{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_62990/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_62990","id":"gutenberg_62990","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62990","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christianity and other religions -- Islam","Islam"],"text":"Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n      file which includes the original illustration.\n      See 62990-h.htm or 62990-h.zip:\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/62990/pg62990-images.html)\n      or\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/62990/62990-h.zip)\n\n\n      Images of the original pages are available through\n      Internet Archive. See\n      https://archive.org/details/islamislam00smalrich\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s note:\n\n      The second and third sections of this book are presented as an\n      historical document on the prejudices of Christians in Europe\n      and America against Islam at the time this book was written.\n\n\n\n\n\nStudies in the Faiths. II.\n\nISLAM\n\n[All rights reserved.]\n\n\n[Illustration: PEARL MOSQUE, AGRA.]\n\n\nISLAM\n\nby\n\nANNIE H. SMALL\n\nAuthor of\n\u2018Yeshudas,\u2019 \u2018Suwarta,\u2019 \u2018Studies in Buddhism,\u2019 etc.\n\n\n[Illustration: Publisher\u2019s logo]\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1905\nLondon\nJ. M. Dent & Co.\nNew York: E. P. Dutton & Co.\n\nRichard Clay & Sons, Limited,\nBread Street Hill, E.C., and\nBungay, Suffolk.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nPerhaps mutual understanding and sympathy are more difficult between\nChristianity and Islam than between any two of the world\u2019s living\nFaiths. On the side of Islam is the too-little remembered fact that the\nonly Christianity of which she is, so to speak, officially conscious,\nis the least true, the least pure; while on the Christian side, we tend\nto turn even from such points of contact as exist between ourselves\nand this latest of the Faiths with an undefined shrinking from the\npossibility of sympathy: the prophet repels us, the religion repels us,\nthe moral code repels us, the history repels us. When we discover that\nIslam claims to supersede Christianity, we are filled with indignation\nand horror. When we discover, as we do at intervals, how dark the\ndarkness of Muslim lands and how cruel the tender mercies of Muslim\nrule may be, we desire nothing better than that Islam should be blotted\nfrom off the face of the earth.\n\nBut Islam is still a world power, before which the Christian nations\nof Europe have stood helpless even while fellow-Christians have been\ncruelly and wickedly entreated. Islam cannot be ignored nor despised.\nRather it is imperative that it should be studied, if possible with\nsympathy, by the Christian peoples, in order that the Muslim motive\npower may be understood, and that Islam may be met face to face, as it\nmust one day be met by Christianity, worthily and Christianly. What\nif the inevitable battle should be fought by the armies of the Cross,\nrather than by the armies of the Nations?\n\nThis little book has been prepared, not primarily as a study of Islam,\nbut rather to indicate directions which Christian, and especially\nMissionary, thought might profitably take. For the sake of those who\nhave not already some knowledge of Islam itself, or of its doctrines as\nthey compare with those of our own Faith, the chapters have followed\nthese two lines; but matters of great importance to the special student\nhave been necessarily omitted; and others have been very lightly\ntouched upon. For the guidance of any who are desirous of making a\nmore exhaustive study of this most important of all subjects, to those\nwho have at heart the honour of Christ and His speedy reign, there is\navailable a very large literature, in English, German, and French, upon\nIslam and its relation to Christianity.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                           PAGE\n  Preface                                                     v\n  Contents                                                   ix\n\n  I. ISLAM                                                   11\n    1. THE APOSTLE OF ISLAM                                  13\n    2. THE GREAT THOUGHTS OF ISLAM                           20\n    3. THE RELIGIOUS LIFE IN ISLAM                           32\n    4. THE SOLIDARITY OF ISLAM                               42\n\n  II. ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY                                 47\n    1. MUHAMMAD AND JESUS                                    49\n    2. THE FATHER-GOD                                        54\n    3. THE CHRISTIAN LIFE                                    57\n    4. THE FAILURE OF CHRISTIANITY                           61\n\n  III. THE COMING BATTLE                                     67\n\n  A Short Bibliography of Accessible Books Upon the Subject  73\n  Transcriber\u2019s Note\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nISLAM\n\n      IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.\n\n      _Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds\u2014\n      The most merciful\u2014\n      The King of the day of Judgment.\n      Thee only do we worship, and to Thee do we cry for help.\n      Guide Thou us in the straight way\u2014\n      In the way of those to whom Thou hast been gracious\u2014\n      With whom Thou art not angry\u2014\n      And who go not astray. Amen._\n\n                                              The great Prayer of Islam.\n\n\n\n\nTHE APOSTLE OF ISLAM.\n\n      \u201c_By the brightness of the morning,\n        and by the night when it groweth dark\u2014\n      Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee,\n        Neither doth He hate thee.\n      Verily the life to come shall be better for thee\n          than this present life,\n        and thy Lord shall give thee a reward\n          with which thou shalt be well pleased._\n\n      \u201c_Did He not find thee an orphan,\n        and hath He not taken care of thee?\n      Did He not find thee wandering in error,\n        and hath He not guided thee into the truth?\n      Did He not find thee needy,\n        and hath He not enriched thee?\n      Wherefore oppress not the orphan, neither\n          repulse the beggar,\n        but declare the goodness of the Lord._\u201d\n\n                                                              Sura XCVI.\n\n\nThere is in the story of Islam an interest quite unique; it is the work\nof one unaided mind, the mind of a man unlettered and ignorant, who\ncame of an isolated people, and who gained such knowledge as he had of\nthe great world from hearsay as he travelled between Central Arabia\nand Syria in charge of the merchant caravan of his mistress. This man,\nmorally very frail to our thinking, is all but divine to two hundred\nmillions of men and women. His word is final to them; it alone reveals\nGod, it alone guides life, it alone commands all Muslim rulers, and it\ndefies Christianity as no other power has done.\n\nMuhammad lived six hundred years after Christ, his Faith came into\nexistence in full view of Christianity, it publicly claims to be a\nhigher revelation and to supersede Christianity; and the Christian\nnations have not yet disproved the claim. The attempt has not indeed\nbeen made, unless we reckon the chivalrous and ill-fated missions of\nthe Crusades to redeem the Holy Sepulchre from the hands of the Muslim.