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ISLAM; 
 
 OR, THE 
 
 RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. E. M. WHERRY, D. D. 
 
 AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 
 
 lO KAST 23d ST., NEW YORK. 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1896, 
 BY AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 
 
ISLAM; 
 
 OR, THE 
 
 RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 The recent atrocities in Arme- 
 nia have served to bring to our 
 notice the religion of Islam. The 
 spectacle of a mighty potentate 
 deliberately planning the destruc- 
 tion of myriads of his subjects has 
 filled the civilized world with hor- 
 ror and indignation. The calm de- 
 liberation with which these plans 
 have been executed has been no 
 less awful to contemplate. Many 
 have been ready to doubt the har- 
 rowing details of cities pillaged, 
 men murdered, women outraged, 
 and helpless girls carried captive 
 to be enslaved in a Moslem ha- 
 rem. And when the Sultan at 
 Constantinople calmly denies that 
 these outrages have been com- 
 
 3 
 
ISLAM ; OR, 
 
 mitted, and yet continues them at 
 frequent intervals, coolly daring 
 the nations of Europe to inter- 
 vene, our indignation is thorough- 
 ly aroused. We ask ourselves 
 how men who profess themselves 
 to be the servants of the merci- 
 ful God can be the perpetrators 
 of such fiendish cruelty : we won- 
 der how men can be at once so re- 
 ligious and yet so devilish. 
 
 The enigma of the Turkish char- 
 acter finds its solution in his relig- 
 ion. The sword is consecrated to 
 the cause of Islam. It may be un- 
 sheathed to repel an enemy or to 
 make a convert. All Christians are 
 regarded as idolaters, who may be 
 destroyed at any time without sin 
 whenever the interests of Islam re- 
 quire their removal. '' Kill the idol- 
 aters," said the prophet, " where- 
 soever ye shall find them, and take 
 them prisoners, and besiege them, 
 and lay wait for them in every con- 
 venient place. But if they shall 
 repent, and observe the appointed 
 times of prayers, and pay the legal 
 4 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 alms, dismiss them freely." Quran, 
 chap. IX., 5. The fact, then, that 
 any Christians have been permit- 
 ted to live in a country under Mos- 
 lem rule is evidence to the Moslem 
 that he has exercised a marvellous 
 magnanimity. If then the Chris- 
 tian subject busy himself with polit- 
 ical questions, and endeavor in any 
 way to secure for himself a liberty 
 denied by his Moslem ruler, he lays 
 himself open to the charge of be- 
 ing a rebel, and so may be treated 
 as an enemy of God and of the 
 faithful. Accordingly the Sultan, 
 with the advice and authority of 
 the Moslem hierarchy, may order 
 the slaughter of the men, giving 
 them, however, the alternative of 
 accepting the religion of Islam. In 
 case the Christian select death 
 rather than apostasy, his wife and 
 children may be enslaved and his 
 property seized as the spoil of war. 
 We have, therefore, in the Ar- 
 menian massacres an object-lesson 
 in the Moslem's religion. Two 
 hundred millions of the earth's in- 
 
 5 
 
ISLAM ; OR, 
 
 habitants are adherents to this 
 faith, which is to-day the only- 
 rival of Christianity for supremacy 
 in the world. The Sultan of Tur- 
 key for more than four hundred 
 years has been recognized as the 
 Defender of the Faith, the Caliph 
 or vicegerent of God on earth. 
 Forty millions of his own subjects 
 bow the knee to his authority both 
 as temporal and spiritual ruler. 
 Fifty millions in India, besides 
 millions more in Central Asia and 
 North Africa, acknowledge his 
 authority in matters of religion. 
 These figures suggest some of the 
 elements of complication which be- 
 set every effort to solve the East- 
 ern Question. The religion of 
 Islam is still a mighty force, which 
 must be taken into account in any 
 study of the political situation in 
 the East. It is true that *' the 
 sick man " at Constantinople some- 
 times seems ready to die, but his- 
 tory tells of more than one marvel- 
 lous recovery. The jealousy of 
 the Christian powers may yet 
 6 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 afford him another opportunity 
 to rise and secure a new lease of 
 life. 
 
 It goes without saying that the 
 church cannot afford to be indiffer- 
 ent to the religion of the millions 
 of Moslems in the midst of whom 
 our devoted missionaries are living 
 and laboring, in hope that by and 
 by the gospel may find entrance 
 to their hearts. Is it not the part 
 of wisdom as well as the instinct 
 of piety to endeavor to understand 
 these remarkable people and to ac- 
 quaint ourselves with the principles 
 of their religion? By so doing 
 we may perhaps better understand 
 their place in the history of God's 
 providential government of the 
 world. Possibly we may learn 
 something more of the way by 
 which these worshippers of Allah, 
 ** the merciful and the beneficent," 
 may become the followers of ** the 
 Christ, the Son of the living God !" 
 It is with the hope of aiding in 
 this cause that the writer presents 
 the following brief popular state- 
 
 7 
 
ISLAM ; OR, 
 
 ment of the faith and practice of 
 the religion of Islam. 
 
 In the mind of the ordinary 
 Christian the religion of Islam is 
 a religion of yesterday. Unlike 
 Brahminism or Buddhism, it in- 
 spires nothing of that veneration 
 which is born of the glamor of 
 antiquity. To him it is the re- 
 ligion of Mohammed the impos- 
 tor. He sees little or no connec- 
 tion between it and his own faith 
 or the faith of his fathers. To him 
 the chief characteristics of the 
 Moslem's creed are his faith in 
 Allah and in Mohammed, the 
 prophet of God, and his belief 
 in his right to practise polygamy, 
 adding to this his fanatical zeal 
 in warfare against " infidels." 
 
 Not so with the Moslem himself. 
 To him Islam is the only true re- 
 ligion : the religion vouchsafed to 
 Adam, to Seth and Enoch, to Noah 
 and Abraham, to Moses and the 
 patriarchs, to David and all the 
 prophets, to Jesus and his apostles, 
 and finally to Mohammed, the last 
 8 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 of the prophets. To him this re- 
 ligion comprehends all dispensa- 
 tions. It is the religion of the 
 genii and of angels. It shall only 
 find its consummation in eternity, 
 amid the joys of paradise. 
 
 Looking at it from another stand- 
 point, Islam may be called the re- 
 ligion of Submission to God. A 
 Mussulman is one who has submit- 
 ted himself to God, or, as Moham- 
 medan doctors define it, '' one who 
 has placed his neck under the yoke 
 of God." This religion, then, like 
 that of the Jew and the Christian, 
 is an exclusive religion. It admits 
 none other as true. It knows no 
 generous rivalry. There is, there- 
 fore, no foundation in fact for the 
 theory of certain Christian writers 
 that Islam and Christianity are 
 destined, under a more liberal in- 
 terpretation of their respective 
 symbols of faith, to go hand in 
 hand and shoulder to shoulder in 
 a crusade against idolatry. That 
 theory is an idle dream. There 
 can be no such reconcilement. One 
 
 9 
 
ISLAM : OR, 
 
 must triumph over the fall of the 
 other. So far, then, as the mission- 
 ary problem is concerned, it means 
 war to the end ; war, however, with 
 spiritual weapons against carnal: 
 the sword of the Spirit against the 
 sword of Islam. 
 
 In order to understand the faith 
 of Islam let us examine its fun- 
 damental principles. 
 
 Moslem authors tell us of four 
 Irkan or Pillars of the faith : the 
 Quran, the Ahadis or traditions, 
 the Ijma, or unanimous consent 
 of the learned, and Qiyas, or analo- 
 gical reasoning based upon the 
 Quran, Ahadis, and Ijma. Let us 
 examine these separately. 
 
