Evening star., 1932-07-10

fighting men. But they progressed cul-
turally only when the Interpretation of
their religion was liberal.
When the CaliphS were seated at
Bagdad In the Golden Age of Abbassides
and when Harun al -Rashid welded tae
sword Of Islam, a liberal spirit was
abroad. Science and culture f1ourished.
Then Arab and Moorish learning gave
us the sciences Of astronomy. mathe-
matics and early navigation; when the
greatest scholars of the age were found
In Mahometan universities But with
the coming of the Turks. the sack of
Bagdad, the breakup Of Abbasside rule
in Islam, there followed six centuries
Of stagnation And during these six
centuries. and especially during the
nineteenth century. the material power
Of Christendom waxed and exercised an
increasing pressure on the 1slamtc
peoples.
the only Independent Mahometan peo-
Piles were the much-weakened Turks,
who, In their turn, were depressing the
Arabs and other co-religionistS under
their rule, and few tribes in the Atlas
Mountains resisting with ever-diminish-
ing hopes Of success the advance Of
French power southwark from Morocco.
The remainder Of the Mahometan peo-
pies from the Atlantic on the west to
Pekin In the east we're under the rule,
direct or indirect. of non -Moslem gov
ernments. England, France. Holland,
Russia, China, Italy-all claimed vari-
Gus sections of the Mahometan world.
Partitioned Persian Nation.
And now, what changes!
Prior to the World War and the Rus
sian Revolution, Persia, one of the most
ancient of the Mahometan Kingdoms,
was divided into spheres of influence
between Britain and Russia. The Lib
eral English foreign minister, Grey,
signed an agreement with his fellow
Christian, the Cars minister of foreign
affairs, to partition Persia between them.
Any attempt at resistance on the part
Of the Persian government was sup
pressed either by the Russian Cossacks
or the equally effective diplomatic pres
sure of the British. An American
financial adviser, endeavoring to restore
health to the Persian treasury, was ex-
PEELED from the country, the Shah being
compelled to dismiss him.
Today a new Shah, of humble origin,
formerly a groom, is ruler of an in
tensely nationaliStic Persia, which has
thrown off Russian influence and is rid
ding itself as fast as possible of British
influence. Once the British resident
in the Persian Gulf was the unchal-
lenged ruler of the coast line and, in
fact. all Of Southern Persia. Today the
Persian government will not even
acknowledge him as resident; it insists
on addressing him as consul general and
heaps indignities upon him. A British
imperial air line traverses the southern
part of Persia, vital link in air COM
municationS between England and India
by way of Egypt. Persian nationalism Is
so militant that it puts every difficulty
in the way Of this air line despite agree
ments and treaties, and is compelling
England, at great inconvenience. to
divert it further south along the other
coast of the Persian Gulf.
This new pan-Islanic movement is
being deliberately fostered under set
tied plan. Its two main centers of
activity are the Azhar University in
Cairo and the Central Mahometan Com
mtttee in Delhi. The university at
Cairo sends cut missionaries who pene-
trate most of Africa. Their teaching is
less religious than political. Islam
knows no racial or caste distinctions and
its missionaries are deliberately stirring
the African native races into revolt
against white ascendancy.
Indian Union Is Seen.
In India the Moslems, hitherto the
supporters of British Imperialism. affect
to believe the British rule will be with
drawn in a decade and that they must
then be prepared to unite against a
new Hindu Imperialism. From Delhi
through the Punjab, the northwest
frontier province, Baluchistan and Per-
sia there is direct communication with
Turkey, Arabia and North Africa. The
Hindu majority in India Is beginning
to look with apprehension at this new
movement for their Moslem fellow citi-
zens make no secret of their intention
to call on the hosts OF Islam for support
In the event OF serious communal trou-
bles in India after the British have
handed over the government to In
dians. The fierce communal riots and
massacres in Bombay, Cawnpore. and
Calcutta were the ripples on the sur
face indicating the coming gale.
There is powerful school Of Indian
Mahometan thought which aims at
partitioning Hindustan. The plan is to
combine the provinces Of Bengal and
the Punjab, where about half the in
hahitants are Mahometans, with the
newly created northwest frontier prov
ince and the proposed new Province OF
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