The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-08-28

skin shah be Well burned. We win
give them other skins in exchange
that they may taste the sharper. pun
I i@nnent; for God is mighty and wise
Through the Koran he not only
( credited Cod with the creation and
with 4 care for all the wants Of man.
but he also declared that God de
celVed and misled some. while he
guided others Alright. In one reveia-
ton he makes God say. They no
accuse our signs Of faIsehood are deaf
and dumb, walking in darkness. God
VIII lead INTO error whom he pleaSeth
ana whom he pleaScth he Viii put in
/ the right way
lie accepted the old Testament. ana
/ counted Chtist among the prophets In
| one Of the revelations he declares
mat he IS commanded to say: We
believe in God and that which has
| been sent down unto US, and that
which hath been sent down unto Abra-
| ham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and
Jacob, and the tribes. and that which
was delivered unto Moses and Jesus
land that which was delivered unto
! the prophets from their Lord; we
make no distinction between any OF
! them and to God we are resigned"
! In the beginning of his ministry
! his revelations We're friendly to the
Jews whom he at first attempted to
| Iconciliate, but when they rejected
! him, he gave out other revelations
which treated the Jews with great Sc
IVerity. He started out to rely upon
| reason and an appeal to conscience
land by persuasion he formed the nu-
cleus Of his church, but as he grew
stronger his revelations became mOlr
Warlike n tone, and at last he com
mitted the Almighty to relentless war
! fare against the infidel. Here is thr
| language which he fmputes to Cod
! 20 prophet, wage war against the un-
believers and the hypOcriteS, and be
severe unto them, for their dwelling
! shall be hell; an unhappy journey
shall be thither,' At another time,
| he told his followers that they wouIC
be asked whether it was proper to wal
/ in the sacred month and he instructed
them to answer: THE temptation to
idolatry is more grieVous than to kill
| in the sacred months"
On many questions the advice which
he gave through the Koran was all
that could be desired. He urged jus
tice in dealing between man and man,
and strict administration of trusts,
, care for the orphan and widow, and
) charity toward the poor. He con-
demned the use of intoxicating liquor
land gambling, saying: They Will ask
tthee concerning wine and lots; an
fsWer in both there is great sin, and
lalso some things or use unto men;
sbut their sinfulness Is greater than
their use AS to aims giving, the
measure was to be, what We have tc
spare.
While plurality of wives was al
IloWed-and Mohamet exercised the
privilege to the limit, furnishing a
new revelation when necessary to jus
fifty Il new marriage-the virtue OF
the women is scrupulously guarded
by the MoSlem code. The women are
not allowed to mingle with men anc
this is one Of the Weaknesses OF Mo
hamlnedaniSm. In MOhammedan so
ciety the influence of women counts
for little and as q result the followers
of Islam are SluggardS in intellectual
pursuits. In the Philippines the Mo
/ hammedanS form the lowest stratum
of the population; in Java they are
just awakening to the necessity fOl
eGucation: in India they are behinC
the Hindu, and still further behino
the ParSee; in Egypt they bring VI
the rear as they do also in Syria anc
| Palestine. Only where they have come
into contact with Christian civilization
have they been stimulated to the dis,
cussion of schools ana questions o.
government.
II must be admitted, however, tha:
some of the customs of Europe anc
America have tended to prejudice tn,
followers of Mohamet against western
civilization. one who was in attend
recent Morocco conference told nl'
of the astonishment of some of the
Mohammedan representatives at Wha'
they saw. When the ladies appeared
in evening dress, they, remembering
the yelled ladies of their own land
asked: DO your women always dress
this way?" When wine was brough,
on. they asked: DO all your peopls
drink wine?' And when. after The
dinner, dancing began, they asked
DO the women dance with their Owl
husbands only?' The answers y
some of these inquiries seemed to as
tonlsh them.
There are several Mohammeda1
sects, some known as DervisheL
There are dancing Dervishes ami
bowling Deryishes. We saw the la
ter variety at one of their weekly
meetings. The members recte in cor
cert: God is great" their voices ri>-
ing as they warm up; they bend ovd
and sway to and fro until they are
exhausted. There is Il sort of weird
melody about their chant. and ther
endurance is surprising. We watched
them for half an hour. and they bert
almost double. going through this mo
!, ton from 80 To 80 times per minute
: At the close of the exercises Cor per
formance) the priest walked over tie
bodies of several children to he'll
them,
While Mohamme edanism, as estab-
lished by its founder still holds
the allegiance of many scores of mil
lions. influencing them for good II
many respects and for evil in sone
While these orthodox followers of tie
! prophet kneel at stated hours eadh
day and pray toward Mecca, all #
them who have not done 50, hopirg
, to make the pilgrimage commando
: of them-while these are keeping tie