 I. The Quran. 
 
 This is called by the Moslem 
 a I Quran al Majid, ''the glorious 
 Quran ;" a I Quran ash-sJiarif, " the 
 noble Quran ;" al Furqan, or *' the 
 Distinguisher ;" and the Kalam- 
 Ullah, or '' theWord of God." The 
 original, they say, is inscribed upon 
 the Luh-i-Mahfuz, or " Preserved 
 Table," which is kept under the 
 
 lO 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 throne of God.* From this it was 
 copied and sent down by the angel 
 Gabriel. It follows that Moham- 
 med, in the apprehension of his 
 followers, was merely the mouth- 
 piece of God in all he said. 
 
 The story of Mohammed's call 
 to " recite " the Quran is one which 
 is listened to with awe by millions 
 of* his followers. For some weeks 
 Mohammed had been living as a 
 recluse in a cave near the City of 
 Makkah. One day he came to his 
 wife Khadijah in great trepidation 
 and fear, saying, *' Wrap me up, 
 wrap me up !" She wrapped him 
 up until his fear was dispelled, 
 when he told her the cause of his 
 fear and trembling. He said that 
 the angel Gabriel had come to him 
 and said, '* Read." He replied, '* I 
 am not a reader." "Then," said 
 Mohammed, " the angel took hold 
 of me and squeezed me as much as 
 
 * This notion of the Moslems may have arisen 
 from the practice of the Jews of keeping the 
 Sacred Book by the side of the ark in the Holy 
 of Holies. Deut. 31:26; cf. 2 Kings 22:8. 
 
 II 
 
ISLAM ; OR, 
 
 I could bear, and lie let me go and 
 said, * Read.' And I said, ' I am 
 not a reader.' Then he took hold 
 of me a third time and squeezed 
 me as much as I could bear, and 
 said, 
 
 " * Read ! in the name of thy 
 Lord who created man. 
 
 " * Read ! for thy Lord is most 
 beneficent ; 
 
 '' * He hath taught men the use 
 of the pen ; 
 
 '' * He hath taught man that 
 which he knoweth not.' " 
 
 Hearing this story the faithful 
 Khadijah addressed herself to the 
 work of comforting her husband. 
 To his fears lest he should die, or 
 lest he were the subject of some 
 demoniacal possession, she said, 
 '* No, it will not be so. I swear by 
 God he will never make you mel- 
 ancholy or sad. For verily you 
 are kind to your relatives, you 
 speak the truth, you are faithful in 
 trust, you bear the afflictions of the 
 people, you spend in good works 
 what you gain in trade, you are 
 
 12 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 hospitable, and you assist your fel- 
 low-men." She then took him to 
 her cousin Waraqah, who was re- 
 puted a holy man and acquainted 
 with the Jewish Scriptures. Said 
 Waraqah, '* Oh, son of my brother, 
 what do you see ?" Then the proph- 
 et told him what he saw, and Wa- 
 raqah said, '' That is the Namus 
 which God sent to Moses ;" there- 
 by expressing the idea that he 
 was the subject of divine inspira- 
 tion. 
 
 Such was the beginning of Mo- 
 hammed's prophetic career. From 
 this time forth during the space of 
 a score of years the prophetic dec- 
 larations of this remarkable man 
 were recorded and carefully treas- 
 ured up as the very words of God. 
 They were given piecemeal, ever 
 colored by the experiences of the 
 prophet and the environments of 
 the faithful. They were usually 
 announced when some exigency of 
 the new faith or of the personal 
 interest of the prophet required. 
 At Makkah the spirit of this proph- 
 
 1.3 
 
ISLAM; OR, 
 
 ecy anathematized the idols in the 
 national pantheon, vindicating the 
 unity of the Godhead by reference 
 to the testimony of nature and the 
 consciences of men. The tribe of 
 theQuraish, which was the princi- 
 pal tribe of Makkah and the custo- 
 dian of the sacred Kaabah, or tem- 
 ple, naturally resented this preach- 
 ing. They ridiculed the prophet 
 as a madman. They persecuted 
 his followers, Mohammed himself 
 being protected by powerful rela- 
 tions. The Quran carefully notes 
 these facts, rebukes and threatens 
 the persecutors. It tells them of 
 the experiences of former proph- 
 ets — how the unbelievers mocked 
 and persecuted, how a merciful 
 God warned them, how he even 
 wrought miracles before them, and 
 yet how the hardened wretches 
 rushed blindly on to destruction. 
 Some were swallowed up by an 
 earthquake, others were drowned 
 in the flood. Once a hot wind sud- 
 denly breathed upon a slumbering 
 city, leaving its inhabitants corpses. 
 14 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 Again, a plague dealt out merited 
 destruction upon the enemies of 
 the Lord and his prophets. Again, 
 when the Jews opposed they were 
 warned by the fate of unbelievers 
 among them in the olden time. 
 
 At Madina the circumstances of 
 the prophet were entirely changed 
 and the character of the revela- 
 tions of the Quran also changed. 
 At first the prophecy was concilia- 
 tory. The Jews were flattered. 
 The Moslems were commanded to 
 pray toward Jerusalem. Much was 
 said in praise of the Old Testament 
 saints. Thus did Mohammed hope 
 to win the children of Israel. But 
 the Jews were not inclined to rec- 
 ognize this new apostle. They 
 ridiculed his prophetic pretensions 
 and rejected him as an impostor. 
 The spirit of Quranic prophecy 
 now anathematized the Jews, and 
 declared them to be accursed of 
 God because they had persecuted 
 and slain his prophet. The tem- 
 ple at Jerusalem was rejected as 
 the Qibla, and Makkah was chosen 
 
 15 
 
ISLAM ; OR, 
 
 as the point towards which the 
 faithful should pray. Christians 
 were now spoken of kindly. They 
 were said to be charitable. Jesus 
 was declared to be a prophet of 
 God. His purity of character and 
 wonderful miracles were extolled. 
 By this time the new faith had 
 gained many adherents — Arabs, 
 Jews and Christians. A new ad- 
 versary now arose ; it was Abdul- 
 lah Ibn Ubbai, the chief of one 
 of the most powerful factions in 
 Madina, who was jealous of the 
 influence of the prophet with his 
 ever-increasing band of Moslems. 
 Henceforth Abdullah and his party 
 received the special attention of 
 the inspiring genius of Moham- 
 med. The necessities of inspira- 
 tion increased, and now the voice 
 of Gabriel was ever heard ringing 
 in the ear of the prophet. Some- 
 times (as he said) it was like the 
 sound of a bell, sometimes like the 
 roar of a tornado ; at other times 
 the angel in the form of one of 
 Mohammed's attendants (Dahiyah) 
 16 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 addressed him in audible voice. 
 Now a command was given to 
 make war upon the Makkah cara- 
 vans. Then an order came relat- 
 ing to the Moslems— perhaps to 
 reofulate their social intercourse, 
 their treatment of their wives, 
 their neighbors, or their prophet. 
 At another time prayer and fast- 
 ing were instituted. Again, some 
 ancient Arab custom was abol- 
 ished. For example, the prophet 
 fell in love with the beautiful Zai- 
 nab, the wife of Zaid, his adopt- 
 ed son. Zaid, moved by devotion 
 to his benefactor, was willing to 
 divorce her ; yea, in the face of 
 Mohammed's protest, he did di- 
 vorce her, that she might become 
 the wife of the prophet. But, how- 
 ever willing the prophet and his 
 devoted children, the custom of 
 the Arab nation was against them. 
 It was a scandalous thing for a 
 man to marry the divorced wife of 
 an adopted son. Here, then, the 
 spirit of Mohammed's prophecy 
 came to the rescue. A revelation 
 
 2 . 17 
 
ISLAM : OR, 
 
 was vouchsafed to the prophet 
 commanding him to marry Zainab. 
 This was done, said the prophecy, 
 " in order that henceforth the faith- 
 ful may not be bound by the old 
 custom forbidding men to marry 
 the divorced wives of their adopt- 
 ed sons."* 
 
 On another occasion a scandal 
 arose in respect to waging war dur- 
 ing the Sacred Months. From time 
 immemorial Arab custom had 
 made warfare unlawful during 
 these months. The sword was 
 sheathed. The bow and the shield 
 were hung up within the tent 
 doors. Enemies met without fear 
 of danger to either life or property. 
 Even the murderer of a father or 
 a brother was safe in the compan- 
 ionship of the avenger of blood. 
 It so happened that a small band 
 of Moslem marauders found a Mak- 
 kan caravan quietly encamped by 
 a well at the beginning of the sa- 
 cred season. Being off their guard 
 they fell an easy prey to the Mos- 
 
 * See Quran, chap xxxiii., 37. 
 
