Evening star., 1901-01-11
JEWS AND MAHOMEIANS
RELATION BETWEEN THEM DuEEr.
CULT no UNDERSTAND.
federation is Extended to the Former
In Most Mo.lem Countries-Afghan
Descent From Esau.
From the London spect,to,.

From the Londo6 Spectator.
IL Is very difficult, at least for observer
VINO are outside their community, to under
stand the precise relation between Jews an
Mahometans. Though the latter in som
places persecute thsm horribly. as. for in
stance, in Morocco, where the life Of Jew
unless he is protected by a European con
sul' Is hardly Of more value than that Of al
ANIMAL they are, we imagine. held to b.
nearer to the ruling caste in MussulmaI
countries, more like kinsfolk, than they arr
held In any Christian country, except per
maps England, where the distinction o.
creed and race is very often forgotten. Thil
Is Que, we imagine, first of all, to the fac
that the Mussulman races which have borne
rule have always been Asiatics, and have
recognized in Jews that comfy of Asia
Which Is at least as strong the bond
Wmcn' when men Of other colors assai
5nenl, pinds the white peoples together fol
aelense. A Jew and an Armenian are safe
IN many Asiatic bazaars where European
II recognized as such, would owe his life to
some personal or political protection. 1t
Was Was this comfy, perhaps, rather than ira
uluonai history, which induced the Persian
monarchs through so many ages to recog-
nlze the descendants of David as princes of
the captivity, and leave to them delegated
| authority as of princes over their own peo-
pie
Religious Kfnship.
Inere Is something more. however, in the
| relation OF Jews to Mahometans, who,
thougn regarding them as infidels, and
sometimes as specially offensive infidels,
Still find 1t easier to form relations with
them than with Europeans. Mahomet him.
ser, we fancy, never quite knew whether
ne tnought OF them as sacred people or as
| q people specially inimical to himself, and
therefore to God. He certainly hoped at one
| e liihe LOT their support, and was even in
cHned to make Of Jerusalem the keblah or
sacred point, to which his followers should
turn IN prayer. He mixed Jewish legends
win ms own revelations, and to this
nour the only history of the world in which
MManometants man place any faith is a variant
upon the history in the Old Testament The
khailfs occasionally raised Jews to posts of
great confidence, and in Spain under the
ARAB or Moorish dynastiss they were al
lowed low TO claim position almost Of equality.
ihey were sometimes mobiles, so far as
there can be mobiles under the Mussulman
dynasty, they filled the professions, and 1t
is stiii doubtful whether most Of the high
clVlllzatlon OF Granada and Seville might
not be fairly ascribed to Jewish intelligence
ana freedom from scruple in investigation
Even now, though the Turk will tolerate no
equal near MIN. and though the Jew, who
ls essentially Arab. is as far divided in blood
from the Turk, who is essentially Moneol
as the European Is, the Jew sometimes OBJ
Iains IN turkey a very remarkable position
He is said to rule in Salonica for instance
in in way which would not be tolerated in
the case OF any Christian sect, and to use
mis- curious. underlined influence with the
omclals-Which does not wholly depend on
brlbery-greatly to his own commercial ad-
vantage. - ~
The MussuIman Attitude.
The Mussuman feeling. in fact, toward
the Jew appears to resemble closely that of
a european man toward a kinsman, who
Is regarded as mauvais sujet to be avoid
eo and kept down, Or If necessary to be
given up to the authorities. but neverthe-
less to be reluctantly acknowledged to be
k1nsman. The feeling toward him NAV
De as bitter as in any continental coun-
try, but 1t is differentiated by the fact that
the contempt Is not complete. A curious
instance of this has just come to our knowl-
eoge. Inc present writer ought to have
heard OF 1t long ago, but there are strange
lacunae In the knowledge Of all men, even
upon subjects which intensely interest them.
1t Is procianation issued by Abdurrah-
man Khan, the present Ameer Of Afghanis-
tan in 1882. addressed to his entire people,
and, we believe, posted up in Herat In
this singular paper the ameer treats the
identity of the Afghan tribes and the chill
dren of Israel as a fact known and admit
ted, narrates the history of the latter up
to the captivity with fair accuracy, and
then with one superb jump accounts for
their presence in Afghanistan by an emf
by the mercy of Allah, they were converted
to the true faith. In 1t the ameer speaks
of 'the Covenant of God made with your
ancestors and holds his people because
of that covenant and their common ances-
try bound to abstain from their incessant, |
and to him most annoying, Internal quar-
rels. 1t is simply impossible that such a |
proclamation could have been issued to any |
people who despised the lineage attributed
to them, and may, we think assume It |
to be fact that Afghans, whether or no |
they fully believe in their legendary de- |
scent from the children Of Israel, are proud |
n a ho Of nr~rutc 90
A Link Between East and West.
There is nothing, therefore, inherently
antipathetic between the Jews and the
Mussulmans, and we are driven to reflect,
as we have often been driven before,
whether the author Of Daniel Deronda"
may not have been better inspired than
some Of her critics, whether, that Is, the |
Jew may not some day turn out to be the
necessary link between the west and the
east. 1t is rather an important question,
for west and east are being driven together
as by supernatural machinery. and begin
to feel their inability to understand each
other as an immediate political and social
lmpediment. The Jews as a race under
stand both, and though they probably dis
like both. having the gravest of all rea-
sons. still there is sympathy of dislike as
we'll as Of love. and 1t often gives keen in
sight. After ALL the Book of Job is prob
ably the one poem in the world the inner
meaning and beauty Of which is as patent
to Asiatics to Europeans. We can per-
sonally testify that Asiatics understand
every word Of Bunyan's Holy War;" and
Bunyan was penetrated through and
through with thoughts which he derived
from Hebrews.
We rather wonder, all the more because
Of course we shall never know, how much
there is in the Afghan legend Of their de-
scent from the patriarchs 1t seems prob
able that they simply imagined it, as the
Romans. and after them the English Of
time. imagined their descent from
Trojans the fancy in all cases being born
If a wish for relation to a people celebrated
n the literature they most admired.
good many Of us think ourselves Of Nor
man descent on equally fanciful grounds.
Descent through the main stock OF Israel
Ia most improbable. II only because the
ace once annealed by the Babylonian cap
.ivity, has shown an incapacity for whole
sale conversion to any creed hardly to be
oaralleled in history. The sword has fail
I'd, as we'll as the scimitar, to make them
either Christians OF, Mussulmans. The ten
ribes were never lost as a body, but be-
,ame, as many Jews believe, the ancestors
If the Jews who wandered into eastern Eu-
.ope and produced the modern Ashkenazm,
and will no more be found in Afghanistan
han in America But is it quite impossible
hat the African descent is from Esau,
hat an Arab tribe, expelled by some in
orpol oorpmOffOn.e wandered east from |