Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-02-19


viz God. His angels. His books. His
prophets. day Of judgment and predes-
tination Of god and evil The belief is
monotheistic, the first clause being
There is no god by Allah" Jesus Christ.
in the sense in which Christianity ac-
cepts Him. has no existence. Mohammed
was originally Jew. and many OF the
commendable features OF his creed (and
there are some good features. as is true
Of every religion. no matter how corrupt
were taken from his knowledge and train
ing as a Jew. Also this doctrine Of only
one God, while seemingly good. is very
different from the Mosaic account. for
ii teaches OF an austeTe and sewers God
above man. and loses sight OF the free
dom and rights OF man.. so God is re-
moved from man and is OF little conse-
queuce in the life on earth. Angels are
numerous and have various duties; they
are both good and bad, and through the
fear OF the bad Ones, Jim. millions OF fg-
norant mOslens are kept in bondage. and
the belief in them has caused thousands
OF degrading and foolish superstitions.
God is believed to have sent down 1O
sacred books: 100 OF these were lost, and
the four left are the Law CMosesl. The
Psalms. The Gospel Of Jesus and the
Koran It Is claimed that all these except
been corrupted and the precepts abro-
gated BIZ the sacred book, the Koran.
This Koran is a small book of 104 chap
tiers. and treats OF many curious things
and foolish Much OF Il is disconnected
and without rhyme or reason. but there
are some beautiful passages The chap
tiers bear such fanciful headings as The
Cow" The Bee Women" THE Ant"
etc. IT Is "a piecemeal OF fact and fancy.
laws and legends and has no chronology
cal ORDER Patriarchs OF the Bible are
written about and unknown Arabic
prophets as well as many great men of
profane history Moslems claim belief
in many prophets OF the Bible. but. in
fact, little importance is attached 10 any
except AIohammed.
Much space is given to the last judg-
ment in the Koran. and II is terribly
pictured. and heaven is made a place OF
physical and even sexual delights.
The Koran teaches that God wills good and
evil. and the belief results in a fatalism thai
Is paralytic- No one can escape that which II
predsstined for him. hence hope pertshes anu
evils are stoiCaIly accepted This fatalism has
much 70 do in making Mohammedanism the
failure IL is In influencing its adherents fol
god In spite u this. the short creed, There
Is god but God. Mohammedan Is the apostle
times per day b. every Moslems Il is taught u
children in infancy and IL is heard everywhere
and all through the day and night Prayer Is
equally incumbent on al believers and they
mere form. consisting Of vain repetitions, and
the Arabic Language must be used in this as
vel in repeating the creed often tie
BneanIng of the words 4 entirely unknown. Il.
prayer one must face Mecca. the Holy City,
i've times each day, caller announcing the
times. and he must PROSTATE himself
There Is also observed a month OF fasting
for purincation- This works severe hart-
ship On many and Is degrading rather than
. No. aHFma - aHnH
80 sunset. and at night the feasting and rev
elry are OF the basest kind
The pilgrimages Of great hOrdes 20 Mecca
each year 20 kiss the holy stone in the kaaha.
which stone - probably merely a meteorite.
are made whenever al all POSSIBLE, and oftela
the serereSt hariships are endured in going
These are some OF the elements Of belief that
are observed IN such way as 10 result in low
ideals and vicious social practices NOLAN
med's own life. while having many excellent
traits. was 80 full Of faults and base practices
that his followers could not be expected TO live
q high and holy life PolvEamy Is freely prac-
ticed and sanctioned; divorce can be had with.
cut difficulty on the part Of the husband. and
sacrual slavery. with open markets. though de-
MED IS known to exist in many places. The
condition Of women both before and after mar
rage Is worse than in some heather countries
The iliteracy Is appalling. ranging from Is
per cent TO 100 as a rule. An awakening has
been made in some places. a crisis is on ia
many ana a Is Thought thar the opu.ortunIty
10 reach the MOsiem world with Christianity
r. now very good. although Il is a difficult
A4EtA 20 MNEh anu much effort must De Speni
in educating by sending out literature in dir
fereut languages spoken and In preventing the
spread OF the religion into other countries anu
the further spread i'm countries already partial
" MosIem- For be IL known that Mohamme-
dams are perhaps the most tremendously mis-
sionary people. after one manner Of missior-
AIRY effort. in the world Their cry Of old was
'.Moslem or the sword" and they proceeded
along that line
The spread Of Afohammedanism has beef.
most remarkable. and one IL at a loss to IN
derEtand fully the cause. but due consideration.
Of the condition Of the people among whom q.
spread the Inducements in a temporal wa
that were held out and the dreadful alterna-
tive II they did not accept the religion will
help 70 solve the mystery. The adherents OF
1fohamUedanism now number about one-sev-
euth the population OF the world. and IL Il
perhaps the greatest non-Christian religion.
] he territory comprises most OF Africa. WITH
fifty million believers: Southern and Western
Asia with 10 millions: Europe. with five MIL
lions and many islands Of the sea
The religion is still spreading very rapidly in
rome quarters One-third OF Africa's popula-
ton are Moslems. and unless the churcL,
awakes 20 the peril. IL Is said she may agar.
be defeated in Africa One-fifth OF the people
Of Asia believe In Islam. the greatest strength
being IN India
Many Moslem countries under Nosieu.
rule are now under the protection Of Christian
governments such Great Britain. France
Germany and Russia This is a decided ad-
rantage and should greatly encourage mission