 
words  of  our  reason,  "Do  nothing  to  men  that  thou  wish- 
est  them  not  to  do  unto  thee;  but  do  to  them  what  thou 
wishest  them  to  do  to  thee.""^  Besides  this,  the  Ten  Words 
of  the  Pentateuch  are  the  will  of  the  Creator,  except,  how- 
ever, the  honoring  of  the  Sabbath,  for  concerning  the 
honoring  of  the  Sabbath  our  reason  is  silent.  But  that  we 
should  not  kill,  nor  steal,  nor  lie,  nor  go  to  (another) 
man's  wife — what  is  like  these  our  reason  tells  us  we 
ought  not  to  do.  Thus  the  Six  Words  of  the  Gospel  are 
the  will  of  our  Creator:  for  we  .ourselves  wish  men  to  do 
us  this  mercy,  and  we  ought  to  do  for  others  as  we  are 
able.  Furthermore,  it  is  the  will  of  our  Creator  that  we 
preserve  our  life  and  existence  in  this  world.  For  by  the 
will  of  the  Creator  we  came  and  we  remain  in  this  world, 
and  we  ought  not  to  give  it  up  except  at  his  holy  will. 
And  the  Creator  himself  desires  that  we  improve  our  life 
with  knowledge  and  with  work,  for  he  hath  given  us  our 
reason  and  ability  for  this  purpose.  Therefore  manual 
labor  is  the  will  of  the  Creator,  for  without  it  the  neces- 
sities of  life  are  not  found.  Likewise  is  the  marriage  of 
one  man  with  one  woman  and  the  bringing  up  of  children. 
And  there  are  also  many  other  matters  which  are  in  ac- 
cord with  our  reason,  and  are  necessary  for  our  life  or  for 
the  existence  of  all  living  people.  And  we  ought  to  guard 
them,  since  this  is  the  will  of  the  Creator.  And  we  ought 
to  know  that  God  has  not  made  us  perfect  but  has  made  us 
rational  and  we  ought  to  become  perfect  so  that  we  may  be 
so  while  we  are  in  this  world,  and  may  become  worthy  of 

23Cf.   Mt.  22:37-39.       -<I,ukc  6:31. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  ZAR'A  YA'KOB  289 

the  reward  that  our  Creator  in  his  wisdom  is  preparing 
for  us.  Though  it  would  be  possible  for  God  to  create  us 
perfect  and  to  make  us  blessed  even  in  this  world,  never- 
theless he  did  not  wish  to  make  us  so,  but  he  made  us  so 
that  we  ought  to  be  perfect,  and  he  set  us  among  the  temp- 
tations of  this  world  to  become  perfect  and  worthy  of  the 
reward  that  our  Creator  is  going  to  give  us  after  we  die. 

Chapter  XI 

And  in  the  year  1625  after  the  birth  of  Christ  the  king 
Socinius  died,  and  his  son  Fasiladas  ruled  in  his  stead. 
And  he  at  first  loved  the  Franks,  as  his  father  did,  but  he 
did  not  persecute  the  Copts.  And  there  was  peace  in  all 
the  country  of  Ethiopia.  Then  1  came  out  from  my  cave, 
and  I  went  first  into  the  land  of  Amhara;  then  1  crossed 
to  Bega-Land.  And  to  all  the  enemies  of  the  Franks  I 
seemed  to  be  one  of  the  monks  who  had  fled  in  the  days  of 
Socinius;  therefore  they  loved  me  and  gave  me  food  and 
clothing.  And  when  I  came  from  place  to  place  I  did  not 
wish  to  return  to  Axum,  for  I  knew  the  wickedness  of  the 
priests.  And  I  remembered  that  with  God  the  way  of 
man  is  established,  and  I  said,  "Lead  me,  O  God,  in  the 
way  wherein  I  go  and  in  the  land  wherein  I  shall  remain." 
And  I  thought  that  I  would  cross  over  and  live  in  the 
land  of  Goza,  but  God  led  me  where  I  did  not  expect. 
For  on  a  certain  day  I  came  to  the  land  of  Enferez,  to  a 
certain  rich  man  whose  name  was  Habtu,  that  is  "Gift  of 
God,"  and  I  remained  there  for  one  day.  And  on  the  next 
day  I  requested  of  him  pen  and  tablet  that  I  might  send 
letters  to  my  family  who  were  in  Axum.  And  he  said  to 
me,  "Canst  thou  write?"  And  I  said,  "Yes,  I  can  write." 
And  he  said  to  me,  in  reply,  "Stay  with  me  for  a  few  days 
and  write  out  for  me  the  Psalter  of  David ;  and  I  will  pay 
thee."  And  I  said,  "Yes,"  and  in  my  heart  I  thanked  God 
w.ho  had  showed  me  the  way  that  I  might  earn  the  fruit 
of  my  labor.  For  I  did  not  wish  to  return  to  my  home; 
nor  did  I  wish  to  teach  falsehood,  and  if  I  taught  the 
truth,  men  would  not  hear  me  but  would  hate  me  and  ac- 


290  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

cuse  me  and  persecute  me.  But  I  wished  to  remain  in 
peace  and  friendship  with  all  men.  And  I  preferred  to 
enjoy  the  fruit  of  my  labor  and  to  be  let  alone  by  man; 
and  to  stay  apart  with  the  wisdom  that  God  gave  me 
rather  than  to  remain  in  the  house  of  sinners.  And  in  a 
few  days,  having  arranged  pen  and  paper,  I  wrote  out  one 
book  of  the  Psalter  of  David.  And  Lord  Habtu,  and  all 
those  who  saw  my  writing  admired  it,  for  it  was  beautiful. 
And  Lord  Habtu  gave  me  my  pay,  a  beautiful  garrhent; 
and  later  the  son  of  Habtu,  whose  name  was  Walda 
Mika'el,  said  to  me,  "Write  for  me,  also,  as  thou  hast  writ- 
ten for  my  father."  And  I  wrote  and  he  gave  me  a  cow 
and  two  goats.  And  after  that  many  came  to  me,  and  I 
wrote  the  Book  of  David,  and  other  books  and  letters,  for 
besides  me  there  was  none  else  in  that  country  who  could 
write,  and  they  gave  me  clothes,  goats,  salt,  grain,  and 
other  such-like  things.  Now  Lord  Habtu  had  two  little 
boys,  and  the  name  of  the  one  son  was  Walda  Gabre'el, 
who  was  called  Tesamme,  and  the  name  of  the  other  was 
Heywat,  who  was  called  Metku.  And  their  father  Habtu 
said  to  me,  "Teach  them  in  the  reading  of  David,  and  I 
will  give  thee  pay,  food  sufficient  for  thee.  And  whatever 
writing  of  thy  own  hand  thou  dost  gain,  it  shall  be  thine." 
And  I  said,  "So  be  it,  O  my  father;  all  that  thou  dost 
command  I  will  do.  Only  be  to  me  instead  of  my  father 
and  my  mother  and  my  family,  for  except  thee  I  have  no 
family." 

Chapter  XH 
But  I  knew  that  man  ought  not  to  remain  alone  without 
a  wife,  for  in  this  way  he  is  drawn  into  sin;  and  man 
ought  not  to  remain  in  a  way  that  is  not  according  to  his 
nature  lest  he  be  ensnared  in  the  wrongs  that  he  does.  As 
it  was  said  long  ago,  "It  is  not  good  that  man  live  alone, 
but  a  wife  is  needed  for  him."  And  I  said  to  Lord  Habtu, 
"I  am  not  a  monk,  but  I  appear  so  because  of  the  evil 
time."  And  there  was  a  certain  maiden  of  his  whose  name 
was  Hirut,  who  was  not  beautiful  but  was  good  at  her 
tasks  and  intelligent  and  patient.     And  I  said  to  Lord 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  ZAR'A  YA'KOB  291 

Habtu,  ''Give  me  this  maiden  that  she  may  be  my  wife." 
And  Lord  Habtu  answered,  "Yes;  from  this  time  she 
shall  be  not  my  slave  but  thy  slave."  And  I  said,  "Not  my 
slave,  but  she  shall  be  my  wife;  for  man  and  woman  are 
equal  in  marriage,  and  they  ought  not  to  be  lord  and  slave, 
for  they  are  one  flesh  and  one  life."  And  Lord  Habtu 
replied,  "Verily  thou  art  a  man  of  God;  do  according  to 
thy  will."  And  we  called  this  maiden,  and  I  said  to  her, 
"Wilt  thou  be  my  wife?"  And  she  said,  "As  my  lord 
wishes."  And  Lord  Habtu  said,  "Truly  I  wish  it."  Then 
she  said  to  me,  "Thou  art  good  to  me;  where  is  there  one 
better  than  thou?"  And  we  said  to  Lord  Habtu,  "Bless 
us,  O  our  father."  And  he  said,  "May  God  bless  you  and 
protect  you,  and  give  you  health  and  love,  through  long 
life;  and  may  he  give  you  children,  together  with  riches 
of  this  world,  and  may  he  protect  you  from  evils."  And 
we  said,  "Amen,  Amen."  So  Hirut  was  my  wife,  and  she 
loved  me  deeply,  and  was  very  happy;  for  before  she  had 
been  ill  treated  in  the  house  of  Habtu,  and  the  men  of  his 
house  always  troubled  her.  And  because  she  loved  me, 
I  received  her  into  my  heart,  trying  to  please  her  in  every 
way  I  could,  and  I  thought  that  there  was  never  another 
marriage  so  strong  in  love  and  so  blessed  of  God  as  was 
ours.  Now  I  still  had  two  ounces  of  gold  that  were  left 
from  what  I  took  with  me  when  I  fled  from  Axum.  And 
by  the  writing  of  my  hand  I  earned  cattle  and  goats  and 
clothes.  And  I  built  a  small  house  near  Lord  Habtu,  and 
I  lived  there  with  my  wife  in  love.  But  she  spun  day  and 
night  while  I  wrote  and  taught  the  children  of  Habtu  and 
the  other  boys  who  were  there.  And  Lord  Habtu  gave  me 
one  bushel  (or  taif )  each  month  because  I  taught  his  sons. 
And  so  I  lived  with  my  wife  in  love  and  happiness  for 
four  years,  but  no  children  were  born  to  me ;  but  then  she 
conceived  and  bore  a  son  on  the  eleventh  of  (the  month) 
Tekemt,  in  the  evening,  in  the  1631st  year  after  the  birth 
of  Christ.  And  we  were  made  happy  in  our  son.  And  I 
named  him  with  my  father's  name,  Basaga-Habta-Egzi'- 
abher. 


292  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

And  after  three  years  Abuna  Alphonso  went  to  his  coun- 
try, and  all  his  enemies  rose  up  and  his  friends  were  driven 
out  with  him.  And  at  that  time  in  all  districts  the  teachers 
were  searched  out  who  taught  and  agreed  with  the  ancient 
doctrine,  and  my  family  who  were  in  Axum  sought  me 
that  I  might  return  to  my  heritage  and  teach  books  in 
Axum  as  before.  For  I  seemed  to  men  to  have  fled  the 
real  persecution  which  was  because  of  Abuna  Alphonso. 
And  they  sent  to  me  and  said,  "Return  to  us,  for  your 
enemies  are  perished  and  your  friends  remain."  And  I 
answered  saying,  "I  have  no  enemy,  nor  any  friend  ex- 
cept that  man  of  God,  my  Lord  Habtu  and  his  children 
and  my  wife,  and  I  will  not  leave  them.  But  do  you  re- 
main in  peace;   I  cannot  come  to  you." 

And  that  hypocrite,  my  enemy,  Walda  Yohannes,  who 
had  previously  accused  me  before  King  Socinius,  after 
Abuna  Alphonso  went  away,  returned  to  the  faith  of  the 
Copts ;  but  he  had  no  faith  except  what  at  any  time  served 
his  ends.  And  for  his  great  perfidiousness  he  then  went  to 
the  king  and  became  a  friend  to  him,  Fasiladas;  for  kings 
love  the  faithless  and  hypocritical.  And  Walda  Yohannes 
heard  that  I  was  in  peace  in  the  land  of  Enferez,  and 
again  he  began  to  accuse  me,  saying,  "He  is  a  teacher  of 
the  Franks,  who  secretly  teaches  the  doctrine  of  the 
Franks,"  and  he  said  this  to  the  governor  of  Enferez.  But 
I  was  in  much  trouble  on  account  of  his  perfidy,  for  at 
first  he  said  regarding  me,  "He  is  an  enemy  of  the  Franks," 
and  later  he  said,  "He  is  their  friend."  And  in  the  sad- 
ness of  my  heart  I  said,  "May  God  tear  out  their  evil  lips." 
And  I  prayed  many  days  with  Psalm  34,  "Strive  with 
them,"  and  Psalm  108,  "Lord,  be  not  deaf  to  me."  And 
God  heard  me;  for  that  man  was  set  to  rule  over  a  large 
part  of  Dambeya,  and  the  men  hated  him  and  killed  him 
and  his  corpse  was  found  in  his  own  house;  but  his  mur- 
derer was  not  found.  And  another  man  took  his  province 
and  his  goods. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  ZAR'A  YA'KOB  293 

Chapter  XIII 
And  in  the  r635th  year  after  the  birth  of  Christ  there 
was  a  great  famine  in  all  the  country  of  Ethiopia  and  a 
mighty  pestilence  on  account  of  the  sins  of  our  people  and 
on  account  of  the  lack  of  friendly  love.  For  those  who 
had  accepted  the  faith  of  Socinius  and  of  Abuna  Al- 
phonso  had  formerly  persecuted  and  killed  their  brothers 
who  had  not  accepted  their  faith.  But  those  who  had 
been  driven  out  repaid  their  enemies  sevenfold  and  killed 
many  of  them.  And  among  them  all  it  was  clearly  shown 
there  was  no  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes,  nor  did  they 
know  the  way  of  peace.  And  for  nothing  were  they  called 
Christians,  for  Jesus  Christ  before  all  else  and  above  all 
else  commanded  of  Christians  mutual  love.  But  this  mu- 
tual love  is  altogether  wiped  out  among  those  who  are 
called  Christians,  and  all  of  them  sin  against  their  broth- 
ers and  devour  one  another  is  food  is  eaten. 

Chapter  XIV 
And  one  year  later  Lord  Habtu  died  ;  and  we  mourned 
deeply,  and  were  very  sorrowful.  But  he,  before  he  died, 
called  us  to  him  and  said,  "Behold,  I  am  dying.  May  God 
protect  you  and  bless  you.  And  do  thou  be  father  to  my 
children."  And  he  gave  to  me  two  oxen  and  a  mule,  and 
to  my  wife  he  gave  two  cows  with  their  calves.  And  he 
said  to  us,  ''Pray  for  my  soul."  And  he  died  in  the  peace 
of  God.  May  his  blessed  soul  rest  in  peace!  So  we  bur- 
ied him  with  great  honor.  And  his  eldest  son,  whose 
name  was  Walda  Mika'el,  loved  me  as  his  father,  and  lis- 
tened to  my  counsel.  And  his  wife  was  named  Walatta 
Petros,  though  she  was  called  Fantaya;  and  she  was  hon- 
ored among  the  honored  of  the  land,  and  she  was  skillful 
and  was  filled  with  friendliness  and  humility.  And  she 
loved  us  as  a  mother  loves  her  children.  And  the  two 
sons  of  Habtu,  Tesamma  and  Metku,  grew,  and  learned 
to  read  David ;  and  Metku  also  learned  writing  and  sawa- 
sew  and  books;  and  he  was  associated  with  me  in  learn- 
ing and  in  great  love.    And  he  knew  all  my  secrets  and 


294  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

nothing  was  hidden  from  him.  And  through  my  love  for 
him  I  have  written  these  few  matters  because  he  has  many 
times  asked  me. 

Chapter  XV 


And  remaining  with  men  1  seemed  to  them  to  be  a 
Christian;  but  in  my  heart  I  did  not  believe,  except  in 
God,  the  Creator  of  all  things  and  the  Protector  of  all, 
as  he  made  me  to  understand.  And  I  thought  and  I  said, 
"Am  I  condemned  of  sin  before  God,  because  I  seem  to 
be  what  I  truly  am  not,  and  thus  deceive  people?"  But 
I  said,  "Men  wish  that  they  may  be  deceived,  and  if  I  lay 
bare  to  them  the  truth  they  will  not  hear  me,  but  they  will 
hate  me  and  persecute  me,  and  there  is  no  use  in  my  laying 
bare  my  thoughts  but  there  is  much  hurt.  Therefore  I 
will  remain  before  men  like  one  of  them  but  I  will  be  be- 
fore God  as  he  has  given  me  knowledge."  But  in  order 
that  those  who  come  after  me  may  know  me,  I  wish  to 
write  down  these  things  which  I  have  kept  to  myself  until 
my  death.  And  if  there  be  found  after  my  death  a  wise 
and  inquiring  man,  I  ask  that  his  thoughts  be  added  to 
mine.  Truly  I  began  to  inquire  into  what  had  not  before 
this  been  considered.  And  do  thou  finish  what  I  have 
begun,  in  order  that  the  men  of  our  land  may  become  wise, 
with  the  help  of  God,  and  may  arrive  at  the  knowledge  of 
truth;  and  that  they  may  not  believe  in  lies  nor  trust  in 
wickedness,  nor  go  from  vaip  thing  to  vain  thing;  but  that 
they  may  know  the  truth,  and  love  their  brothers,  and  may 
not  quarrel  over  their  vain  faith  as  they  do  even  till  now. 
And  if  there  be  found  an  understanding  man  who  knows 
these  matters  and  is  eminent  in  them,  and  teaches  and 
writes,  may  God  give  to  him  according  to  his  heart.  And 
may  he  accomplish  for  him  all  his  desire,  and  may  he 
satisfy  him  with  his  good  gifts  without  limit  even  as  he 
has  satisfied  me.  And  may  he  be  granted  happiness  and 
blessing  upon  the  earth  as  I  have  been  granted  happiness 
and  blessing  even  till  this  day.  But  he  who  has  spoken 
evil  upon  me  on  account  of  this  book,  may  he  not  have 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  ZAR'A  YA'KOB  295 

desire  to  understand  right  living;    may  God  grant  his 
recompense.    Amen. 

The  End  of  the  Book 

This  Zar'a  Ya'kob,  who  is  Warke,  wrote  in  the  sixty- 
eighth  year  of  his  life,  when  Fasiladas  died  and  Yohannes 
ruled.  And  after  he  wrote  this  book  Zar'a  Ya'kob  lived 
twenty-five  years  to  a  good  old  age,  loving  God  our  Cre- 
ator and  praising  him  day  and  night;  and  he  was  greatly 
honored.  And  he  saw  his  children  and  his  grandchildren. 
And  his  son  Habtu  had  five  sons  and  four  daughters  of  his 
wife  Madhanit.  And  all  the  days  of  Zar'a  Ya'kob,  that  is, 
Warke,  were  ninety-three  years  and  he  was  not  sick.  And 
he  died  with  great  faith  in  God  our  Creator;  and  one 
year  later  his  wife  also  died,  and  she  was  buried  with  her 
husband.  May  God  receive  their  souls  in  eternal  peace! 
And  his  son  and  his  grandchildren  were  honored  in  our 
land,  and  were  found  in  the  blessing  of  their  father;  and 
their  abode  was  not  sufficient  for  them  for  the  number  of 
their  cattle,  and  part  of  them  went  down  into  the  valley 
to  the  family  of  their  mother,  and  there  they  lived.  Be- 
hold, thus  is  the  man  blessed  who  fears  God.  May  God 
bless  us  with  the  blessing  of  my  father  Habtu  and  with  the 
blessing  of  Zar'a  Ya'kob!  For  I  am  very  old;  and  I  have 
advanced  in  age  and  grown  old :  but  I  have  not  seen  a 
just  man  neglected,  nor  his  seed  lacking  bread,  but  blessed 
is  he  forever.  And  I,  Walda  Haywat,  who  am  called 
Metku,  have  added  these  few  words  to  the  book  of  my 
teacher  that  you  may  know  that  his  end  was  happy.  But 
concerning  my  wisdom,  which  God  has  made  me  to  know, 
and  which  Zar'a  Ya'kob  taught  me  during  fifty-nine  years, 
behold,  I  also  have  written  a  book  to  teach  and  to  warn  all 
the  children  of  Ethiopia.  May  God  give  them  under- 
standing, and  wisdom'  and  love,  and  may  he  bless  them 
forever  and  ever.    Amen. 

(translated  by)  Moses  Bailey. 

Jerusalem,  Palestine. 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN 
NATIVE  LAW*— II 

3.  FULANI  LAW.  The  Fulani  being,  as  has  been  said, 
a  Mohammedan  tribe,  it  is  natural  that  their  laws  should 
show  traces  of  that  religion.  Among  the  more  interesting 
of  these  are  the  following: — 

Whenever  a  Mosque  has  to  be  built,  or  requires  renovat- 
ing and  reroofing,  the  chief  informs  the  towns  and  villages 
within  his  jurisdiction.  They  must  then  send  labourers 
to  collect  the  necessary  materials.  The  chief  is  bound  to 
provide  food  and  shelter  for  the  work  people. 

Any  person  disobeying  the  summons  of  the  chief  calling 
his  people  together  for  the  purpose  of  working  on  the 
farms,  will  be  fined,  and  may  be  placed  in  the  stocks. 
For  a  second  olTense  he  can  be  sent  to  another  chief  who 
has  the  power  to  compel  him  to  work  on  his  own  farm. 

When  a  child  is  given  a  name,  a  sheep  must  be  killed, 
and  sufficient  rice  cooked  to  feed  the  people  attending  the 
ceremony.  The  head  of  the  child  must  be  shaved  in  or- 
der to  legalize  the  name. 

When  the  people  gather  together  for  any  religious 
festival,  such  as  Ramadan,  the  chief  of  their  town  or  vil- 
lage must  supply  them  with  food  and  shelter. 

Every  child  must  learn  the  Koran  and  must  also  be 
taught  honesty,  the  meaning  of  charity,  and  how  to  pray. 

When  an  Alpha  is  ordained,  the  principal  men  of  the 
town  or  village  must  gather  together  in  the  Mosque. 
After  the  ceremony  the  chief  is  obliged  to  provide  meat 
and  rice  for  those  who  attend  it. 

No  person  must  attend  prayers  in  a  Mosque  on  Friday 
until  he  has  washed  himself. 

If  a  person  laughs  in  a  Mosque  during  prayers  or 
causes  a  disturbance  therein,  or  behaves  in  an  unseemly 
manner,  or  interrupts  the  service  without  cause,  he  will  be 
flogged  in  public  immediately  after  the  service  is  over. 

♦Continued  from  April  issue. 

296 


INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN  NATIVE  LAW    297 

When  the  celebration  of  the  Feast  of  Lesser  Bairam 
takes  place,  the  people  must  proceed  to  the  field  for 
prayers,  and  afterwards  give  alms  to  the  Alphas,  the  chil- 
dren and  the  poor. 

At  the  Feast  of  the  Greater  Bairam  sheep  must  be  killed 
and  shared  with  the  Alphas,  the  children  and  the  poor. 

The  religious  beliefs,  customs,  and  institutions  of  the 
tribes  of  equatorial  Africa  are  so  deeply  rooted  that  the 
Moslem  priests  have  a  difficult  task  to  convert  them. 
Nevertheless,  they  continue  to  make  progress.  At  first 
the  Moslem  invasion  beat  in  vain  against,  and  failed  to 
penetrate,  the  understanding  of  the  peoples,  many  of 
whom  are  secluded  from  outside  influence  by  the  impene- 
trable depths  and  fastness  of  their  country.  But  gradu- 
ally the  Malams  have  found  a  way  in,  and  are  obtaining 
more  influence  and  more  hold  over  the  lives  and  minds  of 
the  heathen  peoples. 

The  Mohammedans  have  not  been  content  with  an  in- 
vasion from  the  north  and  east,  but  are  sending  their 
teachers  along  the  West  African  littoral,  where  they 
quietly  and  unostentatiously  disembark  at  the  various 
ports,  and  penetrate  the  hinterlands  of  the  Colonies  and 
Protectorates  of  the  Great  Powers.  Their  work  has  been 
made  easier  since  the  opening  up  and  partition  of  Africa. 
For  now  they  are  able  to  travel  by  means  of  the  roads  and 
railways  which  have  been  built  by  the  Colonial  Govern- 
ments, and  which  enable  them  to  journey  with  ease  and 
impunity  from  place  to  place,  and  cover  considerable 
distances  in  comparatively  limited  time.  These  Malams 
are  now  to  be  met  with  nearly  everywhere,  even  in  the 
remote  savage  and  almost  inaccessible  regions  of  the  still 
unexplored  countries.  They  wear  flowing  robes,  consist- 
ing of  a  white  shirt,  covered  with  black,  blue,  or  different 
coloured  gowns.  Over  the  ordinary  loincloth  they  wear 
a  pair  of  baggy,  moorish-looking  breeches,  having  a  very 
loose  seat,  but  fitting  tightly  over  the  calves.  A  sleeved 
shirt  is  worn  over  the  breeches,  and  over  this  again  comes 
the  voluminous  bubar,  which  is  an  exaggerated  copy  of 


298  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

the  Egyptian  jubha/i.  This  baggy  sleeved  biibar  is  a 
large  garment  with  many  folds,  having  a  hole  in  the 
middle  of  it  for  the  head.  There  is  a  deep  opening  cut  in 
the  front  which  shows  the  white  shirt  worn  beneath. 
They  wear  sandals  of  wood  or  leather  upon  their  feet, 
and  these  are  fastened  by  means  of  leather  thongs  or  grass- 
fibre,  which  are  passed  over  the  instep  and  inside  the  big 
toe.  For  head  cover,  they  wear  a  round  cap,  which  fits 
tightly  to  the  head  like  the  fez  of  northern  Africa.  They 
invariably  wear  an  oblong  or  oval-shaped  amulet  round 
the  neck,  the  larger  ones  being  suspended  from  a  leather 
necklace  outside  the  clothing. 

Some  Malams  often  carry  a  leather-thonged  whip,  now 
a  symbol  of  gentility ;  but  which,  in  former  days,  was  used 
for  the  purpose  of  flogging  or  intimidating  slaves.  These 
Moslem  priests  are  careful  of  their  appearance;  proud  of 
their  membership  of  a  great  religion;  devout  in  the  ob- 
servance of  the  ceremonies  of  their  faith;  and  have  a 
secret  contempt  for  the  followers  of  any  other  religion 
but  their  own.  Many  of  them  combine  their  teaching 
work  with  trade,  petty  or  otherwise.  In  a  number  of 
places  they  work  in  iron  and  leather,  and  are  clever  at 
turning  out  all  kinds  of  leather  work.  They  make  sword- 
scabbards,  dagger-sheaths,  bags,  sandals,  saddles  and 
their  trappings,  artistic  coverings  for  spear  handles, 
bottles,  tins  and  other  receptacles.  They  obtain  a  large 
sale  for  their  little  leather  charm  bags,  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  which  are  scattered  all  over  Africa.  These  often 
contain  a  small  piece  of  paper  upon  which  are  written 
words  from  the  Koran,  and  they  are  highly  prized  by  the 
natives  to  whom  they  are  sold. 

The  methods  by  which  the  Moslem  leaders  are  teaching 
and  spreading  their  religion  and  law  in  Africa  are  simple, 
although  they  are  by  no  means  carrying  out  their  cam- 
paign in  a  haphazard-  manner,  but  systematically,  and 
upon  a  widely  spread  organized  plan.  They  work  singly, 
in  two's  or  three's,  or  more;  a  number  of  Malams  being 
allotted  to  certain  areas  and  countries.     They  appear  to 


influf:nce  of  islam  on  African  native  law  299 

have  little  difficulty  in  traveling  through,  and  staying  in, 
the  most  savage  and  uncivilized  districts.  During  my 
travels  in  Africa,  I  have  met  them  in  the  hinterlands  of 
Sierra  Leone,  the  Gambia,  the  Ivory  Coast,  the  Gold 
Coast,  Togo,  Dahomey,  Nigeria;  in  the  wildest  and  least 
known  regions  of  Liberia  and  Portuguese  Guinea. 

A  few  years  ago  upon  entering  a  remote  Pagan  town 
in  the  upper  Bussi  country  in  the  Liberian  hinterland, 
where  the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  had  never  before 
seen  a  white  man,  1  observed  the  Mohammedan  priest  sit- 
ting quietly  in  a  little  hut  meditating  over  his  script. 
These  people  are  nearly  always  polite,  although  some- 
times a  little  sullen;  but  there  is  the  feeling  that  under- 
neath lies  a  smouldering  hostility  towards  the  European 
of  a  different  creed. 

These  Moslem  priests  are  singularly  successful  in 
ingratiating  themselves  with  the  people.  They  live 
among  and  mix  with  them,  enter  into  their  lives,  and  do 
what  they  do.  They  are  quick  at  adapting  themselves  to 
their  surroundings;  and  they  are  assisted  by  the  fact  that 
there  is  no  racial  antagonism  or  contrast  between  them 
and  the  peoples  of  Africa  of  their  own  colour.  Knowing 
the  suspicious  and  conservative  nature  of  the  tribes  occu- 
pying the  vast  territories  comprising  the  forest  belts  of 
equatorial  Africa;  knowing  too  that  their  lives  and  cus- 
toms are  governed  by  their  belief  in  a  spiritual  world, 
which  is  their  religion,  the  Malams  do  not  scruple  to  lie 
and  play  upon  the  superstition  of  the  people,  if  this  will 
help  them  to  gain  a  point.  They  invariably  inculcate 
the  habit  of  bringing  the  idea  of  God  into  the  chief  events 
of  daily  life.  Upon  all  occasions  they  work  to  implant  in 
the  mind  of  the  heathen  side  by  side  with,  if  not  in  place 
of,  the  primitive  belief  in  a  particular  spirit,  the  thought 
of  God.  They  teach  them  to  use  the  name  of  God  upon 
all  occasions,  at  meals,  at  ceremonies,  and  during  their 
work.  Their  teaching  is  at  first  quite  superficial;  but 
when  they  get  better  acquainted  with  the  inhabitants,  the 
instruction  becomes  more  detailed  and  intense,  but  the  es- 


300  THE  MOSLKAl  WORLD 

sence  and  real  power  of  their  teaching  is  in  the  simplicity 
of  their  creed.  Their  cry  "there  is  no  god  but  Allah, 
and  Mohammed  is  the  prophet  of  Allah,"  needs  no  elabo- 
ration and  little  explaining.  It  is  easily  remembered,  and 
the  meanest  intellect  can  retain  it.  The  teachers  take  care 
that  there  is  but  slight  demand  made  upon  the  moral  fac- 
ulty, and  spare  their  pupils  as  much  trouble  as  possible  in 
their  lessons. 

These  priests  make  themselves  indispensable  to  the 
chiefs,  and  thereby  secure  privileges  for  the  people  of 
their  own  faith.  After  a  little  time,  impressed  by  the  wis- 
dom of  the  Malam,  the  chief  talks  to  him  about  political 
and  tribal  matters,  and  consults  him  upon  questions  of 
law.  He  is  almost  afraid  to  practice  his  own  religion  in 
the  presence  of  Mohammedans;  and  therefore  soon  be- 
comes ashamed  of  it,  then  neglects,  and  finally  abandons  it. 
He  begins  to  sympathize  with  the  new  faith,  talks  about  it 
with  his  people,  and  by  degrees  adopts  the  stately  dress 
and  ways  of  Islam.  The  Malam  explains  to  him  about 
the  Unity  of  God,  condemns  idolatry,  and  promises  para- 
dise to  all  believers.  He  expatiates  upon  the  efficacy  of 
amulets,  adding  that  their  use  has  been  sanctioned  by 
Allah.  He  talks  about  the  superiority  of  the  Moham- 
medans over  the  Christian  white  men;  and  does  not  fail 
to  impress  upon  his  listeners  that  Moslem  influence  is 
increasing  all  over  Africa  and  the  world. 

When  a  Mohammedan  priest  first  enters  a  country  with 
which  he  is  unacquainted,  he  will  make  his  way  towards 
the  principal  town  where  the  paramount  or  ruling  chief 
resides.  To  do  this  he  will  probably  have  to  pass  through 
many  towns  and  villages,  each  possessing  a  minor  or  sub- 
chief,  owing  allegiance  to  the  paramount-chief  of  the 
country.  One  of  the  first  things  a  Malam  does  upon 
entering  such  a  town,  is  to  seek  out  the  sub-chief,  and  tell 
him  that  he  is  a  stranger  on  his  way  to  deliver  an  import- 
ant message  to  the  "big  father"  or  paramount-chief.  He 
will  doubtless  introduce  himself  as  a  Mohammedan;  and 
after  some  conversation,  will  hint  that  he  possesses  occult 


INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN  NATIVE  LAW   301 

powers,  is  a  diviner  and  maker  of  magic,  and  knows  the 
law.  Having  thus  impressed  his  host,  he  will  ask  for 
food  and  shelter;  and,  if  necessary,  for  permission  to  re- 
main in  the  village  for  a  few  days.  He  will  sometimes 
ofifer  the  chief  a  small  present.  He  is  never  in  a  hurry; 
and  if,  as  is  often  the  case,  he  is  unable  to  speak  the  lan- 
guage of  the  people,  he  will  be  accompanied  by  an  inter- 
preter, who  is  generally  a  small  boy  who  lives  near  or  in 
the  country  through  which  he  is  passing.  Or  the  Malam 
may  be  a  trader,  carrying  his  modest  wares  in  a  small  box; 
and  he  would  then  get  permission  from  the  chief  to  sell 
them  to  the  people. 

Remaining  in  the  village  for  a  few  days,  or  perhaps  for 
weeks,  he  would  doubtless  in  that  time  have  ingratiated 
himself  with  the  chief,  learnt  from  him  much  about  the 
afifairs  of  the  country;  and  incidentally  about  the  para- 
mount-chief himself.  He  might  also  have  succeeded  in 
making  a  few  converts.  If  that  happens  his  difficulties 
are  greatly  diminished,  for  he  would  then  have  the 
services  or  the  support  of  one  or  more  of  the  local  people, 
who  would  by  then  have  at  least  learnt  by  heart  the  re- 
frain: "La  ilaha  ilia  'llah;"  ''there  is  no  god  but  God!" 
^Wa  Mohammed  Rasul  Allah,"  "and  Mohammed  is  the 
apostle  of  God." 

After  arriving  at  the  last  village  before  the  capital  is 
reached,  it  is  possible  that,  if  the  Malam  considers  him- 
self to  be  an  important  person,  he  will  request  the  chief 
of  the  village  to  send  and  inform  the  paramount-chief 
that  he  is  coming,  and,  incidentally,  put  in  a  friendly 
word  for  him. 

This  is  more  or  less  the  procedure  that  is  adopted  by 
thousands  of  these  traveling  Moslems  over  a  considerable 
portion  of  tropical  Africa.  During  the  Malam's  journey 
towards  the  principal  town,  he  might  have  passed  through 
dozens  of  villages;  and  although  he  may  not  sleep  at 
many  of  them,  he  makes  it  his  business  to  seek  out  the 
chief  and  spend  a  little  time  with  him  in  conversation.  If 
the  country  through  which  he  is  passing  happens  to  be  at 


302  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

war,  or  in  a  disturbed  state,  he  has  to  proceed  more 
cautiously.  Arriving  at  the  first  village,  he  will  en; 
deavour  to  impress  his  importance  upon  the  people;  and 
point  out  to  them  that  during  his  journeys  through  other 
countries,  he  has  invariably  received  the  assistance  and 
hospitality  of  all  the  big  chiefs.  This  last  is  a  most  im- 
portant point,  because  the  natives  invariably  argue  that  if 
a  traveler  or  stranger  has  come  so  far  unharmed,  and  is  a 
friend  of  the  big  chiefs  in  the  countries  through  which  he 
has  passed,  they  must  certainly  continue  this  help  and 
hospitality,  for  not  to  do  so  might  bring  trouble  upon 
them.  Therefore,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  the  Malam  will 
pass  unscathed  amidst  the  most  barbaric  peoples  and 
through  the  wildest  country,  receiving,  if  not  help  and 
hospitality,  at  least  no  obstruction  from  the  inhabitants. 

Arriving  at  the  capital,  he  will  inquire  if  there  are  any 
other  Moslems  in  the  town.  If  so,  he  will  seek  them  out; 
and,  although  unknown  to  them,  will  be  received  as  a 
brother,  and  be  told  by  them  all  the  local  gossip,  etc.,  of 
the  place.  If  there  is  no  other  Mohammedan  there,  he 
will  make  his  presence  known  to  the  paramount-chief  as 
soon  as  possible,  hand  him  a  small  present,  ask  for  per- 
mission to  remain  and  possibly  trade,  adding  that  he  has 
brought  important  news,  which  he  will  impart  to  the 
chief  in  due  course.  The  news  will  consist  of  the  gossip 
of  the  countries  through  which  he  has  passed;  and  above 
all  he  will  not  fail  to  mention  the  great  power  and  won- 
ders of  the  Moslem  faith  how  it  is  overcoming  every  ob- 
stacle, and  so  forth. 

Having  ingratiated  himself  with  the  chief,  he  will 
retire  to  his  hut,  unpack  his  humble  belongings,  and  prob- 
ably go  to  some  stream  nearby  to  wash  after  his  journey. 
Before  attempting  any  serious  preaching  or  teaching,  the 
Malam  may  remain  quietly  in  the  town  for  weeks,  making 
himself  known  to  the  people,  saying  his  prayers,  and  at- 
tending to  his  religious  duties  regularly  in  public.  He 
will  also  make  every  efTfort  to  gain  the  confidence  of  the 
elders  and  principal  people.     After  some  little  time  he 


INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN  NATIVE  LAW   30:? 

may  have  obtained  a  small  following,  built  a  Mosque,  and 
started  a  school  for  some  of  the  young  children.  His 
interpretations  of  the  teachings  of  the  Koran  are  always 
put  forth  simply;  and  the  points  that  he  first  makes  are 
those  most  likely  to  appeal  strongly  to  the  minds  of  the 
rulers  and  satisfy  their  conscience.  He  will  mention  that 
the  sacred  laws  allow  the  keeping  of  slaves;  that  polyg- 
amy is  permitted;  that  the  laws  of  his  creed  are  practi- 
cally the  same  as  their  laws ;  that  all  strangers  who  are  not 
Mohammedans,  including  Europeans,  must  be  regarded 
with  suspicion;  and  that  the  institution,  ceremonies,  and 
secret  societies  of  the  country  will  not  be  interfered  with 
by  his  teachings;  and,  finally,  that  behind  them  is  God, 
and  "Mohammed  is  the  Apostle  of  God." 

The  African  being  a  litigious  person,  the  fact  that  Islam 
is  closely  interwoven  with  law,  also  appeals  to  the  minds 
of  the  people;  for  the  relationship  between  their  law  and 
religion  is  close.  Religion  and  law  in  some  form  or  other 
has  such  a  firm  grasp  upon  the  mind  of  the  native,  that 
nearly  all  his  institutions,  most  of  his  actions,  and  prac- 
tically all  his  ceremonies,  are,  in  more  or  less  degree, 
influenced  by  them. 

The  African  looks  upon  the  wonders  of  the  universe 
with  an  indolent  eye,  and  an  uncultured  mind,  perceiving 
that  it  consists  of  matter  which,  his  religion  teaches  him,  is 
permeated  with  spirit.  The  Mohamrnedan  tells  him  that 
this  spirit  is  ruled  by,  and  is,  in  fact,  God.  In  Africa  life 
to  the  pagan  means  spirit;  to  the  Moslem  it  means  God. 
In  the  pagan's  belief  everything  is  done  by  the  spirits 
working  within  matter.  His  own  actions  are  guided  and 
sometimes  compelled  by  the  good  or  bad  spirit  dwelling 
within  him.  In  war,  if  he  is  wounded,  or  his  weapons 
break,  and  his  guns  miss  fire,  it  is  the  spirits  that  have 
caused  the  mischief.  Or  these  spirits  have  been  adversely 
influenced  by  other  and  more  powerful  spirits,  or  by 
witchcraft,  which  is  a  different  form  of  the  same  thing. 
An  enormous  number  of  Mohammedans  in  Africa  hold 
more  or  jess  the  same  animistic  beliefs.     The  African  will 


304  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

gaze  into  a  river  and  ask  the  spirit  there  to  allow  him  to 
cross  it  safely;  or  if  he  has  an  enemy,  he  appeals  to  the 
spirit  to  cause  his  death  when  he  attempts  to  cross  the  river. 
He  regards  death  as  the  action  of  an  evil  spirit  which  has 
got  the  better  of  man,  and  sickness  and  disease  are  put 
down  to  the  same  agency.  The  Moslem  agrees,  adding 
that  God  has  influenced  these  spirits.  As  magic  is  the 
religion  of  ordinary  life  there  is  often  but  little  difference 
between  the  Moslem  and  heathens.  The  former's  use  of 
amulets  and  their  pilgrimages  to  the  graves  of  the  de- 
parted are  a  means  of  obtaining  magic  powers. 

Of  these  numerous  spirits,  there  are  the  spirits  of  man, 
and  the  ghost  spirits,  who  have  no  material  body.  These 
are  the  beings  who  occupy  certain  territory,  and  who  allow 
no  person  to  enter  therein,  and  kill  them  if  they  try  to  do 
so.  Then  there  are  the  spirits  who  can  help  and  hinder 
man  and  his  affairs,  and  who  are  able  to  cause  sickness  or 
disease.  In  addition  to  these,  there  are  the  spirits  who 
are  inherited  from  ancestors,  who  belong  to  the  family, 
and  who  dwell  in  or  near  to  the  house  or  houses  of  that 
family.  Another  class  of  spirits  are  those  who  are 
capable  of  entering  into  and  taking  possession  of  some 
animal,  who  is  thereby  endowed  with  the  intelligence  of 
man.  If  the  spirit  of  a  man's  father  enters  some  savage 
or  destructive  animal,  the  former  dare  not  slay  it.  The 
creatures  and  spirits  who  are  able  to  hinder  man  and  his 
afifai  rs  are  those  who  give  power  to  witches.  These  can  also 
be  made  to  enter  and  dwell  in  charms.  The  ancestral  and 
protective  spirits  of  the  family  affect  the  law  of  property. 
A  great  deal  of  customary  law  of  the  heathen  tribes  is 
administered  through  means  of  this  spirit  world.  That 
is,  when  a  law  is  made  and  promulgated  its  infringement 
is  guarded  against  by  the  knowledge,  gained  by  experi- 
ence, that  to  break  it  would  insure  severe  punishment  at 
the  hands  of  the  spirit  world.  Fruit  trees,  and  many 
other  kinds  of  property,  are  effectively  protected  in  this 
way.  Charms  and  other  such  articles  believed  to  contain 
spirits,   and   which   have  passed   through  the   hands   of 


INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN  NATIVE  LAW    305 

the  priests,  are  placed  upon  them;  and  the  belief  in 
their  potency  is  such  that  no  one  would  dare  to  interfere 
with  the  property  which  they  are  intended  to  protect. 
When  the  Mendi  pass  a  law  in  the  Poro,  their  national 
society,  to  prohibit  the  cutting  of  the  fruit  on  certain  trees, 
or  against  fishing  in  certain  waters,  etc.,  the  sign  of  the 
Poro  is  placed  upon  or  near  them.  Poro  is  invariably 
placed  on  palm  trees  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year  to  pre- 
vent unauthorized  people  cutting  the  nuts  before  they  are 
ripe.  The  removal  of  the  Poro  is  carried  out  by  a  procla- 
mation, which  gives  the  date  for  its  removal.  The 
numerous  signs  which  are  used  to  represent  the  Poro  are 
believed  to  contain  spirits  having  the  power  to  uphold  the 
laws  made  by  the  tribal  authority,  and  punish  those  offend- 
ing against  them.  Not  only  would  offenders  be  punished 
by  means  of  these  spirits ;  but  they  would  also  be  reported 
to  the  chief,  who  has  the  authority  to  impose  a  fine,  or 
inflict  other  material  penalties. 

The  spirits  of  the  different  classes  are  sometimes  able 
to  do  the  same  work,  but  they  do  not  all  possess  the 
same  powers.  The  priests,  "medicine  men,"  or  "witch 
doctors,"  all  over  Western  Africa,  possess  powers  over  one 
or  more  classes  of  spirits;  and  are  able,  through  them,  to 
compel  the  population  to  obey  the  law.  They  make  in- 
numerable charms,  into  which,  after  various  ceremonies, 
the  spirit  is  induced  to  enter,  and  becomes  subject  to,  or 
is  influenced  by  the  owner  of  the  charm.  The  priests 
use  various  receptacles  for  the  purpose  of  housing 
these  spirits,  the  more  common  being,  antelope,  cows,  or 
goat  horns;  little  neatly  made  bundles  of  leaves,  fastened 
with  countrymade  twine;  and  small  leather  bags.  Into 
these  are  placed  various  ingredients  which  have  to 
undergo  certain  ceremonies  at  the  hands  of  the  priests. 
If  a  charm  is  made  for  the  purpose  of  containing  a  spirit 
that  will  work  some  evil  against  another  person,  it  must 
contain  some  object,  that  is  closely  connected  with  that 
person.  The  hair,  nails  or  blood  of  the  person  would  be 
necessary,  or  a  piece  of  cloth  that  has  been  in  immediate 


3o6  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

contact  with  his  body.  A  number  of  tribes  of  Western 
Africa  will  not  allow  their  hair  or  nail  parings  to  fall  into 
another  person's  hands  for  fear  of  the  evil  effects  that 
might  result  therefrom.  They  invariably  burn,  bury  or 
otherwise  destroy  them.  An  exception  of  this  is  made  by 
some  tribes  as  regards  women's  hair.  Among  the  Mendi 
and  Bandi,  a  girl's  hair  is  kept  by  her  mother  until  she 
grows  up,  when  it  is  handed  back  to  her.  She  keeps  it 
carefully  and  often  plaits  it  in  with  her  own. 

The  sale  or  barter  of  these  charms  is  enormous,  and  they 
are  used  for  almost  every  profession  or  wish  in  life,  such 
as  peace  or  war,  hunting,  farming,  fishing,  buying,  selling, 
hating,  loving,  marrying,  and  killing.  The  Moham- 
medan priests  being  as  great  believers  in  many  of  these 
charms  as  the  heathens  themselves,  take  advantage  of  the 
fact  that  among  most  Pagan  tribes  Moslems  are  regarded 
as  possessing  occult  powers,  and  they  sell  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  these  charms  to  the  people.  At  the  same 
time  many  of  them,  as  part  of  their  magicO-religious  work, 
impress  upon  the  buyer  that  the  power  of  the  particular 
spirit  in  the  charm  is  influenced  by  the  power  of  God. 

Moslems  will  wash  with  rice  water  their  Arabic  script; 
and  if  this  water  is  drunk  by  an  unbeliever,  it  will  convert 
him  to  the  true  faith.  A  woman  at  the  instance  of  a 
Malam,  will  place  a  little  of  the  water  in  which  she  has 
washed  in  the  food  or  drink  of  her  lover  in  order  to  in- 
crease his  afifection  for  her.  Mohammedans  will  often  be 
present  at  trials  by  ordeal,  and  when  the  culprit  has  been 
discovered,  will  inform  the  people  that  it  was  the  power 
of  God  which  caused  the  discovery  of  the  guilty  one. 
Both  men  and  women  will  consult  these  Moslems,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  ordinary  "medicine-men"  and  obtain  charms 
from  them  to  bring  about  certain  events  or  satisfy  their 
desires.  And  herein  lies  some  danger  for  the  white  man 
working  in  Africa,  whether  he  is  missionary,  trader,  or 
Government  official.  The  author  once  had  a  young  male 
cook  of  the  Sherbro  tribe,  who,  wishing  to  retain  his  situ- 
ation and  gain  the  confidence  and  affection  of  his  master, 


INFLUENCE  OF  ISLAM  ON  AFRICAN  NATIVE  LAW   307 

consulted  one  of  these  Moslem  priests,  or  Mori-Men. 
Upon  the  payment  of  a  fee,  this  cook  was  given  a  con- 
coction called  nessie,  with  which  he  had  to  wash,  and 
afterwards  allow  a  little  of  the  stuff  to  find  its  way  into 
his  master's  food.  The  power  of  God,  he  was  told,  would 
cause  the  nessie  to  work  satisfactorily.  Fortunately  the 
cook's  action  was  discovered,  and  he  was  prosecuted  and 
sentenced  to  a  term  of  imprisonment."*  The  Mori-Man 
who  afterwards  disappeared,  was  one  of  the  increasing 
number  of  itinerant  natives  who  have  been  converted  to 
Islam  in  the  hinterland  of  Sierra  Leone.  They  are  given 
the  name  of  Mori,  Moremo,  or  Moremoi,  this  being  a  cor- 
ruption of  the  word  Moor.  They  are  now  to  be  found 
nearly  everywhere  throughout  the  Protectorate,  and  are 
carrying  out  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  the  same  propa- 
ganda work  that  is  going  on  in  other  parts  of  Africa. 
Some  are  genuine  Mohammedans,  but  others  are  not, 
although  the  latter  pass  for  the  genuine  article.  Their 
practice  in  religion  is  an  outward  effort  to  adapt  them- 
selves to  the  more  popular  religious  society  in  dress;  by 
hanging  their  amulets  in  a  different  way,  and  by  the  mean- 
ingless repetition  of  a  few  simple  prayers.  They  are  here 
as  elsewhere  exercising  a  considerable  influence  over  the 
chiefs,  and  members  of  the  various  secret  societies;  and 
are  consulted  by  the  chiefs  in  many  matters  connected 
with  the  country  political,  legal  or  otherwise.  A  number 
of  them  pose  as  native  lawyers,  and  endeavour  to  intro- 
duce into  the  customary  laws  of  the  people  as  much  Mos- 
lem Law  as  suits  their  purpose.  Beatty  says,  "That  a 
feature  of  the  Sierra  Leone  hinterland  is  the  remarkable 
way  in  which.  Mohammedan  Mori-Men  are  associated 
with  every  form  of  magic,  medicine,  witchcraft,  secret 
society,  and  every  sort  of  trickery." 

The  population  of  Sierra  Leone  and  its  Protectorate  is 
now  approximately  1,500,000,  the  majority  of  the  tribes 
being  Pagan.  In  most  of  the  larger  towns  on  the  coast, 
there  is  a  considerable  Mohammedan  population.     There 

^Six  months  imprisonment  by  the  Commissioners  Court.     1903. 


3o8  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

are  five  Mohammedan  schools  in  Freetown,  with  800 
pupils. 

In  a  number  of  cases  that  have  come  to  my  notice,  and 
which  have  presented  some  difficulty  to  the  chiefs  and 
their  courts  to  decide,  one  or  more  of  these  Mori-Men 
would  be  consulted,  and  the  advice  given  by  them  would 
be  either  in  accordance  with  the  teachings  of  the  Koran, 
or  with  what  knowledge  they  possess  of  Mohammedan 
law,  or  their  own  interpretation  of  it. 

The  case  of  a  Mendi  widow  who  claimed,  under  the 
laws  of  her  country,  the  property  obtained  from  her  hus- 
band by  gift  during  his  lifetime,  and  also  the  retention  of 
the  property  she  had  secured  through  her  own  earnings, 
was  not  decided  by  the  chiefs,  until  it  had  been  referred 
to  certain  Moslems  for  their  opinions.  The  claimant  was 
not  free  born  when  she  married,  that  is,  she  was  in  law  a 
slave,  whose  husband  had  been  born  free.  According  to 
Mendi  law,  her  marriage  with  a  free  man  did  not  secure 
her  freedom,  although  the  children  of  the  marriage  would 
be  free.  Her  brother  by  the  same  father  and  a  free  born 
mother,  and  therefore  a  free  man,  became  a  Moham- 
medan, and  claimed  the  property  under  an  impediment  to 
succession.  The  impediment  under  consideration  was 
the  fact  that  the  claimant  was  a  slave.  There  are  four 
impediments  to  succession,  namely: — 

(i)   Servitude. 

(2)  Homicide. 

(3)  Difiference  of  religion;  and, 

(4)  Difiference  of  country. 

This  case  was  tried  in  the  court  of  Native  Chiefs  who 
could  not  agree;  and  it  was  referred  by  them  to  the  Mori- 
Men.  The  latter  advised  that  the  impediment  of  servi- 
tude was  established,  when  the  chiefs  gave  judgment  for 
the  brother,  who  secured  all  the  property.  It  may  be 
added  that  subsequently  the  property  obtained  through 
the  earnings  of  the  widow  was  restored  to  her  by  her 
brother.  MAJOR  C.  Br.aithwaite  Wallis. 

New  Orleans,  La. 


