Year: 1877

fraught with such stirring interest, is


but one element of a larger problem.


Is it true that, not only in the Ottoman


empire, but in all countries which ac-
,eept the creed announced by Mohammed,


that faith is principle of decay Must


we conclude, because the forms OF


society in which it is imbedded seem


for the most part to be wrecks OF tho


past, that the Moslem religion is inca


pable of readjustment, and has lost the


power of vital expansion which might


meet the pressure of rival systems by


new resistance, or break into and occupy


new spheres /? In word, what may we


believe, in view of existing indications,


to be the future of Islam


Whatever may be thought of the


Russian national Church by those who


know something of its spirit and eff


cheney, there is no doubt that the pres


ent contest is, on the face of it, a strug


gle between a Christian and a MOslem


people. It is not strange, therefore,


that the old enmity and bitterness, the


prejudice and miscOnceptiOn planted by


twelve centuries of warfare and ignOr-


ance, should warp the judgment Of some


observers. We look, however, for q


different temper and more enlightened
insight i'll certain quarters, and it really


seems as if the diudents OF the last half


century had labOred in vain when we


find such an organ of opinion as the


British Quarterly rehearsing stale de-


traction and perversions, and deduclng
from the assumed sterility of Islam its


prOximate dissolution. After denying
to the Mohammedan religion the spirit


of toleration and broad humanity as
well as assimilative power, the reviewer


charges that it engenders idOlatry no


less than fatalism and an autOcratic
polity, while it stereOtypes pOlygamy


and slavery. And finally, Mr.. Cobden's
remark is cited with approval that he
must see a Moslem ship, wholly built,


equipped, and manned by Moslems,
sailing from a Moslem port and freighted
with the products of MOslem industry
and skill, before he would believe in the
reality of Moslem civilization. Now,
there is hardly word in this Indictment
which does not contradict, distOrt, or
suppress the facts.


The time, at all events, has gone by
when it was possible to ignore or per-
vert the clear message which shines


through every Sura of the Koran, the


grand root truth of the MOhammedan
faith, namely, the unity and sovereignty
of a righteous and a merciful God. We
need not dwell on the contrast of such


creed with the wretched lOgomachy,
pedantry, idleness, and lust which had
honey -cOmbed eastern ChristendOm in
the seventh century, and through which
the austere simplicity of Islam swept
like consuming fire. But before CLAN
cling at the charges above cited, we may
note one contemporary fact which in
dicates that the orthodox Greek Church
has made small progress since the era
of the Hegira, and is still unable to cope
with the faith of Mohammed even in


European Russia. Not only have all
attempts at prOselytism in the Crimea
and the territory of the Khanate of


Kazan completely failed, but Macken-
zie Wallace tells US that throughout


the eastern section of Great Russia, and


even in the heart of Muscovy, there are


cOmmunes one-half of whose members
hold fast the MOslem creed. At one


end of the village street stands mosque,
Tartar cannot be persuaded to fOrsake
the bare walls sacred to aR invisible
God for the painted ikOnS of which his
Christian neighbor has made so many
fetiches.


1t is mere trucking to prejudice and
ignorance to identify polygamy and


slavery with Islam. Mr.. Lecky has


shown how often plurality of wives
was sanctioned during the early CEN
turies of our era, and that the opposite
principle became fixed in Christian
morals because our faith had to adjust
itself for the most part to the practices
of mOnogamic peoples. As for slavery.
the less we say of it the better,
lest we should be reminded the
first public condemnation of the sys-
tenn came from a convention of
French infidels, and that the institu-
ton in Christian countries has invaria=
bly been hedged about with rigid and
hopeless wall of caste. The simple
truth is that Islam found polygamy and
slaveay existing, and interferred to reg
uIate and mitigate, Nor can we see
how it can be said to stereotype either,
when vast majority of Mohammedans
are compelled for economical reasons
to limit themselves to single wife, and
when the yoke of serYitude is so light
and the custom of manumissiOn so uni
versal that there is actually no barrier


in precedent between slaVe-bOrn negro
and the Caliphate, AS regards another
imputati0n which has come down to us
from the blind antipathies of the Cru


sades, we may say that Mr.. Deutsch has
demonstrated that there Is no fatalism


in the Koran. On the contrary, there
is the most stern recognition of human


responsibility and the most searching


appeals to human free will If the


purity of the original doctrine has been


clouded by contact with the inyeterate


misconceptions of some Oriental nations,


we can no more charge that corruption


upon Islam than we could arraign the
Christian Gospel for the divergence
from it's original spirit remarked ia
civilized communities. Finally, it is
not consistent with historical fact to


associate the Mohammedan religion with
an autoeratic form of government. The
fusion of spiritual and temporal author
ity in a Caliphate substantially disap-
peared with the downfall of the Om-
myad dynasty, for how could the prin-
chile survive the cOexistence of two and
subsequently of three Caliphs The
truth is that Islam has been adapted
without difficulty to every species of
polity which 1T has encountered-to
divers forms of limited monarchy in


Spain and northern Africa, to a genuine


oligarchy in the case of the Mamelukes,


and to patriarchal system. among the


nomads of Arabia, central Asia, and
Algeria. We may add that the form of


society promoted by the Mohammedan
faith might adjust itself with peculiar
facility to pure democracy, and this


brings us to the capital merit of the


religion and the main source Of it's
vitality.


Three great creeds, and three only.


have proclaimed the absolute equality
of believers before God and before each


other. Buddhism, Christianity, and
Islam have thus much in common that


they addressed man as man, have known
nothing of caste, or class, or race, but


have based their faith on the broad