i . i. \ I ,^T 4 111 1^1 1 ^ T 7 r \M pRrn -HE SHn,i/rH<^ 1 7 IXJl mut& !&' ■ , ^a^i-l yi'iff ■•. -*»r^*^.v*«v , APR 28 18b7 , DiviAion..^PJ(o| Sec(cion..|V;V.(:> I THE FAITH OP ISLAM, AN EXPLANATORY SKETCH OF THE PRINCIPAL FUNDAMENTAL TENETS OF THE MOSLEM RELIGION, BY / W. H. QU ILLI AM, {Solicitor of the Supreme Court oj Judicature.) " I like the Mussulman ; he is not ashamed of his God : his life is a fairly pure one." — General Gordon. " Say : unbelievers, I will not worship that which ye worship ; nor will ye worship that which I worship. Neither do I worship that which ye worship ; neither do ye worship that which I worship. Ye have your religion, and I my religion." — Sura 109, Koran. LIVERPOOL : WiLLMER Brothers & Company, Ltd,, 25, Victoria Street, am> 64 & 66, Chester Street, Birkenhead. 1892. [All Rights Reserved.] PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. As all the 5,000 copies which comprised the second -edition of this work have been exhausted, it has become necessary to issue another one- Since the publication of the last issue the pamphlet has been perused by the Caliph of the Faithful, His Imperial Majesty the Sultan of Turkey, who was gracious enough to signify his commendation of the same ; and letters have been received from Sierra Leone, Lagos, and other portions of Western Africa, the Cape of Good Hope and the Transvaal in South Africa, from Hungary, the Phillipine Islands, Australia, and even from Hong Kong in China, and Tobolsk in Siberia, asking for copies of the book to be forwarded, and permission has been granted and the brochure is now being translated into and published, in addition to other languages, in Turkish, Oerman, Bengalee, and Tamil (the language of Southern India). In this edition I have carefully retained every line of the original text, but I have, in many instances, considerablj' extended the information previously given, my desire being to present as full and complete a sketch of my religion as was possible without extending the book to an unnecessary length. And I trust that the perusal of this little work may facilitate a correct knowledge of " the truth of that faith which is most excellent." '*' W. H. Abdullah Quilliam. 15, Manchester Street, Liverpool, Srd Ramazan, 1309. (Which Christians style the 2«cZ Ap'il, 1892.) * 92adSura, " The Night." PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. The great success of this httle work, the first edition of 2,000 copies all beiog disposed of in less than eight months and there being a continuous demand for more copies, has necessitated the issue of another edition. I have accordingly carefully revised the book, and although I have not found it necessary to eliminate a single line of the original text, nevertheless I have deemed it advisible in some instances to amplify and extend the information given. As an example of the widespread interest awakened through the publication of this pamphlet I may mention that letters have been received from Mussulmans in Switzerland, St. Petersburg, Ceylon, The Punjaub, Calcutta, Bombay, Lahore and various other portions of India, Egypt, Straits Settlements and Rangoon (British Burmah\ asking for copies of the work, that it has been perused by royalty in the personages of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen of England and Empress of India, and of His Royal Highness the Khedive of Egypt, and that permisson has been granted and the book is now being translated into Burmese, Persian, Hindustanee and Arabic for publication in those various languages, and I only trust that these few pages will aid in the hastening of the time foretold in the Koran "When the assistance of Allah shall come, and the victory, and the people shall be seen entering into the religion of God by troops." " W. H. Q. 82, Elliot Street, Liverpool, 29f7i Dulhegala, 1307, which Christians Btyle the 15fch August, 1890. * 110 Sura " Assistauce." PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. The subject matter contained in this little work was originally delivered in the form of three lectures in Vernon Hall, Liverpool. Some of the author's co-religionists suggested that those lectures should be x^ublished as a pamphlet for public circulation. However, as he had only kept a few notes of his remarks on those occasions, the writer deemed it wiser to rewrite the matter in its present form. His great embarrassment has been to condense into the smallest possible space a concise yet fair and accurate state- ment of the tenets held by Mussulmans, and he trusts that he has not carried the process of condensation too far, and that this little work will remove some of the prejudices of those who hold a different belief, and that he has been able to place the main principles of the faith of Islam in an intelligible and, as far as possible, interesting form. — W. H. Q. July, 1889. T HE TAITH OF ; SLAyVl, When we consider that Islamism is so much mixed up with the British Empire, and the many milHons of Moslem fellow subjects who live under the same rule, it is very extraordinary that so little should be generally known about this religion, its history, and that of its followers ; and consequently the gross ignorance of the masses on the subject allows them to be easily deceived, and their judgment led astray by any preten- der striving to raise up an