NOTES  ON  CURRENT  TOPICS 

A  New  Movement  in  Arabia 

• 

Writing  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  Dr.  Paul  W.  Harrison,  of  the 
Arabian  Mission,  describes  the  present  situation  in  Arabia  resulting  from 
the  aftermath  of  war ;  he  shows  that  the  equilibrium  at  the  present  mo- 
ment is  extremely  unstable.  "The  British  have  set  up  the  Shereef  of 
Mecca  in  his  present  position.  What  they  hoped  to  accomplish  by  his 
revolt  from  Turkish  rule  is  fairly  obvious.  Theoretically  the  Caliph, 
who  is  the  successor  of  Mohammed,  is  the  temporal  as  well  as  the  spir- 
itual ruler  of  all  Mohammedans,  and  actually  he  does  exert  an  enormous 
influence  over  them,  whatever  flag  they  may  be  under.  No  one  can  be 
Caliph  who  does  not  rule  over  the  Hejaz,  thus  acting  as  Warden  of  the 
Holy  Cities;  and  for  centuries  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  has  been  univer- 
sally recognized  by  Mohammedans  as  their  Caliph.  Now  if  the  Shereef 
of  Mecca  could  be  assisted  in  a  successful  revolt,  and  be  made  independ- 
ent, his  claims  to  the  Caliphate  would  be  far  stronger  than  those  of  the 
Sultan  of  Turkey,  inasmuch  as  the  Holy  Cities  would  be  in  his  hands. 
Therefore,  he  would  be  universally  acclaimed  as  Caliph  in  the  Sultan's 
place.  Just  what  military  advantage  would  have  accrued,  even  if  the 
scheme  had  proved  a  success,  it  is  not  easy  to  see.  It  is  possible  that  the 
task  of  picking  the  bones  of  the  Turkish  Empire  might  have  been  some- 
what more  pleasant,  inasmuch  as  the  strenuous  protests  of  t+ie  Moham- 
medans in  India  would  have  been  less  in  evidence. 

"Of  course,  it  did  not  succeed.  Nothing  but  the  stupidity  of  a  military 
commander  could  have  imagined  that  it  would.  The  Shereef  is  execrated 
in  India,  to  a  degree  almost  past  belief.  In  some  places  it  has  become 
a  disgrace  instead  of  an  honor  to  go  on  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca.  He 
is  held  in  semi-humorous  contempt  all  over  Arabia.  His  hopes  of  being 
acclaimed  as  Caliph  are  laughed  at  or  cursed,  according  to  the  temper  of 
the  individual  commenting  on  them.  Not  a  single  voice  of  approval  is 
heard  in  all  this  chorus  of  condemnation. 

"After  showing  the  reasons  for  this  failure  and  the  insecurity  of  the 
throne  of  the  Shereef,  he  describes  the  real  power  of  Arabia  as  residing 
in  "the  Achivan,  a  small  fanatical  brotherhood  of  Mohammedan  Puri- 
tans, who  had  for  their  object  the  training  of  the  Bedouins,  or  desert 
Arabs,  in  the  more  careful  observance  of  religious  rites.  Those  who 
qualified  as  teachers  wore  a  white  head-dress  as  a  badge  of  their  office. 
The  movement  spread  beyond  all  the  expectations  of  its  founders.  One 
of  its  cardinal  doctrines  is  that  raiding  or  looting  or  otherwise  injuring  a 
'brother'  is  a  crime  of  the  gravest  sort,  and  as  a  result  the  movement 
worked  as  a  steadily  strengthening  bond,  uniting  the  discordant  tribes  of 
inland  Arabia  into  a  coherent  and  fanatical  whole. 

"The  war  ended  with  a  totally  new  situation.  Turkish  and  German 
influence  are  gone.  For.  the  Arab  the  outside  world  is  composed  of 
Great  Britain  and  in  a  small  degree  of  France.  The  sheikhs  of  Bahrein, 
Kuweit   and    Oman    have   names   and    names   only.      They    are    negli- 

309 


310  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

gible  when  we  consider  the  present  situation.  As  things  stand  today, 
there  are  two  men  of  importance  in  Arabia.  One  is  the  Shereef  of 
Mecca,  whose  successful  revolt  from  Turkish  rule  was  really  a  British 
military  manoeuvre,  camouflaged.  The  Shereef  is  not  himself  a  leader 
of  force.  He  has  never  been  able  to  command  the  loyalty  of  his  own 
subjects,  to  say  nothing  of  the  turbulent  Bedouins  outside.  His  present 
success  and  position  are  the  result  of  British  gold,  and  of  very  little  else, 
if  Arab  opinion  can  be  trusted.  Just  how  much  money  has  been  spent 
on  the  Shereef,  it  is  not  possible  for  any  ordinary  man  to  say;  but  making 
all  possible  allowances  for  exaggeration  the  amount  must  have  been 
enormous. 

"The  other  man  in  Arabia  is  Bin  Saoud.  When  a  world  is  divided  be- 
tween two  men  each  anxious  for  all  of  it,  a  delicate  situation  is  created. 
Bin  Saoud  rules  pretty  well  all  Arabia  properly  so  called,  except  the 
small  strip  governed  by  the  Shereef  and  the  southern  coast.  The  fanat- 
ical inland  Bedouins  follow  him  with  a  devotion  that  is  past  all  descrip- 
tion. A  born  ruler  of  men,  he  has  succeeded  in  uniting  Central  Arabia 
as  it  has  not  been  united  for  centuries.  The  wild  Bedouins  of  the  desert 
and  the  more  mercenary  and  luxurious  Arabs  of  the  towns  are  alike  in 
their  loyalty.  Under  his  rule,  life  and  property  have  become  safe  and 
such  prosperity  is  enjoyed  as  Arabia  never  dreamed  of  before. 

"But  the  real  power  in  Arabia  is  held  by  neither  of  these.  The 
Bedouin  brotherhood  of  religious  fanatics  that  began  so  unostentatiously 
ten  years  ago  has  grown  like  a  green  bay  tree.  Thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  are  enrolled  under  its  banner  now.  However  imperfectly 
they  may  be  instructed  in  the  tenets  of  their  faith,  nothing  is  lacking  in 
their  fanatical  enthusiasm.  Bin  Saoud  is  their  political  and  religious 
head,  and  it  is  they  who  make  him  strong.  These  men,  in  their  furious 
desire  for  martyrdom  in  the  cause  of  God  bring  to  mind  the  lurid  days 
when  men  of  this  same  race,  inspired  by  the  same  sort  of  wild  fanaticism, 
threatened  to  carry  the  flag  of  Mohammedanism  over  the  whole  of  Eu- 
rope. Their  eagerness  for  martyrdom  seems  to  increase  with  their  in- 
creasing numbers." 

A  Mosque  for  Paris 

Recently  the  French  Parliament  voted  half  a  million  francs  for  the 
construction  of  a  Mosque  and  Mussulman  Institute  in  Paris.  The  So- 
ciety of  the  Habous  of  the  Holy  Places  of  Islam  was  entrusted  with  the 
building,  and  the  president,  Ben  Gabrit,  who  had  appealed  to  the  three 
French  colonies  of  Algeria,  Tunisia,  and  Morocco,  for  a  contribution  of 
iSOjOOof  each,  has  been  informed  that  there  will  be  no  diffiadty  in  rais- 
ing the  money.  Algeria  has,  in  fact,  nominated  an  imam  for  the  Mosque. 
So  that  the  Mosque  may  have  the  necessary  sacred  character,  Mussulman 
architects  will  furnish  the  plans.  The  Municipal  Council  will  give  the 
land,  and  it  is  expected  that  the  Mosque  and  Institute  will  be  built  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  Invalides.  The  Institute  will  contain  a  study-room 
for  Mussulman  students — who,  it  is  anticipated,  will  come  to  Paris  in 
greater  numbers — a  lending  library  of  French  and  Arab  books,  and  a 
lecture  hall.  There  will  be  another  room  reserved  for  exhibitions  of  the 
best  in  Oriental  art  and  industry.  The  Institute  will  be  managed  by 
distinguished  natives  of  Algeria,  Tunisia,  Morocco,  Equatorial  and  West 
Africa,  who  are  members  of  the  Society  of  the  Habous  of  the  Holy  Places 
of  Islam.    With  the  help  of  the  French  Government  the  society  has  es- 


NOTES  ON  CURRENT  TOPICS  311 

tablished  at  Mecca  and  Medina  hostels  for  Mussulmans  of  the  French 
colonies  who  make  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Cities  of  Mohammed, 

The  Awakening  in  Ibi 

The  Sudan  United  Mission  is  designed  to  work  among  pagans.  One 
station,  however,  mainly  for  administrative  reasons,  was  opened  at  Ibi, 
which  is  a  Mohammedan  town  of  recent  growth.  The  people  are 
chiefly  immigrant  from  the  Northern  Mohammedan  States,  or  pagans 
from  the  surrounding  districts  who  have  become  Mohammedan.  A  con- 
siderable number  of  the  people  have  been  slaves.  It  is  eleven  years  since 
the  station  was  opened,  and  for  a  large  part  of  that  time  little  impres- 
sion appeared  to  be  made  on  the  people.  They  were  personally  friendly 
(though  there  was  strong  opposition  to  the  Christian  faith)  and  rela- 
tions have  grown  still  more  cordial  with  the  j^ears,  but  the  number  of 
responsible  people  in  town  who  gave  their  hearts  to  Christ  was  small. 

In  the  past  year  a  change  has  taken  place  which  shows  promise  and 
makes  one  look  on  the  problem  of  winning  Islam  with  new  hope,  A 
considerable  number  of  people  are  now  interested  in  the  Christian  faith. 

The  change  in  Ibi  must  be  attributed  to  a  young  Mohammedan 
teacher,  Mohamma  Tera,  who  was  converted  in  the  autumn  of  1919, 
His  father  was  borh  a  pagan  but  was  converted  to  Islam  and  spared  no 
pains  to  ensure  that  his  son  should  be  educated  in  the  Mohammedan 
faith,  Mohamma  justified  his  father's  care  and  became  a  zealous  Mo- 
hammedan, His  scholarship  is  only  moderate  but  he  is  keen  witted, 
quick  in  repartee  and  shrewd  in  the  use  of  argument. 

He  was  in  contact  with  Christianity  for  about  eight  years  before  his 
conversion,  while  servant  to  a  European,  but  though  he  saw  a  true  Chris- 
tian life  being  lived,  he  did  not  swerve  in  his  allegiance  to  Mohammed. 
His  first  interest  in  Christianity  as  a  religion  for  a  black  man  was 
aroused  by  three  Christians,  friends  of  his,  working  in  a  town  some 
seventy  miles  from  Ibi.  The  interest  kindled  by  them  brought  Mo- 
hamma to  our  mission  stations  and  he  finally  settled  down  to  attend 
school  in  Ibi.  The  Scripture  lessons  in  school  greatly  interested  him, 
the  straightforward  narrative  of  the  Bible  being  very  different  to  the  in- 
volved and  frequently  meaningless  contents  of  the  Koran.  In  quite  a 
short  time  he  had  grasped  the  position  of  Jesus  as  Divine  and  a  Saviour 
and  accepted  Him  as  his  Saviour. 

From  the  first  he  preached  to  his  friends,  retelling  such  things  as  he 
had  heard  in  school,  Mohamma  Tera  came,  a  native,  bred  a  Moham- 
medan, now  believing  Christ  to  be  a  Saviour,  but  with  so  little  knowl- 
edge of  the  details  of  our  Christian  faith  that  in  his  early  preaching  he 
must  have  taken  his  ideas  largely  from  Islam,  and  at  once  there  was 
interest, 

Mohamma's  activity  grew  with  his  knowledge,  and  the  interest  dis- 
played by  the  people  grew  with  both.  It  was  noticeable  that  as  his 
knowledge  of  Christ  became  greater  his  appreciation  of  Mohammed  grew 
less.  At  first  Mohammed  was  a  great  prophet,  though  excelled  by  Jesus, 
who  was  divine.  Then,  as  the  clear  honesty  of  Jesus'  life  was  perceived, 
the  cunning  and  worldliness  of  Mohammed  were  seen,  and  he  was 
at  last  summed  up  as  only  a  successful  worldly  chief.  Quotations  from 
the  Koran,  at  first  used  as  of  unquestioned  authority,  were  later  used 
only  because  the  Mohammedans  accepted  them  as  authoritative. 


312  THE  MOSLEM,  WORLD 

His  great  positive  theme  was  "Christ  is  the  Son  of  God."  Criticism 
was  made  that  the  Atonement  was  left  out.  Mohamma  replied  that  the 
Mohammedans  knew  Jesus,  but  ranked  Him  as  only  one  of  the  prophets 
and  patriarchs,  and  that  as  such  His  death  would  mean  nothing.  When 
they  accepted  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  God,  then  His  death  would  be  a  very 
different  thing,  and  they  could  grasp  the  idea  of  atonement.  The  reply 
is  interesting,  as  giving  a  possible  Mohammedan  point  of  view.  ()ne 
should  not  lay  too  much  stress  either  on  the  omission  or  on  the  reply,  for 
at  the  time  Mohamma  was  still  comparatively  ignorant  of  the  Christian 
faith,  and  was  a  novice  at  preaching. — The  Light  Bearer. 

Girl  Scouts  at  Cairo 

A  writer  in  the  local  press  gives  the  following  version  of  a  song  for  the 
Girl  Scouts  in  Egypt.  The  society  was  formed  by  Mme.  Aiyisha 
Fakhrya,  and  the  composer  is  Khalil  Efifendi  Mutran,  an  Arab  poet.  It 
has  been  set  to  music  by  Gamil  Efifendi  Ezzat : 

"We  are  the  lights  of  intelligence, 
We  are  the  good  news  of  the  times. 
We  are  the  scouts  of  the  fatherland. 

"By  knowledge  and  virtues, 
By  nobility  of  character, 
We  are  the  scouts  of  the  fatherland. 

"By  purity  in  deed  and  thought, 
By  sublime  qualities. 
By  the  forces  we  prepare 
For  the  fatherland  to  be  great. 
We  are  the  scouts  of  the  fatherland. 

"By  sacrificing  ourselves 
That  the  fatherland  may  live  for  ever, 
Free  and  powerful, 
Honored  and  firm. 
We  are  the  scouts  of  the  fatherland." 

Government  and  Missions  to  Moslems 

The  policy  of  Government  was  stated  by  Colonel  Amery  in  the  last 
session  of  the  House  of  Commons,  in  reply  to  Mr.  Inskip,  as  wishing  the 
educational  and  Christianizing  work  of  Christian  missions  to  continue 
"except  in  Moslem  districts."  These  words,  combined  with  the  actual 
position  in  the  Northern  Provinces  of  Nigeria,  can  only  mean  that  Gov- 
ernment wishes  to  discourage  and  prevent  missionary  work  in  Moslem 
districts,  which  is  very  dififerent  from  the  policy  of  neutrality  which  used 
to  be  claimed  by  the  British  Government  and  which  is  loyally  accepted 
by  missionary  societies.  Dr.  Walter  Miller  has  pointed  out  that  the 
Government  has  not  been  able  to  preserve  Mohammedanism  from  dan- 
gerous disintegration,  and  has  only  succeeded  in  excluding  the  counter- 
acting beneficent  influence  of  Christianity.     He  writes: 

"I  find  everywhere  throughout  this  country  the  tenets  of  Islam  and  its  lead- 
ing precepts  being  overthrown.  Religious  observances  arc  breaking  down ; 
a  huge  wave  of  materialism,  unchecked  hy  the  stronger  influences  of  Chris- 
tianity, is  pouring  in  and  swamping  all  the  social,  moral,  and  religious  bul- 
warks of  the  land.  Thieving,  highway  robbery,  total  lack  of  commercial  or 
s.ocial  honor,  are  rapidly  and  dangerously  on  the  increase.  The  (lovernment 
of  Nigeria,  by  its  refusal  to  allow  the  purifying  influences  of  Christian  thought 


NOTES  ON  CURRENT  TOPICS  313 

to  come  in  with  the  inrush  of  material  prosperity  and  its  accompanying 
temptations,  has  precipitated  the  very  thing  it  tried  to  avoid.  A  leading  Mos- 
lem, a  member  of  one  of  the  oldest  Moslem  families  of  Nigeria,  said  to  me 
recently:     'Mohammedanism  as  a  real  power  for  good  is  dead.'" 

Major-General  Gray,  with  over  twenty  years'  experience  of  West 
Africa,  including  unofficial  membership  in  the  Gold  Coast  Legislative 
Assembly,  writes: 

"At  the  present  time  a  Christian  missionary  is  not  allowed  to  open  mission 
schools  or  to  preach  the  Gospel  in  the  principal  towns  of  Northern  Nigeria, 
whereas  Mohammedan  priests  can  preach  and  teach  all  over  the  country. 
English  has  not  been  taught  in  the  government  subsidized  schools.  The  con- 
sequence is  that  the  large  population  of  Northern  Nigeria  in  the  big  towns  are 
limited  to  Arabic  teaching.  What  this  means  can  be  understood  only  by  those 
who  have  a  knowledge  of  Egyptian,  Turkish,  and  Indian  affairs.  The  work- 
ing policy  of  the  Government  hitherto  has  been  to  prevent  English  instruc- 
tion being  given  to  the  population.  . . .  The  system  of  government  set  up  ia 
Nigeria  will  have  to  be  altered  at  the  root." 

— C.  M.  S.  Review. 

Alphabetical  Index  to  Arabic  Traditions 

We  have  received  a,  third  communication  from  Professor  A.  J.  Wen- 
sinck,  in  regard  to  the  Index  which  is  being  prepared  by  the  cooperation 
of  leading  Orientalists.  We  are  glad  to  share  it  with  our  readers,  espe- 
cially as  he  himself  writes  in  this  number  on  the  importance  of  the  study 
of  Tradition.    ■ 

"Since  the  appearance  of  the  second  communication  (The  Moslem 
World,  1918,  p.  216)  the  following  gentlemen  have  joined  the  work: 
Dr.  C.  van  Arendonk,  Leyden;  Rev.  R.  Bell,  Beattock;  Rev.  J.  Robert- 
son Buchanan,  Culrose;  A.  Fiick,  Frankfort;  W.  Neffening,  Frank- 
fort; Rev.  Brockwell  King,  Toronto;  F.  Krenkow,  Quorn;  Prof. 
Laughlin,  Toronto;  Dr.  L.  Mayer,  Berlin;  Prof.  Dr.  A.  Schaade, 
Hamburg;  Dr.  A.  S.  Sidiqi,  Aligarh;  F.  Taontal,  Cairo;  T.  U.  Weir, 
Glasgow. 

"Still  the  collaboration  of  more  Orientalists  remains  desirable.  Large 
parts  of  Bukhari's  text  have  been  treated.  Nearly  all  the  chapters  are 
being  prepared.  Of  the  other  collections  of  traditions  sundry  pieces 
are  finished. 

"It  appears  that  of  Darimi's  text  at  least  one  Oriental  edition  exists 
which  is  not  inferior  to  those  of  the  other  authors.  On  this  ground  as 
also  with  a  view  to  the  high  cost  of  printing.  Professor  Snouck  Hurgronje 
thinks  it  advisable  to  abandon  the  project  of  a  new  edition.  As  regards 
an  edition  of  Ibn  Madja,  a  decision  has  not  yet  been  arrived  at." 

A  Turkish  Writer  on  Sherwood  Eddy's  Visit 

The  Orient,  a  weekly  paper  published  at  Constantinople,  tells  of  the 
effects  of  Dr.  Sherwood  Eddy's  visit  in  Constantinople  as  follows : 

"To  Dr.  Sherwood  Eddy.  I  was  present  at  the  addresses  you  gave  on 
Thursday  afternoon  and  Friday  morning.  At  the  time  I  chanced  to 
go  to  hear  you,  I  confess  (bitter  as  such  a  confession  is  to  me)  that  like 
many  young  men  of  my  acquaintance  I  was  empty,  morally  useless,  a  non- 
entity ••  I  listened  in  deep  humility  as  you  spoke  of  those  three  priceless 
foundations  of  human  life, — character,  faith,  purity.  Such  feelings  were 
awakened  in  me  as  you  talked  of  these  and  of  your  own  and  others'  ex- 
7 


314  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

pericnces  concerning  them,  that  I  wish  to  tty  to  be  so  fortunate  as  to 
convey  to  you  my  feelings  of  gratitude.  The  three  things  that  bring 
about  internal  convulsions  in  nations,  the  three  cancerous  sores  in  po- 
litical and  social  life,  are  the  very  ones  you  treated, — lack  of  character, 
loss  of  faith,  and  impurity. 

"Our  national  development  from  a  small  tribe  to  a  powerful  race,  the 
securing  of  a  brilliant  place  in  history  through  the  might  of  our  swords 
and  shields,  have  not  been  by  a  miracle.  We  won  them  through  the  hopes 
generated  by  character,  through  the  strength  of  our  firm  faith,  and 
through  the  help  of  a  spotless  purity.  But  in  time,  our  ambition  to  excel 
made  us  forget  these  elements  of  a  people's  power,  and  we  fell  into  a 
whirlpool ;  we  were  unable  to  save  ourselves,  and  went  from  one  misfor- 
tune to  another.  No  hand  of  help  was  stretched  out  to  help  us,  and  we 
were  choked  in  the  smoke  and  the  mists  of  the  world,  till  at  last  we  came 
to  our  present  condition.  Now  you  say  to  us:  'If  you  wish  to  live,  and 
to  have  a  future,  it  is  not  too  late.  You  can  wake  from  the  torpor  of 
your  carelessness  by  getting  back  your  strength  of  character,  your  immov- 
able faith  and  your  ancient  purity.'  Yes,  if  there  is  one  thing  that  a  na- 
tion like  ours,  shaken  by  many  a  storm,  needs  to  do,  it  is  to  get  back  to  the 
virtues  it  used  to  have;  for  they  are  the  elements  of  social  strength,  and 
we  need  them  desperately.  These  cardinal  virtues, — character,  faith, 
purity, — we  must  lay  hold  of  them,  mingle  them,  and  make  from  them  a 
strong  moral  fibre  that  is  the  absolute  necessity  for  our  future  life. 

"You  say  again :  'Nations  rise,  flourish,  and  fall ;  but  they  may  rise 
again  and  once  more  become  great.'  Yes,  and  this  too  take  place  only 
by  attaining  character,  faith  and  purity.  This  character  we  shall  attain 
only  by  a  fierce  struggle  against  ourselves,  by  governing  our  thoughts  and 
passions.  This  strong  faith  we  shall  secure  by  paying  careful  attention 
to  our  holy  religion.  This  spotless  purity  we  shall  get  by  resisting  every 
impure  thought  and  stubbornly  fighting  the  activity  of  such  desires.  We 
shall  gain  the  right  to  live  only  by  building  on  these  foundations,  if  we 
would  be  a  nation  that  can  direct  its  own  destiny. 

"As  you  closed  your  address  and  left  the  hall,  I  felt  that  a  great  change 
had  come  over  me.  My  heart  beat  with  a  kindlier  human  interest,  my 
soul  was  filled  with  lofty  thoughts  and  desires,  my  mind  was  freed  from 
sinful  thoughts.  Your  answers  to  life's  problems  helped  me  to  be  strong, 
and  gave  me  a  new  start,  a  new  life.  Through  the  influence  of  your 
personality,  and  by  your  wonderfully  life-giving  words,  I  found  myself. 
I  can  never  forget  how  you  showed  me  my  real  self.  In  absolute  sin- 
cerity, you  became  the  faithful  interpreter,  during  those  two  intense 
hours,  of  the  things  I  wanted  to  think  out  and  could  not,  or  thought  of 
and  could  not  express.  As  you  spoke,  I  felt  that  the  person  talking  in 
front  of  me  was  not  you,  it  was  my  conscience  in  human  form,  it  was 
virtue  incarnate,  it  was  the  highest  humanity  represented  in  a  single  per- 
son. I  bow  in  respectful  acknowledgment  of  such  moral  greatness;  and 
henceforth  when  the  name  of  Dr.  Sherwood  Eddy  is  mentioned,  I  shall 
always  see  before  me  this  lofty  ideal." 

Educational  Needs  of  the  Near  East 

At  the  Liverpool  Congress  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  Lady 
Sykes,  well-known  for  her  work  of  exploration  and  her  books  on  the 
Near  East,  read  an  interesting  paper  on  the  educational  needs  of  the 
Near  East.     It  was  published  in  full  in  the  Tablet.     By  permission  of 


NOTES  ON  CURRENT  TOPICS  315 

that  paper  we  summarize  its  contents.  Even  those  who  do  not  agree 
with  all  the  positions  taken  will  heartily  agree  in  the  hope  expressed  for 
a  new  Near  East. 

"The  Christian  world,  as  we  know  it,  may  be  divided  into  two  great 
halves — Eastern  and  Western.  Broadly  speaking,  the  distinction  be- 
tween what  we  call  the  Western  Church  and  the  Eastern  Church  is  one 
of  Patriarchates;  that  of  the  West  having  the  Bishop  of  Rome  as 
Patriarch,  while  that  of  the  East  was  divided  into  three,  of  which  the 
Patriarch  of  Constantinople  was  the  chief;  both,  of  course,  recognized 
the  Pope  as  the  supreme  head  of  the  Church. 

"What  are  the  problems  of  the  Middle  East  that  have  to  be  solved 
by  those  who  stand  with  the  sword  of  victory  still  grasped  in  their  hands, 
looking  out  upon  a  shattered  world? 

"There  are  two  great  problems  to  face;  the  first  is  political,  and 
does  not  concern  us  here — it  is  to  bind  the  Turk  so  that  he  can  no  longer 
divide  Europe  against  itself;  the  second  is  to  redeem  from  bondage  the 
Asiatic  peoples  whom  the  Turks  have  oppressed.  That  is  our  concern. 
A  period  of  assistance,  sponsorship,  education  and  development  must  in- 
tervene before  these  peoples  can  hope  to  evolve  stable  and  self-supporting 
institutions.  During  this  period  life  and  property  must  be  secured: 
even  those  that  are  capable  of  self-government  are  incapable  of  self- 
defense.  These  Christian  bodies,  once  great  and  flourishing  communities, 
have  been  reduced,  through  centuries  of  barbarous  and  unprogressive 
tyranny,  to  subjugation  and  misery.  The  periodic  massacres  of  the  Ar- 
menian population  in  Asia  Minor  are  a  cause  of  shame  to  those  great 
Powers  who  upheld  the  Ottoman  Empire.  During  the  war  these  bar- 
barities were  renewed  with  horrible  cruelties,  and  not  only  the  Ar- 
menians, but  other  Christians — notably  the  Chaldeans — were  butchered 
unmercifully. 

"We  have  a  responsibility  towards  these  fellow-Christians  of  the  East 
from  which  we  cannot  escape.  Reduced  in  many  cases  to  a  mere  hand- 
ful, they  look  to  us  to  lift  them  out  of  the  darkness  of  despair  and  the 
fear  of  complete  annihilation.  Their  defense  from  the  foes  surrounding 
them  we  must  of  necessity  leave  to  the  politicians,  but  we  can,  by  con- 
stantly voicing  their  cause,  influence  in  their  favor  those  in  whose  hands 
the  government  of  our  Empire  now  rests.  Do  not  let  us  forget  that  the 
franchise  has  given  to  us  great  political  power,  which  we  can  use  for 
good  or  for  ill. 

"The  East  is  crying  out  towards  the  West  for  sympathy,  help,  and 
perhaps  eventually  for  reunion.  The  Protestant  religion  is  too  subver- 
sive of  all  their  theology  and  ideas  to  attract  them.  I  cannot  better  de- 
scribe this  than  by  relating  a  conversation  I  once  had  with  a  Syrian  gen- 
tleman at  Beirut.  He  had  been  educated  at  the  American  College,  and 
brought  up  as  a  Protestant.  He  said :  'There  are  two  sorts  of  men, 
warm-blooded,  such  as  men  and  animals,  and  cold-blooded  like  the  rep- 
tiles and  fishes.  The  Catholic  religion  is  warm-blooded,  but  the  Prot- 
estants, it  is  cold-blooded  like  the  fishes  be.'  In  the  past  I  travelled  much 
with  my  husband  in  Turkey,  in  Asia  Minor,  Syria  and  Palestine.  In 
most  of  the  larger  towns  were  to  be  found  American  missionaries  of  the 
uncompromisingly  severe  evangelical  type;  they  had  medical  missions, 
schools  and  colleges.  Self-sacrificing,  good  people,  with  unlimited  funds 
to  support  them,  but  always  carrying  with  them  that  calamity  of  creeds 
■* cold-blooded  like  the  fishes.' 


3i6  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

"To  Great  Britain  has  now  been  given  the  mandate  over  Mesopo- 
tamia and  Palestine.  To  the  Oriental,  the  Englishman  has  'Yellow  hair, 
blue  eyes,  and  is  a  Protestant';  they  always  describe  you  thus  on  your 
passport ;  you  may  say  you  are  a  Catholic  or  anything  else,  but  you  will 
always  be  put  down  as  a  Protestant.  The  administration  is  therefore  in 
Protestant  hands,  with  a  strong  dash  of  Indo-pro-moslemism,  if  I  may 
coin  a  word.  The  practical  problem  now  before  us  is,  how  can  the 
Catholics  of  Great  Britain  best  assist  in  the  education  of  these  peoples, 
and  in  the  reconstruction  of  the  Uniat  Churches  of  the  East?  To  my 
mind  it  is  our  bounden  duty  to  do  so.  The  young  generation  in  Palestine 
wants  to  learn  English,  which  has  come  to  mean  the  language  of  au- 
thority. They  will  go  to  English  schools;  if  we  don't  provide  Catholic 
schools  they  will  go  to  non-Catholic  schools.  We  well  know  with  what 
danger  to  their  faith.  The  situation  bristles  with  difficulties;  hitherto 
the  Catholic  education  has  been  in  the  hands  of  the  French  and  Italians; 
we  must  avoid  in  any  way  injuring  these  establishments,  for  they  have 
done  much  good  in  the  past,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  the  position  of  the 
Church  in  the  East  is  so  critical,  it  is  such  a  moment  to  be  seized,  that 
there  is  surely  room  for  all  the  united  Catholic  efiFort  of  the  West  to 
combine  in  this  great  work.  United,  the  Eastern  Church  would  be  so 
strong;  divided,  it  is  so  weak.  What,  then  can  be  done  to  strengthen  the 
Uniats'  position,  to  break  down  the  barriers  of  rivalry^  between  one  Uniat 
body  and  another,  to  weld  them  together  into  one  harmonious  whole? 
Father  Leighton,  who  was  chaplain  to  our  forces  in  the  East,  showed  me 
some  photographs  of  a  great  Corpus  Christi  procession  he  organized  at 
Bagdad  in  June,  19 19,  in  which  all  the  different  Uniats  took  part; 
never  had  they  been  brought  together  like  that  before,  never  before  had 
the  timid  Christians  dared  to  come  out  into  the  open ;  the  crowd  of 
respectful  Moslems  looking  on  was  a  proof  of  the  success  of  the  venture. 
Oh  for  more  courage  and  boldness  of  this  kind ! 

"What  then  are  the  special  and  immediate  needs?  A  seminary  under 
a  British  superior.  A  large  orphanage  to  cope  with  the  hundreds  of 
destitute  children  left  unprotected  and  starving  from  the  massacres  of 
Chaldeans  in  Northern  Mesopotamia.  Schools  for  boys  and  for  girls. 
It  is  of  vital  importance  that  we  should  not  let  all  the  English  education 
fall  into  non-Catholic  hands.  My  personal  bias  is  for  the  religious  orders 
in  this  work.  Nuns  of  the  teaching  orders  for  the  girls,  some  body  like 
the  Christian  Brothers  for  the  education  of  the  boys.  I  think,  too,  that 
great  help  might  come  from  America.  It  is  from  there  that  so  much 
money  and  so  many  Protestant  missionaries  have  flowed  to  the  East. 

"A  powerful  appeal  from  those  in  authority  launched  far  and  wide  into 
every  English-speaking  land — to  our  Colonies,  to  America,  from  which 
so  much  money  has  already  come,  but  scarcely  any  of  it  into  Catholic 
hands — would  surely  result  in  a  response  that  would  enable  a  central 
fund  to  be  formed  for  the  reconstruction  of  the  Uniat  churches  and 
schools. 

"I  have  a  vision  of  a  regenerated  East,  the  barren  deserts  of  Mesopo- 
tamia and  Syria  once  more  alive  with  a  teeming,  prosperous  population, 
the  great  cities  rising  again  from  their  ashes,  Armenia  restored  to  its 
former  greatness,  the  devastating  rule  of  the  Ottoman  Empire  swept 
away  and  the  church  bells  once  more  calling  the  faithful  to  Mass." 


BOOK  REVIEWS 

Studies  in  Islamic  Poetry.  By  R.  A.  Nicholson,  Litt.D.,  LL.D.  Cambridge 
University  Press.    26/-net. 

Our  only  grumble  against  this  book  is  really  based  on  the  fact,  which 
is  hardly  Dr.  Nicholson's  fault,  that  there  is  no  dual  number  in  the 
English  language.  One  opens  this  book  eagerly  expecting  to  find  a  de- 
lectable miscellany  of  subjects,  and  behold !  two  only;  or  we  might  even 
say,  one  and  a  bittock.  The  truth  is,  the  title  is  somewhat  misleading. 
With  the  exception  of  the  first  forty-two  pages,  the  book  is  entirely  de- 
voted to  a  single  subject,  the  study  of  the  great  nationalistic  poet  of  the 
Eleventh  Century,  Abu'l-'Ala  al  Ma'arri.  Those  other  forty-two  pages 
are  on  a  subject  totally  unrelated  to  this,  even  in  language,  namely,  "An 
Early  Persian  Anthology."  This  sort  of  loose  stitching  together  of  dis- 
proportionate and  non-assorted  brochures  under  some  plausible  general 
title  savours  of  "book-making,"  which  is  a  thing  makruh  if  not  hardm! 
From  every  point  of  view  therefore  we  could  have  wished  that  the  book 
had  been  entitled  simply  "A  Study  of  Al-Ma'arri."  The  author's  work 
in  this  subject  is,  both  in  quantity  (247  pp)  and  admirable  quality,  en- 
tirely worthy  of  a  book  and  a  title  all  to  itself. 

We  are  very  grateful  to  Dr.  Nicholson  for  his  admirable  work  on  a 
"modernist"  poet  of  nearly  a  millenium  ago,  who — with  others  of  the 
muta'akhkhirtn — has  been  badly  neglected  by  English  Orientalists,  though 
there  is  far  more  of  living  interest  in  his  writings  than  there  is  in  the 
much-vaunted,  much-studied,  and  much-commented-on  ancient  classics. 
Dr.  Nicholson's  method,  too,  is  most  helpful,  for  his  chapters  and  sec- 
tions are  arranged  along  the  line  of  the  different  aspects  of  Ma'arri's 
versatile  and  restless  thought,  each  section  containing  valuable  critical 
remarks  on  one  such  aspect,  together  with  illustrative  extracts  from  the 
Luzumiyyat,  excellently  selected  and  carefully  translated.  Inestimable 
is  the  service  thus  rendered  by  this  scholar  to  us  poor  lesser  mortals,  to 
whom  both  time  and  ability  are  lacking  to  explore  these  real  treasures. 
O  si  sic  omnes!  May  the  author  be  spared  to  open  up  to  western  readers 
many  more  treasure-houses  of  the  Orient. 

To  those  who  know  Arabic  Dr.  Nicholson  completes  his  service  by 
printing  in  an  appendix  the  Arabic  (sufficiently  but  not  fully  vowelled) 
of  all  the  excerpts  from  his  Ma'arri  anthology,  332  in  number,  each  con- 
taining from  two  to  ten  verses.    A  great  boon. 

The  translations  are  in  verse,  in  very  varying  metres.  Dr.  Nicholson 
must  have  taken  a  dreadful  amount  of  time  over  these  verses;  which 
makes  it  seem  all  the  more  ungrateful  to  confess  that  for  our  part  they, 
and  about  all  verse  translations  of  Arabic  poetry,  leave  us  cold.  It  is 
not  merely  that  the  aroma  of  Araby  the  blest  seems  to  vanish  in  the 
process;  but  that  the  scents  of  various  hair  lotions  of  the  west  take  its 
place.  It  always  seems  to  us  that  the  spirit  of  an  Arabic  qasida,  with  its 
incessant  cadences  and  fresh  starts,  is  far  better  suggested  by  a  strong, 
poetical,  prose  translation.  Compare  for  example  No.  308  with  No. 
310  on  the  next  page. 

Dr.  Nicholson  has,  however,  tried  yet  another  device,  following  Sir 

317 


3i8  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Charles  Lyall,  in  order  to  conserve  the  Arabic  aroma,  avoiding  prose  on 
the  one  hand  and  foreign  verse  effects  on  the  other:  he  has  attempted  to 
reproduce  in  English  the  Arabic  metres  themselves.  The  qtifiya  he  aban- 
dons as  hopeless;  his  lines  are  wholly  unrhymed.  But  he  would  have 
the  reader  believe  that  at  least  the  metre  is  reproduced,  or  suggested: 
and  that  the  resulting  measures  "have  a  perfume  that  clings  to  thee  still" 
(see  p.  55). 

It  grieves  us  again  to  have  to  say  that  in  our  opinion  this  is  yet  an- 
other instance  of  love's  labor  lost.  Interested,  curious,  and  sympathetic 
though  we  are,  we  must  truthfully  say  that  the  author  might  have  spared 
himself  this  trouble  also.  We  are  asked  to  believe  for  example  that  the 
following  verse  yields,  or  even  can  be  forced  to  yield  even  a  "shadowy 
resemblance"  (p.  55)  to  a  verse  in  Al-Basit: 

"'Tis  want  of  wit  to  disdain  good  counsel  frankly  bestowed."  We 
gasp — and  are  finally  reduced  to  counting  the  syllables.  A  Basit  verse 
has  fourteen  and  this  verse  just  quoted  has  fourteen!  Well!  we  think 
that  the  similarity  begins  and  ends  just  there.  And  this  is  a  favorable 
specimen.     In  the  lower  levels  one  gets  lines  like: 

"Our  camels  due/  saddler  wrought/  of  fragrant  In/  dian  wood/" ! 

We  have  read  Dr.  Robert  Bridges'  experiments  in  English  prosodical 
hexameters  where  accent  is  ignored.  Utterly  unconvinced  they  left  us: 
but  at  least  they  were  prosodical.  But  Dr.  Nicholson  makes  no  attempt 
to  observe  prosody  (compare  "of"  before  "wit";  "dis"  before  "dain", 
and  even  "els"  before  "due",  above)  ;  and  therefore  presumably  relies 
upon  accent.  But  how  weakly,  tamely  and  ineffectively !  We  prefer 
Burton's  imitation  of  Basit,  which  at  least  emphasized  the  strong  accent 
that  in  the  Arabic  nearly  always  falls  on  the  third  last  syllable  in  the 
cadence.  No!  It  won't  do!  The  English  language  is  not  built  on 
these  lines.  It  seems  to  us  that  the  more  conversant  a  reader  is  with  the 
real  Basit,  Tawil,  etc.,  the  less  easily  can  he  be  brought,  or  can  bring 
himself,  to  recognize  the  great  originals  in  these  shadows  of  a  shade. 
But  if  this  is  really  so,  then  the  failure  of  the  experiment  is  complete. 

Far  more  interesting  (and  very  interesting  it  is)  is  the  attempt  to  re- 
produce these  Arabic  bahr's  in  Latin.  Here  the  experiment  is  absolutely 
legitimate  and  hopeful :  and  for  this  simple  reason,  that  Latin  verse  is 
like  Arabic,  completely  prosodical.  It  is  accentual  as  well.  And  thus 
the  lilt  of  the  Arabic  metres  can  be  truly  and  curiously  reproduced.  In 
fact  we  make  bold  to  say  that  had  such  translations  appeared  B.  C.  we 
should  have  divers  "Arabics"  figuring  alongside  of  "Sapphics"  and 
"Alcaics,"  etc.,  in  Horace  and  Catullus! 

W.  H.  T.  Gairdner. 

A  Handbook  of  Libya.    Compiled  by  the  Geographical  Section  of  the  Naval 
Intelligence  Division,  Naval  Staff,  Admiralty.     H.M.     Stationery  Of- 
fice, London.     Price  7s.  6d.  net.    pp.  628.     Maps. 
A  handbook  of  detailed   accurate   information   on   the   Province   of 
Libya,  the  Italian  territory  between  Tunisia  and  Egypt  with  an  area  of 
nearly  500,000  sq.  miles.    The  population  consists  of  two  main  elements, 
Berbers  and  Arabs,  although  the  Negro  population  is  also  considerable. 
The  notes  on  the  Mohammedans  and  Turks  are  very  meagre,  those  on 
the  history  of  Libya  are  more  satisfactory.     There  are  two  hundred 
pages  on  the  desert  routes,  a  vocabulary  of  nearly  one  hundred  pages, 
twenty-four  plans  of  inland  and  coast  towns,  three  excellent  maps,  and 
a  very  full  index.     We  know  of  no  better  account  of  this  part  of  the 
Aloslem  world  in  so  small  a  compass. 

S.  M.  Z.      , 


BOOK  REVIEWS  319 

The  Poems  of  'Amr  Son  of  Qami'ah  of  the  clan  of  Qais  Son  of  Tha'labah. 
Edited   and   translated   by    Sir    Charles    Lyall,    D.Litt.,    Fellow    of    the 
British  Academy.     Cambridge  University  Press,  1919.    21  shillings  net. 
This  volume  gives  a  sample  of  the  work  of  one  of  the  most  conspicuous 
pre-Islamic  poets,  dating  from  the  fifth  century,  A,  D.     The  introduc- 
tion is  decidedly  technical,  but  adequate  for  ordinary  use.     The  poems 
consist  of  sixteen  parts  almost  entirely  made  up  of  eulogies,  and  enthu- 
siastic praise  of  the  tribe  in  general  and  particularly  of  the  uncle  of  the 
poet,  Murtadd.    The  pointed  Arabic  text  is  printed  in  large  clear  type, 
and  the  accompanying  English  translation  is  equally  satisfactory  in  plain 
readable  text.    The  collection  will  be  interesting  only  as  a  purely  literary 
production  with  very  little  light  on  matters  of  history.     The  footnotes 
and  comments  show  considerable  critical  skill. 

R.  S.  M. 

An  Eastern  Library.    By  V.  C.  Scott  O'Connor,  with  two  catalogues  of  its 
Persian    and    Arabic    Manuscripts,    combined    by    Khan    Sahib    Abdul 
Muqtadir  and  Abdul  Hamid.     Glasgow:     Printed  at  the  University  by 
Robert  Maclehose.     los.  6d.  net. 
Missionaries  in  India  have  a  rare  opportunity  when  visiting  Patna  to 
see  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  beautiful  collections  of  Oriental 
books.     It  is  one  of  the  finest  collections  of  Moslem  literature  in  the 
world.     According  to  the  introduction  describing  the  Library,  there  is 
nothing  in  the  world  to  surpass  "the  exquisite  caligraphy,  the  enamelled 
gold,  the  priceless  miniatures,  the  colors  of  lapis-lazuli  and  vermilion,  of 
indigo  and  scarlet,  green,  purple,  cinnabar  and  saffron,  of  some  of  these 
illuminated  pages."     It  was  my  pleasure  some  years  ago  to  see  the  collec- 
tion, and  the  reader  of  this  volume  will  long  for  a  similar  opportunity. 
The  book  consists  of  two  parts,  the  first  describing  the  library  itself  as 
founded  by  Mohammed  Baksh,  and  added  to  by  his  distinguished  son 
Khuda  Baksh.     The  second  part  gives  a  partial  list  of  the  Persian  and 
Arabic  manuscripts.     There  are  four  exquisite  colored  plates  and  five 
drawings  in  sepia. 

S.  M.  Z. 

Documents  Inedits  pour  servir  a  I'Histoire  du  Christianisme  en  Orient 

(Recueillis  par  le  Pere  Antoine  Rabbath,  S.  J.).  Tome  Second  36 
Fascicule.  Published  by  P.  Francois  Tournebize,  S.J.  Beyrouth : 
Imprimerie  Catholique.    1921.    pp.  644.    frs.  12. 

In  cooperation  with  Father  Francois  Tournebize,  S.J.,  and  others, 
Father  Antoine  Rabbath,  S.J.,  collected  about  two  thousand  manuscripts 
concerning  the  history  of  Christianity  in  the  Orient,  the  first  five  fasci- 
cules of  which  were  published  during  1906  to  191 1.  Father  Antoine 
Rabbath  died  in  19 13,  but  the  good  work  was  continued,  and  we  now 
have  pleasure  in  bringing  to  the  notice  of  our  readers  this  second  part 
of  the  work  which  consists  of  three  fascicules,  the  first  of  which  was 
edited  in  1914,  but  which  owing  to  the  war  has  not  made  its  appearance 
until  the  present  time.  It  is  a  most  valuable  work,  and  consists  of  over 
a  hundred  documents,  some  in  Latin,  others  in  Italian,  but  the  main  part 
in  French.  The  two  most  ancient  are  two  letters  addressed  to  Charles 
Quintus  by  the  patriarch  and  the  principal  Maronites,  in  which,  as  far 
back  as  161 4,  they  beg  him  to  come  to  Syria  and  deliver  them  from 
the  Turks. 

It  is  indeed  a  most  interesting  work  and  no  missionary  library  would 
be  complete  without  it. 

L.  S.  R. 


320  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Colloquial  Arabic.  The  Shuwa  Dialect  of  Bornu,  Nigeria  and  region  of 
Lake  Chad.  By  G.  J.  Lethem,  M.A.  London:  Crown  Agents  for  the 
Colonies,    pp.  xv  and  488. 

This  is  a  most  useful  book;  the  grammar  occupies  a  hundred  and 
eighty  pages,  the  proverbs  and  folklore  fifty  pages,  while  rather  more 
than  half  the  book  is  vocabulary.  As  the  book  is  small,  it  can  easily  be 
carried  in  the  pocket. 

Much  of  this  Nigerian  Arabic  is  surprisingly  readable  to  an  Anglo- 
Egyptian.  The  cardinal  numbers  show  that  there  is  much  more  affinity 
to  Egyptian  colloquial  than  to  Algerian ;  but  on  glancing  at  the  map  we 
see  that  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Chad  is  half  way  between  the  Niger 
and  the  Nile,  and  the  author's  most  interesting  introductory  note  gives 
an  idea  of  the  time  and  manner  of  the  immigration  of  tribes  of  Arab 
descent  from  the  eastern  Sudan. 

The  book  is  carefully  printed,  and,  so  far  as  one  can  judge,  remarkably 
free  from  mistakes.  Of  course  the  usual  criticism  holds  that,  although 
the  system  of  transliteration  adopted  is  the  best  of  its  kind,  yet  transliter- 
ation as  a  whole  is  a  poor  substitute  for  the  Arabic  character.  May  we 
not  hope  that  in  future  editions — when  labor  and  paper  are  cheaper — 
it  mav  be  printed  in  the  Arabic  character.    The  price  is  not  stated. 

A.  T.  Upson. 

Bulletin  of  The  School  of  Oriental  Studies,  London  Institution.     Pub- 
lished by  the  School.     Agents :    Messrs.  Luzac  &  Co.,  London.    Vol.  I, 
Part  IV.     1920.    6/- 
This  number  has  only  one  article  of  special  interest  to  students  of 
Islam.    The  others  deal  with  the  Far  East  and  India.     Major  Edward 
Noel  contributes  a  most  interesting  paper  on  the  character  of  the  Kurds 
as  illustrated  by  their  proverbs,  contending  that  the  Kurds  have  all  the 
good  characteristics  of  mountaineers  together  with  their  clannish  pride. 
The  morality  of  the  Kurdish  woman  is  famous.     In  nearly  all  tribes 
adultery  is  punished  with  death.     The  conception  of  marriage  is  on  a 
much  higher  plane  than  that  of  other  Moslems  in  the  Near  East.     The 
Kurdish  woman  is  comparatively  free:    marriages  are  made  not  by  pur- 
chase, but  as  the  result  of  courtship,  and  in  the  union  the  wife  plays  by 
no  means  a  secondary  part. 

Ittihad  al  Muslimin.  (The  Union  of  the  Mohammedans)  Islam — Its  Past, 
Present  and  Future.    Jalal  Nuri  Bey.    333  pp.    Cairo.     1920. 

This  appeal  to  Pan-Islamism  was  written  in  Turkish,  in  1 91 3,  fol- 
lowing the  close  of  the  Balkan  wars,  by  a  prominent  Turkish  jurist. 
The  book  has  now  been  translated  into  Arabic  in  answer  to  an  urgent 
request  on  the  part  of  the  late  Mohammed  Bey  Farid,  the  head  of  the 
Egyptian  Nationalist  Party,  The  purpose  of  the  author  is  to  unite  Islam 
in  order  to  withstand  the  advance  of  Christianity  and  the  expansion  pol- 
icy of  European  nations.  "We  know  clearly  that  England  covets 
Mesopotamia,"  p.  66.  "England  approves  of  gross  injustice  and  the  use- 
less sacrifice  of  blood  in  her  colonies,"  p.  127.  "The  Indians,  the  Egyp- 
tians, and  the  Algerians  hate  to  be  reckoned  as  French  or  English,"  p.  20. 
"The  missionaries  especially  the  Jesuits,  as  in  Syria  for  example,  have 
corrupted  the  youth,"  p.  34.  The  book  reveals  itself  to  be  plainly  preju- 
diced propaganda,  and  it  is  interesting  reading  in  the  light  of  the  na- 
tionalistic agitations  in  Moslem  countries. 

The  chapter  on  the  Khalifa  charges  England  with  having  strived  to 
rob  Turkey  of  the  Khalifate.  Other  nations  as  well  have  attempted  to 
lessen  its  power,  for  it  is  the  symbol  of  Islamic  unity.    The  author  fore- 


BOOK  REVIEWS  321 

sees  the  European  war,  and  predicts  that  Germany  will  win.    The  un- 
rest produced  by  this  turmoil  will  be  Islam's  opportunity. 

Although  Jalal  Nuri  Bey  realizes  the  decay  and  weakness  of  Islam, 
he  hopes  it  may  yet  be  remedied  by  union  and  reform.  He  bemoans  the 
fact  that  the  door  of  igtihad  has  been  closed  and  that  investigation  in 
science,  ethics  and  philosophy  has  been  forbidden.  By  freedom  of 
thought,  he  believes  that  Islam  will  again  gain  its  lost  position.  But 
one  is  reminded  of  the  memorable  words  of  Lord  Cromer,  "Islam  re- 
formed, is  Islam  no  longer."  E.  E.  Elder. 

"The  Arabian  Prophet.  A  Life  of  Mohammed  from  Chinese  and  Arabic 
Sources."  Translated  by  Isaac  Mason.  With  an  Appendix  on  Chinese 
Mohammedanism.  Foreword  by  Rev.  S.  M.  Zwemer,  F.R.G.S.  About 
300  pages,  well  illustrated.  Christian  Literature  Society,  Shanghai. 
Cloth  binding;    price,  Mex.  $2.50. 

This  is  a  very  useful  biography  for  those  interested  in  the  Moslems  of 
China.  It  shows  how  the  history  of  Islam  has  been  "touched  up"  so  as 
to  meet  Chinese  prejudices,  for  example,  (page  60)  Khadija  is  distinctly 
stated  not  to  have  been  a  widow!  Also  Mohammed  is  represented  as 
having  been  always  a  prophet,  thus  flatly  denying  established  historical 
facts.  As  Dr.  Zwemer  says  in  his  Foreword:  "Most  of  the  material 
given  is  familiar  to  the  student  of  Arabic  literature,  but  it  is  of  deep  in- 
terest to  see  how  the  mass  of  traditions  has  been  sifted,  adjusted,  and  even 
deliberately  falsified  to  fit  in  with  Chinese  ideas  and  ideals." 

The  book  is  a  useful  companion  to  Broomhall's  "Islam  in  China." 

Arthur  T.  Upson. 