\nWhether Christianity realizes the fact of her failure in this respect,\nor not, Islam is fully conscious of it.\n\n[Sidenote: Muhammad]\n\nMuhammad\u2014the Praised One\u2014was born at Mecca on August 29th, 570 A.D.\nHe was left an orphan while still a little child, and was adopted by an\nuncle. Later he became steward to a lady of Mecca, Khadija, who asked\nhim to become her husband, and was, until her death, his faithful and\nloving wife. This marriage procured for Muhammad that which he coveted\nabove all things, leisure for the study of the things of God.\n\n[Sidenote: The Call]\n\nThe time was past when the idolatrous worship of his tribe\u2014the\nreligious tribe of Arabia\u2014had any meaning for him. He had had glimpses\nof a purer, a more satisfying Faith. Both Jews and Christians had\ncrossed his path, who had spoken of the one God: Creator, Ruler,\nProvider; and the idea had seized and held his imagination. Upon this\nidea he now meditated in his chosen retreat, a cave near Mecca, until\nit possessed him; he dreamed dreams and saw visions, and at length came\nforth to make them known, being assured that he had been called to\nproclaim the reign of the one only God upon earth.\n\n[Sidenote: Rejection]\n\nBut the people of Mecca, custodians of the religious traditions of\nArabia, would have none of this new doctrine; they fiercely opposed the\npreacher, and very soon drove him and his little company of disciples\n(of whom his wife had been the first) from the city.\n\n[Sidenote: Flight]\n\nThe _Hajrat_, or Flight, from which dates the Muhammadan era, took\nplace on July 16th, 622 A.D.\n\nA refuge was found in the rival city of Madina.\n\n[Sidenote: Madina]\n\nAt Madina, Muhammad found leisure to mature and carry out the Idea\nwhich had now possessed him that he should found a Reign of God upon\nthe earth. \u201cBehind the quiet and unobtrusive exterior,\u201d writes Sir\nWilliam Muir, \u201clay hid a resolve, a strength and fixedness of will,\na sublime determination, destined to achieve the marvellous work\nof bowing towards himself the heart of all Arabia as the heart of\none man.\u201d There is, to the sympathetic student of his life, nothing\nwonderful in the hold which Muhammad took upon his followers. He\nmastered men by the force of his iron will, and then won them by the\nforce of his noble and generous nature.\n\n[Sidenote: Character]\n\nMany words have been wasted upon the problems of the character of this\nsixth-century Prophet, and it is not intended to enter upon them here.\nIt must be remembered that if the vision of Muhammad was world-wide\nwhile his personal life remained at the limit of his time and his\nisolated race, there are not lacking similar examples elsewhere of\ngreat leaders whose private lives we explain by their generation and\nsurroundings; also, it is probably wise, that until we know and are\nable to sympathize with the Arabic character, we of the West should say\nlittle in way of condemnation, all the more that condemnation of the\nProphet is not the method to win men from his allegiance.\n\n[Sidenote: Personal Claim]\n\nThere is a far more important question which may not be passed over.\nDid Muhammad realize the _personal_ claim involved in his religious\nmessage? Was his soul so pre-occupied with the grand Idea that his own\nrelation to it was not at first apparent? For, it cannot be forgotten\nthat from the beginning the second Article of the Muslim Creed was\ninherent in the first. God is known as God to the Muslim only because\nthe Apostle of God has proclaimed Him to be God. Muhammad is the\nRevealer of God, and God is God. This is the true and inevitable order.\n\nThis claim, as a foundation of belief, was the source of success of\nthe arms of Islam in the past, and is the living power of Islam to-day;\nat the same time, it was and is the test of the man and of his message.\nIs Muhammad the Revealer of God? There is possible one answer only to\nthe question, so far as the disciples of the Christ Whom he claimed to\nsupersede are concerned; but the answer does not end the story of the\nrelation between Christianity and the Arabian Prophet. Would that it\ndid!\n\n[Sidenote: Death]\n\nMuhammad died at Madina on June 9th, 632 A.D., in his sixty-second\nyear. His death was peace. His last words were, \u201cThe blessed\nCompanionship on high.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: The dead hand]\n\nBeing dead this man still rules. In all human history there is no more\nstriking illustration of the might of the \u201cdead hand\u201d than is presented\nin Islam.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GREAT THOUGHTS OF ISLAM.\n\n\n1. GOD.\n\n _La-ilaha-Il-lal-laho. There is no God save God._\n\n \u201c_Say, God is one God; the eternal God: He begetteth not, neither is\n begotten: There is not any one like unto Him._\n\n \u201c_Dost thou not know that God is almighty? Dost thou not know that\n unto God belongeth the Kingdom of Heaven? neither have ye any\n protector or helper except God._\n\n \u201c_To God belongeth the East and the West; therefore wheresoever\n ye turn yourselves to pray, there is the face of God; for God is\n omnipresent and omniscient._\n\n \u201c_Your God is one God, there is no God but He, the most merciful._\u201d\n\nIt was with a very simple message, apparently, that Muhammad came forth\nfrom his long meditation in his lonely cave. The message was not even\noriginal. Not only had Arab mystics already dreamt of the aloneness of\nGod, but there were Jews and Christians, inheritors of the same supreme\ntruth, settled here and there over the land; and Muhammad had come\ninto contact with both during his early Syrian journeys. The Idea had\nbecome familiar to him long before.\n\n[Sidenote: The God of Muhammad]\n\nBut, the God of Muhammad\u2019s contemplations was not the God of Judaism,\nnor the God of Christianity; he deliberately rejected both Faiths.\nTrue, God is Spirit, God is one, God is alone, God is Creator; He is\nthe al-knowing, al-present, al-governing One. High attributes are\nascribed to Him, as in the ninety-nine Names which the pious Mussulman\nreverently repeats with the aid of his string of beads; but neither\nthese, nor the various attributes ascribed to Him in the Quran itself,\nlargely affect the Muslim conception of God.\n\nThe God of Muhammad is a Being of two supreme characteristics. He is\nthe supreme Will, and His Will is carried into effect by His supreme\nPower.\n\nWill: absolute, eternal, unchanging; far above such human distinctions\nas right and wrong, justice and injustice. That which the Will of God\nordains, that is right, just, and final.\n\nPower: so unrestrained, so awful, carries that Will into effect, that\nthere exists no will or power save God\u2019s alone. That which is ordained,\ngood or evil, righteous or unrighteous in man\u2019s poor view, is of God.\nHe is the only Doer. \u201c_In the creation of heaven and earth, and in the\nship which sails on the sea_ ... ALL IS GOD.\u201d All creatures, even man,\nare in the awful grip of this great Spirit, helpless; they do that\nwhich He ordains, that and no other.\n\n\u201cWhy are you so naughty?\u201d\n\n\u201cGod knows.