... THE ... ♦ ♦ ♦ t c ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ i ♦ « ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 4 ( ♦ t «» « i Mohammedan World of To-day BY REV. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, F. R. G. S. bahreiiCarabia Missionary of the Reformed (Dutch) Church In America BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA 25 East 22d Street New York THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD OF TO-DAY REV. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, E. R. G. S. BAHREIN, ARABIA Missionan of the Reformed ( Dutch ) Church in America 1 I RULKRS OK TMK MOHAMMKOAN WORM) OF TO-DAV. 1 « Victoria^ Kmprcss of India. Wii.jiki.mina, Qiiccn of ihc Netherlands. Musai RR-R-i)iN, Shah of Persia. 4. A imri Hamid II., Sultan of Turkey. 5, Tsaitirv H wangti, Emperor of China <>• Nicik»las 1 1., C/.ar of all the Riissias. 7. Fai.ix Kaukh, President of Fiance. Thk Mohammedan Wori.d OF To-D AY Islam dates from 622 A. D.. but the first missionary to the Mohammedans was Raymund Lull, who was dragged outside the town of Bugia and stoned to death on June 30, 1315. He was not only the first missionary to the Mohammedans, but the first and only Christian of his day who felt the extent and urgency of the call to evangelize the Moslem world. He was a martyr like Stephen, and worthy of so great a cause.* Had the spirit of Raymund Lull filled the Church, we would not to- day speak of very nearly two hundred million unevangelized Moslems. Even as Islam itself arose a scourge of God upon an unholy and idolatrous Church, so Islam grew strong and ex- tended to China on the east and Sierra Leone on the west, because the Church never so much as touched the hem of the vast hosts of Islam to evangelize them. The terror of the Saracen and Turk smothered in every heart even the desire to carry them the Gospel. When the missionary revival began with Carey the idea was to carry the Gospel to the heathen. Henry Martyn, first of modern missionaries, preached to the Mohammedans; he met them in India, Arabia, and Persia ; his controversial tracts date the beginning of the conflict with the learning of Islam. The tiny rill that flowed almost unnoticed has gathered volume and strength with the growth of mission- ary interest, until in our day it has become a stream of thought and effort going out to many lands and peoples. Never were there so many books written on the subject of IMohammedan- isni as in our day — never was the Eastern question more pressing, never the whole situation so full of anxiety, and yet so full of hope. Time and tide have changed marvelously * Peroquet, “ Vie de Raymund Lull,’’ 1667. Low, “de vita R. L.” Halle, 1830. Helfferich, “ Ray. Lull.” Berlin, 1858. “His Life and Work.” Dublin University Magazine. Vol. LXXVIII,43. 4 THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD OF TO-DAY. since Dr. Jessup wrote his little classic in 1879.* single glance at the map there given to illustrate Islam, shows how the unity and power of Moslem empire have been broken, and what God hath wrought for the Kingdom of His Son. When that book was written there were no missionaries in all Arabia, Tunis, Morocco, Tripoli, or Algiers. Christendom was ignorant of the extent and character of Islam in Central Africa ; little was known of the Mohammedans in China, and the last chapter in the history of Turkey was the treaty of Berlin. The prob- lem has greatly changed ; old factors are canceled and new factors have appeared. But we can still say with the writer : “ It is our earnest hope and prayer that this revival of interest in the historical, theological, and ethical bearings of Islam may result in a new practical interest in the spiritual welfare of the Mohammedan nations. It is high time for the Christian Church to ask seriously the question whether the last command of Christ concerns the one hundred and seventy-five millions of the Mohammedan world.” Let us face the problem, and the key to its solution may be found. I. THE PRESENT EXTENT OF THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD. Looking at the table, which is on the opposite page, we see that it is both geographical and chronological. It tells when and where Islam came and saw and conquered. Its present extent embraces three continents ; from Canton in China to Sierra Leone in West Africa. In Russia they spread their prayer-carpets southward and turn to Mecca ; at Zanzibar they look northward ; the whole province of Yunnan, in China, prays toward the setting sun, and in the wide Sahara they look eastward toward the Beit Allah and the Black Stone ! Moham- med’s word has been fulfilled: “So we have made you the center of the nations that you should bear witness to men,”t Arabic is the language of the Koran, but there are millions of Moslems who can not understand a single sentence of Mohammed’s book. They speak Russian. Turkish, Persian, Pashtu, Baluchi, Urdu, Chinese, Malay, Swaheli, Hausa, and yet other languages. And not only is there this diversity of language, but an equal diversity of civilization in the Moslem world of to-day. The Turkish effendi, in Paris costume, with ♦ “The Mohammedan Missionary Problem.” Rev. H. H. Jessup, D.D. t Surah 1 1, section 2 , Sale's “ Koran,” p 16 . 