The  Encyclopaedia  of  Islam.  A  Dictionary  of  the  Geography,  Ethnography 
and  Biography  of  the  Mohammedan  Peoples.  By  M.  Th.  Houtsma, 
T.  W.  Arnold,  R.  Basset,  and  H.  Bauer.  No.  25.  Idjtihad— I'rab. 
London  :  Luzac  &  Co. 
We  welcome  this  new  issue  of  the  Encyclopasdia  as  proof  that  the  end 
of  the  war  may  see  the  completion  of  the  great  work  of  which  our 
readers  have  had  reviews  from  time  to  time.  Professor  Macdonald  con- 
tributes a  number  of  specially  interesting  articles  including  'Ifrit,  Ilah, 
Iman,  etc.  Professor  Wensinck,  of  Leyden,  writes  on  Idris  and  IlyaSj 
identifying  the  former  with  Enoch  and  the  latter  with  Elias.  The  two 
longest  articles  are  a  survey  of  Islam  in  India  by  T.  W.  Arnold,  and  in 
the  Dutch  East  Indies  by  A.  W.  Nieuwenhuis.  We  would  call  special 
attention  to  the  article  on  the  Gospel  (Indjil)  by  Carra  de  Vaux,  which 
gives  a  complete  account  of  Gospel  versions  and  jecensions  and  shows 
the  influence  of  the  New  Testament  on  Moslem  tradition  and  literature. 
His  conclusions  regarding  the  general  respect  shown  the  Gospel  by 
Moslems  needs  a  supplementary  statement:  the  impression  given  is  that 
Moslems  accept  the  Gospel  as  genuine  and  authoritative.  There  is  no 
reference  to  the  Gospel  of  Barnabas,  nor  is  there  an  article  on  the  sub- 
ject. This  is  the  more  to  be  regretted  as  this  spurious  gospel  is  being 
widely  advertised  in  the  Moslem  press  today.  S.  M.  Zwemer. 

A  Consulting  Surgeon  in  the  Near  East.  By  Lt.  Col.  A.  H.  Tubby.  Lon- 
don:  Christophers,  pp.  279,  price  15/-. 
We  call  attention  to  this  fascinating  account  of  surgical  work  in  the 
Near  East.  Colonel  Tubby's  record  of  his  service  in  Gallipoli  and  Egypt 
is  of  permanent  interest  to  the  general  reader  because  of  the  war,  and  to 
the  professional  reader  because  of  his  graphic  account  of  experiences  and 
problems  connected  with  the  work  of  the  Army  Medical  Service.  Al- 
though there  is  slight  reference  to  social  or  missionary  conditions,  and  no 
mention  of  Islam,  medical  missionaries  cannot  afford  to  overlook  the 
volume. 


322  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Die  Omamente  der  Hakim-  und  Ashar-Moschee.  Materialien  zur  Ge- 
schichte  der  Alteren  Kunst  des  Islam,  von  S.  Flury.  Heidelberg.  1912, 
Carl  Winters  Universitatsbuchhandlung.  pp.  52.  Tafel  xxxiv. 
Islamsche  Schriftbander  Amida  Diarbekr.  XI.  Jahrhundert.  Anhang 
Kairuan,  Mayyafariqin,  Tirmidh.  Von  S.  Flury.  1920.  Basel:  Fro- 
benius  A.  G.  Paris:  Paul  Geuthner.  pp.  52.  Tafel  xx.  Price,  frs  20. 
The  writer  of  these  two  volumes  on  Mohammedan  architecture  and 
art,  especially  from  the  standpoint  of  palaeography,  is  a  Swiss,  whose 
mother  tongue  is  German.  The  first  volume  appeared  before  the  war; 
the  second  has  just  come  from  the  press.  Naturally  such  studies  are 
primarily  valuable  to  art  students  rather  than  to  Oriental  scholars.  Prof. 
Arnold,  however,  pointed  out  how  useful  the  tables  and  illustrations  of 
these  volumes  are  to  students  of  Arabic  epigraphy.  Mohammedan  in- 
scriptions are  a  unique  phenomena  not  only  in  the  history  of  art,  but  in 
the  history  of  calligraphy.  The  photographic  plates  in  both  volumes 
nurnber  over  two  score  and  enable  the  student  to  read  the  various  forms 
of  Cufic  quite  easily.  The  first  volume  deals  specially  with  the  inscrip- 
tions and  ornaments  of  the  Azhar  Mosque — (curiously  spelt  A-j-h-a-r). 
This  dates  from  359  A.  H.  The  author  states  that  "although  it  is  for- 
bidden to  take  photographs  in  the  Mosque,  he  was  able  with  a  small 
pocket  camera,  a  tarbush  and  vulgar  Arabic  to  outwit  the  group  of  stu- 
dents and  obtain  details  even  from  inaccessible  corners  in  the  minarets. 
He  says  in  a  letter  to  the  editor,  "People  have  no  idea  what  treasures  of 
art  are  still  to  be  found  in  the  Mosques  of  El-Azhar  and  El-Hakim.  I 
am  sure  that  many  Americans  who  have  been  to  Cairo  do  not  know  the 
wonderful  ornaments  that  are  to  be  seen  in  the  minarets  of  the  latter 
Mosque.    At  any  rate,  before  my  time  nobody  ever  went  there." 

Apart  from  the  extreme  value  of  these  studies  to  the  student  of 
Moslem  art  we  commend  them  to  our  readers  also  because  of  the  num- 
ber of  inscriptions  in  Cufic,  with  the  full  Arabic  text,  at  an  astonishingly 
low  price.  S.  M.  Z. 

La  Mort  de  Notre  Chere  France  en  Orient.     By  Pierre  Loti.    Paris :   Cal- 
mann-Levy.     1920.    pp.  291.    6  fr.  75  c. 

This  volume  will  interest  those  who  desire  a  one-sided  view  of  the 
Syrian  question,  in  the  fascinating  style  of  Pierre  Loti.  He  was  always 
an  admirer  of  the  Turk,  and  therefore,  naturally,  no  enthusiast  for 
Great  Britain  and  her  policies.  A  reviewer  in  the  London  Times  states 
that  the  enthusiasm  of  this  volume  for  Turkey  and  her  cause  amounts  to 
hysteria.  "We  can  sympathize  with  him  to  a  certain  extent.  We  can 
sympathize  even  with  what  M.  Hanotaux  calls  drily  la  legende  du  hon 
Turc.  We  can  admit  that  some  of  the  qualities  of  the  Armenians  are 
unattractive  in  Western,  eyes,  and  can  understand  his  impatience  with 
a  recent  sensational  film  employed  as  propaganda  in  their  behalf.  But, 
when  all  is  said  and  done,  he  cannot  persuade  us  that  it  was  the  rabbit 
who  began  it  by  attacking  the  stoat,  any  more  than  he  can  persuade  us 
that  British  officers  in  the  East  are  engaged  in  a  vast  and  complicated 
intrigue  against  French  power  and  prestige." 

The  Bagging  of  Baghdad.  By  Ernest  Betts.  London :  John  Lane.  pp. 
238.  7/6d. 
This  book  contains  the  experiences  of  a  soldier  in  Mesopotamia  who 
depicts  the  life  of  a  man  in  the  ranks  face  to  face  with  the  new  condi- 
tions of  the  Orient.  From  Basra — "the  city  of  disappointment" — we 
follow  him  in  his  jolly  narrative  to  the  taking  of  Baghdad.  There  is  a 
good  sketch  map  of  the  operations  at  the  relief  of  Kut. 


BOOK  REVIEWS  323 

Allenby's  Final  Triumph.  By  W.  T.  Messey.  London:  Constable  &  Co. 
pp.  346.  21/- 
This  is  the  third  book  by  the  author  on  the  war  in  Egypt  and  Pales- 
tine, and  is  a  sequel  to  his  previous  volume,  "How  Jerusalem  Was  Won." 
He  knows  how  to  make  military  history  interesting,  and  tells  the  story 
of  the  great  triumph  lucidly,  and  with  a  vivid  pen.  General  AUenby 
had  to  contend  with  enormous  difficulties.  The  last  six  weeks  of  the 
campaign  were  in  a  sense  the  most  strenuous.  The  maps  and  illustra- 
tions are  excellent.  Strange  to  say  there  is  no  reference  in  the  volume 
to  Islam  as  a  political  force  either  during  or  after  the  campaign,  which 
only  shows  that  the  final  triumph  was  not  final. 

War  Against  Tropical  Disease.  By  Andrew  Balfour,  C.B.,  C.M.G.  Lon- 
don :    Bailliere,  Tindall  &  Cox.     1920.    pp.  219.    i2/6d. 

The  seven  papers  comprised  in  this  book  are  seven  sermons  on  the 
Gospel  of  Hygiene,  which  every  missionary  should  mark,  learn  and  di- 
gest. We  wish  that  it  were  possible  for  Mission  Boards  to  send  a  copy 
to  every  mission  station  in  the  Near  East.  The  several  chapters  deal 
with :  Tropical  Sanitation,  Tropical  Problems,  Inoculation  against  Ty- 
phoid and  Cholera,  the  Medical  Entomology  of  Salonica,  Sanitary  and 
Insanitary  Makeshifts,  the  Problem  of  Hygiene  in  Egypt,  the  Palm  from 
a  Sanitary  Standpoint. 

This  clearly  cannot  deal  with  any  of  these  matters  in  detail,  but  we 
would  call  special  attention  to  the  chapters  on  Egypt  as  the  "hub  of  the 
empire  of  sanitation  and  imperial  medicine."  This  book  calls  the  Nile 
Valley  "an  international  filter,"  because  of  the  pilgrim  traffic  by  land 
and  sea.  It  describes  the  mediaeval  unsanitary  conditions  of  Egypt  that 
obtain  today,  the  principal  infective  diseases,  and  perhaps  a  solution  of 
the  problem.    The  volume  is  beautifully  illustrated,  but  has  no  index. 

Arabia  and  Mesopotamia.    Handbooks  prepared  under  the  direction  of  the 
Historical   Section  of  the  Foreign  Office,   Nos.  61    and  63.     London : 
H.M.  Stationery  Office,  1920. 
These  two  handbooks  in  the  series  already  noticed  by  our  reviewer 
cover  the  same  ground  and  give  a  condensed  and  accurate  account  of  the 
geography,  political  history,  social  and  economic  conditions  in  Mesopo- 
tamia and  Arabia.     The  bibliography  is  not  as  full  and  accurate  as  the 
text.    The  needs  and  the  religious  condition  of  Mesopotamia  and  Arabia 
are  treated  in  two  brief  paragraphs,  but  we  fail  to  find  an  adequate  ac- 
count of  recent  movements  in   Islam,  such  as  that  of  the  Ikhwan   in 
Arabia.    It  is  in  this  sense  that  these  handbooks  are  disappointing.    As  a 
compilation  of  facts  they  are  admirable,  but  there  is  no  outlook  into  the 
future  or  anxiety  as  to  the  real  factors  that  determine  the  problem  of 
mandates  and  the  progress  of  civilization.  Z. 

A  Prisoner  in  Turkey.  By  John  Still.  7/6  net.  pp.  250.  Illustrated.  John 
Lane  Company,  London,  New  York. 
Probably  no  book  in  recent  times  reveals  so  unequivocally  the  cruel 
nature  of  the  Turk  as  this  unvarnished  record  of  a  British  prisoner,  an 
Oxford  student,  who  was  captured  by  the  Turks  at  Gallipoli  and  for 
more  than  three  years  was  a  prisoner  in  their  hands.  He  was  taken  with 
other  prisoners  from  Gallipoli  to  Constantinople,  then  to  Angora,  after 
that  to  Afion-Kara-Hissar,  and  finally  to  Smyrna.  British  statistics  show 
that  about  seventy-five  per  cent  of  all  British  prisoners  who  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Turks  died,  only  twenty-five  per  cent,  many  of  them 
physical  wrecks,  surviving.     One  can  well  believe  this  to  be  true  after 


324  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

reading  the  detailed  statement  depicting  from  day  to  day  the  life  of  the 
prisoner  and  the  way  in  which  prisoners  were  harassed  and  persecuted, 
often  merely  to  satisfy  the  whim  of  the  Turkish  officer  in  charge. 

As  an  illustration  of  their  treatment  we  will  quote  the  statement  of 
Mr.  Still  reporting  their  capture.    He  says: 

"Of  those  taken  with  me,  one  was  not  molested;  one  was  fired  at 
from  five  yards'  distance,  missed,  and  quietly  captured ;  one  was  beaten 
and  fired  at.  Thank  God  the  man  who  fired  at  him  hit  the  man  who 
was  beating  him  and  broke  his  wrist.  The  fourth,  my  colonel,  was  bay- 
oneted. I  was  permitted  to  tend  the  colonel.  They  even  allowed  me  to 
carry  him  on  my  back,  and  on  my  back  the  colonel  died.  May  he  rest 
in  peace." 

"Once  an  officer  took  out  his  pistol  to  shoot  us  and  was  prevented  by 
a  priest  with  a  turban  on,  who  wrestled  with  him  and  took  his  pistol 
away.    Several  times  were  were  apparently  condemned  to  death." 

It  is  interesting  that  as  the  narrative  goes  on  no  words  of  sweeping 
condemnation  of  this  almost  universal  cruelty  of  the  Turk  escaped  the 
pen  of  the  author.  He  simply  states  the  fact  and  leaves  the  reader  to 
judge  for  himself.  One  marvels,  however,  as  he  pursues  this  story  of 
thrilling  human  interest  that  anyone  escaped  alive. 

Imprisonment  ended  in  Smyrna,  where  the  British  prisoners  were 
gathered  upon  the  grounds  of  the  American  International  College  at  the 
Paradise  station,  some  three  miles  out  of  the  city.  Here  under  the  di- 
rection of  President  Alexander  MacLachlan  and  Dean  Cass  A.  Reed, 
for  nearly  two  months,  the  author  and  a  large  number  of  associates  in 
captivity  were  cared  for  and  nourished  back  to  life,  so  that  when  they 
went  aboard  the  British  ship  on  the  first  of  November,  1918,  there  were 
practically  no  sick  among  them,  although  a  considerable  number  died 
on  the  college  grounds  because  of  their  enfeebled  condition.  The  author 
speaks  in  unstinted  terms  of  their  appreciation  of  the  services  of  the  of- 
ficers of  the  college  and  the  women  who  did  so  much  for  them  during 
those  two  months.  In  speaking  of  their  introduction  to  the  college 
grounds,  he  says: 

"The  whole  great  building  was  at  our  disposal:  dormitories  for  the 
men,  small  rooms  for  the  officers,  a  school  conduit  to  wash  in,  shower 
baths,  electric  light,  a  fine  library,  and  perfect  cleanliness.  It  was  the 
cleanliness  of  the  building  and  the  kindness  of  their  hearts  that  appealed 
to  us.  I  confess  without  any  shame  that  it  almost  broke  me  down.  And 
there  were  children  to  play  with — bright,  merry  little  American  and 
English  children.  As  our  men  came  in,  some  on  crutches,  some  limping, 
all  of  them  thin  and  weary,  I  saw  one  of  those  kind  hosts  of  ours  pick 
up  a  crippled  Indian  sepoy  on  his  back  and  carry  him  up  the  stairs. 
They  nursed  our  sick,  they  mended  and  washed  our  clothes,  they  cooked 
dainty  little  dishes  for  the  convalescents,  and  they  gave  us  all  heart  once 
more.  We  were  unclean  and  uncivilized,  queerer  perhaps  than  we  knew, 
and  they  brought  back  to  us  the  knowledge  that  the  world  as  a  whole 
is  good." 

Thus  we  have  the  contrast  between  the  natural  Turk  with  his  in- 
stinctive heart  of  cruelty  and  the  American  Christian  institution  through 
which  runs  the  spirit  and  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ. 

J.  L.  B. 


SURVEY  OF  PERIODICALS 

By  Miss  Hollis  W,  H bring,  New  York 
Missionary  Research  Library 
I.     GENERAL. 

From  Baghdad  to  the  Caspian  in  191 8,    Major-General  L.  C. 

Dunsterville.      (The   Geographical  Journal,   London.      March, 

1921.    pp.  i53-'i64.) 

An  account  of  one  of  the  most  venturesome  expeditions  of  the 
war,  in  which  a  handful  of  British  men  on  a  secret  mission  kept  the 
oil  of  Baku  from  the  Turks  for  six  weeks,  and  prevented  the  Turks 
and  Germans  from  joining  hands  with  the  thousands  of  Austrian 
and  German  prisoners  in  Central  Asia. 

IL     ISLAM  IN  ARABIA. 

III.  HISTORY  OF  ISLAM. 

The  Caliphate  Controversy  in  Relation  to  Nationalism. 

J.  L.  Macintyre.      (The  Church  Missionary  Review,  London. 

March,  1921.    pp.  52-60.) 

An  inquiry  into  the  correct  historical  and  actual  interpretation 
of  the  Caliphate.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  many  Westerners  are 
inclined  to  consider  the  Caliph  as  a  Moslem  pope,  it  is  well  to  rec- 
ognize that  neither  the  history  nor  the  theology  of  Islam  justifies 
any  interpretation  of  the  position  other  than  the  headship  of  the 
most  powerful  political  Mohammedan  nation. 

IV.  KORAN,  TRADITIONS,  THEOLOGY. 

Apostasy  from  Islam.    S.  M.  Zwemer.   ( The  East  and  the  West, 

London.    April,  1921.    pp.  123-133.) 

Discusses  the  Moslem  law  regarding  apostates  as  one  of  the  many 
reasons  for  the  small  number  of  converts  in  Moslem  lands  to  Chris- 
tianity. The  law  as  interpreted  in  the  different  schools  is  given, 
with  some  history  of  its  application,  and  a  notice  of  how  this  latter 
has  been  affected  by  international  pressure. 

La  Codification  du  Droit  Musulman  en  Algerie.  (Revue 
du  Monde  Musulman,  Faris.  Sept.-Dec,  1920.  pp.  111-18.) 
In  1905,  the  Governor-General  of  Algeria  appointed  a  Commis- 
sion to  codify  the  Mussulman  law  applicable  to  the  native  Moham- 
medans of  Algeria.  The  work  of  the  Commission,  which  is  here 
discussed,  was  finished  in  191 8,  and  heartily  approved  by  the  na- 
tive Algerian  magistracy.  Its  promulgation,  however,  has  raised  a 
number  of  decidedly  delicate  questions. 

V.  RELIGIOUS  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE. 

Les  Jeunes-Turcs  et  le  Tresor  du  Tombeau  de  Mahomet. 
H.  Lammens.     (Revue  du  Monde  Musulman,  Paris.   Sept.-Dec, 
1920.    pp.  136-152.) 
It  was  forbidden  by  Mohammed  to  pay  any  special  reverence  to 

325 


326  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

his  tomb ;  j-et  in  the  course  of  time  this  became  loaded  down  with  the 
gifts  of  the  Faithful.  M.  Lammens  describes  some  of  these  treas- 
ures, and  gives  a  resume  of  the  various  pillages  suflFered  by  the  tomb, 
culminating  in  that  perpetrated  by  the  Young  Turk  masters  of 
Medina  in  191 7. 

Medical  Activities  under  Moslem  Rulers.  Y.  t).  Khan. 
{The  Indian  Review,  Madras.  February,  1921.  pp.  103-103.) 
In  these  days  of  belief  in  the  superiority  of  Western  medical 
science  it  is  well  to  be  reminded  occasionally  of  what  the  Eastern 
peoples  have  accomplished.  There  is  given  here  a  very  brief  survey 
of  the  system  of  public  hospitals  and  dispensaries  under  the  Ommiade 
Caliphs,  some  of  the  rules  and  regulations  of  which  have  a  very 
modern  sound. 

Notes   sur   la   Secte  des  Ahle-Haqq.     Vladimir   Minorsky. 

{Revue  du  Monde  Musuhnan,  Paris.     Sept.-Dec,    1920.     pp. 

119-97.) 

A  thorough-going  monograph  discussing  a  little-known  sect  of 
Persia:  its  name,  what  is  known  of  it  in  Europe,  its  religious  his- 
tory, its  sacred  places,  and  the  geographical  distribution  of  its  ad- 
herents. Illustrated,  with  a  map,  and  followed  by  a  valuable  anno- 
tated bibliography. 

A  Visit  to  Bokhara  in  1919.  Major  F.  M.  Bailey.  {The  Geo- 
graphical Journal,  London.  February,  1921.  pp.  75-87.) 
An  interesting  description  of  this  Moslem  center  as  seen  by  one 
disguised  as  a  Bolshevik  Secret  Service  agent.  The  custom  of  the 
country  and  the  temper  of  the  people  are  well  given,  while  the 
remarks  in  the  discussion  following  are  well  worth  reading. 

VI.     POLITICAL  RELATIONSHIPS. 

Constantinople  After  the  War.  H.  Charles  Woods.  {The 
Fortnightly  Review,  London.  March,  1921.  pp.  457-466.) 
A  recent  visit  to  Constantinople  has  shown  profound  changes 
there.  On  the  side  for  the  worse,  these  are  marked  by  the  severe 
economic  difficulties;  on  that  for  the  better,  the  most  obvious  is  the 
new  position  of  freedom  of  the  Moslem  woman.  The  really  seri- 
ous, if  not  desperate,  condition  of  the  country  is  discussed  in  the 
light  of  the  present  impasse,  created  by  the  existence  of  a  treaty 
which  cannot  be  enforced  and  which  it  is  difficult  to  destroy. 

The  Empire  and  Mesopotamia.  Ikbal  Ali  Shah.  {The  Con- 
temporary Review,  London.  February,  1921.  pp.  200206. 
The  English  occupation  of  Mesopotamia  has  given  rise  to  a  great 
deal  of  questioning  and  comment;  it  was  inevitable  in  the  first 
place,  but  what  about  its  continuance?  Taking  the  stand  that  con- 
tinued intervention  there  is  also  inevitable,  the  attempt  is  made  here 
to  estimate  the  ultimate  worth  of  the  intervention,  and  the  best 
means  of  cooperating  with  the  native  tribes. 

England  and  the  Egyptian   Problem.     Harry   J.   Carman. 

{The  Political  Science   Quarterly,  New  York.     March,   1921. 

pp.  51-78.) 

A  clear  and  exceedingly  able  summary  of  the  struggle  in  Egypt 
to  rid  the  Lower  Nile  Valley  of  that  British  overlordship  which  ig- 


SURVEY  OF  PERIODICALS  327 

nored  the  nationalistic  aspirations  of  the  Egyptian  people,  covering 
the  period  from  1879  to  the  present.  It  is  an  impartial  statement 
of  facts,  and  there  are  copious  footnotes  and  references  to  Parlia- 
mentary papers  and  official  documents.  The  Organic  Law  of  1882, 
the  constitutional  reforms  of  191 3,  and  the  Milner  proposals  are 
especially  well  outlined. 

KuTCHUK  Khan.    Martchenko.     {Revue  du  Monde  Musulman, 

Paris.    Sept.-Dec,  11920.    pp.  98-116.) 

A  brief  study  of  the  life  and  influence  of  Mirza  Kutchuk,  com- 
monly called  Kutchuk  Khan.  This  nationalist  dreamer  and  poet  of 
liberty  of  Northern  Persia  has  proved  himself  an  element  to  be 
reckoned  with  in  the  Mohammedan  crusade  against  encroaching 
Christianity.  There  is  a  sketch  of  his  life  before  the  World  War, 
and  then  of  his  career  as  head  of  a  popular  agricultural  revolt.  One 
of  his  sources  of  power  has  been  his  devotion  in  Persia  to  the  Pan- 
Islamic  program.  Backed  at  first  by  the  Bolshevists,  he  has  since 
been  repudiated  by  them  on  account  of  his  political  moderation. 

Mesopotamia.     Traveller.     {The  Fortnightly  Review,  London. 

March,  1921.    pp.  443-456.) 

A  bird's-eye  view  of  the  Mesopotamian  problem.  The  article  is 
clearly  divided,  sections  being  devoted  to  the  physical  features  and 
population,  resources  and  trade,  revenue,  the  Kurdish  question,  and 
the  nationalist  movement.  There  is  a  frank  recognition  of  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  British  position,  but  a  plea  for  patience,  for  a  chance 
to  see  how  the  new  policy  will  work,  is  made  to  those  who  would 
solve  these  difficulties  by  clearing  out  of  the  country  "bag  and  bag- 
gage." 

Mesopotamia  Explained.  I.  Captain  H.  Birch  Reynardson. 
{The  Asiatic  Review,  honAon.  April,  1921.  pp.  226-233.) 
This  article  summarizes  the  contents  of  the  White  Paper  entitled 
a  "Review  of  the  Civil  Administration  of  Mesopotamia"  (written 
by  Miss  Gertrude  Bell).  It  aims  to  answer,  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  average  man,  the  questions:  In  what  state  was  Mesopotamia 
when  the  British  arrived  there  in  1914?  What  have  they  been 
doing  there  since  (other  than  defeating  the  Turks)  ?  What  is  the 
present  state  of  the  country  after  five  years  of  their  occupation? 
The  article  is  to  be  continued. 

Palestine  and  the  Mandate.  The  Right  Hon.  Lord  Sydenham 
of  Combe.  ( The  Nineteenth  Century  and  After,  London. 
April,  1 92 1,    pp.  617-629.) 

An  attempt  to  rouse  the  public  to  the  real  significance  of  Zionist 
activity  in  Palestine.  The  history  of  the  last  year  in  Palestine  is 
one  of  growing  sinister  power  of  Zionists  and  Russian,  Polish,  and 
Roumanian  immigrants  (many  of  them  thoroughly  Bolshevik  in 
attitude),  manifesting  itself  in  forced  dismissal  of  impartial  British 
administrators,  flagrant  favoritism  shown  officially  to  Zionists,  and 
forced  emigration  of  Palestinians  from  their  homes.  The  British 
accepted  the  mandate  in  apparent  defiance  of  Art.  22  of  the  Cove- 
nant of  the  League  of  Nations.  What  are  they  doing  to  control 
these  people  who  have  fastened  themselves  upon  Palestine  "in  the 
hope  first  of  dominating  and  eventually  of  submerging  the  Islamic- 
Christian  population  which  has  inherited  it  for  centuries"  ? 


328  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

The  Syrian  Question.  Stephen  P.  Duggan.  {Journal  of  Inter- 
national Relations,  Worcester,  Mass.  April,  1921.  pp.  571- 
588.) 

A  succinct  statement  of  facts  showing  the  play  of  international 
politics  on  Syria,  from  the  reign  of  Abdul  Hamid.  The  value  of  the 
country  to  Turkey,  France,  and  England  is  shown  against  a  back- 
ground of  Arab  nationalism  and  native  opposition  to  and  fear  of 
Zionist  aggression. 

Texte  des  Clauses  Politiques  Generales  du  Traite  du  10 
AOUT  1920  AVEC  La  Turquie.     {Revue  du  Monde  Musulman, 
Paris.     Sept.-Dec,  1920.    pp.  216-290.) 
The  political  terms  are  printed  in  their  entirety.    The  rest  of  the 

treaty  is  summarized. 

VIL     MOHAMMEDAN  MISSIONS. 

The  Christian  Approach  in  the  Near  East.    Sherwood  Eddy. 

{The  International  Review  of  Missions,  London.     April,  1921. 

pp.  260-265.) 

Conclusions  reached  after  an  evangelistic  tour  of  five  weeks  in 
Egypt  and  a  month  in  Turkey.  Finding  the  Mohammedan  world 
responsive  as  never  before,  the  plea  is  earnestly  made  to  lay  aside 
the  polemic  method  (in  its  nature  arousing  stubbornness  and  oppo- 
sition), for  the  irenic,  appealing  to  the  heart  and  conscience. 

Two  Missionaries  and  Educators  in  Syria.  By  One  Who 
Knew  Them.  {The  Missionary  Review  of  the  World,  New 
York.     March,  11921.    pp.  193-198.) 

A  beautiful  appreciation  of  the  work  of  Daniel  Bliss  ("the 
Builder")  and  his  son  Howard  Bliss  ("the  Expansionist),  in  the 
Syrian  Protestant  College,  now  the  American  University  of  Beirut. 

The  New  Near  East.    Sherwood  Eddy,  LL.D.     {The  Mission- 
ary Review  of  the  World,  New  York.     February,  1921.    pp.  lOi- 

Over  a  hundred  years  of  faithful  effort  have  seen  little  success  in 
winning  Moslems  to  an  open  profession  of  Christianity.  In  de- 
scribing the  evangelistic  meetings  recently  held  in  the  Near  East, 
however,  Dr.  Eddy  tells  why,  in  view  of  the  altering  political  con- 
ditions in  Turkey  and  Egypt,  and  throughout  the  Mohammedan 
world,  he  believes  the  time  ripe  for  a  direct,  friendly  approach  on 
new  lines  to  Moslems. 

The  Turkish  Treaty  and  Missions.    S.  W.  Boggs,  F.R.G.S. 

( The  Missionary  Review  of  the  World,  New  York.     February,. 

1921.     pp.  1107-115.) 

An  important  article,  showing  the  changes  in  the  Near  East 
which  have  resulted  from  the  war,  and  their  influence  upon  Chris- 
tian missions.  Important  sections  of  the  treaty  are  quoted,  as  well 
as  cables  illustrating  some  of  the  evils  of  secret  diplomacy;  new 
territorial  divisions  are  noted;  and  there  is  a  final  section  on  the 
adjustments  which  Christian  missions  must  make  in  the  light  of 
these  new  conditions. 


VOL.  XI,  No.  4  OCTOBER  192 

THE 

MOSLEM  WORLD 

A  quarterly  review  of  current  events,  literature,  and 

thought  among  Mohammedans  and  the  progress 

of  Christian  Missions  in  Moslem  lands 

Editor:    SAMUEL  M.  ZWEMER,  D.D. 


Contents : 

EDITORIAL— THE  SWORD  OR  THE  CROSS 

THE  CALIPHATE  HISTORICALLY  CONSIDERED 

D.  S.  Margoliouth 

THE  "ILLITERATE"  PROPHET S.  M.  Zwemer 

THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  ARABIAN  "BRETHREN" 

E.  E.  Calverley 

MOHAMMED  AL-GHAZZALI Dwight  M.  Donaldson 

SACRIFICE  AMONG  THE  SHI'AHS     ....     W.  M.  E.  Miller 

KARAMAT  (MIRACLES) Geo.  W.  Swan 

NUBIAN  CUSTOMS W.  G.  Frohlich,  M.D. 

NOTES  ON  CURRENT  TOPICS 

BOOK  REVIEWS 
SURVEY  OF  PERIODICALS Hollis  W.  Hering 


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The  Moslem  World 

Edited  by  Samuel  M.  Zwemer,  Cairo,  Egypt 

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NOTES  ON  CONTRIBUTORS 

The  leading  article  in  this  number  is  by  Prof.  D.  S.  Margoliouth,  of 
Oxford  University.  He  is  too  well  known  as  an  Arabist  and  Oriental 
scholar  to  need  an  introduction  to  our  readers. 

The  Rev.  E.  E.  Calverley,  of  the  Reformed  Church  Mission  in  Arabia, 
has  had  an  unique  opportunity  to  study  Islam  and  especially  the  Ikhwan 
movement.  His  translation  of  this  original  document  that  has  stirred 
all  Central  Arabia  is  deeply  interesting. 

The  characteristic  and  in  many  respects  the  revolting  marriage  customs 
of  the  Nubians  were  observed  by  Dr.  W .  G.  Frolich,  of  the  German 
Sudan  Pioneer  Mission,  before  the  war.  He  has  favored  us  with  his 
notes  on  the  subject.  Himself  a  Swiss,  he  at  present  is  in  charge  of  a 
Sanitorium  in  Switzerland. 

Mr.  Geo.  IV.  Swan  is  secretary  of  the  Egypt  General  Mission  on  the 
field.     A  number  of  articles  from  his  pen  have  appeared  in  our  quarterly. 

The  Rev.  Dnight  Al.  Donaldson  belongs  to  the  Presbyterian  Mission 
in  North  Persia.  He  has  contributed  other  articles  to  our  Quarterly, 
and  was  the  first  to  rediscover  the  Tomb  of  Al-Ghazali  some  years  ago 
at  Tus. 

The  Rev.  IV.  McE.  Miller,  of  the  same  Mission,  contributes  some 
interesting  observations  made  during  his  long  journey  from  Meshed  to 
Sistan. 


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IHE  NEW  MOSQUE  AT  HIGHLAND  PARK  (DETROIT),  MICHIGAN 

This  has  recently  been  established  in  a  suburb  of  Detroit  by  Syrian  and  Indian  Moslems 
of  the  Ahmadia  sect,  whose  American  representative  is  Dr.  Mufti  Mohammed  Sadiq.  The 
Mosque  was  built  by  a  prosperous  real  estate  agent  at  a  cost  of  $50,000.  It  has  a  small 
auditorium  and  the  usual  prayer  niche,  or  kibla.  toward  Mecca.  The  minarets  are  solid 
and  cannot  be  used  for  the  "Call  to  prayer."     A  quarterly  paper  is  published  entitled 

"The  Moslem  Sunrise." 


The  Moslem  World 

VOL.  XI  OCTOBER,   1921  No.  4 

EDITORIAL 


THE  SWORD  OR  THE  CROSS 

"The  cross  cannot  be  defeated,"  said  Louis  Massignon 
when  he  spoke  at  Paris  as  to  present  conditions  in  the  Near 
East:  of  hope  deferred,  and  plans  thwarted,  of  the  famine- 
stricken  exiled,  martyred  Christians;  of  political  in- 
trigues due  to  selfish  ambition  and  un-Christian  policies 
on  the  part  of  nations  called  Christian.  "The  cross  can- 
not be  defeated,  because  it  itself  was  defeat."  Long  have 
*I  pondered  on  this  mystical  utterance,  which  sums  up  the 
history  of  missions  in  a  sentence  and  sets  forth  the  deepest 
distinction  between  Islam  and  Christianity  historically 
considered.  The  Cross  was  apparently  vanquished  by 
the  sword  of  Islam  in  its  wide  and  rapid  spread 
throughout  the  Near  East.  Churches  became  mosques. 
Christians  apostates  to  Islam,  literature  and  architecture 
bowed  to  the  genius  of  Mohammed  and  his  successors, 
the  Crescent  displaced  the  Cross.  But  was  it  defeated,  or 
does  faith  triumph  over  hope  deferred?  Christ  is  a  con- 
queror whose  victories  have  always  been  won  through  loss 
and  humiliation  and  suffering.  He  invites  His  followers 
to  take  up  their  cross  as  He  took  up  His,  and  follow  Him 
first  to  their  Calvary,  and  then  to  their  crown.  The  way 
of  the  Cross  is  the  path  of  wisdom  and  of  life.     There  can 

329 


330  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

be  no  victory  without  it.  Christ's  battle  flag,  like  that  of 
Sigurd  the  Norseman,  while  it  insures  victory  to  those  who 
follow  it,  often  brings  death  to  those  who  carry  it.  The 
Cross  of  Christ  is  the  primal,  the  supreme,  the  central,  the 
universal,  the  eternal  symbol  of  Christianity.  Christ's 
messengers  are  messengers  of  the  Cross  and  all  it  signifies, 
or  they  are  not  His  messengers  at  all.  "We  preach  Christ 
Crucified."  That  is  the  good  news  which  Paul  says  he 
delivered  "first  of  all."  It  was  his  message  and  it  was  his 
passion — "I  am  crucified  with  Christ,"  "I  die  daily." 
One  of  the  martyr  missionaries  of  Fukien,  R.  W.  Stewart, 
said,  "The  measure  of  your  agonia  will  be  the  measure  of 
your  success."  Xavier  before  setting  forth  on  his  great 
mission  caught  a  vision  of  all  the  suffering,  ignominy  and 
persecution  before  him,  but  exclaimed,  "Yet  more,  O 
Lord,  yet  more." 

In  the  impending,  inevitable  spiritual  conflict  with  Is- 
lam, we  may  perhaps  expect  less  outward  persecution  of 
the  convert  to  Christianity,  but  there  will  always  be  insid- 
ious opposition  and  sore  secret  trial  for  those  who  desert 
the  camp  of  so  subtle  a  foe.  Western  politics  and  states- 
manship have  never  shown  such  timidity,  such  super-dread 
of  offending  any  religion  as  in  the  case  of  Islam.  This  too 
is  an  ominous  sign  on  the  future  horizon.  Therefore  we 
do  not  put  our  trust  in  politics.  They  are  uncertain  at 
best,  and  whatever  may  prove  the  final  adjustment  of  the 
present  "Muddle — East,"  neither  our  hopes  nor  our  dread 
lie  in  that  direction.  Our  hope  is  in  the  Cross.  Our 
dread  is  that  we  should  seek  to  escape  it.  The  Crusaders 
denied  the  Cross  by  taking  up  the  sword.  "It  is  at  this 
point,"  says  Kirby  Page,  "that  the  sword  and  the  Cross 
differ.  The  sword,  even  used  defensively,  means  the  at- 
tempt to  kill  the  guilty  for  the  sake  of  the  innocent.  The 
Cross  symbolizes  the  willingness  of  the  innocent  to  die  for 
the  guilty.'"  The  sword  can  only  produce  brutality,  the 
Cross  tenderness;  the  sword  destroys  human  life,  the 
Cross  gives  it  priceless  value;    the  sword  deadens  con- 

iThe  Sword  or  the   Cross,   Christian   Century  Press. 


EDITORIAL  331 

science,  the  Cross  awakens  it;  the  sword  ends  in  hatred, 
the  Cross  in  love ;  he  that  takes  up  the  sword  perishes  by  it, 
he  that  takes  up  the  Cross  inherits  eternal  life.  In  win- 
ning Moslem  lands  for  Christ,  the  call  is  for  men  and 
women  who  will  today  follow  the  way  of  the  Cross  with 
the  same  courage  and  abandon  with  which  the  soldier  yes- 
terday served  his  country.  At  the  Smyrna  Student  Con- 
ference this  year  we  heard  Turks,  Armenians,  Bulgarians 
and  Greeks  sing  in  Christian  unison,  "The  Son  of  God 

goes  forth  to  war" It  was  the  harbinger  of  a  new 

day — that  day  when  the  Cross  shall  be  lifted  up  in  every 
pulpit  where  now  the  wooden  sword  in  the  hands  of  the 
Imam  is  the  ever  recurring  Friday  symbol  of  conquest. 

The  sword  or  the  Cross;  self-assertion  or  self-denial; 
might  or  meekness;  carnal  weapons  and  methods  or 
crucifixion.  The  friends  of  God,  the  real  friends  of 
humanity,  do  not  hesitate  in  their  choice.  Out  of  weak- 
ness they  are  made  strong,  baffled  they  still  prevail. 
Because  they  share  the  humiliation  of  the  Cross  they  too 
cannot  be  defeated.  They  too,  as  John  Cordelier  puts  it, 
"are  for  Christ's  sake  wounded  in  the  hands  that  work  for 
Him,  in  the  feet  that  journey  to  Him,  in  the  heart  that  asks 
only  strength  to  love  Him;  as  He  too  is  wounded  in  His 
ceaseless  working  for  us,  His  tireless  coming  to  us,  His 
ineffable  desire  towards  us.  We  share  the  marks  of 
His  passion  and  He  ours." 

The  print  of  the  nails  and  the  mark  of  the  spear  are 
still  the  supreme  evidence  of  Christ's  resurrection  power 
and  deity  and  the  test  of  our  discipleship.  The  call  is  for 
men  and  women  who  will  now  offer  for  this  sacrificial 
service.  The  old  coat-of-arms  of  Tiflis,  the  great  Mos- 
lem center  in  the  Caucasus,  is  a  staff  of  wood  held  by  two 
hands.  The  Cross  is  on  the  upper  end,  while  below  is  the 
half-moon.  One  hand  holds  the  Cross  upright  and  the 
other  is  endeavoring  to  uplift  the  half-moon.  Is  this  not 
typical  of  the  present  situation? 

S.  M.  ZWEMER. 


THE  CALIPHATE  HISTORICALLY 
CONSIDERED 

The  word  Caliph,  Khalifah,  "succession"  or  "substitu- 
tion," personified  as  "successor"  or  "substitute,"  is  from 
its  nature  relative,  requiring  the  mention  of  the  person 
who  is  succeeded  or  replaced.  Very  often  such  a  person 
is  mentioned;  the  Caliph  himself  might  have  a  Caliph 
or  deputy,  as  when  the  former  lived  in  Samarra,  and  had 
a  representative  in  Baghdad;'  and  the  historians  fre- 
quently name  Caliphs  of  governors,  viziers  and  heads  of 
bureaux.  When  the  title  is  given  to  the  head  of  the  Mos- 
lem community,  it  is  implied  that  there  is  some  one  whose 
substitute  or  successor  he  is.  But  those  who  use  it  as  the 
equivalent  of  sovereign  prince  ordinarily  neglect  this 
difficulty. 

There  are  indeed  those  who  think  it  should  be  rendered 
not  as  successor,  but  as  "to  be  succeeded"  ;■  as  applied  to 
Adam  in  the  Koran  it  might  mean  "founder  of  the  human 
family."  This  theory  is  not  easy  to  accommodate  to  the 
facts,  and  the  most  familiar  interpretation  of  Caliph  is 
Caliph  of  God.  Against  this  piety  protests,  because  suc- 
cession and  substitution  imply  death  or  absence.  Yet  the 
theory  that  it  means  successor  of  or  substitute  for  the 
Prophet  is  not  much  easier.  For  the  Koran  asserts  that 
Mohammed  is  "the  seal  of  the  Prophets,"  and  is  not  "the 
father  of  any  of  your  men."^  Clearly  there  can  be  no  in- 
heritance of  the  prophetic  office,*  nor  indeed  any  other 
form  of  inheritance  from  the  Prophet.  Those  who  con- 
sider the  Caliph  the  Prophet's  substitute  confine  his 
activity  to  the  maintenance  of  Islam  and  the  protection 
of  the  community. 

A  question  which  arises  is  whether  a  Caliphate  in  the 
sense  of  a  successorship  to  the  Prophet  can  still  exist. 

iTabari   iii.    1410. 

2Qalqashandi,  Subh  al-A'sha,  v.  444. 

Sxxxiii.  40. 

4jahiz,  Bayan  ed.  2,  i.  202. 


THE  CALIPHATE  HISTORICALLY  CONSIDERED   333 

There  is  a  tradition  that  the  Prophet  said:  The  Caliphate 
after  me  in  my  nation  is  thirty  years;  then  a  kingdom 
after  that.'  This  doubtless  means  that  the  Caliphate 
terminated  with  Ali;'"  and  this  transition  from  Caliphate 
to  monarchy  is  sometimes  assumed  by  historians  to  have 
been  a  fact.**  It  has  this  evident  nucleus  of  truth,  that 
with  the  transference  of  the  center  of  Islam  from  Me- 
dinah,  its  first  capital,  to  other  countries,  the  continuity  of 
the  government  founded  by  the  Prophet  was  severed. 

A  view  which  is  more  widely  accepted  is  that  the  Cali- 
phate terminated  when  Baghdad  was  sacked  by  the  Mon- 
gols in  656  A.  H.,  and  the  connection  of  the  institution 
with  that  city  came  to  an  end.  Thus  in  the  Tabaqdti 
Akbart,  in  the  proceedings  connected  with  Akbar's  at- 
tempt at  preaching  in  the  Mosque,  those  who  followed  the 
'Abbasid  Caliphs  are  called  "Sultans  seated  on  the 
throne."  The  historian  of  the  fall  of  Baghdad,  Wassaf, 
speaks  of  the  Caliphate  terminating  v/ith  the  execution  of 
the  last  'Abbasid.' 

-  A  question  which  is  intimately  connected  with  this  last 
is  whether  there  can  or  cannot  be  more  than  one  Caliph 
at  the  same  time.  Theoretically  there  can  only  be  one; 
for  the  Caliph  is  the  person  whom  God  has  charged  with 
the  interests  of  His  servants  in  East  and  West,  on  sea  and 
land,  country  and  town,  plain  and  mountain.^  There  is  a 
Tradition  according  to  which  if  two  Caliphs  are  pro- 
claimed, one  of  them  is  to  be  slain.  Theory,  however,  in 
these  matters  does  not  always  accord  with  practice.  The 
Emperor  Frederick  I  at  different  times  maintained  that 
just  as  there  was  only  one  God,  so  there  could  only  be 
one  Emperor;  and  that  the  Byzantine  potentate  might  call 
himself  Emperor  0/  the  Romanians,  whilst  he 
(Frederick)  was  sole  Emperor  of  the  Romans.^  It 
might  be  difficult  to  find  in  the  whole  history  of  Islam 
after  the  Prophet's  decease  any  period  at  which  there 

•"'Recorded  by  Ahmad,  Abu  Dawud,  Tirmidhi  and  others.     See  the  Manar,  xxiii,    165. 

•""Or   his   son   Hasan.      Qalqashandi,   i.   e. 

»ilbn   Khaldiin,  Histoire  des  Bcrbcres,  i.    i. 

7P.   76  ed.  Hammer. 

sTabari  iii.    167s. 

9 Von  Raumer,  Geschichte  der  Hohenstaufen,  1857,  it.  88  and  288. 


334  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

were  not  rival  Caliphs;  one  Qatar!,  who  died  in  the  year 
76,  had  held  the  title  of  Caliph  for  thirteen  years.'" 
When  the  Umayyads,  driven  from  the  East,  renewed  their 
dynasty  in  Spain,  they  at  first  called  themselves  Sons  of 
the  Caliphs,  holding  that  the  title  Caliph  belonged  of 
right  to  the  sovereign  who  was  in  possession  of  the  Sanctu- 
aries;" but  in  929  (A.  H.  316)  the  Umayyad  'Abd  al- 
Rahman  III  assumed  the  title  officially — not,  as  Dozy 
with  an  anachronism  suggests,  '^  because  the  Caliph  of 
Baghdad  was  now  a  puppet,  for  eight  years  had  to  elapse 
before  he  became  one,  but  because  his  'Ubaidid  neigh- 
bour in  Africa  had  assumed  the  title,  and  it  would  have 
been  impolitic  to  be  satisfied  with  anything  less.  About 
150  years  later  the  Al-Moravid  Yusuf  Ibn  Tashfin,  having 
become  master  of  a  mighty  empire,  was  told  by  the 
sheikhs  of  his  tribe  that  the  title  Emir  was  no  longer  ade- 
quate, since  he  was  the  Caliph  of  God  on  His  earth,  and 
should  call  himself  Emir  al-Mu'minin  or  Caliph.  He  at 
first  resisted,  on  the  ground  that  this  title  belonged  to  the 
'Abbasids  in  virtue  of  their  descent  and  their  possession 
of  the  Sanctuaries;  ultimately,  however,  he  had  to  yield 
and  took  this  title,^^  which  was  also  taken  by  sovereigns 
of  the  succeeding,  Al-Mohade,  dynasty.'* 

It  would  be  of  little  interest  to  enumerate  the  Spanish 
and  African  dynasties  by  which  the  Caliphate  was  claimed 
simultaneously  with  the  Caliphates  of  Egypt  and  Bagh- 
dad. Whereas,  as  we  have  seen,  many  supposed  that  the 
possession  of  the  Sanctuaries  furnished  a  title  to  the  office, 
on  one  occasion  we  find  the  doctrine  reversed.  When  the 
Caliphate  of  Baghdad  came  to  an  end,  the  Sherif  of 
Mecca  sent  formal  recognition  to  the  Hafsid  Caliph  then 
reigning  in  Tunis,  on  the  ground  that  he  was  the  only 
Caliph  who  at  the  time  possessed  any  real  power  ;''^  ac- 
cording to  this  the  Sanctuaries  belonged  to  the  most  pow- 
erful Islamic  sovereign;  it  was  not  the  possession  of  them 

loTabrizi,  Comin.  on  Hamasah,  p.   44. 

liBibl.   Geogr.   Arab.   vi.   65. 

l2Spanish  Islam,  p.   423. 

^sAl-Hulal  al-Miishiyyah,  Tunis,    1329,  p.   16. 

14Mercier,  Histoire  de  I'Afriqiie  Septentrionale,  ii,   104,  A.   D.   1162. 

isMercier,  1.   c.   ii.    176,  after  Ibn   Khaldun. 


THE  CALIPHATE  HISTORICALLY  CONSIDERED   335 

which  formed  the  ground  of  his  sovereignty.  One  might 
have  expected  more  of  the  Sherifs  of  Mecca  to  claim  the 
Caliphate  than  appear  actually  to  have  done  so.  In  fact, 
an  abortive  attempt  of  the  kind  was  made  by  one  Abu 
'1-Futuh  in  A.  H.  381,  and  Quatadah,  founder  of  the 
existing  line  of  Sherifs,  considered  that  he  had  the  best 
right  to  the  office. 

The  North  African  Caliphate  has  its  representative  to 
this  day  in  the  Sultan  of  Morocco ;  the  Caliphate  of  Bagh- 
dad was  nominally  replaced  after  three  years  by  the 
'Abbasids,  who  maintained  a  shadow  of  the  office  in  Egypt 
under  the  Mamluks.  Ordinarily  these  Caliphs  kept  in 
the  background;  when  they  tried  to  assert  themselves 
they  had  reason  to  regret  the  attempt.  In  902  A.  H.  the 
Caliph  of  the  times  ventured  to  appoint  the  well  known 
polygraph  Jalal  ad-dIn  Suyuti  supreme  Qadi  with  the 
right  to  appoint  and  dismiss  qadis  throughout  the  Islamic 
world!  The  qadis  of  Cairo  met  and  declared  that  when 
there  was  a  Sultan,  the  Caliph  had  no  right  of  binding  or 
loosing,  of  appointment  or  dismissal  of  any  sort.  This 
made  the  Caliph  climb  down,  and  throw  the  blame  on 
Suyuti.  ''Who,"  he  said,  "am  I?'""*  The  question  was  a 
reasonable  one;  for  he  was  a  nonentity.  If  Suyuti  is  to 
be  believed,  the  names  of  these  Caliphs  were  not  men- 
tioned in  the  Khutbah  after  740  A.  H.'^ 

These  stiadowy  Caliphs  might  have  remained  in 
obscurity,  but  for  an  accident.  The  fall  of  dynasties 
claiming  the  Caliphate  was  so  familiar  an  occurrence  that 
methods  for  dealing  with  such  a  situation  had  arisen.  One 
was  to  continue  to  recognize  the  last  Caliph  of  the  line, 
notwithstanding  that  he  was  in  his  grave;  thus  Musta'sim 
the  last  of  the  'Abbasids  of  Baghdad,  though  he  had  been 
murdered  in  A.  H.  656,  was  mentioned  in  prayer  as  late  as 
the  year  798  A.  H.,  "from  every  pulpit,"  if  Khazraji  is 
to  be  believed.'*  A  second  plan  was,  as  has  been  seen, 
that  adopted  by  the  Sherif  of  Mecca,  to  look  out  for 

I6lbn  lyas,  ii.  307. 
JTTa'righ  al-Khulafa. 
isTranslated  by  Redhouse,  i.   no. 


336  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

some  other  Caliph.  Yet  a  third  phm  was  to  claim  the 
Caliphate;  for  indeed  this  matter  is  mainly  or  entirely 
the  concern  of  princes,  who  are  supposed  to  derive  their 
power  from  the  Caliph;  to  other  Moslems  it  is  of  little 
importance.  In  India  after  the  fall  of  the  'Abbasids  of 
Baghdad  all  three  methods  found  adherents. 

In  Bengal  the  name  of  Musta'sim  appears  on  coins  as 
late  as  the  year  722  A.  H.;  in  Delhi  as  late  as  695;'''  this 
was  the  first  of  the  three  expedients  enumerated.  Doubt- 
less the  news  of  the  death  of  the  Caliph  would  not  at  once 
reach  these  remote  regions;  but  even  this  distance  would 
be  covered  in  less  than  forty  years.  The  third  method  was 
that  adopted  by  the  Sultan  Qutb  al-din  Mubarakshah 
(716-720  A.H.;  1316-1320  A.D.)  This  monarch  calls 
himself  on  his  coin  Supreme  Imam,  Caliph  of  the  Lord 
of  the  Worlds,  and  took  a  title  in  the  style  of  the  Caliphs, 
Al-Wathiq  billah,  "The  reliant  on  God." 

The  remaining  expedient,  looking  out  for  a  Caliph,  was 
tried  by  the  Sultan  Mohammed  Ibn  Tughlaq,  who 
reigned  from  725-752  A.H.,  1324-135 1  A.D.  This  devout 
man,  having  come  to  the  conclusion  that  no  Sultan  was 
authorized  without  investiture  by  an  'Abbasid  Caliph, 
made  numerous  inquiries  as  to  the  existence  of  persons  of 
that  line;  and  finally  heard  from  numerous  travellers  that 
there  was  an  'Abbasid  Caliph  in  Egypt.  He  accordingly 
sent  an  embassy  to  this  personage,  requesting  investiture, 
which  the  Egyptian  Caliph  was  delighted  to  bestow;  and 
from  this  time  the  name  of  the  Egyptian  Caliph  figures  on 
Indian  coins.  One  specimen  of  a  diploma  conferring 
sovereignty  on  an  Indian  prince  is  preserved  in  the  re- 
cently published  diplomatic  encyclopaedia  of  Qalqa- 
shandi,  who  asserts  that  it  is  the  only  diploma  known  to 
him  that  had  been  made  out  for  any  but  an  Egyptian  Sultan 
in  the  name  of  one  of  the  Caliphs.^"  It  is  clear,  however, 
that  this  was  not  the  only  document  of  the  kind  sent  to 
India,  since  we  have  records  of  others  both  earlier  and 

i9See  E.  Thomas,  Chronicles  of  the  Pathan  Kings  of  Delhi,  1871. 
20Sitbh  al-A'sha  x.  129. 