excitement against those of that persuasion. If, however, it be the duty of mankind to live at peace together, and do each other all the good, instead of all the evil, in their power, we cannot inform ourselves too%iuch on this and kindred subjects. What can be more absurd than the belief held by the majority of the people in England that the coffin of the prophet Mahomet is composed of steel, and held in suspension *' 'twixt earth and heaven " by the means of loadstones ; and yet of so old a duration is this ridiculous story, and so generally is it believed, that it has given rise to an expression which has become as much a part of the English language as is a standard Shakesperian quotation. Much of this deplorable ignorance, doubtless, owes its origin to the mischevious tales regarding the customs and re- ligious belief of the Moslems, which were circulated in Europe at the time of the crusades by Christian priests, who thus played upon the credulity of their flocks in order to inflame 10 their zeal on behalf of the expeditions then being raised to *' rescue the Holy Land from the grasp of the infidel " ; but equally is it without doubt that falsehoods and misrepresenta- tions are still industriously published and circulated amongst English speaking people by interested persons, paid agents of societies, who know full well how gullible the general public are, and who trade on their ignorance in order to extract subscriptions from their pockets. In the following pages, therefore, we will endeavour to correct some of these erroneous notions,* and to explain what is " The Faith of Islam." One of the best and briefest descriptions of the faith of Islam is that given by David Urquhart in the introduction to vol. I. of his clever work *' The Spirit of the East," published in 1839, and reads thus : ** Islam, as a religion, teaches no new dogmas; establishes no new revelation, no new precepts; has no priesthood, and no church government. It gives a code to the people, and a constitution to the state, enforced by the sanction of religion." That Urquhart was right has been admitted by many. Palgrave, Vambery, Rawlinson, Layard, Rolland, Stanley of Alderley, De Chonski, and others, have participated in his insight and confirmed his statements. Every traveller who has come into intimate contact with Moslem people has had something to say in their favour. Notwithstanding all this, the bulk of opinion in Great Britain has remained unaffected. The truth has not been generally known, because the great body of the Enghsh-speaking people being brought up in one sect or another of the Christian faith have inherited a bitter and unreasoning prejudice on the subject that seems to them to be an essential part of their religion ; aud even when a dignitary of the Anglican Church hke Canon Isaac Taylor 11 has had the courage at a church congress to dehver his honest convictions on the matter, he has been assailed by bitter invective and bigoted vituperation. The remarks of Canon Taylor, as delivered by him at the church congress at Wolverhampton, on the 7th October, 1887, aiid reported in the Times of the follo\\'ing day, are well worthy of careful perusal and consideration. Our time and space will not permit us to give the whole of his speech, but we cannot refrain from republishing a portion of it. " The Eev. Canon Isaac Taylor said that over a large por- tion of the world Islamism as a missionary religion is more successful than Christianity. (Sensation.) Not only are the Moslem converts from paganism more numerous than the Christian converts, but Christianity in some regions is actually receding before Islam, while attempts to proselytize Mahom- medan nations are notoriously unsuccessful. We not only do not gain ground, but even fail to hold our own. The faith of Islam already extends from Morocco to Java, from Zanzibar to China, and is spreading across Africa with giant strides* It has acquired a footing on the Congo and the Zambesi, while Uganda, the most powerful of the negro states, has just become Mahomedan. In India western civilization, which is sapping Hindooism, only prepares the way for Islam. Of the 255 millions in India, 50 millions are already Moslems/'' and of the whole population of Africa more than half. It is not the first propagation of Islam that has to be explained ; but it is the per- manency with which it retains its hold upon its * The recent census gives the number of Moslems in India as 57,365.204, and the number of Christians (including Europeans residing there) as 2,284,191. It is estimated that about five millions of persons have, in India alone, during the last ten years, become converts to Islam. 