\u201d\n\nThe reply of the little child is the reply of Islam to all problems. It\nis the secret of the awful fatalism which paralyzes men\u2019s emotions and\nwill. Two countenances remain, after many years, vividly impressed upon\nmy memory; that of a man, guilty of crime and under severe sentence,\nwhom no appeal could move from his perfect serenity. He was not a\nhardened criminal; he was simply convinced that God was the Doer of\nthe deed and he himself only the instrument for the carrying out of\nHis will. The other was a father, carrying in his arms a dearly-loved\nlittle child to the grave. He moved rapidly down the crowded street at\nthe head of the procession of mourners, unconscious either of curiosity\nor of sympathy around him. The set grim expression might have suggested\nthe idea of Spartan endurance, save for the deep eyes which gazed into\nthe far distance, and told unmistakably of the submission of a strong\nwill to a Stronger, the will of his God.\n\nThis awful God has taken hold of the imagination of all Islam. He was\nvery real to the Prophet, and the Prophet has communicated his faith\nto those who have followed him. Mussulmans may be, in our sense, bad\nmen, but they are rarely irreligious men. There are no atheists in\nIslam. A man who, under the influence of English secular education,\nlightly declared that he had grown beyond so childish a superstition,\nwhich however he declared to be \u201cgood for women and children,\u201d changed\ncountenance while we discussed the religious education of his wife. He\ncould not rid himself easily of the convictions of his childhood, as\nthe grave face and reverent voice bore witness.\n\nBut, the Will of God is far more present in the thought of the Muslim\nthan is God Himself. God touches his life through His Will only. God is\napart; seeing, knowing and judging indeed, but apart in His absolute\nsovereignty, in the inexorable way in which He carries out His Purpose.\nWe have, therefore, as a corollary to the teaching regarding the Will,\nthe teaching of the pitiful helplessness of man in His Hand. God may\ncrush me; He can do it; I can say nothing. In conversation with a\nwoman on one occasion reference was made to the Christian doctrine of\nthe assurance of the child relation with God. She exclaimed, \u201cSurely\nthat is blasphemy; it is almost like saying _what the Will of God for\nyou is_. If saved, God is merciful; if cast into _Jahannam_ (hell), God\nis just.\u201d\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nISLAM means resignation, submission, homage, to this Will of God. The\nrelation of the Muslim to his God is truly expressed in the word.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThus early do Christ and Muhammad part company.\n\n\n2. THE WORD OF GOD.\n\n \u201c_It is He Who hath sent down unto you the book of the Quran,\n distinguishing between good and evil; and they to whom We gave the\n scripture know that it is sent down from thy Lord, with truth; Be not\n therefore one of these who doubt thereof. The words of the Lord are\n perfect in truth and justice; there is none who can change His words;\n He both heareth and knoweth._\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Quran]\n\nThe Will of God is supreme in His universe; Islam tells in one word the\nrelation of the Faithful to that Will; and the Will is revealed to men\nin its final form the Quran. The Quran descended from highest heaven\ncomplete, and was passed on by the Angel to the Prophet Sura by Sura,\nas its message was required. The Quran supersedes all other scriptures,\nit is the eternal Divine Word; there is no further truth to be\nrevealed, for this is literally the last word of God to man. The human\nlanguage medium is Arabic, and as each several word is an Act of God,\nthe very words are sacred. There cannot, therefore, be any authorized\ntranslation of the Quran; and, as in its completeness it is one\nundivided message, to issue it in parts would be grievous sin. The book\nis published and used in many lands, and passes through many hands, but\nso great has been the care that it should be preserved perfect, that\nit is believed to be practically unchanged since the scattered leaves\nwere gathered reverently together after the Prophet\u2019s death. There is\nno doctrine of inspiration so high as this.\n\n\n3. THE THOUGHT OF SIN.\n\n \u201c_Man chooseth to be wicked for the time which is before him. He\n asketh, When shall the day of resurrection be? But when the night\n shall be dazzled, and the moon shall be eclipsed, and the sun and the\n moon shall be in conjunction, on that day man shall say, Where is a\n place of refuge? By no means; there shall be no place to fly unto.\n With thy Lord shall be a sure mansion of rest in that day; on that day\n shall man be told that which he hath done, first and last. Yea, a man\n shall be an evidence against himself; and though he offer his excuses,\n they shall not be received._\u201d\n\n \u201c_There shall every soul experience that which it shall have sent\n before it._\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Sin]\n\nAs is the God so are His worshippers; and the conception of the\nreligious life in Islam follows naturally upon the conception of God.\nThus, sin is terrible, but not first as a deviation from a standard\nof absolute righteousness; it is terrible because it is rebellion\nagainst an awful majesty. This is fundamental. Yet to say that Islam\nis non-moral, that sin is an arbitrary term, and that reward and\npunishment are in the hands of an arbitrary God, is not the whole\ntruth. There are two kinds of sin (reminding us of the Roman Catholic\ndoctrine), sin greater and lesser. Among the greater sins are\n\n      Unfaithfulness to God.\n      Despair of the mercy of God, or\n      Too strong an assurance of God\u2019s mercy.\n      False witness when on oath.\n      The practice of magic.\n      Drunkenness.\n      Theft.\n      Usury.\n      Murder.\n      Disobedience to parents.\n      Flight before unbelievers in battle.\n      Seizing the property of the orphan.\n\nAnd the constant repetition of lesser sins becomes a greater sin.\n\nLesser sins are very many, and are not enumerated; among them are\ngambling, the use of images in worship, and slander. Punishment\nawarded by the law is very severe; the punishment awarded by God is as\nHe shall ordain. The future has a great share in the thought of the\npeople of the East; they are less materialistic, less bound up in the\npresent life than those of the West. Therefore the present life is\nmore affected by the future possibilities, and in the case of a larger\nproportion of men and women than is the case with us.\n\n\n4. THE JUDGMENT OF GOD.\n\n \u201c_The striking. What is the striking? and what shall make thee to\n understand how terrible the striking will be? On that day men shall be\n like moths scattered abroad, and the mountains shall be like carded\n wool of various colours driven by the wind; moreover, he whose balance\n shall be heavy with good works shall lead a pleasing life; but as to\n him whose balance shall be light his dwelling shall be the pit of\n hell. What shall make thee to understand how frightful the pit of hell\n is? It is a burning fire._\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Judgment]\n\nMuch has been said and written about the Muslim Paradise, and there\nare indeed no parts of the Quran so weak as those which dwell upon\nthe sweets of the future life of the Faithful. Serious Mussulmans,\nwhen on rare occasions I have heard them refer to this subject, have\ninvariably explained these passages as symbolical. However that may be,\nthe passages in the Quran which teach of the day of resurrection and of\njudgment are frequent and solemn. No doubt the judgment of God is used\nas a threat against unbelievers, but it is also continually addressed\nto the Faithful as a motive; and these teachings have, as I believe,\nfar greater influence upon the life of the religious Muslim than all\nthe promised joys of Paradise.