THE  CALIPHATE  HISTORICALLY  CONSIDERED   337 

later.  This  particular  document  was  composed  by  a  well- 
known  belle-lettrist,  Ibn  Hijjah,  in  Damascus,  813  A.H., 
141 1  A.D.  The  person  on  whom  it  confers  the  realm  of 
India  with  capital  Delhi  is  Muzaflfar-Shah,  who,  as  it 
records,  destroyed  Somnath  a  second  time  in  1395,  and 
took  the  fort  of  Diu."'  Fie  appears  to  have  been  the  most 
powerful  Moslem  sovereign  in  India  at  the  time,  and  to 
have  settled  who  should  reign  in  Delhi;  but  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  reigned  there  himself.  The  latest  notice  of 
an  Egyptian  investiture  is  in  the  history  of  Ibn  lyas,  who 
witnessed  the  Ottoman  conquest  of  his  country.  In  the 
year  876-1471  there  arrived,  he  says,  an  envoy  from  the 
King  Ghiyath  ad-din,  soliciting  investiture  with  the  sov- 
ereignty of  India  in  place  of  his  predecessor,  and  bringing 
gifts  for  the  Egyptian  Sultan  as  well  as  for  the  Caliph. ^^ 
This  Ghiyath  ad-din  must  be  the  Sultan  Malwa,  who  ac- 
cording to  the  Chronicle,  translated  by  Bayley,  ascended 
the  throne  in  873-1469,"^  and  in  a  coin  reproduced  by 
Thomas  calls  himself  the  person  on  whom  authority  has 
been  conferred  by  the  Caliph  of  the  time  in  the  worlds."* 

In  922-1517  the  final  disaster  occurred  to  the  relics  of 
the  'Abbasid  Caliphate.  Egypt  was  conquered  by  the 
Ottoman  Sultan  Selim  I;  the  Caliph  was  carried  off  to 
Constantinople,  whence  he  was  presently  sent  back  to 
Egypt  to  die  there  in  obscurity.  Some  date  the  assump- 
tion of  the  Caliphate  by  the  Ottoman  Sultans  from  this 
event;  yet  it  is  noticeable  that  the  Ottoman  historian  Sa'd 
al-din  calls  Constantinople  Ddr  al-Khildfah,  seat  of  the 
Caliphate"  before  the  conquest  of  Egypt  ;"^  and  the  con- 
queror Selim  in  his  dispatch  to  his  son,  while  enumerating 
the  various  glories  of  his  exploit,  says  nothing  about  his 
seizure  of  the  Caliph.^*'  To  the  Indian  potentates  who 
had  recognized  the  Egyptian  Caliphs  the  three  courses 
which  have  been  mentioned  were  again  open.  That  of 
neglecting  the  destruction  of  the  Caliphate  was  practised 

2lBayley,   History   of  Gujerat,   pp.   yS   and   80. 
22Chronicle,  ii.    131. 
23P.    186. 
24P.    349. 

25Constantinople   1279,   ii.   328. 

26Edited  and  translated  by  Wickerhauser,  Chrestomathie,   Vienna,   1853. 


338  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

in  India  for  a  certain  number  of  years;  the  phrase,  In  the 
time  of  the  Caliph,  was  retained  on  Indian  coins  some 
time  after  the  Caliphate  had  ceased  to  exist.  Not,  how- 
ever, very  long;  the  plan  of  assuming  the  Caliphate  was 
that  which  found  favor.  In  an  anonymous  coin  of  the 
year  937-1530,  fifteen  years  after  the  termination  of  the 
Egyptian  Caliphate,  Agra  is  called  Seat  of  the  Cali- 
phate,^'' and  in  others  of  the  following  three  years  the  same 
title  is  given  to  Lahore.  Cities  of  India  claimed  that  title 
from  1530  to  at  least  1842,  the  date  of  the  latest  silver  Mo- 
ghul  coin  mentioned  in  Lane  Poole's  Catalogue. 

From  the  former  date,  then,  India  has  a  seat  of  the 
Caliphate,  and  the  title  Caliph  was  actually  taken  by  Sher- 
Shah  (1540- 1 545),  and  his  successor  Islam-Shah  (1545- 
1552),  who  calls  himself  on  a  coin  Caliph  of  the  Time^^^ 
and  assumes  an  imperial  title  al-'Adil  "the  Just."  With 
Akbar,  however,  (1556-1605)  the  Indian  Caliphate  may 
be  said  to  be  definitely  established.  This  potentate  was 
very  much  in  earnest  in  his  assumption  of  the  title  Caliph, 
as  appears  from  his  pronouncing  the  khutbah  in  the  style 
of  the  Pious  Caliphs  and  their  successors,  the  'Abbasids; 
and  in  the  fatwd  which  he  obtained  from  the  Indian  jurists 
he  is  styled  Emir  al-Mu'minin.^^ 

It  is  likely  that  Akbar's  assumption  of  the  title  was  in 
part  dictated  by  conscious  rivalry  to  the  Ottoman  Caliph, 
and  of  this  we  have  a  hint  in  a  story  told  by  Badaoni.'" 
When  Akbar  wished  to  substitute  for  the  second  sentence 
of  the  Moslem  creed  the  formula  Akbar  is  the  Caliph  of 
God,  he  was  asked  what  the  provincial  rulers,  such  as  the 
Padishah  of  Rum  (Ottoman  Sultan)  would  think  of  it; 
and  he  charged  some  one  who  objected  with  being  a  secret 
agent  of  that  potentate,  with  whom  he  hoped  to  curry 
favour  by  such  conduct,  and  to  whom  he  was  told  to  go. 
Indeed  one  may  well  wonder  that  the  world  was  large 
enough  for  two  such  sovereigns  as  Sulaiman  the  Magnifi- 

27Thonias,   p.   385   foil. 

28Thomas,   p.   413. 

2oSee  Vincent  Smith,  Akbar  the   Great  Mogul,  p.  179. 

80ii.  273  (Persian  textr) 


THE  CALIPHATE  HISTORICALLY  CONSIDERED   339 

cent  and  Akbar.  The  possession  of  the  Sanctuaries 
would  seem  to  be  sufficient  occasion  for  a  quarrel;  and 
indeed  Sher-Shah  ( 1540-1545)  entrusted  an  intending  pil- 
grim with  a  message  to  the  Ottoman  Sultan,  wherein  he 
requested  that  one  of  the  two  Sanctuaries  might  be  as- 
signed to  him  (the  Indian  Caliph)  f"-  a  message  which  is 
unlikely  to  have  been  delivered.  Nevertheless  the  Indian 
Caliphate  was  not  unknown  in  Mecca.  In  a  letter  to 
the  Ashrdf  (nobles)  of  this  place  Akbar's  secretary, 
Abu  '1-Fadl,  calls  Agra  "the  seat  of  the  sublime  Cali- 
phate.^^ Similarly  in  another  to  the  Uzbek  Sultan  he 
speaks  of  a  prince  destroying  himself  when  after  capture 
he  was  being  brought  to  the  threshold  of  the  Caliphate 
(i.e.  Akbar's  capital. )^^  In  another,  soliciting  the  visit  of 
a  man  of  letters  from  Shiraz,  he  speaks  of  the  fortieth  year 
of  Akbar's  Caliphate.=^* 

Akbar  and  his  secretary  had  virtually  abandoned  Is- 
lam; but  this  was  not  the  case  with  Akbar's  successors, 
and  they  figure  as  Caliphs  in  history  and  diplomacy  as 
well  as  in  numismatics.  In  the  Memoirs  of  Akbar's  suc- 
cessor, Jahangir,  a  letter  is  produced  wherein  the  Persian 
Shah  'Abbas  uses  the  word  Caliphate  for  the  empire  of 
India;  The  world-conquering  standard  of  the  Caliphate 
in  the  person  of  Jahangir  is  said  to  have  cast  the  shade  of 
equity  over  the  inhabitants  of  the  world.  In  the  letter 
sent  by  the  next  Moghul  Emperor,  Shah  Jahan,  to  the 
Shah  'Abbas  II  in  1646,  the  house  which  adorns  the  Cal- 
iphate (i.e.  the  Indian  dynasty)  is  contrasted  with  the  Per- 
sian Sultanate.'"-  The  princes  of  this  Emperor's  family 
are  regularly  called  the  Eldest  Jewel  in  the  casket  of  the 
Caliphate,  the  Cypress  of  the  River  of  the  Caliphate,  and 
the  like.  In  1709,  when  the  Emperor  Shah  'Alam  I.  had 
ordered  the  name  of  the  Fourth  Caliph  in  public  prayer 
to  be  followed  by  the  title  Wasiyy  (trustee  or  legatee) 
which  belongs  to  the  Shi'ah  doctrine,  there  were  riots  in 

3iBadaoni   i.    370. 

'A-Muntakhabat,   Lucknow   1869,  p.   46. 

5^Muntakhabat  with   Urdu  translation ,  p.  2y.  • 

S4lbid.,    p.    122. 

3">TraiisIation  of  Rogers  and  Beveridge,  p.   195. 

3GBadishah-nameh,    ii.    496. 


340  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Akbarabad  (Agra)  and  Shahjahanabad  (Delhi),  the 
Seats  of  the  Caliphate  of  the  Indian  Emperors.  Appel- 
lants who  tried  to  obtain  remission  from  this  edict  were 
told  that  they  must  read  prayer  according  to  the  command 
of  the  Caliph,^'  i.e.  Shah  'Alam. 

The  Ottoman  Caliph  then  had  an  Indian  Caliph  reign- 
ing beside  him  in  the  East  as  well  as  an  African  Caliph 
reigning  to  the  West  of  his  dominions.  The  title  was  cer- 
tainly claimed  by  the  Ottoman  ruler :  Mustafa  II,  who  as- 
cended the  Ottoman  throne  in  1695,  asserted  in  his 
proclamation  that  God  had  bestowed  on  this  poor  sinner 
the  Caliphate  of  the  world.''  Likewise  the  Sa'dian 
Sherifs  in  N.  Africa  were  styled  Caliph  and  Emir  al- 
Mu'minin/^  and  these  titles  were  retained  by  their  suc- 
cessors the  Hasani  Sherifs.*"  Recognition  of  the  possibil- 
ity of  more  than  one  Caliph  reigning  at  one  time  was 
actually  made  by  the  Ottoman  court  in  1726,  in  the  case  of 
their  realms  being  separated  by  such  an  interval  as  the 
Indian  Ocean;  whereby  perhaps  the  Arabian  Sea  is 
meant,  the  intention  being  to  avoid  disputes  with  the 
Indian  Caliphs.'"  For  indeed  ordinarily  these  two 
Caliphates  appear  to  have  made  up  their  minds  to  live 
and  let  live,  whence  references  to  India  in  Ottoman  his- 
torians and  to  the  Ottoman  Empire  in  Indian  historians 
are  rare.  In  1640  there  is  an  exceptional  case  of  some- 
thing like  diplomatic  relations  between  the  two  empires. 
An  agent  who  was  sent  by  Shah  Jahan  to  buy  horses  was 
brought  to  Mosul  into  the  presence  of  the  Ottoman 
Sultan  Murad  IV,  who  received  his  presents,  and  sent 
an  envoy  of  his  own,  one  Arslan  Agha,  to  the  Indian 
potentate,  who  decorated  him,  repeatedly  bestowed  rich 
presents  on  him  and  his  staff,  and  after  a  year  allowed 
him  to  return.  The  Indian  historian  who  records  this 
event  calls  the  Ottoman  Sultan,  Q'aisar-i-Rum,  "Byzan- 
tine Emperor  1"*'     On  the  other  hand,  in  the  record  of  the 

STKhafi   Khan,  ii.   664. 

SSVon  Hammer  vi.  600;    original  verified. 

SONushat  al-Hadl  passim. 

*'*ArchiTes  Marocaines  ix.  59. 

4iVon    Hammer  vii.    334, 

42Badishah-nameh  ii.  188-218. 


THE  CALIPHATE  HISTORICALLY  CONSIDERED   341 

affair  by  the  Ottoman  historian  Na'ima*^  the  proud  title  of 
the  Indian  emperor  "King  of  the  World"  does  not  appear. 

The  Moghul  Caliphate  was  overthrown  as  other  Cali- 
phates had  been  overthrown.  Shah  'Alam  II,  after  hav- 
ing been  kept  in  rigorous  confinement  by  the  Mahrattas, 
on  their  defeat  by  the  English  in  1803,  applied  to  the 
British  Government  for  protection,  which  was  accorded, 
and  from  that  time  the  titular  kings  of  Delhi  became  pen- 
sioned subjects  of  the  British."  Until  1835,  however,  the 
current  coin  of  India  continued  to  bear  the  Moghul  super- 
scription.*^ There  were  three  courses  open  as  before  to 
those  who  had  lost  their  Caliph.  There  is  no  evidence 
that  the  loss  was  felt  at  the  time,  nor  was  it  till  near  the 
end  of  the  century  that  any  attempt  was  made  to  replace  it. 

The  facts  which  have  been  collected  will  enable  the 
reader  to  form  a  judgment  on  the  question  of  the  Caliph- 
ate. One  matter  which  emerges  is  that  the  existence  or 
non-existence  of  a  Caliph  makes  little  if  any  difference  to 
the  ordinary  Moslem.  The  real  function  of  a  Caliph  is 
to  give  authorization  to  a  Sultan;  and  the  Sultans  who 
required  this  were  ordinarily  foreigners  who  ruled  over 
Arabic-speaking  peoples.  Where  there  were  native 
rulers,  whether  Arabs  or  non-Arabs,  an  apology  of  this 
sort^was  not  required;  and  those  rulers  who  esteemed  it 
of  value  were  anxious  to  have  the  Caliph  from  whom  they 
ostensibly  derived  their  authority  in  their  power.  Hence 
even  the  Sultan  who  introduced  the  name  of  the  Egyptian 
'Abbasid  into  the  legends  of  Indian  coins  regretted  that  he 
had  not  reserved  his  allegiance  for  a  Caliph  whom  he 
could  himself  control.*''  Any  king  might  count  as  the 
Caliph  (viceroy)  of  God;*'  no  king  could  replace  the 
Prophet. 

It  was  left  to  some  of  the  Sufis  to  work  out  a  theory 
which  should  take  account  of  this  latter  point.  The  real 
Caliph  is  one  who  takes  his  orders  direct  from  God  as  the 

4.-!  iii.  357. 

44Kaye   and    Malleson,   Indian   Mutiny,    1889,   v.    323. 

45lbid.    ii.    7. 

46Thomas,  1.  c.  p.  257. 

47jahiz,  Livrc   dc  la  Couronne,  p.  86. 


342  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Prophet  did.  There  may  be  a  multiplicity  of  ostensible 
Caliphs,  but  there  can  be  only  one  real  Caliph  at  a  time, 
he  being  the  Qutb,  or  Pole.  Such  a  Caliph  may  or  may 
not  exercise  his  powers.  Thus  'Abd  al-Qadir  Gilani  ex- 
ercised his,  whereas  Abu  '1-Su'ud  Shalbi  refrained  from 
exercising  his.*'  The  former  according  to  the  more  mod- 
erate of  his  adherents  150  years  after  his  demise  was  the 
lord  of  mankind  after  God  in  his  time  only;  according  to 
the  more  enthusiastic  he  was  that  absolutely."**  It  is  rather 
interesting  that  the  Indian  Caliph  Shah  'Alam  I.  claimed 
descent  from  this  personage,  who  is  styled  "the  best  of 
mankind."^" 

Our  result  is  a  negative  one,  but  that  is  because  in  this 
case  law  must  be  deduced  from  history;  and  from  his- 
tory we  can  infer  that  Moslem  nations  can  exist  without 
a  Caliph,  that  numerous  Caliphs  can  reign  simultaneously, 
without  conscious  rivalry,  and  that  a  dead  Caliph  can  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  the  office,  whatever  they  may  be;  if 
we  follow  Ibn  'Arabi,  we  may  add  that  a  man  may  con- 
sciously discharge  the  duties  of  the  office  without  the 
knowledge  of  his  contemporaries;  for  history  is  silent 
about  'Abd  al-Qadir  Gilani's  Caliphate.  We  may,  if  we 
like,  take  the  view  that  no  genuine  Caliph  ever  reigned; 
for  Abu  Bakr  (the  first  of  the  series)  is  said  to  have  de- 
clined the  title,  and  the  same  is  narrated  of  his  successor. 

This  view  has  the  advantage  that  it  renders  the  treat- 
ment by  the  Moslems  of  their  Caliphs  more  excusable.  It 
is  well  known  that  the  second,  the  third  and  the  fourth  of 
the  Pious  Caliphs  were  slain  by  Moslem  hands;  many  of 
those  who  afterwards  bore  the  title  were  victims  of  vio- 
lence ;  one  at  least  took  to  begging  for  bread.  Muqtadir, 
the  last  of  the  Baghdad  Caliphs  who  ruled  over  an  em- 
pire, was  slain  fighting  against  his  Commander-in-chief, 
though  he  wore  at  the  time  the  insignia  which  he  was  sup- 
posed to  have  inherited  from  the  Prophet;  insignia  which 
were  lost  at  the  time,  but  were  presently  replaced.     If 

*^Futuh  Makkiyvah  ii.  407.     Fiisiis  al-Hikam,  §   16. 
49lbn    Taimiyyan,    Bughyat   al-Murtad,    p.    124. 
OOKhafi  Khan,   ii.   604. 


THE  CALIPHATE  HISTORICALLY  CONSIDERED   343 

such  treatment  by  Believers  of  either  the  Successor  of  the 
Prophet  or  of  God's  representative  is  shocking  in  the  ex- 
treme, it  must  be  added  that  the  conduct  of  these  Caliphs 
was  often  little  calculated  to  inspire  reverence  for  their 
office. 

With  those  in  our  time  who  hold  that  because  an  Is- 
lamic prince  has  the  title  Caliph,  the  Western  powers 
should  give  him  effective  authority,  it  is  not  easy  to  sym- 
pathize, whether  they  be  Moslems  or  non-Moslems.  If 
Western  civilization  means  anything,  it  means  that  no  man 
may  be  subjected  to  disabilities  because  of  the  creed  which 
he  professes  or  adopts;  Islam  by  its  maxims  subjects  those 
who  do  not  profess  it  to  disabilities  and  those  who  abandon 
it  to  outlawry.  How  can  any  one  who  claims  religious 
toleration  demand  that  such  a  system  should  have  a  new 
lease  of  political  power?  Moreover  Islam  obtained  its 
power  of  imposing  religious  disabilities  by  force  only;  for 
men  do  not  willingly  submit  to  them.  That  which  was 
won  by  force  can  be  lost  by  force.  The  height  of  ab- 
surdity seems  to  have  been  reached  by  that  advocate  of 
the  Caliphate  who  asserted  that  unless  the  head  of  Islam 
be  an  independent  potentate,  the  prayers  of  Moslems  are 
not  valid.  If  that  be  so,  they  must  have  been  invalid  dur- 
ing many  centuries;  for  he  who  represents  the  'Abbasid 
Caliphs  as  independent  rulers  under  Buwaihid,  Seljuq  or 
Mamluk  Sultans,  wilfully  perverts  history;  further  he 
puts  it  in  the  power  of  the  Unbeliever  to  render  the  Be- 
lievers' prayers  useless!  If  Islam  be  so  contemptible  a 
superstition  as  this  argument  involves,  it  seems  to  require 
missionaries  rather  than  Caliphs. 

Oxford,  England.  D.     S,  MARGOLIOUTH. 


THE    ''ILLITERATE"    PROPHET 
Could  Mohammed  Read  and  Write? 

Whether  Mohammed  could  read  or  write  has  for 
centuries  been  a  controverted  question.  Today  most  Mos- 
lems deny  it;  some,  however,  affirm  it,  but  we  are  espe- 
cially interested  in  the  denial,  because  it  is  generally  used 
to  fortify  their  argument  for  the  miraculous  character  of 
the  Koran. 

In  investigating  this  question  anew,  we  are  not  unmind- 
ful that  our  sources,  viz.,  Mohammedan  Traditions,  are 
no  longer  considered  as  authoritative  as  they  once  were. 
As  Hurgronje  says,  this  illusion  has  been  disturbed  by 
Prince  Caetani  and  Father  Lammens.  ''According  to 
them,  even  the  data  which  had  been  pretty  generally  re- 
garded as  objective,  rest  chiefly  upon  tendentious  fiction. 
The  generations  that  worked  at  the  biography  of  the 
Prophet  were  too  far  removed  from  his  time  to  have  true 
data  or  notions;  and,  moreover,  it  was  not  their  aim  to 
know  the  past  as  it  was,  but  to  construct  a  picture  of  it  as 
it  ought  to  have  been,  according  to  their  opinion." 

But  while  we  may  know  less  by  the  standards  of  trust- 
worthy tradition,  we  know  more  of  the  conditions  in 
Arabia  and  the  life  at  Mecca,  thanks  to  the  investigations 
of  Wellhausen,  Wiistenfeld,  Cheikho,  Lammens,  Huart 
and  others. 


The  art  of  reading  and  writing  was  fairly  common  at 
Mecca  at  the  time  of  Mohammed's  birth.  According  to 
later  Moslem  tradition  the  science  of  writing  was  not 
known  in  Mecca  until  introduced  by  Harb,  the  father  of 
Abu  Sufian,  the  great  opponent  of  Mohammed,  about 
A.D.  560!  But  this  is  evidently  an  error,  for  close  inter- 
course existed  long  before  this  between  Mecca  and  Yemen 

344 


THE  "ILLITERATE"  PROPHET  345 

through  caravan  trade,  and  in  Yemen  writing  was  well- 
known  for  centuries.  In  another  tradition  Abd  ul 
Muttalib  is  said  to  have  written  to  Medina  for  help  in  his 
younger  days,  i.e.  about  A.D.  520.  Both  Jews  and  Chris- 
tians also  dwelt  in  the  vicinity  of  Mecca  for  two  hundred 
years  before  the  Hegira,  and  used  some  form  of  writing. 

Muir  says,  "It  is  evident  that  writing  of  some  sort  was 
known  and  practised  at  Mecca  long  before  A.  D.  560.  At 
all  events,  the  frequent  notices  of  written  papers  leave  no 
room  to  doubt  that  Arabic  writing  was  well  known,  and 
not  uncommonly  practised  there  in  Mahomet's  early 
days.  I  cannot  think  with  Weil,  that  any  great  want  of 
writing  materials  could  have  been  felt,  even  by  the  poorer 
Moslems  in  the  early  days  of  Islam.  Reeds  and  palm- 
leaves  would  never  be  wanting." 

He  quotes  an  account  from  Katib  al  Waqidi,  showing 
that  Mecca  was  far  in  advance  of  Medina  in  the  art  of 
writing,  so  that  after  the  battle  of  Bedr  many  of  the  Mec- 
can  prisoners  were  compelled  to  teach  the  art  of  writing  to 
the  children  of  Medina.  Each  captive  was  assigned  ten 
boys,  and  their  tuition,  when  completed,  was  to  be  ac- 
cepted as  a  full  ransom.^ 

Hartmann  also  in  a  long  note  (Vol.  ii,  p.  425  of  Der 
Islamische  Orient)  shows  that  writing  was  very  common 
in  Yemen  and  North  Arabia,  and  that  there  was  close  in- 
tercourse between  Mecca  and  both  these  provinces  as 
well  as  with  Persia.  He  says,  "There  is  no  doubt  that 
writing  on  parchment  was  an  ordinary  custom  for  poets, 
merchants,  etc." 

There  are  many  traditions  which  show  that  writing  was 
not  uncommon  in  Mecca  about  Mohammed's  time,  and 
the  traditions  which  ascribe  a  prejudice  on  his  part  against 
writing  appear  to  have  no  good  foundation.  We  find 
mention  of  Abu  '1-Abbas,  the  uncle  of  Mohammed  having 
left  behind  him  a  camel-load  of  MSS.  Ali  copied  out 
certain  precepts  of  the  Prophet,  and  in  order  to  have  them 
constantly  at  hand,  tied  the  roll  round  the  handle  of  his 

iCf.  Muir  Vol.   I,  p.  viii  and  Vol.   Ill,  p.   123.  • 


346  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

sword. ^  Jaber  and  Yaser,  two  sword-makers  in  Mecca, 
are  mentioned  by  the  commentators  as  being  in  the  habit 
of  reading  the  Taurat  and  the  Injil  when  Mohammed 
passed  them,  and  he  listened  to  their  reading.  On  the 
first  page  of  Al-Bukhari's  collection  of  traditions,  we  read 
that  Waraqa  bin  Naufal,  Khadijah's  cousin,  read  the  Gos- 
pel and  copied  it  in  Hebrew  character.  Others  say 
Arabic  and  Hebrew.^ 

The  cursive  Arabic  script  was  in  use  as  early  as  the 
time  of  Mutalammis  and  Tarafa,  the  second  half  of  the 
sixth  century,  A.  H.*  The  rise  of  Islam  no  doubt  helped 
to  spread  a  knowledge  of  writing,  but  did  not  originate  it. 
Louis  Cheikho  in  his  "Arabic  Studies  on  Christian  Liter- 
ature in  Arabia  before  Islam,"  devotes  a  chapter  to  prove 
that  the  art  of  writing  itself  was  introduced  by  Christians 
both  in  South  and  North  Arabia  long  before  the  Hegira. 

The  two  kinds  of  characters  used,  namely,  the  Nabati 
and  the  Naskhi,  and  which  exist  today  in  rock  inscriptions, 
as  well  as  in  documents,  owe  their  origin  to  Christians. 
Berger  writes :  "L' ecriture  Arabe  existait  ajimnt  Mahomet, 
elle  a  ete  chretienne  avant  d'etre  musulmane."''  And 
Wellhausen  affirms  the  same:  ^^Die  Christen  hahen.des 
Arabischen  wol  zuerst  ah  schriftsprache  yebraucht. 
Namentlich  die  Ibaedier  von  Hira  und  Anbar  scheinen 
sich  in  dieser  Beziehung  Verdienste  erworben  zu  haben."^ 

We  also  read  in  the  Aghani^  the  tradition  above  quoted 
that  Waraqa  bin  Naufal  wrote  portions  of  the  Gospel 
record  in  Hebrew  letters.  Cheikho  goes  on  to  show  that  a 
great  number  of  Koran  words,  especially  the  names  and 
attributes  of  God,  the  terms  used  in  regard  to  the  rewards 
and  punishment  of  the  future  life,  and  the  religious  vocab- 
ulary in  general  (which  are  usually  attributed  to  Mo- 
hammed's genius)  all  occur  in  pre-Islamic  Christian 
poetry.* 

2Muir's    The   Mohammedan    Controversy,   p.    114. 

sCf.   Al  Asqalani's  Fath-ul-Bari   Commentary,   Vol.   i,   p.    19. 

^Encyclopaedia  of  Islam,   Vol.   i,  p.   383. 

■'Histoirc  de  I'Ecritiire  Chretienne  en  Arabic  avant  I'lshim,  p.  287. 

6Reste  Arabischen  Heidentums,  p.  232. 

sSee   his   book,    Le    Chrisfianismr    ct   la    l.itcmturc    Chretienne   en    Arabic   avant    I  Islam, 
Vol.  ii,  p.   158  to  199* 


THE  "ILLITERATE"  PROPHET  347 

Moslem  tradition  is  in  this  respect  unreliable.  We  are 
told,  for  example,  that  at  Mecca  at  the  time  of  the 
Prophet  only  seventeen  men  were  able  to  write!  Their 
names  are  preserved  for  us  by  al-Baladhuri  (see  last  chap- 
ter Arabic  edition  of  the  text,  Cairo  1901.)  This  state- 
ment seems  very  improbable,  not  to  say,  impossible.  The 
Fathu-1-Bari  mentions  the  names  of  the  amanuenses  of  the 
Prophet,''  and  says  they  numbered  no  less  than  forty-two/° 
While  this  may  be  an  exaggeration,  it  certainly  seems  to 
prove  that  the  art  of  reading  and  writing  was  not  uncom- 
mon. Letters  were  written  by  the  order  of  Mohammed 
to  foreign  rulers,  and  we  even  hear  of  a  correspondence 
kept  up  in  Hebrew  with  the  Jews.  (See  Abu  Daoud 
under  the  heading  Reports  from  the  Ahl-al-kitab.) 

Among  the  wives  of  the  Prophet  we  are  sure  that  at 
least  Ayesha  and  Hafza  could  read  and  write.  The  fre- 
quent mention  of  "writing"  and  "the  book"  in  the  Koran 
(240  times)  is  striking  in  this  connection,  especially  if  the 
speaker  of  the  words  was  himself  wholly  unacquainted 
with  either  writing  or  reading,  and  did  not  have  an 
abundance  of  material.  The  Meccans,  in  fact,  like  the 
Egyptians  in  their  fondness  for  writing,  used  all  possible 
materials.  Our  information  is  fairly  extensive  and  is  de- 
rived from  an  account  of  the  missionary  epistles  sent  out 
by  the  Prophet  and  of  the  collection  of  the  Koran.  The 
chief  materials  were  leather,  palm-leaf,  the  broad  shoul- 
der blades  of  the  camel,  (these  are  still  used  in  Oman, 
Arabia,  in  the  day  schools)  potsherds,  flat  white  stones, 
wooden  tablets,  parchment  and  papyrus."  Moritz  says, 
"It  may  be  regarded  as  certain  that  in  a  commercial  town 
like  Petra,  the  art  of  writing  was  in  common  use  at  the 
beginning  of  the  third  century."'" 

In  view  of  the  facts  given  above  and  the  statement  that 
Mohammed  himself  had  so  many  secretaries,  there  were 
doubtless  more  than  seventeen  persons  in  the  religious 

9Vol.  ix,  p.   19. 

lOCasanova    (Moh.    et    la    Fin    du    Monde,    p.    96,    97)    gives    their    names    from    five 
different  authorities. 

ii Encyclopaedia  of  Islam,  art.  Arabic. 
i2Bncyclopaedia  of  Islam,  art.  Arabic. 


348  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

capital,  with  its  large  pilgrim  traffic,  who  were  literate. 
Mohammed  himself  was  a  most  intelligent  man,  and  had 
acted  for  a  long  time  as  mercantile  agent  for  Khadijah. 
When  we  remember  what  this  involves  in  wholesale  cara- 
van traffic  with  distant  Syria,  it  is  not  unnatural  to  sup- 
pose that  he  may  have  had  opportunity  to  learn  to  read 
and  to  write. '^  He  might  even  have  learned  the  art  from 
two  of  his  wives. 

II 

On  what  then  is  the  general  Mohammedan  denial  of 
their  Prophet's  ability  to  read  or  write  based?  On  one 
word,  ummi,  used  six  times  in  the  Koran,  and  on  one  ob- 
scure passage  where  the  Angel  Gabriel  bids  him  "read" 
(iqra)  and  he  replies,  "I  am  not  a  'reader.' "  Let  us  ex- 
amine the  words  used,  and  see  whether  their  significance 
by  derivation  or  usage  will  bear  the  weight  of  the  inter- 
pretation that  has  become  current,  or  contradicts  it. 

The  word  ummi  occurs  six  times  in  the  Koran.  We 
copy  the  passages  in  order  and  follow  Palmer's  transla- 
tion (and  mistranslation.) 

The  chapter  of  the  Heifer  (ii,  v.  74)  :  "and  some  of 
them  are  illiterate  folk  that  know  not  the  book  but  only 
idle  tales." 

The  chapter  of  Imran's  family  (iii,  v.  19)  :  "and  say  to 
those  who  have  been  given  the  book  and  unto  the  Gentiles, 
are  ye  too  resigned?" 

The  chapter  of  Al  'Araf  (vii,  vs.  155;  158)  :  "who  fol- 
low the  apostle  the  illiterate  Prophet;  whom  they  find 

written  down  for  them  in  the  law  and  the  gospel 

Believe  thou  then  in  God  and  His  Apostle  the  illiterate 
Prophet  who  believes  in  God  and  in  His  words." 

The  chapter  of  the  Congregation  (Ixii,  v.  2)  :  "He  it 
is  who  sent  unto  the  Gentiles  a  prophet  amongst  them- 
selves to  recite  to  them  His  signs  and  to  purify  them  and 


isMargoliouth  (Mohammed,  p.  67-69)  shows  that  he  even  had  a  shop  at  Mecca,  and  kept 
accounts. 


THE  "ILLITERATE"  PROPHET  349 

to  teach  them  the  book  and  wisdom,  although  they  were 
before  in  obvious  error.'"* 

The  words  in  italics  in  these  passages  are  all  the 
translations  of  one  root-word  in  Arabic,  ummi.  Palmer 
hesitates  to  render  them  all  with  the  word  "gentile,"  al- 
though his  comment  on  chapter  iii,  v.  19,  shows  his  opin- 
ion: "Mohammed  seems  to  have  borrowed  the  expres- 
sion from  the  Jews;  ummiyyun,  having  the  same  signifi- 
cance as  the  Hebrew  yoyim."     (Palmer,  vol,  i,  p.  48.) 

Lane  (Arabic  Dictionary,  vol.  i,  p.  92)  who  has  col- 
lected the  views  of  the  Arabic  lexicographers,  begins  by 
saying:  "ummi  properly  means  gentile — in  a  secondary 
sense  a  heathen;  one  not  having  a  revealed  scripture;  or 
belonging  to  the  nation  of  the  Arabs,  who  did  not  write 
nor  read,  and  therefore  metaphorically  applied  to  anyone 
not  knowing  the  art  of  writing  nor  that  of  reading.  Mo- 
hammed was  termed  ummi,  meaning  a  gentile,  as  distin- 
guished from  an  Israelite;  according  to  most  of  his 
followers,  meaning  illiterate.  Some  assert  that  Moham- 
med became  acquainted  with  writing  after  he  had  been 
unacquainted  therewith,  referring  to  the  Koran  (xxix: 
47),  where  it  is  said,  'Thou  didst  not  read  before  it  from 
a  book,  nor  didst  thou  write  it  with  thy  right  hand.' " 

Rodwell  also  in  a  note  on  chapter  vii,  157,  expresses  the 
opinion  that  the  word  ummi  (^illiterate)  is  equivalent  to 
the  Greek  ethnic  and  the  Hebrew  word  goyim,  and  was 
applied  by  the  Jews  to  those  unacquainted  with  the  Scrip- 
tures. He  says,  "There  could  be  no  doubt  that  Moham- 
med m  spite  of  his  assertions  to  the  contrary,  with  a  view 
to  proving  his  inspirations,  was  well  acquainted  with  the 
Bible  histories.  He  wished  to  appear  ignorant  in  order  to 
raise  the  elegance  of  the  Koran  into  a  miracle."  Whether 
this  be  so  or  not,  the  manner  in  which  this  expression  is 
thrown  into  the  verse  and  the  whole  context  raise  the 
conjecture  which,  as  Dr.  Wherry  points  out,  becomes  al- 
most a  certainty  that  "this  appellation  came  originally 
from  the  Jews  who  used  it  in  expressing  their  contempt 

14 All   of  these   are   Medina   verses   except  vii:    155-158. 


350  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

for    the    Gentile    prophet.     Mohammed    would    readily 
adopt  the  name  under  the  circumstances."" 

Regarding  the  meaning  of  the  word  iimmi,  At-Tabari 
says,  (vol.  iii:  142)  commenting  on  the  word  in  Sura 
Alu  'Imran:  "the  ummiyyun  are  those  among  the  Arabs 
who  have  no  revelation."  We  read  in  the  Arabic  diction- 
ary Taj  al  Aroos  that  Mohammed  was  not  altogether  illit- 
erate, but  that  "he  could  not  distinguish  between  good  and 
bad  writing."  We  are  also  told  that  some  traditions  state 
that  he  learned  to  read  and  write  after  he  became  a 
Prophet. 

In  the  commentary,  called  al-Khazin  (vol.  ii :  146)  the 
following  interpretation  of  the  word  iimmi  shows  the 
growth  of  the  legend.  "The  Prophet  could  neither  read 
nor  write  nor  cypher,  and  this  the  authorities  are  agreed 
is  an  evidence  of  the  greatest  miracle  in  the  case  of  the 
Koran." 

Fahr  er-Razi,  however,  (vol.  viii:  149)  in  commenting 
on  chapter  vii :  2,  says :  ^^ummi  means  related  to  the  people 
of  the  Arabs,  because  they  are  an  ummi  people,  who  have 
no  book,  and  do  not  read  a  book  or  write."  Ibn  Abbas  says 
the  meaning  is,  "those  who  have  no  book  and  no  prophet 
sent  unto  them."  He  reiterates  this  explanation  on  Sura 
iii,  19,  but  in  obscure  phrases,      (vol.  ii:426.) 

At-Tabari  is  more  definite  in  his  comment  (vol.  xxviii : 
61)  on  the  same  verse:  "The  people  of  Mohammed  were 
called  ummiyyun  because  no  revelation  had  come  to 
them."  This  shows  very  clearly  that  the  word  ummi  does 
not  mean  illiterate,  but  Gentile.  While  on  Sura  iii,  19, 
he  says  (vol.  iii :  143)  "Those  to  whom  the  Book  (Revela- 
tion) came  among  the  Jews  and  Christians  and  the  um- 
miyin,  who  have  no  book,  the  Arab  polytheists." 

Baidhawi  (vol.  i:  150)  interprets:  "The  ummi  is  he 
who  neither  reads  nor  writes."  The  commentary  called 
Al-Khazin  says  (vol.  ii:    147)  :  "The  ummi  is  he  who  is 

i"i"In  any  Arabic  dictionary  if  we  take  all  the  meanings,  and  all  the  derived  forms 
from  the  root  word  amma;=-qasada  we  cannot  anyhow  arrive  at  'illiterate.'  Not  a  shade, 
not  a  vestige  of  authority  do  we  find  except  the  Koran  Commentators,  who  naturally  had 
a   theory    to    support."  A.    T.    Upson. 


THE  "H^LITERATE"  PROPHET  351 

like  the  Arabs  or  the  people  of  the  Arabs  because  most  of 
them  neither  write  nor  read."  Then  goes  on  to  quote  a 
tradition  according  to  which  Mohammed  said:  "We  are 
an  umma  (people)  iimmiyya:  we  neither  write  nor 
cypher."  (sic.) 

Fahr  er-Razi  says:  "Concerning  the  word  in  question 
the  learned  differ  in  regard  to  the  meaning  of  it:  some 
of  them  say  that  ummi  is  he  who  does  not  confess  be- 
lief in  a  book  nor  in  an  apostle.  Others  say  it  is  he  who 
does  not  know  how  to  read  and  write  skillfully.  This 
second  significance  is  more  credited  because  there  were 
ummi  among  the  Jews,  and  they  believed  in  a  book  and  an 
apostle ;  and  also  because  Mohammed  himself  said  we  are 
a  people  ummi;  we  do  not  write  and  we  do  not  cypher." 
(vol.  i:  309.) 

The  new  Islam  leaders  are  also  perplexed  in  regard 
to  this  problem.  Mohammed  Ali,  in  his  translation  of 
''The  Holy  Koran"  (Woking,  19 17)  commenting  on 
chapter  11:76  says  that  the  word  ummiyyun  is  specially 
applied  to  the  Arabs  who  were  generally  unacquainted 
with  reading  and  writing.  He  strongly  objects  to  the 
definition  of  the  word  as  given  by  Rodwell  and  Lane.  In 
a  long  footnote  (No.  950)  he  protests  that  the  word  ummi 
can  never  mean  gentile,  and  says  that  Lane's  conclusion 
in  his  dictionary  "is  entirely  without  foundation." 

In  another  passage,  however,  (Suratu  '1-Jumu'ah),  he 
himself  translates  the  same  word  as  Meccan,  and  his  con- 
clusion (page  362)  is  that  there  is  ground  for  believing 
that  Mohammed  could  write  after  revelation  came  to  him, 
although  he  still  had  his  letters  written  by  scribes.  In 
the  Preface  to  the  same  work  there  is  a  long,  although  very 
lame  argument,  to  prove  that  "The  Holy  Prophet  left  at 
his  death  a  complete  written  Koran  with  the  same  arrange- 
ment of  the  verses  and  the  chapters  that  we  now  have." 

There  are  indications,  we  admit,  in  the  Koran  that  some 
of  its  chapters  existed  in  written  form  at  a  very  early  date. 
For  example.  Sura  56 :  77,  "None  shall  touch  it  (the  writ- 
ten copy)   save  the  purified."     Also  the  account  of  the 


352  THE  MOSLEM  WOHLD 

conversation  of  Omar  who  discovered  a  written  copy  of  an 
entire  chapter — the  twentieth — in  the  house  of  Fatima. 
Why  could  not  Mohammed  himself  have  written  it? 

Ill 

Orientalists  are  disagreed  on  the  subject.  In  discussing 
the  question  whether  Mohammed  used  written  sources  for 
his  "revelations,"  Otto  Pautz  gives  a  list  of  authorities 
who  have  expressed  an  opinion  on  the  question  whether 
Mohammed  could  read  and  write,  pro  and  con  as  follows: 

Those  who  affirm  it:  M.  Turpin,  Histoire  de  la  vie  de  Mahomet,  i, 
p.  285-88.  Boulainvilliers,  S.  232  Anm.  S.  F.  G.  Wahl,  D.  Koran, 
Einl.  S.  LXXVIII  f.  A.  Sprenger,  D.  Leb.  u.  d.  Lehre  des  Moham- 
med. II,  S.  398-402.  G.  Weil,  Hist.  krit.  in  d.  Koran.  2  Aufl.  S.  39 
Anm.  I.  H.  Hirschfeld,  Judische  Elemente  im  Koran.  Berlin,  '1878, 
S.  22, 

Those  who  deny  it  he  gives  as  follows:  Marracci,  Ref.  p.  535. 
M.  Prideaux,  La  vie  de  Mahomet  p.  43.  S.  Ockley,  The  History  of  the 
Saracens,  3rd  ed.  The  Life  of  Mahomet,  p.  11.  C,  F.  Gerock,  Vers.  e. 
Darst.  d.  Christologie  des  Koran.  S.  9.  A.  P.  Caussin  de  Perceval  a.  a. 
O-  i,  P-  353-  J-  M,  Arnold,  D.  Islam.  S.  230.  E.  H.  Palmer,  The  Koran 
transit.  I.  Introduction,  p.  XLVII.  L.  UUmann,  D,  Koran  ubers.  S. 
129.     Anm.  4.^® 

Otto  Pautz  himself  leaves  the  question  unsettled ;  his 
argument  being  that  the  question  of  Mohammed's  use  of 
written  sources  once  closed,  the  other  is  unimportant. 

Noldeke'^  shows  that  the  word  ummi  is  everywhere  used 
in  the  Koran  in  apposition  to  Ahl  ul-kitab,  that  is  the 
Possessors  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures:  therefore  it  cannot 
signify  one  who  does  not  read  and  write;  but  (as  we  have 
seen  from  the  Arabic  authorities  themselves)  one  who  did 
not  possess  or  who  had  no  access  to  former  revelations. 
Noldeke,  although  he  admits  that  Mohammed  had  no 
access  to  the  scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  as 
we  understand  them,  says  that  the  question  of  Moham- 
med's illiteracy  is  confused,  because  the  references  given 
by  Moslems  on  this  point  are  contradictory.  The  com- 
mon tradition,  he  goes  on  to  show,  is  due  not  because  men 
were  in  search  of  the  truth  but  rather  it  was  manufactured 

l«Muhammad's   Lehre   von   der    Offenbarung,    I.eipzig    1898,   p.    257. 
iTGeschichte  des  Qurans,  p.    10. 


THE  "ILLITERATE"  PROPHET  353 

to  establish  dogmatic  or  political  opinions.  Generally 
speaking,  the  Sunnis  deny  his  ability  to  read  and  write, 
while  the  Shias  affirm  it. 

Sprenger  speaks  of  one,  namely  Mohammed  bin  Mo- 
hammed bin  Nu'man,  (died  413  A.H.),  who  wrote  a  book 
on  the  subject  establishing  the  literacy  of  the  Prophet. 

The  testimony  of  the  Shiahs  is  summed  up  in  the  cele- 
brated collection  called  The  Hyat-ul-Kuloob,  translated 
by  the  Rev.  James  L.  Merrick,  Boston,  1850,  under  the 
title  ''The  Life  and  Religion  of  Mohammed/'  He  cor- 
rectly states  in  his  preface  that  this  is  the  most  popular 
standard  work  in  Persian: 

"In  regard  to  the  Prophet's  title  of  ummi,  traditions  are 
contradictory.  Some  say  he  was  so  styled  because  he  could 
not  read  or  write.  Others  maintain  that  it  referred  to  his 
ummet,  or  sect,  conveying  the  idea  that  he  was  like  the 
illiterate  Arabs.  Another  party  insist  that  the  title  is 
taken  from  umm  (mother)  denoting  that  the  prophet  was 
as  simple  as  a  newborn  infant.  There  are  traditions 
which  state  that  the  title  is  derived  from  Umm-ul-kora, 
an  epithet  of  Mekka,  and  consequently  that  ummi  would 
signify  Mekkaite.  There  is  nothing  contrary  to  the  po- 
sition that  the  prophet  was  never  taught  to  read  and 
write  before  his  assumption  of  the  prophetic  office,  and 
to  this  agrees  a  verse  of  the  Koran,  in  which  the  Most 
High  declares  to  him,  'Thou  couldst  not  read  any  book 
before  this;  neither  couldst  thou  write  it  with  thy  right 
hand ;  then  had  the  gainsayers  justly  doubted  of  the  divine 
original  thereof."^  Tradition  is  likewise  contradictory 
whether  he  read  and  wrote  after  his  assumption  of  the 
prophetical  office,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  his  ability 
to  do  this,  inasmuch  as  he  knew  all  things  by  divine  inspi- 
ration, and  as  by  the  power  of  God  he  could  perform  acts 
which  were  impossible  to  all  others.  He  had  his  own  wise 
reasons  for  not  reading  and  writing  himself,  and  generally 
ordered  his  attendants  to  read  letters  which  he  received. 
The  Imam  Jafer-as-Saduk  reckons  it  a  special  favour 

isSura,  29:  47. 


354  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

of  heaven  that  he  was  raised  up  among  a  people,  who, 
although  they  had  letters,  had  no  divine  books  and  were 
therefore  called  ummi." 

"It  is  related  that  a  person  inquired  of  the  Imam  Mo- 
hammed Taky,  why  the  prophet  was  called  Ummi.  The 
imam  demanded  what  the  Sunnis  said  on  this  subject,  and 
was  answered, — That  sect  insisted  he  could  not  write. 
The  imam  gave  them  the  lie,  invoked  a  curse  on  them,  and 
demanded  how  the  prophet  could  be  ignorant  when  he  was 

sent  to  instruct  others On  the  authority  of  the 

Imam  Saduk,  it  is  related  that  when  Abu  Sufian  marched 
for  Ohod,  Abbas  wrote  to  inform  Mohammed  of  the  fact. 
He  received  the  letter  when  in  the  garden  of  Medina 
with  some  of  his  companions.  After  reading  the  com- 
munication he  ordered  the  people  about  him  to  enter  the 
city,  and  then  disclosed  to  them  the  news.  The  same 
imam  also  certifies  that  the  prophet  read  and  wrote,'"" 

Many  educated  Moslems  in  our  day  agree  with  the 
Shiahs  that  it  would  be  unworthy  of  one  who  occupied 
so  high  a  rank  as  God's  Messenger  to  be  ignorant  of  the 
very  elements  of  knowledge. 

One  of  the  traditions  which  the  Shiahs  advance  is  the 
celebrated  incident  in  connection  with  the  treaty  made  in 
the  sixth  year  of  the  Hegira  with  the  Quraish  at  a  place 
near  Mecca,  named  Hudaibiya.  The  account  is  pre- 
served by  Bukhari  and  Muslim  (vol.  ii :  170.)  Ibn 
Hisham  has  also  recorded'  it  at  length  in  his  Siratu 
'r-Rasul  (vol.  ii:  175,  ed.  Bulac,  1295  A.H.)  The  former 
tells  us  that  Ali  was  chosen  as  the  prophet's  amanuensis 
on  this  occasion,  and  that  when  Mohammed  bade  him 
.write  the  words,  "A  treaty  between  Mohammed  the 
Prophet  of  God  and  Suhail  bin  'Amr,"  the  latter  objected 
to  the  term  "Apostle  of  God,"  remarking  that  if  the 
Quraish  acknowledged  that,  there  would  be  no  necessity 
for  opposing  Mohammed  at  all.  The  latter  then  turned 
to  'Ali  and  told  him  to  cut  out  the  words  "Apostle  of  God" 


lOMerrick — The   Life    and   Religion   of  Mohammed   as   contained    in    the   Sheeah    Tradi- 
tions of  The  Hyat-ulKuloob,  Boston.      1850,  pp.  86,  87. 


THE  "ILLITERATE"  PROPHET  355 

and  write  in  their  stead  the  words  suggested  by  Suhail, 
viz:  ''Son  of  Abdullah!"  To  this  'Ali  objected,  saying, 
"By  God  I  will  never  cut  it  out."  Then,  the  narrative 
proceeds, — "The  apostle  of  God  took  the  writing  and 
though  he  did  not  write  well,  wrote  what  he  had  ordered 
('Ali)  viz.,  'Mohammed  son  of  Abdullah.' "'° 

This  account  is  also  found  in  the  commentary  by  Al 
Bagawi  on  chapter  48,  verse  25,  and  at  greater  length  in 
Tabari's  Al-Mawahib  al-Laduniya.  The  question,  how- 
ever, arises,  as  Noldeke  indicates,  whether  this  even  is 
positive  proof  that  Mohammed  could  write.  The  word 
kataba  is  sometimes  used  to  signify  "dictated";  the  text 
also  may  have  been  corrupted. 

Noldeke  comes  to  the  following  conclusions  :"^  (a)  Mo- 
hammed desired  to  be  known  as  one  who  did  not  under- 
stand reading  and  writing;  he  therefore  employed  a 
number  of  scribes  and  always  had  letters  that  came  to  him 
read  out  to  him.  (b)  He  did  not  have  access  to  the  Bible 
or  other  Christian  books,  least  of  all  to  a  book  entitled 
"Asatir  al-Awalin."  He  proves  that  all  the  deductions 
of  Sprenger  regarding  the  use  of  this  word  in  the  Koran 
are  at  fault.  The  word  is  not  derived  from  the  Greek 
historia,  but  is  a  double  plural  from  the  Arabic  satr — a 
line  of  script,  (c)  This  does  not  exclude  the  fact  that 
Mohammed  used  the  oral  traditions  of  Jews  and  Chris- 
tians as  well  as  the  unwritten  traditions  current  among  his 
own  people. 

The  frequency  with  which  Mohammed  feels  it  neces- 
sary to  resent  the  charge  of  the  Meccan  idolaters  that  the 
Koran  was  a  book  composed  by  fraud  is  certainly  indica- 
tive that  they  must  have  known  something  of  his  methods 
and  of  his  sources.  In  chapter  xxv,  verse  5,  we  read: 
"The  unbelievers  say.  Verily  this  Koran  is  a  mere  fraud  of 
his  own  devising,  and  others  have  helped  him  with  it  who 
had  come  hither  by  pillage  and  lie;  and  they  say  these  are 
tales  of  the  ancients  that  he  hath  put  in  writing,  and  they 

20Caetani,  (Annali  dell'  Islam,  vol.  i,  pp.  716-717)  gives  the  account  and  the  references 
in  full. 

2iGeschichte  des  Qurans,  pp.  12-14. 


356  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

were  dictated  to  him  morning  and  evening."  (Palmer's 
translation). 

Compare  also  Sura  xvi :  105,  where  the  same  charge  is 
made.  In  neither  passage  does  Mohammed  answer  the 
charge  by  saying  that  he  can  neither  read  nor  write. 