12 converts. Christianity is less tenacious in its grasp. An African tribe once converted to Islam never reverts to pagan- ism, and never embraces Christianity Islam has done more for civilization than Christianity. Take for ex- ample the statements of English officials or of lay travellers as to the practical results of Islam. When Mahomedanism is embraced by a negro tribe, paganism, devil worship, fetish- ism, cannibalism, human sacrifice, infanticide, witchcraft, at once disappear. The natives begin to dress, filth is replaced by clsanliness, and they acquire personal dignity and self- respect. Hospitality becomes a religious duty, drunkenness becomes rare, gambling is forbidden, immodest dances and the promiscuous intercourse of the sexes cease, female chasity is regarded as a virtue, industry replaces idleness, license gives place to law, order and sobriety prevail, blood feuds, cruelty to animals and to slaves are forbidden. A feeling of humanity, benevolence and brotherhood is inculcated. Poly- gamy and slavery are regulated and their evils are restrained. Islam, above all, is the most powerful total abstinence associa- tion in the world, whereas the extension of European trade means the extension of drunkenness and vice, and the degrada- tion of the people ; while Islam introduces a civilization of no low order, including a knowledge of reading and writing, decent clothing, personal cleanUness, veracity and self-respect. Its restraining and civilizing effects are marvellous. How little have we to show for the vast sums of money and all the precious lives lavished upon Africa ! Christian converts are reekoaed by thousands, Moslems converts by millons. These are the stern facts we have to face. They are extremely unpleasant facts ; it is folly to ignore them. We ought to begin by recognising the fact that Islam is not an an ti- Christian faith, but a half- Christian faith. Islam was a 13 replica of the faith of Abraham aud Moses, with Christian elements. Judaism was exclusive. Islam is cosmopolitan — not like Judaism, confined to one race, but extended to the whole world. Moslems acknowledge four great teachers — Abraham, the friend of God ; Moses, the prophet of God ; Jesus, the work of God : and Mahomed, the apostle of God.* There is nothing in the teaching of Mahomed antagonistic to Christianity. It is midway between Judaism and Christianity. This reformed Judaism swept so swiftly over Africa and Asia because the African and Syrian doctors- bad substituted metaphysical dogmas for the religion of Christ. They tried to combat licentiousness by celibacy and virginity. Seclusion from the world was the road to- holiness, and dirt was the characteristic of monkish sanctity.. The people were practically polytheists, worshipping a crowd of martyrs, saints and angels. Islam swept away this mass- of corruption and superstition. It was a revolt against empty theological polemics ; it was a masculine protest ag:unst the exaltation of celibacy as a crown of piety. It brought out the fundamental dogma of religion — the unity and greatness of God. It replaced monkliness by manliness. It gave hope to the slave, brotherhood to mankind and recognition to the fundamental facts of human nature. . . The virtues which Islam inculcates are what the lower races can be brought to understand — temperance, cleanliness, chastity, justice, fortitude, courage, benevolence^ hospitality, veracity, and resignation. They can be taught to cultivate the four cardinal virtues, and to abjure the seven deadly sins. The Christian ideal of the brotherhood of man * Moslems recognise six gi-eat teachers. In addition to the four given above they acknowledge Adam, the created of God ; and Noah, the specially preserved of God. Canon Taylor has overlooked this fact. u is the highest ; but Islam preaches a jjractical brotherhood — the social equality of all Moslems.- This is the great bribe ) which Islam offers. The convert is admitted at once to aa ' exclusive social caste ; he becomes a member of a vast con- fraternity 150,000,000.1- A Christian convert is not regarded as a social equal, but the Moslem brotherhood is a reality. We have over much *' dearly beloved brethren " in the reading desk, but very little in daily life. True, the Koran offered a material paradise, but the social privileges attained in this world are a more potent motive Tlie two great practical difficulties in the way of the conversion of Africa are polygamy and domestic slavery. Mahomet, like Moses, did not prohibit them ; that would have been impossible ; but I he endeavoured to mitigate their evils. Slavery is no part of the creed of Islam. It was tolerated as a necessary evil by Mahomet as it was by Moses and St. Paul. la the hands of the Moslem it is a very mild institution, far milder than negro slavery in the United States. | Polygamy is a more difficult question. Moses did not prohibit it. It was practised by David, and it is not directly forbidden in the New Testament. Mahomet limited the uabounded licence of polygamy ; it is the exception rather than the rule in the most civilized Moslem lands, European Turkey, Algiers, and Egypt. || Polygamy, with all * "Verily, the true believers are brethren: wherefore reconcile your brethren : and fear God, that ye may obtain mercy." 49 Sura, " Inner Apartments." t These figures are greatly below the real strength of Islam. It is estimated there are 240 millions of professing Moslems in the world. I "And as to your slaves, see that ye feed them as ye feed yourselves, and clothe them as ye clothe yourselves." Saying of the Prophet Mahomet. II " A case of polygamy was unknown in Candia, amongst a population of 40,000 Mussulmans." Urciuhart's " Spii-it of the East,"' Vol. II., page3S8. 