 18 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 lems, who carried off the whole of 
 their goods as the spoil of war. 
 The Arab unbelievers and hypo- 
 crites of Madina made a great out- 
 cry at this outrage. The Moslems 
 themselves were scandalized. Mo-, 
 hammed was blamed, inasmuch as 
 the expedition has been undertaken 
 by his order. The influence of the 
 prophet was jeopardized. Seizing 
 the marauders he placed them in 
 ward. The spoil was placed in 
 bond until such time as the will of 
 God might be made known. The 
 delay was not long. Gabriel ap- 
 peared to the prophet, declaring 
 that infidelity was worse than war- 
 fare in the Sacred Months and that 
 henceforth the unbelievers would 
 not be spared even during this 
 season. Accordingly the prisoners 
 were released and rewarded, while 
 the booty was distributed among 
 the faithful. 
 
 Again, an expedition was to be 
 undertaken against the Jews : the 
 order was given through the medi- 
 um of the Quran. Some rude 
 
 19 
 
ISLAM; OR, 
 
 Arabs showed undue familiarity 
 in their approach to Mohammed : 
 a revelation was vouchsafed regu- 
 lating the manner of approach to 
 the prophet of God. The charac- 
 ter of Ayesha, the favorite wife of 
 Mohammed, was aspersed and the 
 prophet scandalized : the word of 
 the Quran exonerated the favorite 
 wife and prescribed punishment 
 for the calumniators. Such is the 
 character of the revelations of this 
 book. So intimate is the relation 
 between the matter of the revela- 
 tions of the Quran and the life and 
 experience of Mohammed that a 
 knowledge of the latter is necessary 
 to any intelligent understanding of 
 the former. 
 
 At the death of Mohammed the 
 various portions of the Quran were 
 found in a box which had been 
 committed to the care of one of his 
 wives. They were written upon 
 palm leaves and white stones. 
 Many of the Moslems too possessed 
 copies of portions and some of them 
 had committed the whole to mem- 
 20 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 ory. The fatalities of war, how- 
 ever, led to the rapid thinning out 
 of the ranks of the hafizcs, as those 
 were called who had committed the 
 Quran to memory. Under these 
 circumstances Zaid-Ibn-Sabit was 
 appointed by the Caliph (Khalifah) 
 Abu Baqr to compile the Quran. 
 This work he did, collecting all the 
 portions he could find from the 
 palm leaf and stone copies and 
 from those who repeated what they 
 knew as he recorded it for preser- 
 vation. The result was the volume 
 which we now possess. True, this 
 copy underwent some revision in 
 the Caliphate of Othman, but 
 only so as to make the idiom 
 everywhere to correspond to that 
 of the Quraishite tribe of Mak- 
 kah. 
 
 This book contains 1 14 suras or 
 chapters. Those are not, however, 
 recorded in their chronological or- 
 der, but, somewhat after the man- 
 ner of the prophetical books of the 
 Jewish Scriptures, the longer chap- 
 ters were placed first and the short- 
 
 21 
 
ISLAM : OR, 
 
 er last — the whole being introduced 
 by a prayer. 
 
 This prayer reads as follows : 
 '' In the name of God most mer- 
 ciful. Praise be to God, the Lord 
 of all creatures, the most merciful, 
 the king" of the day of judgment. 
 Thee do we worship, and of thee 
 do we beg assistance. Direct us in 
 the right way, in the way of those 
 to whom thou hast been gracious ; 
 not of those against whom thou art 
 incensed, nor of those who go 
 astray." 
 
 This passage is perhaps the most 
 striking, if not the most beautiful 
 passage in the Quran. It reveals 
 to us at least two important rea- 
 sons why the Quran holds such an 
 influence over the minds of two 
 hundred millions of the human 
 race. The first reason is the beau- 
 tiful rhythm, and often sweet ca- 
 dences of the original language. 
 They sound like the notes of some 
 enchanting song, holding multi- 
 tudes with rapt attention who un- 
 derstand scarcely a word they hear. 
 
 22 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 The second reason is the vast 
 amount of truth contained in the 
 book ; especially the truth of the 
 divine unity and of man's depend- 
 ence on God for salvation. 
 
 There are three points in the 
 faith of Moslems concerning the 
 Quran which we should not fail to 
 notice here. 
 
 The first is the doctrine of the 
 eternity of the Quran. According 
 to this doctrine, the Quran is un- 
 created. The paper, ink, etc., of 
 which the volume is formed are 
 acknowledged to be creatures, 
 even the forms of the letters are 
 made, but the Word of God con- 
 tained in this volume and repre- 
 sented by these forms is by all or- 
 thodox Moslems regarded as eter- 
 nally existent in the mind of God ; 
 eternal as to its original essence. 
 It is not God, yet it is inseparable 
 from God. 
 
 The second point of faith in 
 regard to the Quran relates to the 
 authority of the Quran. In the light 
 of the doctrine just mentioned we 
 
 23 
 
ISLAM ; OR, 
 
 will be prepared to understand the 
 value placed upon every jot and 
 tittle of this book. It may only be 
 read by ''the pure." The text 
 must be preserved unchanged. The 
 words and letters are all counted. 
 Holy men commit it to memory. 
 Every question of doctrine is tested 
 by its teaching. A single text is 
 sufficient to establish any article of 
 faith. 
 
 The third doctrine concerning 
 the Quran which we would notice 
 here is called the doctrine of Abro- 
 gation. It sprang up during the 
 lifetime of Mohammed. It grew 
 out of the necessities of his pro- 
 phetic pretensions. Circumstances 
 changed from time to time and 
 changes in the revelation became 
 necessary. Wherefore each new 
 revelation was declared to abrogate 
 the old whenever it was contrary 
 to it. 
 
 This doctrine of abrogation has 
 been worked up into a science. 
 By modern Moslems it is made to 
 apply to the former Scriptures, so 
 
 24 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 that they do not hesitate to say 
 that the Jewish Scriptures were 
 abrogated by the Christian Scrip- 
 tures, and these in turn by the 
 Quran. 
 
 With this volume in hand the 
 proud Moslem wants no other. It 
 contains for him not only the truth, 
 but, including the traditions, it 
 contains all truth, so far as religion 
 is concerned. 
 
 The story is told of the Caliph 
 Omar that, when asked what should 
 be done with the celebrated Alex- 
 andrian Library, he replied : *' If 
 the books therein agree with the 
 Quran they are not needed : if they 
 are contrary to it they should be 
 destroyed." This story illustrates 
 the ordinary estimate of the Mos- 
 lem for the Christian Scriptures. 
 Wherein they differ from the Qu- 
 ran it is said to be due to corrup- 
 tion by interpolation or forgery, so 
 that they are only to be recognized 
 in so far as they agree with the 
 Quran. The consequence is that 
 while the Quran attests the genu- 
 
 25 
 
ISLAM : OR, 
 
 ineness and credibility of the Bi- 
 ble yet Moslems hold that present 
 copies are not trustworthy, and 
 hence, because they contradict the 
 Quran, they are to be rejected. 
 