\n\n \u201c_What thinkest thou of him who denieth the future judgment as a\n falsehood? It is he who pusheth away the orphan, and stirreth not\n up others to feed the poor. Woe be unto those who pray and who\n are negligent at their prayer; who play the hypocrites, and deny\n necessaries to the needy._\u201d\n\nThis was the message of the Arabian Apostle.\n\n\n\n\nTHE RELIGIOUS LIFE IN ISLAM.\n\n      \u201c_Clothe not the truth with vanity,\n        neither conceal the truth against your own knowledge;\n      Observe the stated seasons of prayer,\n        and pay your legal alms,\n        and bow down yourselves with those who bow down.\n      Will ye command men to do justice,\n        and forget your own souls?\n      Yet ye read the books of the law;\n        do ye not therefore understand?_\u201d\n\n\n1. THE REPETITION OF THE CREED.\n\n_La il\u00e1h\u00e1 Il-lal-laho, Muhammad-ur-Ras\u00fal-Ullah._\n\n_God is the alone God, and Muhammad is the Apostle of God._\n\n[Sidenote: Kalima]\n\nThe Creed must be repeated by the true Muslim once at the least during\nhis lifetime. This is the confession of the lips, and must be made\ncorrectly and without hesitation; it is also the confession of the\nheart, and must be held till death.\n\n\n2. THE DAILY DEVOTIONS.\n\n      \u201c_Therefore glorify God when the evening overtaketh\n        you, and when ye rise in the morning;\n      And unto him be praise in heaven and earth, and at\n        sunset, and when ye rest at noon._\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Sul\u00e1t]\n\nThere are five services of prayer daily, observed with great regularity\nby all religious men and women. The form is liturgical; the word\n_Sul\u00e1t_ has rather the meaning of devotional service than of hours of\nprayer. [Sidenote: Hours] The first hour is at dawn of day. The second\nis at noon. The third is between four and five in the afternoon. The\nfourth service is held as the sun disappears beneath the horizon. The\nfifth is at the retiring hour at night.\n\n[Sidenote: Preparation]\n\nBefore prayer all Mussulmans cleanse face, ears and nostrils, hands and\nfeet; that they may be free of all bodily pollution before entering\nthe presence of God. Many change their garments each time they pray.\nThe room is cleaned, and the worshipper who has cleaned the room\nchanges his garments before engaging in the service.\n\n[Sidenote: Solemnity]\n\nThis service of prayer in the case of serious worshippers is very\ntouching to the sympathetic witness; it is true, as so many critics\nof Islam have noted, that prayer is formal, and is repeated in an\nunknown tongue; but to those who know the heart hunger which constantly\nfinds expression in that five-times-repeated daily liturgy, who would\nfain change the constant refrain \u201cGod is great\u201d for the gladder \u201cGod\nis love,\u201d the service, whether in the mosque, in the home, or on the\nwayside, is one of the most pathetic appeals addressed to the unknown\nGod by any people.\n\nThere is no mediation; prayer is offered directly to God, the only\nreference to the Prophet being a prayer \u201cfor Muhammad and his\ndescendants.\u201d\n\nPrayer is always offered in the sacred language.\n\n\n3. RAMADH\u00c1N, THE MONTH OF FASTING.\n\n \u201c_O true believers, a fast is ordained you, as it was ordained to\n those before you, that ye may fear God. A certain number of days shall\n ye fast; but he among you who shall be sick, or on a journey, shall\n fast an equal number of other days. And those who can keep it and do\n not, must reckon their neglect by maintaining of a poor man. And he\n who voluntarily dealeth better with the poor man than he is obliged,\n this shall be better for him. But if ye fast it will be better for\n you, if ye knew it._\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Roza]\n\nIt is probable that Muhammad ordained the month of fasting in imitation\nof the Christian Lent. Ramadh\u00e1n, the ninth month of the year, made\nsacred for ever by the descent of the Quran from highest heaven, to\nbe revealed to the Angel Gabriel (who delivered it as required to the\nProphet), is set apart for this religious sacrifice. Every Mussulman\nis on the look-out for the first appearance of the new moon, sign of\nthe beginning of the fast (the lunar year is followed), and from that\nevening for thirty days, from dawn until sunset neither food nor water\nis touched. When Ramadh\u00e1n in the course of the years occurs in the hot\nseason, the fast is terrible in its severity. Cloudless sky, scorching\nsun, burning winds, and not one drop of water to quench the awful\nthirst; and at the same time additional prayers, with the accompanying\ngenuflections; this while the day\u2019s task must still be accomplished; it\nis a terrible test of the obedience and devotion of the Faithful. It\nis true that travellers, invalids, women nursing little children, and\nthe weak, are exempt; but the fasts are supposed to be made up, and we\nhave known many who have struggled through the month, who were quite\nunfit for it. The early morning and evening meal\u2014taken before dawn\nand after sunset\u2014is not appetizing, for it is always composed of stale\nfood.\n\nI have never known any religious man or woman who regarded the fast\nas a hardship. \u201cIt is little we can do to serve God,\u201d said one woman.\nLittle children plead to be allowed to fast. Boys and girls become\nutterly exhausted, parched and fainting, in homes where religious\nobservances are faithfully kept.\n\n\n4. ALMSGIVING.\n\n[Sidenote: Zak\u00e1t]\n\n \u201c_Forget not liberality among you, for God seeth that which ye do._\u201d\n\n \u201c_The Lord is surely in a watch-tower, whence he observeth the actions\n of men. Moreover man, when his Lord trieth him by prosperity, and\n honoureth him, and is bounteous to him, saith:\u2014My Lord honoureth me;\n but when he proveth him by afflictions, and withholdeth His provisions\n from him, he saith:\u2014My Lord despiseth me. By no means; but ye honour\n not the orphan, neither do ye excite one another to feed the poor;\n and ye devour the inheritance of the weak, with undistinguishing\n greediness; and ye love riches with much affection...._\n\n \u201c_O thou soul which art at rest, return unto thy Lord, well pleased\n with thy reward, and well pleasing unto our God; enter among my\n servants, and enter Paradise._\u201d\n\nA fortieth part of the income belongs to the poor, and is, in Muslim\nlands, a compulsory tax. It is distinct from private almsgiving.\n\n\n5. PILGRIMAGE.