15 its evils, lias its counter-balancing advantages. It has abol- ished female infanticide, and gives every woman a legal protector. Owing to polygamy Moslem countries are free from professional outcasts, a greater reproach to Christendom than polygamy to Islam. The strictly regulated pol3^gamy of Moslem lands is infinitely less degrading to women and less injurious to men than the promiscuous polyandry which is the curse of Christian cities, and which is absolutely unknown in Islam. The polyandrous English are not entitled to cast stones at polygamous Moslems. Let us first pluck out the beam from our own eye, before we meddle with the mote in our brother's eye. The four evils of Moslem lands— poly- gamy, slavery, concubinage, and licence of divorce — are no exclusive reproach to Islam. Within our own memory, if not now, they have all prevailed in aggravated forms in the United States— a land nominally Christian and peopled by a race of EngUsh brotherhood Let us remember that in some respects Moslem morality is better than our own. In resignation to God's will, in temperance, charity, veracity, and in the brotherhood of believers, they set us a pattern we should do well to follow. Islam has abolished drunkenness, gambling and prostitution — the three curses of Christian lands. Islam is the closest approach to Christianity which has been able to take hold of Eastern or Southern nations. It is superior to the grovelling superstition of the Coptic and Abyssinian churches." The pubUcation of Canon Taylor's remark^ led to a some- what animated correspondence in the columns of the " Times " newspaper. Many of these letters are well worth reproduction, but the bpace at our disposal will not permit us to avail our- selves of more than one, and it is from the pen of Mr. Joseph 16 Thompson, the well-known African traveller, who under date of November 10th, writes from Edinburgh as follows : — * '* From experience I know how dangerous it fs to recognise any good in any living religion outside the orthodox pale a^nd its immediate vicinity, or to offer any criticism on the method adopted by church agencies to propagate their creeds. The critic's motives are sure to be misrepresented and held up to opprobrium, while his facts will probably be ignored. He soon discovers that the church or its mission- ary agencies love not the light, or at least only such as passes through authorized loopholes or specially supplied coloured glass. As an observer of somewhat varied experi- ence in Eastern, Central, and Western Africa, where I have seen Christianity and Mahomedanism f in contact with the Negro, I would claim to be heard. It has been argued by some of your correspondents that in Eastern Africa and the Nile basin you see Islam in its true colours in congenial association with the slave trade and all forms of degradation and violence. A more baseless statement could not be con- ceived. I unhesitatingly affirm — and I speak from a wider experience of Eastern Central Africa than any of your correspondents possess — that if the slave trade thrives it is because Islam has not been introduced to these regions, and for the strongest of all reasons, that the spread of Mahomedanism would have meant the concomitant suppression of the slave trade. * This letter Avas published iu the " Times " of the 14th November, 1887. t The Moslems do not call their religion Mahomedanism, nor do they render any worship, as some have supposed, to their Prophet. This name is purely of foreign origin, and is objected to by them, on the same principle, that he whom Christians style St. Paul, objected to saying, " I am of Paul, Cephas or Apollos." 17 (( Islam is not preached to the Negro because the Muscat Arabs desire to retain their slave-hunting grounds. To do otherwise would have been to hail the natives as brother Mussulmans where they hoped to capture slaves. In the same way many of our Christian traders, you may rest assured, would resist most strenuously the introduction of missionaries of their religion into their trading grounds, if it was not found that the profession of Christianity among the natives was not incompatible with a large consumption of gin. It is sometimes convenient, however, to confound a people with their religion — when it does not come too near home. "Again, it has been triumphantly pointed out that the religion of Mahomet does not sx3read in the Eastern division of the African continent. That is perfectly true. I have already mentioned one potent reason. There is a second equally important. Islam, like Christianity, is brought among the natives by an alien race — a race in every respect far above them — a race which characterizes them as "Wa-Sherzi (wild men). The Muscat Arab is cut off by a wide gulf from the Negro. He does not attempt to pass it. By being thus cut off from the race the Negro makes no attempt to acquire its religion nor its manners. But while I unhesitatingly afiirm that the slave trade flourishes in Eastern Central Africa because Islam is not there, only its professor, I as confidently assert that this so much reviled religion has done one great service there. It has prevented the spread of the liquor traffic. In Zanzibar itself the Sultan has been impotent to arrest the traffic, because Christian nations objected to any restriction of ' trade.' Happily, on the mainland he has hitherto been allowed a freer hand in enforcing the rules of his religion, and 18 so done an enormous service in preventing the demoralization of the easily seduced blacks. How long tliis will last now that Germany's ' pioneers of civilization ' are descending upon the land remains to be