Arizona republican., 1903-04-12

snort II it is not as pio" '' iioii 5 nature, and as high as niaH ioItlest aspira tions, then that religion IS un-
 worthy of humanity. Arraigned before , such a tribunal, the unWorthhess Of Mohammedanism becomes apparent. It does not teach the law of love as the |, basis of morality It does not believe in the fatherhood of God or in the
 brotherhood of man. Love, which is the leaven of all human relations, is practically eliminated, and Mohamme- danism thus failing to call forth so
 essential q part of mans nature. mus;
 be condemned.
 Christianity pleads: God is love; ; trust Him." Mohammedanism com-
 mands: God is will: obey Him. Mohammedanism is sterile. barren ana irksome in it's principle: Christianity is
 fruitful and permeating-a yoke that Is easy, 9 burden that is light. The Christian God is in us and with us, and it is the delight of His children to breathe out their souls in prayer to Him. And here we are brought face to : face with a strange fact. It is difficult to see what place prayer can possibly have in the Mohammedan theology. and yet we have previously spoken of the humble devotion of the faithful.
 However. we shall understand this per- fectly when we remember that even : prayer springs from obedience to Allah, and the devotion that has been so eXtolled, like most of the liturgy, Is a mere Journalism arising from no loyu for or higher yearnings after an inn
 mite Father.
 Mohammedanism, more than any - other religion has gained It's pIoseiytes ) by force of arms. It is only in keeping with the prevailing ideas of that reilg ion that the true believer should hate infidels and discharge the Godihe ! duty of making war upon them (even : if connected by ties of consangunity) To the Moslem. then, warfare is re- ligious duty and every crusade an az gression on behalf of Him to whom all men owe life and allegiance To this barbaric principle may be ascribed the ' principal motives that impeIed Mo- ! hammedans throughout their long '' career of bloody warfare and :nhuman Il massacres. It was a natural outcome Il of what they conceived as q religious duty.
 The effect of all these detrimental : influences may, I think be found mani = fested in the character Of the individual
 Moslem. The despotic principe, which T holds so prominent a position in Islam .. seems to have infected society and 0 government as well. for nowhere is Q tyranny more cruel and arbitrary than c in Mohammedan countries. The relis- 2 ious slave becomes the political slave Q also.
 I MChammedanism was born in the = orient, was the product of oriental f ideas of baser kind, and las never il ventured beyond the orient in perma |, nent conquest. Yet the part it has T played in history cannot but give rise a to the double question: "Is Mohamme- ~ danism of divine origin? Has it's in1U ;. ence on the whole been for good or fo1 = evil?' These are not idle questions . and upon their answers harg solutions
 to many more important problems. Il | not to the supernatural, to what Ol f whom can we ascribe its rapid incep- q tion and growth, it's miraculous unify- = ing power as eXerted over a thousand l. warning Arab tribes? To what can VIZ 2 ascribe it's dominion over 200, 900. 900 o :. souls? There is no one who will say . that it's influence has been entirely or | the side of evil: but I think it can pt fl just as certainly asserted that it's litti: q mission for good has long come to aT y end. For, while Christianity admit l. of almost infinite progress. Mohamme- II danism raises the devotees to a certaIr
 stage and leaves them there, and is f impotent to lift them higher.
 q An even cursory observer canno g help but be impressed by the fact tha = Mohammedanism, after having st I much in common with Christianity, ye Il differences, apparently so slight, havt r resulted in so great a contrast in tht T spiritual power of the two religions. Il We have said that Christianity ans l. AIohamnledanism are the only two mis i' siOnary religions. But what divers Il methods do they employ in maxim. converts. The one does it by the eros l. and by love: the other by hatred an
 the sword; the one by assimilation, tn d other by subjection. The theme O |; Christendom is mercy. loving kindness ,- and charity: that of Islam cruelty an e blind submission enforced by tyranny $ The memory of devastating war e waged by Mohammed; the atrociou 's cruelties perpetrated by his follower e upon those of unlike faith: the fac g that polygamy exists and was sane ,- toned by the prophet himself-all con c spire to breed an antipathy within u = that is not wholly unjustifiable.
 With the watchword, "The sword i
 the key to heaven and hell" Moslen u soldiers, from the time of Mohammed'
 triumphant march from Medina t 7" Mecca. at the head of an army tel 'r thousand strong. through the year n. when the sand of the desert. converte 'I into explosive powder. blazed heaven d high from Delhi to Granada" to thi e- very day when the Turkish devotees l. with uplifted swords transform th y: homes cf peaceable Christians, iron a the Euphrates to the Bosphorus. into h wilderness Of blood and fire. the caree
 of Islam has ever been the concret 0, expression of fiendish brutality.
 D Cold indeed must be the heart tha ;l is not touched by the story of the atr, ts ciCus deeds of the Moslem Turk | l. Arme nia. The tales of the dead ar lt s1d. those of the living more sad. Blu '- the history of those awful days. whe pr the tides of massacre. lust. and rapin