622 A.D. TABLE SHOWING THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD OF TO-DAY. 1898 A.D. 1 ft; i! None among Moslems Bible transl. Colleges, schools and churches. Strategic points all occupied. Bible trsns- lated. Literature, col- leges, schools, church- es. Beirut Press. Bible disirib'fn, med- ical work, preaching. Rescued slave school. Bible transl. Schools. Converts. Martyrs. Bible translated. Bible translated in part. Matthew’s Gospel translated. Bible translated. Many statioiis.schools Controversy, Conv’ts. Bible translated. More than 13.000 con- verts in Java alone All agencies at work. controversial litera- ture. Schools Con- verts.Chu'h's.Hospt’Is Three Stations. Schools Hospital. Medical missions. Preaching work for 1 women. Touring. 1 Thirteen stations occupied, and a numlier of converts. .l/iA*. iSoc. that work among Moham- metlann. Methodist Episcopal (North) and others. Am. Board For. Miss. Foreign Chr. Mission. B. & F. Bible Society. A.B. C. F. M. Presb. Board, N. C. .M. S. Keith Falconer Mis- sion (Scotch). Arabian .Mission Ref. Cb. Am. C.M.S.Presb.BoardN. Bible Socielles. C. M. S. C. M. S. Presb. B. Free Ch. of Scoil'd, S. P. G. Only incidentally by various societii s. Various. Dutch Soc , Rheiii-h Miss. Soc.. and Barmen Soc United Presbyterians. C. M. S. and North Africa Mission. Universities, Mis- sion. North Africa Miss. A other smaller missions is Si '^£1“ 1859 j 1830 1 1818 1885 1890 1811 1890 1810 1658 1862 5 S 1 II 1 1 1 II Migrion Effort Am'g Moglern. Indirect. None. Indirect but important. None. Indirect but important. Direct. Indirect. Rec y direct None. None. Begun recently. Direci. Scarc’ly any Direct. Partly dir'cl land import. 1 Direct. 1 Direct. Indirect. Direct. Direct. None. None. None. None. 33 i 1389— Conv.made inServia 14H3— Coiivers’ii of Bosnia 1675 ' Numbers of Greeks turn Moslem. 13.53 — Turks enter Europe 1790— Missionaries go to European Bussia. 634-638-- Conquest of [Syria. 622 The IIeoira op Mo- hammed. 649 -Conquest of Persia. 1.570 Kiichiim Khan in- troduces Islam to Siberia. 721— Abu Sayda ))reaches in Transoxanla. 1000 (or earlier). 1005— Sheikh Ismael In Lahore. 1.305— P I r Khandnyut in Deccan. 742- First mosque built in North China. 1276— Malacca. 1606— New Guinea. 649— Omar takes Ale.xan- dria. 900— Arabs from Oman reach Zanzibar. ■) 1 647-690— Arab conquest )- of all North Africa by the sword. 1077— Founding of Tim- buctoo. 1600-1700 -S p read of Islam in Africa. 1800-Revival in Soudan under the Mahdi. Amount of Religious Freedom Granted. Nominal tolcrailoii. Greek State Church. Complete toleration. Guaranteed by treaty, but actually a nullity. No religious freedom for dissenters. Same as In European Turkey. Outside Turkish rule and British Influence hardly any. Practically None. None for dissenters. None. Same as in India. Entire liberty with complete neutrality. Nom. tolerat’n;strong anti-foreign feeling. Neutrality and tolera- tion, Diileh govt, op- poses mission work. Much greater than in Turkey. Not yet complete. None. Same as in Turkey. Nominal freedom but R. C. supremacy. Undefined and un- certain. V Independent Kingdoms. Kingdom. Absolute Monarchy. Absolute Monarchy. Absolute Monarchy. )4 under Tur- key, % indep. Absolii te Monarchy. Absolute Monarchy. Absolute Monarchy. British Pro- tection. British I m - pcrlal. Absolute Monarchy. Dutch, Brit ish, French (,'olonial. British Occu- pation. Brit, and Ger- man Protect. Absolute Monarchy. Turkish Pro- vinciai. French Co- lonial. 1 Tribal, iiii- 1 der British 1 French, or [ German 1 Influence. J 25 ^ Slavonic. Turkish. Turkish. liiissian. Turkish. Arabic. Arabic. Persian. Russian. Pashlii. Baluchi. Hindu- stani. Chinese. Malay,etc Arabic. Swaheli. Arabic. Arabic. Arabic. Arabic. Ilami.ic. Arabic. Hausa. Hausa. Hamitic. Moslem Populal'n\ 1,187,459 24,165 2,000,000 2,000,000 12,000.000 8,000,000 8,800,000 8,261,000 4,000,000 500,000 57,321,164 20,000,000 15,000,000 8,978,775 140,000 4,995,000 1,000,000 1,619,350 3,664,941 8,000,000 10,400,000 10,000,000 8,000,000 Total Populat'n 10,811,852 2,433,806 5,711,000 94,188,750 17,117,690 8,000,000 9.000. 