\n\n[Sidenote: Hajj]\n\n \u201c_They who shall disbelieve, and obstruct the way of God, and hinder\n men from visiting the holy temple at Mecca, which We have appointed\n for a place of worship unto all men: the inhabitant thereof and the\n stranger have an equal right to visit it._\u201d\n\nIslam is scattered in many lands; but the idea of Muhammad was of a\nuniversal Kingdom. The idea was never realized, but the grip of the\nmaster hand is felt to this day. Each of the duties of the Faith is a\nsymbol of its unity; but the constraining symbol is the centralization\nat Mecca. This is the sole remaining sign of the great vision. Islam\nis far scattered; it is broken into many sects; there are language\nseparations, and deeper racial separations; but the whole unwieldy\nsystem and following is bound together by the Mecca pilgrimage, the\nleast spiritual thing in the whole system. Muhammad made a brave battle\nfor the unity and pure spirituality of God. But it was the deepest\ndesire of his heart to win Mecca. He did so at the expense of his\ncentral belief. Mussulmans visit the idolatrous city to-day as they did\nin the long past idolatrous ages. The visible church of Islam is not a\npure and beautiful and worthy mosque; it is the old idolatrous stone of\nMecca.\n\nEvery true Muslim is bound to visit Mecca at the least once in his\nlifetime.\n\n\n6. SOCIAL MORALITY.\n\n[Sidenote: Social Morality]\n\nThe social morality of Islam is\u2014notwithstanding the marriage\nlaws\u2014very high, and is guided by such virtues as these: modesty,\nhonesty, kindness and brotherliness. When Muhammad fled from Mecca\nwith his followers, and settled in Madina, the little community was\na commonwealth, and that ideal has been retained in wonderful manner\nthroughout the centuries and the far wanderings. There is no caste\nin Islam, neither the Eastern nor the Western form of that system.\nEach man stands in the same relation to the God Who rules him, and\nthe consequent brotherhood is a very real thing. Poor and rich are\nnot divided, to be poor is in itself a claim, and if a poor man comes\nto a rich man for aid, the rich man regards it as a favour. The laws\nof hospitality are most noble; strangers are assured in any Muslim\nhouse of a welcome, a meal, a rest, and if need be, even of clothing.\nHospitality is an act of worship.\n\nThe aged are held in a beautiful reverence; the poor, and especially\nthe orphan, is cared for as a religious duty; in the home the\npatriarchal system still rules, the servant is a part of the family,\nand is treated with kindness.\u2014Is he not a brother in the Faith?\n\nThe position of woman remains as it was left by Muhammad thirteen\nhundred years ago\u2014for there is no growth in Islam\u2014and it is not easy\nto define it. On the one hand is the marriage law, which gives to the\nhusband full power over his wife or wives; on the other, the property\nlaw, which grants to a woman holding property in her own right,\nabsolute control over it. In the latter respect, therefore, the law\nof Islam is in advance of the law of Great Britain. I have known the\ncurious anomaly of a woman whose person was at the mercy of a brutal\ndrunken wretch, whom she yet held in some degree in check through his\ndependence upon her for the means with which to live his chosen life.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SOLIDARITY OF ISLAM.\n\n \u201c_They seek to extinguish God\u2019s light with their mouths; but God will\n perfect His light, though the infidels be averse thereto. It is He\n Who hath sent His Apostle with the direction, and the religion of\n truth, that He may exalt the same above every religion, although the\n idolators be averse thereto._\u201d\n\n\nThere are two closely associated characteristics of Islam which impress\nevery student:\u2014[Sidenote: Rigidity] the immovable _rigidity_ which\nparalyzes individual action as well as social and religious progress\nand for ever holds its professors arrested at the stage and within\nthe limit of Arab conditions as they were thirteen centuries ago;\n[Sidenote: Solidarity] and the _solidarity_ of the world of Islam as it\nexists to-day.\n\nIt is at this point that the contrast between the methods of\nJesus and of Muhammad is most sharply emphasized. The founder of\nChristianity neither wrote, nor left instructions for the preservation\nof His teachings; His method is best typified by His own favourite\nillustration; His message is a seed, growing of its own living life,\nmysteriously, silently, slowly, producing fruit after its kind indeed,\nbut each several fruit during each several season drawing its own\nshare of nourishment even as it drew its life directly from the root,\noriginal and distinct from any other. Muhammad spoke, in the most\nliteral sense, the last word; the teaching has crystallized; principle\nand detail are alike unyielding.\n\n[Sidenote: Muhammad\u2019s Vision]\n\nMuhammad was a statesman as well as a poet; he had in view not only\nthe conversion of the world to God and to himself, but also a world\nkingdom based upon the religious idea; and for the second end he worked\npossibly even \u201cbetter than he knew.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Symbols of Solidarity:]\n\nThe study of the symbols of this bond of uniformity\u2014not of union\u2014is\nilluminating:\u2014[Sidenote: 1. Creed] The _Creed_, binding to the God\nof Islam through the Apostle of that God; [Sidenote: 2. Prayer] the\ndaily _Prayer Ritual:_ it has been truly said that \u201ceach Muslim is a\nChurch,\u201d it is no less true that the Muslim world is a Church, bound\nindissolubly by this uniform service of devotion; [Sidenote: 3. Quran]\nthe _Quran_ and [Sidenote: 4. Fast] _Ramadh\u00e1n_, the Book, and the Fast\nwhich commemorates the gift of the Book; and above all, [Sidenote: 5.\nPilgrimage] the _Pilgrimage to Mecca_, the local habitation of Islam,\nsublime notwithstanding the apparent foolishness of the ceremonial.\n\u201cThither the tribes go up,\u201d from Turkey, Syria, Persia, Afghanistan,\nIndia, China, Egypt and other North African lands, and Arabia herself.\nNational distinctions are forgotten; slave and master travel as\nbrother worshippers; Islam feels her solidarity through the far-seeing\nprovision of the centralization of her religious life, in the city\nwhich is sacred to the memory of the Apostle.\n\nThe fact that Islam is broken up into as many sects as is Christianity,\ndoes not affect this solidarity so greatly as might be supposed\nfrom the experience of Christianity; in face of the Unbeliever the\nFaithful stand a solid army, the separations touch none of these\nsymbols of unity. A solid army confronts the world. It has been\nasserted by one who knew Islam well, that the conversion to another\nFaith of an insignificant Muslim in an obscure village is known and\nmourned (or resented) over the whole Muslim world. However that may\nbe, the solidarity of Islam is a grave and a suggestive fact; and\nthe Faith which hopes one day to win it, would do well to oppose the\nstatesmanship of Muhammad with a statesmanship and a wisdom equal with\nhis.\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY\n\nWHEN YE PRAY, SAY\u2014\n\n      _Father,\n      Hallowed be Thy Name.\n      Thy Kingdom come.\n      Give us day by day our daily bread.\n      And forgive us our sins: for we ourselves also forgive every one\n        that is indebted to us.\n      And bring us not into temptation._\n\n                                                            Amen.\n\n                                      The great Prayer of Christianity.\n\n\n\n\n1. MUHAMMAD AND JESUS.