 II. The next pillar of Islam is 
 closely related to the Quran and 
 yet differs materially from it. This 
 pillar is called Ahadis, or Tradi- 
 tions. These are also called the 
 Sunnat. They consist of the say- 
 ings, doings, and permissions of 
 Mohammed in regard to various 
 matters. They were collected two 
 or three centuries after the death 
 of the prophet. They represent 
 (i) things said by Mohammed ; (2) 
 things done by Moham.med in the 
 presence of his disciples, and (3) 
 things done by disciples in the 
 prophet's presence against which 
 he did not show any disapproba- 
 tion ; (4) things done in the pres- 
 ence of Mohammed which he con- 
 demned. The mass of matter has 
 been compiled in six ponderous 
 tomes known as the *' as-Sihah-us- 
 Sittah (the Six Correct Books). 
 26 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 The principles which were ap- 
 plied, to decide between the gen- 
 uine and spurious traditions, were 
 peculiar. Collectors carefully ex- 
 amined the chain, not of evidence 
 for and against the traditions, but 
 of the persons relating them. If 
 each link in the chain of witness- 
 es were a pious Moslem of sound 
 mind, discreet, sober and clear- 
 headed, his testimony was accept- 
 ed. If all the witnesses were thus 
 reliable the tradition was accepted. 
 Whenever there was a doubt as 
 to one or more of the witnesses 
 the tradition, though accepted, was 
 marked as " weak " or " doubtful." 
 It will be evident to all that under 
 such circumstances the science of 
 interpreting the traditions is no 
 small part of a Moslem's education 
 for the priesthood. 
 
 The following extract, from a 
 famous collection of Moslem tradi- 
 tions entitled "The Tirmizi," will 
 give the reader an idea of the form 
 and character of these traditions : 
 
 " Abu Kuraib said to us that 
 
 27 
 
ISLAM ; OR, 
 
 Ibrahim ibn Yusuf ibn Abi Ishaq 
 said to us, from his father, from 
 Abu Ishaq, from Tulata ibn Musa- 
 rif that he said, I have heard, from 
 'Abdu'r-Rahman ibn Ausajah, that 
 he said I have heard that the 
 prophet said, Whosoever shall give 
 in charity a milch cow, or silver, or a 
 leathern bottle of water, it shall be 
 equal to the freeing of a slave'' 
 It will be noted that a complete 
 chain of witnesses is here present- 
 ed between the prophet and the 
 final narrator of the tradition. 
 
 As the Quran is the chief source 
 of authority in doctrine, so the 
 traditions are the principal source 
 of knowledge in respect to all ques- 
 tions of practice. Not only is this 
 true of the ceremonies and cus- 
 toms relating to the daily and 
 other stated prayers, to the fast 
 of the Ramzan or the observ- 
 ances of the Muharram, to alms- 
 giving and pilgrimage, but to the 
 customs relating to marriage and 
 death, to the usages of social and 
 family intercourse and even to all 
 28 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 matters of dress and adornments, 
 down to the cut of the beard, the 
 dye for the hair, and the particu- 
 lar wood to be used in making a 
 toothbrush ! All questions as to 
 purification and washing are set- 
 tled by reference to the traditions. 
 Suppose, for instance, a dog should 
 be drowned in a well, the question 
 would immediately arise as to how 
 that well could be rendered cer- 
 emonially clean. Learned men 
 would be consulted, who would in 
 turn consult the books and pro- 
 ceed to enlighten the minds of 
 their co-religionists how many 
 gallons of water must be drawm 
 from the well before it can be re- 
 garded as having been purified. 
 Never did Jewish scribes display 
 more learning in adducing the 
 sayings of the rabbis and doctors 
 to prove some question as to wash- 
 ing of hands and cleaning of pots 
 than do the Mullahs and learned 
 men of Islam when discussing 
 similar questions to-day. 
 III. The third pillar of Moslem 
 
 29 
 
ISLAM : OR, 
 
 faith is called Ijma. This term 
 expresses to the Moslem about the 
 idea conveyed to a Christian by 
 the expression '' consensus of the 
 fathers." It is a collection of the 
 opinions of the Mujtahiddin or 
 learned among the companions of 
 the prophet, the Ansars, or help- 
 ers, who were converted at Madi- 
 na during Mohammed's ministry 
 there, and the disciples and com- 
 panions of both of these classes. 
 Naturally it was thought that such 
 men w^ere in a position best to un- 
 derstand what was meant by the 
 words of the Quran, and especially 
 by the sayings of their prophet 
 preserved in the traditions. These 
 opinions of the learned, however, 
 must on no account contradict the 
 teaching of the Quran or the tradi- 
 tions, but when they agree with 
 these they are regarded as author- 
 ity in all questions of interpreta- 
 tion and law. 
 
 IV. The fourth pillar of Moslem 
 faith is called Qiyas, By this term 
 is meant the analogical reasoning 
 
 30 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 of the learned as to the teaching of 
 the Quran, traditions and the Ijma. 
 Here we find for the first time a 
 place for the exercise of the rea- 
 son. And yet even here how lit- 
 tle is that exercise. The learned 
 Imaums and Mujtahiddin of the 
 first three centuries of Islam made 
 certain deliverances, based upon 
 the teachings of the Quran and 
 traditions, which have been re- 
 corded for the guidance of the 
 faithful. Since that time the 
 "learned" among the orthodox 
 have no successors, so that for 
 centuries Moslem scholars have not 
 striven to learn what the Quran 
 and the Ahadis really teach, but to 
 discover what the *' learned " say 
 they teach. Reason has virtually 
 been ruled out of court. Dogma- 
 tism in the worst sense of that 
 term has obtained almost absolute 
 supremacy over Moslem minds. 
 A hierarchy of the Uluma or learn- 
 ed doctors holds sway with a power 
 rarely ever held by Pope or college 
 of cardinals in the Romish Church. 
 
 31 
 
ISLAM : OR, 
 
 Clothed with all the authority of 
 the temporal power this hierarchy 
 is able to mete out the severest 
 penalties upon any and all who 
 wshould dare to call in question 
 their conclusions in regard to any 
 matter of doctrine or practice. 
 When the bastinado and the filthy 
 dungeon fail to correct the contu- 
 macious, the bowstring and the 
 axe avail. This survey of the fun- 
 damental doctrines of Islam will 
 make clear to the reader its ex- 
 treme rigidity. Everything is, as 
 it were, fossilized. There is no 
 room for development. The Mos- 
 lem priest ever points to the past. 
 Freedom of thought is denied him. 
 No commentator may tell what he 
 thinks the sacred writings teach, 
 but, like the Pharisees of old, he 
 declares in solemn tones what some 
 old doctor taught one thousand 
 years ago. 
 
 There are some ardent admirers 
 of Turkish and Indian Moslems 
 who entertain the hope that con- 
 tact with the West and acquaint- 
 32 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 ance with its civilization will lead 
 to a reformation of their religion. 
 They seem to be looking for a 
 kind of Moslem millennium, when 
 the dignity of womanhood will be 
 acknowledged, when polygamy will 
 be abolished, when the slaves will 
 be set free and the accursed traffic 
 in human flesh be ended, when 
 reason and conscience shall be un- 
 trammeled and when Moslem and 
 Christian shall kneel in loving em- 
 brace at the Mercy Seat. Such 
 dreamers understand little of the 
 religion of the Moslem. The truth 
 is, the evils so notorious in Moslem 
 countries, and which have just 
 been mentioned, are sanctioned by 
 Islam. Slavery and polygamy, 
 with their contempt for the wail 
 of the slave and the degradation 
 of woman, will continue so long 
 as the Quran has authority over 
 the minds of men No less shall 
 the enslavement of reason and 
 conscience continue, in countries 
 governed by Moslem sovereigns, 
 so long as the authority of the 
 3 33 
 
ISLAM : OR, 
 
 Uluma receives the sanction of 
 Moslem tradition and the universal 
 consent of the Mohammedan fa- 
 thers. ** Africa's sore " will only 
 be healed when the power of Mos- 
 lem slave hunters shall be broken 
 and when the Turk and Arab shall 
 no longer be permitted to fill their 
 harems with the product of the 
 slave trade. We may not gather 
 " grapes of thorns nor figs of 
 thistles." 
 