seen. Turning now to Western Africa and the Central Soudan — which I also have had the opportunity of visiting — we find a far different state of things prevailing. Here we have Islam as a living, active force, full of the fire and energy of its early days, proselytizing too with much of the marvellous success which characterised its early days. Here we have it preached equally in the streets of Sierra Leone, and among the debased cannibal tribes of the Niger basin. With the disingeiiousness which makes them attempt to fasten the evils of the slave trade upon Islam, the defenders of the Christian faith seek with might and main to minimize and distort the facts about the success of Islam in Western Central Africa. Unable to recognise any good except it come through orthodox channels, they seek to describe its advance as a terrible calamity and unmixed evil to the African. They declare — as they have been taught from their childhood — that Mahomedanism can only be propagated by means of fire and sword. They delight to draw pictures of the terror-stricken Negro on his knees, his hut in flames behind him, his wives and children, with halters round their necks, being dragged off by ferocious men to make slaves of, while a demon-like Mussulman stands over him with drawn sword, giving him the alternative of ' death or the Koran.' This is the stereotyped notion how Mahome- danism is propagated — an idea, I suppose, handed down from previous generations. Happily, I have had an opportunity of seeing for myself, and seeing differently. The greatest triumphs of Islam in the Central and AVestern Soudan have been by peaceful and unassuming agencies — the 19 ■erratic Fellani herdsman in the past, the energetic and enter- prising Hausa or Nupe trader in the present. From some- where about the 12th century the herdsman has been engaged spreading his rehgion from Lake Chag to the Atlantic, with the result that the entire region became honeycombed with little Mahomed an coteries by the end of last century. They but wanted a leader to throw off the yoke of paganism and proclaim the Unity of God. With the beginning of this century came the leader in the person of Fodiyo. and in a surprisingly short time Mahomedanism was established as the reigning religion over a huge extent of country, giving an im- petus to the barbarous tribes which has produced the most ^astounding results. In these later years the chief agent in the spread of Islam has been, as I have already remarked, the Hausa or Nupe trader. Protected by the sanctity of his busi- ness, the Negro merchant penetrates into every tribe within hundreds of miles of his own home. He mixes with the barbarous pagan as one of like blood with himself ; he sleeps in the same house, he eats the same food. Everywhere he carries his religion with him, its great central features unob- scured by unthinkable and transcendental dogmas. He has just so much of doctrine as his pagan brother can understand and assimilate. The trader remains a month, or it may be six months or a year. During that time he is admired for his fine clothes, and the people around him begin to ape him. "They see nothing which they may not hope to aspire to ; there is nothing in his rehgion they do not understand. In this manner have the seeds of civilization and Islam been scattered broadcast among numerous savage tribes, till the land resounds with the inspiring din of a hundred industries, and morning, noon, and evening rises the watchword of Islam, ^nd knees which were formerly bent to stocks and stones, 20 now bend before the one God, and lips which have quivered with enjoyment over the flesh of a brother man are employed to acknowledge His greatness and compassionateness. '' If Islam has not always been propagated by such peaceful means, what is there to wonder at ? Have we not required some eighteen centuries to learn that we have no right to force our religion on others ? What wonder, then, if ardent negro propagandists should seek occasionally to force the blessings of their religion on their unbelieving and stubborn bre^.hren ? " Having thus briefly given extracts from the speeches and writings of some of our countrymen upon the subject, let us now endeavour to calmly and dispassionately consider what is the creed of Islam and then to try and see if it will stand the test of reason and commonsense. *' Islam has been defined as being like a horse for beauty,, strength and endurance and for its swiftness in carrying^ conviction, and like a sword for its keen incisive power in argument ; it teaches a man always to live remembering that he has once to die, and as life is short he should therefore do as much good in the world as he can while he lives, and thus be always prepared to die." ^ The fundamental doctrine of Islam is that from the very creation of the world down to its final destruction there has been, and for ever will be, but one true orthodox belief; tha foundation of this religion is the recognition of the truth that there is one only and true God. " There is no God but * This masterly definition of tlie Faith of Islam I received from the lips of His laiperial Majesty Ghazi Abdul Hamid-as-sani, Sultan of Turkey an.l Calipli of the Faithful, in au interview he was graciously pleased to accord rae at the Imperial Palace of Yildiz, Constantinople^ in Ramazan, 1308 (May, 1891). 21