000 23,015,560 4.000. 000 500,000 287,223,431 402.680.000 35.575.000 9,734,405 150,000 5,000,000 i,3oo,ooo; 1.700.000 4.429,421 9.100.000 10,400,000 12,000,000 10,000,000 Mohammedan Countries. Koumania, B ii 1 - garia, and Servia Greece. Turkey in Europe. Russia in Europe. Turkey in Asia. Arabia. Persia. Russia in Asia. Afghanistan. Baluchistan. India. China. Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, and New Guinea. Egypt. Zanzibar. Morocco. Tripoli. Tunis. Algiers. Region around [Lake Tchad. The Soudan. Region of Sokoto. The Sahara. Cl EUROPE. 5,811,617 ASIA. 133,882,164 AFRICA. 56,798,060 196 , 491 ) 847 . — Total Moslem Population in the World. 6 THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD OF TO-DAY. Constantinople etiquette ; the simple Bedouin of the desert ; the fierce Afghan mountaineer ; the Russian trader ; the almond-eyed Moslem of Yunnan, Chinese in everything but religion ; the Indian mollah, just graduated from the Calcutta university ; and the half-clad Kabyle, of Morocco — all of them profess one religion and repeat one prayer. There is vast dif- ference in the stage of culture reached by Mohammedans. This important fact has often been ignored and, sometimes, sup- pressed. It is one thing to affirm a fact concerning the Moham- medans of Syria or Egypt, it is quite another to assert the same of Moslems in Java or China. You must change your predicate. Syeed Ameer Ali, the learned barrister of Calcutta, who poses as the defender of Mohammed, would hardly recognize Tippoo Tib as a brother, though he met him beside the Kaaba. Moslem pop- ulations must be weighed as well as counted, otherwise we will be led far astray by mere statistics. And yet ‘‘God hath made of one blood all the nations” ; civilization is only the raiment that covers a common humanity. All ^lohammedans have souls and are sinners. Put it as you will, and classify as you please, we stand before nearly 200,000,000 Mohammedans, our brothers and sisters. This is a conservative estimate, and based on the best authorities possible.* Now by considering the chronology of the chart, we find that these millions, have been, almost without exception, for centuries shamefull}’’ neglected in the work of evangelizing the whole world. A comparison of the two columns of dates is very humiliating. Islam was a missionary religion from the very start, and continues so to this day. We may say it has, like Christianity with its apostolic, medieval and modern missions, three great periods of aggressive growth. The dates given when Islam entered the different lands where it is now predominant may be grouped into three divisions of time. That immediately after Mohammed’s hegira from A. D. 622-800 ; a later period under the Ottomans and Moguls ; lastly, the modern mis- sionary revival from 1700-1800. During the first period, the apostolic age of Mohammedan missions, the sword carried Islam throughout all Arabia, ♦The population of the Moslem lands given in llic chart is taW^n in nearly every instance from “ The Statesman's Yearbook for 1898.” In the case of China a more moderate estimate was taken^ as found in the China Mission Handbook, for 1896." 'I'he p' pulation of the Sudan, Arabia, the Sahara, and other African regions is not yet accurately known. In India the Moslem population seems to be slowly but steadily increasing. THK MOH AMMKDAN WORM) OI lO DAY. 7 Syria, Persia. Egypt, North Africa, and by more peaceful means into Canton and Western China. All these regions had received the Mohammedan faith, and it had become deeply rooted before the year looo A. D.* Christianity was put under tribute and oppression, as in Asia Minor, or entirely swept away, as in Arabia itself, by the tornado power of the new religion.! Afterward came the fall of Constantinople and the rise of Turkish power. This was the second chapter of Moslem con- quest. Afghanistan, Turkestan, India, Java, and the Malay archipelago became “converted.” And lastly we can chroni- cle the modern missionary efforts of Islam by the apostles of the Koran from Cairo’s University, or the Muscat apostles of the slave-trade. Their work was in Russia, the Soudan, Sokoto, and West Africa. In following these paths of conquest on the world map, it is of interest to note that Islam never crossed the great oceans, but for the most part traveled by land ; Japan, Australia, South Africa and America were not