The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-07-19

MOSQUES Oh DCIlu GNU NcA
Mohamn,eda Sects and What They
BeIieve-PeePs Into Hell ana
Heaven.
Copyright, 1910, by Frank q. car
penter.)
DELHI, 1910.
Surrounded by the mighty ruins of
Akba and Shah Jehan. the Moham-
medan ernperors Of lndlas past, L
write Of the Mohammedans of 1ndlas
Moguls overran this country six or
seven hundred years ago They
ravaged it from one end to the other,
enslaved the Hindoos and built here
some Of the most palaces
and mightiest fortiications the world
has ever seen. Ihey orSahlzeu q
great government, n for generations
they ruled supreme. AS to the Won
ders of their remains, l shall write
farther on. This letter is about their
descendants. The Mohammedans of
India now number one-dfth Of the
whole population. We are accustonl-
ed to look upon India as a land of
the Hindoos. 1t is so; but it has one
Mohammedan for every three HI
docs, and in muscle and in ~independ-
ence of spirit he is the stronger. lie
forms a big element in the unrest or
today, and if d civil war should occur,
or the British leave India, ne Will
IdNdSc the ldllu HUN JIG NAiN W tAo
other.
Have you ever thought Of the ex-
tent of Mohammedan India? The fol-
lowers of the prophet are scattered
all over this country and in some OF
the provinces they are in the ma
jority. There are 62,oo0,oOo, all
told. This is more than the entire
population of the German empire. 1t
is almost twice as many as the mo-
hanmedans of Turkey, Arabia, PaleS-
tine and Syria, and about O~ne-fourth
of all the Mohammedans Of the world.
The MollaInnieefan Worid.
Two or three years ago there was a
missionary conference at Cairo, which
estimated the number of followers of
the prophet. 1t put it at 232, 00O, 600.
A leading German authority makes
the Mohammedans 100000, 600; and |
have seen statistics which claim that
they number all told as much as 800
100000. Putting ii at 240,000,0O to
be on the safe side, the Indian Mo-
hammedans are one-fourth of the
whole. They stand ahead of those of
the Turkey empire, who are $1,000
600, and after them come those of
China, Persia and then various parts
of the African continent. Europe has
only about 5000 600 Mohammedans.
Russia in Asia has IA, 600, coo, and we
have at least o~ne-third of a million
among the Moros of the Philippine
Islands.
| found Mohammedans all over the
Dutch East Indies. They are IN
BOTneo, Sun1atra and the CeleDeS.
There are more than twenty-five mil
hons Of them in Java alone, and one
finds their mosques scattered through
out the settlements along the Straits
of Malacca and about the Gulf or
Siam. The kingdom of Siam is sup
posed to be Buddhist, but it has a
:IJ;~ ~ "a ~ mot Mo-
hammedans in Burma, and l have
seen them praying with their faces
toward Mecca, in different parts of
the Chinese empire. Indeed. | was
surprised to find SO many of his re-
Iigion in Picking. China, all told, has
from twenty to forty million follow
ers Of the prophat. 1t has one prov
ince which ontains 5000, 600, another
which has 5000, 900 and another
1000, 600. Altogether one-fifth of the
of the whole population of Asia is
Mohammedan, and they form the
luchistan, Persia, Arabia, Palestine,
Syria, Asia Minor and Chinese Turk
eStan.
African Mohammedans.
AS to Africa, that is a Mohamme-
a continent in that it has more Mo-
hammedans tina members Of any
other religion. Three or four years
ago I went around the whole Of Africa
and [ was seldom out of sight Of a
Mohammedan prayer rug Morocco
has magnificent mosques and in AL
geria and Tunis there are fanatics
who frequently endanger the lives of
Christians. There are mosques all
along the Niger, and especially in the
count about Timbuktu. Every oasis
of the Sahara has them, and Barbary
has some of the most intOlerant of
these believers. Egypt is almost al
together Mohammedan and, in fact,
north of twenty degrees, 30 per cent
of the people say their prayers
facing Mecca. There are 1000, 900
MohaInmedanS in the Congo Free
State and others south of the Zambesi
In both northern and central Africa
the Mohammedans are alive. Their
ro1iOinN ir ainr Srorn- -