Iron County register., 1893-07-20
A Mohammedan Missionary.

Abdurrahin Effendi, an Egyptian
Mohammedan, has come to this coun-
try as missionary for the propagation
of his faith. He believes that Moham-
mechanism .'is destined to be the relip-
ion of all intelligent people, for, in
his opinion, christianity is evidently
failure"
OF course, a Mohammedan mission
airy has as much right to come here as
we have to send Christian missionaries
to Mohammedan countries In this
republic the liberty of conscience is
complete. A mosque is as allowable
under the law as church So long as
a preacher keeps within the lines of
public order and decorum, he can ex-
pound any religious doctrine which he
thinks necessary for the salvation of
souls: and apart from its sanction of
polygamy there is nothing in Moham-
mechanism offensive to the public NOR
ais. 1t is true that the Koran in some
passages seems SO justify the enforce
ment OF religion by the sword, but as a
matter of fact, Christianity itself has
relied in past times on violent means
for its propagation. When men once
believe that they have the only relig-
ion that will save souls it is easy for
them to excuse persecution as method
of overcoming those who refuse to ac-
cept it, on the theory that the tempor-
al torture of few will conduce to the
eternal good of an untold multitude.
The Koran is a dull and disjointcd
book, not likely eyer to become popular
in Western civilizations; but in general
its moral tone is high and pure. The
early spread of MOmmedanism was ac-
companied by an important moral
reformation of the people embracing it.
Its distinguishing feature is its
lnonOtheism, and because of that it is
bitterly hostile to Christianity. in
whose doctrine OF the Trinity it thinks
is to be found the pOlythcisn against
which it is violently arrayed. To the
Mohammedan the Christian is an idol
alter, who rejects the one and only God,
an intidel of the worst sort: and hence
nowhere has Christianity made 20 little
headway as in Mohammedan countries
1t is even denied that any adult Moham-
medan has ever been genuinely con-
verted to Christianity. At any rate,
the number of converts has been small,
though the labor expended in the task
of conversion has been enormous and
long continued. Neither has Moham-
mechanism succeeded in pushing itself
into the Christian civilization of the
West. or recent years it has progress
ed with rapid strides, but only to the
eastward and in Africa. 1t is not a
religion which appeals to the Western
mind and heart, and it is not adapted |
to the civilization of the Occident.
Its sanction or liberation of polyga- |
my is fatal to it in the monogamic |
West, for thereby it comes in conflict |
with deep-seated principle guarded |
and enforced by legal enactments, and |
further preserved by the requirements
of our civilization. Undoubtedly |
polygamy is only an incident of
MOhammedanism, whose central and |
cSSSHbltl uOClFlueS lOt uepoUUcuG
on it; but the whole attitude of Islam
toward woman is Orientally and radical
1y opposed to the Western spirit. In
practice, Mohammedanism tends to the
degradation of women, according to
our ideas; Christianity tends to their
elevation and emancipates them from
the slavish restraints of the East.
1t is true that there was period in
the early history of Christianity, in the
third and fourth centuries, when wOm
en- were held In subjection as tempters
of men, but that feeling soon passed
away, and now they are the mainstay
of the Church and its highest glory.
Western civilization. too, has gradually
removed the conventional restrictions
on feminine activity, and the time is
apparently approaching when advanc-
ing democracy will put women on a full
political equality with men.
Thus the separation between Moham-
mechanism and the spirit of the Christ
ian West is all the time broadening.
The two are more than ever irrecon-
cilable. MOhammedanism is religion
which may be adapted to Oriental
society and social customs, but it is
incongruOus with Occidental life. 1t
could never prosper in the West with |
out a complete and radical social trans
formation which would reverse the
course of our civilizatiOn.-NesC York
Sun.