The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1877-06-16
The Vitality OF Islam.
fNaw York Snn.l

fraught with such stirring interest, is
but one element of a larger problem.
Is it true that, not only in the Ottoman
empire, but in all countries which ac-
,eept the creed announced by Mohammed,
that faith is principle of decay Must
we conclude, because the forms OF
society in which it is imbedded seem
for the most part to be wrecks OF tho
past, that the Moslem religion is inca
pable of readjustment, and has lost the
power of vital expansion which might
meet the pressure of rival systems by
new resistance, or break into and occupy
new spheres /? In word, what may we
believe, in view of existing indications,
to be the future of Islam
Whatever may be thought of the
Russian national Church by those who
know something of its spirit and eff
cheney, there is no doubt that the pres
ent contest is, on the face of it, a strug
gle between a Christian and a MOslem
people. It is not strange, therefore,
that the old enmity and bitterness, the
prejudice and miscOnceptiOn planted by
twelve centuries of warfare and ignOr-
ance, should warp the judgment Of some
observers. We look, however, for q
different temper and more enlightened
insight i'll certain quarters, and it really
seems as if the diudents OF the last half
century had labOred in vain when we
find such an organ of opinion as the
British Quarterly rehearsing stale de-
traction and perversions, and deduclng
from the assumed sterility of Islam its
prOximate dissolution. After denying
to the Mohammedan religion the spirit
of toleration and broad humanity as
well as assimilative power, the reviewer
charges that it engenders idOlatry no
less than fatalism and an autOcratic
polity, while it stereOtypes pOlygamy
and slavery. And finally, Mr.. Cobden's
remark is cited with approval that he
must see a Moslem ship, wholly built,
equipped, and manned by Moslems,
sailing from a Moslem port and freighted
with the products of MOslem industry
and skill, before he would believe in the
reality of Moslem civilization. Now,
there is hardly word in this Indictment
which does not contradict, distOrt, or
suppress the facts.
The time, at all events, has gone by
when it was possible to ignore or per-
vert the clear message which shines
through every Sura of the Koran, the
grand root truth of the MOhammedan
faith, namely, the unity and sovereignty
of a righteous and a merciful God. We
need not dwell on the contrast of such
creed with the wretched lOgomachy,
pedantry, idleness, and lust which had
honey -cOmbed eastern ChristendOm in
the seventh century, and through which
the austere simplicity of Islam swept
like consuming fire. But before CLAN
cling at the charges above cited, we may
note one contemporary fact which in
dicates that the orthodox Greek Church
has made small progress since the era
of the Hegira, and is still unable to cope
with the faith of Mohammed even in
European Russia. Not only have all
attempts at prOselytism in the Crimea
and the territory of the Khanate of
Kazan completely failed, but Macken-
zie Wallace tells US that throughout
the eastern section of Great Russia, and
even in the heart of Muscovy, there are
cOmmunes one-half of whose members
hold fast the MOslem creed. At one
end of the village street stands mosque,
Tartar cannot be persuaded to fOrsake
the bare walls sacred to aR invisible
God for the painted ikOnS of which his
Christian neighbor has made so many
fetiches.
1t is mere trucking to prejudice and
ignorance to identify polygamy and
slavery with Islam. Mr.. Lecky has
shown how often plurality of wives
was sanctioned during the early CEN
turies of our era, and that the opposite
principle became fixed in Christian
morals because our faith had to adjust
itself for the most part to the practices
of mOnogamic peoples. As for slavery.
the less we say of it the better,
lest we should be reminded the
first public condemnation of the sys-
tenn came from a convention of
French infidels, and that the institu-
ton in Christian countries has invaria=
bly been hedged about with rigid and
hopeless wall of caste. The simple
truth is that Islam found polygamy and
slaveay existing, and interferred to reg
uIate and mitigate, Nor can we see
how it can be said to stereotype either,
when vast majority of Mohammedans
are compelled for economical reasons
to limit themselves to single wife, and
when the yoke of serYitude is so light
and the custom of manumissiOn so uni
versal that there is actually no barrier
in precedent between slaVe-bOrn negro
and the Caliphate, AS regards another
imputati0n which has come down to us
from the blind antipathies of the Cru
sades, we may say that Mr.. Deutsch has
demonstrated that there Is no fatalism
in the Koran. On the contrary, there
is the most stern recognition of human
responsibility and the most searching
appeals to human free will If the
purity of the original doctrine has been
clouded by contact with the inyeterate
misconceptions of some Oriental nations,
we can no more charge that corruption
upon Islam than we could arraign the
Christian Gospel for the divergence
from it's original spirit remarked ia
civilized communities. Finally, it is
not consistent with historical fact to
associate the Mohammedan religion with
an autoeratic form of government. The
fusion of spiritual and temporal author
ity in a Caliphate substantially disap-
peared with the downfall of the Om-
myad dynasty, for how could the prin-
chile survive the cOexistence of two and
subsequently of three Caliphs The
truth is that Islam has been adapted
without difficulty to every species of
polity which 1T has encountered-to
divers forms of limited monarchy in
Spain and northern Africa, to a genuine
oligarchy in the case of the Mamelukes,
and to patriarchal system. among the
nomads of Arabia, central Asia, and
Algeria. We may add that the form of
society promoted by the Mohammedan
faith might adjust itself with peculiar
facility to pure democracy, and this
brings us to the capital merit of the
religion and the main source Of it's
vitality.
Three great creeds, and three only.
have proclaimed the absolute equality
of believers before God and before each
other. Buddhism, Christianity, and
Islam have thus much in common that
they addressed man as man, have known
nothing of caste, or class, or race, but
have based their faith on the broad