 We are now prepared to enter 
 upon a brief survey of that system 
 of religious faith and practice 
 which is based upon this foun- 
 dation. According to Moslem au- 
 thorities the faith of Islam includes 
 seven points, enumerated in the 
 following creed : 
 
 " I believe in God, in the An- 
 gels, in the Books, in the Apos- 
 tles, in the Last Day, in the De- 
 crees of Almighty God both as 
 respects good and evil, and in the 
 Resurrection after death." 
 
 Faith in God includes not only 
 belief in his existence as a person- 
 
 34 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 al God, but especially in his abso- 
 lute Unity. It excludes not only 
 plurality of deities, but plurality 
 of persons in the One God. It re- 
 pudiates every idea of incarnation. 
 It is therefore totally opposed to 
 the Christian doctrine of Trinity 
 in Unity and of the Incarnation of 
 God in Christ. 
 
 The seven attributes of God are 
 " Life, Wisdom, Power, Will, Hear- 
 ing, Seeing, and Speaking." To 
 the Moslem, God is not first of all 
 a God of Wisdom, or Love, but a 
 God of Infinite Power. ** He is," 
 to quote another,"^ '* the Lord of the 
 worlds, the Author of the heavens 
 and the earth, who hath created 
 life and death, in whose hands is 
 dominion, who maketh the dawn 
 to appear and causeth the night to 
 cover the day, the Great all- Power- 
 ful Lord of the Glorious Throne ; 
 the thunder proclaimeth his per- 
 fection, the whole earth is his 
 handful, and the heavens shall be 
 
 * Mr. Stanley Lane Pool, in Selections from 
 Quran. 
 
 35 
 
ISLAM ; OR, 
 
 folded together in his right hand. 
 And with the power he conceives 
 the knowledge that directs it to 
 right ends. God is the wise, the 
 just, the true, the swift in reckon- 
 ing, who knoweth every ant 's 
 weight of good and of ill that 
 each man hath done, and who suf- 
 fereth not the reward of the faith- 
 ful to perish." 
 
 So overwhelming indeed is the 
 sense of the power of the Almighty 
 that there seems to be no room left 
 for the will of the creature, and so 
 it comes to pass that in the minds 
 of the majority of Moslems " God 
 plays with humanity as on a chess- 
 board, and works out his game 
 without regard to the sacrifice of 
 the pieces." 
 
 Still, on the other hand, there is 
 a recognition of the mercy of God, 
 thougfh indeed it must be conced- 
 ed that this is not the chief thought 
 of Islam. The Moslem is guided 
 by fear, rather than drawn by love. 
 The God of Islam is undoubtedly 
 the true God, and yet there are 
 -.6 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 serious objections to the Moslem's 
 conception of him. Not only do 
 we object to his rejection of the 
 Trinity, but also to his having ex- 
 alted God's Omnipotence over all 
 other attributes, to the lowering of 
 his character for holiness — noth- 
 ing being said of God's holiness in 
 the Quran which might not be said 
 of a holy man ; to his limiting the 
 goodness of God to Moslems, no 
 matter what their character, rel- 
 egating even the infants of unbe- 
 lievers to hell fire ; to his sacrifice 
 of God's justice by denying the 
 necessity for any atonement for 
 sin ; and, finally, to his limitation 
 of the truth of God by the sanctifi- 
 cation of a lie, if it only be spoken 
 in self-defense or for the advance- 
 ment of Islam. It must not be 
 forgotten that the God of Islam is 
 not merely the Allah described in 
 the Quran, but the God who speaks 
 in every word, syllable, and letter 
 of the Quran. We must not there- 
 fore separate what we conceive 
 to have special reference to God 
 
 37 
 
ISLAM ; OR, 
 
 in its teaching" from what we may 
 conceive to have been used by 
 Mohammed for the furtherance of 
 his private or political purposes; 
 for, according to Islam, Moham- 
 med was but the mouthpiece of 
 Divinity. If, then, we would get a 
 correct idea of the Allah of Islam 
 we must take into account all that 
 was done by Mohammed under the 
 sanction of the Quran. Let this be 
 done, and it will appear that what 
 we have just said is by no means 
 extravagant, or unduly severe. 
 
 On the subject of the Books rec- 
 ognized by Moslems, we note as 
 of special interest their faith in 
 104 volumes of inspiration, re- 
 vealed from time to time through 
 the medium of the prophets, clos- 
 ing with the Quran. Of these it is 
 said 100 are no longer in existence : 
 these are the books of Adam, 
 Seth, Enoch and Abraham. The 
 four still extant are the Penta- 
 teuch of Moses, the Psalms of 
 David, the Gospel of Jesus, and 
 the Quran of Mohammed. These 
 38 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 are all recognized by the Quran as 
 the word of God given for a light 
 to guide men in the way of salva- 
 tion. Nevertheless, as already 
 stated, modern Moslems regard 
 all these, excepting the Quran, as 
 having been corrupted. When 
 therefore a Moslem says he be- 
 lieves in the books contained in the 
 Jewish and Christian Scriptures, 
 he means only to declare that such 
 books were once delivered to the 
 prophets, though now so corrupted 
 as no longer to be worthy of cre- 
 dence excepting in so far as they 
 are confirmed by the Quran. 
 
 In regard to the prophets, Mos- 
 lems believe in 144,000. There 
 are however no more than 28 whose 
 names are given in the Quran. 
 They also declare their belief in 
 315 apostles or prophets sent with 
 some special message. Nine were 
 exalted to the position of leaders 
 in the ushering in of new dispen- 
 sations ; six of these were styled 
 the Nabi - ul - Azim. These are 
 Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, 
 
 39 
 
ISLAM ; OR, 
 
 Jesus and Mohammed. Each of 
 these is distinguished by a special 
 title ; thus, Adam is the Chosen of 
 God, Noah the Prophet of God, 
 Abraham the Friend of God, Mo- 
 ses the Speaker with God, Jesus 
 the Spirit of God, and Mohammed 
 the Apostle of God. A striking 
 fact in this connection is that, while 
 according to popular belief all 
 prophets were sinless, yet, in ac- 
 cordance with the teaching of the 
 Quran and the Traditions, Jesus 
 is the only sinless prophet of Islam. 
 Of other prophets it is said in the 
 Quran either that they confessed 
 and repented of their sins or that 
 God laid certain sins to their 
 charge. The same thing is true 
 of the teaching of the Traditions — 
 especially true in the case of Mo- 
 hammed, who is commanded to 
 repent of his sins and who is said 
 to have professed his penitence 
 seventy times in a single day. But 
 of Jesus, nowhere is there a line 
 or a hint of any kind that He was 
 ever chargeable with sin. He Is 
 40 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 the only sinless prophet of 
 Islam. 
 
 There is however no doctrine 
 that impresses itself more power- 
 fully upon the mind of Moslems 
 than that of the Resurrection and 
 the Judgment Day. To them this 
 is the great day of assizes. The day 
 will however be at least i,ooo years 
 in duration. Its approach will be 
 marked by many signs : the faith 
 will decay among men, wickedness 
 and corruption will be rampant, the 
 meanest persons shall be advanced 
 to eminent dignity, there shall be 
 tumults and seditions, wars and 
 distress in the world ; the sun shall 
 rise in the west, a " beast " shall 
 arise out of the earth, and appear 
 in the holy temple of Makkah, 
 having the head of a bull, the eye 
 of a hog, the ears of an elephant, the 
 horns of a stag, the neck of an 
 ostrich, the breast of a lion, the 
 color of a tiger, the back of a cat, the 
 tail of a ram, the legs of a camel, 
 and the voice of an ass. About this 
 time the Antichrist shall appear. 
 