Qastalani,  according  to  Sprenger,  gives  the  history  of  a 
dispute  that  took  place  in  Spain  in  which  the  philosopher 
Avenpace  held  that  Mohammed  could  both  read  and 
write;  although  he  was  condemned  as  a  heretic  for  hold- 
ing this  opinion.  In  one  of  the  disputes  that  arose  on  this 
question,  a  Koran  passage  (Sura  xxix :  46)  was  used  by  the 
Moslems  themselves  to  show  that  although  Mohammed 
could  not  read  before  revelation  came  to  him,  he  was  able 
afterwards  both  to  read  and  to  write.  Sprenger  gives 
other  proofs,  which  are  not  so  conclusive,  although  they 
are  cumulative.  He  quotes  traditions  according  to  which 
Mohammed  gave  instructions  to  one  of  his  scribes  in 
words  that  prove  his  knowledge,  not  only  of  penmanship, 
but  of  calligraphy.    How  else  could  he  have  said : 

"Put  down  the  ink  pot,  cut  the  pen,  divide  the  strokes 
of  the  sin  and  do  not  lengthen  the  mim  so  much."  He 
quotes  the  story  in  regard  to  the  treaty  at  Hudaibiya,  al- 
though the  different  versions  do  not  agree  in  detail. 

Ibn  Abi  Shaiba  said:  "The  Prophet  knew  how  to  read 
and  write  before  he  died.  I  have  known  people  who  have 
affirmed  this."  If  this  tradition  is  reliable,  it  is  impor- 
tant, for  Ibn  Abi  Shaiba  died  A.  H.  105.  The  scene  de- 
scribed by  many  authorities  in  the  older  biographies,  and 
which  took  place  three  days  before  Mohammed's  death  on 
June  4,  632,  would  leave  no  doubt  in  the  matter  if  we 
could  trust  Mohammedan  tradition. 

Shahrastani  gives  the  words  of  the  Prophet  used  on  this 
occasion,  as  follows:  "Bring  the  inkstand  and  a  sheet, 
that  I  may  write  something,  in  order  that  you  will  not  be 
misled  after  me."  This  tradition  comes  to  us  from  the 
lips  of  an  eye-witness  and  is  preserved  by  different  Com- 
panions and  their  followers.  There  is  no  version  of  the 
tradition  in  which  Mohammed  does  not  express  the  wish 


THE  "ILLITERATE"  PROPHET  357 

that  he  himself  should  use  the  pen.  (See  Ibn  Sa'ad,  page 
149  and  vol.  ii,  page  398,  Sprenger's  Mohammed,  who 
gives  a  list  of  no  less  than  nine  Isnads  for  the  tradition.) 

We  will  now  examine  the  so-called  earliest  chapter  of 
the  Koran  (Sura  96),  which  has  suffered  from  mistrans- 
lation due  to  a  misconception  of  the  story  on  which  it  is 
based.  Hirschfeld"'  comments  on  the  legend,  after  re- 
lating it,  as  follows: 

"During  my  sojourn  on  Mount  Hira,"  said  the  Prophet, 
"the  archangel  Gabriel  appeared  to  me,  seized  me,  and 
said:  Iqra!  (proclaim.)  I  replied,  I  am  no  proclaimer 
(reader.)  The  angel  seized  me  again  and  repeated: 
Iqra...\  said:  I  am  no  proclaimer.  Finally  he  forced 
me  to  say:  Iqra  bismi  rabbika." 

"I  did  not  translate  the  word  Iqra  in  my  rendering  of 
the  legend,  although  I  translated  it  in  the  verse  by  pro- 
claim, my  object  being  to  call  attention  to  the  early  mis- 
understanding of  the  word  by  traditionists  and  interpre- 
ters of  the  Koran  as  well  as  by  modern  translators  and 
biographers  of  the  Prophet.  For  the  sentence  in  question 
is  nothing  but  an  Arabic  version  of  the  phrase  in  the  Pen- 
tateuch (Gen.  xii,  8,  in  connection  with  iv.  26.)  'He 
proclaimed  the  name  of  the  Lord.'" 

Strange  to  say  the  authenticity  of  this  tradition  has  not 
been  questioned,  although  it  is  called  not  a  vision,  but  a 
dream  by  Ibn  Ishak,  al-Baghawi,  al-Baidawi,  and  others. 

If  Hirschfeld  gives  the  true  translation,  another  argu- 
ment used  to  prove  that  Mohammed  was  illiterate  utterly 
disappears,  for  the  tradition  is  evidently  an  explanation  of 
the  Koran  text  made  later.  The  name  of  the  angel 
Gabriel  is  not  mentioned  in  any  Meccan  revelation  at  all 
and  was  at  that  period  apparently  unknown  to  Moham- 
med. The  tradition  could  therefore  not  have  arisen  until 
many  years  later. 

The  uncertainty  regarding  the  text  and  its  significance 
in  the  tradition  mentioned  is  clear  when  we  consult  the 
commentaries.     For  example,  the  author  of  Fath-ul-Bari 

22New  Researches  into  the  Composition  and  Exegesis  of  th-e  Koran,   1902,  p.  18. 


358  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

(voL  i,  p.  1 8)  in  his  comment  on  Bukhari's  text,  states 
that  "the  meaning  of  the  words  ma  ana  biqari  are  'I  am 
not  able  to  read  well  or  readily.' "  He  goes  on  to  say 
that  the  text  itself  is  uncertain,  and  that  according  to  one 
narrator,  Mohammed  did  not  say  "I  cannot  read,"  nor  "I 
am  not  a  reader,"  but  he  said,  "How  can  I  read?",  or 
again,  according  to  another  account:  "What  shall  I 
read?" 

All  of  this  shows  that. the  matter  is  uncertain,  and  God 
knows  best,  as  the  Moslems  say. 

Even  if  we  admit  that  the  word  iqra'  signifies  to  read  a 
book,  it  is  not  at  all  certain  that  the  reply  of  the  prophet 
as  given  in  the  tradition  signified  "I  cannot  read." 
Rather,  as  Sprenger  shows  (Life  of  Mohammed,  Allaha- 
bad, 185 1,  p.  95)  it  signifies:  "I  am  not  reading  at 
present." 

Sprenger's  arguments,  although  old,  are  not  yet  an- 
swered. He  believes  that  Mohammed  had  access  to  por- 
tions of  the  genuine  and  some  of  the  apocryphal  Scrip- 
tures. At-Tabari  tells  us  that  when  Mohammed  first 
gave  his  revelations  even  his  wife  Khadijah  had  read  the 
scriptures  and  was  acquainted  with  the  history  of  the  Old 
Testament  prophets. 

"It  is  preposterous"  (Sprenger  concludes)  "to  suppose 
that  though  the  Arabs  in  the  north  and  west  of  the  Penin- 
sula were  Christians,  and  had  a  great  number  of  monas- 
teries, no  translation  of  the  Bible,  or  at  least  of  a  popular 
work  containing  the  Scriptural  History  was  then  extant  in 
Arabic.  When  the  Musulmans  conquered  Hira,  they 
found  in  the  citadel  young  priests,  who  were  Arabs,  en- 
gaged in  multiplying  copies  of  the  Bible.  I  have  above 
asserted  that  the  words  of  a  tradition  of  'Aishah  which 
made  some  persons  believe  that  Waraqa  first  translated 
the  Scriptures  into  Arabic,  means  simply  that  he  knew 
how  to  write  Arabic,  and  that  he  copied  in  Arabic  parts  of 
the  Bible.  I  have  since  come  into  the  possession  of  a  copy 
of  Al-Zarkashi's  commentary  on  Al-Bukhari.  This  au- 
thor confirms  the  reading  which  I  have  chosen  by  observ- 


THE  "ILLITERATE"  PROPHET  359 

ing  on  the  words  'He  used  to  write  Hebrew.'  This  is  the 
reading  of  Al-Bukhari  in  this  passage;  but  the  reading 
in  Muslim  is,  'He  used  to  write  Arabic';  and  this  is  also 
the  reading  of  Bukhari  in  the  chapter  on  Dreams;  and 
this  must  be  received  as  the  correct  reading,  because  both 
Bukhari  and  Muslim  agree  on  it."  He  further  observes  on 
the  words  'He  wrote  the  Gospel  in  Hebrew'— the  Qadhi 
says,  this  is  the  reading  in  this  passage;  but  the  correct 
reading  is  'in  Arabic' ;  and  this  expression  is  an  idiom. 
The  reading  in  Muslim  is  also,  'He  wrote  the  Gospel  in 
Arabic."' 

According  to  Fath-ul-Bari  (vol.  i,  p.  19)  Waraqa  bin 
Naufal  did  not  only  read  and  write  Arabic,  but  Hebrew 
as  well.  Moreover,  Cheikho  (p.  153)  gives  an  account  of 
how  Zuhra  bin  Kilab,  Mohammed's  great-great-grand- 
father, wrote  out  the  alphabet  and  taught  it  to  others. 
Cheikho  quotes  from  Baladhuri,  who  tells  how  the  Arab 
merchants  even  in  that  day  taught  each  other  writing 
(al-Khatt.)  One  of  Mohammed's  scribes,  Zaid  bin 
Thabit,  learned  the  Hebrew  characters  in  two  weeks  and 
carried  on  Mohammed's  correspondence  in  it  with  the 
Jews  (Baladhuri  p.  480,  Cairo  ed.  1901).^^ 

There  are  two  other  important  references  to  Moham- 
med's writing.  In  regard  to  the  treaty  between  Moham- 
med and  the  Koreish  at  Hudaibiya  known  as  the  oath  of 
Ridhwan,  Muir,  (vol.  iv,  p.  33)  gives  a  long  account;  al- 
though he  does  not  mention  the  fact  that  when  'Ali  refused 
to  write  the  words,  Mohammed  the  son  of  Abdullah,  that 
Mohammed  himself  wrote  these  words.  The  following, 
however,  is  the  tradition  according  to  Waqidi  (Muir's 
footnote)  :  Mohammed  wrote  at  the  foot  of  the  treaty, 
'The  same  shall  be  encumbent  upon  you  toward  us,  as  is 
encumbent  upon  us  toward  you." 

The  tradition  in  regard  to  Mohammed's  calling  for 
writing  materials  on  his  death  bed,  is  given  by  Muir  as 
follows: 

23His  reference  is  to  the  Arabic  text  of  Futuh  iil-Buldan  p.  471.  This  passage  at  the 
close  of  the  book  is  unfortunately  omitted  by  Dr.  Hitti  in  his  translation  of  the  work. 
(Columbia  University,  N.   Y.) 


36o  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

"About  this  time,  recognizing  'Omar,  and  some  other 
chief  rhen  in  the  room,  he  called  out,  'Bring  hither  to  me 
ink  and  paper,  that  I  may  record  for  you  a  writing  which 
shall  prevent  your  going  astray  for  ever.'  'Omar  said, 
'He  wandereth  in  his  mind,  is  not  the  Koran  sufficient  for 
us?'  But  the  women  wished  that  the  writing  materials 
should  be  brought,  and  a  discussion  ensued.  Thereupon 
one  said,  'What  is  his  condition  at  this  present  moment? 
Come  let  us  see  if  he  speaketh  deliriously  or  not.'  So 
they  sent  and  asked  him  what  his  wishes  were  regarding 
the  writing  he  had  spoken  of;  but  he  no  longer  desired  to 
indite  it.  'Leave  me  thus  alone,'  he  said,  'for  my  pres- 
ent state  is  better  than  that  ye  call  me  to.' " 

When  the  women  were  about  to  bring  the  writing  ma- 
terial, 'Omar  chided  them:  'Quiet,'  he  said,  'Ye  behave 
as  women  always  do;  when  your  master  falleth  sick  ye 
burst  into  tears,  and  the  moment  he  recovereth  a  little  ye 
begin  embracing  him.'  Mohammed,  jealous  even  on  his 
death  bed  of  the  good  name  of  his  wives,  was  aroused  by 
these  words,  and  said,  'Verily  they  are  better  than  ye  are.' 
If  this  tradition  be  true,  it  shows  that  Mohammed  was 
only  partially  delirious  at  the  moment."'* 

IV 

Finally,  we  must  mention  a  document  known  as  a  letter 
supposed  to  have  been  written  by  Mohammed  himself, 
which,  though  in  a  somewhat  damaged  condition,  has  been 
accepted  by  Moslems  in  India  as  authentic,  photographed 
by  them  and  repeatedly  published  with  translations  in 
several  languages. 

Mr.  Belin"'  describes  the  manner  in  which  Mr.  Barth- 
elemy  discovered  the  letter  in  a  Coptic  monastery,  circum- 
stantially, and  gives  the  Arabic  text.  The  following  is 
the  translation: 

"In  the  name  of  God  the  Merciful,  the  Clement.  From  Mohammed 
the  servant  of  God  and  His  apostle,  to  Al-Makaukus,  the  chief  of  the 
Copts,  Salutation  to  him  who  follows  the  right  course.     But  after  (this 

24Mtiir's  The  Life  of  Mohammed,  vol.  iv,  pp.  271-272. 
2TtJoHrnal  Asiatic   Society,  vol.   iv,   pp.  482,   1854. 


THE  "ILLITERATE"  PROPHET  361 

preliminary)  I  invite  thee  to  accept  Islam;  make  a  profession  of  it,  and 
be  safe,  God  will  give  thee  thy  rew^ard  twice ;  but  if  thou  refusest,  the  sin 
of  the  Copts  will  be  upon  thee.  (Say)  O  people  of  the  Scriptures,  come 
to  the  word  (of  the  profession)  which  will  equalize  us  and  you.  We 
adore  only  Allah,  and  associate  nothing  with  Him.  Let  us  not  take  for 
ourselves  lords  besides  God.  If  they  refuse  then  say  (to  them)  Bear 
witness  that  we  are  Moslems." 

Of  God 

Seal  Apostle 

Mohammed. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Prophet  sent  such  a  letter  to 
the  Makaukus  or  Governor  of  Alexandria;  in  all  the 
standard  biographies  of  Mohammed  he  is  always  men- 
tioned among  the  number  of  the  potentates  to  whom  en- 
voys with  such  letters  of  invitations  to  profess  Islam  were 
sent.  The  ancient  document  is  not  a  papyrus  but  a  parch- 
ment, yet  in  such  a  state  that  the  precise  nature  of  the 
characters  cannot  be  ascertained;  to  judge  from  the  fac- 
simile, they  are  more  like  Naskhi  than  Cufic,  so  that  they 
may  perhaps  be  considered  as  a  hybrid  between  the 
two;  nor  can  any  points  or  other  vowel  marks  be  dis- 
cerned. M.  Belin  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  document  in 
question  was  not  the  production  of  a  forger  like  the  Let- 
ters Patent  of  Mohammed,  preserved  by  the  Armenians 
of  Asia  Minor  (and  presented  to  the  Government  of  the 
Viceroy  of  Egypt,  in  order  to  recover  some  rights  and  im- 
munities conceded  to  them  by  the  Prophet)  but  that  it  is 
undoubtedly  genuine.^® 

A  copy  of  the  letter  referred  to,  together  with  a  repro- 
duction, was  also  printed  at  Cairo,  1909,  in  a  little  book  on 
the  history  of  Arabic  writing,  entitled  Dalil  iil-kitab  by 
Hassan  Shahab.  In  the  same  book  by  this  professor  of 
the  Azhar  University  (page  46),  we  have  a  list  of  the 
women  in  Mecca  who  at  the  time  of  the  Prophet  could 
both  read  and  write;  namely,  Shifa'  the  daughter  of  Ab- 
dallah;  Adowiya,  one  of  the  women  who  was  present  at 
the  birth  of  Mohammed;  Um  Kulthum,  the  daughter  of 
Akba;   Ayesha,  and  others.     The  Prophet,  we  are  told 

-I'Traugott  Mann,   however,   in   his  Dcr  Islam    (1914)    p.    14,   asserts  that  it  is  a   forgery, 
although  he  gives  no  proofs. 


362  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

ordered  Shifa'  to  teach  Hafza,  one  of  his  wives,  reading 
and  writing. 

Educated  Moslems  therefore  have  accepted  the  evi- 
dence and  approved  of  the  genuineness  of  the  document.'' 
A  facsimile  photograph  of  the  letter  was  published  by  the 
sons  of  Mohammed  Ghulam  Rasul  Surti,  bookseller  in  the 
Bhendi  Bazaar,  Bombay,  a  few  years  ago.  The  photo- 
graph in  my  possession  shows  in  the  center  the  original 
letter  with  the  seal;  on  the  right  is  an  account  of  the  dis- 
covery together  with  an  Arabic  translation  of  the  ancient 
Cufic  script.  On  the  left  the  same  appears  in  Urdu.  The 
account  given  reads  as  follows: 

"This  is  a  photograph  of  the  letter  which  Mohammed  the  Prophet 
sent  and  sealed  with  his  seal,  to  the  Mukaukus  of  the  Copts  in  Egypt,  in 
the  seventh  year  of  the  Hegira.  In  the  year  1275  A.  H.  one  of  the 
French  Orientalists  discovered  the  original  letter  among  some  Coptic 
documents  in  the  Monastery  of  Akhmim,  Upper  Egypt.  He  took  it  to 
the  Sultan  Abd  el-Mejid  Khan,  who  commanded  that  it  should  be  kept 
among  the  relics  of  the  Prophet  in  Constantinople.  This  reproduction 
has  been  done  by  photograph  from  the  original  which  is  in  the  safe- 
keeping of  our  present  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid.  This  photograph  was 
taken  in  the  year  1316." 

Apparently  among  the  Moslems  of  Bombay  there  is  no 
doubt  as  to  the  genuineness  of  the  letter. 

There  is  no  reason  therefore  why  Mohammedans 
should  emphasize  the  illiteracy  of  the  Prophet  except  to 
bolster  up  their  theory  of  the  Koran  as  a  miracle. 

Fahr-er-Razi  for  example,  says  (vol.  iv,  p.  298)  ''If 
Mohammed  had  been  able  to  read  and  write  well,  there 
would  have  been  a  suspicion  that  he  had  examined  earlier 
books  and  copied  his  revelations  from  them." 

The  legend  that  Mohammed  was  illiterate  grew  with 
the  centuries.  Al  Ghazali,  for  example,  (Ihya,  vol.  ii, 
p.  250)  says:  "The  prophet  was  ummi;  he  did  not  read, 
cypher,  nor  write,  and  was  brought  up  in  an  ignorant 
country  in  the  wild  desert,  in  poverty  while  herding 
sheep;  he  was  an  orphan  without  father  or  mother;  but 
God  Himself  taught  him  all  the  virtues  of  character  and 

27ln  Tripoli,  Syria,  a  different  photoRrapliic  reproduction  of  this  letter  was  on  sale  at 
a  book-shop  this  year.  The  book-seller,  a  Moslem  Turk,  assured  me  the  letter  was  a 
genuine  proof  of  Mohammed's  literacy  1 


THE  "ILLITERATE"  PROPHET  363 

all  the  knowledge  of  the  ancient  and  the  modern  world." 
In  view  of  the  evidence  given  above,  there  mujht  still 
be  some  doubt  whether  Mohammed  could  read  and  write; 
but  the  fact  remains  that  Mohammedan  Tradition  and 
the  later  Koran  commentators  have  done  their  best  to 
utilize  the  very  slender  material  in  proof  of  his  illiteracy, 
to  build  up  a  structure  of  miracle. 

The  fact  is  that  in  the  later  commentaries  Mohammed 
is  represented  as  being  without  any  acquired  intelligence, 
a  sort  of  spiritual  freak  like  some  of  the  modern  ''saints" 
of  Egypt.  As  Margoliouth  remarks,"^  "This  sort  of  logic 
is  found  wherever  resort  is  had  to  oracles;  it  is  a  con- 
dition of  their  genuineness  and  importance  that  they 
should  not  be  capable  of  explanation  as  the  fruit  of  ordi- 
nary speculation.  Hence  those  who  deliver  oracles  are 
madmen,  children,  jesters,  persons  to  whose  reflections  no 
value  could  be  attached;  indeed  the  tendency  to  accent- 
uate Mohammed's  illiteracy  is  evidence  of  the  same 
theory."  S.  M.  ZWEMER. 

2SEarly  Development  of  Mohammedanism,   p.   70. 


THE    DOCTRINES    OF    THE    ARABIAN 
''BRETHREN" 

There  is  a  wide-spread  movement  among  the  Arabs  of 
Central  Arabia  back  to  primitive  Islam.  It  is  based, 
upon  the  teachings  of  Muhammad  bin  Abdulvvahhab,  the 
reformer,  who  founded  the  Wahhabi  Movement  in  Cen- 
tral Arabia  toward  the  close  of  the  i8th  century.  The 
present  Ikhwdn,  or  ''Brethren,"  Movement  is  a  revival 
of  Wahhabism,  and  accepts  the  same  doctrines. 

What  follows  is  a  translation  of  the  first  part  of  the 
Movement's  chief  piece  of  propaganda.  At  least  two 
editions  have  been  reprinted,  one  dated  1336,  (1918),  and 
the  other  1338,  (1920.)  They  are  being  distributed 
widely  among  the  Arabs : 

The  Three  Fundamentals,  with  their  Proofs. 
Then  follows  the  Regulations  of  the  Worship,  its  Ele- 
ments and  its  Requirements,  and  Four  Instructions. 

By  the  Shaikh  of  Islam,  Muhammad  bin  Abdulwah- 
hab,  may  Allah  give  him  great  reward  and  merit,  and 
give  him  an  entrance  into  the  Garden  without  any  Reck- 
oning! 

In  the  name  of  Allah,  the  Merciful  and  Compassionate, 
Know,  (O  Reader  and)  may  Allah  show  you  mercy,  that 
it  is  obligatory  for  us  to  learn  four  matters: 

The  first  is  knowledge,  i.  e.,  knowledge  of  Allah,  and 
knowledge  of  His  Prophet,  and  knowledge  of  the  religion 
of  Islam,  with  the  proofs. 

The  second  is  to  practice  it. 

The  third  is  to  call  (others)  to  it. 

The  fourth  is  perseverance  under  hardships  in  it. 

The  proof  (of  the  above)  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is 
exalted:  "In  the  name  of  Allah  the  Merciful  and  Com- 
passionate," "(I  swear)  by  the  Afternoon,  verily,  man  is 

364 


DOCTRINES  OF  THE  ARABIAN  "BRETHREN"      365 

at  a  loss,  except  those  who  believe,  and  do  righteous  deeds, 
and  enjoin  truth  and  enjoin  patience  on  one  another." 
(ciii.) 

Al-Bukhari,  may  Allah,  Who  is  exalted,  have  mercy 
on  him,  says  first  of  all :  "Knowledge  comes  before  saying 
and  doing.  The  proof  (of  this)  is  the  saying  of  Him 
Who  is  exalted,  'And  know  that  there  is  no  god  but  Allah, 
and  ask  forgiveness  of  your  sin.'  (xlvii:2i.)  So  He  be- 
gan with  knowledge  before  saying  and  doing." 

Know,  (O  Reader  and)  may  Allah  have  mercy  on  you, 
that  it  is  obligatory  for  every  Moslem  man  and 
woman  to  know  these  three  matters  and  to  do  them: 

The  first  is  that  Allah  created  us  and  provided  for  us 
and  never  left  us  neglected,  but  rather  sent  to  us  a  Mes- 
senger, so  that  whoever  obeys  him  enters  the  Garden,  and 
whoever  disobeys  him  enters  the  Fire. 

The  proof  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  exalted: 
"Verily,  We  sent  to  you  a  messenger,  a  witness  against 
you,  just  as  We  sent  to  Pharaoh  a  messenger,  and  Pharaoh 
disobeyed  the  messenger,  and  so  We  punished  him  with  a 
heavy  punishment."      (Ixxiii:i5,  16.) 

The  second  is  that  Allah  is  not  willing  that  anyone 
should  be  joined  with  Him  in  the  worship  of  Him, 
neither  an  angel,  who  is  near  (Him),  nor  a  prophet,  who  is 
sent  (from  Him.) 

The  proof  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  exalted: 
"And,  verily,  the  mosques  are  for  Allah,  and  so,  do  not 
call  upon  afiyone  with  Allah."  (Ixxii:   16.) 

The  third  is  that  whoever  obeys  the  Messenger,  and 
reckons  Allah  as  One,  has  it  unlawful  for  him  to  asso- 
ciate with  anyone  who  opposes  Allah  and  His  Messenger, 
even  though  he  be  one's  nearest  relative. 

The  proof  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  exalted: 
"You  will  not  find  a  people  who  believe  in  Allah  and  the 
Last  Day  liking  one  who  opposes  Allah  and  His  Mes- 
senger, even  though  they  are  their  fathers  or  their  sons 
or  their  brothers  or  their  tribes.  On  the  hearts  of  these 
Allah  has  graven  faith,  and  He  has  established  (them)  by 


366  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

a  Spirit  from  Him,  and  He  will  give  them  entrance  into 
the  Garden  under  which  rivers  flow.  They  remain  there 
forever,  and  Allah  is  pleased  with  them,  and  they  are 
pleased  with  Him.  These  are  the  people  of  Allah.  Are 
not  the  people  of  Allah  those  who  fare  well?"  (Iviii :  22.) 

Know,  (O  Reader  and)  may  Allah  guide  you  to  obedi- 
ence of  Him,  that  the  Hanifis  are  the  sect  of  Abraham, 
(which  teaches)  that  we  worship  Allah  only,  holding 
faith  toward  Him  only.  Allah  commanded  all  people  to 
(do)  this,  and  created  them  for  this,  as  He,  Who  is  ex- 
alted, said :  "I  did  not  create  man  and  jinn^  except  to  wor- 
ship Me."  (11:56.)  The  meaning  of  "worship  Me"  is 
to  hold  Me  as  One.  The  greatest  thing  that  Allah  com- 
manded is  to  hold  to  the  unity,  and  that  is  to  have  Allah 
alone  in  worship,  and  the  greatest  thing  that  is  prohibited 
is  the  association  (of  another  with  Allah),  that  is,  to  call 
upon  someone  else  along  with  Him. 

The  proof  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  exalted: 
"And  worship  Allah,  and  do  not  associate  anything  with 
Him."    (iv:40.) 

When  it  is  asked  you :  What  are  the  three  fundamentals 
which  it  is  obligatory  for  a  man  to  know?  then  say:  (I)  a 
man's  knowledge  of  his  Lord,  and  (H)  of  his  religion, 
and  (HI)  of  his  prophet,  Mohammed,  may  Allah  bless 
and  save  him. 

(i)  When  you  are  asked:  Who  is  your  Lord?  then 
say:  My  Lord  is  Allah,  Who  fostered  me  a«d  fostered 
all  the  worlds  by  His  grace.  He  is  the  one  I  worship, 
and  I  worship  no  other  than  Him. 

The  proof  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  exalted: 
"Praise  belongs  to  Allah,  the  Lord  of  the  worlds."  (i:  i.) 
All  that  is  other  than  Allah  is  the  world,  and  I  am  (part) 
of  that  world. 

(2)  When  it  is  asked  of  you.  By  what  have  you  known 
your  Lord?  then  say:  "By  His  signs  and  His  creations, 
and  among  His  signs  are  night  and  day,  the  sun  and  the 
moon,  and  among  His  creations  are  the  seven  heavens  and 


DOCTRINES  OF  THE  ARABIAN  "BRETHREN"      367 

the  seven  earths,  and  those  who  are  in  them,  and  what  is 
between  them." 

The  proof  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  exalted: 
"And  among  His  signs  are  the  night  and  day,  the  sun  and 
moon.  Do  not  prostrate  to  the  sun  and  moon;  prostrate 
to  Allah,  Who  created  them,  if  yon  would  worship  Him." 
(xli:37.)  Also,  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  exalted: 
"Verily,  your  Lord  is  Allah,  Who  created  the  heavens  and 
the  earth  in  six  days,  and  then  sat  down  upon  the  throne, 
covering  the  day  with  the  night,  coming  after  it  quickly. 
The  sun  and  the  moon  and  the  stars  are  compelled  by  His 
command.  Are  not  the  (whole)  creation  and  the  order- 
ing (of  it)  His?  Blessed  be  Allah,  the  Lord  of  the 
worlds!"  (vii:52.) 

(3)  The  Lord  is  the  One  Who  is  to  be  worshipped. 
The  proof  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  exalted:  "O 
men,  worship  your  Lord  Who  created  you,  and  those  who 
were  before  you,  that  you  might  fear  Him  Who  made  the 
earth  to  be  (your)  bed,  and  the  heaven  your  covering, 
and  sent  down  from  heavee  water,  and  by  it  sent  forth  of 
its  fruits  as  sustenance  for  you,  and  do  not  make  any  idols 
for  Allah,  since  you  have  knowledge."  (ii :  19,  20.) 

Ibn  Kathir,  may  Allah  be  merciful  to  him,  said,  "The 
Creator  of  these  things  is  the  One  Who  is  worthy  of  wor- 
ship." 

(4)  The  kinds  of  worship  which  Allah  commanded  are 
such  as  submission,  faith  and  good  works,  among  which 
are  (a)  petition,  (b)  fear,  (c)  hope,  (d)  trust,  (e)  de- 
sire, (f)  dread,  (g)  reverence,  (h)  awe,  (i)  returning  to 
Allah,  (j)  seeking  help,  (k)  seeking  refuge,  (1)  seeking 
rescue,  (m)  sacrificing,  (n)  vowing,  and  other  items  of 
worship  that  Allah  commanded.  All  are  to  (be  per- 
formed to)  Allah. 

(a)  The  proof  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  exalted: 
"And  the  mosques  are  for  Allah,  and  so  do  not  call  upon 
anyone  along  with  Allah."  (Ixxii:i8.)  Whoever  ex- 
pends any  of  them  upon  anyone  else  besides  Allah  is  a 
polytheist,  an  unbeliever,  and  "Whoever  calls  upon  any 


368  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

other  god  with  Allah,  for  whom  he  has  no  proof,  then 
verily  his  reckoning  is  with  his  Lord.  Verily,  the  unbe- 
lievers will  not  fare  well."     (xxiii:  117.) 

In  tradition  (it  is  said)  :  "Petition  is  the  soul  of  wor- 
ship." The  proof  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  exalted: 
"And  your  Lord  said,  'Gall  upon  Me,  and  I  will  answer 
you.  Verily,  those  who  are  too  proud  to  worship  Me 
will  enter  Hell  humbled.'"     (xl:62.) 

(b)  The  proof  for  fear  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is 
exalted :  "So  do  not  fear  them  but  fear  Me,  if  you  would 
be  believers."     (iii:  169.) 

(c)  The  proof  for  hope  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is 
exalted :  "So  whoever  hopes  to  meet  his  Lord,  should  then 
do  good  works,  and  not  have  anyone  share  in  (his)  wor- 
ship of  his  Lord."  (xviii:  no.) 

(d)  The  proof  for  trust  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is 
exalted:  "And  Allah  trust,  if  you  would  be  believers," 
(v :  26) ,  and  "Whoever  trusts  Allah  his  sufficiency  is  He." 
(lxv:3.) 

(c))  (f)?  (g)  The  proof  foT  desire,  dread  and  rever- 
ence is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  exalted :  "Verily,  they 
were  wont  to  vie  in  good  deeds,  and  call  upon  Us  with 
desire  and  dread,  and  they  reverenced  Us."     (xxi :  90.) 

(h)  The  proof  for  awe  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is 
exalted:  "So  do  not  be  in  awe  of  them,  and  do  be  in  awe 
of  Me."     (See  all)  the  verse.     (11:145.) 

(i)  The  proof  for  returning  (to  Allah)  is  the  saying  of 
Him  Who  is  exalted:  "And  return  to  your  Lord,  and 
submit  to  Him."     (See  all)  the  verse.  (xxxix:55.) 

(j)  The  proof  for  seeking  help  is  the  saying  of  Him 
Who  is  exalted :  "Thee  we  worship  and  Thee  we  implore 
for  help."  (1:4.)  Also,  in  Tradition  (it  says)  :  "When 
you  ask  help,  ask  help  of  Allah." 

(k)  The  proof  for  seeking  refuge  is:  "Say,  I  seek 
refuge  with  the  Lord  of  men,  the  King  of  men." 
(cxiv:i,  2.) 

(1)   The  proof  for  seeking  rescue  is  the  saying  of  Him 


DOCTRINES  OF  THE  ARABIAN  "BRETHREN"      369 

who  is  exalted :  ''When  you  sought  refuge  of  your  Lord, 
He  rescued  you."      (See  all)  the  verse.    (viii:9.) 

(m)  The  proof  for  sacrificing  is  the  saying  of  Him 
Who  is  exalted:  "Say,  Verily,  my  worship  and  my  sac- 
rifice and  my  time  of  life  and  my  time  of  death  are  unto 
Allah,  the  Lord  of  the  worlds.  He  has  no  associate. 
That  I  have  been  commanded,  and  I  am  the  first  of  the 
Moslems."  (vi:i63.)  From  the  Sunna,  Customs,  (is 
this  proof)  :  "Allah  curses  whoever  sacrifices  to  anyone 
besides  Allah." 

(n)  The  proof  for  vowing  is  the  saying  of  Him  who  is 
exalted :  "Then  pay  the  vow  and  fear  the  day  whose  woe 
is  wide-spreading."    (Ixxviry.) 

II 

The  second  fundamental  is  knowledge  of  the  religion 
of  Islam,  with  the  proofs.  It  is  the  submission  to  Allah, 
doing  it  to  Him  alone,  and  following  Him  with  obed- 
ience, and  freedom  from  polytheism.  It  consists  of  three 
categories:  i,  submission,  2,  faith,  and  3,  doing  good 
works.     Each  category  has  elements. 

1.  The  elements  of  submission  are  five  (in  number)  : 
(a)  the  witness  that  "there  is  no  god  but  Allah,  and  Mo- 
hammed is  the  Messenger  of  Allah;"  (b)  the  perform- 
ance of  the  worship;  (c)  the  payment  of  the  legal  rates; 
(d)  the  fast  of  Ramadan;  and  (e)  the  pilgrimage  to  the 
sacred  house  of  Allah. 

(a)  I.  The  proof  for  the  witness  is  the  saying  of  Him 
Who  is  exalted :  "Allah  witnessed  that  there  is  no  god  but 
He; — (likewise)  the  angels  and  the  possessors  of  knowl- 
edge. He  (it  is)  Who  establishes  justice.  There  is  no 
god  but  He,  the  Mighty  and  Wise."     (iii:  16.) 

2.  The  meaning  of  it  is :  There  is  no  true  object  of  wor- 
ship except  Allah  alone,  no  god  at  all,  denying  all  other 
than  Allah  that  might  be  worshipped,  except  Allah,  con- 
firming the  worship  to  Allah  alone.  Who  has  no  asso- 
ciate in  His  worship,  as  there  is  no  associate  with  him  in 
His  sovereignty. 


370  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

3.  The  exposition  which  explains  it  clearly  is  the  say- 
ing of  Him  Who  is  exalted  :  "And  when  Abraham  said  to 
his  father  and  his  people,  T  am  clear  of  whatever  you 
worship  except  Allah  Who  created  me,  and  so  He,  verily, 
will  guide  me,'  he  made  it  a  statement  to  remain  after 
him,  in  order  that  they  might  perhaps  turn  (to  Him.)" 
(xliii:25,  26,  27.)  Also,  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  ex- 
alted: ''Say,  O  people  of  the  Book,  come  to  a  right  state- 
ment between  us  and  you,  that  we  will  not  worship  any 
other  than  Allah,  and  not  make  anyone  an  associate  with 
Him,  and  not  adopt  one  another  as  lords,  rather  than 
Allah,  and,  if  they  turn  away,  then  say.  Witness  that  we 
are  Moslems."     (iii:57.) 

4.  The  proof  for  the  witness  that  Mohammed  is  the 
Messenger  of  Allah  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  exalted: 
"Verily,  there  has  come  to  you  a  messenger  from  among 
yourselves,  who  has  it  hard  for  him  to  bear  what  you  have 
committed,  and  who  earnestly  desires  you  to  be  Moslems, 
kind  and  merciful."     (ix:i29.) 

5.  The  meaning  of  the  witness  that  "Mohammed  is  the 
Messenger  of  Allah"  is  obeying  what  he  commanded  and 
believing  what  he  declared  and  avoiding  what  he  prohib- 
ited and  cried  against,  and  not  worshiping  Allah  except 
in  accordance  with  what  he  ordained. 

(b),  (c).  The  proof  for  the  worship  and  the  paying 
of  the  legal  rates  as  well  as  an  exposition  of  the  holding 
to  the  unity  (of  Allah)  are  contained  in  the  saying  of 
Him  Who  is  exalted:  "And  they  were  not  commanded 
(anything)  except  to  worship  Allah,  performing  religious 
duties  solely  to  Him  as  Hanlfis,  (true  worshippers),  and 
to  maintain  the  worship  and  to  pay  the  legal  rates.  That 
is  the  right  religion."      (xcviii:4.) 

(d)  The  proof  for  the  fast  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who 
is  exalted :  "O  you  who  have  believed,  it  is  prescribed  for 
you  to  fast,  as  it  was  prescribed  for  those  who  were  before 
you,  that  you  might  perhaps  fear  Allah."     (ii:  179.) 

(e)  The  proof  for  the  pilgrimage  is  the  saying  of  Him 
Who  is  exalted:   "And  the  pilgrimage  to  the  house  (of 


DOCTRINES  OF  THE  ARABIAN  "BRETHREN"      371 

Allah)  is  (a  service  due)  to  Allah  from  men  who  are  able 
to  make  the  journey,  and  whoever  disbelieves,  (should 
know  that  Allah  can  do  without  all  creation." 
(ii'i:9i,92.) 

The  second  category  is  faith.  It  contains  seventy  odd 
parts:  the  highest  is  saying,  "There  is  no  god  but  Allah," 
and  the  least  is  removing  an  obstacle  from  the  roadway. 
"Modesty  is  a  part  of  faith." 

Its  elements  are  six  in  number:  That  you  believe  in 
(a)  Allah,  (b)  His  angels,  (c)  His  Books,  (d)  His  Mes- 
senger, (e)  the  last  day,  and  (f)  the  decree  of  both  good 
and  evil. 

The  proof  of  these  six  elements  is  the  saying  of  Him 
Who  is  exalted :  "It  is  not  piety  for  you  to  turn  your  faces 
toward  the  east  and  the  west,  but  piety  consists  in  be- 
lieving in  Allah  and  the  last  day  and  the  angels  and  the 
Book  and  the  prophets."  (See  all)  the  verse,  (ii:  172.) 
The  proof  for  power  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  exalted : 
"Verily,  everything  we  have  created  by  power."  (liv:49) 

III.  The  third  category  is  doing  good  works.  It  con- 
sists in  one  element,  and  that  is  that  you  worship  Allah  as 
though  you  see  Him,  for,  though  you  do  not  see  Him,  He 
sees  you. 

The  proof  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  exalted: 
"Verily,  Allah  is  with  those  who  fear  Him,  and  those  who 
do  good  works."  (xvi:  128.)  Also,  the  saying  of  Him 
Who  is  exalted:  "And  trust  the  Mighty  and  Merciful 
One,  Who  sees  you  when  you  rise,  and  your  behaviour 
among  those  who  prostrate.  Verily,  He  hears  and 
knows,  (xxvi:  217-220.)  Also  the  saying  of  Him  Who 
is  exalted:  "And  you  are  not  at  anything,  and  do  not 
read  the  Koran,  and  do  not  do  any  work,  without  Our 
being  witness  against  you  when  you  engage  in  it."  (See 
all)  the  verse.      (x:62.) 

The  proof  from  the  Sunna,  Customs,  is  the  well-known 
tradition  about  Gabriel,  from  'Umar-bin  Al-Khattab, 
may  Allah  be  pleased  with  him :  He  said,  "When  we  were 
sitting  with  the  Prophet,  May  Allah  bless  and  save  him, 


372  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

behold  a  man  appeared  to  us  with  clothes  exceedingly- 
white,  with  hair  exceedingly  black,  on  whom  were  seen 
no  traces  of  travel,  and  whom  none  of  us  knew.  He  sat 
near  the  Prophet,  Allah  bless  and  save  him,  and  propped 
his  knees  against  his  knees,  and  placed  his  hands  upon  his 
thighs,  and  said,  'O  Mohammed,  tell  me  about  Islam.' " 
He  said:  "It  is  that  you  witness  'There -is  no  god  but 
Allah,  and  that  Mohammed  is  the  Prophet  of  Allah,'  and 
that  you  maintain  the  worship,  and  give  the  legal  rate  and 
fast  in  Ramadan  and  make  the  pilgrimage  to  the  house,  if 
you  are  able  to  make  the  journey."  He  said:  ''You  have 
spoken  truly."  We  wondered  at  him,  asking  him  and 
confirming  him.  He  said:  "Tell  me  about  faith."  He 
said:  "It  is  that  you  believe  in  Allah,  His  angels,  His 
books.  His  messengers  and  the  last  day  and  the  decree  of 
good  and  evil."  He  said:  "Tell  me  about  doing  good." 
He  said :  "It  is  that  you  worship  Allah  as  though  you  see 
Him,  for  verily.  He  sees  you."  He  said:  "Tell  me  about 
the  Hour."  He  said:  "The  one  who  is  questioned  about 
it  is  not  more  informed  about  it  than  the  one  who  ques- 
tions." He  said:  "Tell  me  about  its  signs."  He  said: 
"They  are  that  a  maid-servant  should  bring  forth  her 
mistress,  and  that  the  bare-footed,  naked,  poor,  (and) 
shepherds  of  sheep  should  continue  long  at  building,  (and 
so  indicate  wealth.)"  He  said:  "And  so  he  went,  but  we 
remained  a  while.  Then  he  said :  'O  'Umar,  do  you  know 
who  the  questioner  was?'  We  said:  'Allah  and  His 
Prophet  are  better  informed.'  He  said:  'That  was 
Gabriel,  who  has  come  to  you  to  teach  you  the  subject 
matter  of  your  religion.'" 

The  third  fundamental  is  knowledge  of  your  Prophet, 
Mohammed,  Allah  bless  and  save  him.  He  is  Moham- 
med Ibn  Abdullah  Ibn  Abdulmuta'lib  Ibn  Hashim. 
Hashim  was  one  of  the  Quraish,  and  the  Quraish  are  of  the 
Arabs,  and  the  Arabs  are  of  the  descendants  of  Isma'Il,  the 
son  of  Ibrahim  the  Friend,  upon  him  and  upon  our 
Prophet  be  the  most  favored  blessing  and  peace.  He  had 
sixty-three  years  of  life,  forty  before  his  prophetic  office 


DOCTRINES  OF  THE  ARABIAN  "BRETHREN"      373 

and  twenty-three  as  a  prophet  and  messenger.  He  was 
made  a  prophet  by  (the  word)  'Recite,'  (xcvi:i),  and 
was  sent  by  (the  chapter  of  the  Koran  called)  'Al- 
Mudaththir,  The  Enveloper.'  (Ixxiv.)  His  town  was 
Mecca. 

Allah  sent  him  with  a  warning  against  polytheism,  and 
to  call  to  unitarianism.  The  proof  is  the  saying  of  Him 
Who  is  exalted:  ''O  you  enveloper  (of  yourself),  rise 
and  warn,  and  magnify  your  Lord,  and  cleanse  your 
clothes  and  flee  idolatry,  and  do  not  give,  hoping  to  get 
more,  and  on  your  Lord  patiently  wait."      (Ixxiv:  1-7.) 

The  meaning  of  "rise  and  warn"  is  to  warn  against  poly- 
theism, and  to  call  to  unitarianism.  "Your  Lord  mag- 
nify" (means)  to  magnify  Him  by  reckoning  Him  as  One. 
"Cleanse  your  clothes"  means  to  clear  your  deeds  of  poly- 
theism. "Flee  idolatry":  rujz  means  idols,  and  hajara 
means  leaving  them  and  their  kind  and  being  free  of  them 
and  their  kind. 

He  remained  ten  years  at  this,  calling  to  unitarianism, 
and  after  the  ten  years  he  was  taken  up  to  heaven,  and  the 
five  performances  of  the  worship  were  prescribed  for 
him.  He  worshipped  in  Mecca  three  years  and  after 
that  was  commanded  to  flee  to  Al-Madina.  The  hijrah 
is  to  remove  from  the  land  of  polytheism  to  the  land  of  Is- 
lam. The  flight  is  a  duty  prescribed  upon  this  people,  (to 
flee)  from  the  land  of  polytheism  to  the  land  of  Islam. 
It  remains  (in  force)  until  the  Hour  comes. 

The  proof  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  exalted: 
"Verily,  the  angels,  when  they  put  to  death  those  who 
were  wronging  their  own  souls,  said,  'In  what  (faith) 
were  you?'  They  said,  'We  were  helpless  in  the  land.' 
They  said,  'Was  not  Allah's  country  broad  enough,  so  that 
you  could  emigrate  into  it?'  So  those  have  Hell  for  their 
resting-place,  and  evil  will  be  the  journey  (of  all)  except 
those  helpless  men  and  women  and  children,  who  were  not 
able  to  find  means  (to  go)  and  were  not  guided  in  the  way. 
Those,  perhaps,  Allah  will  pardon.  Allah  is  pardoning 
and  forgiving."     (iv:99,  100.)     Also,  the  saying  of  Him 


374  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Who  is  exalted :  ''O  My  worshippers  who  believe,  verily, 
My  country  is  broad,  so  worship  Me,  (only)  Me." 
(xxix:56.) 

Al-Baghawl,  may  Allah  show  him  mercy,  said,  ''The 
reason  for  the  sending  down  of  this  verse  (is  that)  among 
the  Moslems  who  were  in  Mecca  (were  some  who)  did 
not  emigrate.     Allah  called  them  in  the  name  of  faith." 

The  proof  for  the  hijrah,  emigration,  from  the  sunna, 
customs,  is  the  saying  of  him  whom  may  Allah  bless  and 
save :  ''The  emigration  is  not  abolished  until  repenting  is 
abolished,  and  repenting  is  not  abolished  until  the  sun 
rises  from  its  place  of  setting." 

While  he  remained  in  al-Madina  he  was  commanded 
the  rest  of  the  laws  of  Islam  like  the  legal  rates  and  the  fast 
and  the  pilgrimage  and  the  call  to  worship  and  the  holy 
war,  and  the  prescription  of  kindness  and  the  proscription 
of  evil  and  others  of  the  laws  of  Islam.  He  remained  at 
this  ten  years  and  died.  The  blessing  and  peace  of  Allah 
be  upon  him. 

His  religion  remains,  and  this  is  his  religion:  There  is 
no  good  but  he  showed  the  people  the  way  to  it,  and  no 
evil  but  he  warned  them  against  it.  The  good 
he  showed  them  the  way  to  is  unitarianism  and  all  that 
Allah  likes  and  is  pleased  with.  The  evil  which  he 
warned  against  was  polytheism  and  all  that  Allah  dislikes 
and  disapproves.  Allah  sent  him  to  all  men  and  pre- 
scribed obedience  of  him  upon  all  of  the  two  classes  of 
men  and  jinn.  The  proof  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is 
exalted:  "Say,  O  men,  verily,  I  am  the  messenger  of 
Allah  to  you  all."  (vii:  157.)  By  him  Allah  perfected 
the  religion.  The  proof  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is 
exalted:  "Today  I  perfected  your  religion  for  you,  and 
have  completed  My  grace  toward  you  and  I  have  pre- 
ferred Islam  as  (your)  religion."     (v:5.) 

The  proof  of  his  death  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is 
exalted:  "Verily,  you  are  to  die  and  they  are  to  die,  and 
then,  verily,  on  the  day  of  resurrection  you  will  contend 
together  before  your  Lord."     (xxxix:  31,  32.) 


DOCTRINES  OF  THE  ARABIAN  "BRETHREN"      375 

Men,  when  they  die,  are  resurrected.  The  proof  is  the 
saying  of  Him  Who  is  exalted :  "From  it  (the  earth)  We 
created  you,  and  to  it  We  return  you,  and  from  it  We  will 
bring  you  forth  a  second  time."  (xx :  57.)  Also,  the  say- 
ing of  Him  Who  is  exalted:  "And  Allah  caused  you  to 
spring  forth  from  the  earth  as  a  plant.  Then  He  will  re- 
turn you  to  it,  and  will  surely  bring  you  forth." 
(Ixxi:  16,  17.) 

After  the  resurrection  there  will  be  those  who  are 
judged  and  those  who  are  requited  according  to  their 
deeds.  The  proof  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  exalted: 
"And  to  Allah  (belongs)  what  is  in  the  heavens  and  what 
is  in  the  earth,  to  requite  those  who  did  evil  for  what  they 
did,  and  to  requite  those  who  did  well  with  good." 
(liii :  32.)  Whoever  denies  the  resurrection  is  a  kafir,  un- 
believer. The  proof  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  ex- 
alted: "Those  who  are  unbelievers  assert  that  they  will 
not  be  resurrected.  Say,  Yes,  by  my  Lord,  you  will  in- 
deed be  resurrected.  Then  you  will  be  told  what  you 
have  done.     That  is  easy  for  Allah."      (lxiv:7.) 

Allah  sent  all  the  messengers,  heralds  of  good  tidings 
and  Warners.  The  proof  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is 
exalted :  "Messengers,  heralds  of  good  tidings  and  Warn- 
ers, in  order  that  men  should  not  have  an  argument  against 
Allah  after  the  messengers    (have  come)."        (iv:  163) 

The  first  of  them  was  Noah,  upon  him  be  peace,  and 
the  last  of  them  was  Mohammed,  may  Allah  bless  and  save 
him.  He  is  the  seal  of  the  prophets.  There  will  be  no 
prophet  after  him.  The  proof  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who 
is  exalted:  "Mohammed  was  not  a  father  of  any  one  of 
your  men,  but  the  messenger  of  Allah  and  the  seal  of  the 
prophets."  (xxx:40.)  The  proof  that  Noah  was  the  first 
of  them  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  exalted :  "Verily,  We 
revealed  to  you  as  We  revealed  to  Noah  and  the  prophets 
after  him."     (iv:  161.) 

Among  every  people  Allah  has  sent  a  messenger,  from 
Noah  to  Mohammed,  commanding  them  to  worship  Allah 
alone,   and  forbidding  them  to  worship   Tdghiit.     The 


376  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

proof  is  the  saying  of  Him  Who  is  exalted :  *'Aiid  verily, 
We  have  sent  among  every  people  a  messenger  (to  say), 
'Worship  Allah  and  turn  away  from  Tdyhut.'"   (xvi:38.) 

Allah  prescribed  upon  all  people  refusal  of  (obedience 
to)  TiKjhut  and  belief  in  Allah.  Ibn  al-Qayim,  may 
Allah  have  mercy  on  him,  said:  "The  meaning  of  Tdghut 
is  whatever  transgression  a  creature  commits  against  One 
Who  should  be  worshipped  or  followed  or  obeyed.  The 
Tdghuts  are  many.  The  chief  of  them  are  five:  Satan, 
may  Allah  curse  him,  and  whoever  is  worshipped,  him- 
self being  willing,  and  whoever  calls  men  to  worship  him, 
and  whoever  claims  any  knowledge  of  the  unrevealed,  and 
whoever  gives  judgment  in  accordance  with  other  than 
what  Allah  has  sent  down."  The  proof  is  the  saying  of 
Him  Who  is  exalted:  "Let  there  be  no  compulsion  in  re- 
ligion. The  right  way  has  been  distinguished  from  error. 
So  whoever  denies  Tdghut,  ungodliness,  and  believes  in 
Allah,  has  seized  hold  of  the  firm  handle  that  will  not  be 
broken.     Allah  hears  and  knows."      (ii:257.) 

This  is  the  meaning  of  "There  is  no  god  but  Allah."  In 
tradition  (it  is  said)  "The  head  is  Islam,  submission.  Its 
supports  are  the  salat,  worship.  The  apex  of  its  hump  is 
the  holy  war  in  the  way  of  Allah,  and  Allah  knows  best." 

Kuweit,  Arabia.  EDWIN  E.  CaLVERLEY. 


MOHAMMED    AL-GHAZZALI 

In  the  field  of  religious  literature  Ghazzali  did  for  the 
faith  of  Islam  approximately  what  Augustine  did  for 
Christianity.  The  following  account  of  his  life  is  trans- 
lated from  a  Persian  biographical  history  of  Khorasan 
that  is  called  the  Matla'  ash-Shams,  or,  The  Place 
Where  the  Sun  Rises.  This  name  is  significant  because 
Khorasan  is  the  province  in  Persia  upon  which  the  sun 
shines  first.  Care  has  been  taken  to  make  the  translation 
sufficiently  literal  to  exhibit  the  characteristic  features  of 
Moslem  biographies  although  freedom  has  been  exer- 
cised in  omitting  a  certain  amount  of  uninteresting  repe- 
tition.   

Mohammed  Al-Ghazzali  was  one  of  the  foremost  men 
of  the  world.  But  while  many  Moslem  authorities  have 
considered  him  one  of  the  Saints,  others  have  regarded 
him  as  a  heretic  and  have  not  permitted  the  reading  of 
his  books. 