reached. Nor has Islam ever made progress in any land where Protestantism was dominant. The Mohammedan methods of mission work, that can be seen in all this wonderful conquest, are three : The sending of embassies, the power of the sword, and colonization by inter- marriage. The last method was always coupled with the slave- trade, partly as cause and partly as effect, and won for Islam nearly all of North Africa south of the Barbary States. China is a striking example of other methods. When Mohammed’s maternal uncle, Wahab al Kabsha, went as an envoy to China, as early as 628 A. D., the camel’s nose entered the tent. An- other embassy was sent in 708. In 755 four thousand Arab soldiers were sent by Calif Abu Jafir to succor the Chinese emperor against the Turkish rebels, and, as a result, these soldiers were established in the principal cities of the empire, and given a multitude of Chinese wives. Lastly we have the wild savages of the province of Yunnan all “converted ” to Islam when the Mogul emperor appointed Omar from Bokhara their governor. To-day more than twenty million Moslems in China testify to the efficiency of these methods.| *C. R. Haines' “ Islam as a Miss’ onary Religion.'* London: S. P. C. K., 1889. A valuable list of authorities is given, and the book itself is a marvel of accuracy and condensation. tThomas Wright, “ Early Christianity in Arabia.*' London, 1855. $P. D'Abey de Thiersant, “La Mahometisme en Chine." 2 vols. Paris, 1878. Chinese Recorder^ Vol. XX, pp. 10-68. T. W. Arnold, “ The Preaching of Islam." London, 1896. See especially the valuable chronological chart at the end of the latter book. 8 THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD OF TO-DAV. Another fact evident from the chart is that Islam had rooted itself for centuries in every land before modern missions came to grapple with the problem. The Church was ages behind time, and lost splendid opportunities. Christian missions came to Persia one thousand years after Islam entered. In Arabia and North Africa twelve centuries intervened. In China Mohammedanism had eleven hundred years the start, and only this year has a beginning been made to evangelize that part of China.* In Java only four hundred years elapsed before work began for these half-pagan Moslems, and it is not strange that here we find many converts. About one-third of the Hausa-speaking people of North Africa are Mohammedans. Prior to the Fulah conquest, about the beginning of the present century, they were all pagans; Islam is even now making con- quests west of the Niger. And practically the whole of this field — long since white for the harvest — has been untouched by missionary effort. Yet Charles Henry Robinson writes in his book, “ Hausa-land : ” Although Mohammedanism is making very slow, if any, progress in the Hausa States, it has recently made rapid progress among the Yorubas, who inhabit a country to the west of Hausa- land, which has for its capital Lagos. Its introducers are for the most paid Fulahs — that is, the same tribe to whom the Kansas were indebted for their conversion to Mohammedanism at the beginning of this country. The fatalism attributed to Mohammedans is not one-half so fatalistic in its spirit and operation as that which for cen- turies has been practically held by the Christian Church as to the hope or necessity of bringing the hosts of Islam into the following of Jesus Christ. There may have been reasons in in time past for this unreadiness or unwillingness, such as political barriers and fear of death from Moslem fanaticism. To-day we cannot plead such excuse. There has been no foreign missionary among Moslems who died for proclaiming the truth, in all this century of missions. Nearly all the politi- cal barriers against missionary occupation have fallen. Read ♦The /«<•//« IV/^ness s\.atts : “ A number of Hntish and German friends are subscribing to support a new mission to China. 'I’his new enterprise, to which we wish complete success, will have its headquarters in Kashgar and Yarkand, two cities of Chinese Turkestan, and the work is to be carried on not among the Chinese, but among the Mohammedans, who are in a large majority in that district. 