THE 
 
 Three Lectures 
 
 OF 
 
 Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb, Esq., 
 
 MADRAS, HYDERABAD (DECCAN) AND 
 BOMBAY, 
 
 WITH A BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS LIFE. 
 
 PUBLISH ED BY 
 
 MOULVl HASSAN ALI, 
 
 ( MOHAMMEDAN MISSIONARY.) 
 
 MADRAS : 
 
 'Printed at the Lawrence asylum Press. Mount Road. 
 ' 1802 . 
 
 Price. 8 Annas, or Five Copies for Two Rupees. Postage Free 
 
 X 
 

 
 

TO 
 
 Nawab Mohsanul Mulk Bahadur 
 
 Moulvi Syed Mahdi Ali Khan. 
 
 As a token of great admiration for his natural eloquence , 
 his unbounded love for his nation , and for his good heart , and 
 in remembrance of many acts of kindness, this little book is 
 dedicated by 
 
 HASS AN ALI, 
 
 Mohammedan Missionary. 
 
 \ 
 
 y 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The age we live in is an age of inquiry and toleration. 
 Religious rancour and hatred is dying away before the light of 
 education and the progress of knowledge. Such an age is pecu- 
 liarly favorable to the triumph of truth. The religion of Islam, 
 which was looked upon by some European nations as the worst 
 form of religion, is now beginning to receive recognition from 
 the great thinkers of the West. The spirit of research and 
 inquiry has led some enlightened Christians of Liverpool, in 
 England, to openly declare their faith in Islam. This small 
 band of brave men are actually practising the required forms 
 and ceremonies of our religion. They are offering up prayers 
 five times daily and observing the Fast of Ramzan as we do in 
 India. They are persecuted, but they have faith and patience 
 to bear all like the early Moslems of Mecca. 
 
 The three lectures contained in this book are another illus- 
 tration of the effect of unprejudiced study and research. These 
 lectures were delivered by Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb 
 during his recent visit to India. 
 
 Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb was born in the city 
 of Hudson, State of New York, United States of America, on 
 November 9, 184G. His father Alexander Nelson Webb was a 
 leading journalist of the day. Mr. Webb received his early 
 education at the Home School, Glendale, Massachusetts, and 
 completed his higher education at the Claverack College near 
 Hudson. He made considerable progress in his college studies, 
 and after finishing his education followed in the wake of his 
 worthy father and began life as a journalist, purchasing and 
 publishing a weekly paper at Unionville, Missouri. His great 
 abilities and mental capacities made him very successful in his 
 profession. His fame as a journalist spread far and wide. He 
 was offered the city editorship of the St. Joseph (Missouri) 
 Daily Gazette. Here also he gave evidences of his great talents. 
 Later on he was called to be associate editor of the St Louis 
 (Missouri) Morning Journal. He was afterwards made one of 
 the editors of the Missouri Republican, at St. Louis. This 
 
4 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 paper is the second oldest and one of the largest daily news- 
 papers in the United States. While engaged on this journal 
 in September, 1887, he was appointed by President Cleveland 
 as Consular Representative of the United States, at Manila, 
 the chief city of the Philippine Islands. 
 
 In 1872, or about twenty years ago, Mr. Webb gave up 
 Christianity, as he found that religion to be not in harmony 
 with reason and justice. For some years he had no religion at 
 all, but this state of mind could not last long. A thought 
 entered his mind that he should try to study the Oriental 
 religions, and in 1881 he began the earnest study of the Eastern 
 faiths. He had access to a most excellent library of about 
 13,000 volumes. He had then at his disposal time to spend 
 from four to seven hours a day in this new field. lie began 
 with Buddhism. Not finding satisfaction in Buddhism he took 
 up Islam. Four years ago he became satisfied that Islam was 
 the only true religion: “Islam,” to use his own words, “is 
 founded upon that eternal truth which has been handed down 
 to man from age to age by the chosen Prophets of God, from 
 Moses to Mohammed. It is the only system known to man 
 which is strictly in harmony with reason and science. It is 
 elevating and refining in its tendencies, and develops the 
 higher, nobler elements of humanity when it is faithfully, 
 wisely and intelligently followed.” At the time when Mr. 
 Webb embraced our religion he had never seen a Mohammedan. 
 Four years ago I had the pleasure of seeing one of his letters 
 addressed to Mirza Golam Ahmad of Kadian in Punjab, when 
 I had gone there on my missionary tour. In this letter he had 
 exjn-essed his faith in Islam. A Parsec gentleman, of Bombay, 
 happening to go- to Manila, was the means of opening a corre- 
 spondence between Mr. Webb and Mr. Budruddin Abdulla 
 Kur, of Bombay. Mr. Budruddin published some of his 
 interesting letters in the local newspapers. In one of these 
 letters Mr. Webb expressed his great desire that some one 
 should go to preach Islam in the free country of America. 
 Hajee Abdulla Arab, the Mohammedan merchant of Bombay, 
 who had emigrated to Medina and was carrying on trade in 
 Jeddah, happened to see the correspondence that had passed 
 between Mr. Webb and Mr. B. Kur. The Ilajee took a very 
 deep interest in the conversion of Mr. Webb. He opened 
 direct correspondence with him, the ultimate result of which 
 was that Hajee Abdulla Arab went to Manila to see Mr. Webb. 
 This was the first time when Mr. Webb saw a Mussulman. I 
 am glad that he saw the best Mussulman of India. Hajee 
 Abdulla Arab, though a native of India, possesses those noble 
 qualities which once adorned the early followers of Islam. His 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 b 
 
 perfect trust in God, his noble zeal for serving the cause of 
 Islam, his self-sacrificing spirit, and above all his purity of 
 heart which is reflected in his noble face, made a deep impres- 
 sion on Mr. Webb. The Hajee was also very much pleased to 
 see Mr. Webb and his little family. The good-natured wife 
 of Mr. Webb and her three children are also Moslems. In 
 Manila the plan for the propagation of Islam in America was 
 discussed, and it was finally decided that Hajee Abdulla Arab 
 was to bike upon himself the bisk of collecting the necessary 
 funds and Mr. Webb was to resign his post of Consul General 
 of the United States and become the leader of the Islamic 
 mission in America. Hajee Abdulla Arab asked Mr. Webb 
 to visit some of the important towns of India before going to 
 New York, which was to be the headquarters of the Islamic 
 propaganda. Now Mr. Webb is in India and is soon going to 
 leave us. I joined Mr. Webb in Bombay and accompanied 
 him in his visit to Poona, Hyderabad (Deccan) and Madras. 
 I was nearly two months with him. It gives me great pleasure 
 to say that I found Mr. Webb a pucca* Mussulman. In my 
 humble opinion he is the man for the great work he has under- 
 taken. I think he has been selected by God for the great 
 mission. His. extensive knowledge, his masterly pen, and his 
 burning eloquence will be of great help in the spread of Islam 
 in the new world. We could not find a better man. He came 
 out to the East as a representative of a great nation, but he is 
 now returning home as a representative of a great faith — the 
 faith of the Great Prophet of Islam. He carries with him to 
 the New World the prayers and good wishes of the whole Mos- 
 lem world. The reader will find in his lectures some explana- 
 tion of the plan he is going to pursue for the spread of Islam 
 in America. May God in His Mercy crown the efforts of Mr. 
 Webb with complete success ! 
 
 Mr. Webb is not a dry rationalistic Moslem, but his heart 
 is full of love for God and His Prophet. God has been pleased 
 to open his heart to the secret philosophy of Islam. He knows 
 the spirit of Islam. To him has been opened the sacred 
 treasure of our religion — the treasure which was possessed by 
 Imam A1 Ghazzali and Moulana Eoom. Hac he jjot been pos- 
 sessed of this living fountain there would have been very little 
 hope of his success ; but with this ever-flowing fountain in his 
 heart there is every hope of complete success. 
 
 Hassan Ali. 
 
 * Proper, or true. 
 
THE BETTER WAY 
 
 At the requisition of Anjuman Himayet-i-Islam, a very 
 large and influential meeting of the Mohammedans of Madras 
 was held on Sunday, December 11, 1892, in Aziz Bagh, at 3 
 o’clock p. m. Nawab Mohammed Mahmoud Khan Bahadur 
 was voted to the Chair. As requested by the Chairman, 
 Moulvi Hassan Ali, the Mohammedan Missionary, introduced 
 Mr. Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb to the meeting. Mr. 
 Webb addressed the meeting for over an hour. The lecture 
 was translated into Urdu by Moulvi Ilassan Ali for the ben- 
 efit of those who could not understand English. 
 
 The following is Mr. Webb’s address in full : A few months 
 ago I was talking with an Englishman regarding the relative 
 merits of Mohammedanism and the system erroneously called 
 Christianity, as elfective methods of securing salvation. He 
 had firmly declared his belief in a conscious existence after the 
 death of the body, and also averred that Christianity was the 
 best and only system known, through and by which man 
 could attain to that post mortem condition known to Chris- 
 tians as the Kingdom of Heaven. I imagined that he was not 
 really satisfied with the Christian system, and I endeavored to 
 show him some of its defects which are plainly apparent when 
 the light of reason is turned upon it. After I had finished he 
 said: 
 
 “ There is a great deal of truth in what you say of Chris- 
 tianity ; but can you show me a better system ?” 
 
 ^ Now, that is a question which has been asked by thou- 
 sands upon thousands of thoughtful, honest, broad-minded 
 people who follow Christianity in a half-hearted, doubtful 
 way, simply because they know of no other system, or, rather, 
 because their prejudices and habits of thought have prevented 
 them from examiuing carefully the character and tendencies 
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
8 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 of the one true religion — Islam. There is no religious system 
 known to humanity that is, and has been for centuries, so thor- 
 oughly misrepresented and misunderstood, by so-called Chris- 
 tians, as that taught by our Prophet. The prejudice against 
 it is so strong among the English-speaking people of the globe, 
 that even the suggestion that it may be true and, at least, 
 worthy of a careful, unprejudiced investigation is usually re- 
 ceived with a contemptuous smile, as if such a thing was too 
 palpably absurd to be considered seriously. It may surprise 
 you to hear that it is generally and quite firmly believed 
 among the Christians of America and Europe that Moham- 
 medanism has been clearly and satisfactorily shown to be a 
 false system, followed by blood-thirsty fanatics, and that all 
 its tendencies are materialistic and degrading. It would 
 astonish and amuse you to know of some of the absurd ideas 
 that have taken hold of the Anglo-Saxon mind regarding 
 Islam and its followers. And yet you cannot justly blame us 
 Americans nor our European cousins for having these ideas, 
 for they are the results of centuries of malignant misrepresen- 
 tation born of spiteful jealousy, gross ignorance and wicked 
 fanaticism. The early fathers of the Christian Church lied 
 most vigorously and persistently about our Prophet and his 
 teachings, as well as about the Moslem Brotherhood, in the 
 days when it was the crowning glory of the world. Petrarch, 
 by the way, declared that these same Church fathers were the 
 greatest liars on earth. But Petrarch might have been unduly 
 prejudiced, for it is recorded that his sister was seduced by the 
 holy (?) Pope John XXII., and he had witnessed some of the 
 vile orgies of the Papal court at Avignon. But anyone who 
 reads Professor - Draper’s “Intellectual Development of 
 Europe” will understand how much to believe of the declara- 
 tions of the early professional Churchmen. 
 
 When Moslem Spain was the centre of an exalted civiliza- 
 tion, the home of wealth, education and refinement, and the 
 fountain-head of the material arts and sciences, Christian 
 Europe was wallowing in dirt, degradation and barbarism, 
 and inventing all sorts of falsehoods concerning Islam, 
 prompted by their hatred and jealousy of a people who were 
 immeasurably their superiors in every respect. This spirit of 
 animosity has descended from generation to generation, and 
 its influence is plainly to be seen in nearly all the literature 
 extant concerning Mohammed and Mohammedanism written 
 by Christian authors. Every Christian author who has given 
 the world a work depreciating the character of our Prophet 
 and his teachings, has drawn his inspiration from the old and 
 biased Christian sources, and has aided in perpetuating the 
 
THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 9 
 
 falsehoods and false opinions of centuries ago. It is only 
 when men like John Davenport and Godfrey Iliggins dig 
 under the rubbish of false history and bring to light some por- 
 tions of the truth, that the English-speaking world gets 
 glimpses of that eternal verity which rules the lives of so many 
 millions of the human race. 
 
 The Western mind is also prejudiced against Moham- 
 medans and their religion by the newspaper and magazine con- 
 tributions of the Christian missionaries who come to the East 
 to try to convert the Asiatics. True, they meet with little or 
 no success, but that is not due to a lack of zeal or earnestness. 
 And yet you cannot justly blame these missionaries for mis- 
 representing you and your religion, for, in the majority of 
 cases, they really believe they are telling the truth. They 
 don’t know any better, and their ignorance should be con- 
 sidered as mitigating their faults. As a rule, they are people 
 of limited education and experience, and strong prejudices. 
 They start with the firm conviction that they are right in 
 their religious belief and that everybody else is wrong — hence 
 their desire is to show the followers of other systems how far 
 wrong they are. All they know of Mohammedanism they 
 have acquired from the writings of ignorant Christians and, in 
 their ignorance, they are disposed to magnify, distort and ex- 
 aggerate the acts and expressions of Mohammedanism. But be- 
 cause they do so it is not a valid reason why you should despise 
 and hate them — that would be diametrically opposed to the 
 spirit of our Prophet’s teachings — your duty is to be patient 
 with them, to try to teach them the right way — to lead them 
 out of the darkness of ignorance into the light of truth. The 
 Holy Koran teaches us that if we do this we will receive a 
 great reward. Show them the true path, patiently and 
 earnestly, and if they stubbornly refuse to walk in it, they will 
 suffer and you will have the happy consciousness of having 
 done your duty to God and your fellow-man. 
 
 . And why is Islam the better way — the true and only way 
 to salvation ? Because it is founded upon that eternal truth 
 which has been handed down to man from age to age, by the 
 chosen Prophets of God from Moses to Mohammed, Hazrat 
 Mohammed Sallalaho Alehe Wassulim. Because it is that eter- 
 nal truth. Because it is the only system that will satisfy the 
 longings of the soul for a higher existence. Because it is the 
 only system known to man which is strictly in harmony with 
 reason and science. Because it is free from degrading super- 
 stitions, and appeals directly to human rationality and intel- 
 ligence. Because it makes every man individually responsible 
 for every act he commits and every thought he thinks, and 
 
10 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 does not encourage him to sin by teaching him a vicarious 
 atonement. Because it is elevating and refining in its tend- 
 encies, and develops the higher, nobler elements of humanity 
 when it is faithfully, wisely and intelligently followed. 
 