\n\n \u201c_Jesus is no other than a servant, Whom We have favoured with the\n gift of prophecy; and We appointed Him for an example unto the\n children of Israel (if We pleased, verily We could from ourselves\n produce angels, to succeed you in the earth), and He shall be a sign\n of the approach of the last hour; wherefore doubt not thereof._\u201d\n\n \u201c_O ye who have received the Scriptures, exceed not the just bounds\n of your religion, neither say of God other than the truth. Verily\n Jesus Christ the Son of Mary is the Apostle of God, and His Word\n Which He conveyed to Mary, and a Spirit proceeding from Him. Believe,\n therefore, in God and His apostles, and say not, There are three Gods.\n Forbear this. It will be better for you._\u201d\n\n \u201c_The Christians say, Christ is the son of God. This is their saying\n in their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who were unbelievers\n in former times. May God resist them. How are they infatuated, they\n take their priests and their monks for their lords, besides God and\n Christ the son of Mary; although they are commanded to worship one\n God only: there is no God but He. Far be that from Him which they\n associate with Him. They seek to extinguish the light of God with\n their mouths; but God willeth no other than to perfect His light,\n although the infidels be averse thereto._\u201d\n\n\nThere are in the Quran many references to our Lord Jesus Christ, but\nthere is practically no historic knowledge. It must be remembered\nthat in Muhammad\u2019s time there was no Arabic version of the Bible; he\nwas therefore dependent for information upon the Jews and Christians\nwith whom he came into contact. That he formed conclusions upon very\ninsufficient knowledge is the terrible blunder of his life, of which\nfull use has been made by Christian writers. Enough has not been\nmade of the responsibility of the church which had no better tales\nto tell, no truer account to give, of their Lord and their Faith.\nThe Christianity presented to this Seeker after God was painfully\ninadequate to his need.\n\nThe little Muhammad discovered led to his acknowledgment of the Jewish\nand Christian books, which he had never read, with reservations. It\nled also to a far more important admission. The Jesus of the Quran is\ndenied Divinity, but the character of Jesus did not fail of effect.\nAll criticism is directed towards the professors of the Christian\nFaith, and their doctrines. This \u201cson of Mary\u201d is, in Muhammad\u2019s view,\nthat which he never dreamt of claiming for himself, a man unstained\nby sin. Not only so, but titles and honours are yielded to Him little\nshort of Divine:\u2014He is _Masih_, the Messiah; _Qaul-ul-Haqq_, the Word\nof Truth; _Kalima_, the word; He is \u201cthe Apostle of God to confirm the\nlaw, and to announce an Apostle who should come after Him, whose name\nshould be Ahmad;\u201d He had near access to God, and was \u201cillustrious in\nthis world and the next.\u201d\n\nYet Muhammad supersedes Jesus Christ!\n\n[Sidenote: The Death of Jesus]\n\nThere is another part of the problem of the rejection of our Lord; the\nattitude of the Quran towards the Death of Jesus. The death upon the\nCross is indignantly denied.\n\n \u201c_They have not believed on Jesus, and have spoken against Mary a\n grievous calumny; and have said, Verily we have slain Christ Jesus\n the Son of Mary, the Apostle of God; yet they slew Him not, neither\n crucified Him, but He was represented by one in His likeness; ... They\n did not really kill Him; but God took Him up unto Himself; and God is\n mighty and wise ... on the day of resurrection He shall be witness\n against them._\u201d\n\nIt is said that Muhammad so hated the sign of the Cross, that if any\narticle, however valuable, came into his possession bearing the mark,\nit was destroyed at once. The horror of the thought that Jesus should\nhave died the abhorred death, or that God Himself should have permitted\nit, seems to be the argument against its having occurred. In the Quran\nthat which is symbolized by the Cross\u2014the approach of God to sinful\nman in mercy and love\u2014is entirely lacking. There is no hint that\nthe Christian Message of Atonement through the Gift of the Saviour\u2019s\nlife to God in man\u2019s name had ever reached the Prophet. There is\ntherefore no assurance, save the Prophet\u2019s word for it, that God upon\nHis far Throne, hears, or hearing answers and forgives the sin of His\ncreatures; there is no assurance of salvation in Islam.\n\nIt is a tragic story; the responsibility for which it has been\nthe habit of Christian writers to cast largely upon Muhammad. The\napportionment of guilt is not so lightly determined.\n\n\n\n\n2. THE FATHER-GOD.\n\n \u201c_To me, I confess, it seems a very considerable thing, just to\n believe in God; difficult indeed to avoid honestly, and not easy to\n accomplish worthily; a thing not lightly to profess, but rather humbly\n to be sought; not to be found at the end of any syllogism, but in the\n inmost fountains of purity and affection; not the sudden gift of the\n intellect, but to be earned by a loving and brave life._\u201d\n\n \u201c_I believe in God the Father Almighty._\u201d\n\n\nThese simple, solemn, tender words contain the Christian Thought of\nGod. In the one word \u201cAlmighty\u201d is summed up Muhammad\u2019s idea of supreme\nWill and Power; the Christian prefixes a Name to the attribute which so\ngoverns the sphere of the exercise of that will and power that it is\ndifficult to conceive that the two teachings represent the same Being.\n\n[Sidenote: Fatherhood]\n\nIn the view of Him to Whom we owe the Father Idea, the All of God and\nthe All of His universe are summed up in the Fatherhood; that is,\nJesus did not think of the al-might of God as exerted from without, the\noneness of Creator and Created is in His view indissoluble. The birds\ncould not maintain their little life, nor the lilies their delicate\ntints, without the Father; and words fail Him to tell of the closeness\nof the Fatherly interest in each member of His nearer offspring. \u201c_The\nvery hairs of your head are numbered._\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: The Parable of Jesus]\n\nAnd when words have failed, He takes up His parable; \u201c_My Father\nworketh, and I work_.\u201d The lifework of Jesus is, He tells us, the\nFather\u2019s work made visible.\n\nGentle, healing Hands were laid upon the suffering; sufficient food\nwas provided for the hungry; Feet, never weary, travelled hither and\nthither on errands of pity; Arms were open to gather in the little\nchildren; Eyes spoke of love and understanding where words missed their\nobject; happy human fellowship was offered: and all was a parable of\nthe work of the Father-God.\n\n[Sidenote: The Father-Gift]\n\nIt was not a new thought to His hearers that the profoundest attribute\nof God is holiness, and that distinctions between right and wrong\nbecome acute in His presence; but it was a revelation to which the\nworld of men has not yet become accustomed that the Father is so set\nupon goodness in the children who had miserably failed of it, that no\nsacrifice was too great, _even for Him_, to secure it; and that this\nausterity towards evil and purpose to subdue it, was the Father love in\nits highest exercise. In the Cross, symbol at once of man\u2019s sin and of\nHis own grace, our Lord is still speaking the parable of the Father\u2019s\n\u201cwork.