'I'lie new mission is interesting in that it is an attack upon China from the West. Two German missionaries, accompanied by a doctor and a native Christian, will arrive in Kashgar next spring, and begin work. It may be added that the Hritish and Foreign Bible Society is at present printing the four Gospels in the dialect of Chinese 'I'urkesian, and that in all probability they will be ready before the new mission gets settled at Kashgar." THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD OE TO-DAY. POLITICAL POWERS OF THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD. Under Turkish rule : Europe 2,000,000 Asia 12,000,(100 Arabia 3 000 000 Tripoli 1,000.000 18,000,000 Under other Moslem rulers: Arabia 5 000,000 Persia 8.M)0 000 Afghanistan 4,000,(i00 Morocco 4 995 000 22,705,000 Under the the Chinese Emperor 2n, 000, 000 Under African chiefs, etc 36,400,000 Under Christian rulers: Roumania, etc 1,187,452 Greece 24,165 Russia 10,861,000 Baluchistan and India,.. 57,821.164 Malaysia 15 000.000 Egypt and Zanzibar 9 118,775 Tunis and Algiers 5,284,291 99,296,847 196,491,847 lO THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD OF TO-DAY. it on the chart, and proclaim it upon the house-tops, that three- fourths of the Mohammedan world are accessible to the Chris- tian missionary — accessible in the same way as are all non- Christian lands, opening to the golden keys of love and tact and faith. Of two hundred million Mohammedans, only eighteen million are directly under Turkish rule. Under Russian rule there are 10,861,000 ; under Dutch, French and German rule. 24,580,000 ; while British rule or protection extends over nearly sixty-six million Mohammedans — a popu- lation as large as that of the United States. And yet men speak of Mohammedanism as if it were synonymous with Turkey, and of this missionary problem as if it could be solved by bombarding Constantinople. Looking at the table from another standpoint, there are to day only 41,560,600 Moslems under Mohammedan rulers, i.e., in Turkey, Persia, parts of Arabia, Afghanistan and Morocco ; while there are 99,552,477 under nominally Christian rulers, and three-fourths of this vast number are subject to the Protestant queens, Victoria and Wilhelmina. Well may Abd- ul-Hamid II. tremble on his tottering throne for his califate, when two “infidel women ’’ hold the balance of political power in the Mohammedan world This is the finger of God. And it does not require thegift of prophecy to see yet greater political changes in the near future pregnant with blessing for the kingdom of God. The deadlock of inactivity in the Levant cannot last. The reaction will surely lead to action when the temporary revival of the proud, menacing spirit of the old sword-fanaticism has done its work. But the failure to act for Armenia when the hour was ripe may cost the powers of Europe a still larger Eastern question. The editor of the official organ of the Barmen Mission, which has had so much success among the Mohammedans in Sumatra, writes : We have often been forced to observe that the whole Moham- medan world is eonnected by secret threads, and that a defeat which Islam suffers in any part of the world, or a triumph which she can claim either really or fictitiously, has its reflex action even on the work of our missionaries in the Mohammedan part of Sumatra. Thus the recent massacres in Armenia have filled the Mohammedans in this part of Sumatra with pride. They say to the Christians : “You see now that the raja of Stamboul (that is, the Sultan of Constantinople) is the one whom none can withstand ; and he will soon come and set Sumatra free, and then we shall do with the Christians as the Turks did with the Armenians.'' And it is a fact that a considerable number of Mohammedans who were receiving instruction as candidates for b.iptism have gone back since the receipt of this news. THE MOHAMMEDAN WORI I) OF TO-DAY. I I And this leads us to consider, next ; II. THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE MOHAMMEDAN WORI.D. Libraries have been written on the origin, cliaracter, and history of Islam, the Koran, and Mohammed. Views differ widely, extremes often meet, and authorities conflict when we examine the question, c. of Mohammed’s preaching, or the influence of the Koran on the lives of its readers. The apolo- gies for all that is evil or incongruous in the system have been many and yet wholly insufficient to prove its integrity or truth. The result of a century of critical study by European and American scholars of every school of thought seems to be that Islam is a composite religion. It has heathen elements ; witness the Kaaba, the Black Stone, and endless superstitions and practices that find their origin in pagan Arabia. It has Christian elements, such as its recognition of Christ and of the New Testament, ivithont the cardinal doctrines of the atone- ment and the incarnation. It has ./c7C75'// elements. These are so numerous and have had such intluence as to form the warp and woof of Moslem tradition and often the very texture of the Koran itself.