He  was  born  in  450  or  451  A.H.,  in  the  city  of  Tus,  the 
ancient  capital  of  Khorasan,  and  when  he  reached  the  age 
to  give  attention  to  studies  he  began  going  to  Ahmad  Rad- 
kani  for  instruction.  Later  he  went  to  Nishapur  (which 
is  known  in  western  countries  as  the  home  of  Omar  Kha- 
yam,)  and  there  under  the  direction  of  Abu  Muali  Javeni, 
he  pursued  his  studies  with  great  application.  In  a  short 
time  he  surprised  his  fellow  students  and  attracted  so 
much  attention  that  even  during  the  lifetime  of  his  teacher 
his  own  name  and  reputation  were  widely  known.  It  was 
in  Nishapur  that  he  began  writing  books. 

He  left  Nishapur  to  go  with  the  army  of  Sultan  Jalal 
ud-Din,  Malik  Shah  Seljuki,  and  became  acquainted 
with  the  extraordinary  vazier,   Khoja  Nizam-ul-Mulk, 

377 


378  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Tusi,  who  had  heard  of  his  intellectual  attainments.  The 
court  of  the  Nizam  ul-Mulk  was  a  place  much  frequented 
by  the  learned  men  of  the  age,  so  that  Al-Ghazzali  had 
an  excellent  opportunity  for  discussions  on  theology  and 
science. 

He  is  said  to  have  been  the  winner  in  most  of  these  de- 
bates, answering  and  silencing  his  opponents.  From  this 
his  reputation  and  the  confidence  people  had  in  him  con- 
siderably increased,  and  he  was  appointed  as  "Director  of 
Instruction"  in  the  Government  School  in  Bagdad  and 
had  under  his  instruction  three  hundred  teachers.  He 
was  then  thirty-three  years  of  age. 

The  people,  not  only  of  Bagdad,  but  of  all  the  province 
of  Irak,  were  exceedingly  pleased  with  him.  His  pop- 
ularity was  greater  than  that  of  any  of  the  other  religious 
teachers  of  Bagdad;  in  fact,  he  was  even  more  popular 
than  any  of  the  leaders  of  the  government  or  the  grandees 
of  the  Caliphate.  As  Abdullah  Yafi  says  in  "The  Mirror 
of  the  Heart"  and  again  in  "The  Warning  to  Keep 
Awake,"  "The  reason  for  the  respect  and  honor  paid  to 
him  in  Bagdad  was  because  his  popularity  surpassed  that 
of  all  the  scholars  and  officials  in  the  Caliph's  court." 

And  it  was  then,  in  the  very  midst  of  material  pros- 
perity and  in  his  youth,  that  he  severed  his  affections  from 
the  acquisition  of  position  and  the  glory  of  superficial  at- 
tainments, and  sought  to  follow  God  according  to  his  own 
splendid  conscience.  He  shook  from  him  office  and 
property,  position  and  glory.  He  had  taught  but  four 
years,  and  he  had  to  employ  various  arts  of  deception  and 
subtleties  of  counsel  to  get  free  from  the  people  of  Bag- 
dad. 

With  the  intention  of  resigning  employment  and  of 
living  in  solitude,  he  determined  to  make  a  pilgrimage 
to  Mecca.  One  writer  says  that  he  went  first  to  Mecca 
and  returned  to  Syria,  but  in  Ghazzali's  own  words,  in 
liis  book,  Al-Munkaz  min  az-Zalal,  it  would  seem  evi- 
dent that  he  went  from  Irak  to  Syria,  and  that  after  about 
two  years  he  made  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca.     He  says: 


MOHAMMED  AL-GHAZZALI  379 

"When  through  with  my  studies,  with  all  my  will  I  fol- 
lowed the  way  of  the  Sufis,  and  it  became  clear  to  me 
that  in  the  final  happiness  there  must  be  no  covetousness 
except  for  piety  and  self-restraint  from  lust.  And  the 
soul  of  this  task  is  the  separation  of  the  heart  from 
the  world,  in  keeping  aloof  from  pride.'  The  return  to  the 
world  that  is  eternal  and  happy  is  only  possible  through 
the  truth  of  the  Almighty  God.  God  does  not  accept  the 
mere  appearance  of  truth,  there  must  be  a  turning  away 
from  position  and  property  and  an  abandonment  of  occu- 
pation and  affections.  And  when  I  looked  I  saw  myself 
deceived,  entangled  with  bonds  and  chains.  It  had 
seemed  to  me  that  the  very  best  work  that  I  did  was  the 
work  of  teaching.  But  when  I  examined  this  work  mi- 
nutely and  reflected  upon  it  I  saw  that  in  this  teaching 
there  was  a  personal  satisfaction  in  unprofitable  subjects 
of  knowledge,  and  that  this  sort  of  thing  would  never  be  in 
demand  in  the  final  market.  I  examined  my  purpose  in 
teaching  and  found  that  it  was  imperfect.  That  which 
drove  me  on  to  this  work  was  nothing  else  than  the  quest 
of  position,  popularity,  and  reputation.  So  I  knew  truly 
that  I  was  standing  on  the  brink  of  Hell,  that  I  had  placed 
niy  foot  on  the  lip  of  the  fire,  and  that  if  I  did  not  make 
provision  for  the  time  that  was  past  and  make  good  use  of 
the  present  time,  I  was  already  established  in  infernal  tor- 
ment. The  advantages  of  popularity  and  the  distinc- 
tions of  position  bind  your  worthy  foot  in  strong  chains, 
but  the  victorious  cry  of  faith  and  prayer  for  deliverance 
will  break  the  thread  of  the  affections. 

"The  Devil  said  to  me,  'This  is  a  sort  of  sickness  that 
has  come  upon  you,  it  will  soon  disappear.  Wait  until 
this  feeling  quiets  down  and  you  are  restored  to  health 
from  this  melancholy  sickness.  But  if  you  do  not  accept 
my  advice,  if  you  insist  in  breaking  away  from  your  pres- 
ent estate  of  wealth  and  convenience,  it  may  be  that  your 
mad  notion  will  completely  overcome  your  reason.  Or 
if  you  should  afterwards  desire  these  dignities  and  posi- 


38o  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

tions,  after  you  have  given  them  away,  to  return  to  them 
may  not  be  possible.' 

"For  a  period  of  six  months  there  was  this  conflict  be- 
tween my  reason  and  the  Devil.  At  first  1  felt  that  I  had 
the  freedom  of  choice,  that  I  could  act  according  to 
whichever  plan  I  chose,  but  afterwards  it  became  a  matter 
of  necessity.  God  made  my  tongue  fast  so  that  I  was 
unable  to  teach,  and  gradually  this  chaining  of  my  tongue 
became  the  cause  of  excessive  mental  anxiety,  and  this 
affliction  of  the  mind  affected  the  health  of  my  body.  I  ;v^^ 
lost  the  power  of  digestion  so  that  neither  food  nor  \yirre^  -jJ^ 
(sic)  agreed  with  me,  so  that  my  strength  became  exceed-  * 
ing  weakness.  The  doctors,  unable  to  cure  me,  said, 
"This  affair  has  gone  to  the  heart  and  has  influenced  the 
body,  so  that  there  is  no  other  way  to  cure  it  except  by 
purging  the  heart  from  all  that  is  unworthy."  When 
I  saw  myself  deprived  of  choice  and  forced  by  necessity, 
I  appealed  to  the  throne  of  the  Most  High  God  that  He 
would  give  me  salvation,  and  make  the  giving  up  of 
honors  and  position  and  wealth  and  family  and  children 
easy  for  me. 

"So  I  made  public  the  plan  of  going  to  Mecca,  but  in 
my  heart  I  had  the  intention  of  making  a  journey  to 
Syria.  This  was  because  of  a  fear  that  the  Caliph  and 
his  companions,  the  Khoja  and  his  friends,  on  becoming 
aware  of  my  intention  to  remain  for  sometime  in  Syria, 
would  prevent  my  going.  In  the  end,  by  employing 
various  little  strategems,  I  managed  to  come  away  from 
Bagdad.  None  of  them  felt  that  my  departure  was  on 
account  of  any  religious  reason,  for  they  all  considered 
the  position  I  held  in  the  Government  School  as  a  very 
high  ofiice  in  the  faith,  and  also  as  a  place  where  I  could 
extend  the  knowledge  of  the  sciences  and  busy  myself 
with  the  customary  branches  of  learning.  The  learned 
valued  nothing  else  more  highly  than  the  propagation  of 
the  law  and  faith  of  Islam. 

"Then  it  was  that  the  Turks  and  Seljuks  from  far  and 
near  sought' to  interpret  my  action.     Those  from  a  dis- 


MOHAMMED  AL-GHAZZALl  3^1 

tance  explained  my  departure  by  saying  that  the  rulers 
and  grandees  had  come  to  dislike  me,  and  that  various 
prominent  men  and  officials  were  displeased  with  my 
temperament  and  disposition.  As  for  those  near  at  hand, 
the  importunity  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Bagdad  and  the 
solicitation  of  many  friends  in  Irak  all  indicated  a  com- 
plete protest  against  my  leaving.  They  said  there  was  no 
sufficient  reason  for  my  departure,  which  would  mean 
that  the  followers  of  Islam  would  suffer  a  grave  injury, 
unless  it  should  be  indicated  by  some  very  special  provi- 
dence.    However,  I  finally  set  out  from  Bagdad. 

"Whatever  I  had  in  the  way  of  property  I  distributed, 
except  a  certain  necessary  amount  and  provision  for  my 
children.  Then  I  entered  Syria  and  stayed  in  that  coun- 
try about  two  years.  To  sanctify  my  spirit,  in  seclusion 
and  abstinence,  I  disciplined  myself,  purifying  my  char- 
acter and  making  my  heart  clean  for  the  service  of  God. 
This  I  did  according  to  the  practices  I  had  learned  from 
the  Sufis. 

"While  in  Damascus  I  stayed  continually  in  the  mosque. 
I  would  climb  a  minaret  and  spend  the  whole  day  there 
with  the  door  of  the  minaret  closed. 

"Afterwards  I  went  to  Jerusalem,  and  in  that  holy  place 
I  entered  every  day  the  room  of  the  sacred  rock,  and 
fastened  the  door. 

"And  then  it  was  that  I  resolved  to  make  the  pilgrimage 
to  Mecca,  that  at  the  end  of  my  travels  I  might  be  helped 
by  the  blessings  of  Mecca  and  Medina  and  the  Apostle  of 
God.  So  I  went  on  this  pilgrimage,  and  it  was  while  I 
was  there  that  the  urging  of  my  children  called  me  to  Tus, 
my  native  place.  I  went  back  to  my  familiar  home  city. 
But  I  was  still  far  from  God.  On  my  return  to  Tus,  I 
chose  seclusion,  both  from  love  and  ambition,  in  order 
that  I  should  remember  God  in  isolation  and  in  the  puri- 
fying of  my  heart.  I  shut  myself  ofif  from  the  society  and 
events  of  the  times,  but  for  all  that  the  demands  of  my  wife 
and  the  necessities  of  life  interfered  with  my  contentment 
and  spoiled  the  joy  of  my  privacy. 


382  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

"Thus  I  passed  my  time  for  ten  years,  and  in  the  midst 
of  those  years  of  seclusion  1  had  experiences  which  it  is 
impossible  to  narrate  or  explain.  But  1  came  to  the  con- 
viction that  those  who  are  following  the  way  of  truth  are 
the  Sufis,  and  that  their  morals  are  the  best  of  morals, 
that  their  path  is  the  straightest  path,  in  short,  that  the 
characteristics  of  this  society  are  the  purest  in  the  world." 

After  his  return  to  Tus,  Ghazzali  was  busy  writing 
books  on  many  subjects.  Fakhr  ul-Mulk,  the  vazier  of 
the  son  of  Khoja  Nizam  ul-Mulk,  asked  him  to  go  and 
teach  in  the  Government  School  in  Nishapur.  He  did 
not  accept  this  offer  at  first,  but  was  afterwards  prevailed 
upon  to  do  so.  But  he  soon  returned  to  his  life  of  seclu- 
sion in  Tus. 

They  say  that  during  the  time  of  his  retirement  in  Tu? 
the  Muayed  ul-Mulk  invited  him  to  go  again  and  teach  in 
Bagdad.  This  invitation  he  refused.  A  copy  of  his  re- 
fusal is  to  be  found  in  the  Tarikh-i-Istizhari.  The  author 
of  this  history  writes:  'Tn  the  days  of  Ghazzali,  the 
Muayed-ul-Mulk  invited  him  to  teach  again  in  Bagdad." 
In  answer  he  wrote:  "Praise  to  God  the  Lord  of  Hosts, 
and  prayer  and  homage  to  Mohammed  and  all  his  de- 
scendants: but  afterwards,  in  the  service  of  Khoja,  the 
Safety  of  the  World,  God  grant  to  Islam  that  he  may  live 
long,  they  invite  this  feeble  person,  from  the  lowly  ruins 
of  Tus,  to  the  illustrious  city  of  Bagdad,  may  God  pro- 
tect it.  They  are  gracious  in  the  distinction  they  offer 
me,  but  it  is  necessary  for  the  humble  servant  to  invite 
the  Khoja  from  the  low  estate  of  mankind  to  the  ever 
increasing  exaltation  of  an  angel.  My  dear  friend,  my 
remaining  in  Tus  or  my  going  to  Bagdad  is  all  the  same 
in  the  service  of  God.  But  between  the  baseness  of  the 
beast  and  the  full  dignity  of  man  there  is  a  great  distance 
that  I  have  not  yet  passed.  And  I  am  invited  to  go  to 
Bagdad.  Certainly  I  must  consider  that  I  have  very 
little  time,  and  no  leisure  for  a  journey  to  Irak.  Suppose 
that  Ghazzali  should  arrive  in  Bagdad  and  immediately 
upon  his  arrival  should  come  the  summons  of  death,  then 


MOHAMMED  AL-GHAZZALI  383 

you  would  have  to  consider  getting  another  professor. 
Why  not  consider  that  this  very  day  is  that  day,  and  give 
up  asking  for  me?  And  may  there  be  peace  for  the  one 
who  follows  the  Guidance." 

Sheikh  Baha-ud-Din  in  the  Kitab-i-Kashkul  gives  a 
brief  account  of  Al-Ghazzali,  and  in  it  this  correspon- 
dence with  the  Nizam-ul-Mulk  is  mentioned: 

"Hujjat  ul-Islam,  Abu  Hamid,  Mohammed  Al- 
Ghazzali  was  a  pupil  of  Imam  ul-Haramain.  He 
studied  with  him  in  Nishapur  for  a  while,  and  left  there, 
after  his  instructor's  death,  to  seek  a  fuller  knowledge  of 
the  truth. . .  He  spent  some  time  in  Damascus,  then  went  to 
Jerusalem,  and  thence  to  Alexandria.  From  his  travels 
in  Syria  and  Egypt  he  returned  to  his  native  place,  Tus, 
(the  ancient  capital  of  Khorasan)  and  spent  his  time 
there  in  retirement.  His  family  were  in  the  village  of 
Ghazzali  in  the  vicinity  of  Tus."  One  of  the  learned  has 
related,  "I  saw  Ghazzali  on  the  desert,  clothed  in  the  robe 
of  a  dervish,  with  a  staff  and  a  water  skin  in  his  hands,  and 
I  said,  'Oh,  Imam  was  not  the  teaching  of  learning  in 
Bagdad  better  than  this?'  "  And  he  turned  upon  me  with 
a  look  of  contempt  and  replied: 

"Behold  the  full  moon  of  good  omen  arising, 
While  the  Sun  sinks  quickly  below  the  horizon ; 
For  one  task  completed  and  another  begun 
Is  God's  sovereign  will  for  everyone. 

I'm  seeking  to  find  a  permanent  dwelling, 
I've  said  'Goodbye'  to  the  friends  of  yore, 
And  softly  within  my  heart  is  telling. 
Forget  the  place  you  sought  before. 
Give  up  the  struggle  of  worldly  rebelling 
The  heavenly  home  is  forevermore." 

After  Ghazzali's  retirement  the  Vazier  Nizam- 
ul-Mulk  wrote  urging  him  to  come  to  Bagdad.  He  re- 
fused, however,  and  sent  the  following  final  answer :  "  Tn 
the  name  of  God  the  merciful  and  forgiving,  all  have  a 
quarter  of  the  Heavens  to  which  they  turn  them;  but, 
wherever  ye  be,  hasten  emulously  after  good.'  (Koran 
Surah  2,  143  Rodwell.)     Know  that  in  their  aspirations 


384  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

all  mankind,  whatever  their  form  of  worship,  are  but 
three  groups.  The  first  group  are  the  common  people, 
without  learning  and  short-sighted.  They  fix  their  gaze 
on  the  knick-knacks  of  this  world.  The  Apostle  of  God 
has  condemned  them  by  the  words,  'What  ravaging 
wolves  there  are  among  the  flock  of  sheep,  working  ex- 
ceeding havoc  in  the  faith  of  Islam  from  the  love  of 
wealth  and  distinction.' 

"The  second  group  are  less  common.  They  are  seeking 
for  the  next  world,  and  are  learned  concerning  the  things 
that  are  good  and  permanent,  and  do  good  works  for  the 
sake  of  the  future.  But  there  is  still  an  accusation  against 
them  by  the  saying  of  Mohammed,  'This  world  is  for- 
bidden to  those  who  belong  to  the  next  world,  and  the 
next  world  is  forbidden  to  those  who  belong  to  this  world, 
and  both  this  world  and  the  next  are  forbidden  to  those 
who  belong  to  the  Most  High  God.' 

"And  the  third  group  are  the  least  common.  They  are 
the  ones  that  understand  that  for  everything  there  is  still 
something  higher,  to  which  the  lower  must  give  place. 
And  the  wise  do  not  care  for  less  than  the  best.  They 
know  for  a  certainty  that  this  world  and  the  next  are  but 
part  of  the  creation  of  God,  and  the  great  works  for  both 
worlds  are  but  for  the  sake  of  reward.  They  know  also 
that  they  have  a  desire  for  food  and  sensuous  pleasure  in 
common  with  the  beasts  and  reptiles.  So  the  perfect  light 
is  to  be  found  neither  in  Heaven  nor  on  the  earth,  and 
therefore  the  third  group  turn  their  backs  on  both  Heaven 
and  earth,  and  face  towards  the  Creator  who  made  them, 
sustains  them,  and  rules  over  them.  And  to  them  is  re- 
vealed the  meaning  of  this  verse,  'God  is  good  and  more 
permanent.'  They  are  the  ones  who  really  understand, 
'There  is  no  other  god  but  God,'  and  everyone  who 
desires  anything  else  than  God  himself,  is  associating 
with  God  a  hidden  rival.  And  all  things  that  exist  may 
be  divided  into  two  classes,  God  and  other  than  God. 
Men  weigh  the  two  in  scales.  Their  hearts  act  as  the 
indicator  on  the  scales,  and  all  that  they  see  that  they  de- 


MOHAMMED  AL-GHAZZALI  385 

sire  on  the  better  side  of  the  scales  they  decree  to  be  vir- 
tues; and  all  that  they  see  on  the  lower  side  of  the  scales 
they  decree  to  be  vices.  And  in  the  same  way  that  the  first 
group  of  mankind  was  common  in  comparison  with  the 
second  group,  and  the  second  was  common  in  comparison 
with  the  third,  yet  now  we  see  that  these  three  groups  are 
really  resolved  into  two.  And  for  this  reason  I  now  say, 
that  in  so  much  as  the  very  prince  of  vaziers  has  invited  me 
to  abandon  a  position  that  is  loftiest  of  all,  and  in  so  much 
as  it  leads  to  Heaven,  in  order  to  accept  a  position  of  this 
world,  which  is  the  lowest  of  the  low,  in  so  much  as  it 
leads  to  Hell,  and  since  the  way  towards  God  is  the  same 
whether  fromTus  or  Bagdad  or  any  other  place,  no  places 
being  closer  than  others,  therefore,  I  make  my  petition 
to  God  that  he  will  awaken  my  friend  the  Khoja  from  the 
sleep  of  indifference  and  lead  him  to  look  toward  the 
right  while  it  is  still  day,  before  his  work  passes  from  his 
hand.     Peace  be  with  you." 

Al-Ghazzali  therefore  gave  up  the  administrative  work 
that  brought  him  into  prominence  and  esteem  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Caliphate.  He  retired  to  Tus,  and  in  his 
own  neighborhood  established  a  center  for  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  Sufi  doctrine.  He  divided  his  valuable  time 
between  employments  of  devotion,  works  of  self-disci- 
pline, the  reading  of  the  Word  of  God,  public  preaching 
and  benevolence.  Besides  these  works  and  attending 
meetings  of  the  faithful  and  writing  on  various  arts  and 
sciences,  he  did  nothing  else. 

Our  worthy  friend,  Qutb-ud-Din  Ashkuri,  in  "The 
Loved  of  Hearts,"  says  that  "Mohammed,  son  of  Abdul 
Qasim,  Tusi,  who  was  one  of  the  pupils  of  Ghazzali,  re- 
lates in  the  'Muhakimat'  that  Hujjat-ul-Islam,  Abu 
Hamed  al-Ghazzali,  at  the  time  of  the  Hajj  had  a  con- 
versation with  Sayed  Murtaza  (other  authorities  say  this 
conversation  was  with  Da'ai  Raz,  the  nephew  of  Sayed 
Murtaza  or  with  Abu  Ahmad,  the  son  of  Sayed  Reza) 
and  that  they  had  a  full  discussion  of  the  claims  of  the 
Sunnis  and  the  Shiahs.     Murtaza  (or  whoever  the  Shiah 


386  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

representative  was)  answered  Ghazzali  with  such 
brilliant  proofs,  established  principles,  valid  demonstra- 
tions, and  illuminating  instances  that  Ghazzali  gave  up 
his  former  opinion.  He  became  a  believer  in  the  Imams 
and  is  said  to  have  spoken  these  words: 

'There  came  a  friend  and  talked  religion 
And  went  his  way: 
A  very  old  man  he  made  a  Moslem 
And  went  his  way.'  " 

And  Qadi,  Sayed  Nur  Ullah  Shaheed,  has  added  some- 
thing to  this  story.  He  says,  *'Our  friend,  Sayed  Hama- 
dani,  in  some  one  of  his  writings  in  connection  with  the 
works  of  the  Sufis,  in  the  course  of  what  he  said  about 
Ahmad  Ghazzali  (the  brother  of  Abu  Hamid)  makes  the 
statement  that  in  the  creed  of  his  brother  and  in  his  yield- 
ing to  the  love  for  the  house  of  the  Prophet  there  was  no 
ground  for  criticism  or  censure.  Some  of  the  leaders  of 
the  Shiahs  had  put  the  ban  on  Al-Ghazzali,  but  Moham- 
med Ibn  Abu  '1-Kasim,  Tusi,  states  that,  at  the  time  of  the 
Hajj,  Ghazzali  was  associated  with  Murtaza,  and  they 
discussed  the  difficulties  of  their  two  sects.  The  Sayed 
set  forth  the  principles  of  the  Shiah  contentions  with  in- 
cisive proofs  and  clear  demonstrations,  so  that  Al-Ghaz- 
zali gave  up  his  connection  with  the  sect  of  the  Sunnis 
and  became  a  Shiah."  When  he  returned  from  the  great 
city  of  Mecca,  his  brother,  Ahmad  Ghazzali,  who  was 
also  a  Sufi,  met  him  and  said,  "I  have  heard  that  you  have 
come  over  to  the  sect  of  the  Shiahs.  This  is  certainly  a 
surprising  thing  for  you  to  do."  Abu  Hamed  answered, 
"Indeed  that  I  was  for  awhile  of  another  sect  is  the  more 
surprising  to  me."  And  there  was  a  discussion  between 
the  two  brothers  that  lasted  for  two  days.  But  on  the 
third  day  Ahmad  died  suddenly  of  apoplexy. 

They  say  that  after  Ghazzali  became  a  Shiah,  in  the 
later  part  of  his  life,  he  wrote  the  book  "The  Secrets  of 
the  Two  Worlds"  and  the  claims  of  this  sect  are  set  forth 
in  that  book. 

The   grandson   of    Ibn   Jauzi    al-Bagdadi,    says    that 


MOHAMMED  AL-GHAZZALI.  387 

everybody  was  greatly  influenced  by  his  discussion  of 
what  was  said  to  Ali  on  the  Day  of  Choice,  i.e.  "Of 
everyone  whose  master  I  have  been,  let  Ali  be  the  master." 
And  Omar  said,  "Congratulations  to  you,  O  Son  of 
Hassan,  you  have  indeed  become  my  master  and  the  mas- 
ter of  all  men  and  women."  "This,"  wrote  Ghazzali,  "is 
the  authority,  the  choice,  and  the  decree.  But  after  this, 
overcome  by  the  enticement  of  the  love  of  power,  they 
overthrew  the  structure  of  the  Caliphate  and  laid  a  foun- 
dation for  themselves,  consumed  as  they  were  by  their 
own  desires.  They  were  carried  away  by  the  clatter  of 
military  banners,  entangled  in  the  crowd  of  horses,  inter- 
ested in  the  capture  of  cities  in  permitting  this  and  for- 
bidding that,  and  so  it  was  that  they  drank  the  cup  of  their 
own  passion  and  returned  to  their  former  state.  And  they 
cast  him  out  of  their  sight  and  sold  him  for  a  poor  price, 
— so  cheaply  did  they  sell  him!" 

But  some  are  in  doubt  as  to  whether  they  should  as- 
cribe the  Durr-ul-'Alamin  to  Ghazzali,  or  at  least  they 
consider  the  part  we  have  mentioned  to  be  an  addition. 
Among  the  early  writings  of  Abu  Hasan  Ali  ibn  Al- 
Husain  al-MasoXidi,  the  author  of  Maruj-ul-Mashab  and 
Ikhbar-uz-Zaman  and  Al-Wasat  and  other  works,  a  book 
has  come  to  notice  which  is  a  translation  of  the  Durr-ul- 
Alamin.  It  is  possible  that  this  explanation  is  derived 
from  this  source  since  Masoudi  was  of  a  Shiah  family. 

The  Shiah  authorities  claim  that  the  Munkaz 

min  az-Zalal,  which  was  written  against  the  claim  of  sin- 
lessness  for  the  Imams,  peace  be  unto  them,  was  com- 
pleted before  the  Durr-ul-Alamin  and  the  Kashf  Haqiqat- 
ud-Darain.  Since  they  also  say  that  the  Munkaz  was 
written  in  the  latter  part  of  Ghazzali's  life,  his  declaration 
that  the  cursing  of  Yazid,  son  of  Muavia,  is  not  permis- 
sible,  must  have  been  before  his  conversion 

Ibn  Hajar  in  the  Sawaif  quotes  Ghazzali  to  the  effect 
that  it  is  forbidden  in  sermons  and  elsewhere  to  relate  the 
story  of  the  killing  of  Husain,  the  son'of  Ali,  and  to  recall 
the  things  which   happened  among  the  friends  of  the 


388  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Apostle  of  God  that  were  of  the  nature  of  disagreement 
and  strife,  because  these  things  are  a  cause  of  enmity  and 
hatred  and  lead  to  ridicule  and  cursing. 

At  all  events,  in  distinction  and  in  learning  Ghazzali 
wa-s  one  of  the  greatest  men  in  Islam.  There  is  a  tradi- 
tion among  the  Sunnis  concerning  the  propagation  and 
revival  of  religion  at  the  beginning  of  each  century. 
According  to  this  tradition,  Mohammed  said  that  God 
chooses  at  the  beginning  of  each  century  some  one  to  re- 
vive the  faith.  At  the  head  of  the  fifth  century,  A.  H., 
they  place  Al-Ghazzali. 

The  most  highly  esteemed  and  largest  of  the  works  of 
Ghazzali  is  the  Ihya  'Ulum-id-Din  (Revival  of  the 
Sciences  of  Religion.)  There  are  also  four  well  known 
books  of  Law,  "Basit,"  "Wasit,"  "Wajiz,"  and  "Khala- 
sat."  The  Yakut  ut-Tawil,  in  explanation  of  the  Surat 
ut-Tanzil,  was  written  in  forty  volumes,  concerning  the 
authority  of  the  one  who  had  access  to  the  heavens.  There 
are  five  commentaries,  six  books  on  metaphysics,  seven 
books  on  dogmatic  theology,  eight  books  concerning 
wisdom  and  culture,   nine  books  of  tradition,   and  ten 

books  on  miscellaneous  subjects The  author 

of  the  Athar  ul-Balad  says,  ''They  say  that  they  arranged 
the  writings  of  Abu  Hamid  so  as  to  have  an  appropriate 
part  for  every  day  in  the  year." 

Finally,  on  Monday,  the  14th  of  the  month  Jamadi  the 
Second,  in  the  year  505  A.H.,  in  the  town  of  Tabaran,  Al- 
Ghazzali  left  this  fleeting  world.  He  was  buried  within 
sight  of  Tabaran. 

They  said  that  when  the  news  of  his  death  reached 
Imam  Ismael  Hakimi  he  quoted  appropriately  these 
verses  from  the  famous  poem  of  Abu  Tamam: 

"Shall  I  be  calm  while  he  lies  cold, 
The  blood  I  weep,  can  he  behold, 
The  days  that  are  gone,  can  I  restore. 
Till  his  death  I  marvelled,  shall  I  marvel  more?" 

Meshed,  Persia. .  DWIGHT  M.  DONALDSON. 


SACRIFICE  AS  PRACTICED  AMONG  THE 
SHTAHS  OF  KHORASAN 

I,  Td-I-Qurban — Wealthy  people  are  supposed  to 
make  the  required  pilgrirpage  to  Mecca,  and  at  least  once 
in  their  lives  keep  the  Td-i-Qurban,  or  feast  of  Sacrifice, 
on  the  tenth  day  of  the  month  Dhu  '1-Hijja  at  the  House 
of  God  as  Mohammed  appointed.  But  the  great  major- 
ity of  Moslems  in  Khorasan  do  not  have  the  means  to 
make  the  pilgrimage,  and  so  they  perform  the  rites  of  the 
sacrifice  year  by  year  in  their  own  homes.  When  asked 
the  meaning  of  the  Feast  of  the  Sacrifice,  the  reply  uni- 
versally given  is  that  it  is  in  memory  of  Abraham,  who 
tried  to  offer  Ishmael,  his  son,  in  sacrifice.  The  Patri- 
arch several  times  applied  the  knife  to  the  throat  of  his 
son,  but  the  knife  would  not  cut.  Instead  it  fell  from 
his  hand  and  cut  a  rock  that  was  lying  on  the  ground. 
Just  then  Gabriel  brought  a  sheep,  which  he  told  Abra- 
ham to  offer  in  place  of  his  son.  When  he  had  done  this, 
the  blood  of  the  victim  went  to  the  sea  and  became  red 
coral,  the  horns  became  amber,  and  the  eyes  pearls.  The 
Persians  think  they  are  following  the  precedent  set  by 
Abraham  in  every  detail  of  the  sacrifice. 

The  night  before  the  feast  sleep  is  forbidden.  The 
gates  of  heaven  are  said  to  be  open,  and  it  is  incumbent 
on  Mussulmans  to  spend  the  night  in  worship,  preferably 
in  the  mosque,  for  the  sound  of  their  voices  raised  in 
prayer  goes  above  like  the  buzzing  of  bees.  On  this 
night  the  prayer  of  a  worthy  person  is  sure  of  an  answer, 
and  the  sin  of  a  sinner  is  counted  less.  If  one  spends  the 
night  in  prayer  he  will  share  in  the  merit  of  those  who 
make  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca.  Some  say  that  washing 
one's  body  is  also  required  (wdjib),  others  say  that  it  is 

389 


390  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

merely  preferable  (mustahabh) ^  but  all  agree  that  at  the 
return  of  the  Twelfth  Imam  it  will  become  required. 
On  the  morning  of  the  feast  no  food  is  to  be  eaten  till  one 
eats  the  flesh  of  the  sacrifice. 

The  general  rule  is  that  there  must  be  one  animal  sac- 
rificed for  every  household.  But  if  several  of  the  mem- 
bers of  a  household  are  hd'j'fis,  then  one  animal  must  be 
offered  by  every  haj'ji  male  or  female.  If  the  family  can 
afford  it,  the  merit  will  be  greater  in  every  case  to  offer 
one  victim  for  every  member- of  the  family,  but  this  is 
seldom  done.  If  a  group  of  poor  people  wish  to  club  to- 
gether to  buy  an  animal,  they  may  do  so  up  to  the  number 
of  seven,  or  even  to  seventy,  according  to  some  authorities. 
If  a  poor  man  says  in  his  heart,  "Would  that  I  were  able 
to  offer  a  sacrifice !"  he  will  gain  the  same  merit  as  though 
he  had  offered  it.  It  is  permitted  to  borrow  money  in 
order  to  buy  an  animal,  a  tradition  being  brought  forward 
to  the  effect  that  Mohammed  gave  his  wife  Umm  Salma 
permission  to  borrow  for  this  purpose.  If  an  animal  can- 
not be  found,  its  price  in  money  may  be  given  to  the  poor. 
There  is  a  tradition  that  Mohammed  offered  two  animals, 
one  for  himself  and  one  for  any  believer  who  might  not 
happen  to  have  one.  And  so  it  is  possible  for  the  Mussul- 
man to  offer  a  special  sacrifice  for  Mohammed,  or  for  a 
friend  or  member  of  the  family  who  has  died.  In  this 
case  the  merit  is  credited  to  the  account  of  the  dead 
person. 

The  victim  may  be  a  camel,  sheep,  cow,  or  goat;  but 
in  Khorasan  camels  are  very  expensive  now,  and  it  is  the 
sheep  that  is  almost  universally  chosen  for  the  sacrifice. 
If  a  camel  is  chosen,  it  must  be  at  least  five  years  old,  a 
cow  or  goat  must  be  at  least  one  year  old,  while  a  sheep 
must  be  six  months  or  more.  The  female  camel  and  cow 
are  to  be  sacrificed,  but  if  the  victim  be  a  goat  or  sheep  it 
must  be  an  unmutilated  male,  fat,  and  not  too  old  and 
without  a  flaw.  An  animal  that  is  branded  or  blind  or 
lame  or  sick,  or  that  has  a  broken  horn  or  a  split  ear  or  a 
bruised  hoof  will  not  be  accepted,  unless  no  other  can  be 


SACRIFICE  AMONG  THE  SHI'AHS  391 

found.     It  is  considered  an  abomination  to  sacrifice  a 
sheep  that  has  been  raised  as  a  pet  in  one's  house. 

In  the  morning  or  at  noon  on  the  tenth  day  of  the 
month,  or  on  the  eleventh  or  twelfth  of  the  month  if  one 
is  prevented  from  sacrificing  on  the  appointed  day,  the 
victim  is  brought  into  the  house  and  prepared  for  the  sac- 
rifice. Its  eyes  are  blackened  with  sormeh,  and  then  it  is 
made  to  look  into  a  mirror,  for  it  is  said  that  Hagar  (or 
Abraham)  blackened  Ishmael's  eyes  to  make  him  beauti- 
ful for  his  sacrifice,  and  then  made  him  look  into  a  mirror 
to  see  his  beauty.  The  people  who  offer  the  sacrifice  also 
blacken  their  own  eyes.  The  victim  is  then  turned  with 
its  face  toward  Mecca  and  its  feet  are  tied  together.  If 
it  be  a  camel  the  fore  feet  only  are  bound.  Water  is  then 
given  the  animal  to  drink,  for  it  is  considered  inhuman 
that  it  should  die  thirsty.  The  Shi'ahs  remember  with 
horror  the  cruelty  of  the  soldiers  of  Yazid,  who  would 
not  allow  the  Kerbela  martyrs  to  go  to  the  river  for  water 
to  quench  their  thirst,  and  they  say  that  since  the  Holy 
Family  suffered  from  thirst,  they  should  not  allow  the 
victim  so  to  suffer. 

Then  all  the  members  of  the  household  stand  about  the 
victim  and  place  their  hands  on  its  back,  saying  in  Per- 
sian, ''We  have  a  share  in  the  blood  of  the  sacrifice,  may 
God  accept  it!"  The  one  who  kills  the  sacrifice  should 
be  the  head  of  the  house,  a  male  fifteen  years  of  age  or 
older,  a  Mussulman,  who  is  able  to  repeat  at  least  the 
following  formula  in  Arabic:  "In  the  name  of  God,  for 
the  sake  of  God,  in  the  way  of  God,  according  to  the 
tradition  of  Abraham,  the  friend  of  God."  If  he  is  able, 
he  adds  the  following  Arabic  prayer  which  Abraham  is 
said  to  have  repeated  at  the  sacrifice  of  Ishmael :  "I  have 
turned  my  face  toward  the  place  of  God  in  the  name  of 
him  who' created  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  since  I  am  a 
Mussulman  and  not  one  of  those  who  attribute  a  partner 
to  God.  In  truth  my  prayer  and  works  and  living  and 
dying  are  for  God,  who  is  the  provider  for  both  worlds. 
He  has  no  partner,  and  to  this  act  of  sacrifice  I  am  com- 


392  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

manded  by  God,  and  T  am  one  of  the  Moslems.  O  God, 
this  sacrifice  is  from  Thee  and  for  Thee.  1  begin  in  the 
name  of  God  who  is  great  [at  this  point  the  victim  is 
killed].     Accept  this  sacrifice  from  me." 

A  camel  is  killed  by  being  stabbed  on  the  right  side  of 
the  neck  just  in  front  of  the  shoulder,  but  the  throat  of  a 
sheep  must  be  cut.  The  knife  used  must  be  made  of  steel 
or  iron,  any  other  metal  being  forbidden.  The  blood  is 
sometimes  smeared  on  the  finger  nails  to  prevent  the  skin 
from  cracking,  and  is  put  as  a  medicine  on  the  forehead 
and  nose  and  roof  of  the  mouth  of  children  who  have 
colds.  Some  say  that  this  is  done  as  a  sign  of  one's  pur- 
pose to  sacrifice  the  following  year.  The  blood  must  be 
washed  ofif  before  prayers.  The  skin  of  the  victim  may 
be  used  for  a  prayer  rug,  or  for  an  upper  garment  by  a 
very  religious  man,  but  it  must  in  no  case  be  defiled.  The 
flesh  is  to  be  divided  into  three  parts,  one  of  which  is  to 
be  eaten  by  the  people  who  ofifer  the  sacrifice,  a  second 
part  is  sent  as  a  present  to  one's  neighbors,  and  the  rest  is 
to  be  given  to  the  poor.  But  one  may  gain  greater  merit 
by  giving  all  to  the  poor.  If  a  man  from  without  is  called 
in  to  kill  the  sacrifice,  he  should  be  repaid  with  money, 
not  with  the  flesh  of  the  sacrifice,  unless  he  be  a  poor  man. 

Some  years  ago  it  was  customary  for  a  camel  to  be  deco- 
rated and  led  about  the  streets  of  the  city,  after  which  it 
was  taken  to  the  place  of  sacrifice  outside  the  city  walls. 
A  prince  would  take  his  seat  on  a  platform  near  by,  and  a 
great  crowd  would  gather  about  the  camel.  At  a  given 
signal  they  would  set  upon  the  poor  victim  with  knives, 
and  the  man  who  could  first  bring  its  head  or  tail  or  foot 
to  the  prince  was  given  a  sum  of  money.  This  barbarous 
custom  has  now  been  discontinued. 

Various  answers  are  given  when  the  Persians  are  ques- 
tioned as  to  the  purpose  of  the  Feast  of  Sacrifice. 
Usually  they  say  that  it  is  to  commemorate  the  offering  of 
Ishmael,  and  as  such  is  a  work  of  merit.  Thus,  if  one 
should  keep  all  the  flesh  of  the  sacrifice  for  himself,  send- 
ing none  of  it  to  the  poor,  still  as  a  memorial  of  Abraham 


SACRIFICE  AMONG  THE  SHI'AHS  393 

it  has  a  numerical  value  of  ten  in  the  "good  works"  ac- 
count. But  if  he  gives  one  third  of  it  to  the  poor,  it  will 
count  one  hundred  to  his  credit.  It  is  also  said  that  on  the 
day  of  resurrection  the  animal  will  appear  "with  its 
horns,  hair  and  hoofs,"  and  will  carry  the  one  who  sacri- 
ficed it  on  its  back  across  the  Bridge  (Sirat)  over  Hell  to 
Paradise.  But  the  more  immediate  benefit  derived  from 
the  sacrifice  is  that  it  protects  the  household  that  ofifers  it 
from  sickness  and  misfortune  during  the  coming  year. 
For  this  result  to  be  obtained,  at  least  one-third  of  the 
flesh  must  be  given  to  the  poor.  Some  say  that  it  is  the 
prayers  of  the  poor  who  receive  the  flesh  that  protect  one 
from  evil.  Others  seem  to  think  that  the  sacrifice  is  vi- 
carious, the  victim  suffering  in  place  of  the  offerer,  and 
God  is  thus  influenced  not  to  send  misfortune  and  sick- 
ness. But  one  thing  is  clear,  the  sacrifice  has  no  reference 
in  the  minds  of  the  people  to  sin.  It  is  considered  only 
as  a  work  of  merit  and  as  a  preventive  against  physical 
evil. 

II.  Sacrifice  FOR  the  Sick — When  medicine  and 
prayers  have  failed  to  cure  a  sick  person,  frequently  a 
sacrifice  is  offered  as  a  last  resort.  The  victim  is  always 
a  sheep,  preferably  a  black  one.  It  is  brought  into  the 
room,  and  is  led  three  times  around  the  sick  person,  an 
omen  of  good  being  eagerly  looked  for  all  the  while. 
Then  it  is  taken  out,  and  its  throat  is  cut  in  a  place  that 
has  no  roof  over  it.  Before  it  is  killed,  the  following 
Arabic  prayer  is  spoken  into  its  mouth:  "O  my  God,  in 
truth  this  sheep  is  for  Thee,  and  is  of  Thy  favor  and  Thy 
mercy,  and  it  has  become  mine,  and  I  have  substituted 

this  sheep  for  Thy  servant ,  son  of .     O  my 

God,  this  sheep  is  his  substitute,  its  flesh  for  his  flesh,  its 
blood  for  his  blood.  Now  accept  the  sheep  from  me  as 
Thou  didst  accept  it  from  Thy  friend,  Abraham,  when  he 
offered  a  substitute  in  place  of  his  son  Ishmael.  For  the 
honor  of  Mohammed!  O  my  God,  truly  for  Thee  I  have 
made  the  substitution  of  this  sheep.  Now  accept  it  from 
me.     God  is  Great!"     Or  this  simpler  formula  may  be 


394  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

used:  "O  God,  this  sacrifice  is  in  place  of  the  sick  man, 
accept  it  and  heal  him." 

The  blood  and  excrements  are  buried  in  the  ground, 
that  people  may  not  walk  over  them.  The  skin  must  not 
be  cut  loose  from  the  feet,  for  skin  and  feet  must  be  one 
piece,  and  the  entrails  must  be  one  piece.  The  flesh  is  to 
be  cut  into  fifty-seven  pieces  and  put  into  the  skin.  The 
pieces  are  then  taken  out  one  at  a  time,  the  name  of  some 
poor  person  is  called,  and  the  piece  is  handed  to  him. 
None  of  the  flesh  of  this  sacrifice  is  to  be  eaten  by  the 
family  of  the  sick,  all  is  to  be  given  away.  The  sacrifice 
is  usually  called  Sadaqa. 

III.  Sacrifice  for  a  Child.— When  a  child  is  three 
years  old,  or  younger,  if  the  parents  so  desire,  a  sheep  is 
frequently  sacrificed  to  insure  its  continued  life  and 
health.  This  is  done  more  often  for  a  boy  than  for  a  girl. 
The  prayer  used  is  the  following:  "O  God,  I  give  this 
sheep  in  place  of  my  child,  accept  it  flesh  for  flesh,  blood 
for  blood,  bones  for  bones,  life  for  life."  None  of  the 
victim's  bones  must  be  broken,  but  they  are  to  be  buried 
as  a  substitute  for  the  bones  of  the  child.  None  of  the 
flesh  may  be  eaten  by  the  parents  of  the  child,  but  one- 
third  of  it  may  be  eaten  by  other  members  of  the  house- 
hold, and  two-thirds  are  to  be  given  to  the  poor.  The 
vicarious  character  of  the  sacrifices  for  the  sick  and  for 
children  is  very  clearly  marked  in  the  thought  of  the 
people,  though  it  is  also  said  that  the  blessing  is  due  to  the 
prayers  of  the  poor  who  eat  the  meat. 

Sistan,  Persia.  Wm.  McE.  Miller. 


KARAMAT 

All  books  containing  accounts  of  the  lives  of  Moslem 
Saints,  after  giving  an  account  of  their  ^'Silsila'  or  the 
chain  of  saintly  teachers  from  whom  they  derive  their 
'^Gnosis"  (knowledge),  give  very  considerable  space  to 
what  they  term,  the  Saints'  Kardmdt.  This  word,  lit- 
erally translated,  means  Honours,  and  signifies  in  this 
sense  the  Honours  that  God  has  put  upon  the  Saint. 
They  nearly  always  mean  either  miraculous  powers,  or 
supernatural  insight.  A  few  examples  translated  from  the 
life  of  Abu  Hasan  el-Shadhali  will  help  the  reader  to  un- 
derstand these  Kardmdt.  These  examples  are  just  a  few 
picked  from  a  vast  number  more  with  a  view  to  showing 
the  great  variety  of  Kardmdt  held  by  one  man.^ 

On  one  of  the  early  journeys  of  Abu  Hasan  el-Sha- 
dhali, towards  the  village  of  Shadhala,  from  whence  he 
obtained  his  cognomen,  he  met,  at  some  considerable  dis- 
tance from  their  destination,  a  woodcutter  of  his  own 
townsfolk.  They  commenced  to  journey  together,  but 
the  woodcutter,  after  they  had  travelled  a  little  distance, 
remembered  that  he  had  left  something  behind  in  the 
market-place.  So,  leaving  his  donkey,  he  started  back, 
when  he  suddenly  remembered  that  the  Sheikh  to  him  was 
a  stranger,  and  he  feared  that  he  might  run  off  with  the 
donkey.  As  he  was  turning  these  thoughts  over  in  his 
mind,  the  Sheikh  called  to  him  saying,  "Oh  my  son,  take 
the  donkey  with  you  lest  it  be  run  away  with,  and  lest  you 
be  left  without  it  then  as  you  are  imagining."  The  wood- 
cutter wept,  and  said,  "By  God!  none  has  revealed  this 
unto  you  but  God,"  and  he  realized  that  the  Sheikh  was 
one  of  the  Aulia  (saints)  and  commenced  kissing  his 
hands  and  his  feet,  and  petitioning  for  a  place  in  his 
prayers. 

When  he  had  returned  from  the  market-place,  he  in- 
sisted that  the  Sheikh  should  ride  upon  his  donkey;  the 

iThe  El-Shadhali  sect  of  Dervishes  is  the  one  most  favored  by  students  of  the  Azhar. 

395 


396  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Sheikh  consented  on  condition  that  the  woodcutter 
mount  up  behind  him.  The  woodcutter  was  astounded 
that  the  donkey  permitted  this,  knowing  that  he  was  only 
partially  trained  and  had  never  permitted  anybody  to  ride 
up  behind  him  before,  but,  not  only  so,  he  discovered  that 
they  travelled  within  a  mile  of  Shadhala  in  an  incredibly 
short  time.  At  this  distance  from  Shadhala,  the  Sheikh 
dismounted,  and  the  woodcutter  realising  the  big  honours 
God  had  placed  upon  the  Sheikh,  told  him  of  his  poverty 
and  his  destitution.  He  had  wrapped  up  in  the  corner  of 
his  mantle  some  oats  that  he  had  bought  as  food  for  his 
family  and  the  donkey.  The  Sheikh  said,  "Bring  me  these 
oats."  When  the  woodcutter  had  done  so,  he  put  his 
hand  in  amongst  the  oats,  and  said  to  him,  "Put  these  oats 
into  a  basket  and  lock  it  up,  and  whenever  you  need  food 
put  in  your  hand  and  take  what  you  want,  and  never 
again  complain  of  destitution:  I  petition  God  that  he 
enrich  thee  and  enrich  thy  seed." 

The  writer  of  this  account  says  that  there  never  was  seen 
a  poor  man  of  the  woodcutter's  seed  unto  the  time  of  writ- 
ing; then  he  goes  on  to  say  that  the  woodcutter  followed 
the  injunctions  of  the  Sheikh  for  some  time,  and  truly 
found  that  the  oats  continued  inexhaustible,  but  he 
thought  that  he  would  multiply  them,  and  so  ploughed  a 
piece  of  ground  with  his  donkey,  took  some  of  the  oats  and 
sowed  them,  and  had  a  considerable  fight  with  misfor- 
tune. When  he  winnowed  the  oats  and.  measured  them, 
he  found  that  the  quantity  remained  just  as  before.  He 
confessed  his  fault  to  the  Sheikh,  who  told  him  that  if  he 
had  not  so  strenuously  sought  to  increase  his  store,  it  would 
have  still  remained  with  him  as  before. 

Sheikh  Abu  Mohammed  Abdullah  ibn  Salama  el- 
Habibi,  who  was  one  of  the  first  to  associate  himself  with 
el-Shadhali,  relates  some  of  the  experiences  that  he  had 
with  him  on  the  mountain  of  Z'afaran  whilst  the  Sheikh 
was  repeating  Sura  el-An'am,  but  having  repeated  the 
words  "and  could  it  compensate  with  fullest  compensa- 
tion it  is  not  to  be  accepted  of  it,"  the  mountain  swayed 


KARAMAT  397 

in  unison  with  the  swaying  of  his  body,  and  stopped  when 
he  stopped. 

At  another  time,  he  said,  "I  stopped  with  him  on  Jabal 
Z'afaran  forty  days,  eating  herbs  and  the  leaves  of  laurel 
until  the  sides  of  my  mouth  were  covered  with  ulcers,  and 
he  said  to  me,  'Oh  Abdullah,  it  appears  you  long  for  food,' 
and  I  said  to  him,  'Oh  my  master,  my  looking  to  thee 
makes  me  independent  of  it.'  He  said,  'Tomorrow,  if  God 
will,'  and  descended  from  the  mountain  toward  Shadhala. 
We  encountered  a  'Karama'  in  the  way  as  we  went. 

As  we  were  traversing  a  plain,  the  Sheikh  said  to  me, 
"Oh  Abdullah,  if  I  go  out  of  the  way,  do  not  follow  me" ; 
and  when  he  had  said  this  there  fell  on  him  a  great  Hal 
(a  psychic  condition  or  state,)  and  he  departed  from  the 
way  until  he  was  far  from  me.  Then  I  saw  four  birds 
about  the  size  of  a  pigeon,  which  descended  from  Heaven 
and  settled  upon  his  head  in  a  row.  Then  each  in  turn 
came  and  spoke  to  him.  Then  I  saw  birds  with  them, 
about  the  size  of  hawks,  surrounding  him  from  the  ground 
to  the  sky  and  flying  around  him.  Then  they  disappeared 
and  he  returned  to  me,  and  said,  "Oh  Abdullah,  hast  thou 
seen  anything?"  I  said,  "Yes,"  and  I  told  him  what  I 
had  seen.  Then  he  said  to  me,  "The  four  birds  were 
angels  from  the  fourth  Heaven  coming  down  to  ask  me 
a  question  of  learning  (gnosis?),  and  I  answered  them." 
He  continued,  "The  small  birds  were  the  spirits  of  the 
saints  who  came  to  listen  for  their  own  benefit." 

When  staying  at  Tunis,  a  Sheikh  called  Ibn  el-Bara' 
was  bitterly  antagonistic  to  him.  It  is  recorded  that 
Sheikh  Abu  Hasan  was  overheard  praying  that  a  curse 
might  fall  upon  him  at  Arafat  (a  mountain  near  Mecca) . 
This  was  in  the  hearing  of  many  people.  The  account 
goes  on  to  show  how  the  curse  was  fulfilled  in  detail.  It 
is  related  how  Ibn  el-Bara'  stirred  up  the  populace  of 
Tunis  against  the  Sheikh.  His  house  was  surrounded, 
and  he  was  in  considerable  danger.  His  friends  pleaded 
with  him  to  make  his  escape,  but  he  refused,  and  said  that 
but  for  his  reverence  for  the  Sharia'  he  could  escape  from 


398  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

"here  and  from  there,"  indicating  as  he  said  this  different 
walls  which  opened  from  top  to  bottom  as  he  indicated 
them. 

When  he  left  Tunis  on  his  way  to  Mecca,  the  Sultan  of 
Tunis  sent  after  him,  pleading  that  he  should  come  back, 
fearing  that  he  was  leaving  on  account  of  the  hostility  of 
Ibn  el-Bara',  and  because  of  various  acts  of  antagonism 
which  Ibn  el-Bara'  had  induced  the  Sultan  to  show  to- 
wards El-Shadhali.  El-Shadhali  sent  back  word  to  him 
that  he  was  leaving  for  none  of  these  things,  but  only  on 
pilgrimage,  and  God  willing  he  would  return  once  more 
to  Tunis. 