 41 
 
ISLAM : OR, 
 
 One-eyed, with the word Kafir or 
 ** Infidel " written on his forehead, 
 he will appear in Syria riding on 
 a white ass, followed by 70,000 
 Jews, and shall continue on the 
 earth for fourteen months, conquer- 
 ing and devastating until he be de- 
 stroyed by Jesus, who shall de- 
 scend from heaven and establish 
 the religion of Islam throughout 
 the whole world. Then the Mahdi 
 shall appear. 
 
 These with many other marvel- 
 lous signs shall portend the near 
 approach of the Awful Day when 
 the first blast of the angel trump 
 shall strike terror to every heart in 
 heaven and earth. A second blast 
 will visit with death every creature 
 in the universe. The third trum- 
 pet blast of the angel, now himself 
 raised from the dead, will restore 
 all to life, when the judgment will 
 begin. Then shall every beast that 
 has suffered at the hands of a cruel 
 master tread upon the prostrate 
 form of his persecutor. Then shall 
 the wicked be brought forth with 
 42 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 blackened faces, backbiters in the 
 form of apes, tyrants in the form 
 of swine, hypocrites gnawing their 
 tongues, the proud and vainglori- 
 ous clad in garments daubed with 
 pitch. These shall all be obliged 
 to pass over a bridge so narrow 
 that they shall slip off it into the 
 gaping vortex of hell underneath. 
 The righteous, by which we are to 
 understand the faithful of every 
 age and dispensation, shall be 
 brought forth in honor, clad in 
 bright and beautiful garments, 
 seated on white - winged camels 
 with saddles of gold. To them 
 shall be opened the gates of Para- 
 dise, into which they will be ush- 
 ered, where, seated on sofas gar- 
 nished with silk and precious stones, 
 they shall sport themselves in the 
 companionship of the black-eyed 
 girls of Paradise, eating the lus- 
 cious fruits of Eden, drinking the 
 spicy waters oi Al KautJiar out of 
 vessels of gold. 
 
 It was this vision which enabled 
 the fiery Saracen to rush to certain 
 
 43 
 
ISLAM ; OR, 
 
 death in the exultant hope of mar- 
 tyrdom. It is this hope which 
 ever recruits the ranks of the Gha- 
 zies of Afghanistan or the fanatical 
 Darwesh of the Soudan. To them 
 warfare against infidels is a merit, 
 while death in such a cause is a 
 sure passport to Paradise. 
 
 We now must notice briefly the 
 practice of the Moslem religion. 
 It is summed up under five heads : 
 the reading of the Kalima, observ- 
 ance of stated prayers, fasting, 
 giving of legal alms, and pilgrim- 
 age to Makkah. 
 
 By reading the Kalima is meant 
 repeating the formula La ilah illil- 
 lah wa MoJianiviediir riisiil iillaJi; i. e., 
 " There is no god but Allah, and 
 Mohammed is the apostle of Allah." 
 This formula must be repeated at 
 least once before death, with a sin- 
 cere heart and a loud voice, in the 
 presence of witnesses. 
 
 The duty of prayer requires the 
 punctilious observance of five daily 
 stated prayers. Early in the morn- 
 ing, at the very first streak of dawn, 
 44 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 the Muazzin's call will announce 
 the time for the first prayer. The 
 next prayer must be offered at 
 midday, the third at about three 
 o'clock in the afternoon, the fourth 
 at sunset, and the fifth when night 
 has closed in. These prayers should 
 be said in the Arabic language, and 
 if possible the men should assemble 
 in the Mosque for that purpose. 
 They may be, however, and gen- 
 erally are, offered wherever the 
 Moslem may be at the prayer hour. 
 It is an impressive scene to witness 
 Moslems as they drop their imple- 
 ments of daily labor and either in 
 companies or alone spread a sheet 
 upon the ground and proceed to 
 say their prayers. It may be on 
 the roadside or at a railroad station, 
 no matter where, no matter by 
 whom surrounded, the Moslem says 
 his prayers. His witness for his 
 faith is clear and unequivocal. He 
 glories in his faith. On Friday 
 Moslems assemble punctiliously at 
 the Mosque, where special prayers 
 suited to this holy day are offered. 
 
 45 
 
ISLAM ; OR, 
 
 Sometimes the service is accom- 
 panied by a discourse or sermon. 
 Prayers over, the faithful return to 
 their usual occupations. 
 
 The duty of fasting relates par- 
 ticularly to the fast of Ramadhan. 
 This is a sacred month. During 
 the entire month the Moslem is 
 obliged to fast from sunrise until 
 sunset. No morsel of food or drop 
 of water may pass his lips during 
 the day. This in hot climates in 
 the long days of summer is a serious 
 trial. Many lose their health and 
 some their lives through the rigor 
 of this fast. The sick and the 
 weakly are exempted on condition 
 they fast an equal number of days 
 at another time. During the night 
 the Moslem is free to eat and drink 
 as much as he pleases. The world- 
 ly minded, if sick, escape the rigor 
 of this fast by turning as much of 
 the day into the night as possible. 
 
 Almsgiving (Zakat) is a kind of 
 
 legal tax, corresponding in some 
 
 measure to the tithe of Judaism. 
 
 It is assessed variously according 
 
 46 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 to the employment of the giver. 
 It amounts to two and one half per 
 cent, of his gains or income, and is 
 spent in the cause of religion and 
 the support of the poor. It must 
 not be inferred that this is the sum 
 total of Moslem charity. To their 
 credit it must be said they are gen- 
 erous and kind to the poor and 
 hospitable to travelers and stran- 
 gers. During the late war between 
 the Turks and the Russians the 
 Mohammedans of India contribu- 
 ted large sums for the relief of the 
 sick and wounded among their 
 co-religionists. In one city the wo- 
 men even took off their ornaments 
 of gold and silver and put them 
 into the contribution plate. 
 
 The pilgrimage to Makkah, like 
 the duty of prayer and fasting and 
 almsgiving, is enjoined by the 
 teaching of the Quran and sanction- 
 ed by the example of the prophet. 
 Every Moslem with health and 
 wealth sufficient to enable him to 
 perforrQ the pilgrimage to Mak- 
 kah must do so at least once in his 
 
 47 
 
ISLAM; OR, 
 
 lifetime. The rites connected with 
 the Hajj or Pilgrimage are a relic 
 of Arab heathenism, but are purged 
 of all idolatrous sentiments. The 
 rite which most nearly approaches 
 to the idolatrous is that of kissing 
 the Black Stone in the corner of 
 the Kaabah, or sacred temple at 
 Makkah. It is recorded in one of 
 the traditions that the Caliph Omar, 
 when first he performed the pil- 
 grimage after his conversion to Is- 
 lam, addressed this stone thus : 
 "Verily I know that thou art a 
 stone ; thou dost no good or harm 
 in the world, and if it was not that 
 I saw the prophet kiss thee I would 
 not kiss thee." 
 
 In addition to these practical 
 duties of Islam we may add that 
 of Jahad, or Crusade. This duty 
 was recognized in the days of Mo- 
 hammed. Indeed it was to the 
 performance of it that the mission 
 of the prophet owes its success. 
 According to the teaching of Is- 
 lam, everv Moslem must hold him- 
 self ready to fight in the Way of 
 48 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 God. This either means to fight 
 in defence of the faith, or, under 
 competent guidance, to make war 
 upon the infidels with a view to 
 their conversion or extirpation. It 
 is under shelter of this doctrine 
 that Mohammedans have always 
 felt themselves at liberty to assault 
 any nation or tribe of unbelievers. 
 It is under shelter of this principle 
 that Arab slave-hunters practise 
 their bloody work in Central Afri- 
 ca and Turks ruthlessly slaughter 
 Christians in Armenia. 
 