* The Old Testament as interpreted by the Talmud, is the key to many otherwise obscure words, ideas, and stories found in the Koran. And the entire Moslem ritual is an Arabic translation of Judaism as it existed in Arabia. Like Judaism, Islam glories in its grand doctrine of the unity of God. But altogether too much has been made of this part of the Moslem creed. There is abundant proof to show that monotheism was well known in Arabia before Mohammed’s day. The name of Allah, for the one supreme deity, occurs even in the pagan poets. Moreover, there is no salvation in mere monotheism. “Thou believest that God is one, thou doest well, the devils also believe and tremble.’ The Moham- medan world holds this supreme truth in unrighteousness. It has not made them free. Fatalism binds back everything that seeks progression ; formalism has petrified the conscience ; social life is corrupt and morals are rotten. + The Rev. J. Vaughan, of India, says : “ However the phenomenon may be accounted for, we, after nineteen years of mixing with Hindus ♦ ** Literary Remaias of Emaaue) Deutsch,” London, 1874. and the unequalled essay of Abraham Geiger’s, •* Was hat Mohammed au> dem Judenthum ubergenoramen ? ” Preisschrift for University of Bonn, 1833. t Hauri, “ Der Islam in seinem Einduss auf das Leben seiner Bckenner.” Leiden, i88i. 12 THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD OF TO-DAY. and Mussulmen, have no hesitation in sa5dng that the latter are as a whole some degrees lower in the social and moral scale than the former.” A veteran missionary in /Syria says of the Moslem population that “ truth-telling is one of the lost arts, perjury is too common to be noticed, and the sin of sodomy so common among them in many places, as to make them a dread to their neighbors.” “ By their fruits ye shall know them.” The five pillars of the Mohammedan faith are all broken reeds by the solemn test of age-long experience; because their creed is only a half-truth, and its “ pure monotheism ” does not satisfy the soul’s need of a mediator and an atonement for sin. Their prayers are formal and vain repetitions, without demand- ing or producing holiness in the one that uses them.* Their is productive of two distinct evils wherever observed; it manufactures an unlimited number of hypocrites who profess to keep the fast and do not do so, and in the second place the reaction which occurs at sunset of every night of Ramadhan tends to produce revelling and dissipation of the lowest and most degrading type. Their almsgiving stimulates indolence, and has produced that acme of social parasites — the dervish or fakir. Finally their pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina and Kerbela are a public scandal even to Moslem morality, so that the “ holy cities ” are hotbeds of vice and plague-spots in the body politic. It has often been asserted that Islam is the proper religion for Ai’abia. The Bedouin now say: “ Mohammed’s religion can never have been intended for us; it demands ablution, but we have no water; fasting, but ive always fast; almsgiving, but we have no money; pilgrimage, but Allah is everywhere.” Islam has had fair trial in other than desert lands. For five hundred years it has been supreme in Turkey, the fairest and richest portion of the old world. And what is the result ? The Mohammedan population has decreased; the treasury is bankrupt; progress is blocked; ‘‘instead of wealth, universal poverty; instead of comeliness, rags ; instead of commerce, beggary — a failure greater and more absolute than history can elsewhere present.” f In regard to what Islam has done and can do in Africa, the recent testimony of Mr. Robinson is con- ♦ See article on “ The Koran Doctrine of Christian Inteliigencer (New York), Sept 2, 1896, tf'yrus Hamlin's “ Five Hundred Years of Islam in Turkey,'’ 1888. THE MOHAMMEDAN WORl.D OK TO-DAY. '3 14 THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD OF TO-DAY. ■elusive. Writing of Mohammedanism in the central Soudan lie says: Moreover, if it be true, as it probably is to some extent, that Mohammedanism has helped forward the Hausas in the path of civilization, the assistance rendered here, as in every other country subject to Mohammedan rule, is bj' no means an unmixed good. Mohammedan progress is progress up an impasse ; it enables converts to advance a certain distance, only to check their further progress by an impassable wall of blind prejudice and ignorance. We can not have a better proof of this statement