New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-01-14
ISLAM AND THE SLAVE TRADE.
LIGHT THROWN ON THE SUBJECT BY THE SEC
RErARY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD
OF FOREIGN MISSIONS.
To he kdffOr fThe Tribune.


RErARY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD
OF FOREIGN MISSIONS.
To he kdffOr oJThe Tribune.
Sir In your issue OF December 90 find an article
from the pen of G K L." In defence Of Mahometansm
against the common verdict OF Christendom
which charges upon II the responsibility Of the African
slave trade He claims that it is carried on only by
irresponsible renegades and is opposed to the humane
spirit Of Islam.
We grant that there instances Of humane senti-
ment in individuals Of the Mahometan faith, and
ready to believe that children in Asia Minor like those
referred TO IN the article may sometimes contribute to-
ward the ransom of captive. But a religion Is In
separabe from the social and political system which IL
creates, and is responsible for the evils which result
from its teachings.
Neither the diplomatic Powers OF Europe now
sldering tho question of the African slave trade the
SECULAR press of the world In It's discussion of this
relic Of barbarism for nice questions 10 what
tho Koran teaches about slavery. They judge the
whole cultus and spirit OF tho Mahometanism which
now dominates Africa They judge the system by
its fruits they appear to-day and IN all its long
and bloody history They see that It's predatory
character and its social and political tyranny have
tended 10 depopulato every country which Il has
touched, that I'm Northern Africa peopled by
which nvaIlcd the power OF Rome they have
spread desolation and turned the tide OF civilization
with the fact that under the protection OF Mahom-
etan rulers and so-oalled Maids or inspired
prophets OF Isam the great open Of the world'
against which Livingstone pathcticaly raised his
dying plea is sun kept open that Mahometsn Arabs
sfu iustgators, aud raiders, and traders that Mahom-
etan governmental exchequers are swollen by the
slave tariffs, that Mahometan countries alone furnish
the markets which support the trade; and that the
harems OF Mahometan rulers, crowded with i'm
hour and eat bo
which stimulates the demand
1t Is Mahometansm IN the concrete, in the length
and breadth Of It's influence, and in the widespread
growth Of Its bitter fruits, that the humane sentiment
OF all civilized lands is now challenging But since
60 X. L. appeals TO the Koran, and thus TO the
author Of the Koran, we accept the reference, and
we shall find that both Mahomets teaching and his
ample Justify the very tactics by which Mahometan
raiders desolanng large districts to-day.
According TO Sales, whose translation OF the Koran
y chief authority, tho law Of Mahomet gave to
surrounding nations three alternatives when Of
conquest was declared, viz either to embrace Islam
at the outset in which case they shared the privileges
as well duties OF other Moslems,
secondly to submit and pay tribute Win
out resistance, or thirdly, " 10 decide the quarrel
by the sword, in which last case, II the Moslems
prevail the women and children which are made
captvcs become absolute slaves and tho men taken
m battle may either be slain, unless they turn
Mahometans, otherwise disposed OF at the pleasure
Of the prince (saless Preliminary Discourse Sec VIZ
Now this Is precisely what petty Mahometan chiefs
like the bloody Samadu doing on the borders of
Western soudan. They could not have more con-
venient creed for their purpose The heather tribes
around them obduraie enough to love liberty and
fight for their families and their homes and there
fore the third alternative becomes the rule The
example OF Mahomet also, like his precept
Sales tells us that In the early and impecunious
days OF his aposileship he rcsorted 10 raids upon
the caravans Of the Korelsh (heathens for the
sinews Of war, the first party consisting Of no
more than nine men who intercepted and pundered
caravan belonging to that tribe, and In the action
took two prisoners And he adds 4" But what es-
tablished his affairs very much. and was the founda-
ton on which he built all his succeeding greatness
was tho gaining Of tho battle Of Badr Some
reckon no less than twenty-seven expeditions wherein
Mahomet was personally present In nine OF which he
gave battle" ubid, Sec. H.
This ia precisely the kind Of raldIng on helpless
and unohendlng tribes that FL Mahdi Is engaged in
IN time In ancient Arabia II justified Itself on
the plea that Ishmael had been cast out with every
mans hand turned against him, and therefore It
but Just that his hand should BIO turned against
every man. have always had a good deal Of
sympathy for Ishmaei poor Walt Of the desert but
he has been good while in getting even with man
kind. His putatve descendants, the Arabs, have
always been robbers and are robbers stll whether
In tho haunts OF tho Syrian Bedouin or on the
borders of Sahara, and the world is getting tired of
their depredatIors As Victor Hugo said of Napolcon's
career Of boodshcd, Tho eternal fitness of things
cries out against them"
Your correspondent quotes the defence made by the
Turkish Minister to Belgium, which was published
IN Belgian paper in August last when Cardinal
Lavgere was pleading for Africa, but he does not
give the Cardinals reply based on his long residence
|
l. do not know in Africa q single Mahometan
STATE great or small the sovereign OF which does not
permit and more often himself practice upon his
own subjects, and In ways tho most barbarous
atrocty, the hunting and sale of slaves.
.. Throughout all Africa It Is only Mahometans
who organize and conduct the bands who ravago II
by slave raids and by the sale Of slaves.
trade Is prohibited by severe laws, imposed by
Christian powers, single Mahometan who does not
advocate slavery on principle declaring himself ready
| 10 buy sell black slaves.
T. / know personally In Asiatc Turkey and in the
provinces Of Africa which belong to the ottoman
Emplrc large number Of places y where the sale Of
slaves ana S ' Of If S sad ahe
o. Never, TO my knowledge, has any mutt, teacher,
other reader or interpreter of the Koran protested,
either I'm Africa or I'm tho other regions referred To-,
against this Infamous traffic the contrary, In their
conversation they recognize IL all as authorized by
g. Never, 10 my knowledge, has any cadI, or
Mahometan judge (who must Judge only according
mentaricsl, pronounced judgment which implied the
condemnation OF slavery; on the contrary they have
protested In this matter the same opinions as the
teachers.
II 60 X LD discredts the statements
Of Cardinal and has forgotten all the
chapters Of horrors given by Livingstone
and by Stanley and by Burton, who traced his way
over the sandblown deserts by the lines OF whItened
skulls which marked the paths of the Arab slave
caravans, viii refer HIM TO Professor DrImmond's
account of the desolatcd regions Lake Nyassa,
or to the boodcudlng recltals given in The London
Standard" OF September, 1883, by English civilian.
in regard 10 tho devastation and misery caused by
the proseytng raids OF samadu
Your correspondent closes hts article with solemn
appeal, IN which he says "Thls year marks the
seventh century OF a n)able crusade, but II Is 10
be- hoped that IN The seven bnndfla years fai have
elapsed since saadins time the Christian I'D has
learned better than TO attempt conversion with the
sword even with something other than a specous
pretcxt," Bret Hartc charged the heather ohIneeT
with slipping 2 new card into the game so nnocently
this change OF the Issue from Bsmarks slave blockade
10 the conversion OF Africa to Christianity. No one
could bu asOhisbed at the real errand Indicated
han the Iron Chancellor himself and bis equally
49,. IyIlas