The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-06-04
Twentieth Century Egypt
w. The Din,n,ing Crescent of IsIam
By Frederic ]. Haskin.


Cairo, Egypt.-The great center Of
Mohammedan learning and culture II
the University of El-Azhar in Cairo
More than q thousand years old, deep
Nv incrusted with reverential TRADITION
holding to the anenent faith OF the
prophet of Arabia. El-Azhar commando
the respect of every true believer
Islam Men come here from Morocco
on the west and India on the east,
from Russia at the north and me
Sulu Islands at the south, to drink In
the faith and prepare themselves to
become teachers and holy men in the
mosques of their distant homes. What
Mecca is to the devotion OF Islam,
ElrAzhar Is to Its militant spirit. From
this university Islam hopes to accom-
plish the intellectual conquest OF the
world.
The absurdty of these hopes ana the
fact that the religion of Mohammed
is moribund. is proved beyond the
question of a doubt to the occidental
who visits El-Azhar The university
was once a really great institution
OF learning. Eight or nine hundred
years ago II was the center of that
profound Arabic culture which gave
to Europe the groundwork of nearly
all its present-day science and engi-
nering skill. Today. In the brilliancy
of the Twentieth Century, when
science has called to heights before
undreamt of. El-Azhar knows nothing
OF the great advance.
Its curriculum consists OF the Koran.
the Sacred Traditions and the Sacred
Law of Islam. These three branches
OF learning are expounded to more
than ten thousand earnest students
gathered from the four corners Of the
Moslem world. Early this year the
government. with the active participa-
tion of the Khedive, attempted to
institute some educational reforms In
the university. 1t was proposed ia
add mathematics and documentary
science to the course of study. The
Ulema, the holy men who rule the
university, objected TO the innovation
but the Influence of the Khedive
caused them to give q reluctant con-
sent.
But the English reformers Of the
Moslem faith had reckoned without
their hosts. The ten thousand stu
dents OF El-Azhar promptly went out
on a strike, picketed the sacred pre-
cincts of the mosque and declared a
boycott on "scab" holy men and divin-
ity students. The government resolv-
ed to compel obedience to its will. and
thousands of the striking students
were arrested. So far did the author
tiles go that Moslem soldiers and po-
licemen actually invaded the Mosque
without removing their shoes. an I'M
precedented and horrible proclamation
of the Sacred Law.
Then rose the faithful, young and
old, educated and ignorant. The gov
eminent had transgressed the law.
The Khedive had been duped by the
infldel dogs of Christian English. The
students were right. Students ha-
rangued the people from street cor
ners. They declared that they came
to El-Azhar to learn the Faith of Is
lam that they might teach and preach
in the Mosques. Ihey were to be holy
men, they did not need to know
science. They were not to be mere
clerks and counter-jumpers, what did
they need with arithmetic? They
swore they would not receive any OF
the infdel Christians contaminated
learning. And all OF this in sublime
ignorance of the fact that all Europe
knows OF mathematics 1t learned from
Arab scholars OF that very university.
nearly a thousand years ago.
The students won. The government
saw that its effort to reform the sa-
cred university would result In moth
ing but trouble and that 1t might pre-
cipitate a fanatical agitation against
the Christians. Thus ended the great
students strike, and the curriculum
at the seat of learning and culture Of
Islam again is restricted to the Koran
the Hadith or Sacred Traditions, and
the Sheriat or Sacred Law, True, tbs
compromise effected by the govern
ment provided for an elective course
in other branches of learning, but II
would be worth a students life t.
defy the will of his fellows and take
1t.
Lord Cromer, the British pro-eonsu
who ruled over Egypt for a quarter
of a century, once asked the head OF
El-Azhar whether his professor
| taught that the earth went round the
sun, or the sun round the earth. H'
replied that he was not sure. tina
some nations held one way and som'
another, that his general impression
was that the sun went round tbs
| earth, but that he had never paiC
much attention to the matter and tina
| the subject was too unimportant Il
merit serious discussion by anybody
He did not have even the holiness Of
| the faith of the Rev. John Jaspar, o.
Richmond, Virginia, who proclaimed
that 1.-THE Sun do move" proved 4
by the Bible and dehed science
Yet Moslem boys and girls are
flocking TO the schools provided b,
American missionaries. Those young
or people who do not intend 10 entei
the priesthood have keen desire 70