 Now I am aware that this declaration will cause those 
 Christians who hear it, to smile and ask me to go among the 
 lower classes of Mohammedans and see if I can find any of the 
 effects of the exalting, ennobling influences of Islam. I have 
 been asked this question since I have been in India and I want 
 to meet it right here. 
 
 If we are to judge a religious system by the moral and 
 social character of the masses of its professed followers, Chris- 
 tianity will be so thoroughly condemned that it will speedily 
 pass out of existence. Take a professed Mohammedan and 
 compare him with a professed Christian of the same intellect- 
 ual calibre, the same education and the same opportunities for 
 obtaining secular knowledge and I am confident that the Mo- 
 hammedan will show a cleaner moral record and higher spirit- 
 ual perceptions than the Christian. Some of the most 
 wretchedly degraded and fanatically superstitious people I 
 have ever met in my life called themselves Christians. Of 
 course they were not Christians, nor did they have even the 
 remotest conception of the true teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, 
 but they believed, or claimed to believe, in the Christian dog- 
 mas. Now every Mussulman knows that it requires something 
 more to make a true Mohammedan than the parrot-like repe- 
 tition of certain words or sentences. Because a man says he 
 is a Mohammedan it does not follow that he comprehends or 
 lives up to the spirit of the teachings of our Prophet; if he 
 does not do so he cannot properly be taken as an example of 
 the effects or tendencies of Islam. No religious system can 
 fairly be judged by the acts and expressions of its professed 
 followers; its fully established fundamental teachings and ten- 
 ets only should guide us in forming an opinion of it. 
 
 And here let me assure you that there is nothing in the 
 Islamic system that tends to immorality, impurity, social deg- 
 radation, superstition nor fanaticism ; on the contrary, it 
 leads on to all that is purest and noblest in the human char- 
 acter, and when you see a professed Mohammedan, who is un- 
 clean in his person and habits, who is untruthful, cruel, intol- 
 erant, irreverent or fanatical, you may at once conclude that 
 he is not a true follower of Islam and that he fails utterly to 
 grasp the spirit of the religion he professes. 
 
 And now let us consider briefly some of the salient princi- 
 ples — the most prominent features of our religion, viz.; the 
 Unity of Cod, the inspiration of our Prophet, cleanliness, 
 
THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 11 
 
 prayer, fasting, fraternity, alms-giving, and pilgrimage. These 
 may be said to form the foundation of the system ; and I be- 
 lieve that an understanding of them is all that is necessary to 
 commend the system to any intelligent person. 
 
 The truth of the Unity of God is apparent in all the man- 
 ifestations of nature and has been clearly and unmistakably 
 taught by the founder of every religion known to man. It is 
 a historical fact that the Christian dogma of the Trinity was 
 invented by the Bishop of Antioch 300 years after the death 
 of Jesus, and that the latter never taught it and never heard of 
 it. Idolatry and a multiplicity of gods have invariably been 
 the inventions of misguided men and such doctrines were never 
 taught by truly inspired religious teachers. 
 
 Watch the course of nature if you are disposed to believe 
 that it is the work of several gods. We see everything in the 
 Universe moving regularly and systematically under the guid- 
 ance of an unseen power. 'The planets revolve steadily and 
 unswervingly in their orbits; the seasons come and go, the 
 winds rise out of the unfathomed depths and go howling like 
 demons through space or fan our heated brows as gently as a 
 mother’s kiss; the trees slowly rise out of the earth, spread their 
 branches in cooliug shade, or burst forth in a glorious bloom ; 
 the tiny plant expands until it can pour forth its tribute to 
 the glory of God in fragrant blossoms; under fixed laws the 
 fruits and grain appear as food for man and the grass and 
 herbage for the animals ; water falls from the clouds to revive 
 and nourish the parched and thirsty earth ; all the manifesta- 
 tions of terrestrial and celestial life and force are governed by 
 a master hand that permits no change or variation in their 
 general course. 
 
 How grandly and simply the Holy Koran expresses some 
 of the signs of God ! 
 
 “ Verily God causeth the grain and the date-stone to 
 break forth ; He bringeth forth the living from the dead and 
 the dead from the living. This is God ! ” 
 
 “ He causeth the dawn to break, and hath ordained the 
 night for rest, and the sun and the moon for computing 
 time.” 
 
 “ And it is He who hath ordained the stars for you, that 
 ye may be guided thereby in the darknesses of the land and of 
 the sea ! ” 
 
 “ And it is He who sendeth down rain from Heaven; and 
 We bring forth by it the germs of all the plants, and from them 
 bring We forth the green foliage and the close-growing grain ; 
 and from the palm-trees the low-hanging date-clusters out of 
 their sheaths; and gardens of grapes, and the olive, and the 
 
12 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 pomegranite, like and unlike. Look, je, on their fruits when 
 they fruit and ripen. Truly, herein are signs unto people 
 who believe.” 
 
 From the standpoint of human reason, which is the most 
 rational conclusion — that there is one God or three or more 
 whose power controls the Universe ? Spiritual science demon- 
 strates, beyond doubt, the Lenity of God, while evidences of 
 the truth of this doctrine greet us at every turn in our daily 
 lives. These evidences will be convincing to any intelligent 
 man who will throw aside his prejudices and consider them 
 carefully. 
 
 What proof have we of the inspiration of our Prophet ? 
 The proofs are ample and abundant, but in order to present 
 them fully and concisely I would need more time than is at 
 my disposal now, and would be obliged to enter upon the 
 discussion of the philosophic side of Islam, which is much 
 broader and deeper than the average Mussulman imagines. 
 But we really need no stronger proofs than the Holy Koran, 
 the character of its and the Prophet’s teachings, and the well- 
 authenticated traditions and records of his life. No man 
 could have lived as he did, taught as he did and accomplished 
 what he did with no power animating and guiding him but 
 the impulses of fallible human reason. One of the first things 
 to impress me, after I began the study of Islam, was the per- 
 sistent, steadfast earnestness of our Prophet in the face of 
 obstacles and discouragements that would have utterly defeated 
 an ordinary man. He evidently believed fully and perfectly 
 what he taught. Had he been a man of ordinary mentality, 
 vacillating and uncertain in his ways, and given to following 
 visionary projects, his sincerity might have been less valuable 
 as evidence; but we find that from boyhood to youth and 
 manhood he was remarkably well-balanced mentally, and 
 earnest, honest and rational in everything he undertook. His 
 moral character, too, was far above that of the average boy and 
 youth of his time, and his steady, reliable course of life won 
 for him the love and esteem of all with whom he came in con- 
 tact. Wealth, power and an exalted social position were 
 within his grasp, and he could have realized every human 
 ambition and gratified every human desire and impulse had he 
 chosen to avail himself of the worldly advantages offered to 
 him. But he chose the better way; he turned his back upon 
 comfort and luxury, sacrificed all that makes life dear to the 
 average man, and suffered insult, persecution and extreme 
 privation in order to teach the truth to his fellow-men. These 
 facts taken in connection with the character of his teachings 
 
THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 13 
 
 should be sufficient to convince any man that he was truly 
 inspired. 
 
 If you will carefully analyze those teachings you will find 
 that, in their ethical aspect, they are exactly in harmony with 
 the ethical teachings of Moses, Abraham, Jesus, and every 
 other truly inspired prophet known to history. The system 
 he promulgated differs from that previously given to man, 
 because our Prophet’s mission was to present a thorough and 
 complete code, the general purpose of which was to correct 
 the abuses and destroy the errors that had grown about the 
 doctrines taught by his prophetic predecessors. His manifest 
 purpose was to win' mankind from idolatry, and to present a 
 series of rules or laws which, if followed faithfully and intelli- 
 gently, would draw men closer to God and make them purer 
 and cleaner, mentally as well as physically, and better in every 
 respect. He accomplished this mission fully, and was not 
 called hence until he had seen the Islamic system firmly estab- 
 lished in the hearts and minds of his followers. 
 
 Of course, at this time, we can consider the Islamic 
 system only in its popular or exoteric aspect. As before stated, 
 it has a deeper, more philosophic aspect than is apparent at a 
 first glance. But its chief beauty, viewed superficially, is its 
 perfect adaptability to the spiritual needs of all classes of 
 humanity, from the humblest laborer to the most advanced 
 thinker and man of letters. There is nothing in it that does 
 violence to reason or common-sense or that is in any degree 
 contrary to the natural instincts of justice and mercy. It 
 requires no belief in the supernatural, nor the adoption of any 
 absurd superstitions or impossible theories. Purity of thought, 
 word and deed, perfect mental and physical cleanliness, and 
 steady, unwavering aspiration to God, coupled with pure, 
 unselfish, fraternal love, are the principal ends sought, and 
 the* means are as perfect as it is possible for man to con- 
 ceive of. 
 
 Our Prophet forcibly declared that prayer was the corner- 
 stone of religion, and lie laid greater stress upon this than 
 upon any other feature of his system. In order to show the 
 solemnity and importance of prayer more plainly, as well as to 
 secure the carrying out of another principle, the “ Woozoo,” 
 or ablution was ordered. It was his evident intention to 
 impress upon his followers the idea of cleanliness in such ways 
 as -were the most effective and permanent, and in the rule of 
 ablution, as well as in other rules, we readily see that he under- 
 stood and appreciated the force of habit. No Mussulman who 
 prays the required number of times daily ever thinks of pray- 
 ing without thinking also of his “ Woozoo,” and thus he is 
 
14 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 reminded five times a day, at least, that he should have clean 
 hands, face and feet, and in responding to the calls of nature 
 he is cleanly to the last degree — far more so than the average 
 man of any other faith. Thus he acquires habits of personal 
 cleanliness which he cannot break away from without breaking 
 away from his religion. All the evidence at hand, bearing 
 upon the subject, tends to show that our Prophet not only 
 intended that the hands, feet, face and private parts should he 
 kept perfectly clean, but that all parts of the body and the cloth- 
 ing should be clean when we turn our face toward the Kaaba 
 and our hearts toward God. In my opinion the Mussulman who 
 prays in soiled clothing violates the spirit of the law, no matter 
 how thoroughly and carefully he has performed his “ Woozoo.” 
 I believe, also, that the floors of mosques and other places of 
 prayer should be as nearly perfectly clean as it is possible to 
 make them. 
 
 “But,” someone may ask, “ all Mussulmans are not so 
 distressingly and painfully clean, are they ? ” 
 
 I regret to say that I have met some who were not, but I 
 think that was because they failed to grasp the meaning of 
 our Prophet’s teachings. His apparent purpose was to foster 
 and encourage cleanliness by the force of habit. When a man 
 once gets into the habit of doing anything at a certain time 
 his mind naturally reverts to that thing when the stated time 
 arrives. To establish a good habit we usually commence to 
 follow it from a sense of duty, and if it always comes to us as 
 a duty it is much more liable to cling to us than if it is a 
 matter of inclination. This is one of the points of the supe- 
 riority of Islam over the so-called Christian system. In 
 the latter the follower is taught that it is very meritorious 
 to be clean and to pray, and that he ought to observe these 
 rules — that is, of course, when he feels like doing so. If left 
 to his own inclinations, man is liable to do those duties wkich 
 are the easiest and most comfortable for him, or to his material, 
 earthly advantage. 
 
 The same ideas may be applied to prayer. Our Prophet 
 taught that it was indispensable. Suppose that he had said : 
 
 “ Prayer is a good thing; you ought to pray; I would 
 advise you to pray five times a day — if you can make it con- 
 venient. Pray often — whenever you can.” 
 
 How much praying do you suppose there would be done 
 to-day among the Mussulmans of the world? Very little I 
 can assure you — just about as much as there is done among 
 the masses of Christians to-day. The Bible says: “ Pray with- 
 out ceasing” and in the most forcible terms exhorts to prayer 
 and fasting; but in my long and extensive experience among 
 
THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 15 
 
 orthodox Christians I have found many who do not pray at 
 all, some who pray once a day, — udieu they retire at night and 
 some who pray twice — when they retire at night and when 
 they get out of bed in the morning. I have never met one 
 who was in the habit of praying oftener than twice a day and 
 none who ever made his ablutions regularly before praying. 
 
 A professed Christian once said to me: “ Oh yes that’s all 
 very well, but when a Christian prays he means it — it comes 
 from his heart, but when a Mussulman prays he does so 
 mechanically and there is no meaning in his words.” 
 
 I do not believe that that is the rule. There are thousands 
 of Christians who repeat the Lord’s Prayer and “Now I lay 
 me down to sleep,” without a thought of what the words mean, 
 and just as mechanically and parrot-like as any Mussulman 
 ever did. But the Mussulman has an advantage even if he 
 does repeat the words of his prayer mechanically ; the prostra- 
 tions and genuflections keep him constantly reminded of his 
 duty and prevent his thoughts from wandering off elsewhere. 
 If lie prays five times a day he must, of necessity, get as 
 much soul into these five prayers as the Christian does in one 
 short one, and I am inclined to believe that he accomplishes 
 considerably more. 
 
 But if the Mussulman prays listlessly and indifferently it is 
 because he has failed to comprehend the Prophet’s teachings, 
 and not because the system is faulty. We are clearly taught 
 that prayer, to be effective, must proceed from the heart, and 
 one of the purposes of the ablution is to prepare the mind to 
 throw off its worldly concerns and concentrate itself wholly 
 upon the words spoken and the prostrations and genuflections 
 performed. We are to follow the idea of presenting ourselves 
 before God physically and mentally clean, and to address Him 
 soulfully and reverently. Those who have read the words of 
 Imam A1 Ghazzali can discern in prayer a vast deal more than 
 empty words and in the Islamic system a most effective means 
 of leading people into the habit of prayer, even when they are 
 not induced to pray by their own inclinations. 
 
 A Mussulman told me once that he was rather inclined 
 to believe, sometimes, that it was not necessary to follow strictly 
 the methods of prayer followed in the days of our Prophet and 
 his immediate successors; and when I asked him his reason for 
 thinking so, he said it was because the Arabs were not natur- 
 ally a praying people, and some hard and fast rale was neces- 
 sary in order to get them into the habit of praying. I called 
 his attention to the conditions prevalent among those who 
 have adopted European ideas and customs, and convinced him 
 I think, that there was just as much of a necessity for a hard 
 
16 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 and fast rule to-day as there was 1,200 years ago. If those 
 ideas, habits and customs, which we group under the name of 
 19th century civilization, are calculated to produce and en- 
 courage a disposition to pray I have failed utterly to discover 
 it, and I have lived within that civilization all my life. 
 