\u201d \u201cThe Father worketh, and I work.\u201d \u201cGod so loved the world that\nHe gave\u201d\u2014JESUS.\n\nMuhammad felt after God, and attained the idea of His apartness,\naloneness, immensity.\n\nJesus knew God, and revealed to us that man had never been, and never\ncould be, outside of God; and that the only true home of man\u2019s spirit\nis in His presence, under His gracious rule; for man and God are\nactually _akin_, first by nature, doubly so through His Revealer and\nour Brother, Jesus Christ. _Therefore, we \u201cbelieve in God the Father\nAlmighty, AND in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord.\u201d_\n\n\n\n\n3. THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.\n\n \u201c_Christianity is the bearing in upon us of a character until we find\n the character irresistible._\u201d\n\n\nThe study of the Muslim ideal of life throws into prominence several\ntoo-rarely considered peculiarities of Christ\u2019s ideal life.\n\n[Sidenote: At-one-ment of Life]\n\n1. There is, in Christ\u2019s view, no division between the secular and\nthe religious life. The beginning of His revelation of the Father\u2019s\nwork was His meeting of a difficulty at a village wedding feast, which\nthereupon became a sacrament; and from that time onward we find no\ntrace of any distinction in His own Life or in His teaching. To Him all\nlife was sacred; and consisted in loyalty to the Father, and service\nof the brethren, one undivided duty. \u201cInasmuch,\u201d He taught, \u201cas ye did\nyour unconscious daily brotherly task, _you did it to Me_;\u201d and \u201c_I and\nthe Father are One_.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Freedom]\n\n2. The Christian view of life is one of perfect freedom. We are not\nslaves, but sons, and free. Free, that is, as children are; free of\nthe Father\u2019s presence, gifts, love; free within the Family traditions;\nfree, in sympathy with the Father to choose always the better and the\nbest; without any suggestion of limit to the possibilities of the child\nnature. \u201c_Perfect as the Father is perfect_\u201d is Christ\u2019s own amazing\nword.\n\n[Sidenote: Progress]\n\n3. Freedom, and therefore progress, for each son in his own life, for\neach generation of sons according to the situation and the call. Not\nuniformity within the Brotherhood, but individuality within the limits\nof the Family likeness, under the safe direction of the Spirit of the\nFather present with each one. The spaciousness of the Life-plan for\nevery son of the Father cannot be exaggerated; there is no rigidity in\nChristianity.\n\n[Sidenote: Brotherhood]\n\n4. There is another Christian idea suggested by a study of Islam, which\nemerges from the last, the idea of the Brotherhood of the Father\u2019s\nchildren. This is of the very essence of Christianity as it is of\nIslam; but has never been carried into effect in the same magnificent\nway. There are various illustrations of this. The absence of all\ncaste distinction in Muslim society, the kindly relations which exist\nbetween master and servant, rich and poor, Mussulmans of various\nraces. Christianity has much to learn in these directions. [Sidenote:\nThe Missionary Impulse] Again, the desire to bring men within the\nBrotherhood is a passion with every true Muslim. \u201cEvery Mussulman is\nmore or less of a missionary\u2014that is, he intensely desires to secure\nconverts from non-mussulman peoples.... All the emotions which impel\na Christian to proselytize are in a Mussulman, strengthened by all\nthe motives which impel a political leader, and all the motives which\nsway a recruiting sergeant, until proselytism has become a passion,\nwhich whenever success seems practicable and especially success on a\nlarge scale, develops in the quietest Mussulman a fury of ardour which\ninduces him to break down every obstacle, his own strongest prejudices\nincluded, rather than stand for an instant in a neophyte\u2019s way.\u201d[1]\nUntil the same imperialism\u2014the word is hackneyed, but best conveys the\nidea\u2014has seized the Christian imagination and conscience, the children\nof the Father will not have proved worthy of their name; for He loved\nand longed after the world of men, and His children should one and all\ndo likewise.\n\n[1] Meredith Townsend, in _Asia and Europe_.\n\n\n\n\n4. THE FAILURE OF CHRISTIANITY.\n\n \u201c_We do not see God\u2019s preparations._\u201d\n\n\nThe lack of the Imperialist vision set before the Faithful by\nChrist has been the weakness of Christendom during long periods of\nher history. There have indeed been imperialisms\u2014as in the great\nhierarchical systems\u2014but they have been of the order of World-power\nvisions which Christ definitely rejected, and they were foredoomed to\nfailure, so far as He was concerned.\n\n[Sidenote: The Kingdom Vision]\n\nThe Vision of Christ has nothing material in it, it relates itself at\nno point with the World. He compares it continually to the little seed\nfallen into the ground, dying to live, growing silently from within\nof the power of its own mysterious hidden life; observation hardly\ndiscloses its growth; but as surely as comes the harvest of the farmer,\nwith its thirty\u2014sixty\u2014hundred-fold result, so surely shall come the\nKingdom of the Father.\n\n[Sidenote: The Church]\n\nThe Church, as the visible responsible organ of the mystic Brotherhood,\nto which it fell to carry out the Purpose of the Kingdom, and to\npresent the idea of solidarity and continuity from age to age, has, as\nwe acknowledge in thoughtful moods, pitifully failed of this mission.\nShe is stately and impressive, but nineteen centuries have not been\nsufficient to win this little world for the Father.\n\nThere are many reasons for this failure. Notably, the Church is in the\nworld, and has been greatly influenced by world methods.\n\n              \u201cThe world is still deceived by ornament,\u201d\nand the Church has tended to concentrate her energies upon such\ndetails of her task as yield most rapid and visible results; results\nwhich too often have small relation to the object in view. She has\nalso wasted much energy upon the mere machinery of her task. There\nis truth in the severe words of Dr. Martineau, \u201cChrist came to bring\nfire upon earth; and His disciples after eighteen centuries are still\ndiscussing the best patent match to get it kindled.\u201d \u201cOn furlough,\u201d\nremarked a missionary, \u201cone is overwhelmed by the complexity, and the\nlabour, and the roar of Church machinery. I suppose it is all needful,\nbut one dreads that the means may loom so large that the end shall be\nforgotten.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Comparison with Islam]\n\nThe story of Islam, the Church which has grown up side by side with the\nChurch of Christ, is laden with suggestions upon this subject of the\nfailure of the latter to bring in the Kingdom of the Father. One or two\nof these only can be noted.\n\n1. Reference has already been made to several of the most noteworthy;\n_e.g._, the reality of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the easily-kindled\nmissionary ardour; to the same category belongs another striking\nfact. The Muslim is never ashamed to confess His faith. His devotion\nto God and his loyalty to the Prophet are not matters too sacred for\nconversation. They are his deepest life, wherefore should he shun\nreference to them? When as much can be said of the members of each\nChristian Church, much will be gained.