 The recent atrocities perpetrated 
 by Turks and Kurds in Armenia 
 present to us a striking illustration 
 of the terrible cruelty and fiend- 
 ish outrage and slaughter which 
 always ensue upon a jahad or cru- 
 sade in the name of religion. That 
 the massacres in Armenia were 
 prompted by religious zeal and 
 emanated from the Sultan at Con- 
 stantinople and his advisers seems 
 certain. The following extract 
 from the statement of a Moham- 
 medan official who made a careful 
 4 49 
 
ISLAM : OR, 
 
 inquiry as to the causes and extent 
 of the massacres at Harpoot, Arab- 
 kir, and other places, fully con- 
 firms this view : 
 
 " A petition in behalf of Arme- 
 nians was given to the powers in 
 the hope of improving their con- 
 dition. An imperial firman was 
 issued for carrying out the reforms 
 suggested by the powers. On this 
 account the Turkish population 
 was much excited by the thought 
 that an Armenian principality was 
 to be established, and they began 
 to show great hostilities to the 
 poor Armenians, who had been 
 obedient to them and with whom 
 they had lived in peace for more 
 than six hundred years. In addi- 
 tion to their anger was added the 
 permission and help of the govern- 
 ment, by which, before the reforms 
 were undertaken, the whole Turk- 
 ish population was aroused to the 
 evil intent of obliterating the Ar- 
 menian name ; and then behold 
 the Turks of the district, joining 
 with neighboring Kurdish tribes 
 50 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 by the thousand, armed with weap- 
 ons which are allowed only to the 
 army, and with the help and under 
 the guidance of Turkish officials, 
 in an open manner and in the 
 daytime, attacking the Armenian 
 houses, shops, stores, monasteries, 
 churches and schools, and commit- 
 ting fearful atrocities. 
 
 "■ After plundering these places 
 they burned many houses, church- 
 es, monasteries, schools and mar- 
 kets with the petroleum they had 
 brought with them, and the large 
 stone churches which they could 
 not burn they ruined in other ways. 
 Some churches were converted into 
 mosques and devoted to Moslem 
 worship, and books sacred to Chris- 
 tians were torn in pieces. Besides 
 this, priests, laymen, women and 
 even small children were made 
 Moslems by force. They put white 
 turbans on the men and cut the 
 hair of the women in bangs like 
 that of the Moslem women, and 
 made them go through Moslem 
 prayers. Married women and girls 
 
 51 
 
ISLAM : OR, 
 
 were defiled, against the sacred law, 
 and some were married by force 
 and are still detained in Turkish 
 houses. Especially in Talu, Seve- 
 rek, Malatia, Arabkir and Choon- 
 koosh many women and girls were 
 taken to the soldiers' barracks and 
 dishonored. Many, to escape such 
 dishonor, threw themselves into 
 the Euphrates, and some commit- 
 ted suicide in other ways." 
 
 The influence of centuries of cul- 
 ture in this kind of *' holy war " is 
 seen in the cold-blooded indiffer- 
 ence of Moslem people everywhere. 
 The writer says, *' The strange 
 thing about it all is that very 
 few Moslems seemed to revolt at 
 such deeds. Men of intelligence 
 and education view these deeds 
 with complacency." Many months 
 have passed since the Christian 
 world was horrified by the first of 
 these massacres. Every Christian 
 nation has voiced its protest against 
 them. We have yet to hear a sin- 
 gle word of disapproval from any 
 Moslem people on earth. 
 52 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 This has ever been the favorite 
 missionary agency of Islam. When 
 certain apologists for Islam insti- 
 tute a comparison between the rel- 
 ative success of Moslem and Chris- 
 tian missions they ought in all 
 fairness to compare and then care- 
 fully catalogue the means used by 
 these missionaries and the moral 
 results of their work. 
 
 Such, then, is the religion of 
 Islam, at least in its fundamental 
 principles. Like every other relig- 
 ion it has been influenced by the 
 national life and customs of its 
 votaries. Like Christianity it has 
 been divided by schisms and her- 
 esies. There have been no less 
 than 1 50 sects of Moslems. Some 
 of these divisions have been polit- 
 ical in their character, others doc- 
 trinal or philosophical. The great 
 schism of the Sunni and Shiah 
 sects dates from the earliest years 
 of Islam and was due to a dispute 
 as to who should be the Caliph or 
 successor of Mohammed. The 
 Shiahs claimed that AH, the hus- 
 
 53 
 
ISLAM; OR, 
 
 band of Fatima, Mohammed's 
 daughter, should have been the 
 first Caliph. They therefore re- 
 ject Abu Baqr, Omar and Othman, 
 the first three caliphs, as usurpers. 
 This political division has led to 
 many bloody wars. The division 
 between Persia and Turkey is yet 
 as a wide and impassable stream. 
 
 A modern sect of considerable 
 influence in Arabia and India is 
 that of the Wahabbis, who have en- 
 deavored to reform many abuses 
 and to bring back Islam to its orig- 
 inal purity. The political power 
 of this sect was broken by the late 
 Mohammed Ali of Egypt. 
 
 On theological grounds Islam has 
 had many sects. The Ali-IUahis 
 believe that God was incarnate in 
 the various Imaums or Leaders in 
 all dispensations down to the time 
 of Ali, who was the last. It is 
 interesting to notice how the 
 thought of incarnation of the 
 godhead forced itself in upon the 
 bold unitarianism of Islam. An- 
 other sect, the Mushabiites, taught 
 54 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 that God possessed a human form. 
 Still another held that though the 
 body of God was human in outline 
 yet it was a luminary body. 
 
 The discussion as to the attri- 
 butes of divinity, which led to 
 the aforementioned heresies, re- 
 sulted in the rise of the Mutazal- 
 ites, who may be called the liberal 
 or rationalistic sect of Islam. This 
 sect has been revived in India 
 under the leadership of Sayed 
 Amir Ali of Calcutta. 
 
 The sect of the Sufis or mystics 
 adopt a pantheistic philosophy and 
 endeavor to explain the Quran in 
 accord with it. The result is an 
 orthodox highly spiritual worship, 
 on the one hand, and a blind fatal- 
 ism, amounting to atheism, on the 
 other. The influence of these vari- 
 ous heterodox schools of thought 
 upon the Moslem mind is of no small 
 moment to the cause of Christian 
 evano^elization. These elements 
 of Moslem nationality afford the 
 most hopeful subjects of mission- 
 ary endeavor. When, therefore, 
 
 55 
 
ISLAM ; OR, 
 
 it becomes subject to a Christian 
 power, as in India and Egypt, it 
 loses, so to speak, its right arm.* 
 On its theological side Islam is 
 supported by an extensive litera- 
 ture and a regular system of theo- 
 logical instruction. In addition to 
 this, thousands of men of no mean 
 intellectual calibre spend their 
 whole lives in its study and propa- 
 gation. Vast institutions of learn- 
 ing have been established, and are 
 still supported by the generosity 
 of princes and kings, which edu- 
 cate Moslem youths without allow- 
 ing them to come under any other 
 
 * The notion of patriotism is entirely subor- 
 dinate to that of religion. The lawful rulers 
 of earthly kingdoms are Moslems, who ac- 
 knowledge the hierarchy at Constantinople. 
 The Sultan is king of kings, who may kill four- 
 teen of his subjects every day, if he will, and 
 that without question. The Moslem owes alle- 
 giance to no other than a Moslem government. 
 He cannot therefore be at once a faithful sub- 
 ject of Christian dominion and a consistent 
 follower of orthodox Islam. He is always 
 bound to obey the call of the Caliph to holy 
 war. These facts cannot be too well consider- 
 ed by all our statesmen in their study of the 
 Moslem problem. 
 