Ibn  el-Bara'  had  sent  a  written  statement  to  the  Sultan 
of  Egypt  telling  him  of  the  approach  of  the  Sheikh,  that 
he  had  corrupted  Tunis,  and  would  also  corrupt  Egypt. 
So  on  the  ar/ival  of  the  Sheikh  and  his  following  at  Alex- 
andria, they  found  themselves  confined  in  that  city  by 
order  of  the  Sultan,  without  any  reason  being  given.  At 
this  particular  time,  the  Sultan  had  levied  a  tax  on  some 
Sheikhs  of  a  village  called  el-Qaba'l.  When  this  Sultan 
heard  of  the  arrival  of  Shadhali,  they  came  to  ask  the 
benefit  of  his  prayers.  He  promised  to  go  to  Cairo  and 
petition  the  Sultan  on  their  behalf. 

The  story  then  goes  on  to  relate  how  they  went  through 
the  Bab  Sidra  (gate)  without  being  seen,  though  there 
was  stationed  there  a  Government  Post,  which  vigorously 
searched  all  who  went  in  and  out. 

When  they  arrived  at  the  citadel  of  Cairo  and  entered 
the  palace  of  the  Sultan,  he  refused  to  hear  the  petition  on 
behalf  of  the  people  at  el-Qaba4,  saying  the  Sheikh  had 
need  to  petition  on  behalf  of  himself,  and  showed  him 
Ibn  el-Bara''s  communication.  The  Sheikh  briefly  re- 
plied that  he,  the  Sultan,  and  Ibn  el-Bara'  were  in  God's 
hand  and  left  the  presence.  Immediately  after  he  left,  the 
judges  asked  a  question  of  the  Sultan,  but  he  made  no 
sign.  They  shook  him,  and  he  was  as  dead.  In  great 
haste  they  went  after  the  Sheikh,  and  humbly  besought 
him  to  return.     He  returned  and  shook  the  Sultan  with 


KARAMAT  399 

his  blessed  hand,  and  he  was  restored  and  descended  from 
the  throne,  humbled  himself  to  the  Sheikh,  gave  him  all 
his  requests,  and  made  him  come  to  the  citadel  as  his 
guest.  Here  he  remained  until  he  continued  his  pilgrim- 
age to  Mecca,  and  it  is  said  that  Egypt  was  moved  by  his 
presence. 

At  one  time  the  inhabitants  of  Alexandria  had  risen  up 
against  the  Sultan,  and  he  was  besieging  that  town,  and 
would  not  spare  an  armed  escort  for  the  Mahmal.  The 
Qadi  therefore  refused  to  let  the  caravan  of  pilgrims  go. 
Abu  Hasan  rebuked  him,  and  said  that  all  that  was 
wanted  was  that  one  of  the  saints  of  God  should  accom- 
pany the  caravan,  and  he  undertook  this  responsibility. 
The  pilgrims  were  marvelously  protected  from  all  the 
dangers  of  the  way;  if  brigands  attacked  them  by  night, 
they  encountered  unscalable  walls  in  every  direction,  and 
many  other  instances  of  their  supernatural  protection  are 
given. 

The  Qadi  met  the  returning  pilgrims  at  Birket-el- 
Hajj,  and  confessed  his  lack  of  faith,  and  made  his  sub- 
mission to  Abu  Hasan  and  took  him  for  his  spiritual 
director. 

Perhaps  the  most  wonderful  tales  of  the  Sheikh  are 
told  by  Abu  A'zaim  Madi,  whose  connection  with  the 
Sheikh  seems  very  similar  to  that  which  Abu  Huraira 
bore  to  Mohammed.  After  a  wonderful  deliverance  at 
the  hand  of  Abu  Hasan,  the  doubt  flashed  through  his 
mind  as  to  the  ability  of  the  Sheikh  to  protect  when  he 
was  not  present.  Very  shortly  after  that,  he  was  on  the 
beach  near  Alexandria,  and  fell  into  a  dreadful  tempta- 
tion, and  was  only  delivered  in  the  nick  of  time  by  the 
Sheikh  taking  him  by  the  scrufif  of  the  neck.  When  he 
had  gathered  himself  together  from  this  violent  handling, 
neither  the  source  of  his  temptation  nor  the  Sheikh  were 
anywhere  to  be  seen.  After  a  few  hours  he  repaired  to 
the  presence  of  the  Sheikh,  who  greeted  him  with  the 
question  whether  he  now  believed  that  he  could  protect 


400  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

though  absent,  and  declared  that  a  Sheikh  who  could  not 
do  that  was  not  worthy  of  being  a  Sheikh. 

Many  are  his  stories  of  journeys  made  in  incredible 
time,  accompanied  by  angel  guards  whose  marching 
startled  him,  of  miraculous  supplies,  temporary  wells  and 
shady  trees  when  journeying  through  the  desert  on  com- 
missions for  the  Sheikh,  of  deliverance  from  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Mecca  who  set  upon  the  remaining  pilgrims  in 
the  Masjid-el-Haram,  of  the  bodily  appearance  of  the 
Sheikh,  though  all  the  time  he  was  in  Alexandria.  Such 
accounts  though  they  do  not  read  to  us  so  much  like  his- 
tory as  the  accounts  given  by  other  eye-witnesses,  yet  help 
us  to  understand  what  are  the  popular  beliefs  as  to  the 
saints. 

A  further  interesting  story  is  told  by  Abu  Abbas  el- 
Mursi  in  that  it  reveals  supernatural  methods  of  mystical 
Koran  interpretations.  It  is  also  interesting  in  the  fact 
that  El-Mursi  was  the  Sheikh's  favourite  pupil  and 
closest  friend,  and  the  mosque  at  Alexandria,  which  holds 
for  that  city  much  the  same  position  as  the  Al-Azhar  does 
for  Cairo,  was  built  in  honour  of  him,  and  a  very  great 
number  of  Moslems  received  the  name  "El-Mursi"  from 
him,  the  word  originally  meaning  that  he  originated  from 
some  African  seaport  that  bore  the  name  of  "the  harbour." 
In  relating  this  incident  he  says  he  was  one  day  praying 
behind  Sheikh  Abu  Hasan  el-Shadhali,  who  was  repeat- 
ing Surat  el-Shura,  and  when  he  came  to  the  verses,  "And 
he  giveth  us  daughters  to  whom  He  will,  and  sons  to  whom 
He  will:  or  he  giveth  them  children  of  both  sexes,  and 
He  maketh  whom  He  will  to  be  childless."  I  then  ap- 
prehended somewhat  of  its  meaning,  and  when  the  Sheikh 
had  finished  his  prayer  and  made  the  salutation,  he  turned 
to  me  and  said,  "Oh  Abbas  el-Mursi,  He  giveth  thee 
daughters,  that  is  forms  of  worship  and  good  works,  and 
sons  to  whom  He  will,  that  is  states  (psychical) 
'gnosis'  and  spiritual  ranks,  or  He  giveth  them  children 
of  both  sexes,  that  is  He  combines  these  in  those  of  His 
servants  according  as  He  wills,  and  He  maketh  whom  he 


KARAMAT  401 

will  to  be  childless — that  is,  He  makes  them  to  have 
neither  'gnosis'  nor  works."  At  this  I  marveled,  so  the 
Sheikh  said,  "By  God,  of  a  surety,  there  does  not  happen 
anything  in  the  inner  consciousness  of  anyone  that  God 
does  not  reveal  to  me  in  that  prayer  or  another." 

A  touching  story  is  told  of  the  Sheikh's  family  sorrows. 
One  day  Abu  A'zaim  Madi  found  the  Sheikh's  son,  Ali, 
drunk,  and  brought  him  home  and  gave  him  a  thrashing. 
A  mad  passion  took  hold  of  the  lad,  and  he  pulled  out  the 
strings  of  his  mother's  hair  (which  every  Moslem  woman 
plaits  in  with  her  hair),  and  then  left  the  house.  When 
the  Sheikh  came  home,  he  found  her  crying,  and  asked  the 
reason.  She  told  him,  but  suppressed  the  fact  of  his 
drunkenness.  The  Sheikh  went  away  into  his  Zdwiya 
(his  private  chapel),  and  some  considerable  time  after 
called  Madi  to  him,  and  asked  him,  "Did  you  do  so-and- 
so?"  Then  Madi  told  him  of  the  drunkenness  and  said 
that  if  he  had  not  been  a  connection  of  the  Sheikh's  he 
would  have  beaten  him  to  the  limit  laid  down  for  such  a 
sin  in  the  Shari'a  Law.  The  Sheikh's  face  took  on  an- 
other expression,  and  he  retired  once  more  into  his 
Zdwiya  for  over  an  hour,  then  he  called  Madi  again,  and 
said  that  he  had  desired  to  call  down  a  punishment  upon 
his  son,  but  that  God  had  forbidden  him,  and  told  him  to 
wait  and  see  what  He  had  predestined  for  him. 

It  was  shortly  after  this  that  the  lad  went  oflf  on  his 
travels,  and  they  heard  some  time  after  from  Morocco  of 
his  recognition  as  a  Wali  (Saint).  It  is  this  son  whose 
tomb  has  until  quite  recently  made  it  impossible  for  the 
authorities  to  build  a  good  road  from  the  main  station  at 
Cairo  to  the  Sharia  Kamal,  where  all  the  principal  hotels 
are  located. 

Zeitoun,  Egypt.  GEORGE  SWAN. 


NUBIAN   SOCIAL  CUSTOMS 

(A  HuMAxN  Document) 

In  the  large  towns  of  northern  Egypt  there  are  a  great 
many  house-servants,  door-keepers,  cab-drivers,  etc.,  who 
do  not  belong  to  the  ordinary  Arab  tribes.  They  are  of 
a  chocolate  brown  colour  and  their  dress  and  habits  are 
somewhat  cleaner  than  that  of  the  Egyptian  fellah.  They 
speak  a  language  of  their  own,  which  no  one  understands 
but  themselves.  If  you  ask  them  to  what  people  they  be- 
long, they  at  once  will  answer:  ^^ana  Berberi'*  which 
means,  "I  am  a  Nubian;"  and  to  the  question  "where  do 
you  come  from?"  they  will  return,  "mm  al  kunouz/'  i.e. 
"from  the  land  of  gold  mines."  The  Nubian  people  un- 
til recently  were  very  little  known  to  Americans  and  Euro- 
peans, except  through  servants  seen  in  the  better  houses, 
throughout  Egypt.  It  was  my  privilege  to  work  as  a 
medical  missionary  for  nine  years  (1906-1915)  in  Assuan 
and  the  northern  parts  of  Nubia.  We  learned  the  Ber- 
bery language,  and  soon  found  access  to  the  houses  and 
hearts  of  this  queer  and  interesting  people. 

We  may  not  be  far  mistaken  in  saying  that  no  other 
white  man  ever  did  get  such  insight  into  the  houses,  lives 
and  habits  of  the  Nubians  as  we  did,  my  wife  and  I.  So 
I  will  try  to  give  some  account  of  the  peculiarities  of  these 
Nubians  so  often  seen  in  Cairo  and  elsewhere,  and  about 
whom  so  little  is  known.  I  can  do  so  best  by  describing 
the  life  of  one  of  these  Berberi  servants,  assuring  our 
readers  that  what  we  say  about  him  is  absolutely 
typical  of  the  life  and  habits  of  these  Nubians  generally. 
Abd-al-mejid  was  a  cousin  to  our  own  servant  Abdou. 
The  latter  was  with  us  for  eight  years,  with  great  interest 
learning  from  us  the  Bible  stories  and  Christian  doctrine, 
and  in  return  telling  us  whatever  we  wished  to  know  about 
his  people,  the  Nubians,  and  helping  us  also  in  learning 
the  language  and  introducing  us  into  many  houses  and 
villages. 

402 


NUBIAN  SOCIAL  CUSTOMS  403 

In  May,  1915,  his  cousin  Abd-al-mejid  died  in  Alex- 
andria, where  he  had  been  a  servant  in  a  bank.  Abdou, 
our  cook,  therefore  had  to  go  to  Dabod,  his  native  village, 
in  order  to  celebrate  the  funeral  there  with  all  the  rela- 
tives and  friends.  When  he  came  back,  he  told  us  much 
about  the  habits  of  such  funeral  gatherings  of  the  Nu- 
bians. Then  I  asked  him  about  the  life  of  a  typical  Ber- 
beri,  and  he  gave  me  a  detailed  and  careful  account  of  his 
cousin  Abd-al-mejid's  life  and  death. 

When  they  both  were  twelve  years  of  age,  they  were 
taken  along  with  some  relatives  to  Alexandria,  where 
they  soon  found  work  as  errand  and  kitchen  boys.  In  the 
year  1905  the  two  cousins  came  back  to  their  home  vil- 
lage, Dabod,  to  get  married.  For  that  end  each  had  saved 
about  15  £.  E.  and  they  were  now  "grown  up,  wise,  big 
men,  even  eighteen  to  twenty  years  old."  Abd-al-mejid 
was  married  first.  With  the  relatives  in  Alexandria  it 
was  agreed  that  he  should  take  for  his  wife  his  cousin, 
Fatima  Mohammed,  a  girl  of  about  thirteen  years.  He 
came  to  his  uncle  Mohammed  in  Dabod  and  told  him 
that  he  wished  to  buy  his  daughter. 

Uncle  Mohammed  answered:  "Well  if  our  people  have 
thus  agreed,  I  also  shall  be  ready  to  give  you  my  daughter 
if  you  are  willing  to  pay  me  enough  for  her."  Abd-al- 
mejid  offered  his  uncle  5  £.  E.  as  first  investment  and 
another  5  <£.  E.  in  reserve  in  case  of  divorce  or  death. 
At  first  his  uncle  asked  more,  but  after  some  bargaining 
he  agreed  to  give  up  his  daughter,  Fatima,  as  Abd-al- 
mejid  also  promised  to  buy  cloth  and  corn.  When  the 
agreement  was  settled,  the  relatives  and  friends  in  Dabod 
were  invited  to  supper.  A  sheep  was  slain  and  with  great 
merriment  all  the  people  squatted  around  the  big  earthen 
meat  pot  on  the  ground.  Abdou  was  also  among  them, 
and  two  months  later  he  married  his  cousin  who  was 
twelve  or  thirteen  years  old,  in  the  following  manner: 

All  the  men  and  youths  crowded  around  the  one  dish 
in  which  the  lamb,  cut  to  pieces,  was  lying  in  a  dark,  strong 
sauce  of  pepper.     Each  one  rolled  up  his  wide  sleeve  on 


404  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

his  right  arm  and  with  ''bismillah"  (in  the  name  of  God) 
dipped  his  bread  and  his  fingers  into  the  pot.  Having 
finished  the  meal,  the  remains  were  handed  to  the  women, 
while  the  men  rolled  their  cigarettes  and  drank  the  hot 
sweet  coffee,  handed  around  in  small  cups.  Abd-al-mejid 
now  got  up  and  said  to  his  uncle:  "I  wish  to  marry  your 
daughter,  Fatima."  They  all  then  shouted,  "That  is  a 
good  thing,  by  God."  Then  the  uncle  asked  him,  as 
though  the  thing  had  not  been  mentioned  before:  "Well, 
how  much  do  you  offer  for  her?  I  claim  at  least  50  £s. 
At  once  the  other  relatives  began  to  bargain  in  favour  of 
Abd-al-mejid.  One  shouts,  "That  is  too  much,  you  will 
have  to  take  off  5  £.  E.  for  my  sake."  "Well,  for  your 
sake,"  says  the  father,  "may  it  be  45  £."  "And  for  me  an- 
other 5  £.  E.,"  shouted  the  second,  and  the  third,  and  so  on 
till  finally  the  price  is  fixed  on  10  £.  E.,  which  is  the  usual 
amount  for  which  a  Nubian  girl  is  sold  into  marriage. 
Abd-al-mejid  at  once  pays  his  uncle  and  father-in-law  the 
5  £.  E.  promising  to  "write"  the  other  5  £.  E.  They  all 
start  to  their  feet,  and  holding  their  hands  up,  with  low 
voices  they  recite  "el  fatiha"  (the  first  surah  of  the  Koran) 
and  then  go  away  smoking  and  talking.  The  whole  busi- 
ness of  marriage  is  thus  settled,  without  asking  the 
opinion  of  the  women,  and  least  of  all  that  of  the  girl  in 
question.  Do  you  ever  ask  a  calf  whether  you  may  sell  it 
to  the  butcher?  The  Nubians  even  in  the  presence  of  their 
mothers,  wives  and  sisters,  speak  quite  naturally  of  the 
women  as  animals.  For  instance,  when  I  greeted  some 
women  in  passing  a  Nubian  village,  the  men  with  me  ex- 
claimed in  the  hearing  of  these  women,  "Do  you  greet  the 
women,  are  they  not  all  devils  and  sheep?"  So  the  girl 
Fatima  was  sold,  although  her  would-be  bridegroom  had 
not  spoken  a  single  word  to  her  since  he  had  returned  from 
Alexandria.  The  morning  after  the  little  celebration  of 
the  men,  two  small  groups  of  people  left  the  village; 
some  of  the  men  went  southward  to  find  the  mniisoun, 
while  Abd-al-mejid,  together  with  his  mother  and  sister, 
went  to  Assuan  to  buy  the  wedding  presents  for  the  bride. 


NUBIAN  SOCIAL  CUSTOMS  405 

and  the  necessary  outfittings  for  their  new  household. 
The  mausoun  is  the  civil  official,  who  writes  and  signs  the 
contracts  for  marriage,  divorce  and  inheritance.  He 
writes  out  two  papers,  one  for  Abd-al-mejid  and  the  other 
for  the  relatives  of  his  wife.  It  is  a  statement  that  the 
marriage  was  agreed  upon  for  ro  <£.  E.  and  that  half  of  it 
was  paid  as  muttakaddim  and  that  the  other  half  is  to  be 
paid  as  muttaakhir  to  the  wife  of  her  relatives  in  case 
of  divorce  or  death  of  the  husband.  Both  papers  are 
signed  by  the  witnesses  of  both  families.  Whoever  can 
write  signs  his  name,  those  who  cannot  write  usually  carry 
with  their  bundle  of  amulets  a  small  seal  of  brass  with 
their  initials  and  besmear  it  with  ink  for  signing  the 
paper,  but  if  some  one  does  not  possess  such  a  seal,  his 
name  is  written  by  the  mausoun  and  the  witness  dips  his 
right  thumb  into  the  inkpot  and  presses  it  on  the  paper. 

The  outfit,  which  Abd-al-mejid  buys  in  Assuan  with  the 
help  of  his  mother  and  sister  for  the  sum  of  four  or  six 
pounds,  consists  of  four  sacks  of  corn,  a  couple  of  sheep, 
some  clothes  for  the  bride  and  ornaments. 

The  Nubian  women  all  wear  the  following  jewels:  A 
small  golden  ring  on  the  forehead ;  a  large  gilt  ring  in  the 
right  side  of  the  nose,  so  large  that  it  hangs  almost  down  to 
the  chin,  and  needs  to  be  held  up  during  meals;  three  or 
four  thick  earrings  of  silver  in  the  rim  of  each  ear;  a 
string  round  the  neck  with  two  long  silver  pieces  in  the 
middle;  a  string  of  glass  pearls  of  many  colours,  dangling 
down  to  the  waist;  a  similar  string  with  silver  and  gold 
pieces  around  the  waist;  a  bracelet  two  inches  broad  and 
a  second  one  thin  and  round  on  each  wrist;  on  almost  every 
finger  some  rings,  of  which  many  are  flat,  others  round, 
others  with  notches  and  many  figures;  and  on  each  ankle 
a  big  round  bracelet,  hollow  inside,  generally  of  silver. 
It  takes  fourteen  days  for  all  these  preparations  for  the 
wedding  to  be  completed,  and  now  the  day  of  the  wed- 
ding is  to  be  chosen.  The  superstition  of  the  people 
makes  it  difficult  to  find  a  lucky  day,  and  so  the  sheikhs 
are  asked  their  opinion.     On  the  day  chosen  a  sheep  is 


4o6  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

slain,  both  in  the  house  of  the  bridegroom  and  in  the  house 
of  the  bride,  so  that  there  are  two  meals'on  the  one  wed- 
ding day.  Abd-al-mejid,  the  bridegroom,  goes  himself 
from  house  to  house  inviting  the  people  to  that  feast. 
About  sixty  men  and  forty  women  accept  the  invitation 
of  Abd-al-mejid,  and  at  4  o'clock  p.  m.,  they  all  gather 
round  about  the  house  of  the  bridegroom.  Laughing 
and  chatting  the  men  are  seated  on  the  forms  and  beds, 
covered  with  Oriental  carpets,  while  the  women  are  squat- 
ting in  a  corner  on  the  ground,  all  talking  at  once  and  tell- 
ing for  the  tenth  and  hundredth  time  how  much  was  paid 
for  each  of  them,  and  what  sort  of  clothes  and  ornaments 
they  each  had  received  for  wedding  presents.  But  where 
did  the  men  get  the  beautiful  carpets  on  which  they  are 
seated,  did  they  buy  or  steal  them?  Please  don't  ask! 
They  tell  their  stories  how  they  managed  to  deceive  the 
yellow  faces,  (thereby  meaning  the  Europeans,  especially 
the  fair-haired  English.)  Wild  laughter  follows  each  new 
story.  Hush!  now  the  dinner  is  brought  and  served  first 
to  the  men.  Big,  brown  earthenware  pots  are  placed  on 
the  ground,  they  cut  bread  in  heaps  into  them,  while  from 
another  bowl  a  black  sauce  of  meat  and  pepper  is  poured 
on  the  bread.  Round  each  dish  about  a  dozen  men  are 
squatting  who  dip  in  their  right  hand  after  having  rolled 
up  the  sleeves.  From  a  big  basket  pieces  of  meat  from  the 
slaughtered  sheep  are  handed  to  each  guest.  With  a  great 
deal  of  noise  and  smacking  of  lips  and  tongues  they  eat 
the  meal,  and  to  quench  their  thirst  they  pass  from  mouth 
to  mouth  the  water-bottle.  For  dessert  they  get  some 
melon.  Dinner  finished,  they  utter  their  satisfaction  by 
belching.  The  women  now  get  the  remnants  of  the  feast, 
while  one  of  the  men  begins  slowly  and  softly  to  beat  the 
tarahuka  (a  peculiar  drum,  made  of  earthen  ware  and 
leather).  When  they  have  sipped  the  hot  coffee,  the  men 
start  singing.  Their  songs  generally  are  of  a  low  char- 
acter, becoming  louder  and  wilder,  and  the  drum  is  beaten 
with  more  energy,  others  clapping  their  hands,  while  the 
women  shout  with  peculiar  high  trilling  of  the  voice. 


NUBIAN  SOCIAL  CUSTOMS  407 

Near  sunset,  the  mother  and  sister  of  Abd-al-mejid  come 
out  of  the  house,  carrying  between  them  a  long  round  staff 
of  wood,  on  which  the  new  clothes  for  the  bride  are  hung. 
They  also  bring  with  them  a  large  tray  of  many  coloured 
basket  work  on  which  are  rings  and  bracelets. 

Almost  all  the  guests  get  something  to  carry — cushions, 
carpets,  covers,  some  household  furniture  and  victuals. 
Likewise  the  clothes  of  Abd-al-mejid,  old  and  new,  are 
carried  along  suspended  on  a  long  wooden  stick.  Sing- 
ing and  shouting  the  procession  moves  along  from  the 
house  of  the  bridegroom's  parents  to  the  next  village, 
where  the  bride  is  staying,  about  a  mile  away.  There 
once  more  dinner  is  served,  exactly  the  same  as  at  the  first 
place.  The  bridegroom  now  can  take  his  share,  whereas 
at  home  he  had  to  help  in  serving.  When  this  second  din- 
ner is  all  eaten,  and  they  have  licked  their  fingers,  they 
once  more  start  beating  the  drum,  singing  and  shouting. 
But  here  they  add  dancing.  First  of  all  a  young  fellow 
gets  up,  and  hops  about  to  the  rhythm  of  the  drumming. 
Then  one  or  two  of  the  girls  and  women  come  forward, 
making  similar  peculiar  movements  with  their  bodies  and 
limbs.  More  and  more  of  the  youths  and  girls  come  for- 
ward into  the  circle.  They  dance  to  and  fro  and  round 
each  other  without  touching  one  another.  Some  boys 
place,  empty  bottles  on  the  ground,  beating  them  with 
wooden  sticks.  Thus  the  noise  gets  louder  and  wilder,  the 
shrieks  become  furious.  This  all  takes  place  on  the  open 
space  outside  of  the  door  of  the  house  in  which  meanwhile 
the  bride  is  getting  dressed.  You  will  ask  whether  she  has 
any  part  in  the  doings  and  whether  she  is  very  happy  and 
joyful  on  her  wedding  day.  Alas,  no,  the  whole  day  she 
has  been  trembling  with  fear,  has  been  weeping  and  trying 
to  hide  away,  for  she  anticipates  terrible  tortures.  The 
Nubians,  and  more  especially  their  women,  have  the  habit 
of  discussing  and  talking  about  sexual  matters  without  any 
shame  in  the  presence  of  their  children;  indeed  it  is  a 
subject  of  daily  conversation,  so  we  need  not  wonder  that 
the  little  bride  Fatima  Mohammed,  thirteen  years  old, 


4o8  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD    " 

shows  no  pleasure  in  her  marriage  and  not  even  new 
dresses  and  the  glittering  rings  could  arouse  her  interest. 
Before  the  women  proceed  to  garb  her  with  the  bridal 
attire,  they  smear  her  whole  body  with  cow's  fat  and  over 
her  new  yalabia,  (upper  dress)  they  hang  many  strings 
of  glass  pearls,  etc. 

About  1 1  o'clock  at  night  the  decoration  of  the  bride  is 
completed.  Some  women,  among  them  the  midwife  of 
the  village,  surround  the  girl,  trembling  with  fear.  They 
try  to  encourage  her  by  shouting  many  wishes  and  con- 
gratulations. Then  Abd-al-mejid  is  given  a  sign  to  come 
inside.  Out  of  doors  there  is  suddenly  a  short  interval  in 
the  dancing,  singing  and  shouting.  But  when  the  door 
has  been  shut  on  the  back  of  Abd-al-mejid,  the  noise  sets 
in  again  in  double  measure,  this  time  for  the  purpose  of 
drowning  the  screaming  and  wailing  of  the  poor  girl  in 
her  torture.  To  describe  exactly  what  now  goes  on  is 
impossible,  although  I,  as  a  physician,  know  and  have 
seen  the  terrible  consequences  of  the  bridal  nights  among 
the  Nubians.  The  Nubian  girls  are  all  subjected  to  cir- 
cumcision at  the  age  of  four  or  five,  when  by  crude  sur- 
gery they  are  so  mutilated  that  after  long  suffering  and 
healing,  at  last  there  remains  but  a  small  opening  merely 
sufficient  for  an  ordinary  pencil  to  pass.  Now  when  the 
girl  is  married,  the  bridegroom  under  instruction  and 
with  the  help  of  the  midwife  tears  the  parts  with  great 
force  and  violence.  Several  women  are  necessary  to  hold 
fast  the  struggling  girl,  and  when  they  cannot  succeed 
in  keeping  her  mouth  firmly  shut,  her  screaming  and  cry- 
ing are  heard  outside.  Therefore  the  father  sometimes 
comes  to  the  door,  knocking  with  his  fists  and  his  stick,  to 
deliver  his  daughter  from  further  tortures.  When  the 
women  and  the  midwife  think  that  for  the  first  night  it 
might  be  enough,  they  carry  away  the  poor  girl  fainting. 
Finally  they  all  go  to  sleep,  some  on  the  benches  and 
straw  mats,  others  on  the  bare  ground.  In  the  morning 
each  one  takes  a  cup  of  hot  tea,  when  they  disperse  and 
the  devil  rejoices  over  the  misery  and  agony  due  to  the 


NUBIAN  SOCIAL  CUSTOMS  409 

cruel  custom  of  ^^infibulation"  (the  complete  circumcision 
of  girls.)  The  trial  is  not  finished  by  that  first  night,  for 
during  a  whole  week,  many  times,  night  and  day,  the  vio- 
lent manual  operation  is  repeated  by  the  bridegroom  with 
the  help  of  some  of  the  grown-up  women,  who  all  have 
had  to  pass  through  the  same  experience.  The  bride- 
groom too  has  to  smear  himself  each  day  with  cow's  fat 
from  head  to  foot  and  during  the  first  week  he  is  such  an 
ugly  sight  and  has  such  a  disgusting  smell  about  him,  that 
he  is  not  suffered  to  sit  with  the  other  men  of  the  village. 
When  I  once  saw  such  a  disgusting  youth,  I  asked  the 
people:  "What  about  that  dirty  fellow?"  They  laugh- 
ingly answered:  "He  is  a  bridegroom."  The  Nubians 
themselves  know  what  they  suffer  from  this  most  un- 
natural custom  of  theirs,  but  no  one  dares  to  stand  up  first 
against  it.  Abd-al-mejid  remained  with  his  young  wife 
during  three  months.  Then  he  returned  to  Alexandria, 
leaving  her  with  her  parents.  After  that  he  never  saw 
his  home  again.  He  was  an  errand-boy  in  a  bank,  and  re- 
mained in  Alexandria  during  eight  years,  although  he  had 
two  months  holidays  every  year  and  could  have  had  longer 
furlough,  but  he  did  not  desire  to  come  back  to  his  young 
wife  and  relations  in  Dabod,  but  rather  preferred  to  wan- 
der about  in  Alexandria  and  Cairo  in  public  houses,  fol- 
lowing the  example  of  hundreds  of  young  Nubians.  His 
wages  were  £3  a  month.  Through  the  hand  of  our  serv- 
ant, Abdou,  he  sent  his  wife  60  Piasters,  i.e.  one-fifth  of 
his  salary  every  month.  The  bank  supplied  him  with 
all  his  clothes  and  he  had  a  room  of  his  own,  free  of 
charge.  Thus  he  spent  four-fifths  of  his  income  for  food, 
tobacco  and  pleasures. 

And  why  did  Abd-al-mejid  not  take  his  wife  with  him, 
why  do  most  of  the  Nubian  servants  in  the  big  towns  of 
lower  Egypt  leave  their  wives  behind?  First  of  all,  they 
wish  to  have  ample  freedom  for  a  careless,  immoral  life, 
but  woe  to  the  girl  or  woman  who  would  fall  into  the 
same  sin  of  adultery.  The  men  consider  it  as  a  matter  of 
course  and  they  talk  about  it  in  the  presence  of  the  women 


4IO  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

and  children  in  a  shameless  way,  but  a  woman  when  found 
guilty  is  deemed  worthy  of  death.  The  second  reason  is 
that  whenever  a  Nubian  takes  his  wife  with  him  to  Cairo 
or  Alexandria,  he  needs  to  keep  house,  and  his  lodging 
swarms  with  all  the  many  Nubians  of  his  neighborhood, 
the  Oriental  hospitality  being  such  that  every  one  makes 
ample  use  of  it,  especially  those  that  are  without  employ- 
ment. In  order  to  save  and  be  free,  therefore,  they  leave 
their  wives  behind  in  the  native  villages.  The  respectable 
ones  return  to  their  homes  whenever  they  get  their  sum- 
mer holidays,  whereas  the  loose  ones  prefer  to  spend  their 
free  time  in  bad  company,  among  them  Abd-al-mejid. 

About  seven  years  after  the  wedding,  Fatima,  Abd-al- 
mejid's  wife  came  to  our  kitchen  in  order  to  talk  to  Abdou 
our  servant.  She  asked  him  to  write  to  her  husband  to 
ask  whether  he  never  thinks  of  coming  back  to  her.  "All 
my  neighbours  and  former  playmates  have  children  and 
I  alone  go  without!"  Our  servant  then  wrote  to  his  cous- 
in and  got  his  answer  thus:  "If  my  wife  wishes  to  come 
here  and  join  me,  you  may  give  her  the  necessary  money 
for  the  journey  and  she  may  come."  After  this  rather 
uncordial  invitation,  Fatima  traveled  down  to  Alexan- 
dria, but  five  months  later  Abd-al-mejid  sent  her  back  to 
Dabod  where  she  was  to  wait  for  the  birth  of  her  first 
child.  He  did  not  wish  to  be  bothered  by  it.  Of  course, 
they  little  thought  that  they  would  never  see  each  other 
again,  but  whatever  it  might  be,  the  bond  of  love  was  very 
weak. 

In  March,  1915,  Abd-al-mejid  fell  ill,  and  had  to  ask 
for  leave  from  his  work.  He  passed  a  month  or  so  with 
some  friends  and  relatives  in  Cairo,  but  never  went  to  see 
a  doctor  for  his  illness.  Then  he  came  back  to  his  work 
more  miserable  than  he  had  gone.  All  April  he  was 
dragging  himself  through  his  work  under  pain  and  weak- 
ness. He  then  went  to  consult  a  Sheikh,  who  for  the  cure 
of  his  illness  read  a  few  chapters  from  the  Koran  over  him 
and  wrote  some  verses  on  a  piece  of  paper,  which  he  then 
folded  and  sewed  in  a  bag  of  leather;  it  was  then  tied  as 


NUBIAN  SOCIAL  CUSTOMS  411 

an  amulet  to  the  arm  of  the  sick  man.  He  did  not  get 
better,  and  had  to  repeat  the  same  treatment  with  a  few 
other  Sheikhs,  with  the  result  that  the  strength  of  Abd-al- 
mejid  as  well  as  his  purse  grew  less.  A  Sheikh  told  him 
that  an  evil  spirit  had  taken  hold  of  him  because  of  the 
envious  evil  eye  of  some  other  person,  and  that  the  demon 
must  be  driven  out  by  a  Xaar,  i.e.,  a  well  known  habit  and 
ceremonial  of  the  natives  for  casting  out  devils/  When 
it  was  much  too  late,  they  called  in  a  doctor.  The  phy- 
sician could  do  nothing  but  regret  that  he  was  not  called 
sooner,  and  had  to  announce  that  death  was  very  near. 
The  relatives  in  Nubia,  his  wife,  mother  and  sister  had 
not  even  heard  that  Abd-al-mejid  was  ill.  In  the  middle 
of  April,  Fatima  gave  birth  to  a  son,  but  Abd-al-mejid 
did  not  know  of  it.  There  would  be  much  to  write 
should  I  describe  the  terrible  suffering  of  these  poor  Nu- 
bian women  in  the  days  when  they  have  their  first  child. 
Many  indeed  die  because  of  the  cruel  custom  spoken  of, 
or  because  of  the  dirty  work  of  the  midwife.  Fatima, 
however,  came  through  all  danger  and  had  the  joy  of  a 
son.  Abd-al-mejid  probably  did  not  get  the  news  of  this 
event,  as  the  correspondence  between  husband  and  wife 
among  Nubians  is  meagre. 

In  the  room  where  Abd-al-mejid  was  lying  so  ill,  a 
great  number  of  Nubians  had  gathered,  awaiting  the  end 
of  their  friend,  passing  the  time  in  idle  gossip.  When  the 
sign  of  imminent  death  became  clear,  suddenly  all  those 
present  burst  out  in  horrible  howling.  All  this  noise  in 
order  to  show  the  dying  one  how  much  he  was  loved. 
Abd-al-mejid's  brother  shouted  into  his  ear  the  Moslem 
confession:  "ha  ilaha  ilia  'llah  wa  Mohammed  rasulu 
'llah!"  The  others  holding  their  hips,  wandered  to  and 
fro  shouting  at  the  top  of  their  voices:  " Amr  Allah,  ya 
akhuya"  ("it  is  the  will  of  God,  my  brother.")  The  bank 
in  which  Abd-al-mejid  had  been  a  servant,  gave  the 
"kaffan,"  the  white  cloth  in  which  the  body  of  the  dead 
is  wrapped,  and  also  the  expenses  of  burial  were  paid,  as 

iSee  chapter  on  the  Zar  in  Zwemer's  "Animism  in  Islam." 


412  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

well  as  the  coffee  and  cigarettes  for  the  mourning  party 
which  gathered  the  following  days.  During  a  whole 
week,  every  evening  until  1 1  o'clock,  Abd-al-mejid's  rel- 
atives and  friends  had  their  "Hassiras,"  i.e.  round  about 
the  house  where  he  died  and  on  both  sides  of  the  street, 
they  put  long  rows  of  forms  and  benches.  The  relatives 
remain  there  the  whole  time,  whereas  friends  and  neigh- 
bours come  and  go.  Every  one  of  the  latter  takes  his  seat 
with  the  others  for  some  hours,  drinking  coffee  and  smok- 
ing cigarettes,  both  handed  round  freely.  There  are  also 
present  two  blind  "jaqis,"  who  take  turns  in  singing  and 
reciting  the  Koran.  A  funeral  costs  a  great  deal  of 
money.  At  once  after  Abd-al-mejid  had  died,  one  of  the 
Nubians  went  to  wire  the  news  to  our  cook,  Abdou.  As 
the  latter  had  not  heard  before  of  the  illness  of  his  cousin, 
he  would  not  believe  it  until  he  had  inquired  once  more, 
by  sending  a  telegram  to  Abd-al-mejid's  brother.  He 
then  begged  for  three  days'  leave,  which  we  granted  him, 
for  going  to  his  village  Dabod,  where  he  had  to  bring  the 
sad  news  to  all  the  relatives  there.  He  bought  some  coffee 
and  cigarettes  for  the  mourning  celebration  in  Dabod. 
When  he  told  his  wife  and  blind  mother-in-law,  to 
leave  with  him  at  once  for  Dabod,  on  account  of 
the  death  of  Abd-al-mejid,  the  two  women  be- 
gan such  screaming  and  tossing  dust  into  the  air  that  the 
people  of  Gabal-togog,  his  village,  gathered  round  them 
and,  hearing  the  news,  helped  them  in  their  wailing.  A 
good  many  people  came  with  them,  traveling  up  the  Nile 
on  a  sailing  boat.  At  five  o'clock  p.m.,  they  arrived  near 
Dabod,  and  shortly  before  they  landed,  all  the  company 
again  started  wailing  and  crying  at  the  top  of  their  voices, 
so  that  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  village  ran  to  the  shore 
asking  for  the  reason  of  their  behaviour.  The  news  be- 
ing told,  the  mother  and  sister  of  Abd-al-mejid  at  once 
jumped  headlong  into  the  water,  as  if  intending  suicide. 
The  boat  had  almost  reached  the  shore  and  Abdou  with 
another  man  stepped  out  into  the  water,  catching  the  two 
women  by  their  clothes,  dragging  them  up  to  the  shore. 


NUBIAN  SOCIAL  CUSTOMS  413 

Abd-al-mejid's  wife  still  was  lying  in  her  hut,  not  having 
fully  recovered  from  child-birth.  When  she  heard  the 
sad  news  she  threw  up  dust,  covering  herself  and  her  baby 
with  it,  shouting  like  a  mad  woman.  In  the  whole  village 
they  started  howling  and  dancing  and  the  people  from 
both  sides  of  the  Nile  gathered  in  great  numbers.  It 
would  take  too  long  to  describe  more  fully  the  customs 
and  habits  that  are  seen  in  such  a  gathering.  May  it  suf- 
fice to  say  that  more  strength  is  spent  to  show  their  exag- 
gerated despair  over  the  loss  of  a  relative  than  their  love 
to  the  living. 

Heinrichsbad,  Switzerland.     W.  G.  FrOLICH,  M.D. 


BOOK  REVIEWS 

Un  poete  arabe  d'Andalousie.  Ibn  Zaidoun  £tude  d'apres  le  diwan  de  ce 
poete  et  les  principales  sources  arabes,  par  Auguste  Cour,  professeur  a 
la  chaire  publique  d'Arabe  de  Constantine.  1920,  Imprimerie  Boet, 
Constantine,  Algeria. 

This  study  is  the  thesis  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Literature  pre- 
sented by  the  author  at  the  Faculte  des  Lettres  (Arts)  of  the  University 
of  Algiers.  It  is  composed  of  an  Introduction,  a  Bibliography  and  three 
chief  divisions — The  Life  of  the  Poet,  The  Diw^an  of  the  Poet  and  Text 
of  the  Poems  Translated.  In  all  a  work  of  231  pages.  The  translations 
of  the  different  poems  are  given  as  the  circumstances  to  which  they  relate 
are  recorded  in  the  "Life  of  the  Poet."  This  accords  with  the  object  that 
the  author  has  in  view  as  stated  in  the  opening  words  of  the  Introduc- 
tion. "This  study  on  the  life  and  work  of  Abu'l  Walid  Ahmed  bin 
Zaidun  has  not  for  its  object  the  study  of  a  poet  simply  because  of  his 
celebrity.  I  have  tried  to  see  what  we  can  draw  from  it  towards  a 
knowledge  of  his  literary  environment  and  of  his  times. 

"The  Arabic  literature  of  Spain,  in  the  fifth  century  after  the 
Hegira,  marks,  according  to  the  opinion  of  learned  Orientals  and  of  many 
European  scholars,  the  culminating  point  of  the  Arabic  literary  cycle. 
The  Andalusian  literature,  according  to  this  opinion,  was  the  continu- 
ation and  the  development  of  the  brilliant  literary  traditions  of  the 
courts  of  Damascus  and  of  Bagdad,  and  Ibn  Zaidoun  is  considered  to  be 
the  most  perfect  of  the  poets  of  this  Occidental  revival  of  Arabic  letters. 
He  has  been  named  the  TibuUus  of  Andalusia.  In  the  opinion  of  Arab 
litterateurs  and  European  Orientalists  he  passes  for  the  greatest  poet  of 
his  time  and  the  last  among  his  tribesmen." 

Some  of  the  questions  which  this  work  tries  to  consider  are  the  follow- 
ing: Where  did  this  poet  find  the  sources  of  his  inspiration?  What 
does  he  owe  to  his  predecessors?  What  have  their  traditions  become  in 
his  hands?  What  has  been  his  share  of  influence  on  Arabic  literature 
after  him?  What  was  the  efifect  of  the  tnilieu  upon  the  Oriental  poetry 
transplanted  into  the  West  in  Andalusia?  Does  Ibn  Zaidun,  taken  as  a 
typical  poet,  owe  anything  to  the  physical  and  social  environment  of 
Southern  Spain  of  his  time?  On  the  eve  of  the  Almoravide  invasion 
was  the  classical  or  neo-classical  Arabic  literature  of  Spain  rooted  in 
that  country  sufficiently  deep  and  strong  so  as  to  stand  against  the  Berber 
whirlwinds,  the  struggle  of  races,  the  religious  conflicts,  and  to  develop 
in  the  midst  of  heterogenous  populations  by  its  own  means? 

In  the  second  part  of  the  work  the  author,  after  having  followed  in 
detail  the  Irfe  of  the  poet,  studied  in  connection  with  his  poetical  pro- 
ductions, gives  the  following  reason :  "It  seemed  to  us  that  the  character 
of  his  poetry,  varied  with  the  diverse  situations  occupied  by  him,  showing 
him  first  of  all  as  a  cultivated  mind  and  a  poet  of  love,  then  as  a  poetical 
letter-writer  during  his  adventures  and  his  tribulations,  finally  as  a 
court  poet.  These  are  the  three  aspects  of  his  talent.  Without  an 
ample  biography  it  would  be  difficult  to  understand  them.  His  diverse 
poems,  born  of  his  circumstances,  have  shown  us  that  the  source  of  his 

414 


BOOK  REVIEWS  41 5 

inspiration  is  to  be  found  in  the  society  in  which  he  lived.  It  was  condi- 
tioned by  his  surroundings,  first,  because  of  his  amorous  passion,  then 
by  reason  of  the  customs  of  Oriental  life  introduced  into  Spain  by  the 
first  Arab  conquerors,  and  the  customs  of  the  courts  of  the  Omeyad 
Emirs,  and  finally  by  reason  of  the  old  traditions  on  the  role  of  verse 
and  its  importance  in  the  internal  politics  of  the  tribes." 

"The  sources  of  his  inspiration  are  to  be  found  in  the  Arab  life  of 
Andalusia  of  his  time.  But  the  comparisons,  the  figures,  and  even  the 
form  of  his  poems  are  to  be  found  in  the  former  Arab  poets." 

"Ibn  Zaidun,  imitator  of  the  Arab  poets,  his  predecessors,  was  there- 
fore a  neo-classic.  We  admit  with  the  Oriental  critics  that  he  merits 
to  be  considered  as  the  most  illustrious  of  this  school,  although  he  was 
almost  the  last." 

As  to  his  vocabulary  he  has  kept  within  the  bounds  of  the  vocabulary 
of  the  Oriental  poets  who  preceded  him,  differing  in  this  from  some  of 
the  Andalusian  poets,  who  have  used  words  or  expressions  found  in  the 
spoken  Arabic  of  the  present  day. 

The  text  followed  is  that  of  MSS.  No.  18687  of  the  Sultania  Library 
in  Cairo,  written  by  Abd-er-Rahman  bin  Abd-Allah  al-Hosaini  al-Bag- 
dadi,  finished  117  Joumada  II  1288  A.  H.  (4  Sept.  1871  A.  D.)  A  copy 
of  this  MS.  was  made  for  this  work  by  Mahmud  Hamdi,  terminated 
30  Dhu'l-Hijja  1328  A.  H.     (i  Jan.  191 1  A.  D.) 

The  study  is  well  furnished  with  footnotes  and  references.  The 
author  appears  to  have  fully  attained  the  end  aimed  at.  Speaking  of 
the  questions  on  the  poet  and  his  work  mentioned  above,  he  says:  "Such 
are  the  questions  we  have  set  to  ourselves,  with  regard  to  this  poet,  about 
whom  we  have  endeavored  to  unite  all  the  biographical  notices  still  ex- 
isting. But  far  from  us  the  thought  that  the  object  of  this  present 
study  can  furnish  by  itself  a  sufficient  answer  to  these  questions.  Bearing 
on  a  single  poet,  however  great  he  may  be,  this  study  can  only  be  a  con- 
tribution towards  researches  of  a  more  general  character.  Our  object 
has  only  been  to  bring  to  these  researches  a  modest  part." 

This  notice  has  not  touched  the  contents  of  the  Diwan  itself.  The 
study  of  M.  Cour  will  be  a  good  guide  to  all  who  desire  to  know  the 
work  of  the  poet.  One  fact  may,  how^ever,  be  noted.  Our  author  says, 
"The  adventures  of  Ibn  Zaidoun  and  of  Wallada,  so  often  cited  by  Arab 
litterateurs,  have  inspired  a  poet  of  our  time,  Ibrahim  Effendi  al-Ahdab 
at-Tarabolsi  to  write  a  play  in  six  acts  (rouaya) .  This  piece,  of  which 
the  greater  number  of  the  Scenes  are  interspersed  with  lyrical  pieces 
{tekhmis)  has  passages  of  too  great  a  length  to  permit  of  scenic  represen- 
tation. Of  greater  value  is  the  fact  that  the  author  has  re-edited  (pp. 
69-72)  the  Risala  addressed  to  Ibn  'Abdu,  the  same  piece  commented 
upon  by  Ibn  Nobata.  The  text  of  this  Risala  is  not  included  in  this 
work  of  M.  Cour,  although  he  has  given  a  translation  of  it,  which  re- 
veals the  poet's  power  of  satire  as  also  his  extensive  historical  and  literary 
knowledge." 

Percy  Smith. 

Comparative   Religion:    A   Survey  of  Its  Recent  Literature.     By   Louis 
Henry  Jordan,    B.D.    (Edin.).     Volume   I,    1900-1909.     pp.    164.     New 
York:     Milford.     1920. 
This  is  a  second,  revised  edition  of  a  work  which  appeared  in  1906, 

the  first  of  three  volumes,  the  second  and  third  to  be  published  next 


41 6  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

year.  In  two  sections  the  author  reviews  at  length  and  with  critical 
insight  two  score  of  books  on  Comparative  Religion  published  since 
1900,  by  such  authorities  as  Bousset,  Frazer,  Hall,  Kellogg,  IVLiriano, 
Glover,  Jevons,  I'fleiderer,  Tisdall,  and  Troeltsch.  A  concluding  chap- 
ter sums  up  the  achievements,  requirements  and  immediate  prospects  of 
the  science  of  Comparative  Religion,  and  makes  a  plea  for  the  inclusion 
of  this  branch  in  the  university  curriculum. 

The  tendency  of  the  author,  however,  is  to  question  the  absolute  and 
final  character  of  Christianity.  "With  this  Comparative  Religion  has 
nothing  to  do"  (p.  98). 

S.  M.  Z. 

Das    Reisetagebuch   Bines    Philosophen.      By    draf    Hermann    Kyserling. 
Two  Vols.     Darmstadt:     Otto  Reichl.     1920.    pp.  886. 

This  is  the  third  edition  of  a  book  that  has  made  a  name  for  itself  in 
Germany,  and  received  high  praise  in  reviews;  in  fact,  it  enjoys  the  dis- 
tinction of  being  selected  as  a  textbook  in  Leipsic  University  in  connec- 
tion with  their  classes  on  philosophy.  It  is  a  drama  of  human  life  in  all 
lands,  an  encyclopedia  of  information  on  religions  and  customs,  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  world  of  today,  East  and  West,  in  terms  of  philosophy. 
Count  Keyserling  made  his  tour  around  the  world  just  before  the  war; 
his  observations  were  revised  later.  As  an  example  of  his  style  we 
quote  from  the  interesting  chapter  on  Islam  in  Central  Asia: 

"Even  the  faces  of  its  believers,  who  are  unmistakably  Hindus  by 
blood,  show  the  self-possessed  serenely  superior  look  which  everywhere 
stamps  the  Moslem.  These  Indians  are  no  dreamers,  no  visionaries,  no 
strangers  in  this  world".  Thus  they  give  a  greater  impression  of  reality. 
Their  muscles  seem  tense;  their  eyes  are  bold;  they  bear  themselves  as 
if  ready  for  a  spring;  their  physique  is  much  more  charged  with  expres- 
sion. How  right  the  English  are  to  regard  and  to  treat  the  Islamic  ele- 
ment as  the  decisive  factor  in  India! 

"The  ritual  of  this  belief  has  quite  another  significance  than  that  of 
Hinduism  or  Catholicism.  It  embodies  the  idea  of  discipline.  When 
the  true  believers  every  day  at  fixed  hours  perform  their  prayers  in 
serried  ranks  in  the  mosque,  all  going  through  the  same  gestures  at  the 
same  moment,  this  is  not  as  in  Hinduism,  done  as  a  method  of  self- 
realization,  but  in  the  spirit  in  which  the  Prussian  soldier  defiled  before 
his  Kaiser.  This  military  basis  of  Islam  explains  all  the  essential  virtues 
of  the  Mussulman.  It  also  explains  his  fundamental  defect — his  unpro- 
gressiveness,  his  incapacity  to  adapt  himself,  his  lack  of  initiative  and  in- 
vention. The  soldier  has  simply  to  obey  orders.  All  the  rest  is  the 
affair  of  Allah." 

The  book  has  no  illustrations,  or  maps,  but  an  index  of  thirty  pages. 

S.  M.  Z. 

Der  Islam  und  die  Christliche  Verkiindigung.     Eine  Missionarische  Un- 
tersuchung.     By  (lOttfried  Simon.     Bertelsmann-Ciiitcrsloh.     1920.     pp. 
363. 
The  author  is  well-known  for  his  earlier  work  on  "Islam  and  Chris- 
tianity in  their  conflict  for  the  conquest  of  animistic  heathenism."     The 
second  German  edition  of  this  work  was  published  in    191 4  and   the 
English  translation  by  Miss  E.  I.   M.  Boyd  appeared  under  the  title 
"The  Progress  and  Arrest  of  Islam  in  Sumatra."     This  volume  is  in 
one  sense  a  continuation  of  his  earlier  study ;    it  deals,  however,  with 


BOOK  REVIEWS  417 

Islam  from  a  wider  standpoint.  For  the  German  reader  it  covers  the 
ground  of  the  entire  Moslem  problem  as  it  is  related  to  Christian  mis- 
sions. I'hc  contents  of  the  book  include:  History  of  Missions  to  Mos- 
lems from  the  earliest  period  until  Pfander;  The  Question  of  Revela- 
tion, viz:  The  Koran  witness  to  the  Scriptures;  The  Genuineness  and 
Authenticity  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments;  The  Doctrine  of  God; 
The  Place"  of  Jesus  in  Islam;  The  Holy  Spirit;  The  Trinity;  Mo- 
hammed as  Mediator;  His  Sinlessness  and  Miracles;  Eschatology;  The 
Task  of  Christian  Missions;  Its  Method  of  Carrying  the  Message.  The 
book  is  carefully  prepared,  and  although  much  of  its  ground  has  been 
covered  in  earlier  writings,  Mr.  Simon  presents  his  facts  convincingly. 
The  Index  to  Bible  References  as  well  as  a  special  Index  to  Koran  pas- 
sages and  the  Bibliography  leave  nothing  to  be  desired.  We  express  the 
hope  that  this  textbook  may  be  in  the  hands  of  many  German  mission- 
aries and  that  the  way  for  their  return  to  Moslem  lands  may  soon  be 
opened. 