than the progress, or rather, want of progress, in Arabia, the home of Mohammedanism, during the last thousand years. Palgrave, who spent the greater part of his life among Mohammedans, and who was so far in sympa- thy with them that on more than one occasion he conducted service for them in their mosques, speaking of Arabia, says : “ When the Koran and Mecca shall have disappeared from Arabia, then, and only then, can we expect to see the Arab assume that place in the ranks of civilization from which Mohammed and his book have, more than any other cause, long held him back." But it is not only indisputable that Mohammedanism is a hopeless system as regards civilization ; it is hopeless for the soul. Whatever may be the opinion of those whose theology includes a larger hope and a second probation, to the evangeli- cal friends of missions and *• the children of the Kingdom ” Islam falls, with heathenism, under Paul’s categorj’ — zvit/iout Christ, without hope." The awful sin and guilt of the Moham- medan world is that they give Christ’s glory to another. Islam, in its final result, as well as in its essence, is anti- Christian.* Christ’s name and place and offices and glory have been usurped by another. Mohammed holds the keys of heaven and hell. Whatever ive may think of the caricature of Christ in the pages of the Koran, it so influences the Moslem world that the bulk of Mohammedans know extremely little, and think still less, of 'the Son of Mary — that Son of whom it is written, ‘‘Neither is there salvation in any other.” III. THE OUTLOOK FOR THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD. Nevertheless, there are certain hopeful signs to the eye of faith in this very hopeless system that ends in such social stag- nation and spiritual death. First of all, the great Mohammedan world is no longer a unit, either politically or religiously. As regards temporal power, we have already seen how that is and has been steadily ♦See the masterly exposition of this idea in Kocllc's “ Mohammed and Mohammedanism." London, 1889. THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD OE TO-DAV. 5 disappearinjr. The illustrious califate is hopelessly a thing of the past. Islam has no acknowledged pope. Since the Wahabee reformation, at the beginning of this century, the increasing hatred for Ottoman rule in Hejaz and Yemen during the last decade, and English supremacy in Oman and the Persian gulf, all of Arabia looks to Mecca for a nixc calif, and not to Constantinople for the old one. Spiritually, the Moslem world seems to stand on the tiptoe of expectation . The mahdi in the Soudan ; the religious orders of the Sanusiyah in Morocco and Tunis ;* the revolt against traditional Mohammedanism in India, and the rise of the Babi movement in Persia, all these indicate a stirring among the dead bones. Babismf alone is such a wonderful phenomenon that we are not surprised to learn that it already has 800,000 adherents, and spreads wider and wider. There is much that is sad in the new teaching, but it has opened the door to the Gospel as nothing else has done. Some one writes concerning its influence • It is computed that in many towns and villages half the popu- lation are Babis. This is a clear indication that the people of Persia are already, in large measure, wearied with Islam, and anxious for a higher, holier and more spiritual faith. Almost all through the country the Babis are quite friendly to Christians. The rise of this faith is in a large measure due to the spread of the Gospel, the best of their doctrines are borrowed from it, while they openly reverence our .Scriptures, and profess to be read}' to reject any opinion they may hold when once proved to be contrary to the Bible. Fifty 3'ears ago it might have been said with much truth of the Mohammedan world, spirituall}', that it was “ without form and void, and darkness upon the face of the deep.” To-day we can add “ The Spirit of God moves upon the waters." What else is it when there comes news of an ever-increasing demand for the printed Word from ever}' mission station in Moslem lands ? What else is it when two learned Indian Moham- medans devote their time to writing a comraentar}' on the Bible from a Moslem standpoint ? What else is it when first- fruits are being gathered in even the most unpromising fields of labor among Moslems ? Not only is the soil being prepared for the sowing of the Word, but that Word — the good seed of God— has been trans- H^itness for March ii, 1808. Article by Rev. E. Sell. The Bab aad the Babis." E. Sell. Madras, 1895, The Episode of the