 Man is a creature of habit and, as a rule, when he once 
 drops into a groove he rarely gets out of it without an unusual 
 effort, unless he does so in order to follow something a little 
 nearer to the earth. If he acquires the habit of praying five 
 times a day it will cling to him until he dies, and his prayer 
 will increase in earnestness and soulfulness as his knowledge 
 of the fundamental principles of his religion increases. 
 
 One of the wise provisions of the Islamic system is the rule 
 relative to congregational prayer. The Mussulman is taught 
 that he should always pray in company with others when it is 
 possible for him to do so. Now there are several very good 
 and sufficient reasons for this rule which can only be discussed 
 under the head of Islamic Philosophy; we can only look, now, 
 at its outward aspect. In the first place it is calculated to 
 break down caste distinctions and place the servant and his 
 master upon a common level before God, in whose presence all 
 men are equal. The beggar, the merchant, the shopkeeper, 
 mechanic, millionaire, the professional man all stand elbow to 
 elbow as brothers in the mosque at the time of prayer, land 
 when a number of Mussulmans come together anywhere at the 
 stated hours they are, in duty, bound to cast aside social dis- 
 tinctions and pray together. It is also the duty of the Mus- 
 sulman to pray wherever he may happen to be when the hour 
 of prayer arrives; or, if the place is unsuitable, to seek a better 
 one. It is a severe blow to the pride of a young man when he 
 must kneel in the presence of his non-praying companions or 
 retire from their company for the avowed purpose of praying. 
 
 In fact, the tendency of all the rules relating to prayer is 
 to secure honesty and frankness of purpose, complete devotion 
 to religion, and soulful, hearty worship of the one true God. 
 The word Islam means, literally, resignation to the will of God, 
 and hence prayer, in its purest, most perfect aspect, must be 
 the very essence of the system. 
 
 It is generally admitted that a man may call himself a 
 M ussulman if he simply declares his belief in the Unity of God 
 and the inspiration of the Prophet, but he certainly cannot be 
 called a true follower of Islam unless he prays from the very 
 depths of his heart and makes the purpose of his prayer to 
 bring his soul nearer to God. 
 
 Probably the most curious and absurd objection I have 
 ever heard against Islam was in connection with the subject of 
 
THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 17 
 
 prayer. I was talking with an Englishman upon the general 
 subject of Mohammedanism and after I had replied to a num- 
 ber of objections he said : 
 
 “ Well, there is one thing about Mohammedans that would 
 prevent my becoming one; and that is that every one of them 
 is duck-legged and has knees in his trousers from sitting on 
 his legs and feet so much in prayer,” 
 
 After I had, to some extent, recovered from my surprise 
 I replied: “ In my opinion, it is very much more to one’s ad- 
 vantage to go into Paradise duck-legged and with knees in his 
 trousers than not to get in at all.” 
 
 And since that time whenever I see a Mussulman who is 
 duck-legged and has knees in his trousers I, at once, have a 
 feeling of respect for him for I know that he is attending to 
 his religious duties. 
 
 The subject of prayer leads us, quite naturally, to that of 
 fastiug, which is one of the most important features of the 
 Islamic system. In the doctrines of every religion, fasting 
 appears as one of the prominent articles of discipline. Jesus 
 taught it repeatedly and emphatically and insisted upon it as 
 one of the first necessities of spiritual development, but the 
 designers and architects of the so-called Christian system failed 
 to present it as a fixed and inviolable law and hence it has 
 fallen into desuetude, particularly among the Protestants. 
 Some Roman Catholics still make a pretence of fasting but I 
 never heard of a Protestant who fasted. 
 
 The Holy Koran says : 
 
 “ 0 Believers ! a fast is prescribed to you, as it was prescribed 
 to those before you, that ye may fear God.” 
 
 This is a fixed law and it is obeyed, with more or less 
 sincerity, in every Mohammedan community on earth, during 
 the month of Ramzan in every year. Whether, in these 
 degenerate days, the results are what the fast is intended to 
 produce may be questioned in many cases, but there are, un- 
 doubtedly, many other cases in which a vast amount of 
 spiritual good is attained. 
 
 From the fact that every inspired religious teacher, from 
 the beginning of history to the time of our Prophet, taught 
 his followers to fast, and that all those who have attained to 
 high spiritual conditions in any part of the world, have urged 
 the same practice, it is reasonable to infer that there is some 
 valid reason for it. It is a well-established fact that the lower 
 bodily health and strength become, the more vivid and intense 
 become the psychic powers. Anyone who will try the experi- 
 ment will find that a fast of twenty-four hours will increase his 
 sensitiveness very perceptibly and also make his mental powers 
 
18 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 brighter and more active. We can think with greater facility 
 and control our thoughts more easily when our stomachs are 
 empty than when we have eaten a hearty meal. 
 
 In view of all the discoveries of materialistic science it is 
 quite plain that there is something more in fasting than a 
 meaningless form, a foolish superstition, or even a method of 
 discipline. Its true purpose is to relieve the soul of the burden 
 of earthly desires and thoughts and prepare it for the reception 
 of spiritual truth. Or we may say that it is the cleansing and 
 purifying of the soul so that it may be in a fit condition to 
 appear before that higher spirit which dwells within every 
 man. 
 
 But at this time we have only to do with the disciplinary 
 results of the fast, which are the most beneficial to those who 
 perform this duty solemnly and sincerely. Even if it is 
 performed mechanically, and without any idea of its higher 
 purposes, it takes the Mussulman a little further along the 
 road toward spiritual perfection than he would go if he 
 made qo attempt to fast. Of course, the more earnest and 
 sincere the faster is, the higher will be the results obtained 
 and the greater will be the reward hereafter ; the man is left 
 to choose for himself the course he will pursue knowing, at the 
 same time, that the law requires him to fast. Obedience to God 
 is meritorious, but earnest, cheerful obedience is far better than 
 reluctant and indifferent compliance. 
 
 Generally speaking the fast gives one month in the year 
 to God, as one day in the week and five times in the day are 
 given to Him. During this month the Mussulman is not only 
 required to refrain from food from dawn to sunset of each day, 
 but the fast is considered broken and ineffectual if at any 
 time during that period he gives way to anger or any passion 
 or indulges in slander or falsehood. This curbing of the pro- 
 pensities of the lower nature is just as much a part of the fast 
 as refraining from taking food. Now is it possible for a man 
 to be virtuous for one month in each year without having his 
 general character benefited to some extent during the other 
 eleven months? 
 
 But the real purpose of the fast is higher than the mere 
 temporary discipline of the lower or animal nature; it is a 
 wise provision which, if followed intelligently, sincerely and 
 prayerfully, will inevitably bring about a closer communion 
 between tiie soul and that spirit of God which the Holy Koran 
 tells us is nearer to man than his jugular vein. 
 
 The Holy Koran says: — 
 
 “ Verily there is pardon and a great reward for those who 
 
THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 19 
 
 fear their Lord in secret. And be your converse hidden or 
 open, He verily knoweth the inmost recess of your breasts.” 
 
 Now if this is true the purposes and efficacy of fasting 
 and prayer or meditation are at once apparent. The abstain- 
 ing from food brings the soul forces into ascendency over the 
 animal inclinations and the soul is voluntarily presented and 
 laid open to God. Can anyone doubt that great good must 
 come from such an exercise ? 
 
 Our esteemed brother Hassan Ali, the earnest and faithful 
 Mohammedan missionary, has written an essay on Fasting 
 which contains a number of valuable ideas and suggestions. It 
 is printed in Urdu and should be in the hands of every 
 thoughtful Mussulman in India. 
 
 It was apparently our Prophet’s purpose to induce his fol- 
 lowers to acquire the habit of observing the fast as well as the 
 habits of prayer and cleanliness, realizing that these habits 
 would descend to their children and their children’s children 
 from generation to generation, thus keeping mankind in the 
 true path even if all did not walk closely in it. Twelve 
 hundred years have passed and the month of Ramzan is looked 
 forward to and observed by the masses of Mohammedans 
 throughout the world. They have acquired the habit and it 
 clings to them, doing more good than the masses have any 
 idea of. 
 
 No one who has given the Islamic system careful and 
 unprejudiced study can fail to see how wisely and judiciously 
 it was constructed and how broad and effective its results must • 
 be if it is followed intelligently and faithfully. We all know 
 the force of habit, good or bad, and how easy it is to drift 
 into vice and sin. It seems very much easier and more com- 
 fortable to be wicked than to be good in this generation. 
 The poet has truly said : 
 
 “Vice is a monster of such frightful mien, 
 
 That to be hated needs but to be seen, 
 
 But seen too oft, familiar with its face, 
 
 We first endure, then pity, then embrace.” 
 
 If we once begin to stray away from the path of religious 
 habit and duty it is very easy for us to drift with the tide of 
 worldliness out into the broad and tempestuous ocean of sin 
 and despair. Hence the wisest course for us to pursue is to 
 study our religion until we arrive at an intelligent compre- 
 hension of its principles and purposes, and then to follow its 
 forms and duties earnestly, honestly and sincerely. 
 
 And now let us glance at another of the most important 
 features of the Islamic system, viz., fraternity. One of the 
 first acts of our Prophet after he had taken up his abode in 
 
20 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 Medina was to commence the organization of the Moslem 
 Brotherhood ; that fraternity of earnest, loyal souls which was 
 destined to create a grand and glorious revolution throughout 
 the entire East. Through all his life and teachings we find 
 a strong sentiment of brotherly love and devotion running like 
 a thread of silver through a field of gold ; it permeated all the 
 thoughts and actions of the early Moslems and was a potent 
 factor in bringing about their grand and glorious achievements 
 at arms. 
 
 A story is told of an old man who, on his death-bed called 
 his sons to him to receive his last blessing. When they had 
 assembled and stood in tearful attention waiting to hear 
 his words, he told one of them to bring a number of small 
 sticks. The son obeyed and in obedience to his father’s com- 
 mand broke one of the sticks with his fingers. His father 
 then told him to put all the sticks together and try to break 
 them, but he found that he could not do so although he 
 brought all his strength to bear upon them. 
 
 “You see,” said the old man feebly, “how easily you 
 broke the stick when it was away from the others and how 
 difficult it is to break them when they are all together. 
 Herein is a lesson which I want you to keep in mind after 
 I am gone. In union there is strength.” 
 
 This was apparently the lesson which our Prophet taught 
 his followers, knowing that while they were united in a bond 
 of true fraternity and inspired by sincere devotion to God, 
 they would be invincible. And so long as that spirit of fra- 
 ternity existed in the Moslem ranks, so long as the fire of 
 brotherly love and devotion burned in the hearts of the de- 
 fenders of the true faith, so long did Islam continue on its 
 irresistible march toward the zenith of its glory and power. 
 But just as soon as dissension and disunion made their ap- 
 pearance the power of the Moslem arms began to weaken, and 
 the moving column found itself utterly unable to overcome 
 the obstructions that lay in its path. Compare the con- 
 dition of the Moslem world in the eighth century with what 
 it is to-day and see if you cannot find therein a lesson of 
 great value. 
 
 The plain duty of every Mussulman who loves his reli- 
 gion and reveres the memory of our Holy Prophet is to en- 
 deavor earnestly and persistently to revive that sentiment of 
 fraternal love which was so prominent in the character of our 
 brethren who lived and loved and worshipped the one true 
 God 1,200 years ago. Those who follow Islam should be 
 brother^ before God, and should cultivate within their hearts 
 an unselfish, fraternal love for each other which should in- 
 
THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 21 
 
 fluence their contact and communication with eacli other 
 throughout their lives. To do this mutual forgiveness and 
 mutual concessions are necessary — let us bear with each other’s 
 faults and weaknesses, praying to God for patience and strength 
 and clasping hands honestly and fervently as true brothers 
 should. 
 
 There is, there can be, but one true religion although all 
 the numerous and varied systems known to man may have 
 more or less of the one truth underlying them. By careful 
 and unprejudiced study we can readily trace this truth through 
 all the teachings of the prophets. By weeding out the false 
 translations, and interpolations in the New Testament of the 
 Christians we find it plainly taught by Jesus of Nazareth, but 
 he died before his mission was accomplished and failed to for- 
 mulate a system of practice for the purpose of firmly establish- 
 ing the truth in the hearts of his followers. It appears quite 
 plain that the majority of his twelve disciples did not under- 
 stand him and failed utterly to grasp the spirit of his teach- 
 ings. The present system called Christianity was really built 
 upon the teachings of Paul, about three centuries after the 
 death of Jesus; and Paul not only never saw the Prophet of 
 Nazareth but seems to have had only a very vague idea of 
 what the latter taught. 
 
 Our Prophet, the last and greatest of all the prophets, 
 not only taught this great truth to his immediate followers, 
 so that they evidently understood it, but he formulated and 
 firmly established a complete and perfect system of practice 
 calculated to impress it deeply on the hearts of the Arabs and 
 to carry it from generation to generation to all nations in all 
 ages of the world. His mission was fully accomplished before 
 God called him to his reward, and the legacy of truth he left 
 to sin-stricken humanity is the grandest monument that can 
 be conceived in commemoration of his lofty, stainless character 
 and his noble self-sacrifice. It is the plain and unmistakable 
 duty of every Mussulman who loves and reveres the memory 
 of our grand Prophet to use his earnest efforts to assist in 
 planting that monument — Islam — upon the soil of every 
 nation. 
 
 It is an old and true saying that, “Truth crushed to earth 
 will rise again.” Islam has passed through various stages 
 during the past twelve centuries and, until within a com- 
 paratively few years ago, it seemed to be steadily declining 
 under the crushing weight of a grossly materialistic civili- 
 zation. But there are signs of a great change, of a revival 
 of that old vigor which made it the glory of the world. Its 
 progress in Africa during the past decade has been phenomenal ; 
 
22 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 it has found a firm foothold in Europe, and with God’s help 
 we propose to establish it in liberal progressive America 
 where, I feel confident, the masses of people are waiting to 
 receive it. With all these evidences before you, can you 
 doubt the final result ? “ La illaha illala. Mohammed rasoul 
 Allah.” 
 