S.  M.  Z. 

The  Secret  Rose  Garden  of  Sa'd  ud-Din  Mahmud  Shabistari.  Rendered 
from  the  Persian  by  Florence  Lederer.  The  Wisdom  of  the  East 
Series.    Murray,  London:     1921.    3s.  6d. 

We  welcome  Miss  Lederer's  rendering  from  Shabistari's  Secret  Rose 
Garden.  It  is  always  a  satisfaction  to  acquire  a  new  volume  of  "The 
Wisdom  of  the  East  Series."  For  all  who  would  know  something  of 
the  thought  of  the  great  East,  these  volumes  are  indispensable. 

A  deep  current  of  mysticism  runs  through  the  philosophy,  religion,  and 
poetry  of  Asia.  In  no  portion  of  that  ancient  continent  does  that  cur- 
rent run  with  a  more  reaching  rhythm  than  in  Iran — both  old  and  new. 

Sa'd  ud-Din  Mahmud  was  called  Shabistari  from  his  birthplace,  a 
village  near  Tabriz,  Persia,  about  seven  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago. 
His  most  influential  work  is  the  "Secret  Rose  Garden,"  with  its  songs 
and  studies  of  the  soul  and  the  beloved. 

Inevitably  we  compare  Shabistari  with  Hafiz,  Rumi,  and  Jami.  His 
lines  may  lack  some  of  the  subtle  charm  that  Hafiz  imparts  to  his 
stanzas.  Rumi  may  be  more  original,  Jami  may  be  more  elegant,  but 
Shabistari  makes  his  appeal  by  his  earnestness  and  directness. 

Our  thanks  to  editors  and  translators. 

Mary  Fleming  Labaree. 

A  Chant  of  Mystics  and  Other  Poems.  By  Ahmeen  Rihani.  James  T. 
White  &  Co.,  New  York.     1921.    $1.25. 

There  is  real  skill  and  grace  in  the  verses  of  this  son  of  the  East,  who 
also  became  a  son  of  the  West.  To  me  the  chief  interest  in  this  volume 
centers  upon  the  mystic  strain  that  colors  it  so  largely  and  is  character- 
istic of  Near  Eastern  verse  today  as  back  through  the  centuries.  Mr, 
Rihani  has  sat  at  the  feet  of  the  Sufis  and  Abdul  Baha  with  a  right  good 
will. 

Mary  Fleming  Labaree. 

The  Orient  under  the  Caliphs.  (Translated  from  Von  Kremer's  Cultur- 
geschichte  des  Orients.  By  S.  Khuda  Bukhsh,  M.A.  University  of 
Calcutta.     1920.     pp.  463. 

Students  of  Islam  are  greatly  indebted  to  the  work  of  Mr.  Khuda 
Bukhsh.  His  "Essays  Indian  and  Islamic,"  and  other  works,  are  proof 
of  his  breadth  of  vision  and  true  scholarship.     Although  this  work  is 


4i8  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

a  translation,  it  will  be  welcomed  by  all  readers.  With  the  exception 
of  a  few  errors  in  printing,  for  which  he  is  not  responsible,  the  work  has 
been  well  done.  Von  Kremer  is  a  trustworthy  interpreter  of  the  social, 
political  and  economic  history  of  Islam.  The  narrative  is  vivid  and 
graphic.  It  reads  almost  like  a  romance.  In  the  words  of  the  trans- 
lator in  his  preface,  "Von  Kremer  sees  in  Islam  and  in  Islamic  civiliza- 
tion something  well  worth  serious  study.  Islamic  religion  stands  out  as 
a  beacon-light  amidst  the  encircling  darkness  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and 
Islamic  civilization  as  a  landmark  in  the  progress  of  humanity.  In 
Moslem  Law  he  sees  a  system,  second  only  to  Roman  Law  in  breadth  of 
view,  in  refinement,  in  humanity  and  wisdom.  This  book  deals  not  with 
the  dry  and  wearisome  details  of  military  operations;  nor  does  it  con- 
cern itself  with  the  hideous  rogueries  of  court  intrigues — with  murder, 
lust,  rapine,  and  depredations;  but  lays  bare  before  us  all  that  was  of 
enduring  value  in  Islam  or  Islamic  civilization"  The  book  lacks  maps, 
but  more  especially  an  index. 

The  Lebanon  in  Turmoil;  Syria  and  the  Powers  in  i860.  Book  of  the 
marvels  of  the  time  concerning  the  massacres  in  the  Arab  country.  By 
Iskander  Iben  Yaqub  Abkarims.  Translated,  annotated  and  pro- 
vided with  an  introduction,  etc.,  by  J.  F.  Scheltema,  M.A.  New 
Haven :  Yale  University  Press,   1920.     pp.  203. 

This  is  a  translation  of  an  Arabic  Mss.  on  the  disturbances  that  took 
place  in  the  Lebanons  a  generation  ago.  It  gives  the  inner  history  of  the 
calamity  which  befell  the  Christians  of  Mt.  Lebanon,  but  according  to  the 
author  this  trouble  was  largely  of  their  own  making.  The  instigation  of 
European  powers  to  further  their  own  secret  designs  brought  about  four 
civil  wars  between  1841  and  i860.  Four  Powers  commenced  their  work 
on  the  pretext  of  excluding  French  influence,  and  the  five  Powers  com- 
pleted it  by  causing  the  country  to  be  occupied  by  French  troops.  The 
translator  suggests  rather  heartlessly  that  the  "bloodshed  in  this  case  was 
one  of  nature's  contrivances  to  provide  against  over-population  and  to 
kill  the  human  surplus  because  of  the  prolificity  of  the  Syrians" !  In  his 
conclusions  (pages  159  to  193)  Mr.  Scheltema  asserts  that  history  will 
repeat  itself.  He  says,  "Syria  with  the  Lebanon  is  a  good  instance  in 
point  and  its  present  tribulations  resemble  those  of  the  'forties  and 
'sixties,  to  borrow  a  simile  from  a  great  Arab  historian,  as  water  re- 
sembles water.  Spurred  by  the  same  motives,  we  see  France  once  more 
playing  out  the  Maronites  against  Britain,  exactly  as  she  did  in  i860, 
Britain  playing  out  against  France  the  Arabs  and  the  Jews  as  then  she 
did  the  Druzes,  a  game  of  skill  backed  by  force,  in  which  the  new 
frontiers  on  the  map  of  the  Near  and  Middle  East  will  be  traced  by  the 
strongest  hand  and  the  permanence  of  control  will  be  determined  by 
the  soundness  of  that  hand's  directing  intellect — subject  to  the  hazards 
of  the  dangerous  gamble  in  broken  promises  and  violated  compacts  now 
again  merrily  going  on."  This  volume  therefore,  revealing  as  it  does 
the  complicity  of  European  jealousies  and  ambitions,  and  its  efifect  on 
Oriental  Christians  and  Moslems,  is  not  only  of  historical  but  of  expos- 
itory value.  S.  M.  Zwemer. 

Precis  de  Sociologie  Nord-Africaine  (Second  Partie  )  par  A.  S.  P.  Martin. 
Paris,    1920.     Ernest   Leroux,    1920. 

The  author  of  this  detailed  study  of  social  conditions  among  Mos- 
lems in  North  Africa  is  chief-interpreter  in  the  French-Colonial  Army 


BOOK  REVIEWS  419 

and  Professor  in  the  School  of  Commerce  at  Bordeaux.  He  has  written 
on  the  geography  of  the  Sahara  and  prepared  a  grammar  on  colloquial 
Arabic.  The  first  volume  of  these  sociological  studies  (2nd  Edition  just 
published)  is  general,  introductory  and  historical.  It  deals  with  the 
origins  of  Moslem  institutions  and  the  Arab  conquest  of  North  Africa; 
how  the  religion  of  Islam  spread,  and  how  it  was  affected  by  European 
culture  and  colonization.  The  present  volume  is  particular,  and  spe- 
cifically catalogues  and  depicts  the  whole  round  of  everyday  life  and 
conduct  in  sixty  short  vivid  chapters.  Beginning  with  ethnology  and 
the  languages  used  by  the  tribesmen  and  townspeople,  it  describes  their 
food,  clothing,  weapons,  diversions,  dwellings  and  settlements.  The 
religious  practices  from  the  daily  ablutions  to  the  annual  festivals  are 
accurately  described  with  only  an  occasional  slip  as  on  pages  14  and  167, 
where  the  ejaculations  befctre  sacrifice  and  at  a  funeral  are  incorrectly 
stated.  Infancy,  education,  marriage,  polygamy  and  divorce  receive 
attention,  but  no  mention  is  made  of  slavery,  although  this  social  insti- 
tution has  only  recently  disappeared.  We  have  a  brief  account  of  various 
superstitions,  of  funeral  customs,  professions,  industries,  and  material 
resources.  The  two  final  chapters  give  a  summary  of  Moslem  ethics, 
in  a  series  of  current  maxims,  mostly  taken  from  As-Suyuti's  Jamia-as- 
Saghir,  and  tell  of  the  effect  of  the  world-war. 

With  real  optimism,  not  blind  to  the  fanatic  elements  in  Islam,  but 
with  hope  in  the  power  of  education  and  just  laws,  M.  Martin  closes 
his  discussion : 

"II  nous  faut  une  cite  franqaise  s'etendant  de  Tunis  a  'Caza,'  ou  les 
citoyens  frangais  ou  francises  de  toutes  races  (la  Nation  frangaise  tout 
entiere  n'est-elle  pas  qu'un  'salmigondis  de  races'!)  seraient  les  electeurs 
sans  epithete  d'elus  communs  controlant  un  pouvoir  aussi  emancipe, 
vis-a-vis  de  la  Metropole,  qu'un  'Dominion' — et  ou,  de  plus,  les  habi- 
tants indigenes  non  evolues  comme  les  residents  etrangers  seraient  des 
administres  sans  droits  politiques,  subissant  des  charges  plus  lourdes  que 
les  citoyens  pour  qu'ils  aspirent  a  etre  admis  parmi  ceux-ci.  'L'Afrique 
du  Nord  doit  devenir  I'Afro-France.'  " 

The  Tanganyika  Territory  (Formerly  German  East  Africa.)  Character- 
istics and  Potentialities.  By  F.  S.  Joelson.  London :  T.  Fisher  Unwin, 
Ltd.    pp.  256.     Map.    21/-  Net. 

This  work  gives  an  insight  into  the  conditions,  problems  and  possibil- 
ities of  the  new  British  East  African  Mandatory.  Mr.  Joelson  shows 
us  the  transformation  of  Dar  es  Salaam  from  an  insignificant  coastal 
village  to  the  seat  of  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  and  then  to  the  flourishing 
capital  of  the  most  prized  German  colony. 

There  are  two  chapters  on  education  and  missions,  and  one  on  Islam 
in  East  Africa,  giving  a  somewhat  superficial  account  of  the  conflict 
between  Islam  and  civilization.  An  important  factor  in  the  extension  of 
Islam  has  been  the  spread  of  the  Swahili  language,  which  Germany 
made  the  official  language.  Nevertheless  "out  of  the  ten  million  inhab- 
itants of  German  East  Africa  prior  to  the  war  the  government  returns 
showed  only  three  per  cent  to  be  professing  Moslems."  A  proclamation 
issued  by  the  Imperial  Governor  Schnee  on  behalf  of  Germany  in  191 5 
is  a  call  to  Jihad.  It  remains  to  be  seen  what  will  be  the  attitude  of  the 
British  Government  in  the  new  situation. 


420  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

A  Handbook  of  Arabia.  Volume  T.  C.ENERAL.  Compiled  by  the  Ceo- 
graphical  Section  of  the  Naval  Intelligence  Division,  Naval  Staff,  Admi- 
rality.  Published  by  H.  M.  Stationery  Office.  London,  pp.  708.  15 
plates,  4  maps.    Price  ids.  Net. 

The  sources  from  which  this  work  has  been  compiled  include  native 
information  obtained  for  the  purpose  since  the  outbreak  of  the  war. 
This  apph'es  in  particular  to  the  strength  and  distribution  of  the  Bedouin 
tribes  and  to  their  political  relationships.  Recent  information  from 
native  sources  has  also  been  used  for  parts  of  the  Red  Sea  littoral,  such 
as  the  little-known  region  of  Asir.  For  Central  Arabia  and  the  routes 
leading  to  it  from  the  north  new  and  unpublished  material  has  been 
combined  with  that  given  in  the  notes  and  itineraries  of  less  recent 
travellers.  The  first  volume  of  the  Handbook  contains  geographical 
and  political  information  of  a  general  character;  the  second  volume  is 
devoted  mainly  to  detailed  routes. 

As  a  geographical  handbook  to  the  Bedouin  tribes  there  is  nothing 
better.  The  statistics  of  trade  and  population  are  often  not  more  than 
estimates,  but  the  glossary,  the  full  index,  the  photographic  plates,  and 
four  excellent  maps,  make  the  volume  indispensable  to  every  missionary' 
in  Arabia  and  its  border  lands.  What  would  the  early  pioneers  not 
have  given  for  a  handbook  of  this  description !  S.  M.  Z. 

The  Kabbalah;  Its  Doctrines,  Development  and  Literature.    By  Christian 

D.  Ginsburg,  LL.D.    London :  George  Routledge  &  Sons,  Ltd.    pp.  232. 

This  is  a  reprint  from  the  first  edition  of  a  work  en-titled  Essenes, 
(omitting  pages  i  to  82.)  It  deals  with  the  character,  origin  and  de- 
velopment of  the  system  of  philosophy  known  as  the  Kabbalah.  The 
three  parts  of  the  book  are  of  equal  length,  and  there  is  a  very  full 
biography  given  to  each  section.  The  Kabbalah  not  only  exercised  an 
extraordinary  influence  on  the  mental  development  of  the  Jews,  but,  in 
the  department  of  magic  it  has  dominated  the  Moslem  mind  as  well. 
Among  its  captives  were  Raymund  Lull,  the  celebrated  scholastic,  meta- 
physician and  chemist,  John  Reuchlin,  Cornelius  Henry  Agrippa,  and 
many  others.  The  author  states,  "Nothing  can  be  more  evident  than 
that  the  cardinal  and  distinctive  tenets  of  the  Kabbalah  in  its  original 
form,  as  stated  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  part  of  this  Essay,  are  de- 
rived from  Neo-Platonism.  Any  doubt  upon  this  subject  must  be  re- 
linquished when  the  two  systems  are  compared." 

La  Fin  de  Stamboul,  Essai  sur  la  Monde  Turc.     By  Henry  Myles.     Paris: 

E.  Sansot.    pp.  211. 

Brief  but  rather  brilliant  pen-pictures  of  the  old  city  of  Stamboul 
during  the  stormy  period  April,  191 3,  to  January,  1921.  "Stamboul  cet 
etrange  champignon  pousse  sur  le  cadavre  de  Bvzance  acheve  de  se 
decomposer  sous  la  lumiere  du  ciel  d'Orient."  The  fort}'  sketches  of 
Moslem  life  and  manners  and  the  passing  Turk  are  grouped  in  four 
parts:  "Le  Decor,"  "Les  Survivances,"  "Les  Fantomes  Humains,"  and 
"Les  Cendres."  The  dying  embers  cast  a  weird  light  on  things  social 
and  political,  but  the  old  fire  will  not  be  rekindled. 


CURRENT  TOPICS 

Christians  in  the  City  of  Omar  Khayyam 

Nishapur,  the  city  of  Khayyam  and  Sheikh  Attar  is  said  to  have  once 
been  a  seat  of  learning  and  one  of  the  four  great  cities  of  Persia.  At 
present  it  can  boast  a  population  of  only  25,CXX),  but  it  is  situated  in  the 
midst  of  one  of  the  most  fertile  districts  of  Persia  and  in  the  villages  of 
Nishapur  there  probably  live  125,000  people.  Several  missionary  visits 
have  been  made  to  this  region  in  the  past  ten  years  by  members  of  the 
Meshed  Station,  but  no  one  remained  in  Nishapur  for  any  length  of 
time.  Recently  Dr.  R.  E.  Hoffman  and  I  spent  six  weeks  in  this  city 
in  combined  medical  evangelistic  work.  The  doctor  opened  a  hospital 
and  treated  about  two  thousand  dispensary  patients  and  performed  two 
hundred  and  twenty  operations.  Several  hundred  Scriptures  were  sold 
and  a  number  of  men  came  to  read  and  talk  about  Christianity.  There 
are  several  aspects  of  this  campaign  which  are  of  interest  in  that  they 
show  the  conditions  and  possibilities  of  missionary  work  in  Khorasan  at 
the  present  time. 

First  of  all  we  were  greatly  impressed  by  the  fruit  that  the  Bible 
selling  of  past  years  was  bearing.  Men  who  were  the  owners  of  Bibles 
were  invariably  our  friends.  Many  took  great  delight  in  telling  how 
they  had  bought, their  book  from  "the  man  with  the  long  beard,"  Rev. 
L.  F.  Esselstyn,  D.D.,  the  old  pioneer  of  Khorasan.  Some  of  the  most 
interested  inquirers  came  from  this  class.  There  were  four  men  who 
openly  confessed  faith  in  Christ  before  we  left,  and  three  of  these  had 
been  converted  almost  entirely  through  their  reading  of  the  Scriptures. 
Two  years  ago,  after  the  famine  that  visited  Persia,  the  farmers  were 
perplexed  to  know  where  to  find  seed  wheat  for  their  planting.  But  to 
their  great  joy  when  the  rains  at  last  came  the  fields  burst  out  in  green 
of  themselves — the  seed  which  had  for  two  years  been  lying  in  the  ground 
needed  only  the  water  to  make  it  bear  fruit.  The  Word  of  God  is  lying 
hidden  in  many  hearts  in  Khorasan,  and  it  seems  that  the  showers  are  be- 
ginning to  fall. 

We  were  also  pleased  at  the  religious  toleration  that  we  enjoyed  in 
Nishapur  in  carrying  on  our  work.  Scriptures  were  sold  widely  in  the 
baazar,  public  meetings  were  held  in  the  hospital  in  which  the  Gospel 
was  fully  preached,  many  of  the  mullahs  of  the  city  came  to  talk  with  us 
about  our  religion,  but  there  was  not  the  least  fanaticism  or  even  opposi- 
tion displayed.  One  of  the  Christians  was  fearless  in  telling  people 
that  he  had  left  Mohammed  for  Christ,  and  why,  and  his  hearers  seemed 
more  interested  and  amused  than  angry.  It  is  true  that  a  newspaper 
article  was  published  in  which  the  authorities  were  called  upon  to  look 
into  what  we  were  doing,  and  for  several  days  some  of  our  inquirers  were 
frightened  away,  but  nothing  was  done  to  stop  us.  The  religious  leaders 
were  either  unable  to  do  anything  or  were  not  sufficiently  interested  to 
attempt  it. 

421 


422  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

This  was  due  in  part  at  least  to  the  presence  of  the  doctor  and  the 
hospital.  Most  of  the  men  of  authority  in  the  city  were  under  the  treat- 
ment of  the  doctor  and  naturally  were  not  willing  to  have  him  leave 
until  they  at  least  had  been  cured.  The  hospital  proved  to  be  a  sheltered 
spot  to  which  people  could  come  with  a  minimum  of  publicity  in  which 
we  could  carry  on  our  wt>rlc  with  perfect  freedom.  We  were  careful  to 
leave  the  city  before  the  hospital  had  lost  its  popularity  and  before  the 
opposition  could  organize. 

But  the  medical  work  not  only  protected  us  against  possible  opposition ; 
in  the  minds  of  the  thinking  men  of  the  city  it  proved  to  be  one  of  our 
most  powerful  apologetics.  The  fact  that  a  Christian  doctor  had  the 
ability  to  do  a  work  of  healing  which  the  Mohammedans  could  not  do, 
and  that  the  people  of  America  should  take  enough  interest  in  their  reli- 
gion and  in  the  rest  of  the  world  to  send  doctors  and  ministers  to  every 
land  as  missionaries  made  a  deep  impression.  When  some  faultfinder 
would  begin  to  argue  for  the  superiority  of  Islam  we  would  sometimes 
challenge  him  with  the  question,  "Then  why  do  you  not  collect  money 
and  send  one  of  your  doctors  and  one  of  your  mullahs  to  America  to  con-' 
vert  us  to  the  true  religion?"    There  was  never  an  answer  forthcoming. 

And  finally  the  combined  medical-bookselHng-evangelistic  work  made 
it  possible  to  stir  the  whole  city  and  arouse  all  the  people  to  examine  the 
claims  of  Christ  to  an  extent  that  no  one  of  these  branches  of  work  would 
have  been  capable  of  alone.  It  would  seem  that  there  would  be  no  more 
effective  use  to  which  we  could  put  our  little  force  in  evangelizing  the 
fourteen  cities  of  Khorasan  than  in  carr\^ing  on  such  campaigns  in  as 
many  of  them  as  possible. 

W.  McE.  Miller. 

A  Fatwa  for  Nestle's  Milk      * 

For  the  past  months  facsimiles  of  a  Fatwa  given  by  the  authorities 
of  the  Azhar  to  Nestle  &  Company  were  seen  in  all  the  grocery  shops 
of  Cairo.    The  following  is  a  verbatim  translation : 

"The  Religious  Law  Court  of  Egypt.  In  the  Name  of  God  the 
Merciful,  the  Compassionate. 

"Fatwa  concerning  the  use  of  Nestle's  milk  and  Nestle's  food. 
"Since  His  Highness  the  learned  Mufti  of  Egypt  was  appealed  to  as 
to  his  legal  opinion  regarding  the  use  of  Nestle's  Milk  and  Nestle's  Food, 
it  is  now  hereby  declared  that  after  His  Honour  had  thoroughly  exam- 
ined the  composition  and  benefits  of  this  product  and  had  also  scruti- 
nized the  testimonials  of  physicians  in  the  matter,  he  gave  the  following 
declaration.  May  God  strengthen  him.  Praise  be  to  God  alone  and 
prayer  and  peace  upon  him  than  whom  there  is  no  later  Apostle. 

"Since  conditions  of  affairs  are  as  above  described  the  use  of  this  Milk 
is  permitted  according  to  Moslem  Law  and  no  one  can  prevent  anyone 
from  using  it  on  religious  grounds  and  God  knows  best. 
"Signed  and  Sealed 

"Mohammed  Ismail  Al  Bardasi, 

"Mufti  of  Egypt. 
("Here  is  the  seal  of  the  Department  of  Fatwa) 
"Dated  this  9th  day  of  Al  Kaada  1338." 
(Corresponding  to  July  25th,  1920) 


CURRENT  TOPICS  423 

A  Duplicate  of  the  Mosque  at  Cordova 

Lt.  Gen.  F.  H.  Tyrrell  writes  to  the  Morning  Post  regarding  the 
existence  at  Gulburga,  in  the  Deccan,  India,  of  an  exact  replica  of  the 
great  Mosque  at  Cordova,  with  its  thousand  columns.  He  says:  "The 
story  told  me  was  that  a  Moorish  architect  had  travelled  from  Cordova 
to  India,  and  built  this  duplicate  of  the  Cathedral  Mosque  of  his  native 
city,  once  the  capital  of  an  Arabian  Caliphate,  for  the  Moslem  king  of 
the  Bahmani  Dynasty,  which  then  occupied  the  cerulean  throne  of 
Gulburga.  When  I  visited  this  magnificent  Mosque  in  1887  it  was 
derelict  and  falling  into  decay.  Had  it  been  in  British  India  it  would 
have  been' carefully  preserved  and  repaired  by  our  government,  but  it  was 
situated  in  the  territory  of  a  Mussulman  ruler,  and  the  glory  and  the 
power  of  Gulburga  has  passed  to  Golconda  and  Hyderabad." 

Christmas  Day  from  a  Moslem  Standpoint 

The  editor  of  Ahaly — one  of  the  daily  papers  in  Cairo,  meditates 
as  follows  on  Christmas  Day,  1920.  What  he  writes  is  a  message  for 
the  West,  even  though  we  may  not  agree  with  his  conclusions. 

"How  curious  and  strange  is  the  nature  of  man !  Tomorrow  West- 
erners will  celebrate  Christmas  Day,  the  day  when  forbearance  was  born 
with  the  birth  of  Jesus,  when  the  mercy  of  heaven  came  down  to  earth 
as  Pie  came  to  it,  and  when  the  good  news  was  heralded  to  all  that 
fraternity,  love,  and  peace  had  come.  One  may  imagine,  as  one  casts  a 
look  on  them  while  they  celebrate  this  blessed  day,  and  exchange  good 
wishes  and  greetings  on  its  occasion,  that  the  principles  of  Christ  are  still 
in  the  hearts  of  His  peoples,  and  that  His  generous  commandments  are 
strictly  obeyed  by  these  peoples;  whereas  if  one  looks  well  one  clearly 
sees  that  they  are  in  one  valley,  and  the  principles  of  Christ  in  another. 
No  forbearance,  no  mercy,  no  fraternity,  and  no  peace !  The  nature  of 
mankind  before  Christ  remained  the  same  after  His  birth.  The  only 
difference  is  that  they  have  succeeded  in  discovering,  by  means  of  their 
reasoning  powers,  a  cover  to  hide  it,  and  a  false  paint  to  give  it  a  glitter- 
ing color  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  can  see,  but  cannot  know.  Where  is 
forbearance  and  where  is  mercy  ?  Here  are  the  wounds  of  the  world  still 
bleeding;  the  hearts  of  people  are  grieved  and  full  of  misery  and  wretch- 
edness, for  in  every  nation  there  is  a  calamity,  and  every  place  has  its 
mourning.  Injustice  is  up  and  justice  is  down,  slavery  is  permanent; 
the  mighty  continue  to  consume  the  rights  of  the  weak,  and  without  feel- 
ing any  remorse;  the  influential  trespass  upon  the  humble  without  feel- 
ing any  shame ;  the  wealthy  who  only  care  to  fill  their  safes  with  money 
look  as  if  they  would  suck  up  the  blood  of  the  poor  without  feeling  any 
pain  in  their  hearts.  And  yet  they  say  to  us  'forbearance'  and  we  be- 
lieve; they  say  'mercy'  and  we  trust  that  is  true.  If  this  be  'forbear- 
ance,' which  for  goodness'  sake  breaks  hearts,  and  if  that  be  'mercy' 
which  is  the  state  that  brings  about  heartrending  affliction." 

The  Genealogy  of  Jesus 

The  Reverend  J.  Ireland  Hasler,  Agra,  N.  India,  tells  us  of  a  little 
Urdu  booklet  of  16  pages  bearing  the  above  title  which  was  being 
distributed  gratuitously  in  May  last  in  the  streets  of  Agra.  It  is  almost 
entirely  made  up  of  quotations  from  the  Christian  Scriptures  inserted 
without  a  word  of  comment.     First  there  come  the  two  genealogies  as 


424  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

found  respectively  in  the  First  and  Third  Gospels.  The  second  section 
consists  of  a  compilation  of  those  passages,  with  their  contexts,  which 
speak  of  Jesus  as  the  carpenter's  son,  and  one  of  a  family,  or  the  son  of 
David,  viz:  Mlc.  6:2-4;  Matt.  13:  53-56;  9:27;  12:23,46;  20:30; 
John  1 :  45  ;  7:3-5;  Luke  i :  26-32  ;  2 :  4,  5  ;  2 :  25-33  (the  revised  text 
of  verse  33  is  quoted,  viz:  "his  father"  instead  of  "Joseph")  ;  2:  40-43; 
4:  22;    8:  19,  20;    18:  38. 

In  the  concluding  section,  verses  are  quoted  in  support  of  the  assertion 
that  in  former  times  God's  devout  servants  were  called  His  sons  and  He 
was  called  their  Father,  viz:  i  Chron.  22:  10  (of  Solomon)  ;  Luke  6: 
35.  36  (of  the  followers  of  Christ)  ;  so  also  in  Luke  12:  29,  30,  32; 
Matt.  18:  12,  14;  23:9;  Mk.  11:25;  Matt.  5:  44,  45,  48;  John  20: 
16,  17;  Gen.  6:2;  Exod.  4:  21,  22  (of  the  children  of  Israel  as  God's 
"first-born  son")  ;  Jer.  31:9  (in  the  quotation,  "Abraham"  is  written 
in  mistake  for  "Ephraim")  ;   Luke  3:  38  (of  Adam). 

"There  are,  in  addition,"  says  the  writer,  "many  other  verses  of  this 
purport  in  the  Taurat,  Zabur  and  Injil.  It  is  clear,  however,  both  from 
those  which  have  been  quoted  and  from  others  of  this  nature,  that  man- 
kind was  called  by  the  name  'sons  of  God,'  and  God,  Father  of  mankind. 
Consequently  it  is  evident  that  such  is  the  basis  of  the  application  of  the 
title  'Son  of  God'  to  Jesus  in  the  previous  books.  God  is  One  and 
Unique  and  has  no  son,  neither  is  He  the  father  of  anyone." 

This  booklet  appears  to  mark  a  new  departure  from  the  line  of 
ordinary  Mohammedan  controversy.  The  fact  is  accepted  that  accord- 
ing to  the  teaching  of  the  gospels  the  title  "son  of  God"  was  ascribed  to 
Jesus,  but  the  claim  is  made  that  Christians  have  misinterpreted  its  mean- 
ing, and  have  read  more  into  it  than  is  admissible  in  the  light  of  other 
Scripture  passages.  The  writer  has  exercised  ingenuity  in  his  selec- 
tion of  texts,  and  the  total  absence  of  invective  in  his  book  adds  to  the 
plausibility  of  his  argument. 

Moslem  Perplexity  in  Turkey 

The  following  questions  were  asked  by  a  group  of  students,  nearly 
all  of  them  Moslems,  at  a  club  meeting  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  Con- 
stantinople: 

"How  do  you  distinguish  between  the  heavenly  and  non-heavenly 
religions  also  among  the  philosophical  roads?  What  kind  of  interest- 
ing efFects  has  religion  upon  social  human  welfare,  also  upon  conserva- 
tion of  morality?  Where  is  the  basis  of  good  and  high  morality? 
What  philosophy  do  you  find  in  the  coming  of  prophets  to  the  world? 
What  kind  of  success  did  Moses  have  for  his  tribes?  Are  there  any 
exact  historical  details  about  the  time  at  which  Mary  and  Jesus  were 
in  Egypt?  Did  Jesus  change  the  laws  of  Moses?  There  are  some 
highly  considered  persons  who  do  not  get  an  immediate  satisfaction 
for  the  goodness  which  they  make  in  the  world.  What  kind  of 
satisfaction  will  they  have  in  the  Hereafter?  What  way  does  Chris- 
tianity believe  in  that?  The  whole  humanity  believe  in  the  sacredness 
of  the  prophets,  whereas  some  holy  books  speak  against  a  part  of  the 
prophets.  As  this  is  a  thing  which  cannot  be  put  side  by  side  with  the 
merits  of  prophets,  it  seems  that  all  these  sayings  are  not  true.  In  that 
case  do  such  books  not  lose  their  sacredness?  According  to  the  justice 
of  God  a  man  must  not  be  responsible  for  the  sins  which  another  man 
commits;    therefore  how  would  you  explain  the  fact  that  all  the  men 


CURRENT  TOPICS  425 

were  held  responsible  for  the  sin  which  Adam  had  committed?  Some 
religions  divide  man  into  two  parts,  spiritual  and  physical ;  how  may 
this  be  allowed  from  the  human  equality  point  of  view?  The  real 
Christianity  orders  men  to  treat  one  another  with  humility,  kindness 
and  softness.     Why  then  are  there  but  few  Christians  who  do  so  ? 

A  Conference  on  Moslem  Missions  in  Germany 

A  conference  of  workers  of  the  German  Missionary  Societies  was 
held  at  Uchtenhagen,  March  29  to  April  3,  where  the  following 
questions  were  discussed:  How  must  we  carry, the  Christian  Message  to 
Islam? — G.  Simon.  Islam  as  a  Popular  Religion  among  Arabs  and 
Nubians — J.  Enderlin.  The  Present  Situation  in  Moslem  Missions — 
Dr.  J.  Richter.  Personal  experiences  in  Turkistan — Count  Pahlen. 
The  Oriental  Church  and  Missions  to  Moslems — Mr.  Ehmann. 
The  Oriental  Woman — B.  Rohner.  We  hope  to  give  our  readers  an 
account  of  this  gathering  later. 

Life  Among  the  Senussi 

Mrs.  Rosita  Forbes  contributes  a  series  of  articles  to  the  Ti?nes 
(London)  on  her  adventurous  journey  across  the  Great  Desert  to  Taj 
in  Kufra.  Here  we  have  a  picture  of  Islam  as  it  is  today,  with  slave 
trade  and  fanaticism,  the  ideals  of  the  old  faith,  still  held  tenaciously. 
She  says: 

"Taj  is  a  strange  little  city  of  windowless  houses  built  like  fortresses, 
with  solid  walls  of  black  stone,  with  red  sand  for  mortar.  It  contains 
only  the  large  houses  of  the  Sayeds  and  a  few  important  iklnvan 
(brethren),  a  zaivia  (convent),  with  the  holy  kubba  and  mosque.  No- 
body is  seen  outside  the  high  walls  of  the  houses,  and  Taj  appears  to  be  a 
deserted  city.  Everything  needed  is  brought  up  by  slaves  from  the 
valley  below  the  city.  The  walls  at  Taj  are  a  hundred  feet  deep,  and 
water  is  precious. 

"There  is  no  vegetation,  not  even  a  blade  of  grass,  on  the  cliffs  which 
overhang  and  almost  surround  the  valley  of  Kufra.  The  valley  is 
some  40  miles  long  and  20  broad  at  its  widest  point.  The  cleft  in  which 
the  valley  lies  hidden  appears  suddenly  in  the  surface  of  the  monotonous 
expanse  of  the  desert  which  presents  a  surface  of  dark  stone  and  red  sand, 
broken  by  small  hillocks.  We  were  only  a  few  hundred  yards  distant 
when  we  first  saw  that  there  was  a  cleft. 

"Kufra  is  really  six  separate  oases  with  many  ruins  of  Tebu  villages 
and  castles.  There  is  no  running  water  in  the  oases,  and  I  was  told 
that  no  rain  had  fallen  for  eight  years.  All  the  water  is  obtained  from 
wells.  There  is  an  excellent  system  of  irrigation  by  means  of  artificial 
channels  and  cisterns. 

"The  Senussi  employ  a  large  amount  of  slave  labour,  and  slaves  are 
sold  regularly  at  Jof,  the  men  for  £20,  while  women  fetch  £30,  The 
whole  group  of  oases  has  about  3,000  Zawia  Arabs  and  about  300  Tebu, 
besides  the  large  number  of  Sudanese  slaves.  There  is  practically  no 
grazing  at  Kufra,  and  the  camels  are  fed  on  dates,  which  cost  some  4s.  a 
camel  load.  Tanned  scarlet-dyed  leather  costs  14s.  for  a  whole  goat- 
skin. 

"I  lived  the  life  of  a  veiled  Arab  woman  in  Taj  for  nine  days,  and 
visited  the  holy  kubba  (rnihrab  or  prayer  niche  turned  towards  Mecca) 


426  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

of  Sidi  el  Mahdi,  a  former  head  of  the  Order,  in  the  zaivia  (convent) 
of  the  Sayeds,  the  most  sacrosanct  spot  of  the  Senussi.  I  had  a  kodak 
with  me,  but  was  obliged  to  hide  it  under  my  voluminous  barracan 
(outer  enveloping  garment),  and  take  photographs  stealthily  through 
a  specially  cut  hole.  All  our  instruments  in  fact  had  to  be  hidden.  The 
gravest  distrust  was  exhibited  even  of  the  compass  as  the  Bedouins  be- 
lieved that  its  luminous  needle  pointing  always  to  the  North  Star  might 
bewitch  and  destroy  their  only  guide  at  night. 

"Justice  is  administered  by  the  Senussi  according  to  the  rules  of  the 
Koran  and  blood  money  exacted.  The  use  of  wine  and  tobacco  is  for- 
bidden under  pain  of  losing  the  right  hand.  The  amputation  of  the 
hands  of  thieves,  floggings  and  fines  are  other  penalties  enforced. 

"With  regard  to  the  policy  of  the  Senussi,  everywhere  devotion  to  the 
present  ruler,  Sidi  Idriss,  was  expressed,  and  also  friendly  feeling  towards 
England.  Sayed  Ahmed  (the  deposed  Senussi  Sheikh,  now  with  the 
Turkish  Nationalists)  is  regarded  respectfully  as  a  devout  Moslem,  but 
his  policy  of  making  war  on  England  is  universally  condemned.  Sidi 
Idriss  is  looked  upon  as  the  saviour  of  the  country,  and  his  modern  pro- 
gressive policy  concerning  England  and  Italy  is  approved  by  the  majorit}' 
of  the  ikhivan  and  merchants.  The  fanatical  Zawia  still,  however, 
hate  strangers." 

French  Work  in  Morocco 

Marshal  Lyautey,  French  Resident  General  in  Morocco,  has  given 
to  a  joint  meeting  of  the  Algerian  and  Colonial  Committees  and  the 
Colonial  and  Moroccan  groups  of  the  Chamber  an  interesting  and  im- 
pressive account  of  his  work  in  the  pacification  of  Morocco  (says  The 
Times  Paris  correspondent.)  Many  members  of  this  new  Chamber 
had  not  had  an  opportunity  of  meeting  the  great  Colonial  administrator 
before,  and  were  much  impressed  by  the  vigour  and  the  terse,  soldierly 
eloquence  with  which  he  expressed  his  views. 

Marshal  Lyautey  declared  that  in  his  opinion  the  major  part  of  the 
work  of  pacification  in  Morocco  had  already  been  accomplished,  and 
should  no  external  complications  intervene  he  thought  that  in  two  years 
at  most  Morocco  would  be  entirely  peaceful. 

Two  conditions  were,  however,  necessary.  The  first  was  that  he 
should  be  left  in  command  of  the  80,000  men  he  now  has.  Out  of  the 
80,000,  35,000  were  French,  only  6,000  of  whom  are  in  combatant  units, 
the  others  being  employed  in  administration  and  organization.  Secondly, 
he  must  have  granted  to  him  credits  for  500,ooo,ooof.  (about 
£10,000,000). 

He  went  on  to  expound  the  Moslem  question,  and  argued  that,  so  far 
as  her  Moroccan  interests  were  concerned,  it  was  necessary  for  France  to 
come  to  an  understanding  with  Turkey  as  early  as  possible.  "If  Tur- 
key," he  declared,  "continues  to  be  treated  badly,  the  inhabitants  of 
Morocco  will  not  continue  to  be  contented.  All  the  Moslem  world  has 
its  eyes  turned  towards  Constantinople.  France  would  reap  a  great 
benefit  from  an  entente  with  Turkey." 

The  Marshal  added  that  German  influence,  which  during  the  war 
made  itself  felt  very  strongly  in  Morocco,  was  still,  unfortunately,  con- 
tinuing to  put  numerous  difficulties  in  the  pathway  of  his  civilizing  and 
colonizing  mission. 


SURVEY  OF  PERIODICALS 

Miss  Hollis  W.  Hering,  New  York 
Missionary  Research  Library 
GENERAL. 

The  Bagdad  Railway.  A.  D.  C.  Russell.  (The  Quarterly 
'Review,  London.  April,  1921.  pp.  307-329.) 
A  review  of  the  various  stages  in  the  building  of  the  Bagdad 
railway,  showing  the  increasing  German  influence  and  the  impor- 
tance of  Abdul  Hamid  II'l  policy  of  pan-Islamism  in  regard  to  the 
railway  as  a  counter  to  the  English  Khalifate  policy.  A  careful 
statistical  study  of  the  financial  failure  of  the  road,  based  on  docu- 
ments hitherto  accessible  only  to  Germans.  Accompanied  by  a 
map. 

Jew  and  Arab  in  Palestine.     Leonard  Stein.      (Eastern  Europe, 

London.     May,  1921.     pp.  159-170.) 

A  balanced,  rather  cold  analysis  of  the  hostility  of  the  Arab  to 
Zionism.  Moslem  Arabs  (who  form  a  tremendous  proportion  of 
the  population  of  Palestine)  have  been  accustomed  to  consider  all 
Jews  as  inferiors,  and  naturally  oppose  any  movement  tending  to 
challenge  their  social  or  economic  domination.  On  the  other  hand, 
Arab  opposition  to  Zionism,  which  has  been  active  for  a  long  time, 
is  not  and  never  has  been  implacable. 

Some  Recent  Arabian  Explorations.  D.  G.  Hogarth.  ( The 
Geographical  Review,  New  York.  July,  1921.  pp.  321-337.) 
The  war  opened  to  outsiders  at  least  two  sections  of  hitherto 
unknown  Arabia — the  Hejaz,  and  southern  Nejd.  The  steps 
by  which  these  districts  became  known  (the  former  to  a  compara- 
tively numerous  group  of  British  officers,  the  latter  to  a  single 
European,  -are  traced,  and  the  distinctive  geographical  features  of 
each  outlined. 

The  Sultan  Speaks.  William  T.  Ellis.  (The  American  Review 
of  Reviews,  New  York.  July,  1921.  pp.  84-86.) 
Impressions  gained  in  two  long  interviews.  The  Armenian 
atrocities  the  Sultan  frankly  condemns  as  political  crimes  of  the 
Young  Turk  party,  and  he  pleads  for  a  just  and  impartial  consid- 
eration of  Turkey's  fate,  instead  of  the  resumption  of  the  old  fash- 
ions and  ambitions  of  European  diplomacy  and  intrigue  there. 
Strongly  favors  America's  becoming  the  guardian  and  teacher  of 
the  peoples  of  the  Near  East. 

The    Unrest   in    the    Islamic    World.     Lothrop    Stoddard. 

(Scribner's  Magazine,  New  York.     July,  192 1,     pp.  15-23.) 

Deals  with  the  importance  of  the  Sennussiya,  the  development  of 

pan-Islamism,  and  the  great  missionary  victories  of  Islam  at  the 

present  time.     The  influence  of  Western  ideas  and  methods  on  the 

427 


428  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

internal  regenerative  forces  of  the  Moslem  world  is  traced,  showing 
that  at  the  moment  when  the  subjugation  of  Mohammedan  rule 
seemed  complete  it  challenged  Western  domination  as  never  before. 
To  be  concluded. 

IL     ISLAM  IN  ARABIA. 

III.  HISTORY  OF  ISLAM. 

The  Cradle  of  the  Ottoman  Nation.     J.  Prestwold.     (The 
Venturer,  London.     June,  1921.     pp.  432-438.) 
To  be  concluded.     This  part  is  devoted  mainly  to  an  historical 

discussion,  showing  the  diflFerence  in  the  terms  "Turks"  and  "Os- 

manli." 

Khorasan.       Denkmalsgeographische     Studien     zur     Kulturge- 
schichte    des    Islam    in    Iran.     Ernst    Herzfeld.      {Der   Islam, 
Berlin.     Band  XL,  Heft  ^,  1921.     pp.  107-174.) 
A  detailed  historical  as  well  as  geographical  description  of  the 
monuments,  accompanied  by  two  sketch  maps  and  some  bibliograph- 
ical references. 

IV.  KORAN,  TRADITIONS,  THEOLOGY. 

V.  RELIGIOUS  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE. 
Aserbeidschanische    Texte    zur    Nordpersischen    Volks- 

KUNDE.     Hellmut    Ritter.      {Der   Islam,    Berlin.     Band    XL, 

Heft  54,  1921.     pp.  1181-212.) 

'Fwo  folktales  ("Molla  Jalya  aus  Isfahan"  and  "Wie  man  in 
Persien  heiratet")  given  first  in  the  dialect  of  northern  Persia  and 
then  in  the  German  translation. 

Islam  and  the  World  Peace.  Mia  Mahomed  Haji  Jan  Ma- 
homed Chotani.  {The  Venturer,  London.  June,  1 92 1,  pp. 
422-424.) 

Author  is  president  of  the  Central  Khalifat  Committee,  and 
head  of  the  Indian  Moslem  delegation  to  England.  He  calls  Eng- 
land to  redeem  her  war  pledges  to  her  Moslem  subjects,  the  repudia- 
tion of  which  led  the  latter  to  join  in  the  boycott  of  the  government. 

ScHECH     BeDR    ED-DIN,    DER    SOHN    DES    RiCHTERS    VON     SiMAW. 

Ein  Beitrag  zur  Geschichte  des  Sektenwesens  im  altosmanischen 

Reich.     Franz    Babinger.      {Der    Islam,     Berlin.     Band    XL, 

Heft  54,  1921.     pp.  1-106. 

A  careful  monograph  on  an  outstanding  figure  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  There  is  a  brief  review  of  the  time,  a  life  of  Bedr  ed-din 
Mahmud,  followed  by  estimates  of  his  work,  with  Arabic  and  Latin 
quotations  from  his  contemporaries. 

Uber    eine    Palastture    und    Schlosser    nach    al-Gazari. 

E.   Wiedemann   and   F.    Hauser.      {Der  Islam,    Berlin.     Band 

XL,  Heft  M,  1921.     pp.  213-251.) 

A  study  of  Gazari's  descriptions  of  a  door  in  the  royal  palace  in 
Amid,  of  an  artistic  letter-lock  on  a  chest,  and  of  a  lock  with  four 
bolts  for  a  door.     Profusely  illustrated  with  drawings  and  diagrams. 

9 


SURVEY  OF  PERIODICALS  429 

VI.     POLITICAL  RELATIONSHIPS. 

Egypt^  the  Protectorate,  and  the  Milner  Report.     Thomas 

Barclay.       (The    Fortnightly    Review,    London.      April,    1921. 

pp.  567-580.) 

Ever  since  1880  the  British  Government  has  repeatedly  and  offi- 
cially repudiated  any  design  of  establishing  a  protectorate  over 
Egypt.  Reasons  for  the  growth  of  the  feeling  in  that  country  that 
England  has  not  been  sincere  in  these  pronouncements  are  forcibly 
set  forth,  together  with  the  difficulties  raised  by  the  Egyptian  "Reser- 
vations" to  the  Milner-Zaglul  "Heads  of  Agreement."  These 
Heads  and  the  Reservations  are  appended. 

Mesopotamia  Explained.     II.     H.  Birch  Reynardson.      (The 
Asiatic  Review,  London.     July,  192 1,     pp.  408-415.) 

Concluding  the  summary  of  the  "Review  of  the  Civil  Adminis- 
tration of  Mesopotamia."  This  section  deals  with  the  Kurds  and 
the  Kurdish  question,  outlines  incisively  the  nationalist  movement, 
and  shows  how  narrowly  Mesopotamia  escaped  the  terrible  conse- 
quences of  Asiatic  anarchy  through  the  failure  of  the  West  to  appre- 
ciate the  East's  interpretation  of  conciliation  and  forbearance  as 
weakness. 

Persia  at  the  Crisis  of  Her  Fate.     Sir  Percy  Sykes.     {The 
Fortnightly  Review,  London.     May,  1921.     pp.  826-832.) 

During  the  war,  Persia  nominally  was  neutral.  Actually,  her 
territory  was  fought  over  by  the  armies  of  Russia,  Germany,  Tur- 
key, and  Great  Britain,  and  she  suffered  severely  in  property  and 
loss  of  life.  Although  a  great  deal  of  this,  as  is  here  shown,  was 
due  to  her  own  internal  incompetence,  her  psychology  is  indicated 
in  her  large  demands  at  the  Peace  Conference,  and  her  reaction  to 
the  great  effort  to  set  her  on  her  feet  made  by  the  British  Govern- 
ment through  Sir  Percy  Cox. 

The  Report  of  the  Milner  Commission  on  Egypt.  Malcolm 
Mcllwraith.  {The  Fortnightly  Review,  London.  April,  1921. 
pp.   561-566.) 

Brief  observations  on  the  more  salient  features  of  the  report. 
The  author  was  judicial  adviser  in  Egypt  at  the  time  of  the  decla- 
ration of  the  Protectorate,  and  is  distinctly  pessimistic  as  to  the 
wisdom  or  feasibility  of  the  proposals  made. 

The  Revision  of  the  Turkish  Treaty.  {The  Contemporary 
Review,  London.  May,  1921.  pp.  577-589.) 
The  three  countries  most  affected  by  the  revision  of  the  treaty  of 
Sevres  are  Armenia,  Smyrna,  and  Thrace ;  and  these  are  dealt  with 
in  turn  by  Viscount  Bryce,  Sir  John  Stavridi,  and  Noel  Buxton. 
The  treaty  in  jts  original  form,  containing  the  considered  policy  of 
all  the  Allies,  was  a  noble  and  humane  document.  The  writers 
bring  a  stinging  indictment  of  the  victorious  Belligerent  Powers  in 
regard  to  these  three  unfortunate  countries,  showing  how  in  the 
revision  of  the  treaty  the  Powers  have  flagrantly  violated  the 
principles  in  the  name  of  which  the  war  was  fought,  and  have  sur- 
rendered morally  to  Turkish  truculence. 


430  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

The  Situation  IX  THE  Middle  East.  Robert  Mach ray.  {The 
Fortnightly  Review,  London.  May,  192 1,  pp.  727-737.) 
The  "Middle  East"  is  here  taken  to  include  Caucasia,  Armenia, 
Cilicia,  Syria,  Palestine,  Arabia,  Mesopotamia,  Kurdistan,  Persia, 
Transcaspia,  and  part  of  Turkistan.  Discusses  chiefly  the  policy 
of  the  British  Middle  East  Department,  as  outlined  by  its  chief, 
Winston  Churchill.  The  references  are  particularly  to  Mesopo- 
tamia, Syria,  Persia,  and  the  Arab  question. 

VIL     MOHAMMEDAN  MISSIONS. 

The  Appeal  of  the  Near  East.     Stanley  White.     {All  the 
World,  New  York.     July,  192 1,     pp.   149-153.) 

A  brief  analysis  of  the  causes  of  the  world's  restlessness  as  re- 
lated to  the  Near  Eastern  question.  These  are  found  to  lie  in  the 
variety  of  races  there,  the  political  intrigues  of  Europe  in  regard  to 
the  country,  the  break-down  of  Islam,  and  the  terrible  experiences 
through  which  the  country  has  passed,  with  its  inevitable  psycho- 
logical eflfect.  Finally,  the  duty  of  the  Christian  Church  under  the 
circumstances  is  considered. 

Bagdad,  1921.     James  Cantine.     {Neglected  Arabia,  New  York. 

April-June,  1921.    pp.  15-17.) 

When  the  Church  Missionary  Society  withdrew  from  Upper 
Mesopotamia,  the  Arabian  Mission  made  a  tentative  appointment 
of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Cantine  to  Bagdad,  to  secure  continuity  of  work 
until  a  permanent  occupation  of  the  country  could  be  ordered  from 
the  Home  Base.  This  is  a  summary  of  conditions  as  they  faced 
Dr.  Cantine  on  his  arrival,  with  the  outlook  for  the  future. 

Intolerance  in  Inland  Arabia.  Dr.  Louis  Paul  Dame.  {Neg- 
lected Arabia,  ISew  York.  April-June,  1 92 1,  pp.  9-14. 
Some  characteristics  observed  by  Dr.  Dame  during  a  six  weeks' 
stay  in  Riadh.  The  intolerance  and  growing  power  of  the  Ikhwan 
were  particularly  evident,  as  well  as  a  very  lively  desire  to  be  bene- 
fitted by  the  accursed  Christian's  medical  skill. 

Mohammedan  Propaganda.  Herbert  Smith.  ( The  Congo 
Mission  News,  Bolobo.  April,  1921.  pp.  10-12.) 
The  sub-title  reads  "Can  Christian  Missions  follow  their 
Methods?"  Some  of  these  methods,  together  with  reasons  for  their 
tremendous  efifectiveness  in  Africa,  are  enumerated ;  and  it  is 
pointed  out  that  while  Christian  missions  cannot  use  all  of  the 
Mohammedan  methods,  they  might  well  learn  from  them  to  be 
more  aggressive,  perhaps  radical,  if  they  are  not  to  cede  place  to 
Islam. 


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