Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1888-03-01
TIE FAITH OF ISLAM.
Mohnmmed's Religion Prohibits
slavery aud IsuIn

slavery ana rum.
The interesting correspondence, headed
"Ovcr lnto Africa" in the Ty,urcript of the
81 inst, contains one inadvertent remark
which illustrates how little we cis-Atlantlc
people know of the Dark Continent, though
we subscribe hundreds OF thousands OF dollars
a year for missionary work among it's heather
races. ave met 4 - Nubian slaves" Is
apparently simple statement OF an everyday
sight in Tauger. Were the assertion literally
true, IL would import a future of lnterneclnc
war for Africa. The rapid progress lslamsm
is making among the wild tribes would augur
"A deeper degradation for them, not their en-
lighteument. That noble tenet OF the Muslin
faith, the brotherhood of all true believers,
q corrclatc OF their fathcrhood In God, could
no longer be used TO inspire the fetch wor-
shipper with a sense of the dignity of his own
nature. Fortunately MUSLIN people, the
Moors included live up to the teachings Of
their religion, and as the Koran emphatically
forbds the enslavement of II Mohammedan
the Nubians, devout followers Of the prophet,
could not have contributed any quota to the
slave population of Morocco.
Our cyclopedias and Biographies, even those
most recently issued, are so far behind the
times respecting Africa that but few Ameri-
cans are fully aware OF the beneGcent work
lslamjsm is doing therein, how fast IL is regen-
Grating the swarming mill ions of black saw
ages. 1t Is the one mighty power that makes
for righteousness in the midst OF pagan ini.
guilty. Wherever the mosque arises. the ie-
itch hut falls, polygamy aud infanticide dis
appear, aud sobricty, order, chastity aud edu-
cation are exalted into virtues. No dIstinc-
tion Of rank, no grades of intellect are known
To Mohammedanism. II holds equal the lordly
Niam-Niam aud their subjects the puny
Aka. The kalosh, the lowest Of nomads.
obey its precepts without question, and II Is
likewise the faith Of the inhab tauts Of the
great city OF lbadan, the London OF Negro
land. Over 100000, 900 negroes daily proclaim
in PRAYER that the God of Islam is greatest
and Mohammed is his prophet. Not one OF
these may be enslaved.
What can Christianity show for the cnor-
nous sums placed annually in its hands TO
evangelze Africa! A few nOminally Chris
tian settlements along the Guinea coast, few
thousands of converts clustered about mission
stations in Zanzibar and Bechuana Land
The explanation of this ill-success is not far
to seek. The work done by the missionary Is
undOne by the rum trader Whole tribes
touched by the vice Of drunkenness, waste
away, as If stricken by pestilence. The re-
sponsibility Of this condition OF affairs, so far
as Equatorial Africa is concerned rests on
three Christian Governments.
The Congo Free States Constitution prohb-
its slavery; but clause excluding greater
evil, the liquor traffic, was struck out because
England, Germany and Holland refused their
assent. Within the free trade limits of the
Congo State there are forty million souls,
mostly Of that fine Bantu race which has so
steadily resisted Muslin attack. IL would
have been better for them had they accepted
Islamism They would not then have become
the prey of the rum trader. Their distance
from the coast is now no protection. The Con-
go country is opened up 10 trade aud the poi
son products of European distileries are ex
changed in Ujiji and Nyangwe for the spices
and ivory Of the surrounding regions.
The magnitude of the liquor traffic is not
generally known. IL Is estimated that Nat
aku and Kimberly do not Yield gold and diu-
monds enough in n year TO pay for the rum
brought into Africa dverG month. Aud it NAV
be remembered that the diamond mines Of
Kimberly have produced over half ton 81
diamonds annually for the past decade. I'm
til the rum trade Is suppressed, Christianity
viii contend in vain with Mohammrdanism in
Africa john Vaughn, Ia Boston Transcript