ISLAM 
 
 “ A very large and influential number of persons of all 
 the communities was present to hear the lecture of Mr. Mo- 
 hammed Alexander Russell Webb, on Islam, delivered at the 
 Framji Cawasji Institute, on Thursday, the 10th of Novem- 
 ber, 1892. Among those present were Kazi Mohammed Saleh 
 Abdul Latif Londay, His Excellency, Kadri Beg, Messrs. 
 Henry Balantine, Husney Beg, Ahmedbhai Habibbhai, Mu- 
 sabhai Tharia Topan, Haji Suleman Abdul Wahid Ibrahim 
 Rahimtula, Abdallabhai Lalji, Budruddin Abdulla Kur, Husen 
 Meyan Chorgay, Karsondas Chhabildar, Barrister-at-law, 
 Sundernath Dinanath Khotay, Purshotumdas Vandrawandas, 
 Ardeshir Framji Moos, Ranina, Moulvi Abdul Razzlak, Say- 
 yad Fakhrudin Edroos, Munshi Shaik Ahmed, Mahmud 
 Meyan Sharfuddin Khan, Hasan Meyan Sharfuddin, Amirnddin 
 Tyabji, Najinuddin Tyabji, Fateh Ali Shaik Ahmed, Ibrahim 
 Ahmedi, Mohammed Usoof Khat Khatay, Moulvi Furahtulla, 
 Munshi Banker Abdul Gani Muhimtulay, Haji Abdulla Arab, 
 and about 500 others. 
 
 “On the motion of Mr. Budruddin Abdulla Kur, Kazi 
 Mohammed Saleh Londnv was voted to the chair.” 
 
 Mr. Webb addressed as follows: 
 
 I have been requested to tell you why I, an American, 
 born in a country which is nominally Christian, and reared 
 under the drippings of an orthodox Presbyterian pulpit, came 
 to adopt the faith of Islam as my guide in life. I might reply 
 promptly and truthfully that I adopted this religion because I 
 found, after protracted study, that it was the best and only 
 system adapted to the spiritual needs of humanity; but this 
 reply would be altogether too general to be satisfactory. Now, 
 instead of telling you in detail how and why I became a Mus- 
 sulman, I will try to tell you what Mohammed really taught, 
 and endeavor to show that his religious system has a much 
 more valid claim to the careful, unprejudiced attention of the 
 Western world than the average Christian is willing to con- 
 
 (23) 
 
24 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 cede. It is manifestly impossible in a single lecture to present 
 a full and complete exposition of the Islamic system — one that 
 will satisfy the inquiring mind. I will, therefore, be compelled 
 to generalize to some extent. And here let me say that I was 
 not born, as some boys seem to be, with a fervently religious 
 strain in my character. I will not even assert that I was a 
 good boy, such as mothers sometimes point out as shining 
 examples for their own sons. I attended the Presbyterian 
 Sunday School of my native town, when I couldn’t avoid it, 
 and listened with weariness and impatience to the long, 
 abstruse discourses of the minister, while I longed to get out 
 into the glad sunshine and hear the more satisfying sermons 
 preached by God Himself through the murmuring brooks, the 
 gorgeous flowers and the joyous birds. When I reached the 
 age of 20, and became practically my own master, I was so 
 tired of the restraint and dulness of the Church that I wan- 
 dered away from it, and never returned to it. As a boy I 
 found nothing in orthodox Christianity calculated to win me 
 to it, and in later years I encountered convincing evidences of 
 its grave errors and insufficiency as a means of securing salva- 
 tion, or of elevating and purifying the human character. 
 Fortunately I was of an inquiring turn of mind ; I wanted a 
 reason for everything, and I found that neither laymen nor 
 clergy could give me any rational explanation of their faith, 
 but either told me that such things were mysteries or that 
 they were beyond my comprehension. After trying in vain to 
 find something in the Christian system to satisfy the longings 
 of my soul and meet the demands of reason, I drifted into 
 materialism, and for several years had no religion at all. 
 About eleven years ago I became interested in the study of 
 the Oriental religions, beginning with Buddhism as students 
 of the Eastern system usually do. I will not weary you with 
 details further than to say that at that time I bad access to a 
 most excellent library of about 13,000 volumes, from four 
 to seven hours a day at my disposal, and that I was intensely 
 in earnest in my efforts to solve the mysteries of life and death, 
 and to know what relation the religious systems of the world 
 bore to these mysteries. My mind' was in a peculiarly recep- 
 tive, yet exacting and analytical, condition, absolutely free 
 from the prejudices of all creeds, and ready to absorb the 
 truth, no matter where it might be found. Firmly material- 
 istic, I looked at first to the advanced school of materialistic 
 science and found that it was just as completely immersed in 
 the darkness of ignorance as I was. It could tell me the name 
 of every bone, muscle, nerve and organ of the human body, as 
 well as its position and purpose or function; but it could not 
 
THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 25 
 
 tell me the real difference between a live man and a dead one. 
 It could tell me the name of every tree, plant and flower, and 
 designate the species to which each belonged, and what were 
 its apparent properties and attributes; but it could not tell 
 me how and why the tree grew and the flower bloomed. It 
 was absolutely certain that man was born, lived a brief space 
 and died, but whence he came or whither he went were riddles 
 which they confessed themselves utterly unable to solve. 
 “ Those matters belong to the Church,” said a scientist to me. 
 “But the Church knows absolutely nothing of them,” I 
 replied. “ Nor do I — nor does science,” was the helpless, 
 hopeless way in which he dismissed the question from the 
 conversation. 
 
 I saw Mill and Locke, Kant, Hegel, Fichte, Huxley, and 
 many other more or less learned writers discoursing with a 
 great show of wisdom concerning protoplasm and protogen 
 and monads, and yet not one of them could tell me what the 
 soul was or what became of it after death. “ But no one can 
 tell you that,” l fancy I hear some one say. That is one of 
 the greatest errors that poor, blind humanity ever made; there 
 are many people who have solved this mystery, but they are 
 not the materialistic followers of any creed. 1 have spoken so 
 much of myself in order to show you that adoption of Islam 
 was not the result of misguided sentiment, blind credulity, or 
 sudden emotional impulse, but that it was born of earnest, 
 honest, persistent, unprejudiced study and investigation, and 
 an intense desire to know the truth. And now let us see what 
 Islam really is, and you will readily understand, I think, why 
 I have accepted it. If anyone should ask me to reply at once 
 to the question: “What do the Mohammedans believe?” 
 I would be as completely unable to reply, without hesitation, 
 as I would be if asked : “ What do the Christians believe ? ” 
 The disposition of the Christians of all ages, from the days of 
 Constantine to the present, to amplify and adorn their religion 
 with ideas of their own has been shared by many of the pro- 
 fessed followers of the Arabian Prophet, and there are preva- 
 lent among the Moslems of our time many points of belief 
 which were never taught by Mohammed, and which are not 
 entitled to a place in the true faith of Islam. The wonderful 
 fecundity of the human mind is amply shown by the vast 
 variety of conceptions — or misconceptions — which may be 
 found among the religious doctrines of mankind, and which 
 were never a part of the original fundamental principles, but 
 are the results of the biased speculations and misconceptions 
 of those who have assumed to be religious authorities. It is a 
 well-known fact that every one of the fifty odd different Chris- 
 
26 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 tian sects bases its system of doctrines npon the Bible, and 
 that the followers of each sect appeals to that much-abused 
 book for proof that their belief is right and reasonable and 
 logical, and that all the others are more or less erroneous. 
 Wade through the tons of Mohammedan and Christian litera- 
 ture extant, if you have the patience, and go among the fol- 
 lowers of the various sects and listen to their arguments, if 
 you desire to acquire a perfect realization of the fertility of 
 the human intellect and the elastic possibilities of religious 
 literature. If you do not speedily find yourselves in a condition 
 of doubt and perplexity closely bordering npon despair, you 
 will have failed to follow the intricacies of the arguments put 
 before you. If, from the multitudinous and multifarious con- 
 ceptions you will encounter you can form a positive and satis- 
 fying opinion as to what Mohammed and Jesus really did or 
 did not teach, you will do much better than anyone who has 
 ever tried the experiment before you. There are certain 
 clearly-defined dogmas which nearly, if not quite all Moslems 
 believe in the abstract, but, with the possible exception of the 
 Sufis, or esoteric Mohammedans, they are greatly divided in 
 their conceptions of the Prophet’s teachings. 
 
 Orthodox Mohammedanism may be divided into six 
 heads: 1st — Faith in God, the one God, the Creator of all 
 
 things, who always was and ever will be ; the single, immu- 
 table, omniscient, omnipotent, all-merciful, eternal God. 
 2d — Faith in angels, ethereal beings perfect in form 
 and radiant in beauty; without sex, free from all gross 
 or sensual passion and the appetites and infirmities of 
 frail humanity. 3rd — Belief in the Koran as a book of 
 divine revelation given at various times to Mohammed by God 
 or through the Angel Gabriel. 4th — Belief in God’s prophets, 
 the most pre-eminent of whom were Adam, Noah, Abraham, 
 Moses, Jesus and Mohammed. 5th — Belief in the resurrection 
 and final judgment when all mankind shall appear before God, 
 who will reward or punish them according to the deeds they 
 have done on earth. Opinions differ, of course, as to the 
 nature of these rewards and punishments. 6th — Belief in pre- 
 destination, or the inability of man to avoid, by any act of his 
 own, the destiny irrevocably predetermined by God and written 
 down in the eternal book previous to the creation of the world. 
 At the first glance this seems to deprive man of his character 
 as a free agent, but a closer examination shows that it does not 
 do so. It will be seen, therefore, that in its fundamentals it 
 closely resembles esoteric, or so-called Christianity, when the 
 Latter is stripped of its objectionable dogmas. From these 
 central points diverge numerous lines which form in the aggre- 
 
THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 27 
 
 gate an elaborate system of faith and worship, the effects of 
 which vary greatly according to the character of its followers. 
 The articles of religious practice are five in number, namely, 
 Prayer, Ablution, Alms, Fasting and Pilgrimage. And now 
 let us endeavor to ascertain from whence this system sprang, 
 by considering who and what our Prophet was. And let me 
 assure yon that in seeking for the truths I have found, 1 have 
 had to overturn a vast deal of rubbish in the shape of false 
 history, false opinions, and false reasoning, before I caught the 
 faint gleam of that priceless jewel which has been preserved to 
 man through all the ages, although the bigots and pharisees of 
 orthodoxy have striven most earnestly to destroy it. In the 
 light of reason and human testimony it has been quite conclu- 
 sively shown that Mohammed was a pure and holy man who 
 voluntarily gave up all that the world holds dear, in order to 
 obtain a knowledge of the one great spiritual truth; that he 
 suffered ridicule, obloquy, and persecution of the crudest, 
 most vindictive character in trying to teach this truth to the 
 Arabs, and that he died in extreme squalor and poverty after 
 having fully accomplished his mission. These are facts which 
 are generally admitted even by Christian writers, and it is, 
 therefore, unnecessary to call Mohammedan witnesses. It is 
 said that a young man once asked Jesus what he should do in 
 order to inherit everlasting life. The reply was: “ Sell all 
 that thou hast, give to the poor, take up the cross and follow 
 me.” 
 
 Now, that is exactly what Mohammed did, except that he 
 did not follow Jesus in the sense understood by the orthodox 
 Christian. He sacrificed all he had in the world and bore the 
 cross of trials and suffering faithfully and patiently until he 
 had securely planted the true faith in the East. It has been 
 plainly shown by every writer who has given us anything pur- 
 porting to be a record of the life of our Prophet, that during 
 his childhood he was remarkable for his quiet, gentle demeanor, 
 his quick intelligence, and his modest, retiring, thoughtful 
 disposition. While he mingled freely with the boys of Mecca 
 he did not acquire any of their coarse and vicious habits. As a 
 youth he was distinguished by his affectionate ways, his frank- 
 ness and truthfulness under all circumstances, and as a man he 
 was upright, just and generous in his dealings, and was a mer- 
 chant whose honesty and reliability were unimpeached. So 
 generally was his character recognized that he was called by 
 the people of Mecca: “ A1 Amin, the Trusty.” Does it seem 
 possible that a man with such pronounced and well-grounded 
 principles of morality and integrity followed until the age of 
 fifty, could suddenly change and become what many of the 
 
28 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 Christian writers have wickedly declared him to be ? I don’t 
 believe it. All the prominent Christian authors have been 
 forced to the confession, more or less plainly made, that after 
 protracted study and research, they were utterly unable to form 
 an adequate and satisfying conception of his character. The 
 explanation of their failure is plain — they reasoned from the 
 standpoints of their own materialistic creeds, and facts which 
 would have solved the riddle for them, had they been able to 
 break away from their false opinions and beliefs, were cast aside 
 as valueless. Several of these sapient writers have said in sub- 
 stance: “Mohammed was not our kind of a Christian, and, 
 therefore, he must have been an impostor. But it troubles us 
 to find that such a truly pure aud holy man was not a Chris- 
 tian.” Had they understood the teachings of their own 
 Prophet they would not have wondered at this seeming phe- 
 nomenon. It has been admitted that Mohammed’s material 
 prospects were all that the most ambitious young man of his 
 time could have desired, until he began to teach spiritual truth. 
 His relatives were wealthy, and his uncle, Abu Taleb, who 
 took him into his family and became a kind, affectionate and 
 indulgent father to him after the death of his own parents, 
 was one of the wealthiest and most prosperous merchants in 
 Arabia. The guardianship of the Kaaba at Mecca, the incum- 
 bent of which office was also Governor of the city, was hered- 
 itarily fixed in his family line, and, had he been content to 
 drift with the tide of life as he found it, would certainly have 
 fallen to him together with his uncle’s great wealth. Had he 
 been the crafty, ambitious, unprincipled man he is popularly 
 believed by the Christians to have been, he would undoubtedly 
 have waited patiently and kept in favor with his relatives until, 
 in the natural course of events, he must have become one of the 
 foremost men in Arabia, crowned with wealth and high honors, 
 and surrounded by all the comforts, luxuries and grandeur of 
 a worldly life. But he chose the better way, although it led him 
 through a path thickly strewn with sharp stones and cruel 
 thorns, and, from a worldly point of view, filled his life with 
 bitter disappointments, privations, sorrows and sufferings, of the 
 most harrowing description. And herein is a lesson which 
 should sink deeply into the hearts of those who have turned 
 their backs upon the higher way, and are engaged in that mad 
 chase after rupees and comfort which is so deeply engrossing 
 the attention of the greater part of the world. You are prob- 
 ably all familiar with the history of our Prophet’s separation 
 from the affairs of the world. He passed long periods in prayer, 
 fasting and meditation, and reduced his diet to dates and barley, 
 his only drink being water. This abstemiousness was continued 
 
29 
 
 THE THREfi LECTURES. 
 
 to the close of his life, and it is said that sometimes for a 
 whole month he would eat nothing but dates, and those in very 
 small quantities. Ilis favorite place of retirement was a cave on 
 Mount Kara, where he would spend several days at a time in 
 meditation, and where he received his mission to shed the light 
 of truth upon the world — to kindle that fire which in after 
 years burned so brilliantly and filled the entire East with its 
 glorious effulgence, lie was often accompanied by his faith- 
 ful wife, who was the first convert to his doctrines, and who 
 seemed to share with her whole soul his zeal and devotion to . 
 his purpose. Whenever he emerged from his retirement and 
 returned to his home in Mecca, he went about doing the good 
 that came to his hands and assisting those who, through sick- 
 ness or misfortune, were unable to provide for themselves. 
 In this way the greater portion of his own wealth, and that 
 which he had acquired through his marriage with Khadijah 
 melted away. 
 
