The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1877-08-18
Reform in MOhammedanism.

The religious history OF mankind
shows that while creed has often been
destroyed by attacks from without, it
can be regenerated only from within.
But where, In the bosom of Islam, could
we hope for regenerator? From the
hour of his birth, the Moslem becomes
a member Of system in which every act
of his life is governed by minute
ritual. He is beset on every side by
circle of intlexible formalities. He is
told that even his prayers to God will
be null and void, unless at each prOstra-
ton his nose is lightly rubbed in the
dust. He is told warned against "the
malsdy of thought" lest he should be.
come the occasion of divisions among
the people of God. He Is told on the
authority of the prophet that "he who
dissents from assemblies of Moslems one
span, verify takes off the rope of Islam
from his own neck" and sis of the
people of HE'LL" although he says his
prayers, keeps fasts, and thinks himself
a Moslem. His inner, as his outer, life
must work in prescribed grooves. And
the consequence is that those faculties
starved to death by which alone the re-
generating impulse eau be given But
we may, for the sake of argument, con-
eeive OF some rarely gifted nature who
has passed through this ordeal uninjur-
ed. He has arrived at manhood, and
desires paSsionately, not to destroy Is
lam, but to reform 1t. But how is he
to begin There is not crime or de-
feet in the history of Islam the counter
part of which is not to be found III the
history of christendom. Christians
have mistaken lifeless Journalism for
the vital element in religion; christians
have interpreted the gospel as giving q
sanction for the worst cruelties OF re-
ligious persecution, Christians have
done their utmost to confine the intel.
lect and the moral sense within limits
defined by human authority; but the
strongest witness against all these
errors has been Christ Himself. Every
reformer who rose to protest against
them could appeal to Him and His
teaching, as his authority and justi6ca-
tion. But no Mosem can lift his voice
in condemnation of polygamy, slavery
murder, religious war, aud religious
persecution, without condemning the
prophet himself, and being thereby cut
of from the tody of the faithful. There
is no escape from this vicious circle. A
Moslem, 50 long as he remains q Mos
lem, must acquiesce in a moral and in.
tellectual life which is incompatible
with progress and humanity. No relig-
ion can rise higher than Its source
Christendom will never ascend to a
higher spiritual level than that mani
tested in the life of Christ; and the
Mohammedan world, at its best, car
never be more than an image of the
gross vices and imperfect virtues which
made up the character of Mohammed
How hopeless in ChristendOm wOulC
have been the cause OF humanity i
Jesus of Nazareth Claiming to be-, .anC
accepted as, the Son OF GOd) had prac
ticed pOlygamy, connived at murder
traded in slaves, sanctioned and super
intended a massacre of PhariSees, anC
preached the prosecution uf religious
wars as the surest passport to heaven
Mohammed did all these things, ant
the Mohammedan world is the result
Nothing less than the destruction o
Islam can heal the diseases from whicl
the faithful suffer, because the vice
which occasion them are inseparabl
from the profession of Islam. The vice
will not cease to be regarded rs akin T.
virtues until belief in the religion is de
struyed d. Osborn, in the Con
temporary Review.