Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1882-08-18
A HOLY WAR.
What that Means in the Present Cri-
sis-Unfurling the Holy Flag and
Preaching the Jehad.

Mahomet was the first to make a
ghazu (rald) on large scale, and the
first to preach to his Arab c9mpatriots
the duty of jehad-that is, of mutual
strenuous effort" for the attainment of
their common aim. The prophet,
knowing that the tribes never could be-
come power while they wasted their
energies in internecine warfare, and at
the same time that they could not be
united under any master, sought to
bring about national unity by binding
them by that common religious feel
ing" which really meant, as it SO often
does, common interests, customs, and
superstitions. At Mecca where all the
elements of centralization--the Kaabah,
containing all the gods of the different
tribes and the locale of all the fairs
and gatherings at which the historical
and religious traditions of the race
were circulated and kept alive. The
Persian empire was weak and the Ro-
man empire was declining and their
dominions bordering upon Arabia fell
an easy prey to the bands now for the
first time acting in concert. '"The long
series of conquests that followed the
quick succession were," says the writer
already alluded to, "of course attribut-
ed to the potency of the profession of
faith which formed their battle cry,
and their religious enthusiasm grew
stronger with each triumph. The Arabs
had at last found tie all-powerful name
OF which the children of Shem have
ever dreamed, the name by means of
which Solomon controlled the demons
and the elements, was waited through
the air on his magic carpet, or sealed
up the refractory genie in bottle at
the bottom of the sea. HencefOrward
the conquered infdels were offered but
one alternative-to acknowledge the
perish by the sword; while the formu-
la, "In the name of Allah, the melci-
full, the compassionate" was ever after
placed at the head Of every Moslem
writing. Since then the jehad has
usually local declaration in time of
extremity of war to the knife, as when
in 1876 the unfurling of the sacred ban
ner against the Russians was attended
by fearful outrages upon the Christian
populations. The Wahabee revival
early in the present century was, how
ever, a jehad pure and simple, the
fiery fanatics not only attacking Chris
tians, but driving out the Turks and
sackiug the holy city because of their
PROCLAMATION by foreign rites. This re-
yival was only successful, it should be
noticed, so far as it appealed to Arab
peoples. During the war with Russia
in 1877 the sultan threatened to unfurl
the holy flag, but without the looked-fo for
effect.
THE POSSIBILITY OF A HOLY WAR
being preached has been discussed re-
peatedly of late years. 1t is held that
in India the influence Of Islam has
never been much more than superb
cial, and that at the present time an
Indian Moslem, in his observance and
tenets. is but Hindoo in foreign
dress. With scarcely an exception the
ulemas, when appealed to decide wheth-
er or not India was dar ul hard-an
enemy's country-pronounced fetvas,
in the negative, an opinion confirmed
later by the assembly of Meccan doc
tors, who disposed OF the subject once
for all. At the same time it is pointed
out that the Arabs who migrated to
Africa and set up the rival caliphate in
Spain were not subject to the same ex-
traneous influences as those under the
calphate OF Bagdad, having mixed
but little with the natives, and having
preserved 10 the present day their Arab
customs, traditions and genealogies.
THE same elements of Arab religious
fanaticism," said the writer In theIIRses,
combined with Arab clan feeling, ex-
ist there as In the Hejar or Yemen,
and should some powerful Mosiem
saint and chief and there are many
such In Morocco, Tunis and Algiers-
preached the determination Of the
Kakrs, it would be useless to hope that
any such moderate counsels would pre-
vail as those which averted similar
danger In India. 1t might not be |
strictly a 'Pan-Islam;c' movement, to
quote the current iargon OF the day,
but ii would be universal Arab move |
ment- which would give rise to mex
preside horrors of war and bloodshed
In Western Africa itself, and II would |
attract sufficient sympathy IN other