 Now, it is necessary to weigh carefully all these well- 
 known and universally admitted facts concerning our Prophet’s 
 life prior, and immediately subsequent to, his inspiration, in 
 order to arrive at a rational conclusion regarding his character, 
 and to make those comparisons between him and the other holy 
 prophets which are inevitable. During the period we have 
 now reached, he made no effort to teach publicly any of the 
 truths which had been revealed to him, and his manner of life 
 seems to have attracted very little attention beyond the circle 
 of his immediate relatives. At this time he was looked upon as a 
 harmless fanatic, who had foolishly sacrificed his brilliant world- 
 ly prospects for some reason which was not quite clear to his 
 friends, and in which they took no very great interest. Subse- 
 quently he publicly announced his mission, and called down upon 
 himself that bitter, relentless, cruel persecution and storm of 
 ridicule which has been more or less graphically described by the 
 historians. Has there ever been a prophet who attempted to 
 teach the world the one true way to eternal life whose path has 
 been strewn with roses ? Not one. The world hates the truth 
 with fiendish malignancy, and calls madly for the blood of him 
 who attempts to teach it. The claim made by Mohammed that 
 aroused the fury and contempt of the Meccans was substantially 
 the same as that made by Jesus of Nazareth, who received 
 similar treatment at the hands of the enraged Jews. He said 
 that he was a prophet and apostle of God, inspired by the 
 Supreme Being to point out to the Arabs the true way to sal- 
 vation and to redeem them from idolatry and the vices which 
 they had acquired indirectly from following a thoroughly 
 materialistic religion. He repeatedly told his hearers that he 
 
30 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 was not a supernatural being but a man, like unto them, with 
 the same physical structure, the same mental endowments, and 
 the same natural inclinations and proclivities; that from the 
 Supreme Spirit he had learned the solution of the mystery of 
 life and death and the true way to eternal life ; that he had 
 given up the world that he might teach them this way — had 
 crucified himself that they might live — and this is the only 
 way in which Jesus was ever crucified, all the sophistical argu- 
 ments and quotations from false history to the contrary not- 
 
 • withstanding. Mohammed claimed to be a prophet sent from 
 God in the same sense that Moses, Abraham, Elias, Jesus, and 
 every other truly inspired prophet claimed to have been sent. 
 He taught no new religious system, but sought to revive that 
 one eternal truth which has been preserved to man from the 
 beginning of the world, and will continue to be preserved as 
 long as the world shall stand. His claim was no more nor 
 less than that made by Jesus, who never claimed to be God 
 nor the son of God in the sense in which some misguided 
 people believe he did. In the 58th verse of the 8th chapter 
 of the Gospel of St. John is a statement attributed to Jesus 
 which has sorely puzzled Bible readers and commentators, but 
 which is a plain, unequivocal statement of all that Jesus 
 claimed to be, when it is properly translated from the original 
 Greek. It reads thus: “ Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily 
 I say unto you, before Abraham was I am.” As the verse 
 stands, it is an ungrammatical absurdity and means nothing. 
 The correct translation into English would make it read thus : 
 “ Verily, verily I say unto you, I am what Abraham was be- 
 fore me.” That is to say, an inspired prophet like Abraham. 
 Jesus admitted {hat there were other true prophets before 
 him, and some of the Mohammedan doctors insist, and their 
 arguments and evidence are by no means unworthy of con- 
 sideration, that he plainly prophesied the coming of Moham- 
 med, declaring that the latter would lead his followers into 
 the truth. And I assure you that our Prophet never taught 
 anything that was at all at variance with the true teachings of 
 Jesus; on the contrary, a careful comparison of the true tenets 
 of the faith of Islam with those taught to his disciples by the 
 
 • Prophet of Nazareth cannot fail to show that in their tone aud 
 tendency they are identical. Mohammed frequently referred 
 to the Nazarene as 11 Jesus, the inspired son of Mary,” the 
 Holy Prophet sent by God to the Jews, and paid to him the 
 loftiest tributes of love, reverence and esteem; but for the 
 absurd dogmas, misconceptions and superstitions of the sys- 
 tem erroneously called Christianity he had nothing but the 
 strongest condemnation. He taught that at certain periods 
 
THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 31 
 
 ill the development of humanity a prophet arose from among 
 the people to raise them from the degrading materialism of 
 dogmatic creeds, the unhealthy growths of afnbition, selfish- 
 ness and worldliness, and to guide them into the true path 
 from which the desires of the flesh had led them to stray; that 
 this was God’s method of holding humanity in its upward 
 course toward spiritual perfection. He declared that he was 
 the last of a long line of prophets, and that he taught nothing 
 different from the teaching of his predecessors, that his pur- 
 pose was to renew the one supreme truth in the hearts of his 
 fellow Arabs. The validity of this declaration is apparent 
 when one has some knowledge of the philosophy of Islam. 
 “What!” exclaims the Christian, “and does Islam really 
 contain a philosophy ?” Yes, my misguided brother, it is a 
 philosophy as well as a religion, and a pure, perfect, holy 
 philosophy, too. Look about you and see the beauties and 
 wonders of nature, the growth and decay of the trees and 
 flowers, the movements of the planets, the changes of the tides 
 and seasons — all the grand manifestations of nature moving on 
 with steady, majestic regularity under the guidance of an un- 
 seen power, which is a dense mystery to materialistic science. 
 The unvarying order which pervades the whole system in- 
 dicates the power of a master hand. We do not find grapes 
 growing upon cocoanut trees nor figs upon thistles, but each 
 fruit appears and matures upon its own tree; and decays and 
 passes into nothing, if not used for human food. We see the 
 flash of the lightning and hear the roll of the thunder and the 
 shrill shriek of the cyclone, but the average man knows noth- 
 ing of the irresistible force behind all these manifestations. 
 Science has tried to explain the phenomena, and has failed 
 utterly, although it has discovered that there are certain fixed 
 laws and conditions which govern them and make it possible to 
 foretell their coming. Like Jesus and every other prophet 
 who has taught the true doctrine of salvation, Mohammed 
 found it necessary to present his teachings in two aspects, or 
 rather to divide them into two parts — one for the very few 
 who could comprehend or assimilate the higher truths, and 
 the other for the masses who were so blinded by worldliness 
 and the bonds of the flesh that they could grasp only the ma- 
 terialistic ideas of forms and ceremonies. The Koran and the 
 traditions are full of suggestions of this idea. Jesus said to 
 his disciples: “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of 
 the kingdom of Heaven, but unto those who are without, all 
 things are done in parables.” If Jesus and Mohammed were 
 inspired by God, it is only reasonable to conclude that the 
 mysteries of what we call “ Nature” were unfolded to them 
 
32 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 and they were able to teach a higher philosophy than that 
 known to the materialist of to-day. And I tell you frankly, 
 that it was through this exalted philosophy that I was brought 
 to Islam. Every Mussulman who reads his Koran and has 
 any conception whatever of the doctrines of his religion freely 
 concedes that Jesus was an inspired prophet; but he also 
 knows that the system known to-day as Christianity and 
 taught from the pulpits of the so-called Christian churches is 
 no more like the system taught by the Nazarene than is the 
 African Voodoo system or the absurd antics and notions of the 
 Salvation Army. When I talk to a Christian about Islam he 
 promptly declares that it is opposed to civilization, endorses 
 polygamy, has a horribly bloody record, and that its followers 
 are fanatical and intolerant; all this, in his estimation, is 
 true, and ought to condemn any religion. The average igno- 
 rant Christian in America — and I suspect he is the same in 
 England — fully believes that every Mohammedan has a harem 
 full of wives where he spends the greater portion of his time 
 when he is not prowling about with sword in hand seeking to 
 kill a Christian. A fairly intelligent Christian once told me 
 that every Mohammedan believed that he could not get a 
 really good place in Paradise until he had killed and eaten a 
 Christian. 
 
 “ But,” said aParsee tome in Rangoon, “ yon cannot deny 
 that our present advanced civilization is due to Christianity.” 
 “Well I do deny it,” I said; and then I referred him to the 
 New Testament and to the Sermon on the Mount, and asked 
 him to try to harmonize those principles with what is called 
 Christian civilization. It cannot be done. The cold truth is 
 that this Western civilization has nothing of the true spirit of 
 Christianity in it, but is the legitimate offspring of ambition 
 and selfishness. It is also a well-known fact that the course 
 of Western progress and advancement has always been ob- 
 structed by the Christian Church, ever since that Church has 
 had an existence. It has always stood in front of the proces- 
 sion and shouted with uplifted hands: “ You mustn’t go any 
 further, or you will weaken and degrade me.” And then 
 when it has been pushed aside and the irresistible tide has 
 swept past it, it has tried in every way to impede and harass 
 the moving column. And now with marvelous assurance and 
 impudence it says : “ See what tve have done. Look at our 
 glorious Christian civilization, and then fall down and worship 
 ns.” The truth is, and every man can ascertain it for him- 
 self, that what is called Christian civilization was born in the 
 8th century among the Moslems of Spain, while the Christian 
 world was plunged in the depths of ignorance and barbarism. 
 
THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 83 
 
 Professor Draper says: “ I have to deplore the systematic 
 manner in which the literature of Europe has contrived to 
 put out of sight our scientific obligations to the Moham- 
 medans. Surely they cannot be much longer hidden. In- 
 justice founded on religious rancour and national conceit can- 
 not be perpetuated forever. . . . The Arab has left his 
 
 intellectual impress on Europe, as, before long, Christendom 
 will have to confess; he has indelibly written it on the 
 heavens, as anyone may see who reads the names of the stars 
 on a common celestial globe.” 
 
 Everyone who believes that ours is a Christian civiliza- 
 tion, born of Christianity, should read Professor Draper’s 
 “ Intellectual Development of Europe,” or any other honest 
 historical work treating of the subject. Stanley Lane-Poole 
 in his “ Moors in Spain” shows that Europe acquired her first 
 knowledge of the arts and sciences from the Moslems, and 
 while showing the degraded condition of the rest of Europe, 
 says: “ Whatsoever makes a kingdom great and prosperous, 
 whatsoever tends to refinement and civilization, was found in 
 Moslem Spain.” I earnestly hope that the Christians will 
 soon learn to be rational and honest, and that we shall hear no 
 more of this senseless twaddle about Christian civilization. 
 
 And now let us glance briefly at that great bugbear, 
 polygamy. Almost the first question a Christian asks me is : 
 “Do you believe in polygamy?” “ Yes,” I reply, “under 
 certain conditions.” And last week an educated Mussulman 
 said to me: “ Surely you do not believe in polygamy — you 
 would not advocate its introduction in America ?” He was 
 clearly surprised when I said that I not only believed in 
 polygamy but would advocate its introduction into the Ameri- 
 can social system as soon as America had become sufficiently 
 moral and refined to adopt it decently and respectably. Let 
 us look at this question rationally. When our Prophet taught 
 on earth, unlimited polygamy was sanctioned by the laws and 
 social customs of Arabia. He modified the practice by allow- 
 ing his followers to marry only four wives, telling them plainly 
 that they should not marry any more women than they 
 could treat with equal love and justice. He subsequently 
 declared that no man could love two wives equally, and this 
 declaration practically annulled the privilege of marrying four. 
 It is quite clear that his purpose was to purify the existing 
 social conditions and elevate the domestic relations to a higher 
 moral standard. While polygamy is looked upon in the West 
 as vicious and criminal and subversive of morality and justice, 
 in the East it has quite a different aspect, owing to social tra- 
 ditions and customs, and is considered quite in harmony with 
 
34 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 the most exalted ideas of propriety. Now there are many 
 sides to this question, and to discuss it fully would require 
 more time than is at my disposal this evening. I freely ad- 
 mit the fact that the introduction of polygamy at once into 
 our American social system would certainly prove most perni- 
 cious; bat when the system and its purposes and tendencies 
 are properly understood, and the beneficent moral influences 
 of Islam have produced the effects which they must inevitably 
 produce among an educated and enlightened people, it can and 
 should be advocated. It is absolutely the only remedy for the 
 curses of prostitution and marital infidelity with which America 
 and Europe are most grievously afflicted, and it will elevate our 
 womanhood to that exalted and admirable position which it is 
 fitted by nature to occupy. While Mohammedan law permits 
 polygamy, it does not present it as an article of faith, and no 
 good Mussulman would think of marrying more than one wife 
 unless the conditions existing in his home imperatively de- 
 manded such a course, and he could conform to the spirit of 
 the Islamic requirements. One is allowed to marry four wives 
 and no more, if in so doing he does not violate the laws of the 
 land in which he lives, but he may have one wife or none at 
 all without sacrificing any of his religious rights or privileges. 
 One can be just as good a Mussulman, as a monogamist or a 
 bachelor, as he can as a polygamist, and will stand just as well 
 in the estimation of his neighbors. 
 