\n\n      \u201cI\u2019m not ashamed to own my Lord,\n        Or to defend His cause.\u201d\n\n2. Islam is broken up into some two hundred sects; Christianity into\nas many, or more. The family feuds have, in each case, been fiercely\nmaintained. But, at the call\u2014\u201c_Fight for the religion of God_,\u201d\nIslam rallies as one man, a solid front is offered to the enemies of\nthe Faith. Just at this point, once again, Christianity has failed.\nThe family feud is carried into the enemy\u2019s country, and weakens the\naggressive warfare, as only those who have taken part in that warfare\ncan tell.\n\n3. The solidarity of societies is a rarely realized but very solemn\nfact. The Church of Christ cannot divide herself into portions, and\nfling responsibilities from division to division, from age to age.\nWhether consciously or not, when one member suffers all suffer, when\none member sins sin has come upon all; and history teaches no lesson\nmore plainly than that the harvest of the deeds of one generation is\nreaped by another. Thus, the most solemn lesson provided by the story\nof Islam is contained in the very existence of Islam. A disloyal\nChurch presented a false Faith to one of the most earnest Seekers\nafter God who has ever gone forth upon the great Quest; and the Church\nhas spent much wrath upon the \u201cfalse Prophet\u201d who has ever since been\nher greatest opponent. But she has never fairly faced her sin, nor\nacknowledged that the Islam of to-day is to all intents the harvest\nof the seed of false doctrine she sowed thirteen centuries ago. To\ndiscuss the truth or the falsehood of Muhammad\u2019s claim will be the\ntask of Islam when she is brought face to face with the true Christ;\nit is beside the mark for the Church of Christ. To her falls the far\nmore awful duty of wiping out as best she may, and at whatever cost,\nthe darkest blot which has marred her long history. Can it be that her\nLord cannot largely own her aggressive work done in His Name, until the\nwrong has been righted?\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nTHE COMING BATTLE\n\n \u201c_Fight for the religion of God, and know that God is He Who heareth\n and knoweth._\u201d\n\n                                                              Muhammad.\n\n \u201c_Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations ... and lo, I\n am with you alway, even unto the end of the world._\u201d\n\n                                                          Jesus Christ.\n\n\nTHE COMING BATTLE.\n\nIslam and Christianity are not sister religions, as some would have us\nbelieve. The very existence of Islam is a challenge to Christianity;\nand since Muhammad sent out his missionary armies, the two Faiths have\nbeen constant rivals and enemies. All apologists of any weight on both\nsides acknowledge the mutual exclusion of Christ and Muhammad. Nothing\nis gained on either side by denial of this position.\n\nHistory has corroborated this view only too literally. In Muslim\nlands those bearing the Christian name have suffered and do\nsuffer in proof of it. \u201c_To remain a Christian_,\u201d writes Mrs.\nKing Lewis, in her book\u2014\u2018Critical Times in Turkey, and England\u2019s\nResponsibility,\u2019\u2014\u201c_means to court death in some terrible manner_.\u201d\nThe best that can be said of other lands is that there is an armed\nneutrality.\n\nThe two antagonists must one day meet; and the war, on the one side\nat least, will be a religious war. It will be a terrible war, waged\nat fearful cost. It could hardly be otherwise, for the wrongs to be\navenged on either side are deep and of long standing.\n\nIt is a saying with Mussulmans that Christianity fears to meet Islam.\nMissionaries in Arabia have been taunted with the fact that parties of\ntwo or three men are sent by the Church of Christ to convert Arabia,\nand the inference is drawn that the older Faith dares not seriously to\nconfront the younger. Some colour is given to the reproach by the fact\nthat Christian Europe dares not to confront the moribund Turkish Empire\nin defence of those who bear the Christian name.\n\nThe question of Christianity is, whether the inevitable war shall be\nprimarily or entirely a war of the nations, bloody and disastrous; or\nwhether it is not possible even yet for the Church to unite her forces,\nand to meet the common enemy with a frank avowal of the first wrong,\nand an offer, belated indeed, but now earnest and sincere, of the\nknowledge of Christ.\n\nThe approach of Christian to Mussulman must always be a difficult and\ndelicate task. He is prepossessed against Christ, he cannot believe\nthat Christianity is other than a polytheistic Faith, \u201cThe very bells\nof the churches ring, Jesus, Mary; Jesus, Mary,\u201d said a Muslim woman.\nDisdain of the Prophet rouses his bitterest antagonism. Discussions and\narguments end as they began.\n\nBut there is a soul of honour in him, and a fair approach meets, as\na rule, with a fair response. \u201cYou have read the Quran? Bring me a\nBible,\u201d said a bigotted Muslim woman to the writer.\n\n\u201cShall we talk the matter quietly over? Tell me of your Faith, and\nof what it means to you; and will you give me also a hearing?\u201d Such\nan appeal rarely fails; and if Christ and His message be fairly\nintroduced, the result may safely be left with Him.\n\n\n                                THE END\n\n\n\n\nA SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ACCESSIBLE BOOKS UPON THE SUBJECT.\n\n\n  _A Dictionary of Islam._ By the REV. T. P. HUGHES, late of Peshawar.\n\n  _Notes on Muhammadanism._ By the REV. T. P. HUGHES, late of Peshawar.\n\n  _The Life of Mahomet._ By SIR WILLIAM MUIR.\n\n  _Mahomet and Islam._ By SIR WILLIAM MUIR.\n\n  _Mohammed, Buddha, and Christ._ By PROFESSOR DODS.\n\n  _The Religion of the Crescent; or, Islam: Its Strength, Its Weakness,\n    Its Origin, Its Influence._ By the REV. W. ST. CLAIR TISDALL, M.A.\n\n  _Christianity and Islam._ Epochs of Church History Series. (A. D. F.\n    Randolph and Co., New York.)\n\n  _The Quran._ Of which there are several translations.\n\n\n                     RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,\n                     BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND\n                            BUNGAY, SUFFOLK\n\n\n\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s note:\n\nArchaic and unusual spellings have been maintained from the original\nbook.\n\nObvious errors in printing have been corrected, as detailed below.\n\nThe Table of Contents was expanded to include the Preface, Table of\nContents, A Short Bibliography of Accessible Books Upon the Subject,\nand this Transcriber\u2019s Note.\n\nThe book cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in\nthe public domain.\n\nDetails of the changes:\n\n  Page 15  had crossed his path, who had spoken or[of]\n\n  Page 24  corrolary[corollary] to the teaching regarding the Will,\n\n  Page 34  pullution[pollution] before entering the presence of\n\n  Page 41  Islam is in advance of the law of great[Great] Britain","title":"Islam","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":9426}