iHVf PAW. wise. The Evangelization of the Mohammedan World: Some facts and statistics showing unaccountable neglect and unpre¬ cedented opportunities. JZ “The sword of Mohammed and the Koran are the most stubborn enemies of civilization, liberty and truth which the world has yet known.’’ —Sir Wm. Muir. “And who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God ? ” — I Jno. 5: 5. “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son that the Son may glorify Thee.” —John 17: i. v (Prepared for the Student Volunteer Convention, Nashville, Tennessee, 1906) The Evangelization of the Mohammedan World in this Generation. A. B. (According to the Statesman’s Yearbook.) ■m t* Snic / Turk- 13 mil. ish. 8 mil. Indian Languages 62 millions Hausa fe /’ ' 4 - and African^ 28 millions f Bengali IS® Chinese 20 mil. LANGUAGES SPOKEN BY THE MOSLEMS (Approximate Division.) G. WiMmi' . 190 Millions SUNNIS APPROXIMATE DIVISION OF THE MOSLEM WORLD BY SECTS , V • e „ A ' ri “ 60 Millions 135 Millions ■ '"j> |/' lj . j." I ■... % * ^ 1 ,“. ■ 1-7 of Total Population CONTINENTAL DIVISION OF THE MOSLEM WORLD POPULATION. THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD. Total Population.— The total population of the Mohammedan world is variously estimated. The following are the most recent estimates: Statesman’s Year Book, 1890_ 203,600,000 Brockhaus’ Convers-Lexikon, 1894_ 175,000,000 Hubert Jansen’s Verbreitung des Islams, 1897_ 259,680,672 S. M. Zwemer (Missionary Review), 1898_ 196,491,842 Algemeine Missions Zeitschrift, 1902_____'_ 175,290,000 H. Wichmann, in Justus Perthes’ Atlas, 1903___ 240,000,000 William E. Curtis, in “Syria and Palestine,” 1903_ 300,000,000 Encyclopedia of Missions, 1904_193,550,000 On this basis a conservative estimate would be a total of 200,000,000, and the diagrams on the opposite page show the approximate division of this population. Each circle stands for the total Mohammedan population of the world, and the several segments show geographical location, lan¬ guages, sects, and politics. Moslem Sects. —Islam is not a unit, but is divided into many sects and schools of thought. The Sunni sect is the old orthodox party and has four divisions. All agree in doctrine, but differ in their interpretation of ceremonial law and jurisprudence. Central Asia, Northern India, and the Turks everywhere are Haniftte\ lower Egypt, Southern India, and the Malay Moslems are Shafite ; upper Egypt and North Africa are Malikite, while the sect of Hanbalites exists only in central and eastern Arabia. The Shiah sect exists chiefly in Persia and India, but the influence of its teachings has penetrated everywhere and resulted in the philosophical disintegration of Islam. Mysticism (the Dervish orders) and Rationalism (New Islam) are widely prevalent and increasingly powerful movements. So also is Babism in Persia and Quadianism in the Punjab. Large Regions Still Wholly Unoccupied.— Moslem Population. Afghanistan_1___4,000,000 Baluchistan_•_ 500,000 Sulu Archipelago and Mindanao_ 250,000 Southern Persia_ 3,000,000 Southern, Western and Central Arabia_ 3,000,000 Bornu (Lake Tsad)_ r _ 5,000,000 Wadai (Central Africa)_ 2,600,000 Baghirmi (Central Africa)_ 1,500,000 Sokoto and feudatory states__ 14,000-,000 Sahara and French Soudan__■_ 10,000,000 Bokhara region__ 2,500,000 Russia in Caucasus 1_ 2,000,000 Khiva_ 700,000 Russia in Central Asia_ 3,000,000 Siberia, East and West_ 6,100,000 China (unreached sections)_._ 10,000,000 Estimated total of wholly unreached Moslem populations. 68,150,000 That is over one-third of the Mohammedan world! The Present Crisis. —Islam is not only strong in numbers, but is conquering. It is increasing numerically to-day in India, Burmah, the Malay Archipelago, and especially in West Africa, Uganda, the Congo Free State and Northern Abysinnia. In Burmah the census proves an increase of thirty-three per cent in the last decade. In the Philippines there are 250,000 Moslems. Pastor F. Wurtz, of the Basel Mission, in a recent pam¬ phlet, sounds the alarm of a “Mohammedan Peril” to the native church, as well as to many pagan districts, in West Africa. The situation on the Gold Coast is alarming. In one village a native preacher and his entire congre¬ gation went over to Islam! * The Rhenish Mission in Sumatra has resolved that its chief task now is “to occupy in time those heathen districts which are in danger of falling into the hands of Islam.” The crisis only empha¬ sizes the need and the opportunity. Strategic Centers Occupied. —The following strategic points (includ¬ ing nearly every important city in the Moslem world of over 100,000 population) are already the centers of missionary effort by printing press, hospital, school or college: Calcutta, Constantinople, Bombay, Cairo, Hai- drabad, Alexandria, Teheran, Lucknow, Rangoon, Damascus, Delhi, Lahore, Smyrna, Cawnpore, Agra, Tabriz, Allahabad, Tunis, Bagdad, Fez, Aleppo, and Beirut. And the efforts there carried on directly or indirectly for Moslems prove that the work is possible under all conditions everywhere. But from every one of these centers the call is loud for more laborers. Nowhere are the efforts at all commensurate with the opportunities. Results. —The Bible has been translated into every language of the Mohammedan world, while the Koran speaks only to those who can read Arabic—less than one-fourth of the total population. A large number of books especially intended for Mohammedans has been prepared in all the chief languages of the Moslem world. Less than a century ago there was not one Protestant worker in any Moslem land; at that time apostacy from Islam meant death to the apostate. Now there are Moslem converts in every land where work has been attempted, fanaticism has decreased and many converted Moslems are preaching the Gospel. In North India there are nearly 200 Christian pastors, catechists or teachers who are converts or the children of converts from Islam. There is hardly a Christian congrega¬ tion in the Punjab which does not have some members formerly in the ranks of Islam. Thousands of Moslem youth are receiving a Christian education in Egypt, India, Java and Sumatra. The Beirut Press since its foundation has issued over a million portions of the Arabic Bible. In ten years the attendance at the, dispensary of the U. F. Church of Scotland, near Aden, rose from 8,000 to 40,000 per annum. Villages that could not be reached safely in Arabia ten years ago now welcome the missionary. At Julfa, Persia, on Easter Sunday, 1902, there were seventeen converts from Islam at the Holy Communion, and this land, with other Moslem lands, counts its martyrs to the faith. The late Dr. Imad-ud-din, formerly a Moham¬ medan and a determined opponent of Christianity, enumerated 117 Chris¬ tian converts of distinction in India who forsook Islam for Christ as he did. In Sumatra and Java there are over 16,000 converts organized into churches. The outlook everywhere is not hopeless, but hopeful, and the great task to which Christ calls his church at the beginning of the twentieth century is the evangelization of the Mohammedan world. —S. M. Zwemer. * A prayer* * O Lord God, to whom the sceptre of right belongeth, lift up Thyself, and travel in the greatness of Thy strength throughout the Mohammedan lands of the East; because of the anointing of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, as Thy true Prophet, Priest and King, destroy the sword of Islam t and break the yoke of the false prophet. Mohammed from off the necks of Egypt, Arabia, Turkey, Persia, and other Moslem lands, that so there may be opened throughout these lands a great door and effectual for the Gospel, that the Word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified, and the veil upon so many hearts may be removed, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. — C. M. S. Cycle of Prayer.