 Go with me into any large American or European city and 
 see the evidences of that resistless torrent of vice and crime 
 that rushes and seethes through the social fabric ; go with me 
 to a fashionable ball, reception or dinner party and see the po- 
 sition in which' noble woman, one of the grandest works of 
 God, has been placed by the usages and customs of this 19th 
 century civilization ; see the honored wives of wealthy educated 
 Christians and their virtuous daughters, exposing to the view 
 of men whose blood and passions are fired by the fumes of 
 alcohol, personal charms which should be seen only in the 
 privacy and purity of the home; take up the newspapers and 
 see the records of divorces, social scandals, and marital woes 
 that fill us with shame and disgust, and then tell me that 
 these so-called Christian laws and Christian customs are good 
 things. And where is the remedy for all this ? In Moham- 
 medan laws and customs — in Islamic principles. Christian 
 laws and customs have been tried for many centuries and have 
 failed utterly. Now give Islam a trial. 
 
 And now let us touch briefly upon the bloody record of Mo- 
 hammedanism and the propaganda of the sword. So far as 
 blood-stains arc concerned 1 hardly believe that Mohammedan- 
 
THE THREE LECTURES '. 
 
 35 
 
 ism has any reason to blush when she compares her garments 
 with those of Christianity. Have you ever read the history of 
 the Inquisition and Crusades ? When the Khalif Omar took 
 Jerusalem in 637 he rode into the city by the side of the Pa- 
 triarch Sophronius, conversing with him concerning its antiq- 
 uities. Not a drop of blood was shed. But when the Chris- 
 tian Crusaders entered it the brains of young children were 
 dashed against the walls, infants were thrown over the battle- 
 ments, every woman that could be seized was violated, men 
 were roasted on fires ; some were ripped open to see if they 
 had swallowed gold ; the Jews were driven into their syna- 
 gogues and there burned. About 70,000 people, men, women, 
 and children, were cruelly butchered. And this is the testi- 
 mony of Christian historians, not Mohammedan. It has been 
 clearly shown that our Prophet, as well as the first Caliph, 
 Abu Beker, repeatedly and emphatically directed the Moslem 
 generals to refrain from killing or injuring women, children, 
 and old men ; not to destroy the fields of grain or date trees, 
 and to sheath the sword at once upon the surrender of a city. 
 Humanity, mercy, and kindness were insisted upon. 
 
 When the Prophet entered Mecca, upon its surrender to 
 him, not a man, woman, or child was killed or ill-treated, and 
 not a single house was plundered, although this was the city 
 in which he had been so shamefully abused and persecuted, 
 and its inhabitants were those who had cruelly wronged him. 
 Why did he not take revenge when the opportunity offered 
 itself ? There was not a single sentiment of revenge or malice 
 in his whole being ; he was a Prophet of the God of love, 
 truth, justice, and mercy. 
 
 Both records are sad enough and bloody enough, Heaven 
 knows, but I am firmly convinced that there is far less fiend- 
 ishness and blood-thirstiness, and bestiality to be answered for 
 by the Moslems than by the Christians. Did the Christians 
 have a valid warrant in the teaching or conduct of the meek 
 and lowly Jesus, giving them authority to go about murder- 
 ing, in cold blood, those who did not believe as they did ? But 
 of course, they don’t do it any more; not because some of 
 them wouldn’t like to, but public opinion has changed. It 
 isn’t safe to be too enthusiastic and conscienceless and brutal 
 now in making proselytes to one’s religion no matter how con- 
 fidently one may believe in it himself. And when I say to 
 you that Mohammed never advocated, taught , nor consented to 
 the propagation of Islam by means of the sword, and that he 
 severely condemned violence and taking of life in any form, I 
 tell you truths which can readily be verified by any honest, 
 
36 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 unprejudiced person who will take the trouble to investigate 
 the matter impartially. 
 
 A learned Moslem writer says: — “The remark that the 
 sword is the inevitable penalty for the denial of Islam is one of 
 the gravest of the false charges imputed to this faith by the 
 professors of other religions and arises from the utter ignorance 
 of those who make the accusation. Islam inculcates and de- 
 mands a hearty and sincere belief in all that it teaches, and 
 that genuine faith which proceeds from a person’s heart can- 
 not be obtained by force or violence.” 
 
 The Holy Koran says: — “ Let there be no forcing in re- 
 ligion ; the right way has been made clearly distinguishable 
 from the wrong one. If the Lord had pleased, all who are on 
 the earth would have believed together; and wilt thou force 
 men to be believers ?” 
 
 Our Prophet himself was as thoroughly unaggressive, 
 non-combative and peace-loving as the typical Shaker, and, 
 while he realized the fact that a policy of perfect non-resistance 
 would speedily have resulted in the murder of himself and 
 every Moslem in Arabia, he urged his followers to avoid, as 
 far as possible, violent collisions with the unbelievers and not 
 to fight unless it was necessary in order to protect their lives. 
 There are a number of accusations made against Mohamme- 
 danism, which, even if true, cannot justly be said to have even 
 the remotest relation to the doctrines of Islam; there are 
 zealots and fanatics in all religious bodies, and it is due to 
 their weaknesses that discredit falls upon the faith they pro- 
 fess to follow. 
 
 It would be useless to attempt, in a single lecture, to re- 
 ply to all the Mse charges made against Mohammedanism by 
 ignorant and prejudiced writers; but at the risk of exhausting 
 your patience, I will refer to one more. It has been said that 
 toleration is unknown among the Moslems. A Christian 
 writer in “Chambers’s Encyclopaedia” says: — “One remarkable 
 feature of the Moslem rule in Spain deserves mention, as it 
 contrasts them so favorably with the contemporary and subse- 
 quent rulers of that country even to the present time, and that 
 is their universal toleration in religious matters.” Being a 
 Christian this writer can hardly be accused of partiality to 
 Islam. 
 
 Godfrey Higgins, another writer who can safely be called 
 a 19th century Christian at least, says: — “ Nothing is so com- 
 mon as to hear the Christian priests abuse the religion of Moham- 
 med for its bigotry and intolerance. Wonderful assurance and 
 hypocrisy! Who was it that expelled the Moriscoes from Spain 
 because they would not turn Christians ? Who was it that 
 
THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 37 
 
 murdered the millions in Mexico and Peru and gave them all 
 away as slaves because they were not Christians ? What a 
 contrast have the Mohammedans exhibited in Greece! For 
 many centuries the Christians have been permitted to live in 
 the peaceable possession of their properties, their religion, 
 their priests, bishops, patriarchs, and churches; and the war 
 between the Greeks and Turks was no more waged on account 
 of religion than was the war between the negroes in Demarara 
 
 and the English Wherever the Caliphs conquered, 
 
 if the inhabitants turned Mohammedans, they were instantly 
 on a footing of perfect equality with the conquerors.” 
 
 An ingenious and learned dissenter, speaking of the Sara- 
 cens says: — “They persecuted nobody; Jews and Christians all 
 lived happy among them.” 
 
 Higgins also says: — “In all the history of the Caliphs 
 there cannot be shown anything half so infamous as the Inqui- 
 sition, nor a single instance of an individual burnt for his 
 religions opinion ; nor, do I believe, put to death in a time of 
 peace for simply not embracing Islam.” 
 
 “ But,” says the Christian, “all that was characteristic of 
 the centuries long past — Christians are not so bigoted and 
 intolerant to-day.” Aren’t they ? Goto the Philippine Islands, 
 a country with a population of over seven millions of souls, 
 which is and has been under the rule of Christian Spain for 
 300 years. Try to teach any religious system but the Roman 
 Catholic and see what will happen to you. There is no 
 Mohammedan country on earth that refuses to admit Chris- 
 tian missionaries, and that does not give them ample pro- 
 tection. Three years ago two representatives of the British 
 and Foreign Bible Society of London went to Manila, the 
 capital city of the Philippine Islands, to sell Bibles. One of 
 them died within three weeks after his arrival, and there were 
 people wicked enough to say that he was poisoned at the in- 
 stigation of some of the Catholic priests. The other was ar- 
 rested, and thrown into jail on a charge of teaching contrary 
 to the State religion, but was afterwards sent to Singapore by 
 order of the Spanish Government. That was only about three 
 years ago. A few months later seven Buddhist priests from 
 Foo Chow, China, who were induced by their fellow-country- 
 men in Manila to go there believing that they would be 
 allowed to celebrate a Buddhist ceremony there, were arrested, 
 fined, and sent back to China. A vast volume of evidence 
 might be adduced to show the utter groundlessness of the 
 charge of intoleration. As a matter of fact, intoleration is en- 
 tirely foreign to the principles of Islam, and no intelligent 
 Moslem would be guilty of, or consent to it. 
 
38 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 The essence of the true faith of Islam is resignation to 
 the will of God, and its corner-stone is prayer. It teaches 
 universal fraternity, universal charity, universal love, and 
 universal benevolence, and requires purity of mind, purity of 
 action, purity of speech and perfect physical cleanliness. It is 
 the simplest and most elevating form of religion known to 
 man. It has no paid priesthood, nor elaborate ceremonial, 
 admits no vicarious atonement, nor relieves its followers of any 
 of the responsibility for their sins. It recognizes but one God, 
 the Father of all things, the divine spirit that dwells in all the 
 manifestations of nature, the one omniscient, omnipotent, 
 omnipresent ruler of the universe, to whom its followers de- 
 voutly pray and before whom all stand upon a platform of per- 
 fect equality and fraternity. The devout Mussulman, one who 
 has arrived at an intelligent comprehension of the true teach- 
 ings of our Holy Prophet, lives in his religion and makes it 
 the paramount principle of his existence. It is with him in 
 all his goings and comings during the day, and he is never so 
 occupied with his business or worldly affairs that he cannot 
 turn his back upon them, when the stated hour of prayer ar- 
 rives, and present his soul to God. His loves, his sorrows, his 
 hopes, his fears are all immersed in it; it is his last thought 
 when he lies down to sleep at night and the first to enter his 
 mind at dawn when. the voice of the Muezzin rings out loudly 
 and clearly from the minaret of the mosque, waking the soft 
 echoes of the morn with its thrilling, solemn, majestic mono- 
 tones: “ Come to Prayer! Come to Prayer! Prayer is better 
 than sleep ! Prayer is better than sleep ! ” 
 
 
PHILOSOPHIC ISLAM 
 
 A special meeting of the Mohammedans of Hyderabad 
 (Deccan), was held on Friday, Nov. 25, 1892, under a large 
 State pavilion in the Public Garden at 8 o’clock a. m., with 
 about 3,000 persons present, representing all classes of the 
 Mussulman community. Hazarat Syed Shah Abdnr Rahim 
 Kamisiul-Kadri, the eminent and generally beloved Mohamme- 
 dan Saint, presided. 
 
 A native poet read one of his productions in Persian in 
 which he referred very hopefully to the proposed American 
 Mission. At the conclusion of the reading, which was vigor- 
 ously applauded, Nawab Ikbal Yar Jung Bahadur, in brief 
 but forcible speech introduced Mr. Mohammed Alexander 
 Russell Webb who, on arising, was received with enthusiastic 
 cheering. Mr. Webb addressed the meeting for over an hour 
 upon the philosophical aspect of Islam, and was frequently in- 
 terrupted by vigorous applause. The lecture was translated 
 into Urdu by Sloulvi Hassan Ali, the Mohammedan mis- 
 sionary, for the benefit of those who could not understand 
 English. The translation and the style of delivery were very 
 effective and creditable. 
 
 Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk Bahadur, the popular and elo- 
 quent orator, then thanked the learned lecturer in a brief but 
 felicitous speech which produced a very marked effect upon 
 the audience. The Nawab spoke very encouragingly of the 
 proposed American Mission, and predicted for it the most 
 complete success. 
 
 With the usual vote of thanks to the Chair the meeting 
 adjourned. 
 
 Following is Mr. Webb’s eloquent address in full: — It has 
 been suggested to me that, inasmuch as I am to address an 
 audience composed almost entirely of Mohammedans, many of 
 whom are men of unusual mental culture and attainments, I 
 should devote my remarks to the philosophical aspect of Islam 
 rather than to its popular expression in devotional and social 
 
 ( 39 ) 
 
40 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 laws and forms. I certainly cannot hope to tell anyone here 
 anything which he does not already know of Islam as an exoteric 
 religious system ; nor would it be possible for me to teach the 
 Islamic philosophy in a dozen lectures even if I should be bold 
 enough to attempt to teach it at all. 
 
 Now I am fully aware of the fact that there are many pro- 
 fessed Mussulmans who do not know that there is a philosophic 
 side to their religion; and perhaps it is just as well that they 
 do not, for such knowledge might, possibly, lead them away 
 from the plain, safe and simple truths already within their 
 grasp, and out into the broad and dangerous ocean of meta- 
 physical speculation where their frail mental barks would be 
 wrecked upon the rocks of doubt and despair. But in this 
 age of rapidly increasing scepticism and doubt, the legitimate 
 offspring of advanced materialistic education and civilization, 
 there are many minds which require more evidence of the 
 truth of a religious system than the dogmatic assertions of 
 those who claim to be religious authorities. The simple, child- 
 like faith handed down to them by their ancestors has been 
 blighted by the cruel frosts of atheism and agnosticism or 
 frozen to death by our Western nineteenth century civilization. 
 
 Now in some respects this condition is a direct and posi- 
 tive benefit, for when the congealed plant thaws out under the 
 warm sunshine of spiritual truth, it is very liable to grow and 
 fructify in a manner impossible to it under the old influences. 
 I will not say that it would have been better if the works of 
 many of our modern materialistic philosophers had never seen 
 the light of day, for it is quite probable that they may prove, 
 after all, very potent factors in bringing the educated, pro- 
 gressive masses into the true path; but it does seem at times as 
 if they were tearing down where there is little or no hope of 
 rebuilding. I am heartily in sympathy with the man who 
 demands a reason for everything, for that has been my con- 
 dition of mind for twenty years. I abandoned the system im- 
 properly called Christianity, soon after I attained my majority, 
 because its teachers could not give me a convincing reason for 
 the faith that was in them. When I was asked to believe that 
 one was really three, and that a just and merciful Creator com- 
 mitted an act of unnatural cruelty simply to gratify a mere 
 whim, I demanded corroborative testimony and was told that 
 none had ever been filed. This very grave omission compelled 
 me to throw the case out of court. 
 