Rab,” E, G.. Browne, of Cambridge. l6 THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD OF TO-DAY. lated and printed in nearly every Mohammedan tongue. The Arabic Bible will prove stronger in this holy war than any blade of Damascus ever was in the hand of the early Saracens. For Persian, Afghan. Chinese, Malay, Hausa and Russian Mohammedans that Word of God is also ready in their own tongue. The Arabic Koran is a sealed book to them — since it may not be translated — but the Bible speaks the language of the cradle and the market place. In this we can see a wonder- ful providence of God, giving the Church such vantage ground in the coming conflict that even her enemies acknowledge vic- tory certain. As regards the present status of missionary effort in Moslem lands, the bare statement of the chart must suffice. There is no room here for adequate treatment of the subject. The reports of the various societies that work chiefly or largely among Moslems tell the story of trial and triumph. Especially worthy of study is the story of the North African Mission, of the Church Missionary Society in the Punjab, and of the Dutch in Java. In India many hundreds of the followers of Islam have publicly abjured their faith and been received into the Church. Half of the native clergy in the Punjab are from among the Moslems. In the Malay Archipelago there are thousands of converts. And yet even in these most promising fields the laborers are sadly few. Rev. E. A. Bell, of the M. E. Church, writing from India, says : Here is a great door — sixty millions of Indian Moslems, for whom all too little has hitherto been done In the Madras Presi- dency are two million Mohammedans, and there are only two mis- sionaries at work for them, both in the city of Madras. In Mysore are 200,000 Mohammedan^, and in Ceylon 200,000 for whom no ordained missionary is at work. Missionaries to Hindus are num- bered even by the hundred in these territories, but scarcely one of them knows even the language of the Mohammedans, Hindustani. At the Lambeth Conference, held in London, 1897, the spe- cial committee on foreign mission work called attention to “ the inadequacy of our efforts in behalf of Islam.” “Until the present century very little systematic effort appears to have been made. As regards the zuork of the present century there have been the efforts of magnificent pioneers, but we need something more ; we need continuous and systematic work, such as has been begun in the diocese of Lahore and some other parts of India." THE MOHAMMEDAN WORI.D OK TO DAY. 17 *• Inadequacy ” is too weak a word to express tlie shameful neglect of duty in carrying the Gospel to the Mohammedan world. There was a thousandfold more enthusiasm in the dark ages to wrest an empty sepulcher from the Saracens than there is in our day to bring them the knowledge of a living Savior. There is no Peter the Hermit, and no one girds for a new cru- sade. We are playing at missions as far as Mohammedanism is concerned For there are more mosques in Jerusalem than there are missionaries in all Arabia; and more millions of Moslems in China than the number of missionary societies that work for Moslems in the whole world ! Where Christ was born Mohammed’s name is called from minarets five times daily, but where Mohammed was born no Christian darts to enter. America entertains perverts to Islam at a parliament of religions, while throughout vast regions of the Mohammedan world millions of Moslems have never so much as heard of the incarnation and the atonement of the Son of God, the Savior of the world. The Holy Land is still in unholy hands, and all Christendom stood gazing while the sword of the Crescent was uplifted in Armenia and Crete, until the uttermost confines of the Moslem world rejoiced at her apathy and impotence. Is this to be the measure of our consecration? Is this the extent of our loyal devotion to the cause of our King? His place occupied by a usurper and His glory given to another, while the Church slumbered and slept ; shall we not arise and win back the lost kingdom ? Missions to Moslems are the only Christian solution of the Eastern question. “ Father, the hour has come, glorify Thy Son.” God wills it. Let our rallying cry be. Every stronghold of Islam for Christ ! Not a war of gunboats, or of diplomacy, but a Holy War with the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Let God arise and ‘let His enemies be scattered. ” Father, the hour has come, glorify Thy Son.” — From the Missionary Revietu of the World., Octo- ber, i8g8. >4 . PRESS OF e SCOTT COMPANY 14S WEST 230 ST. NEW YORK