 56 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 religious influences. Such a relig- 
 ion, holding sway over one-eighth 
 of the population of the globe, sec- 
 ond only to Christianity in numer- 
 ical strength among the religions 
 of the world, occupying the chief 
 centres of influence in the Eastern 
 world, commands our respect, in 
 spite of its appalling errors, while 
 it forces upon us the conviction 
 that it is, as we have already said, 
 the principal rival of our holy re- 
 ligion. 
 
 Does it not then seem a little 
 strange that, what with our mis- 
 sions to Mormons and Jews, our 
 churches in America have hardly 
 thought of a special mission to 
 Moslems ? True it is that men are 
 sent to India, Egypt, and Turkey 
 and Persia, who in the providence 
 of God are led to devote them- 
 selves specially to the Moslems; and 
 yet the churches and even boards 
 of missions seem to think of Mos- 
 lems very much as they do of the 
 heathen elsewhere. But this is 
 not enough. It is only reasonable 
 
 57 
 
ISLAM ; OR, 
 
 to require of missionaries sent to 
 Moslem lands such preparation for 
 their work as shall enable them to 
 at least understand the thoughts 
 and feelings of these followers of 
 the false prophet, and so be able to 
 direct them intelligently to the 
 truth of that gospel which is at- 
 tested by the Quran, and to the 
 claims of that Saviour who is the 
 Sinless Prophet of Islam, and 
 whom they confess to be now ex- 
 alted in heaven, and who is to 
 come again to establish the true 
 religion of God upon the earth. 
 
 We do not wish to be understood 
 as disparaging what has been done 
 for the work of missions among 
 Moslems. We only desire to ad- 
 vocate an improvement of method. 
 We would plead for a more thor- 
 ough and systematic training of 
 men for work among Mohamme- 
 dans everywhere. 
 
 The question is sometimes asked, 
 What is the influence of Moham- 
 medanism upon the moral charac- 
 ter of Moslems? In reply to this 
 58 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 question, it must be admitted that 
 wherever it brings to its allegiance 
 a grossly idolatrous people, espe- 
 cially if they be fetish or devil wor- 
 shippers, it does raise their moral 
 status. Cannibalism and infanti- 
 cide are abolished ; idolatrous cus- 
 toms, degrading and immoral, are 
 obliterated ; certain fixed rules are 
 enforced in respect to society and 
 the State ; thieves and murderers 
 are severely punished ; the use of 
 intoxicating drinks is greatly di- 
 minished if not absolutely prevent- 
 ed ; children are educated to some 
 extent and trained up as the wor- 
 shippers of the true God ; certain 
 ideas of honor, courage and devo- 
 tion are inculcated, and so the scale 
 of morality is greatly advanced ; 
 and yet there is a limit to Moslem 
 progress in morals a long way this 
 side the goal of Christian ethics. 
 The permissions of the Quran in 
 respect to polygamy, concubinage 
 and divorce, the sanction of sla- 
 very and holy war, the example of 
 Mohammed himself, the adoption 
 
 59 
 
ISLAM ; OR, 
 
 of the principle that the end justi- 
 fies the means — thereby consecra- 
 ting every form of deception and 
 lying, every sort of persecution 
 and violence to the cause of relig- 
 ion — these things effectually block 
 the wheels of progress in ethical 
 spheres, so that Moslem nations 
 have hardly ever reached even the 
 planes of moral purity occupied by 
 the most degenerate Christian na- 
 tions. The difference between the 
 immoral Christian and the immor- 
 al Moslem may be thus described : 
 the Christian is immoral in spite 
 of his religion ; the Moslem is im- 
 moral because of his religion. It 
 is, indeed, chiefly owing to this 
 cause that Moslem empires are not 
 enduring. The social and national 
 life is undermined by a fatal dis- 
 ease, which, like leprosy, festers 
 and rots, though the life may be 
 long continued. 
 
 Another question has been asked ; 
 namely, whether Islam has accom- 
 plished good to the world. Aside 
 from the a priori argument that the 
 60 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 Lord, who has all power in heaven 
 and earth, overrules all things for 
 good to his church, we think the 
 history of the world will show that, 
 while Islam has wrought the ma- 
 terial ruin of every people she has 
 conquered, yet she has been made 
 the instrument of accomplishing a 
 good deal towards the spiritual 
 and intellectual advancement of 
 the world. She has ever been a 
 scourge to idolaters in the church 
 and out of it. She has borne wit- 
 ness to a living, personal God in 
 the midst of generations of hea- 
 thens, moulding their language 
 and thought in monotheistic forms, 
 breaking up powerful systems of 
 heathenism, and thus in a sense 
 preparing the way of the Lord. 
 Thus has she been used by God to 
 accomplish his purposes. Every 
 reader of church history knows 
 how much the success of the Ref- 
 ormation was due to the presence 
 of the Turk at Constantinople. 
 Islam has been a hammer in the 
 hand of the Almighty wherewith 
 
 6i 
 
ISLAM ; OR, 
 
 he has smitten his enemies. That 
 work seems to have been accom- 
 plished. The nations ruled by the 
 Moslems have lost their prestige 
 and seem to be doomed to speedy- 
 subjection to Christian powers. 
 Their power to destroy and to per- 
 secute has already been consider- 
 ably curtailed. Almost one-half 
 of the Moslems of the world are 
 now under Christian rule. Among 
 them the gospel is preached by 
 the peaceful messengers of Christ 
 without fear. Those who choose 
 to abjure Islam are free to profess 
 their faith in Christ without fear 
 of bastinado or death. Not only so, 
 but Lslam is being honeycombed 
 by influences which have greatly 
 weakened its hold upon its own ad- 
 herents. What with Babism in Per- 
 sia, Wahabbiism in Arabia, Syed- 
 Ahmadism in India, Mahdiism in 
 Egypt and Central Africa, Islam 
 is sorely rent by internal dissen- 
 sions. Not least important is the 
 influence of Protestant Christian- 
 ity through its missions and edu- 
 62 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE TURK. 
 
 cational institutions. In Syria, 
 Turkey, Egypt and Persia many 
 thoughtful Moslems are studying 
 the Word of God. Some believe, 
 though unable to make a public 
 profession of their faith. In India 
 many hundreds of the followers of 
 Islam have publicly abjured that 
 faith and been received into the 
 church. Thousands of Moslem 
 youths are being educated in 
 Christian schools. Many of the 
 teachers in these schools and many 
 of the most eloquent and learned 
 of the native ministers in the 
 church were once the votaries of 
 Islam. The leaven is already work- 
 ing in this mass, and our hope is 
 that it may speedily leaven the 
 whole lump. 
 
 The Moslems have a tradition 
 that when Masih-ud-Dajjal, the 
 Antichrist, shall sorely press the 
 Moslems " all on a sudden pray- 
 ers will begin, and Jesus, Son of 
 Mary, will come down and act as 
 Imaum, or Leader, to them. And 
 when Dajjal, this enemy of God, 
 
 63 
 
ISLAM. 
 
 shall see Jesus, he will fear to be 
 near, dissolving away like salt in 
 water. And if Jesus lets him 
 alone, verily he will melt and per- 
 ish, and God will kill him by the 
 hand of Jesus." Let us hope the 
 day is not far distant when Jesus 
 shall indeed become the Leader of 
 these multitudes, and that the 
 forces of Antichrist shall melt away 
 like salt in water and perish before 
 ** the sword of his Spirit " and '' the 
 brightness of his coming." 
 
 64 
 
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 islam •• or, The re y ^^^^.ary-Speer Lj^ra 
 
 
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