 But it seems to me that every rational man should make 
 an earnest, honest, unprejudiced effort to get at the bottom 
 facts concerning his religion, and ascertain to his own com- 
 plete satisfaction whether it is a mere jumble of whimsical, 
 
THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 41 
 
 purposeless forms aud ceremonies, or whether it is based upon 
 the eternal truth. If the atheist and materialist are correct in 
 their conclusions, then there is no reason in the world why 
 man should have a religion at all; but it seems to me that the 
 question is of sufficient importance to man to justify more than 
 a superficial examination. If, as is claimed by the religious 
 world, this present life is but an infinitesimal period as com- 
 pared to the life beyond, and that the conditions of the future 
 existence are largely determined by our course of conduct and 
 thought here, then it is of vital importance to us to know 
 whether the claim of religion is valid aud what kind of a 
 religion is necessary in order to bring about the desired 
 results. 
 
 And what is religion ? Cicero defined it as “ that which 
 brings with it the care and cult of some higher power which 
 men call divine.” 
 
 Max Miiller, in his Gifford lectures, after carefully tracing 
 the history of the word, finds that its earliest conception can 
 have meant only respect, care, and reverence ; that later on it 
 took the moral sense of scruple and conscience and, lastly, 
 became more and more exclusively applied to the inward feel- 
 ing of reverence for the gods and to the outward manifestation 
 of that reverence in worship and sacrifice. What the Eomans 
 expressed by “religion” was chiefly the moral or practical, not 
 the speculative or philosophical side of religion. The Greeks 
 at first used the word to express fear of the gods or demons 
 and the divine power in a good sense. But very soon it 
 began to be used in a bad sense as expressive of superstition. 
 Marcus Aurelius spoke of it as meaning God-fearing without 
 superstition. Spinoza thinks that practical religion ought 
 always to be simple piety and obedience as distinguished from 
 philosophy and love of knowledge. 
 
 The modem definitions are numerous and varied. One 
 philosophical writer says : “ Eeligion is our recognition of the 
 
 unity of nature and teaches us to consider ourselves as part of 
 the whole.” 
 
 Another writes : ‘ ‘ Theology and metaphysics have nothing 
 to do with morality. Eeligion has never been other than science 
 plus worship or devotion.” 
 
 Max Muller says: “We can hardly open a book without 
 
 meeting with random definitions of religion. Eeligion is said 
 to be knowledge, and it is said to be ignorance; religion is said 
 to be freedom, and it is said to be dependence; religion is said 
 to be desire, and it is said to be freedom from all desires ; 
 religion is said to be sileut contemplation, and it is said to be 
 splendid and stately worship of God. People take every kind 
 
42 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 of liberty with this old word. Young poets will tell you that 
 poetry is their religion ; young artists that their religion is art ; 
 while it has been said of old that pure religion is to visit the 
 fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep yourselves 
 unspotted from the world.” 
 
 In the consideration of the subject we will find it conven- 
 ient to keep in sight the dividing line between Religion and 
 Theology, words which are too often used promiscuously. By 
 “ religion” we should understand the subject; by “ theology” 
 the study or science of that subject. 
 
 “Religious ideas of one kind or another,” says Herbert 
 Spencer, “ are almost universal. We are obliged to admit that 
 if not supernaturally derived, as the majority contend, they 
 must be derived from human experience slowly accumulated 
 and organized. Considering all faculties to result from accumu- 
 lated modifications, caused by the intercourse of the organism 
 with its environment, we are obliged to admit that there exists 
 in the environment certain phenomena or conditions which 
 have determined the growth of the feeling in question, and so 
 are obliged to admit that it is as normal as any other 
 faculty. We are also forced to infer that this feeling is, in 
 some way, conducive to human welfare.” 
 
 Now this frank admission affords us a clue to a bit of evi- 
 dence which will prove of value to us in our investigations, for 
 it will naturally lead us to consider the religious instinct in man 
 and its probable and possible causes. In every age, every clan, 
 tribe and nation has had its idea of religion and its distinctive 
 form of worship ; and it would be extremely difficult, not to 
 say impossible to-day, to find, outside of civilized Christendom 
 any collection of men without some sort of form for the expres- 
 sion of their ideas of religion. There are in some of the 
 islands of the Pacific Ocean, tribes which have never, so far 
 as is known, come in contact, or had direct and intelligent 
 intercourse with people professing any of the popular forms 
 of religion; and yet they have religious ceremonies and ideas of 
 post-mortem existence which are near enough to those to be 
 found in the Mohammedan, Christian and Buddhist systems 
 to warrant the suspicion that they might have been borrowed 
 from those systems. There are, in the mountainous regions of 
 the Philippine Islands, savage tribes who have never been sub- 
 dued by the Spaniards, who have the most intense hatred for a 
 white face, and who know of no other country or religion than 
 their own, but who still have religious forms and religious 
 ideas very similar to those of some of the earlier and more 
 superstitious Christian sects. 
 
 What is the cause of this religious faculty, which the 
 
THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 43 
 
 evidence at hand proves to be just as normal as any other 
 faculty? It cannot be the result of mere chance nor of 
 education, for it can be clearly traced back through all genera- 
 tions of mankind as far as history leads us, and it is as clearly 
 shown that it was strongest where education was unknown. It 
 is just as much a part of human nature in its uncultured, un- 
 refined condition as it is in its most refined aspect. In fact, 
 we find that there is, as a rule, less religious devotion among 
 the educated than among the uneducated classes. 
 
 And now, having reached this point in our journey toward 
 the ideas which I desire to bring to your careful attention, let 
 ns turn aside into a familiar path and see whether materialistic 
 science can answer this question and some others which we may 
 find it necessary to ask her. We often hear of the irrepressible 
 conflict between science and religion, but that can only mean 
 the conflict between materialistic religion and materialistic 
 science, not between true religion and true science. All etforts 
 to make materialistic creeds harmonize with materialistic 
 science always have been, and always will be, utterly futile. 
 
 Without stopping to analyze the popular creeds or to con- 
 sider what science knows, let us see what the latter does not 
 know. We see the trees growing and the flowers blooming 
 under a steady, unvarying power that scientists call an impen- 
 etrable mystery. They have never yet been able to tell us what 
 life really is, whether or not the soul really exists and, if it does, 
 what becomes of it upon the death of the body. The educated 
 physician can tell you the name of every bone, muscle, nerve 
 and organ of the human body, and the location and probable 
 function of all, except the spleen, and yet he is densely ignorant 
 of the power that makes the body a living, breathing man, full 
 of love and hate, and all the passions and inclinations of 
 humanity. A thrust of a knife or a bullet in the heart or brain 
 converts that animated form into an inert, lifeless mass which 
 speedily becomes a heap of festering corruption breeding new 
 life in the form of worms and insects. Can the scientist make 
 the man live and love and hate as he did before ? No ; some- 
 thing has gone out of him never to return. What is that 
 something, and where has it gone? Science is dumb. Can 
 science tell us what electricity is ? No. And yet in the 
 Western world, particularly in America, we have gathered this 
 subtle, mysterious fluid and made it serve us in various ways. 
 We have harnessed it to our street cars, and have forced it to 
 shed its light in our streets and homes. We have even made 
 it carry the human voice for hundreds of miles, and written 
 messages for thousands. And what is it ? Science does not 
 know. Science has learned to foretell with reasonable 
 
44 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 accuracy the coming of the storm, but it cannot tell us what 
 the force is that produces the roaring, shrieking cyclone nor 
 the gentle wind that fans our brows. It does not know what 
 sleep is, nor why we dream. It cannot even tell us how and 
 why we think. Science has done much for this materialistic 
 civilization of ours, and it moves about with a confident, lordly 
 air among those things which it can cut, and melt, and test 
 chemically ; but when it stands in the presence of the wonders 
 of life and death and views the operations of those wonderful 
 laws which govern the various manifestations of what we call 
 “ nature” it drops its hands and head in helpless confusion. 
 
 And yet our sapient philosophers continue to talk 
 seriously and earnestly about the conflict between science 
 and religion, just as if science had really learned all there 
 is to be known about man and nature. Compare what 
 science knows with what she does not know, and you will see 
 that she is altogether too ignorant to serve as a guide to any- 
 one who desires to know the higher truths. And yet let me 
 assure you here that there is no known fact in modern science 
 that is not strictly in harmony with the principles of that 
 higher science which is known to but few in these degenerate 
 days. 
 
 Do you know what thoughts are ? Did you ever try to 
 analyze the motives that prompt the various acts of your lives? 
 A very wise philosopher says : 
 
 “It is impossible to define motives accurately, even our 
 own. We cannot say sometimes why we do a thing. Every 
 reason may be against it — common-sense, habit, inclination, 
 experience, duty^-all may be pulling one way, and yet we tear 
 ourselves loose and do the thing.” 
 
 Is this not true ? Sit quietly and watch your thoughts as 
 they come unbidden and of their own accord before you, like 
 so many phantoms. Try to catch one and hold it in your 
 mind steadily for ten minutes — or even five — if you can. 
 Before you have held it a minute another will crowd it out of 
 your grasp and slip away from you before you can recover 
 yourself. Are you master of your thoughts ? Can you con- 
 trol yourself ? 
 
 But I fancy I hear someone say: “ What is the use in 
 
 talking about these things, when they are mysteries which no 
 man can solve ? ” 
 
 They are not mysteries which no one can solve. It is 
 true that materialistic science cannot solve them, but that is 
 because she is working on lines which really carry her away 
 from the truth, and steadily and persistently avoids the 
 methods that have been clearly pointed out to man. Our 
 
THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 45 
 
 Holy Prophet — peace be with him forever — knew all the mys- 
 teries of life and death, and so did Jesus of Nazareth, and so 
 did every other truly inspired prophet the world has ever 
 known. The one truth — the only real science — has been 
 handed down from the beginning of human development, 
 through the long line of prophets to Mohammed — Hazrat 
 Mohammed Sallal laho alielii tvasullam — and this truth has 
 been offered to mankind earnestly and eloquently, while the 
 masses have turned their backs upon it and have wandered off 
 in search of money and comfort and pleasure. 
 
 Let us pause and consider one important fact. The 
 teachings of the prophets, as well as those of materialistic 
 science and our own daily experience, lead us to the conviction 
 that we are different from the animal world. Man, with his 
 freedom of thought and action, his intellectual faculties, his 
 fine discriminating powers, is, and should be, above the ani- 
 mals, although he has the animal instincts within him to a 
 greater or less extent. But is he so very much different from 
 the animals in his general motives and disposition ? Let us 
 see. The spider weaves its web in a convenient place where 
 some unlucky fly may be caught in it. What is the spider’s 
 motive, so far as we are able to conceive of it ? Do you believe 
 that he stops and calmly and deliberately reasons that the body 
 of the fly will assist his own physical development if he eats it ? 
 The most logical and reasonable inference is that he doesn’t 
 think about the matter at all, but is forced by an irresistible 
 impulse to catch the fly and eat it, or that he has discovered 
 that flies taste good. From his general conduct we believe 
 that he is incapable of reasoning. Suppose that all the spiders 
 in the world should suddenly become possessed of the impulse 
 to refrain from eating — the development of the species would 
 cease and it would become extinct. Now, the human spider 
 is different — he is capable of reasoning; and when he weaves 
 his web in which to catch a human victim he calculates 
 that the victim will yield so many rupees. What does 
 he want the rupees for — to do good with, to make his brother- 
 man happier and better? Sometimes; but usually he wants 
 the rupees to buy comfort and pleasure for himself, and to 
 enable him to gratify his own animal tastes and instincts. 
 The cow and horse are impelled to eat and drink, not as the 
 result of any regular, consecutive reasoning, but by that irre- 
 sistible impulse which compels the animal world to push for- 
 ward its physical development. Man, on the contrary, beside 
 the instinct of physical development, has also the intellectual 
 and higher spiritual faculties. Is it his first aim and purpose 
 in this life to develop these faculties, or does he yield himself 
 
46 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 willingly to tlie animal instinct and make his life’s motive the 
 acquirement of those things which he believes will give him 
 bodily comfort and pleasure ? If you will ask the young man 
 who is striving to secure a perfect and complete education why 
 he is doing so, he may tell you that his first purpose is to fit 
 himself to be of service to humanity ; but isn’t it quite prob- 
 able that his real motive is to win the respect and admiration 
 of the world, to secure a good social position and just a little 
 money in the future ? Let me assure you here that I am not 
 trying to depreciate education and the development of the 
 intellectual powers. 1 want to try to induce you to analyze 
 yourselves and to learn the general drift of humanity. Our 
 Prophet once said that he who knew himself knew God; if 
 you will study yourselves you will certainly find the subject 
 interesting, to say the least. 
 
 “ And what has all this to do with our religion and the 
 mysteries of life and death ? ” someone may ask. 
 
 Everything. It brings you face to face with the fact that 
 science, modem science, which the average educated man 
 regards with awe and admiration, and which many consider 
 not only reliable, hut infallible, is utterly powerless to explain 
 the most important problems of human life, and is forced to 
 confess its inability to do so. It also offers suggestions calcu- 
 lated to lead the thinking man to believe that there may be 
 ways of acquiring this valuable knowledge that science has 
 never heard of. 
 
 Is it worth any man’s time and effort to ascertain whether 
 there is really any conscious life beyond the grave, and what 
 it is necessary forjiim to do in order to secure the best condi- 
 tion that life can afford ? That is a question which every 
 man must answer for himself. If it is true that thei'e is a 
 future life, the inference is only reasonable that it must cover 
 a very much longer period than the sixty or seventy years we 
 have upon this earth. Hence, it seems to me the most im- 
 portant subject that can possibly engage the attention of 
 anyone. 
 
 “ But,” says the sceptic, “ of course we want to find out 
 all these things; but how are we going to do so ? We have read 
 John Stuart Mill, and Huxley, and Tyndall, and Darwin, and 
 Fichte, and everything else that we could find, and still we 
 are at sea. We have appealed to science, and she not only 
 admits her ignorance and says that no one can know the 
 mysteries of life, but she actually proves, by her own methods, 
 for which, by the way, we have great respect, that our 
 religion is not in harmony with her conclusion. What are 
 we to do ? ” 
 
THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 47 
 
 Now what would you think of a man who tried to take 
 a screw out of a piece of hard wood with a gimlet and insisted 
 upon it that the thing couldn’t be done because the tool 
 wouldn’t fit into the slot of the screw? Wouldn’t you quite 
 naturally and properly call him an idiot and tell him to go 
 and get a screw-driver? 
 
 Now modern science has found that its gimlet will not 
 turn the screw of spiritual dynamics, and therefore declares 
 that it cannot be turned. Now what rather surprises me is 
 that the sceptic clings so tenaciously to that gimlet when 
 there is a screw-driver so near at hand. 
 
 This is rather a homely comparison, I admit, but I think 
 it expresses the situation better than anything else I can think 
 of at present. 
 
 Every true prophet the world has ever known has pointed 
 out the way to the solution of the problems of life and death 
 and every sceptic and materialist has stubbornly and foolishly 
 persisted in ignoring it and following the path which leads 
 directly away from it. He clings to the gimlet and refuses 
 to take the screw-driver when it is offered to him. And 
 why ? Simply and solely because if he follows the true way 
 he must give up some of the pleasures and comforts of this 
 earthly life — and, above all, he is afraid that his friends and 
 neighbors will laugh at him and avoid his society. Is this 
 not true? 
 
 Suppose that some bright, intelligent, popular young man 
 should say to his friends: “ I am going to be perfectly pure, 
 perfectly unselfish, perfectly good and perfectly holy; I am 
 going to attend carefully to my religious duties and worship 
 God with all my heart and soul ; I am going to tear myself 
 away from the animal side of my nature and cultivate and de- 
 velop only the higher attributes which God has given me ; 
 I will love my fellow-man as if he were my brother, and do my 
 whole duty to God and man.” 
 
 How long do you believe that that young man would be 
 popular with his friends and associates ? Do you believe that 
 they would seek or even tolerate his society very long after he 
 had adopted this course of life ? The truth is that very few 
 people are willing to make this sacrifice even to learn that 
 higher knowledge which they would all like to acquire. When 
 you strike at a man’s comfort, pleasure, ambition or pocket, 
 he will either hastily beat a retreat, carrying his treasures with 
 him, or fight like a demon to retain them. 
 
 There comes to my mind the picture of a grand and noble 
 figure in history — one of the grandest and noblest that m an 
 has ever known ; a calm, majestic man, in whose personally 
 
48 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 there is something that commands respect, admiration and 
 awe. His countenance beams with the glory of divine in- 
 spiration as he stands with his back against one of the rough 
 pillars of the rude little mosque in Medina, in the erection of 
 which his own hands assisted. Around him are seated a com- 
 pany of men who listen with eager attention to the words that 
 fall from his lips, while they gaze upon him with rapt rever- 
 ence and devotion. He has given up all that men of the 
 world prize and toil for, has submitted to the crudest, most 
 inhuman insults and persecution that could be invented by 
 wicked, selfish people who were formerly his admirers and 
 friends ; has endured pains and sorrows and disappointments 
 that would have utterly broken an ordinary man. And yet in 
 his heart there is no malice, no desire for revenge, no selfish 
 ambition, no hatred ; his soul is full of peace and joy and 
 love, for the divine light pervades his whole being. Patiently 
 and earnestly he points out to his humble followers the true 
 way to eternal life, while they listen gratefully and attentively, 
 letting his words sink deep into their hearts, and treasuring 
 them there in all their daily lives. They do not question the 
 truth of his teaching— they do not doubt — but say: “Show us 
 the way and we will walk in it trustfully and loyally until we 
 have found the priceless jewel of eternal truth.” 
 
 And what is the way pointed out by this grandest of all 
 prophets ? Islam ! Resignation to the will of God ; the om- 
 niscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God, who stands ready to 
 lead the aspiring soul out of the darkness of materialism into 
 that light which shines for all as a guide to Paradise. The 
 way has been clearly pointed out, and if man will not follow it 
 he cannot expect to see beyond the limits of the material 
 world. 
 
 The Holy Koran tells us that God is nearer to every man 
 than his jugular vein; that “ He guideth not unbelieving peo- 
 ple;” that “ He guideth whomsoever He listeth.” What does 
 this mean when taken with that other saying of our Prophet: 
 “ He who knows himself knows God ?” The meaning must 
 be clear to every intelligent person. 
 
 Materialistic science has discovered, as many a man who 
 knows nothing about science has learned from his own experi- 
 ence, that the continued exercise of any organ of the human 
 body will strengthen that organ, and that protracted rest will 
 weaken it and ultimately render it useless. If I rest my right 
 arm on any object long enough, or allow it to hang quietly at 
 my side, it will become atrophied and I will be unable to raise 
 it at all. The same law governs the intellectual faculties; if I 
 use my memory and by practice obtain perfect control over it, 
 
THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 49 
 
 it will become phenomenally strong in time. How do we 
 learn languages? It is a well-established fact that it is much 
 more difficult for a man to learn a language after he is 40 
 years of age than it is when he is younger. What is the 
 reason ? Because in his younger years he is exercising those 
 parts of his physical and mental organism that are destined to 
 control his character, and is acquiring powers and forces that 
 it is exceedingly difficult to overcome. During youth these 
 powers and forces are forming, and knowledge of languages 
 readily joins with other kinds of knowledge, '' e very soon 
 acquire habits good or bad, and often they become so strong 
 that they pass beyond our control. There are many people 
 who are absolutely slaves to liquor and tobacco — they cannot 
 refrain from using them, and seem to be utterly helpless vic- 
 tims to these habits. When a young man first begins the use 
 of whiskey or tobacco it is quite an easy matter for him to 
 break away from them, but after he has used them for years it 
 is quite another matter. I am aware that this condition is 
 considered by some physicians as wholly physical, but I am 
 firmly convinced that it is largely mental, as most of the ail- 
 ments that afflict humanity usually are. Let anyone who has 
 tried to give up a bad habit study his own sensations, and see 
 what the result will be. 
 
 The human body has no sensation after the soul has left it; 
 it is quite clear that sensation does not originate in it, but is 
 manifested only while it is occupied by the soul. Put a live 
 coal upon the flesh of a living man and he will wince with 
 pain, but you may cover the corpse with coals and there will 
 not be the slightest evidence of sensation. It is the soul that 
 thinks and feels, not the body. The body of itself without 
 the soul cannot crave liquor nor tobacco. Does the craving 
 cease when the body dies? No, not if the soul is immortal, 
 and, personally, I am fully convinced that it is. Now, sup- 
 pose we accept the hypothesis that this craving clings to the 
 soul after death, and it has no body through which, or by 
 means of which, it can gratify or satisfy it; would not the 
 suffering be intensified a hundred-fold ? Now, this is only a 
 hypothetical case and should not be taken in any sense as a 
 declaration of truth ; I advance it simply as a subject for 
 speculative thought. My purpose has been to show by a chain 
 of logical reasoning that the hidden elements of our being are 
 capable of development and cultivation quite as readily and 
 fully as any of the parts of our physical organism. If this be 
 true, one can obtain an idea of the results which may follow 
 the direction of the mental force away from the lower or 
 animal parts of our nature and toward its higher or spiritual 
 
50 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 parts. The cultivation of fraternal love, perfect cleanliness of 
 mind and body, and devotion to God, must certainly develop 
 those higher faculties of our nature to a degree which will 
 enable them to dominate our whole being. 
 
 I think I have said enough to show that it is not the 
 blind, slavish following of the forms and practices of religion 
 that is effective, but that the purpose, the motive, must come 
 from the heart, and that in order to reach the sublime heights 
 of knowledge, one must enter into the spirit of his faith with 
 zeal and earnestness. If man will not yield himself to the 
 guidance of God, but turns himself against the higher spirit 
 within him, and follows the lower elements of his nature, his 
 development will be physical and downward, instead of 
 spiritual and upward. He will be of those of whom the Holy 
 Koran says : 
 
 “ God hath put a seal on their hearts and their hearing, 
 and over their eyes is a veil, and for them is grievous punish- 
 ment.” 
 
 “ Their case is like unto the case of one who kindleth a 
 fire and when it hath lighted up that which is around him, 
 God taketh away their light and leaveth them in darkness, so 
 they do not see.” 
 
 I have repeatedly been asked the question: “ How do you 
 propose to introduce Islam into America ?” As if it was a 
 task in which I alone was interested and in which God had no 
 part. Some people have expressed doubt as to the ultimate 
 success of the Islamic mission in my country, saying that the 
 people were too progressive and too highly developed intellect- 
 ually to receive and follow it. This doubt is born of ignorance 
 of the true principles of Islam. One of my reasons for be- 
 lieving that the Americans will accept Islam, when it is prop- 
 erly and fairly presented to them is, that they are progressive 
 and intelligent. The idea that Islam is a system adapted only 
 to the minds of the ignorant, superstitious and partially de- 
 veloped portions of humanity is certainly most erroneous. It 
 is the one eternal truth and not only commends itself to the 
 raison of man, but satisfies the longings of his soul for higher 
 and better conditions. 
 
 “ But,” said a doubter to me in Bombay, “do you expect 
 that the Americans will pray five times a day and fast and 
 adopt polygamy and the purdah system, and do everything 
 else that the Mohammedans of the East do ? ” 
 
 I know that there are many thousands of well-balanced 
 people in America who are capable of understanding and 
 appreciating what is good and reasonable, and I believe that 
 the power and influence of Almighty God may be felt there just 
 as strongly as it can in India or any other part of the world. 
 
THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 51 
 
 We propose to present Islam to the people jis plainly and 
 logically as it is possible to present it, and to leave the results 
 of its practical operation with God. I know very little of the 
 practical application of the purdah system or of polygamy in the 
 East, and, therefore, cannot say whether they are practiced in 
 the true Islamic spirit or not. If they are not applied prop- 
 erly and justly they cannot produce good results; but in my 
 humble opinion the purdah system and polygamy, rationally 
 and intelligently engrafted upon our social system, are the 
 only possible remedies for the evils with which it is afflicted 
 to-dav. Prostitution, marital infidelity, drunkenness and 
 kindred vices are prevalent from one end of the vast country 
 to the other. Orthodox Christianity and orthodox Christian 
 laws have fought in vain against these evils for a hundred 
 years, and still they have steadily increased. Now, I believe 
 that Islam and Islamic laws should have an opportunity to try 
 and rid our social system of the monsters of sin that are prey- 
 ing upon it. 
 
 I honestly believe that within five years we will have a 
 Moslem brotherhood in America very strong numerically and 
 composed of just as earnest and faithful Mussulmans as the 
 world has ever seen. 
 
 For the past ten years I have carefully watched the course 
 of religious thought in my country and have been in a position 
 which enabled me to view the field to advantage. I have seen 
 the masses of intelligent people drifting away from the Chris- 
 tian churches and forming themselves into free-thought societies, 
 ethical culture societies, non-sectarian societies and numerous 
 other organizations the purpose of which is to seek religious 
 truth. Beside these, there are the Spiritualists, the Theoso- 
 phists, and an infinite number of other smaller bodies which 
 follow no religious system. Then, too, there are the Unitarians, 
 who, I am satisfied, will adopt Islam when they really know 
 what it is. 
 
 I believe that the strongest reason why Islam is not the 
 prevailing religious system in America to-day is because it 
 lias been so grossly misunderstood and misrepresented by those 
 Christian writers who have attempted to present it to the world 
 in the English language. The masses of the English speaking 
 world know nothing at all of Islam, except what they have ac- 
 quired from such prejudiced Christian writers as Sale and 
 Irving. Ask almost any American Christian if he knows who 
 and what Mohammed was and what the Islamic system is, 
 and he will promptly answer yes. But when you come to 
 question him as to the sources of his information he will tell 
 you that all he has read upon the subject is Sale or Irving, or 
 both, and the letters that some of the misguided Christian 
 
52 
 
 THE THREE LECTURES. 
 
 missionaries have sent home from the East. The most absurd 
 and impossible tales about the Mohammedans in circulation 
 among our Christians have emanated from the missionaries who 
 seem to see all the faults of Mussulmans around them and 
 none of their virtues. If a Mohammedan commits a crime or 
 expresses an absurd superstition, they send a report of it home 
 labeled; “ An Article of Mohammedan Faith.” 
 
 Some years ago there was fanatical Christian in America 
 who thought that God had called upon him to sacrifice his 
 youngest daughter to prove his faith. He tied the child 
 on an altar after the manner in which lie supposed that Abra- 
 ham tied his son, and plunged a knife into its heart. He 
 afterward said that he fully expected God to interfere in time 
 to save the victim’s life as He did in Abraham’s case. Of 
 course he was arrested, tried for murder and sent to a lunatic 
 asylum. I never heard that the report was circulated among 
 Mohammedans that Christians believed in killing their children 
 as sacrifices to God. But let some unbalanced Mohammedan 
 commit an insane act and the chances are that the Western 
 Christians will be told that such acts form a part of the Mo- 
 hammedan faith. 
 
 Now it is errors of this sort, as well as many others that 
 have crept into the Western mind, that we shall seek to over- 
 turn. Our plan of operation includes the establishment of a 
 weekly high-class journal for the explanation of the Islamic 
 doctrines as well as the dissemination of general information 
 relative to Mohammedans and Mohammedan social laws; a free 
 library and reading-room, a book and pamphlet publishing 
 house, and a lecture-room where lectures will be delivered once 
 or twice a week, or as often as the circumstances seem to war- 
 rant. 
 
 In carrying out this project I want to feel that the prayers 
 and good wishes of the Mussulmans of the East arc with us; 
 that they are interested in the work and will do all they can to 
 help it along. I want to take your hand and carry it across 
 the sea to be seized in an earnest, fraternal grasp by the people 
 of America. I want the Mussulmans of the East to be united 
 with those of the West in that true spirit of fraternity which 
 our Prophet so plainly taught. The Moslem brotherhood 
 should extend to the four corners of the earth, not in name 
 only, but in the true spirit of perfect unity. 
 
 There was a time when Islam was the glory of the world, 
 when it was the centre and inspiration of all that was grand 
 and noble and exalting; the heart and soul of the arts and 
 sciences; the civilizer and teacher of mankind. Will history 
 ever repeat itself in this respect? I hope so. 
 
'J'HE ^/J OS LEM \\/0RLD. 
 
 PUBLISHED MONTHLY. 
 
 The only Mohammedan Journal published in AMERICA. 
 
 Devoted to a general exposition of the Islamic Religion. 
 
 Translations from Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Gujerati literature never 
 before published in English. 
 
 Contributions from the most learned Mussulmans of Turkey, Egypt, and 
 India. 
 
 The discussion and elucidation of Islamic doctrines and social laws. 
 
 And news from all parts of the Mohammedan World. 
 
 Every student of the Oriental Religions 
 
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 Even - investigator of spiritual philosophy 
 
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 Mussulmans, Unitarians and Non -Sectarians 
 
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 Those who love to think for themselves 
 
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 Every truthseeker 
 
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 Single Copies, ------- - - - - 10 Cents. 
 
 RATES OF ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION: 
 
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